An opening for discharging toner is formed in a lower part of a cartridge body containing toner. A shutter mounting body is mounted on the opening. A first shutter is slidably mounted on the shutter mounting body. A second shutter is slidably mounted on the first shutter. A front end of a sealing member for sealing the opening is extended, the extended front end being inserted through a seal traction opening formed in a front end of the second shutter, and fixed to a front end of the first shutter. When the second shutter is pulled out of the shutter mounting body, the sealing member is towed by the seal traction opening. In addition, the first shutter is further towed by the sealing member, to be also pulled out. Consequently, nearly half of the sealing member from its front end is stripped. When the second shutter is further pulled out after the movement of the first shutter is regulated, the seal traction opening in the second shutter tows the sealing member while allowing the insertion of the sealing member. At this time, the sealing member is stripped while being so folded that a toner adhering surface is located in its inside. In this construction, the stroke for stripping is decreased, thereby to make it possible to prevent contamination by toner as well as prevent a large part of the sealing member from being ineffective.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner cartridge applied to an electrostatic process image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine for supplying toner for visualizing an electrostatic image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an electrostatic process image forming apparatus such as an electrostatic process copying machine and a laser beam printer, an image is formed in the following manner. More specifically, the surface of a photoreceptor uniformly charged is exposed corresponding to an image to be formed. Consequently, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an image to be recorded is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor. The electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image by a developing device. The toner image is transferred to paper, and the toner image transferred is further fixed on the paper, to complete printing.
Toner is supplied to the developing device from a toner hopper inside of the image forming apparatus. The toner in the toner hopper is consumed as the image is formed. Consequently, when there is no toner left in the toner hopper, toner must be supplied. It is a toner cartridge that is used so as to supply the toner.
Examples of the toner cartridge conventionally used include a toner cartridge in which an opening of a cartridge body which is a container for containing a constant amount of toner is sealed by affixing a film-shaped sealing member. At the time of supplying toner, the toner cartridge is mounted on the toner hopper, so that the sealing member is stripped. Consequently, the toner in the cartridge body is supplied to the toner hopper through the opening.
Such a toner cartridge is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 28447/1979. In the prior art disclosed in the gazette, a sealing member is folded in one end of an opening of a cartridge body, and is extended to the other end of the opening. After the toner cartridge is mounted on a toner hopper, a worker pulls out a front end of the sealing member folded. Consequently, the sealing member is stripped from the one end of the above described opening to the other end thereof.
In the prior art, however, a surface to which toner adheres of the sealing member is exposed, resulting in contamination by toner. More specifically, the toner adhering to the surface of the sealing member is scattered, to make clothes of the worker and peripheral devices dirty. Further, in the prior art, the front end of the sealing member must be pulled out over a length which is twice the length of the opening so as to completely open the opening of the cartridge body. That is, the stroke for stripping is long. In addition, a sealing member having a length which is twice the length of the opening is required, so that a large part of the sealing member is ineffective.
Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 41364/1984 discloses the prior art in which the problem of contamination by toner is overcome. More specifically, in the prior art, a sealing member is covered with a slide cover slid along an opening of a cartridge body. The slide cover is first pulled out and then, the sealing member is pulled out. At this time, a toner adhering surface of the sealing member is opposed to the slide cover. Consequently, the toner adhering surface of the sealing member is shielded by the slide cover, thereby to make it possible to prevent the contamination by toner. In the prior art, however, a state where the sealing member is disposed is the same as that in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 28447/1979, so that the problem that the stroke for stripping is long and the problem that a large part of the sealing member is ineffective are not improved.
The other prior art in which the problem of contamination by toner is overcome is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 132962/1988. The toner cartridge disclosed in this gazette is provided with a shutter for opening or closing an opening of a cartridge body. An extended part connecting with a part where the opening is sealed of the sealing member is led to a lower surface of the shutter, and is further led to a portion between the opening and the shutter through a first slit formed in a front end of the shutter. The extended part of the sealing member between the opening and the shutter is further led to the lower surface of the shutter through a second slit formed in a rear end of the shutter and then, is led to an upper surface of the shutter again through a third slit formed on the rear end side of the second slit. A front end of the extended part of the sealing member adheres to a peripheral edge part of the opening of the toner cartridge.
When the shutter is pulled out of the cartridge body, the sealing member is towed by the third slit while being moved through the first, second and third slits. Consequently, the sealing member is stripped from the opening. At this time, a toner adhering surface is opposed to the upper surface of the shutter, so that there occurs no problem of contamination by toner.
Also in this prior art, however, the problem that the stroke for stripping is long and the problem that a large part of the sealing member is ineffective are not solved.
On the other hand, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 41365/1984 discloses the still other prior art. In a toner cartridge disclosed in this gazette, a state where a sealing member is disposed is the same as that in the toner cartridge disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 28447/1979. In addition, a slide cover is provided in the same manner as that in the toner cartridge disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 41364/1984. The toner cartridge differs from the toner cartridge disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 41364/1984 in that a front end of a sealing member folded adheres to an upper surface of the slide cover. If the slide cover is completely pulled out, the sealing member is stripped to the middle of the opening. At this time, the sealing member is exposed to the upper surface of the slide cover. Accordingly, a worker takes the exposed part of the sealing member in his hand to pull the same, thereby to make it possible to completely strip the sealing member from the opening.
In the prior art, the stroke length required to strip the sealing member is reduced to approximately 1.5 times the length of the opening. However, a worker must directly take a part to which toner adheres of the sealing member, so that the hand and clothes are liable to be dirty. Accordingly, the problem of contamination by toner cannot be avoided. In addition, the problem that a large part of the sealing member is ineffective is not solved.
The prior art for reducing the stroke length is also disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60142/1989 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 280781/1989. In a toner cartridge disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60142/1989, a sealing member is formed in a loop shape. In addition, there is provided a slidable shutter for opening or closing an opening of a cartridge body, and the shutter is disposed so as to be enclosed by the sealing member. If the shutter is slid, a loop of the sealing member follows the shutter, so that the sealing member is stripped in a direction to slide the shutter. Consequently, the shutter is slid by a length equal to the length of the opening, thereby to make it possible to completely strip the sealing member. In the above described manner, the stroke length becomes approximately equal to the length of the opening.
In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 280781/1989, a shutter is provided slidably with respect to an opening of a cartridge body. In addition, a sealing member is disposed with it being folded in the same manner as that in the toner cartridge disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. 28447/1979, and a front end of the sealing member adheres to the cartridge body through a hole formed in the shutter. The operation in the prior art is approximately the same as the operation disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60142/1989.
In the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60142/1989 and the prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 280781/1989, a toner adhering surface of the sealing member is exposed to the lower surface as the shutter is slid. Consequently, toner is liable to be dropped, so that the problem of contamination by toner is unavoidable. Moreover, the sealing member must have a length which is twice the length of the opening.
The above described Japanese Patent Publication No. 60142/1989 also discloses a toner cartridge so adapted that a pulley is provided in each of a front end and a rear end of the shutter, the loop-shaped sealing member is wound around the pulley, and the loop of the sealing member is formed between the shutter and the opening of a cartridge body. In this toner cartridge, the toner adhering surface of the sealing member enters a portion between the opening of the cartridge body and the shutter, so that the problem of contamination by toner is restrained. However, the problem that a large part of the sealing member is ineffective cannot be avoided even by the prior art.

Toner cartridge having opening for discharging toner sealed with sealing member and method of stripping sealing member


A steam generator in a heat regenerative engine includes a cylindrical combustion chamber that encloses a circularly wound coil of densely bundled tubes. The tube bundle is heated by two combustion nozzle assemblies, each having an air blower, a fuel atomizer, and an igniter. The igniter burns atomized fuel that exits the atomizer and is mixed with preheated air. The flames and heat from the combustion nozzle assemblies are directed in a centrifuge within the circular combustion chamber. This cyclonic circulation of combustion gases within the combustion chamber creates higher efficiency in the engine by subjecting the coil of tubes to multiple passes of heat, thereby promoting greater heat saturation relative to the amount of fuel expended. The relatively small diameter and large surface area of the tubes in the bundle allows the water and steam in the tubes to be heated to higher temperatures and pressures within a compact space, providing a highly efficient steam generator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to steam generators and, more particularly, to a steam generator that directs water through a tube bundle within a combustion chamber, and wherein the tube bundle is exposed to a cyclonic circulation of hot combustion gases.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Environmental concerns have prompted costly, complex technological proposals in engine design. For instance, fuel cell technology provides the benefit of running on clean burning hydrogen. However, the expense and size of fuel cell engines, as well as the cost of creating, storing, and delivering fuel grade hydrogen disproportionately offsets the environmental benefits. As a further example, clean running electric vehicles are limited to very short ranges, and must be regularly recharged by electricity generated from coal, diesel or nuclear fueled power plants. And, while gas turbines are clean, they operate at constant speed. In small sizes, gas turbines are costly to build, run and overhaul. Diesel and gas internal combustion engines are efficient, lightweight and relatively inexpensive to manufacture, but they produce a significant level of pollutants that are hazardous to the environment and the health of the general population and are fuel specific.
The original Rankin Cycle Steam Engine was invented by James Watt over 150 years ago. Present day Rankin Cycle Steam Engines use tubes to carry super heated steam to the engine and, thereafter, to a condenser. The single tubes used to pipe super heated steam to the engine have a relatively large interior volume which limits pressure and temperature levels. The less desirable lower pressures and temperatures, at which water can easily change state between liquid and gas, requires a complicated control system. While Steam Engines are generally bulky and inefficient, they tend to be environmentally clean. Steam Engines have varied efficiency levels ranging from 5% on older model steam trains to as much as 45% in modern power plants. In contrast, two-stroke internal combustion engines operate at approximately 17% efficiency, while four-stroke internal combustion engines provide efficiency up to approximately 25%. Diesel combustion engines, on the other hand, provide as much as 35% engine efficiency.

Steam generator in a heat regenerative engine


Provided are methods and systems for video data processing. In an exemplary system, there is a video source and a display unit. The display unit may receive video data from the video source and display it at a first refresh rate. The video source may cause the display unit to enter a power economy mode, in which the displayed video is static. In this mode, the video source stops sending new video data, while the display unit selectively stores one or more of the previously received video frames and further displays it repeatedly at a second refresh rate, which may be lower than the first refresh rate (e.g., it may be decreased from 60 Hz to 40 Hz). In the power economy mode, the power consumed is decreased, in some embodiments, by about 10-20% for both the video source and the display unit.

A DisplayPort communication standard is an interface and link protocol for transferring high definition video/audio and data across computer systems and electronics devices. Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has defined various versions of DisplayPort communication standards, which are incorporated by reference herein, including 1.1, 1.1a and 1.2. A DisplayPort standard defines an interface for connecting a video source, such as a system that generates a media or multimedia signal (i.e., video and/or audio) with a sink device, such as a display that renders the signal in an audio-visual manner.
An Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) standard is a part of the DisplayPort communication standard that defines a standardized display panel interface. VESA has defined various versions of eDP standards, including 1.1, 1.1a, 1.2, and 1.3, which are all incorporated by reference herein. An eDP standard may be used by various internal interface elements such as timing controllers (TCONs) or any other video processing devices of displays, computers, and so forth.
An eDP standard supports advanced power-saving features including the Panel Self Refresh (PSR) function. Specifically, when video data is transferred from a source side to a display, the PSR function enables power saving at the source side when the displayed image remains static for multiple successive video frames. If this is the case, the display locally stores the static image and repeatedly displays it while the source side may be turned off to save power.
While this approach may provide power savings to the source side, the display or corresponding electronics may still experience high power loads regardless of whether the PSR function is enabled or not. Accordingly, there is still a need to improve video data communication and processing so that power savings are provided to both the source side and display side.

Panel self refreshing with changing dynamic refresh rate


The present disclosure relates generally to compounds and pharmaceutical compositions suitable as modulators of hemoglobin, and methods for their use in treating disorders mediated by hemoglobin.

Sickle cell disease is a disorder of the red blood cells, found particularly among those of African and Mediterranean descent. The basis for sickle cell disease is found in sickle hemoglobin (HbS), which contains a point mutation relative to the prevalent peptide sequence of hemoglobin A (HbA).
Hemoglobin (Hb) transports oxygen molecules from the lungs to various tissues and organs throughout the body. Hemoglobin binds and releases oxygen through conformational changes. Sickle hemoglobin (HbS) contains a point mutation where glutamic acid is replaced with valine, making HbS susceptible to polymerization under hypoxic conditions to give the HbS containing red blood cells their characteristic sickle shape. The sickled cells are also more rigid than normal red blood cells, and their lack of flexibility can lead to blockage of blood vessels. A need exists for compounds that can treat disorders that are mediated by abnormal Hb such as HbS and methods of treating such disorders.


A method of controlling a transceiver module which includes a physical-layer integrated circuit having a physical-layer register unit, and a control integrated circuit having a control-side register unit. In the method, the physical-layer register unit is emulated by the control-side register unit and the physical-layer integrated circuit is prohibited from generating a first error signal giving notice of detection of a specific error directly to a higher-layer device. A second error signal is output from the physical-layer integrated circuit to the control integrated circuit, giving notice of a high-speed error associated with communication processing and that is detected by the physical-layer integrated circuit. The high-speed error is specified in response to the outputting of the second error signal. A bit is set in the control-side register unit in response to the specifying of a high speed error and the control integrated circuit delivers to the higher-layer device the second error signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transceiver module for optical communications.
2. Description of Related Art
There have been provided transceiver modules for optical communications which are compliant with the IEEE802.3ae standard, for example. A transceiver compliant with the IEEE802.3ae standard includes, for example, an NV (Non-Volatile) register, a DOM (Digital Optical Monitoring) register, an LASI (Link Alarm Status Interrupt) register, etc. which are XENPAK (common specifications of optical connectors and optical transceivers which operate according to the XAUI (10 Gigabit Attachment Unit Interface) protocol adopted by 10 Gbit Ethernet (registered trademark) defined by the IEEE802.3ae standard) (refer to nonpatent reference 1, for example).
A related art transceiver IC (referred to as a PHY IC from here on) which constitutes such a transceiver module mentioned above has both IEEE registers which are used when carrying out communications processing and XENPAK registers which are defined by the above-mentioned standard, those registers being implemented via hardware. As error-associated registers which belong to those registers, there exist interrelated registers (i.e., LASI_Status registers) holding the same contents in the IEEE registers and XENPAK registers, respectively.
[Nonpatent Reference 1]
"A Cooperation Agreement for 10 Gigabit Ethernet (registered trademark) Transceiver Package Issue3.0", [online], 18 Sep. 2002 and XENPAK, [retrieved on Sep. 17, 2004], Internet URL <http://www.xenpak.org/MSA/XENPAK_MSA_R3.0.pdf>
In the related art transceiver module, when a change is made to the structure and function of either the IEEE registers or the XENPAK registers, it is necessary to perform the design and development of the PHY IC again so that the structure and function of the registers meet new specifications.
On the other hand, when the structure and function of the XENPAK registers which are built in the PHY IC are software-emulated by a device control unit (referred to as a DCU from here on) which is an IC for controlling the PHY IC and other peripheral functions, the structure and function of the XENPAK registers can be changed by changing a software program of the DCU which software-emulates the structure and function of the XENPAK registers.
However, while information about a high-speed error which is detected only by the PHY IC and which is associated with communications processing is stored in one of the XENPAK registers of the PHY IC, to which information about errors can be set, information about a low-speed error which is detected only by the DCU and which is associated with internal processing is stored in one of the XENPAK registers of the PHY IC, to which information about errors can be set. A problem is therefore that a mismatch occurs between the contents of the register for storing error information in the PHY IC and those in the DCU.

Method of controlling a transceiver module


Certain embodiments of systems and methods for managing security data are provided. In one embodiment, a system can be provided. The system can include at least one processor operable to execute one or more computer-executable instructions. The system can also include at least one memory operable to store the one or more computer-executable instructions. The instructions can be operable to: collect status information associated with a plurality of sites monitored by a security service provider; generate, based at least in part upon the collected information, at least one graphical presentation associated with the plurality of sites, the at least one presentation comprising one or more respective selectable status indicators associated with each of the plurality of sites; and output, by the monitoring system, the generated at least one presentation.

It is well known and quite common for commercial and industrial premises to be protected by security companies providing on-site security guards as a service. A security company typically employs and trains guards, who are assigned to patrol the premises of customers of the security company. To ensure that the premises are protected, each guard is often responsible for thoroughly and regularly patrolling all or part of the premises. During guard tours, a wide variety of different data associated with the monitored premises may be collected, such as checkpoint data and data associated with identified alert conditions.
The security company is typically responsible for hiring, training, and retaining the security guards. The security company may also be responsible for ensuring that appropriate employment forms are obtained and background checks are performed. Additionally, the security company is typically responsible for ensuring that an appropriate business relationship has been established with its customers and that appropriate billing and/or review procedures have been put in place.
Indeed, a wide variety of different information may be available in association with a monitored site. It may be difficult for the security company and the customers of the security company to review various information in order to identify any potential problems associated with the monitored site. Accordingly, there is an opportunity for improved systems and methods for managing security data associated with any number of monitored sites.

Systems and methods for managing security data


Methods and compositions for enhancing transdermal delivery of a bioactive agent. The method contains the step of applying to a skin tissue an effective amount of a composition comprising: (a) a drug vehicle; (b) a bioactive agent encapsulated within the drug vehicle; (c) a plurality of proteolytic enzyme molecules conjugated onto the surface of the drug vehicle; and (d) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, for a period of time effective to deliver the bioactive agent across the skin tissue at a desired dosage.

Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) offers several advantages over traditional delivery methods including injections and oral delivery. When compared to oral delivery, TDD avoids gastrointestinal drug metabolism, reduces first-pass effects, and provides sustained release of drugs for up to seven days. When compared to injections, TDD eliminates the associated pain and the possibility of infection. Theoretically, the transdermal route of drug administration could be advantageous in the delivery of many therapeutic proteins because proteins are susceptible to gastrointestinal degradation and exhibit poor gastrointestinal uptake. Proteins such as interferon are cleared rapidly from the blood and need to be delivered at a sustained rate in order to maintain their blood concentration at a high value, and transdermal devices are easier to use than injections (U.S. Pat. No. 5,814,599).
In spite of these advantages, very few drugs and no proteins or peptides are currently administered transdermally for clinical applications because of the low skin permeability to drugs. This low permeability is attributed to the stratum corneum (SC), the outermost skin layer which consists of flat, dead cells filled with keratin fibers (keratinocytes) surrounded by lipid bilayer. The highly-ordered structure of the lipid bilayer confers an impermeable character to the SC (U.S. Pat. No. 5,814,599).
Transdermal drug delivery offers an advantageous alternative to oral delivery and injections. However, its applications are restricted to only a few drugs because of the extremely low skin permeability to drugs. Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies, especially in connection with an improved method for transdermal drug delivery.

Methods and compostions for enhancing transdermal drug delivery


A prefabricated mold for construction of a concrete pavement capable of being easily assembled, installed and disassembled and being repeatedly re-used is provided. The prefabricated mold includes coupling segments taperedly installed at both upper and lower ends of the mold to be butt-coupled to each other, fixing rod insertion holes formed through an upper central region of the mold and formed through the coupling segments formed at both sides of the mold, coupling grooves installed in a plural number to protrude from an inner surface of the mold having an internal space formed therein, finishing plates having a plurality of protrusions formed therein to be inserted into the coupling grooves, fixing rod insertion holes formed at the mold having a slope segment installed at a front upper portion thereof by injection-molding the mold using a synthetic resin material, and fixing rods inserted respectively into the fixing rod insertion holes to fix the mold on the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prefabricated mold for construction of a concrete pavement capable of being easily assembled, installed and disassembled and being repeatedly re-used, and more particularly, to a mold capable of butt-coupling structures of molds installed at both sides of a roadbed in which ground works are finished before deposition and aging of a slab of concrete, the molds being able to be arranged in a horizontal direction and/or a vertical direction, and capable of being constructed by injection-molding the molds using a synthetic resin material and installing the injection-molded molds in a prefabricated manner, and the molds being formed so that fixing rod insertion holes can be formed through an upper central region of the mold and formed through the coupling segments formed at both sides of the mold, and coupling grooves can be formed in a plural number to protrude from an inner surface of the mold to be coupled to protrusions formed at finishing plates.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, a concrete pavement is constructed by performing a flattening process as a ground work on roadbeds, installing molds according to the width of a road, depositing and aging slabs of concrete through a finishing process, and disassembling the molds to construct the concrete pavement when these operations are completed. In this case, molds formed of woods and metals are widely used as the molds used for construction of the concrete pavement.
The molds used to construct conventional concrete pavements can be mainly divided into wooden veneer molds and metal molds according to the shapes of the molds.
The wooden veneer molds are constructed by installing molds, in which gradient posts are fixed in an inner side (a road surface) of a sheet of veneer with nails, at both sides of a road according to the width of the load, installing rebar at the rear end of the molds on the ground so as to primarily support the molds and obliquely installing supporting posts to secondarily support the molds.
As disclosed in Utility Model No.: 20-0263829 (a steel sheet mold for construction of concrete pavement) using a galvanized steel sheet, the metal molds can be supported by pressing a bent portion and inclined plane formed at an upper surface of a steel sheet body using a press, coupling connection posts and supporting posts to each other using nails, fixing the connection posts and the supporting posts in the rear of the steel sheet body, and putting rebar into the ground, and fixing the connection posts and the supporting posts in the rebar using large nails.
In addition to the steel sheet, the metal molds are formed of various kinds of metals such as galvanized steel sheet, aluminum, magnesium, and the like.
The conventional veneer molds configured thus has problems in that woods are expensive, and a great deal of work time is required since the molds are manually coupled and supported by workers, and thus a lot of manpower are also required, and also that the woods are easily broken during delivery, assembly and disassembly due to their characteristics, and thus a great deal of maintenance and repair costs are required, and the woods cannot be used continuously and repeatedly. Although the metal molds has an advantage in that they can be used semi-permanently in an economic aspect, they have problems in that they are very heavy, and thus they cannot be easily delivered, assembled and disassembled, and great deals of manpower and work time are required since the same subsequent processes as in the woods are required upon installation of the metal molds.
To solve the prior-art problems, Utility Model No.: 20-0433737 (a mold for pavement of cement concrete) in which a veneer sheet for molds, a hard fiber board, a synthetic resin, an aluminum panel, a steel sheet and the like may be selectively used as the mold is proposed.
The mold disclosed in the utility model is configured to include a body formed in a plate shape in order to divided a predetermined space, a hinge portion formed to engage both sides of the body with other bodies, a hinge shaft hole formed through the hinge portion, and a piling hole formed through a protrusion formed in the rear surface of the body to support the body on the ground.
Although the mold disclosed in the utility model has advantages in that the mold is formed of various kinds of materials, and thus it can be re-used, it has problems in that it cannot be easily delivered and installed due to its entire heavy weight derived from the structural characteristics, and that the hinge portion configured to couple one mold to another mold may be damaged or deformed when the structures of the hinge portions is repeatedly used in a state where the hinge portions are engaging crisscross, which makes it difficult to easily assemble and disassemble the molds.

Prefabricated mold for construction of concrete pavement


A flow control device for use in a wellbore to allow flow of formation fluid into the wellbore comprises a valve member adapted to move when disposed in the wellbore. A fluid line supplies a working fluid under pressure to move the valve member to allow the fluid to flow into the wellbore. A sensor in the wellbore, and associated with the fluid line, provides an indication of a position of the valve member. A method of determining a state of a flow control tool within a wellbore comprises supplying fluid under pressure to the flow control tool to move a flow control member of the tool into the state. Pressure of the supplied fluid is detected downhole. The state of the flow control device is determined from the detected pressure of the supplied fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the hydraulic control of downhole tools and, particularly to methods and devices for determining the state of such hydraulically-actuated tools.
2. Description of the Related Art
Production of hydrocarbons from a downhole well requires subsurface production equipment to control the flow of hydrocarbon fluid into the production tubing. Typical flow control equipment might include a sliding sleeve valve assembly or other valve assembly wherein a sleeve is moved between open and closed positions in order to selectively admit production fluid into the production tubing. The valve assembly is controlled from the surface using hydraulic control lines or other methods.
In a simple system, a sleeve valve would be moveable between just two positions or states: fully opened and fully closed. More complex systems are provided where a well penetrates multiple hydrocarbon zones, and it is desired to produce from some or all of the zones. In such a case, it is desirable to be able to measure and control the amount of flow from each of the zones. In this instance, it is often desirable to use flow control devices that may be opened in discrete increments, or states, in order to admit varying amounts of flow from a particular zone. Several "intelligent" hydraulic devices are known that retain information about the state of the device. Examples of such devices include those marketed under the brand names HCM-A In-Force™ Variable Choking Valve and the In-Force™ Single Line Switch, both of which are available commercially from Baker Oil Tools of Houston, Tex. These devices incorporate a sliding sleeve that is actuated by a pair of hydraulic lines that move the sleeve within a balanced hydraulic chamber. A "J-slot" ratchet arrangement is used to locate the sleeve at several discrete positions that permit varying degrees of fluid flow through the device.
Because these devices are capable of being controlled between multiple states, or positions, determination and monitoring of the positions of the devices is important. To date, position determination has been accomplished by measurement of the amount of hydraulic fluid that is displaced within the control lines as the device is moved between one position and the next. Measuring displacement of hydraulic fluid will provide an indication of the particular state that the tool has moved to because differing volumes of fluid are displaced during each movement. In some instances, however, such as with a subsea pod, it may not be possible to measure fluid volume. Also, the fluid volume measurement technique may be inaccurate at times for a variety of reasons, including leaks within the hydraulic control lines and connections or at seals that lead to fluid loss, which leads to an incorrect determination of position. In addition, the hydraulic control lines may expand under pressure (storage effects) or become distorted due to high temperatures within the wellbore. In long lines, the additional storage volume in such expansion/distortion may be larger than the normally small differences in fluid volume between different movements and lead to inaccurate determinations of position.
The present invention addresses some of the problems of the prior art noted above.

Pressure monitoring of control lines for tool position feedback


An improved method of making lithographic reproductions is disclosed. The method involves several improvements over prior processes, including (a) the combination of random plates and a waterless, dry press for halftone, duotone, tritone and four color separation halftone printing, and (b) the use, in duotone, tritone and four color separation halftone printing of random plates exclusively for all the plates involved in the multi-step printing process.

This invention pertains to the photolithographic reproduction of original copy, and more particularly to processes including (a) the new combination of a halftone, random screen printing method and a waterless printing press, and also including (b) an improved method of enhanced halftone printing using random screens for all plates.
The photolithographic reproduction process of this invention is an improvement in offset printing. To better understand the invention, the following description will first discuss the offset printing of original copy using printing plates formed from conventional halftone grid screens and using conventional water and ink emulsion press processes for effecting the printing steps. The description will then discuss typical variations to conventional offset printing, including the use of random pattern screens to replace one or more of the conventional halftone grid screens in forming the printing plates, and including the use of waterless press processes to replace the water and ink emulsions of conventional printing presses in effecting the printing steps.
Conventional printing of original copy involves the use of a printing plate which contains an image of the original copy to be reproduced. The original copy may be line art or continuous tone art, and may, in either case, be single colored (monochrome) or multi-colored.
Monochrome line art, which includes most typography, is original copy having only a base color of constant tone value applied over a substrate. The substrate may be paper, but can also include any suitable surface of natural or synthetic material, such as metal, fabric, wood or plastics, including polystyrene, polyester, polypropylene and sheet vinyl. The base color of constant tone value is referred to as a monotone. Because of the characteristic monotone which appears over the substrate, line art itself may be referred to generally as monotone.
Monochrome continuous tone art, which includes single-color photographs, is original copy having a single base color and also having gradations of tone value in that base color applied over a substrate. The gradations of tone value may be referred to as shades occupying a scale of more or less continuous tones from light to dark in the range between clear, or no color value, and full, or complete color value. Any individual shade is referred to as a halftone of the color involved, and the color itself is also sometimes loosely referred to as a halftone. Where the color involved is black, its gradations are shades of gray, the shades of gray are halftones between white (clear) and black (full), and the scale of tone values comprising all of the halftones may be encompassed on a Grey Scale in common use. By common usage, halftones of colors other than black are still referred to as "gray" tones of the non-black color. Because of the characteristic halftone or halftone range in the base color which appears over the substrate, continuous tone art itself may be referred to generally as halftone.
Both line art reproductions and continuous tone art reproductions may be multi-colored, by the superimposition of additional monotone colors over the substrate in the case of multi-colored line art, and by the superimposition of additional halftone colors over the substrate in the case of multi-colored continuous tone art. Because both line art and continuous tone art may, therefore, be single-colored or multicolored, it should be understood that the two styles are not distinguished from one another by the number of colors rendered, but by the presence or absence of graduated tone values in the colors, whether one color or many. As used in this application, "monotone" and "halftone" will always refer to line art and continuous tone art, respectively, distinguishing them by the characteristic presence or absence of graduated tone values in the original copy. As used in this application, "monochrome" and "multi-color" will refer to single color and more than a single color, respectively, applied over a substrate, and either term may pertain to monotone or halftone originals. Other terms that will be introduced later in this application, such such as duotone, tritone, and the like, will have their own meanings as set forth in the context in which the terms are introduced.
Lithographic reproduction of original line art or continuous tone art involves a smooth, flat printing plate. The printing plate containing the image of the original copy to be reproduced is fixed to a cylinder. When the cylinder runs in a typical ink and water emulsion printing press, the rotating plate is wetted so that water adheres to the plate in the non-imaged areas, and then inked with an oil-based ink so that the ink adheres to the plate only in the imaged areas. Because oil and water do not mix, this differentiates the imaged areas from the non-imaged areas. In letterpress and other direct printing processes, the printing plate works directly on a substrate which passes beneath the plate. In offset and other indirect printing processes, the printing plate does not contact the substrate directly, but rather works through a blanket. The blanket is a mat of suitable material, rubber for example, fixed to a cylinder which picks up the inked image from the printing plate and which, in turn, transfer the inked image to the substrate.
In photolithographic printing, the image of the original copy is transferred to the printing plate by photographic processes. Typical steps include forming a photographic transparency of the original copy, exposing a photosensitive plate to the photographic transparency, and then developing the photosensitive plate. The photosensitive plate, when developed, is used as the printing plate. By well known techniques and combinations of process camera work and contact exposures, it is possible to create photographic positive or negative, right-reading or wrong-reading copy (wrong-reading copy is related to right-reading copy as a mirror image is to an original image) in order to form appropriately oriented printing plates.
By way of example, and to illustrate one method of forming and using a "negative working" offset printing plate: (i) a photographic negative right-reading transparency of the original image, when exposed to a photosensitive plate, transfers its opposite, (ii) a photographic positive right-reading image of the original copy, to the printing plate, which in turn transfers, (iii) a positive wrong-reading image to the blanket, which reproduces the desired result, (iv) a positive right-reading image, on the substrate. While it is common in offset printing to use negative working plates, so called because they are formed from photographic negatives, it is also possible, using well known methods, to use positive working plates formed from photographic positive transparencies.
Where the original copy is monotone, there is no need for generating a scaled range of intermediate tone values on the printing plate to achieve adequate reproductions of the original. But where the original copy is continuous tone, a means has been devised, using halftone screens, to generate halftones on the printing plates. Halftone printing plates are typically produced by exposing a previously screened transparency of the original copy to the plate. The conventional halftone screen has a regular grid pattern defined by intersecting lines. These halftone screens typically are formed from a clear glass plate engraved with lines that are filled with ink or another opaque substance. The halftone screen may be the glass plate itself or may be a photographic transparency of the glass plate, or it may be electronically generated by a scanner. In either case, the conventional halftone screen is a partially transparent grid containing a number of transparent square or ellipitical "dots" bounded by opaque intersecting lines.
A conventional halftone screen has the ability to resolve an image seen through it into a number of dots determined by the number of regularly spaced opaque lines per inch of the screen. A 50 line screen, for example, contains 50 lines per inch in both dimensions and resolves an image into 2,500 dots per square inch ("dpi"). Similarly, a 300 line screen resolves to 90,000 dpi. Coarser screens, having 55 to 100 lines, are easier to make and use than finer screens, having between 150 to 300 lines.
The halftone screen breaks the photographic negative or positive image of the original copy into dots. At the high resolutions obtained by a halftone screen, individual dots are so small that they are almost invisible to the human eye. Combinations of these individual dots, when inked in any single color, can comprise a larger pattern of monochrome dots. Varying only in size and shape, but not in color, various patterns of monochrome dots can nevertheless create the impression of a continuous scale of graduated color tones ranging from light to dark according to the density of the tone they are to reproduce. In reproducing light tones of the original continuous tone copy, sparse combinations of individual dots widely separated from one another produce a light effect. Darker tones of the original are reproduced by increasingly dense dot combinations in which many individual dots join so closely together as to create an almost completely opaque region. A halftone effect is, accordingly, created by breaking the continuous tone original into dots on the printing plate. The halftone method effects an analog to digital (binary) conversion, so that, applying a single color ink to the halftone plate, simply inking or not inking each individual dot creates the effect of a continuous tone copy in the reproduction.
Single color continuous tone art may be reproduced in a single step by a single halftone printing plate. Multi-colored continuous tone art involves several halftone printing plates overprinted on a substrate in sequence and in registry. The full color spectrum can be approximated by overprinting three or four halftone plates, one for each of three traditional printing process colors, cyan, magenta and yellow, and, preferably, a fourth halftone plate for black. Because printing is subtractive, these process colors reproduce the effect of the natural, additive, primary colors, red, green and blue. Considering each overprint to be a separate step, basic multi-colored printing can be considered to be multi-step printing, involving three or four steps depending on whether three of four halftone plates are used.
The halftone plates used for color work are formed by the use of color filters to create color photographic separations of the original, or are generated on a scanner which produces the same effect electronically as can be produced by the photomechanical process. From the original copy, which might be a multicolored photograph or a painting, a separate continuous tone color separation is made for each of the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black. A continuous tone color separation is made by exposing the original copy to a photographic film surface through a filter that eliminates all light but that of the desired color. The filter which does so is the color complement of the desired color. A cyan color separation is made with a red-orange filter (which absorbs colors other than cyan, leaving a single colored continuous tone photographic image in cyan); a magenta separation is made with a green filter; a yellow separation is made with a blue-violet filter; and a black separation is made with a combination of filters. Except in the case of a scanner in which the images are electronically prescreened, each of the four photographic images so produced is a single colored continuous tone image. From each of these four single-color continuous tone images, a halftone printing plate is formed using halftone screens in the same manner as for the Grey Scale halftone printing plate previously described. Each of the four halftone printing plates is inked with the appropriate single color ink (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), and each plate reproduces the corresponding single color halftone image. When the four plates are overprinted in sequence and in registry, the combination of halftone process colors and black reproduces a single multicolored continuous tone image with a more or less high degree of tonal fidelity to the original copy over the full color spectrum.
Multi-step printing, involving the overprinting of separate halftone plates in sequence and registry, may be used not only to reproduce multi-color original copy as described, but also to produce enhanced monochrome continuous tone reproductions. Further, additional overprinting of multi-color original copy can be done to produce enhanced multi-color continuous tone reproductions. Before discussing enhanced monochrome or enhanced multi-color printing, a number of terms for expressing the quality of a halftone reproduction will be introduced. Those terms are density, transparency, and contrast, and they will be discussed below.
The density of a gray tone expresses the lightness or darkness of the halftone. Density is commonly expressed as a numerical reading on a commercially available Grey Scale such as one distributed by the MacBeth Company, Division of Killmorgen Corporation, P.O. Box 950, Newburgh, N.Y. 12550. A Grey Scale reading of 0 is a clear transparency representing white, or an absence of any gray tone; a reading of 3.0 is completely opaque and represents black, or a full gray tone; intermediate values for lighter or darker shades of gray fall between zero and three. Printed materials, including prints of the Grey Scale itself, are limited in their range of gray tones. The printed MacBeth Grey Scale extends from 0.05 to 2.1. Density is measured by transmission or reflection densitometers, automatic photoelectronic instruments that are adapted to measuring the density of either transparent copy or opaque copy, respectively. Such readings are accepted as standards for evaluating the quality of printed reproductions.
The transparency, or transparency factor, of a continuous tone image is the average density of the image measured on the Grey Scale by a densitometer. The contrast, or contrast factor, of a continuous tone image is the range of gray tones, measured as the difference between the highest and lowest densities found within the image. The transparency factor expresses the average overall lightness or darkness of an image; the higher the number, the darker the material appears. The contrast factor expresses the range of shading within an image. Higher contrast would indicate a wide range of density values, marked by the presence of relatively light areas and relatively dark areas in the same image (e.g., an image having a highest density of 2.0 and a lowest density of 0.1 would have a contrast factor of 1.9, which is relatively high). Lower contrast would indicate a smaller range of density (e.g., an image having a highest density of 2.0 and a lowest density of 1.8 would have a contrast factor of 0.2, which is relatively low). The specification of both the factor and the contrast factor for a continuous tone image is an accurate measure of its appearance and would permit one skilled in the art to reproduce the image, and to measure the quality of the resulting reproduction.
Enhanced monochrome halftone printing of continuous tone original copy is typically done by use of two halftone printing plates to improve the reproduction of higher density areas of the original copy. Because of limitations in inking the darker areas of a halftone printing plate, it is common for a single halftone plate to reproduce grays in the range only from 0.05 to 1.5. While it is thus possible to make very good reproductions of the light and intermediate range of grays below 1.5 in density from a single halftone plate, the darkest grays, ranging from 1.5 to 2.1 are typically reproduced as uniform 1.5 values and the detail of the original copy is lost (the contrast factor of the reproduction will be lower than that of an original copy having high contrast and a highest density greater than 1.5).
Enhanced monochrome halftone printing involves the overprinting of one halftone printing plate with a second halftone printing plate to enhance the dark gray detail reproduced. Each of the two printing plates is formed from the same photographic image of the original, but the second photographic image is washed or lightened relative to the first by, for example, overexposing the second film relative to the first, thereby washing out from the second image the lower range of density values while retaining, to some degree, the higher and darker densities of the image. When the second printing plate formed from the overexposed image overprints the first plate made from the normally exposed image, the final reproduction contains light and intermediate tones produced by the first plate and unaffected by the second plate, but also contains more detail in the darker tone areas by addition of tone values from the second plate. The second plate might also be washed relative to the first by means of differing optical properties of the screen from which the second plate is made, so as to produce the same effect without the need for two different exposures. By means of the enhanced multi-step process, the highest density values in the reproduction can typically be extended from the 1.5 upper limit commonly encountered in single step printing to 1.7 or 1.8, resulting in significantly enhanced dark shadow quality in the reproduction of originals having high transparency factors or having high contrast factors.
Enhanced multi-color halftone work is done by extending those methods to multi-color original copy. Where four halftone color separations are used (cyan, magenta, yellow and black), any one or more of the colors may be enhanced by overprinting with an additional plate, washed relative to the first. While it is not common to do enhanced multi-color halftone work, it is typically accomplished with six plates, wherein it is the cyan and magenta separations that are enhanced with a second plate for each, and it is also possible to use from five to eight plates, wherein any of one to all four of the color separations is enhanced.
All of the foregoing is included in only so much detail as is helpful to understanding the method of the present invention. Limitations in reproducing original copy by conventional offset halftone printing methods such as those described above are inherent in the processes described and have been the subject of physical and chemical improvements.
To better understand the method of the present invention, we have already defined halftone as signifying continous tone art having gradations of tone. Other terms are as follows:
1. Halftone. Refers to a single color over a substrate where the color over the substrate has halftone gradations. In reproducing a basic halftone, the halftone color is printed with a single plate and a single color.
2. Duotone. Refers to two colors overprinted in sequence and in registry over a substrate where the two colors may be (a) the same, or (b) different from each other.
(a) Enhanced monochrome halftone (duotone). Refers to the same two colors printed over a substrate where both of the two colors have halftone gradations. This is referred to as "black on black," or single color duotone, since the two colors are the same. There are a total of two halftone plates used to print an enhanced monochrome so as to bring out higher tone densities, as described above. PA0 (b) Duochrome halftone (duotone). Refers to two different colors over a substrate where both of the two colors have halftone gradations. This is referred to as "black on blue," or two color duotone, since the two colors are different. There are a total of two halftone plates used to print a duochrome. PA0 (a) Enhanced monochrome halftone (tritone). Refers to the same three colors printed over a substrate so as to bring out higher tone densities. Each of the three colors has halftone gradations. There are a total of three halftone plates used to print an enhanced monochrome of this type. PA0 (b) Enhanced duochrome halftone (tritone). Refers to three colors over a substrate where two of the colors are the same ("black on black") so as to bring out higher tone densities, and the third color is different so as to add a different tone. All of the colors have halftone gradations. There are a total of three halftone plates used to print an enhanced duochrome. PA0 (c) Trichrome halftone (tritone). Refers to three colors over a substrate where each of the three colors is different. All of the colors have halftone gradations. There are a total of three halftone plates used to print a trichrome. PA0 (a) Basic four color separation halftone. Each of the four halftone colors is printed with a single halftone plate, there being 4 plates to print multicolored reproductions. PA0 (b) Enhanced four color separation halftone (color separation with bump colors). At least one of the halftone colors is overprinted with a second plate in sequence and in registry so as to bring out the higher tone densities of at least one of the colors, there being a total of five, six, seven or eight halftone plates to print enhanced multicolored reproductions.
3. Tritone. Refers to three colors overprinted in sequence and in registry over a substrate where the three colors may be (a) all the same, (b) two the same and one different, or (c) all different.
4. Four color separation halftone. Refers to four colors overprinted in sequence and in registry over a substrate where three of the colors are the primary process colors, cyan, magenta and yellow, and the fourth color is black.
A problem arises when two or more conventional halftone printing plates are overprinted in registry, as in the case of four color separation halftone printing and in the case of duotone and tritone printing. When the conventional, regular geometric, halftone plates are overprinted, a moire effect, constituting an undesirable independent pattern occurs. Certain physical improvements aimed at lessening the moire effect are well known in the art. For example, color separations are typically made from four halftone screens that are angled, conventionally at 45.degree., 75.degree., 90.degree., and 105.degree.. Another way to avoid moire effects is to use a non-conventional halftone screen in forming the halftone printing plates. In addition to the conventional halftone screens constituting regular geometric grids formed by intersecting lines, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,292,313 by Yule, there are examples of random pattern, stipple, granular and other irregularly surfaced or textured screens in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,945,865 by Pearson; 1,710,303 by Ewald; 2,082,475 by Zoller; 2,130,735 by Eckardt; and 1,161,824 by Morris.
Additional physical improvements can be made by overprinting a conventional halftone printing plate with a random patterned halftone printing plate or solid printing plate to produce an enhanced monochrome or an enhanced multi-color reproduction. Disclosure of a two step printing process using one conventional halftone screen and a second random pattern halftone screen to form two printing plates overprinted to reproduce enhanced monochrome continuous tone original copy is in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,581,660 (a random, irregular, granular surface pattern for the second plate) and 4,011,085 (randomly disposed irregularly shaped highlight areas and contrasting areas of different tonal values for the second plate), both by Rapoport et al., and both of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Disclosure of a multi-step printing process, using four conventional halftone screens (one for each of the three primary colors, and one more for black) angled in the conventional way, and two random pattern halftone screens (to enhance any two of the color separations) to form six printing plates overprinted to reproduce enhanced multi-colored continuous tone original copy is in U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,533 by Rapoport et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference. Other examples of lithographic printing processes including two step printing methods are in U.S. Pat. Nos. 547,780 by Gast; 871,234 by McIntosh; 809,157 by Weyl; and 3,130,669 by Cooke.
Another problem arises when using printing plates formed from higher resolution conventional screen grids having 150 to 300 lines per inch (and 22,500 to 90,000 dots per inch) or random pattern screens having between 22,500 to 62,500 or more irregularities per inch. As an ink and water emulsion works on the press, so as to wet the non-imaged areas of the printing plate and to ink the imaged areas, there is a tendency for dots on the plate to plug with ink resulting in "dot gain." As dot gain is combated by the addition of water, there is a tendency for the dots on the plate to lose too much ink and to "wash." The problems of dot gain and washing are the major difficulties in conventional water emulsion printing. There are additional problems in maintaining a proper ink to water balance.
Certain improvements aimed at enhancing the chemical properties of the offset printing process are well known. Among those improvements is the waterless press disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,905 by Abiko et al. Conventional offset printing involves the wetting and inking of a printing plate with the ink adhering to the imaged area only. The waterless press dispenses with the ink and water emulsion altogether, by use of the ink repelling properties of silicon, for example. In a typical waterless press, the printing plate will contain a silicon positive or negative image of the original copy. The silicon coated plate may be inked without the necessity of wetting the plate to keep the ink away from the clear areas of the image. A waterless press is described in the Abiko patent previously referenced, and that patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
The combined random pattern and conventional screen processes typified by the Rapoport patents previously referenced, and the waterless press processes typified by the Abiko patent previously referenced, represent different approaches to the improvement of printing results. The Rapoport methods disclose a desirable increase in clarity, improving shadow detail, dimension and depth, as well as increasing the tone range of monochrome and multi-color reproductions, all within the capability of existing ink and water emulsion based presses. Accordingly, the Rapoport methods permit higher reproduction quality with relatively modest capital and other costs.
In contrast, the waterless press methods achieve a desirable increase in clarity, resolution, color accuracy and intensity by requiring an investment in new equipment. That equipment, once purchased, does away with the emulsions common in existing presses. By eliminating the emulsions, the waterless press operates without the problem of plugging the halftone grids at high color saturation levels. A waterless press can, accordingly, print on plates produced by the highest resolution conventional halftone grid screens without the dot plugging that had both limited the quality of reproductions made from existing presses and served as an incentive to the experimentation with irregular screens and to the development of such physical improvements to the existing press processes as are represented by the Rapoport methods.
According to the terminology used to describe this invention, the random pattern screen used in making random pattern images is a photographic transparency (film), or printing plate having a large plurality of irregularly shaped areas per square inch disposed therein in a photographic pattern. Preferably, the random pattern screen includes at least 22,500 irregularly shaped areas per square inch of screen surface and can have as many as 250,000 irregular areas per square inch. Typically, from about 40,000 to about 100,000 irregularly shaped areas per square inch are present on the random pattern screen. See Rapoport U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,533, previously incorporated herein by reference, at column 3, lines 17 through 27 (it being understood that a random pattern screen having a large plurality of irregularities can be produced electronically as well as photographically).
According to the terminology used to describe this invention, halftone and basic four color separation halftone printing using random screens and an ink and water press are disclosed in several of the patents referenced above; enhanced monochrome halftone (duotone) printing using an ink and water press is disclosed in Rapoport U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,085 and in the two-step disclosures in the other patents previously named; and enhanced four color separation halftone printing using an ink and water press is disclosed in Rapoport U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,533.
None of the existing methods described in the patents recited above or elsewhere combine halftone, duotone, tritone and four color separation halftone printing using random screens with a waterless press. Further, none of the existing methods described in the patents recited above or elsewhere contain the improvement to duotone, tritone and four color separation halftone printing which comprises the use of random screens for all plates involved in multi-step printing.
The method of the present invention includes improvements of two kinds to the multi-step Rapoport processes. One of the improvements of this invention comprises the replacement of all conventional grid screens, including the so-called master or primary screens, used in the process by random pattern screens so as to produce halftone printing plates that overprint without any regular pattern at all. This improvement creates a startlingly higher degree of resolution than previously obtained, especially when using positive working plates. Another of the improvements of this invention comprises the ability to dispense with a plurality of plates, while still achieving high quality art reproductions (that is, under the method of the present invention, a halftone has substantially the same quality as that previously attained by enhanced monochrome duotones or tritones; a duochrome duotone has substantially the same quality as that previously attained by enhanced duochrome tritones; and a basic four color separation halftone has substantially the same quality as that previously attained by enhanced four color separation halftones). This improvement permits a reproduction quality substantially as good as, and in some cases better than, the results that otherwise can be attained, and a greater efficiency and cost savings at the same time, due to the reduction in the number of plates and screens.
The improvements of this invention comprise a combination of a waterless press and random screens to accomplish halftone, duotone, tritone and four color separation halftone printing, providing a substantial and unexpected improvement to the accuracy, color depth and dimensional perception of reproductions formed by the process of this invention relative to reproductions otherwise produced.

Random screen waterless printing process


A cartridge adaptor for converting a cartridge for use in a conventional video cassette machine. The adaptor has a motor to move tape connection structures onto the take-up reel prior to use in the videotape machine. The motor and associated mechanisms also return the tape to the cartridge at the conclusion of use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two-piece videocassette. One piece of the combination is a videotape cartridge. This cartridge is used with a second piece, called the videocassette adaptor. In devices of this type, the cartridge is inserted into the videocassette adaptor, and the composite two-piece assembly emulates an industry standard VHS videocassette.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is common to supply magnetic recording media or tape in a cassette format. The traditional cassette format includes both a supply reel and a take-up reel in a single housing. The magnetic recording tape is anchored at one end to the tape supply reel, and at the other end to the tape take-up reel. The videotape machine moves the tape between these two reels. Although this system is robust and reliable in operation, the inclusion of an empty reel in the housing makes this packaging strategy inefficient for tape storage.
In applications where the size of the standard cassette is too large for inclusion into the product, several manufacturers have adopted miniature cassette formats. These miniature formats reduce the amount of tape available for use, but satisfy the other design parameters of the application. The availability of miniature cassettes has caused the development of specialized cassette-to-cassette adaptors which permit the miniature cassette to be played in a conventional videotape machine. Such devices are widely known and illustrated in the patent literature. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,970 to H. Ogata, teaches a cassette-to-cassette adaptor.
It has also been proposed to supply tape in a cartridge format for a variety of tape applications, and reference may be had to U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,101 to J. A. Smith, which teaches a computer-type magnetic tape cartridge.
More recently, the cartridge format has been proposed for videotape products as known from U.K. Patent Application No. 2,217,684 A to R. L. Davis as inventor, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,436 to Novak. Novak and Davis teach, inter alia, a carrier or adaptor which is used to adapt a videotape cartridge to an industry standard videocassette format. In Novak, the cartridge-to-cassette adaptor includes both a take-up reel and tether within the adaptor housing. The tape cartridge, includes a tape supply reel, and specialized interconnection hardware to connect the cartridge tape to the adaptor tether. However, in Novak, there is no mechanical drive mechanism provided for transporting the tether, and this passive cartridge adaptor structure is apparently intended for immediate use in a videotape machine, once the cartridge is loaded into the adaptor.

Motorized two-piece videocassette adaptor

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A splice kit is provided for repairing a cable having a central conductor, an insulator surrounding the central conductor, an outer conductive sheath surrounding the insulator, and a jacket surrounding the outer conductive sheath. The splice kit includes a central conductor joint that is electrically conductive and is configured to engage the central conductor of the cable such that the central conductor joint defines a portion of an electrical path of the central conductor. The splice kit also includes a dielectric insert configured to at least partially surround the central conductive joint and the central conductor of the cable, and an outer sheath joint that is electrically conductive and is configured to at least partially surround the dielectric insert. The outer sheath joint is configured to be electrically connected to the outer conductive sheath of the cable such that the outer sheath joint defines a portion of an electrical path of the outer conductive sheath. The splice kit further includes a jacket joint configured to at least partially surround the outer sheath joint and the jacket of the cable.

The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to electrical cables.
Electrical cables are widely used for interconnecting components that are spaced apart from each other. Some typical examples of electrical cables include coaxial cables, triaxial cables, twin axial cables, and quadrax cables. Electrical cables may be nicked, cut, severed, abraded, and/or otherwise damaged during use. For example, an electrical cable may be cut or completely severed by a relatively sharp object. Electrical cables can also be completely severed by blunt objects that exert enough force to snap the cable. Abrasion may result from an electrical cable rubbing against a neighboring object. A kink is yet another example of cable damage. Damage to an electrical cable may impair operation of the cable. For example, damage to an electrical cable may interrupt the electrical paths of the cable such that the electrical cable is no longer capable of conveying data signals between the components.
When some known electrical cables are damaged, the cable is replaced instead of being repaired. For example, electrical cables that include more than two electrical conductors, that include conductors arranged concentrically, and/or that carry relatively high data rates (e.g., data rates above approximately 0.5 gigabits per second (Gbit/s)) are replaced instead of being repaired. Such electrical cables are replaced, instead of being repaired, because a repair will change the electrical properties of the cables. For example, an electrical cable that has been repaired may experience a change in the impedance of the cable along the location of the repair. Such a change in impedance may cause the electrical cable to experience signal losses, unwanted reflections, and/or the like along the location of the repair.
Replacing electrical cables is difficult, costly, and/or time consuming. For example, replacing an electrical cable entails disconnecting both ends of the electrical cable from the components and removing the electrical cable from the path between the components. An undamaged electrical cable must then be routed along the path and connected to the components. For relatively long cables and/or cables that are routed along complex paths and/or through tight spaces, removing the damaged cable and routing the undamaged cable may be particularly difficult, time-consuming, and/or costly. Moreover, the added cost of the undamaged cable may cause replacement of an electrical cable to be more costly than repair.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


There is disclosed an electrical component having at least one end for making electrical contact with another component, including a plurality of electrically conductive fibers in a matrix to provide a plurality of electrical point contacts at the at least one end of the electrical component, wherein the matrix is prepared from a composition composed of methyl methacrylate monomer and a trimer of hydroxyethyl methacrylate, diphenylmethane diisocyanate, and hydroxyethyl methacrylate, wherein the electrical component has a laser processed region at least substantially free of the matrix, wherein there is minimal residue generated by the laser processing in removing the matrix from the laser processed region.

Typical of the type of machines which may use electrical contacts and devices are electrostatographic printing machines. In electrostatographic printing apparatus commonly used today, a photoconductive insulating member is typically charged to a uniform potential and thereafter exposed to a light image of an original document to be reproduced. The exposure discharges the photoconductive insulating surface in exposed or background areas and creates an electrostatic latent image on the member which corresponds to the image contained within the original document. Alternatively, a light beam may be modulated and used to selectively discharge portions of the charged photoconductive surface to record the desired information thereon. Typically, such a system employs a laser beam. Subsequently, the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive insulating surface is made visible by developing the image with developer powder referred to in the art as toner. Most development systems employ developer which comprises both charged carrier particles and charged toner particles which triboelectrically adhere to the carrier particles. During development the toner particles are attracted from the carrier particles by the charged pattern of the image areas of the photoconductive insulating area to form a powder image on the photoconductive area. This toner image may be subsequently transferred to a support surface such as copy paper to which it may be permanently affixed by heating or by the application of pressure to form the desired copy.
In commercial applications of such printing machines it is necessary to distribute electrical power and/or logic signals to various sites within the machines. Traditionally, this has required conventional wires and wiring harnesses in each machine to distribute power and logic signals to the various functional elements in an automated machine. In such distribution systems, it is necessary to provide electrical connectors between the wires and components. In addition, it is necessary to provide sensors and switches, for example, to sense the location of copy sheets, documents, etc. Similarly, other electrical devices such as interlocks, and the like are provided to enable or disable a function. These electrical devices are usually low power operating at electronic signal potentials up to 5 volts and at currents in the milliamp regime. Further, many commercial applications employ electrical contact components and related devices that require use in higher power applications employing currents in the regime of 1-100 amps and voltages greater than 5 volts. The present invention is not limited to signal level currents or low potential applications and includes applications in higher power regimes requiring greater current carrying capacity.
Conventional laser processing of electrical components to produce, for example, a distributed filament contact component can result in a clean cut in the limited sense that all of the fibers are uniformly cut and that the length of all fibers projecting from the matrix are approximately the same, or alternatively, that all of the fibers are uniformly cut, are not jagged, and, all of the tips are on an equal plane with the matrix. However, conventional laser processing has been discovered to result in the generation of substantial chemical residue which appears as a contaminant on the electrical components which must be removed in a post laser processing procedure, thereby increasing the complexity and cost of the electrical component fabrication process. This residue is observed to exist in several different forms such as: a carbonaceous, solid powdery substance, (referred to herein as char), a tacky, tar-like, or glue-like resinous film (referred to herein as tacky film), and a rigid, hard crusting layer (referred to as crust). The residue has been observed to exist on the fiber tips, between the fibers, between the tip ends and the matrix, and, on the external surfaces of the composite for a significant distance, for example, 2 to 4 mm away from the cut region. We have observed problems associated directly with each of these forms of contaminant if they are not removed from the contact either during or after laser processing. For example, the tacky film is particularly problematic when it deposits upon the outer surfaces of the parts because it causes the parts to adhere together when stacked in magazine feeders for auto-feeding apparatus of an automated manufacturing process. The presence of tacky films necessitates that the parts are not permitted to contact other parts or nearby surfaces after laser processing, otherwise the parts will stick together, in effect, preventing the parts from being separated from one another without damage or breakage. Thus, in the absence of this invention, a complex and costly chemical removal of the tacky film at the point in the overall process immediately after laser processing would be required to enable efficient, automated handling of the parts. Likewise, the presence of even very small amounts of char or crust is found to contaminant the contact surface and adversely affect the electrical or mechanical functions of the resultant device. Thus, there is a need, which the present invention addresses, for new electrical component compositions where laser processing of the electrical component results in a clean cut in the broader sense that the generation of unwanted residue is eliminated or minimized and that the tips of the fibers regardless of whether they are on an equal plane with the matrix or extend for a distance from the matrix, are not covered with matrix resin or residue from the thermal decomposition of the resin.
Conventional electrical components are disclosed in Swift et aL, U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,615; Orlowski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,106; Swift et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,756; and Swift et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,862. In addition, Bristowe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,055, discloses carboxy modified vinyl ester urethane resins.
Swift et al., U.S. application. Ser. No. 08/868,390 (Attorney Docket No. D/97082), filed Jul. 3, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,567 discloses an electrical component containing magnetic particles, where there is described on page 13 an electrical component including Amoco T300.TM. carbon fiber sized with Amoco UC-309.TM. resin, MODAR 826HT.TM. as the matrix available from ICI, plus a small amount of a suitable lubricant such as polyethylene wax and a curing agent such as Noury PERCADOX 16N.TM..
There are also a number of manufacturer publications regarding MODAR.TM. resins and their uses (24 pages).

Electrical component exhibiting clean laser cut


A vented soffit panel and related method for buildings and the like includes a generally flat imperforate base portion shaped to enclose at least a portion of the building soffit when mounted in a generally horizontal orientation under an eave. At least one vent channel protrudes upwardly from the base portion, and has a generally trapezoidal shape defined by a horizontal imperforate top wall and inclined perforate sidewalls with lower ends that connect with the base portion in a spaced apart relationship to define a slot through which air flows to vent the eave. The perforate sidewalls are disposed at an acute angle, such that they are hidden from view from a position underneath the eave.

The present invention relates to building construction, and in particular to a vented soffit panel and related method for buildings and the like.
Soffit panels are generally well-known in the art, and serve to cover or enclose the underside of the eaves of homes and other buildings of the type having roof eaves which extend beyond and hang over the outside walls of the building. The purpose of the soffit panels is to hide the eaves from view, and prevent the use of the underside of the eaves as a nesting place for insects, birds and the like. In modern day building construction, the soffit is normally vented to allow outside air to flow into the attic of the building to equalize the attic temperature and pressure with that of the outside environment. This equalization helps to prevent degradation of the roof, reduce moisture accumulation, and improve the heating and cooling efficiency for the building interior.
While some soffit panels are perforated or louvered to facilitate venting, they possess certain drawbacks. One such disadvantage is that insects, such as bees, bugs and the like, can get through the vents, and use the soffit as a nesting place. Debris can also become lodged in the vents to impede the free flow of air into the eave. Furthermore, such prior soffit panels normally have exposed or visible vents, thereby detracting from the overall appearance of the structure. Consequently, a soffit panel which overcomes these problems would be advantageous.

Vented soffit panel and method for buildings and like


Disclosed is the use of a removable passivating layer in multichip packaging and CUBE applications. The process takes advantage of the fact that various metal ions will react with the carboxylic acid groups of various polyimide precursors. The polyimide will cure at a first temperature and the system may be manipulated and tested. At a later point, the polyimide is subjected to a second, higher temperature in order to decompose or completely destroy the polyimide.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to a material used in forming a passivating layer in integrated circuit chips, and more specifically relates to a method of utilizing a removable passivating polyimide coating in situations where it is desirable to place the coating, manipulate the system with the coating in place, and then later remove the coating.
2. Background Art
Polyimides are used extensively in the microelectronics industry. Typically, polyimides are formed by the thermal curing of polyimide precursors, such as polyamic acids, and are used as passivation dielectrics on semiconductor devices (i.e. silicon chips). A problem associated with passivating a reactive metal substrate with a polyimide material by itself is the known interaction between the polyimide and the reactive metal. As reported in Linde, H. G. and R. T. Gleason, "Cation Interactions with Polyamic Acids," J. POLYMER SCI. B, Vol. 26, 1485-1497 (1989), D. Y. Shih, J. VAC. SCI. TECH., A7(3), 1402-1412 (1989), and Kim et al., "Adhesion and Interface Studies Between Copper and Polyimide," J. ADHESION SCI. TECH., Vol. 1, No. 4, 331-339 (1987), copper and other reactive metals form salts that retard thermal imidization and decompose the polyimide polymer during the high temperature curing step. But see U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,086, issued to Goodrich et al., on Mar. 30, 1990 (disclosing a polyimide adhesive mixed with a finely divided conductive metal to replace a gold-silicon eutectic die attach that will not decompose, even when the temperature is ramped up to 460.degree. C.).
This decomposition was considered detrimental to the overall semiconductor device and, in fact, various inventions dealt with avoidance of the perceived problem. This was accomplished by either partially curing the polyimide precursor prior to adhering the metal layer or layering a first material onto the metal prior to depositing the polyimide precursors onto the first material. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,195, issued to Bahrle et al., on May 1, 1979 (disclosing the method of partially curing the polyimide precursor prior to vapor deposition of the desired metal); U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,547, issued to Farrar et al., on Jan. 3, 1984 (teaching the deposition of a silicon nitride onto a metal followed by the deposition of a thicker layer of polyimide); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,754, issued to Cronin et al., on May 19, 1992 (disclosing a process of applying a layer of silsesquioxane between the polyimide and the metal to passivate the metal and inhibit interaction between the metal and the polyimide precursor).
The advantage of placing a removable layer in certain applications has been perceived. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,695, issued to Eichelberger et al., on Nov. 8, 1988, discloses that in order to improve testability, it is desirable to place a layer of insulative adhesive onto a multichip integrated circuit package, test the package, and then later remove the insulative material should the multichip package fail. It will also allow for testing the layout of the multichip interconnects, and then allow the chips to be reused should that structure not prove to be optimal. Other patents disclose releasable adhesives, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,229, issued to Lampert et al., on Nov. 16, 1993 (disclosing a conductive releasable adhesive for electrostatic discharge controlled surfaces) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,043, issued to Sipinen et al., on Jun. 1, 1993 (disclosing a thermoplastic polymer combined with a transition metal salt to form an adhesive composition that will oxidatively degrade to an embrittled polymer), however, these releasable adhesives are not for use in semiconductor devices. Each of the articles and patents cited is incorporated herein by reference.
A second application is in the stacked and laminated semiconductor devices, commonly known as CUBES. In the process of manufacturing a CUBE, forty or more chips are formed into a large stack, which is then processed to form the edge wiring and connects. Subsequently, the large stack is segmented into shorter stacks of five or more chips. Presently, a non-polyimide adhesive layer such as DITAC (as sold by E. I. DuPont de Nemours of Wilmington, Del.) are used to allow cleavage at the chosen time. However, these materials suffer from drawbacks including: the additional process steps and tooling necessary to place the layer; and the fact that the non-polyimides have characteristics, for example solubility and glass transition temperatures, which are dissimilar from the polyimides, and, therefore, cause stress and contamination problems during the processing of the CUBES.
Therefore, there exists a need to provide a removable adhesive layer for semiconductor devices that could undergo the testing process, and yet could be selectively and easily removed when desired. This removable adhesive layer may be utilized as a simple passivating layer for multichip semiconductor device testing. Also, a need was seen in the CUBE technology for a removable adhesive that was thermally compatible with the polyimide passivating layers, so that regular processing could be performed on a stack of CUBES and then the individual CUBES could be released for use as a single CUBE.

Removable passivating polyimide coating and methods of use

International Business Machines Corporation


An underwater lighting unit (1) for marine or other underwater use incorporates LEDs (13) as the light source and provides an array of LEDs (13) mounted against the back wall (11) of a metal or thermally conductive plastic housing (10) which utilizes the cooling effect of direct contact between the water and the housing to dissipate the heat generated by the LEDs (13) in use. The LEDs (13) each have an associated collimator (20) protected from contact with the water in which the unit (1) is to be immersed by a sealed glass screen (22), and each LED may be from one to three watts or more in power. There may be 30 or more LEDs (13) and associated collimators (20) in each lighting unit (1). The lighting unit (1) may be mounted in a cofferdam (2) of a marine vessel, directly against or slightly forwardly of the back wall of the cofferdam, or may be surface-mounted on the hull (3) of the vessel directly against or slightly spaced from the hull (3) and below the waterline.

Submersible lights for swimming pools are known, and generally comprise a sealed light unit behind a removable glass window and recessed into the wall of the pool. For maintenance, the water level is lowered, the glass window unbolted or unscrewed, and the lamp replaced. The lamp itself is conventionally a tungsten filament lamp, a fluorescent discharge tube or even a quartz halogen lamp. The technology is very basic and unsophisticated. US-A-2003/0048632 discloses a swimming pool light that uses diodes as the source of illumination.
Underwater hull light units for marine use are much more demanding. Generally, the illumination required is far brighter than a tungsten filament lamp bulb or fluorescent discharge tube could generate. Quartz halogen or metal halide HQI lamps are therefore used. The lamp is mounted internally of the marine vessel, and the light is directed outwardly through a window in the back of a cofferdam in the hull. A cofferdam is a recessed portion of the hull. In the case of a metal-hulled vessel the cofferdam is typically created by cutting a hole in the hull and welding in place a truncated metal cylinder. The line of truncation is flush with the outer surface of the hull. The back of the recess so created is typically vertical and includes the window through which the light shines. In the case of a fibre-reinforced hull the cofferdam is normally moulded integrally with the hull.
For marine insurance purposes the cofferdam installation for an underwater hull lighting unit must be as reliable as the remainder of the hull. It is in fact tested as if it were an integral part of the hull. For that reason it has never before been thought feasible to wire the submersible lights through the wall of the cofferdam to the interior of the cofferdam. Almost always the wiring and the light source has been internally of the hull, and the light generated has been passed through the window in the cofferdam back wall. The only alternative method of mounting that has been used is to provide a sealed window across the front of the cofferdam, with the lighting unit housed inside a dry interior of the cofferdam and wired through the cofferdam wall to the hull interior. That has been feasible only because the cofferdam wall has been isolated from the surrounding water by the sealed front window.
The development of high output light emitting diodes (LEDs) of at least one watt per LED, more recently at least three watts per LED, has created a new and exciting opportunity for developing even brighter underwater lighting units. Modern high output LEDs have a very long mean lamp lifetime and can therefore be regarded as being substantially maintenance-free. They do, however, have a relatively high heat output from the rear of the LED and are therefore generally incorporated into relatively expensive cooling enclosures which obtain their cooling by complex heat sinks or by oil cooling.
Moreover the intensity of the illumination can be vastly increased by the use of individual collimators, one associated with each LED, to direct or focus the light output of the LEDs. The use of an array of even 1 watt LEDs, the least powerful of this new range of LEDs, in conjunction with collimators for the individual LEDs will produce a light output so bright that one would not wish to look directly at the light source. US-A-2003/0048632 does not contemplate the use of collimators, which in any case would be directly opposed to the general teaching of that Patent specification which even contemplates forming the LED clusters in the shape of letters in order to 'personalize' an illuminated swimming pool.
What is needed is a robust and reliable underwater light unit utilising modern high power LEDs in a novel enclosure which, instead of isolating the light source from the surrounding water, takes maximum benefit from the cooling potential of the surrounding water and brings the LEDs and the surrounding water into close heat-exchange relationship.