An ionic liquid-channel charge-coupled device that separates ions in a liquid sample according to ion mobility characteristics includes a channel having an inner wall that has a matrix liquid disposed within. An insulating material surrounds the channel, and an introduction element introduces a liquid sample into the channel. The sample is preferably a liquid solution that has at least one ionic specie present in the solution. The device further includes a gating element that establishes at least one charge packet in the channel in response to an externally applied input sisal, and a transport element that induces the charge packet to migrate through the channel. The gate element can be a plurality of spaced-apart, electrically conductive, gate structures that are alternately disposable between a high voltage state and a low voltage state. The transport element further includes an application element that applies a variable voltage to the gating element. This application of voltage induces the charge packets to form under the gate structures and, when the voltage applied to an adjacent gate has a higher potential, induces the packet to migrate through the channel in that direction.

This invention relates generally to charge coupled devices. More particularly, it relates to a monolithic ionic liquid-channel charge-coupled device (ILC-CCD) and methods of making the same.
The ability to quickly and to accurately analyze liquids to determine their constituents is of great general importance, and of particular importance in the biomedical research industries. Over the years, a variety of techniques have evolved that can analyze a solution and determine its component parts. These techniques can be divided into two basic categories. The first category includes fast and simple techniques, which detect only a few specific constituents. Devices which perform this technique include ion selectable electrodes, such as pH electrodes. A drawback of this general category is that, although the techniques are relatively fast and relatively simple to perform, they only detect specific sample constituents. Thus, a particular device is typically used to detect a relatively few, predetermined sample components.
The second category includes techniques which can be used to detect a broader range of constituents. Such techniques include ion mass spectrometers, gas chromatographs, and blood serum chemistry analyzers. A drawback of this general category is that the techniques require relatively large amounts of time and equipment to perform a complete analysis of the solution constituents. In addition, relatively large amounts of personnel, with their associated costs, are required to monitor and perform the analyses.
Some prior art techniques have sought to address the above problems by incorporating integrated circuit (IC) theory and technology into the device design and fabrication. IC technology has led to the development of smaller, more cost effective devices that are capable of detecting a broader range of constituents. Moreover, by incorporating IC technology, techniques can now be employed that incorporate previously inaccessible physical principles.
One such physical principle that would be beneficial in analyzing liquid samples is the physical principles employed by charge-coupled devices. Conventional charge coupled (CC) devices exist for generating a stream of electrons in response to an input signal, such as incident ambient light. Consequentially, CC devices are employed in many types of imaging devices, such as video recorders, camcorders, cameras and the like. Prior art CC devices usually consist of an array of polysilicon-silicon dioxide capacitors, typically mounted on a substrate. The substrate typically has a top face to which an insulating layer of silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) is applied. A series of gate electrodes are then mounted to the silicon dioxide layer at various locations above the substrate. Each gate electrode has an associated electrical connector that communicates with an alternating current (AC) voltage source. The interface between the silicon dioxide layer and the substrate top face forms an electron channel. The channel defines the region in the CC device where electrons accumulate.
During operation of the CC device, a voltage is applied to each gate at a selected occurrence rate, called a stepping frequency. Typically, the electrons accumulate in packets under the gate electrode with the highest potential, e.g., most positive. The electron packets can be moved to the right or to the left of that gate by biasing the voltages positively on either adjacent gate, and biasing the gate above the packet negatively, such that the electrons move along the channel from regions of low potential to regions of high potentials.
There still exists a need in the art for improved analytical devices that can detect the components of a liquid solution. One particular advantageous device would employ the physical principles associated with CC devices. Additionally, a device that can relatively easily and relatively quickly determine all the ionized constituents of a liquid sample would present a major improvement in the art. Moreover, a device that is relatively easy to manufacture, that is relatively low-cost, and that is capable of detecting the presence of minute concentrations of a sample component would also present a major improvement in the all.

Ionic liquid-channel charge-coupled device


A black amount/solid color amount determination section determines a black amount K and a solid color amount O from an input L*a*b* color signal and transfers K and O to a YMC determination section and an image record signal output section. The YMC determination section determines YMC color signal of an image output unit colorimetrically matching the L*a*b* color signal input under a condition that the black amount is K color signal and the solid color amount is O color signal from the input L*a*b* color signal and the KO color signal input from the black amount/solid color amount determination section, and transfers the YMC color signal to the image record signal output section. The image record signal output section outputs the KO color signal input from the black amount/solid color amount determination section and the YMC color signal input from the YMC determination section.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a color image processing technique for converting an input color image signal into a color image record signal of a color printer, etc., and more particularly to a technique for converting an input color image signal into a color image record signal of N or more colors including a solid color (N is an integer of five or more).
2. Description of the Related Art
In a print technique, solid colors provided by primary color ink of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) and fluorescent ink are added to four colors of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black) to perform color reproduction as a technique for representing vivid colors that cannot be reproduced in four-color process print of Y, M, C, and K. As color samples of solid colors, color samples of Pantone and the like are known and about 1000 solid colors are defined.
However, up to a maximum of eight colors can be printed at the same time on a printer and thus the number of solid colors that can be used is four at the maximum and is a very small number; there is designer's demand for increasing the number of solid colors that can be used. Further, to prepare solid color ink, basic inks of about 20 colors need to be mixed in accordance with the mixing ratio defined in the color sample. When solid color ink is replaced, ink mixing work, printer cleaning work, and the like are required and thus solid color print involves a large number of steps at the print site; this is a problem.
To solve such a problem, in print technique, a color reproduction method called HiFi color print is proposed for the purpose of enlarging color gamut by perform color reproduction using five to seven colors in which at least one color of RGB is added to four process colors of YMCK, and making it possible to reproduce solid color colorimetrically by performing color separation processing. As HiFi color print, hexachrome print of Pantone is widely used; it is known that about 90% of solid color can be reproduced by performing color reproduction in six colors of four colors of YMCK plus R-based orange (O) ink and G ink. The color reproduction method of the HiFi color print, which will be hereinafter referred to as HiFi color, is general as a technique of enlarging the color gamut since the application range of HiFi color is also widened to ink jet and electrophotographic color printers.
Further, in print and a color printer, a color signal of a display or a digital camera of sRGB color space, etc., may be input as an input signal. Since the color gamut of YMCK four-color process print or a color printer is narrower than the color gamut of the sRGB color space, there is demand for enlarging the color gamut intended for faithful reproduction. Also in such a case, enlarging the color gamut using the HiFi color is effective.
Thus, in the HiFi color, it is possible to enlarge the color gamut of a color printer. At this time, to well reproduce a calorimetric value signal of input solid color and an sRGB color signal, it is necessary to match the tristimulus values of print of output matter with the tristimulus values of the input color signal, namely, realize colorimetric color reproduction in color conversion processing of converting the input color signal into a an image record signal of five to seven colors.
A color management system (CMS) based on the specifications proposed by International Color Consortium (ICC) widely prevalent as industrial standard at present converts an RGB color signal of an input color signal of machine-dependent color space into a device-independent color signal like L*a*b* or XYZ color space and then converts the device-independent color signal into a YMCK color signal of a color printer of machine-dependent color space. As such conversion processing is performed, the input color signal and the output image record signal match indevice-independent color signal and thus it is possible to ensure colorimetric color reproduction. As the CMS, ColorSync installed in the Mac (registered trademark) operating system of Apple and ICM installed in Windows (registered trademark) of Microsoft are representative.
It is also considered in the HiFi color that a CMS in conformity with ICC is adopted for realizing colorimetric color reproduction. To do this, color conversion from a device-independent color signal like L*a*b* or XYZ color space to an image record signal of five to seven colors maybe realized. The following technique is proposed as a related art of color conversion processing for the HiFi color:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,899 discloses an image formation apparatus for performing color reproduction in process inks of seven colors of YMCKRGB. In the image formation apparatus, color conversion from an RGB signal of an input machine such as a scanner to YMCKRGB of an output machine such as a printer is determined by UCR (Under Color Removal) of achromatic component and chromatic component, and a technique called Kueppers Technique is proposed. This technique is the first proposed technique as color conversion processing of the HiFi color and has an easy algorithm and thus is widely utilized.
Considering application of Kueppers Technique to color conversion in conformity with ICC, it is possible to adopt a method of converting a device-independent color signal like L*a*b* color space into an RGB color signal by any color conversion unit and performing UCR processing of achromatic component and chromatic component for the RGB signal. However, as with the usual UCR processing, a colorimetric match between the RGB color signal of an input color signal and the YMCKRGB color signal of an image record signal is not considered and therefore the technique cannot realize calorimetric color reproduction and color conversion accuracy is poor; this is a problem. Further, as with the usual UCR processing, the technique involves a problem of incapability of making full use of the color gamut of an output machine and a problem of incapability of making full use of the color gamut widened in the HiFi color.
In contrast, the following technique called a division method is proposed: The color gamut of the HiFi color consisting of five to seven colors is divided into color gamut divisions each involving three or four colors in combination, and color conversion from the colorimetric value is performed in each color gamut division according to a similar technique to that with a usual three-color or four-color printer. For example, JP-A-2000-32284 proposes a technique of using color gamut divisions each involving K and other two colors close to K in hue in combination and determining coefficients in a direct look-up table (DLUT) for color conversion processing for realizing colorimetric color reproduction. For example, JP-A-2001-136401 proposes a technique of using color gamut divisions each involving K and other three colors in combination and determining DLUT coefficients for color conversion processing for realizing colorimetric color reproduction. Further, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,724 proposes a method of forming k (k<n) color gamut divisions each consisting of m color inks in an image formation apparatus of n (n>4) color inks and creating a printer model for each color gamut division, thereby converting from CIE color space into n-color inks color space so that a calorimetric match is found in the color gamut division and the color difference becomes the minimum outside the color gamut division. Further, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,891 describes a color conversion method from the colorimetric value in five-colors process of YMCKO; it proposes a method of executing color conversion of the colors in the YMCK color gamut from a colorimetric value. A color in the YMCK color gamut is converted from L*a*b* color space to YMCK. A color outside the YMCK color gamut is color-converted using a color gamut division to which a solid color is added (YOMK color gamut).
Each of the division methods disclosed in the documents has the advantage that the color conversion accuracy is high because colorimetric color reproduction in each color gamut division is insured. Although the computation amount is large as compared with Kueppers Technique, the division method is rarely used directly to perform color conversion; usually, it is used only for determining the lattice point parameter of DLUT for executing color conversion from L*a*b* color space to color signal of five to seven colors of an output machine, and therefore the large computation amount does not introduce any problem.
Thus, the division method has the advantage that the color conversion accuracy is high because colorimetric color reproduction is insured. However, the division method involves an intrinsic problem such that the color separation values become discontinuous on the boundary between the color gamut divisions and a pseudo contour occurs, as described in JP-A-2001-136401. Then, in the method disclosed in JP-A-2001-136401, occurrence of pseudo contours is suppressed by performing smoothing processing of the lattice point parameters of DLUT determined by the division method. However, a new problem is caused, that is, the smoothing processing worsens the color conversion accuracy. That is, in the division method, prevention of a pseudo contour and realizing high color conversion accuracy cannot be made compatible; this is a problem of the division method.
Further, a problem occurs in addition to occurrence of the pseudo contour in the boundary depending on the division method into color gamut divisions. In the color gamut division methods disclosed in JP-A-2000-32284 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,724, each color gamut division is made up of two or three adjacent colors containing K. In the division methods, the gray axis becomes a single color of K and thus gray cannot be reproduced in three colors of YMC; this is a problem. Usually, gray reproduced in the K single color is poorer in graininess than gray reproduced in the three colors of YMC and therefore a problem of poor graininess in the proximity of the gray axis occurs in the division method. In the division method, the place where the maximum density is generated becomes a K signal color solid part and the maximum density is lower than that in a YMCK four-color solid part in the YMCK four-color process. Full use of the color gamut in the high-density part that should be able to be reproduced essentially cannot be made; this is a problem.
In contrast, in the methods disclosed in JP-A-2001-136401 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,891, one of the color gamut divisions is formed of the YMCK color gamut, whereby gray can be reproduced in three colors of YMC and the place where the maximum density is generated can be made a YMCK four-color solid part, so that the graininess in the proximity of the gray axis can be improved and full use of the color gamut of the high-density part can be made. However, in the method, discontinuousness of the color separation values in the boundary between color gamut divisions containing RGB and the YMCK color gamut is very large as compared with that in the division methods disclosed in JP-A-2000-32284 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,724. There is a problem of easy occurrence of a pseudo contour.

Color image processing method, color image processing apparatus, color image processing program, and record medium


An adjustable handlebar riser assembly has an outer member, an inner member, a pin, a retainer member and a locking member. The inner member and the outer member have mating flat-bottom V-shaped faces. The inner member slides at least in part within the outer member. Each of the outer and inner members has at least one aperture through their flat-bottom V-shaped faces. The pin is inserted in an aperture of the outer member and in an aperture of the inner member. The retaining member is connected to the pin at one end while the locking member is connected to an opposed end of the pin. The locking member can exert a tension on the pin, pressing the outer member onto the inner member for locking these members at a selected position relative to one another.

Vehicles, such as, for example, snowmobiles and all terrain vehicles use a handlebar to provide steering control. The handlebar is typically attached to a steering column through a clamp. The clamp used in these steering columns allows the vehicle user to adjust the rotational position of the handlebar with respect to the steering column, but does not allow for other adjustments to be made to the position of the handlebar. The rotational position of the handlebar affects the comfort of the vehicle user's arms, wrists, and hands, but has little effect on the reach, which defines the distance separating the seated user from the handlebar. If a vehicle user desires to adjust the reach, the vehicle user may replace the handlebar with a different model where the hand positions are further or closer to the vehicle user. Since this option is not economically feasible for every rider, many riders are forced into a riding position that may not be comfortable. Also, the option of replacing a handlebar to suit the needs of a particular user is not convenient in the case of a vehicle driven by more than one person.
A handlebar riser may be inserted between the steering column and the handlebar in order to move the handlebar position within a better reach of the vehicle user. Not only can a handlebar riser move the handlebar closer to the rider, it also provides a pivot point for pivoting the handlebar forward, giving the steering column a greater angle with vertical without placing the handlebar too far toward the rear. FIG. 1A to 1D provide various views of a conventional handlebar riser. FIGS. 1A to 1D show a handlebar riser 100 having four sides 102, 104, 106 and 108, a top face 110 and a bottom face 111. The top face has two recesses 112, 114 for installation of a central tubular part of a handlebar (not shown), and four threaded vertical holes 116, 118, 120 and 122 for receiving fasteners, for example bolts, for attachment of clamps or caps (not shown) that maintain the handlebar in position on the handlebar riser 100. The bottom face also has recesses and threaded vertical holes for mounting of the handlebar riser 100, using clamps or caps, on a horizontal shaft (not shown) fixedly mounted to the steering column. A height 124 of the handlebar riser 100 is fixed. Various models may differ in height and the vehicle user may select a particular handlebar riser having a height that provides a desired reach.
The handlebar riser 100 may solve at least in part the problem of reach desired by the vehicle user. However, several problems related to reach of the handlebar remain. A particular vehicle, whether a snowmobile, an all-terrain vehicle, and the like, may be operated by various persons, for instance by several family members of various sizes or when the vehicle is leased on a short-term basis to various customers. Also, when the vehicle is ridden for an extended period, for example for a few hours at a time, the user may desire to vary his/her position by adjusting the reach of the handlebar. These needs cannot be met with a fixed height handlebar riser.
A need, therefore, has developed for a handlebar riser that allows adjustments to be made to the position of the handlebar with respect to the rider without requiring the replacement of the handlebar or of the riser.


A phase-locked loop system having as input a stable refernce clock signal and outputting a master clock signal. The phase of the stable reference clock signal is compared to that of the pre-scaled master clock signal and the difference represented by an analog error signal which is converted to a digital signal by an A/D converter (116). The digital signal is then transformed into an analog control signal by a D/A converter (120) and applied to a VCO (128) which generates the master clock signal, If the stable reference clock signal has degraded or is lost the A/D converter (116), which receives its sampling clock in part from the stable reference clock signal, stops sampling and thus stops producing digital signals. The last good digital signal is maintained, the last good analog control signal is maintained and thus the master clock signal is maintained.

In RF digital cellular radio telephone systems, high stability frequency sources are necessary to obtain quality and reliable digital transmissions. The master clock signal used by digital cellular base-stations for synchronization is normally synthesized from an internal oscillator which is typically phase locked to a reference clock signal. In this configuration, the master clock signal directly tracks the reference clock signal, thus the characteristics of the master clock signal are dependent on the characteristics of the reference clock signal. If the reference clock signal is lost, the phase comparator section of the phase-locked loop produces a large phase error signal which is directly applied as a control signal to the internal oscillator. This large phase error signal causes the oscillator to drift off frequency and produce an incorrect master clock signal. Since the base-station relies on a stable master clock signal for accurate synchronization, the quality of communication from the base-station to corresponding equipment is seriously degraded.
Synchronization problems also arise when the reference clock signal is present but does not meet the system requirement for stability. If the reference clock signal drifts outside of the specified stability limits, typical phase-locked loops will produce a master clock signal that is likewise outside of the specified stability limits. If the system has no provision for monitoring the reference clock signal for drift, accurate synchronization will not be maintained and the quality of communication from the base-station to corresponding equipment will again be seriously degraded.
Thus, a need exists for a phase-locked loop system which maintains a master clock signal when the corresponding stable reference clock signal has been lost or has drifted out of specified stability limits while maintaining typical phase-locked loop characteristics.

Phase-locked loop signal generation system with control maintenance


Cardiovascular prostheses for treating, reconstructing and replacing damaged or diseased cardiovascular tissue that are formed from acellular extracellular matrix (ECM). The cardiovascular prostheses comprise various compositions, such as ECM based compositions, and structures, such as particulate structures, mesh constructs, encasement structures, coated structures and multi-sheet laminate structures.

As is well known in the art, various cardiovascular prostheses are often employed to treat and reconstruct damaged or diseased cardiovascular structures and associated tissue, such as cardiovascular vessels and heart tissue. However, despite the growing sophistication of medical technology, the use of prostheses to treat or replace damaged biological tissue remains a frequent and serious problem in health care. The problem is often associated with the materials employed to construct the prostheses.
As is also well known in the art, the optimal prostheses material should be chemically inert, non-carcinogenic, capable of resisting mechanical stress, capable of being fabricated in the form required and sterilizable. Further, the material should be resistant to physical modification by tissue fluids, and not excite an inflammatory reaction, induce a state of allergy or hypersensitivity, or, in some cases, promote visceral adhesions.
Various materials and/or structures have thus been employed to construct prostheses that satisfy the aforementioned optimal characteristics. Such materials and structures include tantalum gauze, stainless mesh, Dacron®, Orlon®, Fortisan®, nylon, knitted polypropylene (e.g., Marlex®), microporous expanded-polytetrafluoroethylene (e.g., Gore-Tex®), Dacron reinforced silicone rubber (e.g., Silastlc®), polyglactin 910 (e.g., Vicryl®), polyester (e.g., Mersilene®), polyglycolic acid (e.g., Dexon®), processed sheep dermal collagen, crosslinked bovine pericardium (e.g., Peri-Guard®), and preserved human dura (e.g., Lyodura®).
As discussed in detail below, although some of the noted prosthesis materials satisfy some of the aforementioned optimal characteristics, few, if any, satisfy all of the optimal characteristics.
Metallic mesh structures, e.g., stainless steel meshes, are generally inert and resistant to infection. Metallic mesh structures are, however, prone to fragmentation, which can, and in many instances will, occur after the first year of administration.
Synthetic mesh structures are easily molded and, except for nylon, retain their tensile strength in or on the body. Synthetic mesh structures are, however, typically non-resorbable and susceptibility to infection.
A major problem associated with Marlex®, i.e. polypropylene, mesh structures is that with scar contracture, polypropylene mesh structures become distorted and separate from surrounding normal tissue.
A major problem associated with Gore-Tex®, i.e. polytetrafluoroethylene, mesh structures is that in a contaminated wound it does not allow for any macromolecular drainage, which limits treatment of infections.
Mammalian tissue, such as extracellular matrix (ECM), is also often employed to construct cardiovascular prostheses. Illustrative are the prostheses disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,562,820 and 4,902,508. Further ECM prostheses (i.e. multi-sheet laminate structures) are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,808,363 and Applicant's Co-Pending application Ser. Nos. 14/031,423, 14/337,915, 14/566,155 and 14/566,306, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Although many of the ECM based cardiovascular prostheses satisfy many of the aforementioned optimal characteristics, when the ECM graft comprises two or more sheets, i.e. a multi-sheet laminate, such as disclosed in Co-pending application Ser. No. 14/031,423, the laminate structures can, and in some instances will, delaminate.
Thus, readily available, versatile cardiovascular prostheses that are not prone to calcification, thrombosis, intimal hyperplasia and delamination would fill a substantial and growing clinical need.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide cardiovascular prostheses that substantially reduce or eliminate (i) the risk of thrombosis, (ii) intimal hyperplasia after intervention in a vessel, (iii) the harsh biological responses associated with conventional polymeric and metal prostheses, and (iv) the formation of biofilm, inflammation and infection.
It is another object of the present invention to provide cardiovascular prostheses that modulate inflammation and induce host tissue proliferation, remodeling and regeneration of new tissue and tissue structures with site-specific structural and functional properties when delivered to damaged cardiovascular tissue.
It is another object of the present invention to provide cardiovascular prostheses that are capable of administering a pharmacological agent to host tissue and, thereby produce a desired biological and/or therapeutic effect.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A communication device, which performs wireless communication according to an adaptive modulation scheme, includes a modulator that modulates data to be transmitted to generate a transmission signal, and a transmission power control unit that controls a transmission power of the transmission signal, wherein, when the modulation level increases according to the adaptive modulation scheme, the transmission power control unit starts control of the transmission power before the modulator increases the modulation level.

Technology for performing optimal wireless communication includes an adaptive modulation scheme of changing a modulation scheme according to a state of a propagation path. Technology for changing a transmission power according to a used modulation scheme in the adaptive modulation scheme has been proposed. As a specific example, a communication method in a wireless communication system having a transmission-side communication device and a receiving-side communication device, i.e., communication technology characterized in that the transmission-side communication device controls a transmission power of a transmission signal based on a modulation level is described, for example, in Patent Document 1. Further, in recent years, higher quality communication is required, in which the wireless communication does not cause an error even in a very short period of time.

Communication device and communication method


A method and device for forming a magnetic pattern in a magnetic recording medium, a magnetic recording medium formed thereby and a magnetic recording device that includes a magnetic recording medium formed by this method and/or device. The magnetic recording medium has a magnetic layer, a protective layer, and a lubricant layer formed on a substrate in this order, and the magnetic pattern is formed by locally heating the magnetic layer and applying an external magnetic field to the magnetic layer.

This applications claims the priority of Japanese Patent Nos. 2000-025854, 2000-048721, 2000-075226, 2000-110418, 2000-134611, 2000-234227, 2000-255876, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming a magnetic pattern in a is magnetic recording medium used for a magnetic recording device, a magnetic recording medium, or a magnetic recording device. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for forming a magnetic pattern in a magnetic recording medium, a magnetic recording medium, or a magnetic recording device wherein the magnetic recording medium has a magnetic layer, a protective layer, and a lubricant layer, where a flying/contact magnetic head used for recording or reproducing.
2. Background of the Invention
Magnetic recording devices such as a magnetic disk device (a hard disk drive) have widely been used as external memory devices for information processing devices such as computers, and have recently been used as recording devices for devices for recording dynamic images or set-top boxes.
A typical magnetic disk device includes a shaft for holding a single or plurality of magnetic disks while penetrating the center of the magnetic disk or disks, a motor for rotating the magnetic disk or disks that is or are connected to the shaft by interposing a bearing or bearings, a magnetic head for recording/reproduction information, an arm for supporting the magnetic head, and an actuator for moving the magnetic head via the arm to a desired position on the magnetic recording medium. As the recording/reproduction head, a flying magnetic head capable of moving above the magnetic recording medium at a constant flight height is generally used.
In addition to a flying magnetic head, a contact magnetic head is proposed in order to reduce the distance from the magnetic head to the medium. The magnetic recording medium to be placed in the magnetic disk device is prepared, in general, by forming a NiP layer on the surface of a substrate that includes an aluminum alloy, applying a smoothening treatment, a texturing treatment, or the like thereon, and then forming a metallic underlayer, a magnetic layer (an information recording layer), a protective layer, a lubricant layer, and the like in this order thereon. Or, the magnetic recording medium is prepared by forming a metallic underlayer, a magnetic layer (an information recording layer), a protective layer, a lubricant layer, and the like on the surface of a substrate made of glass or the like. The magnetic recording medium includes a longitudinal magnetic recording medium and a perpendicular magnetic recording medium. In the longitudinal magnetic recording medium, longitudinal recording is generally conducted.
The rate of increase in the density of magnetic recording media is increased year by year, and various techniques for increasing density have been proposed. For example, there are attempts to make the flying height of the magnetic head smaller, to employ a GMR head as the magnetic head, to improve a magnetic material used for the recording layer of the magnetic disk so as to have a strong coercive force, and to reduce the space between tracks for recording information in the magnetic disk. For example, a density of track of 100 ktpi or more is needed in order to realize 100 Gbit/inch2.
In each track, a magnetic pattern for controlling the magnetic head is formed. For example, it produces signals used for controlling the position of the magnetic head or signals used for synchronous control. When the space between adjacent information recording tracks is narrowed to increase the number of tracks, it is necessary to increase the density of the signals for controlling the position of a data-recording/reproduction head (hereinbelow, referred to as xe2x80x9ca servo signalxe2x80x9d) in the radial direction of the disk. In other words, in response to the increased number of tracks, an increased number of signals for controlling the position of a data-recording/reproduction head much is required so that precision control can be performed.
Further, there is an increased demand for increases in the width of the data recording area. This would allow an increase in the data recording capacity by reducing the surface area not used for recording data, namely, the servo areas used for recording servo signals and the gap portions between the servo areas and the data recording areas. Thus, it is necessary to increase the data content of the servo signals or to increase the accuracy of synchronizing signals.
In a conventional method that is used widely in manufacturing, an opening is formed in the vicinity of the head actuator of the drive (magnetic recording device) and a pin with an encoder is inserted into the opening to engage the actuator with the pin. Servo signals are then recorded by moving the head to a correct position. However, methods based upon this approach encountered difficulty in correctly recording the servo signals because the position of the center of gravity of the actuator was different from the position of the center of gravity of a positioning mechanism, so that highly accurate track position control could not be obtained.
On the other hand, it has been proposed that laser beams be irradiated onto a magnetic disk to locally deform the surface of the disk. Minute projections and recesses can thus be physically formed and servo signals recorded by the minute projections and recesses. In this technique, however, there are problems such as the fact that: the projections and recesses make the flying magnetic head unstable and adversely influence the recording and/or reproduction of information; costly high power lasers are necessary for forming the projections and recesses; and relatively large amounts of time were required to successively form the individual projections and recesses.
In view of the above, several servo signal forming methods have been proposed.
For example, in one method a servo pattern is formed in a master disk having a magnetic layer with a high coercive force. The master disk is brought into close contact with a magnetic recording medium and then an external auxiliary magnetic field is applied to the magnetic recording medium, thus printing a magnetic pattern, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,104.
In another exemplary method, a medium that has previously been magnetized along a certain direction is formed. First, a ferromagnetic layer that includes a soft magnetic layer is formed by patterning on a master disk, and the master disk is brought into close contact with the medium. Then, an external magnetic field is applied. The soft magnetic layer functions as a shield, and a magnetic pattern is printed to an unshielded area, as described in Japanese Patent JP-A-50-60212, U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,711, Japanese Patent JP-A-10-40544, EP915456, and the article xe2x80x9cReadback Properties of Novel Magnetic Contact Duplication Signals with High Recording Density FDxe2x80x9d authored by R. Sugita et al., and published by IEEE in the Digest of InterMag 2000, GP-06 on Apr. 9, 2000.
With respect to forming a shield or using a magnetic recording source, the above-mentioned techniques use a master disk, and a magnetic pattern is formed in the medium by applying a strong magnetic field.
The intensity of a magnetic field generally is a function of distance. When a magnetic pattern is recorded by applying a magnetic field, the transitions in the magnetic pattern are apt to be blurred due to a leakage of the magnetic field. Accordingly, it is necessary to bring the master disk into intimate contact with the medium in order to minimize the influence of the leakage of the magnetic field. As the magnetic pattern becomes finer, it is necessary to intimately contact the master disk to the medium without any gap. Usually, both members are press-contacted using vacuum suction.
Further, the higher that the coercive force of the medium is, the larger the magnetic field required for transfer and, accordingly, the leakage of the magnetic field increases. Therefore, nearly perfect contact is required.
The above-mentioned techniques are applicable to a magnetic disk having a low coercive force or a flexible floppy disk that is easy to press contact. However, it is very difficult to use a magnetic disk for high density recording that includes a hard substrate where the coercive force is 3,000 Oe or more using these techniques.
Namely, with a magnetic disk that includes a hard substrate, there is the possibility that fine dust will deposit thereon before or during contact, causing a defect in the medium or even damaging the expensive master disk. In the particular case of a glass substrate, the deposition of dust may cause insufficiently close contact and it may become impossible to conduct magnetic printing. In some case, the magnetic recording medium cracked.
Further, in the technique described in Japanese Patent JP-A-50-60212 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,711, patterns at an angle oblique to the direction of tracks in a disk possessed only weak signal intensities, although recording was still possible. For a magnetic recording medium having a relatively high coercive force of 2,000-2,500 Oe or more, it is essential that a ferromagnetic material (as a shielding material) for forming a pattern in the master disk (such as permalloy or a soft magnetic material having a large saturation magnetic flux density such as sendust) be used in order to assure a sufficient magnetic field intensity for printing.
However, in the case of oblique patterns, a magnetic field formed by reversing the magnetization was oriented in a direction perpendicular to the gap produced by the ferromagnetic layer of the master disk, and it was impossible to incline the magnetization in a desired direction. As a result, a part of the magnetic field escapes into the ferromagnetic layer and a sufficient magnetic field could not be applied to a desired position during magnetic printing. Thus, a sufficient pattern of reversed magnetization could not be obtained, and it was difficult to produce high intensity signals. The reduction of a reproduced output using the oblique magnetic pattern was larger than the reduction by an azimuth loss, in comparison with a magnetic pattern perpendicular to the tracks.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a method of forming a magnetic pattern capable of efficiently and accurately forming various fine magnetic patterns without damaging the medium or the mask and without increasing defects in the medium.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic recording device that are capable of high density recording and can be produced in a short time in an economical manner.
The inventors of this application have studied extensively on the problems described above and have achieved the present invention by recognizing that a magnetic pattern can be effectively and accurately formed in a magnetic recording medium by combining local heating of the magnetic layer and with the application of an external magnetic field to the magnetic layer.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a method for forming a magnetic pattern in a magnetic recording medium having a magnetic layer, a protective layer, and a lubricant layer formed, in this order, on a substrate is described. This method is characterized by including local heating the magnetic layer and the application of an external magnetic field to the magnetic layer.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a magnetic recording medium with a magnetic pattern is described. This magnetic pattern can be formed by the method for forming a magnetic pattern described in the first aspect of the present invention.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a magnetic recording device is described. This magnetic recording device includes a magnetic recording medium in which a magnetic pattern is formed by the method of forming a magnetic pattern described in the first aspect, a driver configured to drive the magnetic recording medium in a recording direction, a magnetic head that includes a recording portion and a reproducing portion, a motion mechanism configured to move the magnetic head relative to the magnetic recording medium, and a recording/reproduction signal processor that supplies a recording signal to the magnetic head and receives a reproducing signal from the magnetic head.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a magnetic pattern forming device is described. In this magnetic pattern forming device, a magnetic pattern is formed in a magnetic recording medium including a magnetic layer on a substrate by irradiating energy beams onto the magnetic recording medium to locally heat the magnetic layer and applying an external magnetic field to the magnetic layer. The magnetic pattern forming device is characterized in that it includes a medium support configured to hold the magnetic recording medium, an external magnetic field source configured to apply the external magnetic field to the magnetic recording medium, an energy beam source configured to emit energy beams, an energy beam irradiation device configured to direct the energy beams emitted from the energy beam source toward the magnetic recording medium, and a mask which is located between the energy beam source and the magnetic recording medium to change the spatial intensity distribution of the energy beam in order to form a desired magnetic pattern.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a method for producing a magnetic recording medium is described. This magnetic recording medium includes a magnetic layer, a protective layer, and a lubricant layer formed on a substrate in this order. A magnetic pattern is formed in the magnetic layer, and the method is characterized in that it includes a step of forming the magnetic layer and the protective layer on the substrate, a step of forming the lubricant layer on the protective layer, and a step of forming the magnetic pattern by local heating of the magnetic layer together with the application of an external magnetic field.

METHOD FOR FORMING A MAGNETIC PATTERN IN A MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIUM, METHOD FOR PRODUCING A MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIUM, MAGNETIC PATTERN FORMING DEVICE, MAGNETIC RECORDING MEDIUM AND MAGNETIC RECORDING DEVICE

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A rotary cutting tool with easy to adjust rotary die plates comprises a rotary die cylinder, a die plate adjustably mounted to the rotary die cylinder, an external eccentric mounted on the rotary die cylinder having a first axis of rotation with respect to the cylinder and having a central opening offset from the first axis, and an internal eccentric mounted in the central opening. Rotation of the external eccentric urges the internal eccentric to move with respect to the cylinder, and the die plate moves in response to motion of the internal eccentric.

Rotary cutting tools are useful for cutting thin material such as, for example, paper, paperboard, cardboard, plastic film, metal foil, thin sheet metal, etc. Typically such thin material is positioned between a pair of die plates mounted on corresponding rotating die cylinders. The thin material may be received on a large roll and fed between the rotating dies for high volume production of cut blanks.
It is important that the die plates be properly affixed to the cylinder and aligned, both with respect to the cylinder and with respect to each other. This is especially important given the speed of rotation of the die cylinders associated with high volume production. Known techniques for affixing and aligning the die plates include forming the die plate and die cylinders out of a magnetic material so that they are magnetically attracted to one another. However, such a design greatly increases the costs of the die cylinders. It would be highly desirable to have a rotary cutting tool which did not require the use of a magnetic cylinder to affix and to control the position of the die plate.

Rotary cutting tool with die plate position adjustment


The present disclosure discloses a driving method and device of a touch display panel. The driving method includes: acquiring image data of an image to be displayed; judging whether the acquired image data is a reloaded picture with a default polarity mode; performing polarity adjustment on the image data when judging that the image data is a reloaded picture with a default polarity mode; and driving the touch display panel to display image according to the image data after polarity adjustment. Wherein the default polarity mode includes: the polarities of image data corresponding to each two adjacent data lines are opposite, while the polarities of image data corresponding to the same data line are the same.

In a touch and display driver integration (TDDI for short) technology, a touch chip and a display chip are integrated into a single chip, such that a display screen has thinner appearance and lower cost. Generally, the TDDI display screen is usually provided with multiple touch electrodes, and the touch electrodes and data lines are generally arranged at different film layers. The TDDI display screen can adopt a driving manner of column inversion, and polarities of data signals exerted by two adjacent data lines are opposite, so as to drive liquid crystal flip to realize image display. However, when a reloaded picture is displayed, since the gray scale span of adjacent color blocks in the reloaded picture is large, the coupling degrees of the touch electrodes coupled by data lines are different in different regions, part of the regions can recover rapidly, while part of the regions recover slowly, thereby leading to generation of horizontal stripes due to uneven recovery of coupling when the reloaded picture is displayed, and influencing the display effect.

Method and device for driving touch display panel

Hefei BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Apparatus and method for strain gage measurement of differential pressure across a body inserted into a flowing fluid where the body includes an exterior upstream facing portion, an exterior downstream facing portion and interior surfaces. At least one first electrically resistive strain gage having connecting terminals is disposed on one or more of the interior surfaces of the upstream facing portion and at least one second electrically resistive strain gage having connecting terminals is disposed on one or more of the interior surfaces of the downstream facing portion. The first and second strain gages are electrically connected to form the legs of a full Wheatstone Bridge, the electrical output of which is directly related to the differential pressure across the inserted body.

Flow rate measurement derived from differential pressure readings is common and is found in many types of fluid flow meters. Pitot tubes, for instance, sense the upstream total pressure of a flowing fluid and the downstream static pressure to produce a differential pressure value that is used to develop the rate of flow of the fluid that is impacting the pitot tube. Such devices include pressure ports leading to fluid plenums in the pitot tube body. Impulse lines then transmit the fluid pressure to a transducer that translates the respective fluid pressures to electrical signals that are transmitted to flow calculating devices.
One of the biggest difficulties with flow meters having plenums and impulse lines is their propensity for leakage and clogging. This problem requires frequent monitoring to insure that the lines are bled, the interconnecting manifold is zeroed and the associated transmitter is properly calibrated.
As subsequently described, the solution to the leakage problem proposed by the present invention is to substitute electrical connections for the plenums and impulse lines that conduct fluid. Electrical strain gages are the logical choice to convert fluid pressures and the resulting meter strain to electrical signals. Strain gages have been used in target flow meters for some time. Target flow meters provide flow measurement by sensing the fluid force acting on a target suspended in a flow stream. A typical strain gage target flow meter comprises a sensing element that includes a target rod, a calibrated target disk, mounting base, protective case and a sensing tube to which are attached electrical strain gages. In some applications four strain gages are attached to the sensing tube, two on the leading side of flow and two on the trailing side of the flow. Fluid flow produces a strain on the sensing tube, compressing the leading side strain gages and tensing the trailing side strain gages, causing their resistance to decrease and increase respectively. Target meters are limited in their use because the disc will only interact with a small portion of the flow stream. Therefore accuracy and range suffer and the signal is weak. The relatively small area of interaction with the fluid flow also eliminates the possibility of obtaining the averaging effect that is a prominent feature of a diametric pitot tube.
Another type of strain gage flow meter is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,906. The flow meter of that disclosure uses an airfoil shaped sensing element which is aligned with the flow of fluid. The flow responsive thrust on the sensing element created by differential pressure on the two sides of the airfoil is transverse to the direction of fluid flow.
Strain gages have also been employed with vortex shedding flow meters, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,818. In that disclosure frequency of the shedding vortices is measured by a cantilevered beam equipped with one or more strain gages.
Therefore, the principal object of the present invention is to provide a differential pressure flow meter that does not require fluid receiving plenums or impulse lines to convey pressure data.
A second objective of the invention is to apply the advantages of strain gage technology to the well known and widely accepted features of several types of fluid flow meters such as, for example, an averaging pitot tube, an orifice plate and a V-cone while at the same time eliminating the problems inherent with the use of impulse lines.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Strain gage differential pressure measurement in a fluid flow meter


This application relates to a coated article including at least one infrared (IR) reflecting layer of a material such as silver or the like in a low-E coating. In certain embodiments, at least one layer of the coating is of or includes zirconium oxide (e.g., ZrO2) or zirconium silicon oxynitride (e.g., ZrSiOxNy). When a layer comprising zirconium oxide or zirconium silicon oxynitride is provided as the uppermost or overcoat layer of the coated article (e.g., over a silicon nitride based layer), this results in improved chemical and heat stability in certain example embodiments. Coated articles herein may be used in the context of insulating glass (IG) window units, vehicle windows, or in other suitable applications such as monolithic window applications, laminated windows, and/or the like.

Coated articles are known in the art for use in window applications such as insulating glass (IG) window units, vehicle windows, monolithic windows, and/or the like. In certain example instances, designers of coated articles often strive for a combination of high visible transmission, low emissivity (or low emittance), and/or low sheet resistance (Rs). High visible transmission may permit coated articles to be used in applications where these characteristics are desired such as in architectural or vehicle window applications, whereas low-emissivity (low-E), and low sheet resistance characteristics permit such coated articles to block significant amounts of IR radiation so as to reduce for example undesirable heating of vehicle or building interiors. Thus, typically, for coatings used on architectural glass to block significant amounts of IR radiation, high transmission in the visible spectrum is often desired. However, low transmittance and/or high reflectance in the IR and/or near IR part(s) of the spectrum is also desired to reduce for example undesirable heating of vehicle or building interiors.
Unfortunately, low-E coatings often do not block significant amounts of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. In other words, low-E coatings typically provide only moderate or negligible UV protection, since the materials used in the layer stacks are transparent for short wavelengths (e.g., below 400 nm). In particular, materials used in such layer stacks such as tin oxide and titanium oxide cannot provide adequate UV protection given the small thicknesses of such materials required for low-E coatings. Thus, even with such coatings are provided on windows such as IG windows or vehicle windows, significant amounts of UV radiation makes its way through the window and into the building or vehicle. UV radiation tends to damage furniture and other elements inside of buildings or vehicles.
Materials such as vanadium oxide and cerium oxide absorb significant amounts of UV radiation. However, while such materials are characterized by a very steep onset of absorption for UV radiation, the onset of radiation absorption occurs in significant part in the visible part of the spectrum thereby leading to a significant distortion of colors when look through such a coating (e.g., a yellow shift). Accordingly, viewing characteristics tend to be degraded when layers of such materials are used.
There also exists a need in the art for improved chemical stability (chemical durability) and heat stability (stability upon heat treatment such as thermal tempering).
In view of the above, it will be appreciated that there exists a need in the art for a coated article including a low-E coating which is capable of blocking at some UV radiation in an efficient manner. Certain example embodiments of this invention relate to a coated article which permits significant UV absorption properties to be achieved.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, it has surprisingly been found that the provision of a layer consisting essentially of, or comprising, zirconium oxide (e.g., ZrO2), zirconium oxynitride, or zirconium silicon oxynitride (e.g., ZrSiOxNy) unexpectedly improves blocking (reflecting and/or absorption) of UV radiation in a manner which does not significantly degrade other optical properties of a coated article such as visible transmission and/or color. Surprisingly, when a layer comprising zirconium oxide or zirconium silicon oxynitride is provided as the uppermost or overcoat layer of the coated article (e.g., over a silicon nitride based layer), this results in improved chemical and heat stability in certain example embodiments.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, a layer of zirconium oxide or zirconium silicon oxynitride may be tuned in a manner so as to achieve a desired amount of UV blocking and/or absorption, as well as improved durability. It has been found that zirconium oxide or zirconium silicon oxynitride has optical constants (n and k) which allow adjustment of the onset of absorption by varying oxygen content of the layer for example. Moreover, it has been found that zirconium oxide, zirconium oxynitride, or zirconium silicon oxynitride has a refractive index (n) in a range which is very adaptable to low-E coatings, so that such layer(s) may be used in low-E coatings without significantly changing the visible appearance of the coated article or certain performance data. Thus, in certain example embodiments of this invention, the absorption edge of the curve defined by a layer of zirconium oxide or zirconium silicon oxynitride can be adjusted by changing the oxygen content thereof, which may be done for example by adjusting the amount of oxygen introduced into the sputtering chamber(s) during reactive sputter-deposition of the layer. In particular, for example, as oxygen content of the layer increases, the absorption edge of the curve defined by the layer of zirconium oxide or zirconium silicon oxynitride moves toward lower wavelengths away from certain visible wavelengths. Thus, in certain example embodiments, a balancing or tuning can be performed so as to achieve a desired balance between visible transmission and UV absorption.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, there is provided a coated article including a coating supported by a glass substrate, the coating comprising, in this order from the glass substrate outwardly: a first dielectric layer; a first contact layer; an infrared (IR) reflecting layer comprising silver located on the substrate over at least and contacting the first contact layer; a second contact layer comprising Ni and/or Cr located over and contacting the IR reflecting layer; a second dielectric layer comprising silicon nitride located over the second contact layer; and an overcoat dielectric layer comprises one or more of zirconium oxide, zirconium oxynitride, and/or zirconium silicon oxynitride located over and contacting the second dielectric layer comprising silicon nitride.

Coated article with low-E coating including zirconium oxide and/or zirconium silicon oxynitride and methods of making same

Centre Luxembourgeois de Recherches pour le Verre et la Ceramique S.A. (C.R.V.C.)


An occupant protection device for a vehicle includes a collision detector, a main airbag, a belt airbag, a belt controller, a distance detector, and an airbag controller. The collision detector detects a collision of the vehicle. In response to the collision detector detecting the collision, the main airbag deploys from a storage position toward an occupant seated on a seat of the vehicle. The belt airbag is stored in a seatbelt. The belt controller controls winding of the seatbelt, extraction of the seatbelt, and prohibition of the extraction of the seatbelt. The distance detector detects a distance from the storage position to the occupant. When the collision detector detects the collision of the vehicle and the detected distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance, the airbag controller deploys the belt airbag from within the seatbelt without causing the belt controller to prohibit the extraction of the seatbelt.

The disclosure relates to an occupant protection device.
In order to protect an occupant from a collision, airbag devices are provided as occupant protection devices in vehicles such as automobiles.
The airbag device generally includes an impact sensor, an inflator, an airbag, and a control device. The airbag is stored in an instrument panel in a front part of the vehicle. In response to the impact sensor detecting an impact due to a frontal collision, the airbag device inflates the airbag from the front part of the vehicle by the inflator and deploys the airbag in front of the occupant who is seated on a seat, so as to reduce the impact caused by a sudden forward movement of the occupant and protect the occupant.
There has been also so-called air belt devices including an airbag mounted on a seatbelt for a purpose of occupant protection. For example, the following device has been proposed as the air belt device. That is, the device includes a shoulder belt that is worn from a shoulder (located on one side in a seat width direction) of the occupant who is seated on a vehicle seat to a waist on the other side in the seat width direction. The shoulder belt includes an inflation portion. The inflation portion is inflated by supplied gas, and a portion of the inflation portion on a head side of the occupant with respect to a center line of the shoulder belt in the width direction is deployed to be larger than a portion of the inflation portion on an opposite side to the head side. Accordingly, this air belt device ensures performance to protect the head of the occupant while preventing an increase in a capacity of the inflation portion (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2015-039945).


Disclosed are a 5-(2,6-dioxyphenyl)tetrazole-containing polymer, a method for preparing the same, a membrane containing the same and an electrochemical device, particularly a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, including the membrane. The membrane containing the 5-(2,6-dioxyphenyl)tetrazole-containing polymer is capable of providing high proton conductivity and exhibiting good mechanical properties, thereby capable of providing superior fuel cell performance. Accordingly, the membrane may be usefully used in an electrochemical device, particularly a fuel cell, more particularly a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to 5-(2,6-dioxyphenyl)tetrazole-containing polymer, a membrane containing the same, an electrochemical device including the membrane and a method for preparing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (HT PEMFCs) operate in the temperature range of 120-200° C. Gas streams are usually unhumidified but can also contain water if the cell is connected to a reformer.
Since no liquid water can exist under these conditions unless a very high pressure is applied, the electrolyte is usually based on phosphoric acid (PA).
In contrast to phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) where, e.g., an inorganic SiC matrix is used to immobilize liquid phosphoric acid (PA), the high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (HT PEMFCs) employ phosphoric acid absorbed in a dense polymeric membrane.
The most common membrane type is phosphoric acid-doped polybenzimidazole (FBI), in which PA interacts with the basic nitrogen atoms of the imidazole rings.
While only one phosphoric acid molecule interacts strongly with an imidazole ring, several more phosphoric acid molecules can be absorbed by hydrogen bonding. Up to 5-6 phosphoric acid molecules per imidazole can be doped when meta-PBI is immersed in an 85 wt % phosphoric acid solution at room temperature.
Membranes prepared by a sol-gel method, in which FBI precipitates out of a polyphosphoric acid (PPA) solution as the temperature decreases and polyphosphoric acid is hydrolyzed by ambient humidity to phosphoric acid, can even keep up to about 20 phosphoric acid molecules per imidazole.
So far, most of researches have been dedicated to PBI-based systems and there are only limited researches on alternative materials.
For example, aromatic polyethers incorporating pyridine moieties in the backbone have been studied.
Some researchers also reported that use of imidazole moieties as a side group in aromatic polymers or as part of radiation-grafted polymers.

5-(5-(2,6-dioxyphenyl)tetrazole containing polymer, membrane containing the same, electrochemical device including the membrane and method for preparing the same

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A semiconductor structure includes a substrate, a gate electrode disposed on the substrate, wherein the gate electrode has a first top surface. Agate dielectric layer is disposed between the substrate and the gate electrode. A silicon carbon nitride spacer surrounds the gate electrode, wherein the silicon carbon nitride spacer has a second top surface not higher than the first top surface. A silicon oxide spacer surrounds the silicon carbon nitride spacer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of trimming a silicon carbon nitride spacer and a semiconductor structure formed by the aforesaid method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As semiconductor processes advance to the very deep sub micron level, how to increase the driving current for MOS transistors has become a critical issue in this field.
To attain higher performance of a semiconductor device, attempts have been made to use a strained silicon (Si) layer for increasing the mobility of electrons or holes. Taking advantage of a stressor is a common way to increase the effect of the MOS transistors. Forming a tensile or a compressive stressor on the substrate and using the MOS transistors to change the band structure of silicon can increase mobility of electrons.
A multilayer spacer is often used in the MOS transistors. Therefore, before forming the stressor, the outmost spacer is usually removed so that the stressor is closer to the substrate underneath the gate. After removing the outmost spacer, however, the top surface of the spacer contacting the gate will be higher than the top surface of the gate. Therefore, the stressor deposited on the gate will be uneven.

Semiconductor structure having trimming spacers


A compact battery-operated riding mower having a chassis with a rear end having two rear wheels, each rear wheel having a hydraulic motor attached thereto, a front end with two wheels, a cutting blade deck having one or more rotary cutting blades, and a power compartment. The mower is powered by a plurality of batteries connected in series. A first DC electric motor is positioned near the rear of the power compartment and a second DC electric motor is positioned near the front of the power compartment. The first electric motor is connected to one or more cutting blades to drive the cutting blades, and the second electric motor is connected to the hydraulic motors to drive the rear wheels. The electric motors are sealed and air-cooled.

Battery-operated riding mowers are known which have three wheels and reel-type blades in front of the vehicle. The reel blades rotate vertically in response to the forward motion of the mower. These mowers are useful mainly for mowing golf putting greens. Rotary blades are not suitable for these mowers because they would cause a lack of balance and be unstable. U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,864, issued to Brewster, discloses a battery-powered push rotary lawnmower. This lawnmower has a single motor, with a motor controller and potentiometer, which rotates a blade horizontally under the motor. The wheels are not powered by the motor. A battery-operated riding rotary lawnmower is desirable because it would operate cleaner, more dependably, and with less maintenance than a gasoline powered riding rotary lawnmower.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,578,116 discloses a battery-operated riding rotary lawnmower having batteries positioned in a U-shaped array around the right side, left side, and rear end of the chassis. The batteries are above and near the rear wheels to maintain a low center of gravity. The weight of the batteries is evenly distributed over the rear wheels to maintain balance. A single electric motor is positioned within a central portion of the U-shaped array of batteries and drives both the rotary cutting blades and the rear wheels. The use of a single motor in this system requires relatively complex electronics including a motor controller, a speed controller, a potentiometer, and a tachometer, in order to operate the cutting blades and drive transmissions independently. In some cases it may be desirable to simplify the system by using one motor to operate the cutting blade and one motor to operate the drive transmission. However, the use of two motors requires the riding mower to have an excessive length. What is needed is a two-motor system that will allow a compact battery-operated riding rotary mower.

Battery-operated compact riding rotary mower


Methods, systems and computer program products are provided. Methods for detecting helpful query responses include generating helpfulness terminology data corresponding to words, terms, phrases and/or symbols that correspond to an expression of helpfulness. A query based exchange including multiple messages is identified. The messages are analyzed using the helpfulness terminology data to detect a helpful message. The helpful message is associated with a source participant and a helpfulness value that corresponds to the source participant is modified. A value corresponding to the query based exchange indicating that the query based exchange was successful is stored.

Electronic communications have become widely accepted for communicating among people and/or groups of people. Such electronic communications may include real-time communications such as telephonic and online chat sessions as well as non-real-time communications such as email, text messages and bulletin board type postings where responses to messages may be received minutes, hours, days, months or even years after the initial message. In some cases, such communications may provide commercial value. Such cases may include the provision of services and/or information either by a service provider or about a service provider. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to identify participants that may provide valuable communications.

Detecting participant helpfulness in communications


A circuit is provided for limiting an applied voltage applied between a power line and an electrical ground. The circuit includes a transistive element connected between the power line and the electrical ground to provide a channel, where current flow through the channel is controlled by a control voltage provided to a control terminal of the transistive element. A first Correlated Electron Material (CEM) device having an impedance state is coupled between the power line and a first node, and a sensing circuit coupled between the first node and the control terminal of the transistive element. The sensing circuit is configured to detect a voltage drop across the CEM device and to provide the control voltage. The channel of the transistive element is opened when the detected voltage drop across the CEM device exceeds a threshold. The CEM device may contain a transition metal oxide (TMO), for example.

Power clamps are used to provide electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for semiconductor circuits and the like. A power clamp circuit may use an active R-C circuit to sense an ESD pulse. The resistance and capacitance values of the R-C circuit are typically subject to large manufacturing tolerances. Consequently, the current carrying capacity of the clamp transistor must be increased to accommodate the smallest R-C values and prevent the closure of the clamp transistor before an ESD pulse has been fully discharged.
Correlated Electron Material (CEM) exhibits an abrupt conductive/insulative state transition arising from electron correlations in the material, rather than from solid state structural phase changes. The transition may be controlled by a voltage and current applied across the material.

Power clamp with correlated electron material device


There is provided an information processing device to improve convenience by performing display in which a target device selected as an operation target and an operation user can be visually recognized. The information processing device includes a display control unit that controls, based on position information of a target device in a predetermined real space and position information of a user having an operation authority for the target device, display corresponding to a positional relation between the user and the target device such that the user can visually recognize the display in the real space. Consequently, it is possible to improve convenience by performing display in which a target device selected as an operation target and an operation user can be visually recognized.

Various electric appliances such as home electric appliances and information devices are present in spaces where people live. In recent years, techniques which allow users to remotely operate such electric appliances without using devices such as a laser pointer and a remote controller have been developed.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for inputting a control command to an operation target device based on intuitive operation of a user such as a gesture by a hand of the user.

Information processing device, information processing method, and recording medium


A grommet includes a resin inner assembled to a grommet main body composed of a rubber or elastomer, a seal lip provided in the grommet main body to press against an outer surface of a body panel, and an engagement tab provided in the resin inner to engage with a periphery of a through-hole in the body panel. A base portion of the seal lip projects from a resin inner holder of the grommet main body: An inclined portion projects outward from the base portion. The inclined portion has a seal projection. A plurality of deformation prevention ribs are provided in a circumferential direction with intervals therebetween to connect the front end side of the inclined portion and the resin inner holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grommet for a wire harness, specifically, a grommet mounted on a wire harness routed in an automobile and mounted in a through-hole of a vehicle body panel, the grommet concurrently enhancing waterproof performance of a seal lip thereof tightly attached to a periphery of the through-hole and reducing force to insert the grommet.
2. Description of Related Art
A grommet for a wire harness of this type is attached to a wire harness inserted through a through-hole of a body panel that partitions inside and outside of a passenger cabin. Then, a seal lip is tightly attached to a periphery of the through-hole to shield the passenger cabin from water.
For example, in a grommet 100 disclosed in FIGS. 9(A) and 9(B) of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-218110, which is an earlier application of the inventor of the present invention, a resin inner 102 is combined with a grommet main body 101 composed of a rubber or elastomer; a periphery of a through-hole H in a body panel P is placed between a seal lip 105 provided to the grommet main body 101 and an engagement tab 106 provided to the resin inner 102; and the seal lip 105 is pressed against the periphery for protection from water.
In order to increase waterproof performance of a grommet mounted in a through-hole, a large insertion force is required to insert the grommet into the through-hole, thus increasing a burden on a worker. In particular, with a seal lip that lacks flexibility, the insertion force cannot be reduced during insertion of the grommet. Meanwhile, a readily flexible seal lip can reduce the insertion force; however, the waterproof performance decreases in a case where the seal lip bends and deforms during insertion in a state where the grommet is mounted in the through-hole.
In the grommet shown in FIGS. 9(A) and 9(B) above as well, when the seal lip 105 does not bend, it is difficult to insert the resin inner 102 into the through-hole H in the body panel P. However, when the seal lip 105 bends outward and deforms excessively, the seal lip 105 cannot be directly pressed against the body panel P, and thus reduces sealing performance.


A zoom lens system comprising: a positive first lens unit; a negative second lens unit; a positive third lens unit; and one or more subsequent lens units, wherein in zooming, the first to third lens units are moved along an optical axis to perform magnification change, a lens unit α which is one of the subsequent lens units does not move during zooming, but moves during transition from an imaging state to an accommodated state, and the conditions: 0.8<LT/fT<1.2, 0.12<Dα/fGα<0.30 and fT/fW>9.0 (LT: overall length of lens system at a telephoto limit, Dα: axial air-equivalent length between a most image side surface of the lens unit α and an image surface, fGα: focal length of the lens unit α, fW and fT: focal lengths of the entire system at a wide-angle limit and a telephoto limit) are satisfied.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to zoom lens systems, imaging devices and cameras.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cameras including an image sensor for performing photoelectric conversion, such as digital still cameras and digital video cameras, have been required to have high resolution, and particularly in recent years, these cameras have been strongly required to have a reduced thickness, a relatively high zooming ratio, and capability of compensating various aberrations. For example, various kinds of zoom lens systems have been proposed, each having a three-or-more unit configuration of positive, negative, and positive, or positive, negative, and negative, in which a first lens unit having positive optical power, a second lens unit having negative optical power, a third lens unit having positive or negative optical power, and a subsequent lens unit are arranged in order from an object side to an image side. Hereinafter, the cameras including an image sensor for performing photoelectric conversion, such as digital still cameras and digital video cameras, are simply referred to as "digital cameras".
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. 2009-282429, 2009-115875, 2009-086437, and 2008-304708 each disclose a zoom lens having the three-or-more unit configuration of positive, negative, and positive.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-281927 discloses a variable-magnification optical system having the three-or-more unit configuration of positive, negative, and positive.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-047538 discloses an imaging optical system having the three-or-more unit configuration of positive, negative, and positive, or positive, negative, and negative.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-350093 discloses an imaging lens device equipped with a zoom lens system having the three-or-more unit configuration of positive, negative, and positive.

Zoom lens system, imaging device and camera


A synergistic mixture for promoting soil release from fabric, under laundry washing conditions, which comprises a polyacrylate polymer and at least one water soluble modified cellulose ether. The polyacrylate polymer comprises: (i) 90-100 weight % of polymerized units derived from acrylic acid and (ii) up to 10 weight % of polymerized units derived from one or more C3-C8 monoethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids, based on the total weight of said polyacrylate polymer. A laundry formulation is also provided which contains the synergistic mixture in an amount of up to 2 weight %, based on the total weight of the laundry formulation. Also provided are methods of promoting soil release from soiled fabric which involve contacting the soiled fabric with an aqueous solution comprising the above-described inventive synergistic mixture or with the above-described laundry formulation.

When a fabric garment is worn, soil and/or oily materials tend to accumulate and settle on and among the fibers of the fabric. Soiled garments are often cleaned under domestic laundry conditions, i.e., using laundry detergent formulations in aqueous solutions. Previously, oily soil would have been removed using very hot (typically 60° C.-90° C.) wash conditions, however, the current trend is to save energy by washing laundry at much lower temperatures, i.e., in the region of 15° C.-50° C. Unfortunately, however, oily soil is not easily removed at this temperature.
The development of laundry formulations which are capable of cleaning soiled fabric garments at lower temperatures (e.g., 15° C.-50° C.) is an ongoing endeavor and has led to laundry formulations containing a variety of additives including, but not limited to, dispersants, film formers, emulsifiers, surfactants, and builders. Certain polycarboxylate polymers, such as partially hydrolyzed acrylamide polymers and certain copolymers of methacrylic acid with ethyl acrylate, are very effective soil-release agents at low levels on the fabric.
For example, a polycarboxylate polymer in an aqueous acidic solution having a pH of less than 3 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,681 as capable of imparting non-permanent soil-release characteristics to cotton and cotton-blend fabrics. It is necessary to include a mineral acid in the aqueous solution to bring the pH below 3 and facilitate application of the polycarboxylate polymer. Thus, the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,681 is not suitable for consumer use, nor is it compatible with laundry detergent formulations which typically have a pH greater than 8.5.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,756 describes hydrophobically modified polycarboxylate polymers that are useful for promoting soil release on cotton and cotton blend fabrics under typical household laundry washing conditions, i.e., in aqueous solutions at temperatures between 15° C. and 50° C.
Another class of soil-release agents is alkyl or hydroxyalkyl cellulose derivatives. For example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,038, methylcellulose compounds have been known for decades as successful soil release agents in laundry detergents.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,093 discloses laundry detergents which comprise from 0.1% to 3%, by weight, of alkyl-, hydroxyalkyl-cellulose or alkylhydroxyalkyl-cellulose, and also from 5% to 50%, by weight, of surfactant which consists substantially of C10-C13-alkyl sulfate and has up to 5% by weight of C14-alkyl sulfate and fewer than 5% by weight of alkyl sulfate having alkyl radicals of C15 and higher.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,316,995 describes laundry detergents or cleaning formulations containing a water soluble builder system combined with cellulose derivatives which improve the soil release properties of fabrics. Cellulose derivatives suitable for use in the technology described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,316,995 include alkyl and hydroxyalkyl cellulose derivatives.
Mixtures of soil release agents with other additives for soil removal have also been proposed. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2009/0110870 A1 describes a soil resist additive comprising a mixture of at least one soil resist agent which is one or more fluorinated polyurethane, fluorinated acrylate or fluorinated methacrylate, and at least one additive which is maleic anhydride.
However, despite the extensive research activity in this field, there remains a need for a soil release additive which has superior soil release properties, especially oil- and grease borne soil, and which is highly effective on natural fabrics such as cotton, and cotton-blend fabrics, as well as synthetic fabrics such as polyester, and polyester-cotton fabrics, at low temperatures under domestic laundry conditions.

Method of promoting soil release from fabrics


An optical beam scanner, for reading a bar-code, which comprises a housing (10) accommodating therein a beam generator (1) for projecting a laser beam (34) along a fixed axis, a rotary mirror (30, 40) rotatable about its axis (32) and having a plurality of reflection surfaces (30a, 30b) arranged in a polygonal manner on the periphery of a body thereof, which surfaces receive and reflect the laser beam (34) projected from the beam generator (1), and a unit for driving the rotary mirror (30) to rotate at a predetermined speed during the operation. The housing is provided with a window (21) on an upper wall thereof, through which passes the laser beam (35) reflected from the respective reflection surfaces (30a, 30b) of the rotary mirror (30) for scanning a bar-code disposed above the window (21), and each of the reflection surfaces (30a, 30b) of the rotary mirror (30) is formed by a part of a circular cylindrical surface cut out along a height thereof in an elongated rectangular shape and disposed so that a ridgeline (33) is transverse to the axis (32) of the rotary mirror (30). A direction of a normal vector to the reflection surface (30a, 30b) is smoothly varied in one direction along a scanning line (X) on the reflection surface (30a, 30b) traced by sequential points of incidence of the laser beam (34) across the reflection surface (30a, 30b) when the rotary mirror (30) is rotated, whereby the reflected beam (35) traces various linear scanning patterns (A, B), each corresponding to the respective reflection surface (30a, 30b), on a plane of the window (21) above which the bar-code is scanned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical beam scanner used for reading a bar-code from omnidirectional light beam patterns in a POS (Point Of Sales) system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The POS system is now widely used in supermarkets and department stores for the sales management of goods and to speed up the checkout operation.
This system comprises a beam scanner for scanning a bar-code printed or attached to goods by a scanning light beam and converting the detected optical information into data suitable for computer-processing, a computer for processing the obtained data, and a POS register for connecting the beam scanner to the computer and displaying the necessary information to a customer.
In this regard, as illustrated in FIG. 9 a "bar-code" is a combination of thin and thick black lines 50, 51 and wide and narrow spaces 52, 53: these being variously arranged to represent a specific character, numeral, or symbol.
The bar-code is scanned by a beam scanner, such as a wand, a laser scanner, or a CCD scanner, which detects the variation of intensity of a light scattered by the bar-code on which the beam is incident; and converts the same to an electric signal.
Among known beam scanners, the laser scanner, which comprises a means for displacing a laser beam across a bar-code printed or attached to goods and moved laterally over a window of the scanner housing by an operator, a means for detecting a beam reflected from the bar-code, including various intensity variations corresponding to black and white areas on the bar-code, and a means for converting an optical signal obtained from the detected light intensity into an electric signal and decoding same as bar-code information, is most widely used.
To raise the efficiency of the checkout operation, an easily operable optical beam scanner must be used. Particularly, the bar-code must be accurately read even though a label carrying the bar-code is variously disposed on the goods, so that it is not necessary for the operator to orient the bar-code label in only one direction during the scanning. This function is known as "omni-directional readability".
To maintain the "omni-directional readability" at a high level even when reading a bar-code based on truncated symbols having bars approximately half the length of standard bars, the laser beam must be scanned along omni-directional scanning patterns; for example, in a horizontal scanning line for reading bar-code symbols oriented approximately in the horizontal direction, in a vertical scanning line for reading symbols oriented approximately in the vertical direction, and in an oblique scanning line for reading symbols oriented approximately in a direction between the horizontal and the vertical.
Further the beam scanner must be compact, to ensure a wider field of application to various checkout systems currently used in the merchandising industry.
To obtain such omni-directional scanning patterns, a beam scanner provided with a rotary mirror is used, as illustrated in FIG. 7. In this scanner, a laser beam 2 projected from a laser tube 1 is deflected by small mirrors 5, 6 and a large mirror 9, and received by a rotary mirror 29 through a flat area 81 of a combination lens 8. In the drawing, reference numeral 10 designates a scanner housing.
The body of the rotary mirror 29 has a conical shape, and two flat reflection surfaces 29a are arranged on the opposite slants of the cone, symmetrical with each other relative to a central axis of the cone, so that the reflection surfaces 29a are directed downward. The beam incident on the reflection surface 29a is deflected to a first mirror 15 disposed therebelow, and reflected thereby to a second mirror 18 associated with the first mirror 15. Note, usually a plurality of pairs of first and second mirrors are provided, but only one pair is illustrated in FIG. 7, to clarify the drawing. The beam reflected by the second mirror 18 emerges from the scanner through a window 21, in an obliquely upward oriented direction. This beam traces, for example, a horizontal scanning pattern e (see FIG. 8) on the window surface.
As the rotary mirror 29 is driven to rotate about its axis by a not shown motor, the beam deflected by the reflection surface 29a is received by another pair of first and second mirrors, and traces another scanning pattern other than the horizontal pattern, and accordingly, omni-directional scanning patterns a through e can be obtained on the window surface. If more scanning patterns are required, the number of pairs of first and second mirrors can be increased accordingly. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 22 designates an imaginary vertical plane.
As shown in FIG. 7, a bar-code carried on a label attached to goods 24 is moved across the window 21 and illuminated by the laser beam tracing one of these omni-directional scanning patterns. Part of the laser beam scattered by the bar-code corresponding to black and white areas thereof is returned to the scanner through the window 21 and reflected reversely along the above-described path. The returned beam is converged by the combination lens 8 and reflected by the large mirror 9 into a detector 28, which detects the pattern of the intensity variation containing the bar-code information. The intensity variation is converted to electric signals by the detector 28 and decoded as bar-code signals through a not shown A/D converter and decoder.
As stated above, the prior art fixed type laser scanner must be provided with a plurality of pairs of mirrors for selectively deflecting a laser beam reflected by a rotary mirror onto a plurality of flat mirrors arranged around a rotary axis thereof. This type of beam scanner, however, is very expensive due to the need for a plurality of mirrors, each of which must be manufactured and adjusted with a high degree of skill and accuracy. In addition, the intensity of the laser beam is dampened to a great extent due to the repeated reflections by the mirrors, which lowers the readability of the beam scanner. Conversely, if a high grade mirror having a better reflective efficiency is used to minimize this dampening of the beam intensity, the manufacturing cost of the beam scanner is further increased. Note, such a beam scanner is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 62-194586 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,164.


A system configuration is generated by integrating source models. Transformations are generated according to a weaving model that specifies relations among metamodels of the source models and the system configuration. The transformations, when executed, transform the source models into the system configuration that includes target entities. From the transformations, one or more integration constraints are generated for each target entity to be created or modified by an operation of the transformations. The integration constraints describe semantics of the relations specified by the weaving model. System configuration constraints are formed to include the integration constraints in addition to constraints of each source model. The transformations are executed to transform the source models into the system configuration to generate the system configuration obeying the system configuration constraints.

In order to handle complexity, large computing systems are generally built using the principle of separation of concerns. Different services or aspects are considered separately before integration. For instance, software and hardware aspects of a computing system may be considered separately before integration, or the functional, availability, performance or security aspects can be considered separately before integration. The separation of concerns principle eases the development process and increases reusability even if the integration may pose its own challenges. As the different aspects or services are considered separately, their respective configurations are also developed separately.
It is a challenge to integrate these configurations into a consistent system configuration to avoid conflicting management actions or actions from one aspect that may lead to malfunctioning of other aspects. The complexity of this integration stems from the potential overlap between the entities of the different aspect configurations (i.e. different logical representations of the same entity) and from the complex relationships among the entities of these different configurations, also referred to as configuration fragments. It is also a challenge for the resulting system to meet the targeted properties of the different aspects, such as availability, performance, security, etc.

Semantic weaving of configuration fragments into a consistent configuration