A conveyor system having an automatic lubricating system for the conveyor chain and its associated guide track is provided. The conveyor system includes a conveyor chain, a guide track, a lubricator, and a support frame. The guide track is carried by the support frame, and has a bottom wall with a guide surface and an aperture. The conveyor chain has interconnecting links, and is supported by the guide track for movement. Each of the links of the conveyor chain has a lower surface that may contact the guide surface of the guide track when the conveyor chain is moved. The lubricator is mounted on the support frame, and includes a separator dividing the lubricator into a lubricant chamber and a gas compartment. The lubricator includes an electrochemical cell in the gas compartment for generating gas that flows against the separator to move the separator against the lubricant in the chamber to force the lubricant through an outlet. An adapter block and piping are used to place the lubricator outlet in fluid communication with the aperture in the bottom wall of the guide track. When the lubricator is activated, lubricant exits the lubricator, and travels through the adapter block and the aperture in the bottom wall of the guide track. When the links pass over areas near the aperture, the lower surfaces of the links contact the lubricant and a lubricating film is formed between guide surface of the guide track and the lower surface of each link.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lubricating systems for conveying equipment, and more particularly to an automatic lubricator for a conveyor system that includes a conveyor chain and an associated conveyor chain track.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different types of automated conveying systems are known in the art. One type of known conveying system comprises a plurality of interconnected links which run along appropriate guides. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,436,200 and 5,586,644 show examples of this type of conveying system.
In order for these types of conveying systems to run as smoothly as possible, the friction between the lower surfaces of the interconnected links and the guide surfaces must be minimized. Also, the friction between the lower surfaces of the interconnected links and the guide surfaces must be minimized in order to reduce wear in the links and the guide.
Various methods have been proposed for limiting the friction between the lower surfaces of the interconnected links and the guide. For instance, manual application of a lubricant to the guide surfaces and the links has always been a possible, though labor-intensive, option to minimize friction. As an alternative to manual lubrication, certain conveying systems have used links or guides made from special materials that have minimal surface roughness and are wear resistant. As another alternative to manual lubrication methods, many operators of conveyor systems have used various devices for automatically applying lubricating fluid to the links of a conveyor chain. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,785,456, 3,869,023, 4,085,821 and 4,368,803 disclose automatic devices for dispensing lubricating fluids to a conveyor system or a conveyor chain. A more recent solution to the problem of lubricating a conveyor chain and its associated guides can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,027, which discloses the use of lubrication inserts that form a lubricating film between the links of a conveyor chain and the surface of the guides that direct the conveyor chain.
Most known automatic conveyor lubricating systems, including many of the systems mentioned above, require the use of some type of detecting device that initiates a lubrication cycle when tripped by a portion of the conveyor chain. Often, an installer of this type of conveyor lubrication system must secure a detector or a mechanical trip to the conveyor chain, and also relocate electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic lines in order to supply a source of power to the lubricating system. Depending on the complexity of the lubricating system, the installation and maintenance costs of the lubricating system may actually exceed the cost of periodically manually lubricating the conveyor chain and conveyor chain guide. As a result, the users of conveying systems may not opt for automatic lubrication devices as the benefits of automatic lubrication are outweighed by installation and maintenance costs.
Therefore, in view of the cost and complexity of existing automatic conveyor chain lubricators, there is a continuing need for conveyor systems having alternative automatic lubricators for the conveyor chain and its associated conveyor chain track.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a conveying system with an automatic conveyor chain and conveyor chain track lubricating system that provides an alternative to manual lubrication methods and to the use of conveyor chain links or guides made from special materials.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide conveying system with an automatic conveyor chain and conveyor chain track lubricating system that may be operated without attention and maintenance.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a conveying system having an automatic conveyor chain and conveyor chain track lubricating system that may be operated without the need for conveyor chain detecting devices that trigger a lubrication cycle.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an automatic conveyor chain and conveyor chain track lubricating system that may be easily installed at virtually any location along the length of the conveyer chain guide track thereby providing maximum flexibility in the placement of the lubricating system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an automatic conveyor chain and conveyor chain track lubricating system that may be easily installed at virtually any location along the length of the conveyer chain guide track without the need to supply electrical, pneumatic or hydraulic lines to the lubricator.
The foregoing needs are satisfied and the foregoing objects achieved by a conveyor system that comprises an endless conveyor chain, a guide track, a lubricator, and a support frame. The guide track is carried by the support frame, and has a bottom wall and opposed sidewalls that extend upward from the bottom wall. The bottom wall of the guide track has a guide surface and an aperture. The conveyor chain is comprised of interconnecting links, and is supported by the guide track for movement within the guide track. Each of the interconnected links of the conveyor chain has a lower surface that may contact the guide surface of the guide track when the conveyor chain is moved by a drive motor and sprocket. The lubricator is mounted on the support frame, and includes a separator dividing the lubricator into a chamber for storing lubricant and a gas compartment. The separator is movably mounted in the lubricator spaced from and movable towards an outlet of the lubricant chamber. The lubricator includes an electrochemical cell in the gas compartment for generating gas when the cell is connected to a source of electric current such as a battery. The gas flows into the gas compartment and against the separator to move the separator against the lubricant in the chamber to force the lubricant out through the outlet. One type of lubricator having these features is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,023,648 and 4,671,386.
An adapter block and piping are typically used to place the outlet of the lubricator in fluid communication with the aperture in the bottom wall of the guide track. First, the adapter block is assembled to the bottom surface of the guide track. The adapter block has ports in fluid communication with an opening in a projection that extends outward from the adapter block. When the adapter block is assembled to the guide track, the projection fits into the aperture in the bottom wall of the guide track. After the adapter block is assembled to the guide track, a fluid path between the lubricator and a port of the adapter block is constructed by way of piping. As a result, a fluid path between the outlet of the lubricator and the aperture in the bottom wall of the guide track is established.
In operation of the conveyor system, the drive motor and sprocket pull the conveyor chain relative to the guide track such that the conveyor chain traverses the guide track. Movement of the conveyor chain in the guide track causes frictional forces between the guide surface of the guide track and the lower surface of each link that contacts the guide surface. In order to allow the conveyor chain to run smoothly in the guide track and also minimize wear of the lower surface of each link and the guide surface, the lubricator is activated to automatically supply lubricant to the guide track and links. Lubricant exits the lubricator, and travels through the adapter block and the opening in the projection of the adapter block. Lubricant moves through the aperture in the bottom wall of the guide track, and covers areas of the guide surface near the aperture. When the links pass over areas of the guide surface near the aperture, the lower surfaces of the links contact the lubricant and a lubricating film is formed between the guide surface of the guide track and the lower surface of each link that contacts the guide surface of the guide track.
The lubricating film minimizes frictional forces between the guide surface and the lower surface of each link and thereby allows the conveyor chain to run smoothly in the guide track and also minimizes wear of the lower surface of each link and the guide surface of the guide track. Because the lubricator operates continuously, the links and guide surface of the guide track are kept well lubricated without the need for maintenance personnel to lubricate the chain and guide track by hand. Also, there is no need for the relocation of pneumatic, hydraulic or electrical lines as the lubricator operates as self-contained unit within the conveyor system.


A method of manufacturing a thermally-assisted magnetic write head is provided. The method includes steps of: forming a laminate structure including the waveguide; the plasmon generator, and the magnetic pole in order; performing a first polishing process to planarize an end surface of the laminate structure; performing a first etching process to remove impurity attached on the end surface of the laminate structure, and to allow the plasmon generator to be recessed from the waveguide and the magnetic pole, thereby forming a recessed region on the end surface of the laminate structure; forming a protection layer on the end surface of the laminate structure such that at least the recessed region is filled; and performing a second polishing process on the end surface of the laminate structure formed with the protection layer until the plasmon generator is exposed, thereby completing the air bearing surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a thermally-assisted magnetic write head for use of thermally-assisted magnetic writing with which writing of information is performed by reducing the coercive force of a magnetic recording medium through irradiation of a near-field light.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic disk device has been previously used for recording and reading of magnetic information (hereinafter, simply referred to as information). The magnetic disk device is the one provided with a magnetic disk and a magnetic write/read head inside of a chassis, for example. The magnetic disk stores therein information, and the magnetic write/read head performs recording of information to this magnetic disk, and performs reproduction of the information recorded on the magnetic disk. The magnetic disk is supported by the rotation shaft of a spindle motor that is fixed to the chassis, and is so configured as to rotate thereabout. On the other hand, the magnetic write/read head is formed to one side surface of a magnetic head slider that is disposed at one end of a suspension, and is so configured as to include a magnetic recording element and a magnetic read element that are each provided with an air bearing surface (ABS; Air Bearing Surface) opposing the magnetic disk. Especially, as the magnetic read element, an MR element producing the magnetoresistive (MR: Magnetoresistive) effects is generally used. The remaining end of the suspension is attached to the tip end of an arm that is supported to the fixed shaft to be able to pivot thereabout. The fixed shaft is the one disposed upright in the chassis.
When the magnetic disk device is in the resting state, that is, when the magnetic disk is not moving with no rotation, the magnetic write/read head does not exist on the magnetic disk, and is in the state of being out of the way toward the outside (in the state of unloading). In such a state, when the magnetic disk device is put in the driving state, and when the magnetic disk starts rotating, the magnetic write/read head is put in the state of being moved to a predetermined position on the magnetic disk together with the suspension (in the loaded state). When the rotation of the magnetic disk reaches any predetermined rotation speed, the balance between the positive pressure and the negative pressure makes the magnetic head slider suspended with a good stability with a slight distance from the surface of the magnetic disk so that the recording and reproduction of information may be performed with a good accuracy.
In recent years, a magnetic disk has been increased in recording density (increased in capacity), and in response thereto, there has been a demand for the better performance capabilities of a magnetic write/read head and those of the magnetic disk. The magnetic disk is a non-contiguous medium being a cluster of magnetic particles, and the magnetic particles are each in the single-domain structure. In such a magnetic disk, one recording bit is configured by a plurality of magnetic particles. These magnetic particles are required to be smaller in size because, for the purpose of increasing the recording density, the border between any two recording bits adjacent to each other has to be less bumpy. However, if the magnetic particles are reduced in size as such, the resulting decrease of volume of the magnetic particles causes a problem of reducing the thermal stability in terms of magnetization of the magnetic particles. In order to solve such a problem, increasing the anisotropic energy of the magnetic particles produces good effects. The concern here is that, however, if the anisotropic energy of the magnetic particles is increased as such, the magnetic disk is resultantly increased in coercive force, thereby causing a problem of difficulty in information recording for any existing magnetic head.
As a method for solving such problems as described above, a method of so-called thermally-assisted magnetic writing has been proposed. This method uses a magnetic recording medium with a higher degree of coercive force, and during recording of information, a portion of the magnetic recording medium for recording of information is heated at the same time as the application of a magnetic field. As such, the portion is increased in temperature but is reduced in coercive force, thereby performing the recording of information. Hereinafter, the magnetic head for use with the thermally-assisted magnetic writing as such is referred to as thermally-assisted magnetic write head. Note here that as to the thermally-assisted magnetic write head, the one in Specification of United States Patent Application No. 2007/139818 or the one in Specification of United States Patent Application No. 2009/168220 is known.
With such thermally-assisted magnetic writing, as a method for applying heat to a magnetic recording medium, a method of using a near-field light is generally used. As a method of generating such a near-field light, a generally known method is to use a near-field light probe, i.e., so-called plasmon generator. The near-field light probe is a metal piece that generates a near-field light from plasmons excited by a light. The concern here is that, however, a material mainly including Au (gold), Ag (silver), Cu (copper), Al (aluminum), or others those considered each as a preferable material to configure the plasmon generator that generates a near-field light through irradiation of a light has the characteristics of being easily removed by a process of etching (ion beam etching or others) that is generally executed for the purpose of removing any impurities during the formation of an air bearing surface. Therefore, in the air bearing surface, the end surface of the plasmon generator shows a tendency to be in the state of being positioned in the rear of the end surface of a magnetic pole, that of a waveguide, or that of a shield layer, for example. Accordingly, with the thermally-assisted magnetic write head in such a state, during the operation thereof, the near-field light may not be enough in intensity, or the write head may not be stable enough while it is in the state of being suspended, and this is considered not desirable in view of reliability.
In consideration thereof, the air bearing surface is expected to be better in flatness, and the operation capabilities are expected to be provided with a better stability.

Method of manufacturing thermal assisted magnetic write head


A method and apparatus for tensioning the accumulator spring of a high-voltage or medium-voltage power circuit breaker drive, in which a drilling machine or a power tool, such as a screwdriver, which is powered by a rechargeable battery, is used.

In the case of a known drive for a power circuit breaker, such as in the case of the FK/FH 2-40 drive shown on pages 21 to 23 in the SPRECHER ENERGIE AG Document 4106 "Oelarme Leistungsschalter HP 300, 1250 . . . 4000 A fur Innenraumanlagen bis 24 kV" [HP300, 1250 . . . 4000 A power circuit breakers with little oil for internal installations up to 24 kV], the force accumulator spring is tensioned using a crank or, optionally, also using a built-in electric motor. When not in use, the crank is suspended at the front on the drive.
In the case of another spring-force drive for high-voltage circuit breakers, which is shown in FIG. 18 on page 9 in the SPRECHER ENERGIE AG Document 42B1A "SF6-Leistungsschalter 72,5 bis 420 kV Typenreihe HGF100 fur Freiluftaufstellung" [72.5 to 420 kV HGF100 Series SF6 power circuit breakers for open-air installation], the accumulator spring is normally tensioned by means of the built-in electric motor. For emergency operation, it has a crank which can be plugged onto the drive shaft of the spring cage. The connection between the drive shaft and the crank takes place by means of a claw coupling whose claws are constructed like saw teeth, so that the coupling acts only in the direction in which the spring is tensioned. If the spring accumulator of one of the aforementioned drives has to be tensioned without the involvement of a motor, possibly because no motor is installed in the drive or possibly because, for example, the relevant power circuit breaker has been switched off and no electrical energy is available for supplying the built-in motor, a large amount of muscular work is required by the person operating the circuit breaker. In addition, tensioning the accumulator spring using a crank requires a large amount of time. This may be highly unwelcome, particularly when, as a consequence of a severe disturbance, for example during a thunderstorm, the accumulator springs of the drives of a plurality of power circuit breakers must be tensioned.

Method and apparatus for tensioning an accumulator spring of a drive of a high-voltage or medium-voltage power circuit breaker


A position sensor for sensing linear or radial position, including at least four magnets, a first ferrous plate having at least two of the at least four magnets located at spaced locations along the first ferrous plate, the at least two magnets being oriented such that a north pole of at least one of the at least two magnets is directed toward the first ferrous plate and a south pole of an other of the at least two magnets is directed toward the first ferrous plate, a second ferrous plate having at least two of the at least four magnets located at spaced locations along the second ferrous plate, the at least two magnets being oriented such that a north pole of at least one of the at least two magnets is directed toward the second ferrous plate and a south pole of an other the at least two magnets is directed toward the second ferrous plate, the first ferrous plate and the second ferrous plate being generally parallel and spaced apart and at least one magnetic flux responsive device disposed between the first ferrous plate and the second ferrous plate.

1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to electromagnetic sensor assemblies, and, more particularly, to electromagnetic position sensor assemblies.
2. Description of the Related Art.
Electronic devices are an increasing part of everyday life and they are presently integrated in a large number of products, including products traditionally thought of as mechanical in nature, such as automobiles. To bridge the gap between mechanical movement and electronic control it is necessary to successfully integrate electronic and mechanical components. The gap is normally bridged by using devices such as sensors and actuators.
Position sensors are used to electronically monitor the position or movement of a mechanical component. The position sensor produces data that may be expressed as an electrical signal that varies as the position of the mechanical component changes. Position sensors are an important part of innumerable products, providing the opportunity for intelligent control of a mechanical device.
Various contact type sensors are known. For example, potentiometers are used which detect a change in an electrical signal due to the physical change in position of a wiping contact on a resistive element. Rotational position movement can be detected by coupling a shaft of a potentiometer to the shaft of a rotating mechanical component. Linear movement can be detected using either a liner potentiometer or a rotating potentiometer that is coupled to a linear moving component using pulleys and a string or a belt to translate a linear motion to rotational motion. A problem with this type of sensor is the physical wearing of the rotating part, the wiping contact and the resistive element cause a drift in the electrical signal and lead to ultimate failure of the device.
Magnetic position sensors are generally a non-contact type of sensor and consist of a magnetic field sensing device which is usually stationary and a magnet that is attached to a moving component. As the magnet approaches the sensing device the magnetic field of the magnet is detected and the sensing device generates an electrical signal that is then used for counting, display, recording and/or control purposes. A problem with such sensors is that they depend on movement of the magnet and they are not able to provide information as to the static position of a mechanical component.
Other magnetic position sensors provide an indication of the displacement of the mechanical component by using a magnetic field sensing device which reports the intensity of a magnetic field from a magnet which is positioned on the mechanical component. The magnet is positioned and the magnetic field sensing device is located relative to the magnet in such a fashion as to cause the magnetic field to vary in the magnetic field sensing device as the magnet moves. A magnetic field sensing device may detect a static magnetic field from the magnet and report the field strength as a representation of the position of the mechanical component.
A magnetic positional sensor developed by the inventor, patented as U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,223, entitled xe2x80x9cROTARY POSITION SENSOR WITH CIRCULAR MAGNETxe2x80x9d, discloses a Hall effect device disposed within a cylindrically shaped magnet. The magnet having a magnetic field that varies from a north pole to a south pole as detected along a circular face of the magnet. The cylindrical magnet is mounted to a rotatable mechanical component and a Hall effect device is positioned inside the cylindrical magnet with an air gap therearound. The Hall effect device has flux concentrators mounted thereto. The magnetic field produced by the cylindrical magnet is detected by the Hall effect device which in response thereto produces an electrical response representative of the magnet and hence the mechanical component""s angular position.
A problem with such sensors is that they require large magnets.
Another problem with rotating sensors is that they require a stationary and a movable portion within a single assembly.
What is needed in the art is a compact modular position sensor which will provide static and moving position information using smaller magnets.
This invention relates to a position sensor which senses the linear or radial position of a mounted device. The sensor includes at least one elongated ferrous plate and a pair of magnets at spaced locations along the plate. An electronic signal generating device responsive to the flux density of the magnets along the plate is provided between the magnets with the plate being movable relative to the signal generating device.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a position sensor which is of economic construction and which may sense the position of a mounted device either in a lateral orientation or a radial orientation.
It is another object of this invention to provide a position sensor which is for sensing the position of a mounted device and which allows a substantial relative movement between the mounted device and the sensor components.
A further objective of this invention is to provide a position sensor which utilized a Hall effect integrated circuit with the ability to sense either linear or radial movement.
Other objects of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following description.
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectionalized end view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is illustrative of three views of the embodiment of FIG. 1 showing the Hall effect device in three different operative positions;
FIG. 4 is a graph showing in the horizontal axis the position of the Hall effect device relative to the ferrous plates and in the vertical axis the magnetic field strength that is sensed by the hall effect integrated in circuit relative to the positions shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a graph showing in the horizontal axis the linear position of the Hall effect integrated circuit and in the vertical axis the output signal strength of the Hall effect device relative to the position as shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is a side view in sectionalized form of another embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 7 is a sectionalized end view of the embodiment of FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a side view of a third embodiment of this invention;
FIG. 9 is a sectionalized end view of the embodiment of FIG. 8;
FIG. 10 is a graph showing in the horizontal axis the position of the Hall effect device in FIG. 8 relative to the ferrous plates of that figure and in the vertical axis the output signal strength of the Hall device relative to three positions of the Hall device;
FIG. 11 is a top view of another embodiment of this invention showing parallel curved plates;
FIG. 12 is a side view in form of the embodiment of FIG. 11;
FIG. 13 is a partial top view of still another embodiment of this invention showing curved plates;
FIG. 14 is a side view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 13;
FIG. 15 is a partial top view of another embodiment of this invention showing curved plates and indicating the direction of rotation of the plates relative to the Hall effect device;
FIG. 16 is a side view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 15;
FIG. 17 is a partial top view of another embodiment similar to the embodiment of FIG. 15 but showing two Hall effect devices;
FIG. 18 is a side view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 17;
FIG. 19 is a partial top view of another embodiment of this invention showing opposed circular plates in which the direction of rotation of the plates and magnets relative to the Hall effect device is shown;
FIG. 20 is a side view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 19;
FIG. 21 is a partial top view of another embodiment similar to the embodiment of FIG. 19 but having two Hall effect devices in use;
FIG. 22 is a side view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 21;
FIG. 23 is a top view of still another embodiment of this invention showing concentrically spaced plates with the direction of the rotation of the plates and connected magnets relative to the Hall effect device being illustrated;
FIG. 24 is a side view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 23;
FIG. 25 is a top view of another embodiment like the embodiment of FIG. 23 but utilizing two Hall effect devices;
FIG. 26 is a side view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 25;
FIG. 27 is a side view of still another embodiment of this invention illustrating the use of three parallel plates interconnecting by magnets;
FIG. 28 is an end view in sectionalized form of the embodiment of FIG. 27;
FIG. 29 is a side view in sectionalized form of a further embodiment of this invention in which the plate is of tubular form;
FIG. 30 is a partial top view of the embodiment of FIG. 29;
FIG. 31 is a schematic representation of the top view of yet another embodiment of a positional sensor of the present invention;
FIG. 32 is a front view of the positional sensor of FIG. 31;
FIG. 33 is a schematic representation of the top view of yet another embodiment of a positional sensor of the present invention;
FIG. 34 is a front view of the positional sensor of FIG. 33;
FIG. 35 is a graph showing in the horizontal axis the position of a magnetic flux responsive device and in the vertical axis a voltage output of the magnetic flux responsive device for a configuration of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 2-3 and a configuration of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 31-34;
FIG. 36 is a schematic representation of the top view of a portion of yet another embodiment of a positional sensor of the present invention;
FIG. 37 is a front view of the positional sensor of FIG. 36;
FIG. 38 is a schematic representation of the top view of a portion of yet another embodiment of a positional sensor of the present invention;
FIG. 39 is a front view of the positional sensor of FIG. 38;
FIG. 40 is a schematic representation of the top view of a portion of yet another embodiment of a positional sensor of the present invention; and
FIG. 41 is a front view of the positional sensor of FIG. 40.


A multi-level oiling device and process for a fuser system of an imaging apparatus in which the rate at which oil is applied to the fuser roll is controlled with respect to the need for oil. The rate of oil application can be controlled depending on the release characteristics of the media being printed and on the desired glossiness of the printed image. User entered and/or machine sensed data may be used in determining the need for oil application.

1. Related Applications
This application relates to contemporaneously filed applications Ser. No. 09/548,922, entitled "Constant Displacement Oil Web System and Method of Operating the Same", and Ser. No. 09/548,922, entitled "Multi-Level Oiling Device Drive Mechanism", both of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic imaging apparatus, and more particularly to a fuser oiling apparatus and the associated method involved with its use and operation.
3. Description of the Related Art
In an imaging apparatus, such as a laser printer using the electrophotographic process, an electrostatic image is created upon a photosensitive member, such as a roll or belt. Visible electroscopic marking particles, commonly referred to as toner, are applied to the electrostatic image on the photosensitive material. Thereafter, the toner is transferred to the desired media, which may include paper, transparency sheets or the like.
The toner image applied to the media is not permanent, however, until the toner is fixed by the application of heat. The toner is elevated in temperature sufficiently to cause constituents of the toner to become tacky, and flow into the pores or interstices between fibers of the media. Upon cooling, the toner again solidifies, causing the toner to adhere to the media. Pressure may be applied to enhance the flow of the toner, and thereby improve the subsequent bonding of the toner to the media.
Thermally fixing the electroscopic toner images commonly has been accomplished by passing the media, with the toner image thereon, through a nip formed by opposed rolls, at least one of which is heated internally. The heated roll, transferred thereafter elsewhere in the apparatus. The presence of wayward toner particles in the imaging apparatus can degrade the quality of the printed sheets.
To reduce sticking and toner offset to the fuser roll, fusers of the type described above commonly employ an apparatus for applying a release fluid to the surface of the fuser roll. The release fluid creates a weak boundary between the heated roll and the toner, thereby substantially minimizing the offset of toner to the fuser roll, which occurs when the cohesive forces in the toner mass are less than the adhesive forces between the toner and the fuser roll. Silicone oils having inherent temperature resistance and release properties suitable for the application are commonly used as release fluids. Polydimethylsiloxane is one such suitable silicone oil that has been used advantageously in the past.
Several methods and apparatuses have been used to supply oil to the fuser hot roll, including oil wicking systems, oil delivery rolls and oil webs. Oil wicking systems include reservoir tanks of the desired release agent or oil, and a piece of fabric wick material having one end mounted in the reservoir and the other end spring biased against the hot roll. Oil from the reservoir is drawn through the fabric wick by capillary action, and is deposited against the roll surface. While a wicking system can be effective in supplying oil to the fuser roll, surface deposit of the oil on the roll can be inconsistent, and the replenishment or replacement of the oil and/or system can be difficult and messy. Further, oil wicking systems can be designed only for a single oil delivery rate, determined by the rate of capillary action of the oil through the wick. By necessity, the delivery rate must be for the maximum oil demand for the print processes to be performed, and the media types to be used in the imaging apparatus. This can result in the over-application of oil under some conditions.
Oil delivery roll systems used in the past commonly include a roll nipped against the hot fuser roll, and either freely rotating against the fuser roll or driven against the fuser roll through a gear train. Oil delivered to the surface of the oil delivery roll is deposited on the hot fuser roll as the rolls rotate against each other. Various structures have been used for providing oil to the surface of the oil delivery roll, including reservoirs at the center of the roll, which may include a hollow tube filled with oil, providing oil to the surface through small tubes or via capillary action through the outer material. Felts or metering membranes may be used in the oil delivery roll to control the oil flow through the roll. Another style of oil delivery roll, referred to as a web-wrapped roll, includes high temperature paper or non-woven material saturated with oil, and wrapped around a metal core. Similarly to oil wicking systems, oil delivery rolls can be designed for a single delivery rate only, and can create excessive oil application under some operating conditions of the imaging apparatus.
Conventional oil web systems include a supply spool of web material, generally being a fabric of one or more layers saturated with the desired oil. Commonly, the web material is a non-woven fabric of polyester and aramid fibers, such as Nomex.RTM. manufactured by DuPont. A take-up spool is provided for receiving the used web. A web path, commonly including one or more guide rolls, extends from the supply spool to the take-up spool. A portion of the web path brings the web material into contact with the hot fuser roll, either by wrapping a portion of the web around the hot roll, or by utilizing a spring- loaded idler roll to nip the web material against the fuser roll. As the fuser roll rotates against the web in contact therewith, oil is transferred from the web to the fuser roll. Periodically, a drive mechanism for the take-up spool activates, rotating the spool and advancing web material from the supply spool to the take-up spool, thereby bringing a fresh section of web material into contact with the fuser roll.
Such conventional oil web systems can be used to deliver oil at a relatively constant rate with good uniformity. However, the oil flow is dependent on the amount of material brought into contact with the fuser roll over a given period of time. In oil web systems utilized heretofore, the simplified drive systems for the take-up roll have been operated for consistent durations at constant intervals throughout the life of the web system. Therefore, as spent material passes onto the take-up spool, and the diameter of the take-up spool increases, the linear length of material brought into contact with the fuser roll increases during each web advancement, thereby increasing the amount of oil deposited on the fuser roll.
An improved oil web system is described in our co-pending patent application entitled "Constant Displacement Oil Web System, And Method For Operating The Same" filed on even date herewith. In the improved system described therein, the problem of the incremental increase in the linear advancement of the web as the take-up spool diameter increases has been solved by adjustment of the drive mechanism operating cycle. However, the oil web system described therein also provides only a single oil application rate, regardless of the media type being printed. The design oil application rate must meet the maximum demand for oil required by the imaging apparatus design parameters, and can result in excess oil application under some conditions.
Excess oil on the fuser roll has undesirable effects. Since the paper passing through the fuser system generally carries away a portion of the oil deposited on the fuser roll, an excess amount of oil on the fuser roll, when picked up by the paper or other media, can cause an undesirable glossy appearance to the media. In duplexing systems, oil carried on the first printed side can be transferred to other areas of the imaging apparatus, when the media passes again through the apparatus for printing on the second side. Excessive amounts of oil deposited in other sections of the imaging apparatus can decrease print quality and otherwise produce undesirable operating effects. Additionally, unnecessary advancement of the web is wasteful, and shortens the useful life of the oiling system, necessitating replacement.
While excessive amounts of oil can result in problems and difficulties as mentioned above, controlling the amount of oil applied to the fuser roll can alter the appearance of the image on the printed sheet. It is often desirable that the printed image has glossiness similar to the glossiness of the media on which it is printed. Glossiness of the toner image is partially determined by the ease of release of the toner from the fuser roll. Therefore, if slightly more oil is applied to the fuser roll, a higher gloss can be achieved for the printed image as release of the toner from the fuser roll would be enhanced, and roughness of the toner image would be minimized. Conversely, if a duller or matte appearance is desired for the printed image, the use of slightly less oil on the fuser roll would result in a slightly increased tendency of the toner to adhere to the fuser roll, thereby creating the matte or dull look to the print. However, an adjustable oiling apparatus to control glossiness has not been available heretofore.
What is needed is a multi-level oiling device for an imaging apparatus fuser drum in which the application rate of oil can be varied, to more closely meet the requirements of the imaging apparatus operating conditions. More specifically, what is needed is an oil web system for an imaging apparatus in which the indexing increment length and frequency of the oil web can be varied to meet release demands of the media being processed, or the user preferences for printed appearance of the media.

Multi-level oiling device and process for a fuser system


The present invention is a class of circuits named asynchronous pulse logic (APL) circuit and designing methods for such circuits. APL replaces two of the four-phase handshakes in QDI circuits with pulses, thus breaking the timing dependencies that cause performance problems in QDI circuits. Since the pulse length in APL varies so little, it can be assumed constant. This assumption frees designers from needing to consider the effects of the inputs and outputs on the pulse length, which means timing properties can be verified locally. One embodiment of the present invention is a class of circuit design called the single-track-handshake-asynchronous-pulse-logic (STAPL), which serves as a new target for the compilation of CHP (Communication Hardware Process) programs. In one embodiment, a five-stage pulse generator is used to create a 10 transition count cycle circuit. Advantages of STAPL include a simplified solution to the charge-sharing problem and less loading from p-transistors.

Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to logical circuit design, and in particular the invention is directed to an asynchronous pulse logic circuit.
2. Background Art
VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) system design is the process of implementing and realizing a system specification, the architecture, as an electronic circuit. We shall assume that the architecture is given to us and that the fabrication is not our concern. Longtime tradition divides the design process into two stages beyond computer architecture: implementation of the architecture by a micro-architecture and realization of the micro-architecture by a physical circuit design. The border is an artificial demarcation drawn for political purposes. The VLSI border traditionally serves to separate high-level logical reasoning from electronic-circuit design, tasks usually performed by different people, or at least by different software systems.
From Physics to Computer Science
It has slowly been realized that, as Carver Mead suggested, VLSI system design contains aspects of both software design and electrical engineering. In VLSI, the imagination of the mathematician and enthusiasm of the programmer finally meet with the pragmaticism of the engineer. c, we are told, is the speed limit; xcex is the accuracy that we can build things with. But most of us would rather ignore the problems of others. So when we imagine and program a VLSI system, we do not allow c and xcex to constrain our imagination or to damp our enthusiasm. We design our systems as if c and xcex did not exist, and then we tell the engineer, xe2x80x9cImplement this.xe2x80x9d When the wafers return, we say that the poor performance is not our fault: we cannot be blamed for any failure to deal with c and xcex since we left this task to our friend, the engineer.
Asynchronous digital design
Poor performance is usually unacceptable for a VLSI system. Optimists have long studied asynchronous design techniques, hoping that they have found at least a partial solution to the design problem. While it is true that proponents of asynchronous design like claiming that asynchronous circuits offer speed and power advantages, the main advantage of asynchronous design is more subtle than these: it is the designer""s ability of easily composing circuits that operate at different points in the design space (characterized by speed, power, and design effort) without destroying the beneficial properties of any of the circuits.
A system is asynchronous if, in short, it does not use a clock for sequencing its actions. What unites all methods of asynchronous circuit design is that they all strive for making the speed of computing dependent on the operations that are being carried out. A slow operation is allowed to take longer than a fast one; the system continues to the next operation only once the previous one is completed. It is as if we could assemble a troika consisting of an Arabian, a Shetland pony, and a draught horse, without losing the useful qualities of the individual horses. If we should try this with real horses, the harness would act much as the clock does in a synchronous system and render the exercise pointless. But the asynchronous troika may be able to pull its load better than even a well-matched synchronous team,:because the horses are not harnessed together by the clock - the draught horse does not have to keep up with the Arabian, and we do not have to feed the big horses if we only have need for the pony. By allowing us to divide up a system into smaller, more independent pieces, the asynchronous design technique simplifies the large-system design problem.
Asynchronous design-styles
In a synchronous system, it is easy to know when a computation is done. When the clock edge arrives, we read out the results of the computation. If it is not finished by then, we say that the system is wrong and throw it on the trash heap. (Or - less violently - adjust the clock speed.) The computation must necessarily be done by the time the clock edge arrives, or else the synchronous model would not make sense.
In contrast, the chief difficulty in asynchronous design is knowing when a specific computation is done. If we encode data in the same way as in a synchronous system, e.g., using two""s-complement numbers, and start an operation, and the number xe2x80x9c5xe2x80x9d should appear on the result bus of our asynchronous system, how are we to know that it signifies the result of the present computation, and not of the previous? Worse, might it not be the bitwise combination of the results of the previous and current computations?
Bundled-data design
The early asynchronous computers were designed in what we shall call the bundled-data style. Designing in this style, the designer assumes that he can build a delay that matches whatever the delay is of the computation that he is really interested in. This matched delay is used as an xe2x80x9calarm clockxe2x80x9d that is started when xcex6(x) is started and that rings when we can be sure that xcex6(x) has been completely computed. The design style is called bundled data because the data travels in a xe2x80x9cbundlexe2x80x9d whose timing is governed by the control signal that we called the xe2x80x9calarm clock.xe2x80x9d As one might guess, arranging for the matched delay is the Achilles"" heel of the bundled-data style. If the delay is too short, the system will not work; if too long, then it will work slowly. Especially if computation times are data-dependent, the matched delay can easily become a designer""s nightmare. The matched delay mechanism""s working rests on a form of a priori knowledge of relative timing; we shall call making use of such knowledge a timing assumption.
Delay-insensitive design-styles
Originally conceived of at about the same time as the bundled-data design-style, delay- insensitive logic design attempts using the data bits themselves for sequencing. By making every input transition (change in logic level) cause, either in itself or within a cohort of input transitions, an output transition or a detectable pattern of output transitions, we can at least make interfaces between processes delay-insensitive.
Systems built using the delay-insensitive philosophy range from the speed-independent investigated by D. E. Muller in the 1950""s, which work under the assumption that all wire delays are negligible compared with the operator delays (which may be of any length), to the truly delay-insensitive, in which both operator delays and wire delays may be arbitrary. Martin has shown that, using a reasonable operator model, truly delay-insensitive systems are of little use; the work in our research group has mainly been within the quasi delay-insensitive (QDI) model, which is essentially Muller""s speed-independent model with information added for distinguishing between wires whose delays must be short compared with the operator delays and wires whose delays may be arbitrarily long.
Assembling a working system out of QDI parts is almost frighteningly easy: start from a correct sequential program, decompose it into communicating processes, compile these processes into circuits, put the pieces together, and everything works. The chief advantage of this design method is that once we have decomposed, the design style is completely modular: there is no implicit use of global information (i.e., no clock), and the different parts can be designed independently.
There is one difficulty with QDI design: the requirement that the circuits work properly even if all operator delays were to vary unboundedly is a difficult one to satisfy; our satisfying it involves inserting much circuitry whose only purpose is checking for the occurrences of transitions that we may know would in any case take place. We should say that QDI systems must still be designed xe2x80x9cwithin reasonxe2x80x9d: it is possible to make things not work by designing them very poorly; likewise, it still takes considerable work and skill to achieve good performance.
The present invention is a class of circuits named asynchronous pulse logic circuit (APL) and methods for designing such circuits.
The present invention is a design style that allows making use of limited amounts of timing information, i.e., limited use of timing assumptions, without destroying the most important, system-simplifying property of QDI design, namely that of the data""s carrying its own timing information. The present invention does this by replacing two of the four- phase (return-to-zero) handshakes in a QDI circuit with pulses, thus breaking the timing dependencies that are the source of the performance problems of QDI circuits. One object of the present invention is that of improving the performance of modular asynchronous systems so much that it becomes possible to use asynchronous techniques for implementing large systems that perform well, yet are easy to design.
The APL scheme of the present invention takes a simple approach: we use a single-track external handshake, and we minimize the number of timing assumptions at the interfaces between processes; internally, in contrast, we design the circuits so that they generate predictably timed internal pulses. This is a separation of concerns: most of the variable parts of an APL circuit (i.e., those parts that vary depending on what CHP is being implemented) are arranged so that their delays do not matter much for the correct operation of the circuit; conversely, the pulse generator, whose internal delays do matter for the correct operation of the circuit, does on the other hand not vary much.
This is a great benefit from the invariability of the pulse length: since the pulse length varies so little (this is a different way of saying that the pulse repeater has a high length-gain), we commit only a minor infraction if we assume that the length is constant. The simplifying power of this assumption can hardly be overstated: once we have assumed that the pulse length is given, we need only verify that the circuitry generating the pulse and the circuitry latching the pulse work properly given that pulse length, and - this is the important part - we need not consider the effects of the inputs and outputs on the pulse length. This means that we can verify our timing properties locally. In effect, we have reduced a problem consisting of verifying the properties of the solution to a system of N coupled nonlinear equations into one involving N uncoupled nonlinear equations: we have gone from a task that seems insurmountable to one that is (in theory at least) easy.
One embodiment of the present invention is a class of circuit design called the single- track-handshake-asynchronous-pulse-logic (STAPL) circuit. STAPL serves as a new target for the compilation of CHP (Communication Hardware Process) programs. In STAPL circuits, the acknowledgement and data reset phases of the four-phase handshake protocol are removed. In place of these two phases is pulse generating circuitry that regulates timing assumptions that ensure the proper functioning of the circuits without these two phases. STAPL circuits have requirements that set the maximum single-track hold time and minimum single-track setup time of nodes in the circuits and guarantee that the minimum single-track setup time is greater than or equal to the maximum single-track-hold time. In one embodiment, a five-stage pulse generator is used to create a 10 transition count circuit.
Embodiments of the present invention include essential circuitry such as arbiter, state-holding circuitry, buffers, conditional and unconditional communication components, all implemented in accordance to the STAPL design style.
An object of the present invention is to improve the ease of design in circuits. In terms of ease of design, STAPL circuits are shown to be as easy to design as their QDI counterparts. STAPL circuits are more sensitive to sizing. It is not clear how important this is for the designer, since QDI sizing must also be verified before fabrication.
Another object of the present invention is improved circuit performance. In terms of speed, STAPL circuits are undoubtedly faster than QDI circuits. An embodiment of the present invention is a microprocessor, called the SPAM processor, which demonstrates the gain in performance that can be achieved by using STAPL circuits. The embodiment shows that something as large as a microprocessor can be designed with circuits that all run at 10 transitions per cycle, whereas it would be very difficult to do so in less than 18 with only QDI circuits. The reason for the difference is that STAPL circuits remove many waits that are necessary for maintaining QDI protocols and replace them with timing assumptions. Furthermore, STAPL circuits load their inputs less than do QDI circuits, because they generally do not need the completion circuitry that is needed in QDI circuits. The SPAM processor parts that we have simulated run three times as fast as similar parts from the MiniMIPS, a well-known prior art microprocessor.
In terms of energy consumption, STAPL circuits have most of the paths that are present in QDI circuits. This is because the logic is the same and much of the output completion is the same. There is no input completion, nor are there acknowledge wires, but on the other hand, the QDI circuits do not have pulse generators. One metric of evaluation is to compare STAPL and QDI circuits using the Et2 metric. This metric captures the fact that by our varying the supply voltage of a CMOS circuit, any speed improvement can be traded for roughly twice that improvement in energy. Hence, conservatively estimating on testing circuits shows (E2E, tt/3) the improvement in Et2 of STAPL circuits by a factor of about five. To first order, the change in At2 would be about the same, where A is the area of the circuit.
Other advantages of STAPL circuits include a simplified solution to the charge-sharing problem and less loading from p-transistors (no input-completion circuitry in most cases, and even when it is present, it has no p-transistors).

Method and apparatus for an asynchronous pulse logic circuit


A charging port includes an inlet, a charging-in-progress lamp, and a communication-in-progress lamp. The inlet is configured to be connectable with a charging cable. During external charging by a charger, the charging-in-progress lamp indicates that external charging is being performed. Specifically, while the charging-in-progress lamp receives from a charging ECU a signal which indicates that external charging is being performed, the charging-in-progress lamp is lit. The communication-in-progress lamp is provided adjacently to the charging-in-progress lamp for indicating, while PLC-based communication by means of the charging cable is in progress, that PLC is being performed. Specifically, the communication-in-progress lamp is lit while the communication-in-progress lamp receives from the charging ECU a signal indicating that PLC is being performed.

Among vehicles that are chargeable by means of a charging cable from a power supply external to the vehicles, a vehicle is known that is capable of communicating with a device external to the vehicle by using, as a communication channel, a charging port to which a charging cable is connected as well as the charging cable.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2009-153015 (PTL 1) discloses a power line communication (hereinafter also referred to as "PLC") system using a charging cable. In this PLC system, in response to connection of a plug 20 of the charging cable to a receptacle external to a vehicle, a vehicle-mounted navigation system 15 and a user's personal computer at home are enabled to communicate data through the power line. While data communication is done between the home personal computer and the vehicle-mounted navigation system 15, a notification unit 25 of the plug 20 is controlled by the vehicle-mounted navigation system 15 to indicate the ratio of an amount of data having already been received by the vehicle-mounted navigation system 15.
According to this PLC system, whether or not data transmission between the vehicle-mounted device and the device external to the vehicle is close to completion can easily be confirmed by a user (see PTL 1).

Indication system for vehicle and vehicle having the same


An antenna system includes a ground plane including a first corner and a second corner that are positioned along a first common edge. A first antenna element is disposed at the first corner of the ground plane and includes a first slot. A second antenna element is disposed at the second corner of the ground plane and includes a second slot. The first antenna element and the second antenna element are fed with an electromagnetic signal and the electromagnetic signal at the first antenna element is approximately 90 degrees shifted from the signal at the second antenna element. The first antenna element and the second antenna element form an antenna structure, and the antenna structure transmits circularly polarized radiation.

The deployment of cellular networks, satellite networks and other wireless networks has greatly expanded the use of mobile wireless communication devices. Whether a wireless communication device is a handheld device or a vehicle mounted device, there is an interest in making the devices small so that they can be conveniently carried or accommodated in small spaces.
Advances, by many orders of magnitude, in the degree of integration and miniaturization of electronics over the past few decades have facilitated extreme miniaturization of transceiver electronic circuits. However, the methods and means used to miniaturize electronic circuits cannot always be applied to miniaturize antennas because antennas operate under the principles of Maxwell's equations, which, roughly speaking, stipulate that if antenna efficiency is to be preserved, the size of the antenna must be scaled according to the wavelength of the carrier frequency of the wireless signals that are to be received and/or transmitted.
Compounding the challenge of reducing antennas size is that for many wireless communication devices, the antenna system needs to support operation at multiple frequencies, for instance, in multiple relatively wide frequency bands. However, using separate antennas to support separate operating frequencies has also led to difficulty in reducing the space occupied by the antenna system.
In addition, other antenna systems have attempted to transmit circularly polarized radiation. Unfortunately, these systems have not been able to be successfully miniaturized, for at least the reason that individual antenna element bandwidth and efficiency are reduced upon miniaturization and, furthermore, elements forming a system have not been able to be properly isolated, thereby degrading system performance.
Thus, there exists a need for low profile antenna systems, which address at least some of the shortcomings of past and present techniques.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of various embodiments. In addition, the description and drawings do not necessarily require the order illustrated. Apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the various embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Thus, it will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, common and well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment may not be depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments.

Low profile antenna pair system and method


A projection height measuring method measures the height of a projection having a conical shape, formed on the surface of a workpiece. The area having the projection is imaged at an angle of depression. A projection area is extracted by classifying an area in the image into a bright area, a dark area and an intermediate area. From these, an area composed of the bright area and the dark area indicates the projection area, and the intermediate area indicates the work area. The length of the bottom surface diameter the length of a generatrix of the projection area are determined. The height of the projection is calculated based on the two lengths and the angle of depression.

On the circuit board and the LSI chip such as a ball grid array (BGA), a number of projections such as minute bumps are provided so as to be used as electrodes for wiring. To measure the height of the projection formed on the surface of a certain workpiece in this manner is important when confirming that the projection having dimensions meeting the specification is formed for each lot. Particularly, when there is a variation in the dimensions of a number of projections formed on the circuit board and the LSI chip as the electrodes for wiring, this might cause an unfavorable electric contact, so that it is necessary to measure the height of the individual projection at a stage of quality inspection before shipping.
Herein, as the conventional method for measuring the height of such a projection, by imaging an area on the surface of the workpiece including the projection, which is an object to be measured, and performing a binary step based on brightness values in the image as obtained, the area in the image is classified into a bright area and a dark area, and by regarding the area in the image composed of the dark area as a projection area corresponding to the projection, and regarding an area composed of the bright area as a work area corresponding to the workpiece, the projection area is extracted, and the height of the projection is calculated based on the projection area.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2005-61953

Projection height measuring method, projection height measuring apparatus and program


Systems and methods for storing a cable are provided. The casing may be configured to naturally coil and to uncoil when one or more forces are applied to the casing. The casing may include an opening that may lead to a channel that may run longitudinally through a length of the casing. At least a portion of the cable (e.g., a headphone cable or in-ear earphone cable) may be stored in the casing by longitudinally aligning the cable with the casing, and inserting various portions of the cable through the opening and into the channel.

Many listening devices broadcast music supplied from an electronic device. In particular, many headphones, in-ear earphones, and other wired listening devices include a main cable that couples to an electronic device (e.g., via an audio jack) and left and right channel cables coupled to speaker units (e.g., in-ear earbuds, headphone speakers, etc.). When the main cable is coupled to an electronic device that is supplying media (e.g., music), respective left and right channel sound may be transmitted via the main cable to the corresponding left and right channel cables and speaker units. In this manner, a user may enjoy listening to media without broadcasting the supplied media directly to the user's environment. However, one or more of the main cable and left and right channel cables may tangle and/or knot (e.g., when a user puts the listening device in a pocket or a bag), making it difficult to quickly use the listening device when desired. Such tangling and/or knotting may frustrate the user and may waste the user's time as the user attempts to untangle the listening device.


A method and system for searching for points of interest along a route is disclosed. A relation that includes records that associate link identifiers, point of interest identifiers, and distances between the links and the points of interest is generated during the compilation process of a first version of a geographic database. The relation is stored in compiled database products. When a compiled database product is being used by a navigation system, for example, navigation application software programs use the relation to accurately and efficiently find points of interest along a computed route.

Navigation systems are available that provide end users (such as drivers and passengers of the vehicles in which the in-vehicle navigation systems are installed) with various navigation-related functions and features. For example, some navigation systems are able to determine an optimum route to travel by roads between locations in a geographic region. Using input from the end user, and optionally from equipment that can determine one's physical location (such as a GPS system), a navigation system can examine various routes between two locations to determine an optimum route to travel from a starting location to a destination location in a geographic region.
The navigation system may then provide the end user with information about the optimum route in the form of guidance that identifies the driving maneuvers required to be taken by the end user to travel from the starting location to the destination location. The guidance may take the form of visual and/or audio instructions that are provided along the way as the end user is traveling the route. Some navigation systems are able to show detailed maps on computer displays outlining routes to destinations, the types of maneuvers to be taken at various locations along the routes, locations of certain types of features, and so on.
Some navigation systems can also search for points of interest (POIs) along a computed route. POIs are locations that may be of interest to a user of a navigation system. For example, POIs include hotels, restaurants, museums, stadiums, airports, hospitals, parks, and so on.
The navigation system may perform a spatial search to generate a list of POIs along the route. The spatial search finds all POIs that are within a certain Euclidean distance from any link of the calculated route. While a spatial search is efficient, it is inaccurate because it does not consider topology.
To overcome the problems associated with a spatial search, the navigation system may use topological relationships to obtain a more exact list of POIs along the route. For example, the navigation system could use the Dijkstra algorithm for each link in the route and report all POIs that are found while exploring the neighborhood of the links. The Dijkstra algorithm stops either after a certain amount of POIs have been reported or after exploring all links within a distance from any link of the route. While this approach is more accurate, it is much more time consuming and difficult to implement.
In order to provide these and other navigating functions, navigation systems use geographic data. The geographic data may be in the form of one or more databases that include data that represent physical features in a geographic region. The geographic database may include data representing the roads and intersections in a geographic region and also may include information relating to the represented roads and intersections in the geographic region, such as turn restrictions at intersections, speed limits along the roads, street names of the various roads, address ranges along the roads, and so on.

System and method for searching for points of interest along a route


The invention provides anti-idiotypic HCMV antibodies as well as methods of using the same.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a β-herpesvirus and is also known as human herpesvirus-5 (HHV-5). Other species of cytomegalovirus (CMV) exist which infect additional mammals such as murine CMV (MCMV), guinea pig CMV (GPCMV), simian CMV (SCCMV), rhesus CMV (rhCMV) and chimpanzee CMV (CCMV). HCMV is a common herpesvirus that infects nearly 50% of the U.S. population. For the vast majority of human infected individuals, HCMV infection is asymptomatic. However, in conditions of illness, and immune suppression (e.g., HIV infection, drug-induced immune suppression in transplant patients) HCMV reactivation or primary infection causes a variety of clinical manifestations such as mononucleosis, hepatitis, retinitis, pneumonia, blindness and organ failure. In addition, in the setting of pregnancy, the acquisition of primary CMV infection, though of little consequence to the mother, can have severe clinical consequences in the developing fetus.
Congenital HCMV infection is of particular importance as many children born to mothers infected during pregnancy become infected in utero and suffer devastating clinical disease. In the United States and Europe, 126,000 women have primary HCMV infection during pregnancy and approximately 40,000 of the babies born to these mothers have congenital infection. In the U.S., 1 in 750 children are born with or develop disabilities due to HCMV infection, including: mental retardation, hearing loss, vision loss, organ defects, and growth defects. Congenital HCMV infection is the most common infectious cause of fetal abnormalities. After primary infection of a pregnant woman has occurred, there is currently no approved therapy for the prevention or treatment of fetal infection.
In 2005, Nigro and colleagues published a study in which human CMV hyperimmune globulin (HIG) was administered to expectant mothers with primary HCMV infection (Nigro et al. (2005) New Engl. J. Med. 353:1350-1362). In one arm of the study only 1 of the 31 infants born to HCMV-infected mothers were born with disease while 7/14 (50%) of children born to untreated women were born with HCMV disease. Id.
During pregnancy, HCMV can spread from the infected mother to the fetus via the placenta. The placenta, which anchors the fetus to the uterus, contains specialized epithelial cells, stromal fibroblast cells, endothelial cells, and specialized macrophages. The HCMV viral surface contains various viral glycoprotein complexes that have been shown to be required for infection of the specific cell types found in the placenta. A complex of CMV glycoproteins containing gH/gL and UL128, UL130 and UL131 (herein referred to as "Complex I") is specifically required for infection of endothelial cells, epithelial cells and macrophages. A complex of CMV glycoproteins containing gH/gL and g0 (herein referred to as "Complex II") is specifically required for infection of fibroblasts. HIG has been shown to block viral entry into all four of the placental cell types that are susceptible to HCMV infection.
Due to the difficulty of preparing and widely distributing HIG and the reluctance of physicians and the medical community to use human blood products, particularly in pregnant women, it would be most beneficial to create a composition comprising a monoclonal antibody or monoclonal antibodies that could protect fetuses from congenital HCMV infection. No monoclonal antibody composition to date has been developed for the prevention of maternal-fetal transmission of CMV. Lanzavecchia and Macagno have disclosed naturally-occurring antibodies that were isolated from the immortalized B cells of infected patients that bind to a conformational epitope resulting from the combination of UL130 and UL131 or a combination of UL128, UL130 and UL131 that neutralizes CMV transmission (U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2008/0213265 and 2009/0081230). Shenk and Wang have disclosed antibodies that bind to proteins of Complex I (U.S. Pat. No. 7,704,510). Funaro et al. also disclose neutralizing antibodies to CMV in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010-0040602. Additionally, an anti-gH monoclonal antibody, MSL-109 was tested in humans in two patient populations, allogenic bone marrow transplant recipients and patients with AIDS and CMV retinitis (Drobyski et al., Transplantation 51:1190-1196 (1991); Boeckh et al., Biol. Blood Marrow Transplant. 7:343-351 (2001); and Borucki et al., Antiviral Res. 64:103-111 (2004) without success.
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/248,998, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses humanized anti-HCMV monoclonal antibodies. Antibodies disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 13/248,998 were shown to have neutralizing potency comparable to human immunoglobulin from patients infected with HCVM (HIG) for inhibiting infection on fibroblasts, epithelial cells, endothelial cells and macrophages. These antibodies are useful, for example, for the prevention, inhibition and/or treatment of HCMV infection, congenital HCMV infection and infection of patients through HCMV-infected transplanted tissues.
There is a need in the art to detect therapeutic humanized monoclonal antibodies to HCMV in biological samples and/or clinical samples without also detecting other antibodies directed or not directed to HCMV (e.g., endogenous immunoglobulins). The invention provides anti-idiotypic antibodies that specifically detect certain anti-HCMV antibodies. These antibodies are useful, for example, in pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic studies and for the quantification and monitoring of therapeutic anti-HCMV antibodies in patients.


An improved structure of reflective warning triangle which has many holes inside the triangle for plugging in the bright red LED's, said reflective warning triangle having a reflecting plate and a transparent plate together. Said reflective warning triangle has tight washers to seal the holes containing the LED's to achieve the goal of a water-proof device. The LED's are series-parallel connected six by six so as to keep the reflective warning triangle of the present invention shining even when part of the circuit is short-circuited.

The present invention relates to a simple three-dimensional and two-sided reflective warning triangle which is eye-catching, mobile, water-proof and easily preserved. The present invention provides an improved warning sign for a car accident, a broken-down car, or a roadblock.
The prior art warning triangle comprises a single-side plane triangle which is combined with three plates and a cross. Since the surface of which is glued with reflector paper or painted with reflector paint, the distance of reflection of the prior art reflective warning triangle is limited. Therefore, it is dangerous to use such warning triangle as the warning sign during a foggy, rainy evening.
Thus it can be seen that an improved, two-sided, three-dimensional and large sized warning triangle is needed. The present invention, which is easy to assemble and dismantle, is in the aforesaid structure. The present invention reflects further than the prior art warning sign. The mobile, water-proofed reflective warning triangle will not stop being visible even if part of the circuit is short-circuited.


This invention relates to methods of preserving the integrity of peptides in the gut. In particular it concerns the use of certain compounds as inhibitors of gut proteases. Compounds identified as having gut protease inhibitory activity are biguanides, certain bile acids and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of these compounds. This activity makes these compounds useful for co-administration with prophylactic or therapeutic peptides. This invention relates to methods of inhibiting gut proteases and peptide formulations comprising these gut protease inhibitor.

The following discussion of the background art is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. The discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to is or was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application.
Peptides, and in particular polypeptides such as proteins, are increasingly becoming recognised as desirable agents for the treatment of diseases manifesting in the gut (gastrointestinal tract). Protein therapeutics are often based on natural products with a long history of medicinal use, which have a higher safety profile than small molecules that have been newly synthesised and whose effects on the body are largely unknown. Also, proteins can exhibit a high degree of specificity and selectivity, and at the same time can be designed to take advantage of their large size to display multi-functionality, enabling them to interact concurrently with two or more different targets.
Proteins with antioxidant activity, such as superoxide dismutase, are examples of such therapeutic applications. Other examples are monoclonal antibodies, which can act as anti-infectives by binding to sites on infectious organisms invading the gut. Alternatively, such antibodies can bind to receptor sites on intestinal cells, and interfere with adhesion processes and the colonisation of infectious organisms. In addition, these antibodies can interact with cells of the immune system to stimulate their activity in combating infectious diseases. Other types of therapeutic peptides include peptide hormones, such as appetite suppressing agents.
One important drawback to the use of peptides in the intestine is their extreme sensitivity to gut proteases. These proteases can be found both in the stomach (e.g. pepsin), and in the upper intestine, and have evolved to enable the digestive tract to break down peptides ingested as food, by proteolysis, into amino acids which can be taken up as nutrients by receptor-mediated mechanisms.
If the intended site of action of a therapeutic or prophylactic peptide is the small intestine, then the peptide can be protected from breakdown in the stomach by placing it inside an enteric-coated capsule, tablet or other device which resists dissolution at the low pH found in the stomach, but disintegrates at higher pH to release the peptide into the small intestine, e.g. the duodenum, jejunum or ileum. However, the action of the proteases found in the small intestine (in particular the serine proteases, trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase and carboxypeptidase) is such that they can rapidly break down and destroy peptides once they have been released from such a device. This clearly limits the efficacy of orally administered therapeutic peptides, and a means of preventing their degradation by proteases would markedly enhance their performance.
Although there are many agents acting as protease inhibitors that are known to those skilled in the art, few, if any, are appropriate for this particular application. Most known inhibitors, e.g. antipain, leupeptin, are used for research purposes only, and are not acceptable for human administration. Some inhibitors, e.g diisopropyl fluorophosphate or phenylmethyl sulphonyl fluoride have a high degree of potency, but display a very broad specificity, so there is a risk of their exerting their action in undesirable parts of the body, in addition to the gut. On the other hand, other inhibitors, such as the new class of protease inhibitors employed in the treatment of HIV, are so selective in the nature of the proteases they inhibit that they have no effect on serine proteases in the gut. Two serine protease inhibitors that have been administered to humans are aprotinin and soybean trypsin inhibitor. However; these are relatively expensive to synthesise, and would have to be included in a medicament at such high levels that the cost of the final product would prohibit the manufacture of a medicament for routine daily use.
The present invention seeks to address or at least ameliorate one or more the problems associated with prior art devices.

Bile acids and biguanides as protease inhibitors for preserving the integrity of peptides in the gut


There is provided a system and method for initialization of media asset modules for an improved execution sequence on a playback environment. The system includes a player application configured to segment media assets associated with a primary media content into a plurality of asset modules, assemble the plurality of asset modules into a media file, identify a first subset of asset modules from the plurality of asset modules for loading in a first loading process, determine a loading sequence for the first subset of asset modules, and load the first subset of asset modules according to the loading sequence before beginning playback of the primary media content. The player application may be further configured to identify, determine another loading sequence for, and load additional asset modules after playback of the primary media content has begun.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the presentation of media content on a playback environment. More particularly, the present invention relates to the initialization of media assets on a playback environment.
2. Background Art
Initial loading of media assets from an optical storage medium, such as Blu-ray Disc™ optical discs, for example, into a playback environment, such as a Blu-ray Disc player, is well known in the art. Blu-ray Disk is a trademark owned by the Blu-ray Disk Association (BDA) in the United States and other jurisdictions. For example, a Blu-ray Disc player may be configured to load all media assets from an inserted media disc before giving the user the ability to playback the primary media content stored on the media disc, e.g. a feature film or other movie content. By loading all of the media assets from the media disc into the disc player memory, the disc player ensures that the user may not be required to spend additional time waiting for assets to load after the disc player begins allowing the user access to the interactive contents on the media disc. By loading all media assets from the media disc initially, the remainder of the user's experience in enjoying the primary media content may proceed with minimal media, asset loading interruptions.
Unfortunately, loading all assets from a high density Blu-ray Disc or other high-definition (HD) optical disc, for example, into a disc player memory at initialization may result in a significant waiting period before the user can begin to enjoy the primary media content. It may be typical for this wait period to last three or more minutes before a typical HD optical disc player finishes loading all available media assets from the media disc into the media disc player memory. That delay, over which the user has no control, may be a substantial source of frustration for the user, thereby reducing user enjoyment.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by reducing media playback initiation time on a playback environment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for initialization of media asset modules for improved execution sequence on a playback environment


The present invention relates to a device for measuring an electric current generated by an acoustic amplifier in order to actuate an acoustic speaker comprising:                a resistor (1) positioned in series between the amplifier and the speaker;        a voltage-to-current converter (3), the inputs of which are connected to the terminals of the resistor (1), and which proportionally converts the difference in voltage across the terminals of the shunt to a signal current;        a first current mirror (7), the input of which is connected to the output of the voltage-to-current converter (3) and the output of which is connected to        a current-to-voltage converter (5);        a constant bias current generator (9) connected to an input of the voltage-to-current converter (3) and the output of which is connected to the current-to-voltage converter (5) via a second current mirror (11), and capable of generating a bias current such that the device operates in linear mode and without saturation regardless of the electric current generated by the acoustic amplifier.

Some embodiments relate to a device for measuring an electric current generated by an acoustic amplifier in order to actuate an acoustic speaker.
In the field of electroacoustics and, more particularly, of generating sound by converting an electrical signal to an acoustic wave through the use of speakers, it is important to have precise knowledge of the electric current consumed by these speakers, i.e. the instantaneous current of the electrical signal supplying power to the speakers.
Specifically, as for any energy conversion, this electrical-to-acoustic conversion generates heat and it is therefore necessary to verify that the heat generated remains below a predetermined threshold. This parameter is particularly important in professional speakers intended to fill large spaces with sound, since the amounts of energy used are substantial. The dissipated power is proportional to the square of the RMS amplitude/current of the electrical signal. Thus, knowing how much current is consumed makes it possible to work out the dissipated power and hence how much heat is emitted.
This precise knowledge of the current also has other applications, such as precise knowledge of the impedance of the speakers as a function of the frequency and the detection of the loudspeakers.
In order to measure this electrical signal current, related art techniques use a specialized differential amplifier including a resistor at input (a shunt for measuring the current) allowing a current to be converted to a potential difference.
However, this type of current detection amplifier is intrinsically sensitive to the common mode voltage present on the measurement shunt and therefore necessitates the use of a costly high-precision differential amplifier if the levels of precision required in electroacoustics are to be attained.

Device for measuring an electric current generated by an acoustic amplifier in order to actuate an acoustic speaker


Various implementations include a linear bushing and a bushing housing assembly that allows the linear bushing to be accessed and replaced without removing the bushing housing assembly from a machine in which it is installed. In particular, the assembly includes a hinged bushing housing that opens to allow removal and replacement of the linear bushing. The housing also provides for easy alignment and secure placement of the linear bushing and is more easily accessible to an operator than current bushings and bushing housings. Thread or other fibers may be run through the bushing's longitudinal channel, which serves as a guide for the thread or fibers. In addition, the bushing and housing assembly may be installed in a textile machine or other types of machines that use linear bushings.

Linear bushings are used in textile equipment to guide threads and fibers through the textile equipment. The linear bushings may include straight cylindrical bushings and split bushings, which have a longitudinal split extending along the length thereof. Bushings are typically installed in a housing that is installed within a textile machine to keep the bushings in the appropriate orientation and prevent inadvertent movement.
Current bushing housing assemblies are typically formed as one piece or in two pieces. For current one piece housings, the operator may have to remove or replace the housing when the bushing wears out if the bushing is not removable from the housing. For current two piece housings, the separate portions are typically held together by screws, which require the operator to remove the housing to access the screws or require the screws to be accessed through tight spaces in the machine. This can be very cumbersome and time consuming.
Accordingly, an improved housing and bushing assembly are needed.

Linear bushing and bushing housing assemblies and methods


A method for displaying an access path between a virtual volume of a storage controller that has an external storage connecting function, and an external volume of an external storage system. By this method, port connection information about an access path defined between the virtual volume and the external volume is collected. A first network address for identifying an access port of the storage controller on the access path is collected. Also, a second network address for identifying an access port of the external storage system on the access path is collected. Moreover, identification information for identifying the external volume is collected. Finally, the network topology between the virtual volume and the external volume is displayed based on the port connection information, the first network address, the second network address, and the identification information.

The present invention relates to a network topology display method, a management server, and a computer program product.
Governments, public offices, local public authorities, corporations, educational institutions, and other organizations manage data by using comparatively large-scale storage systems in order to deal with great amounts of various data. A storage system is composed of, for example, a disk array apparatus. The disk array apparatus is configured by allocating a large number of storage devices in arrays and provides, for example, storage areas based on RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent/Inexpensive Disks). Lately, with the dissemination of the SAN (Storage Area Network) environment, integration of storage systems is accelerating rapidly. In the SAN environment, a plurality of storage systems is connected via high-speed FC (Fibre Channel) switches to a plurality of host computers, and an operation management function is required for the easy management of the SAN configuration, early detection of failures, and ensuring security via prompt response and appropriate access control. Japanese Patent Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication Nos. 2003-316671, 2003-141054, and 2004-254270 are known as examples of techniques for managing the network configuration of the SAN environment.

Network topology display method, management server, and computer program product


An exercise assembly designed to exercise the upper body including the arms, shoulders, upper back and muscles associated therewith. The exercise assembly is thereby particularly, but not exclusively, adapted for use by an injured person or invalid having limited use of the legs and/or lower torso. A track assembly includes two track segments disposed in a convergent configuration and at least partially defining an open end dimensioned to receive a user, when in a seated, substantially upright position, at least partially therebetween. The user accesses two hand grips each linearly and reciprocally along the separate track segments. A resistance assembly includes a line interconnecting the hand grips and an adjustable resistance mechanism engaging the line so as to apply a movement restricting force thereto. An adjustable resistance is thereby applied to the linear, push/pull movement of the hand grips, as applied by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to an exercise assembly for working the upper body and is specifically, but not exclusively, intended for use by an invalid or other mobility limited individual, such as when seated in a wheelchair or other support. Hand grips are accessible to and linearly movable by the individual in a push/pull manner, along a track assembly configured to provide the intended motion to the hands, arms, shoulders, etc. of the user. A movement restricting force is applied to the hand grips so as to vary the amount of force required of the user in moving the hand grips.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern day society routine exercise has become increasingly popular as a means to lose weight, maintain muscles and provide for better overall health. Numerous exercise devices are currently available to an individual, depending upon the goals one wishes to attain. In addition to common, cardiovascular exercises such as running, jogging, walking, the exercise industry has developed numerous machines and exercise equipment. Such known devices are designed and structured to exercise the entire body by the performance of various prescribed exercise procedures. In addition, specialized exercise devices are available which are structured to concentrate on certain parts of a person's body.
Before the existence of present technological advancements, perhaps the most common exercise equipment comprised "free weights". As such, a plurality of different barbells and like free weight structures were used in combination with specific exercises in an effort to develop the arms, legs, shoulders and various other parts of the human body. However, for years free weights and a majority of the exercise equipment which was made commercially available was designed for individuals having the full use of their entire body. Except recently, relatively few exercise machines or like equipment was available for use by individuals with some type of physical handicap. More specifically, individuals suffering from spinal cord injuries and having lost the use of the legs or lower part of the body are typically restricted to travel by means of a wheel chair or like manual or motorized propulsion device. Further, such individuals were significantly restricted from using conventional, full body or specialized exercise equipment which was originally intended for use by individuals not having a physical handicap.
Because of the recognized need of the handicapped for exercise and/or therapy, there currently exists numerous exercise machines, specialized devices and like equipment which are specifically intended for use by physically challenged individuals. Such individuals commonly have the free use of the arms, hands, shoulders, and upper torso above the waist. However, it has recently been determined that a significant amount of the currently and commercially available exercise devices intended for the handicapped provide a type of exercise which is less than totally beneficial. By way of example, the majority of the restricted exercise equipment are designed to provide "arm cranking" or other arm exercise procedures in order to develop and maintain and rehabilitate the muscles of the upper part of the body. Unfortunately, participation in these activities have been associated with increased incidences of upper extremity injuries and pain. Moreover, medical professionals have suggested that the movement pattern and muscle utilization involved in these arm cranking or continuous rotational movements involve an excessive shoulder pressing action in an internally rotated position. The result is the production of an unbalanced stress and a repetitive use syndrome.
To the contrary, several pieces of conventional and existing exercise equipment not capable of being used by invalids or other physically restricted individuals offer a lower body cycling motion concurrently with a reciprocal press/pull arm action. Such devices include various exercise bicycles and elliptical runner systems. The action provided with such systems is further characterized by linear hand movement. These systems provide a much greater shoulder range of motion than the rotational arm cranking procedure as described above. In addition shoulder extension resulting from pulling the arm past the mid-line of the body is also extremely beneficial. The muscles involved in such pulling actions include the latisimus dorsi, rhomboids, rear deltoid and rotator cuff muscles. Obviously, persons with significant torso disabilities are not able to use such system. As a result, the aforementioned muscle groupings are typically under developed and without significant resting tone when the user is restricted to a wheel chair.
Accordingly, there is a significant need in the exercise industry for an exercise assembly specifically, but not exclusively, intended for use by handicapped individuals of the type set forth above. Such an improved exercise assembly should be able to provide linearly directed push/pull motions of the arms, shoulders, etc. rather than the aforementioned arm cranking motion. Also, a preferred exercise assembly should be readily adaptable in terms of positioning, dimensioning and overall structural configuration for use by individuals who are primarily oriented in a seated but substantially upright position, such as when the individual is supported in a wheel chair. Moreover, a preferred and improved exercise and rehabilitation device should be structured to provide linear and reciprocal action arm movement while in a seated position.