A coin dispenser is disclosed which provides an agitator in the form of a rotatable plate having a surrounding ring which is used to agitate the coins so that the coins are constantly agitated as coins are being dispensed. A unique exit construction to minimize the dispensing of double coins and the jamming of coins at the exit location is also provided. A floating intermediate member is provided between the rotatable plate and reservoir which can move during dispenser operation to help prevent coin jamming at the reservoir/rotatable plate interface. The flow of coins to the rotatable plate may be controlled by a coin/token weight actuated pivoting reservoir.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a coin/token dispensing unit which may be used with a slot machine for dispensing coins or tokens under certain predetermined payout conditions. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a coin/token dispensing unit which reduces the possibility of coin jamming during operation.
2. Brief Discussion of the Prior Art
Coin/token dispensing units are well known in the art and typically include internal coin agitators designed to keep the coins/tokens moving to thereby prevent jamming during a coin dispensing operation. One known coin agitator, for example, is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,331 which discloses a star-shaped coin agitator. Although the star-shaped agitator has been widely used, a coin dispenser using it is subject to several problems including: coins do not receive enough agitation and no coins are pushed up along a coin moving plate, coins stack up and jam between the moving plate and a stationary reservoir and the agitator picks up coins as it stirs and throws extra coins into an exit which jams. The consequence of a coin/token jam is that the coin/token dispenser and associated equipment are taken out of service until an operator manually stirs the coins/tokens and/or otherwise frees the jammed condition.


A hydraulic pressure amplifier has a hydraulic motor for driving a single cam and follower in a piston chamber. A number of conduits and chambers with automatically actuated valves controlling the flow between them are provided, such that, in operation, low pressure fluid introduced into the device to drive the motor will be automatically increased in pressure for discharge-.

In the prior art as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,952,516 and 4,366,673 issued to Ellisworth W. Lapp, there is shown a portable manually operatable pressure amplification device for increasing the pressure from a low pressure source, such as that found on a utility truck, to a hand-held, ,high pressure actuated tool, such as a crimping tool used by a utility lineman. In such devices, it is known to have supply and return low pressure lines, as well as high pressure lines to the tool. The pressure in such devices is controlled by an adjustable pressure relief valve. The devices shown in these patents use a complicated arrangement which includes a high pressure axial plunger pump with a cam and a multiplicity of actuating arms in a plurality of holes; as well as a rotary scavenging pump to aid in removing the oil when the plunger of the crimping tool is on the return stroke. There is also a four-way valve to control the flow of fluid from the high pressure device to and from the tool.


Provided is a blind spot detection module, including: a light source module linked with a sensor signal for detection of an object in an area behind a vehicle to emit light; and a reflector module including a warning optical pattern for transmitting light emitted from the light source module, wherein the light source module comprises a light guide member adopted to receive a light emitting element and to guide light to the reflector module.

In general, a blind spot detection system is a system intended to increase convenience of a driver by giving the driver a warning when an obstacle is found in the dead angle area of a rear side of a vehicle during driving, or when there is the risk of colliding with an obstruct in a blind zone upon the lane change of a vehicle or the risk of collision resulting from a lane change of another vehicle that approaches the vehicle at high speed from a rear side of left and right seats.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the blind spot detection system has a sensor 2 installed at a rear side of a vehicle 1, wherein the sensor 2 detects a blind spot detection (BSD) zone, a lane change assist (LCA) zone, and a rear pre-crash (RPC) zone, and notifies drivers of approaching vehicles from these zones using a warning light.
As the structure of a rear cross-traffic warning light transmitting a warning signal from the sensor 2, the structure illustrated in FIG. 2 has been commercialized.
Referring to FIG. 2, when a detection signal is transmitted from the sensor via a wire 40, a warning signal is transmitted to a light source 30 formed in an inner portion of a reflective instrument 10 via a connector 50.
In this case, the structure is implemented such that, when light is emitted from the light source, the light reflected on a surface of the reflective instrument 10 penetrates an optical sheet 20 so that the warning signal can be transmitted to the outside by projection of a part of the light.
However, the structure as illustrated in FIG. 2 is mainly installed inside a side mirror of a vehicle, or a reflective mirror in an inner portion of the vehicle, and in this case, a space for receiving the reflective instrument 10 capable of securing reflection is needed. Thus, there are many limitations in forming a thickness of the entire instrument because such a space should be secured.
Moreover, when optical patterns are formed in an area where the light penetrates the optical sheet 20, merely reflection light is transmitted. Thus, since uniformity of the light cannot be secured, it is problematic in that uniform light may not be appropriately provided to the optical patterns.
In particular, it is problematic in that light efficiency is remarkably reduced because merely reflection light is implemented due to a very large inner space of the reflective instrument 20.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and a device for managing a computer network, especially a technique for ensuring the security of a network. A computer network system in which computers are connected to each other through transmission lines, each computer stores the data which constitutes a moving type software exclusively used for security and transmitted together with a message when the computer transmits the message to another computer of the system, and executes the moving type software by using the stored data upon receiving a message from another computer.

With development of open and global environments of computer communication such as the Internet, there occur an increasing number of unjustified practices, for example, to steal a glance at communication data or to falsify the data. Moreover, when a countermeasure is devise for an injustice, there immediately appears another trick for the injustice. Namely, there occurs a spiral of injustice and countermeasure. Compared with the conventional system of the past in which business and operation are carried out in a closed network of a firm, there exists an increased number of chances of unknown injustices in the system of today using the open environments. Consequently, there has been desired a new countermeasure which is not associated with a simple extension of the prior art. Turning out eyes to the immune system of the human body, the immune system prevents quite a large number of bacteria and viruses from entering the human body although there exist some exceptions. Additionally, even there appears an unknown bacterium or virus not existing in the space at present, the immune system can anyhow cope with such bacterium or virus. Assuming the human body to be a computer network and the bacteria and viruses to be injustices of various tricks, it is to be appreciated that there is required an immune system for the network. That is, it is desired to implement a function, like the immune system of the human body, to cope with a large number of unknown injustices taking place in the computer network.
An article "A Biologically Inspired Immune System For Computers" written by Jeffrey O. Kephart and published from MIT Press in 1994 has disclosed heretofore a method of detecting and coping with injustices in a computer network.
FIG. 9 shows a conventional method. In FIG. 9, reference numerals 1001 to 1018 respectively indicate computers each including a communicating function.
Assume that a computer virus enters the computer 1001 at time 1 and is rejected, and hence the computer 1001 is immune to the computer virus. In the immunized state, the computer retains a state in which the computer memorizes associated information to immediately cope with another invasion of the same computer virus. In this situation, the computer 1001 sends a "sterilization signal" to the computers 1002 to 1006 adjacent thereto. The sterilization signal notifies that the computer of the transmission source is infected with the computer virus and includes a scanning symbol string and restoring information useful for the receiving computer to detect and cope with the computer virus. Assume that among the computers 1002 to 1006 having received the sterilization signal, the computers 1002, 1004, and 1006 have already been infected with the computer virus. Furthermore, it is assumed that the computers 1007, 1008, 1011, 1013, and 1018 have also been infected with the computer virus at time 1.
At time 2, the computers 1002 to 1006 beforehand infected with the computer virus repulse the virus in accordance with the sterilization signal to obtain immunity against the virus. Thereafter, the computers 1002 to 1006 further send the sterilization signal to the adjacent computers. Although the computers 1003 and 1005 not infected with the virus obtain immunity against the virus in accordance with the sterilization signal, these computers do not further send the sterilization signal to the adjacent computers.
In this method, if the speed of propagation of the sterilization signal through the network is higher than the infection speed of the computer virus, it is possible to prevent infection of the computer virus to some extent.
However, the known example is attended with the following drawbacks or problems.
First, when two or more points are infected with the computer virus in an initial stage, the method cannot satisfactorily cope with the infection of the virus. For example, if the infection takes place in the computer 1010 in addition to the computer 1001 in FIG. 10, the sterilization signal from the computer 1001 is not passed to the computer 1010 and hence it is impossible to repulse the virus in the computer 1010. As a result, there exits a fear that the computer virus infected from the computer 1010 possibly invades the network via another adjacent computer beyond the computer 1010. Namely, although the computer virus is detected in the computer 1001 as the first virus infection place and the countermeasure is thus known, it is impossible to sufficiently utilize information of the event for the prevention of infection with the virus.
Second, the sterilization signal is not completely reliable. For example, the computer 1002 is invaded by the computer virus at time 1 and is hence partly unreliable. It cannot be confirmed at time 2 that the computer 1002 is completely recovered. The computer 1008 operates in response to the sterilization signal declared by the computer 1002. Actually, however, the computer 1002 is not yet completely recovered at this point, and hence there is a fear that the computer 1002 sends an incorrect "sterilization signal" to deteriorate the overall network, which is not the object of the signal. In a paragraph of the conclusion of the article above, this point has been described as a problem to be solved in the future.
Third, consideration has been given only to injustices of computer viruses. For example, an attempt of an unauthorized access from an external device to the computer has not been taken into consideration. Such an injustice other than the computer virus cannot be sufficiently coped with by the transmission of the sterilization signal. Depending on cases, it is necessary to transmit a countermeasure software for its execution. Moreover, if a "suppression signal" to suppress operation at appropriate timing is not supplied to the countermeasure software, there possibly increases the chance of runaway of the software or the like to damage normal functions. However, this point has not been described in the above article.
Fourth, the method provides only insufficient quarantine for data from an external network. Heretofore, software called a firewall is installed in a place to be connected via the external network; alternatively, when a magnetic disk or a compact disk is mounted, there is introduced a vaccine software to prevent a program conducting injustices from entering the associated computers. However, in the present stage of art, there exists neither means to confirm reliability of the setting of the firewall nor means to guarantee management in which the latest vaccine software is activated in each computer.
Fifth, the quarantine is insufficient for data having possibility of injustice. The conventional vaccine software (fixed type security dedicated software) detects, in accordance with past instances of sufferings, a virus by use of a data layout characteristic to data when the virus is parasitic on a file system or a memory. In consequence, it is impossible at present to detect injustices caused by a virus of a new type.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of and a device for managing a computer network capable of coping with simultaneous invasion of computer viruses at a plurality of positions of the computer network.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of and a device for managing a computer network capable of ensuring the reliability of a security software.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of and a device for managing a computer network capable of suppressing a possible runaway of a security software.
Further another object of the present invention is to provide a method of and a device for managing a computer network capable of improving safety for data from an external network.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of and a device for managing a computer network capable of immediately detecting outbreak of a computer virus of a new type.

Method and a device for managing a computer network


The present invention relates to a mail server, a mail reception device and the like of a mail system for mutually performing transmission and reception of a mail between mobile devices or personal computers (PCs) through mediation of a mail server, which construct a mail system for significantly alleviating labor for a user on changing a mail address and for reducing network traffic. The mail server receives a change of the mail address of a user device and manages history of the mail address of the user device, receives a mail destined to a destination device from a mail transmission side device, and attaches the history of the mail address of the mail transmission side device to the received mail so as to transmit the mail having the history attached thereto to the destination device.

In recent years, there has been worldwide diffusion of a system for transmitting and receiving an e-mail via a network such as the Internet or an LAN (Local Area Network). A PC, a cell-phone and the like are heavily used as devices for transmitting and receiving the e-mail. This system normally has a mail server intervening between a transmission side device and a reception side device of an e-mail. The e-mail transmitted from the transmission side device is once stored in a mail server and is then transmitted to the reception side device from the mail server.
Normally, each individual device has a mail address unique to it, and the mail address is managed by the mail server of the system to which the device subscribes. A user of each individual device sometimes needs to change the mail address of the user's own device from a viewpoint of a measure for junk mail rejection for instance. This mail system is configured to allow the mail address of the device to be changed.
Here, as for the user who has changed the mail address of the user's own device, it is conventionally necessary to notify the devices of persons concerned including friends and business partners who are likely to transmit an e-mail to the user's own device of the change of the mail address and a new mail address thereof after the change so as to have the persons concerned recognize the change of the mail address. This work normally requires considerable labor. And those who have received the notification need to accurately register the new mail address with an address book or accurately update the address book each time new mail addresses are notified by various parties. This management of the mail address is considerably burdensome.
To alleviate this burden, Patent Documents 1 and 2 make a proposal that, upon receiving the notification of change of the mail address, the address book of the reception side device is automatically updated with a new mail address after the change. Patent Document 3 makes a proposal to intensively manage a telephone directory with a database and notify each personal telephone from a database device upon a change of a telephone number so that each personal telephone automatically updates the telephone directory stored therein with the telephone number notified of.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-139164
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-356984
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-196771

Mail server, mail reception device, mail server program storage medium, mail reception program storage medium, mail mediation method, and mail reception


A temperature sensor includes a membrane supported by a substrate and a circuit having elements for a substrate electrical resistance indicative of the temperature of a substrate and a membrane electrical resistance indicative of the temperature of a membrane. The substrate resistance and the membrane resistance are arranged in a bridge configuration to facilitate measurement of a differential voltage responsive to temperature change. The resulting temperature signal includes a first varying portion and a second varying portion. A controller receives a temperature signal from sensor, eliminates the second varying portion and generates a temperature value based on the based on the first varying portion. In this manner, the sensor provides an improved, fast response to changes in the surrounding temperature.

This invention relates to a temperature sensor bridge apparatus and an algorithm for processing signals therefrom. Temperature sensors with fast response-time are desirable for a number of applications. A conventional approach for fast temperature sensing a micromachined MEMS device with a low thermal mass membrane where the temperature detector is located. The detector typically responds very quickly during the initial phase of a thermal event, followed by a much slower phase that is representative of the slower dynamics of the bulk of the silicon device. Unfortunately, the slower response due to the bulk of the silicon impedes detection of the faster dynamics.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide an approach whereby the fast response component is detected and extracted through a novel use of a temperature detector bridge and associated electronics.


A display device for displaying images based on video signals includes a timing signal generating circuit for generating a timing signal, a sampling signal generating circuit for generating a sampling signal at the timing corresponding to the timing signal, and a sampling circuit for sampling a target signal during a sampling period set by the sampling signal and outputting the sampled target signal. The sampling circuit is connected to the timing signal generating circuit so that test output obtained by sampling a test target signal during the sampling period set by the sampling signal corresponding to a test timing signal generated by the timing signal generating circuit can be input into the timing signal generating circuit, and the timing signal generating circuit controls the relative output timing between the timing signal and the target signal under the control based on the test output input.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technology of sampling signals from sampled target signals using sampling signals. Display devices may be taken as a specific example to which this technology can be applied.
2. Related Background Art
The technology of sampling signals from sampled target signals using sampling signals is known. For example, in the field of display panel devices for displaying images, the technology of sampling signals corresponding to a specific pixel from video signals as sampled target signals is known.
Upon sampling, exact sampling cannot be performed unless a sampling signal for determining the timing of sampling a signal from sampled target signals must be transmitted in a certain timing relation to the sampled target signal. The technology of adjusting the timing of the sampling signal is known so that exact sampling can be performed.
Japanese patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-146919 discloses a technique for automatically determining the optimum timing of a horizontal clock signal by feeding one of created horizontal sampling signals back to a clock phase controller to determine a phase lag between the horizontal clock signal and the horizontal sampling signal as a propagation delay of a horizontal sampling signal generating circuit and a delay time of the signals traveling between timing signal generating means and an EL panel.


An aluminum alloy member including a sheet-like aluminum alloy member having ends joined by friction stir welding, and forming an anodic oxidation coating on a weld front surface or a weld back surface, the aluminum alloy member including 0.3 to 1.5 mass % of Mg, 0.2 to 1.2 mass % of Si, 0.5 mass % or less of Cu, and 0.2 mass % or less of Fe, with the balance being Al and unavoidable impurities, Fe-containing second phase particles having a particle size (circle equivalent diameter) of more than 1 μm, among second phase particles dispersed in a matrix of the aluminum alloy member, having an average particle size of 5 μm or less.

The invention relates to an aluminum alloy member that is used for joining the ends of a sheet-like aluminum alloy member by friction stir welding, and forming an anodic oxidation coating on the weld front surface or the weld back surface. More specifically, the invention relates to an aluminum alloy member that is used to produce a vehicular wheel or a housing.
A vehicular wheel and a housing are generally formed using an aluminum alloy member due to its light weight. For example, a vehicular wheel is produced by bending a sheet-like aluminum alloy member in the shape of a cylinder, integrally joining the ends of the sheet-like aluminum alloy member by friction stir welding, and forming each end of the resulting product by flaring. The surface opposite to the weld surface is used as a design surface, and an anodic oxidation coating is formed on the design surface in order to improve the corrosion resistance and the abrasion resistance of the design surface.
A housing is produced by integrally joining a side material and a covering material formed of an aluminum alloy member by friction stir welding, and smoothly facing the weld surface (including the weld) of the integrally joined side material and covering material. The weld surface is provided with an anodic oxidation coating in order to improve the corrosion resistance and the abrasion resistance of the weld surface, and is used as a design surface.
When producing a vehicular wheel or a housing as described above, the anodic oxidation coating formed on the design surface may show a difference in color tone between an area corresponding to the weld obtained by friction stir welding (i.e., an area including the weld and its peripheral area) and the remaining area (matrix (base material)) due to the difference in crystal grain size. In order to solve this problem, a technique that equalizes the crystal grain size by heat treatment has been proposed. However, even when the crystal grain size is equalized by heat treatment, the difference in color tone of the anodic oxidation coating may not be sufficiently reduced.
JP-A-2003-225780 and JP-A-2003-230970 disclose related-art technology.


A power supply apparatus, comprising: a driver connected to a power source voltage and configured to perform an ON/OFF operation of power supply to a load; a digital control circuit configured to perform an ON/OFF control of the driver; and an oscillator configured to output an oscillator signal for performing the ON/OFF control of the driver every constant period. The digital control circuit operates in a normal control mode in which the output operation of the oscillator signal by the oscillator and the ON/OFF operation of the driver are continuously activated, or in a low power control mode in which the output operation of the oscillator signal by the oscillator and the ON/OFF operation of the driver are intermittently activated.

Generally, in a power conversion apparatus, particularly, in an apparatus for performing a DC power conversion, a power supply apparatus that controls electric power for supplying to a load by an ON/OFF control of a switching element is well known.
The power supply apparatus may include an analog circuit system and a digital circuit system.
However, since the power supply apparatus of the conventional analog circuit system uses a switching power source realized by an analog circuit, it is difficult to change the setting of the power supply apparatus. Therefore, there is a problem when adjusting a ripple voltage or a switching frequency according to the specifications of the equipment to which power is supplied.
Further, since the power supply apparatus of the conventional digital circuit system uses a digital controller for a high frequency voltage regulator, which is implemented in a digital circuit, the power supply apparatus oscillates high frequency clock pulses. In particularly, when power consumption by the equipment to which power is supplied is small, since the power consumption of the digital controller is relatively large, there is a need to reduce the power consumption of the digital controller.

Power supply apparatus, power supply system and power supply method


In an angular gas cap on a wire thermal spray gun, a forward channel extends from a rearward channel at an oblique angle thereto so as to have a lateral directional component. The rearward channel at the nozzle has a channel axis parallel to the central axis of the nozzle and is offset from the central axis in a direction opposite the lateral directional component. Immediately upon termination of spraying the wire is retracted into the nozzle. A wire positioner includes a hollow collet with the wire extending therethrough. A linear actuator retains the collet against a wall to hold the collet open from the wire during spraying. Upon termination of spraying the actuator retracts to release the collet from the wall so the collet is sprung to engage the wire during the retraction. Upon startup the wire is advanced into the gas cap faster than normal spraying speed.

Thermal spraying, also known as flame spraying, involves the heat softening of a heat fusible material such as metal or ceramic, and propelling the softened material in particulate form against a surface which is to be coated. The heated particles strike the surface where they are quenched and bonded thereto. A thermal spray gun is used for the purpose of both heating and propelling the particles.
In one type of such gun (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 2,961,335, Shepard) the material is fed into a heating zone in the form of a heat fusible powder, generally in a size between about 5 and 150 microns. In another type a rod or wire is fed such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,818 (Charlop). The heating zone is formed by a flame of some type, such as a combustion flame where it is melted or at least heat-softened. A melted wire tip is atomized by an atomizing blast gas such as compressed air, and thence propelled in finely divided form onto the surface to be coated. The spray head includes a nozzle and a gas cap for providing an annular flame around an axially fed spray material.
Ordinarily a thermal spray gun has a spray head including the nozzle and gas cap mounted directly on a gun body for spraying in a forward direction, for example for coating a flat or external cylindrical surface. However, some applications involve spraying into restricted areas such as the inside of bore holes, for example cylinder bores of pumps or combustion engines. In such cases it is necessary to use an extension for the spray head adapted to deflect or otherwise direct the spray stream transversely so as to coat a side wall. Examples of extensions for wire thermal spray guns are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,122,321 (Wilson), 3,136,484 (Dittrich), 3,056,558 (Gilliland et al) and 3,085,750 (Kenshol). It may be seen that there are several basic types: one uses a blast gas for deflecting the spray stream, another has an angular gas cap to deflect the spray, and yet another combines these two.
In some circumstances there is a tendency for spray material from the wire tip to build up inside of the gas cap and/or on the nozzle face. This can occur in an ordinary straight-spraying gun, but particularly may occur with an extension in which the spray stream is deflected by an angular gas cap, as there is more enclosure of the spray in the gas cap. Also, the typically constricted spray region in a bore hole raises the temperature of the spray head, encouraging adhesion, and causes back deflection of spray particles.
A specific material with a buildup problem in the nozzle is molybdenum spray wire, with which oxidation has caused jamming in the nozzle, a condition to which U.S. Pat. No. 2,960,274 (Shepard) is directed by providing a wire guide insert in the nozzle. Buildup is also associated with starting and stopping of spraying, as in repetitive operations. A bulge or "mushroom" may develop on the wire tip under ordinary stopping conditions, which may jam or spit off and stick to the gas cap upon subsequent startup.
As generally shown in the aforementioned patents, a spray wire is driven by an electric motor or air-driven turbine. Further details of mechanisms including drive rolls for gripping and feeding the wire are illustrated in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,818. As also pointed out in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,150,949 (Stevens) and 3,378,203 (Stanton), the conventional practice is to coordinate starting and stopping of wire feed with simultaneous changing of gas flows.


The invention concerns a cell culture harvesting device consisting of a scraper head with a blade and a guide strip, the scraper head and the guide strip being connected with one another only by magnetic attraction. The magnetic attraction is achieved by the fact that one of the ends of the scraper head and the guide strip which are turned toward one another have a magnet and the other has either a magnet or a material which can be magnetized by the magnet of the respective counterpart. In this way, the scraper head and the guide strip can be moved synchronously and in parallel at a distance from one another. This has the advantage that the scraper head can be placed into the cell culture vessel before a cell culture is started and can be sterilized together with it thereby eliminating the risk of contamination due to a cell culture harvesting device later being placed into the cell culture vessel. Furthermore, the scraper head can have a net-like collection container arranged on it which collects the cells lifted off the growth surface of the cell culture vessel in a manner that avoids damage to the cells.

1. The Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a cell culture harvesting device with a scraper head having a blade with a cutting edge and a guide strip to move the scraper head.
2. Related Applications
Foreign priority benefits under Section 119 of Title 35 of the United States Code of German Utility Model Application No. 196 44 761.5, filed Oct. 29, 1996, incorporated herein by reference, are claimed for this application.
3. The Relevant Technology
Cell culture harvesting devices in the form of scrapers which have a scraper head and a rod-shaped stem, which is sometimes also withdrawable, are well-known and common laboratory equipment. Typically, the dimensions of the scraper head are adapted to the neck openings of common cell culture flasks, since it must be introduced into the cell culture vessel through this opening. Cultured cells grow and adhere to the curved wall of roller bottle-type cell culture vessels and to the flat-surfaced wall forming the floor in cell culture vessels having relatively flat parallel walls. For purposes of this disclosure, the term "floor" is used to refer to the growth surface of a cell culture vessel, i.e., the curved wall of roller bottle-type cell culture vessels or the flat-surfaced floor wall of other types of cell culture vessels, where cells grow and adhere and from which such cells need to be harvested, i.e., removed, by the cell culture harvesting devices in accord with the present invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, conventional cell culture harvesting devices operate to lift the adherent cells on the floor of the cell culture vessel off the surface of the floor by the scraper head which is moved by the guide strip.
For example, cell culture scrapers of this kind are described in the 1995-1996 laboratory catalog of the company Nunc GmbH under the numbers 179693 and 179707, and in the catalog of the company Baxter Diagnostics, Inc., Scientific Products Division under the numbers T4206-1, T4130-56, 57, 58, T4136-36, 37, and T4160-157. In some cases, the scraper head can be rotated with respect to the guide strip, so that a greater area of cell culture growth surface can be reached.
Cell removal devices for removing multiple cell cultures are also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,981. The devices are utilized with cylindrical cell culture vessels having a number of circular cell culture growth surfaces stacked at a distance on top of one another parallel to the cylindrical front surfaces. The cell culture scraper has at least one scraper head which is circular in cross section and which is placed onto the circular cell culture growth surfaces. Rotating motions of the cell culture scraper and/or the cell culture growth surfaces effects lifting of the cells off the growth surface or pushing of the cells to the edge of the growth surface. If the cell culture scraper has several scraper heads, then several cell culture growth surfaces can be processed/harvested simultaneously.
A problem encountered during cell culturing is the risk of contamination of the cells and/or the cell culture vessel during the process. To reduce the risk of contamination by introduction of cell culture scrapers of the previously described type into the cell culture vessel, it is necessary to use sterile scrapers. Therefore, some of these scrapers are offered already sterilized in individual packages, while others must be sterilized before use in a separate sterilization process. Introducing the scraper into the cell culture vessel and placing it onto the cell culture growth surface requires careful and precise handling on the part of the operating personnel, since otherwise the cells can easily be mechanically damaged or even destroyed due to insufficient care and attention. Especially with roller bottle-type cell culture vessels, cell culture harvesting with known cell culture scrapers is relatively ineffective because reaching all areas of the growth surface is technically very difficult and/or depends too much on the skill, care, and attention of operating personnel. Another problem with conventional cell scraper devices is seen in the fact that, depending on the scraper head's angle of attack, the cells which are lifted can accumulate in front of or behind the scraper head in such a way that the cells are distorted and/or damaged in the process.
Moreover, cell culture harvesting procedures are known which lift the adherent cells from the growth surface of the cell culture vessel by adding chemical loosening fluids. Typically, knocking or vibrating the growth surface is used to promote this process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,639 describes such a cell culture harvesting procedure and a device suitable for implementation thereof. According to this procedure, the cell culture is first placed in a flat cell culture vessel and is subjected to the action of an enzyme-containing solution which reduces the adhesion of the cells to the growth surface of the cell culture vessel. Next, the cell culture vessel is placed into the receptacle of an apparatus which effects movement of the prepared cell culture growth surface in the perpendicular and/or parallel direction to the growing surface. The movement can be produced by ultrasound. The receptacle with the cell culture vessel is also moved parallel to the plane of the growth surface in a direction which is opposite to the movement already described. Due to the actions of the enzyme solution and the multiple-direction movements of the cell culture vessel, the cells are dislodged such that these can be suitably removed and spatially concentrated by withdrawing the enzyme-containing solution containing the cells from the cell culture vessel. Manipulation according to the procedure described is labor-intensive and requires the special apparatus. In addition, the procedure is not very flexible due to the combination of chemical and physical methods.
Therefore, it is the task of the invention to eliminate the disadvantages encountered with conventional cell culture harvesting apparatus and methods. In particular, it would be an advancement to provide cell culture harvesting devices that are simple, cost-effective, and versatile and which minimize the risk of contamination and the potential for distorting and/or damaging cultured cells during the harvesting process.


To provide a PTFE laminated article having a sufficient adhesive strength and a PTFE backing sheet having a low permeability, in which a specific weight of a PTFE sheet can be maintained high. A specific weight of the PTFE sheet is maintained at 2.175 or more by carrying out thermo-fusing of the PTFE sheet and a film or sheet of heat-meltable resin such as PFA after interposing a layer of PTFE fine particles between them or by carrying out treatment for preventing a rapid temperature lowering after the thermo-fusing without interposing the layer of PTFE fine particles.

Various chemical solutions are widely used as a starting solution or a detergent not only in production of semi-conductors but also in various chemical plants. Among the chemical solutions, there are those being high in reactivity or being corrosive. For vessels and pipes for storing or transporting such chemical solutions, usually a laminated article called a backing sheet is lined on inner walls thereof. A surface of the backing sheet contacting a chemical solution must be made of a material being excellent in chemical resistance, and usually a sheet of fluorine-containing resin being excellent in chemical resistance, particularly a sheet of PTFE is used.
A typical backing sheet which has been used so far is one made by adhering a heat resistant woven fabric of glass fiber or carbon fiber to a PTFE sheet. However since it is difficult it allow the PTFE sheet to adhere to other material, a heat-meltable tetrafluoroethylene/perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer (PFA) film is interposed between the heat resistant woven fabric and the PTFE sheet and then heating is carried out for thermo-fusing at a temperature of not less than a melting point of PTFE. At the time of heating for thermo-fusing, PTFE is also melted unavoidably, and as a result, lowering of crystallinity, namely lowering of a specific weight arises. On the other hand, the higher the cystallinity (higher specific weight) of PTFE is, the lower the permeation of a chemical solution through PTFE is. Therefore it is better to avoid the heating which causes lowering of the crystallinity of PTFE. However if the heating is stopped in a state of the crystallinity of PTFE remaining to a certain extent, a required adhesive strength cannot be obtained even if PFA is interposed.
In the conventional backing sheet, unintentionally a sheet of PTFE having a lowered crystallinity and a small specific weight was used as a starting material, or even if PTFE having a high crystallinity and a high specific weight was used as a starting material, lowering of crystallinity of the PTFE sheet by heating was obliged to be accepted.
Anyway, there was neither a backing sheet nor a laminated article of PTFE having an average specific weight of not less than 2.175 and an adhesive strength of practicable level.


According to one embodiment, a noise reducing circuit includes a frame memory configured to frame-delay a video signal, a first arithmetic unit configured to subtract the frame-delayed video signal given by the frame memory from the video signal to output a first frame difference signal, a first rectangular wave removing unit configured to remove a rectangular wave component from the first frame difference signal to generate a second frame difference signal, a first pulse discriminating unit configured to receive the second frame difference signal, remove a continuous pulse component from the second frame difference signal, and output a single pulse component, and a second arithmetic unit configured to subtract the single pulse component from the video signal.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a noise reducing circuit, a noise reducing method, and a video apparatus which remove a rectangular wave component and a continuous pulse component from a noise component to output a single pulse component.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in an impulse noise removing apparatus, a large number of schemes which reduce impulse noise error detection in a moving image are known.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique which can determine the presence/absence of a single impulse noise component having a large change in luminance and included in a video signal.
[Patent Document 1] Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 5-145802

Noise reducing circuit, noise reducing method, and video apparatus


A bifunctional enzyme has been isolated and purified from carrots which has both aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities in the same polypeptide. The enzyme can be used to regulate lysine, homoserine, threonine, isoleucine and methionine content in plants. The DNA sequence encoding the bifunctional enzyme is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an isolated and purified bifunctional protein from carrots (Daucus carota L. cv Danvers) with aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities. The invention further relates to a nucleic acid fragment encoding a bifunctional protein with aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities.
2. Description of the Background Art
Plants can convert asparate to the amino acids methionine, threonine, lysine and isoleucine (J. Bryan, Biochemistry of Plants, (B. Miflin ed.) Academic Press, New York, pp. 403-452 (1980)). As these amino acids are essential in the diets of many animals, there is much interest in understanding the control mechanisms that determine the quantity of these essential amino acids in food sources. Enzymes control the pathways leading to the synthesis of the essential amino acids methionine, threonine, lysine and isoleucine. The isolation of clones of the enzyme genes from plants would enable one to determine the relationship between various forms of the enzymes, the number of genes involved, and the regulation of the pathway. Knowledge gained from the study of the amino acid pathway genes would allow the engineering of the pathway to alter the amino acid pool composition of plants used as protein sources.
Aspartokinase (AK.2) (E.C. 220.127.116.11) and homoserine dehydrogenase (HSDH) (E.C.126.96.36.199) catalyze steps in the pathway for the synthesis of lysine, methionine, and threonine from aspartate. AK.2 catalyzes the phosphorylation of aspartate to .beta.-aspartyl phosphate. It is the first enzyme of the pathway leading to the synthesis of the essential amino acids lysine, threonine, methionine and isoleucine in plants. .beta.-aspartyl phosphate is converted to aspartate semialdehyde, which can either be used to make lysine or it can be reduced by the enzyme homoserine dehydrogenase (HSDH) to homoserine. Through further enzymatic steps homoserine is converted first to phosphohomoserine and eventually to threonine and isoleucine or methionine.
In higher plants there are commonly at least two forms of AK which are differentially feedback inhibited by the end products lysine and threonine (See H. Davies et al., Plant Physiol 62: 536-541 (1978); B. Matthews et al., Planta 141: 315-321 (1978); B. Matthews et al., Z Naturforsch 346: 1177-1185 (1979); B. Matthews et al., Z Pflanzenphysiol 96: 453-463 (1980) and K. Sakano et al., Plant Physiol 61: 115-118 (1978)). HSDH.2 (EC 184.108.40.206) catalyzes the reversible conversion of aspartate semialdehyde to homoserine and is at the branch point leading to threonine, methionine and isoleucine synthesis.
Regulation of carrot (Daucus carota ) AK and HSDH activities from roots and cell suspension cultures has been studied extensively (See H. Davies, supra; B. Matthews (1978, 1979, 1980) supra; J. Relton et al., Biochim Biophys Acta 953: 48-60 (1988); K. Sakano Plant Physiol 63: 583-585 (1979); and K. Sakano, supra). HSDH has been purified to apparent homogeneity and characterized (B. Matthews et al., Plant Physiol 91: 1569-1574 (1989)). Two forms of HSDH have been identified in vitro: one sensitive to threonine inhibition and one insensitive. Carrot HSDH activity reversibility converts between a threonine-insensitive form in the presence of K+ and a threonine-sensitive form in the presence of threonine which possess distinctly different electrophoretic mobilities on PAGE gels stained for enzymatic activity. Three forms of aspartate kinase have been isolated from carrot: form I is strongly inhibited by lysine, form II is strongly inhibited by threonine, and form III is partially inhibited by both. The relationship between these three forms is not yet defined. Antibody to this HSDH has been examined for specificity and cross reactivity with soybean and E. coli (F. Turano et al., Plant Physiol 92: 395-400 (1990)).
These biosynthetic pathways in plants are similar to pathways found in bacteria (G. Cohen et al., Cellular and Molecular Biology (F. Neidhardt ed.) American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C., pp. 429-444 (1987); and G. Cohen, Amino Acids: Biosynthesis and Genetic Regulation (K. Hermann and R. Somerville, eds.) Addison-Wesley, Reading, pp. 147-171 (1983)). Many of the bacterial genes that code for the enzymes of the aspartate pathway have been cloned and sequenced (G. Cohen (1987), supra). Only one of the plant genes in this pathway has been isolated (dihydrodipicolinate synthase (T. Kaneko, J Biol Chem 265: 17451-55 (1990)), which catalyzes the first reaction specific to lysine synthesis).
In E. coli there are three genes coding for aspartate kinase and/or homoserine dehydrogenase. One, lysC, codes for a lysine-sensitive aspartate kinase (AKIII), is regulated by lysine and does not contain HSDH activity. The other two genes code for bifunctional AK-HSDH proteins (G. Cohen (1983), supra). ThrA is repressed by threonine and isoleucine and the enzymatic activity of AKI-HSDHI is inhibited by threonine. MetL is repressed by methionine, but the protein AKII-HSDHII is not responsive to end product inhibition. It is not known if the multiple enzyme forms in plants are encoded by separate genes or if these genes are subject to transcriptional or translational regulation.
In Bacillus subtilis (R. Bondaryk et al., J Biol Chem 10: 585-591 (1985); and N. Chen et al., J Biol Chem 262: 8787-8798 (1987)), Brevibacterium lactofermentum (Mateos et al., Nucleic Acids Research 15: 10598 (1987)), Rhodospirillum rubrum (P. Datta J Biol Chem 245: 5779-5787 (1970)) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (J. Rafalski et al., J Biol Chem 263: 2146-2151 (1988)) HSDH and AK activities reside on separate proteins encoded by separate genes.
Enzymes involved in the synthesis of the aspartate family of amino acids appear to be relatively low in abundance. Homoserine dehydrogenase has been purified to homogeneity from maize (T. Walter et al., J Biol Chem 254: 1349-1355 (1979)) and carrot (B. Matthews (1989), supra), while aspartokinase has been purified to homogeneity from maize (S. Dotson et al., Plant Physiol 91: 1602-1608 (1989)) and partially purified from carrot (B. Matthews (1978, 1979), supra). There have been no indications in the literature that these two enzyme functions reside on the same protein in plants. In most of the plant species studied multiple forms of AK and HSDH have been identified in vitro (J. Bryan, supra). These forms are distinguished by their sensitivity to feedback inhibition (in particular by threonine and lysine) and by their molecular weight and subunit composition. Because there are AK activities sensitive to lysine and threonine but HSDH activity is sensitive only to threonine, a common peptide was not suspected. Although HSDH activity is associated with both lysine- and threonine-sensitive AK, the ratio of activities is variable for reasons unknown at this time. In E. coli AKI-HSDHI both enzymatic activities are inhibited by threonine. The E. coli AKIII is inhibited by lysine or threonine. Because of these E. coli examples, an aspartokinase sensitive to lysine and associated with threonine-sensitive homoserine dehydrogenase appears to be inconsistent.
Other factors have prevented detection of these coincident activities. It has been observed that both AK and HSDH eluted off the gel filtration column at the same location but it was assumed that it was a simple case of coelution of two large, similarly-sized proteins. The purification protocol (Matthews (1989), supra) for HSDH had already been established before the protocol for AK. In the protocol for purification of HSDH from carrot suspension culture cells (Matthews (1989), supra), a heat denaturation step is utilized and activity of AK is lost after the heat denaturation step. Even though AK activity of the E. coli bifunctional AKI-HSDHI is lost after heating, the comparison was not made because a bifunctional protein in plants was not suspected.
Furthermore, in contrast to E. coli, not all bacteria have bifunctional AK-HSDHs. In Brevibacterium lactofermentum separate genes encode separate AK and HSDH proteins. The B. subtilis gene possesses two initiation sites to produce AKI and a truncated, but functional AKII protein (N. Chen, supra). In yeast, a gene encoding AK also has been identified (J. Rafalski, supra); this gene does not appear to encode HSDH. HSDH has been extensively examined in Rhodospirillum rubrum (P. Datta et al., J Biol Chem 240: 3023-3033 (1965); C. Epstein et al., Eur J Biochem 82: 453-461 (1978); and P. Datta (1970), supra) but there are no reports in the literature that this protein also contains AK activity.

Bifunctional protein from carrots (Daucus carota) with aspartokinase and homoserine dehydrogenase activities

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


An apparatus and a process for removing CO.sub.2 from a combustion exhaust gas, by effecting counterflow contact of aqueous alkanolamine solution with the combustion exhaust gas to absorb CO.sub.2 from the gas in the alkanolamine solution and effecting a further contact of the gas with either, condensate water formed by causing condensation of the gas after removal of CO.sub.2, or condensate water formed by causing condensation of the combustion exhaust gas directly after combustion of the fuel. The apparatus includes a tower (1), a first contact section (2) in the tower through which the exhaust gas flows upwardly in counterflow contact with the aqueous alkanolamine solution dispersed by a nozzle device (7) downstream of the first contact section (2), a second contact section (3) in the tower (1) downstream of the nozzle device (7) for effecting counterflow contact of reflux water from a spent absorbent liquor regenerating tower (28) with the gas after removal of CO.sub.2. The temperature of the aqueous alkanolamine solution to be supplied to the CO.sub.2 -removing tower (1) is adjusted in such a manner that the temperature of the exhaust gas at the entrance (4) of the CO.sub.2 -removing tower and that of the treated gas at the exit (5) of the CO.sub.2 -removing tower are the same.

The present invention relates to a process for removing carbon dioxide from combustion exhast gas, in particular, that uses an alkanolamine as the absorbent, and to an apparatus to be employed therefor.
In recent years, the so-called "greenhouse effect" due to increasing concentration of CO.sub.2, in the atmosphere has come to the forefront as an essential causal factor for the phenomenen of global climatic warming. Thus, it has become an international urgent theme to provide an effective countermeasure therefor, in order to realize protection of the global environmental condition. CO.sub.2 has many origins widespread over every field of human activity that uses combustion of fossile fuels. It is therefore an international trend to prescribe a more strict limitation on the amount of emission of CO.sub.2 into the atmosphere. Under these circumstances, there has been developing intensive research, in particular, in power plants which consume large amounts of consumption of fossile fuel, to achieve an effective technical measure of recovering CO.sub.2 by bringing combustion exhaust gas from boiler plants into contact with an absorbent, such as an aqueous solution of an alkanolamine etc., and to achieve a practical way for effecting storage of the recovered CO.sub.2 without exhausting it into the atmosphere.
Here, there may be employed as the absorbent for CO.sub.2, for example, aqueous solutions of alkanolamines, such as monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, methyl diethanolamine, diisopropanolamine and diglycolamine as well as mixtures of these amines. Among them, usually an aqueous solution of monoethanolamine (abbreviated hereinafter as MEA) is employed preferably in a form of an aqueous solution.
One typical example of an apparatus for effecting the conventional process for CO.sub.2 removal using an aqueous solution of monoethanolamine (MEA) as the absorbent is explained now with reference to FIG. 4 appended herewith.
The apparatus shown in FIG. 4, which may be employed primarily for removing CO.sub.2 from the combustion exhaust gas from a fire source using a hydrogen-rich fuel, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), consists essentially of a CO.sub.2 -removing tower 01, which comprises a lower packed section 02 for effecting an essential absorption of CO.sub.2 from the combustion exhaust gas by an MEA aqueous solution; an upper packed section 03 for effecting depletion of MEA content in the gas after having been treated in the lower packed section 02; an entrance 04 for the combustion exhaust gas supplied; an exit 05 of the final treated gas; a supply line 06 for the aqueous MEA solution; a first nozzle assembly 07 for spraying the MEA aqueous solution; a condensate accumulating tray 08, which may eventually be dispensed with, for receiving the condensate formed in the upper packed section 03; a circulation pump 09 for maintaining circulation of the condensate within the upper packed section; a heat exchanger 010 for effecting cooling of the condensate; a second nozzle assembly 011 for spraying the circulating condensate over the upper packed section 03; a discharge outlet 012 for discharging the spent aqueous MEA solution containing the absorbed CO.sub.2 out of the tower 01; and a feed blower 013 for boosting the combustion exhaust gas from a primary scrubbing stage into the absorption tower 01 via the entrance 04. The primary scrubbing stage consists essentially of a circulation system comprising a cooling section 015 for cooling the combustion exhaust gas supplied via a gas supply conduit 014 to effect condensing of the moisture content in the exhaust gas; a circulation pump 016 for circulating the condensate; a heat exchanger 017 for effecting heat exchange to cool the circulating condensate; and a nozzle assembly 018 for spraying the cooled condensate over the cooling section 015 to effect cooling and primary scrubbing of the combustion exhaust gas, and is provided with a condensate extracting line 019 for extracting the excessive amount of condensate out of the system.
The combustion exhaust gas from, for example, the boiler plant of a power station, having in general a temperature of 100-150.degree. C., is supplied first to the primary scrubbing stage, in which it is cooled in the cooling section 015 while forming a condensate which accumulates in its bottom and is employed as the cooling and scrubbing liquor sprayed from the nozzle assembly 018 under circulation by the circulation pump 016 with cooling by the heat exchanger 017, wherein a part of the condensate is continuously extracted out of the system via the extraction line 019. The combustion exhaust gas after having passed the primary scrubbing stage is supplied to the CO.sub.2 -removing tower 01 at the entrance 014 via a booster blower 013. The combustion exhaust gas supplied to the CO.sub.2 -removing tower is brought into contact with an aqueous MEA solution having a definite temperature and concentration supplied from the supply line 06 and sprayed from the first nozzle assembly 07 over the lower packed section 02 in counterflow to the rising gas, whereby the CO.sub.2 content in the combustion exhaust gas is removed by absorption by the aqueous MEA solution. The aqueous MEA solution containing thus the absorbed CO.sub.2 is discharged out of the CO.sub.2 -removing tower 01 via the outlet 012 and is then fed to a regeneration tower, not shown, for regenerating the spent aqueous MEA solution, from which the regenerated aqueous MEA solution is returned to the CO.sub.2 -removing tower 01 at the supply line 06.
On the other hand, the combustion exhaust gas which has been subjected to the CO.sub.2 removal in the lower packed section 02 flows up passing through a layer of the condensate accumulated on the condensate accumulation tray 08 into the upper packed section 03. The temperature of the gas entering the upper packed section 03 has been elevated by the exothermal reaction of absorption of CO.sub.2 with MEA effected in the lower packed section 02, so that the gas entering the upper packed section 03 has a higher content of vaporized MEA corresponding to the saturation concentration thereof in the gas at such elevated temperature. Therefore, the combustion exhaust gas which has thus been subjected to the CO.sub.2 removal should not be exhausted out to the atmosphere as such in consideration of the possible pollution of the atmosphere and the loss of MEA. Thus, the combustion exhaust gas having been denuded of its CO.sub.2 content in the lower packed section 02 is then treated in the upper packed section 03 in such a manner that a suitable amount of the condensate formed and separated in the upper packed section is sprayed over the upper packed section 03 through the second nozzle assembly 011 under circulation thereof by the circulation pump 09 through a cooling means (the heat exchanger 010) so as to effect contact of the cooled condensate with the rising gas in counterflow to each other to lower the temperature of the gas while at the same time to condense the water vapor together with MEA to decrease the MEA concentration in the gas, in order to prevent discharge of any harmful amount of MEA into the atmosphere.
The above example of the prior technique shown in FIG. 4 is employed primarily for firing stations using a fuel containing a substantial amount of hydrogen, such as LNG, capable of forming a sufficient amount of water vapor originated from the combustion of such a hydrogen-rich fuel for permitting use as the water source for building up the aqueous MEA solution and for cooling the combustion exhaust gas. The condensate thus formed is exhausted from the line 019 as excess water.
Alternatively, there has been proposed also a system in which the cooling of the combustion exhaust gas is effected using an externally supplied amount of water, which may be employed principally for boiler plants burning a fuel having high content of carbon, such as coal, heavy oil or so on. Here, it is, in general, unnecessary to provide the heat exchanger 017, as will be explained later on, but is only necessary to bring the combustion exhaust gas into contact with water held in circulation within the system to effect cooling of the combustion exhaust gas by the latent heat of vaporization of water. Here, an amount of fresh water should be supplied from outside, in order to replenish the amount of water lost gradually during the operation by giving off to the atmosphere by evaporation.
Though the prior art explained as above with reference to the appended FIG. 4 may be useful as such for a specific field of application, it possesses a disadvantage that the level of leakage of the absorbent, i.e. MEA, from the CO.sub.2 -removing tower into the atmosphere is still high, causing thereby a corresponding degree of atmospheric pollution and a larger loss of the expensive absorbent. In addition, it was recognized that ammonia was detected, though in a quite small amount, in the gas discharged out to the atmosphere from the exit 05 of the CO.sub.2 -removing tower 01 of the prior art apparatus. This ammonia may assumably be derived from a partial decomposition of MEA in the treatment system. It may also be possible for the reason therefor that the fuel would have had originally a residual ammonia content added in order to decrease the NO.sub.x level in the combustion exhaust gas. In any case, an occurrence of ammonia, though in a trifling amount, may be a further origin of unpleasant smell and bring about an emvironmental pollution when emitted to the atmosphere, so that it has to be removed from the gas before it is discharged out to the atmosphere. Here, it was a problem that the level of ammonia is quite low and, therefore it has to be removed at a sufficient efficiency.

Apparatus and process for removing carbon dioxide from combustion exhaust gas


A logic book for a programmable device such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) achieves improved radiation tolerance by providing notches in an implant well between adjacent transistors and fills the notches with complementary well regions that act as a barrier to charge migration. For example, a row of n-type field effect transistors (NFETs) is located in a Pwell region, while a row of p-type transistors is located in an Nwell region with portions of the Nwell region extending between the NFETs. More complicated embodiments of the present invention include embedded well islands to provide barriers for adjacent transistors in both rows of the book.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the fabrication and design of semiconductor chips and integrated circuits, and more particularly to a method of imparting radiation tolerance to a programmable logic device such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) having a design library which includes books of n-type and p-type semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits are used for a wide variety of electronic applications, from simple devices such as wristwatches to the most complex computer systems. A microelectronic integrated circuit (IC) chip can generally be thought of as a collection of logic cells with electrical interconnections between the cells, formed on a semiconductor substrate (e.g., silicon). An IC may include a very large number of cells and require complicated connections between the cells. A cell is a group of one or more circuit elements such as transistors, capacitors, resistors, inductors, and other basic circuit elements grouped to perform a logic function. Cell types include, for example, core cells, scan cells and input/output (I/O) cells. Each of the cells of an IC may have one or more pins, each of which in turn may be connected to one or more other pins of the IC by wires. The wires connecting the pins of the IC are also formed on the surface of the chip. For more complex designs, there are typically at least four distinct layers of conducting media available for routing, such as a polysilicon layer and three metal layers (metal-1, metal-2, and metal-3). The polysilicon layer, metal-1, metal-2, and metal-3 are all used for vertical and/or horizontal routing.
An IC chip is fabricated by first conceiving the logical circuit description, and then converting that logical description into a physical description, or geometric layout. This process is usually carried out using a "netlist," which is a record of all of the nets, or interconnections, between the cell pins. A layout typically consists of a set of planar geometric shapes in several layers. The layout is then checked to ensure that it meets all of the design requirements, particularly timing requirements. The result is a set of design files known as an intermediate form that describes the layout. The design files are then converted into pattern generator files that are used to produce patterns called masks by an optical or electron beam pattern generator. During fabrication, these masks are used to pattern a silicon wafer using a sequence of photolithographic steps. The process of converting the specifications of a circuit into a layout is called the physical design.
Due to the large number of components and the details required by the fabrication process, physical design of an integrated circuit is not practical without the aid of computers. As a result, most phases of physical design extensively use computer aided design (CAD) tools, and many phases have already been partially or fully automated. Automation of the physical design process has increased the level of integration, reduced turn around time and enhanced chip performance. However, full custom design and production of a circuit can still be very time-consuming and costly, so circuit designers have turned to a more flexible approach using programmable logic devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that contain standardized logic cells. One example of an ASIC is shown in FIG. 1. ASIC 2 has a plurality of input pins and a plurality of output pins, and further includes a variety of interconnected functional blocks placed on a substrate that are derived from the design library, including input/output (I/O) blocks, a core or microprocessor, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor (DSP), random-access memory (RAM), firmware or read-only storage (ROS), proprietary circuit macros (IP), and programmable logic. The programmable logic may be provided in the form of books 4 which contain rows of various semiconductor devices such as transistors and diodes, or other circuit elements such as capacitors and resistors, and can be used to create combinational gates such as AND, OR, NAND, NOR, and XOR gates as well as inverters, latches and more complicated logic structures.
FIG. 2 illustrates a typical construction for transistor books. The transistor book 4a of FIG. 2 has a first (upper) row of p-type field effect transistors (PFETs) located within a region of complementary (n-type) doping 6 (an implant well) referred to as an Nwell, and a second (lower) row of n-type field effect transistors (NFETs) located within a region of complementary (p-type) doping 8 referred to as an Pwell. Nwell 6 and Pwell 8 may extend vertically beyond the boundary of book 4a into adjacent books. The logic is programmed by applying a metallization layer that makes appropriate interconnections with the nodes of desired devices in the books.
One problem with this book construction is that, since each PFET shares the common Nwell 6 and each NFET shares the common Pwell 8, a radiation strike in either of these wells can affect multiple devices in that row, increasing the likelihood of a soft error. For example, one NFET device may be used in a latch to hold the true value of a bit and another NFET device in the same book may be used to hold the complementary (inverse) value of the bit, and a single radiation event can upset both NFET devices, causing the latch to change its logical state. The radiation may be, e.g., an alpha particle strike emitted from packaging materials or neutrons originating from cosmic radiation. The soft-error rate (SER) of a data processing system can exceed the combined failure rate of all hard-reliability mechanisms (gate oxide breakdown, electro-migration, etc.). Radiation tolerance has thus become a necessity for meeting robustness targets in advanced systems. All storage elements (random-access memory, latches, etc.) are highly susceptible to soft-error induced failures, but memory arrays are usually protected by error-correction codes (ECCs) while latches are usually not so protected. Soft errors in latches are accordingly the major contributors to overall system SER.
Information stored in latches may include control, status or mode bits. For example, a data processing system might provide different mode configurations for clock control logic, and clock control latches can account for a significant portion of a microprocessor latch count. These clock buffer modes are set at system power-on and often must maintain their logical value for days or months to ensure proper performance of the local logic circuits. However, the values can be upset during operation due to soft errors. An upset may be correctable by scanning in a new value, but systems may only allow input scanning in a limited manner such as at power-on, meaning that the system must be restarted if a clock control latch becomes incorrectly set. These reliability problems are particularly troublesome for harsher operating environments, such as aerospace systems where there is increased radiation (high-altitude or orbital space).
For transistor book constructions such as those shown in FIG. 2, it is impossible to isolate wells in a book for radiation tolerance due to vertical well sharing in automated ASIC methodology. Consequently, the only effective way to achieve superior radiation tolerance is by full custom placement, i.e., breaking up logic books into individual gates, which significantly increases the time and cost for design and production of the circuit. It would, therefore, be desirable to devise an improved ASIC book design which could provide the advantages associated with programmable structures but offer better isolation of localized semiconductor devices that might otherwise be affected by a radiation strike. It would be further advantageous if the book design could be implemented in a variety of relative sizes and work within existing ASIC methodologies.

Method for radiation tolerance by implant well notching

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of playing Keno in which the quantity of numbers drawn is increased by including the integer above and/or below each number drawn, for at least some of the numbers drawn. This effectively increases the quantity of numbers drawn without requiring any additional steps by the players or modification of ball drawing equipment. For example, after drawing 20 numbers, the respective integer above each of the first 5 drawn numbers can be included in the draw. Optionally these extra numbers can be treated differently from those drawn, for example by applying to an additional bonus wager.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to Keno games, and especially to variations that provide extra chances of winning.
2. Description of Prior Art
Methods for increasing the number of hits per Keno game were described in the prior art sections of the patents below. These include playing multiple draws on the same ticket, "Four Card" Keno, and "Way Ticket" Keno. As stated in column 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,313: "The only limitation on the number of "ways" that a player may create on a Keno ticket is the imagination and creativity of the player as well as the player's bankroll." However, none of the described prior methods is the same as the present Keno method, and they do not suggest or imply it. The present method does not require additional "ways" of marking a ticket, nor does it require imagination and creativity of the players.
Playing multiple games on the same ticket requires multiple draws, which the present method does not. Other methods, such as "Four Card" Keno and "Way Ticket" Keno, require the player to select different sets of numbers for each of multiple games to be played on one draw. The present invention does not require either of these additional steps.
Another somewhat related game is a ticket drawing, such as at a party or dance, in which participants buy tickets. Stubs or duplicate tickets are shuffled and drawn. The matching ticket holder gets a percentage or all of the pot, depending on the game. Tickets may be sold in multiples, for example 5 tickets for a dollar, to give the illusion of an increased chance of winning. Since everyone buys the same multiples of tickets, the probability of winning on the first draw is the same as if the tickets were sold singly. However, if multiple draws are made on the remaining stubs for additional prizes, a player can win multiple times if multiple tickets are sold.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,290 (Roethel et al. Nov. 13, 2001) "Extra Ball Keno Game" discloses a method of playing Keno in two passes with a pool of 80 numbers. A player selects up to 10 numbers. Then there is a random draw of 20 numbers from the pool. A first quantity of hits is determined. If there are any hits, a second drawing equal to the amount of hits is taken from the remaining pool. These additional numbers are also matched to the original selection, and the player can be awarded based on the total hits, or the award can be based on the original hits plus a bonus for any additional hits. Roethel's method potentially increases the amount of numbers drawn, and thus increases the chance of hits, but it uses a different method that requires more steps than the present method.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,313 (Moody Apr. 2, 2002) "Multiple Play Keno Game with Bonus Feature" provides a Keno ticket having each "spot" divided into two or more sections, so the player can select two or more sets of numbers to be played in respective draws. This allows games to move faster by setting-up multiple games in advance on one ticket. Bonus hits may be offered by matching the draws with all the sets of numbers selected. This bonus feature increases the number of hits, but it requires both multiple set selections and multiple draws, so it adds complexity for the player that the present invention does not.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,735 (Baba Jul. 29, 1997) "Keno Machine with Two Separate Plays" provides a Keno game method having two passes. First, a standard Keno game is played on an interactive computerized display system. Secondly, if the number of hits in the first draw exceeds a given number, the system automatically randomly draws additional balls from the remaining pool of balls, and additional matches can be made. This is similar to the method of Roethel above. It uses a different method that requires more steps than the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,213 (McNabola Apr. 9, 2002) "Multi-Way Keno Method and Device" provides an interactive Keno display system capable of playing multi-way Keno. This display allows a player to select two or more subsets of numbers on a single Keno ticket to be compared to a set of randomly drawn numbers in addition to the superset of all numbers selected. For example, a player could select 2 numbers for the first "way", and 3 numbers for the second "way". In addition, all 5 numbers would be played as a third "way". Each "way" could potentially win. The payouts would be correspondingly low for a subset, and higher for the superset. This allows multiple games to be played on one draw, and provides both a higher chance of winning a low payout, with a lower chance of winning a high payout.


The present invention provides an image forming apparatus, in which a driving device detected by a detecting device sets the control amount in a manner to set the magnitude of the driving signal supplied to first, second and third motors in accordance with generation of the phenomenon for changing the magnitude of the driving signal imparted to the first, second and third motors. In the image forming apparatus of the particular construction, it is possible to suppress the jitter occurrence in the toner image caused by the fluctuation in the load, the fluctuation bringing about fluctuation in the rotating speed of the photosensitive body.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus represented by, for example, an electro-photographic type electronic copying machine and a printer.
In general, an image forming apparatus is constructed as follows. Specifically, a toner image is formed by an image forming unit consisting of a photosensitive body and a developing device. The formed toner image is transferred onto a transfer medium such as a paper sheet or a transparent resin sheet for an overhead projector, which is transferred by a transfer belt. The transfer medium having the toner image transferred thereonto is heated so as to fix the toner image to the transfer medium.
In the image forming apparatus of the construction described above, the photosensitive body is rotated in general at a predetermined peripheral speed by a DD (Direct Drive) motor. However, it is known to the art that, where the DD motor is rotated at an angular speed not higher than, for example, 80 rpm, the angular rotating speed is changed by the cogging component inherent in the motor. In order to lower the influence given by the cogging component, a method of mounting a fly-wheel to the rotary shaft of the motor is widely employed for increasing the inertia moment. However, it is difficult to remove completely the fluctuation of the rotation.
Also, in the image forming apparatus, the load fluctuation is generated when, for example, the transfer medium enters or passes through the region between the photosensitive body and the transfer belt so as to bring about jitter in the formed toner image.
It is known to the art that, since the constant parameter of the compensation circuit for controlling the rotation of the DD motor is fixed to a predetermined value, the fluctuation of the rotation referred to above is generated by the nonuniformity of the motor constant (coil or magnetization) or by the influence produced by the load fluctuation.
Various measures are proposed to date in order to suppress the jitter occurrence. For example, it is proposed in Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 5-191605 that the driving period of a stepping motor for rotating the photosensitive drum is aligned with the period of the light exposure timing (light-emitting timing of a laser element) of the light exposure device. Also, it is proposed in Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 8-160692 that the gear ratio in the motor driving section is made an integer number times as much as the reference frequency of the stepping motor. Further, it is proposed in Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 11-65222 that the rotating speed fluctuation of the photosensitive body is reflected in the transfer belt by utilizing a regenerative electromotive force of the motor so as to suppress the load fluctuation.
However, it is difficult to remove completely the jitter contained in the toner image by any of the motor control methods proposed in the prior arts referred to above.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, which permits optimizing the drive control of the motor so as to suppress the jitter occurrence in the toner image caused by the fluctuation in the rotating speed of the photosensitive body, which is caused by the load fluctuation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, which permits suppressing the jitter occurrence by using a servo compensation system, in which the parameter constant used for driving the motor is made programmable, so as to make the circuit constant for the compensation system manually changeable in the direction in which the detected error in the rotating speed is made smaller.
A still another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, which permits suppressing the jitter occurrence by using a servo compensation system, in which the parameter constant used for driving the motor is made programmable, so as to make the circuit constant for the compensation system automatically changeable in the direction in which the detected error in the rotating speed is made smaller.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, comprising:
a first motor for rotating a photosensitive member at a predetermined speed;
a second motor for transferring a transfer medium onto which the toner image formed on the photosensitive member is transferred at a speed equal to the moving speed of the photosensitive member;
a third motor for supplying the transfer medium toward the photosensitive member at a predetermined speed;
a driving device supplying driving signals to the first, second and third motors;
a detecting mechanism for detecting the occurrence of a phenomenon for changing the magnitude of the driving signals supplied from the driving device to the first, second and third motors; and
an input device for changing the magnitude of the driving signals supplied from the driving device to the first, second and third motors on the basis of the occurrence of the phenomenon detected by the detecting mechanism.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, comprising:
a first motor for rotating a photosensitive member at a predetermined speed;
a second motor for transferring a transfer medium onto which the toner image formed on the photosensitive member is transferred at a speed equal to the moving speed of the photosensitive member;
a third motor for supplying the transfer medium toward the photosensitive member at a predetermined speed;
a driving device supplying driving signals to the first, second and third motors;
a detecting mechanism for detecting the occurrence of a phenomenon for changing the magnitude of the driving signals supplied from the driving device to the first, second and third motors; and
a control amount setting mechanism for setting the magnitude of the driving signals supplied from the driving device to the first, second and third motors on the basis of the occurrence of the phenomenon detected by the detecting means.
Further, according to a third embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of setting the image forming conditions of an image forming apparatus, in which the magnitude of the jitter contained in the toner image formed in the image forming apparatus is detected and the image forming conditions are set in a manner to minimize the magnitude of the jitter, comprising the steps of:
monitoring the fluctuation in the magnitude of the motor current supplied from a motor driving device for driving a first motor to the first motor so as to detect the fluctuation in the rotating speed of the first motor;
operating a second motor for transferring a transfer medium onto which the toner image formed the photosensitive body is transferred at a speed equal to the moving speed of the photosensitive body and a third motor for supplying the transfer medium toward the photosensitive body at a predetermined speed; and
setting the magnitude and the phase of the motor current supplied to the motor driving device so as to minimize the fluctuation in the rotating speed of the first motor.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.


The non-destructive inspection method, wherein the non-destructive inspection method supplies currents to a conductive inspection subject and evaluates the rear surface flaw and the embedded flaw of these the inspection subject, or the material characteristic using a DC electric potential method, and an inspection sensitivity to the rear surface flaw, the embedded flaw, or the material characteristic is increased by changing the electric resistivity distribution inside the inspection subject by locally heating a front surface of the inspection subject, thereby increasing an electric resistivity of the front surface of the inspection subject compared with an electric resistivity of the rear surface thereof, resulting in increasing currents supplied on a rear surface side compared with a case without the front surface being heated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus which, in a non-destructive inspection method for evaluating rear surface flaws, embedded flaws, or material characteristics using an electromagnetic technique, increase an inspection sensitivity to the rear surface flaws, the embedded flaws, or the material characteristics by locally heating a front surface of an inspection subject, thereby increasing currents supplied on a rear surface side of the inspection subject. The present invention particularly relates to a preferred technique for carrying out a non-destructive inspection with a high sensitivity to rear surface flaws, embedded flaws, or material characteristics when an inspection subject is a thick member.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a background that flaw acceptance criteria and damage tolerance designs are correspondingly applied to structures such as a nuclear plant, there is required a non-destructive inspection method providing a high flaw detection capability and evaluating shapes of flaws. On the other hand, these structures are often constructed using thick members, and it is difficult to detect rear surface flaws and embedded flaws of these thick members using generally available non-destructive inspection methods using electromagnetic techniques.
Conventionally, as one of the non-destructive inspection methods using the electromagnetic techniques, there is known a potential difference method which non-destructively inspects flaws or material characteristics by supplying currents to a conductive inspection subject, and then measuring an electric potential difference on a front surface of the inspection subject. The potential difference method includes methods using an AC source and a DC source as a current source thereof, which are respectively referred to as the AC potential difference method, and the DC potential difference method. If an AC with a high frequency is used, most currents flow along a front surface (skin effect), and the AC potential difference method is thus not suitable for flaw detection on a rear surface side of an inspection subject. On the other hand, in the DC potential difference method, DC currents flow through an inside as well as along a front surface of an inspection subject, and a current field is thus disturbed by embedded flaws and rear surface flaws in addition to front surface flaws. Consequently, a non-destructive inspection can be carried out for the above flaws by measuring the disturbances as changes in the electric potential difference on the front surface of the inspection subject. However, if an inspection subject is a thick member, only weak DC currents are supplied on the rear surface side of the inspection subject, and there is such a problem that a detection sensitivity to flaws on the rear surface remarkably decreases.
On the other hand, an eddy current flaw detection method is known as a non-destructive inspection method using the electromagnetic technique. According to the eddy current flaw detection method, a coil to which an AC is supplied is placed in contact with or with a narrow gap to a top of a conductive inspection subject, and eddy currents are induced on the inspection subject due to an electromagnetic induction phenomenon. If a flaw is present in the inspection subject, changes in the eddy currents caused by the flaw are detected as a change in the impedance of the coil. Though the eddy current flaw detection method presents an excellent sensitivity to front surface flaws in principle, the skin effect attenuates the eddy currents in the thickness direction, and thus the method is not suitable for flaw detection on a rear surface side of an inspection subject, and the application thereof is conventionally limited to front surface flaw detection, and thin plate flaw detection.
In addition, the electric potential difference on the front surface of the inspection subject and the impedance of the coil measured by the above-described electromagnetic techniques correlate to physical properties of a material such as an electric conductivity, a magnetic permeability, and a film thickness, these physical properties of the material in a range as far as the currents flow are thus non-destructively inspected using the electromagnetic techniques. However, if an inspection subject is a thick member, currents supplied on a rear surface side are weak, and it is thus extremely difficult to detect changes in a material on the rear surface.
As described above, according to the conventional electromagnetic techniques, only weak currents are supplied on a rear surface side of an inspection subject, and it is thus difficult to detect rear surface flaws, embedded flaws, and material properties of a thick member.

Method of non-destructive inspection of rear surface flaws and material characteristics using electromagnetic technique and apparatus therefor


An exhaust system for a turbine includes an annular diffuser and a collector. The annular diffuser is positioned adjacent to a final stage of the turbine and includes a hub portion surrounding a turbine shaft and an outer cone having a substantially frusto-conical shape that is radially symmetrical about a central longitudinal axis thereof that is tilted relative to the turbine shaft. The collector has an inlet extending from the annular diffuser and an outlet. The collector is configured to include a turn that causes the collector to turn exhaust gases approximately 90° from the longitudinal axis of the turbine shaft. The outer cone of the annular diffuser is tilted in a direction of the turn of the collector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to turbines and, more particularly, annular diffusers for the exhaust from such turbines.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 1, exhaust systems 1 of steam turbines and industrial gas turbines typically include an annular diffuser 3 and a collector 5. Annular diffuser 3 is arranged immediately downstream of the last turbine stage followed by a dump into collector 5. Collector 5 turns the exhaust gas 90 degree from a longitudinal axis of a shaft of the turbine. Such exhaust systems 1 are used to guide the flow from an exit plane of the turbine to a downstream component such as a condenser (not shown).
However, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the 90-degree in the collector distorts the flow field in the diffuser by causing mass flow to move toward the bottom and having much more diffusion near the top than on the bottom, thereby harming diffuser performance. Most attempts to mitigate this effect involve complex, expensive geometry that increases the axial length of the exhaust system.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,479 to Ishizaka et al. discloses an exhaust diffuser for use with an axial-flow turbine. The exhaust diffuser comprises a hub-side tube in a cylindrical shape located concentrically with a tip-side tube to form an annular flow passageway therebetween. The exhaust diffuser further includes front struts and rear struts placed axially at an interval in the exhaust diffuser. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,055 to Owczarek discloses an annular diffuser having its inlet located at the exit of the last turbine blade row. The diffuser is defined by an outer flow guide and an outer surface of a bearing cone. The outer flow guide extends from a casing of the turbine for 360 degrees circumferentially about a longitudinal axis of the turbine shaft. The bearing cone surrounds the turbine shaft. The diffuser provided by the combination of the outer flow guide and the outer surface of the bearing cone is in the form of an asymmetrical diffuser. However, each of the systems proposed by these patents result in complex, expensive geometries.
Accordingly, a need exists for an exhaust system for a turbine that provides improved pressure recovery while also providing little increase in complexity and manufacturing costs.

Tilted cone diffuser for use with an exhaust system of a turbine