For relieving typing burdens caused by incorrect spellings, typing errors, unknown spellings, and characters with diacritical marks, and for enhancing a typing efficiency of a typist with some simplified techniques, several candidate generating methods are provided for assisting the typist to pick a candidate word from a list of generated candidate words, or for selecting a candidate word from said list of generated candidate words in an automatic-selection manner. A proper-designed user interface may also be utilized for implementing the candidate generating methods.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a typing candidate generating method, and more particularly, to a typing candidate generating method for enhancing typing efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typing on the computer or handheld devices is not difficult for alphabetic languages since the number of characters in the alphabets is quite limited. The alphabetic languages are also easily mapped to keypads on a standard keyboard. However, the typing efficiency of the alphabetic languages on the standard keyboard is easily hindered by incorrect spellings, typing errors, unknown spellings, and characters with diacritical marks (or accent marks). Correcting mistakes caused by said factors would obviously slow down the typing speed and interrupts the thought flow of the typists. Typing a word without knowing the exact spelling also involves a lot of guessing and dictionary look-up. Typing characters with diacritical marks (or accent marks) usually requires a specifically-designed keyboard layout, learning additional keystrokes, or combined keystrokes, which may also slow down said typing speed.

Typing candidate generating method for enhancing typing efficiency


A female connector to be used in combination with a male connector to make electrical connection in a high voltage circuit. The female connector has a cylindrical case made of insulating material. A holder made of elastic material is inserted into the case and fixed therein. The holder is formed with a cavity which is open at one end, and a female terminal is disposed in this cavity. The female terminal has a plurality of spring strips at one end adapted to elastically hold a male terminal, and a leader portion at the other end. The leader portion is exposed beyond the end of the holder opposite to the open end. The leader portion has a lead wire connected thereto, the lead wire being led out of the case. The open end out of which the lead wire is led is sealed by a sealing member made of insulating resin.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a construction for a female connector to be used in combination with a male connector for achieving an electrical connection in a high voltage circuit.
A female connector according to this invention is used in combination with a male connector to be paired therewith, for example, for making connection between a cathode ray tube and a high voltage producing circuit. In this case, for example, the male connector is provided on the cathode ray tube and the female connector on the high voltage producing circuit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional female connector of particular interest to this invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3.
As shown, a female connector 1 has a female terminal 2 formed by bending a metal plate as in detail shown in FIG. 3. The female terminal 2 has an open end 3 for receiving the male terminal of a male connector (not shown). The opposite side of the female connector to the open end 3 is formed with a leader portion 4. The leader portion 4, as shown in FIG. 1, has an insulated or covered lead wire 5 soldered or otherwise fixed thereto.
The female terminal 2 and lead wire 5 described above are inserted into a mold (not shown) and an insulation resin is injected to form a holder 6. In this molding operation, the holder 6 is formed with a slot 7 at a position opposed to a portion of the female terminal 2. The formation of the slot 7 results in a thin-walled portion 8 positioned between the slot 7 and the female terminal 2 and formed of part of the resin which forms the holder 6. This thin-walled portion 8 allows elastic spreading of the female terminal 2. Such elastic deformation of the female terminal 2 ensures that the male terminal inserted therein positively contacts the female terminal 2.
However, the conventional female connector 1 described above has the following problem to be solved.
For molding the holder 6, injection molding is usually employed. During such injection molding, it has often occurred that under the pressure of the resin being injected the lead wire 5 curves as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1. As a result, part of the lead wire 5 moves closer to the outer surface of the holder 6, thereby detracting from the voltage-withstanding characteristics of the female connector 1.
Also if the contact between the mold and the female terminal 2 is imperfect when the holder 6 is molded, the resin often enters the female terminal 2. Since the resin entering the female terminal adheres to the inner surface of the female terminal 2, the male terminal often fails to make electric contact with the female terminal 2.
Further, the thin-walled portion 8 has a very small thickness and its mechanical strength is very low. Therefore, it is not easy to form the thin-walled portion 8 with a constant thickness when the holder 6 is molded. Thus, the mechanical strength of the thin-walled portion 8 varies from product to product, leading to a drawback that when the male connector is connected to the female connector 2, the force required to insert the male connector into the female connector varies in value. Further, as a result of the aforesaid variation, when the thickness of the thin-walled portion 8 is insufficient, so is the elasticity of the female terminal 2 acting on the male terminal; thus, the reliability of contact of the female terminal 2 with the male terminal is low. Further, where the mechanical strength of the thin-walled portion 8 is low, it sometimes occurs that thin-walled portion 8 is broken by the insertion of the male terminal into the female terminal 2. In this case, the reliability of contact of the male terminal with the female terminal 2 further decreases.

Females connector construction for use in high voltage circuits


A trajectory of a measuring device is calculated based on measurement data acquired by the measuring device that is moving along a measurement route, and on a vertical plane orthogonal to the trajectory, a two-dimensional figure is identified by designating an extraction angle range around an intersection of the trajectory and the vertical plane based on a perpendicular drawn down to a horizontal plane from the intersection and an extraction distance range based on the intersection on the vertical plane, and a region obtained by extending the two-dimensional figure along the trajectory is set as an extraction region, and point cloud data in a region including a specific analysis target is extracted as extracted point cloud data from entire circumference point cloud data acquired by scanning the circumference of the measuring device and included in the measurement data.

Conventionally, an MMS (Mobile Mapping System) has been known for acquiring three-dimensional positional information of the peripheries of a road, such as building and road shapes, signs, and guardrails, etc., highly accurately and efficiently while moving. The MMS is configured by installing a measuring device including a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), an antenna, an IMU (Inertial Measuring Unit), a camera, a laser scanner, etc., in a mobile body such as a vehicle.
An MMS is a system intended to execute post-processing of data. Therefore, first, while traveling in a measurement section on a target road by vehicle, the MMS acquires data on its own position based on a GNSS navigation signal (hereinafter, referred to as "satellite positioning data"), three-dimensional acceleration and angular velocity data obtained by the IMU (hereinafter, referred to as "inertial positioning data"), and measurement data at each point of scanning light by the laser scanner (hereinafter, referred to as "measurement point cloud data"), and next, calculates a trajectory of the vehicle on the basis of the satellite positioning data and the inertial positioning data, and synthesizes the calculated trajectory of the vehicle and the point cloud data to generate three-dimensional point cloud data as a result.
The laser scanner acquires a point cloud over the entire circumference, so that acquired point cloud data includes a large number of point data due to structural objects other than an analysis target. Therefore, in order to analyze an analysis target, a portion including the analysis target needs to be manually extracted, and the extraction operation is troublesome.
In order to solve this problem, International Publication WO 2018/159690 discloses a point cloud data processing method in which a columnar region and a parallelepiped region disposed at predetermined positions on a lower side of the trajectory are set as extraction regions, and point data belonging to these extraction regions are extracted as target point cloud data.
However, to perform an analysis of various structural objects, a new point cloud data processing method for extracting target point cloud data from entire circumference point cloud data has been required.

Point cloud data processing method and point cloud data processing device


Techniques for replicating data in a system having a data tier with a plurality of data sources and an application tier with a plurality of applications are provided. Such techniques can include creating an instance of an information model of the data that is specified by a schema. The model can be created in a form that is suitable for manipulation by at least one of the applications and that forms at least a portion of a model tier that is intermediate the data tier and the application tier. A replica of an instance of the information model can be created in a form suitable for remote transmission, and a consistency policy can be obtained that specifies a level of consistency required between the instance of the information model and the replica.

Applications that access network-based data often rely on data replication to reduce access latency, reduce required network communications, and allow for continued operation in the event of planned or unexpected network disconnection. One simple form of replication is caching, which is suitable for read-only applications. More sophisticated mechanisms are required for applications that create, retrieve, update, and delete (often referred to as "CRUD") network-based data. Such applications may require a way to reconcile a local replica with a remote copy if they have diverged due to update operations. The replication or synchronization process can be non-trivial and require that conflicting updates be detected and resolved.
There are certain known techniques for replication that are tailored to specific data formats. However, applications are increasingly tasked with operating in conjunction with multiple data sources, which may have heterogeneous formats. One approach to dealing with heterogeneous data sources is the so-called "federated data base" approach wherein the collection of heterogeneous data sources is aggregated to appear as a single logical data store. Such work, however, is primarily focused on preserving the atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (often referred to as "ACID") properties of data bases rather than the managing of replicas. Distributed file systems have approached the problem by distributing replicas of the data, per se, in the form of files. However, higher level representations of data may be necessary in order for the efficient storage, organization, and retrieval of such data.
Accordingly, there is a need for an alternative mechanism to support the replication of data when dealing with heterogeneous data stores.

Method and system for model-based replication of data

International Business Machines Corporation


Interferometric methods and apparatus by which the map between pixel positions and corresponding part locations are determined in situ. The part under test, which is assumed to be a rigid body, is precisely moved from a base position to at least one other position in one to six degrees of freedom in three-dimensional space. Then, the actual displacements are obtained. The base position is defined as the position with the smallest fringe density. Measurements for the base and all subsequent positions are stored. After having collected at least one measurement for each degree of freedom under consideration, the part coordinates are calculated using the differences of the various phase maps with respect to the base position. The part coordinates are then correlated with the pixel coordinates and stored.

In the field of high precision sphere and asphere measurements, contemporary phase evaluation techniques yield surface error maps with sub-nm uncertainties. The measurand in these cases is the height deviation between the part under test and the ideal geometry measured along the surface normal.
The result of such measurements is usually delivered as a two-dimensional height map sampled on a regular grid. Initially, an interferometer gives the result in pixel coordinates of the acquisition camera. For visually assessing the quality of the surface under test, it is possible to leave the result in pixel coordinates and this is very often done. However, if the result is to be used as a feedback for the manufacturing process, it becomes necessary to present the height information in a form that allows for precisely associating each height sample with the affiliated location on the surface. Then, for instance, a polishing machine can be programmed to remove the excessive height from each point precisely.
Also for an exact numerical analysis of the figure errors of the part, it is often not admissible to leave the height results in pixel coordinates. Wavefront generators and imaging optics used for illuminating and imaging the part usually introduce a significant amount of distortion. For instance, consider a part with a large form deviation that is to be decomposed into Zernike coefficients. For this, it is necessary to know and compensate for the distortion or otherwise the Zernike decomposition will be inaccurate. A pure spherical aberration on the part could, for instance, crosstalk into other Zernike components simply because the computation grid is assumed to be equally spaced but in reality is a distorted projection of a regular grid on the part.
Therefore, together with the height values, the location of each pixel of the surface map on the surface under test is required. This information is referred to as the pixel mapping of the instrument.
This mapping is influenced by the geometry of the interferometer cavity as well as the optical imaging system that is used for relaying the part under test onto the instrument's camera.
Very often, the pixel mapping is known only implicitly, that is, by determining the location in pixel coordinates of a certain feature on the part whose physical dimension is known. This can, for instance, be the known diameter of an aperture that is mounted on top of the surface under test which can be found in image coordinates by image processing. Then a linear relationship of the pixel mapping is assumed to obtain the coordinate mapping over the full surface. This method can not account for a possible distortion of the imaging system.
Another possibility is to obtain the pixel mapping from a computer-modeled version of the imaging system. This approach has the advantage that effects like distortion or other aberrations of the imaging system can be taken into account. For this to work, highly accurate information about the various optical components in the system is necessary. The model approach can be combined with the image processing method of finding a metrically known feature on the part as described above.
In high precision sphere and asphere metrology, use is often made of additional calibration methods to measure the pixel mapping, including any possible distortion. This can be done, for example, by using a special test artifact as an object with clearly detectable features to characterize the coordinate mapping of the imaging optics. In certain cases, it is necessary to repeat such a coordinate calibration for various focus settings of the interferometer.
In general, such a coordinate calibration is a costly and tedious additional effort in high precision optical metrology.
Knowing the exact coordinate mapping between a camera and the part under test in ultra-precise asphere metrology, which uses a very high accuracy manipulator stage, requires knowledge of the coordinate mapping on two occasions: first; in the calibration of the reference surface, and second, during the alignment of the surface under test.
In ultra high precision metrology, it is known that the manipulator stage allows moving the part in 6 degrees of freedom with nm control over the rigid body motion of the part under test in three-dimensional space. As will be described, the coordinate mapping between the camera pixels and the part under test can be determined directly from a set of phase measurements in conjunction with use of the manipulator stage.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide methods and apparatus for the in-situ determination of mapping from pixel coordinates onto object coordinates and vice versa by using a manipulator stage for controlling the part position in the interferometer cavity and making a few additional phase measurements at various part positions.
Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter when the detailed description is read with reference to the drawings.

In situ determination of pixel mapping in interferometry


1. A compound of Formula (1) and salts thereof:

This invention relates to dyes, to inks and to their use in ink jet printing (xe2x80x9cIJPxe2x80x9d). IJP is a non-impact printing technique in which droplets of ink are ejected through a fine nozzle onto a substrate without bringing the nozzle into contact with the substrate.
There are many demanding performance requirements for dyes and inks used in IJP. For example they desirably provide sharp, non-feathered images having good water-fastness, light-fastness and optical density. The inks are often required to dry quickly when applied to a substrate to prevent smudging, but they should not form a crust over the tip of an ink jet nozzle because this will stop the printer from working. The inks should also be stable to storage over time without decomposing or forming a precipitate which could block the fine nozzle.
According to the present invention there is provided a compound of Formula (1) and salts thereof:
wherein:
A is a substituted phenyl group carrying a group of the formula xe2x80x94NR3R4 and an ortho group selected from sulpho, phosphonato and phosphinato;
n is 0 or 1;
L1 and L2 are each independently H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl, or L1 and L2 together with the N atom to which they are attached form an optionally substituted 5- or 6-membered ring;
R1 and R2 are each independently optionally substituted alkyl or optionally substituted alkoxy; and
R3 and R4 are each independently H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl, or R3 and R4 together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attached form an optionally substituted 5- or 6-membered ring; or
R3 is H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl and R4 is an acyl group.
In a first preferred embodiment n is 0; L1 and L2 are H; and R3 and R4 are each independently H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl, or R3 and R4 together with the N atom to which they are attached form an optionally substituted 5- or 6-membered ring.
In a second preferred embodiment n is 1; L1 and L2 are H; and R3 and R4 are each independently H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl, or R3 and R4 together with the N atom to which they are attached form an optionally substituted 5- or 6-membered ring.
In a third preferred embodiment n is 0; L1 and L2 are H; R3 is H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl; and R4 is an acyl group.
In a fourth preferred embodiment n is 1; L1 and L2 are H; R3 is H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl; and R4 is an acyl group.
Preferred acyl groups represented by R4 are of the formula xe2x80x94COR5, xe2x80x94SOR5 or xe2x80x94SO2R5 wherein, R5 is H, optionally substituted alkyl, optionally substituted cycloalkyl or optionally substituted aryl. It is especially preferred that R4 is of the formula CH3(CH2)8COxe2x80x94 wherein a has a value from 0 to 3.
The optional substituents which may be present on L1, L2, R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 are preferably selected from xe2x80x94NH2; halo, especially Cl, Br and F; ester, especially xe2x80x94CO2xe2x80x94C1-4-alkyl; xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94C1-4-alkyl; xe2x80x94CO2H; xe2x80x94SO3H; xe2x80x94OR6; or xe2x80x94SR6; wherein each R6 independently is H or C1-4-alkyl.
Preferably at least one of R1 and R2, or more preferably both R1 and R2, carries an xe2x80x94OH group.
When L1, L2, R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5 is an optionally substituted alkyl group it is preferably an optionally substituted C1-4-alkyl group, more preferably a C1-4-alkyl group or a C1-4-alkyl-OH group.
When R1 or R2 is an optionally substituted alkoxy group it is preferably an optionally substituted C1-4-alkoxy group, more preferably a C1-4-alkoxy or a C1-4-alkoxy-OH group.
R1 and R2 are preferably each independently optionally substituted C1-4-alkyl or optionally substituted C1-4-alkoxy, provided that at least one of R1 and R2 carries an xe2x80x94OH group, more preferably optionally substituted C1-4-alkoxy, especially C1-4-alkoxy-OH.
In one embodiment one of R1 and R2 is xe2x80x94OC1-4-alkyl-OH and the other is xe2x80x94OC1-4-alkyl or xe2x80x94OC1-4-alkyl-OH.
When L1, L2, R3, R4 or R5 is optionally substituted aryl it is preferably optionally substituted phenyl, more preferably phenyl or phenyl carrying a carboxy and/or sulpho group. When R3 and R4 or L1 and L2 together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attached form an optionally substituted 5- or 6-membered ring such ring is preferably an optionally substituted morpholino or piperidino ring.
Preferably the ortho group on A is sulpho.
Based on the above preferences it is preferred that R3 and R4 are each independently selected from optionally substituted C1-4-alkyl and optionally substituted phenyl, or R3 and R4 together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attached form an optionally substituted 5- or 6-membered ring. It is especially preferred that R3 and R4 are each independently selected from C1-4-alkyl, C1-4-alkyl-OH, phenyl and phenyl carrying a carboxy and/or sulpho group; or R3 and R4 together with the nitrogen to which they are attached form an optionally substituted morpholino or piperidino ring.
It is also preferred that when R4 is acyl that R3 is preferably selected from optionally substituted C1-4-alkyl and optionally substituted phenyl. It is especially preferred that when R4 is acyl that R3 is selected from C1-4-alkyl, C1-4-alkyl-OH, phenyl and phenyl carrying a carboxy and/or sulpho group.
It is especially preferred that the group of formula xe2x80x94NR3R4 is in the para position with respect to the azo linkage because this gives particularly good optical density.
The dyes of Formulae (1) may be prepared by diazotising a compound of the Formula (2) to give a diazonium salt and coupling the resultant diazonium salt with a 1-hydroxy-3-sulphonaphthalene 1-hydroxy-3,6-disulphonaphthalene, in each case carrying an NL1L2 substituent at the 7-position:
wherein A, L1, L2, R1 and R2 are as hereinbefore defined.
The hydroxy group(s) on R1 and/or R2 may be protected during the diazotisation, for example using an acid labile or base labile protecting group. The acetoxy protecting group is particularly convenient and inexpensive.
The diazotisation is preferably performed at room temperature or below. Preferably the diazotisation is performed in water, preferably at a pH below 7. Dilute mineral acid, e.g. HCl or H2SO4, may be used to achieve the desired acidic conditions.
The compound of Formula (2) may be prepared by diazotising a compound of formula Axe2x80x94NH2 and coupling onto an aniline compound carrying R1 and R2 groups at the 2- and 5-positions respectively, wherein A, R1 and R2 are as hereinbefore defined.
Preferred salts are alkali metal salts (especially lithium, sodium and potassium salts), ammonium and substituted ammonium salts and mixtures thereof. Especially preferred salts are sodium, potassium and lithium salts, salts with ammonia and volatile amines and mixtures thereof. The lithium salts have good solubility, forming particularly storage stable inks with low tendency to block ink jet nozzles.
The dyes may be converted into a desired salt using known techniques. For example, an alkali metal salt of a dye may be converted into the ammonium or substituted ammonia salt by dissolving an alkali metal salt of the dye in water, acidifying with a mineral acid and adjusting the pH of the solution to pH 9 to 9.5 with ammonia or the amine and removing the alkali metal cations by dialysis or by use of an ion exchange resin.
Examples of amines which may be used to form such salts include methylamine, dimethylamine, trimethylamine, ethylamine, n-propylamine, iso-propylamine, n-butylamine, iso-butylamine, sec-butylamine, tert-butylamine, piperidine, pyridine, morpholine, allylamine, diethylamine, triethylamine and mixtures thereof. It is not essential that the dyes are completely in the form of the ammonium salt or substituted ammonium salt and mixed alkali metal and either ammonium salt or substituted ammonium salt are effective, especially those in which at least 50% of the cations are ammonium or substituted ammonium ions.
Still further salts are those with the counter ions described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,265, claim 1, integer (b), which are included herein by reference thereto.
The dyes of Formula (1) may exist in tautomeric forms other than those shown in this specification. These tautomers are included within the scope of the present claims.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an ink comprising a compound of Formula (1) or salt thereof and a liquid medium, or a low melting point solid medium.
A preferred ink comprises:
(a) from 0.01 to 30 parts of a compound of the Formula (1) or salt thereof; and
(b) from 70 to 99.99 parts of a liquid medium or a low melting point solid medium; wherein all parts are by weight and the number of parts of (a)+(b)=100.
The number of parts of component (a) is preferably from 0.1 to 20, more preferably from 0.5 to 15, and especially from 1 to 5 parts. The number of parts of component (b) is preferably from 99.9 to 80, more preferably from 99.5 to 85, especially from 99 to 95 parts.
When the medium is a liquid, preferably component (a) is completely dissolved in component (b). Preferably component (a) has a solubility in component (b) at 20xc2x0 C. of at least 10%. This allows the preparation of liquid dye concentrates which may be used to prepare inks and reduces the chance of the dye precipitating if evaporation of the liquid medium occurs during storage.
Preferred liquid media include water, a mixture of water and an organic solvent and an organic solvent free from water.
When the liquid medium comprises a mixture of water and an organic solvent, the weight ratio of water to organic solvent is preferably from 99:1 to 1:99, more preferably from 99:1 to 50:50 and especially from 95:5 to 80:20.
It is preferred that the organic solvent present in the mixture of water and organic solvent is a water-miscible organic solvent or a mixture of such solvents. Preferred water-miscible organic solvents include C1-6-alkanols, preferably methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol, n-butanol, sec-butanol, tert-butanol, n-pentanol, cylopentanol and cyclohexanol; linear amides, preferably dimethylformamide or dimethylacetamide; ketones and ketone-alchohols, preferably acetone, methyl ether ketone, cyclohexanone and diacetone alcohol; water-miscible ethers, preferably tetrahydrofuran and dioxane; diols, preferably diols having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms, for example pentane-1,5-diol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, pentylene glycol, hexylene glycol and thiodiglycol and oligo- and poly-alkyleneglycols, preferably diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol and polypropylene glycol; triols, preferably glycerol and 1,2,6-hexanetriol; mono-C1-4-alkyl ethers of diols, preferably mono-C1-4-alkyl ethers of diols having 2 to 12 carbon atoms, especially 2-methoxyethanol, 2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethanol, 2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)-ethanol, 2-[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethanol, 2-[2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)-ethoxy]-ethanol and ethyleneglycol monoallylether; cyclic amides, preferably 2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone, caprolactam and 1,3-dimethylimidazolidone; cyclic esters, preferably caprolactone; sulphoxides, preferably dimethyl sulphoxide and sulpholane. Preferably the liquid medium comprises water and 2 or more, especially from 2 to 8, water-soluble organic solvents.
Especially preferred water-soluble organic solvents are cyclic amides, especially 2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-pyrrolidone and N-ethyl-pyrrolidone; diols, especially 1,5-pentane diol, ethyleneglycol, thiodiglycol, diethyleneglycol and triethyleneglycol; and mono-C1-4-alkyl and C1-4-alkyl ethers of diols, more preferably mono-C1-4-alkyl ethers of diols having 2 to 12 carbon atoms, especially 2-methoxy-2-ethoxy-2-ethoxyethanol.
Examples of further suitable ink media comprising a mixture of water and one or more organic solvents are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,189, U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,113, U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,284 and EP 4,251,50A.
When the liquid medium comprises an organic solvent free from water, (i.e. less than 1% water by weight) the solvent preferably has a boiling point of from 30xc2x0 to 20xc2x0 C., more preferably of from 40xc2x0 to 150xc2x0 C., especially from 50 to 125xc2x0 C. The organic solvent may be water-immiscible, water-miscible or a mixture of such solvents. Preferred water-miscible organic solvents are any of the hereinbefore described water-miscible organic solvents and mixtures thereof. Preferred water-immiscible solvents include, for example, aliphatic hydrocarbons; esters, preferably ethyl acetate; chlorinated hydrocarbons, preferably CH2Cl2; and ethers, preferably diethyl ether; and mixtures thereof.
When the liquid medium comprises a water-immiscible organic solvent, preferably a polar solvent is included because this enhances solubility of the dye in the liquid medium. Examples of polar solvents include C1-4-alcohols. In view of the foregoing preferences it is especially preferred that where the liquid medium is an organic solvent free from water it comprises a ketone (especially methyl ethyl ketone) and/or an alcohol (especially a C1-4-alkanol, more especially ethanol or propanol).
The organic solvent free from water may be a single organic solvent or a mixture of two or more organic solvents. It is preferred that when the medium is an organic solvent free from water it is a mixture of 2 to 5 different organic solvents. This allows a medium to be selected which gives good control over the drying characteristics and storage stability of the ink.
Ink media comprising an organic solvent free from water are particularly useful where fast drying times are required and particularly when printing onto hydrophobic and non-absorbent substrates, for example plastics, metal and glass.
Preferred low melting solid media have a melting point in the range from 60xc2x0 C. to 125xc2x0 C. Suitable low melting point solids include long chain fatty acids or alcohols, preferably those with C18-24 chains, and sulphonamides. The dye of Formula (1) may be dissolved in the low melting point solid or may be finely dispersed in it.
The dyes of the invention may be used as the sole colorant in inks because of their attractive black shade. They benefit from particularly good light fastness and good optical density. However, if desired, one may combine the dyes with one or more further colorants if a slightly different shade is required for a particular end use. The further colorants are preferably dyes. When further colorants are included in the ink these are preferably selected from black, cyan and yellow colorants and combinations thereof.
Preferred black colorants include C.I.Food Black 2, C.I.Direct Black 19, C.I.Reactive Black 31, Pro-Jet(trademark) Fast Black 2, C.I.Direct Black 195; C.I.Direct Black 168; and black dyes described in patents by Lexmark (e.g. EP 0 539,178 A2, Example 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), Orient Chemicals (e.g. EP 0 347 803 A2, pages 5-6, azo dyes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16) and Seiko Epson Corporation.
Preferred cyan colorants include C.I.Direct Blue 199; C.I.Acid Blue 9; C.I.Direct Blue 307; C.I.Reactive Blue 71; and C.I.Direct Blue 85.
Preferred yellow colorants include C.I.Direct Yellow 142; C.I.Direct Yellow 132; C.I.Direct Yellow 86; C.I.Direct Yellow 85; C.I.Direct Yellow 173; and C.I.Acid Yellow 23.
However, as mentioned above, it is not normally necessary to use further colorants in conjunction with dyes of the present invention.
The ink may also contain additional components conventionally used in ink jet printing inks, for example viscosity and surface tension modifiers, corrosion inhibitors, biocides, kogation reducing additives and surfactants which may be ionic or non-ionic.
A further aspect of the invention provides a process for forming an image on a substrate comprising applying an ink containing a dye of Formula (1) to the substrate by means of an ink jet printer.
The ink used in this process is preferably as defined in the second aspect of the present invention.
Preferably the ink contains less than 500 ppm, more preferably less than 100 ppm, especially less than 30 ppm and more especially less than 20 ppm in total of divalent and trivalent metal ions (other than metal ions bound to a dye component). The halide content is preferably less than 500 ppm, more preferably less than 250 ppm. The term xe2x80x98ppmxe2x80x99 means parts per million by weight based on the total weight of ink. The metal ion and halide content may be adjusted to the desired range using any suitable technique, e.g. ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, ion exchange or a combination thereof.
The ink may be used, as is, for ink jet printers or alternatively it may be used as a concentrate which is diluted and/or further fomulated to give an ink jet printing ink. The concentrates are a useful form for transportation, avoiding the expense of transporting the water contained in finally formulated inks.
The ink jet printer preferably applies the ink to the substrate in the form of droplets which are ejected through a small orifice onto the substrate. Preferred ink jet printers are piezoelectric ink jet printers and thermal ink jet printers. In thermal ink jet printers, programmed pulses of heat are applied to the ink in a reservoir by means of a resistor adjacent to the orifice, thereby causing the ink to be ejected in the form of small droplets directed towards the substrate during relative movement between the substrate and the orifice. In piezoelectric ink jet printers the oscillation of a small crystal causes ejection of the ink from the orifice.
The substrate is preferably paper, plastic, a textile, metal or glass, more preferably paper, an overhead projector slide or a textile material, especially paper.
Preferred papers are plain or treated papers which may have an acid, alkaline or neutral character.
Preferred paper are plain or treated papers which may have an acid, alkaline or neutral character. Examples of commercially available treated papers include HP Premium Coated Paper (available from Hewlett Packard Inc), HP Photopaper (available from Hewlett Packard Inc), Stylus Pro 720 dpi Coated Paper, Epson Photo Quality Glossy Film (available from Seiko Epson Corp.), Epson Photo Quality Glossy Paper (available from Seiko Epson Corp.), Canon HR 101 High Resolution Paper (available from Canon), Canon GP 201 and GP 301 Glossy Paper (available from Canon), and Canon HG 101 and HG201 High Gloss Film (available from Canon).
A further aspect of the present invention provides a paper, an overhead projector slide or a textile material printed with an ink, a dye or by means of a process as hereinbefore defined.
A still further aspect of the present invention provides an ink jet printer cartridge, optionally refillable, comprising a chamber and an ink, wherein the ink is present in the chamber and the ink is as defined in the second aspect of the present invention.

Abstract: wherein:

Abstract: n is 0 or 1;

Abstract: The use of these compounds in inks and the use of inks comprising these compounds in ink jet printing.


A process cartridge detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus is provided with a lock mechanism in a shutter member of opening and closing a toner discharge port, and once the process cartridge is mounted onto an image forming apparatus, the lock mechanism is configured to be unlocked so as to enable the shutter member to open and close subject to unlocking of a lock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge detachably mounted to image forming apparatuses, such as photocopiers and printers of forming images onto recording material by utilizing an electrophotographic system.
2. Related Background Art
In order to improve replaceability of parts, there is such an image forming apparatuses adopting an electrophotographic system that is provided with a cartridge detachably mounted to the image forming apparatus derived by unitizing a plurality of members. For example, there is such a cartridge that removes toner still remaining on a photosensitive member or a transfer belt due to failure in complete consumption for transfer from a photosensitive member or recording material onto a transfer belt to discharge it as waste toner.
In this case, the main body apparatus comprises a housing container of housing waste toner discharged from this cartridge and waste toner carrying means in order to retrieve (or recover) it to the housing container.
There exists a circulation unit of bringing mutual orifices into communication in order to deliver waste toner between this cartridge and the waste toner carrying means (or the housing container), and shutter means is provided so that the orifice of this delivery unit is opened and closed and the toner is not scattered to the outside. Thus, shutter means is essential for the cartridge system detachably mounted to the main body apparatus in order to prevent toner leakage from the cartridge at the time of cartridge replacement (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. H04-81172).
However, a waste toner shutter in a prior art cartridge in the attach/detach system has presented problems as described below. That is, when a cartridge is detached from/attached to the main body apparatus, a user might touch by mistake the waste toner shutter provided to the cartridge, and then the toner shutter would open to leak toner from the waste toner from a discharge port. In addition, such a problem was present that toner would be stuck (or attracted) onto the surface of the cartridge by the toner leaking from the waste toner receiving port provided in the main body side when the cartridge was mounted onto the main body of the image forming apparatus.

Cartridge detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus including a lock member engagable with a wall of the image forming apparatus


The present invention aims to provide improved texture of right and left marginal parts formed to extend along an open part of knitwear knitted in a tubular form, such as a cardigan and a vest with open part. The invention provide a method for producing a tubular fabric wherein a vertically extending open part (2) is formed and right and left marginal parts (21, 22) extending along the open part (2) are arranged in two layers to overlap each other when wearing by using a flat knitting machine. The method of the invention includes the step of performing a course knitting repeatedly in the state in which an adequate number of wales of at least one of the right and left parts of one fabric part having the open part (2), positioned at a lateral end thereof with respect to knitting width, are sent round to the other fabric part retained and knitted on an opposite needle bed, in order that the one fabric part is retained on one needle bed and knitted in the state in which the right and left marginal parts (21, 22) are arranged in line with each other; the step of widening the open part by providing a narrowing knitting to the one fabric part having the open part (2) formed therein; and the step of moving the wales as were sent round to the opposite nnedle bed to an outside of the one fabric part having the open part (2) formed therein.

The present invention relates to a tubular fabric having an open part splitting a part of knitwear vertically, such as a cardigan and a vest having an open part, or a slashed tubular fabric with its marginal parts around the slit overlapped with one part under the other, and to a knitting method thereof.
The applicant has proposed a basic knitting technique on a seamless knit in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 3(1991)-75656. The proposed knitting technique uses a so-called two-bed flat knitting machine comprising front and back needle beds arranged to be opposite to each other, for knitting a knitted fabric into a tubular form with alternate needles of front and back needle beds, for example, using odd needles for a front fabric part and even needles for a back fabric part. When the front fabric part is knitted, the back fabric part is engaged with needles of the back needle bed, while on the other hand, when the back fabric part is knitted, the front fabric part is engaged with needles of the front needle bed, whereby empty needles available to receive and transfer loops of each fabric part are always reserved on the opposite needle bed to knit the front and back fabric parts in the state of being overlapped with one fabric part under the other fabric part. As a result of this, several structure patterns in which front stitches and back stitches are mixed, such as links, purl stitches, and ribs, can be knitted in a tubular form. Also, the use of the empty needles enables the knitted fabric to be moved transversely so as be joined to an adjacent knitted fabric.
A four-bed flat knitting machine further comprising another pair of front and back needle beds can also be used. In this case, front fabric parts of e.g. sleeves and a body, can be knitted with needles of a lower front needle bed and an upper back needle bed, and also back fabric parts thereof can be knitted with needles of a lower back needle bed and an upper front needle bed. Accordingly, when the four-bed flat knitting machine is used, the need to allot the front fabric part to the odd needles and the back fabric part to the even needles, as is required in the two-bed knitting machine, can be eliminated. These knitting techniques can allow producing knitwear in the form of a nearly completed product on the flat knitting machine, and as such can eliminate or simplify the sewing process.
When a vest is knitted seamlessly, front and back bodies of the vest are knitted starting at hems toward a shoulder, while armholes and a neckline opening are formed therebetween. The front and back bodies are joined together at the shoulder and bound off. Similarly, when knitwear with sleeves, including T-sleeve, Set-in sleeve, and Raglan sleeve, is knitted, its body and two sleeves are simultaneously knitted in a tubular form until before armholes and then are joined together from armholes to the shoulder and, then, front and back parts of the body are joined together at the shoulder. These knitwear knitting methods are disclosed by Japanese Laid-open (Unexamined) Patent Publications No. Hei 2(1990)-91254, Hei 2(1990)-229248, Hei 4(1990)-209855, and Hei 4(1992)-153346.
When knitwear, such as a cardigan and a vest with a front open, is knitted, right and left marginal parts extending along the front open, where a placket is usually laid to form button holes and button, must be formed to be overlapped with each other, with one side under the other side, when wearing.
The front body and the back body can be knitted in an overlapped state (double-layer in section) by using alternate needles in the two-bed flat knitting machine for knit, as mentioned above. A multilayer (e.g. a triple-layer and a four-layer) knitted fabric can also be knitted by using every N-number needles such as three needles and every four needles. For example, when a triple-layer knitted fabric in section with its marginal parts overlapped with each other is knitted on the two-bed flat knitting machine, the marginal parts 121, 122 of the front open 102 are knitted, for example, by using every four needles, as shown in FIG. 19. In the drawing, reference numeral 105r, 105l denote a right front body and a left front body, respectively, and 107 denotes a back body.
However, when the marginal parts 121, 122 are knitted in that manner, distance between one needle and another used to form loops of the marginal parts is increased, resulting in loose loops of the marginal parts and thus inferior texture of the marginal parts. To avoid this problem, the knitted fabric with the open part is commonly knitted in the manner that only the marginal parts are knitted separately from the body parts and then joined to the body parts by sewing in a sewing process. This knitting method is applicable to all types of fabrics with the open part, including the vest or cardigan with the front open, as mentioned above, and a slashed tubular fabric with its marginal parts extending along the slit or open part and overlapped with each other.
It is an object of the present invention that when a knitwear having an open part, such as a slit, formed in a part of fabric knitted in a tubular form and a marginal part(s) extending along the open part, such as a vest or a cardigan, is knitted seamlessly, loops of the marginal part(s) extending along the open part are prevented from being loosened to provide improved texture.
In order to solve the problems mentioned above, the present invention provides a method for knitting a knitted fabric comprising a front fabric part, a back fabric part, an open part, and right and left marginal parts extending along the open part by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds, each of which has a large number of needles and at least either of which can be racked laterally to receive and transfer loop between the needle beds, wherein the knitted fabric is knitted in the state in which the front fabric part and the back fabric part are joined to each other at lateral ends of the fabric with respect to knitting width and either of the front fabric part and the back fabric part is split into right and left parts at some midpoint of the knitting width; so that the open part is formed to extend vertically from the splitting place and also the right and left marginal parts comprising an adequate number of wales extending along the open part are arranged in two layers to overlap each other when wearing, the method comprising:
(a) the step of performing a course knitting repeatedly in the state in which the number of wales of at least one of the right and left split parts of one fabric part having the open part formed at a lateral end thereof with respect to knitting width, which is determined in dependence with the number of wales of the marginal part continuous to the fabric part retained and knitted on the opposite needle bed, are previously sent round to the other fabric part retained and knitted on an opposite needle bed, in order that the one fabric part is retained on one needle bed and knitted in the state in which the right and left marginal parts are arranged in line with each other,
(b) the step of widening the open part by providing a narrowing knitting to the one fabric part having the open part formed therein, and
(c) the step of moving the wales as were previously sent round to the opposite needle bed in the step (a) to an outside of the one fabric part having the open part formed therein.
It is preferable that in the step (b), the opening is widened by moving the right and left marginal parts in a direction in which the right and left marginal parts are moved away from each other, so that the number of empty needles existing between the right and left marginal parts as were arranged in line with each other and knitted in parallel is increased, and the step (c) is taken in continuation to the step (b), such that while the wales as were sent round to the opposite needle bed are racked one stitch by one stitch, the wales are moved to an outside of the one fabric part having the open part formed therein and also re-arrangement of loop for a next course knitting is performed by loop transfer.
It is preferable that the step (b) and the step (c) are repeatedly performed and wherein in the step (b), the open part is widened by keeping the marginal parts stationary and moving the right and left fabric parts adjacent to the fabric part retained on the one needle bed close to each other and then the wales as were sent round to the opposite needle bed are moved to the empty needles formed by widening the open part.
Also, it is preferable that said knitting is provided to both of the right and left fabric parts of the one fabric part having the open part formed therein.
Alternatively, said knitting may be provided to either of the right and left fabric parts of the one fabric part having the open part formed therein.
It is preferable that loops of the wales to be moved in the step (c) are formed by feeding yarn in a direction in which twist in the loops caused by loop transfer is released, in order to prevent occurrence of twisted loops of the wales.
The present invention provides another method for knitting a knitted fabric comprising a front fabric part, a back fabric part, an open part, and right and left marginal parts extending along the open part by using a flat knitting machine comprising at least a pair of front and back needle beds, each of which has a large number of needles and at least either of which can be racked laterally to receive and transfer loop between the needle beds, wherein the knitted fabric is knitted in the state in which the front fabric part and the back fabric part are joined to each other at lateral ends of the fabric with respect to knitting width and either of the front fabric part and the back fabric part is split into right and left parts at some midpoint of the knitting width, so that the open part is formed to extend vertically from the splitting place and also the right and left marginal parts comprising an adequate number of wales extending along the open part are arranged in two layers to overlap each other at knit-up positions thereof, the method comprising:
(a) the step of performing a course knitting in the state in which the number of wales of at least one of the right and left split parts of one fabric part having the open part formed at a lateral end thereof with respect to knitting width, which is determined in dependence on the number of wales of the marginal part continuous to the fabric part retained and knitted on the opposite needle bed, are previously sent round to the other fabric part retained and knitted on an opposite needle bed, in order that the one fabric part is retained on one needle bed and knitted in the state in which the right and left marginal parts are arranged in line with each other,
(b) the step of moving the wales to an outside of the one fabric part having the open part formed therein, while the wales as were previously sent round to the opposite needle bed in the step (a) are racked one stitch by one stitch,
(c) the step of moving the one fabric part toward the right and left marginal parts to overlap each other by loop transfer and also performing re-arrangement of loop for a next course knitting by the loop transfer, and
(d) the step of connecting together the front fabric part and the back fabric part at lateral ends thereof with respect to knitting width after the step (c) and then knitting courses to form an entire knitted fabric into a completely tubular body.
Also, the present invention provides a knitted fabric produced by any one of the methods mentioned above.
According to one aspect of the present invention, when knitwear such as a cardigan and a vest is knitted as a knitted fabric, the knitwear is knitted seamlessly so that the front and back bodies are joined together at lateral ends thereof with respect to knitting width and the vertically extending open part is formed in the front body. According to the present invention, as a substitute for the knitting method wherein the right and left marginal parts are knitted in an overlapping relation on the needle beds so that when wearing, the right and left marginal parts formed along the open part are arranged in two layers to overlap each other, the marginal parts are knitted in the state of being arranged side by side. Although the knitting width of the front body becomes larger than that of the back body on the needle bed by knitting the marginal parts in the state of being arranged in line, since the knitting is performed in the state in which an adequate number of wales of the front body at either or both of right and left side ends thereof are sent round to the back body, the knitting widths of the front and back fabrics knitted on the front and back needle beds can be made generally equal to each other. This can achieve the course knitting of the front and back bodies.
Then, the open part is widened by providing the narrowing knitting to the fabric having the open part formed therein and also the wales as were sent round to the opposite needle bed are moved to outside of the fabric having the open part formed therein. Specifically, the right and left marginal parts are moved toward their respective front body parts to widen the open part. In the cardigan and vest, this knitting forms a neckline opening of the cardigan/vest. As the open part is widened increasingly, the number of empty needles inserted in between the right and left marginal parts increases. Thereafter, the wales at the lateral end of the front body part as were sent round to the opposite needle bed on which the back body is retained are sent to the front body side, while the wales of the front body part are racked one stitch by one stitch, so that those wales can be arranged in line. At the same time as this knitting or after this knitting, the fabric is transferred so that the knitting widths of the front and back bodies on the needle beds can be uniformed for the next course knitting. At this time the loops are rearranged by using the area in which the inserted empty needles are presented, for transference of the knitted fabric.
Alternatively, the front body parts may be moved toward the right and left marginal parts to narrow their knitting widths. This can also substantially widen the open part. By moving the front body parts toward the marginal parts, the empty needles are formed at the outside of the front body parts including the marginal parts retained on the needle bed. The wales at the lateral end of the front body part as were sent to the opposite needle bed are transferred to the empty needles formed each time when the narrowing knitting is repeatedly performed one stitch by one stitch, whereby the knitting width of the front body and that of the back body are uniformed. The knitting widths of the front and back bodies on the needle beds are uniformed in this manner, for the sequent course knitting.
This knitting enables the marginal parts to be integrally knitted with the body and also enables the marginal parts to have solid texture, as compared with the conventional, so that when wearing, they can overlap each other with one side under the other side.
Also, the loops of the wales at the lateral end of the body are formed by feeding yarn in a direction in which twist in the loops caused by loop transfer is released, in order to prevent occurrence of twisted loops of the wales. By virtue of this, the twist can be removed from the wales when the loop transfer is performed sequentially. The knitted fabric knitted in this manner does not spoil its aesthetic form.
According to another aspect of the present invention, as a substitute for the knitting method wherein a fabric, such as an one-piece skirt, is knitted as a knitted fabric in the state in which the front fabric part and the back fabric part are joined together seamlessly at lateral ends of the fabric with respect to knitting width and the front body is split into right and left parts, so that a slit is formed and also the right and left marginal parts are knitted in an overlapping relation on the needle beds so that the right and left marginal parts extending along the slit can be arranged to overlap each other at knit-up positions thereof, the marginal parts are knitted in the state of being arranged side by side. Although the knitting width of the front body becomes larger than that of the back body on the needle bed by knitting the marginal parts in the state of being arranged in line, since the knitting is performed in the state in which an adequate number of wales of the front body at either or both of right and left side ends thereof are sent round to the back body, the knitting widths of the front and back fabrics knitted on the front and back needle beds can be made generally equal to each other. This can achieve the course knitting of the front and back bodies.
Then, after the slit is formed by performing this knitting, the wales at the lateral end of the front body part as were sent round to the opposite needle bed on which the back body is retained are sent to the front body side, while the wales of the front body part are racked one stitch by one stitch, so that those wales can be arranged in line. At the same time as this knitting or after this knitting, the right and left marginal parts are overlapped each other by loop transfer to knit up the slit and narrow the knitting width. Then, fabric is transferred to re-arrange the loops so that a completed tubular body can be knitted by the sequent course knitting. Thereafter, the sequent course knitting proceeds. This knitting enables the marginal parts to be integrally knitted with the body and also enables the marginal parts to have solid texture, as compared with the conventional, so that when wearing, they can overlap each other with one side under the other side.

Knitted fabric having open part and knitting method therefor


A base station comprises: an interference quantity measurement unit configured to measure an interference quantity toward a frequency band used in a communication system in which the base station is provided; an allowable interference quantity calculation unit configured to calculate an allowable interference quantity toward the frequency band, which is allowed to maintain a determined number of terminal equipments connecting lines with the base station, based on the measured interference quantity and the determined number of the terminal equipments; a reception unit configured to receive a request of connecting the line transmitted by the terminal equipment; and an acceptance control unit configured to control an acceptance of the request for connecting the line by comparing the measured interference quantity with the allowable interference quantity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a base station and a communication method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A communication system using a radio wave with a certain frequency band and a communication system using a radio wave with a frequency band close to that of the communication system before generate interference waves toward each other's frequency bands. As a result, interference between the communication systems occurs. For example, unnecessary waves such as leakage power and spurious power of one communication system become the interference waves for the other communication system.
As a method to avoid the interference between the communication systems, the one, which provides frequency bands called a guard band between the frequency bands used by the respective communication systems, has been heretofore used. Besides this method in order to avoid the interference, a random assign by a carrier sense has been used. This is a method to avoid the interference between the communication systems in the following manner: Noise power values of frequencies are measured, and a frequency containing large noise power is judged that it is interfered from other communication systems. Then, a frequency with less noise power is used.
In addition, as to the interference wave such as the spurious power generated in a specific frequency, a method has been used, which avoids the interference by switching a time slot and changing timing of transmission/reception or by switching a frequency. Furthermore, a method has been used, in which a transmitter transmits signals, which are spreaded over a wide frequency band by spreading codes, and then a receiver spreades when the receiver demodulates the spreaded signals, thus removing the interference wave components.
However, in the conventional method to provide the guard band, when a frequency band except the frequency band used by the communication system is wide, the guard band provided between the frequency bands of the communication systems has needed to be made wide. Therefore, the guard band using a wide frequency band has been provided for the interference between the systems, which changes depending on locations of a base station and a terminal equipment, which constitute the communication system and does not occur all the time. As a result, the use efficiency of the frequency has been decreased. Furthermore, in the case of the random assign by the carrier sense, the frequency is not used, which is judged that it is interfered from other communication system for the reason that it shows large noise power in measuring the noise power. Accordingly, the use efficiency of the frequency has been decreased.
As a result of the decrease in the use efficiency of the frequency as described above, the base station constituting the communication system can not maintain satisfactorily the number of terminal equipments connecting lines with the base station, that is, the number of users accommodated in the communication system (hereinafter referred to as a "user capacity"), who use the communication system. Thus the base station has not been able to maintain communication quality.
Although the switching of the time slot and the switching of the frequency are effective for the interference wave such as the spurious power which is generated in the specific frequency, they can not deal with the interference wave such as the leakage power, which extends all over the frequencies. Furthermore, with a CDMA-TDD system using a narrow frequency band, frequency switching cannot be performed. For this reason, the method to avoid the interference wave by switching the frequency can not be applied to the CDMA-TDD system. Accordingly, the base station has not been able to avoid influences due to the interference from other communication systems even if the methods above were employed. Thus, the base station has not been able to maintain the user capacity satisfactorily, and maintain the communication quality.
On the other hand, the method to remove the interference wave component by the despreading is effective to the interference all over the used frequency band and continuous interference. Therefore, this method has an advantage that interference can be somewhat avoided. However, even with this method, when a certain quantity of interference or above is generated, the user capacity comes to be incapable of being maintained satisfactorily, and it makes it impossible to maintain communication quality.
Furthermore, even when the interference increases and the user capacity decreases, the terminal equipment located near the base station is easily connected to the base station, since the terminal equipment has leeway in transmission power. However, since a terminal equipment located at the edge of a wireless area does not have leeway in the transmission power, it becomes difficult to connect the terminal equipment to the base station, as the user capacity decreases due to an interference increase. Specifically, when the interference increases and the user capacity decreases, the terminal equipment located near the base station comes to connect a line with the base station more easily than the terminal equipment located at the edge of the wireless area covered with the base station. Therefore, terminal equipments connecting lines and communicating with the base station concentrate near the base station. Then, the user capacity at the edge of the wireless area covered by the base station is decreased. As a result, a density distribution of the terminal equipments connecting lines with the base station is more near the base station, and less at the edge of the wireless area.
As described above, it has been impossible to maintain a constant density distribution of the terminal equipments communicating with the base station. Therefore, it has been impossible to maintain the user capacity uniformly in the wireless area. Consequently, in an area where the communication system offers communication services, a situation turns disadvantageous to the terminal equipments located at the edge of the wireless area, and it has been difficult to offer the communication services equally to the plurality of terminal equipments.


The invention relates to a coating composition consisting of an oxide compound. The invention also relates to a method for producing a coating composition consisting of an oxide compound and to a method for coating substrates composed of metal, semiconductor, alloy, ceramic, quartz, glass or glass-type materials with coating compositions of this type. The invention further relates to the use of a coating composition according to the invention for coating metal, semiconductor, alloy, ceramic, quartz, glass and/or glass-type substrates.

Oxide layers, in particular ceramic and especially aluminum oxide (Al2O3), are used as coating material for a multiplicity of applications which impose stringent demands in respect of heat stability and heat shock stability or resistance to wear, oxidation or hot corrosion, thermal stability and electrical insulation.
Such layers can act as a diffusion barrier for ions and have high chemical stability and radiation resistance. They are therefore used in many fields. Thus, by way of example, aluminum oxide serves as an insulation material in the field of microelectronics. Owing to its chemical resistance and biocompatibility, it is also used in the field of medicine. Coatings comprising oxides are a good option for protecting surfaces against oxidation or hot corrosion, for example. This high chemical stability coupled with highly advantageous mechanical properties make oxides an ideal material for protective layers.
In this case, the production of suitable oxide compounds constitutes a major challenge; particularly the production of suitable oxide compounds having high homogeneity and purity is difficult. Thus, by way of example, aluminum oxide is present either as an amorphous phase or in various crystalline modifications with different properties. Said modifications have the more advantageous properties for protective coatings, since amorphous phases are normally softer. Crystalline aluminum oxide can be present in various modifications, of which only α-Al2O3 (corundum) is thermodynamically stable. The others, so-called transition aluminum oxides, such as γ, δ, η, θ, χ, χ′-Al2O3 and Al2O3-KII, are metastable and can be irreversibly converted into α-Al2O3. Above 1200° C., corundum is the only stable modification. In this case, corundum is also the hardest modification of aluminum oxide. The low ionic conductivity and its high thermodynamic stability make it an important coating against oxidations.
The prior art discloses a variety of methods for producing coatings and films composed of aluminum oxide, such as, for example, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), hydrothermal synthesis, sputtering or the sol-gel method.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,521,203 describes the production of α-Al2O3 by calcination of aluminum hydroxide, produced by hydrolysis of aluminum isopropoxide, at a temperature of 700 to 1300° C. However, this method does not permit the production of thin coatings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,368 describes the production of coatings by applying a dispersion of aluminum hydroxide and/or a transition aluminum oxide in aqueous medium. After adjusting the slurry and spray drying, the dry powder is calcined in the presence of a chlorine-containing substance at 1100° C. to 1500° C.
For industrial applications for depositing oxide layers, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at high temperatures, normally around 1000° C., is normally used since this technique affords the possibility of coating even complex geometries in conjunction with well-controllable thickness of the coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,035 describes such a process wherein the body to be coated is brought into contact at high temperature with a hydrogen carrier gas and a hydrolyzing or oxidizing agent, said hydrogen carrier gas containing one or more aluminum halides. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,713,172 describes the application of this method for coating cutting tools, once again at high temperatures of approximately 1000° C.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,238,420 describes a nanotemplate composed of relatively pure and fully crystalline α-Al2O3 on a metal alloy. In the production method disclosed, crystalline α-Al2O3 is produced with the aid of CVD directly on the surface of the alloy. For this purpose, the latter is pretreated before the deposition with a CO2/H2 mixture at high temperatures of 1000° C. to 1200° C.
All the methods described require high temperatures. The latter not only limit the possible substrates but can also lead to thermal flaws in the coating. Thus, the oxide coatings and the substrate often have different coefficients of thermal expansion of film and substrate, which leads to thermally induced flaws in the coating.
In order to avoid the high temperatures, major efforts have been undertaken to develop methods which make it possible to deposit oxide layers at lower temperatures, for example physical vapor deposition (PVD).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,761 describes a method for depositing α-Al2O3 with the aid of electron beam PVD. However, the substrate has to be heated to approximately 1000° C. Therefore, the deposition of pure oxide, in this case α-Al2O3, also requires high temperatures.
Variants of the CVD method, such as plasma assisted/enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PACVD/PECVD) or metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) likewise afford the possibility of using lower temperatures.
Thus, Pradhan et al. (Surf. Coat. Tech. 176 (2004) 382-384) describes that the use of metallo-organic aluminum compounds leads to the formation of crystalline aluminum oxide at low temperatures (higher than 550° C.). Only amorphous films were obtained at lower temperatures.
Although MOCVD methods afford many advantages, such as, for example, lower temperatures, simple processes, uniform coatings or the use of a single precursor, they also lead to carbon-like impurities in the coating.
The degree of crystallinity and the crystalline phases within the deposited oxide layer are very important for the mechanical properties thereof. A pure phase having high thermal and mechanical stability is distinctly preferred to a mixture of different phases. However, this necessitates a suitable heat treatment of the coated substrate which leads not only to the transformation into the desired phase but additionally to a densification of the coating, which is likewise of great importance for the mechanical stability of the layer. Such a heat treatment often requires temperatures of greater than 1200° C., which are not suitable for many substrates.
In order to avoid the heating of the entire coated substrate, a local heat treatment is appropriate. In this context, lasers have already been used successfully for the treatment of such ceramic materials (laser sintering). In this case, the coating is heated in a small region with the aid of a laser beam. These methods are used precisely in the field of oxide ceramics since they absorb in the range of the CO2 lasers used. In this case, one particular problem is the formation of thermally induced flaws during the resolidification and cooling of the material. They result from the brittleness of the ceramics and from the high temperature gradient between the region of action and the surrounding material, and also the different coefficients of thermal expansion of coating and substrate.
Thus, Triantafyllids et al. (Appl. Surf, Sci. 186 (2002) 140-144) and WO 2007/102143 describe the occurrence of thermally induced cracks during laser sintering. Such defects naturally influence the density and stability of the coating and the homogeneity of the phase transformation.
These effects can be reduced by adding binders to the oxide compounds, e.g. the aluminum oxide particles. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,954 describes such a binder composition for inorganic particles having a high melting point. Although such binders increase the densification of the coating, they can only be employed for pulverulent materials and the binder and also the residues thereof have to be removed after the laser sintering or even remain in the oxide layer.
Since the efficiency of laser sintering is highly dependent on the absorption of the material to be sintered, absorption is an important criterion. In this case, the binder can also contribute to the absorption. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,764 describes the use of a mixture of absorbent and ceramic particles in order to improve the absorption. Zheng et al. (Mat. Lett. 60 (2006) 1219-1223) use polystyrene-coated aluminum oxide particles in order to optimize the absorption for CO2 lasers. Said particles exhibited better absorption and therefore also more uniform heating and a reduced temperature gradient. However, organic material always remains as a residue in the coating.
DE 10 2006 013 484 A1 describes the production of an element/element oxide composite material, that is to say a material containing an element and the corresponding element oxide, in this case nanowires comprising a metal core and an oxide sheath.
The disadvantage of most methods for producing oxide layers resides in the high temperatures of the method. In the case of the laser sintering methods, the essential disadvantages are that only very specific lasers in a certain wavelength range, usually CO2 lasers, are suitable for being used; the precursors used do not absorb other wavelengths. This causes high temperature gradients and leads to a higher loading of the substrate and to thermally induced cracks and defects. Therefore, the addition of additional binders is often necessary in order to increase the absorption of the laser energy and to achieve a high quality of the coating. However, residues of said binders remain in the coating. Moreover, the production of high-quality and fault-free coatings requires a high degree of experience since influencing of the underlying substrate or excessive heating has to be avoided.
Problem
The present invention addresses the problem of overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art in the production of oxide layers as a coating composition. The problem addressed by the invention is, in particular, that of specifying a method which makes it possible to produce suitable oxide compounds as a coating composition.

Oxide compounds as a coating composition

Leibniz-Institut fuer Neue Materialien gemeinnuetzige GmbH


A variety of methods, devices, systems and arrangements are implemented for stimulation of the peripheral nervous system. Consistent with one embodiment of the present invention, method is implemented in which light-responsive channels or pumps are engineered in a set of motor units that includes motor units of differing physical volumes. Optical stimuli are also provided to the light-responsive channels or pumps at an optical intensity that is a function of the size of motor units to be recruited. In certain implementations, the intensity of the optical stimuli is increased so as to recruit increasingly larger motor units.

The peripheral nervous system extends from the brain and spinal cord to various portions of the body. Two of the main functions of the peripheral nervous system are muscle control and sensory feedback. Peripheral nerves carry signals between the various portions of the body and the central nervous system using electrical signals.
A typical muscle is composed of many thousands of fibers, which contain the contractile machinery of the muscle. Rather than individually controlling each fiber, a single motor neuron can control groups of fibers that form motor units. Motor units vary in size from 100 to several hundred fibers, and also vary in composition of muscle fiber type. Small motor units are typically composed of slow type muscle fibers that are fatigue-resistant, while larger motor units are generally composed of fast type fibers that are easily fatigable and medium sized motor units consist of a mixture of slow and fast fiber types. Motor units are recruited, or turned on, in a specific order that generally begins with the smallest group and progresses to the largest group. In this way, the smaller, fatigue-resistant motor units are used more often, and thus allow for fine force control for longer periods of use. The larger motor units, with larger capacity for generating force, are conserved for brief periods of time when they are most needed, e.g., during a reflex, emergency or other strenuous activities. The size of a motor neuron is correlated to the size of the motor unit that the motor neuron controls, so that a large motor neuron will control a large motor unit.
The normal physiologic recruitment order refers to a typical (healthy) order of motor neuron recruitment, where the size of the motor axons and the motor neuron cell bodies define the sequence of recruitment. For a given synaptic input of current, a smaller motor neuron will be recruited before a larger motor neuron, thus determining the order, small to large.
External electrical stimulation of motor neurons has been attempted. One such attempt stimulates the axon of a motor neuron. This, however, results in a recruitment order that is reversed when compared to the normal physiologic order (the larger motor units are recruited before smaller ones). The implication of this recruitment reversal is that large, fatigable motor units are recruited first, resulting in the loss of fine motor control and sustained motor function. Thus, fatigue has become a limiting factor in limb reanimation projects that have attempted to use electrical stimulation.
The other type main function of the peripheral nervous system, sensory feedback, is responsible for pain, touch, appetite and a variety of other aspects. When problems with arise with sensory feedback mechanisms, the results are often drastic and sometimes even life threatening. For example, chronic pain is a serious health issue that affects many individuals, seriously degrading their quality of life and often having long-term psychological impact. Another issue addressable through sensory feedback relates to appetite suppression.
Aspects of the present invention relate to control and/or stimulation of peripheral nervous system using optical stimulus.

Materials and approaches for optical stimulation of the peripheral nervous system

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY


A plug for plugging a hole of a bone or implant body during injection of an osteoregenerative material comprising, generally, a plug body, the plug body configured to plug a hole of the body to prevent osteoregenerative material from leaking through the hole, and a tail, the tail attached to the plug body for use in removing the plug body from the hole. In one embodiment, the plug body has an insertion cavity on a trailing end thereof for use in inserting the plug into a hole of the body. The plug body preferably has a frustoconical configuration. The plug body is preferably made of a resilient material, such as silicon.

Osteolysis is a medical condition involving dissolution of bone. Unfortunately, osteolysis often occurs in the bone adjacent to an orthopedic implant, such as a hip or knee implant. Osteolysis forms osteolytic lesions or voids in the bone. Osteolytic lesions are typically soft and spongy, and are unsupportive of orthopedic implants. An osteolytic lesion can cause a well-fixed implant to loosen. To treat osteolysis in the area of an implant, it is often necessary to conduct a revision surgery in which the old implant is removed, the lesion is cleaned out by debriding the local area, and then a larger revision implant is put in. To gain fixation, the revision implant requires substantial hardware to compensate for the significant bone loss.
Osteolytic lesions can occur in many other parts of the body where implants have been implanted, e.g. humerus, tibial plateau, distal femur, and acetabulum. Accordingly, the need to treat osteolytic bone lesions after joint replacement surgery is a widespread problem.


In an image processing apparatus, a color/monochrome determination section determines whether color image data is image data indicative of a color document or image data indicative of a monochrome document, regardless of which color setting is selected to output image data, and a control section stores a determination result and the color image data in a storage device so that they are correlated with each other. Upon receiving a change instruction to change the color setting, the control section generates output image data, following a color setting that is changed according to the change instruction, on the basis of the determination result and the color image data each stored in the storage device. As a result, even if the color setting is desired to be changed, it is possible to carry out output processing without reading the document from an image reading apparatus again.

An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a multifunction printer carries out image processing with respect to image data of a target image to be printed in accordance with a document type and setting conditions (printing density, percentage for an enlarging/reducing process, one-side printing or two-sided printing, margin size, and the like). Furthermore, there are some image forming apparatuses that display a preview of the target image to be printed on a display section of a display apparatus, on the basis of the image data that has been subjected to the image processing. There are various types of how to display a preview, for example, a display type in which the target image to be printed is displayed on the display section page by page, and a display type in which target images to be printed, made up of a plurality of pages, are displayed on the display section at once.
Furthermore, there are some image forming apparatuses having a function of changing a color of an image to be printed out, following a color setting selected by a user. In this case, the user sets a full-color mode, a monochrome mode, or the like mode as the color setting. However, in some cases, the user does not know whether a document is a color document or a monochrome document. In view of this, some image forming apparatuses have an auto color selection (ACS) function for automatically determining whether the document is a color document or a monochrome document. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication, Tokukai, No. 2001-83759 A (Publication Date: Mar. 30, 2001) discloses an image forming apparatus that carries out an ACS process only when an auto color selection mode (ACS mode) is set. Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication, Tokukai, No. 2004-4622 A (Publication Date: Jan. 8, 2004) discloses an image forming apparatus that can designate a mode (standard mode) for use in image formation when a user does not clearly designate which mode is to be used for forming an image, an auto color selection mode, a full-color mode, or a black-and-white mode.
In some cases, after a user once sets a full-color mode or a monochrome mode and a document is subjected to a reading process, the user may want to change the color setting. For example, there may be a case where, after the reading process, the user finds that there are a few color pages being mixed in black-and-white pages in the document and the user may want to print the few color pages in the full-color mode. Further, in a case where the preview display is carried out, there may be a case where the user may want to change the color setting when the user checks a preview of an image.
However, with such conventional arrangements, in the cases where the user wants to change the color setting after the document has been subjected to the reading process, it is necessary that printing should be completed in the color setting that is initially set and then the document should be reset to be subjected to the reading process again. Further, in this case, pieces of paper used for the printing in the initially-set color setting are wasted.

Processing apparatus, image reading processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium, all of which carry out automatic color selection (ACS) regardless of color setting of output image data


Systems and methods using the same to achieve a camera having precise timing of a camera shutter, which can be used also for a controllable aperture, are disclosed. The aperture can be controlled continuously and can therefore be used for video cameras. The shutter system is controlled by a feedback loop. The shutter blades are moved by at least one linear motor, a position sensor senses the actual position and speed of the blades. The movement of the blades can be stopped any time to get an aperture desired. For capturing an image in a first step a global reset is opening (activating) every pixel of the image sensor after the shutter is opened. In order to achieve a short active light exposure time (below 1 ms), after the global reset, the mechanical shutter invented closes rapidly after a defined active light exposure time. An active light exposure time is the time span between the image sensor is activated and the mechanical shutter is closed. In order to achieve a precise timing the shutter of the present invention uses electronic control and a feedback loop to control the actual position of the shutter.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to digital cameras and relates more specifically to camera shutters driven by a linear motor.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In photography, a shutter is a device that allows light to pass for a determined period of time, for the purpose of exposing photographic film or a light-sensitive electronic sensor to light to capture a permanent image of a scene.
As light travels through a lens opening (aperture), the shutter opens and closes in a timed fashion to determine how long the image sensor ("film") gets exposed to a scene. The exposure time has a most important impact upon the quality of an image. Conventional film cameras are using usually mechanical shutters while digital cameras are often using digital shutters. It is a challenge for the designers of digital cameras to design a shutter mechanism for digital cameras that can be exactly controlled.
The aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of light rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are, which is of great importance for the appearance at the image plane. A narrow aperture will result in sharpness at the image plane, while a wide aperture will result in sharpness for light rays with the right focal length only. This means that a wide aperture results in an image that is sharp around what the lens is focusing on and blurred otherwise. The aperture also determines how many of the incoming rays are actually admitted and thus how much light that reaches the image plane, i.e. the narrower the aperture, the darker the image.
In addition, with the advancement of small portable terminals equipped with cameras having zoom functions and shutters there is a requirement of compact size shutters. Therefore there is a need of precise, compact size shutters, which are easily to be assembled.
Solutions dealing with camera shutters are described in the following patents or patent publications:
(U.S. Pat. No. 6,733,192 to Watanabe) teaches an electromagnetic actuator having a rotor magnetized to have a plurality of poles; a base rotatably supporting the rotor; a yoke having a plurality of magnetic pole portions that are formed so as to face an outer peripheral surface of the rotor and that generate different magnetic poles; a magnetizing coil; and a bobbin/presser member which is disposed on an outer periphery of the yoke, around which the coil is wound, and with which a pressing portion for pressing the yoke against the base and for supporting the rotor is formed integrally. A camera blade driving device according to the present invention has a base having an exposure opening; a shutter blade or a diaphragm blade that is rotatably supported by the base; and an electromagnetic actuator including a rotor that is magnetized to have a plurality of poles and that is rotatably supported by the base, a yoke having a plurality of magnetic pole portions that are formed so as to face an outer peripheral surface of the rotor and that generate different magnetic poles, a magnetizing coil, and a bobbin/presser member which is disposed on an outer periphery of the yoke, around which the coil is wound, and with which a pressing portion for pressing the yoke against the base and for supporting the rotor is formed integrally, the electromagnetic actuator driving the shutter blade or the diaphragm blade. Accordingly, the parts count is reduced, and the assembly task is simplified, while cost is lowered.
(U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,990 to Shin et al.) discloses a shutter device for use with a camera lens assembly, wherein the shutter device includes a shutter base, a shutter blade which is rotatably mounted on the shutter base, a magnet movably coupled to the shutter base so as to enable rotation of the shutter blade, and a yoke extending lengthwise while facing the magnet wherein the movement range of the shutter base is limited within a length of the yoke. The zoom-in/zoom-out operation is enabled by moving only the shutter base, thus enabling a compact size fabrication of the camera lens assembly. The shutter blade is easily installed adjacent to a diaphragm, and the operational speed of the shutter blade is controlled by adjusting the structure of an electronic coil.
U.S. Patent Publication (US 2007/0110433 to Masahiko) describes a shutter driving apparatus for a camera module having a shutter driving section constructed to slidingly move shutter blades provided to a camera lens module in both sideward directions to thereby open and close a lens opening. The shutter driving apparatus comprises a lens housing; a pair of shutter blades provided to the lens housing to be slidingly moved in a lengthwise direction of the lens housing to thereby open and close a lens opening of the camera lens module; and a pair of shutter driving sections respectively connected to the shutter blades via rotation links and each being configured for creating a pair of electromagnetically-opposite electromagnet poles and having a permanent magnet positioned between the poles such that a permanent magnet with at least one of the poles and connected to the rotation link is rotated due to a magnetic field created as current is applied to the electromagnet, to slidingly move an associated shutter blade.

System and Method for controlling a camera shutter


Creation of an index for a table of sorted data for use by a data storage application is initiated. Thereafter, N+1 logical partition of rows of the table are defined so that each logical partition has a corresponding worker process. Each worker process then builds a sub-index based on the corresponding logical partition which are later merged to form the index. Related apparatus, systems, techniques and articles are also described.

Database indexes are data structures used to retrieve data stored in database tables. Through the use of indexes, desired data can be located without scanning through every row in a database table each time the table is accessed. Building an index on a table having sorted data rows on the index key column values involves reading the data rows, extracting the index key column values, and building the index rows. Indexes are conventionally generated using a serial query plan which means that a single process does all of the processing to construct the index.

High performance index creation on sorted data using parallel query plans


A read only memory in which a portion of an address area thereof is allotted to that of another memory. The read only memory comprises at least one address decoding output circuit with a read only memory portion. The address decoding output circuit is formed to be programmable at the same time as the read only memory portion. Thus, an apparatus having this read only memory can be miniaturized and have a low power consumption, and the process of producing a system including this read only memory is simplified.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a read only memory (ROM). In particular, it relates to a ROM in which a portion of an address area is allotted to another memory or other memories.
2) Description of the Related Art
In a conventional system, when a portion of a series address area allotted to a ROM (as a whole) is allotted another memory as addresses thereof instead of being allotted to the ROM, an external addition of an address decoding circuit is necessary. The smaller the area occupied by the memory to be allotted, the relatively larger the scale of the address decoding circuit, and this scale expansion causes a corresponding increase in the power consumption of the system. This is because, if the occupied address area of the memory to be allotted is small in comparison with the ROM capacity, a circuit comprising many logical elements becomes necessary for address selection. This invention proposes to solve the above problem.


An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for visual log analysis. The apparatus for visual log analysis is provided with a plurality of modules configured to functionally execute the necessary steps of retrieving log entries from a plurality of devices on a network, parsing the log entries to determine an execution flow of commands executed of the network, and displaying a graphical representation of such execution on the network. These modules in the described embodiments include a log consolidation module, a parsing module, and a display module.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to network management systems and more particularly relates to an apparatus, system, and method for visual log analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various computer and network devices generate log records of transactions between devices, device operations, and errors. Unfortunately, the format and content of the logs are not standardized. The differences in log content and format may be particularly great between different device manufacturers. The problem may be further compounded when application log files are considered. Application log files may contain information regarding particularized operations that are only significant for one application. Understanding database log files may present an even greater challenge because of the large number of data transactions and loggable events that take place in conjunction with a database.
A network manager or network management system may manage several network, computer devices, and/or databases simultaneously. These devices may host or work in conjunction with multiple applications. If a network or application error occurs, the network manager may want to view the various log files to determine a root cause of the error. Unfortunately, the log files may be difficult to read, especially where the network contains devices and applications from more than one manufacturer or developer.
One common answer to this problem is a log analyzer. A log analyzer may automatically scan through an imported log file to provide information regarding a failure to a network administrator. Unfortunately, since log file formats are not standardized, a separate analyzer is typically required for each device or application. Moreover, the analysis reports may still be difficult to decipher, because the format of the analysis report may not be intuitive.

Apparatus, system, and method for visual log analysis