The inventive plasma display is capable of enhancing the luminous efficiency and the brightness by minimizing ineffective ultraviolet rays.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plasma display, and more particularly to a plasma display having high luminous efficiency and brightness.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plasma display displays a picture by utilizing visible lights emitted from phosphors when ultraviolet rays generated by gas discharge excite the phosphors. The plasma display has advantages in thinness, lightness, and realizing a high resolution and large-scale screen over a cathode ray tube (CRT) that has been the mainstream display mechanism for decades.
The plasma display is composed of a plurality of discharge cells that are arranged as a matrix. According to the supplied voltage for driving, the plasma display is largely classified into a direct current DC type and an alternate current AC type, and nowadays the AC type plasma display is mainly used.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a related art plasma display of a 3-electrode AC surface discharge type. The plasma display includes a front plate 10 where a picture is displayed, and a rear plate 20 separated from the front plate 10 with designated gap. The front and rear plates 10 and 20 are coupled with a frit glass.
The front plate 10 includes: a common sustain electrode Z and a scan & sustain electrode Y which are arranged in a pair for maintaining discharge lights of discharge cells through the electric discharge therebetween; a dielectric layer 12 for insulating the common sustain electrode Z and the scan & sustain electrode Y and limiting the discharge current therebetween; and a protection layer 13 for preventing the damage of the dielectric layer and improving the emission efficiency of secondary electrons.
The common sustain electrode Z includes: a transparent electrode Za made from indium-tin-oxide (ITO); a bus electrode Zb made from metal; and a black layer 14 which are formed between the transparent electrode Za and the bus electrode Zb. The black layer 14 has electrical conductivity and is made from ruthenium-oxide, lead-oxide, carbon compound, or the like.
The scan & sustain electrode Y includes: an transparent electrode Ya made from ITO; a bus electrode Yb made from metal; and a black layer B which are formed between the transparent electrode Ya and the bus electrode Yb. The black layer B has electrical conductivity and is made from ruthenium-oxide, lead-oxide, carbon compound, or the like.
The rear plate 20 includes: address electrodes X crossing the common sustain electrode Z and the scan & sustain electrode Y; a dielectric layer 22 for insulating the address electrodes X; barrier ribs 21 formed on the dielectric layer 22 to partition discharge spaces, respectively;, and a phosphor layer 23 formed on the barrier rib 21 and the dielectric layer 22 to emit visible lights of one color among the red R, green G, and blue B colors by being excited and transited by ultraviolet rays.
Discharge gases with the pressure range of 300˜400 Torr are filled in the space between the front plate 10 and the rear plate 20. The discharge gases are mainly He, Xe, Ne, Ar, and the mixed gas thereof. Here, the Xe gas plays a role as the source of vacuum ultraviolet rays causing the phosphor layer 23 to emit visible lights, and the gases He, Ne, Ar and the like play a role as buffer gas.
This plasma display is mainly driven by the well-known Address and Display Separate (ADS) method in which the data writing period and the display period are separated in time.
In order to express gray levels of a picture, the plasma display is driven by frames, each of which is divided into several sub-fields having different emission frequencies with each other. Each sub-field is again divided into a reset period for uniform discharging, an address period for selecting discharge cells, and a sustain period for realizing the gray levels according to discharge frequencies. The address period corresponds to a data writing period, and the sustain period corresponds to a display period. For instance, when it is intended to display a picture of 256 gray levels, a frame interval of 1/60 second (i.e. 16.67 ms) is divided into 8 sub-fields. While the reset and address periods of each sub-field are identical for each sub-field, the sustain periods and the discharge frequencies are increased at the ratio of 2n (where n=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) at each sub-field in accordance with the number of sustain pulses. Since the sustain period is different in each sub-field, it is possible to express a gray scale of a picture.
In the address period, when the potential difference between the scan & sustain and address electrodes Y and X reaches the range of 150˜300V, a writing discharge, i.e., an address discharge, occurs at the corresponding discharge cell, and so the wall charge is accumulated on the dielectric layer 12 of the discharge cell. When an alternate current is applied between the common sustain electrode Z and the scan & sustain electrode Y at the discharge cells selected by the address discharge, a sustain discharge occurs. Within these cells, electric fields generated by the sustain discharge accelerate electrons of the discharge gases. These accelerated electrons collide with neutral particles of the discharge gases. By these collisions the neutral particles are ionized into electrons and ions. This ionization process progresses in gradually higher rate in accordance with the growing number of collisions between the ionized electrons and the neutral particles of gases. This fast ionization process consequently transforms the discharge gases into plasma with emitting vacuum ultraviolet rays (VUV) in parallel. These vacuum ultraviolet rays excite the phosphor layer 23 to generate visible lights. The generated visible lights are radiated externally through the front plate 10, so the light emission of the discharge cells, displayed pictures, can be recognized externally.
In order to express gray levels of a picture, the plasma display is driven by a time divisional method wherein each of frames is divided into several sub-fields having different emission frequencies with each other. Each sub-field is again divided into a reset period for uniform discharging, an address period for selecting discharge cells, and a sustain period for realizing the gray levels in accordance with discharge frequencies. For instance, when it is intended to display a picture of 256 gray levels, a frame interval of 1/60 second (i.e. 16.67 ms) is divided into 8 sub-fields. While the reset and address periods of each sub-field are respectively identical, the sustain periods and corresponding discharge frequencies are increased at the ratio of 2n (where n=0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7) at each sub-field in accordance with the number of the sustain pulses. Since the sustain period is different in each sub-field, it is possible to determine the brightness and the chrominance of displayed pictures through a combination of the sub-fields.
The related art plasma display, however, has the problem of low luminous efficiency due to the structure of electrodes. This problem is explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the transparent electrodes Za and Ya of the respective common and scan & sustain electrodes Z and Y are made from ITO on the front plate 10 in order to reduce the degradation of the aperture ratio. These transparent electrodes Za and Ya are uniformly patterned to have the width of about 300 μm. The black layer 14 and the bus electrodes Zb and Yb are stacked on the transparent electrodes Za and Ya respectively. The bus electrodes Zb and Yb of the respective common and scan & sustain electrodes Z and Y are formed on the black layer 14 and made from Ag or Cr—Cu—Cr. The black layer 14 and the bus electrodes Zb and Yb are uniformly patterned to have narrower width than those of the transparent electrodes Za and Ya. Driving signals are applied to the transparent electrodes Za and Ya via the bus electrodes Zb and Yb respectively.
When the sustain voltage is applied to one of the common sustain electrode Z and the scan & sustain electrodes Y, due to the structure of the electrodes of the front plate as set forth above, the discharge begins at the place between the transparent electrodes Za and Ya having a small gap, and spreads out along the direction of the width of electrodes as shown in FIG. 4. These sustain discharges accelerate electrons of the discharge gases. These accelerated electrons collide with neutral particles of the discharge gases. By these collisions the neutral particles are ionized into electrons and ions. Similar collisions between the ionized electrons and the neutral particles of gases continue so as to transform the discharge gases into plasma and to emit vacuum ultraviolet rays (VUV) in parallel. During the excitation and transition of the discharge gases these vacuum ultraviolet rays generated with the direction of the arrows of FIG. 4 excite the phosphor layer 23 to emit visible lights.
In the related art plasma display, however, some of the vacuum ultraviolet rays generated by the sustain discharge vanish and cannot reach the phosphor layer 23. In other words, some of the vacuum ultraviolet rays generated from the inner electric fields between the common and scan & sustain electrodes Z and Y come to be ineffective ultraviolet rays, vanishing within the electric fields of the cell and not radiating toward the phosphor layer 23. These ineffective ultraviolet rays reduce the luminous efficiency of the plasma display and the brightness of displayed pictures, and raise the power consumption by increasing discharge voltage.

Abstract: The plasma display according to the present invention comprises: a first transparent electrode having two or more protrusion parts; and a second transparent electrode having two or more protrusion parts corresponding respectively to the protrusion parts of the first transparent electrode. When discharges between the first and second transparent electrodes take place, there are two or more peaks in the discharge intensity of each transparent electrode.


A communications interface accessory for an electric power system arrester is described. The communications interface accessory includes a housing and a communications interface positioned within the housing. The communications interface is configured to complete a signal path with the arrestor. The communications interface accessory also includes a disconnect device positioned within the housing, whereby the disconnect device is coupled to the arrestor and the communications interface.

This invention relates generally to electric power system arresters, and more specifically to communications interface accessories for electric power system arresters.
An arrester is a protective device utilized as part of electric power transmission and distribution, which is commonly connected in parallel with a comparatively expensive piece of electrical equipment so as to shunt or divert over-voltage-induced current surges safely around the equipment, thereby protecting the equipment and its internal circuitry from damage. When exposed to an over-voltage condition, the arrester operates in a low-impedance mode that provides a current path to electrical ground having a relatively low impedance. The arrester otherwise operates in a high-impedance mode that provides a current path to ground having a relatively high impedance. The impedance of the current path is substantially lower than the impedance of the equipment being protected by the arrester when the arrester is operating in the low-impedance mode, and is otherwise substantially higher than the impedance of the protected equipment. Upon completion of the over-voltage condition, the arrester returns to operation in the high-impedance mode. This prevents normal current at the system frequency from following the surge current to ground along the current path through the arrester.
To remove a short circuit of line potential conductors connected to the arrester upon an arrester failure, a disconnect device is provided between the arrester and electrical ground. This type of disconnect device is sometimes referred to as a disconnector, or an isolator, and such devices are commercially available from Cooper Power Systems of Waukesha, Wis. Known disconnectors may include an internal resistor connected in parallel with a spark gap assembly, and a black powder charge in an unprimed .22 caliber cartridge that is heat activated. Thus, if the arrester was to fail and a sustained current was to flow through the disconnector, a spark would be generated by the spark gap assembly. Heat from the spark would detonate the powder charge and mechanically sever an electrical connection between the arrester and electrical ground. Short circuit conditions through the arrester may therefore be removed.
Electrical power transmission and distribution equipment typically is configured to deliver electricity from a power station or generator to customers. However, electric power systems have also been used to transmit and receive communications signals. For example, power lines have been used by utility companies to transmit and receive communications signals to monitor equipment and to read meters. Power lines have also been used to provide broadband communications for customers. These communications may be referred to as broadband over power line (BPL) communications. Various techniques have been developed to couple broadband communications signals to medium-voltage power lines. These broadband communications signals typically occupy frequencies in the 2-50 MHz region. One approach to coupling communications signals to these medium-voltage power lines is to use the intrinsic capacitance of metal oxide varistor (MOV) arresters to couple a portion of the communications radio frequency signals onto medium-voltage power lines.

Communications interface accessory for power system arrester


It is an object of this invention to, in an image processing apparatus executing load distribution processing over a network, perform appropriate processing in accordance with an instruction from a user at power shutdown. There is provided an image processing apparatus which is connected to a network and performs processing requested by another apparatus over the network, including a notifying unit which, if the apparatus is instructed to shut down power during execution of the requested processing, provides notification to a user that the requested processing is being performed, an input unit for a user to input an instruction in response to the notification, and a termination processing unit which shuts down power after performing processing corresponding to the instruction.

In recent years, grid computing (to be also simply referred to as "grid" hereinafter), which utilizes a plurality of available computers connected over a network as one system, is attracting attention. Attempts are being made to apply grid computing to various fields.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the architecture of grid computing. There are several types of grid computing. Grid computing to be explained here is of a type called desktop grid computing which performs a job using the idle time of the CPU of a desktop PC or the like.
In FIG. 1, a client 10 is a device to which a user submits a job as a request. A submitted job is passed to a task manager (to be abbreviated as TM hereinafter) 20. The TM 20 transmits the description of the job to a dynamic job scheduler (to be abbreviated as DJS hereinafter) 30.
The DJS 30 manages all of the resources of a plurality of host devices 41 to 43, each of which includes a broker 411 and a resource manager (to be abbreviated as RM hereinafter) 412 and is recognized as a resource. The DJS 30 analyzes a job, selects the brokers 411 of the most favorable ones of the resources, and notifies the TM 20 of the selected brokers 411. Note that a resource refers to a CPU which is in an idle state and available.
Each broker 411 registers in advance resource information acquired by the corresponding RM 412 in the DJS 30. Each selected broker 411 submits the job to the corresponding most favorable resource at the request of the TM 20. The broker 411 notifies the TM 20 of the completion of the job upon termination of the job.
The TM 20 submits a job to the most favorable ones of the brokers 411 selected by the DJS 30 and monitors the progress of the job thereafter. Upon receipt of a completion notification from each selected broker 411, the TM 20 notifies the client 10 of the result. If a change or abnormality (e.g., a failure, receipt of another job, or the like) occurs in the corresponding resource, the RM 412 notifies the broker 411 to that effect.
With this mechanism, a job is distributed among resources such as CPUs which are generally unused, thereby allowing distribution processing by a plurality of devices without making a user conscious of the distribution processing. This implements desktop grid computing.
Research has been made to join the CPU power of computers using grid computing technology as described above and implement high-speed processing. However, the technology is not often applied to a computer peripheral.
The configuration of a case where the computing technology is applied to PDL processing of an image processing apparatus will be explained with reference to FIG. 2. In the explanation with reference to FIG. 1, modules with which grid computing is implemented are treated as separate ones. If the technology is applied to a printing apparatus, a plurality of modules are generally present in one device.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a case where grid computing is applied to PDL processing (a process of converting page description language codes into a raster image) of a printer. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the modules with which grid computing is implemented are treated as separate units. However, if grid computing is applied to an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral equipment (MFP) or printer, a plurality of modules are generally present in one device.
In the configuration in FIG. 2, a user submits a job such as a printing instruction from a client PC 110. The submitted job is analyzed by an image forming apparatus 120 such as a printer having a TM function and a DJS function, and distribution processing by grid computing is performed using the resources of three PCs PC1 141, PC2 142, and PC3 143 each having a broker and an RM.
More specifically, in the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 120 also has a function as a host in grid computing. A PC other than the image forming apparatus 120, of course, may have a function as a host.
When a PDL print job is submitted from the client PC 110, the job is appropriately distributed among the resources of the PCs 141 to 143 via the TM and DJS of the image forming apparatus 120. Simultaneously with this, an application program for converting PDL codes into an image is also transmitted from the image forming apparatus 120 to each PC.
Images formed by converting the PDL codes in the respective PCs are collected and finally output in a combined state by the image forming apparatus 120.
The number of clients (resources) to which the distribution processing is to be allocated is not particularly limited, and three or more clients may be used. The distribution processing may be allocated to the resource of the client PC 110, to which a job is submitted, or the resource of the image forming apparatus 120.
As applications of grid computing to an MFP, there can be considered distribution of processing which requires high CPU power such as OCR or automatic search key generation, in addition to PDL processing as explained above with reference to FIG. 2.
However, an MFP often shuts down power at a closing time, upon the occurrence of trouble, or the like. In the configuration of general grid computing as explained above, distribution processing being performed as background processing is not taken into consideration at power shutdown. Accordingly, if the power of an apparatus with which grid computing is implemented is unexpectedly shut down, distribution processing requested by another device and being performed as background processing is stopped and left incomplete. For this reason, the efficiency in distribution processing decreases.
In an OS such as Microsoft Windows (registered trademark), it is possible to lay open a folder on the hard disk of a PC as a shared folder on a network. To shut down a PC while the shared file is being accessed by another PC, a process of inquiring of a user whether to disconnect the other PC is performed. However, this is processing related to a shared folder and not related to distribution processing requested by another device and being performed in the background.
There is a need for a technique which makes it possible to designate which processing is to be performed at power shutdown when load distribution processing such as grid computing is applied to a plurality of computer peripherals connected over a network, and the power of each apparatus constituting a system is to be shut down, as described above.

Image processing apparatus with distributed processing and shutdown control method


The molded hook and loop fastener has multiple hook and loop fastener parts on which multiple engaging elements are disposed, and a connection member for connecting the hook and loop fastener parts. The hook and loop fastener parts have fixing parts which fix the connection member to backings. The backings have forward and rearward extensions that extend in the longitudinal direction from the positions where the fixing parts are disposed. The dimension in the longitudinal direction of the connection member at a connection part is set to be longer than the minimum interval between adjacent hook and loop fastener parts, thereby allowing the molded hook and loop fastener to be bent easily in the width direction, and allowing the forward and rearward extensions to prevent foam resin material from directly hitting lateral walls.

Seats for automobiles and trains, various sofas, office chairs, and the like, are provided with cushion bodies in the insides of their epidermis materials. For the cushion bodies, a molded body formed of material called rock wool and such, which is made by twisting stiff fibers, such as palm and hemp or thick synthetic fibers and hardening the same with a rubber and the like, and a molded body (foam body) which is formed of various foam resin materials are used.
These cushion bodies often have curved surfaces which are consisted of depression and projection form that is ergonomically satisfying so as to keep a sitting position which prevents fatigue from sitting for a long time. It is difficult to use the rock wool which requires many production processes for efficient mass production of the cushion body which has such a complicated surface form, by also considering its cushioning characteristic.
On the other hand, a foam resin cushion body is used broadly because the foam resin cushion body can be produced in a single process and various shapes can easily be obtained. Namely, the foam resin cushion body is molded in a desired form at the same time as foaming by pouring foam resin material such as, for example, foam urethane resin, into a mold.
Additionally, on the surface of the cushion body which has been molded in this manner, generally, epidermis material, such as various fiber fabric and natural or synthetic leather, is deposited. For depositing the epidermis material on the surface of the cushion body, either means for integrating the cushion body into the back surface of the epidermis material at the same time as molding of the cushion body by adsorbing the epidermis material along a cavity surface of the mold and by pouring the foam resin material into the mold, or means for molding the cushion body in a desired form and then covering the surface of the obtained cushion body with the epidermis material and fixing the same to the surface, is employed.
In the case of using the afore-mentioned means for integrating at the same time as molding, when setting the epidermis material along the inner surface of the mold, the epidermis material is adsorbed along the inner surface of the mold using suction means. However, in order to deform the epidermis material along the surface of the cushion body having a complicated surface form as mentioned above, the epidermis material itself needs to be good in elasticity. Nevertheless, for some materials, the elasticity has a limit. Therefore, when the surface form of the cushion body becomes complicated, numerous wrinkles tend to appear particularly between a seating surface and a peripheral side surface, and a lot of efforts are made to correct this.
Additionally, by the means, the cushion body and the epidermis material are integrated at the whole surface. Therefore, for example, if a strong force is applied in the direction that the epidermis material moves on the surface of the cushion body when being used, a shearing force works between the epidermis material and the cushion body, thereby possibly causing an abrasion of the epidermis material by tearing a part of the cushion body. Moreover, in order to prevent the afore-mentioned wrinkles from appearing, materials which may be used as the epidermis material are naturally limited, and it is preferred that a slight movement may be tolerated between the epidermis material and the cushion body so that an excessive force does not apply between the two. Therefore, a means for putting the epidermis material over the obtained cushion body after molding the cushion body in the desired form has become more frequently employed, rather than using a means for integrating the epidermis at the same time as the molding of the cushion body.
When putting the epidermis material over such cushion body which is made from the foam resin material, a method of using the molded hook and loop fastener which is made from a thermoplastic resin is generally employed. For example, firstly, the molded hook and loop fastener, which comprises multiple engaging elements (male engaging elements), is set on the cavity surface of the mold which molds the cushion body. At this point, the molded hook and loop fastener is mounted and fixed on a protruding surface portion of the mold bottom surface which corresponds to a recess surface of the cushion body with an engaging elements formation surface of the molded hook and loop fastener oriented toward the protruding surface portion.
Secondly, by pouring the foam resin material into the mold on which the molded hook and loop fastener is mounted so as to foam-mold the cushion body, at the same time as the molding of the cushion body, the molded hook and loop fastener is integrated into the recess surface of the cushion body with the engaging elements exposed outside. Note that, at the time of the foam-molding, it is important to prevent the foam resin material of the cushion body from flowing into a region where the engaging elements of the molded hook and loop fastener are formed.
Then, the epidermis material is put over the surface of the cushion body which has been obtained by the afore-mentioned foam-molding. The epidermis material is made from various materials such as pile woven and knitted fabrics, natural and synthetic leather, and synthetic leather and is previously formed into a bag in accordance with the external form of the cushion body. At this time, by pressing female engaging elements which are disposed on the back surface of the epidermis material against the engaging element forming region of the molded hook and loop fastener which is integrated into the cushion body so as to fasten the epidermis material to the molded hook and loop fastener along the recess surface of the cushion body, and therefore the epidermis material is prevented from coming off the cushion body.
As mentioned above, a molded hook and loop fastener that can prevent a foam resin material from intruding into an engaging element forming region when performing a foam-molding so as to integrate the molded hook and loop fastener into a cushion body is disclosed in JP 2010-162339 A (Patent Document 1), for example.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 11, a molded hook and loop fastener 70 which is described in Patent Document 1 comprises multiple hook and loop fastener parts 71, each of which has an engaging element forming region 75 which is surrounded by a longitudinal protective wall 73 and a lateral protective wall 74 on the front and rear end edge sides, and a connection part 72 which establishes connection between the edges in the longitudinal direction of the adjacent hook and loop fastener parts 71 with a predetermined interval.
Each hook and loop fastener part 71 comprises a flat plate-shaped backing 76, multiple hook-shaped engaging elements (male engaging elements) 77 which are disposed to stand on the entire surface of the backing 76, left and right longitudinal protective walls 73 which are disposed to stand on left and right side edge portions of the backing 76 along the longitudinal direction so as to interpose the engaging elements 77 between them, a lateral protective wall 74 which is disposed to stand between the left and right longitudinal protective walls 73 along the width direction, a protruding portion 78 which fixes a monofilament composing the connection part 72, and a linear magnetic body 79 which is disposed along the longitudinal direction.
In addition, the front and rear end edges of each hook and loop fastener part 71 comprises a parallel portion 71a which is disposed parallel to each other between the hook and loop fastener parts 71 which are adjacent in the longitudinal direction, and inclined portions 71b which are disposed on both left and right sides of the parallel portion 71a. In this case, the parallel portion 71a has the same dimension in the width direction as the connection part (monofilament) 72.
Multiple engaging elements 77 which are disposed on each hook and loop fastener part 71 is aligned with predetermined intervals from each other along the longitudinal direction and the width direction of the backing 76.
The longitudinal protective wall 73 each has three rows of walls each on the left and right sides thereof, and the wall of each row are configured by multiple longitudinal walls 73a which are disposed at a predetermined pitch. In this case, between the walls of the adjacent rows, the longitudinal walls 73a are disposed in a staggered manner so as to be alternating with each other. Besides, the lateral protective wall 74 is configured by the engaging elements 77 which are aligned in the width direction and multiple lateral walls 74a which are disposed along the with direction.
The protruding portion 78 which fixes the monofilament is formed at a substantially central portion of the hook and loop fastener part 71 in the width direction, protruding from the backing 76 in a block shape, and buries the monofilament all through the region of the hook and loop fastener part 71. The linear magnetic body 79 which is disposed on the hook and loop fastener part 71 is fixed by a portion of the same being buried in a fixing part 80 which protrudes in the block shape from the backing 76.
As described above, the connection part 72 which establishes connection between the hook and loop fastener parts 71 is formed of a synthetic resin linear monofilament which is buried in the protruding portion 78 of each hook and loop fastener part 71. While the monofilament is buried in the protruding portion 78 in the region of the hook and loop fastener part 71, the monofilament is exposed outside between the adjacent hook and loop fastener parts 71, and the connection part 72 is formed of the exposed portion of the monofilament. To dispose such connection part 72 enables the molded hook and loop fastener 70 to be bent easily in the width direction.
When producing the molded hook and loop fastener of Patent Document 1 having the configuration as mentioned above, firstly, a continuous long hook and loop fastener member (hereafter referred to as a "primary hook and loop fastener member") which has not yet been cut into multiple hook and loop fastener parts 71 is produced. The primary hook and loop fastener member is produced by means of a production device including a die wheel which is driven rotationally, an extruding nozzle which supplies molten resin to the circumferential surface of the die wheel, and a supply portion which supplies the monofilament and the linear magnetic body 79 from an upstream position of a position where the molten resin for the die wheel is supplied. In this case, on the circumferential surface of the die wheel, cavities for molding the engaging elements 77 and cavities for molding the longitudinal wall 73a and the lateral wall 74a and such are formed.
After producing the long primary hook and loop fastener member by means of such a production device, a portion of the obtained primary hook and loop fastener member is cut off at any point all through the width direction so as to preserve the monofilament which forms the connection part 72. In this way, the molded hook and loop fastener 70 of Patent Document 1 as illustrated in FIG. 11 is produced.
The molded hook and loop fastener 70 of Patent Document 1 obtained in this way is adsorbed and fixed on the cavity surface of the mold so as to make the engaging elements 77 opposed to the cavity surface by using magnetic force of a magnet which is previously installed at the mold for molding, when performing a foam molding of the cushion body.
At this time, in the molded hook and loop fastener 70, the connection part 72 (monofilament) which establishes connection between the hook and loop fastener parts 71 can be easily bent. Therefore, for example, even if a portion of the mold for fixing the molded hook and loop fastener 70 (protruding surface portion) is curved, it becomes possible to adsorb and fix the molded hook and loop fastener 70 stably to the cavity surface of the mold with the molded hook and loop fastener 70 curved in the width direction.
Additionally, as for the molded hook and loop fastener 70, the engaging element forming region 75, on which multiple engaging elements 77 are disposed, is surrounded by the longitudinal protective wall 73 and the lateral protective wall 74. Therefore, when performing a foam molding of the cushion body, the foam resin material can be prevented from intruding into the engaging element forming region 75 over the longitudinal protective wall 73 and the lateral protective wall 74. Accordingly, even after the cushion body is foam-molded, a fastening force by the engaging elements 77 can be obtained in the engaging element forming region 75 of the molded hook and loop fastener 70. Therefore, when putting the epidermis material over the cushion body, the back surface of the epidermis material can be stably fastened on the molded hook and loop fastener 70.


An accommodating intraocular lens (AIOL) for implantation within a capsular bag of a patient's eye comprises first and second components coupled together to define an inner fluid chamber and an outer fluid chamber. The inner region of the AIOL provides optical power with one or more of the shaped fluid within the inner fluid chamber or the shape of the first or second components. A surface treatment or coating may be applied to one or more surfaces of the first and second components. The surface treatment is expected to decrease the roughness of the machined surfaces of the boundary surfaces of the first and second components, and thereby reduce the mass of water coalescing at such boundary surfaces. The disclosed surface treatments are also expected to increase the hydrophobicity (i.e., decrease the surface energy) of the corresponding surface(s), thereby decreasing the “wettability” of these surfaces.

Cataracts can affect a large percentage of the worldwide adult population with clouding of the native crystalline lens and resulting loss of vision. Patients with cataracts can be treated by native lens removal and surgical implantation of a synthetic intraocular lens ("IOL"). Worldwide, there are millions of IOL implantation procedures performed annually. In the U.S., there are 3.5 million cataract procedures performed, while worldwide there are over 20 million annual procedures performed.
Although IOL implantation procedures can be effective at restoring vision, conventional IOLs have several drawbacks. For example, many prior IOLs are not able to change focus as a natural lens would (known as accommodation). Other drawbacks of conventional IOLs include refractive errors that occur after implantation and require glasses for correcting distance vision, or in other cases the IOLs can be effective in providing good far vision but patients need glasses for intermediate and near vision.
AIOLs have been proposed to provide accommodative optical power for patients. In particular, AIOLs for use in the replacement of the native lens, within the lens capsule, allow the brain to control the natural focusing of an external image on the retina of the eye in the native fashion. AIOLs typically comprise a central optical portion and a peripheral non-optical portion. The optical portion is used to focus the image on the retina within the eye and the non-optical structural portion provides the support structure to hold the optical portion in place and the focusing or accommodating control mechanism which interfaces to the lens capsule. Native accommodation results from changing the focal length of the lens (natural or artificial in this case) within the lens capsule by tightening or relaxing the ciliary muscles, which connect to the perimeter of the capsule via the zonules. Hence the brain, via a control feedback loop and action on the ciliary muscles, controls the optical power of the AIOL to accommodate the distance of the object being focused on the retina.
However, prior AIOLs are generally still in development and have different drawbacks. For example, prior AIOLs can provide insufficient accommodation after implantation or produce suboptimal refractive correction of the eye. The amount of accommodation of the prior AIOLs can also decrease after implantation in at least some instances. The prior AIOLs can also be too large to be inserted through a small incision of the eye and may require the incision to be somewhat larger than would be ideal. Also, at least some of the prior AIOLs can be unstable when placed in the eye, which can lead to incorrect accommodation and other errors. Many prior AIOLs are also susceptible to internal reflections associated with non-optical portions of the AIOL structure scattering into the optical field of view—referred to as dysphotopsia. For purposes of this disclosure, all such internal reflections will be termed "dysphotopsia."
Improved implantable intraocular lenses that accommodate with the natural mechanisms of controlling focusing of the eye that overcome at least some of the above deficiencies would be desirable. Ideally, such improved AIOLs would provide increased amounts of accommodation when implanted, provide refractive stability, introduce few if any perceptible visual artifacts, and allow the optical power of the eye to change from far vision to near vision in response to the distance of the object viewed by the patient.

Surface treatments for accommodating intraocular lenses and associated methods and devices


A method and a system for tuning a pad. The method may comprise disposing a downhole tool into a borehole, configuring the pad in a first configuration, taking a first measurement of the formation in the first configuration, configuring the pad in a second configuration, taking a second measurement of the formation in the second configuration, determining a tuning coefficient to reduce a tool body effect in the first measurement and the second measurement, computing a first weighted measurement from the tuning coefficient and the first measurement, computing a second weighted measurement from the tuning coefficient and the second measurement, and computing a tuned impedance from a ratio of the first weighted measurement and the second weighted measurement. A system for determining a formation boundary may comprise a downhole tool, an arm, and a pad. The system may further comprise a conveyance and an information handling system.

Boreholes drilled into subterranean formations may enable recovery of desirable fluids (e.g., hydrocarbons) using a number of different techniques. A downhole tool may be employed in subterranean operations to determine borehole and/or formation properties.
A downhole tool, such as a borehole imager may be beneficial in obtaining a detailed characterization of reservoirs. A borehole imager may provide a resistivity image of the formation immediately surrounding the borehole. A borehole imager may be used to determine formation stratigraphy, dips of the formation layers as well as borehole and formation stress. A borehole imager may allow for determining thin beds and fracture locations in oil based muds and/or water based muds.
Oil based muds may provide higher performance than the water based muds and especially preferable in deep water environments where high temperature and pressure cause loss of water and in shale zones where water may cause swelling. However, oil based mud is highly resistive. At low frequencies, this resistance reduces the sensitivity of the borehole imager to an outside formation. To overcome this effect, a borehole imager in oil based mud may operate at high frequencies. At these frequencies, the borehole imager through a pad disposed on the borehole imager becomes capacitively coupled to the formation, reducing the effect of the mud.
The body and/or mandrel of the borehole imager may have a "tool body effect" on measurements taken by the borehole imager, reducing the image quality. The tool body effect from the measured response, which is the impedance seen by return electrodes, may vary linearly (or at least monotonically) with changing formation resistivity in the range of interest produce higher contrast images. The linear behavior may be achieved when a condition related to impedances or voltages is achieved. Such condition may be called the "tuned" condition, and the act of achieving such condition is called tuning the borehole imager.


A photosensitive resin composition containing an alkali soluble resin, an ethylenically unsaturated compound, a near infrared absorbing dye, a compound containing a halomethyl group and a compound containing an organoboron anion, wherein the alkali soluble resin is an acryl resin having one or more pendant groups in which both terminals of a diol compound have been blocked with isophorone diisocyanates and then (meth)acryloyl has been added. Also provided is an image forming material having a substrate, and a photosensitive layer formed by the photosensitive resin composition on the substrate, as well as an image forming method.

A method of directly drawing on a printing plate material with laser light based on the image data by a computer is studied for printing newspaper and the like. In particular, since semiconductor laser and solid laser having output power at infrared area have characteristics in stability, cost, output power and compactness, the development of a photosensitive resin composition having photosensitive properties at a wavelength area suitable for such laser (in particular, a negative-type photosensitive resin composition in which an irradiated portion is cured) has been desired.
Such photosensitive resin composition used for negative-type printing plate material contains generally an alkali soluble resin, an infrared absorbing dye, a polymerization initiator and a compound containing an ethylenically unsaturated double bond. When light is irradiated, the composition forms a cured portion by polymerization of the compound having an ethylenically unsaturated double bond. The portion where light is not irradiated is removed by development based on its alkali soluble nature. Performances such as durability and adherence are generally required for the composition. In order to introduce the durability, it is considered to introduce double bonds to the side chains of alkali soluble resins (see JP-A-2000-187322).

Photosensitive resin composition, image forming material and image forming method using thereof


A subband coder with jointly optimized multistage residual quantizers and entropy coders for image coding which allows the subband coder to exploit both linear and non-linear dependencies that may exist within and across the subbands. Both inter- and intra-band dependencies are simultaneously exploited via jointly optimizing the subband coders and entropy coders in an entropy constrained optimization framework involving rate, distortion and complexity. The multistage quantization structure and the effectiveness of the statistical modeling algorithm results in an attractive balance among reproduction quality, rate and complexity.

Subband coding is one of the most popular signal coding techniques known to date. The conventional subband coding paradigm consists of first splitting the input signal into frequency bands, and then coding the subbands. Individual subband coding systems differ typically in the choice of subband configuration, quantizers, entropy coders and bit allocation strategy. Much of the performance gain associated with subband coding may be attributed in general to the removal of linear dependencies among subband signals by the filter bank. However, additional gain may be attained by recognizing that the subband signals are generally not statistically independent. Therefore, quantizers and entropy coders that are optimized to the statistics of all subband signals can lead to a significant improvement in rate-distortion performance.
Previously, a generalized subband decomposition framework that provides a way of determining necessary conditions for the optimality of entropy constrained subband quantizers given an arbitrary set of filters and an arbitrary decomposition structure was proposed in F. Kossentini, W. Chung and M. Smith, "Subband Image Coding With Intra- And Inter-Band Subband Quantization, " in Asilomar Conf. on Signals, Systems and Computers, (Pacific Grove, Calif., November 1993). Subband quantizers and entropy coders were designed jointly to minimize the average distortion subject to a constraint on the output rate of the system. The subband coder of the present invention presents a joint optimization entropy constrained subband quantization design algorithm with emphasis on complexity reduction that leads to improved complexity-performance tradeoffs. The subband coder of the present invention exploits both linear and non-linear dependencies that may exist within and across the subbands. Both inter- and intra-band dependencies are simultaneously exploited via jointly optimizing the subband encoders, decoders, and entropy coders in an entropy constrained optimization framework involving rate, distortion and complexity.

Jointly optimized subband coding system and method


A system for retaining a sensor assembly includes a mounting plate having a mounting area for the sensor assembly, a sensor assembly having a sensor assembly plate with a perimeter, and a retainer ring having at least one spring member. The at least one spring member of the retainer ring is configured to bias the sensor assembly substantially toward at least one datum, such that a portion of the perimeter of the sensor assembly plate is directly adjacent to the at least one datum.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to sensor (camera) systems for automobile applications and more particularly to infrared ("IR") sensor systems for automobile applications.
2. Description of the Known Art
Some modern automobiles include sensor systems, more particularly, IR sensor systems which are located under the hood of the vehicle, with the field of view of the sensor system pointing forwardly of the vehicle. Normally, the sensor system is used to acquire an image of the scenery in front of the automobile. This image will help the driver of the automobile to see, particularly in the case of relatively warm objects (such as pedestrians and large animals), in dark conditions. The image from the sensor system could also be processed to identify and mark objects that should be observed by the driver. Clearly, accurate readings are needed from the sensor system for such a system to function effectively.
Imaging or sensing systems using a camera may also be used to produce inputs for safety or vehicle control systems which may not present any image to the driver. Examples of such systems include obstacle detection systems to trigger vehicle occupant or pedestrian safety systems, closing velocity or range sensing for engine shutdown control, parking assist systems, lane departure systems and vehicle blind spot detection systems.
Sensor systems generally include a sensor assembly containing a detector with multiple pixel array. Additionally, an optical arrangement is utilized such that scene energy received by the optical arrangement is directed to the sensor assembly. In order for scene energy to be properly directed from the optical arrangement to the sensor assembly, the sensor assembly must be carefully positioned so as to properly align the scene on the sensor array and with the optical center and maximize the amount of energy received from the optical arrangement during assembly. Prior art solutions have generally required that the sensor assembly be carefully aligned. This alignment is generally achieved by first determining the location of the center pixel of the sensor assembly. Thereafter, the sensor assembly is aligned with the aid of an alignment spring, gasket, retainer, and fasteners so that the center pixel is located such that it is at the center of the image directed by the optical arrangement. This system and method for aligning the sensor assembly is costly and is fairly difficult to consistently achieve. Therefore, there is a need for an improved system for aligning the sensor assembly.


A display device includes a substrate, a display unit on the substrate, the display unit including a first emission layer, a second emission layer, and a third emission layer having different emission colors, a sealing part covering and sealing the display unit, and a touch sensor on the sealing part, the touch sensor including a detection electrode adjacent to the first emission layer, the second emission layer, and the third emission layer, and the detection electrode maintaining different distances from each of the first emission layer, the second emission layer, and the third emission layer in a surface direction of the substrate.

1. Field
The described technology relates generally to a display device including a touch sensor, and more particularly, to a display device capable of restricting deterioration of an image quality according to a change in a viewing angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A touch sensor provided in a display device provides a touch detecting function capable of interworking with an observer. The touch detecting function recognizes contact information, e.g., whether a touch is generated and a position of a touch, when an observer approaches or contacts a surface of the display device, e.g., by using a finger, a touch pen, and the like, so the display device may receive an image signal based on the contact information and display an image.
For example, a capacitive type touch sensor includes a detection capacitor with a plurality of detection electrodes, detects a change in capacitance of the detection capacitor occurring when a conductor, e.g., a finger, approaches the touch sensor, and recognizes whether a touch is generated by the conductor, a position of a touch, and the like. The touch sensor may be included in the display device in an add-on method or an in-cell (on-cell) method.


A lens device comprises: at least one driven member including an optical system and a lens frame holding the optical system; a plurality of guides that guide the driven member in a direction of an optical axis; a driving frictional member frictionally engaged with the driven member; and an electro-mechanical conversion member connected to the driving frictional member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens device and, more particularly, to a lens device mounted on a miniature precision apparatus, such as a digital camera and a portable telephone.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an actuator that uses a piezoelectric element and that serves as a drive device of a lens part of a digital camera or the like. For example, a drive device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2633066 is configured so that a driving shaft is fixed to one side of the piezoelectric element and that the other side of the piezoelectric element is fixed to a device body. A lens-barrel is slidably supported by the driving shaft. The lens-barrel is frictionally engaged with the driving shaft by utilizing a pushing force of a leaf spring. A driving pulse having a substantially sawtooth-like waveform is applied to the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element deforms in an expanding direction and in a contracting direction at different speeds. For example, in a case where the piezoelectric element gradually deforms, the lens-barrel moves together with the driving shaft. Conversely, in a case where the piezoelectric element deforms fast, the lens-barrel remains at the same position by the inertia of the mass thereof. Thus, the lens-barrel can intermittently be moved at a fine pitch by iteratively applying the driving pulse having the substantially sawtooth-like waveform to the piezoelectric element.
The drive device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2633066 is configured so that the driving shaft is directly fitted into the lens-barrel. Consequently, the replacement of a component of the drive device cannot be achieved unless the drive device is completely disassembled. Thus, an actuator disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3170999 is configured so that a slider is frictionally engaged with a driving shaft, and that a lens-barrel is fixed to this slider. Therefore, the lens-barrel and the actuator can be disengaged from each other. The replacement of a component can easily be achieved.
Meanwhile, each of the related drive devices respectively disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2633066 and Japanese Patent No. 3170999 is configured so that the entire load due to the lens-barrel is applied to the driving shaft of the actuator. For example, the drive device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3170999 is adapted so that the load due to the lens-barrel is supported only by the driving shaft. Also, the drive device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2633066 is adapted so that although the lens-barrel is engaged with a guide bar to prevent the lens-barrel from turning, the load due to the lens-barrel is received by the driving shaft. Accordingly, there is a fear that when each of the drive devices respectively disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2633066 and Japanese Patent No. 3170999 suffers an impact due to the dropping thereof, a large load may be applied to the driving shaft to thereby damage or distort the driving shaft. To solve this problem, it is necessary to thicken the driving shaft to increase the stiffness thereof. However, in a case where the driving shaft is thickened, the piezoelectric element is slow to react. Thus, the related drive devices have problems that the lens-barrel cannot be moved with high precision, and that the size of the device is increased.


Embodiments of the invention provide methods and apparatuses for efficient and cost-effective imaging of alignment marks. For one embodiment, alignment mark imaging is accomplished separately from, and independent of product imaging through use of a relatively low cost, low resolution, imaging tool. For one embodiment a wafer is exposed to low-resolution light source through a reticle having a number of alignment patterns corresponding to desired alignment marks. For one embodiment, global alignment marks are imaged on a backside of a wafer. Various embodiments of the invention obviate the need for a highly accurate stage and a high-resolution imaging device, and therefore reduce processing costs and processing time.

As each layer of a semiconductor device is fabricated, it is critical to product integrity that the wafer be aligned so that subsequent layers of a device are fabricated proximate, within a specified tolerance, to corresponding underlying layers. This alignment is typically effected by imaging alignment marks on the wafer.
A portion of a typical photolithographic process proceeds as follows. A wafer proceeds on a track to a photoresist application device. Liquid photoresist is applied to the wafer and excess photoresist is spun off. There is no need to align the wafer at this point as the photoresist is applied uniformly across the wafer. After application of the photoresist, the wafer is heated to harden the photoresist and then cooled for further processing. The wafer then enters a receive cassette where it is pre-aligned before proceeding to the product-imaging device (e.g., stepper or scanner). Typically the wafer has an orientation indicator, which may take the form of a notched or flattened area of the wafer to facilitate pre-alignment. A typical tolerance for pre-alignment may be approximately 8.5 microns for x-axis and y-axis orientation and 100 microradians (μrads) for rotational orientation. The pre-alignment places the wafer within a capture range for the more accurate imaging process to follow.
The pre-aligned wafer then proceeds on a stage under a product-imaging device. For example, the stepper (i.e., stepper and repeater). The stepper is an optical system that projects the reticle pattern onto the wafer to image the desired pattern. A typical stepper has a lens that can image a 22 mm×22 mm field with sub-micron resolution.
The wafer is stepped in both the x-axis and y-axis orientation to affect the imaging of an array of fields across the wafer. Each field can contain one or multiple products (e.g., transistors).
To facilitate alignment from one product layer to the next, alignment marks are imaged in each field. The alignment marks at each product layer are used to align the imaging device at the next product layer for each die. For example, a laser interferometer system may be used to reset the stage based upon the alignment marks on the previous layer. This technique is known as cascading alignment because alignment marks on each product layer are used for alignment of a subsequent product layer.
To avoid loss of die area on the wafer due to the placement of alignment marks in the product fields, the alignment marks may, instead, be placed in the scribe lines. The disadvantage with having the alignment marks in the scribe lines is that the alignment marks are difficult to maintain through the subsequent processing steps (e.g., the planarization process).
Systems with limited stage accuracy and/or limited resolution may use multiple alignment marks because the stage may not be accurate enough to align with the markings to within a desired tolerance. That is, there may be as few as one alignment mark in each field, though typically, due to limited stage accuracy, there are multiple alignment marks per field. For such systems, the average offset of multiple alignment marks may typically be used after discarding aberrational values.
Cascading alignment has the disadvantage of compounding misalignment from one product layer to the next. Moreover, die-by-die alignment is time consuming.
These disadvantages can be addressed, for systems employing more accurate stages (e.g., less than 10 nm), by employing a two-point global, zero-layer, alignment-mark imaging scheme. For such a scheme, the accuracy of the stage allows two alignment marks to define the entire wafer, which means that die-to-die alignment is unnecessary. The alignment marks are placed outside of the product field array, and therefore, do not use die area. Moreover, each product layer is aligned to the initial reference layer (zero-layer) alignment marks rather than to alignment marks on the previous product layer. Such zero-layer alignment prevents the compounding of misalignment that is possible with a cascading alignment scheme.
For two-point global, zero-layer alignment, all that is typically required is two marks, each of which is approximately 400 microns across. Typically, these marks are imaged on a wafer using the same imaging device that is used to image the product fields (i.e., a stepper or a scanner). Typically, one of the two alignment marks is imaged and then the wafer is accurately stepped to allow imaging of the other alignment mark across the wafer in the desired location within a specified tolerance. This accurate placement of the wafer is possible due to a highly accurate stage.
The typical alignment mark dimensions are such that an imaging field of 1 mm2 is more than sufficient, yet the typical stepper has an image field several hundred times as large. The typical resolution required for an alignment mark is approximately 8 microns, yet typical steppers have sub-micron resolution. The use of the highly accurate stepper, or scanner, to image, which must be within the pre-align station capture range alignment marks, is highly inefficient as such imaging devices are expensive and their use adds to production costs.

Methods and apparatuses for applying wafer-alignment marks


A method of irradiating a target in a patient comprising directing a beam of radiation from an external source of radiation 24 at the target in the patient from numerous directions in a broad solid angle by longitudinally rotating the external source of radiation 24 around a central axis and simultaneously or sequentially, in either order, latitudinally rotating the external source of radiation 24; a globe gantry 21 comprising (i) a front opening ring 22 with its origin on the central axis of the globe gantry 21, (ii) at least one arc-shaped, gantry support arm 23, which has a front end and a rear end and is part of a circle, (iii) an external source of radiation 24, which is mounted on at least one arc-shaped, gantry support arm 23, (iv) a rear rotational axle 25 with an axis along the central axis of the globe gantry 21, (v) a support base 27, and (vi) a rear housing 26 comprising a source of power, mechanisms for moving components of the globe gantry 21, and controllers for controlling the movement of the components of the globe gantry 21 and the irradiation of the target in the patient; a system 20 comprising the globe gantry 21; and a method of irradiating a target in a patient using the system.

Radiation therapy is used to treat cancers and other conditions in patients. About half of all cancer patients receive some type of radiation therapy sometime during the course of their treatments. One commonly used form of radiation therapy is external beam radiation therapy. In external beam radiation therapy a high-energy, x-ray beam generated by a machine, usually a linear accelerator (linac), a gamma-ray beam emitted from an isotope, or charged particles generated from a particle accelerator is/are directed at a tumor or cancerous cells (i.e., the "target") inside the patient's body. While the radiation kills the cancerous cells, it also harms normal tissue and organs in the vicinity of the tumor/cancerous cells in the patient. Thus, the goal in radiation therapy is to deliver the required dose of radiation to the target volume, while minimizing the radiation dose to surrounding normal tissue that may cause complications and harm to the patient.
Before a patient is treated with radiation, a radiation treatment plan must be developed through a process called "treatment planning," which begins with simulation. During simulation, detailed imaging scans show the location of a patient's tumor and the normal areas around it. These scans are usually performed using computed tomography (CT), but they also can be performed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), x-rays or ultrasound.
The ability of radiation therapy to achieve the goal of tumor eradication and normal tissue sparing depends on the degrees of freedom provided by the radiation delivery machine and on the physics of dose deposition. These freedoms and physics principles are incorporated in the treatment planning process.
A common type of external-beam radiation therapy is called three-dimensional conformational radiation therapy (3D-CRT). 3D-CRT allows the radiation beams to be shaped from a limited number of fields to conform to the beam's eye-view of the target area.
Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) provides more freedom than 3D-CRT by allowing the intensities of the radiation beams to vary within a radiation field in addition to field shaping. The goal of IMRT is to increase the radiation dose to the areas that need it and reduce radiation exposure to specific sensitive areas of surrounding normal tissue. The treatment planning system optimizes the beam intensity distribution to achieve maximally this goal. Compared with 3D-CRT, IMRT can reduce the risk of some side effects, such as damage to the salivary glands (which can cause dry mouth or xerostomia), when the head and neck are treated with radiation therapy (Veldeman et al., "Evidence behind use of intensity-modulated radiotherapy: A systematic review of comparative clinical studies," Lancet Oncology 9(4): 367-375 (2008); and Erratum in: Lancet Oncology 9(6): 513 (2008)).
Tomotherapy (Detorie, "Helical Tomotherapy: A new tool for radiation therapy," J. Amer. Coll. Radiol. 5(1): 63-66 (2008)) and intensity-modulated arc therapy (IMAT) (Yu, "Intensity modulated arc therapy using dynamic multi-leaf collimation: An alternative to Tomotherapy," Phys. Med. Biol. 40(9): 1435-1449 (1995)) are IMRT deliveries in rotational forms. In tomotherapy the patient is translated linearly as the source of radiation is making circular movements, thereby the relative motion of the radiation beam and the patient is a helix. Because the gantry on which the linear accelerator is mounted can only rotate in a single transverse plane, such "coplanar" rotational IMRT methods limit the range of beam directions available to create an optimal plan. Consequently, these techniques have not been shown to create significantly better dose distributions than IMRT with fixed beams.
3D-CRT and IMRT are typically delivered using a linear accelerator mounted on a C-arm gantry (as shown in FIG. 1) or a ring-like gantry, which is capable of only single plane rotation. These methods have limited ability to deliver high radiation doses in a single session or a few sessions without exceeding the tolerance of surrounding organs and tissues.
Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) deliver one or more high doses of radiation to a small tumor (R. Timmerman and B. Kavanagh, "Stereotactic body radiation therapy," Curr. Probl. Cancer 29: 120-157 (2005)). SRS is commonly used for treating intracranial lesions and requires the use of a head frame or other device to immobilize the patient during treatment to ensure that the high dose of radiation is delivered accurately. The Gamma Knife (Bhatnagar et al., "First year experience with newly developed Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion," J. Med. Phys. 34(3): 141-148 (2009)) is a dedicated SRS system for treating intracranial lesions. Gantry-based linear accelerator systems are also used for SRS. Both allow radiation beams to be incident on the target from directions outside the transverse plane. SBRT is used to treat tumors that lie outside the brain. SBRT is usually given in more than one treatment session. Methods of extending the Gamma Knife concept to the rest of the body are also proposed, such as with the GammaPod system for the treatment of breast cancer (Yu, et al., "GammaPod—A new device dedicated for stereotactic radiotherapy of breast cancer," Med. Phys. 40(5): 1703 (2013)) and the use of multiple sources mounted on an arc element that rotates (Pastyr et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,259,762 B) for treating tumor sites other than in the brain. The principle of SRS and SBRT is geometric focusing of the beams to create a high dose within the target volume with a fast fall off of dose outside this volume. Focusing is achieved by aiming the radiation beams at the target from hundreds or thousands of directions. However, the ability to modulate the shape and intensity of these beams is limited. As such, SRS and SBRT have limited ability to spare surrounding tissues while maintaining a high and uniform dose within the target volume. For example, although the modern Gamma Knife has the ability to reach slightly below the base of the skull, attempts to use the Gamma Knife for treating complex targets in the head and neck region have had limited success. These regions (spinal cord, parotid glands, mandible, etc.) have complex geometric relationships to the target, and all have different radiation tolerances that need to be respected.
Techniques for delivering intensity modulated radiation from a large number of beam angles have been proposed. The CyberKnife system (J. Adler, "CyberKnife radiosurgery for brain and spinal tumors," International Congress Series 1247: 545-552 (2002)) employs a linear accelerator mounted on a robotic arm. It can deliver radiation from a large number of non-coplanar angles, but the practical number of beam angles is limited by the long treatment times associated with a large number of independent beams. Furthermore, the range of beam directions from the posterior hemisphere of the patient is restricted because of geometry constraints. Furthermore, the degree of beam modulation is limited by its collimator design.
Maurer and colleagues at Accuray, Inc., have proposed a number of alternative solutions using a fixed ring gantry, rather than a robotic arm (U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. US 2011/0210261 A1; U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. US 2011/0301449 A1; and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. US 2012/0189102 A1). While ring gantries are desirable for diagnostic imaging, where a single transverse plane or limited non-coplanar angles are used for the imaging beams, they are not ideal for treatment where a larger range of non-coplanar angles is desirable. For radiation treatment of most anatomical sites, the radiation beams are preferably directed to the target from one side of the patient's transverse axis, often from a large angle relative to this axis. For example, in treating intracranial lesions, most beams should be directed from the upper hemisphere (above the top of the patient's head) rather than from the lower hemisphere. Furthermore, it is often advantageous to use beams that are directed almost along the patient's longitudinal axis, demanding highly non-coplanar beams. In treating prostate cancer, it is generally preferable to direct beams from the lower body, rather than from the upper body, because it is better to have the beams go through less tissue and critical structures in the abdominal region. Flexible beam orientation ability throughout the lower body and some of the upper body is needed to achieve an optimal plan. The ring gantry systems proposed by Maurer and colleagues have limited ability to take advantage of such anatomical preferences or achieve highly non-coplanar beam directions.
Alternatively to exploring additional degrees of freedom, the physics of dose deposition can be altered by using different forms of radiation. External-beam radiation therapy can be delivered by proton beams and other charged particle beams. The charged particle beams differ from photon beams mainly in the way they deposit energy in living tissue.
Whereas photons deposit energy in small packets all along their path through tissue, including in regions both proximal to and distal to the target volume, protons deposit much of their energy at the end of their path (called the Bragg peak) and deposit less energy along the way. Proton energy deposition can thus be tailored to be largely within the target volume. The main limitation in providing these proton beam and charged particle treatment facilities is the extremely high cost.
Most existing linear accelerators or teletherapy machines can rotate around an axis by the rotation of the gantry on which the source of radiation is mounted. See, for example, FIG. 1, which is a drawing of a basic structure of a typical radiation treatment system in which a radiation-emitting head is mounted on a rotatable C-arm gantry. The locus of the radiation source forms a circle. During gantry rotation, the radiation beam is pointed at the rotational center, commonly referred to as the "isocenter." This design limits the beam directions to mostly planar angles and, therefore, limits the quality of treatment plans achievable with high-energy photon beams.
The present disclosure seeks to overcome the limitations of the attendant systems and methods currently available in the art by providing, among other things, a method to allow radiation beams to be focused from a broad solid angle by combined longitudinal and latitudinal rotations of the radiation source. In view of the foregoing, the present disclosure describes a method and a radiation delivery system to increase further the utility and clinical efficacy of photon-based treatment systems via increasing the degrees of freedom in beam delivery beyond that achievable with existing IMRT and SRS/SBRT systems. Specifically, this is achieved by allowing intensity-modulated photon beams to be delivered from a very large number of beam directions, including those which are highly non-coplanar. The solid angle range includes all longitudinal angles (about the patient's longitudinal axis) and a broad range of latitudinal angles. The methods and system combine, in a practical design, the geometric focusing of SRS/SBRT and intensity modulation of IMRT, thereby providing capabilities not attainable by either IMRT or SRS/SBRT alone. This and other objects and advantages, as well as inventive features, will become apparent from the detailed descriptions provided herein.

Method and system for stereotactic intensity-modulated arc therapy


A system and a method for completing over a communication switching system a series of short duration calls directed to a common destination and initiated from a plurality of sources connected to a call queuing apparatus linked to the communication switching system. When the dedicated link from the call queuing apparatus to the communication switching system is in use, subsequent calls in the series are queued. Without relinquishing control of the link, these calls are thereafter connected to the communication switching system, preferably on a first-come first-serve basis. The invention allows the overhead of call setup, both cost and setup time, to be spread over the entire series of calls, as opposed to being borne by each call in the series.

Advances in computer technology in general, and database search and retrieval techniques in particular have given birth to various forms of transaction processing methods to implement diverse types of applications, such as credit authorization and identity verification. Typically, these transactions involve transmission of a search key to a database which returns to the inquirer a field or a record of limited size. In general, transactional communications can be described as short and bursty traffic that requires secure, rapid and cost effective access to a validation or authorization database. In response to this need of the marketplace, two major types of communications access arrangements have been devised.
One popular access arrangement for transactional processing is a multidrop private line connected directly to a database or a front-end processor attached to the database which polls, on a regular basis, terminals connected to a cluster controller at each drop of the line. Analog multidrop private lines are arguably cost effective for large businesses with a great number of users because they take advantage of economies of scale due to concentration of traffic generated by a great number of terminals at clustered locations. However, for small to medium size businesses with a limited number of users, the monthly leasing cost of a multidrop private line can be prohibitive.
Even for large businesses, multidrop private lines present various disadvantages that greatly outweight their perceived cost effectiveness. For example, the known unreliability of multidrop private lines creates a need for expensive redundant circuits and networking hardware that also need to be managed and administered. In addition, systems that use multidrop private lines a) lack flexibility in terms of network reconfiguration, and b) confine users to a limited choice of vendors for hardware and software, resulting in a major handicap in the age of open systems. Finally, unlike switched communications lines, multidrop private lines are not ubiquitously available.
Another access arrangement for transactional processing involves the use of a switched communication line. In this arrangement, terminals equipped with modems, autodialers, magnetic stripe readers and the like, initiate data calls automatically over a communication switching system to establish communications with a database in response to a specific action by an inquirer. For small to medium size groups of users generating low volume traffic and unable to justify the cost of private lines, this arrangement provides expensive but ubiquitous access to a database. Because of the high cost per transaction associated with this arrangement, certain groups of users in low profit margin businesses, such as small retailers, cannot afford this solution and therefore may refuse to accept any form of payment requiring credit authorization. Other operational drawbacks of this arrangement include the long call setup time needed to complete the transaction and the unsecure access which makes the system vulnerable to security breaches by intruders.

Calling system for short duration data transactions


A portable cleaning system including a casing for storing a cleaning agent in one compartment and a towel in a second compartment. The compartments may be slidably connected to have an open position and a closed position.

1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to a device for cleaning objects such as eyeglasses, sunglasses, lenses, golf balls, mirrors and other items. More specifically, but not exclusively, the invention relates to convenient portable casing for stowing a cleaning solution and a drying towel.
2. Background Art
It is frequently necessary to remove dirt, films, moisture and other soiling materials from objects in one's possession. Often, such soiling materials need to be removed while in transit or away from where conventional cleaning materials may be stored. Previous attempts have been made to provide integrated cleaning systems that are convenient for a user, and some that are portable. Examples of the previous attempts follow.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,104 to Wolska-Klis discloses an eyeglass cleaning station including a compartmented housing containing a dispensing bottle of liquid lens cleaning material and a dispensing box of disposable lens cleaning tissue. The eyeglass-cleaning compartment may be placed on a countertop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,661 to Burwell discloses a lens or eyeglass cleaning device having an elongated storage container and a cleaning cloth attached to the container with a retaining cord in a manner that the cloth may be retracted into the container by pulling on an end of the retaining cord opposite the cloth.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,751 to Madkour discloses a portable kit for cleaning eyeglass lenses which includes a flat, flexible container having two separately openable compartments, one of the compartments contains a liquid eyeglass lens cleaner absorbed on an absorbent material and the second compartment contains a dry wiping material which may be removed to wipe lens cleaner from a lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,132 to Valadez and U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,134 to Tsai disclose respective pens for cleaning eyeglasses. The Valadez eyeglass cleaning pen includes felt tip for applying cleaning solution in a first container to a desired surface and a second container serving as a cap and dispenser for a wiping material. The Tsai eyeglass-cleaning pen consists of a similar felt tip pen having at least one spectacle screwdriver removably mounted on the pen body.
The foregoing attempts, and other conventional systems, each have certain drawbacks including; for example, certain of the above-described systems: (i) are not conveniently suitable for portable situations (e.g., the Wolska-Klis eyeglass station); (ii) do not include any cleaning solution whatsoever (e.g. the Burwell device for cleaning eyeglasses) and rely solely on a cleaning cloth for removal of soils (referred to as "dry systems"); and/or (iii) utilize small amounts of cleaning solution, such as the type applied by a felt tip (e.g., Valadez and Tsai pens)(referred to as "semi-dry systems").
Dry systems and semi-dry systems may work in some cases where the soiling material present on the surface to be cleaned is minute and/or has not significantly hardened. However dry and semi-dry systems may damage plastic lenses or UV/polarized coated lenses and can often lead to smearing of the soiling material, as opposed to removal, when a cleaning cloth is applied to a surface dry/semi-dry surface.
Additionally, certain of the conventional systems are complicated, not convenient to use and are suitable only for cleaning eyeglass/sunglass lenses (e.g., the Madkour portable kit for cleaning eyeglass lenses.)
Pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/353,700, entitled "Portable Cleaning Device," filed on Jan. 29, 2003 by Kushner et al., and incorporated herein by reference, address some of the foregoing issues by disclosing a liquid spray cleaning kit with a retractable drying cloth.
However, additional integrated cleaning systems are desired that are relatively simple, compact, portable, convenient to use, and effective at removing even stubborn soil and from all types of surfaces.


A process and apparatus for recovering product from reactor effluent of a reactor for a hydrocarbon feedstream is disclosed. An indigenous C4 stream is used as lean oil in a demethanizer, which facilitates significant cost and operational savings. C4 bottoms from a downstream depropanizer is used as lean oil recycle.

Olefins find widespread uses in many industries. For example, they represent the basic building blocks in such diverse uses as film and packaging, communications, construction, automotive and home appliances. These important materials are generally produced by the cracking of a hydrocarbon feedstream, which converts saturated hydrocarbons present in the feedstream into olefins.
Current cracking technologies for the production of light olefins (e.g. ethylene, propylene and, optionally, butylenes), gasoline and other cracked products such as light paraffins and naphtha can be classified into the two categories of thermal cracking (also known as steam cracking) and catalytic cracking. These technologies have been practiced for many years and are considered the workhorses for light-olefin production.
Steam or thermal cracking, a robust technology that does not utilize catalyst, produces the more valuable ethylene as the primary light olefin product. It is particularly suitable for cracking paraffinic feedstocks to a wide range of products including hydrogen, light olefins, light paraffins, and heavier liquid hydrocarbon products such as pyrolysis gasoline, steam cracked gas oil, etc. Conventional steam cracking utilizes a pyrolysis furnace, which has two main sections: a convection section and a radiant section reaction zone.
The hydrocarbon feed typically enters the convection section of the furnace as a liquid (except for light feeds which enter as a vapor) wherein it is typically heated and vaporized by indirect contact with hot flue gas from the radiant section and by mixing with steam. The vaporized feed and steam mixture is then introduced into the radiant section where the cracking takes place.
Current catalytic cracking technologies employ solid acid catalysts such as zeolites to promote cracking reactions. Unlike steam cracking technology, propylene is the primary light olefin product of catalytic cracking. Accordingly, catalytic cracking would be considered as the main source for growing propylene demand.
Cracked gases typically comprise hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, acetylene, ethylene, ethane, methyl acetylene, propadiene, propylene, propane, butadienes, butanes, butenes, C5 hydrocarbons, C6-C8 hydrocarbons, non-aromatics, benzene, toluene and other heavy hydrocarbons. These gases including olefins leave the pyrolysis furnace for further downstream processing. It is necessary to separate the useful olefins, e.g., ethylene and propylene, from the rest of the product gases.
A widely practiced method for separating the product gases into various fractions involves compression, drying and fractional distillation. Typically, the product gases are compressed in multi-stage compression units wherein some heavier hydrocarbons and water are separated. The remaining product gases are then dried and chilled to separate lighter hydrocarbon fractions, e.g., ethylene and propylene, from heavier hydrocarbons. Chilling makes extensive use of ethylene and propylene refrigeration systems.
A major drawback related to the operation of the above-described olefin recovery plants relates to high-energy demands. Compression, ethylene refrigeration and propylene refrigeration are major contributors to this energy consumption.
Another method used in separating the product gases into various fractions involves the use of an absorber solvent to remove a target fraction from the remaining product gases. For example, in a demethanizer absorber, product gases containing methane typically flow upwardly within a tower in countercurrent contact with a downwardly flowing lean absorber solvent. The absorber solvent absorbs the methane from the remaining hydrocarbons in the product gases and typically exits the bottoms of the tower as (methane) rich absorber solvent. One drawback related to the use of such an absorber solvent system is that the rich absorber solvent typically contains a small, but valuable amount of desired product (e.g., ethylene) in addition to the unwanted methane. Huge expense and added operating costs can be incurred in downstream separation equipment required to separate the wanted (e.g., ethylene) products from the rich absorber solvent.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process and apparatus for recovering olefins


A charging method for an electronic device having a charging unit and a connection interface unit and the electronic device are provided. The connection interface unit is externally connected to a peripheral device. The charging method includes: detecting a signal level between the charging unit and the connection interface unit; and when a time period that the detected signal level keeps on a particular level is over a threshold, resetting the connection interface unit, so as to restart a charging function of the electronic device for the peripheral device.

Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a charging technology, and in particular, to a charging method and an electronic device.
Description of Related Art
With the lifestyle changes, nowadays people's lives have a close relationship with portable electronic devices such as mobile phones or tablet PCs. Based on the power limitation of the battery, takes the mobile phone as an example, after the mobile phone is continuously used for one to two days, the mobile phone is generally needed to be charged. Generally, the portable electronic devices can not only be charged via an adapter connected to an electrical outlet, but also be charged through a universal serial bus (USB) interface connected to a computer.
The usual USB charging specification includes standard downstream port (SDP) specification, charging downstream port (CDP) specification, and dedicated charging port (DCP) specification. The corresponding charging current of the SDP specification is below about 500 mA, while the corresponding charging current of the CDP specification and the DCP specification may be up to about 1.5 A.
However, takes the mobile phone charged by the notebook as an example, when the notebook performs a state transition, such as the operating system of the notebook changes from a normal working state (such as S0) into an abnormal working state (such as S3), the notebook may stop charging the mobile phone due to the system compatibility issues.


A system for generating oxygen enriched air includes a compressed air supply for supplying compressed air and a permeable membrane gas separation system for separating a nitrogen gas component and an oxygen enriched air component from the compressed air. An oxygen analyzer is provided to detect an oxygen concentration in the oxygen enriched air component. The nitrogen gas component is divided, by a vortex tube, into a cold gas stream and a hot gas stream, and solenoid valves are actuated to modify a flow path of the compressed air through the cold gas stream and the hot gas stream in order to selectively heat and cool the compressed air. The oxygen enriched air is then selectively distributed for further use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a particular type of oxygen enriched air generation system. A permeable membrane oxygen enriched air and nitrogen gas separation device is utilized. Although the system is particularly suitable for use by dive shops for filling scuba tanks or other types of oxygen enriched air storage vessels, applications in areas such as firefighting, climbing, flight, veterinary, medical and dental treatments, welding, etc., are apparent.
2. Description of Related Art
One known system for producing a mixture of oxygen enriched air and ambient air is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,803 to Wells. In this system, oxygen is injected into a stream of ambient air in order to produce an oxygen enriched air mixture. The mixture is compressed and delivered to storage or scuba cylinders for use in diving or other applications. According to this system, however, a source of oxygen appropriate for injection into the ambient air stream is needed and, therefore, a great deal of caution is required, during generation of the oxygen enriched air mixture, to avoid explosions and other problems typically associated with the use of oxygen.