A carriage (recording head portion) which an ink cartridge including a non-volatile memory is to be mounted has a memory access controlling portion for controlling accesses to a non-volatile memory, thereby reducing the number of connection lines between the carriage (recording head portion) and a printer main body controlling portion. The apparatus main body controlling portion and the memory access controlling portion transmit and receive data therebetween by serial data communication. The memory access controlling portion reads out various information (the amount of remaining ink, use start year and month, and the like) stored in each non-volatile memory and then stores the readout information in a RAM in the memory access controlling portion. The apparatus main body controlling portion issues an access request command for the RAM to read information out from the RAM and update the readout information. When a printer is powered off, the apparatus main body controlling portion issues a write back command. The memory access controlling portion writes the information in the RAM back to the non-volatile memory.

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a non-volatile memory in a recording material accommodating cartridge so that various data (remaining amount data, use start date data, recording material type data, manufacturing managing data, etc.) on a cartridge can be stored in the non-volatile memory to manage the usage of each cartridge, and in particular, to a recording apparatus having an interface circuit (memory access controlling circuit) between a control portion of a recording apparatus main body and the non-volatile memory to reduce the amount of processing to be executed by the control portion to access the non-volatile memory, as well as a semiconductor device for use as the interface and a recording head apparatus comprising the interface circuit (memory access controlling circuit).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-184856 (Japanese Patent No. 2594912) describes an ink cartridge and a recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge has a non-volatile memory in which data corresponding to the amount of remaining ink are stored in order to manage the amount of remaining ink for each cartridge.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-197748 describes an ink jet printer including an ink cartridge having a non-volatile memory in which ID information is stored and a printer main body correlating the ID information for the ink cartridge read out from the non-volatile memory with the amount of remaining ink so as to eliminate the need to redetect the amount of remaining ink when an ink cartridge with the same ID information is reinstalled.
The above-described conventional recording apparatus and other devices are structured such that when an ink cartridge is installed at a predetermined position, a plurality of electrodes provided in the ink cartridge are electrically connected to a plurality of electrodes provided in an ink cartridge installing portion to allow a power supply to the non-volatile memory provided in the ink cartridge and transmission and reception of various signals to and from the non-volatile memory.
The conventional apparatus, however, is structured such that a power supply and various signal terminals of the non-volatile memory are all electrically drawn out and connected to a control portion of a printer apparatus main body, so that a large number of connection lines are present between the ink cartridge installed portion and the control portion of the printer apparatus main body. This may make it difficult to wire the connection lines. In particular, in a structure in which the ink cartridge is installed in a carriage including a recording head, a flexible cable must be used to electrically connect the carriage and the printer apparatus main body together so as to enable the movement of the carriage. As a result, an increase in the number of cores in the flexible cable may undesirably increase the amount of force required to move the carriage. Furthermore, if a plurality of ink cartridges are installed in the carriage, the number of connection lines increases in proportion to the number of ink cartridges. For example, in a structure using two types of ink cartridges including a black and a color ones, terminals of the non-volatile memory which are provided for the corresponding cartridges must each be drawn out, thereby doubling the number of required signal lines.
The present invention is provided to solve these problems, and it is an object thereof to provide an ink jet recording apparatus wherein a carriage in which an ink cartridge is installed has an interface circuit (memory access controlling circuit) comprising a function of accessing a non-volatile memory and a function of communicating data to and from a printer apparatus main body, thereby making it possible to reduce the number of connection lines between an ink cartridge installed portion and the printer apparatus main body, as well as a semiconductor device and a recording head device both serving to achieve this purpose.
An ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by having a memory access controlling portion in a carriage including a housing portion for an ink cartridge including a non-volatile memory, the memory access controlling portion controlling data transmissions and receptions between a control portion of a recording apparatus main body and the non-volatile memory based on commands from the control portion of the recording apparatus main body.
The carriage has the memory access controlling portion, via which the non-volatile memory is accessed, thereby making it possible to reduce the number of connection lines between the carriage and the control portion of the recording apparatus main body.
The memory access controlling portion preferably comprises a serial data communicating means for executing serial data communication with the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, a command executing portion for executing a command supplied by the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, and a non-volatile memory write and readout controlling portion for executing writes to and readouts from the non-volatile memory.
The use of the serial data communication reduces the number of connection lines between the carriage and the control portion of the recording apparatus main body.
Further, the memory access controlling portion preferably comprises a serial data communicating means for executing serial data communication with the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, a command executing portion for executing a command supplied by the control portion of the recording apparatus main body, a non-volatile memory write and readout controlling portion for executing writes to and readouts from the non-volatile memory, and a temporary storage means for temporarily storing data read out from the non-volatile memory.
The memory access controlling portion has the temporary storage means such as a random access memory in which data read out from the non-volatile memory are all stored so that the stored data can be read out in response to a data readout request from the apparatus main body controlling portion, thus making it possible to respond to data readout requests at a high speed. Furthermore, after generating a data read out request to renew the data in the temporary storage means, the apparatus main body controlling portion can generate a data write request for the non-volatile memory to cause the renewed data to be written to the non-volatile memory. Accordingly, even with a plurality of data items to be renewed, the plurality of data can be written to the non-volatile memory with a single write operation.
Additionally, the memory access controlling portion desirably comprise a power supply controlling portion for controlling a power supply to the non-volatile memory.
The power supply controlling means enables power supply to the non-volatile memory only when it is accessed. This makes it possible to reduce unwanted power consumption. Further, the power supply is stopped while the non-volatile memory is not accessed, thereby preventing the data stored in the non-volatile memory from being rewritten due to noise or the like.
The non-volatile memory write and readout controlling means is desirably configured to be able to output plural types of clocks for executing at least either a write to or a readout from the non-volatile memory and to select from these clocks depending on the electrical characteristics of the non-volatile memory. When the plural types of clocks of different pulse widths are provided and selected from depending on the electrical characteristics of the non-volatile memory, the points of time to execute a readout from or a write to the non-volatile memory can be appropriately set.
Further, the memory access controlling portion is desirably configured to be able to access a plurality of non-volatile memories.
This configuration prevents the number of connection lines between the carriage and the control portion of the recording apparatus from being increased despite an increase in the number of non-volatile memories.
The use of a semiconductor device (integrated circuit device) for the memory access controlling portion facilitates the provision of the memory access controlling portion in the carriage including the housing portion of the ink carriage and serves to reduce the size of the carriage.

Ink-jet recorder, semiconductor device, and recording head device


The combination of an illuminated microphone stand with a foot controlled operation board has a capability of adjusting at least one light in the illuminated microphone and facilitating a performance, as well as maintaining the integrity of the lighting system Incorporated with the illuminated microphone stand.

In the performing arts, there are various levels of musical performers and a variety of acts ranging from novice to touring or recording professionals. These acts often require special well-coordinated lighting effects to enhance their performance.
At the professional level, these segments are usually well rehearsed in advance and often controlled by a lighting technician that works side by side with the sound man in the back of the venue, or even off stage out of sight. These rehearsals are very expensive as the acts are paying their technicians and for rehearsal space. Furthermore, these segments usually address the bigger aspects of the lighting show and these lighting routines do not offer the performers an opportunity to be spontaneous with using the lights as a part of their expression.
Using smaller lighting effects to enhance the larger aspects of the show can be very difficult to coordinate. Therefore, it may be desirable to have the necessary equipment to provide a unique effect to achieve the desired presentation.
To that end, it is useful for the musician or performer (regardless of career level) to have "real time" control and access to a special effect lighting system, which will not interfere with the musical performance but will allow flexibility and security for the act. If that lighting system can additionally illuminate the desired musical score, and add a dynamic visual level while providing a secure, yet flexible stand for the microphone; this will be a great performance tool and provide a clear advantage for the performer.
Positioning of the light or microphone system is also critical. The light system must be conveniently located, yet not obtrusive. The light system may be required to illuminate the desired music, while at the same time being available for decorative entertainment.
Microphone stands are often considered necessary evils on stage as they are not attractive but cumbersome in fitting around music stands, props, drum sets (kits), other instruments and stage devices. Their main function has always been to simple hold the microphones in the desired location for vocal and capture sound coming from non-amplified instruments. To have a device that can achieve the above, yet be visually attractive will be a great advantage to the performer.
Microphone stands must have the ability to be adjusted to accommodate and hold a specific placement location. They also must have the flexibility to be redirected and to permit removal of the microphone itself for each user and or instrument as desired.
In some situations, this may be hard to achieve. Therefore a microphone (boom) arm is generally mounted on top of the main support post. Also, the microphone stand may have to fit under, or in between other types of stands, risers and staging. To accomplish this setup a tripod or round base may be used to support the main post, microphone, and possible a boom arm. Any adjustments made before or during a performance must not interfere with the main lighting system or the use of the microphone itself.
Such a device must support the microphone; the vertical post; possible boom arm, and yet be adjustable when needed. It must be adaptable to the situation and allow the artist the ability to remove the microphone from the stand easily during a performance.
Adding the benefits of a visual effect lighting system on to the microphone stand allows for greater visual, stage expression as part of the entertainment experience and may also serve as a tool for a performer to read music, scripts and the like. It also can be controlled by the performer to provide the desired effect to help create a mood. The light system offers a great number of light variations, and control thereof involving color, duration, sequencing, or other desired functions. Using such effects will be another tool for an entertainment production. However, this combination is difficult to achieve.


The present invention relates to a polyolefinic resin composition having superior paintability which comprises:. (A) 40 to 80 parts by weight of a crystalline polypropylene resin; PA1 (B) 1 to 50 parts by weight of a thermoplastic olefinic rubber prepared by dynamic-crosslinking 10 to 70 parts by weight of a crystalline polypropylene resin with 90 to 30 parts by weight of an ethylene-.alpha.-olefin rubber; PA1 (C) 0.5 to 30 parts by weight of a polypropylene resin modified by grafting a polar monomer which has a physical affinity, but is not reactive, with an ethylene copolymer or ethylene copolymer rubber modified with .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof; and PA1 (D) 1 to 40 parts by weight of said modified ethylene copolymer or ethylene copolymer rubber based on 100 parts by weight of the total weight of the components (A),(B) and (C).

Olefinic resins, as well known in the art, have excellent moldability and good heat, solvent and chemical resistance; and, consequently, they enjoy a wide range of industrial applications, e.g., for the manufacture of automobile components. However, since they are chemically inactive owing to their non-polarity and have low solubility due to their high crystallinity, it is difficult to paint articles formed therefrom.
For instance, an automobile bumper made of an olefinic polymer or composition is normally coated with a polyurethane paint. However, in order to carry out the painting process, the molded articles should first undergo various surface treatments such as electric treatment, e.g., corona discharge treatment, plasma treatment and ultraviolet or electronic irradiation treatment, mechanical treatment, flame treatment and oxygen or ozone treatment before coating with a polyurethane paint. Needless to say, the above surface treatments are costly and time consuming.
Accordingly, in practice, the molded article, e.g., bumper, is coated with a primer and then applied with a polyurethane paint thereto. Since this method also requires extra cost and production time, search for a satisfactory solution has continued.
In an attempt to solve the problem, there have been suggested a process which comprises adding a rubber material and/or an inorganic filler and an ethylene copolymer containing a polar group to an olefinic resin(see PCT International Publication No. WO 88/07 564); and, similarly, another process which comprises grafting an olefinic resin or a molded article thereof with a compound having a polar group in the presence of a peroxide(see JP 01 236 214 and EP 312,664). The former does not entail a significant improvement in its paintability, whereas the latter is not appropriate for a continuous production process due to various process requirements associated with the drying procedure and the dispersion and grafting of monomers. Accordingly, needs have continued to exist for the development of a polyolefinic composition which may be painted with a commercially available paint in a conventional coating process which is normally conducted at a temperature of 80.degree. to 120.degree. C.

Polyolefinic resin composition having superior paintability


A powdered chemical mixture for lubricating photoreceptors, wiper blades, doctor blades and slide seals used on dry toner printers, copiers, and facsimile machines. The dry powder comprises a mica group mineral wet-ground to attain cold, dry lubricity, resiliency and particle alignment. The wet-ground mica-group mineral may be coated by calcium stearate to increase lubricity and reduce static electricity from the photoreceptor and blades during operation of the machine. The optimum powder would be comprised of 99% by weight mica-group mineral and 1% by weight calcium stearate. Muscovite and phlogopite are mica-group minerals suggested for use in the lubricating powder. The calcium stearate could also be used with powdered lubricants other than mica to reduce static electricity during operation of the machines.

It is customary for the manufacturers of printers, copying, and facsimile machines to use a powdered form of zinc stearate as a "padding powder," as it is commonly referred to in the industry, to minimize wear and tear on the photoreceptor drum and wiper blade. Without "padding" these components with dry lubricant, they wear or run out of usefulness quickly. Once the component runs out of usefulness, it must be replaced at great expense by a highly skilled and highly paid printer or copier technician.
Some manufacturers place the photoreceptor drum and wiper blade in a throw-away cartridge. These cartridges are often re-manufactured or recharged for the purpose of extending the life of the cartridge by disassembly of components, checking for worn parts, vacuuming and re-filling the toner powder, replacing the worn parts, and reassembling the components.
The wiper blades, often made of a material such as or similar to urethane, scrape excess toner off the photoreceptor drums. Oftentimes the photoreceptor drums and wiper blades can develop scratches and other wear from constant rubbing of the wiper blade. Checking for scratches and wear of these components is a common practice in remanufacturing because the components get scratched and worn so frequently. Also, these scratches usually occur in the middle of a usage cycle and thereby are a constant problem of both original manufacturers and the remanufacturer. Both credibility of the printer as well as the remanufacturer or service company is reduced every time a component wears out before its scheduled time. By lubricating the photoreceptor drum and wiper blade with zinc stearate, the life is extended in the current state of the art.
Many companies now remanufacture the throw-away cartridges, which oftentimes contains the parts that wear such as the photoreceptor drum and the wiper blade and in some cases the doctor blade. Many companies do this remanufacturing out of their homes, in their home basements, home garages, and others from industrial environments.
Many copier and printer cartridge remanufacturers and rechargers, as they are sometimes called, are particularly concerned about generating hazardous zinc stearate dust in their face as well as in their home living environment, especially considering that toxic zinc stearate is usually dusted on in most applications by putting the powder in a sock or cloth bag and tapping the dust bag onto the photoreceptor drum and wiper blade and thereby causing extensive local dust clouds containing this hazardous padding powder. This hazardous dust is not desirable for the remanufacturer doing work out of his house, nor is it desirable for the worker exposed to this dust in an industrial setting.
The use of dry lubricant material for wiper blades and for photoreceptor drums is not limited to the remanufacturers of throw-away cartridges. It also includes copier technicians who apply dry lubricant. Some end-users also apply dry lubricant on photoreceptor drums and wiper blades. Finally, of course, original equipment manufacturers apply materials to the wiper blades and photoreceptor drums in the factory manufacturing process.
Zinc stearate, the most commonly used material for the purpose of photoreceptor drum and wiper blade lubrication, and other products have the disadvantage of being hazardous and also have significntly greater friction than desired, causing these components to wear out sooner than desired. Partial attempts to address these problems have been made. U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,249 discloses an improved cleaning blade for a photoelectronic copying machine. The blade is coated with a perfluoropolyether to increase its wear resistance, lubricating, and cleaning properties. It is also known in the industry to replace the zinc stearate with a lubricant powder consisting of ground Kynar(.TM.) plastic. But this is more expensive (approximately ten times the cost) than the lubricant powder disclosed in this application, and Kynar(.TM.) does not reduce static electricity created during operation of the machines.

Method for lubricating a copier or printer with a dry lubricant formulation


Methods and systems for computer-aided translation include receiving a document having one or more sentences to be translated; generating a suggestion pool of possible translations for each sentence in the document; providing a best suggestion from the suggestion pool to a user for a sentence being translated; updating the suggestion pool based on the user's input of a translation prefix; and providing an updated best suggestion from the updated suggestion pool to the user for the sentence being translated.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to computer-aided translation and, more particularly, to computer-aided translation that adapts to a user's translation selections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fully machine-based translation is used to automatically generate a translation. This may be useful for users who are not acquainted with the language in question and who do not have the resources or time to employ a skilled translator. However, machine translation (MT) provides unreliable translations due to the complexity of language. For example, a given sentence in a first language may have multiple different meanings and may therefore have multiple different translations in a second language.
Computer-aided translation (CAT) attempts to find the best of both worlds, with the speed of MT and the human judgment of a skilled translator. MT is used to generate suggested translations within a document, and a human translator accepts or modifies the suggestions. In this way, whenever the MT suggestion is accurate, the translator is relieved of the burden of replicating that work and translation productivity may be increased.
However, translation suggestions provided by general MT systems are often not helpful for CAT when dealing with specific domains, where words may have non-standard meanings or may be applied in a non-standard way. In such a scenario, the suggestions will be consistently inaccurate, saving little time for the translator. Furthermore, the latency of MT may cause additional delays that limit translation productivity.

Customizable and low-latency interactive computer-aided translation

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


An apparatus and method for recording and/or reproducing information onto/from a medium through a probe electrode. A voltage is applied between the medium and the probe electrode and a distance between the medium and the probe electrode is adjusted in such a manner that current becomes a predetermined current value, the current flowing to the probe when the voltage is applied between the medium and the probe electrode. The predetermined current value is changed in accordance with the voltage being applied.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information.
Particularly, the invention can be suitably used in an apparatus and method for recording and/or reproducing information to which a technique such as a scanning tunnel microscope or the like has been applied.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
In recent years, application of memory materials is a main stream in electronics industries such as computer and its related apparatus, video disc, digital audio disc, and the like. Development of the memory materials is also extremely actively being performed. Although the performances which are required for the memory materials differ depending on the applications, in general, the following points can be mentioned: (1) a density is high and a recording capacity is large; (2) response speeds for recording and reproducing are high; (3) an electric power consumption is small; (4) a productivity is high and a price is low; and the like.
Hitherto, a semiconductor memory using a semiconductor as a raw material and a magnetic memory using a magnetic material as a raw material are main memories. In recent years, however, in association with the advancement of the laser technique, a cheap recording medium of a high density by an optical memory using a thin organic film such as organic coloring matter, photo polymer, or the like has been proposed.
On the other hand, recently, a scanning tunnel microscope (hereinafter, abbreviated to an "STM") which can directly observe an electron structure of a surface plane atom of a conductor has been developed [G. Binnig et al., "Phys. Rev. Lett.," 49,57 (1982)], so that a real space image can be measured at a high resolution irrespective of a monocrystal and an amorphous. Moreover, the STM also has an advantage such that a sample can be observed with a low electric power without causing damage to the sample by a current. Further, the STM can also operate in the atmosphere and can be used for various kinds of materials. Therefore, applications of a wide range of the STM are expected.
The STM uses a principle such that when a bias voltage is applied between a probe (probe electrode) of a metal and a conductive substance and the probe is allowed to approach to a distance of about 1 nm, a tunnel current flows. The tunnel current is very sensitive to a change in distance between them. By scanning the probe so as to keep the tunnel current constant, various information regarding a whole electron cloud of a real space can be also read. At this time, a resolution in the in-plane direction is equal to about 0.1 nm.
Therefore, by applying the principle of the STM, the recording and reproduction at a high density can be sufficiently performed on the atom order (subnanometer). For instance, in the recording/reproducing apparatus disclosed in JP-A-61-80536, atomic particles adsorbed onto the medium surface are eliminated by an electron beam or the like and the writing operation is executed and the data is reproduced by the STM. Further, there have been proposed methods whereby the recording and reproduction are executed by the STM by using a thin film layer as a recording layer made of a material such as .pi. electron system organic compound or chalcogen compound class having a memory effect for a switching characteristic of a voltage current (JP-A-63-161552, JP-A-63-161553). According to the above methods, assuming that a recording bit size is equal to 10 nm, the recording and reproduction of a large capacity of 10.sup.12 bits/cm.sup.2 can be performed.

Information recording and/or reproducing apparatus


The invention shows an apparatus for recycling bituminous material bodies by melting, in particular for recycling bituminous composite material bodies comprising a composite material and a bituminous material, in particular roofing materials, in particular in the form of bituminous covering layers of roofing sheets, the apparatus including:                a vessel having a vessel wall surrounding an interior space of the vessel extending along a vertical axis of the vessel for receiving the bituminous material bodies,        a bottom plate and a compression plate extending transverse to the vertical axis wherein at least the compression plate has a number of through flow orifices adapted to allow a through flow of molten bituminous material, wherein the plates are movable along the vertical axis such that        in a first operating state the compression plate is in a middle position for forming a melting space of larger size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for melting bituminous material in the melting space wherein the bottom plate is in a melting position,        in a second operating state the compression plate is in a lower position for forming a compression space of minor size between the compression plate and the bottom plate for compressing solid residues and/or solid composite material in the compression space, andwhereinmolten bituminous material is retained in a storing space above the compression plate for storing and/or discharging bituminous material, wherein the bottom plate is in a compression position, wherein        the compression plate is movable from the middle position to the lower position.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for recycling bituminous material bodies by melting. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for recycling bituminous composite material bodies comprising a composite material and a bituminous material. In particular, the apparatus and method are adapted for recycling roofing materials, in particular in the form of bituminous covering layers of roofing sheets.
The bituminous material bodies mentioned above for recycling usually have additional to a bituminous layer also possibly non-bituminous layers like a mineral covering layer or a bitumen reinforcement layer. Such bituminous material bodies, in particular roofing sheets or the like, are known from the prior art and are used in particular to cover and seal flat roofs e.g. For instance a bituminous layer can be provided as a conventional bitumen layer or as a polymer modified bitumen layer. The bitumen can in principle be oxidized or can be distilled bitumen. The reinforcement layer or other composite material can be a polyester fleece, fiberglass mat, fiberglass fabric or felt core.
After reaching the end of their service life, the roof sheets or other bituminous material bodies are usually processed for energy recovery, i.e. they are burnt as a substitute fuel in coal fire power stations. This kind of recycling causes considerable CO2 emissions and does not constitute full recycling of the roof sheets in the real sense aiming to a full material recycling.
Varieties of distillation bitumen and oxidized bitumen are basically in primary use nowadays to provide a bituminous layer in a bituminous material body. Bitumen as such is obtained by distilling crude oil. It consists of a mixture of different hydrocarbons and on account of its properties as one of the most used sealants in the construction industry. Distillation bitumen or refined bitumen usually refers to residual oil that remains after fractional distillation at reduced pressure and a temperature of approximately 350° C. These soft to medium-hard bitumen varieties are primarily used in road construction. Distillation bitumen may also refer to a high vacuum bitumen, which is obtained by further processing or further distillation of distillation bitumen under a vacuum. High vacuum bitumens, i.e. a special form of distillation bitumen, are mostly used for asphalt, floors, streets and rubber goods, due to their hardness and can also be used as distillation bitumens for a bituminous layer in a bituminous material body. Oxidized or blown bitumens are obtained by blowing air into distillation bitumen air at a temperature of approximately 250° C. Depending on this specific process used, it is possible to give the bitumen in roof specific properties in respect of resistance, to heat or cold.
On the other hand it has been found that hot processing and/or recycling of bituminous material bodies in principle can be achieved by melting the bituminous material bodies. However, a problem arises due to different melting or softening or transition points of temperature of the bituminous material in the bituminous material bodies on the one hand and the composite material in the material bodies or other residues on the other hand; usually the composite material and other residues can also comprise e.g. solid dirt, slate chippings and the like and these kind of composite material and other residues may remain solid when the bituminous material is already in a melted state.
In the prior art several attempts and suggestions have been made to handle bituminous material bodies for recycling by melting in an apparatus and a method; one of which is described for instance in WO 98/31519-A. As described therein the bituminous material bodies are heated such that the bituminous material melts. After that the bitumen and the other components forming the roofing materials are separated from each other. After sorting, reducing and melting, the material is sieved and sorted. This requires a comparable high amount of energy and is rather cumbrous.
Further in EP 11 44 171 B1 a method and apparatus has been described wherein the bitumen component of the bituminous material bodies—herein also referred to as the bituminous material—is melted in a vessel and separated from other non-melting components—herein also referred to as a composite material—of the bituminous material bodies. This is established by means of pressing or pushing together those non-melting components of composite material and all other residues in the vessel. The disclosure of the aforementioned patent EP 11 44 171 B1 herewith is incorporated in its entirety by reference into this application.
The basic principal of separating a bituminous material in the melted state from a composite material of a bituminous material body to be recycled as such has been found to be a good approach; however, still it remains to simplified and the apparatus and the method approach advantageously should be more efficiently to be handled. In particular the amount of energy and the separation process as such needs to be further improved.
EP 11 44 171 B1 provides a press means formed by a plate which is movable in the vessel over the bottom in the direction of a wall of the vessel which plate fits in cross section vertically in the vessel.
Further NL 1031868 describes an alternative approach wherein such plate is movable in the vessel in the vertical direction of a wall of the vessel wherein the plate fits in a cross section horizontal in the vessel. To prevent clogging of through flow orifices in the plate, the through flow orifices of the plate need to have a conical shape.
WO 02/28610 A1 describes a method and apparatus for the recycling of bituminous or tar containing materials, wherein these materials are separated from each other in a container by means of the application of a force onto the bituminous or tar containing materials such as a pressure force or a centrifugal force, which is brought to bear on the materials. In an embodiment, in the container, a base plate is formed and above the base plate, at a distance there from, a pressure plate is provided, which is movable along guiding elements in a direction towards and away from the base plate by means of a drive means. The base plate and the press plate can be provided with perforations or openings with varying diameter. The container is lowered down into a vessel, and the vessel is filled with a melting medium, which is liquid hot bitumen or hot fuel oil or another hot melting medium. The container with in it the rest materials that are pressed together in the form of a block is finally raised and lifted out of the vessel and the block can thereafter be handled as waste, for instance burnt.
Also these designs can be improved insignificantly.

Apparatus and method for recycling bituminous material bodies by melting


The present invention aims to improve the image forming efficiency by selecting positions where image adjusting toner images are formed to non-image areas of convey means by changing the supply timing of a transfer sheet onto the convey means, in an image forming apparatus wherein a plurality of electrophotographic photosensitive members are arranged side by side and color toner images formed on the photosensitive members are successively transferred onto a transfer sheet supplied at transfer positions for the photosensitive members thereby to form a color image on the transfer sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, it relates to a color copying apparatus having a plurality of image bearing members and an image density control technique.
2. Related Background Art
In the past, various image forming apparatuses, and more specifically, multi-color electrophotographic copying apparatuses capable of forming a full-color image have been proposed. A typical example of such apparatuses is shown in FIG. 4 showing an elevational sectional view of a copying machine.
Within a frame C of the copying machine, four image forming portions Pa, Pb, Pc, Pd are disposed at substantially the same height, which image forming portions Pa-Pd are provided with electrophotographic photosensitive drums (image bearing members) 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d each comprising an endless electrophotographic photosensitive layer. The photosensitive drums 1a-1d which are arranged side by side are rotatably supported by the frame C of the machine in such a manner that the respective axes of the drums are parallel with each other. The drums are rotated in directions shown by the arrows by means of an appropriate drive means (not shown).
An exposure means L for illuminating color decomposed information light beams on the photosensitive drums 1a-1d is disposed above the photosensitive drums so that the light from a light source device (not shown) illuminates the photosensitive drums 1a-1d via polygon mirrors 17, thereby forming electrostatic latent images on the drums.
Further, around the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, there are disposed, in order, primary chargers 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d for uniformly charging surfaces of the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, potential sensors 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d for measuring surface potentials of the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, developing devices 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d for containing color toners (yellow toner, magenta toner, cyan toner and black toner) and adapted to develop the electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive drums 1a-1d to obtain color toner images, transfer charger devices 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d for transferring the color toner images onto a transfer sheet S (described later), cleaning devices 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d for removing the residual toners remaining on the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, and charge removing exposure devices 21a, 21b, 21c, 21d for removing charges from the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, respectively. These photosensitive drums 1a-1d are equidistantly spaced apart from each other along a feeding direction of the transfer sheet S and are designed to provide a yellow color toner image, a magenta color toner image, a cyan color toner image and a black color toner image, in that order, from an upstream side (right side in FIG. 4) of the copying machine frame C. Incidentally, the transfer charger devices 4a-4d have transfer push members 41a, 41b, 41c, 41d, respectively, which are urged against a convey belt 8 (described later).
On the other hand, below the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, there is disposed the convey belt 8 which is wound around rollers 10, 11 and is rotatingly driven by the rollers. The convey belt 8 is made from dielectric resin film such as a polyethylene terephthalate resin film sheet (PET sheet), polyvinylidene fluoride resin film sheet or a polyurethane resin film sheet, and is formed as an endless belt by connecting the respective ends of the film to each other, or as a seamless endless belt. Incidentally, in the case of a belt having a seam, a detection means may be provided for detecting the seam of the belt, so that the toner image is not transferred on the seam.
Further, a belt charge removing device 12 and a belt cleaning means 16 are arranged in a confronting relation to the convey belt 8, so that, after the any charge on the toner remaining on the convey belt 8 is removed by the belt charge removing device 12 to remove the electrostatic absorption force from the toner, the toner is removed by the belt cleaning means 16. Incidentally, the belt cleaning means 16 is constituted by a rotatable fur brush opposed to the convey belt. However, in place of the fur brush, a blade or non-woven cloth may be used, or the fur brush may be used together with such a blade or non-woven cloth. An elastic member 16a such as a brush serves to urge the belt 8 against the fur brush 16.
On the other hand, a cassette 60 containing a number of transfer sheets (cut sheets) S is mounted on the frame C of the machine at the upstream end (right side) thereof, and a pick-up roller 26 for picking up the transfer sheet S from the cassette is disposed above the cassette 60 at a downstream end thereof. A pair of register rollers 13 are disposed in the vicinity of the pick-up roller 26, which register rollers are rotatably supported by the frame C and are rotatingly driven by an appropriate drive means (not shown).
Further, a fixing device 7 is disposed within the frame C at the downstream end (left side) thereof, which fixing device has a fixing roller 71, a pressure roller 72, heat-resistive cleaning members 73, 74 for cleaning the rollers 71, 72, respectively, heaters 75, 76 for heating the rollers 71, 72, respectively, an oil applicator roller 77 for applying a mold releasing agent oil such as dimethyl silicone to the fixing roller 71, an oil reservoir 78 for supplying the mold releasing agent oil, and a fixing temperature controlling thermistor 79. The fixing device is designed to permanently fix the toner image to a transfer sheet S fed by the convey belt 8.
With the arrangement is as mentioned above, when a predetermined image forming signal is emitted, the photosensitive drums 1a-1d are rotated by the drive means (not shown), and the primary chargers 2a-2d start to uniformly charge the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 1a-1d. Further, the exposure device L exposes the photosensitive drums 1a-1d in correspondence with the respective colors to form the electrostatic latent images on the drums, and then, the developing devices 5a-5d develop the respective electrostatic latent images with the respective color toners, thereby forming the various color toner images.
On the other hand, the pick-up roller 26 is rotated in response to a predetermined signal, with the result that the transfer sheet S is fed from the cassette 60 to the interior of the frame C to be rested on the convey belt 8. Since the convey belt 8 is being rotated by the drive means (not shown), the transfer sheet S is electrostatically held on the belt and is conveyed toward the downstream side of the machine while contacting the photosensitive drums 1a-1d successively. While the transfer sheet S is in contact with the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, respectively, high voltages are applied to the transfer charger devices 6a-6d, respectively, with the result that the various color toner images on the photosensitive drums 1a-1d are transferred onto the transfer sheet S in superimposed fashion, thereby forming a full-color toner image on the transfer sheet S. Thereafter, the transfer sheet S is sent to the fixing device 7, where the full-color toner image is fixed to the transfer sheet S. Then, the transfer sheet S is discharged out of the machine. On the other hand, the toners remaining on the photosensitive drums 1a-1d are removed by the cleaning devices 7a-7d, respectively, with the result that the photosensitive drums 1a-1d can be used for the next image formation.
In a copying machine having the above-mentioned construction, image density control is effected in order to effect proper correspondence between the full-color toner image and an image on the original. Now, the image density control will be explained.
Density measuring sensors (not shown) are disposed in a confronting relation to the photosensitive drums 1a-1d, and a control means (not shown) for making the image forming condition best is incorporated within the frame C of the copying machine. In performing the density control for the toner images formed on the photosensitive drums, density measuring reference latent images are formed on the photosensitive drums 1a-1d by illuminating information light beams in response to a predetermined signal. The density measuring sensors serve to measure the density of the toner images which are obtained by visualizing the respective reference latent images with the toners, and the control means serves to control the toner density on the basis of the measured result from each density measuring sensor.
Incidentally, there are various control methods effected by the control means. Typical examples of such control methods are as follows:
(1) Method for changing a so-called "development contrast" by controlling the charging bias applied to each of the primary charges 2a-2d, an exposure light amount from the exposure device L or the developing bias applied to each of the developing devices 3a-3d;
(2) Method for altering or correcting the contents of a look-up table to ensure the density gradient in response to input video signals, in a digital copying machine; and
(3) Method for replenishing an amount of toner corresponding to the amount consumed by the developing operation to each of the developing devices 3a-3d, in a two-component developer developing system.
Among these control methods, it is known that the methods (1) and (2) can maintain the image reproductivity more stably.
By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional copying machine, even when a number of transfer sheets S are sequentially supplied to form the image on each transfer sheet, it was necessary to always maintain the density of each toner image properly by effecting a image density control method such as the above method (1), (2) or (3). Further, in the method (3) relating to the two-component developer developing system, although the toner is charged by the frictional charge between the toner and carrier particles, if a large amount of toner is replenished at a time, it takes a long time to uniformly mix the toner with the carrier particles, with the result that the frictional charge cannot be effected uniformly, and, therefore, it is feared that the image cannot be formed properly. In order to avoid this, it is necessary to effect the image density control frequently. When the image density control is effected frequently, the reference toner images must frequently be formed on the photosensitive drums 1a-1d accordingly.
On the other hand, in the digital copying machine, digital data corresponding to the density of the original image is converted in a predetermined manner, and the converted data is used as a drive signal for the exposure device L. The amount of toner consumed is calculated on the basis of the total digital data, and the image density control is effected on the basis of the calculated result. In this case, although the reference toner images are not formed frequently, the reference toner images must be formed at a predetermined interval (normally, one reference toner image per 100 copies) in order to correct the error caused by totalling the digital data.
The reference toner images so formed are contacted to the convey belt 8 as the photosensitive drums 1a-1d are rotated, and are transferred onto the convey belt 8 by the electric action of the transfer charger devices 4a-4d and the urging forces of the urging members 41a-41d. However, the more the frequency of the formation of the reference toner image is increased, the more the convey belt 8 is smudged. Although the belt cleaning means 16 is provided for removing such contamination of the belt, in some cases regarding the material (for example, polycarbonate) of the convey belt 8, the contamination of the belt cannot be fully removed by only one cleaning operation. As a result, if a transfer sheet S rests on the smudged portion of the belt, then the back surface of the transfer sheet S is smudged with the toner, which is not desirable. To the contrary, if image formation is delayed until the whole belt is completely cleaned, since the convey belt is very long, it takes a long time to complete the image forming operation, thereby reducing the image forming efficiency.

Image forming apparatus for forming multi-image on transfer sheet with plural color toners


A tire vulcanizer is provided in which upper and lower clamp rings can be positioned at a shaping position easily and smoothly with a simple engagement structure. The tier vulcanizer with a vulcanizer body (A) and a shaping unit (B) is configured that the upper and lower clamp rings (5, 6) are connected by an extendable shaft (5a) having an inner shaft (51) and an outer tubular shaft (61) so that the inner shaft is slidably fitted into an inside of the outer tubular shaft. A latch member (53) on the inner shaft is engaged with a step portion (63) on an inner surface of the outer tubular shaft, thereby positioning the upper and lower clamp rings at the shaping position.

In prior art tire vulcanization methods, for shaping a green tire, the outer circumference of a bladder is made in tight contact with the inner circumference of the green tire by setting the green tire is in a center mechanism of a vulcanizer and inflating the bladder of the center mechanism with a pressurized fluid.
Then, the bladder supplied with a high-temperature and pressure fluid is pressed into the inner circumference of the green tire held in a container of the vulcanizer, whereby the green tire is vulcanized by heat from the bladder and the container.
However, such a prior art tire vulcanization method has a problem that since the green tire is set in the center mechanism of the vulcanizer for shaping, pre-vulcanization processing takes a long time, causing a reduction in work efficiency.
In view of solving the above problem, in prior art there has been proposed a tire vulcanizer disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2002-178333 which is configured to shape a green tire with a shaping unit outside a vulcanizer body and vulcanize the shaped green tire while the shaping unit is set in the vulcanizer body.
This prior art tire vulcanizer includes a shaping unit for off-line setup, that is, mounting a green tire outside the vulcanizer body and shaping the green tire.
Thus, the use of the shaping unit has an advantage of improved work efficiency since just setting in the vulcanizer body the green tire shaped outside enables immediate start of vulcanization.
However, for shaping the green tire in the shaping unit, it is necessary that the upper and lower clamp rings can be positioned at a bladder extended position at which they are distanced away from each other so that an outer diameter of the bladder is to be smaller than an inner diameter of the green tire and at a shaping position at which they approach each other so that the outer circumference of the bladder is to be made in tight contact with the inner circumference of the green tire.
In this regard, the prior art tire vulcanizer is configured to include a fastener ring in the upper clamp ring, and positions the upper and lower clamp rings by rotating the fastener ring by a motor to thereby engage the fastener ring with the lower clamp ring.
However, there is a problem that a complex fastening structure is needed to rotate the fastener ring by the motor to join the upper and lower clamp rings at the shaping position.
In view of solving the above problem, the present invention aims to provide a tire vulcanizer in which the upper and lower clamp rings can be positioned at the shaping position easily and smoothly with a simple engagement structure.


A method of accumulating and summarizing a number of customer interaction records pertaining to a specific customer records system (e.g., an ACD) over a predetermined time period commences with the receipt of interaction record including interaction information describing customer interaction. For example, the interaction information could indicate the hold time for a particular call received at the ACD. A cumulative record to which the interaction record contributes is then identified, and the cumulative record is then automatically updated to reflect predetermined interaction information contained within the interaction record. For example, a cumulative log of hold times for the particular ACD over a predetermined time interval may be updated with hold time information included within the interaction record.

To provide efficient customer support responsive to customer requests received via, for example, a telephone network or the Internet, an enterprise may employ a multiple customer interaction systems (also known as transaction processing systems). Examples of such customer interaction systems include Automatic Call Distributors, (ACDs), web servers, e-mail servers, work flow servers or network routers. These multiple customer interaction systems may be located at a single site (e.g., a call center) or may alternatively be distributed over multiple sites. In order to route customer requests efficiently to agents coupled to multiple customer interaction systems, it is advantageous for a customer interaction manager to have a site-wide or enterprise-wide view of resource availability and efficiency, regardless of the type of customer interaction system on which the relevant interaction occurred.
The presentation of information and statistics pertaining to various parameters within a customer interaction system to a manager is useful so as to allow the manager to reconfigure and allocate system resources, to thereby increase the efficiency with which customer interactions may be conducted. For example, consider the situation wherein a customer interaction system in the form of a ACD distributes telephone calls to multiple agents. Information concerning maximum hold times, average hold times, maximum talk times, average talk times, and ring times is useful to the manager in accessing performance of the relevant agents, and determining whether the relevant ACD is under- or over-staffed. The above-identified information may also be useful to an automatic alarm or re-configuration system that performs dynamic resource allocation and load balancing operations.

Method and process for accumulating and summarizing data for defined time intervals within a customer interaction system


A pilot and burner apparatus is provided for use in firefighting training. The apparatus includes a main fuel conduit and a main fuel valve. The apparatus includes a pilot tube and a pilot fuel conduit configured to deliver fuel from the main fuel conduit to the pilot tube. The apparatus includes main and pilot fuel valves to respectively control a flow of fuel in the main and pilot fuel conduits. In a pilot phase, the valves direct fuel to the pilot tube. An ignition component is configured to ignite fuel in the pilot tube to generate a pilot flame. In a burn phase, the pilot flame generates a controllable flame out of a main burner pipe by igniting fuel exiting the main fuel conduit. The controllable flame can be delivered to a training structure for training purposes.

Field
The present disclosure relates to apparatuses and systems for providing controlled fires for training individuals in extinguishing fires, and in particular, apparatuses and systems that include an integrated pilot and burner system.
Description of Related Art
When training firefighters, law enforcement, port authorities, first responders, military and the like, an apparatus can be used to create simulated fire conditions to permit trainees to practice firefighting techniques. Different scenarios can be created for firefighting training through the use of such an apparatus in combination with a variety of training structures (e.g., fire props or burn props) and/or in a variety of environments (e.g., within a building, in the open, on or around a vehicle, etc.). The simulated fire conditions can be built and designed with a variety of scenarios trainees will likely face in the field. For example, simulated scenarios can include attic fires, hidden fires in dropped ceiling or cocklofts, electrical panel fires, pressurized pipe leak fires, high-rise building fires, vehicle fires, and the like. Being able to generate a variety of scenarios can aid in the efficacy and quality of the training. In addition, being able to provide frequent and repeatable training scenarios can increase the efficiency of the training process by providing multiple opportunities for trainees to face simulated fire conditions or being able to train a large number of people over a short period of time.

Pilot and burner system for firefighting training


A clothes line with a central frame member (8). Outwardly extending end members (4) and (6) supporting clothes line therebetween, and legs (10) and (12) at each end of the member (8) which are supported to be foldable, between a position where they lie alongside the member (8) to a position providing support for the member (8). And there are means between the legs (10) and (12) and the member (8) which provides a locking strut effect.

There have been various arrangements to facilitate the easy and efficient locking of such legs in an extended position and also to facilitate the release and lowering of such legs to a compact state. Hitherto one arrangement has included a set of hinged members which lock using an overcenter interlocking arrangement which has been found to be quite difficult for some people to use especially those who may be more elderly or frail. At the same time, the cost of manufacture with many individual parts has been also of concern especially for the area of the market that such a product is directed to.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable clothes-drying stand that overcomes or at least substantially ameliorates the problems associated with the portable stands of the prior art.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.


Complex mixed metal containing thin films can be deposited by CVD from liquid mixtures of metal complexes without solvent by direct liquid injection and by other precursor dispersing method such as aerosol delivery with subsequent annealing to improve electrical properties of the deposited films. This process has potential for commercial success in microelectronics device fabrication of dielectrics, ferroelectrics, barrier metals/electrodes, superconductors, catalysts, and protective coatings. Application of this process, particularly the CVD of ZrSnTiOx (zirconium tin titanate, or ZTT) and HfSnTiOx (hafnium tin titanate, or HTT) thin films has been studied successfully.

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The semiconductor fabrication industry requires materials and deposition technology adequate to deposit metals, metal mixtures and metal compound mixtures in thin layers, plugs, vias and patterns on semiconductor and insulating or dielectric substrates to make appropriate electrical devices for integrated circuits, memory devices and flat panel display devices.
Various techniques are known for depositing metals, metal compounds and their mixtures on appropriate electronic materials substrates, including; physical methods (sputtering, molecular beam epitaxy, evaporation and laser ablation), alloying, and chemical vapor deposition (plasma, photo or laser enhanced, low pressure and high temperature).
Various multiple metal oxides are known in the literature, including those recited in: xe2x80x9cAdvances in Processing of Ferroelectric Thin Filmsxe2x80x9d, L. M. Sheppard, Ceramic Bulletin, Vol. 71, No. 1, (1992), pp. 85-95; xe2x80x9cFormation of Al2O3xe2x80x94Ta2O5 Double-Oxide Thin Films by Low-Pressure MOCVD and Evaluation of Their Corrosion Resistances in Acid and Alkali Solutionsxe2x80x9d, Hara, et. al., Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 146 (2) (1999), pp. 510-516; xe2x80x9cHigh Coercivity in Sm2Fe17Nx Magnetsxe2x80x9d, Schnitzke, et. al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 57 (26) Dec. 24, 1990, pp. 2853-2855; xe2x80x9cInvestigation of Ternary Transition-Metal Nitride Systems by Reactive Cosputteringxe2x80x9d, Van Dover, et. al., Chem. Mater. (1993), Vol. 5, pp. 32-35; xe2x80x9cReactively Sputtered Tixe2x80x94Sixe2x80x94N Films II. Diffusion Barriers for Al and Cu Metallizations on Sixe2x80x9d, Sun, et. al., J. Appl. Phys., 81 (2) Jan. 15, 1997, pp. 664-671; xe2x80x9cMOCVD Routes to Thin Metal Oxide Films for Superconducting Electronicsxe2x80x9d, Schulz, et. al., Adv. Mater. (1994), 6 No. 10, pp. 719-730; xe2x80x9cCompositional and Microstructural Characterization of RuO2xe2x80x94TiO2 Catalysts Synthesized by the Sol-Gel Methodxe2x80x9d, Guglielmi, et. al., J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 139, No. 6, June 1992, pp. 1665-1661; xe2x80x9cEnhancement of the Dielectric Constant of Ta2O5 Through Substitution with TiO2xe2x80x9d, Cava, et. al., Nature, Vol. 377, 21, September 1995, pp. 215-217; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,430, the latter of which also discloses the deposition process known as xe2x80x9catomic layer epitaxyxe2x80x9d.
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has gained favor in recent years due to its properties of providing uniform and conformal deposition and its ability to deposit an array of materials under highly controllable conditions. Typically, chemical vapor deposition can provide high deposition rates of high purity materials in a controlled fashion.
However, chemical vapor deposition has several drawbacks which make its implementation challenging. Not all desired chemicals are sufficiently volatile to make themselves amenable to chemical vapor deposition. Some chemicals are solids at storage or delivery conditions. Some chemicals are too volatile for adequate storage and delivery.
The situation for chemical vapor deposition is further complicated by the need to co-deposit several chemicals, such as multiple metal oxide chemical vapor deposition. It is possible for metal precursors to react with one another or for at least one metal precursor for CVD to be too volatile or too involatile, i.e., a solid.
To overcome these disadvantages of CVD, the prior art has used solvents to dissolve solid metal precursors or blend liquid, particularly viscous liquid, metal precursors for CVD.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,314 discloses a foraminous device for flash vaporization of liquid mixtures or solvent mixtures of metal precursors for CVD.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,664 describes various solvent mixtures of mixed metal compound precursors, which are useful for CVD.
However, solvent systems for liquid delivery for CVD are problematic because compatible, volatile solvents must be chosen. Solvents decrease the amount of effective reagent that is delivered to the CVD reactor for a given flow and time period. More importantly, solvents introduce yet another reagent into the sensitive reaction zone where delicate semiconductor and electronic device fabrication is being performed. The adverse effects of such solvent presence must be considered. Finally, solvents represent an environmental and cost factor. The solvent or its degradation products must be recycled, captured or treated subsequent to utilization.
International Patent Application WO98/46617 describes metal precursors and processes for deposition of metal oxides from mixed xcex2-diketonates. The application addresses liquid delivery of metal precursors for CVD and other depositions by direct liquid injection. Using mixed xcex2-diketonates enhances the liquid state of the precursors to facilitate delivery. Solvents are an option for the liquid mixtures. Similar disclosures appeared in xe2x80x9cNew Liquid Precursors for Chemical Vapor Depositionxe2x80x9d, Gordon, et. al., Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 495, (1998), pp. 63-68; and xe2x80x9cLiquid Compounds for CVD of Alkaline Earth Metalsxe2x80x9d, Gordon, et. al., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Vol. 574 (1999), MRS Meeting, Apr. 7, 1999, San Francisco, Calif. These metal xcex2-diketonates are highly viscous materials at room temperature, which complicates the precursor delivery.
The prior art attempts to provide appropriate liquid media for metal precursor delivery have required the use of selected solvents or mixed xcex2-diketonate ligands to assure liquid conditions for delivery. Solvents constitute problems of contamination and abatement. Mixed ligands constitute problems of inadvertent ligand exchange which can lead to non-liquid conditions. The xcex2-diketonate ligands frequently lead to solid metal compounds absent manipulation of the xcex2-diketonate substituents to avoid conditions leading to solid conditions, thus aggravating the consequences of inadvertant ligand exchange. The present invention overcomes these drawbacks by using a solventless, common ligand mixture of metals in a liquid state for deposition preferably by direct liquid injection to avoid solvent and ligand exchange drawbacks for consistent deposition performance, with subsequent annealing to improve electrical properties of the deposited films.
The present invention is a process for the deposition of XSnTi oxide containing thin films from solventless liquid mixtures of X(L)4, Sn(L)4 and Ti(L)4 containing precursors, where X=Zr or Hf, comprising;
(a) providing X(L)4, Sn(L)4 and Ti(L)4 precursors in a solventless liquid mixture, wherein L is selected from the group consisting of alkyls, alkoxides, halides, hydrides, amides, imides, azides, cyclopentadienyls, carbonyls, carboxylates, thiolates, nitrates, phosphates, metal xcex2-diketonates, metal xcex2-ketoiminates, metal xcex2-diiminates and their fluorine and other substituted analogs and mixtures thereof;
(b) introducing the X(L)4, Sn(L)4 and Ti(L)4 precursors as a solventless liquid mixture into a reaction zone and adjacent a substrate upon which a thin film is to be deposited, along with a reactant selected from the group consisting of oxygen containing reactants, nitrogen containing reactants and mixtures thereof;
(c) depositing a thin film of XSnTi oxide having a dielectric constant greater than 20 on the substrate under appropriate reaction conditions.
(d) annealing the films at a temperature in the range of approximately 200-500xc2x0 C., in an anneal gas selected from the group consisting of N2, Ar, He, O2, O3, N2O, NO, H2O, H2O2 and mixtures of thereof.
Preferably, X=Zr and the ratio of Zr:Sn:Ti=0.1-0.3:0.1-0.3:0.4-0.8.
Alternatively, X=Hf and the ratio of Hf:Sn:Ti=0.05-0.30:0.01-0.20:0.50-0.94.
Preferably, the appropriate reaction conditions of elevated temperature are approximately 150-600xc2x0 C. More preferably, the appropriate reaction conditions of elevated temperature are approximately 200-500xc2x0 C.
Preferably, the solventless liquid mixture is introduced into the reaction zone and vaporized at a temperature of approximately 50-200xc2x0 C. More preferably, the temperature is approximately 80-120xc2x0 C.
Preferably, the reaction zone pressure is approximately 0.01-50 Torr. More preferably, the pressure is approximately 0.1-5 Torr.
Preferably, the deposition rate of the thin film is in the range of approximately 1 to 300 angstoms per minute.
More specifically, the present invention is a process for the deposition of XSnTi oxide containing thin films, where X=Zr or Hf, from solventless liquid mixtures of, X(L)4, Sn(L)4, Ti(L)4 where L=OR or NR2, and R=H or C1-C6 alkyls and substituted alkyls comprising;
(a) providing X(L)4, Sn(L)4, Ti(L)4 as a solventless liquid mixture;
(b) introducing the X(L)4, Sn(L)4, Ti(L)4 as a solventless liquid mixtures into a reaction zone and adjacent a substrate upon which a thin film is to be deposited, along with an oxygen containing reactant;
(c) depositing a thin film of XSnTi oxides having a dielectric constant greater than 20 on the substrate under appropriate reaction conditions of elevated temperature;
(d) annealing the films at a temperature in the range of approximately 200-500xc2x0 C., in an anneal gas selected from the group consisting of N2, Ar, He, O2, O3, N2O, NO, H2O, H2O2 and mixtures of thereof.
Preferably, the oxygen containing reactant is selected from the group of oxygen, ozone, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, water, hydrogen peroxide, air and mixtures thereof.
The present invention is further a process of thermal treatment of deposited XSnTi oxide thin films, where X=Zr or Hf, to improve electrical properties of the films, comprising annealing the films at a temperature in the range of approximately 200-500xc2x0 C. in an anneal gas selected from the group consisting of N2, Ar, He, O2, O3, N2O, NO, H2O, H2O2and mixtures of thereof, conducting the annealing for a time in the range of approximately 1-60 min.
Preferably, the annealing is conducted for a time in the range of 5-30 min.
Preferably, the annealing is performed at a temperature in the range of approximately 350-450xc2x0 C.
Preferably, the thin film of XSnTi oxides are deposited as a storage capacitor in a dynamic random access memory device.

Deposition and annealing of multicomponent ZrSnTi and HfSnTi oxide thin films using solventless liquid mixture of precursors


A printing and binding system and method utilize an electrophotographic apparatus for performing a printing operation so that a plurality of booklets can be simultaneously printed and bound even if the quantity to be printed is not large. Rolled paper is cut in a pre-treatment portion i a direction in which the rolled paper is supplied, into sizes each corresponding to a desired booklet so as to prepare cut paper sheets, then the same pages of booklets of a number which can be printed are simultaneously printed on the cut paper sheets in a printing portion, and then the next pages of the booklets are sequentially printed on the next cut paper sheets. After the pages of a plurality of booklets which can be printed simultaneously have been printed, the printed paper sheets for a plurality of the booklets are conveyed to a post-treatment portion so as to be cut into individual booklets so that desired booklets are bound. If the required number of the booklets has not been bound, the aforesaid steps are repeated. The system thus constituted enables a plurality of booklets to be printed simultaneously and also enables the time taken to bound the booklets to be shortened.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for printing image information on printing paper by electrophotography and binding the printed paper into books.
Conventional printing and binding apparatuses are categorized into a type comprising a rotary press for printing and binding books and another type for printing and binding books by electrophotography. In particular, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 61-25889 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 61-112694 have disclosed an apparatus of the aforesaid type for binding books from printing paper sheets in such a way that printing paper sheets are sequentially printed as it is or by spreading the book by the electrophotography and the recorded paper sheets are stapled and bound up. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 58-18293 has disclosed technology for making a plurality of business form booklets by printing a continuous business form in accordance with output information from a computer in such a way that the contents of pages of two or more booklets are printed in the widthwise direction of the continuous business form, and the widthwise directional side of the booklet is bound by a bookbinding apparatus such as a stitcher and the two or more booklets are made by cutting performed in a direction perpendicular to the side of the bound booklet. Although the time taken to complete the printing process can be shortened by employing the electrophotography, a problem arises that it takes an excessively long time to bind the books if a large number of books must be bound.


A method, and a calibration device, for calibrating a system for analyzing aqueous solutions and that includes a pixel array and a variable focus line for focusing onto the pixel array illuminated images of the aqueous solutions. The method includes the steps of illuminating a pattern on the calibration device to form an illuminated image of that pattern, and directing that illuminated image through the lens and onto the pixel array. The method includes the further step of deriving data values representing the image on the pixel array, and using those data values to adjust the focus of the lens and to adjust the position of the calibration device relative to the pixel array.

This invention generally relates to systems that use automated image processing techniques to detect and quantify agglutinates formed in response to immunological agglutination reactions. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for calibrating such systems.
Immunological agglutination reactions are used to identify blood types and to detect antibodies and antigens in blood samples and other aqueous solutions. In a conventional procedure, a sample of red blood cells is mixed with serum or plasma in test tubes or micro plates, and the mixture is then centrifuged. Commonly, but not necessarily, the mixture is also incubated before being centrifuged. Various reactions either occur or do not occur in the mixture depending on, for example, the blood type of the red blood cells, or whether certain antibodies are present in the blood sample.
Typically, these reactions manifest themselves as clumps of cells or particles, referred to as agglutinates, having antigens and antibodies on their surfaces. The absence of any such clumps thus indicates that no reaction has occurred, and the presence of such clumps indicates that a reaction has occurred. In addition, if a reaction has occurred, then the size and amount of the formed clumps are quantitative indicators of the level or concentration in the sample of the complex for which the blood sample was tested. The size and amount of the formed clumps are also quantitative indicators of the affinity of that complex for the reagent used to produce the reaction.
Recently, a new agglutination test method--referred to as column agglutination technology, or CAT--has been developed. Column agglutination technology may be defined as the analysis of blood and blood products utilizing filtration as a means of separating agglutinated, precipitated, absorbed, or adsorbed particulate components from non reactive components for immunoassay applications. In this method, gel or glass bead micro particles are contained within a small column, referred to as a microcolumn. A reagent such as anti-IgG is dispensed in a diluent in the microcolumn and a test red blood sample is placed in a reaction chamber above the column. The column, which is typically one of a multitude of columns formed in a transparent cassette, is then centrifuged.
The centrifuging accelerates the reaction, if any, between the reagent and the blood sample and also urges the cells of the blood sample toward the bottom of the column. The glass beads or gel in the microcolumn act as a filter, however, and resist or impede downward movement of the particles in the column. As a result, the nature and distribution of the particles in the microcolumn after centrifuging provide a visual indication of whether any agglutination reaction occurred in the microcolumn, and if so, of the strength of that reaction.
In particular, if no agglutination reaction occurs, then all or virtually all of the cells of the blood sample in the microcolumn pass downward during centrifuging to the bottom of the column, and these cells form a pellet at that bottom. In contrast, if there is a very strong reaction between the reagent and the blood sample, virtually all of the cells of the sample agglutinate, and large agglutinates form at the top of the microcolumn, above the gel or glass beads contained therein. The gel or glass beads prevent the agglutinates from passing to the bottom of the column during centrifuging, so that after centrifuging, the agglutinates remain above the gel or beads.
If there is a reaction between the reagent and the blood sample, but this reaction is not as strong as the above-described very strong reaction, then some but not all of the cells of the blood sample agglutinate. The percentage of the cells that agglutinate and the size of the agglutinated particles both vary directly with the strength of the reaction.
During centrifuging, the unreacted cells pass to the bottom of the column, and the distance that the agglutinated particles pass downward through the column depends on the size and number of the particles. Hence, the size of the pellet of cells at the bottom of the microcolumn, and the extent to which the agglutinates penetrate into the gel or glass beads in the microcolumn, are both inversely related to the strength of the reaction between the reagent and the blood sample.
Conventionally, an agglutination reaction pattern is classified as either negative or positive, and if positive, the reaction is then further classified into one of a series of classes depending on the strength of the reaction. Traditionally, the classification is done by a human technician or operator who observes, or reads, the reaction pattern in the column. The use of human technicians for this purpose has several disadvantages. For example, the technicians need to be highly skilled and trained to read and to classify the reactions properly. Also, even with highly skilled and trained technicians, the classifications are subject to human interpretation, and as a result, it is believed that the consistency and reproducibility of the classifications can be improved. Because of these disadvantages, efforts have been made to automate the classification of the agglutination reactions.
One automated system for reading and classifying agglutination reactions in microcolumns is disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 08/163,996 for "Method and System For Classifying Agglutination Reactions." The method disclosed in this copending application is based on a computerized imaging system.
In accordance with this method, an image of an agglutination reaction is formed on an array of pixels, and those pixels generate electric charges that are converted to digital data values. These data values are then processed according to a predetermined program to determine if an agglutination pattern is present in the image, and, if so, to classify that pattern into one of a plurality of predefined classes.
In order to obtain consistent test results with this system, it is desirable to calibrate the system regularly.

Method and apparatus for calibrating imaging systems for analyzing agglutination reactions


An electrically writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory device capable of writing data to any desired threshold value accurately without resorting to a write confirming operation is disclosed. The memory device senses a current flowing through a memory cell transistor while effecting a writing operation. When the current reaches a preselected value, the memory device stops the writing operation. A relation between a desired threshold voltage and the current to flow through the memory cell transistor during wiring is determined beforehand. This eliminates the need for the confirmation of the threshold voltage relying on a reading operation, and allows a desired threshold voltage to be set rapidly and accurately.

The present invention relates to an electrically writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, particularly one capable of setting the threshold potential of a cell transistor assigned to a writing operation rapidly and accurately.
A flash memory is attracting increasing attention as a memory for allowing data to be rewritten and for holding data even at the time of power down. To write data in a flash memory, either a channel hot electron injection scheme or a Fowler-Nodeheim tunneling scheme is often used. These two schemes both set the threshold voltage of a cell transistor corresponding to a write address at a preselected potential, and determine data to be read on the basis of a current to flow through the transistor and derived from the above potential.
There has recently been proposed a multivalue semiconductor memory device capable of holding a number of bit data in a single cell transistor due to enhanced integration. Data is written to a multivalue semiconductor memory device in basically the same manner it is written to a flash memory. The difference is that the multivalue semiconductor memory device must have its threshold voltage set with accuracy, and therefore must repeat the write confirming operation more frequently than the flash memory.
However, with any one of the conventional electrically writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices, it is difficult to minimize the substantial period of time necessary for the writing operation to be completed, and to set a desired threshold with accuracy.

Electrically writable nonvolatile semiconductor memory device


A method, system, and program for minimizing complex decisions to allocate additional resources to a job submitted to a grid environment are provided. First, at least one decision to allocate additional resources to at least one previously submitted job is stored in a decision cache, wherein said the least one decision is stored according to at least one characteristic of the at least one previously submitted job. When another job is submitted to the grid environment needs additional resources, the characteristic of the currently submitted job is compared with the characteristics of previous submitted jobs. If there is a match, then the previously made decision associated with the matching characteristic controls allocation of additional resources for the currently submitted job, such that complex decision making for allocation of additional resources is minimized by reusing previously stored decisions to allocate additional resources.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to improved performance in distributed systems and in particular to a method for minimizing complex decision making when allocating additional resources to a job submitted to a first selection of resources in a grid environment. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to storing previous decisions to allocate additional resources in a grid environment according to characteristics of the jobs for which decisions were made, such that the stored decisions can be reused for subsequent jobs with similar characteristics to minimize complex decisions when allocating additional resources in a grid environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ever since the first connection was made between two computer systems, new ways of transferring data, resources, and other information between two computer systems via a connection continue to develop. In a typical network architecture, when two computer systems are exchanging data via a connection, one of the computer systems is considered a client sending requests and the other is considered a server processing the requests and returning results. In an effort to increase the speed at which requests are handled, server systems continue to expand in size and speed. Further, in an effort to handle peak periods when multiple requests are arriving every second, server systems are often joined together as a group and requests are distributed among the grouped servers. Multiple methods of grouping servers have developed such as clustering, multi-system shared data (sysplex) environments, and enterprise systems. With a cluster of servers, one server is typically designated to manage distribution of incoming requests and outgoing responses. The other servers typically operate in parallel to handle the distributed requests from clients. Thus, one of multiple servers in a cluster may service a client request without the client detecting that a cluster of servers is processing the request.
Typically, servers or groups of servers operate on a particular network platform, such as Unix or some variation of Unix, and provide a hosting environment for running applications. Each network platform may provide functions ranging from database integration, clustering services, and security to workload management and problem determination. Each network platform typically offers different implementations, semantic behaviors, and application programming interfaces (APIs).
Merely grouping servers together to expand processing power, however, is a limited method of improving efficiency of response times in a network. Thus, increasingly, within a company network, rather than just grouping servers, servers and groups of server systems are organized as distributed resources. There is an increased effort to collaborate, share data, share cycles, and improve other modes of interaction among servers within a company network and outside the company network. Further, there is an increased effort to outsource nonessential elements from one company network to that of a service provider network. Moreover, there is a movement to coordinate resource sharing between resources that are not subject to the same management system, but still address issues of security, policy, payment, and membership. For example, resources on an individual's desktop are not typically subject to the same management system as resources of a company server cluster. Even different administrative groups within a company network may implement distinct management systems.
The problems with decentralizing the resources available from servers and other computing systems operating on different network platforms, located in different regions, with different security protocols and each controlled by a different management system, has led to the development of Grid technologies using open standards for operating a grid environment. Grid environments support the sharing and coordinated use of diverse resources in dynamic, distributed, virtual organizations. A virtual organization is created within a grid environment when a selection of resources from geographically distributed systems operated by different organizations with differing policies and management systems is organized to handle a job request.
In addition to decentralizing resources available in a grid environment to improve efficiency of network transactions, capacity on demand resources are gaining more presence. An on demand resource is one that is accessible to a system, but is operational only when a fee is paid or an electronic key to open the resource is provided.
An important attribute of a grid environment that distinguishes a grid environment from merely that of another management system is quality of service maintained across multiple diverse sets of resources. A grid environment does more than just provide resources; a grid environment provides resources with a particular level of service including response time, throughput, availability, security, and the co-allocation of multiple resource types to meet complex user demands. A limitation of current grid technology, however, is that maintenance of agreed to quality of service from grid resources requires human intervention. For example, human intervention is relied on in a grid environment to decide when to allocate and deallocate resources to reach specified performance levels. Further, manual intervention is relied on in a grid environment to suspend low priority jobs or move jobs to other selections of resources within the grid environment. Manual intervention is limiting on the efficiency and expansion of grid environments because it is by nature inefficient and prone to error.
As a result of developing grid environments and on demand resources, a single system may have access to multiple discrete sets of resources. For example, first, a system typically accesses those components within the system that provide a primary set of local resources. Next, a system may access resources from other systems within a local or enterprise network. Further, a system may access and activate capacity on demand resources either from within the system or from a system accessible via a network. Finally, a system may access grid resources accessible through participation in a grid environment.
With the availability of multiple sets of discrete resources, an additional limitation of current grid technology is that human intervention is required to manage the flow between each of these discrete sets of resources to determine whether use of grid resources is required. Further, human intervention is required to determine whether to activate capacity on demand resources first or go directly to grid resources. Thus, a disadvantage of current grid technology is that when a job request is executing within a set of resources that become unable to handle performance requirements for the job, human intervention is required to decide whether to schedule the job into a grid environment or other set of resources. Given the quality of service requirements within a grid environment, it would first be advantageous to make decisions about the flow of a job through discrete sets of resources without requiring human intervention.
A common feature in network computing is that the same type of job may be requested from the same client system or multiple client systems within a short period of time. If the first time the job is received a complex decision has to be made to manage the flow of the job between discrete sets of resources, it would be advantageous to reuse that complex decision for other similar jobs. Therefore, in view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a method, system, and program for improving the efficiency of the use of a hierarchy of resources in a grid environment by storing complex decisions about the flow of a job such that the complex decisions may be reused for future jobs of the same type.

Minimizing complex decisions to allocate additional resources to a job submitted to a grid environment

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of executing more than one thread at a time in a computer system that has a plurality of threads, including a first and second thread. The method comprises providing a first and a second reorder buffer, reading first instructions and first operands associated with the first thread from the first reorder buffer, executing one of the first instructions and storing a result in the first reorder buffer which includes marking the result with a tag associating the result with the first thread, reading second instructions and second operands associated with the second thread from the second reorder buffer, and executing one of the second instructions and storing a result in the second reorder buffer which includes marking the result with a tag associating the result with the second thread.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of electronic data processing, and more particularly to a system and method of executing instructions.
2. Background Information
The current trend in microprocessors is to provide maximum speed by exploiting instruction level parallelism (ILP) both to hide long latency operations like memory accesses, and to execute multiple instructions at once. Currently the primary mechanism for doing this is an out-of-order superscalar processor. Such an approach typically uses renaming registers, reservation stations, and reorder buffers (ROBs) to hide latency and, as such, tends to rely on multiple slow, area intensive and expensive content addressable memories (CAMs). In addition, such an approach requires accurate global timing and global communication between the various structures across the entire chip. These constraints are likely to become problematic as technology advances to higher and higher clock rates. In fact, it will eventually become physically impossible to send signals from one side of the die to the other in a single clock cycle.
Counterflow processors provide a competitive alternative to the superscalar approach. Counterflow processors use highly localized communication to resolve the scheduling issues and resolution of data dependencies.
Sproull et al. first described the counterflow principle in an article entitled "The Counterflow Pipeline Processor Architecture" published in IEEE Design and Test of Computers in Fall 1994 (see R. F. Sproull, I. E. Sutherland and C. E. Molnar, "The Counterflow Pipeline Processor Architecture," IEEE Design and Test of Computers, pp. 48–59, Vol.11, No. 3, Fall 1994). Sproull described an asynchronous processor which offered a simple design methodology with many useful properties (including local control and local message passing). These concepts were used by Janik and Lu in the design of a synchronous processor (K. J. Janik and S. Lu, "Synchronous Implementation of a Counterflow Pipeline Processor" Proceedings of the 1996 International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, May 1996).
The basic counterflow processor includes two pipelines flowing in opposite directions from one another. One pipeline (the instruction pipeline or IPipe) carries the instructions up from the fetch or dispatch unit. The other pipeline (the result pipeline or RPipe) carries the operands or results of previously executed instructions down toward the dispatch unit. As an instruction and an operand pass, they "inspect" each other. The instruction checks the operands stored in the result pipeline to see if it needs any of the values. If it does, the instruction takes the operand and carries it along as it proceeds up the instruction pipeline waiting to execute. Meanwhile, the operands in the result pipeline check the instruction's destination to see if the instruction is going to update their value. If this occurs, the operands have an old copy of the result and they invalidate themselves.
If an instruction reaches its corresponding execution unit launch stage and has all of its operands, it is sent off to the execution sidepanels. If, however, it has not received its operands by this stage, it must stall, possibly stalling the instructions following it in the pipeline. Once the instruction has been sent off for execution, it proceeds up the pipeline. The execution sidepanels are clocked at the same rate as the instructions themselves. Therefore, an instruction's values are always at the same stage as the launching instruction. Upon reaching the associated recover stage, the result of the computation is loaded back into the instruction. The exception to this is the case where the execution unit has a variable latency, such as a memory execution unit. In this case, if the result has not yet been computed, the instruction has to stall at the recovery stage until the result is ready.
At any point after the instruction has retrieved a result from the execution unit, it monitors the result pipeline for an open slot. A slot is considered empty if it was invalidated by a previous instruction or it is simply empty because it hasn't been filled with anything yet. When an open slot is found, the result is sent down the result pipeline. Once the result is placed in the pipeline, the instruction will not send the result again.
The local interchange of information and the simple design of a counterflow pipeline (CFP) design support longer pipelines and increased processor throughput. Processors like those described by Sproull and Janik do, however, suffer a number of performance problems. Janik et al. describe some of these problems and a possible solution in "Advances to the Counterflow Pipeline Microarchitecture," presented at High-Performance Computer Architecture-3 in February, 1997. That article describes a Virtual Register Processor (VRP). The VRP moves the register file of the CFP processor to the bottom of the pipelines. This configuration eliminates the startup costs associated with the CFP processors, allows for a revalidate scheme that is far less expensive than a full flush on branch misprediction, and allows instructions to be removed from the instruction pipe when they are completed. In addition, by placing the register file at the bottom of the pipeline, operands no longer need to travel down the result pipeline, creating less competition for available slots in the result pipeline.
Unfortunately, allowing instructions to retire out of order eliminates the possibility of precise interrupts. To counter this Janik et al. describe the use of a reorder buffer (ROB) in combination with the VRP. In place of the register tags, all data values have a ROB tag associated with them that indicates the instruction that has generated or will generate the value. Each data value also includes a valid bit indicating whether the result has been generated yet. These tags are stored in the register file. The ROB also makes recovery from a mispredicted branch much easier.
The fundamental problem with the VRP approach is that the instruction pipeline is allowed to stall and can quickly clog the instruction flow. In addition, the VRP architecture, like the CFP processor architectures described above, is limited to only launching one instruction per clock cycle. What is needed is an architecture which provides the benefits of the CFP processor and VRP but which prevents or reduces instruction stalling. In addition, what is needed is a system and method for extending these counterflow architectures such that more than one instruction can be launched per clock cycle.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Non-stalling circular counterflow pipeline processor with reorder buffer