Abstract:
One or more acoustic fiber guides (725-1) are used to carry certain modes of acoustic energy to the tip of a disposable catheter. Using these fibers, reflected sound (Doppler Sound) measurements are made in a blood environment (701) without the risk to the patient associated with the use of an electrical transducer at the distal end of the catheter. Due to the size reduction provided, the Doppler probe is suitable for monitoring the blood flow in the coronary arteries. By the addition of optical fibers (725-2) tipped with specific dyes and excited by optical energy of appropriate wavelength, the catheter tip system can also be utilized simultaneously as a combined (integral) optical blood gas and pH monitor using optical fluorescence and an acoustic Doppler velocity transducer.
Abstract:
A digital tape reading device comprises a read head; a tape motor mechanism and an electronic buffer which is filled as data is read from the tape and which is emptied by feeding the data to associated equipment. Tape control equipment is provided to stop the tape and reposition it with respect to the head according to the data level in the buffer. On receipt of a buffer full signal the control equipment allows the tape to run on while not being read and to commence reading the tail of a block of data when buffer space is available. Then the tape is repositioned so as to read the missing head of the block while skipping the already read tail.
Abstract:
A computer system comprising means for displaying output to the user and means for enabling a user to provide input by selecting positions on the input means characterised by means for providing tactile feedback to a user according to the selected positions.
Abstract:
A phase shifter is implemented using varicap diodes (30) arranged in the form of a lumped element transmission line. A control unit (24) controls the reverse bias voltage of the diodes (30) to provide a delay which can be varied continuously over a given range. The arrangement can be used in conjunction with a digital phase shifter (10) which provides a delay which can be adjusted in predefined steps. The analog shifter (11) provides continuous variation over the step size of the digital shifter.
Abstract:
A method for treating a solid surface exposable to protein solutes is provided that reduces interactions of the protein solutes with the surface. Thus, a small bore capillary tube, useful for electrophoretic separation comprises a reduced interaction phase coated along the bore that includes a terminal moiety covalently bound in the reduced interaction phase through at least one heteroatom. This terminal moiety includes a plurality of halogen atoms, and preferably is an aryl pentafluoro.
Abstract:
In order to improve servo system stability and decrease settling times in rotary head positioners for high performance magnetic disk drives, a floating mass damper (46) is mounted on the end of an accessing head arm structure (22-27) of the positioner opposite to the end or ends carrying the magnetic head or heads. The damper includes a spring centered floating mass (54) which rests on aviscous film (66), such as silicone oil, and the shear forces developed by motion of the floating mass across the film dissipates vibrational mode energy in the accessing head arm structure during both a fast seek operation followed by track following fine servo operation. Such energy dissipation thus reduces the settling time and amplitude of natural resonance of the head positioner.
Abstract:
A sealed substrate processing path has a plural selectably isolatable vacuum deposition chambers (12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22) along the path. A transporter carries substrates along the path and an independently controllable sputter deposition is performed in each deposition chamber (14, 16, 18, and 20) on substrate therein. Substrates are loaded from a load chamber (12) to a first deposition chamber (14) while vacuum is maintained in the first deposition chamber (14) and load chamber (12). Substrates are transferred from a last deposition chamber (20) to an unloaded chamber (22) while a vacuum is maintained in the last (20) and unload (22) chambers. Substrates are placed in the load chamber (12) while the load (12) and first (14) chamber are isolated and are removed from the unload chamber (22) while the last (20) and unload (22) chambers are isolated. In one embodiment, substrates travel successively from the load chamber (12) to first (14) through fourth (20) deposition chambers and then to unload chamber (22). In another embodiment, substrates travel from the load chamber (12) to first (14) to second (16) to first (14) and to third (18) deposition chambers and then to the unload chamber (22).
Abstract:
The present invention is an ink container for use in an ink jet printing system. The printing system has a printhead under control of printing system electronics and an ink container receiving station for providing ink to the printhead. The replaceable ink container includes a plurality of container interfacing features positioned on the ink container to engage corresponding ink container receiving station interfacing features. The ink container interfacing features are disposed and arranged to allow a plurality of different sizes of the ink container to be installed at a particular location of the receiving station. The ink container also includes an information storage device that provides information indicative of a volume of ink contained in said ink container.
Abstract:
Method and apparatus for storing and expanding wide instruction words in a computer system are provided. The computer system includes a memory and an instruction cache. Compressed instruction words of a program are stored in a code heap segment of the memory, and code pointers are stored in a code pointer segment of the memory. Each of the code pointers contains a pointer to one of the compressed instruction words. Part of the program is stored in the instruction cache as expanded instruction words. During execution of the program, an instruction word is accessed in the instruction cache. When the instruction word required for execution is not present in the instruction cache, thereby indicating a cache miss, a code pointer corresponding to the required instruction word is accessed in the code pointer segment of memory. The code pointer is used to access a compressed instruction word corresponding to the required instruction word in the code heap segment of memory. The compressed instruction word is expanded to provide an expanded instruction word, which is loaded into the instruction cache and is accessed for execution.
Abstract:
A computer system includes a CPU for executing conventional instructions and speculative instructions, and a memory controller coupled to a system bus. In response to an access operation by one of the instructions, the CPU generates a speculative instruction bit and a corresponding access address. The access address represents a location in a global address space which includes a first address space and a second address space. The speculative instruction bit is asserted when the corresponding access address is generated by a speculative instruction. The memory controller discards the access operation when the speculative instruction bit is asserted and the access address is in the second address space. Thus, the speculative instruction is prevented from accessing the second address space. In one embodiment, the computer system includes a memory coupled to the system bus and mapped to the first address space, and an I/O device coupled to the system bus and mapped to the second address space. The speculative instruction is prevented from accessing the I/O device.