The present invention generally relates to providing an air supply for components associated with an engine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for using compressed air generated by a split-cycle engine to power components such as valves or air springs associated with the split-cycle engine.

For purposes of clarity, the term "conventional engine" as used in the present application refers to an internal combustion engine wherein all four strokes of the well known Otto or Diesel cycles (the intake, compression, expansion and exhaust strokes) are contained in each piston/cylinder combination of the engine. Each stroke requires one half revolution of the crankshaft (180 degrees crank angle (CA)), and two full revolutions of the crankshaft (720 degrees CA) are required to complete the entire Otto or Diesel cycle in each cylinder of a conventional engine.
Also, for purposes of clarity, the following definition is offered for the term "split-cycle engine" as may be applied to engines disclosed in the prior art and as referred to in the present application.
A split-cycle engine comprises:
a crankshaft rotatable about a crankshaft axis;
a compression piston slidably received within a compression cylinder and operatively connected to the crankshaft such that the compression piston is operable to reciprocate through an intake stroke and a compression stroke during a single rotation of the crankshaft;
an expansion (power) piston slidably received within an expansion cylinder and operatively connected to the crankshaft such that the expansion piston is operable to reciprocate through an expansion stroke and an exhaust stroke during a single rotation of the crankshaft; and
a crossover passage interconnecting the compression and expansion cylinders, the crossover passage including a crossover compression (XovrC) valve and a crossover expansion (XovrE) valve operable to define a pressure chamber therebetween.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,225 granted Apr. 8, 2003 to Carmelo J. Scuderi (herein the "Scuderi patent"), U.S. Pat. No. 6,952,923 granted Oct. 11, 2005 to David P. Branyon et al. (herein the "Branyon patent"), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,353,786 granted Apr. 8, 2008 to Scuderi et al. (herein the "Air-Hybrid patent") each contain an extensive discussion of split-cycle and similar type engines. In addition the Scuderi, Branyon, and Air-Hybrid patents disclose details of prior versions of engines of which the present invention comprises a further development. The Scuderi, Branyon, and Air-Hybrid patents are each hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art split-cycle engine of the type similar to those described in the Branyon and Scuderi patents is shown generally by numeral 50. The split-cycle engine 50 replaces two adjacent cylinders of a conventional engine with a combination of one compression cylinder 66 and one expansion cylinder 68. The four strokes of the Otto or Diesel cycle are "split" over the two cylinders 66 and 68 such that the compression cylinder contains the intake and compression strokes and the expansion cylinder 68 contains the expansion and exhaust strokes. The Otto or Diesel cycle is therefore completed in these two cylinders 66, 68 once per crankshaft 52 revolution (360 degrees CA).
During the intake stroke, intake air is drawn into the compression cylinder 66 through an inwardly opening (opening inward into the cylinder) poppet intake valve 82. During the compression stroke, the compression piston 72 pressurizes the air charge and drives the air charge through one or more crossover passages 78, which act as the intake passages for the expansion cylinder 68.
The volumetric compression ratio of the compression cylinder of a split-cycle engine is herein referred to as the "compression ratio" of the split-cycle engine. The volumetric compression ratio of the expansion cylinder of a split-cycle engine is herein referred to as the "expansion ratio" of the split-cycle engine. Due to very high compression ratios (e.g., 40 to 1, 80 to 1, or greater), outwardly opening (opening outward away from the cylinder) poppet crossover compression (XovrC) valves 84 at the inlet of each of the one or more crossover passages 78 are used to control flow from the compression cylinder 66 into the one or more crossover passages 78. Due to very high expansion ratios (e.g., 40 to 1, 80 to 1, or greater), outwardly opening poppet crossover expansion (XovrE) valves at the outlet of each of the one or more crossover passages 78 control flow from the one or more crossover passages 78 into the expansion cylinder 68. The actuation rates and phasing of the XovrC and XovrE valves 84, 86 are timed to maintain pressure in the one or more crossover passages 78 at a high minimum pressure (typically 20 bar or higher at full load) during all four strokes of the Otto or Diesel cycle.
One or more fuel injectors 90 (one for each crossover passage 78) inject fuel into the pressurized air at the exit end of the one or more crossover passages 78 in correspondence with the XovrE valve(s) 86 opening, which occurs shortly before the expansion piston 74 reaches its top dead center position. The fuel-air charge fully enters the expansion cylinder 68 shortly after the expansion piston 74 reaches its top dead center position. As expansion piston 74 begins its descent from its top dead center position, and while the XovrE valve(s) 86 is/are still open, the spark plug 92 is fired to initiate combustion (typically between 10 to 20 degrees CA after top dead center of the expansion piston 30). The XovrE valve(s) 86 is/are then closed before the resulting combustion event can enter the one or more crossover passages 78. The combustion event drives the expansion piston 74 downward in a power stroke. Exhaust gases are pumped out of the expansion cylinder 68 through an inwardly opening poppet exhaust valve 88 during the exhaust stroke.
With the split-cycle engine concept, the geometric engine parameters (i.e., bore, stroke, connecting rod length, compression ratio, etc.) of the compression and expansion cylinders are generally independent from one another. For example, the crank throws 56, 58 for the compression cylinder 66 and expansion cylinder 68 respectively may have different radii and may be phased apart from one another with top dead center (TDC) of the expansion piston 74 occurring prior to TDC of the compression piston 72. This independence, among other factors, enables the split-cycle engine to potentially achieve higher efficiency levels and greater torques than typical four stroke engines.
Considerable research has been devoted to air hybrid engines, which store energy for later use in the form of compressed air. The split-cycle engine 50 shown in FIG. 1 can be combined with an air tank and various control features to provide an air hybrid system.
FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary prior art split-cycle air-hybrid engine. Referring to FIG. 2 in detail, a prior art split-cycle engine 50 is shown of the type described in FIG. 1. One or more of the one or more crossover passages 78 are connected to an air tank 94 via a control valve 93. Valve 93 is opened and closed at appropriate times to control the flow of air between the air tank 94 and the one or more crossover passages 78. Compressed air from the one or more crossover passages 78 is stored in the air tank at certain times such as, for example, when the vehicle is braking. The compressed air in the air tank 94 is fed back into the one or more crossover passages 78 at a later time in order to drive the crankshaft 54 in a pre-compressed air power (PAP) mode. The PAP mode can include a pre-compressed combustion-air power mode, wherein pre-compressed air and fuel are mixed and the fuel/air mixture is combusted to drive the power piston down during an expansion stroke. Further, the PAP mode can include various air motoring (AM) modes, wherein pre-compressed air is utilized to drive the power piston down during an expansion stroke without a corresponding combustion event occurring in the expansion cylinder. The Air-Hybrid patent describes details of the PAP modes of operation and other aspects of a split-cycle air hybrid engine similar to the one shown in FIG. 2.
The actuation mechanisms (not shown) for valves 82, 84, 86, 88 may be cam driven or camless. In general, a cam driven mechanism includes a camshaft mechanically linked to the crankshaft. A cam is mounted to the camshaft, and has a contoured surface that controls the profile of the valve lift (i.e. the valve lift from its valve seat, versus rotation of the crankshaft). A cam driven actuation mechanism is efficient and fast, but has limited flexibility.
Also in general, camless actuation systems for valves are known, and include systems that have one or more combinations of mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and/or electrical components or the like. Camless systems allow for greater flexibility during operation, including, but not limited to, the ability to change the valve lift height and duration and/or deactivate the valve at selective times. Pneumatically actuated camless valves are generally advantageous for various reasons such as their compact packaging, low energy consumption requirements, and relatively low cost.
Dynamic actuation of the crossover valves 84, 86 of split-cycle engine 50 is very demanding. This is because the crossover valves 84 and 86 must achieve sufficient lift to fully transfer the fuel-air charge in a very short period of crankshaft rotation (generally in a range of about 30 to 60 degrees CA) relative to that of a conventional engine, which normally actuates the valves for a period of at least 180 degrees CA. This means that the crossover valves 84, 86 must actuate about four to six times faster than the valves of a conventional engine.
Valve springs (not shown) for the valves 82, 84, 86, 88 are used to keep the valves 82, 84, 86, 88 closed when they are not being actuated. Any suitable valve springs can be used for the intake valve 82 and the exhaust valve 88 such as mechanical springs or air springs. However, the crossover valves 84, 86 preferably use air springs because standard mechanical springs can have difficulty closing the crossover valves 84, 86 quickly enough to meet the aforementioned demanding crossover valve actuation requirements.
Pneumatic actuators, air springs, and other pneumatically powered components generally require a steady source of cool, dry, compressed air at a constant pressure that is free of particulates. These components generally need a steady source of such compressed air because, inter alia, compressed air tends to leak. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for providing such a compressed air source with an engine, more particularly with a split-cycle engine.

Air supply for components of a split-cycle engine


When a tilt-down function is performed, a rotationally-preventing condition of a reclining device connecting a base member and an intermediate member is released, so that a seat back is tiltably rotated forwardly integrally with the intermediate member and a seat cushion is pushed by a boomerang link capable of moving with the intermediate member so as to be sunk downwardly while tiltably rotating a front link. However, when a walk-in function is performed, a rotationally-preventing condition of a memory device connecting the seat back and the intermediate member is released, so that the seat back can be tiltably rotated to a forwardly inclined position independently of the intermediate member that is maintained in a condition in which the intermediate member is integrated with the base member.

Conventionally known is a vehicle seat having a walk-in function that is capable of widening a getting in/out space positioned behind the seat and having a tilt-down function that is capable of compactly folding down the whole seat. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,533 teaches a vehicle seat having the walk-in function and the tilt-down function described above.
In this disclosure, the vehicle seat is constructed such that when an operation for the walk-in function is performed, a seat back is tilted to a forwardly inclined position, and a slide-lock condition of a seat body relative to a vehicle floor is released, so that a condition in which the whole seat is capable of sliding forwardly can be obtained. Further, the vehicle seat is constructed such that when an operation for the tilt-down function is performed, the seat back is widely tilted forwardly, and a seat cushion is sunk downwardly, so that a tilt-down space of the seat back can be obtained.
In particular, the seat cushion is rotatably connected to the seat back via link members, so as to be sunk forwardly and downwardly due to link motion of the link members that can be operated with the forwardly tiltable rotation of the seat back.
In the conventional art described above, because the seat back and the seat cushion are linked to each other, the seat cushion is moved forwardly even when the walk-in function is performed. Therefore, a retracting space which allows the whole seat to slide forwardly can be narrowed. As a result, a getting in/out space formed behind the seat can be narrowed.
Thus, there is a need in the art to ensure a wide retracting space which allows a seat body of a vehicle seat having a walk-in function and a tilt-down function to move forwardly when the walk-in function is performed.


A process for manufacturing encapsulated optical sensors, including the steps of: forming a plurality of mutually spaced optical sensors in a wafer of semiconductor material; bonding a plate of transparent material to the wafer so as to seal the optical sensors; and dividing the wafer into a plurality of dies, each comprising an optical sensor and a respective portion of the plate.

As is known in today's electronics industry, there is an increasingly marked trend towards integrating a number of devices in a single multifunctional system. For example, the field of mobile telephones is undergoing an extremely rapid evolution, and one of the most important lines of development envisages the integration of a miniaturized videocamera in a cellular phone.
For this purpose, it is necessary to design optical sensors which, on the one hand, present overall dimensions that are as small as possible and are simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and which, on the other hand, will have optical characteristics that will not degrade the quality of the images that are detected. For this reason, the optical sensors must also be protected against contamination by external agents, such as dust and humidity, which could lead to irreparable damage. In particular, optical sensors are normally sealed inside hollow encapsulation structures. For greater clarity of exposition, we shall refer to FIG. 1, where a sensor 1 is illustrated, for example, an array CMOS sensor, formed in a die of semiconductor material obtained by cutting a wafer (not shown herein). The sensor 1 is encapsulated in a protective structure 2, which comprises a base 3, for example, formed by a lamina of pre-set thickness, and a supporting frame 4 of ceramic or plastic material, formed on the base 3 and having a depth greater than that of the sensor 1. In greater detail, the supporting frame 4 and the base 3 define a cavity 5, in which the sensor 1 is housed. In addition, the cavity 5 is sealed by means of a plate 6 of transparent material, preferably glass, which is bonded to the supporting frame 4, at a distance from the sensor 1. The plate 6 protects the sensor 1 from contaminating agents, without altering the optical properties of the incident light beams. Connection lines 7 enable the contacts of the sensor 1 to be brought outside the protective structure 2, through the base 3, said contacts being formed on the face of the sensor 1 facing the plate 6.
Known processes for encapsulating optical sensors present, however, various drawbacks.
In the first place, the overall dimensions of the hollow protective structures are considerable as compared to the size of the optical sensor and cannot be reduced beyond a certain limit. In fact, the supporting frame 4 must be quite thick in order to enable bonding of the plate 6. Furthermore, between the supporting frame 4 and the sensor 1, it is necessary to provide a region of free-space, in which the connection lines 7 are formed. In practice, the protective structure 2 has a width and a length that may be even twice those of the sensor 1. It is, therefore, evident that the degree of miniaturization of devices incorporating sensors encapsulated in hollow protective structures is accordingly limited.
In the second place, it is very likely for impurities to penetrate inside the cavity 5 when the sensor 1 is being manufactured and mounted in the protective structure 2. In fact, the sensor 1 can be encapsulated only after the initial wafer has been divided into individual dies. On the other hand, it is known that, during the steps of cutting of the wafers, a considerable amount of dust is created. Furthermore, even in the most well-controlled production areas, there is inevitably present some dust which, during the steps of conveying, handling, and assembly, may deposit on top of the sensor 1. Given that, in this way, the quality of the images that can be detected may easily be impaired, many sensors have to be eliminated and, in practice, the overall output of the manufacturing process is other than optimal.
A further drawback is due to the wide tolerances that are to be envisaged in the steps of manufacturing the protective structure 2 and encapsulating the sensor 1. Since these tolerances render the process far from easily repeatable, successive processing steps must be optimized for each individual piece. In particular, in the manufacture of miniaturized video cameras, an optical assembly is coupled to the encapsulated sensor 1. More specifically, the optical assembly is bonded to the plate 6. On account of the intrinsic imprecision of the protective structures 2, it is not sufficient to use exclusively mechanical centering references prearranged during the manufacture of the sensor 1 and of the protective structure 2. Instead, it is necessary to carry out a laborious process for aligning the optical assembly with respect to the surface of the sensor 1, so that the optical axis will be orthogonal to said surface, and, subsequently, for focusing the optical assembly. As mentioned above, this process must be carried out for each individual piece manufactured and has a marked incidence on the overall cost of manufacture.

Process for manufacturing encapsulated optical sensors, and an encapsulated optical sensor manufactured using this process


Apparatus and method for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) testing an object includes subjecting the object to a magnetic field, the field comprising a gradient component (G.sub.read) for encoding spatial information about the object, applying excitation pulses (R.F.) at selected intervals to excite nuclear magnetic resonance, at least two of the intervals and the encoding gradient component during those intervals being selected such that, for such intervals, the values of the integral of the gradient component with respect to the interval duration are proportioned according to consecutive powers of an integer, I, greater than two, and detecting the resonance response signals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) testing an object. The invention has particular application to the generation of images of animals or humans by NMR.
2. Related Art
NMR imaging techniques are well-known. One such technique is described in a paper entitled "Planar Spin Imaging by NMR", P. Mansfield and A. A. Maudsley (J. Magn. Resonance, 27, pp 101-119). Another technique is Known as the "Echo Planar Imaging" (EPI) technique, and is disclosed in United Kingdom Patent No. 1596160 to the National Research Development Corporation (now British Technology Group Ltd.). This technique involves subjecting the object to be tested to a magnetic field which Includes three mutually orthogonal gradient components for encoding spatial Information about the object. One of the gradient components has an oscillatory waveform. A radiofrequency excitation pulse is applied to the object in the presence of the magnetic field. The oscillating gradient causes resonance response echoes to be formed subsequent to the application of the excitation pulse. Detection of these echoes rapidly yields an Image of the object.
The EPI technique suffers from the drawback that the oscillating gradient component is required to oscillate at a frequency so high that special and expensive hardware is required to effect the requisite rapid gradient switchings.


A semiconductor device includes a drift zone of a first conductivity type formed within a semiconductor body, wherein one side of opposing sides of the drift zone adjoins a first zone within the semiconductor body and the other side adjoins a second zone within the semiconductor body. First semiconductor subzones of a second conductivity type different from the first conductivity type are formed within each of the first and second zones opposing each other along a lateral direction extending parallel to a surface of the semiconductor body. A second semiconductor subzone is formed within each of the first and second zones and between the first semiconductor subzones along the lateral direction. An average concentration of dopants within the second semiconductor subzone along 10% to 90% of an extension of the second semiconductor subzone along a vertical direction perpendicular to the surface is smaller than the average concentration of dopants along a corresponding section of extension within the drift zone.

Semiconductor compensation devices such as n- or p-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (n- or p-channel MOSFETs), diodes, Silicon-Controlled Rectifiers (SCRs), Gate Turn-Off thyristors (GTO thyristors) are frequently used for applications requiring low on-resistance RDS(on). These devices are based on mutual compensation of the charge of n- and p-doped regions in a semiconductor body of the device. The n- and p-doped regions are spatially arranged such that, in a reverse operation mode, a space charge of the n-doped region compensates the space charge of the p-doped region. By using this compensation of the p- and n-doping, a concentration of dopants of the one of these regions constituting a drift zone can be increased, whereby, despite a possible loss in the current-carrying area, a gain in RDS(on) is achieved. Production tolerances such as lithographic mismatch or deviations of target dopant concentrations may lead to deviations of desired compensation of these n- and p-doped regions. This may have a negative impact on device performance such as decreased device breakdown voltage.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method


The present disclosure relates to a technology for Sensor Networks, Machine to Machine (M2M), Machine Type Communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT). The present disclosure may be used for an intelligent service (smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected car, health care, digital education, retail business, security and safety-related service, etc.) that is based on the above technologies. The present invention, with respect to a set temperature control method, is characterized by comprising the steps of: setting a control section which is a time section for controlling a set temperature in a certain space; collecting user set temperature information according to weather information for each control section, and predicted weather information; determining set temperature control information for each of the control sections on the basis of the collected set temperature information; and controlling the set temperature in the certain space on the basis of the set temperature control information determined for each of the control sections and the predicted weather information.

The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of Things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as "sensing technology", "wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure", "service interface technology", and "Security technology" have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched.
Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing Information Technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
Meanwhile, in order to increase the efficiency of energy use and improve user convenience, a method for automatically adjusting a setting temperature of a certain indoor space may be used. For example, there is a method for automatically adjusting the temperature of an indoor space by using a user's temperature setting pattern over time. However, this method is incapable of reflecting a variation of environmental information. Here, the environmental information may include at least one of values or statistics of outdoor temperature, outdoor humidity, outdoor sensory temperature, and indoor sensory temperature. Therefore, the above method has problems that the user has to reset the temperature and the efficiency of energy use is reduced.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for adjusting the temperature of an indoor space by reflecting environmental information.

Automatic temperature controlling method and device


In a method of analyzing an input video sequence, pixels of synthesized images of an output video sequence are associated with respective directions of regularity belonging to a predefined set of directions. A first subset of candidate directions is determined from the predefined set of directions for a region of a first image of the output sequence. For a corresponding region of a second synthesized image of the output sequence following the first image, a second subset of candidate directions is determined from the predefined set of directions, based on images of the input sequence and the first subset of candidate directions. The directions of regularity for pixels of this region of the second synthesized image are detected from the second subset of candidate directions. The recursive determination of the subsets of candidate directions provides a sparse geometry for efficiently analyzing the video sequence. The method is well suited for super-resolution video applications such as deinterlacing, frame rate conversion and noise reduction.

The present invention relates to digital video processing. It is applicable, in particular, in the field of super-resolution video processing. Super-resolution video processing methods are used in various applications including super-resolution interpolation (such as frame-rate conversion, super-resolution video scaling and deinterlacing) and reduction of compression artifacts and/or noise.
In digital systems, a video sequence is typically represented as an array of pixel values It(x) where t is an integer time index, and x is a 2-dimensional integer index (x1, x2) representing the position of a pixel in the image. The pixel values can for example be single numbers (e.g. gray scale values), or triplets representing color coordinates in a color space (such as RGB, YUV, YCbCr, etc.).
Super-resolution video processing methods consist in computing new pixel values (for interpolation) or new values of existing pixels (for noise reduction) by combining pixel values of several adjacent video frames in time.
WO 2007/115583 A1 discloses a super-resolution video processing method which exhibits very few artifacts. The method consists in selecting for each new pixel to be calculated an interpolator best suited for computing that pixel. For certain particular sequences, however, it may be necessary to enhance the method by increasing the total number of interpolators considered. The quality is increased but at the cost of a higher complexity.
In video interpolation applications, known techniques are motion adaptive or motion compensated.
Motion-adaptive video deinterlacing only provides full resolution deinterlaced frames when the video is not moving. Otherwise, the deinterlaced frames exhibit jagged contours or lower resolution textures, and flicker. An example of an advanced motion adaptive technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,398.
Motion-compensated techniques are known to reach better quality levels, at the expense of being less robust and displaying in some cases substantially worse artifacts than motion-adaptive techniques. This happens in particular at locations of the video where motion estimation does not work well, like occlusions, transparent objects, or shadows. An example of a motion-compensated deinterlacing technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,557.
A standard way to perform frame-rate conversion includes estimating motion estimation between two frames to compute a dense motion field, and computing new frames with motion-compensated interpolation. For the same reasons as above, frame-rate conversion based on such steps has a number of drawbacks. Dense motion estimation fails on periodic patterns, on contours or on flat areas.
A popular technique for motion estimation is referred to as "block matching". In the block matching technique, estimating the motion at x and t consists in minimizing a matching energy Ex(v) over a window W which is a set of offsets d=(d1, d2). A possible form of the matching energy (L1-energy) is
            E      x                  (      v      )        =            ∑              d        ∈        W                                                                            I              t                                                  (                              x                +                d                            )                                -                                    I                              t                +                1                                                                (                              x                +                d                +                v                            )                                                  .      Another form frequently used is the L2-energy or Euclidean distance:
            E      x                  (      v      )        =            ∑              d        ∈        W                                                                                              I                t                                                          (                                  x                  +                  d                                )                                      -                                          I                                  t                  +                  1                                                                          (                                  x                  +                  d                  +                  v                                )                                                              2            .
Block matching is well suited for motion compensation in video compression schemes such as MPEG, which make use of block-based transforms. If the matching algorithm matches two windows of images that are similar, but do not represent the same object (e.g. matching the first 'e' with the second 'e' in an image of the word "sweet"), compression efficiency is not impaired. However, when doing video interpolation, matching groups of pixels which do not actually correspond to the same object leads to interpolation artifacts, because the interpolated pixels will reflect an "incorrect motion" due to spatial correlation in the objects appearing in the images.
Block matching methods are computationally intensive, in proportion to the number of possible displacements that are actually considered for each pixel. In video compression again, "fast" block matching strategies consist in limiting the range of possible displacements using predetermined motion subsets. This is not acceptable in video interpolation where using a displacement vector that is too inaccurate leads to blurry interpolated images or to artifacts.
To circumvent these problems in motion estimation, several methods have been developed. A first set of methods impose a smoothness constraint on the motion field, i.e. by imposing that for pixels that close one to another, the corresponding motion vectors are close. This can be achieved with multiscale motion estimation, or recursive block matching. Another type of method designed to solve this issue is phase correlation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,710 discloses an approach based on multiscale block-matching. In the 2-scale case, block matching is performed between copies of It and It+1 that have been reduced in size by a factor of 2 in each dimension (i.e. four times less pixels) and the resulting displacement map is then refined to obtain a resolution twice finer. The refinement process is a search of limited range around the coarse scale results. As a result, the cost of the displacement search is reduced because full range searches are done only on smaller images. The resulting displacement field is also smoother because it is a refinement of a low resolution map. However, the motion in a scene cannot be accurately accounted for by a smooth displacement map: the motion field is inherently discontinuous, in particular around object occlusions. Enforcing a displacement map smoothness constraint is not an appropriate way to address the robustness issue.
Another method to handle in a similar way this problem is recursive block matching as disclosed in "True-Motion with 3D Recursive Search Block Matching", G. De Haan et al., IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 3, No. 5, October 1993, pp. 368-379. This method significantly reduces the cost of computing a motion map, but it can still be misled by periodic patterns or even occlusions.
GB-A-2 188 510 discloses a so-called phase correlation method in which a displacement energy map is computed over a large image window for a set of candidate displacements. This map can be computed efficiently using fast Fourier transform. A subset of displacements corresponding to peak values in the energy map is determined as including the most representative displacements over this window. Then block matching is performed as a second step pixelwise considering only this subset of displacements.
This method reduces the complexity of motion estimation, and is also able to detect discontinuous motion maps. With the phase correlation technique, the motion map is also regularized and constrained, but in a way very different from spatial regularization. Instead of imposing a local smoothness of the motion map, phase correlation limits to a fixed number the set of different possible vectors in a motion map.
However, phase correlation still requires relatively complex computations based on 2-dimensional fast Fourier transforms that are expensive to implement in hardware. Also, the method selects motion vectors on the basis of individual merit that is assessed with their phase correlation. So it has a limited ability to provide a minimal set of motion vectors. Indeed, when a moving pattern has a periodic structure or is translation-invariant, several vectors have comparable merit values, and phase correlation is not able to arbitrate between them. The resulting motion-compensated video interpolation process is thus of suboptimal robustness. This has also a cost in terms of complexity because for all pixels, more candidate motion vectors are considered than necessary.
Other classes of approaches include selecting a first subset of displacements by computing low-complexity matching energies on candidate vectors. This can reduce the computational complexity to some extent, but it is not an appropriate way to make the motion-compensated interpolation more reliable.
Classical and still popular methods for noise reduction in video sequences include motion-compensated recursive or non-recursive temporal filtering. See, e.g., "Noise reduction in Image Sequences Using Motion-Compensated Temporal Filtering", E. Dubois and S. Sabri, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. COM-32, No. 7, July 1984, pp. 826-832. This consists in estimating motion between a frame and a preceding frame, and filtering the video sequence along the estimated motion with a temporal filter.
Other known methods use motion-compensated 3D wavelet transforms. See "Three-Dimensional Embedded Subband Coding with Optimized Truncation (3D-ESCOT)", Xu, et al., Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, Vol. 10, 2001, pp. 290-315. The motion-compensated 3D wavelet transform described in this paper can be used for noise reduction, by performing a wavelet thresholding on this 3D transform. The limitation of such an approach using lifting-based wavelet transform along motion threads is its very high sensitivity to the corruption of the motion map by noise.
WO 2007/059795 A1 describes a super-resolution processing method that can be used for long-range noise reduction or super-resolution scaling. The method is based on a bandlet transform using multiscale grouping of wavelet coefficients. This representation is much more appropriate for noise reduction or super-resolution scaling than the 3D transform described in the 3D-ESCOT paper. The multiscale grouping performs a variable range image registration that can be computed for example with block matching or any state of the art image registration process. For both super-resolution scaling and noise reduction, it is important that the image registration map used is not corrupted by noise or by aliasing artifacts.
Whatever the application (interpolation or noise reduction), using a motion-compensated approach with a dense flow field has limitations: aperture, irrelevance of a single motion model for contents with transparent objects or shadows. Analyzing the local invariance structure of video by detecting at each pixel one or more directions of regularity of the video signal in space and time, as described in WO 2007/115583 A1 provides a more general and robust way to do video interpolation. There is thus a need for a technique which makes it possible to detect such directions in an efficient way and with enhanced robustness.
An object of the present invention is to propose a method useful for detecting directions of regularity in an input video stream with high accuracy and high robustness. In particular, in super-resolution video interpolation, it is desired to avoid artifacts usually caused by incoherent interpolation directions. In video noise reduction, it is desired to select averaging directions that are not corrupted by noise.
Another object is to reduce substantially the implementation complexity of the super-resolution interpolation or noise reduction processing.

Sparse geometry for super resolution video processing


A silver halide emulsion is disclosed, which is a silver chlorobromide or silver chloroiodobromide emulsion having a silver chloride content of 90 mol % or more, wherein the silver halide grain in said emulsion has, in the vicinity of the grain surface, a silver bromide-rich phase containing an iridium compound and, the silver bromide-rich phase comprises an inner part region and an outer side part region, wherein the inner side part region has a higher iridium compound density than the outer side part region has.

In recent years, requirements for the capabilities of a color printing paper, such as high sensitivity, processing stability, high-quality image and rapid processability in the development processing step are increasing. On the other hand, as a result of recent popularization of laser scanning exposure apparatuses, suitability for short-time and high-illuminance exposure is one of the important capabilities. The laser scanning exposure is advantageous in that high-speed exposure is attained and the resolution is improved. However, for applying this to a color printing paper, suitability for unusually very short-time (specifically, 10.sup.-6 second) and high-illuminance exposure is required.
In order to improve the reciprocity law failure of the silver halide emulsion at such high-illuminance exposure, a method of doping a metal compound represented by iridium to the base grain is well known in the art.
The improvement of the reciprocity law failure of the silver halide emulsion by iridium is described, for example, in B. H. Carroll, Iridium Sensitization: A Literature Review of Photographic Science and Engineering, Vol. 24, No. 6 (1980), and R. S. Eachus, The Mechanism of Ir3+ Sensitization (International Meeting 1982 of Photographic Science).
On the other hand, it is also known that the silver halide emulsion having added thereto iridium has a very undesired characteristic such that the photographic capabilities (for example, sensitivity, gradation) change in the time passing after the exposure until the processing. This characteristic is described in H. Zwicky, On the Mechanism of the Sensitivity Increase With Iridium in Silver Halide Emulsions of The Journal of Photographic Science, Vol. 33, pp. 201-203 (1985). According to the methods hitherto proposed, the high-illuminance reciprocity law failure is surely improved but the sensitivity very greatly changes due to changing in the time after exposure until processing and the practical use is not expected at all.
A silver halide emulsion having a high silver chloride content has a purpose of rapid processing in the color development but is deficient in that high-sensitivity high-contrast gradation cannot be obtained by usual chemical sensitization. A large number of attempts have been made to achieve high sensitivity of a high silver chloride emulsion. Among those, a technique of forming a silver bromide-rich phase in the vicinity of the grain apex of a silver halide host grain to thereby achieve high sensitivity is disclosed in JP-A-64-26837 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). Further, JP-A-5-61136 discloses a technique of forming a silver bromide-rich phase in the vicinity of the grain apex of a silver halide host grain through multiple stages. According to these techniques, however, the high-illuminance reciprocity law failure is not improved. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,284,745, 5,391,471, 5,415,991, 5,043,256 and 5,627,020 disclose a method of doping a metal compound represented by Ir to the inside of a silver bromide-rich phase of a high silver chloride base grain. Further, European Patent Publication 0568091A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,770 and JP-A-6-35147 disclose a method of adding a bromide to a high silver chloride grain simultaneously with or after the addition of iridium. According to these methods, the change of sensitivity due to changing in the time after exposure until processing is suppressed and the high-illuminance reciprocity law failure is improved, however, the effect is still not sufficient in the case of a high-illuminance exposure for a very short time, such as laser scanning exposure. In addition, reduction in the sensitivity occurred on exposure at a high humidity is not prevented.

Silver halide emulsion, production process of silver halide emulsion, silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material and image formation method


A stack of copper plates is placed in a melting chamber having a closed roof of refractory material. The stack is placed in a tilted orientation leaning against a side wall of the melting chamber, with lower edges of the copper plates resting on an inclined hearth surface. A door to the melting chamber is closed to block the infiltration of oxygen. A burner is fired into the melting chamber to heat the closed roof of refractory material, and the stack of copper plates is melted under the influence of combustion products from the burner and heat radiated from the closed roof. Molten copper is drained downward from the bottom edge of the inclined hearth surface to avoid immersing the copper plates in a molten bath.

Metal for a casting process is melted in a furnace. The furnace has a melting chamber with a hearth formed of refractory material. A load of metal pieces is placed on the hearth, and burners are fired into the melting chamber to melt the load of metal pieces on the hearth. Molten metal then flows from the melting chamber to a reservoir that feeds the casting process.


Some embodiments perform probabilistic request routing in addition to or instead of deterministic request routing. The probabilistic request routing is based on probabilistic models that predict the type of content being requested based on commonality in elements between different requests directed to the same type. The probabilistic models accurately route requests that have not been previously encountered and accurately route requests for content whose type is not previously known. The requests are routed across different subsets of servers that are optimized or configured for the predicted type. The probabilistic models can be defined using a decision tree. Machine learning generates and maintains the decision tree. Accuracy predicted by the different branches of the tree is updated through tracking the type of content passed in response to different routed requests. The tree structure is modified based on timestamps associated with the tree elements and based on newly encountered request elements.

Distributed platforms, such as content delivery networks (CDNs), operate a distributed set of servers. Through the distributed set of servers, the distributed platform provides a distributed delivery of content and services to different requesting users over digital networks, such as the Internet.
The distributed platform deploys different sets of caching servers to different points-of-presence (PoPs). The location of each PoP can be selected to be geographically proximate to a different large population of content requesting and consuming users. To optimize the delivery of the content and services, the distributed platform routes user requests to the caching servers or PoP that are closest to the requesting users. The caching servers are then able to respond to the requests by serving the cached copies of the content from memory without having to retrieve the content again from the more distant origin servers.
The request distribution across the caching servers of a PoP is controlled by one or more load balancers or request directors operating in the PoP. The request directors perform an intelligent request distribution across the caching servers in order to further optimize caching server performance.
The intelligent request distribution involves the request directors routing requests for the same content to the same caching server or subset of caching servers of the PoP. In doing so, each caching server caches and delivers a unique subset of the overall content cached within the PoP. The intelligent request routing reduces the number of caching servers that retrieve content from a content provider's origin server, maximizes cache-hit ratios, and reduces redundant caching of the same content in different caching servers of the same PoP.
The intelligent request distribution also allows for specialized caching server operation. Different subsets of servers within a PoP can be configured or optimized to cache and deliver different subsets of content or types of content more efficiently than others. For instance, requests for large sized content can be distributed across a first subset of caching servers in a PoP and requests for small sized content can be distributed across a second subset of caching server in the PoP. The first subset of caching servers can be configured with different memory or cache resources and different caching and delivery operations than the second subset of caching servers so that the server performance is optimized for the particular size of content handled by that server.
In addition to or instead of content size, requests can be differentiated on the basis of cacheable or uncacheable content types, prioritized and unprioritized content types, dynamic and static content types, streaming and non-streaming content types, and supplemental (e.g., advertisement) or primary content types as some examples. These are some exemplary types with which requests can be differentiated. The request directors can differentiate requests and types based on any criteria.
For each differentiated type, a different subset of caching servers can be optimized or configured to respond to requests for that type more efficiently than other types. There is a performance penalty if a request is differentiated to an incorrect type and routed to a server that is optimized for a content type that is different than the content type for the content of the request. Accordingly, optimal content delivery performance is realized from distributing requests for different content types to the server or subset of servers that are optimized for delivering content of the requested types.
The request directors rely on deterministic methods to track requests or content directed to the different types. The deterministic methods however require prior knowledge of a request or content specified in the request in order to properly route the request to a server or across a subset of servers optimized for the request, and more specifically, the type of content specified in the request. The deterministic methods are formed in response to one or more request directors of a PoP receiving a first request for particular content, arbitrarily routing the first request to a server in a PoP, detecting the type of content that is sent from the server in response to the first request, and associating the content type with the first request or the served content. Thereafter, the next time the request for that same content is received, the request directors can properly route the request to a server or across a specific subset of servers in the PoP that are optimized for that content type. For instance, the request directors can maintain two different hash tables when the request differentiation is based on two different types. When a request is received at a particular request director, the particular request director can hash the request Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and query the different hash tables to determine if there is an existing hash for the URL in any table. If there is no hash in either table, then the request is the first such request received at the PoP for the URL requested content and the particular request director will guess as to the request type and arbitrarily distribute the request without knowing which server is optimized for the type of content associated with that request.
The inability to correctly route the first instances of different requests can create cache pollution and degrade content delivery performance of individual servers and the distributed platform as a whole. There is therefore a need for non-deterministic methods to route requests in cases where deterministic methods cannot be used or are not primed with the prior information necessary to correctly route the requests. There is a need for such non-deterministic methods to execute with minimal overhead and delay while providing a high level of accuracy.


A random access decoder (114) comprising a plurality of decoder circuit elements (116), each decoder circuit element having a unique electronic address and a binary data output (122), means for applying an input signal (124) to each of the decoder circuit element and where each decoder circuit element places data on its binary data output (122) only when the unique electronic address of a particular decoder circuit element (116) matches the applied input signal (124) and wherein the unique electronic address of each of the plurality of decoder circuit elements (116) is electronically loaded into each of the decoder circuit elements (116). In one embodiment, each decoder circuit element (116) comprises equivalent components electrically connected in the same arrangement.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to random access decoders, and in particular to a random access decoder for use in an imaging array readout circuit.
(2) Description of the Art
In many devices, such as visible or infra-red imaging detectors, it is necessary to read information from a two dimensional array of detector pixels. This can be achieved using a series of switches to transport data from particular pixel of the two dimensional array on to a common bus line. The two dimensional array of pixel elements used in infra-red imaging arrays are usually incorporated with row and column readout circuitry on a single silicon readout chip. Each pixel element may also comprise additional electronic components such as amplifiers, noise filters etc. Such chips are typically fabricated using complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology.
One type of row and/or column readout circuitry commonly used in imaging detectors is a shift register. A shift register typically comprises a chain of flip-flop type shift register elements. A logic "1" is loaded into the first shift register element, and each shift register element is then sequentially enabled by a series of clock pulses.
A two dimensional array incorporating row and column shift registers is read by extracting data from the first pixel of the first row through to the last pixel in the first row and then repeating the process for each subsequent row. In this way, the entire array is sequentially read by rastering through each pixel in turn. As shift registers only operate sequentially, they are unable to randomly access pixels in a two dimensional array. The inability to randomly read data from any pixel in the array is a disadvantage, especially in larger arrays, when data from only a particular portion or "window" of the array is of interest.
Another type of row and/or column readout circuitry is a decoder. Decoders typically comprise a plurality of unique decoder circuit elements, and any of these decoder elements can be accessed as required. Decoders, unlike shift registers, will thus allow truly random access to any pixel in a two dimensional array.
A disadvantage of known decoders is the requirement to design a plurality of unique decoder elements; such design work is time consuming and may also be complex when using non-binary array sizes. The requirement to produce a custom design for each decoder element also adds to the cost and complexity of fabricating the readout circuitry. For example, the requirement for unique row and column decoder circuit elements limits the maximum array size that can be produced using known CMOS fabrication techniques.
For a more complete review of the multiplexing techniques used in infrared detector applications see chapter 5 of the Infrared and electro-optical handbook, vol 3, Electro-optical components, W. D. Rogatto, SPIE Optical Engineering Press, Bellingham, Wash.


A system for a vehicle is provided herein. The system includes a fuel vapor canister comprising a shell, a compression plate within the shell and an end cap. The end cap includes a double sided spring interface and a double sided shell sealing surface having double sided identical grooves, only one of which is sealed to the shell. The system further includes a spring coupled to the compression plate and only one spring interface.

Vehicles may be fitted with evaporative emission control systems to reduce the release of fuel vapors to the atmosphere. For example, vaporized hydrocarbons (HCs) from a fuel tank may be stored in a fuel vapor canister packed with an adsorbent which adsorbs the vapors. At a later time, when the engine is in operation, the evaporative emission control system allows the vapors to be purged into the engine intake manifold for use as fuel.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,574 describes an evaporative emission canister that allows for adsorption of fuel vapors. The system includes more than one hydrocarbon adsorbing zone to buffer fuel vapor flowing through the canister.
The inventors herein have recognized various issues with the above system. In particular, adding hydrocarbon adsorbing zones increases the size of the evaporative emission canister. For example, in order to appropriately buffer fuel vapor, varying adsorbing zones are positioned in a cascading order, which contributes to increasing the length of an evaporative emission canister and thus the size of the canister shell. Increasing the size of the canister shell is superfluous for vehicles and/or fuel types that produce smaller hydrocarbon loads. Thus, evaporative emissions canisters are designed for each fuel delivery system, and necessitate different canister components to accommodate each vehicle. For example, the system of U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,574 would need a different sized canister shell to accommodate the varying number of adsorbing zones in order to accommodate different vehicle applications.
As such, one example approach to address the above issues is to provide a fuel vapor canister with a common canister shell capable of accommodating varying amounts of adsorptive material and/or providing various internal volumes. Further, the fuel vapor canister may include other common components including an end cap configured to couple with the common shell in different orientations. In this way, it is possible to accommodate different volumes of adsorptive material for different vehicle applications, and thus different hydrocarbon loads, while utilizing the same components across the different vehicle applications. In one embodiment, a shell of the fuel vapor canister may be coupled to an end cap in a first orientation to accommodate a first volume, or the end cap may be inverted and coupled to the same shell to accommodate a second, different volume. Further, by taking advantage of utilizing the same components, manufacturing costs may be reduced as the same fuel vapor canister components may be implemented for different vehicles even though the vehicles may have different fuel delivery systems.
Note that the fuel vapor canister may include other components such as a retention system including compression plates and/or springs which may be utilized to achieve other volumes of adsorptive material within the common shell. In this way, the fuel vapor canister may have increased versatility and as such may be applied to varying different vehicle applications. As such, manufacturing costs may be reduced and vehicle assembly may be simplified.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.


In an embodiment, an asset may utilize one or more scanning techniques to detect a first set of software components that is not being natively tracked by an operating system of the asset, the one or more scanning techniques comprising one or more of an evaluation of metadata associated with one or more running processes of the asset, and an evaluation of file system information that characterizes the first set of software components. The asset may further store an indication of the first set of software components detected in accordance with the one or more scanning techniques, and may optionally report the indication to an external entity (e.g., a vulnerability management system).

Most operating systems provide a way to register software installations that allow for software to be easily enumerated and inventoried. In addition, to these registered software components, however, there often exist many individual software components that are embedded with the registered software (such as libraries, runtime binaries, etc.) that are untracked, and hence cannot be inventoried.
Moreover, since the current technology for enumerating software components typically relies on software registry systems provided by the operating system, the problem of failing to inventory all software installation provides a gap in essential business management information which adversely impacts productivity, efficiency, and budgeting decisions, as well as the security of IT systems.
The advent of cloud computing and software subscription services has exacerbated the problem by increasing the probability that untracked individual software components will exist in greater numbers by virtue of these relatively new software delivery systems, as compared to the previous method of purchasing software for a set number of years before upgrading to a new version of the software.

Detecting untracked software components on an asset


One or more embodiments of the present invention are to provide a new means of improving the productivity of a target protein. The present inventors have identified a novel protein consisting of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2 through an exhaustive analysis of the nucleotide sequence of chromosomal DNA of a yeast belonging to the genus Komagataella. Activation of a gene encoding the novel protein provides a cell having an improved productivity of a target protein.

Genetic recombination methods are widely used in the manufacture of industrially useful biomaterials such as antibodies, enzymes, and cytokines to be utilized in medical and diagnostic applications. Hosts for producing proteins of interest by genetic recombination methods include animals such as chicken, animal cells such as CHO, insects such as silkworm, insect cells such as sf9, and microorganisms such as yeast cells and E. coli cells. Yeast cells, among the hosts, are extremely beneficial and various studies have been conducted, since: large scale culture is possible in a low-cost medium at a high density, and thus the target protein may be produced at a low cost; a secretory expression into a culture medium is feasible with the use of a signal peptide, and thus the purification process of a target protein may be easy; and post-translational modifications such as glycosylation can be made due to being an eucaryote. If an innovative production technology which can be applied to various proteins of interest in yeast cells is developed, diverse industrial expansions can be hopefully expected.
Komagataella pastoris, a yeast species, is a methanol-utilizing yeast having an excellent protein expression ability and capable of utilizing a low-cost carbon source, which is advantageous in the industrial production. For example, Non-Patent Document 1 reports a method for producing exogenous proteins, such as phytase, trypsin, nitrate reductase, phospholipase C, collagen, proteinase K, Ecallantide (Kalbitor), Ocriplasmin (Jetrea), human insulin, single-chain antibodies, and human serum albumin, using Komagataella pastoris. For the production of exogenous proteins in yeast cells, various attempts have been made to improve the productivity, such as addition of a signal sequence, use of a strong promoter, codon modification, co-expression of chaperone genes, co-expression of transcription factor genes, inactivation of a protease gene derived from a host yeast, and studies on culture conditions. For example, Patent Document 1 reports the productivity improvement by expressing transcription factors that activate methanol-inducible promoters using Komagataella pastoris. Patent Document 2 also reports the productivity improvement by expressing a novel protein that increases the secretion amount of endogenous and exogenous proteins using Komagataella pastoris.
Meanwhile, in antibody pharmaceutical development, studies have been intensively performed for small molecular antibodies with relatively small molecular weights while retaining high specificity, such as diabodies that are composed of variable regions only, tandem scFv (taFv) in which two single-chain Fv (scFv) are linked, and single-domain antibodies (VFH). However, sufficient productivity has not been achieved (Non-Patent Document 2).    [Patent Document 1] WO 2012/102171    [Patent Document 2] WO 2017/170468    [Non-Patent Document 1] M. Ahmad et al., Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 98, 5301-5317 (2014)    [Non-Patent Document 2] Y. Liu et al., Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 102, 539-551 (2018)

Cell and method for producing target protein using same

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION KOBE UNIVERSITY


A fine bubble generating apparatus has a storage tank, a liquid feeding unit suctioning and feeding liquid stored in the storage tank, a gas discharge unit discharging gas into the liquid which is being fed by the liquid feeding unit, and a storage tank. The gas discharge unit includes a gas discharge member with pores having pore diameters of 1.5 μm or less, and a base member having a groove formed in a surface contacting the gas discharge surface of the gas discharge member. The liquid feeding unit moves the liquid along the gas discharge surface of the gas discharge member by causing the liquid to flow in a flow channel enclosed by the gas discharge surface of the gas discharge member and the groove of the base member such that a velocity relative to the gas discharge member is not less than 1 msec.

A method for generating fine bubbles in liquid is disclosed in, for example, Patent Literature 1. In the fine bubble generating method, a porous body which has multiple gas discharge pores having pore diameters of 5 μm is immersed in liquid stored in a storage tank, and gas is discharged from the porous body, to supply bubbles into the liquid, and vibration having a frequency of 1 kHz or less is applied to the porous body in the direction that is almost perpendicular to the bubble discharging direction while the bubbles are being supplied into the liquid. When the vibration having a frequency of 1 kHz or less is applied to the porous body in the direction that is almost perpendicular to the bubble discharging direction, bubbles discharged from the porous body are made fine by a shear force, to generate fine bubbles in the liquid.

Fine bubble generating method and fine bubble generating apparatus


An image reading apparatus including a housing; an image taking device which is provided in the housing; a power producing device which is provided in the housing and which produces a power to move the image taking device; a first reading control portion which controls the power producing device to move the image taking device relative to a first sheet placed on a first reading place, so that the image taking device takes the first image from the first sheet; a second-sheet feeding device at least a portion of which is provided right above the second reading place and which feeds a second sheet to a second reading place; and a second reading control portion which controls, in a state in which the image taking device is positioned at a position right below the second reading place, the second-sheet feeding device to feed the second sheet to the second reading place, and controls, when the second sheet is fed through the second reading place, the image taking device to take the second image from the second sheet. The power producing device is provided, in a portion of the housing that is different from a portion thereof located right below the first reading place, at a position assuring that a projection of at least a portion of the power producing device in a direction parallel to a direction in which the image taking device is moved is formed on the image taking device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus that optically reads, with an image taking device, an image on, e.g., an original.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There has conventionally been known an image reading apparatus including a glass plate defining a reading place on which an original having an image is placed; an image taking device that is provided below the glass plate and optically takes the image; and an image processor that produces image data based on the image taken by the image taking device. There has also been known another image reading apparatus additionally including an original feeding device (ADF; automatic document feed) that feeds an original to be read, to a reading place.
For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Publication P2001-285596A1) discloses an image reading apparatus including an image taking device and an original feeding device, and having a first reading place and a second reading place. In this image reading apparatus, the image taking device, positioned below the first reading place, is moved to read an image on an original placed by a user on the first reading place. The original feeding device is used in such a manner that an original placed on a sheet-supply tray of the original feeding device is fed to the second reading place and, when the original is fed through the second reading place, the image taking device, positioned below the second reading place, reads an image on the original.
Meanwhile, there has been known a technique in which an image taking device is moved using an electric motor. For example, Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application Publication P2003-131456A1) discloses a copying machine in which a CIS (contact image sensor) as an image taking device is moved using an electric motor (e.g., a reader motor) provided below a space in which the CIS is moved.


A procedure and machine for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin by lamination process, in which the machine includes a lamination device, a set of frontal and posterior drag rolls, a hot air insufflator, a thermal chamber and a conveyor, so that the vegetal mass is pressed by laminating rolls to obtain a pellicle of vegetal material that is deposited over the conveyor circulating inside a terminal chamber for drying the formed pellicle of vegetal material, which can be reinserted in industrial process.

It is well known that industries related to products such as tobacco, tea and mate herb, that processing such raw materials, e. g., its cutting, milling, etc., leave as secondary result a critical quantity of material as particles or powders that, due to their granulometry, do not find useful application.
Industries producing products for consumption of vegetal base and have the use of these products as a leaf of the vegetal, while processing the leave itself, for many times causes the break thereof, resulting in mentioned powder production, which mostly does not have industrial application. As a consequence, this material is often destroyed, burnt or simply discarded as residue, incurring in economic and even environmental losses.
There have been attempts or recycle these discard materials by reinserting them into industrial production circuit, as masses generally plain, but the machines employed resulted in the complex combination of costly and inefficient apparatuses. Besides, obtained products lack required uniformity to re-cut and recycle the reconstituted in similar shape to the original leave for consumption. Among many failures, reconstituted masses or products have lumpy shapes, without cohesion, etc.
Due to the current state of the art there is a need to count on means to reuse the powder material secondarily produced in some industries such as tobacco industries, and which allows such powders to be reconstituted and reintegrated to the production line of said type of industry.

Procedure and machine for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin

IOTO INTERNATIONAL INDÚSTRIA E COMÉRCIO DE PRODUTOS AROMÁTICOS LTDA


The present invention provides a mandrel mill and the like that is capable of not only enhancing the elongation ratio of the pipe or tube, but also suppressing a pinhole defect from occurring. The first means of the present invention provides a mandrel mill comprising a plurality of rolling stands in which two grooved rolls R11, R12 are disposed, respectively, the mandrel mill being characterized in that the roll diameter ratio for the first rolling stand and the second rolling stand is set at a value of 4.6 or over. The second means of the present invention provides a mandrel mill comprising a plurality of rolling stands in which three grooved rolls R21, R22 and R23 are disposed, respectively, the mandrel mill being characterized in that the roll diameter ratio for the first rolling stand and the second rolling stand is set at a value of 2.8 or over.

As a mandrel mill, which is a piece of equipment for manufacturing a seamless pipe or tube, there have been conventionally used a 2-roll type mandrel mill in which two grooved rolls opposed are disposed in each rolling stand, and between adjacent rolling stands, the rolling directions of the grooved rolls are alternately arranged, being 90° shifted, and also a 3-roll type mandrel mill in which three grooved rolls are disposed in each rolling stand such that the angle formed by the rolling directions of the grooved rolls is 120°, and between adjacent rolling stands, the rolling directions of the grooved rolls are alternately arranged, being 60° shifted. Hereinafter, "pipe or tube" is referred to as "pipe" when deemed appropriate.
Herein, in order to enhance the efficiency of manufacturing a seamless pipe, it is desirable that the elongation ratio of a pipe for a mandrel mill (i.e., the ratio of wall thickness of the pipe on the inlet side of the mandrel mill to that on the outlet side thereof) be enhanced as much as possible. This is because, if the elongation ratio of the pipe is enhanced, a pipe with a longer length can be obtained by drawing and rolling, and thus more product stocks can be obtained in one step of drawing and rolling.
In order to enhance the elongation ratio of the pipe for a mandrel mill, it can be conceived, for example, that the wall thickness rolling reduction rate for each of the rolling stands (especially for the upstream rolling stands) is set at a high value. However, if the wall thickness rolling reduction rate is set at too high a value, there arises a possibility that a through-hole called a pinhole defect occurs in a portion of the pipe that is opposed to the flange of the grooved roll, resulting from such a cause as the flow (metal flow) of the pipe material which is rolled at the groove bottom of the grooved roll being not sufficiently spread to the flange side of the grooved roll. Alternatively, for enhancing the elongation ratio of the pipe, it can be conceived to increase the number of rolling stands without setting the wall thickness rolling reduction rate for each of the rolling stands at too high a value. However, increasing the number of rolling stands will increase the equipment cost in proportion, and also require increased manpower for maintenance, thus a practical number of rolling stands is said to be about 5 to 8. Thus, with the conventional mandrel mill, for example, a mandrel mill provided with five rolling stands, the elongation ratio of the pipe is generally held to under 4. Therefore, a mandrel mill which allows the elongation ratio of the pipe to be further enhanced for increasing the efficiency of manufacturing a seamless pipe has been demanded.

Mandrel mill and method for manufacturing seamless pipe or tube

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation


A doctor blade system intended for a print unit includes a doctor blade support provided with a blade, an edge of the blade is able to come into contact with a peripheral surface of an engraved printing cylinder, a supporting hub, on which the doctor blade support is mounted, a structure fixing the supporting hub to a frame of the print unit. Apparatus provides a reciprocating motion of the blade along the peripheral surface of the engraved cylinder roughly parallel to the axis of revolution of the engraved cylinder. Thrust elements drive movement of the blade along the direction of the peripheral surface of the engraved cylinder. The reciprocating apparatus directly drives the doctor blade support. The thrust element or elements move the supporting hub and the doctor blade support and the blade to maintain a constant contact over the entire length of the edge of the blade with the peripheral surface of the engraved cylinder.

The present invention relates to a doctor blade system, provided with a doctor blade. The invention also relates to a print unit equipped with a doctor blade system. The invention finally relates to a photogravure printing machine, incorporating at least one print unit.
Photogravure is a rotary printing method that can be used for numerous media, including paper or cardboard, using engraved cylinders. Photogravure printing is used in particular for high quality publication with large print runs where the graphics have to play an important role in the promotion of a product, such as a package in the form of a cardboard box. This printing method makes it possible to print up to ten colors in a single print run, with solvent-based, water-based or other inks: printing matt, glossy or structured varnishes; printing recto and/or verso and embossing.
Thus, in a photogravure printing machine, a print medium in the form of a continuous strip passes through a succession of photogravure print units. The print units are assembled and arranged one after the other from the entry of the print medium upstream to its exit downstream. Each print unit prints a pattern with a single specific color or a particular varnish, or even performs an embossing.
The photogravure principle consists in etching, on the periphery of a printing cylinder, cells that reproduce the pattern that is to be printed. The rotary-driven engraved cylinder is covered with ink by an applicator and rotates inside a tank containing the ink, so filling the cells. The print medium is then pressed heavily against the engraved cylinder, so that the ink contained in the cells can be extracted and transferred to the print medium.
A conventional print unit comprises:                a print carriage, itself having:                    an engraved cylinder,            an ink applicator, which pours the ink onto the cylinder,            an ink fountain, which recovers the ink overflow, and            a doctor blade system, which removes the surplus ink from the cylinder by means of a scraping blade, shaving the peripheral surface of the cylinder and leaving only the ink that has penetrated into the cells;                        a layon roll, which presses the print medium strongly onto the cylinder;        a pump, which routes the ink from the tank to the ink applicator; and        a dryer, which rapidly evaporates solvents or water, or even polymerizes ink by UV.
While the quality of the printing therefore depends heavily on the quality of the engraved cylinder, the doctor blade system makes it possible to obtain a constant printing quality, by controlling the quantity of ink contained in the cells. The blade is placed in contact with the surface of the cylinder level with a line that immediately precedes, in the direction of rotation of the cylinder, the area in which the cylinder comes into contact with the print medium.
The blade is subjected to a reciprocating motion on the surface of the cylinder, in the direction parallel to the axis of revolution of the cylinder. The angle formed by the plane of the blade with the surface of the cylinder, also known as the angle of incidence, is large to avoid vibration of the blade or to prevent ink trails. The contact pressure of the blade on the cylinder must also be adjusted, to enable the contact surface of the edge of the blade against the cylinder, and the angle of incidence, to remain constant.
The cylinder for photogravure printing is very large and heavy, which on the one hand leads to transport difficulties and on the other hand leads to positioning difficulties. Upon a change of job, the cylinder-tank unit is removed by the removable print carriage, which facilitates its handling and its swapping, as described, for example, in the document FR-2.539.325.
Thus, because of the numerous changes of cylinder, the latter is positioned with deviations in relation to the frame of the print unit. These deviations, constituting a defect of parallel alignment between the blade and the cylinder, generate a separation between the longitudinal edge of the blade and the rotation axis of the cylinder. This phenomenon makes it necessary to have a compensation for the scraping blade.
The cylinder may happen to be engraved at an angle, or the print medium may happen to be skewed inside the print unit. To correct such defects, leading to printing defects, an adjustment technique based on altering the angle of the engraved cylinder, known as "skewing", is used. This deliberate skewing causes a defect of parallel alignment between the cylinder and the blade, which must be corrected to avoid any poor quality scraping.

Doctor blade system for print unit intended for a photogravure printing machine