The present invention provides a paper ball-like graphene microsphere, a composite material thereof, and a preparation method therefor. Such paper ball-like graphene microspheres are obtained by chemically reducing graphene oxide microspheres to slowly remove oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of the graphene oxide to avoid the volume expansion caused by rapid removal of the groups, thereby maintaining a tight bond between graphene sheets without separation; and removing the remaining small number of oxygen-containing functional groups and repairing defect structures in the graphene oxide sheets by means of high temperature treatment, such that the graphene structure becomes perfect at an ultrahigh temperature (2500 to 3000° C.), thereby further improving the bonding ability between the graphene sheets in the microspheres and achieving a dense structure.

As a new two-dimensional carbon material, graphene has attracted more and more attention. Due to the outstanding mechanical, electrical and thermal performances and unique electromagnetic performance, graphene has broad prospects of application in many fields and has gradually put into practical use. There have been many reports that compounding graphene with a polymer can significantly improve the tensile strength, Young's modulus, and bending strength of the material. The reinforcement mechanism is mainly to improve the overall mechanical properties of the composite material by transferring the stress to graphene by taking advantage of the superior mechanical strength of graphene. Many forms of graphene are available for use, including graphene films, graphene aerogels, graphene powders, graphene fibers, and so on, which often exhibit different reinforcing effects. For example, compounding graphene aerogel with a polymer material can effectively improve the electrical and thermal conductivity of the polymer material. In a conventional graphene composite, flake-like graphene has limited improvement on the impact performance and lacks a reinforcement mechanism, thus being unsuitable for use as an effective toughener. If graphene is made to have a spherical shape, the mechanical strength can be fully used, so a unique prospect of application is exhibited in improving the impact performance, wear resistance, elastic resilience, and the like.
In Chinese Patent No. C″ 201010593157.1 entitled "Method for preparing graphene powder", a non-expanded graphene powder is obtained by atomization drying and following thermal treatment with a slow heating rate. The method is simple and can be used to prepare the graphene powder in large quantities. However, there is still gas release during direct heat treatment, which causes the graphene to partially expand. In Chinese Patent No. CN201310131014 entitled "Method for preparing graphene material and its use in chemical energy storage and/or conversion", by adding a substance that can react, polymerize or decompose to a graphene oxide dispersion, a kind of powder having a porous structure is obtained after reduction, which is beneficial to the application in the field of electrochemical energy storage. However, how to obtain a pleated microspherical graphene material that does not expand or even shrink is still of great difficulty.
The friction phenomenon is widely present in mechanical motion, causing energy loss, reduced efficiency, elevated temperature, worn surface, decreased performance, and shortened life of the machine. Due to the abrasive wear caused by a rubbing pair in friction, and energy loss and heat generation caused by friction, the machine is prone to breakdown or even failure, bringing economic loss to people's lives and even physical danger. Lubricating oil is one of the important means to effectively reduce the loss of mechanical energy and abrasive wear. After adding the lubricating oil, the effects of lubrication and wear reduction, temperature lowering and cooling, washing and cleaning, sealing and leakage prevention, rust and corrosion prevention, shock absorption and buffeting can be achieved. Conventional lubricating oils are a mixture of a base oil with various auxiliary agents. The base oil includes mineral oil, biomass oil, and synthetic oil. The auxiliary agents are used to improve the properties of the base oil.
Graphene has an ultra-thin sheet structure (easy access to frictional contact surfaces), excellent mechanical and self-lubricating properties. These characteristics have attracted attention in the research of use as a lubricant additive. Numerous studies have found that use of an appropriate amount of graphene as a lubricant additive can not only lower the friction coefficient, but also significantly improve the bearing wear resistance of the lubricating oil by means of a friction adsorption film. However, graphene is prone to agglomeration in a lubricating oil, which affects its dispersion stability in the lubricating oil and solvent. At present, two main methods are available to solve the dispersion stability of graphene in lubricating oil and solvents such as water. One is to add a dispersing agent and utilize the dispersing effect of the dispersing agent to disperse graphene uniformly and stably in the solvent. However, the dispersing agent sometimes affects the exertion of the tribological behaviors of graphene. The other method is to functionalize the graphene to increase the dispersion stability of graphene in solvents, in which the selection of functional molecules is critical. However, regardless of the addition of a dispersing agent or surface modification, new components are additionally introduced, bringing a complicated effect on the overall performance of the lubricating oil.
The rapid development of the machinery industry has led to the upgrading of the grease industry. The calcium-based greases used earlier are used at a relatively low temperature, and thus not suitable for use in high-speed applications. The sodium-based greases and barium-based greases that are developed later are not ecologically friendly and have poor water resistance, so they have not got wide use. The following lithium-based greases, lithium stearate or 12-hydroxylithium-based greases developed have high working temperature, low friction coefficient, good lubrication performance, high water resistance, and other the characteristics, allowing the lithium-based grease to be widely used in the automotive industry. However, with the rapid development of automotive technology, high-performance automobiles have imposed more stringent requirements on lithium-based greases, and lithium complex-based greases emerge accordingly. Lithium complex-based grease has high dropping point and high temperature resistance. The fiber structure of the complex soap has high strength, resulting in good mechanical stability at high temperatures, long service life, and good water resistance. During the use of an ordinary lithium complex-based grease, although it exhibits certain advantages over lithium-based grease, it is difficult to meet the requirements for use due to the poor friction reduction capability and abrasion resistance. In order to meet the requirements of harsh conditions, the performance needs to be further improved.
Rubber has unique high elasticity at room temperature, light weight and wide use. As an important strategic material, it is widely used in the fields of national economy, high technology and national defense. However, simple rubber has low strength and modulus, poor wear resistance, poor fatigue resistance, and no utility, so most rubbers need to be reinforced with fillers. Carbon black (CB) and white carbon black (SiO2) are main traditional reinforcing agents for rubbers. They are widely used in various rubber products. Although the rubber is reinforced, the inherent viscoelastic hysteresis loss of the rubber material and the friction between the fillers and polymer chains inside the rubber cause the rubber products used in a dynamic environment to generate a lot of heat. When the generated heat cannot be conducted out in time, the temperature inside the rubber rises sharply, causing its performance to deteriorate. This requires increasing the thermal conductivity of the rubber product to improve its performance and service life during dynamic use. Previously, nanofillers are compounded with rubbers by many researchers to obtain compounded rubbers with better performances. For example, fullerenes, montmorillonite, expanded graphite, and carbon nanotubes are added. However, these materials tend to agglomerate, are difficult to disperse in a high-viscosity system such as rubber, and cannot achieve a balance between various properties, so the scope of application is narrow.
Waterborne coatings still suffer from the defects such as poor paintability, poor touch feeling, low strength, and lack of wear resistance, which limit their application. Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon material with atomic thickness. It has an extremely high specific surface area, excellent mechanical properties, high thermal conductivity, and self-lubricating property. In recent years, graphene is combined with coatings by many researchers to improve various indicators of waterborne coatings by using the excellent properties of graphene. However, flake-like graphene tends to agglomerate to form a stacked graphite structure, by which the excellent performance of graphene cannot be achieved on one hand, and the dispersion stability is reduced on the other hand. In Patent No. 201510518720.1 entitled "Graphene-containing high-performance waterborne acrylate coating and preparation method and use thereof", the tensile strength and thermal conductivity are greatly improved by adding sulfonated graphene to a waterbore acrylate coating. In Patent No. 201610353311.5 entitled "Graphene/Acrylic Electrostatic Conductive Coating and Preparation Method thereof", a similar method is used to add graphene to an acrylic coating to improve the conductivity and acid fog resistance.
Among the five major engineering plastics, nylon has the largest output, the highest varieties, and the widest use. It has the advantages of high mechanical strength, high melting point, wear resistance, oil resistance, and excellent heat resistance, thus being widely used in automotive, electronic and electrical, mechanical and other fields. Since higher requirements are raised for the toughness of nylon in many fields of applications, nylon needs to be toughened to satisfy these applications. In general, three main methods are available for toughening nylon, including toughening with an elastomer, toughening with inorganic rigid particles and toughening with organic rigid particles. Elastomers can significantly improve the toughness of nylon materials, but they will greatly reduce the rigidity and strength of the materials at the same time. Inorganic rigid particles and organic rigid particles can both strengthen and toughen the materials, but the toughening effect is limited. Moreover, it is found through research that the morphology of rigid particles affects the toughening effect on the matrix. Among the rigid particles with flaky, spherical, and needle-like structures, the rigid particles with spherical structures have the optimum toughening effect on materials.

Paper ball-like graphene microsphere, composite material thereof, and preparation method therefor


Disclosed is a deep storage slot with a constant spring force comprising a storage slot housing defining a cartridge cavity and a cartridge opening, wherein the cartridge cavity is configured to store a plurality of cartridges in depth. Also disclosed is a constant force spring comprising a rolled, pre-stressed strip that exerts a constant force to resist uncoiling, the constant force spring having a first end affixed to the storage slot housing within the cartridge cavity to direct the constant force towards the cartridge opening, and at least one retention feature configured with the storage slot housing to hold at least one of the plurality of cartridges within the cartridge cavity against the constant force.

In automated tape libraries there exist cartridge storage slots or cells for holding tape cartridges for retrieval by a cartridge accessor. One of the important customer requirements for tape libraries is to have a very high density of tape cartridges per unit floor area. A method of increasing cartridge density within the library is to include storage slots that are deep enough to hold multiple cartridges. Particularly, for smaller tape libraries, deep slots can be advantageous when geometry constraints limit the possible locations of tape cartridges within a small area. When deep storage slots are utilized, it is desired to have a method of pushing the cartridge to the front opening of a slot in order for the cartridge accessor to grab the cartridge.
One known method for moving tape cartridges to the front of a deep storage slot uses a robotic mechanism to push the cartridges from the back of the slots to the front of the slots. This robotic mechanism can add significant cost to a library, as well as require significant space, negatively affecting available storage density within the library. Another known method for moving tape cartridges to the front of a deep storage slot uses a compression spring to push cartridges forward. One drawback to this method is that the spring itself must be relatively long in order to push the complete length of one or more cartridges. This causes the stack height of the spring to be quite significant, and causes the overall storage density within the library to be negatively affected. Another problem with the long spring is that it is subject to buckling under its compression load. Still another drawback is that the push force presented by the spring increases as the spring is loaded. This variation in spring force (dependant on the number of cartridges in the storage slot) requires that the force necessary to retain the cartridge from falling out of the slot also be variable. This is difficult and costly to accomplish. A method for pushing the cartridges forward that does not sacrifice storage density and works reliably and cost effectively is desirable.

Deep storage slot with a constant spring force

International Business Machines Corporation


A program making method includes the steps of displaying figures representative of a plurality of objects, inputting a command train which includes a plurality of processing commands each designating at least one of the objects and a processing to be executed for that object and forms a program to be made, executing each processing command so that a processing designated by that command is executed for example data of an object designated by the command each time the command is inputted, and changing the display of a figure representative of an object designated by each of at least some of the processing commands by processing figure data concerning the figure when that command has been executed. Another program making method includes displaying figures which represent a plurality of objects and a figure for program to which a program to be made is allotted, inputting a command train which includes a plurality of processing commands each instructing one of the objects to execute at least one processing and forms the program to be made, and changing the display of the figure for program in the vicinity of a point of time of the input of each processing command so that a figure representative of one object designated by that command can be discriminated.

The present invention relates to a program making method, and more particularly to a program making method suitable for programming in a computer which has a bit map display device capable of displaying graphics or figures.
Conventionally, a method of using diagrams such as flow charts have been used as a method of visualizing a program to improve the efficiency of making the program. Any flow chart facilitates the comprehension of the program by two-dimensionally illustrating a control flow such as a conditional branch or iteration loop in the program but data handled by the program has not been visualized.
On the other hand, a method of facilitating the making of a program by use of icons visually representing data handled by the program or procedures is disclosed in IEEE Software, Vol. 4, No. 1, (1987) pp. 29-39 (herein-after referred to as reference 1).
As one of such methods called visual programming, one of the present inventors has proposed, in JP-A-01-121935 (hereinafter referred to as reference 2) or the corresponding U.S. Ser. No. 266,079 filed on November, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,449, a method of making a program in such a manner that data concerning an object to be processed by the program is two-dimensionally displayed as an icon on a display device and the instruction of data manipulation is made to the icon. In the proposed method, instructions, including a data selection instruction for displaying data satisfying a given selection condition as an icon, and a data manipulation instruction for manipulating the selected data to display the result again as an icon, are provided, and a variety of programs can be made while observing the structure of data as an object on the display device.
As another method of improving the work efficiency of programming, a programming technique called object orientation is widely used. In this technique, an object including a set of a data structure and a procedure of manipulation thereof is defined and the programming is made by describing the behavior of such an object. A name specifying data in the data structure is called a slot, the data corresponding to the slot is called a slot value and the procedure defined for the object is called a method.
A feature of the programming technique based on object orientation lies in a restriction imposed on an object, that is, the restriction that the change of a slot value of a certain object can be made by only a method defined in the same object. Owing to this restriction, a risk of a programmer carelessly changing data is reduced and the modulization of a program can be promoted.
An object can be handled in a personified form since it possesses both data and a procedure and individual objects (called object instances) carry on their works while communicating messages with each other.
"Agents and the HP New Wave Application Program Interface", Hewlett-Packard Journal, pp. 32-37, August, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as reference 3) discloses a system in which the fixtures (such as file, printer and so forth) placed in an office environment and persons working in the office are abstracted as objects and which the objects are displayed as icons on a bit map display device to construct a pseudo in-computer office environment. In this system, an operator gives human icons representing persons work messages as commands together with icons of another object used for work. Since the work progresses while the human object serves as an object, the operator encounters a feeling that the work is requested upon a (confidential) secretary in the office.
The system according to the reference 2 facilitates the comprehension of a program by two-dimensionally visualizing the structure of data handled by the program. However, the data is restricted to numerical data such as numeric values or an array of numeric values. Though the field of application of such a program handing the numeric data is wide, there are may fields where other important problems exist. For example, when considering a program for solving a problem concerning an artificial intelligence, relatively concrete and visual data are essentially handled in many cases. Consider as a simple one of such examples the problem of Hanoi tower problem, which is often used as a teaching material of programming.
The problem of Hanoi tower is as follows. Three towers capable of carrying saucers thereon are prepared, as shown in FIG. 8A. In an initial state, a plurality of saucers are placed on only one of the three towers in the order of sizes from the larger one to the smaller one. A problem to be solved is to transfer all of the saucers from a certain tower to another tower under the condition that on a certain saucer should not be placed a saucer larger than that. In the case of this problem, objects to be operated or manipulated by a program are data having concrete images such as the saucers and the towers. In the conventional programming language based on symbol string, data such as saucers to towers is converted into abstractive symbols to make a program which solves this problem. For example, FIG. 18B shows a program for solving the Hanoi tower problem by means of a LISP language which is a programming language for artificial intelligence. FIG. 18C shows the result of execution of the program shown in FIG. 18B. In the program shown in FIG. 18B, a tower having, for example, three saucers is realized as an example of numeric data such as [3, 2, 1]. According to this method, the Hanoi tower problem can be solved by the technique of the above reference 2. However, such a program as shown in FIG. 18B is far different from images as shown in FIG. 18A and this is a factor which makes the work of programming difficult for ordinary non-specialists of a computer.
There are many programs handling artificially intelligent problems other than the Hanoi tower problem. For example, one of such programs handles visual data to determine of the shortest path on a map. The great of control programs for equipments issue operation commands to respective parts of the equipment. In such cases, objects to be handled are concrete materials such as parts, that is, visual data. In the above-mentioned references, no consideration is paid to the provision of a method of making an intelligible program in which such objects having concrete graphic or figure images in essence are handled as they are the figure images.
Also, the above references have a lack of consideration about allowing a programmer his or her understanding of the state of progression of manipulation for the objects having concrete images by visualizing the progression. Namely, in the above references, since a change in state in the course of manipulation if not displayed though the result of manipulation is displayed, there is a problem that it is hard to comprehend which of objects or which of elements of an object changes in what manner in the cause of the manipulation. For example, in the problem of Hanoi tower, the operation for transfer of a saucer causes a person to image the gradual movement of the saucer in a space. Also, an example of equipment control causes a person to image the movement (or translation) or rotation of parts with the actuation of a certain mechanism. In the above references, such visual elements or change are not demonstrated to the programmer.
In the reference 3, though an object is displayed as an icon, an image of the icon only gives an intuitive association of a function of the object. Accordingly, there is a problem that it is not possible to visually confirm the process and/or result of execution of an object method.

Method for visual programming with aid of animation


The systems and methods are directed to mechanical arms and manipulators, and more particularly, to optical distance sensors in use for approach, grasping and manipulation. The system may include a manipulator having an arm and a multi fingered end-effector coupled to the distal end of the arm. The end-effector may include an optical proximity sensor configured to detect the distance to an object prior to contact with the object. The end-effector may include an optical proximity sensor configured detect a measurement of force applied to the object by the manipulator post contact with the object. The measurement of force may be a range of force measurements including a minimum, a maximum and a measurement between or within the minimum and the maximum.

In general, in robotics, a manipulator is a device used to manipulate materials without direct human contact. Manipulator applications were originally for dealing with radioactive or biohazardous materials or they were used in inaccessible places. In more recent developments they have been used in applications such as robotically-assisted surgery and in space. A manipulator may be an arm-like mechanism that consists of a series of segments, usually slide, pivoted or jointed, which grasp and move objects with a number of degrees of freedom.
Currently, systems comprise tactile sensors which require contact with the manipulator before sensing the object. These tactile sensors have some sort of contact sensing typically covered by compliant 'skin'. This form of sensing is currently being explored and developed. These tactile sensors require very cautious slow movement when the location of the object contains some uncertainty. Likewise, there are optical distance sensors that are used for obstacle avoidance in robot navigation, but not specifically for the use of grasping and manipulation. Currently, grasping and manipulation is one of the most difficult robotic challenges. Improving the ability for grasping is important for the advancement of robotic applications.

Non-contact optical distance and tactile sensing system and method

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


The present invention relates to a stick-type vibrating driver and, more specifically, to a stick-type vibrating driver implemented so as to enable vibration to be transmitted, by using a planar movable coil plate and a stick-shaped magnet, to an object to be vibrated. The stick-type vibrating driver according to the present invention can comprise: an outer body formed in a stick shape; a magnetic circuit part formed inside the outer body, and having a pair of magnetic bodies spaced apart with the movable coil plate therebetween; a vibrating part formed inside the outer body, and vertically vibrating according to the driving of the magnetic circuit part in a state in which the upper and lower ends of the movable coil plate are fixed; and upper and lower metal suspensions respectively connected between the outer body and the vibrating part.

A vibrating driver refers to a device for transmitting vibration to an object to be vibrated.
Typically, a vibrating driver that is manufactured by removing a vibrating plate from a so-called cone-type speaker device and directly attaching one of a circular magnet and a circular voice coil to the object to be vibrated has been used.
This cone-type vibrating driver has a disadvantage of requiring a flat surface for bonding of an elliptical bobbin. Also, when a unit of the vibrating driver has a large size, a magnetic body may have a large circular shape to maintain a circular structure and thus increase in weight and may not effectively transmit vibration energy. Furthermore, since the bobbin has a weak bonding force in consideration of a weight thereof, the cone-type vibrating driver may not be attached to the object to be vibrated for a long-term period.
Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1469555 discloses a 'vibration speaker', and this vibration speaker is attached to an artificial structure and provides sound in conjunction with vibration.
This patent provides a plate-shaped mastoid supplying sound or vibration to the artificial structure by using a magnet and a magnetic body of a voice coil.
The 'vibration speaker' in Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1469555 is not the above-described cone-type vibrating driver but has limitations similar to the cone-type vibrating driver because the vibration speaker has a circular vibration structure.
The above-described typical vibrating devices have a limitation in that a plurality of vibrating drivers are required when the object to be vibrated is excessively long or wide due to a typical technical limitation.
Also, the typical vibrating devices have a disadvantage of having a weak bonding force or hardly performing bonding when the object to be vibrated has a curved surface.
[Related art document] (Patent document 1) Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1469555


An intermodal transportation system for hauling bulk material, particularly municipal solid waste, by rail and truck utilizes multiple rectangular, open-top boxes each having a removable lid. Each box and associated lid include one or more channels that can be engaged simultaneously by a forklift that includes two fork groups wherein one fork group can be engaged in the channels of the box while a second fork group is engaged in the channels of the associated lid. In operation, the forklift can engage the lid and box simultaneously, remove the lid from the box and then dump or otherwise manipulate the box while the lid remains positioned on the forklift.

This invention relates in general to transportation systems and in particular to an intermodal railway system utilizing closed containers to carry bulk materials particularly municipal solid waste, by truck and rail.
The disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) such as common garbage and trash as well as sludge produced by water treatment facilities is becoming an increasingly important and difficult problem as landfilled sites convenient to urban centers are becoming full and environmental protection concerns have foreclosed the ocean dumping of solid refuse. At present, the most common MSW disposal system is to simply haul the MSW by tractor (transfer) trailer from an urban collection point or treatment plant to a landfill. Given the capital cost of a "transfer trailer" and typical current operating costs per mile for a typical 22 ton load, currently there is approximately a 300 mile one way haul distance limit on economically feasible disposal sites.
Because the tonnage that can be hauled by truck in a single load is limited by highway and bridge laws, the cost of transporting bulk waste by truck is inherently limited as to its volume and weight. While railroads can carry larger loads, measured both in volume and in weight, over long distances, to date efforts to use railway cars for hauling low value bulk materials, particularly loose MSW, has proven to be financially uneconomical. At present there is substantially no use of railroads to haul municipal solid waste. Indeed, at present the maximum payload that is carried by any standard railway car is about 60 tons, regardless of the type of car or the nature of its load.
One known approach to utilizing railroads for bulk transportation is a convertible trailer which has detachable rail wheels and specialized interconnections so that the highway trailer can be converted into a railroad car. An example of this type of unit is a product sold by the Thrall Car Company under the trade designation "Roadrailer". While the system has found some market for hauling high value items, it is not economical for transportation of bulk materials. The detachable wheels and special interconnection systems to convert the "transfer trailer" into a "railroad car" significantly increases the capital cost of each unit required to transport a given weight, e.g., the 22 tons normally carried by a "transfer trailer" when hauling MSW. Also, the converted "cars" do not operate in conjunction with existing railroad service; they must operate as a complete train and there is currently in the U.S. a required minimum shipment level of 60 units. Further, charges for railway transport of a single "car" of this type carrying 22 tons is equivalent to that of a single railway car operating in a "piggy back" mode carrying approximately twice the payload.
Well known transportation systems utilizing railways also include the use of dedicated railway car such as box cars, gondolas, and hoppers. Such cars have a long standing history in transporting loose bulk materials such as coal, ores, ash, sludge, salt, and grain products. One major problem, however, is the loading and unloading of the bulk material from the car. If the cars are not open topped, loading through side doors is inherently difficult for a loose bulk material. If the car has an open top, loading may be simple, but unloading can still be a problem.
Certain loads can be removed with a clamshell scoop, but this process is slow and has significant capital costs. Another solution is movable openings or doors such as a "walking floor" or the conventional "push out" system. These techniques, while being perhaps the fastest, nevertheless, if installed require about 10 minutes to complete the unloading of one car. To date, no one has built and used commercially such a "push out"/"walking floor" rail car. Moreover, whenever there are moving parts there is liquid leakage, buckling of the door or other closure, latching requirements, and the possibility of malfunction. Another approach is simply to lift and dump an entire railroad car. While this system is obviously fast and effective, it also requires a substantial capital investment. With an installation presently costing close to $1 million for MSW disposal, each landfill would need a railroad line and one of these installations. Further, box cars or open-top cars which have doors or other removable openings which are hinged and/or latched experience problems in that they leak, the doors buckle, and the doors can open unintentionally losing material or presenting a hazard to personnel working with the cars.
Open-top cars also have other problems. The material can be blown out of the car. Rain and contaminants can enter the car directly spoiling the contents if they are not waste products or, if they are waste products, adding to the liquid contained in the car which may present a leaking or odor problem. Sabotage, thefts and spontaneous combustion (a special concern when transporting bulk combustibles such as coal which produces coal dust) are other problems that appear depending on the nature of the material transported. One common solution is simply to cover the open car with a tarpaulin, but tarpaulins are frequently lost or break free in transit. These conditions allow a loss of the material being carried and all of the other problems noted above. Further, tarpaulins require personnel time to install and remove them.
Still another approach, intended principally to control the loss of material due to the wind during transport, has been to bail the MSW or other loose bulk material prior to loading it into the cars. However, it typically requires 8 to 12 hours to load the bails into a car and another 8 to 12 hours to remove them, plus the cost of bailing.
A general problem with all specialized railroad cars is that they are not intermodal, that is, the railroad car cannot move on the highway. Therefore unless the railroad car can be brought directly to a loading facility, the entire system requires that conventional trucks be loaded and haul the material to a loading site at a railroad terminal. This therefore involves the cost of truck hauling as well as the personnel and capital cost for equipment to load and unload the MSW or other bulk material to and from the trailer, and then the railroad car.
Flatbed railway cars carrying trailers ("TOFC" Trailer-on-Flatcar), or what is commonly termed "piggy back" systems, attempt to provide an intermodal transportation system using rail. In this system, typically two trailers are loaded onto a single flatbed car to provide a total carrying weight of approximately 44 tons. While this avoids loading and unloading of the material from the trailer, this arrangement is nevertheless comparatively costly and time consuming. It is necessary to have special TOFC cars, special terminals equipped to load and unload the trailers from the cars, and once the trailers are loaded, they are typically in transit for 10 days, as compared to a typical in transit time to 2 days if the trailer is operated on the highways. Since the capital cost of two trailers is substantial (currently about $90,000), this extra 8 days period of inactivity itself represents a considerable cost increase. More generally, TOFC is a system limited by the load carrying capacity of highway vehicles, which in turn are limited by highway and bridge limitations. It does not take full advantage of the weight and volume capacity of traditional railroad equipment. Therefore TOFC systems have proven useful principally for transporting high value food and manufactured materials, but have not been used for transporting low value bulk materials such as MSW.
Container-on-flatcar ("COFC") systems are also currently in use to provide intermodal transportation. Special containers carry goods on trucks and are then moved onto COFC cars. However, COFC containers heretofore have required special four corner, personnel-activated restraints which space the containers approximately 9 inches above the deck of the flat car. This has a disadvantage in that it produces extreme pressure points on the deck coincident with the points of support of the containers. Also the force of the wind, particularly when the train is moving, acts under the containers and produces a force that tends to lift the containers from the car. Known COFC systems could reach a maximum pay load of 60 tons for railcar, as compared to typically pay load of 44 tons for TOFC carrying two trailers, but COFC systems do not provide the volume, weight and loading/unloading advantages to make them economically advantageous for bulk material transport. Also, currently available systems are not readily adapted to the rapid, convenient and low cost loading and unloading of bulk materials. They are not open-topped and they have doors or other movable closures with latches.
A highly useful intermodal transportation system that is particularly suitable for transporting bulk materials such as municipal solid waste by rail and truck has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,560, issued on Jan. 7, 1992, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The patent discloses, inter alia, use of multiple rectangular, open-top boxes each with a removable lid to transport bulk materials. The system includes a forklift with an articulated frame which engages channels formed in the box or in the lid. In use, an operator of the forklift will typically first engage and remove the lid of the box, e.g. by lifting the lid from the box and storing the lid in or around the worksite. The operator then returns the forklift to the box and engages the channels thereof to lift and manipulate the box. This procedure poses issues of excessive worker and machinery time as engaging the box with the forklift is essentially a two step procedure with a first step of removal and storage of the lid. Moreover, after removal the lid must be stored in area that does not present risk of damage to the lid or interfere with other activities at the worksite. Such an isolated storage area may be remote from the primary worksite or simply not available.
It is thus desirable, now, to provide means to manipulate the box lid of such an intermodal transportation system in a more efficient and convenient manner.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an improved intermodal transportation system that saves both worker and machinery time.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved intermodal transportation system that does not require a separate storage area for a lid of a bulk material transport container or box during dumping of material from the box.


The present invention discloses a method for mounting email addresses in a file system by creating email virtual folders. The email virtual folders are created through the use of shell extensions in an operating system, and an email address is associated with the email virtual folder. The email virtual folders are utilized by adding one or more files to the email virtual folder. When the files are added to the email virtual folder, the files are sent to the email address(es) associated with the virtual folder. References to the files are stored and viewable in the virtual folder after the email is sent to allow additional file system commands to act upon the files added therein. The email virtual folder may be created and accessed through a graphical user interface or a command line interface.

Shell extensions are commonly used to perform custom actions within an operating system. Examples of shell extensions are menu options in the Windows operating system allowing a user to perform custom actions on files, such as assigning a custom attribute to files in a folder, or a "send to" option to launch a file as an attachment into a new message in a default email program. Shell extensions are commonly implemented as menu options or may appear within the file explorer. Alternatively, shell extensions may perform custom actions in a command-line interface.
Another type of shell extension within the Windows operating system is a namespace extension. Extending the Windows shell with a namespace extension allows a developer to create custom functionality for file access within Windows Explorer. One common use is to enable Windows Explorer to present a view with a list of items that do not exist in one real folder, but actually reside in a number of places. The view on the folder makes it appear as if the items are all stored in one place, so managing them becomes easier.
One example of a namespace extension is an existing program that creates a virtual file system by allowing a user to save and retrieve files in a Gmail email account. This namespace extension appears as a new drive in Windows Explorer, allowing the user to create new folders, copy, and drag/drop files into the drive, which automatically creates new messages containing the files in the user's Gmail email account. This shell extension, however, only transfers files into the user's Gmail email account, and does not allow files to be transferred to other email accounts.
What is needed in the art is a method that makes it simple and easy to send messages and files via email to remote email recipients, through the use of a mountable file system.

Mounting email addresses in a file system


Methods are provided for use in a printing device. One method includes allowing a printing fluid to flow from a fluid supply container to a fluid reservoir of a printhead assembly, then urging material from at least the fluid reservoir and the fluid supply container to a separating container, then preventing any further amount of the printing fluid from flowing from the fluid supply container while continuing to urge the material from at least the fluid reservoir to the separating container, then stopping the urging of the material from at least the fluid reservoir to the separating container, and then allowing the printing fluid to flow from the fluid supply container to the fluid reservoir.

Some printing devices include a printhead or pen that is configured to controllably direct drops of ink(s) or other like printing fluid(s) towards a sheet of paper or other like print medium. The inks or printing fluids are typically supplied by to the printhead by a fluid delivery system. Some fluid delivery systems are located "on-axis" with the printhead while others also include "off-axis" components. The fluid delivery system may include, for example, one or more containers that act as reservoirs to supply the fluids to the printhead through one or more fluidic channels.
In certain printing devices, the fluid delivery system is configured to maintain a backpressure force on the printing fluid so as to prevent the printing fluid from simply draining out through the ejection nozzles of the printhead. Accordingly, as the printing fluid is ejected during printing the fluid delivery system is usually configured to adapt to the reduced volume of printing fluid in some manner so as to maintain the backpressure force within applicable limits. For example, some fluid delivery systems include foam or other like capillary members within an on-axis container. The foam acts like a sponge in holding the printing fluid while also allowing the fluid to be used for printing. The capillary action of the foam provides the backpressure force. As the printing fluid is consumed air is allowed to enter into the container and into the foam.
In other exemplary printing devices, the printing fluid is delivered from on-axis and/or off-axis containers that do not include foam. Some of these containers include a bag-accumulator arrangement or the like that provides the desired backpressure force. Some of these containers include a bubbler feature that is configured to allow air to bubble into the container through the printing fluid to maintain the desired backpressure force. Some off-axis implementations also include additional containers adjacent the printhead.
In some implementations, a pump may also be provided to move the printing fluid in one or both directions between the container and the printhead.
Bubbling air through the printing fluid may cause significant foaming or froth development. Bidirectional pumping may spread such froth within the system.
There is a need for cost efficient methods and apparatuses that can control the flow of printing fluid between the container and the printhead without increasing the development and/or spreading of froth.

Free flow fluid delivery system for printing device

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method for constructing a table including information on a pooling type based on ranges of scale of at least one object in at least one image for constructing table is provided. The method includes steps of: generating a first pooled feature map by applying max pooling and a second pooled feature map by applying avg pooling; and acquiring a first candidate bounding box by using the first pooled feature map and acquiring a second candidate bounding box by using the second pooled feature map; and comparing a first degree of similarity between the first candidate bounding box and a GT bounding box with a second degree of similarity between the second candidate bounding box and the GT bounding box to thereby construct the table so as to include information on respective optimal pooling types by respective ranges of the scale of the object.

In Machine Learning, a convolutional neural network (CNN or ConvNet) is a class of deep, feed-forward artificial neural network that has successfully been applied to analyzing visual imagery.
FIG. 1 is a drawing schematically illustrating a learning process of a conventional CNN according to prior art. Specifically, FIG. 1 shows the process of comparing a predicted bounding box by a learning device with a Ground Truth (GT) bounding box. Herein, the losses stand for differences between the predicted bounding box and the GT bounding box, and are denoted as dxc, dyc, dw, dh as shown in FIG. 1.
First, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the learning device may acquire an RGB image as an input to be fed into a plurality of convolutional layers, i.e., convolutional filters, included in a convolution block. A size, e.g., a width and a height, of the RGB image becomes smaller while the number of channels is incremented as the RGB image passes through the plurality of convolutional layers.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the learning device allows a Region Proposal Network (RPN) to generate proposal boxes from an ultimate feature map outputted by the convolution block and allows a pooling layer, e.g., ROI pooling layer, to resize areas on the feature map corresponding to the proposal boxes to a predetermined size, e.g., a size of 2×2, by applying a max pooling operation (or an average pooling operation) to pixel data of the areas on the feature map corresponding to the proposal boxes. As a result, a pooled feature map is acquired. For a reference, the pooled feature map may also be referred to as a feature vector. Herein, the max pooling operation is an operation by which each maximum value in each of sub-regions divided from a subject area on a feature map is selected as each of representative values for the subject area, as shown in the bottom right of FIG. 1.
Next, the pooled feature map may be allowed to be fed into a fully connected (FC) layer.
Then, the learning device may allow the FC layer to recognize a category of an object in the RGB image. In addition, the predicted bounding box in the RGB image may be acquired through the FC layer, and the losses may also be acquired by comparing between the predicted bounding box and the ground truth (GT) bounding box. Herein, the GT bounding box represents a bounding box precisely surrounding the object in the RGB image, which may usually be prepared by a human being.
Lastly, the learning device in FIG. 1 may adjust at least one of parameters included in the FC layer, the RPN, or the plurality of convolutional layers by using the losses during a backpropagation process.
Thereafter, a testing device (not illustrated) having the CNN with the adjusted parameters may acquire a bounding box surrounding an object in a test image, later. However, even if the testing device has the CNN with the adjusted parameters, it is very difficult to obtain the bounding box precisely surrounding the object in the test image because a predetermined pooling operation, e.g., either the max pooling operation or the average pooling operation, is provided regardless of a class or a scale of the object in the input image.
Accordingly, the applicant of the present invention proposes a method and a device for constructing a table including information on an optimal pooling type and a testing method and a testing device using the same to overcome the drawback set forth above.

Method and device for constructing a table including information on a pooling type and testing method and testing device using the same


The main needle valve of an electrostatic atomizer has an opto-electronic sensor device with optical waveguides whose faces are opposite a reflecting element of a component moveable with the valve needle for potential-free switch position interrogations.

In known electrostatic rotary or air atomizers of this type (DE 4306800 A and Durr/Behr "EcoGun ESTA"), the paint line at the input to the atomization device is opened and closed with a paint needle valve, the so-called main needle valve, whose valve needle is pulled from the closed position against the force of a restoring spring into the open position by the piston of a pneumatic valve drive under control by the higher level program control system of the coating installation.
Feedback of at least one and preferably both switch positions of the main or paint needle valve is desirable for the higher level installation control. For example, in non-electrostatic air atomizers it was possible and common to generate the desired switch position signals with Hall sensors or inductive sensors mounted on the valve drive. These electric sensors, however, cannot be used in electrostatic atomizers that are under high voltage during operation. Although a switch position interrogation would also be important here, no practicable possibility has thus far been available for this.
Recording of the switch position of a valve needle for control of paint flow occurs, on the one hand, to monitor the switching function by feedback and, on the other hand, for valve control. By recording the time between the control signal of a valve needle and feedback of the switch position change in comparison with a stipulated reference value, deviations related to the operation (for example, by component wear) can be recognized and compensated in terms of process control. Because of this, especially in painting robots that operate with high painting speeds and frequent engagement/disengagement of valve needles, better constancy of the processes is possible.
There are also pneumatic sensors for interrogation of the switch position of valves, which, however, are too slow for the dynamic processes considered here.
The underlying task of the invention is therefore to provide a valve unit whose switch position even under high voltage can be interrogated as free of delay as possible.

Valve unit for an electrostatic coating installation


An apparatus for displaying video output with dynamically adjustable drop rate to control playback quality. The inventive apparatus includes a playback engine, a pre-fetch engine, a rendering engine, and a drawing engine. The playback engine sends a pre-fetch requirement and a playback requirement. The pre-fetch engine receives the pre-fetch requirement, obtains frame data according to the pre-fetch requirement, and stores it in a pre-fetch buffer. The pre-fetch engine also adjusts the drop rate of related conditions of the frame data. The rendering engine obtains frame data, decodes, and filters the frame data. The drawing engine outputs the frame data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video output technology and in particular to an apparatus and method of displaying video output with dynamically adjustable frame rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present technology of displaying video output includes three essential components which are the rendering engine, the playback engine, and the drawing engine. The rendering engine processes source frame data. The playback engine controls the display rate. The drawing engine outputs frame data. FIG. 1 is a diagram of the present technology of displaying video output. First, a playback engine 10 sends a frame requirement to a rendering engine 12. The rendering engine 12 then obtains stored source frame data according to the frame requirement. Next, the rendering engine 12 processes the source frame data and sends the processed frame data back to the playback engine 10. Finally, the playback engine 10 sends the processed frame data to a drawing engine 14 to be displayed.
The drawing engine 14 remains idle until the playback engine 10 sends the frame requirement to the rendering engine 12 and the corresponding frame data is processed by the rendering engine 12 and sent to the drawing engine 14 through the playback engine 10. The drawing engine 14 is typically idle for a relatively long time due to the single-thread execution mode, and inefficient use of system resources. Additionally, because the data processing method and the processing time are not controlled, frames are unexpectedly dropped.
Moreover, the present method of processing data required to display video output is based on full size decoding. Full size decoding is time consuming, and lengthens data processing. The present filtering of video output divides a video frame into an odd frame and an even frame, processes the odd and even frame separately, and combines the odd and even frames into an output frame. The mentioned filtering procedure requires more time process data causing a delay in the displayed video output.

Apparatus and method of displaying video output


A sample analysis system makes use of both X-ray diffraction analysis and Raman spectroscopy of a sample. The sample is part of a sample library that is mounted on an XYZ stage that allows each sample to be examined in turn, as the XYZ stage is moved to position successive samples to a sample location. The system components may be mounted on a goniometer to allow their repositioning. A video system may be used for optical examination of the sample, and a knife edge may be used to prevent X-ray radiation from reaching a sample adjacent to the sample positioned at the sample location. A controller may be used to automatically control the operation of the analysis components and the movement of the sample holder to as to allow automated analysis of all of the samples in the sample holder.

Combinatorial chemistry refers to techniques to collect, test, and store the resulting data for a material library containing tens, hundreds or even thousands of different materials or compounds. Combinatorial investigations require rapid screening techniques to test and evaluate variations of composition, structure and property within a material library. Screening may be done by different techniques. X-ray diffraction is one suitable screening technique, because abundant information on the atomic arrangement of the sample can be revealed from the diffraction pattern. A different screening technique is Raman spectroscopy, which may be used to measure the characteristic vibration frequencies determined by the chemical composition and chemical bond. Whichever screening technique is used, the combinatorial analysis involves sampling a number of different samples typically arranged adjacent to each other on a sample holder. Sample data is collected for all the samples in the sample array, and used collectively as part of the analysis.

Combinatorial screening system and X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy


Described is a film, a method of making the film, and a method of packaging articles with the film, the film oriented in at least one direction, and comprising a core layer comprising polypropylene comprising from 0 wt % to 2 wt % comonomer-derived units, from 1 wt % to 20 wt %, by weight of the core layer, of propylene-α-olefin elastomer, and from 1 wt % to 20 wt %, by weight of the core layer, of hydrocarbon resin possessing a softening point of from greater than 100° C.

Oriented polypropylene films are useful for wrapping, bagging, and otherwise "enveloping" many types of products from food items to hardware. Due to the heavy volume of oriented polypropylene film used by packagers, there is always a desire to downgauge to save money and weight. But, in order to do this the polypropylene compositions used to make the films must be able to make films at least as strong, for example by having the same modulus, as those of the original film. While this may be accomplished by, for example, using highly crystallizable polypropylene, there is usually a tradeoff in processability. The tougher the film is, typically, the tougher it is to extrude and stretch. What would be desirable is a polypropylene composition that can be used to make strong (high modulus) films while also being easily processable, or at least as processable as its thicker counterpart. The inventor here has accomplished this.
Examples of using hydrocarbon resins in the core layer of polypropylene films can be found in US 2007/0082157. Other related publications that disclose "soft" polymers in the core layer include WO 2010/047905, WO 2010/120295, US 2003/0143357, US 2007/0292682, US 2009/0087648, US 2009/0136698, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,537,829, and 6,303,233.

Enhanced processing oriented polypropylene films


An extra-low iron loss grain oriented silicon steel sheet is produced by irradiating electron beam to an insulation coating formed on a grain oriented silicon steel sheet after finish annealing in a direction crossing the rolling direction of the sheet, whereby the magnetic properties are not degraded even if the steel sheet is subjected to a strain relief annealing. If necessary, an inert gas may be introduced into the vicinity of electron beam irradiated zone of the coating.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of producing an extra low iron loss grain oriented silicon steel sheet, and more particularly it is to conduct refinement of magnetic domains and hence advantageous improvement of iron loss properties by subjecting a coating layer formed after finish annealing or a mirror finished steel sheet surface after finish annealing to CVD, ion plating or iron implantation process with nitride, carbide, oxide or the like, forming an insulation coating on the resulting tension layer and then subjecting the coating to electron beam (EB) irradiation in a direction crossing the rolling direction.
2. Related Art Statement
Lately, remarkable developments and efforts for satisfying the improvement of electrical and magnetic properties in grain oriented silicon steels, particularly ultimate demand on reduction of iron loss are gradually producing good results.
As is well-known, the grain oriented silicon steel sheet, wherein secondary recrystallized grains are highly aligned in {110}<001> orientation, namely Goss orientation, is mainly used as a core for transformer and other electrical machinery and equipment. In this case, it is required that the magnetic flux density (represented by B.sub.10 value) is high, and,the iron loss (represented by W.sub.17/50 value) is low.
Since these grain oriented silicon steel sheets are usually manufactured through many complicated steps, a great of inventions and improvements are applied to the above steps, whereby low iron loss grain oriented silicon steel sheets having B.sub.10 of not less than 1.90 T and W.sub.17/50 of not more than 1.05 W/kg when the product thickness is 0.30 mm or B.sub.10 of not less than 1.89 T and W.sub.17/50 of not more than 0.90 W/kg when the product thickness is 0.23 mm are manufactured up to the present.
Lately, supreme demands on the reduction of power loss become considerable in view of energy-saving. Particularly, a system of "Loss Evaluation" wherein the reduction percentage of iron loss is converted into a money to load on the cost of the transformer in the manufacture of low loss transformer is widely spread in Europe and America.
Under the above circumstances, there has recently been proposed a method wherein local microstrain is introduced into the surface of the grain oriented silicon steel sheet by irradiating a laser beam onto the steel sheet surface in a direction substantially perpendicular to the rolling direction after the finish annealing to thereby conduct refinement of magnetic domains and hence reduce the iron loss (Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 57-2,252, 57-53,419, 58-26,405 and 58-26,406).
Such a magnetic domain refinement is effective for the grain oriented silicon steel sheet not subjected to the strain relief annealing, in the manufacture of stacked lamination core type transformers. However, in case of wound-core type transformers, the strain relief annealing is performed after the magnetic domain refinement, so that the local microstrain produced by laser irradiation on purpose is released by the annealing treatment to make the width of magnetic domains wide and consequently the laser irradiating effect is lost.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 52-24,499 discloses a method of producing an extra-low iron loss grain oriented silicon steel sheet wherein the surface of the grain oriented silicon steel sheet is subjected to a mirror finishing after the finish annealing or a metal plating is applied to the mirror finished surface or further an insulation coating is baked thereon.
However, the mirror finishing for improving the iron loss does not sufficiently contribute to the reduction of iron loss in comparison with remarkable cost-up of the manufacturing step. Particularly, there is a problem on the adhesion property to the insulation coating indispensably applied and baked after the mirror finishing. Therefore, such a mirror finishing is not yet adopted in the present manufacturing step.
Further, there is proposed a method, wherein the steel sheet surface is subjected to the mirror finishing and then a thin coat of oxide ceramics is deposited thereon, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 56-4,150. In this method, however, the ceramic coat is peeled off from the steel sheet surface when subjecting to a high temperature annealing above 600.degree. C., so that it can not be adopted in the actual manufacturing step.
Moreover, Japanese Patent laid open No. 59-229,419 proposes a method wherein a heat energy is locally applied to the surface of the silicon steel sheet to form a heat strain zone. However, the effect based on the preferential formation of such a local heat strain zone is lost by high temperature annealing above 600.degree. C. In addition, there are proposed a method of introducing artificial grain boundary into the silicon steel sheet having a secondary grain size of not less than 3 mm in Japanese Patent laid open No. 58-144,424 and a method of irradiating plasma flame to the grain oriented silicon steel sheet after the finish annealing in Japanese Patent laid open No. 62-96,617. In the latter methods, however, the effect is lost in case of the material for Wound-core type transformer subjected to the strain relief annealing.

Method of producing extra-low iron loss grain oriented silicon steel sheets


An inkjet recording head substrate having an electrothermal transducer for generating thermal energy used to discharge ink and a drive element for driving the electrothermal transducer mounted thereon includes a first circuit portion for outputting selection signals for selecting the electrothermal transducer to be driven at a amplitude level of a second voltage higher than a first voltage based on an input signal of the amplitude level of the first voltage, a second circuit portion for inputting the selection signals from the first circuit portion and controlling the drive element corresponding to the electrothermal transducer to be driven based on the selection signals subject to the second voltage, and a plurality of signal lines for transmitting the selection signals between the first and second circuit portions.

In general, an electrothermal transducer (heater) and its drive circuit of a recording head mounted on a recording apparatus compliant with an inkjet method are formed on the same substrate by using a semiconductor process technology as indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,334 for instance. There is a proposal of a configuration of the recording head having a digital circuit for detecting a state of a semiconductor substrate such as a substrate temperature for instance formed on the same substrate in addition to the drive circuit and also having an ink supply port around the center of the substrate and the heaters at opposed positions across the port.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing circuit blocks and the ink supply ports of this kind of inkjet recording head substrate (head substrate). FIG. 1 shows the semiconductor substrate of a head substrate 114 on which six ink supply ports 111 are formed. For convenience sake, FIG. 1 only shows the circuit blocks corresponding to the ink supply ports 111 on the left side and omits showing circuit blocks (115) corresponding to the other five ink supply ports 111. As shown in FIG. 1, heaters 110 are placed like an array at opposed positions across the ink supply ports 111. The circuit blocks (drive circuits 113) for selectively driving the heaters 110 are placed correspondingly to the heaters 110. Pads 102 for supplying power and signals to the heaters 110 and drive circuits 113 are placed at ends of the semiconductor substrate 114.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one of the supply port circuit blocks 115 shown in FIG. 1 in further detail together with a flow of an electrical signal. As shown in FIG. 2, the circuit blocks (drive circuits 113 of FIG. 1) are symmetrically placed centering on the ink supply port 111. The circuit blocks include a drive circuit array 109, a drive selection circuit array 108, a device driving signal circuit 104, a block selection circuit 105 and bus lines 106, 107 described later. The heater arrays 110 are provided across the ink supply port 111 and comprise multiple heaters. The drive circuit array 109 has a switching device for passing a current to each heater of the heater array 110. The drive selection circuit array 108 controls the drive circuit. The device driving signal circuit (also referred to as a time division selection circuit) 104 and block selection circuit 105 generate the signals transmitted to the drive selection circuit array 108. An input circuit 103 processes the signals inputted from the pads 102.
Hereunder, a description will be given as to functions of each of the circuit blocks and flows of the signals of one circuit block group which is symmetrical centering on the ink supply port 111.
A head substrate 101 is a silicon substrate on which the circuit blocks and the heaters for heating ink are formed by using an LSI process. The power supply voltage and signals inputted from the pads 102 for inputting and outputting image data are transmitted to the device driving signal circuit 104 and block selection circuit 105 via the input circuit 103. The signals appropriately processed by the device driving signal circuit 104 and block selection circuit 105 are led to a heater row direction by the bus lines 106 and 107 consisting of multiple lines.
The signals from the bus lines 106 and 107 are connected to drive selection circuits which are components of the drive selection circuit array 108 respectively. On and off of drive selection circuits are decided by the signals from the bus lines 106 and 107. In the case of performing a discharge operation of the ink, the signal for turning on a desired drive selection circuit is applied to the bus lines 106 and 107, and the signal is outputted from the drive selection circuit to turn on a corresponding drive circuit in the drive circuit array 109. The turned-on drive circuit passes a current to the corresponding heater in the heater array 110. The heater is heated by this current, and bubbling and discharge operations of the ink are performed.
FIG. 3 schematically shows more detailed circuit configuration and flows of signals of the drive circuits 113 of FIG. 1 (drive circuit array 109, drive selection circuit array 108, device driving signal circuit 104, block selection circuit 105 and bus lines 106, 107 of FIG. 2). The shown example indicates a state in which the drive circuit array 109 and drive selection circuit array 108 are configured by eight heater driving blocks 206. The signals including the image data and time division data applied to the pads 102 are inputted to the block selection circuit (mainly configured by a shift register) 105 and device driving signal circuit (mainly configured by a decoder) 104 configuring an internal circuit via the input circuit 103. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the inputted time division data is converted to a time division selection signal (also referred to as a device driving signal) by the device driving signal circuit 104. The time division selection signal is supplied to each of the heater driving blocks 1 to 8 (206). The block selection circuit 105 generates a block selection signal for selecting the heater driving blocks 1 to 8 based on an image data signal synchronized with a synchronizing signal (clock) used to input the image data. The heater driving block selected by the block selection signal drives the heater according to the time division selection signal. To be more specific, the heater to be driven is decided by an AND of the block selection signal and the time division selection signal.
FIG. 4 shows a detailed configuration of the heater driving block 206. The heater driving block 206 includes heater driving MOS transistors 209, level conversion circuits 205 and heater selection circuits 204 placed correspondingly to heaters 210 placed like an array. Here, the heater driving MOS transistor 209 performs a function of a switch for turning on and off energization of the heater 210. The drive selection circuit array 108 of FIG. 2 corresponds to the heater selection circuits 204 and level conversion circuits 205. The drive circuit array 109 corresponds to the heater driving MOS transistor 209. A block selection signal 202 from the block selection circuit 105 and a time division selection signal 203 from the device driving signal circuit 104 are inputted to an AND gate of the heater selection circuit 204. Therefore, in the case where both the signals 202 and 203 become active, an output of that AND gate becomes active. An output signal of the AND gate has its voltage amplitude level-converted by the level conversion circuits 205 to the power supply voltage (second power supply voltage) higher than a driving voltage (first power supply voltage) from the input circuit 103 to the heater selection circuits 204. The level-converted signal is applied to a gate of the heater driving MOS transistor 209. The heater 210 connected to the heater driving MOS transistor 209 having the signal applied to its gate has a current passed thereto and driven. The second power supply voltage is level-converted by the level conversion circuits 205 for the purposes of increasing the voltage applied to the gate of the heater driving MOS transistor 209 and thereby reducing its on-resistance and passing the current to the heater with high efficiency.
FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing the drive selection circuit and drive circuit corresponding to one arbitrary heater 210 in the heater array 110 extracted from the above-mentioned drive selection circuit array 108 and drive circuit array 109. FIG. 5 describes a detailed circuit configuration of the heater selection circuits 204 and level conversion circuits 205 shown in FIG. 4.
The signals are taken into the drive selection circuit from the bus lines 106, 107 leading the output signals from the device driving signal circuit 104 and block selection circuit 105 shown in FIG. 2. Reference characters 208a to 208l denote circuit elements configuring the drive selection circuits (heater selection circuit 204 and level conversion circuit 205). An input terminal of an NAND gate 208a (heater selection circuit 204) is connected to the bus lines 106 and 107 and a corresponding signal is inputted from each bus line. An inverter 208b outputs the signal having inverted the output signal from the NAND gate 208a, and an inverter 208c further inverts the inversion signal. The MOS transistors 208d to 208i configure a level converter for converting the voltage amplitude of the signals. The MOS transistors 208j, 208k configure the inverter for buffering the output signals of the level converter. There is also a resistance 208l provided to increase an output impedance when the output of the inverter formed by the MOS transistors 208j, 208k shifts from a low level (hereafter, indicated as Lo) to a high level (hereafter, indicated as Hi).
A MOS transistor 209 forms the drive circuit for exerting on and off control of a heater current. Heating by the heater 210 for ink foaming is controlled by on and off of the heater current by the MOS transistor 209.
Operations of the circuits shown in FIG. 5 will be described. The output signals from the device driving signal circuit 104 and block selection circuit 105 of FIGS. 2 and 3 are inputted to the NAND gate 208a by the bus lines 106 and 107. Here, the output of the NAND gate 208a becomes Lo only when both the inputs to the NAND gate 208a become Hi. Hereunder, the operation in the case where a Lo signal is outputted from the NAND gate 208a will be described. The Lo signal outputted from the NAND gate 208a is inverted by the inverter 208b to become Hi. Furthermore, the Hi signal as the output of the inverter 208b is inputted to the inverter 208c and is inverted again to be outputted as the Lo signal. The voltage amplitudes of the bus lines 106 and 107, NAND gate 208a, inverters 208b and 208c are VDD (first power supply voltage) of which potential has the same amplitude as the signals inputted from outside.
The output signals from the inverters 208b and 208c are in putted to the level converter including the MOS transistors 208d to 208i respectively. Here, the potential of Lo (0 V) which is the same as the output signal of the NAND gate 208a is applied to the gates of the MOS transistors 208d and 208e, and the potential of Hi (VDD) which is the inversion signal of the output of the NAND gate is applied to the gates of 208g and 208h.
The MOS transistor 208g having VDD applied to its gate is an NMOS transistor, and so it becomes on-state. For that reason, a drain terminal of the NMOS transistor 208g is connected to a GND potential at low impedance. The drain terminal of the NMOS transistor 208g is connected to the gate of a PMOS transistor 208f. For that reason, the gate of the PMOS transistor 208f is connected to the GND potential at low impedance, and the PMOS transistor 208f becomes on-state. The PMOS transistor 208e series-connected to the PMOS transistor 208f is on-state because 0 V is applied to the gate. The NMOS transistor 208d further series-connected is off-state because 0 V is applied to the gate. As the PMOS transistors 208f, 208e are on and the NMOS transistors 208d is off, the potential at the drain of the PMOS transistors 208e is VDDM. Therefore, the potential of a node having the drains of the PMOS transistor 208e and NMOS transistor 208d and the gate of the PMOS transistor 208i connected thereto becomes VDDM (second power supply voltage) which is a power supply potential of the level conversion circuits. For that reason, the PMOS transistor 208i becomes off-state. To be more specific, the PMOS transistor 208i becomes off and the NMOS transistor 208g becomes on. For that reason, the drain terminals of the PMOS transistor 208g and NMOS transistor 208i are connected, and the potential of the node connected to the gate of the PMOS transistor 208f is fixed at 0 V. The potential of the node becomes the output signal of the level converter, and is inputted to the gates of the inverter consisting of the NMOS transistor 208j and PMOS transistor 208k.
Thus, if 0 V is applied to the gates of the transistors of the inverter consisting of the NMOS transistor 208j and PMOS transistors 208k, the PMOS transistors 208k becomes on and the NMOS transistor 208j becomes off. Consequently, the inverter outputs the VDDM potential so that VDDM is applied to the gate of the NMOS transistor 209 which is the drive circuit for exerting on and off control of the heater. The NMOS transistor 209 having VDDM applied to its gate becomes on-state and passes the heater current from a heater power supply potential VH via the heater 210. The heater having the current passed through generates the heat necessary for the ink foaming and discharge.
Thus, the heater current passes when both the signals connected from the bus lines 106 and 107 to the NAND gate 208a become Hi.
Here, the resistance 208l is placed to curb a precipitous rising edge of the heater current. To be more specific, in the case where a gate potential of the NMOS transistor 209 for exerting on and off control of the heater current transits instantaneously from 0 V to the VDDM potential for the sake of turning on the heater current, the heater current also passes instantaneously. There are the cases where this change of the current becomes noise of the power supply and triggers a malfunction. The resistance 208l is inserted between the PMOS transistor 208k and the NMOS transistor 209 in order to prevent the malfunction. As the precipitous rising edge of the gate potential of the NMOS transistor 209 is curbed by a lagged effect of the on-resistance of the PMOS transistor 208k, series resistance of the resistance 208l and gate capacity of the NMOS transistor 209, an instantaneous flow of the heater current is curbed to prevent the malfunction.
FIG. 6 shows a portion equivalent to the level conversion circuit 205 extracted from the circuit shown in FIG. 5 (the resistance 208l is omitted). As shown in FIG. 6, the level conversion circuits 205 is divided into a circuit portion 205a for operating at the first power supply voltage (VDD) and a circuit portion 205b for operating at the second power supply voltage (VDDM). A heater selection signal 221 which is the output from the heater selection circuit 204 is inputted to the inverter 208b (configured by a PMOS transistor 230 and a NMOS transistor 231) for operating at the first power supply voltage. The inverter 208b generates a signal of an inversion logic of the heater selection signal 221, and applies it to the gates of the NMOS transistor 208g and PMOS transistor 208h operating at the second power supply voltage. The inversion signal of the inverter 208b is inputted to the inverter 208c to be inverted again. The output signals of the inverter 208c are applied to the gates of the NMOS transistor 208d and PMOS transistor 208e operating at the second power supply voltage. The circuit portion 205b outputs the signal converted to an amplitude of the second power supply voltage (VDDM) according to these signals.
As for the inkjet recording heads in general, the number of nozzles is increased and density thereof is furthered for the purposes of speeding up recording and/or improving a grade of recording. In the case of a thermal inkjet printer for discharging the ink by generating heat with the heater as mentioned above, however, it is necessary to use a high power supply voltage in order to have the energy required for the ink foaming and the discharge in conjunction therewith generated by the heater. Therefore, as to a drive control circuit of the heater, it is necessary for the component devices such as the transistors to secure a withstand voltage against the high power supply voltage. In general, size of each component device increases for the sake of securing the withstand voltage of the device 80 that a high-density (small-layout-pitch) circuit layout on the substrate becomes difficult.
For instance, the conventional circuit form as shown in FIG. 5 takes an AND of the signal transmitted from the device driving signal circuit 104 via the bus line 106 and the block selection signal transmitted from the block selection circuit 105 via the bus line 107. The voltage amplitude is increased as to the signals after taking the AND.
Such a configuration requires the circuit block for operating at the first power supply voltage (VDD) which is the voltage amplitude of the input signal and the circuit block for operating at a higher second power supply voltage (VDDM) to be applied to the gate of the MOS transistor for controlling the heater current. To be more specific, the head substrate must have the configuration for each of the heaters wherein it is controlled and driven at two kinds of power supply voltages, that is, the first and second power supply voltages, and a signal amplitude of the first power supply voltage is converted to that of the second power supply voltage by the level conversion circuit. For this reason, the level conversion circuit described in FIG. 6 is provided to each heater drive MOS transistor. However, such a level conversion circuit is configured by a large number of transistors, and so the required area of chips becomes large in the case of the configuration having the level conversion circuit for each individual heater.
As each of the heaters requires the level conversion circuit, it is necessary to place a large number of devices of a high withstand voltage. For this reason, a high-density (small-layout-pitch) device layout on the substrate becomes difficult. To be more specific, the layout pitch cannot be sufficiently reduced because of existence of the large number of devices of a high withstand voltage, resulting in an increase in a chip size.
As each of the heaters requires the level conversion circuit, it is necessary to place a large number of devices of a high withstand voltage. For this reason, a high-density (small-layout-pitch) device layout on the substrate becomes difficult. To be more specific, the layout pitch cannot be sufficiently reduced because of existence of the large number of devices of a high withstand voltage, resulting in an increase in a chip size.
The devices of a high withstand voltage of FIG. 5 are the level converter and inverter (circuit portion 205b) connected to VDDM which is a midpoint potential and the transistor (209) for driving the heater connected to VH.
Therefore, when considering a layout configuration of a recording head substrate of the above-mentioned configuration, the level conversion circuit added to each segment leads to an increase in length of each segment and an increase in the chip size and becomes a factor of increased costs. To be more specific, the above-mentioned layout expands the chips in the direction orthogonal to the heater array so that the chips increase remarkably. An increase in the number of circuit elements leads to reduction in yield and further complexity of the circuit configuration, which become the factors of further increased costs.

Inkjet recording head substrate and drive control method, inkjet recording head, inkjet recording head cartridge and inkjet recording apparatus


A rotating machine having a rotor comprising a flexible shaft with a plurality of masses distributed along the shaft. Included within these masses are magnetic disks. Magnetic bearings are attached to the housing and coact to support the rotor in only a radial direction or in both radial and axial directions. Bearing sensors are used to measure the shaft position local to each bearing relative to a face of each bearing. Variable magnetic bearing parameters are controlled so as to change values of stiffness and damping of the magnetic bearings in response to the measurements from the bearing sensors. These controls can be direct analog circuitry, or digital components, or a combination of digital and analog components.

Rotating machines, such as pumps and compressors, display operating characteristics which come in part from the bearing parameters. With the use of magnetic bearings, these parameters may be controlled or modified as the rotor is stationary or turning. In general, conventional fluid film bearings or so-called anti-friction bearings cannot be adjusted or modified either when the rotor is stationary nor when it is turning in the bearings. So magnetic bearings offer many advantages over the more conventional bearings.
Machinery characteristics come in part from the balance of the rotors; but even when a rotor is brought into perfect balance, other dynamic characteristics may still produce undesirable running characteristics. These latter characteristics stem from the dynamics of the system which may be described in terms of the masses and their distributions, damping properties of the materials of construction and configurations of the design, and the stiffnesses of the various components and their interactions. Included in these above noted parameters are the bearings that support the rotating elements, which taken together may be simply called the rotor.
By varying the defining parameters of the bearings, the overall system dynamics may be controlled. With magnetic bearings, these parameters may be adjusted or changed when the rotors are running; (i.e., turning within the bearings) or even when they are in support, but not turning. It is important to understand that support is not usually attained in a fluid film bearing until the rotor is turning. Such is not the case with the magnetic bearing. It may be in support whether the rotor is turning or not.
Many special features may be designed into a magnetic bearing. It is some of the unique features that are addressed in this invention, including the isolation or "canning", the support system, special speed dependent parameters, special controls for hybrid bearings, and balancing without turning of the rotor.

Magnetic bearings for pumps, compressors and other rotating machinery

University of Virginia Patent Foundation


A wrap-around carrier having lower article end restraints and upper end panel flaps. The lower end restraints are comprised of lower gusset panels connecting the bottom panel to side panel flaps, while the upper end panel flaps are connected to the side panel flaps by upper gusset panels. The end panel flaps and the end restraints automatically fold into their operable position when the side panel flaps are folded during fabrication of the carrier.

Wrap-around carriers are formed by grouping a number of articles to be packaged in the same arrangement they will have in the package, then wrapping a carrier blank around them and securing the ends of the blank together. Although some wrap-around carriers include integral end panels, most are open-ended. The upper portions of the end articles are sometimes prevented from moving out the open ends of the carrier by openings in the side panels through which portions of the bottle tops protrude or by openings in the top panel through which the bottle necks extend. The bottom portions of the articles are normally prevented from moving out through the open ends by tightly wrapping the carrier blank around them and also by designing the package so that they protrude through openings in the side panels of the carrier- For example, cutouts in the side panels are conventionally employed to receive the flanges of cans and other flanged articles, while heel cutouts in the lower portions of the side panels are employed to receive the heels or bases of beverage bottles.
While such measures have been successful in containing bottles of traditional design in their wrap-around carriers, new bottle designs do not always lend themselves to conventional treatment. The trend to larger beverage bottles makes it incumbent to employ carriers that are not only structurally capable of supporting heavier loads but are able to positively prevent outward movement of the end bottles. This becomes even more difficult when the bottle design is such that it no longer includes a conventionally shaped heel which normally would be held in place by a heel cutout. The packaging of bottles whose bottom portions have spaced inwardly sloped feet, such as those found in petaloid bottom designs, is particularly difficult in this respect.
It would be desirable to be able to employ wrap-around carriers to package bottles and other articles whose design makes it difficult or impossible to be held in place by side panel cutouts, and to do so without danger of the articles sliding out the ends of the carrier. It would also be desirable to design the carrier to give the open end of the package a more finished appearance, while at the same time reinforcing the end edge of the top panel against the stresses of lifting and carrying packages containing heavy articles, such as large beverage bottles.


A motor control circuit and associated techniques detect a zero crossing of a current in a motor winding by detecting a reverse current in a half bridge circuit used to drive the motor winding.

Circuits to control and drive brushless DC (BLDC) electric motors are known. In some arrangements, the circuits provide a phase advance of drive signals that drive the electric motor, the phase advance related to rotational speed of the electric motor or related to a measured motor total current. However, such circuits are only able to provide one relationship, or a small number of relationships, between phase advances and rotational speeds, in addition, external components and pins of a motor control integrated circuit (IC) may be required to set the parameter for each electric motor or each electric motor application.
Some known electric motor drive circuits are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,590,334, issued Sep. 15, 2009, U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,146, issued Jun. 29, 2010, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/271,723, filed Oct. 12, 2011, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
A BLDC electric motor can exhibit different efficiency behaviors versus speed when used in different applications. For example, the same BLDC electric motor can be used with different fan blade arrangements in different applications. Different types of BLDC electric motors can also exhibit different efficiency behaviors versus speed.
Motor noise, vibration, and efficiency are influenced by a variety of characteristics. One such characteristic is a phase of currents that appear in the motor windings relative to a rotational position of the motor. Particularly as a motor speed increases or decreases, the phase of the currents can lag or lead, respectively, a reference rotational position of the motor. Also, at high motor speeds, the current in the motor windings can tend to lag the reference position of the motor.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide an electric motor control circuit and associated method that can detect a phase of a current in a motor winding, for example, by detecting a zero crossing of the current.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electronic circuit and method for detecting a zero current in a winding of an electric motor


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for detecting defects in a display. The apparatus of the present invention comprises a camera for capturing an image of a display being inspected and processing circuitry, such as, for example, a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP), for processing the captured image to determine whether or not the display being inspected is defective. Preferably, the processing circuitry is a microprocessor running image processing software which controls data acquisition as well as the processing of the acquired data to determine whether the display being inspected is defective. In accordance with the present invention, a relatively high resolution display can be inspected using a single camera, preferably a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, which has a lower resolution than the display being inspected. The camera is focused on the display such that the entire display is within the field of view of the camera. The camera then captures an image of the display, digitizes the image and stores the digitized image in a memory device which is in communication with the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry then reads the image data out of memory and averages all of the image data to obtain an average value corresponding to the brightness of the display. Once this average value has been obtained, the processing circuitry performs various processes with the image data and with the average value to determine whether the display being inspected is defective.

Currently, most if not all cathode ray tubes (CRT) and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are inspected visually to determine if all of the pixels in the display are functioning correctly. This is accomplished by displaying one or more patterns on the display while a person observes the pattern to spot defects. This method has several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the person observing the patterns on the display must look closely and carefully at the entire screen in order to spot defects, which can be very time consuming, thus adding to the costs associated with the inspection. Another disadvantage of this method is that human beings are not always highly consistent in this type of inspection and, therefore, results can vary from day-to-day when performed by the same person and from person to person when performed by different people.
It is also known to inspect displays using high-resolution cameras. However, this type of inspection requires that the camera used to inspect the display have a higher resolution than the display being inspected. If the display has a low resolution, it is possible to use a high-resolution camera to inspect the display by feeding the output of the camera into a computer and having the computer analyze patterns on the display to determine whether or not defects exist in the display.
In most cases, a nine-to-one increase in the number of camera pixels to the number of display pixels is required in order to properly inspect the displays. This ratio requirement effectively limits the resolution of the display that can be tested and/or adds greatly to the cost of the camera used for the inspection. Furthermore, if a single camera is used to perform the inspection and the camera resolution is close to the display resolution, then the detection system can only detect large defects, i.e., defects covering more than a four-pixel area. Multiple cameras can be used in place of a single high-resolution camera to perform the inspection. However, using multiple cameras can greatly increase inspection time and cost of the test due to the added costs due to the added costs of multiple cameras and additional processing time.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus for inspecting displays for defects which is capable of efficiently detecting defects, including small defects, and which overcomes the disadvantages of the existing inspection systems and methods.

Method and apparatus for inspecting a display using a relatively low-resolution camera


A lottery game apparatus includes a distribution section (discharge section) that discharges a ball that has been discharged in response to an operation input performed using an operation section, a plurality of open areas that receive the ball that has fallen from the distribution section, a plurality of lottery sections that implement a lottery using the ball, a moving path that guides the ball that has fallen into a first open area to a first lottery section, a moving path that guides the ball that has fallen into a second open area to a second lottery section, and a moving path that guides the ball that has fallen into a third open area to a third lottery section. The distribution section changes the discharge position or the discharge direction of the ball.

The present invention relates to a lottery game apparatus that includes a lottery section that implements a lottery using a game medium.
A token game machine has been known that includes a lottery mechanism by which a ball discharged when a token has entered a chucker is moved to a lottery section through a predetermined moving path (see JP-A-2004-113566, for example).
The above token game machine is configured so that the ball discharged when a token has entered a chucker is moved to a single lottery section, and the player cannot select a desired lottery section by operating an operation section.