US08058436B2
The invention provides a method for the preparation of enantiomerically pure mirtazapine, said method comprising a step of ring closure of a compound of formula (II) wherein X is a leaving group, said step comprising treatment with an acid, whereby mirlazapine with enantiomeric excess is formed by the ring closure of the compound of formula (II) with enantiomeric excess by treatment with a suitable acid in the absence of a solvent or a suitable combination of an acid and an organic solvent.
US08058432B2
The present invention releates to a method for preparing a phenylalanine compound having a quinazoline-dione ring represented by the following formula (1) or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof: where R1-R4 are defined herein. The method involves reacting a specified acyl phenylalanine compound with a carbonyl group-introducing reagent and a specified anthranilic acid compound to form a carboxy-asymmetric urea compound which is converted to a quinazoline-dione compound in the presence of a carboxyl group-activating agent.
US08058428B2
The invention concerns a method for producing melamine by dissolving urea, in which solid, liquid or gaseous media other than the gas mixture consisting of the components formed during the reaction is used to desublime the melamine from the gas phase.
US08058426B2
This invention concerns a new family of phosphorus-containing compounds containing a moiety JQA- in which:A is absent or is —O—, —S— or —NR2—;Q is absent or (if A is —O—, —S— or —NR2—) Q may be —V—, —OV—, —SV—, or —NR2V—, where V is an aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, aryl, or heteroaryl moiety, such that J is linked to the cyclohexyl ring directly, through A or through VA, OVA, SVA or NR2VA; K is O or S; each occurrence of Y is independently —O—, —S—, —NR2—, or a bond linking a R5 moiety to P; each occurrence of R2 and R5 is independently an aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, aryl, or heteroaryl moiety, or H; and each occurrence of R6 is independently —PK(YR5)(YR5), —SO2(YR5) or —C(O)(YR5); so long as any R2, or R5 moiety linked directly to P is not H; wherein two R2, R5 and/or R6 moieties may be chemically linked to one another to form a ring; each occurrence of G is independently —O—, —S—, —NR2— or (M)x; each occurrence of M is independently a substituted or unsubstituted methylene moiety, and any M-M′ moiety may be saturated or unsaturated; each occurrence of x is independently an integer from 1-6; and the other variables are as defined herein.
US08058424B2
The present invention provides a method for the preparation of 5-azacytidine, wherein 5-azacytidine is represented by the structure: The method involves the silylation of 5-azacytosine, followed by the coupling of silylated 5-azacytosine to a protected β-D-ribofuranose derivative. The coupling reaction is catalyzed by trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMS-Triflate).
US08058420B2
The present invention is directed to promoters isolated from maize and functional equivalents thereto. The promoters of the present invention have particular utility in driving root-specific expression of heterologous genes that impart increased agronomic, horticultural and/or pesticidal characteristics to a given transgenic plant. The present invention is also drawn to DNA molecules comprising the promoters of the invention and transformed plant tissues containing DNA molecules comprising a promoter of the invention operably linked to a heterologous gene or genes, and seeds thereof.
US08058408B2
Using an undifferentiated mouse CL6 cell line, DMSO was added to induce its differentiation into cardiac muscular cells in order to obtain gene fragments whose expression elevated upon the induction. The isolated gene had zinc finger domains and showed a significant homology to the Sp1 family genes. Furthermore, a human gene corresponding to this mouse gene was isolated. The protein encoded by this gene existed in the nucleus and bonded to a GC-box. The protein was revealed to repress the transcription regulatory activity of the CMV promoter and thus serves as a transcription factor.
US08058397B2
A new family of immunoreceptor molecules of the immunoglobulin superfamily, (LIR) polypeptides is described. Disclosed are sequences encoding LIR family members and their deduced amino acid sequences, polypeptides encoded by DNA that hybridize to oligonucleotide probes having defined sequences, processes for producing polypeptides of the LIR family, and antagonistic antibodies to LIR family members. LIR family members can be used to treat autoimmune diseases and disease states associated with suppressed immune function.
US08058393B2
An instrument and method for accelerating the solid phase synthesis of peptides are disclosed. The method includes the steps of deprotecting a protected first amino acid linked to a solid phase resin by admixing the protected linked acid with a deprotecting solution in a microwave transparent vessel while irradiating the admixed acid and solution with microwaves, activating a second amino acid, coupling the second amino acid to the first acid while irradiating the composition in the same vessel with microwaves, and cleaving the linked peptide from the solid phase resin by admixing the linked peptide with a cleaving composition in the same vessel while irradiating the composition with microwaves.
US08058385B2
Methods for preparing conjugates using polymeric reagents bearing a maleimide are provided. Also provided are compositions comprising the conjugates.
US08058380B1
A. new compound, a high temperature POSS-dianiline is provided. It is a composition of nanoparticles, which can be incorporated into polymers such as polyimides, polyamides, cyanate esters, and epoxies, for improved properties and performance of such polymers.
US08058376B2
A process for making an aqueous dispersion of fluoropolymer particles by polymerizing in a first polymerization step at least one fluorinated monomer having an ionic group in an aqueous polymerization medium in the presence of initiator, the polymerizing providing dispersed particulate of fluorinated ionomer, and polymerizing in a second polymerization step at least one fluorinated monomer in the aqueous polymerization medium in the presence of the dispersed particulate of fluorinated ionomer and initiator to form the aqueous dispersion of particles of fluoropolymer.
US08058373B2
A process for polymerization of propylene, optionally ethylene, and further optionally one or more C4-30 α-olefins and/or one or more conjugated or nonconjugated dienes under continuous, solution polymerization conditions to prepare a high molecular weight polymer or interpolymer, said process comprising conducting the polymerization in the presence of a catalyst composition comprising a hafnium complex of a polyvalent aryloxyether.
US08058372B2
This invention relates to a transition metal catalyst compound represented by the formula: LMX2 or (LMX2)2 wherein each M is independently a Group 7 to 11 metal, preferably a Group 7, 8, 9, or 10 metal; each L is, independently, a tridentate or tetradentate neutrally charged ligand that is bonded to M by three or four nitrogen atoms, (where at least one of the nitrogen atoms is a central nitrogen atom and at least two of the nitrogen atoms are terminal nitrogen atoms), and at least two terminal nitrogen atoms are substituted with one C3-C50 hydrocarbyl and one hydrogen atom or two hydrocarbyls wherein at least one hydrocarbyl is a C3-C50 hydrocarbyl, and the central nitrogen atom is bonded to three different carbon atoms or two different carbon atoms and one hydrogen atom; X is independently a monoanionic ligand, or two X may join together to form a bidentate dianionic ligand.
US08058361B2
Provided is a polymer prepared by using a vegetable oil-derived component and favorably used as a polylactic acid resin-softening agent that is effective in softening the polylactic acid resin while preserving the transparency of the polylactic acid resin and simultaneously resistant to bleeding out (extraction) of itself from the polylactic acid resin. Also provided are a resin mixture of the resin composition and a polylactic acid resin as well as a film or sheet prepared by using the resin mixture.The polymer (C) according to the present invention has an epoxidized vegetable oil segment (A) and a polylactic acid segment (B). The resin mixture according to the present invention is a mixture of the polymer (C) and the polylactic acid resin (D) at a (C)/(D) ratio of 10/90 to 50/50 (weight ratio).
US08058353B2
A sulfonated block copolymer which is solid and non-dispersible in water having at least two polymer end blocks A and at least one polymer interior block B wherein each A block is a polymer containing essentially no sulfonic acid or sulfonate functional groups and each B block is a polymer block containing 10 to 100 mol percent sulfonic acid or sulfonate functional groups based on the number of monomer units of the B block, and wherein said A and B blocks do not contain any significant levels of olefinic unsaturation. Also claimed are processes for making such block copolymers, and the various end uses and applications for such block copolymers.
US08058345B2
Disclosed are adhesive compositions include polymerizable resin, preferably in an amount of from about 10 wt % to about 90 wt % and multifunctional acrylate, preferably in an amount of from about 5 wt % to about 30 wt %. The polymerizable resin can include free radical initiated vinyl addition resins. The adhesives in preferred embodiments exhibit enhanced bonding strength of the adhesive at high temperatures, such as at about 80° C., and enhanced the fire resistance.
US08058342B1
Sealing compositions and application methods for sealing and protecting asphalt roof shingles or other porous roofing and construction materials are described for eliminating algae, mold and mildew, increasing granular adhesion, providing additional UV protection and significantly increasing the wind resistance of the roof or other construction material. The sealing composition includes an acrylic polymer that has been modified by a silicone surfactant to alter its wetting properties so as to promote wicking of the sealer under asphalt shingles and at open edges to prevent curling and water infiltration. The method of applying the sealing composition promotes uniform distribution of the product on the surface of installed roofs as well as enhances bonding between individual shingles by improved penetration on and between shingle layers to increase adhesion area.
US08058336B2
The present invention relates to a flame retardant polymer composition, comprising (A) a polyolefin comprising a polyolefin with a molecular weight distribution Mw/Mn>20, (B) a silicone-group containing compound, and (C) an inorganic filler material, to an article, in particular a wire or cable, comprising said flame retardant polymer composition, and to the use of said composition for the production of a layer of a wire or cable.
US08058335B2
The present invention provides a dispersion comprising wax particles dispersed with a polymeric dispersant in a water immiscible solvent, wherein the dispersant comprises a wax-compatible polyolefin segment and a polyester compatible oleophilic polar segment. The invention is further directed towards a method of manufacturing such a wax dispersion, and towards methods of manufacturing wax-containing polymer particles by limited coalescence processes employing such a wax dispersion. In particular embodiments, the invention is directed towards chemically prepared toner derived from wax dispersions of the invention that shows improved toner performance.
US08058332B2
Phosphorus-sulfur compounds have flame retardant activity in organic polymer systems. The phosphorus-sulfur compounds can be represented by the structure: wherein X is oxygen or sulfur, T is a covalent bond, oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen, provided that at least one of X and T is sulfur, each X′ is independently oxygen or sulfur, each m is independently zero or 1 when X′ is oxygen and zero, 1 or 2 when X′ is sulfur, n is at least 1 and preferably at least 2, each R is independently an unsubstituted or inertly substituted hydrocarbyl group or the R groups together form an unsubstituted or inertly substituted divalent organic group and A is an organic linking group.
US08058330B2
A thermoplastic resin composition comprising (A) a polyolefin-type thermoplastic elastomer or a similar thermoplastic resin, (B) an organopolysiloxane represented by the following average unit formula: R1aSiO(4-a)/2 {where R1 is a univalent hydrocarbon group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, and “a” is a number in the range of 1.95 to 2.05}, and (C) a metal deactivator; and a product molded from the aforementioned composition. The thermoplastic resin composition is suitable for obtaining molded products that are characterized by their ability to suppress development of defects on the product surfaces after long-term outdoor exposure.
US08058326B2
Fluorescent poly(alkylene terephthalate) compositions are provided. The fluorescent poly(alkylene terephthalate) compositions contain fluorescent poly(alkylene terephthalate)s and are made from fluorescent compounds and poly(alkylene terephthalate) oligomers, or by polymerizing amine and acid monomers in the presence of fluorescent compounds.
US08058323B2
Disclosed are soft, high refractive index, acrylic materials. These materials, especially useful as intraocular lens materials, contain one or more aryl acrylic hydrophobic monomers as principal device-forming monomers and a tack-reducing macromer additive. In addition to their use as intraocular lens materials, the present materials are also suitable for use in other ophthalmic or otorhinolaryngological devices, such as contact lenses, keratoprostheses, corneal inlays or rings; otological ventilation tubes and nasal implants.
US08058322B2
A flexible polyurethane foam-forming composition and the flexible polyurethane foam obtained therefrom contain, as flame-retardant additive, a halogen-free phosphonate compound which is substantially unreactive for isocyanate, contains at least about 5 weight percent phosphorus, has an acid value of about 2 mg KOH/g or less, a volatility as measured by thermogravimetric analysis not exceeding a 5.0 percent weight loss at a temperature of about 150° C., and a weight average molecular weight of from about 200 to about 2000.
US08058321B2
Fibered particles combine microscale spheroid particles and nanoscale fibers in an integrated body. Fibered particles may be combined with a matrix precursor to form syntactic foams incorporating both particles and fibers.
US08058317B2
This Invention relates to products and processes for making extreme-pressure additives (water-dispersible and oil-based). The process includes nitrating fatty raw material sources such as animal fats, vegetable oils, the fatty acids and synthetic esters derived therefrom, terminal or internal olefins, polyalkenes or their linear copolymers, and alkylated phenols, using 70% nitric acid or nitrogen dioxide gas. The additives are used as soluble oils or as lubricating blends by the inclusion of emulsifiers. The nitrated unsaturated fatty acids such as tallow fatty acid, oleic acid, tall oil fatty acid, tall-oil derived dimer acids, castor oil fatty acid, alkyl succinic acids, are modified by post-reaction to form alkanolamine (monoethanolamine, triethanolamine) salts or alkanolamides in order to obtain the derived water-dispersible nitro-EP additives. The same nitration method is used to make ethoxylated fatty esters by reaction with water-soluble polyglycols in order to obtain water-dispersible nitro-EP additives.
US08058303B2
Provided is a pharmaceutical composition for external use which includes the following components: 1) luliconazole and/or a salt thereof; 2) N-methyl-2-pyrollidone; and 3) benzyl alcohol and/or diester of a dibasic acid. The diester of the dibasic acid is a diethyl ester or a diisopropyl ester of a dibasic acid having 6-10 carbon atoms. The pharmaceutical composition is useful for the treatment of a mycotic disease such as foot trichophytosis, trichophytosis corporis, trichophytosis on a hard keratin or hyperkeratotic portion, onychomycosis, particularly on a nail, or dermatomycosis.
US08058301B2
The invention relates to new forms of salts of valsartan or crystalline, also partly crystalline and amorphous salts of valsartan, the respective production and usage, and pharmaceutical preparations containing such a salt.
US08058299B2
Provided herein are compounds of the formula (I): as well as pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein the substituents are as those disclosed in the specification. These compounds, and the pharmaceutical compositions containing them, are useful for the treatment of diseases such as, for example, obesity, type II diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome.
US08058295B2
The invention provides compositions, pharmaceutical preparations and methods for inhibition of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein (CFTR) that are useful for the study and treatment of CFTR-mediated diseases and conditions. The compositions and pharmaceutical preparations of the invention may comprise one or more thiazolidinone compounds, and may additionally comprise one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, excipients and/or adjuvants. The methods of the invention comprise, in certain embodiments, administering to a patient suffering from a CFTR-mediated disease or condition, an efficacious amount of a thiazolidinone compound. In other embodiments the invention provides methods of inhibiting CFTR that comprise contacting cells in a subject with an effective amount of a thiazolidinone compound. In addition, the invention features a non-human animal model of CFTR-mediated disease which model is produced by administration of a thiazolidinone compound to a non-human animal in an amount sufficient to inhibit CFTR.
US08058290B2
The disclosure relates to compounds of formula (I): which modulate the activity of proteins, particularly kinases, and to compositions containing the same, and to the use thereof as medicaments, in particular as anticancer agents.
US08058282B2
Novel substituted 2,4,8-trisubstituted-8H-pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one compounds and compositions for use in therapy as CSBP/p38 kinase inhibitors.
US08058274B2
Compounds, compositions and methods are provided which are useful in the treatment of diseases through the modulation of potassium ion flux through voltage-dependent potassium channels. More particularly, the invention provides heterocycles, compositions and methods that are useful in the treatment of central or peripheral nervous system disorders (e.g., migraine, ataxia, Parkinson's disease, bipolar disorders, trigeminal neuralgia, spasticity, mood disorders, brain tumors, psychotic disorders, myokymia, seizures, epilepsy, seizure, retinal degeneration, hearing and vision loss, Alzheimer's disease, age-related memory loss, learning deficiencies, anxiety, neuronal degeneration and motor neuron diseases, maintaining bladder control or treating urinary incontinence) and as neuroprotective agents (e.g., to prevent stroke and the like) by modulating potassium channels associated with the onset or recurrence of the indicated conditions.
US08058269B2
There is provided compounds of the formula wherein R6, V, W, X, Y, Q and n are as described. The compounds exhibit activity as anticancer agents.
US08058264B2
Described is a novel combination therapy for diabetes mellitus type I and/or for obesity and its concomitant and/or secondary diseases or conditions, in particular the metabolic syndrome and/or syndrome X, and/or diabetes mellitus type II, by administering a combination of at least one KATP channel opener as a first active agent and at least one CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist as a second active agent. The invention is further directed to such novel combination therapy wherein a dually acting compound with combined KATP channel opening and CB1 antagonistic properties is used. The invention also relates to novel pharmaceutical compositions comprising KATP channel openers and CB1 antagonists and the use of said pharmaceutical compositions in the treatment, delayed progression, delayed onset of and/or inhibition of diabetes mellitus type 1, and the prophylaxis and treatment, of obesity as well as the prophylaxis, treatment, delayed onset and/or inhbition of its concomitant and/or secondary diseases or conditions, in particular the metabolic syndrome and/or syndrome X, and/or diabetes mellitus type II, in mammals and humans. The invention is further directed to such novel pharmaceutical compositions comprising a dually acting compound with combined KATP channel opening and CB1 antagonistic properties.
US08058263B2
The present invention relates to compounds of formula I wherein R1, R2, R4, R5, Ra, Rb, n, W and Z are as defined in the application, their preparation and their use as P2Y12 receptor antagonists in the treatment and/or prevention of peripheral vascular, of visceral-, hepatic- and renal-vascular, of cardiovascular and of cerebrovascular diseases or conditions associated with platelet aggregation, including thrombosis in humans and other mammals.
US08058262B2
The present invention provides boronic acid compounds, boronic esters, and compositions thereof that can modulate apoptosis such as by inhibition of proteasome activity. The compounds and compositions can be used in methods of inducing apoptosis and treating diseases such as cancer and other disorders associated directly of indirectly with proteasome activity.
US08058256B2
A carrier for delivering small interfering RNA (siRNA) into cells includes a cholesterol residue covalently bonded to oligoarginine. Mixing the siRNA with the carrier produces a complex-containing composition. Contacting a cell with the complex-containing composition results in delivery of the siRNA into the cell. Delivery of an siRNA targeted to vascular endothelial growth factor is a treatment for cancer. Methods of making the carrier and complex are also disclosed.
US08058250B2
The present invention concerns methods and compositions for introducing miRNA activity or function into cells using synthetic nucleic acid molecules. Moreover, the present invention concerns methods and compositions for identifying miRNAs with specific cellular functions that are relevant to therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic applications wherein synthetic miRNAs and/or miRNA inhibitors are used in library screening assays.
US08058249B2
Nucleic acids containing unmethylated CpG dinucleotides and therapeutic utilities based on their ability to stimulate an immune response and to redirect a Th2 response to a Th1 response in a subject are disclosed. Methods for treating atopic diseases, including atopic dermatitis, are disclosed.
US08058248B2
Early protection of susceptible animals against foot and mouth disease (FMD) may be achieved by inoculating the animals with a vaccine comprising an interferon DNA sequence. One day after inoculation, animals have been found protected from challenge with virulent foot and mouth disease virus. Co-administration with an effective foot and mouth disease virus vaccine provides protection prior to the development of specific immunity, a feature especially desireable during a FMD outbreak.
US08058231B2
Transcriptional regulatory regions and transcriptional regulatory factors for the human high affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) γ-chain gene are specified and are targets for the development of transcriptional regulatory agents for the FcεRI γ-chain gene. The following are provided: DNA comprising the full length or a portion of the base sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:1, that regulates transcription of the human high affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) γ-chain gene; and DNA comprising the full length or a portion of the base sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:2, that regulates transcription of the human high affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) γ-chain gene. The present invention is promising for the development of novel agents for the prophylaxis/treatment of allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, thrombosis, glomerulonephritis, and lupus nephritis.
US08058228B2
Disclosed herein are peptides comprising a leptin sequence and methods for their use in preventing ObR signaling in a leptin-responsive cell. A leptin peptide of the present invention binds to but does not activate ObR signaling in a leptin-responsive cell, thereby inhibiting the up-regulatory effects of leptin on ObR signaling in the leptin-responsive cell. Administration of the peptide effectively prevents embryo implantation in a mammal to which the peptide has been administered. Also disclosed herein is a method for identifying a peptide antagonist of ObR, wherein the peptide comprises a leptin sequence.
US08058221B2
Provided are a composition for removing a photoresist and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using the composition. The composition includes about 60-90 wt % of dimethyl sulfoxide, about 10-30 wt % of a polar organic solvent, about 0.5-1.5 wt % of hydroxy alkyl ammonium and about 1-10 wt % of an amine containing no hydroxyl group.
US08058214B2
A process to make a shock absorber fluid having improved performance properties, the properties including an air release after 1 minute by DIN 51381 of less than 0.8 vol %, a kinematic viscosity at 100° C. less than 5 mm2/s and an aniline point greater than or equal to 95° C., or meeting the specifications for Kayaba 0304-050-0002 or VW TL 731 class A. The shock absorber fluid is made by blending a base oil having less than 10 wt % naphthenic carbon and a high viscosity index with low levels of (or no) viscosity index improver and pour point depressant.
US08058210B2
The present invention relates to novel arylphenyl-substituted cyclic ketoenols of the formula (I) in which X represents halogen, alkyl, alkoxy, alkenyloxy, alkylthio, alkylsulphinyl, alkylsulphonyl, halogenoalkyl, halogenoalkoxy, halogenoalkenyloxy, nitro, cyano or in each case optionally substituted phenyl, phenoxy, phenylthio, phenylalkoxy or phenylalkylthio, Y represents in each case optionally substituted cycloalkyl, aryl or hetaryl, Z represents hydrogen, halogen, alkyl, alkoxy, alkenyloxy, halogenoalkyl, halogenoalkoxy, halogenoalkenyloxy, nitro or cyano, CKE represents one of the groups in which A, B, D, G and Q1 to Q6 are each as defined in the description, to a plurality of processes for their preparation and to their use as pesticides and herbicides.
US08058209B2
To provide a heat-sensitive recording material including a substrate; a heat-sensitive color-developing layer over the substrate, the heat-sensitive color-developing layer containing a leuco dye and a developer; a first protective layer over the heat-sensitive color-developing layer, the first protective layer containing a water-soluble resin and a crosslinking agent; and a second protective layer over the first protective layer, the second protective layer containing a water-soluble resin, a crosslinking agent and a pigment, wherein the heat-sensitive color-developing layer, the first protective layer and the second protective layer are formed simultaneously by curtain coating method, and the second protective layer contains diacetone-modified polyvinyl alcohol and acrylic resin or maleic acid copolymer resin.
US08058205B2
An NOx purification system having NOx occlusion reduction-type catalysts including an occlusion material and a metal catalyst, which occludes NOx in a lean state in terms of a fuel-air ratio of an exhaust gas and releases the occluded NOx in a rich state. A high-temperature type catalyst is placed on the upstream side, and a low-temperature type catalyst is disposed on the downstream side in series with the high-temperature type catalyst. The molar ratio of platinum to rhodium supported on the high-temperature type catalyst is within a range of 2:1 to 1:2. This NOx purification system is capable of a wide NOx activation temperature window.
US08058202B2
Heterogeneous catalyst systems, methods of making these systems, and methods of using these systems, wherein catalytically active gold is deposited onto composite support media. The composite support media is formed by providing nanoporous material on at least a portion of the surfaces of carbonaceous host material. In representative embodiments, relatively fine, nanoporous guest particles are coated or otherwise provided on surfaces of relatively coarser activated carbon particles. Catalytically active gold may be deposited onto one or both of the guest or host materials either before or after the guest and host materials are combined to from the composite host material. PVD is the preferred catalyst system of depositing gold.
US08058200B2
This invention relates to the field of olefin polymerization catalyst compositions, and methods for the polymerization and copolymerization of olefins, typically using a supported catalyst composition. In one aspect, this invention encompasses precontacting a metallocene with a borinic acid or boronic acid prior to contacting this mixture with the acidic activator-support and an organoaluminum compound.
US08058197B2
This invention provides carbon composite materials, which comprise metal carbide particles, at least the particle surfaces or the entirety of which are metal carbides, synthesized in situ from a metal source, i.e., at least one member selected from the group comprising metal particles, metal oxide particles, and composite metal oxide particles, and a carbon source, i.e., a thermosetting resin, dispersed in a carbon, carbon fiber, or carbon/carbon fiber matrix, and contain no free metal particles. This invention also provides a method for producing such composite carbon materials, which enables the production of carbon composite materials having a high coefficient of friction, high thermostability, and abrasion resistance.
US08058195B2
The invention is to processes for producing a nanoglass powder batches and to powder batches formed by such processes. In one embodiment, the process comprises the steps of providing a precursor medium comprising a first metal oxide precursor to a first metal oxide, a second metal oxide precursor to a second metal oxide, and a liquid vehicle; and flame spraying the precursor medium under conditions effective to form aggregated nanoglass particles comprising the first and second metal oxides, wherein the aggregated nanoglass particles have an average primary particle size of from 25 nm to 500 nm. The aggregated nanoglass particles preferably have an average aggregate particle size of from 50 nm to 1000 nm and may be amorphous or crystalline.
US08058194B2
Conductive nonwoven webs are disclosed. The nonwoven webs contain pulp fibers combined with conductive fibers. In one embodiment, the webs are made in a wetlaid tissue making process.
US08058188B2
A fabric or belt and a method for forming such a fabric or belt, including a base support structure and at least one coating with the coating being applied by a thermal spray process.
US08058183B2
A method for restoring the dielectric constant of a low dielectric constant film is described. A porous dielectric layer having a plurality of pores is formed on a substrate. The plurality of pores is then filled with an additive to provide a plugged porous dielectric layer. Finally, the additive is removed from the plurality of pores.
US08058182B2
Method and device for forming a membrane includes providing a glass substrate, and depositing a thin layer of chromium on the glass substrate. The thin layer of chromium is patterned to form a deflection electrode and interconnect leads. A sacrificial layer of aluminum is deposited on top of the patterned chromium layer, then the sacrificial layer is patterned to define anchor regions. On top of the sacrificial layer, a thick layer of chromium is deposited, and the thick layer of chromium is patterned to form a membrane. The sacrificial layer is then etched to release the membrane.
US08058181B1
The current invention provides methods for performing a cleaning process that provides greater cleaning efficiency with less damage to device structures. After etching and photoresist stripping, a first plasma clean is performed. The first plasma clean may comprise one or more steps. Following the first plasma clean, a first HO based clean is performed. The first HO based clean may be a de-ionized water rinse, a water vapor clean, or a plasma clean, where the plasma includes hydrogen and oxygen. Following the first HO based clean, a second plasma clean is performed, which may comprise one or more steps. A second HO based clean follows the second plasma clean, and may be a de-ionized water rinse, a water vapor clean, or a plasma clean, where the plasma includes hydrogen and oxygen. For plasma processes, an RF, generated plasma, a microwave generated plasma, an inductively coupled plasma, or combination may be used. Embodiments of the invention are performed after an etch, such as a metal etch, via etch, contact etch, polysilicon etch, nitride etch or shallow trench isolation etch has been performed. Photoresist may be removed either prior to, during, or after cleaning processes according to embodiments of the invention, using an oxygen-containing plasma. Photoresist removal may be performed at low temperatures.
US08058178B1
The present invention pertains to methods for removing unwanted material from a semiconductor wafer during wafer manufacturing. More specifically, the invention pertains to stripping photo-resist material and removing etch-related residues from a semiconductor wafer. Methods involve implementing a plasma operation using hydrogen and a weak oxidizing agent, such as carbon dioxide. The invention is effective at stripping photo-resist and removing residues from low-k dielectric material used in Damascene devices.
US08058176B2
Methods of forming integrated circuit devices include forming an integrated circuit substrate having an electrically insulating layer thereon and forming a mask layer pattern having at least first and second openings of different size therein, on the electrically insulating layer. First and second portions of the electrically insulating layer extending opposite the first and second openings, respectively, are simultaneously etched at first and second different etch rates. This etching yields a first trench extending adjacent the first opening that is deeper than a second trench extending adjacent the second opening. Then, the bottoms of the first and second trenches are simultaneously etched to substantially the same depths using an etching process that compensates for the first and second different etch rates.
US08058174B2
A semiconductor processing component has an outer surface portion comprised of silicon carbide, the outer surface portion having a skin impurity level and a bulk impurity level. The skin impurity level is average impurity level from 0 nm to 100 nm of depth into the outer surface portion, the bulk impurity level is measured at a depth of at least 3 microns into the outer surface portion, and the skin impurity level is not greater than 80% of the bulk impurity level.
US08058170B2
Methods of forming low resistivity tungsten films with good uniformity and good adhesion to the underlying layer are provided. The methods involve forming a tungsten nucleation layer using a pulsed nucleation layer process at low temperature and then treating the deposited nucleation layer prior to depositing the bulk tungsten fill. The treatment operation lowers resistivity of the deposited tungsten film. In certain embodiments, the depositing the nucleation layer involves a boron-based chemistry in the absence of hydrogen. Also in certain embodiments, the treatment operations involve exposing the nucleation layer to alternating cycles of a reducing agent and a tungsten-containing precursor. The methods are useful for depositing films in high aspect ratio and/or narrow features. The films exhibit low resistivity at narrow line widths and excellent step coverage.
US08058169B2
An interconnection architecture, for a semiconductor device (having regions arranged to include at least an inner region, an intermediate region located at least aside the inner region, and an outer region located at least on a side of the intermediate region opposite to the inner region, includes: one or more pairs of first and second signal lines, each pair extending from the inner region into the intermediate region; first portions and second portions of the first and second signal lines being parallel, respectively, the first portions being located in the inner region; the first and second portion of at least the first signal line not being collinear; and an intra-pair line-spacing, d(i), for each pair including the following magnitudes, d2 in the inner region, and d2′ in the intermediate region, where d2
US08058164B2
The present invention relates to methods and structures for the metallization of semiconductor devices. One aspect of the present invention is a method of forming a semiconductor device having copper metallization. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a patterned wafer having a diffusion barrier for copper; depositing a copperless seed layer on the diffusion barrier effective for electrochemical deposition of gapfill copper. The seed layer is formed by a conformal deposition process and by a nonconformal deposition process. The method further includes electroplating copper gapfill onto the seed layer. Another aspect of the invention includes electronic devices made using methods and structures according to embodiments of the present invention.
US08058162B2
A method of manufacturing a nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes: forming an insulator structure on a semiconductor substrate in a first region; forming a first gate insulating film on the semiconductor substrate outside the first region; blanket depositing a first gate material film and etching-back the first gate material film to form a first gate electrode on the first gate insulating film lateral to the insulator structure; removing the insulator structure; blanket forming a second gate insulating film; blanket depositing a second gate material film and etching-back the second gate material film to form a second gate electrode on the second gate insulating film in the first region; and silicidation of upper surfaces of the first and second gate electrodes. Any one of the first and second gate insulating films is a charge trapping film.
US08058160B2
A method of forming the gate patterns of a nonvolatile memory device comprises stacking a gate insulating layer and a first conductive layer over a semiconductor substrate; forming isolation hard mask patterns over the first conductive layer; etching the first conductive layer using the isolation hard mask patterns as etch barriers, thus exposing the gate insulating layer; etching the gate insulating layer using the isolation hard mask patterns as etch barriers, thus exposing the semiconductor substrate; after exposing the semiconductor substrate, forming a passivation layer on the sidewalls of the first conductive layers and on the sidewalls of the gate insulating layers; and etching the semiconductor substrate using the passivation layer and the isolation hard mask patterns as etch barriers, thus forming trenches in the semiconductor substrate.
US08058154B2
The present invention provides methods and systems for discretized, combinatorial processing of regions of a substrate such as for the discovery, implementation, optimization, and qualification of new materials, processes, and process sequence integration schemes used in integrated circuit fabrication. A substrate having an array of differentially processed regions thereon is processed by delivering materials to or modifying regions of the substrate.
US08058153B2
There is provided a damage recovery method capable of recovering electrical characteristics of a low dielectric insulating film sufficiently while suppressing oxidation of buried metal and generation of pattern defaults.A damaged functional group generated in a surface of the low dielectric insulating film by a processing is substituted with a hydrophobic functional group (ST. 2). A damaged component present under a dense layer generated in the surface of the low dielectric insulating film by the substitution process is recovered by using an ultraviolet heating process (ST. 3).
US08058148B2
Methods and apparatus for producing semiconductor on insulator structures using directed exfoliation
Methods and apparatus provide for forming a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) structure, including subjecting a implantation surface of a donor semiconductor wafer to an ion implantation step to create a weakened slice in cross-section defining an exfoliation layer of the donor semiconductor wafer; and subjecting the donor semiconductor wafer to a spatial variation step, either before, during or after the ion implantation step, such that at least one parameter of the weakened slice varies spatially across the weakened slice in at least one of X- and Y-axial directions.
US08058147B2
The invention relates to a method for producing semiconductor components, wherein a layer composite (6) containing a semiconductor material is formed on a growth substrate (1), a flexible carrier layer is applied to the layer composite (6), the flexible carrier layer is cured to form a self-supporting carrier layer (2), and the growth substrate (1) is stripped away. As an alternative, the carrier layer (2) may have a base layer (2b) and an adhesion layer (2a) adhering on the layer composite.
US08058144B2
A method for capping a MEMS wafer to form a hermetically sealed device. The method includes applying a glass bonding agent to the cap wafer and burning off organic material in the glass bonding agent. The cap wafer/glass bonding agent combination is then cleaned to reduce lead in the combination. The cleaning is preferably accomplished using an oxygen plasma. The MEMS device is coated with a WASA agent. The cap wafer is then bonded to the MEMS wafer by heating this combination in a capping gas atmosphere of hydrogen molecules in a gas such as nitrogen, argon or neon. This method of capping the MEMS wafer can reduce stiction in the MEMS device.
US08058140B2
Methods and devices are disclosed, such as those involving memory cell devices with improved charge retention characteristics. In one or more embodiments, a memory cell is provided having an active area defined by sidewalls of neighboring trenches. A layer of dielectric material is blanket deposited over the memory cell, and etched to form spacers on sidewalls of the active area. Dielectric material is formed over the active area, a charge trapping structure is formed over the dielectric material over the active area, and a control gate is formed over the charge trapping structure. In some embodiments, the charge trapping structure includes nanodots. In some embodiments, the width of the spacers is between about 130% and about 170% of the thickness of the dielectric material separating the charge trapping material and an upper surface of the active area.
US08058135B2
The invention relates to a process for the production of electrolyte capacitors having a low equivalent series resistance and low residual current, electrolyte capacitors produced by this process and the use of such electrolyte capacitors.
US08058133B2
A method of fabrication of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor includes first providing a substrate on which a gate structure is formed. Afterwards, a portion of the substrate is removed to form a first recess in the substrate at both ends of the gate structure. Additionally, a source/drain extension layer is deposited in the first recess and a number of spacers are formed at both ends of the gate structure. Subsequently, a portion of the source/drain extension and the substrate are removed to form a second recess in the source/drain extension and a portion of the substrate outside of the spacer. In addition, a source/drain layer is deposited in the second recess. Because the source/drain extension and the source/drain layer have specific materials and structures, short channel effect is improved and the efficiency of the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor is improved.
US08058131B2
A semiconductor integrated circuit device includes a substrate, a nonvolatile memory device formed in a memory cell region of the substrate, and a semiconductor device formed in a device region of the substrate. The nonvolatile memory device has a multilayer gate electrode structure including a tunnel insulating film and a floating gate electrode formed thereon. The floating gate electrode has sidewall surfaces covered with a protection insulating film. The semiconductor device has a gate insulating film and a gate electrode formed thereon. A bird's beak structure is formed of a thermal oxide film at an interface of the tunnel insulating film and the floating gate electrode, the bird's beak structure penetrating into the floating gate electrode along the interface from the sidewall faces of the floating gate electrode, and the gate insulating film is interposed between the substrate and the gate electrode to have a substantially uniform thickness.
US08058124B2
The semiconductor device, which provides reduced electric current leakage and parasitic resistance to achieve stable current gain, is provided. A first polycrystalline semiconductor layer is grown on a p-type polycrystalline silicon film exposed in a lower surface of a visor section composed of a multiple-layered film containing a p-type polycrystalline silicon film and a silicon nitride film, while growing the first semiconductor layer on a n-type collector layer, and then the first polycrystalline semiconductor layer is selectively removed. Further, a second growing operation for selectively growing the second polycrystalline semiconductor layer and the third polycrystalline semiconductor layer on the exposed portion of the p-type polycrystalline semiconductor film exposed in the lower surface of the visor section without contacting the silicon nitride film, while growing the second semiconductor layer and the third semiconductor layer, so that the third semiconductor layer is in contact with the third polycrystalline semiconductor layer.
US08058114B2
A gate line includes a first seed layer formed on a base substrate and a first metal layer formed on the first seed layer. A first insulation layer is formed on the base substrate. A second insulation layer is formed on the base substrate. Here, a line trench is formed through the second insulation layer in a direction crossing the gate line. A data line includes a second seed layer formed below the line trench and a second metal layer formed in the line trench. A pixel electrode is formed in a pixel area of the base substrate. Therefore, a trench of a predetermined depth is formed using an insulation layer and a metal layer is formed through a plating method, so that a metal line having a sufficient thickness may be formed.
US08058110B2
The plating method comprises the step of forming a resin layer 10 over a substrate 16; the step of cutting the surface part of the resin layer 10 with a cutting tool 12; the step of forming a seed layer 36 on the resin layer 10 by electroless plating; and the step of forming a plating film 44 on the seed layer 36 by electroplating. Suitable roughness can be give to the surface of the resin layer 10, whereby the adhesion between the seed layer 36 and the resin layer 10 can be sufficiently ensured. Excessively deep pores are not formed in the surface of the resin layer 10 as are by desmearing treatment, whereby a micronized pattern of a photoresist film 40 can be formed on the resin layer 10. Thus, interconnections 44, etc. can be formed over the resin layer 10 at a narrow pitch with high reliability ensured.
US08058105B2
A method of fabricating a packaging structure includes cutting a panel of packaging substrate into a plurality of packaging substrate blocks each having a plurality of packaging substrate units; mounting and packaging a semiconductor chip on each of the packaging substrate unit to form package blocks each having multiple packaging structure units; and cutting package blocks to form a plurality of package units. In the method, the alignment difference between the packaging structure units in each package block is minimized by appropriately cutting and forming substrate blocks to achieve higher precision and better yield, and also packaging of semiconductor chips can be performed on all package units in the substrate blocks, thereby integrating fabrication with packaging at one time to improve production efficiency and reduce the overall costs as a result.
US08058099B2
A method of fabricating a leadframe-based semiconductor package, and a semiconductor package formed thereby, are disclosed. In embodiments, a semiconductor die having die bond pads along two adjacent edges may be electrically coupled to four sides of a four-sided leadframe. Embodiments relate to lead and no-lead type leadframe.
US08058094B2
A transistor includes; at least two polycrystalline silicon layers disposed substantially parallel to each other, each polycrystalline silicon layer including a channel region and at least two high conductivity regions disposed at opposing sides of the channel region; a gate which corresponds to the channel region of the two polycrystalline silicon layers and which crosses the two polycrystalline silicon layers, and a gate insulating layer interposed between the gate and the two polycrystalline silicon layers, wherein low conductivity regions are disposed adjacent to one edge of the gate and are formed between the channel region and one high conductivity region of each polycrystalline silicon layer.
US08058093B2
An organic photosensitive optoelectronic device is formed in which the organic photoconductive materials are encapsulated by an electrode of the device. A first transparent film is provided that comprises a first electrically conductive material, arranged on a transparent substrate. A first photoconductive organic material is deposited over the first electrically conductive material. A metal is deposited at an initial rate of no more than 1 nm/s over the first photoconductive organic material, completely covering any exposed portions of the first photoconductive organic material and any exposed interfaces with the first photoconductive organic material to a thickness of no less than 10 nm. After the thickness of no less than 10 nm is obtained, the metal is sputtered at an increased rate at least three times the initial rate until a cumulative thickness of the metal completely covering the previously exposed portions of the first photoconductive organic material and the previously exposed interfaces with the first conductive organic material is at least 250 nm.
US08058088B2
Methods are disclosed including applying a layer of binder material onto an LED structure. A luminescent solution including an optical material suspended in a solution is atomized using a flow of pressurized gas, and the atomized luminescent solution is sprayed onto the LED structure including the layer of binder material using the flow of pressurized gas.
US08058083B2
It is an object of one embodiment of the preset invention to conduct separation without damaging a semiconductor element when the semiconductor element is made flexible. Further, it is another object of one embodiment of the preset invention to provide a technique for weakening adhesion between a separation layer and a buffer layer. Furthermore, it is another object of one embodiment of the preset invention to provide a technique for preventing generation of the bending stress on a semiconductor element due to separation. A semiconductor element formed over a separation layer with a buffer layer interposed therebetween is separated by dissolving the separation layer by using an etchant. Alternatively, separation is conducted by inserting a film into a region where a separation layer is dissolved by being in contact with an etchant and moving the film in a direction toward a region where the separation layer is not dissolved.
US08058079B2
An automated assay system includes a platform and a rotatable coupon removably positioned within or on the platform. The rotatable coupon includes a plurality of discrete tracks, each of the plurality of discrete tracks configured to contain microfluidic volumes. At least one magnet is operatively disposed on the platform, the rotatable coupon, or combinations thereof, and the at least one magnet is configured to generate a magnetic field at a predetermined area of the rotatable coupon. A motor is operatively connected to the rotatable coupon.
US08058072B2
This invention provides a measuring apparatus for microanalysis, which can be simply manufactured and can realize a number of analyses and measurements in a small analyte amount and particularly can analyze and measure a number of analytes having different concentrations and different analytes in a simultaneous and easy manner, and a measurement method of microanalysis using the apparatus. The measuring apparatus for microanalysis is characterized by comprising detection parts of m lines and n rows in communication with a micropassage for a waste solution, chambers of m lines and n rows in communication with the respective detection parts through a mixing flow passage, n first micropassages in communication with the respective line chambers through a passive valve, m second micropassages in communication with respective row chambers through a passive valve, and third micropassages in communication with the respective chambers for supplying gas and/or a washing solution.
US08058067B2
The present invention relates to artificial tissue growth guides comprising a core and an outer sleeve, which facilitates the regeneration of damaged tissues, such as nerves. The core is fixed to the sleeve at two attachment sites so that cells seeded within the core produce mechanical tension between the attachment sites. This tension aligns the cells and the fibres of the core and provides an improved substrate for tissue regeneration. Growth guides may be surgically implanted into an individual.
US08058053B2
The present invention relates to methods and genetically engineered methylotrophic yeast strains for producing glycoproteins with mammalian-like glycosylation. The present invention also relates to vectors useful for generating methylotrophic yeast strains capable of producing glycoproteins with mammalian-like glycosylation. Glycoproteins produced from the genetically engineered methylotrophic yeast strains are also provided.
US08058046B2
The invention relates to sesquiterpene synthases from Patchouli plants (Pogostemon cablin), and methods of their production and use. In one embodiment, the invention provides nucleic acids comprising a nucleotide sequence as described herein that encodes for at least one sesquiterpene synthase. In a further embodiment, the invention also provides for sesquiterpene synthases and methods of making and using these enzymes. For example, sesquiterpene synthases of the invention may be used to convert farnesyl-pyrophosphate to various sesquiterpenes including patchoulol, γ-curcumene and other germacrane-type sesquiterpenes.
US08058045B2
The present invention pertains generally to the field of therapeutic compounds, and more specifically to certain biarylamine compounds (referred to herein as BAA compounds), and especially certain pyrazin-2-yl-pyridin-2-yl-amine and pyrazine-2-yl-pyrimidin-4-yl-amine compounds of formula (I), which, inter alia, inhibit Checkpoint Kinase 1 (CHK1) kinase function. The present invention also pertains to pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds, and the use of such compounds and compositions, both in vitro and in vivo, to inhibit CHK1 kinase function, and in the treatment of diseases and conditions that are mediated by CHK1, that are ameliorated by the inhibition of CHK1 kinase function, etc., including proliferative conditions such as cancer, etc., optionally in combination with another agent, for example, (a) a DNA topoisomerase I or II inhibitor; (b) a DNA damaging agent; (c) an antimetabolite or TS inhibitor; (d) a microtubule targeted agent; and (e) ionisiπq radiation, wherein: —X═ is independently —CRA5═ or —N═; and the rest of the substituents are as specified in the claims.
US08058042B2
Disclosed is a circuit arrangement comprising at least one storage device for electrical charges to generate at least one voltage pulse by selectively discharging the storage device, and at least one control unit for controlling the discharge. A controller for monitoring the chronological progression of the voltage pulse is provided which controls at least one continuation of discharge after termination. Biomaterial is treated by using at least one electrical field generated by a first voltage pulse which is terminated once the value for an electrical parameter has exceeded or dropped below a preset limit. After the first voltage pulse has been terminated, it is continued by an additional voltage pulse.
US08058041B2
A process for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of a cellulosic solids fraction extracted from a lignocellulosic feedstock. The viscosity of the cellulosic solids fraction is reduced by intermixing with a liquid carbohydrate stream. A suitable liquid carbohydrate stream is a de-lignified liquids fraction that was previously separated from the solids fraction during processing of the lignocellulosic feedstock. Alternatively, the viscosity of the solids fraction may be reduced by commingling with a liquid carbohydrate stream comprising one or more monosaccharides. The reduced-viscosity cellulosic solids fraction is then commingled with a fermentative microbial inoculant and a cellulosic biomass-degrading enzyme composition. The commingled mixture is maintained in a pressurized reaction vessel under elevated temperatures to enable simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis of the cellulosic solids to monosaccharides and fermentation of the monosaccharides to produce an ethanolic beer. The ethanolic beer is distillable for recovery of fuel-grade ethanol and a stillage that may be further processed.
US08058040B2
The present invention relates to host cells transformed with a nucleic acid sequence encoding a eukaryotic xylose isomerase obtainable from an anaerobic fungus. When expressed, the sequence encoding the xylose isomerase confers to the host cell the ability to convert xylose to xylulose which may be further metabolized by the host cell. Thus, the host cell is capable of growth on xylose as carbon source. The host cell preferably is a eukaryotic microorganism such as a yeast or a filamentous fungus. The invention further relates to processes for the production of fermentation products such as ethanol, in which a host cell of the invention uses xylose for growth and for the production of the fermentation product. The invention further relates to nucleic acid sequences encoding eukaryotic xylose isomerases and xylulose kinases as obtainable from anaerobic fungi.
US08058037B2
The present invention provides a protein comprising the amino acid sequence as shown in any one of SEQ ID NOS: 1 to 3 (except for proteins of the amino acid sequences as shown in SEQ ID NOS: 4 to 6), and a process for industrially advantageously producing a compound that inhibits HMG-CoA reductase and has an action to decrease serum cholesterol, using DNA encoding the protein comprising the amino acid sequence as shown in any one of SEQ ID NOS: 1 to 3 (except for DNA encoding the protein comprising the amino acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 4).
US08058035B2
A microorganism which has an L-amino acid producing ability and has been modified so that succinate dehydrogenase activity and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase activity are decreased is cultured in a medium to produce and accumulate an L-amino acid in the medium or cells of the microorganism, and the L-amino acid is collected from the medium or cells to produce the L-amino acid.
US08058033B2
The present disclosure relates to variants of a parent glucoamylase having altered properties (e.g., improved thermostability and/or specific activity). In particular, the present disclosure provides compositions comprising the variant glucoamylases, including starch hydrolyzing compositions and cleaning compositions. The disclosure also relates to DNA constructs encoding the variants and methods of producing the glucoamylase variants in host cells.
US08058029B2
The present invention relates to compositions including: (1) isolated DNA encoding the StuI restriction endonuclease and isolated DNA encoding cognate and non-cognate methylase; (2) vectors and cells containing the isolated DNA; and (3) methods for producing the StuI restriction endonuclease.
US08058025B2
An improved system for screening a multiple of candidate therapeutic or chemotherapeutic agents for efficacy as to a specific patient, in which a tissue sample from the patient is harvested, cultured and separately exposed to a plurality of treatments and/or therapeutic agents for the purpose of objectively identifying the best treatment or agent for the particular patient. Specific method innovations such as tissue sample preparation techniques render this method practically as well as theoretically useful. By subjecting uniform samples of cells to a wide variety of active agents (and concentrations thereof), the most promising agent and concentration for treatment of a particular patient can be determined.
US08058021B2
An improved monocyte activation test is described that is better able to detect non-endotoxin pyrogens in medical products, in which a sample is incubated with a monocyte-containing reagent in an assay system comprising at least one surface comprising polypropylene. The invention also concerns assay systems for use in these tests that include at least one microtiter well having at least one interior surface comprising polypropylene and having a shape such that monocyte-containing reagent is concentrated in the well to provide greater cell to cell contact. The invention also relates to a diagnostic kit that can be used to test for the presence of non-endotoxin pyrogens in a sample.
US08058019B2
The invention relates to a method for the detection of antibodies from body fluids via immune reaction with GP2 from pancreatic zymogenic granules, immunoreactive sequences or analogs thereof, excluding tissue sections.
US08058014B2
The present invention is directed to methods of diagnosing a disease or predicting an increased risk of a disease, such as obesity, obesity-dependent subacute inflammation, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and a metabolic disease, by determining the levels of omentin 1 and 2 protein in a subject, or by determining the levels of omentin 1 and 2 gene expression in a subject. The present invention is also directed to methods of disease treatment using omentin 1 protein and omentin 2 protein.
US08058010B2
A sample processing system that may be configured to achieve rapid sample processing such as rapid histochemical processing may involve a wave element that can use angular microscopic slide movements to cause repeated elimination and reapplication of a fluidic substance perhaps through the action of capillary motion in order to refresh a microenvironment adjacent to a sample such as a biopsy or other such sample. Through such refreshing of a microenvironment, depletion of the microenvironment is avoided and the time necessary for slide processing may be dramatically shortened.
US08058009B2
The present invention provides target proteins and target genes for bioactive substances such as drugs, and means that enable the development of novel bioactive substances using the same. To be specific, the present invention provides target proteins and target genes for bioactive substances; screening methods for substances capable of regulating bioactivities; bioactivity regulators; a bioactive substance derivative production method; a complex comprising a bioactive substance and a target protein, and a method of producing the complex; and kits comprising a bioactive substance or a salt thereof; determination methods for the onset or risk of onset of a specified disease or condition, determination methods for susceptibility to a bioactive substance, and determination kits used for the determination methods, and the like.
US08058007B2
Disclosed is a cyclic reverse transcription method, which comprises performing reverse transcription reaction in one or more cycles, each cycle comprising the steps of: (i) performing reaction with a reverse transcription reaction solution comprising template RNA, RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, a reaction buffer, primers for reverse transcription and dNTPs, and optionally, a stabilizer, at 10° C. to 40° C. and, (ii) performing reaction with the resultant reaction solution at 42° to 55° C.
US08057996B2
A novel gene 202P5A5 and its encoded protein, and variants thereof, are described wherein 202P5A5 exhibits tissue specific expression in normal adult tissue, and is aberrantly expressed in the cancers listed in Table I. Consequently, 202P5A5 provides a diagnostic, prognostic, prophylactic and/or therapeutic target for cancer. The 202P5A5 gene or fragment thereof, or its encoded protein, or variants thereof, or a fragment thereof, can be used to elicit a humoral or cellular immune response; antibodies or T cells reactive with 202P5A5 can be used in active or passive immunization.
US08057993B2
The present invention provides a method for rapid identification and quantitation of bacteria by amplification of a segment of bacterial nucleic acid followed by analysis by mass spectrometry. The compositions provide for characterization of the molecular masses and base compositions of bacterial nucleic acids which are used to rapidly identify bacteria.
US08057992B2
Disclosed are methods, compositions, and zona pellucida binding peptides and polypeptides for use in immunocontraception of canines and other animals. The disclosed compositions may include pharmaceutical compositions. Methods for identifying peptides that bind to intact oocytes also are provided, in particular methods for identifying peptides that bind to zona pellucida of intact oocytes.
US08057991B2
Primers have been isolated that are diagnostic for the detection of the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). The primers are based on a new portion of the WSSV genome and may be used in primer directed amplification or nucleic acid hybridization assay methods.
US08057988B2
A microreactor comprising a silicon wafer, a multiplicity of microchannels in the silicon wafer, and a catalyst coating the microchannels. In one embodiment the catalyst coating the microchannels comprises a nanostructured material. In another embodiment the catalyst coating the microchannels comprises an aerogel. In another embodiment the catalyst coating the microchannels comprises a solgel. In another embodiment the catalyst coating the microchannels comprises carbon nanotubes.
US08057985B2
A polymerizable anion-containing sulfonium salt having formula (1) is provided wherein R1 is H, F, methyl or trifluoromethyl, R2, R3 and R4 are C1-C10 alkyl, alkenyl or oxoalkyl or C6-C18 aryl, aralkyl or aryloxoalkyl, or two of R2, R3 and R4 may bond together to form a ring with S, A is a C1-C20 organic group, and n is 0 or 1. The sulfonium salt generates a very strong sulfonic acid upon exposure to high-energy radiation. A resist composition comprising a polymer derived from the sulfonium salt is also provided.
US08057971B2
The field of this disclosure is making three-dimensional topographic structures by means of graduated exposure in a photosensitive material, such as a photoresist, photosensitive polymide, or similar. Such patterns may be written either to be used directly as optical, mechanical, fluidic, etc. components, e.g. diffusors, non-reflecting surfaces, Fresnel lenses and Fresnel prisms, computer-generated holograms, lenslet arrays, etc, or to be used as masters for the fabrication of such components by replication. Replication can be done by molding, pressing, embossing, electroplating, etching, as known in the art. This disclosure includes descriptions of using passive absorbing components in thin resist, using high gamma thick resists with high resolution pattern generators, using multiple focal planes including at least one focal plane in the bottom half of the resist, and iterative simulation of patterning and adjustment of an exposure map.
US08057969B2
The present invention provides a dye-containing negative curable composition comprising at least two dyes (A), an oxime photopolymerization initiator (B) and a radical polymerizable monomer (C); or a dye-containing negative curable composition comprising at east two organic-solvent soluble dyes (A), an oxime photopolymerization initiator (B), a radical polymerizable monomer (C) and an organic solvent (D), wherein the moisture content of the composition is less than 1% by mass relative to the total amount of the composition.
US08057966B2
A position deviation and an image of a danger control pattern predicted after multiple exposure of each mask used for multiple exposure are acquired and an image after lap exposure by means of the masks based on the above image and position deviation information. At this time, parameters such as an offset amount caused by overlapping of images of the masks, rotation amount and the like are changed and a parameter capable of avoiding occurrence of faults in a dangerous pattern in an image predicted after lap exposure is calculated.
US08057964B2
Photolithographic reticles are provided that have electrostatic discharge protection features. A photolithographic reticle may be formed from metal structures such as chrome structures on a transparent substrate such as fused silica. Some of the metal structures on the reticle correspond to transistors and other electronic devices on integrated circuits that are fabricated when using the reticles in a step-and-repeat lithography tool. These metal device structures may be susceptible to damage due to electrostatic charge build up during handling of the reticle. To prevent damage, dummy ring structures are formed in the vicinity of device structures. The dummy ring structures may be constructed to be more sensitive to electrostatic discharge than the device structures, so that in the event of an electrostatic discharge, damage is confined to portions of the reticle that are not critical.
US08057960B2
Provided is a method for manufacturing an electrode for fuel cells which can manufacture an electrode having superior electric power generation characteristics by enlarging the contact area of a polymer electrolyte with catalyst particles to increase the area of the three-phase interface, resulting in improvement of availability of the catalyst particle surface. According to the method for manufacturing an electrode for fuel cells of the present invention, an electrode for fuel cells is obtained by: binding catalyst particles and porous carbon particles to a base material to form a catalyst porous structure; preparing an electrolyte precursor mixture containing a polymerizable electrolyte precursor represented by (R1O)3Si—R2—SO3H (wherein, R1 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and R2 represents an alkylene group having 1 to 15 carbon atoms), a polymerizable spacer precursor represented by (R3O)mSiR4n (wherein, R3 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and R4 represents —(CH2)x—(CF2)y—CF3), and a solvent; impregnating the catalyst porous structure with the electrolyte precursor mixture to form a catalyst-electrolyte precursor complex; and performing a copolymerization reaction of the aforementioned compounds in the complex to form a water-insoluble polymer electrolyte layer containing a copolymer.
US08057958B2
An electrode for a fuel cell, and a membrane-electrode assembly and a fuel cell system including the same. The electrode for a fuel cell includes a supporter including a nano-carbon fiber, a nano-carbon grown from the nano-carbon fiber, and a catalyst disposed on the nano-carbon.
US08057955B2
A caulk is provided for use in a fuel cell system having an externally manifolded fuel cell stack, forming a gas seal between a manifold gasket and the stack face. The caulk is formed of a ceramic material and a binder formed into a paste.
US08057947B2
A method for the thermal management of a fuel cell, which method comprises: processing a fuel supply stream comprising hydrogen, steam, at least one carbon oxide and optionally methane using a methanator to produce a fuel cell supply stream comprising a controlled concentration of methane; and reforming within the fuel cell methane present in the fuel cell supply stream, wherein the way in which the methanator is operated is adjusted in response to fluctuations in the temperature of the fuel cell such that the concentration of methane in the fuel cell supply stream is controlled in order to achieve a desired level of reforming of methane within the fuel cell.
US08057945B2
A solid oxide fuel cell includes a core with an anode inlet, an anode outlet, a cathode inlet and a cathode outlet. A first heater is connected to the anode inlet of the core. A second heater is connected to the cathode inlet of the core. A reformer is connected to the first heater. A heat exchanger is connected to the second heater. A burner is connected to the reformer and the anode and cathode outlets of the core. A humidifier is connected to the reformer. A first gas supply is connected to the humidifier. A second gas supply is connected to the reformer. A third gas supply is connected to the burner. A fourth gas supply is connected to the heat exchanger.
US08057944B2
A reformer for a fuel cell system includes a leading segment and a trailing segment. The leading segment includes less reactive catalyst and/or more stabilizing catalyst than the trailing segment. The reformer may be used for reformation of high and low hydrocarbon fuels.
US08057942B2
A fuel cell system that enables an assisted anode purge upon start-up is provided. The fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack having a plurality of fuel cells with anodes and cathodes. The fuel cell stack has an anode supply manifold and an anode exhaust manifold in fluid communication with the anodes. The fuel cell system further includes a suction device in fluid communication with at least one of the anode supply manifold and the anode exhaust manifold. The suction device adapted to selectively draw a partial vacuum on the fuel cell stack during a start-up of the fuel cell system. Methods for starting the fuel cell system are also provided.
US08057941B2
A method for triggering an anode bleed from split fuel cell stacks in a fuel cell system that employs anode flow-shifting. The method requests the bleed if any one of three different conditions are met. Those conditions include that the concentration of nitrogen in the anode side of the split stacks is above a predetermined percentage, the voltage spread between the maximum cell voltage and the minimum cell voltage of two fuel cells in the split stacks is greater than a predetermined spread voltage and the absolute value of the difference between the overall voltage of the two split stacks is greater than a predetermined voltage. The concentration of nitrogen in the anode can be determined in any suitable manner, such as by a nitrogen cross-over model or a sensor.
US08057934B2
A nickel electrode for an alkaline secondary battery includes an electrically conductive base plate, and an active material particle supported on the conductive base plate and including a complex particle with a surface layer that mainly formed of a high-order cobalt compound whose oxidation number of cobalt is higher than +2 on a surface of a core layer particle that forms a high-order nickel hydroxide whose oxidation number of nickel is higher than +2. Lithium (Li) is contained to be a solid solution in the active material particle from 0.01 to 0.5 wt % of a converted amount as a lithium metal by weight of lithium metal divided by a total weight of the high-order nickel hydroxide, the high-order cobalt compound and the lithium metal.
US08057928B2
A simplified cell design is provided for a battery utilizing the 18650 form-factor, the simplified cell design reducing manufacturing cost, battery weight and the risk of shorting between the battery case and the battery terminal. In the cap assembly of the disclosed battery, the safety vent element, which is recessed relative to the top of the cell case, also serves as the battery terminal. Additionally, the insulating gasket positioned between the cell case and the cap assembly is designed to cover a large portion of the outer surface of the safety vent/battery terminal.
US08057926B2
The present invention provides a perpendicular magnetic recording medium that can reduce noise by further size reduction and isolation of magnetic grains in a magnetic recording layer and can increase the recording density by improvement of the SNR. A typical configuration of a perpendicular magnetic recording medium according to the present invention is a perpendicular magnetic recording medium having a magnetic recording layer with a granular structure in which non-magnetic grain boundary portions are formed between magnetic grains that have grown continuously in a columnar shape, wherein the grain boundary portions contain a plurality of kinds of oxides.
US08057917B2
An OLED device comprising, in sequence, an anode, a light-emitting layer that comprises a phosphorescent light-emitting organometallic compound, a hole-blocking layer, and a cathode, and between the hole-blocking layer and the cathode, a further layer containing a mixture of a first compound that is a tetracene compound that has the lowest LUMO value of the compounds in the layer, in an amount greater than or equal to 10% and less than 90% and a second compound that is a low voltage electron transport material, exhibiting a higher LUMO value than the first compound in an amount less than or equal to 90% and more than 10%.
US08057913B2
One aspect of the steel sheet having high Young's modulus includes in terms of mass %, C: 0.0005 to 0.30%, Si: 2.5% or less, Mn: 2.7 to 5.0%, P: 0.15% or less, S: 0.015% or less, Mo: 0.15 to 1.5%, B: 0.0006 to 0.01%, and Al: 0.15% or less, with the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities, wherein one or both of {110}<223> pole density and {110}<111> pole density in the ⅛ sheet thickness layer is 10 or more, and a Young's modulus in a rolling direction is more than 230 GPa. Another aspect of the steel sheet having high Young's modulus includes, in terms of mass %, C: 0.0005 to 0.30%, Si: 2.5% or less, Mn: 0.1 to 5.0%, P: 0.15% or less, S: 0.015% or less, Al: 0.15% or less, N: 0.01% or less, and further comprises one or two or more of Mo: 0.005 to 1.5%, Nb: 0.005 to 0.20%, Ti: at least 48/14×N (mass %) and 0.2% or less, and B: 0.0001 to 0.01%, at a total content of 0.015 to 1.91 mass %, with the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities, wherein the {110}<223> pole density and/or the {110}<111> pole density in the ⅛ sheet thickness layer is 10 or more, and a Young's modulus in a rolling direction is more than 230 GPa.
US08057902B2
A novel phosphorous-containing epoxy resin having a naphthalene skeleton is suitable as an insulating material, such as a copper-clad laminate used in an electronic circuit board, and a sealing material, molding material, casting material, adhesive or film material used in an electric component. Furthermore, this epoxy resin is suitable as a material for an electrically insulating coating.
US08057889B2
A method is disclosed for manufacturing an anisotropic material comprising providing a viscoplastic material having a yield stress, and a plurality of magnetic particles disposed therein, and then subjecting the viscoplastic material to a magnetic field for a time sufficient to at least partially align at least a portion of the magnetic particles to at least one of a predetermined position or orientation. Also disclosed is an article having anisotropic properties comprising a viscoplastic material, and a plurality of magnetic particles distributed therein and at least partially aligned to a predetermined orientation. An article having anisotropic properties, comprising a fixed viscoplastic material, and a plurality of magnetic particles distributed and at least partially anisotropically aligned in the fixed viscoplastic material is disclosed.
US08057888B2
A composite structure includes at least one resin matrix layer having a resin material and a plurality of fiber elements and a plurality of titanium particles provided in the resin material. A method of toughening a resin matrix layer is also disclosed.
US08057879B2
The present invention relates to stretchable webs having a plurality of elongated cells, and a retractive force mechanism to provide increased retractive force of the web when stretched in a given direction. The stretchable webs are useful in disposable garments such as diapers, bandages and other hygiene material so that the material fits closely without slipping off.
US08057872B2
Disclosed is a multilayer structure comprising a layer of humidity-dependent composition having a ratio of wet cup permeance to dry cup permeance greater than 10 and a layer of crystallizable polymer sufficiently permeable to oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor, exhibiting an increase in permeability to at least one of oxygen and carbon dioxide by a factor of at least 2.5 over a temperature range of 10° C. between 0° C. and 40° C. Also disclosed are packaging materials comprising the multilayer structure and methods for storing respiring materials using the packaging materials.
US08057870B2
The present invention relates to a composition for forming a gate insulating layer of an organic thin film transistor comprising polyarylate, and an organic thin film transistor comprising a gate insulating layer, which is formed using the composition, in contact with an organic semiconductor channel.
US08057860B2
A method for reducing the amount of binder or resin used in glass fiber manufacturing while maintaining product performance is disclosed. The method generally reduces the amount of binder or resin used in a manufacturing process by adjusting other factors in the manufacturing process. Specifically, ramp moisture and/or silane content are factors that are adjusted to achieve the results of the disclosed method. Additionally, glass fiber compositions resulting from the method are disclosed.
US08057850B2
Liquid-based indium selenide and copper selenide precursors, including copper-organoselenides, particulate copper selenide suspensions, copper selenide ethylene diamine in liquid solvent, nanoparticulate indium selenide suspensions, and indium selenide ethylene diamine coordination compounds in solvent, are used to form crystalline copper-indium-selenide, and/or copper indium gallium selenide films (66) on substrates (52).
US08057834B2
A method for manufacturing a portable cinnamon roll includes forming raw dough in the shape of a sphere having a central pocket, placing cinnamon, frosting and sugar within the central pocket and cooking the raw dough with cinnamon, frosting and sugar until it is fully prepared for consumption.
US08057824B2
Compositions and methods of using the compositions to achieve a therapeutic effect are provided.
US08057821B2
A biodegradable cross-linked cationic multi-block copolymer of linear polyethylenimine (LPEI) wherein the LPEI blocks are linked together by hydrophilic linkers with a biodegradable disulfide bond and methods of making thereof. The biodegradable cross-linked cationic multi-block copolymer may also contain pendant functional moieties which are preferably receptor ligands, membrane permeating agents, endosomolytic agents, nuclear localization sequences, pH sensitive endosomolytic peptides, chromogenic or fluorescent dyes.
US08057813B2
Disclosed is an interventional device for delivery of therapeutic agents from an angioplasty balloon and from a prosthesis such as an intraluminal stent. The invention also relates to the method of loading the beneficial agents onto the balloon and the device, as well as the method of delivery of the agents from separate surfaces. The invention also relates to an interventional device having a prosthesis surface that is loaded with a first beneficial agent, and a balloon surface loaded with a second beneficial agent. The invention also relates to a method of loading multiple beneficial agents onto the prosthesis surfaces and the balloon surfaces, and to a method of manufacturing an interventional device for the delivery of a first beneficial agent and a second beneficial agent from separate surfaces.
US08057812B2
The present invention relates to compositions including medium chain peroxycarboxylic acid, methods for making these compositions, and methods for reducing the population of a microorganism. The compositions can include advantageously high levels of the medium chain peroxycarboxylic acid, can be readily made, and/or can exhibit reduced odor.
US08057811B2
A physicochemically stable aqueous composition including clozapine suspension.
US08057802B2
The present invention relates to the ability of SAP to suppress fibrocytes. It also relates to the ability of IL-12, laminin-1, cross-linked IgG and IgG aggregates to suppress fibrocytes. Methods and compositions for suppressing fibrocytes using these proteins are provided. These methods are useful in a variety of applications including treatment and prevention of fibrosing diseases such as scleroderma, pulmonary fibrosis and asthma. Finally, the invention includes assays for detecting the ability of various agents to modulate differentiation into fibrocytes. Such assays may also be used to diagnose scleroderma, pulmonary fibrosis, or other fibrosing diseases.
US08057794B2
The invention relates to antibody molecules having specificity for antigenic determinants of IL-17, therapeutic uses of the antibody molecules and methods for producing said antibody molecules.
US08057793B2
The present invention provides humanized, chimeric and human anti-CD20 antibodies and CD20 antibody fusion proteins that bind to a human B cell marker, referred to as CD20, which is useful for the treatment and diagnosis of B-cell disorders, such as B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases, and methods of treatment and diagnosis.
US08057785B2
Compositions containing a photoactivable agent and an agent that absorbs or blocks extraneous radiation during phototherapy are useful and used in methods to treat leukocyte mediated autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, CTCL, and vertiligo.
US08057783B2
Provided are a method of injecting a visualizing material into a point in the vicinity of the Jung-Wan and a method of visualizing arrival of liquid agent in order to verify that the visualizing material injected arrives at internal organs. A point having the lowest electric resistance is found in the vicinity of Jung-Wan of the subject by using an electro acupuncture point detector. The visualizing material is injected into the point by means of an injecting instrument and then verified at least one point of the pancreas and the threadlike structures on top of the surface of the pancreas. The visualizing material is an alcian blue solution or a nanoparticle-containing solution labeled with fluorescent organic material.
US08057779B2
There is provided a process for the production of iodine pentafluoride which avoids the problems of the production process of iodine pentafluoride of the prior art as much as possible, and which carries out the reaction of fluorine and iodine moderately, so that iodine pentafluoride is produced more safely and more productively. In the process for the production of iodine pentafluoride by reacting fluorine and iodine, fluorine is supplied to the gas phase 14 which is adjacent to the liquid phase 12 of iodine pentafluoride which contains iodine.
US08057774B2
Disclosed is a method for preparing a porous carbon structure, the method comprising the steps of: (a) mixing a carbon precursor, a pyrolytic template, which is pyrolyzed at the carbonization temperature of the carbon precursor or removed by post-treatment after the carbonization of the carbon precursor so as to form pores, and a solvent, to prepare a spray solution; and (b) subjecting the spray solution either to spray pyrolysis or to spray drying and then spray pyrolysis, so as to form a carbonized carbon structure, and then removing the template from the carbon structure. A mesoporous spherical carbon prepared according to the disclosed method may have a large specific surface area and a large pore volume through the control of the kind and concentration of template, and thus can be used in a wide range of applications, including catalysts, adsorbents, electrode materials, materials for separation and purification, and materials for storing hydrogen and drugs.
US08057772B2
Disclosed are mesoporous silica particles and a preparation method thereof, particularly, a method of preparing mesoporous silica particles, including mixing a silica precursor, an alkylamine-based surfactant, and a phosphoric acid-based cosurfactant, thus preparing a mixture solution (a mother liquor); adding or not adding the mixture solution with an acid solution, and conducting stirring, thus providing mesoporous silica particles; and thermally treating the mesoporous silica particles. These mesoporous silica particles are prepared using a phosphoric acid-based cosurfactant for stabilizing the surface of the particles to prevent the aggregation thereof, thereby uniformly distributing the particles. Through a hydrothermal reaction, the mesoporous silica particles have various pore sizes, a large surface area, and a high pore volume, and thus are widely used in catalysts, adsorbents, low dielectrics, and separation and purification processes, and are useful as templates for the preparation of novel porous materials, including porous carbon.
US08057769B2
The invention is directed to synthesizing a phosphate-based electrode active material. The method includes the step of reacting two or more starting materials collectively containing at least a PO33− anion, an alkali metal and a metal which is redox active in the final reaction product, at a temperature and for a time sufficient to form the phosphate-based electrode active material.
US08057768B2
The invention relates to a special device for the purification of diesel exhaust gases, which device comprises, in the flow direction of the exhaust gas, an oxidation catalyst, a diesel particle filter with catalytically active coating, and, downstream of a device for introducing a reducing agent from an external reducing agent source, an SCR catalyst. The oxidation catalyst and the catalytically active coating of the diesel particle filter contain palladium and platinum. The ratio of the noble metals platinum and palladium in the overall system and on the individual components, oxidation catalyst and catalytically coated diesel particle filter, are coordinated with one another in such a way as to obtain firstly an optimum NO/NO2 ratio in the exhaust gas upstream of the downstream SCR catalyst, and secondly optimum heating and HC conversion behaviour during an active particle filter regeneration.
US08057763B2
The invention relates to a process for recovering Group VIB metals from a catalyst, in particular a spent bulk catalyst, comprising one or more Group VIB metals and one or more Group VIII metals. Further, the invention relates to a solid Group VIB metal compound obtainable by the process according to the invention having the general formula H2XO4, wherein X=W1-yMoy, wherein y is between 0 and 1 and to its use in a process for the manufacture of a fresh catalyst. The process comprises the steps of: a) oxidizing the one or more Group VIB metals to one or more Group VIB metal oxides; b) separating the one or more Group VIB metal oxides from the one or more Group VIII metals; c) dissolving the one or more Group VIB metal oxides in water to produce an aqueous solution of one or more Group VIB metal oxides; d) precipitating the one or more Group VIB metal oxides from the aqueous solution by adding alkaline earth metal (Group IIa) ions to the aqueous solution; e) optionally filtering and washing the precipitate; and f) transforming the precipitate by adding an acid to form a solid metal compound comprising one or more Group VIB metals.
US08057761B1
An embodiment of a chemical detector has at least one detection window and at least first and second ampoules selectively communicatively coupled to the at least one detection window. The first ampoule contains a first substance that can hydrolyze a nerve agent. The second ampoule contains a second substance that can react with a hydrolyzed nerve agent to produce a color change.
US08057759B2
Provided are an apparatus and a method of controlling a microfluidic system, and the microfluidic system. The apparatus of controlling the microfluidic system includes a central control block controlling an operation of the microfluidic system, a rotator control block controlling a rotator, a position control block controlling the position of a moving unit, the moving unit moving to a position of the microfluidic structure, and a radiation energy source control block controlling energy of a radiation energy source, the radiation energy source using an electromagnetic wave to scan over a position of the microfluidic structure. Such a configuration allows effective control of a miniaturized portable microfluidic system.
US08057758B2
Sample processing devices with variable valve structures and methods of using the same are disclosed. The valve structures allow for removal of selected portions of the sample material located within the process chamber. Removal of the selected portions is achieved by forming an opening in a valve septum at a desired location. The valve septums may be large enough to allow for adjustment of the location of the opening based on the characteristics of the sample material in the process chamber. If the sample processing device is rotated after the opening is formed, the selected portion of the material located closer to the axis of rotation exits the process chamber through the opening. The remainder of the sample material cannot exit through the opening because it is located farther from the axis of rotation than the opening.
US08057743B2
Means for overcoming the problems which the conventional glass microchannel chips have are disclosed. That is, a microchannel chip in which microchannels can be formed at a low cost, and which has a high chemical resistance is disclosed. The microchannel chip is constituted by a substrate made of carbon, which has a channel in its surface; and a cover composed of a glass plate bonded to the substrate. The cover is bonded to the substrate by heating at least a part of the contact surface at which the substrate is in contact with the cover.
US08057729B2
A method for making a forming structure. In one embodiment the method comprises the steps of (a) providing a base material having a thickness; (b) providing a laser source; (c) laser etching a plurality of spaced-apart apertures, each aperture extending through the entire thickness of the base material, such that the non-laser-etched portions of the base material define a continuous network; and (d) laser etching the continuous network to remove material in a pattern that defines a plurality of protrusions, each protrusion being generally columnar and pillar-like. The plurality of protrusions can be laser etched first, before laser etching the plurality of spaced-apart apertures. The base material can be cylindrical-shaped and the laser etching can be accomplished in a continuous process by rotating the cylindrical-shaped base material as a laser source is operatively translated while laser etching a path similar to “threads” of a screw.
US08057728B2
A device and process for extracting plastic preforms (5) from holders. Said device comprises a plate (23), which features straight slits (26) positioned parallel to each other, that is attached to a supporting table (20, 21). Each slit (26) comprises wider sections and constrictions (29, 30), which have a width (L2) smaller than the diameter of the ring (9) of the preform, so that the ring (9) can be fitted into the slit (26) through the wider section. The plate (23) is moved in the direction <
US08057725B2
The present invention provides a method for patterning a substrate with a template having a mold that features positioning conformable material between the substrate and the mold and filling a volume defined between the mold and the substrate with the conformable material through capillary action between the conformable material and one of the mold and the substrate. Thereafter, the conformable material is solidified. Specifically, the distance between the mold and the substrate is controlled to a sufficient degree to attenuate, if not avoid, compressive forces between the mold and the substrate. As a result, upon initial contact of the mold with the conformable material, capillary filling of the volume between the mold and the substrate occurs.
US08057716B2
Method of making eyeglass lens are disclosed where the lens are made of layers which include an outer, convex hard coating, a layer of hard epoxy, a laminated PVA film where one of the layer of the PVA film is coated in the peripheral portion, a layer of soft epoxy, a base material, and an inner, concave hard coating. Other methods configuration of lens also include a camouflaged patterned lens, a layer of hard epoxy, a polyurethane mixture, a laminated PVA film where one of the layer of the PVA film is coated in the peripheral portion, a layer of soft epoxy, a base material, and an inner, concave hard coating.
US08057710B2
Disclosed are a composite which can be used as an electrode active material for a secondary battery, and the secondary battery comprising the same. The composite includes: a first material selected from the group consisting of metals and metalloids capable of being reversibly alloyed with lithium; a second material selected from the group consisting of metals incapable of being alloyed with lithium, compounds containing the metals, and compounds containing metals or metalloids capable of being irreversibly alloyed with lithium; and a third material which is at least one kind of metal having a higher electrical conductivity than the second material, wherein a content of the third material ranges from 10 to 10,000 ppm based on the total weight of the composite.
US08057706B1
A phosphor material contains encapsulated particles of manganese (Mn4+) doped fluoride phosphor. A method of encapsulating such particles is also provided. Each particle is encapsulated with a layer of a manganese-free fluoride phosphor. The use of such a phosphor material in a lighting apparatus results in improved stability and acceptable lumen maintenance over the course of the apparatus life.
US08057701B2
A trifunctional (meth)acrylate compound of general formula (I) is provided The compound is capable of retaining a liquid crystal phase at or below 30 ° C. Polymerizable compositions containing a compound of formula (I) are also provided.
US08057696B2
This invention relates to compositions and methods for removing overfilled substrates, preferably at a relatively high removal rates. Advantageously, a composition according to the invention can contain an oxidizer, preferably a per-type oxidizer such as a peroxide, periodic acid, and peracetic acid, and may also optionally contain an abrasive.
US08057683B2
The present invention relates to the removal of endocrine disrupting compounds from an aqueous medium by adding surface-reacted natural calcium carbonate or an aqueous suspension comprising surface-reacted calcium carbonate and having a pH greater than 6.0 measured at 20° C., to the medium, wherein the surface-reacted calcium carbonate is a reaction product of natural calcium carbonate with carbon dioxide and one or more acids, the use of the surface-reacted natural calcium carbonate for the removal of endocrine disrupting compounds, as well as to a combination of a surface-reacted natural calcium carbonate and activated carbon for the removal of endocrine disrupting compounds.
US08057674B1
An orbital wastewater treatment system includes a tank assembly, at least one impeller, a flow-diversion mechanism, an actuator, optionally at least one sensor disposed in the tank assembly, and a control unit. The tank assembly has an anoxic zone and an aerobic zone and passages between the two zones. The impeller is disposed in the tank assembly for aeration and for moving mixed liquor under process about the tank assembly. The flow-diversion mechanism is disposed at least one of the passages between the aerobic and the anoxic zone. The actuator is operatively connected to the gate for regulating the flow state or configuration thereof in response to a signal generated by the control unit at least partially pursuant to a predetermined schedule and/or at least partially in accordance with input from the sensor.
US08057671B2
A means of preventing TCA taint from contaminating liquid foods and beverages is provided by incorporating molecular sieves into the manufacturing process and/or packaging materials in order to selectively adsorb the taint molecules while preserving the food's or beverage's flavor and aroma profiles. Also provided are methods and devices for remediating TCA taint present in the consumer's liquid foods and beverages.
US08057665B2
Disclosed are a cold water tank and a water treatment apparatus. The cold water tank includes a tank body, a water inlet pipe provided at the tank body to convey water into the tank body, a water outlet pipe provided at the tank body to convey the water out of the tank body, and including an air vent hole, and a floating member movably provided at the water outlet pipe to block the air vent hole when the water filling the tank body reaches a height of the air vent hole. The water in the upper portion of the tank body is prevented from passing through the air vent hole and draining through the water outlet pipe, thereby preventing the cooler water in the lower portion from mixing with the hotter water in the upper portion. Only the cooler water in the lower portion can be supplied to a user.
US08057649B2
Disclosed is an invention that uses a coaxial microwave antenna as a primary plasma source in PVD. The coaxial microwave antenna is positioned inside a sputtering target. Instead of using a cathode assist in sputtering, microwaves generated from the coaxial microwave antenna may leak through the sputtering target that comprises a dielectric material to form microwave plasma outside the sputtering target. To further enhance plasma density, a magnetron or a plurality of magnetrons may be added inside the target to help confine secondary electrons. An electric potential may be formed between adjacent magnetrons and may further enhance ionization. To achieve directional control of the generated microwaves, a shield that comprises a dielectric material or dielectric material coated metal may be added proximate the coaxial microwave antenna. Furthermore, for high utilization of expensive target materials, a target can rotate to improve the utilization efficiency.
US08057648B2
A deposition system and its method of control cancels the influence of noise occurring during measuring of a deposition rate using a noise canceller in order to exactly control the deposition rate, and obtains a film of a desired thickness. The deposition system includes a deposition device. A deposition rate sensor measures a deposition rate of the deposition device. A noise canceller cancels a noise component of the measured deposition rate. A power supply unit adjusts power supplied to the deposition device according to an output of the noise canceller.
US08057641B2
A method and apparatus for effective pyrolysis of a biomass utilizing rapid heat transfer from a solid heat carrier or catalyst. Particularly, various embodiments of the present invention provide methods and apparatuses which incorporate progressive temperature quenching and rapid disengagement of the heat carrier material and reaction product.
US08057635B2
A system for collecting ligno-cellulosic biomass over a large area to enable the commercial refining of biomass from 2,500 to in excess of 50,000 tons of biomass per day to produce ethanol or other products. The biomass is collected at a series of collection points and then transported through a network of conduit “loops” interconnecting each of the collection points and the central refining plant. The water used to transport the biomass, as a slurry, is recovered and sequentially recycled in the same pipeline system to push the biomass slurry around the system in a “loop”.
US08057633B2
A post-etch treatment system is described for removing photoresist and etch residue formed during an etching process. For example, the etch residue can include halogen containing material. The post-etch treatment system comprises a vacuum chamber, a radical generation system coupled to the vacuum chamber, a radical gas distribution system coupled to the radical generation system and configured to distribute reactive radicals above a substrate, and a high temperature pedestal coupled to the vacuum chamber and configured to support the substrate. The high temperature pedestal comprises a scored upper surface configured to minimize substrate slippage.
US08057630B2
Methods and systems for decreasing costs (expense, mass, and/or cure time) associated with use of adhesives when assembling modularized components, particularly for assemblies having many elements such as for example battery modules used in electric vehicles. The methods and systems enable use of high-wettability adhesives (defined generally in this application as low viscosity and/or low surface tension adhesives) for assembling such modularized components. A first method including (a) dispensing a high-wettability adhesive into a first module fixture populated with a plurality of elements wherein the first module fixture provides a plurality of bonding wells with each bonding well accepting a first portion of one or more of the elements with the module fixture including one more apertures communicated with one or more of the bonding wells, the adhesive being selectively curable upon application of a curing modality; (b) applying the curing modality selectively to a first portion of the dispensed adhesive in a seal zone, the seal zone including one or more regions surrounding the apertures wherein the dispensed adhesive in the seal zone is sufficiently cured to inhibit significant quantities of the adhesive from emerging from the apertures while the adhesive continues to be dispensed into the module fixture wherein the curing modality is not applied to a second portion of the adhesive outside of the seal zone; and (c) applying the curing modality to the second portion of the dispensed adhesive.
US08057624B2
A pair of laminated panels are simultaneously manufactured in a single panel press. A thermal band is stacked between two panel sets and then the two panel sets are simultaneously heated and compressed together in a common stack with the band, with the band being separately heated.
US08057622B2
The invention is directed to a process for the making of a product out of laminated composite material. The process in general comprises preforming at least one layer of material such that it corresponds to a surface of a part; applying layers of fibers to the preformed layer of material; and bonding the fibers by a resin to form a laminated composite material.
US08057619B2
An optical display device manufacturing system for bonding a first optical member to an optical display unit, comprising an excluding device for excluding a second optical member as an object to be excluded from a long release film that carries the first and second optical members, wherein the excluding device includes a tape member; a tape member rolling means on which the tape member is rolled; a roller for exclusion around which the tape member unrolled from the tape member rolling means is wound; a drive mechanism for shifting the roller for exclusion; and a take-up means for taking up the tape member wound around the roller for exclusion, wherein the excluding device being configured so that when the roller for exclusion is shifted, the second optical member is attached to the tape member and taken up.
US08057611B2
A multi-composition pyrotechnic material is provided for an inflatable restraint device (for example, an airbag system or pretensioner for a vehicle). The multi-composition pyrotechnic material can be a gas generant, a micro gas generant, or an igniter, for example. The multi-composition pyrotechnic material comprises a first pyrotechnic material that defines one or more void regions. A second pyrotechnic material, compositionally distinct from the first pyrotechnic material, is introduced into at least one of the void regions and forms a second region of the pyrotechnic materials. The second composition can be introduced to the void regions in the form of a slurry. Methods of forming such multi-composition pyrotechnic materials are also provided.
US08057610B2
A gas generant for an inflatable restraint device (for example, an airbag system for a vehicle) is a monolithic compressed solid that has a linear burn rate of greater than or equal to about 1.6 inches per second at a pressure of about 3,000 pounds per square inch. The gas generant can be in the form of an annular disk having a plurality of apertures. The gas generant may be substantially free of binder and may have a low initial surface area which progressively increases during burning. The gas generant provides a gas generation profile that improves restraint of vehicle occupants, including those occupants that are out-of-position. Additionally, the shaped gas generant decreases occupant exposure to toxic effluent combustion products and solid respirable particulates.
US08057607B2
An automated heat exchanger tube cleaning assembly and system are provided. The present system can automatically (without ongoing human intervention) survey the tube sheet of a heat exchanger in three-dimensions, convert and record the survey results as a digital file in three-dimensions, and then, according to sequential parameters input via custom software, automatically coordinate via computer one or more cleaning devices to effect the cleaning of each desired tube of the heat exchanger.
US08057601B2
An apparatus and method for supporting, positioning and rotating a substrate are provided. In one embodiment, a support assembly for supporting a substrate includes an upper base plate and a lower base plate. The substrate is floated on a thin layer of air over the upper base plate. A positioning assembly includes a plurality of air bearing edge rollers or air flow pockets used to position the substrate in a desired orientation inside above the upper base plate. A plurality of slanted apertures or air flow pockets are configured in the upper base plate for flowing gas therethrough to rotate the substrate to ensure uniform heating during processing.
US08057600B2
The present invention presents an improved baffle plate for a plasma processing system, wherein the design and fabrication of the baffle plate advantageously provides for a uniform processing plasma in the process space with substantially minimal erosion of the baffle plate.
US08057586B2
The invention provides a produce preserving article comprising a mixture of humectant and silica gel sorbent.
US08057584B2
Hydrogen or methane gas pressure container having a minimum volume of 1 m3 a prescribed maximum filling pressure, has a filter through which oxygen, methane respectively, can flow during uptake. The filter has an adsorbent for adsorbing impurities selected from the group consisting of a higher hydrocarbon, ammonia, an odorous substance, hydrogen sulfide and a mixture of two or more of these substances. The pressure container and the filter comprise porous metal organic frameworks as adsorbent.
US08057582B2
An air cleaner is provided including a housing having a dirty air inlet, a clean air outlet, and an interior. A tubesheet is in the housing interior and has a plurality of openings. The tubesheet is oriented in one of either a generally horizontal or a generally vertical position. A plurality of panel-style filters is provided, with each filter being mounted in a respective one of the openings in the tubesheet. The air cleaner also has a plurality of blowpipes, with each blowpipe being oriented to direct a fluid pulse at a respective one of the panel-style filters at an angle that is: (i) not normal to a plane of the openings in the tubesheets; and (ii) not in line with a general direction of filtration flow through the respective panel-style filter. A method of pulse cleaning panel-style filters oriented in openings of a tubesheet is provided. The method includes directing fluid pulses at each of the panel-style filters at angle that is: (i) not normal to a plane of the openings of the tubesheet; and (ii) not in line with a general direction of filtration flow through the panel-style filters. The panel-style filters are oriented in the tubesheet, and the tubesheet is oriented in one of either a generally horizontal or a generally vertical position.
US08057577B2
A desulfurizer for fuel gas for a fuel cell includes: a first adsorption tank including an adsorber having selective adsorption capacity for a thiophene-based compound and a second adsorption tank including an adsorber having selective adsorption capacity for a mercaptan-based compound. The desulfurizer uses separate adsorbers having selective adsorption capacity for a thiophene-based compound and a mercaptan-based compound, in multiple stages to perform a more efficient and economical desulfurizing of a fuel gas to remove various sulfur compounds, especially thiophene-based compounds and mercaptan-based compounds compared to a desulfurizer using a single adsorber.
US08057574B2
The invention relates to polymeric ultrafiltration or microfiltration membranes of, for instance, Halar, PVDF or PP, incorporating PVME or vinyl methyl ether monomers. The PVME may be present as a coating on the membrane or dispersed throughout the membrane or both. The membranes are preferably hydrophilic with a highly asymmetric structure with a reduced pore size and/or absence of macrovoids as a result of the addition of PVME. The PVME maybe cross-linked. The invention also relates to methods of hydrophilising membranes and/or preparing hydrophilic membranes via thermal or diffusion induced phase separation processed.
US08057569B2
The invention is directed to methods for producing a granular nitrogen fertilizer from an organic material comprising adding a metallic salt to said organic material to form a slurry. Preferably the organic material comprises dewatered biosolids and contains water from a scrubber. Metallic salts that can be used comprise a salt of iron, zinc, or a mixture thereof. Preferred iron salts comprises ferric sulfate or ferric oxide, and preferred zinc salts comprises zinc sulfate or zinc oxide. Preferably, the metallic salt is mixed with an acid such as sulfuric acid to form an acidified metal salt. Slurry pH ranges from approximately 2-2.5. The acidified metal salt is added to the organic material in sufficient quantity to lower viscosity of the slurry such that the resulting fluid does not hinder fluid flow during operation. When the metallic salt comprises acidified ferric sulfate or ferrous sulfate, sufficient iron can be present to produce a fertilizer product with 0.1 weight percent to 10 weight percent iron sulfate calculated on a dry weight basis. The invention is also directed to fertilizer products made by the methods of the invention. Preferred products are granules and the metallic salt increases product hardness. Fertilizer granules preferably contain metal that is bioavailable to a plant when used as a fertilizer. Solubility of the metal of the product in water is enhanced, and the product is low staining.
US08057568B2
A highly porous substrate is provided using an extrusion system. More particularly, the present invention enables the production of a highly porous substrate. Depending on the particular mixture, the present invention enables substrate porosities of about 60% to about 90%, and enables advantages at other porosities, as well. The extrusion system enables the use of a wide variety of fibers and additives, and is adaptable to a wide variety of operating environments and applications. Fibers, which have an aspect ratio greater than 1, are selected according to substrate requirements, and are typically mixed with binders, pore-formers, extrusion aids, and fluid to form a homogeneous extrudable mass. The homogeneous mass is extruded into a green substrate. The more volatile material is preferentially removed from the green substrate, which allows the fibers to form interconnected networks. As the curing process continues, fiber to fiber bonds are formed to produce a structure having a substantially open pore network. The resulting porous substrate is useful in many applications, for example, as a substrate for a filter or catalyst host, or catalytic converter.
US08057564B2
Three exhaust trap units are arranged in series in an exhaust trap device for trapping substances solidified from exhaust gas and exhaust gas paths are formed inside the exhaust trap units. One or more collision plates are placed in each trap unit. The collision plates in each of the two upstream side exhaust trap units are arranged such that a space extending in the axial direction of the exhaust path is present therein without being blocked by any of the collision plates. The collision plates in the downstream side exhaust trap unit are arranged such that such a space is not present. Uneven distribution of the amount of accumulation of solidified substances is suppressed without performing complex control, and outflow of the solidified components to the downstream side of the exhaust trap device can be reliably reduced.
US08057562B2
Thermally stable ultra-hard polycrystalline materials and compacts comprise an ultra-hard polycrystalline body that wholly or partially comprises one or more thermally stable ultra-hard polycrystalline region. A substrate can be attached to the body. The thermally stable ultra-hard polycrystalline region can be positioned along all or a portion of an outside surface of the body, or can be positioned beneath a body surface. The thermally stable ultra-hard polycrystalline region can be provided in the form of a single element or in the form of a number of elements. The thermally stable ultra-hard polycrystalline region can be formed from precursor material, such as diamond and/or cubic boron nitride, with an alkali metal catalyst material. The mixture can be sintered by high pressure/high temperature process.
US08057558B2
The present invention is generally directed to novel biodiesel fuel compositions having enhanced low-temperature properties. The present invention is additionally directed to methods (i.e., processes) for making such enhanced biodiesel fuels by improving the low-temperature properties of ester-based biodiesel fuels via in situ enhancement and/or additive enhancement.
US08057557B2
A fuel additive for gasoline that increases automobile fuel efficiency and decreases carbon emissions. The fuel additive comprises a composition of olive oil and fuel oil in a ratio, by volume, of about 1 part olive oil to about 8 parts fuel oil. In the preferred embodiment the fuel oil is fuel oil no. 2-D.
US08057555B2
An outer casing of a non-aqueous electrolyte battery is capable of being mass-produced as well as thin and resistant to damage. The outer casing 4 comprises a casing body 4a and a cover 4b. After being internally packaged, a non-aqueous electrolyte battery 2, e.g. a lithium-ion polymer secondary battery, is sandwiched between the casing body 4a and the cover 4b, which are then joined together integrally. The cover 4b is formed from a film-shaped sheet material 4c of a synthetic resin to make the outer casing 4 thin. The casing body 4a and the cover 4b have a casing body outer peripheral frame 9 and a cover outer peripheral frame 10, respectively, formed by injection molding. Joint portions of the casing body 4a and the cover 4b have stepped portions 9a and 10a, respectively. The stepped portions ensure the mechanical strength against shock and impact. With this structure, the outer casing 4 is resistant to damage.
US08057536B2
An implant comprising an implant material forming a base made of one or more metallic elements; a diffusion layer covering the base made of at least one of the metallic elements of the implant material and at least magnesium; and, optionally, a metal layer covering the diffusion layer made of magnesium or a biocorrodible magnesium alloy.
US08057534B2
A bioerodible endoprosthesis erodes to a desirable geometry that can provide, e.g., improved mechanical properties or degradation characteristics.
US08057531B2
A method of treating a bodily lumen with a stent including disposing a stent within a bodily lumen in which the stent has a plurality of deformable struts that are substantially circumferentially aligned is described. The deformable struts are configured to selectively deform in a circumferential direction in localized regions in the struts upon application of an outward radial force. The stent is expanded by applying the outward radial force which causes selective deformation of the deformable struts in a localized region in the struts.
US08057526B2
A drug-eluting stent delivery system for the treatment of edge restenosis in a blood vessel. The drug-eluting stent delivery system has a balloon disposed about at least a portion of a catheter, the balloon having a first end and a second end and a working length therebetween, the first end and the second end each including a tapered portion, each tapered portion being attached to the catheter, the balloon being inflatable from a collapsed configuration to an inflated configuration. A drug-eluting stent contacts a wall of the blood vessel to maintain the patency of the vessel. The drug-eluting stent has a first end and a second end, the first end and the second end each including a tapered portion, wherein the drug-eluting stent is disposed over the balloon such that at least a portion of the first end and the second end of the balloon are covered by the tapered drug-eluting stent. A method for making the same is also disclosed herein.
US08057518B2
A spanning connector for connecting an offset bone anchor to a previously inserted spinal fixation element and method of use is provided. The spanning connector includes a first connecting mechanism for connecting the spanning connector to the bone anchor, and a second connecting mechanism for connector the spanning connector to the previously inserted spinal fixation element. The spanning connector also includes a connector body for coupling the first connecting mechanism and the second connecting mechanism. Embodiments of a spanning connector may also reduce a separation distance between the bone anchor and the spinal fixation element. Embodiments of a spanning connector are configured, sized and dimensioned for use in a minimally invasive surgical technique, such as a rod-first spinal surgical technique.
US08057517B2
A dynamic spinal stabilization component which supports the spine while providing for the preservation of spinal motion. The component is selectably attachable to a bone anchor for implantation in a bone of the spine. The component and bone anchor provide load sharing while preserving range of motion and reducing stress exerted upon the bone anchors and spinal anatomy. The dynamic spinal stabilization component includes a deflectable post connected by a ball-joint to a threaded anchor. Deflection of the deflectable post is controlled by a centering spring. The force/deflection properties of the dynamic bone anchor may be adapted to the anatomy and functional requirements of the patient. The dynamic spinal stabilization component may be used as a component of a dynamic stabilization system which supports the spine while providing for the preservation of spinal motion.
US08057514B2
A dynamic stabilization, motion preservation spinal implant system includes an anchor system, a horizontal rod system and a vertical rod system. The systems are modular so that various constructs and configurations can be created and customized to a patient.
US08057511B2
Apparatus and methods for positioning and securing anchors are disclosed herein. The anchors are adapted to be delivered and implanted into or upon tissue, particularly tissue within the gastrointestinal system of a patient. The anchor is adapted to slide uni-directionally over suture such that a tissue plication may be cinched between anchors. A locking mechanism either within the anchor itself of positioned proximally of the anchor may allow for the uni-directional translation while enabling the anchor to be locked onto the suture if the anchor is pulled, pushed, or otherwise urged in the opposite direction along the suture. This uni-directional anchor locking mechanism facilitates the cinching of the tissue plication between the anchors and it may be utilized in one or several anchors in cinching a tissue fold.
US08057508B2
A surgical instrument particularly suited to endoscopic use articulates an end effector by including an articulation mechanism in an elongate shaft that incorporates an electrically actuated polymer (EAP) articulation locking mechanism actuator. Thereby, additional options for articulation become feasible, especially those that are actively powered and would otherwise dissipate heat and power if required to maintain position. Alternatively, a mechanically actuated articulation mechanism may be designed with reduced strength, and thus size, since the EAP articulation lock mechanism assists in preventing back driving after articulation. Versions of a. EAP articulation locking mechanism lock a pivoting articulation joint and others lock a flexible neck articulation joint.
US08057500B2
A flexible inner member for rotation within an angled outer tubular member of a rotary tissue cutting instrument to cut anatomical tissue includes a flexible region for conforming to the configuration of an angled region of the outer tubular member. The flexible region comprises a cut having convoluted path areas formed through a cylindrical wall of a tubular body of the inner member. The convoluted path areas are rotationally spaced on the tubular body in alternating sequence with connecting path segments of the cut. The cut follows a convoluted path in the convoluted path areas forming the wall of the tubular body into a pair of complementary, mating hook formations of opposed curvature. The connecting path segments extend rotationally along the tubular body between the convoluted path areas.
US08057494B2
Methods and devices are provided for reconfiguring a tissue within a hollow body organ using an entirely endoscopic approach in order to effectively reduce flow of fluid contents into a second hollow body organ in fluid communication with the first.
US08057489B2
A suture pushing device includes a handle, a shaft extending from the handle, and a suturing head at the distal end of the shaft. The suturing head includes a first jaw and a second jaw. The first jaw and/or the second jaw have a tissue cutting edge adapted to cut an opening in a tissue. A blunt suture pushing member advances from within the shaft, through the suturing head, and through the cut opening in the tissue to place a suture.
US08057488B2
An epilating apparatus includes a compartment for receiving a cooling/heating pad. The cooling/heating pad includes a bag portion containing a cooling/heating medium and a fixing portion for removably fixing the cooling/heating pad to the epilating apparatus.
US08057486B2
An apparatus includes a first tubular member and a second tubular member coupled to the first tubular member. The first tubular member defines a longitudinal axis and a lumen substantially coaxial with the longitudinal axis. The lumen of the first tubular member is configured to receive at least a portion of an elongate implant. A distal end portion of the first tubular member is tapered along the longitudinal axis. The second tubular member defines a longitudinal axis and a lumen substantially coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the second tubular member. The second tubular member is coupled to the first tubular member such that the longitudinal axis of the first tubular member is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the second tubular member. A distal end portion of the second tubular member is tapered along the longitudinal axis of the second tubular member.
US08057481B2
A system for accessing a spine from a curved postero-lateral approach may include a curved cannula positioned along a curved path from an opening in the skin to a location proximate the spine. A guide member may be first inserted to establish the path between the tissues and fascia, and one or more intermediate cannulas may be temporarily inserted over the guide member to dilate the tissues prior to insertion of the main cannula. An interbody device may be implanted in an intervertebral space through the cannula. The system may include a guide bar removably coupled to a targeting post. The targeting post may be inserted adjacent the spine to provide a target, and the guide bar may be removably attached to the guide member, to guide it along the path to the target location. An external support arm may be secured to any other component of the system.
US08057480B2
An ultrasonic handpiece is used for augmenting a bone screw. The handpieces comprise a housing, an ultrasonic converter shiftingly accommodated in the housing, and a sonotrode connected to one end of the ultrasonic converter. The sonotrode protrudes from the housing into the bone screw. An adjuster wheel is adjustably connected to the housing. A spring is provided the ends of which are supported by the ultrasonic converter and the adjuster wheel, respectively. The ultrasonic converter is preloaded in the direction away from the adjuster wheel by setting the adjuster wheel, thereby the sonotrode is urged with a selected force into the bone screw and the augmentation material is pressed out of the bone screw and into the bone.
US08057477B2
A reamer system is provided which includes a cannulated reamer holder, and a corresponding cannulated reamer, which, when assembled and operated over a drill pin secured in a manner axially aligned with the stem of the femoral joint, enables the accurate and controlled reshaping of the femoral joint. The reamer is made up of a cutting form and a central guide, in which the guide is supported at the center of the cutting form by a bar structure. The bar structure includes portions which connect to and extend radially between the central guide and a peripheral edge of the cutting form.
US08057476B2
A humeral nail for the surgical care of fractures of the proximal humerus, with a shaft which has a longitudinal axis and is provided in a proximal portion with at least transverse bores spaced apart in the axial direction. The axis of the three bores is circumferentially offset in respect to each other in planes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shaft. The nail is provided with at least two additional transverse bores in a portion located towards the distal end of the nail, the proximal transverse bore running diagonally to the longitudinal axis and being located in the same plane as is the axis of the additional transverse bores.
US08057474B2
A telescopic strut for use with an external fixator includes a tube and a rod, especially a threaded rod being in threaded engagement with the tube. The tube comprises at least one hole for accommodating a ball, the ball having the spherical shape for engagement with the threaded rod. A sleeve is provided on the portion of the tube comprising the hole. The sleeve comprises a non-spherical inner cross-section. The greater diameter of the sleeve has a dimension which is at least the sum of the outer diameter of the threaded rod plus the diameter of an accommodating ball for allowing direct axial movement of the threaded rod against the tube in such a rotational position of the sleeve. The lesser diameter has a dimension to place the ball within the threaded rod for allowing a rotational movement of the threaded rod against the tube.
US08057468B2
An electrosurgical device to generate a plasma stream and method to perform endoscopic or laparoscopic surgery within a patient's body comprising an electrosurgical generator coupled to a electrical power source to supply power to the electrosurgical device and a plasma generator including an electrode operatively coupled to the electrosurgical generator to receive electrical energy therefrom and concentrically disposed within an inner noble gas conduit to form a plasma channel coupled to a noble gas source to feed noble gas to the inner noble gas conduit and an outer electronegative gas conduit disposed in surrounding coaxial relation relative to the inner noble gas conduit to cooperatively form an electronegative gas channel therebetween coupled to a gas source to feed electronegative gas to the electronegative gas channel or an outer aspiration conduit disposed in surrounding coaxial relation relative to the inner noble gas conduit to cooperatively form an aspiration channel therebetween coupled to a negative pressure source such that the electrode heats the noble gas to at least partially ionize the noble gas to generate the plasma stream to be directed to the surgical site to perform the surgical procedure while the electronegative gas sustains the plasma stream at the surgical site and dilutes the noble gas adjacent the surgical site or the negative pressure source removes fluid and solid debris from the surgical site respectively.
US08057459B2
An agent delivery device includes an inner tubular body having a proximal end, a sharpened distal end, a delivery lumen extending therebetween, and one or more outlet ports on the distal end communicating with the delivery lumen. The device also includes one or more seals sealing the one or more outlet ports, the one or more seals capable of being melted to allow a fluid to be delivered from the delivery lumen through the one or more outlet ports. The agent delivery device may further include a monopolar or bipolar electrode and/or a radio-opaque marker carried at the distal end of the device. The inner tubular body can be made from a conductive material to thereby allow the inner tubular body to function as an electrode.
US08057457B2
Absorbent garment such as a diaper and an incontinence guard, said garment has a first body panel, a second body panel and a crotch portion there between. The garment is provided with opposed laterally extending belt members attached to the waist portion of the first body panel and are adapted to be wrapped around the waist of the wearer of the garment and fastened together by a first fastener. The second body panel at its waist portion is provided with second fasteners adapted to be fastened to the belt members, in such a way that the garment will assume a pant-like shape. An elastic member extends in transverse direction along the waist portion of the first body panel and extends into at least a portion of each belt member.
US08057453B2
A method of capturing bodily fluid intravaginally providing an intravaginal device that has a fluid storage element having a longitudinal axis and is in fluid communication with at least one fluid transport element. The method involves providing at least one fluid transport element that is bendable about an axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fluid storage element and positioned within a human vagina.
US08057449B2
The illustrative embodiments described herein are directed to a system and method for administering reduced pressure at a tissue site. The apparatus includes a reduced pressure source. The reduced pressure source generates a reduced pressure. The apparatus includes a tube having a plurality of lumens. The plurality of lumens includes at least one collection lumen. The reduced pressure source applies the reduced pressure to the tissue site through the plurality of lumens such that the at least one collection lumen receives fluid from the tissue site. The at least one collection lumen stores the fluid received from the tissue site.
US08057448B2
The present invention relates to a device, method, system and kit for receiving effluent from an individual. In an alternative embodiment, the present invention is directed to a device, method, system and kit for collecting effluent from an individual during a medical or diagnostic procedure including but not limited to, imaging or viewing one or more sections of an individual's gastrointestinal tract. In another alternative embodiment, the effluent is collected in a hollow area in order to prevent the effluent form contaminating a component, device or apparatus used in connection with the medical or diagnostic procedure.
US08057447B2
A reduced pressure treatment system is provided for delivering a reduced pressure to a tissue site comprising a distribution manifold including a backing substrate with a first side and a second side and a plurality of protrusions positioned on the first side of the backing substrate, each of the protrusions having a substantially circular cross-sectional shape and having a diameter of between about 0.1 and 2.0 millimeters, the backing substrate having a plurality of apertures formed therein to allow fluid communication between the first side and the second side opposite the first side. A reduced pressure source fluidly connects to the apertures of the backing substrate to deliver the reduced pressure through the apertures, between the protrusions, and to the tissue.
US08057446B2
Methods and devices transmit micromechanical forces locally on the millimeter to micron scale for promoting wound healing. Micromechanical forces can selectively be applied directly to tissue, in some embodiments, by using microchambers fluidically connected to microchannels. Each chamber, or in some cases, group of chambers, may be associated with a valve to control vacuum pressure, positive pressure, liquid delivery, and/or liquid removal from each chamber or group of chambers. Application of embodiments of the invention may shorten wound-healing time, reduce costs of therapy, enable restoration of functional tissue, and reduce the need for more invasive therapies, including surgery.
US08057443B2
Apparatus for the aspiration of a fluid from an individual, the apparatus comprising a port in fluid communication with the atmosphere; a catheter having a proximal end arranged to be inserted into the body of an individual and having a distal end; a one-way valve; and a fluid passage switch reversibly movable between a first position in which the distal end of the catheter is in fluid communication with the port and a second position in which the distal end of the catheter is in fluid communication with the one-way valve, the one-way valve being arranged to permit fluid flow there through in a direction from the distal end of the catheter. The apparatus may be used for both the aspiration of fluid from within the body and instillation of fluid into the body.
US08057440B2
A catheter securement device holds a medical article by securing an anchor member to an attachment region of a neonate. The attachment region is located on the body of the neonate. The catheter securement device defines a central channel into which at least a portion of the medical article is inserted. The catheter securement device includes at least one mounting wing and a body member. The mounting wing contacts the anchor member over the attachment region and lifts the medical article away from the neonate's skin. At least a portion of the body member is located in a distal direction from the attachment region and does not directly contact the neonate's skin. A soft material may be inserted between the distal portion of the body member and the neonate's skin to further inhibit rocking of the medical article upon the neonate.
US08057439B2
Two-way, three-position and one-way, two-position slit valves in cardiovascular access catheters with closed distal ends have slit geometries configured to overcome adhesion between opposed abutting slit faces, when pressure differentials are applied between the interior and the exterior of the catheter. Portions of the slit are oriented at a non-zero angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the catheter causing shear forces to be generated in abutting slit faces. Shear forces arise from tangential, radial, or longitudinal stresses generated in the catheter body. Slit geometries are planar or curved or include multiple end-to-end connected slit subsections. If a slit partially circumscribes a portion of the adjacent outer wall of the catheter body, restraint to outward and inward movement on that portion is reduced. Slit valves are configured to open inwardly to aspirate fluids, to open outwardly to infuse fluids, or both.
US08057431B2
A hinged cap device for use with a syringe includes a base defining an interior cavity for mounting onto a tip and a cap connected to the base by a living hinge. The cap is moveable from a ready position to an open position to expose a needle, and from the open position to a secured position to prevent relative rotation between the cap and the base. A first latching mechanism is on the cap for engaging the needle, the first latching mechanism locatable on a first side of the needle in the ready position and locatable on a second side of the needle in the secured position. The needle is disengageable from the first latching mechanism in the ready position, and the needle is not disengageable from the first latching mechanism in the secured position. The hinged cap device may also include a second latching mechanism to further prevent relative rotation between the cap and the base.
US08057427B2
A drug delivery system includes an automatic injector that can deliver a small, precise amount of a therapeutic agent. The automatic injector includes a chamber for containing a liquid component and a thin porous member that carries thereon and/or therein the small, precise amount of therapeutic agent. Upon activation of the automatic injector, a flow path opens from the chamber through the porous member, enabling the liquid component to rapidly mix with the therapeutic agent before being injected.
US08057421B2
The present invention provides an implantable modular AV shunt device, which is capable of monitoring and reporting its own patency, and which comprises a plurality of modular components that may be assembled and adjusted by the vascular surgeon during the implantation procedure, using well-known surgical techniques, in order to provide a custom fit and arrangement for the particular patient involved. The device comprises an arterial anastomotic valve that permits blood flowing through an artery to pass into the shunt device, a venous anastomotic valve that permits blood flowing through the shunt device to pass into a vein, a medial flow control unit, a first flexible shunt that carries blood from the arterial anastomotic valve to the medial flow control unit, a second flexible shunt that carries blood from the medial flow control unit to the venous anastomotic valve, and a valve control system. The valve control system is operable to control both the rate at which blood is permitted to enter the shunt device via the arterial anastomotic valve, as well as the rate at which blood is permitted to exit the shunt device via the venous anastomotic valve.
US08057418B2
Methods and devices are provided for the extracorporeal ablation of target cells circulating in blood of an organism. Exogenous material introduced into the blood preferentially associates with target cells (e.g. cancer cells, bacteria, viruses) in the blood. An extracorporeal continuous flow pathway accesses the patient's blood to apply an external energy source to the blood at an ex vivo ablation device in a portion of the extracorporeal continuous flow pathway. The exogenous material interact with the applied energy so as to result in the damage or death of the target cells. The blood is then returned to the body in a continuous-flow pattern. By applying the energy while the blood is in the ex vivo ablation device, shielding of the target cells by the body is reduced and detrimental effects on the organs and tissues of the body are avoided or mitigated.
US08057413B2
A foot water-spouting device includes a foot-front water spouting section for spouting water toward the front side of a user's foot and a water-spouting section direction moving mechanism for reciprocating the destination of water spouting of the foot-front water spouting section along a longitudinal direction of the foot. A plurality of spouts may be arranged side-by-side in the foot instep width direction for each of the right and left feet. The pressure of water spouting at a water arrival point may be changed based on or the water spouting amount may be changed based on movement of the water arrival point.
US08057404B2
A blood sensor including a base (12), a detection part (16) disposed on the base (12), a blood collection needle (13) disposed at a front end (12a) of the base (12), a negative pressure generation part (17) for applying negative pressure to a portion of the blood collection needle (13), and a supply path (15) for supplying blood collected by the blood collection needle (13) to a detection part (16).
US08057398B2
Disclosed embodiments of the invention include a method, system, and apparatus to monitor cardiovascular signals such as arterial blood pressure (ABP), pulse oximetry (POX), and intracranial pressure (ICP).The system can be used to calculate and monitor useful clinical information such as heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse pressure variation (PPV), harmonic phases, pulse morphology, and for artifact removal. The method uses a statistical state-space model of cardiovascular signals and a generalized Kalman filter (EKF) to simultaneously estimate and track the cardiovascular parameters of interest such as the cardiac fundamental frequency and higher harmonics, respiratory fundamental frequency and higher harmonics, cardiac component harmonic amplitudes and phases, respiratory component harmonic amplitudes and phases, and PPV.
US08057396B2
Devices for assessing the size, shape, and topography of vessel lumens and hollow portions of organs are described. The devices are particularly adapted for determining the size, shape, topography, and compliance of the native heart valves to facilitate the later implantation of a prosthetic heart valve. The devices are typically catheter-based having an assessment mechanism fixed to a distal end of the catheter. The assessment mechanism generally includes an expandable member, such as a balloon. The assessment mechanism may also include an imaging member, a physical assessment member, an electronic mapping construction, an alignment mechanism, a valvuloplasty balloon, or any combination thereof.
US08057392B2
An improved device and method for collecting data used for ultrasonic imaging. The data is gathered over numerous transmit and echo receive cycles, or iterations and combined into a synthetic acquisition representing a complete echo characteristic acquisition. At each iteration, only a portion, or subset, of the echo characteristic is sampled and stored. During the iterations, the portion of the echo characteristic that is measured and sampled is varied by changing the relative sampling instants. That is, the time offset from the transmission to the respective sampling instant is varied. The sample sets representative of the entire echo characteristic are then compiled from the multiple subsets of the ultrasonic transmissions.
US08057388B1
A microsensor array system, comprising a pad, a plurality of actuators attached to the pad, and a plurality of microprobes, wherein substantially each microprobe in the plurality of microprobes is attached to a respective actuator in the plurality of actuators.
US08057377B2
A bag loader for loading and unloading at least one satellite bag into and from the central compartment of a rotor of an apparatus for separating a composite liquid into at least two components comprises an upper part for removably securing an upper portion of at least one satellite bag; a lower part comprising a receptacle; and an intermediate part connecting the upper part to the lower part and exposing an intermediate portion of a satellite bag.
US08057366B2
An apparatus for the stimulation of the body has a footplate, which is connected to two oscillation devices and that are present on a supporting plate, which each have a driven shaft. Braces are fastened on the extremities of the shafts, which are eccentric with respect to the shafts. Plates are fastened on the footplate, which are provided with slots in which the braces can be moved. The apparatus also has guiding elements fastened on the supporting plate, which can be moved in vertical guides that are formed by slots present in the plates.
US08057353B2
A frictional drive transmission basically comprises a transmission case, a drive roller unit, a driven roller unit, a gear shifting mechanism and an elastic member. Each of the roller units has a plurality of rollers with each of the driven rollers being associated with a corresponding one of the drive rollers to form roller pairs. The gear shifting mechanism is operatively coupled to one of the roller units to selectively contact one of the roller pairs together to form a contacting roller pair. A cam-shaped support member is provided with a mounting surface and a cam slanted surface such that contact surfaces thereof forms an angle smaller than forty-five degrees with respect to the mounting surface. The elastic member is arranged between the transmission case and the mounting surface of the cam-shaped support member to apply a pressing force in a contact direction of a contacting roller pair.
US08057343B2
A plate-link chain for a motor vehicle drive system. The chain includes a number of link plates hingedly connected with each other by rocker members that extend transversely to the longitudinal direction of the plate-link chain and are positioned in openings of the link plates. Curved contact surfaces are located on each of the rocker members and link plates, along which contact surfaces the rocker members and link plates are in contact with each other to transmit power. The rocker members are shaped asymmetrically in the height direction and are provided in contacting pairs. The link plate openings include at least one inwardly-curved region that is located above a contact point line extending through contact points of contacting rocker members of adjacent rocker member pairs that roll against each other.
US08057337B2
A debris ejecting sprocket comprising a body (100), a plurality of teeth (101) projecting from the body, a plurality of grooves (102) in alternating arrangement with the teeth, each groove receives a belt tooth, a cavity (103) disposed radially inward from each groove and communicating with the groove, the cavity further comprises a land (111) for supporting the belt, the land disposed between the groove and the cavity, and the cavity comprising a surface (104) disposed at an angle (θ) with respect to an axial direction (A-A).
US08057336B2
A guide device for an endless torque-transmitting member. The guide device includes at least two corresponding guide tongues between which the endless torque-transmitting member is at least partially guided. The guide tongues are held at a predetermined distance from each other by a connection region. The distance between the guide tongues is maintained substantially constant when there is a temperature change by the use in the guide device of materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion. A mold for producing a guide device is disclosed and includes two corresponding mold halves, where at least one connecting component formed from a material having a lower coefficient of thermal expansion than that of the guide tongues is held in one mold half.
US08057333B2
A blade tensioner includes a blade shoe assembly with parallel stacked flat springs that pivots at one end and is supported in series by a spring loaded ramp at the opposite end. Providing a spring loaded ramp in series reduces the overall stiffness of the tensioner which enables a more uniform tensioning load as the tensioner takes up chain slack due to elongation from wear.
US08057321B2
A portable, expandable golf training device that can be placed on the ground to provide alignment. The present invention can supply a plurality of light beams produced by lasers or other light sources or a plurality of extendable tapes to provide alignment both in the direction of play and perpendicular to it. The device can be used by placing it on the ground in front of the golfer (between the golfer's feet and the ball. Two lines can project outward perpendicular to the direction of play, and two or four lines can project into and away from the direction of play. These lines provide alignment for the golfer. The tape can be a flat, elongated flexible tape similar to a measuring tape.
US08057319B2
A training ball for pool type games. The training ball may comprise an array of visually coded bounded shapes disposed on the spherical exterior surface, wherein each one visually coded bounded shape has a characteristic visual coding such as color, and a diametrically opposed corresponding visually coded bounded shape having substantially identical characteristic visual coding, and wherein the array covers substantially all of the spherical exterior surface of the solid sphere. All of the visually coded bounded shapes display characteristic visual coding which is easily visually discernible from each adjacent one of the visually coded bounded shapes. In an associated method of play or practice, a player may visually hypothesize a straight line passing through the center of the training ball using the opposed similar visually coded bounded shapes, mentally set up a shot, and then execute that shot.
US08057310B2
A vehicle assembly includes an engine having a damper assembly secured to the engine. The damper assembly includes a ring gear. A hybrid transmission having an input shaft is mounted on the mounting shaft of the damper assembly. The damper assembly includes an engine face plate and a transmission face plate secured to the engine face plate. The ring gear is secured to at least one of the transmission face plate and the engine face plate.
US08057306B2
In one embodiment, the methods and apparatuses detect a device; detect a status level corresponding to the device; receive content on the device based on the status level; and display the content on the device based on the status level.
US08057301B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, systems and programs for conducting a feature in relation with a wagering game. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a first wager value and a second wager value; establishing evaluation conditions and increment a progressive prize based on this first wager value; and establishing an enhancement level of the progressive prize based on this second wager value. The method further comprising generating game outcomes, evaluating game outcomes, and awarding payouts based on evaluation of these game outcomes, wherein the prize value awarded for a progressive-prize winning outcome is based on the established enhancement level.
US08057292B2
The present invention provides methods and devices for providing a bingo game having aspects of a poker game on a network of gaming machines. Some implementations include a bingo card display in which areas of a bingo card correspond with playing cards. Some such implementations provide first phase of a bingo game that is concluded when a player daubs a game-ending pattern of a bingo card and a second phase wherein players may establish interim wins by daubing other patterns that correspond to poker hands. In some implementations, only the highest-ranking interim win results in a payout. Preferred implementations provide games with easily recognizable bingo play and payout probabilities similar to existing bingo games.
US08057281B2
Methods of abrading surfaces by rotationally reciprocating abrasive surfaces in contact with the surfaces, abrasive articles for use in rotationally reciprocating tools, and methods of removing defects in a surface, where the methods include sanding using a rotationally reciprocating abrasive surface followed by one or more polishing operations are disclosed.
US08057274B2
A combination of doll and flotation device for demonstrating water safety employs a doll of human-like form sufficiently heavy to sink in water. A removable flotation device which fits the doll, such as a life jacket is designed to be placed on the doll and secured by fasteners such as the Velcro® fixed to opposed edges along the closure gap in the life vest. The life vest, or other flotation device, must be sufficiently buoyant to support the doll as well as it's own weight. The combination has utility in teaching children and adults life saving using familiar devices used in water safety. It allows the student to apply the flotation device to the doll, and remove it as required, and place the doll in the water to float with the flotation device or sink without it.
US08057271B2
A paddle including a shaft having a distal end, the distal end ending in a protrusion; and a paddle blade having a proximal end joined to the distal end of the shaft, the proximal end having an inner surface and at least one internal longitudinal slot disposed adjacent to the inner surface engaged with the protrusion.
US08057263B1
An electrical connector including a connector housing having opposite mating and loading faces that are configured to engage board edges of first and second circuit boards, respectively. The connector housing includes a contact channel that extends through the connector housing between the mating and loading faces. The electrical connector also includes a signal contact that is stamped from sheet material along a stamped edge. The signal contact includes a contact body having opposite sheet surfaces. The stamped edge defines a shape of the contact body that includes first and second contact fingers. The signal contact is disposed within the contact channel so that the stamped edge along the first contact finger electrically engages the first circuit board and so that the stamped edge along the second contact finger electrically engages the second circuit board.
US08057258B2
A shielded connector achieving sufficient contact load between a shielded conductor and a crimp portion of an outer conductor shell without influence such as deformation of cross sections on signal wires when the crimp portion is crimped onto the conductor, and enhanced pull-out strength of a shielded cable against the shell. The shell includes a tubular connection portion having an arc-shaped cross section and arranged to be inserted into the conductor end portion exposed by stripping off a sheath portion at the cable end portion, shielded conductor crimping portions opposed to the connection portion and arranged to be crimped onto the conductor end portion into which the connection portion has been inserted, and fitting spaces provided to an inside of the conductor crimping portions at positions opposed to the tubular connection portion. Upper ends of the connection portion and the conductor are inserted into the spaces during crimping process.
US08057257B2
A dual type BNC connector comprises an insulating housing, two BNC plugs and a plurality of conducting wires; a rear end of the housing is disposed with at least one pick-up plate; the pick-up plate is disposed with a plurality of engagement grooves; the plurality of engagement grooves are respectively engaged with the plurality of conducting wires electrically connected to at least one BNC plug to allow the plurality of conducting wires to be respectively retained at specific positions, not to inclined to influence the stability of the signal transmission and not to contact one another to form a short circuit and to be convenient for being respectively inserted into a plurality of slots on a circuit board simultaneously.
US08057254B1
A battery holder includes an insulative housing with a bottom base and a side wall to commonly define a receiving space, the side wall includes a seat portion with a receiving slot and an opening slot perpendicular to the receiving slot. A negative contact includes a contacting arm slanting to the receiving space from the bottom base and a positive contact includes a frame portion retained in the receiving slot and the contacting portion defined in the frame portion projecting in the receiving space through the opening portion. The contacting portion is integrally connects with the frame portion by two opposite ends thereof.
US08057238B2
A magnetically actuated visual display board comprises a grid array of open ended chambers. Display configurations in each chamber utilize a magnetically responsive sliding element to move a display loop to alternate between two different display surfaces to create a desired visual array. A magnetic rod passing a chamber moves the sliding element within the chamber.
US08057237B2
According to a question displayed on a computer screen, a to-be-examined person selects, out of constituent elements (components) displayed on the screen, constituent elements that he considers optimum for the question and then makes a design by constructing them on the screen, and the content of the design on the screen is evaluated by using predetermined evaluation data. Further, there is provided a system which enables assembling an actual apparatus (an apparatus to be evaluated) according to the content of design, measures the performance of the assembled actual apparatus and evaluates the ability of the to-be-examined person to assemble the actual apparatus from the measured data by using a computer.
US08057229B2
At least one embodiment of the present invention relates to a dental implant for supporting a coronal component. In at least one embodiment, the implant includes a fixture part forming an apical bone contact part of the implant, an abutment part forming a coronal component support part of the implant, and an abutment screw, wherein said abutment part is arranged to, in an assembled state of said dental implant, be fixed to the fixture part by the abutment screw, and wherein a coronal end portion of the abutment screw is arranged to, in the assembled state, be positioned coronally of a coronal end portion of the abutment part. At least one embodiment of the present invention also relates to abutment structures and methods for implanting a dental implant.
US08057227B2
An intraoral device includes a one-piece, flexible, injection molded body made of a single homogeneous material. The body includes upper front and rear flaps, and lower front and rear flaps. Upper edges of the front flaps and lower edges of the lower flaps are sealed by respective upper and lower parts of a patient's mouth to form upper and lower evacuation channels when the body is disposed within the patient's mouth. Evacuation holes in the flaps are in communication with the evacuation channels. A connection section is in communication with the evacuation channels and is configured to extend outside of the patient's mouth to connect with a vacuum source for evacuating fluid from the patient's mouth through the evacuation holes and the evacuation channels.
US08057225B2
A safety door for covering openings in a rotary kiln during maintenance operations on the rotary kiln. The door is affixed to the exterior surface of the rotary kiln and includes a hatch pivotally secured at one side edge thereof by a pivot rod to a frame. A plurality of tension coil springs are disposed on the pivot rod and continuously bias the hatch toward the opening with a force of approximately 400 pounds.
US08057212B2
A forming machine that quickly compacts hollow materials and automatically recycles the materials includes molds, each of which is provided with a feeder having a hollow hole. An opening of the feeder is exactly located at a hollow position of a food product to be formed, and an upper end of the hollow feeder is connected with recycling tubes coming from a feed tank. When a cope and a nowel compact and form the materials into the hollow food products, the feeders will automatically push upward remainders at hollow places of the food products that are stacked constantly, enabling the remainders to enter into the feed tank along the recycling tubes, so as to achieve effects of quickly compacting and processing the materials and automatically recycling the remainders.
US08057206B1
In some embodiments, reconfigurable tooling is provided having an array of actuator columns affixed to a support base. A programmable controller is configured to position the actuator columns. The reconfigurable tooling has a tooling surface which includes a variable stiffness surface capable of controllable states of stiffness, the variable stiffness surface being capable of being deformed by the actuator columns in a soften state, and rigid in a stiff state. In some embodiments, the variable stiffness surface is configurable multiple times.
US08057193B2
A compressor arrangement includes a compressor housing, an intake region defined in the compressor housing, a control pressure connection in communication with the intake region, a control pressure chamber in communication with the control pressure connection, a control piston disposed in the compressor housing beneath the control pressure chamber, a guide element securing the control piston in the compressor housing, at least one sealing element disposed between the control piston and the guide element, and a feed pressure connection defined in the compressor housing to supply compressed air beneath the control piston. In a closed position, the control piston closes the feed pressure connection when in the closed position. In an opened position, the control piston opens the feed pressure connection when in the opened position, thereby permitting air to vent from the feed pressure connection via a venting connection.
US08057185B2
A forward swept centrifugal fan wheel comprising a first endring (10), a second endring (11), a plurality of blades (12) connected between the first endring and the second endring, each blade having a substantially continuous arcuate form extending along an axis parallel to an axis of rotation (A-A), and each blade having a substantially continuous arcuate cross-section taken with respect to a plane which extends normally from the axis of rotation (A-A).
US08057182B2
A metered cooling slot disposed in a wall comprising an outer surface that is exposed to a hot gas stream and an inner surface that defines an internal coolant chamber through which a coolant passes, the metered cooling slot comprising: a slot formed within the outer surface elongated in a first direction, the slot comprising a pair of spaced apart, opposing, slot surfaces and a base, the slot surfaces intersecting the outer surface to form a slot outlet opposite the base; and two or more metering apertures formed within the wall, each metering aperture intersecting the inner surface of the wall to form a metering aperture inlet and intersecting one of the pair of slot surfaces to form a metering aperture outlet; wherein: D represents the approximate diameter of at least two of the metering apertures; P represents the approximate distance between the center lines of at least two neighboring metering apertures; and P/D comprises a value within the range of about 4 to 6.
US08057181B1
A film cooling hole for a turbine airfoil used in a gas turbine engine, where the film cooling hole is formed from a laser with smooth surfaces and without sharp corners, the film hole having a metering section of constant diameter, a first diffusion section having a conical shape, and a spreading section having a contoured clam shell cross sectional shape that opens onto the airfoil surface. The contoured clam shell shaped spreading section includes a raised middle portion with depressions on both sides, and slanted side walls that slant toward the hole opening. The laser cut film cooling hole can be formed after the TBC has been applied.
US08057178B2
A turbine bucket for a turbomachine includes a main body portion having a base portion and an airfoil portion, the base portion includes a bucket cavity forward region and a shank cavity. The turbine bucket also includes a cooling channel that extends through the main body portion. At least one flow passage extends between one of the cooling channel and the shank cavity, toward the bucket cavity forward region. The at least one flow passage delivers a flow of cooling gas toward the bucket cavity forward region. The flow of cooling gas limits ingestion of hot gases into the bucket cavity forward region.
US08057170B2
An intermediate casing for use in a gas turbine engine comprises inner and outer casing walls 2, 4, a support plate 6, supporting an axial end of each of the casing walls 2, 4, a splitter 8, and an array of vanes 10. At least one of the casing walls 2, 4, the support plate 6, the splitter 8 and the array of vanes 10 is formed from at least one blank of sheet material, such as steel. The formation of one or more components of the assembly from a flat blank of material provides a significant reduction in manufacturing cost.
US08057167B2
The present invention provides a fan motor capable of achieving both an improvement in a self cooling function of the fan motor and a reduction in fan noise, and of preventing the occurrence of heat damage, problems, and the like caused by external radiation heat and by self-heating, fan noise, and deterioration in fan performance and in fan efficiency. The fan motor (1) includes: a shroud (2); a motor (3) secured to and supported at the shroud (2); an axial-flow fan (4) connected to a rotation shaft part of the motor (3); and a heat shield panel (5) mounted at the rear side of the motor (3) with a gap being provided therebetween, in which the heat shield panel (5) has a spatula-shaped air guiding part (52) projecting outward in a radial direction at least one location on an outer circumference portion; and the air guiding part (52) has a width gradually reducing toward an outer side and a fan-rotational-direction leading edge part (53) having an arc shape.
US08057166B2
A passive fan includes a frame, at least one impeller and at least one driving device. The impeller is disposed in the frame. The driving device is disposed in the body of the frame and separated from the impeller, and drives the impeller to rotate. The driving device is an independent motor, a driver, a rotating wheel or a driving gear.
US08057151B2
The FOUP door positioning device of a FOUP opener is compatible with all kinds of FOUPs, is inexpensive, and has a simple positioning-ping adjustment mechanism.In a state in which a flange portion (a portion having a taper 13) of a proximal end portion of a positioning pin 10 is seated in a recess portion 31 of a port door 30, and an air suction bore 14 of the positioning pin 10 and an air suction bore 32 of the port door 30 are aligned with each other, a pin insertion hole 23 of a suction pad 20 is fitted to a straight portion 11 of the positioning pin 10, and the suction pad 20 is screwed to the port door 30. By this procedure, the suction pad 20 is attached to the outer surface of the port door 30, and a portion of the suction pad 20 which is sunk into a recess portion 31 presses the flange portion of the proximal end portion of the positioning pin 10. A reinforcing metal plate 25 is embedded in a base portion 21 of the suction pad 20.
US08057146B2
One embodiment of this fastening apparatus comprises a cap with a passage through the length of the cap. This cap is received by the upper panels of a body. The embodiments of this fastening apparatus may have two or more upper panels that form a recess. The body also has a lower region with a passage. The upper panels are flexible and can translate to retain the cap within the recess. A threaded member is disposed in the passage of the body. This cap may be fabricated of graphite in one instance.
US08057144B2
A sealed attachment fastener assembly with a receiving member and a cap that can be inserted into an opening in a work piece and fixed therein from only one side of the work piece. A portion of the fastener assembly on the blind side of the work piece is collapsible into a flange. In addition, another portion of the fastener assembly is contemporaneously radially expandable within the opening of the work piece to at least rotationally secure the fastener assembly with respect to the work piece. The radial expansion will result in a high interference fit of the fastener in the work piece, which may enhance the fatigue of the installation. A cap completes the fastener assembly to substantially prevent fluid from leaking through the fastener assembly opening. The cap can be assembled with the receiving member after the internal threads within the receiving member have been machined.
US08057141B2
The invention relates to a cargo support device in a vehicle, which device is provided in a load floor of a load compartment. The cargo support device comprises a frame, which is foldable between a horizontal rest position, and an operative position, angled in relation to the load floor. The load floor is provided with a recess wherein the frame is arranged in the rest position. The frame is provided with an arm, foldable to an angled position in relation to the frame, in the operative position.
US08057122B2
An assembly unit attachable to a base structure has at least one assembly part with a through opening and at least one fastener with a radially expanded head and a shaft that is provided with a fastening section extends through the through opening and is held captive therein. The shaft is encircled by a sleeve and the head of the fastener projects in a radial direction over the sleeve. Two stop elements project from the outer circumferential surface of the sleeve. An axial catch projects from the wall of the through opening. The axial catch and the stop elements are embodied such that they can be moved past each other in axial direction. The axial catch inside the through opening and the second stop element on the outer circumferential surface are respectively arranged in an axial position. The fastening section is arranged in a specific axial position relative to the surface of the assembly part that is facing away from the head.
US08057117B2
An assembly structured to clean the head portion of a stethoscope comprising a housing including a path of travel along which the head portion passes during cleaning. A supply of cleaning fluid associated with a dispenser assembly is cooperatively disposed relative to an activating assembly. The activating assembly is operated in moveable engagement with the head portion, and activates the dispenser assembly when engaged by the head portion as it passes along the path of travel. The dispenser assembly delivers the cleaning fluid to an applicator assembly which distributes the cleaning fluid to the head portion and facilitates the cleaning thereof and removal of excess cleaning fluid there from. At least one disinfectant agent is dispersed within or comprises a portion of the housing and is formulated to be destructively effective against pathogenic bacteria, such as in the spore form, which is generally not affected by the cleaning fluid.
US08057111B2
A lens barrel assembly and a camera including the lens barrel assembly are provided. The lens barrel assembly includes a barrel case accommodating at least one optical lens, and a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) configured to transmit signals between an area inside of the barrel case and an area outside of the barrel case. The barrel case comprises an outlet slit formed in the barrel case. The outlet slip being configured for extending the flexible printed circuit board to the area outside of the barrel case. Accordingly, the lens barrel assembly has an improved extension structure for extending the flexible printed circuit board which is configured to transmit signals between the inside and the outside of the lens barrel assembly.
US08057106B1
A fiber optical connector microlens is provided with a focal plane aligning fiber trap. The microlens is made from a convex first lens surface, a second lens surface (planar or convex), and a fiber trap integrally formed with the second lens surface for aligning a face of an optical fiber core in a microlens focal plane. In one aspect, the fiber trap includes a barrel attached to the second lens surface and a clamping mechanism to prevent an inserted fiber core, with a diameter about equal to a barrel interior surface diameter, from being withdrawn from the barrel. The fiber trap clamping mechanism can be an irregular barrel interior surface to frictionally engage a fiber core exterior surface, a constricted region of the barrel interior surface, having a diameter smaller than an uncompressed fiber core diameter, or a corkscrew region of the barrel interior surface.
US08057105B2
A cage for use in a roller bearing, said cage comprising a pair of generally semicircular molded plastic parts joined together, the molded plastic parts each comprising a set of pockets for receiving and locating rollers, and releasable fixings at their ends, wherein two generally semicircular molded plastic parts are detachably interconnected to each other by inter-engagement of their respective releasable fixings to form a complete generally circular cage.
US08057103B2
The invention relates to a roller bearing of a wheel hub of a motor vehicle comprising a tire pressure control system. Said roller bearing comprises an air guiding channel that extends radially through an external ring and an air guiding channel that extends radially through an internal ring that leads into an intermediate chamber that is arranged between the rows of the bearing bodies and is sealed in relation to said bearing bodies. In order to seal the intermediate chamber in a more simple and effective manner, said intermediate chamber comprises a flow channel that is embodied as a Venturi nozzle.
US08057101B2
There is provided an oil-impregnated sintered bearing which enable to prevent oil leakage from an outer peripheral surface of an bearing body. The oil-impregnated sintered bearing includes a bearing body which is made of a porous sintered alloy containing vacancies and has a bearing hole in which a rotary shaft can be inserted, wherein the vacancies opened on an outer peripheral surface of the bearing body are crushed. The vacancies may be crushed in the state of a green compact, or in the state of a sintered alloy after sintering the green compact. Consequently, the oil leakage from the outer peripheral surface of the bearing can be prevented, and oil pressure in the bearing hole can be preserved.
US08057099B2
A guide carriage for a linear roller bearing includes a main body, which may bear in a longitudinally movably manner and via at least a first and at least a second endlessly circulating roller row against a guide rail that extends in a longitudinal direction, a deflection assembly provided on an end face of the main body and including at least one curved inner deflection channel for the first roller row, and at least a second curved outer deflection channel for the second roller row, the inner deflection channel being located within the outer deflection channel, the deflection assembly includes an end cap, on the inner side of which—that faces the main body—an outer boundary surface of the outer deflection channel is provided, and at least one separate, one-pieced deflection piece inserted in the end cap, on which an inner boundary surface is provided that covers the entire outer deflection channel. An outer boundary surface is provided that covers the entire inner deflection channel on the deflection piece.
US08057086B2
A light guide unit for a point light source includes a light incident portion, a first reflecting portion and a second reflecting portion. The light emitted from the point light source enters to the light incident portion. The light incident portion includes an optical pattern diffusing an incident light corresponding to the point light source. The first reflecting portion reflects a first light of the incident light. The second reflecting portion roundly connects the first reflecting portion to the light incident portion and reflects a second light of the incident light.
US08057074B2
This invention relates to a kind of LED light, comprising: front housing, rear housing, light pole fixation base, clear cap; also comprising the transformer fixed on the rear housing and the LED panel connected with the front housing; there are couples of heat sinks on external surface of the rear housing; the internal surface of the foresaid front housing is equipped with minimum one slot with couples of heat sinks in; the heat sinks are designed for conducting heat from the LED light panel to the air for timely eliminating heat for the LED. By this way, it guarantees a sufficient heat elimination for the LED street light achieving a longer lifespan of the LED street light and a less light degradation that can be even neglected. Therefore, the brightness of the LED street light is ensured.
US08057063B2
A solar-powered illumination device includes a solar-thermal-electric power system transforming solar power into electric energy, an illumination module electrically connecting with the solar-thermal-electric power system, a heat dissipation device dissipating heat generated by the illumination module and a heat-collection box receiving at least a part of the heat dissipation device therein. The solar-thermal-electric power system drives the illumination module to illuminate. The heat dissipated by the at least a part of the heat dissipation device is collected by the heat-collection box and transferred into the solar-thermal-electric power system. The solar-thermal-electric power system transforms the heat dissipated by the at least a part of the heat dissipation device into electric energy.
US08057058B2
A lighting device for a display device includes a light source, an optical member arranged on the light emitting side of the light source, and a support member arranged to support the optical member from the light source side. A recess portion arranged to accommodate the distal end portion of the support member is provided in the surface of the optical member that faces the light source, and the recess portion is arranged to overlap with the support member when seen in a planar view.
US08057057B2
Provided are a light unit and a liquid crystal display (LCD) having the same. The light unit comprises a housing; at least one first printed circuit board (PCB) arranged in the housing in a first direction; at least one second PCB arranged in the housing in a direction opposite to the first direction; and light emitting diodes mounted on the first and second PCBs.
US08057056B2
A light guide plate includes a body having a bottom surface and a light output surface opposite to the bottom surface. A scattering structure is formed on the bottom surface. The scattering structure includes a plurality of scattering dots located in the form of a plurality of concentric shapes about the center. A backlight module using the light guide plate is also provided.
US08057055B2
A light source holding structure eliminates non-uniformity of temperature distribution of a tube body of a light source in order to make uniform the amount of light emitted or prevent portions at which the amount of light emitted is locally lowered. The light source holding structure has a linear light source and a first light source holding member substantially in the shape of a bar. An engaging groove arranged to engage with a portion of a tube body of the light source is provided on the front side of the first light source holding member. The portion of the tube body is engaged in the engaging groove and substantially the entire length of the tube body is brought into surface contact with the inner surface of the engaging groove.
US08057048B2
A projector includes an optical arrangement and a cooling arrangement. The optical arrangement includes a light source, a filtering component, a light modulation component and a projection lens. The filtering component filters the light emitted by the light source. The light modulation component modulates the light filtered by the filtering component to form an image. The projection lens projects the image formed by the light modulation component. The cooling arrangement is arranged relative to the optical arrangement to cool the optical arrangement. The cooling arrangement includes a blower, an air duct and a heat sink. The blower blows cooling air. The air duct guides the cooling air from the blower to the filtering component along an cooling air path. The heat sink is disposed in the cooling air path within the air duct and fixedly attached to the light modulation component to thermally contact with the light modulation component.
US08057043B2
As optical elements for bending a light beam when it passes through an element face constituting one plane, a plurality of unit optical elements for reflecting light on one or more mirror surfaces arranged perpendicularly or at an angle nearly perpendicular to the element face are disposed to constitute an optical imaging element. Light emitted from projection object disposed on one side of the element face is reflected on the mirror surface when it passes through the element face so that a real image is formed in a space on the other side of the element face where a physical entity does not exist, thus constituting a display equipped with the optical imaging element. An aerial picture projection system not existing heretofore is also provided.
US08057040B2
Upon detecting a selection of an examination start button, a start and completion management unit starts an examination. The control unit switches an observation state to an infrared light observation by an observation switching unit. Next, an examiner performs alignment while observing an eye to be examined, and photographs the eye to be examined with a photographing unit. The start and completion management unit determines whether the examination is completed according to a selection of an examination complete button, and repeats the alignment until it is determined that the examination is completed.
US08057032B2
A mobile printing system includes a print medium having coded tags printed in IR-absorbing ink over a first face, each coded tag encoding data indicative of a location of that coded tag on the first face, an identifier of the print medium and a unique digital signature associated with the identifier. A mobile device for printing on the print medium includes a sensor for capturing an image of the coded tags when the print medium is positioned in a media feed path; a processor for decoding the sensed coded tag; verifying the digital signature; authorizing use of the print medium if the digital signature is verified; and determining the position of the print medium in the media feed path using the determined location of the sensed coded tag. The mobile device has a printer for printing information in registration with the sensed coded tag.
US08057029B2
A printing apparatus for printing on a medium through which ink ejected onto the surface of the medium is allowed to seep to the back side of the medium. The printing apparatus includes an inkjet head for ejecting ink in accordance with an inkjet method, an ink receiver that is arranged at a position facing the inkjet head across the medium during printing to receive the ink dripping from the back of the medium, and a wiper member as an ink removing device for removing the ink in the ink receiver from the ink receiver.
US08057027B2
An ink cartridge has a case having an ink chamber defined therein, and a pivotable member positioned in the ink chamber. The pivotable member has an opening formed therethrough, and the pivotable member pivots about the opening of the pivotable member. The ink cartridge also has a supporting shaft having a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The supporting shaft is positioned within the opening of the pivotable member. The ink cartridge further has a supporting member that supports at least one of the first end and the second end of the supporting shaft, and a projection extending from the supporting member toward the pivotable member.
US08057020B2
A printer comprising: an inkjet printhead having an ink inlet, an ink outlet and a plurality of nozzles; an ink supply system for supplying ink to the inkjet printhead at a predetermined hydrostatic pressure, the ink supply system comprising: a pressure-regulating chamber having an outlet port connected to the ink inlet of the printhead, the chamber comprising a float valve configured for maintaining a predetermined level of ink in the chamber, the level of ink controlling the hydrostatic pressure; and an ink reservoir connected to an inlet port of the pressure-regulating chamber, the ink reservoir being positioned above the predetermined level of ink.
US08057014B2
A nozzle assembly for an inkjet printhead is disclosed. The nozzle assembly includes an inkjet nozzle having an actuator for ejecting an ink droplet from the inkjet nozzle when a resistive element of the actuator is heated by an electrical current. A shift register comprising a plurality of successive registers is also included. The shift register receives input data in a first register, and shifts the input data to successive registers upon receipt of a shift signal. A transfer register latches data in one of the registers of the shift register. A control gate outputs a control pulse in response to data in the transfer register. A drive transistor provides an energy pulse to the resistive element of the actuator upon receipt of the control pulse.
US08057013B2
An inkjet printhead and a method of manufacturing the printhead. The inkjet printhead includes a substrate through which an ink supply passage is formed, a chamber plate stacked on the substrate having an ink chamber filled with ink supplied through the ink supply passage and heating resistors to heat the ink formed in the ink chamber, a nozzle plate formed on the chamber plate and through which a plurality of nozzles through which ink is ejected are formed, and a water repellent layer formed on the nozzle plate, wherein portions of a covalent bond formed by reaction between the material forming the nozzle plate and a hydrolysis material used to form the water repellent layer are discontinuously formed.
US08057011B2
A fluid dispensing device and method to wick fluid, to be ejected or expelled by a fluid ejecting device, along a capillary slot.
US08057010B2
A method of printing an image on a substrate using a page-wide-array printer and a page wide array printer is provided. The method includes printing a first portion of the image as relative movement occurs between the substrate and the print heads, and printing a second portion of the image as relative movement occurs between the substrate and the print heads, such that there exists an area of overlap between the first portion of the image and the second portion of the image. The substrate may be moved in a first direction relative to the print heads whilst the first portion of the image is printed, moved in a second direction opposite to the first direction; and moved in the first direction again whilst the second portion of the image is printed. The substrate may be printed whilst the substrate is moved in the second direction.
US08056991B2
A furniture drive for moving a furniture part is mounted in a vertically adjustable manner includes a drive apparatus, which has an electric motor, for moving the movable furniture part, and includes a compensation device which exerts a force which is opposite to the weight force on the movable furniture part. A measuring device is provided for detecting the weight of the movable furniture part. Therefore, the force exerted by the compensation device on the movable furniture part can be variably adjusted as a function of the measured weight of the movable furniture part by an adjusting device which has a further electric motor and can be actuated by the measuring device.
US08056984B2
The invention relates to a head rest carrying element which is produced out of a tubular member and which, can be connected to a seat at one end, and which carries a head rest at its second end. The tubular member is produced by being formed out of a flexibly rolled strip material with a variable wall thickness. Furthermore, the invention relates to a process of producing such a head rest carrying element.
US08056975B2
A restraint system for a travel seat which includes a frame dimensioned to rest upon a vehicle seat. The frame defines front and rear portions and a center line. An adjustment assembly is coupled to the frame and positioned at a selected one of the front and rear portions of the frame. A strap assembly is connected to the adjustment assembly. The strap assembly has first and second points removably securable to a vehicle anchor and a third point movably secured within the adjustment assembly.
US08056971B2
A child restraint includes a juvenile vehicle seat and an energy-absorption apparatus coupled to the juvenile vehicle seat. The energy-absorption apparatus is configured to absorb external energy associated with an external impact force applied to the energy-absorption apparatus.
US08056970B1
An item catcher for an automobile console gap, which is utilized to removably cover a gap between an inside surface of a vehicle seat and a vehicle console adjacent to the vehicle seat and collect small items which may otherwise fall into the gap. The item catcher includes an elongated, flexible, thin parallelepiped body which has an obround aperture centered near one end of the body to accommodate passage of a seat belt therethrough. The body folds along a central longitudinal axis from a flat first position into a folded second position in which the body is maintained while pressing the to body downwardly between the inside surface and the console and then is released into it a third position in which a body first side is pressed against the inside surface and a body second side is pressed against the console.
US08056964B2
A front body for a motor vehicle includes, but is not limited to a bumper carrier and a hood lock carrier that are solidly connected to one another. An energy absorber structure that is supported on the bumper carrier on one side and on the whole block carrier on the other side features ribs that extend between the lock carrier and the bumper carrier and are essentially oriented in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
US08056954B2
A seat assembly is provided for supporting an occupant above a floor in an automotive vehicle. The seat assembly includes a seat cushion that is adapted to be pivotally coupled to the floor for movement between a raised position spaced above the floor and a lowered position adjacent the floor. The seat assembly also includes a seat back that is adapted to be pivotally coupled to the floor for movement between an upright position and a folded position overlying the seat cushion. At least one drive link extends between a first end pivotally coupled to the seat back and a second end pivotally and slidably coupled to the seat cushion for automatically moving the seat cushion between the raised and lowered positions in response to pivoting the seat back between the upright and folded positions thereby defining a seating position and a stowed position of the seat assembly.
US08056947B2
A rod handling device includes a pivot rod, first clamp assembly pivotingly coupled to the pivot rod, a second clamp assembly pivotingly coupled to the pivot rod, and at least one locking assembly configured to move between a locked position and an unlocked position. While in the locked position the locking assembly prevents rotation between the first clamp assembly and the second clamp assembly. The rod handling device also includes a biasing member coupled to the pivot rod, the biasing member being configured to urge the locking assembly toward the locked position.
US08056945B2
The present invention is directed to a bar seal for a shipping container that indicates if the bar seal has been tampered with during the shipment of goods. The bar seal uses the following mechanisms to indicate tampering: a unique marking mechanism, a reusable locking mechanism, and a temporary sealing mechanism for sealing a shipping container.
US08056942B2
A lock for releasably locking a movable hatch to a counterpart is equipped with a fitting (1) having a locking assembly (21) and an additional fitting (2) having an additional locking assembly (28) that can be brought into engagement with the locking assembly (21) of the other fitting (1). The fittings (1, 2) are made of plastic and an elastically deformable compensating cushion (7) is present, which is fastened to one fitting (1, 2) and which when the fittings (1, 2) are in the locked position is disposed deformed between the fittings (1, 2) such that it exerts a bias on them (1, 2). The inventive lock is therefore light but strong and compensates tolerances.
US08056940B2
A pipe connector comprises a tubular pin member having a frustoconical outer surface and a tubular box member having a frustoconical inner surface corresponding to the outer surface of the pin member and which overlies the frustoconical surface of the pin member when the members are fully engaged. The members are provided with inter-engageable annular projections and grooves on the said peripheral surfaces for axially locking the members together when they are fully engaged together. The projections and grooves are spaced apart along the surfaces. The inner tubular surface of the pin member and an outer tubular surface of the box member each include at least one of a recess and/or a protrusion/radially enlarged section which reduces and/or increases the thickness of the tubular wall along the length of the associated member so as to balance the displacement of the members at different points along the length thereof under injection pressure.
US08056938B2
A fitting for joining a corrugated conduit to a structure associated therewith is disclosed. The fitting comprises a hollow body having an inner chamber and at least two body resilient tabs extending from an end. The at least two body resilient tabs define at least two body gaps therebetween. Each of the at least two body resilient tabs defines an outwardly extending detent. The fitting also comprises a retaining ring including a flange and at least two ring resilient tabs extending from the flange and defining ring gaps therebetween. Each of the at least two ring resilient tabs defines an inwardly extending detent adapted to engage a corrugated conduit. Each of the at least two body resilient tabs is selectively inserted in a corresponding one of the at least two ring gaps, and the outwardly extending detents selectively engage an end of the flange of the retaining ring.
US08056935B2
An interface is provided between a stiff piece (1) and a composite material (2), the composite material (2) including fibres (3), the stiff piece (1) including two or more vanes (4a, 4b, . . . ) protruding from a surface of the stiff piece (1). The vanes (4) include two or more lateral surfaces (41, 42, 43, 44), in which one or more fibres (3) of the composite material (2) are arranged for passing through one or more funnel-shaped throats (45) formed between lateral surfaces (41a, 43a, 41b, 43b, . . . ) of adjacent vanes (4a, 4b, . . . ). A fixing matrix material (7) is arranged around the one or more fibres (3), at least in or near the funnel-shaped throats (45). The vanes (4) are arranged for exerting counteracting transversal and axial forces on the fibres (3) and the fixing matrix material (7) when the interface is subject to forces.
US08056928B2
A vehicle and a fuel storage system for a vehicle are provided. A frame defining a perimeter structure and having first and second ends, and a generally open central interior portion, is configured to receive any one of a plurality of vehicle bodies in a body-on-frame vehicle architecture. A fuel cell arrangement is disposed adjacent one end of the frame, and a fuel storage tank is disposed in the central interior portion of the frame, along a length of the frame. The fuel storage tank provides a source of fuel for the fuel cell, and also acts as a fuel delivery conduit from one end of the frame to the other. The fuel storage system can include a non-rigid mounting structure for the fuel tank, thereby substantially isolating the fuel tank from movements of the vehicle frame.
US08056925B2
Rapidly constraining the knees of a driver, even for a steering column structure with plural obstructions projecting below the rear end side of the steering column, while also suppressing or preventing any detriment to column collapse operation during a frontal collision; the steering column is fixed to the vehicle body side with a lower bracket, an upper bracket and a housing, and a combination switch is disposed at the rear end side of an inner tube; lower portions are disposed in a state so as to protrude below a column tube and face each other, so that an airbag module is installed in an installation space between the two portions; a module case is manufactured from a fabric, and the airbag module is attached at a position in the vicinity of the combination switch through a rear attachment bracket.
US08056924B2
Inflatable airbag cushions often have modular components attached to them after the main airbag has been manufactured. Such modular components can include external tethers, mounting tabs, mounting assemblies, and fill tubes. Often, these modular components are positioned at predetermined locations on the airbag. Further, the modular components typically have a predetermined orientation. Employing an alignment aperture and at least one landmark on the airbag can allow a modular component to be positioned correctly along at least one axis of the airbag. Landmarks can include seams, edges, folds, and marks, such as ink from printing. Additional apertures, landmarks and/or hardware can be used to assure proper orientation of the modular component on the airbag. The modular component can be coupled to the airbag by stitching.
US08056912B2
A wheel suspension device for a vehicle includes a wheel supporting member rotatably supporting a wheel. The wheel supporting member is linked to a vehicle-body side by a first link and a second link, with the second link arranged substantially parallel to the first link in a vehicle width direction. The first link has a projecting portion, and at least one elastic linking portion links the projecting portion to the second link.
US08056911B2
In summary, there is provided a front axle mounting assembly (100) which is suitable for a tractor or a construction vehicle for example. The assembly comprises a steerable front axle (130), which is typically the front axle on a tractor, and a pair of support arms (120) which extend forwardly from the main body of the vehicle. The arms are pivotally mounted to the body of the vehicle, for example, at the front of the chassis, at transversely spaced mounting points (121). The other ends of the arms (120) are pivotally attached to, and maintained at a fixed spacing, by a crosslink member (124). The axle (130) is mounted to the crosslink member (124) so as to be parallel thereto when viewed from above. By mounting the axle (130) on two support arms (120) instead of one, the effective radius of pivot of the axle is significantly increased, thereby allowing the axle to move sideways to a greater extent for a given angular displacement.
US08056907B2
An ice skate blade for an ice skate comprising a length adapted to be attached to the ice skate and an ice engaging surface adapted to contact ice, a profile extending along at least a portion of the length, the profile having a width between a first side edge and a second side edge. At least one of the side edges ends at a bottom end at the ice engaging surface, a vee is defined by one of the side edges and a flat meeting at the bottom end, wherein a first acute edge angle is formed between the one of the side edges and the flat, and a flat angle is formed between the one of the side edges and a bottom, wherein the bottom has a distance which extends from the flat to either a second flat or a second one of the side edges.
US08056906B2
A drill chuck has a chuck body, a jaw holder element rotatable on the body and formed with a plurality of angularly spaced guides, and a sleeve element surrounding the holder element and body. Jaws in the guides can be shifted in the guides forward and together on rotation of the holder element in a tightening direction relative to the body and oppositely on rotation of the holder element relative to the body in an opposite loosening direction. Interengaging formations on the sleeve element and on the body limit relative angular movement of the sleeve element on the body between a pair of angularly offset end positions. An annular array of teeth rotationally fixed to the sleeve element can be engaged by a pawl angularly fixed on the holder element. A release ring rotatable the body rearward of the sleeve is rotationally coupled to one of the elements.
US08056902B2
An isolator seal includes a stator member for placement into the stator of rotating equipment and a rotor member for placement onto a rotary shaft of the rotating equipment. The stator member and the rotor member provide respective adjacent surfaces, while a static shut-off device engages both adjacent surfaces when the rotor member is static and disengages one or more of the surfaces when the rotor member is dynamic. In one embodiment of the invention at least one of the surfaces is inclined to the longitudinal axis at an angle greater or less than 90°. In a further embodiment, the static shut-off device includes a resilient annular sealing member and an auxiliary member, which can move between a first position, when the rotor member is static, at which the auxiliary member compresses the resilient annular member into engagement with both surfaces, and a second position at which the compression on the resilient member is reduced, so that the resilient annular member disengages one or more of the rotor and stator surfaces when the rotor is dynamic.
US08056890B2
A portable cutting mat for improving safety when using a power circular saw for cutting wood sheeting. The mat has a top surface, bottom surface, top edge, bottom edge, left edge, and right edge. The mat also contains holes through the top and bottom surfaces in a predetermined grid pattern. Disposed and secured within the mat holes are replaceable support pegs of a predetermined height. A wood sheet is to be laid on top of replaceable support pegs so that the top, bottom, left, and right edges along with row markings are visible around the perimeter of the wood sheet. The row markings are contrasting colors of alternate rows of the replaceable support pegs and/or alternate row markings directly printed on the mat to differentiate between rows of the replaceable support pegs. Cutting channels are the open areas between the rows of the replaceable support pegs, and the top surface of mat. Tie strings and/or straps are attached to the top or bottom edge to secure around the circumference of rolled up mat for transportation or storage.
US08056879B2
A high precision mirrormount comprises a retaining plate retaining reflecting mirror; an adjusting plate behind the retaining plate; a retaining ball fixed between the retaining plate and the adjusting plate; a fine-adjusting plate installed at the backside of the adjusting plate; a tension shaft fixed to the adjusting plate and exposing out of the fine-adjusting plate; tension springs being installed around the tension shaft; a first adjusting screw serving to coarsely adjust the adjusting plate to move closer or far away from the retaining plate; and a second adjusting screw having one end resisting against an elastic element which has an elastic coefficient of the elastic element being very smaller than those of the tension springs. Thus, the second adjusting screw has an effect of fine adjustment. In 2D case, two above structures are formed along an X axis and a Y axis respectively.
US08056875B2
A bottle mountable condiment holder is mainly described as a lime slice and salt shaker holder for pivotingly mounting on a bottle of tequila such that the holder pivots to stay mostly upright while the bottle is tipped for pouring, thus preventing condiments from falling off of the rack. The holder includes a rack for holding the condiments and a pivoting attachment for mounting the rack to a bottle; such that the center of gravity of the rack is below a pivot of the pivoting attachment. Preferably the rack has shelves for holding condiment pieces (e.g., lime slices) and/or at least one dispenser mounted on the rack for dispensing particulate or liquid condiments (e.g., salt shakers). In a preferred embodiment, the pivoting attachment is a removable bottle neck collar, and the dispensers are removably mountable on the rack.
US08056872B2
A lightweight hand-removable backstop structure is provided, the backstop structure having: a backstop support; and an elongated substantially rigid structure arranged to be removably installed upon and rigidly supported in position by the backstop support, the elongated substantially rigid structure having first, second and third elongated sections, with first and third sections being generally vertically arranged, and the second section being generally horizontally arranged, the first section being configured to be hand-mounted upon and mechanically supported by the backstop support; the second section being disposed between and operatively rigidly interconnecting the first and third sections, the third section having at least one substantially flat large surface portion arranged to have a generally vertical orientation, the backstop structure being of sufficient length in a horizontal direction such that all of the third section and at least a portion of the second section extend over at least part of a pallet positioned therebelow, the large flat surface portion of the third section being configured to be generally perpendicular to the direction of advancing strips of sheet metal being severed and placed on the pallet.
US08056867B2
A position assurance assembly includes an elongated fastener, a cover forming a cavity, a first position assurance part, a mounting surface, a second position assurance part and a fastener receptacle. The cover has a hole formed therethrough and is in communication with the cavity. The hole is sized to receive the fastener. The first position assurance part is connected to the cover and disposed inside of the cavity. The second position assurance part and the fastener receptacle are connected to and project from the mounting surface. Upon covering the second position assurance part and the fastener receptacle with the cover, the first position assurance part and the second position assurance part matably engage one another and, with the hole and the fastener receptacle in at least substantial registration with one another, the fastener extends through the hole and into the fastener receptacle for releasable engagement therewith.
US08056860B2
A system and method for refueling unmanned aerial vehicles. The system is adapted to refuel a first unmanned aerial vehicle from a second unmanned aerial vehicle and includes an arrangement for flying the first and second vehicles to proximity within a predetermined range and for connecting an umbilical from the second vehicle to the first vehicle in flight. In the illustrative embodiment, the arrangement for connecting includes a targeting system for electromagnetically detecting a refueling receptacle on the first vehicle. The targeting system includes a first coil around a refueling receptacle on the first vehicle. A seeker is disposed at a first end of said umbilical on the second vehicle. The seeker includes three detector coils adapted to detect a magnetic signal from the first coil around the receptacle on the first vehicle. The coils are mounted such that the detector coils point in different directions. The outputs of the coils are processed to determine the direction and range to the UAV from the tanker UAV.
US08056847B1
A rotating feed distributor for use in connection with rock crushers and other devices. The feed distributor comprises a platform for receiving rocks and a chute having an inlet and outlet wherein the rocks pass through. The feed distributor is designed to reduce wear by evenly distributing rocks into the crusher. The chute is supported and rotated utilizing a motor, drive belts, a sheave structure, thrust bearings and idler wheels. The sheave structure includes a flange and a face which are generally orthogonal to one another. The belts, thrust bearings and idler wheels each engage with the sheave structure.
US08056846B2
A stirred ball mill assembly includes multiple vessels each having a body supporting sets of magnets rotatable with respect to the body. Each vessel defines an enclosed milling chamber, and has a stirring arm assembly extending in the respective enclosed milling chamber and connected for rotation with the respective sets of magnets. The sets of magnets and the stirring arm assembly are completely enclosed within the respective vessel. The vessels are configured to be stacked with one another so that adjacent ones of the sets of magnets are magnetically coupled with one another. A drive motor assembly has another set of magnets magnetically coupled with one of the sets of magnets of the stacked vessels. The drive motor can rotate the stirring arm assemblies within the milling chambers of the milling chambers of the stacked vessels via magnetic coupling of the magnets.
US08056842B2
A method for producing a color powder concentrate, the method comprising: performing a first dry-mixing of a base powder with an excess amount of a pigment powder to produce an initial mixture; filtering out pigment agglomerates larger than a pre-determined size, to produce a sieved mixture; and performing a second dry-mixing of the sieved mixture with a compensatory amount of a base powder to produce the color powder concentrate, wherein the compensatory amount of the base powder may be determined based on the excess amount of the pigment powder and on an amount of the pigment agglomerates filtered out.
US08056840B2
The invention utilizes a carbon nano material to nanotize a magnesium-based hydrogen storage material, thereby forming single or multiple crystals to enhance the surface to volume ratio and hydrogen diffusion channel of the magnesium-based hydrogen storage material. Therefore, the hydrogen storage material has higher hydrogen storage capability, higher absorption/desorption rate, and lower absorption/desorption temperature.
US08056832B2
A jetspray nozzle for cleaning a photolithographic mask or semiconductor wafer and method for cleaning the same. The jetspray nozzle in one embodiment includes a water supply inlet, a gas supply inlet, a first row of gas injection nozzles communicating with the gas supply inlet, a mixing cavity defining a jetspray nozzle outlet, and a flow mixing baffle disposed in the cavity. The mixing baffle preferably is configured and arranged to combine gas and water in the jetspray nozzle for delivering a concentrated stream of gas with a cluster of micro water droplets entrained in the gas for removing contaminant particles from the mask. The jetspray nozzle is capable of cleaning photo masks or wafers without the use of chemicals. In one embodiment, the water may be deionized water and the gas may be nitrogen. In another embodiment, the jetspray nozzle further includes a second row of gas injection nozzles spaced above or below the first row of gas injection nozzles that communicate with the gas supply inlet.
US08056828B1
An apparatus (10) applies product in liquid or granular form to an area and includes a pivotal platform (34) solely supported to a vehicular portion through bushings (46, 54) formed of compressible material to reduce operator fatigue. The apparatus ground speed can be locked by stepping on a step (74) pivoting a composite block (82) to engage with an engagement (84) of the transmission proportioner arm (70). A gate (88) of the hopper (26) is opened utilizing a control lever (108) pivotally mounted to a pivotably mounted control block (100) to either engage or avoid a tang (106) of an adjustment guide (102). A drive belt system includes a variator (144) having first and second sheaves (142, 146) having variable effective diameters when their pivot pin (148) is moved by pivoting a lever (164). A spray tip (200) sprays a fan style spray at a small acute angle to the application area. A flip shield (184) is pivoted about an axis parallel to the movement direction and includes a linear straight portion (188) parallel to the axis in a redirection position.
US08056827B2
A jet dispenser is provided with a giant magnetostrictive actuator which expands or contracts in response to electric currents. A set of flexural elements is coupled to first and second ends of the giant magnetostrictive actuator and flexes when the giant magnetostrictive actuator expands or contracts. The jet dispenser further comprises a chamber containing fluid and the fluid is dispensable through a nozzle which is in communication with the chamber. A piston coupled to the set of flexural elements is slidably located in the chamber and is actuable by flexion of the flexural elements to apply a force against the fluid for dispensing fluid through the nozzle.
US08056822B2
The present invention relates to a method for certifying and subsequently authenticating original physical or digital documents. The concept of the evidence lies in the dual nature of a physical information item and a digital information item, one being the reference for the other that cannot lie amended at the risk of the evidence being lost. For a physical original document (8) associated with a bubble seal (7) there is a corresponding time-and-date-stamped, proprietary paperless reference counterpart. For a time-and-date-stamped, proprietary digital original document (15) there is a corresponding reference counterpart in the form of a bubble seal (7).
US08056818B2
The circuitry introduced in this invention selectively slows down the functioning of an electronic circuit maintaining a particular state for a prolonged period of time. This circuitry is used not only to achieve the desired effect in maintaining security from electronic thieves trying to circumvent codes but also in other applications such as enabling a circuit to continue to function in the event of a brief loss of power. For example, in an RFID system, if a reader is frequency hopping, a tag loses power for as long as about 400 milliseconds when the reader changes to other frequencies. In a preferred embodiment, the disclosed circuitry is used in conjunction with a destruct sequence.
US08056816B2
A method for personalizing a presentation instrument for an account holder while the account holder is present is described. The method includes transmitting to a server computer a request to personalize a presentation instrument for an account holder who has a financial account with a financial institution. The request includes the account holder's name and background information indicating a background to be placed onto the presentation instrument. The method further includes receiving, at the server computer from the financial institution, presentation instrument data to be included on the presentation instrument. The presentation instrument data comprises an account number and an expiration date. Further, the method includes transmitting from the server computer through a financial institution network, personalization information usable by a printer to place printed personalization information onto a blank presentation instrument, and to electronically store account information onto the blank presentation instrument while the account holder is present.
US08056814B2
A combined EAS/RFID tag including an EAS circuit and a first RFID circuit is disclosed. The EAS circuit has at least one capacitor and the RFID circuit has a main antenna wherein at least a part of the capacitor of the EAS circuit provides at least a part of the main antenna of the RFID circuit. The EAS circuit may include two capacitors and each capacitor may include first and second plates on first and second sides of a substrate wherein one plate of each capacitor forms part of the main antenna of the RFID circuit.
US08056809B2
Image enhancement of symbol targets and non-symbol targets is performed based on the distance to the target, and optionally on the type of target being imaged, by an imaging system to improve reader performance. An axicon and other lenses are preferred to capture light from the target.
US08056801B2
A system and method for distributing prepaid cash alternatives and resolving exceptions related to the sale of prepaid cash alternatives such as traveler's checks or prepaid cards. Reports of sales may be reviewed to identify exceptions, and information explaining the exceptions may be made available electronically. Sellers may be notified of exceptions by e-mail, which may include a link or address to information explaining the exceptions. The information may be provided in real time through a secure site on a network, such as the Internet. A company may contract with business partners to sell the prepaid cash alternatives to customers, and the business partners may report the sales to the company via reports. After being notified of exceptions, business partners may provide corrected information or new information to resolve the exceptions.
US08056800B2
Systems and methods for configuration management in an article of manufacture disclosed. In one embodiment, a system for documenting a configuration of an article of manufacture includes an identifier positioned on the article of manufacture. A local positioning system is used to determine a positional location of the identifier on the article of manufacture. A multifunction apparatus configured to interactively communicate with the identifier and the local positioning system is present that is operable to communicate configuration information to the identifier.
US08056794B2
A transducer configured for use with a manual wire bonding machine includes a body portion including an end portion, the end portion defining a bonding tool aperture configured to receive at least a portion of a bonding tool. The transducer also includes a first tightening mechanism for securing a ball bonding tool in the bonding tool aperture, and a second tightening mechanism for securing a wedge bonding tool in the bonding tool aperture. The first tightening mechanism is distinct from the second tightening mechanism.
US08056784B2
A bicycle accessory container constructed to be supported generally under a seat of a bicycle. The container includes a pair of sidewalls that generally enclose a cavity. A severable closure is attached to the sidewalls and allows the cavity to be selectively enclosed or exposed to atmosphere. A securing member is secured to one or both of the sidewalls within the cavity and is deformable between a first orientation wherein the securing member will pass freely between adjacent seat brackets and a second orientation wherein the securing member will not pass freely through the space between the seat brackets.
US08056783B2
An exterior member mounting unit is used for installing an exterior member to a device, such as a vehicle roof. The mounting unit includes a first part detachably supporting the exterior member so that an upper surface thereof is covered by the exterior member, a second part detachably held by the first part, and a screw for attaching the exterior member to the device while utilizing the second part detachably supported by the first part as a seating plate.
US08056777B2
Disclosed is an apparatus for hanging articles and the method of manufacturing the apparatus includes a hanger body having first and second paperboard panels separated from one another by a fold line. The first paperboard panel includes a central tab extending from a periphery thereof opposite the fold line. A polymeric hook portion engages with the hanger body and includes a support portion and a hook base, the hook base having an alignment aperture formed therein through which the central tab of the first paperboard panel is inserted so as to provide means for securing the polymeric hook to the hanger body. In a preferred embodiment, apparatus for hanging articles and the hook portion are made from recycled or recyclable material.
US08056776B2
The invention generally relates to a refractory pouring tube for pouring a molten metal from one metallurgical vessel to another metallurgical vessel. The invention as well relates to a corresponding assembly, comprising such a pouring tube.
US08056773B2
An assembly of a tapping keg with neck and a connecting device for placement on the neck. In the neck is at least one valve. The neck is provided with an outwardly reaching flange with a top surface and an inclined bottom surface. The bottom surface is inclined with respect to the top surface. The connecting device has a substantially horse shoe-shaped connecting element, provided with a slot by way of which the connecting element is slidable over the flange. The side of the slot facing the bottom surface during use includes a lower surface which is inclined at an angle which is at least virtually equal to the angle of inclination of the inclined bottom surface and, in coupled condition, abuts at least against a planar central part of the inclined bottom surface.
US08056755B2
A spill-resistant beverage container having an inwardly projecting, annular contoured lip forming an aperture at the top of a beverage reservoir. The aperture is smaller than the diameter of the top rim of the reservoir. The contoured lip reduces spillage, especially when used with shallow containers such as a martini glass. A smaller aperture in the surface of the contoured lip enables beverage consumption, either directly by mouth or through a straw.
US08056754B2
The disclosed embodiment provides a beverage container holder for a vehicle that utilizes a bin-like member having a floor and generally vertical walls defining a compartment with an opening at its top. A partition member extends across the opening of the bin-like member to divide the compartment into two parts, wherein the partition member is manually adjustable to a plurality of locations within the bin-like member to provide for the retention of beverage containers of various sizes.
US08056752B2
A disposable lid for mounting upon the substantially circular lip of a personal beverage container and a method for making the same, the lid having an annular mounting portion for anchoring upon the circular cup lip; a top plate portion coupled to the annular mounting portion; a drink-through opening within the top plate portion and adjacent to an outer portion thereof adjacent to the annular mounting portion and enabling drinking from the cup without removal of the lid and permitting the lips of a user drinking from the cup to substantially encompass the drink-through opening, the drink-through opening further including a liquid permeable membrane formed of a first plurality of perforations; and a vent opening within the top plate portion spaced away from the drink-through opening, the vent opening further including an air permeable membrane formed of a second plurality of perforations.
US08056725B2
A product package having a product tray and an information indicator that can be mounted in the tray. The information indicator is operable to be held in the product tray and the product placed into the tray on top of the information indicator. The tray is operable to protect the product from damage during storage or transport as well as provide an enhanced appearance during display. The information indicator is operable to convey information to the consumer as well as assist in removal of the product from the product tray.
US08056720B2
The system contains a base with a plurality of base ventilation holes and a plurality of side walls. The base includes a base instrument holder fixed to the base. At least one stage with a plurality of stage ventilation holes is positioned within the base. The stage includes at least two legs fixed to the stage, at least one stage instrument holder fixed to the stage, and a stage notched member fixed to the stage and positioned to engage a medical instrument beneath the stage. A fixed or removable cover having a plurality of cover ventilation holes is included to surround the base.
US08056715B2
Portable dispensers of nail strips, coils of roofing mails, roof staples, sheathing staples, welding rods, roofing nails, cartridge holders for diagonal nails which are put in a cartridge nail gun, framing nails, and the like.
US08056708B2
A bale of elastomer composite is formed of elastomer and filler, the bale having a void volume of at least 3%. In another aspect, a container is provided, at least a portion of the container being occupied by elastomer composite pieces of elastomer and filler, wherein the occupied portion of the container has a void volume of at least 3%.
US08056701B2
The present invention increases an allowable maximum weight of an object to be loaded on a conveyance device using a carriage including an object support base movable vertically controlled by cam rails on the floor side without increasing the weight of the conveyance carriage itself, and is characterized in that the object support base 11 is supported movably vertically on a conveyance carriage 1 via a crosslink mechanism 10, the crosslink mechanism 10 is provided with an elevating cam follower roller 32 which moves up and down in conjunction with standing and falling movements of the crosslink mechanism 10, and in a conveyance carriage traveling path, a cam rail 50 which pushes up the elevating cam follower roller 32 is provided, wherein an urging means 45 which urges the object support base 11 upward is provided, and an urging force of the urging means 45 is set so as to move up the object support base 11 when no object is loaded on the object support base 11, however, when an object is loaded on the object support base 11, to allow the object support base 11 to lower according to the load of the object.
US08056698B2
Disclosed is a tray handling apparatus in which the conveyance and inversion of a tray can be performed simultaneously to thereby achieve a rapid inspecting operation and a simplified apparatus configuration, and a semiconductor device inspecting method using the tray handling apparatus. The tray handling apparatus includes an inverting unit to turn the tray, in which objects are received, upside down, and a transfer device to convey the object receiving tray from one conveyor to another conveyor while being reciprocally moved above a body of the apparatus. The inverting unit is integrally provided at a lower end of the transfer device, to allow the conveyance and inversion of the tray to be performed simultaneously.
US08056697B2
A brake/differential lock pedal linkage includes a two-stage manual control that may lock a differential before progressively engaging a brake. The manual control may be a foot pedal or hand lever. The linkage may include a brake cam lever that pivots on a brake cam shaft in response to movement of the manual control, a differential lock link connected between the brake cam lever and an actuator that can move a differential lock shaft to lock the differential, and a lost motion coupling between the brake cam lever and the actuator allowing the brake cam lever to pivot to a differential lock position in which the actuator moves the differential lock shaft sufficiently to lock the differential, before the brake cam lever pivots further to progressively engage the brake.
US08056696B2
A control element for opening and closing a drive connection between a first member and a second member includes a first ring engaged with the first member, displaceable among a disengaged position, a stroked position and an engaged position and formed with first serrations, a second ring engaged with the first member and including second serrations, a third ring engaged with the second member and including third serrations for alternately engaging with and disengaging from the first and second serrations, and a detent for resisting displacement of the first ring relative to the second ring when the first ring is in the stroked position and permitting displacement of the first ring relative to the second ring when the first ring moves from the stroked position to the engaged position.
US08056694B2
A disc clutch assembly is provided that includes first and second sets of generally annular plates spaced alternately with one another. The plates of the first set have a friction interface. The first and second sets of plates are selectively engagable with one another at the friction interface for transferring torque loads. Separating devices are in contact with the plates radially inward of the friction interface. The separating devices are configured to bias the respective ones of the first and second sets of plates apart from one another when not selectively engaged.
US08056690B2
A transmission includes a selectable one-way clutch (SOWC) assembly. The SOWC assembly includes a rotatable pocket plate, a rotatable slide plate, and an annular piston having a ramped surface feature. The piston, which can be hydraulically actuated, moves axially toward the pocket plate when applied, and axially away from the pocket plate when released, to thereby select between two torque holding or operating modes of the SOWC assembly. The ramped surface feature of the piston engages an axial knob portion of the slide plate when the piston is applied to select to one operating mode, thus rotating the slide plate in one direction. A return spring moves the piston away from the pocket plate when the other operating mode is selected, and the slide plate is rotated via a spring in another direction. A guide pin maintains a relative position of the piston and the slide plate.
US08056689B2
A water pump disconnect clutch including: a first race having first and second portions with first and second diameters, respectively; a second race having at least one ramp; at least one rolling element disposed radially between the first and second races; and an engagement means for axially displacing the at least one rolling element. In response to an increase in temperature for the pump above a specified level, the engagement means is for axially displacing the at least one rolling element from a first position, in which the first and second races are rotationally independent, to a second position to rotationally lock the first and second races. In response to a decrease in temperature for the pump below the specified level, the engagement means is for axially displacing the at least one rolling element from the second position to the first position.
US08056683B2
There is provided an electric disk brake including a caliper and a lock mechanism wherein the lock mechanism shifts with a pad pressing member, and is composed of: a shifting member provided with a plurality of claws with a predetermined pitch in a shifting direction; an engaging member provided with an engaging portion which is engageable with the claws of the shifting member; an actuator driving the engaging member in a direction that the engaging portion engages with the claws of the shifting member; and an energizing means normally energizing the engaging member in a direction that the engaging portion is detached from the claws of the shifting member, and the engaging portion is engaged with the claws provided on one-side surface of the shifting member when being locked while the engaging portion is positioned on the other-side surface of the shifting member when being unlocked.
US08056682B2
A bicycle brake device includes a holder arm having a pivot shaft for attaching to a rear fork, two brake caliper having middle portions pivotally attached to the end portions of the holder arm, and having brake shoes attached to the lower portions, and a brake cable for selectively forcing the lower portions of the brake calipers and the brake shoes toward each other, the brake calipers may be balanced for effectively forcing the brake shoes to solidly clamp the wheel rim, and a spring biasing device may bias the brake shoes away from each other when the brake cable is released. A coupling device may couple the middle portions of the brake calipers together.
US08056680B2
A wearable, self-deploying fall arrest device to resist sliding movement of a climber on a climbing surface includes a pick blade pivotable between a retracted position and a deployed position. A tip of an out-turned tooth on the pick blade can be oriented downwardly and outwardly in the retracted position to engage and catch the climbing surface. An out-turned fin can be disposed on the opposite end of the pick blade above the pivot to urge the pick blade out of the retracted position upon pressing the fin against the climbing surface.
US08056678B2
A modular ladder assembly includes at least two ladder assemblies, each assembly having first and second parallel stiles and a plurality of spaced apart rungs disposed between the first and second stiles, the plurality of rungs being perpendicular to said first and second stiles. The first stiles of the at least two ladder assemblies are mechanically connected together and at least one adjustment assembly is mechanically connected to the second stile of one of the at least two ladder assemblies and a second end of at least one adjustment assembly is mechanically connected to a second stile of a second of the at least two ladder assemblies so that the at least two ladder assemblies and the at least one adjustment assembly have a triangular shape when viewed from a plane perpendicular to the first and second stiles of the at least two ladder assemblies.
US08056666B2
A vehicle powertrain includes an engine capable of being selectively turned on and turned off, a transmission operatively connected to the engine, and a hydraulic control system including a pump in fluid communication with the transmission. The pump is operatively connected to the engine for supplying fluid to the transmission when the engine is on, wherein the pump is idle when the engine is off. The hydraulic control system additionally includes an accumulator arranged to accumulate the fluid when the engine is on. The accumulator is also controlled to accumulate fluid when the engine is on, to retain the fluid when the engine is turned off, and to discharge the fluid to the transmission when the engine is restarted.
US08056658B2
A saddle seat type fuel-cell electric vehicle includes a motor for driving rear wheels, a secondary battery for supplying electric power to the motor, a carrier for carrying luggage and a seat for supporting an operator, the carrier is located behind the seat and above the rear wheels. The secondary battery includes a plurality of cells each having an elongated boxlike shape, and it is stored in the internal space of the carrier, thereby increasing the flexibility of the layout of the vehicle body. Spacings functioning as air passages are defined between the inner wall of the carrier and the secondary battery. The carrier is formed with air inlet openings for introducing an air flow into the internal space and an air outlet opening for discharging the air flow out of the internal space. The plural cells are arranged adjacent to each other with given intervals on the same plane.
US08056651B2
An earth boring drill bit comprising a bit body having a longitudinal axis along a path of the bit, a first plurality of cutters mounted to the body, and a second plurality of cutters rotatably mounted to the body, wherein a longitudinal axial relationship between the first plurality of cutters and the second plurality of cutters is adjustable. The first and/or second plurality of cutters may be mounted to the body in such a manner as to allow them to slide parallel to the longitudinal axis. The longitudinal axial relationship may be adjusted to exchange the first plurality of cutters and the secondary plurality of cutters between a primary cutting position and a secondary cutting position. The bit may include a sensor to provide an indication of a formation type being excavated by the bit and a processor to control the longitudinal axial relationship based on the indication.
US08056650B2
Thermally stable ultra-hard compact constructions of this invention comprise an ultra-hard material body that includes a thermally stable region positioned adjacent a surface of the body. The thermally stable region is formed from consolidated materials that are thermally stable at temperatures greater than about 750° C. The thermally stable region can occupy a partial portion of or the entire ultra-hard material body. The ultra-hard material body can comprise a composite of separate ultra-hard material elements that each form different regions of the body, at least one of the regions being thermally stable. The ultra-hard material body is attached to a desired substrate, an intermediate material is interposed between the body and the substrate, and the intermediate material joins the substrate and body together by high pressure/high temperature process.
US08056642B2
The invention relates to a method of radially expanding a tubular element extending into a wellbore formed in an earth formation, the tubular element including a first layer and a second layer extending around the first layer, said layers being separable from each other. The method comprises inducing each layer to bend radially outward and in an axially reverse direction so as to form an expanded tubular section extending around a remaining tubular section of the tubular element, wherein each layer has a respective bending zone in which the bending occurs, and increasing the length of the expanded tubular section by inducing the respective bending zones of the layers to move in an axial direction relative to the remaining tubular section. The layers in the respective bending zones are separate from each other so as to define an axial space between the layers.
US08056637B2
A subsurface safety valve is modified to permit the passage of a downhole treatment chemical through the valve while bypassing a valve closure member which is maintained within the safety valve in operative condition.
US08056636B1
A jet pumping system for use in a wellbore drilled for the production or petroleum products includes a packer disposed within the wellbore, an intake pipe extending through the packer, an injection system configured to inject pressurized gas into the wellbore and a jet pump connected to the intake pipe. The jet pump further includes a removable vortex generator. A method for selectively generating foam in-situ in a subterranean well includes the steps of installing a vortex generator in the jet pump with a wire line procedure and pumping a foam generating solution into the jet pump. Pressurized gas is injected into the annulus of the well, which creates a vortex in the jet pump as the pressurized gas is directed into the jet pump through injection ports. The resultant vortex aerates and mixes the foam generating solution and petroleum fluids to generate a foam in the jet pump.
US08056635B2
A method of pumping an oilfield fluid from a well surface to a wellbore is provided that includes providing a clean stream; operating one or more clean pumps to pump the clean stream from the well surface to the wellbore; providing a dirty stream including a solid material disposed in a fluid carrier; and operating one or more dirty pumps to pump the dirty stream from the well surface to the wellbore, wherein the clean stream and the dirty stream together form said oilfield fluid.
US08056631B2
A cementitious composition capable of forming a high, early-phase strength cement may comprise construction grade cement and ground blast furnace slag, the ground blast furnace slag having a Blaine fineness less than about 250 m2/kg. The cementitious composition may comprise, for each 100% by weight, greater than about 50% by weight construction grade portland cement and less than about 50% by weight ground blast furnace slag, and the cementitious composition may have a Blaine fineness less than about 300 m2/kg. Methods of making and using such a cementitious composition to cement a structure are also described.
US08056624B2
The present invention is directed to an in situ reservoir recovery process that uses a horizontal well located near the top of a reservoir and an inclined production well to extract bitumen or heavy oil from a reservoir. In a first stage, the top well is used for cold production of reservoir fluids to the surface, in which, reservoir fluids are pumped to the surface in the absence of stimulation by steam or other thermal and/or solvent injection. A lower production well is drilled into the formation below the top well. The top well is converted to an injection well or, if no cold production then a top well is drilled as an injector well. A portion of the bottom well is inclined so that one end of the incline is closer to the injector well than the other end of the incline. In the process, steam circulation creates a heated zone at the point of the two wells that are closest together in the reservoir.
US08056613B2
A vehicle, such as a motorcycle or ATV, includes a frame, an internal combustion engine, a radiator, a control module and a heat guard. The radiator is configured for receiving fresh air and for expelling heated air. The control module includes an engine control unit for the internal combustion engine. At least a portion of the heat guard is positioned adjacent to and between the radiator and the control module. The heat guard is configured to deflect at least a portion of the heated air expelled by the radiator from contacting the control module. The heat guard is also configured for receiving fresh air for cooling the heat guard to reduce radiation of heat from the heat guard to the control module.
US08056611B2
In one embodiment, an apparatus for direct chill casting of metal includes an open ended mold cavity formed by a casting surface with an upper end and a lower end, a refractory sleeve located at the upper end of the mold cavity being adapted to receive molten metal, a coolant delivery system below the lower end of the mold for supplying coolant to chill the descending hot metal body, and a boron nitride ring mounted between the refractory sleeve and the peripheral wall of the mold cavity. Another embodiment further includes a downspout instead of a refractory sleeve that is located at the upper end of the mold cavity being adapted to receive molten metal having a flow control rod or a floating baffle where the flow control rod controls the amount of molten metal to enter the mold cavity.
US08056608B2
Method of mitigating against thermal contraction induced cracking during casting of a super Ni alloy
A method of mitigating against thermal contraction induced cracking during casting of a super Ni alloy, the method comprising: pouring liquid alloy into a mould such that liquid alloy is present in a feeder of said mould; and inducing an electrical current in alloy in said feeder to reduce a rate of cooling of alloy in said feeder.
US08056606B2
A composite element is provided. The composite element includes a ceramic component defining a cavity having a first end and a second end, and a metallic component that includes a head and a body. At least a portion of the body of the metallic component is disposed in the cavity, and the head of the component is disposed on the first end of the cavity. A cross-sectional area of a portion of the body is greater than an area of the first end. In addition, the ceramic and metallic components are interlocked. Methods of making a composite element and of making a clearance sensor part are also provided.
US08056598B2
An air cushion maker includes a pair of forming rollers that are provided with recesses and electrothermal wires so that two consecutive plastic films passing between the forming rollers are made into air cushions with geometric puffy air cells.
US08056589B2
An overfill prevention device is provided for preventing overflow of a fluid storage tank. The overfill prevention device includes a filler cup designed to fit within the fill opening of the tank body and attach thereto. A seal that is adapted for receiving and sealing to a fill nozzle is placed between upper and lower regions of the filler cup. A breather piece, which defines a vapor path with first and second openings, is integrated with the filler cup. The first opening of the breather piece is fluidly coupled to the lower cup region, whereas the second opening is positioned above the first opening, located at or below the full level of the storage tank.
US08056586B2
The invention relates to a woven fabric comprising warp threads or wires and comprising weft wires, wherein the woven fabric comprises an offset weft wire. The offset is particularly suitable for fastening objects separate from the woven fabric.
US08056579B2
A mass flow controller has: a flow rate sensor section that measures the flow rate of a fluid and outputs a flow rate measurement signal indicating the measurement value; a flow rate control valve disposed upstream or downstream of the flow rate sensor section; a calculation section that calculates a feedback control value to be supplied to the flow rate control valve by performing at least a proportional calculation on the deviation of the flow rate measurement value indicated by the flow rate measurement signal from a flow rate setting value; and an opening control signal output section that generates an opening control signal based on the feedback control value and outputs the opening control signal to the flow rate control valve. The function used for calculating the gain value in the proportional calculation differs between a changing period and a stable period.
US08056578B2
A one-handle valve cartridge has one or more lobular keys formed on a housing of the valve cartridge. The lobular keys interface with keyways formed in a valve body.
US08056563B2
A nipple protector is provided, which is able to protect a nipple of a user reliably, by protecting the nipple area so as to maintain a non-contact state with the nipple area and thereby avoiding the causing of pain or unpleasant irritation to the nipple area, as well as avoiding the leaving of marks while reducing irritation when abutted against the breast. A nipple protector having a hard outer member or shell and an inner member made of a material which is more flexible and deformable than the outer member, with an internal space being formed inside the nipple protector, wherein the internal space is formed by a cylindrical portion which extends from the outer member and/or the inner member, and the inner member has an abutting section which surrounds with no gap the nipple area of a wearer completely, and the abutting section is a deformable abutting section which deforms elastically and is capable of making contact, with no gap, with the perimeter of the nipple area.
US08056559B2
A method and a CPAP apparatus for characterizing mask systems provided. The CPAP apparatus can be calibrated by including sensors configured to measure flow and pressure. When the flow generator is fitted to a new or changed mask system, a method for calibrating the flow generator for the new or changed mask system. The method includes determining air flow characteristics using flow measurements made during a first test period when the flow through the mask system is open, measuring or estimating pressure in the mask system during a second test period when the flow through the mask system is blocked and determining air flow characteristics of the diffuser of the mask system using the air flow characteristics of the air delivery hose determined during the first test period and the pressure measurements made during the second test period.
US08056552B2
A wall thimble for use with a heating appliance. Dual functionality is provided in a single wall thimble device by having a vent path for exhausting combustion by-products, and a separate air inlet path to draw in outside combustion air for use by the heating appliance. The wall thimble is formed as a two-part housing such that a first portion can be inserted into a second portion. When an exhaust pipe is routed through end plates on the housing portions, a closed region is formed between the exhaust pipe and the housing portions. A first air vent is formed in the first or outside portion to draw combustion air into the closed region from outside. A second air vent is formed in the second or inside portion to route the combustion air from the closed region to an opening in the housing where a combustion air inlet pipe is connected.
US08056549B1
The present disclosure presents a substantially cylindrically-shaped pavement texturing head. The pavement texturing head can include a plurality of substantially round, disc-shaped grinding members adjacently arranged and substantially aligned, one with the others, along a common rotational center axis. Additionally, the grinding members establish a circumferential grinding zone around the pavement texturing head. Furthermore, the grinding zone includes a plurality of grinding segments collectively forming an exterior surface around the substantially cylindrically-shaped pavement texturing head and having an exposed peripheral profile taken parallel to the common rotational center axis comprising undulating ridges and troughs.
US08056545B2
An integrated engine cover and exhaust gas recirculation cooler for an internal combustion engine includes a cover for enclosing a portion of an engine and an EGR cooler having a housing formed as one piece with the cover. The EGR cooler includes at least one cooler section located within the housing and EGR and bypass valves for controlling the flow of exhaust gases either though the cooler or around the cooler.
US08056544B2
A method for operating an internal combustion engine Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system that includes producing an EGR valve position signal to decrease the amount of exhaust gas passed to the EGR cooler when a processor determines the EGR cooler efficiency is less than the predetermined level and producing an EGR coolant valve position signal to decrease the amount of coolant passed to the EGR cooler when such processor determines the EGR cooler efficiency is less than the predetermined level. The processor produced EGR valve and the EGR coolant valve position signals result in regeneration within the cooler, returning the effectiveness of the cooler to a near “clean” condition.
US08056536B2
An ignition device for an internal combustion engine including: an exciter coil that generates an AC voltage having a positive half wave and first and second negative half waves generated before and after the positive half wave with rotation of the internal combustion engine; and an ignition control portion that controls an ignition position of the engine using a microprocessor to which a power supply voltage is supplied from a power supply circuit that converts the voltage having the negative half waves generated by the exciter coil to a DC voltage, wherein the ignition control portion is comprised so as to cause a timer to start a counting operation at the start of the operation of the microprocessor, regard a measurement value of the timer as time between generation of the first negative half wave and generation of the second negative half wave to arithmetically operate counting data for measuring the ignition position based on rotational speed information of the engine obtained from the time, and immediately measure the arithmetically operated counting data to generate an ignition signal.
US08056535B2
In an intake control system for a general-purpose engine, comprising: a motor which is attached to a first side wall, supporting one end portion of a valve shaft of a throttle valve, of a throttle body, and which drives the throttle valve to be opened and closed; a sensor unit which is attached to a second side wall supporting the other end portion of the valve shaft, and which detects an opening degree of the throttle valve; a fuel injection valve which is attached to a third side wall integrally connecting upper end portions of the first and second side walls to each other, and through which a fuel is injected into the intake path at a position downstream of the throttle valve; and an electronic control unit which is attached to a fourth side wall facing the third side wall, the electronic control unit is connected to the motor, the fuel injection valve and the sensor unit with first, second and third conducting wires, respectively. Accordingly, it is possible to allow significant shortening of wires, which electrically connect intake control elements to each other, by completing the wiring only around the throttle body.
US08056534B2
An intake manifold system for an internal combustion engine includes inlet runners attached to a mounting flange. The inlet runners may be one piece with the mounting flange. A charge air control is mounted within the mounting flange, with the charge air control including a control shaft passage formed in the mounting flange, and a control shaft extending the length of the control shaft passage. The control shaft is journaled within the control shaft passage and carries a number of charge air control elements mounted for rotation with the control shaft.
US08056530B2
In a direct injection spark ignition internal combustion engine that performs an Atkinson cycle operation in which the time to close intake valves is retarded, the tumble flow in the engine cylinder is intensified by fuel injected from a fuel injection valve during a time period from an intake stroke bottom dead center to closing of the intake valves.
US08056529B2
This invention presents a compact, light, efficient and high power output rotary internal combustion engine utilizing the waste heat. The engine has a rotor rotatable within a housing, but has no piston. The rotor has a plurality of combustion chambers, with inlets for introduction of fuel and outlets for exhaust of combustion products. The exhaust imparts rotation to the rotor within the housing. Fixed end caps are provided at each end of the housing. The engine is cooled with steam, air and water. The engine is suitable for applications that require efficient, high power to weight ratio, such as aircrafts, ships, and heavy duty transportation. The engine may use low grade fuel with a low cetane number, by using specially treated pulverized coal.
US08056521B2
The present invention relates to a bearing device (1) for supporting a camshaft (2) in a cylinder head with at least two bearing blocks (3) which support the camshaft (2), and which are axially penetrated by the camshaft (2) to be supported in a first through-opening (6), and with a connection element (5), at which the at least two bearing blocks (3) are fastened in an aligned position, wherein the bearing blocks (3) together with the connection element (5) and the camshaft (2) form a prefabricatable module which is mountable in an aligned position at the cylinder head.
US08056509B1
A drinker system having a pressure regulator that receives water at its inlet and provides water at a predetermined pressure at its outlet. At least one drinker is connected to the outlet of the pressure regulator. The pressure regulator is moveable between a lower position and an upper position relative to the drinker. When the pressure regulator is moved to its upper position relative to the drinker, the drinker receives a higher pressure than the predetermined pressure at the outlet of the pressure regulator.The pressure regulator is connected to the drinker with a four bar linkage having a pair of bars that are substantially parallel to each other. Each of the bars is pivotally connected to the drinker at one end and the opposite ends of the bars are pivotally connected to the pressure regulator.
US08056505B2
A vent plug for a milking liner has an outlet that discharges the vent air in the downstream direction. The vent plug has an outlet disposed in the downstream portion of the inner flange of the vent plug so that vent air is directed toward the outlet of the short milk tube. The vent plug outlet also may be disposed in the upstream portion of the inner flange while being configured to direct the vent air in a downstream direction.
US08056504B2
A vacuum vessel and at least two electrodes define an internal process space. At least one power supply is connectable with the electrodes. A substrate holder holds a substrate to be treated in the internal process space. At least one of the electrodes has along a first cross section a concave profile and has along a second cross section a convex profile, the first cross section being parallel to the second cross section. Gas is provided to the space through a gas inlet. Power is provided to the electrodes and the substrate is treated.
US08056480B2
A projectile (2) includes a cylindrical casing with the one (nose) end has a relatively non-penetrating front face (3) with an opening therein defining a cavity (5) extending longitudinally into the casing from said opening, and the other (tail) end (10) of the cylindrical casing is adapted to receive a propelling force; said projectile further comprises an implant (14) for penetrating a target on impact; wherein said implant is located at least in part within the cavity during flight and has longitudinal freedom of movement within the cavity towards the nose of the casing; whereby on impact said implant tends to penetrate said target whilst said relatively non-penetrating front face abuts at least momentarily said target.
US08056477B2
An inflator assembly may include an inflator housing and an initiator attached to the inflator housing. A varistor may be associated with the initiator and may be spaced apart from a surface of the inflator housing to define a first spark gap between the varistor and the surface of the inflator housing.
US08056476B2
A method for operating a printing press having a printing unit and a cleaning apparatus includes, in a first step, starting up the printing unit in order to print therewith, and in a subsequent, second step, displacing the cleaning apparatus into the printing unit running in printing operation and/or out of the printing unit running in printing operation. A printing press for implementing the method is also provided.
US08056475B2
A variable cutoff web printing press is provided including a first plate cylinder for printing a first color of first and second images and a second plate cylinder for printing a second color of the first and the second images. The printing press also includes a common blanket cylinder. The first and second plate cylinders contact the common blanket cylinder and transfer the first and second images to the common blanket cylinder. The printing press also includes a first transfer body for receiving the first image from the common blanket cylinder and transferring the first image to a web and a second transfer body for receiving the second image from the common blanket cylinder and transferring the second image to the web. A method of variable cutoff web printing is also provided.
US08056473B2
A hydraulic pressing unit includes a hydraulic pump, supply and hydraulic chambers, moving and stationary parts, a restoring spring, and a return valve provided within or attached to a housing. The moving part is displaced from a starting position into a pressing position as a result of filling the hydraulic chamber with a hydraulic medium from the supply chamber by using the hydraulic pump. The return valve is automatically displaced into an open position as a result of a hydraulic pressure corresponding to the pressing position, and the restoring spring moves the moving part. A piston acts on the flow of the hydraulic medium and lowers the pressure such that the return valve is displaced into the closed position.
US08056452B2
A method of machining a crankshaft using a machine tool arrangement having a cutting insert comprising a first plurality of cutting teeth comprising a rounded cutting tooth being disposed at the intersection of a first contoured side surface and a first planar side surface; and second plurality of cutting teeth comprising a rounded, corner cutting tooth being disposed at the intersection of said second contoured side surface and a second planar side surface.
US08056451B2
The pliers comprise a fixed assembly and a second jaw movable relative to the first jaw between an open position and a closed, locked position. A movable pivot connects the second jaw to the fixed assembly such that the movable pivot can move relative to the fixed assembly when the second jaw is in the closed, locked position and a torque is applied to the pliers. The second jaw is configured such that a resultant force on the second jaw is inside of the fixed pivot, between the fixed pivot and the movable pivot.
US08056450B2
The present invention provides a buoyant hand tool including a handle formed with an internal air chamber and a shank having an insertion end inserted in the handle. The buoyant hand tool further includes a sleeve disposed in the air chamber of the handle. The insertion end of the shank is extended into the air chamber and inserted in the sleeve. Accordingly, the connection strength between the handle and the shank is increased to enhance operation torque of the hand tool.
US08056441B2
A control knob device has a main body defining a top surface having a ring-shaped stopping wall with two inserting openings formed thereon, and a lateral surface having a guiding recess extending upwards and downwards and a sliding slot running circumferentially and communicating with the guiding recess, with the depth thereof greater than that of the guiding recess. A shell coupled to the main body has a covering plate with two blocking portions located outside the stopping wall and adjacent to the inserting openings, and a lateral plate extending inwards to form an inserting slice corresponding to the sliding slot. The shell is coupled to the main body by the inserting slice passing through the guiding recess and inserted into the sliding slot. Two elastic ends of a spring element are inserted into the inserting openings and abut against the blocking portions for making the rotated shell return automatically.
US08056440B2
Provided is an adjustable pedal system. The adjustable pedal system includes: a support bracket having a predetermined hole and a guide groove which are substantially perpendicular; a driving part including a driving arm which can make a substantially vertical motion along the guide groove and provides a driving force to the driving arm; a control arm including a hinge hole which is coupled to the driving arm by a first pin and a sliding slot which is coupled to the predetermined hole by a second pin and formed oblique to the guide groove; and a pedal arm having a pedal at one end thereof and being connected to the control arm at other end thereof, the control arm slides obliquely along the sliding slot according to the working of the driving arm when moves vertically along the guide groove and thus this causes a position of each of the control arm and the pedal arm to be changed.
US08056438B2
A bicycle shift control device includes a housing, at least one operating lever, a rotatable member, a flexible elongated member, and a gear indicator portion having a window. The rotatable member has a guide member and is disposed within the housing. The rotatable member is configured to rotate in response to movement of the at least one operating lever. The flexible elongated member has a first end portion and a second end portion. The first end portion is connected to the rotatable member for movement therewith and extends at least part-way along the guide portion of the rotatable member. The second end portion is configured for movement along the gear indicator portion with at least a tip of the second end portion of the flexible elongated member being visible through the window of the gear indicator portion.
US08056437B2
A steering column assembly includes a column jacket coupled to a support bracket. The column jacket is moveable in a longitudinal direction along a longitudinal axis and in a pivotable direction relative to the support bracket about a pivot axis. A locking mechanism interconnects the support bracket and the column jacket, and includes a torsion shaft rotatable about a shaft axis in a first direction and a second direction to move the locking mechanism between a lock position and a release position. A motor includes an output shaft rotatable about a primary axis in a single rotational direction. A linkage interconnects the motor and the torsion shaft of the locking mechanism. The linkage is actuated by rotation of the output shaft in the single rotational direction to rotate the torsion shaft in alternating fashion between the first direction and the second direction.
US08056436B2
A steering column assembly for a motor vehicle is disclosed having lower and upper steering column members that are slidingly interengaged. The upper column member is attached to a structural part of the motor vehicle by a ride down mechanism that allows the upper steering column to move in the event of a collision. A load transfer means is provided to bypass the ride down mechanism when an adjustment lever is moved to a position allowing the position of the upper steering column member to be adjusted thereby preventing accidental damage occurring to the ride down mechanism due to operator abuse.
US08056435B2
Disclosed is a tilting device for a steering column comprising: a steering column inclinedly arranged in a rear direction of a vehicle; a bracket located between the steering column and a shroud, a cover that shields the steering column from an outside, to guide the steering column for tilting; and a tilting locking means slidably arranged substantially near to an upper surface of the steering column to enable the steering column to be tilted or not to be tilted.
US08056430B2
A transmission controller includes a rotatable shaft that controls engagement and disengagement of a variable speed clutch. An actuator, such as an electric motor, drives the shaft. The shaft is rotated alternately in the normal and reverse directions by supplying a low level current to such an extent that a clutch transfer mechanism is not operated by the rotation. Rotation stop positions are detected. A play area between the rotation stop positions is calculated and can be used to correct for manufacturing inaccuracies or for wear occurring over time.
US08056428B2
The present invention relates to a lubricating element (12) for rolling element tracks, in particular linear systems, with a body composed of a lubricant-storing material, which includes an application section (34) capable of being brought in contact with a rolling element bearing surface to supply lubricant, and which includes a storage region (22) for lubricant that abuts the application section (34), the body being provided with at least one recess (38) in the storage region (22), on an end opposite to the application section (34).
US08056419B2
An artificial sensor comprises at least one substrate, and a plurality of flow sensors disposed on the at least one substrate for providing a plurality of spatial-temporally varying signals representing a hydrodynamic stimulus. The plurality of flow sensors are spatially distributed on the at least one substrate. A processor is coupled to the plurality of flow sensors for receiving the signals and determining spatial-temporal information from the received signals.
US08056418B2
The invention relates to a method for monitoring the functionality of an actuator (1) having a pneumatic drive (2), in particular for monitoring an actuator (1) for a safety valve, including a magnetic valve (4) for controlling the pneumatic drive (2), wherein the magnetic valve (4) is monitored by means of a pressure measurement and is, for this purpose, connected to a first pneumatic conduit (16) to a position controller (3) of the actuator (1) as well as to the pneumatic drive (2) to a second pneumatic conduit (17). The magnetic valve (4) is switched off and on again with a switching time (t2-t1). The switching time (t2-t1) of the magnetic valve (4) is detected at which, at the one hand, the switching time (t2-t1) is so short that the position of the actuator (1) remains essentially constant or unchanged and, on the other hand, it is, however, so long that a pressure drop (dp=P1-P2) in the first pneumatic conduit (16) in front of the magnetic valve (4) is present after switching the magnetic valve (4) on again.
US08056417B2
A method of detecting and monitoring torsional oscillation in a mechanical coupling between a prime mover and a multiphase alternating current (AC) electrical generator, comprises the steps of: detecting in at least one received signal variations that are indicative of changes in the rotational speed of the electrical generator; extracting information from the detected variations that are indicative of torsional oscillation to produce a torsional oscillation signal that has information relating to at least the amplitude of the torsional oscillation; and monitoring the torsional oscillation signal to determine the presence and severity of the torsional oscillation in the mechanical coupling.
US08056416B2
An ultrasonic probe in which cable wiring between transducers within the ultrasonic probe and connector terminals can be simplified. The ultrasonic probe includes: plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic waves according to supplied drive signals, and receiving ultrasonic echoes to output detection signals; plural terminals provided in a connector to be used for connecting the plural ultrasonic transducers to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body; plural cables for electrically connecting the plural ultrasonic transducers and the plural terminals to one another; and a storage unit for storing connection relationship data representing connection relationships between the plural ultrasonic transducers and the plural terminals.
US08056413B2
A sensor and sensing method capable of full-differential symmetry to minimize bias drift and improve stability of the sensor output. The sensor includes a sensing element, sense electrodes capacitively coupled to the sensing element to generate capacitive outputs that vary in response to the motion of the sensing element, and a differential readout device. The sense electrodes are electrically separable into at least two pairs of differential sense electrodes. The readout device performs a sampling sequence of at least two sampling cycles during which the readout device samples the capacitive outputs of the sense electrodes and produces at least two differential outputs based on the difference between the capacitive outputs within each pair of differential sense electrodes. The readout device then calculates an average of the differential outputs of the sampling sequence to produce an output of the differential readout device, and thereafter repeats the sampling sequence and calculation.
US08056412B2
A method of mounting in-plane sensors of an inertial measurement unit. The method includes the steps of: providing a structure having first and second planar surfaces oriented orthogonally to one another, positioning a plurality of sensors on the first planar surface such that each of the sensors has a sense axis extending parallel to the first planar surface, positioning at least one other sensor on the second planar surface such that the at lease one other sensor has a sense axis extending parallel to the second planar surface, and orienting the sensors on the first and second surfaces so that the angles formed between any two sense axes are equal.
US08056408B2
A method for determining a property of formations surrounding an earth borehole being drilled with a drill bit at the end of a drill string, using drilling fluid that flows downward through the drill string, exits through the drill bit, and returns toward the earth's surface in the annulus between the drill string and the periphery of the borehole, including the following steps: obtaining, downhole near the drill bit, a pre-bit sample of the mud in the drill string as it approaches the drill bit; obtaining, downhole near the drill bit, a post-bit sample of the mud in the annulus, entrained with drilled earth formation, after its egression from the drill bit; implementing pre-bit measurements on the pre-bit sample; implementing post-bit measurements on the post-bit sample; and determining a property of the formations from the post-bit measurements and the pre-bit measurements.
US08056406B2
A shaft receiving section of a simulation wheel is attached to a hub of a vehicle such that the shaft receiving section is located outside the vehicle. A tire mounting section surrounding the shaft receiving section concentrically with the shaft receiving section with a bearing being interposed between the shaft receiving section and the tire mounting section and further surrounding the peripheral surface of the hub to allow a tire to be mounted at a portion surrounding the peripheral surface of the hub is provided. The tire is mounted on the tire mounting section. The shaft receiving section is made rotatable with the rotation of the tire mounting section being stopped. Load is applied to an axle from a dynamometer.
US08056405B2
A particulate matter concentration measuring apparatus configured to measure concentration of particulate matter in exhaust gas passing through an exhaust line includes an exhaust gas collecting line branched from the exhaust line, a particulate matter detection filter provided in the exhaust gas collecting line, a differential pressure sensor configured to sense differential pressure between an inlet and an outlet of the particulate matter detection filter, a passage wall disposed so that the exhaust gas flows to a downstream side of the particulate matter detection filter, an inlet side passage through which the exhaust gas flows into the particulate matter detection filter in the passage wall, and an outlet side passage through which the exhaust gas flows out from the particulate matter detection filter. The outlet side passage has an outlet side cross-sectional area approximately 1.0 times or more larger than an inlet side cross-sectional area of the inlet side passage.
US08056404B2
An output calibration apparatus for an NOx sensor according to the present invention includes a urea addition valve provided in an exhaust passage in an internal combustion engine to allow urea to be added to inside of the exhaust passage, and an NOx sensor provided at least downstream of the urea addition valve, the NOx sensor being capable of detecting not only an NOx concentration but also an ammonia concentration. The output calibration apparatus executes fuel cut on the internal combustion engine, and calibrates a gain of the NOx sensor based on ammonia obtained from the urea added via the urea addition valve during execution of the fuel cut. The ammonia obtained from the urea added during execution of the fuel cut is used as standard gas to calibrate the gain of the NOx sensor.
US08056399B2
A liquid gas vaporization and measurement system, and associated method, for efficiently vaporizing a continuous sample of liquid gas, such as liquid natural gas (LNG), and accurately determining the constituent components of the gas. A constant flow of liquid gas sampled from a mass storage device is maintained in a vaporizing device. Within the vaporizing device the liquid gas is flash vaporized within heated narrow tubing. The liquid gas is converted to vapor very quickly as it enters one or more independently operating vaporizer stages within the vaporizing device. The vapor gas is provided to a measuring instrument such as a chromatograph and the individual constituent components and the BTU value of the gas are determined to an accuracy of within +/−0.5 mole percent and 1 BTU, respectively.
US08056397B2
The invention relates generally to a system and method for testing fuel evaporative systems, and more particularly to a stand-alone tank tester system (and method) for testing vehicle fuel tank integrity. Furthermore, a self-contained calibration tank with switchable leak sizes for calibrating the tank tester to multiple leak sizes is provided. Constant flow and vacuum methods for testing fuel tank integrity are also provided.
US08056388B2
A pointer measuring instrument capable of indicating “zero” on an indication panel by a pointer even if a play (backlash) is present in gears. The measuring instrument comprises a pointer reference position setting means (7a, 7b) for determining the reference position of the pointer (4). A control means (6) rotates the pointer (4) in the direction toward the reference position when a power supply to a stepping motor (2) is turned on, and performs a first drive for stopping the rotation of the pointer (4) when it receives a pointer reference position arrival signal from the pointer reference position setting means (7a). Then, the control means performs a second drive for moving the pointer (4) by a first angle from the reference position in the reverse direction away from the reference position, and performs a third drive for rotating the gear (3S) of a reduction mechanism (3) on the stepping motor (2) side by a second angle.
US08056387B2
A bending device has a bending mechanism for bending an elongate object to be processed by holding the object by both a bending die and a clamping die and revolving the clamping die which is able to revolve around the bending die. The bending device includes a fixing base on which the bending mechanism is mounted. A chuck mechanism for holding the object is provided in the bending device, and the bending device is provided with an articulated robot for moving the chuck mechanism.
US08056386B2
An exemplary pin bending device (200) includes a base (210), a sliding member (230), a fixing member (240), and a latch member (250). The sliding member (230) is slidably positioned on the base and defines a plurality of holes (2303) for receiving first portions of pins. The fixing member is fixed on the base. The latch member is movably positioned on the base. The latch member is able to move towards the fixing member in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the sliding member and engage with the fixing member to fix second portions of the pins.
US08056382B2
The pressures provided by several wheels or rollers (18, 20, 22, 24, 30, 32) on various members of a metal panel are controlled to produce a curved panel of desired radius with little or no distortion. Predetermined pressures are used to achieve the desired curvature and increased pressures provide smaller radii of curvature. For metal “U” panels pressure is preferably applied on two members. For seamed metal panels pressure is preferably applied on three members. Additional curvature may be obtained by use of a curving bar (82). Motors (34, 36, 38) drive the wheels, which urge these panel members through the wheels, the wheels having a separation distance less than the original thickness of the metal. This results in the metal of those members being elongated, thereby curving the panel with little or no distortion. Repeatable results are also provided.
US08056378B2
A rekeyable lock cylinder comprises a cylinder body, a plug, an adjusting block and a plurality of rack component assemblies. The plug disposed within the cylinder body has a trench and a plurality of rack component runners communicating with the trench. The adjusting block disposed at the trench has an arc sidewall, a plurality of leading slots corresponding to the rack component runners one by one and a position groove recessed from the arc sidewall. The position groove has a notch portion and a groove inner portion, wherein a depth of the groove inner portion is larger than a depth of the notch portion. Each of the rack component assemblies comprises a first rack component disposed at the rack component runner and a second rack component capable of engaging with the first rack component. Each of the first rack components has a rib portion located at the leading slot.
US08056362B2
This invention relates to a method and a device for purifying and/or separating preferably high melting organic raw products or compound mixtures containing, in particular, high melting and/or degradable sterols, by layer crystallization on first heat exchanger surfaces. The raw product is received in a solvent or solvent mixture, and then brought into contact with heat exchanger surfaces. The desired product crystallizes on the heat exchanger surfaces by slow cooling. Solvent evaporating during the crystallization or sweating process is condensed and returned to the mixture.
US08056360B2
The present invention provides an improved control system and method for the absorption refrigeration process. The system includes sensors that measure the absorption process in order to determine if the absorption cycle is continuous. A control unit in communication with the sensors which compares the measured sensor values to predetermined safe limits. When the control unit determines that safe limits have been exceeded, the control unit communicates with actuators adjusting the absorption cycle heat source, ultimately protecting the absorption refrigeration process from damage. Further, the control may reestablish the absorption cycle heat source when predetermined safe operation conditions are detected.
US08056355B2
The invention relates to a HVAC drainage system. There is a need for an HVAC drainage system which operates well in a vehicle which moves over rough terrain. An HVAC unit is mounted at a central portion of an inner roof panel over an air inlet opening. A collection recess is formed by the panel and surrounds the air inlet opening. Concentric walls formed by the inner roof panel in the collection recess surrounding the HVAC unit. Each wall has one or more gaps formed therein. The gaps in adjacent walls are mis-aligned with respect to each other so that fluid is prevented from flowing in a straight line through gaps in adjacent walls. Drainage ports are formed in the inner roof panel. Drainage grooves formed in the inner roof panel communicate the collection recess with corresponding drainage ports.
US08056344B2
In a turbine engine hydrogen is injected into the combustor in response to a power output level of the turbine engine. In a preferred embodiment, gaseous hydrogen is always injected at low-power operations and switched off at mid-power and high-power operations.
US08056342B2
A combustor for a turbine engine includes an outer liner having a row of circumferentially distributed outer combustion air holes and an inner liner circumscribed by the outer liner and having a row of circumferentially distributed inner combustion air holes. The inner and outer liners each include at least a major air hole having a first hole size, an intermediate air hole having a second hole size, and a minor air hole having a third hole size. The first, second, and third hole sizes are all different from each other.
US08056338B2
The present invention is an exhaust gas recirculation system for a motor vehicle, having a turbocharger unit (18) which has a turbine (20) and a compressor (36), the compressor (36) having a compressor wheel (42) which rotates on an axis (66). There is also a dispersion apparatus (56) operably associated with a condensation separation apparatus (58). The condensation separation apparatus (58) separates moisture from exhaust gas flowing from the turbine (20), and the dispersion apparatus (56) reintroduces the moisture into the compressor (36) in proximity to the compressor wheel axis (66), preventing erosion of the compressor wheel (42).
US08056337B2
In a V-type six cylinder engine, cylinder groups are provided in which a plurality of cylinders are arranged divided into left and right first and second banks. An intake pipe, a first exhaust pipe, and a second exhaust pipe are connected to the cylinder groups of the banks. A first upstream three-way catalyst and a first control valve are provided in one exhaust pipe while a second upstream three-way catalyst and a second control valve are provided in the other exhaust pipe. The exhaust pipes are communicated together upstream of the upstream three-way catalysts and the control valves by a communicating pipe. A third control valve that adjusts the flowrate of exhaust gas is provided in the communicating pipe.
US08056333B1
An engine configuration is disclosed. The engine configuration incorporates hydraulic pumps within the sump of the engine, and drives the hydraulic pumps from one of the engine shafts. A portion of the hydraulic pumps extends outside the sump of the engine so that hydraulic lines may be connected between the hydraulic pumps and separate wheel motors used to propel a vehicle.
US08056331B2
To permit a precise and easy adjustment of a pump absorption torque of a main pump in accordance with environmental conditions when a sub-pump different in characteristics from the main pump is connected to a prime mover. A main controller 12 includes a processor means for setting the level of an absorption torque of a cooling fan pump 20 at a maximum absorption torque in use, a processor means for incrementing an adjustment target absorption torque for a main pump 13 at a slow rate from a sufficiently small pump absorption torque, and a processor means for repeating loading of a load factor signal and the increment of the adjustment target absorption torque as long as “NO” is determined by a fourth determination means, and a processor means for storing the adjustment target absorption torque as an adjustment value when “YES” has been determined by the fourth determination means.
US08056322B2
A system is provided for supplying reductants to an emission treatment unit. The system comprises a fuel tank adapted to directly or indirectly supply a first premixed fuel stream and a second premixed fuel stream, wherein each fuel stream comprises a primary fuel component and an oxygenate reductant component. An engine is in fluid communication with the fuel tank, wherein the engine is configured to receive the first premixed fuel stream and create an exhaust stream. The system further includes an emission treatment unit to treat the exhaust stream. A separation unit is configured to receive the second premixed fuel stream, separate the second premixed fuel stream into a first fraction stream and a second fraction stream, and supply the first fraction stream to the emission treatment unit, wherein the first fraction stream comprises a higher concentration of the oxygenate reductant component than the second fraction stream.
US08056312B1
A light-weight upright shaft (14) supports cotton harvester doffers (12). An internally threaded mounting end (36) receives a bolt (38) which is stretchable to a greater degree than the shaft to provide a reliable shaft preload condition that prevents the doffers from spinning relative to the shaft. The shaft may be hollow and may have a diameter greater than conventional shafts to reduce weight and increase the stiffness and thereby increase critical speed. The preload structure does not require a nut and has increased thread engagement.
US08056311B1
A crop conditioner includes a frame mounting a bottom fixed roller and a top liftable roller. The top roller is liftable at each end on a pivot member tensioned by a tension link, a tension spring and a bell crank connected between the tension link and the spring. The bell crank is mounted on the conditioner frame for pivotal movement about a pivot axis which lies transversely to a line parallel to the pivot axis of the second roller so that the bell crank extends from the tension link to the tension spring in a direction outwardly of the radial plane of the roller pivot axis. The spring extends upwardly and forwardly from the bell crank pivot at a rear flange of the frame to an adjustment screw of the spring at a top flange of the frame immediately adjacent an adjustment of a bottom stop of the top roller.
US08056306B2
A rear discharge mower comprising: a first shaft; a first blade that is rotated in unison with the first shaft; a second shaft that is configured to be rotated in a direction opposite from a rotational direction of the first shaft; a second blade that is rotated in unison with the second shaft, wherein a grass-clippings discharge path is formed through which grass clippings are discharged in a rearward direction from the area between the first shaft and second shaft; an enclosing casing that supports the blade shafts; and a power train that is accommodated in the enclosing casing and that transmits power to the first and second blade shafts.
US08056303B2
A non load-bearing metal wall stud has a sheet metal body with a web, a pair of flanges extending at right angles to the web, a pair of lips, each extending at a right angle from a straight edge of one of the flanges and a pair of skirts each extending at an angle from the straight edge of one of the lips. Knurled channels in the flanges and in the web stiffen the stud further.
US08056298B2
A support (4) for an elevated mass (6, 8), comprising at least three extended, mutually trussless supporting counts (14, 14′, 14″, 14′″), and where the longitudinal axes of the supporting columns (14, 14′, 14″, 14′″) meet near the center of gravity (20) of the elevated mass (6, 8).
US08056296B2
A method of assembling a wind turbine tower is provided, wherein the method includes providing a plurality of tower members having a top end and a bottom end, and coupling the bottom end of a first tower member to the top end of a second tower member such that the bottom end of the first tower member is interlocked within at least a portion of the top end of the second tower member. The method also includes coupling at least one support member to each of the plurality of tower members.
US08056292B2
A flooring system having a top floor layer, a sub-floor, and an underlayment material disposed between the sub-floor and the top floor layer is disclosed. The underlayment material may include a cross-linked, polyolefin foam having a moisture vapor transmission rate of less than about 3.0 lb/1000 ft2/24 hr, and an average sound pressure level of less than about 15 dB over a range of about 300 Hz to about 1000 Hz. The foam may have a compressive strength of at least about 0.85 kg/cm2. Foam density, gel fraction, and resin blend may combine to provide an underlayment material having such reflective sound and moisture vapor barrier properties.
US08056286B2
A sliding door with reversible hand configurations can include a plurality of mounting locations along a top and a bottom edge thereof. The plurality of mounting locations can be configured to allow the sliding door to selectively hang and operate according to multiple orientations in order to satisfy site-specific handedness requirements. In one implementation, the sliding door includes a door frame and mounting hardware for selectively mounting the sliding door to a roller track affixed near the upper portion of a doorway.
US08056263B2
An article of footwear including an upper and a sole assembly secured to the upper and including a support assembly having an upper member and a lower member spaced from the upper member. A first layer is positioned beneath and in contact with the upper member and has a wave shaped profile with a plurality of first wave crests and first wave troughs. A second layer is positioned above the lower member and has a wave shaped profile with a plurality of second wave crests and second wave troughs.
US08056260B2
A Goodyear waterproof shoe includes a main body stitched with a shoe collar and having a bottom portion coupled sequentially with a filler plate, a thin sole, and an outsole. An outer welt is stitched to a lower outer rim of the main body by a thread and stitched to the thin sole by another thread. The Goodyear waterproof shoe is characterized in that the main body is an integrally formed waterproof body having an upper opening and includes a shoe-shaped portion, the bottom portion, and a welt portion on a lower side of the bottom portion. The thread for stitching the outer welt to the main body passes through the welt portion but not the bottom portion of the main body so as to enhance waterproofness. The main body is integrally formed from the upper, midsole, and inner welt of a conventional Goodyear shoe to reduce production procedures and assembly time.
US08056259B2
An air cushion shoe has an air chamber at an upper surface of a front side of a main body. An air passageway extends from the air chamber to an air inlet. Air pockets are formed in the main body at predetermined positions below the air passageway. First air vents are formed at a front side of the hardened reinforcement sheet positioned onto the main body to cover the open upper portions of the air passageway and the air pockets. Second air vents are formed at a front side of a main body of a shoe liner. A cushioning material having a honeycomb structured body is formed at the bottom surface of the main body.
US08056257B2
A substrate processing apparatus includes a chamber, and a cleaning-liquid supply unit that supplies a cleaning liquid containing hydrofluoro ether onto a substrate to be processed placed in the chamber. In the chamber, there is further disposed a gas supply unit that supplies into the chamber a gas for preventing moisture from being adhered to a substrate to be processed, when a cleaning liquid containing hydrofluoro ether is supplied onto the substrate to be processed.
US08056249B1
The present invention is directed generally to tools that are lightweight, high quality, durable, rigid and strong. For example, various tools used to level items and/or as a straight edge for aligning or drawing lines on items may be designed in an improved or augmented I beam style so that they are lightweight, strong, durable and rigid so as to hold their shape under stress or return to their original shape after being stressed. In various exemplary embodiments, the I beam style level and/or straight edge may have a first main elongated side to which two elongated perpendicular sides are connected or coupled. At least one or more higher strength elongated sides, for example a second elongate side, may be comprised of a closed or box shaped side. For example, the second elongated side may be, for example, a box shaped construction.
US08056246B1
An orientation sensor includes a measure of ferrofluid that moves as the orientation sensor moves. The movement of the ferrofluid, which lies over a number of coils, alters the magnetic permeability of the flux path around each coil. The orientation sensor determines a change in orientation by measuring a change in the voltage across each coil. The voltage across each coil changes as the inductance changes which, in turn, changes as the magnetic permeability of the flux path changes.
US08056242B2
A hand tool for a craft knife has a handle, a blade tray and a connector. The handle has a mounting chamber, a mounting tube, a cap, a socket bit and an ejector tube. The blade tray is mounted in the mounting chamber and the mounting tube of the handle and has a base and a casing. The base has two mounting protrusions formed on an internal surface of the base. The casing is pivotally mounted in the base and has two mounting holes and a blade chamber. The connector is detachably connected to the handle and has a socket bar, a clamping tube and a pressing tube. The socket bar is detachably mounted in the socket bit. The clamping tube is mounted securely in the socket bar. The pressing tube is mounted around the clamping tube and presses against the socket bar and the clamping tube.
US08056237B1
A guardrail system and method comprises utilizing at least one through-hole of a poured concrete wall of a structure to affix a stanchion to the wall inside a bay of the structure. The stanchion allows for a guardrail to be conveniently and securely positioned within the bay without damage to the structure and without covering an edge of the structure. A fastener inserts through the through-hole which is preferably a pre-existing tie-hole resulting from formation of the wall. In one optional aspect a guardrail stanchion includes a base segment having at least two slots for receiving fasteners which insert through two tie-holes of the wall, and at least one side segment having at least one adjustment port, the side segment extending generally perpendicular to the base segment. A pair of stanchions may be affixed to opposing walls within the bay, and guardrails affixed thereto and spanning across the bay. The system may also include a cable system having a cable operate as a guardrail to be tightened by utilizing a stanchion in accordance with the invention.
US08056234B2
A stock supply station for use in a insulated glass unit component production line includes a plurality of rotatable sheet stock coils, an indexing mechanism, and an uncoiling mechanism. The indexing mechanism is coupled to the sheet stock coils for indexing a selected one of the sheet stock coils to an uncoiling position. The uncoiling mechanism selectively uncoils sheet stock from a sheet stock coil indexed to the uncoiling position to thereby provide sheet stock to a downstream processing station.
US08056231B2
An insert snaps into position in a manifold of a fluid device to perform a baffling function. The insert includes a cradle having a base portion and opposed spring fingers for retaining the insert in position. The base portion can be completely closed to prevent flow through the insert, or have a spring flapper valve or bimetallic flapper valve to permit partial or full flow through the insert under predetermined conditions.
US08056215B2
A first tool set holds a wire covered with an insulation film at a bending point of the wire to protrude the wire from the first tool set. A second tool set holds the protruded portion of the wire. The second tool set is rotated about the first tool set to bend the wire along a wall of the first tool set and to form a boundary corner in the wire at the same radius of curvature as the wall. The wire is released from the second tool set and is moved to place the first tool set at another bending point while protruding from the first tool set. The second tool set is placed at the protruded portion of the wire. When the wire is bent at a predetermined number of bending points and is rounded, a stator coil formed in a corrugated shape is manufactured.
US08056211B2
The apparatus of the present invention provides a stator for an electric motor. The apparatus includes a plurality of stator components assembled together to form a generally annular stator core. A wire is wrapped around at least a portion of the stator core to form a stator winding. A first generally annular end plate and a second generally annular end plate are mounted to axially opposite sides of the stator core such that the stator core is axially trapped and retained therebetween. A fastener applies a clamping load to the first and second end plates such that the stator core is compressed therebetween. The clamping load from the fastener is applied directly to the first and second end plates which distribute the clamping load to the stator core such that the plurality of components are held together without the fastener directly applying the clamping load to the stator core. A corresponding method for providing a stator is similarly provided.
US08056191B2
A lightweight, secure, and low profile adjustable locking buckle has a first steel loop which overlies a second steel loop with a rear member spaced from a front member by two side members. The first loop front member has a forward projection which extends frontwardly and is dimensioned to fit within a central opening in the second loop. Each side member of the second loop has a ramped portion, such that the front member is spaced upwardly from the rear member. A fixed strap encircles the rear portions of the first loop and the second loop and is fixed to a supporting element. An adjustable strap extends beneath the first loop front portion and the second loop front portion, turns over the first loop forward projection and beneath the second loop front portion to be releasably secured to itself. Side tabs may be formed on the loops to facilitate adjustment.
US08056185B2
A grip structure includes two holder bars respectively affixed to two inner tubes in two outer tubes of a retractable handle for travel bag, two locating rings respectively mounted in the holder bars, a grip formed of two symmetrical annular half shells and pivotally coupled between the two locating rings; two control bolts respectively movably supported in the locating rings, and a spring-supported operating member mounted in the grip and operable to move the control bolts between a first position where the inner tubes are locked to the outer tubes and the control bolts are engaged with the locating rings to lock the grip to the inner tubes and a second position where the inner tubes are unlocked from the outer tubes and the control bolts are biasable with the grip relative to the inner tubes of the retractable handle.
US08056183B2
A multiple position ball stud assembly for a closure strut supporting a closure pivotally attached adjacent to an opening, and a method of operation, is disclosed. The ball stud assembly may comprise a ball stud and a ball stud actuator. The ball stud may have a socket portion mounted on a closure lift assist strut and a guide pin extending from the socket portion. The ball stud actuator assembly may include a housing, a guide for receiving the guide pin, and an actuator for moving the guide pin along the guide to thereby cause the ball stud to move relative to the housing. The multiple position ball stud assembly may also include a control assembly that engages the actuator for selectively causing the actuator to move the guide pin along the guide.
US08056181B2
A vacuum cleaner and an intake port unit thereof are disclosed, by which a steam cleaning can be conducted together with a vacuum cleaning. The intake port unit includes a housing. A vacuum intake passage is provided within the housing for passage of air sucked in from the exterior of the housing, and a steam generator is provided within the housing to generate steam. A steam discharge passage is provided within the housing for passage of steam discharged to the exterior of the housing. The steam discharge passage is partitioned from the vacuum intake passage.
US08056177B2
A leaf gathering apparatus includes upper and lower conveyor axes, a conveyor extending around the upper and lower conveyor axes that is continuously rotatable, and a rotatable sweeping mechanism having a generally horizontal axis of rotation, the sweeping mechanism being configured to move leaves from a ground surface onto the conveyor. The apparatus includes a bag and a channel extending from the conveyor to the bag to direct leaves therebetween. A shredder is located along the channel. A frame, the upper and lower conveyor axes, and the sweeping mechanism are operatively coupled to the frame. A plurality of wheels are operatively coupled to the frame to allow the frame to be easily transported and a motor is operatively coupled to the sweeping mechanism to rotate the sweeping mechanism, the motor being operatively coupled to at least one of the upper and lower conveyor axes to rotate the conveyor.
US08056176B2
Toothbrushes are provided which have various features that may include one or more tooth cleaning elements having a variety of shapes and sizes, one or more gum treating elements having a variety of shapes and sizes, and/or one or more soft tissue/tongue treating elements having a variety of shapes and sizes.
US08056175B2
A toothbrush device including a brush member and a grip. The brush member includes an electric terminal accommodation chamber and an electric terminal plate accommodated in the electric terminal accommodation chamber. The electric terminal plate includes a contact, which comes into contact with a contact portion of a coupler shaft of the grip through a window providing communication with a receptacle of the brush member. The brush member includes a holding portion supporting the coupler shaft. The receptacle includes a fastener mount portion and an engaging piece which cooperates with the fastener mount portion to hold the coupler shaft therebetween. The engaging piece and the contact portion are arranged at the same side of the axis of the coupler shaft. The fastener mount portion is arranged opposite the contact portion with respect to the axis of the coupler shaft.
US08056172B2
A side panel for a fabric care appliance is described. The side panel includes an embossed pattern for increasing a first natural frequency (or first harmonic) of the side panel. Preferably, the first natural frequency is substantially higher than any ordinary operating frequency or driving frequency of the appliance. For example, in a washing machine, the first natural frequency of the side panel is preferably at least 1.6 times greater than the maximum rotational frequency of a drum or tumbler of the machine.
US08056154B2
A device for opening a toilet flushing system, of the type that includes a water cistern fed by a filling tap, and that includes a bottom discharge orifice and a vertical mobile discharge valve element associated with this orifice, which is capable of occupying a low closed position for keeping the water in the cistern or a high open position to discharge the water to a toilet pan, and of the type that includes a float which, when the cistern is full, is submerged to push the valve element towards its open position, and of the type that includes an element for locking the valve element to keep the valve element closed, characterized in that the float is secured to the valve element and in that the locking element includes a vertically mobile locking finger which is capable of being locked or released by an associated latching element.
US08056153B2
Disclosed herein is an apparatus for advertising a product or service and for sanitizing, deodorizing, and preventing splatter of fluids discharged in a urinal. The apparatus comprises a fluid permeable receptacle herein referred to as “receptacle” suspended along its longitudinal axis for absorbing discharged fluids and releasing the absorbed fluids into a drain of the urinal, an advertisement layer, and fasteners for fastening the receptacle to the urinal. The receptacle comprises particulate material embedded within compartments of the receptacle. The particulate material comprises an anti-splatter material for preventing splatter of fluids, an odor removal material for removing undesired odor from the fluids, and a sanitizing material for cleaning and disinfecting the fluids. Grommets along with the fasteners may be used for fastening the receptacle to the urinal. Advertisements may be printed on the surface of the receptacle or the advertisement layer.
US08056150B2
A protective sport helmet, such as for lacrosse, includes a hard shell portion, a lining portion, and an adjustment mechanism. The inner side of the adjustment mechanism includes an adjustment protective pad. Together, the lining portion and the inner surface of the adjustment protective pad define an interior region of the helmet wherein the user's head is introduced. The adjustment mechanism includes a lower rear shell portion having a clutch mechanism that allows the user to manually adjust the size of the interior region via a strapping system of the helmet to couple snugly around the user's head. The clutching mechanism can prevent the interior region from being easily altered in the absence of manual adjustment to the adjustment mechanism. The strap includes a hard end material that engages the adjustment mechanism and a flexible, durable and tough material that conforms to a wearer's head.
US08056149B2
A combination sock and shoe includes a shoe sole, an exterior sock that is secured to the shoe sole, an intermediate sock positioned inside the exterior sock, and an interior sock positioned inside the exterior sock and inside the intermediate sock. The intermediate sock is constructed as an anklet having an elastic ankle opening. The exterior and interior socks conceal the intermediate sock from view by sandwiching the intermediate sock between them. When a wearer's foot is inserted into the combination sock and shoe, the elastic ankle opening of the intermediate sock securely engages around the ankle of the wearer's foot and holds the wearer's foot to the shoe sole, thereby preventing the shoe sole from separating away from the heel of the wearer's foot during walking.
US08060940B2
A computer-implemented method for controlling access to data is. A request to access data is received. A determination is made that an access-control policy of the data is satisfied. A virtualization layer is activated to allow access to the data after determining that the access-control policy is satisfied. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
US08060931B2
In an example implementation, a bifurcated security scheme has a first level that does not allow usage of negations and a second level that does permit usage of negations. In another example implementation, an authorization query table maps respective resource-specific operations to respective associated authorization queries. In yet another example implementation, authorization queries are permitted to have negations, but individual assertions are not.
US08060922B2
A method of allowing a user to authenticate to an authentication service while isolating information associated with the user from the authentication service includes generating a service user identifier (SUID) associated with an authentication code source, a subscribing site and an authentication service. The method includes creating an association of the SUID with the information associated with the user, and isolating the association within the subscribing site. The method includes providing an authentication code generated by the authentication code-generating device from the user to the subscribing site, and providing the authentication code along with the SUID and information identifying the subscribing site to the authentication service. The method includes identifying the code-generating device, using the SUID and the information identifying the subscribing site, and generating an authentication decision for the authentication code with respect to the code-generating device, and providing the decision to the subscribing site.
US08060912B2
A mobile phone, which is capable of reproducing a broadcast program supplied through a broadcast wave and stored programs stored in a program data storage, is provided with (i) a program ID extraction section that obtains a broadcast program ID for identifying a supplied broadcast program and a stored program ID for identifying a stored program, and (ii) a program reproduction control section that selects, as a reproduced program, at least one of a broadcast program and stored programs. On this account, a suitable program is selected and reproduced even if a broadcast program is broadcasted in a one-to-many manner. As a result, a suitable reproduced program is selected at suitable timing, in accordance with a supplied broadcast program and stored programs, and hence diversified needs of the users are satisfied.
US08060903B1
A unified system of programming communication. The system encompasses the prior art (television, radio, broadcast hardcopy, computer communications, etc.) and new user specific mass media. Within the unified system, parallel processing computer systems, each having an input (e.g., 77) controlling a plurality of computers (e.g., 205), generate and output user information at receiver stations. Under broadcast control, local computers (73, 205), combine user information selectively into prior art communications to exhibit personalized mass media programming at video monitors (202), speakers (263), printers (221), etc. At intermediate transmission stations (e.g., cable television stations), signals in network broadcasts and from local inputs (74, 77, 97, 98) cause control processors (71) and computers (73) to selectively automate connection and operation of receivers (53), recorder/players (76), computers (73), generators (82), strippers (81), etc. At receiver stations, signals in received transmissions and from local inputs (225, 218, 22) cause control processors (200) and computers (205) to automate connection and operation of converters (201), tuners (215), decryptors (224), recorder/players (217), computers (205), furnaces (206), etc. Processors (71, 200) meter and monitor availability and usage of programming.
US08060899B2
A disk device includes a loader chassis, a traverse chassis, an optical pickup, a clamp mechanism and a cam mechanism. The cam mechanism pivots the traverse chassis with respect to the loader chassis between a loading position and an unloading position. The cam mechanism includes a follower, a cam plate, a guide member and a biasing member. The cam plate has a first restricting face that restricts a first direction movement of the follower with respect to the cam plate. The guide member has a second restricting face that restricts a second direction movement of the follower with respect to the guide member. The biasing member biases the follower towards both the first restricting face of the cam plate and the second restricting face of the guide member when the traverse chassis is located at the loading position.
US08060898B2
A pickup head is provided with a second shaft receiving section. A cutout is formed in the second shaft receiving section. A sub shaft supports the pickup head in a movable manner via the second shaft receiving section. A diameter of the sub shaft is smaller than the size of the cutout. A retainer is attached between the second shaft receiving section and the sub shaft. The retainer includes a body section and a pressing section. The body section enters the cutout in a state that a slide groove of the body section slidably fits to the sub shaft. The pressing section is elastically deformed upon contact with the sub shaft when the body section enters the cutout, and biases the second shaft receiving section via the body section such that a lower surface of the cutout is pressed against the sub shaft.
US08060891B2
Embodiments are provided to manage external hardware appliances from a distributed operating system interface in a computer network using a driver model to communicate with device drivers associated with the external hardware appliances. In one embodiment, a request to manage an external hardware appliance in the computer network may be received in a distributed web-based operating system interface. A driver model may be selected which is configured to interface with a device driver for managing configuration settings for the external hardware appliance. The driver model may be utilized to manage the external hardware appliance configuration settings from the interface. The settings may include managing domain name changes, firewall settings, proxy settings, and the like. In another embodiment, the driver model may be utilized to manage external hardware appliance settings during a network configuration operation initiated from the distributed operating system interface.
US08060887B2
Systems, apparatus and methods for supporting multiple-party communications between a plurality of client computers in communication with a server are disclosed. A client processor circuit receives at least one of a user input signal, and a function invocation signal representing a function invocation, and produces and transmits to the server a message having a message type associated with one of a plurality of pre-defined combinations of the user input signal and the function invocation signal. A server processor circuit receives the message from the client computer, produces an output message representing the user input provided by the message, determines a message type associated with the message, and transmits the output message to each of the client computers when the input message is associated with a persistent message type, and ones of the client computers that meet a criterion when the input message is associated with a non-persistent message type.
US08060884B2
A method and system for scheduling tasks in a computing device ensures substantially seamless processing of an active job while preventing starvation of background tasks. In one aspect, a method comprises the steps of statically allocating processor time to a background task class and dynamically allocating processor time to background tasks within the background task class based at least in part on a current count of the background tasks. The background task processor time may equal the background task class processor time divided by the current count. The method may further comprise, in each of successive processing periods, assigning a processor to each of the background tasks for their respective background task processor times and assigning the processor to active job tasks when the processor is not assigned to any of the background tasks. The computing device may be a printing device.
US08060883B1
Described herein are approaches to managing expandable resource reservations. In one approach, a method is described in which an attempt is made to change a resource reservation from a first amount to a second amount. The second amount is examined to determine whether it exceeds a reservation limit. The second amount is compared with available resources, and reserved.
US08060882B2
A method and apparatus is provided for processing tasks with failure recovery. The method includes storing one or more tasks in a queue, wherein each task has an associated exit routine, and determining at least one task to process based on a priority scheme. The method further includes processing the at least one task, and calling the exit routine based on determining that the task has not completed processing within a preselected period of time.
US08060881B2
A barrier with local spinning. The barrier is described as a barrier object having a bit vector embedded as a pointer. If the vector bit is zero, the object functions as a counter; if the vector bit is one, the object operates as a pointer to a stack. The object includes the total number of threads required to rendezvous at the barrier to trigger release of the threads. The object points to a stack block list that describes each thread that has arrived at the barrier. Arriving at the barrier involves reading the top stack block, pushing onto the list a stack block for the thread that just arrived, decrementing the thread count, and spinning on corresponding local memory locations or timing out and blocking. When the last thread arrives at the barrier, the barrier is reset and all threads at the barrier are awakened for the start of the next process.
US08060879B2
A method for coordinating shared access to data objects comprises applying modification operations to a data object from a first thread of a plurality of threads on behalf of all the other threads during a session in which the first thread owns a lock on the data object. Each modification operation corresponds to a respective entry recorded in a log associated with the data object by a respective thread. The method may further comprise predicting, for a second thread, a result of a particular operation requested by the second thread on the data object. The result may be predicted using log entries corresponding to modification operations that have not yet been applied to the data object. In addition, the method includes performing one or more other operations in a non-blocking manner from the second thread during the session, where at least one other operation is dependent on the predicted result.
US08060874B2
Methods and system are provided for delivering a software package to particular wireless computing devices (WCDs). The system includes logical sites (LSs), WCDs, and a Network Operation Center (NOC) communicatively coupled to the LSs by a network. The NOC includes a device management module (DMM) and a second DCP server. The DMM is designed to: determine that particular ones of the WCDs are currently located at and associated with a first LS based on registration information for each of the WCDs; determine characteristics of the particular ones of the WCDs currently located at and associated with the first LS; and determine particular software packages appropriate for the particular ones of the WCDs based on the characteristics of the particular ones of the WCDs currently located at the first LS. The second DCP server designed to send the particular software packages to the first DCP server.
US08060869B1
A method and system for providing a binary instrumentation tool to detect memory problems in a runtime application executing on a computer system includes identifying one or more functions or statements in the runtime application. A plurality of compiler annotations defining essential functional characteristic data of each of the plurality of functions is generated by a compiler when compiling the user program from source code to an executable binary code. A program error detector is configured to provide a checker code based on guidelines provided by of the plurality of compiler annotations associated with the function. The program error detector generates a modified function code for the identified function by inserting the checker code into a function code for the corresponding function. A modified executable binary code for the runtime application is then generated by replacing the function code for the function with the corresponding modified function code. When the modified executable binary code is run, the checker code associated with the function invokes a checker. The invoked checker provides performance data analysis that allows identification of program errors including memory errors in the runtime application.
US08060859B2
A type system employing structural subtyping is disclosed herein. A core type system supports several structural types, such as stream, choice, intersection and sequence. Also part of the core type system is a new invariant type, which denotes values whose dynamic type is the same as its static type, and type restrictions for limiting a range of a base type. Furthermore, a streamlined structural version of delegates, called structural delegates and a validation method thereof are introduce into the type system. To further facilitate type safety, strict statically checked interface casts are introduced.
US08060858B2
A runtime environment injects an instance of an external resource into an application component to be executed in the runtime environment by first determining an external resource associated with the application component, then selecting from a library of injectors an injector to inject an instance of the application component with an instance of an external resource referenced by the external resource annotation. The selected injector determines the instance of the application component to inject with the instance of the external resource and injects the instance of the application component with the instance of the external resource.
US08060857B2
A method and a system for transformation-based program generation using two separate specifications as input: An implementation neutral specification of the desired computation and a specification of the execution platform. The generated implementation incorporates execution platform opportunities such as parallelism. Operationally, the invention has two broad stages. First, it designs the abstract implementation in the problem domain in terms of an Intermediate Language (IL) that is unfettered by programming language restrictions and requirements. Concurrently, the design is evolved by specializing the IL to encapsulate a plurality of desired design features in the implementation such as partitioning for multicore and/or instruction level parallelism. Concurrently, constraints that stand in for implied implementation structures are added to the design and coordinated with other constraints. Second, the IL is refined into implementation code. With this invention, porting an implementation neutral computation to an arbitrary architecture can be automated.
US08060856B2
An object is developed using an operating system neutral application programming interface (API). The object is complied for a designated operating system that includes native objects and supports an API for accessing native objects of the operating system. The compiled object includes logic code, a native object interop for accessing the logic code using the API for accessing native objects of the operating system, and a platform-neutral interop for accessing the logic code using the operating system neutral API.
US08060844B2
A method for generating timing constraint systems, where the constrained object is a digital circuit, is provided, where the constraints are generated for the use of a digital logic optimization (synthesis) tool. The synthesis tool is used to optimize the circuit, under the applied constraints, so that the circuit exhibits certain desirable timing properties, while at the same time minimizing hardware cost and various other properties. The particular class of timing constraints generated by the disclosed invention is useful when the circuit is to be retimed after optimization. Typically, the joint use of the described invention and retiming results in improvements in the overall cost/performance tradeoff curve of the design. The invention comprises a method that comprises the following steps: (1) the flip-flops of the design are replaced with buffers having a negative delay whose magnitude is approximately the desired clock cycle time of the design; and (2) cycles in the design are broken using flip-flops having an infinite or quasi-infinite clock frequency. Following optimization by the synthesis tool, the temporary changes can be reverted, and retiming performed on the circuit.
US08060843B2
A method of designing a 3D integrated circuit (3D IC) including providing a first layout corresponding to a first device of a 3D IC and a second layout corresponding to a second device of a 3D IC is provided. A verification, such as LVS or DRC, may be performed not only on each device separately, but may also be performed to ensure proper connectivity between devices. The verification may be performed on a single layout file (e.g., GDS II file) including the interface layer of the first and second die. Dummy feature pattern may be determined for the 3D IC using a layout including the interface layers of the first and second devices.
US08060825B2
A computer-implemented method is disclosed. The method applies to a set of content files including a subset of the content files that do not have associated digital artwork. For each content file in the set of content files, whether the content file has associated digital artwork is determined. For each content file in the set of content files that does not have associated digital artwork, digital artwork for the content file is created based on metadata associated with the content file. The digital artwork for a plurality of content files in the set of content files is displayed.
US08060824B2
Methods, systems, and machine readable media are disclosed for providing a user interface for a service distributing multimedia content. According to one embodiment, providing a user interface accessing a media service can comprise generating a representation of a stage for presenting graphical elements related to multimedia content provided by the media service and displaying a first view of the stage, wherein the first view of the stage includes a portion of the stage less than all of the stage. The first view of the stage can comprise at least a first pane and a second pane, the first pane and the second pane including different portions of the stage. The first pane can include a first plurality of graphical elements representing content items available through the media service.
US08060817B2
Methods, systems, and machine readable mediums are disclosed for viewing multidimensional data. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed which comprises displaying multidimensional data in a table format, the table format having a plurality of rows, a plurality of columns, and a plurality of cells displaying data, a first column of the plurality of columns including data having at least two hierarchical levels. Data for at least a first set of the plurality of cells is displayed in a graphical format, the first set including cells in the first column, the graphical format of the cells in the first set in the first column indicating a hierarchical level associated with the cell data and a mechanism is displayed for a first one of the rows to display at least one additional row having data in the first column associated with a lower hierarchical level of the first row data.
US08060811B2
A low-complexity optimal soft MIMO detector is provided for a general spatial multiplexing (SM) systems with two transmit and NR receive antennas. The computational complexity of the proposed scheme is independent from the operating signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and grows linearly with the constellation order. It provides the optimal maximum likelihood (ML) solution through the introduction of an efficient Log-likelihood ratio (LLR) calculation method, avoiding the exhaustive search over all possible nodes. The intrinsic parallelism makes it an appropriate option for implementation on DSPs, FPGAs, or ASICs. In specific, this MIMO detection architecture is very suitable to be applied in WiMax receivers based on IEEE 802.16e/m in both downlink (subscriber station) and uplink (base station).
US08060808B2
A method of embedding the edit distance metric into the Hamming distance metric with low distortion. In other words, two input character strings are mapped to two corresponding output bit strings such that the Hamming distance between the output strings is approximately proportional to the edit distance between the two corresponding input strings.
