A sexual enhancement device for improving a user's sexual experience. A prostate pad is positioned adjacent to a male user's perineum below his prostate gland. A first prostate strap is connected to the prostate pad and is looped behind the user's neck. When the prostate strap is tightened, the prostate pad applies pressure to the perineum. This pressure is felt at the user's prostate and provides pleasurable stimulation to the prostate. A second prostate strap is also connected to the prostate pad and is looped around the user's waist. Preferably, the second prostate strap is also looped over the top of the user's erect penis. When looped over the top of the penis, tightening of the second prostate strap assists in restricting the flow of blood out of the erect penis, preferably allowing for an erection that lasts longer than it would otherwise. In a preferred embodiment, the pressure applied by the prostate pad can be dynamically increased or decreased by the user leaning his neck backwards or forwards, and also by the user arching his back and thrusting his hips. Also, in a preferred embodiment the tightness of the second prostate strap can be adjusted without having to interrupt sexual activity.

Sexual intercourse is a basic human need for both men and women. A majority of men are able to achieve and maintain an erection and are able to complete successful sexual intercourse. Nevertheless, many men are interested in enhancing and improving their sex lives. They may utilize sexual devices while having sex to enhance their arousal and intensify their sensations.


In a wireless data communication network, a mobile terminal is reconnected to a contents provider, when a connection established between the mobile terminal and the contents provider is interrupted or after a completion of the downloading of contents, by using return address information and contents address information including addresses of the contents provider and a web page including information relating to the downloaded contents, respectively. A WML (wireless markup language) script including the contents address information and the return address information is provided to the mobile terminal before initiating the downloading of the contents. In this way, the mobile terminal can easily be reconnected to the contents provider when the connection established between the mobile terminal and the contents provider is interrupted due to network congestion or the mobile terminal leaving the service coverage area.

Users of a mobile telecommunications service can download a variety of multimedia contents from a contents provider through a wireless data network, and such trend for a wireless multimedia service is expected to increase continuously. The multimedia contents, which are downloadable through a wireless data network, include, e.g., advertisement character messages, news, information on stock market, materials for students, real-time audio and video streaming data, and the like.
As a mobile terminal for downloading such multimedia data through a wireless data network, a third-generation mobile communications terminal, i.e., an IMT-2000 terminal, which includes a WAP (wireless application protocol) browser and a VOD (video on demand) player for downloading and playing multimedia contents, has been introduced.
While a conventional wireless data network is capable of transmitting data such as character messages at a transmission rate of several tens of Kbps, a high-speed wireless data network is now used in providing multimedia contents to users at a transmission rate of several hundreds of kbps to several Mbps.
However, in the high-speed wireless data network, a connection established between a mobile terminal and a contents provider may be interrupted due to a network congestion caused by an instantaneous surge of requests for connection thereto or the mobile terminal leaving the service coverage area. Accordingly, in such cases, there is a need for a method for the user of the wireless data network to be easily reconnected to the contents provider.

Method for connecting to a wireless internet service


An exemplary embodiment provides for a computer-implemented method that generates a time-based multivariable secure facility alarm. The method includes selecting a person for alert monitoring, alert monitor criteria pertaining to the person and alarm notification rules. When an occurrence that satisfies the alert monitor criteria are detected, an alarm notification, based upon the alarm notification rules, is generated. The method's alert monitor criteria include at least two events and a time period such that the alert monitor criteria is satisfied when the at least two events occur within the time period. Additionally, at least one event of the at least two events is a non-telephonic event.

Typically, automatically generated, security-related alarms, used in secure facilities and elsewhere, do not provide great value to investigators and security personnel as they are often based on one-off, somewhat generic occurrences that are not representative of situations that actually deserve attention. Also, they may occur frequently enough that they are perceived as annoyances to be ignored. Due to that, situations of interest may potentially be missed.
Additionally, automatically generated, security-related alarms may be triggered based on 'obvious' potentialities that are straightforward to detect but also easily avoided by more sophisticated, potential perpetrators.
Due to these deficiencies, and perhaps other ones, there is a need for improved security alarm systems.

Time-based multivariable secure facility alarm system


A small sized shallow pouch like container (3) for a dispensible ingredient includes a pair of built-in outwardly pivotable flaps (5 & 7) positioned on opposite sides of the container's outlet end to form a package applicator (1). Squeezing the container's sides with the fingers expresses the stored ingredient through the outlet and onto the applicator flaps. Using the container portion as a finger grip, the flaps may be moved about the desired surface, spreading the dispensed ingredient. In some embodiments the outlet is opened by squeezing the container sides to break a closure seal (19). In others the outlet is unsealed by pulling the flaps apart (19'); by tearing (35) or is unblocked (57) by unfolding the flaps. In a preferred embodiment the container and applicator combination is formed by a pair of flexible foil sheets of substantially identical structure (21 & 23) that are superimposed over one another and partially connected together to define both the container and the applicator.

Small measured amounts of food condiments and toppings, such as ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard, are often distributed nowadays in small sized relatively flat flexible containers or packages formed of plastic coated or foil laminated foil films, whereby the user tears open the package and squeezes the package to dispense the condiment onto a sandwich or other food product. After use, the opened package is conveniently discarded in a waste basket, together with any remnant of the packaged ingredient. Another widely known product available in such flat packs is the familiar "Handi-Wipe" towellete. That flexible foil package contains a folded paper towel that is moistened with a hand cleaning fluid. The user tears open the foil, removes and unfolds the towelete, and towels the hands to clean them up after the meal. Many other examples of such miniaturized packages undoubtedly come to mind. The micro-sized packages offer convenience in storage, breakage, better sanitation and lower spillage and waste.
One specific example of the foregoing brought to applicant's attention is found in the patent literature. U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,137 granted May 1, 1990 to Heijenga entitled Dispensing Container for a Liquid or Paste-Like Substance, which describes one such container and references many earlier patents describing different constructions. Heijenga's container is a relatively flat pack whose side walls include a pre-formed flexible blister defining the storage region for the dispensable ingredient and a pre-form outlet tube, all presented in a relatively flat package with a tear off strip for the user to open the outlet tube. Compressing the blisters thereafter with one's fingers expresses the ingredient from the outlet tube.
The basic element to the foregoing micro-sized packages comprises a pair of flexible foil sheets that are superimposed over one another and thermally sealed together about the edges to define a liquid tight internal cavity. Such micro-size flat packages and the details of their construction and manufacture are well known to those skilled in the packaging art.
A common theme recognized to the foregoing packages is that they are intended to dispense the confined ingredients, not spread them out over a surface once dispensed. Reader's who've had their fingers wetted with mustard as they've sought to spread mustard dispensed from such a package upon a sandwich, inappropriately using the spent package to spread the mustard instead of reaching for a knife, should well recognize the untidy consequence.
However, as is found in other fields of endeavor that use much larger sized containers, integrating the functions of a container and an applicator into a single unit, a dispensing applicator, is beneficial. The combination offers the convenience of both a container for storing a spreadable ingredient, such as wallpaper adhesive, and a hand-held applicator, with which the dispensed adhesive may be applied to a surface, integrated within a single unit. The wall paper adhesive may be thus placed on display in the store for sale, and the purchaser may apply the adhesive with the built-in applicator, avoiding hand contamination. Dispensing applicators of the foregoing type are of a large size, typically holding six ounces or more of ingredients.
Applicant's prior invention marketed by Roman Adhesives, Inc. as the Border-Ease application, shown in U.S. Pat. No. D-351,338, granted Oct. 11, 1994, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,851, granted Nov. 20, 1996, is one example. That container applicator combination employs a sponge type roller applicator mounted to the end of a cylindrical container. Once the cover is opened to allow adhesive to exit the container, the applicator is reinstalled on the end of the container over that opening. By gripping the container in one's hand and squeezing its sides, the adhesive is expressed from the container's outlet into the sponge applicator. The hand held container portion now serves as the applicator handle and allows the user to roll the sponge applicator over a surface, spreading the adhesive thereover. The user is able to apply adhesive to small areas, without ever needing to touch the adhesive or being required to clean any brushes.
Another example is applicant's prior spackling compound dispenser applicator marketed by Painter's Products Inc as "Painter's Nail Hole Filler", shown in U.S. Pat. No. D-363,377 granted Oct. 24, 1995. In this an absorbent sponge pad is installed at the end of a cylindrical plastic tube containing spackling compound. With the pad removed, the spackling compound is expressed onto the wall. The pad is reinstalled onto the tube, which now serves as a handle for the pad, and the pad is used to smooth the applied spackling. Further examples of such combination are found in applicant's patents U.S. Pat. Nos. D-386,354, D-387,563 and D-398,235.
As made known to applicant, the foregoing disability in or functional limitation to micro-sized packaging was earlier impliedly observed by another also concerned with spreadable ingredients dispensed from such a package, particularly butter, which is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,506 granted Mar. 10, 1987 to Campbell, entitled Package with Spreader for Spreadable Material. The Campbell patent describes a package that is constructed with walls of different physical characteristic, one of which is flexible and the other of which is stiff, and serves as a spreader. By squeezing, the user expresses the butter onto the spreader and the user then spreads the butter about a slice of bread, as example, using that spreader.
Although interesting, it is evident that the Campbell structure in its essentials is more expensive than packaging used for like spreadable food ingredients. Due to the stiffness of the spreader portion, the spreader would appear to be limited in application; less useful with spreadable ingredients other than butter on surfaces that are not flat, but undulate, or on surfaces that could possibly be scratched by the stiff edge of the spreader. Further the Campbell structure only contains a single spreading surface Since the spreader extends in essentially the same axial direction as the package, it appears suitable for spreading ingredient upon a small surface that can be lifted in one hand, such as the slice of bread, while the other hand is used to move the spreader. It doesn't appear suitable in different application, for example, to spread paint over a wall, which is large in area and cannot be lifted up in one's hand. While seemingly spreading paint with this spreader on one portion of the wall, albeit poorly, the users hand palm would likely rub against another portion of the wall. For whatever reason, the Campbell structure is not found in any grocery store frequented by applicant and may thus not have achieved success in the marketplace.
As one advantage the present invention combines the functions of both container and spreader within a small sized flexible package in variety of embodiments that do not encounter one or more of the foregoing difficulties and can be adapted to a wide variety of different applications.
Accordingly, an object of my invention is to provide a new micro-sized package, capable of carrying a unit dose of ingredient, that contains a built-in applicator.
Another object of my invention is to provide a unitary package applicator combination that is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use.
A further object of my invention is to provide a basic container applicator combination that can be used for a wide variety of spreadable products of varying viscosity intended for application to a variety of surfaces, flat, uneven and undulating in a variety of environments.
Still another object of my invention is to provide a container applicator combination that is able to spread the confined ingredients on fragile surfaces without scratching or marring such surfaces.
And a still additional object is to provide a small sized package and integral applicator combination that may be carried in ones pocket.


A module (1) includes a first functional device (2) and a second functional device (3). The first functional device (2) includes a base electrode, an emitter electrode and a collector electrode. The second functional device (3) includes at least one electrode. The module (1) further includes a conductive frame (4). One of the base electrode, the emitter electrode, and the collector electrode of the first functional device (2) is directly connected to the frame (4). The electrode of the second functional device (3) is also directly connected to the frame (4). The frame (4) includes a portion serving as a terminal for external connection.

A synchronous rectification type DC-DC converter that includes a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) in place of a rectifying diode is known. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a synchronous rectification type DC-DC converter. The illustrated DC-DC converter 100 includes a high-side MOSFET 110, a low-side MOSFET 120, a Schottky barrier diode (SBD) 130, a coil 140, a capacitor 150, and a control IC 160. The DC-DC converter 100 is controlled by the control IC 160 so as to alternately supply current to the high-side MOSFET 110 and the low-side MOSFET 120, to reduce the voltage.
The conventional DC-DC converter 100 is made by mounting the foregoing functional devices on a printed circuit board, and then electrically connecting the electrodes of each functional device via wiring formed on the printed circuit board.
The internal structure of the high-side MOSFET 110 may be made like a MOSFET described in patent document 1 below. In that case, the high-side MOSFET 110 is configured as shown in FIG. 14. Specifically, the high-side MOSFET 110 includes a MOSFET chip 111, a frame 112, a gate terminal 110a, a source terminal 110b, and a drain terminal 110c. The gate electrode and the source electrode of the MOSFET chip 111 are connected directly to the gate terminal 110a and the source terminal 110b, respectively. The drain electrode is connected to the drain terminal 110c through the frame 112. The low-side MOSFET 120 may be configured in a similar manner.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2002-76195
As stated above, in the conventional DC-DC converter 100, the functional devices are electrically connected through the wiring formed on the printed circuit board. Generally, the wiring formed on the printed circuit board has certain wiring resistance and inductance. The wiring resistance is proportional to the length of the wiring, and inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area thereof. The wiring inductance is substantially proportional to the length of the wiring. Even if the high-side MOSFET 110 and the low-side MOSFET 120 are mounted adjacently on the printed circuit board, there is a limit to the reducible amount of the resistance and the inductance of the wiring between the source terminal 110b of the high-side MOSFET 110 and the drain terminal 120c of the low-side MOSFET 120.
The wiring resistance leads to an increase in power consumption of the DC-DC converter 100, and the wiring inductance leads to deterioration of switching performance of the DC-DC converter 100. In addition, the wiring inductance may cause electromagnetic interference (EMI). Specifically, the wiring inductance generates a magnetic field, and when the magnetic field fluctuates, noise is generated in the circuit. Such noise degrades the performance of the DC-DC converter 100.
Further, the frames 112, 122 provided inside the respective MOSFETs 110, 120 also have the wiring resistance and the wiring inductance. This makes the foregoing issue more serious. In particular, when the DC-DC converter 100 is used for high-frequency applications, the influence of the wiring inductance becomes greater.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


This invention pertains to methods for using oxalate oxidase in plant pathology. A substantially pure gene encoding the oxalate oxidase enzyme is elucidated. The expression product of the gene which can be stably incorporated into a foreign plant host has a unique profile including a pH optimum of 3.5, a positive heat stability, a single sub-unit of approximately 25 kilodaltons and protease stability. The methodology of this invention exploiting oxalate oxidase for protection against oxalic acid encompasses providing to a plant in need of oxalic acid protection an oxalic acid degrading enzyme in an amount sufficient to protect the plant from the oxalic acid.

From the beginning of agriculture humans have been confronted with the problem of plant disease. Throughout history many strides have been made against plant diseases as exemplified through the use of hybrid plants, pesticides and improved agricultural practices. However, as any farmer, home gardener, or houseplant devotee can attest, the problems of plant disease are an ongoing and constant problem in plant cultivation. This invention constitutes a major step forward in solving the problem of plant disease by exploiting a long known fact regarding the method by which certain microbes, especially fungi, attack plants. Specifically, this invention addresses a means by which the etiologic (disease causing) agent is slowed or prevented from actually entering into the plant tissue, thereby preventing disease. Alternatively, in instances where complete invasion is not prevented the present invention confers upon plants a means for reducing the effects of infection thereby reducing or preventing plant mortality due to the disease.
In order for a plant pathogen to infect a plant, it must be able to gain access into and subsequently throughout the plant. Plant pathogens accomplish this in various ways. Generally, this is accomplished by the secretion of chemical substances that affect certain component and/or metabolic mechanisms of the plant to be attacked, i.e. the host for the pathogen. The main groups of compounds that are secreted by plant pathogens and that are related to the disease-causing mechanism are toxins, enzymes, polysaccharides and/or other effectors of growth. One such chemical compound is oxalic acid or oxalate which can be degraded by the enzyme oxalate oxidase. Although the reaction catalyzed by oxalate oxidase is well-known, the physico-chemical attributes of the enzyme as exemplified by barley oxalate oxidase are incorrectly reported in the literature. The secretion of oxalic acid as a means by which plant pathogens attack plant hosts is commonly found in a plurality of fungal genera and especially in the genera Sclerotinia, Sclerotium, Aspergillus, Streptomyces, Penicillium, Pythium, Paxillus, Mycena, Leucostoma, Rhizoctonia and Schizophyllum. These genera of fungi, especially those fungi of the genus Sclerotinia, are known to cause destructive and fatal diseases of numerous highly cultivated plants including field crops such as sunflower, soybean, beans in general, rape/canola, alfalfa, flax, safflower, peanut and clover, vegetable crops such as lettuce, tomato, cucurbits, potato, carrot, radish, pea, lentils, cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts, flowers such as petunia and pyrethrum and tree species such as peach. The diseases include not only pre-harvest diseases in the field but also post-harvest diseases during shipping and storage.
The symptoms caused by the aforementioned fungal genera vary with the host plant and the parts of the host plant infected with the disease, as well as being dependant upon environmental conditions at the time of pathogen attack. For example, a feature of all Sclerotinia disease is wilting and collapse of the leaves whereupon the fungus rapidly invades the "heart" of the plant and throughout the stem. The disease is fatal.
In liquid cultures of Sclerotinia levels of oxalic acid ranging from a thousand to ten thousand parts per million, depending upon growth media, age of the culture and other parameters have been observed. Certain plant tissue such as leaves of bean and sunflower exposed to low concentrations of oxalic acid readily show signs of wilting and cell death suggesting the importance of oxalic acid in later stages of disease. The precise mechanism of the disease causing function of oxalic acid after infection is unknown although theories range from chelation of divalent metals interfering with plant cell walls and/or key metabolic enzymes to providing an optimum micro-environment for the action of hydrolytic enzymes secreted by these fungi. Regardless, it is clear from extant evidence that oxalic acid is an integral component of pathogenic attack. Evidence for this conclusion has been obtained by several studies including investigations with oxalate-minus Sclerotinia mutants that appear to possess the normal complement of hydrolytic enzymes and other factors but do not produce disease symtomology. Revertants of these oxalate minus mutants demonstrated normal disease development and characteristics.
The high degree of virulence of diseases associated with the aforementioned fungal genera are well-known. For example, leaves of greenhouse grown sunflower plants infected with Sclerotinia sclerotiorum frequently exhibit wilting and interveinal necrosis three to five days after inoculation. Study of these plants has shown a wilt inducing substance in water extracts of hypocotyl (the part of the axis of a plant embryo or seedling below the cotyledon) lesions. Chemical tests including thin layer chromatography and gas-liquid chromatography have demonstrated that this wilt inducing substance contained oxalic acid and that wilted leaves from infected plants contained over fifteen times more oxalic acid than leaves of healthy plants. As already noted, the oxalic acid moves systemically through the plant to cause disease symptoms in tissues that are both distant from the initial point of infection and not necessarily infected with fungal hyphae.
With this backdrop, the inventors realized that appropriate identification, isolation and expression of an oxalate degrading enzyme such as an oxalate oxidase, oxalate decarboxylase or similar enzyme by a plant might well diminish the pathogenicity of fungi which secrete oxalic acid as a key component of pathogenicity. Accordingly, the inventors set out and achieved the goal of properly identifying and isolating a gene for a protein that is suitable for the introduction of oxalate oxidase activity into plants and microbes using the techniques of genetic engineering.
In particular, the inventors have characterized an enzyme useful in thwarting pathogenicity involving oxalic acid. This uniquely characterized oxalate oxidase enzyme catalyzes or otherwise contributes to a reaction involving the oxidative degradation of oxalate to produce carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide. The general form of this reaction is: oxalate+O.sub.2 oxalate/oxidase.fwdarw.2CO.sub.2 +H.sub.2 O.sub.2. The study of this enzyme has resulted not only in its identification, isolation and expression, but also in its characterization and its cloning so that a gene for expression of the enzyme is extant, can be introduced into plants, and expressed by plants thereby conferring disease resistance to fungi in which oxalic acid is a critical component. Such plant transformation would protect the transformed plants against the deleterious disease causing effects of oxalic acid.
It will be appreciated that the applications of the aforementioned inventions are not limited to plant pathogenesis. Still another benefit of this invention is the introduction of an oxalate oxidase gene into a plant to produce a low oxalic acid plant. This could be especially beneficial in high oxalate plants such as peanuts, beets, spinach, rhubarb, barley, cocoa, and many grasses. See, Libert and Franceschi (1987), J. Agric. Food Chem., 35:926-938. Also, the invention has application for the large scale production of oxalate degrading enzymes. The need for such large scale oxalate degrading enzymes is known in a variety of fields including the need for their use in assay kits to determine the presence and/or amount of oxalic acid and for use in the degradation of oxalic acid present in foodstuffs, beverages and commercial processes. For example, a microbial oxalate decarboxylase has been used by the brewing industry (U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,452) and as set forth herein oxalate can also be degraded using oxalate oxidase.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to fully purify and properly characterize an oxalate oxidase.
It is another object of this invention to isolate, characterize and construct a gene which can express oxalate oxidase in microbes and plants.
It is a further object of this invention to introduce an oxalate oxidase expressing gene into plants thereby conferring on such plants resistance to diseases, especially fungal diseases in which oxalic acid is a major component such as in diseases of the fungal genera Sclerotinia, Sclerotium, Aspergillus, Streptomyces, Penicillium, Pythium, Paxillus, Mycena, Leucostoma, Rhizoctonia and Schizophyllum.

Newly characterized oxalate and uses therefor


An RFID edge server using an application server allows for improvements in an RFID system.

The present invention relates to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Radio Frequency Identification technology is becoming more and more important, especially to manage supply chains.
Radio Frequency Identification technology can allow for the tracking of objects using RFID tags and RFID readers. RFID readers can interrogate the RFID tags using radio waves. The RFID tag typically includes an antenna and a microchip that stores a response code. The majority of RFID tags use a silicon microchip to store a unique serial number, such as an electronic product code (EPC), and usually some additional information. The reader can pass the response code to a computer system to track the objects.
There are two main categories of RFID systems, passive and active systems. Passive RFID tags do not have a transmitter but simply reflect back energy to the reader. Active tags have their own transmitter and power source, such as a battery. Active RFID systems are typically used for a tracking large items since the active RFID tags are relatively expensive.
Because passive RFID tags do not use a power source and transmitter, they tend to be cheaper than the active RFID tags. Retailers and manufacturers are adding the passive tags to items in the supply chain. RFID systems can significantly reduce the cost of managing inventory.
Passive RFID tags allow for the possibility of tracking of cartons of materials as they enter and exit entry points of a warehouses and stores. As the passive RFID tags become cheaper, ultimately individual packages can have their own RFID tags and thus the inventory can be tracked very precisely. Additionally, since the RFID technology does not rely on line-of-sight operation, a shopping cart full of goods with RFID tags can be scanned without requiring the goods to be removed from the cart.
In one embodiment, RFID tags can be used to implement an electronic product code (EPC). The EPC is a unique number used to identify specific objects in the supply chain. EPC information services (EPCIS) can enable users to exchange EPC related data with trading partners throughout the EPC network.


The present invention relates to a combination play station and container. In its broadest context, the invention includes a receptacle with a number of flaps secured thereto. Additionally, the receptacle includes a number of smaller containers which are slidably secured thereto. These smaller containers are labeled with the names of various vehicle accessories. Additionally, these containers are adapted to hold toy versions of such accessories. In the preferred embodiment, there are three flaps which are each pivotally secured to the container. These flaps can be pivoted outwardly such that entire container obtained an opened configuration. Alternatively, each of the flaps can be folded over the receptacle such that the container in placed in a closed orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container and more particularly pertains to such container which functions as a play station for toy vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a toy vehicles is known in the prior art. More specifically, such toy vehicles are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,040 to Shiraishi discloses a construction toy set. U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,820 to Good discloses a connection for miniature toy vehicle parts. U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,692 to Daenen discloses a car and boat toy with removable parts. U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,542 to de Blanitza discloses a toy automobile with attachments. U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,937 to Pfeilsticker discloses a part assembly for toy vehicles. U.S. Design Pat. No. 313,824 to Weiland discloses a toy dump truck attachment.
In this respect, the container and play station of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a play area for toy vehicle and a storage compartment for toy vehicle components.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for improved toy play stations. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A common output unit such as a print server maintains security when an output request unit, serving as a client, sends a job to be processed to the output unit. The output unit accepts and puts the job in queue. The output unit then creates a collation key that is sent back to the output request unit, which stores the collation key in a storage medium. The output unit searches the storage medium for the collation key and processes the queued job corresponding to the collation key. The print server includes a locked stacker and an ordinary stacker to minimize the output waiting time of the print job.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of maintaining security in a common output means such as a print server and to a system for maintaining security for realizing the method of maintaining security. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of maintaining security which guarantees security in the common output means such as printer means represented by a network printer that is used in common by clients such as a plurality of personal computers, as well as to a system for maintaining security adapted to such a method.
In an environment where there exist many clients and at least one or more print servers, it is a tendency that less and less printers are now locally connected to clients but, instead, one or more network printers are used in common via a network such as LAN (local area network). The present invention is adapted to a constitution having a print server that is used in common being connected to the LAN but is in no way limited thereto only.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an apparatus including a printer as an output means (i.e., a printer and its peripheral units, as usually called printer unit), it is not desired to provide many printer units despite there are many people who use the printer unit, since provision of many printer units decreases space efficiency in an office.
Moreover, improved printing performance is accompanied by an increase in the cost of the printer unit, and provision of such expensive printer units in great numbers must be avoided from the standpoint of installation cost, as well.
In general, inquiries about the print jobs and the preferential process input by the clients can be carried out by a management function of a common internal spool for holding print job of a print server or a file server (inclusive of processing of the server acted by the client). In recent years, furthermore, there can be contrived a LAN environment which carries out the operation in a simplified manner by omitting dedicated server systems but using a network printer that has a large capacity of memory for the internal spool. In this case, the print jobs thrown into the internal spool of the network printer by the individual clients are queued in the spool and are then output usually in the form of first-in, first-out (FIFO).
Because of such backgrounds, therefore, one or more common print servers are now used under most LAN environments. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the constitution of a conventional print server. A print server 505 is generally constituted by a printer unit 503 and a work-station 502.
The work-station 502 is connected to a network 504, and the printer unit 503 is connected to the work-station 502. In this constitution, the print job is received by the work-station 505 via the network 504.
The received print jobs are determined for their order of printing by way of control by the work-station 502 according to a predetermined rule such as order of decreasing priorities, order of reception, etc., and are printed by the printer unit 503.
The print jobs are designated by so-called clients 500 to 501 connected to the same network 504. Being controlled by the work-station 502, the printer unit 503 is used in common by the plurality of clients 500 and 501.
It is now presumed that a user A throws in a print job "a" through the client 500 that must be kept secret from other persons. Then, another user B throws in a print job "b" through the client 501.
Under this condition, if the user B comes over to the print server 505 earlier than the user A while the print job "a" thrown in by the user A is being printed, then, the output result of the print job "a" which the user A wishes to keep secret may be watched by the user B, i.e., the printed result of the printer unit may be watched by the user B. Besides, there is a likelihood that the printed result may be obtained by the user B.
In the conventional constitution of using the print server in common, therefore, the user A must go to the print server 505 immediately after he has thrown in the print job if he wishes to keep it secret. Despite of rushing to the print server 505, however, the printing may have already been executed or, conversely, the print job that is thrown in may have been waiting for a long period of time until other print jobs are done.
If locally dedicated printer units are made available to only limited persons, on the other hand, the merit of saving the cost by using a printer unit in common eliminating the individual printer units, is not sufficiently exerted and, besides, the problem of unfairness takes place in that the chances for outputting confidential print jobs are restricted only to limited number of persons.
Moreover, even when a printer unit dedicatedly used for security output only is provided, there develops the same problem as the one described above, in the case where it is used in common by more than one persons.
Furthermore, even when the printer unit is equipped with locked stackers, it will be difficult to assign one such locked stacker for each person who wishes to use the printer unit without arousing the problem of unfairness. If a plurality of users are assigned to one stacker in order to increase the number of persons who use the printer unit, the secrecy will be easily broken depending upon the manner of using the keys.
In an environment in which the printer unit is used in common as described above, it is difficult to easily output the prints that should be kept secret from other persons. It has therefore been desired to provide a method of maintaining security without losing the merit of using the printer unit in common.

Method of maintaining security in a common output means and system for maintaining security


A method includes recognizing an item within a first document based on a pattern associated with the item but not the exact content of the item. The method further includes identifying a link for the item and providing a second document that includes information associated with the item when the link for the item is selected.

Field of the Invention
Implementations relate generally to information retrieval and, more particularly, to the presentation of useful information associated with items in documents.
Description of Related Art
Modern computer networks, and in particular, the Internet, have made large bodies of information widely and easily available. Internet search engines, for instance, index many millions of web documents that are linked to the Internet. A user connected to the Internet can enter a simple search query to quickly locate web documents relevant to the search query.
Sometimes a user desires more information about an item in a web document that the web document itself does not provide.

Providing useful information associated with an item in a document


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for defining verbs and adverbs. The method includes creating at least one of a verb and adverb, wherein the at least one of a verb and adverb are adapted to form sequences and the sequences are adapted to create errors in a system. The method further includes defining attributes of the at least one of a verb and adverb.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to processor-based systems, and more particularly, to defining verbs and adverbs in a processor-based system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reliability and availability have become increasingly important in a modern, computer-dependent society. Recent years have seen a significant number of advances in processor-based systems and communications technologies, as well as a sharp decline in their cost. These developments, coupled with the growing availability of network and Internet connections, have resulted in a greater reliance by society on processor-based systems and the services they provide. In many applications where processor-based systems are used, outages and malfunction can be expensive. Common examples where an unreliable or unavailable processor-based system may be problematic include telecommunications switching systems and bank transaction systems.
Fault tolerance is generally a means of achieving reliable and available systems, among other advantages. A fault tolerant system is generally a system that can provide services notwithstanding the presence of faults. There are two basic levels at which fault tolerance can be applied to a system. At the first level, fault tolerance has been used to compensate for faults in processor-based system resources (i.e., "hardware"). By managing extra hardware resources, the processor-based system generally increases its ability to continue operation. Hardware fault tolerance measures include redundant communications, replicated processors, additional memory, and redundant power/energy supplies. A second level of fault tolerance recognizes that a fault tolerant hardware platform does not, in and of itself, guarantee high availability to the system user. It may still be useful to structure the processor-based system software to compensate for faults such as changes in program or data structures due to transients or design errors. This is software fault tolerance. Mechanisms of software fault tolerance include checkpoint/restart, recovery blocks, and multiple-version programs. It is important to note that fault tolerance measures may be applied to at least one of the two levels.
In determining fault tolerance measures for a computer system, the dependability of the system may need to be evaluated. An exemplary method of evaluating the dependability of a system includes fault injection. Fault injection generally involves the deliberate insertion of faults or errors (i.e., fault injection code fragments) in processor-based systems to observe its effects on system behavior. The observations may be used in evaluating existing fault tolerant mechanisms and/or they may be used in developing new fault tolerant mechanisms. Fault injection generally aims to detect the presence of design and implementation faults and to quantify the confidence that can be attributed to a system by estimating the number and the consequences of possible faults in the system.
Traditionally, fault injection code fragments, which are generally written in a lower level programming language (e.g., assembly language) may not be easily understood by a user who did not write the fragments, substantially limiting the value of the fragments. Furthermore, traditional fault injection methods do not allow easy manipulation of fault injection code fragments, such as combining various fault injection code fragments.

Tool for defining verbs and adverbs in a fault injection test creation environment


A tool is provided for connecting and disconnecting links of a conveyor chain. The tool includes a base, a chain guide plate mounted on the base for supporting a length of conveyor chain in a fixed position relative to the base, and a backup block carried on the base. A pin extraction/insertion block is positioned on the base with the chain guide plate positioned between the backup block and the pin extraction/insertion block. A ram is carried on the pin extraction/insertion block for extracting a pin from a position in aligned holes in adjacent links while the chain is held in its fixed position, and an insertion rod is carried on the pin extraction/insertion block for inserting a pin in aligned holes in adjacent links.

This application relates to a tool for connecting and disconnecting conveyor chains of the type wherein the links are held together by pins that extend laterally across the width of the conveyor chain, and about which the links pivot as they proceed around the conveyor circuit. This application also discloses a related method of connecting and disconnecting conveyor chains of the type described above.
During the installation, replacement, and maintenance of conveying chains it is often necessary to disconnect or connect chain segments. Disconnection typically requires that the rivets, or "heads", at the end of one or more chain pins be removed at the chain joints where the disconnection is to be made. With the rivets or heads removed, the pin(s) can be extracted from the chain, resulting in disconnected chain segments. Chain connection typically requires that the ends of chain segments be brought together and a "joint" be created by inserting one or more pins through the segment ends, and then securing the pins by forming a rivet or "head" on the pin ends.
With certain types of conveying chain designs, the ends of the chain pins are recessed in the outermost links of the chain and do not project beyond the sides of the chain. While this type of link design provides substantial advantages during operation by protecting the rivets or heads from wear and damage, disconnecting the chain links is made difficult by the fact that the recessed pin rivets or heads are not easily removed. Typical methods of rivet or head removal such as grinding or filing are difficult and time consuming due to the inaccessibility of the rivet or head.
These methods of pin removal may also result in damage to the surrounding chain links. Similarly, chain designs of this type can be difficult to connect. Finally, with the pin ends recessed, typical methods of forming a rivet or head, such as peening or hammering, can be difficult and time consuming. These methods may also result in damage to the surrounding chain links.

Tool for connecting and disconnecting conveying chain and method


A system and method for determining mass fraction burned in an internal combustion engine includes a plurality of engine sensors and a control module determining a ratio of specific heat from a combination of one or more from the group of exhaust gas temperature, injected fuel quantity, air quantity inside a cylinder, mass air flow, air fuel ratio, manifold pressure and a residual gas amount determined from the plurality of engine sensors. The control module includes a mass fraction burned module determining a mass fraction burned in response to a cylinder volume, and the ratio of specific heat. The control module controls an engine parameter based on mass fraction burned.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
The Calculation of the mass fraction burned for an internal combustion engine is an indicator of the rate that heat is release as the charge burns in a specific cylinder event. The results of this calculation can be used as an indication of combustion phasing, rate of heat release, charge dilution, or other metrics used in the control of an internal combustion engine. The determination of mass fraction burned may be used for controlling different engine functions. There are alternative methods to calculate mass fraction burned in an internal combustion engine. Those methods are either computationally complex or have insufficient accuracy for the engine control purposes. The Rassweiler-Withrow method is one of the most efficient equations, providing a very accurate representation of charge heat release. There are more accurate equations, but they are very computationally expensive. However, the formula involves an exponential term whose power is varying at each engine cycle. Since this exponential term should be calculated repeatedly throughout one engine cycle, it is a computationally expensive operation for real-time implementation.

Method of calculating mass fraction burnt in an internal combustion engine based on rassweiler-withrow method for real-time applications


A mobile manipulator includes a moving apparatus, a manipulator that is connected to the moving apparatus, a controller configured to control the moving apparatus and the manipulator, and an environment acquisition sensor configured to acquire predetermined environmental data originating from an environment at the movement destination to which the mobile manipulator is moved by the moving apparatus in association with a position at the movement destination, and the controller controls at least one of the moving apparatus and the manipulator based on the environmental data.

In recent years, conveying apparatuses called MoMa (Mobile Manipulator) have been known that are obtained by attaching a manipulator to an AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle. An AGV is an unmanned conveying apparatus configured to move automatically without a human operator's driving operation. Attaching a manipulator to this AGV makes it possible to transport parts, work-in-progress, and finished products in factories, for example.
JP 2014-119903A discloses a controller for moving a part of a moving object that is to be controlled along a predetermined path in order to control the moving object even if the moving object has low rigidity, the controller acquiring a state of the part to be controlled, calculating a compensation amount, and generating a movement command to the moving object based on this compensation amount.
JP 2014-30857A discloses a robot that has upper arms 11, and shoulder joints 7 for driving the upper arms 11, in order to detect vibrations of many movable units using a small number of sensors, sensor sockets 10 for detachably supporting inertial sensors configured to detect vibrations of the upper arms 11 being installed in the shoulder joints 7.
JP 2014-119903A and JP 2014-30857A are examples of background art.

Mobile manipulator, method for controlling mobile manipulator, and program therefor


A manufacturing system includes a plurality of lamination heads statically positioned in end-to-end relation to each other and defining a lamination station, and configured to dispense a layup material along a dispensing direction. The manufacturing system also includes a lamination surface movable underneath the lamination station. The lamination heads are configured to sequentially apply the layup material onto the lamination surface and onto previously applied layup material as the lamination surface passes through the lamination station to thereby form a composite laminate having a stack of composite plies arranged in a desired ply stacking sequence defined by positions of the lamination heads relative to each other within the lamination station.

Composite materials are used in a wide variety of applications due to their favorable properties such as high specific strength, high specific stiffness, and high corrosion resistance. The manufacturing of a composite structure typically involves the layup of multiple plies of composite laminate material onto a mandrel to form a composite laminate. The layup material is typically a fibrous material that is pre-impregnated with resin (e.g., prepreg). For example, the layup material may be epoxy-impregnated carbon fiber prepreg.
Current methods of laying up a composite laminate include ply-by-ply lamination in which a single lamination head makes multiple passes over a lamination mandrel. During each pass, the lamination head applies a single ply of layup material. At the end of each pass, the lamination head may return to the start of the most recently applied ply and apply another ply of layup material over the most recently applied ply. The process is repeated until the composite laminate has the desired ply quantity and ply stacking sequence. As may be appreciated, serial application of single plies of layup material limits the rate at which composite laminates can be manufactured.
As can be seen, there exists a need in the art for a system and method for manufacturing a composite laminate that avoids the above-noted limitations associated with ply-by-ply lamination.

Lamination system and method using a plurality of static lamination heads


A charging device includes a charging member which is applied with a voltage including an alternating current voltage superimposed on a direct current voltage to charge an image carrier. An equation of “7≦f/v≦17” is satisfied, where “f” is a frequency (Hz) of the alternating current voltage, and “v” is a moving speed (mm/sec) of the image carrier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charging device for use in an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, or other similar image forming apparatuses.
2. Background of the Art
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, etc., a charging device that charges an image carrier such as a photoreceptor, has mainly performed corona electric discharge. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming unit of a conventional image forming apparatus including a non-contact type charging device. Arranged around a photoconductive drum 51 are a charger 52, a developing device 53, a transfer device 54, a sheet separation device 55, a cleaning unit 56, and a discharging lamp 57. The charger 52 functioning as a non-contact type charging device performs corona electric discharge.
The charging device that performs corona electric discharge has problems, such as, production of a large amount of ozone. Further, the charging device requires a high-voltage power supply that applies a high voltage in a range of 5 kV to 10 kV to perform corona electric discharge, thereby increasing the cost of the image forming apparatus.
For this reason, a contact type charging device in which a charging member is brought into contact with an image carrier has been proposed, recently. The contact type charging device charges an image carrier without performing corona electric discharge. Therefore, the contact type charging device is free of the above-described problems of the charging device that performs corona electric discharge. However, the contact type charging device has problems, such as an occurrence of an abnormal image such as image tailing, and increase of an abrasion amount of an image carrier. Further, when an alternating current (AC) voltage is used as a charging bias application voltage, the contact type charging device typically has a noise problem. Moreover, because toner and paper powders are rubbed against a surface of an image carrier by a charging member of the charging device, the surface of the image carrier and the charging member are stained.
The technology which addresses the above-described problems is described, for example, in published Japanese patent application No. 10-312098. A charging member is prevented from being stained by toner and paper powders while controlling charging bias voltages applied to an auxiliary charging member and a charging member. In a so-called cleaner-less system, an occurrence of an abnormal image, such as, positive ghost is prevented.
As described above, in an electrophotographic image forming process, a charging device that uniformly charges an image carrier such as a photoreceptor, has mainly performed corona electric discharge. When performing the corona electric discharge, products, such as, ozone and nitrogen oxides, are produced. When high density ozone stays in an image forming apparatus, the ozone oxidizes a surface of a photoreceptor, thereby deteriorating the photosensitivity of the photoreceptor and causing the surface of the photoreceptor to be charged insufficiently. As a result, the quality of an image is deteriorated. Further, the ozone accelerates the deterioration of members other than the photoreceptor, thereby reducing the useful life of the members.
It is considered that nitrogen oxides cause image tailing. It is known that nitrogen oxides are produced by electric discharge. When nitrogen oxides react with moisture in the air, nitric acid is produced. Further, when nitrogen oxides react with metal, metallic nitrate salt is produced. In an electric discharging area, ammonium ion is produced as well as nitrogen oxides. The ammonium ion reacts with nitrogen oxides, and produces a chemical compound. These products are high resistant in a low humidity environment. However, when the products are in a high humidity environment, the products react with moisture in the air and become low resistant. Therefore, when a thin film made of nitric acid or nitrate salt is formed on a surface of a photoreceptor, an abnormal image such as image tailing occurs. The reason for the occurrence of such an abnormal image is that, because nitric acid and nitrate salt absorb moisture and become low resistant, an electrostatic latent image formed on a surface of a photoreceptor is deteriorated.
Further, because nitrogen oxides remain without being disintegrated in the air after electric discharge, chemical compounds produced from nitrogen oxides adhere to a surface of a photoreceptor during a period when the surface of the photoreceptor is not charged, that is, during a period when an image forming process pauses. There is a consideration that the chemical compounds penetrate from a surface of a photoreceptor into its inside with time. The substances adhered on a surface of a photoreceptor are removed by scraping the substances off the surface of the photoreceptor in a cleaning process. However, this removing method typically results in the increase of cost and the deterioration of the photoreceptor.
Recently, a contact type charging device has been used. In the contact type charging device, a charging member in contact with or adjacent to a photoreceptor, charges a photoreceptor. For example, a roller-shaped charging member charges a photoreceptor while the charging member is driven to rotate by the rotation of the photoreceptor. As compared to a charging device that performs corona electric discharge, the contact type charging device produces much less ozone. Further, because the voltage applied from the charging device is relatively low, the cost of a power supply decreases, and designing for electric insulation becomes easy. Moreover, problems caused by ozone are reduced.
For example, published Japanese patent application No. 63-7380 describes a contact type charging device in which a roller-shaped charging member in contact with a photoreceptor charges the photoreceptor while the charging member is driven to rotate by the rotation of the photoreceptor. Because nitrogen oxides are also produced in a charging device in which a charging member is in contact with or adjacent to a photoreceptor, an occurrence of an abnormal image such as image tailing cannot be prevented completely. The occurrence ratio of image tailing has been considered to be higher in an adjacent type charging device in which a charging member is adjacent to a photoreceptor than a contact type charging device in which a charging member contacts a photoreceptor, because a voltage applied from the charging member to the photoreceptor to uniformly charge the photoreceptor needs to be high. However, it has been found that the occurrence ratio of image tailing is substantially equal to each other between the adjacent type contact device and the contact type charging device.
Further, in the contact type charging device, a roller-shaped charging member is generally made of a rubber material. If the contact type charging device is stopped to function for a long period of time, the roller-shaped charging member in contact with a photoreceptor may be deformed. In addition, because rubber tends to absorb moisture, electrical resistance of the rubber tends to vary significantly depending on environmental conditions. Moreover, the rubber needs several kinds of plasticizer and active materials to exert its elasticity and to prevent its deterioration. To disperse conductive colorant in the rubber, dispersion coadjuvant may be used. Specifically, because a surface of a photoreceptor is made of amorphous resins, such as, polycarbonate, and acrylic, it is weak against the plasticizer, the active material, and the dispersion coadjuvant. Moreover, in the contact type charging device, foreign substances may be stuck in a position between a charging member and a photoreceptor, thereby staining the charging member, and resulting in a charging failure. Further, because a roller-shaped charging member directly contacts a photoreceptor, if the charging member is stopped to function for a long period of time, the photoreceptor may be contaminated by the charging member. In this case, an image failure, such as, lateral streak images may occur.
Accordingly, a method for addressing the above-described problems, such as, photoreceptor contamination, and deformation of a roller, has been proposed. In the method, a charging roller is disposed in a non-contact relation to a photoreceptor. When applying a direct current (DC) bias voltage to a surface of a photoreceptor by such a non-contact type charging roller, the potential of the charged surface of the photoreceptor depends on a gap distance between the charging roller and the photoreceptor as well as a charging bias application voltage.
To address a problem, such as, an occurrence of an abnormal image due to the change of the potential of a charged surface of a photoreceptor caused by the change of a gap distance, published Japanese patent application No. 7-287433 describes a technique in which electric discharge is stably performed by providing minute concave and convex portions on a discharging surface of a charging member. With such minute concave and convex portions, even if a gap distance between a charging member and a photoreceptor is changed, the photoreceptor is uniformly charged without occurrence of abnormal images.
However, these minute concave and convex portions may become flattened with time under severe discharging conditions. If the minute concave and convex portions become flattened, desirable effects may not be obtained, and a surface of a photoreceptor may not be uniformly charged over a long period of time. Further, because the range of the minute concave and convex portions of a charging member is limited to uniformly charge the photoreceptor, the process for producing the minute concave and convex portions needs to be strictly controlled. As a result, producing costs for the minute concave and convex portions may increase.
There are two types of method of applying a charging bias to a photoreceptor: (1) a DC voltage is applied to a photoreceptor (hereinafter referred to as a "DC voltage charging"), and (2) a voltage in which an AC voltage is superimposed on a DC voltage is applied to a photoreceptor (hereinafter referred to as a "DC and AC voltage charging"). It is known that a photoreceptor tends to suffer greater damage in an AC voltage charging than in a DC voltage charging. As in the case of the corona electric discharge, products are produced on a photoreceptor due to electric discharge by a charging device. A larger amount of products are produced in the "DC and AC voltage charging" than in the "DC voltage charging". The reason for this is considered that reverse electric discharge (i.e., electric discharge from a photoreceptor to a charging member) occurs between a charging member and a photoreceptor in the "DC and AC voltage charging". Therefore, the number of electric discharging in the "DC and AC voltage charging" is much more than that in the "DC voltage charging". An actual utilization of the "DC voltage charging" is typically difficult due to problems, such as, unevenness of the potential of a charged photoreceptor due to the change of a gap distance, and unstable discharge. Therefore, it is considered to be preferable that the "DC and AC voltage charging" be employed for the non-contact type charging device. However, even in the "DC and AC voltage charging", if a gap distance significantly varies, electric discharge cannot be stably performed, thereby causing abnormal images.
Recently, another method has been proposed in which a charging member is provided opposite to a surface of an image carrier spaced by a minute gap. With this construction, the charging member is prevented from being stained by contacting the surface of the image carrier. Further, the surface of the image carrier is prevented from being deteriorated quickly.
In this construction, if a gap becomes significantly large, streamer discharge typically occurs. In this condition, the surface of the image carrier cannot be uniformly charged, and spot-shaped abnormal images occur on a toner image formed on the image carrier. As a result, image quality is deteriorated. Therefore, streamer discharge is prevented by setting a gap between the surface of the image carrier and the charging member to about 100 μm or less to enhance image quality.
Published Japanese patent application No. 5-150564 describes a technique in which a frequency of an AC voltage superimposed on a DC voltage to be applied to a charging roller is defined with respect to a linear velocity of a photoreceptor. Generally, if spatial frequency of a charging bias voltage is small, uneven density in an image is sensed by the naked eye. The spatial frequency means the number of peaks or valleys of amplitude cycle of an AC voltage applied to a charging roller per a 1 mm width. For example, the spatial frequency in FIG. 2 is 3/mm.
Further, published Japanese patent application No. 11-84825 describes a technique in which an amplitude and a frequency of an AC voltage applied to a photoreceptor when charging the photoreceptor for not forming latent images thereon is set to be lower than those when charging the photoreceptor for forming latent images thereon. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the frequency of a charging bias is set to be high at an image portion, and the frequency of a charging bias at a non-image portion is set to be lower than that. The technique described in published Japanese patent application No. 11-84825 is aimed for preventing an occurrence of image tailing. However, when the present inventors carried out experiments while changing frequency, an amount of products causing image tailing did not change as illustrated in FIG. 4.
As described above, in the background techniques, problems, such as, image deterioration caused by image tailing and contamination of a photoreceptor, uneven density in an image, non-uniform charging, unstable electric discharge, and increase of the cost of an apparatus, are not sufficiently solved.
When charging an image carrier, it has been generally considered that a frequency of an AC voltage superimposed on a DC voltage to be applied to a charging member, such as, a charging roller, is preferably high to uniformly charge the image carrier. However, when the frequency is increased, the surface of the image carrier is deteriorated, and a filming phenomenon typically occurs. In the filming phenomenon, a film made of toner and paper powder adheres to a surface of an image carrier. A film portion of the image carrier is not adequately charged, thereby causing abnormal images. In addition, such a filming phenomenon may also occur at a charging member. On the other hand, if a frequency of an AC voltage is low, uneven image density typically occurs in a halftone image and a solid (black) image.
In a filming phenomenon, a surface of an image carrier is deteriorated due to electric discharge and other factors, thereby causing a film made of toner and paper powder to adhere to the surface of the image carrier. When charging an image carrier by a charging roller, it is generally assumed that molecules of the surface of the image carrier are cut by electric discharge and deteriorated. Further, it is assumed that filming is caused by wax added to toner and adhered to the surface of the image carrier. Moreover, it is assumed that filming is caused by the surface of the image carrier damaged by a cleaning blade or a cleaning brush and carrier particles in a developer. However, these assumptions are not confirmed completely by experiment.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a charging device that prevents an occurrence of a filming phenomenon, extends each useful life of an image carrier and a charging member, and provides a high quality image without uneven density, and to provide an image forming process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus including such a charging device.

Charging device, image forming process cartridge, and image forming apparatus including the charging device


A PoE midspan injector constituted of: an Ethernet device side data port; a PD side data port; a plurality of pairs of data wires coupling the Ethernet device and PD side data ports; a power reception port; a pair of first type coils; and a pair of second type coils, each second type coil coupled in series to a respective first type coil thereby forming a coil set, wherein the power reception port is coupled to each wire of a pair of data wire pairs at a respective power node, via a respective coil set, wherein the impedance of the first type coil is greater than the impedance of the second type coil when data is being transmitted at a minimum frequency, and wherein the impedance of the second type coil is greater than the impedance of the first type coil when data is being transmitted at a maximum frequency.

Power over Ethernet (PoE), in accordance with both IEEE 802.3af-2003 and IEEE 802.3at-2009, each published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., New York, the entire contents of each of which is incorporated herein by reference, defines delivery of power over a set of 2 twisted wire pairs without disturbing data communication. The aforementioned standards particularly provide for a power sourcing equipment (PSE) and a powered device (PD). There are two methods of injecting power over Ethernet: Endspan; and Midspan. In Endspan injection, the PSE is provided at an Ethernet hub, or switch. The PSE provides power over the data wires connecting the Ethernet switch and the PD. In Midspan injection, the power is provided through a midspan injector arranged to inject the PSE supplied power into the data wires between the Ethernet hub or switch and the PD.
FIG. 1 illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a prior art PoE midspan injector 10, comprising: an Ethernet device side data port 20 comprising a plurality of pins 25; a powered device side data port 30 comprising a plurality of pins 35; a pair of auto-transformers 50, each comprising a coil 55 wound around a magnetic core 60; a plurality of DC blocking capacitors, denoted CB; a plurality of pairs of data wires 70, denoted 70A, 70B, 70C and 70D, respectively; a power reception port 80; and a power return port 90. In one non-limiting embodiment, magnetic core 60 of each auto-transformer 50 comprises ferrite.
PoE midspan injector 10 is in communication with an Ethernet device 100, such as an Ethernet hub or Ethernet switch, via Ethernet device side data port 20. PoE midspan injector 10 is further in communication with a PD 110 via powered device side data port 30. Each pair of pins 35 is coupled to a respective pair of pins 25 via a respective one of data wire pairs 70A, 70B, 70C and 70D. Power reception port 80 is coupled to a power output of a power sourcing equipment (PSE) 40 and power return port 90 is coupled to a return of PSE 40. PSE 40 is illustrated as being external of PoE midspan injector 10, however this is not meant to be limiting in any way and in another embodiment (not shown) PSE 40 is provided within PoE midspan injector 10.
Power reception port 80 is coupled to a center tap of a first auto-transformer 50 and the first and second ends of first auto-transformer 50 are each connected to a power node NP of a respective wire of data wire pair 70C, with power node NP for each wire of the respective wire pair defined as an electrical connection point between pin 25 and pin 35. Power return port 90 is coupled to a center tap of a second auto-transformer 50 and the first and second ends of second auto-transformer 50 are each connected to a power node NP of a respective wire of data wire pair 70D.
Each of data wires 70C and 70D is arranged to couple the respective pin 25 to the respective pin 35 via a respective DC blocking capacitor CB, DC blocking capacitor CB coupled between power node NP and pin 25.
In operation, PSE 40 is arranged to provide direct current (DC) power to PD 110 via first and second auto-transformers 50 and the respective data wires 70C and 70D. In particular, PSE 40 provides power to power nodes NP of data wires 70C, the return of PSE 40 being through power nodes NP of data wires 70D. Blocking capacitors CB are arranged to block the output DC power of PSE 40 from reaching Ethernet device 100, while allowing data signals to pass therethrough. PoE midspan injector 10 is illustrated as providing power from a single PSE 40 over data wire pairs 70C and 70D, however this is not meant to be limiting in any way. In another embodiment (not shown), PoE midspan injector 10 is arranged to provide power from two PSE 40s over all four of data wire pairs 70A, 70B, 70C and 70D.
The impedance of an electric coil is a function of its inductance and parasitic capacitance between windings and between the windings to the core.
The impedance of the inductor only, i.e. without the parasitic capacitance thereof, is given as:XL=2*π*f*L  EQ. 1where f is the signal frequency and L is the inductance of the coil. The inductance of the coil, constructed for example as a Toroid, is given as:L=(μ0*μr*N2*A)/l  EQ. 2where μ0 is the magnetic permeability of air, μr is the relative magnetic permeability of the coil core material, N is the number of coil windings, A is the area of the cross-section of the coil and l is the length of the coil in its winded state. The impedance of the parasitic capacitance (inter winding capacitance and stray capacitance) is given by:XC=1/(2*π*f*C)  EQ. 3where C is the parasitic capacitance and f is the signal frequency. The capacitance is increased if the number of coil windings is increased. In general, the total impedance of the wound coil is XL in parallel to XC. Although the total impedance is more complex and may contain several combinations of inductance and capacitance, a simple construction of inductance and capacitance in parallel will be addressed for simplicity.
As shown in EQ. 1, the impedance of coil 55 decreases when the data signal frequency decreases. In order to prevent excess loading of data signals on data pairs 70C and 70D due to coil 55, the impedance thereof must be sufficient over the range of data frequencies. At low frequencies, a large inductance L is necessary to so as to avoid having a low impedance load across the respective data wires 70C and 70D. As shown in EQ. 2, increasing the inductance of coil 55 may be accomplished by increasing the number of windings and/or increasing the cross-section area thereof, however this increases the size of auto-transformer 50 which is undesirable. Magnetic core 60 is therefore provided to increase the magnetic permeability μ, and as a result increase the inductance, and therefore the impedance, of auto-transformer 50 without having to increase the number of windings and cross-section area thereof. Typically, coil 55 and magnetic core 60 are selected such that auto-transformer 50 exhibits an inductance of 160-600 μH, preferably greater than 500 μH, the inductance measured at a data frequency of about 100 kHz. The inductance of each of Ethernet device 100 and PD 110, which are in parallel to the inductance of auto-transformer 50, is typically about 160 μH, therefore an inductance of greater than 500 μH is preferred for auto-transformer 50 so that the inductance of auto-transformer 50 does not significantly impact the inductance of Ethernet device 100 thereby disrupting the data transmission over data wire pairs 70C and 70D.
10-gigabit (10G) Ethernet, also known as 10GBase-T, in accordance with IEEE 802.3-2012, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., New York, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, defines Ethernet frame transmission at 10 gigabits per second. For 10G Ethernet, each data wire pair 70A, 70B, 70C and 70D should be able to transmit data at frequencies of up to 500 MHz, preferably up to 600 MHz, such that 2.5 gigabits of information are encoded and compressed into the 500 MHz signal. Unfortunately, at such frequencies the magnetic permeability μr of magnetic core 60 rolls off, thereby reducing the inductance of auto-transformer 50, as seen from EQ. 2. As a result, as seen from EQ. 1, the impedance of auto-transformer 50 decreases. Additionally, at high frequencies the parasitic capacitance between the windings of coil 55 further reduces the impedance of auto-transformer 50. Therefore, at 10G Ethernet data frequencies auto-transformers 50 will provide a low impedance load to the respective data lines thereby creating significant insertion and return losses in the transmitted data.
There is thus a long felt need for a POE Midspan injection method and apparatus which allows for 10G Ethernet data transmission.

Power over ethernet midspan injection method and apparatus


An IC with a purse is permanently mounted on the main motherboard of a TV and communicates with the main CPU. The purse chip holds electronic funds, and the user can, by means of OSDs, purchase content and services using the funds. The user can replenish the purse from time to time. The purse chip does not contain personal identifying information, so it facilitates transfer of ownership when a TV is sold and anonymous transactions.

Credit cards with cryptographic CPUs, so called "financial smart cards", have not gained acceptance for e-commerce purposes in the United States. Credit cards with magnetic stripes dominate not only point-of-sale terminal transactions at retail outlets, but also Internet PC-based transactions from home. The PC's web browser uses SSL encryption to protect confidential information and credit card numbers given to on-line retailers.
Financial smart card readers have been built into TV set-top boxes in the past, but applications which took advantage of them never materialized. One of the problems was with the inconvenience of the built-in smart card reader. It is speculated that it may have been too troubling for home consumers to get up from the couch, find their wallet or purse, choose a credit card, and then walk over to the set-top box to insert the card into the reader. Because the interaction and menu screens were expected to take some time to complete, the user would need to either leave the card in the reader for a period of time or, in the case of a magnetic stripe card, swipe it at the right time. Then the user would typically need to go back to the couch to interact with some more on-screen displays (OSDs) before completing a purchase. And so use of financial smart cards or magnetic stripe credit cards may have been seen as inconvenient. And there was also the risk of forgetting about the card in the STB card slot when the customer left home.
Smart card or magnetic stripe readers built-in to TV remote controls have been suggested so that a user might stay seated on the couch. But the remote controls required reliable 2-way communication with the TV that didn't exist.
Set-top boxes (STBs), e.g. used with pay-TV services, use Conditional Access (CA). Usually a CA smart card is used with a card reader built-into the STB or a crypto CPU mounted on the STB motherboard is used. The smart card or crypto CPU insures that the customer pays for the broadcast audio visual content that is being watched—typically for a subscription to a certain type and number of channels. If a return channel is available, e.g. phone or Internet, Impulse-Pay-per-View (IPPV) may be available. If a 2-way back channel is available, e.g. in cable an out-of-band back-channel, then Video-on-demand (VOD) programming may be accessed. In the case of IPPV, content may typically be viewed speculatively. But then a reportback must be made of the programs watched for billing purposes. In the case of VOD, the smart card or cryptographic CPU is involved in securing the signal through encryption but is not involved with billing since the service operator already knows what VOD program was watched. The content that can be viewed is typically limited to a particular pay-TV service provider whose set-top box is being used to watch TV.
There are many small internet service providers that would like to charge a small amount of money for providing content or services. However, the current trend seems to be to pay for those by showing advertisements. It may be too difficult for a small internet service provider to successfully charge for content or services for the different reasons. In order to be able to charge, an account needs to be set-up which requires ID, password, credit or debit card information, billing address, and email address. The account information is often required by the credit card agencies or banks offering debit cards in order to combat fraud since the credit card and debit card numbers can be easily copied and used by others. And this information may be needed regardless of whether the account will be for a one time transaction or recurring transactions. The user is expected to spend some time and effort to type in all the information in the right fields. This is arduous enough with a PC, but with a TV with only a remote control, it is even more troublesome. The TV remote control typically only has up/down/left/right arrows and 10-key alpha-numeric keys. Alternatively, a soft keyboard can be shown on-screen or a keyboard, e.g. wireless Bluetooth or wireless USB enabled, may be interfaced with the TV. The soft keyboard is cumbersome to use, and the wireless keyboards are relatively expensive and not generally available.
There is reluctance for customers to give personal and financial information especially if they are not sure that they will like the content or service that is being provided. A fear customers have is that the personal information will be used misused, e.g. for identity theft purposes with many fraudulent charges, or that the email account provided will be spammed with unsolicited advertisements. The more service providers are given the email address, then the greater is the likelihood that the account will be spammed. When an email account is spammed, it is hard to know who the culprit was, and sometimes the only remedy is to close it down and replace it with another one with a different name. A spammed email account is therefore very annoying.
Another reason for anonymity is the purchase of adult programming. To prevent possible embarrassment, a person may not want to have adult movies associated with their account, e.g. listed on a credit card bill or service provider monthly bill.
FeliCa is a contactless smart card system developed by Sony. Edy is an electronic payment system using FeliCa as a stored value card. Some SonyEricsson phones include a FeliCa IC. These phones are used in a similar fashion as the contactless smart card version. At the point-of-sale terminal, like the card, the phone is waved over the contactless reader at the check-out counter. The purse on the FeliCa IC is cryptographically accessed and debited. Edy is presently used at convenience stores, at railway or bus stations to pay for tickets, and when connected to a PC, to pay for items on the Internet. The electronic purse on the FeliCa card or SonyEricsson phone can be recharged at special kiosks or through a banking website managed through a PC. When used with the PC, a USB2 wireless reader/writer is needed to interface to the FeliCa IC. FeliCa suffers from the same problems as a financial smart card or magnetic strip credit card when used in conjunction with a TV. The user must get up out of the couch and do something. The wireless reader adds significant complexity and integration cost to a set-top box or TV.
TVs are becoming Internet capable. In 2007, Sony announced the Bravia Internet Video Link (BVIL) which is a module that adds web browsing and content decoding to a Bravia TV. Due to its popularity, the module functionality will now be built into the TV in 2008.
There is a desire to allow users to purchase content such as music videos and movies from a multitude of Internet service providers as well as access online news and magazines from large number of on-line outlets—all of which may be consumed using the TV's online connection. By allowing viewers to easily use their TVs to make payments, the viewer may be given pay as well as ad supported content to choose from and the overall TV experience can be made more pleasant.
As understood herein, it is desirable to make TV viewing and content browsing as easy and convenient as possible for the viewer. The approach should minimize hardware complexity. Further, it is desirable under some circumstances to permit the viewer to make such purchases anonymously, without having to establish an account and to provide information such as name, credit or debit card data, PayPal account, email address, and the like.


A web based vehicle tracking system includes a passenger identification device that registers when a passenger boards and disembarks the vehicle. The web based vehicle tracking system utilizes a vehicle information system, that includes the passenger identification device, and a base station network administrator to monitor the travel of a vehicle and the on-board status of a passenger. Using, a user communications interface, a user accesses the Internet to query passenger on-board status information.

This invention relates generally to a vehicle travel information system, and more particularly to a web-based vehicle travel information system.
In situations where vehicles are utilized to transport people, product, or packages, a prevalent problem is the unpredictability of the arrival of the vehicle at a specific location. Factors contribute to the timeliness of vehicular travel such as inclement weather, traffic flow, vehicle maintenance and other unexpected delays and can effect the schedule of the vehicle. For example, school children who ride buses to school often have to wait at their bus stops for extended lengths of time because school buses arrive at particular bus stops at substantially different times from one day to the next. The arrival times of school buses can be significantly affected by many factors such as maintenance problems, rush hour traffic, and congested urban/suburban conditions. As a result, school children are forced to wait at their bus stops for long periods of time, often times in adverse weather conditions, on unlit street corners, or near busy or secluded streets.
It is known to utilize a system that employs the use of a transmitter on the vehicle and a receiver in the home or office of the user such that when the vehicle comes within a certain range of the receiver, the receiver signals the user that the vehicle is approaching. Additionally it is known to utilize a system that employs a satellite tracking system, such as a global positioning system (GPS), to track the vehicle, a transmitter located on the vehicle, and a base station capable of receiving transmissions and sending a message to the user""s locations notifying the user of the impending arrival of the vehicle. While such systems work satisfactorily under certain circumstances, they are limited in the type of information and flexibility they provide the user.
In an exemplary embodiment, the web based vehicle tracking system includes a passenger identification device that registers when a passenger boards and disembarks a vehicle. The web based vehicle tracking system includes a vehicle information system that is coupled to the vehicle and includes the passenger identification device. The web based vehicle tracking system also includes a base station network administrator, located at a remote site, which monitors the on-board status of a passenger, and communicates with a user communications interface. Using, the user communications interface, located at a user premise, a user accesses the Internet to query passenger on-board status information.
During operation, a vehicle information system processor receives vehicle location data and transmits such data to a base station computer. The base station computer utilizes the vehicle location data and mapping software to generate a current graphical representation of the vehicle location. A user utilizes the user communication interface to access the Internet and view the graphical representation. As a passenger boards the vehicle a passenger boarding identification is input to the passenger identification device. The boarding identification is communicated to the vehicle information system processor that transmits the boarding identification to a base station computer. The base station computer accesses a database and retrieves passenger information that corresponds to the boarding identification. Similarly, when a passenger disembarks, the base station computer receives a disembarking identification and retrieves the corresponding information. The base station computer monitors the on-board status of a passenger and communicates the status to a user upon request from a user, via the user communications interface.

Web based vehicle tracking and user on-board status system


A battery charging system is disclosed for charging two different types of battery packs, a known three terminal type including batteries and a thermostat switch, and a newer four terminal type further including a thermistor for sensing battery temperature. A charging control circuit stops charging current to the battery pack when a contact of the thermostat switch is open or when the thermistor detects a temperature above a predetermined temperature. If either the thermostat switch or the thermistor fail to properly operate, charging current to the battery pack is stopped securely to avoid damaging batteries.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a battery charger of a storage battery pack. More specifically, it relates to a battery charger which detects the full charge of a storage batteries. By using a thermostat and a thermistor built into the storage battery pack.
2. Description of Related Art
A storage battery which can be used to power an electromotive tool is repeatedly used. It is known to rapidly charge such a battery by flowing a large current through it. Battery chargers for doing so are known. Such battery chargers detect a full charge of the storage battery by various methods. One type of detector uses a thermostat for detecting the full charge.
An example of a battery charger which uses the thermostat will now be explained with referring to FIG. 11 and FIG. 2. A storage battery pack 450 shown in FIG. 2 has a plural storage batteries B shown in FIG. 11, and a thermostat TH which opens at a predetermined temperature due to completion of charging of the storage batteries B, and a first, a second, a third input terminals t1, t2, t3, as shown in FIG. 11. battery charger 410 includes a direct current circuit 416 which rectifies commercially available AC power into direct current, a charging control circuit 412 that monitors the open/closed status of the thermostat TH, a constant voltage power supply 418 which supplies electric power to the charging control circuit 412, and a switch element 414 which stops the charge when the charging control circuit 412 detects that thermostat TH is open as a result of full charging of the storage batteries B.
A problem associated with the operation of this circuit is that when first input terminal t1 comes into contact with third input terminal t3 during a use, thermostat TH may break down and will no longer function properly. The circuit is subject to failure in another manner as well. When the storage battery pack 450 is used in a device which causes it to shake such as in an electromotive style tool, thermostat TH sometimes suffers a mechanical breakdown. When thermostat TH fails to operate properly, the charging completion of the storage batteries B is not detected, and the life time of the storage batteries B may became short due to improper charging.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a battery charger which can detect the completion of charging of a storage battery pack surely and accurately.
Further, an object of the present invention is to provide a battery charger which can charge a storage battery pack only under a low temperature.

Battery charger detecting full charge of batteries using a thermostat and thermistor in a battery pack


A preparation for external use in application to the body, which comprises an antiphlogistic with carboxylic groups in the molecule, l-menthol and a metal salt of a fatty acid; and a patch having the preparation spread thereon for easier application to the body.

Attempts to use in therapies a so-called preparation-on-tape wherein an antiphlogistic is made to be contained in an oily adhesive, have widely been made; for example, Japanese Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Gazette No. 59-227819 (No. 227819/84) discloses that a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic is made to be contained in an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive applied on a composite composed of a non-woven cloth and a film, for an attempt to be administered to patients. Japanese Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Gazette No. 60-139615 (No. 139615/85) discloses that ketoprofen contained in an adhesive composed of a polyisobutylene/paraffin/rosin-modified glycerol ester is attempted to be percutaneously absorbed into patients. Japanese Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Gazette No. 63-227524 (No. 227524/88) discloses that flurbiprofen contained in an oily base is attempted to be administered to patients. Further, Japanese Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Gazette No. 64-40420 (No. 40420/89) discloses that a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic with carboxyl groups in the molecule contained in an oily base is attempted to be administered. Any of the above attempts, however, did not achieve satisfactory release and percutaneous absorbability of the drug. Thus, further excellent preparations have been sought for.
It was previously disclosed in the International Pat. Appln. (Publication No. WO 93/04677) filed by the same applicant as that of this invention that a preparation-on-tape composed of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic such as ketoprofen, a rosin ester derivative and l-menthol as a solubilizer exhibited a great increase in percutaneous absorbability of the drug. Although the above preparation-on-tape so disclosed achieved initial objects such as a great increase in percutaneous absorbability and releasability of the drug, a decrease in side effects such as skin rash caused by repeated application of the tape to the skin and the expedient usability of the drug at the place of remedy, it has thereafter been found that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic as the main drug is reacted with l-menthol used as a solubilizer to produce a l-menthol ester whereby is raised a problem particularly as to the stability and the like of the main drug.
The object of this invention is to provide a preparation for external use wherein particularly an anti-inflammatory drug maintains its stability while maintaining satisfactory releasability and percutaneous absorbability of the drug, and also to provide a patch having said preparation attached thereto.

Patch having a preparation for external use attached thereto