Provided is a microscope apparatus including a macro-image, acquisition section that acquires a macro image of a glass slide having a specimen mounted thereon; an extraction section that extracts the specimen in the acquired macro image; a block setting section that sets, when the extracted specimen is scattered to form a plurality of lumps, a plurality of blocks that include the lumps of the specimen; an area dividing section that divides an area that includes the specimen in each of the blocks into a plurality of small regions; and a micro-image acquisition section that acquires, for each of the small regions, a micro image while performing an automatic focusing operation for the specimen in the small region, in which the micro-image acquisition section searches for an autofocusing in-focus position in each of the blocks set by the block setting section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microscope apparatus and an image acquisition method.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally known is a microscope that acquires a macro image of a specimen on a glass slide, extracts an area of the specimen in the macro image, divides the area into a plurality of small regions, and acquires high-resolution micro images corresponding to the small regions (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2007-233093, for example) In this microscope, it is possible to connect the acquired micro images to build a so-called virtual slide in which the entire specimen can be observed with high resolution.
Furthermore, in this microscope, when the micro images are acquired while an in-focus position for the specimen on the glass slide is continuously searched for through automatic focusing, the automated focusing range is limited to a fixed range in order to avoid a failure in automatic focusing. When the in-focus position is out of the fixed range, the automatic focusing operation is stopped.
Specifically, when the specimen exists continuously on the glass slide, the in-focus position is gradually changed in the automatic focusing range, and thus, the in-focus state can always be maintained. However, in some cases, the specimen is scattered on the glass slide, forming a plurality of islands. If there is a difference exceeding the automatic focusing range in the height of the specimen between the islands, due to a fluctuation in the thickness of the glass slide, when the micro-image acquisition region is changed from one island to another island, automatic focusing may result in failure, causing the image to be out of focus and blurred.

Microscope apparatus and method for image acquisition of specimen slides having scattered specimens


The present invention relates to synthetic processes useful in the preparation of fluorinated 4-azasteroid derivatives that modulate androgen receptors and have application in the treatment of conditions caused by androgen deficiency or androgen receptor hyperactivity, such as osteoporosis, periodontal disease, bone fracture, frailty, erectile dysfunction, loss of libido, androgen-dependent cancers and sarcopenia. The present invention also encompasses intermediates useful in the disclosed synthetic processes and the methods of their preparation.

The androgen receptor (AR) belongs to the superfamily of steroid/thyroid hormone nuclear receptors, whose other members include the estrogen receptor (ER), the progesterone receptor (PR), the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). The AR is expressed in numerous tissues of the body and is the receptor through which the physiological, as well as the pathophysiological, effects of endogenous androgen ligands, such as testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), are expressed. A compound that binds to the AR and mimics the effects of an endogenous AR ligand is referred to as an AR agonist, whereas a compound that inhibits the effects of an endogenous AR ligand is termed an AR antagonist.
The therapeutic usefulness of compounds that modulate AR, either as antagonists or as agonists, has been established by clinical studies involving a variety of disorders in both men and women. In men, drugs targeting the AR have found application in conditions related to reproductive disorders and primary or secondary male hypogonadism. A number of AR agonists, both naturally occurring and synthetic, have been clinically investigated for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, such as bone disease, hematopoietic disorders, neuromuscular disease, rheumatological disease, and wasting disease, as well as part of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in cases of female androgen deficiency. In addition, AR antagonists, such as flutamide and bicalutamide, have been used to treat prostate cancer.
The beneficial effects of androgens on bone in postmenopausal osteoporosis have been documented in studies using combined testosterone and estrogen administration [Hofbauer, et al., "Androgen effects on bone metabolism: recent progress and controversies," Eur. J. Endocrinol. 140: 271-286 (1999)]. It is also well established that androgens play an important role in bone metabolism in men, which parallels the role of estrogens in women [Anderson, et al., "Androgen supplementation in eugonadal men with osteoporosis—effects of six months of treatment on bone mineral density and cardiovascular risk factors," Bone, 18: 171-177 (1996)]. The delitirous effects of androgen deprivation are exemplified in a study of men with stage D prostate cancer. In this study, osteopenia (50% vs. 38%) and osteoporosis (38% vs. 25%) were more conunon in men who had undergone androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for greater than one year than the patients who had not undergone ADT [Wei, et al., "Androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer results in significant loss of bone density," Urology, 54: 607-611 (1999)].
AR antagonists have also been found useful in the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome in postmenopausal women [see C. A. Eagleson, et al., "Polycystic ovarian syndrome: evidence that flutamide restores sensitivity of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone pulse generator to inhibition by estradiol and progesterone," J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 85: 4047-4052 (2000) and E. Diamanti-Kandarakis, "The Effect of a Pure Antiandrogen Receptor Blocker, Flutamide, on the Lipid Profile in the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome," Int. J. Endocrinol. Metab., 83: 2699-2705 (1998).] Additional uses and rationales for the development of androgen receptor modulators may be found in L. Zhi and E. Martinborough in Ann. Rep. Med. Chem. 36: 169-180 (2001). The relationship between molecular structure and the antagonistic or agonistic activity of non-steroidal AR compounds has also been the subject of numerous publications, such as J. P. Edwards, "New Nonsteroidal Androgen Receptor Modulators Based on 4-(Trifluoromethyl)-2(1H)-Pyrrolidino[3,2-g]quinolinone," Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 8: 745-750 (1998) and in L. Zhi et al., "Switching Androgen Receptor Antagonists to Agonists by Modifying C-ring Substituents on Piperidino[3,4-g]quinolinone," Bioore. Med. Chem. Lett., 9: 1009-1012 (1999).
The established clinical usefulness makes the AR compounds highly desireable targets. A need therefore exists for chemical processes that can be used to make naturally occurring and synthetic AR-compounds. The present invention addresses this need.
These compounds are effective as androgen receptor agonists and are particularly effective as selective androgen receptor agonists (SARMs). They are therefore useful for the treatment of conditions caused by androgen deficiency or which can be ameliorated by androgen administration.
International application WO03/077919, published on Sep. 25, 2003, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety, describes fluorinated 4-azasteroidal derivatives that are useful in the enhancement of weakened muscle tone and the treatment of conditions caused by androgen deficiency or which can be ameliorated by androgen administration, including osteoporosis, osteopenia, glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, periodontal disease, bone fracture, bone damage following bone reconstructive surgery, sarcopenia, frailty, aging skin, male hypogonadism, postmenopausal symptoms in women, atherosclerosis, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, obesity, aplastic anemia and other hematopoietic disorders, inflammatory arthritis and joint repair, HIV-wasting, prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), abdominal adiposity, metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes, cancer cachexia, Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophies, cognitive decline, sexual dysfunction, sleep apnea, depression, premature ovarian failure, and autoimmune disease, alone or in combination with other active agents.

Process for making fluorinated 4-azasteroid derivatives


The invention relates to novel compounds of the formula (I)

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel phenyl-substituted bicyclooctane-1,3-dione derivatives, to a plurality of processes for their preparation and to their use as herbicides and/or pesticides.
2. Description of Related Art
Moreover, the invention relates to novel selective herbicidal active compound combinations comprising, firstly, phenyl-substituted bicyclooctane-1,3-dione derivates and, secondly, at least one crop plant compatibility-improving compound, which combinations can be used with particularly good results for the selective control of weeds and various crops of useful plants.
The present invention furthermore relates to increasing the activity of crop protection compositions comprising in particular phenyl-substituted bicyclooctane-1,3-dione derivates by adding ammonium salts or phosphonium salts and, if appropriate, penetrants, to the corresponding compositions, to processes for their preparation and to their use in crop protection as insecticides and/or for preventing unwanted plant growth.
It is known that certain substituted 2-arylcyclopentanediones have herbicidal, insecticidal and acaricidal properties (cf., for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,283,348; 4,338,122; 4,436,666; 4,526,723; 4,551,547; 4,632,698; WO 96/01 798; WO 96/03 366, WO 97/14 667 and also WO 98/39281, WO 99/43649, WO99/48869, WO 99/55673, WO 01/17972, WO 01/74770, WO 03/062244, WO 04/080962, WO04/111042, WO05/092897, WO06/029799, WO07/080,066, WO07/096,058, WO 09/019,005, WO 09/019,015, WO 10/000,773, WO 10/081,894, WO 10/089,210 and WO 10/040,460). Also known are compounds which are substituted in a similar way: 3-hydroxy-5,5-dimethyl-2-phenylcyclopent-2-en-1-one from the publication Micklefield et. al., Tetrahedron, (1992), 7519-26 and the natural product Involution (−)-cis-5-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,4-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-cyclopent-2-enone from the publication Edwards et al., J. Chem. Soc. S, (1967), 405-9. An insecticidal or acaricidal action is not described. Moreover, 2-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-1,3-indanedione is known from the publication J. Economic Entomology, 66 (1973), 584 and the laid-open publication DE-A 2 361 084 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,006), with herbicidal and acaricidal actions being stated.
However, in particular at low application rates and concentrations, the activity and activity spectrum of these compounds is not always fully satisfactory. Furthermore, the compatibility of these compounds with plants is not always sufficient.

Abstract: in which R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, Y, Q and G have the meanings given above,to a plurality of processes and intermediates for their preparation and to their use as herbicides and/or pesticides.

Abstract: Moreover, the invention relates to selective herbicidal compositions comprising, firstly, the phenyl-substituted bicyclooctane-1,3-dione derivates and, secondly, a crop plant compatibility-improving compound.

Abstract: The present invention furthermore relates to increasing the activity of crop protection compositions comprising in particular phenyl-substituted bicyclooctane-1,3-dione derivates by adding ammonium salts or phosphonium salts and, if appropriate, penetrants, to the corresponding compositions, to processes for their preparation and to their use in crop protection as pesticides and/or for preventing unwanted plant growth.


Biological signals detected by biological signal detecting units put on a plurality of persons to be monitored are transmitted to a plurality of wristwatches. The transmitted biological signals and ID code data corresponding to the biological signals are transmitted in the form of radio signals. A receiver unit receives the biological signals and the ID code data transmitted from the wristwatches and sends them to a monitor unit. The monitor unit displays the transmitted biological signals in a one-to-one correspondence with the ID code data, Upon detecting an abnormality in a given biological signal, the monitor unit generates an alarm sound. If a corresponding person to be monitored determines that the alarm sound is erroneously generated, he or she stops the alarm sound by manipulating a switch. If the person determines that the alarm sound is not a false alarm, his or her wristwatch transmits a contact designation signal and ID code data by a radio signal. On the basis of the contact designation signal and the ID code data, the receiver unit automatically activates an auto-dialing unit to inform the third person of the state of emergency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitor system capable of monitoring signals or information (to be referred to as biological signals or biological information hereinafter) indicating conditions of a living body, such as an electrocardiogram waveform, a heart rate, and a blood pressure, of a person (object) to be monitored, e.g., a patient, and a biological signal transmitter used in this system.
2. Description of the Related Art
For patients who take exercises for rehabilitation or who get therapeutic exercises, it is necessary to monitor a biological signal or biological information, such as a heart rate, a pulse rate, or a blood pressure, during the exercises in order to exercise effectively and safely. This is also required for athletes who take hard exercises or people who get exercises for the purpose of promotion of health or physical fitness.
An ergometer is conventionally known as a device for this purpose. That is, a pulse rate sensor is put on an earlobe of a person to be monitored, and a change in a bloodstream or the like sensed by the pulse rate sensor is optically detected, thereby monitoring the pulse rate of the person during a so-called "aerobike" exercise. The ergometer thus evaluates the load of exercise on the person to be monitored or evaluates his or her physical strength.
This conventional ergometer, however, is generally so manufactured that a person to be monitored himself or herself monitors his or her own load of exercise or physical strength. Therefore, it is impossible for the third person, such as a doctor or a trainer, to simultaneously or individually monitor heart rates, blood pressures, or the like of a large number of persons to be monitored.

Monitor system and biological signal transmitter therefor


The present invention provides a method of testing for the presence of infectious disease agents or host genetic markers comprising applying a device comprising an absorbent and porous material onto the introitus of a female patient; encouraging air drying of at least a portion of the collected vaginal discharge while the device is proximate to the introitus; and determining the presence of infectious disease agents or host genetic markers in the at least partially dried vaginal discharge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of collection of clinical samples of biological fluids or body discharge. In particular, the invention relates to methods of collection, storage and transportation of vaginal discharge on a simple device, so as to maximize the specimen quantity and quality and to enable the detection of infectious disease agents or host genetic markers by nucleic acid amplification or other technologies.

Methods of collecting and transporting vaginal discharge for detection of infectious organisms and to facilitate cervical cancer screening


A wavelength conversion element includes a base plate and a plurality of wavelength conversion layers. The base plate has a plurality of wavelength conversion regions. The plurality of wavelength conversion layers are respectively disposed on the wavelength conversion regions. The wavelength conversion layers are sintered and connected together. The invention also provides a projection device having the wavelength conversion element and a manufacturing method of the wavelength conversion element. The wavelength conversion element of the invention can have good conversion efficiency and long service life, so that the projection device with the wavelength conversion element can provide a good image quality.

With the market's requirements for the brightness, color saturation, service life, non-toxic and environmental protection of projection devices, the types of light sources used in the projection devices have evolved from ultra-high pressure mercury lamps (UHP lamps), light emitting diodes (LEDs) to laser diodes (LDs).
Currently, red laser diodes and green laser diodes with high-brightness cost too much. Therefore, in order to reduce costs, blue laser diodes are usually adopted as the light sources for the projection devices. A wavelength conversion element is generally disposed on a transmission path of an excitation beam provided by the light source, so as to convert the excitation beam, such as a blue excitation beam, into another colored light, such as yellow light or green light, required to form a projection image.
The above-mentioned wavelength conversion element includes a base plate and a plurality of wavelength conversion layers, wherein the wavelength conversion layers are respectively attached to the base plate by an adhesive material. In general, a baking process will be performed after the wavelength conversion layers are attached to the base plate to cure the adhesive material. Since the coefficient of thermal expansion of the base plate is larger than the coefficient of thermal expansion of the wavelength conversion layers, when the baking process ends and the wavelength conversion element just returns to the room temperature environment, the volume of the base plate shrinks much faster than the volume of the wavelength conversion layers. As the volume of the base plate shrinks rapidly, the wavelength conversion layers press each other and crack, thereby affecting the product yield. To avoid the above problems, gaps will be left between the wavelength conversion layers when the wavelength conversion layers are attached.
However, when there are gaps between the wavelength conversion layers, the aforementioned adhesive material will overflow from the gaps before being cured and cover a part of the surface of the wavelength conversion layer. The overflowing adhesive material will be scorched and change color after being irradiated with the excitation beam for a long time, resulting in poor conversion efficiency of the wavelength conversion element. For example, a part of the excitation beam will be blocked by the scorched adhesive material, thus reducing the energy irradiated on the wavelength conversion layers, resulting in poor conversion efficiency. Therefore, the colored light required to form the projection image will have a problem of insufficient brightness, which result in deterioration of the image quality provided by the projection device. In addition, the overflowing adhesive material may deteriorate after being irradiated with the excitation beam for a long time, which causes the wavelength conversion layers to separate from the base plate and reduces the structural strength of the wavelength conversion element, results in reducing the service life of the wavelength conversion element.
The information disclosed in this "BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION" section is only for enhancement understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, the information disclosed in this "BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION" section does not mean that one or more problems to be solved by one or more embodiments of the invention were acknowledged by a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Wavelength conversion element and manufacturing method thereof, and projection device


Exercise apparatus has a pair of handles pivotally mounted on a frame and guiding respective user arm motions along swing paths obliquely approaching the sagittal plane of the user.

The invention relates to exercise apparatus, including exercise movement of the arms of the user in a swinging motion.
Exercise apparatus is known having a frame supporting a user for exercise movement including the arms of the user in a swinging motion forwardly from the sides of the user, e.g. aerobic equipment such as cross-trainers, steppers, elliptical trainers, and other cardiovascular equipment. The present invention arose during continuing development efforts toward improved motion, including a more natural biomechanical motion.

Exercise apparatus with biomechanical arm motion


A storage system and method for balanced quad-level cell (QLC) coding with margin for an internal data load (IDL) read are provided. In one example, an MLC-Fine programming approach uses a balanced 3-4-4-4 coding, where the data is encoded by assigning a unique binary sequence per state. The IDL read is supported by using a unique 3-4-4-4 coding that provides at least a three-state gap between the MLC states, while using the same ECC redundancy per page. This allows for a reduced write buffer by supporting the IDL read and provides a balanced bit error rate (BER) due to the balanced mapping.

When writing data to a non-volatile memory having a multi-level cell (MLC) configuration, the process is typically accomplished by storing each of the plurality of bits for a cell in random access memory (RAM) in the memory controller for all the cells in a complete wordline in the memory and then proceeding with a multiple-stage programming process for injecting charge into each multi-bit cell to achieve the programmed state desired for that cell. Usually, the multi-stage programming involves initially programming part of the states with widened voltage distributions (i.e., the "Foggy" programming step), followed by final programming of all the states with tight voltage distribution (i.e., the "Fine" programming step). As part of this multiple-step programming process, and for each of the multiple programming steps, memory in the controller can store a copy of all the data bits to be programmed in a cell and process the error correction code (ECC) bits for the data. In case that the data programmed at the Foggy programming step may be read from the memory array without errors or be reliably decoded within the memory die for enabling the following Fine programming step, the Foggy data does not need to be stored aside temporarily in the memory controller until the Fine step, and the memory buffer within the memory controller may be reduced in size.

Storage system and method for balanced quad-level cell (QLC) coding with margin for an internal data load (IDL) read


Described herein are specific CHO genomic sites for targeted insertion of exogenous genes. The sites are located within a sequence selected from SEQ ID NOs: 1-16.

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are commonly used for producing therapeutic proteins with proper posttranslational modifications such as glycosylation. Traditional random integration cell line development (CLD) method for generating high-producer cells is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process that requires screening of many cells. A basic goal in the development of cell lines for protein expression is to express the protein with high productivity and stability over many generations. Targeted integration (TI) of a transgene into an active and stable chromosomal region is desired for stable expression of recombinant proteins. Ideally, the expression titer and stability of a target integrated cell line should depend mostly on the integration site. Hence, it would only require screening hundreds of cells for high productive clones by using TI-CLD strategy.

Targeted integration sites in Chinese hamster ovary cell genome


Provided is an image forming apparatus capable of changing a guidance screen from a terminal. An instruction acquiring unit acquires an instruction to change a guidance screen stored in a storage unit. A change acquiring unit acquires change data corresponding to the instruction acquired by the instruction acquiring unit from an external terminal 2. A change application unit applies the change data acquired by the change acquiring unit to screen data of the guidance screen. A display unit displays the screen data of the guidance screen to which the change data is applied by the change application unit.

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of displaying a guidance screen.
There are image forming apparatuses such as multifunctional peripherals (MFP) and the like capable of printing a document or an image.
Some of these image forming apparatuses are capable of displaying an operation guidance screen on an operation panel unit.
As a typical technology, an image forming apparatus is disclosed in which operation guidance information for displaying a guidance screen is stored in a storage unit. In this image forming apparatus, when text information is inputted on an operation panel unit, the inputted text information is correlated with the operation guidance information and stored.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method capable of changing guidance screen from terminal


The present invention relates to a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery in which a spirally coiled battery element obtained by spirally coiling an anode (3) and a cathode (2) through a separator (4) is accommodated in a battery can (5) filled with a non-aqueous electrolyte. A fluoride MFn (M indicates at least one metal selected from between Cu, Ni, Ag, Ti, Sn and Cr, and n is an integer.) is included in the anode before an initial charging operation, and assuming that the initial charging capacity of the battery is Q [mAh] and a Faraday constant is F [C/mol], an amount m [mol] of the fluoride MFn included in the anode is located within a range represented by the following expression0.0036 Q/nF≦m≦0.36 Q/nF.

In recent years, various kinds of portable electronic devices are developed and batteries are used as power sources of these electronic devices. For the portable electronic devices, compact and light forms are demanded. For the batteries employed for these devices, compact and light forms are also demanded.
In the electronic devices including the portable electronic devices, the batteries high in their degree of freedom in forms are required so that accommodation spaces may be efficiently used. As a battery which satisfies such a demand, a lithium secondary battery high in its energy density and output density or a lithium-ion secondary battery using a carbon material capable of reversibly doping and dedoping lithium ions for an anode are proposed. Particularly, the lithium-ion secondary battery has been widely put to practical use and widely employed as power sources of portable electronic devices such as camcorders, note book type personal computers, portable telephones, etc.
The lithium secondary battery and the lithium-ion secondary battery have a problem that a discharging capacity is gradually reduced due to the repetition of charging and discharging operations. This phenomenon may sometimes result from the deterioration of performances of materials forming the battery such as a cathode material, a conductive agent, a binding agent, an electrolyte, etc., however, this phenomenon substantially results from a reaction of an anode and an electrolyte. Since the anode serves as a powerful reducing agent under its charged state, the anode is extremely apt to react with the electrolyte. When the anode in its charged state reacts with the electrolyte, the anode is considered to generate a self-discharge. As a result, a difference in depth of charge arises between the anode and the cathode. Since either the cathode or the anode cannot be charged and discharged in the battery, the difference in depth of charge between the anode and the cathode causes the decrease of capacity that cannot be recovered. When the anode reacts with the electrolyte, the anode may be denatured or disintegrated to be deactivated so that the capacity may be possibly decreased.
The above-described reaction of the anode with the electrolyte is suppressed by a passive film formed on the surface of the anode due to a reductive decomposition of the electrolyte upon charging. The formation of the film is accompanied with the self-discharge of the anode as described above. The formed film likewise increases the internal resistance of the battery. That is, when the film is excessively formed, the energy density and the output density are deteriorated. On the contrary, when the film is insufficiently formed, the deterioration of charging and discharging cyclic characteristics cannot be adequately suppressed. Accordingly, in order to make the high energy density and the output density compatible with the excellent charging and discharging cyclic characteristics, a film of good quality needs to be formed as low as possible as required.

Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery


A glass or ceramic plate, which may be foamed glass or ceramic plate, is reinforced by incorporating therein a thin reinforcement layer in which fibrous or flaky pieces of an inorganic heat-resistant reinforcing material such as, e.g., steel wire pieces 3 to 50 mm in length are scattered so as to be two-dimensionally randomly oriented. The reinforcement layer is parallel to two opposite major surfaces of the plate, and this layer is either a buried layer or a surface layer. The plate may have a plurality of reinforcement layers which are distant from each other. In any case the reinforcing material exists only in the reinforcement layer(s). The glass or ceramic plate can be produced by the steps of layering a particulate material of the glass or ceramic on a conveyor belt made of a heat-resistant material, scattering fibrous or flaky pieces of a reinforcing material on the surface of the layer of the particulate material, overlaying that surface with the particulate material if need be, and firing the material on the conveyor belt in a furnace. =

This invention relates to a glass or ceramic block or plate which is reinforced with pieces of an inorganic fibrous or flaky material and a method of producing same. The reinforced glass or ceramic plate is useful as a building or construction material.
It is known to produce a reinforced glass or ceramic block by dispersing pieces of an inorganic fibrous material over the entire volume of the block. For example, JP-A No. 60-36384 shows a foamed glass or ceramic block with pieces of a carbon fiber or a ceramic fiber dispersed therein.
In practice, however, it is difficult to uniformly disperse a fibrous reinforcing material in a glass or ceramic matrix. It is difficult to uniformly mix the reinforcing material, which is in the form of elongate pieces usually longer than 5 mm, with powdery or granular materials of the glass or ceramic primarily because the reinforcing material is very different from the particles or granules of the basic materials in shape, size and specific gravity. Another obstacle to uniform mixing is partial tangling of the elongate pieces of the reinforcing material. Also in mixing the reinforcing material with a melt of a glass, uniform mixing is difficult because of the difference in specific gravity and partial tangling of the elongate pieces of the reinforcing material. Consequently, the fibrous reinforcing material is often dispersed unevenly in the resultant glass or ceramic block such that in some sections of the block the reinforcing effect is considerably lower than in other sections.

Glass or ceramic plate reinforced with fibrous or flaky material and method of producing same


A method for monitoring the torsion of a cable includes the steps of: providing a cable having an outer surface and extending along a longitudinal direction, the cable being provided with at least one identification tag, preferably an RFID tag, arranged in a tag angular position in a cross-sectional plane taken transverse to the longitudinal direction, the at least one tag storing a tag identification code and being capable of transmitting a tag electromagnetic signal; interrogating the at least one identification tag to receive the tag electromagnetic signal, and detecting the tag electromagnetic signal, wherein the step of detecting the tag electromagnetic signal includes the step of reading the tag identification code and determining the tag angular position of the at least one identification tag. A torsion monitoring system of a cable includes at least one identification tag.

Cables for heavy-duty applications and in particular for mobile installations, such as mobile harbour cranes, ship-to-shore container cranes, ship un-loaders, spreaders, mining and tunnelling equipment, and windmill and windfarm are specifically designed to withstand harsh environment conditions and high mechanical stresses, such as tensile forces and torques. Within the present description, we will in general refer to heavy-duty cables, when referring to cables for heavy-duty applications and in particular, but not exclusively, for mobile installations.
An example of heavy-duty electric cable is provided in DE patent application No. 3934718, which describes an armoured trailing cable for shearer loaders in mines.
WO 01/78086 discloses an electric cable in particular for use in a pick-up system such as a crane or shelving system. The cable comprises a core, which includes first conductors, completely surrounded by and embedded within a first stress-bearing matrix. At least one further layer is disposed about the first stress-bearing matrix and has at least one further conductor in the further layer which is completely surrounded by and embedded within a second stress-bearing matrix. The stress-bearing matrices in the cable are said to allow the distribution of stress throughout the cable and thus to substantially reduce the corkscrew effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,359 describes an apparatus for identifying the need to replace a synthetic fiber rope constructed of at least two concentric layers of strands laid together and made from load-bearing aramid fiber strands comprising an indicating device visible on an exterior surface of the rope for detecting and visually indicating a rotational position of the rope about its longitudinal axis.
The Applicant has observed that conventional methods of evaluation of the torsion of a cable based on visual detection of a coloured line or marks along the cable length are often not reliable since they strongly depend on the condition of the cable external surface, for example they are affected by the presence of dirt or scratches. Furthermore, such methods generally do not provide quantitative data on the amount of torsion applied to the cable.
Non-contact torque sensors find wide application in measuring stresses in a shaft or driveline component of a vehicle during operation.
US 2007/0241890 describes an apparatus for measuring at least one physical characteristic, e.g., torque, of a shaft or driveline component of a vehicle. A radio frequency (RF) tag is associated with the shaft to facilitate communication to an RF reader. The RF tag is capable of storing a physical characteristic of the driveline component such as torque. The RF reader includes a transmitter provided to send modulated radio frequency transmissions that both supply power to the RF tag and associated sensor and trigger a responsive transmission signal indicative of sensed torque. The frequency tag reader is positioned adjacent to the driveline component and operable to read the signal transmitted by the RF tag. The RF tag may be continuously triggered and read by the RF modulator/reader in rapid cycles to facilitate continuous monitoring of object to be sensed.
Radio frequency identification ("RFID") elements embedded in a cable can facilitate locating and identifying the cable. The RFID elements or transponders can provide information about the cable—for example, identification number, time of deployment, manufacturing batch—to a remote RFID reader without directly accessing or handling the cable. This can be particularly useful in situations such as when the cable buried underground, suspended overhead, or installed in a cable tray.
US 2007/0120684 discloses a cable identifying system used with RFID built-in cable including therein RFID tags, each RFID tag having a responder comprising a radio transmitter/receiver and a memory device, operable without physical contact, the system comprising an external information storage apparatus that is to store the entire information on the ID data stored in the memory devices incorporated in all the RFID tags included in the RFID built-in cable. An antenna used for the RFID reader with a pair of semi-cylindrical members is disclosed. It is said that by using this type of antenna, the exact location of each RFID tag cannot be detected, but the information from the antenna incorporated in the RFID tag can be effectively detected irrespective of the position of the tag in the cable.
US 2008/0204235 discloses an optical fibre cable comprising a nonconductive tape extending a length of the cable and a plurality of RFID transponders disposed periodically along a length of the tape, wherein the radio frequency identification transponders report information that can facilitate locating and identifying the cable. Each RFID element has a unique code, thereby providing a record of manufacturing parameters that are specific of that cable. The unique code can be specific to an incremental length of the cable.
In some applications, such as in heavy-duty applications, transfer of the cable to the equipment reels and forced guidance during the winding and unwinding phases may give rise to undesired torsions that can vary along the cable length. Although care is normally recommended in handling and installation of the cable in the mobile equipments, such as a direct transfer of the cable from the original drum to the cable reel while avoiding changes of direction or inversions of the original direction of winding, working conditions may induce relatively large and abrupt torques thereof In addition, other systems for cable movement, such as guidance devices, pulley systems and tender systems, may involve torsions of the cable during operation, in particular if applications require high-speed operation and/or multiple cable deflection in the cable payout.
The Applicant has tackled the problem of detecting the presence of torsion in a cable in use and of providing a reliable measurement of the actual deployment of the cable, which can be performed throughout the lifetime of the cable.

Monitoring method and system for detecting the torsion along a cable provided with identification tags


The present application discloses a characteristic adjusting method of executing a step of changing the characteristics of display devices in an image display apparatus. In particular, the present invention discloses a configuration in which target values for changes in characteristics are obtained by reducing the high-frequency components of the spatial distribution of the characteristics of the display devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron source and an image display device. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for adjusting a characteristic of an electron source or image display device and a method and apparatus for manufacturing the electron source or image display device.
2. Related Background Art
Electron sources each comprising a plurality of electron emitting devices have been known. Image display apparatuses each comprising a plurality of display devices have also been known. Image display apparatuses have been known which use as display devices electron emitting devices (combined with fluorescent materials that emit light when irradiated with electrons) or electroluminescence devices.
Two types of electron emitting devices, that is, hot-cathode devices and cold-cathode devices have been known. The known cold-cathode devices include, for example, field emitting devices, metal/insulated layer/metal type emitting devices, and surface conduction type emitting devices.
The cold-cathode devices, the surface conduction type electron-emitting devices (hereinafter simply referred to as the xe2x80x9cdevicesxe2x80x9d) utilizes the phenomenon in which electrons are emitted by causing current to flow through a small-area thin film and parallel with its surface, the film being formed on a substrate and composed of SnO2, Au, In2O3/SnO2, carbon, or the like.
FIG. 15 shows an example of a typical device configuration. In this figure, reference numeral 3001 denotes a substrate, and reference numeral 3004 denotes a conductive thin film composed of a metal oxide and formed by sputtering. The conductive thin film 3004 is formed as an H-shaped plane as shown in the figure. The conductive thin film 3004 is subjected to a process called xe2x80x9cformingxe2x80x9d to form an electron emitting section 3005. The interval L in the figure is set between 0.5 and 1 mm, and the interval W therein is set at 0.1 mm. For the convenience of illustration, the electron emitting section 3005 is shown at the center of the conductive thin film 3004 to have a rectangular shape. However, this is schematic and does not faithfully represent the position or shape of the actual electron emitting section.
As described previously, to form an electron emitting section in a surface conduction type emitting device, current is allowed to flow through a conductive thin film to locally destroy, deform, or modify it to form a crack therein (forming process). Subsequently, an activation process can be executed to significantly improve an electron emitting characteristic.
That is, the activation process allows current to flow through the electron emitting section under appropriate conditions, the electron emitting section having been formed by a forming process, so that carbons or carbon compounds deposit in the vicinity of the electron emitting section. For example, in a vacuum atmosphere in which organisms under an appropriate pressure are present and which has a total pressure of 10xe2x88x922 to 10xe2x88x923 [Pa], by periodically applying pulses having a predetermined voltage, monocrystal graphite, polycrystal graphite, amorphous carbon, or a mixture thereof is deposited in the vicinity of the electron emitting section so as to have a thickness of about 500 Angstrom or less. However, these conditions are only an example and may be properly varied depending on the material or shape of the surface conduction type emitting device.
Such a process enables emitted current to be increased by a factor of 100 or more with the same applied voltage compared to a value measured immediately after forming. Accordingly, even when a multi-electron-source is manufactured which utilizes a large number of surface conduction type emitting devices such as those described above, each device is preferably subjected to the activation process. (After the activation process has been completed, the partial pressure on the organisms in the vacuum atmosphere is desirably reduced. This is called a xe2x80x9cstabilizing processxe2x80x9d.)
FIG. 16 shows a typical example of the emitted current Ie vs. device applied voltage Vf characteristic and device current If vs. device applied voltage Vf of a surface conduction type electron-emitting device.
The emitted current Ie is significantly smaller than the device current If, and it is thus difficult to illustrate it using the same scale. Further, these characteristics may be varied by varying design parameters such as the size and shape of the devices. Accordingly, the two graphs in the figure are shown in the respective arbitrary units.
The surface conduction type electron-emitting devices have the following three characteristics in connection with the emitted current Ie.
When a voltage equal to or larger than certain magnitude (this will be hereinafter referred to as a xe2x80x9cthreshold voltage Vthxe2x80x9d) is applied to the devices, they rapidly emit the emitted current Ie. On the other hand, with a voltage lower than the threshold voltage Vth, substantially no emitted current Ie is detected. That is, these are nonlinear devices having the definite threshold voltage Vth in connection with the emitted current Ie.
Since the emitted current Ie varies depending on the voltage Vf applied to the devices, the magnitude of the emitted current Ie can be controlled using the voltage Vf.
The current Ie emitted from the devices responds to the voltage Vf applied to the devices, at high speed, so that the amount of charges in electrons emitted from the devices can be controlled on the basis of the period of time for which the voltage Vf is applied.
In addition to the adjustment based on activation, the adjustment of the characteristics of the surface conduction type electron-emitting devices can be achieved by applying a voltage equal to or higher than a certain voltage (threshold voltage Vth) to the devices, that is, applying a characteristic shift voltage that adjusts the characteristics of the devices, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-228867.
Further, since the surface conduction type electron-emitting devices have a simple structure and can be easily manufactured, they are advantageous in that a large number of devices can be formed over a large area. Thus, image forming apparatuses such as image display and recording apparatuses as well as electron beam sources have been researched to which the surface conduction type electron-emitting devices are applied.
The inventors have tested various surface conduction type electron-emitting devices that are composed of different materials, have different structures, and are manufactured using different methods. The inventors have also studied multi-electron-sources (simply referred to as xe2x80x9celectron sourcesxe2x80x9d) having a large number of surface conduction type electron-emitting devices arranged therein as well as image display apparatuses to which these electron sources have been applied.
For example, the inventors have tested an electron source based on the electrical wiring method shown in FIG. 17. In the figure, reference numeral 4001 denotes a schematically illustrated surface conduction type electron-emitting device, 4002 is a row-wise wire, and 4003 is a column-wise wire. In FIG. 17, reference numerals 4004 and 4005 denote wiring resistances.
The above described wiring method is called xe2x80x9csimple matrix wiringxe2x80x9d. For the convenience of illustration, a 6xc3x976 matrix is shown, but the scale of the matrix is not limited to this example.
In an electron source comprising devices connected together using the simple matrix wiring method, an appropriate electric signal is applied to the row-wise wires 4002 and the column-wise wires 4003. At the same time, a high voltage is applied to an anode (not shown).
For example, to drive arbitrary devices in the matrix, a selected voltage Vs is applied to the terminals of the row-wise wires 4002 for the selected rows, while, at the same time, a non-selected voltage Vns is applied to the terminals of the row-wise wires 4002 for the non-selected rows. Synchronously, modulation voltages Ve1 to Ve6 are applied to the terminals of the column-wise wires 4003 to output emitted current. With this method, the voltages Ve1xe2x88x92Vs to Ve6 are applied to the selected devices, while the voltages Ve1xe2x88x92Vns to Ve6 are applied to the non-selected devices. Emitted current of a desired intensity is output only from the selected devices by setting the voltages Ve1 to Ve6, Vs, and Vns at appropriate magnitudes so that a voltage equal to or higher than the threshold voltage Vth is applied to the selected devices, whereas a voltage lower than the threshold voltage Vth is applied to the non-selected devices.
Accordingly, the multi-electron-source comprising surface conduction type electron-emitting devices connected together using the simple matrix wiring method may be used for various applications. For example, the multi-electron-source is preferably used for an image display apparatus by properly applying an electric signal to this source, for example, in accordance with image information.
Further, in addition to the surface conduction type electron-emitting devices, electron emitting devices called xe2x80x9cspindt type electron emitting devicesxe2x80x9d are known which each comprise projecting emitters (emitter cones) and gate electrodes located in proximity thereto. Also in the spindt type electron emitting device, after an emitter and a gate has been constructed, the electron emitting characteristic of the device can be adjusted by applying a voltage between the emitter and the gate. It is also known that the characteristic of an electroluminescence device varies depending on a voltage or heat applied to the device.
For display devices such as electron emitting devices, a characteristic (for example, in the case of electron emitting devices, the electron emission characteristic) of the individual devices may vary slightly. If these devices are used to produce a display apparatus, then this variation in characteristic results in a variation in luminance. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-228867 and other publications use a step of reducing this variation.
The causes of the different electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices of an electron source include, for example, a variation in the components of a material used for the electron emitting section, an error in the size or shape of each member of the device, non-uniform conduction conditions for a conductive forming process, and non-uniform conduction conditions or atmospheric gases for an conductive activation process. However, elimination of all these causes requires a very advanced manufacture facility and very rigorous process management, and enormous costs are required to meet these requirements.
This is also applicable to the use of electron emitting devices other than the surface conduction type electron-emitting devices or display devices other than the electron emitting devices.
The inventors have made wholehearted efforts to find that in particular non-uniform display is significantly perceived if this variation has a high-frequency component. Thus, the inventors have concluded that a target value for a change in characteristics should be set so as to reduce, in particular, high-frequency components of the spatial distribution of a variation in characteristics.
An aspect of the invention according to present application is constructed as follows:
That is, the present invention provides a method of adjusting a characteristic of an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting devices arranged on a substrate, the method being characterized by comprising:
a characteristic changing step of changing electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices, and
in that in the characteristic changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in electron emission characteristic are such that a spatial distribution of the target values has spatial frequencies obtained by removing predetermined high-frequency components from spatial frequencies of a spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the characteristic changing step or reducing predetermined high-frequency components of the spatial distribution, and in the characteristic changing step, the electron emission characteristics are changed so as to approach the respective target values.
The spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices is obtained by plotting the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices in association with the positions of the electron emitting devices. In this case, when the plurality of electron emitting devices are linearly arranged, a line extending along the direction in which the devices are arranged is defined as an X axis, and a spatial distribution is obtained by showing data indicative of the electron emission characteristics of the devices in the direction of a Z axis. When the electron emitting devices are two-dimensionally arranged, the plane on which the devices are arranged is defined as an XY plane, and a spatial distribution is obtained by showing the electron emission characteristics in the direction of the Z axis depending on the positions of the devices. This is also applicable to the space distribution of the target values, and the spatial distribution is obtained by plotting the target values for the plurality of electron emitting devices in association with the positions of the electron emitting devices.
To set the spatial distribution of the target values to contain the spatial frequencies obtained by removing the predetermined high-frequency components from the spatial frequencies of the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the characteristic changing step or reducing the predetermined high-frequency components of the spatial distribution, the following filtering step is preferably executed: the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the characteristic changing step is converted into spatial frequencies, and subsequently the predetermined high-frequency components are removed from the spatial frequencies obtained or the ratio of the predetermined high-frequency components to the spatial frequencies is reduced, and then the resulting spatial frequencies are converted into a spatial distribution for target values. The conditions in the present invention are met if the spatial distribution of target values obtained by another method, for example, polynominal approximation, described later, or target values obtained by using another filtering method for-instance a convolution operation to smooth a spatial distribution without converting it into spatial frequencies has resultingly spatial frequencies obtained by removing predetermined high-frequency components from the spatial frequencies of the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the characteristic changing step or reducing predetermined high-frequency components of the spatial distribution.
In the context of the specification, the predetermined high frequency components means xe2x80x9ccomponentsxe2x80x9d which appear as disadvantageous variations for electron emission characteristics or display characteristics, for instance a visually harmful variation in a displayed image, if the variation has some amplitude (magnitude). What is meant by these predetermined high frequency components depend area size in arrangement of electron emission devices, space between electron emission devices in the electron source or display apparatus and etc. One way of determining the predetermined high frequency components is based on experiments. A plurality of electron sources and display apparatus are actually fabricated. The electron emission characteristics and display characteristics on them are measured and then characteristics adjustments on them are performed with taking different predetermined high frequency components for respective electron sources or display apparatus. That is, high frequency components to be removed are determined by evaluating the electron source and display apparatus according to their usages (for example, the degree of incongruity is evaluated by actually displaying an image in the apparatus). The target vales shall be set to reduce the disadvantageous characteristics variations due to predetermined the high frequency components. It takes a lot of time to adjust the characteristics of all the devices to the same target value. Instead, it is advantageous to determine the spatial distribution of target values comprising low frequency components which roughly reflects the characteristics of the devices measured before taking the changing step (at the pre-changing). In other words, the predetermined high frequency components are at least part of components higher in frequency than the low frequencies of components which roughly reflect the characteristics distribution of the devices measured before taking the changing step. Even if the spatial distribution of the characteristics has the predetermined high frequency components in the above context, a small amplitude of variation appearing at those high frequencies is tolerable. It is not necessarily required to completely clear the predetermined high frequency components. It is one way to determine the target values so that the amplitude (magnitude) of variation of the predetermined high frequency components is reduced. When the amplitude (magnitude) of variation of high frequency components which are regarded harmful is tolerably small without the changing step, it is another way to determine the target values so that the variations of these high frequency components remains as it is.
Further, the spatial distribution of the target values has spatial frequencies and is thus not uniform. This means that the target values for changes in the characteristics of all the devices are not set the same value. If for example, the plurality of electron emitting devices are linearly arranged, when the direction in which the devices are arranged is defined as the X axis and the target values are shown on the Z axis, the line formed by the target values on the XZ plane is not a straight line with a zero inclination. Preferably, this line is a straight line with a non-zero inclination (Z=pX where p is a constant) or a curve represented as function of X with a Z item having the second or later order, that is, a function including an item with the second or later power of X. If the plurality of electron emitting devices are two-dimensionally arranged, when the devices are arranged on the XY plane and the target values are shown on the Z axis, the surface formed by the target values is not a plane with a zero inclination. Preferably, this surface is a plane with a non-zero inclination or a curved surface.
The present application includes the following aspect of the invention:
That is, the present invention provides a method of adjusting a characteristic of an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting devices arranged on a substrate, the method being characterized by comprising:
a characteristic changing step of changing electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices, and
in that in the character changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in electron emission characteristics have a non-uniform spatial distribution, and the spatial distribution is obtained by an step of reducing predetermined high-frequency components of spatial frequencies of a spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emission characteristics obtained before the character changing step, and in the character changing step, the electron emission characteristics are changed so as to approach the respective target values.
Another aspect of the invention according to the present application provides a method of adjusting a characteristic of an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting devices arranged on a substrate, the method being characterized by comprising:
a characteristic changing step of changing electron emission characteristics of the display devices, and
in that in the character changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in electron emission characteristics have a non-uniform spatial distribution, and the spatial distribution is obtained by an step of smoothing the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the character changing step, and in the character changing step, the electron emission characteristics are changed so as to approach the respective target values.
Also in this aspect, the spatial distribution of the target values preferably constitutes a straight line or curve with a non-zero inclination, or a plane or curved surface with a non-zero inclination.
In the above described aspects of the invention, the operation of changing the electron emission characteristics in the character changing step preferably changes the amount of electrons emitted when a predetermined voltage is applied to the electron emitting devices.
Further, the target values are preferably obtained by subjecting the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices to Fourier transform, removing predetermined high-frequency components from the resulting of the Fourier transform, and subjecting the resulting spatial frequencies to inverse Fourier transform. That is, a filtering process is executed by converting a spatial distribution into spatial frequencies.
Further, the target values are preferably obtained by subjecting the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the character changing step, to polynominal approximation to obtain an equation of a predetermined order equal to or later than the first order. This is a filter processing by use of polynominal approximating wherein some order terms among terms x0, x1, x2 . . . xn corresponding to high frequency components to be removed are deleted in the approximated polynominal equation.
Furthermore, the target values are preferably obtained by smoothing the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the character changing step. This smoothing is preferably achieved by a convolution operation for example.
Moreover, the method preferably comprises a step of determining the target values, the target value determining step having a high-frequency component reducing step of removing predetermined high-frequency components from the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the character changing step or reducing high-frequency components of the spatial distribution, and a step of offsetting the spatial distribution obtained in the high-frequency component reducing step while maintaining the shape of the spatial distribution. If the characteristics of the electron emitting devices can change in only one direction and if some of the devices have characteristics larger than the target values while the others have characteristics smaller than the target values, then either group of devices cannot have their characteristics changed. In this case, the target values can be moved upward or downward with the shape of the spatial distribution maintained to reduce the number of devices the characteristics of which cannot be changed. The high-frequency component reducing step of removing the predetermined high-frequency components from the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices obtained before the character changing step or reducing the high-frequency components of the spatial distribution can be achieved by converting the spatial distribution into spatial frequencies and filtering the spatial frequencies obtained or smoothing (filtering) the spatial distribution without a conversion into spatial frequencies.
Further, the characteristics are preferably changed by applying a voltage to the electron emitting devices. In particular, electrons are emitted from the electron emitting devices by applying a voltage to between electrodes, and the characteristics are preferably changed by applying a voltage to between the electrodes.
Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the electron emission characteristics is obtained by executing a step of measuring the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices before the characteristic changing step.
Moreover, a measuring step of measuring the electron emission characteristics, a target value determining step of determining the target values, and a step of changing the electron emission characteristics can be executed for each group of electron emitting devices of the plurality of electron emitting devices.
The method preferably comprises a measuring step of measuring the electron emission characteristics of some of the plurality of electron emitting devices, a target value determining step of determining the target values for those of the plurality of electron emitting devices which have the electron emission characteristics measured in the measuring step, and a step of changing the electron emission characteristics of those of the plurality of electron emitting devices which have the electron emission characteristics measured in the measuring step. In particular, the method comprises a further measuring step of measuring the electron emission characteristics of the plurality of electron emitting devices other than those which have the electron emission characteristics measured in the measuring step, and a further changing step of changing the electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices that have the electron emission characteristics measured in the further measuring step, wherein in the further changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in electron emission characteristics are determined on the basis of results of measurements in the further measuring step and results of measurements in the measuring step. With this configuration, if the characteristics are changed for each small area, they are prevented from being discontinuous at the boundary between small areas.
The electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices may be changed in various manners depending on the applied electron emitting devices, but the changing operation is preferably performed in an atmosphere in which the changed electron emission characteristics can be maintained. For example, when the electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices are changed in an atmosphere in which an organic gas undergoes a partial pressure of 1.0xc3x9710xe2x88x926 [Pa] or lower, deposits associated with the organic gas are prevented from depositing on the electron emitting devices, thereby allowing the changed characteristics to be easily maintained.
Further, the above described characteristic adjusting method can be executed with appropriate timings. For example, the above described characteristic adjustment may be carried out as required after normal driving for a while. Alternatively, it may be executed as part of a manufacture process.
The present invention includes the following method of adjusting a characteristic of an electron source having a plurality of electron emitting devices, the method comprising a characteristic changing step of changing electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices,
wherein in the characteristic changing step, target values indication of targets for changes in electron emission characteristics are determined by reflecting a spatial distribution of electron emission characteristics of the electron emitting devices taken before the characteristic changing step on a spatial distribution of the target values whereby the total amount of the electron emission characteristic changes is less than the total amount of electron emission characteristic changes by which electron emission characteristics of all of the electron emitting devices become identical, and the electron emission characteristics are changed to approach to the respective target values.
By setting the target values so that the spatial distribution of the target values reflect the spatial distribution of the characteristics (in pre-changing) of the devices, the total amount of the characteristic changes (sum of characteristics changes performed on the respective devices) can be less than the total amount of characteristic changes by which characteristics of all of the electron emitting devices become uniform. It is preferable to roughly reflect the spatial distribution of the characteristics in pre-changing on the spatial distribution of the target values.
Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to electron sources having electron emitting devices, but is applicable to image display apparatuses using electron emitting devices as image display devices or display devices (for example, electroluminescence devices) other than the electron emitting devices.
That is, the present invention provides a method of adjusting a characteristic of an image display apparatus having a plurality of display devices, the method being characterized by comprising:
a characteristic changing step of changing electron emission characteristics of the display devices, and
in that in the characteristic changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in display characteristic are such that a spatial distribution of the target values has spatial frequencies obtained by removing predetermined high-frequency components from spatial frequencies of a spatial distribution of the display characteristics of the plurality of display devices obtained before the characteristic changing step or reducing predetermined high-frequency components of the spatial distribution, and in the characteristic changing step, the display characteristics are changed so as to approach the respective target values.
Another aspect of the invention according to the present application provides a method of adjusting a characteristic of an image display apparatus having a plurality of display devices, the method being characterized by comprising:
a characteristic changing step of changing display characteristics of the display devices, and
in that in the character changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in display characteristics have a non-uniform spatial distribution, and the spatial distribution is obtained by an step of reducing predetermined high-frequency components of spatial frequencies of a spatial distribution of the display characteristics of the plurality of display characteristics obtained before the character changing step, and in the character changing step, the display characteristics are changed so as to approach the respective target values.
Another aspect of the invention according to the present application provides a method of adjusting a characteristic of an image display apparatus having a plurality of display devices, the method being characterized by comprising:
a characteristic changing step of changing display characteristics of the display devices, and
in that in the character changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in display characteristics have a non-uniform spatial distribution, and the spatial distribution is obtained by an step of smoothing the spatial distribution of the display characteristics of the plurality of display devices obtained before the character changing step, and in the character changing step, the display characteristics are changed so as to approach the respective target values.
Additionally, the present invention includes a method of adjusting a characteristic of an image display apparatus having a plurality of image display devices, the method comprising:
A characteristic changing step of changing display characteristics of the image display devices,
wherein in the characteristic changing step, target values indicative of targets for changes in display characteristics are determined by reflecting a spatial distribution of display characteristics of the electron emitting devices taken before the characteristic changing step on a spatial distribution of the target values whereby the total amount of the display characteristic changes is less than the total amount of display characteristic changes by which display characteristics of all of the image display devices become identical, and the display characteristics are changed to approach to the respective target values.
In this case, the operation of changing the display characteristics in the characteristic changing step preferably changes a luminance obtained when a predetermined voltage is applied to the display devices.
The aspect of the invention which has been described in conjunction with adjustment of a characteristic of an electron source is also applicable to adjustment of a characteristic of an image display apparatus, and still constitutes the invention according to the present application.

Method of adjusting characteristics of electron source, method of manufacturing electron emission device


A ferrite-ceramic composite powder consisting of fine particles of a ceramic material having a ferrite coating firmly bonded to the surface thereof is molten at high temperature and then cooled to produce a material in the form of a solid solution in which the ferrite component and the ceramic component are substantially homogeneously mixed together. Also, the ferrite-ceramic composite powder is mixed with fine particles of a second ceramic material and/or particles of a metal, and the mixture is baked to produce a sintered material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a homogeneous solid solution consisting of at least a ceramic component and a ferrite component compounded together and relates also to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is generally difficult to manufacture a composite having a uniform and homogeneous microstructure even when a mixture of fine particles of a plurality of kinds of inorganic powder materials is sintered or molten after being thoroughly kneaded. That is, in order to obtain a composite in the form of a homogeneous solid solution of a plurality of kinds of components, it is necessary to thoroughly homogeneously mix fine particles of those components. However, it is physically difficult to thoroughly homogeneously mix such components. Further, due to the differences of the melting points of those components, separation of one of the components having a higher melting point from another having a lower melting point occurs inevitably. Thus, it is very difficult to manufacture a composite having a thoroughly homogeneous microstructure which can satisfy the designed physical properties and functional requirements.
In an effort to solve such a problem, researches and studies have been made to manufacture a composite by baking a mixture of super-fine particles of a plurality of kinds of components having a fine particle size in the order of the angstrom unit. In spite of such an effort, satisfactory results have not been attained yet.
Thus, a material including a ceramic component and a metal component thoroughly homogeneously compounded together has not existed up to now. Even if such a material were present, its physical properties could only be estimated from those of the individual components before being mixed.

Homogeneous solid solution material and method of manufacturing the same


An array of resonators for use in MRI and NMR is disclosed where the resonators are solid state constructs including a pair of resonating elements formed on both sides of a dielectric substrate and cooperate to form a resonator and where each resonator includes at least one discontinuity and the discontinuities on each resonating element are equally spaced and between the resonating elements are equally spaced. A probe for MRI is also disclosed which includes a source of cooling to cool the arrays therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to apparatus improving MRI data acquisition and method for making and using same.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a resonating apparatus for use in magnetic resonance imaging or related fields including a plurality of closely packed, composite resonators and a plurality of lands, tags or tabs adapted to form decoupling capacitors between nearest neighbors and optionally also diagonal neighbors, when the resonators are in an array configuration and a pair of capacitive contacts adapted to connect each resonator to a monitoring device. The present inventions also relates to a fabrication process for making the resonator arrays of this invention where all external connections and all parts of necessary decoupling capacitors are built into the basic single resonator design becoming operable when the individual resonators are arranged in either in linear or planar arrays. The preferred design for each resonator in a given array configuration will vary depending on desired layout of the individual resonators.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the inventions of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 1973, significant advances and developments of this method has turned it into a widely used clinical and research tool, which provides an unsurpassed, non intrusive technique to image soft tissues. The MRI is related to the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which is based on the excitation and relaxation of nuclei (most frequently protons) within living tissues in a DC magnetic field. An excitation repulse at the Larmor frequency v, which is the precession frequency of protons in DC magnetic field (ν=63.8 MHz for 1.5 Tesla), disturbs the equilibrium state of the nuclei. After the repulse, the nuclei relax to the equilibrium state with two different relaxation times (T1 and T2) and produce a weak decaying of signal.
In a MRI set-up, these weak decaying rf signals are detected by a receiver probe. For diagnostic usefulness of this signal, its level has to be well above the noise level, thus it puts premium on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the receiver probe. In small volume MRI, MRI microscopy, low-field MRI, and NMR spectroscopy it has been shown that the Johnson noise of the rf receiver probe and/or preamplifier dominates, and thus determines the system noise floor.
In recent years, the design of phased arrays for parallel acquisition in MRI application has become the subject of a great deal of research. The drive for faster and faster acquisition rates calls for arrays with large number of receiving elements. As the number of array elements increases and their size continues to decrease, conductive losses become more dominant. These losses can overwhelm any signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gains expected from the use of smaller coils that express less body noise.
Thus, it is desirable to reduce the thermal coil noise to improve the image resolution and reduce image acquisition time. Since the Johnson noise is a function of the product of resistance and temperature, reduction of either or both of these parameters enhances the SNR value of the MRI analysis. In addition, improved SNR can enable one to decrease voxel size and thereby increase the resolution of structural details.
Although many different MRI system exist, each has a limitation that involves the contribution of noise from the probe and the body being analyzed. As the need for greater resolution increases, the ability to use single coils is greatly reduced and the need for a different approach to signal acquisition is needed.
Thus, there is a need in the art for new probe structures that will operate in current and future MRI devices to increase signal acquisition with improved SNR and improved resolution without increasing the DC magnetic field strength or coil size.

Superconducting array of surface MRI probes


A data search server stores a system ciphertext including a data ciphertext and a keyword ciphertext in each category-specific DB unit for each data category, and stores each category-determination secret key being associated with each category-specific DB unit. A search request receiving unit receives from a data search terminal a search request including a search trapdoor and an index tag. A data searching unit searches for a category-determination secret key with which the index tag is decrypted to the same value as a key-determination value. Using the search trapdoor, the data searching unit performs a search of a Public-key Encryption with Keyword Search scheme on system ciphertexts in a category-specific DB unit associated with this category-determination secret key. A search result transmitting unit transmits to the data search terminal a data ciphertext included in a system ciphertext which has been found as a hit in the search.

In the field of Public Key Cryptography (PKC), Public-key Encryption with Keyword Search (PEKS) is known as a technique for performing a keyword search without decrypting encrypted data (see Non-Patent Literature 1).
This PEKS realizes, for example, an application as described below.
Assume a situation where a sender transmits a data file including confidential information to a receiver via an external database (to be referred to as a "server" hereinafter). That is, assume a situation where the sender uploads data files to the server, and the receiver downloads a necessary data file from the server by a keyword search.
It should be noted here that the sender and the receiver wish to share both data files and keywords without revealing them to the server.
The receiver prepares in advance a pair of a public key and a secret key of public-key encryption (to be used for encrypting and decrypting data files) and a pair of a public key and a secret key of PEKS (to be used for encrypting keywords and generating search queries). Then, the receiver publishes both of the public keys.
Using the public key of public-key encryption of the receiver, the sender encrypts a data file to generate a ciphertext of the data file. In addition, using the public key of PEKS, the sender encrypts a keyword to generate a ciphertext of the keyword. The ciphertext of the keyword generated using the public key of PEKS will be hereinafter referred to as an "encrypted tag". The sender uploads the ciphertext of the data file together with the encrypted tag to the server.
Using the secret key of PEKS, the receiver encrypts a keyword to generate a ciphertext of the keyword. The ciphertext of the keyword generated using the secret key of PEKS will be hereinafter referred to as a "trapdoor". The receiver sends this trapdoor to the server as a search query.
Using the received trapdoor, the server performs a secure search on each of encrypted tags of ciphertexts of all data files in a database. Then, the server transmits to the receiver a ciphertext of a data file which has been found as a hit in the secure search.
It has been a problem with PEKS that a search need to be performed on the entirety of data, so that search processing time increases in proportion to the number of data files.
To solve this problem, some methods have been proposed.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a method in which an index storage unit configured to store a keyword and a document name by associating them with each other and an encrypted database configured to store an encrypted document are provided, and a search is performed for a keyword in the index storage unit. If no hit is found in the search, then a search is performed on all documents in the encrypted database. The index storage unit is updated in accordance with a search result.
However, it is a problem with this method that a search needs to be performed on all documents until the index storage unit is updated properly, so that a search process cannot be made faster. It is also a problem with this method that if a large number of various types of search requests occur, the effect of the index storage unit is weakened, so that the search process cannot be made faster. Further, it is a problem with this method that an existing system of a PEKS scheme needs to be changed greatly.

Data search device, data search method, computer readable medium storing data search program, data registration device, data registration method, computer readable medium storing data registration program, and information processing device


A semiconductor device, circuit, and AC and DC load switch for maintaining a small input-output differential voltage and providing a defined response. The load switch can include a pass element coupled to an input terminal and an output terminal. The pass element can include a control terminal, with the control terminal controlling a response of the pass element. The load switch can include a first loop coupled to the control terminal configured to control a voltage drop between the input terminal and the output terminal while maintaining high impedance with the pass element. The load switch can include a second loop coupled to the control terminal configured to provide a defined filter response from the input terminal. The defined response can be a low pass response, high pass response, or a band pass response. The passband and/or stopband of the response can be programmed.

Power consumption has become a primary concern within many electronic systems, especially in portable devices running from a battery. These devices can include numerous subsystems often being connected or disconnected through switching elements to save power. Today, and in most systems, electronic devices use analog switches or low dropout regulators (LDOs). The subsystems, through these switching elements, can be connected to a DC/DC converter. Often these DC/DC converters include load lines and variable output voltages which attempt to maximize battery life.
However, by connecting the switching elements to a DC/DC converter, noise can be introduced to the load potentially interfering with downstream components, including RF components. For analog switches, many systems have utilized LC filters to attenuate this noise. If an LDO is used, instead of an analog switch, and the LDO filtering response is not sufficient, many systems also utilize passive filter components in addition to an LDO for filtering.
The use of an analog switch is non-ideal since passive filter components must be added taking up board space and raising the overall cost of the system. In addition, the use of an LDO as a filtering element, whether with or without external components, is non-ideal since LDOs generally have a constant output voltage that does not track the input. Typically, this produces a greater voltage drop and in essence, a lower efficiency than ideal until right before dropout. Furthermore, it is prohibitive to provide a multi-order wideband filter response utilizing either of the above solutions due to component proliferation and the single order response generally provided by LDOs.

Load swtch for removing high frequency ripple, noise and/or spikes while providing power to subsystems


A power amplifier comprises a level-discretization modulator (210) and a mixing and amplifying stage (225), in combination with a properly designed negative feedback path. The feedback path forms an error compensation loop together with a properly selected forward path. The forward path includes at least the mixing and amplifying stage (225), which provides frequency up-conversion to the radio frequency band and switch-based amplification. The negative feedback path includes a down-conversion mixer (280) for down-conversion to the initial frequency band, and compensates for distortion caused by components of the forward path.

In cellular base stations, satellite communication systems as well as other communication and broadcasting systems of today, it is often desirable to amplify multiple radio frequency (RF) channels simultaneously in the same power amplifier instead of using a dedicated power amplifier for each channel. However, when using one and the same power amplifier for the simultaneous amplification of multiple FDMA/TDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access/Time Division Multiple Access) or CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) channels or when using multi-level linear modulation formats, a high degree of linearity is required so that the phases and amplitudes of all the signal components are preserved in the amplification process.
If the linearity is inadequate, the simultaneously amplified channels cross-modulate, causing interference in these and other channels. The non-linearities manifest themselves as cross-modulation of different components of the signal, leading to leakage of signal energy to undesired channels. In addition, the spectra of the signal components are normally broadened, causing additional interference within the channels or in other channels. In the case of multi-level linear modulation such as QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), the non-linearities will normally lead to distortion of the constellation diagram.
The two most important properties of a power amplifier are efficiency and linearity. Consequently, the problem of enhancing the linearity must be solved while preserving high amplifier efficiency. Due to the amplitude statistics of complex multi-channel or multi-level signals, the efficiency must be kept high at all amplitude levels in order to provide high average efficiency. An additional complication is that the signals often have wide bandwidth, or wide combined bandwidth, which means that the fluctuations between high and low amplitude levels are fast.
A solution to the combined problem of enhancing linearity and preserving high efficiency has been disclosed by the Applicant in the International Patent Application WO 98/11683 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,458. The proposed power amplifier uses switching techniques for the power amplification, and is based on a sigma-delta modulator in combination with a mixing and amplifying stage. The sigma-delta modulator includes a quantizer for generating an output signal with a finite number of discrete levels. The fixing and amplifying stage includes a plurality of power switches, the voltages of which are proportional to the levels of the quantizer, and the output signal of the sigma-delta modulator more or less directly controls the power switches via a decoder so as to provide appropriate power amplification. Although the proposed switch-based power amplifier has very high efficiency and can benefit from the high linearity of the sigma-delta modulator, there is still a general demand for power amplifiers with even better linearity characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,906 relates to a power supply modulator circuit for a transmitter. The power modulator circuit is a baseband amplifier with apportioned input impedance, buffered switching of power modules and linearizing feedback.
The International Patent Application WO 98/44626 relates to a pulse modulation power amplifier for the audio frequency range. The power amplifier comprises a pulse modulator, a power amplifier stage for amplifying the modulated signal, the output of which is low-pass filtered to obtain an analog output. The circuit further comprises a negative feedback from the power amplifier stage output to one or several loops feeding into one or several pre-amplifier stages preceding the modulator.


A memory mapping and module enabling circuit for allowing logical 128 kbyte memory blocks to be defined for any location in any module connected to a memory system. A RAM is addressed by the system address lines defining 128 kbyte blocks, with the output data providing the row address strobe enable signals for a particular memory module and the address values necessary to place the 128 kbyte block within the module. Various other parameters such as write protect status and memory location are also provided by the RAM. Circuits and techniques for programming and reading the RAM are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to memory mapping and enabling systems used in computers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computer systems are becoming more complex and powerful at a rapid rate. With the introductions by Intel Corporation (Intel) of the 80286 and 80386 microprocessors, large amounts of memory could be readily utilized. Therefore, it was desirable that the computer system be capable of containing large amounts of memory, particularly memory that was the same width as the microprocessor in the computer system. The situation was complicated because memory was relatively expensive, so the memory was only added in certain modular sizes, often through the use of piggy-backed modules or single in-line memory modules which contained dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices. The modules varied in cost and memory size based on the number and size of the memory devices utilized. The system board or base memory board contained numerous locations for the insertion of the modules. Conventionally the modules had very little circuitry beyond the memory devices, so the various strobe signals needed by DRAM's had to be developed by the memory system. This required developing the proper row and column address strobe signals for the appropriate module. Problems arose because of the different size modules and because the modules could physically be installed in one of several locations. Because of limitations of the strobe developing circuitry, the modules were required to be installed in certain orders, depending on module size and the number of modules. Thus, system installers and users were limited in their flexibility of installing memory modules.
Additionally, provisions had to be made for portions of the memory failing. The cost of memory modules was such that it was not reasonable to require replacement of an entire module if only a portion of the module failed. Various remapping schemes were developed to perform this function automatically, but the techniques exacerbated the strobe development problems. Therefore the remapping capabilities were relatively limited. Thus the user had limitations on where memory modules could be located in the system and how many errors could develop before requiring replacement of the module.
Further complicating the situation was the need, especially in the 80386-based computer systems, to transfer the BIOS code from slow read only memory (ROM) to faster random access memory (RAM) to improve system performance. Also, certain areas of memory had to be write protected for various reasons. Add these situations to the other factors and the final result had been computer systems with complex memory system designs which were still relatively inflexible as to the location and arrangement of memory modules and remapping capabilities.

Memory accessing system with an interface and memory selection unit utilizing write protect and strobe signals