An aqueous acidic solution for forming a conversion coating on the surface of a metallic material, said solution containing at least one rare earth element (as herein defined) containing species, an accelerator additive selected from the group consisting of metals of Group IB, IIB, IVA, VA, VIA and VIII of the Periodic Table, a peroxidic species and at least one acid selected from the group of mineral acids, carboxylic acids, sulphonic acids and phosphonic acids, wherein said solution contains no more than 20 mg/liter each of fluoride and of phosphate, and the solution is essentially free of chromate.

This invention relates to a surface treated part with a conversion coating formed on a metallic surface and to a process for forming this conversion coating, to a liquid aqueous concentrate for the make-up for the replenishing of a conversion coating solution as well as to a solution for forming a conversion coating on surfaces of metallic materials. The invention is particularly concerned with a conversion coating on aluminum, aluminum alloy, magnesium, magnesium alloy, zinc or zinc alloy and a process, a concentrate and a solution for the formation of a conversion coating on parts of these metallic materials.
The term xe2x80x9cconversion coatingxe2x80x9d is a well known term of the art and refers to the replacement of native oxide on the surface of a metallic material by the controlled chemical formation of a film. Oxides, chromates or phosphates are common conversion coatings. Conversion coatings are used on metallic materials such as steel or aluminum, zinc, cadmium, magnesium and their alloys, and provide a key for paint adhesion and/or corrosion protection of the metallic substrate. Accordingly, conversion coatings find application in such areas as aerospace, automotive, architectural, and packaging.
Known methods for applying conversion coatings to metallic surfaces include treatment with chromate or phosphate solutions, or mixtures thereof. However, in recent years it has been recognized that the hexavalent chromium ion, Cr6+, is a serious environmental and health hazard. Similarly, phosphate ions pose a considerable risk, particularly when they find their way into natural waterways and cause algal blooms. Consequently, strict restrictions have been placed on the quantity of these species used in a number of industrial processes and limitations have been placed on their release to the environment. This leads to costly effluent processing.
In the search for alternative, less toxic conversion coatings, research has been conducted on conversion coatings based on rare earth compounds. However, there is considerable room for improvement in the adhesion and corrosion protection properties of prior rare earth element (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cREExe2x80x9d) based conversion coatings and in the time required to deposit those coatings. The need for improvement is particularly true for conversion coatings on certain metal alloys, such as 3000, 5000 and 6000 series aluminum alloys, which coatings can be slow to deposit and have variable adherence or no adherence.
It is also very important to develop conversion coating solutions and processes which are compatible with existing coating apparatus and equipment used in the art. In particular, the use of stainless steel containers to hold conversion coating solutions is prevalent in the conversion coating industry. Typically much money and infrastructure has been invested in such equipment and it is often impractical and/or prohibitively expensive to replace it.
WO 88/06639 teaches a process for forming a conversion coating on metal using a cerium containing conversion coating solution. However, it has been found that said process does not produce acceptable coatings on alloys of the 3000, 5000 and 6000 series of aluminum alloys within the time needed for industrial coating, that means within much less than five minutes. Moreover, this process requires a specified initial chloride content which increases in the bath over the course of the process. It has been found that the initial and increasing chloride content in the bath adversely affects stainless steel containers by considerable corrosion attack.
WO 96/15292 describes a REE containing conversion coating and a process for its formation using a solution containing REE and additives selected from (i) metal peroxo complexes in which the metal is selected from Groups IVB, VB, VIB and VIIB; and (ii) metal salts or complexes with a conjugate base of an acid in which the metal is selected from Transition Elements other than chromium especially copper, silver, manganese, zinc, iron, ruthenium and Group IVA elements, especially tin. The solution preferably includes hydrogen peroxide. Good results were obtained using the additive Cu alone or in combination with Mn, Ti-peroxo complexes and/or Mo-peroxo complexes. However, it has been found that the use of two different accelerators creates difficulties in controlling the process, particularly when it is used on an industrial scale. In all the other examples disclosed in W096/15292 a time for applying the solution was needed which was much longer than the typical time required in current industrial practice, i.e. from about 1 to 3 minutes. Moreover, while anions other than chloride are mentioned in WO 96/15292, only chloride containing solutions were disclosed and the concentrations of chloride in those solutions have been found to cause corrosion attack of stainless steel equipment.
Examples 13 to 15 of WO 96/15292 indicate in comparison to examples 7 to 12 and 16 to 27 that optimum results are obtained in a very narrow window of conditions, i.e. a pH value only of 2.3 and a relatively high copper content of about 100 ppm. These optimum conditions however, are quite problematic. The pH value of 2.3 is quite high with the result that the solution is close to the stability limit of the trivalent REE ions. For example, the oxidation of Ce3+ to Ce4+ is pH dependent and is favoured at higher pH values. If pH increases to 2.5 and above, formation of insoluble Ce(IV) compounds occurs. This means that REE compounds are already precipitating out of solution, causing sludge in the bath and thus further costs are required to remove it. Moreover, a copper content of about 100 mg/l causes the rapid catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen requiring replenishment of H2O2 which leads to increasing costs and a considerable dilution of the solution.
Over the years there have been numerous attempts to replace chromating chemicals by ones less hazardous to health and the environment. One major disadvantage of the replacement solutions is that they form colourless conversion coatings, e.g. Gardobond 764(copyright), which is based on zirconium fluoride. Coloured conversion coatings are highly desirable from a practical point of view as they give a readily visible indication of the presence of a coating and its quality.
Another major disadvantage of prior replacement solutions is that they have required very long treatment times, like the chemical oxidation process described in EP-A-0 769 080. Zirconium and titanium based conversion coating processes have found some applications in certain market niches, but they have failed in the past 25 years to replace chromating as a pre-treatment prior to painting of aluminum, magnesium, zinc or their alloys.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a conversion coating for the surface of a metallic material which overcomes, or at least alleviates, one or more of the disadvantages or deficiencies of the prior art. It is also an object of the present invention to provide an aqueous, rare earth element containing conversion coating solution for use in providing a conversion coating on a metallic surface. It is a further object to provide a process for forming a conversion coating on the surface of a metallic material which overcomes, or at least alleviates, one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art.
Advantages of this invention include the provision of a process and a solution which can meet the industrial requirements of 1. formation of the coating in a short time, 2. the generation of coloured coatings of high adhesion and coating quality, and 3. solutions which may be used in stainless steel containers.
It has been discovered that the careful selection of additives, to the coating solution can assist in accelerating the coating process, improving the coating quality, and/or the adhesion of the conversion coating to the metal surface, without causing corrosion of stainless steel containers.
Throughout the specification, reference will be to the CAS version of the Periodic Table, as defined in (for example) Chemical and Engineering News, 63(5), 27, 1985. Furthermore, as used herein, the term xe2x80x9crare earthxe2x80x9d elements or ions, or xe2x80x9cREExe2x80x9d refers to the elements of the Lanthanide series, namely those having the atomic number 57 to 71 (La to Lu), plus scandium and yttrium. Moreover, as used herein, the term xe2x80x9cperoxidic compoundxe2x80x9d refers to any of the group of peroxo acids and their salts or any peroxo containing compound such as hydrogen peroxide. Also, the expression: xe2x80x9cmetals of Groups IB, IIB, IVA, VA, VIA, and VIII of the Periodic Tablexe2x80x9d refers to both metals and metalloids of each group. It explicitly covers the elements Cu, Ag, Au, Zn, Cd, Hg, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, As, Sb, Bi, Se, Te, Po, Fe, Ru, Os, Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd and Pt. Further, the generic term xe2x80x9cpartxe2x80x9d is intended to cover any body or component of any shape or size having at least one metallic surface thereon.
According to the present invention, there is provided an aqueous, acidic solution for forming a conversion coating on the surface of a metallic material, said solution containing at least one rare earth element (as herein defined) containing species, an accelerator additive selected from the group consisting of metals of Groups IB, IIB, IVA, VA, VIA and VII of the Periodic Table, a peroxidic species, and at least one acid selected from the group of mineral acids, carboxylic acids, sulphonic acids and phosphonic acids, wherein said solution contains no more than 20 mg/l each of fluoride and of phosphate, preferably no more than 10 mg/l each, and the solution is essentially free of chromate. Preferably the amount of chloride containing species present in the coating solution is controlled so that the concentration of total chloride is within the range of from 50 to 1500 mg/l.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a process for forming a conversion coating on the surface of a metallic material including the step of contacting said surface with an aqueous, acidic conversion coating solution containing at least one rare earth element (as herein defined) containing species, an accelerator additive selected from the group consisting of metals of Groups IB, IIB, IVA, VA, VIA and VII of the Periodic Table, a peroxidic species, and at least one acid selected from the group of mineral acids, carboxylic acids, sulphonic acids and phosphonic acids, wherein said solution contains no more than 20 mg/l of each of fluoride and of phosphate, and the solution is essentially free of chromate. Preferably, the amount of chloride present in the coating solution is controlled to be within the range of from 50 to 1500 mg/l.
The present invention also provides a surface treated part including a metallic material having a conversion coating thereon resulting from treatment with the aqueous, acidic conversion coating solution of the invention. The treated part may additionally bear a coating of a paint, a lubricant and/or a sealant. The treated part may be subsequently used in a process involving cold forming, glueing, welding and/or other joining processes. The conversion coating preferably contains at least 5% by weight of a rare earth compound.
The present invention also provides a liquid acidic aqueous concentrate for the make-up of a conversion coating solution according to the invention wherein the concentrate contains at least 80 g/l and preferably at least 100 g/l of total rare earth elements (as herein defined), an accelerator selected from the group consisting of metals of Groups IB, IIB, IVA, VA, VIA and VIII of the Periodic Table, and at least one acid selected from the group of mineral acids, carboxylic acids, sulphonic acids and phosphonic acids, wherein the concentrate contains no more than 100 mg/l each of fluoride and of phosphate and the solution contains essentially no chromate.
The present invention also provides a liquid acidic aqueous concentrate for the replenishing of a conversion coating solution according to the invention, wherein the concentrate contains rare earth ions (as herein defined) and monovalent anions in a molar ratio of total rare earth ions:monovalent anions of from 1:200 to 1:6 and/or rare earth ions and divalent anions in a molar ratio of total rare earth ions:divalent anions of from 1:100 to 1:3 and/or the concentrate contains at least one metal selected from Groups IB, IIB, IVA, VA, VIA and VII, preferably from the group of Cu, Ag, Au, Cd, Hg, Ni, Pd, Pt, Co, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Se and Te and anions such that the molar ratio of the sum of the elements in this group: anions is in the range from 1:50 to 1:10,000.
Preferably the accelerator additive is selected from the elements Cu, Ag, Au, Cd, Hg, Ni, Pd, Pt, Co, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Se and Te. The most preferred accelerator additive is Cu.
The at least one acid is preferably selected from the group comprising sulphuric acid, sulphamic acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, perchloric acid, carboxylic acids, alkyl sulphonic acids, aryl sulphonic acids, alkyl phosphonic acids, and aryl phosphonic acids.

Process and solution for providing a conversion coating on a metallic surface II

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation


A multi-layer coating for a transparent substrate, such as glass, plastic, or other transparent material, which increases the durability and weatherability of the substrate. The coating includes a surface-hardening layer of organo-siloxane formed over the substrate. An abrasion-resistant coating comprising a multi-layer stack of alternating layers of silicon dioxide and zirconium dioxide is formed over the surface-hardening layer. The multi-layer coating further includes a hydrophobic outer layer of perfluoroalkylsilane formed over the abrasion-resistant coating to form an outer moisture-resistant surface. This multi-layer coating configuration increases the abrasion resistance and mechanical strength of the transparent substrate on which it is formed without imparting color to the transparent substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a coating for a transparent substrate. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a multilayered hydrophobic coating for a transparent substrate and method for the manufacture of the same.
2. Description of Related Art
At present, automobile windows and mirrors are typically formed of glass. History has shown numerous disadvantages exist with utilizing glass in automobiles. Glass tends to add a significant amount of weight to automobile, and glass can pose a safety threat to passengers inside the automobile as glass has a tendency to shatter upon breakage. It is highly desirable to provide shatter-resistant glass surfaces in automobiles and other vehicles or to utilize other materials which do not tend to shatter. There are advantages which may be achieved by using highly transparent, optical quality plastic in place of glass. Plastic is lighter, tougher and less likely to fracture than glass. There is a demand for fully practical plastic windows and mirrors in the automotive industry due to its lightweight nature that contributes to the reduction of the gross weight of the vehicle. Further, plastic is advantageous due to its non-breakableness that is favorable to the safety of the driver in case of an accident.
One problem associated with plastic substrates, such as those used in windows and mirrors, is their significantly limited operational service life resulting from warpage or distortion due to the hygroscopic properties of the polymers used in forming the plastic substrate. Unlike its glass counterpart, a plastic substrate formed with a polymer-based material will gradually absorb moisture from the surrounding atmosphere. Over time, the absorption of moisture, coupled with variations in other climatic conditions, causes the polymer-based material to expand and contract. The moisture permeability of various coatings applied to both sides of a plastic substrate will often lead to different amounts of moisture being absorbed by the opposing surfaces of the plastic substrate, thus resulting in uneven expansion and contraction. This can cause a loss in optical clarity through the plastic substrate.
There is a need to provide a coating for a transparent substrate which provides increased durability and weatherability of the transparent substrate while maintaining a desired optical clarity. Furthermore, there is also a need for an improved coating for a transparent substrate which provides added protection against abrasions and impact damage.
The foregoing shortcomings and disadvantages of the prior art are alleviated by the present invention that provides a multi-layer coating which increases the durability and weatherability of a transparent substrate, such as glass, plastic, or other transparent material. The multi-layer coating includes a surface-hardening layer of organo-siloxane formed over the transparent substrate. An abrasion-resistant coating comprising a stack of alternating layers of silicon dioxide and zirconium dioxide is formed over the surface-hardening layer. The multi-layer coating includes a hydrophobic outer layer of perfluoroalkylsilane formed over the abrasion-resistant coating. This multi-layer coating configuration provides a surface for the transparent substrate which resists abrasions and absorbs mechanical stresses while providing an improved weather-resistant barrier for the substrate.

Multilayered hydrophobic coating and method of manufacturing the same


Provided are diphenyl sulfide derivatives which have excellent S1P3 antagonistic activity and are useful as drugs. Intensive studies have been made for the purpose of creating a compound having S1P3 antagonistic activity. As a result of the intensive studies, it has been found that diphenyl sulfide derivatives represented by general formula (1) have excellent S1P3 antagonistic activity. In general formula (1), R1 is a hydrogen atom or the like; R2 is an optionally substituted alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or the like; X is a methylene group which may be substituted with one or two fluorine atoms, or the like; Y is a hydrogen atom or the like; and Z is a halogen atom.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) was considered to be merely an intermediary metabolite in sphingosine metabolism. However, it has been reported that S1P has a cell growth promoting action and a control action of a cell motility function, and it is now clear that S1P is a new lipid mediator that exhibits various physiological actions, such as an apoptosis action, a cell morphology regulation action, and vasoconstriction (Non-Patent Literatures 1 and 2).
This S1P combines two actions, an action as an intracellular second messenger and an action as an intercellular mediator. Studies into S1P's action as an intercellular mediator are especially active. It has been reported that information is transmitted via a plurality of G protein-coupled receptors present on the cell membrane surface (Endothelial Differentiation Gene, EDG) (Non-Patent Literatures 1 and 3). Currently, five sub-types of S1P receptors are known, including Edg-1, Edg-3, Edg-5, Edg-6, and Edg-8 which are called as S1P1, S1P3, S1P2, S1P4, and S1P5, respectively.
From various studies into these S1P receptors, it has been reported that so-called S1P receptor regulator, which exhibits an agonistic or antagonistic action against this receptor, is effective against a wide range of diseases. Patent Literature 2 and Non-Patent Literatures 4 to 7 report that the S1P3 antagonist is effective as a therapeutic or preventive medicine for respiratory tract contraction, bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary emphysema, tracheal stenosis, diffuse panbronchiolitis, bronchitis resulting from infection, connective tissue disease, or transplantation, diffuse pulmonary hamartoangiomyomatosis, adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), interstitial pneumonitis, lung cancer, pneumonia hypersensitivity, idiopathic interstitial pneumonia, fibrosis of the lung, sepsis, or cytokine storm caused by an influenza virus or RS virus infection.
Further, Patent Literatures 3 to 6 show that the S1P3 antagonist is also effective against arterial sclerosis, blood vessel intimal hypertrophy, solid tumors, diabetic retinopathy, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiac arrest, ischemia-reperfusion disorders, cerebral blood vessel spasms after subarachnoid bleeding, angina pectoris or myocardial infarction caused by coronary vessel spasms, glomerulonephritis, thrombosis, lung disease caused by pulmonary edema such as ARDS, cardiac arrhythmia, eye disease, eye hypertension, glaucoma, glaucomatous retinopathy, optic neuropathy, macula-lutea degeneration and the like.
Further, although currently there are recombinants form of human activated protein C (rhAPC) in medicines that are effective as sepsis therapeutic medicines, rhAPC may also cause hemorrhaging as a side effect. Therefore, there is a need to develop a novel sepsis therapeutic or preventive medicine that does not exhibit such side effects. Non-Patent Literatures 5 and 7 report that the S1P3 receptor contributes to multiple organ failure caused by sepsis based on analysis using S1P3 knockout mice, thereby suggesting that the S1P3 antagonist may be effective as a sepsis therapeutic or preventive medicine. In addition, it has been reported that the S1P1 antagonist increases vascular wall permeability, and causes pulmonary edema (Non-Patent Literature 8). Therefore, in order for a novel sepsis therapeutic or preventive medicine to have a high level of safety, that therapeutic or preventive medicine should have a weak S1P1 antagonistic action, preferably exhibit an S1P1 agonistic action, and more preferably not exhibit an action against the S1P1 receptor.
Known S1P receptor regulators include, for example, the compounds represented by the following general formula (A) described in Patent Literature 1,
(In the formula (A), R1 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a halogenated or unhalogenated lower alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a hydroxy group, a phenyl group, an aralkyl group, a lower alkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a trifluoromethyloxy group, an optionally substituted aralkyloxy group, an optionally substituted phenoxy group, a cyclohexylmethyloxy group, an optionally substituted aralkyloxy group, a pyridylmethyloxy group, a cinnamyloxy group, a naphthylmethyloxy group, a phenoxymethyl group, a hydroxymethyl group, a hydroxyethyl group, a lower alkylthio group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a lower alkylsulfinyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a lower alkylsulfonyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a benzylthio group, an acetyl group, a nitro group, or a cyano group; R2 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a halogenated or unhalogenated lower alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a lower alkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, an aralkyl group, or an aralkyloxy group; R3 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a trifluoromethyl group, a lower alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a lower alkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a hydroxy group, a benzyloxy group, a phenyl group, a lower alkoxymethyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a lower alkylthio group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; R4 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a trifluoromethyl group, a lower alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a lower alkoxymethyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a lower alkylthiomethyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, a hydroxymethyl group, a phenyl group, or an aralkyl group; R5 represents a hydrogen atom or a lower alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; X represents O, S, SO, or SO2; and Y represents —CH2O—, —CH2-, —CH═CH—, —CF═CF—, —CH2CH2-, —CH2CFH—, —CH2CF2-, or —CH(OH)CF2-.).
However, Patent Literature 1 does not include 2-aminophosphoric acid monoester derivatives or 3-aminophosphonic acid derivatives having a diphenyl sulfide skeleton in which a hydroxyl group is substituted for a phenyl group. Further, the fact that 2-aminophosphoric acid monoester derivatives or 3-aminophosphonic acid derivatives having such a structure exhibit an excellent S1P3 receptor-antagonistic action is also not known.
Other examples of known S1P receptor regulators include the compounds represented by the following general formula (B) in Patent Literature 6,
(In the formula (B), R1 represents a chlorine atom, a linear alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, or a trifluoromethyl group; R2 represents a fluorine atom or a chlorine atom; R3 represents a linear alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms; X represents an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom; and n denotes an integer of 2 or 3.).
Further, among the compounds represented by the general formula (B), it has been reported that the optically active compounds represented by the general formula (Ba), have a weak S1P3 agonistic action and an excellent agonistic action against S1P1 and/or S1P4.
(In the formula (Ba), R1, R3, and X are as defined above.)
However, the compounds having an inverse asymmetric center to the optically active compounds represented by the general formula (Ba), are not known. Further, the fact that such optically active compounds exhibit an excellent S1P3 receptor-antagonistic action is also not known.    Patent Literature 1 WO04074297 pamphlet    Patent Literature 2 WO03020313 pamphlet    Patent Literature 3 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-247691    Patent Literature 4 WO07043568 pamphlet    Patent Literature 5 WO06063033 pamphlet    Patent Literature 6 WO08018427 pamphlet    Non-Patent Literature 1 Y. Takuma et al., Mol. Cell. Endocrinol., 177, 3 (2001).    Non-Patent Literature 2 Y. Igarashi, Ann, N.Y. Acad. Sci., 845, 19 (1998).    Non-Patent Literature 3 H. Okazaki et al., Biochem. Biophs. Res. Commun., 190, 1104 (1993).    Non-Patent Literature 4 Y. Gon et. al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 102(26), 9270 (2005).    Non-Patent Literature 5 F. Nissen et al., Nature, 452, 654 (2008)    Non-Patent Literature 6 D. Christina et al., Am. J. Pathol., 170(1), 281 (2007)    Non-Patent Literature 7 F. Nissen et al., Blood, 113(12), 2859 (2009)    Non-Patent Literature 8 M. G. Sanna et al., Nature Chemical biology, 2, 434 (2006)

Diphenyl sulfide derivatives and medicines containing same as active ingredient


A ring binder having D-shaped rings wherein the rings, when opened, position a generally straight leg of the D-shape in a vertical orientation with respect to a horizontal bottom cover panel of the binder. The straight leg has a short turned end portion which allows for simple vertical loading of pages onto the rings. The arrangement provides for greater efficiency at loading multiple pages onto a ring binder in the factory, as well as replacing pages in the ring binder by the consumer. A plurality of D-shaped rings can be used in an arrangement wherein the ring carrier can be mounted on the bottom cover, rather than mounted onto a spine panel of the ring binder. By arranging the ring carrier on the bottom cover rather than the spine, the top and bottom cover members can be made of shorter width, resulting in a savings of material of manufacture.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ring binders, in particular ring binders having a plurality of openable rings for holding leaves of paper or pages thereon.
In a conventional ring binder, a plurality of rings are flexibly held in alignment on an inside spine portion of a tri-fold cover. The rings are in a circular shape and spreadable from a top junction for threading or inserting the pages thereon. A drawback to this configuration is that threading of the pages thereon must be accomplished with a swinging or rotational displacement of the pages to thread around the curvature of the open half ring. In a conventional D ring binder the substantially straight portion of the "D" has its upper end portion gradually curved to meet the distal end of the arcuate half of the ring. The horizontal profile of the conventional D ring binder is still too great for vertical loading of conventionally punched pages which usually have 5/16" diameter punched holes. Therefore, even with a conventional D, some pivoting of the pages is required for loading.
In photo album manufacture, the albums are shipped with magnetic pages already installed. When installing pages at the factory, operators must accomplish this task manually and because of the movement of their wrists, operators have experienced wrist and arm problems, particularly with carpal tunnel. Machine threading of the pages onto open circular rings is also made more complicated because of the curvature of the rings.


An image processing apparatus comprises a first screen processing unit which applies screen processing to image data using a first threshold matrix; a second screen processing unit which applies screen processing to the image data using a second threshold matrix different from the first threshold matrix; an edge detection unit which detects an edge portion of an object included in the image data; and an output unit which selects and outputs image data obtained by a logical OR operation between image data obtained by the first screen processing unit and image data obtained by the second screen processing unit for a pixel detected by the edge detection unit as an edge portion, and selects and outputs the image data obtained by the first screen processing unit for a pixel other than the edge portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which reduce the jaggy in the edge portion of an image to which halftone processing has been applied.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus may produce an uneven outline (jaggy) in the edge portion of a character or the like upon image processing performed during image formation. The jaggy readily occurs especially when applying halftone processing such as screen processing.
There are proposed several techniques for reducing the jaggy caused by halftone processing such as screen processing. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-199080 proposes a technique for emphasizing the outline of an object at an edge portion using image data after screen processing and that before screen processing. In this technique, it is determined whether a pixel is an edge portion of an object. If the pixel is an edge portion, it is further determined whether to output a dot in image data after screen processing. If no dot is to be output, a value derived from image data before screen processing is output. If a dot is to be output in image data after screen processing, the image data after screen processing is output.
The above-described method is effective for a multilevel printer capable of expressing a plurality of tones per pixel. However, a binary printer capable of expressing only two tones per pixel may cause an image defect. For example, in edge portion outline emphasis for an object in an intermediate color, if no dot is output in the image data after screen processing, a binary value is obtained from data before screen processing, and therefore, the maximum value is always output. For this reason, when emphasizing the outline of the edge portion, the object has a solid uniform outline with the maximum density independently of its color density, resulting in a processing result unintended by the user.
In addition, in the processing of reducing the jaggy caused by screen processing, the processing of determining whether to output a dot is complex. Hence, it may be impossible to obtain a sufficient processing speed in a low-performance environment.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


A first embodiment is a lithography mask comprising a transparent substrate and a first molybdenum silicon nitride (MoxSiyNz) layer. The first MoxSiyNz layer is over the transparent substrate. A percentage of molybdenum (x) of the first MoxSiyNz layer is between 1 and 2. A percentage of silicon (y) of the first MoxSiyNz layer is between 50 and 55. A percentage of nitride (z) of the first MoxSiyNz layer is between 40 and 50. The first MoxSiyNz layer has an opening therethrough.

In semiconductor processing, multiple lithography steps are generally used to form a semiconductor chip. These steps typically include forming a photoresist over a substrate that is to be formed into the semiconductor chip, exposing the photoresist to a pattern of light generally controlled by a mask, developing the pattern in the photoresist to expose the underlying substrate, and etching the pattern in the underlying substrate. The pattern etched in the underlying substrate may be a basis for some feature formation, such as an ion impurity implantation such as for doping source and drain regions, a formation of a structure like a gate patterning, or a pattern for a conductive material such as in a metallization layer.
Advances in semiconductor processing have generally allowed for continued reduction of minimum feature sizes for semiconductor chips; however, each reduction in size typically is accompanied with its own challenges. As minimum feature size decreases, overlay concerns are typically intensified. Minimum feature size reduction allows for a greater density of features in a given area, which in turn increases the likelihood that an improperly overlaid feature can render the chip useless.
To help avoid improper overlaying of features, critical dimensions of features typically must be precise. If dimensions of features are just a small amount more than corresponding critical dimensions, the features can overlay other features. Accordingly, it is advantageous to form features with precise dimensions that are true to a design.
As previously noted, lithography steps are typically used to form these features, and at the source of the lithography steps is the mask. If the mask is not able to precisely form a pattern in a photoresist, the subsequently formed feature may not meet its critical dimension requirement. Some causes for a mask not being able to precisely form a pattern may be that the pattern formed in the mask itself is not precise, such as caused by a slight, unintended etching of material holding the pattern in the mask during the cleaning of the mask while being formed. This slight etch may widen the pattern in the mask beyond a critical dimension. Further, various physical characteristics of the mask, such a reflectivity percentage, a refractive index, and a coefficient of extinction, may cause an exposure through the mask to be improperly focused or allow spurious light to be incident on the photoresist.

Lithography mask and method of forming a lithography mask

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


In conventional disk shaped recording reproduction devices, vibrations have been absorbed by the up and down motion of protruding rods which are supported in a viscous liquid such as a silicon oil. According to this invention, an inexpensive elastic body is used, which is heated by a heater so that, by maintaining the temperature of the elastic body within a certain range, the deterioration of the vibration absorbing characteristics of the elastic body with temperature changes is considerably reduced and the elastic body can be made more compact.

This invention relates to disk shaped recording reproduction devices for reading information from a disk and particularly to mechanisms which prevent vibrations in these devices.
FIG. 3 shows the principal mechanism of a conventional disk shaped recording reproduction device--a compact disk drive. An optical pickup 2, which reads the information on a compact disk 1, is located near the turntable (not shown) which turns when the compact disk 1 is loaded. A clamp 3, which presses against the compact disk 1 and makes it turn together with the turntable, is located above the turntable. The clamp 3 is attached to a free end of a clamp arm 4. The clamp arm 4 is pivoted to a deck base 6 which is supported by four dampers 5 and springs 20.
FIG. 4 is a cross section of the damper 5. A viscous liquid 8 made from a silicon oil which is resistant to viscosity changes and deterioration accompanying temperature changes is sealed within a cylindrical rubber elastic body 7. A protruding rod 9 is placed in the center of the elastic body 7. A disk shaped resistance plate 10 is placed at the lower end of the protruding rod 9.
In the conventional compact disk drive as described above, when the compact disk 1 is loaded onto the turntable, the clamp arm 4 falls and the clamp 3 holds the compact disk 1 against the turntable. Therefore, the motor (not shown) turns the turntable, compact disk 1, and clamp 3 together without the compact disk 1 slipping, and the optical pickup 2 is able to read optically the information on the compact disk 1. Moreover, the damper 5 absorbs the vibrations of the deck base 6 in order to prevent errors as the information on compact disk 1 is read.
In the compact disk configured as described above, the damper 5 is used to prevent vibration while the viscous fluid 8 is a silicon oil which has a small viscosity drop as its temperature increases. However, the good vibration damping characteristics cannot be maintained because the viscosity of the liquid declines with increasing temperature throughout the entire temperature range, for example, from -30.degree. C. to 70.degree. C., to which the viscous fluid is exposed under automobile operating conditions. Moreover, sealing the silicon oil with a thin rubber film makes manufacturing more difficult and increases production costs.

Disk shaped recording reproduction device


A magnetic recording medium is provided that includes a non-magnetic support and, in order, above the non-magnetic support, a radiation-cured material layer cured by exposing a layer that includes a radiation curable compound to radiation, and a magnetic layer that includes a fine ferromagnetic powder and a binder, a compound having one or more ether groups and three or more radiation curable functional groups per molecule being employed as the radiation curable compound, and the number of magnetic layer surface micro projections having a height measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) of 10 to 20 nm being 5 to 1,000 per 100 (μm)2. There is also provided the magnetic recording medium wherein it further includes a non-magnetic layer that includes a non-magnetic powder and a binder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium such as a magnetic tape or a magnetic disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
As tape-form magnetic recording media for audio, video, and computers, and disc-form magnetic recording media such as flexible discs, a magnetic recording medium has been used in which a magnetic layer having dispersed in a binder a fine ferromagnetic powder such as γ-iron oxide, Co-containing iron oxide, chromium oxide, or a ferromagnetic metal powder is provided on a support. With regard to the support used in the magnetic recording medium, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, etc. are generally used. Since these supports are drawn and are highly crystallized, their mechanical strength is high and their solvent resistance is excellent.
The magnetic layer, which is obtained by coating the support with a coating solution having the fine ferromagnetic powder dispersed in the binder, has a high degree of packing of the fine ferromagnetic powder, low elongation at break, and is brittle, and it is therefore easily destroyed by the application of mechanical force and might peel off from the support. In order to prevent this, an undercoat layer is provided on the support so as to make the magnetic layer adhere strongly to the support.
On the other hand, magnetic recording media having a radiation-cured material layer formed using a compound having a functional group that is curable by radiation such as an electron beam, that is, a radiation curable compound, are known (ref. JP-A-57-40747, JP-A-58-146023, JP-A-60-150227, and JP-B-5-57647 (JP-A denotes a Japanese unexamined patent application publication and JP-B denotes a Japanese examined patent application publication)). However, the radiation-cured material layer employing such a radiation curable compound cannot provide sufficient smoothness for the magnetic layer, and adequate electromagnetic conversion characteristics cannot be obtained. Furthermore, since the peel strength of the magnetic layer is not sufficient, when the medium is repeatedly run in a VTR, etc., part of the magnetic layer is peeled off, thus causing faults such as dropouts. Moreover, since the radiation-cured material layer is soft, there is the problem that it often sticks to a path roller, etc. during a coating step, etc.

Magnetic recording medium including a radiation-cured material layer having a specified structure and composition


A method, system and external instrument are provided. The method initiates a communication link between an external instrument (EI) and an implantable medical device (IMD), established a first connection interval for conveying data packets between the EI and IMD and monitors a connection criteria that includes at least one of a data throughput requirement. A battery indicator or link condition of the communications link is between the IMD and EI. The method further changes from the first connection interval to a second connection interval based on the connection criteria.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to systems and methods for establishing a communication link between devices, and more particularly to managing dynamic connection intervals for BLE utilized to establish communication links between implantable medical devices and external instruments.
An implantable medical device (IMD) is a medical device to be implantable within a patient anatomy. Some IMDs employ one or more leads with electrodes that either receive or deliver voltage, current or other electromagnetic pulses from or to an organ or tissue for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Other IMDs operate without separate leads, and may be referred to as leadless IMDs. In general, IMDs include a battery, electronic circuitry, a pulse generator, a transceiver and/or a microprocessor that is configured to handle communication with an external instrument as well as control patient therapy. The components of the IMD are hermetically sealed within a metal housing.
IMDs are programmed by, and exchange data with, external instruments (EI) controlled by physicians and/or the patient. The external instruments use commercial operating systems (e.g., iOS, Android) that communicate through wireless bi-directional communication links with the IMDs. The bi-direction communication link is formed based on advertisement notices received by the external instruments. The advertisement notices are broadcast by the IMD at a predetermined constant frequency based on the wireless protocol. However, the current drain expended by the IMD to broadcast the advertisement notices can be too high where battery life is a concern, particularly in smaller devices that have limited space for batteries. To conserve current drain, it has been proposed to transmit advertisement notices at a lower frequency than defined by the wireless protocol, such as by waiting several seconds or minutes between transmission of successive advertisement notices (e.g., instead of a few seconds or milliseconds).
However, many external instruments have built in constraints related to how long the external instrument will monitor for advertisement notices for usability and power consumption purposes. If an advertisement notice is not received by the external instrument within a predetermined number of monitoring periods, the external instrument may decrease the frequency of the monitoring period. If the external instrument misses an advertisement notice, minutes may pass before the external instrument begins to monitor for an advertisement notice. When multiple unsuccessful monitoring periods occur, the battery of the external instrument is undesirably drained.
Further, many external instruments (EIs) use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to connect to an IMD. The power consumption of the battery of an IMD is a major design constraint. There is a limited total amount of drain allowable for active device communications with EIs when the BLE link is active. While in an active connection, the BLE specification defines the connection interval to be the interval between two consecutive connection events (a data exchange before going back to an idle state to save power), and this connection interval can be set to a value between 7.5 ms and 4 s.
If the BLE link utilizes a protocol with connection interval 1, such as a 20 ms per packet exchange, a good data throughput is likely due to more data being exchanged during a fixed time period. However, the power consumption during the connection interval 1 will be higher during the session in which the EI is connected. Conversely, if the BLE link utilizes connection interval 2, such as a 100 ms per packet exchange, a limited data throughput bandwidth is likely due to limited data being exchanged during a fixed time period. However, the decreased power consumption during the connection interval 2 is desired and is beneficial for the longevity of the IMD. In accordance with the foregoing, conventional BLE telemetry protocols cause an undue drain on the IMD battery. A need exists for improved methods and systems to manage the connection interval of a BLE link between an EI and an IMD.

Managing dynamic connection intervals for implantable and external devices


A digital data recording apparatus includes a plurality of encoders for subjecting digital signals to a prescribed signal processing so as to supply a plurality of digital data signals, a memory part for temporarily storing the plurality of digital data signals supplied from the plurality of encoders, a selection part responsive to a sequence of selecting signals for selecting one of the plurality of digital data signals output from the memory part in accordance with the sequence of selecting signals and for supplying a selected digital data signal to a recording amplifier, and a timing control part for supplying one of the selecting signals to the selection part in accordance with a prescribed time sequence when a recording head is brought in contact with a magnetic tape within a time period in which a rotary drum is rotated one revolution, and for allowing the plurality of digital data signals supplied from the plurality of encoders to be written to the memory part at a first frequency, and for allowing the plurality of the thus stored digital data signals to be read from the memory part at a second frequency higher than the first frequency, wherein the plurality of digital data signals are recorded in one of a plurality of tracks of the magnetic tape in accordance with the sequence of the selecting signals supplied from the timing control part to the selection part.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a digital data recording apparatus, and more particularly to a digital data recording apparatus adapted for recording digital audio signals in different areas of a recording medium and for reproducing audio signals from the recording medium.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Recently, the recording of audio signals such as music sound in a recording medium such as a compact disk is made by using multitrack digital audio data recording technology. A multitrack digital audio tape recorder is desirable because it can record audio signals in a recording medium and can reproduce audio signals from the recording medium with no significant deterioration of sound quality if the dubbing is repeated. There is an increasing need for a compact, less expensive multitrack digital audio tape recorder for personal or home uses.
Conventional 16-track, 32-track, 48-track or 64-track digital audio tape recorders have been commonly used in recording studios or the like. It is necessary for the conventional recorders mentioned above to use a magnetic tape having a large width in which a plurality of tracks extending in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tape are formed to record audio signals. For this reason, the above conventional recorders will become a large scale system and will be expensive. Also, in the above multitrack digital audio tape recorders, it is difficult to increase the speed of reading and writing audio signals from and to the magnetic tape.
In order to increase the speed of reading and writing, an improved multitrack digital data recording method has been proposed. In the improved recording method mentioned above, a plurality of tracks extending obliquely to the longitudinal direction of a magnetic tape are formed for a higher recording density and a speedier reading and writing. However, when the improved recording method is applied to a multitrack digital audio tape recorder, it is necessary to use a large-scale time base corrector for enabling a higher recording density on a recording medium. Thus, there is a problem in that the multitrack digital tape recorder using such a time base corrector will become bulky and expensive.
A conceivable method for constructing a less expensive, compact multitrack digital audio tape recorder is to make use of a mechanical deck of 8 mm video tape recorder (VTR) and an integrated signal processor of rotary digital audio tape recorder (RDAT). The 8 mm VTRs are widely prevailing in recent years since they are compact and of light weight. The mechanical deck of 8 mm VTR includes a rotary drum, a tape running system and a tape cassette loading/unloading mechanism. However, when the 8 mm VTR mechanical deck and the RDAT integrated signal processor are combined, there are four major difficulties which should be resolved: (1) tracking signal, (2) audio signal processing method, (3) tape format and (4) circuit size.
The four major difficulties mentioned above will be described in the following: (1) The automatic track finding (ATF) method of RDAT recorder is greatly dependent on the format of magnetic tape. However, the automatic track finding (ATF) signals of 8 mm VTR recorder are recorded as analog signals. (2) The RDAT integrated signal processor is designed to process two-channel digital audio signals. This signal processing method is different from the signal processing method of 8 mm VTR recorder. (3) In order to process multichannel digital audio signals by combining a plurality of RDAT integrated signal processors each of which is designed to process two-channel digital audio signals, it is necessary to add a large amount of redundant bits to the processed signals for error correction. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve a higher recording density on the recording medium. (4) The RDAT recorder is designed to record two-channel digital audio signals in a magnetic tape and the magnetic tape is wound on a rotary drum by 90 degrees. However, in a case of the 8 mm VTR recorder, it is necessary to record 8-channel video signals in a video tape, and the video tape is wound on a rotary drum by 226 degrees. Therefore, it is necessary to make use of a large-scale time base corrector, in order to resolve the problems when the 8 mm VTR mechanical deck and the RDAT integrated signal processor are combined.
For example, FIG. 1 shows a conventional multitrack digital audio tape recorder using a known large-scale time base correcting circuit. In FIG. 1, there are shown an integrated signal processing circuit 100 of rotary digital audio tape recorder (RDAT), a mechanical deck 200 of 8 mm video tape recorder (VTR) including a rotary drum 220 with magnetic heads 210, and a time base corrector (TBC) 300.
In the time base corrector 300 shown in FIG. 1, a static random access memory (SRAM) 310, a writing counter 320, a reading counter 325, and an arbiter 330 are provided. The arbiter 330 functions to prevent the interference between the writing of information to the SRAM 310 and the reading of information from the SRAM 310. As shown in FIG. 1, the TBC 300 must be made up of various circuit components, and there is a problem in that the time base corrector provided in the multitrack digital audio tape recorder will be bulky and expensive.


A swaging machine for swaging a workpiece as it is axially fed or for recessing a workpiece when it is axially fixed and which comprises two or more dies and two or more stems for actuating said dies, die guiding means for guiding said dies, a front cover for covering said dies, and wedges extending between said stems and dies to vary the radial spacing of said dies and stems. The machine is provided with a die changing mechanism comprising a pivotally movable or displaceable die handling member, which is formed with juxtaposed chamber, which contain respective gripping means for gripping respective sets of dies, and said die handling member is pivotally movable or displaceable to a plurality of positions in which respective ones of said chambers are centered on a predetermined workpiece feeding axis. Said die handling member comprises a cam slot, which is engaged by the front cover and the front cover is pivotally movable or displaceable, like the die handling member, and is thus movable between an operating position, in which said front cover covers said dies, and a die changing position, in which said dies are exposed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a swaging machine for swaging a workpiece as it is axially fed or for recessing an axially fixed workpiece, which machine comprises two or more swaging tools consisting each of a stem and a die associated with said stem, die guiding means for guiding said dies and a front cover for covering said dies in said die guiding means and optionally comprises slidable wedges extending between each of said stems and one of said dies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known swaging machines for swaging a workpiece as it is axially fed or for recessing an axially fixed workpiece comprise two or more swaging tools consisting each of a stem and a die associated with said stem, die guiding means for guiding said dies and a front cover for covering said dies in said die guiding means and optionally comprise slidable wedges extending between each of said stems and one of said dies. In the known machines of that kind the dies are changed by hand in a complicated and time-consuming operation, which reduces the economy of the work, particularly if the workpieces are to be swaged in small lots so that the dies must often be changed, or when workpieces are to be formed with a plurality of steps.

Swaging machine comprising a die changing mechanism


To provide a light wavelength separation device and a light wavelength separation method that can be flexibly adapted for various channel intervals of a wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) signal, a light wavelength separation circuit is provided with: an optical coupler which splits a wavelength-multiplexed optical signal in which optical signals of a plurality of channels are multiplexed; a band-pass filter which is arranged for each of output ports of the optical coupler, separates optical signals included in the wavelength-multiplexed optical signal inputted from the output ports of the optical coupler into channels of which the central frequencies are not adjacent to each other, and outputs the separated optical signals from respectively different output ports; and an optical switch which selects one of paths of the optical signals inputted from the output ports of each band-pass filter.

A group of carrier frequencies used in a dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) system is stipulated as a "frequency grid" in ITU-T Recommendation G.694.1. A channel interval of the frequency grid includes, for example, 100 GHz, 50 GHz, 25 GHz, and 12.5 GHz. Meanwhile, there may be a case where DWDM transmission is performed by using a frequency grid having a channel interval of 40 GHz or 33.3 GHz that is not in ITU-T Recommendation in order to prioritize utilization efficiency of frequencies in a submarine cable system. ITU-T represents Telecommunication Standardization Sector of International Telecommunication Union.
In relation to the present invention, PTL 1 describes an optical cross-connect system that includes an optical switch being disposed between wavelength selective switches (WSSs).
PTL 2 describes an optical transmission device in which an interleaver is disposed before and after a WSS.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Light wavelength separation device and light wavelength separation method


According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, provided is a learning system that updates a parameter for a neural network, the learning system including: a plurality of differential value calculators; and a parameter update module.

In the field of image recognition, there is a problem called general object recognition. This is a problem in estimating the types (classes) of objects such as a bird and a vehicle in images. In recent years, there have been remarkable improvements in recognition performance to solve the general object recognition problem. This is largely owing to convolution neural networks (hereinafter referred to as CNN; see Non-patent literature 1, for example) each having a large number of layers.
In the field of image recognition, various recognition algorithms have been suggested in the past. However, as the amounts of learning data (sets of input data and correct solutions) have become enormous, the recognition performance of a CNN tends to be higher than that of the other algorithms. As pointed out before, a CNN has great ability to express a model, but has a problem called "over-training", specializing excessively in the features of learning data. However, the amounts of learning data are now reaching such a level as to be capable of avoiding the problem of over-training.


Attenuator apparatus for controlling the intensity of radiation including an attenuator having through openings that vary in size to vary the intensity of a beam of radiation passing through the shutter, and means for moving the attenuator to selectively regulate the intensity of the beam of radiation passing through.

The sunlight spectrum includes the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light wavelength ranges. Various types of equipment have been developed that simulate one or more of these light frequency ranges and are used in performing various tests, for example, on humans or materials or components to determine the effect of these light wavelength ranges on humans or materials or components.
It is well known that exposure to ultraviolet radiation can cause adverse skin conditions, including skin cancers. The predominant source of the ultraviolet radiation is sunlight radiation. Various sunscreen formulations that are applied to the skin are available to reduce or eliminate the adverse effect of sunlight on humans and various equipments used in testing the effectiveness of such sunscreen formulations (i.e., the skin reactions to various ultraviolet doses) to determine the Sunscreen Protection Factor (SPF) are available.
Test apparatus of this type that is available at the present time includes an artificial light source that provides (a) a single beam of selected intensity focused upon a subject to test skin reaction to the intensity of the single beam of ultraviolet radiation, or (b) a plurality of beams of various selected intensities focused simultaneously upon a subject to test simultaneously skin reaction to the various intensities of the plurality of beams of ultraviolet radiation.
In general, the skin reaction test units that are currently available fail to satisfy a number of the requirements of the users of such units. Some fail to provide beams of radiation having the desired uniform output intensity profiles, so that often it is difficult for the user to properly quantify and qualify the test results. Some fail to provide the users of the test units with sufficient flexibility to conduct the types of tests the users would like to conduct in an easy and efficient manner that provide accurate and repeatable results.
Yet another problem with currently available skin reaction test units is the thermal discomfort that can be experienced by certain subjects during exposure that is caused by the presence of certain wavelengths in the radiation to which the subject is exposed. Despite efforts to eliminate, for example, infrared radiation from the lamp source by the inclusion, for example, of dichroic mirrors and blocking filters, the test subjects still can be exposed, under certain conditions, to an undesirable level of infrared radiation that is not eliminated from the beams of radiations to which the test subject is exposed and, thereby, be exposed to undesirable thermal discomfort.
As to test units that are available to determine the effect of sunlight on materials and components (e.g., photovoltaic cells), many are subject to the same general criticism set out above with respect to the skin reaction test units. Some fail to provide the user with test results that are properly quantified and qualified, while others lack the flexibility to conduct the types of tests the users would like to conduct in an easy and efficient manner that provide accurate results.


Provided is a voltage regulator in which a rush current of an output circuit can be limited and a rise time of an output voltage is short. The voltage regulator includes a first output current limiting circuit and a second output current limiting circuit which are used to control the output circuit, and a detecting circuit for detecting a rise speed of an input voltage. The operation of the first output current limiting circuit whose detection current value is low is controlled by the detecting circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage regulator for generating a constant voltage based on an input voltage.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A mobile electronic device such as a mobile telephone is generally operated by power supplied from a rechargeable battery. An output voltage of the rechargeable battery changes corresponding to a charging state. In order to stably operate the mobile electric device, it is necessary to apply a constant voltage to the mobile electric device. Therefore, the mobile electric device includes a voltage regulator for generating a constant voltage without depending on the output voltage of the rechargeable battery. For circuit protection, the voltage regulator includes a rush current limiting circuit for limiting a rush current of an output stage transistor.
Hereinafter, a conventional voltage regulator including a rush current limiting circuit will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic circuit diagram showing the conventional voltage regulator.
The conventional voltage regulator includes an amplifying circuit 25 for comparing a reference voltage with a dividing voltage obtained by division of an output voltage, an output stage transistor T23 through which a drain current corresponding to an output voltage of the amplifying circuit 25 flows, a testing transistor T24, a current limiting circuit 20 for controlling a gate voltage to the transistor T23 and the transistor T24 based on the drain current of the transistor T24, a switch circuit 30 for switching between input paths of the drain current flowing from the transistor T24 to the current limiting circuit 20, an on/off circuit 26 for controlling an on/off operation of the voltage regulator, and a counter circuit 27 for measuring an elapsed time from the time when the voltage regulator is turned on. The on/off circuit 26, the counter circuit 27, and the current limiting circuit 20 are collectively referred to as a rush current limiting circuit.
The current limiting circuit 20 includes a first output current limiting circuit 21 and a second output current limiting circuit 22. The first output current limiting circuit 21 detects a first current limit value to limit the drain current of the transistor T23. The second output current limiting circuit 22 detects a second current limit value higher than the first current limit value to limit the drain current of the transistor T23. The counter circuit 27 controls the switch circuit 30 based on the elapsed time. The switch circuit 30 connects the transistor T24 with the first output current limiting circuit 21 until a predetermined elapsed time has elapsed. After the predetermined elapsed time has elapsed, the switch circuit 30 connects the transistor T24 with the second output current limiting circuit 22.
The operation of the conventional voltage regulator as described above will be described.
When the voltage regulator is turned on, the on/off circuit 26 causes the amplifying circuit 25 to start activation and causes the counter circuit 27 to start counting. In order to rapidly charge an external capacitor (not shown) connected with an output voltage terminal, an excessive drain current (rush current) flows through the transistor T23. A drain current proportional to the rush current, of the transistor T24 flows into the current limiting circuit 20. The switch circuit 30 selects the first output current limiting circuit 21 based on an output of the counter circuit 27. When the drain current becomes equal to or larger than the first current limit value, the first output current limiting circuit 21 controls the gate voltage to the transistor T23 and the transistor T24 to reduce the drain currents thereof. After a predetermined time has elapsed from the time when the voltage regulator is turned on, the switch circuit 30 selects the second output current limiting circuit 22 based on an output of the counter circuit 27 (see, for example, JP 2003-271251 A).
When an input voltage slowly increases, it is unnecessary to limit the drain current of the output stage transistor by the voltage regulator. However, until the predetermined elapsed time has elapsed from the time when the conventional voltage regulator is turned on, the first output current limiting circuit 21 whose current limit value is low limits the drain current of the output stage transistor T23. Therefore, because of unnecessary limitation given to the drain current, a current for charging the external capacitor connected with the output voltage terminal reduces, with the result that a rise time of the output voltage of the voltage regulator becomes longer.


A chiller system is provided and includes a chiller, a lubrication assembly and a controller. The chiller includes a compressor, a condenser, an expansion assembly and an evaporator in fluid communication with one another. The lubrication assembly is operably coupled to the compressor, the condenser and the evaporator and is formed to define first-third pathways via a three-way valve and a fourth pathway. The first pathway is configured for pumping refrigerant through the chiller, the second pathway is configured for pre-storing refrigerant in the chiller, the third pathway is configured for removing refrigerant from the chiller and the fourth pathway is configured for charging refrigerant into the chiller. The controller is configured to control the lubrication assembly to selectively engage one of the first-fourth pathways.

The following description relates to chillers and, more particularly, to chillers with a refrigerant handling system having an integral service refrigerant pump.
When low pressure refrigerant is handled during a servicing operation of a chiller, a refrigerant handling system is required to transfer the refrigerant into a storage location before the chiller is opened to atmospheric pressure. This is performed with a refrigerant pumping system that is external from the chiller. The refrigerant pumping system pushes refrigerant vapor into the chiller and thereby pushes liquid refrigerant into a storage vessel. This "push/pull" system requires multiple hoses and is common practice in industry.


An electronic document comparison system and method converts a test file into a compressed file having a specific format. A public key of the CA certificate of a user is obtained and a random key is generated using a random function. Furthermore, the compressed file is symmetrically encrypted using the random key, and the random key is asymmetrically encrypted using the public key to generate an asymmetric encryption key. A header of the compressed file is attached with the asymmetric encryption key and data length of the asymmetric encryption key.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to file processing technology, and particularly to a file encryption system and method.
2. Description of Related Art
Due to the growth of sensitive information stored in computers or transmitted over networks, the need to ensure security of the sensitive information has risen multifold. For example, confidential electronic files in computers may be encrypted by users. However, because electronic files comprise a variety of file formats, such as WORD files, portable document format (PDF) files, and joint photographic experts group (JPEG) files, each file format often requires a different plug-in program to encrypt the confidential electronic files. For example, if a user wants to encrypt a WORD file, a plug-in program corresponding to the WORD file needs to be installed. Therefore, it is inconvenient and time-wasting to encrypt electronic files, especially when the electronic files include at least two format files.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved system and method for encrypting files.


A method of encoding for optical transmission of information includes encoding information with a generalized low-density parity-check (GLDPC) code for providing coding gains, and constructing the GLDPC code with a Reed-Muller RM code as a component code, the component code being decodable using a maximum posterior probability (MAP) decoding. In a preferred embodiment, the GLDPC code includes a codeword length of substantially 4096, an information word length of substantially 3201, a lower-bound on minimum distance of substantially greater than or equal to 16, a code rate of substantially 0.78 and the RM component code includes an order of substantially 4 and an r parameter of substantially 6.

The state-of-the-art fiber-optics communication systems standardized by the ITU employ different concatenated Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH)/Reed-Solomon (RS) codes. Recently, iteratively decodable codes, turbo and low-density parity-check (LDPC) code, have generated significant research attention. It has been shown that turbo product codes (TPCs) can be matched and outperformed by LDPC codes in terms of coding gain and decoding complexity. Generalized low-density parity-check (GLDPC) coding can further improve the overall characteristics of LDPC codes by decreasing the complexity of the decoder, which is of high importance for optical communications. The main idea behind the GLDPC codes is to replace the parity-check equations in a parity-check matrix of global LDPC code by a linear block code. The decoding is based on a combination of simple and fast soft-input-soft-output (SISO) linear block decoders operating in parallel. The bit reliabilities obtained by SISO decoders are passed to the message-passing decoder operating on a bipartite graph of a global LDPC code. The SISO decoders are commonly designed as maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) decoders, such as Bahl-Cocke-Jelinek-Raviv (BCJR) decoder, and provide accurate estimates of bit reliabilities for a global LDPC decoder after small number of iterations. Due to high-complexity of the BCJR decoder, the GLDPC coding is limited to simple linear block component codes such as Hamming codes.
Accordingly, there is a need for generalized low-density parity-check code GLDPC encoding that provides excellent coding gains while low-complexity decoding.

GLDPC encoding with Reed-Muller component codes for optical communications


Private delivery drones and methods are disclosed. An example drone includes a first communication interface to receive a first input from a sender representing a delivery area for a payload, a second communication interface to receive a second input from a recipient representing a visual marker of the recipient, the visual marker unknown to the sender, a drone controller to, when the drone reaches the delivery area, visually identify a location in the delivery area to deliver the payload based on the visual marker, and a carrier to deliver the payload to the location.

In recent years, there is growing interest in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones) to deliver payloads to remote locations. For example, to delivery items purchased from a retailer to the purchaser.
In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts. Connecting lines or connectors shown in the various figures presented are intended to represent example functional relationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the various elements.

Drones and methods to deliver payloads to private locations


A multicast media service is provided. The multicast media service may be implemented using a media server that multicasts media files to users at user computing equipment. The multicast media service maintains playlists of media files. Users that receive the same multicasted media files at the same time form a viewer group. The multicast media service displays media player screens for each user in the viewer group. The media player screens include a media player region in which a media file that is currently being multicasted is played. Each media player screen also includes a current playlist of media files. The users in the viewer group can communicate about a currently playing media file using real time chat. Users can also upload associated content such as tags, persistent comments, and ratings. The multicast media management service may automatically suggest playlist modifications and can support navigation options.

The present invention relates to media multicasting, and more particularly, to multicast services in which user interactions influence the way in which media is presented to users.
Online communities exist in which users can interact and share media. For example, services are available that allow people to share songs and videos by uploading them to a web page associated with an internet site. A user of the service can navigate to the web page using navigation buttons and keyword searches. Upon reaching the web page, the uploaded songs and videos can be played for the user using a media player. The user can provide feedback on the songs and videos in the form of comments and ratings and can view the comments and ratings of other users.
Although the online communities that are associated with services such as these provide an opportunity for users to interact with each other, users do not generally share media playback experiences at the same time. This can limit the opportunities that users have to interact with each other.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide a multicast media service that multicasts media files to multiple users while allowing the users that are viewing the multicast media to interact with each other in real time.


A high voltage power supply for use in a laser printer, multifunction peripheral, or similar device, wherein the high voltage power supply includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) input unit, a high voltage output unit, and a delaying feedback unit for preventing the generation of an abnormally high voltage in an output signal of the high voltage output unit. By delaying the time when an offset voltage is supplied to the output signal, the generation of an abnormally high voltage that is applied to a surface of a photoconductive drum when a printer is turned on and which can deteriorate the quality of printed images can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high voltage power supply used in a laser printer or a multifunction peripheral. More particularly, the present invention relates to a high voltage power supply that is capable of preventing the generation of an abnormally high voltage, which can deteriorate image quality when applied to a surface of a photoconductive drum.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a multifunction peripheral having a printing function such as a laser printer, a laser beam is radiated onto an electrostatically charged photoconductive drum to produce latent characters or images to be printed on a sheet of paper. The latent characters or images are developed onto printing paper using toner. The developed characters or images are fixed onto printing paper by a fixing process. The multifunction peripheral or laser printer requires a high voltage to achieve the above-described functions. To this end, the multifunction peripheral or laser printer includes a high voltage power supply.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional high voltage power supply. The high voltage power supply in FIG. 1 includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal input unit 100, a switching drive control unit 110, a switching unit 120, a boosting and rectifying unit 130, an offset voltage supplying unit 140, and a voltage branching unit 150. The PWM signal input unit 100 receives an enable signal IN1 from a central processing unit (CPU, not shown), which is indicative of whether to output a high voltage. The switching drive control unit 110 outputs a switching drive control signal by comparing a reference signal, which is the enable signal IN1 via the PWM signal input unit 100, with an output signal. The switching unit 120 then generates a voltage for a primary coil of a fly-back transformer (FBT) in the boosting and rectifying unit 130 according to the switching drive control signal. The fly-back transformer (not shown) of the boosting and rectifying unit 130 boosts the voltage generated at the primary coil (not shown) and outputs the boosted voltage to an output terminal of a secondary coil (not shown). Further, the boosting and rectifying unit 130 rectifies the boosted voltage and outputs an output signal OUT1. The offset voltage supplying unit 140 supplies an offset voltage to the output signal OUT1, which is fed back to the switching drive control unit 110 via the voltage branching unit 150. The voltage branching unit 150 branches off the voltage of the output signal to feed it back to the switching drive control unit 110 such that the output signal can be compared with the reference signal.
FIG. 2 is an exemplary circuit diagram of the switching drive control unit 110. The switching drive control unit 110 is configured as a proportional integral (PI) controller and compares a composite signal IN3 (the output signal of the boosting and rectifying unit 130 and the offset voltage supplied from the offset voltage supplying unit 140), with a reference signal IN2 input from the PWM signal input unit 100, and outputs a drive control signal OUT2. That is, the switching drive control unit 110 senses a difference between the composite signal IN3 and the reference signal IN2, and outputs a drive control signal to the switching unit 120 based on the difference. The switching drive control unit 110 increases the voltage level of the output drive control signal if the input reference signal IN2 has a lower level than the composite signal IN3. The switching drive control unit 110 decreases the voltage level of the output drive control signal if the reference signal IN2 has a higher level than the composite signal IN3.
When power is first turned on, a PWM signal transitions from a low logic state to a high logic state, and is maintained in the high logic state in a standby mode. At this time, a high voltage output is not desired. However, since the composite signal IN3 comprises the offset voltage, the offset voltage reaches a non-inverting terminal (+) of an operational amplifier OP1 earlier than the reference signal IN2 input from the PWM signal input unit reaches an inverting terminal (−) of the operational amplifier OP1 when power is turned on. As a result, the output signal of the operational amplifier OP1 has a high initial voltage level just after power is turned on. The waveforms of the two input signals and the output signal of the operational amplifier OP1 when power is turned on are illustrated in FIG. 3. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the offset voltage is rapidly applied from the offset voltage supplying unit 140 to the non-inverting terminal (+) of the operational amplifier OP1 such that an output signal OUT1 having an undesirably high voltage level is output. However, when an abnormally high voltage signal is applied to a surface of the photoconductive drum when power is turned on, the quality of the desired images deteriorates and the printing operation becomes unstable.
Accordingly, a need exists for a high voltage power supply and method of use that is capable of preventing the generation and application of an abnormally high voltage to a surface of a photoconductive drum when power is turned on.


An optical receiver is disclosed, including an optoelectronic detector, a transimpedance amplification (TIA) circuit, a single-ended-to-differential converter, an I/O interface, and a controller. The optoelectronic detector, having bandwidth lower than required system transmission bandwidth, converts an optical signal into a current signal. The TIA circuit compensate gain for the received current signal based on a received control signal, to obtain a voltage signal, where a frequency response value of the current signal within first bandwidth is greater than that within the bandwidth of the optoelectronic detector, and any frequency in the first bandwidth is not lower than an upper cut-off frequency of the optoelectronic detector. The single-ended-to-differential converter converts the voltage signal into a differential voltage signal. The I/O interface outputs the differential voltage signal. The controller generates the control signal based on the differential voltage signal. The optical receiver disclosed can reduce costs while ensuring signal quality.

10G passive optical network (PON) technologies and products have been ready and enter a large-scale deployment stage. In a 10G PON, costs of an optical network unit (ONU) become a key problem in massive deployment in the future, and costs reduction is a key requirement of the 10G PON. A bi-directional optical sub-assembly on board (BOB) technology that is widely used in a gigabit passive optical network (GPON) can also be used in the 10G PON, to reduce packaging costs. Therefore, component costs reduction is key to further costs reduction.
In the ONU of the 10G PON, a 10G avalanche photodiode (APD) is a highest-rate optical component, and accounts for a largest proportion of costs. Therefore, reduction of costs of the APD is key to reduction of the costs of the ONU of the 10G PON.


An image input apparatus is provided which is capable of taking a still image with high quality and with easy operations. The image input apparatus disclosed herein has a video camera and an expansion board mounted on a personal computer. The video camera has a lens, a shutter release switch, an image pickup device, a VIDS circuit, and the like. The expansion board connected via a camera cable to the video camera has a VIDS circuit, an A/D converter, a synchronous signal generator, and the like. As the shutter release switch of the video camera is depressed, the expansion board is controlled to read still image data and compress it. As the shutter release switch is released, it is controlled to resume the initial operations of reading moving image data and compressing it.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image input apparatus of a video conferencing system.
2. Related Background Art
Video conferencing systems using personal computers are known, such as PCS100 and PCS50 from Picture Tel Corporation and Proshare from Intel Corporation. Such personal computer based video conferencing systems are also called a Desk Top Video Conferencing System (DTVC).
DTVC is now highlighted as a downsized version of a conventional video conferencing system which is configured basing based upon a video monitor and designed for use in a conferencing room. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of DTVC designed by present inventors. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 101 represents a video camera, reference numeral 102 represents a video board having an image pickup function and a data compression function, reference numeral 103 represents a communication board interfacing with, for example, an ISDN line, and reference numeral 104 represents a floppy disk for storing video conferencing software.
The video board 102 and the communication board 103 are expansion boards for personal computers and are inserted into expansion slots of the personal computers. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a personal computer with the video board 102 and the communication board 103 being inserted into expansion slots and with the video camera 101 being mounted on a monitor 108 of the personal computer. Reference numeral 105 represents the main body of the personal computer, reference numeral 106 represents a mouse, and reference numeral 107 represents a keyboard.
The floppy disk 104 with video conferencing software is inserted into a disk drive of the personal computer 105 and an operator enters necessary commands to load the video conferencing software into a hard disk (not shown) of the personal computer.
After the video conferencing software is loaded, it is activated by entering necessary commands. Then, an image (LOCAL) of an operator is picked up with the video camera 101 and displayed on the screen of the monitor 108. FIG. 7 illustrates an image of the operator displayed on the monitor 108.
A remote side is called, for example, via an ISDN line by entering necessary commands. After preset connection operations, an image (REMOTE) of the partner is displayed on the monitor 108. FIG. 8 illustrates the images of the operator (LOCAL) and the partner (REMOTE) displayed on the monitor 108. In the above manner, video conferencing is made between the two participants.
How voices at video conferencing are processed is not relevant to this invention, and so the description thereof is omitted.
With the above video conferencing system, however, the video camera is used on the assumption that it always picks up moving images. There are the following problems of picking up still images.
Two methods have been used in taking a still image. Each method is associated with a problem specific to it. With a first method, a still image is taken in a moving image mode. The video camera 101 shown in FIG. 6 is dismounted from the monitor 108 and mounted on a document pickup stand to take an image of a document. In the moving image mode, an image is transmitted in accordance with the ITU-T International Standards, for example, a protocol stipulated by H320. A moving image containing video and audio signals is transmitted at a transmission rate of 64 Kbps (56 Kbps in USA) of a general ISDN line. A moving image is compressed greatly at about 1/100 to 1/200 by using interframe correlation for moving image compensation stipulated by H261. A still image picked up by this compression scheme gradually increases its resolution in several seconds to ten and several seconds.
Therefore, after transmission of a document during a video conference, it takes about 10 seconds to clearly recognize characters. This is inconvenient to use. Furthermore, the image quality after 10 seconds is inferior to that of JPEG compression dedicated to still images. The quality of a still image has been desired to be improved.
With a second method, a still image is picked up in a still image mode. The video camera 101 shown in FIG. 6 is dismounted from the monitor 108 and mounted, for example, on a document pickup stand. A still image pickup mode of software is selected, for example, by clicking a mouse to freeze a still image.
Since data compression dedicated to still images can be used, there is no problem of image quality. However, mouse clicking or the like is required in addition to framing of the video camera. This poses a problem of difficult operations by a user. This problem becomes conspicuous, especially when the video camera is not mounted on the stand but is held with a hand. It is very difficult to operate a mouse with a right hand while the video camera is held with the left hand.


A manufacturing apparatus for liquid crystal (LC) panels, including a temperature control device, an LC status monitor, a backlight source and an ultraviolet set. The temperature control device, on which an LC panel is placed, provides temperature control and is perforated to pass light therethrough. The LC status monitor is operative to observe the LC panel while the light is emitted from the backlight source and transmitted through the LC panel and the temperature control device as back-lights of the LC panel. The ultraviolet set is operative to expose the LC panel to ultraviolet light. The relative position between the temperature control device and the backlight source is adjustable, to switch the operating state of the apparatus. In the first operating state, the LC panel can be observed by the LC status monitor. In the second operating state, the LC panel can be exposed to ultraviolet light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal panel (LC panel) manufacturing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
For LC panel manufacturing, it is important to properly select the liquid crystal material to be used in the making of an LC panel.
For different liquid crystal materials, different fabrication processes are required. Therefore, developing an LC panel manufacturing apparatus for varied fabrication processes is one important issue in the LC panel manufacturing field.

Manufacturing apparatus for liquid crystal panel

Innocom Technology (Schenzhen) Co., Ltd.


An apparatus of the invention includes a reciprocating means for reciprocating a predetermined amount of recording paper in the feed and rewinding directions of the recording paper, and is designed such that at least when rolled recording paper is newly set at a predetermined position, a reciprocal operation of the recording paper by the reciprocating means is performed a plurality of times prior to image recording. In this apparatus, when a color image is to be recorded, color misregistration due to a ramp of the recording paper can be prevented. If a means for generating a ramp correction end signal and a means for cutting a recording paper leading end upon completion of ramp correction are added, a further useful apparatus can be realized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rolled recording paper setting apparatus which can be suitably applied to an image recording apparatus such as an electrostatic color plotter.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image recording apparatus such as a color plotter generally has the following arrangement. An apparatus of this type comprises a recording paper roll, an image recording processing station, a recording paper feed roller, a recording paper take-up roller, and the like. In this arrangement, an extracted portion of rolled recording paper stretched between the recording paper roll and the recording paper take-up roller is reciprocated a plurality of times. During this reciprocation period, a plurality of images of different colors are overlapped on the same image area of the recording paper by means of the image recording processing station, thus obtaining a multicolor image. An apparatus having such an arrangement is disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,584.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a prior apparatus having the above-described arrangement, which is disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 62-269851 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,270) associated with the prior invention of the present inventor. Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a recording paper roll; and 2, an image recording processing station consisting of constituent elements 3 to 8. The constituent element 3 is a multistylus electrostatic recording head; the constituent element 4, a back-surface roller; and the constituent elements 5 to 8, color developing heads of different colors. Reference numeral 10 denotes a recording paper feed roller; 9 and 11, press rollers which are opposed to the roller 10 so as to be in contact therewith; 12, a temporary recording paper take-up unit constituted by a recording paper take-up roller 13, a guide plate 14, a pinch roller 15, a pinch roller guide 16, and the like; 17, a recording paper path switching guide plate having one end pivotally supported by a support shaft 18; and 19, an automatic cutter including a Y cutter 20 for cutting extracted recording paper P in a direction perpendicular to its feed direction, and an X cutter 21 for cutting the recording paper P in a direction parallel to the feed direction.
According to the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, an extracted portion of the rolled recording paper P is reciprocated a plurality of times. During this reciprocation period, an electrostatic latent image is formed by the electrostatic recording head 3, and development for each color is performed by a corresponding one of the developing heads 5 to 8. As a result, a plurality of images of different colors are overlapped in the same image area of the recording paper P.
The recording paper P used in such an apparatus includes paper having a width ranging from about 24 to 44 inches. In order to form images of the respective colors on an image area of such large-sized recording paper with accurate color matching, some type of color misregistration preventing means must be provided. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,584 discloses a control system using control marks. This control system can correct positional errors in the recording paper feed direction and in the direction perpendicular to the feed direction, and is very effective in prevention of color misregistration.
Color misregistration due to a ramp of recording paper, however, cannot be prevented by using the above-described control system.
A ramp of the recording paper P occurs immediately after new recording paper (new replacement unit or the like) is set to replace the rolled recording paper P. The ramp amount (degree of ramp) is gradually changed every time the recording paper P is reciprocated.
FIGS. 2 and 3 respectively show states of a ramp of the recording paper P. FIG. 2 emphatically shows the posture (degree of ramp) of the rolled recording paper P which is assumed when the recording paper roll 1 is set at a predetermined position and its leading end is wound around the take-up roller 13. As shown in FIG. 2, the edge position of the recording paper P is inclined with respect to the travel direction, as indicated by X. At this time, the leading end of the recording paper P is set at a position deviated to the right in FIG. 2 from a position 0 assumed during stable travel without a ramp by a distance x. If the recording paper P is wound around the take-up roller 13 in this state, the leading end of the recording paper P is wound while spirally deviating from the normal position, as indicated by reference symbol S in FIG. 3. That is, the ramp amount of the recording paper P is gradually decreased toward a stable travel position as the take-up amount of the recording paper P around the take-up roller 13 is increased. The recording paper P finally takes a posture denoted by reference symbol Y in FIG. 3.
When the recording paper P is rewound around the recording paper roll 1, a force directed toward the stable travel position acts on the paper P. For this reason, when the leading end of the paper P is temporarily separated from the take-up roller 13 and is wound therearound again, the paper P takes a posture indicated by reference symbol Z in FIG. 2. The ramp amount of the recording paper P is changed every time the paper P is reciprocated in this manner. Therefore, if images are overlapped on the recording paper P exhibiting such a movement in the above-described manner, color misregistration inevitably occurs, and the quality of an overlapped image is greatly degraded.
Several means for preventing color misregistration due to a ramp of the recording paper P as described above have been proposed.
As a first means, U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,584 described above discloses a technique of preventing color misregistration due to a paper ramp by inclining a recording head in accordance with the ramp state of recording paper.
As a second means, U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,876 discloses a technique of correcting a ramp by inclining the shaft of a recording paper feed roller in accordance with the ramp state of recording paper.
As a third means, Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 62-215449 discloses a technique of correcting a ramp by adjusting a force acting on recording paper to urge the paper against a recording paper feed roller in accordance with the ramp state of the recording paper.
As a fourth means, Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 63-112180 discloses a technique of correcting a paper ramp by shifting a recording paper roll in a direction parallel to its axis in accordance with the ramp state of the recording paper.
Each of the first to fourth means, however, is a color misregistration preventing means using a control loop including a mechanical moving system. Therefore, these means have the following problems:
(1) Since these means require a mechanical moving system, the structure of the apparatus is inevitably complicated and increased in size.
(2) Control conditions must be changed for each type of recording paper. Therefore, the control system inevitably has a complicated arrangement.
(3) It is very difficult to find and set stabilization conditions of a control loop. For this reason, overshoot or the like tends to occur in a control operation, and stable, proper control is difficult to perform.
(4) It takes a long period of time to stabilize a control loop. In addition, during this period, a large amount of recording paper is wasted.

Rolled recording paper setting apparatus