A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a projection light source, a heating light source, a catoptric projection lens and a reflecting switching element, which can be arranged outside of the projection lens and can be displaced between a first position and a second position via a drive. Only the projection light can enter the projection lens in the first position of the switching element, and only the heating light can enter the projection lens in the second position of the switching element.

Microlithographic projection exposure apparatuses are used to transfer structures which are contained in a mask or arranged thereon to a resist or another light-sensitive layer. Optical components of a projection exposure apparatus include a light source, an illumination system which prepares projection light generated by the light source and directs it onto the mask, and a projection lens, which images the region of the mask illuminated by the illumination system onto the light-sensitive layer.
In general, the shorter the wavelength of the projection light is, the smaller the structures are that can be defined on the light-sensitive layer with the aid of the projection exposure apparatus. The most recent generation of projection exposure apparatuses uses projection light with a mean wavelength of approximately 13.5 nm, which therefore is situated in the extreme ultraviolet spectral range (EUV). Such apparatuses are often referred to as EUV projection exposure apparatuses for short.
However, generally, there are no optical materials which have a sufficiently high transmissivity for such short wavelengths. Thus, the lenses and other refractive optical elements, which are conventional at longer wavelengths, have been replaced by mirrors in EUV projection exposure apparatuses, and the mask too therefore contains a pattern of reflecting structures.
The provision of mirrors for EUV projection exposure apparatuses can be a great technological challenge. Coatings that are suitable for EUV light and applied to a mirror substrate often include more than 30 or 40 double layers with a thickness of only a few nanometers, which are applied onto one another by vapor deposition in technologically complex processes. Even in the case of coatings with such a complex design, the reflectivity of the mirrors for the EUV light is usually hardly more than 70%, and, in general, this also only holds for light that impinges perpendicularly onto the reflective coating or with angles of incidence of a few degrees.
The upshot of the comparatively low reflectivity of the mirrors is that an effort has been made during the development of projection exposure apparatuses to use as few mirrors as possible because each mirror means a loss of light and ultimately reduces the throughput of the projection exposure apparatus.
However, the relatively low reflectivity of the mirrors is often also accompanied by thermal issues because the portion of the energy-rich EUV light that is not reflected by the coating can be absorbed and lead to a temperature increase in the mirrors. In general, the heat generated in the process is substantially dissipated by thermal conduction via the mirror substrate because projection exposure apparatuses are usually operated in a vacuum on account of the high absorption of EUV light by gasses and therefore convective heat dissipation by gas cooling is ruled out.
So that occurring temperature gradients in the mirror substrates do not lead to an undesired deformation of the mirrors, the use of materials which have a small (even vanishingly small) thermal expansion coefficient at the operating temperature is often favored for the mirror substrates. Such glass-based materials are distributed by e.g. Schott under the branding Zerodur® and by Corning under the branding ULE®. As a result of additional measures, thermal deformations which are caused by EUV light absorption can be kept low or at least the effects thereof on the optical properties of the projection lens can be kept within tolerable limits.
Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 7,477,355 B2 proposes to heat mirrors with the aid of an additional heating mechanism such that a temperature is set in the substrate material of the mirrors at which the thermal expansion coefficient equals zero or at least is minimal. Temperature variations during the operation of the apparatus then have no effect, or only a small effect, on the imaging properties of the mirror.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,557,902 B2 describes a projection lens in which two mirrors contain materials, the thermal expansion coefficient of which increases with increasing temperature in one of the two mirrors and decreases with increasing temperature in the other mirror. What this can achieve in the case of a suitable selection of the mirrors is that although the two mirrors significantly deform in the case of a temperature change, the optical effects of these deformations largely cancel out one another.
DE 103 17 662 A1 discloses an EUV projection exposure apparatus with a heating light source, which illuminates selected regions on imaging mirrors with additional heating light. The absorption of the heating light leads to an at least approximately homogeneous temperature distribution on the surface of the mirror. Here, a suitable configuration makes it possible to achieve a temperature set in thermal equilibrium, at which the thermal expansion coefficient of the mirror substrate has a minimum value. As a result, relatively small temperature variations or remaining inhomogeneities in the temperature distribution can no longer lead to noteworthy thermal deformations of the mirror substrate, and hence to aberrations.
In order only to illuminate selected regions on the mirror with the heating light, a transmission filter is arranged behind the heating light source of this known projection exposure apparatus, the filter shadowing those regions on the mirror surface on which projection light is incident and which should therefore not be additionally heated by heating light. If the heating light should form a pattern with as sharp edges as possible on the mirror surface, provision can be made for an additional imaging optical system which images the transmission filter onto the mirror surface. In another exemplary embodiment, a laser which is associated with a controllable ray-deflection device is used as heating light source. This ray-deflection device is used to direct the laser ray generated by the laser onto the desired regions on the mirror surface only. The ray-deflection device can in this case include rotating mirrors, as are contained in a similar fashion in barcode scanners which are known.
A disadvantage of this known projection exposure apparatus can be that when a plurality of mirrors are illuminated with heating light, a heating light source and optical components are provided for each of these mirrors. These components are arranged such that they direct the heating light onto the respective mirror at an angle of incidence that is not too shallow. However, there often is not enough installation space available in the projection lens for such optical components and also for the heating light sources.


A system (510) routes packets in a network (200) having multiple nodes. The system identifies a group (500) of the nodes (520–550) and determines routing distances to each of them. The system (510) then selects a set of the nodes from the group (500) based on the determined routing distances and updates a routing table based on the selection. The system (510) routes packets through the network (200) using the updated routing table.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication systems and, more particularly, to small world wireless ad hoc networks.
B. Description of Related Art
The use of ad hoc wireless networks has increased in recent years. An ad hoc wireless network typically includes several wireless, usually mobile, nodes. Each of the nodes includes an omni-directional antenna and communicates with only the nodes that are a single radio hop away. In such a network, each node acts as a router, forwarding packets of data from one node to another.
As the size of ad hoc wireless networks increase (i.e., to include hundreds or thousands of nodes), the problem of increased end-to-end transmission delays through the network results. Competing factors tend to make finding a solution to this problem difficult. These factors include the desire to transmit packets through the network at lower power and the desire to transmit packets through the network as quickly as possible.
Turning down the power on network transmissions maximizes spatial reuse of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum through the network. This low power transmission approach, however, gives rise to a network in which a given packet of data must take many hops from one node to another in order to cross the entire network, leading to a high end-to-end delay. On the other hand, direct, high power transmissions across the entire network are generally counter-productive because they result in a large area of radio interference and, hence, lower overall network throughput by eliminating spatial reuse of the RF spectrum.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are network diagrams that illustrate the single, high power transmission approach and the multi-hop, low power transmission approach, respectively. In FIG. 1A, a source node A turns up the power on its transmitter and transmits directly across the network to destination node B in a single hop. This high-power transmission causes interference over a wide area and leads to a corresponding reduction in overall network throughput because other nodes in the interference zone must keep silent during the transmission. As shown in FIG. 1A, the interference zone includes twenty-five blocked nodes. On the other hand, the single, high power transmission approach delivers the packet to its destination in just one radio transmission.
In FIG. 1B, the source node A uses a low power, multi-hop transmission. This series of small, hop-by-hop transmissions at low power results in better overall system capacity because it permits better spatial reuse of the RF spectrum. This multi-hop approach decreases the size of the interference zone over the single transmission approach. As shown in FIG. 1B, the interference zone includes twelve blocked nodes. On the other hand, the multi-hop approach requires a larger number of transmissions over the single transmission approach. Because the process of channel access takes time, as does the process of actually transmitting the data in the packet, an n-hop approach takes roughly n times as long as a 1-hop approach to deliver a packet from the source to the destination.
As a result, a need exists for a system that takes advantage of the benefits of the competing approaches while minimizing their disadvantages.

Systems and methods for creating wireless small world networks


A door frame for a vehicle having improved anti-corrosive performance, and a method of manufacturing the door frame may includes: a three-stage superimposed portion which has a structure in which an upper steel plate layer, an intermediate steel plate layer, and a lower steel plate layer are superimposed, and in which a sealer for anti-corrosive performance is applied between the upper steel plate layer and the intermediate steel plate layer; and a curved portion which is formed at an upper side of the intermediate steel plate layer at a first end of the three-stage superimposed portion to prevent the applied sealer from being exposed to the outside, thereby improving anti-corrosive performance, and a method of manufacturing the door frame.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door frame for a vehicle having improved anti-corrosive performance, and a method of manufacturing the door frame, and more particularly, to a door frame for a vehicle, which includes a sealer between steel plate layers of the door frame, and a curved portion, thereby improving anti-corrosive performance of the door frame for a vehicle, and a method of manufacturing the door frame.
Description of Related Art
In a vehicle, a door is classified into a frame type door, a frameless type door, and a full door type door, the frame type door among the doors has excellent characteristics in that sealing between the door and a body is excellent, thereby preventing noise and water leakage.
The frame type door is a door frame 10 for a vehicle as described in FIG. 1, and generally manufactured by a roll forming process, and a cross section taken along line A-A′ of the manufactured door frame for a vehicle has a structure in which steel plates are superimposed as illustrated in FIG. 2.
In particular, in the case of a three-stage superimposed portion 30 in which three sheets of steel plate layers such as an upper steel plate layer 20, an intermediate steel plate layer 21, and a lower steel plate layer 22 are superimposed based on the A-A′ cross section, electrodeposition coating is performed after completion of a roll forming process in order to improve anti-corrosive performance of the door frame. However, although the electrodeposition coating is performed, an electrodeposition liquid does not easily flow into the three-stage superimposed portion 30, and as a result, corrosion may easily occur in the three-stage superimposed portion 30 of the door frame 10 for a vehicle due to inflow of moisture or the like when the door frame 10 for a vehicle is actually used.
In order to solve the aforementioned problem with corrosion, a method of precisely applying a sealer outside the superimposed portion of the formed door frame has been developed, but there is a problem in that costs are high, such that economic efficiency deteriorates.
Otherwise, the door frame has been manufactured by using a deviation plating steel plate as a high corrosion resistant anti-corrosive steel plate, but costs are also excessively increased, and as a result, there is difficulty in commercial availability.
Accordingly, the present inventor intends to develop a door frame for a vehicle and a method of manufacturing the door frame which may minimize an increase in costs, and may improve anti-corrosive performance.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Door frame for vehicle with improved anti-corrosive performance and method of manufacturing the same


The invention provides a human mitochondrial processing peptidase subunit (MPPS-1) and polynucleotides which identify and encode MPPS-1. The invention also provides expression vectors, host cells, agonists, antibodies and antagonists. The invention also provides methods for treating disorders associated with expression of MPPS-1.

Mitochondria are the primary sites of energy production in cells. Energy production occurs through the action of a series of enzyme complexes called the mitochondrial electron transport (or respiratory) chain. These complexes are responsible for: 1) the transport of electrons from NADH to oxygen; and 2) the coupling of oxidation to synthesis of ATP (oxidative phosphorylation). ATP then-provides the primary source of energy for driving a cell's many energy-requiring reactions.
Most mitochondrial proteins are the products of nuclear genes and are imported into the mitochondria from the cytosol following their synthesis. Targeting of these proteins to mitochondria is achieved by an N-terminal leader (or signal) peptide of 10 to 70 amino acid residues which contains many positively charged amino acids. Once these precursor proteins are localized in the mitochondria, the leader peptide is cleaved by a signal peptidase to generate the mature protein. Most leader peptides are removed in a one step process by a protease termed mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP) (Paces, V. et al. (1993) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 90:5355-58). In some cases a two-step process occurs in which MPP generates an intermediate precursor form which is cleaved by a second enzyme, mitochondrial intermediate peptidase, to generate the mature protein.
MPP isolated from Neurospora crassa is a complex consisting of two dissociable components. The larger component has catalytic activity and has been called MPP; and the smaller component increases the activity of the complex and is called protease enhancing peptidase (PEP). MPP from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and rat liver is a heterodimer consisting of two dissimilar subunits, alpha (.about.55 kDa) and beta (.about.50 kDa) (Paces, et al. supra). In these species, it has not been determined whether the protease activity lies solely in the dimer or in a single subunit. The alpha-subunit of rat liver MPP is 36% identical to the large subunit (MPP) of N. crassa. The beta-subunit of rat liver MPP, beta-MPP, is most closely related to the smaller subunit of S.cerevisiae MPP (45% identity) and to N. crassa PEP (52% identity). Rat liver beta-MPP is also homologous (55% identity) to the core I protein from human ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase (Hoffman, G. G. et al. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268:21113-19). Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase is one of the key enzyme complexes in the respiratory chain. It consists of 10-11 subunits, two of which are designated core I and core II proteins. The exact function of these two proteins is not known, but in yeast they appear to be necessary for assembly of the complex (Hoffman et al., supra). Although the core I protein of ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase and PEP are identical proteins in N. crassa, the structurally homologous core I and beta-MPP proteins of yeast, rat, and human are genetically distinct.
Rat liver beta-MPP is 489 amino acids in length and is characterized by a 45-amino acid leader peptide that is positively charged and has a predicted signal peptidase cleavage site sequence, RST.sub.45 QA. Paces et al.(supra) suggest that, after being imported into the mitochondria, beta-MPP is cleaved by pre-existing MPP. An alpha-helical structure is predicted in the region between amino acids 165 and 205 of beta-MPP. The first part of this region, residues 168-186, is highly charged with several glutamate and arginine residues. This highly charged, amphiphilic helix, that is present in alpha-MPP as well, is believed to participate in binding of MPP to the positively charged, leader peptide substrates. An additional feature of beta-MPP and its homologs is the presence of one or two possible divalent metal-binding sites characteristic of metallopeptidases. Residues H.sub.101, E.sub.181, and H.sub.198 are believed to cooperate in binding of divalent metals such as Zn.sup.2+ or Mn.sup.2+, and the sequence H.sub.101 FLEH, unique to the rat liver beta-MPP, is also a potential metal-binding site (Paces, et al. supra).
The discovery of a new mitochondrial processing peptidase subunit and the polynucleotides encoding it satisfies a need in the art by providing new compositions which are useful in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of smooth muscle disorders, neurological disorders, and cancer.

Mitochondrial processing peptidase subunit


An image forming apparatus is configured to select one of electrically discharging of an intermediate transfer member carried out by applying a voltage to a primary transfer member and electrically discharging of the intermediate transfer member carried out by applying a voltage to a secondary transfer member according to a charged state of the intermediate transfer member after secondary transfer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for secondary-transferring a toner image, which is primary-transferred from an image bearing member to an intermediate transfer member at a primary transfer portion, to a recording material at a secondary transfer portion, and more particularly to a electrically discharging mechanism for an intermediate transfer member, which is necessary when continuous image formation is performed.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus has been in practical use, which forms a full-color image by using a highly resistant (and insulative) intermediate transfer member left in a charged state after one rotation thereof in which an image is formed. The highly resistant intermediate transfer member has a high capability to hold electric charge given during transfer, which suppresses a toner scattering phenomenon that disturbs a transferred toner image.
However, repeated image formation by such a image forming apparatus causes charge-up where the charging potential of the intermediate transfer member gradually increases. Consequently, in order to transfer the toner image, a primary transfer voltage applied to a primary transfer member by a primary transfer power source and a secondary transfer voltage applied to a secondary transfer member by a secondary transfer power source need to be increased.
Accordingly, in the conventional image forming apparatus that uses the highly resistant intermediate transfer member, various electrically discharging apparatuses have been disposed between a secondary transfer portion and a primary transfer portion to prevent the intermediate transfer member from being charged up.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-265095 discusses a full-color image forming apparatus of a tandem intermediate transfer system which includes a plurality of photosensitive drums (image bearing members) in a linear section of an intermediate transfer belt. This image forming apparatus includes a electrically discharging apparatus on a downstream side of a secondary transfer portion, and a electrically discharging member of the electrically discharging apparatus, which is in contact with the intermediate transfer belt, is applied a voltage in which a DC voltage and AC voltage are superposed. However, in the image forming apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-265095, the electrically discharging apparatus is an obstacle for downsizing the image forming apparatus.


A ring-type oscillator with a plurality of delay cells including differential pairs of MOS transistors. Current sources supply current to each pair, and the magnitude of the current supplied is variable by a control voltage to alter the delay of the MOS devices, thereby to alter the frequency of oscillation. Each delay cell MOS device is connected in series with another MOS device biased into its linear region to act as a load resistance. This load is variable by the control voltage so as to tend to maintain the gain of the delay cells constant with changes in frequency of oscillation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to oscillators of the type having a number of delay cells interconnected in a closed ring configuration. More particularly, this invention relates to such oscillators wherein the delay is controllable by a signal so as to vary the frequency of oscillation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ring oscillators have been used for many years. Modern designs have used MOS inverters as delay cells, and the delay has been controlled by setting the flow of current through the inverter. Commonly, each inverter comprises a series-connected pair of complementary MOS devices, with the current therethrough being produced by a current source controlled by an input signal.
One of the problems with such prior art ring oscillators is that the gain of the inverters varies with the level of current through the inverter as the oscillator input signal changes. This gain variability may cause the oscillator to stop if the gain drops too low, or may cause associated circuitry such as a phase lock loop to become unstable if the gain becomes too high. Another problem is that prior art oscillators of this type typically develop relatively large oscillatory voltage swings so that the oscillator frequency would be undesirably low due to the time required to charge up and discharge the parasitic capacitances associated with the MOS devices.

Signal-controlled ring oscillator with delay cells having constant gain with change in frequency


A method of operating a non-volatile memory device changes a read voltage by determining a degree that threshold voltages of memory cells are changed and overlap each other. The method of operating the non-volatile memory device includes performing a least significant bit (LSB) program of memory cells and determining a first error rate, performing a most significant bit (MSB) program of the memory cells and determining a second error rate, and setting a read voltage corresponding to a value at which the first and second error rates are minimum values.

The present invention relates to non-volatile memory devices and, more particularly, to a method of operating a non-volatile memory device, in which a read voltage can be controlled according to the characteristics of a cell.
Flash memory such as non-volatile memory is generally classified into NAND flash memory and NOR flash memory. NOR flash memory has a structure in which memory cells are independently connected to bit lines and word lines and therefore exhibits an excellent random access time characteristic, NAND flash memory has a structure in which a plurality of memory cells is connected in series, requiring only one contact per cell string, and therefore exhibits an excellent integration characteristic. Accordingly, the NAND structure is generally used in high-integrated flash memory.
A typical NAND flash memory device includes a memory cell array, a row decoder, and a page buffer. The memory cell array is comprised of a plurality of word lines extending along rows, a plurality of bit lines extending along columns, and a plurality of cell strings corresponding to the bit lines.
In recent years, in order to further improve the level of integration of flash memory, active research has been done on a multi-bit cell that stores plural data in one memory cell. This type of memory cell is generally called a multi-level cell (MLC). A memory cell of a single bit is called a single level cell (SLC).
The flash memory may function improperly due to changed characteristics after operating for a long period of time.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing threshold voltage distributions of a flash memory device.
Referring to FIG. 1, if memory cells of a flash memory device are programmed by a program operation, the threshold voltage of the memory cells is changed, resulting in a first threshold voltage distribution 110.
As program and erase operations are repeatedly performed on the memory cells, a degree that the memory cells programmed to have the first threshold voltage distribution 110 are programmed is varied. Consequently, the first threshold voltage distribution 110 of the memory cells can be changed to a second threshold voltage distribution 120.
A read voltage VR for reading data stored in the memory cells is previously set and not changed. When the memory cells are programmed to have the first threshold voltage distribution 110, there is no error in reading the data using the read voltage VR.
However, if the threshold voltage distribution of the memory cells is changed to the second threshold voltage distribution 120, an error occurs in reading the data using the read voltage VR. That is, memory cells in a region Pe of the second threshold voltage distribution 120 have to be recognized as an actually programmed state. However, since the threshold voltage distribution has been changed, the memory cells in the region Pe are recognized as being not programmed with respect to the read voltage VR. Accordingly, the likelihood of error increases in read data.

Method of operating a non-volatile memory device


A network security computing system includes a steganographic communications analysis engine monitoring incoming and outgoing messages on a secure computing network. The steganographic communications analysis engine identifies a pattern of file transfers between a first computing device on the secure computing network and an internal or external message recipient. When a pattern is identified, the steganographic communications analysis engine quarantines an associated computing device from the secure network. The steganographic communications analysis engine analyzes files transferred between the computing device and the recipient for indications of steganographic information and causes display, based on an identified indication of steganography, an indication that the computing device had been compromised by command and control malware.

Unauthorized individuals may attempt gain access to a secure computing system through a compromised networked computing device to obtain increased privileges using various tools. For example, an attacker may use command and control (C2) servers to send commands to systems compromised by malware and/or to receive unauthorized data obtained from a targeted compromised network. Many C2 server-controlled attacks have been found through their use of cloud-based webmail and/or file-sharing services when the C2 servers attempt to blend in with normal traffic to avoid detection. Threat actors have difficulty hiding unauthorized C2 communication in plain sight, so that C2 communication may often be sent over encrypted communication channels using secure communication protocols, such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS) and the like. Because of this, and for other security reasons, enterprise network security systems limit outside network traffic to use of certain protocols (e.g., hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), HTTP secure (HTTPS) and the like), use of specified naming systems (e.g., domain name system (DNS)), for applications (e.g., email), and/or browser-based connections. Often, browser-based connections and/or application traffic may have their traffic heavily monitored for communication to recipients within and/or outside the network.
In an attempt to keep ahead of enterprise security measures, attackers continually adapt their methods to use unencrypted communications in an attempt to keep ahead of the ability of enterprise network security procedures. Because sophisticated means of intercepting encrypted files are currently available, perpetrators may focus on alternative ways of avoiding data security. One alternative approach is referred to as steganography (e.g. the digital equivalent of invisible ink), in which malevolence occurs in plain sight, often embedded in image, audio, text, and/or other files.

Command and control steganographic communications detection engine


An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion configured to form an image on a recording sheet, a main body including a pair of frames and a bridging member connecting the pair of frames, a feed roller, a sheet receiving plate, and a lifting member. The sheet receiving plate is configured to receive the recording sheet, and pivot between a nearby position where the sheet receiving plate is disposed near the feed roller and a remote position where the sheet receiving plate is disposed remote from the feed roller. The lifting member is disposed opposite to the feed roller relative to the sheet receiving plate and configured to lift the sheet receiving plate such that the sheet receiving plate is disposed in the nearby position. The lifting member includes a pivot shaft rotatably supported by the bridging member and a lift portion configured to contact the sheet receiving plate.

A known image forming apparatus, which is configured to form an image on a recording sheet to be fed, includes a sheet supply roller, and a sheet receiving plate configured to receive the recording sheet thereon and raise the recording sheet toward the sheet supply roller from below. In this image forming apparatus, a first end portion of the sheet receiving plate is disposed under the sheet supply roller and a second end portion thereof is rotatably supported by a main body of the image forming apparatus such that the first end portion is vertically movable. A spring is disposed under the first end portion of the sheet receiving plate to urge the first end portion upward. The main body includes cams configured to contact opposite ends of the sheet receiving plate in a width direction of the recording sheet and regulate upward movement of the sheet receiving plate against an urging force of the spring. The first end portion of the sheet receiving plate moves vertically along with rotation of the cams.


A fluid pressure-operated shift actuator (11) is provided of the type defining a series of fluid pressure chambers (69, 71, 91, and 95). The actuator is operable to move a shift finger (19) to any one of four shift rails (1,2,3,4) by actuating various combinations of solenoids (29,31,33). One of the fluid pressure chambers (95) provides a constant bias of the shift finger (19) toward the first shift rail (1). Actuation of the second and third pressure chambers (71,91) results in selection of the third shift rail, because pressurization of the third pressure chamber (91) limits the rightward movement of the crank arrangement (37) which directly controls position of the shift finger (19).

The present invention relates to a pressurized fluid operated shifting mechanism for cooperation with a shift bar housing assembly for selectively shifting a change-gear mechanical transmission. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a fluid operated shifting mechanism of the "X--Y" type, and will be described in connection therewith.
Shift bar housing assemblies for change-gear mechanical transmissions typically comprise a plurality of generally parallel, independently axially movable shift bars or shift rails, each carrying a shift fork fixed thereto. Each shift bar or shift rail may be selected and moved axially to effect engagement/disengagement of a particular gear ratio. Such assemblies are well known in the prior art and may be better understood by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,455,883; 4,575,029; and 4,584,895, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Such shift bar housings may be manually controlled by the vehicle operator, by means of a shift lever. More recently, it is becoming increasingly popular to utilize automatically controlled pressurized fluid actuating shift-actuators with such shift bar housings. In a pressurized fluid operated shift-actuator, a shift finger is automatically moved in the X--X (rail selection) direction, in response to actuation of one fluid pressure device, then the shift finger is automatically moved in the Y--Y (gear engagement/disengagement) direction in response to actuation of another fluid operated device.
Shift bar housing assemblies utilizing pressure operated shift-actuators to control each shift rail in an automatic or semi-automatic mechanical transmission are known in the prior art, as may be better understood by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,445,393, 4,722, 237, and 4,928,544 all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The prior art fluid operated shift-actuators for providing automatic and/or semi-automatic rail selection of change gear mechanical transmissions were generally satisfactory for use with transmissions including only three shift rails (i.e., five forward speeds plus reverse). However, it has become quite desirable to be able to achieve automatic and/or semi-automatic rail selection and shifting of transmissions having four shift rails (i.e., seven forward speeds plus reverse). See for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,838, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference. For such transmissions, the known fluid pressure operated shift-actuator for moving the shift finger in the X--X (rail selection) direction, is not commercially available, and is not known in the prior art.

Four position fluid-actuated piston arrangement


The present invention is directed to a drill bit with non-cutting erosion resistant inserts. In one illustrative embodiment, the apparatus comprises a matrix drill bit body comprising a plurality of blades, a plurality of cutting elements positioned on each of the blades, the cutting elements defining a plurality of web regions, and a plurality of spaced apart, non-cutting erosion resistant inserts positioned along a face of at least one of the blades, at least a portion of each of the non-cutting erosion resistant inserts being positioned in front of one of the web regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to the field of drill bits used in drilling oil and gas wells, and, more particularly, to a fixed cutter drill bit with non-cutting erosion resistant inserts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oil and gas wells are formed by a rotary drilling process. To that end, a drill bit is mounted on the end of a drill string which may be very long, e.g., several thousand feet. At the surface, a rotary drive mechanism turns the drill string and the attached drill bit at the bottom of the hole. In some cases, a downhole motor may provide the desired rotation to the drill bit. During drilling operations, a drilling fluid (so-called drilling mud) is pumped through the drill string and back up-hole by pumps located on the surface. The purpose of the drilling fluid is to, among other things, remove the earthen cuttings resulting from the drilling process.
There are two basic types of earth boring drill bits commonly used to form the boreholes in the earth for mineral exploration and recovery. The first utilizes one or more rolling cutters mounted on a bit body. There are typically several rows of cutting teeth on each cutter. When the bit body is rotated and weight is applied, the teeth on the cutters engage the earth causing the cutters to rotate. As the cutters rotate, the teeth are sequentially pushed into the earth effecting a drilling action. These bits are commonly known as rolling cutter drill bits or rock bits.
The second type of earth boring bit, and the subject of the present invention, utilizes cutting elements fixed on the blades of the bit body. These bits are also rotated, and when weight is applied, the cutting elements are pushed into, and dragged through the earth. This dragging action causes earth removal by shearing. These type of drill bits are generally known as fixed cutter drill bits.
There are different fixed cutter drill bit designs for different drilling applications. For example, a high bladed steel bit (often called a fishtail bit) may be suitable for rapidly drilling through very soft soils and formations, while a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit may be used to drill through harder rock formations. For very hard and tough rock formations, an infiltrated tungsten-carbide matrix bit body is employed with natural diamond cutting elements. These are typically called diamond or natural diamond drill bits.
As a general rule, drill bits that are able to drill rapidly through soft formations cannot penetrate the harder formations and, similarly, drill bits that are able to drill through harder formations are not aggressive enough to economically drill through softer formations. Thus, when drilling deep wells through many different types of rock and soil, drill bits may have to be changed many times in response to wear or in response to changing soil conditions.
Common to all types of earth drilling bits is a means to flush the drilled earth away from the cutting interface and transport it to the surface. For shallow boreholes, air is a suitable flushing fluid. However, for the deep boreholes commonly drilled for the exploration and production of oil and gas, the flushing fluid is typically a liquid. Because of its color and consistency, this liquid has come to be known as drilling mud or drilling fluid. Although the type of drilling fluid may vary, it typically contains abrasive elements, and it is usually pumped through nozzle orifices on the drill bit, typically at a rate of about 250 500 feet per second.
In rolling cutter drill bits, the primary role of drilling mud is to clean the bit and the bottom of the boreholes and transport the cuttings to the surface. In fixed cutter drill bits with PDC elements, however, the drilling mud has the added critical role of cooling the PDC diamonds. Clearly, diamond, and other suitable forms of superhard materials, are much harder than the earth formations being drilled, so theoretically these materials should not exhibit any wear. However, it is also apparent from examination of used drill bits that the superhard cutting elements do degrade. The degradation of the superhard cutting elements may be caused, at least in part, by the high temperatures generated at the cutting face from the friction of scraping rock. In order to minimize the degradation of the cutting faces, they must be cooled. For maximum cooling (and therefore minimum degradation), it is desirable to have the drilling fluid impinge directly on the cutting elements. However, PDC bits generally have exposed steel or infiltrated matrix surfaces adjacent to the diamond cutting elements, which can rapidly erode in the high velocity, abrasive laden stream of drilling fluid. There are numerous patents which show high velocity drilling fluids directed toward superhard cutting elements in steel bodied PDC drill bits, as shown, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,484,489; 4,907,662; 4,974,994; 4,883,136; 4,452,324; 4,303,136; as well as many others. Unfortunately, directing the flow of drilling fluid in this manner can cause severe erosion of the surfaces adjacent to the cutting elements.
For this reason, the nozzle orifices on PDC drill bits are typically oriented such that high velocity drilling fluid does not directly impinge the diamond cutting elements. Thus, although directing the drilling fluid at the diamond cutting elements on PDC bits would provide better cooling and longer life, commercial drill bits typically do not generally incorporate this feature because of erosion. Instead, the nozzle orifices typically direct the drilling fluid toward the formation at the bottom of the hole, and the splash is used to clean and cool the superhard cutting elements. As a consequence, typical PDC drill bits may not perform well where very high cutting element face friction is present, such as in hard rock drilling.
In addition, where soft, sticky formations are encountered, such as shales with high clay content, the hydraulic action of conventional PDC drill bits is sometimes inadequate to clean the cuttings away from the bit body and the cutting elements resulting in a phenomenon known as bit balling. Most drilling applications allow for between 100 hydraulic horsepower (HHP) and as much as 800 HHP at the bit. Optimizing the use of this significant source of energy to clean and cool the drill bit requires proper orifice size selection and proper placement of the nozzles, including optimum orientation.
In the past, there have been many different attempts to address the erosion problem described above. One common method to provide erosion resistance is to apply welded hardmetal in thick layers to the surface of the blades of a steel body drill bit. Unfortunately, welded hardmetal can crack as the blades of the PDC drill bit bend in response to the drilling loads. Once a crack starts, the impinging drilling fluid quickly erodes the exposed, soft underlying steel. Applying welded hardmetal is typically a hand-applied process and it is difficult to apply to the sides and bottom of the channels on the cutting face of PDC bits. Because it is a manual process, it is also subject to variation based on human and environmental factors. Once the welded hardmetal is applied, it is generally so thick and uneven that it affects the hydraulic flow of the flushing fluids. The swirls and flow eddies in the wake of these thick, rough layers can make the erosion problem even worse. Finally, the temperature caused by the welding process not only affects the heat treatment of the steel PDC bit bodies, as it can also cause the bodies to warp and even crack due to the thermal stresses. The temperature due to welding may also have a deleterious effect on the diamonds themselves if the DDC cutting elements are brazed prior to performing the welding process.
Another approach to erosion resistance is shown by Radtke in U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,077, herein incorporated by reference. Radtke describes a thick tungsten carbide coating applied to the cutting faces of PDC bit bodies with a high velocity plasma arc flame spray process. This process was considered an improvement over the conventional high velocity flame spray processes known at the time. Unfortunately, the problem with this and all other flame spray type coating processes is that the sprayed particle stream must impinge nearly perpendicular to the surface to be coated to make the coating adhere to the cutting face of the bit body. Although sprayed coatings can provide good erosion protection on some areas of the drill bit, the coating does not adhere well to the blade surfaces that are approximately parallel to the cutting face. PDC bits usually have channels formed in the cutting face for the high velocity flushing fluid. Since these channels usually have vertical walls, spray type coatings do not provide adequate erosion resistance in these areas of the drill bit. Also, a flame spray apparatus is generally a line-of-site type device and its powder coating discharge nozzle is normally located some distance away from the surface being coated. The irregular features on the cutting faces of most PDC bits cause "shadows" which block the spray path, preventing direct impingement by the spray. These limitations greatly reduce the effectiveness of the flame spray processes for producing wear and erosion resistant coatings on PDC bits.
Natural diamond drill bits (also called diamond drill bits) are very old in the drilling industry and provide an alternate way of addressing the wear and erosion problems of fixed cutter drill bits. This type of fixed cutter drill bit is made in an infiltration process. The resulting drill bit is generally referred to as a matrix bit body. In this process, natural diamonds or other very hard fixed cutting elements are inserted into cavities in a mold. Powders of highly wear and erosion resistant materials (typically including tungsten carbide) are then packed into the mold, and an infiltrant, typically a copper alloy, is placed in contact with the powders. The mold with the powders, cutting elements and infiltrant are all placed into a furnace and heated to the melting point of the infiltrant. The melted infiltrant fuses the diamonds and powders into a solid mass. This process produces a unitary body of infiltrated tungsten carbide and fixed cutting elements with improved wear and erosion resistance. By way of example, an early diamond drill bit design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,371,489. It is also possible to form pockets in an infiltrated cutting face and later attach polycrystalline diamond cutters, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,354, providing a somewhat more aggressive cutting structure than traditional diamond drill bits. Unfortunately, infiltrated or matrix bits are expensive to manufacture. Each bit must be cast in a mold in a very labor intensive process.
Infiltrated or matrix bit bodies are also weak in bending, so the blade height achievable with an infiltrated product is limited by the intrinsic strength of the material in bending. Therefore, these relatively shorter blades do not penetrate the earth as aggressively as the extended cutting faces of steel PDC drill bits. As a result, matrix drill bits do not provide the very high (and desirable) rates of penetration of PDC bits.
Finally, because the matrix drill bit products use a relatively soft copper based infiltrate to bind the tungsten carbide together, the infiltrated drill bit product can also be subject to erosion as the fluid stream attacks the copper binder, weakening the matrix and allowing tungsten carbide to be loosened from the body. The matrix design provides some erosion improvement over steel, but is still subject to all the limitations described above.
There are also numerous bit designs which are derivatives of either the infiltrated bit process or the coated steel process used in PDC bits. For example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,554,130, 4,562,892 and 4,630,692, all herein incorporated by reference, a cladding process is disclosed for making a PDC type bit with a layer of wear and erosion resistant material. In these patents, a steel blank is coated with a thick layer of powders, the assembly is heated and then transferred to a press where the powders are fused to the steel surface under temperature and pressure with the aid of a ceramic or graphite pressure transfer medium. The layer must be thick, for it must contain a binder along with the wear resistant powder as it is compressed in the press. Although PDC type drill bits are shown and described in these patents, it is impractical to clad the vertical surfaces as shown. This is because the movement of the pressure transfer media tends to scrape the powders from the vertical steel surface as the press closes. Also, because the steel body itself is incompressible, the pressure transfer media will not be able to move in a manner which allows for an even pressure distribution. The end product of the above described cladding process has many of the same deficiencies as the flame spray coatings previously described, in that the vertical surfaces will not have adequate erosion protection.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and methods for solving, or at least reducing the effects of, some or all of the aforementioned problems.

Fixed cutter drill bit with non-cutting erosion resistant inserts


In a method for producing hot strips from a deformable lightweight steel which includes as main elements Fe, Mn, Si and Al, melt is cast close to its final dimension in a horizontal continuous strip casting installation under a protective gas to form a pre-strip between 6 and 20 mm, and the temperature of the pre-strip is adjusted after complete solidification and before the beginning of a hot-rolling process. The pre-strip is passed through a device under a protective gas for homogenization in concert with a selective maintenance of the temperature, cooling or heating, and subsequently subjected to a hot-rolling process having at least one pass with a total degree of deformation of at least 50%, and is then reeled as a hot strip following the cooling process. The hot-rolling process is executed in-line or in decoupled manner depending on the ratio of casting speed to rolling speed.

The invention relates to a method for producing hot strips from a deformable lightweight steel which is especially suitable for cold deep drawing and includes as main elements Fe, Mn, Si and Al and which has a high tensile strength and TRIP and/or TWIP properties.
The method, set forth in the preamble, for producing hot strips from a deformable lightweight steel which is especially suitable for cold deep drawing is known (steel research 74 (2003), No. 11/12, pp 724-731).
The production of such steels of high manganese content has been marred by problems to ensure a fine-grained and isometric microstructure.
DE 197 58 108 C1 discloses a production method and production installation for continuous production of hot-rolled thin flat products. Melt from steel that has not been designated in greater detail is cast in a horizontal continuous strip installation close to its final dimension in a range between 5-18 mm and cooled in a controlled manner under a protective gas atmosphere before reaching the single-stand roughing train.
The pre-rolled hot strip is selectively cooled, heated or maintained at a temperature in a controlled fashion in a device downstream of the roughing train, and the edges of the hot strip are re-heated.
The single-stand roughing train is followed by a multi-stand finishing train, a delivery roller table with a device for cooling the hot strip as well as upstream and downstream coiling machines for coiling up the hot strip.
Downstream of the roughing train, the rolling temperature upstream of the multi-stand finishing train can be selectively adjusted in the austenitic or ferritic range or tailored in the transition from austenite to ferrite by the device for controllable cooling, heating or maintaining the temperature of the hot strip.

Method for producing hot strips from lightweight steel


A semiconductor package including a first semiconductor chip, a second semiconductor chip disposed on the first semiconductor chip, and a third semiconductor chip disposed on the second semiconductor chip. A first pad is disposed on a top surface of the second semiconductor chip, and includes a first portion and a second portion protruding in a vertical direction from the first portion. A width of the first portion in a first horizontal direction is greater than a width of the second portion in the first horizontal direction. A second pad is disposed on a bottom surface of the third semiconductor chip facing the top surface of the second semiconductor chip, and a solder ball is disposed as surrounding a sidewall of the second portion of the first pad between the first pad and the second pad.

The present disclosure relates to semiconductor packages, and more particularly to semiconductor packages having pads with stepped structure.
Recently, as the need for implementing high-performance devices has increased, the size of semiconductor chips and corresponding semiconductor packages have also increased. On the other hand, there is a desire to decrease the thickness of semiconductor packages so that electronic devices may be made slimmer.
In the meantime, semiconductor packages have been developed to have greater multi-functionality, higher capacity, and improved miniaturization. To this end, several semiconductor chips are typically integrated into one semiconductor package, thereby achieving high-capacity and multifunctional semiconductor packages while greatly reducing the size of the semiconductor packages.

Semiconductor package having pads with stepped structure


A revolution speed of balls 8, 8 constituting the outer side row is sensed by a revolution speed sensor 24. Also, a rotation speed of a hub 1a is sensed by a rotation speed sensor 25. A speed ratio as a ratio between a revolution speed and the rotation speed is calculated based on a sensed signal of both sensors 24, 25. When the axial load is changed and then the contact angles of the balls 8, 8 are changed, the revolution speed is changed and in turn the speed ratio is changed. Therefore, the axial load is calculated based on a change of the speed ratio.

The wheel of the car, for example, is supported rotatably by the suspension system via the double row angular contact rolling bearing unit. Also, in order to secure the running stability of the car, the vehicle running stabilizing system such as the anti-lock brake system (ABS), the traction control system (TCS), the vehicle stability control system (VSC), or the like is employed. In order to control various vehicle running stabilizing systems, various signals such as a rotation speed of the wheel, accelerations applied to a car body in respective directions, and the like are needed. Then, in order to execute the higher control, in some cases it is preferable to know the magnitude of the axial load applied to the rolling bearing unit via the wheel.
In view of such circumstances, the load measuring unit for the rolling bearing unit shown in FIG. 5 is recited in JP-A-3-209016 (referred to as "Patent Literature 1" hereinafter). First, the configuration of the conventional system will be explained hereunder. A rotary-side flange 2 for supporting the wheel is fixed to an outer peripheral surface of an outer end portion (here, the "outside" in the axial direction denotes the out side in the width direction of the car body in a state assembled to the car, and also corresponds to the left side in FIGS. 1, 2, 5) of a hub 1, which is a rotary ring and also is an inner ring equivalent member. Also, double row inner ring raceways 3, 3 are formed on an outer peripheral surface of a middle portion and an inner end portion (here, the "inside") in the axial direction denotes the middle side in the width direction of the car body when assembled to the car, and also corresponds to the right side in FIGS. 1, 2, 5) of the hub 1.
Meanwhile, a stationary-side flange 6 for supporting/fixing an outer ring 4 onto a knuckle 5, which constitutes the suspension system, is fixed to an outer peripheral surface of the outer ring 4, which is arranged around the hub 1 concentrically with the hub 1 and serves as a stationary ring. Also, double row outer ring raceways 7, 7 are formed on an inner peripheral surface of the outer ring 4. A plurality of balls 8, 8 acting as the rolling elements are provided rotatably between the outer ring raceways 7, 7 and the inner ring raceways 3, 3 respectively, so that the hub 1 is supported rotatably on the inner diameter side of the outer ring 4.
In addition, a load sensor 11 is affixed to plural portions, each of which surrounds a respective threaded hole 10, on the inner surface of the stationary-side flange 6. Bolts 9 for fitting the stationary-side flange 6 to the knuckle 5 are screwed into the threaded holes 10. These load sensors 11 are held between an outer surface of the knuckle 5 and the inner surface of the stationary-side flange 6 so that the outer ring 4 is supported/fixed to the knuckle 5.
In such a load measuring unit as known in the prior art, when the axial load is applied between the wheel (not shown) and the knuckel 5, the outer surface of the knuckle 5 and the inner surface of the stationary-side flange 6 press strongly the load sensors 11 mutually from both sides in the axial direction. Accordingly, the axial load applied between the wheel and the knuckle 5 can be sensed by summing up the measured values of these load sensors 11.
In the case of the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 5, the load sensors 11 must be provided as many as the bolts 9 that support/fix the outer ring 4 to the knuckle 5. As a result of above situation along with the fact that the load sensor 11 itself is expensive, it is unavoidable that a cost of the overall load measuring unit for the rolling bearing unit is considerably increased.
The present invention is made in view of such circumstances to implement such a configuration that can be constructed at a low cost and also can measure an axial load applied to each wheel while keeping an accuracy required for control.

Load-measuring device for rolling bearing unit and rolling bearing unit for load measurement

Abstract: Accordingly, the configurations that can be manufactured at a low cost and is able to sense the axial load applied between the hub 1a and the outer ring 4a can be realized.


A method and apparatus for processing mail is provided. Mail is placed into an input bin having a conveyor that conveys the mail towards a feeder. The feeder serially feeds the envelopes by engaging the lead envelope in the stack of mail and displacing the lead envelope transverse the stack of mail. The mail is then cut on a side edge and the top edge to cut open each envelope. A transport conveys the cut envelopes to an extractor. The extractor opens the edge-severed mail and presents the contents of the envelopes to an operator who manually extracts the contents. The operator drops the extracted contents onto a conveyor that conveys the contents to an imaging station. The contents are automatically separated and imaged to obtain image data for the contents. The contents are then sorted into a plurality of output bins.

Automated and semi-automated machines have been employed for processing documents such as bulk mail. Due to the large quantity of mail received by many companies, there has long been a need for efficient sorting of incoming mail.
Further, in many instances it is desirable to obtain image data of the documents received in the mail. However, often the documents are folded and/or the documents received in a batch of mail are random sizes. In order to scan these documents, it is typically necessary to spend considerable time to manually prepare the documents so that the documents can be automatically fed into a scanner. This processing is inefficient, thereby increasing the overall cost of processing the mail and obtaining image data of the documents in the mail.

Method and apparatus for processing mail to obtain image data of contents


The present disclosure relates to a method and an ad decision sever for determining personalized messages during a provisioning of digital content. The method comprises to provide a set of personalized messages candidates by executing a relevance algorithm, which matches message metadata and content metadata. The method continues with receiving calculated network costs for the set of personalized message candidates in order to determine a set of personalized messages, which are optimized with respect to the received network costs by applying a multivariate optimization algorithm.

There is an increasing trend to personalize media content and tailor to individual user's preferences. Users are offered media (video, audio, etc.) which fit their habits, life style, etc. Media delivery systems are being optimized to serve specific functionality and requirements on the side of the client and to deliver unique experiences for the users.
Traditionally, content delivery networks (CDNs) are deployed for scalable delivery of content to the users. In case of adaptive video streaming (e.g., DASH), a packager (or segmenter) ingests media segments and manifest files (MPDs) into the CDN. The segments are distributed from an origin server to edge servers. The same content is replicated at different edges. A request redirection node is deployed inside a CDN, to redirect the client to a suitable edge server.
In personalized media delivery (e.g. personalized advertisements—in the following also abbreviated as 'ads' or 'adverts'), a dedicated server decides on the ad to be delivered to the client based on user profile, location, etc. The server selects an ad from a database which matches the user preferences. ads are typically grouped in categories (e.g., sports, science, health categories, etc.). The ad decision process is a complex operation and the server needs to select among a large number of possible options in a short time.
Personalization of media content includes the process of determining a content (ad or movie) for a user or a group of users based on statistics of viewing patterns, prediction of future consumption, association with other users who have common interests, etc. The objective of such a process is to determine a content (ad or movie) that best fits the user preferences.
As the user device computation power and storage capacity is increasing the traditional CDN architecture is further pushed towards user devices. The very personalized contents (media and ads) now can be the placed in the user device from the edge servers. This is often referred as device-CDN. In this case the request is resolved locally from the pre-populated device cache. This increased the response time and the server now have more control over the media quality it serves.
In DASH, the personalization of media content (e.g., personalized ads) is achieved by customizing the MPD (Media Presentation Description) [see DASH-IF, "Guidelines for Implementation: DASH-IF Interoperability Points", v3.22, May 2016]. To decide which ads to deliver to the client, a special node, namely the xlink resolver, consults an ad decision server. The ad decision server selects from a pool of ads a personalized ad to deliver to the clients. However, state of the art approaches do not utilize information about the actual (video) content in order to dynamically preload personalized ads into CDN and device caches.
The ad decision making is typically provided by a third party. The ad delivery process is independent of the video delivery which is provided by a CDN provider. The ad decision making process is independent of the consumed media content. ad decision servers are not aware of the title metadata or description of media that users are consuming. ad decision making is thus performed independently of the actual content user is interested in. This means that ad decision servers are missing an important piece of information when deciding on personalized ads for each user. A network provider (e.g., a CDN provider), is unaware of the ad decision process. The delivery of video and personalized ads is performed independently without exploiting common metadata information for the users. For the case of Device CDN, where ads could be preloaded, the communication between the ad decision process and CDN is vital to deliver personalized experience.
In prior art systems, personalized information retrieval (e.g. for ads/movies) aims at maximizing relevance, i.e., how relevant a search result is with respect to a query. This is decoupled from other network functions, key performance indicators (KPIs) that are known to an edge server.
Thus, solutions according to state of the art lack specificity in personalization. In particular, there is a deficiency in that the actual content to be delivered to the client's device is not sufficiently matched with the content of the ad message for assessing relevance. Therefore, more data segments need to be provided to the client, resulting in more network traffic.
Thus, there is a need in state of the art to specify content to be delivered to the client in order to be able to select relevant content and to save network distribution and storage costs.

Providing personalized messages in adaptive streaming


Embodiments of imaging devices of the present disclosure automatically utilize simultaneous image captures in an image processing pipeline. In one embodiment, control processing circuitry initiates simultaneous capture of the first image by the first image sensor and the second image by the second image sensor; and image processing circuitry generates an enhanced monoscopic image comprising at least portions of the first image and the second image.

Some types of image processing, such as high dynamic range (HDR) image processing, involves combining one camera's sequential still image output (e.g., each with differing exposure) into a single still image with a higher dynamic range (i.e., an image with a larger range of luminance variation between light and dark image areas). This approach is often called exposure bracketing and can be found in conventional cameras.


The present invention concerns an image forming apparatus for forming a toner image on a transfer medium by use of an intermediate transfer belt, and also the intermediate transfer belt itself. The intermediate transfer belt has an elastic layer JIS-A hardness of which is 85.degree. or less and at least one covering layer formed on the elastic layer. A relative permittivity .epsilon. and thickness t (.mu.m) of the at least one covering layer satisfy relations of .epsilon..ltoreq.6 and t.gtoreq..epsilon., and the intermediate transfer belt includes a fiber. The effects of this .epsilon. value and the fiber inside enabled to suppress scattering of toner well.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus employing the electrophotographic method and, more particularly, the invention relates to an image forming apparatus for obtaining an image-formed article by transferring a toner image formed on a first image bearing member onto an intermediate transfer belt and again transferring the image onto a transfer medium as being a second image bearing member.
2 . Related Background Art
Image forming apparatus incorporating the intermediate transfer belt is well known and is effectively applicable to color image forming apparatus and multi-color image forming apparatus for successively transferring and stacking a plurality of component color images based on color image information or multi-color image information to synthetically reproduce a color image or a multi-color image, thereby obtaining an image-formed article, or to image forming apparatus provided with such color image forming function or multi-color image forming function.
An example of the image forming apparatus incorporating the conventional intermediate transfer belt is schematically shown in FIG. 7. This image forming apparatus is constructed as a color image forming apparatus (a copier or a laser beam printer) of the electrophotographic process having the intermediate transfer belt 20. This intermediate transfer belt 20 is made of an elastic member of medium resistance.
The image forming apparatus is provided with an electrophotographic, photosensitive member of a drum shape (hereinafter referred to as "a photosensitive drum") 1 as a first image bearing member and this photosensitive drum 1 is driven to rotate at a predetermined peripheral velocity (process speed) in the direction of the arrow.
The photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly charged in predetermined polarity and potential by primary charger 2 during the rotating process thereof, and is then exposed to image exposure light 3 by image exposure means not illustrated. This forms an electrostatic, latent image corresponding to a first color component image (for example, a yellow color component image) of an aimed color image.
Then the electrostatic, latent image is developed at a developing position by first developing unit (yellow developing unit) 41 to be visualized as a yellow toner image. At this time second to fourth developing units, i.e. magenta developing unit 42, cyan developing unit 43, and black developing unit 44, are kept unoperated so as not to act on the photosensitive drum 1, so that the yellow toner image is not subject to the action of the second to fourth developing units 42 to 44. The first to fourth developing units 41 to 44 are mounted so as to be rotatable on support member 40 and are successively moved to the developing position opposed to the photosensitive drum 1.
The intermediate transfer belt 20 is looped over two rollers 61 and roller 64 and is then driven to rotate at the same peripheral velocity and in the same direction of movement at the opposed portion in contact with the photosensitive drum 1 as the photosensitive drum 1 does. Primary transfer roller 25 is located at a position inside the intermediate transfer belt 20 in the contact portion with the photosensitive drum 1, whereby a primary charging bias from bias supply 29 is applied through the primary transfer roller 25 to the intermediate transfer belt 20. The primary transfer bias is of the opposite polarity to toner and the applied voltage is, for example, in the range of +100 V to +2 kV.
The yellow toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 is successively transferred to the outside peripheral surface of intermediate transfer belt 20 by a primary transfer electric field created by the primary transfer bias applied from the primary transfer roller 25 to the intermediate transfer belt 20, during passage through the contact nip portion between the photosensitive drum 1 and the intermediate transfer belt 20 (primary transfer).
The photosensitive drum 1, after completion of transfer of the yellow toner image of the first color onto the intermediate transfer belt 20, is cleaned by cleaning unit 13 to remove the residual toner remaining on the surface after the primary transfer and is thereafter subjected to image forming processes to follow the primary charging. Then a magenta toner image of the second color, a cyan toner image of the third color, and a black toner image of the fourth color are formed in the same manner to be transferred as successively stacked on the intermediate transfer belt 20, thereby obtaining a synthetic color image corresponding to the aimed color image.
The roller 64 supporting the intermediate transfer belt 20 is a secondary transfer opposite roller and secondary transfer roller 63 is arranged as retractable at a position on the outside periphery of the intermediate transfer belt 20 where the roller 64 is located. A secondary charging bias is applied from bias supply 28 to the secondary transfer roller 63. The secondary transfer roller 63 can be spaced away from the intermediate transfer belt 20 during the primary transfer steps of the toner images of the first color to the third color.
The secondary transfer bias is applied from the bias supply 28 to the secondary transfer roller 63 at the timing when the toner images of the four colors transferred in superimposed fashion on the intermediate transfer belt 20 reach the vicinity of the secondary transfer portion by rotation of the intermediate transfer belt 20. At the same time, the secondary transfer roller 63 is brought into contact with the intermediate transfer belt 20. Further, a transfer medium (paper or resin sheet) P as a second image bearing member is fed at predetermined timing to the contact portion by sheet feed roller 11 to be supplied thereto through guide 10.
The toner images of the four colors on the intermediate transfer belt 20 are successively transferred together onto the surface of transfer medium P by a secondary transfer electric field created by the secondary transfer bias applied from the secondary transfer roller 63 to the intermediate transfer belt 20, during passage through the contact nip portion between the intermediate transfer belt 20 and the secondary transfer roller 63 (secondary transfer). The transfer medium P after the secondary transfer of the four-color toner images is then guided to fixing unit 15, in which it is heated and pressed to fuse and mix the four-color toner components and to fix them on the transfer medium P, thereby forming a full-color printed image.
The toner of secondary transfer residue remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 20 is charged in the opposite polarity to the photosensitive drum 1 by belt cleaner 8. The belt cleaner 8 is comprised of a roller arranged as retractable on the outside periphery of the intermediate transfer belt 20. The secondary transfer residue toner is charged to the predetermined polarity by applying a cleaning bias of the predetermined polarity to the belt cleaner 8 by bias supply 26 while keeping the belt cleaner 8 in contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 20 and using earthed conductive roller 7 as an opposed pole located inside the intermediate transfer belt 20. In this example the photosensitive drum 1 is charged in the negative polarity, and the secondary transfer residual toner is thus charged in the positive polarity. The belt cleaner 8 can be spaced away from the intermediate transfer belt 20 during the primary transfer steps of the toner images of the first color to the third color.
The secondary transfer residual toner charged in the opposite polarity on the intermediate transfer belt 20 is electrostatically attracted to the photosensitive drum 1 in the contact portion of the intermediate transfer belt 20 therewith and in the vicinity thereof, thereby being removed from the intermediate transfer belt 20.
The above color image forming apparatus incorporating the intermediate transfer belt can transfer the toner image from the intermediate transfer belt to the transfer medium without a need for any control on the transfer medium (for example, gripping the transfer medium by a gripper of transfer drum, attaching the transfer medium onto the surface of transfer drum, giving the transfer medium curvature along the surface of transfer drum, etc.), when compared with the color image forming apparatus arranged to stick or attach the transfer medium onto the transfer drum for carrying it and to transfer a toner image of each color from the photosensitive drum onto the transfer medium to obtain a color image, for example, as described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 63-301960. Therefore, the above apparatus has such an advantage that the color image can be obtained by transferring of the toner image, regardless of whether the width is wide or narrow or whether the length is long or short, ranging from thin paper of about 40 g/m.sup.2 to thick paper of 200 g/m.sup.2, such as an envelope, a post card, or a label sheet.
Because of this advantage, the color image forming apparatus incorporating the intermediate transfer belt is already in operation as a color copier, a color printer, or the like.
The conventional image forming apparatus incorporating the intermediate transfer belt, however, had the following problems, though having the above advantage; (1) void image often appears as shown in FIG. 8; (2) because of expansion and contraction of the intermediate transfer belt 20 at the portion of roller 61 as shown in FIG. 9 (FIG. 9 schematically shows the expansion and contraction of intermediate transfer belt 20 by illustrating stripes at equal intervals in the cross section of intermediate transfer belt 20) and mechanical vibration transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 20, the primary transfer toner is readily scattered from the intermediate transfer belt 20 during rotation thereof (scattering on the belt), which degrades the quality of image.

Intermediate transfer belt and image forming apparatus adopting the belt


Compounds that affect quorum sensing (QS) in Staphylococcus aureus and related Staphylococcus species (e.g., S. epidermidis). Compounds which modulate one or more of the four AgrC receptors of Staphylococcus species, particularly of Staphylococcus aureus. Modulation includes inhibition or activation of one or more of these four AgrC receptors. These compounds are useful for bacterial interference and are useful for treating bacterial infections, particularly staphylococcal infection. Treatment can include combination of one or more of the compounds of the invention in combination with one or more antibiotics.

Many bacteria utilize small molecule or peptidic signals to assess their local population densities in a process termed quorum sensing (QS). [1-3] This chemical signaling process effectively allows bacteria to "count" themselves and behave as a group at high cell number. While the specifics may vary between species, QS circuits share general organizing principles: bacteria produce, secrete, and detect signal molecules referred to as autoinducers. At high population densities in a given environment, the autoinducers will reach a sufficiently high concentration to bind and activate their cognate (intracellular or extracellular) receptors. Signal:receptor binding then alters the expression of genes involved in bacterial group behaviors, such as swarming, sporulation, bioluminescence, conjugation, biofilm formation, and virulence factor production. [4-6] These phenotypes can have widespread and sometimes devastating effects on human health, agriculture, and the environment.[7, 8] For example, pathogenic bacteria utilize QS to launch synchronized attacks on their hosts only after they have achieved a high cell density, thereby overwhelming the defense mechanisms of the host.[9-11] As several prevalent human pathogens (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus) use QS to control virulence, QS has received considerable recent attention as a new anti-infective target.[12] There has been significant interest in the development of non-native ligands (e.g., small molecule and peptides) capable of blocking QS pathways. In contrast to antibiotics, which target bacterial pathways that are essential for survival, QS antagonists provide an alternative anti-infective therapy that does not place selective pressure on the bacterial population to develop resistance.[13, 14] This is especially important in the case of S. aureus, which rapidly develops resistance to antibiotics, including resistance to the once last-resort antibiotic vancomycin.[15]
S. aureus is a Gram-positive bacterium that uses QS to establish both acute and chronic infections.[16, 17] This pathogen produces an impressive arsenal of virulence factors, including tissue-degrading enzymes, immune evasion factors, and pore-forming toxins (hemolysins), all of which are regulated by the accessory gene regulator (agr) QS system.[18-20] The agr system has four components, termed AgrA-D, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, and is centered on the autoinducing peptide (AIP) QS signal. AgrB is an integral membrane endopeptidase that converts the precursor of the AIP signal, AgrD, to the mature AIP. This conversion involves cyclization of AgrD via a cysteine sulfhydryl group and its C-terminus to form the AIP as a 16-atom thiolactone macrocycle with an N-terminal exocyclic tail (shown in FIG. 1B). AgrB is also involved in the secretion of AIP across the cell membrane. Once a threshold concentration of AIP is reached in a given environment, the AIP ligand binds to its target receptor AgrC, a transmembrane histidine kinase. The AIP:AgrC complex acts to phosphorylate the response regulator, AgrA. Phosphorylated AgrA then binds to the P2 and P3 promoters to autoinduce the agr system and upregulate RNAIII transcription.[21] RNAIII thus represents the main effector of the agr system and regulates the expression of many virulence factors and surface proteins associated with biofilm production.[22]
There is a hypervariable region within the S. aureus agr operon that has led to the classification of four agr specificity groups of S. aureus (I-IV) with distinct AIP and AgrC sequences.[23-25] The structures of the four AIP signals (I-IV) are shown in FIG. 1B. The four AIP signals have a conserved 16-atom thiolactone macrocycle, and AIPs I and IV share a nearly identical primary sequence, while AIP-II and AIP-III have more dissimilar primary sequences.
The four different agr groups have been correlated with specific disease types: group-I and -II are associated with the majority of invasive infections,[26-28] while group-IV is considered rare and limited to exfoliative toxin-related syndromes8 26] Group-III S. aureus has recently been reported to be the most abundant group in nasal carriage cases and to be predominately responsible for toxic shock syndrome (TSS) in humans.[26, 27] Toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1) is the causative agent all cases of menstrual TSS and most cases of nonmenstrual TSS.[26, 29] Notably, TSST-1 production is directly regulated by the agr-III QS system (FIG. 1A).[18, 29, 30] Methods to inhibit the agr-III system in S. aureus could provide new insights into and therapeutic strategies for this deadly disease.
QS is dependent on autoinducer:receptor binding, and the development of chemical agents capable of blocking this binding event have been a focus of considerable research.[31-33] Both small molecules and macromolecules have been utilized to block native autoinducer binding, largely in Gram-negative bacteria.[34, 35] Such abiotic agents can be useful in anti-infective treatments.[36-38] The development of small molecules that affect AgrC signaling in S. aureus has proceeded more slowly.
Janda et al. [35, 44] have recently reported a complimentary strategy based on antibodies that sequester the AIP ligand away from AgrC and effectively "quench" QS in group-IV S. aureus. McCormick and co-workers have reported that naturally occurring cyclic dipeptides produced by Lactobacillus reuteri can modulate the agr system in S. aureus.[29]
Early studies of the AgrC systems reported that each of the native AIPs were capable of cross-inhibiting the other three, non-cognate receptors.[23, 45-47] This activity was suggested to provide each group some competitive advantage when establishing an infection, and to explain in part the predominance of a single S. aureus group in many infection types.[23, 48] Given the prevalence of group-I and -II systems in clinically relevant infections, AIP-I and AIP-II have so far received the most scrutiny for the design of AgrC modulators.[24, 45, 46, 49-52]
Studies by Muir, Novick, Williams, and co-workers examined the structure activity relationship (SAR) of AIP-I and AIP-II, [53-55] and reported certain non-native mimetics of these peptides that were capable of inhibiting both their cognate and non-cognate AgrC receptors in S. aureus. There are two components to AIP:AgrC interactions: initial recognition and induction of an allosteric response that drives activation. The core AIP-II macrocycle was reported to be important for recognition because linear native peptides and mimetics of AIP-II were completely inactive.[45] In addition, these studies reported that the two structural elements of AIPs, the macrocycle and the exocyclic tail, are responsible for AgrC:AIP recognition and AgrC activation, respectively. [55] Interactions of AIPs with non-cognate AgrC receptors were reported to be inhibitory, namely through AIP:AgrC recognition, alterations to the exocyclic tails did not significantly affect cross-inhibition. The AIP macrocycle alone is reported sufficient for cross-group inhibitory activity. Within the AIP-I and AIP-II macrocycles, the hydrophobic residues at the C-termini were reported to be essential for cognate and non-cognate AgrC recognition.[24, 45, 49] Consistent with these observations, Muir et al. reported several potent and global inhibitors of all four AgrC receptors.[49] The most active inhibitor was reported to be a truncated version of AIP-I that lacked an exocyclic tail and had an aspartic acid to alanine mutation in the macrocyclic core (tAIP-I D2A):
Peptidomimetics are a powerful tool for studying and understanding SARs of peptides and proteins. [67] Modifications can be introduced to gather information regarding the importance of specific amide and hydrogen bonds within a peptide backbone and to identify conformational restrictions and structural elements important to overall activity while simultaneously enhancing pharmacological properties. [68-73] Peptidomimetics, with enhanced metabolic stability and permeability, can be useful as drug leads. [67, 74] For instance, N-methyl amino acids and N-substituted glycine derivatives (peptoids) can be inserted into or formed into peptides generating fully or partially N-methylated peptides, peptoids or peptide-peptoid (peptomer) hybrids which can be used to provide valuable SAR insights.

For example, Muir and co-workers [51] performed a N-methyl scan of the truncated version of AIP-II pointing to the utility of such studies for AIP SAR.
The SARs that dictate the activity of AIP-III remain largely unknown, and mimetics thereof are yet to be reported.

Molecules which affect QS in group-III S. aureus are of particular interest because of the prevalence of infections of these group-III species in human TSS.

Peptide-based quorum sensing inhibitors for the attenuation of virulence in


An illumination system includes a light source module, a light splitting module, a light consolidating module and a waveband converting module. The light source module has a first light source, which provides a first light beam of first waveband. The light splitting module has a first light splitting element and a second light splitting element. The first light splitting element allows the light beam of first waveband to pass through and reflects the light beam of second waveband. The second light splitting element allows the light beam of second waveband to pass through and reflects the light beam of first waveband. The light consolidating module reflects the light beam having an incident angle greater than a predetermined angel and allows the light beam having an incident angle smaller than the predetermined angel to pass through. The waveband converting module has a first waveband converting zone.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination system and, in particular, to an illumination system applied to a projection device.
2. Related Art
Recently, the small and compact projection device has become one of the popular products and is the trend of the development in the projector technology. The projection device can be roughly cut into an illumination system and an imaging system. Most manufacturers have their unique designs in the illumination system and imaging system so as to minimize the size of the illumination or imaging system, enhance the performance of the projection device, and provide high-quality images.
The conventional illumination system at least includes a red LED, a green LED and a blue LED, and converge lenses are configured adjacent to the LEDs for providing the light consolidating function. To be noted, the illumination system needs the converge lenses disposed adjacent to the LEDs to converge light beams for the following light consolidating procedure. Thus, many optical components are necessary, and unfortunately, the weight of the illumination system is consequentially increased. Therefore, this design of illumination system, which usually has larger size, is not suitable for the minimization of the projectors.
Therefore, it is desired to effectively configure the optical elements inside the illumination system so as to provide a novel design with simpler structure and better color gamut and saturation, which can still effectively reduce the size and weight of the illumination system.

Illumination system and projection device comprising the same


A point source light emitting-diode (LED) comprises a substrate, an epitaxy structure, a first electrode, an isolation layer, a bonding layer, a contact layer, and a connection bridge. The epitaxy structure is located on the substrate, and the substrate has a pattern including a light emitting area located on the light-emitting surface of the epitaxy structure. The first electrode is located on the substrate, and the isolation layer is located on the epitaxy structure adjacent to the first electrode. The contact layer is located on the first electrode, and the bonding layer is located on one portion of the isolation layer. The connection bridge with a width less than one half of the diameter of the light emitting area is located on the other portion of the isolation layer, thereby connecting the contact layer and the bonding layer.

A LED is a p-n junction diode that can emit light of various wavelengths, and has the characteristics of low power consumption, low heat generation, long operational life, small volume, good impact resistance, fast response, and excellent stability, so that the LED has been popularly used in electric appliance field as a light source.
In optoelectric applications, a LED also has been used as an important active component of optical fiber communications, due to its reliability and high beam-coupling ratio with the optical fiber. Generally, to obtain high light-coupling efficiency with optical fibers, a point source LED is selected as the light source of communications, because of its lower view angel. However, a conventional LED having a bonding area located on the center of the light emitting area not only restricts the light emitting that can affect the emitting shape, but also reduces the light emitting efficiency.
To resolve this problem, a lens is provided to concentrate the light emitted from the point source LED into a light beam. However, the addition of lens requiring additional assembly processes and materials is not competitive in the market.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,643 provides a method of concentrating the local current into a LED to produce the concentrated emitting light. In the disclosed art, a light-emitting diode is etched to form an emitting area. Then the epitaxy structure and the electrode surrounding the light emitting area are selectively oxidized. By the treatment, the conventional problems of light emitting restriction can be avoided, so that, the emitted light can be focused into a light beam without any additional lenses. However, only the materials suitable for oxidizing, such as AlGaAs or AlAs can be used as the epitaxy structure. And the treatment of selective oxidization conducted on the epitaxy structure can increase the complexity and cost of the LED manufacturing processes.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. Heisei 2-174272 discloses another LED of high brightness. In the disclosed art, by etching the epitaxy structure of the LED, a light emitting area is provided. Consequently, a circle electrode is provided by a series of doping and etching processes. Through the treatment, the lightness of the LED can be increased and the light can be concentrated into a single beam. However the doping process requires high operation temperatures that could cause the degradation of the LED.
It is desirable; therefore, to provide a point source LED with high lightness, concentrative emitting light, and with simple manufacturing processes.


An electronic device having a semiconductor circuit formed therein includes a semiconductor device in which the semiconductor circuit is formed; and a light emitting device, formed integrally with the semiconductor device, for emitting light indicating a reference position of the semiconductor device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device and a holding member. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic device in which a semiconductor circuit is formed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the number of terminals of an LSI has dramatically increased with increase of the degree of integration and increase of functions in the LSI, and therefore the space between the terminals of the LSI becomes narrower. An apparatus that performs positioning of the LSI in accordance with image processing techniques is conventionally known. This apparatus detects the position of the LSI based on an image of the LSI captured by illuminating the LSI with light from an external light source.
In some cases, however, the positions of the LSI cannot be detected appropriately because of unevenness in the light reflected from the LSI based on the difference of shape between the LSIs. For example, in a case of an LSI including BGA (Ball Grid Array) terminals that are arranged with a narrow pitch, the difference between the shapes of the respective terminals is large. Thus, the direction and intensity of the reflected light may be uneven.
Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 3-289700 discloses a method in which an alignment mark is applied onto a substrate or the like. Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 4-102339 discloses another method in which a solder bump is used as the alignment mark. Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 10-332345 discloses a method in which an image of the alignment mark is captured and is then subjected to image processing. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,748 discloses a method in which a CMOS circuit is formed in a polysilicon layer on a GaAs substrate.

Electronic device with integrally formed light emitting device and supporting member


A server system includes a plurality of stacked modular computing structures. Each modular computing structure includes a circuit board comprising a computing resource, an air-fluid heat exchange structure comprising a first set of pipe segments, and a cold plate structure attached to a second set of pipe segments of the modular computing structure. The first set of pipe segments of each modular computing structure interfaces with the first set of pipe segments of at least one adjacent modular computing structure to form a corresponding section of a first fluid circulation loop. The second set of pipe segments of each modular computing structure interfaces with the second set of pipe segments of at least one adjacent modular computing structure to form a corresponding section of a second fluid circulation loop.

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to server systems and, more particularly, to cooling in server systems.
Description of the Related Art
Thermal management is a key criterion for effective data center operation. Conventional approaches rely primarily on forced air flow to evacuate heat from servers. However, server systems typically utilize a backplane structure that is oriented orthogonal to the circuit boards needing cooling, and thus impedes the flow of air over the circuit boards. To compensate, high-power fans may be used, but such devices substantially increase the energy consumption of the server system. In light of these deficiencies, some server systems implement water cooling, either in the form of water-cooled doors at the front or back of the server rack, or water cooling pipes run directly to the circuit boards in the server rack. The water-cooled doors, however, suffer from the same issue with air impedance through the backplane. Direct water-cooling also is problematic in that it introduces the risk of leaks on components highly sensitive to water.

Bimodal cooling in modular server system


A conductive polymer material and preparing method and uses thereof are provided. The conductive polymer material comprises conductive polymer and fluorinated graphene doping thereof. The weight ratio of the conductive polymer to the fluorinated graphene is 1:0.05-1. The conductive polymer is one of polythiophene or its derivatives, polypyrrole or its derivatives, and polyaniline or its derivatives. The cycle stability of the conductive polymer material is greatly enhanced for doping of the fluorinated graphene, and the conductive polymer contributes to the good capacitance properties. The preparing method can be operated simply with cheaper cost and lower request for equipments, and is suitable for industrial production.

Conductive polymers are a series of polymer materials having a conjugated π bond structure in the carbon skeleton. After chemical or electrochemical doping, the conductivity thereof may extend from insulator to the range of conductors. Conductive polymer materials have advantages such as good conductivity, simple preparation process, and long storage time. However, currently used conductive polymer materials have poor cycling stability, and tend to be instable in practice.

Conductive polymer materials and preparing method and uses thereof

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