A storage device, a board, a liquid container, a system and the like are disclosed, which are capable of efficiently detecting a connection to a host device without an increase in the number of existing terminals. A storage device 100 includes: a storage section 130; a storage controller 120 that controls access to the storage section 130; a controller 110 that performs a communication process with the host device; a data terminal SDA; a reset terminal XRST; and a clock terminal SCK. The controller 110 determines that an operational mode is a normal communication/connection detection mode when a voltage level change of the reset terminal XRST indicates a change in a reset/reset-disabled state during a time period for the clock terminal SCK has specific voltage level(s).

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a storage device, a board, a liquid container, a system and the like.
2. Background Art
For a printer that is used while an ink cartridge (liquid container) is attached to the printer, it is necessary to detect whether or not the ink cartridge is attached in order to prevent a printing process from being performed while the ink cartridge is not attached.
For this challenge, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for detecting whether or not an electrical connection is established using a detection terminal attached to the printer and a detection terminal attached to the ink cartridge and thereby detecting whether or not the ink cartridge is attached. In this method, however, there is a problem that the number of terminals is increased.
In addition, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a method for causing a terminal for detecting a remaining amount of ink to detect whether or not the ink cartridge is attached. In this method, however, there is a problem that the number of terminals cannot be reduced even when the remaining amount of the ink is detected by another method.
[Citation List]
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2002-14870
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2009-274438

Storage device, board, liquid container and system


A damper for a turbine rotor assembly of a gas turbine engine is disclosed. The damper may have a forward plate. The damper may further have an aft plate including a larger surface area than the forward plate. The aft plate may have at least one aperture for regulating a flow of through the aft plate. The damper may also have a longitudinal structure connecting the forward plate and the aft plate.

A gas turbine engine ("GTE") is known to include one or more stages of turbine rotor assemblies mounted on a drive shaft. Each turbine rotor assembly includes a plurality of turbine blades extending radially outward and spaced circumferentially from one another around a turbine rotor. The GTE ignites a mixture of air/fuel to create a flow of high-temperature compressed gas over the turbine blades, which causes the turbine blades to rotate the turbine rotor assembly. Rotational energy from each turbine rotor assembly may be transferred to the drive shaft to power a load, for example, a generator, a compressor, or a pump.
A turbine blade typically includes a root structure and an airfoil extending from opposite sides of a turbine blade platform. The turbine rotor is known to include a slot for receiving each turbine blade. The shape of each slot may be similar in shape to the root structure of each corresponding turbine blade. When a plurality of turbine blades are assembled on the turbine rotor, an under-platform cavity may be formed between and/or beneath turbine platforms of adjacent turbine blades. An ingress of high-temperature compressed gas into the under-platform cavity through a gap between adjacent turbine blade platforms may cause premature fatigue of turbine blades due to excessive heat.
Various systems and components for regulating the flow of compressed gas around turbine rotor assemblies are known. Some systems are known to utilize a damper positioned between turbine blades to regulate the flow of gas within a turbine rotor assembly. Further, it is known to use a moveable element to bridge the gap between adjacent turbine blade platforms. In some cases, it is also known to utilize a damper in combination with a moveable element.
One example of a system including a seal body positioned between adjacent turbine blades to regulate a flow of gases around a turbine rotor stage is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,429 to Athans et al. ("the '429 patent"). The '429 patent discloses a rotor disk including a plurality of turbine blades. Each turbine blade includes an airfoil, a platform, and a shank. The shank may extend down to a multilobe dovetail to mounted the turbine blade to the rotor disk. The seal body is positioned between the shanks and below the platforms of adjacent turbine blades. The seal body includes an enlarged seal plate disposed at a forward end of the seal body. The enlarged plate overlaps forward faces of adjacent shanks to provide a seal. The seal body also seals at an aft end with a rectangular head disposed above a pair of axial lobes or tangs. The enlarged plate includes a small inlet aperture for metering a small amount of purge air between the shanks during operation to control the disk temperature.
Although the system of the '429 patent may disclose using a seal body between shanks of adjacent turbine blades, certain disadvantages persist. For example, the seal body of the '429 patent discloses small head on the aft end that may be prone to gas leakage. Further, the seal body of the '429 patent does not permit a flow of cooling gas to be regulated around an outer edge of the enlarged seal plate at the forward face of the turbine shanks.

Turbine blade assembly including a damper


A balanced skeletal traction apparatus for aligning fractured leg bones of a patient lying in a supine recuperative position including an underlying solid polygon support member, a horizontal traction device operable to be connected to a patient's lower leg for providing longitudinal traction and at least one securing member operable to releasably secure a patient's leg with respect to the underlying solid polygon support member.

This invention relates to a novel balanced skeletal traction apparatus. More specifically, this invention relates to a balanced skeletal traction apparatus used for aligning fractured leg bones of a patient following surgery or injury.
When a portion of a bone is fractured, it is necessary to position the fractured fragments so that the fragments will successfully align and rejoin to insure resumption of a structural bone member. Reduction, as applied to fractures, refers to the means employed to bring the fracture fragments back into close apposition and alignment. Immobilization, as applied to fractures, refers to the means employed to maintain the reduction until successful repair of the fracture has occurred. In this connection, three principal factors determine, to a large extent, whether the fractured fragments will heal successfully. First, the accuracy of the reduction of the displaced fracture fragments is essential. Second, efficiency of the immobilization by which the fracture fragments are held in the reduced position is important. Third, the local blood supply available to the fracture fragments must be maintained to facilitate proper bone knitting between adjacent fragments.
Insufficient reduction may result in malunion, delayed union, or nonunion of the fracture. All of these maladies complicate and extend the recuperative process. It is therefore highly desirable to promote and facilitate the reduction of and blood supply to the fractured fragments of a leg bone so that the fractured fragments may heal. A successful method of treatment is based first on obtaining reduction and then maintaining reduction until fracture healing occurs in a bone while concurrently encouraging an adequate blood supply to the injured area. A common means of both obtaining and maintaining reduction is through the use of traction devices.
Traction has been used to treat fractures for hundreds of years and is still the most commonly indicated method of treatment. Traction is classified as being applied through either skin or bone, and may be further classified by the direction of the traction (i.e. horizontal, vertical, or oblique). In practice, traction is exerted on the distal fracture fragment, aligning it with the less manageable proximal fragment.
Horizontal skin traction was first applied in the 14th century for the treatment of femoral fractures. A method commonly used in the past was introduced during the American Civil War. Named Buck's traction after its inventor, this type of simple traction aligns femoral fracture fragments in a horizontal direction. A patient lying in a supine position has strips of ordinary adhesive tape applied to the sides of the leg and attached to a spreader block at the foot. The leg is wrapped with an elastic bandage to improve purchase of the tape on the skin. A piece of traction cord attaches the spreader block to a weight, which is hung over the foot of a bed. The lower leg is supported on a pillow to reduce friction of the heel against the bed linen. Countertraction is supplied by elevating the foot of the bed on shock blocks. A disadvantage of this type of traction is that supporting the lower leg on a pillow invites unintentional patient rotation of the lower leg and corresponding complications connected with disturbance of the fracture fragments during the healing process.
Vertical skin traction has been popular since being introduced in the 1870s. Its popularity is based on the effectiveness of maintaining fracture alignment and the fact that it especially facilitates care of an infant or child in bed. An early vertical skin traction configuration included tape which secured a spreader block to the lower leg, as described above. The leg was vertically attached to a suspension means, thereby aligning the fracture fragments.
Many disadvantages were associated with this configuration. Reduction of blood flow and associated circulation impairment tended to occur in the normal as well as the fractured limb. If a patient moved toward the foot of the bed, hyperextension of the knee further jeopardized limb circulation. Moreover, the circumferential wraps required to hold the traction tapes in place added to the problem of circulation impairment. This device for vertical traction was improved by lowering the inclination of the leg to about 45 degrees, versus 90 degrees, thus reducing the risk of vascular compromise. However, problems of the type previously described still remained.
Oblique skin traction has been commonly used in several forms, employing various means of supporting the leg, and producing a resultant traction. In the past the weight of the fracture fragments was supported by a sling to prevent posterior angulation. Russell's method for oblique skin traction was introduced in 1921 and is often employed by attending physicians. This method is used for children and adults and provides a single traction system for both vertical and horizontal traction by means of a sling beneath the proximal leg or knee and longitudinal traction along the distal portion of the leg, respectively. A traction doubling pulley system was particularly applicable to adults who required substantial longitudinal traction to prevent shortening of the healing bone.
Russell's method of skin traction limited versatility by attaching both the vertical and horizontal traction means to a single pulley. An improvement over this configuration was realized when the vertical support sling and the distal traction elements were separated with independent pulleys and weights. This system provided greater flexibility.
In this improved traction device, the force counteracting the fracture fragments is the resultant force of the vertical sling and the horizontal traction along the leg. For this reason it is important that the vertical sling be under the proximal leg rather than under the thigh. If the sling is placed under the thigh, the force is directed more cephalad with less resultant force. This cephalad force can also cause anterior angulation to occur at the fracture site. The vertical sling must be at least 90 degrees or slightly caudal to the horizontal pull along the leg to achieve an adequate resultant force. A second force, the pull of gravity, can produce posterior bowing at the fracture site. In order to counter this force, a pillow was placed under the thigh to prevent the posterior bowing.
Problems associated with the previously described system include difficulties involved in assembling such a complex system of pulleys. Multiple medical personnel are needed to accurately align and reduce the fractured fragments. It is also difficult to make adjustments to the direction of traction or the traction force because of the interaction between the pulleys. Further, a patient's movement is almost completely restricted and therefore tends to make recuperation an uncomfortable process.
The difficulties suggested in the preceeding are not intended to be exhaustive but rather are among many which may tend to reduce the effectiveness and physician satisfaction with prior balanced skin traction devices. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presented above should be sufficient to demonstrate that balanced skeletal traction devices appearing in the past will admit to worthwhile improvement.


The invention relates to a system enabling IP (internet protocol) services for user terminals based on SIP (session initiation protocol) signaling applicable in fixed and mobile terminals (1) of user (2) provided with means of access to an IP network (5) connected to an IMS network (6) communicating with other terminals (1) of user (2) or other services (3). It comprises a communications interface (15) connecting an application processor (7) with at least one access module (26-34) connected to an SIP signaling module (10) for the interaction of the application processor (7) by means of events with other terminals (1) of user (2) and with services (3). It comprises an event dispatcher module (19) receiving the produced events and in which the processor (7) loads filtration criteria of the events required by each application, to send each received event to the applications (8) requiring it.

The use of IP networks the services of which have been defined by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force, which is the organization in charge of protocol engineering and the division for Internet development) is very well known, such that the specifications have evolved throughout the years only paying attention to the specific needs that each of these services solved at each time.
On the other hand, the frequently named IMS (Internet Multimedia Subsystem) network services specified by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) which is the organization producing the technical specifications for third generation mobile systems based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks, has selected the SIP protocol which is the protocol developed by IETF for the world of Internet, therefore, 3GPP has created more complementary specifications to SIP in order to be able to access multimedia services in the mobile communications environment (cellular telephony, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth).
The mobile world has recently joined the world of Internet, therefore, many services of fixed Internet networks were not conceived to work in the new environment of the mobile world.
Currently, with the recent implementation of third generation mobile networks with wider bandwidth, the possibility of incorporating multimedia services (video conferences, multiplayer games, etc.) to mobile telephony has opened up.
Therefore, mobile terminals must incorporate an SIP signaling module in order to access the services provided by IMS. In addition to cellular devices, any other type of duly configured device with access to the IP network will also be able to access the services offered by IMS.
The current architectures of user terminals with access to IP networks incorporate an SIP signaling module which allows them to access the different services. Each application incorporated in the terminal has to access the SIP module directly and a record and access to these services has to be implemented. In this way, each similar application implements the same functionality separately. Furthermore, as each application has to interact directly with the SIP module of the terminal, it is not possible to have several applications being executed at the same time in the same device because they come into conflict. The present invention solves this problem by providing the user terminals with an enabling system which is connected with the SIP module allowing the common access to services and further allowing the combination of the execution of several applications in the same user terminal using the same resources.
In the field of IMS networks provided for the access to multimedia services in the mobile communications environment, patent document WO 2004/040777 must be mentioned, which describes improvements of the architecture proposed by 3GPP for user terminals in an IMS environment describing the signaling level, but unlike the invention, it does not describe the service application level.

System enabling IP (internet protocol) services for user terminal based on SIP (session initiation protocol) signaling


A semiconductor device may include a first semiconductor chip, a second semiconductor chip, an encapsulant encapsulating the first and second semiconductor chips, a first signal terminal extending over inside and outside of the encapsulant and connected to the first semiconductor chip inside the encapsulant, and a second signal terminal extending over the inside and the outside of the encapsulant and connected to the second semiconductor chip inside the encapsulant. The first and second signal terminals may protrude from the encapsulant in a same direction. The first signal terminal may include, inside the encapsulant, a section where the first signal terminal extends farther away from the second signal terminal along a direction toward the first semiconductor chip. The second signal terminal may include, inside the encapsulant, a section where the second signal terminal extends farther away from the first signal terminal along a direction toward the second semiconductor chip.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-130465 describes a semiconductor device. This semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor chip and a second semiconductor chip, an encapsulant encapsulating the first semiconductor chip and the second semiconductor chip, and a first signal terminal and a second signal terminal both extending over inside and outside of the encapsulant. The first signal terminal is connected to the first semiconductor chip via a bonding wire inside the encapsulant. The second signal terminal is connected to the second semiconductor chip via a bonding wire inside the encapsulant. The first signal terminal and the second signal terminal protrude from the encapsulant in a same direction.

Semiconductor device comprising signal terminals extending from encapsulant


A power semiconductor module includes a base plate and at least one pair of substrates mounted on the base plate. Multiple power semiconductors are mounted on each substrate. The power semiconductors are arranged on each substrate with a different number of power semiconductors along opposite edges thereof. The at least one pair of substrates is arranged on the base plate with the respective edges of the substrates provided with a lower number of power semiconductors facing towards each other.

Power semiconductor modules are used in high power applications to switch high voltages and currents, and include multiple power semiconductors. Since each single semiconductor has a maximum voltage and current, the semiconductors have to be combined in parallel and/or in series within the power semiconductor module to enable their use in high power applications. To facilitate the manufacturing of such modules, they may include multiple substrates on which the power semiconductors are mounted. The substrates are provided with common contacts for emitter, collector and base contacts, so that the substrates can easily be connected in the power semiconductor modules. The substrates are mounted on a common base plate, which can be part of a housing of the power semiconductor module or which can be held within a housing of the power semiconductor module.
In known power semiconductor modules, four or six substrates may be combined, each provided with six power semiconductors including insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT), power diodes, reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistors (RC-IGBT), or other power semiconductors suitable for high power applications. The power semiconductors may be arranged in two rows on each substrate. For example, a substrate can include four IGBTs and two power diodes.
Important characteristics of a power semiconductor module are its size, heat generation, cooling and maximum power. To facilitate the use of power semiconductor modules, it is desired to provide modules with a compact size, which require little space for mounting, and which are capable of use with high currents. Due to the applied high power, power semiconductors generate an amount of heat which can damage the individual semiconductors or the entire power semiconductor module. It is also desired to achieve a good relation between maximum current and heat generation, so that the power semiconductor modules as a whole and all individual power semiconductors are not damaged during use. Therefore, it is also important to dissipate the heat generated in the power semiconductors within the module and away from the module.


A method for removing a radiation-polymerized cosmetic coating from nails comprising applying a solvent system comprising a hydroxyl-containing solvent and a non-hydroxyl-containing solvent to a polymerized nail coating. A two package system comprising a first package comprising polymerizable nail coating composition comprising a (meth)acrylic oligomer, (meth)acrylic monomer, or a mixture of a (meth)acrylic oligomer and a (meth)acrylic monomer, and a photoinitiator, wherein the oligomer or monomer has an acidic or basic ionizable group and a second package comprising a solvent system for removing the polymerizable nail coating composition after it has been applied to a nail and radiation cured, the solvent system comprising a hydroxyl-containing solvent and a non-hydroxyl-containing solvent. A radiation-curable coating composition for human nails is also disclosed.

This invention relates to polymerized cosmetic coatings for human nails and particularly to improved removability thereof.
Radiation curable cosmetic coatings for human nails are typically applied in professional nail salons wherein nail technicians apply a gel coating to fingernails or toenails and expose the coating to ultraviolet light radiation to cure the coating, resulting in a far more durable coating than can be achieved with solvent based nail polishes. While solvent-based nail polishes are easily removed with solvent such as acetone, polymerized cosmetic coatings are designed to be very durable and often are not easily removable in comparison to air dryed nail varnishes. Various solutions to the problem of removability of polymerized cosmetic coatings for human nails have been proposed, for example Rosenberg in U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,113 proposed applying a basecoat comprising a water-soluble or water-swellable polymer in a solvent system followed by application and then curing of a photocurable nail lacquer composition. Thong, et al., U.S. Pat. Publ. 2011/0182838, disclosed polymerized cosmetic coatings for natural and artificial nails having improved removability with solvents comprising a reactive (meth)acrylate, a reactive urethane (meth)acrylate, a reactive polypropylene glycol monomethacrylate, a polymethylmethacrylate-polymethacrylic acid copolymer, a pyromellitic dianhydride glyceryl dimethacrylate, a non-reactive solvent-dissolvable polymer, a non-reactive solvent which cures under radiation to an acrylic thermoset having voids which contain a solvent-dissolvable polymer. There are problems with the Rosenberg, Thong, et al., and other prior art approaches to this problem which the present invention solves. Rosenberg, for example, fails due to high water sensitivity since the base coat is not resistant to water and causes lifting of the entire coating system when exposed to water. Neither reference discloses acids or bases in the solvent system used for removal.

Method of removing polymerized coatings for human nails, polymerized coating for human nails having improved removability, and two package system


A universal cable fitting for a wide variety of applications includes a longitudinally slit sleeve tube (MR) and sealing bodies (DKG, DK, DKDP, DKS, DKO) on the ends of the sleeve tube. A sealing system is formed along the longitudinal edges of the sleeve tube by a sealing groove (DN), a sealing tongue (DF) and a wedge-shaped closure rail (LVS) that subjects a longitudinal seal (LD) to pressing during closure. Each sealing body is provided with a sealing groove (DU) for receiving an encircling seal (UD) having a corrugated profile. The sealing groove is provided in the direction of the encircling seal with a cutout into which an extension (AS) of the longitudinal seal penetrates. The cutout and the extension in the longitudinal seal produce direct contact with the encircling seal located in the sealing groove of the sealing body.

The invention relates to a cable fitting made of thermoplastic material, comprising a longitudinally divided sleeve tube, sealing bodies on the end sides, a sealing system which is arranged on the longitudinal side and is made of a groove running along the longitudinal edges, and also comprising a longitudinal seal and a clamping rail, as well as encircling seals between the sealing bodies and the sleeve tube.
In the field of cable fittings, a very large number of possible applications and combinations and, accordingly, also a very large number of different types of cable fittings are known. Nevertheless, these cable fittings are only designed for a specific application in each case.
Thus, for example, cable fittings made of half-shells with lamellae located one behind the other in the sealing regions are know (EP 0 778 643). A specific form of sleeve tube is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,893. U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,669; EP 0 403 937 and EP 0 923 178 describe cable sleeves with sealing bodies. An arrangement with multiple cable introductions in cable sleeves is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,852. A dividing sleeve with a large number of cable introductions can be gathered from DE 4 330 294, and PCT/DE99/01985 presents a sealing body for cable fittings. Furthermore, cable-clamping arrangements are already known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,653 and EP 0 752 747. Longitudinal closures for cable fittings can be gathered from EP 0 780 947, and PCT/DE99/01945 illustrates a connecting element for encircling seals.
It can be gathered from this prior art that there is a variety of vary different types of sleeve, one example of which, coordinated with the relevant application, is decisive in each case.
This results in the object of the present invention being to provide a cable fitting which is suitable for universal use, with the result that there is a single family of sleeves on the coordinated basic building blocks of which it is possible to put together any desired combination. The set object, then, is achieved by a cable fitting of the type explained in the introduction in that the sleeve tube has on the end sides, in the encircling sealing regions, universal mounts in which a selection of sealing bodies with a wide range of different functional units can be inserted universally, the encircling sealing regions of all the sealing bodies covering a family of cable fittings being coordinated with the corresponding universal mounts of the sleeve tube.
In the case of the invention, then, it is advantageous that a family of cable fittings contains basic building blocks which cover all applications, are all coordinated with one another and can be inserted in a basic sleeve tube. This basic family of cable fittings is merely subdivided into different type series, the individual type series merely differing by way of their diameter and, if appropriate, by way of the length of the sleeve tube. This produces an entire range of cable fittings which, on account of the corresponding configuration of the individual components, covers a large number of possible combinations encompassing all conceivable applications and cable configurations. This family of cable fittings may be constructed as a transition sleeve and as a cover sleeve. This produces a uniform appearance throughout and thus makes the job of the fitter considerably easier since he is carrying out the installation of a system familiar to him. He does not have to be prepared, as has been the case hitherto, for different sleeve combinations in the case of different applications, since the components available to him, in the case of the family of cable fittings according to the invention, are familiar.
The selection of a series of cable fittings from the entire family of cable fittings is determined by the type, diameter and number of cables which are to be introduced and by the necessary splicing volume. In general, the entire application area is sufficiently covered by four different basic diameters and different lengths, it additionally being possible for the length to vary. Moreover, it is possible for the family of cable fittings to have its basic building blocks carried out equally well with an oval appearance as with a circular appearance.


A control device for an on-board device including an actuator is configured to: supply power to a first microprocessor and a first driver circuit from a first power source through a first power supply path; supply power to a second microprocessor and a second driver circuit from a second power source through a second power supply path; and use the first and second driver circuits to drive the actuator. In this control device, the negative electrodes of the first and second power sources are electrically connected to a common ground portion. Furthermore, the control device includes a first and second sensor for measuring current or voltage between the vehicle body ground and the negative electrodes of the first and second power source, respectively. When detecting an abnormal current or voltage, the first and second microprocessors control the first and second driver circuits so as to place a limit on power supply to the actuator.

Safety and reliability are key requirements for on-board devices which are designed to be installed in vehicles. These requirements are becoming more and more stringent in concert with recent efforts toward practical application of automated driving. One measure to address the requirements is constructing an on-board device to have a redundant configuration so that the on-board device is maintained controllable even after a fault or failure has occurred therein.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses using two separate driver circuit systems to control and drive a motor having two coil sets so as to maintain the motor drive operation even after any one of the driver circuit systems has failed.
Patent Document 2 discloses a more reliable technique using two separate driver circuit systems, each individually supplied with power from one of two power sources through one of two power supply routes to control and drive a motor having two coil sets.


A scuff separating device capable of feeding difficult to separate sheets from the outside of a stack includes a feed belt or roller for contacting the outside sheet and feeding it off the stack. A retard roller is supported by a support arm pivoted about a pivot downstream, and rests on the feed belt or roller and prevents double feeds. A brake on the retard roller prevents rotation when more than one sheet is in the nip but permits rotation when one or no sheets are in the nip.

Although the sheet separating art is quite old, modern copiers, printers and scanners have required its perfection. The most critical sheet separating task in a copier or scanner is the document handler. In order to maintain the page sequential order of a stack of original document sheets, the sheets are commonly fed off the bottom of the stack. Because of the weight of the stack, bottom separation is more difficult than top separation. To further complicate the task, the copier is asked to handle used originals which vary in size, weight, age and condition. Not surprisingly, nearly all document handlers presently on the market come with instructions not to feed originals of unusual weight or of poor condition.
The predominant technology in high speed document handling involves separation of the bottom sheet from the stack with either a vacuum roller or a vacuum belt. These devices permit high speed feeding of a variety of documents without damage. However they generate noise which must be muffled, are expensive and require substantial power.
Other sheet separating tasks in copiers and printers have also become demanding. These apparatus are being asked to print onto a large variety of both paper and transparency stock. Copy sheet input mechanisms may feed a wide variety of sheets from as many as three or more sources and are asked to feed sheets hand supplied to the top of a stack of different weight sheets. Finishers often supply separator sheets and covers of greatly varying weight and texture. Duplex tray mechanisms are asked to feed a variety of sheets that may be poorly stacked and have toner images on one side that are easily smudged. Even though most of these applications involve feeding from the top of the stack, a much easier task than bottom feeding, vacuum feed is often used because of the variety of sheet types to be fed.
Scuff separating devices are much less expensive than vacuum devices, use less power and create less noise. They are commonly used in copiers and printers to feed blank copy sheets from the top of a stack. However, they have been considered too unreliable for separating sheets from a stack of used document sheets or from a stack of sheets having varying characteristics. They are especially difficult to apply to bottom feeding configurations. Prevention of double feeding and non-feeding in known scuff feeders is difficult with both such top and bottom separation applications. More important, because of reliance upon friction and a certain amount of slippage, they have been considered likely to damage more frail sheets.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,665,906 and 4,480,827 disclose top scuff separating devices in which the problems of slippage have been reduced by use of a braked retard roller opposite a larger drive roller. Although these structures have been in the literature for many years, to the best of applicants' knowledge, the principles have not been widely applied to the demands of the most difficult top or bottom separating problems. A possible reason why these structures have not seen substantial use is that each of them appears to require adjustment of the brake for extreme of paper weight and stack height. In the applications mentioned above, a variety of papers and stack heights is a normal condition.


The present invention provides an oil-in-water emulsion cosmetic that is excellent in the resilient and supple (in other words, firm, tensional, and elastic) feel and also excellent in the softness and moisturizing effect. The oil-in-water emulsion cosmetic of the present invention is characterized by comprising the following components:

In recent years, it is desired for oil-in-water emulsion cosmetics to impart a resilient and supple feel to the skin (feeling in use wherein the skin does not sag, is not taut, and has moderate elasticity).
In the past, as the material that imparts a resilient and supple feel, polymers and the like have been used. For example, an emulsion cosmetic having a resilient and supple feel, wherein stearyl stearate and a hydrocarbon such as hydrogenated polyisobutene are used in combination, has been known (patent literature 1). However, the resilient and supple feel sometimes becomes weak owing to the moisturizer and oil that are blended to generate a moisturizing effect and other feeling in use.
A skin cosmetic wherein hydrogenated polyisobutene and a specific amount of a higher alcohol are blended has been known (patent literature 2). In addition, an oil-in-water emulsion cosmetic wherein a highly viscous oil such as polybutene is blended has been known (patent literature 3). However, these cosmetics were not satisfactory in the resilient and supple feel.    Patent literature 1: Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2010-235472    Patent literature 2: Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2010-6726    Patent literature 3: Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2007-261971

Abstract: (A) 0.1 to 5 mass % of hydrogenated polyisobutene with a number average molecular weight of 2000 to 3000,

Abstract: (B) 0.1 to less than 1 mass % of higher alcohol,

Abstract: (C) 1 to 25 mass % of an oil component,

Abstract: (D) 0.3 to 5 mass % of surfactant,

Abstract: (E) 0.05 to 5 mass % of water-soluble thickener, and

Abstract: (F) an aqueous component,

Abstract: wherein the blending quantity of nonpolar oil is 30% or lower of the total amount of component (C).


A ball valve comprises a housing, a first seat surface, a second seat surface, and a ball rotatably movable within the housing. The ball contacts at least one of the first seat surface and the second seat surface to form a seal within the ball valve. The first seat surface and the second seat surface are fixed relative to each other, and pressure acting in a first direction and in a second direction opposite the first direction increases the contact pressure of the first seat surface and the second seat surface with the ball.

Wellbores are sometimes drilled into subterranean formations that contain hydrocarbons to allow recovery of the hydrocarbons. During the drilling and production of a hydrocarbon bearing formation, various procedures may be performed that involve temporarily isolating fluid flowing into or out of the formation through a wellbore tubular. Such procedures can include flow control operations, completion operations, and/or interventions. Various valves, including ball valves, may be used during these procedures to control the flow of fluid through the wellbore tubular. Ball valves generally include a ball seat for receiving a sealing ball. In traditional ball valves, the valve is closed by seating the ball on the ball seat to form a seal. The seal may be formed along a single sharp point to provide a seal. However, high pressures and loads may cause the ball and/or the ball seat to deform, making it difficult to provide a consistent seal throughout the life of the ball valve.

Load balancing spherical diameter single seat ball system


A control system and method for an optical scanner of the type having a document feeding device for transporting documents to an optical scanning station is provided. The control system includes a plurality of buffer memories for temporarily storing optical data from documents processed through the scanning station, and a control circuit connected to the buffer memories and the document feeding device. The delivery rate of the document-feeding device is maximized to a level consistent with an estimated mode value of optical data present on the documents being scanned. When documents having higher than normal optical data cause the buffer memories to fill up faster then than they empty, the control circuit transmits a command to pause or slow down the delivery rate of the document feeding device upon a determination that a threshold capacity of any of the buffer memories has been exceeded or is about to be exceeded. By maximizing the delivery speed of the document-feeding device in accordance with the actual amount of optical data on the documents being scanned, throughput for a given processing bandwidth is maximized.

This invention generally concerns control systems for document feeders, and is specifically concerned with a system and method for dynamically controlling the rate that a document feeder delivers documents to the scanning station of an optical scanner such that throughput for a given processing bandwidth is maximized.
Optical scanners for scanning and recording optical data present on documents are well known in the prior art. Such optical scanners typically include a scanning station having an optical reading element, a light source, and a platen formed from glass or transparent plastic for maintaining a document in a flat position as it is moved across the line-of-sight of the optical element by an assembly of belts and rollers. In some scanners, the documents stay stationary in the platen while the optical reading element is moved. Either type of scanner includes a document feeder for regularly feeding a train of documents into the document-conveying rollers and belts of the station. In operation, optical data from the documents is transmitted from the optical reading element to one or several buffer memories, which temporarily stores the data for further processing, typically includes the compression of the data and permanent storage thereof onto a magnetic disk.
Because such scanners are often used to make permanent records of important documents, it is important that they operate in such a manner that no data is lost. Such data loss could occur if the capacity of any one of the buffer memories were overloaded as the document was transported past the scanning element. To avoid such a scenario, the speed of the document feeders is deliberately limited to a speed in which the documents containing the highest density of optical information could be delivered to the scanning station and read thereby without overloading the available buffer memory capacities. Unfortunately, in limiting the transport speed to such xe2x80x9cworst casexe2x80x9d scenario documents, the inventors have observed that the scanner operates at a speed which is slower than necessary for most of the documents contained within a particular scanning run or batch.
Clearly, there is a need for a control system for an optical scanner that does not limit the delivery speed of the document feeder to those documents having the highest density of optical data. Ideally, such a system would operate the document feeder at the fastest rate consistent with the amount of optical data present on a typical document contained within a scanning run, and would automatically pause or slow down the feeder when documents having a higher than normal density of optical data were read by the scanning station without the need for operator intervention. Finally, such a system should be simple and inexpensive to construct and install, easily retrofittable on existing scanners, and should operate reliably without loss of optical data.
Generally speaking, the invention is both a control system and method for an optical scanner of the type having a mechanism for feeding documents to a scanning station that overcomes the throughput limitations associated with prior art scanners and meets the aforementioned needs in the art. To this end, the control system of the invention comprises a plurality of buffer memories for temporarily storing optical data from documents processed through the scanning station, and a control circuit connected to the buffer memories and the document feeding mechanism for transmitting a command to change a delivery rate of the document feeding mechanism upon a determination that a threshold capacity of any of the buffer memories has been exceeded or is about to be exceeded.
The control system may include a buffer monitor circuit for determining whether any one of the plurality of buffer memories becomes filled to the threshold capacity, which may be indicative of an xe2x80x9calmost fullxe2x80x9d state of each of the buffer memories. This xe2x80x9calmost fullxe2x80x9d threshold capacity may be pre-selected, and the command to change the delivery rate of the document feeding mechanism may be a pause command. A second threshold capacity may also be pre-selected for each of the buffer memories which is less than the xe2x80x9calmost fullxe2x80x9d threshold for each and which indicates that the particular buffer memory is xe2x80x9csufficiently emptyxe2x80x9d to receive additional optical data. The buffer monitor circuit may generate a first set of signals indicative of whether the xe2x80x9calmost fullxe2x80x9d threshold of any of the buffer memories has been exceeded, as well as second set of signals indicative of whether or not the capacity of the buffer memories is below the xe2x80x9csufficiently emptyxe2x80x9d threshold. The first and second signals may be transmitted to first and second gate circuits, and the first gate circuit may generate a pause command upon receipt of a signal that any of the buffer memories is above the xe2x80x9calmost fullxe2x80x9d threshold, while the second gate circuit may cancel the pause command upon receipt of signals from each of the buffer memories that all (or selected) of the memories are below the xe2x80x9csufficiently emptyxe2x80x9d threshold.
The capacity of each of the buffer memories may also be pre-selected by electronically changing the portioning between the various memories. In other words, one buffer memory may be expanded in capacity at the expense of another prior to running a particular batch of documents. This feature is particularly useful in efficiently allocating buffer memory resources when, for example, there is typically less information on the back side of the document than the front sides, or only grayscale images are needed rather than color images.
In an alternate embodiment of the system, the buffer monitor circuit and gate memories may be replaced with a processor which simultaneously monitors the remaining capacity of each of the buffer memories, as well as the trends associated with the density of optical data contained in the documents being scanned, and individually determines, on a floating basis, both an xe2x80x9calmost fullxe2x80x9d threshold and a xe2x80x9csufficiently emptyxe2x80x9d threshold for each of the buffer memories. In such an alternate embodiment, the implementation of the changing of the delivery rate of the document feeding mechanism is not limited to the generation and cancellation of a pause command, but also includes a speeding up or slowing down of the delivery rate which is dependent upon (at least in part) extrapolated trends in the density of optical data in the documents being processed by the scanning station.
In both embodiments of the system, document throughput is substantially increased by adjusting the delivery rate of the sheet feeder to a maximum rate consistent with the density of the optical data on the documents actually being scanned.

Dynamic document feeder system and method for maximizing scanning throughput


Disclosed is a method of a first device being controlled by a control device in a group including the first device and a plurality of devices in a Bluetooth mesh network and a device performing the method. The method includes joining the Bluetooth mesh network, receiving a control message instructing the execution of a specific operation from the control device, and performing the specific operation based on the control message. The specific operation may be sequentially performed by the first device and the plurality of devices.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and device for controlling a device using Bluetooth, that is, a short-distance technology, in a wireless communication system and, more particularly, to a method and device for controlling a group device in a Bluetooth mesh network.
Discussion of the Related Art
Bluetooth is an NFC technology standard allowing various devices to be wirelessly connected in a near field to exchange data. In a case in which two devices intend to perform wireless communication using Bluetooth communication, a user may perform a procedure for discovering a Bluetooth device with which he or she wants to communicate and requesting a connection.
Here, the user may discover a Bluetooth device according to a Bluetooth communication method intended to be used using the Bluetooth device, and subsequently perform a connection.
The Bluetooth communication method may be classified as a BR/EDR method and an LE method. The BR/EDR method may be termed Bluetooth Classic. The Bluetooth Classic method includes a Bluetooth technology led from Bluetooth 1.0 and a Bluetooth technology using an enhanced data rate (EDR) supported by Bluetooth 2.0 or a subsequent version.
A Bluetooth low energy (LE) technology applied, starting from Bluetooth 4.0, may stably provide information of hundreds of kilobytes (KB) at low power consumption. Such a Bluetooth low energy technology allows devices to exchange information with each other by utilizing an attribute protocol. The Bluetooth LE method may reduce energy consumption by reducing overhead of a header and simplifying an operation.
Among the Bluetooth devices, some products do not have a display or a user interface. Complexity of connection, management, control, and disconnection among various types of Bluetooth devices and Bluetooth device employing similar technologies has increased.
Bluetooth supports a high speed at relatively low power consumption and at relatively low cost. However, since a transmission distance thereof is 100 m at the maximum, and thus, Bluetooth is appropriately used within a limited space.

Method and device for controlling group device using bluetooth in wireless communication system


An electrophotographic toner contains at least a binder resin and a colorant, and log10{[Cu]/[C]} satisfies the following equation (1):−5.0≦log10{[Cu]/[C]}≦−3.5   (1)in which, [C] represents a carbon content (%) and [Cu] represents a copper content (%), measured with fluorescent X-ray. An electrophotographic developer containing the toner, a method for producing the toner, and a method for forming an image by using the toner are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic toner and an electrophotographic developer capable of being used in an electrophotographic apparatus (image forming apparatus) utilizing an electrophotographic process, such as a duplicator, a printer and a facsimile machine. The invention also relates to an electrophotographic toner, a process for producing the same, and a process for forming an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
A process of visualizing image information through an electrostatic latent image, such as the electrophotographic process, has been widely used in various fields of art. In the electrophotographic process, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a surface of an electrophotographic photoreceptor (an electrostatic latent image carrying member, which is hereinafter sometimes referred simply to as a photoreceptor) through a charging step and an exposing step, and is then developed with a toner for developing an electrostatic latent image (hereinafter, sometimes referred simply to a toner) to form a developed image, which is then subjected to a transferring step and a fixing step to visualize the electrostatic latent image.
As the process for producing a toner, the kneading and pulverizing method and the emulsion polymerization particle aggregating method have been known. A toner obtained by the pulverizing method has a relatively wide particle size distribution and has an irregular shape, and thus the capability thereof is insufficient.
In the emulsion polymerization particle aggregating method, on the other hand, aggregated particles having a particle diameter corresponding to the toner diameter are formed, and then the aggregated particles are fused and integrated by heating to produce the toner. In this method, the structure of the toner can be freely controlled from the inner layer to the surface layer, whereby more precise particle structure control can be realized (as described, for example, in Japanese Patent No. 3,141,783).
In recent years, the image forming process by electrophotography using the toner and developer techniques are being applied to a part of the printing field owing to progress of the digitalization and colorization and conspicuously practiced in the field of graphic arts including on-demand printing. The field of graphic arts referred herein totally means production of creative printed matters with small number of copies, such as those printed by engraving, and mass production of printed matters by replication, duplication and reproduction of original arts, such as calligraphy and painting, and can be defined as a market targeting business fields and sectors relating to production of those printed matters.
However, as compared to the conventional full-fledged printing, the image forming process involves various problems in capability including image quality, such as color reproduction region, resolution and glossiness, texture, uniformity within one image, and maintenance of image quality upon continuous printing for a long period of time, although it can be characterized by on-demand nature as a plate-less printing. Due to the problems, the image forming process is insufficient for applying to the field of graphic arts where market values of productive properties are pursued.
One of the problems relating to stability of images is discoloration or decoloration of a fixed image upon storing for a long period of time. In the field of graphic arts, in particular, the toner density and the color reproduction region are widely distributed on paper, such as maps and photographs, and the tendency of discoloration or decoloration is conspicuous in such a color region that has a low toner density and uses magenta and yellow colors, such as flesh color.
It is considered this is because the colorant molecule absorbs an ultraviolet ray from sunlight or other illuminations to decompose the colorant molecule. A magenta or yellow pigment has absorbance in a short wavelength range and absorbs light having higher energy than a cyan pigment, whereby the bond of the compound constituting the pigment is broken to cause discoloration or decoloration of the pigment. The tendency is conspicuous in such a color region that is of a natural color and has a low toner density, such as flesh color.
Such a method has been proposed that a compound having an ultraviolet ray absorbing capability is contained in a toner along with a pigment to reduce irradiation of the pigment with an ultraviolet ray. In this method, an ultraviolet ray is absorbed, and the light energy thus absorbed is converted to vibration energy within molecules, whereby affection thereof to the other materials in the toner is suppressed. As the material for absorbing an ultraviolet ray, there have been proposed a method of adding a benzophenone compound (as described, for example, in JP-A-06-148928), a method of adding benzophenone and a hindered amine (as described, for example, in JP-A-06-118684), a method of adding a polymer compound having an organic ultraviolet absorbent bonded thereto through covalent bond (as described, for example, in JP-A-09-080797), a method of adding a photochromic material (as described, for example, in JP-A-2004-061813), and a method of adding a thermochromic colorant (as described, for example, in JP-A-2004-061818).
These methods are favorable in ultraviolet ray absorbing capability, but an ultraviolet absorbent represented by benzophenone is generally poor in heat resistance and is liable to be broken due to heat upon kneading and pulverizing and heat upon polymerization in cases of polymerized toners. The molecular skeleton of the ultraviolet absorbent itself is broken upon storing for a long period of time, and the ultraviolet absorbent, which is colorless in the initial stage, is discolored to change the color of the toner. Furthermore, an ultraviolet absorbent not only absorbs an ultraviolet ray and converts the absorbed light energy to vibration energy within molecules, but also often functions as a photosensitizing agent, which transfers the absorbed light energy to other molecules. The tendency of transferring the light energy is conspicuous particularly in the case where the other materials are present in the vicinity of the ultraviolet absorbent as in the toner, and there are some cases where molecules receiving the light energy emit fluorescent light or phosphorescent light. The luminescent amount of fluorescent light or phosphorescent light is generally small, but cannot be ignored in color reproducibility in a natural color region having a low toner density.
Therefore, such toners of yellow color and magenta color are demanded that suffer no discoloration and decoloration due to sunlight or other illuminations, but it is the current situation that the demand cannot be satisfied.

Electrophotographic toner, process for producing the same, and process for forming image


A fuel cell or electrochemical cell has a catalytic electrode and an electrically conductive contact element facing the electrode. The electrically conductive contact element conducts electrical current from the electrode and has a surface that includes a plurality of passivated regions and a plurality of non-passivated regions dispersed among the passivated regions. The surface is further coated with an electrically conductive, corrosion resistant coating. Methods include treating the electrically conductive contact element by passivation to resist corrosion while still maintaining electrical conductivity of the element.

Fuel cells have been proposed as a power source for electric vehicles and other applications. One known fuel cell is the PEM (i.e., Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell that includes a so-called "membrane-electrode-assembly" comprising a thin, solid polymer membrane-electrolyte having an anode on one face of the membrane-electrolyte and a cathode on the opposite face of the membrane-electrolyte. The anode and cathode typically comprise finely divided carbon particles, very finely divided catalytic particles supported on the internal and external surfaces of the carbon particles, and proton conductive material intermingled with the catalytic and carbon particles.
The membrane-electrode-assembly is sandwiched between a pair of electrically conductive contact elements which serve as current collectors for the anode and cathode, and may contain appropriate channels and openings therein for distributing the fuel cell's gaseous reactants (i.e., H2 & O2/air) over the surfaces of the respective anode and cathode.
Bipolar PEM fuel cells comprise a plurality of the membrane-electrode-assemblies stacked together in electrical series while being separated one from the next by an impermeable, electrically conductive contact element known as a bipolar plate or septum. The septum or bipolar plate has two working faces, one confronting the anode of one cell and the other confronting the cathode on the next adjacent cell in the stack, and bipolar plate electrically conducts current between the adjacent cells. Contact elements at the ends of the stack contact only the end cells and are referred to as end plates.
In an H2—O2/air PEM fuel cell environment, the bipolar plates and other contact elements (e.g., end plates) are in constant contact with highly acidic solutions (pH 3-5) containing F−, SO4−−, SO3−, HSO4−, CO3−−, and HCO3−, etc. Moreover, the cathode operates in a highly oxidizing environment, being polarized to a maximum of about +1 V (vs. the normal hydrogen electrode) while being exposed to pressurized air. Finally, the anode is constantly exposed to super atmospheric hydrogen. Hence, contact elements made from metal must be resistant to acids, oxidation, and hydrogen embrittlement in the fuel cell environment. As few metals exist that meet this criteria, contact elements have often been fabricated from large pieces of graphite which is corrosion-resistant, and electrically conductive in the PEM fuel cell environment. However, graphite is quite fragile, and quite porous making it extremely difficult to make very thin gas impervious plates therefrom.
Lightweight metals, such as aluminum and its alloys, have also been proposed for use in making fuel cell contact elements. Such metals are more conductive than graphite, and can be formed into very thin plates. Unfortunately, such light weight metals are susceptible to corrosion in the hostile PEM fuel cell environment, and contact elements made therefrom either dissolve (e.g., in the case of aluminum) that increases the internal resistance of the fuel cell and reduces its performance.
In light of the corrosion sensitivity of lightweight metals, such as aluminum, efforts have been made to develop protective coatings. However, some of these protection methods increase the electrical resistance of the aluminum plate to unacceptable levels. Other methods of protection keep the conductivity at an acceptable level, but do not sufficiently achieve the desired level of protection.
Accordingly, there is a need for conductive bipolar plate which is corrosion resistant and electrically conductive to promote power output and efficiency of the fuel cell.

Corrosion resistant plate for PEM fuel cell and methods of making same


An air cleaner for a vehicle includes a body accommodating a filter element, a cover that covers the top of the body, and clamping units clamping the body and the cover. The clamping units include i) at least one first clamp that clamps sides of the body and the cover by means of elastic force of a first spring and functions as a hinge point allowing the cover to rotate with respect to the body and ii) at least one second clamp that clamps the other sides of the body and the cover by means of elastic force of a second spring and locks and unlocks the body and the cover by means of rotation of a key.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air cleaner for a vehicle, and more particularly, to an air cleaner which may be made of plastic for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the intake system of vehicle engines is equipped with an air cleaner that sucks air from the atmosphere, filters foreign substances from the air, and then supplies the filtered air to the engine.
The air cleaner includes a body accommodating a filter element etc., a cover that covert the upper portion of the body, and a plurality of clamping units that clamps the cover to the body, using elasticity of springs.
In common gasoline vehicles, the air cleaner is made of plastic and mounted apart from the injector, such that explosion pressure is not directly transmitted to the air cleaner; therefore, the body and the cover are fixed by the clamping units.
On the other hand, in vehicles using LPG fuel, since a mixer that mixes the LGP fuel with the air is mounted between the intake hose and a throttle body, combustion in the engine reaches even around the mixer, such that the explosion pressure (hereafter, referred to as "backfire pressure) is transmitted to the inside of the air cleaner.
Therefore, when the LPG vehicle is equipped with the air cleaner made of plastic and having the structure with the body and the cover fixed by clamping units, the backfire pressure is exerted as large internal pressure between the body and the cover; therefore, the parts of the air cleaner (body, cover, filter element, and clamping units, etc.) are damaged by the backfire pressure.
Accordingly, the air cleaners made of plastic are replaced by air cleaners made of steel in the LPG vehicles in the related art, but in this case, the weight and manufacturing cost of the air cleaners are increased.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


Alternative laser structures, which have potentially the same tuning performance as (S)SG-DBR and GCSR lasers, and a fabrication process which is similar to that of the (S)SG-DBR laser, are presented. The advantage of these structures is that the output power does not pass through a long passive region.

The invention relates to multi-section integrated semiconducting devices or lasers, comprising resonator sections, being either distributed reflection or transmission sections. The invention also relates to methods for widely wavelength tuning semiconductor devices or lasers.
Tuning of a conventional Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) semiconductor laser is limited by the fact that the relative tuning range is restricted to the relative change in the refractive index of the tuning region. This means that the tuning range, under normal operating conditions, cannot exceed 10 nm. This is substantially less than the potential bandwidth, restricted by the width of the gain curve, which is about 100 nm. Such conventional DBR lasers can functionally be characterized as comprising a first part being a two-sided active section, for creating radiation, for instance a light beam, by spontaneous emission over a bandwidth around one center frequency. Said first part also guides said radiation or light beam. Such conventional DBR lasers further have two reflectors. Said reflectors are bounding said two-sided active section, thus one at each side.
The limited selectivity problem has been recognized by Wolf, et al (European Transactions on Telecommunications and Related Technologies, 4 (1993), No. 6) showing in FIG. 10 a laser structure with two parallel waveguides but without gratings. These two parallel waveguides cannot be considered as resonators, indeed the spectra (shown in FIG. 10b and c) show the comb mode spectra corresponding to arms B and A, but they are either the comb mode spectra of arm B, the gain section and the reflectors R or the comb mode spectra of arm A, the gain section and the reflectors R. As the spacing between the spectral lines are determined by the length of the structures, it appears that said spacing is still very small, resulting in still a low selectivity and a low tuneability.
Over the past years several advanced laser structures have been proposed with an extended tuning range. Examples are the Y-laser [M. Kuznetsov, P. Verlangieri, A. G. Dentai, C. H. Joyner, and C. A. Burrus, xe2x80x9cDesign of widely tunable semiconductor three-branch lasers,xe2x80x9d J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 2100-2106, 1994], the co-directionally coupled twin-guide laser [M.-C. Amann, and S. Illek, xe2x80x9cTunable laser diodes utilizing transverse tuning scheme,xe2x80x9d J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 1168-1182, 1993], the Sampled Grating (SG) DBR laser [V. Jayaraman, Z. M. Chuang, and L. A. Coldren, xe2x80x9cTheory, design and performance of extended tuning range semiconductor lasers with sampled gratings,xe2x80x9d IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 1824-1834, 1993], the Super Structure Grating (SSG) DBR laser [H. Ishii, H. Tanobe, F. Kano, Y. Tohmori, Y. Kondo, and Y. Yoshikuni, xe2x80x9cQuasicontinuous wavelength tuning in super-structure-grating (SSG) DBR lasers,xe2x80x9d IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 433-440, 1996] and the Grating assisted Coupler with rear Sampled Reflector (GCSR) laser [M. xc3x96berg, S. Nilsson, K. Streubel, L. Bxc3xa4ckbom, and T. Klinga, xe2x80x9c74 nm wavelength tuning range of an InGaAsP/InP vertical grating assisted codirectional coupler laser with rear sampled grating reflector,xe2x80x9d IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., vol. 5, no. 7, pp. 735-738, 1993]. In the first two types of devices, a trade-off had to be made between the tuning range and the spectral purity (broad tuning range vs. high Side Mode Suppression Ratio (SMSR)). Therefore recently most research attention has gone to the (S)SG-DBR and GCSR lasers.
A sampled grating DBR laser, comprises of two sampled gratings exhibiting a comb-shaped reflectance spectrum, with slightly different peak spacing due to the different sampling periods. As an alternative, other grating shapes can be used: these are normally referred to as xe2x80x9csuper structure gratingsxe2x80x9d (SSG). Lasers of this type have been fabricated with tuning ranges up to about 100 nm. The operation of the device is such that through current injection in the two DBR sections, a peak of the front and rear reflectance comb are aligned at the desired wavelength. The phase section is used to align a longitudinal cavity mode with the peaks of the two reflectors. The disadvantage of the (S)SG-DBR approach is that light coupled out of the laser has to pass a long passive or inactive section, leading to loss. Also, the losses in the two reflector sections increase with the amount of current injected into those sections, leading to a tuning current dependent output power.
The SG-DBR laser and the SSG-DBR laser are functionally characterized as comprising a two-sided active region for light creation and two reflectors one at each side of the active region, said reflectors having a reflection characteristic with a plurality of reflection peaks. Said characteristic has spaced reflection maxima points providing a maximum reflection of an associated wavelength. Such a characteristic can be obtained via sampled gratings, which exhibit a comb-shaped reflection spectrum or via the so-called supergratings. Said gratings or supergratings can also be characterized as distributed reflectors.
Sampled gratings can be described as structures in a waveguide system, having a periodically broken short-period structure including short period stripped regions alternating with non-stripped regions. The supergratings can be described as structures in a waveguide system having a diffractive grating having a plurality of repeating unit regions, each having a constant length, thus forming a modulation period, and at least one parameter that determines the optical reflectivity of said diffractive grating varying depending on its position in each of said repeating unit regions along a direction of optical transmission in said laser, said diffractive grating extending by at least two modulation periods. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,392 related to distributed reflector and wavelength tunable semiconductor lasers, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The SG-DBR laser and the SSG-DBR laser exploit constructive interference of the periodic characteristics of reflectors, located at different sides of the active section, with different periodicity, to obtain a wide tunability. The alignment of the reflector peaks can be described by stating that the spacing of said reflective maxima points of the reflectors are different or are essentially not equal and only one said reflective maxima of each of said reflectors is in correspondence with a wavelength of said created lightbeam. Reference is made to patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,325, related to multi-section tunable lasers with differing multi-element mirrors, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
As the construction of said reflectors leads to long inactive sections, this results in lasing output power losses.
Other lasers, which use a co-directional coupler, readily have a very wide tuning range, but there is insufficient suppression of neighbouring longitudinal modes. The combination of a widely tuneable but poorly selective co-directional coupler with a single (S)SG reflector will give both wide tuning and a good side mode suppression. Furthermore, the optical output signal does not pass through a passive region. Again tuning of 100 nm has been achieved. Unfortunately, such a structure is rather complicated to manufacture, requiring at least 5 growth steps. Reference is made to patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,828 related to integrated tunable filters, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
EP-A-0926787 describes a series of strongly complex coupled DFB lasers. In the disclosed structure, gratings are made within the active sections. Said gratings are selected such that no substantial interaction between the lasers, defined by a grated active section, in series is obtained. The disclosed structure enables generation of multiple wavelengths, even sumultaneously, but does not address the issue of selectivity and tuneability.
A parallel structure with a plurality of waveguides is disclosed in the PATENT ABSTRACT OF JAPAN, vol. 013, no. 026, Jan. 20, 1989, JP 63 229796 (Fujitsu Ltd. The disclosed structure again enables radiation of a plurality of wavelengths but does not address the issue of tuneability. The optical switch is operated for selecting a waveguide, thus no simultaneously optical connection between said waveguide is obtained.
The aim of the present invention is to disclose laser structures which are easy to manufacture and which are widely tuneable and have low lasing output power losses.
In the present invention, alternative laser structures, apparatus or devices are presented, which have potentially the same tuning performance as (S)SG-DBR and GCSR lasers and which output power, and not pass through a long passive region.
An integrated/semiconductor tunable laser comprising a substrate made of a semiconducting material, a two-sided active section on said substrate, and a plurality of sections on said substrate, is disclosed. Said laser can be denoted as a multi-section integrated semiconductor laser. Said active section is radiation generating, for instance, but not limited to the range of optical radiation. All said sections are connected to one side of said active section. Note that this does not mean that they are directly coupled to said active section. In case of optical radiation, said connection can be denoted as an optical connection. At least two of said sections include a waveguide system. Each of said sections defines a resonator.
These resonator sections have a spectra with spaced maxima resonant points themselves. They are themselves either a filter or a reflector with a comb mode spectra.
The resonators used in the present invention have resonant characteristics with a plurality of resonant peaks. Alternatively it can be said that said resonators have spaced resonant maxima points providing a maximum resonance of an associated wavelength. The transmission filters used in the present invention have a transmission characteristic with a plurality of transmission peaks. Alternatively it can be said that said transmission filters have spaced transmission maxima points providing a maximum transmission of an associated wavelength. The reflectors used in the present invention have a reflection characteristic with a plurality of reflection peaks. Alternatively it can be said that said reflectors have spaced reflective maxima points providing a maximum reflection of an associated wavelength.
The spacing of said resonator maxima points corresponding to the transmission or reflective maxima points of at least two of said sections are selected to be essentially not equal or different. Said laser is therefore denoted as an integrated semiconductor laser with different reflection or transmission sections. The transmission and reflection characteristic of said transmission filters and reflectors are positioned relative to each other such that at least one of said transmission or reflective maxima of each of said two sections overlap each other. This means that said sections have at least one transmission or reflective maxima for a same first frequency. Due to the different spacings of said transmission or reflective maxima points a small shift of one of said transmission or reflective characteristics can result in overlapping of at least one other transmission or reflective maxima of each of said two sections. Said sections have then at least one second frequency in common, which can be largely different from said first frequency. Said shift can be due to current injections in said transmission or reflective sections. It can be said that said laser comprises means for injecting current into some of said plurality of sections, resulting in said transmission or reflection characteristic being shifted in wavelength. Said overlapping maxima points define a plurality of lasing wavelengths. Due to the small shifting of at least one resonator characteristic, said device jumps from a first set of lasing wavelengths to another set of lasing wavelengths. The spacings of the maxima resonant points are accordingly essentially determined by the grating instead of the length of the sections.
It can be said that said active section creates a radiation or a lightbeam by emission and that the device emits an emitted laser beam with the wavelength of said emitted lightbeam being in correspondence with said overlapping maxima of said transmission filters or reflectors. Said active section is thus creating radiation or a light beam by spontaneous emission over a bandwidth around a center frequency and guides said radiation or light beam and has (optical) amplification actions. Said emitted radiation or lightbeam does not pass through said plurality of sections. The combination of said plurality of sections, having a combinated reflection action, and said (optical) amplification action of said active section causes lasing at said set of lasing wavelengths. Due to the fact that small shifting of resonator characteristics results in large difference in the set of lasing wavelenghts, an optical laser having a wide tunability, is obtained. Said laser is therefore denoted widely wavelength tunable integrated semiconductor laser.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the active radiation-generating section is connected at one side to a plurality of grated sections, but said gratings are not included in said active section. Moreover the gratings are selected such that substantial interaction between the spectra of said gratings can be used because this is the working principle used for improving the selectivity. Therefore at least one of said resonant maxima of each of two said sections are overlapping with each other.
In an embodiment of the invention, only one of said resonator maxima points is overlapping. It can then be said that said active section creates a radiation or a lightbeam by emission and the device emits an emitted laser beam with the wavelength of said emitted lightbeam being in correspondence with said overlapping maxima of said transmission filters or reflectors. The combination of said plurality of sections, having a combinated reflection action with a single reflection wavelength, and said (optical) amplification action of said active section causes lasing at said single reflection wavelength, defined by said overlapping resonator maxima points.
In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of said plurality of sections is inactive. This means that such inactive section is not creating a lightbeam by emission.
In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of said plurality of sections is active. This means that such active section also creates a lightbeam by emission.
In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of said waveguide systems has a periodically broken short-period structure including short period stripped regions alternating with non-stripped regions. Such waveguide systems are also denoted as distributed, hence said laser is denoted a semiconductor laser with distributed reflection or transmission sections. In one aspect of the invention, two such waveguides can be found on the same side of the active region.
In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of said waveguide systems has a diffractive grating having a plurality of repeating unit regions each having a constant length, thus forming a modulation period, and at least one parameter that determines the optical reflectivity or transmission of said diffractive grating varying depending on its position in each of said repeating unit regions along a direction of optical transmission in said laser, said diffractive grating extending by at least two modulation periods.
In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of said waveguide systems is a ring resonator.
In an embodiment of the invention, the laser further comprises a plurality of power splitters, being exploited for optically connecting part of said plurality of sections and connecting part of said plurality of sections with said active section.
In an embodiment of the invention, said laser is a serial concatenation of said active section and a plurality of said sections.
In an embodiment of the invention, said laser is a connection of said active section to one single port side of a power splitter and a parallel connection of a plurality of sections to the other multi port side of said power splitter.
In an embodiment of the invention, said laser comprises phase sections, being exploiting for adjusting the round trip cavity phase and thus a lasing mode wavelength of the laser.

Widely wavelength tunable integrated semiconductor device and method for widely tuning semiconductor devices


According to one embodiment, an aircraft pylon system comprises a pylon, a bail bar located within the pylon, an offset bracket assembly, and a lanyard release assembly. The offset bracket assembly comprises an elongated member configured to be placed around the bail bar within the pylon, a bracket coupled to the elongated member, and a lanyard-engaging member coupled to the bracket and offset from a longitudinal axis of the elongated member. The lanyard release assembly comprises a lanyard coupled to the lanyard-engaging member and a lanyard release connector coupled to the lanyard and releasably coupled to the store.

Modern military aircraft are typically configured with stores, such as bombs or missiles for armament. These stores may be used by the aircraft to disable or incapacitate known threats in a theater of battle. In many cases, stores may be configured within or underneath the fuselage or wings of the aircraft and ejected or jettisoned at a precise moment to strike their intended target. Smart bombs are a particular type of military store that includes processing circuits for guidance and/or triggering.


A halogen generator which uses a material which absorbs commercially available halogen and, on being heated, releases the halogen in a very pure form, i.e. >99.7%. Such a generator can be used in a gas management system for an excimer laser in which the laser gas contains a halogen donor, an active rare gas and an inert gas diluent. Cleaners are provided to enable the removal from the laser gas mixture of contaminants which build up in operation of the laser and the halogen gas generator is provided to replace halogen lost in the contaminants and elsewhere. The generator can be operated even when the laser is in operation so that a desired partial pressure of the halogen can be maintained.

Excimer lasers are of a class of ultra violet gas lasers with applications in scientific, medical and industrial markets.
The gas mixtures used in excimer lasers contain gases which create contaminants. The gas mixture of such a laser may have as its main constituents,
i) a halogen donor (typically 5 millibars of hydrogen chloride or fluorine). Henceforth in this specification and in the appended claims, the halogen donor is referred to simply as `halogen`, PA1 ii) an active rare gas (typically 200 millibars of argon, krypton or xenon), PA1 iii) an inert gas diluent (typically 3000 millibars of helium or neon).
Halogens are extremely corrosive, tending to corrode the materials of the laser interior to form contaminant compounds. Once contaminated the laser gas mixture has to be replaced. Because the mixtures are made up from relatively expensive rare gases, gas lifetime is important and, as the gas mixture becomes contaminated, laser performance is impaired. Contaminants can build up over a relatively short period, hours or days, depending on the amount of use the laser is subjected to, and replacing the gases is expensive and the laser usually has to be put out of commission whilst this is being done. This is particularly significant in industrial markets where downtime can add considerably to process costs.
Considerable efforts have been made to extend the lifetime of excimer laser gases and to identify the contaminants which are created during operation to facilitate their removal. (See, for example, UK Patent No 2,126,327).
One of the methods which has been developed for removing contaminants from an excimer laser gas mixture, involves passing the laser gas over a surface which reacts chemically with the contaminants thereby leaving them on the coated surface as a solid residue.
Although the inert components of the gas mixture do not react with this cleaner, the halogen donor does and, as a result, it also is completely removed from the gas mixture. Steps therefore have to be taken to replace the halogen after passage through the chemical cleaner.
Another often more effective way of removing these contaminants is to condense them on to a cold surface. A cryogenic condenser is disclosed in UK Patent No 2,126,327 (referred to above) which uses liquid nitrogen as its operating medium but provides a range of temperatures above the temperature of the liquid nitrogen, selectively to condense different contaminants. The laser gas circulates continuously through the condenser during laser operation.
During maintenance of the laser, by allowing the contaminants to warm up to ambient temperature so that they become gaseous, they can be disposed of as waste gases. The rare gases and the halogens have significantly high vapour pressures at those temperatures at which most of the contaminants can be condensed out of the gas mixture and they do not condense.
In normal operation the output of an excimer laser gradually deteriorates due to the build up of contaminants and the loss of halogen which combines with various materials to form the contaminants.
In order to compensate for this loss of halogen, a further technique which is used is to inject additional halogen into the laser system at regular intervals. However, this has the effect of producing a sudden increase in the laser output because the proportion of halogen in the system is suddenly increased, but it does not prevent the subsequent steady fall in output after the injection of the halogen and a further injection of halogen then become necessary. The steady fall in output can be compensated by gradually increasing the operating voltage of the excimer laser but this effects adversely the other laser parameters such as beam quality, pulse duration and beam uniformity. In any critical industrial process such changes are unacceptable.
The long term performance and hence usefulness, of an excimer laser is therefore degraded by,


A computing device includes: a tracking sensor including a camera; a controller connected with the tracking sensor, the controller configured to: control the tracking sensor to track successive poses of the computing device in a frame of reference; detecting a plurality of dimensioning events associated with an object; in response to detecting each of the dimensioning events, generate a respective position in the frame of reference based on a current one of the poses; generate, based on the positions, an object boundary in the frame of reference; and dimension the object based on the generated object boundary.

Determining the dimensions of objects may be necessary in a wide variety of applications. For example, it may be desirable to determine the dimensions of packages in a warehouse prior to shipping. Dimensioning objects, however, can require time-consuming and error-prone manual entry of tape-measured dimensions. Further, objects with irregular shapes introduce uncertainty in dimensioning procedure, and can lead to the use of dimensions that do not accurately reflect space consumed by the objects in a shipping container, vehicle or the like.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Method, system and apparatus for mobile dimensioning


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method for verifying an authenticity of a message. The method comprises acquiring a first hash value corresponding to the message, and acquiring a verification code corresponding to the message. The method further comprises computing a second hash value based on the verification code and the message, and verifying the authenticity of the message by comparing the first hash value with the second hash value.

The present invention relates to messaging processing technology and more specifically, to verifying authenticity of a message.
With the rapid development of information technology, message exchanging tools have become an essential part of people's lives. Innumerable messages are exchanged through these tools for business or personal requirements. The message can be a chat message, a web message, an e-mail message or any other message sent from a device to any other device(s), etc. The message can be a data packet sent from one messaging client to any other client(s). For example, the message can be a text message, an image message, an audio message, a video message, or any other multimedia message.
A message may sometimes be provided as electronic evidence, however proving the authenticity of a message, in practice, is the problem that the subject invention seeks to solve. The traditional way to prove the authenticity of a message is to save a copy of the message on the server side and to then compare the message, on the messaging client side, with the saved copy, on the server side, to verify the authenticity of the message on the messaging client side.

International Business Machines Corporation