A storage control apparatus includes a memory configured to store meta-information for associating addresses of a logical area and a physical area with each other, and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to read out first meta-information corresponding to a first logical area from the memory, specify a first address of the physical area corresponding to a copy source address of the data based on the first meta-information, read out second meta-information corresponding to a second logical area that is set as a copy destination of the data in the logical area from the memory, specify a second address of the physical area corresponding to a copy destination address of the data based on the second meta-information, and execute copy of the data by associating the first address and the second address with each other as storage areas of the data.

A large volume of data dealt with by a server apparatus such as a business server is managed by a storage system including a storage apparatus having a large memory capacity, for example. Input/output (I/O) of data is processed by using a logical memory area (logical area) and a memory area (physical area) of a memory device mounted to the storage apparatus in the storage system.
The memory device includes, for example, a recording medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), a device based on redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) using a plurality of recording media in combination, or the like. A technology for integrating physical areas of a plurality of memory devices to be used as a single virtual physical area (storage pool/disk pool) is also proposed. In the case of a storage apparatus having a cache installed, the cache may be temporarily used as the physical area in some cases.
An access to data by the server apparatus is executed via the logical area. When data write is performed with respect to a certain logical area, the storage apparatus writes the data at an address (physical address) of the physical area corresponding to an address (logical address) of the logical area at which the data is to be written. At this time, even when other data having the same contents as the newly written data exists in the physical area, in a case where the logical address at the write destination is different from the logical address of the other data, the data is written at a physical address different from that of the other data.
Since the capacity of the physical area provided by a hardware resource such as the HDD or the SSD is limited, a method of efficiently using the physical area by associating a plurality of logical addresses with the same physical address is proposed in a case where the data having the same contents is written at the plurality of logical addresses. This method may be referred to as duplication exclusion in some cases.
A method of determining the presence of the same data by using hash values of data at the time of snapshot creation is proposed in a storage system where a snapshot of the memory area at a certain time point is created. According to this method, in a case where the same data exists, the data already present at the time of the snapshot creation is used. In addition, a method of excluding the duplicate data in accordance with a comparison result by comparing mutual data in a case where the hash values are the same is proposed.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-72746 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2009-251725 discuss related art technologies.

Storage control apparatus and storage control method


A decoder includes a channel mapper configured to generate a plurality of channel reception values based on hard decision information and soft decision information, a strong error detector configured to determine whether a strong error has occurred using a plurality of check node messages and the channel reception values and to correct the channel reception values according to a determination result to produce corrected channel reception values, a variable node unit configured to generate a plurality of variable node messages using the check node messages and the corrected channel reception values, and a check node unit configured to generate the check node messages using the variable node messages. The variable node unit includes a plurality of variable nodes and the check node unit includes a plurality of check nodes.

Example embodiments of the inventive concepts relate to a decoder using a low-density parity-check (LDPC) code and/or a memory controller including the same.
In the field of semiconductor memory, errors occurring due to noise may be corrected using coding and decoding technology based on error correction codes. Among these error correction codes, the LDPC code which uses an iterative operation based on a probability has received attention.
A strong error may occur in a NAND flash memory device, where the strong error is an error which makes a large value allocated to an absolute value of a channel log-likelihood ratio (LLR) of a decoder because of its high degree of interference among errors occurring due to interference between the program states of adjacent cells. The strong error may significantly deteriorate the error correction performance of the decoder using the LDPC code. In a NAND flash memory device having a high strong error ratio, the correction performance of an LDPC decoder may greatly decrease.

Decoder using low-density parity-check code and memory controller including the same


A process for producing polyacrylonitrile membranes for use in reverse osmosis, which comprises dissolving an acrylonitrile polymer in formamide (FA)-containing dimethylformamide (DMF) to prepare an acrylonitrile polymer solution for membrane formation; shaping the solution into a membranous product of a desired form while maintaining the temperature of the solution within a specific range; removing the solvent from the membranous product under a specified solvent removal condition (solidifying condition); subjecting the thus-obtained membrane to a heat treatment, and further to a plasma treatment. The polyacrylonitrile membrane thus obtained is asymmetric and porous in structure, and excellent both in separation ability and in mechanical strength. This membrane is very suitable for use in reverse osmosis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a polyacrylonitrile membrane for use in reverse osmosis, and more specifically to a process which comprises preparing a membrane-forming solution of an acrylonitrile polymer dissolved in formamide (FA)-containing dimethylformamide (DMF); forming the polymer solution into a membranous product while maintaining the temperature of the polymer solution within a specified range; removing the solvent under a specified solvent removal condition (solidifying condition); subjecting the thus-obtained solidified membrane to a heat treatment and further to a plasma treatment, whereby a polyacrylonitrile reverse osmotic membrane is obtained which is excellent both in membranous separation ability and in mechanical strength, and is asymmetric and porous in structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, in the wide field of applications including waste water treatment, desalination of sea water, food industry, medical treatment, etc., separation methods for various substances using semi-permeable membranes are given attention and are expected for their further development.
As such membranous separation methods, there have been proposed various techniques such as ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, etc. depending on the particle size of the substance which is suspended, dispersed or dissolved in the aqueous medium to be treated. It goes without saying that the properties required for the membrane should be different depending on the respective objects of separation, but the properties commonly required for them are a high permeation rate of the aqueous medium, an excellent ability for rejection molecules having a particular molecular weight, a sufficient mechanical strength and chemical resistance.
Although separation membranes produced from acrylonitrile polymers are said to have excellent properties as materials for separation membranes, the membranes that have been put into practical use at present are only those for use in the separation of macromolecules, namely those in the field of ultrafiltration, microfiltration or dialysis, and they are scarcely applied to the field of reverse osmosis for separating low molecular substances such as sodium chloride. This is considered to result from the fact that, although acrylonitrile polymer membranes have a sufficient water permeability and salt rejection ability, it is difficult for them to form a membrane structure, especially a skin layer, having a sufficient strength to withstand the severe separating operation in reverse osmosis. That is to say, although it is indispensable to form such a skin layer in order to obtain a reverse osmotic membrane having a sufficient water permeability and salt rejection ability, it has not been successful up to this time to find a technical means to produce a membrane having such a skin layer in an industrially advantageous manner.

Process for producing polyacrylonitrile reverse osmotic membranes


Dimensions of structures in integrated circuits are shrinking with each new fabrication technology generation. Maintaining control of profiles of structures in transistors and interconnects is becoming more important to sustaining profitable integrated circuit production facilities. Measuring profiles of structures with many elements in integrated circuits, such as MOS transistor gates with recessed regions for Si—Ge epitaxial layers, is not cost effective for the commonly used metrology techniques: SEM, TEM and AFM. Scatterometry is technically unfeasible due to the number of elements and optical constants. The instant invention is a simplified scatterometry structure which reproduces the profiles of a structure to be profiled in a simpler structure that is compatible with conventional scatterometric techniques. A method of fabricating a transistor and an integrated circuit using the inventive simplified scatterometry structure are also disclosed.

Advanced integrated circuits with MOS transistors commonly have gate and channel structures formed of multiple elements with complicated three-dimensional shapes. For example, transistors with silicon-germanium (Si—Ge) epitaxial elements typically etch silicon in the transistor substrate adjacent to the transistor gates to form trenches for subsequent growth of Si—Ge epitaxial material. Measurement and control of complex three-dimensional structures, such as MOS transistor structures in which source and drain regions have been etched after gate formation in preparation for selective epitaxial growth of germanium containing silicon, in a manufacturing environment is critical to maintaining electrical parameters such as transistor on-state drive currents and off-state leakage currents within specified limits for integrated circuits in high volume production. Commonly used metrology methods for measuring structures in integrated circuits have serious disadvantages for complex three-dimensional structures, for example, structures with undercut features. Top-down Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) lacks the resolution to provide detailed profile information. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is costly, slow and has limited sample size. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) profilometry is slow and has limited sample size. Other profilometry techniques are also slow, have limited sample sizes, and typically have insufficient resolution. Scatterometry has difficulty modeling structures with multiple elements such as the multiple gate spacer elements in advanced MOS transistors.

Simple scatterometry structure for Si recess etch control


This invention provides a pest repellent of the type which is not only applied to the skin directly but capable of preventing harm from the noxious insects, especially bloodsuckers such as mosquitoes and flies, by inhibiting them from entering the inside of the dwelling. The pest repellent is characterized in that it contains hyssop oil as an active ingredient.

The present invention relates to a pest repellent.
Hitherto, in order to protect the bodies of human and animals from bloodsucking insects such as mosquitoes and flies, pest repellents such as N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cDEETxe2x80x9d) have been used by directly applying them to the skin of human and animals. However, a satisfactory pest repelling effect of DEET has not been obtained by spraying the compound in the inside of a house or supporting the compound on a suitable carrier and placing it in the inside of a house, aside from the case of direct application to the skin.
The object of the present invention is to provide a pest repellent which can be used effectively not only in direct application to the skin but also in various other ways of use including spraying in the inside of a house or on furniture.
As a result of studies conducted for finding out a pest repellent which can answer the above object, the present inventors found that hyssop oil is useful as an active ingredient of said pest repellents and attained the present invention.
Thus, the present invention relates to a pest repellent using hyssop oil as active ingredient, and a pest repelling method using hyssop oil. A pest can be effectively repelled according to the present method.
The hyssop oil used in the present invention is an essential oil of a plant hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) which can be obtained from steam distillation of green or dry grass of hyssop. Hyssop oil is also commercially available from, for instance, Takasago Koryo KK and Hasegawa Koryo KK, and the commercially available hyssop oil can be used as they are.
The pests against which the pest repellent of the present invention is effective include noxious invertebrates, for example, anthropods such as insects, arachnids, crustaceans, chilopods and diplopods, and mollusks such as snails and slugs. Examples of the insects include the noxious insects of the order Diptera, for example, anopheles, aedes such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, culexes such as Culex pipiens and Culex tritaeniorhynchus, gnat, stable fly, sand fly, biting midge, house fly, vinegar flies and moth flies; the order Dictyoptera such as German cockroach, smokybrown cockroarch, American cockroach, brown cockroach and oriental cockroach; the order Coleoptera such as rice weevil, adzuki bean weevil, red flour beetle, black carpet beetle, varies carpet beetle, powder post beetle, and Paederus fuscipes; the order Hymenoptera such as ants, wingless wasps and bethylid wasps; the order Siphonaptera such as Pulex; the order Anoplura such as Pediculus humanus and Phthirus pubis; and the order Isoptera such as Reticulitermes speratus and Coptotermes formosanus. Examples of the arachnids include house dust mites such as common grain mites, Dermatophagoides farinae and Cheyletid mites, Ornithonysus bacoti, Ixodides such as Boophilus microplus and spiders. Examples of the crustacea include Oniscoidea such as sow bug and wood louse. Examples of the chilopods include centipede and millipede. Examples of the diplopods include wireworm. The pest repellent of the present invention can also be applied to the plants to inhibit sap-sucking behavior of aphids, thereby to prevent propagation of plant disease infectious virus hosted by such pests. Therefore, the pest repellent of the present invention can be used for the purpose of protecting plants.
In the present invention, hyssop oil may be used directly for repelling of pests, but usually a carrier is added to hyssop oil to form a liquid formulation (such as aerosol), cream or the like, or hyssop oil is impregnated in a synthetic resin for forming a resin molding. Also, hyssop oil may be impregnated in a paper, cloth or unglazed pottery, or may be formulated into a gel-type formulation, and then used.
As the carrier employed in forming liquid formulations, there can be used, for example, water; alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, glycerin and polyethylene glycol; ethers such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane; aliphatic hydrocarbons such as hexane, kerosine, paraffin and petroleum benzine; and esters such as ethyl acetate.
In the liquid formulations, it is possible to blend commonly used adjuvants or auxiliary agents such as emulsifying or dispersing agent, spreading agent, wetting agent, suspending agent, preservative, propellant and film-forming agent. Examples of the emulsifying or dispersing agents usable in the present invention include soaps, polyoxyethylene fatty acid alcohol ethers such as polyoxyethylene oleyl ether, polyoxyethylene alkylaryl ethers such as polyoxyethylene nonylphenyl ether, polyoxyethylene fatty acid esters, fatty acid glyceride, sorbitan fatty acid esters, sulfuric esters of higher alcohols, and alkylaryl sulfonates such as sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate; examples of the spreading and wetting agents include glycerin and polyethylene glycol; examples of the suspending agents include casein, gelatin, alginic acid, carboxymethyl cellulose, gum arabic, hydroxypropyl cellulose and bentonite; examples of the preservatives include methyl p-hydroxybenzoate, ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate, propyl p-hydroxybenzoate, and butyl p-hydroxybenzoate; examples of the propellants include dimethyl ether, chlorofluorocarbons and carbon dioxide; and examples of the film forming agents include nitrocellulose, acetyl cellulose, acetylbutyl cellulose, methyl cellulose derivatives, vinyl resins such as vinyl acetate resin, and polyvinyl alcohol.
The carriers usable in the preparation of cream formulations include hydrocarbons such as liquid paraffin, vaseline and paraffin; silicones such as dimethylsiloxane, colloidal silica and bentonite; monohydric alcohols such as ethanol, stearyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol and cetyl alcohol; polyhydric alcohols such as polyethylene glycol, ethylene glycol and glycerin; carboxylic acids such as lauric acid and stearic acid; and esters such as beeswax and lanoline. In the cream formulations, there may also be blended the adjuvants or auxiliary agents same as used in said liquid formulations.
The synthetic resins usable for forming the resin moldings include polyethylene; polypropylene; copolymers of ethylene and monomers having polar groups, such as ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-methyl acrylate (or methacrylate) copolymer, ethylene-ethyl acrylate copolymer, and ethylene-vinyl acetate-methyl acrylate (or methacrylate) copolymer; and chlorine-containing synthetic resins such as polyvinyl chloride and polyvinylidene chloride. Of these substances, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer or ethylene-methyl methacrylate copolymer is preferred in view of thermoforming properties (low-temperature processability), and hyssop oil absorbing properties, diffusibility and stability.
Impregnation of hyssop oil into synthetic resin can be effected by having hyssop oil impregnated in the base synthetic resin directly or after dissolving hyssop oil in a suitable solvent such as acetone, or by mixing hyssop oil and a synthetic resin in a molten state. In the latter case, a process may be employed in which the master pellets are first prepared by mixing hyssop oil in a high concentration and a synthetic resin in a molten state, and these master pellets, either directly or after diluted with the base synthetic resin to contain a predetermined amount of hyssop oil, are molded into a desired product such as film, sheet, net, etc., by a method usually used for molding of thermoplastic resins, such as injection molding, inflation, spinning, etc. It is also possible to apply multilayer molding, composite spinning or other molding method according to the purpose of use of the molded product, such as controlling the pest repelling effect retention time.
The content of the active ingredient hyssop oil in said formulations is variable depending on the form of the formulation, method of application and other factors, but in the case of the liquid or cream formulations, the hyssop oil content is usually 0.1 to 50% by weight, preferably 1 to 20% by weight. In the case of resin moldings, the hyssop oil content is usually 1 to 40% by weight, preferably 5 to 30% by weight. When the hyssop oil content in the resin molding is less than 1% by weight, the pest repelling effect of the product is not excellent, and when the hyssop oil content exceeds 40% by weight, hyssop oil may unpreferably bleed out to the molding surface to make it tacky.
In the pest repellent of the present invention, it is possible to blend other types of pest repellent, synergist, antioxidant, UV absorber, insecticide, and other appropriate additives such as dye and pigment.
As other types of pest repellent which can be blended in the formulations of the present invention, there can be exemplified, for example, carane-3,4-diol, DEET, p-menthane-3,8-diol, 2,3,4,5-bis(xcex942-butylene)tetrahydrofurfural, di-n-propylisocine coronate, di-n-butyl succinate, 2-hydroxyoctyl sulfide, and (N-carbo-sec-butyloxy)-2-(2xe2x80x2-hydroxyethyl)-piperidine. As synergist, for instance, N-(2-ethylhexyl)-8,9,10-trinorborne-5-en-2,3-dicarboxyimide (MGK-264) can be used. As antioxidant, for instance, butylhydroxyanisole, dibutylhydroxytoluene, tocopherol, xcex3-oryzanol and the like can be used. As insecticide, for instance, Empenthrin, Transfluthrin Prallethrin Allethrin, pyrethrin, tetramethrin, phenothrin, Cyphenothrin, permethrin, Cypermethrin, Cyhalothrin, Resmethrin, Cyfluthrin, Fenvalerate, deltamethrin, Tralomethrin, Tefuramethrin, Ethofenprox, Silafluofen, Furamethrin, Imiprothrin, Terallethrin, Metoxadiazone, Propoxur, Fenitrothion, Dichlorovos and the like can be used.
In the present invention, hyssop oil or its formulations may be applied, by suitable means such as sprinkling, spraying, coating or setting, to a pertinent location in the pest accessible area where the repellent effect of hyssop oil or its formulations is desired to be demonstrated (such as walls, floors, furniture, curtains, window screens, etc., of the rooms of a house, kitchen, warehouse, etc.), or to the boundary between said area and the outside or the appropriate locations nearby (such as doors and windows of the rooms of a house, kitchen, warehouse, etc.). It is thereby possible to keep bloodsucking insects as well as other pest such as food pest and harassing pest from entering the house rooms, kitchen, warehouse and other locations where it is desired to repel them. The amount of hyssop oil or its formulations to be applied is variable depending on the place of application, form of the formulation, type of pest to be repelled, etc., but it may for instance be 0.1 to 100 g/m2 calculated as hyssop oil. It is also possible to provide the pest repelling effect by using the plant body (green or dried grass) of hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) itself or a pot in which hyssop is planted. That is, pest can be repelled from a location by placing hyssop or its pot there. The amount of Hyssops to be located may be an amount sufficient to repel pest and is variable owing to the degree of their growth. For example, when hyssops grown in about 30 cm of the height are used, they are used in a proportion of 0.05 to 20 plants/m3. Pest repelling effect can also be obtained by wearing a wrist band, cap, clothes, socks or the like treated with hyssop oil or applying hyssop oil or its formulations (aerosol, cream, etc.) directly to the skin.
Hereunder, the present invention will be described in further detail by showing the formulation examples and test examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.
First, the formulation examples are shown. In the following descriptions, all xe2x80x9cpartsxe2x80x9d are by weight.


A method and device for parameter independent buffer underrun prevention in a data communication system includes a buffer for compensating for a difference in the rate of flow of data having a write port and a read port. After a commencement of writing data into the buffer, a predetermined delay time occurs. When the delay time has passed, reading data out from the buffer starts. Then the length of a time gap between the completion of writing data into the buffer and completion of reading data out from the buffer is determined. Finally, the length of the predetermined delay time is decreased by a first value if the length of the time gap is larger than a specified tolerance value and the length of the predetermined delay time is increased by a second value if the length of the time gap is smaller than the specified tolerance value. The provided method and device advantageously adjusts to systems having dynamically varying parameters, e.g., processors or other devices having a variable clock rate due to power-saving-modes.

A data communication system is a system or facility capable of providing information transfer between persons and equipment. The system usually consists of a collection of individual communication networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and terminal equipment capable of interconnection and interoperation so as to form an integrated whole. These individual components normally serve a common purpose, are technically compatible, employ common procedures, respond to some form of control, and generally operate in unison. Data communication systems can also be formed by a hardware connector used to link to other devices, or a convention used to allow communication between two software systems. Furthermore, such systems might be composed of several discrete units or devices or it might be integrated on one single semiconductor device.
When transferring data from one device to another through a data communication system, there might be differences in the rate of flow of data, in the time of an occurrence of events or in the size of blocks of data.
In order to compensate for such a difference a routine or storage is used generally referred to as a buffer. Hence, buffers are used to decouple processes so that a reader and a writer may operate at different speeds or on different sized blocks of data. The speed or the different sized blocks of data can be specified by parameters, e.g., incoming and outgoing bit rate, data width, block size, packet size.
Typically, a buffer will have additional attributes such as an input pointer, where new data will be written into the buffer, and output pointer, where the next item will be read out from and/or a count of the space used or free. Furthermore, there are many different algorithms for using buffers, e.g., first-in first-out (FIFO or shelf), last-in first-out (LIFO or stack), double buffering, i.e., allowing one buffer to be read while the other is being written and cyclic buffer, i.e., reading or writing past the end wraps around to the beginning.
While the use of buffers makes it possible to decouple processes so that a reader and a writer may operate at different speeds or on different sized blocks of data, they might be the reason for unwanted exceptional situations. One is called "buffer overflow". This is what happens when it is tried to store more data in a buffer than it can handle. This may be due to a mismatch in the processing rates of the producing and consuming processes, or because the buffer is simply too small to hold all the data that must accumulate before a piece of it can be processed. For example, in a text-processing tool that crunches a line at a time, a short line buffer can result in a loss as input from a long line overflows the buffer and overwrites data beyond it. Therefore, additional measures need to be applied that check for overflow on each character and stop accepting data when the buffer is full.
Another unwanted exceptional situation is called "buffer overrun". This is a frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, especially in serial line communications. For example, a communication line operated at 9600 baud, there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes longer than 2 milliseconds to get to service the interrupt, at least one character will be lost. However, the opposite, called "buffer underrun", also must be avoided in order to ensure data integrity. This occurs when data are read faster from the buffer than written into it. Thus, additional precautionary measures must be taken.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,187 an overrun and underrun detection circuit is known. The circuit detects a situation in which an overrun or an underrun will occur in the buffer area in response to the write address indicated by a write pointer and a read address indicated by a read pointer. A control part disables the data from being written into and read out from the buffer area when the overrun and underrun detection circuit detects the situation. Therefore, a receiving ring buffer control mechanism in a parallel computer system is provided in which a plurality of processors is connected to each other via a network. Each processor comprises a main memory having a buffer area serving as a receiving buffer. Data are applied to the main memory via a bus. A write pointer is coupled to the main memory for indicating a write address of the buffer area and a read pointer is coupled to the main memory for indicating a read address of the buffer area. An overrun and underrun detector is coupled to the write pointer and the read pointer for detecting a situation in which an overrun or an underrun will occur in the buffer area in response to the write address indicated by the write pointer and the read address indicated by the read pointer. Furthermore, a single DMA controller is coupled to the main memory and the overrun and underrun detector for preventing the data from being written into and read out from the buffer area when the overrun and underrun detector detects the situation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,175 discloses a method implemented by a computer network adapter for automatic retransmission of any packet involved in an unsuccessful transmission attempt due to transmit buffer underrun conditions. The method entails the steps of stopping the transmission and retrying another transmission of the packet for up to a predetermined number of attempts with an increased transmit threshold. The transmit threshold is the number of bytes of data of the packet involved in the transmission that are stored in the transmit buffer prior to start of transmission. Preferably, for the initial transmission attempt, the adapter requires only a small number of bytes of the packet to be stored in the transmit buffer. After occurrence of a buffer underrun condition, the adapter attempts a retry in accordance with the algorithm only after a substantially larger portion of the packet has entered the transmit buffer for transmission. If any retry succeeds, the adapter need not issue an interrupt.
Both known approaches cause a delay in the data transmission. Either the data transfer is stopped when a buffer underrun has been detected or the transmission is retried up to a certain number of times to overcome the underrun condition.

Method and device for parameter independent buffer underrun prevention

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus and method for adaptively varying a black stretch control range and a gain according to a mean level of a video signal to control black stretch of the video signal. According to the apparatus and method, the slope and range of black stretch are varied depending on the mean of the input video signal, so black stretch compensation can be adaptively performed depending on the brightness of a screen. Particularly, black stretch compensation can be effectively performed on a dark screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling black stretch in a video signal processing system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for adaptively varying a black stretch control range and a gain according to a mean level of a video signal to control black stretch of the video signal. The present application is based on Korean Patent Application No. 2001-63251, filed Oct. 13, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a dark video signal is more sensitive than a bright video signal in a video signal processing system, and a screen looks like it is floating when there is no video signal in a black area. To overcome this phenomenon, the black level of a dark video signal is stretched using a black stretch control apparatus to enhance contrast.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional black stretch control apparatus includes a minimum detector 110, a gain calculator 120, a comparator 130, a black stretch calculator 140, and a multiplexer 150.
The minimum detector 110 detects a minimum value of an input video signal Yi in units of frames. The minimum may be obtained by performing horizontal and vertical filtering on the input video signal Yi or sequentially comparing luminance levels of individual pixels.
Then, the gain calculator 120 calculates a slope of black stretch using the detected minimum value and a′ tilt value TILT corresponding to a maximum of a predetermined black stretch control range. In other words, as shown in FIG. 2, the slope of a line S0′ is calculated on the basis of the minimum value. In FIG. 2, a line S0 shows input/output characteristics when gain is 1 before black stretch is performed.
Next, the black stretch calculator 140 calculates a black-stretched signal by multiplying the input video signal Yi by the slope calculated by the gain calculator 120.
The comparator 130 compares the input video signal Yi with the tilt value TILT and outputs a "high" level signal if the input video signal Yi is less than the tilt value TILT. If the input video signal Yi is not less than the tilt value TILT, the comparator 130 outputs a "low" level signal.
The multiplexer 150 receives the black-stretched signal from the black stretch calculator 140 and the input video signal Yi. If the signal applied from the comparator 130 is a "high" level signal, the multiplexer 150 outputs the black-stretched signal. If the signal applied from the comparator 130 is a "low" level signal, the multiplexer 150 outputs the input video signal Yi.
Accordingly, if the input video signal Yi is less than the tilt value TILT, the black level of the input video signal Yi is stretched. If the input video signal Yi is not less than the tilt value TILT, the input video signal Yi is output as it is without performing black stretch. Therefore, contrast can be enhanced due to black stretch on a bright screen where the mean of the input video signal Yi is greater than the tilt value TILT.
However, according to such conventional black stretch control apparatus, a dark screen where the mean of the input video signal Yi is less than the tilt value TILT gets darker due to black stretch.

Apparatus and method for controlling black stretch of video signal


Circuitry added to chips that use source synchronous techniques reduces difficulties associated with testing the chips. The circuitry increases the ability to use source synchronous techniques for data transmission. The circuitry is implemented in a delayed-lock loop (DLL) in either a transmitter (driver) or a receiver. The DLL measures the phase difference between a strobe signal and a delayed strobe signal. The DLL can be externally controlled by a source selectable input which allows the delay of the delayed strobe signal to be varied to test Tsetup and Thold in the receiver without varying the timings of the strobe signal and the data signals supplied to the chips. A timing measurement circuit having the strobe signal, the delayed strobe signal, and reference signals as inputs may be used to calibrate the phase difference between the strobe signal and delayed strobe signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to source synchronous techniques, and in particular to the addition of delay circuitry to a chip that uses source synchronous techniques to improve testability of the chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
Strobe signals are clock signals that are transmitted with data signals, either simultaneously or after a predetermined delay. The strobe signal is used to time-synchronize data appearing as input signals at a receiver from a driver (transmitter). The use of the strobe signal to indicate when data should be sampled avoids using a clock which is sent to both driver and receiver. If this latter technique is used, then the skew between the two versions of the clock (transmitter and receiver) must be added to the time that each bit is driven from the driver, slowing it down. Sending the clock along with the data eliminates this skew by using the transmitter""s clock both to send the data and to send the strobe. Data transfers are referred to as source synchronous when the clock (or strobe) signal that latches the data is supplied by the same chip (a driver) that is driving the data. With source synchronous data transfers, the same process, temperature, and voltage variations affect both the data and clock timings, and a multi-chip system does not need additional timing margin to account for independent variation in these variables along the clock and data paths.
Source synchronous I/O techniques permit very high bandwidth per chip pin. Usage of these techniques, however, is limited because of the difficulty in testing such circuits. Source synchronous circuits are difficult to test because: (1) they operate very fast, requiring great precision in tester edge (a high-to-low or low-to-high transition in a digital signal) placement accuracy; and (2) critical output timings are measured from one output pin to another, rather than from a clock input pin to an output pin.
The need for high precision edge placement leads to the use of very expensive testers. Testers are designed to place and measure edges with respect to a clock signal that the tester provides to the chip being tested. This restriction greatly simplifies the design of the tester, but also greatly complicates measuring the timing parameters that are critical to source synchronous outputs. For a centered clocking driver, these parameters include the time after the strobe which data is valid (Tva) and the time before the strobe which data is valid (Tvb) Tvb is to be compared to the setup time Tsetup (required short time of stability before an active clock edge) and Tva is to be compared to the hold time Thold (required short time of stability after the active clock edge) of the receiver. Large values are desirable for Tva and Tvb, which are related to the minimum and maximum output delay.
Source synchronous data transfers may be effected with either a coincident clocking signal 10 or a centered clocking signal 12, as shown in FIG. 1. For both, it is desirable for a data signal 16 to be strobed in the centers 20 of their respective valid windows or cells 22. In other words, it is desirable to have the rising and falling edges of a strobe signal be time coincident with the centers 20. Both edges 14a and 14b of a strobe 14 are used to sample the data 16 in adjacent cells 20, as illustrated in FIG. 1. To do this with coincident clocking 10, the receiver delays the incoming strobe 14 by one-quarter of a clock (strobe) cycle to properly latch (sample) the data 16 being received. On the other hand, with centered clocking 12, the driver (not shown) needs to delay an outgoing strobe 18 by a quarter of a clock (strobe) cycle to sample with both edges 18a and 18b. In FIG. 1, the strobe 18 is shown already delayed by a quarter clock cycle. Coincident clocking 10 thus offers better driver power supply noise correlation between the strobe 14 and the data 16, while centered clocking 12 allows for a much simpler receiver.
Referring to FIG. 2a, a coincident clocking transmitter and receiver system 8, which may be located on a semiconductor device, is shown. A transmitter 33 is a simple circuit, and the inclusion of a delay-locked loop (DLL) 32 in a receiver 30 compensates for a distribution delay (for instance, with an RC recruit) to a flip-flop 34 or a plurality of such flip-flops (i.e., because an RC distribution network 38 is included in the DLL 32 in the receiver 30) at the same time that it generates a 90xc2x0 phase shift of the incoming strobe signal 14, as will be discussed below. On the other hand, FIG. 2b shows a centered clocking transmitter and receiver system 9, which may also be located on a semiconductor device. In the system 9, a receiver 31 is a simple circuit, but, in contrast to the system 8, the RC distribution delay for propagating a strobe signal 40xe2x80x2 (≅14xe2x80x2) within the receiving chip 31 is not compensated because an RC distributed network 38xe2x80x2 (like the one in the receiver 31) is not included in the DLL 32xe2x80x2 in the transmitter 35.
The DLL 32 having the RC distribution network 38 in the receiver 30 and the DLL 32xe2x80x2 not having the RC distribution network 38xe2x80x2 in the transmitter 35 contribute, among other factors, to differences between analogous signals 50a and 50axe2x80x2, 50b and 50bxe2x80x2, 14 and 14xe2x80x2, and 40 and 40xe2x80x2 within the respective DLL""s 32 and 32xe2x80x2, although both systems 8 and 9 will produce ideally substantially the same signal 40.
Referring again to FIG. 2a, the DLL 32 is coupled to a clock input port 37 of a latch 34, for example, a flip flop (FF), and controls latching of the data signal 16, which is input to the latch 34 through a data input port 39 of the latch 34. The solid dots above and below the latch 34 indicate that there may be more than one latch 34 coupled to the DLL 32 (and 32xe2x80x2) to receive delayed strobe signals, as will be discussed below. (Similarly, solid dots above and below a latch 41 in the transmitter 33 (and 35) indicate that there may be more than one FF 41 coupled to the receiver 30 [and 31]).
Although most of the following discussion is framed in terms of the coincident clocking signal 10, it should be understood that the concepts involved apply equally well to driver circuits (e.g., the transmitter 35 in FIG. 2b) that are used to generate the centered clocking signal 12 for source synchronous data transfer. The DLL 32 receives as an input signal the strobe signal 14 and includes a delay line 36, the distributed RC network 38, another distributed RC network 44, a delay line 42, a phase detector (PD) 48, and a filter (e.g., an RC low pass filter) 52, as shown in FIG. 2a. The distributed RC network 44 is built to approximately match the distributed RC network 38. Likewise, the delay line 42 is built to approximately match the delay line 36. This is done to have the delay from signals 14 to 40 be approximately the same as the delay from signals 40 to 46. A disadvantage to the centered clocking approach is that the delay across the network 38xe2x80x2 cannot be fully compensated by just including a network like the network 44 in the driver 35, because the RC distribution network 38xe2x80x2 and the network like the network 44 would no longer be in the same chip, subject to the same process, voltage, and temperature variations. The DLL 32 is used to delay the strobe (or clock) 14 (i.e., the edges 14a and 14b) to provide a centered clock similar to the centered strobe signal 12 (see FIG. 1). The delay will enable the data 16 to be sampled (latched) by the latch 34 in the centers 20 of their respective valid windows 22. This ensures optimum (i.e., short) setup and hold times for the receiving latch 34.
In an alternative implementation (not shown) having no DLL, it is possible to use a falling clock edge to drive the strobe signal from a transmitter. This alternative centered clocking driver implementation is compatible with the receiver in the system 9. Elimination of the DLL entirely, however, reduces the controllability of timing for source synchronous techniques, and adds a dependency on clock duty cycle.
Referring to the operation of the DLL 32 (FIG. 2a) in more detail, the DLL 32 receives the strobe signal 14, delays it through the delay line 36, and then delivers (distributes) it to the data latch 34 through the distributed RC network 38. Distribution by the network 38 results in a delayed signal DlyStb 40, which is used to clock the data latch 34. The DlyStb signal 40 is fed back through the delay line 42 and the distributed RC network 44, which is similar to the distributed RC network 38 used in distributing the DlyStb signal 40. Although the networks 38 and 44 are discussed herein as distributed RC networks, it is understood that they could be any network that propagates a signal from an input to a plurality of outputs like latches 34 with a predictable delay, and may include active elements. The output signal of the delay line 42 is delivered (distributed) by the network 44 and results in a feedback strobe (FbStb) signal 46, which is input to the PD 48 for comparison to the original strobe 14, which is also input to the PD 48. If FbStb 46 arrives at the PD 48 before the next edge (e.g., the next edge 14a in FIG. 1) of the strobe signal 14, then the PD 48 outputs one value (e.g., low) of a voltage 50a, which is then filtered by the RC low pass filter 52 to a control voltage Vcntl 50b. The Vcntl 50b is then used to slow down (increase the delay in) the delay lines 36 and 42. On the other hand, if FbStb 46 arrives at the PD 48 after the next edge (e.g., the next edge 14a) of the strobe 14, then the PD 48 outputs another value (e.g., high) of the voltage 50a, which is filtered to a new value of the control voltage Vcntl 50b. The new value of the Vcntl 50b then reduces the delay of the delay lines 36 and 42.
By driving the delay lines 36 and 42 with Vcntl 50b in such a way that the FbStb 46 and strobe 14 signals are aligned in time, the DlyStb signal 40 (i.e., its rising edge) will be positioned in time halfway between the edges (e.g., the edges 14a and 14b in FIG. 1) of the strobe signal 14 due to the matching circuitry (i.e., delay lines and RC distributed networks 36, 38 and 42, 44) used to generate the DlyStb 40 and the FbStb 46 signals. This ensures that the data latch 34 is sampled in the centers 20 of the data valid windows 22 (see FIG. 1), independent of process, temperature, and low frequency voltage changes. Under some circumstances, however, it may be desirable to start with the edges of the DlyStb 40 centered (nominally) and walk to an earlier time point relative to the centers 20 of the valid windows 22 by appropriate adjustment in the value of the Vcntl 50b. Such circumstances, which move the DlyStb 40 signal around, may include: (1) for testing purposes, determining how far the DlyStb 40 edges can be moved, either toward the leading or falling edge of the window 22, before system breakdown or failure occurs; and (2) for debugging purposes, if setup time is longer than hold time, an adjustment could conceivably be made in which the DlyStb 40 edge is positioned toward the back edge of the window 22.
Although edge placement may be possible using the conventional techniques set forth above, these techniques may suffer from not offering enough controllability of the delay lines and complications associated with measuring timing parameters that are critical to source synchronous inputs. Therefore, a technique that provides additional delay line controllability and reduces difficulties associated with testing chips used in source synchronous data transfer would be useful.
In one aspect of the present invention, a source synchronous transfer circuit is provided. The source synchronous transfer circuit includes: (1) a delay circuit to receive a strobe signal and deliver a delayed strobe signal, wherein the magnitude of the delay is responsive to a control signal driven by selectable circuitry; and (2) a latch coupled to the delay circuit to receive the delayed strobe signal and sample a transfer signal in response to the delayed strobe signal.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for measuring timing margin available to a driver and receiver system forming a source synchronous interface. The method includes: (1) measuring a duty cycle as an indication of a phase difference between a signal and a delayed signal; (2) varying a control of the relative phase delay between the signal and the delayed signal; (3) testing the system to determine pass/fail phase delay limits of the source synchronous interface; (4) determining if the control of the relative phase delay is to be further varied, and if so, returning to (2); and (5) independently measuring the timing margin available to the system using the pass/fail limit.

Timing control for input/output testability


A cell growth inhibitor that includes, as an antibody component, an artificially produced anti-EGFR antibody having specific binding capacity to EGFR which is characterized in that an epitope therefor is in a cysteine-rich subdomain 2 (C2 domain) and/or in a ligand-binding domain 1 (L1 domain) among four subdomains contained in the extracellular domain of EGFR.

It is known that cell growth or proliferation is promoted by binding of the epidermal growth factor (hereinafter referred to as "EGF") as a ligand to an extracellular domain of a receptor on the cell surface, i.e., epidermal growth factor receptor (hereinafter referred to as "EGFR"). Particularly, it has been found that EGFRs are overexpressed on the surface of various tumor cells and are deeply involved in growth and malignant conversion of the tumors.
Therefore, development of drugs which can block the binding of EGF to EGFRs to block signal transduction to which EGFRs are involved, resulting in suppression of growth of malignant tumor cells, particularly antibody drugs (anti-tumor drugs) mainly including antibodies which specifically bind to EGFRs (anti-EGFR antibodies) have been in progress. For example, anti-EGFR antibodies, matuzumab and cetuximab, have been known which can bind to EGFRs competitively with EGF, thereby inhibiting activation and dimerization of EGFRs, and their certain benefits have been shown in growth suppression (growth inhibition) of malignant tumor cells such as colon cancer cells. Patent Literature 1 discloses an example of conventional antibodies of this type and a production example thereof.


The invention relates to a spray crystallization process for making solid particles suitable for structuring an oil containing dispersion, solid particles obtainable by said process and use of said particles for structuring oil containing dispersions.

Edible dispersions comprising oil and structuring agent are well known in the art and include for example shortenings comprising a fat phase and water in oil spreads like margarine comprising a fat phase and an aqueous phase.
The fat phase of margarine and similar edible fat continuous spreads is often a mixture of liquid oil (i.e. fat that is liquid at ambient temperature) and fat which is solid at ambient temperatures. The solid fat, also called structuring fat or hardstock fat, serves to structure the fat phase (being the case for example in a shortening as well as in a water in oil emulsion) and helps to stabilize the aqueous phase, if present, by forming a fat crystal network. For a margarine or spread, ideally the structuring fat has such properties that it melts or dissolves at mouth temperature. Otherwise the product may have a heavy and/or waxy mouthfeel.
Important aspects of a fat continuous spread like for example margarine and low fat spread, the low fat spread usually comprising from 10 to 40 wt % fat on total composition, are for example hardness, spreadibility, the amount of water released after spreading (i.e. free water) and ability to withstand temperature cycling. Temperature cycling means that the product is subjected to low and high temperatures (e.g. when the consumer takes the product out of the refrigerator and leaves it for some time at the table to use it). This may have a negative influence on the structure of the spread (like for example destabilization of the emulsion or oil-exudation).
Generally edible fat continuous food products like for example margarines and similar edible fat continuous spreads are prepared according to known processes that encompass the following steps:    1. Mixing of the liquid oil, the structuring fat and if present the aqueous phase at a temperature at which the structuring fat is definitely liquid;    2. cooling of the mixture under high shear to induce crystallization of the structuring fat to create an emulsion;    3. formation of a fat crystal network to stabilize the resulting emulsion and give the product some degree of firmness;    4. modification of the crystal network to produce the desired firmness, confer plasticity and reduce the water droplet size.
These steps are usually conducted in a process that involves apparatus that allow heating, cooling and mechanical working of the ingredients, such as the churn process or the votator process. The churn process and the votator process are described in the Ullmans Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, Volume A 16, pages 156-158.
A disadvantage of these processes is that the complete composition (including the liquid oil, structuring fat and if present the aqueous phase) is subjected to a heating step and a cooling step. This requires a lot of energy. For a spread comprising for example 6 wt % structuring fat the whole composition (100 wt %) has to be heated and cooled.
Another disadvantage of the known processes is that the choice of fats that can practically be used as structuring agent is rather limited. If the melting point of the structuring agent is too high the melting properties in the mouth are unsatisfactory. If on the other hand, the melting point is too low, the emulsion stability will be negatively affected. Moreover the amount of saturated fatty acids (SAFA) in the structuring agent is usually relatively high. Also trans fatty acid may be present. Some experts have called for reductions in these fatty acids to improve cardiovascular health.
Some consumers prefer spreads that have a low energy density (for example products that are low in total fat) and/or are low in SAFA but still have a good nutritional profile (by providing for example essential fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6).
A further disadvantage of the known processes is that the product may deteriorate due to the changes in temperature caused by the heating and cooling step.
Alternative processes have been described wherein the structuring fat is added as fat powder (i.e. crystallized fat) thereby eliminating the need to heat the whole composition to above the melting temperature of the structuring fat.
EP 1 651 338 A1 discloses a process for the preparation of an edible dispersion like for example margarine, wherein the dispersion is formed by mixing oil, solid structuring agent particles and an aqueous phase and/or solid phase. The solid structuring agent particles have a microporous structure of submicron size particles. Said particles can be prepared using a micronisation process. The particles have a microporous structure which may result in low bulk density powders. Such powders are not always convenient to handle in a production environment.
EP 1 285 584 A2 describes a method of producing a food product formulation having plasticity or firmness comprising or consisting of a uniform dispersion of crystalline solid fat in an oil phase comprising bringing the solid fat phase with a minimal amount of the oil phase in a liquid state to a cooling device employing cryogenic spray crystallization and therein cooling the molten fat using a cryogenic medium to effect fat crystallization as quickly as possible. No details are given regarding the process conditions of the cryogenic spray crystallization.
Food Ingredients and Analysis International Vol. 23 No. 4 pages 29-30 (2001) describes powdered fats based on cryogenic technology that can be used for example in pourable margarines and different types of soft fat spreads. It is however mentioned that powdered fats may be used in combination with liquid oil, but for optimal performance these products need a specially designed fat composition which is crystallized from the melt. This will give the best structure of the crystal fraction, and allows a stabilizing network of crystals to be formed during cooling.
EP 0 393 963 A2 describes a method for cryogenic crystallization of fat comprising introducing a fine downwardly directed spray of atomized liquid fat into the upper portion of a mixing chamber while directing a plurality of fine jets of cryogenic liquid against the downward spray of liquid fat droplets. The fat is sprayed at a pressure of about 2.7 bar. No further details are given regarding the process conditions of the cryogenic spray crystallization.
EP 2 181 604 A1 describes a method of preparing a fat powder suitable for structuring agent e.g. in margarines wherein a structuring agent comprising composition is sprayed from a pressurized container into an environment, thereby expanded and then treated with a coolant. The pressure difference is 4-40 MPs.


A toner for use in a color electrophotographic system ensures a sufficient offset resistance without oil being supplied, and meets requirements for color development, transparency and durability to withstand commercial use. The toner for an electrophotographic system has a resin 1 consisting of two or more resin mixtures having a different degree of crosslinking, the overall occupancy rate of mold releasing agent 3 present as a domain in one particle of the toner is 1 to 10%, and the average dispersion diameter of the mold releasing agent is 10 to 50% of the toner particle diameter.

The present invention relates to the electrophotographic toner used in a printer, a facsimile machine and a copier, and to the image forming system using said toner. It relates particularly to color toner wnich does not require use of an oil or other anti-offset agent for the fusing device.
Recent improvements in computer processing capability have been accompanied by a quick expansion of the color printer market. Full-color image formation by electrophotography reproduces all colors, using the three colors of yellow, magenta and cyan, or four colors with black added thereto.
According to common practice, an electric latent image is formed on a photoconductor layer using a photoconductive substance. Then the latent image is developed by color toner, and the toner image is transferred onto a recording media, such as paper by an intermediate transfer unit. This is followed by the step of repeating the above-mentioned process several times for successive colors, thereby allowing multiple toner images of the different colors to be superimposed on the same recording media. In the final step, the toner image is fused onto the recording media in one operation by heating, pressure, thermal compression or solvent steam, thereby forming a full-color image.
In the color electrophotographic system requiring superimposition of multiple color toner images, toner fusing characteristics are very important. In the case of monochrome photography, fusing characteristics are evaluated only on the basis of the degree of sticking onto the recording media.
In the case of color photography, on the other hand, sticking onto the recording media alone is not sufficient to ensure an extensive color reproducibility. It is necessary to obtain gloss and transparency by sufficient melting (lower viscosity). This makes it necessary to use a Sharp Melt resin as the color toner, namely, a low molecular resin characterized by narrow distribution of molecular weight.
However, toner using such a resin is likely to have its internal condensation reduced at the time of heating and melting. Therefore, when it passes through the fusing device, it is more likely to stick to the fusing member. This will lead to vulnerability to an offset phenomenon.
To avoid this problem, in the fusing device commonly used for fusing color toner, silicone oil and other mold releasing agents are applied to the surface of the heating member of a roll or the like, thereby reducing adhesion between the molten toner and the heating material.
This method is very effective in preventing the offset phenomenon. However, the mechanism requires a complicated system of bigger size. Further, this method inherently has many problems, for example, reduction in handling properties due to deposition of oil on the recording media, and contamination of the system interior due to oil volatilization, not to mention the oil supplying time and labor and increased running costs. These factors make it difficult to achieve a smaller size, a lower price and a maintenance-free system.
To solve these problems, extensive studies have been made to develop a method of adding in the toner particles a wax which melts earlier than the resin without melting with the toner resin, or a mold releasing agent such as oil, instead of using the oil feeding device. Namely, when a mold releasing agent having a lower melting point than that of the resin is used, the mold releasing agent will melt before the resin melts and start flowing so as to ooze from the toner, and so a mold releasing layer is formed between the toner layer and fusing roller surface, thereby preventing the offset phenomenon.
If a highly viscous resin is used as in the case of a conventional monochrome toner, the internal coagulation is higher when the toner melts, and deposition onto the fusing member is smaller. This makes it possible to prevent the offset phenomenon with a small amount of oozing of the mold releasing agent. However, in the case of a color toner, heating and melting are accompanied by a greater reduction in the internal coagulation and a higher deposition on the fusing member. Not only that, a sufficient amount of mold releasing agent is required to ooze from the reduced internal coagulation. This makes it difficult to prevent the offset phenomenon.
If the amount of mold releasing agent is simply added, there will be an increase in the offset resisting effect, but the following problems occur if a great deal of mold releasing agent is added to the color toner:
(1) Resin and a mold releasing agent are incompatible with each other, so scattering occurs on the boundary, resulting in greater vulnerability to reduction in color tone and transparency.
(2) The mold releasing agent has the effect of a plasticizer on the resin, and decreases the resin strength and toner durability and toner durability.
(3) When the toner is kneaded, the mold releasing agent dissolves to decrease the effect of the kneading. This deteriorates the dispersibility of internal additives including the mold releasing agent.
Since a soft resin is used for color toner, the durability generally tends to be inferior to that of the conventional monochrome toner. This characteristic is made more marked by addition of the mold releasing agent. This gives rise to many problems, including deterioration of the toner flowing properties, and decrease in toner transportability, as well as sticking of toner to the blade in the non-magnetic component development method. Further, the mold releasing agent tends to cause filming on other members, such as the photoconductor, and this has been a problem to be solved.
These problems are caused not only by the amount of mold releasing agent added, but also by the physical state of the mold releasing agent in the toner. For example, if the mold releasing agent is poorly dispersed, the mold releasing agent is separated in the pulverization process in toner production and excessive exposure on the toner surface occurs.
As described above, the biggest technological issue for oil-free color toner is how to maintain durability, color development and transparency, and to improve the offset resistance.
In an effort to solve the foregoing problems, many proposals have been made to define the toner composition and the physical state of the mold releasing agent to be added in the toner.
For example, Japanese Official Patent Gazette No. 161153/1994  less than 1 greater than discloses a production method ensuring uniform distribution of mold releasing agents having a small diameter in the kneading and pulverization process. According to this method, the mold releasing agent in produced toner particles is said to exhibit a uniform dispersion in a spherical form having a dispersion diameter of 0.2 to 3.0 xcexcm, and/or in the form of a spindle with a major axis of 1.0 to 4.0 xcexcm. Without separation of the mold releasing agent, the agent is said to prevent filming on the photoconductor based thereon. The melting point of the mold releasing agent is preferred to be 90 to 180xc2x0 C., and more preferably to be 110 to 160xc2x0 C.
The Japanese Official Patent Gazette 69125/1998 ( less than 2 greater than ) also discloses the uniform dispersion of a mold releasing agent. It defines the dispersion of the mold releasing agent in terms of the ratio of the mold releasing agent contents in a fine powder toner and the entire toner. The disadvantage of the toner due to addition of said mold releasing agent is overcome by keeping the ratio within a specified range. This provides toner characterized by excellent offset resistance, according to this publication.
To overcome the difficulties of toner containing a mold releasing agent, many toner preparation methods based on a so-called wet process have been proposed. For example, Japanese Official Patent Gazette 197193/1993 ( less than 3 greater than ) discloses a capsule structure toner produced by a suspension polymerization method. This capsule structure toner makes it possible to reduce the amount of mold releasing agent exposed to the surface. This provides an easier solution to the problems, including deterioration of durability, filming properties and development characteristics, by addition of the mold releasing agent.
As described above, separation of the mold releasing agent or the adverse affect on other processes thereby can be minimized by uniform dispersion or encapsulation of the mold releasing agent.
According to the technique disclosed in Official Patent Gazette ( less than 1 greater than ), however, the melting point of the mold releasing agent is preferred to be90xc2x0 C. or more (most preferably 110xc2x0 C. or more). This is applicable to a monochrome system, but not applicable to a color electrophotographic system where a soft resin is suitable.
Furthermore, the technique disclosed in Official Patent Gazette ( less than 2 greater than ) is concerned with only the contents of the mold releasing agent, without any mention being made of dispersion diameter. The action of the mold releasing agent greatly depends on the state of dispersion, as well as the above-mentioned contents.
For example, the following has been confirmed: When the dispersion diameter is small, oozing of the mold releasing agent is not sufficient at the time of fusing even if the contents are sufficient, and so that offset phenomenon cannot be prevented. As described above, in the case of color toner, it is more difficult to prevent the offset phenomenon than in the case of a conventional monochrome toner. This is insufficient for an oil-free color toner.
The capsule structure toner disclosed in the Official Patent Gazette  less than 3 greater than  is characterized by easy delay of the mold releasing agent in the dispersion to the boundary. This results in a smaller contribution of the mold releasing agent to the resistance against the offset phenomenon. This requires a greater amount of mold releasing agent to be added.
There is a concern over possible reduction in color tone and transparency, as well as possible impact on durability. This may offset the advantages gained by encapsulation.
In the above-mentioned preparation method, the polymerizable monomer composition of the resin to be formed into the toner is restricted to styrene, a polymer thereof and a polymerizable monomer which allows polymerization of a solution typically exemplified by xcex1-methylene aliphatic monocarboxylic acid ester. This leads to the.problem that the polyester resin suited for use in conventional color toner is difficult to use. Further, this requires a special production plant and is more disadvantageous than the conventional kneading and pulverization method.
As is clear from the above, many technologies have been proposed regarding oil-free color toner, particularly the mold releasing agent to be added thereto, and the physical state thereof. In spite of such efforts, a color electrophotographic toner featuring excellent durability, gloss, color development and transparency, as well as a sufficient offset resistance, has not yet been obtained.
In view of the above, the main object of the present invention is to provide a new electrophotographic toner which does not require oil to be fed to a fusing system and which is suited to small-sized and maintenance free copiers and printers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a color electrophotographic toner wherein consideration is given to the physical state of the resin as a toner constituent and the mold releasing agent added to the toner, thereby ensuring excellent melting and fusing properties, superb gloss, color development and transparency of the image, and a surpassing durability and offset resistance.
In accordance with the present invention, the electrophotographic toner used to develop an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor based on image information toner comprises a colored powder formed by a mold releasing agent dispersed and pulverized in two or more resin mixtures having a different degree of crosslinking, and the overall occupancy rate of the mold releasing agent present as a domain in one particle of said toner is 1 to 10%, and the average dispersion diameter of the mold releasing agent is 10 to 50% of the toner particle diameter.
Namely, the present invention uses two or more types of resin having a different degree of crosslinking, and defines the physical state of the mold releasing agent in the toner. This provides electrophotographic toner characterized by sufficient melting and fusing properties. Further, this toner provides an image featuring excellent gloss, color development, transparency, durability, and resistance against the offset phenomenon. Particularly, the toner according to the present invention is outstanding as a color electrophotographic toner.

Electrophotographic toner, production method thereof and electrophotographic image forming system


A lug closure (10) includes a central top panel (20), an annular channel (30) outboard of the top panel, a downwardly extending skirt (50) outboard of the channel, the skirt terminating at an inward curl (54) that defines a curl height, and lugs (60) formed in the curl. Each one of the lugs includes a body that extends radially inwardly from the skirt. The body includes a leading edge (70a) that merges into a leading portion (80a) of the curl. The leading edge tapers in thickness from the curl height to a minimum lug thickness and forms a leading edge vertical taper angle from horizontal between 6 and 15 degrees. A trailing edge (70b) merges into a trailing portion (80b) of the curl and the trailing edge (70b) tapers in thickness from the curl height to the minimum lug thickness.

Many foods and beverage bottles have a large mouth and are sealed with a metal or composite closure. For example, sauces have traditionally been packaged in glass containers with an all metal closure. Other food products, such as jelly and beverages have been packaged in blow molded plastic bottles and sealed with composite closures. The food or beverage contents of large mouth, blow molded plastic bottles are often filled in a process in which the contents are at an elevated temperature at the time of filling, often over 180 degrees F., referred to as "hot-fill." A closure is applied while the contents are hot to hermetically seal the container. The term "large mouth" as used in this disclosure is any container mouth having a closure size greater than 48 mm.
Composite closures typically include a metal disk for sealing the mouth of the container and a plastic skirt, which fits over the disk, for engaging the threads of the bottle. Composite closures are typically used for hot fill applications with plastic bottles because the metal disk provides a robust seal and good heat transfer among other benefits.
Single piece, all-metal closures are commercially available in several types. An all-metal, unitary screw-on closure has threads preformed in the skirt that correspond to the bottle threads. A ROPP (roll on pilfer proof) closure has threads formed during application of the closure to the bottle. Crown Cork & Seal, Inc. manufacturers an all-metal, 2-piece lugged closure under the trade name Orbit™. Another type of all-metal, unitary closure is a one-piece lugged closure having lugs formed on the bottom of the skirt to engage threads on a bottle neck.
Typically, lug closures are used only with either glass bottles or with plastic bottles in which the lug closure is applied as part of a cold filling process (that is, neither the contents nor the bottle is at an elevated temperature during filling). But lug closures are not often used with conventional hot-filled plastic bottles without crystallized neck finishes because of a particular problem. The hot-fill contents raise the temperature of the neck and finish of the bottle, which diminishes the hoop strength of the finish. Because lug closures only contact the finish at the lugs, the force of applying the lug closure to the finish distorts the shape of the finish. Because four lug closures are typical for closure sizes less than 77 mm, the problem is known as "squaring," even though the term "squaring" is used herein for distortion by closures having other quantities of lugs. When the container cools, the squaring is set. The problem is especially prevalent in bottles having either a blow molded or injection molded finish when neither are crystallized as part of the container manufacturing process.