Author: claimsbot

1. An exercise aid device comprising:
a base;
a supporting member movable relative to said base, which is configured to support a hip of a user;
a footrest movable relative to said base;
a drive means configured to drive at least one of said footrest and said supporting member; and
a controller configured to control said drive means such that a load acting on a femoral region by own weight of the user supported on said supporting member changes according to a relative positional displacement between the user’s toe and trochanter major, said positional displacement is allowed in a direction of flexion and extension of knee joint of the user, and an angle of the knee joint is maintained substantially constant.
2. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a body constitution estimating unit configured to estimate at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user, and wherein said controller controls said drive means by use of an output of said body estimation unit.
3. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 2, further comprising a grip which is held by the user, a pair of first electrodes disposed on said footrest, a pair of second electrodes provided on said grip, and an impedance measuring unit configured to measure a bioelectrical impedance of the user by detecting a potential difference between one of said first electrodes and one of said second electrodes, while applying a high frequency current between the other first electrode and the other second electrode, under the condition that the user’s foot is placed on said footrest and said grip is held by the user, and wherein said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of an output of said impedance measuring unit.
4. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a body weight input unit configured to input the user’s body weight, and said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of the output of said impedance measuring unit and the user’s body weight input by said body weight input unit.
5. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a body information input unit configured to input body weight and body height of the user, and an energy expenditure operation unit configured to calculate one of an energy expenditure per unit time of the user during exercise and a target energy expenditure per unit time of the user by use of an output of said body constitution estimating unit and the user’s body weight and body height input by said body information input unit, and wherein said controller controls said drive means according to an output of said energy expenditure operation unit.
6. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a load sensor configured to detect a load acting on said footrest, and a body weight estimating unit configured to estimate the user’s body weight by use of an output of said load sensor, and wherein said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of outputs of said impedance measuring unit and said body weight estimating unit.
7. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, wherein said supporting member is length-adjustable in a height direction, and the exercise aid device comprises a distance sensor configured to detect the length of said supporting member in the height direction, and a body height estimating unit configured to estimate the user’s body height by use of an output of said distance sensor, and wherein said body constitution estimating unit estimates at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user by use of outputs of said impedance measuring unit and said body height estimating unit.
8. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising a memory configured to record a change in at least one of fat mass and muscle mass of the user, and an evaluation unit configured to evaluate exercise effects according to the change recorded in said memory, and wherein said controller controls said drive means by use of an output of said evaluation unit.
9. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to record a plurality of exercise programs by biological profile, and an input unit configured to input the user’s biological profile, and wherein said controller reads out from said memory one of said exercise programs which corresponds to the user’s biological profile input by said input unit, and controls said drive means according to the read-out exercise program.
10. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said drive means drives only said supporting member.
11. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said drive means drives said supporting member and said footrest in an interlocking manner.
12. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a load sensor configured to detect a load acting on said footrest, and an operation unit configured to estimate a force acting on the knee joint of the user by use of an output of said load sensor, and wherein said controller controls said drive means in a real-time manner such that the force estimated by said operation unit is within a predetermined range.
13. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 12, wherein said controller causes said drive means to stop when the force estimated by said operation unit exceeds a predetermined upper-limit value.
14. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 12, wherein said controller controls an operation speed of said drive means such that the force estimated by said operation unit is within said range.
15. The exercise aid device as set forth in claim 12, further comprising a display means configured to display the force estimated by said operation unit to the user.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method of making porous polymer microspheres having an average size of from about 3 to about 50 microns and a geometric standard deviation of about 1.25 or less, comprising preparing an emulsion comprised of polymer particles having an average particle size of less than about 3 microns and a diluent, subjecting the emulsion to an aggregating condition to form aggregated polymer particles, optionally coalescing the aggregated polymer particles, and removing the diluent to form the porous polymer microspheres.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises preparing the polymer particles having an average size of less than about 3 microns as a latex by forming an emulsion of one or more monomers and polymerizing the one or more monomers.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the one or more monomers include a crosslinking monomer such that the polymer particles are crosslinked.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of diluent to polymer particles on a weight basis is from about 0.3 to 1 to about 3 to 1.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the diluent is selected from the group consisting of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, methylene chloride, ethylene chloride, n-hexane, n-heptane, i-octane, nonane, decane, dodecane, hexadecane, cyclohexane, 1-pentanol, 1-hextanol, 1-heptanol, 1-octanol, 1-decanol and 1-dodecanol.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the diluent is added as an emulsion of the diluent with a dispersant.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the aggregating condition comprises heating the emulsion in the presence of an aggregating agent in the emulsion.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein aggregation of the polymer particles is stopped by adjustment of pH when the polymer particles have reached a desired average particle size.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the removal of the diluent comprises extracting the diluent with a non-solvent.
10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the porous polymer microspheres include, or are treated to include, functional groups on the surfaces thereof.

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a light source for illuminating a sample;
an objective lens positioned on a light path extending from the sample;
a lenslet array having a plurality of lenslets and positioned along the light path to receive light from the objective lens, the lenslet array being positioned along the light path at substantially a Fourier plane of the sample; and
a detector positioned along the light path approximately one lenslet focal length from the lenslet array,
wherein the plurality of lenslets of the lenslet array correspond to portions of the detector, and
wherein each lenslet of the lenslet array transmits to a corresponding portion of the detector an image of the same portion of the sample from a different viewing angle.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lenslet array comprises an array of square-shaped lenslets or hexagon-shaped lenslets.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein plurality of lenslets of the lenslet array and corresponding portions of the detector are both either square-shaped or hexagon-shaped.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lenslet array is positioned substantially at a back focal plane of the objective lens.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a reflector for directing light from the light source to the sample.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
an aperture positioned at an image plane, wherein the aperture allows light from the source to reach the plurality of lenslets.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the detector is a charge-coupled device (CCD) array or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) array.
8. An imaging device, comprising:
a lenslet array having a plurality of lenslets, the lenslet array being positioned substantially at a Fourier plane of the sample; and
a detector positioned substantially at one lenslet focal length from the lenslet array,
wherein each lenslet of the lenslet array transmits to the detector a different viewing angle of an image.
9. The imaging device of claim 8, wherein the plurality of lenslets of the lenslet array correspond to portions of the detector.
10. The imaging device of claim 8, wherein plurality of lenslets of the lenslet array and corresponding portions of the detector are both either square-shaped or hexagon-shaped.
11. The imaging device of claim 8, wherein the detector is a charge-coupled device (CCD) array or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) array.
12. A method, comprising:
illuminating a sample with a light source;
passing light from the sample through a lenslet array having a plurality of lenslets and positioned along a light path to receive light from the sample, the lenslet array being positioned along the light path at substantially a Fourier plane of the sample; and
directing light from the lenslet array onto a detector positioned along the light path at approximately one lenslet focal length from the lenslet array,
wherein the plurality of lenslets of the lenslet array correspond to portions of the detector, and
wherein each lenslet of the lenslet array transmits to a corresponding portion of the detector an image of the same portion of the sample from a different viewing angle.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of lenslets of the lenslet array correspond to portions of the detector.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein plurality of lenslets of the lenslet array and corresponding portions of the detector are both either square-shaped or hexagon-shaped.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the detector is a charge-coupled device (CCD) array or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) array.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. A beverage dispensing system comprising:
a housing;
a container defining a cooling chamber;
a bath of cooling fluid disposed within the cooling chamber;
a cooling unit including an evaporator coil extending from the cooling unit into the cooling chamber, whereby the evaporator coil is submerged within the bath of cooling fluid to freeze the cooling fluid thereabout, thereby producing a frozen cooling bank;
sensor units positioned at a desired distance from the evaporator coil to provide output corresponding to the size and shape of the frozen bank; and
a control unit operatively linked with the sensor units and cooling unit, whereby, responsive to the output of the sensor units, the control unit controls the operation of the cooling unit to regulate the growth of the frozen cooling bank.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising dispensing valves secured to the housing for forming and dispensing desired beverages.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising beverage lines submerged within the bath of cooling fluid and linked with the dispensing valves for communicating beverage fluids.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a carbonator linked to the beverage lines for providing carbonated beverages.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the beverage lines comprise:
flavored syrup lines linked from a syrup source to the dispensing valves;
plain water lines linked from a plain water source to the dispensing valves and the carbonator; and
carbonated water lines linked from the carbonator to the dispensing valves.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an agitator for circulating cooling fluid about the frozen cooling bank.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an ambient temperature sensor operatively linked with the control unit to provide output corresponding to the ambient temperature.
8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a dispensing valve temperature sensor operatively linked with the control unit to provide output corresponding to the temperature of dispensing beverages.
9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least two sensor units are positioned at a desired distance from the evaporator coil, whereby the sensor units monitor the overall size and shape of the frozen cooling bank.
10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor unit comprises:
a first control probe immersed in the bath of cooling fluid and located a distance from the evaporator coil representing the minimum desired size of the frozen cooling bank;
a second control probe immersed in the bath of cooling fluid and located at a greater distance from the evaporator coil than the first control probe representing the maximum desired size of the frozen cooling bank;
a reference control probe immersed in the bath of cooling fluid, whereby the reference control probe monitors the cooling fluid.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the sensor unit further comprises a third control probe immersed in the bath of cooling fluid and located at a distance from the evaporator coil in between the first control probe and the second control probe representing an intermediate desired size of the frozen cooling bank.
12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the output from the sensor units comprises:
a first signal indicating the voltage potential between the first control probe and the reference control probe to determine if the first control probe is covered by cooling fluid or the frozen bank; and
a second signal indicating the voltage potential between the second control probe and the reference control probe to determine if the second control probe is covered by cooling fluid or the frozen bank.
13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises a microprocessor.
14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bath of cooling fluid comprises water.
15. A method for regulating growth of a frozen cooling bank in a beverage dispensing system comprising:
monitoring sensor units to determine the size and shape of the frozen cooling bank;
starting a cooling unit if the sensor units indicate the frozen cooling bank does not cover a selected freeze point on all the sensor units; and
stopping the cooling unit if the sensor units indicate the frozen cooling bank covers the selected freeze point on all the sensor units.
16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising stopping the cooling unit if the sensor units indicate the frozen cooling bank has problematic overgrowth at any one of the sensor units.
17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising determining the status of all variables considered when selecting a freeze point.
18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising selecting the freeze point based upon the conditions of the variables.
19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the variables considered are selected from the group consisting of freeze cycle, cycle times, ambient temperature, dispensing valve temperature, humidity, water source temperature, flavored syrup source temperature, energy use, time of day, and carbon dioxide source temperature.
20. The method according to claim 15, wherein the variable considered is a freeze cycle.
21. The method according to claim 20, wherein determining the variable status of first-freeze results in a selection of a freeze point to produce a smaller frozen cooling bank.
22. The method according to claim 20, wherein determining the variable status of not a first-freeze results in a selection of a freeze point to produce a larger frozen cooling bank.
23. The method according to claim 15, wherein the variable considered is ambient temperature.
24. The method according to claim 23, wherein determining the variable status of low ambient temperature results in a selection of a freeze point to produce a smaller frozen cooling bank.
25. The method according to claim 23, wherein determining the variable status of high ambient temperature results in a selection of a freeze point to produce a larger frozen cooling bank.
26. The method according to claim 15, wherein the variable considered is dispensing valve temperature.
27. The method according to claim 26, wherein determining the variable status of dispensing valve temperature loading results in a selection of a freeze point to produce a larger frozen cooling bank.