A cleaner includes: a body provided with a dust collecting container for storing dust; a fan motor installed at the body and generating a suction force; a vacuum cleaning head disposed at a lower side of the body, for sucking dust when vacuum cleaning; and a water cleaning head mounted at the vacuum cleaning head, and provided with a suction head through which contaminated water is sucked when water cleaning and a water collecting container for storing contaminated water sucked through the suction head. As a suction nozzle for sucking contaminated water and a water collecting container for storing the contaminated water sucked through the suction nozzle are integrally formed and installed at a suction head, a cleaner capable of reducing the number of parts and a production cost, and employing a small capacity fan motor is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a complex type cleaner, and more particularly, to a complex type cleaner capable of selectively performing vacuum cleaning for sucking dust and foreign materials and water cleaning for cleaning a region to be cleaned by spraying cleaning water in one cleaner.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, an upright type vacuum cleaner includes: a body arranged in an upright state; a suction fan mounted in the body and generating a suction force; a filter container having a filter therein for collecting dust or filth sucked by the suction force generated from the suction fan; a suction head disposed at a lower side of the body, for sucking dust or filth on a floor; and a brush rotatably installed at the suction head, for sweeping up dust and filth on the floor.
In the upright type vacuum cleaner, when the suction fan is driven, a suction force is generated. Dust and foreign materials on a floor or a carpet are sucked through the suction head by the generated suction force. Then, the dust and foreign materials are filtered by the filter and collected in the filter container.
In addition, a general extractor includes: a water supply container containing cleaning liquid; a pump for pumping the cleaning liquid contained in the water supply container; a spray nozzle for spraying the cleaning liquid pumped by the pump onto a region to be cleaned; a suction nozzle for sucking contaminated water and dust on the region to be cleaned onto which the cleaning liquid is sprayed by the spray nozzle; a water collecting container for storing the contaminated water sucked through the suction nozzle; and a suction fan for generating a suction force so that the contaminated water can be sucked into the suction nozzle.
In the extractor, the pump is driven, the cleaning liquid stored in the water supply container is sprayed onto the carpet or the like through the spray nozzle, and the brush rotates to rub the carpet. Then, contaminated water is sucked through the suction nozzle and collected in the water collecting container. At this time, air is exhausted to the outside.
In the conventional cleaner, since a vacuum cleaner should be provided for vacuum cleaning of dust and filth, and an extractor should be provided for water cleaning of the carpet or the like, two cleaners are required, thereby increasing the cost. In addition, since much room is occupied in storing two cleaners, inconvenience is resulted from keeping the two cleaners.


An apparatus for sensing a position of a cutting tool in a computer numerical controlled machine tool is provided including an arm supporting and moving a sensor that cooperates with the cutting tool. Also provided is a housing including a gear assembly and a driving motor for moving the arm, and a stopper for defining an operating position of the arm. The driving motor supplies rotation force to the gear assembly so as to pivot the arm against the stopper and then apply force to an elastic member. When the driving motor is stopped, the elastic member applies a force, through the gear assembly, urging the arm against the stopper in the operating position.

Generally, the computer numerical controlled machine tool automatically processes a work piece by using a computer after confirming the position of a cutting tool on a basis of a pre-programmed process condition such as a target processing measurement, a desired shape, a transferring speed of the cutting tool, etc.
FIG. 1 shows the conventional computer numerical controlled lathe 10. Referring to FIG. 1, the computer numerical controlled lathe 10 comprises a frame 12 including a bed 12a, a headstock 14 for grasping and fixing one end of the work piece, which is fixed at one side of the frame 12, a tailstock 16 for grasping and fixing the other end of the work piece, which is sliderably positioned on the bed 12a in opposite to the headstock 14, a tool rest 18 for processing the work piece rotated between the headstock 14 and the tailstock 16 while moving along the longitudinal axis of the bed 12a on she side portion of the bed 12a of the frame 12, a control part (not shown) for controlling the headstock 14, the tailstock 16 and the tool rest 18.
The work piece, which is supported and rotated between the headstock 14 and the tailstock 16, is automatically processed by the cutting tool mounted to the tool rest 18 sliding on the bed 12a on a basis of the pre-programmed process condition.
However, problems with the conventional computer numerical controlled machine tool as described above are that a cutting edge of the cutting tool for processing the work piece may be worn due to the friction between the cutting edge and the work piece and the processing precision of the cutting tool may deteriorate due to the change of the cutting tool's position.
A variety of endeavors for solving these problems have been proposed. One approach, a program for compensating the cutting tool's position so as to compensate a positional deviation between the coordinates of the cutting tool for processing the work piece and the standard coordinates in order to enhance the processing capability of the cutting tool during operation of processing the work piece, has been proposed. This program is preliminarily input to the computer numerical controlled lathe 10.
Additionally, an apparatus for sensing a position of the cutting tool during operation of the processing the work piece for a limited time is installed at the computer numerical controlled lathe 10.
FIG. 2 shows the apparatus for sensing a position of the cutting tool mounted to the computer numerical controlled machine tool, more particularly shows the state that it is mounted to the headstock of the computer numerical controlled machine tool.
As shown in FIG. 2, the apparatus 20 for sensing a position of the cutting tool comprises an arm 22 having a sensor 22a for sensing the position of the cutting tool, a gear assembly 24 for pivoting the arm 22 toward the cutting tool, and a driving motor (not shown) for driving the gear assembly 24.
At the apparatus 20 for sensing a position of the cutting tool, the arm 22 having the sensor 22a is moved toward the cutting tool by means of the gear assembly 24 and then the sensor 22a senses a position of the front end of the cutting tool. Thereafter, the sensor 22a provides the control part of the computer numerical controlled machine tool with a detected value.
The control part of the computer numerical controlled machine tool compares the detected value input from the apparatus 20 for sensing a position of the cutting tool with a standard value, and then calculates a displacement of the cutting tool and it sends a control signal for compensating the position of the cutting tool to the computer numerical controlled machine tool in accordance with the result.
Accordingly, it is possible to compensating the position of the cutting tool to its initial state preliminarily set into the computer.
However, one problem with the apparatus for sensing a position of the cutting tool as described above is that the arm having the sensor must be maintained at a sensing position until the sensor senses the position of the cutting tool. Therefore, the driving motor must be continuously operated and thereby it may be damaged due to the overload applied thereto.

Tool compensating device for the computerized numerically controlled machine tool


A novel musical instrument tone hole forming tool. A body includes a distal end to be inserted transversely into a musical instrument through an opening therein. The distal end of the body includes sockets spaced about its periphery. Bearings are located in the sockets. A shaft is moveable within the body and includes reduced diameter distal portions which receive the bearings in a contracted configuration in order to insert the body into the musical instrument. The shaft drives the bearings outward from the distal end of the body in an expanded configuration to form the tone hole when the body is withdrawn out of the musical instrument.

Musical instruments such as flutes, saxophones, and piccolos have tone holes. Forming these tone holes is a craft often involving numerous steps, the use of different machinery, and different jigs, fixtures, and tools.
In one example in accordance with the state of the art, a computerized numerical control (CNC) machine is used to drill pre-opening holes in the flute body. The holes could also be punched. The flute body is removed from the CNC machine and taken to an extrusion station. There, an arbor is inserted into the flute body and a pulling ball is loaded in the arbor. The flute tube is then slid over the loaded arbor. The flute and loaded arbor are then placed on an extrusion machine which contains a die or "chimney" directly over the hole in the flute tube and the loaded pulling ball. A shaft is then connected to the pulling ball through the hole drilled in the flute body. The shaft is connected to the extrusion machine which then rotates the pulling ball and urges it out of the flute body through the chimney to form the tone hole. The remainder of the tone holes are formed in this same way. Next, the flute body is returned to the CNC machine where the tops of all the tone holes are machined flat ("faced") to render them level. Finally, the edges of the tone hole are rolled out to finish the tone hole.
Thus, forming tone holes requires the use of different machinery, different jigs and fixtures, and different tools resulting in a time consuming and costly process. Also, since the configuration of the tone holes is critical, there is the possibility of inaccuracies and intolerances where certain dimensions of the tone hole do not meet specifications each time the flute body is moved and/or fitted with a different arbor.

Musical instrument tone hole forming tool and method


Methods and systems for semiconductor diode junction protection.

A semiconductor laser (laser diode) transforms electrical energy into optical energy with relatively high efficiency. A laser diode is typically includes a layer of p-type semiconductor material adjacent to a layer of n-type semiconductor material (referred to as a p-n junction). When electrical current passes from the p-type layer to the n-type layer, stimulated emission of optical radiation results in the active layer. In practice, the stimulated emission is limited to only a portion (the active region) of the active layer. The opposing end faces of the active region are called the facets, which are cleaved and/or etched to define a laser cavity between the two facets. A highly reflective dielectric coating is usually deposited on one facet (the non-output facet), and a semi-reflective dielectric coating on the other facet (the output coupling facet). The optical energy generated by the electric current oscillates between the output facet and the non-output facet, and is partially transmitted by the semi-reflective coating at the output facet to produce a diode laser output beam.
Laser diode bars are constructed from a linear array of such individual laser diodes, with all the diodes typically driven in parallel from two highly conducting electrodes. Stacks of these bars can then be driven in series to form a laser diode array, which is a two dimensional array of individual diodes.
Diode junction aging, associated degradation, and catastrophic failure are serious problems in laser diodes. One failure mode of laser diodes is catastrophic optical damage (COD), which occurs suddenly after more gradual diode aging in which the performance of the diode degrades slowly with time. Gradual aging is a result of localized junction overheating caused by filamentation of the diode current and of the output optical beam. Initially, current and optical filamentation of the diode current is caused by local variations in the electrical and optical properties along the diode junction. For example, variations in electric field along the junction result in local current variations and also in local optical laser beam intensity variations along the diode output. These variations in electric field and associated current density variations also lead to temperature variations along the junction. Small changes in the local electric field (2% relative to the average electric field across in the junction), for example, can lead to large changes in the local current density (relative to the average current density in the junction) and temperature, and therefore large changes locally in the intensity of the optical laser beam. Gradual aging, resulting from these current density and temperature variations, culminates in catastrophic optical damage (COD) and/or catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD). COD and COMD are caused by an instability which rapidly leads to catastrophic overheating and results in the failure of that portion of the diode junction. COD and COMD result from destructive overheating of the junction material and/or the diode facet or coating material.
Multiple modes of laser diode failure arise from filamentation of the drive current to the diode or the diode bar, or filamentation of the optical beam within the laser active medium (the active portion of the p-n junction). These modes can range from overheating and destruction of the output facet, migration of dopants, and junction punch through.
In laser diodes, high current density must be provided in order to reach lasing threshold, and even higher current densities are needed to reach optimum laser output efficiency, laser power, and laser brightness. However, even if the laser is driven by a so-called constant current source, the current can filament in a region or regions of the active junction resulting in some sections of the junction experiencing higher current density than others. With a constant current source, these regions of higher current density have lower impedance to current flow than surrounding regions which experience lower current density than average. It is the sections of the junction experiencing higher current density that have higher temperature, age more rapidly, and are prone to unstable filamentation instabilities, In cases where the current is filamented in the diode, due for example to variations of electric field across the junction, the total current in the diode must be adjusted so that the sections of higher current density do not result in unacceptably rapid aging. However, accommodating these regions of higher current density in this manner reduces the efficiency and intensity in sections of lower current density, and therefore the overall efficiency and power of the diode is ultimately compromised. Since the bandgap of the semiconductor material changes with temperature, filamentation also leads to shifts and spreads of the output spectrum of the laser diode. These shifts and spreads in the output spectrum can reduce the efficiency of coupling to the pump bands of solid state laser media pumped by these laser diodes. Efficiency is defined as optical power output divided by electrical power input.
Initially, electric field variations and resulting current filamentation can lead to large, but stable changes in the local diode junction temperature and in the intensity of the output laser beam. Later, as these stable current, temperature, and optical intensity variations age the diode junction, the filamentation can become unstable, and the larger unstable current, temperature, and intensity changes in the region can lead to COD and/or COMD.
Controlling the current density in the junctions of laser diodes, laser diode bars (LDBs) and laser diode arrays (LDAs) is complicated by the fact that the junction bandgap decreases with increasing temperature. In junction regions having higher perturbed electric fields, the current density is higher. In these sections of the laser diode junction with higher current density, the temperature is higher and the bandgap is lower. When the bandgap shrinks, the current density in this section can increase even more at the expense of the current density in adjacent sections (even with a so-called constant current source powering the diode). The increased current density in this section then increases the temperature locally even further, and the bandgap shrinks even further. This instability can continue until the current density and temperature in this section is sufficiently high to cause cumulative incremental damage (aging) and ultimately catastrophic damage (COD and/or COMD). These instabilities can be driven by small variations in electric field across the junction, which can be caused by local changes in the junction material properties or by edge effects at the periphery of the junction. These initial variations can also be caused by crystal defects. The positive feedback process starting with increased current density in regions of higher electric field, leads to locally higher temperature, locally reduced bandgap, and then to even higher local current density. This positive feedback results in rapid thermal runaway, and breakdown locally of the p-n junction. This thermal runaway in the region of current filaments creating "hot spots" is referred to as a current filamentation instability
As detailed above, operation of a semiconductor junction can lead to filamentation instabilities which constrict the current flow through the junction. Filamentation increases the current density and the temperature of the junction locally (where the current is flowing). Because the bandgap for these semiconductor junctions typically decreases as temperature rises, the locally increased junction temperature leads in some cases to even higher current density in that local region. The local increase in current density is not necessarily accompanied by an increase in total current to the device. This feedback mechanism leads to an instability in which the temperature of a section or sections of the junction continue to rise until damage is done to the semiconducting junction or to adjacent structures.
Restricting the total current to the semiconducting junction with so-called current regulation circuits or constant current drive circuits does not prevent filamentation instabilities or their consequences, which include thermal runaway, accelerated aging, and ultimately device failure. Even if the total current to the terminals of the device were held constant, device current can constrict in a local region or regions of the semiconducting junction so that excessive heat is deposited locally in a limited region or regions of the junction. Such localized junction heating along only a portion of the junction leads to local thermal runaway, accelerated device aging and ultimately premature device failure.
Measuring or sensing the external temperature of the device and then interrupting the current to the device when a temperature anomaly is sensed may not be effective in preventing these instabilities and their consequences (thermal runaway, accelerated device aging; and ultimately premature device failure). When current filamentation instabilities occur, the external temperature of the device may rise, fall, or stay the same. So measuring the temperature of the outer surface of the device (the device case) with a temperature sensing device is not necessarily an indicator of these instabilities. Temperatures of interest in catastrophic optical damage of the laser facet are the local temperatures caused by excessive absorption of the optical power at small regions of the junction. Temperatures of interest in catastrophic damage to the junction itself are in the active region of the junction which is a thin layer region (0.1 to 1.0 microns sandwiched between thick layers (50-100 microns) of semiconductor material. Temperature anomalies in local regions of the semiconductor junction take time to diffuse to the device surface. This lag time may be many microseconds or milliseconds. Device damage can occur during this lag time.
In laser diode devices, these current filamentation instabilities can be exacerbated by the nonlinear interaction of the laser beam with the laser gain medium. These Kerr-type instabilities can lead to self-focusing of the laser light within the laser device. This instability can interact with the current instability described above, damaging the diode facets and leading to so-called catastrophic optical damage (COD) and catastrophic optical mirror damage (COMD).
In some semiconductor devices with diode junctions, device function is not the production of light, but to simply switch a voltage or current or to otherwise regulate a voltage or current. These devices are also subject to the current filamentation instability described above. Current instabilities in these devices also lead to thermal runaway, accelerated device aging, and ultimately device failure. High current semiconductor switch manufacturers already use special techniques to mitigate the effects of such current filamentation. Since current density need not necessarily be made high in these devices, high current semiconductor switches sometimes employ geometrical methods for spreading the current in the junction of these devices by using spider-shaped electrode structures and other current spreading geometries and techniques to divide the device current before it is injected into the semiconducting medium. It must be noted that many of the instability mitigation techniques used presently in these semiconductor switch devices cannot be used in geometries required by laser diodes, light emitting diodes and VCSELs where the current density must reach a certain minimum value to reach threshold lasing and then an even higher current density value to optimize laser output, efficiency, and brightness.
Spreading and limiting the current in laser diodes and light emitting diodes using resistive layers before the current enters the semiconducting media has also been attempted. However, the series resistance needed in these layers lead to power dissipation and unacceptable reductions in the overall electrical efficiency of these light sources. In addition, these resistive ballasting techniques ultimately cannot prevent current filamentation in the active junction region which is a thin layer sandwiched in a much thicker semiconducting medium.
Laser diodes, light emitting diodes, and VCSELs are sometimes arranged in bars or arrays. For bars in which multiple devices are driven in parallel, the same type of fault mode mitigation and protection circuitry used for a single device can be effective in suppressing and protecting against instabilities. In a laser diode bar, all of the laser diodes are driven in parallel from the same current node. Physically this current node is typically fabricated from a material with high electrical conductivity and high thermal conductivity such as copper. These current nodes also serve a second function which is to cool the individual diodes by transporting waste heat generated in the diode to a heat sink.
Current instabilities similar to those which occur in single diodes can also occur in laser diode bars. In addition to filamentation within individual diodes in the bar, this instability also causes current hogging, in which the current to the common node for all the diodes in the bar is not shared equally among the diodes in the bar. The diodes that hog more current than the average current (average current=total current to the node/the number of diodes in the bar) are prone to overheating and thermal runaway. Note that such an instability is not prevented by using current regulating circuitry or so-called constant current sources to power the laser diode bar. Although laser diodes were used here as an example, other devices containing semiconducting junctions such as light emitting diodes and VCSELs are also sometimes arranged in parallel in bars, and the same descriptions and conclusions apply to them as well.
Note that current sharing in laser diode bars can be enforced by using separate resistors in series with each diode in the bar. However, true current sharing requires that the value of the series resistance be approximately as large as the effective resistance of the laser diode, so that the electrical efficiency of such a bar would be reduced by a factor of 2 or more.
For arrays of these devices driven in series, current hogging is not an issue, since the same total current must pass through each device. However, current filamentation instabilities within each of these devices can still occur with the consequences that have been discussed above.
The concept of driving the individual diodes making up bars in series rather than in parallel may have beneficial effects since current hogging is not allowed and current sharing is imposed in a series configuration. As discussed above, laser diode bars are now driven in parallel for convenience. It is easier to cool these devices from a common, high thermal conductivity, electrode structure—the highly conducting node described above. However, high thermal conductivity, low electrical conductivity materials such as beryllium oxide and diamond can be used as electrical insulators. With these materials to remove heat from the individual diodes, it is possible to contemplate rearranging diode bars into a series configuration. Such a configuration would ensure that the current through each device in the bar is equal, thereby removing the possibility of current hogging. Such configurations however do not remove the possibility of filamentation.
In some instances, the presence of noise can mask or simulate the effects of filamentation.


Techniques described herein convert digital images into images suitable for use as coloring book pages and the like. The techniques include applying a smoothing operator to at least one channel image of a digital input image to form at least one smoothed image. A scaling operator is then applied to the at least one smoothed image to form at least one scaled image. A tone equalization operator is then applied to the at least one scaled image to form at least one equalized image. An edge detection operator is then applied to the at least one scaled image to form at least one edge image. In addition, a threshold operator is applied to the at least one edge image to form at least one threshold image. A digital line drawing is then created based at least in part on the at least one threshold image.

People of all ages enjoy coloring, paint by numbers, and other forms of entertainment having line drawings as an essential element. Digital line drawings are digital images that are similar in appearance to traditional line drawings. Digital line drawings may be characterized by a substantially bimodal distribution of pixel values, with pixels close in value to one mode being associated with the lines and pixels close to the other mode forming the background.
Universal adoption of digital cameras, as dedicated gadgets or as incorporated within multi-function devices such as cellular phones, has led to widespread availability of digital images. Consumers may wish to convert their digital images into digital line drawings to allow painting or coloring of personal subject matter. The ability to capture memories or special events in this way makes for a more interesting and engaging experience and end product, especially for children.
Straightforward and simple methods of producing digital line drawings from digital images involve application of an edge detection operator to the digital image, followed by a threshold operation. These steps may be effectively carried out in many popular image editing computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop™. Application of such straightforward methods, however, can produce digital line drawings with noise, loss of key elements from the scene, or excessive detail that limits the usefulness of the result for coloring or painting purposes. The present invention improves upon these simple methods and may reduce noise, eliminate excessive detail, and preserve scene elements that are essential for a good coloring page.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for an effective and efficient method to produce high quality digital drawings from digital images.

Conversion of digital images into digital line drawings


A method of decreasing the viscosity of crude oil including the steps of injecting into the crude oil CO2 alone or CO2 mixed with N at an elevated pressure of about 600 psi to about 1800 psi and intemently mixing the CO2, or CO2 mixed with N, with the crude oil at the elevated pressure.

This application is not referenced in any Microfiche Appendix.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein relates to a method and a system to reducing the viscosity of crude oil at the earth""s surface to improve the flowability and pumpability and to thereby augment the movement of crude oil through pipelines and process equipment. The invention herein is intended to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the problems and expense of moving heavier or more viscous crude oil through pipeline and process equipment.
2. Background of the Invention
Others have taught the concept of mixing gases with liquids to change the characteristic of the liquids, including the viscosity thereof. More particularly, others have suggested the use of gases mixed with crude oil, particularly in subterranean locations, to augment production of crude oil. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,863 entitled, xe2x80x9cEnhanced Liquid Hydrocarbon Recovery Processxe2x80x9d teaches the use of natural gas injected into an oil bearing formation to render the liquid hydrocarbons mobile and thereafter the mobilized liquid hydrocarbons are more easily produced from the well.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,516 entitled, xe2x80x9cUpgrading Oil Emulsions With Carbon Monoxide or Synthetic Gasxe2x80x9d involves contacting a water emulsion of a heavy oil with carbon monoxide at a temperature range such that a water gas shift reaction takes place to thereby assist in reducing the viscosity of the crude oil.
For other background information relating to the general subject matter of the invention herein reference may be had to the following United States patents:
Crude oil, particularly that produced from certain geological formations, can be relatively viscid, that is, can have a viscosity that makes it difficult to transfer through a pipeline. Heavy, thick viscid crude oil is referred to in the petroleum industry as xe2x80x9clow gravityxe2x80x9d oil; high gravity crude oil being that which is relatively thin and relatively easy to pump.
The viscosity of crude oil is affected by temperature and one way to decrease the viscosity of crude oil is to increase the temperature. While increasing temperature is a common way to reduce viscosity it is an expensive procedure and is not an acceptable procedure for improving the viscosity of crude oil that must be transmitted over a relatively long distance pipeline since maintaining an elevated temperature of crude oil in a pipeline is extremely difficult.
Another way of decreasing the viscosity of crude oil is to mix with it an immiscible high gravity liquid component. For instance, gasoline, kerosene or other high gravity components can be mixed with viscid crude oil to reduce the viscosity so that it can be more effectively pumped. At the destination, the added gasoline, kerosene or so forth can be removed and recycled. This procedure works effectively to reduce the viscosity of crude oil but is expensive and in many applications impractical, particularly where crude oil must be pumped over a relatively long distance so that thereby recirculating the thinning agent becomes a serious problem.
Viscosity is the degree to which a fluid resists flow under an applied force. Viscosity is measured by the tangential stress on the fluid divided by the resultant viscosity gradient under conditions of streamlined flow. The unit of measurement of viscosity is xe2x80x9cpoisexe2x80x9d. Poise is a centimeter-gram-second unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimeter. Viscosity is usually expressed in 1/100th of a poise, that is, in centipoise. In the petroleum industry the pumpability of crude oil is usually characterized by its gravity. High gravity crude oil is thin and easily pumpable. Low gravity crude oil is thick and difficult to pump. High gravity equates to low viscosity and high viscosity to low gravity.
The present invention is concerned with a method of decreasing the viscosity of crude oil in a manner that does not require elevating its temperature or the use of a high gravity liquid thinning component. The present invention achieves reduced viscosity of crude oil by injecting into the crude oil, under high pressure, a gas, or a combination of gases. Particularly the invention is concerned with injecting into crude oil carbon dioxide (CO2) or more preferably, a combination of CO2 and nitrogen (N).
In a system for practicing the invention, CO2 is thoroughly admixed with crude oil at an elevated pressure. Instead of CO2 only, a mixture of CO2 and N may be employed in ratios ranging from 8% N, 92% CO2 to 92% N, 8% CO2. The CO2, or mixture of CO2 and N, is thoroughly admixed with crude oil at a pressure of at least about 600 lbs per square inch (psi). A preferred pressure for admixing crude oil and gas to achieve decreased viscosity is from about 600 psi to 1800 psi although the maximum upper pressure is limited only by the availability of equipment and the expense of attaining the higher pressure.
In practicing the invention the crude oil is introduced into a mixer that may be in the form of an elongated horizontal cylindrical treating vessel having within it a reduced diameter centralized gas injection pipe, the pipe having a plurality of spaced apart small diameter openings therein. A spiraled, auger-shaped fin is affixed to the gas injection pipe to cause the crude oil flowing through the treating vessel to take a circuitous route and to thereby cause a more thorough admixing of injected gas and crude oil.
The quantity of gas employed is determined by the viscosity reduction required. For maximum viscosity reduction the maximum gas the crude oil will absorb is used. Stated another way, the reduction in viscosity is most effectively and efficiently obtained by employing gas the rate at which, for the treating pressure level, all of the gas is absorbed by the crude oil.
Experience has indicated that crude oil, having been treated to cause the absorption of CO2 or a combination of CO2 and N, at elevated pressures, attains a reduced viscosity that is relatively long lasting. When the treated oil is exposed to ambient pressure the dissolved gas eventually separates out of solution and the crude oil will eventually revert to its natural viscosity, however, the rate of separation is not instantaneous when pressure reduction occurs but is a relatively slow process so that crude oil, after having the viscosity reduced by the methods of this invention can be pumped efficiently over relatively long distances.

Method and system for reducing the viscosity of crude oil


A straight-chain unsaturated hydrocarbon group having equal to or more than 10 carbon atoms is bonded to at least one or more of meta positions of all of phenol structure units.

A phenolic resin which is a thermosetting resin is mainly and widely used as a binder that bonds materials which become base materials of a molded product. Since the phenolic resin is excellent in mechanical characteristics, electrical characteristics, or adherence, it is used in various fields. Particularly, in recent years, the amount used of a friction material in which the phenolic resin is used as the binder in vehicles, railway vehicles, or the like has increased.
Among these, a liquid resol-type phenolic resin is generally used in a friction material which is called a wet paper friction material and is used in an automatic change gear or the like of an automatic vehicle or the like. The required characteristics with respect to phenolic resin for the wet paper friction material have increased year by year. Particularly, in order to improve the friction characteristics, demand for improving flexibility of the phenolic resin has increased. However, a general cured material of a phenolic resin has a property of being excellent in mechanical properties, but since it is firm and fragile, it cannot be said that the general cured material thereof is excellent in flexibility.
As a method of solving the above-described problem, an attempt of improving the flexibility using drying oil or the like has been examined as a modifier in a reaction while synthesizing the phenolic resin (for example, Patent Document 1). Such a drying oil-modified phenolic resin to which a flexible aliphatic hydrocarbon group is introduced has a characteristic of high flexibility compared to an unmodified phenolic resin.

Liquid resol-type phenolic resin and wet paper friction material


Embodiments of a digital cross-connect panel with tracer lamps for identifying telecommunications circuits are presented herein.

Digital signal cross-connect equipment plays a vital role in the installation, monitoring, testing, restoring and repairing of digital telecommunication networks. Digital signal cross-connect panels are frequently used in digital networks to provide a central cross-connect location that is convenient for testing, monitoring, restoring and repairing infrastructure equipment associated with the communication of digital signals. Digital signal cross-connect panels are frequently used in a variety of locations, such as telephone central offices, remote sites and customer premises. For example, a cross-connect panel may be utilized in the infrastructure to allow circuit arrangement and rearrangement by plugging and unplugging cabling from jacks disposed on the "front" of the cross-connect panel.
However, because of the vast number of devices utilized to communicate, an equally and even greater number of connections may be utilized in the telecommunication infrastructure to provide communication between the devices, such as through the use copper, fiber, and optical cabling. Therefore, routing and organization of this cabling when configuring and rearranging the infrastructure may be difficult. In particular, it may be difficult to identify where a particular cable is routed.
In the past, one technique used to identify routed cabled involved a technician manually tracing cabling to determine equipment interconnections. This technique was difficult, frustrating, and time consuming for the technician.
Another previous technique required the technician to apply a test voltage at one location, e.g., at one cross-connect panel. Then, at the site of another cross-connect panel (which may be located at a significant distance from the destination), the technician located a corresponding jack through use of a plug that was sequentially inserted into each of the jacks until a jack having the test voltage was located. This was also both time consuming and frustrating to the technician, especially as the number of cables and distance between locations increased.


System, apparatus and computer program product for automatically determining a type of tape drive that is present in a media library and accessing the tape drive using commands that are adapted to the identified type of the drive. In one embodiment, a system includes a set of hosts, a media library and an archive node appliance. The archive node appliance is coupled between the hosts and the media library to provide the hosts with access to a set of drives and media in the media library. The archive node appliance has a processor and a data store that contains instructions that are executable on the processor to perform, for one or more of the drives, the method of identifying the type of the drive, identifying a set of software applications adapted to control the drive, and executing the software application, where the drive is accessed through the software application.

Businesses, governmental organizations and other entities are increasingly saving large volumes of data necessary for daily operations. This data represents a significant asset for these entities. Consequently, data loss, whether accidental or caused by malicious activity, can be costly in terms of wasted manpower, loss of goodwill from customers, loss of time and potential legal liability. To ensure proper protection of data for business and legal purposes (e.g., to ensure quick recovery of data in the event of a disaster, to comply with document retention requirements, etc.), these entities often back up data to a physical media, such as magnetic tapes or optical disks on a regular basis.
Traditional backup systems placed an application server, backup server, source device, destination device and a local area network ("LAN") in the data path of backup operations. Under these systems, the LANs were becoming overburdened by the amount of data being copied. Often, the backup window (the period in which data unavailable for normal operations in order to permit backup) was too short to achieve a complete backup of data. Accordingly, many entities implemented Storage Area Networks ("SAN") to relieve the burden of mass data storage and backup from the LAN, freeing the LAN for more immediate data storage and manipulation operations. In SANs, data from multiple machines on a network may be backed up to a remote media library. Centralized data backup allows storage problems to be identified at one location and has the advantage of increased efficiency.
One example of a media library commonly used in enterprise backup systems is a magnetic tape library. In a typical magnetic tape library, tapes are contained in cartridges and the tape library contains multiple cartridge slots in which tape cartridges can be stored. The tape cartridges are physically moved between cartridge slots and tape drives by a robot. The robot is controlled by access commands received from the host devices on the network. When specific data is required, the host device determines which cartridge slot contains the tape cartridge that holds the desired data. The host device then transmits a move-element command (e.g., the SCSI "move medium" command) to the robot and the robot moves the tape cartridge.
Recently, the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) Format Specification by IBM and the LTO Program (hereby fully incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes) has been developed, which defines a file system for LTO-5 tapes, LTO-6 tapes and may be extended to other tapes using an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema architecture. The term "file system" may be used interchangeably with "filesystem". This file system support allows the use of an LTFS-formatted tape as if it were a file system. Files and directories may appear in a directory listing, files may be dragged and dropped from tape, data may be accessed at the file level, etc.
Consequently, while it previously was necessary to make use of a backup application to write and read tapes, the introduction of LTFS has simplified the storing and retrieval of files on tape by reducing such operations to a copy. Furthermore, any operating system that includes LTFS support can mount an LTFS formatted tape and read and write the files thereon.
While LTFS defines a standardized format for the data that is stored on LTFS tapes, allowing the tapes themselves to be written and read by any system that includes LTFS support, the operation of the LTFS-compatible drives themselves is not standardized. In other words, the set of LTFS executable software applications (including at least LTFS, LTFSCK and MKLTFS applications) that controls one manufacturer's drive generally will not be suitable to control another manufacturer's drive. In some cases, a particular manufacturer's executable will be configured so that it will not operate with another manufacturer's drive. Consequently, if a user attempts to access an LTFS tape drive using the wrong LTFS executable, the drive generally will not operate as intended.

System, method and computer program product for host system LTFS auto-adaptation


A beam shifting device for directing a beam toward a fixed point of an object has instance vertical and horizontal beam shift elements, such as transparent optical plates with parallel surfaces positioned in an intended optical path. The vertical beam shift parallel plate is able to turn about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the optical axis for vertically shifting the beam upward and downward. The horizontal beam shift parallel plate, positioned in parallel with the vertical beam shift parallel plate, is able to turn about a vertical axis perpendicular to the optical axis for horizontally shifting the beam left and right. A controller detects vertical and horizontal deviations of the beam based on a distribution pattern of relative luminous energy of the beam diverged onto a spatial plane perpendicular to the intended path and drives the vertical and horizontal beam shift parallel plates to cancel the vertical and horizontal deviations of the beam, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a beam shifting device for shifting a beam so as to direct it exactly toward a fixed object.
2. Description of Related Art
Lasers, which are used as light sources for various kinds of optical apparatuses, such as exposure apparatuses and holographic apparatuses, generate beams having a strong directivity. However, even such a laser beam suffers what is called a "beam shift," which are attributed to internal causes, such as thermal changes, and external causes, such as thermal stress, in association with a resonator. The term "beam shift" as used herein shall mean and refer to a parallel deviation of a laser beam from an intended beam path.
Typically, in order to cancel a beam shift from an intended beam path, a double mirror beam shifting device is well known in the art, as shown by an example in FIG. 8. This device has two reflection mirrors 100 and 101 with normal lines of their reflection surfaces intersecting at right angle, which are oscillated so as to direct a light beam Lb travelling from a light source 102, such as a laser, toward a fixed object 104. Such a device is usually provided with ne or more slits 103a and 103b in the intended optical path Ox. If the laser beam Lb shifts or deviates from the intended optical path Ox, the mirrors 101 and 102 must be cooperatively regulated in angle relative to the light beam Lb. Such cooperative angular regulation of the mirrors 101 and 102 is very difficult. In addition, since the shift or deviation of light beam Lb is not parallel with the intended optical path Ox, regulation of the mirror 101 for making a light beam Lb pass through the upstream slit 103a neither allows the light beam Lb to pass the downstream slit 103b nor directs it perpendicularly to the object 104.


Color management and color-managed workflow concepts are applied to lighting apparatus configured to generate multi-colored light, including lighting apparatus based on LED sources. In particular, color management principles are employed to facilitate the generation of variable color light from a given lighting apparatus based on any of a number of possible input specifications for a desired color. In one example, a transformation between an arbitrary input specification for a desired color and a lighting command processed by the lighting apparatus is accomplished via the use of a source color management profile for the input specification of the desired color, a target color management profile for the lighting apparatus, and a common working color space. Colors defined in the common working color space may be reproduced or approximated (e.g., according to one or more rendering intents) by one or more lighting apparatus.

"Color management" is a term commonly used in computer environments to describe a controlled conversion between the colors of various color-generating or color-rendering devices (e.g., scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, printers, offset presses). For purposes of the present disclosure, color-generating or color-rendering devices (i.e., devices that reproduce color) are referred to generally as "color devices." The primary goal of color management is to obtain a good match for a variety of colors across a number of different color devices, or between digital color images and color devices. For example, color management principles may be employed to help ensure that a video looks virtually the same on a computer LCD monitor and on a plasma TV screen, and that a screenshot from the video printed on paper looks, from a color-content standpoint, like a paused still-frame on the computer LCD monitor or the plasma TV. Color management tools help achieve the same appearance on all of these color devices, provided each device is capable of actually generating the required variety of colors.
To discuss some of the salient concepts underlying color management, some general understanding of human color perception, and some common terminology often used to describe color perception, is required. While a detailed exposition of color science would be overwhelming, a few important aspects are presented below to facilitate a discussion of color management principles in the context of the present disclosure.
A well-known phenomenon of human vision is that humans have different sensitivities to different colors. The sensors or receptors in the human eye are not equally sensitive to all wavelengths of light, and different receptors are more sensitive than others during periods of low light levels versus periods of relatively higher light levels. These receptor behaviors commonly are referred to as "scotopic" response (low light conditions), and "photopic" response (high light conditions). In the relevant literature, the scotopic response of human vision as a function of wavelength λ often is denoted as V′(λ) whereas the photopic response often is denoted as V(λ); both of these functions represent a normalized response of human vision to different wavelengths λ of light over the visible spectrum (i.e., wavelengths from approximately 400 nanometers to 700 nanometers). For purposes of the present disclosure, human vision is discussed primarily in terms of lighting conditions that give rise to the photopic response, which is maximum for light having a wavelength of approximately 555 nanometers.
A visual stimulus corresponding to a perceivable color can be described in terms of the energy emission of some source of light that gives rise to the visual stimulus. A "spectral power distribution" (SPD) of the energy emission from a light source often is expressed as a function of wavelength λ, and provides an indication of an amount of radiant power per small constant-width wavelength interval that is present in the energy emission throughout the visible spectrum. The SPD of energy emission from a light source may be measured via spectroradiometer, spectrophotometer or other suitable instrument. A given visual stimulus may be thought of generally in terms of its overall perceived strength and color, both of which relate to its SPD.
One measure of describing the perceived strength of a visual stimulus, based on the energy emitted from a light source that gives rise to the visual stimulus, is referred to as "luminous intensity," for which the unit of "candela" is defined. Specifically, the unit of candela is defined such that a monochromatic light source having a wavelength of 555 nanometers (to which the human eye is most sensitive) radiating 1/683 Watts of power in one steradian has a luminous intensity of 1 candela (a steradian is the cone of light spreading out from the source that would illuminate one square meter of the inner surface of a sphere of 1 meter radius around the source). The luminous intensity of a light source in candelas therefore represents a particular direction of light emission (i.e., a light source can be emitting with a luminous intensity of one candela in each of multiple directions, or one candela in merely one relatively narrow beam in a given direction).
From the definition above, it may be appreciated that the luminous intensity of a light source is independent of the distance at which the light emission ultimately is observed and, hence, the apparent size of the source to an observer. Accordingly, luminous intensity in candelas itself is not necessarily representative of the perceived strength of the visual stimulus. For example, if a source appears very small at a given distance (e.g., a tiny quartz halogen bulb), the perceived strength of energy emission from the source is relatively more intense as compared to a source that appears somewhat larger at the same distance (e.g., a candle), even if both sources have a luminous intensity of 1 candela in the direction of observation. In view of the foregoing, a measure of the perceived strength of a visual stimulus, that takes into consideration the apparent area of a source from which light is emitted in a given direction, is referred to as "luminance," having units of candelas per square meter (cd/m2). The human eye can detect luminances from as little as one millionth of a cd/m2up to approximately one million cd/m2 before damage to the eye may occur.
The luminance of a visual stimulus also takes into account the photopic (or scotopic) response of human vision. Recall from the definition of candela above that radiant power is given in terms of a reference wavelength of 555 nanometers. Accordingly, to account for the response of human vision to wavelengths other than 555 nanometers, the luminance of the stimulus (assuming photopic conditions) typically is determined by applying the photopic response V(λ) to the spectral power distribution (SPD) of the light source giving rise to the stimulus. For example, the luminance L of a given visual stimulus under photopic conditions may be given by:L=K(P1V1+P2V2+P3V3+ . . . )  (1)where P1, P2, P3, etc., are points on the SPD indicating the amount of power per small constant-width wavelength interval throughout the visible spectrum, V1, V2, and V3, etc., are the values of the V(λ) function at the central wavelength of each interval, and K is a constant. If K is set to a value of 683 and P is the radiance in watts per steradian per square meter, then L represents luminance in units of candelas per square meter (cd/m2).
The "chromaticity" of a given visual stimulus refers generally to the perceived color of the stimulus. A "spectral" color is often considered as a perceived color that can be correlated with a specific wavelength of light. The perception of a visual stimulus having multiple wavelengths, however, generally is more complicated; for example, in human vision it is found that many different combinations of light wavelengths can produce the same perception of color.
Chromaticity is sometimes described in terms of two properties, namely, "hue" and "saturation." Hue generally refers to the overall category of perceivable color of the stimulus (e.g., purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red), whereas saturation generally refers to the degree of white which is mixed with a perceivable color. For example, pink may be thought of as having the same hue as red, but being less saturated. Stated differently, a fully saturated hue is one with no mixture of white. Accordingly, a "spectral hue" (consisting of only one wavelength, e.g., spectral red or spectral blue) by definition is fully saturated. However, one can have a fully saturated hue without having a spectral hue (consider a fully saturated magenta, which is a combination of two spectral hues, i.e., red and blue).
A "color model" that describes a given visual stimulus may be defined in terms based on, or in some way related to, luminance (perceived strength or brightness) and chromaticity (hue and saturation). Color models (sometimes referred to alternatively as color systems or color spaces) can be described in a variety of manners to provide a construct for categorizing visual stimuli as well as communicating information to and from color devices regarding different colors. Some examples of conventional color spaces employed in the relevant arts include the RGB (red, green, blue) space (often used in conventional computer environments for "additive" color devices, such as displays, monitors, scanners, and the like) and the CMY (cyan, magenta, yellow) space (often used for "subtractive" mixing devices employing inks or dyes, such as printers). Some other examples of color constructs include the HSI (hue, saturation, intensity) model, the YIQ (luminance, in-phase, quadrature) model, the Munsell system, the Natural Color System (NCS), the DIN system, the Coloroid System, the Optical Society of America (OSA) system, the Hunter Lab system, the Ostwald system, and various CIE coordinate systems in two and three dimensions (e.g., CIE x,y; CIE u′,v′; CIELUV, CIELAB).
For purposes of illustrating some exemplary color systems, the CIE x,y coordinate system is discussed initially in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that the concepts disclosed herein generally are applicable to any of a variety of color models, spaces, or systems.
One example of a commonly used model for expressing color is illustrated by the CIE chromaticity diagram shown in FIG. 1, and is based on the CIE color system. In one implementation, the CIE system characterizes a given visual stimulus by a luminance parameter Y and two chromaticity coordinates x and y that specify a particular point on the chromaticity diagram shown in FIG. 1. The CIE system parameters Y, x and y are based on the SPD of the stimulus, and also take into consideration various color sensitivity functions which correlate generally with the response of the human eye.
More specifically, colors perceived during photopic response essentially are a function of three variables, corresponding generally to the three different types of cone receptors in the human eye. Hence, the evaluation of color from SPD may employ three different spectral weighting functions, each generally corresponding to one of the three different types of cone receptors. These three functions are referred to commonly as "color matching functions," and in the CIE systems these color matching functions typically are denoted as x(λ), y(λ), z(λ). Each of the color matching functions x(λ), y(λ), z(λ) may be applied individually to the SPD of a visual stimulus in question, in a manner similar to that discussed above in Eq. (1) above (in which the respective components V1, V2, V3 . . . of V(λ) are substituted by corresponding components of a given color matching function), to generate three corresponding CIE "primaries" or "tristimulus values," commonly denoted as X, Y, and Z.
As mentioned above, the tristimulus value Y is taken to represent luminance in the CIE system and hence is commonly referred to as the luminance parameter (the color matching function y(λ) is intentionally defined to match the photopic response function V(λ), such that the CIE tristimulus value Y=L, pursuant to Eq. (1) above). Although the value Y correlates with luminance, the CIE tristimulus values X and Z do not substantially correlate with any perceivable attributes of the stimulus. However, in the CIE system, important color attributes are related to the relative magnitudes of the tristimulus values, which are transformed into "chromaticity coordinates" x, y, and z based on normalization of the tristimulus values as follows:x=X/(X+Y+Z)y=Y/(X+Y+Z)z=Z/(X+Y+Z).Based on the normalization above, clearly x+y+z=1, so that only two of the chromaticity coordinates are actually required to specify the results of mapping an SPD to the CIE system.
In the CIE chromaticity diagram shown in FIG. 1, the chromaticity coordinate x is plotted along the horizontal axis, while the chromaticity coordinate y is plotted along the vertical axis. The chromaticity coordinates x and y depend only on hue and saturation, and are independent of the amount of luminous energy in the stimulus; stated differently, perceived colors with the same chromaticity, but different luminance, all map to the same point x,y on the CIE chromaticity diagram. The vertical axis gives an approximate indication of the proportion of green in a given color, while the horizontal axis moves from blue on the left to red on the right.
The curved line 50 in the diagram of FIG. 1 serving as the upper perimeter of the enclosed area indicates all of the spectral colors (pure wavelengths) and is often referred to as the "spectral locus" (the wavelengths along the curve are indicated in nanometers). Again, the colors falling on the line 50 are by definition fully saturated colors. The straight line 52 at the bottom of the enclosed area in the diagram, connecting the blue (approximately 420 nanometers) and red (approximately 700 nanometers) ends, is referred to as the "purple boundary" or the "line of purples." This line represents colors that cannot be produced by any single wavelength of light; however, a point along the purple boundary nonetheless may be considered to represent a fully saturated color. The area bounded by the spectral locus 50 and the purple boundary 52 represents the full "color gamut" of human vision.
In FIG. 1, an "achromatic point" E is indicated at the coordinates x=y=⅓, representing full spectrum white. Hence, colors generally are deemed to become less saturated as one moves from the boundaries of the enclosed area toward the point E. FIG. 2 provides another illustration of the chromaticity diagram shown in FIG. 1, in which approximate color regions are indicated for general reference, including a region around the achromatic point E corresponding to generally perceived white light.
White light often is discussed in terms of "color temperature" rather than "color;" the term "color temperature" essentially refers to a particular subtle color content or shade (e.g., reddish, bluish) of white light. The color temperature of a given white light visual stimulus conventionally is characterized according to the temperature in degrees Kelvin (K) of a black body radiator that radiates essentially the same spectrum as the white light visual stimulus in question. Black body radiator color temperatures fall within a range of from approximately 700 degrees K (generally considered the first visible to the human eye) to over 10,000 degrees K; white light typically is perceived at color temperatures above 1500-2000 degrees K. Lower color temperatures generally indicate white light having a more significant red component or a "warmer feel," while higher color temperatures generally indicate white light having a more significant blue component or a "cooler feel."
FIG. 3 shows a lower portion of the chromaticity diagram of FIG. 2, onto which is mapped a "white light/black body curve" 54, illustrating representative CIE coordinates of a black body radiator and the corresponding color temperatures. As can be seen in FIG. 3, a significant portion of the white light/black body curve 54 (from about 2800 degrees K to well above 10,000 degrees K) falls within the region of the CIE diagram generally identified as corresponding to white light (the achromatic point E corresponds approximately to a color temperature of 5500 degrees K). As discussed above, color temperatures below about 2800 degrees K fall into regions of the CIE diagram that typically are associated with "warmer" white light (i.e., moving from yellow to orange to red).
The CIE chromaticity diagram may be used to evaluate a given color device's capability for reproducing various colors (i.e., specify an overall range of colors that may be generated or rendered by the device). While the entirety of the CIE chromaticity diagram represents the full color gamut of human vision, color devices generally are only able to reproduce some limited portion of this full gamut. Furthermore, different types of color devices may be configured to reproduce a range of colors that fall within different limited portions of the full gamut. Hence, a given color device typically may be associated with its own limited "device color gamut" on the CIE chromaticity diagram.
To evaluate a device color gamut associated with a given color device, an understanding of how the device reproduces different colors, and how different colors are communicated to and from the device (e.g. a data format for color commands, files, etc.), is helpful. First, it should be appreciated that conventional color devices in a computer environment (e.g., scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, printers, offset presses) often treat different perceivable colors in terms of relative amounts of "primaries" by which the device reproduces or categorizes a specific desired color, via additive or subtractive mixing of the primaries.
For example, devices such as TV screens, monitors, displays, digital cameras, and the like reproduce different colors based on additive color mixing principles. Additive color devices often employ red, green and blue primaries; hence, red, green and blue commonly are referred to as "additive primaries." These three primaries roughly represent the respective spectral sensitivities typical of the three different types of cone receptors in the human eye (having peak sensitivities at approximately 650 nanometers for red, 530 nanometers for green, and 425 nanometers for blue) under photopic conditions. Much research has shown that additive mixtures of red, green and blue primaries in different proportions can create a wide range of colors discernible to humans. This is the well-known principle on which many color displays are based, in which a red light emitter, a blue light emitter, and a green light emitter are energized in different proportions to create a wide variety of perceivably different colors, as well as white light, based on additive mixing of the primaries.
Other devices such as printers typically rely on subtractive mixing principles (e.g., mixing of inks or dyes) and generate different colors based on variants of "subtractive primaries" such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. In subtractive mixing, light passes through or reflects off of another medium (e.g., ink on a printed surface, paint on a wall, a dye in a filter) and is absorbed or reflected depending on particular spectral characteristics of the medium. Accordingly, in subtractive devices, different primaries of inks, dyes, gels and filters are employed to generated desired colors, based on one of the primaries or combinations of multiple primaries, that subtract out (absorb) undesired colors and let the desired color pass through.
In terms of the CIE color system, each different primary of a color device may be mapped to a corresponding point on the CIE chromaticity diagram, thereby determining a device gamut, i.e., a region of the diagram that specifies all of the possible colors that may be reproduced by the device. For additive devices employing three primaries, the device gamut is defined as a triangle formed by the x, y chromaticity coordinates corresponding to each of the red, green and blue (RGB) primaries. Printers, whose colors are based on variants of CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) subtractive primaries, have gamuts whose shape is more complex than a simple triangle, often somewhat pentagonal or hexagonal with additional vertices at the cyan, magenta, and yellow primaries, and generally smaller than gamuts based on RGB additive primaries. Again, any colors inside a device gamut can be reproduced by the device; colors outside the device gamut cannot (such colors are considered "out of gamut" for the device).
To illustrate an exemplary determination of device gamut based on the CIE chromaticity diagram, an RGB additive device, such as a computer monitor, is considered. First, a spectral power distribution (SPD) is obtained for each of the primaries of the device. In many conventional monitors, the SPDs of the primaries are determined in large part by the phosphors used, which often are chosen based on brightness, longevity, low cost and low toxicity ("ideal phosphors", i.e., with radiant dominant wavelengths located near 650 nanometers, 530 nanometers and 425 nanometers, don't exist). As will become evident in the discussion below, the choice of materials used for device primaries has perhaps the most notable effect on the resulting device gamut, based on the corresponding SPDs of the primaries.
In constructing a device gamut, typically, each of the primary SPDs is considered at a "maximum contribution level" for the primary (e.g., a maximum available radiant power). Thus, in the example of the RGB monitor, a red SPD, a green SPD and a blue SPD are obtained, each at maximum available radiant power. Subsequently, CIE chromaticity coordinates x,y are calculated for each SPD in the manner described above in connection with FIG. 1 (i.e., using the color matching functions to obtain tristimulus values X, Y, and Z, and then normalizing), and the calculated coordinates are plotted as points on the CIE chromaticity diagram.
FIG. 4 illustrates the CIE chromaticity diagram of FIG. 1, onto which are mapped exemplary x,y chromaticity coordinates generally indicative of red, green and blue primaries of a conventional RGB monitor. The resulting three points 60R, 60G and 60B form an enclosed area (i.e., triangle) constituting the device gamut 60 for the monitor. It may be appreciated from FIG. 4 that the exemplary monitor device gamut 60 is quite limited with respect to the full gamut of human vision, in that it maintains a notable distance from the purple boundary 52 and generally excludes a significant portion of the green and cyan regions of the CIE chromaticity diagram.
The particular device gamut 60 shown in FIG. 4 represents a color space commonly referred to in the relevant arts as "sRGB" (or "standard" RGB). The sRGB color space was created cooperatively by Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft Corporation, and is endorsed and employed ubiquitously by many other computer-related color industry participants for both hardware and software purposes relating to color reproduction (it is the defacto standard for the Internet and the Windows operating system). The specific CIE chromaticity coordinates for the sRGB color space are defined as [0.6400, 0.3300] for the red vertex 60R, [0.3000, 0.6000] for the green vertex 60G, and [0.1500, 0.0600] for the blue vertex 60B. A "white point" for the sRGB space, corresponding to a color temperature of approximately 6500 degrees K, also is defined as [0.3127, 0.3290] and labeled as "D65" in FIG. 4 (the sRGB white point is slightly different than the achromatic white point E in FIGS. 1-3, which has CIE x,y coordinates of [0.33, 0.33]).
For purposes of comparison, an exemplary CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) color space, typically represented by a device gamut for subtractive devices such as printers, also is shown in FIG. 4 as the gamut 62. As discussed above, subtractive devices generally have gamuts whose shape is more complex than a simple triangle. Most four-color CMYK printers have device gamuts generally smaller than the sRGB color space (high quality inkjet printers with more than four colors, typically with the addition of light C and light M, may have somewhat larger gamuts than the gamut 62 shown in FIG. 4).
Various color devices often identify different reproducible colors based on a data format that specifies relative amounts of different primaries. For example, devices employing red, green and blue primaries such as the monitor represented by the sRGB color space shown in FIG. 4 often reproduce different colors based on an [R, G, B] data format, wherein each of the R, G, and B values ranges from zero to some maximum value (representing a "full output" for that primary). For example, in 24-bit RGB color spaces, color is described by three 8-bit bytes, each of which can take on values from zero through 255. Accordingly, a color represented by only the red primary is designated as [255, 0, 0], a color represented by only the green primary is designated as [0, 255, 0], and a color represented by only the blue primary is designated as [0, 0, 255]; other colors are designated in terms of relative amounts of the primaries. In this format, black is designated as [0, 0, 0], and "pure" white (corresponding to the "white point" of a given device) is designated as [255, 255, 255]. Some computer programs utilize 48-bit RGB color that allows values of 0 through 65,536 for each primary color (16 bits/color).
It should be appreciated, however, that the numeric values in any given data format for color have no clear, unambiguous meaning unless they are associated with a particular color space (i.e., a particular gamut). Specifically, for the primary values to have any significance with respect to reproducing a particular color in a given device, each value must be associated with a corresponding vertex of the particular gamut associated with the device or a gamut representing some predetermined (e.g., industry standardized or specified) color space, such as the sRGB color space shown in FIG. 4. Stated differently, using the example of an [R, G, B] format, the same [R, G, B] values associated with two different color gamuts or spaces generally will reproduce different perceivable colors.
To emphasize this concept, an example of a specific transform to map an arbitrary [R, G, B] data set to a specific color space defined on the CIE chromaticity diagram is presented below. This process relates significantly to the CIE tristimulus values determined for each of the different primaries; in essence, it is the specific choice of primaries that determines the color space. In particular, in calculating the x,y chromaticity coordinates for the respective primaries of a given color space (e.g., the points 60R, 60G and 60B shown in FIG. 4), as discussed above in connection with FIG. 1 each primary is associated (via the color matching functions x(λ), y(λ), z(λ)) with a corresponding set of CIE tristimulus values X, Y, and Z. A matrix transformation may be derived, based on the three sets of tristimulus values, to map an arbitrary [R, G, B] data set representing a desired color to a corresponding set of tristimulus values according to:
                                          [                                                                                X                    R                                                                                X                    G                                                                                X                    B                                                                                Y                    R                                                                                Y                    G                                                                                Y                    B                                                                                Z                    R                                                                                Z                    G                                                                                Z                    B                                                                        ]                                          [                                                            R                                                                              G                                                                              B                                                      ]                          =                              [                                                            X                                                                              Y                                                                              Z                                                      ]                    .                                    (        2        )
In Eq. (2), the R-G-B column vector is the data set representing the prescribed relative amounts of the respective primaries to generate a desired color. Each column of the three-by-three transformation matrix represents the tristimulus values for one of the primaries at its maximum possible value in the [R, G, B] data set (e.g., XR, YR, and ZR represent the tristimulus values for the red primary at maximum output, wherein YR represents the maximum luminance from the red primary). In this manner, it is the transformation matrix that defines the particular color space. Finally, the column vector X-Y-Z in Eq. (2) represents the resulting CIE tristimulus values of the desired color corresponding to the arbitrary ratio specified in the [R, G, B] data set, wherein Y represents the luminance of the desired color. Hence, according to the transformation given in Eq. (2) above, any arbitrary color based on relative proportions of the red, green and blue primaries may be mapped to the CIE tristimulus values, which in turn are normalized and mapped to the chromaticity diagram, falling within or along the perimeter of the gamut representing the color space defined by the transformation matrix.
In view of the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the sRGB color space illustrated in FIG. 4 corresponds to a particular transformation (i.e., particular values for the nine matrix elements) operating on an [R, G, B] data set. This particular transformation was based on the primaries found in conventional CRT monitors (dating back to approximately 1996). Vast amounts of software (both professional and personal computer software) assume the sRGB color space for color reproduction; namely, that an image file employing a 24-bit [R, G, B] color data format (i.e., 8 bits/primary), placed unchanged into the buffer of a display or monitor, will display colors predictably based on predetermined combinations of the particular sRGB primaries.
However, the practical reality in computer environments is that, as discussed above, different color devices do not necessarily have device gamuts that are identical or similar to the sRGB color space. One reason for this is that one or more of the red, green and blue primaries in one device may not have exactly or even substantially the same spectral power distribution (and hence corresponding X, Y, Z tristimulus values) as the corresponding red, green and blue primaries of another device, thus leading to different transformation matrices in Eq. (2) above. This means that the same [R, G, B] values may produce notably different colors in different devices that do not share a common color space. Furthermore, different devices may reproduce color based on different primaries, and/or based on different primary mixing techniques; as discussed above, output devices such as printers typically are based on subtractive mixing of CMY(K) primaries.
Dealing with the foregoing situation is referred to as "color management." Maintaining consistent color appearance in the translation between different color devices and color spaces in many cases is not trivial, but color management techniques generally provide a reasonably sane and practical solution. At present, however, often the most sophisticated color management system is unable to make two color devices with different gamuts display exactly the same set of colors; in most cases, a reasonable approximation is the best available solution.
FIG. 5 illustrates the general concept of color management in terms of a "color-managed workflow" in a conventional computer peripheral environment that includes a scanner, a monitor, a color printer, and one or more color image files. In some exemplary computer environments, computer programs that implement color management concepts often are described as being "ICM-aware," wherein ICM stands for Image Color Management. ICM standards are maintained by the International Color Consortium (ICC), which was formed in 1993 by a number of computer industry vendors to create a universal color management system that would function transparently across many operating systems and software packages. The ICC specification allows for fidelity of color when color identifiers are moved between applications and operating systems, from the point of creation to final reproduction.
In a color-managed workflow similar to that shown in FIG. 5, the color response of each device and each color image file (i.e., the device gamut or color space defined for the device or image file) is characterized by a file called an "ICC profile." ICC profiles may exist as "stand-alone" computer files (ICC profiles generally have the extension ".icm," and in the Windows operating systems are stored in specific directories). ICC profiles also may be embedded as tags within color image files; for example, the image file types TIFF, JPEG, PNG, and BMP are supported by most ICM-aware image editors. The ICC specification divides color devices into three broad classifications: input devices, display devices, and output devices. In the example of FIG. 5, four ICC profiles are illustrated, namely, a scanner ICC profile 72 (input device), an image-embedded ICC profile 74 (e.g., from a digital camera, also an input device) , a monitor ICC profile 76 (display device), and a printer ICC profile 78 (output device).
ICC profiles are configured to relate numeric data specifying a desired color in one color space (e.g., values expressing relative amounts of primaries, such as [R, G, B]), to a corresponding color expressed in a device-independent "Profile Connection Space (PCS)" (also referred to as a "working color space"). The PCSs currently relied upon for ICC profiles include either the CIE-XYZ or CIELAB color spaces. An exemplary PCS common to the computer environment of FIG. 5 is indicated in block 70.
The heart of color management is the translation or "gamut mapping" between devices with different color gamuts and files with different color spaces. In particular, an ICC profile for a color device (e.g., the scanner profile 72, the monitor profile 76, and the printer profile 78) contains data that defines a mapping between the device's color space and the PCS 70. Similarly, an ICC profile for a color image file (e.g., the image-embedded ICC profile 74) contains data that defines a mapping between the color space in which the color image was created and the PCS 70.
From the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the integrity of the mapping data in a given ICC profile determines in significant part the degree of success in color reproduction in a color-managed workflow process. Because colors may be perceived in a wide variety of viewing environments and/or on a wide variety of imaging media, a standard viewing environment for the PCS also is defined in the ICC specification based on the ISO 13655 standard. One of the first steps in profile building involves measuring a set of colors from some imaging media or display; i.e., measuring the primaries that ultimately define the color space for the image or color device. If the imaging media or viewing environment in which the primaries are measured differ from the ICC standard viewing environment defined for the PCS, it is necessary to adapt the calorimetric data for the primaries to the ICC standard (typically, it is the responsibility of the profile builder to do any required adaptation.
A variety of industry vendors provide products and services for facilitating the creation of device and image profiles for color-managed workflow processes. One example of such a vendor is Gretag-Macbeth of Switzerland (see http://www.gretagmacbeth.com). Gretag-Macbeth provides a series of products for reading color from a variety of sources, and creating and editing ICC profiles for such sources, including a variety of monitors (CRT, LCD, laptop displays), digital projectors, digital studio cameras, and RGB, CMYK, Hexachrome, CMYK+Red/Blue and CMYK+Red/Green output devices. Profiles can be edited for fine tuning based on deviations of measured colors from the ICC standard viewing environment. Additionally, "spot colors" representing a variety of vendor-defined colors such as Pantone or Munsell colors, may be defined the in the PCS for reproduction on a target device (to the extent possible based on the target device's gamut). Virtually any color can be scanned from any source to create a color library (e.g., the entire Pantone library), and custom color palettes may be created from scanned sources.
FIG. 6 illustrates a color management source-target gamut mapping process. A "color matching module" (CMM), also sometimes referred to as a "color engine" 80, is a program that uses the data in any two ICC profiles to perform a complete mapping from a color source to a color target. Specifically, the color engine 80 utilizes a source ICC profile (e.g., one of the profiles 72 and 74 shown in FIG. 5) and a target ICC profile (e.g., one of the files 76 and 78 in FIG. 5), both of which are referenced to the PCS 70, to convert source color data 82 to target color data 84 (i.e., perform a direct conversion between the source and target color spaces).
For example, the color engine 80 may receive source color data 82 from a scanner in RGB space and provide target color data for a printer in CMYK space. In so doing, the color engine first converts source color data from the scanner in the form [R, G, B] to the PCS (e.g., CIE x, y coordinates and a Y parameter) based on the data contained in the scanner ICC profile 72. Subsequently, the color engine 80 converts the color as designated in the PCS, based on the data contained in the printer ICC profile 78, to target color data in the form [C, M, Y, K] which is output to the printer. In various implementations, the color engine may accomplish the gamut mappings via interpolation of numeric data stored in tables in the ICC profiles, or through a series of algorithmic transformations acting on the numeric data stored in ICC profiles. A color engine also may be employed to simply recreate one or more colors defined in the PCS on a target output or display color device, based on the target ICC profile for the device. For example, FIG. 6 also illustrates a color library 86 that defines one or more colors in terms of the PCS. A user interface 88 (e.g., a computer graphics user interface or "GUI") may be utilized to select one or more colors from the color library 86, and the color engine provides corresponding target color data 84 to the target device so as to reproduce (or approximate) one or more selected colors from the color library.
While the format of ICC profiles is defined precisely, the algorithms and processing details performed by the color engine 80 on the ICC profiles are not strictly defined, allowing for some variation amongst different applications and systems employing different color engines. Some examples of color engines found in conventional computer environments include Windows' ICM 2.0, Adobe Photoshop's ACE, and Apple's ColorSync.
In some instances, the mappings performed by a color engine can be quite complex, especially when the source and target color spaces are significantly different. In this situation, a color engine may be configured to perform gamut mapping with one of four "rendering intents" recognized by the ICC standard. Specifically, a given rendering intent determines how colors are handled if they are present in the source color data but are "out of gamut" in the target color space (beyond the color reproduction capability of the target device); for this reason, each rendering intent represents some kind of compromise. FIG. 7 illustrates some of the general concepts underlying rendering intents; there are several nomenclatures used in the industry for various rendering intents, and for the present discussion the standard ICC nomenclature is used.
In "perceptual" rendering, a color engine is configured to perform an expansion or compression when mapping between different source and target color spaces, so as to maintain consistent overall appearance. This rendering intent is generally recommended for processing photographic sources. Via perceptual rendering, low saturation colors are changed very little whereas more saturated colors within the gamuts of both color spaces may be altered to differentiate them from saturated colors outside the smaller gamut color space. Algorithms implementing perceptual rendering can be quite complex. On the right side of FIG. 7, perceptual rendering is conceptually depicted; source and target color spaces are indicated as rectangular blocks, in which the left and right sides of the blocks represent saturated colors and the middle of the blocks represents neutral gray. Perceptual rendering applies the same gamut compression to all images, even when the image contains no significant out-of-gamut colors. Perceptual rendering is mostly reversible, and generally is most accurate in 48-bit color devices.
None of the other three rendering intents is reversible. In "relative colorimetric" rendering, a color engine is configured to reproduce in-gamut colors exactly and clip out-of-gamut colors to the nearest reproducible hue. This type of rendering is conceptually depicted on the left side of FIG. 7. In "absolute calorimetric" rendering, in-gamut colors are reproduced exactly and out-of-gamut colors are clipped to the nearest reproducible hue, sacrificing saturation and possibly lightness. In this type of rendering, on tinted papers, whites may be darkened to keep the hue identical to the original. For example, cyan may be added to the white of a cream-colored paper, effectively darkening the image. Finally, in "saturation rendering," saturated primary colors in the source are mapped to the closest saturated primary colors in the target, neglecting differences in hue, saturation, or lightness.
In sum, the concept of color management in computer environments has two key features. First, color devices or color images are each associated with a "color management profile" (e.g., an ICC profile) that defines a mapping between a device gamut (e.g., associated with a scanner, printer, monitor, digital camera, etc.) or a color space (e.g., associated with a digital image) and a common "working color space" (e.g., a "profile connection space" or PCS). Second, a color matching module (CMM), or "color engine," uses the information in the color management profiles to perform a mapping between a source gamut or color space to a target gamut or color space, via the intermediary of the working color space (e.g., the PCS). Some of the challenging details of color management include selecting an appropriate rendering intent implemented by a color engine to achieve the most reasonable color rendition for a given mapping.
While the discussion above regarding color management focused on the CIE XYZ color space as a working color space (profile connection space), it should be appreciated that a variety of color models, color spaces, or color systems may be used as a working color space in a color-managed workflow. For example, in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office products, every driver for an input color device makes a color transformation from the color space of the device to sRGB space; for an output device or monitor, the associated driver then makes a color transformation from sRGB space to the color space of the output device. Hence, in the Microsoft implementation of color management, the sRGB space serves as the working color space. Other vendors, such as Apple, implement color management techniques via the ICC specification discussed above, and utilize one of the CIE color systems as a profile connection space. In particular, Apple's ColorSync color engine is fully integrated into the Mac operating system and fully supports ICC standards for managing color.
Also, while the ICC profile specification was discussed as one important component of an exemplary color-managed workflow, it should be appreciated that other color management approaches exist specifying profile formats (e.g., OpenEXR Color Management Proposal, IQA) and design of color matching modules or color engines. Finally, it should also be appreciated that different aspects of color management may be implemented in an operating system, by applications running in an operating system, and/or in color devices themselves.

Color management methods and apparatus for lighting devices

Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, Inc.


A landing gear for an aircraft having a main fitting arranged to be coupled to the aircraft and arranged to move between a stowed condition and a deployed condition and a trailing arm movably coupled to the main fitting. A torsion spring is coupled to the trailing arm such that the movement of the trailing arm causes torsion loading of the torsion spring. A stay assembly is provided which comprises the torsion spring, the stay assembly having a first condition in which it is arranged to react axial loading thereof so as to maintain the main fitting in the deployed condition and a second condition in which it is arranged to permit the main fitting to move between the stowed condition and the deployed condition.

A "levered" or "trailing arm" type landing gear has a main fitting connected to the fuselage of an aircraft, and a trailing arm that is pivotally connected to the main fitting. The trailing arm carries a wheel assembly. When the aircraft lands, landing loads cause the trailing arm to pivot relative to the main fitting. A shock absorber, which is generally an oleo-pneumatic shock absorber, is provided between the main fitting and trailing arm to provide spring and damping functions.
While oleo-pneumatic shock absorbers provide efficient shock absorption, they are generally sensitive to oil and/or gas loss. As such, they require regular maintenance.
It is known to provide an aircraft landing gear with a mechanical spring. A mechanical spring advantageously does not require oil and gas maintenance. However, a mechanical spring is generally heavier than an equivalent gas or liquid spring.


A material of polyurethane with covalently linked X-ray contrast material, where the polyurethane is biocompatible, stable or also biodegradable in an appropriate environment, as well as X-ray contrasting.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plastic material which is opaque to X-rays, in particular, polyurethane having a covalently linked X-ray contrast material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Use of plastics in industry, agriculture, medicine or other applications is often tied to the question of locating and testing the material during its use. In addition in medical applications it must not only be possible to locate the implanted or applied plastics, but also the plastics must be removable from the human or animal body after a set period of time. As a rule, removal requires a further surgical procedure. Although easily locatable plastics are known, they are chemically stable and can only be removed from the human body by a surgical procedure. On the other hand, plastics are known which degrade and are removed from the body after a certain time when their purpose has been served. However, such plastics are not easy to locate.
A polyurethane which is opaque to X-rays but which is not has been disclosed biologically degradable in Derwent Abstract 87-348546/49 of WO 8707-155 which, however, is not biologically degradable. However if it were biologically degradable, highly toxic halogen derivates of isophtalic acid would be created, as a result of which the polymer would not be biocompatible. Biocompatible and/or biodegradable polyurethanes which, however, are not X-ray contrasting, have been disclosed in J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Symp. 66, pp. 259 to 268 (1979) or J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Symp. 66, pp. 239 to 257 (1979), as well as in Houben-Weyl, Methoden der organischen Chemie [Methods of Organic Chemistry], Volume E 20, Makromol. Stoffe [Macromolecular Materials], pp. 1719 to 1721 (1987).


A superconductor multi-level quantizer is disclosed, which quantizer includes a number N of Josephson junction (JJ) comparators connected in parallel to a common input node. The quantizer further includes at least one flux bias device. Each flux bias device is capable to adjust the flux threshold for at least one of the JJ comparators. The quantizer is so configured a feedback current from the output is capable to shift the flux threshold for each of the JJ comparators.

Superconductor analog-to-digital converters are based on the ultra fast switching times of Josephson junction (JJ) comparators, of order a picosecond. This permits ultra fast sampling rates of tens of gigahertz, leading to some of the fastest circuits in any electronic technology for both Nyquist-rate ADCs and oversampling (sigma-delta and delta type) ADCs. See, for example, the review article on Superconducting ADCs by O. Mukhanov, et al., in Proc. IEEE, vol. 92, pp. 1564-1584 (2004), incorporated herein by reference. In order to further increase the dynamic range of superconductor ADCs, it is desirable to combine multiple JJ comparators together. One prior art approach was a flash ADC using a resistor network and multiple quantizers to generate an n-bit output, see for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,026 to Bradley. However, all designs based on resistor networks require precision matching of elements to achieve the best performance. Element mismatches will generate nonlinear artifacts, limiting the spur-free dynamic range (SFDR) that is essential for many ADC applications.
The problem of element mismatches is well known in the prior art of conventional semiconductor data converters. One general approach is known as "dynamic element matching" (DEM), in which various elements and comparators are permuted by physical switching in a way that randomizes the mismatches, sharply reducing the nonlinear peaks or "spurs". See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,816,103, to Jonsson, or U.S. Pat. No. 7,002,504 to McMahill.
The problem of using superconductor ADCs with multiple level sampling, or quantizing, while minimizing element mismatches is not solved.