Disclosed herein is a printing medium, comprising a base material and an ink-receiving layer provided on at least one side of the base material, wherein the ink-receiving layer comprises, in combination as essential components, a hydrophilic resin and a cationic compound comprising both structural units of the formulae (I) and (II) ##STR1## wherein R1, R2, R4 and R5 are independently hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, R3 is a phenyl, naphthyl, benzyl or phenethyl group, R6 is an alkyl group the main chain of which has 10 to 30 carbon atoms, and X.sup.- is a halide ion selected from the group consisting of chloride, bromide and iodide ions, a sulfate ion, an alkylsulfate ion selected from the group consisting of methylsulfate and ethylsulfate ions, an alkyl- or arylsulfonate ion, or an acetate ion, and the cationic compound is used in combination in a proportion of 1 to 40 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the hydrophilic resin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing medium suitable for use in ink-jet printing, and an ink-jet printing process and an image forming process using such a printing medium.
2. Related Background Art
An ink-jet printing method is a recording method in which recording is conducted by generating and ejecting droplets of an ink by one of various ink ejection systems, for example, an electrostatic attraction system, a system using a piezoelectric element to give an ink mechanical vibration or displacement, or a system in which an ink is heated to form bubbles in the ink, thereby using the pressure thus produced, and applying the droplets in whole or in part to a printing medium such as paper or a plastic film coated with an ink-receiving layer. The ink-jet printing method attracts attention as a printing method which produces minimal noise and can conduct high-speed printing and multi-color printing.
As inks for ink-jet printing, inks comprising water as a principal component are mainly used due to issues of safety, printability, etc. Water-soluble organic solvents such as polyhydric alcohols are often added to such inks with a view toward preventing clogging of orifices and improving ejection stability.
As printing media heretofore used in ink-jet printing, there are described, for example, a printing sheet comprising a water-insoluble polymer latex composed of a copolymer with a monomer having a tertiary amino group or quaternary ammonium group in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-36692, a printing sheet comprising an electric-conductive agent of the quaternary ammonium salt type in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-177390, a printing sheet comprising a diallyldialkylammonium halide in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-20696, and a printing sheet comprising a dicyandiamide-formalin condensate in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-146889.
Besides, there are described a printing sheet comprising a quaternary cationic or amine compound in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-277484, a printing sheet comprising polyallylamine hydrochloride in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-174184, a printing sheet comprising an organic acid salt of polyethyleneimine in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-198186, a printing sheet comprising a quaternized product of polyethyleneimine in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-198188, a printing sheet comprising a poly(dialkanolallylamine) derivative in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-280681, a printing sheet comprising a polymer based on a (meth)acrylic acid alkyl quaternary ammonium salt or a polymer based on a (meth)acrylamidoalkyl quaternary ammonium salt in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-115780, and a printing medium comprising a polyvinyl acetal resin and a cationic compound as essential components in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-61113.
Furthermore, there is also proposed an additive for ink-jet printing comprising, as an active ingredient, a polymer based on a (meth)acrylic acid alkyl quaternary ammonium salt having a benzyl group or a polymer based on a (meth)acrylamidoalkyl quaternary ammonium salt having a benzyl group in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-108618.
With the improvement in performance of ink-jet printing apparatus, such as speeding up of printing and multi-coloring of images, in recent years, ink-jet printing media have also been required to have improved properties. Particularly, the printing media are required to have the following five properties:
(1) being able to stably store an image formed thereon for a long period of time without deterioration in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment; PA1 (2) providing a printed image having excellent light fastness; PA1 (3) having high ink absorptivity (absorbing capacity being great, and absorbing time being short); PA1 (4) providing dots high in optical density and clear in periphery; and PA1 (5) having an ink-receiving layer excellent in water resistance and providing a printed image excellent in water fastness. PA1 (6) being excellent in adhesion between an ink-receiving layer and a base material; PA1 (7) providing dots having a substantially round shape and a smooth periphery; PA1 (8) undergoing little change in properties even at varied temperatures and humidities and undergoing no curling; PA1 (9) undergoing no blocking; and PA1 (10) being stable without undergoing deterioration even when stored for a long period of time (particularly, in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment). PA1 1) it has a functional group the quaternized nitrogen atom of which has an aromatic ring, and PA1 2) it has an alkyl group the main chain of which has 10 to 30 carbon atoms.
In addition to the above properties, such printing media are required to satisfy the following properties at the same time:
Besides, printing sheets for OHP, and the like, are further required to have excellent transparency in addition to the above requirements. More specifically, not only a film as a base material but also an ink-receiving layer provided thereon is required to have excellent transparency.
On the other hand, for white base materials such as white films and resin-coated paper, ink-receiving layers provided thereon are also required to have excellent transparency so as not to impair the whiteness and/or the glossy feeling of the base materials themselves. With respect to glossiness in particular, it is a matter of course that the glossiness of an unprinted portion of an opaque printing medium be high, and it is also necessary for a printed portion to have high glossiness.
These properties are often in a relation of trade-off. It has hence been impossible to satisfy them at the same time by the conventionally known techniques.
Especially, as ink-jet techniques become more widespread, opportunities for printing, storing and posting at various places are increasing. Therefore, discoloration or bleeding of printed images becomes a serious problem upon exposure to temperature, humidity or sunlight.
In order to obtain prints comparable to a silver salt photograph by ink-jet printing, there is a demand for development of a printing medium capable of providing an image with brighter colors.
As the exemplified printing media of the prior art, for example, the printing sheets comprising a cationic compound proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 57-36692, 58-177390, 59-20696, 59-146889, 61-277484, 62-174184, 59-198186, 59-198188, 63-280681, 63-115780 and 7-61113 are recognized to provide an image greatly improved in water fastness compared with any printing sheet without an addition of a cationic compound when conducting ink-jet printing. However, the resultant image on each printing sheet undergoes a change in the hue of an ink-jet printed portion though it somewhat varies according to the kinds of dyes used, so that the color of the image becomes greatly different from the hue inherent in the dye, or the image becomes a dull image having poor brightness. The reason for it is considered to be attributable to the fact that the cationic compound is ionically bonded to the dye to form a great polymeric complex, so that the aggregating state of the dye undergoes a change, and the light absorption spectrum inherent in the dye is hence varied. Further, in printing sheets obtained by providing an ink-receiving layer on a support, such as sheets for OHP, images printed thereon bleed when left to stand in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment (for example, 30.degree. C./80% RH) even if such a cationic compound as proposed in the prior art is used.
With the increase of printing density in ink-jet printing methods in recent years, i.e., increase in shot-in ink quantity, the resistance to bleeding of an image when the image is left to stand in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment (for example, 30.degree. C./80% RH) comes to be unsatisfactory under the circumstances though it has heretofore been at an entirely satisfactory level.
Further, the printing sheets proposed in the prior art provide an image markedly poor in light fastness compared with printing sheets containing no cationic compound, and so the necessity of improving the light fastness of the resulting image is pointed out.
When a printing medium for ink-jet is prepared by mixing the additive for ink-jet printing proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-108618 with a hydrophilic resin and applying the mixture to a transparent PET film to form an ink-receiving layer, and ink-jet printing is conducted thereon, an image, which is entirely satisfactory in coloring and light fastness, is provided. However, the ink-jet printed image is not wholly satisfactory as to resistance to bleeding when the image is left to stand in a high-temperature and high-humidity environment (for example, 30.degree. C./80% RH).

Recording medium, and ink-jet printing process and image forming process using the same


In one embodiment, a clock pulse width control circuit, comprises a plurality of timer circuits to generate a corresponding plurality of delayed pulse signals from an input clock signal, a corresponding plurality of AND gates, each AND gate generating an output signal from a delayed pulse signal and the input clock signal, and a selection circuit to select one of the output signals.

This application relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly to a circuit for creating a clock signal with a controllable pulse width.
Dynamic logic circuits are often used in modern integrated circuits. Decay or discharge of a non-driven node over time in a dynamic logic circuit can cause errors. To prevent these types of errors, it may be desirable to shorten one phase of a clock that regulates the timing of some dynamic circuits. By shortening this phase, the amount of time a node spends non-driven may be shortened without affecting the overall average clock cycle time, which may be critical to system performance.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method of detecting the presence of a suspended filamentary object in view of a telemeter on an aircraft includes: i) calculating terrestrial coordinates of points corresponding to telemeter echoes, and selecting candidates; ii) searching a horizontal plane for straight line segments close to vertical projections of candidate points; and iii) searching each vertical plane containing one of the straight line segments for portions of catenaries close to candidate points. In step iii), for each considered vertical plane and each triplet of candidate points close to the considered vertical plane, calculating values of three parameters of a catenary containing the projections on the vertical plane of the three points of the considered triplet, and determining presence of at least one suspended filamentary object as a function of the distribution of values of catenary parameters calculated for all of the triplets of candidate points close to the vertical plane under consideration.

Proposals have already been made in patents FR 2 736 149 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,292 for a system for recognizing structures presenting rectilinear portions in an image delivered by a sensor on board a flying object, by using a method that implements a parametric transform (Hough transform) of a portion of the image.
The Hough transform, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,654, enables a set of aligned points to be detected in an image.
Proposals are made in U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,909 to detect the presence of cables by means of a scanning laser telemeter (Lidar) that delivers echoes or plots, where each plot corresponds to a point in three-dimensional space that is characterized by its three coordinates in that space: the telemeter emits laser pulses that, by measuring their travel times, enable points to be obtained that are positioned in 3D space (3D plots). The echoes are filtered; a set of parameters is determined by the Hough transform for all possible groups of filtered echoes; accumulations of points in the parameter space are identified, and the position of a cable is determined by an inverse Hough transform.
Proposals are also made in U.S. Pat. No. 6,747,576 to detect the presence of electrical power lines by forming a cloud of measurement points in a terrestrial coordinate system on the basis of data delivered by a remote detection sensor and data delivered by a navigation system, and by eliminating measurement points that represent the ground; the method then comprises searching for straight lines amongst the projections of the measurement points onto a horizontal plane, by performing two successive Hough transforms: a "pure" transform using a delta function (Dirac function), followed by a "fuzzy" transform where the delta function is replaced by a Gaussian distribution; thereafter a search is made for catenaries in each vertical plane containing one of the straight lines as found in that way, said search likewise comprising two successive Hough transforms.
In order to search for a catenary corresponding to the equation:z=a*cos h((λ−b)/a)+cfor each measurement point in each vertical plane, and for each possible value of a catenary parameter a, a two-dimensional Hough transform of the catenaries passing through said point is calculated (in the b and c parameter space).
That method requires very considerable computation time because of the three-dimensional nature of the space to be searched, and it also requires a specific accelerator card, even when selecting a large digitization step and small ranges for the catenary parameters, to the detriment of result accuracy.
Although certain cable detection systems have already been described, at present there does not exist any system that is effective in bad weather conditions.
Present detector systems also lack performance in clear weather: when the sighting angle is large, a telemeter detects only a few 3D plots for the complete structure of a cable; in practice, it is then not possible to determine the presence of a cable, nor to situate it in three-dimensional space.

Method of detecting suspended filamentary objects by telemetry


The present invention pertains to the uses of HiOmega flax (linseed) oil, a naturally occurring flax (linseed) with higher than normal alpha linolenic acid content in the production of stronger, more scratch and solvent resistant industrial products such as alkyd resins, epoxidized oils, epoxies, inks, coatings such as paints, enamels, varnishes and films and anti-spalling concrete preservatives.

High alpha linolenic acid flax (linseed) oil contains triglycerides which are composed of three unsaturated fatty acids side chains attached to a glycerol backbone. The three unsaturated fatty acids contain nonconjugated double bonds. Unsaturated indicates double bonds exist in the fatty acid chain and nonconjugated indicates these double bonds are separated by at least two single bonds. In High alpha linolenic acid flax (linseed) oil the three unsaturated fatty acid side chains consist primarily of alpha linolenic acid (C18: 3, omega 3, or 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic acid), linoleic acid (C18: 2, or 9,12 Octadecadienoic acid) and oleic acid (C18: 1). High alpha linolenic acid flax (linseed) oil contains 65% or greater of alpha linolenic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid.
The linolenic content of non-High alpha linolenic acid Canadian flax cultivars varies from 49-62% depending on cultivar and growing conditions. Temperature during seed formation and photoperiod influences the concentration of fatty acid in the linseed oil. Cool temperatures and longer photoperiod increases linolenic content. Other factors which may affect the variability of linolenic content are soil moisture, soil fertility and presence of disease. It is noted that oil derived from most flax varieties has the following fatty acid composition:
Common NameFatty AcidPercentagePalmitic Acid16:0 4-10Palmitoleic Acid16:1<0.5Stearic Acid18:02-8Oleic Acid18:110-20Linoleic Acid18:214-20Alpha Linolenic Acid18:3 (n − 3)45-65Arachidic Acid20:0<0.5Eicosenoic Acid20.1<0.5
Linseed is grown primarily for its oil which has many industrial uses because of its drying property. Industrial uses of this oil include but are no means limited to the manufacture of paints and coatings, oil cloth, printing ink, soap, patent leather, core oils, brake linings, adhesives, manufacture of hardboard and fibreboard, protective coatings, paint primers, varnishes, lacquers, tarpaulin and other coated fabric, newsprint, caulking compounds, waterproofing compounds, mastic cements, shoe polish, herbicide and pesticide carrier, anti-spalling and curing agent for concrete surfaces including highways and bridges, tempering oil and bonding oil. Examples of industrial uses of linseed oil include but are no means limited to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,965,633, 5,693,715, 5,653,789, 3,488,202 and 4,002,585.
In order for a naturally occurring oil to be classified as a "drying oil", the drying index must exceed 70. A drying oil is defined as an oil which hardens to a tough, solid film with absorption of oxygen either from the environment (autoxidation) or with the addition of oxygen through chemical reactions i.e. with peracids. The term "drying" does not refer to the evaporation of water or other solvents, but to a series chemical reaction wherein the fatty acid side chains of the triglyceride are polymerized and cross linked. Drying oils are a key component of oil paint and many varnishes. Some commonly used drying oils include linseed oil, tung oil and perilla oil. The "drying", hardening, or curing of linseed oil is the result of an exothermic reaction as the oil polymerizes to form long, chain-like molecules. The oil polymers cross-link to form a network which results in a solid film. Over time, ionic bonds also form between functional groups and metal ions of the pigment (for example in paints).
The drying index of an oil is calculated as % linoleic acid+2(% linolenic acid). The higher the drying index, the more quickly the oil will harden and the resultant film will be tougher and stronger. The drying index of High alpha linolenic acid flax (linseed) oil is 250 or greater. The excellent drying property of linseed oil arises from the ability to form cross-linkages by modifications of the nonconjugated double bonds in the fatty acid chain. Crosslinking occurs by several methods, primarily when the activated methylene groups in the unsaturated fatty acids or oils of the alkyd are oxidized to give hydroperoxides, which subsequently decompose to generate free radicals, leading to oxidative crosslinking. This oxidative crosslinking process is commonly accelerated by adding driers, such as, for example, the various salts of cobalt, zirconium, calcium, and manganese. Carbon to carbon cross linking can also occur. Cross-linking may be induced using chemicals i.e. peroxides, sulfur vulcanization, driers or by epoxidation or by physical means, i.e. light, heat, air, atmospheric oxygen, uv radiation or γ radiation, applying heat or blowing air while applying heat or by other methods. Using a drying oil with a high concentration of unsaturated fatty acid such as flax (linseed) oil yields a strong, tear-resistant film. For example, as compared to other drying oils, polymerized flax (linseed) oil used as a biodegradable coating for zein films, exhibits better resistance to water vapor permeability, toughness, and elongation without a decrease in tensile strength.
High alpha linolenic acid flax (linseed) oil contains a high concentration of unsaturated fatty acid thus yields more material available for cross linking and/or polymerization per unit weight. Thus materials based on a crosslinked oil result in a tougher, stronger final product.
Epoxidation of linseed oil is an effective method of inducing cross-linking and such films have high tensile strength, stiffness and tear resistance. Epoxidation replaces double bonds in the unsaturated fatty acid with a highly reactive cyclic ether or oxirane group. In this functional group there is an oxygen atom bonded to two neighboring carbon atoms creating a highly strained three sided ring. The high strain on the ring structure weakens the carbon-oxygen bonds allowing the ring to readily break open and form other, more stable bonds. The oxirane value of a compound is a measure of the number of epoxy groups present in the product i.e. a measure of the amount of epoxidized double bonds. Epoxidized High alpha linolenic acid flax (linseed) oil with 65% or greater alpha linolenic acid has an EO value or oxirane value of 10.0% or greater.


Provided is an organic solvent-free method for producing a plurality of microsphere having an average diameter of less than 500 μm in diameter and having average contact angle θc greater than 140°, consisting essentially of a biocompatible hot-melt carrier vehicle and a payload substance to be delivered, including melting and mixing a polymer carrier vehicle which is solid at room temperature and at least one payload substance, and dispensing microportions of the molten mixture through a droplet-forming space onto a cooled solid superoleophobic surface.

Known methods for reliably and economically producing microspheres, in scalable quantities, are not suitable for many applications.
In particular, known methods for making microspheres which are intended for use as drug-carrying and -dispersal agents have not answered the needs of a variety of desirable delivery routes.
In the production of pharmaceutical-grade microspheres issues such as biocompatibility, antigenicity, toxicity, pharmacokinetics, medication release profile, reproducibility, contaminant avoidance, and numerous other factors have to be taken into consideration.
Unfortunately, many of these needs are not fulfilled for a variety of situations in which microsphere drug delivery would be good for patients, health providers, regulators, pharmaceutical companies and payors.
Additional examples of areas where microspheres are found include personal care and cosmetics, household care in the form of washing powders, in paints and coatings, in the food industry, in agriculture for fertilizers, and in electronic papers.
Methods for making microspheres such as solvent evaporation, spray draing in fluidized beds and using microfluidic channels all have drawbacks. These include but are not limited to: solvent and surfactant residue and removal (patient safety and ecological/environmental considerations), capacity-limiting drug loss (efficiency), low yields, poor scalability, and challenging reproducibility often requiring one or more separation steps for winnowing out the sub-standard particles.
Looking particularly at microspheres in the field of drug delivery, as an example only, microspheres are particularly useful for respirable drugs as well as injectable. However, they could also be used in specialty areas such as for ophthalmological or other ENT indications, in transdermal, oral and other routes of administration.
The spherical form has many advantages including flowability, high surface area to volume ratio and compact packing efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,102,081B2 to Hielscher discloses solidification of a molten material. The disclosed method for making droplets are via atomization.
Patent Publication US2015375429A1 to Butt does not describe deposition of a melt and cooling it.
US20150361227A1 and WO2014124751A1 to Schmidt disclose spray drying materials and polymerizing monomers into capsules.
US20150375429A1 discloses how to make surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,765,182 to Day discloses a form of liquid-liquid phase separation process that uses solvents.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,722,091 to Baxter discloses sonicated lyophilization that is submicron. It is a solvent based process that is multi-staged and complicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,445,023 to Flamel describes a specific coating process of microspheres (e.g. fluidized bed).

Microspheres and method for producing them


The present invention comprises nanotube structures comprising nanotubes covalently bonded via chemically reactive groups on the outer walls of the nanotubes and methods for forming the covalently bonded nanotube structures. The present invention also comprises materials comprising the functionalized nanotubes covalently bonded to organic based monomers and/or polymers, and methods for their formation.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates to the use of bridging molecule complexes to covalently bond nanotubes and to use nanotubes for the formation of composite materials comprising functionalized nanotubes and organic based monomers and/or polymers.
2. Background Art
Carbon nanotubes are inert but can be chemically functionalized. Functionalization and derivatization increases interfacial binding in composites thus providing a mechanism for connecting nanotubes together and/or to substrates. Because of the limited scope of direct covalent sidewall functionalization at defect sites, traditional chemical treatments such as wet oxidation in concentrated HNO3/H2SO4 are used to functionalize nanotube surfaces with hydroxyl (—OH), carboxyl (—COOH) and carbonyl (>C═O) groups. In the art, carboxylic groups have been converted to acid chloride using thionyl chloride with subsequent amide linkage of an aminoalkanethiol to single-walled nanotubes ("SWNT's"). More recently SWNT's have been derivatized by thionyl chloride to produce thiols on the ends of SWNT's.
Polymer/nanotube nanocomposites are of interest because of their potential structural and electronic applications. However, the chemical interaction between polymers and nanotubes is typically limited to van der Waals forces and weak electrostatic interactions. It is known in the art that functionalization enhances the interaction between nanotubes and other organic matrices.
The fundamental control over composite morphologies and interfacial chemical interactions is critical for dramatically enhancing their performances in electronic applications. Although covalent attachment of polymers to nanotubes has been achieved, high loadings with poor nanotube dispersions dominate composite formation and device fabrication. Ion-conducting polymers, or polymers containing conductive fillers such as carbon black (5-30% by weight loading), are typically employed for electronic applications. However, they suffer from several drawbacks including having high dopant or filler loadings, being brittle, and being opaque as thin films. Carbon nanotubes offer a viable alternative. However, although single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT's) provide the highest conductivities at low loadings, homogeneous dispersion is still problematic. In the prior art, multi-walled carbon nanotube ("MWCNT") composites have offered a similar electronic potential to SWCNT's, but the loadings have been considerably higher, and the conductivities obtained have been considerably lower. Nanotubes in polymer composites do not have higher conductivities because of aggregation and tube-to-tube proximity. The result is that charge transport is via a hopping process where the charge carrier motion is determined by scattering from one conductive site to the next. Therefore, poor nanotube dispersion aggravates the poor and reduced carrier transport capability of the composite.

Thiation of carbon nanotubes and composite formation


The present invention features a method of making hydrous zirconium oxide having desirable properties, including resistance to moisture content, predetermined particle size, and developed porosity and surface area. The inventive material is suitable for use as an ion exchanger, a catalyst and a catalyst support. The process comprises providing a liquid comprising a zirconium compound and an alkali metal-containing reagent. The alkali metal-containing reagent may comprise a compound selected from the group consisting of MOH-M2SO4, MOH-M3PO4, and combinations thereof, where M is at least one of Li, Na and K. The zirconium compound may be treated with the alkali metal-containing reagent effective to form a mixture which achieves an uptake of alkali metal in an amount ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 meq/g. The mixture is reacted to form the hydrous zirconium oxide. A molar ratio of SO4/Zr and PO4/Zr in the mixture may range from 0.2-0.7:1. The mixture may be heated at a temperature ranging from 80 to 150° C. to produce a reaction product. The reaction product may be treated with acid having a pH ranging from 4 to 8 at a temperature ranging from 20 to 60° C. to form the hydrous zirconium oxide. Also featured is a method of making hydrous hafnium oxide. The inventive hydrous zirconium oxide and hydrous hafnium oxide are characterized by at least one of the following: stability against moisture loss, a particular surface area, a particular pore size distribution, an affinity towards anions including at least one of PO4, HPO4, H2PO4, AsO4, HAsO4, H2AsO4 and AsO3, oxoanions of Cr, Se, B, Mo,and W, and/or resistance against poisoning by SiO3 and SO4.

Ion exchange is an important separation technique that is widely used for water and waste treatment, biochemistry, medicine and environmental protection. The efficiency of separation depends on many factors, including the selectivity of the adsorbent in use. Inorganic ion exchangers and adsorbents, due to properties such as chemical and thermal stability, resistance to oxidation and unique selectivity to certain ions, have definite advantages in comparison with traditionally used organic resins. Inorganic ion exchangers are able to operate in extreme conditions (high temperature or strong radiation fields, in the presence of organic solvents and/or oxidants and in a great excess of competitive ions), where organic resins fail to work efficiently. Among the known inorganic adsorbents, hydrous zirconium oxide (HZO) attracts special attention. HZO shows amphoteric properties and can behave as a cation exchanger in alkaline media or an anion exchanger in acidic media. However, the practical use of HZO is relatively limited because of several factors, among them being poor reproducibility of ion exchange properties and a strong dependency of adsorption performance on moisture content.
There are several methods for making amorphous hydrous zirconium oxides (A. Ruvarac, Group IV Hydrous Oxides—Synthetic Ion Exchangers, in the book, Inorganic Ion Exchange Materials, Ed. A. Clearfield, CRC Press, 1982, pp.141-160). Typically, in the first stage hydrolysis of a zirconium salt takes place, which is followed by condensation of primary particles, formed with hydrated polynuclear species. Hydrolysis of zirconium salts can be achieved by boiling an aqueous zirconium salt for a long period of time or by neutralization with alkali (e.g., LiOH, NaOH, KOH and NH4OH). Freshly prepared hydrous zirconium oxides are amorphous. Upon ageing (e.g., contact with air at room or elevated temperature or treatment with neutral, acidic or alkaline reagents at room or elevated temperature), the primary particles of HZO undergo both intra- and inter-particle condensation reactions, with resultant structural ordering of the precipitates. The severity of the ordering strongly depends on the ageing conditions. However, in general an increased degree of ordering in aged hydrous zirconium oxides accounts for the decrease in sorption capacity, due to loss of free hydroxo groups according to the reactions:Zr(OH)4nH2O→ZrO(OH)2mH2O→ZrO2pH2O (where n,m,p>O).
Therefore, HZO is the most active when freshly precipitated and its ion exchange performance deteriorates with time (especially at elevated temperature). This is a serious drawback of amorphous materials.
Since the hydrous zirconium oxides obtained by the above mentioned methods are usually in the form of a fine powder, difficulties are encountered in handling them in separation processes. To overcome this disadvantage, several approaches have been proposed to make granulated HZO type materials. Among them are the following:
Impregnation of a porous substrate with a zirconium salt, followed by its hydrolysis via treatment with alkali (M. Ozawa et al., J. Mater. Sci. lett., 9, 446 (1990)). The drawback of this approach is the ease in removing HZO from the pores of the carrier;
Granulation of amorphous hydrous zirconium oxides with the use of binders. The drawbacks of the use of binders include: lower ion exchange capacity, deterioration of kinetics of adsorption and possibility of contamination of the product with the binder components;
Sol-gel or gel routes. The sol-gel granulation process, based on the oil-drop principle, includes conversion of ZrO2 sol into spherical granules of hydrous zirconium oxide gel in organic water immiscible media. The gel method, also based on the oil-drop principle, may include neutralization of zirconium salt with hexamethyltetraamine at 70-80° C. (R. Caletka, M. Tympl, J. Radioanal. Chem., 30: 155 (1976)). Spherically granulated amorphous hydrous zirconium oxides prepared via sol-gel and gel routes have high crush strength and good attrition resistance. However, granulated materials have the drawback of a strong dependency between ion exchange performance and moisture content. Amorphous hydrous polyvalent metal oxides regardless of the method of preparation, lose water continuously during storage in air and especially with an increase of heating temperature (See, for example, J. D. Donaldson, M. J. Fuller, J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem., 30, 1083 (1968)).
Highly ordered mesoporous zirconium oxides can be prepared via surfactant-controlled synthesis (U. Ciesla. et al, Chem. Mater., 11, 227 (1999)). The products show high thermal stability up to 400-500° C., which allows the removal of organic surfactants by calcination. Surfactant-controlled synthesis employs the presence of SO4 or PO4 anions as pore and structure-building elements (H. R. Chen et al, Mater. Letters, 51, 187 (2001)).
Different crystalline phases of zirconium oxide can be prepared by thermal treatment of amorphous gels.
Hydrolysis of aqueous zirconium salts under hydrothermal conditions typically results in crystalline modification of HZO. For example, B. Mottet et al. (J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 759, 2515 (1992)) reported the formation of monoclinic HZO by treatment of zirconium oxychloride in the presence of the additives NaOH, Na2CO3, H2SO4, NH4F.
An advantage of crystalline materials is that they are less susceptible to moisture content (water loss) than amorphous sorbents and, as result, are more thermally stable. Ion exchange properties and selectivity of crystalline materials depends on the type of crystal structure. Typically, adsorption capacity of crystalline materials is lower than that of freshly prepared amorphous hydrous zirconium oxide. Another disadvantage of crystalline ion exchangers is poor kinetics of adsorption. Moreover, their powdered form prevents use in column applications.

Hydrous zirconium oxide, hydrous hafnium oxide and method of making same


The invention relates to a method for operating an internal combustion engine, in which the exhaust gas generated by the internal combustion engine is returned to the internal combustion engine by means of an exhaust gas recirculation device having at least two cooling devices which are each associated with a bypass, the exhaust gas being cooled in the exhaust gas recirculation device as a function of the load state of the internal combustion engine. The operation of the internal combustion engine is divided into at least four load states, and as a function of the instantaneous load state the exhaust gas is returned to the internal combustion engine via a flow path in the exhaust gas recirculation device specifically assigned to this load state. The invention further relates to an internal combustion engine having an exhaust gas recirculation device.

An internal combustion engine is known from DE 101 47 536 A1, in which ah exhaust gas heat exchanger thermally connected to the exhaust gas system is provided in an intake system which may be activated or deactivated via control valves, designed as flaps. The exhaust gas heat exchanger may be bypassed on the intake system side as well as on the discharge system side by means of bypass lines.
Furthermore, a diesel engine is known from DE 103 47 834 A1 which has an exhaust gas aftertreatment device. The exhaust gas recirculation device comprises a dual-path system, a cooling device being provided in a first path, and the second path being connected in parallel to the first path. An intercooler is also provided in the charge air feed line.
An internal combustion engine having exhaust gas recirculation is known from DE 10 2004 021 386 A1, in which two heat exchangers are provided in an exhaust gas recirculation line. The exhaust gas flowing through the two heat exchangers is thus cooled. An additional heat exchanger is provided in a charge air line.
An internal combustion engine is also known from FR287 64 17, in which two heat exchangers are provided in series in an exhaust gas recirculation line. A three-way valve is respectively provided upstream from the first heat exchanger and between the two heat exchangers, a bypass branching off from each three-way valve. Depending on the load state of the internal combustion engine, the exhaust gas may be led through the two heat-exchangers or through the bypass. If the engine is under moderate load, the exhaust gas is led through the first heat exchanger and bypasses the second heat exchanger. In the known internal combustion engines and operating methods, the ability to cool the exhaust gas as needed is inadequate at best.
The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a method and an internal combustion engine by means of which a highly efficient reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions in a broader range of the characteristic map is possible while avoiding fouling of the coolers.

Internal combustion engine and method for operating an internal combustion engine


A method for analyzing a genome of a single cell is provided, and a kit is also provided. The method for analyzing the genome of the single cell may comprise separating and lysing the single cell to obtain a whole-genome DNA of the cell; subjecting the whole-genome DNA to a whole-genome amplification to obtain a whole-genome amplification product; performing a PCR amplification using the whole-genome amplification product as template and using housekeeping-gene-specific primers to detect the housekeeping gene of the whole-genome amplification product; and determining whether the whole genome amplification product meets a requirement for sequencing based on the detection result, wherein a uniform distribution of the amplification product in each chromosome is an indication of the amplification product meeting the requirement for sequencing.

There exists heterogeneity between different parts of the same tissue and individuals of different tissues. Likewise, there exists heterogeneity between different cells, even the cell population with exactly same genetic background cultured in vitro. Therefore, developing a technique method applying to single cell study to reveal a regular pattern of cell heterogeneity is important for better cell biology research. Thus, some researchers have proposed a concept of "single cell analysis". While in the single cell analysis, the study on a single cell genome is the current focus of research.
At present, study of micro-DNA and single cell genome has been widely used in archeology, microbial ecology, medical testing, forensic testing, clinical diagnosis and various scientific researches (refers to Zhang L., Cui X., Schmitt K., Hubert R., Navidi W., Arnheim N. (1992) Whole genome amplification from a single cell: Implication for genetic analysis, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA: 5847-5851, which is incorporated herein by reference). Analysis and study of the single cell genome of higher plants and animals may be efficiently and conveniently used in clinical diagnosis and treatment (for example, prenatal diagnosis, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, multi-point mapping, typing for sperm and eggs, diagnosis of genetic disease, etc.), medical research (for example, research of autism, neurological diseases and autoimmune diseases, research of genome variation, and stem cell research, etc.), archaeological research and forensic detection. However, studies and reports about the single cell genome of higher organisms such as mammals are rare.
Therefore, currently the method for analyzing the single cell genome still needs to be improved.

Method for single cell genome analysis and kit therefor


Provided are a memory package, an expansion memory module, and a multi-module memory system. A base memory module, to/from which an expansion memory module is capable of being attached/detached, includes a module board, a plurality of module terminals arranged on the module board to be connected to a slot, and a plurality of memory packages, each of which including a first surface to be attached to the module board and a second surface opposite to the first surface facing away from the module board, wherein each of the plurality of memory packages includes a plurality of package terminals exposed on the second surface of the memory package to be connected to the expansion memory module.

The example embodiments relate to a memory package, a memory module, and a memory system, and more particularly, to a memory package including a buffer, an expansion memory module, and a multi-module memory system.
A memory module may include one or more semiconductor memory packages and a module board having attached thereto the semiconductor memory packages. The memory module may be attached to a computing system and may communicate with a memory controller of the computing system. The computing system may have a slot to which other memory modules may be connected, such that a user may add or remove memory modules as the occasion demands. A high-performance computing system often requires a memory module having a large storage capacity and high operation speed. However, having multiple memory modules takes up space. Therefore, it would be beneficial to reduce the amount of space used by memory modules of a computing system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Memory package including buffer, expansion memory module, and multi-module memory system


An imaging optical system includes, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, an aperture stop, and a third lens unit having a positive refractive power. The second lens unit moves toward the image side during focusing from a far object to a near object. The third lens unit includes, in order from the object side to the image side, two lenses having concave surfaces that face each other with a largest air gap in the third lens unit provided therebetween, and a positive lens. A focal length of the entire imaging optical system and a focal length of the second lens unit are appropriately set.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to imaging optical systems and image pickup apparatuses including the imaging optical systems, and is suitable for an imaging optical system included in, for example, a digital still camera, a digital video camera, a TV camera, a monitoring cameras, or a silver-halide film camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging optical systems included in single-lens reflex digital still cameras and single-lens reflex silver-halide film cameras are required to have a large imaging angle of view of about 40° to 60°. Such an imaging optical system is also required to have a predetermined back focus so that an optical member, such as a filter, may be arranged on the image side of the imaging optical system. Furthermore, the imaging optical system is also required to achieve high optical performance, have a large aperture ratio, and be capable of performing quick focusing. When the aperture ratio is increased, the shutter speed can be increased so that camera shake during, for example, indoor shooting can be easily suppressed.
In an imaging optical system, focusing is generally performed by moving the entire imaging optical system or a part of the imaging optical system. For example, an inner focus system is known which performs focusing by moving an intermediate lens unit included in the imaging optical system. With the inner focus system, the amount of movement of a focusing lens unit is smaller than that in the case where the entire imaging optical system is moved, and the size and weight of the focusing lens unit can be easily reduced.
As a result, the focusing lens unit can be moved at a high speed during focusing, and the drive torque applied during focusing can be reduced. Therefore, in the case where, for example, the system is included in an imaging apparatus including an automatic focus detection device, the size of a drive motor can be easily reduced.
Inner focus imaging optical systems having a relatively large imaging angle of view and a long back focus have been known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,984 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-185507 disclose imaging optical systems which include, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit having a positive refractive power, a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, and a third lens unit having a positive refractive power, and in which focusing is performed by moving the second lens unit.
In inner focus systems, focusing can be performed by moving a relatively small and light lens unit, so that high-speed focusing can be facilitated. In addition, a minimum imaging distance, at which imaging can be performed, is small.
However, compared to the case in which the entire optical system is moved during focusing, in the inner focus system, large variations in aberrations generally occur when the focusing lens unit is moved, and it is difficult to appropriately correct the aberrations over the entire object distance range. For example, in an inner focus system in which focusing is performed by moving an intermediate lens unit arranged near an aperture stop of the imaging optical system, large variations in spherical aberration and coma aberration occur during focusing. The tendency of variations in aberrations becomes more significant when the aperture ratio of the imaging optical system is increased.
When the aperture ratio of an inner focus imaging optical system having a large imaging angle of view of about 40° to 60° is increased, the thickness of each lens is increased. As a result, the back focus tends to be reduced to ensure enough space for the movement of the focusing lens unit.
Therefore, to increase the angle of view and the aperture ratio of an inner focus imaging optical system, it is necessary to appropriately set the refractive powers and lens configurations of lens units of the imaging optical system including the focusing lens unit. Unless the lens units are appropriately configured, large variations in aberrations occur during focusing and it becomes difficult to achieve high optical performance over the entire object distance. In particular, it becomes difficult to increase the back focus while increasing the angle of view and the aperture ratio.

Imaging optical system and image pickup apparatus including the same


A method and apparatus for testing an integrated circuit using built-in self-test (BIST) techniques is described. In one aspect, a BIST circuit comprises a scan monitor with hold logic and a signature generation element. The hold logic is operable to suspend signature generation in the signature generation element at any desired point in the test sequence. In some embodiments, the hold logic comprises a scan-loadable signature hold flip-flop which allows the logic BIST controller to be restarted from any selected pattern within a pattern range and to run to any subsequent pattern. The BIST session can be run incrementally, testing and reporting intermediate MISR signatures. External automatic testing equipment can suspend signature generation at selected times during a BIST session to prevent tainting of the signature generation element. The hold logic also may comprise a rotating hold ring to suspend signature generation during predetermined shift cycles.

As integrated circuits are produced with greater and greater levels of circuit density, efficient testing schemes that guarantee very high fault coverage while minimizing test costs and chip area overhead have become essential. However, as the complexity of circuits continues to increase, high fault coverage of several types of fault models becomes more difficult to achieve with traditional testing paradigms. This difficulty arises for several reasons. First, larger integrated circuits have a very high and still increasing logic-to-pin ratio that creates a test data transfer bottleneck at the chip pins. Second, larger circuits require a prohibitively large volume of test data that must be then stored in external testing equipment. Third, applying the test data to a large circuit requires an increasingly long test application time. And fourth, present external testing equipment is unable to test such larger circuits at their speed of operation.
Integrated circuits are presently tested using a number of structured design for testability (DFT) techniques. These techniques rest on the general concept of making all or some state variables (memory elements such as flip-flops and latches) directly controllable and observable. If this can be arranged, a circuit can be treated, as far as testing of combinational faults is concerned, as a combinational or a nearly combinational network. The most-often used DFT methodology is based on scan chains. It assumes that during testing all (or almost all) memory elements are connected into one or more shift registers, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,537. A circuit that has been designed for test has two modes of operation: a normal mode and a test, or scan, mode. In the normal mode, the memory elements perform their regular functions. In the scan mode, the memory elements become scan cells that are connected to form a number of shift registers called scan chains. These scan chains are used to shift a set of test patterns into the circuit and to shift out circuit, or test, responses to the test patterns. The test responses are then compared to fault-free responses to determine if the circuit under test (CUT) works properly.
Scan design methodology has gained widespread adoption by virtue of its simple automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) and silicon debugging capabilities. Today, ATPG software tools are so efficient that it is possible to generate test sets (a collection of test patterns) that guarantee almost complete fault coverage of several types of fault models including stuck-at, transition, path delay faults, and bridging faults. Typically, when a particular potential fault in a circuit is targeted by an ATPG tool, only a small number of scan cells, e.g., 2-5%, must be specified to detect the particular fault (deterministically specified cells). The remaining scan cells in the scan chains are filled with random binary values (randomly specified cells). This way the pattern is fully specified, more likely to detect some additional faults, and can be stored on a tester.
In a conventional system for testing digital circuits with scan chains, external automatic testing equipment (ATE) applies a set of fully specified test patterns one by one to a CUT in scan mode via scan chains within the circuit. The circuit is then run in normal mode using the test pattern as input, and the test response to the test pattern is stored in the scan chains. With the circuit again in scan mode, the response is then routed to the ATE, which compares the response with a fault-free reference response, also one by one. For large circuits, this approach becomes infeasible because of large test set sizes and long test application times. It has been reported that the volume of test data can exceed one kilobit per single logic gate in a large design. The significant limitation of this approach is that it requires an expensive, memory-intensive tester and a long test time to test a complex circuit.
These limitations of time and storage can be overcome to some extent by adopting a built-in self-test (BIST) framework as shown in FIG. 1. In BIST, additional on-chip circuitry is included to generate test patterns, evaluate test responses, and control the test. Logic BIST controller 100 tests circuit under test (CUT) 110. Typically, automated testing equipment (ATE) 120 is used together with logic BIST controller 100 during testing. A typical logic BIST controller contains a number of component parts including a scan driver 130 containing a device for generating test pattern data, such as pseudo-random pattern generator (PRPG) 140, a scan monitor 150 containing a multiple input shift register (MISR) 160, a shift counter (not shown), and a pattern counter (not shown). Components of a BIST controller may further include additional components, such as a phase shifter in the scan driver and/or a space compactor in the scan monitor.
PRPG 140 is used to generate the test patterns, instead of having deterministic test patterns. PRPGs typically are implemented as a hardware structure called a linear feedback shift register (LFSR). An LFSR comprises a sequence of chained data memory elements forming a shift register. A given LFSR of length n can be represented by its characteristic polynomial hnxn+ . . . +h1x+h0, where the term hixi refers to the ith flip-flop of the register, such that, if hi=1, then there is a feedback tap taken from this flip-flop. When the proper tap connections are established in accordance with the given polynomial, the combined (added modulo 2) output of each stage is feedback to the first stage of the LFSR. Such an implementation is called type I LFSR or Fibonacci generator. An alternative implementation uses a shift register with XOR gates placed between the LFSR cells. It is called type II LFSR or Galois true divisor. A distinct feature of this configuration is that the output of the last stage of the LFSR is being fed back to those stages, which are indicated by the characteristic polynomial employed. A polynomial which causes an n-bit LFSR to go through all possible 2n−1 nonzero states is called a primitive characteristic polynomial. A corresponding LFSR is often referred to as a maximum-length LFSR, while the resultant output sequence is termed a maximum-length sequence or m-sequence.
The pattern counter controls sequences of test patterns generated by PRPG 140 and applied though scan chains 170, 172 and 174 of CUT 110. To reduce correlation between scan chains 170, 172 and 174 in CUT 110, a phase shifter can be inserted between PRPG 140 and the scan chains. A typical phase shifter consists of exclusive-or (XOR) network employed to avoid shifted versions of the same data in various scan paths.
Test pattern data generated by PRPG 140 is sequentially loaded, or shifted, into scan chains 170, 172 and 174. The shift counter indicates how many shift cycles must be performed before all scan chains in CUT 110 have been filled. As each test data bit is shifted in, the response to a test data bit shifted in during the previous pattern is shifted out of scan chains 170, 172 and 174 and into a MISR 160, or a similar signature generation element, in the scan monitor. MISR 160 compresses the response data into a signature which can be analyzed for errors. The number of inputs to MISR 160 cannot exceed the number of bits in the MISR. A space compactor (not shown) may be used if there are more scan chains in CUT 110 than there are bits in a MISR. The space compactor combines adjoining scan chains using XOR gate structures until the number of space compactor outputs is equal to the number of bits, or stages, in the MISR.
Once a complete load/unload operation has been performed, CUT 110 enters a non-scan mode. A system capture operation can be performed to capture response data. During capture operations, output from the scan chains is not shifted into the MISR, and test patterns are not input to the scan chains. Thus, the MISR and the PRPG are typically placed in a non-functional state during capture operations to avoid timing problems. After capture, the system is ready for the next load/unload operation.
This concurrent load/unload activity causes a potential problem. Although the PRPG and MISR may be reset to known values when the logic BIST controller is reset, the first load/unload cycle causes an unknown and potentially uninitialized state of the scan chains to be passed into the scan monitor and hence the MISR. This causes the MISR to become tainted with unknown data. Previous solutions to this tainting problem included initializing the scan chains to a known state prior to running the BIST session (often referred to as external initialization) or masking the MISR inputs by forcing them to known values (such as all 1s or all 0s) until the first capture operation is complete (often referred to as internal or controller initialization).
Internal initialization, or masking, can be used to force MISR inputs to a known value during a masked initial pattern. The masking process is controlled by a mask control signal. Typically, the mask signal is generated by combinational logic, either by comparing the pattern counter with the known constant value for the first pattern if internal initialization is being performed, or by driving it with a constant "no mask" value if external initialization is being performed. External initialization also can be performed without masking circuitry.
FIG. 2 shows an X-bit MISR 160 containing masking hardware. MISR 160 includes flip-flops 210, 212 and 214, multiplexors 220, 222 and 224, XOR gates 230, 232 and 234, and clock signal 240. Response data from scan chains 170, 172 and 174 in CUT 110 are shifted into MISR 160 via scan out signals 250, 252 and 254. Mask signal 260, which is coupled to inverter 270 and AND gates 280, 282 and 284, masks the inputs to the MISR by driving all MISR inputs low during the first pattern (pc=0) of a test sequence. In such an arrangement, the MISR inputs are not masked after the first pattern.
Other logic BIST controllers have allowed suspending MISR signature generation only during capture operations or after the test responses for the last pattern of a test sequence have been shifted into the MISR. For example, referring to FIG. 2, bist_done signal 290 and capture_operation signal 292 can set (via OR gate 294) multiplexors 220, 222 and 224 such that the signature stored in flip-flops 210, 212 and 214 in the MISR is not changed 1) after the test responses for the last pattern of a test sequence have been shifted into the MISR, or 2) during a capture operation, respectively.
However, such solutions to the tainting problem are unsatisfactory because such solutions do not allow suspending MISR signature generation at any other points. Additionally, current EDA synthesis tools may make masking operations ineffective by performing undesirable logic reduction during circuit optimization.


A liquid ejection head according to one aspect of the invention comprises: a channel unit that comprises: a plurality of individual liquid channels each including a pressure chamber; and a first surface having a plurality of openings corresponding to a plurality of the pressure chambers; and a piezoelectric actuator unit having a second surface that is bonded to the first surface of the channel unit via an adhesive to cover the plurality of pressure chambers. One or more grooves are formed in the first surface of the channel unit to surround the plurality of pressure chambers. An outer edge portion of the second surface the piezoelectric actuator unit faces the groove. A supporting portion that faces the outer edge portion of the second surface of the piezoelectric actuator unit to support the piezoelectric actuator unit is provided in the groove.

JP-B-3692895 (e.g., FIG. 4) discloses an ink-jet head including a piezoelectric actuator (piezoelectric actuator unit) stacked on one flat surface of a cavity plate that serves as a channel unit in which pressure chambers are opened. On a side surface of the piezoelectric actuator, a side electrode that is used to electrically connect a driving electrode formed on a top surface of the actuator to an external wiring line is formed. According to this configuration, the side electrode may be short-circuited from the metallic cavity plate becomes high. Therefore, in the ink-jet head of JP-B-3692895, the electric short circuit between the side electrode and the cavity plate is prevented by forming a recessed portion in the top surface of the cavity plate, and separating the side electrode the cavity plate from each other with the recessed portion therebetween.
When the ink-jet head described of JP-B-3692895 is manufactured, generally, the piezoelectric actuator is pressed against the top surface of the cavity plate after an adhesive is applied to the top surface of the cavity plate. In that case, a recessed portion formed in the top surface of the cavity plate also functions as a relief groove of the adhesive. That is, the adhesive overflowing from between the cavity plate and the piezoelectric actuator is accommodated in the recessed portion. Therefore, it is possible to prevent poor ejection caused when the adhesive climbs up the side surface of the piezoelectric actuator and adheres to the top surface of the piezoelectric actuator.
However, when the piezoelectric actuator is pressed against the top surface of the cavity plate in manufacturing the ink-jet head of JP-B-3692895, cracks may be generated in a region in the vicinity of an outer edge of the piezoelectric actuator. This is because the region in the vicinity of the outer edge of the piezoelectric actuator that faces the recessed portion is not supported by the cavity plate, and therefore, a pressing force applied to the region in the vicinity of the outer edge acts on the piezoelectric actuator as a shear force. When cracks are generated in the piezoelectric actuator, ink may be ejected poorly or cannot be ejected.


A relay apparatus for relaying communication between a water heater main body and a radio remote control unit, comprising: a switch section for setting an address of the radio remote control unit; a control section for establishing communication with the water heater main body and commanding and controlling to read out maintenance information stored in the water heater main body assuming that input information at the switch section is a request from the radio remote control unit having an address which was set by operation of the switch section; and a display section for displaying the maintenance information received from the water heater main body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a relay apparatus which relays communication between a water heater main body and a radio remote control unit, and more particularly, to a relay apparatus which establishes wire communication with the water heater main body and which establishes radio communication with the radio remote control unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional water heater, since an indoor wiring operation of a remote control unit is unnecessary and installation is easy, and besides a remote control unit can easily be provided for an already installed water heater, there is a water heater in which a relay apparatus (master set) is connected to an outdoor water heater main body by a wire, and the water heater main body is remote-operated by radio communication of a radio remote control unit (slave set) through the relay apparatus from a room (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-328295).
A plurality of radio remote control units can be installed in a bathroom, a kitchen and the like, wherein a master set ID of the relay apparatus is registered in each radio remote control unit, and a slave set ID of each radio remote control unit is registered in the relay apparatus. With this configuration, radio communication between the radio remote control units and the relay apparatus is performed without causing interference with other devices.
The radio remote control unit is usually used for operating the water heater. In addition to this, the radio remote control unit can also display maintenance information of the water heater main body on a display section by specifying and operating a switch at the time of maintenance operation of the water heater main body (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. HEI09-280557). Such a radio remote control unit can freely be taken outside. Therefore, an operator of the maintenance operation takes the radio remote control unit outside, displays the maintenance information at an outside installation place of the water heater main body, and the operator can carry out a predetermined maintenance operation while seeing the maintenance information.
However, if none of the radio remote control units is registered in the relay apparatus, the maintenance information of the water heater main body is not displayed. In a case where the water heater main body is set outside of a house, the relay apparatus is connected to the water heater main body, but none of the radio remote control units is ID-registered, the maintenance information of the water heater main body cannot be seen for e.g. inspection on setting condition of the water heater main body.
Even if at least one of the radio remote control units is registered in the relay apparatus, the maintenance information of the water heater main body cannot be seen when no one stays in the house or the radio remote control unit is out of order or the battery is dead. If the operator cannot see the maintenance information of the water heater main body, he or she cannot carry out the maintenance operation of the water heater main body.
Thus, in preparation for such cases, another radio remote control unit can be separately prepared for maintenance operation. This radio remote control unit is ID-registered in the relay apparatus, and maintenance information of the water heater main body is obtained by operating this radio remote control unit. However, it is very troublesome to prepare another radio remote control unit only for the maintenance operation and to ID-register the radio remote control prepared for the maintenance operation. Further, it is necessary to delete the ID registration of the radio remote control in the relay apparatus after the maintenance operation is completed. Furthermore, where the operator doesn't know whether or not a radio remote control unit is used during the maintenance operation is carried out, it is uneconomical to separately prepare the radio remote control unit for the maintenance operation, which leads to an increase in the maintenance cost. Even when the radio remote control unit is separately prepared, if the full registrable number of radio remote control units are all registered in the relay apparatus, another radio remote control unit cannot be further ID-registered. Therefore, the operator cannot see the maintenance information in this case.


An inverter control device controls the operation of an inverter connected to an electric motor. A switching vector SV is determined as an output switching vector SVo to be supplied to the inverter based on a current deviation of the coil winding of each phase of the electric motor and a switching vector determination table. A keeping time TK is calculated based on a torque and a revolution speed of the electric motor. The counting of a time counting is then initiated. In a high revolution speed (TK>Selection time TS), the control operation for the inverter returns to a start step after the elapse of a certain time period that is set in advance. In a low revolution speed of the electric motor (TK<TS), a zero vector is newly selected as the output switching vector SVo after the elapse of the keeping time TK. The control operation for the inverter then returns to the start step after the elapse of the selection time period TS.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inverter control device based on instruction current follower control capable of controlling the operation of an inverter having a three phase bridge circuit by selecting an optimum switching vector so that a detected current value of a coil winding of each phase follows a given instruction current value.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been various inverter control devices for controlling the operation of an inverter that drives an electric motor and an electric generator. FIG. 12A is a block diagram showing a configuration of an inverter to be controlled by an inverter control device of a related art. FIG. 12B is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the inverter control circuit of the related art. The inverter control device based on instruction current follower control is well known as one of the control devices. Such an inverter control device of a related art has a configuration shown in FIG. 12B.
The inverter control device shown in FIG. 12B selects an optimum switching vector so that a detected current value follows a given instruction current value so as to control the operation of the inverter shown in FIG. 12A, The inverter shown in FIG. 12A is made of a three phase bridge circuit. In FIG. 12A, reference character "MG" means an electric motor and an electric generator. For brevity, the term "the electric motor MG" will be used for both the electric motor and the electric generator through the following description.
First, the inverter 101 to be controlled, as the target in control, has a direct current (DC) power supply 103, a smoothing capacitor 105, a three phase bridge circuit 107, and a current detection circuit 109.
The smoothing capacitor 105 smoothes the voltage of the DC power supply 103 to be supplied to the three phase bridge circuit 107. The three phase bridge circuit 107 receives the electric power from the DC power supply 103 through the power source lines and supplies the current to the coil winding of each of the phases U, V, and W of the electric motor MG. The current detection circuit 109 detects the magnitude of the current supplied from the three phase bridge circuit 107 to the coil winding of each of the phases U, V, and W of the electric motor MG.
The switching elements SWa and SWb are connected in series to make a pair, the switching elements SWc and SWd are connected in series to make a pair, and the switching elements SWe and SWf are connected in series to make a pair.
The three phase bridge circuit 107 has six reflux current diodes and the six switching elements SWa to SWf. Each switching element and the corresponding reflux diode are connected in inversely parallel connection. Three pairs of the switching elements SWx (x=a, b, c, d, e, and f) are arranged in parallel to each other. Between the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the DC power supply 103, the three pairs of the switching elements SWx are connected in parallel. Each pair of the switching elements is connected to the coil winding of each of the corresponding phases U, V, and W of the electric motor, respectively.
Next, the inverter control device 110 has a current deviation detection section 111, a switching vector determination section 113, and a driving signal generation section 117. The current deviation detection section 111 detects deviations between the detection current values and the current instruction values given in advance for each phase, and outputs detection signals du, dv, and dw that indicate the deviations (as current deviation) between the current values iu, iv, and iw detected by the current detection circuit 109 and current instruction values iu*, iv*, and iw*, respectively.
The switching vector determination section 113 determines a switching vector SV according to the deviation signals du, dv, and dw detected by the current deviation detection section 111. The driving signal generation section 117 generates driving signals UP, UN, VP, VN, WP, and WN with which the switching elements SWa to SWf forming the three phase bridge circuit 107 are switched according to the switching vector SV determined by the switching vector determination section 113.
Reference character XP designates the driving signals to be transferred to the switching elements SWp (p=a, c, and e, namely SWa, SWc, and SWe) connected to the positive electrode of the X phase (X=U, V, and W) of the electric motor MG. Reference character XN designates the driving signals to be transferred to the switching elements SWn (n=b, d, and f, namely SWb, SWd, and SWf) connected to the negative electrode of the X phase (X=U, V, and W) of the electric motor MG.
The driving signal generation section 117 generates the driving signals that set one switching element to ON and the other switching element to OFF in each pair of the switching element SWp and SWn (namely, in each of the pair of SWa and SWb, the pair of SWc and SWd, and the pair of SWe and SWf). Further, the driving signal generation section 117 generates the driving signals that set both the switching elements in each pair to OFF (as a dead time) when the ON/OFF state is switched.
The switching vector SV represents an arrangement of switching state of the switching elements SW corresponding to the phases U, V, and W, where reference number "1" indicates ON state of the switching element SWp (p=a, c, and e) connected to the positive electrode of the X phase (X=U, V, and W) of the electric motor MG, and reference number "0" denotes ON state of the switching element SWn (n=b, d, and f) connected to the negative electrode of the X phase (X=U, V, and W) of the electric motor MG. That is, the switching vector SV represents eights states (=23).
On driving the inverter 101 under the control of the switching vector SV, the amount of current increases in the phase of the electric motor MG under the ON state "1" and decreases in the phase of the electric motor MG under the OFF state "0". In particular, on driving the inverter 101 under the switching vector SV designated by the states "000" and "111" (hereinafter, referred to as "zero vector"), the change of current in each phase is suppressed because there is no voltage difference between the three phases U, W, and W of the electric motor MG.
In order to avoid any occurrence of unnecessary switching caused by a noise and the like on deciding whether or not the switching vector SV is changed, the inverter control device 110 uses a decision threshold value involving a given hysteresis for deciding the magnitude of a deviation. The inverter control device 101 controls or selects the switching vector so that the current is decreased when a current value detected is larger than an instruction value by ΔI, and on the contrary, the current is changed by increasing the current when the current value detected is smaller than an instruction value by ΔI.
In general, it is well known that the number of switching is increased in a low rotational speed of the electric motor MG by such an inverter control device based on instruction current follower control. This means that the magnitude of the currents such as the currents iu, iv, and iw, flowing through the coil windings of each phase to be driven, are greatly changed to the switching vectors other than the zero vectors "000" and "111" when the rotational speed of the electric motor MG is low and generates a small counter electromotive force. On the contrary, the current instruction values iu*, iv* and iw* take a low frequency waveform of an extremely low change rate. Accordingly, the change rate of the detected current values iu, iv, and iw detected when the ON and OFF of the switching elements SWp and SWn are switched is over the hysteresis width ΔI of the decision threshold value in a moment. As a result, because an excessive large current or an excessive small current are switched in a short time period, the number of the switching is increased.
Increasing the number of switching introduces the increase of switching loss and accordingly because large rated elements must be used as the switching elements SWa to SWf, the degree of freedom in design for the inverter 101 is thereby limited. In fact, it is possible to decrease the number of the switching slightly when the hysterisys width ΔI of the decision threshold value is set to a large value, this causes a problem of increasing a current distortion flowing in the coil windings of each phase of the electric motor MG to be driven.
Further, because the inverter control device involves a drawback to increases the switching loss at a low revolution speed of the electric motor MG, it is difficult to apply such an inverter to the application in which the electric motor operates in a wide range from a low revolution to a high revolution such as an electric motor that is a power source for a hybrid vehicle.
In order to avoid the conventional problem, the Japanese patent laid open publication NO. 2000-316284 as one of conventional well known techniques has disclosed a conventional inverter control device based on a current control in which a current deviation vector using a current deviation selects a zero vector when it is within an error range determined according to current control precision.
Thus, the active use of the zero vector may eliminate the conventional problem described above because it can suppress an excess control to the current and decrease the number of the switching.
In order to make such an inverter control device cheaply, the recent trend is to incorporate in the inverter control device a microprocessor so as to perform digital control for various processes of each configuration element forming the inverter control device. In this case, the response of the inverter control device equipped with a microprocessor is limited by the control period of the microprocessor, in particular, by a sampling period of an analogue to digital (A/D) converter that converts an analogue current value detected to a digital current value. On making the inverter control device cheaply, the microprocessor with a sampling period of several μs is installed in the inverter control device.
However, the conventional technique disclosed in the Japanese patent laid open publication NO. 2000-316284 can not select the zero vector in a low revolution speed of the electric motor MG and as a result it cannot decrease the number of the switching.
In other words, because the current change is increased during the low revolution of the electric motor, it is impossible to detect the state in which the current deviation is within an error range and as a result, the zero vector is not selected.


A home theater includes a main unit section and at least one speaker section. The main unit section includes a communication section which receives an AV stream from an AV stream transmission device and via a communication network, a demux section which separates the AV stream into a video stream and an audio stream, a video processing means which processes the video stream so as to generate a video signal, an audio processing section which processes the audio stream so as to generate an audio signal, and an audio acquisition section which acquires an audio stream which includes at least a part of the audio of the AV stream. The communication section transmits the audio stream acquired by the audio acquisition section to the speaker section, via the communication network.

A most typical home theater is arranged in such a manner that a home theater main unit is connected with a display and speakers, using lines which are not designed for constructing a network. Since the main unit is connected to the speakers using analog-audio transmission lines, many lines and a complicated arrangement thereof are required. In particular, in case where the home theater main unit is placed in front of the user, the distance between the home theater main unit and a speaker (rear speaker) behind the user is long. A long line connecting these devices is troublesome in circumstances such as home.
To solve this problem, all or some speakers form a network based on a wireless/wired network technology, and audio signals are exchanged over the network. In the case of a wired network in which a home theater main unit and speakers are connected with one another by transmission lines for network use, the arrangement of the lines can be made simpler than a case where the home theater main unit is connected to the speakers using transmission lines for analog sound.
For example, a home theater adopting a 5.1 channel audio system requires at least 6 speakers. When a network is not constructed, at least six transmission lines for analog sound are provided between the home theater unit and the speakers. On the other hand, when a wired network such as LAN (Local Area Network) is constructed, an existing network is available. Therefore each of the home theater main unit and the speakers has only one transmission line for the network, which is connected to each port of the network.
In case where audio signals are transmitted over a network, analog audio signals may be modulated by FM (Frequency Modulation) or AM (Amplitude Modulation). However, analog signals may be deteriorated after being simply modulated.
In case where an audio signal is digitized before the transmission, the transmission of the signal can be conducted through a wireless communication medium such as infrared light and radio wave (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-320653; published on Nov. 11, 2004, for example). However, in the case of infrared light, transmission cannot be carried out when an obstacle such as a passer exists between a transmitter and a receiver. The efficiency of transmission between AV (Audio/video) devices is deteriorated in this case.
Standards such as Bluetooth® use a 2.4 Ghz bandwidth which is also used by microwave ovens. For this reason, audio signals may not be properly transmitted by Bluetooth®, when a microwave oven is in operation. The quality of sound, i.e. the quality of transmission between AV devices is therefore deteriorated. Considering the quality, infrared and 2.4 Ghz transmissions should be avoided in case of real-time transmission of video and audio.
The above-described case relates to simplification of an arrangement of lines in a home theater, by transmitting only audio signals on a network. On the other hand, with the growing popularity of the Internet, content on websites can be played on information communication terminals PCs, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and mobile phones, which are remote from the websites.
It is also expected to enable home electric appliances to play content on websites on the Internet. In doing so, it is important to assure interoperability between appliances of different manufacturers. An example of a standard for achieving this interoperability is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance).
FIG. 8 shows a case where an AV signal is supplied from an AV source device to a television receiver (hereinafter, television), based on DLNA. In the case shown in the figure, the AV source device 1001 and the television 1002 both of which are compliant with DLNA can be connected with each other without any problems, even if these devices are the products of different manufacturers. To expand the versatility of the AV source device 1001, it is preferable to allow not only the television 1002 but also a home theater to receive a DLNA-compliant AV signal from the AV source device 1001.
The AV source device 1001 is constituted by a video player such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)/Blu-ray Disc player, a DVD/Blu-ray disc recorder, and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) recorder, or a broadcast receiver such as a BS (Broadcasting Satellite)/CS (Communications Satellite) tuner.
As described above, it is important to allow a home theater to play content on a network, and in doing so, it is required to transmit not only audio signals but also video signals over the network.
In the meantime, lip synchronization is required for playing video and audio content. The lip synchronization means to synchronize the moving images on a television with the sound from a speaker. When out-of-synch for lip synchronization is considerable, synchronization between audio and video is not maintained. According to Non-Patent Document 1 (R. Steinmetz, "Human Perception of Jitter and Media Synchronization", IEEE Journal On Selected Areas In Communications, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 61-72, January 1996), the maximum permissible skew for lip synchronization is about 5 ms. In other words, a skew not shorter than 5 ms is perceptible for human eyes. On this account, AV devices are required to take account of lip synchronization.
In case where audio signals and video signals are transmitted over a network, a further delay occurs during the transmission over the network. It is therefore necessary to compensate a delay due to network transmission, in order to design a high-quality AV device connectable to a network.
Also according to Non-Patent Document 1, stereophonic sound requires the skew between sounds from the both speakers to fall within the range of ±11 μs. In case where respective speakers independently use communication devices, the skew among these communication devices must fall within the range of ±11 μs. As Non-Patent Document 1 defines that a skew for stereophonic sound must fall within the range of ±11 μs, skews of sounds among the speakers must also fall within the range of ±11 μs.
Patent Document 2 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-282667; published on Oct. 7, 2004) proposes a transmission device for transmitting audio signals and video signals over a network, and this transmission device has lip synchronization capability. The transmission device includes a wireless transmitter, an audio receiver (e.g. speaker), and a video receiver (e.g. television). The wireless transmitter is directly connected to the output of a typical AV device. Audio signals and video signals from the AV device are supplied to an audio signal encoding section and a video signal encoding section of the wireless transmitter, respectively, and subjected to different processes. The audio signals and video signals are then supplied to the audio receiver and the video receiver, respectively.
However, data streams of, for example, MPEG2 typically include both audio and video data. Therefore, DLNA-compliant transmitters and receivers which are currently under development are designed with the assumption that MPEG2 streams include both audio and video data. According to the architecture proposed by Patent Document 2, even if audio signals and video signals are DLNA-compliant, these types of signals are transmitted by different streams. For this reason, the architecture of Patent Document 2 is not directly interoperable with typical network AV devices (hereinafter, AV stream source devices) which transmit audio and video data by the same stream.
The architecture of Patent Document 2 can be indirectly interoperable with the AV stream source devices, because the architecture is connectable with an external AV device. The interoperability is achieved when the input of the AV device connected to the architecture is interoperable with the AV stream source devices. In this case, the AV device receives, from an AV stream source device, a stream including both audio and video data, separates the audio data from the video data, and outputs the audio data and the video data to the architecture, in a separated manner.
In this case, the audio data and video data are supplied from the AV device to the architecture of Patent Document 2, and then the architecture supplies the audio data and the video data to the audio receiver and the video receiver, respectively. Since the audio data and the video data are transmitted twice, bandwidth efficiency is deteriorated.
For example, in the case of MPEG2 in compliance with HDTV (High Definition Television), the transmission rate of a data stream is at least 20 Mbps. In case where the architecture of Patent Document 2 does not convert the transmission rate of the supplied data stream, two transmissions require at least 40 Mbps. As to wireless transmission, transmission at the transmission rate of not less than 40 Mbps is impossible, because the performance on the MAC-SAP (Media Access Control Service Access Point) of a WLAN (Wireless LAN) module compliant with current IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11a is 35 Mpbs at the maximum.
IEEE802.11n, which is a currently-developed next-generation wireless LAN standard, is expected to achieve the transmission rate of 100 Mbps or higher on the MAC-SAP. However, this rate is achieved only at short range, and the overall transmission rate in the case of, for example, a home network is assumed to be not higher than 50 Mbps. The above-described transmission rate of 40 Mbps is barely achievable in this case, but significantly heavy load on the transmission path influences on other data transmissions.
For example, IEEE802.11n is expected to support plural HDTV transmissions. When the bandwidth for two transmissions are required for one transmission for HDTV, plural HDTV transmissions cannot be achieved. Also, a home network is expected to be used not only for video data transmission but also for e-mail, Internet browsing, telephone using VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), and Internet games. Since it is important to secure bandwidth for these uses, the quality of service is deteriorated, if bandwidth is inefficiently used.
In case where the transmission rate of a stream supplied to the architecture of Patent Document 2 is converted to a higher transmission rate, the above-described bandwidth problem grows worse. On the other hand, if the transmission rate of a stream supplied to the architecture is lowered, the qualities of transmitted sound and images are deteriorated.

Audio/video processing unit and control method thereof


An apparatus for controllably generating sparks is provided. The apparatus includes a spark generating device; at least two output stages connected to the spark generating device; means for charging energy storage devices in the output stages and at least partially isolating each of the energy storage devices from the energy storage devices of the other output stages; and, a logic circuit for selectively triggering the output stages to generate a spark. Each of the output stages preferably includes: (1) an energy storage device to store the energy; (2) a controlled switch for selectively discharging the energy storage device; and (3) a network for transferring the energy discharged by the energy storage device to the spark generating device. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the logic circuit, which is connected to the controlled switches of the output stages, can be configured to fire the stages at different times, in different orders, and/or in different combinations to provide the spark generating device with output pulses having substantially any desired waveshape and energy level to thereby produce a spark having substantially any desired energy level and plume shape at the spark generating device to suit any application.

Solid-state ignition systems are known in the art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,065,073 and 5,245,252, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference, teach, inter alia, that improved control over the performance of an ignition system can be achieved by incorporating a solid-state switch into an ignition output circuit. As taught by these patents, the ability of a solid-state switch to be triggered at a precise time allows an ignition system incorporating such a switch to achieve controlled spark rates. It also allows such a system to generate time-varying spark sequences. In addition, as explained in the above referenced patents, since a solid-state switch can be controlled independently of the voltage level of the ignition system's tank capacitor, an ignition system incorporating a solid-state switch can be used to deliver various amounts of energy by triggering the solid-state switch when a voltage associated with a desired energy transfer appears across the tank capacitor. This later effect cannot be achieved in older circuits using spark-gap switches since such switches fire only at a single voltage which is preset during manufacture of the spark-gap switch and will, thus, fire as soon as the voltage across the tank capacitor reaches the preset triggering level.
The '073 and '252 Patents also teach the desirability of waveshaping the current delivered into an igniter plug for a sparking event. For example, these patents teach that it is desirable to deliver a current to an igniter plug which initially increases at a low rate while ionizing the plug's gap and thereafter increases at a higher rate to sustain a spark across the ionized gap. Among other things, controlling the rise time of the current in this manner maximizes the life of the solid-state switch and the igniter plug by providing such components an opportunity to pass through their transition states before being taxed with a full, high energy pulse.
As mentioned above, prior art circuits such as those disclosed in the '073 and '252 Patents have achieved some degree of control over spark generation. However, prior art circuits such as these, while achieving many beneficial effects, have been somewhat constrained in their ability to control spark generation by certain physical limitations. For example, it is well known that the energy stored in an ignition circuit employing a tank capacitor is described by the formula:Energy=1/2*Capacitance*(Voltage)2Thus, the energy delivered by such a circuit can be varied by changing either the charging voltage placed across the tank capacitor or the capacitance of the tank capacitor itself. There are, however, several practical limitations involved in varying these characteristics. For example, lowering the voltage levels used in the circuit requires a disproportionately large increase in the physical size of the capacitor used in the circuit to achieve similar energy levels. On the other hand, the available selection of capacitors, insulation materials, and solid-state switch components becomes limited at higher voltage levels.
The capacitance of prior art spark generating circuits is generally fixed when those circuits are constructed. In a circuit which uses a spark-gap switch the voltage is also fixed by the choice of the gap's breakdown voltage. Thus, traditional spark generating circuits are designed to deliver a predetermined energy level, but that energy level is thereafter unadjustable. In addition, prior art circuits have not attempted to control the plume shape of sparks generated at a spark generating device.
Ignition systems have been constructed for use as test apparatus wherein the user can manually vary the energy delivered by the system by physically connecting or disconnecting multiple capacitors to achieve various total capacitance and, thus, various total stored energy. However, from a safety standpoint, the high voltage and current levels in this part of the circuit makes physically switching capacitors in or out of the circuit somewhat impractical; usually requiring power-down and physical reconnection before sparking can continue. In addition, these systems have been limited to adjusting the total energy delivered and have not provided any spark shaping capabilities or real time control over the intensity and shape of the sparks generated.

Method and apparatus for controllably generating sparks in an ignition system or the like