A method and apparatus are provided for controlling the powering-up or spin-up of devices such as hard drives using expanders in a SAS topology. The method and apparatus provides a mechanism to coordinate spin-up control among a topology of expanders. The present invention enables an expander to both process the reception of the NOTIFY command to spin up attached devices and to propagate such command to further expanders. Hierarchical spin-up control provides an advantageous, in-band mechanism that controls the expanders within the topology to limit the total number of devices powering-up at any given time.

SAS protocol specifies a protocol stack that provides serial physical interconnect that can be used to connect storage devices such as Hard Disk Drives (HDD), host devices together. It specifies the transport layer protocols to transport SCSI commands, Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (alternatively Serial ATA or simply SATA) commands and management commands among storage devices. The SATA protocol is used in conjunction with SCSI and ATA command sets. The SAS protocol defines the function of SAS expanders, which are part of the service delivery subsystem and facilitates communication between SAS devices. In the general sense, the SAS expanders provide the switching and routing function among the SAS devices that are attached to such SAS expanders.
Multiple SAS end devices and SAS expander devices can be connected together to form a SAS topology. There can be one or multiple physical links connecting each pair of the neighbouring devices. When there is a single physical link between two devices, the associated phy on the SAS device is called a narrow port. When there are multiple physical links connecting two devices, the associated phys on an expander are considered to be a single wide port. In other words, all links of a wide port are considered to be a common logical link from routing perspective, although it allows multiple simultaneous connections to pass through the wide port at the same time. The SAS standard specifies that a legal SAS topology cannot contain a loop—i.e. there can be only one logical path to traverse the topology from any device to any other device (considering all links of a wide port to be a single link). Under such constraints, the only type of topology allowed by SAS specification is a spanning tree topology.
SAS expanders are required by the relevant American National Standards Institute (ANSI) specification to periodically generate the NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) primitive that controls the spin-up of SAS drives. NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) is transmitted by a SAS initiator port or expander port and is used to specify to a SAS target device that it may temporarily consume additional power (e.g., while spinning-up rotating media) while transitioning into the active or idle power condition state. The length of time the SAS target device consumes additional power and the amount of additional power is vendor specific. In general, the initial power surge is due to the crowbar current of the hard disk motor that spins the internal platter. This crowbar current can be as large as ten times the normal operating current used to maintain the platter spinning, move the read/write head and power the control electronics. For systems using arrays of hard disks, the spin-up of the platters are staged in time to prevent the crowbar currents of multiple hard drives from overwhelming the common power supply.
FIG. 1 illustrates one such known arrangement 100 within SAS topology including SAS blade servers 101 in communication with a high density tiered storage array 103 via a SAS blade switch 102. As noted, each storage array 103 is typically connected (e.g., by daisy chain) to another such array (not shown for clarity). Such storage array 103 is shown simplified for purposes of illustration and includes a SAS expander 106 and a power supply 105 in communication with multiple drives 104. The power supply 105 is sized to handle maximum spin up requirements and is therefore often oversized for normal operational requirements. The drives 104 may be SAS or SATA HDDs. In such an arrangement 100, spin up problems may exist with regard to disk drives 104 in which the given hard disk normally does not spin up its platter until the NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) and the SCSI UNIT START/STOP command are both received from the SAS expander 106. If the SCSI START STOP UNIT (SBC-3) command is received, the command does not complete until NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) is received or until the command timeouts. Thus, the NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) is only a permission that gates spin-up, but does not actually start the spin-up process.
In general, SAS initiator devices and expander devices send NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) while attached to SAS devices. The expander transmits one NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) after power on when the enclosure is ready for initial spin-up. After the initial NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP), NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) is transmitted periodically. Other than this, the selection of when and how often to transmit NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) is outside the scope of the ANSI standard. Moreover, the SAS expander is not allowed to process the reception of a NOTIFY (ENABLE SPINUP) or propagate it. SAS expanders control the spin-up of SATA devices differently as SATA devices do not contain a power condition state machine similar to SAS. The typical method to prevent the spin-up of a SATA device is to not successfully complete speed negotiation of the physical link. That is, the speed negotiation does not progress past the COMWAKE event of the normal SATA speed negotiation sequence. In this state, the SATA drive is in the SATA HOLD state.
Normally, the spin-up of SATA disks is permitted by a host within the SAS topology by the SAS management protocol (SMP) target within the SAS expander. Specifically, a host uses the SAS expander SMP control to reset the serial link connected to the SATA drive to allow speed negotiation to complete. At this point, the SATA drive exits the SATA HOLD state and starts to spin-up the drive. For applications involving multiple hosts within a SAS topology or large number of arrays of hard disks, the coordination of spin-up within the topology is a difficult problem. The spin-up of large arrays of SATA hard drives within a SAS topology is a difficult problem with multiple hosts.
While the ANSI specification related to SAS teach the use of NOTIFY primitives for spin-up as part of the SAS Expander function to handle primitive broadcast, no teaching exists for using NOTIFY primitives to control SAS expanders. As described earlier, a SAS topology can contain a number of host, target, and expander devices. The expander is a multiple port device providing switching functionality among host, target, and other expander devices allowing any device to exchange information with any other device in the topology, though such topology is required to be without loops within each SAS domain.
There are no known techniques for SAS that address the problem of hard disk spin-up for an entire SAS topology. SAS expanders are expected to perform spin-up for the hard disks connected directly to that given SAS expander. For other protocols, there are some techniques for spin-up of hard disks that are different from the SAS expander model. Some methods are controlled using two electrical signals on the connector to the drive.
A first known method does not spin-up the platter until 3 seconds after power is applied to the drive. Staggered spin-up between hard drives is performed by staggering the power cycling of each drive. The 3 second delay allows the power supply to be stable before initiating the platter spin-up. This method may require additional components around the hard drive to control the power to the hard drive.
Another known method spins-up the platter when the host sends the SCSI START STOP UNIT command to the drive. This method may not work well in applications involving multiple hosts as the hosts need to coordinate the sending of this command in a fault tolerant manner.
A third known method waits 12 seconds times the modula 8 value of the numeric SEL_ID of the drive (as specified by the electrical connections). This allows 8 drives to spin-up in a coordinated manner over a period of 96 seconds. Unfortunately, this method may not work well for large arrays and may not be adaptive in the number of simultaneous drives allowed to spin-up.
Another known method is that the Seagate drive will not spin-up. That is, in this mode, the hard drive will not spin-up the platter until a different method is selected by the connector. This allows the hard disk spin-up to be controlled using a electrical interface on the disk. Again, some mechanism must be used to control this electrical interface to allow the staggered spin-up.
Some other approaches rely on idle timeouts to spin-down the disk and some protocol command to spin-up the disk, but do not describe mechanisms to stagger the spin-up of the hard disks.
As suggested above, there are commonly problems related to disk drive spin up where HDDs consume additional supply when they spin-up. The HDDs draw high current from a power supply for a few seconds: Ipeak After they are spun up, the active current draw is much smaller Iactive<Ipeak In a chassis with N HDDs (where N is an integer greater than 1), if you allow all HDDs to spin up simultaneously, the peak current is N*Ipeak Often, a system designer may stagger the time the HDDs spin up in group of n (where n is another integer greater than 1) whereby the peak current is (N−n)*Iactive+n*Ipeak<N*Ipeak Such staggered spin-up reduces the peak current to the power supply and thus reduces the cost of the power supply. However, a mechanism is required to control the spin up of each HDD individually, and no such mechanism adequately exists in regard to SAS topology.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide coordination of either multiple hosts or expanders in a fault tolerant manner allowing an entire SAS topology to spin-up SATA and/or SAS HDDs in a coordinated manner to reduce peak current draw. This would reduce peak current draw required and therefore reduce the power supply requirements and related costs.

Hierarchical device spin-up control for serial attached devices


A thermostatic valve to connect a heat source, in particular a gear drive, with a heat exchanger, particularly a motor vehicle. The thermostatic valve having a thermostatic valve housing with a first inlet connection for a first inlet port and a second inlet connection for a second inlet port, as well as a first outlet connection for a first outlet port and a second outlet connection for a second outlet port. The thermostatic valve further including a moveable working element in an intake opening of the thermostatic valve housing to open and close the inlet and outlet ports and a separate restriction element provided in the thermostatic valve housing between the first inlet connection and the first outlet connection.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermostatic valve for a cooling system as well as a cooling system with a thermostatic valve, in particular for a motor vehicle.
Description of the Background Art
Thermostatic valves are known in the conventional art and are typically utilized in a cooling system of a liquid-cooled combustion engine, in particular a motor vehicle to control a coolant cycle with the objective to reach the optimal temperature in the combustion engine as soon as possible, to maintain it under all operating conditions and to prevent an overheating in the motor. This is of particular importance for the lifespan, fuel consumption and the development of exhaust fumes of the combustion engine. As a rule, the thermostatic valve is utilized as a 2/2 directional valve in the coolant cycle, if the engine temperature is too low after the start or if the pressure is too low during the driving of the motor vehicle. Due to the thermostatic valve the coolant streaming from the engine does not flow through a radiator of the coolant cycle, but immediately back to the engine via a bypass line.
Thermostatic valves, particularly thermostatic valves designed as 4/2 directional valves, are utilized as transmission fluid thermostats to regulate an oil temperature of a gear drive, for example automatic transmissions in the motor vehicle. The shifting ease can be especially improved for automatic transmissions, the wear of the gear drive can be reduced and a decrease of the temperature fluctuations of the transmission fluid can be achieved. This can result in a longer usability of the transmission fluid. Ultimately, fuel savings can be achieved in the popular driving cycles.
From the DE 10 2005 057 702 A1 a cooling arrangement is known with a thermostatic valve to monitor and/or adjust a coolant temperature. The cooling arrangement has a heat exchanger and a heat source with the heat source arranged in a coolant flow path as well as a bypass flow path to circumvent the heat exchanger. The thermostatic valve has a flow restrictor to control the volume flow of the coolant and a sensor to gauge the temperature of the coolant. The flow restrictor is for example designed as a disk valve or annular slide valve and is moveable as a function of the sensed temperature to clear a flow path to the heat exchanger.
The DE 10 2009 012 534 A1 shows a self-adjusting thermostatic valve to change a flow quantity of a fluid through a runner as a function of the temperature of the fluid. The thermostatic valve is arranged in a cooling system for a combustion engine. Here the flow quantity is automatically minimized when the fluid has a predetermined nominal temperature. The thermostatic valve also increases the flow quantity upon an increasing deviation from the nominal temperature, at which the flow quantity increases and decreases again approximately in proportion to the deviation from the nominal temperature, when the temperature of the fluid approaches the nominal temperature.
The DE 10 2011 114 308 A1 relates to a valve arrangement with at least two valves connected to a joint feeder line, wherein a first one of the valves is arranged as a return valve in a first line branching off of one of the feeder lines, and a second one of the valves as a thermally controlled thermostatic valve in a second line branching off of the feeder line. The return valve permits a flow only from the direction of the feeder line. It is so designed that a control element accessing the thermostatic valve is arranged in or at an intersection of the first line and the second line.

Thermostatic valve with a restriction element and bypass port arranged between a first inlet connection and a first outlet connection


The present invention is intended to provide, for a wireless communication system originally having a calling function, a wireless communication system enabling an audio communication service or the like which requires a calling function, and to provide a wireless communication system which reduces power consumption of a wireless terminal when it is in a standby mode. A communication party, which is a calling side, a network to which the communication party is connected, and a wireless LAN base station, a pager base station, and a pager controller which are connected to the network, and a PC, which is a wireless communication terminal, constitute the present invention. The PC includes a wireless LAN card and a pager card 2. This forms the present invention.

Although cellular phone systems have been widespread in recent years, it has two major issues. One is a matter of data communication charges. This is a problem in that, since the cellular phone system is designed assuming speech service, efficient transmission of data is difficult by contrast, resulting in difficulty of reducing data communication charges.
Accordingly, it is difficult to cope with exploding demands of data communication caused by widespread use of the Internet.
The second issue is a problem of establishing an infrastructure. The more the cellular phone system is requested to provide advanced service at higher speed, the more the system becomes complex, so that it requires a lot of costs for the infrastructure. This results in problems in that communication charges increase, expansion of a service area takes a long time, and an area which is not provided with service appears.
In addition to the widespread use of the cellular phone system, a so-called wireless LAN attracts attention in accordance with increased demands of wireless data communication in the recent years. Although a wireless LAN has begun to come into widespread use as an indoor, independent wireless communication system, it has recently begun to become used as an outdoor public communication system.
Since a wireless LAN is designed for dedicated use for data communication, it is an optimal system for use in data communication. A strong demand is expected that the wireless LAN, which has such advantages, be used not only in data communication but also in audio communication which has been provided in conventional cellular telephone.
Nevertheless, a wireless data communication as typified by a wireless LAN has two problems in that it does not have a calling function and that it does not have a power saving function.
The first problem is caused by an inability of a network side to grasp the geographical position of a terminal (what wireless communication base station has an area in which the terminal is positioned) since the system is simplified. Accordingly, in the case of calling the terminal, a call signal must be transmitted from each of all wireless communication base stations.
However, this method has not been implemented to date because it wastes frequency resources and also releases, to the network, a large amount of control information associated with calling. In other words, prior art has a problem in that it is impossible that, by using a wireless communication system originally having no calling function, an audio communication service or the like that needs a calling function be provided.
The second problem is one caused by a wireless communication method for a wireless data communication system. In a wireless data communication system, in general, data is divided into units called packets, and a terminal and a wireless communication base station transmit information to each other in units of packets.
In this case, to enhance a packet multiplexing effect as much as possible, in general, for example, a method called CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access) classified into a random access method is used.
In this method, one terminal sends its packets after confirming that another terminal or a base station sends no packets. In other words, the terminal cannot transmit packets unless it is always in a state capable of receiving packets. Accordingly, regardless of whether the terminal transmits packets, it must always operate only a receiving function, so that the power consumption of its circuit is very large. For example, a portable Internet wireless telephone terminal that is a combination of an existing wireless LAN unit and a small battery has a standby time of 24 hours or less. Accordingly, it may not be actually said that the portable Internet wireless telephone terminal does not serve for practical use.
This problem of power saving is not limited to a wireless communication system as typified by a wireless LAN, but applies to also wireless telephone systems such as cellular phones and PHSs. In these systems, a mechanism for a terminal to periodically and intermittently receive a broadcasting signal from a base station is utilized in order that, in a standby mode, the terminal may determine anytime whether it is called by a network side. Although this method achieves an extended standby time by reducing the amount of power consumption in the standby mode, more power saving and extension in standby time are expected.

Radio communication method, radio communication system, wide area radio communication base station, and radio communication terminal

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology


A power amplifier provided with overload protection responsive to the impedance of a load falling below a threshold value having a pair of power output devices connected to the load and driven through a balanced operational amplifier and transistor couplers. The operational amplifier has opposed voltage supply inputs, and each is connected through a first resistor to a voltage source and to the load through a pair of diodes connected in series opposition and a second resistor, and the junction between the diodes is connected to the base of one of the transistor couplers. A fault condition causes current to flow through the diodes lowering the potentials of the voltage supply inputs and the bias on the transistor couplers.

The present invention relates to power amplifiers particularly adapted for use in sound reproduction provided with means to limit the output current delivered to a load, and particularly to power amplifiers which include a driver for the power output stage of the amplifier which limits the excitation of the output stage responsive to the impedance of the load.
The present invention is an improvement on devices to protect the amplifier against faults in the load of the amplifier, such as a loudspeaker which presents an impedance to the amplifier below the design impedance of the amplifier such that the amplifier will be overloaded when driven to full output. A number of devices exist in the prior art for this purpose, but all of the devices of the prior art possess shortcomings.
One approach to preventing overload of the output devices of a power amplifier has been to incorporate a relay in the circuit which will limit the power dissipation of the output devices responsive to some current or voltage level. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,997 of Minora Ooishi et. al. entitled Power Amplifier discloses an amplifier provided with an electronic switch which is responsive to a muting signal to switch the voltage source for the driver to one of two power sources. U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,740 of Yuuichi Nagata et. al. entitled Speaker Protection Circuit is another example of the use of a detection circuit to actuate a relay. Such devices have the disadvantage of interrupting the output of the amplifier for a significant period of time before it can be restored to operating condition.
The Handbook for Sound Engineers, Howard W. Sams & Company 1987, at page 542, describes an audio amplifier in which the current in the emitter circuits of the output devices is monitored to measure the power dissipation of the output devices, and the current excitation to the bases of the output devices is limited if the power dissipation exceeds a particular level to protect the circuit. Circuits of this type in the prior art generally limit the effective dynamic range of the amplifier. In addition, such circuits often create distortion in the audio output from the output devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,164 of Stan L. Noel entitled Overload Protection Device discloses a similar device for lowering or controlling the excitation to a drive stage of an amplifier, but achieves this function electronically without using a mechanical relay. U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,842 of Jiri Naxera entitled Composite Transistor Device With Over-Current Protection discloses a transistor switch which is responsive to the magnitude of the input signal to clamp the base-emitter of the exciter transistor.
Another approach to protecting the output device of a power amplifier from a load of too low impedance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,963 of Gary M. Eden entitled Apparatus for Protecting a Transistor in the Event of a Shorted Load Condition which compares a feedback voltage from the load with a reference voltage, and responsive to an overload condition, deactivates the amplifier periodically for short periods of time until the condition is corrected.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,554 to Quilter entitled Time-Delayed, Variable Output Current Limiting Means for Power Amplifiers discloses an amplifier with power output devices driven by an operational amplifier. The current output of the operational amplifier is determined by the charge on a capacitor, and that charge is in part determined by a feedback signal from the load to the capacitor which charges the capacitor in direct relation to the impedance of the load.
It is an object of the present invention to avoid the use of disabling relays or electronic switches in order to reduce the output current of the power output devices of a power amplifier responsive to the impedance of the load, and to reduce the output current of the power output devices to a greater extent than is possible with those devices of the prior art which do not use disabling relays or switches.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a power amplifier with an input stage, an output stage adapted to be coupled to a load, and a transistor coupling stage coupled between the input stage and the output stage, including means responsive to the impedance of the load to reduce the output of both the input stage and the coupling stage when the impedance of the load is below a threshold value.

Power amplifier with current limiting means


A pest control apparatus to aid in placement of pest control devices in hard to reach areas and improve health and safety of users. The device can have a handle, an adhesive applied to a receiving pad, and a removable protective cover in contact with the adhesive. When utilized, the pest control apparatus can minimize contact with pests and/or rodents to prevent transmittal of disease.

Throughout history, there has been a need to keep pests, such as insects and rodents away from crops and humans.
Various pest control methods are utilized in commercial and residential structures.
Methods of killing and trapping pests range widely. Contact with pests result in a host of health dangers to humans, including exposure to allergens and diseases transmitted by the pests.
A wide variety of diseases (often referred to as vector borne diseases) are spread by insects such as mosquitoes, sandflies, ticks, fleas, flies, and the like. Further dangers such as tularemia, leptospirosis, plague, hantavirus, and the like, exist from contact with rodents.
Often pest control methods require humans to come into close proximity, or even contact with such pests for either trapping or disposal of pests. Such contact is undesirable for health reasons.
Further, pest traps often need to be placed in hard to reach areas for maximum effectiveness. It is often necessary to place traps under structures, equipment, or appliances.
A need exists for a device to aid in placement of pest traps or pest control devices in hard to reach areas. A further need exists for a device to minimize contact with pests or pest contaminated pest control devices by humans.
The present disclosure addresses these needs.
The embodiments of the present disclosure are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.

Pest control apparatus to improve health and safety of users


A casing scraper comprises a plurality of blade modules mounted on a mandrel. The blade modules are identical to each other and have castellated ends which are engaged with the couplers to prevent relative rotation between the modules. By manipulation of a thread protector the modules can be operated in a configuration in which they are free to rotate relative to the mandrel or in a configuration in which they are rotationally fast with the mandrel. Each module comprises a housing in which a plurality of scraper blades are mounted. The scraper blades include shoulders which prevent the blades passing completely through mounting windows provided in the housing and are biased radially outwardly relative to the housing by compression springs.

a. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a casing scraper, that is a tool for use in a wellbore to scrape debris from the interior of the wellbore casing.
b. Description of Related Art
In wellbore clean-up and mud displacement operations it is well known to use a casing scraper to remove debris from the interior surface of the casing. Casing scrapers may be non-rotating (that is there is substantially no rotation of the casing scraper relative to the casing) or may be rotating (in which case the scraper is forcibly rotated relative to the casing to increase the scraping action). In many clean-up operations, particularly on newly cased wells, non-rotating scrapers are preferred because of their relatively less aggressive scraping action. However, in other clean-up operations a more aggressive action produced by rotating the scraper at, for example 40-120 rpm is preferred.
Scrapers are available from a number of commercial sources, and the present invention provides an improved design in this type of tool.


An octopus trap that includes a housing defining an interior containment space; an entrance opening to the interior containment space through which an octopus may enter the interior containment space; a trap door assembly that includes a trap door that is biased toward a first, closed position in which the entrance opening is blocked, the trap door being displaceable between the closed position and a second, open position in which the entrance opening is revealed; a trigger assembly that is capable of retaining the trap door in its open position against its bias, and that is capable of being triggered by an octopus from inside the containment space such that, when triggered, it causes the trap door to displace from its open position to its closed position and wherein the trigger assembly is capable of retaining the trap door in its closed position once triggered.

There is an ongoing need to provide improvements in traps for capturing marine species such as octopuses, or to provide an alternative trap having useful features, at least to provide users with a useful choice. Octopus species are extremely difficult to capture, given that they easily slip out of narrow openings and have been known to unlock or open traps set by fisherman. This means that traps can be rather heavy and convoluted, are easily filled with sand that is difficult to remove, and are difficult to re-set when retrieved. This disclosure addresses at least some of these issues.


The present invention resides in a silicon single crystal growth method of pulling up and growing a single crystal from a melt of a silicon raw material in a quartz crucible based on a Czochralski method, wherein the method comprises the steps of: applying a DC voltage between an outer wall of the quartz crucible acts as a positive electrode and a pulling wire or pulling shaft for pulling up the silicon single crystal acts as a negative electrode; and fixing an electric current flowing through the silicon single crystal over a period of time for pulling up the single crystal, to grow the single crystal; as well as a pulling apparatus therefor.

Various methods are known for producing silicon single crystals to be used for semiconductor substrates, and examples thereof include a Czochralski method (hereinafter called "CZ method") which is widely used as a rotat inn pulling method.
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an essential constitution of a pulling apparatus adapted to perform a silicon single crystal growth method based on the CZ method.
The pulling apparatus has an external appearance constituted of a chamber (not shown), and a crucible is disposed at the center of the apparatus. The crucible has a double structure which is constituted of an inner holding vessel (hereinafter simply called "quartz crucible 11a") made of quartz and having a bottomed cylindrical shape, and an outer holding vessel (hereinafter simply called "graphite crucible 11b") made of graphite and having a bottomed cylindrical shape adapted to hold an outer surface of the quartz crucible 11a.
These crucibles are fixed to an upper end of a support shaft 16 to allow the crucibles rotating/elevating movement. Further, a resistance heater 12 is disposed outside crucibles and substantially concentrically with the crucibles, and a silicon raw material of a predetermined weight delivered into the crucible is melted by the heater 12 to form a melt 13.
A pulling wire 15 (or pulling shaft, and these may be called a "pulling member") configured to rotate about the same axis with the support shaft 16 at a predetermined speed and in a direction which is the same as or opposite to that of the support shaft, is disposed above a central axis of the crucible filled with the melt 13, and a seed crystal 17 is held at a lower end of the pulling member 15.
In such a pulling apparatus, a silicon raw material is delivered into the quartz crucible, and the silicon raw material is melted by the heater disposed around the crucible in an inert gas atmosphere under reduced pressure, followed by immersion of the seed crystal held at the lower end of the pulling member into an upper surface of the formed melt, and followed by elevation of the pulling member while rotating the crucible and the pulling member, to grow a crystal from a lower end surface of the seed crystal.
In the CZ method, in order to eliminate dislocations inherently included in a seed crystal as well as dislocations to be brought about by thermal shock upon contact with the melt, after a necking process for constricting a crystal growing from the lower end surface of the seed crystal into a diameter of about 3 mm, a shoulder to be grown into a body (constant diameter portion) having a predetermined diameter is formed, and a silicon single crystal 14 is subsequently grown at a predetermined diameter. During it, the quartz crucible is rotated in the seed crystal, the same direction or opposite directions. Upon achievement of a targeted length of the single crystal, a constricting operation of a tail of the single crystal is conducted, thereby completing the growth of the single crystal.
As described above, in case of pulling up a silicon single crystal according to the CZ method, the melt obtained by melting the silicon raw material is held in the quartz crucible of the crucible having the double structure. When the quartz crucible holds the silicon melt, the quartz crucible surface is subjected to a high-temperature at 1,500° C. or higher, and the subjected time typically comes up to several tens of hours or longer, though such a time varies depending on conditions such as a filled amount of silicon raw material, a crystal growth rate, and the like.
Further, in order to enhance a single-crystal pulling up productivity, a recharge pulling method (RCCZ method; see "Semiconductor silicon crystal engineering", pp. 72-73, Fumio Shimura, MARUZEN Co., Ltd., for example) configured to produce a plurality of single crystals from a same crucible has been recently developed. In such a recharge pulling method, a time, during which the quartz crucible is subjected to a silicon melt, may exceed 100 hours.
Typically, brown cristobalite called "brownish ring" is formed at an inner wall surface of the quartz crucible during contact of the quartz crucible with a silicon melt in a high-temperature state, and brownish rings are caused to gradually grow. When such brownish rings are separated from the quartz crucible during a pulling process of the single crystal, the brownish rings obstruct growth of the crystal, to thereby generating dislocations in the crystal.
To prevent such dislocations to be caused by degradation of an inner surface of a crucible, a method for generating devitrification (crystallization) at an inner wall surface of a quartz crucible, by causing the quartz crucible to include one kind or two or more kinds of alkali metal ions of Na, K, and Li, and by applying a DC voltage of a constant value between the quartz crucible and the seed crystal such that an outer wall side of the quartz crucible acts as a positive electrode, and the seed crystal side (silicon single crystal side) acts as a negative electrode, has been disclosed (see JP2006-36568A, for example).
However, even adoption of the above method has sometimes failed to generate a sufficient degree of devitrification at a crucible surface, so that the method is insufficient for prevention of occurrence of dislocations in a silicon single crystal. Further, such a problem that, when a thermal oxidation treatment is conducted for wafers sliced out of the obtained single crystal, extensive variances are caused in thicknesses of oxide films to be formed on surfaces of the wafers, is left.

Single crystal growth method and single crystal pulling apparatus for improving yield and productivity of single crystal


Individually controllable multi-colored illumination units, including light beads and a light wand, the beads preferably connected to the wand or to each other through conductivity elements providing electric conductivity for at least four separate lines through the connection while providing for full relative rotation and limited swivel between the connection elements.

The instant invention represents improvements to my prior inventions embodied in two prior US patents, U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,306 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,980, as well as to my above referenced U.S. pending patent application Ser. No. 12/316,413.
The instant illumination unit, including its light bead and light wand embodiments, is enabled by multi-contact universally jointed power and/or signal connector devices disclosed in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 12/316,413. Such connector devices permit forming electrical connections for at least four separate lines of electrical communication through a joint providing for full rotation and partial swivel between the two devices. In the attached drawings the four separate electrical lines are indicated as red, green, blue and black, for clarity.
The connector devices are referred to as mateable plugs and sockets. It is somewhat arbitrary as to which connector device should be called the plug and which should be called the socket. Herein and in the claims, whenever a mateable plug and socket are referred to, it should be understood that the two units could be reversed. There is no particular magic as to which device comes first or where, although there might be manufacturing considerations.
Given a plug and socket that can be joined to provide electrical communication between at least four different electric lines while providing for full rotation and limited swivel between plug and socket, the formation of a string of light beads is possible providing at least three separately controllable colored strings, each colored string independently controllable, the beads electrically arranged in parallel.
FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 offer schematic representations of a decorative lighting device referred to as a "light bead." FIG. 3 illustrates mateable plug and socket connectors. FIG. 4 illustrates an insulating end unit.
FIGS. 6 through 9 offer schematic representations of types of multi port connectors.
FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate the principles of parallel circuitry, utilized in the instant illumination units.
It should be understood that the LEDs as illustrated in the figures, are assumed to incorporate a shunt such that electricity passes through the LED whether or not the LED is itself operable. Such maintains the parallel connections preferably embodied in the electric circuits. (Alternately, wiring could be provided.)
It should also be understood that, preferably, either the LEDs provide a one way electric flow device or switch, to prevent reverse electric flow, or that such a device or switch is provided separately, as useful.
The illustrated illumination device is capable of being connected to independent controllers in order to create independent on/off conditions for each line, indicated as separately colored lines. Such provides flexibility and improvement to the decorative lighting devices of the prior art.
The incorporation of separately controllable multiple light emitting elements allows for providing a color spectrum or a rainbow effect that can either cycle over time or be fixed, to match a user's decorative preferences.
Provision of a weatherproof gasket as illustrated in several drawings permits use of the new decorative devices in outdoor environments, a further improvement over the prior art.
Long strands of the light bead type lighting device can be used for seasonal lighting as appropriate for holidays. With the improvements described herein, the light bead devices can be used for both indoor and outdoor lighting displays. In addition, the light beads could accept digital programming signals to create multiple color arrangements and alternate on/off conditions for pre-designed lighting patterns.
Light wands, forming lighted sticks, could be particularly useful to extend along structural sections such as the trunk of a tree or along a branch. In fact, a light wand could be decorated to form a tree branch.
Light beads can be manufactured in various sizes as appropriate for the application or to create strands of light beads of graduated size. Light beads of either uniform or graduated sizes could be draped to create illuminated garlands such as on the end of Christmas tree branches.

Individually controllable multi-color illumination units


A method of operating a fuel cell power plant (10) including a stack (11) of fuel cells having an anode catalyst layer and a cathode electrode (15) including a catalyst layer disposed on catalyst support material is characterized by, during normal operation of said power plant, adjusting the voltage of the stack to be substantially equal to or less than a predetermined maximum voltage for the temperature of the stack. Further, said step of adjusting comprises adjusting the stack voltage to the lesser of: a) a predetermined voltage above which corrosion of catalyst support material is significant and below which corrosion of catalyst support material is insignificant at the temperature of the stack; and b) a predetermined voltage above which dissolution of catalyst is significant and below which dissolution of the catalyst is insignificant at the temperature of the stack.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells have attributes that make them attractive for vehicle applications. In order to regulate the temperature of the fuel cell, all of the excess heat in the coolant flowing from the fuel cell must be rejected through the radiator of the vehicle. Continuous rejection of a certain quantity of heat at a lower temperature takes a larger radiator than rejection of the same quantity of heat at a higher temperature. PEM fuel cells typically operate between 65° C. and 80° C.; this relatively low operating temperature requires that unduly large radiators must be used in the vehicles.
Membranes which are meant to operate at about 120° C. are under development. However, platinum solubility increases with temperature, and the rate of carbon corrosion increases exponentially with temperature. Therefore, degradation of the cathode catalyst and carbon support will occur more quickly at the higher temperatures.

Mitigating electrode erosion in high temperature PEM fuel cell


A compound which is the Michael addition reaction product of (A) a mono or polyacrylate of the formula R1(Ac)n wherein R1 is an organic radical having at least 2 carbon atoms, Ac is an acrylate radical of the formula CH2═CHC(O)O—, and n is from at least 1; with (B) is a primary or secondary amine of the formula R2NHR3, wherein R2 is a polyhydroxyl radical and R3 is H or an organic radical having at least one carbon atom is disclosed. The compound is useful as, for example, an oxygen barrier, flame retardant, polymer flocculant, surfactant, and/or high hydroxyl-functional intermediate.

Prior efforts to incorporate multi hydroxyl containing amino compounds, known as glycol amines or amino sugars, into polymer substances have been described by others. A few examples of such compounds are glucamine and alkyl glucamines, for example N-methyl glucamine (NMG), glucosamine, alkyl glucosamine and tris hydroxylmethyl amino ethane (THAM). Typically this is done by trying to synthesize glycol amine-functional reactive monomers that can be polymerized or alternately by modifying existing polymers to incorporate glycol amine functionality. The most common synthetic route is to attempt to react a glycol amine with epoxy functionality in an existing monomer or an epoxy functional polymer. The problem with such a route is that glycol amines and amino sugars are typically high melting point crystalline materials with poor solubility in any material other than water or very polar solvents. Modification steps are typically inefficient and difficult to arrange without proper reaction media. Also, in water or polar solvents, ring opening polymerization of epoxy groups is a very likely undesired side reaction competing with the desired selective single ring opening of epoxy by amino group.
Another method reported for synthesis of polymerizable amino sugar monomers is to react available amino groups with acryloyl chloride to form an acrylamide structure. One problem is that acryloyl chloride is not readily commercially available and is a strong lachrymator that is difficult and dangerous to store and handle.
Yet another method for incorporating amino sugars into reactive monomers or polymers is to use the amino group to neutralize carboxylic acid functions. In this case, the amino sugar is ionically incorporated into systems which may provide useful properties for some applications but is not optimal for others.
None of these methods are ideal nor are they the most desirable commercially to practice. Among the prior art methods are those disclosed in U.S. 2010/0092782, U.S. 2010/0129755, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,552,103, and 7,094,349.
It is well known in the art that low molecular weight primary and secondary amine compounds, including hydroxylamine compounds, that are liquid or have low melting points and are soluble in acrylates may be readily reacted into acrylate compositions by Michael addition, to the alpha, beta unsaturation of a multifunctional acrylate monomer. However, an effective, solvent-free method of reacting crystalline solid amino sugars which have higher melting points and very limited or no apparent solubility in acrylate-functional materials with acrylate compounds has not been described in the prior art. There is a need in the art for such new products and a solvent-free method of preparation by reacting said crystalline multi-hydroxylamino compounds.
There is also a need for reactive monomer compositions which may be used as novel surfactants, preparing adhesives, sealants, and coatings, including, without limitation, UV curable compositions.

Polar, multi-hydroxyl functional amino compounds, compositions, process for preparation, their uses and applications


A synchronized ballast for a discharge lamp having an increased dimming range. The ballast includes semiconductor switches coupled to a generator to receive a high frequency signal. A variable pulse width modulator includes a one-shot multivibrator for generating a pulsed signal for interrupting conduction of the semiconductor switches and thereby controlling the intensity of the discharge lamp. A delay means is electrically coupled to the variable pulse width modulator for delaying the generation of the interrupting pulsed signal whereby the voltage across the discharge lamp is zero for a predetermined amount of time after power is applied to the ballast and prior to lamp starting. The ballast may further include a power factor correcting means in the form of an inductor shunting the secondary winding of an arc transformer. The power factor inductor has a predetermined inductance whereby the inductor and the lamp's ballasting capacitor resonate at the frequency of the signal from the high frequency generator. In a preferrred embodiment, the ballast further includes a harmonic filter in the form of an inductor coupling the secondary winding of the arc transformer to the lamp. The inductor of the harmonic filter has a predetermined inductance whereby the filter inductor and the lamp's ballasting capacitor resonate at the second harmonic frequency of the high frequency signal. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a combined overvoltage and reverse voltage protection device for an electronic circuit operable from a direct current supply is disclosed.

In recent years there has been an increased demand for dimmable arc lamp ballasts. Automotive and computer hot cathode fluorescent backlighting require low cost, compact dimmable ballasts with a dimming range of at least 100:1. Dimmable arc discharge ballasts are not new. There have been many patents issued for various dimming methods and circuits. Lamps can be dimmed by varying a current limiting impedance, source frequency, source voltage, or by rapidly switching the lamp on and off using a variable duty cycle to control intensity. Generally, dimming more than a 5:1 range by varying voltage, frequency, or impedance is difficult. A hot cathode fluorescent lamp usually relies on the arc current to heat the cathodes. Below 70% of rated current the cathodes may be insufficiently heated and the lamp may extinguish. Combinations of voltage, frequency, and impedance variation are possible to extend the dimming range of a hot cathode cathode arc lamp, but the resulting circuits are complex and seldom have a dimming range of more than 50:1.
Varying the lamp on/off duty cycle can be used to achieve a wide dimming range. Often referred to as pulse width modulation (PWM), this technique has been used by many to control lamp brightness. U.S Pat. Nos. 3,863,102, 3,875,458, 4,392,086, 4,392,087, and 4,358,710 teach varying the lamp current by controlling the power line on/off duty cycle. This method results in a narrow lamp dimming range, considerable power line noise, and only works with AC source voltages.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,083 operates in a PWM mode where the dimming circuit shorts the lamp out for controlled periods of time. Ballast power is consumed by the dimming circuit resulting in inefficient operation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,286,195 and 4,663,570 disclose varying the lamp arc current on/off duty cycle but do not maintain cathode heat resulting in limited dimming range. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,195 will only ignite the lamp at the 100 percent intensity level.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,716 shorts the ballast's output power state drive circuitry to ground periodically to effect lamp on/off duty cycle control. This patent uses a free-running timer 170 to control the illumination level of the lamp. Typically, this configuration provides a limited duty cycle. As a result, illumination level can not be adjusted from full on to full off. While the switch transistors operate at a frequency between 5000 to 250,000HZ, the lamp filament circuit is operated at 60HZ (unsynchronized). U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,722 controls the individual widths of the power pulses to the lamp which results in high ballast loss. The other noted PWM Patents above control bursts of pulses to the lamp.
It is desirable to have a full on to full off dimming range. The lamp filaments should be constantly Powered, especially at low arc current levels where the main arc current is too low to maintain the filaments at thermally emitting temperatures. It is also desirable to preheat the filaments for a period of time prior to applying the arc current to insure that the lamp does not ignite while the coils are cold which would cause cathode coating material to sputter away and reduce lamp life. Further, it is desirable that the lamp starts at any intensity setting including full off. The ballast should not be sensitive to the load such that it would fail in a no lamp load or worn out filament condition. The arc and filament circuits should be frequency synchronized to avoid lamp flicker due to beat frequencies that could result from unsynchronized frequencies. The lamp current waveform should not contain pulses that might exceed the peak rating of the lamp filament coils. Minimal harmonic content in the lamp current waveform is also desired to reduce radio interference caused by the system. The ballast should be able to operate from an AC or DC power source. The ballast should be low cost and integratable to further reduce size and cost.
The above mentioned patents have deficiencies in one or more of the above desired ballast features.


The present disclosure provides a radio frequency detecting device, a detecting method, and a microwave oven, and the radio frequency detecting device comprises: a signal transmitting device configured to generate and transmit multiple forward frequency detecting signals of different frequencies; a signal receiver configured to receive multiple reverse frequency detecting signals reflected by the load; a first detection device configured to detect each first parameter corresponding to each of the forward frequency detecting signals; a second detection device configured to detect each second parameter of each of the reverse frequency detecting signals; and a microcontroller configured to determine a state parameter of the load based on the multiple frequencies and the first parameter and the second parameter corresponding to each of the frequencies.

For the detecting device or sensor used in the microwave oven, temperature detection, spectral detection, infrared detection, imaging detection, etc. are generally used; temperature detection may be in contact with the target, the cost of spectral detection is huge and the system is complex, infrared detection can only detect surface temperature and is susceptible to interference, imaging detection is sensitive to light color and difficult to identify, in addition, these detections have application scenarios, there is nothing that can be done beyond the scenarios.

Radio frequency detection device and detection method, and microwave oven


A semiconductor device module includes a wiring substrate, a plurality of stacked semiconductor devices and a damping impedance circuit. The plurality of stacked semiconductor devices are provided on the wiring substrate and connected with a signal in a stubless manner, and each of the plurality of stacked semiconductor devices comprises a plurality of semiconductor chips which are stacked. The damping impedance circuit is provided for a transmission path of the signal for an uppermost semiconductor chip as the furthest one, from the wiring substrate, of the plurality of semiconductor chips of a first stacked semiconductor device as one of the plurality of stacked semiconductor devices which is first supplied with the signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stacked semiconductor device and a semiconductor device module, particularly to a stacked semiconductor device and a semiconductor memory module used for a high-speed signal transmission system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing a structure of a conventional stacked memory as a stacked semiconductor device. As shown in FIG. 1A, a stacked memory 10 has the structure in which package substrates (tapes) 12 (12-1 and 12-2) mounting memory chips 14 (14-1, 14-2) are stacked through connecting balls 17 arranged at the both sides of the package substrates 12. A lower-stage package substrate 12-1 has a BGA (Ball Grid Array) structure. Moreover, the package substrate 12 has a structure of two metal layers, and a signal wiring has a same structure as a transmission line. A signal wiring 22 on a memory module substrate (PCB) 11 is connected with a signal wiring on the lower-stage package substrate 12-1 through one of the ball terminals 16 and a via-contact 24 and then is divided into signal wirings A and B. The signal wiring A is a wiring having the length of about 3 mm to be connected to the memory chip 14-1 mounted on the lower-stage package substrate 12-1. The signal wiring B is a wiring having the length of about 5 mm to be connected to a signal wiring C of an upper-stage package substrate 12-2 through the connecting ball 17. The signal wiring C is a wiring having the length of about 6 mm to be connected to a chip pad 18-2 of the memory chip 14-2 mounted on the upper-stage package 12-2.
The topology of a signal wiring of the stacked memory 10 is as shown by FIG. 1B. The signal wiring 22 is branched into two wirings in the stacked memory 10. One of the branched wirings is connected to the lower-stage memory chip 14-1 through the short signal wiring A (about 3 mm) and the other branched wiring is connected to the upper-stage memory chip 14-2 through the long signal wiring (about 11 mm) by the signal wirings B and C. That is, the stacked memory 10 has a short wiring of about 3 mm and a long wiring of about 11 mm in the package substrate 12.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing wiring topology when the conventional stacked memories 10 are used for a high-speed transmission memory module. This is a stroke-book (stubless) wiring topology used for a command address signal and a clock signal. The stacked memories 10 are stublessly connected in the middle of a bus wiring (transmission line) 30 serving as a signal wiring for connecting a controller 31 with a termination circuit 32. However, the signal wiring connected to the upper-stage memory chip 14-2 in the stacked memory 10 forms a long stub (up to 10 mm). Therefore, in case of a high-speed transmission system having a short signal rising time in a rage of 0.3 to 0.5 nanoseconds, ringing occurs due to signal reflection to deteriorate a waveform. Specifically, the stacked memory 10 closest to the controller 31 has a problem that the rising of a waveform is steep, so that large ringing easily occurs to deteriorate the waveform.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2003-78109A) discloses a technique for a stacked memory device in which a plurality of BGA packages are stacked. The stacked memory device includes a first BGA package and a second BGA package respectively having ball bumps, a first stacking substrate, a second stacking substrate, a connection substrate, and ball bumps. The first stacking substrate includes a wiring pattern connected to the ball bumps of the first BGA package. The second stacking substrate includes a wiring pattern connected to the ball bumps of the second BGA package. The connection substrate is set between the first stacking substrate and the second stacking substrate to connect the wiring patterns contained in each stacking substrate. The ball bumps are provided on the surface opposite to the second BGA package of the second stacking substrate and connected to a pattern contained in the second stacking substrate. Moreover, in case of the stacked memory device, the first stacking substrate is adhered to the upper surface of a resin package contained in the second BGA package.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2003-124439A) discloses a technique for a BGA stacked semiconductor module. In case of the BGA stacked semiconductor module, a plurality of circuit substrates respectively mounting semiconductor chips are arranged so as to overlap in a predetermined interval and a plurality of connection terminals are formed on the front and back surfaces of the circuit substrate. Each of the connection terminals on the front and back surfaces is made electrically conductive according to necessity, and a connection terminal on the back surface of the circuit substrate is electrically connected with a connection terminal on the front surface of a circuit substrate at the next stage by solder bump. In case of the BGA stacked semiconductor module, some of the connection terminals are improved in reliability by increasing areas of the connection terminals.
Moreover, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-P2003-273321A) discloses a technique for a semiconductor module in which a plurality of substrate structures are stacked, and semiconductor chips are stacked on the substrate. The semiconductor module has an insulating upper substrate, an insulating lower substrate, a plurality of signal lines, a first common potential wiring, a semiconductor chip, a support substrate, a first connection conductive layer, a second connection conductive layer, a third connection conductive layer, and an external connection terminal. The insulating lower substrate is arranged below the upper substrate. A plurality of signal lines are provided for the upper and lower substrates, respectively. The first common potential wiring is respectively arranged onto the upper and lower substrates to surround the signal lines in an interval. The semiconductor chips are respectively arranged to the upper and lower substrates and have electrode pads electrically connected with the signal lines and the first common potential wiring. The support substrate is provided to the lower portion of the lower substrate and has a wiring pattern formed on a surface opposite to the lower substrate. The first connection conductive layer is arranged between the upper and lower substrates to connect the signal wirings on the upper and lower substrates mutually electrically. The second connection conductive layer is arranged between the upper substrate and the lower substrate to mutually electrically connect the first common potential wirings on the upper and lower substrates. The third connection conductive layer is arranged to pass through the support substrate so as to electrically connect the first and second connection conductive layers. The external connection terminal is arranged on the wiring pattern.
Japanese Laid Open Patent application (JP-A-Heisei 5-55450) discloses a technique for a memory module constituted by stacking a plurality of memory device units. In case of this memory module, a concave portion is formed on the front surface of one side of an insulating substrate. A memory chip is arranged in the concave portion and a plurality of connection terminals are arranged in the peripheral portion of the surface of the insulating substrate. The memory module is constituted by stacking a plurality of memory device units constituted by connecting terminals with electrodes of the memory chip. A power-supply reinforcing capacitor and a termination resistance are built in one of the memory device units.
Moreover, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 6-37246) discloses a technique for a configuration in which electrode wirings are formed on an insulating substrate and a plurality of semiconductor devices are mounted. The electrode wirings from a driving semiconductor device to a near passive semiconductor device are provided to have a high resistance and the electrode wirings from the driving semiconductor device to a far passive semiconductor device are provided to have a low resistance.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 8-51127) discloses a technique for a stacked semiconductor package. The stacked semiconductor package is constituted of a semiconductor chip, a plurality of internal leads and a plurality of external leads, an insulating film of a film carrier, a plurality of semiconductor packages, a plurality of frames, and a printing circuit board. The semiconductor chip has a plurality of bonding pads. The bonding pad and the internal lead are electrically connected through a bump on the insulating film of the film carrier to form a semiconductor chip. The semiconductor packages have a forming resin for protecting the semiconductor chip and the internal leads so that the lower surface of the semiconductor chip is exposed. The frames have a circuit pattern to be electrically connected to the external leads of the semiconductor package in order to stack the semiconductor packages. The printing circuit board has a ground land pattern to be electrically connected to the circuit pattern of each frame in common and has a noise preventing capacitor to be mounted on the land pattern under the exposed lower surface of the semiconductor chip. A plurality of conductive films and a plurality of ground terminals are provided in this stacked semiconductor package. The conductive films are formed on the exposed lower surfaces of the semiconductor chips. The ground terminals are electrically connected to the conductive films and electrically connected to the grounding land pattern of the printing circuit substrate in common.
Moreover, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 11-260999) discloses a technique for a stacked semiconductor device module. In the stacked semiconductor device module, one or more circuit substrates and at least one circuit substrate are stacked by connecting the substrates by spherical metal connection members. The one or two or more circuit substrates include semiconductor devices on the upper surface or inside and the spherical metal connection members on the lower surface. At least one circuit substrate contains a plurality of passive components on the upper surface and the spherical metal connection member on the lower surface.

Stacked semiconductor device and semiconductor memory module


A calcium phosphate granular cement contains mixed powders obtained by mixing .alpha.-type calcium tertiary phosphate or calcium quaternary phosphate with a calcium phosphate compound selected from calcium primary phosphate, calcium secondary phosphate and mixtures thereof at a Ca/P molar ratio of 1.35 to 1.49 or 1.30 to 1.90. A minimum diameter of each cement granule is 0.1 to 1.0 mm.

This invention relates to a calcium phosphate granular cement to be charged into defect, hollow or absorbed portions of bone or voids left after tooth extraction, and a method for producing such cement.
Hydroxyapatite having the minimum size or diameter of 0.1 to 3.0 mm and a specific surface shape factor .PHI. of 6.3 to 15 , as a filler to be charged into defect, hollow or absorbed portions of bone or voids left after tooth extraction, is known from, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-20558 (1986). Hydroxyapatite used for such portions or voids of bone is known to have superior biological affinity. As the filler for defect or hollow portions of bone of indefinite shape, granular hydroxyapatite having the above-mentioned minimum size and the specific surface shape factor has proven to be the most adequate.
However, the granular hydroxyapatite cannot retain its shape satisfactorily even after compaction such that before a bone tissue is formed in the vicinity of the site of incision after lapse of two to three weeks after surgical operation, the charged product tends to leak out of the site of incision to retard the recovery of the charged site. It is, therefore, crucial to maintain the mass of charged compacted hydroxyapatite granules in its initial shape for promoting the therapy.
For overcoming this drawback, there has been proposed in, for example Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. 3-45266 (1991) and 3-51051 (1991) a calcium phosphate cement in which a hydraulic calcium phosphate cement and hydroxyapatite granules are combined for fixing the hydroxyapatite granules with hydraulic calcium phosphate cement. However, although the calcium phosphate cement is able to fix the hydroxyapatite granules, fine powders of the hydraulic calcium phosphate cement is intruded and embedded in gaps defined between hydroxyapatite granules to stop the pores leading from the surface into the inside of the charged mass so that the living tissue or blood vessels cannot be introduced through the charged site to obstruct the transport of nutrients or growth of now bone.

Calcium phosphate granular cement and method for producing same


A vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus includes a position derivation unit, a grouping unit, and a speed derivation unit. The position derivation unit is configured to derive three-dimensional positions of respective blocks from an image received from an imaging device. The grouping unit is configured to group the respective blocks and to identify a three-dimensional object. The speed derivation unit is configured to make a determination as to whether a side of the three-dimensional object satisfies a determination condition that the side of the three-dimensional object is included in an end area situated on an end side of the image in a horizontal direction. The speed derivation unit is configured to derive the speed of the three-dimensional object in accordance with an end of the side of the three-dimensional object in a depth direction when the determination is made that the side of the three-dimensional object satisfies the determination condition.

The disclosure relates to a vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus and a vehicle exterior environment recognition method for identifying a three-dimensional object that is present in a travel direction of an own vehicle.
A technology for detecting a three-dimensional object such as a vehicle situated ahead of an own vehicle to avoid a collision with a preceding vehicle (collision avoidance control) or to control the distance to a preceding vehicle so as to maintain a safe distance (cruise control) is known (for instance, Japanese Patent No. 3349060).

Vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus and vehicle exterior environment recognition method


A vegetation barrier incorporating a base member, and upstanding leg, said base member extending to one or both sides of the upstanding leg, to fit underneath of a fence, at its lower end, and be affixed thereto, each barrier having a slot extending inwardly a fixed distance from one end between the upstanding leg and its base member, and temperature compensation structure designed into the barrier including either a series of apertures, arranged above the formed slot, and providing a means of stopping the extent of insertion of the next adjacent barrier therein, so as to provide additional clearance within the slot for expansion, by insertion of a stop within a temperature identified slot to limit the extent of insertion of the next adjacent barrier therein, or the temperature compensation means may include forming the barrier, either along its upstanding leg, or base member, or both, of a corrugated texture.

This invention relates generally to the provision of a vegetation guard or barrier, which is applied in proximity with a lower edge of fencing, or adjacent buildings or other structures, and thereby provide a means for eliminating the growth of any vegetation, grass, or weeds, at such locations, and wherein the barrier incorporates means for compensating for temperature expansion of its polymer components after applied for usage.
A variety of prior art devices, in the nature of weed barriers, are available in the art, and are being marketed. One such barrier is disclosed in my prior patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,349, identified as an "Integral Vegetation Barrier", and which is constructed, as can be noted, incorporating a base member, and upstanding leg, both of which are integral to each other, with the combination capable of being tied to the lower end of fencing, and thereby functioning as a means for eliminating grass or other weeds from generating at such location. My prior device likewise shows drainage openings, provided therethrough, in order to allow for the passage of any water, such as accumulated rain, therethrough and to prevent back up of moisture.
Other related types of vegetation barriers are disclosed in the prior patent to Niemann, No. 3,713,624, which shows a fence guard, for use for related purposes, to restrict the growth of grass, at the location of the vicinity at the bottom of a fence.
Other related patents showing similar type of structures are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. to Eccleston, No. 3,806,906, which shows a fence trim and vegetation barrier, and one which incorporates a rather extendable core member for connecting lengths of the barrier shells together, for interlocking purposes. The patent to Cowles, No. 3,768,780, shows another style of fence border. In addition, the patent to Abbe, No. 3,515,373, shows a related type of fence trim guard. The U.S. Pat. to Keys, No. 3,822,864, shows a related weed barrier for fencing. The U.S. Pat. to Wright, No. 3,393,897, shows various lengths of barrier for use under a fence, generally constructed incorporating cut-outs for facilitating the positioning of the barrier around the fence post. The U.S. Pat. to Snider, No. 4,349,989, shows another style of fence guard. The U.S. Pat. to Jensen, No. 3,545,127, discloses the usage of a lawn edging arrangement which incorporates leg members for embedding within the ground. The U.S. Pat. to Tisbo, No. 4,321,769, discloses another type of edging strip, which appears to be fabricated of a rubber or plastic. The U.S. Pat. to Hair, No. 4,219,941, shows another type of moisture barrier for a tray means.
The uniqueness of this current invention is to provide a vegetation barrier, which inherently incorporates means for providing compensation for temperature expansion or contraction of the generally polymer formed barrier means, so that once installed, it will remain intact, and not buckle, as a result of the effects of temperature upon the series of barriers once aligned and applied. The barrier incorporates the features of my prior inventions which includes means for interconnection of barrier lengths together, such that the ends of each length of the formed barrier provides for inserting the next adjacent length of the barrier therein, to the degree temperature compensation is effected as a result of gauging the length of insertion of the barriers together, when installed.

Vegetation barrier incorporating temperature compensation


An electronic animal collar designed to reduce the load applied to the animal=s neck by one or more stimulating electrodes or sensors that extend from or through an inside surface of the collar housing into the skin of the animal during use, and to permit the collar to be securely fastened to the neck of the animal without risk of causing discomfort or damage to the skin of the animal due to pressure from the stimulating electrodes. The inside surface of the collar housing has one or more high point surfaces that are raised to extend the inside surface above the base of the stimulating electrodes or sensors toward the animal during use so as to increase contact between the inside surface and the animal=s skin and to thereby relieve and distribute the load caused by collar tension around the animal=s neck over a larger contact friction area. A connecting strap for connecting the electronic collar to the animal includes a stretchable insert to ensure good electrode/skin contact and provide comfort for the animal.

The present description relates to animal collars, and in particular to dog collars of the type that have one or more electrodes or sensors which protrude from the inside surface of the collar for contacting the neck of the animal and electronic devices located within the body of the collar to receive electronic control signals or sensor input and to generate a stimulus, which is transmitted to the animal through the electrodes or by a speaker on the collar.


A method for determining a direct current (DC) level involved in an alternating current signal is provided. The alternating current signal is transmitted from an amplifier to an A/D (analog-to-digital) converter. When any of the extreme values of the alternating current signal is beyond the input range of the A/D converter, the alternating current signal is shifted to make both of the peak and bottom values located within the input range of the A/D converter. Then, the real extreme values are realized according to the shift level(s), the relative peak and bottom values realized after the shifting procedure, and the input range of the A/D converter. Finally, the DC level is determined according to the real peak and bottom values.

Optical disks such as compact disks (CDs), video compact disks (VCDs) and digital versatile disk (DVDs) are playable by optical storage devices. When an optical pickup head of an optical storage device operates, the light emitted by a light source such as a laser diode is focused by an object lens of the optical pickup head on an optical disk, and the light reflected by the optical disk is transmitted to a light sensor to realize information from the disk. Referring to FIG. 1, the optical pickup head 10 moves along two main directions, i.e. a direction perpendicular to the disk surface, referred as a focusing direction F, and a direction parallel to the disk surface, referred as a tracking direction T.
During operation, a focusing error and a tracking error usually arise on the rotating disk. The focusing error is generally caused by vibration of the disk in the focusing direction F, and the tracking error is caused by eccentricity of the disk in the tracking direction T. To correct these errors, a tracking control system for an optical pickup head was developed, as can be seen in FIG. 2. The optical pickup head 20 has six light receiving parts A, B, C, D, E and F for producing output signals, when receiving light reflected from the optical disk. The output signals e and f are amplified through an amplifier 21 to produce a tracking error signal TE.
FIGS. 3(a), 3(b) and 3(c) respectively show three possible situations of tracking error signals. Referring first to FIG. 3(a), an ideal tracking error signal TE1 is an alternating current (AC) signal distributing in a preset amplitude range without any direct current (DC) component effect. That is, the DC level of the AC signal is preferably zero. The waveform of the tracking error signal TE1 is symmetrical with respect to the zero level 0. It is known to those skilled in the art that the zero level, which indicates the best tracking condition, is an index for performing a feedback control. In practice, however, the voltage level of the tracking error signal might be shifted upward or downward due to the presence of the DC effect, as the signal TE2 shown in FIG. 3(b). The tracking error signal TE2, although distributing within the input range of the following A/D converter, has an average voltage Vf, which is deviated from the zero level to some extent. In order to overcome the above-described problem, a tracking balance operation is performed with reference to FIG. 2. After the tracking error signal TE2 is converted into a digital signal by an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 22, a peak and a bottom values of such digital signal are then detected by a peak detector 23 and a bottom detector 24, respectively. Based on the peak and bottom values, the tracking balance device 25 computes the drift voltage Vf of the FIG. 3(b) to realize a deviation amount of the DC level of the tracking error signal TE2 from the zero level. The deviation amount is then fed back to and offset by the amplifier 21 to remove the DC component effect from the tracking error signal TE2.
In the third situation shown in FIG. 3(c), the tracking error signal TE3 is beyond an upper limit Dmax and a lower limit Dmin of the A/D converter 22. Under this circumstance, correct peak and bottom values cannot be obtained to proceed subsequent DC-level determination and voltage-drift offset operations.

Method for determining DC level of AC signal and DC offset of the same


A hydroxamic acid compound represented by the general formula (I) or a salt thereof; ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom, or a substituted or unsubstituted alkanoyl group, R.sup.2 represents an unsubstituted alkanoyl, substituted lower alkanoyl or substituted lower alkyl group, and m represents an integer of 3 to 7, which are useful for the prevention and/or treatment of diseases caused by lipoxygenase-mediated metablites.

Lipoxygenases (E.C. 22.214.171.124) are enzymes occurring in platelets, leukocytes, lymphocytes, etc., and converting polyunsaturated fatty acids (in particular arachidonic acid) to hydroperoxides. The positions 5, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 15 are known to be available for the introduction of a hydroperoxy group into arachidonic acid by lipoxygenases. Thus, for instance, the lipoxygenase occurring in relatively large amounts in platelets is 12-lipoxygenase which hydroperoxidizes arachidonic acid at the position 12, while 5-lipoxygenase and 15-lipoxygenase are reportedly present in leukocytes. Hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acids produced from arachidonic acid by the action of lipoxygenases are unstable and are converted to the corresponding hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids.
Recent studies have revealed that these fatty acids which lipoxygenases produce and in vivo metabolites thereof have various physiological activities. For example, it has been demonstrated that the slow reacting substance of anaphylaxis which is produced in the lung of anaphylactic guinea pigs and in the human lung on the occasion of asthmatic attack and which causes contraction of the bronchial smooth muscle essentially consists of leukotrienes C, D, E and F which are 5-lipoxygenase-mediated metabolites of arachidonic acid [Samuelson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 77, 2014 (1980)]. Further, 12-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HPETE) and 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE), which are 12-lipoxygenase-mediated metabolites, exhibit a variety of physiological activities, such as leukocyte migrating activity, neutrophil attracting activity, platelet thromboxane synthetase inhibiting activity, prostacycline synthetase inhibiting activity and smooth muscle cell migrating activity [cf. Seiitsu Murota (ed.), Prostaglandin to Byotai (Prostaglandins and Pathology), published by Tokyo Kagaku Dojin, 1984].
As mentioned above, it has been reported that the lipoxygenase-mediated metabolites cause stimulation of peripheral blood vessel permeability, leukocytotaxis, and contraction of various types of smooth muscle such as the smooth muscle of the respiratory system (trachea, bronchi, lung tissues), vascular system or digestive system. Thus, the lipoxygenase-mediated metabolites have been considered to cause bronchial asthma, allergic diseases (atopic dermatitis, inflammation of organs, etc.) and diseases of the cirulatory system (edema, ischemic heart diseases, hypertension, ischemic encephalopathy, arteriosclerosis, etc.); they are also chemical mediators inducing inflammatory diseases. Therefore, artificial suppression of the lipoxygenase activity by means of some specific inhibitors might possibly lead to successful prevention and/or treatment of the above-mentioned diseases.
Among compounds known to have lipoxygenase inhibiting activity, there are AA-861, BW-755C, etc. Pharmacologically, BW-755C has anti-inflammatory and other activities and AA-861 has bronchial contraction suppressing, anti-inflammatory, anti-myocardiac infarction and other activities [T. Yoshimoto et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 713, 470 (1982); G.A. Higgs et al., Biochem. Pharmacol., 28, 1959 (1975); Y. Maki et al., Prostaglandins, 26 (6), 955 (1983); K. Sasaki et al., Adv. Prostaglandin, Thromboxane & Leukotriene Res., 17, 381 (1987)].
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,623,661, 4,604,407, 4,608,390, 4,605,669, 4,738,986, 4,771,038, 4,728,670 EP-A-254 852 and GB-A-2 189 486 disclose certain hydroxamic acid derivatives having lipoxygenase inhibiting activity.
H. Bickel et al., Helv. Chim. Acta., 43, 2129 (1960) and S. Adapa et al., ibid., 65, 1818 (1982) describe desferri-ferrioxamines having the following formulae: ##STR2##
The desferri-ferrioxamines are compounds derivable from the corresponding ferrioxamines isolated from actinomycete fermentation products as growth factors for microorganisms, by removal of the iron atom therefrom. The reports so far published on the ferrioxamines and desferri-ferrioxamines do not make any mention of the lipoxygenase inhibiting activity.
Hithertofore, several types of lipoxygenase inhibiting compounds have been reported. In most cases, however, the inhibitory activity is relatively low or is non-specific, namely poorly distinguishable from the inhibitory activity against other enzymes [cf. T. Schewe et al., Adv. Enzymol., 58, 191 (1986)]. Accordingly, the development of better lipoxygenase inhibitors which have high inhibitory activity and can remain effective in vivo has been awaited.

Hydroxamic acid derivatives and use thereof in combatting lipoxygenase-mediated diseases


A pharmaceutical composition comprising (R)-2-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)-4′-{2-[(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)amino]ethyl}acetanilide or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof and (3R)-quinuclidin-3-yl (1S)-1-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-2-carboxylate or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, as active ingredients, in particular for improving various symptoms accompanying overactive bladder, such as urinary urgency, pollakiuria and/or urinary incontinence.

Overactive bladder is defined as a disease name which causes urinary urgency frequently. Although prostatic hyperplasia may be exemplified as one of the causes for overactive bladder, there are many cases where the cause is ambiguous, which are called idiopathic overactive bladder. Further, although overactive bladder is sometimes accompanied by pollakiuria and urinary incontinence, it is not always limited to the disease accompanied by pollakiuria and urinary incontinence. That is, in the case of mild overactive bladder, a patient is sensitive to the sense of wishing to urinate and frequently has a sense of wishing to urinate but, actually, can hold their urine for a certain period of time. However, even in the case of mild overactive bladder, there is a strong demand for improvement in view of patient QOL (Quality of Life).
On the other hand, severe overactive bladder is sometimes accompanied by pollakiuria and urinary incontinence. Pollakiuria is a state where number of times of urination is more than normal and is usually twice or more at night and eight times or more during 24 hours. Urinary incontinence is defined as a state where there is a problem socially or hygienically due to an involuntary leakage of urine, and is classified into abdominal pressure urinary incontinence that takes place when abdominal pressure is applied such as during coughing or sneezing, urge urinary incontinence in which need of urinate takes place suddenly, with urine leakage before a patient reaches a toilet, mixed-type urinary incontinence of abdominal pressure urinary incontinence with urge urinary incontinence, and the like.
Anticholinergic agents are mainly used for treating symptoms accompanying overactive bladder, but there are some cases where expression of side effects accompanying the anticholinergic actions, such as dry mouth, constipation, blurred vision, or the like, is exhibited. Therefore, it cannot be stated that satisfactory therapeutic results are always achieved. Further, a β3 adrenergic receptor agonist is under a clinical test as a therapeutic agent for overactive bladder at present, but in view of expression of its effects or side effects as a pharmaceutical product, there are still many unclear factors.
Under these circumstances, there is a document which discloses treatment of bladder dysfunction by a pharmaceutical composition containing an antimuscarinic agent and a β3 adrenergic receptor agonist (Patent Document 1).
This document cites a large number of compounds, regarding each of an antimuscarinic agent and a β3 adrenergic receptor agonist to be combined, but has no specific description of combination of (R)-2-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)-4′-{2-[(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)amino]ethyl}acetanilide or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof and (3R)-quinuclidin-3-yl (1S)-1-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-2-carboxylate or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to the present invention.
There is a disclosure that (R)-2-(2-aminothiazol-4-yl)-4′-{2-[(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)amino]ethyl}acetanilide has a β3 adrenergic receptor agonistic action and is useful as a therapeutic agent for overactive bladder when used as a single agent (Patent Document 2). In addition, the chemical structure of this compound is as follows and is known as YM178.

There is a disclosure that (3R)-quinuclidin-3-yl (1S)-1-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-2-carboxylate has muscarinic M3 receptor antagonistic activities and is useful as a therapeutic agent for unstable bladder when used as a single agent (Patent Document 3). Further, the "unstable bladder" as used in Patent Document 3 has the same meaning as "overactive bladder". In addition, the chemical structure of this compound is as follows and is also known as solifenacin or YM905.

[Patent Document 1] Pamphlet of International Publication WO 2004/047838
[Patent Document 2] Pamphlet of International Publication WO 2004/041276
[Patent Document 3] Pamphlet of International Publication WO 96/20194

Pharmaceutical composition for treating overactive bladder


The magnification of an image in the main scanning direction thereof is altered by making the frequency of the image clock variable. At this time, if the pre-SOS lighting signal and the APC signal are output synchronously with the frequency of the image clock, then an SOS signal may not be output from the SOS sensor and control of the amount of light of a light beam may not be accurately executed. Therefore, the timings of the outputs of the pre-SOS lighting signal and the APC signal are controlled so as to normally be output at a uniform timing (i.e. the periods from the input of the SOS signal until the outputs of each signal are made uniform).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device and particularly to an image forming device which can alter the magnification of an image in the main scanning line by making the frequency of an image clock variable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, image forming devices are constructed so as to include a photo-scanning device and the like for scanning a light beam emitted from a light source onto a photoreceptor. Both overfield types and underfield types of photo-scanning device exist. In the overfield type of photo-scanning device, as is shown in FIG. 8, a laser beam emitted from a laser diode 100 serving as a light source is changed into parallel light by a collimator lens 102 and then reshaped by a slit 104. It is then guided to a polygon mirror 116 after being transmitted through an expander lens 106, a reflecting mirror 108, a cylinder lens 110, a reflecting mirror 112, and an f.theta. lens 114 comprising a first lens 114A and a second lens 114B.
The polygon mirror 116 is a regular prism, having a plurality of reflective surfaces 116A on the side surface thereof, which rotates at high speed in the direction of the arrow A around the axis of rotation 118A. Accordingly, the angle of incidence of the light beam on each of the reflective surfaces 116A is continually changing and being deflected. The beam width in the scanning direction of the light beam incident on the polygon mirror 116, with which the overfield type of photo-scanning device is equipped, is substantially wider than the width of the reflecting surfaces 116A of the polygon mirror 116. Therefore, the polygon mirror 116 scans the incident light beam so as to cut it, converts the scanning speeds by the f.theta. lens 114 so as to become uniform, and forms an image on the photoreceptor 120 in the main scanning direction. An image is further formed on the photoreceptor 120 in the sub-scanning direction by a cylinder mirror 122 or a cylinder lens.
Moreover, a start of scan sensor 126 and a reflecting mirror 128 are disposed in the vicinity of the start of main scan position of the photoreceptor 120. A start of scan signal is output by a light beam striking the start of scan sensor 126.
States when a light beam 124 is incident on the polygon mirror 116 of the overfield type of photo-scanning device are shown in FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B. FIG. 9A shows the state when the central area of the image to be scanned is being scanned, while FIG. 9B shows the state when edge potions of the area of the image to be scanned or portions outside the area of the image to be scanned are being scanned. Normally, the light beam incident on the polygon mirror 116 is a laser beam oscillating in side single mode and having a Gaussian type of configuration. Because of this, the light beam incident on the polygon mirror 116 is scanned so as to cut out a portion of it and the beam diameter and amount of light vary somewhat because of variations and so on in the width of the incident luminous flux due to the deflections of the polygon mirror 116.
In contrast, as is shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, in an underfield type of photo-scanning device, when the angle of deflection is large, an eclipse (the area B within the solid line in FIG. 10B) is generated in the light beam incident on the reflecting surfaces 116A of the polygon mirror 116. This causes abrupt variations in the amount of light of the light beam 124.
In contrast to this, in the aforementioned overfield type of photo-scanning device, the amount of light and so on of the light beam 124 does vary somewhat, but not abruptly. This enables the ratio between the scannable width and the width of the image area, in other words, the effective scanning ratio to be made sufficiently large.
However, if the effective scanning ratio is increased, then it may not be possible to secure sufficient time for carrying out processes such as controlling the amount of light from the laser diode 100 (Auto Power Control--APC), which conventionally are executed outside the image area. In particular, in an image forming device which is able to alter the magnification of the image in the main scanning direction by making the frequency of the image clock variable, the effective scanning ratio changes in accordance with frequency of the image clock. It should be noted that, if the magnification of the image in the main scanning direction is reduced, the frequency of the image clock is increased, while if the magnification of the image in the main scanning direction is increased, the frequency of the image clock is reduced.
An explanation will be given below of the changes in the effective scanning ratio in accordance with the frequency of the image clock with reference to the timing charts shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B.
FIG. 11A shows the timing when a start of scan signal (hereinafter abbreviated to SOS signal) output from a start of scan sensor 126 (hereinafter abbreviated to SOS sensor) is output, and the timing when a signal which allows data output in the image area, in other words, an image signal (hereinafter abbreviated to LS (line sync) signal) is output, when the frequency of the image clock is high. FIG. 11B shows the timings of the outputs of the SOS signal and the LS signal when the frequency of the image clock is low.
At this time, the time T to scan the image area of a fixed number of pixels is shortened when the frequency of the image clock is high (T.sub.1 <T.sub.2). The output cycle of the SOS signal is determined by the number of rotations of an unillustrated polygon motor which instructs the rotation of the polygon mirror 116. Normally, the polygon motor rotates at a constant speed so that the output cycle of the SOS signal is constant. Accordingly, the time outside the image area R is short when the frequency of the image clock is low (R.sub.11 +R.sub.12 >R.sub.21 +R.sub.22), and as the frequency of the image clock becomes lower, the time R outside the image area becomes shorter.
FIGS. 12A through 12C show timing charts from the vicinity of the end of the image area until the next SOS signal is output from the SOS sensor 126. FIG. 12A is a timing chart when the image magnification is not altered (nominal state). FIG. 12B is a timing chart when the frequency of the image clock has been lowered in order to increase the image magnification. FIG. 12C is a timing chart when the frequency of the image clock has been raised in order to decrease the image magnification. Note that APC represents a signal instructing control of the amount of light. This signal instructs the execution of auto power control which controls the amount of light from the laser diode 100 serving as the light source. DATA represents a light instructing signal which contains the image data input to the laser diode 100. The portions indicated by the diagonal lines in FIGS. 12A through 12C correspond to the image data input to the laser diode 100.
As is shown in FIG. 12B, when the frequency of the image clock is lowered in order to increase the magnification of the image in the main scanning direction, the ratio of the image area P to the interval between SOS signal outputs, namely the effective scanning ratio, is increased. Therefore, the time R.sub.A from the end of the output of the signal corresponding to the image area P (the image signal) until the next SOS signal is output (namely, the time outside the image area) is shortened (R.sub.A1 >R.sub.A2). Therefore, the time Q.sub.A necessary to execute control of the amount of light from the laser diode 100 cannot be secured, and the control of the amount of light becomes inaccurate. In some cases, when the amount of light from the laser diode is reduced, the SOS signal cannot be output from the SOS sensor 126.
Further, as is shown in FIG. 12C, when the frequency of the image clock is increased in order to lower the magnification of the image in the main scanning direction, the effective scanning ratio is reduced. Therefore, the time R.sub.A from the end of the output of the signal corresponding to the image area P (the image signal) until the next SOS signal is output is lengthened (R.sub.A1 <R.sub.A3). In this case, the times of the forced light for executing control of the amount of light from the laser diode 100 and of the forced light for outputting the SOS signal from the SOS sensor 126 are lengthened, and control of the amount of light is executed in the area corresponding to the image area P when the frequency of the image dock is low (see FIG. 12B). Normally, the inside of a photo-scanning device is light-shielded in order to prevent light from the forced light area which is unrelated to the image from causing turbidity in the image as stray light. However, in an area P', which has the possibility of being an image area, it is not possible to execute light-shielding measures. As a result, unforeseen reflections and the like occur in the photo-scanning device which then generate stray light.