A method and mechanism operating within the Application layer of the architectural model for maintaining high availability in a two node computer network which utilizes alternate pathing. A failover mechanism operating within the Application layer monitors the original, primary network path. Upon detecting a failure of the primary path, the failover mechanism halts monitoring of the primary connection, configures the alternate network interface with the parameters of the primary network interface, and brings up the backup interface.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of computer networks and, more particularly, to maintaining the high availability in a two node computer network which utilizes alternate pathing technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the ever expanding use of computer networks throughout society has come an increasing dependence of users on the availability of that network. If a network goes down, or is otherwise unavailable, costs to an enterprise may be significant. Consequently, a number of techniques have arisen which are designed to ensure that a computer network is sufficiently robust that it may detect and respond to problems without significantly impacting users. Frequently, efforts to ensure a computer network is consistently online for its users may be referred to as maintaining xe2x80x9chigh availabilityxe2x80x9d. A computer network which has in place mechanisms which prevent hardware or software problems from impacting its users may be referred to as a High Availability Network (HAnet). Some of the characteristics which may be considered when defining a HAnet include protection of data (Reliability), continuous access to data (Availability), and techniques for correcting problems which minimally impact users (Serviceability). Collectively these characteristics are frequently referred to as RAS.
In some cases it is desirable to create a computer network which includes a two node Local Area Network (LAN). For example, it may be desirable to have a two node LAN consisting of a database server and its corresponding application server. These servers may be connected to each other using a well known method using crossover cables. A crossover cable is a cable that is used to connect two computers by reversing their respective pin contacts. Using crossover cables may have the advantage of being highly secure, performing well, and eliminating several components typically present in a computer network, such as switches and routers, which could cause a failure. However, while such a configuration may improve reliability and availability in the system, it does not address serviceability and still contains single points of failure. For example, failure of either of the server network interfaces to which the crossover cable is connected will cause the network to be unavailable. Also, failure of the crossover cable itself would result in unavailability of the network. In some cases, mechanisms may be put in place which detect an error in a network connection and notify the system administrator that a problem exists. The system administrator may then take corrective action, such as switching to a redundant resource. However, such mechanisms typically take some period of time and necessarily involve interruptions in network operation. In other cases, operating system specific mechanisms may be implemented which may facilitate a failover to a redundant connection. Typically these mechanisms operate at layers below the application layer of the protocol stack. Two widely recognized protocols include TCP/IP and ISO/OSI, each of which include a highest layer referred to as the application layer. Other communication protocols with a layer corresponding to the application layer may utilize a different name. Generally, those layers below the application layer involve software and mechanisms which are not portable across different operating systems. Consequently, these solutions are not portable and generally require a newly created mechanism for each platform on which a failover is desired.
One technology which provides for redundancy in case of failure is alternate pathing. Alternate pathing is a technology which provides for redundancy to storage in case of a failed I/O controller. In addition to providing for recovery after failure, alternate pathing may also be used to support dynamic reconfiguration. Dynamic reconfiguration is used to logically attach and detach system boards from a running operating system. In addition to providing redundancy to storage, alternate pathing may also be used with network connections. However, alternate pathing does not support automatic failover for network connections. Consequently, the problems described above still remain.
The problems outlined above are in large part solved by a method and mechanism as described herein. A method and mechanism of failover in a system with alternate pathing is described. By utilizing an Application layer mechanism which monitors the primary network connection, automatically detects a failure in the primary connection, and switches to the secondary connection in a short period of time, network availability may be maintained. Advantageously, network interruptions may be minimized and servicing of network problems may be automated by a mechanism which is portable across multiple platforms. Further, because the mechanism operates within the application layer of the communication protocol, no modification of existing operating software is necessary.
Broadly speaking, a method for maintaining high availability in a two node computer network utilizing alternate pathing is contemplated. The method includes adding an Application layer High Availability Networking (HAnet) mechanism to a node of the computer network, monitoring a first network connection, detecting a failure of the first network connection, and performing a failover from the first network connection to the second network connection. The monitoring, failure detection, and failover are all performed by the HAnet mechanism.
Also contemplated is a network node configured to support alternate pathing which includes a first network interface, a second network interface, and a High Availability Networking (HAnet) mechanism. The included HAnet mechanism operates at the Application layer and is configured to monitor the first network interface. If a failure of the first network interface is detected, the HAnet mechanism is configured to perform a failover from the first network interface to the second network interface.
Further contemplated is a two node computer network configured to support alternate pathing and to maintain high availability. The network includes a first node coupled to a second node by two paths. The first node includes a High Availability Networking (HAnet) mechanism which operates at the Application layer. The HAnet mechanism is configured to monitor the first path and perform a failover from the first path to the alternate path in response to detecting a failure of the first path.

High availability networking with alternate pathing failover


A method is provided that is implemented by a computing device to automate management functions in a network. The method collects existing state of the network from local database tables, logs or remote system tables. An expected network state is generated from a predefined set of expectations. The expected network state is compared to the collected existing state to identify errors in the network. The method then generates a set of notifications for administrators for the identified errors.

As long as computer networks have existed there has been a need to perform troubleshooting to determine what is the cause of any network failure to function or to perform as expected. When a phone call (routed across a network) doesn't go through, or data packets are dropped by the network, there are complicated sets of possibilities that have to be considered and systematically ruled out to determine the cause, before the network can be fixed or reconfigured to solve the problem. This process is often time consuming, labor intensive, and requires troubleshooting expertise on multiple types of equipment that are present in the network. The process typically involves aggregating data (e.g., log files) from multiple sources (i.e., multiple types of equipment) into one place, then using text search tools and conventional text editing techniques to look through log files and data about the current and/or prior state of each device.
With the advent of software defined networking (SDN), the problems related to troubleshooting have not improved much. Indeed in many senses the problem is even more difficult. In traditional networks, packet switched networks that do not have a centralized controller, network problems are most commonly the result of human error/misconfiguration, or sometimes faulty equipment. In SDN networks, there is the additional possibility that the source of a problem is a defective program that is operating at the controller.
Since networks are becoming more widespread, powerful, and complex, it is expected that traditional means of network troubleshooting by examining log files and device states manually will eventually become infeasible, due partially to the number and variety of devices involved, virtualization, device heterogeneity and specialization, and that in SDN networks, all network devices can be highly customized by the network operator and are therefore more difficult to characterize than traditional network equipment.
Upon discovery of a network problem, the conventional practice by a network administrator is to determine what devices are involved with the given problem, gather log files and runtime data from each device, save them into one or more files on a computer. Then the administrator will use text search tool in a regular text editor to attempt to locate the source of the problem.
The core problem is that text search is not a very powerful or dynamic tool for finding complex patterns. If a problem can be diagnosed as simply as looking for a warning and/or error messages, and if those messages are understandable to the point that the administrator can amend the network configuration to resolve the issue, then regular text search/editing tools are fine. However, there are several categories of network problems that are not amenable to text search tools.

SDN controller logic-inference network troubleshooter (SDN-LINT) tool


A vehicle mobile terminal manipulation system that manipulates a mobile terminal brought in a vehicle includes: a mobile terminal; a manipulation device to which a user inputs manipulation; and a notification portion that notifies the mobile terminal of manipulation information indicative of manipulation which has been input to the manipulation device. The mobile terminal includes a terminal-side display portion and a terminal-side manipulation portion. The mobile terminal has a user interface displayed on the terminal-side display portion at a time when independently operating according to manipulation conducted on the terminal-side manipulation portion. The mobile terminal causes the terminal-side display portion to display a user interface different from a case where the mobile terminal independently operates, when operating according to manipulation conducted on the manipulation device different in manipulation mode from the terminal-side manipulation portion of the mobile terminal.

In recent years, mobile terminals such as smartphones that can execute applications high in convenience when used in vehicles, for example, destination search or route guidance have become widespread. Such mobile terminal is assumed to be used in user's hand, and a user needs to look at a screen to some extent during manipulation of the mobile terminal. However, since the manipulation of the mobile terminal during driving may interfere with the driving, the manipulation while driving is undesirable. For that reason, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses that an imaging portion for imaging a screen of the mobile terminal is provided, the screen of the mobile terminal is reproduced on a vehicular device side, and manipulation input to the vehicular device is fed back to the mobile terminal.
The inventors of the present application have found the following. In a configuration disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the vehicular device needs to be provided with an imaging portion, and the vehicular device available for the manipulation of the mobile terminal is limited in advance. The mobile terminal-side needs to be compatible with each vehicular device. To perform a manipulation required to watch the screen to some extent such as a touch panel in the vehicle may interfere with the driving, and it is undesirable from the viewpoint of safety.

Vehicle mobile terminal manipulation system


The present invention relates to prokaryotic host cells and methods for improving expression of a mature protease by co-expression with a propeptide of said protease as two separate polypeptides.

Enzymes and other bioactive polypeptides derived from naturally occurring organisms are interesting molecules from both scientific and commercial perspective. Once such a polypeptide product has been identified, efforts are often made to develop optimized manufacturing methods for improved production of the polypeptide in question.
We have observed that co-expression of two different proteases, namely Pyrococcus furiosus Protease S (PfuS) and Bacillus horneckiae Protease S8A (BH-S8A) together with their respective propeptides as separate polypeptides results in markedly improved expression of both PfuS and BH-S8A. Based on this finding, we propose that co-expression of a protease with a propeptide as two separate polypeptides may be useful for improving expression of proteases in general.

Improving expression of a protease by co-expression with propeptide


An electrostatic chuck (230) for holding a device (200) includes a chuck body (244), a Coulomb electrode assembly (246), a Johnsen-Rahbek (J-R) electrode assembly (248), and a control system (224). The chuck body (244) includes a chucking surface (250) that engages the device (200), and the chuck body (244) is made of a dielectric having a relatively high resistance. The J-R electrode assembly (248) is positioned spaced apart from the chucking surface (250). The Coulomb electrode assembly (246) is also positioned spaced apart from the chucking surface (250). The control system (224) selectively directs a first voltage to the J-R electrode assembly (248) to generate a J-R type force that attracts the device (200) towards the chucking surface (250), and selectively directs a second voltage to the Coulomb electrode assembly (246) to generate a Coulomb type force that also attracts the device (200) towards the chucking surface (250). With this design, both the J-R type force and the Coulomb type force are used to concurrently attract the device (200) against the chucking surface (2500. As a result thereof, the electrostatic chuck (230) is better able to reduce non-flatness of the device (200), and/or crush any particles positioned between the device (200) and the chucking surface (250).

Exposure apparatuses for semiconductor processing are commonly used to transfer images from a reticle onto a semiconductor wafer during semiconductor processing. A typical exposure apparatus includes an illumination source, a reticle stage assembly that holds and positions a reticle, an optical assembly, and a wafer stage assembly that holds and positions a semiconductor wafer.
Recently, extreme ultraviolet lithography ("EUVL") systems that use an extreme ultraviolet illumination source have been proposed to increase the number of transistors transferred to the wafer. The extreme ultraviolet light must travel in a vacuum to avoid the absorption of the extreme ultraviolet light.
The reticle in these systems is a reflective type and requires the use of an electrostatic chuck to both support the reticle, and flatten any unevenness in the reticle. Further, any particles positioned between the reticle and the chuck can cause additional unevenness in the chucked reticle. Current EUVL standards specify that the chucked reticle has a surface flatness not to exceed less than fifty nanometers peak-to-valley.
Unfortunately, existing electrostatic chucks may not generate sufficient force to sufficiently flatten particles occurring between the reticle and the chuck.


Moulded inner dash trim part for a vehicle comprising a porous fibrous layer comprising fibers and thermoplastic binder, and an air permeable foil laminated together wherein the fibers comprise conjugate frizzy fibers made of at least 2 sides with a difference between the two sides inducing an intrinsic permanent frizzy or curved shape in a random 3 dimensional form, and wherein the air permeable foil has an airflow resistance that is between 30-75% of the total airflow resistance of the trim part.

Inner dash trim parts for vehicles, such as cars, are well known in the art. These trim parts are used as insulators and absorbers to reflect and dissipate noise thus reducing the overall interior noise level in the vehicle. Inner dashes are normally made of several layers moulded into a three dimensional shape in order to follow the shape of the vehicles body when installed in the vehicle.
Inner dash insulators with absorbing layer combined with a perforated foil are known in the art; however the performance of the foil is limited.
These trim parts may comprise a textile felt layer, however the use of such felt layers according to the state of the art has limitations. In particular the felt tends to reduce in its thickness during use of the trim part and or especially during the production process where in addition the fibers used, in particular reclaimed fibers, tend to clump together even after the carding or airlay process giving rise to an irregular felt mat as starting material for forming parts.
The noise attenuating of such fibrous layer, also together with a foil, is therefore degraded.
It is therefore the object of the current invention to further optimise fibrous absorbing products of the state of the art as well as improving the effect of the foil, in particular to further optimise the overall acoustic performance of the part.


Described herein is a system that facilitates recommending data compression using machine learning and statistical attributes. According to an embodiment, a system can comprise receiving a dataset, statistical attributes associated with the dataset, and a compression requirement for compression of the dataset. The system can further comprise based on the statistical attributes and the compression requirement, estimating a first compression attribute and a second compression attribute of a group of compression processes. The system can further comprise selecting a primary compression process from the group of compression processes, based on an output of an analytics component, wherein the analytics component employs a neural network to determine the primary compression process based on analysis of the statistical attributes, the compression requirement, and a compression objective.

Data compression is a way of information encoding which results in storage saving. Storage servers generally deploy various lossless compressions (original information can be exactly reconstructed) for storage space reduction. All these algorithms behave substantially different from one another in terms of compression ratio or time to compress/decompress on different datasets. Accordingly, no compression algorithm can compress every input file in same manner with same results. Depending on the dataset attributes, some compression algorithms are faster and realize a small storage savings, while other compression algorithms are slower but provide a greater storage saving.
The above-described background relating data compression is merely intended to provide a contextual overview of some current issues and is not intended to be exhaustive. Other contextual information may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.

Recommending data compression scheme using machine learning and statistical attributes of the data


An electronic device is provided, and includes a communication interface and a first processor and a second processor. The first processor may be configured to receive first base station information from base station, search a first memory for first wireless information corresponding to the received first base station information, and when the first wireless information is not searched in the first memory, send a request for second wireless information corresponding to the first base station information to the second processor, and the second processor may be configured to search a second memory for the second wireless information based on the request for the second wireless information. Other various embodiments are also available.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to electronic devices with communication functionality, and more particularly, to methods and apparatuses which use information management for positioning electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices can support various services based on their positions, e.g., user positioning services, routing services, reducing power consumption, and enhancing network connectivity. Such location-based services ("LBSs") encompass all services that may obtain location information of electronic devices.
The global positioning system (GPS) is used to locate a position of user's electronic device. The method may include receiving satellite coordinates-related signals from multiple satellites revolving the earth to obtain the coordinates of each satellite and information regarding the distance from the satellite. An electronic device may be positioned using a trilateration method based on the coordinate and distance information obtained. The GPS provides a good performance outdoors and has broad availability for positioning and guidance services. The GPS-based trilateration method, however, consumes too much power due to the reception and processing of satellite signals by the GPS, rendering it unfit into steady, long-term use for the portable devices that utilize it.
Additionally, such GPS-based positioning of an electronic device is inadequate for use in portable devices which are located in downtown areas that are compacted with tall buildings, which may result lowering in accuracy, e.g., due to a difficulty in securing a line of sight (LOS) of satellite signals.
Further, cellular signal-based positioning is subject to significant deterioration or variation in positioning capability because radio channel fading causes a distance between the transmission point of a cell and the electronic device not to be directly related to the strength or round trip time of received signals.
Moreover, cell location information necessary for positioning the electronic device is retained in a memory or storage space simply in the form of a table, and whenever necessary, is read out. However, the data structure of a database could be impossible to represent in a simple table or list form for the purpose of positioning highly-advanced electronic devices, and smartphones or other portable devices might have a limited storage space. Furthermore, since an electronic device may have its characteristic and accessible areas separated per processing device, it may present different processing speeds or power consumptions depending on how the information (e.g., database) is managed.

Electronic device and method for managing information of electronic device


An image forming apparatus includes a specific color image forming station for forming a black image and one or more non-specific color image forming stations for forming images of colors other than black, the photosensitive drum of the specific color image forming station is located vertically downward of the photosensitive drums of the non-specific color image forming stations, and the capacity of the black toner cartridge of the specific color image forming station is made larger than those of the toner cartridges of the non-specific color image forming stations. With this arrangement, the frequency of replacement of the black toner cartridge can be reduced without adversely affecting the size of an apparatus main body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and the like for forming an image on a recording material making use of an electrophotographic type process.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, there are widely used electrophotographic image forming apparatuses having process cartridges, in which photosensitive drums, development units, and the like are arranged integrally with each other and which are detachably attachable thereon in order to execute maintenance and to replenish developers (hereinafter, referred to as "toner") easily. Since this type of the process cartridge must contain the amounts of toner corresponding to the durable life of the photosensitive drums determined by the deterioration thereof, there is a tendency for the sizes of the process cartridges to increase in their entirety.
Further, the amount of consumption of toner is greatly different depending on the density of an image created by a user. Accordingly, the process cartridge must be replaced when the photosensitive drum is deteriorated to a certain degree and when the toner is consumed in a predetermined amount. Actually, however, since the process cartridge is replaced early regardless of the fact that the photosensitive drum can be still used or toner still remains, there is a tendency that the running cost increases.
To cope with the above problem, recently, an image forming apparatus has been in practical use in which process cartridges are separated from toner cartridges for supplying toner to development units in the process cartridges and the respective cartridges can be independently attachable.
For example, as shown in FIG. 15, four process cartridges 200 for forming yellow, magenta, cyan, and black images and four toner cartridges 201 for supplying toner to the process cartridges 200 are mounted on an apparatus main body 202. Then, the toner images formed on photosensitive drums 200a in the process cartridges 200 are primarily transferred onto an intermediate transfer belt 203 sequentially. Further, the primarily transferred images are transferred onto a transfer material transported from a sheet cassette 204 by a transport roller 205 and rollers 214 in a secondary transfer section 206. After the transfer material is transported to a fixing unit 207 and the toner images are heated and fixed, it is discharged by rollers 216 to a discharge section 208 located to an upper portion of the apparatus (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-148897).
When the toner cartridge is separated from the process cartridge, the respective cartridges can be replaced as they are consumed according to the durability thereof, thereby reducing the running cost of the cartridges.
Further, when a user, who conventionally uses a monochrome image forming apparatus, replaces it with a color image forming apparatus, the user does not always form a color image, and a monochrome image forming frequency may be higher than a color image forming frequency.
Accordingly, an image forming apparatus has been in practical use in which the frequency of replacing a black toner cartridge is reduced by setting the capacity of the black toner cartridge larger than that of the toner cartridges other than the black toner cartridge (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-265088).
However, when the capacity of a particular toner cartridge is increased, a portion of the toner cartridge protrudes. When the spaces of the other toner cartridges are also increased to cover the protruded portion of the specific toner cartridge, a problem arises in that the size of an apparatus main body is increased.
An object of the present invention, which was made in view of the above problems, is to provide an image forming apparatus which has toner cartridges and process cartridges separately mounted thereon and can reduce the frequency of replacement of the toner cartridge used in a particular color image forming station without adversely affecting the size of an apparatus main body.

Image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of image forming stations and plurality of developer accommodating vessels


A method is provided for modifying a fuel control system for a gas turbine having a standard unloading sequence and a pre-defined minimum inlet pressure requirement associated with the standard unloading sequence to allow the gas turbine to operate over an increased range of fuel supply pressure. The method includes modifying the fuel control system by inputting a modified unloading sequence onto a computing system operatively associated with the fuel control system, the modified unloading sequence comprising a series of operating modes, mode transfers, or a combination thereof that is different than the standard unloading sequence; and modifying the fuel control system by inputting a new defined minimum inlet pressure requirement for the modified unloading sequence onto the computing system, the new defined minimum inlet pressure requirement being less than the pre-defined minimum inlet pressure requirement thereby reducing a fuel supply pressure trip point for the gas turbine.

This disclosure is generally in the field of fuel supply pressure control. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to control systems and methods for reducing gas turbine fuel supply pressure requirements.
A minimum gas fuel supply pressure is required to provide the motive force for the fuel to overcome losses due to strainers, valves, piping and fuel nozzles, and enter the combustion chamber of a gas turbine under all potential operating conditions.
The existing gas fuel control system is based on a fixed gas fuel supply pressure requirement (referred to as P2 pressure requirement) from full speed no load (FSNL) to base load, in some cases with adjustment for ambient temperature conditions. If the gas fuel supply pressure is less than the control system pressure requirement, the gas turbine is inhibited from starting. If the gas fuel supply pressure falls below the control system requirement during operation, the control system initiates a runback to a predetermined low load mode of operation and operator action is then required.
It would therefore be desirable to provide new fuel gas pressure control systems and methods for reducing gas turbine fuel supply pressure requirements.

Fuel gas pressure control system and method for reducing gas turbine fuel supply pressure requirements


A method for determining placement of circuitry during integrated circuit design. The method includes accessing a net list identifying circuitry connections. A plurality of individual net weights are assigned to nets in timing paths within the net list, the individual net weights being valid irrespective of physical design parameters. A composite net weight is determined for said timing paths, the composite net weight being in response to the plurality of individual net weights. Initial placement of the circuitry is determined in response to the composite net weight.

The invention relates to integrated circuit design and in particular to circuit placement to improve initial placement of circuits and timing driven placement of circuits. Chip design is a multi-variate design optimization problem. To enable ASIC and semi-custom chip designs to meet their design targets, a number of different design resources (architecture choices, logic synthesis, chip floorplanning, automated placement, circuit power level selection, buffer insertion, timing optimization logic transforms, etc) are brought to bear and expended in a sequence of design optimization steps and iterative feedback loops to achieve design closure.
The traditional methodology approach to chip design optimization and target convergence has involved an insular sequential application of design resources directed to achieve the greatest immediate improvement in the design state. Thus, design resources are applied in an amount and in an order that only marginally accounts for the interactions among those design resources. Depending on their nature, these interactions can promote or inhibit the convergence of the chip design to its design targets.
With increasing integration levels and signal frequencies, the interactions among design resources have become more significant. Designing future chips without regard to the synergistic application of design resources, will become an increasingly frustrating endeavor. Chip design schedules will lengthen, and some design targets will be regarded as unachievable even though a solution may exist. Thus, improvement is needed in the processes for chip design.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method, system and storage medium for determining circuit placement

International Business Machines Corporation


A plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix each include an EL element, a transistor, and a transistor. The EL element includes a cathode to which a first voltage is applied. The transistor includes a gate connected to a gate signal line, a source connected to an anode of the EL element, and a drain to which a second voltage having a potential higher than a potential of the first voltage is applied. A method for manufacturing the EL display device includes: applying the second voltage to the anode of the EL element via the transistor, by applying an ON voltage to the gate signal line; and detecting light emission by the EL element, using an optical detector, in a state in which the ON voltage is being applied to the gate signal line.

In recent years, an active matrix (hereinafter occasionally abbreviated to AM) EL display panel including organic EL elements arranged in a matrix, and an EL display device including the EL display panel, have been commercialized.
The EL display panel includes pixels in each of which a plurality of transistors (TFT: thin film transistor) are disposed, and an organic EL light-emitting layer is disposed on the plurality of transistors. The EL display panel emits light as a result of supplying a current from the transistor to the organic EL light-emitting layer.
When a pixel of the EL display panel has a defect, the defect is in an EL element such as the organic EL light-emitting layer, or in a pixel circuit such as the TFT.
When a pixel with a defect is detected during, for example, a defect inspection process in manufacturing of EL display devices, the pixel is repaired in a defect repairing process.

Method for manufacturing electroluminescent display device


This application relates to the technical field of optical films, and discloses a micro-optical imaging film and an imaging apparatus. The micro-optical imaging film includes a body; focusing structures and pattern structures being formed on the body, the focusing structures and pattern structures being adapted to each other, so as to form an image; and e cover structures covering exterior surfaces of at least part of the focusing structures, wherein materials of the cover structures and the focusing structures are different, and a difference between a refractive index of the cover structures and a refractive index of the focusing structures is greater than or equal to 0.05. With the technical solution contained in the embodiments of this application, a capability of the imaging film to resist ambient environmental pollutions may be improved.

The Moire technique is a remarkable new-type visual security technique, which uses a focusing function of a microlens array to amplify a micro image with a high efficiency, thereby achieving a pattern having a certain depth of view and representing peculiar dynamic effects.
Patent document 200480040733.2 discloses a microlens array security element applied to a window opening security line of securities, such as a banknote. Its basic structure is: a periodic microlens array is arranged on the upper surface of the transparent base layer, and a corresponding periodic micro-pattern array is arranged on the lower surface of the transparent base layer, the micro-pattern array being located at or near a focal plane of the microlens array, and the arrangement of the micro-pattern array and the microlens array being substantially the same, and the micro-lens array acts on the Moire amplification of the micro-pattern array.
This patent discloses two methods of making a micro-pattern: a printing method of a group selected from a group consisting of ink jet, laser, relief printing, offset printing, gravure printing, and gravure printing, in which convex micro-patterned ink is provided on the lower surface of a transparent base layer; or depression of a pattern is formed on the lower surface of the transparent substrate, and the depression is filled with ink to form a micro-pattern. The latter has the advantage of an almost infinite spatial resolution. Therefore, providing the micro-lenses and the recessed micro-patterns on the upper and lower surfaces of the transparent base layer respectively has optimal graphic complexity and resolution, which helps maximize the imitation difficulty of the security device.
However, the current use of such security elements is mainly integrally embedding into paper or being bonded to a surface of a print. Hot foil stamping is a mainstream method of placing local security elements in a package of a product. However, the hot foil stamping technique requires that a security element should be very thin and cut off.
In the current industry, the minimum thickness of a transparent substrate with practical processing feasibility is 23 μm. Together with the thickness of microlenses and recessed structures, the overall thickness of the security element generally increases to more than 40 μm. Therefore, an overall structure of such a thickness is extremely unfavorable for timely cutting off at high-speed by hot foil stamping. In addition, the transparent substrate often has good mechanical properties, which is also not conducive to requirements of hot foil stamping for cutting.
In order to adapt the security element to the mainstream hot foil stamping method, the transparent substrate in the security element must be removed. Patent document 200480040733.2 discloses a tamper indicating material embodiment in FIGS. 13-14. That is, when the peelable layer covering the surface of the microlens is peeled, the effect of the amplification of the micro-pattern changes before and after the peeling. It is worth mentioning that, viewed from FIG. 14, it is a "peel change" film structure, which includes a peelable microlens, a second microlens, a first pattern layer, and a second pattern layer, the first pattern layer being able to be printed directly on the back of the second microlens. An optical spacer 244 is further provided between the first pattern layer and the second pattern layer. At this time, a transparent substrate is excluded between the second microlens and the first pattern layer, but at this time, the second microlens is unable to display an image of the first pattern layer (see the page 20, paragraph 2, of the description). Furthermore, pages 29-30 of the description of this patent disclose a structure preparation method in this patent, which basically includes the following steps: S01 one or more optical spacers; S02 microlenses and pattern layers are respectively located on the surface of the optical spacer. Wherein, the surface of the optical spacer is provided with a curable resin to prepare microlenses and a pattern layer.
In the implementation of this application, the inventors found that at least the following problems exist in the prior art:
the microlens structure of the imaging film in the prior art is often susceptible to contaminations from the outside environment (e.g. contamination with oil, water, gel, etc.), which may directly affect the imaging function of the imaging film.

Micro-optical imaging film and imaging device

Shine Optoelectronics (Kunshan) Co., Ltd


A free-of-bearing rotational positioning device for a dewatering basket of a non-treading type wringer bucket, comprising: a bucket body having a projecting seat being extended from the bottom of the bucket body toward inside; a support shaft being covered and secured by the projecting seat, the upper portion thereof jutting out of the top of the projecting seat to create a connection part; a positioning element having a conic part at the top thereof, the conic part being tapered upward, a positioning surface being formed at the bottom of the conic part and extended outward from the periphery of the support shaft; and a dewatering basket having a driven seat at the center of the bottom thereof. The bottom of the driven seat includes a shaft holder made of non-metal material. In mounting the dewatering basket, the driven seat fits from top to bottom over the connection part of the support shaft. After the lower sleeve passes through positioning element in a compression manner, the positioning surface of the positioning element is stretched into the engagement groove at the center of the shaft holder when returning to its original shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wringer bucket, and more particularly to a wringer bucket that ensures the safety in use since the treading action is not necessary for the operation thereof. Moreover, the dewatering basket does not require a bearing and won't be loosened after a DIY-assembly (do-it-yourself).
2. Description of the Related Art
Mop is one of the cleaning tools used for cleaning a floor, and traditional wringer buckets are used for removing extra water from the mop, and the traditional wringer buckets generally squeeze fabrics of the mop to remove water on the mop fabrics. As disclosed in R.O.C. Pat. No. M338634, a wringer bucket includes a casing, an installing portion, and a rotating unit, wherein the rotating unit includes a retaining element, an axle, a transmission unit and a push rod unit, such that interactions between the aforementioned components drive the rotating unit to rotate to dewater the mop.
However, the aforementioned conventional wringer bucket requires many components in the rotating unit, and thus results in a complicated structure with too many components and shortens the using life of the wringer bucket.
Furthermore, the design of such wringer bucket not only has the disadvantages of a complicated structure and an uneasy installation, but also require users to stand with one foot and step a pail pedal of the wringer bucket by another foot, such that the users may loss balance, fall down or get hurt.
When such wringer buckets are shipped out from a factory, internal components of the wringer buckets are assembled completely, and thus the wringer buckets cannot be transported by a stacking method, and manufacturers have to transport the wringer buckets with a large volume. As the result, a higher transportation cost will be incurred, which is unfavorable to both manufacturers and consumers.
In addition, the conventional wringer bucket includes a rotatable dewatering basket to dewater the mop yarn placed therein. In order to achieve a smooth rotation of the dewatering basket, a bearing available in the market is employed. However, the bearing is easily attacked due to the fact that it is often wetted in the wringer bucket, thereby reducing the service life. Moreover, the dewatering basket is not easy to assemble and disassemble. Therefore, it requires further improvements.

Free-of-bearing rotational positioning device for a dewatering basket of a non-treading type wringer bucket

Tuo Shen International Corporation Limited


Attachments are provided to a traverse curtain rod, whereby the control cords are caused to hang down in front of the rod, and the draw curtain supported therefrom and away from the end of the rod, to avoid being hidden behind a proscenium surface created by a valence and drapery, or by a wall opening.

In certain curtain installations having traverse rods with internal control cords there may be a proscenium-like front surface created by a valence and drapery, or by a wall opening, in front of the curtain, thus making the external draw cord, segments for opening/closing the curtain difficult to find. Having decided that having the ends of the draw cord in front of the curtain, and visible at all times would be advantageous, I went about designing and building prototypes of a traverse curtain rod attachment to be fastened to a standard commercially available curtain rod in the space between the rod and the back face of the proscenium-like surface, providing means for accessing the internal draw cords, through slots cut into the surface of the rod, thus becoming external draw cords which would be visible from the front. Two of these have been in service in a public place for about 2 years. This invention reveals an improved embodiment which prevents the cords from falling off the attachment pulleys, and eliminates the need for precision fitting of the attachment.
This invention is for an improved embodiment of a pair of attachments, which can be fastened to a standard, commercially available traverse curtain rod having internal control cords; each attachment comprising structural members; a pair of pulleys mounted therewith and requiring one short slot to be cut into the wall of the rod. The rod may be of the type which has a single tubular section for containing the control cords and a full length slot for supporting the idler and master slides; or of the type which has a double tubular section, wherein one tubular section contains the control cords, and has a full length slot for the master slide and has a second tubular section with a full length slot for supporting the idler and master slides.
When the attachment is fastened to the traverse rod, a segment of a first pulley passes through the short slot cut in the tubular envelope of the rod section containing the control cords, and is positioned to engage a certain internal control cord, which passes over the first pulley, changing the orientation of the certain internal control cord from axial within the rod to being frontward in a plane essentially perpendicular to axis of the rod. As the internal control cord passes through the wall of the rod, its designation changes from xe2x80x9cinternalxe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9cexternalxe2x80x9d control cord. At an appropriate location a second pulley is mounted to rotate on an axis parallel to the rod axis, the external control cord passes over the second pulley mounted on structural members so that its external control cord is hanging plumb, by virtue of having a weighted device at its end. The weighted knob, could be plain, decorative, or indicative of xe2x80x9cOPENxe2x80x9d OR xe2x80x9cCLOSE.xe2x80x9d
The new technology in this invention permits one external draw cord to be toward the first end of the rod, and the other to be toward the second end of the rod, both of which would be within the proscenium-like space. The loops of internal control cord which normally pass over the end pulleys of the curtain rod, are rerigged to the first pulleys of the attachments and/or the master sliders, as described elsewhere in this application. Additionally, the structural members would be configured to provide more permanent assembly means, improved means to prevent the control cords from falling off the pulleys and making the location of the first pulleys with respect to the edges of the slots less critical.

Traverse curtain rod with frontal operation

Abstract: The improved traverse curtain rod usually has two attachments secured to the traverse curtain rod, each requiring a short slot in the rod located cooperatively with the a pulley which partially enters the rod, thus directing a control cord frontward and upward to pass around a second pulley and to hang down to permit opening and closing the draw curtain.

Abstract: Depending upon the manner of mounting and locating the attachments to the rod, the internal cords are rerouted so as to appear as a pair near the left end of the rod, or at its right end, or as one cord on the left with the second on the right.


Print controllers and associated methods of processing JDF job tickets in a printing system are disclosed. A print controller in one embodiment includes a storage system that receives a printable file from a host system, and stores the printable file. The print controller further comprises a JDF interpreter that receives a Job Definition Format (JDF) job ticket that is associated with the printable file from the host system. The JDF interpreter parses the JDF job ticket to identify printing parameters defined for the printable file. The JDF interpreter then issues device control commands for the printing parameters in the JDF job ticket. Thus, JDF job ticket processing is performed in the printing system instead of in the host system.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of printing systems, and in particular, to processing JDF job tickets in a printing system to identify printing parameters that define how to print files.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Printing systems generally include a localized print controller that connects to one or more host systems. The print controller controls the overall operation of the printing system including, for example, host interfacing, interpretation or rendering, and lower level process control or interface features of the print engines of the printing system. Host interaction may include appropriate adapters for coupling the printing system to one or more host systems that transmit printable files to the printing system. The printable files are generally encoded in the form of a page description language (PDL), such as PostScript (PS), PDF, PCL, PPML, etc.
In whatever form the printable files may be encoded or formatted, the print controller within the printing system interprets or renders the file to generate sheetside bitmaps of the file. For example, the printable file may include page descriptions for each page of the file that are written in a particular PDL. The print controller may then interpret the page descriptions for each page to generate the sheetside bitmaps for the file. The sheetside bitmaps represent the images to be printed on one side of a sheet of paper by a print engine. The print controller stores or buffers the sheetside bitmaps in accordance with storage capabilities of the particular print controller. The print controller then forwards the sheetside bitmaps to one or more print engines (also referred to as an imaging engine or as a marking engine). The print engine then performs an imaging process to mark the printable medium (e.g., a sheet of paper) with the sheetside bitmaps provided by the print controller. The print engine may comprise a laser print engine, an ink-jet print engine, or another type of imaging system that transfers each sheetside bitmap to corresponding pixels on paper.
In present printing systems, when the host system is instructed to print a particular file comprised of textual and graphical content, the host system converts the file into a printable file in one of a variety of PDLs. The host system also prepends printing parameters (also referred to as device control commands or instructions) to the printable file. For example, if the printable file is defined in PostScript, then an application running on the host system will access the Postscript Printer Description (PPD) file for the printer. The PPD file describes the fonts, paper sizes, resolution, and other capabilities that are standard for a particular Postscript printer. Based on the PPD file, a user selects one or more printing parameters for printing the printable file, such as n-up, 2-sided printing, etc, and the printing parameters are prepended to the PostScript file. The host system then transmits the PostScript file along with the printing parameters to the printing system, such as over a network. The print controller within the printing system then processes the printing parameters prepended to the PostScript file to identify how the printable file should be processed within the printing system.
One way of describing the printing parameters for a print job is through Job Definition Format (JDF). JDF is a standard for defining a print job, such as indicating one or more printable files for a print job, and defining printing parameters for printing these files. A JDF message is in XML format and describes a job ticket, a message description, and message interchange. A JDF message includes information that enables a device to determine what files are needed as input (if any), where the files are located, and what processes the device should perform. In present printing systems, processing of JDF messages, and more particularly JDF job tickets, is performed in the host system. In response to receiving or identifying a JDF job ticket, the host system processes the JDF job ticket to identify the printing parameters for a print job. The host system then generates a printable file in the appropriate PDL that includes the content intended for printing, and prepends the printing parameters to the printable file. This can cause problems as it may overload the host system in processing the JDF job ticket and generating the printable files, as the printable files and the prepended printing parameters can get quite large. Also, if a network connection is used between the host system and the printing system, then the large printable files may congest the network or unnecessarily use up network resources.


An image forming apparatus includes a latent image carrier carrying a latent image, a developing device visualizing the latent image utilizing a two-component developer, a supply device supplying toner according to a change in toner density in the two-component developer inside the developing device, and a control device having an input side connected to a density sensor detecting a value of the toner density and an image information acquisition device acquiring information on an image formed on the latent image carrier, and an output side connected to a driving device driving the supply device. When the detected value is higher than a target value of the toner density stored by the control device, the control device performs control to stop the driving device or drive the driving device to supply toner in an amount less than a combined toner supply amount of first and second toner supply amounts.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures discussed herein relate to a developing device and an image forming apparatus, and more specifically relate to toner supply control for use in binary developer (i.e., two-component developer).
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, and a facsimile machine, a developing device generally conducts a process for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoreceptor serving as a latent image carrier, and a visualized image is transferred onto a sheet or the like, thereby outputting a recording result.
As a developer used for the developing process, there is a two-component system (or a binary system) developer formed of a mixture of a toner and a carrier, other than a one-component system developer formed of either magnetic or nonmagnetic toner alone. The binary developer may be configured to be ready to be electrostatically attracted to the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor by charging the toner with a frictional electrification action generated at the time of stirring the mixture.
When the developing process is conducted, it may be necessary to optimize the amount of toner attracted to the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor for improving image quality. In order to optimize the amount of toner attracted to the electrostatic latent image, it may be necessary to manage density of toner contained in the two-component system developer. Specifically, it may be important to match a value (i.e., a detected value or a current value) of toner density and a target value of the toner density. In order to match the detected value of the toner density in the two-component system developer and the target value of the toner density inside the developing device, additional toner is supplied to the two-component system developer when the toner density is lowered. However, it may be difficult to accurately detect the amount of toner actually supplied to the two-component system developer corresponding to a set toner supply amount because the toner is formed of powder. Specifically, when there is environmental fluctuation such as temperature fluctuation, humidity fluctuation, or a setting changed by a user, the toner supply amount may need to be adjusted according to such fluctuation or the like.
In the related-art technologies, a toner supply control method is widely used. In the toner supply control method, a value of toner density is detected by a sensor, and the amount of toner to be supplied is controlled based on the detected result (i.e., the detected value). In this case, the toner density may be adjusted not only by increasing the toner density but also by decreasing the toner density. It may be possible to control the supply of toner to improve the toner density when the toner density is lowered in a design phase; however, it may be difficult to control consumption of toner in the design phase, which is often left under the usage conditions of the user.
For example, when a target value of the toner density may need to be changed toward a low toner density due to change in an optimal condition, the toner that is continuously consumed until the toner density reaches the set low toner density (i.e., the target value of the toner density) is not assumed in the design phase. Accordingly, the user may need to wait until the detected value of the toner density is lowered for the continuation of executing image formation. Accordingly, in the related toner supply control that specifically focuses on compensating the toner density reduction, it may be difficult to change the toner supply amount to the optimal toner density including changing the toner supply amount to the low toner density. Specifically, when the (setting of) toner density is changed to the low toner density, the user may need to wait until the toner is continuously consumed by forming images such that the toner density becomes low. This may result in an unstable image quality. Hence, images may be formed with undesired density, or the quality of the formed images may deteriorate.
As an example of a configuration to implement the above toner supply control method, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-091785 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 1") discloses a configuration including a sensor to detect density of an image, where excess or deficiency of toner contained in developer is determined according to a change in the image density, and a toner supply amount is controlled based on the determined result. Further, in order to prevent delay in supplying toner or excessive toner supply when the toner is supplied, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-171023 (hereinafter called "Patent Document 2") discloses an example of a configuration in which a toner supply amount is computed by multiplying a toner supply rate computed based on image density by a predetermined coefficient.

Developing device and image forming apparatus


There is disclosed herein a blood collection tube holder having a body and a protector case, and preferably with a dedicated needle attached to the body. The tube holder is molded of plastic or other suitable material which is sterilizable. The device comprises five parts including the body, protector case, needle, needle protective cap, and a needle boot. The protector case is mounted over the body, and the needle is attached to the body and extends through an opening in the protector case. The needle is covered by the needle protective cap which is removably attached to a needle hub on the end of the body. The needle protective cap is removed for use, and after use the protector case is moved with respect to the body until detents engage openings to thereby lock the protector case in a position shielding the needle. The construction of the holder is such that the practitioner can hold the protector case against the arm of a patient with the index finger and draw the body of the holder rearward with the thumb and forefinger, thereby enabling use with one hand.

The rapid spread of AIDS has generated a rapid development of methods for preventing the spread of communicable diseases from the inadvertent reuse of needle devices, accidental needlestick injuries suffered by medical and dental practitioners, and ineffective sterilization of reusable devices. To be effective, the devices employed must be simple to manufacture and easy to use. U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,378 discloses a syringe having a rectangular body cross-section which permits the use of a protector case of matching interior cross section. Continuation-in-part application 07/783,825 describes three devices which apply features of the above patent. The present application describes the incorporation of many of the features of the above patent and CIP application to the design of a shielded blood collection tube holder of the type in common use by phlebotomists and other medical practitioners in the procedure for obtaining multiple blood samples for analysis. A sterilized, single use, shieldable device for use in blood collection will extend the benefits of the self-shielded, disposable safety syringe to this application.
Examples of disclosures in United States Patents are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,199 discloses a sterile barrel and piston assembly with the barrel being twisted to lock it in place over the needle. The twisting action requires two hand operation of the device and the number of components render the device expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,426 discloses an outer barrel with a needle carrier mounted within the sleeve and movable axially within the sleeve. The needle carrier is positioned and locked by means of a position control button on the carrier and a slot in the outer barrel. Retraction of the needle may be initiated with one hand but is not easily accomplished unless the spring actuated retraction feature is utilized. Use of the retraction spring presents control problems with the rate of retraction and shelf life restraints due to fatigue of the spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,355 discloses an inner and outer tube with locking means to prevent the outer tube from becoming disengaged. The device is a reusable device having a means described of inserting a needle sheath into the end of the shield to cover the forward end of the needle and to unscrew and dispose of the needle. This presents the exposure of the rearward end of the contaminated needle during the disposal operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,523 discloses a disposable device with an inner and outer sleeve with various means of locking the sleeves relative to each other. The various systems require two handed operation to position the locking mechanisms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,185 discloses an inner and outer cylinder with axial slits in the outer cylinder to permit the shield to move along the ramped outer wall of the inner cylinder. The device requires two hands to operate effectively due to the design of the detent mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,945 discloses an inner and outer cylindrical tube having interacting rings and grooves for securing the cylinders relative to each other. A ring has been added to the outside of the outer cylinder to facilitate one handed operation, however this cannot be accomplished with patient comfort unless the needle is previously removed from the patient.
There still exists a need for a blood collection tube holder which provides ease of one handed operation, assured sterility, and economical manufacture.


Conjugates are provided, an exemplary conjugating having a single water-soluble, non-peptidic polymer, such as a poly(ethylene oxide), attached to a chitosan. Complexes of small interfering nucleic acids formed with such conjugates as well as small interfering nucleic acids attached to such conjugates are also provided. Related methods, intermediates, and compositions are also provided.

RNA interference (or "RNAi") is currently recognized as a highly specific mechanism of sequence-specific gene silencing. See deFougerolles et al. (2007) Nature Reviews 6:443-453. The mechanism allows for the specific and profound reduction of proteins and mRNA.
Briefly, the RNAi mechanism involves double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) intentionally synthesized with a sequence complementary to a gene of interest and subsequently introduced into a cell or organism, where the dsRNA is recognized as exogenous genetic material and activates the RNAi pathway. If the exogenous dsRNA is relatively long, it will be cleaved into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Alternatively, if the exogenous dsRNA is relatively short (about 30 base pairs or less), cleavage does not occur, the exogenous dsRNA itself acts as the siRNA substrate, and complications arising from activation of innate immunity defenses are avoided. In both cases, the siRNA becomes incorporated into an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) followed by unwinding of the double stranded siRNA into two strands. One of these strands, the "sense" strand (also known as the "passenger" strand), is discarded. The other strand, the "guide" strand (also known as the "antisense" strand) recognizes target sites to direct mRNA cleavage, thereby silencing its message. A similar RNAi mechanism involves microRNAs (miRNAs) deriving from imperfectly paired non-coding hairpin RNA structures.
Through the specific targeting of genes, RNAi-based therapies have the ability to substantially block the production of undesired proteins. Thus, in diseases and conditions attributable to the undesired or over expression of certain proteins, RNAi-based therapies represent a potentially powerful and important approach in medical therapies.
Despite the great promise of RNAi-based therapies, there remains a problem of the relative short half life of the small interfering nucleic acids "siNAs" used in RNAi-based approaches in vivo. Thus, there remains a need for better and improved versions of siNAs in order to bring the RNAi-based therapies to fruition.
Chitosan-PEG conjugates have been used as complexing agents for siRNA. See, for example, WO10/021,720 and WO10/021,718. In the studies described therein, PEG-chitosan conjugates were prepared by reaction of a PEG with an amine group on the chitosan. Because a chitosan molecule includes numerous amine groups, PEG molecules conjugated to these amine groups produce mixtures of PEGylated chitosans, each having a different number of PEG molecules conjugated to the chitosan and each generating different complexing properties. As a consequence, it is not possible to prepare a well defined product based on conjugating PEG to the numerous amine groups of chitosan. It would therefore be desirable to form a PEG-chitosan conjugate in which a single PEG molecule could be attached to the carbohydrate. Among other things, such a PEG-chitosan conjugate could be formed in a more uniform and consistent way, thereby having the advantage of (among other things) more uniform and consistent siNA compositions, including: (a) complexes of siNA and monoPEG-chitosan; and (b) conjugates of siNA wherein siNA is conjugated to monoPEG-chitosan. More uniform and consistent siNA compositions will have the advantages of more uniform and consistent performance, and (at least with respect to complexes) more stable complex formation.

Monoconjugated chitosans as delivery agents for small interfering nucleic acids


A laser operation such as a laser welding operation or a laser cutting operation is improved in its quality and a consistently high quality is achieved by arranging auxiliary tool units upstream and/or downstream of a main laser tool unit including a primary laser head on a common tool carrier. The secondary tool units upstream of the laser operation are intended for a preliminary surface treatment to present the most appropriate surface conditions for the following laser operation. Similarly, the tool units arranged downstream of the laser operation are intended for subsequent work operations such as an immediate cleaning operation, a coating operation or the like to avoid a reoxidation of the welding seam or of the cut edge of the work piece. The secondary tools make sure that the laser operation is enhanced or improved either by presenting optimal conditions for the laser operation or by improving the work piece subsequent to the laser operation. The subsequent operation in this sense also results in an improved laser operation.

It is known to use a laser beam for performing the operations of welding or cutting, for example, of flat work pieces such as sheet metal and the like. The quality of such welding or cutting operations by means of a laser beam depends on several factors which must be maintained constant to assure a consistently good quality of the operations being performed. For example, in connection with sheet metal it is critical that the spacing between two sheets of sheet metal remains constant relative to each other and that the spacing between the sheet metal work pieces to be welded and the laser head also remains constant to assure a uniform laser efficiency throughout the operation. A pressure roller has been used to control the just mentioned spacings.
The quality of the surface of the work pieces also has a substantial influence on a consistently high quality of the laser operation being performed. The surface condition of the work piece influences the welding or cutting operation by the laser beam because the degree of reflection and the degree of dispersion have an influence on the operation efficiency of the laser beam generated in a laser head.
It has also been found that a surface layer on the work piece, for example, in the form of contamination, in the form of oxide layers or in the form of protective coatings adversely influence the operation quality. Such adverse influences have been noted independently of the type of coating. In other words, metallic coatings and non-metallic coatings have an adverse influence on the efficiency of the laser operation because these coatings negatively influence the heat flow from the laser beam to the point where the laser beam performs its operation.
Another problem is caused by spattered particles generated by the laser beam action. Such particles must be kept away from the point where the beam is to be effective and they must also be kept away from the surface after the laser beam has been effective so that the work piece is suitable for further operations and use. The removal of these spattered particles requires respective operations upstream of the laser beam action and also downstream of the laser beam action as viewed in the direction of relative movement between the laser beam and the work piece. The several working operations have been performed heretofore on different machines requiring repeated handling of the work piece, which is not cost efficient.
Repeated handling of the work piece is time consuming and hence expensive. Additionally, such handling exposes the work piece to repeated contamination not only by deposition of dirt, but also by a new oxide formation on the surface of the work piece, thereby adversely affecting the laser operation.

Robot type apparatus for performing a plurality of operations on a work piece


An electrode for electrical stimulation therapy includes a sheet body of flat shape having a first surface facing a skin of a human body and a second surface at an opposite side to the first surface and at least one pair of flat electrodes that are provided at the first surface side of the sheet body and are mutually separated and the sheet body includes an expandable/contractible portion that is formed on a virtual axial line extending between the pair of flat electrodes and is expandable/contractible in a direction intersecting the virtual axial line. The electrical stimulation therapeutic device includes a device body and the electrode for electrical stimulation therapy electrically connected to the device body.

For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an electrode for electrical stimulation therapy that includes a sheet body of flat shape having flexibility, at least one pair of flat electrodes provided at one surface side of the sheet body and adherable to positions on a surface of the human body sandwiching a vertebral column, and a projection for positioning provided at the one surface side on the sheet body at which the flat electrodes are provided and being aligned, for example, to a coccyx, etc., that is a specific position of the human body.

Electrode for electrical stimulation therapy and electrical stimulation therapeutic device


A liquid injection instrument includes an internal structural body having a cylindrical body that has a cylindrical shape and has an inner cavity part in which a drug solution is housed, a hollow needle disposed at a distal part of the cylindrical body, a gasket slidable in the cylindrical body, and a plunger that carries out movement operation of the gasket along an axial direction of the cylindrical body. The liquid injection instrument further includes a cylindrical protector disposed on an outer circumferential side of the internal structural body movably along the axial direction of the internal structural body. The protector has an outside engagement piece and the cylindrical body has an inside engagement piece engageable with the outside engagement piece.

When a drug solution is administered to a patient for example, a blood vessel of the patient is punctured by a hollow needle to perform it. As a medical instrument by which such a procedure can be carried out, one is known that has a syringe unit composed of a cylindrical body in which a drug solution is filled and a hollow needle mounted at a distal part of the cylindrical body, a cylindrical casing that houses the syringe unit movably, and an operation button that is provided at a proximal part of the casing and is to carry out start operation of actuation of the syringe unit (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). In the medical instrument described in this Patent Document 1, the syringe unit can move to a first position at which the hollow needle protrudes from a distal opening of the casing and a second position at which the hollow needle is retracted to a position closer to a proximal side than the distal opening of the casing.
However, in the medical instrument described in Patent Document 1, although the syringe unit returns to the second position after use thereof, possibly this syringe unit unintentionally moves to the first position because being not surely fixed at the second position. In this case, there is a problem that a hand finger or the like is accidentally punctured by the protruding hollow needle.
Furthermore, when a drug solution is administered by using the medical instrument described in Patent Document 1, the casing needs to be grasped and a pressing operation of a syringe button needs to be carried out with the casing grasped. Therefore, corresponding to the existence of the syringe button, a structure of this medical instrument is complicated, which possibly causes failure. Moreover, in the pressing operation of the syringe button, the user is caused to feel fear at the time of the use by operation sound and movement sound of the syringe unit or e.g. difficulty in grasping what movement speed the syringe unit moves at for puncturing by the hollow needle, so that the user hesitates to use it. That is, there is also a problem that this medical instrument is inferior in the operability.
Patent Document 1: JP-T-2010-532243


A semiautomatic beverage maker (10) with a valve actuator or handle (12) for manually moving a valve (14) from a stop, closed position to a brew, open position through means of a mechanical linkage (20, 32, 36). The dispenser valve is held in the open position for a preselected brew time period by means of an electromagnet (53) which is energized through a timer switch (48) until the end of the time period, and then a coil spring (50) returns the dispenser valve (14) to the open position. In an emergency, the dispenser valve actuator (12) can be used to manually return the dispenser valve (14) to the open position before de-energization of the electromagnet (53) at the end of the brew time period. The dispenser valve actuator (12) also blocks removal of the ingredient holder, or brew basket (38) from its proper brew position when the dispenser valve (12) is open during the brew cycle.

This invention generally relates to a beverage maker and method of making beverage by passing hot water through a dry ingredient, such as ground coffee or tea and, specifically, to a semiautomatic beverage maker of this type and method of using same.
In the parent application of which this is a continuation-in-part, an automatic beverage maker is disclosed in which an electric motor is used to open and close a dispenser valve respectively in response to actuation of a start switch and lapse of a preselected brew period measured by a timer. In addition, a stop switch is provided to cause the motor to move the valve to a closed position before automatic closure at the lapse of the brew period. Other automatic beverage makers are known in which the dispenser valve is automatically caused to both open and close through selective energization and de-energization of an electromechanical valve drive mechanism in response to manual switch actuation. Examples of such automatic beverage makers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,471 issued Sep. 28, 1971 to Martin and 3,998,144 issued Dec. 21, 1976, to Curtis.
While this is a perfectly acceptable and successful system for automatically operating a beverage maker, it still has certain disadvantages. First, it requires a motor to both open and close the valve and a stop switch which significantly adds to the cost of the apparatus. In addition, lights or other special indicators and associated circuitry are often required to indirectly provide a visual indication of the status of the dispenser valve which also adds to the costs. These additional parts, Of course, also contribute to the complexity of the apparatus and thereby reduce its reliability and increase the cost of equipment maintenance.
Another disadvantage of known automatic beverage makers is that when the dispenser valve is open and hot water is flowing, there is nothing to prevent removal of the ingredient holder which funnels the water to an urn from its normal position for collecting the water therein. As a result, a dangerous condition can result in which hot scalding water freely flows from the beverage maker and outside of the confines of an urn because of removal of the ingredient holder during the brew cycle.

Food Equipment Technologies Company, Inc.


A conductive film has a plurality of clearances (openings) and a plurality of auxiliary clearances. The plurality of clearances and the plurality of auxiliary clearances are formed to have such numerical apertures and locations that generate no bias in the distribution of conductive film in consideration of the entire conductive film. The conductive film can disperse stress caused by thermal expansion etc., to ease by having the plurality of clearances and the plurality of auxiliary clearances. Accordingly, the conductive film is less prone to being peeled off the insulating film. Further, since the distribution of conductive film is substantially uniform as a whole, the transfer characteristics that are fixed by the distribution become substantially uniform as a whole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer printed wiring board (PWB) and its manufacturing method and more particularly to a built-up multilayer PWB having a conductive film, which resists peeling, and its manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The multilayer printed wiring board is composed of a plurality of layers. Each layer has an insulating film, a via-hole, which is formed in the insulating film and which is plated in its interior, and a conductive film layered on the insulating film. In connection with the conductive layer, there is a so-called voltage plane, which is connected to a signal line and an external power source which transmits current and voltage that are output from the power source to the signal line. The voltage plane is connected to the signal line through plating of the interior of via-hole.
Techniques that relate to the multilayer printed wiring board having the conductive film that is called voltage plane are described in, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Nos. S57-149789, S59-161897, and S61-220398.
In these techniques, the conductive film has a plurality of clearances (openings) to prevent occurrence of peeling off the insulating film caused by thermal expansion, etc. The conductive film can disperse stress caused by thermal expansion, etc. to ease by forming the plurality of clearances. The plurality of clearances causes variations in transfer characteristics of the conductive film if the distribution is biased. For this reason, the plurality of clearances is formed in the conductive film to prevent a bias from being generated in the distribution.
In the conventional techniques, the clearances must be designed to prevent contact with the via-hole. However, if the clearances are designed to prevent contact with the via-hole, the distribution of clearances is biased, with the result that variations are generated in the transfer characteristics of conductive film. Further, since the clearances cannot be formed in the vicinity of the via-hole in order to avoid the via-hole, there is a case in which the conductive film close to the via-hole resultantly is peeled off the insulating film by thermal expansion, etc.

Manufacturing method of a multilayer printed wiring board


A method of using a multi-purpose processing apparatus for simultaneously performing an injection molding operation and a cutting/forming operation. The multi-purpose apparatus places a forming operation into unused space within the injection molding machine, thereby utilizing the already present injection molding clamping pressure to pressure form parts. The apparatus results in a method that combines the three steps of forming, cutting, and injection molding into one continuous operation performed within the injection molding machine, as well as eliminating the need for numerous pre-injection molding steps.

This invention relates to injection molding, and in particular, to a method of using a multi-purpose processing apparatus or tool for simultaneously performing the multiple functions of forming, cutting, and molding, such as in the process of in-mold decorating.
Typically, a part that requires in-mold decorating may first require multiple steps to be performed. The first step may be to print the part in web form. The web form may then be fed through a web cutting apparatus, which reads a registration mark, thereby cutting the web into sheets or parts at desired locations. The part, in printed and cut form, may be sent to a station where locations are punched. After the punching operation is complete, the part is ready and able to be sent to the former, where it may be hand fed and formed. The formed sheet may then be sent to the injection molding machine, where again individual sheets are manually hand fed to be molded. Finally, the desired product is produced.
The cost of such an operation is considerable. There are the obvious costs of performing each separate operation, as well as the material handling costs between each operation. However, considerable hidden costs exist as well. Such hidden costs include coordinating all of the separate operations involved, i.e., printing, perforating and cutting the part, punching locations, sending the part to a separate station to be formed, and to another separate station to be molded, as well as labor costs, such as the numerous manual operations included therein. Further, these tasks can slow the process, creating troublesome bottlenecks. And the manual nature of these processes can raise quality concerns.
Accordingly, a need exists for a multi-purpose processing apparatus which allows an injection molding operation to proceed without the need to perform the pre-injection molding individual steps such as cutting, punching, and forming. In other words, a need exists for a device which accepts the product in web form, thereby combining pre-injection molding stations into one continuous feed apparatus, which eliminates the manual labor and expense associated with conventional in-mold decorated injection molding. Further, a need exists for a multi-purpose processing apparatus which allows the steps of forming, cutting, and molding to be performed on a printed feed roll simultaneously at different positions within the injection molding machine.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multi-purpose processing apparatus which allows an injection molding operation to proceed without the need to perform the pre-injection molding individual steps such as cutting, punching, and forming. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a multi-purpose processing apparatus which accepts the printed stock in web form, thereby combining pre-injection molding stations into one continuous feed apparatus, which eliminates the manual labor usually associated with injection molding. Further, it is also an object of the present invention to provide a multi-purpose processing apparatus which allows the steps of forming, cutting, and molding to be performed on a printed feed roll simultaneously at different positions within the injection molding machine.
The present invention satisfies this need by providing a multi-purpose processing apparatus able to perform both a forming operation and a cutting/injection molding operation. Using this multi-purpose apparatus in a manufacturing process eliminates the need for three separate and distinct steps of forming, cutting, and injection molding. Use of the multi-purpose apparatus results in a process which combines the three steps of forming, cutting, and injection molding into one continuous operation performed within the injection molding machine. The multi-purpose apparatus thereby eliminates the need for a punching operation before reaching the injection molding machine to position forming locations, as there is now no need to hand feed the forming operation. This tool allows the three steps of forming, cutting and molding to be performed simultaneously as parts are fed into the multi-purpose apparatus.
The present invention multi-purpose processing apparatus fits into a substantially conventional injection molding machine. The apparatus is preferably mounted on a quick change mounting plate, but may be mounted directly to both press platen surfaces of the injection molding machine. The multi-purpose apparatus has a first portion which performs the forming operation and a second portion which performs the cutting and molding operation.
The forming operation is typically done by pressure forming. The forming operation utilizes unused space within the injection molding machine, as well as clamping pressure already supplied by the injection molding machine. The injection molding operation is typical as is known in the art. For the cutting portion, the part can be pattern-cut while in the mold, preferably by cutting means in the mold cutting the substrate during closing of the mold. The cutting operation is optional, as the tool can be set up to either perform the cutting operation or not, as desired.
In use, the process begins with a roll of a flat, printed web mounted on a roll mount. The web is fed into the multi-purpose processing apparatus by a web feed system. After a portion of the web is formed, it is advanced to the cutting/molding operation within the multi-purpose tool. As the formed portion is cut and molded, a new portion is advanced to the forming operation and formed simultaneously with the portion which was just formed being cut and/or molded. The cutting/molding operation can be set up to either cut or not cut the part. If the cutting/molding operation is not set in a cutting mode, the parts, formed and molded, continue on to be rolled up onto another roll. This process can continue until a new feed roll is needed, forming multiple finished parts without having to transport them after each individual step is completed.
If the cutting/molding operation is set up to perform a cutting operation, simultaneous with the injection molding process the substrate can be pattern-cut, preferably by a cutting means on the tool. The part, now formed, cut, and molded, can generally either fall into a bin, or be picked up by a robot.
As stated earlier, in a conventional in-mold decorated injection molding operation numerous tasks and steps are involved. The present invention allows the printed web to be in roll stock form and be taken directly to the injection molding machine. Therefore, the typical steps required for an in mold decorated part before the part gets to the injection molding machine, i.e., cutting, punching, and forming, are not necessary. Separate cutting and punching operations are no longer required, and the forming operation is performed within the injection molding machine.
Also, as previously mentioned, other hidden costs in a typical process would include such things as coordinating printing, perforating and cutting the part, punching locations, sending the part to the former station to have it formed, and sending the part to the injection molding station to have it molded. With the present invention, the injection molding machine operator can merely track the inventory of printed roll stock on hand, and send notification when more is needed. All of the intermediate operations discussed are no longer required in the process, many of which are manual tasks which are typically slower and less reliable.

Method of use of multi-purpose processing apparatus


A public transit travel planning system and methodology that uses an extensive pre-processing approach of transit information prior to query time on order to determine optimal public transit routes for journeys. At query time, since the transit information has already been processed by the system, very little computation is needed in order to fulfill the query. The system then provides users with public transit directions in response to the queries for public transit journeys.

With the improvement of the public transportation infrastructure, an increasing awareness of the environment, and the rising cost of gasoline, many people have begun using various forms of public transportation. Rather than using their own vehicles, people have increasingly used railway transportation, buses, and/or ferries for their travel needs. Because of this increase in use of public transportation, public transit planning systems have been developed. These systems provide users with directions to travel between a starting location to a destination location via various forms of public transportation.
Typically, in these systems, a query including a starting location and a destination is received, and the transit planning systems provide step by step directions to reach the destination using one or more forms of public transportation. For example, the directions can include a sequence of which public transit vehicles (e.g., buses, trains, etc.) are used and which stops at public transit locations need to be made in order to reach the destination of the trip. The directions may include a transfer to another transit vehicle required at the different transit locations along the trip. Thus, the planning systems provide a mechanism that offers information for people to easily plan their trips using public transportation.
Typically, to determine the directions for a trip, these conventional transit planning systems analyze, at query time, various routes between the starting and destination locations of the trip in order to determine the optimal path to reach the destination. This approach is useful when there are a relatively small number of potential routes between the locations due to a limited number of available transit options. However, due to the expansion of the public transportation infrastructure and the ability to transfer between different transportation systems (e.g., transfer between a train and bus at a common station), the number of possible routes between any given starting location and destination location has grown significantly. Thus, the time needed during query time to calculate the optimal path to reach a destination has also increased dramatically thereby increasing the time that users have to wait to receive results.

Transit routing system for public transportation trip planning


The present invention relates to a process of producing a cellulosic product comprising (i) providing an aqueous suspension of cellulosic fibers, (ii) adding microfibrillar polysaccharide, (iii) adding thermoplastic microspheres, (iv) dewatering the suspension and forming a cellulosic product. The invention also relates to a process of producing a single layer cellulosic product comprising (i) providing an aqueous suspension of cellulosic fibers, (ii) adding microfibrillar polysaccharide derived from softwood and/or hardwood and optionally adding thermoplastic microspheres to the suspension, (iii) dewatering the suspension and forming a cellulosic product. The invention further relates to a cellulosic product obtainable from said processes. The invention also relates to a composition comprising microfibrillar polysaccharide and thermoplastic microspheres and the use thereof.

Today, the development within the papermaking industry is focused on reducing the grammage of cellulosic products such as board products while increasing or substantially maintaining their further properties including strength properties.
WO 00/14333 relates to a method in which latex is used as a binder in the bulk layer to improve strength properties. However, WO 00/14333 suffers from high amounts of chemicals needed as well as problems related to the application of the latex binder. As an example, if latex is added to the wet end, retention problems of the latex on the fibers may cause deposit problems as well as disturbance of the wet end chemistry balance. Application problems may also occur if latex were added to already formed paper or board layers using existing equipment. Latex may also result in repulpability problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,649 discloses a seed-based enhanced fiber additive (EFA) derived from non-wood which may be used in papermaking. U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,649 states that EFA used as a fiber replacement material can maintain or increase paper strength properties in applications whereby the basis weight of the paper is decreased.
One object of the instant invention is to provide a new process of producing a cellulosic product, especially a single layer cellulosic product, substantially maintaining and/or increasing its properties including strength properties such as tensile strength while using a smaller quantity of cellulosic material so as to reduce the grammage of the formed cellulosic sheets. Yet a further object of the invention is to provide a cellulosic product, especially a single layer cellulosic product, in which at least one property of the cellulosic product including tensile strength, Z-strength, and/or other strength is improved or substantially maintained while the bending resistance can be substantially maintained or increased. A further object of the instant invention is to provide a composition which may be used as a premix to provide such cellulosic product.


An electronic ballast is provided with circuitry for detecting the removal of one or more lamp filaments across a range of dimming levels, and regulating an output stage including at least first and second pairs of lamp connection output terminals based on a filament connection status. A filament removal sensing circuit is coupled to the output terminal pairs and configured to generate an output voltage representative of a filament connection status with respect to the output terminal pairs. A microcontroller is coupled to receive the output voltage from the filament removal sensing circuit and programmed to determine a rate of change in the output voltage, compare the rate of change in the output voltage to a predetermined threshold value, and disable the output stage when the rate of change in the output voltage exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

The present invention relates generally to electronic ballasts and associated methods for powering lighting sources such as fluorescent lamps. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic ballast having circuitry for detecting the presence or removal of one or more common lamp filaments and regulating the performance of an associated output stage accordingly.
Dimming ballasts are generally desirable for, among other things, light output control and associated energy savings. If a conventional dimming ballast has a parallel connection of common lamp filaments it is very difficult to sense removal of one of the common filaments by using DC current or voltage sensing procedures as are currently known in the art. This is a primary reason why most dimming ballasts do not shut down when a common filament is removed from the ballast, meaning that there is a distinct possibility for a technician to get shocked by open circuit voltage when re-lamping. If the open circuit voltage is sufficiently high, the ballast may fail safety tests for issues such as through-lamp leakage.

Electronic ballast circuit and method for detecting removal of parallel connected lamp filaments in low level dimming