A pressure limiting valve is provided which has a valve body assigned on the high-pressure side to a valve seat and an operating piston combined with the valve body to form a unit. The valve body and the operating piston are jointly spring-loaded and bound a pressure space which can be opened as a function of pressure with respect to a connection cross-section open in the return flow by way of the operating piston moving in a sliding guide.

The invention relates to a pressure limiting valve for fuel injection devices, particularly for fuel injection devices of internal-combustion engines constructed as common rail systems, comprising a housing with an inlet-side high-pressure connection, a return flow connection and a throttling flow connection situated between them, which has a valve seat on the inlet side and in which, in a spring-loaded manner in the direction of the closing position and displaceably as a function of the pressure in the opening direction, a valve body interacting with the valve seat as well as a piston assigned to the sealing limit arranged behind the valve seat in the direction of the return flow bound a pressure space, the piston, while sealingly moving in a sliding guide being arranged in a stable manner with respect to the coaxial valve body, and, relative to the piston and the valve body as a unit, when the pressure space is opened with respect to the high-pressure connection, the effective surfaces of the unit pressurized against the spring force being larger than when the pressure space is blocked off with respect to the high-pressure connection.
Pressure limiting valves of the above-mentioned type are known from German Patent Document DE 198 22 671 A1 in the embodiment according to FIG. 3. For a throttling flow connection, throttling elements in the form of fixed throttles are provided in the transition from the pressure space to the return flow connection, which fixed throttles are arranged in the piston and lead out to the rearward space of the piston to which the restoring spring is assigned which acts in the direction of the closing position of the valve body in the valve seat, the pressure-dependent adjustment of the piston in the opposite direction to the spring loading being limited with respect to the stop. This type of a further development in connection with common rail systems has the purpose of avoiding the buildup of an unacceptably high storage pressure in the event of a failure of the pressure control of the system and a resulting system overload. Because of the limitation of the stop, it is already difficult to reliably avoid storage pressures situated in the overload range by way of the pressure limiting valve. Furthermore, dynamic pressure courses, in particular, are critical during which the valve body, as a function of the pressure, oscillates between an upper stop limitation and a lower closing position. Relative to a given delivery and consumption quantity, thus relative to approximately stationary conditions, it seems that in this manner, by way of the fixed throttles arranged in the piston in the outflow path from the pressure space—in the case of a corresponding, but definitely critical coordination—somewhat constant flow conditions can be reached, but in the practical operation, there is still the risk of a sawtooth-type opening and closing of the pressure limiting valve with corresponding consequences with respect to its wear and to the operation of the internal-combustion engine which reacts to correspondingly fluctuating injection pressures by a correspondingly unsteady running.
In an embodiment according to FIG. 4 of German Patent Document 198 22 671 A1, it is attempted to counteract this situation such that the piston is constructed as a hollow piston and that another piston-type blocking element is arranged in the hollow space of the piston, which blocking element, in its blocking position, blocks off the throttled overflow path from the pressure space to the hollow space, and which itself is connected by way of throttle openings with the return flow connection, in which case the piston and the blocking member guided into its hollow space are jointly spring-loaded relative to their blocking position. Although by means of such a series mounting of blocking elements and throttles which are assigned to them and through which the flow can take place in the direction of the return flow, the entire pressure range to be covered between the upper limit pressure—response of the pressure limiting valve—and the lower limit pressure—closing of the pressure limiting valve—can be divided into smaller pressure ranges given by the pressure drop over the respective throttling path and thereby, relative to the steadying of the outflow conditions, can also be improved, this takes place at the expense of a relatively complicated overall construction and a very complex coordination.
Furthermore, from German Patent Document DE 198 52 409 A1, a pressure limiting valve is known which has a piston which is spring-loaded in the closing direction, moves in a bore as a sliding guide and is formed by a thin bearing needle, whose displacement path in the spring-loaded closing direction is limited with the respect to the stop, and which is guided in a radially sealing manner along an axial sealing path between a face-side stop and a connection cross-section formed by an annulus. The opening of the input-side high-pressure connection takes place as soon as the piston in the form of the slim valve needle leaves the axial sealing path as a function of the pressure, against the spring support. When the flow connection is opened up as well as when it is closed, the pressurized effective surfaces of the piston are the same, and a damping space is assigned to the piston on the spring side for the purpose of damping, which damping space is connected with the return flow and a damper piston connected with the valve needle is situated in it. Since the pressurized effective surfaces of the piston are the same because of its construction as a valve needle, which maintains the same diameter along its length, the piston oscillates corresponding to the pressure fluctuations and blocks the flow connection starting from an opening position as soon as the respective holding pressure falls under the opening pressure. There is therefore no tolerance field around the opening pressure as the reference pressure, and the flow connection is or remains closed as soon as, within the scope of pressure fluctuations, which are counteracted by the damping, the opening pressure is not reached or there is a falling below the opening pressure.
The pressure limiting valves addressed above with respect to the state of the art are therefore critical in view of high-pressure-side pressure fluctuations and make a design more difficult particularly in that the upper limit pressure dangerous with respect to damage is clearly above a working pressure which represents a still acceptable limit value for all operating ranges of the internal-combustion engine and which is to be ensured by way of the pressure limiting valve.
It is therefore an object of the invention to design a pressure limiting valve of the initially mentioned type, while its construction is simple, in such a manner that, in the case of a critical upper limit value, after the opening, a pressure reduction to a desired value can be achieved, particularly to a compromise value which is acceptable for all operating ranges of the internal-combustion engine, as long as, relative to this compromise value, an excess volume is present on the high pressure side.
According to the invention, a pressure limiting valve is provided for fuel injection devices, of internal-combustion engines constructed as common-rail systems, comprising a housing with an inlet-side high-pressure connection, a return flow connection and a throttling flow connection situated between them, which has a valve seat on the inlet side and in which, in a spring-loaded manner in the direction of the closing position and displaceably as a function of the pressure in the opening direction, a valve body interacting with the valve seat as well as a piston assigned to the sealing limit arranged behind the valve seat in the direction of the return flow bound a pressure space, the piston, while sealingly moving in a sliding guide being arranged in a stable manner with respect to the coaxial valve body, and, relative to the piston and the valve body as a unit, when the pressure space is opened with respect to the high-pressure connection, the effective surfaces of the unit pressurized against the spring force being larger than when the pressure space is blocked off with respect to the high-pressure connection, wherein the sliding guide has a connection cross-section which is overlapped by the piston and wherein the piston in a closing position of the valve body, covers the connection cross-section in the closing direction in an overlapping manner. This pressure limiting valve is distinguished by a very simple construction because the piston and the valve body form a unit which can easily be produced and because, in conjunction with the integration of the connection cross-section for the return flow into the sliding guide for the piston, as a result of this sliding guide and the piston, by means of tested devices, the corresponding sealing limit can be created also in a simple manner while the connection cross-section is variable. Functionally, the piston forms an operating piston because the admission of pressure, as a result of the pressure existing in the pressure space, causes a displacement against the spring force acting in the closing direction and the pressure in the pressure space is a function of the connection cross-section to the return flow which is opened up by way of the operating piston. Furthermore, because of the piston position which, in the closing position of the valve body, overlaps the connection cross-section in the closing direction, supplementing the different size of the pressurized effective surfaces, without any additional expenditures, the extent of the possible pressure reduction with respect to a critical, still permissible maximum pressure can be influenced just as much as the size of the pressure range, at whose leaving in the downward direction, the pressure limiting valve closes, the valve body therefore reaching its closing position with respect to the valve seat.
In order to avoid, also in the event of extreme pressure rises in the storage system, an overswinging of the unit formed by the piston and the valve body in the opening direction against the spring force, which would result in the risk of an excessively fast and extensive pressure reduction in the pressure space and thus in a bouncing of the valve body against the valve seat, it was found to be expedient to bound the opening path of the above-mentioned unit of the piston and the valve body, and therefore also the compression path of the spring acting upon this unit in the closing direction, by means of a stop.
Within the scope of the invention, it is expedient to produce the unit of the piston and the valve body in one piece, and to assign a corresponding housing bore as a receiving device to this unit, which housing bore merges into an input-side high-pressure connection in the area of the seat of the valve body.
In the opposite direction, it is expedient to design the bore in the area of the valve body in an expanded manner, particularly in an undercut manner, so that favorable flow conditions can build up in the pressure space, for which it is also expedient to further develop the transmission between the valve body and the piston as a shaft with a reduced diameter. The diameters of the mutually opposite face-side ring diameters of the piston and the valve body, which occur in the transition to the shaft, in view of a pressure relief, are of the same size but, on the whole, are selected such that, when the pressure space is opened against the high-pressure side and, corresponding to the pressure drop over the throttling path during the flow through the pressure space in the direction of the return flow, a pressure-dependent adjusting force occurs which acts against the spring force and also compensates the spring hardening occurring with an increasing adjustment of the piston against the spring force.
The surface situated in the transition from the shaft to the piston forms the face-side area of the piston which, when the pressure limiting valve is closed, overlaps the sliding guide and, together with the sliding guide, forms the sealing limit in the transition between the pressure space and the connection cross-section overdriven by the piston to the return flow.
Relative to the dimensions occurring in practice, it should be taken into account that also very small diameters to approximately 2 mm can be used for the valve body, while the diameters for the piston are of a dimension of approximately 4 mm. These result in high manufacturing-related requirements, particularly also in view of the fact that, for coordinating the pressurized effective surfaces, further gradations are necessary.
As a further development of the invention, it was therefore found to be expedient to assign to the unit consisting of the valve body and the piston, on the spring side, a damping space connected with the pressure space, and with respect to its fraction of the pressurized effective surfaces, adapt this damping space by way of the diameter of an axial compensating pin to the requirements. This results in the possibility of changing, particularly for the piston, but also for the valve body, to larger diameters, and of achieving, in the case of a small cross-section of the compensating pin, high closing pressures, so that an excessively long opening of the valve at a maximal stroke, or the freeing of excessively large connection cross-sections is avoided. In the case of such a further development, the spring can constructionally be supported against the pin.
Further details and characteristics of the invention are contained in the claims. In addition, the invention will be explained in the following by means of a pressure limiting valve according to the invention which is illustrated in a schematic sectional view.

Pressure limiting valve for fuel injection devices


A bottom surface of a stacking and accommodating portion is structured such as to be sloped to be lower in accordance with moving away from a paper carry-in side, and a push plate is controlled so as to be moved in a direction moving close to a carry-in port of the paper by detecting a stack paper width determined on the basis of a product of a stacked number count information of the papers and a thickness information per one paper, and the papers are accommodated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper stacking apparatus, and more particularly to a paper stacking apparatus which is suitable for stacking a lot of plural kinds of papers.
2. Description of Related Art
In accordance with a propagation of an automated teller machine (ATM) or the like, in a paper stacking apparatus stacking papers such as bank bills or the like, the needs of a smaller size, a lower cost, a less weight and the like are increased while securing conventional function and performance. Further, an apparatus which can process foreign bank bills in addition to domestic bank bills is required, levels of a fold and a break of the paper are deemed to be in a more adverse condition than the domestic one in view of distribution circumstances in the countries. Accordingly, an adverse effect is greatly applied to reservation of an accommodating number. Further, in most cases, the sizes of the papers are largely different in a direction of a long line and a direction of a short line. Accordingly, there is required that the paper stacking apparatus has a great capacity in the accommodating number of the paper while being in a compact size.
Conventionally, as this kind of paper stacking apparatus, there is a technique of controlling the stacked paper so as to move in a direction of moving away from a carry-in port by a pressing plate and a bottom surface belt in such a manner that the carried paper and the stacked paper are not interfered, in accordance with an increase of the stack paper to be stacked in the paper stacking apparatus (JP-A-2000-187752). Further, there is a technique of controlling a motion of the pressing plate and controlling so as to enlarge a stacking space on the basis of a leading end surface detection signal detecting a position of a leading end surface of the stacked paper, and preventing an excess gap from being generated between the stacked papers (JP-A-11-71055).

Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions, Corporation


Provided is a spatially resolved diffusive reflectance spectroscopy apparatus that includes an emitter, a plurality of optical waveguides, a switch, a photon detector, and a controller, and a method for operation of the apparatus. The controller controls emitter intensity, identifies photons detected by the photon detector as belonging to a specific optical waveguide of the plurality of optical waveguides, counts the detected photons, and identifies respective optical waveguides receiving each counted photon. The emitter emits optical photons in an optically turbid medium, and a distal end of each optical waveguide of the plurality of optical waveguides receives the optical photons reflected or scattered in the optically turbid medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of optical imaging. More particularly, the invention concerns an apparatus for combining fluorescence, reflectance and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for vein locating and sample imaging, and a method of operation thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transport of light that undergoes Brownian random walk at a microscopic level is described macroscopically using diffusion theory. Tracking of individual light photons at each scattering event has proven to be very complicated.
Conventional systems fail to provide an accessible solution that offers high-sensitivity, non-destructive, non-invasive, portable and cost effective analysis to detect features within turbid media. Conventional systems do not provide a non-invasive method to locate veins and corresponding depths of veins beneath the skin of living biological tissue, to perform vein location for venipuncture.
Provided herein is an apparatus and method that provides three-dimensional remote optical sensing of objects within turbid media to identify depth and location within the turbid media, for example to identify one or more veins with corresponding depths within biological tissue via tracing of photons and average motion of a cloud of light photons after scattering events.

Spatially resolved diffusive reflectance spectroscopy apparatus and method for use thereof


A memory device according to the invention has a first pair of bit lines, having first and second bit lines, being coupled to a first memory cell which cause a first potential difference between the first and second bit lines; a second pair of bit lines, having third and fourth bit lines, coupled to a second memory cell which causes a second potential difference between the third and fourth bit lines; a first sense amplifier having first and second transistors each of which is a first conductivity type, the gate electrode of said first transistor being connected to said first bit line, the first electrode of the first transistor being connected to the second bit line, the gate electrode of the second transistor being connected to the second bit line, the first electrode of the second transistor being connected to the first bit line; a second sense amplifier having third and fourth transistors each of which is the first conductivity type, the gate electrode of the third transistor being connected to the third bit line, the first electrode of the third transistor being connected to the fourth bit line, the gate electrode of the fourth transistor being connected to the fourth bit line, the first electrode of the fourth transistor being connected to the third bit line; and the second electrodes of said first, second, third and fourth transistors constituting a first common diffusion region formed in a first area of the major surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, such as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), particularly to a pattern layout of sense amplifiers and sense amplifier driving circuits employed in such semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A pattern layout of sense amplifiers and sense amplifier driving circuits employed in a semiconductor memory device, for example, is disclosed in the co-owned pending patent application of Ser. No. 07/705,341, filed on May 24th, 1991, of which the entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
There is, in FIG. 4 of the above mentioned application (not shown in this specification), disclosed a partial pattern layout of a first sense amplifier including negative channel type MOS (NMOS) transistors 232-1a and 232-1b; a second sense amplifier including positive channel type MOS (PMOS) transistors 233-1a and 233-1b; a first sense amplifier driving circuit including a Vss metal line 245a and a NMOS transistor 238a which provide Ground level voltage (Vss) to a Vss node 232-1c of the first sense amplifier; and a second sense amplifier driving circuit including a Vcc metal line 247a and a NMOS transistor 238c which provide supply level voltage (Vcc, such as 5 volts) to a Vcc node 233-1c of the second sense amplifier.
The Vss node 232-1c consists of three metal-diffusion contacts 417, made of aluminum, which electrically connect a first common node metal line 235 with a common source electrode of the NMOS transistors 232-1a and 232-1b in a negative type diffusion region 415. The Vcc node 233-1c also consists of three metal-diffusion contacts 433, made of aluminum, which electrically connect a second common node metal line 237 with a common source electrode of the PMOS transistors 233-1a and 233-1b in a positive type diffusion region 417.
In order to increase the density of LSI or the capacity of a semiconductor memory device, it is required to reduce the size of not only the region forming memory cells but also the region forming the sense amplifier. It is, however, not easy to reduce the diameter (i.e. the dimension of the horizontal cross section) of the metal-diffusion contact formed in each region forming a sense amplifier since the metal-diffusion contact is relatively deep. As the consequence, it is necessary to reduce the number of the metal-diffusion contacts formed in each region forming a sense amplifier, for example, a single contact per sense amplifier.
However, the above solution, the reduction of the number of the metal-diffusion contacts, would reduce the yield rate of the semiconductor memory device since the unevenness in the contact resistance of the contact, caused by manufacturing process, more seriously affects a sense amplifier so as to prevent the sense amplifier from cooperating with another sense amplifier, coupled to the same bit line pair. If worst comes to worst, the sense amplifier could not work due to the flaw (disconnection) of the reduced number of the metal-diffusion contacts formed therein.


Systems and methods for collecting biosignals can include a master node and a plurality of biosensor slave nodes wirelessly connected to the master node. The biosensor can be implanted in the body, or external to the body. One of the biosensors can function as the master node, or a networked cell phone or local area network (LAN) router can function as the master node. The biosensor slave nodes can collect biosignals such as blood pressure, blood sugar (glucose), EEG brain activity and similar biomarkers as biodata. The slave nodes can transmit the biodata to the master node, along with implicit timing information. In response, the master nodes can communicate implicit timing adjustment information back to the slave node(s), but only when said slave node's implicit timing information is outside of a predefined synchronization accuracy α, which can be determined according to the timing frequency requirements of the biodata being monitored.

Telemonitoring of biosignals is a growing area of research due to the aging world population. Telemonitoring can utilize a wireless body-area network (WBAN) consisting of wearable biosignal sensors equipped with ultra-low power radios. The measured data from each sensor on the patient can be sent to a central communication node (e.g., smartphone or personal computer), which can then send the data to a healthcare provider via the internet. Thus, the patient's health can be monitored continuously and remotely in real-time without the need for the patient to visit their doctor.
One of the major constraints in WBANs is power consumption, since these sensors (especially sensors internal to the body) can be meant to be used for weeks, months, and even years. If one looks to the WBAN to determine where, if anywhere, the power being consumed by the WBAN can be conserved, it can be seen that the power consumed by wirelessly transmitting the data to the central communication node is orders of magnitude higher than the power consumed by any other operation (e.g., analog-to-digital conversion and digital signal processing), and thus, must be minimized.
To enable real-time monitoring of the biosignals, it can also be desirable to have accurate timestamped data from the sensors in the WBAN. For example, if a sensor uses a low cost 32,768 Hz crystal oscillator with a frequency stability of 100 ppm, the time offset can be as high as 259 seconds after 1 month of use without any synchronization algorithm. Most of the synchronization algorithms presented in the literature require the exchange of dedicated timing messages containing digital timestamps on the network. However, this is not feasible for WBANs, due to the high power cost associated with transmitting messages.
In the prior art, a timestamp-free synchronization algorithm is proposed where no dedicated timing messages are exchanged; the synchronization algorithm is embedded in the existing network messages. Timing information can be communicated implicitly in the timing of the central communication node's response to the sensor node's message (as used in this specification, the term "implicit", "implicit timing information" and similar terminology can be taken to mean timing information can be extracted from a more general information exchange between the sensor and central communication node, and the general information itself does not contain dedicated, explicit timing information). This concept works well for many networks, since synchronization can be achieved without the additional overhead and cost of exchanging dedicated timing messages. However, in WBANs, the sensors typically send their data to a central communication node, but do not necessarily need to receive a frequent number of packets from the central communication node. Thus, the prior art algorithm may not be appropriate for WBANs, since it does not account for any power constraints on the network nodes and requires a bidirectional message exchange.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a network and network time synchronization method that can be free from dedicated timestamp messages. Another object of the present invention is to provide network and network time synchronization method which can minimize power consumption. Still another object of the present invention can be to provide a network and network time synchronization method which minimizes unnecessary time stamped messages from the master node to the slave node(s). Another object of the present invention is to provide a network and network time synchronization method that can be relatively easy to implement in a cost-efficient manner.

Timestamp-free synchronization for wireless body area networks

The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The invention is a slightly water-soluble, time release corrosion inhibitor compound for treating aluminum flake pigment. The corrosion inhibitor is the reaction product of a water-soluble metal salt including metals selected from the group consisting of yttrium and rare earth metals and an anionic metal salt including transition metal oxo-complexes and soluble salts of silicon and mixtures thereof. The corrosion inhibitor is useful for preventing hydrogen gassing of aluminum pigment particles. The compound is particularly useful for preventing gassing of bare and chromated aluminum pigment particles in aqueous compositions and in water-borne coating compositions having a basic pH. The pigment particles used in combination with the corrosion inhibitors of the present invention experience significantly less hydrogen gassing in a high pH aqueous environment and in water-borne coating compositions having high pH, than aluminum flake pigment particles and coatings without the corrosion inhibitor. The corrosion inhibitor is also effective when combined with a second corrosion inhibitor, such as a water-soluble salt of yttrium or rare earth metal in a coating composition.

The present invention pertains to corrosion inhibition of treated and untreated aluminum flake pigments alone and for use in waterborne coating compositions. Aluminum flake pigments are slightly reactive in an aqueous environment having a basic pH, such as aqueous coating compositions. The pH of the water-borne acrylic coating compositions typically ranges from 8.0-9.0, and the polyurethane coating compositions have a pH typically ranging from 7.5 to 8.0.
In a basic pH environment, the aluminum pigment reacts with water to produce hydrogen gas and aluminum hydroxide. The reaction is a form of corrosion and converts the pigment to a hydrated oxide form unsuitable for pigment use, as it destroys the metallic pigmentation properties of the mirrorlike particles. The amount of corrosion is measured by the amount of hydrogen gas produced over a given period of time.
Once formation of aluminum hydroxide begins, corrosion accelerates. This is because the OH.sup.- ions cause the pH of the environment to further increase, resulting in the increased formation of aluminum hydroxide.
The aluminum pigment deteriorates over time due to oxidation, as it remains in continuous contact with the basic pH environment of the coating composition. Coating compositions containing the pigment are often stored for 6 months or more before application, which can result in significant corrosion of the pigment. If this corrosion remains unchecked the coating composition may be unusable.
An additional factor affecting degradation of the pigment in a coating occurs when the paint is pumped from the storage site to the application site. This distance is often several blocks in length. The pumping action required to transport the paint this considerable distance is severe and results in breaking of the pigment particles, which exposes even more of the surface area of the pigment to corrosion. Corrosion inhibition can be achieved if the rates of these reactions, or any partial steps involved, can be decreased.
It has been found that time released corrosion inhibitor compounds inhibit corrosion in aluminum flake pigment particles in a basic aqueous environment. The corrosion inhibitor compound is the reaction product of water-soluble compound of yttrium or rare earth metal and an anionic metal complex including compounds selected from the group consisting of soluble salts of transition metal oxo-complexes complexes, soluble silicate salts and mixtures thereof.
It has further been discovered that aluminum flake pigment treated with the corrosion inhibitor compound is highly effective to inhibit the corrosion of the pigment particles in water-borne coating compositions. This is significant because, as explained above, the physical factors such as pumping and extended storage of coating compositions expose the pigment to increased corrosion at the high pH of water-borne coating systems. Use of the treated pigment significantly reduces the corrosion and/or degradation of aluminum flake pigment used in metallic coatings.

Aluminum flake pigment treated with time release corrosion inhibiting compounds and coatings containing the same


The present disclosure is directed, in part, to methods and systems of intra-operatively identifying a retained surgical item by imaging a surgical item with an intra-operative imaging device to obtain image data, imaging a patient suspected of having a retained surgical item with an intra-operative imaging device to obtain image data, interacting the image data to a module configured to identify the surgical item from the intra-operative surgical item image data, and identifying the retained surgical item from the surgical item image data.

A retained surgical item (RSI) is any item that is inadvertently left in a patient's body in an operative setting. According to the National Quality Forum (NQF), 2000-4000 RSI cases occur each year in the United States. Rates are highest in emergency cases, patients with morbid obesity, and rural and teaching hospitals. Although the most common retained items in the past were sponges, with the rapid emergence of minimally invasive surgeries smaller broken parts, such as clips, are being retained. The estimated cost to remove an RSI is over $63,000 per hospital stay and malpractice claims can reach millions of dollars. Hospitals have developed policies and recommendations to reduce the incidence of RSI. A common policy is to obtain a portable film of the operative site to try and identify the RSI. The ability to detect the RSI using plain radiography has been reported in several published studies to be poor (i.e., 33-50%). This poor detection rate is not surprising because the images are obtained using portable techniques, in a single plane with an open surgical field. Typically, there are numerous expected clips, sponges, hemostats, etc., overlying the surgical field which can make it difficult to localize an unexpected item. The second issue, which is correctable and contributes to the poor detection, is lack of a reference catalog of x-ray images which include the sizes of the instruments. The interpreting radiologist often struggles trying to rapidly identify a "clip house," for example, when the radiologist may have no information regarding what a clip house looks like outside the patient. The incidence of retained items is ongoing and is a major health concern that impacts every operating room in the world.
Future recommendations would be to develop methods and systems employing a central processing imaging facility that would digitally store images and measurements of all operating room (OR) items. There are thousands of items that are used in the OR and are often unique per specialty. Therefore, a list of commonly used items could be customized to the facility.


The present invention provides a developing apparatus and an image forming apparatus which are capable of outputting stable images with no surface staining and toner scattering even when an image forming process is repeated over a long time period, or even when image formation is performed after special use conditions in which little toner is consumed have continued over a long time period. An area in which a relationship of 0.6<Vlocal/Vaverage<0.9, where Vaverage is an average flow speed of a developer during one circuit of a developing container and Vlocal is a local flow speed of the developer as it moves through the developing container, is satisfied exists in the developing container, and a negatively charged toner maintains a relationship of μ0 (t)≧μ1 (t) between an electrostatic charge distribution peak position μ0 (t) of toner in an external force imparting developer and an electrostatic charge distribution peak position μ1 (t) of a replenishing toner, this relationship being measured in a deteriorated toner testing method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus using an electro photo graphic process, such as a copying apparatus, a printer, a facsimile apparatus, a plotter, and a composite device thereof, and more particularly to a developing apparatus used in such an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
In accordance with recent demands for reductions in the size of this type of image forming apparatus for enhanced personal use, the size of the developing apparatus used in the image forming apparatus has also been reduced. These demands have also led to the wide use of apparatuses such as disposable developing apparatuses which are exchanged in their entirety when the toner runs out, and process cartridges in which the developing apparatus is integrated with a photosensitive body serving as a latent image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image of an original image is formed, a cleaning apparatus for removing residual toner from the photosensitive body, and so on. However, these small developing apparatuses are disadvantaged in that the amount of developer, comprising a toner and a carrier, that can be stored is small.
Moreover, the amount of space for a developer stirring unit for stirring the developer must also be reduced, and hence the amount of time required for replenishing toner to reach the developing area is shortened. As a result, the toner and magnetic carrier are not stirred sufficiently, leading to a reduction in the charge of the toner and the likelihood of floating toner. When floating toner is generated, surface staining of the transfer paper becomes striking, which is undesirable. This phenomenon occurs particularly when an original having a high image area ratio is printed continuously such that a large amount of replenishing toner is required and the replenishing toner is not dispersed and charged sufficiently.
Further, as image forming apparatuses increase in speed, the rotation speed of the developer stirring member also increases, and since the toner is constituted by minute particles of approximately 3 to 12 μm, a part of the replenishing toner is not stirred sufficiently with the developer, causing the toner to scatter, float, or slide along the surface of the developer. If the toner is then conveyed to the developing area by a developing roller, the uncharged, oppositely charged, or weakly charged toner causes staining on the non-image portion, density unevenness, and toner scattering.
To solve these problems, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H6-3950 (referred to as Prior Art 1 hereafter), for example, proposes a method of providing means for driving a stirring member independently such that the rotation speed of the stirring member can be varied independently during toner replenishment.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H10-198089 (referred to as Prior Art 2 hereafter) proposes a method of varying the stirring conditions of stirring means in accordance with the toner concentration level of the developer, which defines the relationship between an electrostatic charge distribution of the toner at the inlet to a developer stirring unit immediately after toner replenishment, and the amount of a weakly charged and/or oppositely charged toner component in the electrostatic charge distribution of the toner immediately before the outlet of the developer stirring unit following passage through the developer stirring unit.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H9-106161 (referred to as Prior Art 3 hereafter) proposes a technique of providing a scattering prevention member for preventing replenishing toner supplied from a toner replenishment unit from sliding over the surface of the developer and being conveyed uncharged to a screw portion on a developing roller side.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H11-202573 (referred to as Prior Art 4 hereafter) proposes a technique of raising the electrostatic charge by operating a developer path regulating member of a developing apparatus to approach a developing roller.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2004-272017 (referred to as Prior Art 5 hereafter) proposes a constitution for varying the developer level between an upstream side and a downstream side of a replenishment side stirring chamber by providing more fins on the downstream side of a screw of the replenishment side stirring chamber than the upstream side.
However, with the techniques disclosed in Prior Art 1 and Prior Art 2, changes in the state of the developer caused by repetition of the image formation process are not taken into account, and hence the effects are insufficient. Following an investigation performed by the four present inventors and so on, it was found that following long-term repetition of the image formation process or in special use situations, for example when an original having a high image area is copied after image formation consuming a small amount of toner, such as continuous conveyance of white paper or an original having a low image area, has been performed over a long time period, the effects of Prior Art 1 and Prior Art 2 are not sustained.
Moreover, Prior Art 2 confirms that the behavior of the toner charge consists of both charge and discharge, and that the toner does not always change in one direction. Hence, the effects of Prior Art 2 may be insufficient according to use conditions and environmental conditions.
With the technique disclosed in Prior Art 3, of the two conditions that must be satisfied before the toner is conveyed to the developing unit, namely toner dispersal and toner charging, emphasis is placed on even toner dispersal. In other words, the screw portion is provided with a function for dispersing the replenishing toner into the developer evenly, while toner charging is handled by a conventional method of having the developer slide frictionally along a developer regulating blade. In this type of developing system, the toner receives a large load at a developer gathering portion on the rear side of the developer regulating blade, leading to deterioration of the developer. Deteriorated toner is likely to become weakly charged or oppositely charged, and hence when the image formation process is repeated over a long time period, the electrostatic charge distribution is broadened, leading to surface staining and toner scattering. However, when the stress on the rear of the developer regulating blade is simply reduced, the toner may not be charged sufficiently, causing even more surface staining and toner scattering.
With the technique disclosed in Prior Art 4, the frictional sliding force applied to the developer increases, but the developer regulating location is in the vicinity of a doctor blade, and when the toner is not completely dispersed before being conveyed to this position, concentration unevenness may occur despite the use of the developer regulating means.
All of the techniques disclosed in Prior Art 1 to Prior Art 5 are insufficient in preventing surface sliding of the replenishing toner, achieving even toner dispersal, performing toner charging adequately, and increasing the life of the developer by weakening the mechanical force that is applied conventionally to the developer. Investigations into the material constitution of developer are also currently underway to find ways of improving the charge buildup performance using various charge control agents and external additives. However, as the charge buildup performance improves, irregularities in the charge behavior are generated during toner replenishment.
Technologies relating to the present invention are also disclosed in, e.g. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application H7-175309, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application H10-149007, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application H10-198089, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application H11-202627, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application H11-231625, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application 2001-154471, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application 2001-242688.

Developing apparatus, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus


An iso-thermalizing printer structure can be used to provide temperature uniformity across a width of a printer fuser roll or fuser belt. Various embodiments are contemplated, including a solid natural graphite shaft, a solid natural graphite core having a sleeve of metal such as aluminum, and other flexible and rigid structures which can comprise natural or synthetic graphite.

Maintaining roll temperature uniformity in fuser roll systems has long been a concern of printer designers. The temperature along a width of the fuser roll can vary excessively, particularly in systems designed for print media of varying widths, which can adversely affect print quality. Printing long-edge feed paper after printing many copies of short-edge feed paper can also result in decreased printer performance. Using a heat pipe as a fuser roll is a known technique to solve such temperature uniformity issues. However, problems can arise in the complexity in the design of heat pipe fuser rolls, because heat pipes are closed systems and applying heat internally is difficult. Applying heat at one end of the fuser roll can be performed to simplify the geometry of the subsystem, but can result in incident heat flux at the heated end. In low mass, "instant-on" or rapid warm-up fuser roll systems, the low axial conductance of the fuser roll causes a greater thermal non-uniformity than in conventional fusing systems. It is generally preferable in instant-on systems to use a heat pipe with a low volume of fluid such as water or water-alcohol to more rapidly transfer heat from the warmer regions to the cooler regions of the fusing system rolls. Some heat pipe systems incorporate a fiber wicking device to sustain the fluid in the heat pipe. In this minimal fluid configuration, there is a potential for dry-out of the heat pipe evaporator. Systems to pump fluids using more complex interior geometries are also known and used to prevent the evaporator from drying out.
Low energy usage requirements in a fuser roll/pressure roll system can be met by minimizing the thermal mass of the fuser roll. Temperature uniformity can be met by heating element profile and design. Usually, these systems are optimized around the media size and weight most used in the market place. However, various media sizes and weights are used, which can contribute to temperature non-uniformity along the fuser roll axis. Another factor that contributes to temperature non-uniformity is conductive and convective heat losses from the heating lamps and the fuser roll, for example, to the bearings and supporting framework.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,349,660, commonly assigned to Xerox Corporation with the present application and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, describes a heat pipe in contact with the fuser roll and/or the pressure roll to transfer heat from warmer regions to cooler regions so that a temperature along a length of the fuser roll and/or the pressure roll becomes more uniform.

ISO-thermalizing graphite printer structure and method for using same


Microstructured articles of the invention comprising, in order: a) a retroreflective microstructured member; b) a sealing layer melt-bonded to the microstructured member; and c) a backing member. The backing member is a fibrous web comprising a plurality of multifilament strands and is melt-bonded to the second surface of the sealing layer.

Retroreflective conspicuity articles (e.g., microsphere-based and cube corner or prismatic type retroreflective articles) have been developed for use to increase safety and conspicuity especially during periods of reduced visibility. A wide variety of arrays of cube corners with various geometries have been disclosed. It is known to cover the cube corner elements with a sealing layer to maintain effective retroreflective performance. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,159 (McGrath).
It is desirable that a retroreflective article adhere to a desired substrate for the life of the substrate, or until intentional removal is desired. Difficulties have been encountered in attaching retroreflective sheetings to flexible polymeric substrates, such as highly monomericly plasticized polyvinyl chloride ("PVC") coated fabrics, without interfering with the life and function of the substrates. Articles which use polymer-coated or polymer-sealed fabric materials, such as a trailer tarpaulins and some roll-up signs, typically have a life span of about three to five years and up to about ten years. Roll-up signs are frequently used by road construction crews to designate work zones, road hazards, and the like. Polymer-coated fabric vehicle covers are particularly convenient, permitting the operator of the vehicle to gain access to the inside of trailers quickly and conveniently, and to maintain reasonable weatherproofing. The vehicle operator may open and close the fabric cover many times each day. Therefore the cover should be flexible but strong. Polymer-coated and polymer-sealed fabrics preferably withstand harsh weather conditions as well as the mechanical demands placed on them by the vehicle operator (in the case of trailer tarpaulins) and construction workers (in the case of roll-up signs). Trailer covers and roll-up signs may encounter extremes in temperature, chemical challenges from atmospheric pollution and road salt, and photo-reaction involving infrared, visible, and ultraviolet radiation from sunlight. A retroreflective sheeting attached to such a device preferably remains flexible and weatherproof throughout the expected life span of the article.
Many polymer-coated and polymer-sealed materials comprise a woven fabric layer of polyester, nylon, or cotton, coated or sealed on one or both major surfaces with a polymer preferably suited for the desired use. A commonly used polymer is highly monomericly plasticized PVC. Highly monomericly plasticized PVC is durable and convenient to handle because it is normally melt-bondable to itself or some other compatible polymer with the use of heat or radio frequency (RF) welding. Large fabric materials coated with PVC are manufactured by welding smaller panels together. Torn or damaged PVC coated fabric materials are often repaired while still on the vehicle.
Problems arise when attempting to form a sustainable retroreflective article (as measured by T-peel testing or other similar methods) by melt-bonding a retroreflective sheeting made of polymeric materials which are incompatible (from the standpoint of being incapable of forming a strong and durable melt-bond) with materials typically used for trailer tarpaulins or roll-up signs, such as monomericly plasticized PVC and copolymers of ethylene and comonomers (such as acrylic acid or vinyl acetate). An example of a pair of materials exhibiting melt-bonding compatibility is highly plasticized PVC and polyurethane. An example of a pair of materials having melt-bonding incompatibility is highly plasticized PVC and polycarbonate (a material frequently used in retroreflective sheetings) because of the substantially higher melting temperature of polycarbonate. Another example of a pair of materials having melt-bonding incompatibility is highly plasticized PVC and crosslinked acrylic cube-corners. Monomeric plasticizers present in the tarpaulin typically weaken the melt-bond and cause loss of its cohesive strength.
RF welding accomplishes fusion of polymeric materials through the presence of polar groups converting the radio frequency ("RF") energy into kinetic motion which heats the polymer. When a radio frequency field is applied to a thermoplastic polymer which has pendant polar groups, the ability of the polar groups to switch orientation in phase with the radio frequency determines the degree to which RF energy is absorbed and converted to kinetic motion of the polar group. This kinetic energy is conducted as heat to the polymer molecule; if enough RF energy is applied, the polymer will heat sufficiently to melt. A useful measure in determining the degree to which a polymer will absorb energy from an alternating field is the relation of the polymer's dielectric constant and the dielectric dissipation factor known as the loss factor and is given by the following relationship: EQU N=5.55.times.10.sup.-13 (f)(.Fourier..sup.2) (K) (tan .delta.)(1)
where N is the electric loss in watts/centimeter.sup.3 -second ("watts/cm.sup.3 -sec"), f is frequency in Hertz/sec, .Fourier. or Tau is field strength in volts/cm, K is the dielectric constant, .delta. or Gamma is the loss angle, and tan .delta. is the dissipation factor.
The dissipation factor is the ratio of the in-phase to out-of-phase power. If the polar groups in a thermoplastic polymer have a relative inability to switch orientations in the RF field, this results in a phase lag known as the dissipation factor. The higher the dissipation factor, the greater the amount of heat a RF field will generate. Studies with thermoplastic polymers and radio frequency welding have demonstrated that thermoplastic polymers with dissipation factors of approximately 0.065 or higher can form useful welds. For example, PVC has a dissipation factor of approximately 0.09 to 0.10 at 1 MHz, nylon caprolactam has a dissipation factor of 0.06 to 0.09 and polycarbonate has a dissipation factor of only 0.01 at the same frequency. The dielectric constants for these three compounds are 3.5, 6.4, and 2.96, respectively, at 1 MHz.
Polyethylene, polystyrene, and polycarbonate have very low dissipation factors and in practical use have poor radio frequency welding capability. Polyvinyl chlorides, polyurethanes, polyamides, and polyesters have reasonably high dissipation factors and have been found in practical use to form very functional RF welds. Reference is made to the article "RF Welding of PVC and Other Thermoplastic Compounds" by J. Leighton, T. Brantley, and E. Szabo in ANTEC 1992, pps. 724-728. These authors did not attempt to weld polycarbonate to the other polymers because of the understanding in the art that a useful weld, using RF energy, would always fail to form.
Only those polar groups within the RF field will be put into motion and thus subject to heating. In addition, RF fields can be applied in well defined zones or fields as compared to thermal heat application methods. As a result RF welding techniques can be used to readily achieve melt-bonds in desired locations with little need for thermal insulation.
PCT Application No. WO 93/10985 (Oppenhejm), published Jun. 10, 1993, discloses, inter alia, attaching PVC retroreflective articles to a tarpaulin cloth coated with PVC using RF welding. This composite article can then be hot air fused to a tarpaulin vehicle cover also coated with PVC. To thermally weld the PVC coated cloth to the PVC coated tarpaulin cover, the two surfaces are heated with air at approximately 400.degree. C. to 600.degree. C. and the surfaces then pressed together to accomplish the hot air fusion. The purpose of the intermediate tarpaulin cloth attachment is to provide thermal insulation between the hot air and the retroreflective article attached to the tarpaulin cloth to prevent thermal melting, loss of retroreflection, and destruction of the retroreflective article.
A commercially available product from Reflexite Corporation, believed to have the designation 393-2457-372, comprises cube corner retroreflective sheeting having PVC cube corners, the cube corners melt-bonded to a PVC-coated fabric. Cube corner retroreflective articles having the cube-corners constructed from PVC have relatively low coefficients of retroreflectivity, generally on the order of 250 candelas/lux/square meter or less for clear, colorless sheeting.
Assignee's U.S. application Ser. No. 08/236,339, filed May 2, 1994 abandoned, and Ser. No. 08/434,347, filed May 2, 1995, pending describe a high brightness, flexible, durable, retroreflective article comprising a polymeric cube corner type retroreflective layer having a polymeric compatibilizing layer for attachment to a flexible polymer-coated fabric material. The retroreflective sheeting comprises, in order: a polymeric cube corner retroreflective layer, a polymeric compatibilizing layer, and a flexible polymeric coated fabric, wherein the coated fabric has a non-compatible polymeric coating on each major surface. In these constructions there is thus always at least one non-compatible polymer layer between the fabric and the retroreflective layer. The compatibilizing layer is a polymeric material having characteristics suitable for bonding to both the retroreflective layer and a polymer-coated or polymer-sealed fabric material under conditions using high frequency welding and/or patterned thermal welding. All methods of making these retroreflective articles involve providing a separate polymer-coated fabric having the fabric portion completely engulfed on both major surfaces with a non-compatible polymer, and thereafter heat or RF welding all three layers together. The use of a separate polymeric compatibilizing layer and a non-compatible coated fabric layer increases cost as well as the thickness of such articles, therefore tending to reduce their flexibility and yielding articles having higher bending radii. It would be highly desirous if retroreflective articles could be produced which do not degrade in retroreflectivity or adherence of the retroreflective layer to the substrate with time, remain flexible by virtue of decreased thickness, and preferably are less expensive and easier to produce.

Microstructured articles with backing and methods of manufacture


A CMOS-compatible peak detection circuit includes a differential amplifier stage (10), an active peak holding circuit (12), and a passive peak holding circuit (14). The differential amplifier stage (10) produces an amplifier output signal that is responsive to the difference between an input signal being monitored and feedback from the active peak holding circuit (12). Both the active peak holding circuit (12) and the passive peak holding circuit (14) store a charge representing a voltage level that is indicative of the peak amplitude of the amplifier output signal during a time interval, the time interval occurring while a disable signal is inactive. The active peak holding circuit (12) provides the maximum value signal as feedback to the differential amplifier stage (10). The passive peak holding circuit (14) provides a max signal output corresponding to the maximum value to a voltage follower stage (16) that makes it available as an output when a readback enable signal goes active. The active and passive peak holding circuits (12,14) are disconnected from the output of the differential amplifier stage (10) when a disable signal is active. A reset signal discharges capacitor storage (C1,C2) in the peak holding circuits (12,14) when it goes active. The readback enable and reset signals only go active during the time that the disable signal is active. To conserve power, a bias generation circuit (18) provides bias signals to the differential amplifier stage (10) enabling it to conduct only when the disable signal is inactive.

This invention relates to analog signal peak detection, and more particularly to an improved peak detection circuit for finding signal minimums and maximums of a signal during the intervals between successive samples in an analog data acquisition system, the improvement making the circuit suitable for implementation in Complementary Metal Oxide on Semiconductor (CMOS) transistor technology.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,488 to Saxe for a "High-Speed Acquisition System Employing an Analog Memory Matrix", hereby incorporated by reference, disclosed one version of a high speed analog data acquisition system. Co-pending patent application 07/589,222, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,525 by Saxe et al. for an "Analog Acquisition System Including a High Speed Timing Generator", hereby incorporated by reference, describes an improved analog signal acquisition system that is faster than the system described in the '488 patent.
Any method for determining the behavior of an analog signal that is based on sampling the signal at discrete intervals faces the fundamental issue of uncertainty as to the behavior of the signal between samples. The behavior of the signal between samples may nonetheless be of great interest, e.g., if there are glitches on the signal that are causing some sort of problem.
There are digital methods for finding the minimum and maximum behavior of an analog signal, but they also leave gaps between samples and the behavior of the signal within those gaps is still undetermined. However, if the signal can be sufficiently over sampled to ensure capture of the transient events of interest, relatively fleeting events can be captured.
In one of these digital methods, two registers are used to store the output of an analog-to-digital converter. A digital comparator monitors the contents of the two registers and retains, for example, the larger value, while enabling the other register to store the next incoming sample. For a "max" detector, the smaller sample is always discarded and the larger one retained. Thus, the largest value received so far is always saved in one register, while the other register is made available for storing the next incoming value. The result is that the largest value found during a sampling period ends up stored in one or the other of the two registers at the end of the period and that register is then selected for readout. Speed increases can be achieved by interleaving several such max (or min) monitors and selecting the most extreme of their outputs as the maximum-max at the end of the sampling period. However, for signals with very high frequency content sufficient over sampling is either technically infeasible or prohibitively expensive.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art analog peak detection circuit that has been used in analog data acquisition systems to determine signal minimums and maximums. A diode and capacitor are arranged to store the peak output of a differential amplifier whose inputs are the analog input signal to be monitored and the voltage level currently stored on the capacitor. A voltage following amplifier with high input impedance reproduces the voltage level stored on the capacitor as the circuit's output. Such an arrangement, including as it does the use of negative feedback, has been shown to be capable of producing a peak detector that has good linearity and a wide bandwidth when it is properly designed and fabricated using bipolar transistors. When two such circuits are used in alternation, one can be monitoring the signal while the other is being read out and cleared to prepare it for its turn at monitoring the signal.
Complementary Metal Oxide on Semiconductor (CMOS) transistor technology provides some advantages over bipolar transistor technology for some applications. In particular, circuitry implemented in CMOS is less expensive, more dense, and uses less power than comparable circuitry implemented in bipolar transistors. However, CMOS transistors are slower than bipolar ones, have lower gain, and must be configured differently in order to achieve linear high bandwidth operation.
Co-pending U.S. patent application 07/844,089 by Kogan for a "CMOS-Based Peak Detector for Fast-In, Slow-Out Min/Max Detection", hereby incorporated by reference, discloses several approaches to min/max peak detection that utilize CMOS circuitry. These approaches produce less than ideal results because diode substitutes implemented in CMOS do not perform like ideal diodes, and this causes input signal and time dependent inconsistencies in the performance of the circuit.
An ideal diode conducts only when the voltage across it is greater than a conduction threshold, and does not conduct at all when the applied voltage is less than that amount. Less than ideal diodes, including diode substitutes implemented in CMOS, continue to conduct, but in decreasing amounts, as the voltage across them is decreased, instead of having a sharp cutoff at a specific voltage. This means that the stored maximum voltage can continue to change over the sample interval, with the change being a function of both the voltage across the "diode" and the duration of the time that it is present. This also leads to the partial loss of small fast signals, which may not cause sufficient "diode" conduction to be detected, or which may be swamped by time and signal dependent leakage effects. A CMOS-compatible approach to peak detection that successfully avoids these time and signal dependencies is therefore needed.
The circuits shown in the Kogan 07/844,089 application also introduce a non-linearity into the peak detection process. It would also be desirable to eliminate such non-linearities to the maximum extent possible, even though they can be compensated for by the addition of linearizing means in the downstream signal path.


A friction lining for a brake pad of a braking system includes a solid body of friction material having plurality of slots intersecting at a vortex zone formed as a circular recess in the friction lining. The slots open into the vortex zone at offset locations to promote circulation of air within the vortex zone. The slots extend along a horizontal arc that follows the curvature of a rotor of the braking system when in use. Vertical slots may be included that also open into the vortex zone at offset locations.

Braking systems for vehicles, such as disc braking systems, use brake pads having friction linings to inhibit rotation of the vehicle wheel. The friction surface of the friction lining is subject to high clamping loads and a resultant tangential friction force that can generate a significant amount of heat. Excessive heat may lead to reduced performance and various unwanted effects. For example, brake fade, caused by a buildup of heat at the friction surface, can reduce stopping power. The temperature of the friction lining may also impact the wear resistance and ultimately the life of the brake pad. Accordingly, improved cooling of the friction lining is desirable.

Friction lining and brake pad for a braking system


On-premises pager loss is reduced by alerting patrons they are out of range. Pagers include an LCD with messages or promotions. An LED on the pager emits different colors indicating the level of battery charge. Circuitry in the pager causes a higher charge to be delivered to the battery when the pager is first coupled to a charging unit, and a lower charge to be delivered thereafter. Stacked slots in the charging unit receive the pagers. This permits access without disconnection of pagers in other slots and removal from the slots using first-in-first-out rotation. Charging rails on the charging unit simultaneously and directly connect each pager in the slots. Charging units are electrically coupled to other units in a daisy chain. A light on the unit indicates whether it is receiving power. Conductors on the pagers mechanically interlock with the charging rail when a pager is inserted into a slot.

On-premises paging systems are widely known and used, but their use to date has been very limited. In particular, pagers of this sort are currently used predominantly in the restaurant industry to inform patrons when their table is ready. In addition, there exist a variety of problems associated with prior art pagers and their use. For example, restaurant patrons who travel out of range of the paging transmittal signal, and thus never get paged by the restaurant, may become annoyed and leave with the pagers, thereby resulting in pager loss. Further, pagers require frequent recharging. There is a need for paging systems with features designed to make recharging pagers faster, more efficient, and more convenient for individuals dispensing pagers to patrons.

On-premises pager and charging unit, and methods for using same


A process is disclosed for regenerating a spent liquid acid catalyst comprising the steps of:. (a) providing a spent liquid acid catalyst comprising HF, sulfolane, and conjunct polymeric byproducts formed during the HF-catalyzed reaction of isoparaffin and olefin to form isoparafinnic alkylate; PA0 (b) providing a finely divided solid sorbent, wherein said solid sorbent preferentially and reversibly sorbs said conjunct polymeric byproducts from a mixture containing HF, sulfolane; PA0 (c) mixing said spent liquid acid catalyst of step (a) with said solid sorbent of step (b) by charging said spent liquid acid catalyst to the driving fluid inlet of an eductor and drawing a stream containing said solid sorbent into said eductor; PA0 (d) holding said mixture of step (c) in contact for time sufficient for said solid sorbent to preferentially sorb at least a portion of said conjunct polymeric byproducts from said spent liquid acid catalyst to produce a conjunct polymer-enriched sorbent and to regenerate said liquid acid catalyst; and PA0 (e) separating said conjunct polymer-enriched sorbent from said regenerated liquid acid catalyst; PA0 (f) soaking said conjunct polymer-enriched sorbent in a solvent to desorb said conjunct polymeric byproducts; and PA0 (g) recycling said solid sorbent to said mixing step (c).

Alkylation is a reaction in which an alkyl group is added to an organic molecule. For example, an isoparaffin can be reacted with an olefin to provide an isoparaffin of higher molecular weight. In petroleum refining, the process reacts a C.sub.2 to C.sub.5 olefin with isobutane in the presence of an acidic catalyst to produce an upgraded product stream referred to as alkylate. This alkylate is a valuable blending component in the manufacture of gasolines due not only to its high octane rating but because it is free of aromatic components.
Industrial alkylation processes have historically used concentrated hydrofluoric or sulfuric acid catalysts under relatively low temperature conditions. Acid strength is preferably maintained at 88 to 94 weight percent by the continuous addition of fresh acid and the continuous withdrawal of spent acid. As used herein, the term "concentrated hydrofluoric acid" refers to an essentially anhydrous liquid containing at least about 85 weight percent HF.
Hydrofluoric and sulfuric acid alkylation processes share inherent drawbacks including environmental and safety concerns, acid consumption, and sludge disposal. For a general discussion of sulfuric acid alkylation, see the series of three articles by L. F. Albright et al., "Alkylation of Isobutane with C.sub.4 Olefins", 27 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 381-397, (1988). For a survey of hydrofluoric acid catalyzed alkylation, see 1 Handbook of Petroleum Refining Processes 23-28 (R. A. Meyers, ed., 1986).
Hydrogen fluoride, or hydrofluoric acid (HF) is highly toxic and corrosive. However, it is used as a catalyst in isomerization, condensation, polymerization and hydrolysis reactions. The petroleum industry uses anhydrous hydrogen fluoride primarily as a liquid catalyst for alkylation of olefinic hydrocarbons to produce alkylate for increasing the octane number of gasoline. Years of experience in its manufacture and use have shown that HF can be handled safely, provided the hazards are recognized and precautions taken. Though many safety precautions are taken to prevent leaks, massive or catastrophic leaks are feared primarily because the anhydrous acid will fume on escape creating a vapor cloud that can be spread for some distance. Previous workers in this field approached this problem from the standpoint of containing or neutralizing the HF cloud after its release.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,938,935 and 4,985,220 to Audeh and Greco, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,936 to Yan teach various methods for containing and/or neutralizing HF acid clouds following accidental releases.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,712 to Torck et al. relates to acid catalysts comprising a Lewis acid, a Bronsted acid, and a sulfone of the formula R--SO.sub.2 --R', where R and R' are each separately a monovalent radical containing from 1 to 8 carbon atoms or form together a divalent radical having from 3 to 12 carbon atoms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,764 to Throckmorton et al. teaches an olefin polymerization catalyst comprising (1) at least one organoaluminum compound, (2) at least one nickel compound selected from the class consisting of nickel salts of carboxylic acids, organic complex compounds of nickel, or nickel tetracarbonyl and (3) at least one hydrogen fluoride complex prepared by complexing hydrogen fluoride with a member of the class consisting of ketones, ethers, esters, alcohols, nitriles, and water.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,025,577 and 4,099,924 to Siskin et al. report the use of alkylation catalyst compositions containing HF, a metal halide, and sulfolane. U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,674 to Olah relates to an additive formulation which reduces the fuming tendency of HF.
Promoters such as alcohols, thiols, water, ethers, thioethers, sulfonic acids, and carboxylic acids are disclosed in combination with strong Bronsted acids such as HF, fluorosulfonic and trihalomethanesulfonic acids in U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,489 to Parker et al. The promoters are said to modify the activity of the strong Bronsted acids for alkylation.
The preceding references demonstrate the desirability of a liquid Bronsted acid catalyst (such as HF) for isoparaffin-olefin alkylation, as well as the utility of liquid Bronsted acids in combination with metal halides, particularly metal fluorides.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,150 to Child et al. teaches an isoparaffin-olefin alkylation process which addresses the problem of purifying mixtures of HF, sulfolane, and the conjunct polymers (also referred to as acid soluble oil or ASO) formed as byproducts in the HF-catalyzed alkylation of isoparaffins with olefins. The mixture of HF, sulfolane, and ASO (as described in the '150 patent) is difficult to separate because the ASO is a complex mixture of components which boils in a broad range bracketing the boiling point of sulfolane. The entire text of U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,150 is incorporated by reference as if set forth at length herein. For this reason, conventional distillation processes are essentially ineffective for removing ASO from the mixture of HF, sulfolane, and ASO. The process disclosed in the '150 patent first strips the mixture to an HF concentration of 30 weight percent or less, and then gravitationally separates the resulting mixture into an ASO-enriched stream and a sulfolane-enriched stream. Once the HF is stripped from the mixture, however, the process must store and transfer an HF stream containing little or no sulfolane. Thus it would be desirable to provide a method for regenerating an acid catalyst containing HF and sulfolane without stripping the HF from the mixture.


Hybrid fiberglass composite structures and methods for forming the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, a hybrid fiberglass composite structure includes a first laminate substrate and a second opposing laminate substrate. At least one of the first laminate substrate and the second laminate substrate includes at least one polymer fiber layer and at least one glass fiber layer. A cellular core structure is interposed between the first laminate substrate and the second laminate substrate and fixedly coupled to the first laminate substrate and the second laminate substrate.

Fiberglass is a rigid composite structural material having reinforcement fibers embedded in a resinous material. Structures formed from fiberglass advantageously have inherently high structural strength while also being relatively low in overall weight. Accordingly, fiberglass structures are used in flight vehicles, as well as a variety of terrestrial vehicles, such as automobiles and boats.
With respect to fiberglass structures used in flight vehicles, the fiberglass structures may be employed in the fabrication of primary or secondary structures, but are particularly useful in the fabrication of secondary structural components that are not subject to primary flight loads.
One drawback associated with the use of conventional fiberglass materials in primary and/or secondary structural applications is that the material is generally formed into relatively thick layers in order to offer good resistance to damage that may result from hail and/or relatively heavy rain that may impact the fiberglass component. As a consequence, the relatively thick fiberglass layers often undesirably add weight to the vehicle.
Therefore, there exists an unmet need in the art for a structural material having higher resistance to impact damage while providing lower weight than heretofore possible.

Hybrid fiberglass composite structures and methods of forming the same


A method and a system for providing vehicle services to at least one communication device located at a vehicle via a vehicle telematics unit. The method carried out by the system includes the steps of: receiving a request at the vehicle telematics unit for first vehicle services from a first communication device located at a vehicle; associating a first identifier with the first communication device; and providing the first vehicle services to the first communication device, wherein the vehicle services are provided according to at least one services parameter associated with the first identifier.

Vehicle occupants are increasingly desiring greater access to entertainment data and applications while in their vehicles. Vehicles are capable of storing some of this data or applications within the system storage. At other times, it may be desirable to acquire this entertainment data from a remote services or from the cloud.
Occasionally, different data may be desired for different applications simultaneously. For example, satellite Radio may be streaming while a GPS or navigational data download also is desired. At times, the amount of simultaneously desired data that requires a quality of service to be maintained to drive all the applications' needs.

Providing cellular data to a vehicle over different data channels


The present invention provides for a method for manufacturing flip chip resistors by applying a first electrode layer to a substrate to create at least one pair of opposite electrodes, applying a resistance layer between each pair of opposite electrodes, applying a first protective layer at least partially overlaying the resistance layer, applying a second protective layer at least partially overlaying at least a portion of the resistance layer, and applying a second electrode layer overlaying the first electrode layer, a portion of the resistance layer, and at least a portion of the second protective layer. The present invention provides for higher reliability performance and enlarging the potential soldering area despite small chip size.

Conventional surface mount resistors have wrap-around terminals on the ends of the resistor. When such surface mount resistors are soldered to a printed circuit board, solder covers entire surface of the terminals forming a fillets, resulting in occupation of an additional area for mounting. One example of such a conventional surface mount resistor is found in EPO 0810614A1 to Hashimoto et al. A flip chip resistor is a resistor that has no side electrodes and is soldered with its printed side towards the printed circuit board. With this configuration, the solder fillets are not formed thus decreasing the amount of circuit board space required and increasing the mounting density particularly in the case of small chip sizes.
Two examples of prior art flip chip resistors are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The flip chip resistor shown in FIG. 1 is described in U. S. Pat. No. 6,023,217 to Yamada et al. The flip chip resistor of FIG. 1 improves the quality of mounting and insulation between the printed layers of the resistor and a printed circuit board which is important when there is a printed circuit board trace running between the terminations.
A second prior art attempt at a flip chip resistor is shown in FIG. 2. The device shown in FIG. 2 has been offered by a number of chip manufacturers.
Both of these prior art flip chip resistors have problems. In particular, the area of conductive layers disposed under the joint of a protective overcoat layer and plated Nickel barrier disposed over a Silver electrode is subjected to destructive influence of environmental conditions more than other inner parts of the flip chip resistor because this joint is usually not sufficiently hermetic. This results in reduced reliability, especially in cases of face down mounting when residual flux cannot be reliably removed from the overcoat surface. Therefore, these flip chip resistors require expensive conductive materials based on noble metals (i.e. Pd, Au, Pt) for the top conductive layers in order to prevent erosion of the conductive layers.
A further problem with these configurations is that the pads provided are too small for reliable soldering. This problem becomes even more important in the case of small chip sizes. The pad areas in these prior art designs can only be enlarged when the resistance layer size is changed. Such a change interferes with requirements for laser trimming. Therefore, problems in the art remain.
Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to improve upon the state of the art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a flip chip resistor with high reliability.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a flip chip resistor that can be manufactured at a low cost.
As a further object of the present invention to provide a flip chip resistor that can be manufactured in small chip sizes.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a flip chip resistor that allows for sufficiently large pads for reliable soldering even when the flip chip resistor is of small size.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description and claims that follow.

Method of manufacturing flip chip resistor


A method of testing circuit boards, in particular non-componented circuit boards in which the level of the surface of a circuit board to be tested is detected automatically in a contacting process, and the further contacting operations are then controlled on the basis of the level detected. By this process, the control of the movement of the test probes of the finger tester effects automatic matching to the level, which is of particular advantage in the testing of flexible circuit boards, since their surface may have a three-dimensional form.

Testers for the testing of circuit boards may in principle be divided into two groups, those with finger testers and those with parallel testers. The parallel testers are testers which, by means of an adapter, contact simultaneously all or at least the majority of circuit board test points of a circuit board to be tested. Finger testers are testers for the testing of non-componented or componented circuit boards, which scan the individual contact points sequentially using two or more test fingers.
In the testing of non-componented printed circuit boards, as compared with the testing of componented circuit boards, i.e. in-circuit testing, it is necessary to contact significantly more circuit board test points. For this reason the main criterion for successful marketing of a finger tester for non-componented printed circuit boards is the throughput of contacted circuit board test points within a predetermined period of time.
The test fingers are generally fixed to a slide which is able to traverse along a cross-bar, while the cross-bars are in turn guided and able to traverse on guide rails. The slides may thus be positioned at any desired point on a test array which is usually rectangular. To contact a contact point of a circuit board to be tested, the slide is able to move vertically on the cross-bar, so that the test finger may be placed on the contact point from above or from below.
A finger tester is described in EP 0 468 153 A1 and a method of testing circuit boards using a finger tester is described in EP 0 853 242 A1.
JP 02-130477 A discloses a method of testing circuit boards using a finger tester with one test finger which is automatically traversed to contact circuit board test points of a circuit board to be tested. The test finger has a test probe with two contact tips. Using the two contact tips and a contacting sensor, the point in time is determined at which the test probe makes contact with a circuit board test point of the circuit board to be tested. The level of the surface of the circuit board test point is determined with the aid of this point in time and the position of the probe tips.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,345 discloses an apparatus for the trimming of conductor paths. This involves the conductor paths being cut to the desired width by means of an automatically traversing cutter. However, before cutting take place, the course of the conductor path and also a vertical profile of the circuit board are determined by means of a sensor, so that the cutting operation may be performed with the desired accuracy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,855 describes a finger tester with several test fingers.

Method for testing non-componented circuit boards


A connector (1) comprises a housing (11) including a base plate portion (12) facing one surface of a pair of flat cables (101), and a plurality of terminals (51) for contacting conductive wires of the flat cables, wherein the base plate portion includes a plurality of hook members (31) disposed side by side with the terminals for engaging with engaging holes (112) of the flat cable.

The present invention relates to a connector.
Conventionally, a connector for connecting flexible flat cables referred to as flexible circuit boards, flexible flat cables, or the like, is known and described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-170613. FIG. 18 is a perspective view of such a conventional connector.
Reference numeral 803 designates a flat cable which includes a base film made of an insulating material such as a synthetic resin or the like, and a plurality of conductive wires 804 made of a conductive material such as metal or the like, and supported by the base film. The coating of the conductive wires 804 is removed in the end portion of the flat cable 803, and the conductive wires 804 are exposed on one surface, the lower surface in FIG. 8. Slits 805 are formed in the end portion of the flat cable 803 between adjacent conductive wires 804 and extend through the base film.
Numeral 800 designates a slider member fitted in a connector housing (not shown) and the slider member includes a flat tongue portion 801 to be inserted in a horizontally elongated opening formed in the front surface of the connector housing. Projections 802 that engaged the slits 805 of the flat cable 803 are formed in the lower surface of the tongue 801.
When connecting the flat cable 803, the tongue 801 is inserted in the opening after the end of the flat cable 803 is inserted in the opening of the connector housing, so the tongue 801 fits in the opening. The tongue 801 is inserted horizontally and the end portion of the flat cable 803 is pressed downward by the tongue 801 and the conductive wires 804 are pressed against terminals disposed in the opening of the connector housing to connect them together.
Each of the projections 802 of the tongue 801 engages a corresponding slit 805 of the flat cable 803 so that the end of the flat cable 803 is maintained in the opening of the connector housing. These slits and projections keep the conductive wires 804 and corresponding terminals in contact with each other.


A low height type actuator capable of performing a two-dimensional motion includes a magnet structure that includes a first array in which the first and second magnets are alternately arranged in x-direction and a second array in which the first and second magnets are alternately arranged in y-direction, and first and second wirings. The first wiring crosses the first magnets included in the first array in y-direction, and the second wiring crosses the first magnets included in the second array in x-direction. According to the present invention, by making current flow in the first and second wirings, a two-dimensional motion can be achieved. Further, since the first and second wirings are each a planar wiring that crosses the magnets, height reduction can be achieved.

While actuators capable of reciprocating in one axis direction are commonly used as actuators using electromagnetic force, Patent Document 1 describes an actuator allowing a two-dimensional motion by arranging magnets in a matrix. The actuator described in Patent Document 1 allocates four coils to one magnet and controls the direction of current made to flow in the coils to thereby achieve the two-dimensional motion.

Low height type actuator capable of performing a two-dimension motion


Methods, systems and computer readable media for producing a metric to characterize a chemical array. Effects of terms impacting results of measurement of an output generated from analysis of the array or a procedure performed using the array, are quantified by performing ANOVA analysis and calculating sums of squares quantities attributable to each of the terms respectively. A metric is derived from at least two of the calculated sum of squares quantities. Methods systems and computer readable media for characterizing one or more chemical arrays may perform the steps of querying a database storing sums of squares quantities quantifying effects of terms impacting results of measurements of outputs generated from a plurality of chemical arrays; selecting sums of squares quantities based on the querying; and generating a metric based on the at least two sums of squares quantities.

Researchers use experimental data obtained from microarrays and other similar research test equipment to cure diseases, develop medical treatments, understand biological phenomena, and perform other tasks relating to the analysis of such data. However, the conversion of useful results from this raw data is restricted by physical limitations of, e.g., the nature of the tests and the testing equipment. All biological measurement systems leave their fingerprint on the data they measure, distorting the content of the data, and thereby influencing the results of the desired analysis. For example, systematic biases can distort microarray analysis results and thus conceal important biological effects sought by the researchers. Biased data can cause a variety of analysis problems, including signal compression, aberrant graphs, and significant distortions in estimates of differential expression. Types of systematic biases include gradient effects, differences in signal response between channels (e.g., for a two-channel system), variations in hybridization or sample preparation, pen or nozzle shifts during array manufacture (e.g., using an inject printer), subarray variation, and differences in RNA inputs.
Gradient effects are those in which there is a pattern of expression signal intensity which corresponds with specific physical locations within the chip (e.g., array substrate) and which are characterized by a smooth change in the expression values from one end of the chip to another. This can be caused by variations in chip design, manufacturing, and/or hybridization procedures. FIG. 1 shows an example of distortion caused by gradient effects, where it can be observed that the signal intensity shows a gradually increasing pattern moving from a first edge 10 (see corresponding signals 20) to a second edge 12 (corresponding signals 22) of the chip.
In dual-channel systems the two dyes do not always perform equally efficiently, for equivalent RNA concentrations, uniformly across the whole microarray. In particular, the red channel often demonstrates higher signal intensity than the green channel at higher RNA abundances.
Variations in hybridization and sample preparations can cause warpage to occur in the expression values in microarrays. This can prevent comparative analysis across batches of arrays and further distort analysis results.
Subarray variations are forms of systematic biases in which different probe subsets within the chip demonstrate significantly different performance characteristics. In particular, there may be multiple subsets that have different average signal intensities. This is sometimes referred to as "blocking" within the resultant array pattern, due to the visual, block-like appearance resultant when the subset includes probes that are adjacent to each other. These subarray variations may be related to individual pens/nozzles of an inkjet used to print the array, or other manufacturing component discreteness or boundaries (for example, when two array patterns are intersected to create higher probe density, there may be a shift between the two patterns), as well as other process details and are typically causally represented as ANOVA nominal variables.
Device distortions/variations aside, other problems facing researchers are the tasks of quality control and assessment of microarray measurements. Because they are often performed manually and heuristically, these tasks are time-consuming, expensive, and prone to error.
Because of the large amount of data involved, inspection and review of microarray results is complex and tedious, requiring knowledge of multiple microarray technology platforms and manufacturing techniques. Review of microarray data is also time-consuming and costly because, using manual inspection, 40%-50% of all hybridized microarrays typically require at least one interpretation of the acceptability of the results. Thorough inspection at these levels becomes cost prohibitive as the number of hybridizations performed per week increases into the hundreds or thousands.
In addition, manual review of microarray data is imprecise and inconsistent. Agreement between research scientists is frequently less than 60%. To avoid systematic shifts in an inspector's judgment over time, inspectors must constantly be "re-calibrated" (i.e., re-trained) to their own previous judgments as well as to the judgments of others. Moreover, marginal cases are difficult to flag. As the volume of hybridizations increases, identification of marginal cases or close calls becomes difficult. These cases may require more detailed study or expert opinions to properly classify and quantify results. Lastly, heuristic thresholds are often set on quality control parameters. Thresholds on quality control parameters are frequently set independently for each parameter without statistical adjustment for the multiplicity of tests being performed. This leads to increased failure rates and increased costs.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to uncover the main and interaction effects of categorical independent variables (sometimes referred to as "factors") on a dependent variable based on a functional association. Categorical dependent variables may also be supported. A "main effect" is the individual effect of an independent variable on the dependent variable, a combinatorial impact. A more extensive discussion of existing ANOVA techniques can be found at http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/anova.htm. A copy of this document which was downloaded on Nov. 5, 2004 and is being submitted as a disclosure document in this application, is hereby incorporated herein, in its entirety, by reference thereto.
Multivariate, or N-way ANOVA addresses N independent factor variables. As the number of independent variables increases, the number of potential interactions proliferates. For example, the consideration of two independent variables A and B considers only a single first-order interaction (AB). Consideration of three independent variables A, B and C requires analysis of three second-order interactions (AB, AC, BC) and one third-order interaction (ABC). Consideration of four independent variables requires a consideration of six second order (AB, AC, AD, BC, BC, CD), three third-order (ABC, ACD, BCD), and one fourth-order (ABCD) interaction, or ten interactions in all. As the number of interactions increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to calculate the model estimates. Even for models having only a few ANOVA variables, the same problems may be experienced when there are many nominal or ordinal levels to one or more of the variables.
Analysis of variance in biological applications, for example, typically present vary large numbers of variables, making it extremely difficult, time consuming and costly to calculate results. Depending upon the characterizations of the variables, it may be practically impossible to apply current analysis of variable techniques and expect to achieve results because of the enormity of the calculations required. For example, in applications such as genomics, it is not atypical to be faced with data-analysis problems involving multiple categorical variables that can have tens of thousands of levels, such as gene names or probe designations, as just two examples of many. Interactions among such variables may produce tens of millions of data columns. Such columns for this example, however, tend to be sparse in that the variables mentioned can be represented as nominal variables. Large matrices of columns sparsely populated by data can typically be reduced to smaller matrices, especially when there is some pattern in the sparsely populated data columns that can be identified. The smaller matrices are much more computationally manageable, making analysis of variance techniques practically useable when only nominal variables are being considered.
However, when considering factors that reflect process conditions associated with processing the probes, these factors are represented by variables that are categorical (class) variables, such as ordinal or nominal and scaled variables with a continuum of levels, the data columns of which are typically non-sparse. The inclusion of non-sparse data columns into a matrix to be analyzed by least squares optimization makes it impossible to reduce the matrix size by any effective amount, leaving enormous numbers of calculations to be performed. Statistical analysis by well-known software products, such as JMP*SAS (http://www.jmp.com/) and SAS, for example, can take days to process such data due to limitations in memory and CPU speed on a typical computer running the software.
There is a continuing need for tools to characterize chemical arrays for quality control purposes, as well as for comparing results among arrays.

Metrics for characterizing chemical arrays based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) factors