The rack includes a first member having a first tooth engaged with a lead screw, a second member having a second tooth engaged with the lead screw, a third member having a third tooth engageable with the lead screw, a first forcing unit configured to apply a force between the first and second members, a second forcing unit configured to apply a force between the first member and third members, and a limiter configured to limit a distance between the third tooth and the lead screw so that the third tooth is separated from the lead screw when the first and second teeth are engaged with the lead screw by the force applied by the first forcing unit and a distance between the first tooth and the third tooth is smaller than an outer diameter of the lead screw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rack, and an optical apparatus using the rack.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with a demand for a smaller size of an optical apparatus, such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera, a lens barrel attachable to it is also required for a smaller size. For a smaller battery and a longer capture time, the power saving of the lens barrel is also required. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. ("JP") 2005-315935 discloses a moving mechanism that uses a motor and rack to move a lens holder frame in an optical axis direction and a helical torsion spring to force a rack against a lead screw of the motor.
In the rack configured to sandwich the lead screw using a main tooth and a holding tooth, the main tooth and holding tooth may jump from a thread of the lead screw due to the impact, such as a drop, and thereby the captured image is likely to disturb and blur. When a strong force is applied between the rack and the lead screw as proposed in JP 2005-315935 so as to prevent the tooth jump, the motor rotational load increases due to the increased frictional force between them, and the power saving of the motor would be lost or the motor and lens barrel would become larger. On the other hand, in the rack in which only the forced main tooth is engaged with the lead screw in the normal state, the opposite tooth arranged opposite to the main tooth with respect to the lead screw is engaged with the thread of the lead screw on impact, and the positional offset of the rack in the axial direction of the screw is prevented. However, when only the main tooth contacts the lead screw, it is necessary for stable movements of the rack to increase the force applied to the main tooth, and the motor rotational force increases and the motor power saving would be lost or the motor and the lens barrel would become larger.

Rack and optical apparatus using the same


An impedance source power converter includes a power source, a main converter circuit and an impedance network. The main converter circuit is coupled to a load and the impedance network couples the power source to the main converter circuit. The impedance network is configured such that the main converter circuit is adapted to perform both buck conversion and boost conversion.

The present invention is directed to a power converter and, more specifically, an impedance source power converter.
Power converters are utilized in various applications and have traditionally been constructed as either voltage source converters (V-converters) or current source converters (I-converters). In a typical V-converter, a DC voltage source feeds a main converter circuit, for example, a three-phase bridge. The DC voltage source may take various forms, such as a battery, a fuel cell stack, a diode rectifier and/or a capacitor. In a typical three-phase bridge, six switches are utilized to implement the main converter circuit. FIG. 1 depicts a traditional three-phase V-converter 100, which includes six switches S1–S6, which may each include a power transistor and an anti-parallel (i.e., free wheeling) diode to provide bi-directional current flow and uni-directional voltage blocking, that are fed by a DC voltage source 102. The switches S1–S6 are controlled by a control unit (e.g., a programmed microcontroller) 106 to provide a desired output.
The V-converter has a number of conceptual and theoretical limitations. For example, an AC output voltage of a V-converter is limited below and cannot exceed a voltage level of an associated DC voltage source or the level of the DC voltage source is greater than an AC input voltage. As such, the V-converter is a buck (step-down) inverter for DC-AC power conversion and the V-converter is a boost (step-up) rectifier (i.e., boost converter) for AC-DC power conversion. In applications where overdrive is desirable, an additional DC-DC boost converter is generally required to achieve a desired voltage level. However, such a DC-DC boost converter stage increases system cost and lowers system efficiency. With reference to FIG. 1, the upper and lower devices (i.e., the switch pairs S1/S2, S3/S4 and S5/S6) of each phase leg cannot be gated on simultaneously or a shoot-through occurs, which may cause the upper and lower devices to be destroyed. In the V-converter 100 of FIG. 1, shoot-through may occur when noise, e.g., electromagnetic interference (EMI), occurs. Further, an output LC filter, which also causes additional power loss and increases control complexity, is required to provide a sinusoidal voltage at the output of the V-converter 100.
FIG. 2 depicts a traditional three-phase I-converter 200, which includes a DC current source 202 that feeds a main converter circuit 204, which is a three-phase bridge. The DC current source 202 can be a relatively large DC inductor fed by a voltage source, such as a battery, fuel cell stack, diode rectifier or thyristor converter. As with the V-converter 100 of FIG. 1, six switches S7–S12 are used to implement the three-phase bridge 204. However, the switches of an I-converter are typically different than the switches of a V-converter and may include devices such as a gate turn-off thyristor (GTO), silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) or a power transistor, e.g., an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) with a series diode which provides uni-directional current flow and bi-directional voltage blocking. The switches S7–S12 are controlled by a control unit 206 to provide a desired output.
Unfortunately, an I-converter also has a number of conceptual and theoretical limitations. For example, an AC output voltage level of an I-converter has to be greater than the level of a DC voltage source that feeds a DC inductor or the DC voltage level produced is always smaller than an AC input voltage. As such, an I-converter is a boost inverter for DC-AC power conversion and a buck rectifier (or buck converter) for an AC-DC power conversion. For applications where a wide voltage range is desirable, an additional DC-DC buck (or boost) converter is generally required. The additional power converter stage increases system cost and lowers system efficiency. In a typical I-converter, at least one of the upper devices and one of the lower devices (i.e., switches S7–S12) have to be gated and maintained on at any time. Otherwise, an open circuit of the DC inductor occurs and destruction of the devices may occur. An open-circuit, as seen by the DC inductor, may occur under various conditions, such as when electromagnetic interference (EMI) inadvertently gates off a device that is required to be maintained on. Another attribute of an I-converter is that the switches of the I-converter have to block reverse voltage and thus require a series diode to be used in combination with high speed and high performance transistors, such as IGBTs. This prevents the direct use of low cost and high performance IGBT modules and intelligent power modules (IPMs).
In addition to the above-mentioned limitations, both the V-converter and the I-converter also have a number of other attributes that are less than desirable. For example, the V-converter and the I-converter are either a boost or a buck converter and cannot be both a buck and a boost converter. That is, the output voltage range obtainable from a V-converter and an I-converter are either lower or higher than an input voltage Further, the main converter circuits of the V-converter shown in FIG. 1 and the I-converter of FIG. 2 are not interchangeable.
What is needed is a power converter that is not subject to many of the limitations of traditional voltage source converters and current source converters.


The invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the responsiveness of a subject with lowered level of consciousness. Physiological signal data is obtained from the subject and a first measure indicative of the level of consciousness of the subject is derived from the physiological signal data. In order to obtain an objective measure of the responsiveness of the subject and to improve the specificity of patient monitoring, a sequence of the first measure is recorded without inducing arousals in the subject and a second measure indicative of a responsiveness of the subject is determined based on the recorded sequence. The determination of the second measure may be independent of the unintentional stimuli that cause arousals in the patient or the stimuli causing such arousals in the clinical environment may be detected to find out their effect on the first measure.

Neuromonitoring is a subfield of clinical patient monitoring focused on measuring various aspects of brain function and on changes therein caused by drugs commonly used to induce and maintain anesthesia in an operation room or sedation in patients under critical or intensive care.
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a well-established method for assessing brain activity. When measurement electrodes are attached on the skin of the skull surface, the weak biopotential signals generated in the pyramid cells of the cortex may be recorded and analyzed. The EEG has been in wide use for decades in basic research of the neural systems of the brain as well as in the clinical diagnosis of various central nervous system diseases and disorders.
Electromyography (EMG) is a method for recording electrical biopotentials of muscles. In an EMG measurement, the electrodes are attached onto the surface of the skin overlying a muscle. When a biopotential signal is recorded from the forehead of a subject, the recorded signal indicates both the activity of the facial muscles (fEMG) and the brain (EEG).
One of the special applications of the EEG, which has received attention recently, is the use of a processed EEG signal for objective quantification of the amount and type of brain activity for the purpose of determining the level of consciousness of a patient. In its simplest form, the utilization of an EEG signal allows the automatic detection of the alertness of an individual, i.e. if he or she is awake or asleep. This has become an issue of increased interest, both scientifically and commercially, in the context of measuring the depth of unconsciousness induced by anesthesia during surgery.
Another important component of balanced anesthesia is analgesia, i.e. prevention of pain reactions of a patient by administration of pain medication. Adequate analgesia reduces surgical stress and there is firm evidence that it decreases postoperative morbidity. Awareness during surgery with insufficient analgesia may lead to a post-traumatic stress disorder. Low quality pre- and intra-operative analgesia makes it difficult to select the optimal pain management strategy later on. More specifically, it may cause exposure to unwanted side effects during the recovery from the surgery. If the anesthesia is too light and involves insufficient hypnosis, it may cause traumatic experiences both for the patient and for the anesthesia personnel. From an economical point of view, if the anesthesia is too deep, it may cause increased perioperative costs through extra use of drugs and time, and extend the time required for post-operative care.
Virtually every patient being cared for in an intensive care unit (ICU), for example, receives some form of sedation. However, the control of the depth of the sedation administered to a patient is still problematic, and therefore oversedation and undersedation are both common occurrences in intensive care units. At present, monitoring the level of sedation is mainly handled by using subjective observations from the patient. Various sedation assessment scales have been developed for subjectively assessing the level of sedation, the Ramsay Score being one of the most widely used tools for this purpose.
The depth of hypnosis is not directly measurable. Therefore, drug delivery systems have to derive the level of hypnosis from a surrogate signal or from indirectly measured parameters. The most common and popular surrogate signal for this purpose is the EEG, from which several parameters may be determined. The basic reason for the insufficiency of a single parameter is the variety of drugs and the complexity of the drug effects on the EEG signal in human brains. However, during the past few years, some commercial validated devices for measuring the level of consciousness and/or awareness in clinical set-up during anesthesia or sedation have become available. Such devices, which are based on a processed EEG signal and examine the signal as a whole with its multiple features, are marketed by GE Healthcare Finland Oy, Kuortaneenkatu 2, FIN-00510 Helsinki (Entropy Index) and by Aspect Medical Systems, Inc., 141 Needham Street, Newton, Mass. 02464, U.S.A. (Bispectral Index, BIS™).
In addition to the EEG signal data, EMG signal data obtained from facial muscles (fEMG) of the forehead is used for monitoring purposes during anesthesia and intensive care. Recovering facial muscle activity is often the first indicator of the patient approaching consciousness. When this muscle activity is sensed by electrodes placed appropriately, it provides an early indication that the patient is emerging from anesthesia. Similarly, these electrodes can sense pain reactions when the anesthesia is not adequate due to inadequate analgesia. So, the EMG signals give an early warning of the arousal of the patient, and they may also be indicative of inadequate analgesia.
Several factors affect the state of the central nervous system (CNS) of an ICU patient: sedative drugs, natural sleep cycles, and brain disorders all have their effect on the EEG signal. So far, no methods exist to distinguish these components from each other to provide a clinician an overall picture of the CNS state of the patient. The development of such a method is challenging due to the non-specificity of the EEG signal. A slow wave EEG pattern, for example, may be associated with a high level of a sedative, deep natural sleep, or a severe stage of encephalopathy. Correspondingly, low EEG entropy or BIS levels may be associated with any of these causes. Furthermore, natural variations of vigilance cause high fluctuations of entropy or BIS that tend to mask any underlying information of the sedative drug effect. Therefore, the above-mentioned devices for measuring the level of (un)consciousness and/or (un)awareness are not suitable for distinguishing the different causes giving rise to the level measured.
The clinician can distinguish between the different causes by including contextual information and by stimulating the patient. For example, if a patient with a slow wave EEG has not received substantial amounts of sedative drugs and has normally functioning liver/kidneys, he cannot be too deeply sedated. If the patient in such a situation anyway does not respond to a strong external stimulus, the clinician may conclude that the patient has developed a brain disorder. To estimate the sedative drug effect and particularly to avoid too deep levels of sedation, it is recommended that some kind of stimulus-response-based scoring is regularly performed by the nursing staff. Such scores are, however, often imprecise and subjective and do not provide continuous information. Furthermore, stimulus-response-based scoring is difficult to implement in automatic monitoring.
The present invention seeks to alleviate or eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Measurement of responsiveness of a subject with lowered level of consciousness


The use of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, their hydrates, and mixtures thereof, as chemical leavening acids in the preparation of baked goods. Such chemical leavening composition is used in both batter compositions and dough compositions.

In the preparation of batter and dough compositions, leavening agents are typically used to increase the volume of the batter and dough compositions during cooking and/or baking. Different leavening agents are used for the preparation of different types batter and dough compositions. One type of leavening agent is a natural leavening agent such as yeast. Yeast acts with dough to increase the volume of the dough prior to baking the dough. Dough is often used to prepare products such as breads, doughnuts, bagels, rolls, etc.
Another type of leavening agent is a chemical leavening composition. Such chemical leavening composition comprises a leavening acid and a corresponding leavening base. The leavening acid reacts with the leavening base to evolve gas, typically CO.sub.2. The evolved gas acts to increase the volume of the batter composition prior to and during cooking and/or baking. Such chemical leavening composition is used commercially in the preparation of batter compositions used to prepare food products such as doughnuts, pancakes, biscuits, cakes, cookies, muffins, cupcakes, hush puppies, etc.
There are numerous chemical leavening compositions known to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, there are numerous leavening acids used in such chemical leavening compositions. Known leavening acids include mono- and dicalcium phosphates, sodium aluminum sulfate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, potassium acid tartrate, fumaric acid, ammonium orthophosphate, glucono delta lactone, and various organic acids. While there are numerous leavening acids known to those skilled in the art, it would be desirable to identify a leavening acid which has a lower cost than known leavening acids, provides for better quality product, i.e., a product having better flavor, texture and appearance, and allows for easier application and more uniform distribution, i.e., mixes well with other ingredients and is easy to handle.
It would therefore by desirable to identify such a chemical leavening acid. The present invention provides for such a chemical leavening acid, which chemical leavening acid possess such properties.

Use of calcium chloride and magnesium chloride as leavening acids for batter and dough compositions


A plug-side connector to be connected to a jack-side connector is provided that includes a conductive housing configured to surround an electromagnetically shielded projecting part of the jack-side connector upon the plug-side connector being connected to the jack-side connector; and a leaf spring member for a plug-side electromagnetic shield, the leaf spring member including multiple conductive leaf spring pieces arranged at a pitch enabling formation of the electromagnetic shield, the leaf spring member being provided to the housing so that the leaf spring pieces are arranged in a width direction of the housing on the interior side of the housing. The leaf spring pieces are configured to come into elastic contact with a surface of the projecting part of the jack-side connector upon the plug-side connector being connected to the jack-side connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to connectors, and more particularly to a plug-side connector and a jack-side connector used where data are transmitted at high rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent developments in personal computers and their networks, systems are required to transmit a large amount of video data in particular. In order to transmit a large amount of video data, it is necessary to perform data transmission at high rates greater than or equal to, for example, 1 gigabit per second (Gbps).
At high data transmission rates greater than or equal to 1 Gbps, signals become shorter in wavelength, so that particularly in a part of a transmission path where a plug-side connector is connected to a jack-side connector, electromagnetic waves are likely to leak out from the connectors. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures against EMI (Electromagnetic Interference).
Meanwhile, differential transmission, which has the merit of being less susceptible to noise than conventional transmission methods, has been adopted as a data transmission method. According to differential transmission, a "+" signal to be transmitted and a "−" signal equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the "+" signal are simultaneously transmitted using a pair of electric wires for each data item.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams showing a conventional plug-side connector 20 and a conventional jack-side connector 50. In FIGS. 1 and 2, X1-X2 indicates the width directions of the plug-side connector 20 and the jack-side connector 50, Z1-Z2 indicates the height directions of the plug-side connector 20 and the jack-side connector 50, Y1 indicates a direction in which the plug-side connector 20 is inserted into the jack-side connector 50, and Y2 indicates a direction in which the plug-side connector 20 is extracted from the jack-side connector 50. These directions are the same for the other drawings.
Here, the plug-side connector 20 is held by a hand of an operator and connected to the jack-side connector 50, which is fixed to an apparatus so as to be exposed on a side of the apparatus. The plug-side connector 20 and the jack-side connector 50 form a connector unit 10, to which the above-described differential transmission system is applied.
The plug-side connector 20 includes a zinc die-cast housing 23 and a contact assembly 30 incorporated therein. The housing 23 includes an upper cover 21 and a lower cover 22. The plug-side connector 20 is provided at an end of a cable 40. The contact assembly 30 has contact members 32 and 33 arranged and attached to a block formed of an insulator (an insulating block) 31.
The housing 23 has a frame part 25 provided at an end thereof. Further, a latch claw 27 is provided on each of the X1 and X2 sides of the housing 23.
The jack-side connector 50 has contact members 52 and 53 arranged and attached to a block formed of an insulator (an insulating block) 51. The block 51 has a front-side (Y2-side) projecting part thereof covered with an electromagnetic shield cover member 56 having a cap-like shape. A gasket 58 is attached so as to surround the front-side part of the block 51. A metallic lock part 54 projects in the Y2 direction from the front side of the block 51 at each of the X1 and X2 ends thereof.
The electromagnetic shield cover member 56 is formed by pressing carbon steel into a cap-like shape. The electromagnetic shield cover member 56 has convex parts 57 arranged on each of the upper and lower sides thereof at such a predetermined pitch as to enable formation of an electromagnetic shield. The gasket 58 is formed by pressing a metal plate of a copper alloy, and includes multiple arranged leaf spring pieces 59.
The jack-side connector 50 is mounted on an end of a printed circuit board 70 with leg parts 54a of the metallic lock parts 54 being fitted into and soldered to corresponding holes of the printed circuit board 70 and ends of the contact members 52 and 53 being soldered to corresponding pads on the printed circuit board 70.
The printed circuit board 70 is, for example, incorporated in a server unit 80 so that a front-side projecting part 50a of the jack-side connector 50 projects outside the server unit 80 in the Y2 direction through an opening 82 of a metallic panel (IO panel) 81. The electromagnetic shield member 56 of the jack-side connector 50 is electrically connected to the panel 81 of the server unit 80 through the gasket 58 so as to be at frame ground potential. The multiple leaf spring pieces 59 are in contact with the panel 81 so as to form an electromagnetic shield in the gap between the opening 82 of the panel 81 and the jack-side connector 50.
The frame part 25 of the plug-side connector 20 is fitted around the projecting part 50a of the jack-side connector 50, so that the contact members 32 and 33 are connected to the contact members 52 and 53, respectively, and the latch claws 27 engage the corresponding metallic lock parts 54. As a result, the plug-side connector 20 is connected to the jack-side connector 50.
The frame part 25 surrounds the projecting part 50a, and the housing 23 of the plug-side connector 20 is electrically connected to the electromagnetic shield cover member 56 so as to be at frame ground potential. The interior side of the frame part 25 comes into contact with the convex parts 57 of the electromagnetic shield cover member 56. The contact points are arranged at a predetermined pitch, thereby forming an electromagnetic shield where the plug-side connector 20 is connected to the jack-side connector 50.
Reference may be made to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-111249 for the above-described technique.
The cable 40 may be unnecessarily pulled during operations such as system maintenance. In this case, the plug-side connector 20 is prevented from being disconnected from the jack-side connector 50 because the latch claws 27 engage the corresponding metallic lock parts 54, but the plug-side connector 20 may be moved in the Z1-Z2 or X1-X2 directions. If the plug-side connector 20 is moved, some of the convex parts 57 are separated from the interior side of the frame part 25. This causes the convex parts 57 and the frame part 25 to be in contact with each other at a pitch several times the above-described predetermined pitch, so that the electromagnetic shield may be broken to cause leakage of electromagnetic noise from this broken part.
Further, the electromagnetic shield may also be broken to cause leakage of electromagnetic noise when an operator moves or pries the plug-side connector 20 connected to the jack-side connector 50 in order to perform operations such as checking the connection.


The present invention relates to an improved process for making fullerenes having greater than seventy carbon atoms. The process involves electrical heating of a low density carbon rod in an inert atmosphere.

In November of 1985, Kroto et al., (Nature 318, 162) disclosed the experimental evidence for the existence of a family of spherically shaped, carbon molecules which they dubbed "fullerenes". Since their discovery, there has been an extensive amount of research on this family of molecules and their uses such as superconductors, lubricants, chemical precursors, non-linear optical materials, diamond film seed layers and photosensitizers for refractive polymers.
Kroto et al. used laser beam vaporization of graphite to synthesize the fullerenes. Unfortunately, this method results in the formation of only small amounts of fullerene product.
In 1990, Kratschmer et al., Nature 347, 354 (1990) disclosed a method for the mass production of fullerenes involving resistive or arc heating of a dense graphite rod in an inert atmosphere. This method achieves a higher yield of the sixty carbon atom fullerenes. Diederich et al., "Beyond C.sub.60 : The Higher Fullerenes", Acc. Chem. Res. 25, 119 (1992) also discloses synthesizing fullerenes by resistive heating of a dense graphite rod. Diederich discloses that the yield of higher fullerenes having greater than seventy carbon atoms is relatively low. Such higher fullerenes arc particularly important as diamond film seed layers. Parker et al., "High Yield Synthesis, Extraction and Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Fullerenes C.sub.60 to C.sub.266 " JACS 113 7499 (1991) discloses organic extraction procedures for extracting a greater amount of higher fullerenes from the raw product formed by resistive heating of a dense graphite rod. However, while improved extraction procedures can increase the amount of recovery of higher fullerenes from the raw product, the amount of recovery is limited by the low yield of the higher fullerenes in the raw product.
Therefore, there still is a need in the art for a process which gives a higher yield of higher fullerenes having greater than seventy carbon atoms.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the production of higher fullerenes having greater than seventy carbon atoms.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following disclosure.

International Business Machines Corporation


An ink containing a hydrophobic colloid charged with a positive zeta potential when the pH of the ink is within a range of over 4 and under 6. Silicon or silicon compound can be limited from being eluted into the ink from a circuit board formed from a silicon wafer or the like. Additionally, silicon or silicon compound, if eluted into the ink can be prevented from being deposited on a resistance heater and causing “cogation”, or to prevent the silicon or silicon compound from being deposited in an ink channel and nozzle to clog the nozzle.

It is well known to supply a liquid composition, through a fine-structure channel, to a liquid chamber provided with an energy-producing means such as a piezoelectric element, resistance heater or the like and pressurize the liquid composition thus supplied under an energy produced by the energy-producing means for spraying as droplets from a spray nozzle provided at the liquid chamber.
As a typical one of the conventional liquid spraying apparatuses, an ink-jet printer is known in which ink is sprayed from head tips to, for example, recording paper as an object to form graphics and/or characters on the paper.
The ink-jet printer is advantageous because of its low running cost, compact design and easy printing of an image in colors. In the ink-jet printer, ink of colors such as yellow, magenta, cyan, black and others is supplied from ink cartridges filled with the respective ink to an ink chamber or the like in each of the head tips.
In the ink jet printer, ink supplied to the ink chamber or the like is pressurized in the ink chamber by a pressure-producing element such as a resistance heater or the like provided in the ink chamber for spraying from tiny holes, namely, so-called nozzles, formed in each head tip. More particularly, the ink in the ink chamber is heated by the resistance heater provided in the ink chamber to produce bubbles in the ink on the resistance heater, and the ink is sprayed from the nozzles under a pressure produced when the bubbles break up and disappear for projection onto recording paper or the like to form graphics and/or characters on the paper.
In the printer of this ink jet type, the performance of ink spraying from the nozzles of the head tips has a large influence on the quality of images formed on the paper. Therefore, head tips that can be produced with an improved precision, such as head tips each formed form a wafer of silicon or silicon oxide, for example, and having a resistance heater embedded therein, have become marked.
More particularly, such head tips include head tips built by forming a resistance heater on a silicon wafer and each of which uses the end face of the silicon wafer as a channel for guiding ink to the ink chamber.
In such a head tip, the surface of the silicon wafer on which the resistance heater is formed is oxidized so that the silicon or silicon oxide will not be eluted into the ink even if it is exposed to the ink. However, the process of production will make it difficult to oxidize the end face of the silicon wafer and the silicon or silicon oxide will be eluted into the ink if it is exposed to the ink as the case may be. Especially in the case of alkaline ink whose pH is higher than 7, silicon will heavily be eluted from the silicon wafer into the ink. It should be noted that most of the ink for printing to paper are alkalescent in order to prevent metallic portions of the head tips from being oxidized.
If the metallic portions of the had tip are so oxidized, melting of the silicon wafer will lower the dimensional accuracy of the head tips, leading to deterioration of the ink spraying performance, quality deterioration of images formed on the paper, non-spraying of the ink and other troubles as the case may be.
Also, the silicon elution from the silicon wafer will lower the bonding strength at the junction between the silicon wafer and other parts joined to the silicon wafer, so that the other parts will be separated from the silicon wafer, which will possibly damage the head tips.
In case the ink chamber and channel are formed from the silicon wafer, such silicon elution from the silicon wafer will lower the dimensional accuracy of the chamber and channel, possibly resulting in deterioration of the spraying performance of the had tip.
In the ink having the silicon or silicon oxide eluted therein, the stability of dye dispersion is lost so that the dye will possibly deposit and clog the nozzle.
As the ink solvent evaporates, the silicon or silicon oxide eluted in the ink will cause super-saturation of the ink and deposit in the ink and clog the nozzle to possibly cause non-spraying of the ink.
Also, the silicon or silicon oxide eluted in the ink will have the solubility thereof increased in the ink heated around the resistance heater and will thus melt excessively in the ink, and deposit on the resistance heater due to rapid cooling after the ink is sprayed. Namely, the elution of the silicon or silicon oxide will possibly cause the so-called "cogation". In the head tip in which the "cogation" has thus occurred on the resistance heater, it will be difficult to heat the ink appropriately, causing the non-spraying of the ink.
To solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional techniques, it has been proposed to design a head tip structure in which the silicon wafer will not be exposed to the ink or making surface treatment of the silicon wafer to prevent the silicon or silicon oxide from being eluted from the silicon wafer. More specifically, it is proposed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 85949 of 1997 to provide a layer of SiN, TiN, TiO or the like on the surface of the silicon wafer, for example.
The above proposals permit to prevent the silicon or silicon oxide from being eluted from the silicon wafer into the ink, but they are not advantageous in that the number of steps of producing the head tips is increased, resulting in an increased manufacturing cost and lower yield. The printer product including the head tips will be very expensive. Also, in case a layer is provided on the surface of the silicon wafer as above, there is no pin hole and it is difficult to form the layer to a generally uniform thickness, which will also lower the yield.
The aforementioned troubles will arise not only in case the silicon wafer is used to form the head tips but in case the head tips in which the silicon-containing material such as a glass substrate is exposed are in contact with the ink, namely, in case the silicon-containing material is exposed in a channel in which alkaline ink flows.

Liquid cartridge containing a recording liquid having a pH of over 4 and under 6


An illumination device includes: an optical element which including a hologram recording medium including a first zone and a second zone and can reproduce an image of a scattering plate; an irradiation device which irradiates the optical element with a coherent light beam such that the light beam is allowed to scan the hologram recording medium; and a polarization control unit provided on an optical path of the light beam to an illuminated zone. The light beams incident on respective positions of the hologram recording medium are allowed to reproduce the image superimposed on the illuminated zone. The polarization control unit controls polarization of the light beams such that the light beam incident on the first zone to travel toward the illuminated zone and the light beam incident on the second zone to travel toward the illuminated zone are configured with different polarization components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination device which illuminates an illuminated zone with a coherent light beam, a projection device which projects a coherent light beam, a projection-type image display device which displays an image by using a coherent light beam, and more particularly, an illumination device, a projection device, and a projection-type image display device capable of allowing occurrence of speckles to be inconspicuous.
2. Description of Related Art
A projection-type image display device including a screen and a projection device which projects an image light beam on the screen has been widely used. In a typical projection-type image display device, a two-dimensional image as a original image is generated by using a spatial light modulator such as a liquid crystal micro display or a DMD (digital micromirror device), and the two-dimensional image is magnified and projected on a screen by using a projection optical system, so that an image is displayed on the screen.
As the projection device, various types including a commercialized product called an "optical type projector" have been proposed. In a general optical type projector, the spatial light modulator such as a liquid crystal display is illuminated by using an illumination device including a white light source such as a high pressure mercury lamp, and an obtained modulation image is magnified and projected on the screen by using lenses. For example, JP2004-264512A discloses a technique where a white light beam generated by a supper-high pressure mercury lamp is divided into three primary color components R, G, and B by a dichroic mirror, the light beams are guided by spatial light modulators corresponding to the primary colors, generated modulation images corresponding to the primary colors are combined by a cross dichroic prism to be projected on the screen.
However, a high intensity discharge lamp such as a high pressure mercury lamp has a relatively short lifecycle, and in the case where the lamp is used for an optical type projector or the like, the lamp needs to be frequently replaced. In addition, since a relatively large optical system such as a dichroic mirror is needed in order to extract the light beams of the primary color components, there is a problem in that the size of the whole device becomes large.
In order to cope with this problem, a type using a coherent light source such as a laser is also proposed. For example, a semiconductor laser which is widely used in industries has a very long lifecycle in comparison with the high intensity discharge lamp such as a high pressure mercury lamp. In addition, since the laser source is a light source capable of generating light having a single wavelength, a spectroscopic device such as a dichroic mirror is unnecessary, so that there is an advantage in that the whole device can be miniaturized.
On the other hand, in the type using the coherent light source such as a laser source, there is another problem in that speckles occur. The speckle is a punctate pattern which occurs when the coherent light beam such as a laser beam is irradiated on a scattering surface. If the speckle occurs on the screen, it is observed as punctate luminance unevenness (brightness unevenness), so that it becomes a factor of exerting physiological bad influence on the observer. The reason why the speckles occur in the case of using the coherent light beam is that the coherent light beams reflected from portions of the scattering reflection surface such as a screen have very high coherency, and the speckles are generated through interference therebetween. For example, in a literature "Speckle Phenomena in Optics, Joseph W. Goodman, Roberts & Co. 2006", theoretical review of the occurrence of speckles is made in detail.
In the type of using the coherent light source, since there is an intrinsic problem in that the speckles occur, techniques for suppressing the occurrence of speckles have been proposed. For example, JP6-208089A discloses a technique where a scattering plate is irradiated with a laser beam, an obtained scattered light beam is guided to a spatial light modulator, and the scattering plate is driven to rotate by a motor, so that speckles are reduced.
With respect to the projection device and the projection-type image display device using the coherent light source, the techniques for reducing speckles which have been proposed up to now as described above, may not effectively and sufficiently suppress the speckles. For example, in the method disclosed in JP6-208089A described above, since the laser beams irradiated on the scattering plate are scattered, a portion of the laser beams are lost without contribution to image display. In addition, although the scattering plate needs to be rotated in order to reduce the speckles, the mechanical rotation mechanism becomes a relatively large device, and the power consumption is increased. Moreover, although the scattering plate is rotated, the position of the optical axis of the illumination light beam is not changed, so that the speckles occurring on the screen due to the diffusion may not be sufficiently suppressed.
In addition, the problem of speckles is not a problem peculiar to only the projection device or the projection-type image display device, but the speckles cause a problem in various devices combined with an illumination device which illuminates an illuminated zone with a coherent light beam.
By the way, stereoscopic display, this is, 3D display by using a projection-type image display device has been commercially performed, for example, in a movie theater or the like. Particularly, in these days, stereoscopic display in TV used at home has drawn attentions. As a method of 3D-displaying an image, a method called an "active shutter glasses type" and a method called a "passive polarized glasses type" have been practically provided in the related art.
In the "active shutter glasses type", right-eye images and left-eye images are displayed in a time vision manner, and an observer wears dedicated glasses which are opened and closed corresponding to time-divisionally displayed images to observe the images. In other words, during the displaying of the right-eye image, the dedicated glasses open a right-eye window (right-eye lens inserted portion of generally-called glasses) so as to enable right-eye observation and close a left-eye window so as to disable left-eye observation. Similarly, during the displaying of the left-eye image, the dedicated glasses open the left-eye window so as to enable left-eye observation and close the right-eye window so as to disable right-eye observation. In general, the opening and closing of each window of the dedicated glasses are performed by a so-called liquid crystal panel combined to the dedicated glasses. Accordingly, in the "active shutter glasses type", the dedicated glasses become expensive, so that, in the case where many persons observe the image, a large number of the expensive dedicated glasses need to be prepared. In addition, since the operations of the dedicated glasses require electric power, the dedicated glasses need to be charged in advance, or the image needs to be observed in a state that the dedicated glasses are connected to power supply.
On the other hand, in the "passive polarized glasses type", the right-eye images and the left-eye images are displayed by using image light beams having different polarization components, and an observer wears dedicated glasses where a polarizing plate which selective transmits right-eye image light beams is attached to a right-eye window and a polarizing plate which selective transmits left-eye image light beams is attached to a left-eye window to observe the images. Therefore, the dedicated glasses for the "passive polarized glasses type" become much more inexpensive than the dedicated glasses for the "active shutter glasses type", and the electric power is unnecessary. However, in the case where the "passive polarized glasses type" is employed as a projection-type image display device, it is necessary to prevent a polarization state of the image light beam on a projection surface (for example, a screen) from being irregularly disturbed. In other words, in some cases, the "passive polarized glasses type" may not be employed according to properties of the projection surface.
In addition, polarization of a laser beam which is oscillated from a laser source can be allowed to be uniform. Therefore, in the case of employing the "passive polarized glasses type", although the laser beam may be expected to be used as an image light beam, in the case where the laser beam is used as an image light beam, the above-described problem of speckles occurs.

Illumination device, projection device, and projection-type image display device


An amplitude adjusting circuit comprises a first current mirror where a variable current of a variable current source is copied into each of 1st-3rd transistors; a second current mirror where the variable current is copied into each of 11th-13th transistors; a third current mirror having 6th-7th transistors where a current through the 2nd transistor copied from the variable current flows through the 6th transistor; a fourth current mirror having 8th-9th transistors where a current through the 12th transistor copied from the variable current flows through the 8th transistor; an inverter that has 1st-2nd conductivity type transistors and produces an output signal corresponding to a current level of the 7th or 9th transistor; a fifth current mirror having 15th-14th transistors where a current through the 14th transistor copied from the 15th transistor's becomes a current sourced by the 7th transistor; and a sixth current mirror having 5th-4th transistors where a current through the 4th transistor copied from the 5th transistor's becomes a current sunk by the 9th transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an amplitude adjusting circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Through communication networks such as LANs in offices and vehicle-mounted networks, digital signals are transmitted between apparatuses in the form of signals of various formats. Communication networks are beginning to be used to connect various digital apparatuses other than computers as well as being used to connect computers and their peripherals. An example thereof is vehicle-mounted networks and, for example, a MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transport) system has been proposed as a standard for vehicle-mounted networks. In the MOST system, a ring-like vehicle-mounted network is configured, and various apparatuses such as a car navigation system, a CD/DVD player, a speaker, a display, a telephone are connected to the network. The vehicle-mounted network is used, for example, in a way that the CD/DVD player transmits a reproduced digital signal to the speaker via the vehicle-mounted network and that the speaker converts the digital signal into voice and outputs.
As a digital signal transmission method in a communication network, there are a base band method in which a digital signal is transmitted as it is and a broad band method in which an analog signal obtained by modulating a carrier wave with a digital signal is transmitted. An amplitude shift keying method as a broad band method will be described in detail below.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a conventional ASK modulation circuit. The ASK modulation circuit of. FIG. 8 has transmit data D, that is serial digital data, inputted thereto and generates an ASK modulated signal S whose amplitude varies in response to changes in the bit value of the transmit data D over time and outputs to a network.
With reference to the waveforms of main signals of the conventional ASK modulation circuit of FIG. 9 as needed, the configuration of the ASK modulation circuit of FIG. 8 will be described.
A reference clock generator 10 generates a clock signal CL of a frequency proportional to the bit rate of the transmit data D. Let r be the bit rate (bps) of the transmit data D, then the frequency of the clock signal CL is expressed as n (natural number)×r (Hz).
Amplifiers 12, 14 each have the clock signal CL of a rectangular waveform inputted thereto and have their output amplitude level decided by a predetermined gain. For example, the amplifiers 12, 14 produce respective clock signals CL1, CL2 of a rectangular waveform that swing to their peak and bottom with ground potential (zero level) as their reference (see (a), (b) of FIG. 9). Note that the clock signals CL1, CL2 are set to have amplitude levels different from each other.
A switching controller 20 latches the bit value of the transmit data D synchronously with the clock signal CL and depending on the bit value, generates a control signal SW to control the on/off of switches 16, 18 (see (c) of FIG. 9).
The switches 16, 18 switch on/off complimentarily according to the control signal SW supplied from the switching controller 20. For example, when the control signal SW is at a High (H) level, the switch 16 is off and the switch 18 is on. When the control signal SW is at a Low (L) level, the switch 16 is on and the switch 18 is off. The outputs of the switches 16, 18 are combined and input to an LPF 22.
The LPF 22 removes the high frequency component from the combined signal of the outputs of the switches 16, 18 (see (d) of FIG. 9) and produces the ASK modulated signal S of a smooth sine waveform (see (e) of FIG. 9).
Such a conventional ASK modulation circuit is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-119442).
With circuits like the amplifiers 12, 14 of FIG. 8 that set their output amplitude level (hereinafter called conventional "amplitude setting circuits"), there is the problem that their gain varies with temperature because circuit elements thereof have a temperature characteristic. As a result, although its amplitude level is set, the output signal varies in amplitude with temperature. Furthermore, to change the amplitude level of the output signal, the amplifier needs to be replaced by an amplifier having a gain corresponding to the new amplitude level.
Hence, instead of a fixed-gain amplifier like the amplitude setting circuit, a circuit whose output amplitude level is adjustable arbitrarily through the choice of resistances such as a resistor-ladder electronic volume or an attenuator (hereinafter called a conventional "amplitude adjusting circuit") is often adapted. However, it is known that the conventional amplitude adjusting circuit is easy to be affected by temperature variation like the conventional amplitude setting circuit is, thus having large variation in its output amplitude level. Moreover, since the conventional amplitude adjusting circuit has its output amplitude level adjusted through the choice of a finite number of resistances, there is a great restriction on fine adjustment of the amplitude level, and also there is the problem that it is difficult to arbitrarily select the operation reference voltage of a circuit at the rear stage. Further, the conventional amplitude adjusting circuit is complex in configuration, thus causing the problem that the scale of the entire system becomes large.


Provided is an optical inspection system for a semiconductor wafer, by which a threshold value optimal for inspection can be determined and optical inspection of each chip can be performed based on the threshold value, by obtaining in advance a table indicating a relation between a film thickness of a thin film in specific positions in the wafer and a gradation value for each sample area in the chip, measuring the film thickness of the thin film in the specific positions of the wafer to be inspected before inspecting the chip, and comparing the measured film thickness with the gradation value in the table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical inspection system for performing optical inspection of a wafer and a semiconductor substrate, and more particularly, to an optical inspection system for detecting defects on a wafer, which are generated in the manufacturing process of semiconductor integrated circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of comparing an inspection target image data with a reference image data to check the integrity of an inspection target based on any accidental difference between them is conventionally known as optical inspection method for detecting conformity of pattern formed on an inspection target (a semiconductor wafer) and defects such as foreign substances and scratches on the pattern.
For example, through image data input means for gray scale image data representing an appearance of the inspection target in gray scale, and statistical processing means for calculating, as statistical data, reference image data and dispersion data based on a plurality of gray scale image data representing appearances of a plurality of inspection targets in gray scale, the statistical data calculated by the statistical processing means, discriminant data for determining acceptability of the inspection target, which is set in advance, and the gray scale image data of the inspection target, which is an input from the image data input means, are used to check integrity of the inspection target for each pixel, thereby determining acceptability of the inspection target.
As a method for determining acceptability, there is a method of calculating dispersion data and an average value of reference image data based on gray scale image data of a plurality of acceptable inspection targets in the statistical processing means, and calculating the range of acceptability based on the dispersion data and the average value of the reference image data, thereby determining acceptability of the inspection target. Further, the range of acceptability is set to different values for each of a plurality of areas with different position coordinates of gray scale image data, thereby determining acceptability of the inspection target with different inspection accuracy for each of the plurality of areas with different position coordinates of the gray scale image data (see, for example, JP 2004-93338 A).
In the conventional art described above, the standard for acceptability can be set in advance with different accuracy for each of the plurality of areas with different position coordinates. However a semiconductor device is, in general, manufactured by forming various thin films such as a silicon oxide film, a silicon nitride film, and polysilicon film on a semiconductor wafer, thickness variation in each of the various thin films occurs between lots, in a lot, and even in a wafer depending on the capacity of production equipment, which leads to a problem that a gray scale image of each chip on a semiconductor wafer changes, and in the case where film thickness of various thin films deviates from the range of the film thickness variation estimated in advance, the chip is detected as a defective chip despite absence of foreign substances and defective patterns.


A method and device for forming large arrays of polymers on a substrate (401). According to a preferred aspect of the invention, the substrate is contacted by a channel block (407) having channels (409) therein. Selected reagents are flowed through the channels, the substrate is rotated by a rotating stage (403), and the process is repeated to form arrays of polymers on the substrate. The method may be combined with light-directed methodolgies.

The present invention relates to the field of polymer synthesis. More specifically, in one embodiment the invention provides an improved method and system for synthesizing arrays of diverse polymer sequences. According to a specific aspect of the invention, a method of synthesizing diverse polymer sequences such as peptides or oligonucleotides is provided. The diverse polymer sequences may be used, for example, in screening studies for determination of binding affinity.
Methods of synthesizing desired polymer sequences such as peptide sequences are well known to those of skill in the art. For example, the so-called "Merrifield" solid-phase peptide synthesis has been in common use for several years and is described in Merrifield, J. Am. Chem Soc. (1963) 85:2149-2154, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Solid-phase peptide synthesis techniques have been extended to provide for the synthesis of several peptide sequences on, for example, a number of "pins" as described in, for example, Geysen et al., J. Immun. Meth. (1987) 102:259-274, also incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Methods of synthesizing oligonucleotides are found in, for example, Oligonucleotide Synthesis: A Practical Approach, Gait, ed., IRL Press, Oxford (1984), incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
Such methods and devices have continued to be limited in the number of sequences which can be synthesized in a reasonable amount of time. For example, Geysen et al. report in the above journal that it has taken approximately 3 years to synthesize 200,000 peptide sequences. Such methods have continued to produce fewer peptide sequences for study than are often desired.
Accordingly, improved methods of forming large arrays of peptides, oligonucleotides, and other polymer sequences in a short period of time have been devised.
Of particular note, Pirrung et al., PCT Application No. WO 90/15070 and U.S. application Ser. No. 07/624,120 abandoned in favor of U.S. Ser. No. 08/390,027 filed Feb. 16, 1995, both incorporated herein by reference, disclose methods of forming vast arrays of peptides and other polymer sequences using, for example, light-directed synthesis techniques. See also, Fodor et al., Science (1991) 251:767-777, also incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
These techniques have met with substantial success. However, in some cases it is desirable to have alternate/additional methods of forming polymer sequences which would not utilize, for example, light as an activator, or which would not utilize light exclusively.

Very large scale immobilized polymer synthesis using mechanically directed flow paths


An adaptive ink supply for an ink-jet printer is provided with the receptacle mountable to an ink-jet printer. The receptacle has four ink chambers for receiving ink cartridges having flexible ink reservoirs supported by a rigid frame. The receptacle chambers have spring-loaded pressure plates on either side of the chamber for pressurizing ink cartridges inserted therein. The ink cartridges are coupled to a fluid outlet which is normally closed to prevent the flow of ink. When the ink cartridge is inserted into a receptacle mounted to a printer, the fluid outlet establishes a fluid connection between the ink cartridge and the printer. The pressure plates exert a force against the ink cartridge causing ink to flow from the cartridge and to the printer.

Ink-jet printers have become established as reliable and efficient devices. Typically, an inkjet printer utilizes a pen mounted on a carriage which is moved relative to a printing surface. The pen carries a print head. A control system activates ink jets on the printhead at the appropriate locations, causing the printhead to eject ink drops onto the printing surface to form desired images and characters.
This invention is concerned with ink jet printers that have ink supplies that are not mounted to the carriage. Such ink supplies are often referred to as "off-axis" ink supplies. Ink is directed from the supply to the printhead through a tube that trails from the pen. Ink may be supplied to the printhead by a variety of methods such as, for example, a pump that is adjacent to the supply.

Adaptive ink supply for an ink-jet printer


A concentric polygonal metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor is designed to avoid overlap between corners of the central drain diffusion and inner corners of the surrounding annular gate electrode. For example, the gate electrode may be reduced to separate straight segments by eliminating the corner portions. Alternatively, the drain diffusion may have a cross shape, and the outer annular source diffusion may be reduced to straight segments facing the ends of the cross, or the source and drain diffusions and gate electrodes may all be reduced to separate straight segments. By avoiding electric field concentration in the corner regions, these designs provide enhanced protection from electrostatic discharge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor with improved protection against electrostatic discharge.
2. Description of the Related Art
The shrinking dimensions of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits require special designs for transistors that conduct large amounts of current. Such transistors are found in particular in CMOS input and output circuits, where they are needed to drive heavy loads and to provide protection from electrostatic discharge (ESD).
One known high-current transistor design is the finger design illustrated in FIG. 1, which places multiple gate electrodes 1 between an alternating series of source 3 and drain 5 diffusions. If the transistor is an n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistor, for example, the source and drain diffusions 3, 5 are n-type diffusions disposed in a p-type well or substrate 7, and the transistor is surrounded by a p+-type diffusion 9 through which a fixed potential is supplied to the well or substrate 7. Since the p+-type diffusion 9 helps prevent CMOS latch-up, it is also known as a guard ring. For an n-channel transistor, the source and guard ring diffusions 3, 9 are normally coupled to ground. The finger design provides ample total channel width to drive a large load, or to shunt ESD current safely from the drain diffusions 5 to the source diffusions 3.
As shown in FIG. 2, however, parasitic diodes 10 are formed between the ends of the drain diffusions 5 and the guard ring diffusion 9. If these diffusions 5, 9 are too close together, the parasitic diodes 10 may break down under ESD stress, leading to thermal damage as discharge current surges through the relatively small total diode width. To avoid such damage, enough space to prevent breakdown must be provided between the drain diffusions 5 and guard ring diffusion 9, but this increases the area of the transistor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,784, issued to Ker et al., discloses an alternative design, shown in FIG. 3, in which a guard ring diffusion 9, source diffusion 11, and gate electrode 13 form concentric square loops converging on a central square drain diffusion 15. By separating the drain and guard ring diffusions, this design eliminates the parasitic diode shown in FIG. 2, enabling the transistor dimensions to be reduced without loss of ESD robustness.
The transistor in FIG. 3 is vulnerable to damage, however, at the overlapping corners 16 of the gate electrode 13 and drain diffusion 15. This problem is thought to result from electric field concentration combined with poor gate oxide quality at the corners 16. Although the failure mechanism is not understood in detail, it is known that in general the gate-drain breakdown voltage of a field-effect transistor decreases as the number of corners in its active region increases. The result of an oxide breakdown under ESD stress is often fatal to the device: the ESD current burns a hole through the oxide film.

Semiconductor device with improved protection from electrostatic discharge


A replaceable developer roller apparatus is disclosed for a printing device. The apparatus includes a cylindrical developer roller having two opposed ends, and a drive assembly selectively and operatively engageable with one of the opposed ends of the developer roller. The drive assembly includes a shaft having two opposed regions; a gear rotationally fixed to one of the opposed regions of the shaft; and a drive member rotationally fixed to the other of the opposed regions of the shaft, and selectively, axially moveable between an engagement position and a disengagement position. A spindle assembly is engageable with the other of the opposed ends of the developer roller. The spindle assembly includes a spindle assembly shaft and an alignment member rotationally fixed to the spindle assembly shaft.

The present disclosure relates generally to developer rollers and more particularly to replaceable developer rollers.
A binary ink developer (BID) is a consumable that is often used in a printing device. This consumable is generally made from custom and/or off-the-shelf parts. Failure of a component(s) in this consumable may, in some instances, induce an operator to replace the entire BID. This is due, at least in part, to the relative difficulty of replacing the components within the BID.
One component of the BID is the developer roller. Current developer rollers include a solid aluminum shaft with a urethane layer molded thereon. Generally, the life span of a developer roller may be variable. Potential failures associated with the developer roller may, in some instances, affect the print quality of the BID. As such, operators may be inclined to replace the developer roller itself, however, this is generally not an easy task. The replacement of the developer roller in current binary ink developers includes the potential risk of damaging another component during replacement. Further, as many components generally need to be removed in order to get the developer roller out of the BID, the process would generally be time consuming. Still further, special tools and/or training would likely be used in the process, as there are generally several fasteners that are assembled to a specific torque.
As such, it would be desirable to provide a developer roller that is relatively easily removable from a binary ink developer.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Provided is a power supply system which makes it possible to stably supply power regardless of changes in placement of electrodes. The power supply system for supplying power to a load (24). The fixed body (10) includes: a first power-transmitting electrode (12) and second power-transmitting electrode (13); and an AC power supply (11) to supply AC power to the first power-transmitting electrode (12) and second power-transmitting electrode (13). The movable body (20) includes: a first power-receiving electrode (21a) and second power-receiving electrode (21b) to form a first coupling capacitor (30) and a second coupling capacitor (31), respectively, by being placed in a manner opposed to and not contacting corresponding ones of the first power-transmitting electrode (12) and second power-transmitting electrode (13) while facing one side of an interface, the one side not being faced by these power-transmitting electrodes, and a first capacitor (22a) and first coil (22b) connected to one another in parallel between the first power-receiving electrode (21a) and second power-receiving electrode (21b). The AC power supply (11) transmits power to the load (24) via the first and second coupling capacitors under a condition that causes parallel resonance between the first capacitor (22a) and first coil (22b).

In general, a power supply system, which supplies power to various loads placed on a floor surface, is either of the followings in a broad sense: a contact-type power supply system configured to supply power by bringing electrodes, which are provided in a manner exposed over the floor surface, into direct contact with electrodes provided on the bottom surface of a load; and a contactless power supply system configured to supply power without bringing electrodes, which are provided in an unexposed state underneath a floor surface, into direct contact with electrodes of a load.
Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a conventional one of such contactless power supply systems. This system supplies power to a load (aboveground movable body) that moves along a guideway. The system is configured in such a manner that, while an induction line is arranged along the guideway, an iron core wounded with a coil is provided to the aboveground movable body. Then, power is supplied to the aboveground movable body when electromagnetic induction, with the induction line being the primary side and the coil being the secondary side, is generated when a high-frequency current is flown through the induction line.
Non-patent Document 1 also discloses a wireless power transmission sheet as another contactless power supply system. This wireless power transmission sheet is configured in such a manner that power-transmitting coils, an MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) switch used for controlling power, a position detection coil used for detecting the position of a power-receiving device, and an organic transistor to perform position detection by using the position detection coil are formed on a plastic film by use of printing techniques. This wireless power transmission sheet uses the organic transistor to detect a change in inductance of the position detection coil, thereby identifying the position of an electronic device that has approached, the change accompanying the approach of the electronic device to the sheet. Further, the wireless power transmission sheet selects one of the power-transmitting coils by using the MEMS switch, and transmits power through the thus selected power-transmitting coil, the one corresponding to the thus identified position.
In order to obtain higher power transmission efficiency, however, the conventional contactless power supply system as described above requires a lot of positional restrictions including the need for closely positioning an induction line and a coil, and the need for aligning these induction line and coil with each other so that a magnetic flux generated by electrical conduction through the induction line may pass through the central axis of the coil. Therefore, there has been a problem that, since power supply has been possible only on a fixed route such as a guideway, power supply to a movable body such as a robot that needs to freely move on a floor surface has been impossible. Further, a magnetic body such as an iron core should be used in forming a magnetic path, which raises another problem that the system is made heavy, and produces noise due to magnetostriction generated in altering-current energization of the magnetic body. On the other hand, the conventional wireless power transmission sheet also has a lot of positional restrictions for the purpose of achieving higher power transmission efficiency, the restrictions including the need for aligning the positions of the power-transmitting coil and a power-receiving coil of the electronic device with each other. Further, the conventional wireless power transmission sheet employs a lot of switches, and therefore, there is a possibility of reliability degradation. Although another possible type of contactless power supply system is one that supplies power through electromagnetic waves, the use of electromagnetic waves is strictly regulated so that danger to human bodies and malfunctions of electronic devices may be avoided. Installation of this type of contactless power supply system has been therefore difficult to be installed in a place to have people inside, such as an office space.
In consideration of the above described issues, the present applicants proposed a power supply system that uses neither electromagnetic induction nor electromagnetic waves, and is still capable of contactless power supply by using series resonance (refer to Patent Document 2 but note that, as of the filing date of the present application, the power supply system thereof was not publicly known as Patent Document 2 had not been disclosed). The summary of this power supply system will be described below.
FIG. 11 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of essential parts of the conventional power supply system as described above. This power supply system is a power supply system for supplying power, via a movable body 103 arranged in a power-consuming region 102, to a load 104 from a fixed body 101 placed in a power-supplying region 100. The fixed body 101 includes a first power-transmitting electrode 105 and a second power-transmitting electrode 106, which are arranged at positions in the neighborhoods of the interface between the power-supplying region 100 and the power-consuming region 102. The movable body 103 is supposed to be placed at a position in the neighborhood of the interface, and includes a first power-receiving electrode 107 and a second power-receiving electrode 108, which are placed in a manner opposed to and not contacting the first power-transmitting electrode 105 or the second power-transmitting electrode 106. The first and second power-transmitting electrodes 105 and 106 and the first and second power-receiving electrodes 107 and 108, in combination, form coupling capacitors 109. Each of these coupling capacitors 109 in combination with a coil 110 forms a series resonance circuit. This configuration enables highly efficient power supply from the fixed body 101 to the movable body 103. Specifically, this configuration makes the following case possible. With a large number of the fixed bodies 101 each as described above being arranged side by side under a floor board 111, power is continuously supplied to the movable body 103 in a contactless manner at the same time as the movable body 103 is caused to travel and move on this floor board 111.
In this power supply system, an AC power supply 115, the frequency of which is controllable by switching, is provided to the fixed body 101. This AC power supply 115 supplies AC power to the first power-transmitting electrode 105 and second power-transmitting electrode 106, the AC power having a desired frequency.
Additionally, for the purpose of performing power supply control, this power supply system is configured to have the function of enabling communication between the fixed body 101 and movable body 103. Specifically, a communication unit 112 is provided to each of the fixed bodies 101, and a communication unit 113 is provided to the movable body 103. A power supply request signal is transmitted from the communication unit 113 of the movable body 103. Each of the fixed bodies 101, upon receiving the power supply request signal through the communication unit 112 thereof, deems the movable body 103 to be located above itself and perform power supply control.
Nevertheless, even though the fixed body 101 is enabled to determine whether the movable body 103 is located above itself, this does not necessarily allow determination, when the movable body 103 moves in random direction, as to which of the first power-receiving electrodes 107 and second power-receiving electrodes 108 is an electrode placed in a manner opposed to the first power-transmitting electrode 105, and as to which of the first power-receiving electrodes 107 and second power-receiving electrodes 108 is an electrode placed in a manner opposed to the second power-transmitting electrode 106. To make this determination possible, a connection section 114 having multiple diodes is used for rectification, whereby continuous power supply is enabled in a manner suited for the polarity of the load 104 regardless of how each of the electrodes is opposed to another one thereof. With the diodes being thus arranged in the movable body 103, provision of the coil 110 between the diodes and the load 104 would make it impossible to cause series resonance between the coil 110 and the coupling capacitor 109 because the diodes would rectify currents. In order to avoid this situation, the coil 110 is arranged in the fixed body 101 side.
This power supply system eliminates the need for exposing the first and second power-transmitting electrodes 105 and 106 to the power-consuming region 102, which facilitates installation thereof in a place to have people inside. Further, this power supply system is capable of supplying power as long as each of the electrodes is placed in a manner opposed to another one thereof with a distance therebetween which makes these electrodes close enough to produce a desired capacitor capacity therebetween. This capability eliminates the need for strict alignment as has been done in the case of a power supply system using electromagnetic induction, and therefore enables power supply to the movable body 103 even in a case where the movable body 103 is a robot.

Power supply system, and fixed body and movable body therefor


An end closure for food and beverage containers provides controlled opening characteristics to prevent the unintentional missiling of a tear panel. The end closure comprises a score line that defines a portion of the tear panel, and the end closure may comprise one or more anti-missile features that inhibit the propagation of a fracture down a score line, which reduces the likelihood that a tear panel will inadvertently detach from the end closure and injure the user or another.

Containers, and more specifically metallic beverage containers, generally have a neck on an upper portion of a container body that is adapted for interconnection to an end closure. The end closure is typically formed from a flat sheet of metallic material and generally includes a pull tab or other form of stay on tab ("SOT"). Beverage containers commonly store carbonated beverages, thus, both the container body and the end closure are required to withhold internal pressures up to 90 psi without catastrophic failure or permanent deformation. Further, the end closure must be manufactured, stacked, shipped, and sent to a filler prior to being seamed onto a container body filled with a carbonated beverage. Therefore, the container body and end closure must be designed to resist deformation and failure while utilizing thin metallic materials and allowing compact stacking during shipping and manufacturing.
Food and beverage containers with pull tabs or SOTs are generally known. Various SOTs and related features are disclosed, by way of example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,926,675 to Rieck et al., the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Known devices typically contain a score and an anti-fracture score that defines a tear panel. A user may pivot the pull tab into the tear panel to dispense the contents of the container. Such an arrangement, particularly where can contents are placed under pressure, pose various complications and challenges with opening the container. Such complications include, but are not limited to, rapid score flexure or breakage, which may result in the tear panel disconnecting from the end closure and shooting outward from the end closure and thus becoming a "missile."
Previous attempts have been made to manufacture end closures with controlled opening characteristics. One such feature is a check slot, which is generally a portion of the score that is cut shallower than the rest of the score, or in other words, the check slot has a larger residual of material underneath the score. A check slot is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0303672 to Fields at al., the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The additional material underneath the check slot inhibits propagation of the fracture that occurs when a user pivots a pull tab into the tear panel. However, more score residual can make the end closure difficult to open, and a score with a non-uniform depth adds complexity to the manufacturing process of the end closure, and thus expense.
Other attempts to provide an end closure with a tear panel that will not detach and turn into a missile include an end closure with one anti-missile feature that is an indention or depression crossing the anti-fracture score but not crossing the main score and a check slot portion of the main score. However, each of these features require different tooling and machinery, and thus, manufacturing can be expensive.
Due to the numerous limitations associated with the prior art described above, the following disclosure describes an improved end closure that is adapted for interconnection to a container body and that employs anti-missile features, which eliminate the missiling effect of the tear panel without increasing the difficulty of opening the container.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

End closure with double anti-missile score


A vibration test system for structures comprises a vibration exciter that vibrates a real model portion, a load meter that measures a load, and a computer that receives a numerical model representing a numerical model portion. The computer includes a block that calculates a displacement, which is made in a predetermined time after completion of measurement, according to a load value and an external force value. A signal production block produces a command signal using as a target value the displacement calculated by the displacement calculation block. A step control block controls the displacement calculation block and signal production block so that they will act cyclically. The displacement calculation block uses an αOS method to time integrate a solution of a vibrational equation.

The present invention relates to a vibration test system for structures and a vibration test method implemented therein. In particular, the present invention is concerned with a vibration test system and method for structures that perform in combination a vibration test on part of a structure and numerical analysis of a vibrational response.
A vibration test in which a vibration test on part of a structure and numerical analysis of a vibrational response are performed in combination is called a "actuator-computer online test." An example of an actuator-computer online test system is described in, for example, the report collection published from Architectural Institute of Japan (Vol. 288, 1980, pp. 115–124). As described in the literature, a central difference method that is one of explicit time integral approaches obviating the necessity of convergence is adopted as time integration required for numerical analysis of a vibrational response.
Moreover, in order to sophisticate the time integration required for numerical analysis of a vibrational response employed in an actuator-computer online test, a technology of adopting an αOS method that is one of mixed integral approaches of the explicit and implicit time integral approach is introduced in, for example, "Numerical Integration Method for Experimentation of Tentatively Moving a Substructure providing an Experimentation Error Control Effect" (report collection published from Architectural Institute of Japan, Vol. 454, pp. 61–71, 1993). The αOS method is a time integration method that is a mixture of an OS method which remains stable even when the calculation time interval is set to a large value, and an α method that is an implicit time integral approach for damping a high-order mode of vibration serving as a factor of an error. The αOS method is a time integration method suitable for the actuator-computer online test. According to the αOS method, a restoring force exerted by a structure to be assessed is divided into a linear component and a nonlinear component. The explicit time integral approach is applied to the nonlinear component of the restoring force exerted by the structure, and the implicit time integral approach is applied to the other component of the restoring force.
The central difference method is one of explicit time integral approaches for predicting a deformed state attained at a current time step from the deformed state observed at the previous time step. In the actuator-computer online test, a target displacement is obtained by calculating a vibrational response. An actuator is driven to cause the target displacement. When a reaction of a specimen is detected, the test proceeds to the next step. This procedure is repeated. The central difference method needs to determine a calculation time interval on the basis of the shortest natural period of a structure, of which reaction is to be calculated, because of restrictions imposed for stable condition.
Therefore, when a structure to be assessed is complex, it is necessary to not only increase the freedom in a vibrational equation but also reduce a calculation time interval along with a decrease in the natural period of the structure. This poses a problem in that a load on calculation increases. Moreover, when the calculation time interval is reduced, a change in a vibratory displacement caused by an actuator at a time step is diminished. This poses a problem in that precision in excited vibration deteriorates and an error in a high-order mode of vibration takes place.
Moreover, a method widely used for numerical analysis of a vibrational response is what is called an implicit time integral approach. According to the implicit time integral approach, a calculation time interval can be increased irrespective of the natural period of a structure to be assessed. However, the implicit time integral approach requires convergence of a deformed state attained at a current time step on the basis of a balance of forces at the current time step. When the structure to be assessed exhibits a nonlinear characteristic, the convergence becomes complex. Consequently, since an actuator must be driven according to the complex convergence process, the implicit time integral approach is unsuitable for the actuator-computer online test.
In order to improve the precision in the actuator-computer online test, there is a demand for a time integral approach capable of controlling an experimental error, which causes an error in a high-order mode of vibration, and of remaining stable despite a long interval between calculations.
In recent years, improvement in the aseismatic performance of an architectural structure or a plant structure or improvement in precision in assessing aseismatic strength has been demanded. Moreover, exploitation of an actuator-computer online test has been expected. The capability to assess more complex structures as well as the improvement in the precision in the assessment has been demanded. This causes a numerical model portion of a structure to become larger in size and more complex, and necessitates introduction of a nonlinear finite element method. Formulation based on an incremental equilibrium equation having as an unknown an incremental displacement between time steps has become the mainstream of time integration employed in numerical analysis of a vibrational response required by the nonlinear finite element method, because the formulation is superb in convergence.
In contrast, the αOS method adapted to an actuator-computer online test described in the aforesaid non-patent document "Numerical Integration Method for Experiment of Tentatively Moving a Substructure providing an Experimental Error Control Effect" is based on an equilibrium equation having as an unknown a displacement itself occurring at each time step. Therefore, the αOS method can handle only a linear model as a model representing a numerical model portion in practice.

Vibration test system and method for structures

Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry


The invention is directed to a brush section (1) for an electric toothbrush which includes a mounting tube (2) in which a shaft (7) is received which is mounted so as to be rotary about a longitudinal axis (3) and is adapted to be driven in an oscillatory fashion. Further, the brush section (1) includes a bristle supporting structure (11) which is arranged so as to be rotary about a transverse axis (14) by means of a bearing pin (18) and is adapted to be set in a rotational motion (29) about said transverse axis (14) by means of a drive pin (24). The fixed connection between the bearing pin (18) and the shaft (7) has the added effect of causing the bristle supporting structure (11) to perform a pivotal motion (28) about the longitudinal axis (3). The rotational motion (29) of the bristle supporting structure (11) produces a cleaning action on a user's exposed tooth surfaces, whilst the pivotal motion (28) acts to accomplish an additional cleansing operation on the user's inter-proximal surfaces.

This invention relates very generally to electric toothbrushes and particularly to a brush section for an electric toothbrush.
A brush section of this type is known from German Offenlegungsschrift DE 39 37 850 A1 which is hereby incorporated in the disclosure content of the present patent application by express reference. In this specification, an electric toothbrush is described which has a handle section from which a drive shaft projects outwardly. The handle section receives in its interior electric drive means with the aid of which the drive shaft can be set in an oscillatory rotational motion about its longitudinal axis. A brush section extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis and having a mounting tube with a bristle supporting structure arranged at its end is adapted to be push-fitted onto the handle section and the drive shaft. The mounting tube accommodates therein a shaft which, when push-fitted, is coupled to the drive shaft. Extending from the bristle supporting structure are bristles which are arranged approximately transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush section. By means of a bevel gear arrangement, the oscillatory rotational motion transmitted by the drive shaft to the shaft of the brush section is deflected by about 90 degrees. As a result, with the electric toothbrush activated, the bristle supporting structure executes an oscillatory rotational motion about an axis which is approximately transverse to the longitudinal axis of the brush section and thus approximately parallel to the bristles. The cleansing face formed by the free ends of the bristles thus performs an oscillatory rotational motion on a user's tooth surfaces. This oscillatory rotational motion is apt to produce a good cleaning action on the tooth surfaces.

Brush section for an electric toothbrush


The present disclosure relates to a device and method for forming a cigar shaped object. A mold is provided having at least one cigar shaped pocket, a rod aligned within the pocket and a separate tamping device. The tamping device has a stem and handle with a bore in the stem larger than the diameter of the rod. Tobacco or other smoking material is placed in the pocket and the tamping device is used to compress the material which forms a cigar-shaped tube by placing the tamping device onto the rod and repeatedly moving it up and down to tamp or compress the material. The rod, when removed, creates a bore through the smoking material to improve and control air draw. After removal from the mold, the packed smoking material may be wrapped in any appropriate wrapper material.

The present invention relates to a molding device for forming a cigar shaped object. More particularly, the device is a molding block with at least one forming bore, a rod for creating an opening through the molded device and a separate tamping device with a bore matable to the rod which is used to physically tamp and compress materials positioned within the forming bore. The anticipated and intended use and application for the inventive device is to create compressed cigar-shaped articles for smoking where the articles are formed by tightly compressing and packing loose product, such as loose tobacco, cannabis buds or other materials that are intended for smoking.
It is well known to press leaf tobacco to form cigars. Traditionally, cigar presses are comprised of two parts, with each part having half of a cigar shaped recess. Leaf tobacco is rolled and placed into the press. When the two parts are mated together and secured, the press forms the leaf tobacco into the cigar shape of the mated halves of the press. This process also compresses the tobacco leaf together which imparts characteristics on each cigar such as the ability to draw air through the cigar, the rate of burn and the formation of ash.
It is desirable to form cigar shaped smoking articles from loose tobacco product, ground or shredded product, or other materials, including cannabis, hereinafter referred to as "smoking materials". To date, these cigar shaped articles have been made by tightly winding string around the smoking material, then wrapping at least a portion of a tobacco leaf around the bound material. This process is time consuming, is difficult to perform and results in significant variations in the resulting products. It is known that smoking materials need to be compressed at a density that optimizes the draw of air through the materials in order to keep the product lit as it is smoked. If too tightly wound, or too loosely wound, the air draw cannot be achieved as desired. It can also be difficult to keep the smoking material in the tobacco leaf, paper, or other wrapper if it is too loosely wound.
It has been determined that a far superior way to create a cigar shaped smoking article from loose smoking material is to tightly pack it within a mold. One way of doing so is to fill a device with the smoking material and substantially compress it with a tamping device. However, when the smoking material is compressed tightly enough to maintain its shape, form and size, it is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve a desired draw of air through the article.
The instant invention overcomes these drawbacks and limitations by providing an innovative device for molding the smoking material into a cigar shape, creating a tightly packed product capable of maintaining its shape, form and size while simultaneously creating a through-bore or channel through the product to facilitate air draw through the final cigar product.

Device and method for forming a cigar shaped object


A DDR DRAM having a test mode and an operational mode and a method for testing the DDR DRAM. The method includes in the order recited: (a) placing the DDR DRAM in test mode; (b) issuing a band activate command to select and bring up a wordline selected for write of the DDR DRAM; (c) writing with auto-precharge, a test pattern to cells of the DDR DRAM; (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until all wordlines for write have been selected; (e) issuing a bank activate command to select and bring up a wordline selected for read of the DDR DRAM; (f) reading with auto-precharge, the stored test pattern from cells of the DDR DRAM; and (g) repeating steps (c) and (f) until all wordlines for read have been selected.

The present invention relates to the field of integrated circuits; more specifically, it relates to double data rate (DDR) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) burn-in testing.
Two main types of DRAMs are, single data rate (SDR) and a double data rate (DDR). In SDR mode, data comes out of the DRAM on a rising clock edge. In DDR mode, data is delivered externally on both a rising and falling clock edge. Furthermore, DDR architecture requires a two clock internal write latency (the number of clocks of delay from when the write command is issued to the DRAM externally until the column select is activated in the DRAM array), while SDR requires no internal write latency. Insitu burn-in testing of a DRAM in DDR mode, therefore, takes a significantly longer time than in SDR mode and can exceed the retention time specification of the DRAM cell, generating false fails. Current testing methods of dual mode (SDR and DDR) DRAMs therefore rely only on insitu burn-in testing of the DRAM in SDR mode. However, for DRAMs having only DDR mode circuitry, insitu burn-in testing is problematical. Therefore, a method of insitu pattern burn-in testing of DDR mode only DRAMs is required.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention provides, in some aspects, improved methods, apparatus and systems for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operation that utilize multiple data links between a UAV and a control station in order to transmit control and actionable intelligence data. Such methods, apparatus and systems can be used, for example, to monitor a selected environment (e.g., an oil field or other terrain/environment of interest). In a related aspect, such data links comprise satellite communication channels.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have demonstrated great potential for various surveillance and reconnaissance military applications due to their growing capabilities and lower cost of operation. However, there are a number of technical constraints hindering their widespread acceptance. These include issues associated with operational effectiveness, use of data, and National Airspace access, to name a few.
Thus, for example, small UAVs have substantially reduced the cost of Line Of Sight (LOS) surveillance and reconnaissance missions, but still have difficulties integrating data-link bandwidth limitations, Beyond Line Of Sight (BLOS), traffic detection and avoidance, as well as more airborne intelligence with navigation capabilities. Most or all of these issues have not really been resolved with either reliable and/or affordable technology.
An object of the invention is to provide improved methods, apparatus and systems for unmanned aerial vehicle operation. A related object is to provide such improved methods, apparatus and systems as can be used with small UAVs.
Still further objects of the invention provide such improved methods, apparatus and systems as improve small UAVs' mission capabilities, as well as their provision of actionable intelligence.

Methods, apparatus and systems for enhanced synthetic vision and multi-sensor data fusion to improve operational capabilities of unmanned aerial vehicles