A printed dynamic optical illusion printed on a printing device using a plurality of colorants, wherein one or more of the colorants are appearance mutable colorants having spectral characteristics that can be controllably switched between a first colorant state and a second colorant state by application of an appropriate external stimulus, and wherein one or more mutable portions of the optical illusion image are printed using at least one appearance mutable colorant. The mutable portions are controllable such that when they are in a first appearance state the printed optical illusion image has a first illusion state, and when they are in a second appearance state the printed optical illusion image has a second illusion state, thereby changing the optical illusion image from the first illusion state to the second illusion state so as to affect the perception of an optical illusion by a human observer.

In considering the human visual system, most people immediately think about the eyes and the constituent parts, such as the cornea, pupil, eye lens, the vitreous humor, and the retina with the rods and cones. However, the human visual system also includes neural processing that enables image interpretation and understanding. Such neural processing generally occurs automatically, without any conscious consideration by the observer. For example, the images formed on the retina of each eye are upside down, but the visual system automatically provides orientational corrections. As another example, the ratios of the number of short or blue cones, the number of medium or green cones, and the number of long or red cones varies widely among individuals, as does the organization of these cones within the retina, whether randomly dispersed or clustered. The green cones are also much more light sensitive than the red or blue cones. Yet, by and large, most people perceive the various color shades in a sufficiently comparable way that we can agree upon the colors present in a scene.
The structure and response attributes of the human visual system impact perception; for example, in cinema, the temporal processing limits allow people to perceive continuous motion from a series of still frame images presented at 30 frames/sec (fps). By comparison, human perception of optical illusions exploit gaps or expectations in our automatic cognitive visual system, such that we can perceive visual content or sensations within the image content which is often not actually present in the content itself. An optical illusion is characterized by the visual perception of image content that differ from objective reality. The information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a perception that does not completely correlate with a physical measurement of the stimulus source or image. Certainly, the perception of optical illusions varies on an individual basis, depending on visual sensitivity and impairments (such as color blindness). The perception of optical illusion can also depend on age and cultural influences. For example, children tend not to perceive the well-known Ebbinghaus illusion as strongly as adults do, while non-Western and rural people, who are less accustomed to interpreting depth and flatness cues from two-dimensional (2D) images, can be less susceptible to the well-known Ponzo illusion. While human observers often respond to optical illusions attentively and with puzzlement or bemusement, some illusions can induce discomfort or nausea in certain observers.
Optical illusions can be characterized to include cognitive optical illusions, in which the eye and brain make unconscious inferences, and physiological illusions, in which the eyes and brain are affected by excessive stimulation of a specific type (e.g., brightness, tilt, color or motion). Examples of cognitive illusions include illusions of perspective, such as the Penrose Stairs or the drawings by M. C. Escher. These images exploit our expectations of how a three-dimensional view is illustrated in two-dimensions, by cleverly misapplying cues of perspective and shading to depict objects that are physically impossible. The Ponzo illusion similarly exploits our expectations that convergent lines are associated with distance; to have two lines intersecting the convergent lines appear of different length, even though their lengths are identical.
While many physiological optical illusions have been created, their perceptive impact on the human visual system has not been fully explained. The article "Uncertainty in visual processes predicts geometrical optical illusions", by Cornelia Fermüller et al. (Vision Research, Vol. 44, pp. 727-749, 2004) proposes that uncertainty or noise in the human visual system that relates to determining intensity, positions, and orientations of image features introduces systemic errors that cause perceptual anomalies compared to the original image. For example, interpretive biases relative to perception of edge elements and intersection points may explain many geometrical illusions, while biases in interpreting motion or optical flow may cause motion illusions such as the Ouchi illusion (see FIG. 6A). Generalizing, it is noted that there are many physiological optical illusions, including the well-known Hermann Grid and scintillating grid illusions, or the well-known pulsing vortex, rotating snakes, and flowing leaves illusions, that can be classified as apparent motion optical illusions which provide temporally variant sensations, such as pulsation and movement, including rotation, expansion, and contraction, that are not actually present in the images themselves, which are static in nature. Such illusions can be observed whether they are printed or presented statically on an electronic display. The temporal effects of these illusions can generally be attributed to unconscious interpretive bias in image interpretation that intersects with temporal phenomena of the human visual system such as peripheral drift, neural lags, fixation and after image effects, and saccadic eye motions.
There are also physiological optical illusions that specifically exploit attributes of human color perception, such as color and contrast adjacency effects, to fool the eye in seeing colors and grayscale patches incorrectly. The article, "A Brief Classification of Colour Illusions', by A. Kitaoka (Colour: Design & Creativity, Vol. 5, pp. 1-9, 2010), gives many examples of color perception optical illusions. For example, there are illusions of color or contrast differences that exploit adjacency interactions that are embedded in human lateral signal processing. These illusions reveal perceptual difference in color or contrast perception of an area when adjacent areas have different luminosities or color content. For example, with the Munker-White illusion, the perception of mid-tone neutral (grey) patches is altered by the presence of strong luminance shifts (darker or lighter) in neighboring image content. The Munker illusion illustrates a similar effect on color perception, where the perception of identical color patches is altered by the presence of different adjacent colors near one color patch as compared to another.
While some optical illusions, such as the Ouchi illusion or the Fraser-Wilcox illusions, are motion illusions that have a perceptual impact as black and white or grayscale images, their effects can be enhanced when color is also used. For example, A. Kitaoka has published integrated illusions, such as peripheral drift illusions and the "rotating snakes" illusion, which combines color selection with other illusions, such as the optimized Fraser-Wilcox and the Rotating Ouchi illusion to create illusions that can be more visually compelling than the black and white parent illusions. The paper "The effect of color on the optimized Fraser-Wilcox illusion", by A. Kitaoka (9th L'OREAL Art and Science of Color Prize, pp. 1-16, 2006) discusses how color and contrast manipulation can change the visual impact of the optimized Fraser-Wilcox illusion, including changing the direction and rate or magnitude of the apparent rotation of the image. The paper "Illusory motion from change over time in the response to contrast and luminance", by B. Backus et al. (Journal of Vision, Vol. 5, pp. 1055-1069, 2005) proposes that optical illusions of motion are generated when viewing static repeated asymmetric patterns due to fast and slow changes over time in the neuronal representation of contrast or luminance. The impact of other temporal illusions, such as the pulsing vortex illusion, or the Hermann grid and scintillating grid illusions, the latter of which cause the perception of pulsing at the intersections of a white (or light-colored) grid on a black background, can also be altered by changing the pattern of colors and contrast within the illusionary image.
At present, optical illusions are generally available as collections in books or on websites, and their design and physiological basis is discussed in academic papers. In general, optical illusions are primarily used to amuse or entertain viewers, including in art and architecture. With their unusual visual trickery, optical illusions often hold an observer's attention for prolonged time periods, while the observer is both amused and puzzled by the visual effects. Optical illusions are also used as tools in vision research to test or reveal the cognitive or perceptual mechanisms, interactions, or clinical deficiencies of the human visual system.
Otherwise, the human perception of optical illusions has been used for little practical effect, although their selective use as a "reverse Turing test", has been proposed in the paper "Practical Application of Visual Illusions: errare humanum est" by G. Brelstaff et al (Proc. 2nd Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization, p. 161, 2005). A Turing test is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior, and a machine passes the test if its function, at least in a limited way, is indistinguishable from that of a human. By comparison, a reverse Turing test is a test to distinguish humans from computers and other forms of artificial or alien intelligence. The one widely used version of a reverse Turing test practiced today, involves the use of a "CAPTCHA", a "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart", as a visual word recognition challenge-response test. CAPTCHAs are widely used in computing to attempt to ensure that a response is generated by a human rather than a computer. For example, as humans can readily interpret the confusing image content of a CAPTCHA, while computer algorithms have difficulty, humans can gain website access while automated programs are restrained. The Belstraff paper proposes that as humans innately can perceive optical illusions, such as Kitaoka's Rotating Snakes, and machine vision systems cannot, that the human perceptual reaction to static optical illusion images can be used to discriminate the presence of human intelligence. As a variant, it has also been proposed to use text illusions as CAPTCHAs, as human readable steganography, in which smaller case static text is hidden within larger case static text.
Thus, the opportunity exists to present, create, and alter optical illusion images for various practical and previously unforeseen effects. In particular, printed optical illusion images which are dynamic by the use of mutable inks can provide novel functional value.


An apparatus for supporting an electric power source in a transmission includes a transmission housing, and an electric machine including a rotor and a stator secured to the housing. A first member is secured to the rotor, extends radially toward an axis of rotation, and is formed with a first pilot surface. A second member, secured to the rotor and the housing, extends from the housing toward the axis and is formed with a second pilot surface that is aligned axially with the first pilot surface. An anti-friction bearing, located at an axial rearward side or axially frontward side of a torque converter, is engaged with the first pilot surface and the second pilot surface. A second balanced bearing is located either in the driving engine or the driven transmission.

The present invention relates generally to a drive assembly for transmitting power to an automotive power transmission from two power sources. In particular, it pertains to an assembly for driveably connecting an internal combustion (IC) engine and an electric machine to a transmission input.
Hybrid vehicles generally have two power sources, a conventional internal combustion engine, and an alternate power source, such as an electric machine. The electric machine is used as a power source in city driving where vehicle kinetic energy can be recovered by regenerative braking, converted to electric and chemical form, and stored in a battery, from which the motor is driven. The internal combustion is most suitable in highway driving, during which wheel braking and opportunities for energy recovery are infrequent, and the engine operates at its greatest efficiency.
In mixed driving conditions, the electric machine and IC engine may be used together to transmit power to a transmission input shaft, depending on the driving conditions and the magnitude of reserve battery capacity. A compact assembly for alternately combining the output of each power source or connecting them individually to the transmission input, while making efficient use of the radial and axial dimensions of the assembly, is a long sought need in the industry.
The electric machine may be an integrated starter generator (ISG), also known as a combined starter generator, combined starter alternator, or a motor-generator. In a hybrid electric vehicle the ISG assembly may be mounted in line with the engine crankshaft and the vehicle's transmission. In order to provide for proper electromagnetic and dynamic characteristics, energy recovery, thermal properties, packaging dimensions, assembly, and servicing, the ISG powertrain must be carefully designed so that no component impairs the function of another component or of the vehicle.


A sheet thickness measuring apparatus for measuring the thickness of a sheet comprises a metallic backup surface for supporting the sheet, a magnetic field utilization sensor arranged above the said metallic backup surface for measuring a distance up to the metallic backup surface in a non-contact form, an optical sensor arranged above the metallic backup surface for measuring a distance up to the metallic backup surface or a top surface of the sheet supported on the metallic backup surface in a non-contact form, and means for computing the thickness of the sheet on the basis of the distance measured by the magnetic field utilization sensor and the distance measured by the optical sensor. The sheet thickness measuring apparatus may further comprise storage means for storing correcting measured value based on distance measured value measured along the metallic backup surface by at least the magnetic field utilization sensor of the magnetic field utilization sensor and the optical sensor in the state that the sheet is not placed, and correcting means for correcting at least the distance measured value measured by the magnetic field utilization sensor of distance measured values measured by the magnetic field utilization sensor and the optical sensor in the state that the sheet is placed on the metallic backup surface with the correcting measured value stored in the storage means.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sheet thickness measuring apparatus for measuring the thickness of a sheet, such as a paper sheet, an opaque plastic film, a metal foil, or the like with a magnetic field utilization sensor and an optical sensor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional sheet thickness measuring apparatus of this type measures, as schematically shown in FIG. 5 of the accompanying drawings, the thickness of a sheet 2 by scanning a sensor assembly 5 including a magnetic field utilization sensor 3, such as a magnetic sensor or an eddy current sensor or the like and an optical sensor 4 along the sheet 2 placed on a metallic backup plate 1. In principle, the distance l.sub.1 to the surface of the metallic backup plate 1 is measured by the magnetic field utilization sensor 3, the distance l.sub.2 to the upper surface of the sheet 2 is measured by the optical sensor 4, and the thickness t of the sheet 2 is obtained at the point by the following equation. EQU t=l.sub.1 -l.sub.2
However, when the thickness of the sheet is actually measured by such a conventional sheet measuring apparatus, it can be measured in accuracy up to approx. 1/100 mm without problem, but there arises a trouble when it is measured in accuracy up to approx. 1/1000 mm. This trouble remarkably occurs particularly when it is measured while moving the sensor with respect to the metallic backup plate.
For example, when the sensor assembly 5 is scanned on the surface of the metallic backup plate 1 on which the sheet 2 is not placed and the output characteristics of the magnetic sensor 3 and the optical sensor 4 at that time are recorded, the relationships between the magnetic output, the optical output and the scanning positions become as shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 6(A) shows an example of the output characteristic of the magnetic sensor 3, and FIG. 6(B) shows an example of the output characteristic of the optical sensor 4. Since the magnetic sensor 3 and the optical sensor 4 measure the same surface, the output characteristics of the magnetic sensor 3 and the optical sensor 4 must become the same configuration in this case, but, as apparent when FIG. 6(A) is compared with FIG. 6(B), the output characteristic of the magnetic sensor 3 is varied largely and complicately as compared with that of the optical sensor 4. The causes can be presumed from various experiments, references and studies, and it is considered that the local magnetization and irregular quality of the materials of the metallic backup plate seem to be causes of an error of the magnetic sensor. If a magnetic material is employed as the metallic backup plate, when a magnet is attached partly and locally magnetized (several gausses) and scanned, the output of the magnetism utilization sensor exhibits a variation of several tens microns. When the surface of the backup plate is examined by a gaussmeter, there is a position exhibiting a large variation even if it exhibits no variation in the output of the sensor (where the resolution of the gaussmeter is 0.1 gauss). Similar problem occurs even if a non-magnetic material is employed as the metallic backup plate and an eddy current type magnetic sensor is used. This is because the error of the magnetic field utilization sensor is considered to disturb to raise the measuring accuracy of the sheet thickness measuring apparatus of this type.
An object of this invention is to provide a sheet thickness measuring apparatus which can eliminate the above described conventional problems.


Disclosed is a method to incorporate xylose transport related genes into a yeast strain for lignocelluloses to ethanol production. More specifically, the invention relates to novel Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains NRRL Y-50463 and yeast strains having novel xylose transporter genes, the genes deposited as GenBank JF343555, GenBank JF343556, GenBank JF343557, GenBank JF343558, and GenBank JF343559. The yeast strains having said genes are deposited as Y-50465, Y-50466, Y-50746, Y-50747, Y-50748, and Y-50749.

There exist two major bottlenecks of technical challenges for economical ethanol production using lignocellulosic biomass as feedstocks. First, inhibitory compounds associated with lignocellulo sic biomass pretreatment, especially by dilute acid hydrolysis, inhibit microbial growth and subsequent fermentation. Major inhibitor include 2-furaldehyde (furfural) and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde (HMF) are derived from lignocellulosic hydrolysates. Bacteria and yeast are susceptible and in general unable to grow in the presence of multiple inhibitors even at low concentrations. Another significant technical challenge is to enable and enhance yeast capability in utilization of pentose such as xylose and arabinose harbored in biomass.
Genetic engineering efforts have been made to improve xylose utilization by overexpressing genes encoding pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) enzymes to enhance xylose flux into central carbon metabolism. For native S. cerevisiae, there is no xylose-specific transporters available and the xylose uptake is via certain hexose transporters such as Hxt4, Hxt5, Hxt7. Recently, several heterologous sugar transporter genes possessing xylose transport functions have been expressed in S. cerevisiae such as SUT1, XUT1 or XUT3 from S. stipitis, At5g59250 and At5g17010 from A. thaliana, An25 from N. crassa, DEHA0D02167 and XylHP from D. hansenii, and symporters GXS1 and GXF1 genes from C. intermedia. Improvement of xylose utilization by such efforts was observed but a satisfactory level has not been reached. As such, there is a need to further develop ethanologenic yeast that are tolerance to major inhibitors such as aldehydes and to establish xylose transportation systems to facilitate xylose uptake for efficient lignocellulose-to-ethanol conversion.

Yeast strains and method for lignocellulose to ethanol production

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes a transmitting and receiving circuitry, an input circuitry, and a processing circuitry. The transmitting and receiving circuitry transmits a first ultrasound wave used for changing the shape of a tissue in the body of a patient and transmits/receives a second ultrasound wave that is transmitted/received with timing different from that of the first ultrasound wave. The input circuitry receives an input of a request indicating that the first ultrasound wave should be transmitted. When the input circuitry has received the input of the request indicating that the first ultrasound wave should be transmitted, the processing circuitry controls the transmission of the first ultrasound wave in accordance with the strength of a reflected-wave signal of the second ultrasound wave or one or more pixel values of an image resulting from an imaging process performed by using the reflected-wave signal of the second ultrasound wave.

Conventionally, elastography is known as a technique for imaging firmness of a tissue in a patient's body. To implement elastography, a method is known by which the firmness of a tissue in a patient's body is evaluated by causing an ultrasound probe to transmit push pulses, which are focused ultrasound pulses each having a high sound pressure, and further measuring the propagation speed of a shear wave generated thereby.
As the push pulses to implement elastography, ultrasound pulses that are more powerful than ultrasound pulses used for B-mode tomography are used, so as to generate the shear wave. More specifically, the ultrasound pulses used for B-mode tomography are, for example, configured so that two waves are emitted at 100 volts [V]. In contrast, the push pulses are, for example, configured so that 1000 waves are emitted three to four times at tens of volts. Because such powerful ultrasound pulses are used as the push pulses, users are required to address a number of issues when using the push pulses.
For example, users are required to address the issue of an increase in the temperature at the surface of the ultrasound probe. More specifically, if a push pulse is transmitted while the ultrasound probe is not in contact with the patient's body, because the acoustic impedance at the surface of the probe is very much different from the acoustic impedance in the air, the energy of the transmitted push pulse is absorbed at the surface of the ultrasound probe, and as a result, the temperature increases as a heat loss. For example, when the temperature at the surface of the ultrasound probe becomes 43 degrees or higher, an impact on tissues in the patient's body is concerned about. Further, an increase in the temperature at the surface may lead to a degradation of ultrasound transducer elements themselves.
In addition, when using a contrast agent, users are also required to address the issue of an impact on tissues in the patient's body that may be made via the contrast agent. More specifically, if microbubbles of the contrast agent burst due to a resonance with the push pulses, it is considered that there is a possibility that an impact is made on tissues in the patient's body that are positioned near the bubbles. In recent years, contrast agents that have a longer remaining period than conventional products have been developed so as to acquire sharper images. Thus, when implementing elastography after using a contrast agent, users are required to address this issue, in particular.
Users are required to address these issues not only when using push pulses in elastography, but also when, for example, using any ultrasound wave that is transmitted for the purpose of changing the shape of a tissue in the body of an examined subject (a patient), such as an ultrasound wave used in a Drug Delivery System (DDS) or an ultrasound wave used for hemostasis.

Ultrasound diagnosis apparatus and image processing method


A system, method and computer program product for composing persistent object instances that link resources across multiple, disparate systems. An example method includes associating resources with namespace-URLs and object instances. One of the namespace-URLs is designated as primary namespace-URL. A web-based object API is provided through which the object instance can be accessed. The web-based object API uses the primary namespace-URL as an identifier of the object instance.

The present invention relates to combining network resource features and, more specifically, to composing persistent object instances that link network resources across multiple, disparate systems of record (SoR) and systems of engagement (SoE).
SoRs are the enterprise resource planning (ERP)-type systems many organizations rely on to run their business. SoRs have rigorous correctness requirements so that extending the system involves large investments of time and other resources. SoRs typically evolve slowly, are often centralized, and are geared toward passively providing information to an organization's members.
By contrast, SoEs are typically more decentralized, evolve rapidly, encourage peer interactions, and often leverage cloud technologies to enable those interactions. SoEs focus on collaborative tools, such as email, wikis, blogs, chat, crowd-sourcing, web conferencing, video streams, video conferencing, and similar services.
It is often desirable to extend SoRs with new SoE features. This requires that the existing software and information management systems be extended to support the new features. However, SoRs can be difficult to extend because (a) they are sometimes written in relatively unpopular languages such as COBOL, (b) they sometimes use relatively unpopular databases such as IMS, and (c) the requirements for system correctness and reliability can be sufficiently strong as to make deployment of new features a slow process.

Composition of persistent object instances linking resources across multiple, disparate systems

International Business Machines Corporation


A memory cell having a bit line contact is provided. The memory cell may be a 6F2 memory cell. The bit line contact may have a contact hole bounded by insulating sidewalls, and the contact hole may be partially or completely filled with a doped polysilicon plug. The doped polysilicon plug may have an upper plug surface profile that is substantially free of concavities or substantially convex. Similarly, a storage node contact may comprise a doped polysilicon plug having an upper plug surface profile that is substantially free of concavities or that is substantially convex. Additionally, a semiconductor device having a conductive contact comprising a polysilicon plug may is provided. The plug may contact a capacitor structure.

The present invention relates to the fabrication of memory cell arrays and, more particularly, to the formation of a specialized bit line contact in the structure of a DRAM array.
Conventional memory device arrays include word lines running generally in parallel along one direction and bit line pairs running generally in parallel along a perpendicular direction. The memory cell includes a charge storage structure connected by a transistor to one of the bit line pairs. Each transistor is activated by a word line. A row of memory cells is selected upon activation of a word-line. The state of each memory cell in the row is transferred to a bit line for sensing by sense amplifiers, each of which is connected to a pair of bit lines. The memory cell transfer transistors are formed in the substrate in a plurality of continuous active areas running generally in parallel to each other. To form a transistor in an active area, impurity doped regions are formed in the substrate along the length of each active area 24 to create the source and drain of the transistor. A word line forms the gate of the transistor. The transistor formed in the active area provides the pass gate that is controllable to electrically connect the charge storage structure to a bit line. Thus, for example, activation of a word line will cause stored charges to be transferred by corresponding transistors to bit lines. The bit lines are electrically connected to a node of the transistor by bit line contacts.
Conventional bit line contacts are formed through a multi-step deposition and etch back process that increases the complexity of the overall array fabrication process. The process is further complicated because the upper surface of the bit line contact, i.e., the surface that serves as the conductive interface with the bit line, defines a V-shaped profile. Accordingly, there is a need for a memory array fabrication scheme that presents a simplified bit line contact fabrication process.


The present invention provides an image recording medium which can dry an ink at a high rate, gives an excellent image quality and exhibits an excellent light-fastness. A novel ink jet image recording medium is provided comprising a coating layer provided on a support, wherein said coating layer comprises a dye-receptive polymer comprising a monomer unit represented by the following general formula (I) and one or more inorganic pigments incorporated therein: ##STR1##. wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group which may be straight-chain or branched; L represents a divalent connecting group; and p represents an integer of 0 or 1.

With the spread of personal computers, printers such as ink jet printers have rapidly spread. Further, with the spread of photo scanners, photo CDs and digital cameras, the demand for printing system for printing digitized photographic image has been rapidly growing. In particular, the spread of simple inexpensive ink jet printers is remarkable. For these ink jet printers, the demand for better image quality has been growing year by year.
As a recording medium for use in ink jet recording system, there has heretofore been used an ordinary paper or a recording medium comprising an ink-receptive layer provided on a support which is called ink jet recording paper. However, an ink can easily run on such a recording medium. Further, such a recording medium exhibits a low gloss. Thus, such a recording medium cannot be put into practical use in the field of photographic image where a high resolution and gloss are required.
As an approach for solving these problems, a technique for ink jet recording medium using a paper coated with a resin on both sides thereof (i.e., so-called RC (resin-coated) paper) as a support and using gelatin as an ink-receptive layer is disclosed in JP-A-4-216990 and JP-A-6-64306 (The term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application").
As an approach for bringing the appearance and touch of an image output from ink jet printers close to that of conventional photographic image, a recording medium comprising a synthetic hydrophilic resin in an ink-receptive layer and an ink jet recording method using the same are disclosed in JP-A-7-179032.
As an approach for improving the quality and stability of an image output from ink jet printers, a method involving the use of an image recording medium comprising an ink-receptive layer containing gelatin and a basic latex provided on a resin-coated support is disclosed in JP-A-8-244336.
It is certain that the foregoing proposals can give an image having a gloss closer to that of photographic image than with the conventional ink jet recording paper. However, the recording media proposed dry an ink at a low rate. Thus, an image formed on these recording media was not satisfactory in respect to resolution or graininess. For example, the image formed on these recording media shows stain or beading (granular density unevenness) that deteriorates image quality. In particular, a picture having a relatively small area printed on these recording media using a high speed printer shows a deteriorated image quality. Further, when these recording media are used for a printer of the type involving the jetting of a plurality of ink droplets having a low concentration for better image quality, the image thus formed is blurred. Moreover, the image thus formed can be transferred to other papers or objects which are superimposed thereon.
For the purpose of solving these problems, many recording media which can dry an ink at a high rate have been disclosed. For example, JP-A-8-230309 and JP-A-6-183134 disclose a recording medium comprising a silica pigment. For example, JP-A-3-281383, JP-A-4-267180 and JP-A-5-24335 disclose a recording medium comprising an alumina pigment. These recording media comprise a porous recording layer which can fairly absorb an ink and hence dry at a raised rate. However, these recording media are disadvantageous in that since it is arranged to absorb an ink by an inorganic pigment such as silica pigment and alumina pigment, it exhibits a drastically deteriorated light-fastness. It has thus been keenly desired to provide a recording medium which can dry an ink at a high rate, gives an excellent image quality and exhibits an excellent light-fastness.


A machine tool equipped with an automatic tool changing device, including a tool support having a clamping mechanism for holding a cutting tool, a tool transfer device having a tool gripper for transferring the tool to and from the tool support at a tool change position, and a device for moving the tool support and the tool transfer device in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the tool held on the tool support, the tool changing device including a mechanism for converting a first relative movement of the gripper and the tool support toward each other, into a movement of the clamping mechanism for unclamping the tool from the tool support, and converting a second relative movement of the gripper and the tool support away from each other, into a movement of the clamping mechanism for clamping the tool to the tool support, wherein the gripper has a pair of jaws shaped for engagement with the tool held on the tool support before the tool is unclamped, and for permitting completion of the first relative movement at the tool change position after the tool is unclamped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine tool equipped with an automatic tool changing device, and more particularly to such automatic tool changing device which is simple in construction.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
There is known a universal or multi-function machine tool or machining center capable of performing a variety of machining operations on workpieces and equipped with an automatic tool changing device which includes a tool magazine or tool storage drum accommodating a relatively large number of cutting tools, of either rotary type such as taps, drills, milling cutters (e.g., end milling cutters) and boring tools or non-rotary type such as lathe tools. The automatic tool changing device is adapted to return a used tool to the tool magazine, and select a new tool from the tool magazine and mount the selected new tool on a spindle of the machine, for example. Examples of machine tools equipped with such automatic tool changing device are disclosed in JP-A-63-267136 and JP-A-2-274448 (laid-open publications of unexamined Japanese Patent Applications).
The automatic tool changing device disclosed in JP-A-63-267136 utilizes vertical reciprocating movements of a spindle head to activate two cam mechanisms for exchanging tools at the tool mounting end of the machine spindle. Described more specifically, one of the cam mechanisms is used to control operations of a tool clamping mechanism for unclamping a used tool from the spindle and clamping a new tool to the spindle, and the other cam mechanism is used to control operations of a rotary tool changer arm for exchanging the tools. A crank lever provided on the spindle head is pivoted by a cam during upward and downward movements of the spindle head, and pivotal movements of the crank lever are converted into movements of the tool clamping mechanism to unclamp and clamp the tools. The rotary tool changer arm is rotatably disposed on the tool magazine, which is indexable to select a desired tool. The tool changer arm is spring-biased toward the spindle head, and the vertical movements of the spindle head cause a cam to rotate the tool changer arm for removing the used tool from the spindle and installing the new tool on the spindle.
In the automatic tool changing device disclosed in JP-A-2-274448, the spindle is moved to a predetermined tool change position at which the used and new tools are exchanged, and then returned to a machining position. The tool clamped on the spindle located at the tool change position is first gripped by one of a plurality tool grippers provided on an indexable tool magazine. Then, the tool is unclamped from the spindle by a hydraulic cylinder, and the tool magazine is advanced to remove the used tool from the spindle, rotated for indexing to bring the new tool into alignment with the spindle, and finally retracted to install the new tool on the spindle. The installed new tool is clamped by activation of the hydraulic cylinder, and the spindle is moved from the tool change position to the machining position.
Although the automatic tool changing devices described above are adapted to handle rotary cutting tools, similar mechanisms for exchanging the tools as described above are applicable to non-rotary cutting tools.
However, the automatic tool changing device disclosed in JP-A-63-267136 which uses a cam mechanism to control the tool clamping mechanism also uses another cam mechanism to control the rotary tool changer arm for exchanging the tools and is accordingly complicated in construction. On the other hand, the automatic tool changing device disclosed in JP-A-2-274448 requires an exclusive power source to activate the hydraulic cylinder for operating the tool clamping mechanism, and a detecting device for controlling the operation of the hydraulic cylinder. The use of such exclusive power source and detecting device leads to increased complexity of the tool changing device. Thus, the known automatic tool changing devices described above suffer from a relatively high cost of manufacture, and a relatively low degree of operating reliability, due to the constructional complexity.

Machine tool with automatic tool changer, having mechanism for utilizing relative movements of tool and tool changing gripper to clamp and unclamp the tool


The present invention provides [1] a water dispersion for ink-jet printing containing chain-like particles each containing anionic organic pigment particles and a cationic polymer, wherein the ratio of organic pigment primary particles forming the chain-like particles to all the pigment primary particles contained in the water dispersion is 10% by number or more; [2] a water-based ink for ink-jet printing containing the water dispersion; [3] a method for producing a water dispersion for ink-jet printing as described above in [1]; and [4] a water-based ink for ink-jet printing containing a water dispersion produced through the method. The water dispersion and water-based ink for ink-jet printing of the present invention realize excellent optical density.

In ink-jet printing methods, droplets of ink are directly projected onto a recording medium from very fine nozzles and allowed to adhere to the recording medium, to form characters and images. The use of ink-jet printing methods have been rapidly spread because of their various advantages such as easiness of full coloration, low cost, capability of using plain paper as the recording medium, non-contact with printed images and characters, etc.
Among such printing methods, in view of enhancing the weather resistance and water resistance of printed images and characters, an ink-jet printing method utilizing an ink containing an organic pigment as the colorant for color printing has now come to be the dominate method.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. H10-60352 discloses a water-based pigment ink containing a pigment, a polymer dispersant, polyethyleneimine, and a water-soluble solvent, which ink is provided for the purpose of improving fixation of the pigment onto an OHP sheet, etc.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2004-123865 discloses an aqueous pigment ink containing a pigment, an anionic dispersant, a cationic water-soluble polymer compound, e.g., polyethyleneimine, and an aqueous medium, which ink is provided for the purpose of improving chroma, optical density and so on in plain paper printing.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2004-149633 discloses a pigment ink for ink-jet printing containing dispersed aggregates each being formed by a dispersant and a pigment particle having a size smaller than that of the aggregate, which ink is provided for the purpose of improving image chroma, etc.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2006-169325 discloses a liquid for ink-jet printing containing a pigment, a water-soluble resin, a water-soluble organic solvent, and water, and describes a black pigment ink containing beaded carbon black particles of high structure type.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2008-38090 discloses a water-based ink for ink-jet printing containing a colorant, and beaded or elongated metal oxide secondary particles each being formed of a plurality of primary particles thereof connected to each other, which ink is provided for the purpose of improving optical density.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2006-82073 discloses a method for producing composite particles, the method including a step of adjusting the surface potential of fine particles by modifying the surface of the particles with a polymer compound; and a step of mixing a fluid containing fine particles having a positive surface potential with a fluid containing fine particles having a negative surface potential in, for example, a microchannel.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2009-197097 discloses a method for forming fine particles, including a step of bringing two or more solutions (including a particle formation material solution and a poor solvent solution) into contact with one another in a mixing section of, for example, a microreactor, to thereby form fine particles; a step of bringing a coagulant into contact with the fine particles in a flow channel, to thereby form aggregates; a filtration step; and a step of redispersing the aggregates through pH adjustment, to thereby form fine particles, which method is provided for the purpose of obtaining pigment fine particles having uniform particle size.


A filter unit for filtering gas has at least one filter element with an outlet opening. A filter cleaning nozzle is located in a clean-gas chamber at a distance from the outlet opening and is connected to a source of pressurized primary cleaning gas via a control valve. Primary cleaning gas is ejected from an annular slot and along the outer side of a guide body located in the clean-gas chamber. The guide body is open to the secondary gas in the chamber.

The present invention relates to a filter unit for filtering gas, comprising at least one filter element having an outlet opening facing a clean-gas chamber, a filter cleaning nozzle, and a source of pressurized primary cleaning gas.
A filter unit of this type is known from DE patent 197 01 983 describing a nozzle of the slit ring jet type where the nozzle opening is an annular slot, which faces radially inwards towards the center of a flow pipe which passes centrally through a pressurized gas chamber and ends above the filter outlet opening. The control valve is pneumatically activated and built into the nozzle at the annular slot. The primary cleaning gas flows from the gas chamber through the annular slot and down along the inside of the flow pipe which acts as guide surface. The secondary gas is drawn into the flow pipe through its upper opening. The cleaning gas passes through a venturi mounted in the upper end area of the filter member.
A somewhat similar nozzle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,010 and in GB patent 1 455 281, but in the latter document the ring slit jet nozzle is mounted like a venturi in the top end of the filter element. The secondary gas is drawn centrally down through the upper end opening of the nozzle. GB patent 812,244 describes a simple nozzle shooting primary gas down through a venturi so that secondary gas is drawn down through the upper end opening of the venturi. GB patent 1,021,560 describes a nozzle pipe which is mounted in the bottom wall of a pressurized gas chamber and is closed at its upper end by a diaphragm valve. When the diaphragm valve is opened primary cleaning gas flows through the nozzle pipe and centrally down through a venturi at the upper end of the filter element. U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,903 describes a ring jet filter with an annular membrane valve mounted in the upper end of the filter element. A central pipe connects the filter element with the clean-air chamber. When the membrane valve is open secondary air is also drawn down through the upper end opening of the central pipe.
A feature common to all the prior art filter units mentioned above is that the secondary air is drawn in through the upper end opening of a pipe located centrally of the filter element.

Filter unit having a filter cleaning nozzle associated with the filter unit and including a guide body


A laminated polyphenylene sulfide film having excellent adhesiveness, especially heatsealability, and good mechanical properties and heat resistance, as well as a process for producing the same are disclosed. A central layer is constituted by a biaxially oriented polyphenylene sulfide film and a surface layer is constituted by phenylene sulfide copolymer containing a copolymerization unit other than p-phenylene sulfide unit in an amount of not less than 3 mol % and less than 50 mol %, so that the film has an improved adhesiveness and heatsealability while retaining the heat resistance and mechanical properties of biaxially oriented polyphenylene sulfide films.

Polyphenylene sulfide films have excellent mechanical properties and heat resistance, so that various uses thereof are expected and have been proposed. For example, Japanese laid-open patent application (Kokai) No. 57-121052 discloses a non-oriented polyphenylene sulfide sheet, and Japanese laid-open patent application (Kokai) No. 54-142275 discloses a biaxially oriented polyphenylene sulfide film. Although the non-oriented sheets have high tear strengths, if they are exposed to a high temperature, their mechanical strengths are sharply decreased, and they have poor long term heat resistances. On the other hand, biaxially oriented films have much improved mechanical properties other than tear strength, and their chemical resistances and long term heat resistances are extremely high. However, as is apparent from the fact that they have excellent chemical resistances and heat resistances, since their surfaces are inert, they have poor adhesiveness. Therefore, in order to use them for wrapping, electrical insulation or for general industrial applications, it is necessary to give adhesiveness, particularly heatsealability.
As a method for promoting adhesiveness, it is known to perform corona discharge treatment (Japanese laid-open patent application (Kokai) No. 57-187327). However, with this method, although the adhesiveness is slightly improved, it is insufficient. Further, improvement in heatsealability is scarcely observed. It has also been proposed to apply an adhesive. However, not only does the adhesive per se have poor heat resistance, but also the deterioration of the adhesive by heat accelerates the deterioration of the polyphenylene sulfide film, so that the heat resistance is extremely poor.
To overcome the drawback of the biaxially oriented polyphenylene sulfide films that their tear strengths are poor, a film in which a copolymerization unit other than p-phenylene sulfide unit is copolymerized has been disclosed (Japanese laid-open patent application (Kokai) No. 61-98526). However, although the improvement in the tear strength of the film is observed, other mechanical properties are deteriorated.

Laminated polyphenylene sulfide film and process for producing the same


The exhaust gas purification device has a first chamber having an exhaust pipe inlet, an ambient air inlet, and an exhaust gas outlet. A Venturi is arranged within the chamber, having an inlet end communicating with an ambient air inlet, a throat, and an outlet end communicating with an exhaust gas outlet. The Venturi has an exhaust gas inlet between its inlet end and its outlet end, receiving exhaust gas from within the chamber, directed generally towards the outlet end of the Venturi, so that ambient air and exhaust air are mixed in passing through the Venturi to its exhaust gas outlet. A perforated pipe within the first chamber receives the exhaust gas, and the exhaust gas escapes there from via the perforations, into the chamber and thence to the Venturi. A second chamber, having a catalytic substrate assembly mounted therein, receives the mixed ambient air and exhaust air from the exhaust gas outlet of the Venturi, and has an exhaust pipe outlet.

This invention relates generally to spark-ignited engines. More particularly, this invention relates to a device for exhaust gas purification for spark-ignited engines.
Exhaust emissions from spark-ignited engines, especially from small spark-ignited engines such as those used in lawn mowers, small generators, floor cleaning machines, are significant sources of harmful pollution gases. In contrast to automotive engines which are equipped with a closed-loop air/fuel ratio control system, such engines operate without an air/fuel ratio control system in a fuel-rich environment, and are much dirtier than automotive engines. In order to reduce harmful exhaust emissions, a three-way catalytic (TWC) converter is widely used. With fuel-rich combustion, the TWC converter cannot reduce carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) simultaneously at its maximum efficiencies due to a lack of the oxygen which is needed for full catalyst functionality. Hence, it is desirable to introduce a certain amount of secondary air into the exhaust stream ahead of the TWC catalyst/converter to compensate for the oxygen shortage in the engine-out emissions
There have been some exhaust emission purification devices using Venturi devices to help introduce secondary air into raw exhaust and enhance TWC catalyst efficiency. These Venturis use a traditional type of structure including a tubing or narrow channel with a convergent contraction structure (a throat) in the middle, and a small passage or multi-holes/apertures connecting the Venturi throat to the ambient in order to draw in secondary air. The exhaust flow stream goes into and exits the Venturi in line. The secondary air is introduced usually perpendicularly to the main flow stream of the exhaust. Due to exhaust pressure pulsation, there is often a back-flow or blow-out problem, i.e. the untreated harmful exhaust gases are blown out through the secondary air passage prior to entering the TWC catalyst whenever the exhaust pressure is higher than the ambient pressure. Another challenge is to compromise pressure drop and vacuum level for best performance.
In general, therefore, the performance of prior art devices has been lacking, and there is a need for an alternative device to provide suitable exhaust gas purification for spark-ignited engines.

Device for exhaust gas purification for spark-ignited engines


A bar code reading system comprises a first bar code label and a second bar code label. The first bar code label is positioned on an object at a first location and in a first orientation. The second bar code label is positioned on the object at a second location and in a second orientation. The first and second bar code labels each have indicia thereon representative of a label data set. Bar code reading apparatus positionable next to the object has a limited field of view such that the bar code reading apparatus reads only first and second portions of the first and second bar code labels. The bar code reading apparatus produces first and second data sets representative of the first and second portions. A data processing system operatively associated with the bar code reading apparatus combines the first and second data sets to produce a combined data set representative of the label data set.

This invention relates generally to bar code reading systems and more specifically to a dual bar code reading system for a data cartridge storage system.
Machine readable codes, such as bar codes, are well-known in the art and are used in various applications to allow a machine (e.g., a bar code reader) to read the code. Perhaps the most common application of such machine readable codes (e.g., bar codes) is their use in inventory control situations where it is desired to identify and keep track of the movement of objects and things.
Regardless of the application in which it is used, a typical bar code reading device will include an optical system suitable for detecting the bar codes on the objects. Depending on the particular application, the bar code reader may be provided with an illumination system suitable for illuminating the bar code to allow the same to be detected.
Bar code reading devices may be used in data storage systems to read bar code labels placed on data cartridges. Data encoded on the bar code labels are used by the data storage system to keep track of (i.e., inventory) the locations and identities of the various data cartridges contained in the data storage system.
In general, data storage systems, of which there are many different types, are used for storing data cartridges at known locations and for retrieving those data cartridges from those locations so that data may be written to or read from those data cartridges. Such data storage systems are often referred to as xe2x80x9cjuke boxxe2x80x9d data storage systems, particularly if they can accommodate a large number of individual data cartridges.
A typical data storage system may include one or more different types of cartridge receiving devices for holding the various data cartridges. For example, one type of cartridge receiving device may comprise a cartridge storage rack or xe2x80x9cmagazinexe2x80x9d while another type of cartridge receiving device may comprise a cartridge read/write device. The cartridge storage racks or magazines serve to provide storage locations for the data cartridges and are commonly arranged so that they form one or more vertical stacks. The cartridge read/write device may be located adjacent the cartridge stack, although the cartridge read/write device may be positioned at any convenient location. The data storage system may also be provided with a cartridge access device for accessing the various data cartridges contained in the cartridge receiving devices and a positioning system for moving the cartridge access device among the various cartridge receiving devices contained in the data storage system.
Typically, if certain data contained on a particular data cartridge is desired, the host computer system will issue commands to a control system associated with the data storage system. In response to those commands, the control system will actuate the positioning system to move the cartridge access device along the cartridge storage racks or magazines until the cartridge access device is positioned adjacent the desired data cartridge. As mentioned above, a bar code reading device may assist the control system in determining when the cartridge access device has been positioned adjacent the desired data cartridge. In other words, the bar code reading device reads the bar code label positioned on the data cartridge to verify that the data cartridge is the desired data cartridge. If not, the cartridge access device may be moved to another data cartridge. Once the desired data cartridge has been located, the cartridge access device may remove the desired cartridge from the cartridge storage rack and carry it to the cartridge read/write device. The cartridge access device may then insert the selected data cartridge into the cartridge read/write device so that the host computer may thereafter read data from or write data to the selected data cartridge. After the read/write operation is complete, the cartridge access device may remove the data cartridge from the cartridge read/write device and return it to its appropriate location in the cartridge storage rack.
Although many types of data storage devices and media (e.g., magnetic disk or tape, optical disk, etc.) may be used in data storage systems of the type just described, a commonly used data storage device comprises a digital linear tape (xe2x80x9cDLTxe2x80x9d) cartridge. A bar code label is often placed on each cartridge in order to distinguish and identify the various DLT cartridges. In one application, the bar code label contains six characters.
Recently, DLT cartridges are being replaced in data storage systems with linear tape open (xe2x80x9cLTOxe2x80x9d) cartridges. The newer LTO cartridges are designed to be compatible with DLT systems so that most existing DLT systems can be converted for use with the new LTO cartridges. Unfortunately, however, the newer LTO cartridges are not entirely compatible with DLT cartridges. For example, as was the case with the DLT cartridges, the LTO cartridges are provided with bar code labels so that the various LTO cartridges contained within the data storage system may be identified and inventoried. However, the bar code labels utilized with the LTO cartridges comprise eight characters and are physically longer than the 6-character bar code labels previously used to identify the DLT cartridges. Since the LTO bar code labels are longer than the bar code labels previously used with DLT cartridges, most bar code readers utilized in DLT systems cannot read the longer bar code labels associated with the LTO cartridges. That is, the bar code readers contained in the DLT systems do not have fields of view that are large enough to read the longer LTO labels in their entireties.
While it is possible to modify or replace DLT type bar code readers with bar code readers suitable for reading the longer LTO labels, such modification or replacement of the bar code readers is expensive and difficult to implement. Another solution to the problem would be to use xe2x80x9ccondensedxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9chigh densityxe2x80x9d bar code labels with the newer LTO cartridges. Such condensed or high density labels would allow the eight characters to be represented on a shorter label. Unfortunately, however, the resolution of the bar code readers utilized in DLT systems may not be sufficient to resolve the condensed or high density characters (e.g., bars) contained on such shorter labels. Consequently, it may still be necessary to modify or replace the current bar code readers, an expensive and undesirable circumstance.
Accordingly, a need remains for a bar code reading system capable of reading the entirety of a larger bar code label even though a portion of the bar code label is located outside the field of view of the bar code reading device. Ideally, the bar code reading system would be compatible with and require no physical modifications to the bar code reading device. In addition, the bar code reading system should be inexpensive, simple to use and not require a significant amount of time to implement.
A bar code reading system may comprise a first bar code label and a second bar code label. The first bar code label is positioned on an object at a first location and in a first orientation. The second bar code label is positioned on the object at a second location and in a second orientation. The first and second bar code labels each have indicia thereon that are representative of a label data set. A bar code reader positionable next to the object has a limited field of view such that the bar code reader reads only first and second portions of the first and second bar code labels. The bar code reader produces first and second data sets representative of the first and second portions. A data processing system operatively associated with the bar code reader combines the first and second data sets to produce a combined data set that is representative of the label data set.
Also disclosed is a method for reading bar code labels with limited-view bar code reading apparatus that comprises the steps of: Positioning a first bar code label on an object at a first location and in a first orientation, the first bar code label having indicia thereon that are representative of a label data set; positioning a second bar code label on the object at a second location and in a second orientation, the second bar code label having indicia thereon that are representative of the same label data set; positioning the bar code reader apparatus next to the object; operating the bar code reading apparatus to read first and second portions of the first and second bar code labels and to produce first and second data sets that are representative of the first and second portions; and combining the first and second data sets to produce a combined data set that is representative of the label data set.

Dual bar code reading system for a data storage system

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A needle picker releasing device in a circular knitting machine for the production of hosiery goods performs releasing of pickers from a non-operative into an operative position by kinematic action of an electromagnet moving a blocking device. The electromagnet may be operated by a microswitch contacting a cam. The blocking device may be a double armed lever arranged between the electromagnet and the picker, one arm of the lever being engagable with the picker so as to block the motion of the picker and another arm of the lever being engageable by the electromagnet, movement of the other arm being obtained in one direction by the electromagnetic when energized and in another direction by spring means.

Small diameter knitting machines are known for knitting hosiery which knit heels or toes of the fabric in two knitting feeds by reciprocatory knitting. Said knitting feeds are provided with couples of pickers to set the needles out of operation during reciprocatory run. Cam systems of said machines are arranged so that it is possible to perform selection for pearl and jacquard patterns. It is therefore necessary to create a channel between the knitting feeds for passage of the needles and this increases the circumference of the needle cylinder.
Additionally, there are difficulties with the cam arrangement with regard to the necessary angular override of the needle cylinder in reciprocatory run. Because the border needles or the butts of the needle guiding sliders in the dead center of the same revolution come for the second time into the zone of action of the pickers a second undesirable setting of the needles out of operation takes place.
This disadvantage is solved by the device according to Czechoslovak Author's Certificate No. 228,279 corresponding German Pat. No. DEOS 32 40 128 where a lever mechanism is associated with the pickers. The levers of said lever mechanism alternately hold the picker out of action during each revolution after setting the needles out of operation, while at the same time it releases the second picker into operative position. Driving force for the levers of the mechanism is taken from the butts of the guiding jacks or of the needles which increases the stress of the butts.
Nevertheless, this known device has the disadvantages that at higher knitting speeds, the butts of the needle jacks or the needles (according to whether it is a one cylinder or a double cylinder knitting machine) are considerably stressed upon narrowing, as they have to swing out the blocking lever beside displacing the picker. In machines, in which the pickers are arranged more remote from each other, the blocking levers take up a large space.


Data in a nonvolatile memory included in a data storage device is rewritten with higher security. According to one embodiment of the present invention, if an error is included in data stored in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, the HDD rewrites correct data to the nonvolatile semiconductor memory. In particular, during the execution sequence of a write command, the HDD executes rewrite processing of control data stored in the nonvolatile semiconductor memory. More specifically, data is rewritten during a specified period of time that falls within a period of time starting from a start notification of write-data transfer processing that is sent from the HDD to the host, until a command completion notification. Since there is a very small possibility that the power of the host may be interrupted during this specified period of time, it is possible to securely rewrite data.

The present invention relates to data storage devices, and more particularly to a method for rewriting data stored in a nonvolatile memory.
Devices using various types of media, such as optical disks, magnetic tapes, and semiconductor memories, are known as data storage devices. Among them, hard disk drives (hereinafter referred to as "HDDs") have become popular as storage devices for computers to such an extent that they are one type of the storage devices indispensable for today's computer systems. Further, not limited to computers, their application is widening more and more due to the superior characteristics with the advent of moving picture recording/reproducing devices, car navigation systems, removable memories for digital cameras and so on.
A magnetic disk used in an HDD has a plurality of tracks that are concentrically formed. Each track is partitioned into a plurality of sectors (servo sectors). Servo data and user data are written to each servo sector. Here, the user data written to each servo sector ranges over a plurality of sectors (data sectors). A head element moves according to servo data. As a result, data can be written to or read from a desired address. A signal read out from a magnetic disk by the head element through data read processing is subjected to waveform shaping, decoding processing and other prescribed signal processing by a signal processing circuit before the signal is transmitted to a host. The data transmitted from the host is also subjected to prescribed processing by the signal processing circuit in like manner before the data is written to the magnetic disk by the head element.
Microcodes for controlling an HDD are in general stored in a nonvolatile ROM. A typical example of such a ROM is a flash memory. The flash memory is electrically rewritable, and is effective in upgrading microcodes. Error correction of data stored in a flash memory is performed by ECC (Error Correction Code). However, because there is a limit to the error recovery by means of ECC (Error Check and Correct) processing, it is preferable to rewrite error bits.
Here, if the power is turned OFF while data is rewritten to a flash memory, there arises a problem in that the data is not correctly rewritten, or that data stored in the flash memory is lost. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures against the possibility that the power may be turned OFF while data is written to a flash memory. For example, patent document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-344156) discloses a technique relating to flash memories that are generally used for rewriting. In this technique, there is provided a flash memory and nonvolatile storing means that is different from the flash memory. The nonvolatile storing means includes a flag area for storing a write state indicating how writing to a storage area of the flash memory is performed. By flagging rewritten blocks in a stage in which rewriting is completed, it is possible to check whether or not writing to the flash memory by download has been successfully completed.

Data storage device, and method for rewriting data in nonvolatile memory

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


The present invention includes a hydraulic pump (11), a variable displacement hydraulic motor (5) for traveling driven by pressure oil from the hydraulic pump (11), a motor displacement control means (17, 18) for adjusting a displacement of the hydraulic motor (5) in correspondence to a drive pressure at the hydraulic motor (5), an operating member (22) through which a forward travel command and a backward travel command for the vehicle are issued, a control means (12) to be driven in response to an operation of the operating member (22), for controlling a flow of pressure oil from the hydraulic pump (11) to the hydraulic motor (5), a reverse operation detection means (41A, 41B) for detecting a reverse operation of the operating member (22) performed to a reverse side opposite from a direction along which the vehicle is advancing, and a cavitation preventing means (25A,25B) engaged in operation so as to prevent occurrence of cavitation at the hydraulic motor (5) when the reverse operation at the operating member (22) is detected by the reverse operation detection means (41A, 41B).

In a wheel hydraulic excavator having a variable displacement traveling motor in the related art, the motor displacement is controlled by driving a motor regulator in correspondence to the drive pressure at the traveling motor. In such a wheel hydraulic excavator, the motor displacement increases as the drive pressure rises to drive the motor at low speed with high torque and the motor displacement decreases as the drive pressure becomes lower to drive the motor at high speed with low torque.
More specifically, the motor displacement is fixed at a constant value (e.g., the minimum displacement) over a predetermined low motor drive pressure range so as to minimize the extent to which the traveling speed changes due to fluctuations in the motor drive pressure when traveling on flat ground or downhill, whereas the motor displacement is increased as the motor drive pressure increases beyond the predetermined range so as to increase the rotation torque at the motor during acceleration or when the vehicle is traveling uphill.
As either the front side (toward the toes) or the rear side (toward the heel) of the accelerator pedal in a wheel hydraulic excavator is depressed, the accelerator pedal is allowed to rotate along the forward/rearward direction. As the front side or the rear side of the accelerator pedal is depressed, the control valve is switched from the neutral position to a forward travel position or a reverse travel position, and pressure oil is supplied from a hydraulic pump to the traveling motor to generate a motor drive pressure. As the accelerator pedal is released while traveling, the control valve is switched to the neutral position, thereby cutting off the pressure oil supply from the hydraulic pump to the traveling motor. Subsequently, the vehicle travels with an inertial force and the function of the traveling motor is switched from the motor function to a pump function. The motor drive pressure decreases at this time and if the vehicle has been driven with a large motor displacement, the motor displacement is reduced, whereas if the vehicle has been driven with the minimum displacement, the minimum motor displacement is sustained. As a result, the quantity of oil intake required to rotate the traveling motor decreases to inhibit the occurrence of cavitation.
However, if a reverse operation is performed at the accelerator pedal while the vehicle is traveling, i.e., if the rear side of the accelerator pedal is depressed while the vehicle is traveling forward, the control valve is switched to the reverse travel position and, as a result, the motor drive pressure increases in a state in which the vehicle is traveling with an inertial force. Consequently, the motor displacement increases to lead to an increase in the quantity of oil intake required for traveling motor rotation, giving rise to the risk of cavitation.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


A kit is provided including a base with an insert which has a plurality of compartments therein. The compartments are in fluid communication with each other. Liquid bleeding control agent is expressed into the base and allowed to flow to each of the compartments, such as through ports and inside slots between adjacent compartments. Pads reside within each of the compartments, which each include a gauze portion and a gel foam portion. The gel foam portion is wetted by the liquid bleeding control agent, which can be expressed from a syringe provided as a portion of the kit and which flows into the compartments for uniform wetting of gel foam portions of each of the pads. Pads are used during a surgical procedure and then returned to vacant compartments, so that a quick check for remaining vacant compartments indicates whether or not any pads have remained within the surgical site.

When conducting surgery, one ongoing activity is the controlling of excessive bleeding. In many instances, a surgeon spends as much time controlling bleeding as in performing activities for which the surgery is required. It is desirable to perform the bleeding minimization steps associated with the surgery as simply and efficiently as possible to decrease the length of the surgery and best utilize the time and skills of the surgeon.
In the prior art, bleeding control can be facilitated by small patches of flexible material, such as gauze and gel foam, which can hold a clotting factor, such as Thrombin or a Thrombin and saline mixture thereon, which are effective in stopping bleeding when placed adjacent a bleeding capillary, vein or other blood vessel. Such bleeding control patches are known to have a tab thereon as the patch itself can be rather small and there is a potential for it becoming lost in the surgical site. Still, difficulty is encountered in loading the patches effectively with clotting factor, and accounting for the patches before, during and at close of a surgical procedure. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and methodology for optimizing utilization of such bleeding control patches.

Integrated surgical bleeding control system


A magnetic read head and associated circuitry for reducing side track noise and decreasing read width, thereby providing increased data density. The magnetic read head includes first and second sensor elements that are aligned with one another in a data track direction, with the first sensor element being wider than the second sensor element. Electrical circuitry is connected with the read head in such a manner as to read a first signal from the first sensor element and a second signal from a second sensor element. Because the second sensor element is wider than the first sensor element, it will read more side signal noise from adjacent data tracks than will the second sensor element. The circuitry connected with the first and second sensor element detects and distinguishes the side signal noise and separates it out from the data signal, based sensor width difference and location difference.

In the current information age, the amount of data handled by society has increased dramatically. This has greatly increased demand for devices that can input, output, and store large amounts of data at very high speeds. One type of magnetic recording and playback device is a hard disk drive. Another type of storage device is a magnetic tape drive. The recording density of magnetic storage devices has steadily increased as perpendicular magnetic recording techniques have been adopted and improved. Currently available magnetic recording devices have the capability of recording magnetic data at a recording density of 650 Gb/in2, but there are problems with thermal fluctuation in these magnetic recording media. Increasing the anisotropic energy of magnetic recording media has been an effective countermeasure, but a sufficient magnetic recording field cannot be generated using a very small magnetic recording head such as would be used in high density recording. Because of this, recording densities have been limited to about 1 Tb/in2.
Assisted recording technologies are currently being researched as a solution to enable recording beyond the 1 Tb/in2 limit, thereby allowing higher magnetic recording densities. Assisted recording technologies can include a recording technology such as shingled recording, wherein a magnetic signal can be written using a magnetic write head with a magnetic write pole width that is larger than the recorded track width. The use of magnetic microwaves or thermal energy have also been explored to assist recording of high-density magnetic information on narrow magnetic tracks.
Playing back magnetic information written to narrow magnetic tracks and converting this information to electrical signals, requires a narrow-track sensor. However, the width of the sensor has a large effect on the sensitivity of a sensor, and the target playback amplitude (S) is not sufficient for a width of 30 nm in magnetic disk devices exceeding 1 Tb/in2. As the width of the recording track becomes smaller, the effect of crosstalk noise from adjacent magnetic information tracks becomes significant. As a result, a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio needed to realize 1 Tb/in2 cannot be satisfied.
A technique that counters this crosstalk phenomenon has been disclosed in US Patent Application No. 2012/0205830. In this technique, magnetic signals are played back using a plurality of sensors. While this patent application discloses the use of a plurality of sensors it does not provide a sensor arrangement that can solve the problem of crosstalk from adjacent magnetic tracks. Therefore, there remains a need for a system or structure that can reduce or eliminate such adjacent track cross talk at very tight track pitches in order to effectively increase data density beyond the 1 Tb/in2 limit.

Dual magnetic sensor for multi-input magnetic recording


A system and method for executing a regular expression (regex) query against a large data repository such as the World Wide Web includes an index engine that constructs multigram indices based on regex. A run time then receives a regex query and accesses the indices to return a set of potentially matching pages, which are then efficiently and quickly searched for matches to the regex query.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to matching regular expressions (regex) in data repositories such as the World Wide Web.
2. Description of the Related Art
Enormous amounts of information are available via computer networks, notably the World Wide Web. The information explosion has resulted in over a billion Web pages being available, with the number growing every day.
Perhaps the biggest challenge posed by this information deluge is how to sift through the mountain of data to find specific information. Not surprisingly, much effort has been devoted to efficiently finding sought-after information on the Web. Typically, such efforts focus on key word searching, i.e., enabling a user to type in one or more key words and subsequently returning Web pages that contain some or all of the words, in some ordered fashion.
As recognized herein, however, key word searching often requires a considerable amount of query result analysis by the user. That is, it remains the responsibility of the user to sift through the pages and extract the information being sought. To illustrate, suppose a user wants to find the middle name of Thomas Edison. Simply inputting the query xe2x80x9cThomas Edisonxe2x80x9d to a key word search engine will result in many hundreds or perhaps thousands of pages being returned, with the user being forced to wade through the result set until he or she happens upon the middle name.
In addition, key word search cannot match patterns which occur within words in text. Consider, for instance, a user who wants to find all references to .mp3 files stored on Stanford University computer systems. Searches of this kind are not possible using key word search methods.
As further recognized herein, examples such as the two postulated above can be more efficiently addressed using what is known in the art as xe2x80x9cregular expressionsxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9cregexesxe2x80x9d. A regex is distinct from a key word search. Essentially, a regex is a string which defines a set of strings satisfying a pattern. A regex can be specified using a number of syntactic methods, including, e.g., that used by the tools flex, awk, and grep, or as set forth in the textbook Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation.
In the context of the above example, a user could use the following regex to efficiently find the middle name of Thomas Edison: xe2x80x9cThomas  a+ Edisonxe2x80x9d, with xe2x80x9c axe2x80x9d meaning xe2x80x9cany letter in the alphabetxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c+xe2x80x9d meaning xe2x80x9cone or more repetitions of the previous characterxe2x80x9d. Thus, the expression xe2x80x9c a a+xe2x80x9d means xe2x80x9cfind strings matching the pattern Thomas [at least two letters of the alphabet] Edisonxe2x80x9d, and would return only strings that have at least two letters between the words xe2x80x9cThomasxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cEdisonxe2x80x9d. In this way, strings that have only the middle initial of Edison or no middle name at all are not returned. Only strings having at least two letters (likely to be the name xe2x80x9cAlvaxe2x80x9d) between xe2x80x9cThomasxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cEdisonxe2x80x9d are returned.
The present invention still further recognizes, however, that although regex matching can be used in the context of Web searching, for very large repositories like the Web, matching a regular expression using conventional regex principles can take days. Having recognized the above-noted considerations and problems, the present invention provides solutions to one or more of them as disclosed below.
To address the issues noted above, a regex query system is disclosed in which regex-based indices are first built using multigrams. When a regex query is received, the indices are used to return a set of potentially matching pages, which are then quickly and efficiently searched for matches to the regex query.
A general purpose computer is programmed according to the inventive steps herein. The invention can also be embodied as an article of manufacturexe2x80x94a machine componentxe2x80x94that is used by a digital processing apparatus and which tangibly embodies a program of instructions that are executable by the digital processing apparatus to execute the present logic. This invention is realized in a critical machine component that causes a digital processing apparatus to perform the inventive method steps herein.
Accordingly, a general purpose computer includes a regular expression (regex) index generator that generates at least one multigram index, and a run time engine that receives a regex query and that accesses the index to respond to the query. The run time engine returns data from a repository of, e.g., Web pages, in response to the query. In a preferred non-limiting embodiment, a Web crawler is associated with the data repository, and the data repository includes Web pages.
As set forth in detail below, the run time engine parses the regex query and generates an execution plan based on the parsed query. Using the execution plan, potentially matching documents in the repository are found using the index. Then, the query is executed against the matching pages.
Preferably, the index includes plural keys, with each key having an associated posting list representing documents in the repository containing the key. In a preferred implementation, the keys are multigrams. The index preferably contains only minimal useful multigrams relative to a user-defined usefulness factor xe2x80x9ccxe2x80x9d. Further, the index can be further limited to include only suffix-free minimal useful multigrams. If desired, the index can be a predicate index including multigrams representing binary numbers.
In the presently preferred embodiment the run time engine generates an execution plan based on a parsed query by rewriting a query to have only xe2x80x9cORxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cSTARxe2x80x9d logical connectives. The run time engine constructs a parse tree and replaces STAR nodes in the tree with NULL, and then removes NULL nodes. In one optimization, the run time engine executes the query by performing a fall regex match only in a predetermined vicinity of an anchor in a document.
In another aspect, a computer program device includes a computer program storage device that can be read by a digital processing apparatus. A program is on the program storage device. The program includes instructions that are executable by the digital processing apparatus for executing a regex query The program can include computer readable code means for generating at least one index, and computer readable code means for accessing the index to execute a regex query.
In still another aspect, a computer-implemented method for executing a regular expression (regex) query against a data repository includes generating at least one multigram index, and receiving a regex query. The method includes accessing the index based on the query. A set of Web pages is returned based on the accessing act. The Web pages are then searched for matches to the regex query.
The details of the present invention, both as to its structure and operation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:

System and method for regular expression matching using index

International Business Machines Corporation