A rotating, dynamoelectric machine, such as an electric motor, a generator, or a regenerative motor, comprises a stator assembly that includes a backiron section, a plurality of stator tooth sections, and a frontiron. The dynamoelectric machine has an axial airgap-type configuration. In addition, the electric machine has a high pole count that operates at high commutating frequencies, with high efficiency, high power density and reduced heating in the rotor. Low-loss materials employed in the dynamoelectric machine include amorphous metals, nanocrystalline metals, optimized Fe-based alloys, and optimized grain-oriented Fe-based materials or non-grain-oriented Fe-based materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dynamoelectric, rotating machine; and more particularly, to an axial airgap, dynamoelectric, rotating machine comprising a rotor assembly and a stator assembly that includes a frontiron section, a backiron section, and a plurality of stator tooth sections.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The electric motor and generator industry is continuously searching for ways to provide dynamoelectric, rotating machines with increased efficiencies and power densities. As used herein, the term "motor" refers to all classes of motoring and generating machines which convert electrical energy to rotational motion and vice versa. Such machines include devices that may alternatively function as motors, generators, and regenerative motors. The term "regenerative motor" is used herein to refer to a device that may be operated as either an electric motor or a generator. A wide variety of motors are known, including permanent magnet, wound field, induction, variable reluctance, switched reluctance, and brush and brushless types. They may be energized directly from a source of direct or alternating current provided by the electric utility grid, batteries, or other alternative source. Alternatively, they may be supplied by current having the requisite waveform that is synthesized using electronic drive circuitry. Rotational energy derived from any mechanical source may drive a generator. The generator's output may be connected directly to a load or conditioned using power electronic circuitry. Optionally, a given machine is connected to a mechanical source that functions as either a source or sink of mechanical energy during different periods in its operation. The machine thus can act as a regenerative motor, e.g. by connection through power conditioning circuitry capable of four-quadrant operation.
Rotating machines ordinarily include a stationary component known as a stator and a rotating component known as a rotor. Adjacent faces of the rotor and stator are separated by a small airgap traversed by magnetic flux linking the rotor and stator. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that a rotating machine may comprise plural, mechanically connected rotors and plural stators. Virtually all rotating machines are conventionally classifiable as being either radial or axial airgap types. A radial airgap type is one in which the rotor and stator are separated radially and the traversing magnetic flux is directed predominantly perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the rotor. In an axial airgap device, the rotor and stator are axially separated and the flux traversal is predominantly parallel to the rotational axis.
Except for certain specialized types, motors and generators generally employ soft magnetic materials of one or more types. By "soft magnetic material" is meant one that is easily and efficiently magnetized and demagnetized. The energy that is inevitably dissipated in a magnetic material during each magnetization cycle is termed hysteresis loss or core loss. The magnitude of hysteresis loss is a function both of the excitation amplitude and frequency. A soft magnetic material further exhibits high permeability and low magnetic coercivity. Motors and generators also include a source of magnetomotive force, which can be provided either by one or more permanent magnets or by additional soft magnetic material encircled by current-carrying windings. By "permanent magnet material," also called "hard magnetic material," is meant a magnetic material that has a high magnetic coercivity and strongly retains its magnetization and resists being demagnetized. Depending on the type of motor, the permanent and soft magnetic materials may be disposed either on the rotor or stator.
By far, the preponderance of motors currently produced use as soft magnetic material various grades of electrical or motor steels, which are alloys of Fe with one or more alloying elements, especially including Si, P, C, and Al. Most commonly, Si is a predominant alloying element. While it is generally believed that motors and generators having rotors constructed with advanced permanent magnet material and stators having cores made with advanced, low-loss soft materials, such as amorphous metal, have the potential to provide substantially higher efficiencies and power densities compared to conventional radial airgap motors and generators, there has been little success in building such machines of either axial or radial airgap type. Previous attempts at incorporating amorphous material into conventional radial or axial airgap machines have been largely unsuccessful commercially. Early designs mainly involved substituting the stator and/or rotor with coils or circular laminations of amorphous metal, typically cut with teeth through the internal or external surface. Amorphous metal has unique magnetic and mechanical properties that make it difficult or impossible to directly substitute for ordinary steels in conventionally designed motors.
A number of applications in current technology, including widely diverse areas such as high-speed machine tools, aerospace motors and actuators, and compressor drives, require electrical motors operable at high speeds (i.e., high rpm), many times in excess of 15,000–20,000 rpm, and in some cases up to 100,000 rpm. High speed electric machines are almost always manufactured with low pole counts, lest the magnetic materials in electric machines operating at higher frequencies experience excessive core losses that contribute to inefficient motor design. This is mainly due to the fact that the soft material used in the vast majority of present motors is a silicon-iron alloy (Si—Fe). It is well known that losses resulting from changing a magnetic field at frequencies greater than about 400 Hz in conventional Si—Fe-based materials causes the material to heat, oftentimes to a point where the device cannot be cooled by any acceptable means.
To date it has proven very difficult to cost effectively provide readily manufacturable electric devices, which take advantage of low-loss materials. Previous attempts to incorporate low-loss materials into conventional machines generally failed, since the early designs typically relied on merely substituting new soft magnetic materials, such as amorphous metal, for conventional alloys, such as silicon-iron, in machine's magnetic cores. The resulting electric machines have sometimes provided increased efficiencies with less loss, but they generally suffer from an unacceptable reduction in power output, and significant increases in cost associated with handling and forming the amorphous metal. As a result, they have not achieved commercial success or market penetration.
However, a further problem arising in electric machines capable of operating at high frequencies and high speeds is heating in the rotor. As the rotor rotates relative to the stator, the rotor magnets experience cyclic differences in permeance coefficient during the course of each rotation, as the rotor magnets alternately pass between alignment with the teeth of the stator core and positions centered in the gaps between the stator teeth. In turn, this variation in permeance results in changing flux within the rotor, inducing eddy currents in accordance with Faraday's law. Those currents in some cases are high enough to cause significant heating in the rotor. The heating, in turn, is likely to cause irreversible loss of magnetization and reduced device output. In extreme cases, the heating may even be severe enough to reduce the lifetime of the rotor magnets or destroy them.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for highly efficient electric devices, which take full advantage of the specific characteristics associated with low-loss material, thus eliminating the disadvantages associated with conventional machines. Ideally, an improved machine would provide higher efficiency of conversion between mechanical and electrical energy forms. Improved efficiency in generating machines powered by fossil fuels would concomitantly reduce air pollution. The machine would be smaller, lighter, and satisfy more demanding requirements of torque, power, and speed. Cooling requirements would be reduced. Motors operating from battery power would operate longer for a given charge cycle. For certain applications, axial airgap machines are better suited because of their size and shape and their particular mechanical attributes. Similar improvements in machine properties are sought for both axial and radial airgap devices

Efficient axial airgap electric machine having a frontiron


A method of forming a pre-metal dielectric film having good as deposited gapfill characteristics, as well as good mobile-ion gettering capability. The method involves first depositing a layer of high-ozone undoped silicon dioxide film having a high ozone/TEOS volume ratio. Then, a low-ozone doped BPSG film is deposited over the high-ozone undoped silicon dioxide layer. The film layers are heat treated to densify the film, and then the top layer is planarized using known planarization techniques to a thickness that allows for adequate mobile-ion gettering.

This invention relates to semiconductor processing and, more particularly, to a method of forming a dielectric film on a semiconductor substrate and to a method of forming a semiconductor device having this dielectric film.
In the formation of semiconductor integrated circuit devices, a frequent practice in the planar process is to form subsurface diffusion layers and polysilicon conductors on a silicon substrate surface. One or more dielectric films are deposited over the silicon substrate surface and metal wiring conductors are formed on or in the dielectric film to interconnect the various components formed on the silicon substrate surface to achieve the desired integrated circuit.
It is desirable that the dielectric films which are deposited on the substrate prior to the metallization process have a good mobile-ion gettering property, as well as a good reflow or gapfill property. A type of insulating film that has been widely used in the prior art is a single layer of borophosphosilicate (BPSG). With reference to FIG. 5, in the prior art, usually a thin undoped liner oxide 58 is first deposited over a silicon substrate surface 52 having a plurality of polysilicon conductors 54. The thin undoped liner oxide 58 is typically formed by reacting silane (SiH4) with oxygen and that layer is then followed by a layer of a doped glass, such as a layer of BPSG 56, as mentioned above. The purpose of the thin undoped liner oxide layer 58 is to prevent the phosphorous or boron contained in the BPSG film 60 from being diffused into the diffusion layer of the substrate 52.
The purpose for using the BPSG film as the interlayer dielectric film is based on a gettering property and on a reflow property. It is important that the dielectric film have good gettering properties as it is desired to be able to getter effectively to remove any impurities that are introduced during the wafer fabrication process. It is also important that the dielectric film have good reflow properties so as to completely fill in the gaps between raised polysilicon conductors on the silicon substrate surface. This quality is sometimes referred to as having good xe2x80x9cgapfillxe2x80x9d or good xe2x80x9cstep coveragexe2x80x9d.
In the prior art, the BPSG film layer is typically formed by reacting tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS) with ozone (O3) in the presence of phosphine (PH3) and diborane (B2H6). In this document we refer to the ozone and TEOS reactants as xe2x80x9cozone/TEOSxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cozone and TEOSxe2x80x9d. The doped BPSG film has about four to six percent weight of boron and about from four to eight percent weight of phosphorus. The softening point of SiO2 can be reduced to about 875-900xc2x0 C. by the addition of high quantities of boron and phosphorus as described above. Then, a reflow step is used at high temperatures, such as 875-900xc2x0 C., to soften the doped glass and to flow it into the seams and gaps in the substrate to form a pre-metal dielectric film with good gapfill qualities. However, it is noted that the heavily doped BPSG film does not have good as-deposited gapfill qualities. It only completely fill the gaps between the polysilicon conductors after it has been reflowed at a temperature higher than its softening point.
However, as device geometries continue to decrease in size, reflow at high temperatures is not desirable due to enhanced diffusion of the n- and p-type dopants that are in the silicon substrate. This diffusion can cause undesirable shifts in the electrical parameters of the device, such as shifts in the threshold voltage and the saturation current. Without the high temperature reflow, however, the heavily-doped BPSG film does not adequately fill in the gaps. The. doping materials, boron and phosphorous, lower the softening point of the glass so that it doesn""t provide an adequate gapfill at lower temperatures. As shown in FIG. 5, voids 60 can develop in the BPSG film 56 between the polysilicon conductors 54. When contacts are etched through the dielectric film and are filled with tungsten during the subsequent metallization process, the tungsten, which is deposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), fills into the voids causing residual metal or xe2x80x9cstringersxe2x80x9d to form between adjacent contacts. This can cause unwanted electrical shorting between the adjacent contacts, which can cause the semiconductor device to fail. Therefore, what is needed is a pre-metallization dielectric film with good gapfill characteristics without the requirement of high temperature reflow..
Previous attempts in the prior art to produce an interlevel dielectric film with good gap fill qualities include U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,962 to Murao which discloses a semiconductor device formed at a substrate surface region which is coated with a non-doped CVD silicon oxide film, and an interlayer insulating film formed on the silicon oxide film and composed of a first ozone-TEOS non-doped silicate glass (NSG) film, a layer of BPSG film, and a second ozone-TEOS NSG film. Additionally, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,869,403 and 5,994,237 to Becker et al. describe a semiconductor processing method of forming a contact opening to a substrate adjacent to a substrate contact area to which electrical connection is to be made. In the preferred embodiment, a first oxide layer, formed from the decomposition of TEOS, is formed over the substrate to cover at least a part of the contact area, and a second oxide layer made of BPSG is formed over the first oxide layer. Also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,166,101 and 5,354,387 to Lee et al. discloses a composite BPSG insulating and planarizing layer which is formed over stepped surfaces of a semiconductor wafer by a two-step process. The two step deposition process comprises a first step to form a void-free BPSG layer by a CVD deposition using gaseous sources of phosphorous and boron dopants and TEOS as the source of silicon, and then a second step to form a capping layer of BPSG.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of forming a pre-metal interlevel dielectric film that is characterized by good mobile-ion gettering capability and by good gapfill characteristics.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of forming a pre-metal interlevel dielectric film which displays good as-deposited gapfill characteristics which are not dependent on a high temperature reflow process.
The above objects have been achieved by a method of forming a pre-metal dielectric film having good as-deposited gapfill characteristics, as well as good gettering capability. The method involves first depositing a layer of high-ozone undoped silicon dioxide film that provides the void-free gapfill characteristic and then depositing a low-ozone doped BPSG film that provides the gettering capability. This two layer insulating film provides the ability to have the gaps adequately filled between small or narrow lines without sacrificing good mobile-ion gettering properties. Prior art insulating films tend to provide either good gapfill or good gettering but not both, or the prior art films require several layers to achieve the desired properties.
The undoped silicon dioxide film has a high ozone/TEOS volume ratio of at least 15 to 1, as compared to the prior art doped BPSG film which generally have lower ozone/TEOS ratios, such as 10 to 1. By forming a film with a high ozone/TEOS ratio, the surface mobility of the TEOS-dimer is increased, causing the film to have better flow characteristics. The reactants can diffuse readily on the surface, thus finding the regions having the lowest energy. This results in a void-free dielectric film surface.
A heat treatment is then applied to densify the film, rather than to soften and flow the film as is done in the prior art. This allows the heat treatment to be conducted at a lower temperature, which prevents the diffusion problems described above that are associated with high temperature heat treatments in smaller device geometries. Finally, the top of the second BPSG layer is planarized using chemical mechanical planarization. The method of the present invention can be used in the formation of semiconductor devices and can be also used in the formation of other structures requiring a good gapfill or step coverage, such as the formation of polysilicon bus structures.

Method of forming pre-metal dielectric film on a semiconductor substrate including first layer of undoped oxide of high ozone:TEOS volume ratio and second layer of low ozone doped BPSG


Each of a plurality of units 2 has the learning section 9 which updates the parameters PRM and performs learning. The learning means 9 modifies the parameters PRM based on the error signal OS' propagated from one unit to another. To build a system consisting of such units 2, the user uses the GUI or some other method to select the units 2 as well as the signal paths for connecting the units via the user interface, displays the system configuration status, and adjusts the functions of units 2. Therefore, an easy-to-build data processing system and a system-build system and method used to build such a system can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an easy-to-build data processing system, a system for building such a data processing system, and its method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, data processing systems (hereafter called systems) receive external signals, process them as the need arises according to the internal status, and output processing results. Some of these systems, called learning systems, adapt their internal status to external signals to produce desired input/output characteristics.
Such a learning system learns the correspondence between input data and output data. A typical learning system is a neural network. It is an engineering-based data processing system modeling after a network structure of a human brain. A neural network is used, for example, in data processing systems including control applications. It also finds applications in the software field.
FIG. 33 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a neural network structure. As shown in this figure, a neutral network usually consists of a plurality of neuron-elements N (unit) connected in a plurality of stages. Typically, a load value, indicating the level of stimulus transmission speed, is assigned to each of the links (signal path) L connecting the elements. A function and its parameters are provided to specify how each element generates an output signal (response) upon receiving a combination of input signals (stimuli). In general, because an input signal sent to an element of a layer is represented as a multi-dimensional value with the number of dimensions being the number of output signals from the elements of the previous layer, a load value assigned to each link may be represented as the parameters of a function of an element which receives a multi-dimensional value.
Conventionally, this type of neural network is built as follows. For example, a CAD system, which uses the GUI (Graphical User Interface), is used to define a network; that is, the system is used to define the input/output layers, intermediate layers, and connections between elements. More specifically, the system displays a plurality of elements (N) and links (L), which form the system which the user will build, on the screen to allow the user to layout them to build a network that meets the requirements.
The neural network learns the correspondences between the input signals and the output signals as the load values and element parameters, accumulates the results, and outputs the output signals that correspond to the input signals. There are several algorithms used to learn these correspondences. One known algorithm is a back propagation (error back propagation).
In the back propagation, a plurality of pairs of input signals and their desired output signals (teacher information) are prepared, and the load values and element parameters are modified so that the output signals generated in response to the input signals become closer to the teacher information. Therefore, an error calculated in an element in a layer is sequentially propagated according to the load values assigned to the links to the elements in the previous layer. This means that the more closely an element is associated with the error, the more largely its parameters are modified.
In a traditional system, modification processing means for performing this parameter modification is built after the whole neural network is built based on the neural network structure or the function and its parameters of each element, and then the modification processing means is added to the learning system. FIG. 34 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between a traditional neural network and the modification processing means M, with modification processing to be performed on a portion of element N being indicated by an arrow.
As shown in FIG. 34, the modification processing means M is built according to the network structure after the neural network is configured on the screen. This modification processing means M is created by a program which executes the learning system with the specified parameters, obtains an error that is a difference between the output signals and the teacher information that indicates the desired output signals, and modifies the element parameters so that this error converges.
Recently, a neural network also finds applications in the fuzzy inference. In these applications, each stage of the fuzzy inference is made to correspond to each layer of a network. Therefore, the above-mentioned modification means, provided for a neural network, enables each membership function to adjust itself (learning). FIG. 35 is a conceptual diagram showing how the neural network can be applied to the fuzzy inference. In this figure, f, .SIGMA., and .PI. are elements N, representing a function, an algebraic sum, and an algebraic product, respectively.

Data processing system, system-build system, and system-build method


An optical focusing system is configured to generate a data profile, wherein the data profile is configured to provide signals for operation of an actuator. Application of the signals from the data profile results in focus of optics within a label region of an optical disc. An image is printed on the label region of the optical disc while the optics focus on the label region of the optical disc by applying signals to the actuator according to the data profile.

Optical discs, such as compact discs (CD) and digital versatile discs (DVD) are a form of computer readable media which provide extensive storage for digital information. While some optical discs may be read-only, others may additionally be written-to. Typically, one side of the disc is referred to as the data side and the other side of the optical disc is referred to as the label side. The label side may include factory-prepared label text and graphics.
An optical disc drive (ODD) of a computer is used to read from, and in certain cases to write to, the data side of an optical disc. An optical pickup unit (OPU), included within the optical disc drive, is configured with a laser and sensors adapted for reading, and possibly writing, data. Various ODDs and OPUs are available, and are manufactured to specifically read and write to the data side of optical discs.
Using emerging technology, the OPU assembly may be is used to define an image on the label surface of an optical disc configured for such a labeling process. However, during the labeling process conventional focusing systems used within the OPU assembly will not work properly. A number of reasons exist for this failure. First, known OPU assemblies in ODDs are designed to focus light through a layer of clear polycarbonate, onto a data track defined on top of the layer. As a result, the optics in known OPUs are designed to compensate for refraction resulting from light passage through the polycarbonate. In contrast, when marking the label surface, light must be focused directly onto the top of the label surface, and does not pass through any layer of transparent material. Accordingly, the corrections built into the optics which cancel the refraction resulting from light travel through the polycarbonate present a problem when attempting to focus existing OPUs on a label surface.
A second reason for the difficulty encountered in focusing light on the label surface of a disc is that conventional OPUs, which are configured to focus light through the polycarbonate, are effectively designed to focus light at a distance which is greater than the distance to the surface of the disc. Accordingly, to focus on the surface of the disc, signals sent to the optics must be reconfigured to focus at the surface of the disc, rather than at a more distant location, such as the data track within the disc.
A third reason for the difficulty encountered in focusing light on the label surface of the disc is that conventional OPUs are configured to focus on data pits defining a data track, which is typically backed by a reflective covering of aluminum. This reflective covering provides a very smooth and uniformly reflective surface, which reflect laser light uniformly. Sensors which detect the reflected light tend to have a very high signal-to-noise ratio. In contrast, light is not uniformly reflected off the label surface of the disc, and the sensors which detect this reflected light have a very low signal-to-noise ratio.
Accordingly, the need exists for new and improved systems and methods to control focal optics within optical disc drives.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In a graphics processing system that includes one or more programmable shading stages, the shader compiler receives a shader program to be compiled (step 40), identifies any run time constant expressions in the shader program (step 41), and removes such expressions from the original shader program, and substitutes them in the original main shader program with appropriate load instructions pointing to where the output results from a pilot shader program will be stored (step 42). The shader compiler then creates a separate pilot shader program for the identified run-time constant expressions (step 43). The pilot shader program is then executed on the graphics processing pipeline (step 44), before the modified main shader program (step 45).

The technology described herein relates to graphics processing and in particular to the operation of graphics processing systems that include one or more programmable processing stages ("shaders").
As is known in the art, graphics processing is typically carried out in a pipelined fashion, with one or more pipeline stages operating on the data to generate the final render output, e.g. frame that is displayed. Many graphics processing pipelines now include one or more programmable processing stages, commonly referred to as "shaders", which execute programs to perform graphics processing operations to generate the desired graphics data. For example, a graphics processing pipeline may include one or more of, and typically all of, a geometry shader, a vertex shader and a fragment (pixel) shader. These shaders are programmable processing stages that execute shader programs on input data values to generate a desired set of output data (e.g. appropriately transformed and lit vertex data in the case of a vertex shader) for processing by the rest of the graphics pipeline and/or for output. The shaders of the graphics processing pipeline may share programmable processing circuitry, or they may each be distinct programmable processing units.
As is known in the art, a shader program to be executed by a given "shader" of a graphics processing pipeline will be provided by the application that requires the graphics processing using a high-level shader programming language, such as GLSL, HLSL, OpenCL, etc. This shader program will consist of "expressions" indicating desired programming steps defined in the relevant language standards (specifications). The high-level shader program is then translated by a shader language compiler to binary code for the target graphics processing pipeline. This binary code will consist of "instructions" which are specified in the instruction set specification for the given target graphics processing pipeline. The compilation process for converting the shader language expressions to binary code instructions may take place via a number of intermediate representations of the program within the compiler, as is known in the art. Thus the program written in the high-level shader language may be translated into a compiler specific intermediate representation (and there may be several successive intermediate representations within the compiler), with the final intermediate representation being translated into the binary code instructions for the target graphics processing pipeline.
Thus, references to "expressions" herein, unless the context otherwise requires, refer to shader language constructions that are to be compiled to a target graphics processor binary code (i.e. are to be expressed in hardware micro-instructions). (As is known in the art, such shader language constructions may, depending on the shader language in question, be referred to as "expressions", "statements", etc. For convenience, the term "expressions" will be used herein, but this is intended to encompass all equivalent shader language constructions such as "statements" in GLSL.) "Instructions" correspondingly refer to the actual hardware instructions (code) that are emitted to perform an "expression".
When a graphics processing output (e.g. a frame for display) is required, the graphics processing pipeline will be provided with a set of "commands" to generate the desired output. These "commands" are usually in the form of draw call descriptors which define respective draw calls to be executed by the graphics processing pipeline. These draw calls and their descriptors are generated in response to commands from an application running on a host system for graphics processing. A given draw call may use some or all of the graphics processing pipeline stages.
The Applicants believe that there remains scope for improvements to the operation of graphics processing pipelines that include one or more shader stages.
Like reference numerals are used for like components where appropriate in the drawings.


The present disclosure relates to a replaceable printing component for use in a printing system having at least one replaceable printing component. The replaceable printing component is of the type sold through a plurality of sales channels. The replaceable printing component includes a radio frequency link for receiving information indicative of a particular sales channel of a plurality of sales channels. Also included in the replaceable printing component is an electrical storage device for storing information indicative of the particular sales channel. The electrical storage device provides information indicative of the particular sales channel for reordering the replaceable printing component.

This invention relates to printing systems that make use of a replaceable printing component. More particularly, the present invention relates to a replaceable printing component that includes a radio frequency link for receiving sales channel information and storing this information in a memory device.
One type of printing system commonly used is an inkjet printing system. Inkjet printing systems typically include an inkjet printhead that is mounted within a scanning carriage that is moved back and forth across print media such as paper. As the printhead is moved or scanned across the print media, a control system activates the printhead to deposit or eject ink droplets onto the print media to form images and text. Ink is provided to the printhead by a supply of ink that is either carried by the scanning carriage or mounted to the printing system in a manner that does not move with the scanning carriage. Where the ink supply is not carried with the scanning carriage, the ink supply is either intermittently or continuously connected to the printhead for replenishing the printhead with ink. In either case, the replaceable printing components such as the ink container and the printhead require periodic replacement. The ink supply is typically replaced when exhausted, and the printhead is typically replaced at the end of printhead life.
Another type of printing system that is commonly used is an electrophotographic printing system. The electrophotographic printing system is typically includes an electrophotographic printing engine. The electrophotgraphic printing engine often includes an intermediate imaging device such as a drum and a supply of imaging material such as toner. The drum is charged using an energy source such as a scanning laser. Imaging material is attracted to the charged drum and is then transferred to print media. A fusing device binds the imaging material to the print media. Replaceable printing components such as a supply of imaging material frequently included, among other things, in a cartridge, referred to as a toner cartridge, are typically replaced when exhausted. Other replaceable printing components such as the intermediate imaging device, fusing device, and various components subject to wear are typically replaced at end of life.
Regardless of whether the printing system is an inkjet printing system or an electrophotographic system, the replaceable printing component must be replaced when exhausted. The replaceable printing component is typically sold through one of a number of sales channels. Each sales channel typically includes one or more distributors and a reseller or service provider. Each reseller or service provider typically offers a variety of replaceable printing components manufactured or distributed under different brands. Because of limited shelf space, these resellers or service providers typically offer or carry fewer brands than those from which they have to choose.
It is important that the manufacturers of each brand provide some incentive for the reseller or service provider to stock or carry its brand in order to ensure sales of that brand. Manufacturers that provide less incentive to the reseller for stocking their brands can get overlooked, resulting in lost sales.
There is an ever-present need for techniques to build brand loyalty with the resellers or service providers. These techniques should provide an incentive for the reseller to carry a particular brand over other brands. In addition, this technique should be reliable and result in relatively low manufacturing costs to maintain a relatively low printing cost per page.
The present invention includes a replaceable printing component for use in a printing system having at least one replaceable printing component. The replaceable printing component is of the type sold through a plurality of sales channels. The replaceable printing component includes a radio frequency link for receiving information indicative of a particular sales channel of a plurality of sales channels. Also included in the replaceable printing component is an electrical storage device for storing information indicative of the particular sales channel. The electrical storage device provides information indicative of the particular sales channel for reordering the replaceable printing component.
In one preferred embodiment, the replaceable printing component is an inkjet print cartridge. In another preferred the embodiment, the replaceable printing component is an electrophotographic printing cartridge. In yet another preferred embodiment, the radio frequency link is configured for receiving data encoded in a radio frequency signal in a serial fashion.

Method and apparatus for identifying a sales channel


A shock switch main has a main member, a resting device and a return device. The main member has a chamber therein, a first passageway communicated to the chamber, a resting portion at a bottom of the chamber, an aperture on the resting portion, a vertical chamber communicated with the aperture and a second passageway communicated with the vertical chamber. The closing device is rested on the resting portion adapted to drop into the aperture. A return assembly is provided in the vertical chamber, which is moved to move the closing device back to the resting portion from the aperture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a safety application of gas, and more particularly to a shock switch.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many places like Taiwan located at a connection region of the Pacific plate and Eurasia plates, such that Taiwan is one of the regions where earthquakes occur frequently. Earthquakes usually cause fire because of gas leakage that takes human lives and causes property damage. Although we are taught to turn off power and gas, most people are attempting to escape, and there is no time to turn off power and gas prior to escape. That is why earthquakes always take a huge damage.


A method is described for the preparation of electrostatographic toner particles which involves the surface treatment of pigments using a low melting point highly reactive wax. The method involves preparing a melt dispersion comprising a pigment, a polymeric binder and a low melting point wax at elevated temperatures, the wax melting and coating the surface of the pigment. The melt dispersion is then used as a component of the organic phase in a limited coalescence process.

Heretofore, it has been common to prepare particulate electrostatic toner polymer particles by a process commonly referred to as "limited coalescence." In this process, polymer particles having a narrow size distribution are obtained by forming a solution of a polymer in a solvent that is immiscible with water, dispersing the polymer/solvent solution in an aqueous medium containing a solid colloidal stabilizer, and removing the solvent. The resultant particles are then isolated, washed and dried.
In the practice of this technique, toner or carrier particles are prepared from any type of polymer that is soluble in a solvent that is immiscible with water. Thus, the size and size distribution of the resulting particles can be predetermined and controlled by the relative quantities of the particular polymer employed, the solvent, the quantity and size of the water insoluble solid particulate suspension stabilizer, typically silica or latex, and the size to which the solvent-polymer droplets are reduced by the agitation employed.
Limited coalescence techniques of this type have been described in numerous patents pertaining to the preparation of electrostatic toner particles because such techniques typically result in the formation of toner particles having a substantially uniform size and uniform size distribution. Representative limited coalescence processes employed in toner preparation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,833,060 and 4,965,131.
In the conventional limited coalescence techniques described heretofore, the judicious selection of toner additives such as charge control agents and pigments permits control of the surface roughness of toner particles by taking advantage of the aqueous organic interphase present. However, if any toner additive employed for this purpose is highly surface active or hydrophilic in nature, it tends to be present at the surface of the toner particles. Unfortunately, this leads to numerous potential problems such as lower charge/mass, rougher particles, poor thermal transfer, poor electrostatic transfer, reduced pigment coverage, interference with the limited coalescence process, sensitivity to the environment, and the like.
Accordingly, workers in the art have recognized that toner additives must either be avoided or kept way from the particle surfaces. One method for obviating this limitation is to select an additive which is neither surface active or hydrophilic in nature. However, it is often not feasible to find an alternative additive evidencing the properties sought. Thus, it then becomes necessary to modify the surface of the additive.
Efforts to achieve this end have focused upon the use of suitable dispersion aids as, for example, polymers with acid or other polar functionality as described in copending application Ser. No. 501,819 filed by M. Nair, Z. Pierce and D. Tyagi. These polymeric stabilizers are used to treat carbon pigment in order to prevent the hydrophilic carbon from migrating to the surface. Toners prepared in this manner evidence enhanced electrostatic transfer, reduced electrical conductivity, and low D-min or fog.
A similar treatment employed in conjunction with toners of smaller particle size has frequently been found unsuccessful due to an increase in solution viscosity of the organic phase at the concentration of dispersant and pigment level employed. Limited coalescence toners prepared with an organic phase of this type tend to yield particles of broad size distribution and tend to interfere with the limited coalescence process. Furthermore, use of this technique requires the presence of reactive sites on the additive surface of the toner particles to which a dispersant may associate.

Electrostatographic toner and method for the preparation thereof


A cutting tool and process for the formation thereof. The cutting tool comprises a basic body (1) presenting an active end portion (2) coated with a diamond film obtained by the CVD growth technique, having superficial accidents (10) that are arranged and dimensioned to produce a substantial increase of the seating area for the diamond film and an increased degree of mechanical interference with the latter. This invention refers to the cutting tool above and to the process of obtaining said tool, to be generally used for cutting, drilling, abrading and trimming, and particularly to be coupled to ultrasonic systems.

The use of ultrasound in applications such as cutting, drilling, abrading, trimming and cleaning has been known for a long time. Its advantages are also well known, mainly the capacity of machining materials in regions of difficult access, where the use of rotary machining processes or those processes requiring high amplitude of displacement is not possible.
By using mechanical vibrations of low amplitude and relatively high frequency, an important characteristic of the ultrasonic processes of cutting, drilling, abrading, trimming and cleaning is the processing of only the material under the direct action of the tool, with minimum influence on the nearby regions, resulting in high precision. Since ultrasound propagates in metallic materials, it is possible to make tools with various shapes and access angles, which permits not only the processing in the form given by the tool, but to do so in regions of difficult access (SU1456098; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,330,278; 4,505,676).
Ultrasonic tools have a special design that takes into account the ultrasound propagation in the tool material and the determination of a stationary wave pattern of the mechanical vibrations. Generally, a tool is designed to have maximum vibration in its active region and minimum vibration on the holders (WO200029178). As to the tool material, it is important for said material to be a good ultrasound transmitter and have high ultimate strength to ultrasound. This last characteristic of the tool material is highly important, since the processing speed depends on the ultrasound intensity and the maximum intensity of use may be limited by the ultimate strength of the tool material to ultrasound.
The active region of the ultrasonic tool depends on the material to be processed. However, in a significant number of applications, the use of metallic tips from the own base material of the tool is sufficient. In cleaning processes, one can make tips from materials based on resins or plastics. For the cutting, drilling, abrading and trimming processes, the material of the active tip of the tool is required to be harder or more wear resistant than the material to be processed. Thus, the use of active tips of materials different from that of the tool body, or with a coating of harder material on the material of the tool body is a very important development. Nevertheless, these alternatives are limited to the fact that the interface, which connects the hard material to the tool body, must withstand the ultrasound action without breaking.
Particularly for the processing of very hard materials, or those requiring special care, such as stones, ceramics, glasses, bones, dentine, nitrides, carbides, etc., the ultrasonic processes of cutting, drilling, abrading and trimming are usually indicated, but there is a limitation as to the obtainment of tools with active tips having a hardness and strength suitable for such applications. Alternatively, where possible, abrasive powders under the action of less hard tools and also diamond coated tools are used. However, conventional diamond coating processes are inadequate to use in ultrasonic tools. The agglutination of diamond powder with various grain sizes, by electrochemical deposition of nickel, diamond-metal and diamond-resin composites, which are widely used techniques for producing conventional tools, is inadequate to ultrasonic tools, as the diamond grains are easily released from said tools during operation thereof, rapidly exposing the metal of said tool to the surface of the material being processed. In order to overcome these limitations, special alloys using different metals were developed to allow a better wettability of the diamond grains and consequently provide a diamond powder agglutination that is more resistant to ultrasound (SU563280; SU837610). With such modifications it was possible to extend the lives of these tools for some types of applications, without however reaching a desired adequate level.
While CVD diamond coatings have been employed for manufacturing tools, there are no references as to their application in ultrasonic tools (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,232,568; 5,142,785; 5,376,444; 5,139,372; 4,707,384; 5,022,801; WO09626303; BR9500117).
In some specific constructions of an ultrasonic cutting tool, it is desirable to have the basic body of said tool in molybdenum, since this is a material in which the ultrasound propagates quite well and has high ultimate strength to ultrasound. Also, it is a material that, under certain conditions, allows diamond growth of good quality and relative adherence.
However, in the diamond growth environment, the molybdenum is extensively carburized and transformed into molybdenum carbide, which is highly susceptible to rupture by ultrasound action. Moreover, the adherence that is normally obtained by conventional methods between the diamond film and molybdenum is insufficient for the interface to withstand the ultrasound action, of medium intensity, without breaking.

Cutting tool and process for the formation thereof

Fundacao De Amparo A Pesquisa Do Estado De Sao Paulo


A light-sensitive coating liquid, comprising, as an organic solvent, at least one substance represented by the formulae (I) to (III) shown below: ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, R.sub.2 to R.sub.7 each represent hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, with the proviso that at least one of R.sub.2 to R.sub.7 is an alkyl group. The light-sensitive coating liquid of this invention is improved in odor, low in toxicity and yet excellent in storability, and is also suitable for preparation of a light-sensitive lithographic printing plate improved in press life and dye remaining.

This invention relates to a light-sensitive coating solution, more particularly to a light-sensitive coating solution, which gives a light-sensitive liquid improved in odor, low in toxicity and yet excellent in storability, and is also suitable for preparation of a light-sensitive lithographic printing plate improved in press life and dye remaining.
A light-sensitive lithographic printing plate is prepared by dissolving a light-sensitive composition in an appropriate solvent, coating the solution onto a support and drying the coating. In the prior art, during preparation of such light-sensitive lithographic printing plate, as the solvent for dissolving the light-sensitive composition, various solvents have been employed. For example, glycol ethers such as methyl cellosolve (ethylene glycol monomethyl ether), ethyl cellosolve, etc. have been primarily employed.
However, these coating solvents have the problem of strong toxicity during preparation of light-sensitive printing plates, and also have strong odor, with unpleasant feeling as undesirable in working environment. Further, when a light-sensitive composition is coated onto a support by use of a solvent as mentioned above, coatability is poor, generating frequently coating irregularity such as streak irregularity, pinhole, etc., thus involving a problem such that the value as commercial product may be impaired.
Use of a propylene glycol type compound as the solvent for light-sensitive coating liquid is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 6648/1986, 14652/1987, etc., but the light-sensitive printing plate obtained by use of such propylene glycol type compound is poor in storability and improvement of this point has been desired.
Further, ester compounds of propylene glycols, etc. used as the coating solvent are improved in odor, toxicity and coatability as compared with the solvents of the prior art such as methyl cellosolve, ethyl cellosolve, etc., but they cannot be said to be satisfactory. For example, 3-methoxybutyl acetate as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5237/1987, propylene glycol monoalkyl ether acetate in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7837/1986 are improved in odor and toxicity, but not only storability of the light-sensitive coating liquid is impaired, but also said compound undergoes hydrolysis because of having acetate structure through the influence by the moisture mixed as the impurity into the light-sensitive liquid or absorption of the moisture in the air, whereby acetic acid is liberated. Due to the liberated acetic acid, drawbacks are seen such that dye remaining is generated on the printing plate after development, and that the press life of the light-sensitive lithographic plate is inferior. Here, dye remaining refers to the phenomenon that, when an image is developed after exposure, the organic dye contained in the light-sensitive composition is attached onto the non-image and streak portion of the printing plate obtained to color the plate. The dye remaining cause problems of difficulty in identification of the image and streak portion from the non-image and streak portion and lowering of layout proof property.


A memory management unit including: a first memory portion in which a memory area is allocated; a memory allocation processor for allocating and releasing a memory area in the first memory portion; a second memory portion for storing reserve area information regarding a memory area which should be reserved in an upper or lower address area of the first memory portion; and a learning reservation processor for monitoring the memory area allocation and release executed in the memory portion, allowing the information regarding the memory area which fragments the first memory portion to be stored in the second memory portion as the reserve area information. The learning reservation processor gives an instruction to the memory allocation processor to reserve a memory area according to the reserve area information, and the memory allocation processor reserves the memory area according to the reserve area information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory management unit and a memory management method. More particularly, it relates to a memory management unit and a memory management method favorable to manage a memory installed in an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a memory installed in an electronic device such as a computer, memory areas which are necessary for respective operations of internal devices and external devices such as a printer are allocated when the computer is started up, and the allocation is released in accordance with the progress of processing to form unused memory area.
In such memory, a fragmentation of memory area (fragmentation of unused memory area) occurs when a part of the allocated memory areas is released.
Specifically, in a memory area having unused area of 16M (byte) as shown in FIG. 6A, the unused area is reduced to 8M when 2M allocation (holding of area) is performed for four times (USED FOR AAA, USED FOR BBB, USED FOR CCC, USED FOR DDD) as shown in FIG. 6B.
Thereafter, when the allocations of the initial three memory areas (USED FOR AAA, USED FOR BBB, USED FOR CCC) are released as shown in FIG. 6C, a maximum size of the allocable memory area remains 8M even though there are 14M (6M+8M) of unused memory areas in total. Therefore, the unused memory area of 14M is in a state of being fragmented, thereby causing the fragmentation.
In such state of memory, large and successive memory blocks cannot be held. Therefore, a garbage-collection function for assembling unused memory areas is executed. The garbage-collection function is one of functions of an OS (Operating System) to eliminate the fragmentation.
Further, there are various other technologies to eliminate the fragmentation. For example, a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2005-73004 is also one of them.
However, the above-described garbage collection operation executed to eliminate the fragmentation occupies a CPU for a long time. Therefore, a means for preventing the fragmentation from occurring is desired. However, any effective solution cannot be found in the current situation.
Since the CPU cannot be occupied for eliminating the fragmentation especially in a real-time OS, the garbage collection operation is less used.
Further, in the invention disclosed in the Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2005-73004, it is required to manage memory areas of two or more memories. Therefore, since the CPU is occupied for a long time like the case of the above-described garbage-collection operation, it cannot be said it is an effective solution.

Reducing memory fragmentation by learning memory allocation patterns


A wireless apparatus includes a determination unit configured to determine whether the received control information is leading control information for controlling the imaging process or succeeding control information succeeding the leading control information, a decision unit configured to decide a succeeding control timing at which the succeeding control information is output, with reference to a leading control timing at which the leading control information is output, and an output unit configured to output the leading control information to the imaging unit in accordance with the leading control timing and output the succeeding control information to the imaging unit in accordance with the succeeding control timing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless imaging system which performs imaging control operations such as an exposure start operation and an exposure end operation by wireless communication, a wireless communication apparatus included in the wireless imaging system, a method of controlling the wireless imaging system, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in the industrial equipment field, there has been developed an advanced device which selects and holds one of randomly stacked components or automatically detects an abnormality by processing an image captured by a camera.
A camera is sometimes attached to the distal end of a robot arm to perform imaging near a processing target. However, there is a risk that a cable will deteriorate and break by repeated deformation. Therefore, there are increasing needs for a technique of performing this operation by wireless communication.
Camera Link is a standard for cabling and interfacing for imaging control and image acquisition with respect to industrial cameras. In this case, imaging control means consecutive control operations required for imaging, for example, an exposure start operation, the light emission start operation of an electronic flash device, a light emission end operation, and an exposure end operation. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-102337 discloses a technique for controlling an external electronic flash device from a camera by wireless communication.
When transmitting imaging control information by wireless communication, there are three challenges to be overcome.
The first challenge is to maintain the time intervals between the respective control operations. In general, when performing wireless communication, the delay time in communication changes each time because of MAC (Media Access Control) processing for avoiding wireless communication collision with other peripheral devices and retransmission control for the occurrence of a communication failure. On the other hand, imaging control requires very high accuracy concerning the time intervals between the respective control operations. If, for example, the time from the start of exposure to the end of exposure or the time from the start of light emission of imaging illumination to the end of light emission changes even slightly, overexposure or underexposure will occur. Likewise, a camera using a rolling shutter requires high accuracy concerning the time interval from the start of exposure to the start of light emission.
The second challenge is to reduce a delay time. For example, a robot designed to hold a component uses a captured image for feedback control. In such industrial equipment, if the start of imaging is delayed, the acquisition of an image is delayed. This increases the cycle time for operations. For this reason, for example, it is sometimes impossible to make the wireless transmission side transmit imaging control information altogether after the end of the imaging control upon recording the information together with time stamps and to make the wireless reception side reproduce the imaging control from the start.
The third challenge is to effectively use a wireless band. The technique disclosed in patent literature 1 is designed to secure a band by performing MAC processing in advance before the start of imaging and then occupy the band by the required time. This method can suppress fluctuations in delay time caused by MAC processing. However, if a plurality of industrial devices are placed near to each other, the time during which a peripheral device cannot perform wireless communication prolongs, resulting in an increase in cycle time.
The present invention provides a wireless communication technique of, when transmitting a plurality of pieces of consecutive control information by wireless communication with varying delay times, maintaining the time intervals between the respective control operations with a minimum delay and occupied band.

Wireless imaging system, method of controlling wireless imaging system, wireless communication apparatus, and storage medium


A light-emitting device is disclosed. The light-emitting device comprises a supportive substrate; a first light-emitting element and a second light-emitting element on the supportive substrate, wherein the first light-emitting element comprises a transparent layer on the supportive substrate, a first light-emitting stacked layer on the transparent layer, and a plurality of contact parts between the transparent layer and the first light-emitting stacked layer; and the second light-emitting element comprises an electrode and a second light-emitting stacked layer between the electrode and the supportive substrate; and a metal line on the supportive substrate and electrically connecting the electrode and one of the contact parts.

Technical Field
The present application relates to a light-emitting device, and more particularly, to a light-emitting device having a plurality of contact parts.
Description of the Related Art
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been applied widely in optical display devices, traffic signals, data storing devices, communication devices, illumination devices, and medical apparatuses. In the conventional LED, a metal current-spreading layer, such as Ti/Au or Cr/Au layers, is formed between the substrate and the light-emitting stacked layer. However, the metal current-spreading layer absorbs light and results in low light-emitting efficiency of the LED.

Light-emitting device having a plurality of contact parts


A method for generating a mapping of dental occlusion generates a three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth (1a, 1b) according to acquired image data. The maxillary and mandibular arches are positioned in opposition in the generated model of the patient's teeth and a meal model (50) generated having characteristics of a foam material. A pressure field distribution for the generated meal model is calculated for one or more pairs of opposed teeth (1a, 1b) from the generated three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth. The calculated pressure field distribution (54) can be displayed.

Orthodontic treatment is applied for repositioning teeth and supporting structures to improve tooth function and aesthetics. In conventional orthodontic treatment, appliances such as braces are applied to the patient's teeth by an orthodontist. Over time, the continuing force exerted by the appliance can urge teeth toward more favorable positions, often providing movement to the teeth in incremental steps with successive treatments.
Aspects of tooth function that are studied as part of orthodontics and other restorative treatments include proper occlusion, so that teeth in the upper jaw work successfully with corresponding teeth in the lower jaw. Occlusion determines how opposing teeth are positioned relative to each other, come into contact, and interact with each other in normal movement.
To define a specific dental treatment such as orthodontics or a restorative treatment in conventional practice, dentists typically manipulate one or more casts obtained from a patient's dental arches. One conventional method forms an occlusogram that displays the intersection between opposite teeth, using translucent papers, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,293,567 entitled "System of Dental Charts and Method of Making the Same" to Stanton. Using the cast, the projection of the teeth of the lower dental arch on an axial (horizontal) plane is reproduced on a first translucent paper. The projection of the teeth of the upper dental arch is reproduced on a second translucent paper. Both papers are then superimposed, providing a representation of the occlusal conditions. By dragging one of the translucent papers relative to the other, a representation of new occlusal conditions can be obtained.
With the advent of digital imaging, there have been a number of solutions proposed for representing and displaying dental occlusion using information obtained from captured image data. Information for mapping, measurement, and analysis of occlusion conditions can be digitally obtained and processed to help support the orthodontist or other dental practitioner in correcting problems and in providing the best arrangement of tooth structures for this purpose.
Methods for display of maxillary (upper) and mandibular (lower jaw) arch structures, beyond providing some idea of overall tooth registration, do not provide detailed three-dimensional (3-D) information about occlusion. Most of the occlusal surfaces are not visible in conventional cast manipulation. Cross-sectional and slice-by-slice views provide some level of detail, but only over a limited region. Even where virtual modeling techniques are used, however, information provided about occlusion is generally limited to data that identifies contact points.
Advances in the development and visualization of virtual arches provide some measure of useful information, such as data on distances between opposing occlusal surfaces, using a color-coded or gray-level encoded mapping, for example. This type of visualization can help to provide information useful for registration of the upper and lower arches. However, distance mapping yields only limited information on how teeth in the upper and lower jaws work together to chew efficiently. In practice, as the patient chews a meal, the meal is compressed between features such as cusps and ridges of opposing teeth. This type of compression generates a pressure-field that is distributed over a region. The pressure at any point over the pressure field varies, depending on factors such as distance from contact points and interaction between different pressure fields as the meal is chewed.
Because of the complex nature of information that is obtained from the interaction of opposing sets of teeth, the task of evaluating and correcting occlusion can be challenging when using conventional tools. Thus, there is a need for more accurate utilities and techniques for measuring and reporting pressure fields for occlusion.

Occlusion mapping using elastic foam modeling


A stapler selectively uses enhanced leverage to break a glue bond of a staple to separate the staple from a rack of staples in the stapler. The staple does not press a working surface during this operating stage. The extra leverage stage occurs through a minority of total handle travel, preferably via a pivoting lever linked to the striker at one end and the opposite end traversing between inner spaced apart ribs underneath the handle. A remaining non-leveraged handle travel stage ejects a staple out from the stapler body against a working surface. A track supports staples from an underside of the top of the staples. The track includes an outward extending bottom support for at least one staple on the track to prevent rotation of a short rack of staples.

Conventional direct acting staplers are well known for fastening papers and other tasks. The handle is linked directly to the striker so that, above the striker, the handle moves the same as or similarly to the striker. Such staplers are sometimes known as a direct action stapler. For example, in a direct action stapler, a striker commonly moves about ½ inch to eject and install a common 26/6 type or similar staple. In this example, the handle near the striker moves toward the body about the same ½ inch as it is pressed through its complete stroke. Such staples can be used to fasten more than 20 sheets of 20 lb. type paper. But they are commonly used for fewer sheets, five or less for example.
Such conventional staplers are known to require high pressing forces to operate. Part of the effort is to separate a front staple from the rack of staples held inside the stapler. In this process, the glue that holds the staple stick or rack together must be sheared to free the front staple. When the glue is weak this effort is not excessive. But when the glue is strong, shearing the glue is often the largest factor in pressing effort, particularly in low sheet counts. The variation in glue accounts for much of the unpredictability in conventional stapling. In some cases, glue shearing can require 15 lbs. of force just to allow the handle to start moving. A well-known way to generate sufficient force to overcome this problem is to bang the handle with a clenched fist.
To reduce any need to bang the hand with the fist and to ease the stapling process, the handle may be less directly linked to the striker to allow reduced effort operation. For example, the handle may operate to energize a power spring. At a pre-release position of the handle the spring suddenly ejects and installs a staple. In this manner, the force peaks through the fastening operation are reduced. The impulse or shock overcomes the glue shear force among others. Further, the handle may move more than the striker for enhanced leverage.
Another option to reduce stapling effort employs extra leverage. For example, a handle may extend well past a front of the stapler body to provide a simple, longer lever to add handle travel to the action. The base of such a stapler must correspondingly extend forward to the front end of the handle to provide a reaction location for the very forward force application. A further mechanism allows a shorter device by linking a base to the handle through a multi-link system. This link effectively compresses the body between the handle and the base to hold the body against the base. In this design, pressing the handle toward the body causes the base to move up toward the body even if the base is not being touched. This is one way to observe such conventional leveraged action. The first leverage option is a long device that is not convenient on a desktop. The second device requires a complex mechanism.
In both examples the base is integral to the function of enhanced leverage. Therefore, neither of these devices allows for use as a tacker with the base opened. The long handled stapler would tip forward without its long base. The handle-to-base linked version has the body rising away from the work surface as the staple exits if there is no base under the staple. This is because the force by the staple on the work surface is leveraged by design to be more than a force upon the handle above the striker. For example, a 10 lb. handle force may by leveraged to become a 20 lb. staple exit force. This net imbalance moves the body away from the work surface toward the handle with a force of 10 lbs. If the base is linked to the body as in common leveraged staplers then the body cannot move away from the base. But as discussed above, the base must then be the working surface. In contrast, a conventional non-leveraged stapler has the force by the staple being substantially the same as the force acting on the handle; there is no net vertical force on the body.
The handle-to-base link requirement has not been apparently addressed by non-spring actuated staplers. In a spring actuated stapler, the body does not move away from any working surface even as the handle can be leveraged to the striker through the spring. This is because the fastening operation occurs instantly; the momentum from the mass of the body holds the body in its operative position during this instant action.


A disposable carving blade contains a central hole defined at a central position thereof, a first central line passing through the central position thereof, a right cutting rim formed on a first peripheral side thereof and a left cutting rim formed on a second peripheral side thereof. The right cutting rim is connected with the left cutting rim to form a V-shaped portion, and the V-shaped portion includes a cutting edge defined on a distal end thereof. An intersection point of the right cutting rim on the first peripheral side of the disposable carving blade and the left cutting rim on the second peripheral side of the disposable carving blade is adjacent to the first central line, and a distance between the intersection point and the first central line is a first eccentric value.

A conventional carving cutter is applied to carve letters, images or patterns on a metal workpiece. With reference to FIGS. 13 to 15, a carving cutter 30 is made of carbide material and contains a cutter arbor 31 and a cutting portion 32, wherein the cutting portion 32 is comprised of a flatly top surface 321 located at a first central line 320 of the cutting portion 32, a right cutting rim 322, a left cutting rim 323, and a cutting edge 324 arranged at five degrees relative to a level. FIG. 15 is an amplified view of the cutting portion 32, a distance between the first central line 320 of the cutting portion 32 and a second central line 310 of the cutter arbor 31 is an eccentric value e, and a width radius Y is defined between a distal end of the cutting edge 324 and the second central line 310, a slot width cut by the carving cutter 30 is 2Y. The carving cutter 30 is used to perform a cutting of little volume based on a designed eccentric value e, so only the right cutting rim 322 and the cutting edge 324 can be used to carve the workpiece.
The eccentric value e is selectively changed to cooperate with the width radiuses Y, wherein the eccentric value e is ranged within 0.01 to 0.06 mm and the width radius Y is ranged within 0.05 to 0.3 mm. The matching condition between the eccentric value e and the width radius Y is quite strict. In general, when e=0.01, Y=0.05; when e=0.02, Y=0.1; when e=0.03, Y=0.15; when e=0.04, Y=0.2; when e=0.05, Y=0.25; and when e=0.06, Y=0.3. Accordingly, when a mismatch between the eccentric value e and the width radiuses Y occurs, the cutting edge 34 is used in an excessively eccentric condition, thereby carving the workpiece imprecisely.
As shown in FIG. 16, when the carving cutter 30 is used in a condition of e=0.03 and Y=0.05 (i.e., the slot width=0.1 mm), due to the eccentric value e is over a set value, the cutting edge 324 is located at a right side of the second central line 310 of the cutter arbor 31, such that the left cutting rim 323 extends to the right side of the second central line 310, hence the carving cutter 30 cannot cut the workpiece smoothly, thus causing burrs or damaging the cutting edge 324. In other words, when a user desires to carve slots with various slot widths, the user has to buy multiple carving cutters 30 of which eccentric values e (or width radiuses Y) are different.
Furthermore, as illustrated in FIGS. 13 to 15, when the cutting edge 324 and the right cutting rim 322 are not sharp, they are ground by a grinding machine, but a size of the cutting edge 324 is quite small, so it cannot be ground exactly. In addition, the right cutting rim 322 and the left cutting rim 323 both have to be ground precisely, or the eccentric value e defined between the first central line 320 of the cutting portion 32 and the second central line 310 of the cutter arbor 31 changes so that the width radius Y changes as well. For instance, when the eccentric value e increases to over the set value, the cutting edge 324 is located at the right side of the second central line 310, and the left cutting rim 323 extends to the right side of the second central line 310 (as shown in FIG. 16), such that the carving cutter 30 cannot cut the workpiece smoothly, thereby causing improper cutting precision.
FIG. 17 shows a conventional disposable carving cutter 40, which contains a cutter arbor 41 and a holder 42 fixed on a distal end of the cutter arbor 41. The holder 42 has a screw orifice 421, a distance between a central position of the screw orifice 421 and a first central line 400 of the cutter arbor 41 is an eccentric value e. The screw orifice 421 of the holder 42 is provided to lock a disposable carving blade 50. The disposable carving blade 50 is in a rhombus shape and includes a right cutting rim 51 and a left cutting rim 52 between which is defined a V-shaped portion. The V-shapes portion has a cutting edge 53 formed on a distal end thereof, and the right cutting rim 51 is symmetrical to the left cutting rim 52, wherein an intersection point of distal ends of the right cutting rim 51 and the left cutting rim 52 is located at a second central line 500 of the disposable carving blade 50, and a stepped aperture 54 is defined at central position of the disposable carving blade 50, wherein the stepped aperture 54 corresponds to the screw orifice 421, and the second central line 500 passes through central positions of the screw orifice 421 and the stepped aperture 54. When the disposable carving blade 50 is locked on the holder 42, a distance between a distal end of the cutting edge 53 and the first central line 400 of the cutter arbor 41 is a width radius Y, and only the right cutting rim 51 and the cutting edge 53 can cut workpiece. After the disposable carving blade 50 is dull, it is replaced and no need to be grounded. Nevertheless, a new disposable carving blade 50 has to cooperate with a holder 42 with a fit eccentric value e so that the cutting edge 53 and the left cutting rim 52 cannot rightward move away from the first central line 400. In other words, as the eccentric value e is set on the cutter arbor 41 (i.e. is defined by the relative position between the holder 42 and the cutter arbor 41), when the user replaces the disposable carving blade 50 to adjust the width radius Y, he/she has to replace the cutter arbor 41 at the same time so as to match the eccentric value e with the width radius Y properly, thus increasing use cost.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.


A setting apparatus directs a reinforcing tape in a perpendicular direction to the path of movement of the fabric. It comprises a machine frame, a support plate, a setting punch and die, a reinforcing tape supply under the plate and tape feeding belt for feeding the tape which is automatically activated by the punch.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for setting snap fasteners and the like onto fabric and includes feed means for feeding a reinforcing tape to be sandwiched between the fabric and a fastener part to reinforce the fabric. More specifically, this invention relates to such an apparatus in which the tape is fed perpendicular to the movement of the fabric for the purpose of using a short length of tape from feed roll to attachment and making the feed unit more accessible for repair and reloading.
2. Description of Related Art including Information Disclosed under .sctn..sctn.1.97 to 1.99
There are patents in the prior art which deal with fastener setting apparatus having means to apply reinforcing tape to fortify a fragile fabric so that the fabric does not easily tear at the point of attachment. An example is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,431 which issued to P. B. Jensen Jul. 18, 1961. While the reinforcing path applied is primarily intended to be ornamental, it does, as explained, also serve the function of reinforcing the fabric. The tape in Jensen moves in the same direction as the garment piece itself and, as a result, there is a considerable length of reinforcing material from roll to attachment.
Another example of a setting apparatus shown using a reinforcing tape feature is U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,344 which issued Apr. 9, 1963 to E. A. Schmidt. It discloses a waistband applier with a reinforcing tape dispensing means. The supply of reinforcing material is delivered parallel to the path of the main fabric and the feed and severing operating means are cut off by rods driven by the main power motor.

Fastener setting apparatus having reinforcing tape feeder


A method of manufacturing a light source device includes: preparing a holder for a semiconductor laser and a coupling lens having a first side confronting the semiconductor laser and a second side opposite to the first side, a photopolymerizable resin being provided on the holder at least at a location between the coupling lens and the holder; locating a light source for emitting a curing light for curing the photopolymerizable resin on an opposite side of the semiconductor laser with respect to the coupling lens, a reflecting member being provided on an opposite side of the light source with respect to the coupling lens; and curing the photopolymerizable resin by irradiating the curing light from the light source directly on a part of the photopolymerizable resin, and also on another remaining part of the photopolymerizable resin by reflecting the curing light on the reflecting member irradiating the curing light.

In an image forming device such as a laser printer and a digital copier, a laser beam scans a photosensitive body in correspondence with data of an image to be printed. Thereby an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive body. Then, the image forming device forms an image by supplying developer to the electrostatic latent image, transferring the image to a recording sheet and fixing the image on the sheet.
The image forming device is required to be downsized and low-priced in recent years. In accordance therewith, a light source device that irradiates the laser beam for forming the electrostatic latent image is also required to have a small size and a simple structure, while high accuracy in a product is also required.
The light source device includes a semiconductor laser and a coupling lens (or also called a collimating lens) that gathers the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser and converts the laser light to a light flux. These two members are positioned with their optical axes being aligned with each other with high accuracy.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei-11-231237 (which will be referred to as Document 1 hereinafter) discloses, in its FIG. 1, a light source device in which a laser holder that holds a semiconductor laser and a lens holder that holds a coupling lens are prepared separately. The semiconductor laser and the coupling lens are fixed on the respective holders, and the holders are fixed after being positioned corresponding to each other. The lens holder is formed in a cylindrical shape so as to surround the whole circumference of the lens.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-31773 (which will be referred to as Document 2 hereinafter) discloses, in its FIG. 2, another light source device that has a more simplified configuration in comparison with the configuration described above. The light source device described in Document 2 uses a holder (holding member) that is formed by integrating a part (main part) for holding the semiconductor laser and a part for holding the coupling lens. The part for holding the coupling lens is in a base shape that protrudes from the main part of the holder in front thereof. After the semiconductor laser is fixed on the holder, the coupling lens is fixed with photopolymerizable or light-curing resin on the base portion of the holder in front of the semi-conductor laser. It is noted that the photopolymerizable resin is provided not only between the coupling lens and the base, but also a part of the photopolymerizable resin protrudes outside from between the coupling lens and the base both on the front and rear sides of the coupling lens. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei-9-218368 (which will be referred to as Document 3 hereinafter) discloses, in its FIG. 1, a case where the photopolymerizable resin is provided only between the coupling lens and the base.

Method of manufacturing light source device and the light source device


A method or system, and the appropriate structural components therefor to allow for readily identifying which particular coded load side conductors of a ballast feed which particular lamp sockets and thus lamps of an advertising sign illuminated by florescent lamps. Coded markers indicative of particular coded load side conductors of the ballast are placed on or adjacent each lamp socket within the open interior of the sign to allow for the quick identification of the sign wiring circuitry without the need to remove lamps or an excessive number of wire raceway covers. In a preferred embodiment, the coded markers are durable, inexpensive to manufacture, readily attachable, readily changeable yet cannot inadvertently be dislodged, and are viewable from generally any angle once a translucent display panel of the sign has been moved to expose the sockets, lamps and adjacent raceways within the interior of the sign.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the identification of circuit wiring utilized to feed electrical power to the sockets of florescent lamps from the electric ballasts of advertising signs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Advertising signs utilizing electric lamps, particularly florescent lamps positioned within the interior of the sign to illuminate the translucent sign display panel(s) are widely used today. The florescent sign lamps each have two ends each with exposed electrically conductive terminals so as to be able to receive electricity from a matched set of lamp sockets and thereby be electrically powered and illuminated. One end of each florescent lamp is removably connected to one lamp socket affixed in the interior of the sign, and the other end of each florescent lamp is connected to a second lamp socket at the other end of the sign. The ends of a florescent lamp typically have an interior electrode which is used for starting the arc for causing illumination. The lamps may be positioned vertically or horizontally in the sign. One of the lamp sockets of a matched set of sockets is movable inward and outward, being spring biased toward the outward position so the lamp may be inserted and retained between the two sockets, and then removed when desired. This type of movable lamp socket is commonly referred as a "live end" socket, and the non-movable lamp sockets are commonly referred to a "dead end" sockets. Each florescent lamp is connected to two sockets, and the sockets are connected to the interior of the sign in spaced apart relationship to one another to allow for the removable connection of the elongated lamps. The sockets have lamp receiving recesses for mechanically stabilizing and retaining the lamps, and the recesses are fitted with exposed electrical terminals positioned for receiving the lamp ends and mating with the electrical terminals of the lamps. The rearward or base portion of each lamp socket is specifically shaped and affixed with spring biased holding tabs for affixing the socket removably and stationary to a panel defining a portion of a wire raceway of the sign. Each socket additionally has at least one, and most often two insulated flexible electrical conductors or wires leading and connecting to the exposed electrical terminals on what is considered the front of the sockets. These socket wires are normally about 8 inches in length. The rearward or base ends of the sockets, the location at which the wires exist the sockets, are shaped relative to an aperture in the raceway to allow removable snap-in attachment of the sockets to the raceway. Often the socket receiving apertures are placed in the removable cover of the raceway so the sockets may be removably secured to the raceways with the fronts of the sockets positioned to receive a lamp end on one side of the raceway cover, and the rearward or base end of the sockets with extending wires being positioned on the opposite side of the raceway cover so the socket wires may be fully contained within the raceway when the raceway cover is installed over the open interior of the raceway. The containment of wires in a raceway is primarily for fire and human safety purposes. Normally, a sign will have a raceway with a removable raceway cover at each end of the sign within the interior of the sign adjacent each end of the lamps, and some signs have raceways access covers on the exterior of the sign. With the cover removed from the raceway, the open interior of the raceway is exposed. Within the interior of the raceway are electrical extension wires which connect by way of splicing, usually with wire-nuts, to the short wires extending from the rearward ends of the sockets. The extension wires within the raceway extend within the raceway from their connections to the wires of the lamp sockets through the raceway and connect to the relatively short load side wires of a lamp ballast. Signs with florescent lamps utilize electric ballasts which serve as voltage transformers and power regulators for driving the florescent lamps.
Lamp ballasts are available from many manufacturers in many internal circuitry configurations for driving various lengths of florescent lamps by the ballast. Very often, but not always, a single ballast will include circuitry and accessible load side wires to allow the installer to use that ballast in a number of different arrangements such as to drive two lamps, four lamps, or six lamps, and many common ballasts are rated to operate a range of lamp lengths. A given ballast may power any arrangement of lamps between 16 and 32 total lamp footage for example, depending on how the wiring and lamps are circuited, and this is to reduce the number of ballasts a sign manufacturer must stock in the shop or on a service truck. Some signs use more than one ballast, and normally when two or more ballasts are used in a sign, the sign is logically zoned wherein a ballast mounted high in the sign will drive horizontally positioned lamps high in the sign, and a ballast mounted low in the sign will drive lamps positioned low in the sign. The same logical zoning in a sign holds true with vertical lamps wherein a ballasts placed in the left powers lamps in the left of the sign.
In any case, ballasts have at least two line side conductors, and normally at least four load side conductors, and many common ballasts have anywhere from three to fourteen load side conductors. The load side conductors are normally marked or coded into matched pairs of conductors wherein a matched pair is for connecting to and powering one lamp socket of a matched set of sockets. A second matched pair of load side conductors is for connecting to and powering the second lamp socket of the matched set of lamp sockets. Normally a set or matched pair of load side conductors are each of the same color or coding, and the set or matched pair of conductors for the opposite socket are of the same color or coding as each other, but of a different color than the set of load side wires on the other socket of the set of sockets. For example, two black wires might feed one socket of a set of sockets, and two red wires might feed the second socket of the set of sockets for powering a single florescent lamp.
Color-coding is by far the most common form of coding currently used for load side wires of a ballast, however, coding by numbers has been used in rare instances in the past, and is similar to that commonly used in multi-voltage poly-phase electric motors. The load side wires of ballasts are normally quite short, ranging normally between six inches to six feet in length. The coding, namely color-coding of the load side conductors of the ballast is normally indicative of the relationship of the conductor tap to the windings within the ballast, and the individual ballast manufacturers determine the particular color-coding to be applied to their load side conductors and the schematic diagrams indicating via the color-coding as to how to connect the load side conductors to lamp sockets. Ballasts typically include the schematic wiring diagrams affixed to the front of the ballast showing the often many ways the ballast can be utilized to drive different lengths of lamp arrangements. In these different lamp arrangements, windings of the ballast which have color-coded load side conductors connected thereto, may be connected through the florescent lamps, with the particular connections being in part determined by the total lamp footage desired to be powered. Improper connections to the lamp sockets and thus lamps, and the load side conductors of a ballasts, will result in lamps not illuminating properly, or ballasts or lamps becoming defective (burning out) prematurely.
Ballasts are normally mounted in the interior of the sign, and the raceway or raceways abut the ends or fully enclose the ballasts and extend between the ballast load side wires and the wires on the rearward side of the lamp sockets. The load side wires of the ballasts are very often not of sufficient length to reach the short conductors of the lamp sockets, since signs vary widely in size, and some signs are quite large. When a sign is manufactured, insulated electrical wires are spliced between the relatively short load side wires of the ballasts and the relatively short load side wires of the lamp sockets. The wires of the sockets are normally not of any particular color-coding, and most often are all the same color, and most commonly white today. The load side wires of the ballast are generally always color-coded by the ballast manufacturer, however, different ballast manufacturers use different color-codings, since there is no apparent industry standard for color-coding of a given set of load side conductors representing given winding circuit tap locations within a ballast. When the sign is manufactured by the sign manufacturer, the extension wires ran between the socket wires and the ballast load side wires may be color-coded to match the coloring of the load side wire to which the extension wire connects to, but very often are not, wherein they would all be one color such as black for example. Electrical current will flow regardless of the color of the dielectric insulation over the conductors, and during the manufacturing of a sign, the raceway covers are removed, and thus it is simple to extend the ballast load wires to the socket wires without too much confusion, whether the extension wires match the color-coding of the ballast load wires or not. The completed sign is delivered to the job site, then mounted, and the primary or line side of the ballast is connected to a suitable electrical power source for powering the ballast and thus the lamps. The sign will operate whether the color-coding has been maintained throughout the sign or not, as long as the electrical circuitry is correct.
However, in the future, when the sign needs repair due to a failure of some or all of the lamps to illuminate, which is usually after a few years, the serviceman will have a difficult time determining which ballast load side conductors feed which lamp sockets, and this information is very often crucial to the quick trouble shooting of an inoperative sign. This difficulty for the serviceman will exist whether color-coded wires were used throughout the sign or not, due to most or all of the wiring in the raceways being obscured from view by the opaque nature of the wire raceways and raceway covers, which are manufactured of panels of sheet metal. In order to trace the wiring from the ballast to determine which conductors feed which lamp sockets, it often requires the serviceman to remove all lamps from the sign in order to open the raceways to expose the wiring in the raceways. With the raceways open, the raceway covers will hang on the wiring, and so it is not normally necessary to disconnect all of the wiring connections made by wire-nuts. At this point in the servicing procedure, if the color-coding had been carried throughout the wiring of the sign in accordance with the ballast load side conductor coding and schematic, then the serviceman will have little further difficulty in the tracing of the wiring. However, it requires a significant amount of time to remove all lamps and raceway covers from a sign, particularly if the sign is mounted a significant distance above the ground, and the serviceman is working from a small lift-bucket of a crane or hoist. Furthermore, if the color-coding has not been carried throughout the original sign wiring, even with the lamps and raceway covers removed, the serviceman will spend quite a bit of time tracing the wiring since there typically exists many wires entwine with each other in a raceway.
Additionally, even if the serviceman knows the existing ballasts is burned-out, such as by testing the ballasts prior to removing any lamps and raceway covers, very often a ballast is replaced with a different make and model of ballast, and due to the non-standardized color-coding of the load side wiring from one manufacturer to another, the serviceman may still need to remove all of the lamps in order to remove the raceway covers so he may determine which load side wires of the old ballast connect to which lamp sockets in order to allow him to quickly make the correct electrical circuit connections to the new replacement ballast. Some signs have removable raceway covers placed relative to the lamp sockets which allow removal of the raceway cover without having to remove the lamps, however, it still requires a significant amount of time to remove raceway covers, particularly when they are affixed to the raceway by a large number of screws.