A system provides for secure communication between an electrical utility company and an electricity customer, such that the customer is able to shed one or more loads in response to a load shed command from the utility company. A system server of the customer periodically connects to a utility server of the utility company using a standard computer protocol, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The system server sends a request message via the Internet to the utility server. The request message provides data on the total possible load, the present power consumption, and the present load shed state of the electricity customer. The utility server receives the request message and responds to the request message by transmitting to the system server a response message, which includes a load shed command.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a load control system comprising a plurality of load control devices for controlling the amount of power delivered to a plurality of electrical loads from an AC power source, and more particularly, to a lighting control system for shedding lighting loads in response to a command received via a network, such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reducing the total cost of electrical energy is an important goal for many electricity consumers. The customers of an electrical utility company are typically charged for the total amount of energy consumed during a billing period. However, since the electrical utility company must spend money to ensure that its equipment (e.g., an electrical substation) is able to provide energy in all situations, including peak demand periods, many electrical utility companies charge their electricity consumers at rates that are based on the peak power consumption during the billing period, rather than the average power consumption during the billing period. Thus, if an electricity consumer consumes power at a very high rate for only a short period of time, the electricity consumer will face a significant increase in its total power costs.
Therefore, many electricity consumers use a "load shedding" technique to closely monitor the amount of power presently being consumed by the electrical system. Additionally, the electricity consumers "shed loads", i.e., turn off some electrical loads, if the total power consumption nears a peak power billing threshold set by the electrical utility. Prior art electrical systems of electricity consumers have included power meters that measure the instantaneous total power being consumed by the system. Accordingly, a building manager of such an electrical system is able to visually monitor the total power being consumed. If the total power consumption nears a billing threshold, the building manager is able to turn off electrical loads to reduce the total power consumption of the electrical system.
Many electrical utility companies offer a "demand response" program to help reduce energy costs for their customers. With a demand response program, the electricity consumers agree to shed loads during peak demand periods in exchange for incentives, such as reduced billing rates or other means of compensation. For example, the electricity utility company may request that a participant in the demand response program shed loads during the afternoon hours of the summer months when demand for power is great. Some prior art lighting control systems have offered a load shedding capability in which the intensities of all lighting loads are reduced by a fixed percentage, e.g., by 25%, in response to an input provided to the system. The input may comprise an actuation of a button on a system keypad by a building manager. Such a lighting control system is described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,760, issued May 1, 2001, entitled FLUORESCENT LAMP DIMMER SYSTEM, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Electrical utility companies have sought, for many years, to encourage customers to shed load during periods of peak demand, but have been faced with many challenges. For example, the utility companies have had difficulty successfully communicating a command to shed load to the customers, for example, via radio-frequency (RF) signals or via a modem. Typically, the electrical utility companies do not have a direct means to know if the customer has actually reduced load, and thus, the electrical utility companies have not been able to monitor that the customer has actually shed loads. For example, when a radio signal is sent out, there is no way for the power company to tell if a specific customer has actually changed loads to reduce the power consumption. Further, the electrical utility companies have also had trouble ensuring that the communications with the customer are secure.
The fundamental problem with previous strategies for electronically communicating load shed commands from the electrical utility company to the customers has been that the communications (i.e., RF signals or transmissions via the Internet) with the customer have been initiated at the electrical utility company. In other words, the electrical utility company attempts to send a signal to a device inside the customer's premises to transmit a load shed command. Since the security of computer systems is a major concern of most commercial customers, most customers are wary providing access to their computer systems to outside vendors, such as the electrical utility company. If the electrical utility company can get through the firewall of a customer to turn the lights off, a computer hacker may also be able to get in.

Method of communicating a command for load shedding of a load control system


An electrophotographic photosensitive member containing a terphenoquinone derivative represented by the following formula (1):

The present disclosure relates to electrophotographic photosensitive members containing a specific terphenoquinone derivative and image forming apparatuses including an electrophotographic photosensitive member.
Organic photosensitive members and inorganic photosensitive members are known as electrophotographic photosensitive members to be included in image forming apparatuses. An organic photosensitive member contains a binder resin, a charge generating material, a hole transport material, and an electron transport material. An inorganic photosensitive member contains an inorganic material such as amorphous silicon. As compared with the inorganic photosensitive member, the organic photosensitive member is more easily produced and have higher degree of freedom in structural design as having more options for materials of the photosensitive member.
In order to form high-quality images using an image forming apparatus having an organic photosensitive member, there is a strong need for materials contained in the organic photosensitive member to have sufficient sensitivity characteristics.
However it is difficult for the electron transport material used in the organic photosensitive member, among the materials contained in the organic photosensitive member, to show sufficient sensitivity characteristics. It is therefore contemplated to obtain an electron transport material capable of sufficiently improving the sensitivity characteristics of the organic photosensitive member.

Electrophotographic photosensitive member and image forming apparatus

Abstract: wherein R1 to R5 may be the same or different and each represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an aryl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms and optionally having an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an aralkyl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, a cycloalkyl group having 3 to 10 carbon atoms, or an alkoxy group having 2 to 6 carbon atoms.


An elevator car for an elevator system includes a car door, a car door mechanism, at least one car door panel, a door drive motor, and a drive control device for the door drive motor. The car door mechanism thereby supports the car door panel. The drive control device includes an operator module having an operator panel, wherein the operator module is disposed on the elevator car so that the operator panel can be operated from the roof of the elevator car and through an opened shaft door from a building floor.

A method of regulating the opening and closing process of an elevator sliding door and an apparatus for performance thereof are known from DE 44 19 290 A1. In the known method for regulating the opening and closing process of the elevator sliding door the speed away of the door is regulated, wherein the operational state of the drive motor is constantly monitored by a microcontroller. A microcontroller unit in that case comprises apparatus for regulation by the microcontroller. Moreover, buttons are provided which serve for terminating a service operation or for triggering a measurement travel.
In the method known from DE 44 19 290 A1 and the apparatus used for performance thereof the microcontroller unit is poorly accessible. In particular, actuation of the mentioned buttons from the positions, which are usual for maintenance or repair of the door drive, of the maintenance person is hardly possible.

Drive regulating device arranged at elevator car door lintel


To carry out an automatic processing operation on radiographic images in mammography, it is shown that it is possible to correct the harmful effects of the linearity defect of the characteristic curve of sensitivity of the radiographic film used for this radiograph by making a statistical study of the noise in this image. It is shown that this statistical study enables the correction elements to be deduced directly using a top hat transformation. The processing is then independent of any prior knowledge that might be had of the sensitivity of the film or of the conditions in which the examined radiographs were acquired as well as subsequently developed.

1. Field of the Invention
An object of the invention is a method for the correction of the measurements of optical density made on a radiographic film. It can be applied, more particularly, to the field of medicine and, in this field it can be applied notably to mammography. The aim of the invention is to enable more reliable discrimination of small objects that can be characterized by their contrast, in also eliminating the disturbing effects due to the non-linearity of the characteristic curve of the sensitivity of the film.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mammographic examinations are known in medicine. These examinations seek to reveal the microcalcifications which occur within patients' breasts and which may reveal the presence of cancerous tumors. The microcalcifications are small-sized (25 micrometers to some millimeters) calceous formations. The high density of the microcalcifications as compared with the surrounding tissues may enable them to be shown on the photographs despite their small size. It is also known that breast cancer affections can be successfully treated on condition that the treatment is done as early as possible after the appearance of the first signs. It is therefore important to detect the presence of these microcalcifications even though they are hardly visible.
A method for the computer-aided detection of microcalcifications is known, in particular from an article by Heang-Ping CHAN et al, "Computer-Aided Detection of Microcalcifications in Mammograms, Methodology and Preliminary Clinical Study" in the journal Investigative Radiology, September 1988, vol. 22, pp. 664 to 671. In this method, a radiological image, revealed by a radiographic film, is digitized in a known way. Then, on the digital signal got from this digitization, processing operations including, in particular, operations for comparison with a threshold, are carried out in order to make a statistical determination of the presence of clusters of microcalcifications in this radiograph.
One of the essential problems to be resolved then arises out of the fact that the sensitivity of the radiographic film is not linear as a function of the exposure that it has received. This is the integral of the X-radiation received by this film over the time during which this film has been subjected to radiation. The film bears a signal of optical density. The optical density is the blackening, which is pronounced in varying degrees, present in the radiograph after the photographic development of the film. It can be roughly assumed that the sensitivity of the film has three regions. In the first region, the sensitivity is low: the coefficient of correspondence of the variations in difference of exposure received and the associated differences in optical density is low. This first region corresponds to low values of exposure. In a second region, where the values of exposure are higher, the coefficient of correspondence is higher. In a third region, where the exposure is even higher, the coefficient of correspondence is again low.
The difficulty created by this situation in mammography is that the breast is formed by different tissues having different coefficients of attenuation. The variations in optical density are related to the presence and to the proportion of these different tissues. In those parts where the attenuation is the highest, the X-radiation will be more absorbed than in the parts were it is lower. As a consequence, the exposure received by the film directly on the parts where the attenuation is low will be greater than the exposure received directly on the parts where the attenuation is high.
It has been shown that microcalcifications of identical sizes prompt a variation in the exposure of the film that is the same irrespectively of the place in which these microcalcifications are located in the breast. In other words, when measured in terms of exposure, or more precisely in terms of the logarithm of the exposure, these microcalcifications show identical contrasts. Thus, owing to this defect of linearity in the curve of sensitivity, the microcalcifications located in the parts with high or low attenuation will be, to put it schematically, revealed by variations in the signal of optical density on the film that will be relatively smaller than those relating to microcalcifications that are located in those parts of the breast having mean attenuation (and that correspond to the exposed parts in an intermediate way: i.e. with the greatest sensitivity of the film).
To resolve this problem it has been discovered, in the invention, that the curve of sensitivity of the film has to be established in such a way that each value of optical density measured on the radiograph must be assigned an equivalent value corresponding to the logarithm of the exposure. This is achieved by a corrective function. In practice, this corrective function is the reverse of the function characterized by the characteristic curve of sensitivity of the film. In this way, the effects of this non-linearity are removed. It is therefore necessary to read the characteristic curve of sensitivity of the film.
There is also a known method by which, after the mammographic examination, phantoms of known radiological densities are placed on the film. An additional printing of the film is done by means of an apparatus called a sensitograph. The exposure of the parts of the film at the position of these phantoms is then known. The optical density values of the film, when it has been subsequently developed, may be assessed. Using these assessments of optical density and this knowledge of the exposure at the position of the phantoms, it is possible to analyze the radiograph by comparison. However, this technique has the drawback of being cumbersome to implement and, in practice, it is not implemented. What happens essentially is an instinctive human visual correction, for the practitioner then works on a radiograph and not on a digitized image. When this technique is not implemented, the correction is obtained by the experience of previous studies carried out by the practitioner on films of the same grain, and the same theoretical sensitivity, that have been subjected to similar exposures or are supposed to have been developed in the same way. Furthermore, this technique is applicable only if the characteristics of the shooting and the characteristics of the radiograph itself are known. This technique, therefore, cannot be applied to a radiograph of unknown origin or a radiograph that has no traces of phantoms; and yet this radiograph may be one that has to be used because it was taken at an earlier period and needs to be examined in order to assess the prior presence of these microcalcifications.
In the article cited, since the authors were unable to isolate the microcalcifications by a comparison with a single contrast value on the entire radiograph, they made use of an adaptive thresholding method. This is a standard technique in image analysis. The method consists in relating the thresholding value at one point to the information contained in the geographical vicinity of this point. In this specific case, they condition the thresholding by the value of the mean square deviation on the original image or on the spatially filtered image (the technical description is ambiguous) in a window with a size of 51 pixels by 51 pixels, i.e. a 5.1 mm.times.5.1 mm window since their images are digitized at 100 micrometers by 100 micrometers per pixel. These authors present an approach that provides for more efficient thresholding but does not seek to correct the effect of the variation in sensitivity. The difference between their approach and that of the invention is important from this point of view. The drawback of the method of this article is that the background of the image plays too great a role in the correction.
In an improvement, the present invention is aimed at overcoming these drawbacks in proposing a different technique by which the slope of the characteristic curve of a radiographic film is truly obtained even, in this case, without having any special prior information on the type of film, its conditions of exposure or its conditions of development. No presence of phantoms is necessary, in principle, for the invention. It has been discovered, in the invention, that the noise present on the film could enable an estimation of the characteristic curve of sensitivity of the film which represents the transfer function between the luminance of the X-photons that have imprinted the film and the blackening of the film resulting from this imprinting. The noise constitutes an exploratory phenomenon, at every dot of the film, of the sensitivity of the film at the place where this phenomenon occurs. It therefore suffices to measure the revealing of this noise. The characteristic curve is deduced therefrom.
There is a known method, described in an article by G. T. Barnes and D. P. Chakraborty, "Radiographic Mottle and Patient Exposure in Mammography" in the journal Radiology, Vol. 145, No. 3, pages 815-821, December 1982, in which the characteristic curve is related in analytical form to the noise measured in the image. But the conclusion drawn therefrom is that the exposure of the apparatus to X-rays must be optimized. This is not possible when dealing with acquired radiographs. Above all, this does not teach us how to compute the characteristic curve itself but, on the contrary, assumes that it is known.

Method for the correction of the measurements of optical density made on a radiographic film


The present disclosure relates to the technical field of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction catalysts, and discloses a supported ε/ε′ iron carbide catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction, preparation method thereof and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, wherein the method comprises the following steps: (1) dipping a catalyst carrier in a ferric salt aqueous solution, drying and roasting the dipped carrier to obtain a catalyst precursor; (2) subjecting the catalyst precursor and H2 to a precursor reduction at the temperature of 300-550° C.; (3) pretreating the material obtained in the step (2) with H2 and CO at the temperature of 90-185° C., wherein the molar ratio of H2/CO is 1.2-2.8:1; (4) preparing carbide with the material obtained in the step (3), H2 and CO at the temperature of 200-300° C., wherein the molar ratio of H2/CO is 1.0-3.2:1. The preparation method has the advantages of simple and easily obtained raw materials, simple and convenient operation steps, being capable of preparing the catalyst with 100% pure phase ε/ε′ iron carbide as the active phase, the catalyst has lower selectivity of CO2 and CH4 and higher selectivity of effective products.

The structure of primal)/energy in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is characterized by rich coal and insufficient oil and gas, the degree of dependence on the imported petroleum in China has continuously rising along with the rapid economic development, which reaches 61% in 2015, thereby severely impact the energy safety in China. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can convert synthesis gas consisting of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid fuels and chemicals, it has emerged as an increasingly important energy conversion pathway in recent years. The indirect coal liquefaction technology based on Fischer-Tropsch synthesis may be used for realizing clean utilization of coal and partially alleviating the problem that the China heavily depends on the imported petroleum, the technology has become one of the preferred technologies for replacing petroleum with coal and clean utilization of coal in China. Due to the industrial efforts for years, the iron-based coal indirect liquefaction technical industrial demonstration project with a production capacity of 160,000 tons/year has put into operation in China; in addition, the iron-based coal indirect liquefaction plants with a production capacity of 1 million tons/year invested by Shandong Yankuang Group and other companies and the iron-based coal indirect liquefaction plants with a production capacity of 4 million tons/year invested by Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Co., Ltd. have put into pilot run.
The reaction formulas for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis are as follows:(2n+1)H2+nCO→CnH2n+2+nH2O  (1)2nH2+nCO→CnH2n+nH2O  (2)
Besides the final products alkanes and alkenes, the industrial Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can also produce the by-products carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction has a complex mechanism and numerous steps, such as CO dissociation, carbon (C) hydrogenation, CHx chain growth, and the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions which result in the desorption of hydrocarbon products and the removal of oxygen (O). From the viewpoint of practical application, the main purpose of improving the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst is to increase selectivity of the target products, reduce selectivity of the byproducts, enhance stability of the catalyst and prolong service life of the catalyst.
Iron is the cheapest transition metal used in the manufacture of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysts. The active phase of iron-based Fischer-Tropsch catalysts is generally considered to be iron carbide. The traditional iron-based catalyst has high activity of water gas conversion (CO+H2O→CO2+H2), so the traditional iron-based catalyst usually has high selectivity of a byproduct CO2, which generally accounts for 25%-45% of the conversion raw material carbon monoxide. This is one of the major disadvantages of iron-based catalysts for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction.
It is difficult to synthesize the pure phase of iron carbide, which is the active phase of the iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst. The active phase of the iron-based catalyst has very complicated variation, it causes considerable debates on the nature of the active phase and the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction mechanism of the iron-based catalyst. The different carbides have been observed under the Fischer-Tropsch reaction conditions, including ε-Fe2C, ε-Fe2.2C, Fe7C3, χ-Fe5C2 and θ-Fe3C. The article "Stability and reactivity of ε-χ-θ iron carbide catalyst phases in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: Controlling μC" published on the top-level Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) in 2010 provides a systematic calculation and experiment of the conditions for generating the various iron carbides, as shown FIG. 1, the occurrence of phase transition of iron carbides (ε-χ-θ phase transition) depends on the temperature and the H2/CO ratio. Specifically, high temperature low carbon chemical potential (μC), i.e., high H2/CO ratio, generally results in preferential formation of iron carbide θ-Fe3C; conversely, the high μC (low H2/CO ratio) and moderate temperature (˜250° C.) are conducive to formation of iron carbide χ-Fe5C2; the ε-carbide is preferentially formed at lower temperatures, and higher carbon chemical potential μC.
Its main viewpoint is as shown in FIG. 1, the article adopts Fe2O3 as an initiative precursor, a series of experiments are carried out in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction atmosphere, and the phase change of the product is tested by the X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and the synchrotron radiation in-situ X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy (XAS). At a higher carbon chemical potential μC, the ε/ε′ iron carbide needs to be generated and stably existed at a mild condition of ˜200° C., and when the temperature is close to 250° C., the ε/ε′ iron carbide is converted into χ-Fe5C2 which has a thermodynamic stability. In the industrial Fischer-Tropsch synthesis production, the iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis temperature is within a range of 235-265° C., in order to increase the saturated vapor pressure of the byproduct steam, obtain high-quality steam and improve the economic benefit. In other words, the authoritative article indicates that the ε/ε′ iron carbide is unstable at a temperature above 200° C., thus cannot be used as a catalyst suitable for the modern Fischer-Tropsch synthesis industry.
The article "Metal organic framework-mediated synthesis of highly active and stable Fischer-Tropsch catalysts" published in 2015 on Nature communication, a subsidiary of the top-level Journal Nature, provides an attempt of synthesizing the carbides, and successfully synthesizes χ-Fe5C2, which is a catalyst that can be used at the industrial temperatures of modern Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, however; its CO2 selectivity is as high as 46%, which means that its theoretically maximum CO utilization efficiency is only 54%, the production efficiency is relatively low.
CN104399501A discloses a method for preparing ε-Fe2C nanoparticles suitable for low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction. The initial precursor is a skeleton iron material, and the reaction system is intermittent discontinuous reaction of polyethylene glycol solvent. The catalyst has a CO2 selectivity of 18.9% and a CH4 selectivity of 17.3%. Its disadvantages are that the preparation method can only be applied at a low temperature less than 200° C., and the reaction cannot be continuously performed. It means that the catalyst is not suitable for continuous production under modern Fischer-Tropsch synthesis industrial conditions.
Among the aforementioned technologies, each has the problems such as complicated preparation process, expensive raw materials, poor catalyst stability, and excessively high selectivity of by-product CO2 or CH4.

Supported ε/ε′ iron carbide catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction, preparation method thereof and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process

CHINA ENERGY INVESTMENT CORPORATION LIMITED

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CLEAN-AND-LOW-CARBON ENERGY


The disclosure relates to a thermoform packaging machine for stretching a film web as well as to a method of operating a thermoform packaging machine, in the case of which a stretching station with a heating unit is provided, and the film web is actively cooled by means of a film cooling device after stretching of the film web.

EP 1 620 317 B1 discloses a thermoform packaging machine comprising a stretching device for stretching a cover film so as to position the printed cover film very exactly on top of a packaging trough. A photocell detects here, by means of a print mark on the cover film, the position of the print image relative to the forward feed and, consequently, the packaging trough. The print image is normally undersized and it is stretched in that a clamping bar clamps the flexible cover film a short time before the forward feed movement ends, the remainder of the forward feed movement then stretching the cover film. In addition, the clamping bar can be displaced in a direction opposite to the direction of feed so as to stretch the cover film until the desired dimension has been reached. In so doing, the tensioned cover film is sealed onto a trough which is implemented such that it is able to counteract the tension of the cover film so that an optically pleasing package can be obtained.
In addition, stretching units are known in which the cover film is heated by a heating plate in the area in which stretching takes place. Stretching of this area of the film is made possible by heat input. Especially films/foils of larger thicknesses, in particular hard films whose thickness exceeds 200 μm, necessitate a heat input so as to allow stretching of the film in the elastic-plastic range. During the subsequent forward feed movements of the cover film, an uncontrolled stretching behavior will occur up to a sealing station due to the non-uniform heat distribution in the cover film, the high accelerations when the forward feed movement is started and the deflections at the deflection pulleys. Especially when the cover film has to travel a comparatively long distance until it reaches the sealing station, this uncontrolled stretching behavior will lead to frequent readjustments and large tolerances as regards the positioning and the size of the print image relative to the packaging trough. The reason for this is also an uncontrolled shrinkage of the film web due to the areas of different temperatures existing in the cover film.
The stretched length of the heated film area results, after cooling down up to the sealing station, in an elongation of less than one percent of the print image. Therefore, the film supplier has to observe narrow tolerances with respect to the length and the position of the print image.

Thermoform packaging machine and method for stretching a film web

MULTIVAC SEPP HAGGENMUELLER GMBH & CO. KG


An electrical receptacle includes a front cover having a rib and a protrusion connected thereto, a back housing secured to the front cover and a tamper resistant assembly disposed between the front cover and the back housing. The tamper resistant assembly includes a slide pad member, first and second shutter members, a first spring disposed between and biasing the first and second shutter members toward closed positions thereof, and a second spring disposed between and biasing the first shutter member away from the front cover. The slide pad member is connected to the back housing. The first shutter member is slidably disposed on the slide pad member and has first and second arms extending from a first cam surface. A second shutter member is slidably disposed on the slide pad member and has a blocking body connected to a second cam surface. The first and second shutter members are movable between open and closed positions.

A group of electrical receptacles is referred to as "protective" receptacles because some measure has been taken in the construction to protect children and others from harm if they should intentionally or inadvertently insert or attempt to insert an electrically conductive article into the electrically energized portions of the receptacle. Conventional electrical receptacles have a nonconductive face portion with openings to receive plug blades. In normal use, the blades pass through the nonconductive space and are received by conductive female elements that are connected to line voltage. A child inserting, for example, a paper clip or the conductive portion of a toy into the energized conductive elements can be seriously injured.
To avoid this danger, "shuttered" receptacles resist insertion and electrical connection of anything other than the two blades of an appropriate plug by elements provided between the faceplate and the conductive elements. The electrical energization of internal components is not controlled; rather, access to those conductive elements is prevented except under a defined set of circumstances.
An example of a shuttered receptacle is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,607 to Bowden, Jr. (the Bowden '607 patent), the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference. The Bowden '607 patent discloses two identical slideable shutter members 56 provided behind the slots 70 in the cover 54 and in front of the terminals 68 within the receptacle base 52, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 7. Each of the two identical shutter members has a cam surface 108 and a blocking portion 106. The cam surfaces 108 are positioned so that each one is contacted by a blade and is caused to move so that its blocking portion unblocks the slot for the other blade. Thus, when the two blades are concurrently inserted, they act against the two cam surfaces and unblock each other's passageways.
While this structure appears to be quite suitable for its intended purpose, and while it does have the advantage of permitting the use of shuttering in a grounded plug and receptacle, the design is such that it can only be used with plugs having parallel blades, such as type 1-15 P and 5-15 P.
As is well known, however, plugs and receptacles used in the home as well as in offices and other circumstances at the present time include configurations, such as 20 amp plugs, in which the plug blades are perpendicular to each other rather than being parallel (as in 15 amp plugs). Electrical receptacles are generally configured to be able to receive both 15 and 20 amp plugs. The slideable shutter members of the Bowden '607 patent do not provide tamper resistance for an electrical receptacle adapted to receive both 15 and 20 amp plugs.
Thus, there is a continuing need to provide improved tamper resistant assemblies for electrical receptacles adapted to receive both 15 and 20 amp plugs.

Tamper resistant assembly for an electrical receptacle


A bio-sensing system comprises a light source, a bio-sensing apparatus, a detecting platform, and a processing unit. A bio-sensing apparatus further comprising a substrate, a sample with at least one analyte, at least one grating bound on the substrate for diffracting a light beam in a reflection mode and outputting at least one output light beam, a plurality of nanoparticles being bound on one side of the grating, a molecular recognition unit bound on said nanoparticle surface, and a cover plate covering the nanoparticle-modified side of the substrate. The detecting platform receives a signal while the at least one output light beam passing through the bio-sensing apparatus. The processing unit couples with the detecting platform for receiving and analyzing the signal. Wherein when the analyte passes through the microfludic channel to contact with said nanoparticles, the at least one output light beam changes in accordance with the refractive index of the sample or in accordance with the interaction of the analyte with said molecular recognition unit bound on said nanoparticle surface.

Since surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy is in widespread use for probing interfacial phenomena according to measurement of minute changes in charge density wave of free electrons within a metal film, the experimental configuration for SPR sensing can be applied to a thin noble metal film and the flat surface of a prism in which polarized light of a single wavelength is introduced at an angle, so that internal reflectance is achieved. It plays an important role of probing interaction between molecules and also provides label-free bio-sensing for probing the affinity between biological molecules. However, a standard SPR biosensor is designed according to the measurement and recording of the reflected light, and a shift in the angle of the incident beam corresponding to optimal surface plasmon coupled with the metal film is generated. Consequently, the foregoing optical setup is expensive, inconvenience and difficult to be miniaturized.


A developer amount restricting member for restricting the amount of developer on a developer bearing member has: (a) an elastic member urged toward the developer bearing member; and (b) a supporting member supporting the elastic member, wherein, when the transverse end portion of the supporting member is supported, the longitudinal end portions of the elastic member warp toward the supporting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing device used for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image bearing member of an image forming apparatus, and to a developer amount restricting member for restricting an amount of developer on a developer bearing member.
2. Related Background Art
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, an electrostatic latent image formed on an image bearing member is visualized by developing the latent image with using developer in a developing device.
As shown in FIG. 4, in this developing device, a developing sleeve 103, as a developer bearing member, rotating in the direction shown by the arrow bears on its surface toner (developer), not shown in the figure, and conveys the toner to a developing portion opposite to an image bearing member, and on the way to the developing portion the toner is made to pass between the developing sleeve 103 and a rubber or metallic blade for restricting the amount of developer (a developing blade) 104 which is in contact with the surface of the developing sleeve 103 so that the amount of the toner to be conveyed will be restricted, thus a thin layer of the toner is formed on the developing sleeve 103 and the toner is imparted with a triboelectric charge (triboelectricity) suitable for developing a latent image.
For a rubber developing blade 104, a simple rubber sheet of, for example, polyurethane rubber is sometimes used, but often used is the type in which a rubber sheet 104b as a triboelectricity charging member is supported by a metalic supporting member 104a.
In recent years it has been an important problem to improve the performance of a developing blade, such as triboelectrifying property and toner fusing preventive property, so as to deal with various types of toner including the latest one.
Recently there appear various types of toner, such as a low meltpoint toner (a sharp melt toner) which is provided with a property to fix at a lower temperature than a conventional one in terms of saving energy, toner (non-magnetic toner) which is provided with no magnetism to keep up with coloration of printing, or polymer toner.
These types of toner are required to exhibit an especially high triboelectrifying property. For example, increasing the contact pressure of the developing blade 104 against the developing sleeve 103 ensures a requisite triboelectrifying property.
An increased contact pressure, however, makes it easier for toner to adhere to the surface of the developing blade 104, which leads to formation of deposit of toner especially at the end portions of the developing blade, and hence a remarkable occurrence of toner fusing. Occurrence of toner fusing on the surface of the developing blade leads to a reduction in triboelectrifying property of the developing blade, and hence an insufficiently charged toner, which may present a threat of leakage of toner from the developing device, resulting in contamination of not only the inside of the developing device but the whole inside of the image forming apparatus.
One possible way to solve this problem might be to use a surface material which exhibits sufficient triboelectrifying property even under a light contact pressure; for example, for negative toner, it would be better to use nylon-based resins, which tends to be charged positively in itself, for a triboelectrifying member 104b. However, use of a developing blade whose surface material is high in flatness creates a difference in contact pressure between its longitudinal central portions and end portions. This limits the selection of a developing blade which can realize the contact pressure under which a good triboelectrifying property is obtained. Thus great accuracy is required in setting up a developing blade etc., which may cause an increase in manufacturing cost of not only a developing device but of an image forming apparatus.

Developer amount restricting member and developing device


A dissolvable tip 20 or 40 for a colon hydrotherapy speculum system 100 that replaces the function of an obturator. The dissolvable tip 20 or 40 is made of a body of dissolvable material wherein a surface of the tip 20 or 40 is inserted and snugly fit into an inserting end 17 of a speculum 10 while another surface of the tip 20 or 40 with the speculum 10 is inserted into the anal, rectal, or colon canal 91 of a patient 90. The dissolvable tip 20 or 40 is held at the inserting end 17 of the speculum 10. One embodiment of the present invention discloses the dissolvable tip 20 as a pill shaped and egg shaped tip. Another embodiment of the present invention discloses the dissolvable tip 40 as similar in shape to dissolvable tip 20, but the dissolvable tip 40 further has a circumferential bulge 44 in its body wherein the circumferential bulge 44 has an edge that contacts the perimeter of the inserting end 17 of speculum 10 to allow a further snug attachment between the dissolvable tip 40 and the speculum 10. The colon hydrotherapy machine 130 of system 100 allows inlet washing fluid to flow from the machine 130 through the hose 110 and speculum 10 and to the tip 20 or 40 so that the tip 20 or 40 dissolves into the patient and inlet washing fluid flows into a colon area of the patient that is to be cleaned. Outlet fluid is able to flow from the colon area, through outlet end 18 of speculum 10, and through outlet hose 120. The material used to make the dissolvable tip 20 or 40 can have the further properties or characteristics of a deodorizer or a disinfectant or can function as a laxative or a type of medicine that helps the colon or rectal area of a patient 90. Tips 20 and 40 can also be made to be a natural product (i.e. made of herbs and other such components) that can be easily dissolved within the patient without any serious risks or hazards to the patient.

1. Fields of Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device used with a colon hydrotherapy speculum system, and, more particularly, relates to a dissolvable tip that is used with the speculum of a colon hydrotherapy system that provides colonic lavage.
2. Discussion Of Background And Prior Art
A number of people have difficulty with their bowel movements or do not have the ability to voluntarily evacuate their bowels (i.e. especially the elderly and the handicapped). Other people suffer from colitis or other related colon, rectal, or bowel ailments or diseases, which require ravaging or washing of the lower intestinal tract (i.e. the colon or rectal areas). In these cases, the people have to regularly use an enema, manually remove the fecal matter, or use a colonic irrigation or lavaging system.
The problems with colonic irrigation or lavaging systems are that the insertion of the nozzles or speculum of these devices can be very uncomfortable, unsanitary (i.e. including but not limited to fecal matter involuntarily excreting from the patient), and the lavage fluid motion produced by these systems may not be effective in loosening up and purging the fecal matter. In order to facilitate insertion of the speculum in the patient's rectal or anal canal and alleviate some of the discomfort, an obturator is used in conjunction with the speculum. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a prior art speculum 10 and an obturator 25. The speculum 10 has a main tubular portion 15 having a hollow interior 19, a small inlet tube 16 intersecting the main tubular portion 15 so that inlet fluids can be introduced into the speculum an inlet end 17, and an outlet end 18. The obturator 25 has an elongated rod 26, a rounded tapered end 27, and a small handle portion 28.
The obturator 25 is inserted through an end 18 of the speculum 10, through hollow interior 19 to extend through the end 17. The rounded tapered end 27 facilitates insertion of the speculum 10 into the patient's rectum or colon area (i.e. via the anal canal). After the speculum 10 is inserted, the obturator 25 is then removed from the speculum 10 by using the small handle portion 28. Other examples of typical rectal assembly for use with a colonic lavaging machine that include a speculum and an obturator are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,536 to Hawks and U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,363 to Abell.
One problem with the prior art speculum 10 and obturator 25 is that the concentric tube structure and the non-typical shaped obturator structure makes the speculum 10 and obturator 25 more difficult and expensive to manufacture (i.e. usually plastic which requires an injection molding process). Another main problem with the prior art speculum 10 and obturator 25 is that the inlet hose or conduit 110 is attached to the small inlet tube 16 and the outlet hose or conduit 120 is attached to the outlet end 18 after the speculum 10 is inserted and the obturator 25 is removed. The attachment of these hoses or conduits 110 and 120 can be painfill to the patient since the inserting end 17 of speculum 10 can move or slip within the patient's rectum or colon area when the hoses or conduits 110 and 120 are being attached.
A further problem is that after the obturator 25 is removed from the speculum 10 and before the hoses or conduits 110 and 120 are attached, the patient could involuntary excrete fecal matter through the openings and hollow of the speculum 10 (i.e. creating a mess and unsanitary situation). A still further problem that exists with obturators is that they are typically disposed after they are used one time. Since obturators are made of plastic, they can pose an environmental hazard or problem (i.e. they are not biodegradable).
Lubricants or jells have been used to aid the insertion of devices through the rectum or anal canal area. U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,485 to Davis, Jr. ("Davis") discloses a device for insertion through the anus into the upper rectum for the purpose of wiping the walls of the rectum clean of feces and stopping and retaining feces hi the colon and rectum at a distance from the anus. The invention is a preformed fiber device that is shaped for insertion through the anus into the upper rectum. The device is inserted through the anus and up through the rectum with a coating of non-irritating lubricant applied to the wiper plug. The lubricant should preferably be an organic, inert, water soluble jell, but other suitable lubricants may be used.
Other prior art patents disclose colon cleaning systems and methods that introduce enema solution (i.e. preferably with a laxative) into the colon through the anal opening via a suitable tube held in the rectum by an inflated bladder or balloon. The balloon and tube is secured to the patient (i.e. via the anus and to the rectum/colon). U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,982 to Clayton, U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,655 to Clayton, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,583 to Majlessi provide examples of such devices. However, these bladder or balloon devices require regulation of the pressure to the bladder or balloon, and they have the problem of the possibility of injury occurring to the patient if the pressure is not regulated properly.
A tip that dissolves in a person used in conjunction with a catheter appears to have been taught. U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,138 to Chevalier et al. ("Chevalier") discloses a catheter having such a dissolvable tip. The catheter includes a flexible tubular member that has an inner lumen and a rigid solid tip disposed at the end of the inner lumen. The tip (i.e. cone shaped) is formed of a material that is slippery when wet, soluble in the bodily fluids and capable of absorbing radiographic fluids that are injected into the inner lumen for identification of the location of X-rays. The solid tip is preferably formed of a water soluble polymer such as polyvinyl alcohol although alternatives are available such as polyethylene oxide, polyethylene glycol, polyacrylamides, polyvinyl pyrolidone, polyacrylic and the like. A narrow passageway is disposed in the tip and extends from the inner lumen to the distal end of the tip. The passageway is adapted to receive a guide wire for insertion of the catheter into an internal organ.
Presently, there does not exist in the prior art or on the market a dissolvable tip that is used in aiding the insertion of a speculum into the anus or rectum/colon area of a patient which is used in conjunction with a colon hydrotherapy speculum system. Therefore, an apparatus and method that is cost effective, environmentally safe and produces no waste hazard or problems, and would allow easy and less painful inserting of a speculum into the rectum or colon area of a person or animal are needed and desired. Also, a dissolvable tip for a colon hydrotherapy speculum system that is used and dissolved entirely within the colon and rectal area of the patient presently does not exist. Furthermore, an apparatus and method of inserting a speculum into the rectum or colon area of a person that is more sanitary (i.e. prevents fecal matter from involuntary excreting when the speculum is inserted) and further helps loosen or break up fecal matter in the colon or rectal area prior to lavaging or washing are also needed and desired.
Additionally, a dissolvable tip for a colon hydrotherapy speculum system that comprises dissolvable material that can deodorize, disinfect, functions as a laxative, or function as a medicine also does not exist. It is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems and limitations of the prior art that have been discussed. It is also another object of the present invention to be able to apply the principles and advantages of this invention to other related applications (i.e. including but not limited to animals).

Dissolvable tip for a colon hydrotherapy speculum system and method of manufacture and use thereof


A device and method used for cold waving and straightening hair. The cold waving device helps create a natural sheen on the hair. The cold waving hair device includes a plurality of different size clear plastic hollow rods. The hollow rods have a smooth and soft outer circumference for receiving rolled hair thereon. The different size rods receive a standard hair roller therein. Each roller includes a hair engaging line which is received along the length of the rod. The hair engaging line includes an end cap for inserting into an end cap hole in the roller. The line is used for holding the rolled hair in place against the side and length of the outer circumference of the rod. The cold waving hair device also includes plastic end wraps with a plurality of holes therein. Each end wrap is used for engaging the hair ends and wrapping the hair around the smooth outer circumference of the rod. The end wrap is used for receiving a wave solution for saturating and relaxing the hair on the different size smooth rods. After the wave solution is applied and allowed to set, the hair is then neutralized and removed from the rods and end wraps. The hair is groomed to a styled smooth and silky finish.

(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for straightening hair and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a device and method of cold waving or permanent waving hair.
(b) Discussion of Prior Art
Today""s procedures for permanent waving hair and straightening hair creates several problems, such as hair burning and hair breaking, which can cause lasting damage to the hair. While the damage can be minimized in appearance by using hair products like conditioners, sheen and oils, over a period of time the damage becomes more and more difficult to correct. The subject invention described herein eliminates the initial damage caused by present day hair waving and hair straightening procedures.
Heretofore, there have been a variety of different hair roller and curling devices. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,156 to Thompson, a hair roller is disclosed with a permanent and reusable plastic sheet or film. A portion of the plastic sheet is attached to the roller. A remaining portion of the sheet is used to receive hair strands thereon as the sheet is rolled on the roller. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,441 to Hanson, a permanent wave rod or roller is shown wherein the rod is made of a wettable rigid polymeric material. The rod is used with an end paper. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,085 to Schopieray et al., another permanent wave rod is described having a hard plastic core with a soft rubber sleeve having grooves for receiving a permanent wave solution.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,132 to Bustance et al., a treated end wrap is described. The end wrap is laminated for use in permanent hair waving. The laminated end wrap includes an exterior sheet of impermeable plastic and an interior sheet of an absorbent flexible paper. The paper is impregnated with a hair waving solution. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,428 to Greene, a method and apparatus for treating hair is disclosed using paper sheets coated with a protein. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,335 to Lycett a hair curler system is described having a selected length of flexible tubing with one or more flare members. The system is used for creating different lengths and diameters of hair curls.
None of the above mentioned prior art patents specifically disclose the unique features, structure and function of the subject cold waving device for waving healthier looking hair with more natural sheen.
A primary object of the subject invention is to provide a device and method for cold waving and straightening hair which heretofore caused lasting damage to hair,
Another object of the cold waving hair device is the invention has the ability to cold wave bleached hair and straighten hair that heretofore could not be cold waved or treated chemically using current hair grooming procedures.
Still another object of the hair treating device is to greatly improve the natural sheen and healthy look of the hair upon completing the method of cold waving and straightening the hair. The device includes smooth surface rods for rolling the hair around the outer circumference of the rods. The rods provide a smooth and silky surface, when wrapping the hair thereon.
Yet another object of the device is to hold down the ends of the hair with plastic end wraps. The end wraps hold moisture on the hair and help create a natural sheen on the hair. This key feature minimizes the possibility of xe2x80x9chair burningxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9chair breakingxe2x80x9d and with decreased xe2x80x9cfrizzingxe2x80x9d of the hair.
A further object of the invention is the use of different size smooth rods for reshaping the hair. Also, the different size rods are used for rearranging very curly hair to form a large permanent curl. The rods eliminate the need for oil or curl activator maintenance. Further, the rods allow a beautician to see if the hair ends are straight and smooth.
The cold waving hair device includes a plurality of different size clear plastic hollow rods, The hollow rods have a smooth and soft outer circumference for receiving rolled hair thereon. The different size rods receive a standard hair roller therein. Each roller includes a hair engaging line which is received along the length of the rod. The hair engaging line includes an end cap for inserting into an end cap hole in the roller. The line is used for holding the rolled hair in place against the side and length of the outer circumference of the rod. The cold waving hair device also includes plastic end wraps with a plurality of holes therein. Each end wrap is used for engaging the hair ends and wrapping the hair around the smooth outer circumference of the rod. The end wrap is used for receiving a wave solution for saturating and relaxing the hair on the different size smooth rods. The hair is then neutralized and removed from the rods and end wraps. After the wave solution is applied and allowed to set, the hair is groomed to a styled smooth and silky finish.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those familiar with various types of hair curling and straightening device and methods of cold waving hair when reviewing the following detailed description, showing novel construction, combination, and elements as herein described, and more particularly defined by the claims, it being understood that changes in the embodiments to the herein disclosed invention are meant to be included as coming within the scope of the claims, except insofar as they may be precluded by the prior art.

Device for cold waving hair for increased sheen and healthier hair


Various embodiments are directed to an electrosurgical systems and methods for providing an electrosurgical signal to a patient. An electrosurgical signal defining a plurality of pulses may be provided to first and second electrodes. A first reading may be received indicating an impedance between the first and second electrodes taken at a first point of a first pulse of the electrosurgical signal. A second reading may indicate the impedance a first point of a second pulse of the electrosurgical signal, where the first point of the first pulse and the first point of the second pulse are at equivalent positions within the first and second pulses. Based on a comparison of the first reading and the second reading, a short circuit may be determined and a signal indicating the short circuit may be generated.

Electrosurgical instruments are a type of surgical instrument used in many surgical operations. Electrosurgical instruments apply electrical energy to tissue in order to treat tissue. An electrosurgical instrument may comprise an instrument having a distally-mounted end effector comprising one or more electrodes. The end effector can be positioned against tissue such that electrical current is introduced into the tissue. Electrosurgical instruments can be configured for bipolar or monopolar operation. During bipolar operation, current is introduced into and returned from the tissue by active and return electrodes, respectively, of the end effector. During monopolar operation, current is introduced into the tissue by an active (or source) electrode of the end effector and returned through a return electrode (e.g., a grounding pad) separately located on a patient's body. Heat generated by the current flow through the tissue may form hemostatic seals within the tissue and/or between tissues and thus may be particularly useful for sealing blood vessels, for example. The end effector of an electrosurgical instrument sometimes also comprises a cutting member that is moveable relative to the tissue and the electrodes to transect the tissue.
Electrical energy applied by an electrosurgical instrument can be transmitted to the instrument by a generator. The generator may form an electrosurgical signal that is applied to an electrode or electrodes of the electrosurgical instrument. The generator may be external or integral to the electrosurgical instrument. The electrosurgical signal may be in the form of radio frequency ("RF") energy. For example, RF energy may be provided at a frequency range of between 100 kHz and 1 MHz. During operation, an electrosurgical instrument can transmit RF energy through tissue, which causes ionic agitation, or friction, in effect resistive heating, thereby increasing the temperature of the tissue. Because a sharp boundary may be created between the affected tissue and the surrounding tissue, surgeons can operate with a high level of precision and control, without sacrificing un-targeted adjacent tissue. The low operating temperatures of RF energy may be useful for removing, shrinking, or sculpting soft tissue while simultaneously sealing blood vessels. RF energy may work particularly well on connective tissue, which is primarily comprised of collagen and shrinks when contacted by heat.
Short circuits are a recurrent problem for electrosurgical instruments. For example, if a conductive clip, staple or other non-tissue conductive object is present between the electrodes of an electrosurgical instrument and touching both polarities simultaneously, electrosurgical energy can be shunted through the conductive object. Additionally, in the case of bipolar forceps, the electrodes can touch each other during normal usage. This contact shunts electrical energy away from the tissue and the surgeon has to open the forceps and re-grasp the tissue. This can result in several undesirable outcomes including, for example, incomplete tissue effect, excessive heating of the conductive object, a delay of the surgery, clinician inconvenience or frustration, etc. Existing methods for coping with short circuits utilize the generator or other suitable component to determine when the impedance between the electrodes falls below a threshold value, for example, for a threshold amount of time. When such an impedance drop is detected, the generator alerts the clinician, who can then reposition the electrodes and/or remove the conducting object. Existing methods, however, suffer when tissue impedance itself drops during treatment. For example, during electrosurgical treatment, localized tissue impedance can often fall as low as just a few ohms. Existing methods are often inadequate for distinguishing between short circuits and normally occurring low tissue impedance.

Detecting short circuits in electrosurgical medical devices


The method calls for introducing an inert gas into a tank where a high frequency energy source is applied to internal electrodes for the ignition of a plasma within the tank. The sensor surface is cleaned by sputtering away impurities from the sensor surface by means of plasma particles striking the sensor surface. Next, a monomer containing silicon and a reactive gas are introduced into the tank with continuous throttling of the inert gas feed and maintenance of the plasma, while the electric power characteristics fed into the plasma are being controlled. This leads to the deposition on the sensor surface of a compound composed of particles from the monomer containing silicon and from the reactive gas.

The invention relates to a method for the electrical and mechanical surface passivation of sensors, e.g., semiconductor sensors, using a vacuum apparatus having a tank provided with connections for gas inlet and outlet lines, an anode and a cathode over which a substrate holding device is mounted for the purpose of coating the sensor with a layer of material by the CVD process, with plasma enhanced deposition, and provided with an apparatus for the measurement and control of the parameters governing the sputtering process, such as gas flow, pressure, and the electrical power input into the plasma. During the manufacture of electronic components such as sensors, for example, especially semiconductor sensors, microchip components and other highly integrated components to name but a few, it is necessary to protect the outer surface of the body of the component both against external influences and internal short-circuits. Because of the highly detailed, fine grain structure of micromechanical semiconductor sensors, as in the case of pressure sensors, the application of conductors on the sensor surfaces calls for electrically insulating intermediate layers for the prevention of electrical short-circuits to the basic substrate of the sensor. Also in the case of telemetering components exposed to a chemically aggressive atmosphere it is necessary to provide a protective coating to the component so as to improve its stability and resistance to a corrosive environment.
Existing classical coating methods, such as thermal vapor deposition or the sputtering of certain substances, has been used for the purpose of applying such protective and insulating coatings to the base substrate. Disadvantages are high working temperatures which make it impossible to coat heat-sensitive substrate, and the fact that the coating parameters, such as hardness, density, electrical properties, refractive index and the composition of the coating, can be controlled only to a limited extent.
For the low-cost production of coatings on such substrate in large numbers, there is also a need for a simple process under stable conditions to achieve the desired results.
The invention is addressed to the problem of devising a method for the electrical and mechanical surface passivation of sensors, such as semiconductor sensors, using a vacuum apparatus, such that the protective coatings that can be produced by the method of the invention can be created with high stability and repeatability, as well as with high rates of deposition, on a large industrial scale. Furthermore, the coatings are to have a controllable high density, low surface roughness, high strengths of adhesion and great resistance to corrosion. Furthermore, the working materials involved in the coating process are to be inexpensive and have environmentally acceptable properties.

Method for the surface passivation of sensors using an in situ sputter cleaning step prior to passivation film deposition


The system stores a storage address ADK1 of a page table element PEK1 that was being processed when a bus reset occurred, of page table elements of a page table specified by an ORB1. The system then reads out a storage address ADK2 of a page table element PEK2 having the same element number as PEK1, of page table elements of an ORB2 after the bus reset occurs, and restarts data transfer when ADK1 and ADK2 are the same. When the page table is absent, addresses DAD1 and DAD2 that are specified directly by the ORB1 and the ORB2 are compared. When data transfer is not be restarted but a command CMD1 of the ORB1 has already been issued to a device, the CMD1 is aborted.

The present invention relates to a data transfer control system, an electronic instrument and a data transfer control method.
An interface standard called IEEE 1394 has recently attracted a great deal of attention. Under this IEEE 1394, a bus reset occurs if an electronic instrument is connected anew to the bus, an electronic instrument is removed from the bus, or the number of nodes connected to the bus changes. When a bus reset occurs, the node topology information is cleared and then the topology information is automatically reset. Since this makes it possible to use hot-plugging of the cable in a hot state, it enables general users to freely plug in and remove the cable to the electronic instrument, in the same way as ordinary domestic electric products such as VCRs.
However, various problems are caused by the occurrence of such bus resets. Examples of prior-art techniques of solving these problems are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-177537 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-177536.
Even the above-mentioned prior-art techniques, however, might not be able to guarantee normal operation during a bus reset, depending on the specifications of operating systems (OSs) and application programs that will be on the market in the future.
If a direct memory access (DMA) transfer is started by the execution of a command to a hard disk drive (generally speaking: a storage device; more generally speaking: a device) and subsequently a bus reset occurs during the DMA transfer, by way of example, problems might occur, such as a hang-up of the hard disk drive.

Data transfer control system, electronic instrument, and data transfer control method


A new Calibrachoa plant named ‘KLECA08178’ particularly distinguished by dark blue flowers, very good branching, and a mounding and trailing growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa, botanically known as Calibrachoa hybrid and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'KLECA08178'. The new cultivar originated from a hybridization made in Summer 2005 in Stuttgart, Germany. The female parent was the proprietary Calibrachoa plant 'X 117' (unpatented), while the male parent was the proprietary Calibrachoa plant 'CA050580' (unpatented).
The new cultivar was first propagated in May 2006 by vegetative cuttings in Stuttgart, Germany and has been asexually reproduced by vegetative cuttings in Stuttgart, Germany over a two and one-half year period. The present invention has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar have been applied for in Switzerland on Aug. 5, 2008 and in Canada on Jan. 31, 2008. 'KLECA08178' has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing date of this application.


A receiving apparatus comprises a first waveform degradation compensating unit, a second waveform degradation compensating unit, a received waveform measuring unit for measuring waveform data on a received signal, a control unit for controlling compensation characteristics of the first and second waveform degradation compensating units to minimize a difference between frequency data obtained by converting the obtained received waveform data into a frequency domain and frequency data on a reference waveform free from waveform degradation, and time-constant generating units for making a difference in compensation characteristic control speed between the first and second waveform degradation compensating units. This realizes high-accuracy compensation for waveform degradation of a received signal stemming from chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion or the like without employing a dispersion compensation fiber or a polarization maintaining fiber.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus having a waveform degradation compensating function, and more particularly to a technique suitable for compensation for waveform degradation an optical signal suffers due to an optical transmission line.
(2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing one example of the existing optical transmission system. In FIG. 20, an optical transmission system 100 is made up of an optical transmitting apparatus 200, an optical amplification repeater 300, and an optical receiving apparatus 400, with an optical signal sent from the optical transmitting apparatus 200 being transmitted through an optical transmission line (optical fiber) 500 to the optical receiving apparatus 400 while being repeated/amplified properly in the optical repeater 300. Incidentally, although only one optical repeater 300 is illustrated in FIG. 20, naturally, two or more optical repeaters are employable, or no need therefore arises, depending on an optical signal transmission distance.
In general, in such an optical transmission system 100, for example, for a long-distance/large-capacity optical transmission represented by 10 Gb/s (giga bit/second) or 40 Gb/s, the waveform degradation of a received signal occurs remarkably due to "chromatic dispersion", "polarization mode dispersion" or the like, which causes the deterioration of the transmission characteristic such as a reception sensitivity characteristic of an optical receiver 402 leading to the reduction of an aperture of an eye pattern (which will be referred to hereinafter as an "eye aperture") of a received waveform so that limitation is imposed on transmission rate or transmission distance. In FIG. 20, reference numeral 403 designates a signal processing unit for receiving data and clock from the optical receiver 402 to conduct predetermined digital signal processing.
In this case, the "chromatic dispersion", resulting from the material dispersion or the structure dispersion of an optical fiber itself, signifies a property that the propagation velocity in the interior of the optical fiber has a wavelength dependency. Concretely, the property is that the long-wavelength side around the zero dispersion wavelength delays while the short-wavelength side advances. The influence thereof depends upon the transmission distance, the characteristic of an optical fiber put to use, the variation of environmental temperature or the like and varies therewith.
On the other hand, the "polarization mode dispersion" signifies the property that, since the cross section of an optical fiber is not a true circle but having an elliptic configuration, two polarization principal axes (TE mode, TM mode) perpendicular to each other makes a difference in group velocity (propagation velocity) of an optical signal. The influence thereof depends upon the variation of stress applied to the optical fiber, the manufacturing condition and installation condition of the optical fiber, the variation of the environmental temperature or the like and varies therewith.
The transmission characteristic degradation stemming from the "polarization mode dispersion" has already been formulated, and the degradation degree P (dB) of the transmission characteristic due to the "polarization mode dispersion" is determined by an input power ratio γ (0<γ<1) of an optical signal with respect to two polarization principal axes of an optical transmission line 500 and the polarization dispersion value Δτ of the entire optical transmission line 500, and is given according to the following equation (1). In this connection, the influence thereof is in proportion to the square of the transmission rate and is in proportion to the root (square root) of the transmission distance.P∝γ(1−γ)Δτ2  (1)
In addition, so far, a dispersion shift fiber (DSF) in which the zero dispersion wavelength is shifted to 1.55 μm band has been used as the optical transmission line 500, or a dispersion compensation fiber (DCF) 401a designed to have a chromatic dispersion characteristic reverse to the chromatic dispersion has been located at the former stage of the optical receiver 402. This compensates for the waveform degradation stemming from the optical transmission line 500 to enlarge the eye aperture of a received waveform.
On the other hand, with respect to the degradation due to the "polarization mode dispersion", a polarization maintaining fiber (PMF) 401b designed such that, when a linear polarization light is incident in a state where its polarization axis is aligned with the X axis (or the Y axis) of an optical fiber, the light propagates in the optical fiber in a state where the polarization state is maintained and only the X polarization light (or, the Y polarization light) is obtainable even at its outgoing end is placed at the former stage of the optical receiver 402. This reduces the "polarization mode dispersion" stemming from the optical transmission line 500.
However, in general, the degree of the wavelength degradation stemming from the "chromatic dispersion" increases with an increase in number of wavelengths to be multiplexed, and the degree of the waveform degradation originating from the "polarization mode dispersion" increases in proportion to the transmission rate or the transmission distance and, therefore, in the above-mentioned existing optical transmission system 100, there is a need to employ a different dispersion compensation fiber 401a or polarization maintaining fiber 401b for each optical transmission distance for setting up a waveform degradation degree range the optical receiver 402 permits.
This increases the number of kinds and using frequency of the needed dispersion compensation fiber 401a or polarization maintaining fiber 401b, thereby increasing the cost at the system construction or the management cost. Thus, this is unfeasible and lacks the extensibility (applicability) and the flexibility at the system reconstruction or the like.
Moreover, since the dispersion compensation fiber 401a or the polarization maintaining fiber 401b requires a high cost, and because of suffering from a large insertion loss, there is a need to employ a multistage configuration of optical amplification repeaters 300. Still moreover, in a recent very-long-distance/large-capacity optical transmission system represented by 10 Gb/s or 40 Gb/s, since the wavelength spacing becomes extremely short owing the WDM technique, difficulty is experienced in disregarding the variation of the wavelength characteristic caused by the above-mentioned environmental temperature variation.
For this reason, in the case of the very-high-rate optical transmission such as 10 Gb/s or 40 Gb/s, the mere employment of the dispersion compensation fiber 401a or the polarization maintaining fiber 401b does not reach the solution to the lack of flexibility of the system including cost and sufficient waveform degradation compensation of a received signal.

Receiving apparatus with waveform degradation compensating function


A number of combustion chamber configurations for direct injected engines wherein the fuel injectors inject at least two fuel patches in circumferentially spaced locations. This fuel is injected into a cavity arrangement formed in the head of the piston, which directs the fuel upwardly toward a pair of circumferentially spaced spark plugs so as to insure complete combustion within the combustion chamber. Embodiments having single and paired cavities in the piston head are disclosed.

This invention relates to an in-cylinder injection gasoline engine and more particularly to a combustion chamber arrangement for such engines.
It has been proposed to employ direct cylinder injection to improve the performance and particularly the fuel economy and exhaust emission control of internal combustion engines. By utilizing direct cylinder injection, it is possible to obtain stratification under some running conditions to allow the engine to run on a leaner than stoichiometric mixture. In this way it is not necessary to provide a homogeneous stoichiometric mixture in the entire combustion chamber to initiate combustion and to develop the required power.
To accomplish this in an open chamber, the fuel injector must inject fuel in a way to form a fuel patch that will be present at the spark gap at the time it is fired. Although this can be easily accomplished if a pre-chamber is employed, it is difficult to achieve this result in an xe2x80x9copen chamberxe2x80x9d. Open chambers are preferred for a variety of reasons including the pumping losses generated by the pre-chamber.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a typical type of approach that attempts to produce this result in an open chamber. FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a piston used in the arrangement and the associated fuel injector as mounted in the cylinder head. FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 2xe2x80x942 of FIG. 1. As seen in these figures, a piston, indicated generally by the reference numeral 11 reciprocates in a cylinder bore, indicated by the reference numeral 12. The piston 11, cylinder bore 12 and an associated cylinder head surface 13 define the combustion chamber.
The head of the piston 11 is formed with a dome comprised of a pair of angularly related, inclined surfaces 14 and 15 which join a generally flat upper surface 16. A bowl or recess 17 is formed in the piston head and extends through the inclined surface 15 and the. upper flat surface 16. This bowl 17 has a generally curved configuration which extends upwardly and terminates at its inner peripheral edge adjacent a spark plug 18. The spark plug 18 positioned generally on the axis of the cylinder bore 12.
A fuel injector 19 is mounted in the cylinder head surface 13 or cylinder block at one side of the cylinder bore 12. This fuel injector 19 sprays fuel toward and into the piston bowl 17. In addition, a swirl is generated in the combustion chamber as indicated by the arrows A. This swirl is generated by the induction system so as to sweep the injected fuel in a path indicated by the arrow B in the bowl 17 and toward the gap of the spark plug 18. In addition, the inclined surface 14 forms a squish area that drives the air in the direction indicated by the arrows D in FIG. 2. so as to prevent the fuel from escaping from the bowl 17 beyond the outer periphery of the area bounded by the spark plug 18.
An engine of this type may also be provided with a variable valve timing mechanism for varying the valve timing and/or degree of opening of the valves. Thus, the configuration of the combustion chamber and particularly the head surface of the piston 11 must be such as to afford clearance between the valve heads and the piston surfaces under all timing and lift conditions. This results in the formation of a lower than desired compression ratio.
Also, under off idle loads there may be fuel left deposited on the piston bowl 17 after combustion has completed. This increases the problem of hydrocarbon emissions. Furthermore, even though the spark plug 18 is positioned at the center of the combustion chamber, there is a likelihood that fuel may pass beyond the bowl 17 toward the opposite side of the combustion chamber regardless of the swish action indicated by the arrows D. Thus there can be further unburned fuel in the combustion chamber.
Furthermore these conditions increase the likelihood of knocking, even though a low compression ratio has been dictated by the bowl configuration.
It is, therefore, a principle object to this invention to provide an improved combustion chamber for a direct injected internal combustion engine wherein the compression ratio may be significantly raised without causing problems in clearance for the valves and while insuring rapid flame propagation and complete combustion under all running conditions.
It is a further object to this invention to provide an improved high efficiency combustion chamber, fuel injection and ignition arrangement for direct injected engines.
This invention is adapted to be embodied in an internal combustion engine that is comprised of an engine body that defines at least one cylinder bore that is closed at one end by a cylinder head surface and at the other end by the head of a piston that reciprocates in the cylinder bore. A fuel injector is mounted in the engine body contiguous to the axis of the cylinder bore. The fuel injector is configured to spray fuel downwardly toward the piston head and in at least two circumferentially spaced, fuel injection directions. The piston head is formed with a cavity arrangement having at least two circumferentially spaced, concave curved wall portions that curve upwardly toward the cylinder head at their radially outer extent. The circumferential spacing at the fuel injection directions correspond to the circumferential spacing of the piston concave curved wall portions so that fuel sprayed from the fuel injector is directed toward the piston concave curved wall portions. A pair of circumferentially spaced ignition devices are provided in the cylinder head surface in proximity to the upper ends of the piston concave curved wall portions for igniting the fuel sprayed from the fuel injector.


A prism shaped identification badge having an RFID label selectively positioned therein that is readable by an RFID reading device regardless of the badge's orientation relative to the wearer's body.

Badges and more specifically, identification badges having RFID labels positioned therein are commonly used for selective identification purposes and entrance into events (e.g., music festivals, golf events, museums, etc.), workplaces, etc. However, there is a known problem that occurs when these badges (e.g., planar or flat badges) are worn in close proximity to a wearer's body. Specifically, these badges must be worn with a specific orientation relative to the wearer's body in order to be properly read by an RFID reader. Otherwise, the human body disrupts, limits, and/or stops a UHF/RFID label within the badge from being properly read if the badge is oriented such that the UHF/RFID lays flat, and/or makes contact with the human body because the human body's water content deleteriously acts as a shield preventing and/or limiting an RFID reader's ability to sense the presence of an RFID/UHF label inlay within the badge.
US 2006/0250254 attempted to address the above mentioned problem by attaching an arm onto an outer surface of its badge. This arm protrudes away from the badge and creates space between the badge and further attempts to maintain a predetermined badge position/orientation relative to the badge wearer's body to, in theory, improve badge readability by the RFID reader. However, numerous problems exist with the badge disclosed in US 2006/0250254. First, the arm attached to the badge in US 2006/0250254 is rather cumbersome and is uncomfortable to the wearer when in use. Second, and more importantly, the arm fails to constantly maintain the specifically desired badge orientation, and for this reason, the badge disclosed in US 2006/0250254 can easily flip while in use on a wearer. When flipped, this badge directly contacts the wearer giving rise to the same problems of the above mentioned conventional badges equipped with RFID labels (i.e., limited readability due to the close proximity of the wearer's body specifically associated with the wearer's body water content).

Identification badge having an RFID label selectively positioned therein


A method and apparatus for path computation includes generating a path computation element communication protocol (PCEP) message, whereby the PCEP message comprises a characteristic associated with a level of protection of a Protection Label Switch path (LSP) with a Working LSP; and transmitting the PCEP message for path computation.

Time critical applications like public switched telephone network (PSTN) calls are affected when the network re-converges due to faults. In PSTN, the communications, segmented and encapsulated packets are routed using Internet Protocol (IP) or switched using Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) to the remote end destinations. For example, MPLS traffic engineering (TE) software enables an MPLS backbone to replicate and expand packets upon the traffic engineering capabilities of Layer 2 ATM and Frame Relay networks. In MPLS network, Label Switched Path (LSP) protection is a technique used to guarantee the service availability of the communications.
As conventionally known, a Path Computation Element (PCE) solves the specific issue of inter-domain path computation for MPLS-TE LSP when the head-end router does not possess full network topology information. PCE uses area border routers (ABRs) to compute a TE LSP spanning multiple Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) areas as well as computation of Inter-AS (Autonomous System) TE LSP. A PCE represents a software module (which can be a component or application) that enables the router to compute paths by applying a set of constraints between any pair of nodes within the router's TE topology database. PCEs are discovered through the IGP. A Path Computation Client (PCC) represents a software module running on a router that is capable of sending a path computation request to the PCE and receiving a response from the PCE. The PCC is typically an LSR (Label Switching Router). Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) is PCC-PCE communication protocol which is a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)-based protocol defined by the IETF PCE WG (Work Group), and defines a set of messages and objects used to manage PCEP sessions and to request and send paths for multi-domain TE LSPs. PCEP is used for communication between PCC and PCE (as well as between two PCEs) and employs IGP extensions to dynamically discover PCE.
Stateful PCE is a PCE that has access to not only the network state, but also to the set of active paths and their reserved resources for its computations. The stateful PCE also retain information regarding LSPs under construction in order to reduce churn and resource contention. In PCE managed network, where the PCC and the PCE operates in a stateful mode, the PCC can delegate the control of both the working and the protection LSPs to PCE. The Working LSP is the primary LSP backed up by the protection LSP. When a Working LSP goes down, the protection LSP is automatically activated. The PCC groups the working and protection LSPs with the association object in the report messages. So that PCE can compute the LSPs for both working and protection LSPs accordingly.
The PCE may have local configuration to set the desired level of protection for the protection LSP on a per LSP basis or a global configuration, and this configuration can be considered in Protection LSP computation.
The above-described deficiencies of existing communication networks/nodes of the networks/network devices in case of path computation are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems/mechanism/techniques, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with conventional systems/mechanism/techniques and corresponding benefits of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review of the following description.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for path computation


A method for forming a copper interconnect on an integrated circuit (IC) begins by forming a dielectric layer (20) having an opening. A tantalum-based barrier layer (21), such as TaN or TaSiN, is formed within the opening in the layer (20). A copper layer (22) is formed over the barrier layer (21). A first CMP process is used to polish the copper (22) to expose portions of the barrier (21). A second CMP process which is different from the first CMP process is then used to polish exposed portions of the layer (21) faster than the dielectric layer (20) or the copper layer (22). After this two-step CMP process, a copper interconnect having a tantalum-based barrier is formed across the integrated circuit substrate (12).

The integrated circuit (IC) industry is currently researching and developing new metallic interconnect materials and structures which can be used within integrated circuits (ICs). A promising metallic material which will be used in the future for integrated circuit (IC) interconnects is copper (Cu). Copper is desired in the integrated circuit industry since copper has improved electromigration resistance over aluminum and other metallic materials which are currently being used in the integrated circuit industry. In addition, copper has a lower resistivity than other commonly used metallic materials, whereby the performance of integrated circuit devices can be greatly improved through the use of copper interconnects. Also, copper interconnects allow an integrated circuit to use higher critical current.
However, there is currently no known technology which can effectively plasma etch or wet etch copper materials so that functional copper interconnects are adequately formed over the surface of an integrated circuit. In order to overcome this limitation, copper chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has been suggested as the most promising alternative which can render proper formation of copper interconnects on an integrated circuit. Therefore, the industry is currently searching for an optimal chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry which can be used to form copper interconnects on an integrated circuit (IC).
In addition, copper readily diffuses into conventional silicon-based materials such as polysilicon, single-crystalline silicon, silicon dioxide, low-k inorganic and organic materials, and the like. Once these silicon-based materials have been contaminated with Cu atoms, the dielectric contstant of the silicon-based dielectrics is adversely affected. In addition, once semiconductive silicon-based materials are Cu doped, transistors made within or in close proximity to the Cu doped silicon-based regions either cease to function properly or are significantly degraded in electrical performance. Therefore, in addition to the challenges of finding an adequate copper polishing process, an adequate copper barrier material is also needed. In addition, this barrier material must be integrated with the CMP process to obtain optimal electrical performance, optimal planarization, improved throughput, etc., in order to render copper technology in IC designs feasible.
It is known to use one of Fe(NO.sub.3).sub.3, HNO.sub.3, HN.sub.4 OH, or KMnO.sub.4 to perform polishing of copper. These chemical compounds have been extensively researched by CMP engineers in an attempt to discover an optimal copper CMP process. However, the use of these known chemicals has not yet produced optimal copper polishing results. For example, various experimentation performed using the known chemistries described above have resulted in one or more of: (1) poor removal rate whereby CMP throughput is inadequate; (2) excessive pitting and/or corrosion of the copper material whereby device performance and device yield is reduced; (3) layer planarity problems; (4) poor IC electrical performance; or (5) poor selectivity to copper over adjacent oxide materials ("oxide" refers to "silicon dioxide" and the two may be used interchangeably herein.). In addition, the current CMP research using copper interconnects with tantalum-based barriers has shown that most widely-used copper CMP processes have high selectivity to tantalum-based alloys. With the high copper to tantalum selectivity of current copper polishing, a wafer must either be: (1) significantly overpolished to ensure adequate tantalum-based barrier material removal whereby copper regions are significantly dished (i.e., poor planarity results); or (2) polished less aggressively whereby some tantalum-based barrier material may remain on the device causing short circuits or excessive leakage paths in the IC.
Therefore, a need exist in the industry for an improved CMP slurry which may be used to manufacture copper interconnects while reducing or eliminating one or more of the above common copper CMP problems when copper is used in conjunction with a tantalum-based material. This improved slurry should have one or more of: good removal rate whereby CMP throughput is improved; reduced or eliminated pitting and corrosion of the copper material whereby device performance and yield is improved; improved planarity of the copper layer; improved electrical performance of integrated circuits, adequate selectivity of copper to oxide; and improved removal of a tantalum-based barrier without adversely affecting the overall copper structure.

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry for polishing copper interconnects which use tantalum-based barrier layers


Color separating or composing optical system having an optical axis wherein at least one color filter is placed obliquely to the optical axis to perform color separation or composition by color-selective reflection and passing of lights proceeding along the optical axis, a cylindrical lens is placed in an optical path of a light passing the color filter, another feature of this invention is that two color filters are placed obliquely with respect to the optical axis to perform color separation or composition by color-selective reflection and passing of lights proceeding along the optical axis, and are arranged in configuration as such that an imaginary plane defined to include the optical axis and a line perpendicular to one of the two color filters, is perpendicular to another imaginary plane defined to include the optical axis and another line perpendicular to the other of the two color filters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement of a color separating and composing optical system suitable for color separation and composition in such as recording and reproducing devices of picture images.
2. Description of the Related Art
A color separation prism is well-known as a color separating/composing optical system. Although one advantage of this kind of prism is that the back-focus is short, it has also many disadvantages of spherical aberration, astigmatism, coma, curvature of the field, image distortion, chromatic aberration, etc. It is possible to correct these aberrations with an imaging lens used together with the color separation prism, but its correction is limited.
In addition, as such a lens must be specially manufactured so as to match with the length of the prism, it is unsatisfactory in both performance and cost. Further, it has disadvantages of such as glass distortion and large half-widths of P- and S-polarized lights in dichroic properties. Accordingly, it is especially undesirable when birefringent optical elements are involved.
On the other hand, it is conceivable to devise a color separating/composing optical system having a long backfocus, which employs multiple dichroic mirrors in combination (as shown in FIG. 1). FIG. 1(A) is a view from the sagittal plane and FIG. 1(B) is that from the meridional plane for "G" (green) (the same applies to FIGS. 2-8 and 15).
In FIG. 1, the light having entered from the imaging lens 10 impinges first on a platelike "B" (blue) reflecting dichroic mirror 12 to reflect the "B" light, which forms an image on the image plane 14. On the other hand, the light having passed the mirror 12 impinges on a platelike "R" (red) reflecting dichroic mirror 16 to reflect "R" light, which forms an image on the image plane 18. The "G" light having passed the mirror 16 forms an image on the image plane 20.

Tri-color separating and composing optical system