Novel phenol compounds of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 is an alkyl substituent of 15 carbon atoms, R is an ethyl or propyl substituent, and n is about 200.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to certain alkoxylated compounds, e.g. alkoxylated fatty alcohols, fatty acids, fatty esters and phenols, and especially novel substituted alkoxylated phenols, and their use in cosmetic gel formulations, and in particular, their use in novel sodium stearate gel stick formulations.
2. Prior Art
It has been found that prior art gel compositions, particularly sodium stearate gel stick formulations, designated as clear or translucent do not have the degree of clarity desirable in such products. Moreover, many of the prior art products tend to become cloudy or hazy after standing for a period of time. Typically the haziness becomes progressively worse, so that after about a month the product is cloudy and can be said to have little or no transparency. Since products such as these are stored for one or more months subsequent to manufacture, the length of time a product retains a major portion of its transparency is an important characteristic.
Numerous patents exist relating to sodium stearate stick formulations and alkoxylated compounds, such as alkoxylated phenols, and their use. See for example the following:
______________________________________ U.S. PAT. NO. INVENTOR ______________________________________ 2,213,477 Steindorff et al 2,465,470 Omohundro et al 2,593,112 Cross et al 3,226,352 Helin et al 3,839,212 McCoy 4,226,889 Yuhas 4,252,789 Broad 4,268,498 Gedeon et al 4,322,400 Yuhas 4,504,465 Sampson 4,606,837 McEntire et al 4,617,185 DiPietro 4,842,762 Sabol et al 4,954,333 Ward ______________________________________
More specifically:
Steindorff et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,213,477 discloses parasubstituted ethoxylated phenols having from 6 to 25 ethoxy groups and from 8 to 20 carbons in the alkyl substituent. The compounds are described as useful as wetting agents, softening agents or auxiliary agents for finishing textiles as well as other uses.
Cross et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,593,112 discloses di-substituted ethoxylated phenols having from 10 to 25 ethoxy groups. Hydrophobic groups containing 8 and 12 carbons are disclosed. The compounds are described as being useful as wetting agents.
Helin et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,352 discloses parasubstituted substituted ethoxylated phenols having from 7 to 15 ethoxy groups. A hydrophobic group containing 9 carbons is disclosed.
McCoy, U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,212 discloses a nonyl ethoxylated phenol having 30 ethoxy groups. McCoy is directed to a process for converting polymeric alkoxylated substrates containing from 1 to 50 alkoxylated groups that are normally insoluble in mineral oil to compounds that are soluble in mineral oil.
McEntire et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,837 discloses water-glycol fluids made from polyoxyalkylene thickeners that employ dinonylphenol that is ethoxylated. A preferred range of ethoxylation is 40:1 to 500:1 and dodecylphenol may be ethoxylated.
Omohundro et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,465,470 discloses an insect repellent stick that employs a sodium stearate gel.
Yuhas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,889 discloses a sodium stearate based stick that includes polyethylene glycol additives. Yuhas '889 is directed to a stick composition consisting essentially of (a) 100 parts by weight of water and from about 1 to about 30 parts by weight of sodium stearate and (b) an active ingredient in the range of from about 0.05 to about 50 weight percent of the total weight of the composition.
Yuhas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,400 discloses a cosmetic stick that is sodium stearate based and has polyethylene glycol and sodium chloride, which reduces syneresis.
Gedeon et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,498 discloses a clear cosmetic stick comprised of a number of ingredients, none of which includes sodium stearate or a hydrophobe substituted alkoxylated phenol. At column 1, lines 8-15, there is a disclosure that sodium stearate based sticks get hazy and cloudy.
DiPietro, U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,185 discloses deodorant sticks that employ sodium stearate and a condensation product having a formula set out at column 6, lines 20-23 which includes ethoxy and propoxy groups.
Sabol et al, U.S. Pat. No 4,842,762 discloses a laundry soil and stain remover in applicator stick form. Formulations are set out in Examples 1 and 4 in which nonylphenol ethoxylate and stearic acid are employed. In Example 4, sodium ions are also present.
Broad, U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,789 is of interest for its disclosure of deodorant sticks that include a mixture of sodium stearate and sodium palmitate and an ethoxylated polyethylene imine.
Sampson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,465 is of interest for its disclosure of cosmetic sticks that have ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide condensation products.
Ward, U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,333 is of interest for its disclosure of transparent antiperspirant stick compositions that are not sodium stearate based.
Additionally, European Pat. Application No. 911052587 (Publication No. 0 450 597A2) describes a gel stick which incorporates a water dispersible emollient that is a polyoxyethylene ether of a branched chain fatty alcohol, the fatty alcohol having from 8 to about 22 carbons and the average number of ethylene glycol ether units being from about 1 to 6. The gel stick composition has enhanced transparency to the transmission of light.
None of the aforedescribed references teach or suggest the novel class of substituted alkoxylated phenols described and claimed herein. Additionally, none of the aforedescribed patents teach or suggest the use of these compounds and other similarly alkoxylated compounds in sodium stearate stick formulations and the advantages derived therefrom.

Alkoxylated compounds and their use in cosmetic stick formulations


In a toner containing at least a binder resin, a pigment and a pigment dispersant, the pigment dispersant has a structure wherein a quinacridone molecular skeleton which is readily adsorptive on the colorant pigment and an oligomer or polymer which has good affinity for the solvent and for the resin serving as a toner binder are covalently bonded. Also disclosed is a process for producing the toner.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toner for developing an electrostatic image in an image-forming process such as electrophotography or electrostatic printing, or a process for producing a toner for forming a toner image in a toner-jet type image-forming method. More particularly, this invention relates to a process for producing a toner used in a fixing method in which a toner image formed using the toner is fixed to a transfer medium such as a printing sheet under application of heat and pressure.
2. Related Background Art
In order to render visible an electric or magnetic latent image formed on a recording member, an image-forming method is available in which electroscopic or magnetosensitive fine particles called a toner are attracted to the latent image to form a visible image. It may typically include electrophotography, and a number of methods are known as methods therefor as disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,691. In this electrophotography, copies are commonly obtained by forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member by various means, utilizing a photoconductive material, subsequently developing the latent image by the use of a toner to form a toner image, transferring the toner image to a transfer medium such as paper as occasion calls, and thereafter fixing the toner image to the transfer medium by the action of heat, pressure or solvent vapor.
In recent years, the above technique has become used in output means, i.e., what is called printers, of computers, word processors and so forth because of its high image quality and stillness. Usually, toners used in printers and copying machines are fine particles composed chiefly of a resin, a colorant such as a magnetic material, carbon black, a dye or a pigment and a wax, and have particle diameters usually ranging from 6 to 30 xcexcm. Toners are commonly produced by mixing and melting a colorant comprising a dye or pigment or a magnetic material in a thermoplastic resin to disperse the colorant uniformly therein, followed by fine pulverization and classification to obtain toners having a desired particle diameter. This method is stable as a technique, and enables relatively easy management of materials and production steps.
Meanwhile, a method of producing a toner by polymerization, in particular, a method of producing a toner by what is called suspension polymerization is proposed. Such a method is disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 36-10231 and 51-14895 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 53-17735, 53-17736 and 53-17737. This method is a method in which a binder resin and materials to be incorporated in the toner, including a colorant such as a dye or a pigment (e.g., a magnetic material or carbon block), a charge control agent, and a release agent such as wax or silicone oil, are dissolved or dispersed in a polymerizable monomer optionally together with a polymerization initiator and a dispersant to prepare a polymerizable composition, which is then dispersed in an aqueous continuous phase containing a dispersion stabilizer by means of a dispersion apparatus to form a dispersion of fine particles, and this dispersion is polymerized and then solidified to obtain toner particles having any desired particle diameter and composition. This method has no pulverization step, and is expected to bring about the effect of energy saving, improvement in process yield and cost reduction.
As a method of improving print quality, studies are energetically made on a technique by which the latent image can faithfully be reproduced by making the particle diameter of the toner smaller. However, making the particle diameter smaller makes the quantity of toner per unit are smaller, and hence the coloring power per unit volume of the toner must be made higher in order to attain the desired image density. As a means therefor, it is common to use a means by which the colorant dye or pigment is introduced in a larger quantity. There, however, is a problem that pigments, in particular quinacridone pigments, used as colorants of toners are no expensive as to result in an increase in the production cost. Accordingly, in order to make the coloring power of dyes and pigments themselves higher and improve the transparency of OHP images, studies are energetically made on how the dispersion of dyes and pigments in the interior of toner particles be improved.
In order to improve the dispersion of dyes and pigments, it is commonly important to make the dyes and pigments readily compatible with resins. Accordingly, the dyes and pigments are subjected to surface treatment. Proposals on the surface treatment of dyes and pigments to improve their dispersibility are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-119461, Japanese Patent No. 2800558 and so forth. There, however, has been room for improvement with regard to the dispersibility of pigments.
In the case of pulverization toners, the surface treatment of dyes and pigments must be regulated in conformity with the composition of binder resins, and there has been a problem that any good state of dispersion can not be attained if the matching of the both is improper.
In the case of polymerization toners, the surface treatment of dyes and pigments is made in many cases, most of which, however, is to make hydrophobic treatment with silane coupling agents or to make a pigment dispersant (which is a polymer having a polar group) adsorbed on the particle surfaces of a colorant so that the pigment can be prevented from agglomerating.
In the case when such a pigment dispersant is used, the state of dispersion to a certain extent can be achieved. However, the pigment may undergo re-agglomeration in post steps of drying, shaping, polymerization reaction and so forth, or, in the production of polymerization toner in an aqueous medium, the presence of polar groups on the pigment particle surfaces may cause the migration of pigment to toner particle surfaces, resulting in a lowering of charging performance and environmental stability.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a toner having solved the above problems, and a process for producing the toner.
More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a toner having superior coloring powder and transparency, and a process for producing such toner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a toner having a pigment added in a small quantity, and having achieved a cost reduction, and a process for producing such toner.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a toner which does not cause any migration of pigment to toner particle surfaces and has superior charging performance and environmental stability, and a process for producing such toner.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a toner containing at least a binder resin, a pigment and a pigment dispersant:
the pigment dispersant having a structure represented by the following Formula (1):
wherein at least one of R1 and R2 is a substituent X1 represented by
where Y1 is an oligomer or a polymer, and the other is a hydrogen atom.
The present invention also provides a toner containing at least a binder resin, a pigment and a pigment dispersant;
the pigment dispersant having a structure represented by the following Formula (2):
wherein at least one of R3 and R4 is a substituent X2 represented by
where Y3 and Y4 are each a substituent selected from the group consisting of H, CH3, an oligomer and a polymer,
and the other is a hydrogen atom.
The present invention still also provides a process for producing the above toner.
The pigment dispersant according to the present invention has a structure wherein a quinacridone molecular skeleton which is readily adsorptive on the colorant pigment and an oligomer or polymer which has good affinity for the solvent and for the resin serving as a toner binder are covalently bonded. Also, in the pigment dispersant according to the present invention, the substituents X1 and X2 have an affinity for the polymerizable monomer used in a pigment dispersion step and for the resin serving as a toner binder, and hence the pigment dispersant may become liberated with difficulty in the polymerizable monomer or in the resin, and can exist stably.
The pigment dispersant that can be used in the present invention has the structure of Formula (1) or (2). In Formula (1) at least one of R1 and R2 is a substituent X2. If the substituent X1 is in a large number, it on the one hand strengthens the affinity for the solvent, but on the other hand may inhibit the adsorptive force to the pigment. Accordingly, it is preferred that one is the substituent X1 and the other is a hydrogen atom. Similarly, in Formula (2), too, at least one of R3 and R4 is a substituent X2, preferably one is the substituent X2, and the other is a hydrogen atom.
The substituent X1 has a substituent Y1, and substituent X2 has substituents Y2 and Y3. The substituents Y1, Y2 and Y3 that can be used in the present invention may be any conventional oligomers or polymers. In particular, a vinyl polymer component containing as a monomer unit a monomer selected from the group consisting of styrene, a styrene derivative, acrylic or methacrylic acid and an acrylic or methacrylic acid derivative, or a polyester component is effective. These substrates are required to have good affinity for the solvent used in a pigment dispersion step and for the resin serving as a toner binder.
The oligomer or polymer constituting the substituents Y1, Y2 and Y3 may specifically include polystyrene, poly-xcex1-methylstyrene, polyacrylate, polymethacrylate, a styrene-acrylate copolymer, a styrene-methacrylate copolymer, a styrene-glycidyl acrylate copolymer, a styrene-glycidyl methacrylate copolymer, and polyester. Also, the substituents Y1, Y2 and Y3 may each preferably have a number-average molecular weight of from 500 to 100,000, and more preferably from 500 to 30,000, and may preferably have a sharp molecular weight distribution, taking account of the solubility in the solvent used in a pigment dispersion step. The molecular weight of the substituents Y1, Y2 and Y3 can be controlled by regulating the molecular weight of the oligomer or polymer used, when the oligomer or polymer is introduced as the substituent into the compound having the quinacridone skeleton.
In the present invention, the pigment dispersant may be used in an amount of from 2 to 100 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin. In the case when the toner is produced by polymerization, it may preferably be used in an amount of from 3 to 30 parts by weight.
In the production of the toner of the present invention, known formulation, i.e., a pigment, a resin and other additives such as a wax and a charge control agent may be used except that the pigment dispersant of Formula (1) or (2) is contained. As methods for the production, known methods may also be used. Where the toner is produced by pulverization, the pigment dispersant may be mixed together with a binder resin, a pigment and other additives, and the mixture obtained may be melt kneaded under application of heat and mechanical shear force, followed by a polymerization step and a classification step to produce a toner. In the case of the pulverization, the pigment may previously be treated with the pigment dispersant, and the melt kneading may be carried out using such a pigment to produce the toner.
As another method, the toner may also be produced by a polymerization process in which toner particles are directly obtained by polymerizing a polymerizable monomer in an aqueous medium, and the toner may be obtained by suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization or emulsification agglomeration. In the process for producing the toner by suspension polymerization, the pigment dispersant and optionally the resin may be dissolved into part or the whole of the polymerizable monomer, and pigment powder may be added little by little with stirring to make it fit well to the polymerizable monomer, where mechanical shear force is further applied by means of a dispersion machine such as a ball mill or a paint shaker, a dissolver, an attritor, a sand mill, a high-speed mill to produce a pigment-dispersed paste. The pigment-dispersed paste thus obtained, a polymerization initiator and the remaining polymerizable monomer may be mixed to make up a polymerizable monomer composition, which is then added to an aqueous medium containing a dispersion stabilizer to carry out granulation and then polymerization to obtain toner particles. In the case of polymerization, the pigment and the pigment dispersant may separately be added and then mixed when the polymerizable monomer composition is prepared.
The polymerizable monomer that can be used when the toner of the present invention is produced by polymerization is an addition polymerization or condensation polymerization type monomer. It may preferably be an addition polymerization type monomer. It may specifically include styrene; styrene derivatives such as o-methylstyrene, m-methylstyrene, p-methylstyrene, p-methoxystyrene, p-phenylstyrene, p-chlorostyrene, 3,4-dichlorostyrene, p-ethylstyrenee, 2,4-dimethylstyrene, p-n-butylstyrene, p-tert-butylstyrene, p-n-hexylstyrene, p-n-octylstyrene, p-n-nonylstyrene, p-n-decylstyrene and p-n-dodecylstyrene; unsaturated monoolefins such as ethylene, propylene, butylene and isobutylene; unsaturated polyenes such as butadiene and isoprene; vinyl halides such as vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, vinyl bromide and vinyl iodide; vinyl esters such as vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate and vinyl benzoate; xcex1-methylene aliphatic monocarboxylates such as methyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, propyl methacrylate, n-octyl methacrylate, dodecyl methacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate, stearyl methacrylate, phenyl methacrylate, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate and diethylaminoethyl methacrylate; acrylic esters such as methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, isobutyl acrylate, propyl acrylate, n-octyl acrylate, dodecyl acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, stearyl acrylate, 2-chloroethyl acrylate and phenyl acrylate; vinyl ethers such as methyl vinyl ether, ethyl vinyl ether and isobutyl vinyl other; vinyl ketones such as methyl vinyl ketone, hexyl vinyl ketone and methyl isopropenyl ketone; N-vinyl compounds such as N-vinylpyrrole, N-vinylcarbazole, N-vinylindole and N-vinylpyrrolidone; vinylnaphthalenes; and acrylic or methacrylic acid derivatives such as acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile and acrylamide.
The binder resin used when the toner of the present invention is produced by pulverization is selected chiefly taking account of the affinity for the substituent X1 or X2. For example, if may include polystyrene, poly-xcex1-methylstyrene, polyacrylic acid, polymethacrylic acid, polyacrylate, polymethacrylate, a styrene-acrylate copolymer, a styrene-methacrylate copolymer, and polyester.
As the pigment that can be used in the present invention, any known pigments may be used. In particular, color pigments such as quinacridone pigments, carbon black and phthalocyanine pigments may preferably be used. For example, they may include Pigment Violet 19, Pigment Red 122, Pigment Red 207, Pigment Red 206, Pigment Red 202, Pigment Black 6, Pigment Black 7, Pigment Black 8, Pigment Black 10, Pigment Blue 16, Pigment Blue 15, Pigment Blue 15:1, Pigment Blue 15:2, Pigment Blue 15:3, Pigment Blue 15:4, Pigment Blue 15:5, Pigment Blue 15:6, Pigment Green 7 and Pigment Green 36.
In the present invention, the pigment may preferably be added in an amount of from 3 to 20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin or polymerizable monomer.
The polymerization initiator used in the production process for the toner of the present invention may include known polymerization initiator. Stated specifically, it may include azo compounds such as 2,2xe2x80x2-azobisisobutyonitrile, 2,2xe2x80x2-azobis-(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile), 2,2xe2x80x2-azobis(2-methylbutyronitrile, 1,1xe2x80x2-azobis-(cyclohexane-1-carbonitrile), dimethyl-2,2xe2x80x2-azobisisobutyrate, 4,4xe2x80x2-azobis-4-cyanovaleric acid, and 2,2xe2x80x2-azobis(4-methoxy-2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile); peroxides such as benzoyl peroxide, and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide; nucleophilic reagents such as alkali metals, metal hydroxides and Grignard reagents; and protonic acid, metal halides and stabilized carbonium ions. The polymerization initiator may preferably be in a concentration of from 0.1 to 20% by weight, and more preferably from 0.1 to 10% by weight, based on the weight of the polymerizable monomer.
In the case when the toner of the present invention is produced by polymerization, a chain transfer agent may be used, which may include known chain transfer agents.
In the present invention, toner additives as shown below may further be used in order to provide the toner with various properties.
In order to stabilize triboelectric charging performance of the toner, a charge control agent may be incorporated in the toner. In this case, it is preferable to use a charge control agent having a high toner charging speed and capable of maintaining a constant charge quantity stably. When the polymerization method is used to produce the toner particles, charge control agents having no polymerization inhibitory action are particularly preferred. Stated specifically, as negative charge control agents, preferred are metal compounds of salicylic acid, alkyl salicylic acids, dialkyl salicylic acids, naphthoic acid or dicarboxylic acids, polymer type compounds having sulfonic acid or carboxylic acid in the side chain, boron compounds, urea compounds, silicon compounds and carixarene. As positive charge control agents, preferred are quaternary ammonium salts, polymer type compounds having such as quaternary ammonium salt in the side chain, guanidine compounds, and imidazole compounds. Any of these charge control agents may preferably be added in a amount of from 0.5 to 10 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the binder resin.
It is also preferable to add to the toner, external additives such as a fluidity-providing agent, an abrasive, a lubricant and charge controlling particles.
As the fluidity-providing agent, metal oxides such as silicon oxide, aluminum oxide and titanium oxide may preferably be used. These may more preferably these having been subjected to hydrophobic treatment. As the abrasive, metal oxides such as cerium oxide, aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide and chromium oxide, nitrides such as silicon nitride, carbides such as silicon carbide, and metal salts such as strontium titanate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate and calcium carbonate may preferably be used. As the lubricant, fluorine resin powders such as vinylidene fluoride and polytetrafluoroethylene, and fatty acid metal salts such as zinc stearate and calcium stearate may preferably be used. As the charge controlling particles, metal oxides such as tin oxide, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, silicon oxide and aluminum oxide, and carbon black may preferably be used.
Any of these external additives may be used in an amount of from 0.1 part to 10 parts by weight, and preferably from 0.1 part to 5 parts by weight, based on 100 parts by weight of the toner particles. These additives may be used alone or in combination of two or more types.
The toner of the present invention may be used as a one-component developer, or may be blended with a carrier so as to be used as a two-component developer.
In the present invention, various physical properties are measured in the manner described below.
The molecular weight distribution of the resin component contained in the toner of the present invention and that of the polymer composition (resin component) soluble in the polymerizing solvent used in the present invention are measured with a GPC measuring instrument (HLC-8120GPC, manufactured by Toso Co.) under the following conditions.
Measuring conditions:
Columns: TSKgelHM-M (6.0 mm in diameterxc3x9715 cm), combination of two columns.
Temperature: 40xc2x0 C.
Flow rate: 0.6 ml/min.
Detector: RI.
Sample concentration: 1.0 xcexcl of 0.1% sample.
To prepare the sample, the sample to be measured is put in THF (tetrahydrofuran), which is then left for several hours, followed by thorough shaking (until no coalesced matter comes to be seen), and the mixture is further left to stand still for 12 hours. Then, the mixture is passed through a sample-treating filter (pore size of 0.45 xcexcm), and the resultant filtrate is used as the sample for GPC measurement. As a calibration curve, a molecular weight calibration curve prepared from a monodisperse polystyrene standard sample is used.
The toner and the carrier are blended in a suitable blend quantity (2 to 15% by weight) when a developer is produced, and are blended with a Turbra mixer for 180 seconds, and this blended powder (developer) is put in a container made of a metal at the bottom of which a conductive screen with an opening of 20 xcexcm (635 meshes) is provided, and then sucked by means of a suction device. The triboelectric charge quantity is determined from the difference in weight before and after the suction and from the potential accumulated in a capacitor connected to the container. Here, suction pressure is set at 250 mmHg. By this method, the triboelectric charge quantity (Q) is calculated according to the following expression.
Q(xcexcC/g)=(Cxc3x97V)/(W1xe2x88x92W2)
wherein W1 is the weight before suction, W2 is the weight after suction, C is the capacity of the capacitor, and V is the potential accumulated in the capacitor.
To 100 to 150 ml of an electrolytic solution, 0.1 to 5 ml of a surface active agent (alkylbenzene sulfonate) is added, and 2 to 20 mg of the sample to be measured is added thereto. The electrolytic solution in which the sample has been suspended is subjected to dispersion for about 1 minute to about 3 minutes by means of an ultrasonic dispersion machine. Particle size distribution of toner particles of 2 to 40 xcexcm diameters is measured on the basis of volume, by means of Coulter Counter Multisizer, using an aperture of 100 xcexcm. Number-average particle diameter and weight-average particle diameter measured are calculated from the results obtained.


A method for operating a portable terminal so as to reduce power consumption during the support of a communication service and a portable terminal supporting the same is provided. The method includes activating a Radio Frequency (RF) communication unit, downloading a part of data of predetermined contents through the RF communication unit, buffering the downloaded part of the data in a buffer so as to output the buffered downloaded part of the data, and executing an idle time for terminating or reducing a power supply of the RF communication unit when the downloading of the part of the data of the predetermined contents is completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for operating a portable terminal so as to reduce power during the support of a communication service and a portable terminal supporting the same, which provides support during a communication service such that a reduction of current power consumption may reduce power consumed according to the operation of a portable terminal by more efficiently operating a power supply while the portable terminal supports a communication service.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development of communication technology, a portable terminal has various functions including a video phone call function, an electronic organizer function, an interne function, a multimedia function, a data communication function, and the like, as well as a voice phone call function and a short message transmission function. Also, the portable terminal uses hardware and software to support various functions provided by the portable terminal. Namely, a related-art portable terminal provides support for the functions using the hardware and software in order to enable the execution of various application programs by hardware having a high processing capability.
However, a large amount of power is consumed by a portable terminal providing a multimedia player function having complicated functions including the capture of a still image or a moving image, the reproduction of a music file or a moving image file, a game, the reception of a broadcast, or other similar functions. Particularly, the related-art portable terminal consumes more power while supporting a data communication function as well as a phone call function. However, in order for the portable terminal to be mobile or portable, power from a portable and limited power supply, such as a battery, is provided, and thus the portable terminal has a limited use power supply. Therefore, there is a need for more efficiently operating the functions of the portable terminal even in an environment where the portable terminal has a limit on using a power supply.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for operating portable terminal to reduce power during support of communication service and portable terminal supporting the same


We describe a device for aligning optical beams that uses either an elliptically curved or a parabolically curved mirror arranged in the reflected beam path between a rotatable mirror, which is placed at the focus of the curved mirror, and the desired target. With the elliptical mirror, the device provides variable angle, fixed position of incidence of the reflected beam upon a target placed at the second focus of the ellipse. With the parabolic mirror, the device provides variable position, fixed angle of incidence of the reflected beam upon a target. Combinations of these devices may be used to solve a variety of beam steering and/or beam alignment problems. These devices are particularly useful for experiments and applications involving ultrashort optical pulses since the time of flight through either of these devices is a constant independent of the angle of incidence and the position of incidence.

The invention relates to a device and a method for aligning optical beams. In particular, this invention relates to a general field of aligning optical beams for characterizing, testing, evaluating and applying linear and nonlinear optical materials and devices, electronic materials and devices, and mechanical materials and devices. Beam alignment is achieved using a device having either an elliptically curved or a parabolically curved mirror arranged in a reflected beam path between a rotatable mirror and the desired target. Combinations of both elliptical and parabolic mirrors may be used to solve a variety of beam steering and/or beam alignment problems.
Optical beams are typically steered by reflecting light from one or more moveable mirrors. Mirrors are moved or rotated with respect to the longitudinal axis of the optical beam path to produce a reflected or steered beam. The reflected beam is placed on a target material in accordance with the angle of rotation of the rotatable mirror. The rotatable mirror, often called a steering mirror, is typically the sole means for steering the reflected beam upon the target material. However, the steering mirror can be combined with a second mirror to direct the reflected beam onto the target material, wherein the second mirror is disposed within the reflected beam path and between the steering mirror and the target material. The second mirror, like the steering mirror, can be curved and can rotate independently or simultaneously with the steering mirror to optimally direct the reflected beam.
Merely reflecting optical beams by using a combination of rotatable mirrors and secondary mirrors does not provide adequate results in specific applications. Often it is desirable to place the reflected beam at a fixed position and vary, with a high degree of precision, the angle of incidence upon the target material. For ultrashort pulse non-linear optics experiments, for example, one must conserve momentum (phase matching) in addition to precisely controlling the temporal and spatial overlap of two or more beams upon the target material. Momentum is conserved by placing the various beams at the same position upon the target but at varying angles of incidence. Accordingly, a real need exists for an improved steering device and method which is also suitable for non-linear applications which can place an ultrashort optical beam at a precise point on a target but at varying angles of incidence.
In addition to being able to vary the angle of incidence upon a fixed target location, it is also highly desirable to direct a reflected beam at varying locations, but at a fixed angle of incidence. The reflected beam could be steered to arrive at different positions upon the target material while maintaining the same angle of incidence at each location. Like the variable angle, fixed position application, conventional steering techniques show difficulty in placing beams at variable positions upon a target while maintaining at fixed angle of incidence. In order to place reflected ultrashort beams evenly across a target, a real need exists for an improved steering device and method suitable for material and device characterization applications which can place an ultrashort optical beam at various points on a target while maintaining a fixed angle of incidence.

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A system and method for dynamic log management of stream processing in a distributed computing environment, such as, for example, a streaming application or stream analytics system. A streaming application can be deployed or published to a cluster, to execute as a client application. A cluster manager coordinates with worker nodes, to commit tasks associated with the streaming application. If a need arises to generate lower-level log data associated with the streaming application, for example to diagnose an underlying cause of a warning/error message, a configuration job can be committed to the cluster to execute as a separate log-configuration application. The log-configuration application operates with the cluster manager to determine the set of working nodes currently associated with the streaming application, and modify the logger configuration at those nodes, to record or otherwise provide log data according to a modified logging level, for example to provide lower-level log messages.

Distributed computing environments, such as, for example, streaming application or stream analytics systems, enable large amounts of data to be processed as streams, which can then be analyzed to provide useful information. Such systems provide a platform for business users to design, validate, and deploy streaming software applications (streaming applications), to meet their business needs.
A typical stream analytics system may comprise multiple processing instances, executing at multiple hosts or nodes. Stream processing components can generate processing logs on those nodes, for use in monitoring the health of the streaming applications.
Since a streaming application is often designed to run continuously, i.e., on a 24×7 basis, the processing logs that are generated at the nodes are typically configured to record only important warning/error messages, or a reduced set of information log messages, to improve system performance and reduce space requirements.
However, when the system encounters frequent warnings/errors, there may be a need to diagnose an underlying or root cause associated with those warnings/errors. These are some examples of the types of environments in which embodiments described herein can be used.

System and method for dynamic log management of stream processing in a distributed environment


A pump assembly for removing contents from inside a bottle is described. The pump assembly includes a pump; a tube having a first end attached to the pump for drawing contents therein when the pump is actuated; and an extractor positioned on the tube and configured to remove contents from the bottom of the bottle. Kits having various embodiments of the extractor are also described herein, including the configurations of the various embodiments of the extractor.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to devices for removing stored fluids; specifically, to hand-pumping mechanisms for dispensing bottled viscous liquids and attachments thereof.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Various liquids and liquid-like products are sold and/or stored in bottles. Some non-limiting examples of such products are lotions, soaps, creams, condiments and oils. One manner in which a consumer is able to extract the product enclosed in such bottles is via a hand-pumping mechanism. These hand-pumping mechanisms generally consist of an exposed depressible dispenser connected perpendicularly to a hollow reservoir chamber enclosed within the bottle and connected to one end of a hollow cylindrical tube. Customarily, such pumping mechanism is inserted through the top center of the bottle while the open end of the tube is immersed into the product and extended to the inside center floor of the bottle.
When the dispenser is depressed, the resulting change in pressure within the mechanism causes the product near the opening of the tube to flow out through the tube, reservoir and dispenser. However, if the tube opening is not immersed or nearly-immersed in the product, depressing the dispenser will result in the air contained within the bottle being dispensed, rather than any product which may yet still remain inside the bottle at another location therein.
Since the product must immerse or nearly-immerse the opening of the tube in order to dispense, the hand-pump mechanism does not completely meet the need of the art in effectively and efficiently extracting a liquid from its container. This problem is especially salient when utilizing this mechanism to dispense more viscous liquids. As reported in the September 2009 issue of Consumer Reports magazine, dispensation of skin lotion product via the hand-pump mechanism failed to extract on average 17%-25% of product from each bottle.
While there has been other pertinent art designed to overcome efficiency problems arising from the extraction of bottled liquids—by modifying the structure of the bottle (US 2013/0037557 A1) or by fashioning independent scooping tools for use as an alternative extraction device (US 2012/0280525 A1)—there is nothing which would purport to remedy the problem by modifying the hand-pump mechanism itself.

Extractors and pump assemblies for removing viscous contents from the bottom of a bottle


A scanning device includes an automatic document handler for stream feeding in serial fashion hard copy original pages to a platen or scanning station to be automatically read by the image scanner into electrical signals or data. The raw image data is stored in a memory buffer. An operator may use the data in this buffer to manipulate the image electronically before using the image for further processing, such as printing or publishing.

The present invention relates to scanning devices, and in particular, a scanner that saves raw scanned data in an image buffer for utilization in a prepress image manipulation mode.
The terms used herein have the same meanings as in the digital printing and scanning sciences. Likewise, it will be understood that the usefulness of the present inventions and discoveries is not limited to these, although it is in connection with such that the inventions hereof presently have principal usefulness. The term xe2x80x9cinventionxe2x80x9d will be understood to be inclusive of discovery.
In document scanning, a user scans his original and captures a digital image in a host computer or workstation. If the image captured isn""t acceptable for printing or otherwise publishing, the scanner parameters are adjusted and the image is rescanned and processed. If the user captured the image in full resolution, he/she may use the captured image and process the image in many different ways on the host system. The time it will take to make and process the adjustments can be quite long due to the large image processing activity required by the host workstation. Image adjustment to compensate for scanner parameters is therefore cumbersome and time consuming.
The problem is further exasperated in the field of high volume scanners. These type of scanners take a stack of original documents and feed them seriatum through an image capturing device. If any of the scanned image is not acceptable due to scanner parameters, the entire stack of originals must be reloaded and rescanned in order to maintain the unacceptable images in their proper order.
A further problem with scanners is their utilization in image or document enlargement/reduction operations, known as scaling. Typically, enlargement scaling is achieved by decreasing the scanner motor speed, which reduces the speed by which the original is passed by the scanning head. This method is used since the image processing hardware has a fixed maximum bandwidth. The increased processing time needed is directly proportional to the scale factor. For example, a 200% enlargement increases the amount of processing time by 200%, thus the motor speed is cut to half speed. For scanners supporting 400% enlargement, the motor control system must be able to operate properly and smoothly over the range of one fourth speed to full speed. Another way of looking at this range is the maximum scanning speed is three times the slowest scanning speed. This method of scaling also suffers due to finite impulse response (FIR) filtering problems. FIR filters are designed for a specific image aperture. By changing the scanning speed the intrack aperture has effectively been changed. The filters can be changed to accommodate different aperture, but supporting a FIR filter that is not symmetrical is not a simple task or cost effective solution.
Efforts regarding such systems have led to continuing developments to improve their versatility, practicality and efficiency.
An object of the present invention is to provide a scanner which stores raw image data in an data buffer, and provides an operator the opportunity to review the raw data and manipulate it in a prepress mode prior to printing or otherwise reproducing the image.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a scanner which permits scaling without changing scanner motor speed.
According to the present invention, a scanning system operated by an operator to convert printed material to electronic data utilized by a reading device including a transducer to convert light into raw digital image data (DID); an image processor to receive the raw DID and manipulate the raw DID and to provide manipulated DID; an output data path to provide data to the reading device; a memory buffer to store data; and, a controller to control whether the DID is stored in the memory buffer, or is manipulated by the image processor, or is provided on the output data path, or is manipulated by the image processor then stored in the memory buffer.
The present invention provides a useful prepress mode for a scanner, since not all scans are acceptable to a viewer the first time. Permitting an operator the ability to review a scanned image, edit it, and rereview without an additional scan is highly beneficial.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.


The present invention provides a prepolymerized olefin polymerization catalyst and olefin polymerization method using the same. More particularly, the present invention provides a prepolymerized catalyst that is encapsulated with macromonomers produced by polymerizing olefin monomers with a vinyl-terminated polysiloxane compound in the presence of a solid titanium catalyst for olefin polymerization having been previously surface treated with silane compounds containing two or more vinyl groups, and a method for producing polyolefin having a high melt strength using the catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prepolymerized catalyst obtained by prepolymerization of olefin and a method for olefin polymerization using the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to a prepolymerized olefin polymerization catalyst prepared in such a way that high molecular weight macromonomers are encapsulated around the catalyst and to a method of olefin polymerization using the prepolymerized catalyst which produces polyolefin with a high melt strength.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compared to polyethylene, conventional linear polypropylenes are not suitable for melt processing (e.g., foaming, heat molding, extrusion coating, etc.) due to a low melt strength. However, a high melt strength can be achieved by introducing long chain branching into the polypropylene. Long chain branching reduces attractive forces between macromolecular chains during processing and acts to increase melt strength by crosslinking with neighboring chains during molding processes. Production of high melt strength polyolefins with long chain branching typically includes the step of forming polyolefin radicals exiting a polymerization reaction vessel by electronic radiation or by a reaction extrusion method followed by reacting these radicals to introduce long chain branching into the linear structure. If a polymerization method could be developed that was capable of directly polymerizing olefins to form a high melt strength polyolefin useful as a molding material, it is expected that the use of polyolefins as molding materials could be expanded.

Catalyst obtained by prepolymerization of polyolefin and olefin polymerization method using the same


The present invention relates to a photoresist composition suitable for image-wise exposure and development as a negative photoresist comprising a negative photoresist composition and an inorganic particle material having an average particle size equal or greater than 10 nanometers, wherein the thickness of the photoresist coating film is greater than 5 microns. The negative photoresist composition is selected from (1) a composition comprising (i) a resin binder, (ii) a photoacid generator, and (iii) a cross-linking agent; or (2) a composition comprising (i) a resin binder, (ii) optionally, addition-polymerizeable, ethylenically unsaturated compound(s) and (iii) a photoinitiator; or (3) a composition comprising (i) a photopolymerizable compound containing at least two pendant unsaturated groups; (ii) ethylenically unsaturated photopolymerizable polyalkylene oxide hydrophilic compound(s); and (iii) a photoinitiator.

In the manufacture of patterned structures, such as wafer level packaging, electrochemical deposition of electrical interconnects has been used as the density of the interconnects increase. For example, see Solomon, Electrochemically Deposited Solder Bumps for Wafer-Level Packaging, Packaging/Assembly, Solid State Technology, pages 84–88, April 2001; disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Wafer level packaging produces a chip/die/device that is ready for direct assembly onto the final substrate or final system platform. Wafer-level packaging is used for making electrical connections to an integrated circuit chip above the active circuitry and is especially important as the density of inputs and outputs (I/Os) on chips increases.
Wafer-level packaging schemes use a technique known as redistribution to connect the peripheral pads to an area array of solder bumps on the surface of the wafer. The basic sequence of wafer-level packaging with redistribution involves creating a level of interconnect that defines an under-bump pad that is connected to the peripheral bonding pad. The under-bump pad is exposed by a via in a dielectric layer. Then the entire wafer receives an under-bump metallurgy (UBM) stack that provides an electroplating seed layer on top of a diffusion barrier and adhesion layer. The plating mask is formed in photoresist that can range from about 1 μm to over 200 μm thick, but are typically 25–125 μm thick. Layers exceeding about 100 μm to about 125 μm are typically applied in double coats. The solder bump is electroplated within the via in the case when a thicker photoresist is used. The solder bump is typically electroplated above the photoresist when it is <50 μm thick (overplating or mushroom plating). The photoresist is then stripped and the UBM is etched away everywhere it is not covered by the solder bumps. Finally, the bumps are reflowed, causing them to reform in the shape of truncated spheres.
Gold bumps, copper posts and copper wires for redistribution in wafer level packaging require a resist mold that is later electroplated to form the final metal structures in advanced interconnect technologies. The resist layers are very thick compared to the photoresists used in the IC manufacturing. Both feature size and resist thickness are typically in the range of 5 μm to 100 μm, so that high aspect ratios (resist thickness to line size) have to be patterned in the photoresist.
Photoresists of the present invention also have use in flat panel displays when added pigments are added to the compositions herein.
Concerning the photoresist, photopolymerizable compositions for imaging have long been known in the art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,863 suggested using photopolymerizable compositions in the preparation of printing plates. More recently, similar compositions have been suggested for color proofing systems for the print industry. Since then, a variety of such photopolymerizable compositions have been described and the use of photopolymerizable compositions are now used in microlithography.
The pattern is formed by image-wise exposing the resist material to irradiation by lithographic techniques. The irradiation employed is usually X-ray, UV radiation, electron beam radiation or ion-beam radiation.
The compositions of the present invention are negative-working photoresist compositions. Negative-working photoresist compositions are exposed image-wise to radiation, the areas of the resist composition exposed to the radiation become less soluble to a developer solution (e.g. a cross-linking reaction occurs) while the unexposed areas of the photoresist coating remain relatively soluble to such a solution. Thus, treatment of an exposed negative-working resist with a developer causes removal of the non-exposed areas of the photoresist coating and the creation of a negative image in the coating, thereby uncovering a desired portion of the underlying substrate surface on which the photoresist composition was deposited.
The compositions of the present invention also have good plasma etch resistance and heat deformation resistance. The compositions of the present invention are also useful in the production of MEMS.
Aqueous developable photopolymerizable compositions are of especial interest for negative working photoresist compositions. The polymeric binders for such compositions can contain acidic functionality so that the binder polymer is soluble in alkaline aqueous solution and thereby renders the photopolymerizable composition developable in alkaline aqueous solutions. Those in the art will also appreciate that resin binders can be used which are then developable using non-aqueous solvents.
In the literature, carboxylic acid functionalized acrylic polymers are used as the binder polymers. To ensure the physical performances of the imaged patterns, high molecular weight polymers were utilized which may render slower development rates.

Nanocomposite photosensitive composition and use thereof


A board sport training device comprises a base configured for attachment to a platform such that the base is disposed beneath the platform. The base comprises a plurality of separate base portions, each base portion comprising at least two bowl-shaped pivot areas and each base portion having sufficient flexibility that each base portion conforms to a curved bottom surface of the platform. A plurality of the pivot areas are positioned along a longitudinal axis of the platform and separated by a distance from the platform.

Board sports such as surfing, windsurfing, snow boarding, skateboarding, wake boarding, and others require the use of advanced balancing skills in an unstable and dynamic environment. Additional skills also must be mastered. For surfing, these skills include the ability to quickly move from a prone position (on one's stomach) to a standing position, the ability to step to an appropriate position on the board to speed up or slow down, the ability to adjust the body to perform proper turning technique and the ability to perform advanced maneuvers, such as cross-stepping and drop-knee turns. It can be difficult to practice these skills in the customary environment for the sport, such as surfing in the water, because the opportunities to practice are limited. In addition, the customary environment may not allow the needed movements and balancing to be repeatedly practiced.
Simulators have been developed that use external forces generated by mechanical devices, such as motors, pumps, springs and the like to move and tilt a surfboard-like standing platform. In reality, the movement of a surfboard is mostly controlled by changing the vertical and horizontal position and foot pressure of the surfer. These simulators tend to generate board motions independent of the rider's foot positions, pressures, and vertical position of the center of the gravity and, thus, do not effectively help the users' ability to control and manipulate the surfboard.
Balancing devices, such as the Indo Board™ which has a flat board surface with a separate cylindrical drum beneath the board, have also been designed or developed to help practice balancing skills. However, these devices are limited in their movement and do not accurately reflect the stepping, cross-stepping, and turning techniques that are useful in an actual surfing ride.
The devices discussed above tend to require a hard surface in order to be used and may even require electricity. This can make them impractical for use at beaches, where most surf school classes are conducted.
Thus, there is a need for an improved training device for board sports. It is toward this end that the present invention is directed.

Board sport training device and method of use


The invention relates to pyrimidinone derivatives and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof having remarkable antagonistic action against angiotensin II receptor, and thus useful in treating cardiovascular diseases caused by angiotensin II.

This invention relates to novel pyrimidinone derivatives and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. This invention also relates to process for preparing of the novel pyrimidinone derivatives and pharmaceutical composition containing the pyrimidinone derivatives.
The compounds of this invention and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof are useful as angiotensin II antagonists especially, in treatment of various cardiovascular diseases caused by angiotensin II.
Renin-angiotensin system plays a central role in the regulation of blood pressure in human body. Angiotensin II, consisting of eight amino acids, is produced during the cleavage of angiotensin I by angiotensin converting enzyme(ACE) localized on the arterial blood vessels of lung, etc., and then involved in hypertension development. Angiotensin II, the final product of Renin-angiotensin system, exerts its action to elevate blood pressure and increase electrolyte concentration by interacting with specific receptors present in blood vessel, smooth muscle, kidney or adrenal gland. Thus, as a way of controlling hypertension several antagonistic compounds have been explored to inhibit the effect of angiotensin II by blocking its receptors.
Peptide antagonists analogous to angiotensin II are known, but their clinical applications have been limited because of their short half-life, extensive inactivation after oral administration and above all the partial agonistic activity.
Recently, several non-peptide compounds have been reported as angiotensin II antagonists. European Patent Application Laying-Open Publication Nos. 028,834 and 253310 disclose Imidazole derivatives substituted by biphenyl (for example, Losartan) and European Patent Application Laying-Open Publication No. 245,637, imidazopyridine derivatives (for example, L158,809) as potent angiotensin II antagonists.
In European Patent Application Laying-Open Publication Nos. 407,342, 419,048 and 445,811, pyrimidinone compounds similar to the compounds of this invention in their 6 membered heterocyclic ring structure are disclosed inclusively as a general formula without illustrative enough to support it. Further, the compounds described therein show relatively low activities(10.sup.-6 mol for 60.about.70% inhibition in in vitro blood vessel dilation study) than imidazole derivatives known in the above mentioned application.


An electric retractor extracts and retracts a seat belt in response to tension in the seat belt. The electric retractor may include a spool rotatably attached to a retractor frame. A seat belt is wound on the spool. The spool is rotated by a motor via a worm gear system that permits limited axial motion of the worm, but generally prevents the motor from being back-driven by tension in the seat belt to prevent forced seat belt extraction. The gear system may also cut off power to the motor in the event of excessive seat belt tension to prevent further payout of the seat belt. A senses tension in the seat belt and activates the motor to retract or extract the seat belt from the retractor. An emergency control system may override the web guide control in response to abnormal vehicle dynamics to provide reversible pre-crash pretensioning and/or crash pretensioning.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seat belt systems designed to protect the occupants of a vehicle during a collision. More specifically, the invention relates to an electric seat belt retractor system which is uniquely capable of protecting an occupant during normal use, pre-crash situations, and crash situations, and is capable of constantly and dynamically adjusting to the positioning of the occupant.
2. Description of Related Art
A "control system" may be defined as a system in which an operation is to be performed (or omitted) in a manner determined by measuring some characteristic of the system. Thus, efficient operation of the system can be maintained despite relatively unpredictable changes in the system. The present invention has application to a wide variety of control systems.
There are many applications in which it may be desirable to monitor and/or automatically adjust the tension in a flexible member. One such application is safety restraints for protecting vehicle occupants from impact. Such restraints are often known as "seat belts."
Seat belts are known to increase the safety of occupants in motorized vehicles. Seat belt use is often cited as the most useful line of defense in reducing accident related injuries. Legislation requiring manufacturers to include seat belts in their vehicles has been in place for many years. More recently, laws have been enacted requiring consumers to use seat belts.
The benefits of seat belt use are numerous. In a collision, seat belts may prevent the occupant of a vehicle from striking the interior of the vehicle or other objects within the vehicle, including other occupants. Seat belts aid in keeping the occupant inside the vehicle during a roll-over or other accident situation to enhance the probability of survival and injury avoidance. Seat belts may also keep the driver behind the wheel and in control of the vehicle prior to an impending or potential collision, averting additional damage or injuries. Seat belts also enhance the effectiveness of other safety devices. For example, in a vehicle with airbags, a seat belt keeps the occupant in the seat so that the airbag can better protect the occupant.
Seat belts vary in their configuration, but one common type of seat belt is the three point safety harness. A three point safety harness includes a lap belt and a shoulder strap that cooperate to anchor an occupant on each side of his/her lap and at one shoulder. In one commonly employed three-point safety harness configuration, the seat belt webbing traverses the occupant's upper body in a diagonal fashion, passes through a latch plate, and then traverses the occupant's lap. The latch plate is fastened to a buckle, which is secured to the vehicle to restrain both the occupant's lower and upper body. One end of the webbing is typically anchored to the vehicle. The other end is secured by a seat belt retractor.
For convenience and due to variations in seat position and occupant size, three point safety harnesses are usually adjustable to provide proper safety and comfort. A seat belt retractor allows the safety harness to be adjustable and to lock the webbing in the event of an accident. Conventional seat belt retractors include webbing anchored at one end to a spool. Rotation of the spool is controlled for extraction and retraction of the webbing by a combination of various ratchet wheels, springs, lock dogs, pawls, gears, and the like.
Preferably, in a three-point safety harness, the shoulder strap rests lightly on the occupant's shoulder and allows the occupant's upper torso relatively free movement. However, many occupants fail to properly adjust the tension in the safety harness once the seat belt has been fastened. If too much slack is left in the shoulder strap portion of the webbing, the shoulder seat belt system may not properly protect the occupant. Therefore, seat belt retractors have been designed to automatically remove excess slack from the shoulder strap. Generally, this is done by providing a constant bias on the spool in the direction of webbing retraction. However, in actual application, seat belt systems usually contain substantial slack, often 120 mm or more. This is clearly not ideal in that the slack can defeat the effectiveness of the seat belt in a crash situation.
In addition, removal of slack can often cause the occupant discomfort. This discomfort may cause an occupant to use the seat belt improperly, for example, by placing the shoulder portion behind their upper torso, or by simply not using the seat belt. The safety features of the three-point safety harness are defeated when discomfort leads occupants to misuse or avoid using the system.
Generally, the difficulty with existing seat belt systems can be summarized as inability to adequately and dynamically adjust to the position of the occupant. An ideal seat belt system should be able to restrain an occupant comfortably during normal operation. This, however, requires constant adjustment because the occupant is constantly mobile, moving and reaching about the interior of the vehicle. Conventional systems are unable to freely and constantly adjust and often result in uncomfortable binding if the occupant makes a substantial move.
Furthermore, most conventional systems are unable to adequately respond to pre-crash situations. Most existing systems simply lock the belt in place, but are unable to draw the occupant back into position. Many such systems are unable to provide crash pretensioning to restrain the occupant during an actual crash, and to allow optimum interaction with airbags and other supplemental restraint systems.
Hence, conventional seat belt systems are lacking in a number of respects, and a need exists for enhanced seat belt systems that overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. More generally, there is a need for control systems capable of adjusting the available length of a flexible member depending on tension present within the member. Conventional control systems generally lack the ability to dynamically and accurately control the tension. There is a need for control systems capable of controlling tension, particularly in the presence of relatively unpredictable factors such as the motion of a vehicle passenger.


In a semiconductor device formed by a plurality of logic blocks, plurality of functional test patterns are generated and transmitted to the semiconductor device. If an abnormal current is detected upon receipt of an i-th functional test pattern, and an output data is different from an expected data upon receipt of a j-th functional test pattern, a fault block is determined in accordance with the i-th functional test pattern and the j-th functional test pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for detecting a fault block in a semiconductor device such as a CMOS device formed by a plurality of logic blocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a prior art system for testing a semiconductor device, the device is driven using a functional test pattern, and as a result, an output pattern is obtained at the outputs of the device. Then, the output pattern is compared with an expected pattern. Thus, a determination of whether the device is normal or abnormal is made based on whether the output pattern coincides with the expected pattern.
After it is determined that the device is abnormal, a fault point is estimated in accordance with a fault dictionary for storing a relationship between functional test patterns and output patterns for virtual faults.
The fault dictionary is made by carrying out fault simulation.
In the above-described prior art testing apparatus, however, when the device is highly-integrated, a large number of fault simulations are required to complete the fault dictionary.
In addition, the volume of the fault dictionary is very large. For example, EQU V.sub.0 .varies.L.sup.2.about.3
where V.sub.0 is the volume of the fault dictionary; and
L is a number of logic circuits in the device.
Thus, it is extremely difficult to determine a fault point of a highly-integrated semiconductor device.

Fault block detecting system using abnormal current and abnormal data output


A motorcycle windshield fairing including a transparent fairing removably connected to the motorcycle and extending upwardly and rearwardly from an upper end of the existing windshield on the motorcycle. A first connector on the rearward face of the fairing is selectively connectable to a plurality of receiving members on the windshield, to permit longitudinal adjustment of the fairing on the windshield. A support arm extends between the upper rearwardly end of the fairing and the motorcycle, and is pivotally connected at each end and is extensible to permit selective pivotal movement of the fairing to change the angle of attack.

In open cockpit vehicles, such as motorcycles, a fairing or windshield of curved clear plastic is typically provided to protect the rider from the effects of wind and particulate or rain in the air.
As motorcycles have been modernized and streamlined, the windshield mounted on the vehicles have gradually decreased in length and taken on a much steeper angle (oriented more towards the horizontal). While these modifications decrease wind resistance, they require that the rider lean downwardly closely adjacent the vehicle so as to take advantage of the slip stream created by the steeply sloped windshield.
For the taller rider, or the rider who does not wish to lean forwardly and downwardly, the air passing over the windshield will contact the face or helmet of the rider, causing vibration in the motorcyclist's helmet and a buffeting air pattern around the head of the rider, within the cockpit of the motorcycle.


A system and method for soliciting repairs to an electromechanical device are disclosed. The system includes a signaling device for signaling a need for a repair of an associated electromechanical device. A repair mediator receives information related to an addressable fault with the electromechanical device and causes the signaling device to provide a signal indicating, to a candidate repairer passing by the device, a need for a repair to the device for which a reward is available for performing the repair. The repair mediator provides the reward for a completed repair.

The exemplary embodiment relates to a system and method for influencing repairs to shared devices. It finds particular application in connection with a networked printing system in which several users have access to a common printer and will be described with particular reference thereto. It is to be appreciated, however, that other applications in which one or more devices are shared by several users are also contemplated.
Electromechanical devices, such as printers, commonly suffer minor faults, such as paper jams and running out of consumables, such as paper or toner. These minor problems can usually be corrected by the users of such devices, without the assistance of a local support person or service call. However, when a user is in urgent need for a print or copy job, such as for a meeting, or for completing a project, it may be inconvenient to have to perform the physical repair before the job can be completed. Users often redirect the urgent job to another printer, if one is available, and leave the repair to someone else. Some users are less adept at completing the physical repair than others and may leave the repair to another user, even when the job is not urgent. As a result, when the printer is ultimately repaired, either by another user or the support person, several print jobs may have accumulated and be printed unnecessarily. Additionally, several users may have wasted time sending a job to a non-functional printer. Others may feel penalized because they have to repair a printer that other people, with less urgent jobs, could have attended to. Furthermore, this context is not favorable to a good repair.


A shearing apparatus includes a pair of scissors including a first blade, a second blade, a first slide on the first blade and a second slide on the second blade. A first handle defines a groove for receiving the first slide, a first portion through which the pair of scissors can be retracted into and extended from the first handle, a second portion, a slot and two apertures in communication with the slot. A second handle is pivotally connected to the first handle. The second handle defines a groove for receiving the second slide. A positioning device is connected to the pair of scissors. The positioning device is normally located in one of the apertures to position the pair of scissors and can be pushed and then moved between the apertures along the slot to move the pair of scissors.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a searing apparatus and, more particularly, to a pair of scissors.
2. Related Prior Art
In Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 560398, there is disclosed a shearing apparatus including a pair of scissors, two slides and two handles. The pair of scissors includes two blades formed with shanks. The shanks define apertures. Each slide includes a groove for receiving the shank, an aperture in communication with the groove, a recess and two screw holes. A pin is fit in the aperture through the aperture of one of the slides. A rivet is inserted in the handles and a torque spring between the handles. The handles are joined by the pin. The handles are opened by the torque spring so that the pair of scissors is closed. The handle defines a groove for receiving one of the slides, a slot in communication with the groove and an aperture in communication with the slot. The handle defines another groove for receiving one of the slides, another slot in communication with the groove and another aperture in communication with the slot. A spring is inserted in the recess of each of the slides. There are two latches each including a first end inserted in one of the springs, a second end exposed from the slot and a locking section for insertion in the aperture. The springs are compressed between the slides and the locking sections. Two threaded bolts are driven into the screw holes of each of the slides. The heads of the threaded bolts retain the locking sections. In operation, the blades are extended from the handles. The locking sections are located in the apertures. A user can close the handles to close the blades for shearing. A user can push the latches by the second ends to move the locking sections from the apertures. Thus, the blades can be retracted into the handles for storage.
Several problems have been encountered in using this conventional shearing apparatus. Firstly, while closing the handles, the user might push the latches by the second ends and allow the insertion of the blades into the handles by mistake. Such unexpected insertion interrupts the normal operation and might hurt the user.
Secondly, there is no device for retaining the blades in the handles. The blades might be extended from the handles by mistake. Such unexpected extension might damage things and/or hurt the user.
Thirdly, the shanks are short. Therefore, it requires a large force to close the blades.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art.


An excitation beam from a laser is passed through a bandpass filter, and applied to a sample by a collimator lens. An optical adjusting part comprising a camera lens and a converging lens is provided for receiving scattered light from the sample, so that the camera lens receives the scattered light and converts the same to a parallel beam. The converging lens has chromatic aberration, and receives and converges the parallel beam from the camera lens. An inlet slit of a spectroscope is provided as an inlet port on a converging position by the converging lens. This inlet slit is a circular hole having a diameter of about 200 .mu.m. The inlet slit is arranged on a position for converging anti-Stokes-Raman scattered light through the chromatic aberration of the converging lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for measuring a target substance contained in a mixture sample, particularly a vital substance such as urine or blood plasma, by a light scattering method for qualitatively and quantitatively measuring its component such as glucose, acetone or urea, and more particularly, it relates to a measuring method and a measuring apparatus employing anti-Stokes-Raman scattering as light scattering.
2. Description of the Background Art
There are many methods of quantitatively measuring concentrations of substances by light scattering. In relation to methods employing Raman scattering, there is a method of nondestructively measuring a concentration through the fact that Raman scattering intensity is proportionate to the glucose concentration in a sample (refer to Japanese Patent Laying-Open Gazette No. 7-49309 (1995)). This method utilizes near infrared light as excitation light for suppressing fluorescence from the sample, condenses scattered light from the sample by a lens, blocks off Rayleigh scattered light through a notch filter, and thereafter separates the scattered light into its spectral components through a spectroscope for obtaining the Raman scattering spectrum of a target substance contained in the sample, thereby determining the target substance.
In general, a laser of near infrared or a longer wavelength is employed in order to determine a target substance while avoiding fluorescence generated from a mixture of a substance derived from an organism or another fluorescing substance ("Laser Raman Bunko to Rinsho Igaku" by Yukihiro Ozaki et al., O Plus E 1992 4 92-99). However, the intensity of Raman scattering is weakened in inverse proportion to the fourth power of the excitation wavelength, and hence the intensity of detected light is remarkably weakened if near infrared light is employed as the excitation light, as compared with excitation by a visible light.
If the excitation light has a longer wavelength than visible, a detector and a spectroscope must be rendered suitable for a longer wavelength. Near infrared surface and array devices are extremely high-priced at present. While methods of measuring Raman scattering through near infrared wavelength light include FT-Raman spectrometry employing Fourier transformation, an FT-Raman spectroscope is large-sized and disadvantageously takes a long time for measurement.
When a sample is measured through the aforementioned Raman scattering or light scattering, the target scattered light spectrum from the sample is often vanished by fluorescence from the sample. The fluorescence is particularly intense when the sample is an organism itself, a substance such as blood, urine, excrements, saliva or tear separated and collected from an organism, or food, fruit or farm products.
In Raman scattering spectra, spectra in regions having large and small photon energy values with respect to excitation light respectively (these spectra are hereinafter referred to as anti-Stokes and Stokes lines respectively) are observed. The Stokes line appears since small parts of molecules holding photons return not to original vibration levels but to vibration levels having different electron ground states (levels higher than the ground states) after liberating the held photons when specific molecules are irradiated with light. On the other hand, the anti-Stokes line appears since electrons originally present at levels having higher energy than ground states do not return to the original levels but make transition to ground state levels along with parts of applied photons after liberating most parts of the applied photons. Namely, the energy widths of the anti-Stokes and Stokes lines become energy differences between the ground states and vibrational excitation states, and hence the anti-Stokes and Stokes lines generally appear on symmetrical positions in terms of shift wavenumbers with respect to the excitation light.
In the fluorescence, on the other hand, a spectrum is present in a region having small quantum energy with respect to the excitation light, i.e., a region having a long wavelength, unless excitation and fluorescence spectra remarkably intersect with each other. Quantumly considering this, the fluorescence is generated since electrons which are present in ground states or at other levels are excited by applied energy through the energy of applied light and stay at a number of levels for an instance during transition from the excitation energy levels to the ground states. Namely, the fluorescence is generated in a region smaller (longer wavelength side) than the quantum energy of the excitation light in general.
Therefore, it is conceivable that a component spectrum of a target substance can be obtained from a sample by a method of Raman spectral analysis while avoiding influence by fluorescence when the anti-Stokes line in Raman scattering analysis is observed, and identification and determination of the target substance can be performed by observing change and intensity of the spectrum of the target substance.
Study of anti-Stokes-Raman scattering includes coherent anti-Stokes-Raman spectroscopy (CARS) for introducing pump light and probe light into a target substance and measuring anti-Stokes-Raman scattering. In the principle of this spectroscopy, wavelengths of two different vibration numbers are introduced into a sample and spectra are forcibly oscillated by a transition vibration number of Raman scattering when the quantum energy difference of the incident light coincides with the transition vibration number of Raman scattering for utilizing the fact that forced vibration in the interior of the substance generates phased nonlinear vibration. In an anti-Stokes-Raman spectrum by CARS, therefore, nonlinear interaction of the light and the substance becomes remarkable dissimilarly to the relation between a concentration and Raman scattering intensity of the target substance in an ordinary linear Raman scattering spectrum.
Further, nonlinear phenomenons such as multiple photon absorption transition, scattering by a higher-order coherent Raman process, induced Raman scattering, a sum frequency and higher harmonic generation coexist, and the spectrum does not necessarily linearly reflects the concentration of the target sample. Therefore, CARS is not utilized as a quantitative analysis method.
Further, many laser light source units are necessary for a spectroscopic system, and hence the apparatus becomes large-scale.
The intensity ratio of anti-Stokes-Raman and Stokes-Raman scattering spectra is approximated by the following equation of Boltzmann distribution:
anti-Stokes intensity/Stokes intensity=exp (-h.nu./kT) where h represents the Planck's constant, k represents the Boltzmann's constant, T represents the absolute temperature, and .nu. represents the Raman shift wavenumber.
FIG. 1 shows calculated values of intensity ratios of anti-Stokes-Raman and Stokes Raman lines on the assumption that the absolute value is 300 K on the basis of the Boltzmann distribution. When the sample temperature is 300 K, the intensity ratio is 0.008 at -1000 cm.sup.-1 (minus sign of the wavenumber expresses an anti-Stokes-Raman scattering by shifting toward a shorter wavelength side than the excitation wavelength), and 0.007 at -1500 cm.sup.-1. Therefore, it has generally been considered impossible to detect anti-Stokes-Raman scattered light by ordinary linear Raman spectroscopy.

Measuring method and measuring apparatus by light scattering


A portable electronic apparatus includes a display having a display portion; a memory for storing a plurality of application programs and a calendar application program and; a processor for specifying a position indicated by a cursor displayed on the display portion in operating one of the plurality of application programs, for starting up the calendar application program in operating one of the plurality of application programs, for displaying a calendar which includes a plurality of date data on the display portion in operating the calendar application program, for selecting one of the plurality of date data of the calendar, and for displaying the selected date data of the calendar at the specified position indicated by the cursor on the display portion.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to a portable electronic apparatus, commonly called "electronic organizer" or "electronic memo". More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable electronic apparatus incorporating various application programs, such as a calendar, a calculator, a memo, and a schedule organizer.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
FIG. 9 shows an exemplary calling relationship between various kinds of application programs stored in the ROM of a conventional electronic organizer. Hereafter, an application program is simply referred to as an application. A switching program 90 selectively calls one of a memo application 91, a schedule application 92, a calendar application 93 and a calculator application 94 under the control of a CPU according to an instruction of an operator.
Conventionally, when an operator utilizes date data from the calendar application 93 in one of the other applications such as the schedule application 92, there exists the following method including the steps (1) and (2):
(1) FIG. 10 shows a step of previously storing date data in a specified area (a date buffer) of a RAM.
Specifically, the calendar application previously stores date data in a specified area of a RAM (step S100) and then executes a process corresponding to a key input (steps S101, S102).
(2) FIG. 11 shows a step of reading out the date data stored in the specified area of the RAM to utilize the date data in one of the other applications.
Specifically, any application can call a date data read out process. When an application calls the date data read out process (step S110), the application allows an operator to input keys (step S111) and judges whether specified keys, such as a "SHIFT" key and a "T" key, are input or not (step S112). If Yes, the application reads out the date data stored in the specified area of the RAM to utilize the date data as a key input to the application (step S113). If No, the keys input in step S111 are input to the application (step S114).
The key input subroutine for date data is incorporated in any of the applications as one of the subroutines which can be called from any application.
Conventionally, when an operator utilizes a result of calculation from the calculator application 94 in one of the other applications, for example, the memo application 91, there exists the following method including the steps (3) and (4):
(3) FIG. 12 shows a step of previously storing a result of a calculation in a specified area (a calculate buffer) of the RAM.
Specifically, the calculator application 94 allows an operator to input keys (step S120) and judges whether a calculator start key is input or not (step S121). If Yes as in step S121, the calculator application 94 becomes a ready state for calculation (step S122). Then, the calculator application 94 allows an operator to input keys (step S123) and judges whether a calculation end key is input or not (step S124). If No as in step S124, the calculator application 94 calls a subroutine for calculation to obtain a result of the calculation (step S126) and returns to step S123. If Yes as in step S124, the calculator application 94 stores the result of the calculation in a specified area of the RAM (step S125) and terminates the calculation (step S127). If No as in step S121, the calculator application 94 executes a process corresponding to the keys input in step S120 (step S128) and returns to step S120.
(4) FIG. 13 shows a step of reading out the result of a calculation stored in the specified area of the RAM to utilize the result of the calculation in one of the other applications.
Specifically, any application can call a result of calculation read out process. When an application calls the result of calculation read out process (step S130), the application allows an operator to input keys (step S131) and judges whether specified keys, such as a "SHIFT" key and an "R.multidot.CM" key, are input or not (step S132). If Yes, the application reads out the result of the calculation stored in the specified area of the RAM to utilize the result of the calculation as a key input to the application (step S133). If No, the keys input in step S131 are input to the application (step S134).
The key input subroutine for the result of the calculation is incorporated in any application as one of the subroutines which can be called from any application.
However, the conventional method including the steps (1) and (2) mentioned above has the following disadvantages:
Any application must be designed and programmed so that they can read out date data stored in the specified area of the RAM.
Further, date data must be previously stored in a specified area of the RAM before an operator wants to utilize the date data from the calendar application in any of the other applications. As a result, flexibility of operations by the operator is restricted.
For example, assuming that when an operator is operating the memo application, the operator wants to utilize the date data from the calendar application after the operator ensures a day of week of the date and/or his or her schedule referring to a calendar displayed on the display portion of the electronic organizer by the calendar application.
According to the conventional method, the operator must previously store the date data by the use of calendar application prior to starting up the memo application. Otherwise, the operator can not utilize the date data from the calendar application in the memo application. As a result, when the date data is not stored, the operator is obliged to input a provisional date to the memo application and to edit the provisional date into an appropriate date at a later stage.
Thus, the operator can not input desired date data from the calendar application to one of the other applications directly at any time, without preparing to store the date data in the calendar application.
Similarly, the conventional method including the steps (3) and (4) mentioned above has the following disadvantages:
Any applications must be designated and programmed so that they can read out a result of the calculation stored in the specified area of the RAM.
Further, a result of calculation must be previously stored in a specified area of the RAM before an operator can utilize the result of the calculation from the calculator application in any of the other applications. As a result, flexibility of operations by the operator is restricted.
For example, assuming that an operator who is operating the memo application wants to utilize numeral data, such as a result of a calculation, he or she can obtain it by using the calculator application.
According to the conventional method, the operator must previously store the result of calculation by the use of calculator application prior to starting up the memo application. Otherwise, the operator can not utilize the result of calculation from the calculator application in the memo application. As a result, when the result of calculation is not stored, the operator is obliged to input a provisional result to the memo application and to edit the result into an appropriate result at a later stage.
Thus, the operator can not input a desired result of calculation from the calculator application to one of the other applications directly at any time, without preparing to store the result of calculation in the calculator application.


A housing module 10 for a circuit board comprises a first chamber 20 for accommodating a main part of the circuit board and a second chamber 22 bordering the first chamber 20 and having a greater depth that the first chamber 20 to enable it to accommodate a connector 16 located along an edge of the circuit board and protruding above the surface of the circuit by an amount exceeding the depth of the first chamber 20. The exterior of the module 10 is shaped to enable two similar modules 10 to be stacked with the first chambers 20 overlying one another and with the second chambers 22 circumferentially staggered around the stack, thereby and acting to maintain the modules of the stack in alignment with one another.

Agricultural vehicles may sometimes have two or more electronic control units (ECU's). For example, there may be an ECU for engine management and others to control an implement or to control some other specific function performed by the vehicle.
Hitherto, ECU's are housed in separate housing modules which were shaped as a rectangular box. The height of the box needs to be sufficient to clear the circuit components mounted on the board, of which the highest is usually a connector which enables a set of wires to be plugged into the board. In the past, other components could also protrude significantly from the circuit board but with more modern circuit boards making use of surface mount technology, the board is itself slim and it is mainly the connectors that dictate the height of the housing.
When conventional housing modules are stacked above one another, the height of the stack is equal to the sum of the heights of the individual modules and the space needed to house the ECU's is considerable.


Systems and methods for directing an alert to responders are provided. Upon activation of an alert application on a user device, an options screen is displayed to a user. The user can select a report option, and a screen is displayed for the user to enter information into one or more required and optional fields regarding a threat or a risk event. Once the system determines that the required fields have been filled, the system automatically composes a customized alert message based on the received information, automatically determines appropriate responders to notify. The customized alert message is transmitted to the determined responders, and acknowledgement messages are received from the responders.

Persons, in the ordinary course of their daily lives, encounter problem situations in which they may feel a need for assistance from qualified responders. For example, people face natural challenges or disasters, such as hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, floods, and earthquakes. Man-made disasters can also cause a personal need for assistance, such as fires, witnessing or being a victim of a robbery or violence, an active shooter, a terrorist event, or a multi-vehicle accident. Further, individual challenges or injuries can cause a need for assistance, such as a heart attack, a fall, a broken bone, a serious laceration, an auto accident, a physical act, being a victim of terrorism, or becoming lost, just to name a few.
In the past, calls for assistance were made by shouting for help, running to the nearest house, or finding a working telephone. More recently, with the expanded distribution of increasingly technical communication devices, people have been able to make calls for assistance with portable phones or by emailing a friend or family member.
In spite of people's best intentions, many calls for assistance do not get made, are made to the wrong responders, encounter busy signals, fail in transmission, or convey wrong information. Additionally, people who encounter a disaster or need for assistance often do not know what type of responder to call, where to call, where the disaster or need for assistance is located, or what resources are needed. Further, the person attempting to contact responders may be a victim or may be in danger and lack the resources, time, or safety to make a complete call for assistance and answer questions regarding the disaster, the problem, or the danger.
What is needed is a reliable, easily utilized system whereby individuals can convey an alert message to one or more responders for assistance, where the system receives minimal information from the individual and conveys customized messages to qualified, nearby responders to alert the responders of a particular need for assistance at a particular location.

Composing and transmitting customized alert messages to responders