An adhesive composition according to the present invention is an adhesive composition whose main component is a polymer obtained by copolymerization of a monomer composition, which monomer composition contains styrene, (meth)acrylic ester having a cyclic structure, and alkyl (meth)acrylate having a chain structure. The polymer thus having a styrene block segment allows improvement of thermal resistance, adhesive strength in a high temperature environment, alkaline resistance, and easiness in stripping following a high temperature process of the adhesive composition. As such, an adhesive composition is provided, which has high thermal resistance, adhesive strength in the high temperature environment, and alkaline resistance, and further which can easily carry out stripping of the adhesive composition after a high temperature process has been carried out to the adhesive composition.

In recent years, due to multiple functioning of mobile phones, digital AV devices, IC cards, and the like, demands have been increasing for downsizing, reduction in thickness, and high integration of semiconductor silicon chips (hereinafter referred to as "chips"). For example, the reduction of thickness is demanded for integrated circuits which integrate a plurality of chips, as typified by CSP (chip size package) and MCP (multi-chip package). Among these integrated circuits, a system-in-package (SiP) in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are mounted in a single semiconductor package has become an extremely important technique in order to accomplish downsizing, reduction in thickness, and high integration of chips that are installed in the semiconductor package. The downsizing, reduction in thickness and high integration enables realization of multiple functioning, downsizing, and reduction of weight of electronic devices.
In order to respond to such needs for a thin product, it is required to reduce the thickness of a chip to not more than 150 μm. Further, it is required to process the chip so that its thickness is reduced to not more than 100 μm for the CSP and the MCP, and not more than 50 μm for the IC cards.
Conventionally, SiP products are manufactured by use of a method in which respective bumps (electrodes) provided on each of stacked chips are wired to a circuit board by a wire bonding technique. In order to respond to the demand for the reduction in thickness and high integration, a through-hole electrode technique is required, not the wire bonding technique. The through-hole electrode technique is a technique in which (i) chips each having a through-hole electrode are stacked and (ii) a bump is formed on a back side of the chips thus stacked.
A thin chip is manufactured by, for example, in a method as follows: (i) a high purity single crystal silicon or the like is sliced to a wafer form, (ii) a predetermined circuit pattern of an IC or the like is formed on a surface of the wafer by etching the surface of the wafer so that an integrated circuit is built, (iii) a back surface of the semiconductor wafer thus obtained is grinded by use of a grinder, and (iv) after the semiconductor wafer is grinded to a predetermined thickness, the semiconductor wafer is diced so as to form a chip shape. At this time, the predetermined thickness is around a range of 100 μm to 600 μm. Further, in a case where a through-hole electrode is to be formed, the wafer is grinded to a thickness of around a range of 50 μm to 100 μm.
In the manufacture of the semiconductor chip, the semiconductor wafer readily breaks in a case where external force is given to the wafer in the grinding step or at the time when the wafer is carried to the dicing step. This is because the semiconductor wafer is thin and fragile, and because circuit patterns are unlevel. Moreover, in the grinding step, purified water is used to clean the back surface of the semiconductor wafer for removing grinding dust and heat generated at the time of grinding, while grinding process is carried out. At this time, there is a need to prevent contamination of the circuit pattern surface due to the purified water used in the cleaning.
Accordingly, in order to protect the circuit pattern surface of the semiconductor wafer and prevent breakage of the semiconductor wafer, a film adhesive for processing is attached on the pattern circuit pattern surface while the grinding process is carried out.
Moreover, at the time of the dicing, the semiconductor wafer is diced in a state in which a protection sheet is attached to a back surface of the semiconductor wafer so that the semiconductor wafer is fixed. Chips obtained by the dicing are pushed up by use of a needle from a film base material side, and are fixed on a die pad.
Known types of film adhesives for processing and protection sheets as such include, for example, ones in which an adhesive layer made of an adhesive composition is provided on a base material film such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), or ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) (for example, Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3).
An arrangement has also been disclosed (Patent Document 4) in which a protection board is used instead of using the film adhesive for processing or the protection sheet. The protection board is an aluminum nitride-boron nitride pore sintered body impregnated with ladder-type silicone oligomer. In the arrangement, this protection board and the semiconductor wafer are adhered together by use of a thermoplastic film. There is also a method in which material such as alumina, aluminum nitride, boron nitride, or silicon carbide, each of which have substantially a same thermal expansivity as the semiconductor wafer, is used as the protection board, and thermoplastic resin such as polyimide is used as an adhesive for attaching the protection board and the semiconductor wafer (Patent Document 5). This method suggests applying the adhesive in a form of a film having a thickness in a range of 10 μm to 100 μm. As a method for forming the film, the method of Patent Document 5 suggests that an adhesive composition is applied by spin coating and dried, so that an obtained film has a thickness of not more than 20 μm.
Moreover, due to the multilayer interconnection of semiconductor elements, a process is conducted such that: (i) a protection board is adhered to, by use of the adhesive composition, to a surface of the semiconductor wafer on which a circuit is formed; (ii) a back surface of the semiconductor wafer is polished; (iii) the back surface thus polished is etched to form a mirror plane; and (iv) a back surface circuit is formed on the mirror plane. In this case, the protection board is adhered to the semiconductor wafer until the back surface circuit is formed (Patent Document 6).
[Patent Document 1]
    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 173993/2003 (Tokukai 2003-173993; published on Jun. 20, 2003)[Patent Document 2]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 279208/2001 (Tokukai 2001-279208; published on Oct. 10, 2001)[Patent Document 3]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 292931/2003 (Tokukai 2003-292931; published on Oct. 15, 2003)[Patent Document 4]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 203821/2002 (Tokukai 2002-203821; published on Jul. 19, 2002)[Patent Document 5]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 77304/2001 (Tokukai 2001-77304; published on Mar. 23, 2001)[Patent Document 6]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 158145/1986 (Tokukaisho 61-158145; published on Jul. 17, 1986)

Process for producing an adhesive composition


In a printing apparatus, a raster buffer for storing dot image data is divided into three layers in the direction of auxiliary scanning, and the respective layers are assigned to a writing layer in which a font pattern read from a font memory is written, a reading layer from which dot image data that have been written are read, and a write-waiting layer in which a font pattern that has overflown the writing layer is written, with the writing layer and the write-waiting layer having a capacity for storing a character having the biggest size among those which are used frequently. Prior to printing of dot image data, a font pattern is written in the writing layer, and the definition of the layer in which writing has been made is changed to a reading layer, dot image data is then read from the reading layer, the definition of the write-waiting layer waiting for the next writing is changed to a writing layer, and the definition of the reading layer from which the reading has been made is changed to a write-waiting layer, with such change of definition being made successively.

In conventional electrophotographic printer, a photosensitive drum that has been charged is irradiated with a light source to form an electrostatic latent image, toner is made to adhere to the electrostatic latent image for development, and the toner image is transferred to a recording medium.
The electrophotographic printer is capable of printing a page at a time, so that it can be used as a page printer.
FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing a conventional printing apparatus of this type.
As illustrated, a host computer 2 is connected to a printing apparatus 1 via a parallel interface or a serial interface, generating print data, and supplying the print data to the printing apparatus 1.
When the print data is supplied from the host computer 2, the printing apparatus 1 performs reception processing (step S1), editing processing (step S2), development processing (step S3), and reading processing (step S4), to produce dot image data, and sends the dot image data to the printing section 3 of the electrophotographic printing system.
In the reception processing S1, the print data that have been received are in the form code data such as "ESC(8U" (signifying designation of symbol set Roman-8); "ESC & K10H" (signifying character pitch 10 characters per inch); "LED PRINTER IS" (character series); . . . "CR LR" (signifying carriage return and line feed). These data are stored in a reception buffer, not shown.
In the editing processing S2, the code data that are stored in the reception buffer are read out and converted into intermediate codes, and arrangement is made, e.g., as shown in the figure, a character code series "LED PRINTER is high quality . . . " starts at the point (x=0, y=0), Y=0-th dot, another character series "Advantages of page . . . " starts at the point x=0, y=20), and a further character series starts at the point (x=10, y=50). In addition, the sizes and typefaces of the print characters are designated by Font=3 or Font=5.
In other words, the editing is due so as to facilitate development into bit-map data in the subsequent development processing step S3, and the edited data are stored in a page memory, not shown.
In the development processing S3, designated font patterns are read from a font memory 4 in accordance with the intermediate codes in the page memory, and written into the designated locations in a raster buffer 5.
In the reading processing S4, the dot pattern data having been written in the raster buffer 5 are read by raster scan, and converted by a shift register 6 from parallel data into serial data, and the data are then sent to the printing section 3. The raster buffer 5 has a memory capacity for printout of one page, e.g., about 1 Mbytes in the case of a page of letter size with a density of 300 dots per inch. The raster buffer 5 is either of the full-page buffer type in which reading is effected after development of data of one entire page is completed, or of the band-buffer type in which the limited memory capacity is divided into an area for dot pattern development and an area for reading, and these areas are used alternately for development and reading of one page.
In the above conventional printing apparatus of the full-page buffer type, memory capacity for one page is needed, so the memory capacity required is large. This increases the cost of the printing apparatus, particularly of those having a higher print dot density.
In the case of the band-buffer type, when it is necessary to write a dot pattern at the border of the raster buffer 5, part of the dot pattern 5 that has overflown the page must be written again in the next cycle. This will impose a limitation to increasing the writing speed. Where complicated patterns and a multiplicity of character patterns are concentrated in a specific region, the writing of the dot patterns is slower than the printing.

Printing apparatus and method using a raster buffer divided into a writing layer, a reading layer, and a write-waiting layer for handling data overflow


A wheel-supported figure toy in the form of a pup has a driving motor to propel it in a forward direction. Proximity sensors in the form of capacitor plates control operation of the motor. When a child's hand or the like approaches the rear of the figure, the capacitance of a first capacitor arrangement is changed and the motor is started and propels the figure forwardly for a predetermined time, then stops. If the hand is placed under the pup's chin, a second capacitor arrangement causes the pup to follow the hand. An RC network determines the time the motor is in operation by holding a monostable vibrator on, which keeps the motor running, after it is started, for the predetermined time interval. The toy also has a sounding device that operates when the figure is being propelled.

This invention is in the field of motor propelled figure toys.
Many motor propelled figure toys have been proposed heretofore, and particular attention is directed to the patent to Nozaki, U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,336. That patent describes a figure toy in the form of a pup having a driving motor therein which when actuated causes the simulated pup to seemingly walk forwardly. When the device is turned on the pup starts moving forwardly, but when it approaches another object such as a human operator, a proximity sensing arrangement deenergizes the motor and the figure toy stops moving. At that time the figure starts to make noise or move its ears or the like, while stopped in its forward motion.


A post puller configured to grasp a post from the side. The post puller includes a first member having a main body portion and a generally U-shaped section extending from the main body portion and a second member pivotally secured to the first member and having a main body portion and a bent section which extends from the main body portion at an obtuse angle. The second member is movable between a first position where a forward side surface of the bent section and an inner side surface of the generally U-shaped section define an opening sized to receive the post therein and a second position where the post is frictionally engaged between the inner side surface of the generally U-shaped section and the forward side surface of the bent section.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a post puller and, more particularly, to a post puller configured to grasp a post from either the top or side thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of posts and, in particular, metal posts, for supporting wire fencing, barb wire and the like when erecting barriers such as fences is quite common. In particular, one reason why the metal post has become quite popular is the ease in which the post may be driven into the ground. Once firmly set in the ground, however, the metal post can be quite difficult to remove. This is particularly true for those posts having relatively small diameters, e.g. on the order of 1/4 to 1/2 inch, which are difficult to grip firmly before attempting the removal thereof.
As may be readily ascertained by its name, a post puller is a device which facilitates the removal of a post previously set in the ground. Post pullers of various designs have been disclosed in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,848,426 to Kvall discloses a post puller having a single tubular bar with a slotted end for gripping the shank or leg portion of a T post and a strap which slides over the bar. However, the strap prevents the post puller disclosed in Kvall from grasping the bar from the side. Thus, Kvall is not usable if the bar has an obstruction attached thereto which prevents grasping the bar from the top. U.S. Pat. No. 2,374,406 to Bezzerides, on the other hand, discloses a post puller which is capable of grasping a post from the side. In Bezzerides, the post puller includes a pair of handles disposed 180 degrees with respect to each other and connected together by a back bar. Each of the handles is provided with a jaw which faces the other such that the two are configured to grip a post therebetween. The relative positioning of the handles make it difficult, if not impossible, for a single person to operate the device.
Other two handle gripping devices have also been disclosed in the art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,597 to Stephens discloses a gripping device in which each handle has an independently pivotable flat surfaced jaw for gripping a pipe or rod therebetween. Gripping devices having bevelled gripping surfaces have also been disclosed in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,410,866 to Young and 1,932,540 to Whipple. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,835 to Rose discloses the use of a curved gripping face shaped to receive a rod.


The present invention provides techniques for imparting both flexibility and lamination to leaves or sheets comprising laminate films, including but not limited to leaves or sheets which at least partially enclose or encase printed matter to or between laminate film(s). The first laminate film and the second laminate film may or may not have part of all of a segment of printed matter, e.g., a display content sheet, positioned or sandwiched therebetween. All embodiments have a flex or flexible zone which provides flexibility to the leaf or sheet, the thickness of the flex zone being thinner than the thickness of portions of the leaf or sheet having two laminate films. The flex zone of each sheet or leaf provides flexibility for the leaf at strategic locations, the remainder of the sheet or leaf having durability and stiffness as afforded by the two films of lamination and the adhesive utilized in conjunction with one or both of the two lamination films.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to lamination technology, and particularly to extending the applicability of said technology by increasing the ability to bend of printed matter.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
For over a century merchants and service organizations have utilized catalogs for providing effective visual displays of their products and services. The catalogs typically include a plurality of essentially planar leaves, usually with each leaf having a display page on each of the two sides of the leaf. Some catalogs are mailed or otherwise provided to potential customers for reference at the immediate customers residence or business. Usually these mailed catalogs are bound like a book, so that upon opening of the catalog the binding acquires an accurate shape and thus essentially is responsible for allowing displacement of the edges of the catalog pages relative to one another.
Other catalogs, generally more expensive to produce and perhaps more detailed and/or more merchandise-current, physically remain at the merchant/service provider""s place of business for ready reference by browsing or searching customers. In view of the frequency of use of such on-site catalogs, the catalogs must be durable, e.g., able to withstand constant manipulation and environmental conditions/situations (moisture, spills, etc.). But at the same time the on-site catalogs must be attractive and user-friendly (easy to open, turn the leaves, and so forth).
For achieving such durability, some catalogs have their leaves formed by interposing a display sheet or the like between laminate films. Typically the laminate films have an adhesive which is heat activated as the display sheet is interposed therebetween, thereby securing and sealing the display sheet between the laminate films. A considerable amount of the thickness of the laminate films is attributable to their adhesive component. The leaves are then bound between retaining members, such as metal strips for example. Examples of such catalogs are illustrated in European Patent EP 076175, which discloses each leaf having two laminate films extending into a binding region of the catalog.
While the lamination of catalog leaves provides a reasonable measure of durability essentially without sacrificing transparency of the printed matter of the display sheet, in some instances such laminated catalogs can be rather rigid and awkward to manipulate. Unlike book-like bindings, the retaining members themselves between which the laminated leaves are bound do not facilitate displacement of the leaves. Moreover, for this and other reasons it is generally not feasible to turn a leaf through three hundred sixty degrees range of motion. Consequentially, catalog browsers are constrained in viewing and turning the catalog pages. Such encumbrances militate against relaxed and reflective perusal of the catalog, and thus defeat efforts by the merchant to provide a convenient and accommodating salesroom atmosphere.
Laminated pages can be employed in other products besides catalogs. But the stiffness and rigidity traditionally characterized by lamination severely limits the scope and nature of such products. What is needed, therefore, and an object of the present invention, is a technique for imparting both flexibility and lamination to printed matter.
The present invention provides techniques for imparting both flexibility and lamination to leaves or sheets comprising laminate films, including but not limited to leaves or sheets which at least partially enclose or encase printed matter to or between laminate film(s). The first laminate film and the second laminate film may or may not have part of all of a segment of printed matter, e.g., a display content sheet, positioned or sandwiched therebetween. All embodiments have a flex or flexible zone which provides flexibility to the leaf or sheet, the thickness of the flex zone being thinner than the thickness of portions of the leaf or sheet having two laminate films.
For those embodiments having printed matter, some portions of the printed matter are interposed between two laminate films in one or more display zones of a leaf or sheet. The leaf or sheet also has one or more flex zones wherein the printed matter is contacted by at least one, and preferably only one, laminate film. The flex zone(s) have a thickness which is less than the thickness of the display zone(s). The flex zone of each sheet or leaf provides flexibility for the leaf at strategic locations, the remainder of the sheet or leaf having durability and stiffness as afforded by the two films of lamination and the adhesive utilized in conjunction with one or both of the two lamination films.
Catalogs according to the invention comprise a plurality of leaves and a binder which secures the leaves in fixed relation to one another. The leaves of the catalog have three zones or areas of interest: a display zone; a binding zone; and a flex zone. The display zone is a three-layer zone which includes a display content sheet interposed between two laminate films. The three-layered display zone has a composite thickness T1.
The binding zone is the region along an edge of each leaf wherein the plurality of leaves interface with the binder. Various embodiments of the present invention are distinguishable by the techniques and/or apparatus which characterize the binder (e.g., adhesives, fasteners, etc.).
The flex zone in the catalogue implementation is situated intermediate the display zone and the binding zone. The flex zone comprises at least, and preferably only one, laminate film. The flex zone has a thickness T2 which is less than the thickness T1 of the display zone. In one embodiment, the smaller thickness T2 of the flex zone relative to the thickness T1 of display zone is achieved by having the flex zone formed from only one laminate film. The flex zone of each leaf provides enhanced flexibility for the leaf, and permits presentations formed from the leaves of the present invention to bend through a range of angles including three hundred sixty degrees, as well as to acquire various use configurations.


An integrated directional patch antenna uses multiple patch radiating elements to control the direction of a beam of radio frequency energy (RF) over a large scan volume. The antenna includes a ground plane element and a first dielectric planar member placed on a major surface of the ground plane element. A plurality of first patch radiator elements is arranged on a surface of the first dielectric member remote from the ground plane element. A second dielectric planar member is placed on first patch radiator elements, and a plurality of second patch radiator elements arranged on a surface of the second dielectric member remote from the first patch radiator elements. First regions are formed in the dielectric planar member that have a first dielectric constant and are separated from each other by second regions that have a dielectric constant different from the first dielectric constant to effectively prevent surface wave energy from propagating in the first dielectric planar member, thereby increasing the scan volume of the antenna.

1. Field of the invention
This application relates to the field of patch antennas and more particularly to the field of directional patch antennas using multiple patch radiating elements to control the direction of a beam of radio frequency energy (RF) over a large scan volume.
2. Description of Related Art
Many applications, such as scanning Radar and communication with satellites in a low orbit, require that the orientation of an RF beam emitted in three-dimensional space be adjusted rapidly with respect to a stationary reference axis without physically moving the antenna. This can be implemented using a stationary array of antenna elements which are coupled to an RF signal source and can be individually controlled. The spatial orientation of the RF beam can be changed by adjusting the relative phase of the RF signal supplied to the antenna elements. An antenna of this type is generally referred to as an "electronically scanned array", a "phased array" or a "patch" antenna and is described, for example, in the commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,040 "Microstrip Patch Antenna" to J. P. Lane et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
The array antenna can either be assembled from individual antenna elements, or radiators, that are mounted on a passive support structure to form an array. The radiators represent individual waveguide cavities that terminate in a waveguide aperture; the waveguide apertures are typically co-planar with a ground plane. This approach minimizes the number of elements required for a desired array aperture and scan volume and maximizes scan volume coverage. On the other hand, the radiating aperture does not utilize the entire surface area of a "unit cell" since the area on the support structure located between the waveguide apertures is taken up by the ground plane, limiting the bandwidth of the device. Such antennas are also expensive to manufacture since each antenna element has to be inserted separately in the support structure.
Other known patch antennas are configured as a stacked patch, with each antenna element including a feed patch coupled to an RF signal source and a coupled patch separated from the feed patch by a dielectric layer, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Patch antennas of this type can be produced inexpensively by conventional integrated circuit manufacturing techniques, e.g., photolithography, on a continuous dielectric substrate. They have excellent frequency bandwidth since the radiating aperture is essentially the entire unit cell. Scan volume performance, however, is impaired due to the excitation of electromagnetic surface waves in the dielectric substrate. Surface wave excitation is especially severe when the dielectric constant of the substrate material is high, e.g., with advanced ceramic materials such as Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC). It is therefore desirable to improve the antenna performance by eliminating or at least reducing the excitation of surface waves within the dielectric substrate.


A fuel rail assembly for an internal combustion engine including an elongated rail having a longitudinal inlet passage and a longitudinal outlet passage. The upstream end of the inlet passage is connected to a fuel supply line while the downstream end of the inlet passage is connected through a pressure regulator to the upstream end of the outlet passage. A return fuel line is connected to the downstream end of the outlet passage. A plurality of injector bores communicate with the inlet passage and extend to the exterior of the rail and each injector bore receives one end of a fuel injector, while the opposite end of each injector is sealed within a bore in a runner of an intake manifold. The injectors are mounted in a manner to provide limited tilt to facilitate assembly with the bores in the fuel rail and the manifold reservoir.

A typical fuel injected internal combustion engine includes a fuel rail which receives fuel from a fuel supply line and supports a series of fuel injectors which discharge the fuel under pressure into the runners of the engine manifold. In a marine engine, the excess fuel not supplied through the injectors is returned to a vapor separator tank which is connected in the fuel supply line and serves to vent vapor to the engine.
In the past, a typical fuel rail assembly has been composed of two separate metal tubes, namely an inlet tube which is connected to the fuel supply line and an outlet tube which is connected to the return line. A metal tube or hose is connected between the downstream end of the inlet tube and the upstream end of the outlet tube. A series of injectors are mounted in the inlet tube and serve to supply fuel to the runners of the manifold.
The connection of the hose between the two tubes requires seals and connecting fittings and constitutes a potential source of fuel leakage.

Fuel rail construction for an electronic fuel injected engine


A method for preparing a polymer rod for optical transmission media. The process involves copolymerization of monomers having different boiling points by removal of monomer vapor during polymerization. The process results in a transition in refractive index along the radial direction of the polymer rod.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for preparing by polymerization a polymer rod having a uniform composition in an axial direction thereof. More particularly, it relates to a method for preparing a polymer rod having a uniform composition in an axial direction by slowly feeding a monomer liquid to a vessel through the upper portion thereof, and then allowing polymerization reaction to proceed, while a part of the monomer is continuously volatilized from the surface of the monomer liquid.
Furthermore, the present invention also relates so a method for preparing a polymer rod, for example, a synthetic resin optical transmission medium having a continuously varied refractive index distribution in the cross section of the polymer rod. More specifically, it relates to a method for preparing a polymer rod as a synthetic resin optical transmission medium which has a refractive index distribution continuously varied in its cross section and a uniform distribution of composition in the direction of its length. It can be used as optical lenses and optical fibers. The polymerization reaction is carried out wish utilizing the difference in gel concentrations in the surface of a liquid mixture and the difference in the liability of monomers to volatilize, while a monomer liquid mixture is slowly fed to a vessel from the upper portion thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Optical transmission media such as lenses and optical fibers are classified into two kinds of types, a single mode type and a multimode type in view of the mode of light transmission.
Among the multimode type optical transmission media, the graded index type optical transmission media having a refractive index distribution varying continuously in a fixed direction are widely used as bar lenses having the function of convex lenses, bar lenses having the function of concave lenses, and broad band optical transmission fibers. Among them, the optical transmission media made of transparent synthetic resins are more widely used in recent years, because they have several advantages in view of light weight, economy, easy handling, high impact resistance and flexibility as compared with those made of quartz.
The optical transmission medium made of a synthetic resin is usually used as a bar lens or an optical transmission fiber which comprises a polymer rod obtained by polymerization or by polymerization and then drawing.
Concerning the preparation of a refractive index distribution type optical transmission medium from a synthetic resin by polymerization reaction in a specific reaction vessel, the following methods have heretofore been proposed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,015, a monomer to form a polymer having a different refractive index is subjected to diffusion transfer into a previously formed specific transparent solid substance in a partially polymerized state having a three-dimensional reticular structure. After that, the whole polymerization reaction is stopped to obtain a rod-like optical transmission medium of a refractive index distribution type.
In this method, however, it is necessary that the transparent solid substance is previously made into the three-dimensional reticular structure by the use of a multi-functional radically polymerizable monomer in order to maintain the configuration of the transparent solid substance. For this reason, it must previously be made separately, which costs much labor. In addition, the obtained polymer having the three-dimensional reticular structure is not good in thermoplasticity and it is not suitable for other post-forming processes such as drawing. In other words, the practical plastic optical transmission fibers should have stiffness and tensile strength as fiber materials in the drawing step in the manufacturing process. However, the optical transmission medium prepared through the above process has the inherently three-dimensional reticular structure, so that it is not suitable for drawing operation.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-130904, much attention is paid to a difference between the monomer reactivity ratios of two kinds of monomers, and by the utilization of this, there is proposed a method for producing an optical transmission medium having a refractive index gradient. However, in the medium obtained by this method, a good refractive index distribution is not always obtained, and cavities are easily formed owing to volume contraction attributed to polymerization. Thus, it is difficult to obtain an entirely uniform and large sized polymer suitable for industrial production. Furthermore, in the case that an acrylic resin transparent polymerization tube is used, the acrylic resin is dissolved in the monomer at a non-polymerizing position such as the position of the polymerization tube which is immersed in the monomer and to which radical generation energy is not applied, or the position of the polymerization tube which comes in contact with a monomer vapor, so that the thickness of the polymerization tube is uneven and the uniform polymer rod cannot be obtained. In an extreme case, the pipe is dissolved, and consequently it is torn to pieces or made full of holes.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-170705, a method for successively feeding a monomer liquid mixture to a long molding tube is described, but even in this method, a good refractive index distribution cannot always be obtained. When a synthetic resin molded tube is used, the resin portion above the surface of the liquid mixture is dissolved by a monomer vapor, so that the wall thickness of the resin tube is reduced, and in an extreme case, the resin tube is dissolved off. Thus, a polymer uniform in the vertical direction cannot be formed.
The phenomena described above occur even when only one kind of monomer is used.
The present inventors have carried out extensive investigations concerning the process to form a copolymer resin from a liquid mixture of different radically polymerizable monomers. That is, when the viscosity of the monomer liquid mixture rises and the liquid turns into a gel with the progress of the polymerization of the monomers, the growing polymer radical is hardly diffused in the gel because the molecular weight of the polymer radical is large. In this case, the termination reaction between two molecules of the growing polymer radicals hardly proceeds, and as a result, a polymerization rate increases.
The above phenomenon is accepted as the so-called gel effect in the radical polymerization. When the radical polymerization is carried out so that the gel effect is produced from any position in a reaction vessel, the polymerization gradually proceeds toward an opposite end portion.
The inventors of the present application have made further investigation concerning a process in which, for example, two kinds of different monomers are bonded to propagating polymer radicals in a gel. That is, when the polymerization is allowed to proceed from a wall portion to a central portion of a cylindrical vessel, a gel having a higher polymer content is formed on the vessel wall portion in the vicinity of the liquid mixture surface, and the polymer content decreases toward the central portion of the liquid mixture surface. In general, there is a tendency that when a polymer solution containing a volatile substance has a high polymer content, the volatile substance is difficult to volatilize from the solution surface. That is, in the vicinity of the vessel wall where the polymer content is high, the amount of the volatilized substance is smaller than in the central portion of the vessel where the polymer content is low. Usually, when monomers are volatilized from the surface of a solution comprising two kinds of polymerizable monomers, the monomer having a lower boiling point volatilizes more largely, irrespective of a concentration ratio of the monomers constituting the solution. Therefore, in the vicinity of the vessel wall where the amount of the volatilized substance per unit time is small, a difference between the amount of the decreased monomer having a lower boiling point and that of the decreased monomer having a higher boiling point is smaller than in the central portion where the amount of the volatilized substance per unit time is large. In consequence, in the case that, of the selected two kinds of monomers, the monomer having a lower boiling point has a lower refractive index, a convex distribution is formed in which the refractive index increases from the wall portion to the central portion of the vessel. On the other hand, in the case that the monomer having the lower boiling point has a higher refractive index, a concave distribution is conversely formed.
Furthermore, for example, in the case that the vessel wall is composed of a monomer-soluble polymer, a gel containing the dissolved vessel wall polymer tends to settle by gravity. However, when the settlement occurs, the obtained polymer rod is liable to have an uneven structure. In order to prevent the settlement, it is necessary that in the lower portion of the gel containing the dissolved vessel wall polymer, polymerization substantially completes and the unreacted monomer is not present or a little present.
Experiments were done by the present inventors. That is, a monomer was slowly fed to a vessel through the upper portion thereof, and adjustment was made so that polymerization may proceed as much as the amount of the fed monomer, whereby the polymerization was allowed to proceed in compliance with a monomer feed rate. As a result, the volume of the unreacted monomer portion was maintained at a constant level to prevent the gel from settling, which permits uniformly growing the polymer in a vertical upward direction. That is, it has been found that when the fresh monomers are always slowly fed only in the vicinity of the liquid surface in the vessel, a refractive index distribution is formed by the utilization of a difference between ratios of the volatilized monomers and a difference between amounts of the volatilized monomers, and as a result, the polymer grows in a vertical upward direction in accordance with a monomer feed rate to obtain the polymer having a refractive index gradient continuously uniformly extending in the vertical upward direction and in a horizontal direction.
In the disclosure in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-170705, polymerization is allowed to proceed from a lower portion of a long molded pipe without a forced exhaust means. Therefore, the monomer does not volatilize, so that the polymer rod having a good refractive index distribution cannot always be obtained.

Method for preparing optical polymer with radial transition in refractive index


A decorative writing implement includes an animal-shaped body having four limbs and a head. Each limb is detachable from the body and retains a pen therein. A rear end of each limb is interferentially fit into a hole defined in the body for mounting the limb to the body. A writing tip of each pen extends beyond a front end of the corresponding limb. Protection caps in the form of a pair of gloves and a pair of boots are detachably mounted to the writing tips of the pens for protection thereof. A further pen is retained in the body with a writing tip thereof extending beyond the head. A cap is detachably mounted to the head for covering and protecting the further pen. Preferably, the animal-shaped body is made of rubber thereby being capable to serve as an eraser.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a writing implement, and in particular to a writing implement having a decorative figure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Writing implements, such as pencils, are frequently used in writing and marking. A pencil usually comprises an elongate body in which a graphite core is retained. An eraser is sometimes attached to one end of the pencil. Such an eraser is very small and may be quickly consumed up. U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,491 issued to the present applicant on Jan. 20, 1998 discloses a writing implement having a body made of rubber to serve as an eraser which providing the writing implement with a large eraser for a long term use. The writing implement of the '491 patent has only a regular cylindrical or tubular shape which may not be appealing to the general consumers. In addition, the writing implement of the '491 patent comprises a single pen only which does not provide a user with choice of different pens.
Thus, it is desired to have a writing implement which overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional writing implement.


A data access method based on a cloud computing platform, and a user terminal, are provided. The method is performed by a user terminal, and the method includes obtaining an access request for a data ciphertext of the cloud computing platform, the access request including a decryption key, and the decryption key including a user precise identity identifier and a user attribute identifier. The method further includes decrypting the data ciphertext into a data plaintext, in response to the user precise identity identifier belonging to an identity identifier set included in an access structure of the data ciphertext and/or in response to the user attribute identifier belonging to a user attribute identifier set included in the access structure of the data ciphertext.

1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with example embodiments relate to cloud computing technologies, and specifically, to a data access method based on a cloud computing platform, and a user terminal.
2. Description of Related Art
In an age of big data, a cloud computing platform is often used for storing massive data. The massive data stored in the cloud computing platform often relate to personal privacy data, for example, personal medical records. During actual application, the cloud computing platform is often managed and maintained by a cloud service provider (Cloud Service Provider, CSP), and the cloud service provider is often an enterprise aiming at profiting. When an enterprise signs a service level agreement (Service Level Agreement, LSA) with the cloud service provider, the enterprise may perform authorization of users in the enterprise, so that the users in the enterprise may not only store data to the cloud computing platform, but also access data of the cloud computing platform. It is found in practices that once the users in the enterprise are authorized, the users may access all the data in the cloud computing platform, and fine-grained access control is difficult to implement.

Data access method based on cloud computing platform, and user terminal

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


An integration density acquiring unit for a consumption information management apparatus acquires integration density from an image signal sent from an image processing section, and an information converting unit calculates a quantity of consumed toner (consumption information) by multiplying the integration density by a specified coefficient to send the quantity to a cumulative consumption information calculating unit. The cumulative consumption information calculating unit temporarily stores the information for the quantity of toner consumption in a memory, and reads out the information from the memory at predetermined timing. Accordingly, it is possible to determine only the cost for developer used by a user or calculate the quantity of developer remaining within an image formation apparatus based on the cumulative consumption information for the unadjusted developer stored in the memory.

The present invention relates to a consumption information management apparatus, an image formation apparatus, and a consumption information management system. More particularly, this invention relates to the consumption information management apparatus that manages consumption information for consumable items (supplies) such as paper and developer used in copiers, facsimiles, or printers and for a communication fee or the like, and the image formation apparatus provided with the consumption information management apparatus. This invention also relates to the consumption information management system that charges a user for the consumed supplies and a maintenance fee of the image formation apparatus.
In recent years, a substantial use period of purchased products of various types has been shortened in association with acceleration of technological innovation. Therefore, users tend to use products always with the latest functions by lease or rental rather than purchase of such products whose use cycles are substantially short.
On the other hand, in order to cope with such situations, businesses providing products to users by lease or rental are increasing. Under such circumstances, the image forming devices such as the copiers, facsimiles, or the printers are thought to be provided increasingly to the users by lease or rental.
As for the image forming device based on rental, the user returns a device, which has been used up to that time, to the rental source and at the same time rents a new device in order to always use the device provided with the latest functions by making use of merits of the lease system or rental system.
However, in the conventional rental system of the image forming devices, supplies such as developer and paper are not included in a lease fee or a rental fee, so that the user purchases such supplies separately. Accordingly, when the user is to rent a new device, the supplies remaining inside the image forming device to be returned are also taken to the rental source although these supplies are not used by the user, which brings loss to the user. For example, when the supplies such as developer are supplied to the image forming device to be returned immediately before its return, almost all the supplied items are also taken to the rental source remaining unused.
In these types of image forming devices, properties of developer to be used are generally different from each other for each type of the image forming devices. Therefore, when the image forming device having been used up to that time is returned, there may occur such inconvenience that the developer purchased and stocked by the user as developer for this particular image forming device will be wasted.
Such disadvantages brought to the user in the rental system of the image forming device occur in both of monochrome image forming devices and color image forming devices, but the disadvantages are more significant particularly in the color image forming devices. That is, the color image forming device has developers of respective colors accommodated in a plurality of developer containers, and consumed quantities of the developers of the respective colors are different according to used situations by the user. Accordingly, possibility, such that this color image forming device has run out of the developers of the respective colors accommodated in the developer containers at the time of being returned, is extremely low as compared to that of the monochrome image forming device. Further, the color developers are generally used less frequently than the monochrome developer, but are more expensive.
Accordingly, when the color image forming device is returned, a large quantity of color developers not used frequently, in many cases, remains within the respective developer containers without being consumed. Therefore, when the image forming device is returned, there is a high possibility that the large quantity of developers remaining in the developer containers are also taken to the rental source. Therefore, the loss of the user becomes much larger as compared to that of the monochrome image forming device.
On the other hand, in recent years, it has been recognized, as an important matter, to recycle products and parts that have not yet reached the end of their lives considering the influence over the environments and resources due to disposal of various types of products. Based on such background, in the field of the image forming devices, when a user has purchased an image forming device and quits using it, it is thought to become common that its maker collects the image forming device and provide the device to recycling.
However, when the image forming device purchased and used by the user is provided to the maker as it is for its recycling, for the same reason as the case where the image forming device is rented, it is quite possible that disadvantages for the user may occur. That is, when the image forming device purchased and used by the user is to be collected by its maker, even if unused developer remains within the image forming device, this developer is also delivered to the maker together with the image forming device. If such a case occurs, the developer purchased by the user may be delivered to the maker remaining unused, which is wasteful for the user. This matter becomes more significant particularly in the color image forming device for the same reason as that of the rental image forming device.
Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-160452, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-84963, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-19906, it is pointed out that a charging method based on the number of copies to be output, which has been conventionally performed in this type of image forming device, is unfair but charging based on the quantity of consumed toner is a fair and reasonable charging method. In such conventional technologies, a copying service charge is calculated based on the quantity of toner consumed through image formation. However, the point that the toner contained in the developer remaining within a developer container is resulted in charging to the user cannot be resolved by these technologies.
Conventionally, on the other hand, in order to maintain performance of the image forming device, the user may have paid for its maintenance, which is regularly performed, other than the expenses for purchase of the main body of the device or its rental fee. In such a case, as a running cost of the image forming device, the user is required to pay discretely for 1) a loan or a rental fee of the main body of the device, 2) a maintenance fee of the main body of the device, and 3) expenses for purchasing supplies such as developer. Therefore, the user has to manage complicated expenditures.
It is an object of this invention to provide a consumption information management apparatus capable of determining a charge for consumable items so that only supplies actually consumed for image formation are charged to the user, and an image formation apparatus provided with this consumption information management apparatus.
Another object of this invention is to provide a consumption information management system that charges the user of this image formation apparatus for any cost that is reasonable for the user.
According to one aspect of this invention, a consumption information acquisition unit acquires consumption information for the quantity of image visualizing agent consumed through image formation. A storage unit stores cumulative consumption information obtained by accumulating consumption information for an unadjusted quantity for the consumed quantity of image visualizing agent. The xe2x80x9cimage visualizing agentxe2x80x9d mentioned here refers to media used to form an image through development, which includes not only a medium to directly form a visible image but also media contributing to the formed image by such a medium. For example, this image visualizing agent includes powder toner, carrier, liquid developer, a solvent to dilute the liquid developer, ink, an ink absorbing agent, and an ink reacting agent, or the like. The xe2x80x9cconsumption informationxe2x80x9d mentioned here refers to such information as a consumed quantity of image visualizing agent and a charge for the image visualizing agent, that is, any information that a charge for the image visualizing agent used by the user can be calculated. A charge determination unit can determine only the cost for the image visualizing agent consumed by the user based on the cumulative consumption information obtained by accumulating consumption information for unadjusted image visualizing agent stored in the storage unit.
Based on this cumulative consumption information, it is possible to calculate a quantity of the image visualizing agent remaining within the image formation apparatus. That is, the image visualizing agent for replacement in this type of image formation apparatus is generally stored by a specified quantity in a dedicated image visualizing agent container such as a toner bottle, a bottle for developing liquid, or an ink tank according to the system of each image formation apparatus. Therefore, the total quantity of the image visualizing agent supplied to the image formation apparatus can be calculated based on the number of replacing times of the image visualizing agent containers. Accordingly, it is possible to calculate the quantity of image visualizing agent remaining within the image formation apparatus by calculating the total quantity of image visualizing agent having been consumed in the image formation apparatus based on the cumulative consumption information and subtracting this consumed total quantity of image visualizing agent from the total quantity of image visualizing agent supplied to the image formation apparatus.
Further, the consumption information acquisition unit acquires consumption information based on one of those information for an amount of energy consumed by a writing unit, for a light emitting time of an optical writing unit, for a driving time of a toner conveying unit, for the number of rotation of a screw, and for ink jetting (Details will be explained later).
Further, a weight measurement unit capable of measuring a weight of an image visualizing agent container disposed in the image formation apparatus is provided within the image formation apparatus, and the consumption information is obtained by directly acquiring a change in weight of the image visualizing agent container by the weight measurement unit. Accordingly, the quantity of consumed image visualizing agent and its remaining quantity can be calculated.
Further, the consumption information is acquired at the time of turning ON and OFF the power to the main body of the image formation apparatus, or of opening and closing a cover that covers the image visualizing agent container. Accordingly, changes in weight of the image visualizing agent container can be directly acquired by measurement equipment without being affected by vibrations or the like because the time mentioned above is the time when the image formation apparatus does not operate. Therefore, it is possible to calculate accurate consumed quantity and remaining quantity of the image visualizing agent. It is also possible to accurately calculate the consumed quantity of the image visualizing agent and its remaining quantity when the image visualizing agent container is replaced.
Further, by setting an error in calculation of the quantity of consumed image visualizing agent to be within 10%, it is possible to accurately calculate a charge for used image visualizing agent.
Further, by setting a recording unit for the quantity of developer consumption stored in the storage unit to a value of 3.1xc2x7X(mg) or less, it is possible to manage an error between the quantity of the developer consumption stored in the storage unit and the quantity of the actually consumed developer by suppressing the error within about 10% (Details will be explained later).
Further, when the jam of a transfer material has occurred, a computation unit performs a computation for not changing or decreasing cumulative consumption information for the consumed quantity of image visualizing agent. Accordingly, the cumulative consumption information for the developer consumed due to the jam of the transfer material is not added, which makes it possible to prevent the cost of the consumed developer quantity due to the jam from its being charged to the user.
Further, when the image formation apparatus is under maintenance, the computation unit performs a computation for not changing or decreasing cumulative consumption information for the consumed quantity of image visualizing agent. Accordingly, the cumulative consumption information for the developer consumed by the maintenance of the image formation apparatus is not added, which makes it possible to prevent the cost of the consumed developer quantity due to the maintenance from its being charged to the user.
Further, the charge determination unit determines a charge so that an amount of money for consumed developer becomes any value in a specified unit or more. Accordingly, a user or a service man needs not prepare many changes at the time of adjusting the charge, which makes it possible to reduce a load for charge adjustment.
Further, a display unit displays the cumulative consumption information stored in the storage unit or the charge for the developer calculated based on the cumulative consumption information. The value displayed on the display unit desirably shows the amount of money to be charged for the developer. Accordingly, when charging for the developer, the service man does not need to calculate an amount of money to be charged for the developer, and the user also easily checks the amount of money charged for the developer.
Further, the storage unit is formed with nonvolatile memory. Therefore, the information stored in the storage unit is not possibly destroyed due to a power failure or some other failures, which makes it possible to rigidly manage the charge for the developer.
According to another aspect of this invention, the image formation apparatus is provided. This apparatus can manage consumption information for image visualizing agent by the consumption information management apparatus according to the invention.
Further, the whole or a part of an image formation unit in this image formation apparatus is removable from the main body of the image formation apparatus as a separate unit with respect to the consumption information management apparatus. Accordingly, when the image formation unit is at fault, only the faulty image formation unit can speedily be replaced.
Further, the image formation unit is fixed to the main body of the image formation apparatus by a locking unit. Accordingly, for example, only the service man is allowed to operate this image formation unit, so that the security of the image formation apparatus is enhanced. As a locking system applied to the locking unit, any of the systems as follows may be used: a system of opening a door to operate the image formation apparatus using a key, a system of authorizing a person to reset using cipher, a system of verifying the rights to reset using finger prints or the like, and a system in which only the person allowed to operate the resetting unit can unlock the locking.
According to still another aspect of this invention, the service center determines a charge for developer consumed in an image formation apparatus based on the cumulative consumption information for the image visualizing agent sent from the image formation apparatus, and issues a bill, where the cost for this consumed developer is entered, to the user. Accordingly, the processing for adjustment of the charge for the developer is speedily performed, which makes it easy to manage billing for the image visualizing agent used in the image formation apparatus and collecting the amount of money.
Further, the image formation apparatus transmits again cumulative consumption information by a re-transmitting function of a cumulative consumption information transmitting unit when not receiving acknowledgement information after a predetermined period of time elapses since the cumulative consumption information is transmitted. Accordingly, the service center can surely receive the cumulative consumption information.
Further, on the service center, a charging unit does not charge for received cumulative consumption information when the same information has already been received. Accordingly, double charging can be prevented.
Further, the service center determines a charge for maintenance of an image formation apparatus based on the cumulative consumption information sent from the image formation apparatus, and issues a bill, where the determined amount of money for the maintenance is entered, to the user. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a bill where the cost for the developer during the maintenance while the user does not use the apparatus is entered, from being issued to the user.
Further, an ordering unit automatically orders the developer as necessary. Accordingly, for example, new developer can be ordered before the image formation apparatus runs out of the developer, which makes it possible to eliminate inconvenience, due to shortage of the developer for the image formation apparatus, brought to the user.
In this consumption information management system, the cumulative consumption information stored in the storage unit is transmitted by the transmitting unit of the consumption information management apparatus to the reception unit of the service center that issues the bill through a network. The amount of money such as the charge for developer or the charge for maintenance is entered in a bill based on the cumulative consumption information received by the reception unit, and this bill is issued to the user of the image formation apparatus. Accordingly, the processing for adjustment of the charge for developer or the charge for maintenance can speedily be performed.
Other objects and features of this invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Consumption information management apparatus, image formation apparatus, and consumption information management system


The present disclosure provides a method for interference cancellation which includes: calculating a mean value and a variance value of a received signal to obtain statistics information of the received signal; calculating an estimating log-likelihood ratio using the statistics information of the received signal; calculating a decoding log-likelihood ratios of the received signal using the estimating log-likelihood ratio of the received signal, and performing calculations to update the statistics information of the received signal; repeating the above steps for a pre-determined number of times, performing hard decisions on the decoding log-likelihood ratios of the received signal, and outputting data bits obtained from the hard decision. The present disclosure also provides an apparatus, an auxiliary method, a base station and a terminal device for interference cancellation. The mechanism of the present disclosure can reduce the impact of inherent interference in the FBMC/OQAM system on system performances, and increase spectral efficiency and design flexibility of the FBMC/OQAM system.

The new generation mobile communication system features simplified network architecture, very low transmission/processing delay, high quality communications, high data rates and the like. Multi-carrier modulation (MCM) is regarded as one of key techniques in contemporary and future mobile communication systems. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), a typical MCM scheme, has been widely used in fields of audio/video broadcasting and commercial communication systems, such as Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in Europe, Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Loop (VDSL), Power Line Communication (PLC), IEEE802.11a/g Wireless Local Area (WLAN), IEEE802.22 Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN), IEEE802.16 World Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), and 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) systems, and the like.
The OFDM technique transforms a broadband channel into several parallel narrowband sub-channels, thus a high rate data stream transmitted in a frequency-selective fading channel is transformed into several low rate data streams transmitted on several parallel flat-fading sub-carriers. This can greatly enhance the system's capability in combating with the interference brought by the multi-path propagation channel. Further, Cyclic Prefix (CP) is adopted to transform linear convolution operations into circular convolution operations. According to characteristics of the circular convolution, when the length of CP is greater than the maximum channel delay spread, inter-symbol interference (ISI)-free channel equalization can be attained by using simple frequency domain zero forcing technique. The complexity of channel equalization is therefore remarkably reduced. Further, compared with conventional frequency division multiplexing (FDM) multi-carrier systems, OFDM systems allow overlapped sub-carriers as long as an orthogonality condition is satisfied, need no guard band, and require less demodulators on the receiver side. Thus, OFDM has advantages such as high spectral efficiency, simple receivers and low-cost hardware, and so on. Moreover, OFDM systems are very flexible in designing multiple access (MA) schemes and performing power allocation because the sub-carriers are independent to each other.
Conventional CP-OFDM scheme, however, has disadvantages in the following aspects.
(1) The usage of CP reduces the system power efficiency. Although the CP can effectively counteract the ISI, it consumes a portion of transmitting power and thus reduces the power efficiency of the transmitter. When the delay spread in a channel is greater than the length of the CP, there is still serious ISI.
(2) The system is very sensitive to carrier frequency offset (CFO).
(3) The relatively high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) places high requirements for the dynamic range of RF power amplifiers at the transmitter.
(4) The system has significant out of band emission. In order to solve the problem, sub-carriers close to the spectrum boundaries are often nulled, and this leads to reduced spectral efficiency and data transmission efficiency of the system.
The above disadvantages are mainly resulted from inherent characteristics of the OFDM system. Although methods can be taken to mitigate the adverse effects of the disadvantages, this increases the complexity in system design, and is not able to completely solve the problems. In this context, several other new MCM techniques have drawn close attention and are widely studied from multiple perspectives such as introducing filters having excellent time frequency localization (TFL) characteristics, increasing the distance between time-frequency grid points, changing the orthogonality condition, and so on. A typical system that has the above characteristics is the filter bank multi-carrier/offset quadrature amplitude modulation (FBMC/OQAM) system, which is also referred to as the OFDM/OQAM system.
The FBMC/OQAM system separately transmits a real part and an imaginary part of a complex symbol obtained from QAM mappings. The real part and the imaginary part of a complex symbol have an offset of half an FBMC symbol interval in between. The FBMC/OQAM system does not satisfy the orthogonality condition in the complex field, thus strictly speaking, it belongs to the category of non-orthogonal systems. However, the FBMC/OQAM system strictly satisfies the real-field orthogonality condition. As such, the FBMC/OQAM system can be regarded as a quasi-orthogonal system between an orthogonal system and a non-orthogonal system. Thus, relaxing the orthogonality condition to the real fields permits the use of filter banks with excellent TFL characteristics to trade-off between orthogonality and interference mitigation capabilities, and enables the FBMC/OQAM system to have good anti-interference ability. In general, the FBMC/OQAM technique not only maintains the orthogonality which simplifies the system design, but also adopts filter banks with excellent TFL characteristics to enhance the anti-interference ability of the system. These advantages make the FBMC/OQAM technique one of main candidate techniques for the 5th Generation Mobile Communications System.
Specifically, the FBMC/OQAM system has the following advantages.
(1) High spectral efficiency and power efficiency. Compared with CP-OFDM systems, in one OFDM symbol period, the FBMC/OQAM system transmits two real symbols (equivalent to one complex symbol). When CP is not taken into consideration, the FBMC/OQAM system has the same spectral efficiency and power efficiency with conventional OFDM systems. When CP is taken into consideration, the FBMC/OQAM system has higher spectral efficiency and effective transmitting power than CP-OFDM systems.
(2) Possession of both the anti ISI ability and the anti inter-carrier interference (ICI) ability. In the FBMC/OQAM system, relaxing the orthogonality condition from the complex field to the real fields permits the use of filter banks. Filter banks with excellent performances can provide good localization in both time and frequency, thus enable the FBMC/OQAM system to have both the anti ISI ability and the anti ICI ability without using CP.
(3) Low implementation complexity. The receiver of FBMC/OQAM system has lower complexity than non-orthogonal systems because it is still an orthogonal system. Furthermore, the FBMC/OQAM system can be implemented using Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to further reduce the design and implementation complexity of the system.
There are also some challenges in employing the FBMC/OQAM technique.
(1) Channel estimation is relatively difficult. The FBMC/OQAM system strictly satisfies the orthogonality condition only in the real fields, inherent interference exists between base functions of filter banks. The interference is imaginary-valued interference and can be eliminated by taking real parts of the received signal after channel equalization. But in the context of complex channel, the estimated channel is a superposition value of the inherent interference and the actual channel. When the data information around the pilot point is unknown, it is hard to eliminate the inherent interference which seriously affects the channel estimation accuracy.
(2) The system has high PAPR. The high PAPR is a result of the superposition of multiple signals, thus is an intrinsic characteristic of multi-carrier systems. As an MCM technique, FBMC/OQAM signal also has high PAPR.
(3) The processing procedures at the receiver side regarding equalization and demodulation are relatively complex. Received signal includes a complex interference component which cannot be completely eliminated by simply taking real parts. Residual interference is usually eliminated by interference estimation and cancellation, which would increase design complexity of the system. Moreover, since real parts and imaginary parts of complex data are transmitted separately, and then processed and synthesized at the receiver side. This procedure also increases the implementation complexity of the system. In addition, existence of the inherent interference makes it rather complex to integrate the FBMC/OQAM system with other systems such as multi-input multi-output (MIMO).

Method and auxiliary method, apparatus base station and user equipment for interference cancellation


A method and system for viewing information stored in one or more rows and columns in a database. The system having a logical progression of choosing a column, determining conditions for a row to be included in a panel, specifying a column to be used as a base to group rows in a panel and a display for viewing the information.

Databases have become the subject of significant recent interest, not only because of the increasing volume of data being stored and retrieved by computerized databases but also by virtue of the data relationships which can be established during the storage and retrieval processes. Most of the interest in databases has concerned users' demands for an improved ergonomic interface to the database through innovative display technology.
Among database objects, table objects are the basis for data storage and retrieval. In a relational database design, data redundancy should be minimized while maintaining data integrity and performance efficiency. To increase the flexibility in retrieving and updating data in the base tables, database view objects are created to provide specific portals to the data in one or more base tables and/or other view objects. View objects also provide a means to control data accessibility by specifying users' authorization on view objects. The view objects are commonly used to hide columns in base tables, select columns from multiple tables into a logical format, and access a subset of the data from base tables.
The complexity of defining a database view object grows with the number of participating base table or view objects, the conditions specified for data selection, the columns selected into the view, the necessary aliases specified for the tables and views involved, and the relationships specified among the selected database objects. A user interface that can help the user handle this complex process for defining a database view object becomes important to database administrators and users. This interface can also be used to define complex SELECT statements that use set operators and/or nested SUBSELECTS.
From a SQL standpoint, a database view object is defined by a FULLSELECT statement, which is composed of a set of SQL SELECT statements. The simplest form of a view object is based on a single SELECT statement with a single base table involved. More likely, the definition of a view object will include multiple SELECT statements and the relationships between them will be specified by set operations (UNION, INTERSECT, etc.). When set operations are involved in a SQL FULLSELECT definition, it is usually difficult for the user to construct the FULLSELECT statement in a plain and flat textual format. In defining a complicated FULLSELECT statement, a user typically thinks from the view object's basic building blocks, which are SELECT statements, and the relationships among the building blocks. A pictorial construction of a FULLSELECT in most users' mental model is like using a Venn Diagram to describe a specific area as discussed in modern algebra.
Structured Query Language (SQL), and in particular ANSI SQL, has become a preferred language media for communicating queries to relational databases. As a consequence, there presently exist thousands of relational databases and thousands of related queries directed to such databases. Given an investment in such databases and queries, migration is not only a desirable feature, but a substantially necessary capability for new relational database systems and methods.
The concept of portraying a query in a graphical depiction on a display screen of a workstation is a relatively new approach to relational database interfacing. Visual queries, often referred to as graphical queries, utilize workstation graphics to represent query objectives heretofore defined by SQL statements. A visual query presents a pictorial depiction of the objectives of a search, thereby eliminating any need for a user to learn a query language, improving the rate at which SQL queries can be formulated, and reducing the defect or error rate of queries.
An example of a prior art approach to a database user interface is found in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 243-6, February 1991, entitled Interactive Schema Diagram to Visually Represent Tables of Related Data and Meaningful Joins Between Tables. The article discusses a non-procedural, graphical relational database interface. The interface uses the database schema graph as a top-level directory and access tool for manipulating tables, attributes and relational join operations.
Another example of a user interface for interfacing to a database application is U.S. Pat. 4,853,843 entitled, System For Merging Virtual Partitions of a Distributed Database. This patent discloses an object-oriented distributed database application which is divided up into partitions. Each partition merges the databases into a single merged database which permits versions of data objects and collections of data objects to be identified and accessed in the merged database.

System for interactive clause window construction of SQL queries

International Business Machines Corporation


A network service providing method is provided. Firstly, a network service platform is provided for allowing a user to create a workspace in a network service platform. At least one unified matter is allowed to be added to or removed from a projectable space instance that is for modeling the workspace. The projectable space instance is installed in a back-end system. When the projectable space instance is acquired by at least one machine through a URI, the projectable space instance is parsed by a projector, so that a projected workspace corresponding to the workspace is built in the at least one machine. The user and/or a second user interacts with the projected workspace, or a function of the at least one machine is dynamically configured through the projected workspace. A network service station is also provided.

In today's convenience daily life, people are accustomed to use an electronic device with computational capability to achieve various kinds of applications. For example, these applications include working, file processing, entertainment, social communication, and so on. With development of science and technology, information can be propagated more quickly. Accordingly, various network service platforms, operating systems and software tools have been have been developed for people to use and brought more efficient lives to the users. Especially in the post-PC era, the conventional desktop computers, tablet computers, mobile phones or other mobile devices still make people to implement tasks whenever and wherever they are, and people over the world communicate with each other to transmit and share information through the internet.
With increasing development of the internet, the American Google company provides more and more network services to the users. For example, the user may create a personalized information page through an iGoogle platform, which is provided by Google. Moreover, the user may arrange required widgets in a collaborative working platform that is provided by Google in order to perform collaborative work with other users. However, the iGoogle platform or the collaborative working platform still has some drawbacks. For example, the user is only allowed to select and arrange at least one tool and/or information in a workspace of the platform through limited options. The limited options indicate plural widgets that are arranged in various Google platforms and provided to users. While the platform is used, any tool and/or information that is in the internet but incompatible with the Google platforms cannot be arbitrarily combined together into the workspace of the platform by the user. Since Google has not developed a satisfactory unifying process for allowing any information and any tool in the internet to be combined together into the Google platform, the tool and/or information cannot be arbitrarily combined together into the workspace of the Google platform by the user.
Although the network services provided by the network service providers become more diverse, some inconvenient and perplexing problems below occur. Firstly, a large number of information units and tools in the same or different formats are distributed in different information sources. Since the information units and the tools in different formats are usually incompatible, it is difficult to integrate the information units and the tools that are obtained in a single workspace and have different formats. Secondly, various kinds of network service platforms, operating systems and software components are almost developed by different developers, and usually independent from and incompatible with each other. Consequently, while a task is performed, it is unable to operate specified functions of different network service platforms, operating systems and software through a single user interface. Thirdly, the existing hardware components or software components are developed in view of "personal devices". That is, a large number of data stations with obvious barriers in the internet become obstruction for many people to work collaboratively. Under this circumstance, the purpose of having no international limitation in the network cannot be successfully achieved.
Therefore, the network service providing method needs to be further improved.

Network service providing method and network service station using same


Two components of the velocity of blood or similar liquids and the true flow vector are derived by a linear transducer array cross-beam configuration. Ultrasound pulses are transmitted from the center elements and backscattered echoes are received by left and right receiver sub-arrays whose locations depend on the observation point. A duplex imaging system with a sector scanner incorporates a Doppler modality with little added complexity and provides components of flow velocity parallel to and transverse to the acoustic beam direction from which the true velocity vector is computed.

This invention relates to a method and ultrasound apparatus for detecting liquid flow velocity, and more particularly to determining two components of velocity and the true flow vector using a steered beam scanner and a transducer array cross-beam technique.
Doppler systems which transcutaneously insonify the bloodstream with a single ultrasonic beam can provide accurate blood velocity measurements only if the direction of the velocity vector coincides with the direction of the beam; if these directions do not coincide it is necessary to know the angle .theta. between the velocity vector and the beam. Various methods have been suggested for deriving two components of velocity from which the true velocity vector is readily calculated, but many such methods require plural insonifying beams. The system described by P. A. Perronneau et al, Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of Ultrasonics in Medicine, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June 1973, pp. 259-266, utilizes two crystals angled toward one another and symmetrically located at one extremity of a B-scan probe diameter.
Blood velocity is detected by measuring the Doppler shifts in frequency imparted to ultrasound by reflection from moving red blood cells. Accuracy in detecting the Doppler shift at a particular point in the bloodstream depends on defining a small sample volume at the required location and then processing the echoes to extract the Doppler shifted frequencies. In order to be able to place an appropriately small sample volume at any desired location in the bloodstream and examine velocity in the major vessels, in the vicinity of heart valves or inside the heart chambers, a Doppler modality is incorporated in a real time sector scanning imaging system. The system provides electronic steering and focusing of a single acoustic beam and enables the user to illuminate a small sample anywhere in the field of view of the instrument, whose location can be visually identified on a two-dimensional B-scan image. A Fourier transform processor faithfully computes the Doppler spectrum backscattered from the sampled volume, and by averaging the spectral components the mean frequency shift can be obtained. Further explanation is given in copending, commonly assigned application Ser. No. 936,111, filed on Aug. 23, 1978, E. Papadofrangakis and W. E. Engeler, "Directional Detection of Blood Velocities in an Ultrasound System". This duplex system measures only the component of velocity parallel to the insonifying beam.
Using the visual orientation facility of the instrument, together with the beamsteering capability provided in the Doppler mode of operation, it is possible in certain situations to manually position the single acoustic beam available so that it coincides with the blood flow direction in at least one major artery, but in many cases the alignment cannot be achieved. A principal object of this invention is to measure the true blood velocity vector, independent of the orientation angle .theta., by suitably modifying the foregoing duplex instrument which has a single linear transmit-receive transducer array for both B-scan and Doppler modes.

Measurement of true blood velocity by an ultrasound system


A transducer produces an electrical signal representing the frequency of a tone produced by the vibrating string of a musical instrument. Circuit means convert the electrical signal into a visually perceivable form which moves or appears to move in unison with the vibrating string. The signal from a frequency generator representing the desired frequency operates a strobe light source which is operatively associated with the visual vibrating motion display. When the string is in tune with the pre-selected desired frequency from the generator, the vibratory motion appears to stop and the strobe light or vibrating element appears to stand still.

The present invention is directed toward a device for tuning musical instruments and more particularly toward a device which employs a stroboscopic technique for tuning the instrument.
Stroboscopic tuning of musical instruments and particularly vibrating string instruments have been known for some time. Briefly, this is accomplished by shining a light on one of the strings desired to be tuned and strobing the light at a frequency equal to the desired frequency of the string. When the resonating frequency of the plucked string is equal to the frequency of the strobe light, the string appears to an observer to be stationary. When this occurs, the string has been tuned to the stroboscopic frequency. Such techniques and devices for accomplishing the same are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,385,153 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,071.
There are times, however, when it is difficult or impossible to employ the basic stroboscopic tuning technique described above. For example, not everyone's eyesight is keen enough to see the vibrations of a vibrating string. And in some applications, such as in tuning an upright or spinet piano, the main part of the string, which moves the most during vibration, may be totally inaccessible.
Thus, there has been a need for a tuning device which has the exactness and simplicity of a stroboscopic tuner but which does not suffer from the drawbacks discussed above. Attempts have been made, heretofore, to accomplish this. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,266 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,242 describes systems using a simulated stroboscopic technique with a simulated rotating member. U.S. Pat Nos. 3,901,120 and 4,078,469 simulate a member in repeated unidirectional linear motion. However, none of these systems are believed to be satisfactory since they do not truly simulate the vibrations of a vibrating string. Since the string being tuned is vibrating, a device which simulates the vibrating action of the string is easier to visualize and relate to and, accordingly, would be easier to utilize by one tuning the instrument.


A control system for a harvester or similar implement includes a supervisory controller, a set of low-level controllers and a neuro-fuzzy inference system. The supervisory controller employs human expert knowledge and fuzzy logic. The controller monitors the quality of the harvesting process, such as gain loss, dockage, grain damage and the like. Based on the measurements, setpoints for all critical functional elements of the implement are determined. The neuro-fuzzy inference system determines machine settings according to operating conditions and learns from harvester experience. The parameters of the neuro-fuzzy inference system are stored in on-board memory. The neuro-fuzzy system can be used for harvester set-up and as one of the knowledge sources for repeated adjustments during the harvest.

The present invention relates generally to agricultural implements such as combines and, more specifically, to automatic control of adjustments on such implements.
A modern agricultural harvester such as a combine is essentially a factory operating in the field with many interacting and complex adjustments to accommodate continually changing crop, field and machine conditions during harvest. Limited and often imprecise measurements make proper set-up and adjustment of the machine very difficult. Losses from improperly adjusted combines can be substantial, and the quality of the adjustments depends on the skill of the operator. Because the operator usually has to stop the combine, making the necessary adjustments is time-consuming and sometimes ignored so that productivity is compromised.
Despite many years of attempts to control the harvesters automatically, input from skilled operators having much accumulated knowledge is essential for proper adjustment and control of the machines. The operator knowledge is often in a form that cannot be incorporated into conventional control systems.
Examples of previous harvester control systems include those with look-up tables stored in an on-board memory, such as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,384. With such systems, current conditions as a group are compared to groups stored in memory. When current conditions as a group match a stored group (such as high, normal and low), the stored machine settings corresponding to the conditions are used to adjust the machine. New settings can be input by an operator via keyboard. One of the problems with this approach is basically that it is an open-loop approach. Machine settings are determined by historical data stored in the look-up table rather than by control results. As a result, such an open-loop type of system provides no compensation for changes in machine, crop, fields and environments.
Another example of harvester adjustment is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,033 wherein the control system trains a neural network model of the harvester with data. The model is then used to determine harvester settings. Neural nets in large size, however, require a prohibitive computational effort. At the current developmental stage of neural network techniques, large neural nets have limited practical use in harvester applications.
Numerous other harvester adjustment methods and devices have been employed. However, most of the methods attempt to control subsystems of the harvesting process, such as threshing unit control and cleaning fan control, with traditional control approaches. These attempts have, for the most part, been unsuccessful in the marketplace because they fail to take into consideration interactions between the harvesting subsystems.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved control system for an agricultural harvester. It is another object to provide such a system which overcomes most or all of the aforementioned problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved control system for an agricultural harvester which has the ability to learn and adapt to changing conditions. It is a further object to provide such a system which can compensate for hardware changes, component wear, and crop condition and environment variability.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved control system for a harvester which has the ability to learn and adapt and to incorporate new machine settings learned from new experience.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved learning system for agricultural implements which is particularly useful for applications such as combine control. It is another object to provide such a system having the learning advantages of neural networks but overcoming the limitations of neural networks including the limitation of the huge amount of computational effort required by such networks.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved control system for a harvester, which controls the entire machine or process rather than isolated subsystems.
It is a further object to provide an improved control system for a harvester, which can utilize human expert knowledge of the harvesting process.
The intelligent hybrid control system includes a supervisory controller which monitors the quality of the harvesting process, such as grain loss, dockage and grain damage, and, based on the measurements, determines setpoints for all critical functional elements of the harvester. The system also includes a set of conventional low level controllers, and an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system which learns and remembers harvest situations. The intelligent hybrid control system combines advantages of human expert knowledge, fuzzy logic and neural nets. The system is able to utilize human expert knowledge, which is invaluable in controlling the complex harvesting process; to work effectively with vague and imprecise information typically provided in a harvester environment; and to learn and adapt automatically to incorporate settings learned from new experience.
Using the system with a combine, all critical elements of the quality of the harvesting process are monitored and controlled. Adjustments to the threshing/separating and cleaning shoe subsystems are made on-the-go to compensate for changing harvest and crop conditions. By using fuzzy logic and neural networks, the control system has the ability to remember past harvest situations in a manner similar to that of a human operator.
The system eliminates the need for constant operator monitoring and regular adjustment and reduces operator fatigue. The machine can operate continuously at performance levels suited to the particular desires of the operator.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading the following description in view of the drawings.

Harvester with intelligent hybrid control system


There is provided a meal-serving stock shelf-equipped wheelchair, with which the wheelchair user can efficiently perform meal-serving work when charged with the work, and in which the stock shelf is capable of being folded in a compact manner after the meal serving. The meal-serving motorized wheelchair includes: a wheelchair meal-serving table that is attached via a frame; and a meal-serving stock shelf that is engaged with an engaging plate via an engaging portion. The meal-serving stock shelf is structured by a raising and lowering mechanism powered by a motor and a dish tray storage section. The dish tray storage section stores dish trays of at least two levels disposed at a predetermined interval. The stock shelf can be folded in a compact manner when not in use.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheelchair used for serving cooked food placed on trays.
(2) Description of Related Art
In order to facilitate advance and participation of persons with disabilities in society, the government and municipalities promote barrier-free public facilities. Further, usability of wheelchairs itself has been proposed.
For example, JP 2005-095692 A discloses the following. The wheelchair user operates the wheelchair himself/herself to make a turn in a narrow space. Making such a turn is inconvenient in a bathroom or a lavatory in homes. Accordingly, in consideration of a recent aging society and persons with disabilities, JP 2005-095692 A proposes a turntable for a wheelchair that reduces the burdens on the wheelchair user by allowing the wheelchair to change directions easier.
However, currently the work environment of wheelchair users is not fully improved to meet the social demand for employment promotion of wheelchair users. Further, there is no device for aiding wheelchair users in meal-serving work in restaurants.
The present disclosure has focused attention on this situation, and has worked on a wheelchair that would help the wheelchair users with advancement in society.
The present inventor has found the problem that, in the case where a wheelchair user performs meal-serving work using a conventional table-equipped wheelchair, the user can only serve a meal of a single person for each procedure, taking into consideration of the operation of the wheelchair.

Meal-serving stock shelf-equipped wheelchair