A process for producing an exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst includes the steps of immersing a porous support into a solution including a noble metal catalyst ingredient, thereby preparing a support with a noble metal catalyst ingredient loaded thereon, and thermally treating the noble-metal-catalyst-ingredient-loaded support at a temperature of 800.degree. C. or more in non-oxidizing atmosphere. In the thermally-treating step, the noble metal catalyst ingredient is prevented from being oxidized to its oxide, and accordingly it is inhibited from migrating in vapor phase. Further, in the thermally-treating step, pores of the porous support are contracted so that they surround the noble metal catalyst ingredient closely therein. All in all, the noble metal catalyst ingredient is prevented from sintering. Thus, the resulting exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst is of superb heat-resistance, and it can be applied to elevated temperatures of 800.degree. C. or more in fuel-lean atmosphere.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing an exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst which is capable of simultaneously purify three components, such as hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x), included in exhaust gases emitted from internal combustion engines for automobiles etc. An exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst produced in accordance with the present invention is especially useful for applications in fuel-lean atmosphere in which oxygen is included in an amount of the stoichiometric point, or more than required for oxidizing carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) in exhaust gases.
2. Description of Related Art
As catalysts for purifying automotive exhaust gases, there have been employed 3-way catalysts so far which oxidize CO and HC and reduce NO.sub.x simultaneously to purify exhaust gases. For example, the 3-way catalysts have been known widely which comprise a heat resistant support formed of cordierite, a porous catalyst carrier layer formed of gamma-alumina and disposed on the support, and a noble metal catalyst ingredient selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd and Rh and loaded on the porous catalyst carrier layer.
Recently, it has been likely to install an exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst directly below a manifold which is disposed adjacent to an engine, and accordingly an exhaust-gas temperature has been likely to increase during high-speed traveling. As a result, an exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst has been more likely to be exposed to elevated temperatures. However, in conventional exhaust-gas-purifying catalysts, thermal degradation might be developed in the gamma-alumina by high-temperature exhaust gases. The sintering of the noble catalyst ingredient resulting from the thermally-degraded gamma-alumina might possibly deteriorate the catalytic capability of conventional exhaust-gas-purifying catalysts.
In order to solve the possible problems associated with conventional exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 4-122,441 discloses a novel process for producing an exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst. In the novel production process, alumina is utilized which has been thermally treated in advance, and a noble metal catalyst ingredient is loaded on the thermally-treated alumina. Since the alumina has been thermally treated in advance by the novel production process, the thermal degradation is hardly developed in the resulting exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst even when it is exposed to elevated temperatures, and accordingly the noble metal catalyst ingredient is little sintered. Thus, the resulting exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst can stably exhibit its catalytic capability.
When driving automobiles, especially when driving automobiles in urban areas, the automobiles are accelerated and decelerated frequently. Consequently, the air-fuel ratio varies frequently in the range of from the values adjacent to the stoichiometric point (or the theoretical air-fuel ratio: 14.6) to the fuel-rich side. In order to satisfy the low fuel consumption requirement during the driving conditions such as in the above-described urban areas, it is necessary to operate the automobiles on the fuel-lean side where the air-fuel mixture containing oxygen as excessive as possible is supplied to the engines.
However, it has been found that the exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst produced by the novel process disclosed in the aforementioned patent publication considerably suffers from the sintering of noble metal catalyst ingredient when it is operated under the fuel-lean conditions and when it is subjected to elevated temperatures of 800.degree. C. or more. Thus, the exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst is degraded in terms of catalytic capability.

Process for producing exhaust-gas-purifying catalyst


A jet engine including a motor with a fan casing and a nacelle which includes a mobile cowl and a main slider that is mobile in translation between an advanced position and a retracted position in which the mobile cowl and the fan casing define, between them, a window. The nacelle also includes reverser flaps and exterior flaps, each one being mounted articulated on the main slider between a stowed position in which it obstructs the window and a deployed position in which it does not obstruct the window, a secondary slider that is mobile in translation on the main slider between a first position and a second position, a transmission system making each reverser flap and exterior flap pass from the stowed position to the deployed position when the secondary slider passes from the first position to the second position, and a set of actuators that bring about a movement in translation of the main slider and of the secondary slider.

An aircraft includes a fuselage to each side of which is fixed a wing. Under each wing is suspended at least one turbofan. Each turbofan is fixed under the wing by a pylon that is fixed between the structure of the wing and the structure of the turbofan. The turbofan comprises a motor and a nacelle that is fixed around the motor.
The nacelle comprises a plurality of reverser flaps, each one being mobile in rotation on the structure of the nacelle between a stowed position in which it becomes continuous with the exterior surface of the nacelle and a deployed position in which it opens a window in the wall of the nacelle to expel the air of the bypass flow to the exterior of the nacelle. Generally, the window houses a cascade which serves to redirect the bypass air flow forwards so as to produce reverse thrust.
The movement of each reverser flap is controlled by one or more actuators, which are relatively heavy.
Although the mechanism of a reverser flap of this kind is entirely satisfactory, it is desirable to find different mechanisms.

Jet engine comprising a nacelle equipped with reverser flaps


A structure may include a first layer, a second layer, and an adhesive layer. The first layer may have a faying surface, a side edge, and a first coefficient of thermal expansion. The second layer may also have a faying surface, a side edge, and a second coefficient of thermal expansion that is different than the first coefficient of thermal expansion. The adhesive layer may be interposed between the first and second faying surfaces. The faying surface of at least one of the first and second layers may include an edge treatment extending along at least a portion of a respective one of the side edges. The edge treatment may have an edge treatment length measured along a direction generally parallel to the faying surface and an edge treatment height measured along a direction generally perpendicular to the faying surface.

Transparent armor panels may be comprised of multiple layers formed of different materials. For example, an armor panel may include an outer layer or strike face formed of glass, ceramic, or glass-ceramic material configured to receive an impact from a projectile. The ballistic performance of the armor panel may be improved by adding one or more layers to the backside of the strike face. For example, one or more layers of polycarbonate, polyurethane, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), or other material may be adhesively bonded to the backside of the glass layer (e.g., strike face) to improve the energy-absorbing capability of the armor panel.
Unfortunately, the bonding of the glass layer to the polycarbonate (or other) layer may induce the formation of residual stress in the panel assembly. The residual stress in the panel assembly may be caused by a difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the glass layer relative to the coefficient of thermal expansion of the polycarbonate layer. The residual stress may be induced in the panel assembly as a result of bonding the glass layer to the polycarbonate layer at a relatively high temperature (e.g., 180°-250° Fahrenheit) and then allowing the bonded panel assembly to cool to room temperature.
The residual stress may include tensile stress acting at the bondline of the panel assembly along one or more side edges of the panel assembly. The tensile stress along the side edges may result in a peel force located at the side edge and which may urge the glass layer and polycarbonate layer to peel away from one another at the bondline. Over time, such peel forces may result in delaminations in the bondline between the glass layer and the polycarbonate layer. Such delaminations may reduce the mechanical, ballistic, and optical performance of the panel assembly in the field.
Prior art attempts to reduce residual stress in composite panel assemblies include increasing the overall bondline thickness. Although generally effective in reducing residual stress between the layers of the panel assembly, the increase in bondline thickness unfortunately reduces the ballistic performance of the panel assembly. Furthermore, the increase in bondline thickness adds weight to the panel assembly which reduces the overall performance of the system (e.g., a vehicle or a structure) to which the panel assembly is mounted.
As can be seen, there exists a need in the art for a system and method for reducing residual stress in panel assemblies formed of materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion. Ideally, such system and method for reducing residual stress in panel assemblies is of simple construction, low cost, and lightweight.

Panel assembly having thin bondline with reduced edge stress


A first order temperature compensated reference current generator includes a current device providing a controlled current, a startup circuit connected to the current device for initiating operation of the current device, and a current definition mechanism driven by the current device for supplying a current which is independent of temperature, process and individual temperature coefficients circuit elements used. The current definition mechanism incorporates voltage controlled resistors driven by a predetermined voltage and having a predetermined temperature coefficient.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reference current generator. More particularly, the invention relates to a first order temperature compensated, and process corner and power supply independent, reference current generator for low voltage applications in CMOS technology.
2. Description of Related Art
A current reference is normally obtained from a bandgap reference circuit as shown in FIG. 1. A bandgap circuit generally has diode-connected Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) Q0, Q1, Q3 and Q4 connected in parallel to each other. BJT Q0 is provided with a series connected resistor R1, whereas BJT Q4 is provided with a resistor connected in parallel to achieve a current summing function. A current device comprising transistors M1, M2, M12 and M13 causes a similar current to flow through each of these BJTs. An operational amplifier OP1 receives input from BJTs Q0 and Q1 as shown. The output Y0 of the operational amplifier OP1 is connected to the control terminals of current devices M1, M2 and M13 for regulating the current supplied by the device. Another operational amplifier OP2 is connected to the emitters of BJTs Q2 and Q3. The output Y1 of this operational amplifier is connected to the control terminal of transistor M12. The function of this arrangement is to maintain the input nodes of operational amplifiers OP1 and OP2 at same voltage level. The output current I can be than be mirrored from this circuit.
The current equation for this circuit can be written asI=(Vt*ln(n)/R1)+Vbe/R2where, Vt is the thermal voltage (26 mV at 300 deg K); Vbe is the base emitter voltage drop of a BJT; and n is the emitter area ratio of BJTS Q0 and Q1.
The current I is temperature compensated to the first order as both Vt and Vbe have inverse temperature dependencies, however an approximately +/−20% variation of this current is observed across process, voltage and temperature (PVT).
The minimum supply voltage required for a typical 90 nm process, is the voltage drop across base emitter voltage drop of the BJT Vbe (typically 0.65V) plus the threshold voltage of the Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) Vth (approximately 0.25V) plus twice the drop across drain to source voltage for a MOSFET to operate in saturation Vds(sat). Mathematically this minimum supply voltage Vdd required can be written as:Vdd(min)=Vbe+Vth+2*Vds(sat)
From the above discussion it is apparent that a substantial voltage drop is observed across the BJTs. For low voltage applications having supply voltage of about 1 Volt this poses a serious limitation as the voltage headroom available for the MOS to operate in saturation is almost unavailable or is so small that the required sizes of the MOS transistors become very large. This increases the parasitics associated with the MOS transistors. Further as each MOS transistor is expected to operate at the edge of saturation the output resistance of the MOS transistor is very small and the overall performance of the circuit is affected. Therefore reliability of this circuit for low voltage applications is very low.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,448,844, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes another CMOS current reference 100 shown in FIG. 2. This circuit includes a constant current generating unit 110 for generating a current that is proportional to absolute temperature (PTAT) that does not depend on the supply voltage VDD. Further the invention includes a self-compensation unit MP9 for controlling the constant current generating unit 110 to maintain the constant current regardless of the variation in temperature. The CMOS current reference circuit also includes a starting circuit unit MN5 for establishing a current path to activate the constant current generating unit 110 and a constant current outputting unit 120 for supplying the bias current Ibias generated from the constant current generating unit 110. A variable resistor 112 is coupled between the drain of the NMOS transistor MN7 and ground VSS. In order to prevent the output bias current Ibias from varying due to process variations, a variable resistor 112 comprising of a plurality of parallel resistors R1, R2 . . . , Rn is provided to adjust the resistance value depending on the process variation as shown in FIG. 2a.
An expression for the current I generated by circuit in FIG. 2 can be derived by assuming transistor MN5 carries negligible current. Transistors MP6 and MP7 form a current mirror. It is assumed that the equivalent resistance of the variable resistor is R and the currents in transistors MN6B and MP9 are I1 and I2 respectively. The resistor 112 is coupled between the drain of the NMOS transistor MN7 and VSS. For the purpose of derivation of the relationship the following parameter definitions are used:                Vt=thermal voltage (26 mv at 300 deg K);        Vbe=base emitter voltage drop of the BJT;        Vgs=gate to source voltage of a MOS;        Vds=drain to source voltage of a MOS;        κn=transconductance parameter of a NMOS;        κp=transconductance parameter of a PMOS;        μn=surface mobility of electrons in a NMOS;        κp=surface mobility of electrons in a PMOS;        Vth=threshold voltage of a MOS;        Cox=gate oxide capacitance per unit area of a MOS;        gm=small signal transconductance of a MOS;        rds=small signal output resistance of a MOS;        W/L=Width Vs Length ratio of a transistor;wherein:VgsMN6B=VsgMP9=VgsMN7+I*RVgsMN6B=√2*I1/βMN6B+Vthnwhere βMN6B=κn(T)*(W/L)MN6Bκn(T)=μn(T)*Coxμn(T)=μn0* T(−3/2)VsgMP9=√2*I2/βMP9+Vthpwhere βMP9=κp(T)*(W/L)MN6Bκp(T)=μp(T)*CoxVgsMN7=√2*I/βMN7+Vthn
Assuming that the threshold voltages for the n and p type MOS transistors are the same, that is:Vthn=VthpThe following expression is obtained:I=(2/R2*(βMN6B+βMP9))*(1−√(βMN6B+βMP9)/(βMN7))2
From the above equation it is evident that the current I is first order compensated only if the resistance used has a positive temperature coefficient. For a particular process both positive temperature coefficient and negative temperature coefficient resistances would be available and to get a first order compensated current using 100 a positive temperature coefficient resistance has to be chosen. Normally in a particular process negative temperature coefficient resistances exhibit less variation across the process corners than the positive temperature coefficient resistances. A positive temperature coefficient resistance results in a large variation of current across process corners.
The circuit also exhibits poor supply rejection and hence current variation with supply voltage. The start up transistor MN5 is not switched off during steady state operation leading to a offset in the values of the currents in the two branches of the constant current generating unit 110 and to increased dependence of the current on the supply voltage. Also there is a potential short circuit path from VDD to VSS formed by MN5 and MP9 leading to large power dissipation.
There is accordingly a need to obviate the above and other drawbacks in the prior art.

Temperature compensated reference current generator


A laser sensitive lithographic printing plate comprises an electrochemically grained, anodized, hydrophilically treated aluminum substrate with a reflection optical density of 0.30 or higher; a free radical polymerizable photosensitive layer; and a water soluble or dispersible overcoat. The photosensitive layer comprises a polymeric binder, a free radical polymerizable monomer, a free radical initiator, and a sensitizing dye. Such dark aluminum substrate in combination with the hydrophilic treatment allows both clean background and good printing durability. Such plate can be exposed with a suitable laser at lower dosage to cause hardening in the exposed areas. The exposed plate can be developed with a regular liquid developer or with ink and/or fountain solution.

Lithographic printing plates (after process) generally consist of ink-receptive areas (image areas) and ink-repelling areas (non-image areas). During printing operation, an ink is preferentially received in the image areas, not in the non-image areas, and then transferred to the surface of a material upon which the image is to be produced. Commonly the ink is transferred to an intermediate material called printing blanket, which in turn transfers the ink to the surface of the material upon which the image is to be produced.
At the present time, lithographic printing plates processed) are generally prepared from lithographic printing plate precursors (also commonly called lithographic printing plates) comprising a substrate and a photosensitive coating deposited on the substrate, the substrate and the photosensitive coating having opposite surface properties. The photosensitive coating is usually a photosensitive material, which solubilizes or hardens upon exposure to an actinic radiation. In positive-working systems, the exposed areas become more soluble and can be developed to reveal the underneath substrate. In negative-working systems, the exposed areas become hardened and the non-exposed areas can be developed to reveal the underneath substrate.
Conventionally, the actinic radiation is from a lamp (usually an ultraviolet lamp) and the image pattern is generally determined by a photomask that is placed between the light source and the plate. With the advance of laser and computer technologies, laser sources have been increasingly used to directly expose a lithographic printing plate that is sensitized to a corresponding laser. This allows the elimination of the photomask film, reducing material, equipment and labor cost. Among the lasers used are infrared lasers (about 830 nm or 1064 nm), FD-YAG laser (about 532 nm), argon ion laser (about 480 nm), and violet laser (about 405 mm). Laser diodes (such as violet laser diode of about 405 nm, and infrared laser diode of about 830 nm) are especially useful because of their low imager cost.
Among the laser sensitive plates proposed (including silver halide plates, positive plates, and negative plates), photopolymerizable composition based (also called photopolymer) laser sensitive plate is the most desirable because of the high durability of conventional photopolymer plate and its negative-working characteristics (no coated edge on the developed plate when imaged on external drum). However, because the energy output of a laser diode is quite limited and the exposure time of laser for each area is extremely short, it is very difficult to design a laser sensitive photopolymer plate with sufficient photospeed and press durability suitable for commercial applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,537 describes a violet photopolymer lithographic printing plate where a grained and anodized aluminum with higher reflection optical density (from 0.3 to 0.5, by using no or less desmut treatment) is proposed for achieving higher photospeed and improved printing durability. The aluminum substrate is electrochemically grained and anodized, with no or less desmut treatment, and then directly coated with the photosensitive composition. While such a substrate gives higher photospeed and improved press durability, it has the tendency of background toning (inked non-imaging areas) on press, compared to typically clean background for substrate with typical optical density (such as 0.20 to 0.28, with typical desmut treatment). Hydrophilic treatment after the anodization is not used apparently because the hydrophilic treatment generally reduces the photospeed and press durability.
The inventor has found, surprisingly, laser sensitive photopolymer lithographic plate based on hydrophilically treated electrochemically grained aluminum substrate with an optical density of at least 0.30 can give excellent photospeed and press durability while having clean background. The combination of higher optical density and hydrophilic treatment is unexpected for laser sensitive photopolymer plate, because higher optical density is expected to increase photospeed and press durability while hydrophilic treatment is expected to reduce photospeed and press durability; in addition, such darker substrate absorbs more laser energy and is considered less desirable in terms of utilizing the reflected laser to enhance photospeed, and is less desirable for inspection purpose because it gives lower contrast between the imaging areas and background areas of a processed plate.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Negative lithographic printing plate having darker aluminum substrate


A system for charging power source of a recipient electric vehicle using an accelerated charge flow from a power source of a donor vehicle, the system comprising; recipient power source provided with an accessible recipient charge receptacle; donor power source provided with an extendable donor charge receptacle adapted to resiliently engage the recipient charge receptacle; a pack controller, in each donor and recipient vehicle, electrically connected to the acceptor and donor power sources and adapted to combine the functions of a battery pack protection circuit, battery charger, current and voltage regulator, a data monitor and a communication circuit associated with the charge transfer from the donor to acceptor vehicle facilitating regulated and informed power transfer; and a buck-booster electrically connected to the recipient and donor receptacles of the battery in each vehicle, configured to balance relative electrical potentials of the donor to the recipient vehicle.

Hydrocarbon based fuels are most commonly used fuels to drive automotive engines. However with the rising price of hydrocarbon based fuels and environmental concerns associated therewith, use of several alternative fuels such as bio-fuels, solar and electric energy has emerged in the art for powering the automotive engines. Amongst such alternative fuels the electric energy is a preferred alternate source since it is readily available and most cost effective. Electric vehicles generally use lead-acid, Nickel metal hydride, molten salt and lithium ion batteries for propulsion.
The batteries of the electric vehicle must be periodically recharged. Most electric vehicle owners recharge the batteries at home, since it is convenient and there are fewer public facilities available. However with an electric vehicle, it is possible that the battery may exhaust in a place where there is no access to a suitable power source that can charge the battery. This is analogous to "running out of gas" in a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. The problem of exhausting a battery in an electric vehicle before it can be recharged remains active in the mind of driver and is referred to as "range anxiety". Such a problem perceived by the driver is resultant of two factors: firstly, today there is a limited range of electric vehicles compared to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles and secondly, limited charging infrastructure available for electric vehicles.
In such circumstances there are always possibilities that the vehicle is immobilized because of depletion of electric charge and cannot move using its own power. One of the options for driver in such circumstances is to arrange for vehicle to be towed so that it can be shifted to suitable charging source. Another alternative is to bring a source of electric power to immobilized vehicle so as to feed electric charge to the battery. Both alternatives are inconvenient methods for re-charging the depleted battery especially in the cases when battery is depleted on a highway or in remote locations.
Thus, there is a long-felt need for a system and method that enables the charging of a depleted battery of an electric vehicle in a convenient manner.


Systems and methods for reducing motion blur in images or video in ultra low light with array cameras in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for synthesizing an image from multiple images captured using an array camera includes capturing image data using active cameras within an array camera, where the active cameras are configured to capture image data and the image data includes pixel brightness values that form alternate view images captured from different viewpoints, determining sets of corresponding pixels in the alternate view images where each pixel in a set of corresponding pixels is chosen from a different alternate view image, summing the pixel brightness values for corresponding pixels to create pixel brightness sums for pixel locations in an output image, and synthesizing an output image from the viewpoint of the output image using the pixel brightness sums.

Low light image capture traditionally presents challenges in producing images without excessive blurring or noise. Settings on a digital camera can typically be adjusted to compensate for low light conditions. In a digital camera, individual image sensors corresponding to pixels in an output image receive light over a predetermined exposure time (also called integration time). The exposure setting of an image sensor is typically the duration of time which light is sampled by individual pixel(s) in the image sensor. An analog gain is typically implemented through a circuit that amplifies the analog signal from a sensor before it is converted to a digital signal and processed. The exposure and gain settings on image sensors in the camera are particularly relevant in low light conditions, as increases in exposure and gain generally increase the voltage level of a pixel and thereby its apparent brightness. Under low light conditions the use of a longer exposure time can provide a brighter image but may result in motion blur, where moving objects in the scene are blurred because of movement over the time that light associated with those objects is being received by the camera. Increasing the gain can also provide a brighter image but can result in amplified noise artifacts.


The present disclosure includes a liquid crystal panel; a backlight that illuminates the liquid crystal panel; a display cover that covers a display surface of the liquid crystal panel; a housing case that houses the backlight; a display cover support case to whose inside the housing case is fixed and whose outer circumferential surface serves as a pasting surface pasted to the display cover; pressure-sensitive adhesive members that are arranged between the pasting surface of the display cover support case and the display cover, and join together the display cover and the display cover support case with a pressure-sensitive adhesive force; and an adhesive that is arranged in an area located on the pasting surface and interposed between the pressure-sensitive adhesive members in the longitudinal direction of the pasting surface, and that bonds together the display cover and the display cover support case.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display device and an electronic apparatus that include a liquid crystal panel, a display cover, and a display cover support case, and to a method of fixing the display cover.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are liquid crystal display devices as display devices mounted in, for example, vehicle on-board navigation systems. The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel (liquid crystal panel) having a display surface composed of thin glass. Thus, the LCD panel, when used in an exposed state, could be broken by an external force or an impact. To cope with this, some liquid crystal display devices include an LCD panel, the display surface side of which is fixed to a transparent cover window (cover glass) through which the display surface is visible. Providing the cover window can cover the display surface of the LCD panel to protect it.
A liquid crystal display device (refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-255847) uses a method of fixing a cover glass such as mentioned above to the liquid crystal display device, in which a portion of a double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape facing a display surface of an LCD panel is cut out in a rectangular shape thus forming a ring-shaped double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape, which, in turn, is pasted onto a peripheral end surface of a case (housing) to contain a component such as a backlight, and then a cover window is pasted onto a surface opposite to the surface thus pasted. In this liquid crystal display device, pasting the cover window to the case with the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape fixes the cover window to the case on the display surface side of the LCD panel.
The liquid crystal display device disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-255847 employs the ring-shaped double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape (double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet). Thus, the case and the cover window are joined together by a pressure-sensitive adhesive force applied over the entire circumference of the case. In this case, fixing of the entire circumference of the case to the cover window by a strong pressure-sensitive adhesive force acts as a stress on the cover window when the case is deformed under the influence of warping of the backlight, and thus could generate a twist of the cover window due to the stress applied from the case to the cover window. The generation of the twist of the cover window could produce display unevenness on the display surface of the liquid crystal panel fixed on the cover glass.
When the case and the cover window are joined together only by the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape, a weak pressure-sensitive adhesive force of the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape could cause the cover window to be misaligned or come unstuck from the case by vibration or the like.

Liquid crystal display device, electronic apparatus, and method of fixing display cover


A thin film transistor display includes a driving circuit and an active matrix. The driving circuit comprises a first thin film transistor structure. The first thin film transistor structure includes a first gate, source and drain regions, a first LDD region, a second LDD region and a first channel region between the first and the second LDD regions. The first gate region is disposed over the first channel region, and partially or completely overlies the first and the second LDD regions. The active matrix is controlled by the driving circuit and comprises a second thin film transistor structure. The second thin film transistor structure includes a second gate, source and drain regions, a third LDD region, a fourth LDD region and a second channel region between the third and the fourth LDD regions. The second gate region is disposed over the second channel region and substantially overlaps with neither of the first and the second LDD regions.

TFTs (Thin Film Transistors) are widely used as basic electronic devices for controlling pixels of a TFT liquid crystal display (TFTLCD). FIG. 1(a) is a block diagram schematically illustrating a conventional TFTLCD. Such TFTLCD comprises an active matrix 10 and driving circuits 11. The active matrix 10 is formed on a glass substrate 1, whereas the driving circuits 11 are electrically connected to the active matrix 10 via external lines 12. Nowadays, a so-called low-temperature polysilicon thin film transistor (LTPS-TFT) technology was developed due to improved electrical properties of TFT transistors and other benefits. Please refer to FIG. 1(b). The active matrix 10 and the driving circuits 11 can be directly formed on the glass substrate 1 so as to reduce fabricating cost.
A process for producing such LTPS-TFT is illustrated with reference to FIGS. 2(a) to 2(f).
In FIG. 2(a), a polysilicon layer 21 is formed on a glass substrate 2 by laser annealing an amorphous silicon layer applied to the glass substrate 2 at a low temperature, and patterning and etching the annealed silicon layer. Then, as shown in FIG. 2(b), a photoresist 22 is formed on a selected region of the polysilicon layer 21, and an ion-implantation procedure is performed on the resulting polysilicon layer 21 with the photoresist 22 serving as a mask. By the ion-implantation procedure, B+ ions are implanted to form N-channel TFT zones. Then, a photoresist 23 is partially formed on the N-channel TFT zones, and PHx+ ions are implanted into the N-channel TFT zones with the photoresist 23 serving as a mask, thereby forming source/drain regions 24, as can be seen in FIG. 2(c). After the photoresists 22 and 23 are removed, a gate insulator 25 is formed on the resulting structure. Then, gate metal 26 (for example made of molybdenum) is formed on the gate insulator 25, as shown in FIG. 2(d). The gate metal 26 for each N-channel TFT zone has cross-sectional area less than that of the corresponding photoresist 23 for that N-channel TFT zone formed in the previous step shown in FIG. 2(c). Then, for N-channel TFT zones, lightly doped drain (LDD) regions 241 are formed by implanting P+ ions with the gate metal 26 as a mask. The N-channel TFT zones are covered with a photoresist 27, and then another ion implantation procedure is performed on the resulting structure with the photoresist 27 serving as a mask to form a P-channel TFT zone, as shown in FIG. 2(e). The dopants are B2Hx+ ions, and source/drain regions 242 are formed. Afterwards, an interlayer dielectric layer 28 and source/drain conductive lines 29 are formed in sequence, as shown in FIG. 2(f), to obtain the desired LTPS-TFT structure.
With the increasing development of integrated circuits, electronic devices have a tendency toward miniaturization. As a result of miniaturization, the channel between the source and drain regions in each TFT will become narrower and narrower. A so-called "hot electron effect" is rendered, which impairs stability of the LTPS-TFT and results in current leakage. The LDD regions are useful to reduce the hot electron effect. Conventionally, a process involving many masks and steps are involved in order to form the LDD regions. Another conventional process of forming LDD regions by a self-aligned procedure would involve reduced masking steps. For the self-aligned procedure, the LDD regions do not overlap with the gate metal 26 thereabove. It is found, however, improved device stability will be obtained when the gate metal 26 extends over the LDD region 241 to a certain extent. Unfortunately, there is likely to be parasitic capacitance occurring in the overlapped region between the gate metal 26 and the LDD region 241, which adversely causes a voltage drift of the storage capacitor and liquid crystal capacitor in a pixel cell when the pixel is turned off.

Thin film transistor having LDD region and process for producing same


Processes for preparing contacts on microswitches have been invented. The first is a wet process, involving the use of one or more acids, bases and peroxides, in some formulations diluted in water, to flush the contacts. The second process involves exposing the contacts to plasmas of various gases, including (1) oxygen, (2) a mixture of carbon tetrafluoride and oxygen, or (3) argon.

The invention relates to microswitches and microrelays and specifically to a method for preparing the contacts in these devices so that they work reliably for many (typically a billion or more) cycles.
The making and using of certain types of microswitches and microrelays is generally known. Micromechanical relays are receiving increased attention recently as our community begins to realize the benefits of integration of micromechanical structures with electronics. Development of these devices is being stimulated by a continuing need for small switches with very large ratios of off-impedance to on-impedance. Low on-state resistances are achieved by bringing two conductors into physical contact; high off-state impedances are a result of using small contact areas to minimize capacitance. Examples of such microfabricated switching devices employing electrostatic (P. M. Zavracky, S. Majumder, and N. E. McGruer, "Micromechanical Switches Fabricated Using Nickel Surface Micromachining," J. Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 6, 3-9 (1997); J. Drake, H. Jerman, B. Lutze and M. Stuber, "An electrostatically actuated micro-relay," Transducers '95 Eurosensors IX, Stockholm, Sweden (1995); M. Gretillat, P. Thiebaud, C. Linder and N. de Rooij, "Integrated circuit compatible electrostatic polysilicon microrelays," J. Micromech. Microeng. 5 156-60 (1995); K. E. Petersen, "Micromechanical membrane switches on silicon," IBM J. Res. Dev. 23 376-85 (1979); J. J. Yao and M. F. Chang, "A Surface Micromachined Miniature Switch for Telecommunications Applications with Signal Frequencies from DC up to 4 GHz," Proc. Transducers '95, Stockholm Sweden, vol. 2, pp384-387, 1995; K. Petersen, "Dynamic Micromechanics on Silicon: Techniques and Devices," IEEE Trans. On Electron Devices, vol. ED-25, pp. 1241-1250, 1978; J. Randall, C. Goldsmith, D. Denniston, and T-H. Lin, "Fabrication of Micromechanical Switches for Routing Radio Frequency Signals," J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, vol. 14, p. 3692, 1996; M. A. Gretillat, P. Thieubaud, C. Linder, and N. F. de Rooij, J. Micromech. Microeng., vol 5, pp 156-160, 1995; J. Drake, H. Jerman, B. Lutze and M. Stuber, "An electrostatically actuated micro-relay," Transducers '95 Eurosensors IX, Stockholm, Sweden (1995); M. Sakata, "An electrostatic microactuator for electro-mechanical relay," Proc IEEE MEMS Workshop '89 (Salt Lake City, Utah) 149-51 (1989); S. Roy and M. Mehregany, "Fabrication of Electrostatic Nickel Microrelays by Nickel Surface Micromachining," Proc. IEEE Microelectromechanical Systems Workshop, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, pp. 353-357, 1995; and I. Schiele, J. Huber, C. Evers, B. Hillerich, and F. Kozlowski, "Micromechanical Relay with Electrostatic Actuation," Proc. Transducers '97, Chicago, vol. 2., p. 1165, 1997), magnetic (H. Hosaka, H. Kuwano, and K. Yanagisawa, "Electromagnetic Microrelays: Concepts and Fundamental Characteristics," Sensors and Actuators A, vol. 40, p. 41, 1994; and W. P. Taylor, M. G. Allen, and C. R. Dauwalter, "A Fully Integrated Magnetically Actuated Micromachined Relay," Proc. 1996 Solid State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head, pp. 231-234, 1996) and thermal (J. Simon, S. Saffer, and C. J. (CJ) Kim, J. Microelectromech. Sys., vol. 6, pp. 208-216, 1997; E. Hashimoto, H. Tanaka, Y. Suzuki, Y. Uenishi, and A. Watabe, "Thermally Controlled Magnetization Actuator for Microrelays," IEICE Trans. Electron., vol E80-C, p. 239, 1997; and J. Simon, S. Saffer, and Chang-Jin (CJ) Kim, "A Liquid-Filled Microrelay with a Moving Mercury Microdrop, J. Microelectromechanical Sys., Vol 6, p 208, 1997) actuation have been reported. The ideal actuation method would operate both at low power levels and at low voltages. In contrast to magnetic or thermally actuated devices, electrostatically actuated switches inherently operate at very low power levels, and are relatively simple to fabricate.
The microrelay performs a purely electronic function. We have fabricated two types of devices. The microrelay is a four terminal device as shown in FIG. 1a. Two terminals are used for actuation while the other two are switched. A second configuration is a three terminal device that we call a microswitch, shown in FIG. 1b. In either case, an electrostatic field applied between the beam (source) and the gate actuates the device. Switch closure shorts the beam tip to its counter electrode(s) thereby electrically connecting contacts a and b in the microrelay (or the source and drain in the microswitch). (The key difference between the microswitch and the microrelay in the terminology used herein is the presence or absence of electrical isolation between the actuator (the main part of the cantilever beam) and the contacts. This is independent of the number of contacts, and we have made switches with anywhere from 1 to at least 64 contacts.)
In previous publications, we have described the design, fabrication, and preliminary electrical characteristics of electrostatically-actuated, surface-micromachined, micromechanical switches and relays (P. M. Zavracky, et al., Microelectromechanical Systems, Ibid.; S. Majumder, P. M. Zavracky, N. E. McGruer, "Electrostatically Actuated Micromechanical Switches," J. Vac. Sci. Tech. A, vol. 15, p. 1246, 1997; S. Majumder, N. E. McCruer, P. M. Zavracky, G. G. Adams, R. H. Morrison, and J. Krim, "Measurement and Modeling of Surface Micromachined, Electrostatically Actuated, Microswitches," International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators, Digest of Technical Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 1145-1148, 1997; and S. Majumder, N. E. McGruer, P. M. Zavracky, R. H. Morrison, G. G. Adams, and J. Krim, "Contact Resistance Performance of Electrostatically Actuated Microswitches," American Vacuum Society, 44th National Symposium Abstracts, p. 161, 1997). An SEM micrograph of such a microswitch is shown in FIG. 2. (In FIG. 2 the contacts are part of the beam—not isolated—and so it is a microswitch.) These switches are capable of over 1×109 switching cycles at low currents (4 mA) and at least 1×106 switching cycles at 100 mA. The anchored end (source) is on the right, and the contacts are under the cantilever beam to the left of the center of the micrograph.
These devices typically have threshold voltages for contact closure of 50 to 60 V, although we have produced many switches with threshold voltages of 20 to 30 V and a few low-contact-force switches that have operated at voltages as low as 6 V. Switching times are a few microseconds and switch lifetimes can be in excess of 1×109 cycles.
The microrelay has obvious advantages over conventional relays in being smaller and consuming less power. However, what is most attractive is that the microrelay can be integrated with other devices on a single die. Micromachined relays can be fabricated in large numbers on a single die which may contain other electronic devices. The lack of high temperature steps in the fabrication process described here means that the relays can be included as post-process additions to a conventional integrated circuit. Complex switching arrays and devices designed to handle high frequency signals with low insertion loss are natural extensions of the work described here.

Method of preparing electrical contacts used in switches


Disclosed herein are scintillating materials, methods for their manufacture, and method for their use. In one embodiment, a scintillator comprises the formula A2LnBX6, wherein A comprises thallium (Tl), a Group IA element, and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing, Ln comprises cerium, B comprises a Group IA element, and X comprises iodine (I) or an iodine compound, wherein the iodine compound comprises iodine (I) and an element selected from the group consisting of fluoride (F), chloride (Cl), bromide (Br), and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing. Also disclosed are radiation detectors and methods for their use.

Scintillating materials can be described as materials that fluoresce when in the presence of high energy electromagnetic radiation (e.g., gamma, X-ray, and so forth). The mechanism in which these materials are able to achieve this phenomenon is attributed to their ability to absorb electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength greater than that of the visible spectrum and releasing the energy with a wavelength that is within the visible spectrum. This property, which can be referred to as a Stokes-Shifting, is indicative of scintillators such as bismuth germinate (BGO), thallium doped sodium iodide (NaI:Th), and cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Ce:YAG).
The performance of scintillating materials, or scintillators, is generally measured via their efficiency, decay time, stopping power, and energy resolution. To be more specific, efficiency is described as the scintillator's overall ability to convert high-energy radiation (e.g., gamma radiation) into visible light. Efficiency is measured in light output (LO), which is sometimes referred to as light yield (LY), or even scintillation output, having the units of photons per megaelectronvolts (Photons/MeV). Decay time is the amount of time over which a scintillator releases stored energy as visible light, which is also referred to as the response of the scintillator. The decay time of scintillators can vary from nanoseconds to microseconds. Generally, it is desirable that the decay time is rapid (e.g., normally expressed in nanoseconds).
In gamma ray spectroscopy, the energy resolution of a scintillator is defined as its ability to discriminate between gamma rays with slightly different energies. The energy resolution is defined as the Full Width at Half Maxima (FWHM) of the photopeak at a given energy.
Depending upon these properties, specific scintillators can be employed in a variety of applications, such as in radioisotope imaging devices, radiation detectors (e.g., gamma detectors, X-ray detectors, and so forth), positron emission tomography equipment, and so on. However, commercial scintillators such as BGO, (NaI:Tl) and (Ce:YAG) exhibit several notable shortcomings in such applications. For example, BGO and Ce:YAG scintillators exhibit poor light output (e.g., about 9,000 photons/MeV) and energy resolution when irradiated with gamma rays. Therefore these materials are not preferred in equipment and devices that operate with respect to gamma radiation. For this reason, many such devices employ NaI:Tl scintillators, which exhibit greater energy resolution (e.g., about 7% greater) than the BGO and Ce:YAG scintillators, but provide less than desirable energy resolution. In another example, it has been found that BGO exhibits generally slower decay times than NaI:Tl and Ce:YAG scintillators in applications such as computed tomography (CT) scanners. Yet even further, it has been found that due to the relatively low atomic number of Ce:YAG, this scintillator's stopping power is less than desired. As a result, larger crystals are required for applications that employ this material, which can result in higher cost and size.
Due to these shortcomings, as well as others, there remains an unmet need in the art for scintillators having enhanced light output and energy resolution from gamma ray irradiation.

Scintillating materials, articles employing the same, and methods for their use


A rotating member is provided on an output rotating shaft of an internal combustion engine to generate a signal corresponding to a predetermined cylinder group and an identification signal for identifying the particular cylinder group, and based on these signals, the particular cylinder group is identified. At the time of the start of internal combustion engine, fuel cut mode, or steady constant-speed running, the fuel injection amount of the particular cylinder among said particular cylinder groups is made different from that of other cylinders at a group injection timing such that the particular cylinder assumed on the basis of the cylinder group identification result is the reference, whether the assumption is true or false is judged from the present rotational variation and the cylinder group identification result, and the stroke phase of each cylinder is discriminated to make cylinder discrimination. At this time, the controlled variable relating to the rotational speed is regulated for other cylinders.

In a multiple cylinder type internal combustion engine, which has a plurality of cylinders, the use of a so-called multi-point injection (MPI) system, in which an injector for fuel injection is arranged for each cylinder, is generally know. An MPI system provides a high degree of freedom of air intake system, and easily achieves a high output. For this reason, the MPI system attracts attention as a main system for electronic controlled fuel injection.
An MPI system uses a group injection method in which a plurality of cylinders are grouped in advance and the injectors for each cylinder group are operated simultaneously to inject fuel, or a sequential injection method in which a plurality of injectors are operated independently to sequentially inject fuel into each cylinder. Whichever fuel injection method may be used, it is desirable to set the fuel injection timing so as to avoid a stroke having the possibility of deteriorated combustion and deteriorated exhaust gas, and, more particularly, the intake stroke.
In order to set the fuel injection timing for each cylinder or each cylinder group so as to avoid the above mentioned problem of the intake stroke, it is important to determine in which stroke of the combustion cycle each cylinder of internal combustion engine is in. Specifically, a combustion cycle consisting of four strokes of intake, compression, combustion (expansion), and exhaust is repeated in each cylinder of internal combustion engine. For each cylinder, moreover, the timing is set in advance to enter the combustion stroke sequentially at equal intervals. Therefore, if it can be determined in which stroke the particular cylinder is, or inversely which cylinder is in the particular stroke, it can be known in which stroke each of the remaining cylinders is.
The fuel injection described above before is controlled on the basis of such a cylinder discrimination result. At the start of the internal combustion engine, there scarcely arises a problem even if fuel is simultaneously injected into plural cylinders, so that, generally, it is necessary only that the cylinder discrimination is made after cranking is completed.
However, the requirement for cylinder discrimination necessary to control the ignition system is very severe as compared with the cylinder discrimination necessary to control the fuel injection. Incidentally, a high voltage distribution system, which ignites cylinders in sequence by distributor, presents no problem because the cylinder operated by ignition is automatically selected by the distributor. For a low voltage distribution system, which does not use a distributor, it is necessary to make cylinder discrimination as quickly as possible at the engine start so as to determine which ignition coil (cylinder) should be energized.
Conventionally, in order to control the ignition and fuel injection timing for each cylinder, and further to detect the rotational speed, a sensor is mounted on the rotating output shaft (crankshaft) of the internal combustion engine to detect the crank angle. Since the crankshaft rotates two turns in one combustion cycle, however, cylinder cannot be identified directly from the output of the crank angle sensor. A cylinder group consisting of two cylinders with a 360.degree. mutually different stroke phase can be identified from the output of the crank angle sensor, though. Conventionally, therefore, a sensor is also mounted on a camshaft rotating in connection with the crankshaft to determine a 360.degree. difference in stroke phase. Thus, the cylinder can be discriminated by using the signal from the cam sensor and that from the crank angle sensor. The camshaft, which opens and closes the intake and exhaust valves for each cylinder in the valve train, rotates one turn in synchronization with two turns of the crankshaft.
However, if the cylinder discrimination is implemented by two signal systems consisting of the crank angle sensor and the cam sensor, the construction is generally becomes complicated and the cost is increased. Moreover, variations in phase inevitably occur between the signals obtained from the sensors due to the extension/contraction, deflection, etc. of a timing belt for connecting the crankshaft with the camshaft. For this reason, there are possibilities of a cylinder discrimination timing lag and mistaken discrimination.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-213052 discloses a special sensor that is mounted on the crankshaft to generate a preset reference angle signal and a rotating angle signal. According to this Publication, a method is disclosed in which based on the signal obtained from this sensor, a control signal for each crank angle of 360.degree. with the detection timing of the reference angle signal being the reference is obtained, and the group injection of fuel and group ignition for the plural cylinders are effected according to the control signal.
This Publication also discloses the technology in which by stopping the fuel injection to one particular cylinder in the group injection/ignition mode, that cylinder is made to misfire intentionally, and a cylinder discrimination is made by determining whether or not the misfire is detected. Further, this Publication discloses a method in which the mode is switched into an independent injection/ignition mode in which after the cylinder discrimination is completed, fuel is injected independently to each cylinder for each crank angle of 720.degree. according to the cylinder discrimination result.
With the method disclosed in this Publication, however, in order to make one particular cylinder misfire, the stopping of fuel injection to that cylinder must be repeated for each 360.degree. CA (crank angle) throughout plural cycles based on the above-mentioned control signal. Moreover, the cylinder discrimination cannot be made until the particular cylinder is thus made to misfire and the misfire is detected. In addition, in order to increase the reliability of cylinder discrimination, the aforesaid interruption of fuel injection and detection of misfire caused by this must be repeated. Therefore, the misfire state continues for a relatively long period of time, which is undesirable for an internal combustion engine.
Also, with this conventional method, if a mistaken cylinder discrimination occurs at the engine start, the fuel injection control is carried out according to the mistaken cylinder determination result, and this state continues, so that a problem of deteriorated fuel consumption etc. arises. Further, the fuel injection is stopped compulsorily to cause misfire, by which rotational variation is produced. Therefore, there is a possibility of a problem arising in that the internal combustion engine stops when cylinder discrimination is made (engine stop).
The present invention was made in view of the above situation, and accordingly a first object thereof is to efficiently produce cylinder discrimination at the start of an internal combustion engine. Also, a second object is to produce cylinder discrimination reliably and accurately even at a time other than at engine start. Further, a third object is to improve the reliability of cylinder discrimination, and a fourth object is to prevent a problem such as engine stopping from occurring when cylinder discrimination is produced.
Still further, a fifth object of the present invention is to enable cylinder discrimination even when the internal combustion engine is running in a steady state, and a sixth object thereof is to prevent variations in the output of internal combustion engine when cylinder discrimination is produced.
The present invention provides a cylinder discriminating scheme for an internal combustion engine which can achieve the above mentioned objects.

Cylinder judging device for internal combustion engine

Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha


A mounting/demounting construction relates to a mounting/demounting construction of a heavy unit and so on, and can heighten safety of mounting and demounting thereof. The mounting/demounting construction has a mountable/demountable apparatus unit which is slidably supported in a shelf, and a locking mechanism, providing a lock arm part engaging with the shelf to the apparatus unit, which engages the lock arm part with the shelf and regulates the apparatus unit in a predetermined drawing-out range, and prevents a separation of the apparatus unit from the shelf. By a composition like this, a locking state by the locking mechanism can be released by an operation of the lock arm part different from a drawing-out operation of the apparatus unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting/demounting construction used for the mounting and demounting of a heavy unit and so on which are installed in an electronic apparatus such as a disk array apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electronic apparatus providing a heavy unit of a battery unit and so on, for example, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a battery unit 6 is installed to be mountable and demountable in a shelf 4 of an apparatus casing 2 by sliding. Further, in the battery unit 6, a grip 10 is attached to its front panel part 8, and a marker line 12 representative of a drawing-out limit of the battery unit 6 is also given to its upper face part.
When drawing out the above-mentioned battery unit 6 from the apparatus casing 2, an operator holds the grip 10 and draws out the battery unit 6 until a portion of the marker line 12 appears, and lends a hand to a lower part of the battery unit 6. That is, it is necessary to operate the battery unit 6 by both hands. Further, even in case of the installation of a battery unit 6 which is exchanged, the operator grasps the grip 10 by one hand and supports the battery unit 6 by the other hand, and the battery unit 6 is set up. Such an exchange operation is a troublesome operation in case in which the battery unit 6 reaches several tens of kilograms in weight, and a burden to an operator is to increase according as the number of times of exchange operations increases.
As earlier patent documents in relation to such a mounting/demounting construction of a heavy unit, the Japanese Patent Laid Open Publications No. 2001-27847, No. 2001-206562 and so on are in existence.
The Publication No. 2001-27847 discloses a developing device realizing a mechanism, which can easily release the developing device from a locking state with a simple operation in case of taking out the developing device from the main body of an image forming device, by a simple construction. Its constitution has a carrying knob for a developing unit, and a second engagement part which is provided to the knob. When the developing unit is shifted to a drawing-out operation, this knob can be retreated in a direction, which allows to draw out the developing, unit from the image forming device, from an engaging state with a first engagement part.
Further, the Publication No. 2001-206562 discloses a construction in which an operation to take out a carrier unit such as a large and heavy fixing unit from an apparatus is smoothly and certainly performed. Its constitution has a rail and a drawing stopper. The rail guides a fixing unit at the time of drawing out the fixing unit toward an opening of a side face of an apparatus main body. The drawing stopper acts on a projection provided at a lower portion of the fixing unit in the vicinity of the opening, regulates movement of the fixing unit in a drawing-out direction, and serves as a revolving fulcrum in a releasing direction of the fixing unit.
By the way, even if a quantity of a unit drawing-out limit is aroused by giving a maker line to a unit, there is a danger such as a fall of a unit. That is, if an operator lacks recognition of the marker line or makes an error in a drawing-out operation, or if the unit is drawn out disregarding the maker line, since a heavy unit can not be supported by one hand holding the knob, the danger of a fall and so on may be invited. If the fall occurs, there is a fear of damage of the unit, and so on.
Furthermore, the Publication No. 2001-27847 or No. 2001-206562 discloses a construction which limits the drawing-out of a unit. However, both of them are complicated, and there is room for improvement in the convenience for use. In addition, since in these patent documents an operation by means of one hand can be performed after the restriction of drawing-out is released, there is a problem in safety in case of applying to a heavy unit.

Mounting/demounting construction of apparatus unit, and electronic apparatus


A control apparatus in a wireless communication system including a base station, a plurality of relay stations, and a plurality of terminals, each of the plurality of relay stations being configured to relay wireless signals between the base station and the plurality of terminals, the control apparatus including: a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to determine relay schedules based on first information associated with first path losses between any pair of the plurality of relay stations, each of the relay schedules defining each of relay periods for each of the plurality of relay stations relaying the wireless signals, and transmit each of the relay schedules to each of the plurality of relay stations respectively.

In cellular communication in which radio base station devices and radio terminal devices communicate with each other, radio relay station devices that perform amplification and relay are used in some cases. Hereinafter, a radio base station device, a radio terminal device, and a radio relay station device may be referred to as a "base station", a "terminal", and a "relay station", respectively. A relay station amplifies a signal transmitted from one of a base station and a terminal, and relays the signal to the other. This makes it possible to increase communication quality by improving reception quality. For this reason, by densely arranging a plurality of relay stations within the "communication area" of a base station, the communication quality of the entire communication area is expected to be improved. Note that the "communication area" is an area at which radio waves transmitted from a base station arrive with a power equal to or larger than a predetermined value.
However, when a plurality of relay stations existing within the communication area of a base station perform transmission (relaying) using the same frequency, that is, when relay stations are of a full-duplex type, there are some cases where a signal transmitted (relayed) by a first relay station is received by a second relay station. Then, the received signal may be transmitted (relayed) by the second relay station, and thereafter be received by the first relay station. That is, a signal on which relay processing is repeatedly performed by a plurality of relay stations will be received with a large delay by a receiving device, which is a base station or a terminal. Such a signal with a large delay is likely to cause large interference in the receiving device. Additionally, since relay processing is repeatedly performed, there is a possibility that the power value of a signal input to an amplifier of a relay station exceeds a value assumed at the design phase, which, in turn, causes an amplifier to oscillate.
To avoid such a problem, a technique has been proposed for stopping relay processing of some of a plurality of relay stations included within a communication area, based on each propagation attenuation (that is, path loss) between a relay station and a terminal.
"Area Power Consumption in a Single Cell Assisted by Relays" in Proc. IEEE/ACM Int. Conf. Green Computing and Communications (GreenCom) & Int. Conf. Physical and Social Computing (CPSCom), December 2010, pp. 460-465 discloses an example of the related art.

Control apparatus, control method, and wireless communication system


The invention is a method of testing a storage network that includes a method of handling data at the port and bus level. The method includes emulating targets in computer memory, receiving data from initiators, and passing to computer memory only a portion of the data received. Bandwidth of internal memory and paths to memory are de-coupled from devices under test attached to ports, such that full bandwidth testing is possible at all test clients simultaneously. Data passed on a wire is returned or discarded at the port or bus level. The invention is useful for testing networks that have high bandwidths, and for testing large storage area networks.

The invention relates to target emulation technologies. More specifically, the invention relates to target emulation and testing storage area networks in a multi-port testing environment.
"SCSI" (Small Computer System Interface) is an industry standard for connecting peripheral devices and their controllers to an initiator (n.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCSI). A SCSI device is usually a peripheral (for example, a hard disk drive) that responds to an operation requested by a SCSI "initiator," which is usually the host system. SCSI peripherals are "targets," but for some commands, the SCSI peripheral may need to act temporarily as an initiator.
"Fibre Channel" is another industry standard (n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibre_channel). Logically, the "Fibre Channel" is a bidirectional, full-duplex, point-to-point, serial data channel structured for high performance data communication. Physically, the Fibre Channel is an interconnection of multiple communication ports interconnected by 1) a switching network (a "fabric"), 2) a point-to-point link, or 3) an arbitrated loop. Fibre Channel is a generalized transport mechanism that has no protocol of its own or native input/output command set but can transport any existing Upper Level Protocols ("ULPs)" such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode ("ATM"), Internet Protocol ("IP"), and SCSI. Commonly, Fibre Channel refers to a serial computer bus intended for connecting high speed SCSI storage devices to computers in a Storage Area Network ("SAN").
A Logical Unit Number ("LUN") is a SCSI identifier within a target assigned to each Fibre Channel accessible disk that allows the host system to address and access data on the target devices. One physical SCSI hard disk drive can be subdivided into multiple LUNs.
The most common way to test Fibre Channel devices, and other network devices, that address multiple disk drives is to create a test environment that contains multiple physical disk drives. For example, if a lab needed to test a Fibre Channel device that claimed to be able to address a varying amount of disk drives, each with different parameters, the lab's test engineers would need to physically assemble a large number of disk drives or "scratch disks" for use in testing. Furthermore, to determine how the device would react to adverse conditions such as bad drives, labs would maintain some set of faulty disk drives to enable this level of testing to occur. Such an environment is expensive and time-consuming to set up.
There have been some attempts to solve the problem of providing an environment for testing disk drives in a storage area network. Fibre Channel bus analyzer products, if properly programmed, can emulate a single drive. Other software products can serve virtual disks intended for permanent data storage.
There are several problems with these approaches. One problem is time and money. Setting aside a large amount of Fibre Channel disk drives for testing and development purposes can cost a significant amount of money. Configuring these resources into different configurations to allow for testing of multiple scenarios takes lab time and effort. Physically connecting and changing drive configurations can quickly take considerable time and resources of lab personnel.
Another problem is the lack of reliable error and fault testing. With physical disks, it is difficult to find and keep an inventory of "bad" drives with predictable behavior and then configuring them into test systems. Yet it is important for device vendors to be able to test their devices against disks with known bad conditions. The ability to inject specific types of disk errors into a test environment is missing in the prior art.
Another problem is the lack of controllable environment variables. For example, to test a device, a tester may want to test 40 disk drives, then 20 minutes later have 10 of the disks fail or go away, then 5 minutes later add the disks back into the test. This example could represent a situation where power is lost to the 10 drives and later restored.
A solution to these problems is a storage emulation device for testing a network. The emulation device emulates disk drives (external devices) for read/write performance testing environments and requires no initiator-side software changes. For the testing embodiment, the system reduces the need to deploy large amounts of expensive physical "scratch" disks by providing high performance, non-volatile, virtual disk media. The software includes predefined tests for performance, stability, MaxLUN, exception, and read/write/fault insertion allowing a Fibre Channel device to be tested as if the device were attached to a large array of physical disks. A web-based graphical user interface (GUI) allows a tester to configure, reconfigure, inject errors, and monitor from a remote client computer. The emulation device can be a rack-mounted unit that has ports for connecting to a storage area network, random access memory for storing emulated target disk drives, and a processor.
In a test environment, to test the bandwidth of an external device, such as a fibre-channel switch, it is necessary to send and receive real data through the switch at full bandwidth on every port. But when operating in a large SAN with multiple clients connected to multiple ports, or at high network bandwidths, a bottleneck exists when moving data from wire to RAM, due to the aggregation of bandwidths as data moves closer to memory. This is especially true when a test is designed to run each port at its maximum bandwidth. A storage emulation device allows passing of data only to the limit of the ability of the test system's internal data bus to move data to memory or storage.
Data bus bandwidth is a problem when testing large storage area networks. For example, if a storage emulation device can receive data on 12 wires with each wire having a bandwidth of 400 MB/sec, then the total throughput is 4.8 GB/sec. This is a problem if a storage emulation device bandwidth is considerably less than 4.8 GB/sec. Such a device is not useful for organizations with a large SAN and that transmit enormous amounts of data.

Method for testing a storage network including port level data handling


The invention is a process for the preparation of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and the use thereof.

In recent years, peptides from partial enzymatic hydrolysates of food proteins produced in vivo or in vitro have received greater attention from food scientists than ever before. Many biological peptides with health benefits such as opioid activity, antihypertensive activity, antibacterial activity, mineral-binding activity, anti-thrombotic activity, anti-gastric activity, enhancement of intestinal activity, etc have been identified from food protein hydrolysates. These peptides are hidden in a latent state within the sequence of the parent protein and may be released by proteolytic processes during in vivo/in vitro digestion or during food processing. Biologically active peptides derived from daily food proteins would be useful in the development of novel functional food additives and for therapeutic uses.
Hypertension is one of the major independent risk factors for arteriosclerosis, stroke, myocardial infarction and end-stage renal disease. Angiotensin 1-converting enzyme (EC 22.214.171.124, referred to herein as 'ACE'), which is a dipeptidyl-carboxypeptidase, plays an important physiological role in regulating blood pressure. ACE raises blood pressure by converting an active form of the decapeptide, angiotensin I, to a potent vasoconstrictor octapeptide angiotensin II, the most potent naturally occurring pressor substance known. ACE also degrades vasodilative bradykinin, which has a depressor action. This enzyme also plays a physiological role in the regulation of local levels of other endogenous peptides. For these reasons, specific inhibitors of ACE are useful for regulating blood pressure in the human body. Because ACE activity is closely associated with the development of hypertension and arteriosclerosis, in vitro inhibition of ACE has been used for screening therapeutic agents. Therapeutic vasodepressors such as Captopril and D-2 methyl-3-mercaptopropanoyl-L-proline have been synthesized as ACE inhibitors. Synthetic ACE inhibitors are very potent and have adverse effects that are generally not considered safe.
Interest has recently been focused on the isolation and identification of purified ACE inhibitory peptides from various food sources or food protein hydrolysates after enzymatic digestion. An ACE inhibitor derived from food protein was first reported by Oshima et al., 1979 (Oshima, G., Shimabukuro, H and Nagasawa, K. (1979) "Peptide inhibitors of Angiotensin converting enzyme digests of gelatin by bacterial collagenase". Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 556, 128). Since then protein digests containing ACE inhibitors have been produced from a variety of edible sources including milk, eggs, chicken, pork beef, fish, and soybean, maize and micro algae (Ariyoshi, Y., (1993), "Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors derived from food proteins" Trends Food Sci. Technol., 4, 139–144). Peptides derived from casein and soybean protein have been developed based on the expectation of low toxicity and high safety. Peptides exhibiting ACE-inhibiting activities have been separated from enzymatic hydrolysates of casein (Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication Nos 62-270533, 64-5497, 64-83096) and soybean protein (Japanese Laid-Open Patent publication No. 3-1671981.
Soybean is a source of high quality proteins all over the world. Defatted soy meal contains nearly 50–55% protein. The major proteins of soybeans are the storage globulin classified as 2S, 7S, 11S and 15S protein based on sedimentation coefficients. The 11S fraction also known as glycinin constitutes 25–35% of the total proteins (Liu 1997, In: Soybeans: Chemistry, Technology and Utilization, pp 25–113, Chapman & Hall, New York).
Reference may be made, to the published paper of Potter, 1995 'Overview of proposed mechanisms for the hypocholesterolomic effect of soy' wherein soybean protein has been shown to have beneficial effects on preventing hyperlipidemic or hypercholesterolemic lesions, which cause arteriosclerosis and hypertension. Glycinin, which forms 25–35% of the total soy protein, is used in this invention to provide antihypertensive peptides.
Reference is made to the published paper of Yu, et al, 1996 "Effect of soybean hydrolysate on hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats" (J. Korean Soc. Food. Sci. Nutr. 25, 1031–1036) wherein they have demonstrated that a soybean hydrolysate exerted an inhibitory activity of ACE in vascular tissue in vivo and lowered systolic blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats. The present invention uses an isolated protein fraction, glycinin, of soy protein and not total soy protein.
Reference may be made to the published paper of Shin et al, 1995 'Fractionation of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory peptide from soybean paste' (Korean J. Food Sci. Technol. 27, 230–234) wherein it is demonstrated that a fraction of fermented soybean paste contains ACE inhibitory components and the fraction F53 exerts a strong inhibitory activity in vitro. The present invention utilizes a purified glycinin fraction of soy protein isolate.
Reference may also be made to Shin et al, 2001, in the published paper "His-His-Leu, an angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitory peptide derived from Korean soybean paste, exerts antihypertensive activity in vivo" (J. Agric. Food Chem., 49, 3004–3009) wherein the authors report they have isolated and identified the ACE inhibitory peptide of the F53 fraction and have confirmed the ACE inhibitory activity and blood pressure lowering activity of the purified peptide in vivo. They also show that the synthetic peptide His-His-Leu resulted in a significant pressure decrease in the aorta and triple injections of the peptide decreased the systolic blood pressure by 61 mm Hg. Reference is be made to Shin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,438, wherein a process is described for preparing a highly safe and active inhibitor having the formula His-His-Leu or His-Leu-Leu and physiologically acceptable salts thereof. The present invention however uses isolated glycinin and not soybean paste.
Reference may be made to Mimura et al, 1993, U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,027 wherein the ACE inhibitory peptides are produced by an acid hydrolysis of cell free extracts of a bacteria. The present invention uses enzymes to produce the hydrolysate and the source is a plant protein.
Reference may be made to the published papers of Maruyama and Suzuki, 1982 and Maruyama et al., 1985 (Maruyama, S and Suzuki, H, "A peptide inhibitor of angiotensin-I converting enzyme in the tryptic hydrolysate of casein." Agric. Biol. Chem, 46, 1393, (Maruyama, S., Nakagomi, K., Tomizuka, N. and Suzuki, H. "Angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitor derived from an enzymatic hydrolysate of Casein. II Isolation and bradykinin potentiating activity on the uterus and ileum of rats" (Agric. Biol. Chem., 49, 1405) wherein they have demonstrated that a penta-peptide and hepta-peptide purified from a tryptic hydrolysate of casein inhibited ACE.
Wu and Ding, 2001 in their published paper 'Hypotensive and physiological effect of angiotensin converting inhibitory peptides derived from soy protein on spontaneously hypertensive rats' (J. Agric. Food Chem., 49, 501–505) have demonstrated in vivo hypotensive activity of soy-protein derived ACE inhibitory peptide powder at a dosage of 100 mg/kg of body weight/day/for 4-week feed in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Reference may also be made to the published paper of Wu and Ding, 2002 'Characterization of inhibition and stability of soy-protein-derived angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory peptides' (Food Research International, 35, 367–375) that a soy protein alkaline hydrolysate after ultra-filtration had a IC50 value of 0.065 mg of protein/mL. Two of the most potent peptides were Ap-Leu-Pro and Asp-Gly with IC50 values of 4.8 and 12.3 μM respectively. The present invention however uses glycinin, a fraction of total soy protein and uses various proteases other than Alcalase.
Miyoshi et al, 1991 in their published paper 'Structures and activity on angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in an α-zein hydrolysate' (Agric. Biol. Chem., 55, 1313–1318, Agric. Biol. Chem., 55, 1221, Agric. Biol. Chem., 55, 1407) isolated peptides from a thermolysin hydrolysate of α-zein, the major component of maize endospem protein and showed they inhibit ACE. The tripeptides Leu-Arg-Pro, Leu-Ser-Pro, Leu-Asn-Pro had IC50 values of 0.27, 1.7, 1.9 μM respectively. The hypotensive activity of the synthetic peptide Leu-Arg-Pro on spontaneously hypertensive rats indicated that the blood pressure was decreased by 15 mm Hg after a 30 mg/kg intravenous injection. The present invention uses glycinin, the storage protein of soyabean.
Reference may be made to yet another published paper by Sato et al., 2002 (J. Agric. Food Chem., 50, 6245–6252) wherein the isolation and identification of ACE inhibitory peptides from the Protease S 'Amano' digest of the brown seaweed, Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) and investigation on the resistance of these peptides to gastrointestinal proteases in vitro is reported. The blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats decreased after a single oral dose of 1 mg/kg of body weight. The present investigation uses proteases other than Protease S'Amano' to produce the hydrolysate. Furthermore the ACE inhibitory peptides are obtained from glycinin the major storage protein of soybean.
Reference may also be made to the paper published by Hsu et al., 2002 (J. Agric. Food Chem., 50, 6109–6113) wherein they report the peptic hydrolysates of dioscorin, the storage protein of the tuber yam (Dioscorea alata cv Tainong) exhibited ACE inhibition. The storage protein used in the present invention is from legumes and the enzymes used to prepare the hydrolysate are other than pepsin.
Further more several patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,510,331, 5,106,834, 4,914,129, 4,889,869, 4,798,821, 4,758,584, 4,703,043, 4,385,050, 4,191,753, 4,013,791) describe the preparation of synthetic peptides and peptide analogs as ACE inhibitors. The present invention describes the process for an enzymatic hydrolysate of a plant protein as an ACE inhibitor.
Furthermore numerous patents on ACE peptides ranging from tri- to nonapeptides have been published: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,449,661, 5,071,955, 4,692,459, 4,585,758, 4,512,979, 4,191,753, EP 174162; Japanese laid-Open Patent Publication Nos 5-2994844, 5-262790, 4-247100. However none relate to the use of glycinin as the source of antihypertensive peptides.
Enzymatic hydrolysis seems to be the most appropriate method for preparation of tailor made ACE inhibitory peptides, not only because of their large-scale commercial availability but also because of the high quality of such products. Such hydrolysates are complex mixtures of peptide species containing one or more active constituents in low concentration. Although most peptides that exhibit ACE inhibitory activity are those that are isolated and characterized, it is the extensive and expensive protocols that are limiting factors. However from the point of view of commercialization it will be the mixture of peptides, not a single purified peptide, which would be applied as a health-enhancing ingredient for use in 'physiologically functional foods'.

Process for the preparation of angiotensis converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and its use

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A ready method to disconnect the motive power of an actuator from the input of a valve. A handle is inserted onto the coupling held in the housing, disconnecting the motive power of the actuator and engaging the driven piece connected to the input shaft of the valve. With this handle in place, manual control of the valve is attained and the handle indicates position. The housing can be orientated so that the handle can be inline with the valve action as normally done on manually operated valves. The position of the valve may be fixed by locking the handle to the housing, removing automatic control of the valve. When the handle is removed from the coupling, normal automatic operation is restored. The handle may store at the valve for ready use by maintenance or in a secure location to prevent unauthorized use.

Modern industry piping uses rotary actuated valves such as ball or butterfly valves to control the flow of a process medium to and from equipment such as tanks and pumps. These valves use up to ninety degrees of rotation to span the full range of control. These valves may be manually operated with a handle actuated by a human process operator or actuated by other means such as compressed air, electric motors, hydraulic pressure, compressed springs and or combinations of these forces from remote locations. This combination of valve and powered actuator is called an automatic valve. Manually operated valves with a handle attached can usually be locked in any number of positions to suit plant conditions and meet regulatory requirements for personal safety during maintenance. Rotary actuated valves with automatic operators have had the manual lever replaced with a solid coupling to an operator and is controlled remotely. This automatic operator presents problems with providing a lock out of the valve as may be required to perform maintenance activities down stream of the valve. OHSA requires a physical device that prevents the unauthorized movement of the valve that might release hazardous energy when work is performed downstream.
One approach to this problem includes the addition of manual block valves downstream, in line with the automatic valves to provide a means to lock out hazards. The power to the automatic valve actuator may be locked out in some cases. The systems process medium can be flushed and drained. The actuator may be removed and the valve then fitted and locked with a handle and locking mechanism.
The additional manual block valves requires foresight in the design stage and adds expense. To remove the motive power to an actuator has very limited use, for example it may provide a undesired position on loss of power. It can take considerable time and expense to flush and drain a large system. Removing the actuator presents its own set of hazards.
It is therefore an object of the invention to allow greater flexibility in design of piping systems where maintenance activities will take place.
It is another object of the invention to allow existing installed automatic rotary actuated valves to be retrofitted with this device.
It is another object of the invention to allow existing installed valves being fitted with automatic actuators to incorporate this device.
It is another object of the invention to allow new automatic valves, being readied for installation, to have this device incorporated.
It is another object of the invention to allow any valve fitted with this device to be operated manually.
It is another object of the invention to allow any valve fitted with this device to be manually set to any position regardless of the automatic process input.
It is another object of the invention to allow any valve fitted with this device to be locked in any position required for OSHA compliance.
It is another object of the invention to have any valve fitted with this device to operate automatically when the handle is not inserted and in use.
It is another object of the invention to have any valve fitted with this device to provide a visual indication of automatic or manual operation to be indicated by the insertion of the lever.
It is another object of the invention to have any valve fitted with this device to provide a visual indication of the position of the valve when the valve is in the manual mode.


A device for producing an absorbent body includes a rotating fiber stacking drum that includes an adsorbent molding section configured to mold fluff pulp into an absorbent body having a desired shape. The rotating fiber stacking drum further includes a cylinder having an outer circumference on which the adsorbent molding section is formed, and paired side walls that close ends of the cylinder, respectively. The device for producing an absorbent body further includes a sucking means, which is configured to generate an air flow from the outer circumference side of the adsorbent molding section toward the inside of the cylinder by sucking air in the rotating fiber stacking drum. The sucking means is connected to each of two side walls of the rotating fiber stacking drum.

As described in Patent Literature 1, an absorbent body with a desired shape is formed in such a way that, a mixed flow is formed by carrying fluff pulp formed by crushing a pulp sheet on an air flow to a duct and at the same time supplying a water absorbing polymer in the duct to be merged with the fluff pulp carrying flow, and the mixed flow is then transported to a rotating fiber stacking drum so that the mixed flow is adsorbed and retained by an adsorbent molding section which is formed on the outer circumference of the rotating fiber stacking drum. The adsorption to the adsorbent molding section is performed in such a way that the air in the rotating fiber stacking drum is sucked by a sucking means connected to a side wall of the rotating fiber stacking drum to keep the inside of the rotating fiber stacking drum to be negative in pressure.


A fixing device includes: a fixing roller; a center temperature detection unit including a protective member, the center temperature detection unit contacts the fixing roller in an axial center of the fixing roller and detects a temperature of the center section; an end temperature detection unit that contacts the fixing roller at an end portion of the fixing roller outside of a maximum print area of the recording medium and detects a temperature of the end section; and a control unit that controls heating of the fixing roller performed by the heating unit so that the heating is stopped when the value detected by the center temperature detection unit has exceeded a first upper limit value and when the value detected by the end temperature detection unit has exceeded a second upper limit value, the first upper limit value being lower than the second upper limit value.

In order to thermally fix a toner image transferred onto sheet, an image forming apparatus, such as a laser printer, is usually equipped with a fixing device having a heating roller and a press roller. During a period in which a sheet passes between the heating roller and the press roller, a toner image transferred on the sheet is thermally fixed.
As shown in FIG. 9, a heating roller 100 of the fixing device usually assumes a cylindrical shape and has a length responsive to the width of a sheet of the maximum size so that a sheet of the maximum size allowed by the image forming apparatus can be subjected to thermal fixing. One heater, formed from a halogen lamp B, is accommodated in the heating roller 100 in the axial direction thereof and over essentially the entire length thereof. The heating roller 100 is heated over essentially the entire length thereof in the axial direction.
In order to determine an anomaly in the temperature of the heating roller 100, a temperature detection unit 101, which utilizes a temperature detecting element, is provided on the surface of the center in the heating roller 100 in a noncontact manner.
However, when a small-size sheet 102a (of e.g., A6-size) and a large-size sheet 102b (of, e.g., A4-size) are subjected to thermal fixing by use of a single fixing device, the heating roller 100 is usually heated, by the heater, over essentially the entire axial length thereof corresponding to a width of the large-size sheet 102a. When the small-size sheet 102a is being subjected to thermal fixing, the sheet 102a draws heat from the surface of an area of the heating roller 100, which remains in contact with the small-size sheet 102a. A control unit 103 performs temperature control such that the temperature of the area, where the small-size sheet 102a contacts, is maintained within a given range. Therefore, the other area of the heating roller 100 where the small-size sheet 102a does not contact; i.e., an area of the heating roller 100 outside both ends of the small-size sheet 102a in the widthwise direction thereof, becomes higher in surface temperature than the center of the heating roller 100 in the widthwise direction thereof.
However, when the large-size sheet 102b is subjected to thermal fixing, the higher-temperature area (i.e., the area of the heating roller 100 outside both widthwise ends of the area where the small-size sheet 102a has contacted) contacts the large-size sheet 102b. When that area has been excessively heated, there arises a hot offset resulting from excessive fixing of toner (i.e., an offset caused as a result of excessively-fused toner adhering to the surface of the heating roller 100).
Even if the surface temperature of the areas of the heating roller 100 outside both widthwise ends of the small-size sheet 102a has become higher than the center surface temperature of the heating roller 100 when the small-size sheet 102a is thermally fixed, the control unit 103 fails to determine occurrence of an "anomaly," sometimes resulting in fusing of the heating roller 100 or breakage of the fixing device. If the temperature of the heating roller 100 has risen excessively or the fixing device has become broken, high risks are posed to the user.
To prevent this problem, a conceivable method is to place a temperature detection unit at both axial ends of the heating roller in addition to disposing the temperature detection unit in the axial center of the heating roller and to detect the temperature of the heating roller by two temperature detection units.
For instance, there is described a technique pertaining to a fixing device including: a noncontact temperature detection unit provided on a heating roller in a noncontact manner within a sheet image formation area; a contact temperature detection unit provided on the heating roller in a contacted manner within a sheet non-image formation area; and a control unit for stopping supply of power to a heater when status determination unit for detecting a detected status of the noncontact temperature detection unit has determined occurrence of an anomaly in a temperature status. An anomaly is detected by the noncontact temperature detection unit on the basis of a temperature value of the heating roller detected by the noncontact temperature detection unit and a temperature value of the heating roller detected by the contact temperature detection unit (see JP-A-2004-126190).
By the technique such as that described in connection with JP-A-2004-126190, the detection status of the noncontact temperature detection unit can be rationally determined on the basis of the temperature values of the heating roller detected by the two temperature detection units. Occurrence of a problem, which would otherwise be attributed to an anomaly in the detection status of the noncontact temperature detection unit, can be prevented, and hence reliability can be enhanced.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus