An ink jet recording device includes a recording head for discharging ink to a recording medium, a recording head side coupling portion coupled with a reservoir chamber side coupling portion to receive supply of ink and providing ink to the recording head. The recording head side coupling portion includes a member with an ink passage and a valve device for opening/closing the ink passage. The valve device begins to open during coupling of the reservoir chamber side coupling portion and the recording head side coupling portion, and closes at complete detachment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ink jet recording devices and ink cartridges. Particularly, the present invention relates to an ink jet recording device with a detachable ink cartridge and the ink cartridge thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
An ink jet recording device has a disadvantage that the device is contaminated due to exudation of liquid ink used therein. Various devices are implemented as to a means of preventing ink from seeping out. For the purpose of preventing ink exudation particularly when exchanging an ink cartridge, an open/close device is provided at the ink supply path of the ink cartridge coupling portion at the recording head side. The open/close device is open under the state where the ink cartridge is coupled, and closed just before the ink cartridge is detached.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional ink jet recording device with a detachable ink cartridge disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 60-36174 will be described hereinafter.
Referring to FIG. 1, an ink jet recording device includes a medium to be recorded on (referred to as "recording sheet" hereinafter) 101, a platen 102 driven by a driving source such as a pulse motor not shown to convey recording sheet 101, a recording device main body 121 for discharging ink onto recording sheet 101 to record information, and an ink cassette 107 for supplying ink to the recording device main body 121.
The recording device main body 121 includes an ink jet head unit 103 to discharge ink onto recording sheet 101 for printing, a first tube 104 for supplying ink to ink jet head unit 103, and a joint unit 105 for attaching/detaching ink cassette 107 and recording device main body 121.
Ink jet head unit 103 includes a head unit 103A for discharging ink onto recording sheet 101, and a sub tank 103B for supplying ink to head unit 103A. Ink 103C is accommodated in sub tank 103B.
Referring to FIG. 2, joint unit 105 includes a support unit 110 fixed to recording device main body 121, a second tube 108 of sufficient elasticity, connected to first tube 104 and fixed to support unit 110, a third tube 109 connected to second tube 108, a shaft 112 fixed to recording device main body 121, a lever 111 fitted to shaft 112 to press and block second tube 108 by the elasticity of spring 113, and a pin 106 inserted into third tube 109 and protruding from joint portion 105.
Ink cassette 107 includes a main body 116, an ink tank 118 provided within main body 116 and located several inches below head unit 103A, a tube 117 connected to ink tank 118, and a coupling portion 115 formed of an elastic material such as silicon rubber, connected to tube 117, and coupled to recording device main body 121 by having a pin 106 inserted therein.
Coupling portion 115 includes an ink passage 114 into which pin 106 is inserted for supplying ink.
A claw 111A abutting against a chamfered portion 107A provided at ink cassette 107, and a claw 111B urged against second tube 108 are provided at lever 111. Ink tank 118 is constituted of a flexible material formed by vapor-depositing aluminum on a laminate film, for example.
Since ink tank 118 is flexible and the interior thereof is at atmospheric pressure, the leading end of head 103A is maintained under a slight negative pressure. This prevents ink from leaking from the end of the head. When ink is discharged from head 103A by mechanical force such as a drive by a piezo-electric element, ink tank 118 is deformed according to reduction of ink to supply an appropriate amount of ink to head 103A.
When ink tank 118 becomes empty, ink cannot be discharged from head 103A even if ink remains in sub tank 103B or tube 108. On this occasion, ink cassette 107 must be exchanged. By lifting ink cassette 107 in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 2, claw 111A is detached from cassette 107 with a shifted distance of L2. In response, lever 111 is turned counterclockwise about shaft 112 by spring 113. The tip of claw 111B is urged against tube 108 in the direction of arrow P. Tube 108 is squeezed at the contact point with claw 111B, whereby the ink supply path formed by tube 108 is sealed. Here, a small amount of ink within tube 8 is shifted towards ink passage 114 via pin 106. However, the coupling between ink tank 118 and pin 106 is still maintained since length L1 of pin 106 is L1>L2, so that the ink will not flow backwards outside ink cassette 107 to contaminate the device.
Ink also flows towards the direction of head 103A. However, the provision of a cap device and the like at head 103A prevents ink leakage in the opposite direction. Ink cassette 107 is further moved to be detached from device main body 121, and pin 106 is drawn out from cassette 107. Since tube 108 is sealed by claw 111B, ink will not leak out from tube 108.
The elastic body such as of rubber forming coupling portion 115 has its elastic deformation restored immediately when pin 106 is pulled out. Ink will not leak from ink cassette 107 since coupling portion 117 is sealed. More specifically, the record liquid supply path connecting the recording head and a recording liquid reservoir chamber is blocked just before ink cassette 107 is detached. Thus, ink will not leak.
When ink cassette 107 is inserted into recording device main body in a direction opposite to arrow X, lever 111 is turned clockwise against the force of spring 113 by virtue of chamfered portion 107A of cassette 107, whereby tube 108 is unblocked. Pin 106 pierces the elastic body of rubber forming coupling portion 115 to provide communication with tube 117 in ink cassette 107. Thus, the recording liquid supply path is open under the state where the recording head and the recording liquid reservoir chamber are connected.
The above-described conventional device has an ink supply path open/close device of a mechanism that seals the supply path by squeezing an elastic tube with the claw portion of an open/close lever. An ink tank formed by vapor-depositing aluminum onto a laminate film in which ink is sealed is provided in the ink cartridge.
The interior of the tank is completely sealed, and suction is required according to a slight negative pressure to supply ink outwards.
As joining means of an ink cartridge in the above-described conventional device, a plug member formed of silicon rubber at the ink cartridge side is urged against the connecting portion (pin) of the head side, whereby the plug member is pierced to be coupled with the tube member within the ink tank.
Simultaneous to this operation, the open/close lever blocking the ink supply path at the head side abuts against the ink cartridge to be turned. The blocking is removed to provide communication of ink in the ink tank and the recording head. Here, the interior of the ink tank is maintained at a pressure not higher than atmospheric pressure to prevent exudation of ink from the nozzle portion of the head.
Since the ink supply path is opened/closed by squeezing an elastic tube with an open/close device in such a conventional ink jet recording device, there is a problem that a crack is generated in the tube when the ink cartridge is frequently exchanged, undesirable from the standpoint of reliability.
The open/close device is opened after the coupling between the ink cartridge and the ink jet recording device main body is completed, and closed just before the ink cartridge is detached from the main body of the ink jet recording device. Therefore, there is a possibility that a bubble in the ink supply path of the coupling portion is urged into the ink cartridge. There is also a possibility that discharge of accumulated bubbles in the ink supply path of the coupling portion is not sufficient. Supply of ink from the ink cartridge to the main body of the ink jet recording device may be deteriorated by such bubbles.
There is also a problem that ink cannot be supplied sufficiently since the opening of piercing the member sealing the connection portion of the ink cartridge with a pin is small.
Furthermore, a great amount of the accumulated bubbles in the coupling portion in the state where the ink cartridge is coupled to the ink jet recording device enters the ink cartridge to degrade or completely stop supply of ink.

Ink jet recording device with detachable ink cartridge and ink cartridge thereof


A food holding cabinet having a housing defining a heating chamber for holding a covered food tray in a tray location has a pair of elongated rigid rods mounted to the housing for suspending a food tray cover thereon in a position above the tray location. A front rod extends across the opening to the heating chamber and supports the front end of the tray cover and a rear rod supports the rear of the cover. When a food tray is inserted into the tray location, it lifts and supports the cover. When the tray is removed, the front rod prevents removal of the cover along with the underlying tray. The front rod is spring-loaded to be pulled away from the housing to facilitate removal of the cover. A tray cover is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food holding cabinets for holding cooked or partially-cooked food in one or more food trays at an elevated temperature until the food is to be served. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved food holding cabinets and to food tray covers for use in the holding cabinets.
2. Description of Related Art
Food holding cabinets, food trays and tray covers are well known, particularly in the fast food industry. The holding cabinets have heated chambers that hold multiple trays containing various food items at ready-to-serve temperatures for serving on an as needed basis. A widely used system employs a freestanding cover that is placed in the heating chamber of the cabinet and defines a receiving area for receiving a food tray. The food tray is placed in the receiving area until the tray is to be withdrawn from the chamber. The cabinet includes a wire rack for engaging the cover to prevent it from being withdrawn from the chamber along with the food tray. Although the wire rack serves its purpose, it interferes with cleaning the chamber. Also, there is heat loss through the space between the tray top edge and the freestanding cover.

Food holding cabinet with removable tray covers


This solution uses a statistical characterization of the transaction to predict the total effect on response time of each network component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of network performance analysis and specifically to the field of network application performance prediction.
2. Background of the Invention
A computer can send and receive information with another computer over a network. However, quickly predicting the response time of a single or multi threaded network application transaction, in a complex (non-trivial) network topology, has been difficult using conventional approaches. For example, predicting the response time of a given transaction using a given network has been done by using simulation or packet by packet analysis. However, simulation and packet by packet analysis use a significant amount of time and computing resources, and therefore do not quickly predict the response time.

Fast transaction response time prediction across multiple delay sources


Enabled is support for a more efficient work plan proposal and implementation in a construction site wherien a site supervisor or site worker can identify problems prior to work execution by displaying and actually experiencing a design plan as a 3-D hologram at life size during the planning stage. The client and the contractor (the site supervisor) can intuitively comprehend the work with a time-slider function and request the necessary changes prior to the execution without having expert knowledge of construction. The client, a consultant, and the contractor can refer to the same data and debate why a design change is necessary and how to make said change. Maintenance specialists make accurate decisions Business departments and the site supervisor who are located apart communicate using the same 3-D hologram design plan while indicating areas of concern.

Conventionally, in a construction site, the planning and execution of a work plan are very important elements, and they significantly contribute to the achievement of a construction target and the safety of workers. However, in a conventional construction site, the work plan is normally made based on a design drawing. Hence, problems are often noticed after actual work execution is started. In recent years, in order to efficiently perform a construction project, it has been necessary to perform smooth communication between persons related to the construction project such as a client, various types of consultants, and a contractor. In this respect, a construction simulation device which supports the planning of a work plan is proposed (see, for example, patent document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. H10-280685

Information processing device, information processing method, and program for planning and execution of work plan


For indicating on a data medium (9) a sector referenced by a binary word (16) formed of a number M of first bytes each comprising a number L of bits, the method includes steps of etching onto the data medium locally at this sector a succession of M second bytes each corresponding to a first byte, each second byte being equal to a vector of N components, each with a value of +1 or −1, such that N=2L−1 and such that the scalar product of said vector with any other vector to which another second byte is equal, is at most equal to +1. The data medium (9) is, for example, an optical disk.

The field of the invention is that of writable data media such as optical disks and especially data media on which the writing of data is distributed by sectors.
Under the invention, each sector is referenced by a binary word pre-recorded onto the data medium. Thus, to access a sector, a read or write head scans the data medium until it detects this binary word on it.
Generally, a blank optical disk is not completely blank. A recording track is prestamped onto the disk. Often, this track takes the form of a spiral groove whose depth is equal to a quarter of a wavelength of the laser ray emitted by a read head. During writing to the disk, the read head follows the groove so as to keep a writing laser beam inside, next to or alternatively inside and outside of the groove.
The groove is in the form of a spiral on a macroscopic scale and sinusoidal (referred to as wobble) on a microscopic scale. The sinusoidal form is mainly used to measure the linear speed of the disk passing under the read head so as to control this speed.
According to a first known prior art, a succession of pre-positioned pits (referred to as prepits) locally in each sector, forms the binary word that references this sector. These pits are pre-positioned inside or next to the groove so as to be able to identify an absolute position of the sector by means of the read head when it follows the groove.
The frequency at which the succession of pre-positioned pits passes under the read head makes this coding scheme particularly sensitive to high-frequency noise. This sensitivity to noise causes errors in decoding the succession of pre-positioned pits to obtain the binary word that references the sector.
Another solution consists in coding the binary word by modifying certain alternations of the groove wobble. For example, a modified alternation may represent a first binary value and, vice versa, a preserved alternation may represent a second binary value complementary to the first. The alternation modifications must be made so as not to interfere with the detection of the original alternation by the read head in its feedback control functions for following the groove and calculating the speed of travel of the disk under the head.
Writing data, such as NRZ (Non-Return to Zero) data, to the disk is normally done by modulating the power of the write head laser beam in the vicinity of the read head. When the signal resulting from alternation modifications is read while writing data to the disk, the signal read on the disk is interfered with by the writing laser beam. This is the cause of errors in decoding alternation modifications for the binary word referencing the sector on which the data to be recorded is intended to be written.
In order to write the data to the proper sector as specified, errors in decoding for obtaining the binary word referencing the sector should be overcome.

Method for indicating a sector on a data medium and data medium suited to this method


A system for purifying an aqueous solution of crude caprolactam is provided, which includes a filtration zone (A), an inspection unit (B), a purification zone (C), and a first temporary storage tank (D). The filtration zone (A) contains a filtration apparatus though which an aqueous solution of crude caprolactam is filtered to remove ionic impurities therein, so as to obtain caprolactam-containing filtrate; the inspection unit (B) is used for judging the filtrate from the filtration zone (A) meets the preset inspection standards; the purification zone (C) is used for concentrating and further purifying filtrate meeting the preset inspection standards, thereby forming a final caprolactam product; and the first temporary storage tank (D) is used for receiving the filtrate not meeting the preset inspection standards, which is then mixed with the aqueous solution of crude caprolactam and delivered back to the filtration zone (A).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for purifying an aqueous solution of crude caprolactam, especially by a system using an ion-exchange resin apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Caprolactam is industrially produced by, for example, a process including subjecting cyclohexanone oxime to an oleum-catalyzed Beckmann rearrangement reaction to form caprolactam; neutralizing the resulting reaction mixture containing oleum and caprolactam with ammonia water; and separating caprolactam from the formed ammonium sulfate. Usually, the separation is achieved, first, by extracting the mixture with an organic solvent, and then extracting the caprolactam-containing organic phase with water to obtain an aqueous solution of crude caprolactam, which contains about 30% to 40% of caprolactam.
Because caprolactam is an important starting material for synthesis of polyamide, the aqueous solution of crude caprolactam should be further purified to meet the high purity standards for caprolactam of industrial grade. So far, a variety of purification methods for obtaining caprolactam with high purity have been proposed, for example, purification by recrystallization, ion exchange by using an ion-exchange resin, distillation, etc. Among these methods, the method using ion-exchange resin is preferable, because it is very effective in removing ionic impurities from the aqueous solution of crude caprolactam.
FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of purifying crude caprolactam according to the prior art. First, an aqueous solution of crude caprolactam containing 30 to 40% of caprolactam, water, and impurities was delivered via a pipeline 10 to an ion-exchange apparatus set 110 composed of a tower comprising a cation-exchange resin and a tower comprising an anion-exchange resin, where the aqueous solution of crude caprolactam was filtered through the ion-exchange apparatus set 110 to remove the ionic impurities therein. Next, the filtered aqueous solution of crude caprolactam (also referred to as "filtrate" hereinafter) was delivered via a pipeline 12 to a vaporization apparatus 210, where the filtrate was concentrated to obtain a concentrated filtrate containing a high concentration (for example, higher than 80%) of caprolactam. The concentrated filtrate was delivered via a pipeline 14 to a buffer apparatus 220, and then delivered via a pipeline 16 to a distillation apparatus 230, where the concentrated filtrate was further purified, thereby obtaining a final caprolactam product with a high-purity. The final caprolactam product was then recovered through a pipeline 18.
It was necessary to provide an inspection unit at the outlet of the ion-exchange apparatus set to judge whether the filtrate from the ion-exchange apparatus set met the preset inspection standards, thereby assuring that the final caprolactam product always met the standards for caprolactam of industrial grade. The preset inspection standards include the absorbance of the industrial caprolactam at a wavelength of 290 nm (EXT.290) and/or alkaline (ALK), as a standard for inspecting caprolactam-containing filtrate. If the EXT.290 and/or the ALK. of the filtrate exceed the preset upper limits for EXT. 290 and ALK, the quality of the final caprolactam product obtained from the subsequent distillation steps would deteriorate and could not meet the standard of "EXT.290 below 0.05" for caprolactam of industrial grade. Therefore, it was necessary to temporarily stop the filtration operation and replace the ion exchange apparatus before the EXT.290 and/or ALK of the filtrate exceed the upper limits.
However, the inventor of this invention first found that the EXT.290 and/or the ALK of the filtrate, after the aforesaid abrupt rising, would decrease back to the value before the abrupt rising (ie., the values below the preset upper limits) when the ion-exchange apparatus continued running. Thereafter, the EXT.290 and/or the ALK of the filtrate would steadily and slowly increase and remained below the upper limits for a relatively long period of time. In other words, after the EXT.290 and/or the ALK of the filtrate at the outlet of the ion-exchange apparatus abruptly rose and then decreased back, the ion-exchange apparatus could effectively operate for a relatively long period of time and the obtained final caprolactam product that still meets the standards for caprolactam of grade. The currently used ion-exchange resin purification process usually performs the resin replacement process before the EXT.290 and/or the ALK abruptly rise, to avoid producing a final caprolactam product that does not meet the standards. Frequent resin replacement and regeneration process use a large amount of acid, base, and water, and produce a large amount of sewage to be treated.
In view of the above, the inventor of this invention proposes a new system which allows the ion-exchange apparatus to continue running even if the abrupt rising in the EXT.290 and/or ALK of the filtrate occurs, thereby reducing the frequency of replacing and regenerating ion-exchange resin without adversely affect the quality of the final caprolactam product, and reduce the amount of acid, base, and water generated.

System and process for purifying an aqueous solution of crude caprolactam

China Petrochemical Development Corporation


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device with high response speed and high reliability. In the method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the invention, a bonding layer is formed over a substrate, an insulating film and a storage capacitor portion lower electrode are formed over the bonding layer, a single crystal silicon layer is formed over the insulating film, a storage capacitor portion insulating film is formed over the storage capacitor portion lower electrode, a wiring is formed over the storage capacitor portion insulating film, a channel forming region and a low concentration impurity region are formed over the single crystal silicon layer, and a gate insulating film and a gate electrode are formed over the single crystal silicon layer. The storage capacitor portion insulating film is formed by depositing a YSZ film with a single crystal silicon layer used as a base film, whereby the permittivity increases and thus the leakage current from the storage capacitor portion is suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same. In particular, the invention relates to a substrate having an SOI (silicon on insulator) structure in which a semiconductor layer is formed by slicing a crystalline semiconductor substrate and bonded to a different kind of substrate. More particularly, the invention relates to a bonding SOI technique and a method for manufacturing an SOI substrate in which a single crystal or polycrystalline semiconductor layer is bonded to a substrate having an insulating surface such as a glass substrate. Furthermore, the invention relates to a display device or a semiconductor device having such an SOI structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instead of silicon wafers manufactured by slicing a single crystal semiconductor ingot, semiconductor substrates called silicon on insulators (SOI substrates) in which a thin single crystal semiconductor layer is provided over an insulating layer have been developed and are becoming widely used as substrates in manufacturing microprocessors and the like. This is because integrated circuits using SOI substrates attract attention since the parasitic capacitance between a drain of a transistor and a substrate can be reduced, which results in improved performance and reduced power consumption of the semiconductor integrated circuits.
As a method for manufacturing SOI substrates, a hydrogen ion implantation separation method is known (for example, Reference 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,609). According to the hydrogen ion implantation separation method, hydrogen ions are implanted into a silicon wafer to form a microbubble layer at a predetermined depth from the surface, and the microbubble layer is used as a cleavage surface to bond a thin silicon layer (SOI layer) to another silicon wafer. In addition to heat treatment for separating the SOI layer, it is necessary to perform heat treatment in an oxidizing atmosphere to form an oxide film over the SOI layer, and after the oxide film is removed, it is necessary to perform heat treatment at 1000° C. to 1300° C. in a reducing atmosphere to increase the bonding strength.
On the other hand, there has been an attempt to form an SOI layer over an insulating substrate such as a glass substrate. As an example of an SOI substrate in which an SOI layer is formed over a glass substrate, it is known that a thin single crystal silicon layer is formed over a glass substrate having a coating film by a hydrogen ion implantation separation method (Reference 2: Japanese Published Patent Application No. H11-163363, and Reference 3: U.S. Pat. No. 7,119,365). Also in that case, hydrogen ions are implanted into a piece of single crystal silicon to form a microbubble layer at a predetermined depth from the surface, and the piece of single crystal silicon is bonded to a glass substrate and then separated with the microbubble layer used as a cleavage surface, whereby a thin silicon layer (SOI layer) is formed over the glass substrate.
A thin film transistor (TFT) formed over an insulating substrate such as a glass substrate has a structure in which a base insulating film, an active layer, a gate insulating film, a gate electrode, an interlayer insulating film, and a wiring are formed over the glass substrate. In order to increase the operation speed of a TFT, the design rule of the whole TFT has been reduced.

Semiconductor device including storage capacitor with yttrium oxide capacitor dielectric

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An image processing apparatus implements appropriate image processing on image data stored in a storage unit of the image processing apparatus easily and efficiently, and distributes the image data to an external apparatus. An image format conversion unit implements image processing such as resolution conversion processing, filter processing, γ correction processing, and halftone processing on image data stored in an HDD serving as an image data storage unit so that the image data conform to conditions, such as image quality and format, specified by an external client apparatus. The image-processed image data are then distributed to the external client apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and an image processing program for distributing image data accumulated by a digital copier, facsimile apparatus, scanner, or the like to an external apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2000-333026, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2001-150744, and so on, for example, disclose a so-called network scanner technique for connecting a digital copier or image reading apparatus to a network, scanning an original image using a scanner of the digital copier or image reading apparatus, and distributing the read image data to another terminal connected to the network such as a computer.
A copying technique is also known for connecting a digital copier or image reading apparatus to a network, scanning an original image using a scanner of the digital copier or image reading apparatus, printing the read image data from a printer unit, and outputting the image on a sheet of paper.
However, in this conventional network scanner technique, image data subjected to image processing by an image processing unit of an image processing apparatus are compressed in order to increase the transfer speed at which the image data are distributed to an external client apparatus by the digital copier or other apparatus. If the image data are compressed in a format from which they can be expanded by the external client apparatus which receives the image data, no problem occurs, but when the image data are distributed to a plurality of external client apparatuses, the data must be re-scanned so that they can be compressed in a format enabling expansion by each of the plurality of external client apparatuses.
Meanwhile, in the conventional copying technique, the image processing performed by the image processing unit is performed according to a specific method for each company. As a result, the image data are set in a specific printing format, and are therefore unsuitable for distribution to an external client apparatus as in the network scanner technique described above. Even if the image data were distributed to an external client apparatus, the image data would remain in a specific format for printing output, and could not therefore be viewed, edited, or otherwise processed on the external client apparatus.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image processing program


An induction subsystem for a conveyor sortation system and method of inducting articles includes providing a plurality of tandem conveying surfaces. The speeds of the conveying surfaces are individually controllable. At least one sensor is provided for sensing articles on at least one of the conveying surfaces. A control is responsive to the at least one sensor for controlling the speeds of said conveying surfaces in a manner that controls relative positions of articles. The control defines a plurality of feedback-gapping algorithms. Each of the feedback-gapping algorithms is defined between adjacent conveying surfaces for adjusting relative speeds of those adjacent conveying surfaces as a function of at least one parameter of the articles. The control controls relative positions of articles with the feedback-gapping algorithms beginning with a pair of adjacent conveying surfaces and cascading through adjacent pairs of adjacent conveying surfaces.

This invention relates generally to conveyor systems, and in particular to the induction section of a conveyor sortation system.
The induction section of a conveyor system generally refers to the portion of the conveying system in which articles are inducted, or initiated, into the conveying sortation system. The induction section typically performs the function of providing the proper gaps between packages, or other articles traveling on the conveying system, so that the packages can be sorted for proper distribution. The gapping of the articles affects the throughput of the conveying system, which is often a factor of high commercial significance. By reducing the gaps between articles on the conveying system, the number of articles that can be placed on the conveying system at a given time is increased. By being able to place more articles on the conveying system at a given time, more articles are moved over a given time period, thus increasing the throughput of the conveying system.
The gapping of the articles also affects the sortation functions of the conveying system. Where the conveying system functions to sort the articles being conveyed, prior art conveying systems have often used pusher shoes or other diverting means to push the articles off of a main conveyor onto one or more branch conveyors. In order for these pusher shoes to sort the packages correctly, it is important that sufficient space be provided between articles so that the pushers do not inadvertently push against another article while they are in the process of diverting a second article.
The sortation functions of the conveying system therefore weigh in favor of providing a certain amount of gapping between articles while the throughput considerations weigh in favor of reducing this gapping to as small a space as possible. The induct portion of the conveying system should be able to consistently and accurately produce gaps that were just large enough to accommodate the gapping requirements of the sortation section of the conveying system as often as possible.
The creation of gaps in prior art conveying systems may suffer because these prior art conveying systems are not able to determine the position of articles on the conveyors with sufficient accuracy. For example, in some prior art conveying systems, the position of the article is determined by sensing the passing of the article by a single photo-detector positioned alongside the conveyor. As the article moves past the single photo-detector, its position is determined how far the conveyor belt had moved since the article had been detected. Determining how far the conveyor belt had moved is often carried out by way of an encoder that measured the amount of rotations of the motor that powered the conveyor belt or one that measures movement of the conveyor belt directly. Due to measurement inaccuracies, slippage, and other factors, this calculation of the article's position on the conveyor has a significant uncertainty. This uncertainty of the article's position on the conveyor makes controlling the created gaps in prior art induct systems difficult.
In light of the foregoing disadvantages of the prior art, the need for an induct system that improves the accuracy and consistency of the created gaps between articles can therefore be seen.

Conveyor induction subsystem and method of inducting articles using feedback-gappers


A functionalised particle, wherein the particle has a first optical spectral signature in a first structural configuration of the particle and a second optical spectral signature in a second structural configuration of the particle.

Biosensing can be used in as part of health monitoring and medical diagnosis, and is typically performed in vitro on samples taken from the body. For example, a probing/sensing element and a transducing element can be used to generate a measurable signal in response to a biological interaction that occurs when a sample interacts with the sensing element.


There is provided a low cost funnel for directing the flow of fluid concrete to the form for a concrete wall or a concrete block wall. The funnel can be unitary and of plastic. Further, the funnels can be nested with each other for ease of storage and cost of transportation.

1. Field of the Invention
The inventor has worked in construction and has built forms for receiving fluid concrete in the construction of a wall. The form for a concrete wall comprises two sheets of plywood spaced-apart six inches or eight inches to designate a defined space. The forms are secured at the top and at the bottom to withstand the outward pressure of the fluid concrete.
Generally, a concrete truck having a rotating drum for the mixing of its concrete is maneuvered close to the forms. A chute on the truck is beneath the rotating drum. The end of the chute is positioned so as to direct the fluid concrete into the forms. The forms have a six-inch or eight-inch distance between them. The lip on the radius of the truck chute is twelve inches wide. Getting the chute to line up directly over the form is a constant problem. Unfortunately, some of the fluid concrete spills on the outside of the form or on the ground. This concrete is totally wasted. The concrete that falls onto the form is now dried and must be cleaned off. This adds to the cost of the project.
The inventor has worked in the Skilled Building Trades as a carpenter for 28 years. The inventor has invented a funnel to keep all of the fluid concrete on the inside of the form during the pouring of a concrete wall. The upper part of the funnel sets approximately six inches above the top of the form. The lower part of the funnel sets approximately four inches down inside the form. The workman positions the concrete truck chute so that the fluid concrete flows through the funnel and into the form. As a result, there is no spillage of fluid concrete onto the form or onto the ground.
Further, many exterior walls of commercial buildings are constructed of cement block. In the construction of cement block walls, every sixth horizontal row of cement block is called a bond beam. There is positioned in the cell of each bond beam block, a vertical rod of 5/8-inch diameter reinforcing rod. Also, there is positioned horizontally in the bond beam (half the depth down, 31/2 inches) two 5/8-inch reinforcing rods that run continuous. Fluid concrete is poured into the bond beam block, filling all of the cells of the first five horizontal rows and the bond beam. This process is called "grouting the cells." The process is repeated again on the next set of six horizontal rows (called a "lift"), until the top of the wall is reached. A two-inch flexible hose runs from a concrete pump to pump the concrete to grout the cells. The concrete pump surges while pumping. This causes the hose to lurch, making it difficult for the workman to keep the fluid concrete inside the defined space of the bond beam during the pour. Concrete invariably overflows and runs down the outside of the cement block wall. As the surface of the cement block is porous, the spattered fluid concrete has a tendency to dry quickly on the wall. The dried, spattered concrete has to be cleaned off. This is a waste of labor and concrete.
This invention is directed to the following: for setting the funnel partially down inside the bond beam so that the funnel directs the flow of fluid concrete into the bond beam for the grouting of the cells. None of the concrete is wasted or spattered on the walls. The workman can direct the flexible hose so that the fluid concrete flows through the funnel and into the bond beam. The width of the target he must hit with the pump hose increases from four inches to fifteen inches in width. As a result, concrete is not wasted by being accidentally spattered on the walls with the pursuant labor to clean the wall.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The inventor has reviewed the prior art and considers that subject inventions define over the prior art. None of aforementioned teaches of or describes a funnel similar to the funnel disclosed and claimed in this patent application.


The presentation of a verifiable credential that is represented within a data structure that represents the verifiable credential as well as usage data of the verifiable credential. The usage of the verifiable credential is monitored, such that as usage of the verifiable credential changes or progresses, the stored usage data also changes. This data structure may be used to not only cause visual representations of the verifiable credential to be displayed to the user, but the user can selectively cause at least some of that usage data to also be presented to the user. Thus, the user can easily keep track of how their verifiable credential is being used, regardless of where or from which device the verifiable credential is presented.

A digital identity is a mechanism to keep track of an entity across different digital contexts. After an identity is determined, appropriate action can be taken related to the entity that has the identity. As an example, authorizations, privileges, customizations and access can be provided to the entity. Thus, digital identities are an important mechanism to ensure that information is restricted to appropriate trust boundaries via appropriate containment of authorizations and privileges. Digital identities are also an important mechanism to ensure a positive and consistent user experience when accessing their data and customizations.
Most currently used documents or records that prove identity are issued by centralized organizations, such as governments, corporations, schools, employers, or other service centers or regulatory organizations. These organizations often maintain every member's identity in a centralized identity management system. A centralized identity management system is a centralized information system used for organizations to manage the issued identities, their authentication, authorization, roles and privileges. Centralized identity management systems have been deemed as secure since they often use professionally maintained hardware and software. Typically, the identity issuing organization sets the terms and requirements for registering people with the organization. When a party needs to verify another party's identity, the verifying party often needs to go through the centralized identity management system to obtain information verifying and/or authenticating the other party's identity.
Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) are a more recent type of identifier. Decentralized identifiers are independent of any centralized registry, identity provider, or certificate authority. Distributed ledger technology (such as blockchain) provides the opportunity for using fully decentralized identifiers. Distributed ledger technology uses distributed ledgers to record transactions between two or more parties in a verifiable way. Once a transaction is recorded, the data in the section of ledger cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent sections of ledger. This provides a fairly secure platform in which it is difficult or impossible to tamper with data recorded in the distributed ledger. Since a DID is generally not controlled by a centralized management system, but rather is owned by an owner of the DID, DIDs are sometimes referred to as identities without authority.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments describe herein may be practiced.

Presentation of a verifiable credential having usage data


An MOCVD apparatus includes a raw material supply section configured to supply a process raw material into a process chamber. The raw material supply section includes a bubbling unit that stores an organic metal raw material in a liquid state. A carrier gas line is configured to supply, into the bubbling unit, a carrier gas that causes the organic metal raw material in a liquid state to bubble up. A flow rate control portion is provided on the carrier gas line to control the carrier gas flow rate. The flow rate control portion includes a plurality of mass flow controllers, which are disposed in parallel with each other and have full-scales different from each other for flow rate control. The mass flow controllers are switched for use, in accordance with the carrier gas flow rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an MOCVD apparatus and method for forming an epitaxial film on a target substrate by means of MOCVD (Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition).
2. Description of the Related Art
In manufacturing opto-electronics devices, such as a light-emitting diode (LED), laser diode, and photo diode, MOCVD is utilized. For example, in the process of manufacturing LEDs, a group III–V nitride film expressed by a general formula AlxGayInzN (where x+y+z=1, x≧0, y≧0, z≧0) is epitaxially grown on a sapphire substrate by means of MOCVD.
MOCVD is suitable for film-formation of a compound semiconductor film, as compared with LPE (Liquid Phase Epitaxy) and VPE (Vapor Phase Epitaxy). For example, in the case of LPE, a large degree of Al segregation coefficient makes it difficult to grow a predetermined film. In the case of VPE, a process raw material reacts with the wall of an epitaxial growth reaction chamber, thereby making it difficult to grow a predetermined film.
Where an AlxGayInzN (where x+y+z=1, x≧0, y≧0, z≧0) film is formed by means of MOCVD, an operation is performed, as follows. First, a target substrate is loaded into a process chamber, and placed on a susceptor (worktable) having being heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater. Then, one or more of organic metal raw materials, such as trimethylaluminum (TMA), trimethylgallium (TMG), and trimethylindium (TMI), and ammonia are fed as process raw materials, along with a carrier gas, such as hydrogen or nitrogen, into a process chamber. Then, the process raw materials cause reaction and decomposition (reaction of the organic metal with ammonia) in the process chamber, and components thereby provided form an epitaxial film on a target substrate.
The epitaxial film is expressed by a general formula AlxGayInzN (where x+y+z=1, x≧0, y≧0, z≧0). For example, the epitaxial film is an aluminum nitride film, gallium nitride film, indium nitride film, aluminum-gallium nitride film, aluminum-indium nitride film, or gallium-indium nitride film (for example, see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-246323 (paragraph number 0005)).
According to the present inventors, a problem has been found in opto-electronics devices manufactured by conventional MOCVD apparatuses, in that the wavelength or brightness of emitted light differs between wafer lots (between devices belonging to different lots). As described later, this is though to be attributed to a low reproducibility in the composition of an epitaxial film, which is due to the structure of a raw material supply section in conventional MOCVD apparatuses.


A valve apparatus of a hermetic type compressor enables an easy mounting of an exhaust valve and a valve spring to an accurate position within a reentrant groove formed in a cylinder head, decreases the number of elements of the valve apparatus to facilitate the assembly and reduces a dead volume to enhance efficiency of the compressor. The valve apparatus includes a cylinder head having a reentrant groove with an exhaust hole, the exhaust valve installed to be opened/closed on the upper surface of the exhaust hole, the valve spring in contact with an upper surface of the exhaust valve, a head cover and a packing interposing between the cylinder head and head cover for preventing a leakage of the refrigerant gas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a valve apparatus of a hermetic type compressor, and more particularly to a valve apparatus of a hermetic type compressor capable of easily mounting an exhaust value and a valve spring to an interior of a reentrant groove formed in a cylinder head and reducing the number of elements constituting the valve apparatus to facilitate an the assembly while improving the performance thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When operating a general compressor, a rotor is primarily rotated by the electro-magnetic action of a stator and the rotor upon being supplied with electrical power, and a crank shaft is caused to revolve by the rotation of the rotor.
Then, the vertical rotation force of the crank shaft is converted into a horizontal motion by a connecting rod or slider to horizontally move a piston. Finally, the piston reciprocates within a cylinder.
At this time, while the piston retracts, refrigerant is introduced into the cylinder via a suction inlet and a suction valve of a cylinder head. The refrigerant introduced as above is compressed by the forward movement of the piston to pass through an exhaust hole of the cylinder head, thereby being discharged while opening an exhaust valve.
In designing the conventional valve apparatus of the general hermetic type compressor operated as above, it has been a significant concern for improving efficiency of the compressor to decrease the volume formed within the cylinder and the sum of the internal volume (hereinafter referred to as "dead volume") of the exhaust hole (of which detailed description will be given later) interlocked with the cylinder when the piston linearly reciprocating within the cylinder reaches a top dead center.
This is because the refrigerant gas of high pressure which is left in the dead volume during the discharge process of the compressed gas inflates during the retraction of the piston during the suction stroke of the cylinder to disturb the intake of the refrigerant gas via the suction inlet, so that the efficiency of the compressor is degraded.
The above-mentioned exhaust hole which is formed in the cylinder head communicates with the internal space of the cylinder until the exhaust hole is cut off by the exhaust valve.
The valve apparatus provided between the cylinder and the head cover utilized in the conventional hermetic type compressor relating as above is provided for the intake/discharge of the refrigerant gas into/from the cylinder. Here, the suction valve, cylinder head, packing and exhaust valve are separately formed in a plate type to be sequentially assembled as the valve apparatus; otherwise, a reentrant groove is formed in the cylinder head out of the above elements to install the exhaust valve, etc.
In connection with the description of conventional examples of the valve apparatus having the foregoing two types of the hermetic type compressor, the example of installing the exhaust valve by forming the reentrant groove in the cylinder head will be described with reference to well-known U.S. patents.
As shown in FIG. 1, a valve apparatus of a hermetic type compressor in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,896 (hereinafter referred to as a "cited art no. 1") is provided with a reentrant groove 2 in a cylinder head 1 for seating the exhaust valve apparatus.
An exhaust hole 3 is formed to the reentrant groove 2, and an exhaust valve 4 is installed to the upper portion of exhaust hole 3 for closing exhaust hole 3.
A valve spring 5 is installed to the upper side of exhaust valve 4 for repositioning exhaust valve 4 from an open state to the closed state.
The valve spring 5 is joined with a retainer 6 fixed within reentrant groove 2 of cylinder head 1. Also, the above-stated elements are fixed by a clamp 7 installed to the upper side of retainer 6.
The above elements are placed between a head cover 8 and a cylinder 9, and a packing 10 is tightly provided between head cover 8 and cylinder head 1 for preventing a leakage of the refrigerant of high temperature and high pressure.
Undefined reference numeral 9a denotes a piston.
However, the valve apparatus of the hermetic type compressor according to the cited art no. 1 includes a plurality of elements such as exhaust valve 4, valve spring 5 and retainer 6 for fixing these. Consequently, a plurality of elements are required for constituting the valve apparatus, and the slits for insertedly receiving the clamp should be formed in cylinder head 1 to complicate the structure and impede workability.
Furthermore, since valve spring 5 is fixed by using retainer 6, the shape of valve spring 5 is distorted by exhaust valve 4 to deform retainer 6 when distorted valve spring 5 contacts retainer 6. Therefore, respective elements are not properly operated.
Meantime, as shown in FIG. 2, a valve apparatus of a hermetic type compressor in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,260 (hereinafter referred to as a "cited art no. 2") includes a suction valve plate 17, a cylinder head 11, an exhaust valve 14, a valve spring 15, a retainer 16 and a head cover 18, which are sequentially coupled to a cylinder (not shown).
Now, shapes of the above-mentioned elements will be described in more detail.
A suction valve 17a and an eject hole 17b are formed around the center of suction valve plate 17.
A reentrant groove 12 formed with a stepped first receiving portion 12a and second receiving portion 12b is formed in one central side of cylinder head 11.
First receiving portion 12a is shaped to be deeper than second receiving portion 12b, and an exhaust hole 13 is formed in the center of first receiving portion 12a.
Then, the exhaust valve 14 and the valve spring 15 are successively seated to one inside of the first receiving portion 12a. Thus, the exhaust valve 14 opens/closes the exhaust hole 13 and valve spring 15 defines the opening/closing range of the exhaust valve 14.
A suction hole 11a which is opened and closed by suction valve 17a of suction valve plate 17 is formed to one outside of the reentrant groove 12.
The retainer 16 is fixedly installed to the second receiving portion 12b shallower than the first receiving portion 12a within the reentrant groove 12 of cylinder head 11 to be disposed to the upper side of the exhaust valve 14 and the valve spring 15, which are sequentially stacked within the reentrant groove 12 in advance.
At this time, the retainer 16 embedded into second receiving portion 12b is so firmly fixed to cylinder head 11 to exclude clamp referred in the above cited art no. 1.
Undefined reference numeral 18 denotes a head cover.
However, the valve apparatus of the hermetic type compressor according to the prior art disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,260 has a drawback such that the elements installed within the stepped reentrant groove 12 of cylinder head 11 are small in size but many in number which complicates the assembling operation.
In addition, since the shape of the center of retainer 16 fixed to cylinder head 11 is upwardly deformed by valve spring 15 when the valve apparatus is operated, valve spring 15 is stopped under the state of deviating a prescribed position. As a result, the opening/closing time of exhaust valve 14 cannot be suitably adjusted to cause a backward flowing and great re-expansion loss of the compressed refrigerant, so that the efficiency of the compressor is lowered.
Referring to FIG. 3, a valve apparatus of a hermetic type compressor in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,338 (hereinafter referred to as a "cited art No. 3") is formed with a reentrant groove 22 of a predetermined shape in a cylinder head 21 and an exhaust hole 23 within the reentrant groove 22.
A valve installing plane 25 for seating one end of an exhaust valve 24 for opening/closing the exhaust hole 23 is formed to the inside of the cylinder head 21.
A valve spring 26 having an upward inclination for defining the opening/closing range of exhaust valve 24 is provided to the upper side of a exhaust valve 24.
An extension portion 27' of a packing 27 disposed between cylinder head 21 and a head cover 28 is formed to the upper portion of the exhaust valve 24 and valve spring 26, which are sequentially placed within the reentrant groove 22.
An inward projection 30 is formed from an inner side of the head cover 28 toward the upper side of extension portion 27' of packing 27. By this structure, the exhaust valve 24 and one end of the valve spring 26 are fixed in the manner that extension portion 27' of packing 27 is pressed when head cover 28 is assembled with cylinder head 21.
More specifically, in order to fix the exhaust valve 24 and the valve spring 26 for maintaining them in the normal position, extension portion 27' of packing 27 is placed on the exhaust valve 24 and one end of the valve spring 26, i.e., on the end in opposition to a portion of the exhaust valve 24 which covers the exhaust hole 23, to be passively fixed by inward projection 30 formed to the head cover 28.
The cited art no. 3 has a construction that just exhaust valve 24 and valve spring 26 are installed to the reentrant groove 22 formed in cylinder head 21 without installing a retainer. Here, inward projection 30 is formed to head cover 28 to fix valve spring 25.
In the compressor according to the cited art no. 3 constructed as above, the number of elements installed within the reentrant groove 22 is decreased as compared with those of the cited art no. 1, but inward projection 30 is formed to head cover 28 instead for decreasing the elements installed within the reentrant groove 22 to passively fix exhaust valve 24 and valve spring 26.
For this structure, when the valve apparatus is assembled, it is not easy to perform the assembling operation for installing exhaust valve 24 and valve spring 26 within the reentrant groove 22 which is then joined with cylinder head 21 by interposing extension portion 27' of packing 27 to inward portion 30 of head cover 28 to the upper portion of exhaust valve 24 and valve spring 26. Moreover, inward projection 30 must be precisely shaped to accurately assemble head cover 28.
In addition to these, the retainer for defining the ascension of valve spring 26 is not provided to obstruct an efficient fixing of valve spring 26, and the ascension of valve spring 26 is not defined to be unable to restrict the ascending range of valve spring 26, thereby imposing too much stress to the fixing end which fixes valve spring 26.
Consequently, packing 27 pressed by head cover 28 and applied by a force resulting from the repeated ascension of valve spring 26 is easily damaged to make valve spring 26 and exhaust valve 24 not be fixed onto the normal position.
In FIG. 4, another example (hereinafter referred to as a "cited art no. 4") of a valve apparatus of a hermetic type compressor is formed by sequentially assembling a suction valve, a cylinder head, a packing and an exhaust valve, which are shaped as separately-provided plates. Here, a suction valve plate 36, cylinder head 38, an eject valve plate 40, packing 42 and a head cover 44 are successively assembled to be coupled by means of screws 45.
A suction valve 35 of a predetermined shape and an eject hole 36a are formed to suction valve plate 36.
A suction hole 38b and an exhaust hole 38a are respectively formed in cylinder head 38, and a suction hole 40b and an eject valve 41 of a predetermined shape are formed into eject valve plate 40.
Packing 42 is assembled to be interposed where the eject valve plate 40 becomes in contact with head cover 44, thereby preventing a leakage of the compressed gas.
At this time, eject hole 36a in suction valve plate 36 is formed to be opposite to exhaust hole 38a in cylinder head 38 to be communicated with each other.
Also, suction hole 38b of cylinder head 38, suction hole 40b of eject valve plate 40 and suction hole 42b of packing 42 are formed to be opposite to be communicated with one another.
Undefined reference numeral 32 denotes a piston, and reference numeral 33 screws for mounting a cylinder 34.
However, in the valve apparatus of the hermetic type compressor according to the cited art no. 4 described as above, eject hole 36a and exhaust hole 38a formed in suction valve plate 36 and cylinder head 38, which form the valve apparatus in one side of cylinder 34, are bulky which increases the dead volume. Thus, the efficiency of the compressor is degraded.

Valve apparatus of hermetic type compressor


Two types of structural elements each employable for a light diverging/converging device are disclosed. One is a double circuit diverging ferrule which comprises a first semicylindrical ferrule element, a second semicylindrical ferrule element and a cylindrical bushing through which both the ferrule elements are press-fitted. The other is a single circuit converging ferrule which comprises a first semicylindrical ferrule element, a second solid semicylindrical ferrule and a cylindrical bushing through which both the ferrule elements are press-fitted. Three types of light diverging/converging devices, i.e., a diverging ratio variable type 1.times.2 circuit light diverging/converging device, a diverging ratio variable type 2.times.2 circuit light diverging/converging device and a 1.times.2 circuit light diverging/converging device having a constant diverging ratio each of which is constructed by using the aforementioned structural elements are also disclosed. A 2.times.2 circuit diverging unit, a tree type light diverging/converging device and a star type light diverging/converging device are modified light diverging/converging devices. A method of producing each of the aforementioned structural elements is further disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a light diverging/converging device employable for an optical fiber communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a diverging ratio variable type diverging/converging device having no dependency on the wavelength of a light source wherein the end surface of an optical fiber comes in contact with the end surface(s) of an opponent optical fiber(s). Further, the present invention relates to a structural element such as a single circuit converging ferrule, a double circuit diverging ferrule or the like for a light diverging/converging device. In addition, the present invention relates to a method of producing a structural element for a light diverging/converging device such as a 1.times.2 circuit diverging unit or the like employable for a light diverging/converging device of the aforementioned type.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many kinds of light diverging/converging devices, each outputting optical power through a plurality of optical circuits branched from a single optical circuit while the initial power ratio is arbitrarily changed to 1:1 or the like, have been heretofore put in practical use for an optical fiber communication system.
With respect to each light diverging/converging device, it has been required that the diverging ratio hardly vary as a function of the wavelength of a light source, the device have few dependencies on the wavelength of the light source, the diverging ratio can selectively be determined with a high accuracy, a method of producing a structural element for the device can be practiced, and these structural elements can be produced with high efficiency on a mass production line.
Conventional light diverging devices and conventional light diverging/converging devices are typically classified by type in the following manner:
One of them is a thermally stretching type wherein two heated optical fibers are stretched to have a gradually reduced diameter while they come in close contact with each other and extend in parallel with each other in the longitudinal direction. Another one is a so-called block grinding type wherein V-shaped grooves are formed on one surface of a block, optical fibers each having a sheath removed therefrom are immovably placed in the respective V-shaped grooves with the aid of an adhesive, the optical fibers are subjected to plane grinding to such an extent that cores of the respective optical fibers are not exposed to the outside, and finally, the block thus prepared is assembled with an opponent block having the same structure as that of the first-mentioned one. It should be noted that an Evernescent effect is utilized for each of the aforementioned types.
However, the conventional diverging/converging device has a drawback in that its light diverging ratio largely varies dependent on the wavelength of a light source For this reason, the conventional diverging/converging device is not suitable for a multiple-wavelength type optical fiber communication system having a large capacity which is expected to widen its application fields in the near future.
In addition to the diverging/converging devices of the aforementioned types, a so-called optical fiber end surface connection type diverging/converging device is also known which is constructed such that end surfaces of two optical fibers longitudinally integrated with each other and each having a sheath removed therefrom on the diverging side of the device come in contact with a single optical fiber having a sheath removed therefrom on the converging side of the same.
Dependency of a diverging ratio of the optical fiber end surface connection type diverging/converging device on the wavelength of a light source is substantially equivalent to the characteristics of the optical fiber itself. For example, with respect to the wavelength of a widely used light source ranging from 800 to 1600 micronmeters, the dependency of the diverging ratio of the device on the wavelength of the light source is negligibly small. For this reason, the foregoing type light diverging/converging device is most suitably employable for the purpose of uniformly diverging and converging a plurality of multiple-wavelength signals each having a different wavelength.
Many proposals have been heretofore made with respect to a structure of a so-called optical fiber end surface connection type light diverging/converging device and a method of producing the same, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,666,541 and 4,720,161.
However, the conventional light diverging/converging device as proposed in this way has the following drawbacks.
When the light diverging/converging device of the aforementioned type is produced, it is usually anticipated that there arises a diverging ratio error after completion of an assembling operation associated with a production error inherent to the optical fiber itself as well as a machining error during a machining operation for bisecting an optical fiber having a sheath removed therefrom. For this reason, it is inevitably necessary to prepare means for properly correcting the diverging ratio after completion of the assembling operation. For example, in the case of an optical fiber core having a diameter of 10 micronmeters and a diverging ratio of 5:1, the diverging ratio largely varies within the range of 14:1 to 3.5:1 when the bisectioned plane of an optical fiber is dislocated by a distance of .+-.1 micronmeter. For this reason, the diverging ratio should be corrected after completion of an assembling operation. However, each of the hitherto proposed conventional light diverging/converging devices does not take into account the aforementioned problems at all.
In the case which an optical fiber core on the output side is designated by P and optical fibers on the diverging side are designated by P1 and P2 as shown in FIGS. 9(a), (9c) and 9(d), to assure that the diverging/converging device has a diverging ratio of 50:50, the optical fibers P1 and P2 are machined in the axial direction and then longitudinally integrated with each other such that each of them is bisectioned into two halves along the cut line m which extends through a central point 0 of the optical fiber P where the ratio of the area of the machined optical fiber P1 to the area of the machined optical fiber P2 is 50:50, as shown in FIG. 9(c). In addition, when the diverging/converging device has a diverging ratio of 80:20, each of the optical fibers P1 and P2 is bisectioned into two halves along the cut line n which extends in conformity with the ratio of the area of the optical fiber P1 to the area of the optical fiber P2 corresponding to the given diverging ratio, as shown in FIG. 9(d).
A single mode optical fiber core does not exhibit a uniform light propagation mode not only at the central part but also around the outer peripheral region thereof. Especially, it has an unstable zone around the outer peripheral region. On the other hand, a multi-mode optical fiber core is constructed such that its refractive index varies from the central part to the outer peripheral region. For example, in case that the single mode optical fiber core has a diverging ratio of 80:20, it should be bisectioned into two halves along the cut plane located away from the central axis of the optical fiber by a distance of 2.7 micronmeters. For this reason, the light propagation portion of the optical fiber core becomes very unstable within the very narrow range having a width of 2.3 microns as measured from the outer diameter, resulting in a serious problem appearing from the viewpoint of the light diverging principle.
In addition, it is substantially impossible to machine an optical fiber having a sheath removed therefrom wherein the optical fiber has a different diameter corresponding to the diverging ratio to be obtained.

Light diverging/converging device, structural element for said device and method of producing said element


An image projection apparatus includes a light modulation device that modulates light according to image data; a projecting unit that projects modulated light; an angle-of-view deriving unit that derives an angle of view at which modulated light is projected; a projection-direction changing unit that changes a projection direction from a first direction to a second direction; a projection-angle deriving unit that derives a projection angle between the first direction and a changed projection direction; a storage unit that stores image data; and an image cutting unit that generates cut-out image data by cutting a part of the image data based on the angle of view and the projection angle as image data projected from the first direction through the second direction, and the minimum variable angle is determined based on the angle of view and a size of an effective region of the modulated light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image projection apparatus and an image projection method for projecting an image on a projection medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A projection apparatus that projects, by driving a display device based on an input image signal, an image according to the image signal on a screen, a wall, or the like has been known. In such a projection apparatus, there is a limit in an amount of information that can be projected due to a limit originated in a mechanism that defines a direction of projection of a projecting unit equipped in the projection apparatus, or a limit in resolution of a display device.
Therefore, a projection apparatus has been developed that performs projection of an image by reducing an information amount of an image to be projected when the resolution of an image according to an input image signal is higher than the resolution of a display device equipped in the projection apparatus.
As a first example thereof, there is a projection apparatus that reduces the resolution of an image according to an input image signal to reduce the size (area) of an image to be projected to a projectable size (area) based on the resolution of a display device, and then performs projection of the reduced image. Moreover, as a second example thereof, there is a projection apparatus that cuts out a part of region from an image according to an input image signal, and projects only an image according to the cut out region. Among projection apparatuses of the latter example, there also is one that can project a whole image according to an input image signal by, so called, scroll that sequentially changes a region to be cut out and projected, or the like.
However, in the projection apparatus of the first example described above, while a whole image according to an input image signal can be projected, there is a problem that the quality of an image displayed on a projection medium is deteriorated due to size-reduction processing of an image based on reduction of the resolution. From another point of view, it can be said that the high resolution of an input image signal is wasted by the size reduction processing of an image.
Furthermore, although the projection apparatus of the second example described above can maintain the resolution of the image signal also in an image displayed on a projection medium, there is a problem that the projection apparatus of the second example cannot project a whole image according to the input image signal at a time.
On the other hand, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-43570, a projector is disclosed that detects an orientation and a position of a main unit, extracts an actual display image to be actually displayed from an original display image based on a result of the detection, and projects the actual display image, while changing a region to be extracted as the actual display image side to side and up and down inside the original display image by moving the projector upward and downward, and rightward and leftward by a user. According to the projector of Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-43570, a user can appropriately project only an image of a region wished to be projected as necessary by adjusting an orientation of the main unit relative to a projection medium, or a distance to the projection medium.
However, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-43570, because the orientation of the projector is detected by, for example, imaging a display image to be projected by a charge coupled device (CCD) as an imaging device, there has been a problem that the accuracy in the orientation detection can be dependent on the contents of the display image. For example, when a dark image such as a night scene is projected in a dark room, the detection of an orientation might be disabled. Moreover, because the orientation detection is performed by analyzing an image picked up by a CCD, there has been a problem that a delay occurs in reflection of a result of the orientation detection to the display image.

Image projection apparatus and image projection method for projecting cut-out image in a predetermined cycle


A cathode ray tube includes a tension mask attached to a rectangular mask frame assembly that has two long sides paralleling a central major axis thereof and two short sides paralleling a central minor axis thereof. The two long sides are disposed at generally a right angle with respect to the two short sides with each of the sides connected to form a continuous generally planar support frame having an inner and outer peripheral surface. The support frame is formed of a material having a first coefficient of thermal expansion and includes a detensioning member formed of a second coefficient of thermal expansion on the peripheral surface of at least one side of the frame to facilitate detensioning of the mask.

A color cathode ray tube, or CRT, includes an electron gun for forming and directing three electron beams to a screen of the tube. The screen is located on the inner surface of the faceplate panel of the tube and is made up of an array of elements of three different color-emitting phosphors. A shadow mask, which may be either a formed mask or a tension mask having strands, is located between the electron gun and the screen. The electron beams emitted from the electron gun pass through apertures in the shadow mask and strike the screen causing the phosphors to emit light so that an image is displayed on the viewing surface of the faceplate panel.
One type of CRT has a tension mask comprising a set of strands that are tensioned onto a mask support frame to reduce their propensity to vibrate at large amplitudes under external excitation. Such vibrations would cause gross electron beam misregister on the screen and would result in objectionable image anomalies to the viewer of the CRT.
The mask stress required to achieve acceptable vibration performance is below the yield point of the mask material at tube operating temperature. However, at elevated tube processing temperatures, the mask's material properties change and the elastic limit of the mask material is significantly reduced. In such a condition, the mask stress exceeds the elastic limit of the mask material and the material is inelastically stretched. When the tube is cooled after processing, the strands are longer than before processing and the mask frame is incapable of tensing the mask strands to the same level of tension as before processing. Another common problem with tension mask frame assemblies occurs when the mask strand material has a lower coefficient of thermal expansion than the mask support frame material. In such a case, tension on the mask strand increases during thermal processing causing more inelastic strain.
It is desirable to develop a mask frame assembly that allows tension masks to be effectively detensioned during the thermal cycle used to manufacture a CRT to mitigate stretching of the mask.

Color cathode ray tube having a detensioning mask frame assembly


A solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane for a polymer-electrolyte fuel cell is formed of a synthetic resin. The synthetic resin includes a main chain, and a hydrocarbon-based side chain. The main chain is formed as a film, and formed of a copolymer made from a fluorocarbon-based vinyl monomer and a hydrocarbon-based vinyl monomer. The hydrocarbon-based side chain involves a sulfonic group. The solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane exhibits a high strength and flexibility, but a low electric resistance, and can be produced at a reduced manufacturing cost. Thus, the solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane can be effectively applied to construct polymer-electrolyte fuel cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane for a polymer-electrolyte fuel cell, and a process for producing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A polymer-electrolyte fuel cell employs hydrogen and oxygen as a fuel and an oxidizing agent, respectively, and is considered a promising small-and-lightweight power source to be applied to automobiles, etc. Such a fuel cell comprises a solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane having opposite surfaces, a positive electrode disposed in contact with one of the opposite surfaces of the membrane, and a negative electrode disposed in contact with another one of the opposite surfaces of the membrane. Hydrogen is oxidized electrochemically at the negative electrode to produce protons and electrons. The protons are transferred through the solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane to the positive electrode, to which oxygen is supplied. Whilst, the electrons produced at the negative electrode flow by way of a load, which is connected to the fuel cell, to the positive electrode. At the positive electrode, the electrons react with protons and oxygen to produce water.
It has been known that the performance of a fuel cell depends greatly on the performance of the gas diffusion electrodes used as the positive and negative electrodes, and on the performance of solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane. The performance required for solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane is to permit as many protons as possible to flow. In order to establish the required performance, it has been known that it is important to introduce as many sulfonic groups as possible which are capable of imparting and ion-exchange capability to solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane.
A fluorocarbon-based resin, for example, Nafion (Trade Mark) and its derivatives, has been known as a few of the representatives of the solid-polymer-electrolyte membranes for the fuel-cell application. Nafion is based on a copolymer made from tetrafluoroethylene and perfluorovinylether, and is provided with sulfonic groups working as ion-exchanging groups.
However, solid-polymer-electrolyte membranes formed of Nafion, and the like, liquify when the sulfonic groups, working as ion-exchanging groups, are introduced into the membrane in an increasing quantity in order to decrease the electric resistance of the membranes. Thus, the sulfonic groups should be introduced into the membranes in a limited quantity. Moreover, as the quantity of the introduced sulfonic groups increases, the strength of the resulting membranes degrades. When the membranes have a low electric resistance, they suffer from a problem in that they break during operation of the fuel cells. Due to these reasons, membranes formed of Nafion, and the like, exhibit an ion-exchanging capacity of 1.1 milli-equivalent/g at the highest. Thus, it has been desired that the membranes be further improved in terms of ion conductivity.
Ion-exchange membranes formed of Nafion, and the like, have been put into practical applications in the field of brine electrolysis industry, and have been known to have a good chemical stability. However, Nafion, and the like, are very expensive, because they are fluorocarbon-based resins. Considering the application of polymer-electrolyte fuel cell to automobiles, it is required that the current cost of solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane formed of Nafion be decreased by about one-to-a couple of dozens to one-to-a couple of hundreds. If not, the fuel cell can hardly be believed to be put into practical applications.
There are other approaches for preparing solid-polymer-electrolyte membranes: namely; side chains, into which sulfonic groups can be introduced, are brought into base films by radiation-graft polymerization. For instance, styrene, or the like, is graft-polymerized into a Teflon (Trade Mark) membrane or a Teflon-based copolymer film, and thereafter sulfonic groups are introduced into the resulting graft-polymerized polystyrene chain. The solid-polymer-electrolyte membranes prepared by this process cannot contribute to attaining sufficient fuel cell performance because of the problems hereinafter described.
As described in Electrochimica, Acta 40,345 (1995), a fuel cell was prepared by using a solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane. The membrane was prepared by graft-polymerizing styrene onto tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene (i.e., FEP) copolymer film exposed to gamma radiation. Sulfonic groups were then introduced into the thus graft-polymerized copolymer film to prepare the membrane, and the resulting membrane was incorporated into a fuel cell. The literature reports that, immediately after operating the fuel cell, the membrane was decomposed, and thereby the sulfonic groups were eliminated. As a result, the internal resistance of the fuel cell was increased, and the performance thereof was deteriorated sharply even after operating its fuel cell for couple of dozens of hours. The literature also refers to the fact that the fuel cell lacks sufficient output performance because the membrane was inferior to Nafion in terms of ion conductivity. The literature further reveals that the inadequate chemical stability of the graft-polymerized polystyrene side chains resulted in the decomposition of the membrane under the operating conditions of the fuel cell.
In addition, other processes have been known for preparing polymer ion-exchange membranes, and are premised on the recognition that sulfonated polystyrene side chains have insufficient chemical stability. According to these processes, .alpha., .beta., .beta.-trifluorostyrene, one of fluorinated styrenes, is graft-polymerized into a tetrafluoroethylene polymer membrane or a tetrafluoroethylene-based copolymer membrane, and the graft-polymerized membrane is sulfonated to prepare a polymer ion-exchange membrane. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,303 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,685. These U.S. patents do not specifically describe the operating characteristics of the resulting polymer ion-exchange membranes which are applied to a polymer-electrolyte fuel cell. The inventors of the present invention, however, estimate that the membranes suffer from the following problems.
Firstly, fluorinated styrene or .alpha., .beta., .beta.-trifluorostyrene pushes up the manufacturing cost, because it is difficult to synthesize fluorinated styrene or .alpha., .beta., .beta.-trifluorostyrene. Thus, similar to the problem associated with Nafion, and the like, the cost problem hinders the polymer ion-exchange membranes from the application to solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cell.
Secondly, in the radiation-graft polymerization of .alpha., .beta., .beta.-trifluorostyrene, the reactivity is so low that .alpha., .beta., .beta.-trifluorostyrene can be introduced limitedly into the tetrafluoroethylene polymer membrane or tetrafluoroethylene-based copolymer membrane in an amount of 50% by weight or less. As a result, the sulfonic groups cannot be introduced into the graft-polymerized membrane in a large amount. Hence, in the application to solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cell, the membranes lack sufficient ion conductivity, similar to the membranes formed of Nafion, and the like. Thus, the membranes cannot solve the problems associated with the membranes formed of Nafion, and the like.
Thirdly, the membranes exhibit such a degree of flexibility that they are likely to break during preparation or in the operation of a fuel cell.

Solid-polymer-electrolyte membrane for fuel cell and process for producing the same


A computer-implemented method uses out-of-band data transmission to reduce overhead associated with data transmission between a client process and a server process in a computer system employing a request-response protocol. Initially, a data transmission connection is established between the client process and the server process using the request-response protocol. Thereafter, data is transmitted between the client process and the server process using the connection, and without using the request-response protocol to transmit the data.

The invention is directed to computing systems in which a client process communicates with a server process.
A computing system may include a client computer that communicates with a server computer over a network. In such a system, referred to as a distributed computing system, a client process (i.e., a process running on the client computer) causes a server process (i.e., a process running on the server computer) to perform an operation by sending a request to the server process over the network. The server process responds by performing the operation and returning any resulting data to the client process over the network.
Exchanges of requests and responses between the client and server processes may be made using the Remote Procedure Call ("RPC") protocol. The RPC protocol is discussed, for example, in "Microsoft RPC Programming Guide", John Shirley and Ward Rosenberry, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, Calif., 1995, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The RPC protocol permits the client process to communicate with the server process by making a procedure call to the server process. RPC software running on the client computer automatically transmits the procedure call to the server computer. RPC software running on the server computer receives the procedure call and initiates a response by the server process. The RPC software then returns the results to the client computer.


An offset errors of a quadrature modulator is corrected. A device including a first correction signal output unit (50) for outputting a first correction signal based upon a local signal (phase: 0°) from a 180°-phase amplifier (27) or a phase shift local signal (phase: 180°) from a 180°-phase amplifier (23), a second correction signal output unit (60) for outputting a second correction signal based upon an orthogonal local signal (phase: 90°) from a 180°-phase amplifier (37) or an orthogonal phase shift local signal (phase: 270°) from a 180°-phase amplifier (33), and a correction signal output unit (70) for outputting a correction signal based upon the first and second correction signals, wherein a correction signal is further added to outputs from an I signal mixer (42) and a Q signal mixer (44) by an adder (46) resulting in correcting offset errors of the quadrature modulation.

Conventionally, there has been used a quadrature modulator for the quadrature modulation of an I signal and a Q signal, namely baseband signals. A quadrature modulator is provided with an I signal multiplier which receives the I signal, a Q signal multiplier which receives the Q signal, and an adder. The I signal multiplier multiplies the I signal and a local signal for the I signal, and outputs a result of the multiplication. The Q signal multiplier multiplies the Q signal and a local signal for the Q signal (signal obtained by shifting the local signal for the I signal by 90 degrees), and outputs a result of the multiplication. The adder adds the output of the I signal multiplier and the output of the Q signal multiplier, and outputs a result of the addition. The output of the adder is an RF (Radio Frequency) signal obtained as a result of the quadrature modulation of the baseband signals.
However, the quadrature modulator presents initial offset errors. Namely, the RF signal presents errors in the phase and the amplitude.
In order to eliminate the errors in the phase and the amplitude generated in the RF signal, a patent document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-69097) describes a configuration where one quadrature modulator is additionally provided to eliminate the errors. Namely, an output of the quadrature modulator used for the error elimination is added to an output of the quadrature modulator used for the quadrature modulation to eliminate the errors in the phase and the amplitude generated in the RF signal.
However, upon using the above error elimination method, it is necessary to use two quadrature modulators. The multiplier provided for the quadrature modulator is expensive, and a cost to eliminate the errors thus increases accordingly.
In view of the foregoing problem, an object of the present invention is to correct offset errors of a quadrature modulator and the like without additionally providing a quadrature modulator for error elimination.

Error correction signal generating device and orthogonal modulator equipped with the error correction signal generating device


The present invention provides a process for the preparation of pesticidal fluoroolefin compounds having the structural formula I ##STR1## The present invention also provides intermediate compounds which are utilized in the process of this invention.

Fluoroolefin compounds which are useful as pesticidal agents are described in WO 94/06741 and GB 2,288,803-A. Those patent applications also describe processes for the preparation of fluoroolefin compounds. However, those processes are not entirely satisfactory because they require the use of Grignard reagents, alkali metal compounds and transition metal catalysts. In addition, those processes produce the fluoroolefin compounds in relatively low yields.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a novel, effective and efficient process for the preparation of pesticidal fluoroolefin compounds which does not require the use of Grignard reagents, alkali metal compounds and transition metal catalysts.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide intermediate compounds which are useful for the preparation of pesticidal fluoroolefin compounds.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the description below and the appended claims.

Process and intermediate compounds for the preparation of pesticidal fluoroolefin compounds


A fuel ignition system and method of making the same are provided, the system having a unit for detecting when an igniter has been heated to ignition temperature, the detecting unit comprising a receiving member for receiving at least some of the electrons emitted from the heated igniter and an electrical circuit for determining from the received electrons an emission rate of the electrons and for operating a fuel feeding device to feed fuel to a burner only when the determined emission rate is at a certain level that proves that the igniter is at ignition temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new ignition system for a burner means and to a new method of making such a fuel ignition system.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to provide a fuel ignition system for a burner means comprising an igniter, means for heating the igniter to ignition temperature thereof whereby the igniter emits electrons therefrom in relation to the temperature thereof, feeding means for feeding fuel from a source thereof to the burner means, and detecting means for detecting the condition of the igniter and being operatively associated with the feeding means to feed fuel to the burner means only when the detecting means detects that the igniter is at ignition temperature. For example, see the U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,136 to Perl, which disposes a silicon carbide igniter in series with the heat motor of a gas feeding valve so that as the igniter reaches ignition temperature, the resistance to current flow therethrough decreases whereby the current flow through the electrical heater means of the gas valve increases to increase the output temperature thereof to open the gas valve when the igniter is at ignition temperature.
It was found according to the teachings of this invention that the silicon carbide igniter utilized in the prior known ignition system actually emits electrons with the rate of emission of the electrons increasing as the temperature of the igniter increases. However, it is applicant's belief that such emission of electrons has never been used to determine when the igniter is at ignition temperature.
It is also known that a diode tube has a cathode therein which when heated will emit electrons which can be collected by a plate disposed spaced therefrom so as to develop a DC voltage that has a magnitude that is in relation to the amount of electrons being emitted by the cathode. For example, see pages 472-479 of the second edition of Basic Electronics authored by Bernard Grob and published by the McGraw-Hill Book Company with Copyright dates of 1959 and 1965 therein.

Fuel ignition system and method of making the same