The disclosure generally relates to a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing circuit having a controllable pore size and a lower membrane capacitance and noise floor relative to biological nanopore devices. For example, design principles used to fabricate a fin-shaped field effect transistor (FinFET) may be applied to form, on a first wafer, a nanopore that has a desired pore size in a silicon-based membrane. Electrodes and an interconnect embedded with an amplifier and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) may be formed on a separate second wafer, wherein the first wafer and the second wafer may then be bonded and further processed to form a sensing device that includes appropriate wells and pores to be used in a DNA sequencing circuit.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), sometimes called the "blueprint of life", is a molecule that stores biological information. DNA has a basic structure that consists of two biopolymer strands, which are coiled around one another to form a double helix. Each strand is a polynucleotide that includes various nucleotides, which include cytosine ("C"), guanine ("G"), adenine ("A"), and thymine ("T"). Each nucleotide in one DNA strand may be bonded to a paired nucleotide in the other strand, thereby forming a base pair. Generally, cytosine and guanine are paired to form a "G-C" or "C-G" base pair, and adenine and thymine are paired to form an "A-T" or "T-A" base pair. Although the structure of DNA is now known, new methods to analyze individual DNA molecules are still being developed. Generally, the analysis includes "reading" the nucleotide sequence of a particular DNA strand. In one method, known as nanopore DNA sequencing, a nanopore is immersed in a conductive fluid, and a voltage is applied across the nanopore. As a result, ions are conducted through the nanopore, thereby generating a measurable electric current. A DNA strand is then transmitted through a nanopore, one nucleotide at a time. The presence of a nucleotide within the nanopore disrupts the conduction of the ions, thereby causing a change in the electric current. Moreover, the change in electrical current due to a particular nucleotide differs from the change in electrical current due to other nucleotides. Accordingly, an entire DNA strand can be transmitted through the nanopore and each nucleotide in the strand can be identified based on the change in current. Over time, the changes in electric current result in a DNA sensing signal reflecting the nucleotide sequence in a DNA strand.
As nanopore DNA sequencing improves, new challenges are presented. For example, although biological nanopores have shown promising experimental results to sequence single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), these protein pores have a constant pore size and lack stability. In addition, biological nanopores suffer from the fragility of traditional supported lipid membranes and a high membrane capacitance (˜50 femtofarads). The membrane capacitance may reduce the maximum cutoff frequency and thus limit the bandwidth associated with the DNA sensing signal in addition to increasing a noise component. As a result, new technologies are needed to further improve nanopore-based DNA sensing devices.

Noise improvement in DNA sequencing circuit by FinFET-like nanopore formation


A strokes litter victim harness includes a harness, a plurality of connectors, and a stokes litter. The harness is adjustably attached with the stokes litter by the plurality of connectors. The harness, which includes a bottom panel, a top leg panel, a left leg opening, and a right leg opening, provides the necessary support to the victim's body when the victim is transported from one location to another. Many different straps of the harness allow the operator of the stokes litter victim harness to adjust the left leg opening, the right leg opening, and other related spacing so that the victim can be secured within the harness.

A stokes litter basket is used during rescue operations so that a victim can be safely transported from one location to another. If the victim suffers back injuries or neck injuries, extra precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of the victim so that further injuries may not occur during transportation. In most incidents, the victim's body moves inside the stokes litter basket during transportation, which creates more complications for the existing injuries.
It therefore an objective of the present invention to introduce a stokes litter and a harness, where the harness prevents any kind of movement of the victim within the stokes litter, so that the victim's body can be safely transported. The harness secures the victim's body from the shoulder area, waist area, and leg area, and the stokes litter stabilizes the harness by a plurality of adjustable connectors. The harness can firmly attach with stokes litter or a backboard with the plurality of adjustable connectors where the harness can be interchangeable and to completely secured within either the stokes litter or the backboard. The harness is designed with many different adjustable straps so that the harness can be adjusted according to different types of body structures.


A power converter in a powered device (PD) of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) system and a control method are provided. The power converter includes a transformer, a PD interface, a primary-side controller and a detecting circuit. The PD interface receives an input voltage to determine a PoE protocol type of the input voltage, so as to generate a first power type signal. The primary-side controller receives the first power type signal to adjust a primary-side control signal, wherein a primary-side switch is controlled by the primary-side control signal. The detecting circuit detects a mapping signal generated in a secondary-side winding according to the primary-side control signal to generate a second power type signal, wherein the second power type signal indicates the PoE protocol type of the input voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power converting technology, in particular, to a power converter in Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) system and control method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
The PoE technology can transport power and data to the corresponding electronic device through the twisted pair cable in Ethernet. The PoE technology mainly is divided into power sourcing equipment (PSE) and powered device (PD). Currently in the art, the PoE technology mainly takes two communication protocols. One PoE communication protocol is IEEE 802.3 AF. This PoE communication protocol at the PSE provides a direct-current (DC) power with a voltage of 44V to 57V and a current of about 350 mA and the PD can obtain the power of at least 12.95 W through the cable of CAT-3. Another PoE communication protocol is IEEE 802.3 AT. This PoE communication protocol can be compatible with the foregoing 802.3 AT but also provides a direct-current (DC) power with a voltage of 50V to 57V and a current of about 600 mA, and the PD can obtain the power of at least 25.5 W through the cable of CAT-5. Therefore, the PSE using IEEE 802.3 AF is called type-1 power system and the PSE using IEEE 802.3 AT is called type-2 power system. The PD can recognize the power system type used by the PSE from the input voltage.
When implementing the PoE technology, to allow the control circuit at the secondary side of transformer in the PSE to obtain that the input voltage received at the primary side of transformer is belonging to type-1 power system or type-2 power system, the optical coupler is usually taken to transmit a signal, which is used to determine as the type-1 power system or the type-2 power system, from the primary side of the transformer to the control circuit at the secondary-side. However, the optical coupler is easily broken due to the internal LED source, and manufacturers intend to take another way to implement the power converter in the PoE technology.

Power converter in powered device of power-over-ethernet system and control method thereof

SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC


A seal includes a polymeric jacket defining a seal surface and an inner cavity extending within the polymeric jacket along a length of the polymeric jacket. The seal further includes a spring extending within the inner cavity and including a plurality of laser cut spring elements. The seal can be disposed between a static component and a rotatable component.

Springs are used in a variety of industries to apply force in a particular direction. In particular, springs are used in seal applications to energize sealing material into contact with a surface and to promote formation of a seal between parts moving relative to one another. Springs useful in such seals can include helically round ribbon or folded flat stock springs.
Folded flat stock springs are conventionally formed through stamping processes. Flat stock is conventionally supplied to a stamping machine that stamps a pattern into the flat stock and the patterned flat stock is subsequently folded to form the flat stock spring. Such springs can be incorporated into seals, such as annular seals or face seals.
However, the conventional stamping process introduces stress into the stamped form, particularly around the edges. Further, stamping results in a considerable amount of waste material and can form burrs and undesirable sharp protrusions on edges of a spring. In addition, such conventional stamping processes are not conducive to continuous processing of metal components and as such, tend to be performed in batch processes, reducing the efficiency of production.
As such, an improved spring and method for forming such springs would be desirable.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation


The invention provides a novel copolymer comprising 25-75 mol % of a fluoroolefin such as CTFE, 10-80 mol % of a combination of a fatty acid vinyl ester having not more than 4 carbon atoms in the acid part and at least one other carboxylic acid vinyl ester which has a larger number of carbon atoms and is selected from aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acid vinyl esters, 3-40 mol % of a hydroxyl-containing allyl ether such as ethylene glycol monoallyl ether and 0-20 mol % of a carboxyl-containing monomer such as vinylacetic acid. The copolymer has a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 10000. This copolymer possesses favorable properties characteristic of fluororesins, is soluble in organic solvents including aromatic solvents low in polarity, such as xylene, and is curable at relatively low temperatures. A solution of this copolymer is useful as a liquid vehicle of a paint. Optionally, a portion of the vinyl ester component of the copolymer is replaced by an alkyl vinyl ether to enhance pliability of paint films using the copolymer.

This invention relates to a fluoroolefin base multicomponent copolymer which is soluble in various organic solvents, curable at relatively low temperatures and useful as a paint vehicle.
Fluororesins are generally excellent in weather resistance, heat resistance and chemical resistance. Accordingly paints using a fluororesin as the vehicle have been developed for application to chemical plants, buildings and other constructions, machinery and food containers. Recently much attention has been directed to solvent-thinned paints using a fluororesin which is soluble in organic solvents and curable at normal temperature. Fluororesin paints of this type are comparable to solvent-thinned paints using other conventional resins in the ease of application and provide paint films superior in chemical resistance and weather resistance.
To render a fluororesin soluble in practicable organic solvents, usually it is necessary to reduce crystallinity of the fluroresin by copolymerization to thereby accomplish internal plasticization. Furthermore, there are some other problems to be resolved in using a soluble fluororesin as a paint vehicle. The problems include how to retain a desirable degree of rigidity or shear modulus in the modified fluororesin, how to control the molecular weight of the fluororesin with a view to desirably adjusting the viscosities of paints and how to select and control the kind and amount of functional groups to be introduced into the fluororesin in order to render the resin curable. The cost of production also has to be taken into consideration. It is not easy to reach a balanced solution for all the problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,326 shows a copolymer of, essentially, chlorotrifluoroethylene, a fatty acid vinyl ester and a hydroxyl-containing allyl ether. This copolymer is soluble in various organic solvents and curable with a polyisocyanate or a melamine resin. The cured copolymer is hardly soluble in organic solvents in which the uncured copolymer is soluble. Therefore, a solution of this copolymer is useful as a liquid vehicle of a paint.
As the vinyl ester in a copolymer of U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,326 it is favorable to use the ester of a fatty acid having not more than 3 carbon atoms in the alkyl group, and in particular either vinyl acetate or vinyl propionate, for physical properties of the copolymer in the form of a coating film and also for the cost of production. However, the copolymer is very low in solubilities in aromatic solvents low in polarity such as toluene and xylene, though the same copolymer exhibits high solubilities in organic polar solvents. It is rather unfavorable to use a polar solvent in a paint, because when the paint is recoated on a paint film or used for repairing a damaged paint film or directly coated on a plastic surface the polarity of the solvent is liable to cause swelling, cracking or clouding or the overlaid paint film or the substrate surface. In the recent automobile industry, for example, it is prevailing to use an aromatic solvent low in polarity represented by xylene as the solvent for paints.

Fluorine-containing copolymer useful as paint vehicle


Systems and methods which generate a sequence of images using turbo spin echo magnetic resonance imaging which are retrospectively correlated with periodic motion occurring within a subject being imaged are described. In one embodiment, k-space measurements (or the measurements from which images are formed) are captured during, and correlated with, different phases in a cardiac cycle of the subject. With this sequence, the images that are produced are able to show, and/or compensate for, motion correlated with the cardiac cycle of the subject.

There is evidence that carotid artery imaging techniques can be used to detect disease and classify subjects that will benefit from interventions. Because Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can acquire images with a variety of different tissue contrasts, it presents an advance over x-ray techniques in the ability to discriminate between different types of soft tissue and the potential to discriminate between important atherosclerotic plaque components. Turbo spin echo (TSE) MRI pulse sequences, with efficient acquisition of T1, T2 and proton density weighted images have become very useful in the evaluation of cervical carotid artery disease. Current high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) TSE techniques could also be valuable in carotid MRI. However, motion artifacts that arise due to the relatively long data-acquisition time of current TSE pulse sequence methods result in an unacceptably high fraction of non-interpretable images. As a result, TSE techniques result in obvious blurring or ghosting artifacts that greatly reduce the quality of the images.
Methods can be implemented to reduce artifacts caused by poor acquisition time. For example, applying parallel imaging techniques may be used to reduce acquisition time and thereby reduce the likelihood of motion artifacts. Parallel imaging techniques can also be used to compensate for artifacts due to swallowing and other neck muscle movements. Reduced field of view sequences with more efficient double inversion blood suppression have also shown reduced susceptibility to these types of motion artifacts. Single shot sequences such as Half Fourier Acquisition Single shot Turbo spin Echo (HASTE) can also be used to reduce acquisition time and hence the susceptibility to certain motion artifacts. Navigators and dedicated motion detection RF coils have been shown to be successful in detecting and rejecting data corrupted by swallowing. Additionally, using average specific phase encoding ordering or comparing adjacent sets of k-space data lines are alternative methods for detecting data corrupted by patient motion.
Other MRI scanning methods, such as Gradient Echo (GRE) methods, are used for faster imaging to reduce more complex motion artifacts, such as ones that are caused by the movements of the cardiac cycle. These may include synchronizing data acquisition with the heart cycle to insure controlled capture across all data points. GRE-based pulse sequences can have a very short Repetition Time (TR) (<30 ms) and can therefore be efficiently designed as cine sequences to obtain complete image measurements at multiple cardiac phases in the same acquisition. Pulse sequences such as cine-GRE or cine-Phase-Contrast (PC) have been used to show carotid artery motion and cyclic blood flow. However, gradient echo techniques are limited in their ability to create acceptable images of soft tissue due to the above noted short TR time and typically worse signal-to-noise ratio performance.
TSE techniques, on the other hand, generate detailed images of soft tissue. However, the same methods to compensate for motion artifacts that are caused by the movements of the cardiac cycle are not used with TSE techniques. This is in part because of the relatively long TR required by TSE techniques (>500 ms). Acquisitions synchronized with the heart cycle which use TSE techniques typically only obtain one image at a single cardiac phase. Accordingly, synchronized acquisitions using TSE techniques are generally only used to reduce the effect of cardiac motion by acquiring data at a point during a specific time period of the cardiac cycle, e.g., a point during the diastole period. Further, synchronization lengthens the acquisition time due to the need to acquire multiple scans at each specific point in the cardiac cycle. This additional time results in increased susceptibility to swallowing and respiratory motion artifacts. Because of this, synchronized acquisitions are rarely used in a TSE environment. This problem can be improved somewhat by limiting gating to just the central portion of k-space, however, the effect of a variable TR on the resulting image is still unacceptable.

Retrospectively correlated turbo spin echo imaging


Methods and apparatus to control the additives to a chemical composition for use in the oil field services industry. Specifically, a method and apparatus to determine fluid parameters for a fluid, including introducing an inert tracer in a component; forming a fluid comprising the component; observing the concentration of the tracer in the fluid; calculating the concentration of the component in the fluid; and introducing the fluid into a subterranean formation. An apparatus and method to control fluid parameters of interest for an oilfield formulation fluid such as chemical composition including introducing an inert tracer in a component; forming a fluid comprising the component; observing the concentration of the tracer in the fluid; calculating the concentration of the component in the fluid; adjusting a flow rate when forming the fluid in response to the calculating; and introducing the fluid into a subterranean formation.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of this invention relate to oil field services operations. Specifically, embodiments of this invention relate to ways to control additives to a hydraulic fracturing operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hydraulic fracturing is a process for stimulating oil and gas wells by pumping gel-sand slurries at high pressure into producing rock layers. Once the rock is cracked, the resulting fracture is propped open by the sand carried by the slurry. This fracture serves as a highly conductive path for the oil or gas, and therefore increases the effective well-bore radius. Fluid viscosity is vital for effective proppant placement during fracturing operations. Polysaccharides such as guar and guar derivatives have historically served as the most common viscosity enhancers. They are often crosslinked using borates or metallic crosslinkers such as zirconium and titanium to generate even higher viscosity. Multiple additives are added to each formulation. Pre-job Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) is performed on location minutes before beginning to pump to ensure the fluid performs as required.
A major challenge in hydraulic fracturing operations is how to ensure that the fluid that is being pumped continuously is an exact match to the performance it was designed for. Fluid formulations during the treatment are controlled by maintaining given additive concentrations in control through close loop control strategies managed with pumps and flowmeters, for which one point calibration verification is carried out through a pre-job "bucket check". No redundancy is typically incorporated. Samples of the fluid are manually taken at significant events, (begin of pumping, begin of proppant pumping, change of proppant concentration) but this can only be done sparsely. Typically, visual inspection of the fluid's ability to transport proppant is carried out.
Also, cementing is a process for zonal isolation. In this process, multiple additives, retarders, accelerators, dispersants, foamers are added to the mix water prior to the addition of the cement slurry. Controlling the exact concentration of each of the additives either on the fly or when water is batch mixed is key for the successful execution of the treatment.
Gravel pack, fracturing and packing, matrix acidizing, wellbore clean out, wellbore remediation, conformance control, additive squeeze treatments such as organic and inorganic scale removal treatments, hydrate or asphaltene prevention treatments, well abandonment pills, filter cake removal treatments, and others are all well service operations that require some level of chemical formulation mixing and preparation, and for which the ability to formulate the fluid as per design is very important for the treatment effectiveness, and eventually to be able to respond in real time to predesigned formulation changes, or unforeseen changes required as a result of the reception and or evaluation of stimuli and responses from the formation, the reservoir, or the downhole completion.
For example, FIG. 1 describes the common control of chemical composition in well service treatments when an open loop strategy is used as a method for fluid delivery control. In the figure, a chemical A (110), in a fluid form, such as to deliver a concentration of chemical per unit volume CA0, is pumped through a metering pump (120) at a flow rate FA. The flow rate is typically set by a frequency, voltage, or current proportional to the pumping rate of the pump, as typically determined by calibration, and in multiple occasions might be verified by a mass flowmeter (130). Frequently the calibration is set by the pump manufacturer, given a certain set of physical parameters in the pump (range, size of stroke, etc), and verified prior to the job execution by a volumetric determination of fluid delivered in a pre-set amount of time, what is commonly called a "bucket check." The actual concentration of chemical A delivered through stream FT (140), into the well, CA (150) can be calculated as CA=CA0*FA/(FA+FT).
FIG. 2 further describes potential sources of error in the concentration of chemical as delivered for the treatment as a result of using the control strategy described above. A "bucket check" shown as point (210) and error (220) resulted in a deviation (230) of the assigned set point to the flow FASP (240) from the desired set point FASPreal (250). In addition, the conditions during the trip caused the delivered flow rate FA (260) to drift from the original set point by an additional error (270). From the calculation of the concentration delivered into the well CA in FIG. 1, it is clear that any error in delivering the exact flow rate FA would subsequently result in an error on the delivered concentration. From these examples, it is demonstrated that open loop control strategies can be a source of error when attempting to deliver accurate concentrations of chemicals during well service treatments.
FIG. 3 shows a modified state with respect to control of chemical composition in well service treatments when a closed loop strategy is used as a method for fluid delivery control. In the figure, a chemical A (310), sourced from a chemical manufacturer in a fluid form, such as to deliver a concentration of chemical per unit volume CA0, is pumped through a metering pump (320) at a flow rate FA. The flow rate is typically set by a frequency, voltage, or current proportional to the pumping rate of the pump, as typically determined by calibration, and in multiple occasions might be verified by a mass flowmeter (330). Frequently the calibration is set by the pump manufacturer, given a certain set of physical parameters in the pump (range, size of stroke, etc), and verified prior to the job execution by a volumetric determination of fluid delivered in a pre-set amount of time, what is commonly called a "bucket check." In addition, and electronic feed-back control loop (340) is established comparing the required set point as per the bucket calibration FASP (350) to the actual measurement as determined by the flow meter FA (360), and modifying the input signal to the pump w (370) according to known control algorithm, typically a PID (proportional Integral Derivative) controller based on the measured difference between both set point and actual value. The actual concentration of chemical A delivered through stream FT (380), into the well CA (390) can be calculated as CA=CA0*FA/(FA+FT). Typically PID controllers are very effective to maintain the desired set-point, and thus the actual delivered concentration can be assumed to be close to the averaged value CA=CA0*FASP/(FASP+FT).
FIG. 4 further describes a potential source of error in the concentration of chemical a delivered for the treatment as a result of using the control strategy described above for FIG. 3. A "bucket check" shown as point (410) and error (420) resulted in a deviation (430) of the assigned set point to the flow FASP (440) from the desired set point FASPreal (450). In addition, the conditions during the trip caused the delivered flow rate FA (460) to drift from the original set point by an additional error (470). This error is minimized by the feed-back loop controller as compared to that of FIG. 2, as a result of the signal delivered to the pump w (480) varying as a response to the treatment conditions causing a drift in the flow delivered by the pump at constant rate as per FIG. 2. From the calculation of the concentration delivered into the well CA in FIG. 3, it is clear that any error in delivering the exact flow rate FA would subsequently result in an offset error on the delivered concentration. From FIGS. 3 and 4 it is demonstrated that closed loop control strategies, while typically more reliable than open loop strategies at maintaining a constant output, can also be a source of error when attempting to deliver accurate concentrations of chemicals during well service treatments, due to the offset error intrinsic to the "bucket check." Those skilled in the art will select the appropriate control strategy given the equipment available on location, and the required flow rates to be deliver. Since the equipment deployed is to be used for treatments involving high pumping rates as well as low pumping rates, it often occurs that the target flow rates are not necessarily fitting in the optimum range for delivery by the field equipment. In some cases, it is necessary to resort to dilution of the chemicals in location in order to minimize the pumping associated errors.
FIG. 5 further shows potential sources of error in the concentration of chemical A as delivered for a treatment as a result of the variability associated with manufacturing, handling and dilution of the chemical. The chemical plant manufacturing aims to obtain a constant chemical concentration CA0 (510) but in reality a distribution of chemical compositions (520) within the lower (530) and upper (540) control limits CALSL CAUSL respectively, is obtained. Additional variability is obtained when such distribution is diluted three times aiming to obtain a target concentration ⅓ CA0 (550) producing in return a new distribution of concentrations (560).
To summarize, a method for estimating and/or confirming a fracturing fluid composition as the fluid is formed, before it is introduced to the wellbore that is effective, quick, and economical is needed.

Traced chemicals and method to verify and control formulation composition


The present invention provides an animal litter container that is easy to clean and to maintain in a clean and sanitary condition. In one embodiment, the litter container includes at least two substantially identical container units correspondingly configured to nest together to form the litter container. Each container unit includes an inner bowl section that holds litter material and has a winged two part casing hinged to rotate between an open position in which the litter material is exposed and accessible to an animal desiring to use the litter container and a closed position forming a pod in which the litter is completely covered. A strainer plate or filter is provided to separate reusable litter from soiled litter for disposal. A second embodiment provides a base element and a correspondingly configured removable litter container element with a winged casing that is similar to that of the first embodiment.

Many people who have pets, especially pet cats, choose, or may be required, to keep their pets inside at all times. An inside pet needs a place to deposit solid and liquid waste (feces and urine). This need has been met by the provision of a container known as a litter box. The basic requirements of a litter box are that it is configured to effectively hold the particulate material called litter, that it provides a place that is sufficiently attractive to the pet so that the pet deposits its waste in the litter, and that it can be cleaned to remove the deposited waste without excessive effort. While designers of animal litter boxes have focused on achieving these objectives, currently available litter box designs require more effort to keep clean them clean than is desirable from the pet owner's perspective. A clean litter box is not only important for keeping an animal healthy, it is also necessary for maintaining the litter box and its indoor location in an odor-free and sanitary condition.
There are currently available many types of containers of the sort typically referred to as litter boxes available from which pet owners can select to use for their indoor pets. While most of these containers are used by cats, they may be used by any indoor pet that can be trained to deposit its waste in a container. Such containers range from a very simple open top basin costing under $10 to elaborate arrangements that attempt to conceal or disguise the function of the structure costing in excess of $100. A simulated planter holding litter that can be accessed by the pet, complete with an artificial palm tree, is an example of one of these complex structures. Such a structure can be difficult to keep clean. The basin type of container, while inexpensive and easy to use from the pet's perspective, has drawbacks. Cats, in particular, dig in the litter material and cover their waste, which results in the litter material being spread outside the container unless the container walls are high enough to prevent this. Waste and soiled litter must be removed from the container by hand with a scoop, which is a tedious, dirty job. The simulated planter or other similarly enclosed types of litter containers, such as, for example, the dome covered litter container available under the BOODA brand and from other sources, prevent the spread of litter beyond the container, but present the same sorts of challenges to cleaning and maintaining the litter in a clean and sanitary condition. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,849,818 and 7,856,945, for example, Matsuo et al show and describe an animal litter box with a rotatably movable hood disposed above a removable evacuation container that allows the litter box to be used in an open or closed condition.
The prior art includes many litter container designs with features intended to facilitate cleaning. A simple solution for maintaining a clean litter container is to remove and dispose of all of the litter and clean the container before adding new litter every day. While this method very effectively keeps the container clean and sanitary, the appropriate disposal of used litter and the replacement cost of new litter must be considered. Most pet owners whose pets live indoors and use litter containers try to clean and reuse any reusable litter rather than discarding the litter each time the litter container is cleaned. The removal of only the soiled litter material and the reuse of the remaining litter material, which is made easier by the types of clumping litter material currently available, is the most widely used approach. A common approach manually removes solid waste and soiled litter with a slotted scoop implement. The soiled litter must be removed to another container or bag, which increases the likelihood of spills. With this approach, the litter container itself is typically not cleaned or sanitized very often. One type of litter container, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,213 to Cook et al, for example, has a system that automatically removes waste after the animal has deposited it in the litter and includes sensors and a motorized rake/scoop element that is activated to remove the soiled litter. These systems tend to be noisy and can startle the animal before it has finished depositing its waste, which is likely to result in extra manual cleanup and a frightened animal that will not use the litter container.
Litter containers that provide a sifting feature to separate reusable litter from soiled litter so that the pet owner does not have to manually remove the litter are disclosed in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,947 to Christman, for example, describes a litter box with rectangular nested trays that include a sifting feature formed from a series of slots along one sidewall of each tray to allow reusable litter to pass from one tray to the other while the soiled litter is separated out for disposal. This litter container, while an improvement over other available litter containers, still can require quite a bit of manual effort by the pet owner to remove the soiled litter, especially the wet soiled litter. Carlson, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,226, describes an animal litter box that includes a pair of substantially identical nesting containers with grids at the bottoms sized to permit the passage of litter while retaining solid waste. A separate removable retaining edge attaches to the upper edge of these rectangular containers to keep litter in the box as the animal scratches in the litter material while depositing its waste. Each container also includes a separate false bottom piece with a peripheral rubber gasket that covers the apertures and provides a surface to which wetted litter can adhere. The false bottom piece must be mechanically worked to remove the wetted litter material. While this arrangement may be easier to clean than many available litter container designs, it also has some drawbacks. During cleaning, the retaining edge structure and then the false bottom piece must be removed before the litter can pass through the grid to the nested container below. Depending on how much litter is covering the false bottom piece, quite a bit of effort may be required to move the false bottom so the grid is exposed, especially if the rubber gasket becomes wet or otherwise sticks to the container. The spillage of soiled litter material outside the container as the false bottom is removed is a very real possibility. In addition, the vibrating and other mechanical working described to be required to remove the adhered wet soiled litter from the false bottom could well be beyond the physical capabilities of many pet owners.
The prior art, therefore, does not disclose an animal litter container for indoor use by an animal that is configured to minimize contact with soiled litter while facilitating cleaning of the container, making it truly easy for virtually all pet owners to clean the litter container and maintain it in a clean and sanitary condition without undue effort.


A single- or double-sidedly bonding adhesive-sheet strip having a self-adhesive composition comprising a) at least one elastomer, at least one type of polybutadiene block copolymer being used as an elastomer, b) at least one partially hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin having a softening temperature of at least 90° C., c) at least one additional hydrocarbon resin, a terpene phenol resin and/or a colophonium resin having a softening temperature of at least 90° C., d) an optional soft resin, and e) additional additives as applicable.

Pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) are adhesives which permit a durable join to the substrate even under relatively weak applied pressure and which after use can be detached from the substrate again substantially without residue. At room temperature, PSAs have a permanently pressure-sensitively adhesive effect, hence having a sufficiently low viscosity and a high initial tack, so that they wet the surface of the particular bonding base even under low applied pressure. The bondability of the adhesives derives from their adhesive properties, and the redetachability from their cohesive properties.
Included in particular under this heading are compounds which possess pressure-sensitively adhesive properties in accordance with the "Handbook of Pressure Sensitive Adhesive Technology" by Donatas Satas (Satas & Associates, Warwick 1999), especially those which meet the Dahlquist criterion.
Elastically or plastically highly extensible pressure-sensitive adhesive strips which can be detached again without residue or destruction by extensive stretching in the bond plane are known from, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,312 A, DE 33 31 016 C2, WO 92/01132 A1, WO 92/11333 A1, DE 42 22 849 A1, WO 95/06691 A1, DE 195 31 696 A1, DE 196 26 870 A1, DE 196 49 727 A1, DE 196 49 728 A1, DE 196 49 729 A1, DE 197 08 364 A1, DE 197 20 145 A1, DE 198 20 854 A1 and DE 100 03 318 A1, and are also referred to below as strippable pressure-sensitive adhesive strips.
Strippable self-adhesive tapes of this kind are used frequently in the form of single- or double-sidedly pressure-sensitively adhesive adhesive-sheet strips, which preferably have a nonpressure-sensitively adhesive grip region, from which the detachment operation is initiated.
Fields of use of aforesaid strippable pressure-sensitive adhesive strips include in particular the residueless and nondestructively redetachable fixing of light to moderately heavy articles in the home, workplace, and office. In these applications they replace conventional fastening means such as, for example, drawing pins, roundhead needles, thumb tacks, nails, screws, conventional self-adhesive tapes, and liquid adhesives. Key to the successful use of the pressure-sensitive adhesive strips is not only the possibility of residueless and nondestructive redetachment of bonded articles, but also their quick and easy bonding and also their secure hold for the envisaged period of bonding. It should be borne in mind in particular here that the adhesive strips must function on a large number of substrates, in order to be able to serve as a universal fixing in the home, workplace, and office.
Pressure-sensitive adhesive strips of these kinds are available commercially, in the form of the tesa Powerstrips® and 3M Command Adhesives.
Very high holding performance has been realizable to date, commercially, only with styrene block copolymer-based PSAs. These styrene block copolymers always include unsaturated polydiene blocks. Polydienes are intrinsically susceptible to thermooxidative aging and may be damaged by radiation and ozone.
A further key aspect of such strips, especially when they are to be used on transparent surfaces such as windows, is their transparency.
tesa markets strippable transparent products with moderate holding performance as tesa Powerstrips® Deco. 3M offers transparent adhesive strips featuring a holding performance of up to 900 g.
Approaches to creating transparent strippable adhesive products include the utilization of styrene block copolymers which comprise hydrogenated polydiene blocks (DE 10 2007 021 504 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,309,524 B). Although high transparency and improved aging stability are possible with the solution outlined, the requisitely high bonding performances, and especially the tear resistance, are not achievable via these formulation approaches.
EP 1 418 212 A1 describes transparent adhesive strips, redetachable without residue or destruction, which are of triple-ply design. In this arrangement, the middle layer contributes the major part of the mechanical properties to the product properties, but is unstable toward UV light and ozone on account of its formulation. The outer layers take on a filter function for ozone and UV light. A disadvantage of this approach is its multilayerness, which necessitates a multistage production process. Furthermore, the achievable holding performances are limited due to the adhesive formulation forming the outer layers.
Also known are polyacrylate-based systems (WO 2010/077541 A1; WO 2010/078346 A1; WO 2010/077435 A1; U.S. Pat. No. 6,723,407 B1), and there are also descriptions of polysiloxane-based adhesive strips, including in U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,521 B1 and WO 2009/114683 A1. Advantages are their optical properties and the resistance. The tension/extension properties and the balance between holding performance and bonding performance, however, are not at a level allowing high-performance adhesive strips to be produced. In some such cases, sufficient tear strengths are achievable only through use of a carrier.
Multilayer products or those which include carriers always have the disadvantage either that highly specific machines are required for production, or that a multiplicity of individual process steps have to be carried out. Both of these are detrimental to the production costs.
The object is therefore to provide pressure-sensitive adhesives which exhibit high holding and bonding performance, high transparency, minimal tinting, and sufficient stability with respect to light, heat, and ozone, and sufficient tear strength, and also self-adhesive products comprising such pressure-sensitive adhesives. Corresponding self-adhesive products are preferably of single-layer (carrier-free) design.
This object is achieved by means of a pressure-sensitive adhesive as recorded in the main claims. The dependent claims provide advantageous developments of the pressure-sensitive adhesive, and uses of the pressure-sensitive adhesive in pressure-sensitive adhesive strips.

Self-adhesive compound and use thereof in an adhesive tape


An electronic hair remover which uses high radio frequency energy to aid in the removal or treatment of hair. The remover includes a single hand-held casing containing an RF generator in electrical connection to a power source. A pulse timer unit and an interface unit cooperated with the RF generator to generate a treatment signal. The RF energy developed by the RF generator is emitted from the remover in pulses of high amplitude voltage of short duration with the amplitude being automatically adjusted in response to a characteristic of skin proximity. A tweezer assembly extends from the casing and has two opposing electrically conductive tweezer tips across which the electrical energy is supplied.

The present invention relates to an electronic hair remover which permits a user to remove unwanted hair, a single hair at a time.
Heretofore, unwanted hair has been removed by a high frequency coagulation of the hair root. The hair is initially gripped by a pair of tweezers, or located within the proximity of an electrified needle, and a high frequency electrical wave is applied to the hair.
One of the earliest instruments for removing hair with electric current is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 853,096 (Lewis 1907). Lewis' depilatory instrument includes a handle, a forceps, a needle, and means for supplying an electric current to the needle. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 1,071,978 (White 1913) discloses a device for removing hairs with tweezer blades which are connected to the terminals of an electric circuit. U.S. Pat. No. 2,417,530 (Weiser 1947) discloses an electrical hair removing instrument with which the hair is first pulled by a tweezer and the resulting hole treated with electrical current. Except for the use of a low current, no particular safety features were used in these early devices.
In an attempt to deal with the safety of hair removal, U.S. Pat. No. 2,888,927 (Fozard 1959) discloses an apparatus for removal of superfluous hair in which the gripping means are adapted to grip a hair at a point spaced from the skin. Thus, when high frequency current energizes the gripping means, the high frequency current passes along the hair to coagulate or otherwise destroy the hair bulb. This permits the apparatus to be used by the non-professional consumer. However, Fozard does not disclose an apparatus which avoid burns in the event that the tweezers inadvertently contact the skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,894,512 (Tapper 1959) discloses an epilation device for one-handed operation in which forceps are used to engage a single hair. Tapper's device can be used by a non-professional consumer and held in only one hand, but no safety mechanisms other than a rheostat are disclosed.
Subsequently, devices began using approaches to provide safety from skin burns. U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,714 (Mehl 1979) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,350 (Hoshi 1977) disclose such devices which use high frequency electrical waves. Mehl uses an insulating layer on the tweezers, in an assembly held by an operator, which in turn is attached by a cable to an energy source. As an additional feature, Mehl uses only an upper tweezer arm to conduct the high frequency electrical waves. Hoshi uses either a heat insulating cover on the hair clamping members or a safety guide adapted to keep the tips of the hair clamping members out of direct contact with the skin. However, such structures prove to be cumbersome and result in bulky devices which are unwieldy for the users.
An approach to the problem of alleviating pain during an epilation treatment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,700,975 (Hopfinger et. al. 1955). Hopfinger discloses an apparatus which can produce at least two high frequency currents of predetermined and different intensities. A time controlled switching mechanism allows the operator to switch from a relatively low intensity, short duration pulse, to a longer duration, higher intensity pulse by mechanical means such as foot pedals and switches.
As a result, the operator using Hopfinger's device can initiate a series of shorter, low intensity pulses, and thereafter the occurrence of pulses of longer duration and greater intensity. Hopfinger relies on this plurality of low intensity pulses to produce a coagulated layer around the papilla, thus impeding the high intensity pulse from reaching the nerve nearest the hair. However, Hopfinger discloses no safety mechanism if the needle contacts the skin.
Consequently, despite the prior art, a need still exists for a hair removal device which is both simple and easily manipulated by the user while at the same time protects the user from electrical burns.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electronic hair remover having tweezer-like metal ends which are similar to a conventional pair of tweezers. This permits the non-professional user to manipulate apparatus with which the user is familiar.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electronic hair remover which will not cause skin burns from inadvertent contact of the tweezers with the skin.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electronic hair remover which provides pulsed high energy bursts to tweezer tips to treat the root of a hair.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electronic hair remover in which the presence of a hair is detected prior to application of electric current to the tweezer tips.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an electronic hair remover in which the occurrence of skin contact is detected prior to application of electric current to the tweezer tips.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic hair remover which comprises a self-contained hand held unit which is pleasing in appearance and convenient to use by a non-professional user.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic hair remover which can be battery powered.


A fuel injection control system for an internal combustion engine can enhance the starting performance of the engine while avoiding restriction in respect to the degree of freedom in design of peripheral structure of fuel injector. The fuel injection control system includes a fuel injection control means (33A) for driving the fuel injectors (5) of the engine cylinders, respectively, in dependence on a crank angle signal (SGT), engine operating states and a cylinder identifying signal (A) is designed to inject the fuel simultaneously only for the engine cylinders which are not in the suction stroke after generation of the cylinder identifying signal (A) while setting driving time durations (Td) of the fuel injectors (5) on the basis of the demanded fuel quantity Fs and the number N of the cylinders so that a basic fuel quantity Fb per injection for each of the engine cylinders can meet the condition that Fb=Fs/(N-1), to thereby ensure the corrected fuel quantity for the simultaneous fuel injections while preventing fuel deposition onto the spark plugs by inhibiting the fuel injection for the cylinder which is in the suction stroke in the simultaneous fuel injection control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection control system for an internal combustion engine, which system is designed for performing a simultaneous fuel injection upon starting operation of the engine. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a fuel injection control system for an internal combustion engine for ensuring a fuel quantity demanded for the simultaneous fuel injection while improving ignitability in the engine operation starting phase.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, in the field of the internal combustion engines for motor vehicles such a fuel injection control system is known which is designed for performing a simultaneous fuel injection for a plurality of cylinders in every ignition cycle in an engine operation starting phase in which a battery voltage is likely to change remarkably with a view to enhancing the ignitability by stabilizing the fuel injection quantity.
For having better understanding of the invention, background techniques thereof will first be described in some detail. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing schematically a hitherto known or conventional fuel injection control system for an internal combustion engine (hereinafter also referred to simply as the engine) which is presumed to be a three-cylinder engine, only by way of example. FIG. 8 is a timing chart for illustrating injector control operation performed by the conventional fuel injection control system in the engine operation starting phase (i.e., simultaneous fuel injection phase).
Referring to FIG. 8, a crank angle signal SGT carries a train of pulses each having a leading or rising edge and a trailing or falling edge indicative of reference positions (B75.degree. and B5.degree.), respectively, for each of cylinders #1 to #3.
Parenthetically, the reference position B75.degree. represents a position preceding by 75.degree. in terms of the crank angle or CA relative to the top dead center (TDC) in the compression stroke of each cylinder, while the reference position B5.degree. represents a position preceding by 5.degree. CA to the top dead center.
As is well known in the art, the reference position B75.degree. (leading or rising edge) is used as the reference position for the ordinary timer control performed on a cylinder-by-cylinder basis while the reference position B5.degree. (falling edge) is employed for setting the initial ignition timing on a cylinder-by-cylinder basis in the engine operation starting phase.
Further, fuel injection signals J1, J2 and J3 for the individual engine cylinders (#1, #2 and #3) are illustrated in FIG. 8 in combination with operation of an engine starting switch, a crank angle signal SGT and strokes (suction, compression, explosion, and exhaust strokes) of the individual cylinders.
Referring to FIG. 7, a crank angle sensor 1 is installed in association with the crank shaft of the engine (not shown) and designed to generate the crank angle signal SGT carrying a train of pulses which represent the reference positions (B75.degree., B5.degree.) for the individual cylinders (cylinder #1 to cylinder #3), respectively, in dependence on the rotational positions of the engine, as can be seen in FIG. 8.
A variety of sensors denoted generally and collectively by reference numeral 2 represent a water temperature sensor for detecting, for example, a temperature of cooling water as the temperature information of the engine in addition to a throttle opening sensor, an intake air flow sensor, an engine speed sensor, a starting switch sensor and the like, as is well known in the art. These sensors serve for generating a variety of information indicating operating states of the engine. Of course, the crank angle sensor 1 can also serve as the engine speed sensor as well and may thus be considered as one of the various sensors 2.
An electronic control unit (ECU) 3 which may be constituted by a microcomputer or microprocessor is so designed as to generate an ignition signal P and a fuel injection signal J for controlling the engine operation on the basis of the crank angle signal SGT derived from the output of the crank angle sensor 1 and the engine operating state information derived from the outputs of the various sensors 2.
An ignition system 4 is comprised of a power transistor (not shown), an ignition coil (not shown) and spark plugs (not shown either) and driven in response to the ignition signal P generated in synchronism with the crank angle signal SGT. The power transistor incorporated in the ignition system 4 is turned on and off in response to the ignition signal P. On the other hand, the ignition coil responds to the on/off operations of the power transistor by generating a high voltage for bringing about electric discharge at the spark plugs for driving the engine.
Each of the fuel injectors 5 is actuated in response to the fuel injection signal J (see FIG. 8) having a pulse width or duration substantially proportional to the engine load for injecting a predetermined amount or quantity of fuel into the-associated one of the cylinders of the engine. A basic pulse width or duration Tb of the fuel injection signal J corresponds to the fuel injection time duration of the injector and a sum of the fuel injection quantities in each ignition cycle represents the demanded fuel quantity mentioned previously.
The electronic control unit (ECU) 3 is comprised of a cylinder identifying means 31 for generating a cylinder identifying signal A, an ignition control means 32 for generating the ignition signal P and a fuel injection control means 33 for generating the fuel injection signal J.
The cylinder identifying means 31 incorporated in the electronic control unit 3 is designed to identify each of the engine cylinders on the basis of the crank angle signal SGT to thereby generate the cylinder identifying signal A.
On the other hand, the ignition control means 32 and the fuel injection control means 33 are designed to generate the ignition signal P and the fuel injection signal J, respectively, on the basis of the crank angle signal SGT, the engine operating states represented by the various sensor signals and the cylinder identifying signal A.
For realizing the simultaneous fuel injection in the engine operation starting phase, the fuel injection control means 33 is designed to generate the fuel injection signals J simultaneously for the individual cylinders after the cylinder identification, i.e., after generation of the cylinder identifying signal A.
In that case, the basic fuel quantity Fb per injection for each of the cylinders is set in dependence on the demanded fuel quantity Fs mentioned previously and the number N of the cylinders in accordance with expression (1): EQU Fb=Fs/N (1)
Thus, the driving time duration (i.e., the basic pulse width or duration Tb) of the fuel injector 5 for each cylinder is so set that the condition given by above expression (1) can be satisfied. Obviously, in the case of the three-cylinder engine, the basic fuel quantity Fb per injection is one third of the demanded fuel quantity Fs.
At this juncture, it should be mentioned that the cylinder identifying means 31, the ignition control means 32 and the fuel injection control means 33 incorporated in the electronic control unit 3 may be implemented as a program or programs which can be executed by a microcomputer or microprocessor constituting a main part of the electronic control unit 3.
Next, referring to FIG. 8, description will be made in concrete of the operation of the conventional fuel injection control system for the internal combustion engine shown in FIG. 7.
At first, when the operator or driver closes the starting switch, the engine is forced to rotate by a starter motor (not shown). The crank angle sensor 1 produces the crank angle signal SGT in synchronism with the engine rotation, which signal SGT is then inputted to the electronic control unit (ECU) 3.
Since the pulse width of the crank angle signal SGT is offset only for the specific cylinder (e.g. cylinder #2), as is known in the art, the cylinder identifying means 31 installed in the electronic control unit 3 can identify discriminatively the individual cylinders by comparing sequentially the pulse widths of the crank angle signal SGT.
The cylinder identifying means 31 generates the cylinder identifying signal A at the time point (time point t0) at which the cylinder identification has been completed.
Thus, the fuel injection control means 33 starts the simultaneous fuel injection control by outputting the fuel injection signals J1, J2 and J3 each having the basic pulse width Tb for the fuel injectors 5 of all the cylinders in every control cycle of the engine cylinder.
Further, the ignition control means 32 performs a sequential ignition control in the order of the cylinder #1, the cylinder #3 and the cylinder #2 at every ignition time point or timing (i.e., t1, t2, t3, . . . ) of the individual engine cylinders, which time point corresponds to the termination of the compression stroke, as can be seen from the waveforms of the ignition signals P1, P2 and P3 illustrated in FIG. 8.
In that case, because the basic fuel injection quantity Fb determined on the basis of the basic pulse width Tb corresponds to one third of the demanded fuel quantity Fs, the incipient or initial explosion takes place in the engine cylinder at a time point when the basic fuel injection quantity Fb has been accumulated over three cycles for that engine cylinder.
More specifically, the initial explosion takes place in the engine cylinder for which the demanded fuel quantity Fs (=3.times.Fb) is available due to accumulation up to the initial or first suction stroke from the start of the simultaneous fuel injection control. In this conjunction, it is noted that the basic fuel injection quantity Fb in the compression stroke plays no role in the immediately succeeding ignition control but is accumulated additively as the fuel injection quantity for the ignition control in the succeeding cycle.
In the case of the example illustrated in FIG. 8, the fuel injection quantity for the cylinder #1 reaches at first the demanded fuel quantity Fs. Thus, the initial explosion starts at the time point (t4) for the ignition control for the cylinder #1. More specifically, the initial explosion starts at a time point (time point t4) in the forth ignition cycle from the start (time point t0) of the simultaneous fuel injection control.
In this manner, the engine driving operation is carried out not only by the starting motor but also by the engine itself over the period during which the starting switch is closed. The complete explosion state prevails at the time point at which the engine speed (rpm) has reached a predetermined revolution number e.g. about 600 rpm.
Thus, the operator or driver may open the starting switch for electrically deenergizing the starter motor at the time point at which the engine speed can be regarded as having reached a predetermined revolution number or engine speed (rpm) indicative of the complete explosion state. Thus, the driving state is sustained only by the engine itself without the aid of the starter motor. Further, at this time point, the fuel injection control means 33 changes over the simultaneous fuel injection control mode to the ordinary sequential fuel injection control mode.
As will now be appreciated from the foregoing, in the conventional fuel injection control system for the internal combustion engine, the fuel injection is performed for all the cylinders through the simultaneous fuel injection control in the engine operation starting phase regardless of the stroke statuses of the individual cylinders. Consequently, in the engine in which the injecting direction of the fuel injector 5 is so oriented as to point to the spark plug of the ignition system 4 from the standpoint of design, the fuel injected during the suction stroke is likely to be deposited on the spark plug at the electric discharge gap thereof, giving rise to a problem that the engine starting performance may be degraded due to incapability or failure of the electric discharge.
Further, attempt for suppressing such fuel deposition will then encounter a problem that the degree of freedom in design concerning the disposition of the fuel injector 5 and the peripheral structure of the intake manifold is restricted, making it practically difficult or even impossible to implement the peripheral structures satisfactorily in a miniaturized structure.
Besides, the fuel injection during the suction stroke means that a raw gas will be discharged when the fuel injection temporally overlaps with the opening of the exhaust valve, incurring a problem of environmental pollution.
Additionally, in the conventional fuel injection control system for the internal combustion engine, the fuel injection signal J1; J2; j3 of the predetermined constant basic pulse width Tb is employed for the simultaneous fuel injection control. Consequently, four ignition cycles at least will intervene between the time point t0 at which the cylinder identification has been completed and the initial explosion start time point t4, which means that a lot of time is taken for the start of the initial or incipient explosion, incurring degradation of the starting performance of the engine.
As an approach for avoiding the delay of the initial explosion mentioned above, it is conceivable to perform a preliminary fuel injection for each of the engine cylinders before the cylinder identification is completed. In that case, however, an excess fuel injection quantity state will likely to occur particularly when the operator or driver turns on and off the starting switch at a high frequency, which will unwontedly result in electric conduction of the electric discharge gap of the spark plug. In that case, the starting performance of the engine will be degraded due to the mis-ignition, to another disadvantage.
Of course, it is conceivable to perform the sequential fuel injection control from the time point at which the cylinder identification is completed. However, execution of the sequential fuel injection control in the starting phase in which the battery voltage is instable, as mentioned previously, will give rise to a problem that the starting performance of the engine is degraded due to instability of the fuel injection quantity and hence poor ignitability.

Fuel injection control system for internal combustion engine


Cryptographic methods and apparatus for signing (101), receiving (102), verifying (103), and confirming (104) designated-confirmer signatures are disclosed. Such a signature (11) convinces the receiver that the confirmer can convince others that the signer issued the signature. Thus, more protection is provided to the recipient of a signature than with prior art zero-knowledge or undeniable signature techniques, and more protection is provided to the signer than with prior art self-authenticating signatures.. A designated confirmer signature is formed in a setting where the signer creates and issues a public key (201) and the confirmer also creates and issues a public key (202). Should the confirmer offer a confirmation (13), the verifier is convinced that the signature was issued by the signer. Such confirmation can itself be, for example, self-authenticating, unconvincing to other parties, or designated confirmer. With plural confirmers, various combinations may be realized, some even including confirmer anonymity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to authentication systems, and more specifically to cryptographic protocols involving public-key signatures.
2. Description of Prior Art
The two earliest kinds of public key authentication systems known in the art can be viewed as extremes. A "zero-knowledge" authentication protocol, although convincing to the recipient, does not allow the recipient to convince anyone else. A "serf-authenticating" digital signature technique, on the other extreme, not only allows the recipient to convince anyone, simply by providing a copy of a signature, but also allows anyone so convinced to convince others without limitation.
"Undeniable signatures" strike a balance, somewhere in between these extremes, protecting both the interests of the signer in ensuring that the signatures are not subsequently misused by the recipient as well as the interests of the recipient in providing possibilities for later verification of signatures by others. The recipient of an undeniable signature is convinced that anyone holding it can challenge its signer and that the signer cannot answer falsely. The reason this works is that the signer is always able to convince anyone that a valid signature is valid and that an invalid signature is invalid. Thus the recipient is at least sure that the signer cannot falsely deny a valid signature.
For the recipient, undeniable signatures do have the advantage over zero-knowledge that the recipient has something that can later, under certain conditions, be used to convince others. But for many practical applications these conditions make the protection offered to the receiver too weak. They require the signer to be available and to cooperate in any subsequent confirmation of a signature. If the signer should refuse to cooperate or become unavailable, as might for instance happen in case of default on the agreement represented by the signature, then the recipient cannot make use of the signature.
The three aforementioned prior art authentication techniques--zero-knowledge, self-authenticating signatures, and undeniable signatures--have been disclosed, respectively, as follows: Goldwasser, Micali, and Rackoff, in "The knowledge complexity of interactive proof-systems," Proceedings of STOC '85, ACM press 1985; Diffie and Hellman, "New directions in cryptography," IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, IT-22(6), November 1976; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,430, titled "Undeniable signature systems," by the present applicant.
Related art discloses how a signer can form a private key that can be used to convert all the undeniable signatures made by that signer into self-authenticating digital signatures, as described by Boyar, Chaum, Damgaard, and Pedersen, in "Convertible undeniable signatures," Proceedings of Crypto '90, Springer-Verlag, 1991. Receivers of the undeniable signatures are convinced that all the signatures can be converted by release of the same secret value. This secret value could be provided by the signer to another party who could not use it to create signatures but could release it later, such as in the case of death of the signer. Not only does this technique require signers to establish secret keys that have to be provided to third parties, but no provision for allowing these third parties to authenticate their acceptance of these keys was disclosed. And of course the conversion to self-authenticating form is all-or-nothing: it either applies to all signatures at once or to no signature at all.
Also disclosed by Boyar et al were means to selectively convert some undeniable signatures to self-authenticating signatures. But no provision for receivers to be convinced of the extent to which this is possible has been disclosed. Verifiability by the receiver of the potential for conversion is of course essential, and again no way to achieve it has been disclosed. In fact, the signer simply providing the corresponding self-authenticating signatures to the third party is functionally equivalent to these techniques.


A sheet feeding unit has a main body, a sheet stack portion attached to the main body to accommodate a stack of sheets, a sheet feeding device disposed substantially above the sheet stack portion to feed the sheet onward, which is movable between a sheet feeding position at which the sheet feeding device contacts the sheet and feeds the sheet onward and a separating position at which the sheet feeding device separates from the sheet and does not feed the sheet onward, a separation unit to separate the sheets, a restriction member disposed between the sheet feeding device and the separation unit and is switchable between a sheet feeding state when the sheet feeding device is at the sheet feeding position and a sheet restriction state when the sheet feeding device is at the separation position, and a cover openably closable relative to the main body and constituted as an independent member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a sheet feeding device, and more particularly, to an image reading device such as a scanner including a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a facsimile incorporating the image reading device.
2. Description of the Background Art
Typically, an automatic document feeder (ADF) has a sheet feeding mechanism that is equipped with a sheet restriction member, also known as a shutter member, to stop a sheet stack consisting of multiple sheets at a predetermined position in order to prevent a user from placing an excess number of sheets at the far end in a sheet separating portion of the ADF where a single sheet is separated and fed to an image reading device one sheet at a time.
In one related-art sheet feeding mechanism, a sheet feed member is provided substantially at the upper portion of a document table on which a document to be read is placed. When reading a multi-sheet document placed on the document table, the sheet feed member, which is contactable to and separable from the sheets, feeds the sheets of the document to a separation portion of the ADF where the sheets are separated and fed to a downstream image reading device one sheet at a time.
The sheet feed mechanism also has a link member that causes the sheet restriction member, which is provided between the separation portion and the sheet feed member, to restrict advancement of the sheet. When the sheet is fed onward, the link member retracts the restriction member to a position at which the restriction member allows the sheet to move onward in conjunction with the sheet feed member contacting the sheet.
By contrast, as the sheet feed member separates from the sheet after feeding the sheet onward, the link member moves the sheet restriction member to a sheet restriction position to prevent the next sheet placed on the document table from advancing to the separation portion before the sheet feed member is ready to send the sheet.
Although generally adequate for its intended purpose, the above-described configuration has a drawback in that, because the restriction member is provided to an openably closable cover, the stacked sheets on the document table get disorganized when the cover is opened. Furthermore, this configuration does not have a release mechanism that releases stress applied to the sheet restriction member when a large number of sheets is fed and pushes the sheet restriction member, overstressing the sheet restriction member and thereby possibly damaging the sheet restriction member.
In another related-art sheet feeding mechanism, the sheet restriction member that aligns the leading edges of the sheets is rotatable about a shaft separate from a rotary shaft of a pick-up roller that contacts and picks up the sheet. The sheet restriction member includes a groove which the raised rotary shaft of the pick-up roller engages. When the pick-up roller is raised, the rotary shaft thereof engages the groove of the sheet restriction member, thereby regulating movement of the sheet restriction member. When the pick-up roller is lowered, the rotary shaft is released from the groove and can move freely.
Although advantageous, there is a drawback to such a configuration in that this configuration also does not include a system that releases stress applied to the sheet restriction member. Consequently, the restriction member may be damaged.
Furthermore, this configuration does not include an amplification mechanism for amplifying movement of the pick-up roller. Insufficient movement of the pick-up roller can cause the rotary shaft to remain in the groove.
Still further, the rotary shaft of the sheet restriction member needs to be disposed substantially above the pick-up roller so that the rotary shaft can engage the groove, thereby complicating efforts to make the device compact. If the rotary shaft of the sheet restriction member is not located substantially above the pick-up roller, desirable moment of rotation of the restriction member is difficult to achieve.
Still another related-art sheet feeding mechanism also includes a rotatable shutter member serving as the sheet-regulating restriction member that moves reciprocally up and down downstream from the sheet tray in a direction of conveyance of the sheet in conjunction with rotation of a rotary arm member provided above the sheet tray, the shutter member being rotatable about a rotary axis provided on a tip of the rotary arm member.
This configuration has a similar problem as in the foregoing related-art configurations in that this configuration also does not have a release mechanism that releases stress when the shutter member is overstressed. Consequently, the restriction member may be damaged. Furthermore, the need for space for the shutter member to move up and down complicates efforts to make the image forming apparatus compact.

Sheet feeding unit, image reading device including same, and image forming apparatus including the image reading device with independent cover and restriction member


A liquid administration device includes a structure that includes an accommodation body configured to accommodate liquid therein and a needle configured to communicate with an inside of the accommodation body; an operation unit configured to discharge the liquid inside the accommodation body from the needle by moving toward the structure in a distal direction; a cover member that is movable between a protection position at which the needle is covered and an exposure position at which the needle is exposed; a first biasing member that biases the operation unit toward the structure in the distal direction; and a second biasing member that biases the cover member in the distal direction. The operation unit has a first contact portion and the structure has a second contact portion, the contact portions being configured to come into contact with each other when the operation unit moves toward the structure in the distal direction.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a liquid administration device for administering a liquid into a living body.
Background Art
In the related art, a prefilled syringe, which is previously filled with a liquid such as a medicine, is known. In general, the prefilled syringe includes a syringe outer cylinder in which a liquid is accommodated and that is formed with a discharge port at a distal end through which the liquid is discharged, a needle tube that is provided in the discharge port of a syringe outer cylinder, a gasket that is slidable in the syringe outer cylinder, and a plunger for pressing the gasket in a distal direction.
The prefilled syringe is also used when a patient performs self administration at home. However, in some cases, its operation is difficult when the elderly and women who are weak, rheumatism patients who have a pain or deformation in the fingers, and the like perform self administration.
For example, US2005/0171477A discloses an auto-injector that is a prefilled syringe automatically performing administration using spring force. When using the auto-injector, a trigger that maintains a spring in a state of being contracted is released by pushing the housing to a living body and pressing an end portion of the housing. The living body is punctured with a needle tube protruding from the housing due to a biasing force of the released spring. Then, a plunger moves in a distal direction due to the biasing force of the spring, and a medicine is automatically administered into the living body through the needle tube.
In the auto-injector, once administration is started, the administration is continued up to the end of the administration. For this reason, it is impossible to suspend the administration even if it is necessary to temporarily suspend the administration for reasons such as avoidance of pain.


Assembly comprising a passageway for livestock, the passageway being delimited by side delimitations, for passage of the livestock from a first space to a second space. The assembly comprises a gate system mounted in the passageway, the gate system comprising at least one self-closing gate leaf which is movable between a closed position and one or more open positions which include a pass position wherein passage to the second space is possible for an animal from the livestock, and wherein the gate leaf is moveable to an open position by pressure exerted by an animal from the livestock for passing through the passageway to the second space. The assembly also comprises a device for determining an ID of an animal from the livestock, and a device for blocking the gate leaf from moving to the pass position, wherein the blocking device can be activated to a blocking position in response to data from the ID determining device.

1. Field of the Invention
The application relates to the separating of livestock, in particular cattle. The application also relates to the sorting of livestock, in particular cattle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Livestock has to be regularly moved, for example from one grazing area to another grazing area, or from a grazing area to a milking area. Livestock originating from various regions and for various destinations has in this case to be steered in quick succession to the right destination.
For separating animals from a group of animals moving in a series, swing gates or other separation gates are provided with closing means and/or locking means. Thus, separation gates can usually be in the closed position and be opened as desired, for example by cylinders, or be released by removing a lock, for letting animals through. Alternatively or additionally, separation gates can be closed using closure means, such as cylinders, when separation is desirable. Whether closure is desirable can for example be specified by determining data from each animal, referred to here as ID for short.
During the closing of a separation gate, speed is a condition for an efficient process. Another requirement is that the animals should run as little risk as possible of becoming injured by a closing gate. Both requirements can lead to contradictory approaches to the design of separation gates.
For sorting livestock, use may be made of what are known as sorting arrangements, comprising a gate assembly having an entry port, delimited by side gates, the port containing a swing gate provided with one or two rotatable gate leaves, and downstream of the swing gate two or more exit ports, wherein one or more movable sorting gates are placed between the swing gate and the exit ports. By adjusting the position of the sorting gate or the sorting gates, the entry port can be connected to a selected port of the exit ports to guide the livestock thereto.
The movement of the sorting gates can take place automatically, activated by a central controller wherein the need to convert a sorting gate is ascertained by measuring data from the arriving animals. However, in an automated system of this type, it can occur that one or more animals are still located next to a sorting gate when that gate is moved, resulting in injuries and stress.

Facilities for and method of separating and sorting livestock


Disclosed is an optical material including a cyclic olefin copolymer containing at least a repeating structural unit [A] represented by the general formula (1) and a repeating structural unit [B] represented by the general formula (2) and having a molar ratio [A]/[B] of from 95/5 to 1/99, wherein the absolute value of the ratio ΔOB/ΔF is from 0.001 to 0.250 in which ΔOB represents the amount of a change in the absolute value of the orientation birefringence calculated from the phase difference (nm) at a wavelength of 633 nm/film thickness (μm) in a stretched film obtained from the optical material, and ΔF represents the amount of a change in the absolute value of the orientation coefficient determined from the dichroic ratio of parallel light intensity I∥ to perpendicular light intensity I⊥, each relative to the orientation direction according to Raman spectroscopy.

In recent years, in application to an optical material of a micro lens for a digital camera module, a pick-up lens, an imaging lens, an optical element (such as a micro lens array, an optical waveguide, an optical switching, a Fresnel zone plate, a binary optical element and a blaze diffractive optical element) and the like, and in application to an electronic device material of an anti-reflective filter, a recording medium, a display material, an organic EL or liquid crystal plastic member and the like, a cyclic olefin polymer having excellent optical properties has been studied for development of wide application in these fields.
A polymer material containing a cyclic olefin polymer is an aggregate having a long molecular chain and a polymer molecular chain itself has anisotropy that is an inherent physical property, so that it is melt-flowed by the pressure or temperature at the time of melt molding and is cured in the form of a molded product on a mold or a roll in a state that flowing of a resin is not fully reduced in many cases. In this case, there has been well known that a chain having a long molecular chain exhibits the orientation of the molecule under molding conditions.
The orientation of the molecule is attributable to the anisotropy that is an inherent physical property of the molecular chain itself, and optically produces the anisotropy of the refractive index. When the birefringence is produced as the effect of anisotropy of the refractive index on a molding material and a birefringence material is present in the optical path, for example, image quality of the product, readout of the signal or the like is adversely affected. In development of an optical material and an electronic device material consisting of an optical resin, reduction of the birefringence is an important issue.
Herein, in the appropriate technical field, as the birefringence exhibited by an optical polymer, there are the orientation birefringence in which its main cause is derived from the main chain of a polymer and the stress birefringence caused by the stress. Furthermore, each sign of the orientation birefringence and stress birefringence is derived from the chemical structure of a polymer, and is a property inherent in each polymer.
In an attempt to reduce the orientation birefringence or stress birefringence, a method of cancelling the birefringence has been attempted with the addition of an inorganic fine particle or an organic compound having birefringence properties of an opposite sign to a polymer. When an organic compound is added, for a film with the addition of 6.5 wt % 2-octadecyl naphthalene exhibiting positive birefringence properties to polymethyl methacrylate exhibiting negative birefringence properties, the orientation birefringence becomes almost zero regardless of the stretch ratio (for example, Patent Document 1). Furthermore, for a stretched film consisting of a copolymer of methyl methacrylate and benzyl methacrylate with the addition of a strontium carbonate fine particle having a particle diameter of about 20 nm as the inorganic fine particle in an amount of 0.3 wt %, the orientation birefringence also becomes almost zero regardless of the stretch ratio (for example, Non-patent Document 1). These methods are excellent, but there is a practical problem such that it is necessary to add an additive material continuously and uniformly when adapted to opacification of a film due to aggregation of an additive material, size control of fine particles or the process.
Meanwhile, there has been exemplified a method in which, in a non-additive material without the addition of an organic compound, an inorganic fine particle or the like to a polymer, any one of the orientation birefringence or stress birefringence is reduced, or both of them are reduced by copolymerizing two or more kinds of methacrylates or acrylate monomers having birefringence properties with a different sign of birefringence, and changing the kind and copolymerization composition ratio thereof (for example, Patent Document 2 and Non-patent Document 2). These methods are excellent since an additive material is not used and there is no need to mix an additive material continuously during process without causing opacification of a film due to aggregation.
In this example, for example, in the case of a copolymer of methyl methacrylate and pentafluorobenzyl methacrylate of a certain composition, both of the orientation birefringence and stress birefringence are reduced to a level that there is no practical problem. However, generally, to obtain a film by subjecting a methacrylate polymer to melt molding, the polymer is heated up to a temperature that can perform melt molding and a resin stays. In this case, there is a problem such that the gel component derived from monomers or oligomers caused by depolymerization is mixed into a film and film performance is thus deteriorated. Also, the glass transition temperature of the methacrylate polymer is low, that is, about 100 degrees centigrade, so that heat resistance becomes a problem depending on the purposes when the polymer is used for a product. There are some polymers imparted with heat resistance by increasing the glass transition temperature, but in this case, it is necessary to set the melting temperature to a high level during molding for increased glass transition temperature, and mixing of a gel-like material into a film is possibly more remarkable due to the aforementioned depolymerization.
On the other hand, a cyclic olefin polymer is a polymer which is amorphous and transparent, and has a relatively high glass transition temperature by a rigid cyclic structure in the main chain, and it is widely used for an optical film, an optical lens or the like using such excellent properties. Also, in an attempt to reduce the birefringence, the photoelastic constant is exemplified as a measure to exhibit the stress birefringence, for example, for a hydrogenated product of ring-opening polymerization of a norbornene or tetracyclododecene monomer (Non-patent Document 3). In this case, for a hydrogenated product of norbornene ring-opening polymerization containing an alkyl group, a phenyl group or the like in which a substituent has a relatively low polarity, the photoelastic constant is relatively high, that is, about 10 to 30×10−12 Pa−1.
With respect to the orientation birefringence of a cyclic olefin polymer, there is exemplified the phase difference of a stretched film of an amorphous cyclic olefin copolymer which is obtained by addition polymerization of a cyclic olefin having a norbornene basic structure, particularly preferably a cyclic olefin having a hydrocarbon structure derived from norbornene or tetracyclododecene or derived from them, and a non-cyclic olefin having a terminal double bond, for example, α-olefin, particularly preferably ethylene or propylene, among these, particularly preferably norbornene and ethylene, norbornene and propylene, tetracyclododecene and ethylene, and tetracyclododecene and propylene (Patent Document 3). In this evaluation, for a film having a thickness of 40 to 60 μm which is stretched by 1.5 times to 4 times, the phase difference is from 5 to 16 nm, and 1 to 3×10−4 in terms of a converted value of the orientation birefringence. By an attempt to reduce the birefringence, relatively low birefringence is exhibited. However, from the fact that the copolymer in Patent Document 3 is a copolymer of a cyclic olefin and a molecular chain of an α-olefin chain in the main chain without a molecular design to cancel the birefringence by the anisotropy of the molecular chain among a plurality of cyclic olefin species, toughness is poor. For example, when a highly rigid substrate such as glass is used as a base in the production of a cast film, in a process of drying a film, the film is broken due to shrinkage stress of the film during cooling after heating. Or, even though a self-support film having a resin material as a substrate is produced, it is easily broken due to external stress and thus it is not easy to obtain a film having a large area.

Optical material and molded product thereof


The present invention relates to a nanoporous thin film and a method for fabricating the same. The nanoporous thin film fabricating method for fabricating a nanoporous thin film with a composite photocatalyst structure for a photodegradation and a water purification includes providing a porous substrate with a plurality of through-nanopores therein, each of which through-nanopores have an inner tube wall; forming an oxide-based photocatalyst layer over the porous substrate and the inner tube wall by using a first chemical-based deposition process; and forming a metal-based photocatalyst layer on a part of the oxide-based photocatalyst layer by using a second chemical-based deposition process.

In chemistry, a photocatalyst generally refers to a catalyst substance capable of facilitating a chemical reaction by receiving a light and a photocatalyst reaction generally refers to a catalytic reaction caused by an absorption of light. In the technical field of the conventional photocatalyst or photocatalysis, the frequently-used photocatalyst materials include such as a titanium dioxide (TiO2), an zinc oxide (ZnO), a tin dioxide (SnO2), a cadmium oxide (CdO), a chromium oxide (CrO2), a cadmium sulfide (CdS) and an zinc sulfide (ZnS) etc. The titanium dioxide is the most widely-used one among these materials to act as a photocatalyst medium, because of its good chemical stability, non-toxic feature and cheap price. In particular, the nanolized titanium dioxide is able to provide better ability of oxidation, specific surface and activity of photocatalysis.
In the state of the art, the traditional way to utilize the photocatalyst is often to coat the photocatalyst in the powder state onto a surface of the substrate as a thin layer of photocatalyst by using a chemical deposition scheme. The most frequently-used chemical deposition scheme includes an atomic layer deposition (ALD) scheme, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) scheme, a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) scheme etc., in which the ALD scheme is widely applicable to the technical field requiring growing a thin film, such as a ultra thin dielectric layer, a diffusion barrier layer, a seed layer, a sidewall, a sidewall oxide or a sidewall spacer etc., in such as a semiconductor component.
The ALD scheme is a well-known deposition technique and it employs a precursor material which can react with or chemisorb on a surface in process to build up successively deposited layers, each of which layers being characterized with thickness about only one atomic layer. Subject to properly selected process conditions, the chemisorption reaction has a self-limiting characteristic, meaning that the amount of precursor material deposited in every reaction cycle is constant and the precursor material is restricted to growing on the surface, and therefore the film thickness can be easily and precisely controlled by the number of the applied growth cycles.
Conventionally, a batch of ALD scheme usually consists of multiple ALD reaction cycles, each of which ALD reaction cycles involves consequently performing steps of introducing a first gaseous precursor pulse to a surface in process, pulsing an inert gas to purge or evacuate the excess gaseous precursor after the surface is saturated with an atomic layer of the first gaseous precursor, pulsing a second gaseous precursor and purging by an inert gas pulse or evacuating. A single ALD reaction cycle is continuously repeated until a target thickness for the deposited atomic layer on the surface in process is achieved.
It is to be noticed that in the technical field of the conventional photocatalyst, it is used to just form a single first layer of photocatalyst on the substrate. Actually, it is worth a try to further form an additional layer of photocatalyst on the first layer, which photocatalyst is a different type of photocatalyst to that of forming the first layer. It might be possible to enhance the entire reaction efficient by such a dual layer structure of photocatalyst.
There is a need to solve the above deficiencies/issues.

Nanoporous thin film and method for fabricating the same


A projection system is provided which includes a projection lens and a spatial optical modulation device (SOM) for projecting an image in response to an inputted picture signal. A control unit enables the selection, via an image adjustment menu, of at least one of a rotational deformation adjustment in which a projected image is rotated and a keystone deformation adjustment in which the projected image is deformed into a rectangle, and the control unit applies a rotational deformation adjustment and a keystone deformation adjustment to the projected image based on an item selected in the image adjustment menu in response to a deformation indication inputted from a keys/indicators unit, so as to deform the projected image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projector having a function to automatically focus a projected image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, projectors of a type are used generally which projects images on a screen. In addition, there is a tendency of miniaturizing projectors, and there appear projectors such as carried easily to be set at any place the user wants for projection.
In such portable projectors, in the event that a projector and a screen are set properly, the outline of a projected image is formed into a shape that does not match the user's intent. Normally, in many cases, projectors are used such that the outline of an image projected on to the screen becomes a rectangle.
Conventionally, in order to correct keystone distortion that is generated when the screen is inclined relative to a projecting direction from the projector, there has been devised a system made up of an angle detection unit for detecting vertical and horizontal inclinations and a projector which corrects a distortion based on information on the inclinations detected by the angle detecting unit (for example, Patent Document No. 1).
In addition, there has been proposed a projector in which horizontal adjustment and elevation angle adjustment can easily be implemented while watching a projected image by providing extendable legs in such a manner as to be suspended from a main body of the projector (for example, Patent Document No. 2).
[Patent Document No. 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-5277
[Patent Document No. 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-5279
In the system described in Patent Document No. 1, however, the angle detecting units are necessary in addition to the projector, and after the vertical and horizontal inclinations of the screen have been detected using this detecting unit, the inclination of the projector needs to be detected. Thus, it takes some labor hours to correct the distortion of a projected image. For example, when the conditions where the screen and the projector are set are changed, the same process has to be repeated every time such a change is implemented. In addition, in a case where the projected image is distorted in a rotational fashion in association with the inclination of the projector, the proposed projector cannot deal with such a case.
In addition, in the projector described in Patent Document No. 2, while a horizontal adjustment in which lateral inclinations are adjusted, a tilt adjustment in which longitudinal inclinations are adjusted and, furthermore, an adjustment in which horizontal inclinations are adjusted can be implemented, no correction is possible in the event that a projected image contains a rotational distortion and a keystone distortion.

Projector, projection method and storage medium in which projection method is stored