A direct-view stereoscopic confocal microscope including a light source, an aperture plate, image collector, and first and second vibrators. The light source is used for illuminating a portion of a specimen and the aperture plate is used for passing a portion of the light emanating from the light source onto a portion of the specimen. The image collector is optically coupled to the illuminated portion of the specimen and acts to separate the image created by the illuminated portion of the specimen from the light illuminating the specimen. A first vibrator is coupled to the specimen for vibrating the specimen along a first axis and the second vibrator is coupled to the image collector, and synchronized with said first vibrator, for vibrating the collecting means along a second axis.

The present invention relates generally to microscopy and more specifically to stereoscopic confocal microscopy.
The art of microscopy deals with the development of methods and instruments for magnifying. A significant portion of microscopy deals with using light from the visible portion of the spectrum to illuminate the sample to be magnified. This aspect of the art of microscopy is known as light microscopy.
It is well understood that many factors influence the maximum attainable axial and lateral resolution using light microscopy techniques. One of these limiting factors is the field size. Specifically, when the field of view of a lens is extremely small, the axial and lateral resolution of the image being magnified can in fact be greater than when the field of view of the lens is broad (or not limited). These theoretical considerations set the stage for the development of an apparatus known as the confocal microscope.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,467 (hereinafter '467) issued on Dec. 19, 1961 to M. Minsky (see FIG. 1), a confocal microscope is disclosed. In this patent, Minsky discloses specimen 22 mounted upon the reflective surface of mirror 15. A beam splitting plate 17 is interposed between the collimating plate or wall 14 and lens 11. The reflective surface of beam splitting plate 17 faces lens 11, while the transparent surface of plate 17 faces pinhole aperture 16.
The light reflected from bulb 10 by reflector 12 is collimated by pinhole aperture 16 of plate 14 to provide a point source of light A. Divergent beam B,B passes through beam splitting plate 17 and then through lens 11 becoming convergent beam C,C. Focal point D of beam C,C is located on specimen 22 and becomes divergent beam E,E which is reflected from mirror 15 back through lens 11. Lens 11 forms convergent beam F,F which is reflected perpendicularly from beam splitting plate 17 as indicated by beams F',F' which converge to their focal point G at pinhole aperture 26 of plate 24. Photoelectric cell 28 is located in alignment with aperture 26 to measure the intensity of the light passing therethrough. Because pinhole apertures 16 and 26 lie upon the optical axis OA of the confocal microscope of FIG. 1, the point source of light A and the specimen point of illumination D both originate on optical axis OA, while the point image G terminates on the optical axis OA. Therefore, all of the light rays accepted by photoelectric cell 28 must pass through specimen 22 at point D on optical axis OA and pass again through optical axis OA at point G. Light scattered from points other than point D of specimen 22 is, for the most part, rejected from the optical system. Such scattered rays may pass through and be refracted by lens 11 but will not be directed to pinhole aperture 26. Rather, this scattered light will strike the body of plate 24 and be rejected from the optical system. Such rays can re-enter the optical system only by again being scattered, and the possibility of this scattering taking place along a line through point D on optical axis OA is remote. Pinhole aperture 26 increases the optical resolution of the system by its action of squaring the intensity pattern distribution of the image defraction.
Because the confocal microscope of FIG. 1 provides a high degree of selectivity, the following advantages are gained:
(1) minimum image blurring, PA1 (2) increase in signal-to-noise ratio, PA1 (3) increase in effective resolution, PA1 (4) high resolution light microscopy through unusually thick and highly scattering specimens, and PA1 (5) very narrow depth of focus.
As was discussed above in conjunction with the prior art confocal microscope of FIG. 1, the optical system disclosed therein brings into focus the light originating at a single point on the optical axis. Thus, if one desires to, look at several portions of sample 22, some means must be provided to move the point of specimen illumination D. Minsky discloses one such means in his '467 patent which involves continually moving (or scanning) sample 22 relative to the optical system. Although this technique works satisfactorily for small samples, larger samples cannot be easily adapted to this type of scanning and alternative methods are used.
One alternative to the above-mentioned method of moving the sample relative to the optical system, involves the technique of moving (or scanning) specimen illumination point D relative to sample 22. Although several different techniques may be used to accomplish the scanning of illmunination point D, a popular technique involves using a spinning opaque wheel 90 (also known as a Nipkow disk) that is perforated by a series of apertures 92. Apertures 92 can be in the form of pinholes (as shown in FIG. 2A) but other aperture geometries are also useable (such as slits). The successive holes are placed at a constant angle apart 94 around the center of disk 90 but on a constantly decreasing radius 96 (i.e. arranged as an Archimedes spiral). The basic idea behind the Nipkow disk is instead of using a single pinhole 16 in plate 14 and moving sample 22, a large number of pinholes are placed in plate 14 thereby providing a means of scanning specimen illumination point D while maintaining specimen 22 stationary. Pinholes 92 are sufficiently separated so that there is no interaction between the images formed by the individual pinholes. The complete image is formed by moving the pinholes so as to fill the space in between them. Typically, moving the pinholes involves rotating disk 90 about its center. The pinhole arrangement seen in the prior art Nipkow disk of FIG. 2A would produce a raster scan pattern across sample 22 as depicted in FIG. 2B.
Although the basic concepts of confocal microscopy are understood and documented (for example see generally Handbook of Biological Confocal Microscopy, edited by James B. Pawley, Integrated Microscopy Resource for Biomedical Research University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis., revised edition, Plenum Press, New York and London, specifically see Chapter 1, Foundations of Confocal Scanned Imaging in Light Microscopy; Chapter 10, Intermediate Optics in Nipkow Disk Microscopes; and Chapter 11, The Role of the Pinhole in Confocal Imaging Systems, also see Physics Today, Sep. 1989, by Gordon S. Kino of Stanford University), current designs continue to be improved upon. For example, notwithstanding the above-mentioned advantages associated with using a Nipkow disk to scan the light source across the sample, a major disadvantage is that the Nipkow disk blocks typically 99% of the illuminating light emunating from bulb 10. This in turn requires the use of a very intense light source (such as an arc lamp or laser). In addition to the above drawback, the use of Nipkow disks also produces a high percentage of reflected light (light which does not pass through the pinhole opening of the disk) which, in turn, causes artifacts in the final image.
A co-pending application Ser. No. 07,734,398 filed Jul. 23, 1991 (hereinafter the '398 application) which is hereby incorporated by reference, sets forth an improved confocal microscope which addresses some of these disadvantages.
One disadvantage which is not addressed is the '398 application is the loss of stereoscopic vision when employing the typical confocal optical microscope.
Stereoscopic viewing is an extremely desirable feature of an optical microscope because it enables the viewer to see the shapes and depth relationships of the various objects in the field of view of the microscope. For low-power microscopes, stereoscopic capability has been implemented (with some degree of success) through the use of conventional optics. However, for high-power (i.e. high magnification microscopes), conventional techniques have been less successful (with the degree of success decreasing proportionate with increasing optical power). The root of this difficulty lies in a fundamental law governing the magnification of any lens, namely that the axial magnification (magnification along the line-of-sight) is always greater than the lateral magnification (magnification perpendicular to the line-of-sight). Specifically, the axial magnification is equal to the square of the lateral magnification. This relationship flows directly from the well-known lens equation. This difference in axial and lateral magnification results in an elongation of the three-dimensional image of the object. This elongation takes place along the axial direction, and (because of the square-law magnification relationship) the degree of elongation increases dramatically with increasing magnifying power of the objective lens. When this elongated image is viewed through the microscopes eyepiece (which necessarily has a finite depth of focus) only a very narrow slice of the image can be in focus (at any given time) for the observer. Consequently, the depth of field (i.e. the in-focus field of view in the axial direction of a conventional high-power microscope) is necessarily restricted to a narrow slice of the three-dimensional object and the sensation of three-dimensionality is largely sacrificed. As a result, the viewer is reduced to the tedious task of observing the object one layer at a time and trying to reconstruct the three-dimensional object from memory after all layers have been observed. Techniques are known for acquiring and storing images at different depths of the object. After the images are acquired and stored, they are reconstructed by projecting them sequentially on a screen which oscillates along the line-of-sight of the viewer. See R. L. Gregory, The Solid Image Microscope, Research 13, Pages 422-427 (1960) and Alan Boyde, Direct Recording Of Steroscopic Pairs Obtained From Disk-Scanning Confocal Light Microscopes, Chapter 13 of the Handbook of Biological Confocal Microscopy, Pages 163-168. Prior art also exists in which the object distance is varied rapidly as a function of time, the result of which is successively bringing different layers of the object into focus (in effect rapidly scanning through the depth of the object). See R. L. Gregory, Procedures of the Second International Conference on Medical Electronics, Paris, France, 1959, edited by C. N. Smyth: London, Iliffe (1960), Page 591. The same effect can be obtained by rapidly oscillating the focusing knob of a conventional microscope.
Although the approach of rapidly oscillating the focusing knob of a conventional microscope does give some sense of three-dimensionality, it is hampered by two problems: (1) the images of the different layers are formed at the same depth of view in the eyepiece so, even though they might be viewed through binocular eyepieces, they are not seen as a three-dimensional image but merely as a succession of two-dimensional images, and (2) the light reflected or scattered (depending on the lighting arrangement) from layers other than the one which is instantaneously ill focus reaches the eyes and presents an annoying out-of-focus background. Because the confocal microscope (by virtue of the attributes which were earlier discussed) has the ability to reject light from layers of the object other than that layer which is currently in focus, its use eliminates the second of the two problems (i.e. the out-of-focus background problem). However, the first enumerated problem (that of achieving the sensation of three-dimensional vision) is not eliminated by virtue of using a conventional confocal microscope.
In low-power stereoscopic microscopes, this first problem is solved by using long focal length objective lenses with small apertures to increase the depth of field for the intermediate image within the microscope. Two objective barrels are used to obtain two views of the intermediate image at slightly different angles for each eye, thus creating the sense of three-dimensionality. This procedure, however, fails for high-power microscopes because their greater magnification cannot be achieved with long focal length objective lenses.
Therefore, there is a need for a high-quality, direct-viewing, high-power, stereoscopic microscope which possesses tile ability of the confocal microscope to reject out-of-focus light and which also possesses the ability to present to the viewer two different angular views of the object.
The present invention achieves these objectives by modifying a conventional confocal microscope. The modified confocal microscope of the present invention operates by sequentially bringing into focus various depths of the object (or specimen) to be viewed. One way of accomplishing this is by varying the specimen distance as in the prior-art microscope described above. This is preferably accomplished by vibrating either the specimen or the objective lens (or some other lens capable of altering the focal plane of the objective lens). Because we are employing a confocal microscope, the out-of-focus background problem is automatically solved. The remaining problem (that of providing a different angular view for each eye) is solved through the introduction of a set of movable prisms (or, alternatively, movable mirrors). These movable prisms (or mirrors) are vibrated in synchronism firstly with one another and secondly with the specimen in such a way as to present images which are at different depths within the specimen and which provide different parallax at the eyes. It is this different parallax which is responsible for the visual sensation of three-dimensionality (both in the real world and in any common stereoscopic viewing system). Devices which have traditionally taken advantage of creating a visual sensation of three-dimensionality by providing different parallax at each eye include the old-fashioned stereoscope and the modern 3-D movies.
One additional problem that is introduced through the use of the confocal principle (which is a problem which that is common to all direct-viewing confocal microscopes) is that of low image brightness. This problem is solved in an alternative embodiment of the present invention through the use of a focusing lens which is placed between the illuminating light source and the pinhole aperture.

Direct-view stereoscopic confocal microscope

The Board of Governers of Wayne State University


An improved mode of AFM imaging (Peak Force Tapping (PFT) Mode) uses force as the feedback variable to reduce tip-sample interaction forces while maintaining scan speeds achievable by all existing AFM operating modes. Sample imaging and mechanical property mapping are achieved with improved resolution and high sample throughput, with the mode workable across varying environments, including gaseous, fluidic and vacuum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to scanning probe microscopes (SPMs), including atomic force microscopes (AFMs), and more particularly, to a mode of AFM operation that provides force control at high speed, low tip-sample interaction forces and high resolution.
2. Description of Related Art
Scanning probe microscopes (SPMs), such as the atomic force microscope (AFM), are devices which typically employ a probe having a tip and which cause the tip to interact with the surface of a sample with low forces to characterize the surface down to atomic dimensions. Generally, the probe is introduced to a surface of a sample to detect changes in the characteristics of a sample. By providing relative scanning movement between the tip and the sample, surface characteristic data can be acquired over a particular region of the sample, and a corresponding map of the sample can be generated.
A typical AFM system is shown schematically in FIG. 1. An AFM 10 employs a probe device 12 including a probe 17 having a cantilever 15. A scanner 24 generates relative motion between the probe 17 and a sample 22 while the probe-sample interaction is measured. In this way, images or other measurements of the sample can be obtained. Scanner 24 is typically comprised of one or more actuators that usually generate motion in three mutually orthogonal directions (XYZ). Often, scanner 24 is a single integrated unit that includes one or more actuators to move either the sample or the probe in all three axes, for example, a piezoelectric tube actuator. Alternatively, the scanner may be a conceptual or physical combination of multiple separate actuators. Some AFMs separate the scanner into multiple components, for example an XY actuator that moves the sample and a separate Z-actuator that moves the probe. The instrument is thus capable of creating relative motion between the probe and the sample while measuring the topography or some other property of the sample as described, e.g., in Hansma et al. U.S. Pat. No. RE 34,489; Elings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,801; and Elings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,980.
Notably, scanner 24 often comprises a piezoelectric stack (often referred to herein as a "piezo stack") or piezoelectric tube that is used to generate relative motion between the measuring probe and the sample surface. A piezo stack is a device that moves in one or more directions based on voltages applied to electrodes disposed on the stack. Piezo stacks are often used in combination with mechanical flexures that serve to guide, constrain, and/or amplify the motion of the piezo stacks. Additionally, flexures are used to increase the stiffness of actuator in one or more axis, as described in application Ser. No. 11/687,304, filed Mar. 16, 2007, entitled "Fast-Scanning SPM Scanner and Method of Operating Same." Actuators may be coupled to the probe, the sample, or both. Most typically, an actuator assembly is provided in the form of an XY-actuator that drives the probe or sample in a horizontal, or XY-plane and a Z-actuator that moves the probe or sample in a vertical or Z-direction.
In a common configuration, probe 17 is often coupled to an oscillating actuator or drive 16 that is used to drive probe 17 to oscillate at or near a resonant frequency of cantilever 15. Alternative arrangements measure the deflection, torsion, or other characteristic of cantilever 15. Probe 17 is often a microfabricated cantilever with an integrated tip 17.
Commonly, an electronic signal is applied from an AC signal source 18 under control of an SPM controller 20 to cause actuator 16 (or alternatively scanner 24) to drive the probe 17 to oscillate. The probe-sample interaction is typically controlled via feedback by controller 20. Notably, the actuator 16 may be coupled to the scanner 24 and probe 17 but may be formed integrally with the cantilever 15 of probe 17 as part of a self-actuated cantilever/probe.
Often, a selected probe 17 is oscillated and brought into contact with sample 22 as sample characteristics are monitored by detecting changes in one or more characteristics of the oscillation of probe 17, as described above. In this regard, a deflection detection apparatus 25 is typically employed to direct a beam towards the backside of probe 17, the beam then being reflected towards a detector 26, such as a four quadrant photodetector. The deflection detector is often an optical lever system such as described in Hansma et al. U.S. Pat. No. RE 34,489, but may be some other deflection detector such as strain gauges, capacitance sensors, etc. The sensing light source of apparatus 25 is typically a laser, often a visible or infrared laser diode. The sensing light beam can also be generated by other light sources, for example a He—Ne or other laser source, a superluminescent diode (SLD), an LED, an optical fiber, or any other light source that can be focused to a small spot. As the beam translates across detector 26, appropriate signals are processed by a signal processing block 28 (e.g., to determine the RMS deflection of probe 17). The interaction signal (e.g., deflection) is then transmitted to controller 20, which processes the signals to determine changes in the oscillation of probe 17. In general, controller 20 determines an error at Block 30, then generates control signals (e.g., using a PI gain control Block 32) to maintain a relatively constant interaction between the tip and sample (or deflection of the lever 15), typically to maintain a setpoint characteristic of the oscillation of probe 17. The control signals are typically amplified by a high voltage amplifier 34 prior to, for example, driving scanner 24. For example, controller 20 is often used to maintain the oscillation amplitude at a setpoint value, AS, to insure a generally constant force between the tip and sample. Alternatively, a setpoint phase or frequency may be used. Controller 20 is also referred to generally as feedback where the control effort is to maintain a constant target value defined by setpoint.
A workstation 40 is also provided, in the controller 20 and/or in a separate controller or system of connected or stand-alone controllers, that receives the collected data from the controller and manipulates the data obtained during scanning to perform data manipulation operating such as point selection, curve fitting, and distance determining operations. The workstation can store the resulting information in memory, use it for additional calculations, and/or display it on a suitable monitor, and/or transmit it to another computer or device by wire or wirelessly. The memory may comprise any computer readable data storage medium, examples including but not limited to a computer RAM, hard disk, network storage, a flash drive, or a CD ROM.
AFMs may be designed to operate in a variety of modes, including contact mode and oscillating mode. Operation is accomplished by moving the sample and/or the probe assembly up and down relatively perpendicular to the surface of the sample in response to a deflection of the cantilever of the probe assembly as it is scanned across the surface. Scanning typically occurs in an "x-y" plane that is at least generally parallel to the surface of the sample, and the vertical movement occurs in the "z" direction that is perpendicular to the x-y plane. Note that many samples have roughness, curvature and tilt that deviate from a flat plane, hence the use of the term "generally parallel." In this way, the data associated with this vertical motion can be stored and then used to construct an image of the sample surface corresponding to the sample characteristic being measured, e.g., surface topography. In one practical mode of AFM operation, known as TappingMode™ AFM (TappingMode™ is a trademark of the present assignee), the tip is oscillated at or near a resonant frequency of the associated cantilever of the probe, or harmonic thereof. A feedback loop attempts to keep the amplitude of this oscillation constant to minimize the "tracking force," i.e., the force resulting from tip/sample interaction, typically by controlling tip-sample separation. Alternative feedback arrangements keep the phase or oscillation frequency constant. As in contact mode, these feedback signals are then collected, stored and used as data to characterize the sample.
Regardless of their mode of operation, AFMs can obtain resolution down to the atomic level on a wide variety of insulating or conductive surfaces in air, liquid or vacuum by using piezoelectric scanners, optical lever deflection detectors, and very small cantilevers fabricated using photolithographic techniques. Because of their resolution and versatility, AFMs are important measurement devices in many diverse fields ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to biological research. Note that "SPM" and the acronyms for the specific types of SPMs, may be used herein to refer to either the microscope apparatus or the associated technique, e.g., "atomic force microscopy."
As with most measuring devices, AFMs often require a trade-off between resolution and acquisition speed. That is, some currently available AFMs can scan a surface with sub-angstrom resolution. These scanners are capable of scanning only relatively small sample areas, and even then, at only relatively low scan rates. Traditional commercial AFMs usually require a total scan time typically taking several minutes to cover an area of several microns at high resolution (e.g. 512×512 pixels) and low tracking force. The practical limit of AFM scan speed is a result of the maximum speed at which the AFM can be scanned while maintaining a tracking force that is low enough not to damage or cause minimal damage to the tip and/or sample. Great strides have been made in this area in which SPM has achieved video scan rates with high resolution for small samples and small scan sizes.
Nonetheless, given current limitations associated with known modes of operation, including both TappingMode AFM and contact mode, improvements have been desired. Again, in contact mode, lateral scanning of the tip creates large forces between the tip and sample that can compromise both. And when imaging soft samples such as biological samples and polymers, the surface can be destroyed, rendering the measurement useless, or at least deformed severely, thereby significantly compromising resolution. Note that "imaging" is used herein to indicate obtaining SPM data at multiple points of a sample surface, typically by providing relative scanning motion between the sample and probe and correspondingly interacting the sample and probe.
TappingMode AFM is a lower force technique and is the most widely used mode of AFM operation to map sample surfaces, especially for delicate samples. The typical force of the tip on the sample is about a few nN to tens of nN. Again, by oscillating the tip, rather than dragging the tip, the shear forces are minimized. That said, TappingMode AFM suffers from a drawback in that it is difficult to control the normal force acting on the sample surface. The user typically tries to select a setpoint that is only a small variation from the free air deflection/amplitude of the probe in order to minimize tip-sample interaction forces to get the best reproduction of the sample profile. The dilemma, especially for soft samples, is that if the imaging force is too low, the tip will not track the sample properly (i.e., maintain interaction with the sample during the scan), while if too high, damage/deformation of the sample may lead to an image that does not accurately reflect surface topography. Overall, the better this force can be controlled (i.e., the lower it can be maintained) the less chance of sample and/or tip damage, and thus resolution can be improved.
A review of the tip-sample forces in each of these modes provides insight in to the limitations of each. When a probe interacts with the surface through TappingMode AFM or Jumping Mode™ (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,229,606, 5,266,801 and 5,415,027, the entirety of which are incorporated by reference herein), the tip touches the surface periodically. FIG. 2A illustrates the physical process within one period "T" of the tip motion. FIG. 2A shows tip trajectory in reference to the sample surface position. FIG. 2B shows the corresponding interaction force at the same time for tip trajectory at various positions. At the peak positions Amax, the tip is farthest from the sample surface and not interacting with the sample. As the tip continues to move down toward the horizontal axis (zero tip-sample separation) it will experience a near-field Van der Waals force, Fa—vdw, causing the tip to snap into contact with the sample through Van der Waals attraction. After touching the sample, the tip remains in repulsive interaction for time zone δT. During this time, the tip is continuously contacting the sample. The positions below zero represent that the tip may have deformed the sample, causing its position to be shown below the sample surface.
As the tip departs the surface after δT, an attractive force will develop a capillary meniscus, exhibiting a maximum adhesion force Fa—max right before the meniscus is broken away. The tip then enters into a non-interactive region and continues to a maximum departure position.
In the interaction free zone, when the probe is farther from the surface, the interaction force is zero or sufficiently near zero to form a baseline, as indicated in FIG. 2B. In FIG. 2B, the force above the horizontal axis is repulsive while those points below the horizontal axis represent a net attractive or adhesive force. The maximum repulsive force Fr—max usually corresponds to the lowest or smallest tip position or separation relative to the sample surface.
In prior known modes disclosed in TappingMode™ and JumpingMode™ AFM, the amplitude Amax or RMS of the tip oscillation amplitude is used as the feedback control parameter. An example of such feedback control apparatus is shown in FIG. 1.
In conventional control, typically implemented using a gain control feedback loop, positioning actuators and a cantilever response detection component (quadrant photodetector, for example), the AFM uses detected probe deflection or an RMS signal corresponding to cantilever (i.e., probe) motion as an indication of the tip-surface interaction and uses the feedback loop to maintain constant or RMS deflection.
Yet a major limitation of conventional AFM is its inability to acquire quantitative mechanical property information simultaneously with the high-resolution imaging. AFM has been primarily focused on topographical imaging. Little progress has been made in achieving quantitative mechanical mapping, including elasticity, plasticity, and work of adhesion.
Moreover, TappingMode™ control uses amplitude or phase of the measured deflection signal to control tip-surface interaction using feedback. Notably, both amplitude and phase are average properties of the probe/tip oscillation using at least one cycle of interaction. More specifically, the average pertains to probe/sample interactions occurring in all the positions in the tip trajectory (FIG. 2). Therefore, there is no possibility for the control feedback to be based on substantially instantaneous tip-sample interaction. Note that instantaneous interaction here refers to any point (for example, within two microseconds) of interaction in FIG. 2B (discussed further below).
In addition, it is important to note that TappingMode™ AFM was created to overcome what is known as the stick-in condition that occurs when probe touches the sample intermittently. As the probe touches the sample, capillary force will tend to catch the tip and prevent it from releasing. The amplitude of probe oscillation in TappingMode will drop to zero, thereby causing feedback oscillation. This problem was overcome when using TappingMode by using probes having a certain stiffness, usually 10 N/m (Newton/meter) to 60 N/m, with a nominal value of 40 N/m, while operating the TappingMode AFM at an oscillation amplitude higher than about 10 nm peak-to-peak. Under these conditions, as the probe touches surface, the kinetic energy of the tapping probe coverts to enough static elastic energy to overcome the capillary force, assuring steady amplitude in each cycle. One drawback of this mode is that the kinetic energy stored in the probe is also proportional to the cantilever spring constant. When employing a lower spring constant cantilever, such as 1N/m, TappingMode is impossible when measuring many materials because the cantilever can not overcome the capillary adhesion forces using its own resonance oscillation energy. Consequently, most TappingMode applications are only possible when one uses a stiff cantilever generally know in the art as a lever.
In an alternate mode of operating an SPM, known as the pulsed-force mode or PFM (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,880,386 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,129,486), the amplitude of the oscillation of the probe is adjusted so the tip goes in and out of contact during each cycle. In this mode, control is provided by monitoring tip-sample interaction forces. It operates based on properties associated with a force curve, another common measurement made in the AFM field to measure material properties at a particular location. Force measurements are common, and can be mapped over an entire sample to create what is known as a force-volume image.
In PFM, by analyzing the shape of the force-distance curve, and using the data to control the forces acting between the tip and the sample, the amount of data acquired is lessened compared to other modes of SPM operation. Importantly, PFM typically needs to operate at Fr—i (discussed below) or the peak pulse force, which substantially exceeds the adhesion induced deflection, as well as coupling induced deflections. As a result, a high repulsive force is needed as a control reference. Such high force could damage the sample or the tip, and thus prevent acquisition of high resolution images. Moreover, PFM has other limitations, particularly with respect to operating speed and resolution limitations, and thus, though it has been implemented to image soft samples, it has not been more widely adopted for all types of AFM imaging applications. In addition, when imaging in a fluid environment provide further challenge to PFM since viscous force in fluid produces large deflection even when the cantilever probe is not interacting with the sample.
More particularly, a main reason why imaging speed is limited in standard PFM AFM is illustrated in FIG. 2C. FIG. 2C is a graph of tip-sample interaction force versus time. The interaction force is plotted as snap-to-contact at "A", at which point repulsive force (sample on tip) initiates at "B." Peak repulsive force occurs at about "C" as adhesive forces pull on the tip until about point "D", the point at which the tip releases from the sample. Point E represents the deflection peak of the cantilever probe when it departs from the sample. Points C and E both present themselves as a peak in the deflection signal. In order to assure that feedback controls tip-sample interaction properly, the value of C should exceed E. In yet another constraint in PFM, a certain ringdown period (cycles of the probe oscillation at its resonance frequency) is required before it is possible to determine the baseline force needed to continue the scan. It is this waiting for the cantilever to "ringdown" (a free decay process, as in TappingMode) that limits the modulation frequency, and thus scan speed. More particularly, modulation frequency is significantly less than the probe resonance frequency (for example, a fifth or more below the probe resonance frequency).

Method and apparatus of operating a scanning probe microscope


A method for producing a component for an electric machine from a laminated core, which includes multiple grooves and a central axis, and a plurality of wire elements. Each wire element includes two legs made of wire, which are or will be connected to one another via a bend made of wire. At least the legs of the wire elements are arranged in parallel to the axis in the grooves. A temperature sensor is fastened at a bend of at least one wire element.

A stator for an electric machine includes multiple coils, the temperature of which can be measured using a temperature measuring element.
An electric motor usable as the drive machine of a motor vehicle is known from the document DE 10 2016 214 029 A1.
The document DE 10 2013 208 200 A1 describes a method and a device for producing an electric machine.
An electric motor and a method for producing such an electric motor are described in the document DE 10 2017 203 788 A1.


A tape cassette has a two-reel brake system having identical brake levers and an actuating element possessing actuating arms for the brake levers, the actuating arms being arranged at least close to the ends of the swivel axle. The brake system is suitable for all two-reel tape cassettes, in particular video cassettes.

The present invention relates to a tape cassette having a two-reel brake system, essentially consisting of an actuating element and two rotatable brake levers which are coordinated with the reels, spring-mounted on the cassette housing and arranged so that they can be actuated by the actuating element, and the brake system itself and the brake levers for this purpose.
The VHS video cassette having two coplanar reels contains a two-reel brake system which consists of an angular actuating lever, a right brake lever (for the right-hand reel), a left brake lever (for the left-hand reel) and either two individual springs or a common double spring. The right brake lever and left brake lever are mirror images of one another, since the actuation is carried out at actuating arms which are in an upper position with respect to the swivel bush (in the cassette housing), and braking at brake arms in a lower position with respect to the swivel bush (and in the cassette housing) is effected at the lower toothed flanges of the reels.
In practice, the right and left brake levers are of different colors (for example, black and white) to permit stocking and assembly in accordance with specifications. The actuation distance of the actuating arms before the reels are released by the brake arms is relatively long.

Tape cassette having a two-reel brake system having identical brake levers therefor


A manufacturing method of an LED package structure includes the steps as follows: providing an LED package structure assembly, which has a substrate layer, an LED chip set located on the substrate layer, and an encapsulating gel layer covering the LED chip set; taking a first blade to saw the LED package structure assembly from the encapsulating gel layer to the substrate layer until a plurality of sawing grooves are formed on the substrate layer; and taking a second blade to saw the LED package structure assembly along each sawing groove until the second blade passes through the substrate layer, thereby forming a plurality of LED package structures separated from each other. Wherein a hardness of the first blade is greater than that of the second blade, and a thickness of the second blade is less than that of the first blade.

The conventional method for manufacturing an LED package structure adapts a single blade to saw an LED package structure assembly into a plurality of conventional LED package structures. The LED package structure assembly includes a substrate and an encapsulating gel stacked on the substrate, and the substrate and the encapsulating gel have different hardness. When the substrate and the encapsulating gel are sawed by using a single blade, the hardness of the encapsulating gel is less than that of the substrate, so a grind portion of the encapsulating gel is smaller than that of the substrate. Thus, after the above sawing process is implemented, an edge of the encapsulating gel usually protrudes from the adjacent edge of the substrate, such that the producing yield of the LED package structure is reduced.
In view of the above disadvantages, after extensive research in conjunction with theoretical knowledge, the inventor provides the present invention which is reasonably designed and effectively addresses the above disadvantages.

Manufacturing method of LED package structure

LITE-ON OPTO TECHNOLOGY (CHANGZHOU) CO., LTD.


A downhole connection in a tool string has a first transmission path in a first tubular component and a second transmission path in a second tubular component coaxial with the first tubular component. The first transmission path has an electrically conductive pin attached to an actuator disposed within the first tubular component. The second transmission path has an electrically conducting receptacle disposed within the second tubular component. When the pin and the receptacle are proximate one another and the actuator is energized, the pin is inserted into the receptacle to form an electrical connection between the first and second transmission paths. The actuator may include a solenoid, a piezoelectric material, a magnetostrictive material, a piston, a fluid, an electrically controllable fluid, a gear, a pivot, a bearing, a spring or combinations thereof.

The present invention is related to downhole communication, more specifically to downhole communication utilizing direct electrical connections. The oil and gas industries have utilized several methods to communicate between the surface and downhole tools. Recently, IntelliServ Inc. developed a communication system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,670,880 to Hall, et al.; which in herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses; for use in a downhole tool string. The '880 patent discloses magnetic communication between downhole tool string components. Other systems utilize electrical contacts, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,396 to Floerke, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses.
Other patent references in the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,837 to Edwards et al., which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses. The '837 patent discloses an electrical connector system for providing an electrical connection through the wellhead into a tubular element with apertures for carrying electrical cables downhole. The system includes a circumferential electrical conductor ring which is coupled to, and insulated from, a tubular subsea element such as a tubing hanger surrounding the conductor ring. The conductor ring is coupled to an electrical connector of a horizontally mounted electrical connector assembly which is hydraulically actuated to penetrate the elastomeric element in the direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tubular element to make electrical contact with the conductor ring.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,433,991 to Deaton, et al. is also herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses. The '991 patent discloses an actuator assembly including an operating actuator and a holding actuator that are engagable with an operating member of a device. The operating actuation is cycled between on and off states to move the operating member in incremental steps, and the holding actuator is maintained in an active state to maintain or latch the current position of the operator member. Each of the operating and holding actuators may include one of the following: a solenoid actuator, and an actuator including one or more expandable elements, such as a piezoelectric element, a magnetostrictive element, and a heat-expandable element.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,152 to Hopper is herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses. The '152 patent discloses an electrical connection across a peripheral surface through a seal enclosure in a radial plane between a tubing hanger and a surrounding support member. The connection includes a coupling element in the tubing hanger and an electrical contact supporting shuttle which can reciprocate from a position wholly within the support member, across the interface and into electrical connection with the coupling element without producing any movement in a conductor cable leading into a seal enclosure within the support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,608 is also herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses. The '608 patent discloses a lateral connector for a tube assembly having a modular unit which can be used to establish a lateral connection through the sidewall of a tubular member positioned around it. The modular unit has a carrier ring, a coupling element, and carrier body. The coupling element can move radially, but not axially. The carrier ring has generally cylindrical inside and outside surfaces. The coupling element is carried by the carrier ring. The coupling element has a longitudinal axis which is generally radially positioned with respect to the longitudinal axis of the carrier ring. The coupling element has an inner end and an outer end and the outer end has a sealing face.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,765 is herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses. The '765 patent discloses a connector including a first connector member that is connected to a first conductor and includes a probe that is inserted through an insulating elastomer into a conductive elastomer which is connected to a second conductor and located in a second connector member. The connection between the probe and the conductive elastomer provide a noise free electrical connection between the two conductors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,492 is herein incorporated by reference for all that it discloses. The '492 patent discloses a submersible pump installation for a subsea well with an electrical connection that is hydraulically made up with provisions to avoid contact with sea water. The submersible pump is suspended by a suspension head located in a tubular member at the subsea wellhead. An electrical connector pin is carried in the insulator. A piston moves the insulator into contact with the suspension head, then the connector pin into engagement with the electrical connector located in the suspension head.


A silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material capable of providing a dye image having an improved spectral absorption characteristic, excellent color reproducibility and yet a sufficiently low minimum density, comprises a support having thereon a silver halide emulsion layer containing a yellow dye-forming coupler, a silver halide emulsion layer containing a magenta dye-forming coupler, and a silver halide emulsion layer containing a cyan dye-forming coupler, wherein the silver halide emulsion layer containing the cyan dye-forming coupler contains at least one cyan coupler represented by the following formula (I) or (II) and the silver halide emulsion layer containing the yellow dye-forming coupler contains at least one yellow coupler represented by the following formula (III): ##STR1## With the substituents as defined herein the specification.

A silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material is subjected to an imagewise exposure and then to a development with an aromatic primary amine type color development agent to result in generating an oxidation product of the developing agent, which reacts with a dye-forming coupler (hereinafter referred to as a coupler) to thereby form a dye image. In the color photographic light-sensitive material, usually used as the coupler are a yellow dye-forming coupler, a cyan dye-forming coupler and a magenta dye-forming coupler in combination. The dyes formed by these couplers have undesired sub-absorptions in many cases, and in employing them for a multi-layer constitution silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material, the color reproducibility thereof is inclined to be deteriorated. Accordingly, to overcome these problems there have so far been proposed couplers which form an image having less sub-absorption and techniques of combining such couplers.
With respect to a magenta coupler, it is well known that a dye formed by a pyrazoloazole type magenta coupler has less sub-absorption, particularly in 420 to 450 nm, than a dye formed by a 5-pyrazolone type magenta coupler and provides a sharp visible absorption spectrum.
However, an improvement only in a magenta dye would be insufficient to reproduce well all colors of a subject by combining a cyan dye, a magenta dye and a yellow dye.
It is disclosed in JP-A-63-231451 (the term "JP-A" as used herewith means an unexamined Japanese patent application) that a specific yellow coupler is combined with a pyrazoloazole magenta coupler to try to improve color reproducibility in all hues.
The yellow coupler employed in JP-A-63-231451 is disclosed in JP-A-63-123047 as a yellow coupler which provides a dye showing a sharp absorption spectrum and has an excellent color developability and less fog as well as less fluctuation in color developability by pH of a color developing solution. However, the effects are insufficient with the combination described in JP-A-63-231451 and insufficient in terms of reduction of a minimum image density (Dmin) where the yellow coupler described in JP-A-63-231451 is used.
Further, the conventional phenol type and naphthol type couplers have unfavorable sub-absorptions in the yellow region of 400 to 430 nm, and accordingly have the serious problem that the color reproducibility is markedly reduced.
There are proposed as a means for solving this problem, cyan couplers such as pyrazoloazoles described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,183 and 2,4-diphenyimidazoles described in European Patent Publication 0249453A2. The dyes formed by these couplers have less unfavorable absorptions in a short wavelength region as compared with the dyes formed by the conventional cyan couplers and therefore are preferable in terms of color reproducibility. However, these couplers are not deemed to have enough color reproducibility and in addition, there still remain problems in actual use, such as a low coupling activity.
Further, pyrazoloimidazoles are proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,598. These couplers are improved in coupling activity, but are insufficient in terms of hue.
In recent years, further higher performances are requested to a color reproducibility and fastness of a dye image formed, and required from an overall point of view is a light-sensitive material capable of providing a dye image satisfying an excellent color reproducibility as a photographic image and having a reduced fog.

Silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material comprising a pyrrolotriazole cyan coupler and a specific yellow coupler


A data storage device is disclosed comprising a non-volatile memory and control circuitry comprising an interface operable to receive a supply voltage, and a capacitor. An operating voltage regulator converts the supply voltage into an operating voltage used to operate the non-volatile memory. The supply voltage is used to charge the capacitor to a capacitor voltage higher than the supply voltage, and during a power failure, a backup voltage regulator converts the capacitor voltage into a backup voltage substantially equal to the supply voltage. The operating voltage regulator converts the backup voltage into the operating voltage used to operate the non-volatile memory.

Data storage devices (DSDs), such as disk drives and solid state drives are employed in numerous areas such as computer systems (e.g., desktops, laptops, portables, etc.) and consumer devices (e.g., music players, cell phones, cameras, etc.). User data is typically stored in a non-volatile memory, such as a magnetic disk or a non-volatile semiconductor memory (e.g., Flash memory). When a power failure occurs, it may be desirable to complete pending write commands prior to safely shutting down the DSD so that user data is not lost. This is of particular concern in DSDs that cache write data in a volatile semiconductor memory prior to writing the data to the non-volatile memory. A conventional DSD may charge a capacitor to a high voltage using the power supplied by the host, and then use the capacitor voltage to power circuitry in the DSD to flush a write cache during a power failure. Using a high voltage capacitor to generate the backup power is more cost effective compared to using a lower voltage capacitor or bank of capacitors.

Data storage device employing cascaded voltage regulators during power failure


Provided is a adhesive and an adhesive sheet which exhibit excellent chip-holding properties during dicing and from which chips can be easily stripped during pick up, even when considering changes over time. It is a adhesive composition which contains both (A) a (meth)acrylic acid ester copolymer component that has functional-group containing monomer units and a weight average molecular weight of less than 350,000 and (B) a (meth)acrylic ester copolymer component that has functional-group containing monomer units and a weight average molecular weight of 350,000 to 2,000,000 at a weight ratio of 10:90 to 90:10, and further contains 0.5 to 20 parts by mass of a crosslinking agent per 100 parts by mass of components (A) and (B) in total, the crosslinking agent being a crosslinking agent that reacts with both the functional groups of the component (A) and the functional groups of the component (B).

In production processes of electronic parts such as IC's, for example, semiconductor wafers of a large diameter are diced, cleaned, dried and expanded while adhered to an adhesive sheet, then picked up and mounted. Adhesive compositions used for such adhesive sheets must have sufficient adherence to chips from the dicing step to the drying step, while being easily stripped from chips during pick up.
While Patent Document 1 discloses an energy ray curable pressure-sensitive adhesive composition that can be used for the above-mentioned purpose, further development of adhesive compositions with even better chip-holding properties during dicing and from which chips can be more easily separated during pick up has been desired.
On the other hand, Patent Document 2 proposes an adhesive composition in which two kinds of (meth)acrylic acid ester copolymers of different weight average molecular weights are used. The adhesive composition described in the document has excellent adhesion properties to the adhered object and bond durability, and is capable of following the expansion and contraction of substrates even under conditions of high temperatures and high humidity, but it does not satisfy the ease of stripping required of adhesive compositions used in the above-mentioned production processes of electronic parts.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 2984549    Patent Document 2: JP-A 2001-89731


A power supply system and method includes a switch state controller that is operational to control a switching power converter during certain power loss conditions that cause conventional switch state controllers to have diminished or no functionality. In at least one embodiment, during certain power loss conditions, such as when an auxiliary power supply is in standby mode or when the switching power converter is not operating, a power supply for the switch state controller does not provide sufficient operating power to the switch state controller during certain power loss conditions. In at least one embodiment, during such power loss conditions power is generated for the switch state controller using sense input and/or sense output currents of the switching power converter to allow an integrated circuit (IC) switch state controller to generate a control signal to control a switch of the switching power converter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of signal processing, and, more specifically, to a power control system that includes a switch state controller for a switching power converter that operates in at least some circumstances from an operating voltage derived from one or more sense currents. Each sense current is resistively derived from a voltage of the switching power converter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power control systems often utilize a switching power converter to convert alternating current (AC) voltages to direct current (DC) voltages or DC-to-DC. Switching power converters often include a nonlinear energy transfer process to provide power factor corrected energy to a load. Power control systems provide power factor corrected and regulated output voltages to many devices that utilize a regulated output voltage.
FIG. 1 represents a power control system 100, which includes a switching power converter 102. Voltage source 101 supplies an alternating current (AC) input voltage Vin(t) to a full bridge diode rectifier 103. The voltage source 101 is, for example, a public utility, and the AC voltage Vin(t) is, for example, a 60 Hz/110 V line voltage in the United States of America or a 50 Hz/220 V line voltage in Europe. The rectifier 103 rectifies the input voltage Vin(t) and supplies a rectified, time-varying, line input voltage VX(t) to the switching power converter.
The switching power converter 102 includes power factor correction (PFC) stage 124 and driver stage 126. The switching power converter 102 includes at least two switching operations, i.e. switching switch 108 to provide power factor correction and switching switch 108 to provide regulation of output voltage VO(t). The PFC stage 124 is controlled by switch 108 and provides power factor correction. The driver stage 126 is also controlled by switch 108 and regulates the transfer of energy from the line input voltage VX(t) through inductor 110 to capacitor 106. The inductor current iL ramps 'up' when the switch 108 conducts, i.e. is "ON". The inductor current iL ramps down when switch 108 is nonconductive, i.e. is "OFF", and supplies current iL to recharge capacitor 106. The time period during which inductor current iL ramps down is commonly referred to as the "inductor flyback time". Diode 111 prevents reverse current flow into inductor 110. In at least one embodiment, the switching power converter 102 operates in discontinuous current mode, i.e. ramp up time of the inductor current iL plus the inductor flyback time is less than the period of the control signal CS0, which controls the conductivity of switch 108.
Input current iL is proportionate to the 'on-time' of switch 108, and the energy transferred to inductor 110 is proportionate to the 'on-time' squared. Thus, the energy transfer process is one embodiment of a nonlinear process. In at least one embodiment, control signal CS0 is a pulse width modulated signal, and the switch 108 is a field effect transistor (FET), such as an n-channel FET. Control signal CS0 is a gate voltage of switch 108, and switch 108 conducts when the pulse width of CS0 is high. Thus, the 'on-time' of switch 108 is determined by the pulse width of control signal CS0. Accordingly, the energy transferred to inductor 110 is proportionate to a square of the pulse width of control signal CS0.
Capacitor 106 supplies stored energy to load 112. The capacitor 106 is sufficiently large so as to maintain a substantially constant output voltage VC(t), as established by a switch state controller 114 (as discussed in more detail below). The output voltage VC(t) remains substantially constant during constant load conditions. However, as load conditions change, the output voltage VC(t) changes. The switch state controller 114 responds to the changes in VC(t) and adjusts the control signal CS0 to restore a substantially constant output voltage as quickly as possible. The switch state controller 114 includes a small capacitor 115 to filter any high frequency signals from the line input voltage VX(t).
The switch state controller 114 of power control system 100 controls switch 108 and, thus, controls power factor correction and regulates output power of the switching power converter 102. The goal of power factor correction technology is to make the switching power converter 102 appear resistive to the voltage source 101. Thus, the switch state controller 114 attempts to control the inductor current iL so that the average inductor current iL is linearly and directly related to the line input voltage VX(t). Prodić, Compensator Design and Stability Assessment for Fast Voltage Loops of Power Factor Correction Rectifiers, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 22, No. 5, September 2007, pp. 1719-1729 (referred to herein as "Prodić"), describes an example of switch state controller 114. The switch state controller 114 supplies the pulse width modulated (PWM) control signal CS0 to control the conductivity of switch 108. The values of the pulse width and duty cycle of control signal CSo depend on sensing two signals, namely, the line input voltage VX(t) and the capacitor voltage/output voltage VC(t).
Switch state controller 114 receives the two voltage signals, the line input voltage VX(t) and the output voltage VC(t), via a wide bandwidth current loop 116 and a slower voltage loop 118. The line input voltage VX(t) is sensed from node 120 between the diode rectifier 103 and inductor 110. The output voltage VC(t) is sensed from node 122 between diode 111 and load 112. The current loop 116 operates at a frequency fc that is sufficient to allow the switch state controller 114 to respond to changes in the line input voltage VX(t) and cause the inductor current iL to track the line input voltage to provide power factor correction. The current loop frequency is generally set to a value between 20 kHz and 130 kHz. The voltage loop 118 operates at a much slower frequency fv, typically 10-20 Hz. By operating at 10-20 Hz, the voltage loop 118 functions as a low pass filter to filter an alternating current (AC) ripple component of the output voltage VC(t).
The switch state controller 114 controls the pulse width (PW) and period (TT) of control signal CS0. Thus, switch state controller 114 controls the nonlinear process of switching power converter 102 so that a desired amount of energy is transferred to capacitor 106. The desired amount of energy depends upon the voltage and current requirements of load 112. To regulate the amount of energy transferred and maintain a power factor close to one, switch state controller 114 varies the period of control signal CS0 so that the input current iL tracks the changes in input voltage VX(t) and holds the output voltage VC(t) constant. Thus, as the input voltage VX(t) increases, switch state controller 114 increases the period TT of control signal CS0, and as the input voltage VX(t) decreases, switch state controller 114 decreases the period of control signal CS0. At the same time, the pulse width PW of control signal CS0 is adjusted to maintain a constant duty cycle (D) of control signal CS0, and, thus, hold the output voltage VC(t) constant. In at least one embodiment, the switch state controller 114 updates the control signal CS0 at a frequency much greater than the frequency of input voltage VX(t). The frequency of input voltage VX(t) is generally 50-60 Hz. The frequency 1/TT of control signal CS0 is, for example, between 20 kHz and 130 kHz. Frequencies at or above 20 kHz avoid audio frequencies and frequencies at or below 130 kHz avoid significant switching inefficiencies while still maintaining good power factor, e.g. between 0.9 and 1, and an approximately constant output voltage VC(t). Power control system also includes auxiliary power supply 128. Auxiliary power supply 128 is the primary power source for providing operating power to PFC and output voltage controller 114. However, as subsequently discussed in more detail with reference to FIG. 3B, during certain power loss conditions, the auxiliary power supply 128 is unable to provide sufficient operating power to PFC and output voltage controller 114.
FIG. 2 depicts power control system 100 using voltage sensing. The power control system 100 includes series coupled resistors 202 to sense the input voltage VX(t) and generate an input sense voltage Vsx. The series coupled resistors 202 form a voltage divider, and the input sense voltage Vsx is sensed across the last resistor 204. The voltage divider uses multiple resistors because input voltage VX(t) is generally higher than the voltage rating of individual resistors. Using a series of resistors allows the voltage across each resistor to remain within the voltage rating of the resistors. Using 300 kohm resistors as the first three resistors and a 9 kohm last resistor 204, the input sense voltage is 0.01·VX(t). The output voltage Vout(t) is sensed in the same manner using series coupled resistors 206 as a voltage divider to generate an output sense voltage Vso.
FIG. 3A depicts the switch state controller 114 with two analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) 302 and 304. ADCs 302 and 304 convert respective sense voltages Vsx and Vso to respective digital output voltages Vx(n) and VO(n) using a reference voltage VREF. The reference voltage can be a bandgap developed voltage reference.
FIG. 3B depicts a power supply system 350. The power supply system 350 includes switching power converter 102 to provide power factor correction and to provide output voltage VO(t). (Output voltage VO(t) is the same as output voltage Vc(t) in FIG. 1.) In at least one embodiment, the power supply system 350 provides power to a load 353 that can enter a very low power state (such as a standby-mode) or completely 'off' state. Examples of load 353 are computer systems or other data processing systems. During normal operation, switching power converter 102 is 'on' and performs a boost converter function to boost the input voltage Vx(t) from, e.g. 130V, to generate output voltage VO(t), such as +400V. The output voltage VO(t) is provided to the main power supply 354 and to the standby power supply 352. "Normal" operation is when the power supply 350 is not in a low-power or 'off' state. The main power supply 354 provides a variety of voltages, such as +3V, +5V, and +12V, to power various components of load 353 during normal operation. The auxiliary power supply 128 provides primary power to switch state controller 114. The switch state controller 114 includes an input to receive the power from auxiliary power supply 128. However, during certain power loss conditions, auxiliary power supply 128 provides insufficient operating power to switch state controller 114. During such power loss conditions, switch state controller 114 becomes inoperative. The power loss conditions include a standby-mode when auxiliary power supply 128 is intentionally shut-down to save power. Power loss conditions also occur when switching power converter 102 is inoperative. In at least one embodiment, auxiliary power supply 128 receives power from switching power converter 102. Thus, when switching power converter 102 is inoperative, such as during a missed cycle of input voltage VX(t), auxiliary power supply 128 provides insufficient operating power to switch state controller 114.
Voltage regulators and other components (not shown) can be connected between auxiliary power supply 128 and switch state controller 114. The standby power supply 352 supplies, for example, up to 5 W of power to load 353. The main power supply 354 supplies, for example, up to 500 W of power. The particular amount of power supplied by the standby power supply 352 and the main power supply 354 are a matter of design choice.
Each of the components 102, 114, 352, 354, and 128 include an underlined state, i.e. ON or OFF, that represents the state of the components 102, 114, 352, 354, and 128 in standby mode. In standby-mode, only the standby power supply 352 is ON. In standby-mode, the standby power supply 352 provides an auxiliary output voltage VA that provides power to circuits (not shown) that operate during low power states, such as standby-mode monitoring circuits. The standby power supply 352 also provides power to components of load 353 that are used to initialize other components of load 353 as the components enter normal operation.
Because switching power converter 102 is 'off' during standby-mode, the output voltage VO(t) drops to the input voltage Vx(t). Thus, the standby power supply 352 must be designed to provide output power from voltages ranging from Vx(t) to VO(t), such as +130V to +400V. The resulting standby power supply 352 is, thus, generally less efficient than a power supply designed to operate with an approximately constant input voltage. Thus, there is a need for a switching power converter that can provide an approximately constant input voltage when operating.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Switch state controller with a sense current generated operating voltage


The present invention relates to novel antibodies capable of binding specifically to the human insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR). The invention likewise comprises the use of these antibodies as a medicament for the prophylactic and/or therapeutic treatment of cancers overexpressing IGF-IR, stimulated either by IGF1 and/or IGF2, or any pathology connected with the overexpression of said receptor as well as in processes or kits for diagnosis of illnesses connected with the overexpression of the IGF-IR and/or the IGF-I/Insulin hybrid receptor.

The insulin-like growth factor I receptor called IGF-IR is a receptor with tyrosine kinase activity having 70% homology with the insulin receptor IR. IGF-IR is a glycoprotein of molecular weight approximately 350,000. It is a hetero-tetrameric receptor of which each half—linked by disulfide bridges—is composed of an extracellular α-subunit and of a transmembrane β-subunit IGF-IR binds IGF1 and IGF2 with a very high affinity (Kd #1 nM) but is equally capable of binding to insulin with an affinity 100 to 1000 times less. Conversely, the IR binds insulin with a very high affinity although the IGFs only bind to the insulin receptor with a 100 times lower affinity. The tyrosine kinase domain of IGF-IR and of IR has a very high sequence homology although the zones of weaker homology respectively concern the cysteine-rich region situated on the α-subunit and the C-terminal part of the β-subunit. The sequence differences observed in the α-subunit are situated in the binding zone of the ligands and are therefore at the origin of the relative affinities of IGF-IR and of IR for the IGFs and insulin respectively. The differences in the C-terminal part of the O-subunit result in a divergence in the signalling pathways of the two receptors; IGF-IR mediating mitogenic, differentiation and antiapoptosis effects, while the activation of the IR principally involves effects at the level of the metabolic pathways (Baserga et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1332:F105-126, 1997; Baserga R., Exp. Cell. Res., 253:1-6, 1999).
The cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase proteins are activated by the binding of the ligand to the extracellular domain of the receptor. The activation of the kinases in its turn involves the stimulation of different intra-cellular substrates, including IRS-1, IRS-2, Shc and Grb 10 (Peruzi F. et al., J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol., 125:166-173, 1999). The two major substrates of IGF-IR are IRS and Shc which mediate, by the activation of numerous effectors downstream, the majority of the growth and differentiation effects connected with the attachment of the IGFs to this receptor. The availability of substrates can consequently dictate the final biological effect connected with the activation of the IGF-IR. When IRS-1 predominates, the cells tend to proliferate and to transform. When Shc dominates, the cells tend to differentiate (Valentinis B. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274:12423-12430, 1999). It seems that the route principally involved for the effects of protection against apoptosis is the phosphatidyl-inositol 3-kinases (Pt 3-kinases) route (Prisco M. et al, Horm. Metab. Res., 31:80-89, 1999; Peruzzi F. et al., J. Cancer Res. Clin. Oncol., 125:166-173, 1999).
The role of the IGF system in carcinogenesis has become the subject of intensive research in the last ten years. This interest followed the discovery of the fact that in addition to its mitogenic and antiapoptosis properties, IGF-IR seems to be required for the establishment and the maintenance of a transformed phenotype. In fact, it has been well established that an overexpression or a constitutive activation of IGF-IR leads, in a great variety of cells, to a growth of the cells independent of the support in media devoid of fetal calf serum, and to the formation of tumors in nude mice. This in itself is not a unique property since a great variety of products of overexpressed genes can transform cells, including a good number of receptors of growth factors. However, the crucial discovery which has clearly demonstrated the major role played by IGF-IR in the transformation has been the demonstration that the R-cells, in which the gene coding for IGF-IR has been inactivated, are totally refractory to transformation by different agents which are usually capable of transforming the cells, such as the E5 protein of bovine papilloma virus, an overexpression of EGFR or of PDGFR, the T antigen of SV 40, activated ras or the combination of these two last factors (Sell C. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 90:11217-11221, 1993; Sell C. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 14:3604-3612, 1994; Morrione A. J., Virol., 69:5300-5303, 1995; Coppola D. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 14:4588-4595, 1994; DeAngelis T et al., J. Cell. Physiol., 164:214-221, 1995).
IGF-IR is expressed in a great variety of tumors and of tumor lines and the IGFs amplify the tumor growth via their attachment to IGF-IR. Other arguments in favor of the role of IGF-IR in carcinogenesis come from studies using murine monoclonal antibodies directed against the receptor or using negative dominants of IGF-IR Actually, murine monoclonal antibodies directed against IGF-IR inhibit the proliferation of numerous cell lines in culture and the growth of tumor cells in vivo (Arteaga C. et al., Cancer Res., 49:6237-6241, 1989; Li et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Com., 196:92-98, 1993; Zia F. et al, J. Cell. Biol., 24:269-275, 1996; Scotlandi K et al., Cancer Res., 58:4127-4131, 1998). It has likewise been shown in the works of Jiang et al. (Oncogene, 18:6071-6077, 1999) that a negative dominant of IGF-IR is capable of inhibiting tumor proliferation.
Such antibodies capable to bind specifically to the IGF-IR have been described and several patent applications have been filed. As an example, we can mentioned the patent application WO 03/059951, filed by the Applicant, wherein a monoclonal antibody able to bind to IGF-IR, called 7C10, is described. Others patent applications can be mentioned as WO 02/053596 (PFIZER INC. and ABGENIX INC.), WO 03/100008 (SCHERING CORPORATION) or WO 03/106621 (IMMUNOGEN INC.). All these applications are claiming antibodies capable to specifically bind to the IGF-IR and/or to inhibit its activity.
Although it is considered as an evident property for each of these antibodies, nothing in the specification of these applications clearly demonstrate that these antibodies are capable to inhibit efficiently the binding of both natural ligands to IGF-IR and, more particularly the binding IGF2 to IGF-IR. In vitro data such as inhibition of proliferation IGF1 and IGF2 induced were shown in these applications and demonstrated that the described antibodies are able to inhibit efficiently both IGF1 and IGF2-induced proliferation. However, as the major part of described antibodies displayed the capacity of inducing a partial down-regulation of IGF-IR, it is not evident that the antiproliferative properties are directly linked to a displacement of both IGF1 and IGF2 from IGF-IR.
Actually, for example, data shown in WO 03/106621 are only dealing with IGF1 and under no circumstances with an eventual inhibition of the binding of the IGF2 to IGF-IR (see Example C, pages 33-35 and FIG. 3, and Example D, pages 35-37 and FIGS. 4-6).
The same observations can be made for WO 02/053596 (see Example TV, page 78-79 and FIG. 3, and Example VII, page 82 and FIG. 4).
Amongst all the presently identified patent applications describing the discovery of monoclonal or recombinant antibodies directed against the human IGF-IR (hIGF-IR), only two of them (WO 2004/087756 and WO 2005/005635) are really showing an efficacy of the antibodies, respectively AK1a and AK18, to inhibit [125I]IGF2 binding to hIGF-IR.
The experimental procedure, identical in both cases, is based on competition binding on human colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT29) intact cells. Although the described procedure is sound, no positive controls such as competition by natural hIGF-IR ligands (IGF1 and IGF2) is presented, making the data on competition binding suspicious. On the other hand, only incomplete competition was shown (maximally 80% inhibition of [125I]IGF2 binding for both AK1a and AK18 antibody), even at high antibody concentration, making the development of more efficacious antibodies necessary for enhanced therapeutic efficacy in humans. A last controversial point concerning the putative inhibition of IGF2-mediated responses by AK1a and AK18 is the absence of examples showing an inhibition of functional IGF2-stimulated signaling mediated by hIGF-IR. Indeed, even if competition of IGF2 binding is happening, it must be associated with a concomitant inhibition of downstream hIGF-IR signalling and such evidence must be exemplified to provide mechanistic evidence for antibody functional efficacy.


A secondary battery includes: a cathode, an anode, and a nonaqueous electrolytic solution in a package member having a flat surface, in which the nonaqueous electrolytic solution includes a methylene cyclic carbonate represented by an expression (1):

The present technology relates to a secondary battery including a cathode, an anode, and a nonaqueous electrolytic solution, and a battery pack, an electric vehicle, a energy storage system, an electric power tool, and an electronic unit each using the secondary battery.
In recent years, various electronic units such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) have been widely used, and further size and weight reduction and longer life of the electronic units are desired. Accordingly, as power supplies for the electronic units, batteries, in particular, small and lightweight secondary batteries capable of obtaining high energy density have been developed. Recently, other various applications of the secondary batteries, as typified by battery packs removably mounted in electronic units or the like, electric vehicles such as electric cars, energy storage systems such as home energy servers, and electric power tools such as electric drills have been studied.
Secondary batteries obtaining battery capacity with use of various charge-discharge principles have been proposed, and in particular, lithium secondary batteries with use of lithium as an electrode reactant holds great promise, because the secondary batteries are allowed to obtain higher energy density than lead-acid batteries or nickel-cadmium batteries. The lithium secondary batteries include lithium-ion secondary batteries using insertion and extraction of lithium ions and lithium metal secondary batteries using deposition and dissolution of lithium metal.
The secondary battery includes a cathode, an anode, and an electrolytic solution, and the electrolytic solution includes a nonaqueous solvent and an electrolyte salt. As the electrolytic solution functioning as a medium of charge-discharge reaction exerts a large effect on performance of the secondary battery, various compositions of the electrolytic solution have been studied.
More specifically, it is proposed to use a cyclic carbonate having a carbon-carbon double bond (a methylene group) to suppress reductive decomposition reaction of the electrolytic solution (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-058122 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Published Japanese Translation of PCT application) No. 2010-533359). As the cyclic carbonate having a methylene group, 4-methylene-1,3-dioxolane-2-one, 4,4-dimethyl-5-methylene-1,3-dioxolane-2-one, or the like is used.

Secondary battery, battery pack, electric vehicle, energy storage system, electric power tool, and electronic unit

Abstract: where R1 and R2 each are a hydrogen group, a halogen group, a monovalent hydrocarbon group, a monovalent halogenated hydrocarbon group, an oxygen-containing monovalent hydrocarbon group, or an oxygen-containing monovalent halogenated hydrocarbon group, and R1 and R2 may be bonded to each other.


The present disclosure relates to the field of display technology and provides an organic light emitting diode, an OLED display substrate and a display device. It can solve the problem of low continuity in inkjet printing and complicated computer programs between different materials of light emitting layers in the existing organic light emitting diodes. The organic light emitting diode includes a cathode, an anode, and a functional layer between the cathode and the anode; wherein the functional layer includes a first light emitting layer and a second light emitting layer disposed in sequence in a direction away from the anode; the first light emitting layer comprises a first material emitting blue light; and the first light emitting layer and the second light emitting layer form an aggregate in excited state for emitting light of a color different from blue after the cathode and the anode are connected.

In inkjet printing technology, solutions of hole transport material such as PEDOT/PSS (doped polyaniline), and materials emitting red, green and blue light are respectively sprayed into a sub-pixel pits of a substrate on which a patterned metal electrode (for example, a anode) has been previously disposed, by a micron-sized printing nozzle, thereby forming light emitting pixel units having three primary colors of red, green and blue.
The hole injection materials and the hole transport materials cooperated with the currently used light emitting materials of three colors of red, green and blue are different, and it is difficult to unify the hole injection materials and the hole transport materials cooperated with the light emitting materials of three colors into the same material due to the problem of matching of the energy levels. The light emitting materials of three colors of red, green and blue need to use three nozzles, and the printing of the nozzles need to be programmed separately, which brought difficulties to the implementation of inkjet printing, and further brought printing results due to a variety of unstable factors.

Organic light emitting diode, OLED display substrate and display device

HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A perforating apparatus for use in the formation of shrink film packages is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a bottom seal tool with a plurality of peninsula regions forming a plurality of window areas. Each pair of window areas has a knife receiving area to receive a knife retaining block. The retaining block contains a perforation knife that extends beyond the surface of the sealing tool a sufficient distance to perforate the packages. At least one screw member extends through the peninsula, contacting the retaining block and securing the retaining block within the retaining channel. A change plate, having slots dimensioned and located to receive the knife blades is placed over the sealing tool surface. The packages are placed on the change plate and sealed by contacting the package with the upper platen. The upper platen is provided with a nonconductive material positioned to receive the knife blade. The resulting package has a perforation through the paperboard extending from one edge to the plastic window. This perforation enables the package to be easily opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tear open system for a package, particularly a perforated tear open system for plastic film packages that combines a cardboard form and a plastic window. More particularly, the tear open system relates to a system for providing easy access to the contents of a shrink film package.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The method and apparatus for forming shrink filmed display packages has been disclosed in a variety of patents and other publications. It is known to seal articles in pockets that are formed and sealed in plastic windows of paperboard blanks. These blanks have one or more openings that are covered, on one surface, by a heat-deformable and heat-sealable plastic sheet. The pockets are formed by heating the plastic material extending across the windows and deforming this plastic material to form a pocket. After the article is placed in the pocket, the pocket is closed, for example by folding the blank about a fold line and then heat sealing the plastic material. As the plastic sheet or film which is used is generally transparent, the article is provided in a decorative package in which it is sealed but nevertheless is fully visible. The teachings are best described, however, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,358, Method for Forming Article-Holding Display Packages, to Heffeman et al. The disclosures of this patents is incorporated herein by reference, as though recited in full.
As popular as these packages are, there have always been problems regarding the difficulty in opening the packages. The weight of cardboard required to maintain the integrity of the package makes opening the package by tearing the cardboard difficult. Separating the adhesive to pull open the package is also a problem as the adhesive is intended to maintain the two halves of the package adjacent one another.
The disclosed method and apparatus provides an easy opening mechanism in these popular paperboard packages.


Systems and methods are disclosed for reducing second order dynamics delays in a control subsystem (e.g. throttle, braking, or steering) in an autonomous driving vehicle (ADV). A control input is received from an ADV perception and planning system. The control input is translated in a control command to a control subsystem of the ADV. A reference actuation output is obtained from a storage of the ADV. The reference actuation output is a smoothed output that accounts for second order actuation dynamic delays attributable to the control subsystem actuator. Based on a difference between the control input and the reference actuation output, adaptive gains are determined and applied to the input control signal to reduce error between the control output and the reference actuation output.

Vehicles operating in an autonomous mode (e.g., driverless) can relieve occupants, especially the driver, from some driving-related responsibilities. When operating in an autonomous mode, the vehicle can navigate to various locations using onboard sensors, allowing the vehicle to travel with minimal human interaction or in some cases without any passengers.
Motion planning and control are critical operations in autonomous driving. However, conventional motion planning operations estimate the difficulty of completing a given path mainly from its curvature and speed (first order dynamics), without considering the second order dynamics of control subsystems, such as brakes, throttle, and steering.
Due to the usage of electronic determination and actuation of control systems such as brakes, throttle, and steering ("drive-by-wire"), there exists some latency time and system dynamic delays in the vehicle actuation system. Time-latency can occur due to delay in detecting that a control command is needed to stay on the planned trajectory. Time-latency can be attributable to data collection and processing time needed to identify objects surrounding the vehicle and attributable to computing of a control command needed to stay on the planned trajectory. Time-latency can be on the order of 50-100 milliseconds (ms). Actuation dynamic delay can occur in a control subsystem when a control command is received by a control subsystem, such as brakes, throttle, or steering, and the control subsystem must actuate physical components to execute the control command. Actuation dynamic delay can result in undesired throttling/braking/steering control responses, especially during rapid acceleration or sharp turning driving scenarios. For example, in a typical side-pass driving scenario, when the autonomous vehicle quickly changes to another lane from a current lane, the steering action usually presents some dynamic lag compared with the desired steering angle that is based on the steering command from the control module. As a result, the overall lane changing process can become unsmooth and be uncomfortable for passengers in the vehicle.
Actuation dynamic delay can be attributable to physical actuators or elements, such as motors, drive belts, brake pads and cylinders, or combustion, needing time to implement the physical actions that implement the control command. Actuation dynamic delay of a received command can manifest as a rise time of the actuation, an overshoot amount, and a settling time for a measured state of the physical actuator to match the received control command. Actuation dynamic delay can be on the order of several hundreds of milliseconds, substantially longer than latency.
Control subsystems such as brakes, steering, and throttle, are often provided by third-party suppliers, different from the party that develops a control system for the autonomous vehicle. Thus, developers of autonomous vehicle control subsystems must consider the operational characteristics of the control subsystems as a "black box." Accordingly, previous industrial efforts in the autonomous vehicle field attempt to design a simple proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller on steering actuation to reduce the negative effects of the actuation dynamics. However, due to the over-simplified structure of PID-based controller, the PID controller can only increase the steering dynamic response to some extent, but cannot fully address the actuation time-latency and dynamic delay problem.

Model reference adaptive control algorithm to address the vehicle actuation dynamics


A radio communication equipment of this application comprises a controller, and an information card configured to record a profile for using a service provided by a telecommunications company. The controller comprises a switching controller configured to switch the profile recorded on the information card, and an application controller configured to control a profile-compliant application using a service provided by the telecommunications company, in compliant with the profile. The switching controller is configured to read information from a new profile on the information card, when switching to the new profile. The switching controller is configured to notify the application controller of the information read from the new profile.

In some radio communication equipment compliant with 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standards, subscriber Identity Module cards (SIM cards) or user identity module (UIM) cards (hereinafter these are merely referred to as SIM cards) are provided by telecommunications companies (operators or telecommunications companies) and used by being mounted on the radio communication equipment.
The SIM cards are an IC card storing radio communication equipment subscriber (user) information, a service to which the user has subscribed, and the like. The user can use the service to which the user has subscribed, by using a radio communication equipment equipped with a SIM card.
Such a SIM card has been also used for a recent communication module mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile in order to provide a telematics service for providing traffic information, navigation information, and the like (i.e., see Patent Literature 1).
Furthermore, the SIM cards include a removable SIM card and an embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM). Although the removable SIM card is used for a general smartphone or the like, the eSIM is used for an in-vehicle or industrial radio communication equipment as well.
The eSIM is a subscriber authentication module storing a profile relating to a subscription to a service provided by a telecommunications company and is usually incorporated in a radio communication equipment. When the user changes the telecommunications company, a new profile is downloaded onto the radio communication equipment, and an old profile is rewritten with the new profile (i.e., see Patent Literature 2).

Radio communication device and method of controlling the same


A computer-implemented method of automatically generating and populating one or more car floor buttons on a configuration tool display wherein the configuration tool is in communication with an elevator cabin of an elevator system.

In-car elevator display systems for call input are becoming more desirable as the prevalence of touch screen interfaces increases. The configuration, design and function of these in-car elevator display systems, also known as car-operating panel (COP) displays, requires a significant time investment to lay out the buttons according to the configuration of both the job and of each elevator. The in-car display must be configured to display the specific number of buttons with the correct floor label as well as the respective car floor. In addition, there may be elevator codes and regulations that dictate the size, spacing, and ordering of buttons.
Currently, these tasks are performed manually through a dedicated configuration tool by contract engineering in the factory. This is an added process and thus too an added cost. In addition, this configuration tool is a separate system and may not be connected to the in-car display—i.e. it requires a technician to manually change the configuration, download the updated configuration file, go to the building, place each car into service mode, then update the displays on each car.
Current touchscreen COP themes require a technician or designer to manually add, resize, and position all buttons for the floors an elevator serves. To achieve a layout with buttons both evenly spaced and of equal size takes an incredible amount of work and calculation. Additionally, even simple changes to the size or positioning of the COP's layout requires all these steps to be repeated in their entirety, the time required for which increases significantly as the number of floors an elevator serves increases. Since extensive customization is needed for each elevator, and with the variability in both content layout and in potential number of floors served, configuration of the buttons on a touchscreen COP is arduous and inexact.
For some building layouts there may be skipped floors or alphanumeric labels used for the floor label that are not indicative of the numeric car floor number the elevator control system uses to navigate between the floors. This means with the current system some sort of manually-created text file needs to be generated for each COP with a mapping between the source image file for a button, the positioning of that button, and the car floor associated with the button to be sent to the control system. If a mistake is made on the theme or a change is requested to a label or the button layout, then this manually-created text file needs to be updated on every COP for every button that changed in addition to all the other manual changes listed above.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide an easier and quicker way of creating aesthetically pleasing, well-configured button layouts. This object is solved by methods and devices according to the present disclosure.

Method of generating buttons for car operating panels

TK Elevator Innovation and Operations GmbH


A license management server connected to an MFP includes an activating unit that, upon receiving an application activation request from the MFP, accesses a license management DB, and, when the number of licenses associated with a product key of the application in the license management DB is one or greater, grants a license for the application to the MFP and cancels the license for the application granted to the MFP upon receiving a deactivation request, and a license managing unit 315 that decrements the number of licenses by one when the license for the application has been granted to the MFP and increments the number of licenses by one when the license for the application granted to the MFP has been canceled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to license management server that manages installation of software onto image processing apparatus based on license-related status, license management method, and computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multifunction peripherals (MFPs), onto which program software developed after the MFP has been delivered to a customer is additionally installable, have been proliferated in recent years. To additionally install software onto such an MFP, it is necessary to obtain a license from an activation server and to activate the software.
However, there can be cases where an MFP, on which software has been activated, falls into a trouble, such as a failure, that prevents the MFP from canceling the activation (hereinafter, "deactivating") by the MFP itself. In such a case, the server performs enforced deactivation on the MFP in some cases.
A technique that allows flexible license management even when a license management server is in a trouble, e.g., a situation that the license management server is down, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804, for example. The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804 includes a method of, in a case where one client apparatus is unable to carrying out communications with the server, the one client apparatus sends a request to another client apparatus to borrow a license therefrom so that a series of license management operations can be continued even while the license management server is down.
A technique that allows, even when a license has expired while a user is working with a licensed application, the user to continue working with the application without restarting the application is disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-40262. The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-40262 includes a method of managing a license by causing a platform that executes an application, which is managed by using the license, to send a notification that the license has been updated when the license has been updated.
However, even when the license is validated by using the techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-40262, if enforced deactivation is performed by the server, the status of the MFP can go out of synchronization with that of the server. Mismatching between the status of the MFP and the status of the server is disadvantageous in that, in a case where the MFP has recovered from a failure, an attempt of license synchronization (activation/deactivation) between the MFP and the server can result in error due to the mismatching.
When such a technique as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-249804 that allows one client apparatus to borrow a license from another client apparatus is employed, it is difficult to prevent unauthorized use of equipment.

License management server, license management method, and computer program product