To provide a fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition giving a fluorine containing resin coating film having a high whiteness, and various articles having on an outer surface thereof a coating of which has a high whiteness and can be produced by applying the fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition. The fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition is subjected To baking at 300xc2x0 C. or more, and the fluorine-containing resin composition for forming the coating film comprises surface-treated rutile titanium oxide particles as a whitening agent.

The present invention relates to a fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition which gives a fluorine-containing resin coating film having a high whiteness and to various articles having the fluorine-containing resin coating film.
Fluorine-containing resin coatings have been used widely for coating of an outer surface of chemical equipment and parts of a plant of chemical industry such as a reaction tank, reservoir tank, reaction tower, inner lining of piping, agitator and processing roll by making the best use of excellent properties of a fluorine-containing resin such as solvent resistance, heat resistance, non-sticking property, chemical resistance and electrically insulating property.
The fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition is subjected to baking at high temperature, particularly at 300xc2x0 C. or more after the coating, and therefore foaming arises easily due to thermal deterioration of the fluorine-containing resin, and addition of a thermal stabilizer is essential.
The addition of a thermal stabilizer can inhibit the deterioration of the fluorine-containing resin considerably. However since the thermal stabilizer is deteriorated, there is a problem that the fluorine-containing resin coating film which is originally transparent and white is subject to a change in color into brown or black or non-uniformity of color after the baking due to a residue of the deteriorated stabilizer. Thermal deterioration of the fluorine-containing resin is also considered as a cause for the color change.
On the other hand, in the fields of medicines, foods and medical hygiene, from a point that staining of tanks for synthesis and storage of chemical substances is difficult to recognize when a dark coating is used and also from the viewpoint of appearance and cleanliness, a coating color is demanded to be as approximate to white as possible.
A usual method of making a color of coating film white is a method of incorporating a white pigment for coating. Examples of known white pigment are titanium oxide, calcium carbonate, zinc oxide, barium sulfate, and the like. The inventors of the present invention have made experiments and as a result in case of general-purpose white pigments for coating, non-uniformity of color arose and a satisfactory coating film could not be formed.
An another approach is a method of changing a thermal stabilizer. However even in this approach, a color change could not be inhibited only by changing the thermal stabilizer. Moreover the addition of the white pigment for coating still causes non-uniformity of color.
An object of the present invention is to provide a fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition which gives a fluorine-containing resin coating film having a high whiteness.
Another object of the present invention is to provide various articles having on an outer surface thereof a coating film which has a high whiteness and is obtained by applying the fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition.
Namely the present invention relates to the fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition to be subjected to baking at 300xc2x0 C. or more, in which the fluorine-containing resin composition for forming a coating film contains surface-treated rutile titanium oxide particles as a whitening agent.
In the present invention it is preferable that the fluorine-containing resin composition for forming a coating film comprises a fluorine-containing resin, a thermal stabilizer and surface-treated rutile titanium oxide particles and that the fluorine-containing resin is a perfluoro resin, particularly a melt-moldable perfluoro resin and the thermal stabilizer has a melting point of not less than 70xc2x0 C.
Further the present invention relates to the coating film which is obtained by applying the above-mentioned coating composition of the present invention and baking at 300xc2x0 C. or more and has a whiteness of 60 or more and relates to the articles having the coating film on a surface thereof.
The fluorine-containing resin to be used for the fluorine-containing resin composition for forming a coating film of the present invention is one which can stand baking at 300xc2x0 C. The fluorine-containing resin may be a perfluoro resin or a non-perfluoro resin such as vinylidene fluoride copolymer, ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer or ethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene copolymer. From the viewpoint of excellent heat resistance, solvent resistance, non-sticking property, chemical resistance and electrically insulating property, the perfluoro resin is preferable. Also among the perfluoro resins, melt-moldable perfluoro resins are preferred to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which is difficult to be melt-molded, from the point that a film forming property thereof is excellent and pin hole is difficult to arise.
Examples of the preferred melt-moldable perfluoro resin are tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) copolymers, for instance, copolymers of TFE with at least one of perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ethers) (PAVE) and hexafluoropropylene (HFP). Particularly TFE, PAVE and/or HFP copolymers, concretely TFE/PAVE copolymer (PFA), TFE/HFP copolymer (FEP) and TFE/PAVE/HFP copolymer are preferred.
Examples of PAVE are one or more of perfluoro(methyl vinyl ether) (PMVE), perfluoro(ethyl vinyl ether) (PEVE), perfluoro(propyl vinyl ether) (PPVE), and the like. Particularly PPVE is preferable.
One of the features of the present invention is that the fluorine-containing resin composition for forming a coating film comprises surface-treated rutile titanium oxide particles as a whitening agent in addition to the fluorine-containing resin.
It is necessary that titanium oxide to be used in the present invention is surface-treated and a crystalline form thereof is of rutile type. As shown in Comparative Examples mentioned hereinbelow, in case of un-treated titanium oxide which is a general-purpose white pigment for coating, non-uniformity of color arises, and also even in case of anatase titanium-oxide which is titanium oxide having another crystalline form, non-uniformity of color occurs.
It is preferable that a surface-treating agent for rutile titanium oxide is one comprising aluminum oxide and/or silicon oxide, more preferably one containing silicon oxide in a larger amount.
An average particle size of titanium oxide is not limited particularly, and is, for example, from about 0.1 xcexcm to about 1.0 xcexcm which is a size of commercially available titanium oxide.
Examples of the surface-treated rutile titanium oxide to be used preferably in the present invention are, for instance, Tipaque (registered trademark) CR-90), CR-95 and CR-97 available from Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Limited; Titanix (registered trademark) R-805 available from TAYCA CORPORATION; Ti-Pure (registered trademark) R-960 and R-902 available from Du Pont de Nemour E.I. and Co. Inc.; and the like. Also rutile titanium oxides surface-treated to the same extent as in those surface-treated rutile titanium oxides can be used preferably.
An amount of the surface-treated rutile titanium oxide is from 0.1 to 10 parts by weight (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9capartxe2x80x9d), preferably 0.5 to 10 parts, further preferably 1 to 5 parts based on 100 parts of the fluorine-containing resin. When less than 0.1 part, a desired whiteness cannot be given to a coating film, and when more than 20 parts, non-sticking property and corrosion resistance of the fluorine-containing resin coating film are lowered.
To the fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition of the present invention is blended a thermal stabilizer. While various known thermal stabilizers can be used, when dry-blending each component for preparing a powder coating composition, since a temperature of the mixture becomes 60xc2x0 C. or more, usually 70xc2x0 C. or more, thermal stabilizers having a melting point of 70xc2x0 C. or more, preferably. 80xc2x0 C. or more are used. This is a characteristic point of the powder coating composition with respect to the thermal stabilizer.
Examples of the preferable thermal stabilizer are those comprising an organosulfurous thermal stabilizer, amine thermal stabilizer and/or metal powder thermal stabilizer.
Preferable combinations are a combination use of the organosulfurous thermal stabilizer and the amine thermal stabilizer and a combination use of the organosulfurous thermal stabilizer, the amine thermal stabilizer and the metal powder thermal stabilizer.
Examples of the organosulfurous thermal stabilizer are, for instance, one or more of benzimidazole mercaptan compounds represented by the formula (I):
wherein X is H, Zn, Sn or Cd, n is an integer of 1 to 4, benzothiazole mercaptan compounds represented by the formula (II):
wherein X is H, Zn, Sn or Cd, n is an integer of 1 to 4, thiocarbamic acids represented by the formula (III):
wherein each of R1 and R2 is an aryl group or alkyl group having 2 to 16 carbon atoms, M is Zn, Sn, Cd or Cu, n is an integer of 1 to 4, or salts thereof,
thiuram monosulfides represented by the formula (IV):
wherein each of R1, R2, R3 and R4 is an aryl group or alkyl group having 2 to 16 carbon atoms,
thiuram disulfides represented by the formula (V):
wherein each of R1, R2, R3 and R4 is an aryl group or alkyl group having 2 to 16 carbon atoms, and
organotin mercaptide compounds represented by the formula (VI):
wherein Y is a mercaptan residue, R1 and R2 are the same or different and each is an aryl group or alkyl group having 2 to 16 carbon atoms.
Examples thereof are, for instance, benzimidazolemercaptan compounds represented by the formula (I) such as 2-mercaptobenzothiazole and 2-mercaptobenzimidazole; benzothiazole mercaptan compounds represented by the formula (II) such as a zinc salt of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole; thiocarbamic acids represented by the formula (III) or salts thereof such as zinc ethylphenyldithiocarbamate VIl and zinc dibutyldithiocarbarnate; thiuram monosulfides represented by the formula (IV) such as tetra-methyl-thiuram monosulfide; thiuram is disulfides represented by the formula (V) such as tetra-methyl-thiuram disulfide; and organotin mercaptide compounds represented by the formula (VI) such as dibutyltin maleate and dibutyltin mercaptide.
Among them, benzothiazole mercaptan compounds are preferable from the viewpoint of thermal stabilizing effect and chemical resistance. Particularly a zinc salt of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole is preferable.
With respect to the amine thermal stabilizer, aromatic amine thermal stabilizers having three or more benzene rings, preferably 3 or 4 benzene rings are preferable, and further those having a melting point of not less than 80xc2x0 C. are preferable. The aromatic amine thermal stabilizers function to enhance a thermal stabilizing effect particularly when used together with the organosulfurous thermal stabilizer due to a difference in a decomposition temperature.
Examples of the aromatic amine thermal stabilizer are, for instance, 4,4-bis(xcex1,xcex1-dimethylbenzyl)diphenylamine, dinaphthylamine, phenyl-xcex1-naphthylamine, phenyl-xcex2-naphthylamine, diphenyl-p-phenylenediamine, phenylcyclohexyl-p-phenylenediamine, aldol-xcex1-naphthylamine, diphenylamine, and the like. Particularly 4,4-bis(xcex1,xcex1-dimethylbenzyl)diphenylamine is preferable.
Examples of the metal powder thermal stabilizer are one or more of cobalt powder, iron powder, zinc powder, tin powder and copper powder. A combination use of the metal powder thermal stabilizer with the above-mentioned organosulfurous thermal stabilizer and amine thermal stabilizer is more preferable than a single use thereof.
A proportion in a weight ratio of the organosulfurous thermal stabilizer, amine thermal stabilizer and metal powder thermal stabilizer is 50 to 100/0 to 50/0 to 50, preferably 50 to 99/1 to 50/0 to 30.
An adding amount of the thermal stabilizer is from 0.1 to 3 parts, preferably 0.5 to, 3.0 parts based on 100 parts of the fluorine-containing resin. When less than 0.1 part, a sufficient thermal stabilizing effect cannot be obtained, and when more than 3 parts, a whiteness of an obtained coating film is lowered.
A particularly preferable combination of thermal stabilizers is the organosulfurous thermal stabilizer represented by the formula (II) and the aromatic amine thermal stabilizer having three or more benzene rings and a melting point of 80xc2x0 C. or more. More concretely preferable is a combination of a zinc salt of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole and 4,4-bis(xcex1,xcex1-dimethylbenzyl)diphenylamine desirably in a weight ratio of 50/50 to 99/1.
To the fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition of the present invention may be blended various additives for powder coating as far as a whiteness of an obtained coating film is not lowered remarkably. Examples of the additives are, for instance, an antistatic agent such as a carbon fiber, titanic acid whisker or carbon fluoride, a reinforcing agent such as a glass fiber or mica, and the like.
The powder coating composition of the present invention can be prepared by mixing in the same manner as in a usual method. For example, any of usual mixers such as a sample mill, V-blender, cone blender and ribbon mixer and usual pulverizer can be used without any specific limitations. Also the composition can be used in the form of liquid or slurry obtained by dispersing the composition into an organic medium or aqueous medium.
An average particle size of the obtained powder coating composition is within a range which has been used so far, for example, from 10 to 500 xcexcm, preferably about 20 xcexcm to about 300 xcexcm.
Also the same coating methods as usual, for example, static coating methods such as spray coating and fluidized bed coating, a method of lining by rotation molding, and the like can be used optionally.
After coating, the coating film is subjected to baking at a temperature of 300xc2x0 C. or more, usually from 300xc2x0 to 400xc2x0 C. A thickness of the formed coating film is within a range of from 30 to 5,000 xcexcm. Concretely the coating thickness may be selected optionally depending on purpose and application thereof. The composition may be coated thick by one coat or may be coated plural times by forming 30 to 150 xcexcm thick coating film by one coat. When coating plural times, it is preferable that the baking is carried out for each coat from the viewpoint of adjusting a coating thickness.
A substrate to be coated is not limited as far as it can be coated with conventional fluorine-containing resin powder coating compositions. Non-restricted examples thereof are, for instance, metallic substrates such as aluminum, stainless steel, Ni alloy and metal die cast substrates; ceramic substrates such as glass and insulator substrates; and the like.
It is effective to previously surface-treat a surface of the substrate to be coated by sand blasting treatment, oxide film coating, or the like depending on kind of a substrate. Also a primer layer may be formed on the substrate. Particularly by forming the primary layer, non-uniformity of a color of the obtained coating film can be inhibited further.
A coating film which is rich in white and has a whiteness (L value) of 60 or more can be obtained by using the fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition of the present invention. Further a coating film having a whiteness of 70 or more, further 80 or more can be formed by increasing an amount of the above-mentioned preferable surface-treated rutile titanium oxide and by using the, above-mentioned preferable combinations of thermal stabilizers.
The present invention also relates to the articles having a fluorine-containing resin coating film having such a high whiteness on its surface. Non-restricted examples of the articles which are obtained by using the coating film of the present invention are, for instance, chemical equipment and parts thereof contacting a chemical substance such as a reaction tank, storage tank, pipe, agitator, roll, valve, reaction tower and centrifugal dehydrator.
The articles of the present invention are suitable particularly for uses in the fields of medicines, foods and medical hygiene because a whiteness thereof is high and detection of stain is easy.
The present invention is then explained by means of examples, but is not limited thereto.

Fluorine-containing resin powder coating composition


An optical connector comprises a clamp member holding an optical fiber, a first housing to which the clamp member is fixed, and a second housing fitted to the first housing. The first housing has an aligning portion for aligning and positioning the optical fiber, and a clamp holding portion holding the clamp member. The optical fiber has an end portion protruding forward from the aligning portion in a cantilevered state.

This invention relates to an optical connector for directly connecting optical fibers to one another.
In recent years, proposal is made of an optical connector for directly connecting a plurality of optical fibers to one another. The optical connector of the type is required to be able to mount the optical fibers with high density and to be reduced in size.
The optical connector comprises a housing and a clamp member holding the optical fibers.
Each of the optical fiber is held by the clamp member after an end of the optical fiber is preliminarily polished. Thereafter, the optical fiber is inserted through a narrow hole of the housing to be slightly protruded from the housing by a predetermined length. Simultaneously, the clamp member is adhered and fixed to the housing. For example, such optical connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) Nos. 2001-42167 and 2000-56161.
However, the above-mentioned optical connector requires such a highly skilled and complicated operation of inserting the optical fiber through the narrow hole of the housing to slightly protrude the optical fiber from the housing by the predetermined length and simultaneously adhering and fixing the clamp member to the housing.
In an assembling operation of the optical connector, when the optical fiber is inserted into the narrow hole, polishing waste left after polishing or dust in the narrow hole is often attached to an end face and a side surface of the optical fiber.
Therefore, after the clamp member is adhered and fixed to the housing, the optical connector requires a troublesome work to remove the polishing waste or the dust adhered to the optical fiber.

Optical connector for connecting optical fibers to one another

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited


An example method includes receiving, at a first frequency, sensor information indicative of an actual pressure level of a pilot fluid signal in a pilot line connecting an outlet port of a pilot supply valve to a pilot port of a main valve; determining an estimated pressure for the pilot fluid signal in the pilot line at a second frequency greater than the first frequency; determining a pressure estimate error based on comparing the actual pressure level to the estimated pressure; determining a pressure level error based on comparing the estimated pressure to a commanded pressure value; and operating the pilot supply valve in an open state to provide the pilot fluid signal to the pilot port of the main valve until the pressure level error is less than a threshold value.

Some vehicles, such as trucks, have multiple axles with two or four tires per axle to spread the weight over the road surface. There is a maximum weight per type of axle, and therefore, to carry heavy weights, trucks have multiple axles. However, when the truck or trailer is empty, the weight might not sufficient to justify using all the axles.
A retractable axle or lift axle of a truck is an axle that can be raised when the truck is not carrying a heavy load or is empty so that its tires are not touching the road surface. This improves fuel economy, reduces maintenance, and reduces tire wear. When the vehicle is carrying higher loads, the axle can be lowered so that its tires are touching the road surface and the axle can carry load to facilitate distributing the load among a larger number of axles.
The retractable axle can be lowered and retracted using a fluid system. Such a fluid system can involve using a valve assembly to direct fluid to and from actuating mechanisms that can lower and retract the axle. It may be desirable to configure the valve assembly in a modular manner to facilitate controlling one or more retractable axles as desired based on the type and size of the truck.
Each vehicle or vehicle type may have different configuration parameters (e.g., different hose lengths and sizes), which can affect operation of the control system of the valve assembly. In an example, the configuration parameters of the vehicle can be hard-coded or manually input to a controller for each vehicle. However, this can be cumbersome and might not take into consideration changes that might occur after the configuration parameters are input.
It may thus be desirable to have a control system that can automatically identify or compensate for variations in the configuration parameters, and thus adapt to the configuration of the vehicle without having to hard code the control parameters into the controller. This way, the controller can compensate for any changes in the configuration parameters and can control any vehicle or vehicle type regardless of configuration. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Systems and methods for controlling a lift axle


A hydrodynamically optimized mixer module, to be coupled to a deterministic hydrodynamic tool that allows pulsed polishing of optical surfaces is described. This module allows the supply of abrasive foam or fluid that enters the tool to be interrupted without impairing the operational stability of the polishing process and of said hydrodynamic tool. The mixer module includes at least one interrupter element for switching high-velocity fluids; a first inlet through which air is injected under pressure and in a controlled manner; a second inlet through which a polishing fluid is injected in a controlled manner, said polishing fluid filling a predetermined volume with a hydrodynamically optimized shape and being transferred to a mixing zone where, together with the pressure-injected air, an abrasive foam is produced that is injected into at least one rotational acceleration chamber of the hydrodynamic tool to which the mixer module is coupled.

The process of optical quality polishing, fine or high-precision polishing consists of roughing the surface material to be polished to smooth it, and to correct its figure with wavelength fraction accuracies.
In the field of high-precision optics and microelectronics, and more specifically, in terms of optical flattening of semiconductor surfaces, high-precision grinding and polishing is carried out with different modern techniques.
Conventional polishing methods, also known as classical polishing methods (R. N. Wilson "Reflecting Telescope Optics II, Manufacture, Testing, Alignment, Modern Techniques" Springer Verlag, 1999. and Wilson S R, et al., SPIE Vol. 966, 74, 1988), mainly use contact tools made of elastic materials (pitch, polyurethane, and the like) that precisely mold to the surface to be polished, exerting friction through an abrasive suspension layer. These polishing procedures tend to be artisanal and slow, and deform polishing tools due to temperature and torsion generated during the process, with a consequent tool wear where abrasive and removed material are embedded. Furthermore, conventional polishing methods have other disadvantages, such as: it is only possible to polish high hardness materials; work surfaces are deformed by pressure exerted on them by tools requiring rigid supports for them; they tend to leave a fallen edge due to a semi-rigid contact material and the lack of support of the tool on the edge; the size of the tool is necessarily changed to make zonal corrections; they work with harmonic machines that do not have the advantages of a machine with several degrees of freedom as required, for example, for polishing an off-axis surface.
The problems of the methods disclosed above were overcome by using "stressed lap" type tools, consisting of tools that actively deform to polish spherical surfaces more easily. However, these are complex methods and one of their important limitations is that precision working on surface edges is not possible, obtaining what is known in the field of optics as fallen edge surfaces.
The state of the art shows other more updated methods than those already disclosed, which are used for fine polishing of optical surfaces, namely: polishing by means of an ion beam (Ion Beam Figuring, which is an excellent method for correction of errors on an optical surface, also known as "corrective polishing"); polishing by means of magnetorheological fluids; and polishing by fluidic jets (Fluid Jet Polishing). Characteristics and limitations of each are described below:
Polishing by means of an ion beam is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,786,236 and 5,969,368, where said technology is based on the bombardment of the surface to be polished with a collimated ion beam of inert gas, thus producing material removal. This technology only allows fine polishing of a previously prepared and polished surface. The process is iterative, based on an error map of the work surface that is used to correct imperfections. This method requires a vacuum chamber, at least the size of the piece to be polished, thus being expensive and complex; performing optical interferometric tests is not possible during the polishing process, which complicates the iterative polishing/testing process; surface micro-roughness remains practically intact due to an orthogonal beam incidence on the surface.
A polishing method by means of magnetorheological fluids is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,971,835 and 6,106,380, consisting of confining a magnetic fluid with abrasive on a rotating cylinder perimeter area which is hardened under the influence of a magnetic field, generating a polishing tool. Polishing is achieved by controlling the part to be polished on the magnetorheological fluid circulating on the rotating cylinder. Another variant of this method is to collimate an abrasive magnetorheological liquid flow by means of a magnetic field, making it collide with the work surface.
On the other hand, fluid jet polishing (Booij, S. M., et al., Optical Engineering, August 2002, vol. 41, No. 8, pp. 1926-1931 and Booij, S. M., et al., I. OF&T conference, Tucson, June 2002, pp. 52-54. and O. Fáhnle at al., Appl. opt. 38, 6771-6773˜1998) is the first fluid-based polishing technology developed, grinding the surface to be polished with an abrasive fluid beam. The jet is directed to the surface through a nozzle placed at a certain angle and distance from the work surface. This polishing method has limitations because the generated erosion footprint is very small and generates low removal rates. Surfaces that can be polished are small and the tool is limited to meet the needs of high precision polishing in the fields of large surface optics.
On the other side, the state of the art also identifies Mexican Patent No. 251048 by the same inventors of the present invention, which describes a useful tool for fine or high-precision grinding and polishing of flat and curved optical surfaces, including edges, as well as for optical flattening of semiconductor and metal surfaces, without coming into contact with them, exerting zero force on the work surface. Said tool was developed to solve problems that the available technology had not solved at such time, because in addition to the above discussed limitations, each of the polishing and grinding methods showed another significant limitation related to the fact that the use of more than one technology was needed to achieve a high-precision finish on a surface.
The hydrodynamic tool of Mexican patent No. 251048 has no moving parts and is arranged by interchangeable modules, namely a mixer module that mixes two or more components of a polishing substance to form an abrasive foam that includes a porous cavity to control the density of said abrasive foam; a module of at least one rotational acceleration chambers that have an optimized hydrodynamic geometry, that minimizes random turbulence and creates a single, organized vortex that allows the mixture of air and abrasive fluid to be rotationally accelerated. These acceleration chambers include a set of power injectors in its periphery; an aerostatic suspension system, that generates a fluid layer over which the tool floats, and said fluid layer allows said tool to adjust its position with respect to the work surface by means of a series of aerostatic bearings; a throat actuator; an exit nozzle; a diverging radial nozzle; and a material recovery ring.
In the mixer module, a high velocity flow, consisting of an abrasive foam, is produced, which, when leaving the hydrodynamic tool, radially and parallel to the work surface, expands onto the work surface creating abrasion in an annular, stable, uniform and repeatable footprint. This footprint, dependent upon the tool operational parameters, namely abrasive fluid supply flow, density and pressure, as well as pressurized air supply pressure, consists of a central low pressure zone, surrounded by a high pressure zone that cancel each other out, giving the tool a self supporting capacity or buoyancy. The hydrodynamic tool permits carrying out all the processes needed to obtain a very high-precision optical surface, from corrective grinding to fine polishing without the need of changing tools, avoiding friction against the work surface, wear and deformation of the tool, and also allowing polishing of thin membranes without requiring rigid or active supports for the work piece.
However, and despite its versatility, the hydrodynamic tool of Mexican Patent No. 251048 shows the limitation of not being able to interrupt its erosive action during the polishing process due to its internal hydrodynamic geometry. The operating parameters of the hydrodynamic tool, which consist of a controlled supply of pressurized air and polishing fluid into said tool, create the stability conditions that give the tool the ability to float over the surface to be polished, also called tool buoyancy or self supporting capacity, that also form the tool erosion footprint that produces erosion that removes material in a controlled manner. Interrupting any of these supplies will break up the stability conditions: the tool will cease to float over the work surface and the tool influence function will lose its erosive power. As mentioned above, interrupting the supply of the polishing solution causes the tool to lose its stability and buoyancy, requiring it to always be turned on, which forces requires having to sweep the entire surface which removes material in the process. This reduces the overall efficiency of the polishing process, as erosion will always be present, even in areas where polishing is not necessary, forcing higher than necessary process times, as well as excessive removal of material. This is disadvantageous for work on large surfaces, where polishing times can be tens of hours per run, and where polishing should not be interrupted in order to prevent the formation of splicing scars.
In order to solve the limitations of the hydrodynamic tool described above, a new mixer module is presented here that is coupled to the hydrodynamic tool from Mexican Patent No. 251048, and replaces the original mixer module of said patent, where the internal design of the mixer module in which the foaming step is carried out has been modified, so that the supply of polishing solution can be interrupted without losing the operational stability of the process, allowing polishing by "poxel" (Polishing Element) that, together with the hydrodynamic tool advantages possessed by Mexican Patent No. 251048, henceforth, the "hydrodynamic tool", results in a much more competitive tool in the sense of obtaining a more efficient convergence towards the intended surface, also being capable of performing pulsed polishing actions which said hydrodynamic tool of the state of the art cannot achieve.

Mixer module for a deterministic hydrodynamic tool for the pulsed polishing of optical surfaces, and pulsed polishing method


It is an object of the present invention to provide a washing machine capable of advantageously sanitizing a boot with cleaning air. A tubular member (25) of a boot attachment (30) is inserted in the boot (70) with a sufficient clearance, and an upper end portion (43) of the tubular member (25) is exposed from a top (70B) of the boot (70). A second lower vent (34) provided in a lower portion of the tubular member (25) is directed to a toe portion (70C) in the boot (70), and a first intermediate vent (35) and a second intermediate vent (36) are provided in a vertically intermediate portion of the tubular member (25). Cleaning air supplied into a drum (8) of the washing machine is smoothly introduced into the tubular member (25) of the boot attachment (30) by the upper end portion (43) to flow down through the tubular member (25). The cleaning air flows out of the tubular member (25) through the first intermediate vent (35), the second intermediate vent (36) and the second lower vent (34) to spread inside the boot (70). Thus, the inside of the boot (70) is sanitized with the cleaning air.

There is known a washing machine which includes a drum provided in a housing thereof and is adapted to wash laundry contained in the drum. There is also known a washing machine which is adapted to supply ozone-containing air (also called "cleaning air") into a drum thereof for sterilization and deodorization (sometimes referred to generally as "sanitization") of laundry with the cleaning air in the drum (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
The washing machine disclosed in Patent Document 1 is capable of performing a laundry sanitization operation (called "air-wash operation") with the use of the cleaning air independently of an ordinary laundry process and a drying process.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2007-195896

Washing machine, boot purifying aid, boot tray and boot attachment


An image forming apparatus includes a detected-current-controlled voltage charging device for charging a transfer material before a toner image is transferred to the transfer material by a transfer device. A current is produced when a voltage is applied to the charger device before the toner image is transferred. The voltage applied to the transferring device when the image-formed portion of the transferring material passes a transferring part is controlled on the basis of a current produced by a predetermined voltage applied to the transfer device when a leading edge portion of the transferring material passes the transferring part, and the predetermined voltage is controlled on the basis of the output from the current detector.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus utilizing the electrophotographic process or the like, and particularly to an apparatus for charging a recording material before transfer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various processes such as the electrophotographic process, the heat transfer process and the ink jet process have heretofore been adopted in image forming apparatuses. Of these, an image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic process has advantages in high speed, high quality of image and quietude.
FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings schematically shows the construction of an example of the image forming part of a conventional image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic process.
The image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic type has, for example, a drum-shaped electrophotographic photosensitive body, i.e., a photosensitive drum 1, as an image bearing body, and uniformly charges the surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 1 by primary charging means 2, and thereafter effects exposure 12 in accordance with image information by exposing means 11 such as an LED or a laser to thereby form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. Thereafter, the electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing apparatus 8 by the use of a developer (a toner, or a toner with a carrier), and the toner is made to electrostatically adhere to the latent image, which is thus visualized as a toner image.
In synchronism with the formation of the toner image on such a photosensitive drum 1, a transferring material P is conveyed from a sheet feeding cassette 15 by conveying means 14, and the toner image on the photosensitive drum 1 is electrostatically transferred onto the transferring material P conveyed to a transferring position opposed to the photosensitive drum 1 by the conveying means 14, by the action of transfer charging means 4. Thereafter, the toner image transferred onto the transferring material P is fixed by being heated and pressurized by a fixing apparatus 21, whereby a permanent image is obtained on the transferring material P.
On the other hand, any untransferred toner residual on the photosensitive drum 1 after transfer is removed by a cleaning blade provided in a drum cleaner 10, and is collected into the container portion (waste toner container part) of the cleaner 10. The photosensitive drum 1 having had its surface thus cleaned is repetitively used for image formation.
Now, in recent years, color image forming apparatuses using the electrophotographic process have spread. There are various types of color image forming apparatuses. Besides the well-known multiple transfer type and intermediate transferring member type, there are the multiple developing type in which development is repeated on the surface of an image bearing body to thereby superimpose and form toner images of plural colors, whereafter the toner images are collectively transferred, and the in-line type which has image forming means (process stations) of a plurality of different colors along a transferring material conveying belt and toner images of the plural colors are superimposed and transferred to a transferring material conveyed by the conveying belt.
The color image forming apparatus of the in-line type can be made higher in speed and has many advantages including the advantage in quality of image due to the low frequency of toner image transfer. In this in-line type, there has also been proposed a construction in which for the improvement in usability and the reduction in installation area, the process stations are arranged in a vertical direction and a transferring material is conveyed substantially vertically.
FIG. 4 of the accompanying drawings shows an example of the construction of a full color image forming apparatus of the conventional in-line type. This apparatus has an electrostatic sucking belt, i.e., a conveying belt 14, as a transferring material conveying member, and the conveying belt 14 is passed over a drive roller 23, a sucking opposed roller 22 and tension rollers 13a, 13b. The conveying belt 14 is rotatively driven in the direction of arrow by the drive roller 23.
Process stations 31Y, 31M, 31C and 31Bk which are yellow (Y) magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (Bk) image forming parts are disposed along the peripheral surface of the conveying belt 14, and a transferring material is sequentially conveyed to the respective process stations by the conveying belt 14. Each process station 31 (31Y, 31M, 31C, 31Bk) has a photosensitive drum 1 (1Y, 1M, 1C, 1Bk), a primary charger 2 (2Y, 2M, 2C, 2Bk), a developing apparatus 8 (8Y, 8M, 8C, 8Bk) and a drum cleaner 10 (10Y, 10M, 10C, 10Bk), and the photosensitive drum 1, the charger 2, the developing apparatus 8 and the drum cleaner 10 are integrally made into a process cartridge which is made detachably mountable with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus.
A transferring blade 4 (4Y, 4M, 4C, 4Bk) which is transfer charging means abuts against the photosensitive drum 1 with the conveying belt 14 interposed therebetween, and during the transfer of a toner image on the photosensitive drum 1 to the transferring material P, a transferring bias voltage is applied to the transferring blade 4 from a transferring bias power supply 32 (32Y, 32M, 32C, 32Bk) connected thereto.
When in the foregoing, an organic semiconductive electrophotographic photosensitive member (OPC photosensitive member) of the negative polarity is used as the photosensitive drum 1 and the exposed portion of a latent image in which negative charges have been attenuated by the exposure of the photosensitive drum 1 is to be developed, use is made of a developer including a toner of the negative polarity. Accordingly, a transferring bias voltage of the positive polarity is applied from a transferring bias power supply 32 to the transferring blade 4.
The transferring material P is conveyed from a sheet feeding cassette 15 toward the image forming part by a pickup roller 16 and sheet feeding rollers 17 and 18, and is once nipped by and between a pair of registration rollers 19a and 19b which are roller-shaped synchronous rotary members, and thereafter is supplied to the transferring material sucking part of the conveying belt 14 by the pair of registration rollers 19 in synchronism with the image forming operation on the photosensitive drum 1.
In the sucking part, a sucking roller 20 as sucking charging means is installed in opposed relationship with the sucking opposed roller 22 with the conveying belt 14 interposed therebetween, and the conveying belt 14 and the transferring material P are adapted to be nipped by and between the sucking roller 20 and the opposed roller 22. A voltage (sucking bias voltage) is applied from a sucking bias power supply (high power supply), not shown, to the sucking roller 20, whereby sucking charges are imparted to the transferring material P, and the transferring material P to which the charges have been imparted polarizes the conveying belt 14, whereby the transferring material P is electrostatically sucked to the conveying belt 14.
The transferring material P sucked to the conveying belt 14 in this manner passes through the respective process stations in succession, and yellow, magenta, cyan and black toner images on the respective photosensitive drums 1 are successively superimposed and transferred onto the transferring material P. Thereafter, the transferring material P is separated from the conveying belt 14 and is conveyed to a fixing apparatus 21, where the fixing of the toner images of the four colors is effected, and a full color permanent image is thus obtained on the transferring material P. Any untransferred toner residual on the photosensitive drum 1 after the transfer is removed by the cleaning blade 9 (9Y, 9M, 9C, 9Bk) of the drum cleaner 10, and is collected into the container portion of the cleaner 10.
As the above-described conveying belt 14, use is made of resin film such as polyvinylidene fluoride resin (PVDF), ethylene tetrafluoride-ethylene copolymer resin (ETFE), polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate resin (PET) or polycarbonate having a thickness of 50 to 200 xcexcm and volume resistivity of the order of 109 to 1016 xcexa9cm, or a rubber sheet comprising a substrate layer of rubber such as ethylene-propylene-diene three component copolymer (EPDM) having a thickness of the order of 0.5 to 2 mm, and covered with a coating consisting, for example, of urethane rubber having fluorine resin such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) dispersed therein.
In general the conveying belt 14 does not bear toner images on its surface directly and therefore is little contaminated by the toners, but during the jam of the transferring material or during the adherence of fog toners to the non-image bearing portions of the photosensitive drums 1, or at the starting of a system in which a registration mark or a density detection pattern is directly formed on the conveying belt 14, and it is detected and used for image control, the toners adhere onto the conveying belt 14 and contaminate it.
So, a belt cleaner 24 is provided to remove the contaminative toners on the conveying belt 14. Alternatively, the cleaning process of applying a cleaning bias voltage opposite in polarity to the bias voltage during the transfer to the transferring blade 4 in each process station 31 to thereby shift the contamination toners on the conveying belt 14 to the photosensitive drum 1, and collecting such toners into the drum cleaner 10 is carried out.
FIG. 5 shows a conventional image forming apparatus of the intermediate transferring member type. This apparatus is a full color image forming apparatus provided with a plurality of process stations along an intermediate transferring belt as an intermediate transferring member. In FIG. 5, members with the same numerals as those in FIG. 4 corresponds to the same members.
In the image forming apparatus using the conveying belt, the toner image of each color formed in each process station is directly transferred to the transferring material, whereas in the image forming apparatus using the intermediate transferring belt 27, toner images of respective colors formed in respective process stations 31 (31Y, 31M, 31C, 31Bk) are once primary-transferred to the intermediate transferring belt 27 and are superimposed, whereafter the toner images are collectively secondary-transferred onto the transferring material P.
The intermediate transferring belt 27 is passed over a drive roller 23, a tension roller 13 and a secondary transferring opposed roller 28, and as the intermediate transferring belt 27, use is made of a belt made of synthetic resin or a belt made of rubber.
By a process similar to that described with reference to FIG. 4, image formation is effected at predetermined timing in the respective process stations 31, and toner images formed on the photosensitive drums 1 (1Y, 1M, 1C, 1Bk) are successively primary-transferred onto the intermediate transferring belt 27 in respective primary transferring parts opposed to the primary transferring blades 4 (4Y, 4M, 4C, 4Bk), to thereby form a full color image comprising toner images of the four colors, i.e., yellow, magenta, cyan and black superimposed one upon another, and the toner images of the four colors on the intermediate transferring belt 27 are collectively secondary-transferred onto the transferring material P supplied to the secondary transferring part of the intermediate transferring belt 27 at predetermined timing via sheet feeding rollers 17, 18, registration rollers 19, etc., by a secondary transferring roller 29. The transferring material P subjected to the transferring step is conveyed to the fixing apparatus 21, where it is heated and pressurized and the toner images are fixed as a permanent image on the surface of the transferring material.
In the image forming apparatus of the electrophotographic type as described above, requirements for a higher speed and a higher quality of image have been heightening year by year and further, similar requirements are also heightening for transferring materials differing in nature from generally popular copying paper such as a transparency for overhead projector (hereinafter referred to as OHT) or thick paper.
Particularly about a higher quality of image, it is one of the most important elements to optimize the transferring bias voltage in the transfer charging means in conformity with the nature of the transferring material. However, the optimum transferring bias voltage for respective transferring materials has been changed, for example, by the state of the fluctuation of the ambient environment (temperature and humidity) or the fluctuation of the moisture content of the transferring material itself, and has been a great hindrance to a higher quality of image.
As regards the achievement of a higher quality of image for transferring materials of high electrical resistance as typified by thick paper or the like, in this case, a high transferring bias voltage becomes necessary as compared with popular copying paper. However, to apply a high transferring bias voltage, not only a correspondingly expensive power supply becomes necessary, but also in the full color image forming apparatus of the tandem type as shown in FIG. 4, a greater bias voltage is required in a more downstream station and therefore, the destruction of the insulation of the photosensitive drums and the belt has posed a problem.
As one of means for solving such a problem, there is known, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-27837 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-161035.
Both of the techniques of these publications make it possible to pre-charge the transferring material on the conveying belt immediately before toner images are transferred to the transferring material, to thereby suppress the transferring bias voltage required for the transfer of the toner images to a low level.
In these techniques, however, the bias voltage for the pre-charging is primarily set depending on whether the transferring material is a high-resistance transferring material, and the differences between the states of individual transferring materials such as the kinds, moisture contents and surface resistance values of the transferring materials are not taken into account, and such techniques have been insufficient from the viewpoint of a higher quality of image.
Further, provision is not made of means for discriminating whether the transferring material is a high-resistance transfer material, and this has been left to the user""s judgement. Thick paper, OHT, etc. include what do not come under the category of high-resistance transferring material but yet are commercially available, and it becomes a factor which deteriorates the quality of image to effect the pre-charging for the high-resistance transferring material in case of image formation on such transferring materials.
Specifically, when pre-charging is effected by a predetermined bias voltage on low-resistance OHT or OHT greatly reduced in resistance under a high humidity environment, bad charging has sometimes occurred. That is, when OHT has become low in resistance due to its environment, the pre-charging bias voltage becomes excessively great to the OHT or charges once accumulated by the pre-charging escape halfway, and in the central portion wherein charges remain, the transferring bias voltage is too weak and the image becomes faint due to bad transfer, and in the end portions from which charges have escaped, the transferring bias voltage is too strong and leak occurs, and likewise the image becomes faint due to bad transfer. As the result, it has been found by the applicant""s investigation that as shown in FIG. 6 which shows the case of a solid image, a bad image of which the black portion assumes a doughnut-like shape (doughnut phenomenon) is caused.
There has also been proposed the technique of providing a current detecting mechanism for a high power supply circuit for applying the transferring bias voltage, applying a predetermined bias voltage during the non-supply of sheets or during the passage of the leading edge blank portion of a transferring material and detecting the then flowing current value to thereby detect the ambient environment or discriminate the electrical resistance value of the transferring material, and optimizing the transferring bias voltage on the basis of these.
However, the requirement for a higher speed has heightened simultaneously with the requirement for a higher quality of image and for this, it is necessary to increase the process speed. As the result, there arises the problem that the time during which the blank portion on the leading edge of the transferring material passes the transfer charging means, i.e., the time during which the discrimination of the electrical resistance value of the transferring material can be effected, becomes short and the accuracy of the discrimination lowers or wrong discrimination is effected and the mechanism does not effectively act for the higher quality of image which is the original purpose.
So, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-35337, there is described the technique of discriminating the electrical resistance of a transferring material from the current value when a detection bias voltage is applied in a sucking portion. According to this, the discrimination of the electrical resistance value can be effected during the time from after the transferring material has come into a sucking part until it comes into a transferring part, and it seems that the time required for this can be sufficiently secured.
However, in order that the discrimination of the electrical resistance value may be accurately effected for a transferring material of a high electrical resistance value such as thick paper or OHT, it is preferable to stepwisely apply the detection bias voltage up to a reasonably high bias area. If a high bias voltage is stepwisely applied to such a transferring material, charges corresponding to the applied bias voltage will remain in terraces on the surface of the transferring material, and this will cause terraced unevenness in the transfer of a toner image in the transferring part. After all, to prevent this, the discrimination of the electrical resistance value must be effected in the blank portion on the leading edge of the transferring material, and like the discrimination in the transferring part, the discrimination in only the sucking part has been insufficient as a measure for a higher speed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus which can effect good transfer irrespective of transfer materials.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus comprising an image bearing body bearing a toner image thereon, transferring means for transferring the toner image on the image bearing body to a transferring material, and charging means having a voltage applied thereto to thereby charge the transferring material before the transfer by the transferring means, wherein the voltage applied to the charging means is controlled on the basis of a current produced when the leading edge portion of the transferring material is charged by the charging means.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus comprising an image bearing body bearing a toner image thereon, transferring means having a voltage applied thereto to thereby transfer the toner image on the image bearing body to a transferring material in a transferring part, charging means for charging the transferring material before the transfer by the transferring means, and detecting means for detecting a current produced when a voltage is applied to the charging means, wherein the voltage applied to the transferring means when the image-formed portion of the transferring material passes the transferring part is controlled on the basis of a current produced by a predetermined voltage being applied to the transferring means when the leading edge portion of the transferring material passes the transferring part, and the predetermined voltage is controlled on the basis of the output from the detecting means.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus comprising an image bearing body bearing a toner image thereon, transferring means having a voltage applied thereto to thereby transfer the toner image on the image bearing body to a transferring material in a transferring part, charging means for charging the transferring material before the transfer by the transferring means, and detecting means for detecting a voltage produced when a current is applied to the charging means, wherein the voltage applied to the transferring means when the image-formed portion of the transferring material passes the transferring part is controlled on the basis of a current produced by a predetermined voltage being applied to the transferring means when the leading edge portion of the transferring material passes the transferring part, and the predetermined voltage is controlled on the basis of the output from the detecting means.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus comprising an image bearing body bearing a toner image thereon, a transferring material bearing body bearing a transferring material thereon, transferring means for transferring the toner image on the image bearing body to the transferring material borne on the transferring material bearing body, charging means having a voltage applied thereto to thereby charge the transferring material borne on the transferring material bearing body in a charging part before the transfer by the transferring means, and detecting means for detecting a current produced when a voltage is applied to the transferring material bearing body on which the transferring material is not borne, wherein the voltage applied to the charging means when the transferring material passes the charging part is controlled on the basis of the output from the detecting means.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus comprising an image bearing body bearing a toner image thereon, a transferring material bearing body bearing a transferring material thereon, transferring means for transferring the toner image on the image bearing body to the transferring material borne on the transferring material bearing body, charging means having a voltage applied thereto to thereby charge the transferring material borne on the transferring material bearing body in a charging part before the transfer by the transferring means, and detecting means for detecting a voltage produced when a current is applied to the transferring material bearing body on which the transferring material is not borne, wherein the voltage applied to the charging means when the transferring material passes the charging part is controlled on the basis of the output from the detecting means.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus comprising an image bearing body bearing a toner image thereon, transferring means having a voltage applied thereto to thereby transfer the toner image on the image bearing body to a transferring material being conveyed in a transferring part, and charging means having a voltage applied thereto to thereby charge the transferring material in a charging part before the transfer by the transferring means, wherein when in the conveying direction of the transferring material, the length of the transferring material is greater than the distance from the charging part to the transferring part, the voltage applied to the transferring means is changed over at timing whereat the trailing edge portion of the transferring material passes the charging part.
Further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

Image forming apparatus with detected-current transfer material charging voltage control feature


For assigning a test pattern to a class chosen from a predefined set of classes, the class membership probability for the test pattern is calculated as well as the confidence interval for the class membership probability based upon a number of training patterns in a neighborhood of the test pattern in the feature space. The number of training patterns in the neighborhood of the test pattern is obtained from computing a convolution of a density function of the training patterns with a Gaussian smoothing function centered on the test pattern, where the density function of the training patterns is represented as a mixture of Gaussian functions. The convolution of the smoothing function and the mixture of Gaussian functions can be expressed analytically.

Pattern classification is well known in a number of real-world applications, such as, for instance, speech recognition, vehicle seat occupant classification, data mining, risk prediction, diagnosis classification, etc. The primary goal of a pattern classifier is to assign a test pattern to one or more classes of a predefined set of classes. The test pattern may be considered as a vector of features or, more precisely, numbers quantifying these features. A statistical classifier computes the conditional probability of different classes for a given input pattern (hereinafter also referred to as "class membership probability"). The deviation of these class membership probabilities from 1 are often interpreted as a risk of a false classification.
A challenge in pattern classification is the reduction of misclassifications. As a first approach to this problem, it is known to provide the classifier with a "reject" option. A classifier may exercise the reject option whenever none of the conditional probabilities of the different classes for a given input pattern exceeds a required minimum threshold. Otherwise, the classifier assigns the input pattern to the class with the highest conditional probability. As a consequence, a test pattern close to a decision boarder implicitly defined by the classifier is prone to be rejected, while a test pattern far away from the boarder will be assigned to a class. For a detailed description of this technique, the interested reader is referred to the article "On Optimum Recognition Error and Reject Tradeoff" by C. K. Chow, IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. IT-16, No. 1, January 1970.
Another aspect of the misclassification problem is the estimation of the uncertainty of the class membership probability. A classifier is usually trained, during a training process, by means of training patterns. These training patterns are preferably chosen according to different types (classes) of situations the classifier shall be able to distinguish. The class membership probabilities of a test pattern to be classified are based upon the training patterns used in the training process. Ideally, one would prepare the classifier for all types of situations that can occur. In real-world applications, this is most often impossible to achieve, e.g. +because of "unforeseeable" situations or limited resources. As a result, the feature space, i.e. the space spanned by all possible patterns, is not homogeneously populated with training patterns. Intuitively, uncertainty of a class membership probability outputted by the classifier in response to a given test pattern will be small if the density of training patterns around the test pattern is high. Likewise, the uncertainty will be high if the density of training patterns around the test pattern is low. The idea behind this approach is explained in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,291 (Kramer et al.), which describes a neural network taking into account the local amount of training data in the vicinity of the test pattern to be classified for verifying that the classification is reliable. The goodness of the neural network output is expressed as a confidence interval.
A classifier that provides the certainty (or the uncertainty) of a class membership probability is attractive in a safety critical context, such as e.g. vehicle seat occupant classification, diagnosis classification, etc., since it allows labelling a test pattern as "unknown" and/or exercise the reject option if the uncertainty of the class membership probability is too high.

IEE International Electronics & Engineering S.A.


Apparatus and methods are provided for use with a subject who is undergoing respiration. A motion sensor senses motion of a subject. A breathing pattern analysis unit analyzes components of the sensed motion that result from the subject's respiration. The breathing pattern analysis unit includes double-movement-respiration-cycle-pattern-identification functionality that designates respiration cycles as being double-movement-respiration-cycles (DMRC's) by determining that the cycles define two subcycles. Double-movement-respiration-cycle-event-identification functionality of the breathing pattern analysis unit identifies a DMRC event by detecting that the subject has undergone a plurality of DMRC's. An output is generated that is indicative of the subject having used accessory muscles in breathing, in response to identification of the double-movement-respiration-cycle event. Other embodiments are also described.

Chronic diseases are often expressed by episodic worsening of clinical symptoms. Preventive treatment of chronic diseases reduces the overall dosage of required medication and associated side effects, and lowers mortality and morbidity. Generally, preventive treatment should be initiated or intensified as soon as the earliest clinical symptoms are detected, in order to prevent progression and worsening of the clinical episode and to stop and reverse the pathophysiological process. Therefore, the ability to accurately monitor pre-episodic indicators increases the effectiveness of preventive treatment of chronic diseases.
Many chronic diseases cause systemic changes in vital signs, such as breathing and heartbeat patterns, through a variety of physiological mechanisms. For example, common respiratory disorders, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), sleep apnea and cystic fibrosis (CF), are direct modifiers of breathing and/or heartbeat patterns. Other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, epilepsy, and certain heart conditions (e.g., congestive heart failure (CHF)), are also known to modify cardiac and breathing activity. In the case of certain heart conditions, such modifications typically occur because of pathophysiologies related to fluid retention and general cardiovascular insufficiency. Other signs such as coughing and sleep restlessness are also known to be of importance in some clinical situations.
Many chronic diseases induce systemic effects on vital signs. For example, some chronic diseases interfere with normal breathing and cardiac processes during wakefulness and sleep, causing abnormal breathing and heartbeat patterns.
Breathing and heartbeat patterns may be modified via various direct and indirect physiological mechanisms, resulting in abnormal patterns related to the cause of modification. Some respiratory diseases, such as asthma, and some heart conditions, such as CHF, are direct breathing modifiers. Other metabolic abnormalities, such as hypoglycemia and other neurological pathologies affecting autonomic nervous system activity, are indirect breathing modifiers.
The following patents and patent application publications, all of which are incorporated herein by reference, may also be of interest:                U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,026 to Tagg;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,989 to Zomer;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,734 to Zabara;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,263 to Baker;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,861 to Combs;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,720 to Pelz;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,970 to Kumakawa;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,621 to Sullivan;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,142 to Gavriely;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,057 to Goldsmith et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,856,141 to Ariav;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,980,679 to Jeung;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,207 to Sullivan;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,993 to Ariav;        U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,729 to de Chazal;        US Patent Application 2003/0045806 to Brydon;        US Patent Application 2005/0119586 to Coyle et al.;        US Patent Application 2006/0084848 to Mitchnick;        US Patent Application 2007/0156031 to Sullivan;        US Patent Application Publication 2007/0249952 to Rubin et al.; and        US Patent Application Publication 2008/0005838 to Wan Fong et al.
The following articles, which are incorporated herein by reference, may also be of interest:    Alihanka J., et al., "A new method for long-term monitoring of the ballistocardiogram, heart rate, and respiration," Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 240:384-392 (1981).    Bentur, L. et al., "Wheeze monitoring in children for assessment of nocturnal asthma and response to therapy," Eur Respir J 21(4):621-626 (2003).    Bilmes, J., "A gentle tutorial on the EM algorithm and its application to parameter estimation for Gaussian mixture and hidden Markov models," Technical report, University of Berkeley, ICSI-TR-97-021, 1997.    Chang, A. B. et al., "Cough, airway inflammation, and mild asthma exacerbation," Archives of Disease in Childhood 86:270-275 (2002).    Dempster, A. P., N. M. Laird, and D. B. Rubin, "Maximum likelihood from incomplete data via the EM algorithm," Journal of the royal statistical society, vol. 39 B, pp. 1-38, 1977.    Hirtum, A.; Berckmans, D.; Demuynck, K.; and Compernolle, D., "Autoregressive Acoustical Modelling of Free Field Cough Sound," Proc. International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, volume I, pages 493-496, Orlando, U.S.A., May 2002.    Hsu, J. Y., et al., "Coughing frequency in patients with persistent cough: assessment using a 24 hour ambulatory recorder," Eur Respir J 7:1246-1253 (1994).    Hudgel, D. W., R. J. Martin, B. Johnson, and P. Hill, "Mechanics of the respiratory system during sleep in normal humans," J. Appl. Physiol., vol. 5, pp. 133-137, 1984.    Kandtelhardt, J. W., T. Penzel, S. Rostig, H. F. Becker, S. Halvin, and A. Bunde, Breathing during REM and non-REM sleep: correlated versus uncorrelated behavior," Physica. A., vol. 319, pp. 447-457, 2003.    Li, Q. and A. Barron, "Mixture density estimation," Advances in neural information processing systems, vol. 12, pp. 279-285, MIT press, 2000.    Mack, D., et al., "Non-invasive analysis of physiological signals: NAPS: A low cost, passive monitor for sleep quality and related applications," University of Virginia Health System (undated).    O'Connor CJ et al, "Identification of endotracheal tube malpositions using computerized analysis of breath sounds via electronic stethoscopes," Anesth Analg 2005; 101:735-9.    Oppenheim, A. V., and R. W. Schafer, Discrete-Time Signal Processing, Prentice-Hall, 1989, pp. 311-312. Rechtschaffen A., Kales A. Manual of standardized terminology, techniques and scoring system for sleep for sleep stages of human subjects. Los Angeles: UCLA brain information services/brain research institute, 1968.    Salmi, T., et al., "Automatic analysis of sleep records with static charge sensitive bed," Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 64:84-87 (1986).    Schwarz, G., "Estimating the dimension of a model," Annals of statistics, vol. 6, pp. 461-464, 1978.    Sorvoja, H. and Myllylä, R., "Noninvasive blood pressure measurement methods," Molecular and Quantum Acoustics. vol. 27, 2006.    Van der Loos, H. F. M., et al., "Unobtrusive vital signs monitoring from a multisensor bed sheet," RESNA'2001, Reno, Nev., Jun. 22-26, 2001.    Waris, M., et al., "A new method for automatic wheeze detection," Technol Health Care 6(1):33-40 (1998).    Watanabe, T., et al., "Noncontact Method for Sleep Stage Estimation," IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, No 10, Vol. 51, October 2004.    Whitney, C. W., Gottlieb D J, Redline S, Norman R G, Dodge R R, Shahar E, Surovec S and Nieto F J, "Reliability of scoring respiratory disturbance indices and sleep staging," Sleep, 1998, Nov. 2; 21(7): 749-757.    Yongjoon, C., et al., "Air mattress sensor system with balancing tube for unconstrained measurement of respiration and heart beat movements", 2005 Physiol. Meas. 26 413-422.    U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,810 to Lange et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for predicting an onset of a clinical episode, the method including sensing breathing of a subject, determining at least one breathing pattern of the subject responsively to the sensed breathing, comparing the breathing pattern with a baseline breathing pattern, and predicting the onset of the episode at least in part responsively to the comparison.    U.S. Provisional Patent Applications 60/541,779, 60/674,382 and 60/692,105, PCT Publication WO 05/074361 to Lange et al., US Patent Application Publication 2006/0241510 to Halperin et al., US Patent Application 2008/0275349 submitted by Halperin et al. on May 1, 2008 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and US Patent Application Publication 2007/0118054 to Pinhas et al., all of which are assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference, describe various methods and systems for clinical episode prediction and monitoring.
The inclusion of the foregoing references in this Background section does not imply that they constitute prior art or analogous art with respect to the invention disclosed herein.

Monitoring, predicting and treating clinical episodes


The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for the therapeutic treatment of autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, autoimmune uveitis, and inflammatory bowel disease, or graft-versus-host disease. The pharmaceutical composition contains, as the effective ingredient, a gp34 binding-inhibitory substance.

Human gp34 antigen belongs to a ligand family of tumor necrosis factor (referred to as "TNF" hereinbelow) classified as cytokine. Firstly, the gp34 antigen was identified as a human T-cell leukemia virus (referred to as HTLV-1 hereinbelow)-derived transcription activating factor p40Tax induced T-cell membrane glycoprotein of 34 kDa. Currently, the amino acid sequence of the gp34 antigen and DNA nucleotide sequence of the gene thereof are known (Tanaka et al: Int. J. Cancer 36, 549 (1985), Miura et al.: Mol. Cell. Biol. 11, 1313 (1991)). Meanwhile, the OX40 antigen has been identified as an activated T-cell antigen in rats (Paterson et al.: Mol. Immunol. 24, 1281 (1987)). Thereafter, it has been revealed that the gp34 antigen has a ligand-receptor relation with the OX40 antigen in humans and mice. The amino acid sequence of murine gp34 and the DNA nucleotide sequence of the gene thereof have been known (Godfrey et al.: J. Exp. Med. 180, 757 (1994), Baum et al.: EMBO J.13, 3992 (1994)). Furthermore, it has been elucidated at experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (referred to as "EAE" hereinafter)in rats that such OX40 antigen is expressed in an activated CD4-positive T-cell being contained in autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis, autoimmune ocular diseases and inflammatory bowel disease and in graft-versus-host disease and functioning as autoimmunity, and that the specific elimination of the self-attacking CD4-positive T cells at an activated state by binding a cytotoxin to a substance recognizing such OX40 antigen may be promising as an effective therapeutic method. A patent application has been submitted therefor, while a report has also been issued (CANTAB PHARM, Res., Lim.: WO95/21251, Weinberg et al: Nature Med. 2, 183 (1996)). The report describes that a group of OX40-positive cells is present in activated CD4-positive T cells with self-reactivity among CD4-positive activated cells and an anti-OX40 immunotherapy against them may be effective as the therapeutic treatment of acute or chronic autoimmune diseases mediated via CD4-positive T cells. However, the report tells that the expression of OX40 is just a simple marker of cells responsible for autoimmune diseases and the therapeutic effect is owing to the elimination of target activated T cells. The report additionally tells that it is not yet elucidated whether or not such inflammatory state or autoimmune state can be suppressed by singly blocking the binding between gp34 and OX40 and that single addition of anti-OX antibody with no cytotoxin bound thereto did not suppress the cell growth of activated CD4-positive T lymphocytes responsible for the exacerbation of the symptomatic conditions. It is also reported that a rabbit anti-mouse OX40 polyclonal antibody bound with a cytotoxin suppressed the elevation of the score grading the symptomatic conditions in EAE, but no such effect is reported in a concurrently examined group dosed with only a rabbit anti-mouse OX40 polyclonal antibody or in a negative control alike. The finding indicates that it is not yet elucidated whether the inhibition of only the binding between gp34 and OX40 can suppress the inflammatory state or autoimmune state. Additionally, a patent application has been submitted, regarding a method for detecting inflammatory symptoms of a patient with a disease believed to be mediated with activated T lymphocytes, comprising examining an biopsy sample from the patient (CANTAB PHARM, Res, lim.: WO95/21251).
As has been described above, the functions of gp34 and OX 40 have been elucidated just partially. The relation between gp34 and OX40 and the role thereof in various autoimmune diseases have absolutely never been elucidated so far. Specific inhibition of the function mediated between these two molecules on the side of gp34 by using an anti-human gp34 monoclonal antibody has totally never been anticipated. In other words, it has never been known whether or not such inhibition is effective for the therapeutic treatment of autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, autoimmune uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease, and graft-versus-host disease.
Problems that the Invention is to Solve
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel pharmaceutical composition containing as the effective ingredient a human gp34 binding-inhibitory substance, more specifically a humanized anti-human gp34 monoclonal antibody, as a therapeutic agent for autoimmune disease including rheumatoid diseases including multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, autoimmune uveitis or inflammatory bowel disease, or graft-versus-host disease; and a method for therapeutically treating immune- or autoimmune diseases, comprising inhibiting binding to gp34, particularly binding to OX40.
Means for Solving the Problems
So as to overcome the problems, the inventors have made investigations. Consequently, the inventors have recovered a rat anti-mouse gp34 monoclonal antibody believed to have the same properties as those of a humanized monoclonal antibody binding to human gp34. Because gp34 experiments in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis cannot be practiced, ethically, the recovered rat anti-mouse gp34 monoclonal antibody was given to a collagen arthritis-triggered model mouse and an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis-triggered model mouse, whereby it was confirmed that the onset of the symptomatic conditions was suppressed in the rheumatoid model and the multiple sclerosis model. The finding firstly reveals that the binding between OX40 and gp34 on an OX40-positive activated T cell triggers autoimmune diseases such as rheumatism. The finding is indicated at the mouse experiments, but it is possibly suggested that the effect in mouse should also be exerted in humans because the properties of mouse gp34 and mouse OX40 are common to the properties of human gp34 and human OX40 in such a manner that gp34 and OX40 are in a relation between ligand and receptor. More specifically, the finding unconditionally indicates that a monoclonal antibody with binding potency to human gp34 is effective as a therapeutic agent for autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, autoimmune uveitis and inflammatory bowel disease, and graft-versus-host disease.
In other words, the present invention is a pharmaceutical composition containing as the effective ingredient a gp34 binding-inhibitory substance for the therapeutic treatment of autoimmune diseases, or a pharmaceutical composition containing as the effective ingredient a gp34 binding-inhibitory substance for the therapeutic treatment of immune diseases.

Medicinal composition containing gp34 binding-inhibitor as the active ingredient


There is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processing core, at least one memory including computer program code, at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, with at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to obtain, from a first sequential input (102), a first output from a first recurrent neural network, the first sequential input being of a first modality, obtain, from a second sequential input (103), a second output from a second recurrent neural network, the second sequential input being of a second modality, and process the first output and the second output to obtain a correlation of the first and second sequential inputs.

Artificial neural networks may be configured in different ways. In general, an artificial neural network, which will be referred to herein as simply a neural network, comprises artificial neurons, which likewise will be referred to herein simply as neurons. The neurons may be configured to receive inputs, apply weights and provide outputs based on the inputs and the weights, for example. The neurons may be implemented in software, or, additionally or alternatively, a neural network may comprise hardware-based artificial neurons.
Neural networks may be classified into different types based on their properties and configuration. A feedforward neural network is one where connections between neurons do not form cycles, that is, where data flows unidirectionally. An example of a feedforward type neural network is a convolutional neural network, CNN, where a filter is used to apply a convolutional operation to data in a preceding layer, to obtain data for a subsequent layer. CNNs may comprise fully connected layers, where each neuron is connected with each neuron in a preceding layer. CNNs have been employed in image classification, for example. CNNs have achieved, in limited settings, classification performance levels that are comparable to humans.
Recurrent neural networks, RNN, on the other hand, are networks where connections between neurons form a directed cycle. These networks enable processing of sequential data due to their internal memory, and RNNs may operate on the linear progression of time, combining a previous time step and a hidden representation into the representation for the current time step. RNNs have been employed in speech recognition and connected, unsegmented handwriting recognition, for example.
Recursive neural networks apply a set of weights recursively over a structure, to produce structured prediction with respect to input structures which may have varying sizes. Recurrent neural networks are one form of recursive neural networks.


An apparatus for controlling load allocation in a cluster system includes a cluster module having a plurality of target nodes and a cluster power management module. The cluster power management module analyzes resource usage of the target nodes by monitoring the load states of the target nodes. The cluster power management module adaptively allocates loads to the target nodes based on the analyzed resource usage and N allocation thresholds settled in response to an increase of the analyzed resource usage. The cluster power management module controls the target nodes so that the power state can be changed with the adaptively allocated loads.

As well-known, along with the trend toward the increase in the number and the size of a data center including a plurality of devices such as servers, storages and the like, a power consumed by the data center increases abruptly. In order to solve the problem of large power consumption, technical approach has made such as development of a server having high power conversion efficiency and low power consumption For example, servers in an idle state consume about 60% of the electricity energy. In a data center, servers run at efficiency of about 5% to 20% to cut server response time. To do so, about 10% of the servers in average place in a standby mode.
A method for managing loads such as servers in a cluster system evenly allocates the loads to the servers considering performance. Although this leads to improve the performance, the power consumption increases. Thus, the load allocation method is not suitable for reducing power consumption.
There is a technique to switch on/off a server on a single threshold basis by the amount of a load. However, this technique is disadvantageous in that a long period of switching on time of the server deteriorates performance of the cluster system and in that frequent on/off operations of the server results in large power consumption. Hence, such conventional technique cannot be used as a desirable load allocation method in view of performance and power consumption.

Method and apparatus for controlling load allocation in cluster system

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A glass reveal molding has a U-shaped clamping portion and an umbrella-shaped crown portion. The clamping portion is positioned on a bevel edge of a glass window or the like to provide a flush appearance with the glass window or the like.

The present invention relates generally to edge molding for window panels or the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a molding for a fixed window of an automobile vehicle such as a windshield, backlite or to a sunroof. The molding bridges the space between the edge of the glass panel and the adjacent body panel while providing the entire assembly with a flush glass appearance.
Automotive windshields, backlites and sunroofs are commonly mounted to the associated vehicle body in a manner which leaves a space between the periphery of the glass panel and the body panel. This space is covered by a molding referred to as a windshield, backlite or sunroof reveal molding. In covering the space between the glass panel and vehicle body, the reveal molding serves to improve the visual appearance of the automotive vehicle and to reduce wind noise.
To present the best visual appearance, reveal moldings must extend evenly around the space between the glass panel and body panel and must be able to accommodate spaces having varying widths. Reveal molding should also be able to curve around the radius of the glass panel without passing from the edge of the panel or twisting to become disengaged from the glass panel or body panel. Reveal molding also should resist fluttering in the relative wind.
Many moldings designed for attachment to the edges of automotive glass are of a single, asymmetrical construction. These moldings generally do not provide a flush appearance. They often project above the surface of the window panel, backlite or sunroof. When such moldings are attached around the radius of a glass panel edge, the clamping pressure of the two opposing molding surfaces is uneven due to the difference of resistance between the mass of material above and below the center axis of the glass. This difference in resistance can cause gapping of one gripper or the other, resulting in a loss of uniform gripping about the radius. Loss of gripping can result in detachment of the molding from the glass edge and a rolling of the molding away from the surface of the glass or from the surface of the vehicle body. This result is unsightly, it defeats the cosmetic function of the molding and increases the possibility of the molding to snag and come out.
In accordance with the present invention, the glass reveal molding has a generally U-shaped clamping portion which exerts substantial even gripping pressure on both top and bottom surfaces of the glass The molding has a crown that is substantially parallel to the legs of the "U" providing a continuous appearance. The glass has a beveled edge which enables one of the legs of the U-shaped clamping portion to seat on the bevel to provide a flush appearance with respect to the glass. Also, the crown includes a stabilizing tail that nests with the U-shaped clamping portion. The tail stabilizer prevents the crown from tilting up or down around the radius of the glass but the stabilizer allows the crown to seat against the vehicle body. This is achieved because the tail stabilizer presses against the U-shaped clamping portion when the molding is applied around a radius. Without the tail stabilizer, the crown would tip up or down when the molding is applied around a glass radius.
Further understanding of the present invention will be had from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the attached drawings and the appended claims


A controller area network (CAN) controller and transceiver device implementing an output CAN network as a mirror of an adjacent connected input CAN network, the output CAN network and the input can network both comprising at least first data wires. The system includes a first diode device interposing the input and output CAN networks such that a signal on the first data wire of the input CAN network can propagate to the first data wire of the output CAN network but not vice versa.

Security of computer networks used to be a concern primarily of those relying specifically upon computers for work or research and whose computers were connected via various network schemes to be able to exchange data or share resources. Initially, the majority of computer networks were limited in scope to a single office or perhaps a single building. If a computer was available in the home, it was generally a standalone device.
With the advent of the Internet, computers all over the world became essentially networked together. Even home computers may be networked together via Wi-Fi and recent research reveals that well over half of U.S. households have Internet access in the home. As the interconnectedness of personal and work computers has increased, cybersecurity threats have grown. Malicious websites, hacking, and phishing scams are now common. Responses to these threats have grown increasingly sophisticated as well but it is unlikely that any networked computer system can be made absolutely un-hackable while retaining acceptable usability.
The increasing availability of robust microcontrollers at lower costs has also resulted in the computerization of more and more automotive systems. Engines, transmissions, anti-lock braking systems, suspensions, instrument displays and many more vehicle systems are now commonly operated by a microcontroller. A driver of a vehicle may not realize that he or she may be less in control of the vehicle systems than providing inputs to microcontrollers that, in turn, operate the vehicle systems. Furthermore, it is not simply passenger vehicles that are highly computerized but many if not most commercial vehicle systems as well.
It is often useful or necessary that one vehicle computer or microcontroller be able to communicate with another (for example, the response of an engine to driver inputs may depend in part on the state of the transmission). Therefore, protocols have been developed that provide for networking ability within the vehicle itself. One such protocol for allowing communications between computerized systems on the same vehicle is the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. This is a widely-deployed standard allowing various vehicle subsystems to communicate without a centralized host computer dedicated to the task. More information about the CAN standard is specified in ISO 11898-1, ISO 11898-2, and ISO 11898-3 available from the International Organization for Standardization. Although the CAN bus is widely implemented in automobile systems (including heavy commercial vehicles), it is not necessarily limited to this application.
Computers and microcontrollers deployed in automotive systems are generally not programmable via the normal vehicle controls and, if so, the extent of programming is very limited (for, example, programming an automatic seat adjustment setting). This preserves some security and integrity for all of the automotive systems on the bus. However, there is currently no fundamental barrier to preventing a compromised device or controller with access to the vehicle bus from being able to provide malicious or simply unwanted data or commands on to the bus. Stories have already been reported of the ability of hackers, at least conceptually, to hack vehicle systems.
Another issue that may further degrade the security of electronic components on a vehicle data bus is the increasing presence of devices and systems that are not only given access to the vehicle data bus, but also to the Internet at large. Systems exist today that access data via a CAN bus or other system and share such data over the internet via satellite or other means. One class of such devices are so called electronic logging devices (ELD) that are becoming mandated for hours of service tracking for commercial vehicles. Such devices access the CAN bus to receive such information as when a vehicle is moving or whether it is running. Some ELD devices share data with a remote host computer via satellite and/or other internet connections. Although every effort may be made to ensure the security and integrity of the ELD or other device accessing the vehicle data bus, some means of physical security is currently believed to present the only full-proof way to address the issues.
What is needed is a system and method for addressing the above, and related, issues.


A liquid ejection head includes a manifold configured to store liquid therein, a plurality of ejection channels, and a dummy channel. Each ejection channel communicates with the manifold and is configured to receive liquid from the manifold and eject liquid through a corresponding nozzle thereof open to a nozzle surface. The dummy channel communicates with the manifold and includes a dummy nozzle open to the nozzle surface. The dummy channel further includes a pressure chamber, an actuator configured to apply pressure to liquid in the pressure chamber, a communication passage connecting the manifold to the pressure chamber, and a circulation passage through which the pressure chamber communicates with the manifold. The circulation passage is different from the communication passage and located between the dummy nozzle and the manifold.

A known liquid ejection apparatus includes a liquid ejection head configured to eject liquid, such as ink, to a recording medium. The liquid ejection head includes a manifold for storing liquid therein, and ejection channels to which liquid is supplied from the manifold. Each ejection channel includes a pressure chamber and a nozzle. Upon application of pressure to liquid in the pressure chamber, liquid is ejected from the nozzle.
The ejection channels are arranged in an array. A dummy channel is provided next to an ejection channel at an end of the array. This allows the ejection channels in the middle of the array and the ejection channel at the end of the array to have a similar surrounding structure to each other, and thus makes the ejection characteristics uniform among the ejection channels.

Liquid ejection head and liquid ejection apparatus


A method for managing one or more wireless connections includes: conducting a plurality of scan operations and a plurality of connection operations. Each scan operation is conducted within one of a plurality of scan windows, and each connection operation is conducted within one of a plurality of connection windows. The scan windows and the connection windows do not overlap with each other. Consecutive scan windows are separated by a scan interval, which is a first integer multiplication of a minimum interval, and consecutive connection windows are separated by a connection interval, which is a second integer multiplication of the minimum interval. When a new wireless connection is added or an existing wireless connection is removed, the link positions corresponding to wireless connections are adjusted to provide balanced distribution of time slot resource for the wireless connections.

In many wireless connection applications, a wireless gateway needs to manage multiple wireless connections. More specifically, Bluetooth technology is one of the wireless connection technologies that has been extensively implemented in electronic devices. It allows wirelessly exchanging of data between electronic devices within a short distance. Wireless connections through Bluetooth technology are free to use, have low power consumption, and are robust against interferences from other wireless connections. As a result, Bluetooth technology has been widely adopted in many products such as headphones, keyboards and mice, printers, car systems, and surveillance cameras. With rapid adaptation of Bluetooth technology, in more and more applications, a Bluetooth gateway may need to simultaneously manage multiple Bluetooth connections.
For a wireless gateway managing multiple Bluetooth connections, the number of simultaneous connections, the stability of each individual connection, and the throughput of each individual connection are key specifications to evaluate its performance. Existing methods and apparatuses for managing multiple Bluetooth connections have several shortcomings. For example, in a traditional Bluetooth gateway, the number of connections in actual applications rarely reaches its claimed capacity. For a gateway that theoretically can manage 20 connections simultaneously, when the connection number is relatively large (e.g., 10 connections), existing connections become unstable, and establishing a new connection becomes difficult, if possible at all. The throughputs of individual connections may vary substantially, and removing some connections may not ameliorate the imbalance. Additionally, in a traditional gateway, the throughput of individual connection is difficult to estimate. Therefore, a wireless connection management method that can address the foregoing limitations is desired.

Method and system for multiple wireless connection optimization