A method for synchronizing multiple subsystems using one voltage-controlled oscillator. The method includes transmitting a phase and frequency aligned output of a voltage-controlled oscillator to each subsystem within a digital system. A first subsystem of the multiple subsystems generates a first internal clock and outputs a synchronization signal to each of the other subsystems. The synchronization signal has a marker that defines a known point in time of the first internal clock. The other subsystems sample the synchronization signal using the output signal of the voltage controller oscillator to determine a starting indicator that indicates the known point in time of the first internal clock. Upon detection of the marker in the synchronization signal, the other subsystems starts a second internal clock that is synchronized with the first internal clock.

As the operating frequency of complex digital communication and data transfer systems increase, there is major challenge to operate the entire digital system in a synchronous manner. Typically, a complex digital system includes various chips each having circuitry associated with one subsystem that needs to exchange information with other subsystems. The exchange of information between the various subsystems must be synchronized in order to prevent loss or corruption of the exchanged information.
For example, if the complex digital system operates in an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network, each subsystem may be responsible for extracting a data signal from one of several cells. The data signal may represent voice, video or any other type of synchronous signal. Briefly, ATM is a standard that describes the process for packetizing a synchronous signal into a cell so that voice, video, data or other information may be sent over the same network. Each cell has a fixed size and includes a header and a payload. The synchronous signal information is placed in the payload of a cell and the cell is interleaved with cells from other sources. These cells are then delivered to a destination. At the destination, individual cells are extracted to reconstruct the original synchronous signals.
As mentioned earlier, typically, one subsystem is responsible for reconstructing one of the original synchronous signals from the packetized cells. Therefore, each subsystem must be synchronized with the other subsystems so that the data from the various signals is not corrupted as a result of clock skew between the subsystems. The problem with clock skew (i.e. phase difference) between the reference clocks for the various subsystems becomes even greater as the internal operating frequencies increase above several hundred megahertz (MHz). Therefore, with the increasing desire for greater internal operating frequencies, a synchronization scheme with a high degree of synchronization among the subsystems becomes increasingly important.
One prior art synchronization scheme has a phase alignment circuit for each subsystem. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a prior art phase alignment circuit 10. The phase alignment circuit 10 includes a phase detector 12, a loop filter 14 and a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The loop filter 14 is connected to an output signal V_VCO of the phase detector 12 and a control input of the VCO. The phase detector 12 has two inputs: a reference signal C_SYS and an output signal connected directly or indirectly from the VCO. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, the VCO may generate the output signal C_VCO to be any frequency that is a multiple of the C_SYS signal. For example, the C_SYS signal may be at 8 MHz and the VCO may generate the signal C_VCO at 32 MHz. The higher frequency C_VCO signal is then used internally as a clock for the subsystem. If the C_VCO signal is at a higher frequency then the reference signal C_SYS, the C_VCO signal is input to a divider 16 to produce a signal C_SYS_INT having the same frequency as reference signal C_SYS. The output of the divider 16 is then directly connected to the phase detector 12 instead of having the signal C_VCO directly connected from the VCO. For the remaining of the disclosure, the signal C_SYS_INT will be used to refer to the input to the phase detector 12.
In operation, the phase detector 12 compares the phase of the reference signal C_SYS against the phase of the signal C_SYS_INT produced by the VCO. The difference voltage signal V_VCO generated by the phase detector 12 is a measure of the phase difference between the two input signals, C_SYS and C_SYS_INT. The difference voltage signal V_VCO is filtered by the loop filter 14 to produce a control voltage which is then applied to the VCO. Application of the control voltage to the VCO changes the frequency of the output signal C_VCO produced by the VCO in a direction that reduces the phase difference between the input signal C_SYS_INT and the reference signal C_SYS.
FIG. 2 is a timing diagram of the phase alignment or convergence of C_SYS_INT with C_SYS in the phase alignment circuit 10 shown in FIG. 1 at three different lock-in phase states: 0 degree phase difference; 90 degree phase difference; and 180 degree phase difference. In general, one skilled in the art will appreciate that for each starting state, as the average voltage increases, the loop filter 14 produces a control voltage that causes the VCO to change the frequency F_CVO of the output signal C_VCO to reduce the phase difference between the two input signals of the phase detector 12. Once the signals are phase aligned, the signals are then in one of the lock-in states illustrated in FIG. 2.
Typically, as mentioned earlier, a complex digital system may have several subsystems that need to be phase aligned with the reference signal C_SYS. Therefore, in this prior art system, each subsystem has a dedicated VCO and a phase alignment circuit 10 to synchronize the C_SYS_INT signal in each subsystem. Having a VCO and a phase detection mechanism for each subsystem requires a large amount of board space and increases the costs associated with the digital system. In addition, the quality of the reconstructed synchronous signals in the digital system may be lower due to the interference and noise caused by multiple voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) operating in close proximity.
Accordingly, there is a present need in the art for a synchronization scheme for multiple chip configurations that minimizes board space and provides a stable synchronized signal for reconstructing signals with high quality.

Method and system for synchronizing multiple subsystems using one voltage-controlled oscillator

Infineon Technologies North America Corp.


A toner containing toner particles, each toner particle containing: a releasing agent; a colorant; and a binder resin containing at least a crystalline polyester resin and a non-crystalline polyester resin, wherein in the case where a volume average particle diameter of the toner is defined as Dv, the toner contains a group of the toner particles having 4/5 Dv, and a group of the toner particles having 6/5 Dv, and wherein an endothermic value A of the crystalline polyester resin at a first temperature increase in DSC of the toner, an endothermic value B of the crystalline polyester resin at a first temperature increase in DSC of the group of the toner particle having 4/5 Dv, and an endothermic value C of the crystalline polyester resin at a first temperature increase in DSC of the group of the toner particles having 6/5 Dv satisfy the relation represented by the following formulas:50<(B/A)×100<90, and110<(C/A)×100<150.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner used for an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, facsimile, printer, etc., and a developer containing the toner, a developer container, a process cartridge, an image forming apparatus and an image forming method, which use the toner, developer, developer container, and process cartridge.
2. Description of the Background
Conventionally, electric latent images or magnetic latent images are made visible with a toner in image forming apparatuses by electrophotography, electrostatic recording method, or the like. In the electrophotography, for example, after forming a latent electrostatic image on a photoconductor, the latent electrostatic image is developed with a toner to form a toner image. The toner image is generally transferred to a recording medium such as paper, and then melted by heating so as to be fixed thereon.
In recent years, demand has arisen for toners having various advantageous properties such as small particle diameters for forming high-quality output images and improved low-temperature fixing ability for energy saving.
Toners obtained by the conventional kneading-pulverizing method are not easily made to have a small particle diameter. In addition, their shape is amorphous and their particle size distribution is broad. Furthermore, these toners have various problems such as requiring a large amount of energy for being fixed, and thus energy saving is hard to achieve.
In particular, in the kneading-pulverizing method, cracks occur at the interfaces of a releasing agent (wax) during pulverization, resulting in that the releasing agent exists on the toner surface in a large amount. As a result, although the releasing effects for fixation can be obtained, toner adhesion to a carrier, a photoconductor and a blade is likely to occur. The properties of such toners are not satisfactory in terms of the image forming process.
In order to overcome the above-described problems the kneading-pulverizing method has, there is proposed a method for producing a toner by the polymerization method. According to the polymerization method, toners are made easily to have a small particle diameter. Their particle size distribution is sharper than that of the toners obtained by the pulverizing method. Furthermore, the wax can be incorporated in the toner particles.
In such polymerization method, improvement of low temperature fixing ability is desired for energy saving. Moreover, according to the improvement of the low temperature fixing ability, it is desired not to impair the heat resistant storage stability and hot offset resistance of toner. To these problems, it is attempt to use, as a binder resin of the toner, polyester resins having excellent low temperature fixing ability and relatively favorable heat resistant storage stability, instead of conventionally used styrene-acrylic resins.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-15589 discloses use of a crystalline polyester dispersion liquid for introduction of a crystalline polyester in a toner. Since the crystalline polyester resin contained in the toner has crystallinity, the resultant toner has thermofusion properties that the viscosity of the toner dramatically decreases at around the fixing onset temperature (fusion onset temperature). Specifically, the toner has the desirable heat resistant storage stability just below the fusion onset temperature because of the crystallinity, and shows dramatic viscosity reduction (sharp melt) at the fusion onset temperature so as to be fixed. Thus, the toner having both excellent heat resistant storage stability and low temperature fixing ability can be designed. Moreover, such the toner has also excellent releasing width (i.e. difference between the minimum fixing temperature and hot offset occurring temperature).
JP-A No. 2005-15589 discloses that, as a method of producing a crystalline polyester dispersion liquid, a crystalline polyester alone is mixed in a solvent, and then heated and cooled to produce a coarse dispersion liquid, followed by pulverizing the crystalline polyester contained in the produced coarse dispersion liquid with a mechanical pulverization device, to thereby obtain a crystalline polyester dispersion liquid having a volume average particle diameter of 0.2 μm to 1 μm, which is suitably used for toner.
However, it is difficult for the crystalline polyester resin to be dispersed to have a sharp particle size distribution by the method for producing a crystalline polyester dispersion liquid disclosed in JP-A No. 2005-15589. Consequently, the particle size distribution of the toner becomes poor.
On the other hand, the inventors of the present invention have intensively studied a toner in which the crystalline polyester resin is contained, and found that a toner having a small particle diameter tends to have excellent low temperature fixing ability, but poor heat resistant storage stability, and a toner having a large particle diameter tends to have excellent heat resistant storage stability, but poor low temperature fixing ability, in the particle size distribution of the toner. Thus, even though the toner containing the crystalline polyester resin has a particle size distribution to some extend, it is considered that the amount of the crystalline polyester resin to be contained needs to be optimized depending on the particle size distribution, so that the toner has stable and suitable heat resistant storage stability and low temperature fixing ability as a whole.

Toner, developer, image forming method and image forming apparatus


A foldable ladder including a foldable support frame mechanism and a head step assembly releasably mounted to the support frame mechanism. The head step assembly comprises a pair of base plates each having protuberances on both sides thereof and a number of step plates each having holes complementary in shape to the protuberances on the base plate. Two step plates and one base plate can be stacked together side by side through protuberance and hole engagement to form a bundle which can be stored within the support frame mechanism in its folded position.

The present invention relates generally to foldable ladders comprising a head step assembly and a support frame means supporting the head step assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to a head step assembly releasably mounted to a foldable support frame means in which the head step assembly is detachable for storage within the support frame means in its folded position.
The type of ladders having a foldable support frame are known. However, they can generally be folded to be a plane form for storage but not a line form in which the latter obviously has the advantages of handy and less bulky. Also, the head step assembly of conventional type ladders generally being permanently and fixedly attached to the support frame makes for inconvenient transport or storage.
To mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned drawback found in conventional ladders, the present invention proposes an improved ladder comprising a head step assembly mounted on a support frame means such that the head step assembly is detachable from the support frame means and further separatable into distinct pieces constituting the head step assembly when the ladder is not in use, in addition that the support frame means can be folded to form a bundle or a pack for easy handling and convenient transport. Also, the separate pieces of the head step assembly can be assembled to form another bundle or pack for placement within the support frame means again for easy handling and convenient transport.

18 Lin, Tung Ren Li, Hu Wei Chen, Yun Lin Hsien


The measuring system for in vivo monitoring of an analyte concentration with malfunction detection, comprises an electrode system, a potentiostat and an evaluation unit. The electrode system has a working electrode, a reference electrode, and a counter electrode. The potentiostat is for adjusting a difference of potential between the electric potential of the working electrode and the electric potential of the reference electrode to a specified value and for measuring an electric current flowing between the working electrode and the counter electrode. The potentiostat comprises a working electrode terminal for connection to the working electrode, a reference electrode terminal for connection to the reference electrode, and a counter electrode terminal for connection to the counter electrode. The evaluation unit monitors the electric potential of the counter electrode and generates a malfunction signal when said potential is outside a specified reference range. A method of operation is also disclosed.

Implantable or insertable electrode systems allow physiologically important analytes, such as glucose or lactate, to be measured in a patient's body. Compared with processes where a sample of a body liquid is taken and is analyzed outside the body, such in vivo measurements provide a number of essential advantages, including especially the possibility to acquire measured values automatically and continuously.
In spite of those advantages measuring systems for in vivo monitoring of analyte concentrations have not been generally accepted in the market to this day, especially for portable applications such as the "home monitoring" application, where patients monitor their blood sugar level or some other analyte concentration outside of a hospital. This is due not least to the fact that the known portable measuring systems allow measurements of analyte concentration values over a time of several days, with the precision and reliability required for medical applications, only in exceptional cases.

In vivo analyte monitor with malfunction detection


The present invention is a method of forming a toner image on a receiving sheet. The method includes forming an electrostatic image on a primary image member and toning the image with a dry toner to form a toner image. The toner includes toner particles having a diameter of between 4 and 10 microns and transfer assisting particles appended to the toner particles surface. The transfer assisting particles have a diameter of between 20 and 100 nm. The toner image is transferred from the primary image member to an intermediate image member having an overcoat layer, the overcoat layer having a Young's modulus of from 250 to 500 MPa. The toner image is transferred from the intermediate image member to a receiving sheet wherein the intermediate image member drives the primary image member or the receiving sheet.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,972 describes an electrographic printing apparatus which includes a developer supply for supplying a developer having a toner component; a print head for transferring toner from the developer supply in an image wise manner; and a compliant receiver for receiving the image wise toner from the print head. The receiver has a compliant inner conductive blanket layer for allowing the receiver to conform to a print medium and a non-compliant overcoat layer for efficiently releasing toner from the receiver. The image wise toner is transferred from the compliant receiver to the print medium at a transfer station.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,787 describes forming a small particle toner image on a primary image member, such as a photoconductor; electrostatically transferring the image to an intermediate transfer member; and then electrostatically transferring the image to a receiving sheet. The intermediate transfer member includes a substrate, a compliant blanket, and a thin, hard overcoat sectioned into small, discreet segments.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,832 (1998) teaches an improved method and apparatus for robust transfer of toner images using toner particles having a volume average diameter between about 2 μm and about 9 μm. Surprisingly good electrostatic transfer is obtained when the surface charge density of the toner is between 3.0×10−9 coul/cm3 and 6.5×10−9 coul/cm3 and when this toner is used in conjunction with a compliant transfer intermediate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,728,496 and 5,807,651 describe unexpectedly good transfer of electrophotographically-produced images using small toner particles when the image is developed on an electrostatographic recording member, preferably an organic photoconductive element, which has been overcoated with a thin (about 10 nm to about 10 μm thick) layer of a material having a Young's modulus greater than 10 GPa and preferably greater than about 100 GPa. The image is then transferred to an intermediate member which is comprised of an elastomeric blanket between about 0.1 and about 3 cm thick, having a Young's modulus between about 0.5 MPa and about 50 MPa, and preferably between about 1 and about 10 MPa, and having an electrical resistivity between about 106 ohm-cm and about 1012 ohm-cm, by applying an appropriate electrostatic potential between the transfer intermediate member and the photoconductive element. The toned image is transferred from the intermediate transfer member to the receiver by applying an electrostatic field between the receiver and the intermediate transfer member. The blanket material comprising the intermediate transfer member should be overcoated with a thin (between about 0.1 μm and about 25 μm thick) layer of a material having a Young's modulus greater than about 100 MPa and preferably greater than about 1 GPa.
In an electrostatographic engine such as an electrophotographic engine, an electrostatic latent image is initially formed on a primary imaging member such as a photoreceptor and then developed into a visible image using marking particles, often referred to as toner or dry ink particles. This image is then transferred to a receiver such as paper, generally upon application of an electrostatic field that urges the electrically charged toner particles towards the receiver and the image is then permanently fixed by passing the image-bearing receiver through a fuser that melts the toner particles and permanently fixes them to the receiver. The receiver is transported through the electrophotographic engine using a receiver transport mechanism as is known in the art.
Color images are generally produced by first producing separate electrostatic latent images corresponding to the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black information, toning each of these separations with toner consisting of the correct primary subtractive toner, and then superimposing these separate images on the receiver. Images comprising principally a certain color (e.g. black alphanumeric characters) with a certain localized color such as a corporate logo, could also produce images in a similar manner. In this latter example, however, toners corresponding specifically to those used in the image, rather than process colors comprising the subtractive primary colored toners, are generally used. Transfer is often accomplished by wrapping the receiver around an electrically biasable transfer roller and sequentially transferring the separations, in register, to the receiver by applying an appropriate electrical bias to the transfer roller.
Under certain circumstances, it is advantageous to transfer the toned image first to an intermediate transfer member and then from that intermediate transfer member to the receiver. For example, by transferring the toned color separations to the intermediate, the receiver need not be picked up and wrapped around the transfer roller and then released after transfer. This allows the use of a straight paper path, simplifies the process, and reduces the probability of having a paper jam.
Of particular advantage to enhance the electrostatic transfer of toned images is the use of a compliant intermediate, as disclosed by Rimai et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,735), wherein a multilayer transfer intermediate comprising a compliant layer having a Young's modulus of 107 Pa or less and a thin outer skin having a Young's modulus of 5×107 Pa or greater. The advantage of a compliant intermediate over noncompliant intermediates is that it facilitates the transfer of toner particles by allowing the toner particles to contact both the primary imaging member and the receiver, in a manner similar to that disclosed by Rimai and Chowdry in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,433. It should be noted that U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,433 teaches the use of monodisperse toner particles and very smooth receivers and, therefore, does not directly read on the present invention.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,961, Zaretsky and Gomes disclose the transfer of toner particles having a mean particle diameter of less than 7 μm, said toner particles comprising transfer-assisting particles strongly adhering to the surface of the toner particles, said transfer-assisting particles having a mean particle diameter between 0.01 and 0.2 μm from a compliant intermediate such as that disclosed by Rimai in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,735, but also restricting that compliant intermediate to one whose average surface roughness is equal to or less than 20% of the mean toner diameter.
Ezenyilimba et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,656, disclose an outer surface network comprising the cross-linked reaction product between a polyurethane with reactive alkoxysilane moieties and tetraalkoxysilane, hereafter referred to as a ceramer and incorporated by reference into the present disclosure. According to that disclosure, the silicon oxide network comprises between 10 and 80% of the ceramer, preferably between 25 and 65% of the ceramer, and more preferably between 35-50% of the ceramer. Moreover, it is important that the ceramer have a storage modulus between 0.10 and 2.0 GPa and preferably between 0.30 and 1.75 GPa, and more preferably between 1.0 and 1.5 GPa. Ezenyilimba et al. does not teach the use of a compliant intermediate comprising a ceramer with toner particles comprising transfer-assisting particles. In certain electrostatographic or electrophotographic engines (hereafter referred to simply as electrophotographic engines unless otherwise denoted), the primary imaging member is driven by the intermediate transfer member. The intermediate may be directly driven by a motor or other suitable means. Alternatively, the intermediate transfer member may be driven by another member such as the receiver transport member or web. In either case, the use of an intermediate transfer member as a drive member will cause stresses in that member as a result of the torques required to drive the other members. This is especially problematic with compliant intermediates, wherein the relatively low Young's moduli of compliant intermediates, will result in relatively large strains. Such strains can readily cause the overcoat layer of the compliant blanket of the intermediate to crack and craze. These cracks can widen as a result of the stresses resulting from the use of the intermediate transfer member as a drive member, thereby creating image artifacts in the transferred image. Moreover, the occurrence of cracks can cause the overcoat layer to delaminate from the underlying elastomeric blanket, thereby making the roller too adhesive and consequently adversely affecting transfer. As is well known, materials with relatively high Young's moduli tend to crack under lower strain conditions than do materials with lower Young's moduli. Accordingly, the use of a relatively high modulus overcoat, such as those disclosed in the patents by Rimai et al., Zaretsky et al., and Ezenyilimba et al. may not function at all in an electrophotographic engine in which a compliant intermediate member is used to drive another member such as a primary imaging member.
Another constraint on the values allowed for the Young's modulus of the overcoat layer of a compliant intermediate arises from the use of transfer-assisting particles appended to the surface of the toner particles. Specifically, in an ideal world of spherical particles, the force needed to detach a particle from a substrate is independent of the Young's modulus of that substrate. The force needed to detach a toner particle from an intermediate member has a direct bearing on one's ability to either transfer from the primary imaging member to the intermediate transfer member or from the intermediate transfer member to the receiver. In other words, if toner particles are held too strongly to the intermediate transfer member, it becomes difficult to transfer from that member to the receiver. Conversely, if the intermediate transfer member is not sufficiently adhesive, toner may not transfer to that member from the primary imaging member. In the nonideal world of irregularly-shaped toner particles, toner adhesion is often controlled by the interaction of the asperities on the toner with the underlying substrate. While it is not the intention to base the validity of this patent on an explanation of this phenomenon, such an explanation can help elucidate the underlying interactions giving rise to the present invention.
Toner particles interact with substrates such as compliant intermediates, primary imaging members, receivers, and the like by two types of forces. The first comprises long range electrostatic forces arising from the electrostatic charge on the toner particle. The second is the short range van der Waals interactions. Van der Waals interactions are generally significant at separation distances between two bodies of less than 10 nm and tend to increase linearly with the diameter of the particle. For particles the size of toner particles that are typically used today (between approximately 4 and 12 μm), experimental evidence suggests that the dominant mode of interactions arise from van der Waals forces. Accordingly, if a particle has asperities on its surface that separate the bulk of the particle from a substrate by a few nanometers, the force adhering the particle to the substrate would depend on the radius of the substrate, not on the radius of the particle. Accordingly, the role of the transfer-assisting particles that are appended to the surface of the toner particles is to physically separate the toner particles from the underlying substrate such as a primary imaging member or a transfer intermediate member, thereby facilitating transfer of the toner particles from one member to another under the influence of the applied electrostatic transfer field. Ideally, the transfer-assisting particles should have diameters close to approximately 10 nm, which would minimize the force of adhesion between that particle and the contacting substrate without significantly contributing van der Waals forces of adhesion of its own. In reality, the transfer-assisting particles are often somewhat larger, typically between approximately 30 nm and 50 nm. It should be noted that the stated size of the transfer-assisting particles is often the diameter of agglomerates of smaller fundamental particles, but that distinction is not important for this invention.
A difficulty arises when using toner particles comprising transfer-assisting particles appended to the surface of the toner particles with compliant intermediates. If the underlying substrate deforms sufficiently under the stresses associated with the forces of adhesion (including electrostatic) or the applied pressures existing in the transfer nip, the toner particles may become sufficiently engulfed into a compliant intermediate, notwithstanding the presence of the overcoat, so as to totally engulf the transfer assisting particles and thereby negating any influence on transfer that they may have had. At the lower range of values of the Young's modulus of the overcoat, as disclosed in the related art, this can readily occur, as will be shown in this disclosure. Indeed, Zaretsky et al. had to require that the surface of the intermediate transfer member be smooth to minimize this problem. Requiring such smoothness is often difficult in a real-life manufacturing process. Moreover, Zaretsky et al. also allowed the transfer-assisting particles to have diameters as great as 200 nm. As previously discussed, as the size of the transfer-assisting particles increases, their contribution to the adhesion of the toner particles also increases.
It is not obvious from the related art that a compliant intermediate that is capable of transferring toner particles between 4.0 μm and 10.0 μm that can also be used to drive another member or members of an electrophotographic engine could be produced. More specifically, there is no range of values of the Young's modulus of the overcoat, when used with toner particles comprising transfer-assisting particles between approximately 20 nm and 70 nm appended to the surface of the toner particles, could be used also as a drive mechanism in an electrophotographic engine.

Electrostatographic method using compliant intermediate transfer member


A magnetic recording medium on glass or Al substrates with a film structure of subseedlayer/seedlayer/underlayer/magnetic layer/carbon overcoat, in this order, in which the subseedlayer comprises an element of Group VIb and the seedlayer comprises a material having a B2 structure.

This invention relates to magnetic recording media, such as thin film magnetic recording disks, and to a method of manufacturing the media. The invention has particular applicability to high areal density magnetic recording media having thin films for longitudinal magnetic recording media, and more particularly, to B2-structured underlayers for use with a cobalt or cobalt alloy based magnetic layer.
The increasing demands for higher areal recording density impose increasingly greater demands on thin film magnetic recording media in terms of remanent coercivity (Hr), magnetic remanance (Mr), coercivity squareness (S*), medium noise, i.e., signal-to-medium noise ratio (SMNR), and narrow track recording performance. It is extremely difficult to produce a magnetic recording medium satisfying such demanding requirements.
Magnetic discs and disc drives provide quick access to vast amounts of stored information. Both flexible and rigid discs are available. Data on the discs is stored in circular tracks and divided into segments within the tracks. Disc drives typically employ one or more discs rotated on a central axis. A magnetic head is positioned over the disc surface to either access or add to the stored information. The heads for disc drives are mounted on a movable arm that carries the head in very close proximity to the disc over the various tracks and segments.
FIG. 1 shows the schematic arrangement of a magnetic disk drive 10 using a rotary actuator. A disk or medium 11 is mounted on a spindle 12 and rotated at a predetermined speed. The rotary actuator comprises an arm 15 to which is coupled a suspension 14. A magnetic head 13 is mounted at the distal end of the suspension 14. The magnetic head 13 is brought into contact with the recording/reproduction surface of the disk 11. The rotary actuator could have several suspensions and multiple magnetic heads to allow for simultaneous recording and reproduction on and from both surfaces of each medium.
An electromagnetic converting portion (not shown) for recording/reproducing information is mounted on the magnetic head 13. The arm 15 has a bobbin portion for holding a driving coil (not shown). A voice coil motor 19 as a kind of linear motor is provided to the other end of the arm 15. The voice motor 19 has the driving coil wound on the bobbin portion of the arm 15 and a magnetic circuit (not shown). The magnetic circuit comprises a permanent magnet and a counter yoke. The magnetic circuit opposes the driving coil to sandwich it. The arm 15 is swingably supported by ball bearings (not shown) provided at the upper and lower portions of a pivot portion 17. The ball bearings provided around the pivot portion 17 are held by a carriage portion (not shown).
A magnetic head support mechanism is controlled by a positioning servo driving system. The positioning servo driving system comprises a feedback control circuit having a head position detection sensor (not shown), a power supply (not shown), and a controller (not shown). When a signal is supplied from the controller to the respective power supplies based on the detection result of the position of the magnetic head 13, the driving coil of the voice coil motor 19 and the piezoelectric element (not shown) of the head portion are driven.
A cross sectional view of a conventional longitudinal recording disk medium is depicted in FIG. 2. A longitudinal recording medium typically comprises a non-magnetic substrate 20 having sequentially deposited on each side thereof an underlayer 21, 21xe2x80x2, such as chromium (Cr) or Cr-alloy, a magnetic layer 22, 22xe2x80x2, typically comprising a cobalt (Co) -base alloy, and a protective overcoat 23, 23xe2x80x2, typically containing carbon. Conventional practices also comprise bonding a lubricant topcoat (not shown) to the protective overcoat. Underlayer 21, 21xe2x80x2, magnetic layer 22, 22xe2x80x2, and protective overcoat 23, 23xe2x80x2, are typically deposited by sputtering techniques. The Co-base alloy magnetic layer deposited by conventional techniques normally comprises polycrystallites epitaxially grown on the polycrystal Cr or Cr-alloy underlayer.
According to the domain theory, a magnetic material is composed of a number of submicroscopic regions called domains. Each domain contains parallel atomic moments and is always magnetized to saturation, but the directions of magnetization of different domains are not necessarily parallel. In the absence of an applied magnetic field, adjacent domains may be oriented randomly in any number of several directions, called the directions of easy magnetization, which depend on the geometry of the crystal. The resultant effect of all these various directions of magnetization may be zero, as is the case with an unmagnetized specimen. When a magnetic field is applied, the domains most nearly parallel to the direction of the applied field grow in size at the expense of the others. This is called boundary displacement of the domains or the domain growth. A further increase in magnetic field causes more domains to rotate and align parallel to the applied field. When the material reaches the point of saturation magnetization, no further domain growth would take place on increasing the strength of the magnetic field.
A magnetic material is said to possess a uniaxial anisotropy when all domains are oriented in the same direction in the material. On the other extreme, a magnetic material is said to be isotropic when all domains are oriented randomly.
Important magnetic properties, such as coercivity (Hc), remanent magnetization (Mr) and coercive squareness (S*), which are crucial to the recording performance of the Co alloy thin film for a fixed composition, depend primarily on its microstructure. For thin film longitudinal magnetic recording media, the desired crystalline structure of the Co and Co alloys is hexagonal close packed (HCP) with uniaxial crystalline anisotropy and a magnetization easy direction along the c-axis is in the plane of the film. The better the in-plane c-axis crystallographic texture, the higher the coercivity of the Co alloy thin film used for longitudinal recording. This is required to achieve a high remanence. For very small grain sizes coercivity increases with increased grain size. Large grains, however, result in greater noise. There is a need to achieve high coercivities without the increase in noise associated with large grains. To achieve a low noise magnetic medium, the Co alloy thin film should have uniform small grains with grain boundaries which can magnetically isolate neighboring grains. This kind of microstructure and crystallographic texture is normally achieved by manipulating the deposition process, by grooving the substrate surface, or most often by the proper use of an underlayer.
The linear recording density can be increased by increasing the Hr of the magnetic recording medium, and by decreasing the medium noise, as by maintaining very fine magnetically non-coupled grains. Medium noise in thin films is a dominant factor restricting increased recording density of high-density magnetic hard disk drives, and is attributed primarily to inhomogeneous grain size and intergranular exchange coupling. Accordingly, in order to increase linear density, medium noise must be minimized by suitable microstructure control.
Underlayers can strongly influence the crystallographic orientation, the grain size and chemical segregation at the Co alloy grain boundaries. Underlayers that have been reported in the literature include Cr, Cr with an additional alloy element X (X=C, Mg, Al, Si, Ti, V, Co, Ni, Cu, Zr, Nb, Mo, La, Ce, Nd, Gd, Th, Dy, Er, Ta, and W), Ti, W, Mo, and NiP. While there would appear to be a number of underlayer materials available, in practice, only a very few work well enough to meet the demands of the industry. Among them, the most often used and the most successful underlayer is pure Cr. For high density recording, in-plane orientation has heretofore been achieved by grain-to-grain epitaxial growth of the HCP Co alloy thin film on a body centered cubic (BCC) Cr underlayer. The polycrystalline Co-based alloy thin film is deposited with its c-axis, the 0002 axis, either parallel to the film plane or with a large component of the c-axis in the film plane. Different Co/Cr epitaxial relationships prevail for different deposition processes. To obtain a good BCC structure which promotes the formation of the HCP structure, the Cr underlayer must be thicker than about 100xc3x85. U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,499 discloses efforts to improve the underlayer by adding vanadium (V) to Cr to change its lattice constant and thereby to promote a better lattice matching between the HCP Co alloys, CoPt or CoPtCr, and the BCC CrV underlayer.
Furthermore, there exists a texture relationship between the underlayer and the magnetic layer. Therefore, the influence of the seedlayer in terms of a texture relationship permeates even into the magnetic layer.
Conventional Cr-alloy underlayers comprise chromium (Cr), vanadium (V), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W) or molybdenum (Mo). Conventional magnetic layers are CoCrTa, CoCrPtB, CoCrPt, CoCrPtTaNb and CoNiCr.
A conventional longitudinal recording disk medium is prepared by depositing multiple layers of metal films to make a composite film. In sequential order, the multiple layer typically comprises a non-magnetic substrate, one or more underlayers, a magnetic layer, and a protective carbon layer. Generally, a polycrystalline epitaxially grown cobalt-chromium (CoCr) alloy magnetic layer is deposited on a chromium or chromium-alloy underlayer.
Conventional methods for manufacturing a longitudinal magnetic recording medium with a glass, glass-ceramic, Al or Alxe2x80x94NiP substrate comprise applying a seedlayer between the substrate and underlayer. A conventional seedlayer seeds the nucleation of a particular crystallographic texture of the underlayer. Conventionally, a seedlayer is the first deposited layer on the non-magnetic substrate. The role of this layer is to texture (alignment) the crystallographic orientation of the subsequent Cr-containing underlayer.
The seedlayer, underlayer, and magnetic layer are conventionally sequentially sputter deposited on the substrate in an inert gas atmosphere, such as an atmosphere of argon. A conventional carbon overcoat is typically deposited in argon with nitrogen, hydrogen or ethylene. Conventional lubricant topcoats are typically about 20xc3x85 thick.
It is recognized that the magnetic properties, such as Hr, Mr, S* and SMNR, which are critical to the performance of a magnetic alloy film, depend primarily upon the microstructure of the magnetic layer which, in turn, is influenced by one or more underlying layers on which it is deposited.
In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/152,326 filed on Sep. 14, 1998, a magnetic recording medium is disclosed comprising a surface oxidized NiAl seedlayer, and sequentially deposited thereon a Cr-containing underlayer, a CoCrTa intermediate layer and a CoCrPtTa magnetic layer. xe2x80x9cSeedlayer Induced (002) Crystallographic Texture in NiAl Underlayers,xe2x80x9d L.-L. Lee, D. E. Laughlin and D. N. Lambeth, J. AppL. Phys., 79 (8), pp. 4902-4904 (1996), discloses a MgO seedlayer. xe2x80x9cFeAl Underlayers for CoCrPt Thin Film Media,xe2x80x9d L.-L. Lee, D. E. Laughlin and D. N. Lambeth, J. AppL. Phys., 81 (8), pp. 4366-4368 (1997), first reported an FeAl underlayer having a B2 structure.
In order to squeeze as much digital information as possible on a recording disc medium there is a continuing need for improved areal density magnetic recording media exhibiting high coercivity and high SMNR. The need for lighter, smaller and better performing computers with greater storage density demands higher density hard disk media. It is an object of the present invention to meet those demands with a longitudinal magnetic recording media having high coercivity and low noise.
The invention provides a magnetic recording medium for high areal recording density exhibiting low noise, high coercivity. One way of achieving this goal is to produce a magnetic recording medium having a subseedlayer that could alter the structure of the surface upon which a seedlayer is deposited. Preferably, the seedlayer should then be capable of inducing the c axis of a hexagonal crystalline phase (HCP) of a layer above the seedlayer to line predominantly parallel to the magnetic film of the media. The magnetic recording medium of the invention could comprise a substrate, a subseedlayer comprising a Group VIb element, a seedlayer comprised of a material having a B2-ordered crystalline structure, and a magnetic layer preferably formed from a Co or Co alloy film. The substrate could be a disk or a tape.
An underlayer could also be provided, which could comprise of a material having either an A2 structure or a B2- ordered crystalline structure disposed between the seedlayer and the magnetic layer. The A2 phase is preferably Cr or a Cr alloy, such as CrV. The B2 phase is selected from the group consisting of NiAl, AlCo, FeAl, FeTi, CoFe, CoTi, CoHf, CoZr, NiTi, CuBe, CuZn, AlMn, AlRe, AgMg, and Al2FeMn2, and is most preferably FeAl or NiAl.
An embodiment of this invention is a magnetic recording medium, comprising a substrate, a subseedlayer comprising a Group VIb element, a seedlayer comprising a material comprising a B2 structure, and a magnetic layer, in this order. The subseedlayer could further comprise a Group Vb element. The seedlayer could further comprise a (112) laminar texture. In the magnetic recording medium of this invention, a portion of the seedlayer could be oxidized and the medium could further comprise an underlayer comprising a Cr-containing material. The oxidized portion of the seedlayer could contain from about 0.0001 atomic percent oxygen to about 20 atomic percent oxygen, preferably, from about 0.01 atomic percent oxygen to about 0.9 atomic percent oxygen. The oxidized portion of the seedlayer could have a mean grain size diameter of 10 nm or less. In a preferred embodiment, the subseedlayer could be amorphous. The magnetic recording medium could further comprise an intermediate layer interposed between the magnetic layer and the underlayer. In another preferred embodiment, the subseedlayer could be between about 1 nm to 50 nm thick and it could comprise Ta and W or Ni and W; the seedlayer could comprise Ni and Al.
Another embodiment of this invention is a method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, comprising depositing a subseedlayer on a substrate; depositing a seedlayer on the subseedlayer and depositing a magnetic layer on the seedlayer, wherein the subseedlayer comprises a Group VIb element and the seedlayer comprises a material comprising a B2 structure.
Another embodiment of this invention is a magnetic recording medium, comprising a seedlayer comprising a material comprising a B2 structure and means for improving a (112) laminar texture of the seedlayer. In this invention, means for improving a (112) laminar texture of the seedlayer is a layer such as a subseedlayer.
As will be realized, this invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from this invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

Subseedlayers for magnetic recording media


An adaptor plug for a spin-on fluid filter, in particular for a spin-on return filter, wherein the adaptor plug comprises a plug-in end which is designed to be plugged into a cavity in a flange of a hydraulic device in a fluid tight manner and a filter end which is designed to be connected to the spin-on filter in a fluid tight, detachable manner and at least one internal fluid channel connecting said plug-in end with said filter end, wherein the adaptor plug at its filter end comprises a threaded tube or bolt on which the spin-on filter can be screwed. By this design, the use of a filter set with or without an adaptor ring between the adaptor plug and the filter is enabled. By the adaptor plug, the spin-on filter can be applied to a variety of hydraulic devices, among others, with a ¾ 16 UNF cavity.

Usually, hydraulic devices are designed to work and function reliably even in difficult environments and under difficult circumstances. On the other hand, in order to make sure that the function of such a hydraulic device is not disturbed by contaminated hydraulic fluid, hydraulic circuits usually comprise mechanical filters for cleaning the hydraulic fluid. Such kinds of mechanical filters are known, for example, from motor systems of vehicles. Filters are often designed as spin-on filters which can be connected to a flange of a hydraulic device, for example by means of a thread. Spin-on filters usually work efficiently and require only very little space. In addition, they are easy to replace or to remove in order to clean them.
A filter mount for a fluid filter is known, for example, from the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,658. U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,658 discloses a hydraulic power unit having a hydraulic fluid reservoir with a top closure mount and a spin-on filter that can be positioned on the top closure mount.
US 20120121439 discloses a hydraulic power module with a filter housing that is integrated in the hydraulic reservoir.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,390 discloses a remote filtering station connectable to a mechanical device, which is part of a car, through conduits. U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,390 also discloses a filter replacement adaptor that enables connection of a filter with the conduits.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,926,515 discloses a modular hydraulic unit with a filter connected to a connection module. The connection module has a mounting opening for housing the filter unit.
Taking into account this existing prior art, there is demand for an easy and comfortable way of connecting a spin-on fluid filter with different hydraulic devices.
This object is solved by an adaptor plug according to the described embodiments, and by an adaptor plug set and by a spin-on filter set including said adaptor plug according to various embodiments described.
In one implementation, the embodiments described comprise an adaptor plug for a spin-on fluid filter, in particular for a spin-on return filter, wherein the adaptor plug comprises a plug-in end which is designed to be plugged into a cavity in a flange of a hydraulic device in a fluid tight manner and a filter end which is designed to be connected to the spin-on filter in a fluid tight, detachable manner and at least one internal fluid channel connecting said plug-in end with said filter end, wherein the adaptor plug at its filter end comprises a threaded tube or bolt on which the spin-on filter can be screwed.
The hydraulic device can, for example, be formed by a hydraulic manifold and in particular by a hydraulic power pack. Such kind of a hydraulic device typically has chambers and channels which may contain a hydraulic fluid. A flange of the hydraulic device can provide a channel and/or an opening that connects the internal chambers and channels of the hydraulic device with the outside. A spin-on filter may be connected in a fluid tight manner with the flange of the hydraulic device. Often, such a flange is provided with a standard cavity ¾-16 UNF. In order to be able to use spin-on filters for different hydraulic devices irrespective of the position of the flange and irrespective of the space provided for such a filter, the presently proposed adaptor plug allows connecting the flange of the hydraulic device with said filter. For this purpose, the adaptor plug may be threaded into the ¾ 16 UNF thread of a cavity of a flange.
The adaptor plug inside the hydraulic device can be connected with the chambers or channels of the hydraulic device in a fluid tight manner by one or more seals, for example, elastomer seals. In this way, the plug-in end of the adaptor plug may be connected to the hydraulic device. The filter end of the adaptor plug may be designed to be connected to the spin-on filter in a fluid tight, detachable manner. For this purpose, the adaptor plug can comprise a tube or a hollow bolt. The tube or bolt may have a thread on its outside or on its outer surface so that the filter may be threaded onto the tube or bolt.
In order to fix the adaptor plug to the hydraulic device, the adaptor plug may be threaded into the thread of the flange with the help of an Allan wrench hex key, wherein the hexagon may be inside the thread on which the filter is screwed or may be screwed.
When the filter is screwed onto the thread of the adapter plug, the oil in the hydraulic circuit may enter the filter through a first internal fluid channel of the adaptor plug. In case the spin-on filter is a return filter, the hydraulic fluid may leave the filter by a second internal fluid channel of the adapter plug and return to the hydraulic device. One implementation of the embodiments described may therefore provide that the threaded tube or bolt comprises at least a first internal fluid channel of the adaptor plug, wherein the first internal fluid channel ends at the free end of the threaded tube or bolt.
The first internal fluid channel may extend from the plug-in end of the adaptor plug to the filter end. When the adapter plug is in use, the openings of the first internal fluid channel at both ends of the adaptor plug may be located inside a hydraulic space which is sealed from the outside by one of the seals between the filter and the adaptor plug or by one of the seals between the adaptor plug and the hydraulic device. In one implementation the first internal fluid channel may extend at least partially in an axial direction wherein the axial direction is defined as parallel to the direction in which the adaptor plug is plugged into the hydraulic device and/or the direction in which the filter is screwed on a thread of the adaptor plug.
The adapter plug may comprise a filter flange from which the threaded tube or bolt extends. The filter flange may then have a larger diameter than the threaded tube or bolt. And the filter flange may further provide a ring-shaped sealing area surrounding the threaded tube or bolt.
The adapter plug may further comprise at least a second internal fluid channel, wherein the second internal fluid channel extends from the circumference of the threaded tube or bolt through the adaptor plug to its plug-in end.
The second internal fluid channel generally extends through the adaptor plug in a direction that is parallel to the general direction of the first internal fluid channel. The first and second internal fluid channels usually have no connection with each other and are strictly separated. One of the first and second internal fluid channels may serve to lead the hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic device to the filter whereas the other internal fluid channel may serve to lead the hydraulic fluid from the filter back to the hydraulic device. A more detailed description of the geometry of the internal fluid channels is given below with reference to the drawings.
The plug-in end of the adaptor plug may be cylindrical and may comprise an external thread and at least one circumferential or ring shaped sealing.
Generally, cylindrical plugs are easy to manufacture and, in addition, it is easy to provide an efficient hydraulic sealing between a hydraulic plug and socket.
The embodiments herein not only refer to an adaptor plug as described above but also to an adaptor plug set for a spin-on fluid filter comprising an adaptor plug as described above and further comprising a ring adaptor which can be slipped on the threaded tube or bolt from the filter end of the adaptor plug and which, in its axial extension, is usually smaller than the length of the threaded tube or bolt so that the threaded tube or bolt extends in an axial direction of the ring adaptor through and beyond the ring adaptor.
The ring adaptor may or may not have an internal thread that can be screwed on the threaded outer circumference of the tube or bolt of the adaptor plug. If in one possible implementation the ring adaptor has no internal thread, it can simply be slipped on to the tube or bolt, such as with a flexible angular position. If the ring adaptor is placed between the adaptor plug and the fluid filter and sealed in a fluid tight manner, the internal opening of the ring adaptor is connected to one of the first or second internal fluid channels. The opening of the ring adaptor is further connected to a radial measurement channel or sensor channel which extends through the ring adaptor in the radial direction. The measurement channel provides for an opportunity to connect a sensor to the hydraulic chamber inside the ring adaptor in a fluid tight manner.
This way, the adaptor plug set allows for using the adaptor plug and the filter with or without a ring adaptor depending on the fact if a sensor shall be used or not. For this purpose, the tube or bolt of the adaptor plug and the thread on its outside has to be long enough to allow for screwing or slipping the spin-on filter onto the tube or bolt irrespective of whether a ring adaptor is mounted or not. The possibility to apply a sensor on the ring adaptor, as described above, may be implemented by providing that the ring adaptor comprises a radial sensor channel extending from the inner circumference to the outer circumference of the ring adaptor, wherein a sensor, in particular a pressure sensor or a pressure transducer, is or can be attached to the sensor fluid channel in a fluid tight manner.
The embodiments herein not only refer to an adaptor plug and an adaptor plug set as described above but also to a spin-on filter set for a fluid filter comprising a spin on fluid filter and an adaptor plug, wherein the spin-on filter comprises a threaded hole wherein the thread of the threaded hole can be screwed on the threaded tube or bolt and wherein the threaded hole in its axial extension is at least as long as the threaded tube or bolt.
This design allows screwing the fluid filter fully onto the tube or bolt of the adaptor plug in such a way that one end of the filter may be sealed against a filter flange of the adaptor plug. This fluid tight sealing may be provided by way of an elastomer seal which may be positioned between the filter and the filter flange.
At the same time, an implementation of the spin-on filter set may provide that a ring adaptor is provided between the spin-on filter and the adaptor plug and a sealing is provided between the spin-on filter and the ring adaptor as well as between the ring adaptor and the adaptor plug.
For this case, the tube or bolt of the adaptor plug has to be long enough to extend through the opening of the ring adaptor and beyond it so that the fluid filter may be screwed onto the free end of the tube or bolt in such a way that the ring adaptor is pressed between the adaptor plug/filter flange on one side and the fluid filter on the other side.
The spin-on filter set is usable in cases where a ring adaptor and a respective sensor is needed as well as in cases where such a ring adaptor and sensor is not required.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.
Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components. FIGS. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are shown approximately to scale, according to some embodiments. FIGS. 3, 4, 9, and 10 are shown with components in proportional size with one another, according to some embodiments.


A highly mobile brush cutting vehicle is adapted to mount a rotary steel disk-type cutter head on the end of an elongated boom assembly. The vehicle is preferably rubber-tired, with individual wheels mounted on articulating legs. The wheel legs are preferably mounted to the vehicle undercarriage for independent articulation up and down. The preferred brush cutter includes a boom assembly provided with a telescoping extension to which the cutter assembly is mounted. The brush cutter assembly itself is preferably provided as integral part of an excavator bucket that includes a jaw or clamp arm.

Heavy duty, commercial brush cutters have been used in connection with forestry management, right-of-way clearing and maintainance, and for similar purposes. These brush cutters typically employ heavy steel rotary circular blades that are mounted on tracked or rubber-tired vehicles by means of a boom or boom combination. The brush cutter blade is typically powered hydraulically and controlled from an operator's cab on the vehicle. An exemplary prior art blade may be six feet in diameter, weigh several hundred pounds, and contain upper and lower cutting teeth. Such a blade can thus cut brush from its upper and lower surfaces as well as its perhiphery. The momentum built up by a cutter blade of this size and the forces imposed on its supporting structure are substantial. Therefore, a substantial mounting assembly is required to handle the weight and kinetic energy forces present in the operation of such a brush cutter at the end of a boom. The resulting structure often has inhibited mobility and therefore limited application.
For example, in power line right-of-way maintainance, the brush cutter must be capable of traversing rugged terrain and negotiate around stumps and rocks without damage to the cutter assembly or its mounting assembly. For such uses, a highly mobile vehicle is required. Moreover, it is often desireable that the mobile brush cutter have some digging, scraping or earth moving capacity, in addition to its brush cutting capacity, to adequately clear or maintain right-of-way conditions.


The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular, to a data compression method and device. In order to solve the problem of low compression efficiency in the prior art, the method comprises: sampling an obtained baseband signal and obtaining a number of discrete baseband signals to achieve an initial compression; calculating amplitude and phase values of each discrete baseband signal, on the basis of bit widths preset for the adjusted amplitude value and the phase value, carrying out a bit-truncating on the adjusted amplitude value and the phase value respectively, and combining the truncated phase value data and amplitude value data to obtain the final compressed discrete baseband signal. In this way, by truncating bits according to the preset bit width without distortion, the data bits of the baseband signal can be reduced accordingly, thereby reducing the amount of transmitted data, effectively improving the compression efficiency, and thus saving fiber resources.

As the Time Division-Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) system and the 5G system are advancing, there is a higher requirement on data transmission, and correspondingly there is a higher requirement on data transmission through optic fibers in a base station responsible of transmitting data in the TD-LTE system or the 5G system.
Generally the requirement on data transmission can be satisfied by increasing the number of optic fibers, but this will greatly increase a cost.
In a mobile communication system, data are generally transmitted by a base station, and an indoor Base Band Unit (BBU) and a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) are responsible for baseband processing and radio frequency processing functions of the base station respectively, where data generally including operation and maintenance data and IQ signals (baseband signals) are transmitted between the BBU and the RRU through an optic fiber, and an interface between them is referred to as an IR interface. At present, generally original data are transmitted between respective base stations, and in the prior art, the data can be compressed through an IR interface so that a large amount of data can be transmitted reliably and efficiently in a limited bandwidth, but the amount of data can only be reduced by a factor of ½ in the existing compression method.
In the TD-LTE system or the 5G system, the largest sampling width of an IQ signal is 16 bits, and in order to transmit an IQ signal through an optic fiber, it shall be 8/10-encoded (8-bit data are converted into 10-bit data for transmission), so the highest air-interface transmission rate of an 8-antenna device in the TD-LTE standard or the 5G standard can be calculated as 9.8304 Gbps in the equation of:30.72M*32 bits*8 antennas*(10/8)=9.8304 Gbps.
A 10G optic fiber will suffice if it is still used in a 4G system, but the TD-LTE system or the 5G system is provided with a 25G optic fiber, and in order to transmit an IQ signal through a 25G optic fiber, it shall be 64/66-encoded (64-bit data are converted into 66-bit data), which is equivalent to three 10G optic fibers, so a 64-antenna 3D-MIMO device in the 5G system shall be provided with three 25G optic fibers to transmit a signal which is not compressed; and if the signal is compressed in the existing method (the amount of data is reduced by a factor of ½), then the device still shall be provided with two 25G optic fibers, and since the requirement on signal transmission still cannot be satisfied using a single 25G optic fiber, data shall be compressed more efficiently so that the requirement on signal transmission still can be satisfied using a single 25G optic fiber.
Accordingly it is desirable to provide a new method for compressing data so as to improve the compression efficiency.

DATANG MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


Techniques for modifying a user interface in which respective elements are presented if the criteria for those elements are satisfied include receiving criteria and element characteristics for a new or modified user interface element. The criteria for the new or modified element are compared to criteria for existing elements to determine other elements that could be presented contemporaneously if a request satisfying multiple sets of criteria is received. For each element with corresponding criteria, the characteristics of the element are compared to those of the new or modified user interface element to determine whether the sets of characteristics are mutually exclusive. If the characteristics are mutually exclusive, a conflict exists and information regarding the author of the existing element and the goal or rationale associated with the element may be provided to the user attempting to modify the user interface.

Webpages and other types of user interfaces may include various elements that are presented based on various characteristics of a session, such as characteristics of a device accessing the webpage, characteristics of a network connection, the characteristics of a user accessing the webpage, or the characteristics of the content included in the webpage. In some cases, different elements of a user interface may be generated by different users, sometimes without the knowledge of other users. In such cases, when a user attempts to create or modify a user interface element, this action may conflict with an existing element generated by another user. Resolution of such conflicts may be difficult in cases where users responsible for existing elements and the goals or rationales associated with the existing elements are not known to a user attempting to modify a user interface.
While implementations are described in this disclosure by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations are not limited to the examples or figures described. It should be understood that the figures and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used in this disclosure are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to) rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include", "including", and "includes" mean "including, but not limited to".

System for federated generation of user interfaces from a set of rules


The preferred embodiment includes a method and apparatus for generating a comma code. A data word having a value m is received. A binary storage apparatus receives the data value. A storage apparatus is coupled to the output of the address calculator. The storage apparatus includes a plurality of single bit storage elements that are arranged to provide an M bit output. Each single bit storage element is initialized to a first value. The address calculator calculates the appropriate single bit storage element to be selectively inverted.

Variable length codes are well known. Such codes, like the Huffman code, are often used because under certain circumstances, they allow the same amount of information found in fixed length codes to be coded to a fewer number of bits. Although related to Huffman codes, the variable length code generated according to the method and apparatus taught in this disclosure is called a comma code because each code word ends with the same terminating bit, such as a "1". The comma code for the integer m consists of m zeros followed by a "1". Thus, the code word for the data value m=5 would be 00001 (five "0" s followed by the terminating "1"). The total length of the comma code word corresponding to integer m is therefore m+1.
One data compression scheme, called the Rice Algorithm, uses this code extensively and calls it the "Fundamental Sequence." The advantage of using a comma code over a typical Huffman code is the comma code can be easily generated without the use of look up tables.
A prior system for generating a comma code utilizes linear shift registers and control logic. FIG. 1a is a block diagram illustrating the general configuration of such a method. A control circuit 20 is coupled to receive and transmit data from an input buffer 22. The control circuit 20 is also coupled to provide a serial data stream to an m bit serial shift register 24. The shift register 24 can provide a serial or parallel data output.
The control circuit 20 receives an input value m from the input buffer 22. The control circuit 20 then fills the shift register 24 with m zeros followed by a "1". Only then is the control circuit ready strobe in another value.
FIG. 1b provides an example in which the following bit pattern 0110 is input into the serial input of the shift register 24. The bit pattern can be viewed as containing two comma code words, "01" and "1", followed by the start of another code word that begins with a "0". Four clock cycles later the 4 bit pattern fills up the register and can be output as a 4 bit parallel output. An N bit code string requires N clock cycles to generate.
Using a linear shift register to create a comma code has several disadvantages. Besides being slow, the variable rate at which code words are generated makes it difficult to implement in a real time system. If data were input at a constant rate, a system would either have a maximum sized code word assigned and have the system specifically designed to be able to operate upon that sized code word (in order to handle a data stream at a sustained rate) or use a large input buffer to "average-out" the time required for the various code lengths. Designing for the longest code word slows the system down, while including an input buffer adds complexity to a system.


A strap feeding device includes first driving and driven rollers, second driving and driven rollers, an actuating unit, and a detecting unit. The actuating unit can move the second driving roller between a released position, where the second driven roller is spaced apart from the second driving roller, and a contact, where the second driven roller contacts the second driving roller and is co-rotatable with the second driving roller to clamp and move a strap. The control device controls rotation of the first and second driving rollers to feed and return the strap, detects rotation of the first driven roller, and controls the actuating unit to move the second driven roller to the contact and released positions.

A conventional feeding device for a strapping machine disclosed in Taiwanese Invention Patent No. 453147 includes a driving roller, a driven roller, a support arm, a lever and a spring. The driving roller cooperates with the driven roller to clamp the strap therebetween so as to feed and return the strap. The driven roller is mounted on the support arm which abuts against one end of the spring. The lever is driven by a cam of a transmission device of the strapping machine to compress the spring such that the support arm is driven by the spring to move the driven roller toward the driving roller so as to clamp the strap between the driving roller and the driven roller. However, the strap may drop down by gravity during a strap returning action.

Strap feeding device for strapping machine


There is disclosed herein programmable delay lines and control methods having glitch suppression. In particular, the programmable delay lines may include latches that are triggered based on a trigger event of an input signal (which is often an edge of the input signal). The programmable delay lines may include one or more latches coupled between capacitor and transistor subassemblies and the latches, where the latches cause a delay between the time the trigger event arrives at the capacitor and transistor subassemblies and the latches. The delay can prevent the latches from updating at the same time that the edge of the input signal arrives at the capacitor and transistor subassemblies, which can suppress glitches that can causes errors in operation.

Delay lines have been implemented in many circuits, including time-interleaved quantizers. In particular, delay lines may be utilized for shifting the phase of signals on the delay line. In some instances, the delay lines may be utilized for synchronization of signals, and/or setting phase differences between signals within a circuit. Programmable delay lines have been implemented in circuits, although glitches can occur as the amount of delay is adjusted.

Programmable delay line with glitch suppression


An attachment system for attaching shoes having toe and heel areas to a wide variety of sports equipment, in particular to a rowing boat or a rowing machine. The system includes an attachment device that is connected to or otherwise a part of the equipment, and a shoe block assembly that accepts the attachment device. These parts generally removably lock together for use of the equipment, which provides users custom features, better control over the force applied to the equipment via the shoe, and automatic emergency functions. An adjustment device generally fits into the shoe block assembly and is fixed to the shoe block assembly with screws or any other attachment methods, or could be formed as a part of the shoe block assembly, and the shoe block assembly is removably attachable to the attachment device by magnetic force or non-magnetic devices.

1. Field
The present application relates to attachment systems for attaching shoes to a wide variety of sports equipment.
Some items of sports equipment like indoor rowing machines, cycling machines and recreational sports rowing boats use straps for removably attaching sports shoes during use. Competition rowing boats generally have permanently attached shoes. A firm attachment offers better control over the piece of equipment, but safety issues can arise as a result. Examples for such devices are described in US 2009/0241827 A1 showing a rowing boat footrest assembly; or in US 2005/0188567 A1, disclosing a fastening device for bicycle pedals.
Although the attachment system will be discussed herein for use with rowing boats, to aid the reader, it is understood that the attachment system can be used with other types of recreational and/or sporting equipment and is therefore not limited to the specific uses discussed herein. I will describe that application in detail. In most cases this description will cover indoor rowing machines, which require a similar bodily movement for their operation.
2. Related Art
Others have attempted to invent ways for removably attaching shoes to sports equipment, but their inventions had shortcomings due to one or more of the following reasons:
They were cumbersome.
They introduced new and undesirable directional movement of the feet.
They were not easy to retrofit to existing sporting equipment.
They were designed for use with conventional sports shoes.
The safety features portrayed were unconvincing.
None of them has gained acceptance in the marketplace.
Accordingly, there is a need for shoe attachment systems which do not exhibit one or more of the noted shortcomings.


A method for producing a polarizing element includes: forming particulate materials of a metal halide on a glass substrate; forming a protective film that covers the particulate materials in a non-plasma environment; stretching the particulate materials by heating and stretching the glass substrate; and forming acicular metal particles by reducing the metal halide constituting the stretched particulate materials.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for producing a polarizing element.
2. Related Art
As one type of polarizing element, a polarizing glass is known. A polarizing glass can be composed only of an inorganic substance, and therefore, as compared with a polarizing plate containing an organic substance, the deterioration thereof due to light is significantly less. Therefore, a polarizing glass has drawn attention as an effective optical device in a liquid crystal projector whose brightness has been enhanced recently.
As a general polarizing glass, those described in JP-A-56-169140 are known, and a method for producing such a polarizing glass is as follows.
(1) A glass product having a desired shape is produced from a composition containing silver and at least one halide selected from the group consisting of chlorides, bromides, and iodides.
(2) The produced glass product is heated to a temperature which is higher than the strain point but not higher than the softening point of the glass by about 50° C. for a period of time sufficient to produce crystals of AgCl, AgBr, or AgI in the glass product, whereby a crystal-containing product is produced.
(3) The resulting crystal-containing product is stretched under stress at a temperature which is higher than the annealing point but lower than a temperature at which the glass has a viscosity of about 108 poises so that the crystals are stretched to have an aspect ratio of at least 5:1.
(4) The stretched product is exposed to a reducing atmosphere at a temperature which is higher than about 250° C. but not higher than the annealing point of the glass by about 25° C. for a period of time sufficient to develop a chemically reduced surface layer on the product. By this process, at least a portion of the stretched silver halide particles are reduced to elemental silver.
According to the production method described in JP-A-56-169140, the halide deposits uniformly in the glass product, however, in the reducing step, only the halide in the surface layer of the glass product can be reduced, and therefore, the halide remains in a central portion in the thickness direction of the glass product. Due to this, the transmittance of the polarizing element is decreased.


Systems and methods of performing a simplified data transfer are provided. For example, a simplified data transfer system may include two or more devices configured to perform a simplified data transfer. The first device may be configured to save and transfer data associated with applications open on the first device. When the second device initiates communication, the first device may automatically send the open application data to the second device.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to transferring information between electronic devices and, more particularly, to transferring information via one or more electronic devices in a simplified manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Electronic devices may be capable of running applications for displaying and manipulating data. As such, a first electronic device may be able to display, manipulate, or store data from a second electronic device, provided that the data is transferred from the second device to the first device. Though a user may have access to two similarly capable electronic devices, sharing data between the two devices may involve a number of steps, each of which may vary in difficulty. The process of transferring data between the devices may include many user decisions, such as which data to save, where the data is saved, which formats each device may be capable of processing, how to interconnect the devices for a most effective data transfer, etc. Such complexity may increase the difficulty or time spent transferring data between two electronic devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for simplified data transfer


A service channel modem is adapted to determine optical properties of an optical fiber link connecting two nodes. The optical service channel (OSC) communicates an optical reference parameter over the fiber link. An optical parameter of the OSC transmitted over the fiber link is measured. By recovering the optical reference parameter from the OSC and using the measured optical parameter, certain optical properties may be determined including link loss, multi-path interference, and chromatic dispersion. When measuring chromatic dispersion, one of the fiber links serves as a synchronization reference and the other is the link being measured.

1. Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to measuring, in situ, optical parameters using an optical supervisory channel. More particularly, the invention relates to adapting conventional service channel modems, or other devices handling an optical supervisory channel, to measure optical parameters such as chromatic dispersion, link loss, and multi-path interference.
2. Description of Related Art
Fiber-optic communication networks are experiencing rapidly increasing deployment. Especially rapid is the growth of segments that carry multi-gigabit digital data on multiple wavelengths over a single fiber strand. There are two major areas that have seen substantial increases in performance.
The first area is the rapidly increasing bit-rate of a single communication channel. While several years ago 622 Mbps and 2.5 Gbps rates were dominant, current networks are being deployed with 10 GBps data rates, and new network plans using 40 Gbps data rates are being proposed. When modulated onto an optical carrier, the optical spectrum is broadened in linear proportion to the bit-rate. The interaction of the broadened optical spectrum with wavelength-dependant group velocity (chromatic dispersion) in the fiber introduces signal distortions.
The amount of tolerable distortion is inversely proportional to the bit-rate. Thus, the combination of increasing spectral broadening and decreasing distortion tolerance makes the overall propagation penalty proportional to the square of bit-rate. For example, this results in a 10 Gbps signal being 16 times less tolerant to dispersion than 2.5 Gbps signal, while having only 4 times the bit-rate. Dispersion accumulates linearly with propagation distance in the fiber, and typical dispersion-limited propagation distances in standard single-mode fiber (SMF-28 or equivalent) are xcx9c1000 km at 2.5 Gbps, 60 km at 10 Gbps, and only xcx9c4 km at 40 Gbps. Clearly, accurate dispersion measurement is critical for high data rate fiber-optic system deployment. The above linear effect is only sensitive to the total amount of dispersion between the transmitter and receiver.
Second, optical signals experience certain nonlinear interactions when propagating along the optical fiber. These effects, such as self-phase modulation, cross-phase modulation, four-wave mixing, etc also depend on the chromatic dispersion in the optical fiber. In contrast to the linear effects, the nonlinear effects are sensitive to the actual distribution of dispersion values along the optical fiber link (not just total dispersion).
As metropolitan fiber optic networks increase in capacity, they also tend to shift to carrying signals with ever increasing data rates. Further, metropolitan networks tend to have architectures with multiple optical signal add/drop points along the same path. Thus, the specific routes taken by the different WDM signals are varied which leads to variations in the link loss, multi-path interference (MPI) and chromatic dispersion experienced by the different WDM signals as they traverse diverse paths. Thus, accurate measurement of optical properties such as link loss, MPI and chromatic dispersion is important particularly measurements for each fiber-optic segment (optical link) between the add/drop points.
Several methods exist for dealing with dispersion measurements. One relies on using a stand-alone dispersion measurement test-set to measure each fiber-optic link before optical data signals are connected to it. Besides requiring a separate instrument, this makes real-time measurements on an installed system impossible. After the system is installed a new measurement cannot be made. Thus, if the original measurement data is lost or inaccurate the system performance will suffer and cannot be corrected.
Another conventional dispersion measuring method relies on utilizing a subcarrier signal that is carried along with the WDM channels between the data transmitter and receiver. This method assumes that such signals are available between all the points that need to be measured, which is not true in most cases. Further, it assumes that the system is fully functional and able to carry data which is also not true in a case of a new installation.
Another problem that is potentially damaging to fiber-optic communication systems is multi-path interference. This problem arises where there are two or more optical reflections along the optical fiber link. Signals arising at these reflections have a delayed arrival time at the receiver with respect to the main signal, giving rise to interferometric noise and additional performance penalties.

Optical supervisory channel apparatus and method for measuring optical properties


A monochrome light emitting display device and a method for fabricating the same are disclosed, in which a pixel structure of a monochrome light emitting display device is changed to improve a contrast ratio and resolution and at the same time color shift is prevented from occurring, so as to display clearer image. The monochrome light emitting display device comprises a display panel having unit pixels of first and second sub-pixels arranged in a matrix arrangement to display a monochrome image; gate and data drivers respectively driving gate lines and data lines of the display panel; and a timing controller aligning externally input RGB data to be suitable for driving of the display panel to supply the RGB data to the data driver and generating data and gate control signals to control the data and gate drivers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a light emitting display device, and more particularly, to a monochrome light emitting display device and a method for fabricating the same, in which a pixel structure of a monochrome light emitting display device is changed to improve a contrast ratio and resolution and at the same time color shift is prevented from occurring to display clearer image.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, as image display devices used as monitors for personal computers, personal digital assistants, and various information devices, light weight and thin flat panel display devices are used mostly. Examples of the flat panel display devices include liquid crystal display devices, light emitting display devices, plasma display panels, field emission display devices, and so on.
Of the flat display devices, the light emitting display device has a great contrast ratio owing to use of a light emitting display panel which emits a light for itself, enables fabrication of an super thin display device, and is easy to produce a motion picture owing to a response time period of a few microseconds μs.
Generally, a light emitting display panel for displaying color images includes three sub-pixels for displaying red, green, and blue, as one unit pixel. In this case, red, green or blue color filter is respectively formed in each sub-pixel, whereby a color image is displayed.
Although medical devices, illuminators using surface light sources, guide information display devices and display devices for black-and-white advertisement according to the related art have not been required to display color images, a monochrome light emitting display panel has not been commercially used. For this reason, a mono liquid crystal display device from which red, green and blue color filters are removed has been used.
Particularly, despite the fact that medical devices or guide information display devices should display images of high resolution, high luminance and high picture quality, a liquid crystal display device from which red, green and blue color filters are removed has been used. For this reason, problems have occurred in that a contrast ratio of the liquid crystal display device is deteriorated and color shift is caused.

Monochrome light emitting display device and method for fabricating the same


Techniques are provided for estimation of the chromatic dispersion (CD) in an optical signal received by an optical receiver. The techniques involve iteratively adjusting dispersion compensation coefficients of one or more filters configured to compensate for the CD in the received optical signal. At each iteration of the dispersion compensation coefficient adjustment, electrical domain signals are filtered to generate digitally-filtered signals. The electrical domain signals are generated based on the received optical signal. Also at each iteration of the dispersion compensation coefficient adjustment, an amplitude histogram of the digitally-filtered signals is generated. The amplitude histograms generated at each iteration are evaluated to generate an estimate of the chromatic dispersion in the received optical signal.

Optical communication involves the transmission of data in which light is used as the transmission medium. An optical communication system comprises an optical transmitter, a channel (e.g., an optical fiber), and an optical receiver. The optical transmitter encodes data onto an optical signal (light wave), the channel carries the optical signal from the transmitter to the receiver, and the receiver extracts the data from the received optical signal.
One specific type of optical communication is coherent optical communication. In coherent optical communication, the transmitter encodes the data onto the electrical field of the optical signal. At the receiver, the data is extracted through direct measurement of the complex electrical field.

Histogram-based chromatic dispersion estimation


A method of water supply for a building construction capable of preventing the deterioration of the water quality even when the water is not extracted over an extended period of time. The method includes the steps of: receiving water externally supplied to the building construction by a receiving reservoir; reserving the water received by the receiving reservoir by an upper reservoir located above the receiving reservoir; supplying the water through the water supply pipes leading the water from the upper reservoir to individual faucets located between the receiving reservoir and the upper reservoir from which the water can be extracted; and circulating the water in the water supply pipes by returning the water back to one of the receiving reservoir and the upper reservoir. The system performing this method is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a system of supplying water in a building construction incorporating a lower reservoir for receiving the external water supply and an upper reservoir for distributing the water in the building construction.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, a water supply system in a building construction has a structure such as that shown in FIG. 1.
In this conventional water supply system in a building construction, there is a receiving reservoir 101 for receiving water from an external water supply, which is usually located at a basement floor. The water from the external water supply will be deposited into the receiving reservoir through a water gauge 102 and a water level valve 103. In addition, there is also an upper reservoir 105 usually at a roof floor into which the water deposited in the receiving reservoir 101 will be pumped by the water pump 104 and reserved. The water reserved in the upper reservoir 105 will be led by gravity to individual water faucets 106 provided at each floor, from which the water can be extracted.
However, in such a conventional water supply system in a building construction, when the water is not extracted from the individual water faucets 106 over an extended period of time, such as a circumstance encountered by a school building during a recess period, the water will be maintained completely still in the system, so that the quality of water will be deteriorated as a consequence of the de-activation of the water and the rusting of the pipes.

Method and system of water supply for a building construction


The present disclosure envisages a flip cover assembly for an electrical plug-receptacle pair (210-210). The flip cover assembly comprises a flip cover (230), a first coupling element (234) and a second coupling element (240). The first coupling element (234) is formed integral with the flip cover (230). The second coupling element (234) is formed integral with the receptacle (220). The flip cover (230) is hinged to the receptacle by coupling the first coupling element (234) and the second coupling element (240). A cam (238) is configured on the first coupling element (234) to provide a moment of resistance to the rotation of the flip cover (230) from an open state to a closed state and thereby to prevent immediate closing of the flip cover (230). The flip cover assembly of the present disclosure facilitates convenient insertion of a plug in a corresponding receptacle.

The background information herein below relates to the present disclosure but is not necessarily prior art.
Flip covers for receptacles of an electrical plug-receptacle pair are hingeably attached at the entry portion. On opening a flip cover, a plug is allowed to engage and establish electrical connection within the receptacle. Usually, the plug is configured at the end of a cable. The receptacle may be fixedly mounted on a wall or may be configured at an end of a cable. Flip covers protect the electrical terminals of the receptacles from entry of water and dust when the receptacles are not in use.
While engaging the plug with the receptacle, the flip cover needs to be lifted upwards by one hand and the other hand is engaged in insertion of the mating plug. This method involves use of both hands for the operation thus making it difficult to insert the plug using one hand as the other hand is engaged in holding the flip cover upwards to prevent the cover from hindering the insertion of the plug into the receptacle. Also, alignment of electrical terminals becomes difficult in case of heavier plugs.
Hence, there is a need of a flip cover for a receptacle in an electrical plug-receptacle pair which ameliorates the aforementioned issues.

Flip cover assembly for an electrical plug-receptacle pair