An apparatus and method for removing back-plated developer from a development device in a liquid electrographic imaging system make use of a blade disposed to remove back-plated developer from the development device, and a brush disposed to remove the back-plated developer from the blade and redisperse the back-plated developer into a developer liquid supply. The brush includes a shaft and bristles disposed about the shaft. The shaft preferably is rotated to drive the bristles against the blade. In this manner, the bristles remove the back-plated developer from the blade and redisperse the back-plated developer within the developer liquid supply. The bristles can be formed from a substantially resilient material to generate a flicking action upon deflection and recovery. This flicking action facilitates redispersion of the back-plated developer into the developer liquid supply. The brush preferably is submerged in the developer liquid residing in the developer liquid supply, thereby avoiding significant drying of the developer liquid on the brush and significant splattering of the developer liquid by the brush. Submersion also enables the bristles to provide a churning action that aids in redispersion. The apparatus and method are capable of providing enhanced cleaning efficiency, as well as effective redispersion of back-plated developer for recovery and reuse. A bias potential can be applied to the brush to further aid in effective removal of back-plated developer.

A liquid electrographic imaging system includes an imaging substrate onto which a developer liquid is delivered to develop a latent image. A liquid electrographic imaging system may include as the imaging substrate a dielectric substrate, or may take the form of an electrophotographic system having a photoreceptor. In an electrophotographic system, the photoreceptor includes a photoconductive material that is uniformly charged, for example, with a corona charging device. A latent image can be formed on the photoreceptor by selectively discharging the photoreceptor with a pattern of radiation. In an electrographic system that makes use of a dielectric material, the latent image can be formed by selectively charging the dielectric with an electrostatic probe. A liquid electrophotographic imaging system with a photoreceptor will be discussed for purposes of example.
A liquid electrophotographic imaging system generally includes a photoreceptor, an erasure station, a charging station, an exposure station, a development station, an image drying station, and a transfer station. The photoreceptor may take the form of a photoreceptor belt, a photoreceptor drum, or a photoreceptor sheet. For an imaging operation, the photoreceptor is moved past each of the stations in the liquid electrophotographic imaging system.
The erasure station exposes the photoreceptor to erase radiation sufficient to uniformly discharge any electrostatic charge remaining from a previous imaging operation. The charging station electrostatically charges the surface of the photoreceptor. The exposure station selectively discharges the surface of the photoreceptor to form a latent electrostatic image. A multi-color imaging system may include several exposure stations that form a plurality of latent images. Each of the latent images in a multi-color imaging system is representative of one of a plurality of color separation images for an original multi-color image to be reproduced.
As a latent image is formed, the development station applies developer liquid to the photoreceptor to develop the latent image. The developer liquid includes a carrier liquid and developer particles that form colorants. In a multi-color imaging system, each of a plurality of development stations applies an appropriately colored developer liquid to the photoreceptor to form an intermediate representation of the corresponding color separation image. The drying station dries the developer liquid applied by the development station or stations, leaving a film of developer material. The transfer station then transfers the developer material from the photoreceptor to an output substrate, such as a sheet of paper or film, to form a visible representation of the original image.
A development station generally includes a development device such as, for example, a development roller or belt. The operation of a development roller will be described for purposes of example. The development roller is rotated by a drive mechanism and charged with a bias potential that contributes to an electric field between the roller and the photoreceptor. The rotating, charged development roller delivers developer liquid to the surface of an imaging region of the photoreceptor to develop the latent image. The development roller typically is positioned a short distance from the surface of the photoreceptor, enabling a thin layer of developer liquid to be delivered across the resulting gap. In a multi-color imaging system, the development process is repeated with each of a plurality of development rollers applying differently colored developer liquids to the photoreceptor to develop different color separation images.
During operation, back-plated developer can accumulate on the surface of the development roller. The term "back-plated developer" refers to an amount of developer, including developer particles and perhaps a small amount of carrier liquid, that develops on the development roller due to a potential difference between the surface of the photoreceptor and the surface of the development roller. The developer liquid on the rotating development roller wets the surface of the photoreceptor, creating the development nip. When the imaging region of the photoreceptor enters the development nip, the background areas of the image are at an electrostatic potential slightly higher than the development roller bias and the latent image is at an electrostatic potential significantly lower than the development roller bias.
The potential difference between the development roller bias and the latent image results in "forward-plating" of developer to the latent image. The potential difference between the background areas and the development roller bias results in "back-plating" of developer to the surface of the development roller. The back-plated developer retains a small charge that, if allowed to accumulate, will affect the development vector necessary for proper image development. The accumulation of back-plated developer can cause inconsistent transfer of developer liquid to the surface of the photoreceptor. In addition, the back-plated developer can accumulate on other components in the development station, affecting delivery of developer liquid to the development roller.
To avoid excessive accumulation of back-plated developer on the development roller, it ordinarily is desirable to provide an apparatus for removing the back-plated developer. In existing liquid electrographic systems, the developer removal apparatus generally comprises a cleaning blade or cleaning roller. A cleaning blade scrapes developer away from the surface of the development roller. A cleaning roller is rotated to remove the back-plated developer from the development roller. The removed developer is carried away by the surface of the cleaning roller.
The back-plated developer removed from the development roller can accumulate on a cleaning blade or cleaning roller. The back-plated developer has a generally sludge-like consistency and can affect the cleaning efficiency of the cleaning blade or cleaning roller. When the accumulation becomes excessive, the cleaning blade or cleaning roller can actually transfer some of the accumulated developer back to the development roller, undermining the effectiveness of the developer removal apparatus. Excessive accumulation of back-plated developer requires replacement or cleaning of the cleaning blade or cleaning roller by a field service technician.

Apparatus and method for removal of back-plated developer


A brush that simultaneously cleans and/or polishes floors and baseboards. The brush is adapted to be utilized with conventional buffing machines and will easily fit conventional water control rings. In its cleaning mode, the brush incorporates bristles on its planar undersurface and also entirely around its peripheral wall. When employed to polish, a polishing pad is positioned beneath the undersurface of the brush as is conventional in the art. A unique polishing pad is secured around the peripheral wall of the brush for contacting and polishing the baseboards.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cleaning appliances. More specifically, the invention is drawn to a brush for a conventional floor-cleaning machine, which brush allows a user to clean or polish a floor and baseboard simultaneously.
2. Description of the Related Art
Separate procedures have been conventionally required to clean and/or polish floors and baseboards. Typically, a cleaning machine (buffer) is employed for the floor. The buffer utilizes a rotary driven brush and steel wool pads for efficient floor cleaning and polishing. Baseboards however, have been have been cleaned manually or with expensive and relatively complicated machines. Thus, cleaning both floors and baseboards has required a relatively large investment in man-hours or the acquisition of expensive machines. Both of these solutions are expensive. It is obvious that the art would welcome an inexpensive adjunct to the popular buffing machine, which adjunct would effectively clean and/or polish floors and baseboards simultaneously.
The related art is rife with alleged solutions to the above-discussed problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,120 (De Mercado), U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,139 (Lewis) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,912 (Hall) show machines for cleaning/polishing baseboards and floors simultaneously. All the machines employ plural rotary driven brushes that require complicated and expensive operating systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,772 (Downing et al.) discloses a buffing machine having an attachment that converts rotary motion to reciprocal motion. He attachment includes a rubbing surface that can clean baseboards. As in the above-cited patents, the instant attachment represents a relatively costly and complicated addition to the conventional buffer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,141 (Annis, Jr.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,872 (Barber) are drawn to machines for treating floors and baseboards. Both machines require specialized brushes that cannot be used with conventional buffers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,403 (Scharf) shows a floor brush having bristles around the periphery thereof for cleaning baseboards. The bristles are not continuous and are therefore less efficient than the arrangement contemplated in the present invention. Also there is no provision to include a buffing pad on the periphery.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to disclose a brush for simultaneous cleaning or polishing floors and baseboards as will be subsequently described and claimed the instant invention.


Provided is a fat or oil composition, comprising 50 mass % or more of diacylglycerols satisfying the following (1) to (3):    (1) from 5 to 50 mass % of a disaturated diacylglycerol (SS) in the diacylglycerols;    (2) 35 mass % or less of a monosaturated-monounsaturated diacylglycerol (SU) in the diacylglycerols; and    (3) 1.5 or less as a ratio (mass ratio) [(SS)/(UU)] of a content of the disaturated diacylglycerol (SS) in the diacylglycerols relative to a content of a diunsaturated diacylglycerol (UU) in the diacylglycerols.

A fat or oil composition such as shortening and a water-in-oil emulsion such as margarine have characteristics such as high resistance to propagation of microorganisms, excellent shape-retaining property, and a long shelf life, and are widely used for confectionery production, bread production, or the like. However, on the other hand, each of the composition and emulsion has a disadvantage of being poor in melt-in-the-mouth feeling because of its high solid fat content. When the solid fat content is reduced to overcome the disadvantage, the fat or oil becomes softer, and is liable to cause problems in preservation stability such as deterioration of external appearance and oil separation due to crystallization during preservation.
As technologies for overcoming the disadvantages, there have been reported, for example, a method involving adding a specific emulsifier (Patent Document 1), a water-in-oil emulsified fat or oil composition obtained by mixing and emulsifying an oil phase containing a diglyceride having a melting point (softening point) of less than 20° C. and an aqueous phase (Patent Document 2), and a water-in-oil emulsified fat or oil composition including an oil phase and an aqueous phase, in which the oil phase has composition including a diglyceride and a triglyceride, and the diglyceride has composition satisfying a predetermined requirement (Patent Document 3), or the like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A light source for a display panel of the type used in notebook computers. The light source consists of a housing having diffusively reflecting bottom and side interior surfaces that form a cavity. The housing defines an aperture that is juxtaposed with a rear surface of the display panel. A first series of LEDs is mounted within the cavity around the perimeter of the aperture and is shielded from the aperture by perimeter baffles that extend around the periphery of the aperture. A second series of LEDs is mounted within the cavity on the bottom wall of the housing. A series of baffles is interposed between the second series of LEDs and the aperture. A series of light quality enhancing films is interposed between the cavity and the display panel. The light source produces light of a uniform character with relatively high intensity and whiteness.

The present invention relates to a backlighting apparatus for visual displays, particularly for flat panel monitors, such as utilized in notebook computers.
A typical flat panel monitor utilizes an LCD as a means of displaying information. LCDs, which allow the display of alphanumeric, graphic or other information, may comprise a medium whose transmittance changes in response to the application of an electrical potential across the medium. The LCDs may be viewed even in an otherwise dark environment by applying illumination uniformly to their rear face. An exemplary backlighting apparatus for an LCD is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,636.
It is desirable for a backlight for LCDs, such as those found in notebook computers, to have certain attributes. Notebook computers are often used during travel and in areas with little light, such as trains and airplanes. Hence, it is desirable that LCDs have an acceptable level of brightness so that the user can easily read the information on the display.
Furthermore, software applications that are used on notebook computers often display color images. Hence, it is preferable that the display have a spectral content that is compatible with the colors displayed on the LCD. It is also desirable that the light source for the monitor be compact so that it will not significantly increase the size and weight of the computer, as notebook computers are frequently used during travel and must often be carried by a user.
Lastly and importantly, the lighting system should provide uniform illumination across the entire area of the display. In particular, the light emerging from the light source should be substantially featureless and free of distortions such as holes or rings. In practice, the requirement of uniform illumination is difficult to achieve, and prior art devices frequently fail to provide a sufficiently uniform source of illumination for LCD displays.
There is thus a need for a simple, compact, lightweight device for backlighting a display panel, particularly an LCD display panel, which provides highly uniform, high-intensity illumination of the entire display panel.


Provided is a process for producing a plasticizer ester characterized by previously removing dissolved oxygen in a starting alcohol, and then subjecting an organic acid or its anhydride and the alcohol to an esterification reaction in the presence of an organic metal compound catalyst, which process can substantially reduce formation of coloring impurities and can easily provide a plasticizer ester having a low degree of coloring.. Further, a plasticizer ester having a high volume resistivity can easily be obtained by adding an alkaline aqueous solution to a reaction product obtained by an esterification reaction to conduct neutralization of an unreacted acid and hydrolysis of the catalyst, further blowing a carbon dioxide gas to convert the residual alkali into a carbonate, recovering an excess alcohol, and then conducting purification through finefiltration using a filter aid or further in combination with adsorption treatment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing plasticizer esters which are used well in various plastics including a vinyl chloride resin. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process for producing a high-quality plasticizer ester required for plasticized soft vinyl chloride which is widely used in an equipment for medical care, a wire cable, an insulating material and the like from an organic acid or its anhydride and an alcohol.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Plasticized soft vinyl chloride which is widely used in the medical field, the electric field, the electronic field and the like requires a high-quality plasticizer ester. For example, a plasticizer free from toxic coloring impurities, namely, a plasticizer ester having a low degree of coloring is required in the medical field; and a plasticizer ester having a high volume resistivity is required in the electric field.
The coloring impurities in the plasticizer are divided into those derived from starting materials and those formed during the production step. With respect to impurities in starting materials, for example, aldehydes in an alcohol, unsaturated compounds, sulfur compounds and the like, or materials from an acid source, for example, quinone substances in phthalic anhydride, a purification technique for removing these impurities has been developed, and impurities of starting materials have been, therefore, considerably improved. However, esters are different at times in a degree of coloring thereof depending on esterification reaction conditions even starting from the same starting materials.
As a method for forming a plasticizer ester having a low degree of discoloring, the following methods are known.
(1) A method in which when monoesterification is conducted by the reaction of an organic acid and an alcohol under normal pressure, a predetermined amount of water is added to a reaction vessel to form a state where a surface of a reaction solution is coated with a water vapor, whereby oxygen in air is prevented from being brought into contact with the reaction solution to improve the hue (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 113,814/1976), (2) a method for producing an plasticizer ester having quite a low degree of coloring by causing a bisulfite to exist in a reaction system (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 41,742/1976), (3) a method for producing a plasticizer ester having a low degree of coloring in which oxalic acid is added when subjecting an organic acid or its anhydride and an alcohol to an esterification reaction in the presence of an organic metal compound catalyst (British Patent No. 1,565,663), (4) a method in which a carboxylic acid ester is treated with an oxidizing agent such as hydrogen peroxide, sodium chlorite or the like and then with an alkaline aqueous solution, and the thus-treated product is washed with water, and further treated with a reducing agent such as sodium borohydride, hypophosphorous acid or the like for decoloration (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 22,618/1980), (5) a method in which a carboxylic acid is reacted with an alcohol, and the resulting product is purified by passing ozonization air therethrough under specific conditions (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 39,296/1981), and (6) a method in which an ester is continuously decolored in the presence of a Pd catalyst under hydrogenation conditions (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 110,650/1981).
Meanwhile, as a method for producing a plasticizer ester having a high volume resistivity, the following methods are known. (7) A method in which an esterification reaction product is heat-treated with a solid alkali such as sodium carbonate in the absence of water, and a reaction product is adsorbed with an adsorbent such as activated china clay (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 76,517/1979, 27,518/1979 and 27,519/1979), (8) a method in which a crude ester obtained by an esterification reaction is treated with oxidized magnesium silicate (British Patent No. 1,096,917 and the like), (9) a method in which the treatment is conducted with an absorbent such as magnesium oxide, activated carbon or the like (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 267,341/1987), and (10) a method in which an organic metal catalyst in an esterification reaction solution is hydrolyzed, neutralized with an alkali, and washed with water, an excess alcohol is recovered, and the resulting ester is treated with an adsorbent such as activated carbon or activated china clay (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 130,937/1980 and the like).

Process for producing plasticizer esters


A mobile communication terminal includes: a transmission power controlling unit for performing transmission power control such that the sum of channel transmission powers or the sum of the ratios of the channel transmission powers to threshold values of the corresponding channels is a predetermined target value; an average transmission power calculating unit for calculating the average value of the sum of the channel transmission powers in a set monitoring period or the average value of the sum of the ratios of the channel transmission powers in the set monitoring period to the threshold values of the corresponding channels; and a transmission power suppressing unit for performing reduction control of the transmission powers such that these average values in a set control period are each equal to or less than the threshold value.

Up to now, in a mobile communication system for mobile phones and the like, transmission power control is performed on wireless communication between a base station and a mobile communication terminal. In general, this transmission power control is performed such that the reception level of the base station, the ratio of the reception level to noise, or the ratio of the reception level to the sum of noise and interference is constant. The mobile communication terminal transmits data with a relatively small transmission power when being located near the base station, and transmits data with a relatively large transmission power when being located far from the base station. Such a mechanism can maintain the channel quality of the wireless communication, and also can achieve lengthened battery duration of the mobile communication terminal.
Patent literature 1 describes a method for minimizing a decrease in channel quality while further reducing consumed power. The average transmission power in a set control period is made equal to or less than a given value, whereby an increase in transmission power is prevented when the channel quality is poor.


In a recording apparatus provided with a plurality of discharging ports for discharging ink, and discharging elements for discharging ink upon application of electrical pulses, the volume of ink droplets discharged from each of the discharging ports is caused to vary due to the properties of each discharging port. This variation results in a conspicuous unevenness in recording. The present invention provides a method for making such recording unevenness due to the properties of each discharging port inconspicuous by varying the volume of ink droplets discharged from each of the plural discharging ports at random. Also, the present invention provides a technique in which the volume of discharging ink droplets is varied at random by use of a specific ink in order to make the recording unevenness inconspicuous.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid droplet diameter random variable recording method for an on-demand type ink jet recording head for recording characters and images by discharging ink droplets instantaneously as required. Particularly, the invention relates to a liquid droplet diameter random variable recording method wherein a TJ (thermal jet) recording head having a plurality of heat generating elements on a recording head substrate and nozzles corresponding to these heat generating elements is provided to record by use of a specific ink and transfer sheet and also by varying the volume of ink droplets discharged from each of the nozzles at random with time. The invention also relates to an apparatus using such a method and ink composition which enables the liquid droplet diameter to be varied at random.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing the structure of an example of an ink jet recording head of a recording apparatus of the kind according to the prior art. A recording head 21 has a plurality of nozzles (discharging ports) 2 and heat generating elements 3 corresponding to each of the nozzles 2. The total number of the nozzles of the recording head 21 shown in FIG. 2 are 2,048 which are arranged in the direction perpendicular to a surface of a sheet. The heat generating elements 3 transduce a part of applied electrical energy into ink discharging energy. The recording of characters and images is performed as given below. Each of the heat generating elements 3 is selectively driven by a head driving circuit 4 as required for generating heat. Due to this heat generation, bubbles are generated in a pressuring chamber 9. With the development of the bubbles, the ink droplets 5 are forwardly ejected (discharged) from the nozzles 2. The discharged ink droplets fly and are shot onto the surface of a recording sheet which is a recording medium 11 to form desired characters or images. In this respect, a reference numeral 7 designates a head; 8, a protective film to protect the heat generating elements 3; 17, lead lines; and 20, ink in an ink supply tube 19.
The volume Vd of ink droplets discharged from each of the nozzles of an ink jet head having a plurality of ink discharging nozzles has not been completely even, and an average volume Vdm of the ink droplets from each of the nozzles has hitherto been different per nozzle. Also, the volume of the ink droplets discharged from a specific nozzle fluctuates within a regular minute range.
Here, FIG. 3 is a conceptual view showing the "frequency" against "the area of shot ink" when the shot ink on a recording medium has colored the recording medium using a conventional recording head, ink, and transfer sheet. For explanation, FIG. 3 illustrates a case where three nozzles are employed, for example, and the mean value of the shot areas of the ink discharged from each of the nozzles is A for relatively small, B for medium, and C for relatively large. In practice, if the shot ink on the recording medium is continuous, it is difficult to measure the area per droplet exactly. However, with a particular attention given to the fact that the volume of the discharged ink droplet and the shot area has a close correlation, the volume Vd of the ink droplet is measured with the following result.
FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C show the data on the measurement of the frequency (%) of the volume Vd of the ink droplets with attention given to the three nozzles a, b, and c of the 2,048 nozzles of a recording head, respectively. The nozzle a represents the characteristics of the 253rd bit; b, 254th bit; and c, 255th bit. In this case, the mean volume Vdm of the ink droplet of the nozzle and standard deviation Vd.sigma. corresponding to each bit are as shown in the following table; where the unit is pl (picoliter) and figures shown in () are the numerical value of %:
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ (a) (b) (c) ______________________________________ bit 253 254 255 Vdm (pl) 162 166 186 Vd.sigma. (pl (%)) 7 (4.3) 8 (4.8) 9 (4.8) ______________________________________
As described above, it is extremely difficult in practice to equalize the mean values Vdm of the volume of the ink droplets discharged from a plurality of nozzles of the kind because the volume Vd of the discharged ink droplets 5 is caused by the configuration and structure of the nozzles 2 and minute dimensional errors brought about by its fabrication to deviate from a target value considerably. For example, there are variations without exception in the width, height, cross-sectional area of the nozzles 2, the configuration of nozzle ends, the distance from the nozzle ends to the heat generating elements 3, and the calorific values and others generated by each of the heat generating elements 3 even when the same electrical energy is equally provided for each of them. Therefore, these variations affect the volume Vd of the ink droplets 5 discharged from each of the nozzles 2.
These variations cause the generation of unevenness in recording in the same direction as the one in which the recording head 21 and recording sheet 11 are shifted correlatively (indicated by an arrow) when a recording is executed as the specimen of a recorded image shown in FIG. 5, for example. FIG. 5 represents the result of a recording using the 251st to 257th bits. The recorded dot diameter of the 253rd bit is slightly smaller while that of the 255th bit is slightly larger in this recording. This recording unevenness is not easily noticeable in a pattern such as characters or the like for which the recording frequency of each of the nozzles 2 (printing ratio) is low. However, when the same pattern is continuously recorded so that the printing ratio is heightened, this kind of unevenness tends to occur. As far as these recording unevennesses remain invisible, there will be no problem. In reality, however, if there is a variation in the areas of a recording point adjacent to each other, which are colored by the ink discharged on a recording medium 11, the recording unevenness becomes visible, leading to the degradation of recording finish (quality).
Particularly, when a recording head 21 of the kind is mass produced, these unevennesses result in reducing the throughful of the recording heads 21 satisfactorily usable for an actual recording so that a cost therefor rises.
As a counter measure, there is a method wherein a means is provided to adjust the electrical energy given to the heat generating elements 3 of each nozzle 2 at the time of discharge in order to prevent a recording unevenness of the kind from being generated. More specifically, the voltage value and/or the pulse width of electrical energy to be applied to the heat generating elements 3 of each nozzle 2 is adjusted so that the volume Vd of the ink droplets 5 can be equalized when discharged. However, unless the number of the nozzles 2 is several, this regulating adjustment method requires a complicated circuit, and particularly when the number of nozzles increases up to such as 24, 48, 64, . . . , . . . , 2,408, or still more, it is desirable to adopt some simpler method.
On the other hand, there is known a method wherein before an electrical signal for the ink discharging induction, some other signal is applied to controlling the magnitude of energy given to the heat generating elements 3 in order to adjust the volume Vd of the ink droplets 5 or to perform a gradient recording, but a method wherein the ink discharging volume Vd from a specific nozzle is intentionally varied at random is not known at all.
Now, FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C show the data on the measurements of frequency (%) of the volume Vd of ink droplets with attention given to three nozzles d, e, and f of 2,048 nozzles of another recording head. Here, the reference mark d designates the nozzle characteristics of the 253rd bit; e, 254th bit; and f, 255th bit. In the following table 2, the mean volume Vdm and the standard deviation Vd.sigma. are shown in the same manner as the data shown in the table 1:
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ nozzle d e f ______________________________________ bit 253 254 255 Vdm pl 147 166 184 Vd.sigma. pl (%) 5 (3.4) 4 (2.4) 4 (2.2) ______________________________________
In this respect, the measurement data shown in FIG. 4 are the values when the recording head is driven at 800 Hz. The composition, surface tension, viscosity of the ink used here (comparison ink 16) are shown in the table 3 given below.
TABLE 3 ______________________________________ C. I. direct yellow-86 2 parts diethylene glycol 15 parts isopropyl alcohol 4 parts water 79 parts surface tension: 49 dyn/cm, viscosity: 1.8 cP ______________________________________
Conventionally, as a surface sizing agent of a transfer agent for a transfer sheet used for a copying machine, printer, and the like of an ink jet and thermal jet recording type, and electronic photographing type, an inner sizing agent, gelatin, starch, and the like are used in general; the starch occupies must of its composition.
The ratio of this starch should desirably be 1.0% or more in weight in general for the ink jet and thermal jet recording type. Also, for the electronic photographing type, most of them are approximately 0.1 to 1.5%. It has been necessary to use the above-mentioned transfer materials of the two kinds depending on the optimal properties of the copying machine, printer, and the like of both types. As described earlier, the volume of ink droplets discharged from a plurality of nozzles fluctuates in a certain range, and also, the ink droplets discharged from a specific nozzle fluctuate within a regular range. This is fundamentally due to the fact that ink is discharged by controlling the bubbles in the TJ recording method. It is conceivable that because of the residual amount of the minute air bubbles of the last discharging, the next foaming state is caused to change in a continuous discharging. The residual amount of such minute air bubbles is not constant. It changes each time. Therefore, even the ink droplets from a specific nozzle also fluctuate within a regular range.
Of these conditions, the variation of the mean value Vdm of the volume of the former ink droplets particularly generates the recording unevenness in the same direction as the direction in which the recording head 21 and the sheet 11 are shifted correlatively in operating a recording as shown in FIG. 7. The direction of the correlative shift is indicated by an arrow. FIG. 7 represents the results of recording made by use of the 251st to 257th bits. The recorded dot diameters are: slightly small for the 253rd bit; mean value for the 254th bit; and slightly large for the 255th bit.
This recording unevenness is not easily visible in a pattern such as characters having a low recording frequency (printing ratio) of each nozzle. However, the unevenness tends to be generated when the same pattern is recorded continuously at a higher printing ratio. Although there is no problem as far as the recording unevenness remains invisible, but, in reality, it is visually judged as a recording unevenness if there is a variation in the areas of recording point adjacent to each, which are colored by the ink discharged on a recording medium.

Ink jet recording apparatus capable of performing liquid droplet diameter random variable recording and ink jet recording method using ink for liquid droplet random variable recording


A computer-based system (10) and method for dis-identifying personal identifiable information (152, 162) and associated records (172) is disclosed. The system includes a system manager (20) module, an encryption and key management module (30), and a storage module (40). The system manager module (20) stores related sensitive information portions (152) of the personal identifiable information (152, 162), non-sensitive information portions (162) of the personal identifiable information, and associated records (172) in separate databases (100, 110, 120 or 150, 160, 170) in storage module (40) with each database record including one or more hidden links generated by the encryption and key management module (30) that can be used to determine the related records or information in one of the other databases. The hidden links are encrypted so that the relationships between the database records are hidden. The methods provide for storing sensitive and non-sensitive personal identifiable information and associated records as database records, and for storing the hidden links associated with these database records. The present invention also includes methods for retrieving sensitive personal identifiable information for a given associated record and for retrieving the associated record(s) for a given sensitive personal identifiable information.

The present invention relates generally to a system and method for storing information in a computer system. More specifically, the present invention encompasses a system and method for storing personal identifiable information and associated records in a computer system in which the personal identifiable information and the associated records are stored separately and any link between the information and records is hidden.
Computer or cyber crime is a fact of life in today's business environment especially with the proliferation of Internet use. Many businesses have suffered security breaches of one form or another and, as a result, have suffered both tangible and intangible losses. Significantly, security breaches have lead to the loss of both proprietary and sensitive or confidential information. Losses of this type have cost companies money, have tarnished corporate images, and have caused the disruption of business. In addition, several recent government regulations, such as HIPAA and the Gramm-Leach Act, require data confidentiality to ensure consumer privacy. Failure to comply with these regulations, that is allowing the disclosure of confidential consumer information, could result in a company receiving a significant fine or prevent a company from qualifying for certain contracts.
Thus, improving and/or maintaining the security of the information stored on its computer system or network is a high priority for many businesses. For example, because of HIPAA, businesses in the medical profession or businesses that deal with the medical profession must ensure the confidentiality of patient information and records. Patient information may include sensitive information such as the patient's name, address, telephone number, and social security number, and non-sensitive information such as the patient's gender, height, weight, race, and marital status. Similarly, the link between a patient's information and the patient's records, which might include information concerning prescriptions, diseases or doctor visits for example, will also be sensitive and subject to confidentiality constraints.
Traditionally, when companies sought to protect their computer systems and the information stored on those systems, they focused on the unauthorized interception of data transmissions and the unauthorized entry into the system. To combat the unauthorized interception of electronic transmissions, companies developed or purchased communication protocols that employed well-established, sophisticated encryption tools that encrypted data prior to its transmission. To prevent the unauthorized access of its computer system, companies installed complex firewalls to intercept transmissions before they entered the system in order to determine whether the sender had authorization to access the system. Authorization may take the form of a user account and password (or passwords), possession of a smart card, or possession of a computer disc for example.
Unfortunately, these programs fail to fully protect the information stored on a computer system. In particular, because they focus on events that occur outside of the computer system, the programs or methods are of little use when an attack comes from inside the organization. A program that encrypts data only before it is transmitted will not prevent a disgruntled employee from reading clear text information that resides on the network's storage devices. Likewise, a program that prevents unauthorized access to a network-will not prevent someone with authorization gained through fraud from reading clear text information that resides on the network's storage devices.
Of course, all data could be encrypted before it is stored on a storage device. Depending on the level of encryption, this action would likely prevent unauthorized persons from reading the information. Unfortunately, this process is not practical in many circumstances because decrypting large quantities of heavily encrypted data is time-consuming. Also, certain types of data or records are in continual or heavy demand because of the need to search the records or compile statistics about the information contained therein. Requiring decryption every time someone wanted to analyze or search the data would introduce unnecessary and significant delays into the process. For example, with regard to the medical profession, pharmaceutical companies may be interested in information concerning the usage of certain drugs, that is, how often the drugs are prescribed, the dosages, and the length of the prescription. Often, knowledge of patient information is not necessary for studies of this type. Therefore, it would be convenient if patient information and patient records were stored separately and the link between the information and records was hidden so that the records could be accessed without the need for decryption and without revealing confidential or sensitive patient information.
Therefore, a system and method are needed to protect information or data stored on a storage device from unauthorized access. The system or method, however, should not add significantly to the overall operating or performance cost of the system.

System and method for dis-identifying sensitive information and associated records


A white key for a keyboard musical instrument comprises a key body made of resin in the form of a hollow box shape having an upper wall to be pressed by an instrument player and vertical walls extending downward from the periphery of the upper wall. The upper wall of the key includes a wide part and a narrow part, the narrow part providing a space to accommodate a black key. The upper wall has a thickness not exceeding 1.5 mm and the wide part has a projection extending from the upper wall downward. The projection may be in the form of a rib bridging the vertical walls or of columns extruding from the lower surface of the upper wall. The frequency band of a vibration mode due to a deformation of the upper wall caused when struck by the player's finger is shifted higher when compared with the case where no projection is provided.

Electronic keyboard musical instruments and the like keyboard musical instruments generally employ playing keys made of resin or plastics. A key made of resin is generally formed in a shape of a hollow box having a horizontal upper wall to be pressed by the finger of the player and vertical walls including a front wall, two side walls and a rear wall extending downward from the periphery of the upper wall to surround an open space therein. A plastic key can therefore be manufactured easily and inexpensively when compared with a traditional key (such as of a piano) which comprises a core bar made of wood and surface plates made of plastics or ivory adhered on the wooden core.
However, a plastic key of a hollow box shape has a drawback, in comparison with a wood-core key of a solid body, of generating harsh click noises caused by the clashes between the key top (horizontal upper wall) and the nail and resonating in the hollow box structure when the key is struck by the player's finger. In particular, a white key which has a larger surface area for key depression than a black key tends to generate louder click noises, much more does a white key having thinner plastic walls for the purpose of decreasing the weight and the manufacturing cost of the keyboard assembly.
A keyboard is a main input device for playing music on a keyboard musical instrument, and accordingly the keys constituting the keyboard are required to be of high quality and a high grade. But a harsh or ear-annoying clash noise between the key top and the nail would give an impression of a cheap musical instrument. Further, in the case of an electronic musical instrument on which the player is playing music using a headphone or an earphone, the musical tones can be heard only by the player and not by the persons near the player, and consequently only the clash noises would reach conspicuously to the ear of the persons present nearby.
Unfortunately, however, there has been known no technique of taking countermeasures against such nail clashing noises. The technique disclosed in an unexamined Japanese patent publication No. 2000-132168 is to utilize cushion materials disposed between the screw heads and the key bed when the keyboard assembly is fixed to the key bed in the electronic piano in order to absorb the vibration of the keyboard assembly generated by the key depression and to prevent the vibration from being propagated to the key bed. The technique is for suppressing the noises produced by the vibrations of the key bed at the times the keys are depressed, and does not work as a countermeasure against the clash noises between the key and the nail.
The technique disclosed in a registered Japanese patent publication No. 3758590 is to manufacture a key by forming the portion which serves as a swing fulcrum of the key by resin and forming the front body part by wood in order to increase the preciseness of the connecting portion to serve as the swing fulcrum as well as obtain the appearance and the rigidness of the wood material. As this technique utilizes wood material, the manufacturing cost will be almost the same as the conventional wooden key.

White key for keyboard musical instrument


A mass spectrometer comprises an interface for receiving an ion beam from an ion source, a mass analyzer unit for selecting from the received ion beam, in two or more time periods, ions having different ranges of mass-to-charge ratios, a first detection unit for detecting, in each of said time period, ions within a selected range and producing first detection signals representative of quantities of detected ions having respective mass-to-charge ratios, and a second detection unit arranged between the interface and the mass analyzer unit for producing a second detection signal representative of a total intensity of the ion beam received from the ion source as a function of time. The mass spectrometer further comprises a processing unit for normalizing the first detection signals by using the second detection signal, which processing unit may output a ratio of normalized first detection signals.

High precision elemental and isotopic abundance measurements are important for applications in environmental, geological, nuclear and forensic sciences. There are several applications in which high precision isotope and elemental abundance measurements are the key indicator, for example:                The precise and accurate knowledge of the elemental and/or the isotopic composition of a sample is an important tracer with respect to forensic sciences. The elemental and isotopic composition of a sample is unique to certain locations.        The relative abundances of certain elements give insight into geological or nuclear processes indicating for instance the age and the generation of the sample material during the history of the earth, or even the evolution of the solar system during the nucleosynthesis process at the formation of the universe.        The distribution of the noble gases in the atmosphere is a tracer for the global temperature of the oceans and the atmosphere. The dilution of the different noble gas species in the ocean water and in the atmosphere is temperature dependent and thus the precise and accurate knowledge of the noble gas abundances dissolved in the sea water is an important tracer to trace back recent global temperature changes related to climate change.        Precise and accurate knowledge of the elemental and isotopic composition are key indicators to monitor nuclear processes and contaminations in the environment as well as in industrial processes.
Mass spectrometry is an important analytical technology applied to the measurement of elemental and isotopic abundances of all elements across the periodic table. Prior to the detection of the elemental and isotopic species a sample has to be ionized. In case the sample is a gas it can be introduced directly into the ion source of the mass spectrometer and usually is ionized by an electron impact ionization source. Examples of these instruments are for instance the Thermo Scientific™ DFS™ mass spectrometer or the Thermo Scientific™ 253 Ultra™ mass spectrometer.
Solid samples can be directly eroded and ionized by a low-pressure glow discharge plasma ion source. For more details refer to the Thermo Scientific™ Element GD™ mass spectrometer (www.thermofisher.com).
Most commonly solid samples are dissolved and separated in several sample preparation steps which result in a liquid acidic solution. This acidic solution can be injected through a nebulization system into the atmospheric plasma of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ion source. Through an atmosphere-to-vacuum interface the ions enter into the mass analyzer for mass spectral analysis and quantification. Examples of spectrometers that utilize this technique include the Thermo Scientific™ Element 2™ mass spectrometer and the Thermo Scientific™ NEPTUNE Plus™ mass spectrometer.
For high precision isotope ratio measurements, the multi-collector approach is advantageous where all species of interest are detected in parallel and simultaneously. An important advantage of the simultaneous multi-collector approach is that any signal fluctuations caused by fluctuations in the ion generation process or any fluctuations caused by the sample delivery occur in parallel on all detectors. As these fluctuations appear on all detectors at the same time, they do not affect the calculation of the relative abundance ratios of the different species which are detected simultaneously.
Ion source fluctuations can occur for multiple reasons, e.g.:
In case of an electron impact ionization source: fluctuations due to instabilities in the filament current regulation which controls the intensity of the ionizing electron beam. These fluctuations can be due to limitations of the electronic filament regulator or due to fluctuations of the electron emission from filaments at high gas pressures.                Plasma flicker in case of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ionization or glow discharge ionization (GD).        Fluctuations of the efficiency of a thermal ionization source due to small temperature fluctuations on the filament or erratic sample migration on the filament surface.        Droplet generation during the nebulization process for a liquid sample in case of ICP (inductively coupled plasma) ionization.        Transient signals when coupling to a chromatographic device, such as a device for liquid chromatography (LC) or gas chromatography (GC).        Transient signals due to laser ablation of the sample and online coupling to an ICP source        For accurate isotope and elemental abundance measurements, proper calibration is necessary. Usually this is achieved by suitable standard and reference materials and by elaborate calibration schemes.
In particular for high precision isotope ratio measurements a special type of mass spectrometer has been developed which comprises a sector field mass spectrometer coupled to a multi-collector detector array (as in the Thermo Scientific™ NEPTUNE Plus™ mass spectrometers). The sector field mass analyzer spatially separates the different masses along the focal detector plane of the ion optics. Along this detector plane an array detector catches the ion beam intensity for all ion beams in parallel. With respect to precision and accuracy the most advantageous feature of this arrangement is that all fluctuations of the ion beam intensity due to fluctuations in the sample delivery or due to fluctuations generated in the ion source occur simultaneously on all detected species and thus cancel for the relative abundance measurement of the detected species. This leads to a major improvement in precision for multi-collector instruments compared to sequential mass spectrometers where the species of interest can be measured by a technique called scan mode or peak jumping mode, which is applied across a certain mass range (e.g. scan mode) and/or all species of interest (e.g. peak jumping across discrete peaks) or a combination of those modes. Thus, the measured abundances are biased by the individual fluctuations of the measured species because they are detected at different points in time.
An example of a mass spectrometer which is provided with multiple parallel detection units is disclosed in US 2018/0308674, which is herewith incorporated by reference. The mass spectrometer of US 2018/0308674 comprises a plurality of ion detectors for detecting a plurality of different ion species in parallel and/or simultaneously. The detector arrangement of the known mass spectrometer may consist of, for example, nine ion detectors in parallel, allowing nine detections to take place substantially simultaneously. Each detector of the known detector arrangement can include a Faraday cup.
Although multi-detector mass spectrometers are very effective for certain applications, the relative mass range of such devices is for practical reasons limited to about 20%, i.e. from mass 40 amu (atomic mass unit) to 48 amu. This simultaneous relative mass range is sufficient to measure in parallel isotope abundances of one element at a time. However, it is not sufficient to measure elemental ratios covering a wider mass range. For instance, the relative abundances of the noble gases argon and xenon would need to simultaneously cover the mass range from 36Ar to 134Xe, which corresponds to a relative mass range for this application of more than 370% (as 134/36=3.72).
In summary, the prior art is faced with the problem that an arrangement of multiple parallel detectors necessarily has a limited mass-to-charge range, while an arrangement which has a large mass-to-charge range by using a single detector sequentially suffers from inaccuracies due to fluctuations of the ion beam.

Mass spectrometer compensating ion beams fluctuations


An automated package retrieval system is provided. The automated package retrieval system includes a hub apparatus that includes multiple docking stations for multiple delivery devices, a power supply unit coupled to the hub apparatus, and a controller. The controller is configured to instruct at least one of the delivery devices to travel to a location to deliver an item ordered by a user. Once it is determined that the user has not retrieved the item from the delivery device, the delivery device is instructed to return to the hub apparatus. In response to detecting the user in proximity to the hub apparatus after the delivery device has returned to the hub apparatus, the user is provided with access to a storage compartment of the delivery device.

The present invention relates to delivery devices, and more specifically, to a system for retrieving packages from delivery devices.
Many companies package and ship items (e.g., books, apparel, food, electronics, etc.) and/or groups of items in order to fulfill order requests from customers. For example, ordered items are typically packaged in shipping packages and shipped to the customer's residence or place of business. The delivery of physical items to a customer's specified location is traditionally accomplished using a delivery system including a human controlled truck, bicycle, cart, etc. In some cases, delivery devices (e.g., robots, autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs), personal delivery devices, etc.) can be utilized to aid the delivery of items to specified locations (e.g., users' residences). For example, a delivery device can retrieve an item(s) from a transportation vehicle (e.g., a delivery truck) or facility (e.g., warehouse) and travel to a user residence to deliver the item. The delivery device can return back to the transportation vehicle when the item has been delivered. Similarly, if the customer is unable to retrieve the item (e.g., the customer misses the scheduled delivery), the delivery device can return back to the transportation vehicle and re-attempt delivery of the item to the user's residence at a later time.

After hours package pick up from a robot


A hole digger is provided. The hole digger includes a first handle assembly and a second handle assembly. The first handle assembly includes a first grip, a first intermediate portion, and a first blade. The first intermediate portion extends between the first grip and the first blade. The second handle assembly including a second grip, a second intermediate portion, and a second blade. The second intermediate portion extends between the second grip and the second blade. The second handle assembly is pivotally coupled to the first handle assembly such that a front surface of the first blade faces a front surface of the second blade. The first blade is not identical to the second blade. At least one stiffener is coupled to at least one of the first or second blades.

The field of this disclosure relates generally to hole diggers and, more particularly, to blades used with manually-operated hole diggers.
Generally there are two main types of hole diggers for making post holes in the ground. The first is powered by a power source and usually includes an auger type bit that rotates into the ground. The powered type usually makes an easy task of drilling a hole and removing the dirt and rock from the hole. However, the use of powered hole diggers may be limited as such diggers are usually expensive and require some sort of fuel to operate. Most fossil fuels are hazardous, combustible, and can be messy to use.
The second type of hole diggers are manually-operated and are formed in a two-blade clamping style with a handle attached to each of the two identical blades. Known blades are typically 6-8 inches long and are pivotally coupled together. The blades are driven into the ground by holding the handles parallel and striking the ground with the tips of the blades. The user then pulls the handles away from each other to force the blades to move towards each other, such that dirt is collected between the opposing blades. The user must hold the handles away from each other under tension in order not to release the material collected between the blades as the blades are removed from the hole being dug.
Manual hole diggers may also be limited in their use. For example, it may be difficult to penetrate hardened or rocky soil using conventional post hole diggers that include identical rounded shovel tips. A post hole digger is structured to dig a hole having a generally narrow cross-sectional area relative to the depth of the hole and a diameter that is slightly larger than the post being inserted into the hole. To dig a hole with a larger diameter generally requires a worker to "carve away" at the sides and edges of the perimeter of the hole being dug, such that the overall cross-sectional area of the hole is increased. The worker must then remove the dirt that falls into the hole. However, depending on the hardness of the soil, carving away the sides of the hole may be difficult. In addition, as the size of the hole is increased, the range of motion that the worker must act during each cycle may increase. Using a hole digger with longer handles may allow the worker to remove dirt from a deeper hole without bending over. However, increasing the size of the post hole digger may also increase its overall weight and thus may increase the amount of effort required by the worker. The energy to be expended by the worker generally depends on several factors including the weight of the post hole digger, the force required to operate the post hole digger, the amount of dirt collected during each cycle, and the range of motion through which a worker must act during each cycle.
There is a need for an improved manually-operated hole digger that is able to penetrate deeper through hardened or rocky soil in a manner that reduces the effort to be expended by the worker as compared to conventional hole diggers. In addition, there is a need for a hole digger that enables a worker to more easily remove more dirt and debris from the hole being dug during each cycle as compared to a conventional hole digger.

Two-handled hole digger and blades for use with hole digger


An information recording medium has a semiconductor layer and a ferroelectric layer formed thereon. Information is recorded on the recording medium by locally applying an electric voltage modulated according to the information to the recording medium and then removing it therefrom so that the ferroelectric layer is polarized by an electric charge produced by application of the electric voltage. The electric charge is caused to stay on the surface of the ferroelectric layer for at least 0.1 msec after removal of the electric voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of recording information and an information recording medium which can be used in carrying out the method, and more particularly to a method of recording information on an information recording medium, comprising a semiconductor layer and a ferroelectric layer formed thereon, by the use of polarization in the ferroelectric layer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As an information recording medium for recording an image signal, a sound signal or the like or for use as a data memory for computers, there have been known mediums in which information is recorded in the form of unevenness, such as pits, and is reproduced by detecting the change in the electrostatic capacitance caused by the uneveness. See, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 47(1972)-37403.
Further as an information recording medium on which information can be recorded in a very high density while permitting reproduction and erasure of the information, there have been known those which comprises a semiconductor layer and a ferroelectric layer formed thereon and on which information is recorded in the form of directions of polarization in the ferroelectric layer. See, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57(1982)-27447. Further, a method of and an apparatus for recording information on such information recording medium have been known. In the method or the apparatus, information is recorded by applying electric voltages modulated according the information to the ferroelectric layer while moving a conductive head along the ferroelectric layer and selectively polarizing only predetermined parts of the ferroelectric layer in predetermined directions. Further there has been proposed a method of reproducing the information recorded thereon by detecting the change in the electrostatic capacitance caused by depletion layer formed by the polarization of the ferroelectric layer.
In the method described above where polarization of the ferroelectric layer is used for recording, an electric field which is formed in the ferroelectric layer by applying a predetermined electric voltage between the conductive head and the semiconductor layer or by electrifying the surface of the ferroelectric layer by charged particles from the conductive head polarizes the ferroelectric layer in the normal direction of the ferroelectric layer thereof, and a depletion layer is formed in the semiconductor layer adjacent to the ferroelectric layer according to the direction of polarization, whereby recording is effected. The degree of polarization of the ferroelectric layer depends upon the time for which the electric field is applied to the ferroelectric layer. Accordingly when the conductive head passes a desired recording region before completion of polarization of the ferroelectric layer, the electric field established by the voltage between the conductive head and the semiconductor layer is naturally removed, and at the same time the charge on the surface of the ferroelectric layer is generally immediately dispersed, which results in incompletion of polarization and readout errors in reproduction of the information. Accordingly, the conductive head must be moved slowly so that a given recording region is completely polarized. The time required for polarization is markedly long as compared with the data transfer time required for application of electric voltages (modulated according to information data) to the information recording medium, and the polarization speed governs the information recording speed and prevents shortening of the recording time.

Medium for recording information on ferroelectric material using polarization


A method of determining whether an electronic component on a trailer is functioning from within a passenger compartment of a vehicle having an electrical connection with the trailer generally includes determining a first electronic component configuration associated with the trailer and determining an electrical load profile for a terminal in the electrical connection between the vehicle and the trailer based on the first electronic component configuration of the trailer. The method also includes associating the electronic component on the trailer with the electrical load profile for the terminal in the electrical connection and monitoring a value descriptive of an electrical load at the terminal in the electrical connection. The method further includes informing a user in the passenger compartment that the electronic component is not functioning when the value is less than a threshold value.

Typically, two people are required to confirm that all of the exterior lighting on the trailer works correctly. A first person is within the passenger compartment and activates the lights on the vehicle, which in turn activate the respective lights on the trailer. A second person walks around the perimeter of the trailer to confirm that each of the lights on the vehicle are activating the respective lights on the trailer. By walking around the trailer and individually identifying each of the lights, the second person who is outside of the vehicle is able to communicate to the first person inside the vehicle which lights on the trailer are not illuminated.

Method and apparatus for adjusting trailer electrical load limits


A laser welding method for preparation of an electron gun of a color cathode-ray tub. This laser welding comprises the steps of forming a coining part on an evaporation section of a weld zone of an upper part to be welded to a lower part, and focusing a laser beam on a bottom surface of the coining part. This coining part has a diameter larger than a diameter of the evaporation section and is formed in such a manner that it permits the weld zone of the upper part to have a predetermined thickness. In accordance with this laser welding, a weld nugget formed at the juncture between the upper and lower parts by is enlarged in its diameter and, as a result, increases the weld strength between the upper and lower parts. The coining part has a bottom surface of a plane surface or a curved surface. This laser welding can weld all of the parts of the electron gun even when an upper part to be welded to a lower part is thicker than the lower part and permit the welding condition to be easily determined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an improvement of a method for preparation of an electron gun of a color cathode-ray tube, and more particularly to an improved laser welding method for efficiently assembling all of the parts of the electron gun in which a coining part is formed on a weld zone prior to the laser welding.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known to those skilled in the art, a color cathode-ray tube (or a color picture tube) has an electron gun which emits electrons, accelerates these electrons in order to make these electrons become an electron beam, and thereafter, focuses the electron beam on a phosphor screen.
With reference to FIG. 1 showing a construction of a conventional electron gun of a color cathode-ray tube, the electron gun includes a cathode 1 for emitting electrons which are to become an electron beam. This cathode 1 includes a heater therein and is supported by a cathode supporter 2 which is arranged at the front of the cathode 1. The electron gun 1 further includes four anodes, first to fourth anodes 3a to 3d, for condensing and accelerating these electrons emitted from the cathode 1 and making these electrons become the electron beam, and thereafter, focusing the electron beam on a phosphor screen (not shown) of the color cathode-ray tube. In order to mount this electron gun on a neck part of the cathode-ray tube, this electron gun also includes a shield cup 4 at the front of the fourth anode 3d. This shield cup 4 has a valve space contact and a getter spring which are welded thereto.
Here, the aforementioned parts 1, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d and 4 of a conventional electron gun are arranged in a line and connected, using electric insulation glass beads, to each other with predetermined intervals therebetween. These parts of the electron gun are, for the most part, made of nonmagnetic stainless steel thin plates and assembled into the electron gun by welding at about 100 weld zones.
In preparation of the electron gun of the color cathode-ray tube, the parts of the electron gun have been generally welded using a conventional electric resistance welding.
FIG. 2 shows a representative embodiment of conventional electric resistance welding. As depicted in this drawing, an upper metal part 6a and a lower metal part 6b to be welded to each other are arranged between the upper and lower electrodes 5a and 5b in such a manner that the one metal 6a lies upon the other metal 6b. At this state, turning power on simultaneously with compressing the metals 6a and 6b generates electric resistance heat between the metals 6a and 6b and this causes a weld nugget 7 to be formed between the upper and lower parts 6a and 6b. As a result, the metals 6a and 6b are welded to each other.
However in such electric resistance welding, the upper metal 6a is overheated when power for the electrodes 5a and 5b is turned on and this causes the liquid metal of the upper part 6a to disperse in all directions in order to form a plurality of metal splashes. In this respect, the use of conventional electric resistance welding in preparation of the electron gun presents a problem to the result electron gun. Otherwise stated, each of the metal splashes resulted from the electric resistance welding has electric charge which causes a discharge inferiority of the electron gun. Furthermore, since the metal parts of the electron gun should be compressed during the electric resistance welding, the metal parts are apt to be deformed and, as a result, desired accuracy of the metal parts may be not accomplished. Hence, another problem of this electric resistance welding is resides in that it causes the operational performance of the result color cathode-ray tube combined with the electron gun to be necessarily deteriorated.
In order to overcome the problems introduced in using the conventional electric resistance welding for preparation of the electron gun, there has been proposed the use of laser welding.
In conventional laser welding, a laser medium arranged between two reflectors of a laser generator is energized in order to emit a light which in turn becomes an intense laser beam of high energy by reciprocating between the reflectors. This intense laser beam is then focused, using a focusing lens, on a desired weld zone of the metal parts to be welded. As a result, a weld nugget is formed at the weld zone and the metal parts are welded to each other by the weld nugget.
With reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B showing conventional laser welding for welding an upper part 8a to a lower part 8b in order to provide a cap-shaped product, respectively, a laser beam B is focused on a weld zone between the parts 8a and 8b using a focusing lens 10.
Here, FIG. 3A shows an embodiment of the conventional laser welding wherein the laser beam B is laterally focused on the weld zone, while FIG. 3B shows another embodiment of the conventional laser welding wherein the laser beam B is downwardly inclinedly focused on the weld zone.
In these conventional laser weldings, when the thickness of the upper part 8a is at least similar to that of the lower part 8b and the weld zone is provided, similarly to a conventional butt welding, at the corner of the juncture of the parts 8a and 8b as depicted in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the weld penetration is formed between the upper and lower parts 8a and 8b with at least similar penetration depth and, in this respect, there is no problem in providing a desired weld strength for the result cap-shaped product.
However, when the thickness of the upper part 8a is different from that of the lower part 8b as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, it is very important to determine the diameter d (d.sub.1 and d.sub.2) of the weld nugget of the juncture of the parts 8a and 8b in order to provide the desired weld strength for the result product.
If described in detail, it is noted that the weld nugget diameter d (d.sub.1 and d.sub.2) is a very important factor in determining the weld strength P of a spot welding using the laser beam as represented in the following expressions. That is, when you let the area of the weld zone be A and the shearing strength of the material of the parts 8a and 8b be .sigma.s, the weld strength P is represented by the expressions: EQU A=.pi..multidot.(d/2).sup.2 EQU P=A.multidot..sigma.s=.pi..multidot.(d/2).sup.2 .multidot..sigma.s
wherein d is the weld nugget diameter at the juncture of the parts 8a and 8b.
Conventionally, the parts of the electron gun mostly have thicknesses ranged from 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm, respectively. In addition, as depicted in FIGS. 4, 6a and 6b, the known spot welding using the laser beam generally causes an evaporation section 9b having a diameter D to be formed on a surface of a part, for example, the upper part 8a, on which the laser beam is to be focused by the focusing lens 10. The weld nugget diameter d (d.sub.1 and d.sub.2) is rapidly reduced in proportion to the depth H of the weld penetration 9a.
Particularly, when the upper part 8a has a thickness larger than that of the lower part 8b as depicted in FIG. 6A, the weld nugget has a very small diameter d.sub.1 at the juncture between the upper and lower parts 8a and 8b. In this respect, it is difficult to determine the welding condition when the thickness of the upper part 8a is larger than that of the lower part 8b as described above.
For example, when the thickness of the upper part 8a is 1.0 mm and the thickness of the lower part 8b is 0.2 mm, the diameter d.sub.1 of the weld nugget at the juncture between the upper and lower parts 8a and 8b is only about 1/3 of the diameter d.sub.2 of the weld nugget at the juncture when the thickness of the upper part 8a is 0.2 mm and the thickness of the lower part 8b is 1.0 mm as shown in FIG. 6B. Thus, it is noted that the weld strength is deteriorated when the thickness of the upper part 8a is larger than that of the lower part 8b.
Furthermore, in order to determine the optimum weld strength of the parts 8a and 8b in the known laser welding for preparation of the electron gun, there is a requirement to control the capacity of the laser generator one by one in accordance with the thicknesses of the parts 8a and 8b. Otherwise, the existing focusing lens 10 should be substituted with another focusing lens having a different radius of curvature .rho. and satisfying the optimum welding condition. In this regard, another problem of the known laser welding is resides in that it is very difficult to determine the welding condition.
In accordance with the above, it is noted that the known laser welding can be used only when the thickness of the upper part 8a is at least similar to that of the lower part 8b and the weld zone is provided, similarly to the conventional butt welding, at the corner of the juncture of the parts 8a and 8b as depicted in FIGS. 3A and 3B or when the thickness of the upper part 8a is smaller than that of the lower part 8b. Another disadvantage of this known laser welding is resides in that it cannot be used when the thickness of the upper part 8a is larger than that of the lower part 8b.

Laser welding method for preparation of electron gun of color cathode-ray tube


A link mounted part is formed as a part separate from a link body. The link mounted part includes a plate portion having a rail surface, and two projection portions which are integrally formed with the plate portion and project upward from the rail surface. A mounting pin mounts the link mounted part on the link body below the plate portion on a side opposite to the projection portions with respect to the plate portion.

A track-type work vehicle such as a hydraulic excavator includes a traveling unit, a revolving unit, and a work implement mounted on the revolving unit. The traveling unit includes drive wheels (sprockets), idler wheels (idler tumblers), rollers, track apparatuses, and the like.
The track apparatus is mounted on and wound around the idler wheel and the drive wheel. By making teeth of the drive wheel mesh with the track apparatus and by rotating the drive wheel, the track apparatus is rotatably driven. In general, the track apparatus is configured such that a plurality of track links are connected in an endless shape (annular shape) by pins and bushings, and track shoe plates (shoes) are mounted on the plurality of track links.
With respect to a traveling unit of a large-sized vehicle, there has been known a track apparatus where a track shoe plate and a link are integrally formed with each other. The track apparatus of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,530,379 (see PTD 1), for example.
In this publication, a track link includes a wheel receiving path, and upright flanges positioned on both sides of the wheel receiving path. The wheel receiving path is a portion which forms a rail surface on which the rollers pass. The upright flanges are portions which mesh with a drive tumbler which forms the drive wheel.
An endless belt is formed by connecting the above-mentioned plurality of track links in an endless manner. By rotating the drive tumbler in a state where the upright flanges of the track links mesh with the drive tumbler, the above-mentioned endless belt is rotatably driven.


A radio switching apparatus is provided which is actuated upon reception of a radio signal and which is capable zero or near-zero standby electric power consumption. The radio switching apparatus includes a receiving antenna; a surface-acoustic-wave device to which a signal received by the antenna is fed and which extracts a specific pattern contained in the signal; a storing circuit for storing output electric power of the surface-acoustic-wave device; and a switch circuit which is turned on when the output voltage of the storing circuit exceeds a set value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio switching apparatus which achieves reduced consumption of electric power.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various radio application systems, for example, electric-power or gas meter reading systems using radio, or IC card systems using radio, have been researched. Here, the meter reading system using radio is designed to detect an amount of electric power, gas or the like used by driving a meter reading apparatus using radio in an automobile without a meter reading person going to the place where the meter is disposed.
Meanwhile, the major problem in such a system is consumption of standby electric-power. That is, in order to drive, for example, the meter reading apparatus using radio, it is necessary to continually have the meter reading apparatus in a standby state (a state in which radio waves can be received). For this purpose, a receiving circuit must continually be in an active state. However, if the receiving circuit is continually in an active state, electric power consumption increases. When, for example, the meter reading apparatus is driven by a small battery, the service life of the battery is extremely short because of the electric power consumption of the receiving circuit. In particular, in the case of an apparatus which is driven once per month like a meter reading apparatus, such wasteful consumption of electric power by the receiving circuit is very undesirable.


This invention relates to a novel inverted diffuser stagnation point flow reactor which can be used for vapor deposition of thin solid films on substrates. A metalorganic chemical vapor deposition reactor comprising a gas mixing chamber with gas entry ports into the mixing chamber; a substrate for deposition thereon of solid film; and a gas outlet for conveying gas away from the substrate, characterized by a capillary plug positioned at the base of an inverted diffuser between the mixing chamber and the substrate, the capillary plug serving to streamline the flow of gas to the substrate.

The general purpose of a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) assembly is to deposit thin films of uniform thickness and chemical composition over a large area substrate such as glass, quartz, sapphire, or iron or titanium sheets.
A variety of reactor systems have been conceived and built, over the years, relating to this field, for example, H. M. Cox, S. G. Hummel and V. G. Keramidas, J. Crystal Growth 79, 900-908 (1986); P. Lee, D. McKenna, D. Kapur and K. F. Jensen, J. Crystal Growth, 77, 120-127 (1986); A. G. Thompson, V. S. Sunderam, G. R. Girard and L. M. Fraas, J Crystal Growth, 94, 901-910 (1989); and mathematically analyzed, A. Sherman, J. Electronic materials, 17, 413-423 (1988); K. F. Jensen, Proc. The Ninth Inter. Conf. on CVD, pp. 3-15, Ed. McD. Robinson, G. W. Cullen, C. H. J. van den Brekel and J. M. Blocher, Jr. Electrochem. Soc., 1984; L. M. Fraas, P. S. McLeod, J. A. Cape and L. D. Partain, J. Crystal Growth, 68, 490-496 (1984).
However, in most cases, uniformity in gas flow has been achieved by either applying a vacuum to the device or rotating the substrate at high speed, or by both means. In one design, H. M. Cox et al, uniform upward flow of gas was achieved by means of a porous frit. The gas impinged on the substrate and at the same time held the substrate in levitation over the frit. But this design was beset by the problems of pressure drop across the frit, difficulty in heating the substrate and the possibility of blocking the frit by solid reaction products due to its proximity to the hot substrate.

Inverted diffuser stagnation point flow reactor for vapor deposition of thin films


A vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device has a first operation unit T1 including a first brake operation element; a first brake system K1 for braking a first wheel brake R corresponding to the first operation unit T1; and a first control valve unit A and B for controlling brake hydraulic pressure in the first brake system. In the device, the first operation unit T1 and the first brake system K1 are separated so as not to flow a brake fluid, and the device further comprises a brake fluid tank 30 having a reservoir function for supplying the brake fluid to the separated first brake system K1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device, and more particularly, to a vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device mainly mountable for a bar handle type vehicle such as a motorcycle, a motor tricycle, an all terrain vehicle (ATV) and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
It has been conventionally known for a vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device that the fluid pressure is increased by a pump so as to control braking force in an interlocking brake between front and rear wheels of a vehicle such as a motor cycle or the like (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication JP-A-2000-6779).
Further, it has been also known for a vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device that the fluid pressure is increased by a pump so as to control the braking force distribution to be near an ideal braking force distribution, in which the braking force distribution is in an interlocking brake between front and rear wheels of a vehicle such as a motor cycle or the like (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Examined Publication JP-B-3457190.
Further, a vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device including a stroke simulator for giving operation reaction force to the brake operation element, in which the operation reaction force corresponds to the operation of a brake operation element, has been also known (for example, refer to JP-A-2002-264787).
The vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device disclosed in JP-A-2002-264787 includes an electric brake hydraulic pressure control mode and a mechanical brake hydraulic pressure control mode. When the electric brake fluid control mode is executed, the stroke simulator is operated so as to give operation reaction force, which corresponds to the operation of the brake operation element, to the brake operation element. Further, when some troubles occur while executing the electric brake fluid control mode, constitution elements according to the electric brake fluid control mode are turned off. Then, the electric brake fluid control mode is transferred to the mechanical brake hydraulic pressure control mode, and the brake hydraulic pressure corresponding to a brake operation amount is directly supplied to a wheel cylinder. Accordingly, a fail-safe function can be realized in this device.
However, the above-described conventional vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control devices have a problem that a pulsation occurred by operating a pump may be transmitted to a brake operation element through a fluid passage at the time of operating ABS or an interlocking brake so as to damage operation feeling.
More particularly, in a vehicle such as a motorcycle or the like, when the operation of the front wheel side brake (the operation of an operation element such as a brake lever or the like) is additionally performed while a front wheel side brake is operated (the operation of an operation element such as a pedal or the like) interlocking with the operation of a rear wheel side brake, the pulsation by the pump is easily transmitted to a brake lever through a fluid passage communicating to the front wheel side brake.
Further, a general vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device is needed to have a plurality of operation equipments to control a brake, so that the number of parts is increased so as to increase the size of the device. Therefore, improving the vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device has been desired.

Vehicular brake hydraulic pressure control device


Video stream data is selectively scaled so that sections within regions of interest (ROI) maintain high resolution while areas not within the region of interest are down-scaled to reduce bandwidth cost of transmission. A low compression encoder compresses sections of a video frame corresponding to one or more ROI without motion search or prediction mode decision to generate low-compression section data. The video frame is downscaled and a high compression encoder compresses the resulting downscaled video frame with prediction mode decision to generate high-compression frame data.

Graphical display devices having a wide field of view (FOV) have been developed. Such devices include head mounted display (HMD) devices. In an HMD device, a small display device is worn on a user's head. The display device has a display optic in front of one eye (monocular HMD) or each eye (binocular HMD). An HMD device typically includes sensors that can sense the orientation of the device and change the scene shown by the display optics as the user's head moves. Conventionally, most video displayed on wide FOV displays are compressed using a single compression algorithm where all parts of the screen have the same resolution.
However, displaying video for virtual reality (VR) programs, which is often performed in conjunction with HMD devices, requires a higher frame rate than conventional flat screen displays to prevent a user from experiencing motion sickness. Displaying video in very high resolution and high frame rate is very costly in terms of bandwidth. HMD for VR has optical systems to show video in wide FOV for immersive experiences. While the screen area around a primary gaze point (sometimes called the foveal region) requires high resolution, the areas outside the primary gaze point are observed only by the peripheral vision and can therefore be displayed at a lower resolution. Such video is sometimes referred to as foveated video.
It is within this context that the present disclosure arises.

Foveated video link for VR with gaze tracking


A method and system for setting print options for media to be printed in image-forming devices according to a specific form format is provided. The print option setting method and system includes the steps of detecting line feed information from a print file in the image-forming device, and extracting at least one or more lines included in the print file based on the line feed information; setting the number of characters to be printed per unit length for each of the extracted lines and the number of lines; and sending the information on the characters set line by line and the number of lines to the image-forming device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for setting print options in image-forming devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for setting print options for media to be printed in image-forming devices according to specific form formats.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, image-forming devices such as laser printers, inkjet printers, and facsimile machines print text or graphics on a medium such as paper, by applying pre-set character-per-inch (CPI) and line-per-inch (LPI) values. The CPI value and/or the LPI value can be set by a user for each page if necessary. The CPI indicates the number of characters to be printed per inch in the width direction of a medium such as paper, and the LPI indicates the number of text lines to be printed in the height direction of the medium. That is, if the CPI value is set larger, the number of characters to be printed per text line increases, and, if the LPI value is set larger, the number of text lines to be printed per page increases.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional printer output of an exemplary receipt.
In the case of a receipt issued from institutions such as banks, the receipt size is usually standardized for banking transactions, and if lots of characters are printed in a limited space, the CPI value is generally set high. Since the image-forming device such as a printer has a function of re-setting the CPI value and the LPI value for every page, the numbers and characters entered on the shown receipt are printed in the same CPI and LPI values.
Accordingly, printing has to be performed in a smaller font for the details to be captured for an area 10 illustratively shown as "card number" in which many characters to be printed in a small area, and in a large font for characters in the area 11 illustratively shown as "231935309". As a result of using different font sizes, the text for area 11 does not look like it is on the same line as the characters in area 10.
Further, if a number is entered in the area 12, the entire format of the receipt is affected by the CPI value so that the number and lines may overlap as shown in the area A. Thus, in order to solve the above problem, users have to design the receipt format according to the available CPI and LPI values, which requires lots of time and effort. In addition, if a standard exists for the receipt size and format, it takes more time to solve the problem.

Print option setting method and system for image forming devices


It is possible to save power in an HDD/optical disc combination camera. During a normal recording operated by a battery, only the hard disk is operated and operation of the optical drive is stopped. Alternatively, only the optical drive is operated and the operation of the hard disk is stopped. During dubbing, both of the HDD and the optical drive are operated when performing play-back/display during the dubbing and a large current is consumed. Accordingly, the operation is permitted only by external power supply. In the case of dubbing not performing play-back/display, the battery remaining amount is checked and dubbing is permitted only if the amount is equal to or greater than a threshold value.

The present invention relates to an information recording/play-backing apparatus.
The conventional technique provides, for example, a method for simultaneously recording video or audio data in a plurality of channels on an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) in an HDD recorder or a method for recording still image information by two compression methods in a digital camera or the like. For example, there is JP-A-09-284715.
Moreover, JP-A-2004-159225 discloses a method for performing dubbing by a recorder for a combination of a HDD and a DVD (Digital Video Disc) or stopping drive one of the HDD or the DVD by power saving.


An optical metrology and image correction device includes a point size light source adapted to emit a beam of light and a translucent mask that receive the beam of light. The translucent mask rotates from a first position wherein the beam of light is received by the translucent mask in a direction substantially orthogonal to the translucent mask to a second position wherein the beam of light is received by the translucent mask at an angle offset with respect to the translucent mask. A corresponding method of measuring and correcting an image from an optical metrology and image correction device includes emitting a beam of light from a point size light source, causing the beam of light to be received by a translucent mask in a first position substantially orthogonal to the mask and in a second position in a direction offset with respect to the translucent mask.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for measuring a dimension of a target site. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods of projecting and correcting images for use in measuring a dimension of a target site.
2. Background of the Related Art
Minimally invasive surgery, e.g., laparoscopic, endoscopic, and thoroscopic surgery, has many advantages over traditional open surgeries. In particular, minimally invasive surgery eliminates the need for a large incision, thereby reducing discomfort, recovery time, and many of the deleterious side effects associated with traditional open surgery.
The minimally invasive surgeries are performed through small openings in a patient's skin. These openings may be incisions in the skin or may be naturally occurring body orifices (e.g., mouth, anus, or vagina). In general, insufflation gas is used to enlarge the area surrounding the target surgical site to create a larger, more accessible work area.
During minimally invasive procedures, it is often difficult for a surgeon to determine sizes of various organs, tissues, and other structures in a surgical site. Various in-situ surgical metrology methods exist for measurement in a surgical site. Such methods require many moving parts and projection images that change size and/or focus quickly as projectors move in or out of a surface of projection.
In-situ surgical metrology optical projection methods are employed in situations where it is desired to measure the size of defects and to correlate the size of the defects with commercially available mesh sizes for ventral hernia repair. Such methods often employ an optical projection device that includes a laser light source and diffractive optics to generate a light pattern on an area of interest. In other methods, a light source and lens system is used to project an image on the surgical site.
In projected-pattern metrology, the projected image or pattern serves as an optical ruler, where the distance between dots or lines in the pattern is directly translated to actual distances. In laparoscopic applications, when the instrument is inserted through a laparoscopic port, it is not always possible to position the projection device in front of the site to be measured. When the surface of the projection is tilted or offset with respect to the optical axis, the projected image becomes distorted, which results in significant reduction in accuracy of the measurements. Numerical methods to correct for the reduction in accuracy are not always available for the particular scenarios encountered.

Device and method for optical image correction in metrology systems