A circuit arrangement for controlling the temperature of a thermoplastic bonding or cutting blade in which changes in the length of the blade caused by temperature variations are monitored and a signal is developed and fed back for controlling the amount of current flowing through the blade to thereby maintain its temperature at a desired preset level.

I. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates generally to temperature control apparatus and more specifically to an open loop control circuit for maintaining the temperature of a bonding blade at a desired preset value.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art:
In my earlier patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,340, there is described a thermoplastic bonding machine especially designed to bond or weld together two three-dimensional articles formed of foamed or expanded polystyrene plastic. The two articles to be joined are held in a fixture with the edges of the articles to be bonded aligned. Thereafter, a heated blade is passed through the juncture zone at a predetermined rate so as to contact both of the abutting surfaces of the two articles to be bonded. The heated knife first fuses the surfaces of the articles to be joined and subsequently a programmed motion is applied to the articles to force them together while the fused portions solidify. When working with foamed plastic material such as foamed polystyrene, it is known that accurate control must be maintained over the temperature and rate of travel to the thermal bonding blade as it traverses the juncture zone to ensure acceptable bonding of the two articles together. The present invention addresses the former aspect, i.e., the temperature control of the bonding blade. However, while the preferred embodiment will be explained in connection with a thermoplastic bonding application, it is conceivable that the present invention may find wider application such as in the cutting of thermoplastic materials or the like, that no limitation to the use in bonding apparatus is intended.
In heat sealing or thermal bonding systems it is essential that proper attention be paid to the blade temperature and the speed at which the blade traverses the material being operated upon. If the blade temperature is too high for a given speed, too much of the material becomes fused at the juncture zone and a density discontinuity in the resulting article results. However, if the temperature is too low, insufficient fusion takes place and an imperfect joint or weld results.
In the Gassner U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,085 there is described an apparatus for heat sealing a thermoplastic web in which the heat is controlled as a function of the speed of the web past the heating element. At such, a relatively expensive control circuit involving a tachometer-type dynamo and a magnetic amplifier circuit having means for establishing a set-point is required.
In the case of the present invention, the workpieces to be joined may be moved relative to the heating blade at a constant speed and means are provided for controlling the temperature of the blade by monitoring the change in length of that blade occasioned by changes in its temperature and then utilizing the resulting change in length to vary the amount of current flowing through the blade. Alternatively, the length changes of the thermal bonding blade occasioned by blade temperature changes can be monitored and those length changes may, in turn, be used to control the speed of movement of the workpieces relative to the blade. Hence, precise control over bonding temperatures for fixed or variable travel speeds may be obtained without the need for costly workpiece speed sensing apparatus required in prior art systems.


An electromechanical floating element shear-stress sensor, which may also be referred to as a flow rate sensor, having one or more transduction mechanisms coupled to a support arm of a floating element wafer such that the transduction mechanisms are normal to the force applied to a top surface of the floating element. The transduction mechanisms may be generally attached to a side surface of one or more arms supporting the floating element and may be coupled together and to a processor using one or more contacts extending from the backside of the floating element sensor. Thus, the floating element shear-stress sensor may have an unobstructed surface past which a fluid may flow. The floating element may also include a temperature sensing system for accounting for affects of temperature on the floating element system.

The measurement of mean and of fluctuating wall shear-stress in laminar, transitional, and turbulent boundary layers and channel flows has been used in industry and the scientific community. Measurement of mean shear-stress is related to the global state of fluid flow and may be used to determine the viscous skin-friction drag caused by the fluid on a body. The time-resolved, fluctuating shear-stress is a footprint of the turbulent processes responsible for the unsteady transfer of momentum to a body. Haritonidis, J. H. "The Measurement of Wall Shear Stress," Advances in Fluid Mechanics Measurements, Ed. by M. Gad-EI-Hak, Springer-Verlag, 1989, pp. 229–261. Fluctuating shear-stress data can also provide physical insight into complex flow phenomena, including turbulent viscous drag, transition to turbulent flow, flow separation, and shock-wave/boundary layer interactions.
Accurate measurement of skin friction is of vital importance in numerous industries. For instance, skin friction drag forms approximately 50 percent of total vehicle drag for a typical subsonic transport aircraft. Hefner, J. N. and Bushnell, D. M., "An Overview of Concepts for Aircraft Drag Reduction," AGARD-R-654, 1977. As a result, accurate design of airfoils and other bodies requires accurate estimates of skin friction drag. Accurate measurement of wall shear-stress is vital for turbulence modeling and simulation validation as well as for the accurate assessment of skin friction drag reduction concepts. In supersonic flows, the measurement of wall shear-stress is critical to the understanding of shock-wave/boundary layer interactions which directly influence critical vehicle characteristics such as lift, drag, and propulsion efficiency. Gaitonde, D., Knight et al., "White Paper: Shock-Wave/Boundary Layer Interaction Research," AFOSR workshop on Shock-Wave/Boundary Layer Interactions organized by J. D. Schmisseur, May, 2002. In non-aerospace or hydrodynamic applications, the measurement of shear-stress can be used for industrial process control. Goldberg, H. D., Breuer, K. S. and Schmidt, M. A., "A Silicon Wafer-Bonding Technology for Microfabricated Shear-Stress Sensors with Backside Contacts," Technical Digest, Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, 1994, pp. 111–115. In biomedical applications, both mean and fluctuating wall shear-stress are important hemodynamic factors in the development of arterial pathologies, such as atherosclerosis. Grigoni, M., Daniele, C., D'Avenio, G. and Pontrelli, G. "The Role of Wall Shear Stress in Unsteady Vascular Dynamics," Progress in Biomedical Research, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2002, pp. 204–212.
Many different devices have been used to attempt to accurately determine shear-stress at walls susceptible to shear-stress from fluids flowing past the walls. For instance, clauser-plot techniques, preston tubes, obstacle methods, hot-film anemometers, mass-transfer probes, oil-film techniques, and liquid crystal methods have all been used; however, each with limited success. Winter, K. G., "An Outline of the Techniques Available for the Measurement of Skin Friction in Turbulent Boundary Layers," Progress in the Aeronautical Sciences, Vol. 18, 1977, pp. 1–57. It has been reported that uncertainties for mean shear-stress for surface fence methods, wall hot wires, wall pulsed wires, and oil-film are about 5 percent in incompressible flows and about 10 percent for supersonic flows. Naughton, J. W. and Sheplak, M. "Modern Developments in Shear Stress Measurement," Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Vol. 38, 2002, pp. 515–570. Accurate, direct measurement of fluctuating wall shear-stress has not been realized using conventional technologies.
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are devices that operate on a very small scale, typically in a range of tens of microns to a few millimeters, and have been used to form shear-stress sensors. In some applications MEMS devices are imperceptible to the unaided human eye. MEMS devices mostly are fabricated using integrated circuits (IC) technology. MEMS devices include many different devices used for a variety of purposes. For instance, MEMS technology has been used to create shear-stress sensors; however, some MEMS shear-stress sensors have not achieved a desired level of performance of bandwidth, spatial resolution, stability, integration range, etcetera. For instance, thermal MEMS sensors have often not been accurate because of difficulty in obtaining unique calibration between heat transfer and wall shear-stress, measurement errors associated with mean temperature drift, and flow perturbations due to heat transfer to the flow.
In addition to these shear-stress sensing devices, MEMS floating element shear-stress sensors having been developed; however, the performance of these devices have suffered as well. For instance, a MEMS floating element sensor has been produced using a polyimide/aluminum surface micromachining process; however, the device was susceptible to moisture, which caused the mechanical properties of the device to change and caused mechanical sensitivity drift due to induced swelling. Schmidt, M. A., Howe, R. T., Senturia, S. D., and Haritonidis, J. H. "Design and Calibration of a Microfabricated Floating-Element Shear-stress Sensor," Transactions of Electron Devices, Vol. ED-35, 1988, pp. 750–757. In addition, air-dielectric interfaces subjected to charged species accumulation appeared as drift when detected by capacitive plates. Naughton, J. W. and Sheplak, M. "Modern Developments in Shear Stress Measurement," Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Vol. 38, 2002, pp. 519. Another floating element shear-stress sensor employed differential optical-shutter-based floating element sensors for turbulence measurements; however, the performance of this sensor suffers from front-side electrical contacts that interfere with fluid flow past the sensor and from remote mounting of the incident light source. Padmanabhan, A., Sheplak, M., Breuer, K. S., and Schmidt, M. A., "Micromachined Sensors for Static and Dynamic Sheer Stress Measurements in Aerodynamic Flows," Proc. Transducers 97, Chicago, Ill., 1997, pp. 137–140. A floating element shear-stress sensor employs a capacitive sensing scheme. In general, capacitive shear-stress sensors do not possess favorable scaling with shrinking size. Gabrielson, T., B., "Mechanical-thermal Noise in micromachined Acoustic and Vibration Sensors," IEEE Electron Devices, 40, 1993, pp. 903–909. Specifically, the electrical sensitivity is directly proportional to the electrode surface area, while the thermodynamic minimum detectable signal is inversely proportional to area. Gabrielson, 1993.
Other floating element shear-stress sensors have been developed; however, the performance of each device suffers as well. Thus, a need exists for a more accurate floating element shear-stress sensor.

Microelectromechanical floating element flow sensor

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


New flexible polyurethane foams are described, suitable for use in the interior linings of cars, with a reduced fogging effect, whose content by weight of the cyclic adipate of diethylene glycol, 8,13-dioxo-1,4,7-trioxacyclotridecane, is less than 0.25% and preferably less than 0.17%. Also described are polyester polyols, suitable for preparing these polyurethane foams, whose content by weight of the cyclic adipate of diethylene glycol, 8,13-dioxo-1,4,7-trioxacyclotridecane, is less than 0.4% and preferably less than 0.25%.

The present invention relates to flexible polyurethane foams, suitable for use in the automobile industry, which have a considerably reduced fogging effect because they are manufactured using polyester polyols in which the proportion of volatile residues has been reduced or in which the volatile residues have been eliminated.
In the industry of manufacturing polymeric materials for the automobile industry there is a growing preoccupation with the fogging of the front and rear windshields and side windows of cars because of volatile residue condensation that accompanies these polymeric materials. This problem, which is known in the industrial sector as the fogging effect, as well as the unpleasant characteristic odor produced by the evaporation of the volatile residues and its possible toxic consequences, is produced by conditions in which the interior of the vehicle is subjected to relatively high temperatures, for example when closed vehicles are exposed to the sun, causing the volatile substances to evaporate and condense on the colder surfaces of the windows.
As a result, the automobile industry imposes increasingly stricter requirements on the suppliers of the polymeric materials, so that the polymeric materials used in the interiors of automobiles must currently have a fogging effect less than 1 mg in the gravimetric test according to Standard DIN 75201 B.
Recent publications have disclosed the influence of some additives on the fogging effect produced by flexible polyurethane foams made of polyether polyols. C. Blundell, and J. Wuestenenk, Utech'90 Proceedings, 76-79 (1990) have shown the influence of flame retarding agents, and K. Diblitz and D. Hoell, Utech'90 Proceedings, 80-85 (1990) have done the same with amine-type catalysts.
If they are well formulated, flexible polyurethane foams made using polyether polyols exhibit fogging values that are lower than those made using polyester polyols. However, foams made using polyester polyols provide advantages including better mechanical properties, a better cellular structure, greater resistance to oils and oxidation, and furthermore are easier to flame roll, have a lower total emission of gases and are easier to recycle. Therefore, the need remains to solve the problem of providing the automobile industry with flexible polyurethane foams made using polyester polyols that, without losing their excellent properties, have reduced levels of fogging that fulfill the strict requirements currently imposed by the industry.

Flexible polyurethane foams with reduced fogging effect and polyesters suitable for their preparation


Silicon carbide-coated carbonaceous substrates are overcoated with one or more ceramic layers derived from an organoborosilazane polymer solution containing 0-60% by weight of dispersed ceramic or preceramic powdered solids to seal the silicon carbide coating and provide better resistance to oxidative deterioration at elevated temperatures; the organoborosilazane polymer being the product obtained by reacting about 0.25-20 parts by weight of a trialkoxy-, triaryloxy-, or tri(arylalkoxy)boroxine with one part by weight of a polysilazane in an organic solvent. The thus-coated substrates are optionally overcoated with a buffer layer and then with one or more ceramic layers derived from polysilazane solutions or dispersions.

It is known that many carbonaceous materials, such as carbon/carbon composites, carbon fibers, and graphite, have properties which make them attractive for use in aerospace and other applications in which their susceptibility to oxidative deterioration at elevated temperatures is a serious disadvantage.
It is also known that these carbonaceous materials can be protected from oxidative deterioration by providing them with silicon carbide coatings, which are normally deposited on the carbonaceous substrates by techniques such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), packed cementation, or diffusion bonding.
A disadvantage of the known silicon carbide-coated carbonaceous substrates is that the coatings are subject to cracking and, when cracked, lose their ability to provide adequate protection to the substrates.
Copending applications Ser. No. 242,493 (Niebylski), filed Sep. 9, 1988, and Ser. No. 272,481 (Niebylski), filed Nov. 17, 1988, teach that carbonaceous substrates can be protected from oxidative deterioration by the application, drying, and pyrolysis of solutions of organoborosilazane polymers obtained by reacting about 0.25-20 parts by weight of a trialkoxy-, triaryloxy-, or tri(arylalkoxy)boroxine with one part by weight of a polysilazane in an organic solvent.
Copending applications Ser. No. 261,104 (Niebylski), filed Oct. 24, 1988, and Ser. No. 414,262 (Niebylski), Ser. No. 414,464 (Niebylski), and Ser. No. 414,768 (Niebylski), all filed Sep. 29, 1989, teach that the organoborosilazane polymer solutions used to prepare these protective coatings can have ceramic or preceramic powdered solids dispersed therein.
Copending application Ser. No. 301,449 (Niebylski), filed Jan. 25, 1989, teaches that outstanding protection from oxidative deterioration at elevated temperatures can be obtained by the use of ceramic coatings having at least one layer derived from a polysilazane-containing composition and at least one layer derived from an organoborosilazane polymer-containing composition. However, it has been found that a disadvantage of at least some of these multi-layer coatings is that cracking is apt to occur when ceramic layers derived from polysilazane-containing compositions are applied over ceramic layers derived from organoborosilazane polymer-containing compositions.
Copending applications Ser. No. 446,184 (Niebylski), filed Dec. 5, 1989, and Ser. No. 466,225 (Niebylski et al.), filed Jan. 17, 1990, teach that this cracking can be minimized by the use of a buffer layer derived from either (1) a solution of (A) a Group IIIb metal hydrocarbyloxide, (B) a Group IVa metal hydrocarbyloxide, (C) a bis-, tris-, or tetrakis(dialkylamino)metal of Group IVa, (D) a polysilazane and/or a bis-, tris-, or tetrakis(dialkylamino)silane, and (E) optionally also a cyclopentadienyl Group IVa metal halide in an organic solvent or (2) a dispersion of ceramic or preceramic powdered solids in such a solution.

Silicon carbide coated article with ceramic topcoat


A drive circuit for a light emitting display apparatus including a pixel circuit having a light emitting device for emitting a light having brightness determined based on supplied current and a drive transistor for supplying the current to the light emitting device, comprises a threshold value correction circuit converting a second signal including a threshold voltage of the drive transistor and a data voltage, the second signal being output from the drive transistor when a first signal including the data voltage is input into the control electrode of the drive transistor, into a third signal including the threshold voltage of an inverted polarity and the data voltage or a voltage corresponding to the data voltage, to output the converted third signal to the pixel circuit. The pixel circuit includes a switch for supplying the third signal to the control electrode of the drive transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive circuit and a drive method of a light emitting display apparatus using light emitting display devices, especially using organic electro-luminescence (hereinafter briefly referred to as EL) devices.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, the development of displays using self light emitting devices, such as an inorganic EL device, an organic EL device, and a light emitting diode, has actively performed as the next generation large-screen thin-shaped display apparatus followed by a liquid crystal display apparatus and a plasma display apparatus.
In particular, because the organic EL device can be formed by depositing layers on a glass substrate and a flexible substrate such as a film, the full-scale practical realization of the organic EL device has been expected from the recent improvement of the luminous efficiency and the reliability thereof.
The drive of the organic EL device is principally performed by an active matrix drive system, which has been proven in liquid crystal displays and is realized by thin film transistors (hereinafter referred to as TFTs) using poly-silicon, an amorphous semiconductor, or the like.
Among them, the amorphous semiconductor can be formed on a film substrate by a low temperature process, and thereby has a technological advantage in the use of large-size and thin-shaped displays.
The active-matrix (hereinafter referred to as AM) type organic EL display apparatus adjusts the brightness thereof and performs gradation display by controlling the voltages and the currents that are supplied to the organic EL devices according to voltage signals or current signals that are supplied on drive transistors (see FIG. 15). The U.S. Pat. No. 6,809,706 discloses an example of a pixel circuit of the AM type organic EL display apparatus including the drive transistors.
However, there is the following actual problem in controlling the brightness of the organic EL devices by means of the drive transistors.
That is, the electric characteristics of the drive transistors are sometimes dispersed in respective pixels owing to the variation of manufacturing processes. Moreover, the electric characteristics of the drive transistors sometimes change dependently on environments and electrification times. When the electric characteristics change, the changes of threshold values are especially remarkable.
Even if the same data signal is applied, the currents flowing through the drive transistors are consequently different from one another. The changes of the currents cause production of the differences of brightness of the light emitting devices at each pixel and each time, and therefore bring about display unevenness extending over the whole display screen.
On the other hand, it has been proposed to cancel the dispersion of the electric characteristics of the drive transistors by operating the voltages supplied to light emitting devices to have the same electric potential as the data signals by negative-feedback loops using differential amplifiers (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,809,706). In this case, the control of the brightness of the light emitting devices is performed based on voltages.
However, if the brightness of organic EL devices is controlled based on voltages, the gradation control of the devices is more complicated because the brightness-voltage characteristics of the devices do not have linearity.
Moreover, because the brightness-voltage characteristics change with time, the method of such a control is also needed to be changed according to the aged deterioration of the characteristics.
From the above reasons, it is desirable to control the brightness not using voltages but using currents.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a drive circuit realizing good image quality even if the threshold values of drive transistors show variation, or aged deterioration when stable currents are supplied to light emitting devices in a light emitting display apparatus. That is, according to a scope of the present invention, a drive circuit and a drive method of a light emitting display apparatus are both capable of realizing good image quality by correcting the threshold values of drive transistors when the light emitting operations of light emitting devices are performed at desired brightness gradation.

Drive circuit and drive method of light emitting display apparatus


An improved acquisition and tracking system for Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. The system relies on block adjustment of the synchronizing signal of the bi-phase shift keying (BPSK) signal in order to obtain correct carrier frequency and phase angle. This improved system has the advantages of being more robust in the presence of noise than conventional approaches and also of lending itself to simplified implementation since synchronization of the Coarse/Acquisition (C/A) code need only be within half of a chip in order to maintain lock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of signal tracking by determining the carrier frequency and phase angle of a bi-phase shift keying signal when the spread spectrum code is known. This is especially applicable to acquiring Global Positioning System (GPS) signals whose carrier frequency can be doppler shifted by relative velocity of satellites to the receiver and phase shifted by propagation distance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional method of tracking a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal, a full-time acquisition process must be used first to determine the initial condition of the signal tracking loop. This acquisition process is to determine the satellite number, the carrier frequency, and the phase angle of the coarse/acquisition (C/A) code. Close synchronization of the input signal with the locally generated codes and signals to demodulate, or "de-spread", the signal is required for these systems.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is part of a satellite-based navigation system developed by the United States Defense Department under its NAVSTAR satellite program. A fully operational GPS includes up to 24 satellites approximately uniformly dispersed around six circular orbits having four satellites each, the orbits being inclined at an angle of 55 degrees relative to the equator and being separated from each other by multiples of 60 degrees of longitude. The orbits have radii of 26,560 kilometers and are approximately circular. The orbits are non-geosynchronous, with 0.5 sidereal day (11.967 hours) orbital time intervals, so that the satellites move with time relative to the Earth below. Theoretically, four or more GPS satellites will be visible from most points on the Earth's surface, and visual access to four or more such satellites can be used to determine an observer's position anywhere on the Earth's surface, 24 hours per day. Each satellite carries a cesium or rubidium atomic clock to provide timing information for the signals transmitted by the satellites. Internal clock correction is provided for each satellite clock.
Each GPS satellite transmits two spread spectrum, L-band carrier signals: an L1 signal having a frequency f1=1575.42 MHz and an L2 signal having a frequency f2=1227.6 MHz. These two frequencies are integral multiples f1=1540 f0 and f2=1200 f0 of a base frequency f0=1.023 MHz. The L1 signal from each satellite is binary phase shift keying (BPSK) modulated by two pseudo-random noise (PRN) codes in phase quadrature, designated as the C/A code and P-code. The L2 signal from each satellite is BPSK-modulated by only the P-code. The nature of these PRN codes is described below. One motivation for use of the two carrier signals L1 and L2 is to allow partial compensation for propagation delay of such a signal through the ionosphere, which delay varies approximately as the inverse square of signal frequency f (delay varies as 1/f.sup.2). This phenomenon is discussed by MacDoran in U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,357, which discussion is incorporated by reference herein. When transit time delay through the ionosphere is determined, a phase delay associated with a given carrier signal can be determined.
Use of the PRN codes allows use of a plurality of GPS satellite signals for determining an observer's position and for providing navigation information. A signal transmitted by a particular GPS signal is selected by generating and matching, or correlating, the PRN code for that particular satellite. All PRN codes are known and are generated or stored in GPS satellite signal receivers carried by ground observers. A first PRN code for each GPS satellite, sometimes referred to as a precision code or P-code, is a relatively long, fine-grained code having an associated clock or chip rate of 10 f.sub.0 =10.23 MHz. A second PRN code for each GPS satellite, sometimes referred to as a coarse/acquisition code or C/A code, is intended to facilitate rapid satellite signal acquisition and hand-over to the P-code and is a relatively short, coarser-grained code having a clock or chip rate of f.sub.0 =1.023 MHz. The C/A code for any GPS satellite has a length of 1023 chips or time increments before this code repeats. The full P-code has a length of 259 days, with each satellite transmitting a unique portion of the full P-code. The portion of P-code used for a given GPS satellite has a length of precisely one week (7.000 days) before this code portion repeats. Accepted methods for generating the C/A code and P-code are set forth in the document GPS Interface Control Document ICD-GPS-200, published by Rockwell International Corporation, Satellite Systems Division, Revision B-PR, Jul. 3, 1991, which is incorporated by reference herein.
The GPS satellite bit stream includes navigational information on the ephemeris of the transmitting GPS satellite and an almanac for all GPS satellites, with parameters providing corrections for ionospheric signal propagation delays suitable for single frequency receivers and for an offset time between satellite clock time and true GPS time. The navigational information is transmitted at a rate of 50 Baud. A useful discussion of the GPS and techniques for obtaining position information from the satellite signals is found in Tom Logsdon, The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1992, pp. 1-90, incorporated by reference herein.
The fundamental concepts of GPS reception is disclosed Wong et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,977. The C/A code has a chip rate of 1.023 Mhz and a length of 1023 chips, thus, the code repeats itself every millisecond. The code is chosen to be a pseudo-random spread spectrum modulation. The carrier frequency of the GPS signal is at 1575.42 Mhz. The C/A code and the carrier are synchronized. The carrier is bi-phase coded by the C/A code. The navigation data of the GPS C/A code is 50 Hz, which means there may be a phase shift every 20 ms due to the navigation code. If there is no phase shift, the phase shift between two consecutive milliseconds of data is a constant. If there is a navigation data bit change, the phase change between the two consecutive milliseconds of data will differ from the linear changing phase angle with a discontinuity of 180 degrees.
The conventional approach to processing a GPS signal is through two control loops: a code loop (or an early-late delay-lock loop) and a carrier loop (or a radio frequency (RF) phase-locked loop). This apparatus is shown by Hutchinson in U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,843. The two loops must operate together to de-spread the signal, track the carrier frequency and detect the phase shift in the GPS satellite signal. The employed apparatus is often referred to as the signal tracking loop. A simplified block diagram of a conventional approach is shown in FIG. 1. In this figure, the digitized signal passes a first mixer 10 to strip the carrier frequency, since the other input to the mixer 10 is an estimate of the carrier signal from the carrier loop. The output from the first mixer contains only the C/A code and the navigation and the navigation data. The second mixer 11 will strip the code, because the other input to this mixer 11 is an estimate of the code from the code loop. Thus, the output from the second mixer is a continuous wave (CW) signal and the navigation data. A narrow band filter can determine the frequency and the phase change of the GPS satellite signal. The two loops operate together in a continuous manner.
The disadvantages of the FIG. 1 conventional acquisition process include its complexity; moreover this implementation is designed such that the internally generated codes and signals must maintain close synchronization in order to allow further processing. In addition to reducing these difficulties te present invention is more robust to input signal level changes.

Block adjustment of synchronizing signal for phase-coded signal tracking

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A system and a method are provided for analyzing a small sample in a test chamber using infrared spectrophotometry. The invention is particularly applicable to analyzing a liquid sample in a test chamber by subjecting the liquid sample to infrared spectrophotometry and analyzing the infrared spectra of the subjected liquid sample. An evaporator is provided to cool the sample to sub-zero temperatures by forcing a refrigerant through the evaporator to cool the sample prior to testing.

The present invention relates generally to a device for analyzing a small sample in a test chamber using infrared (IR) spectrophotometry. More specifically, the invention relates to a device and a method for detecting unwanted formations in liquid samples wherein the system maintains a dry atmosphere around the sample, and the sample is cooled to a desired temperature before and during scans.
Scientists have discovered that chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) deplete ozone in the stratosphere. Ozone is the substance which protects us from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. As a result, many governments have made a mandate to cease production of CFC's.
One of the most common refrigerants used today is CFC-12. Refrigeration system manufacturers throughout the industry have found HFC-134a to be a suitable alternative to CFC-12. In the initial phases of testing, it was soon discovered that certain contaminants in HFC-134a refrigeration systems would cause failures. Certain compounds are not soluble in HFC-134a at the low temperatures present in a refrigeration system. These substances tend to solidify in the small diameter of the expansion device. The reduced flow of refrigerant through the system results in a loss of the cooling effect. Only a few milligrams of deposit can cause a failure. The most common substance which is known to cause this failure is paraffin. It is a common component of many lubricants. These lubricants are used in the manufacture of refrigeration system components. Other hydrocarbons are also commonly used in these lubricants.
To eliminate paraffin from the refrigeration system, an analytical technique is needed to identify the paraffin in small samples. Paraffin is a straight chain hydrocarbon. Depending on its molecular weight, it can be solid liquid or even gaseous at room temperature. Common lubricants contain a mixture of solid and liquid paraffins. The solid paraffins are dissolved in the liquid paraffins resulting in a liquid product. When cooled, these paraffins will solidify. At a temperature of -30.degree. F., other hydrocarbons, such as naphthenic or polyalphaolefins, do not solidify. This is why they cause plugging in HFC-134a refrigeration systems. The IR spectrum of all three hydrocarbons is similar except for paraffin. A transition occurs in the IR spectrum when paraffins go from a liquid to a solid state. This is shown in FIG. 4. As illustrated, a singlet band at around 722 cm.sup.-1 splits to form a doublet band. The doublet band generally occurs at 718 cm.sup.-1 and 728 cm.sup.-1. Thus, by cooling the sample and analyzing it by IR spectrophotometry, paraffin can be identified. Other analytical techniques are available; however, they require expensive equipment and lengthy test times.
One such known apparatus for analyzing a sample cell using infrared spectrophotometry is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,177. In the '177 patent, cooling of a sample to temperatures as low as -45.degree. C. is taught. To this end, a cool air passageway is provided adjacent a primary optical surface of a sample holder for directing a cool air stream across the primary optical surface. A vortex tube has a cool air outlet connected to the cool air passageway for supplying cool air to the passageway. The system disclosed in the '177 patent, however, is difficult to maintain very cool temperatures, and attaining of extreme temperature is often difficult within a short period of time. Further, moisture causing condensation contamination on a test disk and outside the chamber disk is a danger to the system described in the '177 patent.
A need, therefore, exists for an improved system and a method for analyzing a sample in a test chamber using infrared spectrophotometry.

Subambient temperature controlled cell for infrared spectroscopic analysis and a method for the detection of paraffinic hydrocarbons


A nail comprises a shank having an expansion portion with two curved expansion limbs defining a free space therebetween, a first straight shank portion and a second straight shank portion located correspondingly before and after the expansion region, the free space being formed as a longitudinal notch starting from the first straight shank portion and extending to the forward end, the notch having a notch base rising in direction toward the forward nail end, and a wedge arranged in the longitudinal notch and bearing against the notch base, the wedge having an upper edge slightly projecting beyond the shank and being displaceable in direction toward and along the rising notch base.

The present invention generally relates to nails with an expansion region.
Nails of the above mentioned general type are known in the art. A fixing element formed as a nail is disclosed for example in the German patent document DE 33 45 331 A1 and has an expansion region provided in its forward nail end and formed by two outwardly curved limbs which extend at a distance from one another. Such a fixing element is anchored by its shank driven into a pre-drilled hole in masonry or the like. When the shank is driven into the drilled hole, the expansion limbs are pressed together inwards by the wall of the drilled hole and, by means of an insert situated between the expansion limbs, an increased pressure can be produced by the expansion limbs against the wall of the drill hole. The expansion limbs of the fixing element are pressed against the wall of the drilled hole after being driven in, by means of the plastic and/or resilient restoring force of the insert. Therefore a correspondingly high holding force is obtained. However, because of the insert the driving-in resistance to the nail formed in accordance with the prior art is very high.


An odor-adsorbing gas-venting filter assembly for a collection appliance, such as an ostomy pouch, which includes a fibrous heat-sealable filter pad containing activated carbon and having a gas-pervious liquid barrier heat sealed to one face thereof. The pad and the liquid barrier integrated with it are confined between two panels of heat-sealable material joined together along their borders. One of the panels is formed of impervious thermoplastic material, has at least one central opening, and is heat sealed to the barrier layer along a zone extending about such opening. The sealed borders of the panels are in turn heat sealed to the wall of the collection appliance about its vent aperture so that gas escaping from the appliance cannot by-pass the odor-adsorbing filter.

Collection appliances such as colostomy and ileostomy pouches are vented to permit the escape of intestinal gases and prevent undesirable ballooning of such pouches in use. The vents are commonly provided with porous filter elements at the vent apertures for retaining liquid and/or solid matter within the pouches while selectively allowing the gases to escape. Ideally, such a filter also includes an adsorbent such as activated carbon to extract odors from the gases as they are vented. Although simple in general concept, such gas-venting filters are difficult to construct so that they operate consistently and effectively for the useful life of the appliance, a term ranging from several hours to a week or more depending on the nature of the surgical operation and the particular type of collection appliance involved. Thus, the filter assembly should resist clogging when exposed to solid matter, should be capable of withstanding moisture or even direct contact with liquids, should have sufficient odor-adsorbing capability, and should be constructed so that it cannot be by-passed by gases or, for that matter, by any of the contents of the appliance. In general, prior constructions have been only partially successful in meeting such objectives.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved gas-venting filter for collection appliances which is far more effective than prior known constructions in preventing the by-passing flow of intestinal gases, which controls or meters the flow of the vented gases so that solids discharged into the bag may pass into the bag's lower portion without encountering obstruction and without at the same time allowing such gases to produce undesirable ballooning of the bag, which resists clogging and the adherence of solid matter discharged into the bag, and which is highly effective in adsorbing odors from the gases as they are vented. A further object is to provide such an improved filter assembly which not only has superior performance characteristics but which also is easier to manufacture and fabricate than gas-venting filter assemblies in current use.
One aspect of this invention lies in the recognition that by-pass problems and other problems associated with gas-venting filters in ostomy appliances might be eliminated or greatly reduced by utilizing thermoplastic fibers in the fabrication of a filter pad, and then heat bonding a gas-pervious liquid barrier layer directly to the pad. Such barrier layer may thereafter be heat sealed directly to a liquid and gas impervious thermoplastic film along a heat seal zone extending about a central opening (or openings) in the film. The film is in turn heat sealed to the inside surface of the collection pouch about the vent aperture thereof with the result that the two concentric seals prevent by-passing of the filter by gases to be vented from the pouch, the non-pervious thermoplastic film performing the additional function of deflecting gases towards and through the adsorbent filter on their way to the vent aperture.
The liquid barrier bonded to the filter pad prevents liquids from entering the pad, and the interior of the pouch to which the filter assembly is secured, without significantly affecting the outflow of gases from the bag. Therefore, an ostomate may wear such a collection device in the shower without fear that water might contact the filter pad and destroy or at least reduce its effectiveness. Similarly, a protective panel which is gas-pervious but liquid-impervious (at least to the extent required for the particular appliance) may be secured by heat sealing to the portion of the thermoplastic film or panel extending beyond the periphery of the pad, thereby enclosing the pad between such panels. The breathable but water-resistant properties of the rear or inside panel protect the porous filter pad from becoming deactivated by liquid within the pouch and the non-adherent character of the polymeric material from which such panel is preferably formed prevents solid and liquid materials within the pouch from blocking the flow of gases through the adsorbent filter and out through the vent opening.
The porosity of the barrier layer and the rear or inside panel of the filter assembly is substantially greater than that of the filter pad itself with the result that the carbon-fiber matrix controls or meters the rate of flow of gas escaping through the vent of a pouch. The filter medium should be of a thickness and composition to provide a value of approximately 10 to 30 seconds when its resistance to the passage of air is measured in accordance with ASTM Test D726-58 (Method A) and, in the final product, the exposed area of the face of the filter pad should fall within the general range of 0.2 to 0.8 square inches.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the assembly will become apparent from the specification and drawings.

Gas-venting filter for collection appliance


An RF filter, e.g. RF cavity filter for adjusting coupling amount or transmission zero is disclosed. The RF filter includes a housing member in which cavities are defined by walls, resonators located in the cavities, a cover combined with an upper surface of the housing member, a first tuning element inserted into a first cavity of the cavities through the cover, and a second tuning element inserted into a second cavity of the cavities through the cover. Here, the first tuning element and the second tuning element are connected electrically.

An RF cavity filter includes plural cavities formed therein to pass only use frequency band of a signal, and is employed generally at a base station, etc. using comparative high power of a frequency signal.
FIG. 1 is a plan view illustration structure of a common RF cavity filter.
In FIG. 1, the RF cavity filter includes an input connector 100, an output connector 102, a housing member 104, cavities 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 and 120 defined by the housing member 104 and a wall, resonators 130, 132, 134, 136, 138 and 140 in each of the cavities 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 and 120, and a coupling bar 160.
An RF signal inputted through the input connector 100 is provided to the cavity 110. Each of the cavities 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 and 120 and corresponding resonators 130, 132, 134, 136, 138 and 140 function as LC resonance elements, respectively.
The RF signal is delivered from one cavity to another cavity through a coupling window 150.
A resonance frequency of the filter is determined by size of the cavities and size of the resonators. A user may tune finely characteristics of the filter using tuning bolts which are not shown.
The skirt characteristic which means a slope of a boundary band in a pass band characteristic curve is important in view of the filter, and preferably should be formed sharply.
The skirt characteristic is improved according as order of the filter increases, i.e. the number of the cavities and the resonators increases. However, the skirt characteristic has trade-off relation with an insertion loss. That is, as the number of the cavities and the resonators increases, the skirt characteristic is enhanced but the insertion loss augments.
The filter forms a notch using cross coupling to improve the skirt characteristic with maintaining constant insertion loss.
The cross coupling means coupling between resonators which are not adjacent, e.g. coupling between a second resonator 132 and a fifth resonator 138. The cross coupling is realized generally through the coupling bar 160.
The coupling bar 160 is formed through a wall between the second cavity 122 and the fifth cavity 128, and is made up of a metal. The coupling bar 160 functions to deliver for example a signal of the second resonator 132 to the fifth resonator 138.
A hole for the coupling bar 160 is formed on the wall between the second cavity 122 and the fifth cavity 128, a dielectric layer is formed on an inner surface of the wall corresponding to the hole, and so the coupling bar 160 is not connected electrically to the wall.
However, this cross coupling structure may not adjust coupling amount between resonators. The coupling amount is determined by size of the coupling bar 160, and thus the coupling bar 160 should be replaced by new coupling bar having different size in case that desired coupling amount is not realized. In addition, the coupling amount may not be adjusted under the condition that the coupling bar 160 is set on the wall.
Moreover, the filter may not adjust transmission zero related to the skirt characteristic.

RF filter for adjusting coupling amount or transmission zero


A Coulomb-blockade element includes a silicon layer formed on a substrate through an insulating film. The silicon layer includes a narrow wire portion and first and second electrode portions. The narrow wire portion serves as a conductive island for confining a charge. The first and second electrode portions are formed to be connected to the two ends of the narrow wire portion and are wider than the narrow wire portion. Each of the first and second electrode portions has constrictions on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces thereof, which make a portion near the narrow wire portion thinner than the narrow wire portion.

The present invention relates to an element using a Coulomb-blockade phenomenon and formed on a silicon substrate and a method of manufacturing the same.
A Coulomb-blockade phenomenon in electron tunneling at a small tunnel junction is a phenomenon in which tunneling of one electron is suppressed as free energy based on charging energy accompanying the tunneling increases. A Coulomb-blockade element using such a Coulomb-blockade phenomenon can control currents and charges flowing out from or stored in the element in units of electrons. For this reason, the power consumption per element is very small. In addition, the device area is also very small. Owing to these characteristics, an integration degree much higher than the integration limits of the existing silicon-based integrated circuits is expected. As the basic structure of this element, a single electron transistor or a single electron memory has been proposed.
Most of conventional Coulomb-blockade elements have a structure in which electrons are confined in a small metal island by using a small tunnel junction of a metal/metal oxide or a structure in which a two-dimensional electron gas formed at a heterojunction of a III-V compound semiconductor is confined in the form of an island by using an electric field generated by a narrow electrode or the like formed on the junction.
FIG. 31 shows the conventional Coulomb-blockade element disclosed in "Single-Electron Charging and Periodic Conductance Resonances in GaAs Nanostructures", U. Meirav et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 65, No. 6, pp. 771-774, 1990. FIG. 32 shows an equivalent circuit of this Coulomb-blockade element. Reference numeral 71 denotes a substrate consisting of n-type GaAs; 72, an AlGaAs layer; 73, a GaAs layer; and 74, an electrode formed on the GaAs layer 73.
In such a Coulomb-blockade element, a two-dimensional electrode gas is formed at the heterointerface between the AlGaAs layer 72 and the GaAs layer 73. Constrictions 75 which are constricted in the horizontal direction are formed on the electrode 74 to form potential barriers. A region 76 between these barriers becomes a conductive island for confining charges.
The potential barrier between the conductive island 76 and a source electrode 77 serves as a tunnel capacitance Cs. The potential barrier between the conductive island 76 and a drain electrode 78 serves as a tunnel capacitance Cd. As a result, an element having an equivalent circuit like the one shown in FIG. 32 is formed.
One of the most important subjects in putting such a Coulomb-blockade element to practical use is an operating temperature. In order to operate the Coulomb-blockade element at a practical temperature, a conductive island serving as an electron reservoir, which is the core of the element, must be formed on the nm scale, and a tunnel barrier having a very small capacitance of several aF (1 aF=10.sup.-18 F) must be formed. This is because the charging energy of a single electron is buried in thermal energy as the sizes of these portions increase, and no Coulomb-blockade phenomenon can be observed.
Another important subject is how to manufacture and arrange such minute structures with good controllability. In order to realize a new function by coupling Coulomb-blockade elements, in particular, a manufacturing technique with good controllability is required.
In the Coulomb-blockade element shown in FIG. 31, the width (in the lateral direction in FIG. 31) of each constriction 75, where the gap in the electrode 74 is the smallest, must be sufficiently smaller than the width of the conductive island 76. For this reason, if the constriction 75 is to be manufactured by electron beam lithography, the size of the island 76 inevitably becomes much larger than the minimum dimensions determined by the lithography limit.
With regard to a Coulomb-blockade using a metal, since no effective working technique of forming a metal island is available, it is difficult to form a small metal island with good reproducibility.
Either of the elements having the above structures, therefore, can operate only at a very low temperature of 1 K or less.
A method of forming a conductive island by using fluctuations of a structure made of a thin polycrystalline material is known as an effective means for attaining a small capacitance (K. Yano et al., "Room-Temperature Single-Electron Memory", IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, Vol. 41, p. 1628, 1994). In this method, however, the position and the size of a conductive island cannot be arbitrarily controlled because fluctuations caused by a polycrystalline structure are used.
As described above, in the conventional methods, a technique of manufacturing a very small conductive island and a technique of positioning the conductive island with good reproducibility have not been established. These techniques are indispensable for putting a Coulomb-blockade element to practical use. Therefore, a Coulomb-blockade element which can operate at room temperature cannot be realized with good controllability and good reproducibility.

Method of manufacturing coulamb blockade element using thermal oxidation

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


A jar opener including a rigid housing having a horizontal top wall, a horizontal bottom wall, and a space therebetween and with the bottom wall further having a gripping surface for gripping a bottom of a jar that is placed thereupon; an elongated horizontal traveling plate disposed within the space at a location above the gripping surface of the bottom wall; a revolvable wheel coupled to the traveling plate at a location above the gripping surface of the bottom wall and with the wheel also having a gripping surface for gripping a lid on the jar; a first drive mechanism engaged with the traveling plate for allowing its lowering for placement of the gripping surface of the wheel in contact with a lid on the jar; and a second drive mechanism engaged with the wheel for allowing its revolution for loosening the lid on the jar.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jar opener and more particularly pertains to automatically opening a lid on a jar with a jar opener.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of jar opening mechanisms is known in the prior art. More specifically, jar opening mechanisms heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of opening a lid of a jar are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, Des U.S. Pat. No. 249,324 to Hutson discloses a jar opener. U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,801 to Morrison discloses a combination jar and can opener. U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,016 to Vonusa discloses a lid remover. U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,226 to McGuire discloses a jar opening apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,844 to Barrow discloses a portable container opener. U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,236 to Anderson discloses a lid starting apparatus and method. U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,125 to Pierce, Jr. et al. discloses an opener for screwed cap containers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,296 to Parent et al. discloses an automated container and method.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a jar opener that includes a drive mechanism for lowering a gripping mechanism in contact with a lid on a jar and includes another drive mechanisms that allow a lid on a jar to be revolved.
In this respect, the jar opener according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of automatically opening a lid on a jar.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for new and improved jar opener which can be used for automatically opening a lid on a jar. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


An electronically controlled magnetic recorder for rapidly optically scanning an original document at a distance and for producing a latent magnetic image thereof. An electronic interface between the optical scanner and the magnetic recording head includes optional electronic halftoning circuitry, circuitry for controlling system and subsystem timing; memory circuits; write drivers and circuitry for controlling pixel alignment.

This invention relates to magnetic imaging, and more particularly to a magnetic scanner-recorder for optically scanning a document input on a platen with the scanner interfaced with the recorder through electronic circuitry.
The recordation of magnetic signals upon a magnetizable member such as magnetic tape is known. Recorded magnetic signals are used extensively in audio tape recordings, in magnetic video recording as indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,281 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,355.
To obtain faster recording, it was found desirable to move the magnetic recording head and magnetizable medium relative to one another both circumferentially and axially during the writing process. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,850,348 for magnetic drum printing and as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,500 for a rotating magnetic head about which a magnetic tape is helically wrapped during its path of travel.
The magnetic reproduction of hard copy original images has theretofore been limited substantially to rather cumbersome techniques involving intermediates such as the use of an optical mask for thermoremanent or Curie-point imaging; or, the use of a xerographically formed intermediate image which is magnetized and used as a master for either direct development with magnetic toner or for transfer of its pattern of magnetization to a magnetic tape via Curie-point techniques. Alternatively, rather cumbersome techniques requiring the mounting of an original image onto a rotating mandral such as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,634 have been required.

Electronically controlled magnetic recording


Disclosed are a method of constructing information on associate meanings between segments of a multimedia stream, which can describe the cause/effect or abstract/detail relationship between segments of the video streams to efficiently browse the video stream and a method of browsing a video using the same. The present invention defines the cause/effect or abstract/detail relationship between the segments, event intervals, scenes, shots, etc. existing within one video stream or between the video streams, and provides a method of describing the relationship in a data region based on the content of a video stream as well as a method of browsing a video by using the information on the cause/effect or abstract/detail relationship obtained by the aforementioned method. Accordingly, a video browsing on associate meanings is available with easy manipulation and easy access to a desired part, thereby providing an effective video browsing interface for easy browsing of desired segments in a short period of time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of describing relationships of cause/effect or abstract/detail between segments of a video stream for effectively browsing the video stream and a method of effectively browsing the video.
2. Description of the Related Art
Owing to the developments of a digital video technology as well as of recognition technologies of image or video, users can now easily search, get access to and browse a desired video or a particular segment of a video. The users can even search the abstracted texts of a video, thereby effectively understanding the entire contents of a video in a short period of time.
There are two methods of abstracting the entire contents of a video. One is a story board-like method of using a key frame. The other is a method of using an abstract stream (highlight).
The method of providing a user with an abstract stream on a video by using a key frame has a limit in its practical applicability. To be specific, providing an excessively small number of key frames makes it difficult for the user to understand the overall video stream and to shift to a desired scene. On the other hand, providing an excessively large number of key frames is likely to undermine the storage space or browsing speed.
To overcome these problems, diverse approaches have been attempted. One of the examples is to hierarchically decompose a video stream and express the same. Another example is to provide a user interface, i.e., to provide a scene transition graph for describing a temporal relationship among scenes so as to easily browse a desired scene only by shifting to the desired scene.
While providing a merit of enabling an effective browsing of a video through description of a temporal relationship among scenes, the scene transition graph fails to provide an effective navigation between segments by using associate meanings between the segments since it provides a shift to a segment only based on temporal relationship.

Method of constructing information on associate meanings between segments of multimedia stream and method of browsing video using the same


In audio contents which have cells for defining an audio title playback unit and whose actual playback sequence is determined by defining the playback sequence of the cells, cell information to specify the cells is provided with identification information to identify the types of the cells according to the difference in the contents of the data included in the cells. One type of the contents of the data in the cells is for obtaining the length of the silent period of time. The identification information corresponding to the cell indicates a silent cell.

This invention relates to an audio data structure which facilities the handling of high sound-quality audio data in processing (recording, reproducing, transmitting, and constructing) the data and fulfills the high sound-quality requirement, a recording medium for the audio data structure, and an apparatus for processing its signal.
DVD video disks are optical disk on which video (moving picture) information can be recorded very densely with high quality and further various types of information, including multiangle pictures, sub-pictures, multilingual voice, and multichannel audio, can be recorded. Such DVD video disks have been developed and on the market and are finding their way into wide application. (DVD is an abbreviation for Digital Versatile Disk.)
The specifications for DVD video disks cover not only compressed multichannel audio (including AC-3 and MPEG) but also uncompressed linear PCM (including 48 kHz sampling, 16-bit quantization, 96 kHz sampling, and 24-bit quantization). The DVD video linear PCM meets the high-frequency sampling, high-number bit, high sound quality specifications, which surpass those for conventional music CDs (with 44.1 kHz sampling and 16 bit quantization). Linear PCM with 96-kHz sampling and 20- to 24-bit quantization is sufficiently qualified for the next generation digital audio disks (what is called super CDs or super audio disks).
However, the DVD video specifications have been determined by video requirements rather than audio requirements. In terms of not only sampling frequency and the number of quantization bits but also the number of recordable channels and recordable time, audio-oriented specifications surpassing the DVD video sound specifications have been expected.
To meet the expectation, DVD audio specifications have been studied (it should be noted that the DVD audio specifications have not been in the prior art yet). The DVD audio specifications have been considered to be capable of supporting linear PCM with 48- to 96-kHz sampling and 24-bit quantization employed in the DVD video specifications up to linear PCM with 192-kHz sampling and 24-bit quantization. Moreover, future versions of the DVD audio specifications might introduce much higher sound quality.
The reason why the DVD audio provides upward compatibility is that it has a part shared with DVD video that can record a large volume of data covering high-definition television images. Moreover, the DVD audio is characterized by having technical, marketable, and economical advantages in the future when it can be used as a result of advance in the DVD video.
For example, when high-capacity DVD disks to be put in practical use in future DVD video are used in DVD audio, if the recording time is constant, there is a possibility that the sampling frequency in recording, the number of quantization bits, and the number of recording channels will be increased more and more. In addition, the technique for DVD video recorders using DVD-RAMs (or rewritable DVD-RW or write-once DVD-R) to be put in practical use in the near future can be used in DVD audio recorders to come in practice soon or later.
Furthermore, as the popularization of DVD video expands its market, DVD video and DVD audio share increasingly more of the recording mediums (including DVD-ROM disks, DVD-RAM/DVD-RW disks, and DVD-R disks), unit parts (including disk drives, optical pickups, and various types of ICs), and various control programs. This accelerates the cost reduction of DVD audio products featuring high sound quality and other advantages. When DVD audio is used widely, DVD video will enjoy the future technical, marketable, and economical advantages available as a result of advance in DVD audio.
As described above, the development of DVD audio has been expected, but, as seen from the aforementioned DVD video, DVD audio with various functions and performances will possibly be proposed and developed as a result of a high-density recording disk having been developed. Specifically, there is a possibility that DVD audio with a different data structure in terms of sampling frequency, the number of quantization bits, and the number of channels will be produced. Moreover, DVD audio with a different data structure in terms of functions, such as DVD audio with or without menu images, or DVD audio with or without background images, will possibly be produced.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a data structure that enables audio attributes to be specified track by track. The data structure makes it possible to allow the reproduction side to deal with DVD audio easily even if various functions and performances are included in the DVD audio.
The reproduction side needs a preparation time for changing the hardware devices according to the change of the attributes. The preparation time causes a break in the sound output. Accordingly, another object of the present invention is to provide a data structure which positively recognizes a break in sound and allows the designer or producer to set a sound break period arbitrary. The data structure makes it possible to make silent periods between pieces of music constant when, for example, a DVD audio disk is played back, which provides the user with a stable playback condition.
To achieve the foregoing objects, identification information to identify the type of cells by the difference in the contents of the data included in the cells is provided in cell information to specify the cells in audio contents that have cells defining at least an audio title playback unit and determines the actual playback sequence by defining the playback sequence of the cells. This enables the data structure creator side to deliberately realize data processing management, timing management, and setting management on the reproducing apparatus side during playback according to the contents of the data on the basis of the identification information.
One type of the contents of the data in the cells is for determining the length of a silent period of time. The identification information corresponding to the cell is characterized by indicating a silent cell. Providing a silent cell for determining the time of the silent period enables a silent period to be set. Using the silent period, the reproducing apparatus side can change or set the attributes. In a case where tracks with a break in sound are mingled with tracks without a break in sound, effective use of silent cells at the head of a track without a break in sound makes it possible to edit the data in such a manner that a uniform pause period giving no unnatural feeling on the whole is taken.

Audio data structure, recording media, and processor


A bedding assembly includes a cushion, a cushion cover, a top cover and a coupling unit. The cushion has opposite lateral surfaces. The cushion cover accommodates the cushion and has opposite first and second cover portions that are respectively adjacent to the lateral surfaces of the cushion. The top cover is laid on top of the cushion cover and has opposite first and second side portions that are respectively adjacent to the first and second cover portions of the cushion cover. The coupling unit includes a first coupling subunit that separably couples the first cover portion to the first portion, and a second coupling subunit that separably couples the second cover portion to the second side portion.

Sleeping bags for children have been commonly sought after by parents to prevent a child from kicking off his blanket during sleep. For example, in kindergarten, the child generally needs to prepare his own sleeping bag for taking a nap during naptime.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional sleeping bag 9 disclosed in Taiwanese Utility Model Patent Certificate No. M335238 includes a main body 91 and a plurality of feathers 92 and downs 93 accommodated inside the main body 9. Since the sleeping bag 9 is insufficient in structural strength to support the reclining body of a child on its own, it is usually placed on a mattress when used at home. However, as mattresses are usually not available when being away from home, such as in kindergarten, the child may not be able to nap comfortably with the sleeping bag 9 lying directly on the floor.


A park pawl in a transmission is rotatably supported on a manually rotatable control rod and resiliently biased toward engagement with a toothed output gear by a spring acting between the control rod and the pawl. A lost-motion driving connection provided between the control rod and the pawl function to permit movement of the pawl toward and away from engagement with the toothed output gear under influence of the spring and independent of the control rod position when the control rod is rotated to a Park position. However, when the control rod is rotated to a non-Park position, the driving connection is established to forcibly move the pawl out of engagement with the toothed output gear.

It is well known in motor vehicle transmissions to provide a toothed output gear which can be selectively engaged by a pawl to lock the output gear to the transmission case. This Park operating mode of the transmission is obtained by the vehicle operator manually shifting a lever to activate the pawl.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved Park mechanism for a transmission.


An aerial photographing image pickup method comprises a step of making a flying object fly meanderingly, a step of taking the image at each vertex where a direction is changed in the meandering flight, a step of extracting feature points from a common overlay portion of the images taken from at least three adjacent vertices, a step of determining two images of two vertices in the images as one set and acquiring positional information of the two vertices by a GPS device for each set regarding at least two sets, a step of performing photogrammetry of the measuring points corresponding to the feature points based on positional information and based on the feature points of the two images and a step of determining the feature points when the surveying results of the measuring points coincide with each other in at least the two sets as tie points for image combination.

The present invention relates to an aerial photograph image pickup method and an aerial photograph image pickup apparatus by a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).
In the photography from the air above or the surveying from the air above, the information which cannot be acquired by the photography from the ground or the surveying on the ground can be acquired, and the photography is possible in an off-limits area, or the information in an area where the surveying is difficult can be acquired. Further, in recent years, because of the improvement in performance of a small flying object as remote controlled such as a tiny plane or a small-scale helicopter, or the like, the improvement in a remote control technology, and further, the improvement in performance of an image pickup device, the promotion of the miniaturization, and others, the image pickup device can be mounted in a small flying object. By remotely controlling the flying object, the photography from the air above can be performed in an unmanned manner. Furthermore, the flying object can make an autonomous flight in accordance with a preset flight schedule.
In case of performing the photography by a small flying object, although it is desired for a body to be horizontal, the body actually has a light weight, and the body is often swept away by the wind, or the body is often tilted. Therefore, in a fixedly mounted image pickup device, an optical axis is tilted depending on a state of the body, and a tilt direction is not fixed.
In case of preparing an image in a wide range, or in case of preparing a stereo image, two images adjacent to each other are overlapped, a connecting point (a tie point) common to the two images in the overlap portion is extracted, and based on the tie point, the images are combined. However, as described above, when the images taken in a state that an optical axis is tilted or a tilt angle or a tilt direction is not fixed are sequentially combined with each other, a resultant image in the extensive range is distorted or curved, and there is a problem that a correct combined image cannot be obtained.

Aerial photograph image pickup method and aerial photograph image pickup apparatus


An automatic document feeder includes a paper transmitting path for guiding documents, a driving motor for providing driving torque, a pickup device disposed at the upstream of the paper transmitting path, an output device disposed at the downstream of the paper transmitting path and transmitting rollers disposed along the paper transmitting path for transmitting the documents, a first driving gear disposed between the pickup device and the output device, a transmitting gear swing arm equipped with a transmitting gear set and axially hinged with the first driving gear to swing according to the driving torque between a first position meshing the transmitting gear set with the pickup device and a second position idling the transmitting gear set, an actuator connected with the output device and a braking device disposed on the output device for locking the transmitting gear swing arm according to the position of the output device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder, especially to an automatic document feeder with double-side scanning function.
2. The Related Art
In order to increase the efficiency of scanning and to achieve the function of double-side scanning, most scanners are equipped with an automatic document feeder.
Referring to FIG. 1, a sectional view of a conventional automatic document feeder is shown. The automatic document feeder defines a paper transmitting path for transmitting documents, and the paper transmitting path includes an input tray 11′, an input path 12′, a scanning section 13′, an output path 14′ and an output tray 15′. A reverse path 16′ is connected between the input path 12′ and the output path 14′.
In order to transmit documents through respective path above, a plurality of transmitting devices are disposed along corresponding path. For example, a pickup device 20′ is disposed at the entrance of the input path 12′, scan roller 171′, transmitting roller 172′ are disposed along the input path 12′ and the output path 14′, and an output device 30′ is disposed at the exit of the output path 14′.
Various transmitting devices act in different ways. In detail, the pickup device 20′ will press downward to documents in the input tray 11′ to pick one of the documents into the input path 12′ when the scanning process starts, and rise up to avoid multi-feed when the picked document enters the input path 12′ and reaches the scan roller 171′. The scan rollers 171′ and the transmitting roller 172′ will keep rotating in a same direction to transmit un-scanned documents for scanning and to discharge scanned documents to the output tray 15′ in the whole scanning process. The output device 30′ includes an acting roller 31′ and a movable pressure roller 32′. The pressure roller 32′ keeps contact with the acting roller 31′ to transmit documents in single-side scanning process, but in the double-side scanning process, the output device 30′ will reverse and transmit the document back to the reverse path 16′ when the document passes through the scanning section 13′. Furthermore, when the document passes through the reverse path 16′ and is transmitted to the output device 30′ again, the pressure roller 32′ will swing downward and separate from the acting roller 31′ to avoid the document being jammed at the output device 30′.
As described above, the scan rollers 171′ and the transmitting roller 172′ basically rotate in the same direction, the pickup device 20′ and the output device 30′ can change the rotate directions according to the position of the document, and the pressure roller 32′ of the output device 30′ is movable to contact with the acting roller 31′ or to separate from the acting roller 31′, so as to make the automatic document feeder achieve double-side scanning for the document. However, the conventional automatic document feeder has a complex structure and is difficult to be miniaturized. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the conventional automatic document feeder.


A method may involve monitoring a first set of electrical properties associated with an electrical grid configured to couple to a generator and determining whether a transient event is present on the electrical grid based on the first set of electrical properties. The method may also involve determining a mechanical power present on a shaft of the generator based on a second set of electrical properties associated with the generator, the electrical grid, or both when the transient event is present and sending the mechanical power to a controller associated with a turbine configured to couple to the generator, wherein the controller is configured to adjust one or more operations of the turbine based on the mechanical power.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to control of a power generation system following a transient grid event. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to adjusting an operation of a gas turbine following the detection of a transient event on an electrical grid connected to the turbine.
A power generation system includes a prime mover that generates electrical power from other primary energy sources. An exemplary prime mover, a gas turbine, is a rotary mechanical device with a gas turbine shaft that drives an electrical generator to supply electrical power to a transmission grid. The transmission grid, in turn, supplies electricity to various power consumers. To ensure that the power generation system operates effectively, the turbine shaft speed and resulting grid frequency should be synchronized with each other within operational ranges. As such, when grid frequency changes abruptly due to a transient event, improved systems and methods for adjusting the turbine shaft speed in view of the transient event are desired.

Systems and methods for adjusting operations of a gas turbine following a transient event


The present invention features a process and apparatus for fabricating ceramic substrates. The apparatus comprises an extruder of the ram or screw type for forcing the ceramic materials through a die to form a log. After leaving the extrusion die, the log enters a conveyor apparatus. The log is conveyed over, and supported upon, a gaseous fluid (air) bearing surface of the conveyor apparatus, until it reaches a dryer carrier. The conveyor apparatus features a support surface for carrying the ceramic materials. The support surface has a plurality of apertures through which the gaseous fluid (air) is directed for supporting the moving log. About the support surface is disposed a mantle for confining the gaseous fluid (air) about the rapidly drying ceramic log. The gaseous fluid (air) is maintained at a relative humidity of approximately between 85 to 97%, and preferably within an approximate range of between 90 and 95%. The mantle ensures that the gaseous fluid (air) surrounding and bathing the conveyed log is continuously maintained at substantially constant humidity within the specified range, in order to prevent the formation of fissures on the surface of the ceramic log.

It has been a long standing manufacturing problem to efficiently produce ceramic monoliths. Ceramics with skin related flaws, known in the trade as "fissures," account for approximately 37% of all the rejects. The fissures are focal points of stress and heat differentials in the ceramic support during automotive exhaust gas cycling. These small cracks cannot be tolerated because they eventually spread and cause failure of the catalytic support material.
From the beginning of ceramic substrate manufacture, fissure formation has been a constant source of perplexity. The fissure problem became even more exacerbated when the extrusion system was upgraded in the plant from a ram fed, batch-type process to a screw fed, continuous-type process. The continuous-type process created a higher percentage of fissure related rejects. The increase in failures forced more attention to be given to the elimination of the problem, with the result that the cause of the difficulty was finally ascertained.
The ceramic material leaves the extruder die as a long tubular mass, referred to as a "log." As the log leaves the extruder, it is conveyed by air bearings to a ceramic carrier contoured to the shape of the log. The ceramic logs are dielectrically dried, wherein the water molecules in the material are converted to steam that readily escapes through the porous ceramic structure. The dried logs are then cut and fired to form the catalyst material supports.
It is during the travel to the ceramic dryer carrier that the surface of the log cracks. The log leaving the extruder is usually warmer than the ambient air. Water evaporation from the substrate begins immediately upon its exit from the extruder die. The underside of the log dries faster than the rest of the material by virtue of the air jet convective drying of the undersurface of the ware. It is theorized that a stress differential is created between the top and bottom surfaces of the log causing fissures to form, especially on the top surface. The fissures form to alleviate the stress created between the quicker shrinking bottom surface layer and the top layer.
It was suggested that the humidity be raised to 100% in the air being forced through the air bearing jets. This, however, did not prove a satisfactory solution. The ceramic material having a high percentage of fine clays becomes tacky when its surface is wetted. The tacky surface is then difficult to convey over the air bearings to the dryer carrier.
Rather, it was discovered, only a given range of air jet humidity provides satisfactory results. Too wet, and the log became tacky and hard to convey over the air bearing surfaces. Too dry, and fissures continue to form on the log.
Also, it was observed, differential shrinkage would still persist where the log was not jacketed to prevent the moist air from escaping from about the surfaces of the log. Thus, a mantle was built about the air bearing support to confine the humidity to the vicinity of its application.
The relative humidity of the air flow in the bearings necessary to prevent fissuring has been observed to lie within well defined limits. The relative humidity has to be within the approximate range of between 85 to 97%, with a preferred operating range approximately being between 90 and 95%. Within this relative humidity range, the temperature of the air, however, has not been found to make a significant difference in the fissure phenomenon. The general temperature range for the air during the humidity testing fell between 65.degree. and 105.degree. F.


An event collection method collects an event from a sensor network, the method includes: retrieving on a per process basis for a module, based on a module definition information and an occurred event information, an occurrence node identifier categorized by an attribute value corresponding to an attribute name, with input event type associated with an occurred event type; determining, when there is a single retrieved occurrence node identifier with respect to the process of the module, a node identified by the occurrence node identifier as an installation destination of the module that is identified by the module identifier; referencing, when there is a plurality of retrieved occurrence node identifiers with respect to the process of the module, a connection relation information of nodes and determining an upper node common to the plurality of occurrence node identifiers as an installation destination of the module identified by the module identifier.

A sensor network that collects sensing data acquired by a sensor node as an event is known. A variety of services that include emitting an alert or controlling a device is provided in response to an event acquired by a server node via the sensor network.
If the server node collects events from sensor nodes, all the events converge on the server node when they are notified. As a result, the load on the server node increases, and network bandwidth becomes tight as traffic on the network increases.
Techniques that have been disclosed control the load of a server node and network traffic. A system disclosed as one of the techniques improves system performance and/or resource consumption by transferring a filter agent that filters data from a consumption node to a data generation node. Another disclosed technique relates to a sensor network system that uses a script with a nested structure, and causes an intermediate node or a lower node to execute part of the script.
The above-described techniques are disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 2008-97603 and 2006-344017.

Event collection method and information processing apparatus


An irrigation system includes one or more valve assemblies which are connected in series to a pressurized source of water. Each valve assembly includes a cylindrical housing, a ball valve, an inlet and two outlets with one outlet generally opposite from the inlet in a lower portion of the housing. The other outlet is disposed in an upper portion of the housing and adapted to direct water to an area of ground for irrigation. A pit and float are associated with each valve assembly and arranged so that some of the irrigation water will flow into the pit and raise the float. The float is connected to spring biasing means and when the float reaches a predetermined level, the ball valve will spring upwardly to close the upper outlet and redirect the water to another assembly. Water pressure will then maintain the valve in that position.

This invention relates to an irrigation system and, more particularly, to an improved apparatus for sequentially irrigating a plurality of areas or basins, automatically stopping the flow of water to an area when that area has received sufficient irrigation and redirecting the flow of water to another area.
Irrigation systems have been used for many years to provide plants and trees with water at various times during their growing cycle. For example, it has been common practice to provide plants and trees with water by means of irrigation ditches, hoses, sprayers, pipes and other types of apparatus. However, in certain situations, such as in orchards where the terrain is uneven, water will run from the high ground to the low. In such cases, the low lying trees may receive more water than those on higher ground.
In other cases, where the cost of water is relatively high it is desirable to control the amount of water provided for each area and to avoid wasting water by providing additional water to some plants in order to adequately water others or by leaving the water on for too long a period.
The above problems have been overcome to a degree by irrigation systems having a plurality of valves with each valve connected by means of pipes to a pressurized source of water. For example, the U.S. patents of Rodieck, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,797,253 and 4,014,361, disclose systems wherein each item to be watered is provided with a well around its base and a separate valve within each of the wells. In such systems, one or more risers may be provided in order to force each valve that has been closed by the water reaching a preselected height in the well and to remain closed for as long as there is water pressure applied to the system. Such systems also include means to prevent the flow of water to a second valve until such time that a first area has been provided with a predetermined volume of water.
The present invention contemplates an improved irrigation system of the type disclosed by the Rodieck patents, but having spring biasing means for assisting in the opening of one outlet and the closure of another. It is presently believed that the improved irrigation systems disclosed herein will be more reliable in operation, minimize the likelihood that a gate member will become stuck in a first position and thus fail to turn off a valve, and will have a more rapid trigger action and thus provide a more accurate determination of the amount of water provided to a selected area. In addition, it is presently believed that the system disclosed herein may be readily and economically manufactured, will be relatively free of maintenance and simple to operate.
The improved irrigation system disclosed herein also includes means, so that, an individual can manually select areas for additional watering without using a complete watering cycle.


A method and apparatus for providing failover to a virtualized environment. The method and apparatus comprise a standby node having a virtualized environment that supports a plurality of resource partitions that operate within the standby node upon a failover of a server within a computer system.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to high availability computer systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing computer failover to a virtualized environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern computer systems require high availability of the computer services provided to clients. Such high availability systems generally provide a cluster of servers (nodes) that redundantly operate to facilitate replacing a failed server with another server to provide seamless computer services to users. The transition of services from a failed server to another server is known as failover. Alternately, if service itself faults, with or without a hardware failure, the service needs to be transitioned to another server as a failover. In order to increase availability of services, computer systems deploy one or more redundant servers that can execute applications (or provide resources) running on other cluster nodes in the cluster whenever a server or application faults. This is traditionally described as an N+1 failover configuration. However, at any point in time, if two or more servers fault and the standby server begins executing those applications, there is a chance that an errant application may interfere with other application space and cause a failure of all applications executing on the standby server. Consequently, the cluster no longer provides services with high availability.
Therefore, there's a need in the art for improved failover processing within computer systems.

Method and apparatus for providing computer failover to a virtualized environment


Disclosed is an earphone jack including a housing, a circuit connector mounted in the housing, and a plurality of first connecting terminals each including a first connecting section outwardly protruded from the housing, to be connected to a circuit of an audio appliance, and a second connecting section extending from the first connecting section while being bent to have a C shape such that the second connecting section elastically fits around an associated one of the connecting terminals of the earphone plug. It is possible to elastically support the earphone plug even after the earphone plug is repeatedly inserted into and separated from the housing, because the first connecting terminals have a structure bent to have a circular shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an earphone jack, and more particularly to an earphone jack capable of maintaining the elasticity of a circuit connector, to which an earphone plug is connected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an earphone, headphone, or speaker is used for an appliance such as a miniature audio appliance, a mobile communication terminal, or a personal multimedia appliance, to be connected to the appliance, and thus to allow the user to listen to an audio signal reproduced from the appliance.
In particular, the earphone is applied to various portable audio appliances because it is miniature and conveniently portable. The user can listen to an audio signal output from a portable audio appliance by inserting a plug provided at the earphone into an earphone jack provided at the portable audio appliance.
An earphone jack, which has the above-mentioned function, is disclosed in Korean Utility Model No. 20-0385067. The disclosed earphone jack includes connecting terminals corresponding to respective terminals of a plug. When the plug is inserted into the earphone jack, the plug comes into contact with arc-shaped contact plates of the connecting terminals, so that the terminals of the plug are electrically connected to the connecting terminals, respectively.
However, the disclosed earphone jack has a problem in that the elasticity of the contact plates of the connecting terminals may be degraded after repeated insertion of the plug into the earphone jack for a prolonged period of time.


An image reading apparatus includes: (i) a capturing device for capturing an original image of a source document; (ii) a moving device for moving one of the capturing device and the source document relative to the other; (iii) a first region processor for causing the moving device to position the capturing device in a first capturing position, so as to obtain a first pixel-related data relating to pixels present in a first region of the source document; (iv) a background-color-basis correcting-value determiner for determining a background-color-basis correcting value, based on the first pixel-related data; and (v) a second region processor for causing the moving device to position the capturing device in a second capturing position, so as to obtain a second pixel-related data relating to pixels present in a second region of the source document. The second region processor is configured to correct the second pixel-related data, based on the background-color-basis correcting value, for reducing influence on the second pixel-related data by a background color of the source document.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus for performing an image reading routine with correction of captured image based on a background color of a source document, and more particularly to such an image reading apparatus that is capable of performing the image reading routine in a reduced length of time.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There is known an image reading apparatus arranged to capture an original image such as character, picture and photograph that is carried on a source document, and to convert the captured image into a digital image data (pixel-related data). Further, as disclosed in JP-H11-39463A, there is proposed a technique of performing a so-called "background-color-basis correction" in such type of image reading apparatus, for avoiding the image data from being influenced by a background color of the source document, particularly, where the background color is non-white color rather than white color.
FIG. 8 schematically shows an original image of a source document having a non-white background color, and a corrected image obtained by capturing the original image and eliminating the non-white background color from the captured original image. For example, in case of conversion to 16-bit digital data from brightness of each pixel of an image captured from a source document whose background color is white, brightness of the brightest pixel (i.e., brightness of white color) is represented by "FFFF" as the maximum value of 16-bit data while brightness of the darkest pixel (i.e., brightness of black color) is represented by "0000" as the minimum value of 16-bit data. On the other hand, in case of conversion to 16-bit digital data from brightness of each pixel of an image read from a source document whose background color is not white, the above-described "background-color-basis correction" is performed such that brightness of the non-white background color is represented by "FFFF" as the maximum value of 16-bit data.
Specifically, the source document is first subjected to pre-scanning for obtaining brightness of the background color of the source document so as to determine a background-color-basis correcting value based on the obtained brightness of the background color. Then, the same source document is subjected to main scanning for obtaining image data, and the image data is corrected by using the determined background-color-basis correcting value. Thus, it is possible to obtain the image data that is not substantially affected by influence of the background color.