An embodiment of a method for scheduling execution of jobs with the resources of a Multi-Core system envisages producing a system model based upon agents representing the jobs, said agents being able to implement a strategy for scheduling execution of the jobs with the resources of the Multi-Core system via respective available moves corresponding to the choice of a given resource of the Multi-Core system for execution of a given job. The agents are configured for implementing said strategy as strategy that integrates MiniMax and Nash-equilibrium strategies, for example operating in an iterative way, identifying an optimal solution deriving from the iteration. The strategy can be implemented by maximizing the probability of optimizing the time of completion of a given job for one of the agents.

In the following, repeated mention will be made to bibliographical references. In order not to overburden the treatment, said references will be indicated in the body of the description with a number in square brackets (e.g., [x]) that identifies the reference within a "List of references" provided at the end of the description.
In the last few years there has been an evolution of computer systems, with the passage from the mainframe approach to the distributed client/server approach, up to computer networks. Said trend is linked to the increasing availability of fast and reliable microprocessors, produced in bulk and at a low cost.
In modern processing systems, the use of server computer networks is becoming widespread. Even in overloaded systems it may, however, happen that a significant percentage of the machines or servers included in the computer network are inactive or underloaded for a large part of the time.
A better use of the distributed computer environment can be obtained via implementation of selective-allocation or scheduling algorithms. A new paradigm of computational power is called a "grid". As a matter of fact, providing an integrated computing-grid environment makes it possible to give rise to computer infrastructures with high potential.
From a conceptual standpoint, a grid is simply a set of computer resources that perform jobs/threads assigned thereto. The grid is a distributed system of a heterogeneous type in terms of hardware and software (for example Operating Systems and applications). The grid appears to the users as a single large system that offers a single access point to distributed and powerful resources. The users treat the grid as a single computer resource. The grid accepts the tasks or jobs assigned by the users and allocates them selectively (i.e., schedules them) in view of their execution on suitable systems, included in the grid, on the basis of resource-management policies. The users can hence entrust to the grid tasks without having to be concerned about where these tasks will materially be executed.
Some main advantages linked to the use of a computing grid hence are:                reduction of the hardware costs;        computing server-workload balancing (via a load-management system);        capacity of managing heterogeneous systems;        increase in productivity; and        reducing hardware obsolescence of the hardware.
In distributed systems, the tasks or jobs concur with one another in accessing the shared and distributed resources.
In this regard, at a conceptual level, one could consider the possibility for the users of the grid to implement an approach of manual booking of the grid resources. This approach would leave the choice and the estimation of the necessary resources up to the user of the grid, and this would inevitably imply risks of overestimation or underestimation of the resources following upon human error with consequent waste of the grid resources.
In addition, the users would have to estimate the right amount of hardware resources to reserve for that specific application (in terms of time of CPU and RAM usage). Finally, the user would have to know how to estimate the time of execution for that specific job [3].
Game Theory is a branch of economics and applied mathematics that analyzes the situations of conflict and seeks competitive and cooperative solutions via models in which different players choose the strategies to maximize their own gains or profits. The decisions of a subject can affect the results that can be achieved by a player according to a conjecture mechanism. The move, or set of moves, that a subject intends to make is called "strategy".
The applications and interactions of Game Theory are multiple: from the economic and financial field to the strategic-military field, from politics to sociology, from psychology to computer science, from biology to sport.
For example, in US 2008/263557 A1, which is incorporated by reference, a scheduler device is described for scheduling execution of jobs via the resources of a computing grid; said scheduler is configured for:                identifying a threshold of equilibrium between resources and jobs;        below the equilibrium threshold, scheduling execution of the jobs via the resources of the computing grid according to Pareto-optimal strategies; and        above the equilibrium threshold, scheduling execution of the jobs via the grid-computing resources according to Nash-Equilibrium strategies.
Documents such as [2, 7] present scheduling algorithms based upon Nash Equilibrium designed to achieve the goal of maximizing the overall throughput in distributed systems. Specifically, document [2] discloses a Nash-Equilibrium-based algorithm for scheduling jobs on a grid cluster, and the results obtained thereby are compared with the results achieved with other allocation strategies such as MinMin, random, and "load balancing". In some situations, such as, for example, in the case of the "Prisoner's dilemma", the Nash-equilibrium solution is not, however, the Pareto-optimal solution [8, 9].

Scheduling method and system, computing grid, and corresponding computer-program product


Silicone-containing addition polymers having numerous uses are prepared by polymerizing addition polymerizable monomers in the presence of a silicone-containing polyvinyl alcohol, and/or by adding a silicone-containing polyvinyl alcohol to an aqueous addition polymer dispersion prior to spray drying, the silicone-containing polyvinyl alcohol containing at least one polymerizable group.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for preparing silicone-modified polymers in the form of their aqueous polymer dispersions or in the form of their polymer powders, to their use, and to protective colloids comprising silicone units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organosilicon compounds such as organosiloxane polymers are used for hydrophobicizing polymers of ethylenically unsaturated monomers. Such hydrophobically modified polymers are used in many fields in the form of their polymer powders, in particular water-redispersible polymer powders, or as aqueous polymer dispersions. They are employed as binders in coating compositions or adhesives, in particular in the building sector and textile sector, and also as binders in cosmetics and haircare products.
It is known from WO-A 95/20626 that water-redispersible polymer powders can be modified by addition of noncopolymerizable organosilicon compounds. EP-A 0352339 describes protective surface coatings for concrete constructions, which comprise copolymers of divinylpolydimethylsiloxane with acrylate esters or methacrylate esters and with vinyl- or acryl-functional alkoxysilanes as a solution in organic solvent. EP-B 771826 describes aqueous binders for coatings and adhesives which are based on emulsion polymers of vinyl esters, acrylic or methacrylic esters or vinyl aromatics containing polysiloxanes having unsaturated radicals, for example vinyl, acryloxy or methacryloxy groups, as crosslinkers. EP-A 943634 describes aqueous latices for use as coating compositions, which are prepared by copolymerization of ethylenically unsaturated monomers in the presence of a silicone resin containing silanol groups. EP-A 1095953 describes silicone-grafted vinyl copolymers in which a carbosiloxane dendrimer is grafted onto the vinyl polymer.
It is known from DE-A 19951877 and WO-A 99/04750 that silicone-containing polymers are obtainable by polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated monomers in the presence of a linear polydialkylsiloxane having polyalkylene oxide side chains. US-A 5216070 describes a process for the inverse emulsion polymerization of carboxyl-functional monomers, in which linear polydialkylsiloxanes having polyalkylene oxide side chains are used as an emulsifier.
DE-A 4240108 describes a polymerization process for preparing polysiloxane-containing binders for use in dirt-repellent coatings, in which the monomers are polymerized in the presence of an OH—, COOH— or epoxy-functional polydialkylsiloxane which may additionally contain polyether groups. DE-A 10041163 discloses a process for producing hair-cosmetic formulations, in which vinyl esters are polymerized in the presence of a polyether-containing compound, for example polyether-containing silicone compounds.
A disadvantage of the silicone-modified emulsion polymers described in the prior art is a strong tendency to hydrolyze and to undergo uncontrolled crosslinking, which in some applications may indeed be desirable and is subsequently reinforced by addition of silane and catalyst, but in the case of surface coating dispersions or when the emulsion polymers are used as coating compositions leads to undesirable gel particles, "specks" and insoluble constituents. Furthermore, the silicone-containing emulsion polymers known hitherto are often not alkali-resistant, since silicones are known to be unstable in an alkaline medium. For this reason, the hydrophobicity and the associated positive properties of the systems described hitherto decrease greatly after a prolonged period of time. Finally, the introduction of a large amount of silanes or silicones into the emulsion polymers results in establishment of an unsatisfactory particle size distribution, i.e. the particles become too large and the polymer becomes inhomogeneous, which can lead to serum formation or phase separation. Furthermore, coagulum formation can also occur.

Method for producing silicone-treated polymers


A tool for grasping or cutting with an offset jaw actuator is shown. The offset provides a consistent width to the actuator discouraging buckling under heavy loading situations. The offset also provides for greater contact area between the actuator and inner tip. The interface of the actuator with the inner tip is machined into the inner tip from the side resulting in an instrument that is easier and cheaper to manufacture and clean while retaining maximum strength for cutting or grasping.

Surgical punches and graspers have been know in the art for some time. They generally involve a fixed or stationary member, an actuator extending from an actuator handle to the working end of the stationary member where the actuator engages a jaw member.
Actuation of the actuator causes the jaw member to pivot and open relative to the stationary member where tissue is inserted between the jaw member and die portion of the stationary member. The handle is then operated to close the jaw member relative to the stationary member where the engaged tissue is lacerated or grasped and can then be removed.
This type of operation is well known in the art and various types of surgical instruments have been developed. This process however puts large stresses on the components of the instruments due to the high forces needed to lacerate or grasp and remove some tissue. These high stresses cause premature failure of the instruments from wear or worse yet catastrophic failure of the components while in use, resulting in metal fragments or slivers being dispersed in the operative site. The metal fragments are often difficult to locate and remove causing unnecessary complications, increased medical time and greater possibility of less than optimum patient results. If metal fragments or slivers remain from catastrophic instrument failure and are not located and removed after the failure, a second procedure may be necessary to remove the metal fragments or slivers and to correct or rectify any tissue damage that may have occurred.
A typical failure mode in the prior art occurred when the pin attaching the jaw member to the stationary member or the pin attaching the actuator to the jaw member failed. Other failures occurred when the actuator bar was forced such that the bar bent, essentially locking the instrument. A jammed actuator bar would sometimes fail with the jaw member in a fully opened position and this would then cause damage to the operative site when removing the instrument with the jaw locked open. Another typical failure occurred when closing the jaw member on a piece of hard tissue, the actuator bar would fail and buckle upward immediately before the connection of the actuator bar and the jaw member. This was due to the necking down of the height and width of the actuator bar. Still other failures occurred when the contact surfaces between the actuator bar and the inner tip fractured and jammed the instrument.
Several other embodiments have addressed these problems by eliminating the pins typically used to attach the jaw member to the actuator and the jaw member to the stationary member. The pins have been replaced by a lug and groove arrangement. This procedure is costly and difficult to machine due to the precise dimensions required for smooth non-binding operation and the small size of the components.
Several other embodiments have utilized a pin for one of the attachments, either between the jaw member and actuator or between the jaw member and stationary member with a lug and groove for the other attachment. These prior art embodiments still had failures of the lug and groove surfaces due to high loading and small contact surfaces. These embodiments have tried to decrease the likelihood of catastrophic failure or premature failure by increasing the size of the components and attachments resulting in larger instrument size and more damage to the operative site from the increased size of the incisions and instruments. Large instrument size also decreases the finesse that can be obtained in the operation of the instruments in removing only specific tissue, resulting in removal of more tissue than may be necessary and therefore longer healing time and less than optimum patient results and recovery.
Consequently there is a need for an instrument in which the size can be kept at a minimum while the cutting force applied to the components can be kept high resulting in the minimizing of the likelihood of catastrophic failure or premature wear from overloading. The instrument should have a high strength to size ratio and have an optimum design to allow the highest operational forces for the smallest size with the appropriate materials.

Surgical instrument with offset jaw actuator


Cosmetic compositions which display structural color include at least two cosmetically acceptable liquid phases, either or both of which contain cosmetically efficacious agents, the phases being selected to have the same refractive index, but different dispersive power.

From the earliest of times human beings have been concerned with their appearance and the condition of their external features, their skin, hair, fingernails, etc. Accordingly, a myriad of cosmetic compositions have been developed to satisfy the demand for such products. Cosmetics often are designed to have both utilitarian and aesthetic appeal. Although the utilitarian aspects of the compositions of this invention have not been neglected, it is primarily with the aesthetic aspects that this invention is concerned. In this regard, the cosmetic compositions of this invention exhibit a beautiful and intriguing phenomenon known as "structural color."
Briefly, when two transparent, immiscible liquids are mixed, the combination is often cloudy. If, however, the liquids have the same refractive index (generally measured at 589 nm, i.e., the sodium D line, and 20.degree. C., viz., "n.sub.D.sup.20 "), the mixture will be substantially transparent to the human eye and appear to be homogeneous. The appearance of "structural color" in such a mixture requires, not only that the refractive indexes (at a given wavelength of visible light) are the same, but that the variation of the indexes as a function of visible wavelength differ for the two liquids. That is, the "dispersive power" of the two phases must be different.
Chemical systems which exhibit structural color have been referred to as "chromatic emulsions" by Holmes and Cameron, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 44, pp 71-74 (1922), who traced the first report of the phenomenon to 1913. Indeed the liquid mixtures may contain emulsifying agents, and the mixtures may be transparent emulsions. Emulsions are especially useful in cosmetic applications; see, e.g., Cosmetics & Toiletries. 101, pp 25-44 (1986). However, emulsification is not a requirement.
Holmes and Cameron provided the following illustrations: When glycerol (n.sub.D.sup.20 =1.4660) and amyl acetate (n.sub.D.sup.20 =1.4012) were shaken together, a milky-white mixture resulted, a typical emulsion. However, when water (n.sub.D.sup.20 =1.3330) was added to the glycerol until n.sub.D.sup.20 of that solution was 1.4012, and amyl acetate was shaken with the solution, a perfectly transparent emulsion was obtained; however, no color is reported. Further, the authors report: "In attempting to disperse glycerol in an acetone solution of cellulose nitrate we failed to get transparency. Since the index of refraction of the acetone (1.35886) was lower than that of the glycerol (1.4660) we added benzene (1.50144) cautiously to the milky emulsion in order to equalize the indices of the two liquid phases of course the benzene diluted the acetone thus becoming part of the continuous phase. With cautious additions, and shaking, increased transparency was secured but accompanied by a startling development of colors. At first the emulsion became yellow as viewed from the side and a soft blue when held between the eye and the source of light. With further addition of benzene the yellow changed to beautiful pink while the blue became green. More benzene changed the pink to lavender and later to a peacock-blue. Finally, the emulsion lost color and became milky. The colors are restored, in reverse order, by cautious additions of acetone."
Structural color as exhibited in chromatic emulsions has been described subsequent to the paper of Holmes and Cameron. Such reports appear in J. Phys. Chem., 56, pp 510-513 (1952) and in P. Becher, "Emulsions: Theory and Practice," 2nd Ed., Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, N.Y., 1965, p 58, for example. The systems described in this prior art were not directed toward cosmetic applications, and the need to use cosmetically acceptable components was not addressed; rather, aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., benzene), halocarbons (e.g., chloroform and carbon tetrachloride), and amines (e.g., pyridine) were mentioned as components.
Transparent emulsions which might have application in cosmetics are disclosed in Int'L. J. Cosmet. Sci., 8, pp 1-8 (1986) and in UK published application 2 079 300 A, for example. Various cosmetically acceptable components are cited, including silicone compounds. However, none of the cosmetic compositions is said to exhibit structural color, so the requirement of a difference in dispersive power between the two phases apparently was neither sought nor achieved.
To be distinguished from the emulsions of this invention, which exhibit structural color, are transparent microemulsions in which the transparency is achieved, not by virtue of refractive index matching, but rather by controlling the diameter of the dispersed phase particles, making them so small, less than about 0.05 micron, that they cannot be resolved by visible light. The compositions of this invention are not restricted to emulsions; but to the extent the compositions are emulsions, they can, if desired, be macroemulsions, no attempt being required to control the dispersed phase particle size.
Consequently, it is one object of this invention to provide useful cosmetic compositions with the aesthetic feature of exhibiting structural color. It is another objective to provide such compositions using cosmetically acceptable components.

Cosmetic compositions with structural color


A semiconductor laser device of the present invention includes, in this order: a GaN layer; an Alx1Ga1-x1N (0.05xe2x89xa6x1xe2x89xa60.2) lower cladding layer; an Iny1Ga1-y1N (0 less than y1 less than 1) lower guide layer (thickness: d1 [xcexcm]); an active layer (thickness: Wa [xcexcm]) have a multilayer structure comprising of alternating layers of a well layer and a barrier layer, the well layer comprising Als1Inb1Ga1-a1-b1N1-e1-f1Pe1Asf1 (0xe2x89xa6a1, 0xe2x89xa6b1, a1+b1xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e1, 0xe2x89xa6f1, e1+f1 less than 0.5), and the barrier layer comprising Ala2Inb2Ga1-a2-b2N1-e2-f2Pe2Asf2 (0xe2x89xa6a2, 0xe2x89xa6b2, a2+b2xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e2, 0xe2x89xa6f2, e2+f2 less than 0.5); an Iny2Ga1-y2N (0 less than y2 less than 1) upper guide layer (thickness: d2 [xcexcm]); and an Alx2Ga1-x2N (0.5xe2x89xa6x2xe2x89xa60.2) upper cladding layer, wherein: the thicknesses and the compositions of the lower guide layer and the upper guide layer are set such that ripples in a far field pattern in a direction perpendicular to a stack plane are suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser device using a gallium nitride type semiconductor and an optical information reproduction apparatus using such a semiconductor laser device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor laser device having a desirable FFP (Far Field Pattern).
2. Description of the Related Art
Prototype semiconductor laser devices have been produced in the art using a nitride type semiconductor material, such as GaN, InN, AlN, or a mixture thereof, which emit light whose wavelength ranges from a blue region to a UV region. FIG. 16 illustrates a nitride semiconductor laser device 1600 oscillating at a wavelength of 405 nm, which was reported in Masaru KURAMOTO, et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. vol. 38 (1999) pp. L184-L186. The semiconductor laser device 1600 includes an n-GaN layer 1601 (thickness: 100 xcexcm). On the n-GaN layer 1601, the semiconductor laser device 1600 further includes an n-Al0.7Ga0.93N lower cladding layer 1602 (thickness: 1 xcexcm), an n-GaN lower guide layer 1603 (thickness: 0.1 xcexcm), an In0.2Ga0.8N (thickness: 3 nm)/In0.05Ga0.95N (thickness: 5 nm)-triple quantum well active layer 1604, a p-Al0.19Ga0.81N cap layer 1605 (thickness: 20 nm), a p-GaN upper guide layer 1606 (thickness: 0.1 xcexcm), a p-Al0.07Ga0.93N upper cladding layer 1607 (thickness: 0.5 xcexcm), and a p-GaN contact layer 1608 (thickness: 0.05 xcexcm), which are deposited in this order. Electrodes 1609 and 1610 are provided on the lower side and the upper side of the device, respectively. The semiconductor laser device 1600 has a waveguide structure in which the active layer 1604 and the guide layers 1603 and 1606 are interposed between the cladding layers 1602 and 1607, so that light generated in the active layer 1604 is confined in the waveguide structure so as to cause laser oscillation.
However, the conventional semiconductor laser device 1600 has the following problems. The present inventors have produced the semiconductor laser device 1600 with the above-described structure, and obtained an FFP as shown in FIG. 17. In FIG. 17, the horizontal axis represents the angle of the beam along a plane which is perpendicular to the plane of the active layer 1604 and parallel to the longitudinal direction of the optical cavity. The vertical axis represents a relative beam intensity value. In the present specification, the term xe2x80x9cFFPxe2x80x9d refers to an FFP (i.e., an angular distribution of the light beam intensity measured at a position apart from the laser light opening of the laser device) along a direction perpendicular to the plane of the active layer. In the graph of FIG. 17, FFPs 1701 and 1702 are FFPs which have been obtained with the semiconductor laser device 1600 having the above-described structure. The FFPs 1701 and 1702 have a sub-peak in the vicinity of +20xc2x0 and have many ripples. As shown in FIG. 17, the ripples are very suppressed for some individual devices, e.g., as shown by the FFP 1701, and very significant for some other individual devices, e.g., as shown by the FFP 1702. An FFP 1703 is an FFP obtained with the semiconductor laser device 1600 in which the thickness of the n-Al0.07Ga0.93N lower cladding layer 1602 is reduced from 1 xcexcm to 0.7 xcexcm. The FFP 1703 has a very large sub-peak in the vicinity of xc2x120xc2x0.
Although not shown in FIG. 17, research by the present inventors has demonstrated that ripples, including the sub-peak in the vicinity of 20xc2x0 , are reduced by reducing the crystalline quality of the n-GaN layer 1601, which is used as a substrate, or by increasing the amount of impurity. Conversely, the ripples in the vicinity of xc2x120xc2x0 are increased when using a high quality crystal with little crystalline defect for the GaN layer 1601 and/or reducing the impurity concentration of the GaN layer 1601 in order to obtain a semiconductor laser device having a long operating life. It is believed that the differences between the ripples of FFP 1701 and those of FFP 1702 occurs due to the slight difference in terms of the conditions as described above. Moreover, it was also experimentally demonstrated that the ripples are generally more significant when the thickness of the GaN layer 1601 under the lower AlGaN cladding layer 1602 is greater. Since the thickness of the substrate is normally as great as 50 xcexcm or more, it is very difficult to suppress these ripples when using GaN as a substrate as compared to when sapphire is used as a substrate.
Thus, in the prior art, ripples occur in the FFP, and in worst cases, it is not possible to obtain a single-peak FFP intensity pattern. This can be suppressed by taking one of the above-described measures: (1) increasing the thickness of the lower cladding layer 1602: (2) reducing the crystalline quality of the GaN layer 1601; and (3) increasing the amount of impurity in the GaN layer 1601. However, if the AlGaN lower cladding layer 1602 is formed to be thick on the GaN layer 1601, as shown in (1) above, a crack may occur. If the crystalline quality of the GaN layer 1601 is reduced, as shown in (2) above, or the amount of impurity in the GaN layer 1601 is increased, as shown in (3) above, the operating life of the obtained semiconductor laser device 1600 may be reduced. Thus, these measures (1) to (3) have limited effects, and it has been difficult to adequately control the production process with a good yield.
Ripples occurring in an FFP are undesirable because they may result in insufficient focusing or generation of stray light when the device is used in an optical pickup, or the like.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a semiconductor laser device, including, in this order: a GaN layer; an Alx1Ga1-x1N (0.05xe2x89xa6x1xe2x89xa60.2) lower cladding layer; an Iny1Ga1-y1N (0 less than y1 less than 1) lower guide layer (thickness: d1 [xcexcm]); an active layer (thickness: Wa [xcexcm]) having a multilayer structure comprising of alternating layers of a well layer and a barrier layer, the well layer comprising Ala1Inb1Ga1-a1-b1N1-e1-f1Pe1Asf1 (0xe2x89xa6a1, 0xe2x89xa6b1, a1+b1xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e1, 0xe2x89xa6f1, e1+f1 less than 0.5), and the barrier layer comprising Ala2Inb2Ga1-a2-b2N1-e2-f2P2eAsf2 (0xe2x89xa6a2, 0xe2x89xa6b2, a2+b2xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e2, 0xe2x89xa6f2, e2+f2 less than 0.5); an Iny2Ga1-y2N (0 less than y2 less than 1) upper guide layer (thickness: d2 [xcexcm]); and an Alx2Ga1-x2N (0.05xe2x89xa6x2xe2x89xa60.2) upper cladding layer, wherein: the thicknesses and the compositions of the lower guide layer and the upper guide layer are set such that ripples in a far field pattern in a direction perpendicular to a stack plane are suppressed.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided a semiconductor laser device, including, in this order: a GaN layer; an Alx1Ga1-x1N (0.05xe2x89xa6x1xe2x89xa60.2) lower cladding layer; an Iny1Ga1-y1N (0 less than y1 less than 1) lower guide layer (thickness: d1 [xcexcm]); an active layer (thickness: Wa [xcexcm]) having a multilayer structure comprising of alternating layers of a well layer and a barrier layer, the well layer comprising Ala1Inb1Ga1-a1-b1N1-a1-f1Pa1Asf1 (0xe2x89xa6a1, 0xe2x89xa6b1, a1+b1xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e1, 0xe2x89xa6f1, e1+f1 less than 0.5), and the barrier layer comprising Ala2Inb2Ga1-a2-b2N1-e2-f2Pe2Asf2 (0xe2x89xa6a2, 0xe2x89xa6b2, a2+b2 less than 1, 0xe2x89xa6e2, 0xe2x89xa6f2, e2+f2 less than 0.5); an Iny2Ga1-y2N(0 less than y2 less than 1) upper guide layer (thickness: d2 [xcexcm]); and an Alx2Ga1-x2N (0.05xe2x89xa6x2xe2x89xa60.2) upper cladding layer, wherein: the thicknesses and the compositions of the lower guide layer and the upper guide layer are set such that an oscillating mode effective refractive index neq of oscillation light from the semiconductor laser device and a refractive index nGaN of the GaN layer have a relationship of neqxe2x89xa7nGaN.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided a semiconductor laser device, including, in this order: a GaN layer; an Alx1Ga1-x1N (0.05xe2x89xa6x1xe2x89xa60.2) lower cladding layer; an Iny1Ga1-y1N (0 less than y1 less than 1) lower guide layer (thickness: d1 [xcexcm]); an active layer (thickness: Wa [xcexcm]) having a multilayer structure comprising of alternating layers of a well layer and a barrier layer, the well layer comprising Als1Inb1Ga1-a1-b1N1-e1-f1Ps1Asf1 (0xe2x89xa6a1, 0xe2x89xa6b1, a1+b1xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e1, 0xe2x89xa6f1, e1+f1 less than 0.5), and the barrier layer comprising Ala2Inb2Ga1-a2-b2N1-e2-f2Pe2Asf2 (0xe2x89xa6a2, 0xe2x89xa6b2, a2+b2xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e2, 0xe2x89xa6f2, e2+f2 less than 0.5); an Iny2Ga1-y2N (0 less than y2 less than 1) upper guide layer (thickness: d2 [xcexcm]); and an Alx2Ga1-x2N (0.05xe2x89xa6x2xe2x89xa60.2) upper cladding layer, wherein: the thicknesses and the compositions of the lower guide layer and the upper guide layer are set so as to satisfy one of the following relationships:
0.06xe2x89xa6d1+d2xe2x89xa60.1 and 0.06xe2x89xa6y1, 0.06xe2x89xa6y2;
0.1 less than d1+d2xe2x89xa60.15 and 0.04xe2x89xa6y1, 0.04xe2x89xa6y2;
0.15 less than d1+d2xe2x89xa60.2 and 0.03xe2x89xa6y1, 0.03xe2x89xa6y2;
0.2 less than d1+d2xe2x89xa60.3 and 0.015xe2x89xa6y1, 0.015xe2x89xa6y2; and
0.3 less than d1+d2 and 0.01xe2x89xa6y1, 0.01xe2x89xa6y2.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided a semiconductor laser device, including, in this order: a GaN layer; an Alx1Ga1-x1N (0.05xe2x89xa6x1xe2x89xa60.2) lower cladding layer; an Iny1Ga1-y1N (0 less than y1 less than 1) lower guide layer (thickness: d1 [xcexcm]); an active layer (thickness: Wa [xcexcm]) having a multilayer structure comprising of alternating layers of a well layer and a barrier layer, the well layer comprising Als1Inb1Ga1-a1-b1N1-e1-f1Pe1Asf1 (0xe2x89xa6a1, 0xe2x89xa6b1, a1+b1xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e1, 0xe2x89xa6f1, e1+f1 less than 0.5), and the barrier layer comprising Ala2Inb2Ga1-a2-b2N1-e2-f2Pe2Asf2 (0xe2x89xa6a2, 0xe2x89xa6b2, a2+b2 less than 1, 0xe2x89xa6e2, 0xe2x89xa6f2, e2+f2 less than 0.5); an Iny2Ga1-y2N (0 less than y2 less than 1) upper guide layer (thickness: d2 [xcexcm]); and an Alx2Ga1-x2N (0.05xe2x89xa6x2xe2x89xa60.2) upper cladding layer, wherein: the thicknesses and the compositions of the lower guide layer and the upper guide layer are set so as to satisfy the following relationships:
yxe2x89xa70.003/dxe2x88x920.003+(0.007xe2x88x920.22xc3x97Wa)+(xe2x88x920.010+0.10xx)
[where
d=(d1+d2)/2,
y=(y1xc3x97d1+y2xc3x97d2)/(d1+d2),
x=(x1+x2)/2].
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided an optical information reproduction apparatus for reproducing information recorded on an optical disk having an information recording surface by irradiating the optical disk with laser light and photoelectrically converting the laser light reflected from the optical disk, wherein the optical information reproduction apparatus uses a semiconductor laser device of the present invention as a light source.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided an optical information reproduction apparatus for reproducing information recorded on an optical disk having an information recording surface by irradiating the optical disk with laser light and photoelectrically converting the laser light reflected from the optical disk, wherein the optical information reproduction apparatus uses a semiconductor laser device of the present invention as a light source.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided an optical information reproduction apparatus for reproducing information recorded on an optical disk having an information recording surface by irradiating the optical disk with laser light and photoelectrically converting the laser light reflected from the optical disk, wherein the optical information reproduction apparatus uses a semiconductor laser device of the present invention as a light source.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided an optical information reproduction apparatus for reproducing information recorded on an optical disk having an information recording surface by irradiating the optical disk with laser light and photoelectrically converting the laser light reflected from the optical disk, wherein the optical information reproduction apparatus uses a semiconductor laser device of the present invention as a light source.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided a semiconductor laser device, including: a GaN layer; an Alx1Ga1-x1N (0.05xe2x89xa6x1xe2x89xa60.2) lower cladding layer; an Iny1Ga1-y1N (0 less than y1 less than 1) lower guide layer; an active layer having a multilayer structure comprising of alternating layers of a well layer and a barrier layer, the well layer comprising Ala1Inb1Ga1-a1-b1N1-e1-f1Pe1Asf1 (0xe2x89xa6a1, 0xe2x89xa6b1, a1+b1xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e1, 0xe2x89xa6f1, e1+f1 less than 0.5), and the barrier layer comprising Ala2Inb2Ga1-a2-b2N1-e2-f2Pe2Asf2 (0xe2x89xa6a2, 0xe2x89xa6b2, a2+b2xe2x89xa61, 0xe2x89xa6e2, 0xe2x89xa6f2, e2+f2 less than 0.5); and Iny2Ga1-y2N (0 less than y2 less than 1) upper guide layer; and an Alx2Ga1-x2N (0.05xe2x89xa6x2xe2x89xa60.2) upper cladding layer, wherein: the thickness d1 xcexcm of the lower guide layer, the In composition y1 of the lower guide layer, the thickness d2 xcexcm of the upper guide layer, and the In composition y2 of the upper guide layer satisfy the following relationships:
0.06xe2x89xa6d1+d2,
0.01xe2x89xa6y1, and 0.01xe2x89xa6y2.
In one embodiment of the invention, the thickness d1 xcexcm of the lower guide layer and the In composition y1 of the lower guide layer satisfy the following relationship: y1xe2x89xa60.003/d1xe2x88x920.003.
In one embodiment of the invention, the thickness d1 xcexcm of the lower guide layer and the In composition y1 of the lower guide layer satisfy the following relationship: y1xe2x89xa70.003/d1+0.002.
In one embodiment of the invention, the thickness d2 xcexcm of the upper guide layer and the In composition y2 of the upper guide layer satisfy the following relationship: y2xe2x89xa70.003/d2xe2x88x920.003.
In one embodiment of the invention, the thickness d2 xcexcm of the upper guide layer and the In composition y2 of the upper guide layer satisfy the following relationship: y2xe2x89xa70.003/d2+0.002.
In one embodiment of the invention, the In composition y1 of the lower guide layer, the thickness d1 xcexcm of the lower guide layer, the In composition y2 of the upper guide layer, the thickness d2 xcexcm of the upper guide layer and the thickness Wa xcexcm of the active layer satisfy the following relationship:
yxe2x89xa70.003/dxe2x88x920.003+(0.007xe2x88x920.22xc3x97Wa)
where
d=(d1+d2)/2, and
y=(y1xc3x97d1+y2xc3x97d2)/(d1+d2).
In one embodiment of the invention, the In composition y1 of the lower guide layer, the thickness d1 xcexcm of the lower guide layer, the In composition y2 of the upper guide layer, the thickness d2 xcexcm of the upper guide layer and the thickness Wa xcexcm of the active layer satisfy the following relationship:
yxe2x89xa70.003/d+0.002+(0.007xe2x88x920.22xc3x97Wa)
where
d=(d1+d2)/2, and
y=(y1xc3x97d1+y2xc3x97d2)/(d1+d2).
In one embodiment of the invention, the In composition y1 of the lower guide layer, the thickness d1 of the lower guide layer, the Al composition y2 of the upper guide layer, the thickness d2 of the upper guide layer and the Al composition x2 of the upper cladding layer satisfy the following relationship:
yxe2x89xa70.003/dxe2x88x920.003+(xe2x88x920.010+0.10xx)
where
d=(d1+d2)/2,
y=(y1xc3x97d1+y2xc3x97d2)/(d1+d2), and
x=(x1+x2)/2.
In one embodiment of the invention, the In composition y1 of the lower guide layer, the thickness d1 of the lower guide layer, Al composition x1 of the lower cladding layer, the In composition y2 of the upper guide layer, the thickness d2 of the upper guide layer and the Al composition x2 of the upper cladding layer satisfy the following relationship:
yxe2x89xa70.003/d+0.002+(xe2x88x920.010+0.10xx)
where
d=(d1+d2)/2,
y=(y1xc3x97d1+y2xc3x97d2)/(d1+d2), and
x=(x1+x2)/2.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is provided an optical information reproduction apparatus, including: a semiconductor laser device of the present invention; and a photodetector, wherein: laser light is emitted from the semiconductor laser device to irradiate an optical disk, and information recorded on the optical disk is reproduced based on the laser light reflected from the optical disk.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of: (1) eliminating the above-described problems and providing a nitride semiconductor laser device which is optimally used in an optical pickup; and (2) providing an optical information reproduction apparatus having a good focusing characteristic.

Semiconductor laser device and optical information reproduction apparatus


A hinge structure which is invisible from the front of the panel to be opened, the hinge structure comprising a first member which has first and second pins extending upwardly and a second member which has first and second slots to receive the first and second pins respectively, the first slot having an arcuate configuration to permit the first pin to move therein and the second slot having an elongated S-shaped configuration. The use of the two pins enables the door to fully open through greater than 90 degrees.

The present invention relates to a hinge structure and more particularly, relates to a hinge structure to permit a door or like member to open, and wherein the hinge structure is out of view when the door is in the closed position.
There are many different types of hinges known in the art and such structures have been employed for a number of years in various applications such as in cabinets and the like. When a door is mounted with a hinge such that the pivot point is behind the face of the door/frame assembly in the closed position, the door will not open properly unless there are provided means for displacing the door outwardly. Otherwise, the door will contact the frame structure upon which it is mounted.
There have been many proposals in the art to increase the distance of the door from the frame structure and many different types of hinges have been proposed to accomplish the above. However, most of the proposed hinges employ a number of members and have a relatively complicated structure. The hinges also tend to be relatively large, expensive and can pose some hazard to the ends of the fingers between the various members when opening and closing the door.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel and inexpensive hinge structure which permits the opening of a door which is mounted flush to the frame.
Initially, it will be understood that as used herein, the term xe2x80x9cdoorxe2x80x9d is used for convenience and it will be understood the hinge structure will be utilized with any swingable panel. Similar hinge structure may be employed.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hinge structure comprising a first member having first and second pins extending upwardly therefrom, a second member, the second member having first and second slots designed to receive the first and second pins respectively, the first slot having an arcuate configuration to permit the first pin to move therein, the second slot having an elongated S-shaped configuration having a first arcuate portion thereof extending in a first direction and a second arcuate portion thereof extending in a second arcuate direction.
As set forth above, the hinge structure includes first and second members. It will be understood that reference herein will be made to each of the members being formed independently and subsequently attached to either the frame structure or the panel which is hingedly attached thereto. However, it will be understood that one may also incorporate the features of the invention into the hingeable panel and the surrounding frame structurexe2x80x94i.e. the pins could be formed in the frame and grooves provided within the panel to replace the slots. In such an arrangement, one set of the pins could be mounted on springs and then released to permit placement of the door. Such an arrangement is an alternative embodiment of the present invention.
There are several different ways of attaching the members to the panel and/or surrounding frame. Thus, the members can either be recessed within the panel and/or frame or alternatively, may be secured thereto in a conventional manner by mechanical fasteners such as screws and the like or alternatively, by adhesive means. Still further, various different shapes may be employed for attaching the member in a desired fashion.
The members, when formed of separate components, may be manufactured of any suitable material such as a plastics material, a metallic material, etc. It suffices to say that normally the material will be chosen for aesthetic purposes.


A rotary shaft is provided in association with a distal end face in a transport direction of a sheet held on a waiting tray, the sheet being retained in a waiting mode. Then, a distal end lower end support member and a paddle member are mounted coaxially, and the rotary shaft is rotated. In this manner, standby retention, retention release, and alignment processes are carried out in order. During retention in a waiting mode, the distal end lower face support member supports a sheet distal end lower face. During release of the retention, this support member releases the support of the sheet distal end lower face. During the sheet alignment process, the alignment paddle member carries out alignment processing of the distal end in the transport direction of the sheet dropped onto a processing tray.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus (finisher) for bundling sheets sent from an image forming apparatus, thereby carrying out, for example, staple processing and a waiting tray for use in the post-process apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A post-process apparatus comprises: a processing tray for bundling sheets sent from an image forming apparatus, thereby carrying out, for example, staple processing, and ejecting the processed bundles of sheets; and a storage tray for holding the ejected bundles of sheets. A staple processing speed of the post-process apparatus is slow as compared with an image processing speed of the image forming apparatus. Thus, if a sheet is directly sent to the processing tray, a sheet to be staple processed next is transported while a preceding sheet is staple processed. In order to prevent this problem, conventionally, a buffer mechanism for adjusting a carrying-in timing of a sheet at a front stage of the processing tray is proposed.
Japanese Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 2583594 discloses a mechanism for retaining sheets is provided at a transport passage for sending sheets sent from an image forming apparatus to a processing tray. However, in this case, there is a need for increasing the transport passage in length, and, as a result, the post-process apparatus is likely to be large in size.
Japanese patent document 1: Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-247529 discloses a paddle mechanism having a paddle portion for retaining a top face of a sheet. However, there is not disclosed a construction for making a paddle member coaxial to a member for supporting a lower face of a sheet. Therefore, this paddle mechanism is different from that of the present invention in technical idea, and advantageous effect of the present invention cannot be attained.

Sheet post-process apparatus and waiting tray


An object is authenticated by transmitting a random number to the object. The object has an integrated circuit chip including a memory and encryption circuitry. The memory stores information defining an encryption scheme preassigned to the object. The encryption circuitry reads the memory, and encrypts the random number according to the encryption scheme defined by the information read from the memory to produce encrypted data. The memory cannot be read from any output of the integrated chip, and the chip is constructed so that it is virtually impossible to recover the information contained in the memory by visual inspection, probing, or disassembly of the chip. The object is authenticated by checking whether the encrypted data is a correct result of encrypting the data using the encryption scheme pressigned to the object.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to secure authentication of objects, and more particularly to the use of an electronic circuit for the secure authentication of an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a data network, it is desirable to authenticate the identity of objects such as access cards or data terminals in order to prevent electronic theft of money, services, and information, and to prevent tampering with the configuration and operating characteristics of the network. Authentication of the identity of an object is sometimes the only means of electronically identifying the user of the object. For example, for billing purposes, a portable telephone may automatically transmit a user's authentication code. Unfortunately, it is possible for a thief to intercept the user's authentication code, and create a "clone" of the user's portable phone. Calls made on the clone phone are then charged to the legitimate user's account. For critical applications, such as access to cash from an automatic teller machine, the user is often required to supply a password in addition to presenting an electronically readable object such as a credit or debit card containing an authentication code. The password offers some additional protection, but the password can often be intercepted when the user manually enters the password into a data terminal. Although user passwords can offer a high level of security if they are changed frequently, it is burdensome for a user to change frequently his or her password. What is desired is a mechanism that would ensure the unique identity of an electronic object used for authentication. Therefore, the only burden that need be placed on the user is to be in possession of the electronic object whenever the electronic object is used for authentication.

Electronic device for secure authentication of objects such as computers in a data network


Anionically substituted 7-nitroindoline derivatives are disclosed and their uses as caged compounds from which effector species such as neurotransmitters and amino acids are releasable on irradiation with light.

The present inventors have previously described the preparation of 7-nitroindoline-caged neuroactive amino acids, particularly the 5-methoxycarbonylmethyl and 4-methoxy compounds 1 and 2 that are able to release L-glutamate on a sub-μs time scale in response to a rapid pulse of near-UV light (typically in the ˜300-350 nm range).1-3 Evaluation of the pharmacology of these reagents showed that the glutamate conjugates 1 and 2 had no evidence of binding to glutamatergic receptors,4 making them particularly suitable as reagents to investigate synaptic function in neuronal cells and both reagents have become established as experimental tools for this purpose.5

The overall photocleavage reaction of these compounds in aqueous solution is shown in Scheme 1.

In contrast to these glutamate reagents, conjugates of γ-aminobutyrate (GABA) and glycine corresponding to structure 1, i.e. compounds 3 and 4, were found to show binding to their relevant GABA or glycine receptors on neuronal cells, and the response to photolytic release of GABA or glycine though useful was therefore blunted.4
WO 00/55133, WO 02/083639 and WO 2004/085394 describe the present inventors' work in developing novel photoreleasable 7-nitroindoline compounds and improved methods for their synthesis.
However, it remains a challenging problem in the art to provide compounds that cage effectors such as neurotransmitters and amino acids that are capable of reducing or abolishing the interaction of the effector with its receptor. This is a particular problem as the caged compounds also need to be chemically robust enough to be used under the conditions found in biological systems and in experimental electrophysiological research.

Anionically substituted 7-nitroindoline derivatives and their uses


Systems and methods for distracting an intervertebral disc space are provided. The systems use a staged, bilaterally expandable trial. The systems and methods of distracting an intervertebral space are provided in a manner that addresses the problem of subsidence. The method includes inserting the trial into the intervertebral space in a collapsed state and, once inserted, the trial is then used for distracting the intervertebral space using an expansion that includes a first stage and a second stage. The first stage includes expanding the trial laterally toward the peripheral zones of the top vertebral plate and the bottom vertebral plate, and the second stage includes expanding the trial vertically to distract the intervertebral space.

1. Field of the Invention
The teachings herein are directed to systems and methods for distracting an intervertebral disc space using a staged, bilaterally expandable trial.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bone grafts are used in spinal fusion, for example, which is a technique used to stabilize the spinal bones, or vertebrae, and a goal is to create a solid bridge of bone between two or more vertebrae. The fusion process includes "arthrodesis", which can be thought of as the mending or welding together of two bones in a spinal joint space, much like a broken arm or leg healing in a cast. Spinal fusion may be recommended for a variety of conditions that might include, for example, a spondylolisthesis, a degenerative disc disease, a recurrent disc herniation, or perhaps to correct a prior surgery.
Bone graft material is introduced for fusion and a fusion cage can be inserted to help support the disc space during the fusion process. In fact, fusion cages are frequently used in such procedures to support and stabilize the disc space until bone graft unites the bone of the opposing vertebral endplates in the disc space. A transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF), for example, involves placement of posterior instrumentation (screws and rods) into the spine, and the fusion cage loaded with bone graft can be inserted into the disc space. Bone graft material can be pre-packed in the disc space or packed after the cage is inserted. TLIF can be used to facilitate stability in the front and back parts of the lumbar spine promoting interbody fusion in the anterior portion of the spine. Fusion in this region can be beneficial, because the anterior interbody space includes an increased area for bone to heal, as well as to handle increased forces that are distributed through this area.
Unfortunately, therein lies a problem solved by the teachings provided herein. Currently available systems can be problematic in that the methods of introducing the fusion cage and bone graft material creates "subsidence" of the cage into the adjoining vertebrae, resulting in a narrowing of the formerly distracted disc space. This is because the cage is inserted near the middle of the endplate area which is softer than the areas at or near the peripheral zone of the endplate, and when it distracts, the cage actually sinks into the endplate creating the subsidence problem. The problem remains with state-of-the-art distraction instruments, such as the Medtronic SCISSOR JACK, paddle trials, or oversized trial shims (metallic wedges). Each of these state-of-the-art procedures introduce the distraction means narrowly (no wider than width of annulotomy) and then distract the intervertebral space with a narrow foot print that ranges from about 8 mm to about 11 mm wide.
Accordingly, and for at least the above reasons, those of skill in the art will appreciate distraction systems that facilitate an improved placement of distraction stresses across the vertebral endplates that define the distracted intervertebral space. Such systems are provided herein, the systems configured to (i) effectively and selectively place the distraction stresses in areas that include areas at or near the peripheral zones of the vertebral endplates to reduce the incidence of subsidence; (ii) reduce or eliminate the problem of failures resulting from subsidence; (iii) have a small maximum dimension of the trial in a collapsed state for a low-profile insertion into the annulus in a minimally-invasive manner, whether using only a unilateral approach or a bilateral approach; (iv) laterally expand within the intervertebral space to facilitate the effective and selective distribution of distraction stresses on the vertebral endplates; (v) vertically expand for distraction of the intervertebral space; (vi) provide an expansion in the intervertebral space without contracting the system in length to maintain a large footprint during the distraction process, distributing load over a larger area, including areas at or near the peripheral zones of the vertebral endplates; and, (vii) serve as a measuring device for the size of the intervebral space to facilitate selection of the size of the cage.


An image forming apparatus including first and second image forming portions, and a device for detecting a type of an image display medium, image formation by the first image forming portion being allowed when the medium type is a normal image display medium (PP), and image formation by the second image forming portion being allowed when the medium type is a reversible image display medium (TP). Another image forming apparatus including first and second image forming portions, and an image formation element setting switching device, image forming elements being set in a standard mode to a standard state for forming an image on a medium for the standard mode, and being switched in a non-standard mode to a non-standard state for forming an image on a medium for the non-standard mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, which can form images on a normal image display medium such as a normal paper sheet as well as a rewritable and reversible image display medium.
2. Description of the Background Art
At present, texts, graphics or the like prepared by a computer, a word processor or the like are displayed, for example, on a CRT display or the like, or are displayed by outputting them on a medium such as a paper sheet via a printer or the like.
However, the image display on the display such as a CRT display cannot achieve high resolutions as compared with images displayed, e.g., by printers on paper sheets, and can not display images with sufficiently high clearness and accuracy. Due to relatively low resolution and light emitted from the CRT or the like, an operation viewing images displayed on the CRT or the like for a long time causes fatigue in operator's eyes.
In contrast to the above, the display of texts and graphics on the image display mediums such as paper sheets can be performed with high clearness and high resolution, and therefore can be easy-on-the-eyes image display.
For the above reasons, texts, graphics and others prepared by the computer, word processor or the like are output onto mediums such as paper sheets by a printer or the like in almost every case even when it is necessary to read only temporarily the text or the like, or the texts are a draft which may be further revised.
The mediums such as paper sheets bearing images are abandoned or burnt when they are no longer required. This results in consumption of a large mount of resources. The printer or the like also consumes a large amount of consumable products or materials such toner, ink or thermal transfer sheets. For obtaining the new display mediums such as paper sheets or the like as well as toner, ink or the like, manufacturing energies and resources are required.
This is contrary to the current demand for reduction in environmental loads.

Image forming apparatus capable of forming images on rewritable and reversible display media


A method and apparatus for determining a homography between an image and an expected image is described. The homography accounts for differences in perspective of a camera viewing an objective plane of the image, in some examples, a paper with information on it.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to modifying a captured image. More particularly, aspects of the invention relate to determining a homography matrix to correlate received information with expected information.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer users are accustomed to using a mouse and keyboard as a way of interacting with a personal computer. While personal computers provide a number of advantages over written documents, most users continue to perform certain functions using printed paper. Some of these functions include reading and annotating written documents. In the case of annotations, the printed document assumes a greater significance because of the annotations placed on it by the user.
One technology that can help users is an image-capturing pen, where the pen attempts to determine the location of the pen's tip based on a captured image. Conventional image processing system poorly addresses image skewing based on non-perpendicular pen capturing angles. An improved system and method for transforming images to allow easier extraction of embedded codes is needed.
Further, issues exist with respect to correlating received information (for example, from a lens system of a camera) with expected information. In situations where one increases magnification of a lens of a camera (via zooming for example), there may be an issue with the level of distortion present in the received image.

Direct homography computation by local linearization


A heat-shrinkable film includes outer layers containing a polyester resin, and at least one inner layer being arranged between the outer layers and containing an olefinic resin including at least one ethylene-propylene-butene terpolymer. The film has an interlayer bonding strength between the inner layer and the outer layer of 3.0 N/15-mm or more. The inner layer may contain the ethylene-propylene-butene terpolymer in an amount of 45 percent by weight or more based on the total weight of the inner layer. The heat-shrinkable film is excellent in strength, abrasion resistance, solvent resistance, dimensional stability, and optical transparency, exhibits high shrinkability and high flexibility as a result of heating, and thereby yields beautiful finish after shrinkage. The heat-shrinkable film can be suitably recycled after use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat-shrinkable films used as materials for shrink labels that are applied typically to containers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shrink labels containing heat-shrinkable films as base films have been widely used as labels to be applied to containers typically for drinks and condiments. Heat-shrinkable films for shrink labels generally contain polyester resins or polystyrenic resins, and these resins can highly shrink. However, films containing polyester resins have high shrinkage percentages and high shrinkage stress, must be shrunk under severe conditions for beautiful finish and thereby are poor in workability. Films containing polystyrenic resins can easily beautifully finished but have poor dimensional stabilities in storage. Thus, they must be stored under severe control and are poor in handleability. Certain heat-shrinkable films are multilayer films containing layers of different resins, for adjusting film properties such as strength and shrinkability. Examples of such multilayer films are films formed by lamination; and co-extruded films having an adhesive layer. These films, however, have low maximal shrinkage percentages due to the adhesive layer. Therefore, labels containing these films are unsuitable for being applied to portions or dimensions of adherends which must highly shrink, since beautiful finish may not be obtained. In other words, these labels can only be applied to limited portions of the adherends or applied to adherends having limited shapes.
As co-extruded films containing different resins and having no adhesive layer, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2000-159946 discloses a heat-shrinkable label containing a multilayer film of an amorphous resin layer and an olefinic resin layer, and JP-A No. 07-137212 discloses a heat-shrinkable label containing a multilayer film of a polyester resin layer and a styrenic resin layer. However, the former label has a low interlayer bonding strength, therefore requires an adhesive layer in actual use, and, in addition, fails to achieve a high shrinkage percentage. The latter film is hard and has low flexibility, and the resulting label after shrinkage may often invite problems such as cracking. In addition, containers, typically as PET bottles (poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles) with the latter label are unsuitable for recycling by separating and recovering the containers from the label using the difference in specific gravity therebetween, since the latter label has a specific gravity much greater than 1.0 and cannot be significantly separated from such PET bottles.


A fuel nozzle assembly for a gas turbine includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes with holes for flowing fuel from plenums within the vanes through holes in the vane walls for premixing with air. To tune the nozzle assembly, the holes are resized by reforming the existing holes to a predetermined hole size, securing plugs into the holes, and forming holes through at least certain of the plugs to diameters less than the diameter of the existing holes.

The present invention relates to methods for tuning gas turbine fuel nozzle assemblies and particularly relates to methods for resizing premix fuel inlet holes for supplying gaseous fuel for premixing with air within the nozzle assemblies.
In land based gas turbines, a fuel nozzle typically comprises a subassembly of generally concentric tubes defining a central passage for supplying diffusion fuel gas and a pair of concentric passages for supplying premix fuel gas. Spaced from and surrounding the subassembly is an inlet flow conditioner for directing and confining a flow of inlet air past a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes carried by the subassembly. The vanes are in communication with the concentric fuel gas supply passages. Particularly, the vanes include outer premix holes and inner premix holes for supplying gas from the respective passages for mixing with the inlet air. The gas fuel mixture is swirled by the vanes downstream of the fuel inlet holes for subsequent combustion.
The gas fuel composition and Wobbe Index at site locations determine the fuel gas nozzle exit velocity requirement which in turn is dependent upon the fuel gas supply hole size. Where the supply holes are too large, for a given gas composition and Wobbe Index, nozzle dynamics become a concern. For example, if the gas composition changes, these concerns become real and the nozzle assembly must be retuned to preclude those dynamic concerns.
In accordance with an example of the present invention and in a fuel nozzle assembly for a gas turbine having a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes with holes for flowing fuel for premixing with air within the nozzle assembly, there is provided a method of tuning the fuel nozzle assembly by changing the diameter of the premix fuel holes in the vanes. To accomplish this, the existing holes are reformed to a predetermined diameter. Plugs are inserted into the reformed holes and secured to the vanes. Holes are formed through at least three of the plugs to diameters less than the diameter of the existing holes. Thus, the original holes are resized to provide smaller holes with consequent desired tuning effects.

Methods for tuning fuel injection assemblies for a gas turbine fuel nozzle


A hybrid-electric propulsion system includes a turbomachine and an electric machine coupled to the turbomachine. A method for operating the hybrid-electric propulsion system includes receiving information indicative of an operability parameter of the turbomachine; determining the turbomachine is operating within a predetermined operability range based at least in part of the received information indicative of the operability parameter of the turbomachine; and operating the hybrid electric propulsion system in an electric generation mode to generate electric power with the electric machine in response to determining the turbomachine is operating within the predetermined operability range.

Typical aircraft propulsion systems include one or more gas turbine engines. For certain propulsion systems, the gas turbine engines generally include a fan and a core arranged in flow communication with one another. Additionally, the core of the gas turbine engine generally includes, in serial flow order, a compressor section, a combustion section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section. In operation, air is provided from the fan to an inlet of the compressor section where one or more axial compressors progressively compress the air until it reaches the combustion section. Fuel is mixed with the compressed air and burned within the combustion section to provide combustion gases. The combustion gases are routed from the combustion section to the turbine section. The flow of combustion gases through the turbine section drives the turbine section and is then routed through the exhaust section, e.g., to atmosphere.
Propulsion systems have been proposed of a hybrid-electric type, including in some cases an electric fan in addition to at least one gas turbine engine. In order to increase an efficiency of such a hybrid electric propulsion system, the inventors of the present disclosure have recognized that a battery pack may be included to store electrical power and provide such electrical power to, e.g., the electric fan, when most deserving throughout a flight envelope. However, the inventors of the present disclosure further recognize that the battery pack may be susceptible to damage and failure if electrical power is not provided thereto in an appropriate manner, and further that charging the battery pack may adversely affect a performance of the gas turbine engine depending on, e.g., one or more operating conditions of the gas turbine engine. Accordingly, a hybrid electric propulsion system having a system for charging an energy storage unit while minimizing a risk of damage to the energy storage unit, failure of the energy storage, and/or adversely affecting performance of the gas turbine engine unit would be useful.


A method of one embodiment of the invention is disclosed that includes providing an image-formation device having firmware with a modular upgrade capability. The method also includes providing a user-accessible manner by which to install further capabilities within the firmware of the image-formation device, via the modular upgrade capability of the firmware.

Typical examples of image-formation devices include printers, such as inkjet and laser printers. Such devices form images on media. For instance, they are used to print hardcopies of word processing documents, digital photographs, and other types of electronic files. Image-formation devices commonly include firmware that stores the executable instructions for controlling the devices.
For instance, the firmware may store the instructions that enable the image-formation devices to convert electronic files received from host devices, such as computers, into formats that the image-formation mechanisms of the devices can understand. The image-formation mechanisms are then able to form images on the media as desired. Examples of image-formation mechanisms include print engines.
Periodically the firmware of image-formation devices may have to be upgraded. Bugs within the firmware may have been found which prevent the devices from operating optimally. The firmware may also be upgraded so that the image-formation devices can support additional features. For instance, the firmware may be upgraded so that the devices are able to support additional printer features or so that the firmware can support additional devices.
Upgrading the firmware of image-formation devices is usually an all-or-nothing affair. A new version of firmware for an image-formation device is obtained, typically by the end user, and overwrites the existing firmware already within the image-formation device. This is accomplished even though typically most of the existing firmware within the image-formation device is unchanged as compared to the new version of firmware.
In addition, image-formation devices typically ship from the manufacturer with a complete version of the firmware. When new devices are being designed, this means that the engineers have to ensure that a complete working firmware has been finished before the devices can be released to distributors and sold to end users. The engineers may thus face serious time pressures to ship complete working firmware.

Image-formation device firmware having modular upgrade capability

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method comprising: setting a first cell having a first TDD UL-DL configuration and a second cell having a second TDD UL-DL configuration; receiving a PHICH signal in a subframe #(n−L) of the first cell, or receiving a PDCCH signal in a subframe #(n−K) of the first cell; and transmitting a PUSCH signal in a subframe #n of the second cell, corresponding to the PHICH signal or the PDCCH signal, wherein the relationship between the subframes #(n−L), #(n−K), and #n is determined in consideration of a parameter value set in a specific TDD UL-DL configuration, which is the TDD UL-DL configuration having the least number of UL subframes from TDD UL-DL configuration(s), in which subframes set as UL in the first or second cell are all set as ULs.

Wireless communication systems have been widely deployed to provide various types of communication services including voice and data services. In general, a wireless communication system is a multiple access system that supports communication among multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g. bandwidth, transmit power, etc.) among the multiple users. The multiple access system may adopt a multiple access scheme such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), or Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for transmitting/receiving signal and device therefor


Embodiments provide improved flaring and swaging bits, and methods for flaring and swaging.

Fitting metal tubes together often requires manual pounding or pressing of the ends of the metal tubes, so as to modify the ends to fit together. Fitting can be a very laborious and imprecise process. A few models of tools in the market are available to perform flares and swages, the majority being concentric flaring and swaging tools and eccentric flaring tools:

Flaring and swaging bits, and methods using same


A process of producing transition metal-based membranes or other layers on a porous support is provided. The layers are suitable for hydrogen separation, oxygen separation, or protective or decorative purpose sand are produced by pretreating the porous support by coating with a solution of a transition metal salt, drying the seeded support, reducing the transition metal salt to transition metal metal, and electroless plating with a complex of a transition metal (palladium, silver or other) and optionally other metals. The membranes can be tubular with a transition metal layer of 1-10 μm on its outside.

Asymmetric membranes comprising a porous support and a thin dense palladium layer are useful for the separation of hydrogen from other gases such as carbon dioxide and other small molecules such as hydrocarbons and other hydrides. A cost-effective production of palladium-based membranes with electroless plating of porous supports requires the presence of palladium seeds on the porous support. For growing thin dense Pd membranes substantially free of defects, the seeds should be homogeneously distributed over the support in a sufficient amount.
Asymmetric membranes comprising a porous support and a thin dense silver layer are useful for the separation of oxygen from other small molecules. (see e.g. http://www.anorg.chem.uu.nl/PDF/Bergwerff_silver%20literature.pdf)
Collins and Way (Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 1993, 32, 3006-13) use multiple pre-treatments of the support with tin chloride followed by acidic palladium chloride immersion before repeated electroless plating with palladium-amine complex. Li et al. (Catalysis Today, 56, 2000, 45-51) similarly use tin chloride pre-treatment followed by acidic palladium amine before enhanced electroless plating driven by osmosis. Paglieri et al. (Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 1999, 38, 1925-1936) proposed an improved seeding procedure of dipping the inside of the support into a palladium acetate solution, with chloroform as the solvent, followed by drying and calcining. The resulting membrane had a thickness of ˜20 μm and the H2/N2 selectivity was not higher than 50. Zhao et al. (Catalysis Today, 56, 2000, 89-96) used activation by slip-casting with a Pd-modified boehmite sol, followed by drying and calcining. The use of a boehmite sol is also described in CN 1164436 and U.S. 2008-176060. A pre-treatment with a silica sol is described in KR 2001-045207 and KR 2001-018853. Hou et al. (WO2005/065806) use a boehmite sol as a pore filler before seeding following the tin chloride procedure. After calcining, γ-alumina is formed in the pores restoring the porous structure of the support. Harold et al. (U.S. 2008/0176060) use two γ-alumina layers to sandwich the palladium seeds (layer) applied by electroless plating acting as nuclei for growing palladium in the pores of the top γ-alumina layer also by electroless plating.
These prior art methods lead to insufficient performance of the membranes thus obtained in terms of hydrogen flux, H2/N2 selectivity and stability. The tin chloride pre-treatment results in the presence of tin contamination, which affects both the stability of the plating bath and the temperature stability of the palladium membrane. Even when the pre-treatment does not contain a tin salt pre-treatment, like the improved procedure by Paglieri that uses palladium acetate only, the membrane is thick and disappointingly low selectivities of 50 are obtained. The use of chloroform as a solvent during fabrication is a further disadvantage of their procedure. The use of boehmite sols and the like may result in blocking pores and thus reduce separation performance. It may also reduce the maximum application temperature because of limited thermal stability. Also, the prior art methods do not always allow very thin palladium layers to be produced.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a process for producing thin membranes based on palladium, which leads to improved performance of the palladium-based separation layer, and which allows the production of separation membranes having very thin (<5 μm) layers of palladium.

Seeding method for deposit of thin selective membrane layers

STICHTING ENERGIEONDERZOEK CENTRUM NEDERLAND


A cable guide block has a guide groove for receiving and guiding an end portion of a cable having an elastically deformable sheath. The guide block is for use in a cable connection processing apparatus for making a cable connection by moving a cable pusher in a direction perpendicular to the guide groove and in a cable receiving direction in order to press the end portion of the cable onto a cable connection portion of a contact disposed below the guide groove. The guide groove has a pair of wall surfaces which are spaced apart by a distance which is greater than a diameter of the cable. At least one projection is formed on at least one of the wall surfaces so that the distance between the wall surfaces is less than the diameter of the cable. By the use of the cable guide block, the end portion of the cable is reliably sent along the cable receiving direction and inserted into the guide groove. The end portion of the cable is forced against the positioning projection in an elastically deformed condition. At that time, the end portion of the cable is connected to the cable connection portion of the contact.

This invention relates to a cable guide block for use in a cable connection processing apparatus and, in particular, to a cable guide block for use in a cable connection processing apparatus to connect an end portion of a cable terminated by a cut end to a cable connection portion of an electroconductive contact.
A conventional cable connection processing apparatus comprises a cable guide block provided with a guide groove for receiving an end portion of a cable, and a cable pusher movable with respect to the guide groove in a direction perpendicular to a cable receiving direction along which the cable is introduced into the guide groove. The cable pusher is for pushing the end portion of the cable onto a cable connection portion of a contact mounted in an electric connector disposed below the guide groove so as to carry out connection operation. The cable is covered by a sheath made of an elastically deformable material such as polyvinyl chloride resin.
The cable guide block comprises a first surface facing the cable pusher for pushing the end portion of the cable onto the cable connection portion, a second surface opposite to the first surface, and a third surface confronting an end face of the cable being inserted. The guide groove is formed in the third surface and extends from the first surface to the second surface. The guide groove comprises a pair of wall surfaces for guiding the end portion of the cable, and a bottom surface for receiving the end face of the cable. A distance between the wall surfaces is greater than a diameter of the cable.
The end portion of the cable is guided into the guide groove above the cable connection portion and moved in the cable receiving direction until the end face of the cable is received by the bottom surface of the guide groove. Thus, the end portion of the cable is placed in a proper position for connection. Then, the cable pusher is downwardly moved from a standby location above the guide groove in a direction perpendicular to the cable receiving direction to thereby push the end portion of the cable downwards. Consequently, the end portion of the cable is pressed onto the cable connection portion of the contact disposed below the guide groove to thereby carry out connection operation.
In the above-described cable guide block, the pair of the wall surfaces of the guide groove are planar and parallel to each other and are spaced with a distance greater than the diameter of the cable. Therefore, when the cable is moved along the cable receiving direction, the end portion of the cable is allowed to be bent aside. In this connection, the end face of the cable may reach a wrong position deviated from the bottom surface of the guide groove. More specifically, the end face of the cable may be received by the cable connection portion of the contact disposed below the cable guide block or by the cable pusher located above the cable guide block. Thus, the cable is possibly be placed in a wrong position.
In another conventional cable connection processing apparatus, a moving mechanism for moving a cable in a cable receiving direction per se comprises a positioning mechanism. Such apparatus is also disadvantageous in that the cable may be placed in a wrong position when the end face of the cable does not reach a predetermined position of the guide groove due to presence of a twist in the cable which has been wound around a reel.
As described above, it is impossible to reliably connect the end portion of the cable to the cable connection portion of the contact unless the end portion of the cable is placed at a predetermined position of the guide groove.

Cable guide back for use in a cable connection processing apparatus

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited


A disk cartridge has an overwritable magneto-optical disk rotably mounted therein. The overwritable magneto-optical disk cartridge is usable in compatible type disk drives which also accept conventional, non-overwritable, magneto-optical disks. A magnetic initializing device is provided within the cartridge casing such that a sufficient magnetic field may be generated within the cartridge for effecting overwrite operations. Accordingly, no such magnetic initializing device need be provided in a disk drive and a size, weight and cost of such disk drives may be reduced, while cartridge performance may be reliably improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a disk cartridge. Specifically, the present invention relates to a magneto-optical disk cartridge in which an overwrite type magneto-optical disk is provided and magnetic initializing means for generating a sufficient magnetic field for utilizing the overwrite type magneto-optical disk is provided within the cartridge casing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, magneto-optical disks require that old data be erased in one procedure before new data may be written. This erasure step is time consuming. Recently, an `overwrite` type magneto-optical disk has been developed in which it is possible to write new data directly over previously held data via a light intensity modulation method. Referring to FIGS. 6-8, such conventional and overwritable type magneto-optical disk cartridges and a disk drive arrangement for same will be explained hereinbelow.
FIG. 7, shows a disk drive 100 for magneto-optical disk cartridges and FIG. 6 shows a cutaway perspective view of a cartridge housing 1' mounting therein a conventional magneto-optical disk 10' and/or an overwritable disk cartridge 1" with an overwritable magneto-optical disk 10" mounted therein, both cartridge types being compatible with the disk drive 100 of FIG. 7. The conventional disk cartridge 10' has a single data layer according to a standard IOS construction and the overwritable magneto-optical disk 10" has a two layer construction according to the light intensity modulation method, in which a first data layer and a second rewrite layer are provided. Hereinbelow, for simplicity, both types of magneto-optical disks will be referred to by the numeral 10 and both types of cartridge by the numeral 1.
The disk drive 100, for utilizing the above described magneto-optical disk cartridges 1, includes a base frame, or chassis 101 having a spindle motor 102 mounted at a substantially center portion thereof for rotatably engaging the magneto-optical disk 10. For scanning the magneto-optical disk 10 in the radial direction thereof during read and/or write operation, a carriage 103 is provided with an optical pickup 104 mounted thereon. The carriage 103 is driven via a guide shaft (not shown) engaging a linear motor (not shown). Also mounted on the chassis 101 is a front panel 110. Above a chassis 101 is mounted a loading plate 111 which has a mounted slider (not shown) which is movable in forward and reverse and well as up and down directions for effecting loading of the magneto-optical disk cartridge 1. For supporting the magneto-optical disk cartridge 1 above the spindle motor 102, a cartridge holder 112 is provided at a lower side of the loading plate 111. Also provided is a sub-holder 113 for positioning the cartridge 1, at a position opposing the optical pickup 104, for scanning the magneto-optical disk 10 in the radial direction. The sub-holder 113 has mounted thereon a biasing magnet 114. Although not shown in the drawings, the sub-holder 113 is connected to a drive mechanism at a front side thereof for effecting upward and downward movement thereof. Also provided are an optical lens 105 mounted opposing the optical pickup 104, a optical setting portion 106 and a base plate 108.
Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, mounted at a position above the cartridge 1 a magnetic initializing means 115 is provided at a position which is above the upper surface of the magneto-optical disk 10. The sub-holder 113 may be stopped at a predetermined position in relation to the biasing magnet 114, which is an electromagnet, by a stop screw or the like. The magnetic initializing means 115 comprises a back yoke 115a having basically an inverted U shape for enhancing magnetic intensity and, mounted in a lower central portion thereof, an initializing magnet 115b is provided. By way of a driving mechanism (not shown) the magnetic initializing means 115 can be controlled so as to move adjacent to the casing 2 (see FIG. 6) of the cartridge 1, or to separate from the cartridge casing 2. Via the drive mechanism which brings the cartridge casing 2 into contact with the magnetic initializing means, a type of cartridge 1, that is, a conventional cartridge 1' or a overwritable cartridge 1", may be detected and the disk drive 100 may be set electronically and mechanically according to the detected disk type.
Specifically, if a surface magnetism-of 6000e or less is detected, it is assumed that a magnetic cartridge 1' housing a conventional magneto-optical disk 10' has been loaded and the magnetic initializing means 115 is moved to be remote from the casing 2 of the conventional magneto-optical disk cartridge 1'. Alternatively, when an overwritable magneto-optical disk cartridge 1" utilizing an overwritable magneto-optical disk 10" is loaded, the magnetic initializing means 115 is moved so as to be adjacent the outer surface of the casing 2 of the cartridge 1". In this condition, in the presence of a magnetic output kOe from the magnetic initializing means 115, only an overwritable type magneto-optical disk cartridge 1" can be utilized. A conventional magneto-optical disk cartridge 1' may not be read in this condition and, data on such a conventional magneto-optical disk 10' may be lost inadvertently.
Referring to FIG. 6, the construction of such magneto-optical disk cartridges 1' and 1" will be described hereinbelow. First, the casing 2 is generally comprised of a upper (first) shell 2a and a lower (second) shell 2b and the magneto-optical disk 10' or 10" is rotatably mounted between the upper and lower shells 2a and 2b. Openings 3, 3 are formed respectively in each of the upper and lower shells 2a and 2b at a position which opposes that of the optical pickup 104 when the cartridge 1 is loaded in the disk drive 100. Openings 3 are covered, when the cartridge 1 is not loaded, by a slidably disposed shutter 4 which is mounted on the outer side of the casing 2, astride the upper and lower shells 2a, 2b. Further, formed in the lower shell 2b, media sensor holes, such as an alignment hole 5, an A surface discriminating opening 6, a B surface discriminating opening 7, a gripper slot 8, a positioning hole 9, and the like, are provided.
Japanese Patent Application 4-173004 discloses a magneto-optical disk cartridge and disk drive therefore similar in construction to the above-described. According to this disclosure, when data is to be overwritten on a overwritable type magneto-optical disk cartridge 1" housing an overwritable magneto-optical disk 10", the magnetic initializing means 115 produces a magnetic output of 3-7 kOe and the magnetic polarity of the auxiliary layer of the overwritable magnetic disk 10" is set in a predetermined direction. After setting of the polarity direction of the auxiliary layer, on rotation of the magneto-optical disk 10", the bias magnet 114, which is mounted at a position directly over the optical pickup 104, is active to invert the output of the magnetic initializing means so as to produce a bias magnetic field of 200-400 Oe required by the overwritable magneto-optical disk 10". The object lens 105 of the optical pickup 104 is active to output a laser beam onto the surface layer of the overwritable magneto-optical disk 10" so as to neutralize the magnetic polarity of the surface layer (laser irradiation at a temperature above Curie temperature). During and during a cooling period after irradiation, the direction of magnetic polarity of the surface layer is determined and writing of data is accomplished. Further, according to the above, an improvement is available in that a relatively weak laser may be used for writing an a magnetic polarity of the surface layer is altered according to the polarity of light during laser irradiation.
Further, when a conventional magneto-optical disk cartridge 1' utilizing a conventional magneto-optical disk 10' is to be utilized in the disk drive 100, the drive mechanism is active beforehand to move the magnetic initializing means 115 away from the cartridge 1' to prevent the strong magnetic field thereof from influencing the conventional magneto-optical disk 10'. Then the reading and/or writing operation is carried out via the bias field of the bias magnet 114 and the optical pickup 104.
However according to such arrangements for utilizing overwritable magneto-optical disks 10" in a cartridge 1" to be loaded in a disk drive 100. Since a relatively large magnet must be utilized in order to produce the approximately 3 kOe magnetic field of the magnetic initializing means 115, and the magnetic initializing means must have room to be moved toward and away from a disk cartridge 1 which is loaded into the disk drive 100, the weight of the disk drive is increased and the `dead space` required for movement thereof increases the necessary thickness of the disk drive unit. Also, the above imperatives along with the driving mechanism required for the magnetic initializing means cause cost of the disk drive unit to increase. Thus, there is a need to provide an overwritable magneto-optical disk cartridge which may be utilized in a manner allowing a reduction in the weight, thickness and cost of the disk drive unit.


A ferroelectric storage device enabling an increase of capacity without a major increase in the chip size by use of multi-level data. At the time of a write operation, one of four types of potential based on the 2 bits of data input to the I/O terminal is selectively supplied from a potential generator to a bit line through a data line. The potential is supplied to one of the electrodes of a ferroelectric capacitor where one of four types of residual polarization states is selectively produced at the ferroelectric. By this, 4-level data is stored in a single memory cell. At the time of a read operation, the potential of the bit line is compared with three reference potentials at an output data generator to discriminate the stored data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ferroelectric storage device utilizing the reversability of polarization of a ferroelectric.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a ferroelectric nonvolatile memory for storing binary data by utilizing the reversability of polarization of a ferroelectric having a hysteresis characteristic as shown in FIG. 1, a variety of memories are proposed at present.
In such a ferroelectric nonvolatile memory for storing binary data, one bit of digital data of "1" or "0" is stored in each memory cell and the memory capacity corresponds to the number of memory cells.
Accordingly, in order to increase the memory capacity in such a ferroelectric nonvolatile memory, the number of memory cells must be increased. In so far as the degree of integration is not raised, the size of the chip was consequently increased along with the memory capacity.
In recent years, however, along with demands for increasing the capacity of ferroelectric nonvolatile memories, there has been the problem that the memory would become large in size if the number of memory cells were increased along with the increase of the memory capacity.
In view of such a problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 6-196647 discloses a ferroelectric nonvolatile memory capable of increasing the memory capacity without an increase of the chip size by storing multi-level data in a memory cell.
In this ferroelectric nonvolatile memory, each memory cell is provided with a write word line, a read use word line, a write bit line, and a read bit line in addition to a metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor (MFS) transistor, a write use metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor, and a read use MOS transistor. Here, an MFS transistor is a transistor obtained by forming a ferroelectric such as PLZT (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O.sub.3) on a gate oxide film.
In this ferroelectric nonvolatile memory, at the time of a write operation, residual polarization based on the analog data or multi-level data is generated in a ferroelectric film of the MFS transistor to directly nonvolatilely store the data. Further, at the time of a read operation, the read MOS transistor is turned on and the drain current based on the residual polarization of the ferroelectric film flowing between the drain and source of the MOS transistor is detected to read the stored data.
In this ferroelectric nonvolatile memory, multi-level data at least trinary or analog data is directly written into or read from each memory cell without the use of an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter. or other data converter.


A detection system for monitoring a subject remains outside the normal field of view of the subject by using a wavelength selective optical member. In one application, an eye of a driver is repeatedly or continuously illuminated and imaged without effect on the field of view of the driver. A dichroic mirror may be used to provide the wavelength selectivity. For the application in which the system is used for a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, the dichroic mirror may be achieved by coating a portion or all of the windshield so as to pass visible light, while reflecting detection light. Other applications of the detection system include monitoring a subject engaged in a person-to-person interaction, wherein a dichroic mirror is defined by a divider between the two persons.

In a variety of different applications, it is of interest to acquire information regarding an individual without diverting the attention of the person. In one such application, a system may be used to monitor the perceived drowsiness of a driver of a motor vehicle, such as an automobile, train, airplane and the like. There are also security applications, such as the verification of the identity of a driver or the identity of a patron of a business (e.g., a bank). One technique for monitoring drowsiness, verifying identity, or determining other individual-specific information is to acquire data directly relating to the eyes of a person. Images of a person's pupil may be used in the same manner as a fingerprint. The degree or the length of time that the eyes of a person are open or closed may be used as an indication of a level of drowsiness of the person.
Concerns with known approaches to acquiring the data include minimizing the distraction to the individual and minimizing the obstruction of the view of the individual, while maintaining the reliability of the acquired data. In monitoring the eyes of a motor vehicle driver, light may be reflected off the eyes of the person and then detected by a camera. A low profile system having an illumination source and a suitable camera may be used, but the system will nevertheless reduce the field of view of the driver.
The reliability of the acquired data is dependent upon the ability of the system to distinguish the features of a person. Light received by a detector (such as a camera) following reflection from the targeted person must be distinguishable from the light received following the reflection from another person or from a structure, as well as light received directly from another source, such as the sun or headlights of another car.

Wavelength selectivity enabling subject monitoring outside the subject's field of view