A spunbonded non-woven fabric and a laminate composed of one or more such spunbonded non-woven fabrics and of one or more melt-blown non-woven fabrics under lamination, wherein the spunbonded non-woven fabric does scarcely suffer from occurence of rough surface and reveal scarce adherent touch with better hand feel due to permission of attaining more finer filament and can be produced efficiently without suffering from filament fracture on the spinning,

The present invention relates to a spunbonded non-woven fabric and to a laminate thereof comprising one or more webs of such spunbonded non-woven fabric, wherein the spunbonded non-woven fabric is made of fibers obtained by spinning a polypropylene resin composition comprising a polypropylene resin and a lubricant, which lubricant comprises a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and one or more inorganic compounds.
While there have been used as the polypropylene resin for the raw material for non-woven fabric those which are produced using a Ziegler catalyst or a solid titanium catalyst, the polypropylene resins produced using such a catalyst, which have wider molecular weight distribution, are apt to suffer from fluctuation in the flow rate of the molten resin upon extrusion from a spinning nozzle into filament and are inferior in the spinning performance. They have also a narrow permissible range of temperature for spinning.
On the other hand, polypropylene resins having narrower molecular weight distribution produced using a single-site catalyst, such as metallocene catalyst or so on, are subject to occurrence of surface roughness and are difficult to process into a formed product exhibiting better appearance, though they are superior in the spinning performance together with permission of attaining finer filament, as compared with the polypropylene resins having wider molecular weight distribution obtained using Ziegler catalyst. For example, when an extrusion spinning is carried out to spin into a filament using a polypropylene resin which has higher melt flow rate and which is generally recognized to have a better moldability, the resulting spun filament may often suffer from occurrence of rough surface of the filament due to occurrence of melt-fracture, causing thus an inferior appearance. When extrusion-molded into film or sheet, inferior appearances, such as rough surfaces, irregular thickness and white clouding, may often be brought about.
It has heretofore been known, that extrusion-molded articles exhibiting better appearances are produced by incorporating a lubricant in a polypropylene resin to improve its moldability. There has, however, not been known, that the appearance of a polypropylene resin produced by polymerization using a single-site catalyst is considerably improved by incorporating therein a lubricant component comprising a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and one or more inorganic compounds.
Also, it has not been known, that non-woven fabric made of more finer long filaments can be produced efficiently by incorporating therein a lubricant comprising a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene and an inorganic compound and that fibers exhibiting scarce adherent finger touch are obtained thereby.
The object of the present invention is to provide a spunbonded non-woven fabric and a laminated product thereof, wherein the fabric is made of fibers produced from a polypropylene resin composition used as the raw material and exhibits better appearance with scarce occurrence of surface roughness together with scarce adherent finger touch and with superior hand feel due to permission of realizing more finer filament thickness and wherein the fibers can be produced efficiently without suffering from breaking of spun filaments.
The present invention consists in the following spunbonded non-woven fabric and laminate thereof:
(1) A spunbonded non-woven fabric made of fibers which comprise a polypropylene resin and have fiber finenesses in the range from 0.8 to 2.8 denier, wherein the said fabric has an average friction factor (MIU) of 0.1 to 0.3, a thickness uniformity of not higher than 0.8, a waterproof performance of at least 60 mm H2O and a gas permeability of not higher than 480 ml/cm2/sec.
(2) A spunbonded non-woven fabric made of fibers obtained by spinning a polypropylene resin composition comprising
99.995-99.7% by weight of a polypropylene resin having a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) of 1 to 3.5, determined by a gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and a melt flow rate of 0.01 to 300 g/10 min., determined according to ASTM D 1238 at 230xc2x0 C. under a load of 2.16 kg, and
0.005-0.3% by weight of a lubricant comprising 70 to 100% by weight of a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and 0 to 30% by weight of one or more inorganic compounds.
(3) A spunbonded non-woven fabric as defined in the above (1) or (2), wherein the polypropylene resin is that produced by a polymerization process using a single-site catalsyt.
(4) A spunbonded non-woven fabric made of fibers obtained by spinning a polypropylene resin composition comprising
99.995-99.7% by weight of a polypropylene resin having a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) of 1 to 3.5, determined by a gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and a melt flow rate of 0.01 to 300 g/10 min., determined according to ASTM D 1238 at 230xc2x0 C. under a load of 2.16 kg, and
0.005-0.3% by weight of a lubricant comprising 70 to 100% by weight of a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and 0 to 30% by weight of one or more inorganic compounds, the said inorganic compounds being selected from the group consisting of talc, calcium carbonate, silicon oxide and barium sulfate.
(5) A spunbonded non-woven fabric made of fibers obtained by spinning a polypropylene resin composition comprising
99.995-99.7% by weight of a polypropylene resin having a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) of 1 to 3.5, determined by a gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and a melt flow rate of 0.01 to 300 g/10 min., determined according to ASTM D 1238 at 230xc2x0 C. under a load of 2.16 kg, and
0.005-0.3% by weight of a lubricant comprising 70 to 100% by weight of a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and 0 to 20% by weight of talc, 0 to 10% by weight of calcium carbonate and 0 to 10% by weight of silicon oxide.
(6) A spunbonded non-woven fabric made of fibers obtained by spinning a polypropylene resin composition comprising
99.995-99.7% by weight of a polypropylene resin having a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) of 1 to 3.5, determined by a gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and a melt flow rate of 0.01 to 300 g/10 min., determined according to ASTM D 1238 at 230xc2x0 C. under a load of 2.16 kg, and
0.005-0.3% by weight of a lubricant comprising 89 to 91% by weight of a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer, 5 to 7% by weight of talc, 1.5 to 2.5% by weight of calcium carbonate and 1.5 to 2.5% by weight of silicon oxide.
(7) A non-woven fabric laminate comprising one or more webs of a spunbonded non-woven fabric as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 and one or more webs of one or more melt-blown non-woven fabrics.
(8) The non-woven fabric laminate as defined in the above (7), wherein it has a three-layered structure of spunbonded non-woven fabric/melt-blown non-woven fabric/spunbonded non-woven fabric.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention is one which is made of fibers having a content of polypropylene resin as a main component and fiber finenesses in the range from 0.8 to 2.8 denier, preferably from 0.8 to 2.5 denier, wherein the said fabric has an average friction factor (MIU) in the range from 0.1 to 0.3, preferably from 0.1 to 0.29, a thickness uniformity not higher than 0.8, preferably not higher than 0.75, a waterproof performance of at least 60 mm H2O, preferably at least 63 mm H2O, and a gas permeability of not higher than 480 ml/cm2/sec, preferably not higher than 460 ml/cm2/sec.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention, which has the material properties given above, may preferably be made of a raw material consisting of a polypropylene resin composition as will be detailed in the following, though it may not be restricted to such polypropylene resin composition so long as the material properties are in the range defined above.
The fiber fineness value mentioned above is that determined by three-point measurements on each filament by magnified observation under an optical microscope.
The average friction factor (MIU) is expressed by a value determined by the KATO TECH-method using KES-SE Frictional Feel Tester or KES-FB4 Surface Tester of the firm KATO TECH and is based on a dimensionless unit. The average friction factor is called usually MIU and sometimes referred to as surface frictional resistance value. The lower the average friction factor (MIU) is, the lesser the adherent touch will be.
The value for the thickness uniformity is determined in such a way that the specific areal weight [A (g/m2)] of a 0.15 m2 test piece is first determined and, then, five thicker portions and twenty thinner portions are chosen visually on the test piece and are punched out using a punching tool of 13 mmxcfx86, whereupon the specific areal weights for these punched out segments are determined [B (g/m2) for the thicker portions and C (g/m2) for the thinner portions], from which the thickness uniformity is calculated by the equation:
Thickness uniformity=(Bxe2x88x92C)/A
The waterproof performance is determined according to JIS L 1092.
The gas-permeability is determined according to JIS L 1096.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention is that produced from a polypropylene resin composition used as the raw material which comprises, as will be detailed in the following, a polypropylene resin and a lubricant.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention is obtained from such a polypropylene resin composition as above used as the raw material, wherein special preference is given to those which have fiber finenesses, average friction factors (MIU), thickness uniformities, waterproof performances and gas-permeabilities each in the range given above.
The polypropylene resin to be incorporated according to the present invention has a molecular weight distribution, expressed by polystyrene-converted Mw/Mn (weight average molecular weight/number average molecular weight) determined by a gel permeation chromatography (GPC) using o-dichlorobenzene as the elution solvent and using monodisperse polystyrenes as the standard substances, in the range from 1 to 3.5, preferably from 1 to 3. Due to the molecular weight distribution lying in the above range, the spinning stability is superior and the filament fracture is excluded, whereby the spinning performance is superior not only for polypropylene resins produced using a single-site catalyst but also for polypropylene resins produced using a solid titanium catalyst or so on.
The molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) can be determined in the manner given below using, for example, GPC-150C of Water Co. Thus, a separation column of TSK GNH TH (of Tosoh K.K. having a column diameter of 7.8 mm and a length of 600 mm) is used. The GPC is effected at a column temperature of 140xc2x0 C. using o-dichlorobenzene for the mobile phase with 0.025% by weight of BHT as an antioxidant, while moving the mobile phase at a rate of 1.0 ml/min. The sample concentration is settled at 0.1% by weight and the injected amount of the sample is settled at 500 xcexcl. As the detector, a differential refractometer may be used. As the standard polystyrenes, those supplied from Tosoh K.K. may be employed.
The polypropylene resin having a narrow molecular weight distribution as mentioned above can be produced easily by a polymerization process using a single-site catalyst, though not restricted thereto.
A single-site catalyst is one in which the active sites are uniform (single-site) and for which, for example, metallocene catalysts (so-called Kaminsky catalysts) and Brookheart catalysts may be recited. According to the present invention, polypropylenes produced by a known polymerization technique using a metallocene catalyst or a Brookheart catalyst can be employed.
For instance, the metallocene catalyst may be a catalyst composed of a transition metal compound based on metallocene and of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of organoaluminum compounds and compounds capable of building up an ion pair by reacting with the said transition metal compound based on metallocene. Such a metallocene catalyst may be present in a form supported on an inorganic substance.
For the above-mentioned transition metal compounds based on metallocene, there may be recited for example, those which are disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokais Hei 5-209014 A (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,296,434 and 5,514,760), Hei 6-100579 A (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,770,753, 5,786,432 and 5,840,644), Hei 1-301704 A (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,417), Hei 3-193796 A (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,034) and Hei 5-148284 A (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,329,031 and 5,349,032).
For the organoaluminum compounds, there may be recited, for example, alkylaluminums and linear and cyclic aluminoxanes.
Such a linear or cyclic aluminoxane is formed by bringing an alkylaluminum into contact with water. It can be obtained, for example, by incorporating an alkylaluminum in the polymerization and introducing water to the polymerization mixture afterwards or by causing the alkylaluminum to react with the water of crystallization of the complex salt or with adsorbed moisture on an organic or inorganic compound.
For the compound capable of building up ion pair by reacting with the transition metal compound based on metallocene, there may be recited, for example, Lewis acids, ionic compounds and carboranes disclosed in Japanese Patent Kohyo Hei. 1-501950 A (corresponding to WO 88/05792) and Japanese Patent Kokai Hei 3-207704 A (corresponding to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,519,100 and 5,614,457).
As the inorganic substances on which the single-site catalyst is supported, there may be exemplified silica gel, zeolites and diatomaceous earth.
As the polypropylene resin, those having an isotactic structure from the stereospecificity due to the use of a single-site catalyst. It is permissible to use also polypropylene resins having syndiotactic structure.
The polypropylene resin to be employed according to the present invention may be produced using, not only a single-site catalyst, but also a solid titanium catalyst. As the solid titanium catalyst, one which is constituted of a highly stereospecific titanium catalyst component; an organoaluminum catalyst component and an electron donor component may be exemplified. When the molecular weight distribution value of the polypropylene resin produced using the solid titanium catalyst exceeds over the upper limit mentioned above, it is permissible to adjust the molecular weight distribution value within the defined range by rendering the molecular weight distribution narrower by, for example, addition of a degrading agent or by heat degradation.
For the polymerization technique using the catalyst mentioned above, bulk polymerization, solution polymerization, suspension polymerization, gas phase polymerization and so on may be recited. These polymerization techniques may be realized either in a batch-wise practice or in a continuous practice.
For the condition of the polymerization, a polymerization temperature in the range from minus 100 to plus 250xc2x0 C., a polymerization duration in the range from 5 minutes to 10 hours and a polymerization pressure in the range from normal pressure to 29 MPa (from normal pressure to 300 kgf/cm2, gauge) may be incorporated.
On producing the polypropylene resin, it is possible to realize a homo-polymerization using only propylene, while it is permissible to realize a copolymerization of propylene with other xcex1-olefin(s), for the purpose of, for example, improving the impact resistance or flexibility and of decreasing the density. For such other xcex1-olefins, there may be recited, for example, those having 2 to 20 carbon atoms, preferably 2 to 8 carbon atoms, such as ethylene, 1-butene, 3-methyl-1-pentene, 4-methyl-1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-octene and 1-decene. The xcex1-olefins to be co-polymerized with propylene may be incorporated solely or in a combination of two or more of them. The proportion of the xcex1-olefin in the polymer may be not more than 10 mole %, preferably not more than 6 mole %.
The polypropylene resin to be incorporated according to the present invention has a melt flow rate (MFR) determined according to ASTM D 1238 at a temperature of 230xc2x0 C. under a load of 2.16 kg (the same applies to that appearing afterwards) in the range from 0.01 to 300 g/10 min., preferably from 1 to 150 g/10 min. Due to the MFR values within the range given above, spinning can be realized at a superior sinning stability without suffering from filament break-down and filament surge.
The lubricant to be incorporated according to the present invention is one which comprises 70-100% by weight, preferably 80 to 95% by weight of a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and from 0 to 30% by weight, preferably from 5 to 20% by weight of one or more inorganic compounds.
For the inorganic compound to be incorporated as the lubricant component, there may be exemplified one or more selected from the group consisting of talc, calcium carbonate, silicon oxide and barium sulfate.
Concrete examples of the lubricant include those which contain 70-100% by weight, preferably 90-95% by weight, of a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer, 0-20% by weight, preferably 1-10% by weight, of talc, 0-10% by weight, preferably 1-5% by weight, of calcium carbonate and 0-10% by weight, preferably 1-5% by weight, of silicon oxide. At the most favorably employed lubricants are those which contain 89-91% by weight of vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer, 5-7% by weight of talc, 1.5-2.5% by weight of calcium carbonate and 1.5-2.5% by weight of silicon oxide. When the above-mentioned most favorably employed lubricant is incorporated, the resulting fabric can exclude occurrence of rough surfaces at the most and has better appearance with simultaneous attainment of at the most scarce adherent finger touch and smallest fineness of the fibers.
For the lubricant, commercial products may also be used. As commercial lubricants, for example, DYNAMAR FX-9613 (trademark, a product of the firm 3M containing 90% by weight of a content of vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer, 6% by weight of a content of talc, 2% by weight of a content of calcium carbonate and 2% by weight of a content of silicon oxide) and others.
It is permissible to incorporate together, in addition to the above-mentioned lubricant, one or more other known lubricants, for example, lubricants based on hydrocarbon, such as liquid paraffin, natural paraffin, microwax, synthetic paraffin, polyethylene wax, chlorinated hydrocarbons and fluorocarbon oils; lubricants based on fatty acids, such as higher fatty acids and fatty oxyacids; lubricants based on fatty acid amides, such as fatty acid amides and alkylene-bis-fatty acid amides; lubricants based on esters, such as lower alcohol esters of fatty acids, polyhydric alcohol esters of fatty acids, fatty alcohol esters of fatty acids and polyglycol esters of fatty acids; lubricants based on alcohols, such as fatty alcohols, polyhydric alcohols, polyglycols and polyglycerols; and metal soaps.
The polypropylene resin composition to be used as the raw material for the spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention is one which comprises the polypropylene resin mentioned above and one or more lubricants including that containing the vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and one or more inorganic compounds.
In the polypropylene resin composition, the content of the polypropylene resin is in the range from 99.995 to 99.7% by weight, preferably from 99.9 to 99.98% by weight, and the content of the lubricant is in the range from 0.005 to 0.3% by weight, preferably from 0.02 to 0.1% by weight. When the content of the lubricant is in the above range, a spunbonded non-woven fabric which has a better appearance without occurrence of rough surfaces and with scarce adherent touch and which can attain more finer filament diameters can be produced in an efficient manner without causing break-down of filament.
The polypropylene resin composition according to the present invention to be used as the raw material for the spunbonded non-woven fabric may contain other ingredients, such as thermoplastic resin(s) other than said polypropylene resin, stabilizer to heat, stabilizer to weathering, antioxidant, antistatic agent, anti-blocking agent, dyestuffs, pigments, natural oils and synthetic oils, within the range not obstructing the purpose of the present invention.
The polypropylene resin composition to be used as the raw material for the said spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention may be prepared by, for example, subjecting the polypropylene resin component, the lubricant component and other optionally incorporated components to melt-kneading on an extruding machine, kneader or so on. Alternatively, it is possible to prepare preliminarily a masterbatch by admixing the lubricant component to the polypropylene resin or to other polymer (for example, a polypropylene resin other than the above-mentioned polypropylene resin) so as to reach a higher content of the lubricant component and, then, the resulting masterbatch is melt-kneaded with the polypropylene resin component.
The polypropylene resin composition prepared in the manner as above will result in a spunbonded non-woven fabric exhibiting better appearance without suffering from occurrence of rough surfaces, even when a polypropylene resin produced by polymerization using a single-site catalyst. It exhibits scarce adherent finger touch. In addition, it does not suffer from filament fracture upon the spinning, so that it can be spun into longer filaments having finer filament diameters efficiently in a continuous manner without causing filament fracture even on drawing the longer filaments for preparing webs therefrom.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention is made of filaments, preferably of long-filaments, which are obtained by spinning the polypropylene resin composition, in which the spun filaments building up the fabric (web) prepared by piling up the spun filaments are partly bonded together. While the bonding of the spun filaments may preferably be effected by thermal press-bonding by means of an embossing work, it is also possible to effect the bonding by a needle punch or water-punch. The spunbonded non-woven fabric is not restricted only to a single web fabric but may be made of two or more webs. Each web of a spunbonded non-woven fabric of two or more webs may be made of different raw material.
The fibers constituting the spunbonded non-woven fabric may either be made from one single kind of the polypropylene resin composition or from two or more kinds of polypropylene resin compositions. When the fibers of the spunbonded non-woven fabric are made of two or more kinds of polypropylene resin compositions, the filament structure is not specifically restricted and may, for example, have a core/sheath structure in which a core filament of one polypropylene resin composition is covered completely or partly by a filament sheath made of another polypropylene resin composition or may have a structure in which a parallely extending two filaments are bonded together to form composite filament.
The filaments constituting the spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention may or may not be crispated.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention may favorably have an average fiber fineness of 20.9 xcexcm or less, preferably 19.7 xcexcm or less (2.8 denier or less, preferably 2.5 denier or less), and a specific areal weight in the range from 12 to 40 g/m2, preferably from 15 to 30 g/m2.
The polypropylene resin composition used as the raw material according to the present invention can be spun efficiently into fibers at higher velocities continuously without suffering from filament fracture even for long-filament fibers of lower fineness having average filament diameters of, for example, 18.9 xcexcm or less, since the resin composition contains, at a definite proportion, the lubricant component comprising a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and one or more inorganic compounds. Even when a web is produced under high-speed pneumatic drafting of such finer long-filament, there occurs no filament fracture. When, in contrast thereto, lubricant other than that defined according to the present invention is compounded, it is difficult to obtain fibers of long-filaments of thin filament diameters of, for example, 20 xcexcm or so, efficiently in a continuous manner by high-speed spinning, since thereby filament fracture occurs and such filament fracture may often appear on a web production by a high-speed pneumatic drafting of such long-filament.
For spunbonded non-woven fabric, the finer the filament diameter of the constituent fiber is, the more the flexibility and touch and, thus, the hand feel will be improved. Therefore, a spunbonded non-woven fabric exhibiting very excellent hand feel can be obtained according to the present invention, by employing fibers having filament finenesses near the lower limit of the above-defined range of the average filament diameter.
While the spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention can be produced by known techniques, such as spun-bond process, needle-punching process and water-punching process, it is favorable to produce it by a spun-bond process. Thus, it can be produced by a spun-bond process in such a manner, that the polypropylene resin composition to be used as the raw material is melted, the resulting molten resin is extruded continuously from a spinning nozzle to spin it into a long-filament and the resulting long-filament is then drawn out by a pneumatic high-speed drafting, in which the long-filament is drawn out on a sustaining high-speed drafting gas stream, in order to form a non-woven web directly therefrom, whereupon the resulting web is passed through an interstice between an embossing roller provided thereon with a voluntary statuary pattern and a mirror face roller under a heated condition to effect thermal press-bonding. In such a production process, the long-filament can be processed efficiently even under a high-speed spining of, for example, 2,300 meters per minute or so, without suffering from filament fracture, wherein the efficient spinning is facilitated by being drawn out by the pneumatic high-speed drafting at a velocity of, for example, 3,900 meters per minutes or so.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention produced in the manner as above exhibits a better appearance without revealing rough surface even when a polypropylene resin having a narrow molecular weight distribution obtained by polymerization using a single-site catalyst is employed as the raw material. It reveals scarce adherent touch and is superior in the hand feel due to permission of attaining more finer filament.
In the spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention, emission of smoke from and around the spinning nozzle on spinning the raw material, i.e. polyprolylene resin composition, into filament is suppressed, so that there is no fear of causing any discoloration due to adhesion of cooled and agglomerated smoke ingredients onto the filament or onto the sheet.
In contrast, a polypropylene resin composition, in which only calcium stearate most widely used as lubricant is incorporated, may be apt to suffer from occurrence of smoke emission due to condensation of vaporized calcium stearate at a portion exiting from the spinning nozzle, whereby the resulting cooled and agglomerated smoke components may adhere onto the filament to cause easily discoloration of the non-woven fabric.
The non-woven fabric laminate according to the present invention is one in which one or more spunbonded non-woven fabrics such as given above are put together with one or more melt-blown non-woven fabrics under lamination.
As the raw material of the melt-blown non-woven fabric, known thermoplastic resins may be used without any restriction, for example, polyolefin resins, such as polyethylene resins, polypropylene resins and polybutene resins; polyester resins; polyamide resins (nylons); and polystyrene resin. Among them, preference is given to polypropylene resins which are easily available and reveal better spinning performance. The polypropylene resin to be incorporated as a raw material of the melt-blown non-woven fabric may be either identical with or different from that of the spunbonded non-woven fabric.
While the polyolefin resins, such as polyethylene resins and polypropylene resins, to be incorporated as a raw material of the melt-blown non-woven fabric may be those which are produced by polymerization processes using Ziegler catalysts and solid titanium catalysts, those which are produced by polymerization processes using the above-mentioned single-site catalyst are more superior in the spinning performance and, thus, are prospective for reducing the production costs and, in addition, permit attainment of finer filament and, thus, lower stiffness of the resulting spunbonded non-woven fabric.
In the thermoplastic resin used as the raw material for the melt-blown non-woven fabric, there may be contained the lubricant component to be compounded in the raw material for the spunbonded non-woven fabric, extraneous lubricant component, stabilizer to heat, stabilizer to weathering, antioxidant, antistatic agent, antiblocking agent, dyestuffs, pigments, natural oils, synthetic oils and so on.
The melt-blown non-woven fabric constituting the non-woven fabric laminate according to the present invention is a non-woven fiber sheet (web) formed by spreading extremely fine fibers produced from the above-mentioned thermoplastic resin as the raw material in at random directions without any orientation, wherein the extremely fine fibers are held bonded by fusion or by using an adhesive or held entangled by a mechanical means. The melt-blown non-woven fabric may not be limited to that made of only one single layer but covers that made of a plural layers of two or more. A melt-blown non-woven fabric may be made of plural layers each made from raw material different from each other.
The melt-blown non-woven fabric may favorably have an average filament diameter of 7 xcexcm or less, preferably 3 xcexcm or less, and the melt-blown non-woven fabric in a laminate may favorably have a specific areal weight in the range from 1 to 20 g/m2, preferably from 2 to 10 g/m2.
For producing the melt-blown non-woven fabric, known processes can be applied as such. For example, it can be produced by melting a polypropylene resin having a melt flow rate of 800-1,000 g/10 min. at a temperature of 300xc2x0 C. and the resulting melt is spun by blowing it out with a spinning air of 300xc2x0 C.
For the lamination structure of the non-woven fabric laminate according to the present invention, there may be recited, for example, double layer structure of spunbonded non-woven fabric/melt-blown non-woven fabric, triple layer structure of spunbonded non-woven fabric/melt-blown non-woven fabric/spunbonded non-woven fabric and so on.
By laminating the melt-blown non-woven fabric with the spunbonded non-woven fabric, a non-woven textile exhibiting higher waterproof performance relative to its specific areal weight can be obtained, since a denser layer is present. In particular, a laminate having a triple layer structure of spunbonded non-woven fabric/melt-blown non-woven fabric/spunbonded non-woven fabric has, for a given specific areal weight, a higher waterproof performance, as compared with a single layer non-woven fabric, and the laminate reveals a higher abrasion resistance, since the fibers of the melt-blown non-woven fabric, which have lower filament strength, are not exposed to outside.
The non-woven fabric laminate according to the present invention may favorably have a specific areal weight for the laminate entirety in the range from 10 to 40 g/m2, preferably from 10 to 30 g/m2.
The non-woven fabric laminate according to the present invention can be produced not only in an in-line process but also in an off-line technique of putting the fabrics together. In a concrete practice, the lamiante of the triple layer structure mentioned above can be produced in an in-line process by heaping on a screen belt the fibers in the sequence of spunbonded non-woven fabric/melt-blown non-woven fabric/spunbonded non-woven fabric to build up triple layers and subjecting the resulting three-layered fabric to a heat fusion treatment on a heat embossing roll. Alternatively, it can also be produced in an off-line practice by putting prelimenarily prepared spunbonded non-woven fabrics and melt-blown non-woven fabric together and subjecting the resulting laminate to a heat fusion treatment on a heat embossing roll.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric and the laminate according to the present invention can serve for medical goods, such as medical gown and medical drapes; hygienic goods, such as top sheet for diaper, three-dimensional gathers of diaper, backing sheet of diaper, three-dimensional gathers of sanitary napkin, backing liner sheet for panties, menstrual articles and throwaway underwear; packaging material, such as wrapping cloth, laundry packaging bag and kitchen wrap; kitchen utilities, such as table cloth, table napkin, wiper and trash bag; industrial mateials, such as packaging materials and oil-absorber; agricultural materials; electric cable coverage; filter medium; and cosmetic powder container, wherein they are used especially favorably for the three-dimensional gathers of diaper, backing sheet of diaper, three-dimensional gathers of hygienic napkin, backing liner sheet for panties, throwaway underwear, laundry packaging bag, kitchen wrap and cosmetic powder container.
As described above, the spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention reveals a better appearance with scarce occurrence of surface roughness and is superior in the hand feel with scarcely adherent touch, since the filament fineness, average friction factor (MIU), thickness uniformity, waterproof performance and gas permeability thereof are each in definite range.
The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention reveals a better appearance with exclusion of occurrence of rough surfaces and with scarcely adherent touch, since it has a content of a polypropylene resin having a molecular weight distribution and a melt flow rate each in a definite range and a content of a lubricant comprising a vinylidene fluoride/hexafluoropropylene copolymer and one or more inorganic compounds in a definite proportion. It further exhibits scarcely adherent touch and is, due to permission of attaining more finer filament, superior in the hand feel. The polypropylene resin composition to be used as the raw material can be spun continuously into a filament efficiently even in the case of spinning long-filaments without suffering from filament fracture. The spunbonded non-woven fabric according to the present invention can be produced at a high productivity, since the long-filaments are not subject to filament fracture also upon drafting thereof in the production of a web. It is necessary to reduce the extrusion rate, in particular, for spinning finer filaments of 2 denier or less, nevertheless, such reduction of extrusion rate can be suppressed according to the present invention in which the filament fineness can efficiently be reduced and, thus, a dominance is admitted in the productivity of the spunbonded non-woven fabric of fibers, especially, of 2 denier or less.
The non-woven fabric laminate according to the present invention reveals a waterproof performance which is further more higher as compared with laminates having no content of lubricant, since it is prepared by laminating the spunbonded non-woven fabric and the melt-blown non-woven fabric.
Now, the present invention is decribed by way of Examples. In the following Examples and Comparative Examples, melt flaw rate (MFR) and the molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) were determined by the methods given below.
◯ MFR: determined according to ASTM D 1238 at 230xc2x0 C. under a load of 2.16 kg.
◯ Mw/Mn: determined using GPC-150C of the firm Water in the manner as follows:
A separation column TSK GNH TH (of Tosoh K.K. with a column size of a diameter of 7.8 mm and a length of 600 mm) was used at a column temperature of 140xc2x0 C. with a mobile phase of o-dichlorobenzene (a product of Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) with 0.025% by weight of BHT (a product of Takeda Chemnical Industries, Ltd.) as antioxidant. The mobile phase with a sample concentration of 0.1% by weight was moved at a rate of 1.0 ml per minute, with an injected amount of the sample of 500 xcexcl. A differential refractometer was used as the detector. Standard polystyrenes used were suppied from Tosoh K.K.

Spunbonded non-woven fabric and laminate

Abstract: wherein the said spunbonded non-woven fabric is made of fibers of a polypropylene resin composition having fiber finenesses of 0.8 to 2.8 denier and has an average friction factor (MIU) of 0.1 to 0.3, a thickness uniformity of 0.8 or less, a waterproof performance of at least 60 mmH2O and a gas permeability of not higher than 480 ml/cm2/sec.


A host computer acquires information about an amount of remaining ink of a printer. In response to the acquired information about the amount of remaining ink, the host computer displays a message on a display screen so that a user can select whether an ink cartridge is to be replaced with a new one or the process is to return to a previous routine without replacing the ink cartridge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system such as a host computer for controlling a printing apparatus such as an ink-jet printer that performs a printing operation by firing droplets of ink at paper through a nozzle of a print head wherein the ink is supplied from an ink reservoir to the print head, and also relates to an information processing method for handling such a system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet printer has the capability of detecting the amount of remaining ink, which prevents a printing error which would otherwise occur due to lack of ink. According to this capability, the amount of ink remaining in an ink reservoir is detected and the result is displayed. If the detected amount becomes less than a lower limit, a warning is given or a printing operation is stopped.
There are various known techniques for detecting the amount of ink remaining in an ink reservoir, and some of them are in practical use.
One of the techniques is to dispose a proper sensor in an ink reservoir so as to directly detect the amount of remaining ink. For example, two electrodes are disposed in an ink reservoir in such a manner that the electrodes are in contact with ink so as to detect the resistance between the two electrodes that changes depending on the amount of remaining ink. In another technique similar to the above first technique, a light beam is used to illuminate ink in an ink reservoir. If there is ink in the ink reservoir, the light beam is absorbed by the ink and cannot reach a photodector. On the other hand, if no ink is in the ink reservoir, the light beam can travel through the ink reservoir without being absorbed, and can reach the photo detector. Thus, it is possible to detect whether there is ink in the ink reservoir. Hereinafter, the above-described methods will be referred to as a sensor method.
In a second category of methods, the number of operations of emitting ink droplets via a print head is counted, and the result is compared with the previously estimated maximum possible number of printing dots or the maximum number of ink droplets that can be supplied from one ink reservoir thereby indirectly estimating the consumption of ink. Hereafter, this technique is referred to as a xe2x80x9cdot counting method.xe2x80x9d
The printing apparatus having the capability described above is controlled by a host computer. However, the host computer cannot know the status regarding the amount of remaining ink of the printing apparatus, and thus cannot tell a user the status in a visual or other fashions.
To obtain a good result in printing, the ink-jet printer has to know the status of the printer with respect to the items including those described below.
First, the printer has to detect the distance between paper or printing medium and the ink emission plane of a print head so that printing is performed correctly at desired positions.
In conventional printers, as shown in FIGS. 38 to 40, there is provided a lever 301 for adjusting the paper position. By using this lever, the paper position is switched between a standard paper position and a thick paper position so as to optimize the paper position for both standard paper and thick paper such as a post card.
In the above-described conventional printing system, if the system has a fatal error associated with for example the paper position adjustment, the error is indicated only on the printer via audio or optical means. Therefore, the user has to come to the printer to know what error the printer has, and then has to handle the error, which is very inconvenient for the user.
Furthermore, in the conventional printing system the user cannot know the type of printing medium via a display of the host computer.
It is a general object of the present invention to solve the above problems. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing system and method for acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge of a printer and displaying a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information so that a user can select either replacing of the ink cartridge in the printer or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an information processing system and method for: analyzing the color so as to determine the color to be used by a printing apparatus; acquiring remaining-amount information from a printing apparatus, the remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink of the determined color remaining in an ink cartridge; and displaying a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information so that a user can select either replacing of the ink cartridge containing the ink having the color to be used or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information processing system and method for: judging whether the printing mode of a printing apparatus is a monochrome mode or a color mode; acquiring remaining-amount information from the printing apparatus in response to the judgement result, the remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in a color ink cartridge to be used; and displaying a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information so that a user can select either replacing of the ink cartridge containing ink of the color to be used or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
It is a further object of the present to provide an information processing system and method for: acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in a printing apparatus; and displaying a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information so that a user can select either replacing of the ink cartridge in the printing apparatus or designation of an alternative color different from the color of the ink in the above-described ink cartridge.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an information processing system and method for: acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in a printing apparatus; and displaying a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information so that a user can select either designation of an alternative color different from the color of the ink in the above-described ink cartridge or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an information processing system and method for: comparing the number of dots contained in dot image information with the number of dots that can be printed by a printing apparatus; and controlling the generation of the dot image information depending on the result of the above comparison.
The above objects are achieved by the present invention having various aspects as described below. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including: acquisition means for acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in the printing apparatus; and display control means for controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge in the printing apparatus or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including: analysis means for analyzing a color to be used by the printing apparatus; acquisition means for acquiring remaining-amount information from the printing apparatus, said remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge, the ink having the color analyzed by the above analysis means; and display control means for controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge containing ink having the color to be used by the printing apparatus or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including: judgement means for judging whether a printing mode of the printing apparatus is a monochrome mode or a color mode; acquisition means for acquiring remaining-amount information from the printing apparatus in response to a judgement result by the above judgement means, the remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink of a color to be used remaining in an ink cartridge; and display control means for controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge containing ink of the color to be used by the printing apparatus or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including: acquisition means for acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in the printing apparatus; and display control means for controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge in the printing apparatus or designation of an alternative color different from a color of the ink in the ink cartridge.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including: acquisition means for acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in the printing apparatus; and display control means for controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either designation of an alternative color different from a color of the ink in the ink cartridge or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for outputting dot image information to a printing apparatus, including: comparison means for comparing a number of dots contained in the dot image information with a number of dots that can be printed by the printing apparatus; and control means for controlling the generation of the dot image information depending on a result of the comparison means.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including the steps of: acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in the printing apparatus; and controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge in the printing apparatus or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including the steps of: analyzing a color to be used by the printing apparatus; acquiring remaining-amount information from the printing apparatus, the remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge, the ink having the color analyzed in the above analyzing step; and controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge containing ink of the color to be used by the printing apparatus or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including the steps of: judging whether a printing mode of the printing apparatus is a monochrome mode or a color mode; acquiring remaining-amount information from the printing apparatus in response to a judgement result obtained in the judgement step, the remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink of a color to be used remaining in an ink cartridge; and controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge containing ink of the color to be used by the printing apparatus or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including the steps of: acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in the printing apparatus; and controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either replacing of the ink cartridge in the printing apparatus or designation of an alternative color different from a color of the ink in the ink cartridge.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including the steps of: acquiring remaining-amount information representing the amount of ink remaining in an ink cartridge disposed in the printing apparatus; and controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired remaining-amount information, the message advising a user to select either designation of an alternative color different from a color of the ink in the ink cartridge or returning to a process performed by the information processing system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for outputting dot image information to a printing apparatus, including the steps of: comparing a number of dots contained in the dot image information with a number of dots that can be printed by the printing apparatus; and controlling the generation of the dot image information depending on a result in the comparing step.
According to the aspects described above, the host computer can acquire the status regarding the amount of remaining ink of the printing apparatus, and notify a user of the acquired status in a visual fashion so that the user can select the following operation via the display means.
Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system and method for: acquiring information representing the distance between a print head of a printing apparatus and a printing medium; and displaying identification information about the printing medium in response to the acquired information, the identification information being set in the printing apparatus, thereby providing an improved user interface and ease of operation.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information processing system and method for: acquiring information representing an ink cartridge mounting status of a printing apparatus; and displaying a message on display means in response to the acquired information so that a user can select an alternative color different from a color of the ink in the above-described ink cartridge, thereby providing an improved user interface and ease of operation.
The above objects are also achieved by the present invention having various aspects as described below. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including: acquisition means for acquiring information representing the distance between a print head of the printing apparatus and a printing medium; and display control means for controlling display of identification information about the printing medium in response to the acquired information, the identification information being set in the printing apparatus.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including: acquisition means for acquiring information representing an ink cartridge mounting status of the printing apparatus; and display control means for controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired information, the message advising a user to select an alternative color different from a color of the ink in the ink cartridge.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including the steps of: acquiring information representing the distance between a print head of the printing apparatus and a printing medium; and controlling display of identification information about the printing medium in response to the acquired information, the identification information being set in the printing apparatus.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method for use in an information processing system for controlling a printing apparatus, including the steps of: acquiring information representing an ink cartridge mounting status of the printing apparatus; and controlling display of a message on display means in response to the acquired information, the message advising a user to select an alternative color different from a color of the ink in the ink cartridge.
According to the above-described aspect of the invention, the information processing system can acquire information representing the distance between a print head of a printing apparatus and a printing medium and display identification information about the printing medium in response to the acquired information, the identification information being set in the printing apparatus, thereby providing an improved user interface and ease of operation.
Furthermore, the information processing system can acquire information representing the ink cartridge mounting status of a printing apparatus and display a message on display means in response to the acquired information so that a user can select an alternative color different from the color of the ink in the above-described ink cartridge, thereby providing an improved user interface and ease of operation.

Information processing apparatus which obtains information concerning residual ink amount from an attached ink jet printer


A high-lift device includes a flap disposed at a leading edge of a wing, and configured to be retracted in the lower surface and extended toward of the leading edge; a first rotary shaft and a second rotary shaft, the axial direction of the rotary shafts being disposed along the spanwise direction of the wing, respectively; a first link mechanism connected to the first rotary shaft and the flap; and a second link mechanism connected to the second rotary shaft and the flap. When the first link mechanism is driven with the first rotary shaft, the flap is retracted in the lower surface of the leading edge or is extended toward the front of the leading edge. When the second link mechanism is driven with the second rotary shaft, the position or the angle of the flap moved by the first link mechanism is changed.

In a wing of an airplane (aircraft), a high-lift device is installed in a leading edge and a trailing edge of the wing in order to reduce a speed during takeoff and landing without reducing a speed during a cruising flight. A Krueger flap in the high-lift device used for the leading edge of the wing is retracted in a lower surface of the leading edge of the wing, and is extended forward when deployed.
In addition, when extended, by forming a gap (slot) between the trailing edge of the flap and the leading edge of the wing, there are cases where a high-energy airflow flowing through the gap is blown to an upper surface of the wing.
PTL 1 below discloses a technique as follows. In order to prevent a possibility that the flap may be deformed by the airflow and a gap dimension may be changed between the flap and the wing, the flap is pulled by a holding member to limit a gap interval.


The present disclosure is directed at a security camera having dual communication ports. The camera includes a camera body mountable to a mounting surface and comprising an aperture, a lens, an imager, primary communication circuitry comprising a primary communication port accessible from outside the camera body, secondary communication circuitry comprising a secondary communication port accessible from outside the camera body, and control and processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the imager and to the primary and secondary communication circuitry. The primary communication port is on one side of the mounting when the camera body is mounted and the secondary communication port and the aperture are on an opposing side of the mounting surface when the camera body is mounted. A digital communication signal is sent to the secondary communication port when the secondary communication port is coupled to an active link.

The security industry, and in particular the market for internet protocol (IP) security cameras, continues to grow. This is, at least in part, due to the advantages that IP security cameras enjoy over conventional, analog security cameras. For example, IP cameras permit two-way communication, allow for higher resolution than analog cameras, and can easily be relocated on an IP network. Given their increasing popularity, research and development continue into making IP security cameras easier to install and use.

Security camera having dual communication ports


A steering system includes a column shaft that is supported by a column tube so that the column shaft is able to rotate. A male serration is formed in a lower end of a lower shaft of the column shaft in an axial direction. A universal joint connects the lower shaft with an intermediate shaft. A first portion of the male serration is fitted to a serration hole of a rotor of a steering angle sensor, and a second portion of the male serration is fitted to a serration hole of a first yoke of the universal joint.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a steering system.
2. Discussion of Background
A steering system has been proposed in which a steering angle sensor that detects a steering angle is fitted to a lower end of a steering column (for example, WO 2005/005231A1). A lower end of a column shaft, which projects from the lower end of the steering column, is connected to an intermediate shaft via a universal joint.
Typically, a column shaft is provided with a width-across-flat forming portion that serves as a sensor fitting portion to which a rotor of a steering angle sensor is fitted, and a male serration forming portion that serves as a universal joint yoke fitting portion to which a yoke of a universal joint is fitted. However, in the column shaft, outer diameters of the width-across-flat forming portion and the male serration forming portion are different from each other, and machining manners for the width-across-flat forming portion and the male serration forming portion are different from each other. Therefore, a tapered portion for connecting the width-across-flat forming portion with the male serration forming portion, and a relief portion for machining are provided between the width-across-flat forming portion and the male serration forming portion. Thus, there has been a problem that an entire length of machined portions including the tapered portion and the relief portion is increased in an axial direction of the column shaft.


An endoscope objective lens is provided and has a front-group divergent lens system, an aperture stop, and a rear-group convergent lens system in this order from the object side. The back focal length Bf of the whole system is longer than 2.5 times the combined focal length f of the whole system. The rear-group convergent lens system includes a cemented lens. The endoscope objective lens satisfies the specific formula.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an objective lens provided in the tip portion of an endoscope. More particularly, the invention relates to an endoscope objective lens capable of being applied to an optical system in which the back focal length is long enough to allow an optical path-changing prism to be disposed on the image side.
2. Description of Related Art
Endoscopes are known in which a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD (charge-coupled device) is provided in the tip portion so as to be parallel with the longitudinal direction. FIG. 17 outlines an objective optical system of such an endoscope. As shown in FIG. 17, a solid-state imaging device 200 is disposed in the tip portion of the endoscope so as to be parallel with the axial direction (longitudinal direction) Z. An optical path-changing prism 102 is inserted between an objective lens 100 and the solid-state imaging device 200 via a cover glass 101. The optical axis Z1 of the objective lens 100 is bent by the optical path-changing prism 102 by about 90° so as to be directed to the solid-state imaging device 200. The size of the optical path-changing prism 102 is determined by an image size, and the length of the space between the last surface of the objective lens 100 and an image forming position P where the optical path-changing prism 102 is to be inserted should be sufficiently long (this length is approximately equal to the back focal length). This requires an objective lens whose back focal length is long relative to the focal length of the whole system. However, to meet the wide angle requirement, the focal lengths of endoscope objective lenses tend to decrease even for the same image size, which makes it difficult to obtain a sufficiently long back focal length. In this connection, an endoscope objective lens having a 3-group/4-lens structure whose back focal length is sufficiently longer than the combined focal length f of the whole system (JP-A-2005-148508).
On the other hand, to increase the depth of field, many endoscope objective lenses have a large (i.e., dark) F number, in which case neither the spherical aberration nor the coma aberration is an important factor to determining image quality and the lateral color is a great factor to cause image quality deterioration. In particular, in recent years, with the density increase of solid-state imaging devices and the increase in the number of pixels, it has come to be necessary to correct for the lateral color sufficiently. To correct for the lateral color, it is preferable to dispose an optical member for the correction of lateral color at a position that is distant from the stop. In particular, on the image side of the stop, the optical member for the correction of lateral color becomes more effective as it is disposed closer to the image forming surface. However, in lens systems having a long back focal length, the optical member is not disposed close to the image forming surface and hence it is not easy to correct for the lateral color. Although the endoscope objective lens described in JP-A-2005-148508 has a sufficiently long back focal length, it still has room for improvement in terms of the correction of lateral color.


Clearly notifying that a setting error of an imaging plane of a radiation image detector is on the increase. For a radiation image detector having an imaging plane with pixels, disposed in a two-dimensional matrix, for storing charges by receiving radiation according to an amount of radiation received and used to receive radiation transmitted through the same subject each time the detector is shifted and changed in position along a predetermined shift axis, a setting error of the imaging plane, i.e., an inclination of the two-dimensional matrix with respect to the shift axis or the like is detected a plurality of times with the passage of time and, when a fluctuation range of a plurality of setting errors so detected exceeds a predetermined acceptable range, an indication or an alarm so indicating is given.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a time dependent degradation determination method for a radiation image detector and, more particularly, to a method of determining whether or not a setting error of an imaging plane of the radiation image detector is on the increase, and an apparatus for implementing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Panel type radiation image detectors are put into practical use. Such a detector includes an imaging plane having pixels, each storing charges by receiving radiation representing image information according to an amount of radiation received, disposed in a two-dimensional matrix and outputs image data representing the image information through a reading operation, as described, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-156555. Generally, the pixels include a charge generation layer that generates charges by receiving radiation, a voltage application electrode for applying a voltage to the charge generation layer, a charge collection electrode for collecting the charges generated in the charge generation layer, and a switching element for reading out the charges collected by the charge collection electrode, which are formed, for example, of a TFT (thin film transistor) active matrix array.
Generally, the panel type radiation detectors described above are formed in a quadrangle, i.e., a rectangle or a square, and used widely to record transmitted radiation image information of a subject by emitting radiation transmitted through the subject. The quadrangularly shaped radiation image detector may sometimes be used for recording a long length image representing a long portion of a subject, such as the entire spine of a human body, in which the detector is shifted along a predetermined shift axis and receives radiation transmitted through the same subject at each shifted position.
When the panel type radiation detector is used in the manner as described above, a reading operation is performed with respect to each emission of radiation (radiation image recording) and image data representing a radiation image are obtained by each reading operation. Thereafter, these image data are combined together to obtain image data representing a long portion of a subject. As for the method of obtaining image data representing a long length radiation image in the manner as described above, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-244270 describes a method that uses, as an example, a cassette having a phosphor screen.
In the mean time, when combining radiation images in the manner as described above, a misalignment may sometimes occur at a joint of the combined image due to an inclination of the imaging plane of the panel type radiation image detector. There are several types of "inclination of imaging plane", which will be described, hereinafter, in detail with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.
A of FIG. 10 schematically illustrates a system for recording (imaging) a radiation image viewed from a side thereof. In the drawing, reference numeral 100 is a radiation source, reference numeral 101 is a stand for guiding a panel type quadrangular radiation image detector D, and the reference numeral 102 is the imaging plane of the radiation image detector D. In this example, it is assumed that grid 103 will be recorded as the subject in order to facilitate understanding of the problem. That is, imaging plane 102 of the radiation image detector D will be exposed by radiation 104 emitted from radiation source 100 and transmitted through grid 103.
In this case, the panel type quadrangular radiation image detector D is set such that the panel surface and one side of the panel become parallel to a direction in which stand 101 extends (arrow H direction) and shifted in the arrow H direction. That is, the arrow H direction is the shift axis in this case. The radiation image detector D, standing still before and after the shifting, is exposed to radiation 104 transmitted through grid 103, whereby first and second operations of radiation image taking are performed.
Here, one problem may arise that imaging plane 102 (two-dimensional pixel matrix constituting the imaging plane) is inclined by an angle of α with respect to the panel surface due to an assembly error of the radiation image detector D or the like and, if so, radiation images of grid 103 obtained by the first and second radiation emissions become like that shown in B and C of FIG. 10 respectively. That is, when joining a lower edge portion of first recorded image with an upper edge portion of second recorded image, the horizontal length of the subject differs between these portions and misalignment occurs at the joint.
In this case, the inclination angle α of the radiation image detector D with respect to the panel surface corresponds to the inclination angle thereof with respect to the shift axis H of the two-dimensional matrix since the radiation image detector D is set in the manner as described above.
Next, another problem will be described with reference to FIG. 11. A of FIG. 11 schematically illustrates a system for recording (imaging) a radiation image viewed from the front. In the drawing, reference numerals 101, 102, 103 are a stand, an imaging plane, and a grid respectively which are identical to those shown in A of FIG. 10. In this case, the radiation source is omitted in the drawing, but disposed such that radiation is emitted along an emission axis perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.
Also, in this case, the panel type quadrangular radiation image detector D is set in the same manner as in A of FIG. 10 and shifted in the arrow H direction, in which the radiation image detector D, standing still before and after the shifting, is exposed to radiation, whereby first and second operations of radiation image taking are performed.
Here, as another problem, two-dimensional pixel matrix may sometimes be inclined by an angle of γ with respect to one side of the panel in a plane parallel to the panel surface (plane parallel to the plane of the drawing) due to an assembly error of the radiation image detector D or the like. Note that some of the pixels are denoted by G in A of FIG. 11. If that is the case, radiation images of grid 103 obtained by the first and second radiation emissions become like that shown in B and C of FIG. 11 respectively. That is, when joining a lower edge portion of first recorded image with an upper edge portion of second recorded image, a fault slip like misalignment occurs at the joint.
In this case also, the inclination angle γ of the two-dimensional matrix with respect to one side of the panel corresponds to the inclination angle thereof with respect to the shift axis H of the two-dimensional matrix since the radiation image detector D is set in the manner as described above.
Taking the case, as an example, in which the size of the radiation image detector D is 40 cm×40 cm, the distance (SID) from the radiation source to the imaging plane is 180 cm, the misalignment at the joint of the combined image is about 0.5 mm when the inclination angle α is 0.31° or when inclination angle γ is 0.07°, which is significantly large.
So far, the problems of the case in which the panel type quadrangular radiation image detector is shifted accurately along the shift axis parallel to the surface and one side of the detector, and the two-dimensional matrix of pixels is inclined in the detector have been described. But, even in the case where the two-dimensional pixel matrix is not inclined in the radiation image detector, that is, the matrix is formed parallel to the surface and one side of the panel type quadrangular radiation image detector, if the radiation image detector itself is disposed inclined with respect to the detector shift axis, then the problems similar to those described above will naturally occur. Statuses when the radiation image detector itself is inclined in this way and the two-dimensional matrix is inclined with respect to detector shift axis by inclination angles α, γ are shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 respectively.
Here, the description has been made of a case in which the inclination of the matrix is constant even the radiation image detector is shifted. Where the radiation image detector is gradually inclined as it is shifted, the inclination of the matrix varies with the shifting of the radiation image detector. In such a case, a similar problem will occur. FIG. 14 schematically illustrates such situation, in which A of FIG. 14 schematically illustrates a system for recording (imaging) a radiation image viewed from the front. In the drawing, reference numerals 101, 102, 103 are a stand, an imaging plane, and a grid respectively which are identical to those shown in A of FIG. 10. Also in this case, the radiation source is omitted in the drawing, but disposed such that radiation is emitted along an emission axis perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.
In this case, a matrix inclination occurs as the radiation image detector is shifted and at the same time the matrix is shifted in a lateral direction. Such a phenomenon occurs due to, for example, low accuracy of a guide mechanism for guiding the movement of the radiation image detector, setting of a relatively large gap between, for example, a guide rod and a guide member of the guide mechanism, or the like.
At this time, radiation images of grid 103 obtained by the first and second radiation emissions become like that shown in B and C of FIG. 14 respectively. Also in this case, when joining a lower edge portion of first recorded image with an upper edge portion of second recorded image, a fault slip like misalignment occurs at the joint.
Further, the problem of misalignment at an image joint also occurs not only when the pixel matrix is inclined but also when the matrix is displaced from a predetermined position at the time of radiation emission. Hereinafter, the displacement will be described in detail.
FIG. 15 schematically illustrates the situation when such displacement occurred. A of FIG. 15 schematically illustrates a system for recording (imaging) a radiation image viewed from a side thereof. In the drawing, reference numeral 100 denotes a radiation source. Normally, when taking radiation images to be combined, the radiation image detector D is placed at positions at the time of first and second radiation emissions so as to overlap to a certain extent in the direction of shift axis H. For example, if aging deterioration has occurred in the moving mechanism of the radiation image detector D, however, the radiation image detector D may be displaced in a direction parallel to shift axis H from the predetermined position at each radiation emission. FIG. 15 illustrates an example case in which the radiation image detector D is displaced downward from the predetermined position by a length Δy at the second radiation emission.
At this time, radiation images of grid 103 obtained by the first and second radiation emissions become like that shown in B and C of FIG. 15 respectively. In this case, image combining is performed as the position in the first recorded image denoted by y0 in B of FIG. 15 would be matched with the upper edge of the second recorded image. In actuality, however, the upper edge of the second recorded image is displaced by the length Δy and, therefore, misalignment occurs at the image joint.
Further, such displacement as described above may sometimes occur in a direction orthogonal to shift axis H, as well as in a direction parallel to shift axis H. FIG. 16 schematically illustrates a situation in which such displacement has occurred. A of FIG. 16 schematically illustrates a system for recording (imaging) a radiation image viewed from the front. The radiation source is omitted in the drawing, but disposed such that radiation is emitted along an emission axis perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.
Normally, when taking radiation images to be combined, the radiation image detector D is placed at positions corresponding to each other in a direction orthogonal to shift axis H at the time of first and second radiation emissions. For example, if aging deterioration has occurred in the moving mechanism of the radiation image detector D or if stand 101 (more specifically, the rail for guiding the radiation image detector D) is curved as shown in the drawing, however, the radiation image detector D may be displaced in a direction orthogonal to shift axis H from the predetermined position at the time of radiation emission. FIG. 16 illustrates an example case in which the radiation image detector D is displaced to the right side from the predetermined position by a length Δx at the second radiation emission.
At this time, radiation images of grid 103 obtained by the first and second radiation emissions become like that shown in B and C of FIG. 16 respectively. In this case, image combining is performed as the positions of the first and second recorded images in the left/right direction, i.e., in a direction orthogonal to shift axis H would correspond to each other. In actuality, however, the second recorded image is displaced by the length Δx and, therefore, misalignment occurs at the image joint.
Aforementioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-244270 also describes a method which, when combining two images in the manner as described above, takes images of a grid provided in the cassette together with images of a subject and corrects the misalignment between the two images (in this case, the misalignment arising from the difference in distance between the subject and imaging plane) based on the grid images. But the method described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-244270 can not detect the inclination or displacement of the two-dimensional matrix that will occur when a panel type quadrangular radiation image detector is used. Therefore, it is obvious that the method can not correct misalignment between images based on such inclination or displacement.
Consequently, it is conceivable to detect the inclination or displacement of the two-dimensional matrix, which is a setting error of the imaging plane of a radiation image detector, and to perform correction processing on the two images to be combined for eliminating distortion based on the detected inclination or displacement. The inclination or displacement of the two-dimensional matrix, however, may increase due to aging deterioration, so that continued performance of the correction processing under the same condition without knowing this causes a problem that a misalignment occurs in an image joint even after the correction processing has been performed.
The present invention has been developed in view of the circumstances described above and it is an object of the present invention to provide a time dependent degradation determination method for a radiation image detector capable of clearly notifying a user that a setting error of the imaging plane of a radiation image detector has increased to an extent that exceeds an acceptable range.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a time dependent degradation determination apparatus for a radiation image detector capable of implementing the time dependent degradation determination method for a radiation image detector described above.

Radiation image detector time dependent degradation determination method and apparatus


Disclosed are a ceria nanocomposite for biomedical treatment, including a ceria nanoparticle; and a pharmaceutical composition. The disclosed ceria nanocomposite for biomedical treatment includes a ceria nanoparticle and a surface modification layer arranged on the surface of the ceria nanoparticle, wherein the surface modification layer includes a polyethylene glycol residue, and in the ceria nanoparticle, the content of Ce3+ is greater than the content of Ce4+.

Biomedical treatment means treatment of inflammatory diseases or other diseases such as infection, bacteremia, sepsis, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) with functional medicine.
Infection refers to a condition in which a pathogenic microorganism has destructive effects on the host organism after invading and proliferating in the host. In establishing an infection, the virulence of a microorganism and host resistance play a crucial role, and so does environmental condition such as climates. Pathogenic microorganism causing the infections include protozoa, bacteria, Rickettsia, viruses, fungi, etc.
Routes of infection include direct contact, droplet and its nuclei, food, transdermal transmission, etc. The period between pathogen invasion and clinical onset is called the incubation period, and no specific symptom such as fever is manifested in this period. Generally, the incubation period is several days to several weeks, but some pathogens have varying incubation periods. For example, the incubation period of cholera is tens of hours. It may be several months for tuberculosis and several years or more for leprosy.
Bacteremia refers to a condition in which bacteria enters the systemic blood circulation. In a mild infectious condition, bacteria entering blood circulation are immediately removed by white blood cells and cannot spread to the body. However, when there are excessive amount of bacteria due to a severe infection, they can spread to the body along the blood circulation. This condition is called bacteremia.
For example, in the case of typhoid fever, the typhoid bacilli enter the gastrointestinal tract and proliferates in adjacent lymph nodes. It then enters the blood and spreads throughout the body to create lesions in remote tissue. This process is made via bacteremia. Bacteremia caused by pyogenic bacteria, typhoid, tuberculosis, anthrax, or brucella can be fatal.
The most common routes of bacteremia are the genitourinary tract (25%), followed by the respiratory tract (20%), abscess (10%), surgical wound infections (5%), the biliary tract (5%). Other sites consist of 10% and the remaining 25% are uncertain sites.
Bacteremia occurs when bacteria proliferate faster than bacterial clearance by the reticuloendothelial system. Mostly, bacteria enter the blood indirectly through lymphatic vessels from outside the blood vessel. In cases of infective endocarditis, arteriovenous fistula infection, mycotic aneurysm, suppurative phlebitis, and catheter-related infections, bacteria directly enter the blood circulation and spread to the body.
Sepsis refers to "life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by dysregulated host response due to infection". When a local infection by microorganisms occurs, a systemic inflammatory response occurs as a normal protective mechanism in the host, leading to an increase of white blood cells, an increase in vascular permeability, fever, etc. However, in severe infections, these systemic inflammatory responses become abnormally excessive, causing sepsis. If not treated early, sepsis may lead to hypotension due to decrease in effective blood volume, renal dysfunction, and multi-organ failure, ultimately leading to death.
Even in modern medicine, sepsis has high mortality and poor prognosis. The mortality rates of severe sepsis and sepsis shock are serious enough to reach 25%-30% and 40%-70%, respectively. According to data in the United States, 20 billion dollars accounting for 5.2% of total health care spending were annually spent on treating sepsis in 2011.
Despite medical advances such as the development of antibiotics, the reason why we can not overcome sepsis is that antibiotics alone cannot treat sepsis. When sepsis occurs, a series of inflammatory reactions initiated including release of proinflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species, which consequently leads to an increase of capillary permeability, electrolyte and acid-base imbalance, and hypotension.
In modern medicine, there is no way to block this inflammatory cascade, except to diagnose sepsis early and to use antibiotics as quickly as possible. Therapeutic agents for suppressing the abnormal inflammatory responses in early sepsis, such as inflammatory cytokine inhibitors or reactive oxygen species scavengers, have not been developed yet. Standard management such as fluid and electrolyte injection or hemodialysis is carried out to prevent organ dysfunction, but this is not a radical method for sepsis pathophysiology, but merely a symptomatic and supportive one.
Systemic inflammatory response syndrome is defined by two or more of the following: higher or lower body temperature than normal, increased pulse rate, increased respiratory rate, and an increase or decrease of white blood cells compared to normal. Although sepsis is the most representative cause of systemic inflammatory response syndrome, it may be caused by many other diseases such as severe trauma, burns, pancreatitis, etc. Since these diseases share many aspects of pathophysiology, effective therapeutic strategy for systemic inflammatory responses is required.
Accordingly, doctors and scientists around the world are making great efforts to decrease mortality from inflammatory diseases. However, there are no therapeutic agents for effectively treating inflammatory diseases while taking into account toxicity or biocompatibility for human.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ceria nanocomposite for biomedical treatment and pharmaceutical composition containing same


Systems and methods are disclosed for scanning devices to exchange scan messages with external devices, where the scan messages comprise WS-Scan protocol message and DSM protocol messages. A determination is made if a scan message comprises a WS-Scan protocol message or a DSM protocol message. A response is made to the WS-Scan protocol message if the scan message is a WS-Scan protocol message. Further, a response is made to the DSM protocol message if the scan message is a DSM protocol message. A user interface of the scanning device hides the distinctions between WS-Scan and DSM to permit a user to seamlessly select scanning to either or both WS-Scan and DSM destinations.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to providing scan services to an image forming device, and more specifically, to methods and systems for providing scan services to a scanner in enterprise or business scanning environment.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In a Microsoft Distributed Scan Management environment (DSM), administrators manage scanning services for organizations with many users. DSM is implemented in Windows Server 2008 R2 and uses Web Services on Devices (WSD) protocol to integrate various devices into the environment.
In DSM, the various devices interact with a Microsoft Distributed Scan Server and a Microsoft Scan Management Console to provide solutions for scanning and post processing of scan data. The various devices (e.g., scanners, Multi-Function Printers, etc.), utilize Microsoft Distributed Scan Device (DSD) and Microsoft Distributed Scan Processing (DSP) compliant services to communicate with the Microsoft Distributed Scan Server and the Microsoft Scan Management Console. The DSD specification describes how scanning devices and services operate in a distributed scanning environment, and specify the device control model. The DSP specification describes how the scanning devices, services, and post processing of scan data operate in the DSM environment.
WS-Scan refers to Web Services on Devices (WSD) Scan Service. In WS-Scan, a scanner interacts with a personal computer (the client) to provide scanning solutions. The scanner and client utilize WS-Scan services to communicate with each other to orchestrate the scanning tasks. Because WS-Scan was introduced before DSM, application providers typically choose not to modify existing applications that currently use WS-Scan services, and therefore, a haphazard collection of both DSM and WS-Scan based scanners may be operating in a network. Further, users of the scanner may become easily confused about how to utilize WS-Scan destinations and DSM post scan processing services in such an environment in order to enable a scan workflow.
Thus, it is an ongoing challenge to enable scanning devices to efficiently operate within a DSM and a WS-Scan environment.

Methods and systems to provide scan services to an image forming device


The compounds of formula (1), their pharmaceutically acceptable salts and their solvates, wherein R1 is a radical selected between hydrogen and alkyl; R2 is selected from hydroxyalkyl, phenyl, phenyl mono-substituted and phenyl di-substituted in positions 3 and 4; R3 is selected from phenyl, phenyl mono-substituted and phenyl di-substituted in positions 3 and 4; the substituents of the phenyl of R2 and R3 selected from halogen, (C1-C4)-alkyl and (C1-C4)-alkoxyl and R4 is selected from hydrogen, alkyl allyl and homoallyl, they are useful for the treatment of mycobacterial infections, in particular for the treatment of infections produced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex or Mycobacterium kansasii.

Multiresistant tuberculosis is defined as that tuberculosis which is caused by strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant simultaneously to at least isoniazid and rifampicin. Its incidence has increased in the last number of years in an alarming rate in a numerous regions in the worldwide. The importance of this problem is illustrated in the decision taken by the WHO in 1994 to put into action a plan for the control and surveillance of multiresistant tuberculosis at a worldwide level (cfr. Guidelines for surveillance of drug resistance in tuberculosis WHO/TB/2003.320-WHO/CDS/RMD/2003.3). Among the strategies that have been developed against this serious problem which threatens worldwide health, is the development of new drugs to fight the types of strains involved.
Drugs for tuberculosis treatment are divided in "first line drugs" and "second line drugs". The first line is of greatest effectiveness, and plays an indispensable role in primary therapeutic regimes to guarantee the treatment of this disease. Only four drugs make up the first group, which are: isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol. The rest of the drugs nowadays available are included within the category of "second line drugs".
For the treatment of multiresistant tuberculosis drug combinations are administered over prolonged periods of time. Nowadays, the choice treatment lasts six months and contemplates administration of a combination of isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide for two months, followed by the administration of isoniazid and rifampicin combination for four subsequent months. It is of vital importance to develop new drugs which permit reinforcement or improvement in the treatment of multiresistant tuberculosis.
On the other hand, related to the HIV epidemic and due to the generalized use in modern medicine of antitumour and immunosuppressor drugs, there have been increased infections produced by the named "atypical mycobacteria" (also known as "opportunist environmental mycobacteria" or as "nontuberculous mycobacteria"). This term includes numerous different species from whose method of transmission is not known, nor is their resistance mechanism to antimycobacterials. These atypical mycobacterias behave as microorganisms usually resistent to the drugs with antimycobaterial activity and pose a serious threat. From the numerous species isolated, Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex stands out for its frequency of producing serious disseminated infections and producing a pulmonar pathology undistinguishable from the one produced by M. tuberculosis. Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex behaves as multiresistant to the drugs of the "first" and "second line". In the therapeutic regimes the rifabutin is generally the elective treatment, associated to a macrolide and to a quinolone. The high toxicity in vivo of the rifabutin represents a common inconvenience. Mycobacterium kansasii usually has a pattern of sensitivity much more variable, even though it exhibits resistance to isoniazid and ethambutol.
Rifamycins are natural chemical substances that were isolated for first time in 1959 from cultures of Nocardia Mediterranei as a complex mix of rifamycins A-E (cfr. P. Sensi et al., II Fármaco, Ed. Sc. 1959, vol. 14, pp. 146-147). They belong to the ansamycin family, antibiotics of great interest against Gram-positive bacteria and mycobacteria such as M. tuberculosis. They also have activity against the DNA-dependent bacterial RNA polymerase (cfr. C. Bartolucci et al., Fármaco 1992, vol. 47, p. 1367; C. Bartolucci et al., Pharm. Pharmacol. Lett, 1993, vol. 3, p. 1).
The structure of the rifamycins was determined by chemical degradation of the rifamycin S and by NMR spectroscopics studies. They present as common structural characteristic an aliphatic chain of 17 carbon atoms, called ansa, which connects two non adjacent positions of an aromatic plane chromophore core of naphtohydroquinone linked by an amide group.
The activity of these compounds is a consequence of the specific inhibition of the bacterial RNA polymerase through the formation of a very stable complex 1:1 between the drug and the enzyme, as it is shown in an investigation of the rifampicin. It has been proposed in a model in which the enzyme wraps the drug by the hydrophilic face and under the aromatic core, in such a way that the positions C3 and C4 do not participate in the joining. The studies of structure-activity relationship carried out with different rifamycins conclude that in order to maintain the inhibitory activity the following structural elements are necessary: a hydroxyl group or ketone in C1 and C8, hydroxyl groups in position C21 and C23, a determined spatial relation among the functional groups and an ansa bridge (cfr. P. Sensi, P. Appl. Chem. 1975, vol. 41, pp. 15-29).
Hundreds of semisynthetic rifamycins have been prepared with the hope of obtaining substances with better biological activities; most of them present modifications in the positions C4 (rifamide) and C3 (rifampicin). These structural changes do not affect the action of the substances over the enzyme in a critical way, but modify other important parameters such as the cellularcelular membrane permeability, the pharmacokinetic properties and the resortion (cfr. S. Lancini et al., "Structure-Activity Relationship among the Semisynthetic Antibiotics". D. Perlmann, Ed., Academic Press, N.Y. 1977, pp. 531-600).
The spiropiperidylrifamycins are a class of semisynthetic antibiotics derived from the rifamycins in which the carbons C3 and C4 are incorporated into an imidazol ring, which itself has a spirocyclic piperidine (cfr. A. Sanfilippo et al., J. Antib. 1980, vol. 33, p. 1193; L. Marsili et al., J. Antib. 1981, vol. 34, p. 1033). The nitrogen atom from the piperidine ring may have different substituents (linear and ramificated alkyl radicals, functionalized alkyl, benzyl, acetyl and ethoxycarbonyl) (cfr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,225; DE 2,825,445-A). Among these spiropiperidylrifamycins, the rifabutin has been used with therapeutic purposes as a multidrug for the treatment of tuberculosis and against the Mycobacterium Avium-Mycobacterium intracellulare Complex (MAC) infections in patients with HIV (cfr. U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,478).
From what is known in the art, it is very desirable to provide new drugs possessing biological activity, not only against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but also against mycobacterial infections in general.

Spiropiperidylrifamycins for the treatment of mycobacterial infections