An automatic scent dispensing system for distributing scents on a user-adjustable schedule without requiring user attention. The system includes a tank system for holding a scent substance that includes a reservoir, and a pump. A dispensing nozzle is mountable on an air duct. A duration timer controls a duration of dispensing of the scent substance, and is adjustable to set the duration of operation of the pump for dispensing the scent substance. An occurrence timer controls a time period between dispensing of scent, and triggers the duration timer after passage of a selected time period. A regular/irregular selector switch controls the actuation of the duration timer, and has an irregular setting for triggering the duration timer at selected events (such as circulating fan operation or an increase in duct air pressure) and a regular setting for triggering the duration timer by the occurrence timer after a selectable time period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to whole building air scenting systems and more particularly pertains to a new automatic scent dispensing system for distributing scents throughout a building on a user-adjustable schedule without requiring user attention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of whole building air scenting systems is known in the prior art. While some of these systems perform some operations without user intervention or attention, most, if not all, of the known systems require some type of periodic attention by the user for the system to operate, such requiring the user to initiate the operation of the system. Thus, these systems cannot be set and relied upon to operate without the user's periodic attention or monitoring. This may result in the accumulation of odors or smells in the building to an offensive level, which may be the only reminder that the user is given that the system has not been operated frequently enough.
The automatic scent dispensing system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of distributing scents throughout a building on a user-adjustable schedule without requiring user attention.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


According to the present invention a building element comprises a generally planar panel defining at least one substantially straight side end and a first connecting lug extending co-planarly to the panel from the substantially straight side end. The first connecting lug extends along only a portion of said straight side end, and a slot is provided in the form of an elongate aperture extending partly into the first connecting lug or partly into the panel adjacent to the first connecting lug. The slot extends adjacent to the straight side end and parallel thereto, and the slot is open at one end thereof. The arrangement is such that two building elements with slots being open at opposite ends can be attached to each other by positioning the panels at right angles to each other and sliding the slots over each other in a direction along the straight side ends in order that the slots engage the elements. The invention also relates to structures formed by using the above elements.

This invention relates to building elements. In one embodiment of the invention it relates to building elements suitable for building scaled down structures such as, for example toy castles.
Many different kinds of building elements exist which are suitable for building scaled down structures. Many of these elements include intricate attachment formations for attaching the building elements to each other which make the building elements expensive. Some of the attachment formations are unattractive and very much visual once the building elements have been attached to each other which then detracts from the appearance of the scaled down structure.


This invention provides a process for the manufacture of N-acetyl amino phenol, which process comprises reacting an appropriate phenol and an amide in the presence of a heteropoly acid or its alkali metal salt catalyst.

The reaction between para aminophenol and acetic anhydride is the most common one known in the prior art for making N-acetyl aminophenol. Para aminophenol, in turn, is manufactured either by the reduction of para nitrophenol or para nitrosophenol. Hydrogen reduction of nitrobenzene under acidic conditions is another commercial method for making para aminophenol. Another process known in the art for the manufacture of N-acetyl para aminophenol employs the Beckmann rearrangement of para hydroxyacetophenone oxime; para hydroxyacetophenone is commercially manufactured by the Fries rearrangement of phenyl acetate in presence of aluminium chloride or hydrogen fluoride. European Patent Application 321020 claims the use of molecular sieves to catalyze the reaction between phenols and amides to give N-acyl anilines. Manufacture of N-acetyl para aminophenol either from para aminophenol or by employing the Fries rearrangement, causes environmental pollution because these routes use toxic aluminium chloride or hydrogen fluoride.

Process for the preparation of N-acetyl aminophenols

Council of Scientific Industrial Research


A device for controlling the variable capacity motor incorporated in a hydraulic drive vehicle, wherein a control valve for reducing the oil pressure for controlling the motor is provided to pilot hydraulic piping extending from a control pump or controlling the capacity of the motor, and changeover valves are provided for performing changeover between operation and non-operation of the pressure reduction valve. The above structure serves to control the minimum capacity of the variable capacity hydraulic motor while reducing the pressure of pilot oil introduced from the control pump and, when a pressure in the main circuit exceeds a preset value, the changeover valves operate even when the pressure reduction valve is in operation so as to cancel such operation for continuously controlling the vehicle.

Illustrated in FIG. 12 is a conventional hydraulic circuit of an infinite variable-speed hydraulic drive vehicle which has a variable capacity hydraulic pump 1 and a motor 2. In the same figure, a part of the output of an engine 5 drives a working machine hydraulic pump 4 and acts upon a working machine hydraulic cylinder 52 by way of a working machine hydraulic circuit 51. Remaining output of the engine 5 drives the control pump 3 and a hydraulic pump 1 in which oil pressure is generated. The oil pressure thus generated at the hydraulic pump 1 flows through main circuits 24 and 25, rotates the variable capacity motor 2, thereby forming a driving force.
Designated at 6 is a pump control valve for controlling the capacity of the hydraulic pump 1, 7 is a pump capacity control cylinder, 8, 8 are main relief valves and 10 is a filter. Oil under pressure, which flows from the pump control valve 6 to the motor control oil line 11, is introduced into one end of the motor control valve 14, whereby the oil introduced into the motor control valve 14 operates to introduce the oil under high pressure, which is introduced by a pilot hydraulic piping 16 from the main circuits 24 and 25, into a motor capacity control cylinder 31.
That is, the pump capacity control cylinder 7 and the motor capacity control cylinder 31 are controlled by the pump control valve 6 and the motor control valve 14 so that the capacity of the pump 1 and the capacity of the hydraulic motor 2 are arbitrarily varied, thereby varying the traveling speed of the vehicle.
A graph representing a traveling performance curve of the conventional hydraulic drive vehicle, as explained in FIG. 12, will be described with reference to FIG. 13. As illustrated in the same figure, in the infinite variable-speed hydraulic drive vehicle having the conventional variable capacity hydraulic motor, both the traveling driving force and the traveling speed are continuously varied so that they are automatically and continuously varied without changing operation from the maximum driving force (traveling speed is 0) to the maximum speed. Accordingly, since the driver can control the traveling speed and the driving force, it is possible to travel the vehicle easier than a vehicle provided with a mechanical speed change gear.
The conventional hydraulic drive vehicle has an advantage that the traveling operation is easy. However, in the industrial vehicle provided with a loading apparatus such as a shovel loader, the working machine pump 4 of the loader is also driven by the engine in the same way as the hydraulic drive pump 1. Since the maximum rising speed of the loader is proportional to the engine speed, the rising speed of the loader is also controlled by the travel of the accelerator pedal in the same way as the traveling speed. Accordingly, in case that the hydraulic drive vehicle travels while raising the loader at the working site, the working efficiency is improved, when the loader rises at the maximum speed and the vehicle travels at low speed. However, there was such a serious problem that when the loader rises at the maximum speed, the traveling speed at the same time increases at the maximum. This problem will be described with reference to FIG. 14 which depend on the engine speed of the engine 5. Pst1", . . . Pst5" represent pressures of pilot hydraulic piping 15. The relation between the capacity of the motor (horizontal axis) and the pressure P.sub.H" (vertical axis) in the main hydraulic circuits 24 and 25 is varied by the pilot pressures Pst1" . . . Pst5". In case that the traveling speed is accelerated at full throttle so as to rise the loader at the maximum speed, as the pilot pressure rises to Pst1" and thereafter the traveling load decreases, the pressure P.sub.H " decreases as the traveling load decreases. At this time, the traveling speed increases as the capacity of the motor moves along the characteristic line of the pilot pressure and reaches the minimum. At this time, the traveling speed reaches the maximum speed, which causes a problem at the working site having a small traveling range.
To solve the matching problem between the traveling speed and the rising speed of the loader, the multiple speed gear change method is conventionally employed wherein the maximum traveling speed is reduced while the capacity of the motor is fixed to be the maximum or the mechanical speed change gear is connected to the motor. However, there was a problem in the former in that the traveling speed is limited to the low speed since the capacity of the motor is fixed as illustrated in FIG. 15 and a problem in the latter in that the device cannot match exactly with the working condition since the maximum driving force is not obtained at high range as illustrated in FIG. 16. To solve these problems, the applicant proposed a means, which is disclosed in Japanese Utility Application No. 63-144985 (and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,153) and is provided with a means which is capable of operating to control the minimum capacity of the variable capacity hydraulic motor, thereby continuously controlling the maximum traveling speed in response to the oil pressure in the high pressure side of the main circuit which is connected to the variable capacity hydraulic motor of the hydraulic pump and the pilot oil pressure from the control pump which operates the motor capacity control cylinder for controlling the capacity of the variable capacity hydraulic motor. A motor control valve 14 of this device, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 63-144985, controls the motor control oil pressure by balancing the control oil pressure with the main circuit oil pressure, but it had the following problems:
(1) The motor control oil pressure is liable to vary by the variation of the main circuit oil pressure which is caused by the control of the traveling speed.
(2) The structure is complex and rather expensive.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to solve these problems of the conventional device and to provide a device for controlling the variable capacity motor which is simple in structure and low in cost and has a traveling characteristic which is not influenced by the variation of the main circuit oil pressure.

Device for controlling variable capacity motor of hydraulic drive vehicle


A computer-implemented method of retrieving and displaying data from an entity network database (130) comprising a plurality of entities and a plurality of relationships between the entities is provided. The method comprises receiving a selection of a plurality of anchor entities of the entity network database; retrieving a plurality of connector entities of the entity network database, each connector entity disposed on a path in the entity network database extending between at least two of the anchor entities; determining a relevance score for each of the connector entities, the relevance score reflecting the relevance of each connector entity to the anchor entities; and displaying the connector entities within a shape defined by the anchor entities, wherein the distance of each connector entity from the anchor entities is based on the relevance score of the connector entity.

Increasingly, there is a need to store data in a graph-based form, for example using graph databases or data stores, such as Neo4j® or OrientDB®. Such graph data stores are of particular utility in the storage of entity networks, which model knowledge relating to entities (e.g. people, places, organisations, events), and the relationships between those entities. The graph data store represents the entities as nodes within the graph, with relationships between entities represented by the edges of the graph.
Graph data stores are increasingly accessed by myriad analysts, who interrogate the graph data store in order to investigate the relationships stored therein. For example, graph data stores may be used by insurance analysts seeking to investigate the links between companies and individuals in order analyse risk, financial analysts seeking to assess the value of companies, or by journalists seeking to uncover and report on links public figures or entities that were hitherto not mainstream knowledge. In other examples, fraud analysts interrogate graphs in order to identify fraudulent transactions or criminal activity in data. Using such data stores, which are typically constructed by automatically extracting the entities and relationships from a corpus of texts, means that the user need not read hundreds or thousands of individual documents to establish the relationships between the entities.
Whilst query languages (e.g. Cypher Query Language, Gremlin graph traversal language) exist for graph data stores, they are useful only in retrieving all the entities and relationships meeting particular criteria. However, as the size of the datasets grows, the number of relationships between the entities grows. This scale makes it difficult for a user querying the graph data store to obtain meaningful information relating to the entities and their relationships. For example, in a graph database based on news data compiled by the applicant over a 12-month period, the "United States" entity had over 50,000 neighbouring entities (i.e. entities connected to "United States" by a path of length 1). Determining which of these vast numbers of neighbouring entities are particularly salient to the subject entity is therefore non-trivial.
It is an aim of the invention to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, and any other difficulties that would be apparent to the skilled person upon reading the description herein. It is an aim of the invention to provide an improved means of querying an entity network database to retrieve relevant relationships between entities and displaying those relationships to a user.

Method and system for retrieving and displaying data from an entity network database


A process produces a tubular body with at least one dividing wall extending across its length and forming longitudinal chambers disposed next to each other. A foil strip is used whereby a dividing-wall strip or a section of dividing-wall strip is cut to length and is fastened at its lateral outer edges on the foil strip or section of the foil strip, with parallel alignment with the foil strip or section of foil strip. The lateral edges of the foil strip or section of foil strip are then joined with each other thereby either directly forming a tubular body or forming an endless tube, from which tubular bodies are then cut to length. The tube is then solidly joined with a tube head having a dividing bridge conforming to the arrangement of the dividing wall in the tubular body. The tube head has a dispensing aperture closable by a closure.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for producing a particularly multi-layered tubular body with at least one dividing wall extending across-its length and forming longitudinal chambers disposed next to each other, with the use of a foil strip.
2. The Prior Art
A process for producing a tubular body for a tube-like container is known from DE-A1-24 53 492, according to which a multi-layered, thin board is wound, made shaft-like and assembled in such a way that the tubular wall, a centrally or chord-like extending intermediate wall, and seams extending in the circumferential direction and overlapping each other in the longitudinal direction are formed as one piece. The overlapping zones extending in the circumferential direction are selaed by heat or fused, so that longitudinally extending overlap connections or seams are formed. The dividing wall divides the space within the tubular body in two longitudinally extending chambers, which are arranged next to each other.
The manufacture of the thin boards, the molding of the uniform tubular body with the interior dividing wall, and the manufacture of the two longitudinal seams are relatively costly.
For manufacturing two- or multi-chambered tubes with a round or oval cross section, it is known, furthermore, to produce tubular bodies by the injection molding process, cf, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,520, or by forming an overlapping seam from a strip of foil, cf, for example, GB-PS 1 030 275, and to then, in a further production step, insert in the tubular body an intermediate wall, and to join the latter solidly with the tubular body, if need be.
Inserting an intermediate wall and anchoring it or mounting it in a tight way in a manufactured tubular body is extremely costly in terms of expenditure and requires many production steps, which prevents a high production output rate.
The tubular bodies produced according to the known processes are joined with a tube head, which is prefabricated or molded on the body, such tube head also having a separation bridge for the connection with the dividing wall, such bridge extending into the dispensing aperture. Above the dispensing aperture, provision is made for a closure, the latter covering the dispensing aperture or resting against the separation bridge.
A two-chamber tube is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,520, whereby two tubular bodies are arranged one in the other. The closing cap has an inner cylindrical projection which, when the closing cap on the tube head is in the closing condition, communicate with the separation bridge, the latter ending below the top edge of the dispensing aperture, and separates the two chambers from each other also in the head of the tube.

Process for producing a tubular body and process for producing a tube with the use of the tubular body


A photoconductor that includes a supporting substrate, and an active layer in contact with the substrate, and which layer contains at least one photogenerating pigment, at least one charge transport component, and a mixture of a metal oxide and a chelating agent of a tetrafluorodihydroxyanthraquinone.

This disclosure is generally directed to imaging members, photoreceptors, photoconductors, and the like. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed to single layered flexible, belt imaging members, or devices comprised of an optional supporting medium like a substrate, and thereover a single layer comprised of a photogenerating pigment or pigments, a charge transport component or components, and a metal oxide having applied thereto a chelating agent of, for example, an anthraquinone like a tetrafluorodihydroxyanthraquinone, an optional adhesive layer, an optional hole blocking or undercoat layer, and an optional overcoating layer. The photoreceptors illustrated herein, in embodiments, have excellent charge acceptance characteristics, and wherein charge leakage is minimized and in some embodiments substantially eliminated. Also, in embodiments a photoconductor with the single layered active layer deposited on a supporting substrate possesses excellent wear resistance, extended lifetimes, elimination or minimization of imaging member scratches on the surface of the member, and which scratches can result in undesirable print failures where, for example, the scratches are visible on the final prints generated. Additionally, in embodiments the imaging members disclosed herein possess excellent, and in a number of instances low Vr (residual potential), and allow the substantial prevention of Vr cycle up when appropriate; high sensitivity; low acceptable image ghosting characteristics; low background and/or minimal charge deficient spots (CDS); and desirable toner cleanability.
Also included within the scope of the present disclosure are methods of imaging and printing with the photoconductors, which can be negatively charged, as illustrated herein. These methods generally involve the formation of an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor, followed by developing the image with a toner composition comprised, for example, of thermoplastic resin, colorant, such as pigment, charge additive, and surface additive, reference U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,560,635; 4,298,697 and 4,338,390, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference, subsequently transferring the image to a suitable substrate, and permanently affixing the image thereto. In those environments wherein the device is to be used in a printing mode, the imaging method involves the same operation with the exception that exposure can be accomplished with a laser device or image bar. More specifically, flexible belts disclosed herein can be selected for the Xerox Corporation iGEN3® machines that generate with some versions over 100 copies per minute. Processes of imaging, especially xerographic imaging and printing, including digital, and/or color printing, are thus encompassed by the present disclosure. The imaging members are in embodiments sensitive in the wavelength region of, for example, from about 400 to about 900 nanometers, and in particular from about 650 to about 850 nanometers, thus diode lasers can be selected as the light source. Moreover, the imaging members of this disclosure are useful in high resolution color xerographic applications, particularly high speed color copying and printing processes.


A safety switch for a lithium ion cell to prevent exceeding voltage limits associated with over-discharge and over-charging of a lithium ion cell. The safety switch includes at least one insulated gate transistor device having a low gate threshold voltage and a high transconductance to provide a power switch having a very sharp transition from an electrically conductive state to an electrically non-conductive state. The safety switch includes at least one gate voltage control circuit that does not consume power during quiescent periods or period of non-use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safety switch for a battery, and more particularly, to a charge/discharge regulator circuit for a lithium ion battery to prevent over-charge or over-discharge of the lithium ion cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrochemical batteries are generally used to provide direct current and power in a large variety of different operations. Batteries utilizing the reactivity of lithium metal are well known. Batteries employing elemental lithium as the anode, however, may become hazardous under certain circumstances. Further research in this field led to the development of lithium ion batteries in which elemental lithium is replaced by substances intercalating lithium ions. Such intercalating substances are capable of absorbing substantial amounts of lithium ions and reversibly releasing the lithium ions in a subsequent operation. An example is trilithium nitride, whose structure consists of layers of dilithium nitride, between each of which is a layer of lithium atoms. This markedly increases the conductivity, so that the material becomes an effective solid electrolyte, for example, in a lithium ion battery.
A conventional lithium ion battery has a negative electrode comprising an active material which releases lithium ions when discharging and intercalates or absorbs lithium ions when the battery is being charged. The positive electrode of a lithium ion battery comprises an active material of a different nature, one that is capable of reacting with lithium ions on discharge, and releasing lithium ions upon charging the battery. It is well known that over-discharge of the lithium cell may result in dendritic or metal filaments growing from one side of the cell to the other, or across the intercalating membranes. This electrically conductive crystalline structure can short circuit the cell and permanently destroy the cell's operation. Over charging a lithium ion battery may cause not only destruction of the cell, but may also create a fire hazard. During recharge, if the recharging voltage exceeds a certain voltage called the over-charge limit, the recharging circuit may be putting too much energy into the battery. The battery will continue to charge, however, resulting the excess energy is converted to heat. Under these conditions, the lithium ion battery may become hot, it can vent gas, and potentially catch fire.
Accordingly, a lithium ion battery safety switch or charge regulator is needed that will prevent over-discharge of the lithium ion battery, thus preventing formation of electrically conductive dendrites, as well as to prevent over-charging of the lithium ion battery, thus preventing overheating of the battery and the resultant risk of combustion or explosion.
Various charge regulating circuits have been employed including the use of FETs as fuses should the over-charge limit be exceeded, or thermal switches that sense the temperature of the lithium ion battery and open the charging circuit in the event a threshold temperature is reached. These are "one-way" switches in the sense that they open the circuit in the event recharge limits are violated (e.g., excess voltage, or excess current). Other one way switches, such as a minimum voltage sensor, detect an over-discharge condition and open a switch to prevent further discharge of the lithium ion battery. Ideally, a charge regulator circuit is bi-directional; i.e., one that can conduct in two directions and can block current in two directions.
A bi-directional switch or voltage regulating circuit, typically integrated within the lithium ion battery casing, is shown in prior art FIG. 1. A bi-directional FET assembly 1 comprising two FET transistors M1 and M2, is connected in series with the cell 6 in the lithium ion battery pack. Typically, M1 and M2 are two discrete power MOSFETs. The MOSFETs shown are N channel devices connected in a common drain configuration, although they may be connected in a common source configuration as well. A control integrated circuit 2 controls the gates 11, 12 of the MOSFETs such that either M1 or M2 will open the circuit 3 across the terminals 4, 5 of the lithium ion battery cell 6. As shown in prior art FIG. 1, the IC control circuit includes precision voltage references 7 and 8, representing the operating range limits of the cell including minimum discharge voltage of the lithium ion cell and the maximum charging voltage of the cell. Voltage comparators compare the voltage across the terminals 4, 5 of the cell with the precision voltage references and will open the circuit in the event these limits are exceeded.
During normal operation, voltages across the battery terminals will lie between the minimum discharge voltage, typically 2.5 volts, and the over-charge voltage, typically 4.2 volts, as shown in FIG. 1. In this range the gates 11, 12 of both MOSFETs are positively biased allowing current to flow though the n-channel MOSFETs. However, should the voltage fall below 2.5 volts during discharge, the output of comparator 9 associated with the over-discharge protection (ODP) portion of the control circuit 2 will output a negative voltage, blocking the current in the ODP MOSFET M1, thus opening the circuit. The presence of clamping diode 13, intrinsic to most power MOSFET structures, is of no consequence since it is reversed biased. The fact that the clamping diode 14 in MOSFET M2 is forward biased is also of irrelevant since only one of the devices need be off in order to open the circuit. Similarly, should the charging voltage exceed the 4.2 volt reference of the over-charge protection (OCP) portion of the control circuit, the output of the OCP operational amplifier 10 will go negative, switching the current off through OCP MOSFET M2 and thus, opening the circuit. In the event of an over-charge condition, the most positive part of the circuit is the drain of the MOSFET thus reverse biasing the clamping diode 14 of the OCP MOSFET so that it does not conduct.
A disadvantage of the protection circuit of FIG. 1 is that the voltage references 7 and 8 require power which is drawn from the lithium ion battery. This power draw is constant, even during periods of non-use, thus creating a constant current drain on the battery resulting in either a reduced duty cycle or operating time, or the need to recharge the battery prior to use in the event of prolonged storage. Another disadvantage of the circuit of FIG. I is that lithium ion battery over-discharge and over-charge voltages are critical and must be maintained within a very narrow range, typically 80 millivolts. Further, these reference voltages are battery specific and must be intimately tied to the characteristics of the battery in which the circuit is employed. Exceeding the maximum charging voltage, even for a brief period of time may result in thermal runaway of the battery and its eventual destruction. These factors have resulted in development and commercialization of very complex control ICs comprising precision analog circuits, having very low current consumption over a wide temperature range. These ICs represent a significant portion of cost of the battery assembly and severely limit the commercial applications to which lithium batteries might be used.
An example of the lithium ion battery switch shown in Figure one is disclosed by Fernandez et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,299. They disclose a recharging circuit for a lithium ion battery that utilizes a control circuit for sensing over-charge conditions. Upon sensing an over-charge condition, the control circuit biases the gate of a power MOSFET to prevent current flow from the charging circuit to the battery. Typical of the device diagrammed in prior art FIG. 1, the device disclosed by Fernandez utilizes a control circuit comprising an operational amplifier and a voltage reference. These devices consume energy from the battery even when the load is disconnected.
Accordingly, there is a need for a protection switch for a lithium ion battery that will provide battery protection from over-discharge or over-charge condition comparable in performance to protection switches currently available except without the need for complex, active control circuits and have substantially no power drain on the battery.


An improved rocker system for actuating valve lift events of an internal combustion engine is provided. The system includes a rocker arm and an actuator link with the actuator link arranged to be in constant driving engagement with the rocker arm and a camshaft. A rocker shaft is positioned in a cylinder head and oriented to have a rotational axis that is substantially perpendicular to a rotational axis of the camshaft and the rocker arm is arranged to be rotated about the rocker shaft and engage a valve to actuate valve lift events of the internal combustion engine.

In a conventional V-style push rod internal combustion engine, a camshaft is located in the block at a center of the V shape. This camshaft location in combination with a single rocker shaft system draws elements of a valve train towards a center of the engine. This, in turn, generally results in the use of a wedge-shaped combustion chamber to accommodate the positioning and movement of the valves. More particularly, such conventional rocker shaft arrangements make it difficult to employ a more desirable spherical combustion chamber.
In addition, conventional valve train arrangements may also include two rocker shafts in the cylinder head, one shaft for an intake rocker arm and one shaft for an exhaust rocker arm, in order to utilize a spherical combustion chamber design. Generally, such a configuration can result in a relatively wide cylinder head design, add extra weight to the engine and can also create packaging challenges in a crowded underhood environment of today's automotive vehicles.
Thus, there is a need for an improved rocker system for a push rod internal combustion engine that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages.

Rocker system for an internal combustion engine


A system and a method for data collection and analysis that uses a multi-level network are provided. The system comprises a first client device and a central network. The first client device and the central network form the multi-level network. The first client device is configured to receive a first data and perform a first data fusing process based on the first data. The first data fusing process generates a second data. The central network is in communication with the first client device. The central network receives the second data from the first client device. The central network is configured to perform a second data fusing process based on the second data to generate a third data. The third data is communicated to the first client device so that the first client device can perform a third data fusing process based on the third data to generate a fourth data.

Data collection techniques and analysis typically rely on large amounts of data entry and data manipulation. A large portion of data entry and data manipulation is performed manually, and is very time consuming. As a non-limiting example, data related to a repeated process (such as a duration thereof or an occurrence of an event) is typically entered manually during the repeated process or shortly after the repeated process occurs. Manual data entry and analysis is prone to error, may be distracting in particular instances, and is not an efficient use of skilled labor.
Systems used to perform data collection and analysis tend to be complex and cost prohibitive. Such systems typically employ proprietary hardware and are limited in configuration and in how data is able to be collected. Additionally, improvements that may be afforded to a process or a system by an analysis of collected data typically require complex and costly adjustments.
It would be advantageous to develop a system and a method for data collection and analysis that uses a multi-level network that automates a substantial portion of data collection and analysis, is adaptable for a wide variety of platforms and devices, and allows for improvements afforded by data analysis to be easily implemented.

System and method for data collection and analysis using a multi-level network


An image reading and recording apparatus includes a trigger arm configured to start transmission of a drive to a paper feed unit in accordance with the position of a carriage. The trigger arm includes a first lever portion for feeding a recording sheet in a state in which a cap is separated from a recording head and a second lever portion for feeding a document in a state in which the cap is in contact with the recording head.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading and recording apparatus including a recording head that records an image on a recording sheet and a reading unit that reads an image of a document.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typical recording apparatuses record an image (including characters and symbols) on a recording medium, such as a sheet of paper, a cloth, a plastic sheet, and an overhead transparency, (hereinafter, referred to as a recording sheet) based on recording information. Recording apparatuses can be classified into the ink jet type, the wire dot type, the thermal type, and the laser beam type, depending on their recording processes.
A serial recording apparatus, which records information while main-scanning a recording sheet in a direction orthogonal to the direction of conveying the recording sheet, records an image using a recording head mounted on a carriage moving along the recording sheet. The serial recording apparatus completes recording on the entire recording sheet by repeating a recording operation for a line, a paper feeding operation by a predetermined amount after the completion of the recording operation, and a next recording operation for the next line. In contrast, a line recording apparatus, which records information by only sub-scanning a recording sheet in the direction of conveying the recording sheet, completes recording on the entire sheet by repeating a set operation of setting a recording sheet at a predetermined record position, a recording operation of recording an entire line at a time, a paper feeding operation by a predetermined amount, and a next recording operation of recording a next entire line at a time.
An image reading and recording apparatus including a recording unit that records an image on a fed recording sheet and a reading unit that reads a fed document is used. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-354453 discloses an image reading and recording apparatus that includes a common unit used as both a paper feed unit and a conveying unit for a recording sheet and a document to reduce costs and size. This patent document discloses a technique for being able to feed a recording sheet and a document when a carriage is in a predetermined position using the ink jet recording process of recording information by discharging ink droplets from a recording head mounted on the carriage.
Unfortunately, for the image reading and recording apparatus described in this patent document, the carriage is at rest in the same position both when a recording sheet is fed and when a document is fed. In addition, because this image reading and recording apparatus uses the ink jet recording process, the recording head is capped in a standby state by a cap disposed at a position for maintenance of the recording head. The recording apparatus having this structure feeds a sheet of paper in a state in which the cap is separated from the recording head (in a cap-open state). The recording apparatus having this structure is also in a cap-open state during a document feeding operation, when a recording operation is not performed. As a result, maintenance operations, such as discharging of ink from the recording head or cleaning of the recording head by wiping after such a feeding operation, are needed.
In the image reading and recording apparatus described in the patent document, a discharge recovering portion (maintenance portion) is driven using a reverse drive of a conveying motor. For such an image reading and recording apparatus, even when the recording head is capped immediately after the completion of a paper feeding operation, a suction pump of the discharge recovering portion is actuated simultaneously with a reverse rotation of a conveying roller to locate the beginning of a document or for other purposes during a document feeding operation. This may inadvertently apply a negative pressure to an ink discharging portion of the recording head.
One approach to avoiding such a disadvantage is to repeat maintaining the cap-open state until a paper feeding operation or an operation of locating the beginning of a document is completed for each page. However, for this approach, ink in an opened discharge port is apt to be dried and fixed.


An envelope detecting circuit is provided. The envelope detecting circuit comprises a source degeneration circuit that amplifies an input differential signal, a differential gain stage that supplies a voltage proportional to the amplified signal, a potential hold circuit that holds the voltage supplied from the gain stage, a comparator circuit that compares the voltage held by the potential holding circuit with a reference potential to output a detect signal, and envelope level adjustment and selection unit that responds to the detect signal and outputs a control signal to the source degeneration circuit.

Serial interfaces are widely employed in digital applications to send and receive digital data between different components of a digital system. As a typical example, various serial interface standards, such as USB2.0, serial ATA and PCI express, have been adopted to provide wireline chip-to-chip communication between modules in a personal computer. While the trend of developing larger, faster, more complex digital systems continues, e.g., multi-medium personal computers capable of processing larger amounts of digital data in real time, serial interface technology is quickly evolving to cope with the trend. As a consequence, serial interfaces adopted in advanced digital system generally should exhibit the following desirable characteristics: higher processing speed, processing digital signals with reduced signal amplitudes, increased noise tolerance, reduced power consumption, dynamic adjustment of input bandwidth, and dynamic adjustment of envelope level, among others.
FIG. 1 is a system diagram illustrating a conventional envelope detecting circuit provided in an existing serial interface for detecting digital signals in a chip-to-chip communication channel. Digital signals transmitted through the communication channel are generally in the form of signal packets modulated on a carrier frequency. The packets are detected from the communication channel through the potential difference between input differential signals Vin+ and Vin−. For example, when the potential difference between Vin+ and Vin− is below a pre-determined offset reference value, the communication channel is in a non-signal state; when the difference between Vin+ and Vin− is above the pre-determined offset reference value, the communication channel is in a signal state. A signal packet is identified by the envelope detecting circuit, which proceeds to process and extract the desired envelope signal from the packet.
The envelope detecting circuit includes a first differential operational amplifier that receives input differential signals Vin+ and Vin− and amplifies the positive-side magnitude of an incoming waveform and outputs to a gain stage. The envelope detecting circuit also includes a second differential operational amplifier that receives input differential signals Vin+ and Vin− and amplifies the negative-side magnitude of an incoming waveform and outputs to a gain stage. A potential hold circuit holds the potential from the gain stages. A comparator circuit compares the potential held by the potential hold circuit with the pre-determined offset reference value to decide whether there is a signal or non-signal state and outputs the result as a detect signal.
While high-speed signal transfer in an advanced digital system becomes increasingly important, the operation of the conventional envelope detecting circuit described above is problematic in a number of ways. First, the conventional envelope detecting circuit requires multiple operational amplifiers and consumes significant power. Furthermore, the plural operational amplifiers presented at the front stage of a conventional envelope detecting circuit exhibit a large input capacitance load, which generally limits the speed of signal receiving and sending. In addition, the conventional envelope detecting circuit lacks the capability of input signal bandwidth selection and dynamic envelope level tuning, which would be desirable in advanced high-speed digital system.

Envelope detector for high speed applications

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A portable reading lamp of the invention comprises a base, a head portion and a pole to connect the base with the head portion. The head portion is provided with the luminant, which is semiconductor LED. A battery box is provided on the base, the head portion or the pole for supplying direct current. The semiconductor LED is used as the luminant in the invention, so the reading lamp of the invention can save energy in high-efficiency (10% electricity consumption of the traditional reading lamp), which also has the following strongpoint: saturated color and ray, infinite motley, switching rapidly, unpolluted, shock-resistant, dampness-resistant, long usage life (100,000 hours), radiation-free and less maintenance. The invention also provides a battery box in the base for supplying direct current, which is very convenient to be used in the field when no external power source can be used.

At present, there are many kinds of reading lamps, each of which is mainly consisted of a base, a head portion and a pole connecting the base with the head portion. On the head portion there is an illuminant mounted which can be an incandescent bulb, a solar bulb or the like. However, the traditional reading lamps are all applied to alternative voltage so that it is discommodious to be taken. In addition, frequency flash can frequently occur to the lamps during usage so as to hurt user's eyes. Also, the incandescent bulb and the fluorescent lamp have the disadvantage of short usage life, frangibility, low luminance, glaring, large electricity consumption, etc. Moreover, the pole of the traditional reading lamp is a kind of flectional soft-tube structure in order to change the angle and position of the head portion relative to the pole and the base. Notwithstanding the head portion and the pole can change their angle and be bent, the head portion, the pole and the base cannot be tightly combined together (such as folding), Thus a larger space will be occupied during transportation and schlepping which results in much inconvenience.
Hence it is desired to provide a portable reading lamp which can overcome the foregoing drawbacks of the prior art.


An electron emission display and method of fabricating a mesh electrode structure for the same. The electron emission display includes: an electron emission substrate having an electron emission region; a mesh electrode structure including a mesh electrode having an opening, through which electrons emitted from the electron emission region can pass, and a mesh electrode insulating layer formed at one side of the mesh electrode using a direct printing method; and an image forming substrate having an image forming region for emitting light by the emitted electrons. The method improves voltage resistance characteristics between the gate or cathode electrode and the mesh electrode, and eliminates the need for a lower spacer.

In general, an electron emission device uses a hot cathode or a cold cathode as an electron source. The electron emission device using the cold cathode may employ a field emitter array (FEA) type, a surface conduction emitter (SCE) type, a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) type, a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) type, a ballistic electron surface (BSE) type, and so on.
Using these electron emission devices, an electron emission display, various backlights, an electron beam apparatus for lithography, and the like can be implemented. An electron emission display includes a cathode substrate including an electron emission device to emit electrons, and an anode substrate for allowing the electrons to collide with a fluorescent layer to emit light. Generally, in the electron emission display, the cathode substrate is configured in a matrix shape to which cathode electrodes and gate electrodes intersect each other and includes a plurality of electron emission devices defined in the intersection regions. The anode substrate includes fluorescent layers emitting light by the electrons emitted from the electron emission devices and anode electrodes connected to the fluorescent layers. The electron emission display controls orbits of the emitted electrons to control the corresponding fluorescent layers, and includes mesh electrodes for shielding anode electric fields.
An example of the electron emission display adapting the aforementioned mesh electrode is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-57376.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an electron emission display including a mesh electrode according to a prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, a cathode plate 10 and an anode plate 20 are spaced apart from each other by a spacer 30. Since the cathode plate 10 and the anode plate 20 are vacuum-sealed, the space between them is in vacuum. Therefore, the cathode plate 10 and the anode plate 20 are securely adhered to each other with the spacer 30 between them by inner negative pressure. In the cathode plate 10, a cathode electrode 12 is formed on a bottom plate 11, and a gate-insulating layer 13 is formed on the cathode electrode 12. A through-hole 13a is formed in the gate-insulating layer 13, and the cathode electrode 12 is exposed through the through-hole 13a. An electron emission source 14 such as a carbon nanotube (CNT) is formed on the cathode electrode 12 exposed through the through-hole 13a. A gate electrode 15 having a gate hole 15a (not shown) corresponding to the through-hole 13a is formed on the gate-insulating layer 13.
In the anode plate 20, an anode electrode 22 is formed at an inner surface of a top plate 21, a fluorescent layer 23 is formed on a portion of the anode electrode opposite to the gate hole 15a, and a black matrix 24 for absorbing and blocking external light and preventing optical crosstalk is formed on the remaining part. A mesh grid 40 is interposed between the cathode plate 10 and the anode plate 20. The mesh grid 40 spaced apart from the anode plate 20 is closely adhered to the cathode plate 10 by the spacer 30. As described above, the space between the cathode plate 10 and the anode plate 20 is in vacuum, therefore, the mesh grid 40 is securely adhered to the cathode plate 10 by the spacer 30. An insulating layer 44 is formed between the mesh grid 40 and the gate electrode 15 of the cathode plate 10. The insulating layer 44 is securely adhered to a surface of the gate electrode 15. The mesh grid 40 has an electron beam control hole 42 corresponding to the gate hole 15a.
In the aforementioned electron emission display, the mesh grid made of separate parts from a metal plate is securely adhered to the gate electrode and the spacer presses the mesh grid against the cathode plate.
Because the insulating layer formed at one surface of the mesh grid is etched using the mesh grid as a mask to form an opening corresponding to the electron beam control hole, it requires an etching process that uses a mask, which makes the process complicated and lowers yield.

Electron emission display and method of fabricating mesh electrode structure for the same


A file system transfer designation section for transferring the file system matching with file system transfer rules from the first volume of the first storage apparatus to the second volume of the second storage apparatus based on the first file system transfer rules, a file system storage information manager for updating storage information of the file system in accordance with transfer of the file system by the file system transfer designation section, and transmitting the updated file system storage information, and a search information manager for updating search information for searching the files based on a file search request from the client apparatus using the file system storage information sent by the file system storage information manager are provided.

The present invention relates to a data management system and data management method appropriate for application in data management systems for searching files based on requests from, for example, client apparatus.
In the related art, computer systems are implemented where a client apparatus, host apparatus and storage apparatus are connected to a network so that files managed by the client apparatus are transmitted and received via the host apparatus and the network, and the files are stored on a hard disc within the storage apparatus.
In this kind of computer system, for example, file systems (sets of files) that are not used often are transferred from so-called high-cost hard disc drives within the storage apparatus to so-called low cost disc drives.
Further, with this kind of computer system, for example, file search apparatus are connected to a network. When there is then a file read request instructing the reading of a predetermined file from the client apparatus, the client apparatus searches for the requested file, and the file is read out from the storage apparatus to the client apparatus.
However, a search engine for the file search apparatus is usually developed and put into the form of a product by a dedicated vendor, while software for transferring files of the storage apparatus is developed and put into the form of a product by a storage apparatus vendor. The means that the interface connecting the file search apparatus and the storage apparatus is not standardized.
Because of this, at the search engine for the file search apparatus, after making a search index table constituting an index in the searching of a file, at the storage apparatus, in the event of transferring the file system, it is no longer possible to search files of the file system based on the search index table and an error therefore results. Therefore, with this kind of computer system, it is necessary to re-make the search index table in order to search files based on the search index table.
In theory, the administrator of the storage apparatus refers to the transfer history, and takes into consideration an operation where the search index table is updated every transferred file system, but there are cases where several hundred thousand files are stored in one file system of the storage apparatus. As the search index table is made in file units, it is not practical for the administrator of the storage apparatus to update the search index table.
As a result, a file management system is proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2003-280950 where not used information for file storage locations, metadata for the files and access priority information is managed, the stored files are accessed and rewriting of the files is carried out, where data access are exclusively controlled and the storage locations of files are changed based on storage location information and access priority information for files contained in the metadata.
However, in recent years from the point of view of compliance (act adherence) etc., it is necessary even for files that are used infrequently to be held for fixed periods. File systems for files that are used infrequently are therefore transferred to other storage apparatus and saved.
In the event that this kind of file system is transferred to another storage apparatus, or in the event that a file system is transferred to another storage apparatus the host apparatus is incapable of mounting, it is not possible to update the storage location information for the file system, files of the file system cannot be searched, and as a result it is not possible to read files requested by the client apparatus.

Data management system and data management method


A trench type IGBT as disclosed herein includes a plurality of channel regions having one threshold voltage for the normal operation of the device and a plurality of channel regions having a threshold voltage higher than the threshold voltage for the normal operation of the device.

In industrial motor drive applications, an IGBT with a long short-circuit withstand time (SCSOA) is required. The withstand time represents how long the IGBT can stay functional and be turned off after encountering a motor fault condition where the IGBT conducts under full bus voltage (collector-emitter voltage). The withstand time is required for the driver to detect and locate the failure and turn off the system without further damage.
FIG. 1 depicts a short-circuit waveform with associated failure mechanisms A, B, C, and D. Failure types A, B and C are primarily due to parasitic thyristor latch-up. Type D is due to leakage current thermal runaway, which occurs a few hundred microseconds after device turn-off Most of today's IGBTs are designed to be latch-up immune with type D being the only failure mechanism limiting SCSOA. Since type D failure is thermally limited, SCSOA of today's IGBTs is thermally limited. The SCSOA of the IGBT can hence be improved by the following:
1) increase in silicon wafer thickness to increase over thermal mass; and/or
2) saturation current reduction.
FIG. 2 shows the dependence of short-circuit withstand time on bus voltage and saturation current. Note that,
1) SCSOA decreases with higher voltage;
2) SCSOA decreases with higher saturation current.
IGBT saturation current is highly dependent on the gate drive voltage as well as the overall MOS channel density. It should be noted that
1) saturation current increases with higher gate drive;
2) saturation current increases with higher channel density.
Channel density is inversely proportional to the cell pitch of the design. Where cell pitch is defined as the distance from one trench to the next. The wider the cell pitch, the lower the channel density and hence the lower the saturation current.
In today's motor drive applications, on-state saturation voltage reduction is as important as switching loss reduction. Methods to lower on-state saturation voltage drop include,
1) enhancement implant—increase in base drive electron injection efficiency;
2) deeper trenches—decrease in accumulation layer resistance at the tip of the trench;
3) wafer thinning—decrease in drift region resistance.
Large SCSOA demands wider cell pitch. Forward bias breakdown requires narrow cell pitch.
In order to achieve the desired channel density and breakdown voltage, narrow cell pitch is needed to reduce field crowding in which only a portion of the channels are conducting. One method for obtaining a desirable combination of channel density and breakdown voltage is shorting every other trench poly gate to emitter. Shorting gate to emitter eliminates gate drive completely for specific trenches, effectively reducing the overall channel density of the device while maintaining a narrow cell pitch to achieve the desired breakdown voltage. A structure using the latter method has been published in ISPSD 2006 by Mitsubishi, which has been defined as a damping trench for eliminating switching oscillations.
According to the present invention the saturation current of the IGBT is reduced in a unique manner to achieve the desired SCSOA. Specifically, according to the present invention, the threshold voltage of the channel at some of the trenches (e.g. every other trench) is increased.
In an IGBT (e.g. an N channel IGBT), P+ emitter contact regions are used to enhance parasitic thyristor latch-up. Such contact regions are formed in the base region and are higher in dosage (i.e. lower resistivity) compared to the P type base region in which the N channels are formed. A method according to the present invention allows the contact implant to contaminate some of the channel regions to increase the threshold voltage thereof For example, by decreasing contact to trench spacing in the mask used for the emitter contact implant the emitter contacts can be selectively offset and asymmetrically positioned relative to, for example, two opposing trenches. As a result, the channel region adjacent one trench can have a higher dopant concentration and thus a higher threshold voltage.

Variable threshold trench IGBT with offset emitter contacts


A fan rotation speed control circuit of a power supply system is provided, which is applicable for controlling the rotation speed of the fan according to a loading state outputted by the power supply system. The fan rotation speed control circuit of the power supply system includes a waveform generating module, for generating an oscillating waveform signal; a current retrieving module, for retrieving a current signal corresponding to the loading state; a rotation speed control signal generating module, for comparing the oscillating waveform signal with the current signal, and generating a rotation speed control signal; a signal amplifying module, for amplifying an amplitude of the rotation speed control signal and outputting the amplified rotation speed control signal to the fan, so as to control the rotation speed of the fan.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a fan rotation speed control circuit, and more particularly to a fan rotation speed control circuit, applicable for controlling the rotation speed of the fan according to a loading state of a power supply system.
2. Related Art
The current power supply standard of the server can be classified into two types, namely, ATX power supply and SSI power supply, in which the ATX power supply standard is mainly applied to desktop computers, work stations, and low-level servers; the SSI power supply standard is mainly applied to servers in various levels.
As the increasing of the processing speed of the computer, the required power also increases, and thus, the power supply system requires a better heat dissipation device for dissipating heats, so as to operate normally in a safe temperature range. A commonly used heat dissipation device is a fan, which is controlled to operate correspondingly through sensing the temperature change of the power supply system. However, the process for sensing a temperature has a defect, that is, after the power supply system has operated for a period of time, the temperature of the system rises or drops along with the changing of the loading state, and at this time, a temperature sensing circuit senses the change of the temperature, thereby outputting a signal to a fan rotation speed control circuit to control the fan rotation speed to be adjusted correspondingly. In other words, due to the time required for sensing the temperature, this fan rotation speed controlling process generates delay in controlling the fan rotation speed, instead of controlling the fan rotation speed in real time according to the loading state, and thus it still needs to be improved.
With reference to Taiwan Patent No. M290192, a fan control circuit is disclosed, which includes a heat conductive circuit and a feedback control circuit. The feedback control circuit includes a driving portion for supplying a current to the fan, the heat conductive circuit converts the change of the ambient temperature into electric signals, and the feedback control circuit generates a control signal through calculation. The control signal controls the driving current supplied to the fan by the driving portion, thereby controlling the rotation speed of the fan.
Although the above patent can control the rotation speed of the fan according to the temperature in the computer case, to ensure the temperature in the computer case be kept within an allowable range, thereby saving the power consumption of the system, and reducing the noises in the computer case. However, similar to the fan rotation speed control circuit in the temperature sensing mode, it still has the delay problem in the control of the fan rotation speed.
Therefore, in the fan rotation speed control circuit of the current power supply system, the method of controlling the fan rotation speed by means of sensing the temperature has the problem of time delay, which cannot control the fan rotation speed in real time according to the loading state. Moreover, the specification and type of the power supply provided by the power supply system cannot satisfy the requirements of other circuits.

Fan rotation speed control circuit of power supply system


A method for intelligently allocating limited resources of a media server across a plurality of remote display devices communicating with the media server through a network, includes providing each remote display device with state detection logic to determine whether the remote display device is in an active or inactive state; initially allocating a resource of the media server to a first remote display device; and, in response to detecting by the state detection logic that the first remote display device is in an inactive state, reallocating the resource from the first remote display device to the second remote display device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of distributed multimedia and computing systems. More particularly, this invention relates to a multimedia and computing system in which processing resources are intelligently allocated across plurality of multimedia nodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
When subscribing to a cable or satellite television service, a cable or satellite receiver is typically required for each television set within the user's home. One problem with this scenario is that cable and satellite receivers, or "set-top boxes," are costly to manufacture, particularly those equipped with mass storage devices for storing television programming (commonly known as "Personal Video Recorders" or "PVRs"). As such, requiring an individual set-top box for each television set is an unreasonable solution in many cases (e.g., particularly if the user has numerous television sets).
To solve this and other problems, the assignee of the present application has developed a multimedia system and associated technologies for distributing multimedia content (e.g., cable/satellite television programming) from a primary receiver device to a plurality of secondary devices. The primary receiver device is a relatively high-powered device (i.e., relative to the secondary devices), capable of concurrently processing multiple satellite/cable channels and distributing those channels to the secondary devices. Because most of the signal processing load is handled by the primary receiver device, the secondary devices can be manufactured relatively inexpensively, resulting in a more efficient solution for the end user and the cable/satellite service provider.
Embodiments of one such multimedia system are set forth in the co-pending application entitled Multimedia and Computing System, filed Sep. 1, 2000 (Ser. No. 09/653,964), which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and which is incorporated herein by reference. As illustrated in FIG. 1, in one embodiment of the multimedia system, a media server 110 (e.g., a "set-top box" or game console) equipped with a processor and a mass storage device acts as a central repository for decoding and storing multimedia content and distributing the multimedia content to a plurality of distributed nodes. More particularly, the media server 110 processes multimedia content from Internet communication channels 120 (e.g., DSL, cable modem), broadcast communication channels 130 (e.g., digital/analog cable, satellite), and/or Public Switched Telephone Network ("PSTN") communication channels 170 (i.e., standard telephone) to provide a stable, real-time home media network 140 for a plurality of network devices 150-151, 160-166.
When the signal processing and storage resources of a primary device are spread across a plurality of secondary devices, it is important to allocate those resources in an intelligent manner. For example, if a television set coupled to a particular secondary device is off, it would be beneficial to communicate this information back to the primary device so that the primary device can reallocate the multimedia resources consumed by the secondary device (which is not being used) to a different secondary device, and/or to the storage device on the primary node itself.
The Device Sensing Application (mentioned above) describes a system for detecting the states of a plurality of secondary devices (referred to as "receiving nodes") and reallocating tuners within the primary device (referred to as the "originating node") based on the detected states. However, depending on the system configuration and system utilization, resources other than tuners may be limited (e.g., hard drive subsystem resources, wireless bandwidth, decryption subsystem resources, . . . etc). Accordingly, it would be beneficial to develop a system in which various different types of system resources, including tuners, may be intelligently allocated across a plurality of receiving nodes.

System and method for allocating resources across a plurality of distributed nodes


A network architecture uses an IEEE 1394-compliant network medium to connect computers using network-based software, such as Windows NDIS, Novell IPX, or TCP/IP. Each network includes a high-speed local area network driver that translates function calls from network/layer routines received across in application programming interface to a command set compliant with IEEE 1394. Hence, the computer network can be established using an IEEE 1394-compliant medium, providing a high-speed network have data rates above 200 MB/s.

The present invention relates to network interfacing, and more particularly, to methods and systems for controlling data traffic on high speed network media for a local area network.
Local area networks use a network cable or other media to link stations on the network. Each local area network architecture uses a Media Access Control (MAC) enabling network interface cards at each station to share access to the media.
The Ethernet protocol ISO/IEC 8802-3 (ANSI/IEEE standard 802.3) defines a half-duplex media access mechanism that permits all stations to access the network channel with equality. Deployment of IEEE 802.3 requires establishment of a physical layer interface capable of transmitting packet data at data rates of at least 10 megabits per second (MB/s). The IEEE 802.3 committee developed a series of specifications for 10 MB/s Ethernet to support different kinds of media. Initially the original Ethernet was only supported over thick coaxial cable. Next came thin coaxial cable, referred to as xe2x80x9cCheapernetxe2x80x9d, then Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP), and fiber optic cable. A standard was established for optical fiber-based transport at 100 MB/s, referred to as the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) suite of standards. The FDDI standard, while accepted as a technology, required a relatively high cost due to implicit features such as redundancy and sophisticated mandatory management. Hence, FDDI was largely restricted to deployment in backbone applications.
The adoption of IEEE 10BASE-T for 10 MB/s Ethernet over Unshielded Twisted Pair enabled implementation of 10 B/s Ethernet in buildings using relatively inexpensive twisted pair cable. The availability of simple and inexpensive and Ethernet connectivity coincided with the accelerating trend to distribute high-performance computing power to the desk top, resulting in increased bandwidth needs.
Development of a 100BASE-T product resulted in a cost premium over 10 B/s devices. In particular, 10 BASE-T requires only two pairs of category 3 cable to operate, whereas 100 MB/s requires use of category 5 cable, which is substantially more expensive than category 3.
Separate from the development of computer networking technology, the IEEE 1394 high performance serial bus standards referred to as xe2x80x9cFire Wirexe2x80x9d was adopted for connecting a consumer electronic device to a personal computer. The IEEE 1394 serial bus is an open standard for connecting computers to a consumer electronic product, for example a television, a vcr, and a camcorder. The IEEE-1394 product standard are currently-being applied to consumer electronic applications. However, IEEE-1394 only describes the physical and data link layer of the OSI protocol model.
There is a need for an arrangement for increasing the bandwidth and a local area network without the necessity of high cost physical media technologies.
There is also a need for an arrangement to enable an IEEE 1394-compliant medium to be used to connect computers for establishment of a local area network for controlling communication between at least two computers according to a prescribed data protocol.
These and other needs are attained by the present invention, where an interface enables protocol translation between conventional network protocols and the IEEE 1394 high performance serial bus, enabling the IEEE 1394 compliant medium to be used as a high speed serial bus between two networked computers.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a local area network includes an IEEE 1394-compliant medium, and at least two computers. Each network computer includes network software executable by the corresponding computer for controlling communication between the two computers according to prescribed data protocol. Each computer also includes an IEEE 1394 compliant network interface, for establishing the communication between the two computers via the IEEE 1394-compliant medium. The network interface includes a media access control driver, configured as an interface between the network software, and the IEEE 1394-complaint hardware and the network interface. Hence, a relatively high-speed data network can be implemented in a low cost manner.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for transmitting packet data between a first computer and a second computer. The method includes sending a transmit request in the first computer for transmit packet from a network layer controller according to a prescribed media access controller protocol, translating the transmit request from the media access controller protocol for a selected one of asynchronous data transfer protocol and an isochronous data transfer protocol, and outputting the transmit data onto a network medium to the second computer based on the selected one data transfer protocol. The translation of the transmit request enables the first computer to output the transmit data based on a selected data transfer protocol. Hence, conventional network protocols may be used in an enhanced media access protocol that enables the same network to use isochronous data transport for guaranteed delivery of multiple time-critical multi-media data streams, or asynchronous data transport for less critical data transport requirements.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

System for transmitting data packets between computers via an IEEE-1394 network medium


A member for electrophotography having a multilayer structure or a single-layer structure, including an outermost layer which satisfies the following A, B and C:                A: the outermost layer has perfluoropolyether and a binder resin, and        in the outermost layer, the ratio of the number of fluorine atoms to the number of carbon atoms is 0.10 or more and 0.40 or less;        B: in a 19F-NMR spectrum of the outermost layer, the relaxation time T2 of a peak derived from CF2 moieties of perfluoropolyether is 13 milliseconds or more at 22° C.; and        C: the total sum of the contents of CF3 moieties, CF2 moieties, and CF moieties in the binder resin is 5% by mass or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a member for electrophotography used in electrophotographic image-forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers and a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus that include the member for electrophotography.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among electrophotographic image-forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers (hereafter, also referred to as "electrophotographic apparatus"), an electrophotographic apparatus capable of printing high-quality color images has been on the market.
Generally, a color image is formed as follows.
A toner image of each color is developed on a photosensitive member. The toner image of each color is then successively transferred onto an intermediate transfer member to form a color toner image on the intermediate transfer member. The color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer member is re-transferred onto a recording medium at a time. Thus, a recording medium on which a color toner image is formed is obtained.
In this manner, toners are brought into contact with members for electrophotography, such as a photosensitive member and an intermediate transfer member, until the toners are transferred onto a recording medium. Therefore, the surfaces of the members for electrophotography desirably have toner releasability in order to suppress melt-adhesion of toners to the members for electrophotography. Furthermore, the members for electrophotography are driven while being brought into contact with each other. Accordingly, degradation of the members for electrophotography caused by friction is desirably suppressed. Therefore, the surfaces of the members for electrophotography desirably also have resistance to friction.
Accordingly, there have been proposed methods in which the surface of a member for electrophotography is coated with a fluorine compound in order to improve toner releasability and resistance to friction. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-78801, a surface layer including a polymerizable fluorine resin/polymerizable siloxane-graft resin is disposed on an intermediate transfer belt in order to improve the toner releasability and resistance to friction of the surface of an intermediate transfer member. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-233893, the surface layer of a photosensitive member is hard-coated with a fluorine-based material and fine lubricating particles are added to the surface layer in order to improve the resistance to friction of the surface of the photosensitive member.
In these methods, the resistance to friction and toner releasability of a member for electrophotography at the initial stage of printing can be improved with certainty. However, it has been found that the toner releasability and resistance to friction of a member for electrophotography may fail to be maintained when a number of pages are printed.

Member for electrophotography, process cartridge, and electrophotographic apparatus


A method is provided for the creation of contact holes. The invention provides two masks. The first mask, referred to as the packed mask, comprises the desired contact holes, which are part of the creation of a semiconductor device. To the packed mask are added padding holes in order to increase the hole density of the packed mask. An insulation layer is formed to protect the first layer of material. The second mask, referred to an the unpacking mask, comprises openings at the same locations as the locations of the padding holes of the first mask, the openings provided in the second mask have slightly larger dimensions than the padding holes of the first mask. A first exposure is made using the packed mask, a second exposure of the same surface area is made using the unpacking mask. The unpacking mask is used to selectively cover the padding contact holes, resulting in the final image. Two types of unpacking masks can be used, a first type having unpacking holes that surround the desired hole pattern, a second type having unpacking holes that align with the desired hole pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the fabrication of integrated circuit devices, and more particularly, to a method of improved contact hole creation for ultra-small contact holes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Integrated semiconductor devices comprise electronic circuits of sub-micron and deep sub-micron dimensions and are typically created in or on the surface of a silicon substrate. The creation of semiconductor devices is supported by sophisticated and interacting, mutually supporting disciplines.
Device features are transposed from a mask onto a semiconductor surface using photolithographic imaging processes. Since this exposure depends on the transfer of photo energy from a source to a target surface, it is to be expected that, for target features that are created in very close proximity to each other, the transfer of photo energy interacts for very closely spaced device features, most commonly interconnect lines or contact holes having sub-micron spacing between adjacent lines.
A common measure for the occurrence of such interactions are applications where the Critical Dimensions (CD) of the layout of the Integrated Circuit (IC) approach the resolution limit of the lithography equipment. For such applications, proximity effects begin to influence the manner in which mask images are transferred to target surfaces. This interaction imposes limitations on the proximity of adjacent device features; these limitations are referred to as Critical Dimensions (CD) of a design and device layout.
The invention addresses problems and limitations that are encountered when creating openings on a semiconductor surface such as the surface of a layer of photoresist or the surface of a semiconductor substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,634 (Ham) shows a double exposure contact hole method.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,057 (Cirelli et al.) shows a lithographic process for contact holes using 2 masks/exposures.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,850 (Bula et al.) shows a photo method for contact holes using 2 masks/exposures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,741 (Kemp), U.S. Pat. No. 5,897,975 (Ahn et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,686 (Takizawa et al.) are related photo methods.

Contact hole printing by packing and unpacking

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


Multi-dose formulations for bortezomib are presented in which bortezomib has significantly improved stability. Especially preferred formulations include those in which bortezomib is in a liquid form suitable for injection, wherein the solvent system predominantly comprises propylene glycol. In other preferred aspects, bortezomib is present as a Lewis donor-acceptor complex with a hetero-bifunctional Lewis base.

Bortezomib ((N-(2-pyrazine) carbonyl-L-phenylalanine-L-leucine boronic acid); sold as Velcade™, Millennium Pharmaceuticals) is a 26S proteasome inhibitor that is approved for use in treating various neoplastic diseases, and especially treatment of relapsed multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. It is believed that the boron atom in bortezomib binds to the catalytic site of the proteasome, ultimately leading to proteasome inhibition and reduced degradation of pro-apoptotic factors, which in turn triggers apoptosis in treated cells. Bortezomib and related compounds are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,780,454, 6,083,903, 6,297,217, 6,617,317, 6,713,446, 6,747,150, 6,958,319, 7,119,080. These and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Unfortunately, many aminoalkylboronic acids (including bortezomib) will undergo a spontaneous 1,3-rearrangement to give the homologous amines, owing to the instability of free α-amino groups. These compounds yield boric acids and alcohols by degradation and undergo oxidative reactions that easily destroy the C—B bond which is longer and weaker than the corresponding C—C bond (see e.g., Adele Bolognese, Anna Esposito, MicheleManfra, Lucio Catalano, Fara Petruzziello, Maria CarmenMartorelli, Raffaella Pagliuca, VittoriaMazzarelli, Maria Ottiero, Melania Scalfaro, and Bruno Rotoli. Advances in Hematology, 2009 (2009) 1-5). Such instability is borne out in stress testing and accelerated stability studies of bortezomib that has established that bortezomib in aqueous solution for injection is intrinsically unstable. For example, in an ethanol:normal saline solution (2:98, pH 2.8), Bortezomib (0.5 mg/mL) degraded 20% at 25° C. in 1 month, and in propylene glycol:ethanol:water (50:10:40), the stability of the compound improved, but still degraded 20% in 8 months when stored at 25° C. Among other factors, it was speculated that the degradation of Bortezomib observed in PEG300:EtOH:H2O (40:10:50) solvent might be due to the presence of peroxides, as PEG300 is known to undergo auto-oxidation with concomitant peroxide generation. (Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 89, 2000 758-765).
In other studies, bortezomib was reported to be susceptible to oxidative degradation under a number of experimental conditions, and that the oxidation of alkyl boranes (which yields the ester of boric acid) can also be due to reaction with alkyl peracids, alkyl peroxides, or oxygen radical species. (Brown H C. 1972. Boranes in organic chemistry. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.) The initial oxidation can be attributed to peroxides or molecular oxygen and its radicals and as light, metal ions, and alkaline conditions normally facilitate oxidation. These conditions are therefore not considered favorable to the stability of bortezomib or any other alkyl boronic acid derivative. (Hussain M A, Knabb R, Aungust B J, Kettner C. 1991. Anticoagulant activity of a peptide boronic acid thrombin inhibitor by various routes of administration in rats. Peptides 12:1153-1154).
Formation of boronic esters from diol and polyols was reported by Kuivila et al. reporting the preparation of several esters of phenylboronic acid by reaction with sugars like mannitol and sorbitol, and 1,2-diols like catechol and pinacal. (J. Org. Chem. 1954, 8, 780-783), and reversible formation of boronic ester by the interaction of boronic acids and polyols in water was first noted by Lorand and Edwards. (J. Org. Chem. 1959, 24, 769-774). U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,119,080, 6,713,446, 6,958,319, 6,747,150, and 6297217 disclose formation of diester of boronic acid functional group with mannitol after lyophilization. From the so formed ester, the active boronic acid is obtained upon reconstitution of the drug product in saline solution for injection. Similarly, attempts to form the ester of boronic acid with alpha-hydroxy and beta-carboxylic acids like citric acid along with bulking agents and buffers was disclosed in WO 2009/154737.
To circumvent issues with stability of bortezomib in solution, the compound can be lyophilized and reconstituted prior to injection. However, while such an approach tends to solve the issues associated with bortezomib stability, unused reconstituted solution must be injected within hours or days (see e.g., Stability of unused reconstituted bortezomib in original manufacturer vials; J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2010 Oct. 6, or Stability of bortezomib 1-mg/mL solution in plastic syringe and glass vial; Ann Pharmacother. 2005 September; 39(9):1462-6). Similarly, bortezomib esters of mannitol when reconstituted are suitable only for administration within 8 hr when stored at room temperature. Still further known approaches include isolation of specific polymorphic forms having improved stability as described in WO2008075376A1, and lyophilized forms with tromethamine as described in WO2010089768A2. Yet other formulations with selected organic solvents and other ingredients are described in WO2010039762A2. Unfortunately, all or almost all of such known compositions fail to provide significant stability for bortezomib, especially storage stability where the formulation is a liquid formulation.
Therefore, even though there are many formulations for bortezomib known in the art, all or almost all of them suffer from limited stability when bortezomib is in solution, particularly over extended periods. Consequently, currently used products fail to provide flexibility of dosing. More importantly, the currently known or marketed products do not allow for ready-to-use multi-dose liquid formulations having extended stability. Thus, there is still a need to provide improved liquid bortezomib formulations with greater stability.


An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a laminated body including a conductive support, a first intermediate layer on the conductive support, and a second intermediate layer on the first intermediate layer, the first intermediate layer containing a binder resin and a metal oxide particle whose surface have been treated with an organic compound, and the second intermediate layer containing a cured product having electron transportability, in which the laminated body satisfies the following expression (1):R—nV/R_0V≦0.80  (1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photosensitive member, and a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus each including an electrophotographic photosensitive member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, electrophotographic photosensitive members containing organic photoconductive materials are mainly used as electrophotographic photosensitive members for use in process cartridges and electrophotographic apparatuses. Typically, an electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a support and a photosensitive layer disposed on the support. To inhibit the charge injection from the support side to the photosensitive layer side (charge generating layer) and inhibit the occurrence of image failure, such as fogging, an intermediate layer is provided between the support and the photosensitive layer. To cover a surface defect of the support, it is known that a conductive layer containing metal oxide particles may be provided.
In recent years, charge generating materials with higher sensitivities have been used. A higher sensitivity of a charge generating material results in a larger amount of charges generated. Thus, charges in exposed portions are disadvantageously liable to stay in photosensitive layers when a very large number of the same images are output in a short period of time. As a technique for inhibiting the residence of charges in a photosensitive layer, it is known that a technique in which the incorporation of an electron transporting material into an intermediate layer permits the intermediate layer to have an ability to transport electrons (hereinafter, also referred to as an "electron transporting layer").
PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2009-505156 discloses an electrophotographic photosensitive member including an electron transporting layer that contains a polymer of a crosslinking agent and a condensation polymer (electron transporting material) having a crosslinking site, and an aromatic tetracarbonylbisimide skeleton; and a conductive layer that contains tin oxide particles. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-65173 discloses an electrophotographic photosensitive member including a layer that contains an electron acceptor material; and a conductive layer that contains an electron acceptor material and zinc oxide particles whose surfaces are treated with a silane coupling agent.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2007-148294 and 2008-250082 disclose electrophotographic photosensitive members including electron transporting layers on conductive layers that contain titanium oxide particles coated with tin oxide.
In recent years, electrophotographic images have been required to have better image quality. The number of opportunities to output a very large number of the same images in a short period of time has been increased.
The results of studies by the inventors demonstrated that in that case, image failure what is called pattern memory is liable to occur. The term "pattern memory" refers to a phenomenon in which when a solid black image 302 is output after a large number of images 301 each containing vertical lines 306 in FIG. 3 are continuously output, the output solid black image is an image 304 containing vertical lines 307 due to the repetitive hysteresis of the vertical lines 306 in the images 301 illustrated in FIG. 3. When a halftone image 303 is output after a large number of the images 301 are continuously output, the term "pattern memory" refers to a phenomenon in which the halftone image is an image 305 containing vertical lines 308 due to the repetitive hysteresis of the vertical lines 306 in the images 301 illustrated in FIG. 3, as with the solid black image.
It was found than in the electrophotographic photosensitive members including the conductive layers and the electron transporting layer or the electron acceptor material-containing layer described in PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2009-505156 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-65173, charges are liable to stay between each of the conductive layers and a corresponding one of the electron transporting layers, so that the foregoing pattern memory occurs, in some cases.
To inhibit the retention of charges between the conductive layer and the electron transporting layer, it is conceivable that the electrical resistance is reduced by increasing the content of metal oxide particles in the conductive layer. However, it was found that the reduction in the electrical resistance of the conductive layer leads to insufficient adhesion of the electron transporting layer and thus that the application of a high voltage is liable to cause leakage to occur in the electrophotographic photosensitive member. The term "leakage" refers to a phenomenon in which dielectric breakdown occurs in a local portion of an electrophotographic photosensitive member, and excessive current flows therethrough. The occurrence of the leakage can cause image failure, for example, a black spot or a horizontal black line, because the electrophotographic photosensitive member is not sufficiently charged.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member, process cartridge, and electrophotographic apparatus


An embedded photodetector apparatus for a three-dimensional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) stacked chip assembly having a CMOS chip and one or more thinned CMOS layers is provided. At least one of the one or more thinned CMOS layers includes an active photodiode area defined within the one or more thinned CMOS layers, the active photodiode area being receptive of an optical signal incident thereon, and the active photodiode area comprising a bulk substrate portion of the thinned CMOS layer. The bulk substrate portion has a diode photodetector formed therein.

The present invention relates generally to a photodetector apparatus and, more particularly, to an embedded silicon photodetector structure integratable in a three-dimensional (3D), complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process flow.
Highly parallel optical data transceivers are increasingly being used to add more and more bandwidth available for high-end server systems and other similar systems. An enabling technology for such high-density communications is optical waveguide technology, in which a polymer waveguide carries optical signals between modules on a printed circuit board. A bottleneck in this scheme forms as a result of the conversion between the optical signal back to the electrical signal used by the microprocessor.
Typically, a photodetector is a diode, which can be a PN diode, a PIN diode or a Schottky diode consisted of metal on n-type or p-type semiconductor. Most commonly, a photodetector is fabricated using a III-V semiconductor such as GaAs, which needs to be packaged and connected to a silicon chip. As such, a silicon CMOS-based optical receiver has the potential to reduce packaging area, parasitics, power, and cost.
The absorption length of 850 nm light in silicon is 15-20 μm, which is much longer than the 1-2 μm absorption lengths of typical III-V semiconductors at this wavelength. Since CMOS processing is optimized to create thin-film features, high-speed silicon photodetectors are often designed with a lateral, interdigitated structure in which the contacts are fabricated on the silicon surface. Electron-hole pairs photogenerated near the surface of the wafer are quickly collected, but there are significant numbers of carriers generated deep below the surface. These deep carriers encounter a weak electric field and exhibit a long transit time to reach the surface contacts of the device, resulting in a low bandwidth (<<1 GHz).
While photodetectors that attempt to block these deep carriers by modifying the standard CMOS process in some fashion exist, they are expensive and difficult to manufacture. On the other hand, high-speed (>1 Gb/s) silicon photodetectors fabricated without any changes to the existing CMOS flow exhibit very low efficiency.

Embedded photodetector apparatus in a 3D CMOS chip stack

International Business Machines Corporation