A method of forming a nanowire structure is disclosed. The method comprises applying on a surface of carrier liquid a layer of a liquid composition which comprises a surfactant and a plurality of nanostructures each having a core and a shell, and heating at least one of the carrier liquid and the liquid composition to a temperature selected such that the nanostructures are segregated from the surfactant and assemble into a nanowire structure on the surface.

The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to nanotechnology and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to a nanowire structure, a method of fabricating a nanowire and systems incorporating the nanowire.
Nanoscience is the science of small objects and is one of the most important research frontiers in modern science. These small objects are of interest from a fundamental view point since all properties of a material, such as its melting point and its electronic and optical properties, change when the particles that make up the material become nanoscopic. With new properties come new opportunities for technological and commercial development, and applications of nanometric objects have been shown or proposed in areas as diverse as micro- and nanoelectronics, nanofluidics, coatings, paints and biotechnology.
It is well established that future development of microelectronics, magnetic recording devices and chemical sensors will be achieved by increasing the packing density of device components. Traditionally, microscopic devices have been formed from larger objects, but as these products get smaller, below the micron level, this process becomes increasingly difficult. It is therefore appreciated that the opposite approach is to be employed, essentially, the building of microscopic devices from using a bottom up approach, primarily via objects of nanometric dimensions. Self-assembled nanostructures, allow controlled fabrication of novel nanoscopic materials and devices.
In particular, wire-like nanostructures have attracted extensive interest over the past decades due to their great potential for addressing some basic issues about dimensionality and space confined transport phenomena as well as related applications. Wire-like nanostructures often have distinctive properties and can be used as transparent conducting materials and gas sensors.
Widely used objects in nanotechnology are fullerene carbon nanotubes which are elongated objects having carbon hexagonal mesh sheet of carbon substantially in parallel with their axis. Also known are other types of nanostructures, such as peptide nanotubes assembled through hydrogen-bonding interactions of peptide building blocks, and lipid nanotubes self-assembled from lipid surfactants.
Heretofore, several approaches have utilized to assemble gold nanostructures by conjugating them with biomolecules. For example, gold nanowires were fabricated by the intercalation of gold nanoparticles into a double-stranded DNA, followed by photochemical covalent attachment of the intercalator with a DNA template [Patolsky et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2002, 41, 2323]. More recently, linear arrays of gold nanoparticle were fabricated using specially designed peptides that self-assemble into β-sheet fibrils exhibiting a laminated morphology [M. S. Lamm, N. Sharma, K. Rajagopal, F. L. Beyer, J. P. Schneider, Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 447], and micrometric-size crystal structures of gold nanoparticles were assembled via various DNA linkers [Park et al., Nature 2008, 451, 553].
Formation of films of gold nanoparticles has been disclosed, e.g., by Brust et al. in Nano Lett. 2001, 1, 189. Gold nanoparticles stabilized by the adsorption of a monolayer of alkanethiolates and chloroform solutions of the stabilized nanoparticles were spread and evaporated at a water-air interface to form Langmuir films. Another technique is disclosed in Kim et al., J Am Chem Soc 2001, 123, 4360. In this technique, colloidal suspension of BaCrO4 nanorods was spread on a water surface of a Langmuir-Blodgett trough, and subsequently compressed, starting with a nonzero surface pressure, to form two-dimensional nanorod mono- and multilayers.

Nanowires, method of fabrication the same and uses thereof

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Research and Development Authority


A system for continuously generating baseload electrical energy entirely from renewable resources and transmitting the generated electrical energy to a transmission grid includes, in combination, a first energy generation device for continuously generating electrical energy output, which has a bio-mass fuel supply requirement for generating the electrical energy. One or more additional energy generation devices provide, as available, intermittent electrical and thermal energy for substituting, or supplementing, the electrical energy output of the first energy generation device, and for supplementing the fuel supply requirement for the first energy generation device. A switching device ensures a least-cost generation of baseload electrical energy from the generating system by selectively using the output of the first energy generation device or, as available, the one or more additional energy generation device for substituting, or supplementing, the electrical output of the first energy generation device, and selectively supplementing the fuel supply requirement of the first energy generation device providing, at a minimum, a baseload electrical energy output exclusively from renewable energy resources. A redundant supply of combustible bio-mass fuel assets are assured by a bio-mass harvesting and logistics system which supplies such fuels directly from the source to the first energy generation device for combustion. Effluent gasses containing CO2 from bio-mass combustion are sequestered in a body of fluid containing micro-algal bodies and light-emitting sources for causing, by photosynthesis in the presence of CO2, an increased mass of algal bodies by absorption of the CO2 and the emission of free oxygen. The increased mass of algal bodies are removed from the fluid body and used for the production of bio-diesel fuel. A method of operating an entirely renewable sourced electric power generation and transmission business is also provided.

Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to integrated facilities and related methods for the production of electrical energy from non-fossil fuels using entirely renewable resources on a sustainable basis at acceptable market prices.
Description of the Prior Art
The electricity market in the United States for the year 2005 exceeded 4 trillion kilowatt hours representing revenues exceeding $300 billion (US.) A substantial majority of that electricity is generated using fossil fuels as the initial source of energy. Coal alone amounts to almost 50% of the energy source, natural gas provides almost another 19% and nuclear energy, also about 19%. Energy from hydroelectric sources is approximately 6.5% and petroleum amounts to about 3%. The contribution from renewable resources amounts to somewhere between 2.5 and 3%. According to industry sources, electricity consumption is expected to increase by more than 50% by 2025. Hence, assuming no changes in the current sources of energy are implemented, development must be greatly expanded to meet these demands. There are serious problems, however, in expanding the use of existing forms of energy. While the world's supply of coal may seem adequate for the time being, both political and environmental pressures will reduce the use of coal as it is one of the largest of contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas, as an alternative, also produces oxides of carbon and other pollutants. Nuclear systems are generally unpopular, feared as unsafe by many, and plants are exceedingly expensive to build. The problem of disposal of nuclear waste has only been partially solved. Finally, there has been an historical decline in the utilization of hydroelectric power, as additional potential sites are not available and cost-benefit ratios of dams are not favorable. Older coal plants are expected to be decommissioned because of pollution issues. Replacement power must be found that is clean, as well as developing additional capacity to meet demand.
As of this writing, several states in the United States have legislated renewable portfolio standards (RPS) which mandate an average of 20 to 25% of all electricity consumed to be generated from renewable resources. Hence, increased energy usage, environmental desires and government regulations will drive the electric industry for the development of feasible and sustainable energy generated using renewable resources in sufficient quantities to meet demand.
The principal existing technologies, which employ renewable resources, include wind generation, solar (photovoltaic and thermal), geothermal, and bio-mass. Each of these technologies (with the possible exception of bio-mass), as implemented or contemplated today cannot provide reliable baseload energy, in that these technologies do not provide electric energy on a constant and predictable basis. The transmission and delivery of electrical energy is dependent, or has become dependent, upon reliable continuous sources of energy to provide predictability. It has become a problem how to integrate power from intermittent resources, such as wind and solar, into an unpredictable demand for energy. Other problems with renewable energy have included the high cost of renewable energy, due to expensive technology to produce it. Underdeveloped and oversubscribed transmission systems have exacerbated the problem of delivering intermittent renewable energy as 100% capacity must be reserved on transmission lines if the full output of these resources is to be available regardless of utilization. Alternate fossil fuel capacity must be built to augment or fulfill requirements should the renewable resources be impaired by weather or time of day. Other problems with renewable resources have included inadequate fuel management and control of inventory of bio-mass fueled resources.

Integrated multiple fuel renewable energy system


An interface system and method are provided for facilitating cross-disability access to an electronic device. A first screen of a plurality of screens is displayed on the electronic device. Each screen includes at least one of a non-input element and an input element. The interface system includes a keyboard having a plurality of alpha-numeric keys and a plurality of keys or selectors that allow a user to navigate through the non-input elements and input elements of the plurality of screens.

With a touch screen system, the type, size, and number of the virtual buttons may be readily changed by changing the computer's program without changes in the associated hardware. Thus, the touch screen system offers a user-interface that may be flexibly tailored to a particular application. The ability to divide virtual buttons among different screens and to display only those screens needed by the user's particular task can simplify data entry. The combination of text and graphical elements on the screen along with the virtual buttons can help to further guide the user through the steps of data input.
Normally, a touch screen system uses a touch screen panel which is placed directly over the viewing area of a standard computer display, for example, a cathode ray tube ("CRT") or a liquid crystal display ("LCD"). The touch screen panel provides a signal to a computer associated with the computer display indicating where on the surface of the display a stylus or finger is placed. This signal may be generated, for example, by acoustic systems detecting absorption of sound by a finger on the surface of the display; by systems using crossed beams of infrared light arrayed along x and y axes which are broken by the finger; or by laminated transparent electrodes which are physically compressed against each other to provide a point electrical contact that may be interpreted as an x and y coordinate.
Frequently, a touch screen will be used in conjunction with a computer contained in a kiosk for public use. The computer may have so-called multi-media capabilities providing both a visual and audio program intended to help members of the public obtain information or conduct transactions. Despite the advantage of touch screen systems in such applications, like many novel interface controls, they present a barrier to many people with disabilities. Those with impaired vision perceive only the featureless surface of the display screen knowing that it may contain one or more virtual buttons of arbitrary placement and functions. Those unfamiliar with the language of the legends on the buttons or those who cannot read, are also foreclosed from much of the information presented by touch screen systems. Critical audio information in multi-media presentations will not be received by deaf users. Those with limited mobility may be unable to reach or operate the touch screen surface.
Heretofore, incorporating accessibility into kiosks and other touch screen systems has typically involved adding buttons, keyboards or other mechanical controls for the systems. In many kiosk designs, the addition of these buttons, keyboards or other mechanical controls may be limited by a lack of space, expense or various other constraints. Hence, a long felt need has existed for an interface system and method for use in a kiosk that provide cross-disability access to the kiosk.
Therefore, it is a primary object and feature of the present invention to provide an interface system and method for providing cross-disability access to an electronic device.
It is a further object and feature of the present invention to provide an interface system and method for providing cross-disability access to an electronic device that is simple and intuitive to utilize.
In accordance with the present invention, an interface system is provided for facilitating cross-disability access to an electronic device. The electronic device is operatively connected to an electronic computer. The interface system includes a software program stored on an electronic computer for generating a plurality of screens for display on the electronic device. Each screen includes at least one of a non-input element or an input element. A keyboard is operatively connected to the electronic computer. The keyboard includes an up selector, a down selector, an action selector, a next selector, a back selector and a help selector. The up selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program moves a navigation highlight between adjacent elements displayed on a first screen in a first direction in response to actuation of the up selector. The down selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state wherein the software program moves the navigation highlight between adjacent elements displayed on the first screen in a second direction in response to actuation of the down selector. The action selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state wherein the software program activates a highlighted element displayed on the first screen in response to actuation of the action selector. The back selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state wherein the software program navigates to a previous screen in response to actuation of the back selector when the highlighted element is the non-input element. The next selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state wherein the software program navigates to a subsequent screen in response to actuation of the next selector when the highlighted element is the non-input element. The help selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The computer software program provides context sensitive help to a user in response to actuation of the help selector.
The keyboard includes a plurality of alpha-numeric keys having non-actuated and actuated states. The input element includes a plurality of character spaces. The software program causes an alpha-numeric character to be displayed in a character space in the input element in response to actuation of a corresponding alpha-numeric key. In addition, the software program moves a text cursor back one character space in response to actuation of the back selector when the highlighted element is the input element. Similarly, the software program moves the text cursor forward one character space in response to actuation of the next selector when the highlighted element is the input element.
The input element may include a plurality of lines such that the software program inserts a carriage return in the input element in response to actuation of the action selector. Alternatively, the input element may be a first input element and the first screen includes a plurality of input elements. The first input element includes a single line and the software program moves the navigation highlight to a second input element in response to actuation of the action selector. If the input element is a last input element on the first screen, the software program navigates to a subsequent screen in response to actuation of the action selector.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, an interface system is provided for facilitating cross-disability access to an electronic device. The electronic device is operatively connected to an electronic computer. The interface system includes a software program stored on an electronic computer for generating a plurality of screens for display on the electronic device. Each screen includes at least one of a non-input element or an input element. A keyboard is operatively connected to the electronic computer. The keyboard including a plurality of alpha-numeric keys, a first set of selectors, an action selector, a second set of selectors and a help selector. The plurality of alpha-numeric keys have non-actuated and actuated states and the first set of selectors have non-actuated and actuated states. The software program moves a navigation highlight between adjacent elements displayed on a first screen in response to actuation of one of the first set of selectors. The action selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program activates a highlighted element displayed on the first screen in response to actuation of the action selector. The second set of selectors have non-actuated and actuated states. The software program navigates through the plurality of screens in response to actuation of one of the second set of selectors when the highlighted element is the non-input element. The help selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The computer software program provides context sensitive help to a user in response to actuation of the help selector.
The first set of selectors includes an up selector and a down selector. The up selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program moves a navigation highlight between adjacent elements displayed on a first screen in a first direction in response to actuation of the up selector. The down selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program moves the navigation highlight between adjacent elements displayed on the first screen in a second direction in response to actuation of the down selector.
The second set of selectors includes a back selector and a next selector. The back selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program navigates to a previous screen in response to actuation of the back selector when the highlighted element is the non-input element. The next selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program navigates to a subsequent screen in response to actuation of the next selector when the highlighted element is the non-input element. The input element includes a plurality of character spaces. The software program causes an alpha-numeric character to be displayed in a character space in the input element in response to actuation of a corresponding alpha-numeric key. The software program moves a text cursor back one character space in response to actuation of the back selector when the highlighted element is the input element. Similarly, the software program moves the text cursor forward one character space in response to actuation of the next selector when the highlighted element is the input element. If the input element includes a plurality of lines, the software program inserts a carriage return in the input element in response to actuation of the action selector.
The input element is a first input element and a first screen includes a plurality of input elements. If the first input element includes a single line, the software program moves the navigation highlight to a second input element in response to actuation of the action selector. If the input element is a last input element on a first screen, the software program navigates to a subsequent screen in response to actuation of the action selector.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for facilitating cross-disability access to an electronic device. The electronic device is operatively connected to an electronic computer. The method includes the step of displaying a first screen of a plurality of screens on the electronic device. Each screen includes at least one of a non-input element or an input element. A navigation highlight is moved between adjacent elements displayed on the first screen in response to actuation of one of a first set of selectors. A highlighted element displayed on the first screen is activated in response to actuation of an action selector. The plurality of screens are navigated in response to actuation of one of a second set of selectors when the highlighted element is the non-input element. Context sensitive help is provided to a user in response to actuation of a help selector.
The first set of selectors includes an up selector and a down selector. The up selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program moves a navigation highlight between adjacent elements displayed on a first screen in a first direction in response to actuation of the up selector. The down selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program moves the navigation highlight between adjacent elements displayed on the first screen in a second direction in response to actuation of the down selector.
The second set of selectors includes a back selector and a next selector. The back selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program navigates to a previous screen in response to actuation of the back selector when the highlighted element is the non-input element. The next selector has a non-actuated state and an actuated state. The software program navigates to a subsequent screen in response to actuation of the next selector when the highlighted element is the non-input element. The input element includes a plurality of character spaces. An alpha-numeric character is displayed in a character space in the input element in response to actuation of a corresponding alpha-numeric key.
A text cursor is moved back one character space in response to actuation of the back selector when the highlighted element is the input element. The text cursor is moved forward one character space in response to actuation of the next selector when the highlighted element is the input element. The input element includes a plurality of lines and a carriage return is inserted in the input element in response to actuation of the action selector. The input element is a first input element. A first screen includes a plurality of input elements and the first input element includes a single line. The navigation highlight is moved to a second input element in response to actuation of the action selector. If the input element is a last input element on the first screen, the method includes the additional step of navigating to a subsequent screen in response to actuation of the action selector.

Keyboard system and method for providing improved access to an electronic device


An outboard marine engine has vapor vent control apparatus including a fuel inlet in fluid communication with a fuel reservoir of the engine. The fuel inlet is operably attachable to a fuel pin of a fuel connector. When attached, liquid fuel flows to the fuel reservoir and when detached, liquid fuel flow out of the fuel inlet is prevented. A vapor vent passage is configured in fluid communication with the liquid fuel reservoir and an air intake of the engine. A vent pin is disposed in the vapor vent passage. The vent pin moves between a first position upon attaching the fuel connector to the fuel inlet and a second position upon detaching the fuel connector from the fuel inlet. In the first position, the vapor vent passage is open to fuel vapor flow and, when in the second position, the vapor vent passage is closed to fuel vapor flow.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to internal combustion engines, and more particularly to vapor vent systems for outboard marine fuel injected engines vent systems.
2. Related Art
Outboard marine fuel injected internal combustion engines require liquid fuel to be injected through fuel injectors for the engine to run. Typically, to avoid fuel vapor from being directed to the fuel injectors, the engines include a vapor vent passage extending from a fuel reservoir to an air intake of the engine. To regulate the flow of fuel vapor to the air intake, a float mechanism is typically provided in the reservoir. Small outboard marine engines commonly have a source of liquid fuel maintained in a fuel tank that is attachable and detachable to a fuel inlet of the engine via a fuel connector. Upon detaching the fuel connector from the fuel inlet of the engine, a supply of liquid fuel and fuel vapor is maintained in the engine fuel system. The liquid fuel is typically prevented from leaking back out of the fuel inlet of the engine via a spring biased ball valve. The liquid fuel and fuel vapor are typically inhibited from passing to the air intake via the float mechanism.
It is common to remove outboard marine engines from boats, such as during off-season, during service, or at other desired times. When removed, the engine is often laid on its side, or in a position other than upright, such as the position typically maintained while attached to the boat. Further, the engine can be exposed to elevated thermal conditions, such as while in storage. When the engine is on its side and/or subjected to elevated thermal conditions, the aforementioned float mechanism that is intended to inhibit liquid fuel and fuel vapor from passing to the air intake may be prevented from functioning. While on its side, or exposed to heat, the affects of gravity and/or increased pressure within the fuel system can cause the float mechanism to allow liquid fuel and/or vapor to pass thereby and into the air intake of the engine.

Vapor vent control apparatus, system and outboard marine engine therewith


The present invention provides antioxidants made of an aromatic hydroxyamine derivative having a structure represented by the general formula (I):

Hitherto, antioxidants have been extensively used in various applications such as plastic products, rubber products, petroleum products (such as lubricating oils) and food. The antioxidants are mainly used for the purpose of inhibiting these products from suffering from undesirable change due to oxygen.
There are conventionally known various kinds of antioxidants. Among these antioxidants, radical chain inhibitors (primary antioxidants) serve for capturing radicals produced upon autoxidation, inhibiting production of the radicals and cutting the radical chain, and are mainly made of hindered phenol-based compounds such as typically 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol or amine-based compounds such as typically N,N′-diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine. Also, among the antioxidants, peroxide decomposing agents (secondary antioxidants) serve for decomposing peroxides produced upon autoxidation into inert compounds to thereby prevent contribution of the peroxides to chain reaction, and are most frequently made of sulfur-based or phosphorus-based compounds. It is known that when the peroxide decomposing agents are used in combination with the above radical chain inhibitors, a good synergistic effect can be attained.
In the primary antioxidants, in general, the amine-based compounds exhibit a higher oxidation-inhibiting property as compared to the phenol-based compounds. However, since oxidation products produced using the amine-based compounds tend to have a deep color, the use of the amine-based compounds must be limited to applications such as rubber products in which coloration of products causes no significant problems.
As typical amine-based antioxidants used for production of rubber products, there are known N,N′-diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine, N-isopropyl-N′-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (so-called "3C"), N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N′-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine (so-called "6C"), etc. In addition, as the amine-based antioxidants, there are also known high-molecular diamines produced from a p-aminophenol derivative and aniline, etc. (JP 53-103429A).
On the other hand, as the typical phenol-based antioxidants, there are known 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol as a mononuclear compound (so-called "BHT"), 2,2′-methylenebis(4-methyl-6-tert-butylphenol) as a binuclear compound (so-called "2246"), tetrakis[methylene-3-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propionate]methane as a tetranuclear compound (tradename "Irganox 1010" available from Ciba Specialty Co., Ltd.), etc.
These antioxidants have been required to exhibit a high oxidation inhibiting property even when they are added in a small amount. Further, high-molecular antioxidants are more excellent in view of volatility, migration, extractability, etc., than low-molecular antioxidants. Therefore, in particular in the application field of plastic products, the high-molecular antioxidants tend to be more frequently used.
Meanwhile, aromatic binuclear compounds in which a hydroxyl group and an amino group are respectively bonded to adjacent positions of an aromatic ring thereof have been positively studied as raw materials for polybenzoxazole having excellent heat resistance and electrical insulating property. However, at present, there is almost unknown an oxidation inhibiting property of the aromatic binuclear compounds.

Antioxidant and bisaminophenol derivative

Abstract: wherein R1, R2 and R3 are each independently a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms; X is a hydrogen atom or an OH group; Y is a hydrogen atom or an NHR1 group; A is a direct bond, —O—, —NH—, —SO2—, —CH2— or —C(CH3)2—, and when an OH group and an NHR1 group are introduced to a unilateral benzene ring, these groups are respectively bonded to adjacent positions of the benzene ring; and n is 0 or 1 with the proviso that when n is 0, R1 is not a hydrogen atom, as well as bisaminophenol derivatives represented by the above general formula (I) wherein n is 1; R2 and R3 are each a hydrogen atom; X is an OH group; Y is an NHR1 group; A is —C(CH3)2—; and R1 is isopropyl, isobutyl or isohexyl. The aromatic hydroxyamine derivatives having a structure represented by the general formula (I), in particular, the bisaminophenol derivatives as novel substances, exhibit an excellent oxidation-inhibiting property, and are usable as antioxidants or polymerization inhibitors.


The present invention relates to a multicore plastic optical fiber for optical signal transmission, which comprises a plurality of cores made of a transparent resin; first cladding layers made of a transparent first cladding resin having a lower refractive index than said core resin, each of said first cladding layers coating said each core; and a second cladding resin surrounding said cores with said first cladding layers, and having a lower refractive index than said first cladding resin. The multicore plastic optical fiber of the present invention is suitably applicable to optical signal transmission since it receives a large quantity of light and exhibits a small light loss upon bending.

As disclosed in PCT International Patent Publication No. WO95/32442, there have been conventionally employed, as multicore plastic optical fibers for communication, a bare multicore plastic optical fiber comprising a plurality of cores of a transparent core resin having a high refractive index and a cladding arranged so as to surround and bundle the cores, a bare multicore plastic optical fiber prepared by coating each core fiber with a cladding resin to form a cladding layer and surrounding the cladded core fibers with a third resin to bundle them, and a multicore plastic optical fiber cable formed by coating the bare multicore optical fibers with a sheathing resin.
Single core plastic optical fibers formed by coating a core with a cladding resin in two layers are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 204209/1987, 51206/1992 and 249325/1993. However, the fibers disclosed therein are single core plastic optical fibers, not multicore plastic optical fibers. Therefore, they have a large core diameter and insufficient light retention upon bending. In case of the conventional multicore plastic optical fibers, when the numerical aperture of the fibers (hereinafter referred to as Fiber NA) is decreased in order to widen signal transmission band width, and when the numerical aperture of incident light source (hereinafter referred to as LNA) is larger than Fiber NA, the fibers cannot receive a light beyond the Fiber NA. Accordingly, the conventional multicore plastic optical fibers have a drawback that the light requirement is small. Another drawback of the conventional multicore plastic optical fibers is light loss caused by bending the fibers. Usually, a multicore plastic optical fiber can reduce light loss caused by bending since each core diameter of the multicore plastic optical fiber can be made very small. Nevertheless, when Fiber NA becomes small, the light loss upon bending unpreferably becomes too large to ignore. Even in the case that Fiber NA is relatively large, a plastic optical fiber having smaller light loss upon bending is more preferable.
An object of the present invention is to provide such a plastic optical fiber with desirable transmission bandwidth that receives a larger quantity of light from a light source and causes less light loss upon bending the fiber.

Optical signal transmission multicore plastic optical fiber


A compressed image, for which a desired SSIM value is obtained, is acquired when irreversible compression is performed. Specifically, a quadratic curve G2 is defined. Next, a compression ratio P4 is calculated. An image is irreversibly compressed at the compression ratio P4, the compressed image is decoded and an SSIM value S5 is calculated. If the calculated SSIM value S5 is outside an allowable range of the target SSIM value, then the quadratic curve G2 is corrected in such a manner that it will pass through an intersection C4 between the compression ratio P4 and the SSIM value S5, whereby a quadratic curve G3 is obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an irreversible compression apparatus and to a method and program for controlling the operation of this apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Irreversible compression allows some dropout of data but features a high compression efficiency. Even when decoded, data that has been compressed irreversibly cannot be restored completely to the data that prevailed prior to compression. If a desired image quality is desired with regard to an irreversibly compressed image, processing is executed as follows: For example, image data representing an original image is irreversibly compressed, the irreversibly compressed image data is decoded, and irreversible compression, decoding and calculation of an image degradation index of the decoded image data are repeated until the image degradation index represents the desired image.
In a transcoding proxy that acts as a relay between a plurality of client devices and a plurality of servers connected via a communication network, there is a technique that enhances the advantage of transcoding, namely how to send a high-quality image to each client device within transmission-delay tolerance (Patent Document 1). First, the network characteristics are analyzed, an estimated value of image transmission time is acquired and a decision is rendered as to whether or not to apply transcoding. If transcoding is carried out, then transcoding parameters for which output image size and a tradeoff between quality and size will be optimized are predicted statistically and adjusted. A tradeoff relating to selection of transcoding parameters can also be converted dynamically by the user.
Further, in order to maintain a prescribed image quality for a decoded image and to realize as high a compression ratio as possible, there is a technique for predicting image quality by measuring such physical quantities as the input image and states of the input and output devices, and controlling image quality using coding parameters that have been adapted to these physical quantities (Patent Document 2).
Furthermore, there is a technique, which is used in an imaging apparatus such as a facsimile machine, for calculating an image degradation index (SSIM: Structural SIMilarity) value in comparatively accurate fashion (Patent Document 3).
Further, there is a coding apparatus for setting and coding a group of coding parameters suitable for a plurality of partial images, (Patent Document 4), a coding apparatus having excellent operability and capable of being fabricated at low cost (Patent Document 5), and a technique for obtaining decoded images of stable quality (Patent Document 6).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-222332
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-75369
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-206244
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-60343
[Patent Document 5] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-175048
[Patent Document 6] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-176173
Since irreversible compression, decoding and calculation of the image degradation index often are time consuming, it often takes time to obtain the desired image quality. With the technique described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to obtain an output image that falls within the desired image quality. Since a subjective image degradation index is utilized in the technique described in Patent Document 2, objectivity is lacking. In addition, since the relationship between image quality and the degradation parameters is not updated, image quality cannot be controlled efficiently. With the technique described in Patent Document 3, a decline in image quality due to compression is not measured from the first. Further, obtaining the desired image quality takes too much time with the techniques described in Patent Documents 4 to 6.

Irreversible compression apparatus, and method and program for controlling operation of same


A TOF camera apparatus for transmitting light signals and recording the light that is scattered back at an object and also for determining the distance of the TOF camera apparatus from the object is proposed, wherein the TOF camera apparatus comprises: a transmitter for transmitting light signals, a receiver for detecting the light scattered back at the object, embodied in the form of a pixel matrix having at least one pixel, a modulation device for producing a modulation signal in order to modulate light signals that are to be transmitted by the transmitter, an evaluation device for evaluating the light detected by the receiver, which evaluation device is connected to the modulation device to obtain the modulation signal for evaluating and determining the distance. In order to make possible particularly reliable error detection, a check apparatus for error detection in at least one of the pixels is provided.

Optical monitoring systems such as TOF camera apparatuses have been used in the prior art for numerous safety-relevant applications, for example, for door monitoring, in particular, in the case of motor-driven or automatically opening or closing door systems such as automated entrance doors, garage doors, elevator doors or the like, all the way to driver assistance systems in vehicles or robots or other control systems for autonomous driving. Error-free operation of corresponding TOF camera apparatuses is of major importance especially in the aforementioned areas to be able to avoid accidents, injury to persons or damage to objects. The prior art, for example, EP 2 453 426 B1, discloses a monitoring apparatus having a TOF sensor, which upon initialization tests itself and, if required, performs a plausibility check so as to be able to avoid errors.


The present invention provides a parking assist apparatus capable of improving convenience when a passenger of a vehicle gets on and off. According to the present invention, the parking assistance apparatus acquires information on parking candidate frames, and where an own vehicle can park, from a front camera, a right camera, a rear camera, and a left camera configured to acquire information on a surrounding environment of the own vehicle, and from surrounding environment information acquired by these cameras. The parking assistance apparatus detects surrounding environment information and of the parking candidate frames, and from the surrounding environment information and information on the parking candidate frames, and determines a target parking position where the own vehicle parks based on the information on the parking candidate frames, the surrounding environment information, and the preference information related to getting on and off of a passenger who rides on the own vehicle.

As a parking position guidance system capable of guiding to a parking position that conforms to user's preference with high accuracy, and of guiding to a parking position even in a parking lot that user has not used, PTL 1 describes a parking lot side device that is provided with a parking lot information DB storing parking tastes when a large number of vehicles have parked in a parking lot and determines a parking instruction position based on the parking lot information DB and taste information of a vehicle user transmitted from an in-vehicle parking position guide device.


A liquid ejecting device and method control the flying characteristic of liquid while enabling stable ejection of the liquid, without shortening the life of bubble producing units (heating resistors). The liquid ejecting device has heads each including liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel which each include a liquid cell, bisected heating resistors in the liquid cell which produce bubbles in liquid in the liquid cell in response to the supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the heating resistors. The heating resistors are supplied with energy, and a difference is set between a manner of supplying energy to one heating resistor and a manner of supplying energy to the other heating resistor. Based on the difference, a flying characteristic of the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled.

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application Number JP2002-112947 filed Apr. 16, 2002, and Japanese Patent Application Number JP2002-320861 filed Nov. 5, 2002, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for controlling flying characteristics of liquid or a position to which liquid is delivered and to liquid ejecting device and method in which liquid in liquid cell is ejected from a nozzle. The present invention specifically relates to, in liquid ejecting device including heads each having a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel and liquid ejecting method using the heads each having the ejecting portions arranged in parallel, a technology for controlling a direction (a direction in which liquid is delivered,) in which liquid is ejected from each liquid ejecting portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inkjet printers have been conventionally known as a type of liquid ejecting device including heads which each have a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel. A thermal method that uses thermal energy to eject ink is known as one of ink ejecting methods for inkjet printers.
In an example of printer-head chip structure using the thermal method, ink in an ink cell is heated by a heating element disposed in the ink cell to produce bubbles in the ink on the heating element, and the energy of the production of the bubbles ejects the ink. A nozzle is formed in the upper side of the ink cell. When the bubbles are produced in the ink in the ink cell, the ink is ejected from the ejecting outlet of the nozzle.
From the viewpoint of head structure, there are two methods, a serial method and a line method. In the serial method, an image is printed by moving a printer-head chip in the width direction of printing paper. In the line method, many printer-chip heads are arranged in the width direction of printing paper to form a line head for the width of the printing paper.
FIG. 18 is a plan view showing a line head 10 of the related art. Although four printer-head chips 1 (Nxe2x88x921, N, N+1, and N+2) are shown in FIG. 18, actually, more printer-head chips are arranged.
In each printer-head chip 1, a plurality of nozzles 1a having ejecting outlets for ejecting ink are formed. The nozzles 1a are arranged in parallel in a given direction, and the given direction is identical to the width direction of the printing paper. Also, the printer-head chips 1 are arranged in the given direction. Adjacent printer-head chips 1 are arranged so that their nozzles 1a oppose each other, and in a portion in which two printer-head chips 1 are adjacent to each other, the pitch of the nozzles 1a is consecutively maintained (see the detail of portion A in FIG. 18).
The related art shown in FIG. 18 has the following problems.
When ink is ejected from the printer-head chips 1, it is ideal that the ink is ejected perpendicularly to the ejection surface of the printer-head chips 1. However, various factors may cause a case in which an angle at which the ink is ejected is not perpendicular.
For example, when a nozzle sheet having the nozzles 1a formed thereon is bonded to the upper side of ink cells having heating elements, the problem is that positional shifting occurs between pairs of the ink cells and the heating elements, and the nozzles 1a. When the nozzle sheet is bonded so that the center of the nozzles 1a is positioned in the center of the ink cells and the heating elements, the ink is ejected perpendicularly to the ink ejection surface (the nozzle sheet surface). However, if a shift occurs between the ink cells and the heating elements, and the nozzles 1a, the ink cannot be ejected perpendicularly to the ejection surface.
Also, a positional shift can occur due to a difference in thermal expansion factor between the pairs of the ink cells and the heating elements, and the nozzle sheet.
It is assumed that, when the ink is ejected perpendicularly to the ejection surface, an ink droplet is delivered to an ideally exact position. When the angle of ejection of the ink is shifted from perpendicularity by xcex8, positional shift xcex94L in delivery of ink droplet is
xcex94L=Hxc3x97tan xcex8
with the distance (normally 1 to 2 millimeters in the case of the inkjet method) between the ejection surface and the surface (a surface on which the ink droplet is delivered) of printing paper set to H (H is constant).
When such a shift in angle of ejection of the ink occurs, in the serial method, the shift in angle appears as a shift in delivery of ink between two nozzles 1a. In the line method, in addition to the shift in delivery of ink, the shift in angle appears as a positional shift in delivery between two printer-head chips 1.
FIGS. 19A and 19B are respectively a section view and plan view showing the state of printing performed by the line head 10 (in which the printer-head chips 1 are arranged in parallel in a direction in which the nozzles 1a are arranged) shown in FIG. 18. In FIGS. 19A and 19B, assuming that printing paper P is fixed, the line head 10 does not move in the width direction of the printing paper P, and performs printing while moving from top to bottom of the plan view in FIG. 19B.
In the section view in FIG. 19A, among the line head 10, three printer-head chips 1, that is, the N-th printer-head chip 1, the (N+1)-th printer-head chip 1, and the (N+2)-th printer-head chip 1 are shown.
As shown in the section view in FIG. 19A, in the N-th printer-head chip 1, ink is slantingly ejected in the left direction as is indicated by the left arrow. In the (N+1)-th printer-head chip 1, ink is slantingly ejected in the right direction as is indicated by the central arrow. In the (N+2)-th printer-head chip 1, ink is perpendicularly ejected without a shift in angle of ejection as is indicated by the right arrow.
Accordingly, in the N-th printer-head chip 1, the ink is delivered, being off to the left from a reference position, and in the (N+1)-th printer-head chip 1, the ink is delivered, being off to the right from the reference position. Thus, between both, the ink in the N-th printer-head chip 1 and the ink in the (N+1)-th printer-head chip 1 are delivered to opposite directions. As a result, a region in which no ink is delivered is formed between the N-th printer-head chip 1 and the (N+1)-th printer-head chip 1. In addition, the line head 10 is only moved in the direction of the arrow in the plan view in FIG. 19B without being moved in the width direction of the printing paper P. This forms a white stripe B between the N-th printer-head chip 1 and the (N+1) printer-head chip 1, thus causing a problem of deterioration in printing quality.
Similarly to the above case, in the (N+1)-th printer-head chip 1, the ink is delivered, being off to the right from the reference position. Thus, the (N+1)-th printer-head chip 1 and the (N+2)-th printer-head chip 1 have a common region in which the ink is delivered. This causes a discontinuous image and a stripe C which has a color thicker than the original color, thus causing a problem of deterioration in printing quality.
When such a shift in a position to which ink is delivered occurs, the degree to which a stripe looks noticeable depends on an image to be printed. For example, since a document or the like has many blank portions, a stripe will not look noticeable if it is formed. Conversely, in the case of printing a photograph image in almost all the portions of printing paper, if a slight strip is formed, it will look noticeable.
For the purpose of preventing the formation of such a stripe, Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-44157 (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cEarlier Application 1xe2x80x9d) has been filed by the Assignee of the present Patent Application. In the invention of Earlier Application 1, a plurality of heating elements (heaters) which can separately be driven are provided in ink cells, and by separately driving the heating elements, a direction in which each ink droplet is ejected can be changed. Accordingly, it has been thought that the formation of the above stripe (the white stripe B or the stripe C) can be prevented by the Earlier Application 1.
However, although Earlier Application 1 deflects the ink droplet by separately controlling the heating elements, the result of further study by the present Inventors has indicated that, when the method of Earlier Application 1 is employed, the ejection of the ink droplet may become unstable and a printed image having high quality cannot stably be obtained. The reason is described below.
According to study by the present Inventors, as described in PCT/JP/08535 (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cEarlier Application 2xe2x80x9d) filed by the Assignee of the present Application, normally, the quantity of ejection of ink from nozzles does not increase in a monotone in accordance with an increase in power applied to heating elements, but tends to rapidly increase when the power exceeds a predetermined value (see Earlier Application 2, page 28, lines 14 to 17, and FIG. 18). In other words, a sufficient quantity of ink droplet cannot be ejected unless power equal to the predetermined value or greater is supplied.
Therefore, in the case of separately driving the heating elements, when ink droplets are ejected by performing only driving of only some heating elements, a sufficient amount of heat for ink droplet ejection must be generated only by the driving. Accordingly, in the case of separately driving the heating elements, when some heating elements are used to eject the ink droplets, power supplied to the heating elements must be increased. This situation causes a disadvantageous situation to size reduction in the heating element which is associated with increased resolution in the recent years.
In other words, in order to perform stable ejection of ink droplets, the amount of generated energy per unit area of each heating element must be extremely increased than usual. As a result, damage to small-sized heating elements is enhanced. This shortens the life of the heating elements, thus shortening the life of the head.
The above problems are similarly found in the case of using the technologies described in Japanese Patent No. 2780648 (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cEarlier Application 3xe2x80x9d) and Japanese Patent No. 2836749 (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cEarlier Application 4xe2x80x9d).
Although Earlier Application 3 discloses an invention for preventing a satellite (scattering of ink), and Earlier Application 4 discloses an invention for the purpose of realizing stable control of gradations, both are similar to Earlier Application 1 in using a plurality of heating elements and separately driving the heating elements.
By driving some heating elements among a plurality of heating elements to eject ink droplets, as in Earlier Applications 3 and 4, the ink droplets can be ejected and deflected as described in Earlier Application 3, or gradation control can be performed as described in Earlier Application 4. However, in the case of using provided heating elements which are small-sized in association with increased resolution in the recent years, when only some heating elements are driven to eject ink droplets, the supply to them of power enabling stable ejection causes a problem of a decrease in the life of the heating elements.
In the invention in Earlier Application 4, an increase in the amount of power to each heating element represents an increase in the minimum quantity of ink droplet. Thus, it is difficult to perform gradation control which is the original object of the invention in Earlier Application 4.
Conversely, in Earlier Application 4, when the amount of power supplied to each heating element is reduced, there is a possibility that the ink droplets cannot stably be ejected, as described above.
As is understood from the above description, in the case of using a head including heating elements which are small-sized in association with increased resolution, it is impossible to prevent the formation of the above stripes by the related art and the technologies in Earlier Applications 1 to 4.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to perform stable ejection of liquid without shortening the life of means of producing bubbles, such as heating elements, and to control the flying characteristic of the liquid or a position to which the liquid is delivered. Specifically, the object is to control a direction in which liquid is ejected, for example, in a liquid ejecting device having heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel and a liquid ejecting method using heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell, and all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell are supplied with energy, and by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the bubble producing units, a flying characteristic of the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell, and all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell are supplied with energy, and by performing energy supply so that a difference is set between the time required for generating a bubble in the liquid by at least one of the bubble producing units, and the time required for generating a bubble in the liquid by another one of the bubble producing units, a flying characteristic of the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a bubble producing region which produces a bubble in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy and which forms at least part of one internal wall of the liquid cell, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by the bubble produced by the bubble producing region. An energy distribution in the bubble producing region which is obtained when the energy is supplied to the bubble producing region has a difference, and based on the difference, a flying characteristic of the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell, and the bubble producing units comprises: a main operation-control unit for ejecting liquid from the nozzle by supplying the energy to all the bubble producing units; and a sub operation-control unit which supplies the energy to all the bubble producing units and which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the bubble producing units, uses the nozzle to perform ejection based on the difference of liquid having a flying characteristic different from that of the liquid ejected by the main operation-control unit.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell, and the bubble producing units comprise: a main operation-control unit for ejecting liquid from the nozzle by supplying the energy to all the bubble producing units; and a sub operation-control unit which supplies the energy to all the bubble producing units and which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy by the main operation-control unit, uses the nozzle to perform ejection based on the difference of liquid having a flying characteristic different from that of the liquid ejected by the main operation-control unit.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a bubble producing region which produces a bubble in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy and which forms at least part of one internal wall of the liquid cell, a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by the bubble produced by the bubble producing region, a main operation-control unit which ejects liquid from the nozzle by supplying energy to the bubble producing region, and a sub operation-control unit which, by setting a difference in an energy distribution in the bubble producing region which is obtained when the energy is supplied to the bubble producing region, uses the nozzle to perform ejection based on the difference of liquid having a flying characteristic different from that of the liquid ejected by the main operation-control unit.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method is provided which, by using a plurality of bubble producing units in a liquid cell to produce bubbles in liquid contained in the liquid cell by supplying energy to the bubble producing units, ejects the liquid from a nozzle by using the produced bubbles. The liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to have at least two different characteristics by using: a main operation-control step in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle by supplying uniform energy to all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell; and a sub operation-control step in which energy is supplied to all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell and in which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the bubble producing units, the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference to have a flying characteristic different from that of the liquid ejected in the main operation-control step.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method is provided which, by using a plurality of bubble producing units in a liquid cell to produce bubbles in liquid contained in the liquid cell by supplying energy to the bubble producing units, ejects the liquid from a nozzle by using the produced bubbles. The liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to have at least two different characteristics by using: a main operation-control step which ejects the liquid from the nozzle by supplying energy to all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell; and a sub operation-control step which supplies the energy to all the bubble producing units and which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy in the main operation-control step, uses the nozzle to perform ejection based on the difference of liquid having a flying characteristic different from that of the liquid ejected in the main operation-control step.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method is provided which, by using a bubble producing region forming at least part of one internal wall of a liquid cell to produce a bubble in liquid contained in the liquid cell, ejects the liquid from a nozzle by using the produced bubble. The liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to have at least two flying characteristics by using: a main operation-control step in which, by supplying energy so that an energy distribution in the bubble producing region is uniform, liquid is ejected from the nozzle; and a sub operation-control step in which, by setting a difference in the energy distribution in the bubble producing region when energy is supplied to the bubble producing region, a flying characteristic of the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference to differ from that of the liquid ejected in the main operation-control step.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell, and all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell are supplied with energy, and by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the bubble producing units, the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference to be delivered to at least two different positions.
According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell. All the bubble producing units in the liquid cell are supplied with energy, and by performing energy supply so that a difference is set between the time required for generating a bubble in the liquid by at least one of the bubble producing units, and the time required for generating a bubble in the liquid by another one of the bubble producing units, the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference to be delivered to at least two different positions.
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a bubble producing region which produces a bubble in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy and which forms at least part of one internal wall of the liquid cell, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubble produced by the bubble producing region. An energy distribution in the bubble producing region which is obtained when the energy is supplied to the bubble producing region has a difference, and based on the difference, the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to be delivered to at least two different positions.
According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell, and the bubble producing units comprise: a main operation-control unit for ejecting liquid from the nozzle by supplying energy to all the bubble producing units; and a sub operation-control unit which supplies the energy to all the bubble producing units and which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the bubble producing units, performs control based on the difference of the liquid ejected from the nozzle to be delivered to a position different from a position to which the liquid ejected by the main operation-control unit is delivered.
According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of bubble producing units for producing bubbles in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the bubble producing units. The bubble producing units are disposed in the liquid cell, and the bubble producing units comprise: a main operation-control unit for ejecting liquid from the nozzle by supplying the energy to all the bubble producing units; and a sub operation-control unit which supplies energy to all the bubble producing units and which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy by the main operation-control unit, controls the liquid ejected from the nozzle to be delivered to a position different from a position to which liquid ejected by the main operation-control unit is delivered.
According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device is provided which includes a liquid cell for containing liquid, a bubble producing region for producing a bubble in the liquid in the liquid cell in response to supply of energy, the bubble producing region forming at least part of one internal wall of the liquid cell, a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubble produced by the bubble producing region, a main operation-control unit which ejects liquid from the nozzle by supplying energy to the bubble producing region, and a sub operation-control unit which, by setting a difference in an energy distribution in the bubble producing region which is obtained when the energy is supplied to the bubble producing region, controls the liquid ejected from the nozzle to be delivered to a position different from a position to which the liquid ejected by the main operation-control unit is delivered.
According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method is provided which, by using a plurality of bubble producing units in a liquid cell to produce bubbles in liquid contained in the liquid cell by supplying energy to the bubble producing units, ejects the liquid from a nozzle by using the produced bubbles. The liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to be delivered to at least two different positions by using: a main operation-control step in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle by supplying uniform energy to all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell; and a sub operation-control step in which all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell are supplied with energy and in which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the bubble producing units, the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference to be delivered to a position different from a position to which the liquid ejected by the main operation-control step is delivered.
According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method is provided which, by using a plurality of bubble producing units in a liquid cell to produce bubbles in liquid contained in the liquid cell by supplying energy to the bubble producing units, ejects the liquid from a nozzle by using the produced bubbles. The liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to be delivered to at least two different positions by using: a main operation-control step in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle by supplying uniform energy to all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell; and a sub operation-control step in which all the bubble producing units in the liquid cell are supplied with energy and in which, by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the bubble producing units and a manner of supplying the energy in the main operation-control step, the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference to be delivered to a position different from a position to which the liquid ejected in the main operation-control step is delivered.
According to an eighteenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method for ejecting liquid in a liquid cell from a nozzle by using a bubble produced in the liquid by supplying energy to a bubble producing region in the liquid cell is provided. The bubble producing region forms at least part of one internal wall of the liquid cell. The liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to be delivered to at least two different positions by using: a main operation-control step in which, by supplying the energy to the bubble producing region so that energy distribution in the bubble producing region is uniform, the liquid is ejected from the nozzle; and a sub operation-control step in which, by setting an energy distribution in the bubble producing which is obtained when the energy is supplied to the bubble producing region to have a difference, the liquid ejected from the nozzle is controlled to be delivered to a position different from a position to which the liquid ejected in the main operation-control step is delivered.
According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device having heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel in a predetermined direction is provided. The liquid ejecting portions each include a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of heating elements for producing bubbles in response to the supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the heating elements. The heating elements are arranged in the predetermined direction in the liquid cell. All the heating elements in the liquid cell are supplied with energy and by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the heating elements and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the heating elements, a direction in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device having heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel in a predetermined direction is provided. The liquid ejecting portions each include a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of heating elements for producing bubbles in response to the supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the heating elements. The heating elements are arranged in the predetermined direction in the liquid cell. All the heating elements in the liquid cell are supplied with energy, and by performing energy supply so that a difference is set between the time required for generating a bubble in part of the liquid by at least one of the heating elements, and the time required for generating a bubble in another part of the liquid by another one of the heating elements, a direction in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device having heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel in a predetermined direction is provided. The liquid ejecting portions each include a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of heating elements for producing bubbles in response to the supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the heating elements. The heating elements are arranged in the predetermined direction in the liquid cell. For each of the heads, energy is supplied to all the heating elements in the liquid cell, and by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the heating elements and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the heating elements, a direction in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting device having heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel in a predetermined direction is provided. The liquid ejecting portions each include a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of heating elements for producing bubbles in response to the supply of energy, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the heating elements. The heating elements are arranged in the predetermined direction in the liquid cell. For each of the heads, energy is supplied to all the heating elements in the liquid cell, and by performing energy supply so that a difference is set between the time required for generating a bubble in part of the liquid by at least one of the heating elements, and the time required for generating a bubble in another part of the liquid by another one of the heating elements, a direction in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to a twenty-third aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method using heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel in a predetermined direction is provided. The liquid ejecting portions each include a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of heating elements for producing bubbles in response to the supply of energy, the heating elements being arranged in the predetermined direction in the liquid cell, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the heating elements. All the heating elements in the liquid cell are supplied with energy, and by setting a difference between a manner of supplying energy to at least one of the heating elements and a manner of supplying energy to another one of the heating elements, a direction in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to a twenty-fourth aspect of the present invention, a liquid ejecting method using heads each including a plurality of liquid ejecting portions arranged in parallel in a predetermined direction is provided. The liquid ejecting portions each include a liquid cell for containing liquid, a plurality of heating elements for producing bubbles in response to the supply of energy, the heating elements being arranged in the predetermined direction in the liquid cell, and a nozzle for ejecting the liquid in the liquid cell by using the bubbles produced by the heating elements. All the heating elements in the liquid cell are supplied with energy, and by performing energy supply so that a difference is set between the time required for generating a bubble in part of the liquid by at least one of the heating elements, and the time required for generating a bubble in another part of the liquid by another one of the heating elements, a direction in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle is controlled based on the difference.
According to the present invention, by ejecting liquid having a first flying characteristic, and setting a difference or time difference in the supply of energy or energy distribution, liquid having a second flying characteristic different from the first flying characteristic can be ejected. Therefore, liquid ejected from a single nozzle can be controlled to have one of a plurality of flying characteristics.
According to the present invention, by delivering liquid to a first position, and setting a difference or time difference in the supply of energy or energy distribution, liquid ejected from a single nozzle can be delivered to one of a plurality of positions.
According to the present invention, for example, when a plurality of heating resistors in a liquid cell have no equal resistances, by setting a difference in supplying energy to the heating resistors, the time required for producing a bubble on each heating resistor can be set to be equal. This can eliminate a shift in a direction in which liquid is ejected.
Accordingly, for example, when there is a shift in position of delivered liquid for two adjacent liquid ejecting portions, by setting a difference in supplying energy to the heating resistors for one or both liquid ejecting portions, the times required for producing bubbles on the heating resistors can be controlled to differ. This can change the direction in which the liquid is ejected and can adjust the interval between positions to which the liquid can be delivered.
In addition, by changing the direction in which each liquid ejecting portion ejects liquid, for example, for each line, or within one line, by appropriately changing directions in which some liquid ejecting portions eject liquid, printed image quality can be increased.

Liquid ejecting device and liquid ejecting method


A system that facilitates determination of a location of a mobile handset. The system includes three or more location measurement units that each correspond to a sector of the cell site. The location measurement units transmit location related information to a computation component. The computation component receives the location related information and performs a triangulation calculation on the information to define the location of the mobile handset.

Cellular telephone manufactures strive to continually provide new and innovative services in an attempt to keep existing customers and draw in new customers in an industry that is already very competitive. Location based services enable personalized services to be offered based on a person's (or item of the person) location. Services include, for example, areas of security, E911 services, selective advertising services, fleet and resource management, location based information, vehicle tracking, person-to-person location, and messaging applications.
Location-based information services allow subscribers to access information for which the information is filtered and tailored based on the location of the requesting user. Service requests may be initiated on demand by subscribers, or automatically, when triggering conditions are met, and may be a singular request or result in periodic responses. Examples of location based information services include the following: navigation to guide the user to his or her destination; city sightseeing to describe historical sights, find restaurants, the airport, bus terminal, etc.; location dependent content broadcast, that support broadcasting content to a user in a certain geographical area; and, mobile yellow pages, for finding telephone numbers and addresses, for example.
Additionally, federal law requires that all Personal Communications System networks and mobile communications networks be capable of providing location information for wireless calls made to emergency services. Under Phase II of the Federal Communications Commission wireless E911 mandate, it is required that technology be in place such that a dispatcher can know more precisely where the caller is located, a capability called Automatic Location Information.
One method of determining the location of a wireless caller is by Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) technology. The TDOA technique works based on triangulation by measuring the time of arrival of a mobile station radio signal at three or more separate cell sites. In a cellular system using TDOA, a caller will place a call that is received at several base station transceivers (BTS), although only one BTS is assigned by the network to provide cellular communications service to the caller. A BTS is part of a BSS (Base Station Subsystem), which BSS includes the BTS and a BSC (Base Station Controller). Each BTS receiving the call signal will pass it through the BSC to a MSC (Mobile Switching Center).
The MSC is part of an NSS (Network and Switching Subsystem), and is a cellular central office that can perform all switching and signaling for cellular telephones in the MSC's area by routing calls between the mobile network and the fixed telephone network (e.g., the PSTN-Public Switched Telephone Network). TDOA equipment at the MSC will determine the difference in time that the signal arrived at each of three or more BTS sites and calculate the latitude and longitude of the caller based on the time difference and triangulation. The MSC then forwards the call, along with the caller's location, to the requestor.
One current method of implementing TDOA location technology in wireless networks requires that the BTS have the capability to determine timing information for received signals. In support thereof, a Wireless Location Sensor (WLS) can be located at each BTS. The WLS measures features of the wireless mobile station radio signals and transmits the call signal information to a Geolocation Control System (GCS) that is also located at the MSC. The GCS is a central location processor that manages, coordinates, and administers the WLS network. The GCS converts the radio signal information received from the WLS into latitude/longitude data and communicates the data to the PSAP for deployment of services. However, providing a WLS at each BTS is very expensive due to equipment, installation, and maintenance costs.
Another method of location measurement requires a large number of existing cell sites. In this method, at least 5-10 mathematical contributors are needed to get an accurate measurement for location determination. Accuracy is not significantly improved with over 10 mathematical contributors. The mathematical contributors utilize TDOA technology and take measurements of the timing differences between signals received at each of the cell sites to triangulate the mobile subscriber's position. Accordingly, this method is only useful in suburban areas where a large concentration of cell sites exist. Sparsely populated areas, where there are limited cell sites have no accurate means of determining the location of a wireless caller.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need for an improved wireless caller location system for use in sparsely populated areas, as well as suburban areas. Such a system will give accurate readings of location measurements without the need for additional cell sites and is cost effective with updating and replacing existing structures.

System and method for providing location information for a mobile handset


Methods and apparatus for retaining a fastener receiver are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a retainer to retain a nut assembly adjacent an object. The retainer includes a first plate defining a first opening. The first plate is to couple to the object. The first opening is to receive a portion of the nut assembly when the retainer is coupled to the object. The retainer includes a second plate defining a second opening and including a first deflectable tab adjacent the second opening. The second plate is to couple to the first plate opposite the object. The deflectable tab of the second plate is to cover a portion of the first opening of the first plate. The first deflectable tab is to deflect to receive and retain the portion of the nut assembly in the first opening when the retainer is coupled to the object.

Objects (e.g., layers of material) oftentimes are coupled together via fasteners. In some examples, a fastener (e.g., a bolt) extends through an aperture defined by the objects and is received (e.g., threadably received) by a fastener receiver (e.g., a nut) to couple the objects together. For example, a bolt and a nut may be utilized to couple together layers of an aircraft wing. In some instances, the fastener assembly includes a retainer (e.g., a blind nut retainer) coupled to a surface of one of the objects to position the nut adjacent an aperture of the objects while the bolt is inserted into the aperture to enable the nut to couple to (e.g., threadably receive) the bolt.


In a surgery lamp with at least one arm which is divided by several uniaxial joints consisting of several parts, a lamp head being fastened to its one end, and its other end is held stationary, the arm has a spring counterbalance for counterbalancing the lamp head when it is moved; the locking of the joints is electrically variable, and the release for adjustment followed by locking is performed through a switch. The joints are constructed with a sealed channel disposed in one joint member concentrically with the joint axis filled with an electroviscous fluid into which projections of the other joint member reach. The annular channel and the members form a pair of poles for the application of a voltage to the electroviscous fluid, whereby the joint members can be rendered relatively immovable.

The present invention relates to a surgery lamp of the type having at least one arm with a spring equalizer for counterbalancing the lamp head, a uniaxial joint associated with the arm, and electrical means for locking and unlocking the joint.
Such surgery lamps are suspended movably on an arm and must be held securely in the working position once they have been set, but it must also be easy to release and readjust them to a new working position. In the head of the surgery lamp a plurality of individual projectors are disposed so as to eliminate shadows in the operating field that is to be illuminated, while possibly due to additional accessories such as recording apparatus, focusing systems etc., the individual lamp head acquires a relatively great mass which varies according to the nature of the accessories and can lead also to a shift in the center of gravity. The result will be increases in the moment of inertia and in some cases imbalances with regard to adjustability. Large lamps have a plurality of individual projectors as light sources. They produce heat whose input into the operating field is prevented or reduced by devices such as cold-light mirrors, filters etc., thereby further increasing the mass of the lamp head. Nevertheless the lamp head must be suspended in the operating room to send light freely in any desired direction and must be easy to move. It must remain fixed in the set position immediately after it is adjusted, without drifting.
It is known to hang operating lamps from the ceiling on a vertical pivot which also conceals power lines. This pivot is joined by one or more substantially horizontal or inclined arms which are joined together by joints with vertical or tilted axes. The lamp head in practice is often situated in a forked free end of the last arm, all the arms forming the adjustable suspension, and can turn in the fork on an axis that is horizontal in the normal state.
An operating lamp with a plurality of projectors on a single mounting point is disclosed, for example, in German Patent 1,193,897.
A more or less great lateral distance from the mounting point is achieved by swinging the lamp about the vertical axes. The vertical distance from the mounting point is made adjustable by joints between the arms and having horizontal axes in the normal state.
With increasing lateral departure from the mounting point, the moment contributed by the mass of the lamp head acts around these horizontal axes and has to be counterbalanced.
It has already been proposed to solve the problem with rails attached to the ceiling of the operating room, on which a laterally running carriage is suspended, on which the lamp head is located with an additional linkage (cf. German Patents 863,528, 1,020,288, 1,058,447 or 1,102,673). In this design of the suspension of operating lamps additional problems are created by the fact that the operating table, as the field to be illuminated, has to be aligned with the rails. If the rail is mounted fixedly in the operating room, the freedom of movement of the operating lamp is then limited. Another serious problem arises from the fact that an exposed rail system above an operating field is a source of septic contamination which cannot be accepted in the sterile operating room.
In order to be able to retain the arm suspension well sealed off against this and nevertheless minimize the problems occurring in the case of great changes of position, it has been proposed to provide a plurality of mounting points on the ceiling (German Patent 927,864 or 1,156,363). These solutions minimize the problem of balancing, but limit the mobility and easy adjustability of an operating lamp. In practice, these solutions have not been widely accepted. The subject of the present invention, however, is addressed to surgery lamps which are suspended at a plurality of mounting points.
In practice, the problem here involved of balancing the weight has been dealt with by a proven balancing system using springs in the arms of the suspension. In the joints between the arms there is associated with each axis that is horizontal in the normal position a spring which extends in one of the adjacent arms, and it is joined by means of a lever to the attached arm so that the force of the spring counterbalances the connected weight (cf. German patents 1,097,928 and 1,810,552, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,632 . This equalization of weights by springs cannot be a complete solution. The nonlinear spring characteristic and the increase of the moment of the weight with increasing distance from the mounting point cannot be completely matched to one another, inasmuch as the distance from the mounting point depends predominantly on the movement about the vertical axes of the suspension. Therefore a residual moment must be reckoned with, part of which cannot be compensated, and which must be otherwise taken up and held if a stable fixation of the lamp head is to be accomplished. On this it was proposed long ago (namely in German Patent 1,012,571) to prevent the tilting movement of the lamp head about a substantially horizontal joint by shifting the equalizing spring outwardly and combining it with a spindle drive to be operated by hand. Each adjustment then requires, however, that the spindle be rotated by hand. A rapid movement about the joint thus bypassed is not possible. But surgeons precisely require the possibility of quick correction of the incidence of the light in the course of an operation in order to be able to adapt the light to the situation of the moment. Any dentist's lamp must offer this possibility.
Motorized adjustments with self-locking motors in the arms of the suspension do permit the desired adjustment depending on small deflecting movements of a handle on the lamp head in the direction of the desired adjusting movement (German patent 1,797,040), but this motorized adjustment often has a still too long response time. The limited motor speed does not produce an immediate readjustment, and a corresponding overshoot control circuit has to be optimized so that when the end point of the movement is reached it will not be overshot and require readjustment. In practice, therefore, the free adjustment of a surgery lamp that can be performed directly by hand is preferred. To facilitate this method of adjustment it is proposed in German Patent Disclosure Document 32 43 700 (which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,632) to provide the joints for the mounting of the lamp body with a brake which can be operated via electromagnets when the surgeon or other person actuates a sensor on the lamp head. In practice, the wear on the frictionally interacting brake elements caused by the operation of the adjustment must be dealt with, and increasing wear of the brake elements even in a single joint can make the lamp no longer reliable in operation.