The invention provides coated printing paper having base paper and on at least one surface of the base paper, a coating layer containing a pigment and a binder as main components, wherein the base paper contains calcium carbonate, the coating layer contains ground calcium carbonate as a pigment in an amount of 50 parts by mass or more relative to 100 parts by mass of the total of the pigment(s) in the coating layer, the base paper and/or the coating layer contains a calcium compound other than calcium carbonate, and the content of calcium derived from the calcium compound is 3 mmol to 60 mmol, both inclusive, in terms of calcium ions per 1 m2 of the base paper and/or the coating layer.

The rapid progress of ink jet recording technology has made it possible to form high-quality colored images on recording media such as paper and films with printers utilizing the ink jet recording technology (hereinafter, referred to as "ink jet printers"). Such ink jet printers range from small home printers to large format printers. Because these printers basically perform printing on a single sheet basis, they have been mainly utilized at printing worksites handling small numbers of copies. The printing speed of large format printers is several meters or less per minute, although variable depending on the printing size or the image quality.
As a result of further progress in the technology, ink jet recording has recently become used in industrial printing (hereinafter, referred to as "ink jet printing"). Because large numbers of copies are printed in the industrial printing field, printing speed is important due to the productivity and the printing costs. A printing speed suitable for ink jet printing is achieved with a printing machine that is equipped with a line head in which ink-ejecting heads are fixed in the entirety of the width direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction (hereinafter, such a printing machine will be referred to as "ink jet printing machine") (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). More recently, rotary ink jet printing machines using pigment inks have been developed which have a printing speed of 15 m/min or more, a higher speed of 60 m/min or more, and a still higher speed in excess of 120 m/min.
Because ink jet printing machines allow for handling of variable information, their use is particularly found in on-demand printing. A preferred manner of industrial printing is to print fixed information with an offset printing machine and to print variable information with an ink jet printing machine.
However, poor fixation and absorption of ink jet inks are encountered when conventional coated offset printing paper is used in printing with an ink jet printing machine at such a printing speed as described above. As a result, the printed image is smeared by abrasion caused during post-printing handling. Further, because the absorption of inks is insufficient, printing at the above printing speed results in problems such as the occurrence of uneven printing, blurred printing and, in the worst cases, ink bleeding (a phenomenon in which an ink that has remained unabsorbed bleeds on the coated paper).
Ink fixing properties and ink absorption properties during ink jet printing may be improved by simply reducing the amount of a binder in a coating layer or by adding a large amount of a porous pigment to a coating layer. However, such approaches result in the occurrence of problems such as blanket piling to cause a decrease in the coating strength of the coating layer, thereby deteriorating the offset printability of the coated printing paper.
From the viewpoint of weather resistance, ink jet printing machines tend to be configured to be loaded with ink jet pigment inks. Problems encountered with pigment inks include uneven printing in printed sections. Uneven printing is a phenomenon in which coated printing paper exhibits a nonuniform density of an ink fixed in the printed image after the ink is dried to cause uneven ink absorption properties during high speed printing. Because inks used in ink jet printing have a low concentration of color material, uneven printing tends to be more marked than in offset printing. The presence of uneven printing deteriorates the commercial value of prints.
Exclusive paper for ink jet recording in which base paper is coated with a porous pigment having a high BET specific surface area (see, for example, Patent Literatures 2 and 3) exhibits excellent ink fixing properties and ink absorption properties during ink jet printing. However, such ink jet recording exclusive paper is poor in offset printability due to insufficient strength of the coating layer.
Further, ink jet recording exclusive paper which suppresses the occurrence of uneven printing in printed images has been developed. Such recording media are ink jet recording sheets which include support paper containing a water-soluble metal salt, and an ink receiving layer containing a protein on the support paper (see, for example, Patent Literature 4); ink jet recording paper which has an ink receiving layer and a gloss layer on a support wherein the gloss layer contains 5 to 30 wt % of a chloride of a Group 2A element in the periodic table (see, for example, Patent Literature 5); and ink jet recording paper which has an ink receiving layer and a gloss layer on a substrate and is further provided with an overcoating layer containing a multivalent metal salt and a penetrating agent (see, for example, Patent Literature 6). However, these types of ink jet recording exclusive paper are dedicated to ink jet printers. Thus, they are poorly suitable for offset printing, and cannot suppress the occurrence of uneven printing to a sufficiently satisfactory level when used for ink jet printing machines. Other types of ink jet recording paper have been disclosed in which base paper containing a cationic polymer is coated with a coating layer based on an inorganic pigment and a binder (see, for example, Patent Literature 7). Such recording paper exhibits good offset printability but is often rather unsatisfactory in terms of uneven printing when used for ink jet printing machines.

Coated printing paper and method for forming printed images


A method of verifying the programming of a plurality of memory cells in a data storage system includes performing a setup operation including settling of bit lines associated with the subset of memory cells; performing a sensing operation including subjecting the settled bit lines to a verify voltage signal; and performing first and second latching operations identifying memory cells of the subset of memory cells having threshold voltages that meet first and second verify reference voltages, where the first and second latching operations are part of the same program verify operation with no setup time between them.

The growing demand for high capacity storage devices has catalyzed the use of multi-level not and (NAND) flash memory cells, which include multi-level cells (MLC, 2 bits per cell), triple level cells (TLC, 3 bits per cell), quad level cells (QLC, 4 bits per cell), and higher capacities. As the number of bits stored in a memory cell increases, the level of precision required for reliable data programming and verification operations also becomes stricter in tandem. In addition, as flash memory arrays continue to decrease in size, challenges arise in scaling performance improvements along with the size improvements.
Existing approaches for programming and verification operations for multi-level cells involve redundant sensing operations which create performance bottlenecks as memory arrays continue to become more complex and decrease in size. Thus, there is a need for a more efficient method of programming and verifying multi-level cells.

Fast sensing scheme with amplified sensing and clock modulation


The present invention provides a method for producing an expanded, enriched, non-transformed human cell culture of human pancreatic, thyroid or parathyroid endocrine cells and other types of cells which comprises (1) preparing partially purified, minced tissue that includes a desired type of cells; (2) concentrating the desired cells; (3) resuspending the concentrated cells in a growth medium which selects in favor of the desired cells and in which those cells are proliferated without being transformed and differentiated functions are retained through periodic passaging; (4) culturing the resuspended cells in the growth medium to effect sustained cell division; and (5) passaging the cultured cells periodically to expand the culture. The present invention further provides clonal strains of cells derived from the above-mentioned cell culture and procedures to form matrix-embedded aggregated and non-aggregated cells for providing pseudotissues and products such as matrix-embedded pancreatic islets (pseudoislets). Growth medium and conditioned medium is provided for the culturing of the cells and clonal strains, the growth medium comprising a suitable basal medium supplemented with effective concentrations of hypothalamus and pituitary extracts, serum and other ingredients, which growth medium selects in favor of desired human cells and against passenger cells including fibroblast, macrophage, and capillary endothelial cells such that the desired cells are selectively proliferated without being transformed and an expanded cell culture is provided of functionally differentiated, expanded, non-transformed human cells that is substantially free of such passenger cells.

Many kinds of cells can be grown in culture, provided that suitable nutrients and other conditions for growth are supplied. Thus, since 1907 when Harrison noticed that nerve tissue explanted from frog embryos into dishes under clotted frog lymph developed axonal processes, scientists have made copious use of cultured tissues and cells from a variety of sources. Such cultures have been used to study genetic, physiological, and other phenomena, as well as to manufacture certain macromolecules using various fermentation techniques known in the art. In studies of mammalian cell biology, cell cultures derived from lymph nodes, muscle, connective tissue, kidney, dermis and other tissue sources have been used. Generally speaking, the tissue sources that have been most susceptible to the preparation of cell cultures for studies are derivatives of the ancestor mesodermal cells of early development. Tissues that are the progeny of the ancestor endodermal and ectodermal cells have only in recent years become amenable to cell culture, of a limited sort only. The cell types derived from the endoderm and ectoderm of early development include epidermis, hair, nails, brain, nervous system, inner lining of the digestive tract, various glands, and others. Essentially, long-term cultures of normal differentiated glandular and epithelial cells, particularly those from humans, are still not available.
In the instance of the mammalian pancreas, until the present invention, no scientist has had the opportunity of studying, and no physician has had the prospect of using for treatment, a cell culture of pancreatic endocrine cells that exhibited sustained cell division and the glandular properties typical of the pancreas.
Similar to neurons, the endocrine cells of the mammalian pancreas have been considered to be post-mitotic, i.e., terminal, essentially non-dividing cells. Recent work has shown that the cells of the mammalian pancreas (including those of humans) are capable of survival in culture, but are not capable of sustained cell division. Hence, a primary culture of the tissue cells can succeed, but due to a lack of sufficient cell divisions of the cultured cells, passaging of the primary culture to form serial cultures has not been possible. Although occasional cells in a metaphase stage, uptake of tritiated thymidine, and other evidence of cell division have been seen in these cultures (Clark et al., Endocrinology, 1:1895 (1990); Breljie et al., Endocrinology, 128:45 (1991)), the overall rate of cell division has been considered to be below the replacement rate (that is, more, or as many, cells die as are produced). Therefore, pancreatic endocrine cell cultures prior to the present invention were not expanded.
The inability to study pancreatic endocrine cells in culture has impeded the ability of medical science to progress in the area of pancreatic disorders. Such disorders include diabetes mellitus, a disease that impairs or destroys the ability of the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans (structures within the pancreas) to produce sufficient quantities of the hormone insulin, a hormone that serves to prevent accumulation of sugar in the bloodstream. Type I diabetes mellitus (insulin dependent, or juvenile-onset diabetes) typically requires full hormone replacement therapy. In a second (and more common) form of the disease, type II diabetes (sometimes referred to as late onset, or senile diabetes), treatment often does not require insulin injections because a patient suffering with Type II diabetes may be able to control his/her blood sugar levels by carefully controlling food intake. However, as many as 30% of these patients also have reduced beta cell function and therefore are candidates for hormone replacement therapy as well. Diabetes is not confined to humans, but has been noted in other mammals as well, such as dogs and horses.
The etiology of the diabetic disease condition is not fully understood. However, it has been noted that autoimmunity antibodies (antibodies that "mistakenly" attack bodily structures) and/or certain T lymphocytes may have an involvement long before clinical symptoms of diabetes emerge. Evidence in this direction relies, in part, on successful treatment of recently diagnosed diabetic patients with cyclosporin, an immunosuppressive drug. Such treatment has been shown to prevent or cause remission of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in mice (Mori et al., Diabetologia 29:244-247 (1986)), rats (Jaworski et al., Diabetes Res. 3:1-6 (1986)), and humans (Feutren et al., Lancet, 11:119-123 (1986)). A clinical test to detect the presence of these humoral and cellular immunoreactions would allow the screening of individuals in a pre-diabetic state, which individuals could then be prophylactically treated with immunosuppressive drugs.
Current treatment of individuals with clinical manifestation of diabetes attempts to emulate the role of the pancreatic beta cells in a non-diabetic individual. Individuals with normal beta cell function have tight regulation of the amount of insulin secreted into their bloodstream. This regulation is due to a feed-back mechanism that resides in the beta cells that ordinarily prevents surges of blood sugar outside of the normal limits. Unless blood sugar is controlled properly, dangerous, even fatal, levels can result. Hence, treatment of a diabetic individual involves the use of injected bovine, porcine, or cloned human insulin on a daily basis.
Injected insulin and diet regulation permit survival and in many cases a good quality of life for years after onset of the disease. However, there is often a gradual decline in the health of diabetics that has been attributed to damage to the vascular system due to the inevitable surges (both high and low) in the concentration of glucose in the blood of diabetic patients. In short, diabetics treated with injected insulin cannot adjust their intake of carbohydrates and injection of insulin with sufficient precision of quantity and timing to prevent temporary surges of glucose outside of normal limits. These surges are believed to result in various vascular disorders that impair normal sight, kidney, and even ambulatory functions.
Both of these disease states, i.e., type I and type II diabetes, involving millions of people in the United States alone, preferably should be treated in a more regulated fashion. Successful transplants of whole isolated islets, for example, have been made in animals and in humans. However, long term resolution of diabetic symptoms has not yet been achieved by this method because of a lack of persistent functioning of the grafted islets in situ. See Robertson, New England J. Med., 327:1861-1863 (1992).
For the grafts accomplished thus far in humans, one or two donated pancreases per patient treated was required. Unfortunately only some 6000 donated human pancreases become available in the United States in a year, and many of these are needed for whole pancreas organ transplants (used when the pancreas has been removed, usually during cancer surgery). Therefore, of the millions of diabetic individuals who could benefit from such grafts, only a relative handful of them may be treated given the current state of technology. If the supply of islet cells (including but not necessarily limited to beta cells) could be augmented by culturing the donated islets in cell culture, expanded populations would provide sufficient material to allow a new treatment for insulin-dependent diabetes.
In a similar fashion, the follicle cells of the human thyroid gland are highly specialized to respond to ambient levels of thyroid stimulating hormone, TSH, and to synthesize thyroglobulin, a very large complex protein that requires iodination for its activity. In response to TSH levels, thyroglobulin is secreted as tetra-iodo and tri-iodo thyronine (T.sub.3), which are known collectively as the thyroid hormone, thyroxine. The thyroid cells of rats have been successfully cultured in media that allows the specialized functioning as well as the hormone dependence of these cells to be retained (Ambesi et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 77:3455-3459 (1980)); however, analogous cell cultures of human thyroid cells have not been successfully maintained. These rat cell cultures, called FRTL and FRTL-5, and their clonal variants have become the basis for clinical tests that seek to identify thyroid stimulating substances in the serum of patients with suspected thyroid disease. The FRTL/FRTL5 cell cultures originated from normal adult rat thyroid glands. These cell strains respond to thyrotropin (TSH) by releasing thyroglobulin (Tg), producing cyclic AMP (cAMP), trapping iodide, and growing. The TSH-dependent growth in FRTL and FRTL5 cells suggested a key role of the hormone as a mitogenic factor for thyroid cells; however, not all reports have confirmed this observation (see Westermark et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 76:2022-2026 (1979); Valente et al., Endocrinology, 112:71-79 (1983)). As to the role of cAMP, as a second messenger, it appears that components besides the modulation of cAMP production may be involved in TSH stimulatory effects (see, for example, Lombardi et al., Endocrinology, 123:1544-1552 (1988)). Whereas in genetically engineered FRTL5 cells a pseudo-physiological rise of intracellular cAMP level is enough to stimulate cells proliferation (Hen et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 86:4785-4788 (1989)), normal thyroid cells cultured from other sources may not display the same behavior.
Other second messengers, besides cAMP, have been hypothesized to have a role in the regulation and action of thyroid cells; however, no clear empirical data support any such hypotheses (see, for example, Raspe et al., Mol. Cell. Endocrin., 81:175-183 (1991)). An important role may also be played by autocrine (Takahoshi et al., Endocrinology, 126:7-36-7-45 (1990)) or indirect paracrine influences (Goodman and Rene, Endocrinology, 121:2131-2140 (1987)). Little can be recited definitively because the above-cited studies dealt with thyroid cells from different animal species or from human pathological samples so that discrepancies may be due to differences between species, to the various pathological conditions, or to adaptation of the cells to the various culture conditions used. The few studies on reportedly normal, non-transformed donor tissues have been to primary cultures, with very little evidence of in vitro cell proliferation (see, for example, Raspe et al., supra).
Thyroid pathologies, such as goiter, Grave's disease, Hashimoto's disease, adenomas, and carcinomas, involve impairment of thyroid function and, typically, excision of the thyroid itself. While the etiology of thyroid pathologies are not well understood, treatment post-excision focuses on a hormone-replacement-based therapy. If normal thyroid cells could be produced in culture in sufficient quantities, such expanded populations would provide sufficient material to allow a post-excision new treatment for these thyroid diseases.
When the thyroid gland is damaged or removed, often the parathyroid glands are also damaged or removed. While the function of the thyroid gland is rather successfully replaced by taking thyroid hormone by mouth, the parathyroid function is not easily replaced. The principal hormone product of the parathyroid gland is a protein hormone called parathormone that is not effective if taken by mouth. Parathormone interacts with vitamin D and regulates mineral metabolism, particularly calcium.
A similar situation exists with respect to the parotid glands. These glands are located in the angle of the jaw and are responsible for producing much of the saliva that lubricates the oral cavity. In particular, three major salivary proteins are secreted by the parotid gland; namely, lumicarmine, amylase, and gustin. The absence of the parotid secretions can result in xerostomia, or dry mouth, a common, clinically disturbing but not life-threatening disorder. Xerostomia affects all patients following X-irradiation of the oral cavity for treatment of oral cancers and many patients with Sjogren's syndrome. This disorder exacerbates symptoms of stomatitis, gingivitis, periodontitis, taste loss and tooth loss. Treatment of this symptom has been largely unsuccessful, consisting mainly of supplying oral moisturizers. If normal parotid cells could be produced in culture in sufficient quantities, such expanded populations would provide sufficient material to allow a new treatment for the xerostomic disorder.
Other cell types have been similarly refractory in being cultured long-term by conventional methods, particularly those of ectodermal or endodermal embryonic derivation. Among these other cell types are cells of the olfactory neuroblasts, prostate gland, lachrymal gland, cartilage, inner ear, liver, parathyroid gland, oral mucosa, sweat glands, hair follicles, adrenal cortex, urethra, bladder, many human tumors, and others. Additionally, primary human tumor cells have not been susceptible to propagation in culture, including those tumor cells of the thyroid, lung, cervix, epithelium (carcinoma), and pituitary and thyroid adenoma.
Some cell types, such as amniocytes and venous and arterial endothelium, have been cultured in vitro; however, the growth rates or the faithful retention of differentiated functions have not proven particularly efficacious. Growth rates of amniocytes in conventional media are such that the time required to grow the cells for purposes of diagnosis of some genetic disorders can result in providing information at a time point in the development of a fetus, for example, when the information can be acted upon only with the most dire of impact on the patient, or, perhaps, cannot be acted upon at all. Such growth rates have an economic impact, of course, with respect to the culturing of any of the aforementioned cells. To the extent the cultured cells themselves are products for surgical procedures, for example, skin cells applicable to burn victims, or for production of pharmaceuticals, the existence of techniques to cause cell culturing rates to increase results in a more plentiful and less costly supply of those cells.
The present invention attempts to meet many of these culturing needs. In particular, the present invention provides a novel culturing method and medium which are capable of producing an expanded culture of a wide variety of cells which have previously not been so cultured. Such cells include pancreatic islet cells, thyroid cells, parathyroid cells, parotid cells, tumor cells, and the other cell types discussed above. The present invention further seeks to provide certain aggregates of cells, such as pancreatic, thyroid, parathyroid and parotid cells, that have tissue-like qualities (referred to herein as "pseudotissues"), as well as the use of such pseudotissues for the treatment of various disorders, e.g., blood sugar concentration disorders, thyroid deficiencies, parathormone deficiencies and/or mineral dyscrasia, and xerostomia in mammals. The present invention also seeks to provide techniques for the use of the cultured cells for cytotoxicity assays of exogenous materials and to assess disease states of patients.
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent upon reading the following description of preferred exemplified embodiments of the invention and upon reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which are given by way of illustration only, and are not limitative of the present invention.

Cell cultures of and cell culturing method for nontransformed pancreatic, thyroid, and parathyroid cells


An air blast applicator for applying adhesive-backed labels (2) includes a peel knife (13) for sequentially partially peeling successive labels from a backing strip (6). A gas stream (28) is directed at each label passing to the peel knife (12) to assist removing it and prevent it reattaching to the backing strip (6). An air amplifier (25) has a tube therein such that a gas flow through the tube causes air to be drawn through the air amplifier (25) inducing the air flow (28) directed at the label (2). A blast (20) of gas applies each label (2).

Gas blast label applicators are known from the prior art and are typically used for labelling items which pass beneath the applicator on a conveyor. Using the gas blast avoids contact with sensitive items such as fruit which may be damaged by direct contact applicators. In these devices a label strip is passed around a peel knife to remove successive adhesive-backed labels fixed thereto and present each label to an applicator head against which the label is held by a vacuum. When a detector indicates the presence of the object to be labelled a gas blast is used to apply the label. For economic high speed application of labels to relatively inexpensive bulk items (such as fruit, for example) the capital cost of the labeller must be as low as possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,913 describes an applicator where the applicator head may be automatically raised and lowered depending upon the size of the object to be labelled. In this device the partial vacuum drawn through the applicator head is supplied in the manner of the prior art, such as by connection to a vacuum reservoir/vacuum pump. The complexity and consequent high manufacturing cost of this machine, including costly items such as vacuum pumps and reservoirs makes it unsuited for use in labelling bulk items.
It is an object of the present invention at least to address the foregoing problems or to provide the general public with an alternative system.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description that is given by way of example only.


A combination placement tool and light device (10, 50) is disclosed which allows the dentist or surgeon to hold a dental appliance with a vacuum supplied to a flexible skirt (18, 90), position the dental appliance, and then tack the dental appliance in place with a light source (28, 60, 62) using light activated adhesive. The device (10, 50) can also be used to provide a full cure. The device (10, 50) can also have a source of drying air to aid the procedure. The device (50) can be used with a disposable molded acrylic collimator (76).

A dentist or surgeon will often position a dental appliance in the mouth and tack it in place with a light sensitive adhesive to evaluate the placement. Once the desired placement is achieved, the adhesive is then light cured to permanently secure the dental appliance. However, it is difficult to assure proper positioning of the appliance and to assure the position is maintained while the adhesive is activated. A need exists for a device and technique to facilitate this operation.


An electronic device draws pictures with a plurality of color on a monitor 90. A sound making processing unit 108 reads a color displayed at a position commanded by a touch pen 28 and makes sounds corresponding to the read color. A movable body drawing unit 106 generates a movable body corresponding to a color displayed on the monitor 90 and draws the movable body so as to move the same corresponding to the color. Image processing can be conducted on pictures drawn on the monitor screen by game players.

Home video game devices are very popular as an amusement because of a wide variety of recently developed amusing games. As one of such video game devices, infant video game devices mainly for infants have been developed.
As a conventional infant video game device is known a video game device using cartridges of picture book type software so as to interest infants to play the games. By commanding a picture book by a touch pen, a game display can be changed, and by commanding specific positions on game displays on the monitor screen by a touch pen, various games can be played. By tracing a tablet with a touch pen in such a manner as to draw pictures, pictures can be arbitrarily drawn on the monitor screen. A plurality of colors can be used, and various touch lines can be selectively used.
Thus the conventional infant video game device has the drawing function of a game player arbitrarily drawing pictures on the monitor screen, but the drawing function simply enables a game player to draw pictures on the monitor screen and erase them. The games can be played at first with interest but soon bore players because of the lack of game properties other than a simple drawing function.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and an electronic device for conducting image processing using pictures drawn on the monitor screen by a game player.

Image processing method and electronic device


A deflection apparatus comprises a deflection amplifier coupled to a deflection waveform modulation circuit such as a diode modulator. A source for generating a modulation signal. The modulation signal comprises an AC component and a DC component, each having levels which define an amplitude ratio. An amplifier alters the amplitude ratio, and the altered amplitude ratio signal is coupled to the deflection waveform modulation circuit for deflection waveform modulation.

This invention relates to the field of cathode ray tube deflection amplitude control, such as East-West waveform correction of deflection signals generated by a bus controlled integrated circuit.
The development of single integrated circuits containing both analog and digital television signal processing has greatly reduced receiver parts count, improved reliability and reduced manufacturing cost. Such integrated circuits frequently employ sync separation circuitry to lock a reference oscillator from which horizontal and vertical rate deflection signals are developed. To facilitate control of the I.C. functions with a minimum of circuit board potentiometers and to minimize the I.C. pin count, the integrated circuit may be controlled via a data bus. An example of a data bus system is the Thomson logic protocol which comprises three control lines, data, clock and enable respectively. The I.C. usually contains registers which store digital values that correspond to setup, alignment or user determined values for specific parameters. The stored digital data is converted to an analog value by a digital to analog converter. This analog value is coupled out of the I.C. to control the specific parameter in external circuitry.
To reduce the I.C. pin count, certain waveforms and control signals may output on common I.C. pins. For example, a horizontal pincushion correction waveform, namely a vertical rate parabola, may be output together with a horizontal width determining DC voltage. Thus a single IC pin is used for two circuit control functions. The selection of horizontal pincushion, and horizontal width control parameters is advantageous since both parameters may be controlled by a common deflection circuit configuration, for example a pulse width modulator coupled to a pincushion diode modulator. Thus the vertical rate parabola may be superimposed on a horizontal width determining DC voltage. However, this composite control signal requires DC coupling to the point of circuit control. Furthermore, control requirements may exist for certain deflection yoke/tube combinations which require control signal amplitudes which tend to exceed the output voltage swing capability of the multifunction I.C. Hence constraints exist within the I.C. which limit the maximum amplitude ratio of the two control signals. Additional constraints exist within the I.C. in terms of the range of digital control, i.e. number of control data bits, and the consequential size requirements for control value memory.


A display panel includes a plurality of primary pixel units. Each primary pixel unit includes two primary pixels arranged horizontally. Each of the primary pixels comprises a plurality of subpixels arranged vertically and comprising different colors, and arrangements of the plurality of subpixels with different colors of the adjacent primary pixels being different. The result of the arrangement is neutralization of the adjacent primary pixels, and the neutral effect is “red with white tone.” So color shift caused by the overloaded data line is prevented, which effectively improves color shift occurring in the 3G1D LCD panel and enhances the display effect of the LCD panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat display, and more particularly to a display panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
LCDs (liquid crystal displays) have many merits such as their thin shell, low power consumption, no radiation, etc., so they are widely used. Nowadays, backlight LCDs are commonly used in the market. A backlight LCD comprises a shell, an LCD panel installed in the shell, and a backlight module installed in the shell. The working principle of the LCD panel is as follows: Liquid crystal molecules are injected between two glass substrates. The glass substrates are arranged in parallel. The alignment of the liquid crystal molecules changes depending on the power-on and power-off status to refract a light beam from the backlight module. A color image is produced through the pixels disposed in the glass substrates.
Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3 showing the LCD panel comprising a TFT. The TFT comprises pixels comprising subpixels. Common arrangements of the subpixels are horizontal arrangement and vertical arrangement.
Take an LCD panel comprising a TFT which only comprises a red subpixel R, a green subpixel G, and a blue subpixel B for example. The horizontal arrangement of the subpixels corresponds to "one scan line (Gate) three data line (Data) drive," which is called 1G3D Mode for short (as FIG. 4 shows). The vertical arrangement of the subpixels corresponds to "three scan line (Gate) one data line (Data) drive," which is called 3G1D Mode for short (as FIG. 5 shows).
The 3G1D panel is driven by means of progressive scanning. As FIG. 6 shows, at first, a first scan line G(1) is selected and conducted in a time cycle T in a frame. A signal of the data line (voltage) is written to subpixels in the first row (red subpixels R in FIG. 6); that is, the voltage applied on the data line D(x) in the X column is written to subpixels R(x,1) in the first row of the X column. Next, a second scan line G(2) is selected and conducted. A voltage applied on the data line is written to subpixels in the second row (green subpixels G in FIG. 6); that is, the voltage applied on the data line D(x) in the X column is written to subpixels G(x,1) in the second row of the X column . . . . At last, a 3N scan line G(3N) is selected and conducted. N represents total pixels in the vertical direction. A voltage applied on the data line is written to subpixels in the 3N row (blue subpixels B in FIG. 6); that is, the voltage applied on the data line D(x) in the X column is written to subpixels B(x,N) in the 3N row of the X column.
The risk of showing a one-color image is that the data line is easily overloaded. This causes subpixels to be abnormally charged and results in color shift. Please refer to FIG. 7. Relative to a common voltage, the data line in the panel reverses bias polarization once every frame. Red is shown: (255, 0, 0). The waveform of the voltage output by a surrounding source IC and applied on the data line is shown in FIG. 7a. Section 102, Section 104, and Section 106 represent voltage which should be written to an R subpixel, a G subpixel, and a B subpixel, respectively. Please refer to FIG. 7b. Due to RC delay, Section 102, Section 104, and Section 106 represent voltage which is practically written to the R subpixel, the G subpixel, and the B subpixel, respectively. At this time, the red subpixel R is not fully charged, the green subpixel G is slightly falsely charged, and the blue subpixel B is not charged at all. Color shift (yellowish) occurs to the image.

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


In processing an image represented by binary data and an image represented by multivalue data, multivalue picture information is converted into a binary pattern corresponding to a value of the multivalue picture information, and stored in a memory. A binary pattern corresponding to multivalue picture information is detected from binary picture information stored in the memory to recover the original multivalue picture information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for recording, for example, half-tone images.
2. Related Background Art
As image processing apparatuses for printing an image generated by a computer on a recording medium, image processing apparatuses using electrophotography such as laser beam printers are widely used nowadays. A variety of merits of these image processing apparatuses, such as high quality print, silence, and high speed, have caused to rapidly expand the fields of desk top publishing (DTP).
It is now common to further improve the image quality by incorporating high image quality technique such as a smoothing process for smoothing the detected edges of characters and figures. Some printer engines of a print mechanism have a resolution as high as 480 dpi (dot/inch) or 600 dpi, as different from the past standard of 240 dpi or 300 dpi. A combination of such a high resolution and a smoothing process has improved the print quality much better than a conventional quality.
As a method of printing an image having gradation levels, several methods have been used conventionally, including a dither method, a density pattern method, an error diffusion method, and the like. All these methods are a so-called quasi half-tone method by which a tonal level is expressed by a ratio of black dots to white dots in a predetermined area. Since a resolution in the main scan direction can be relatively easily changed especially for laser beam printers, a pulse width modulation method has been used for expressing a gradation, for example, by changing a width of a drive pulse of a laser diode in accordance with the level of image data. As compared with the quasi half-tone method, typically a dither method, the pulse width modulation method is excellent in that both the gradation and resolution can be satisfied at high level.
However, for pulse width modulation, each pixel is required to have multivalue data. For example, if an image of 256 tonal levels with 600 dpi is to be output, each pixel has 8-bit data so that a memory capacity becomes an eightfold of a conventional binary value print. For example, for an output of an A4 size image, an image memory of about 32 MB is required, considerably raising the cost.
As a means for solving the above problem, it can be considered that a data resolution is lowered. A resolution necessary for printing an image picture having a gradation like a photograph, is 200 lines/inch ("lines/inch" is approximately equivalent to "dpi") even for reprophotography. Therefore, a resolution of 150 to 300 dpi can provide a sufficiently high image quality through electrophotography. For an expression by 8 bits per one pixel with a resolution of 300 dpi, the image memory capacity for A4 size is 8 MB and a rise of cost can be suppressed greatly, although this capacity is larger than an expression by a binary value with a resolution of 600 dpi.
With this method, however, an output image is a so-called binary value picture, i.e., vector-developed character and figure data also has a resolution of 300 dpi, lowering the print quality.
As another means for solving the above problem, it can be considered that two types of memories for a multivalue picture and a binary picture are divisionally used. For example, data of a binary picture, i.e., vector-developed character and figure, is stored in a binary, 600 dpi memory, whereas multivalue data of an image picture is stored in an 8-bit, 150 dpi memory, and these data are synthesized when the image data is transferred to a printer engine. With this method, a total memory capacity necessary for A4 size print is 4 MB for the binary, 600 dpi memory and 2 MB for the 8-bit, 150 dpi memory, totaling 6 MB.
With this method, however, since two memories are used for a binary picture and a multivalue image picture, the memory control becomes complicated and a load on a CPU increases degrading the apparatus performance. Furthermore, in order to realize this method, present software and hardware architectures are required to be changed to a large degree. Since the hardware scale increases correspondingly, the cost is raised. Still further, there arises a problem of a boundary process when data with different resolutions are synthesized.


A row-interleaved printing method for use in phase change ink jet printers which minimizes appearance abnormalities when printing solid geometric shapes; minimizes the horizontal "banding-effect" caused by cross-talk between ink jets when all jets are activated; and minimize the "seaming effect" caused by paper step mechanisms when different velocity profiles are used during printing.

Both Ser. No. 07/474,556 and Ser. No. 07/474,555 disclose a row-interleaved printing method for use in phase change (also referred to as thermoplastic or hot melt) ink jet printers of the drop-on-demand (also known as impulse) and continuous types. The interleaving (also called interlacing) method disclosed in these related applications is intended to minimize appearance abnormalities when printing solid geometric shapes; minimize the horizontal "banding-effect" caused by cross-talk between ink jets when all jets are activated; and minimize the "seaming effect" caused by paper step mechanisms when different velocity profiles are used during printing. This is achieved by meeting the three following guidelines:
1) Adjacent dot rows should not be laid down in the same pass. PA1 2) Each dot row should be sandwiched by either (a) virgin paper on both sides of the dot row, or (b) ink on both sides of the dot row. If a dot row is laid down with ink on one side and virgin paper on the other side, non-uniformity would be the result. PA1 3) The first and the last dot row in each solid pattern are exempted from guidelines #2 and #3. PA1 1) Guideline #1 is to prevent adjacent dot rows to fuse together forming a band of dots per pass. PA1 2) Guideline #2 is to maintain thermal symmetry within a solid pattern. PA1 3) The first and the last dot row of each printed pattern is exempted from the symmetry requirement because these rows represent the transition from one color to another and therefore do not have to be uniform or symmetrical on both sides of the dot row.
The following are the reasons behind the above guidelines:


A rotary cutter includes: an elongated shaft that defines a rotation axis and that has two opposite mounting ends, and at least one axially extending blade-mounting surface parallel to the rotation axis and extending between the mounting ends; a pair of blade-aligning members, each of which is mounted on a respective one of the mounting ends of the shaft, and each of which is formed with at least one protrusion; at least one blade attached to the blade-mounting surface and having two opposite end portions, each of which is formed with a recess that receives the protrusion of a respective one of the blade-aligning members; and a fastening plate and screws for fastening the blade to the shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotary cutter for a wood planing machine, more particularly to a rotary cutter including a pair of blade-aligning members for aligning blades on a shaft.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a conventional wood planing machine that includes a base 11, posts 12 standing upright from the base 11, a cutter carriage 13 mounted movably on the posts 12, and a rotary cutter 14 mounted rotatably on the cutter carriage 13. The rotary cutter 14 includes a shaft 15 that is formed with a plurality of first recesses 153, and a plurality of blades 16, each of which is mounted securely on the shaft 15 and each of which is disposed in a respective one of the first recesses 153. A pair of urging members 154 are disposed in each of the first recesses 153 for adjustment of the depth of the blade 16 in the respective first recess 153. A pressing plate 17 and screw means 19 are used for pressing the blade 16 against a mounting wall 155 of the shaft 15 upon adjustment of the screw means 19 to abut against an opposite wall 156 of the shaft 15 opposite to the mounting wall 155.
Since the first recesses 153 are very narrow, tightening and loosening of the screw means 19 are relatively inconvenient during replacement of the blades 16. Moreover, since the urging members 154 are likely to deform after a period of use and since the extent of deformation is not likely to be the same for the urging members 154, precise alignment of each blade 16 can be difficult to maintain.

Rotary cutter for a wood planing machine


A pot (40) shown having a well formed by a side wall connecting a base wall aperture (43) and internal aperture (44). A mesh (42) is provided to retain liquid transferring material. The invention provides a liquid transfer means for transferring liquid between growth medium and a local environment external to the pot and adjacent the base wall, the liquid transfer means transferring liquid to in or from an internal zone in the chamber wherein the internal zone is spaced from the bottom wall. Alternative embodiments provide a solid liquid permeable plug (20) which may be inserted in a tight nesting fitting through a bottom wall aperture (21) or through a well (36). Alternatively, a wick arrangement (56) may be provided to insert through a well or a side wall aperture (65) and extending into the internal zones. The conduit may be formed as a slot (52). A cap (54) may be optionally be provided. The invention extends to a method of water control and a system for controlling a plurality of pots according to the disclosure. The pots may be located on a capillary mat (68) and in liquid communication therewith to transfer a liquid to and/or from the internal zone in the base of the pot. The pot base is preferably planar externally to provide an easy working surface.

Most container grown plants, particularly production grown pot plants, are watered from above by an arrangement which may include one or more of sprinklers, drippers, and a handheld hose. Increased costs of providing water and also attempts to better stabilise the water content of pots has led to growing interest in the use of bottom watering systems. Bottom watering has been widely practiced in the production of bedding plants, but its wider adoption will be highly likely to occur with other species as water costs escalate, water use is restricted and point source pollution is penalised.
It has been a long held ambition of plant propagators to maximise the effect of watering to thereby improve pot plant culture, not only to reduce water stress but also in terms of automation leading to lower labour requirements and increased efficiency.
The traditional pot plant is formed from a durable polymer or clay material and has a central drainage hole or a plurality of basal holes and/or holes arranged peripherally around a lower wall or base or centrally in the base. One major problem that arises with the use of such pots relates to water uptake and drainage of excess water through the holes, both of which processes are likely to become impeded by root growth. Roots may physically obstruct the passageway provided by the hole or holes. Roots may also concentrate within but at the base of the pot below the potting medium forcing the medium up and out of direct contact with a capillary watering bed in a commercial bottom watering system. This is highly likely to reduce upwards capillary flow rate since the capillary flow rate through a root mass will be compromised relative to the flow through the growth medium.
Escaped roots may also mat beneath a pot causing attenuation of the contact between the water delivery mat and plant-growing medium, thereby further compromising capillary supply of water to the plant.
A commonly promoted theory is that roots seek out a source of water and grow into the source of water to such an extent as to eventually plug the water conduit (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,372 to Lichfield). The teaching therefore is that roots will grow preferentially in the direction of incoming water and are positively hydrotropic.
It would be of advantage to provide a pot that limited root escape and also provided a pathway for liquid to move out of and preferably into the pot.

Root and water management system for potted plants


A method and apparatus for controlling a force applied to a pantograph. A bidirectional snubber and a velocity controller are used to dampen the applied force. Linkages between a shaft and the bidirectional snubber and between the bidirectional snubber and the velocity controller are used to rotationally translate the applied force.

The opening and closing of contacts within electrical switching equipment has traditionally been done through the use of mechanical switches in electrical components such as circuit breakers, contactors, motor starters, motor controllers and other load controllers. Exemplar switches are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,643, U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,262, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,876 and are incorporated herein by reference. Circuit breakers contain separable primary contacts as well as an MOC operator that controls the MOC assembly. In particular, control of the MOC assembly has traditionally been accomplished through mechanical means, and has utilized an interface mechanism such as a pantograph assembly and an MOC operator on the circuit breaker. As originally designed, the MOC operator engages and applies a generally downward force when the circuit breaker closes and upward force when the circuit breaker opens on the MOC assembly. The application of these forces on the MOC assembly causes an MOC rod connected to the MOC assembly to move in corresponding directions and thereby change the status of the MOC assembly.
Due to the various designs employed by various electrical equipment manufacturers, replacement of electrical components such as vacuum circuit breakers which utilize the MOC assembly is often difficult. In particular, pantograph coupling or engagement to the MOC operator is often a dynamic mismatch. The force applied by a new MOC operator to the existing MOC assembly is often significantly higher than that originally designed—in some instances as large as 16 times the force applied by the original MOC operator. Under such circumstances, premature wear, or failure of the MOC assembly is likely. Moreover, the excessive force on the MOC assembly may cause significant contact bounce. Also, the force requirements placed on the circuit breaker can cause stalling of the circuit breaker. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for controlling the forces applied to the MOC assembly and which may be readily used and applied to the myriad of brands and types of electrical switching equipment.

Assembly for controlling the force applied to a pantograph

Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution, Inc.


In a waveguide element using a photonic crystal including a core formed of a photonic crystal having a refractive index periodicity in at least two directions perpendicular to a propagation direction of an electromagnetic wave and a cladding arranged in contact with the core in order to confine the electromagnetic wave in the core, an incident side phase modulation portion is provided for allowing an electromagnetic wave that is coupled to a band on or near a Brillouin zone boundary in a photonic band structure in the core and propagates in the core to enter the core.

In recent years, research and development of new optical fibers referred to as holey fibers, photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) or photonic band gap fibers (PBFs) have progressed at a dramatic pace. In conventional optical fibers, the light is confined to the core by a simple refractive index difference. In contrast, these new optical fibers are characterized by having a complex two-dimensional structure in their cross section.
In other words, the light is confined by means of establishing a refractive index difference between the cladding and the core by arranging holes in the cladding to reduce the effective refractive index in the cladding (holey fibers, PCFs), or of forming a photonic band gap with respect to the propagation light in the core by making the cladding of a photonic crystal (PBFs).
It is possible to change the characteristics of PCFs and PBFs considerably through their structure, so that applications such as "dispersion compensation optical fibers with increased wavelength dispersion", "optical fibers with large non-linear optical effects" and "zero dispersion optical fibers with zero dispersion in the visible spectrum" have been proposed. Moreover, the complex two-dimensional structures can be fabricated, for example, by heating and stretching a large number of quartz glass pipes that are bundled together (see Masaharu Ohashi, "Latest Technological Trend of Communication Optical Fiber", O plus E, 2001, vol. 23, No. 9, p.p. 1061-1066, for example). Also, fibers utilizing a photonic crystal as the core have been proposed recently (see J. C. Knight and three others, Optical Society of America Annual Meeting 2002, Conference Program, 2002, (US), WA 3, p. 94, for example).
In most of the PCFs and PBFs that have been proposed so far, single mode propagation with the 0-th mode is used for electromagnetic waves propagating through the core. Even though single mode propagation is a necessary condition to prevent wavelength dispersion due to multi-mode propagation, it also poses restrictions with regard to the core size and the optical fiber performance.
On the other hand, it has been well known that the electromagnetic waves propagating through the photonic crystal have characteristic properties of "very large wavelength dispersion due to the anomalous band structure" and "group velocity anomaly of propagation light." However, the above-mentioned 0-th mode propagation light does not show such properties very strongly. Therefore, in order to achieve functions making use of these properties, it is necessary to extend the waveguide, causing problems of increasing production costs and propagation loss.
The inventors of the present invention have studied the propagation of electromagnetic waves inside the photonic crystals. For example, when plane wave light as incident electromagnetic wave is made to enter perpendicularly an end face of a one-dimensional photonic crystal having no periodicity in the propagation direction, propagation light in a plurality of photonic bands is generated depending on the frequency of the incident light. Among them, propagation light in the band that is not the lowest-order band (in the following, referred to as higher-order band propagation light) has the above-mentioned very large wavelength dispersion and group velocity anomaly, so that it can be applied to various optical elements.
However, regardless of the frequencies, a part of incident light energy always propagates as propagation light in the lowest-order band (corresponding to 0-th mode in a conventional optical fiber; in the following, referred to as first band propagation light). Since the first band propagation light has little effects of "very large wavelength dispersion" or "group velocity anomaly" described above, it merely is a noise in the case of utilizing the higher-order band propagation light. Consequently, the first band propagation light not only lowers the utilization efficiency of the incident light energy considerably but also causes a decrease in a S/N ratio of the waveguide as stray light.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Waveguide element using photonic crystal


An antenna feed having a common circular waveguide with a longitudinally extending rectangular slot in a wall thereof and defining a receive port. An iris is rotatably connected adjacent the receive port permitting selective relative polarization of the transmit and receive signals. The relative polarization may be readily selected by a technician in the field without the need for changing antenna feeds when, for example, changing from co-polarization to cross-polarization. The iris includes a rectangular opening therein permitting the passage therethrough of the transmit signal while blocking the passage of a signal of the same frequency as the receive signal. The iris is positioned adjacent the receive port to enhance coupling of the receive signal into the receive port. The antenna feed provides high isolation between transmit and receive ports without the need for a filter on the transmit port. The antenna feed may be used in a microwave communications link, such as an earth station to satellite communications link.

Satellite communications systems typically include a number of earth stations with each station transmitting signals to and receiving signals from a satellite located in a geostationary orbit. The earth station typically employs a single antenna which serves the dual functions of radiating the transmit signal and capturing the receive signal. In a reflector antenna system, an antenna feed combines the transmit and receive signals which then are coupled to an antenna horn and directed to the reflector antenna.
The amount of electromagnetic spectrum available for earth station to satellite communications is limited. Multiple users are able to use different frequency channels in an assigned frequency band. For example, earth station C-Band users transmit in the band of 5.9-6.4 GHz and receive in the band of 3.7-4.2 GHz. However, as the number of satellite users has increased, additional measures have been used to further expand the use of satellite resources.
Frequencies can be reused, for example, if linear polarization separation is used to reduce unwanted interference from co-channel or adjacent channel sources. Many satellite earth stations operate either with "co-polarization", that is, both transmit and receive signals having the same relative polarization or using "cross-polarization", that is, transmit and receive polarizations are orthogonal relative to each other. Other relative angular orientations between the transmit and receive signals are also possible.
The antenna feed of an earth station typically couples the transmit signal to the antenna and couples the receive signal from the antenna to the receiver. Desirable characteristics of an antenna feed include high isolation between transmit and receive ports and low insertion loss. In addition, any feed should be relatively simple in construction to thereby allow for economical manufacture. Compact size and weight, and ruggedness are also desirable.
Microwave devices are known in the art for combining cross-polarized transmit signals. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,975,380 to Scharfman discloses a broadband waveguide transducer capable of coupling orthogonal modes from two sources. In addition, devices are known which combine co-polarized signals of different frequencies. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,504,805 to Ekelman et al. discloses a multi-port combiner having a common circular waveguide with fixed rectangular slots coupled to side arm waveguides for transmitting and receiving microwave co-polarized signals in at least two frequency bands.
Cross-polarization feeds are known in the art as are co-polarization feeds. However, each type of feed operates at only one configuration. Thus, one antenna feed is needed for co-polarized signals and an entirely different feed is required for cross-polarized signals. Therefore, to convert between co-polarization and cross-polarization, a technician must physically substitute the antenna feeds in the field. Moreover, applicant is unaware of any feed which may operate in either polarization configuration by simple field adjustment.
In addition, filters are typically required on all ports to provide adequate isolation between the transmit and receive ports. A filter, such as a cavity filter, adds to the cost of the feed and also increase insertion loss. For example, a four-port dual polarization frequency diplexer, including various types of filters, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,436 to Alford et al.

Antenna feed with selectable relative polarization


Network switching arrangements including: setting an operation mode of a target switching block to a operation mode that is different from an operation mode of a first switching block while the first switching block is handling a switching process, the target switching block being one switching block selected from second switching blocks; performing a switchover process including starting the switching process using the target switching block instead of the first switching block, after completion of setting the operation mode of the target switching block; and copying the switching information held by the first switching block to the target switching block, prior to starting the switching process using the target switching block, after completion of setting the operation mode of the target switching block.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to network switching devices, and in particular to reducing power consumption in network switching devices.
Description of the Related Art
A network switching device, including a switch and a router, is a critical device in a network system. In recent years there have been remarkable increases in performance and capacity of the network switching device accompanying an increase in data traffic sent through the network and accompanying an increase in size of the network. On the other hand, accompanying the increased performance and the increased capacity there has also been a tendency for increased power consumption in the network switching device as well, and controlling power consumption of the network switching device has become an issue from both the perspective of system operating costs and environmental protection.
Technologies that provide a normal mode and a low-power mode in devices that are connected together through a cable are known.
When mode is set in network switching device, problems may occur in the switching process due to the mode setting (for example, the switching process may be interrupted when the mode is being set), and there have been cases wherein this has resulted in extended interruption time of the switching process.


A method of authenticating shared peripheral component interconnect express devices of a switched fabric includes associating at least one requester identifier with a physical function of a device on the switched fabric and instantiating a virtual function of the device based on the physical function. The virtual function includes the associated at least one requester identifier. The method further includes accepting memory-mapped input/output traffic through the virtual function only from a requester having a corresponding requester identifier matching an associated requester identifier of the virtual function. The method may also include allowing a write operation of the virtual function or the physical function only to an address residing within an allowable address range associated with the device.

Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (also referred to as PCI Express or PCIe) is a computer expansion interconnect standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards. PCIe has numerous improvements over the aforementioned bus standards, including higher maximum system throughput, lower I/O pin count and smaller physical footprint, better performance-scaling for devices, a more detailed error detection and reporting mechanism, and native hot-plug functionality. More recent revisions of the PCIe standard support hardware I/O virtualization.
PCIe includes access control services (ACS) that allow peer-to-peer transactions, where traffic between peer endpoints can be managed by a physical switch port, rather than through a root complex. ACS provides a mechanism by which a Peer-to-Peer PCIe transaction can be forced to go up through a PCIe Root Complex, providing a kind of gate-keeper to prevent unauthorized transactions. This scheme breaks down, however, when traffic flows through multiple switches and when a single physical device at a port instantiates multiple devices or "virtual functions" that may need distinct access privileges, for fault containment and security.

Authenticating shared interconnect fabrics


Before printing, the CPU 12 prescans image data stored in the working memory 14 to determine a location and an image type of each image portion in S3100. The CPU 12 creates image type data for all the image portions (partial images and their constituent image elements), and stores the image type data in the working memory 14. Image type data represent regions of the image portions, a hierarchical relationship between the respective image portions, and image types of the image portions. After manipulating the mouse input device to change a printing characteristic in S3500, the operator selects, in accordance with the hierarchical structure, an image type whose printing characteristic is desired to be changed in S3600. One or more image portions of the selected image type are displayed on an image layout screen. Image data for the displayed image portions is searched from the image type data. The operator selects and designates a printing characteristic desired to be set for the displayed image portions. As a result, in S3700, the operator's designated printing characteristic is set as a common characteristic onto image data of the displayed image portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image output characteristic setting device for setting image output characteristics onto an image which is constructed from different types of image portions.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, an advanced desk top publishing (hereinafter referred to as "DTP") system has been proposed. The DTP can combine, into a composite image, different types of images such as photographic images, business graphic images such as graphs and figures, and text images.
According to the DTP, however, the entire composite image is printed with the same single printing characteristic. Accordingly, the DTP suffers from the following problems.
An operator sometimes desires to adjust the color printing characteristic to ensure satisfactory color printing of the photographic image portions. In this case, however, the business graphics image portions in the same document will often appear dull in the resultant color print. Similarly, the operator sometimes desires to adjust the color printing characteristic to ensurely satisfactorily print the vivid colors of the business graphic image portions. In this case, the photographic image portions will lose its lifelike appearance in the resultant color print.
In order to solve the above-described problems, European patent application publication No. 0 665 676 A2 has proposed to set different printing characteristics to the respective types of image portions to obtain the best result available. The best printing characteristics for the respective types of image portions, such as photographic image portions, text image portions, and illustration image portions, are set manually or automatically by a computer process.

Image output characteristic setting device


An ortho-mode transducer has a common port having a longitudinal axis, a single-polarized back port having a longitudinal axis, a transition element connecting the common port and the single-polarized back port, the longitudinal axis of the single-polarized back port being substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the common port; a single-polarized side port, and a hybrid tee waveguide junction connecting the single-polarized side port to the transition element. The hybrid tee waveguide junction includes a balanced pair of side arm waveguides connecting the single-polarized side port to the transition element. The ortho-mode transducer prevents the generation of higher order modes, and ensures high isolation in a compact three-dimensional profile.

The present invention relates generally to the field of ortho-mode transducers, and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an ortho-mode transducer that includes a hybrid tee waveguide junction connected to a single-polarized port of the transducer.
Ortho-mode transducers (OMTs) are commonly used in communications systems because of their ability to provide for a concurrent transmission of signals of differing frequencies and differing polarizations. As such, an OMT is an important waveguide device in dual polarized reflector and horn antenna systems.
An OMT is a three-port waveguide device that supports signals having two orthogonal modes; for example, a vertically polarized mode (V-mode) and a horizontally polarized mode (H-mode). The OMT includes a common port that supports both H-polarized and V-polarized signals, a through or back port that is axially aligned with the common port and supports only V-polarized signals, and a side port that supports only H-polarized signals.
An OMT is frequently used to separate H-polarized and V-polarized signals from a combined signal. For example, a combined signal can be received from a parabolic reflector or the like, and applied to the common port through a feed horn. The combined received signal is separated by the OMT into separate V-polarized and H-polarized signals that are output via the back and side ports, respectively. An OMT is also used in applications in which the back and side ports function as input ports and the common port functions as an output port. For example, the input ports can be coupled to sources of electromagnetic radiation and the common output port can be coupled to a receiver. Yet further, an OMT can be used in applications in which both transmitted and received signals are simultaneously guided through the OMT. For example, V-polarized signals can be transmitted and H-polarized signals can be received.
A survey of OMT technology is provided in the publication: Uher, et al, xe2x80x9cWaveguide Components for Antenna Feed Systems: Theory and CADxe2x80x9d, Artech House, Norwood, Mass., Section 3.8, 1993. In this survey, various narrowband OMTs are categorized into four basic design types including taper/branching, septum/branching, acute angle or longitudinal ortho-mode branching, and short-circuited common waveguide design types. Various broadband OMT designs are also discussed and are categorized into two main types including distinct dual junction and equal dual junction types.
Exemplary OMT transducers are set forth and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,176,330; 5,392,008; 6,031,434 and 6,225,875. A further example of an OMT transducer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,908 wherein a planar OMT is constructed with the H and V ports both lying in a plane. The plane is substantially orthogonal to the common port. The common waveguide is terminated in an appropriately placed short which forces the energy into the H and V ports.
Also known in the art are OMTs that are often referred to as xe2x80x9csplitxe2x80x9d OMTs. A split OMT is an OMT that is assembled from two, separately manufactured parts or halves. In particular, the manufacture of an OMT involves the precise assembly of a variety of elements; and, as a result, the manufacture of an OMT as a single component is often quite difficult and costly. In a split OMT, on the other hand, the OMT is constructed from two halves that are separately manufactured and that are designed to be symmetrical with respect to their longitudinal plane of assembly so that the halves may be easily assembled into a finished OMT. The separate halves are capable of being manufactured using common industrial processes such as machining, casting or molding; and, thus, are usually easier and less costly to manufacture. Also, because the halves can be manufactured using common processes, split OMTs are usually capable of being produced on a considerably larger scale than one-piece OMTs.
A discussion of split OMTs is provided in the publication: M. Ludovico, et al, xe2x80x9cCAD and Optimization of Compact Ortho-mode Transducersxe2x80x9d, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Techniques, December 1999, pp 2479-2485. In addition, various split OMTs and other waveguide components are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,516,089; 5,243,306 and 5,576,670. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,089, for example, a waveguide device is described that is constructed from two half shells which are symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal plane of the device and that are assembled together using attachment screws. U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,306 describes a branching filter which comprises a transmit filter, a waveguide branching filter and a receive filter. Each of the filters are divided into first and second parts, and various ones of the parts are formed integral with other parts so as to facilitate manufacture of the branching filter. U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,670 describes a known branching filter for a transmitter-receiver that is constructed in three parts that are detachably connected together to provide the device.
Various other waveguide devices and components are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,730,677; 2,766,430; 3,670,268; 4,047,128; 4,074,265; 4,302,733; 4,413,242; 4,420,756; 4,849,761; 5,066,959 and 5,075,647. Several of these patents, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,766,430; 3,670,268 and 4,413,242, describe a waveguide device that is sometimes referred to as a hybrid tee waveguide junction or a xe2x80x9cmagic tee waveguidexe2x80x9d, while others of the patents, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,420,756; 4,489,761 and 5,066,959, describe various systems that incorporate such a device. Hybrid tee waveguide junctions are frequently used as power dividers or power combiners and will be described in greater detail hereinafter.
Known OMTs are not fully satisfactory for a number of reasons. For example, some OMT designs are not fully effective in preventing the generation of undesirable higher order modes. Other OMT designs do not provide a sufficiently high isolation between the side and back ports, particularly those OMT designs that endeavor to provide a compact construction. Yet other designs, as indicated above, are difficult to manufacture and are thus relatively expensive.
It would be a distinct advantage, therefore, to provide an OMT that is compact and low in cost and that also provides a high degree of isolation, excellent mode purity and acceptable return loss levels.

Split ortho-mode transducer with high isolation between ports


To solve a problem of increased power consumption power due to wiring capacitances, which occurs when connecting onto a display substrate a substrate on which a memory, a memory controller, and the like are formed. The memory, the memory controller, and the like are integrally formed on the display substrate. At this time, these circuits are formed using a dual gate TFT. Thus, a display device in which wiring capacitances of connection portions between driver circuits composing a display and the memory controller and the like are reduced and which has thus low power consumption can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display system for displaying an image by inputting a digital video signal. Also, the present invention relates to an electronic device using the display system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display system in which light emitting elements are arranged in respective pixels and light emission of the light emitting elements is controlled to display an image will be described below.
Here, an example in the case where a light emitting device is an element (OLED element) having a structure in which an organic compound layer for producing light emission upon generation of an electric field is sandwiched between an anode and a cathode will be described. Also, the light emitting element indicates both an element using light emission produced at transition from a singlet exciton to a ground state (fluorescence) and an element using light emission produced at transition from a triplet exciton state to the ground state (phosphorescence). As the organic compound layers, there are a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transport layer, an electron injection layer, and the like. Basically, the light emitting element has a structure in which the anode, the light emitting layer, and the cathode are laminated in order. In addition, there are a structure in which the anode, the hole injection layer, the light emitting layer, the electron injection layer, and the cathode are laminated in this order, a structure in which the anode, the hole injection layer, the hole transport layer, the light emitting layer, the electron transport layer, the electron injection layer, and the cathode are laminated in this order, and the like.
A display system includes a display and a peripheral circuit for inputting a signal to the display. The display is composed of a source signal line driver circuit, a gate signal line driver circuit, and a pixel portion. The pixel portion has a structure in which pixels are arranged in matrix.
The display system in which thin film transistors (hereinafter referred to as TFTs) are arranged in the respective pixels and light emission of light emitting elements in the respective pixels is controlled by the TFTs to perform display (active matrix display system) will be described. A method of controlling light emission of the light emitting elements in the respective pixels in the case where two TFTs are arranged in each of the pixels will be described here.
First, a structure of the pixel will be described in detail. FIG. 21A shows a structure of the pixel portion in the display system.
Source signal lines S1 to Su, gate signal lines G1 to Gv, and power supply lines V1 to Vu are located in a pixel portion 700 to arrange pixels with u (u is a natural number) columns and v (v is a natural number) rows. Each of pixels 800 has a switching TFT 801, a driver TFT 802, a storage capacitor 803, and a light emitting element 804.
FIG. 21B is an enlarged view of one pixel in the pixel portion shown in FIG. 21A. The pixel is composed of one line S of the source signal lines S1 to Su, one line G of the gate signal lines G1 to Gv, one line V of the power supply lines V1 to Vu, the switching TFT 801, the driver TFT 802, the storage capacitor 803, and the light emitting element 804.
The gate electrode of the switching TFT 801 is connected with the gate signal line G. With respect to the source region and the drain region of the switching TFT 801, one is connected with the source signal line S and the other is connected with the gate electrode of the driver TFT 802 and one electrode of the storage capacitor 803. With respect to the source region and the drain region of the driver TFT 802, one is connected with the power supply line V and the other is connected with the anode or the cathode of the light emitting element 804. Of two electrodes of the storage capacitor 803, one electrode which is not connected with the driver TFT 802 and the switching TFT 801 is connected with the power supply line V.
Here, when the source region or the drain region of the driver TFT 802 is connected with the anode of the light emitting element 804, the anode of the light emitting element 804 is called a pixel electrode and the cathode thereof is called a counter electrode. On the other hand, when the source region or the drain region of the driver TFT 802 is connected with the cathode of the light emitting element 804, the cathode of the light emitting element 804 is called a pixel electrode and the anode thereof is called a counter electrode. Also, a potential provided for the power supply line V is called a power source potential and a potential provided for the counter electrode is called a counter potential.
Here, the counter potential can be changed by an external power source (not shown) such that this potential becomes a potential of the same order as the potential of the power supply lines V1 to Vu (power source voltage) or has a potential difference between the potential of the power supply lines V1 to Vu, to the extent that the light emitting device 804 can emit light.
The switching TFT 801 and the driver TFT 802 each may be a p-channel TFT or an n-channel TFT. However, when the pixel electrode of the light emitting element 804 is the anode, the driver TFT 802 is desirably a p-channel TFT and the switching TFT 801 is desirably an n-channel TFT. On the other hand, when the pixel electrode is the cathode, the driver TFT 802 is desirably an n-channel TFT and the switching TFT 801 is desirably a p-channel TFT. Because it is desirable that a TFT is operated with a state that a potential of the source region is fixed.
Note that the storage capacitor 803 is not necessarily provided. For example, the case where an n-channel TFT used as the driver TFT 802 has an LDD region provided so as to overlap a gate electrode through a gate insulating film is noted. A parasitic capacitor which is generally called a gate capacitor is produced in the overlapped region. The parasitic capacitor can be actively used as a storage capacitor for keeping a voltage applied to the gate electrode of the driver TFT 802.
Next, a circuit for inputting signals to the source signal line driver circuit and the gate signal line driver circuit in the display will be described. FIG. 17 is used for the description. Note that a signal inputted to the display system is called a digital video signal. An example of a display system for representing a gradation by inputting a digital video signal of n bits will be described here.
A digital video signal is read into a signal control circuit 1101 and a digital image signal (VD) is outputted to a display 1100. Here, a signal to be inputted to the display, which is converted by editing the digital video signal (first image signal) in the signal control circuit is called the digital image signal (second image signal).
Signals for driving a source signal line driver circuit 1107 and a gate signal line driver circuit 1108 in the display 1100 are inputted from a display controller 1102. Also, the source signal line driver circuit 1107 includes a shift register 1110, an LAT(A) 1111, and an LAT(B) 1112. Although not shown, a level shifter, a buffer, and the like may be further provided.
The signal control circuit 1101 and the display controller 1102 will be described.
First, a structure and an operation of the signal control circuit 1101 will be described. The signal control circuit 1101 is composed of a CPU 1104, a memory-A 1105, a memory-B 1116, and a memory controller 1103.
A digital video signal inputted to the signal control circuit 1101 is inputted to the memory-A 1105 through the CPU 1104. Here, the memory-A 1105 and the memory-B 1106 each have a capacity capable of storing a digital video signal of n-bits corresponding to all pixels of a pixel portion 1109 in the display 1100. When a signal corresponding to one frame period is stored in the memory-A 1105, the signals of the respective bits are read out in order by the memory controller 1103 and are inputted as the digital image signals (VD) to the source signal line driver circuit 1107. The digital video signal is sampled alternately using the memory-A 1105 and the memory-B 1106.
Hereinafter, both the memory-A and the memory-B in the above-mentioned signal control circuit are integrally indicated as a memory. The memory is composed of a plurality of memory elements arranged in matrix. The memory elements are selected by an address of (x, y).
The memory controller 1103 for controlling input and output of the digital video signal will be described using FIG. 19. The memory controller 1103 is composed of a memory read/write control (hereinafter referred to as a memory R/W) circuit 1202, a standard oscillating circuit 1203, a variable dividing circuit 1204, an x-counter 1205a, a y-counter 1205b, an x-decoder 1206a, and a y-decoder 1206b.
The memory controller 1103 selects an address (x, y) of the memory in accordance with signals from the CPU 1104. Also, a memory R/W signal for selecting an operation for writing a signal into the memory or an operation for reading out a signal from the memory is outputted.
Next, signals such as the start pulses and the clock pulses are outputted to the source signal line driver circuit and the gate signal line driver circuit. The display controller 1102 will be described using FIG. 20. The display controller 1102 is composed of a standard clock generating circuit 1301, a horizontal clock generating circuit 1303, a vertical clock generating circuit 1304, and a power source control circuit 1305 for a light emitting element.
A clock signal 31, a horizontal periodic signal 32, and a vertical periodic signal 33 are inputted from the CPU 1104 to the display controller 1102. Thus, the display controller 1102 outputs a clock pulse S_CLK and a start pulse S_SP for the source signal line driver circuit. Also, the display controller 1102 outputs a clock pulse G_CLK and a start pulse G_SP for the gate signal line driver circuit. The power source control circuit 1305 for the light emitting element controls a potential of a counter electrode (counter potential) of a light emitting element in each pixel of the display.
Turning again to FIG. 17, the start pulse S_SP and the clock pulse S_CLK for the source signal line driver circuit, which are outputted from the display controller 1102, are inputted to the shift register 1110 of the source signal line driver circuit 1107 of the display 1100. The start pulse G_SP and the clock pulse G_CLK for the gate signal line driver circuit, which are outputted from the display controller 1102, are inputted to the gate signal line driver circuit 1108 of the display 1100.
Here, generally, the respective driver circuits (source signal line driver circuit and gate signal line driver circuit) composing the display are formed on another substrate such as a single crystalline IC substrate and the resultant substrate is bonded onto a substrate on which pixels are formed (pixel substrate) to incorporate them into a display system. There is TAB (tape automated bonding) or the like as the bonding method. However, as described above, when the driver circuits are incorporated into the display system, an increase in a wiring resistance of the connection portion, poor connection thereof, an increase of an area of a peripheral portion (frame region) of a pixel portion, and the like become problems.
Thus, a method of forming the driver circuits on the pixel substrate by using TFTs is proposed.
Generally, a TFT using an amorphous semiconductor thin film (hereinafter referred to as an a-TFT) is used as a TFT composing a pixel in an active matrix display system. Here, in the case of the a-TFT, there is a problem such as small field effect mobility. Thus, in the case of driver circuits using the a-TFT, there is a problem that a frequency characteristic cannot be improved. Therefore, a display system having a structure in which a TFT using a polycrystalline semiconductor thin film (hereinafter referred to as a p-TFT) is formed as a TFT composing a pixel portion and driver circuits is proposed. The p-TFT has larger field effect mobility than the a-TFT. Thus, a display system in which the pixel portion and the respective driver circuits are formed on the same substrate (hereinafter referred to as a display substrate) is proposed.
According to a conventional display system, a memory, a memory controller, a display controller, and the like (hereinafter the memory controller, the display controller, and the like are referred to as control circuits) which compose the display system are formed on another substrate such as a single crystalline IC substrate and connected onto a display substrate in which pixels and driver circuits are formed. Thus, when connecting the memory and the control circuits onto the display substrate, a wiring capacitance in the connection portion becomes a problem. Since wiring capacitances in the connection portions between the respective driver circuits and the pixel portion which are formed on the display substrate, and the memory and the control circuits which are externally attached thereto, are increased, the power consumption of the entire display system cannot be reduced.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An apparatus for applying strip fastener elements or zippers to web material includes an unwind stand holding a roll of film material, an infeed dancer arrangement of rollers, a zipper apparatus which conditions zipper material, cuts zippers and delivers zippers to a zipper feed apparatus. The zipper feed apparatus loads zippers into a sealing platen of a rotating turret. The rotating turret carries the zippers successively to a position adjacent a surface of the film and a seal bar presses the film to successive zippers to seal the zippers thereto while a new zipper is being received in a sealing platen of the turret at a loading station at a rotational position at a distance from the sealing station. The film with zippers attached is drawn downstream of the turret to a rewind dancer roll assembly and thereafter to a rewind stand for winding into a roll of zippered film.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,862 describes a method of making reclosable bags and material for making bags, including an apparatus wherein extruded fastener strips for reclosable bags are located across the longitudinal formation axis of the bag wall web material.
FIG. 13 of this reference illustrates a fastener strip applicator which uses a rotary drum adapted to be rotatably driven in step-by-step coordination with a form, fill, and seal apparatus. For preforming a large endless sheet quantity of the bag making web including fastener strip sections attached for future use, the applicator drum is rotated continuously for applying the strip sections to the continuously traveling web at bag length intervals. The drum is provided with axially extending pockets for receiving fasteners. A loader loads the proper length fastener strip section into one of the pockets, with the profiles extending inwardly toward the root of the channel-like pocket. A vacuum source may be applied to the pocket being loaded to hold the fastener therein. The loaded pocket then moves with rotation of the drum to a heating station where a heating roll heats the exposed base of the fastener strip. From the heating station, the strip is moved by rotation of the drum for application to the web. A heated rotatably driven roll may be provided to underlie the web across from the drum. The preheated fastener strip is brought into position for bonding to the web. At this point in the process, a positive pneumatic pressure is applied to the strip carrying pocket to apply a bonding pressure to the strip backed up by the roll. The bonded fastener then exits the pocket. The pocket advances toward the loading station to be reloaded with another fastener.
It would be desirable to provide a continuous, automated apparatus for preparing zippers, loading zippers onto a applying device for placing zippers onto a film, and successively attaching the zippers onto the film in precise spaced apart locations.

Apparatus for applying reclosable fasteners to a web of film


A cassette for optical fibers includes a bottom surrounded by discontinuous rim segments between which access channels for the fibers are delimited. Each of the access channels is delimited over a substantially identical width on the bottom by two facing sidewalls. A block projects from the bottom of the cassette and has two side faces facing end portions of corresponding adjacent rim segments at respective corners, thereby forming similar double access channels at the corners. An element of the first type or second type sized to the double access channels is selectively positioned within the double access channels. The element of the first type is constituted by a flexible slab having spaced parallel slots receiving and retaining bare fibers. A channel element of the second type is constituted by a rigid, U-shaped channel section part having two flanges interconnected by a web, with each flange including a series of teeth. The teeth delimit slots receiving and retaining protected fibers.

Such cassettes are designed to receive and to protect surplus lengths of optical fiber that are left at the end of one or more optical cables, and optionally to receive and to protect connections or "splices" between the fibers of a plurality of cables or between such fibers and optical jumpers.
Document FR-A-2 601 785 describes such a cassette for optical fibers. The cassette is assigned to coiling and to protecting surplus lengths of fiber at the end of a cable. That cassette includes a bottom in which a recess is delimited between a central cylinder on the bottom and a peripheral rim. Two access channels in the rim open out into the recess. The surplus lengths of fiber are coiled around the cylinder. A ring is preferably placed around the cylinder for the purposes of coiling the fibers. The ring is removed once all the fibers have been coiled, so as to give them more freedom, between the cylinder and the peripheral rim. A cover closes the cassette and covers both of the access channels.
In that document, the optical fibers extracted from the cable are protected inside individual flexible tubes when they are held in place in the access channels of the cassette, whereas they are bare when they are coiled inside the cassette.
The access channels are rectangular in cross-section or semi-circular in cross-section depending on whether the cable from which the fibers are extracted has a flat structure or a grooved-rod structure. The tubed fibers are aligned side-by-side in the rectangular section channel and are held thus by the cover fixed to the cassette. The tubed fibers are installed in the grooves of a barrel which is grooved lengthwise, and which is mounted in the semi-circular section channel, and the fibers are retained by the cover holding the barrel stationary, the cover then in turn being provided with a semi-cylindrical channel receiving the barrel.
Those ways of holding the fibers in the access channels correspond to two specific embodiments of cassettes for the two types of cable with which they are used. Those holding means require the fibers to be tubed even though they are coiled bare. The fact that the tubed fibers are aligned side-by-side inside the rectangular section access channel does not enable the fibers to be properly separated and properly held. With the variant embodiment, in which a barrel is placed in each semi-circular section access channel, it is difficult to install the fibers and to hold them in place temporarily until the cover has been fixed on the cassette. Furthermore, the tubed fibers being distributed around the periphery of a barrel makes it difficult for the fibers to be coiled loosely around the cylinder over the height of the recess surrounding the cylinder.
Document EP-A-0 216 073 discloses a cassette having two access channels provided between the ends of one of the two large edges of the cassette and the facing ends of the two small edges of the cassette. Each access channel receives a clamping body for clamping fibers and having parallel grooves, which clamping body is installed with its grooves in either one of two possible directions. To this end, the clamping body carries a projection projecting from underneath its bottom, which projection is received in one of two perpendicular slots that are provided on the cassette.


A new and distinct Dahlia plant named ‘Dapapu’, characterized by its greyed purple-colored ray florets, yellow-colored disc florets, dark green-colored foliage, and compact, upright, and mounded growth habit.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct Dahlia plant botanically known as Dahlia variabilis and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Dapapu'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Rijsenhout, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was the development of freely flowering Dahlia cultivars with large flowers and a compact, upright growth habit.
The new cultivar is a naturally occurring whole plant mutation of the commercially available cultivar Dapavio, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,492, characterized by its red purple-colored ray florets, yellow-colored disc florets, dark green-colored foliage, and compact growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered as a single plant growing among plants of 'Dapavio' and selected by the inventor on Jan. 1, 2001 at Rijsenhout, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since January 2001 at Rijsenhout, The Netherlands and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.