The present invention generally relates a method of forming a polarizing plate comprising providing two protective cover sheets, each protective cover sheet for polarizers comprising a low birefringence protective polymer film and a layer promoting adhesion to poly(vinyl alcohol)-containing films comprising a hydrophilic polymer. The cover sheets are brought into contact with a PVA dichroic polarizing film such that said layer promoting adhesion to poly(vinyl alcohol)-containing films in each of said two cover sheets is in contact with said PVA dichroic polarizing film. A glue composition is applied just before contacting said PVA dichroic polarizing film and said cover sheets, said glue composition being substantially free of dissolved polymer and comprising a crosslinking agent that crosslinks PVA.

Transparent resin films are used in a variety of optical applications. For example, a number of different optical elements in Liquid Crystal Displays ("LCDs") may be formed from resin films. The structure of LCDs may include a liquid crystal cell, one or more polarizer plates, and one or more light management films. Liquid crystal cells are formed by confining liquid crystals such as vertically-aligned (VA), in-plane switching (IPS), twisted nematic (TN) or super twisted nematic (STN) materials between two electrode substrates. Polarizer plates are typically a multi-layer element comprising resin films. In particular, a polarizer plate can comprise a polarizing film sandwiched between two protective cover sheets that comprise a low birefringence protective polymer film.
Polarizing films are normally prepared from a transparent and highly uniform, amorphous resin film that is subsequently stretched to orient the polymer molecules and then stained with a dye to produce dichroic film. An example of a suitable resin for the formation of polarizer films is fully hydrolyzed poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Because the stretched PVA films used to form polarizers are very fragile and dimensionally unstable, protective cover sheets are normally laminated to both sides of the PVA film to offer both support and abrasion resistance.
Protective cover sheets used in polarizer plates are required to have high uniformity, good dimensional and chemical stability, and high transparency. Originally, protective coversheets were formed from glass, but a number of resin films are now used to produce lightweight and flexible polarizers. Many resins have been suggested for use in protective cover sheets including cellulosics such as cellulose esters, acrylics such as poly(methyl methacrylate), cyclic polyolefin, polycarbonates, and sulfones. However, acetyl cellulose polymers are most commonly used in protective cover sheets for polarizer plates. Polymers of the acetyl cellulose type are commercially available in a variety of molecular weights as well as the degree of acyl substitution of the hydroxyl groups on the cellulose backbone. Of these, the fully substituted polymer, triacetyl cellulose (TAC) is commonly used to manufacture resin films for use in protective cover sheets for polarizer plates.
The cover sheet normally requires a surface treatment to insure good adhesion to the PVA dichroic film. When TAC is used as the protective cover film of a polarizer plate, the TAC film is subjected to treatment in an alkali bath to saponify the TAC surface to provide suitable adhesion to the PVA dichroic film. The alkali treatment uses an aqueous solution containing a hydroxide of an alkali metal, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. After alkali treatment, the cellulose acetate film is typically washed with weak acid solution followed by rinsing with water and drying. This saponification process is both messy and time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,362,580 describes a laminar structure wherein two cellulose ester films each having a surface layer containing cellulose nitrate and a modified PVA is adhered to both sides of a PVA film. JP 06094915A discloses a protective film for polarizer plates wherein the protective film has a hydrophilic layer which provides adhesion to PVA film. Commonly-assigned, copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/838,841, filed May 4, 2004 describes a guarded protective cover sheet having a removable, carrier substrate and a cover sheet comprising a low birefringence protective polymer film and a layer promoting adhesion to poly(vinyl alcohol) on the same side of the carrier substrate as the low birefringence protective polymer film which eliminates the need for the saponification process.
Protective cover sheets may be a composite or multilayer film including other functional layers (herein also referred to as auxiliary layers) such as an antiglare layer, antireflection layer, anti-smudge layer, compensation layer, or antistatic layer. Generally, these functional layers are applied in a process step that is separate from the manufacture of the low-birefringence protective polymer film, but may be later applied to form a composite film. A functional or auxiliary film may combine functions of more than one functional layer, or a protective polymer film may also serve the function of a functional layer.
For example, some LCD devices may contain a low birefringence protective polymer film that also serves as a compensation film to improve the viewing angle of an image. Compensation films (i.e. retardation films or phase difference films) are normally prepared from amorphous films that have a controlled level of birefringence prepared, for example, either by uniaxial stretching or by coating with discotic dyes. Suitable resins suggested for formation of compensation films by stretching include poly(vinyl alcohol)s, polycarbonates and sulfones. Compensation films prepared by treatment with dyes normally require highly transparent films having low birefringence such as TAC and cyclic olefin polymers.
In general, resin films as described above are prepared either by melt extrusion methods or by casting methods. Melt extrusion methods involve heating the resin until molten (approximate viscosity on the order of 100,000 cp), then applying the hot molten polymer to a highly polished metal band or drum with an extrusion die, cooling the film, and finally peeling the film from the metal support. For several reasons, however, films prepared by melt extrusion are generally not suitable for optical applications. Principal among these is the fact that melt extruded films exhibit a high degree of optical birefringence. In the case of highly substituted cellulose acetate, there is the additional problem of melting the polymer. Cellulose triacetate has a very high melting temperature of 270-300° C., and this is above the temperature where decomposition begins. Films have been formed by melt extrusion at lower temperatures by compounding cellulose acetate with various plasticizers as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,510 to Machell. However, the polymers described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,510 to Machell are not the fully substituted cellulose triacetate, but rather have a lesser degree of alkyl substitution or have propionate groups in place of some acetate groups. Even so, melt extruded films of cellulose acetate are known to exhibit poor flatness as noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,140 to Shigenmura. For these reasons, melt extrusion methods are generally not practical for fabricating many resin films including cellulose triacetate films used to prepare protective covers and substrates in electronic displays. Rather, casting methods are generally preferred to manufacture these films.
Resin films for optical applications are manufactured almost exclusively by casting methods. Casting methods involve first dissolving the polymer in an appropriate solvent to form a dope having a high viscosity on the order of 50,000 cp, and then applying the viscous dope to a continuous highly polished metal band or drum through an extrusion die, partially drying the wet film, peeling the partially dried film from the metal support, and conveying the partially dried film through an oven to more completely remove solvent from the film. Cast films typically have a final dry thickness in the range of 40-200 microns. In general, thin films of less than 40 microns are very difficult to produce by casting methods due to the fragility of wet film during the peeling and drying processes. Films having a thickness of greater than 200 microns are also problematic to manufacture due to difficulties associated with the removal of solvent in the final drying step. Although the dissolution and drying steps of the casting method add complexity and expense, cast films generally have better optical properties when compared to films prepared by melt extrusion methods and, moreover, problems related to decomposition associated with exposure to high temperature are avoided.
Examples of optical films prepared by casting methods include: (1) Cellulose acetate sheets used to prepare light polarizing films as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,769 to Land and U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,289 to Cael as well as more recent disclosures in U.S. Patent Application 2001/0039319 A1 to Harita and U.S. Patent Application 2002/001700 A1 to Sanefuji; (2) Cellulose triacetate sheets used for protective covers for light polarizing films as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,694 to Iwata; (3) Polycarbonate sheets used for protective covers for light polarizing films or for retardation plates as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,559 to Yoshida and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,478,518 and 5,561,180 both to Taketani; and (4) Polyethersulfone sheets used for protective covers for light polarizing films or for retardation plates as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,759,449 and 5,958,305 both to Shiro.
Despite the wide use of the casting method to manufacture optical films, however, there are a number of disadvantages to casting technology. One disadvantage is that cast films have significant optical birefringence. Birefringence in cast or coated films arises from orientation of polymers during the manufacturing operations. This molecular orientation causes indices of refraction within the plane of the film to be measurably different. In-plane birefringence is the difference between these indices of refraction in perpendicular directions within the plane of the film. The absolute value of birefringence multiplied by the film thickness is defined as in-plane retardation. Therefore, in-plane retardation is a measure of molecular anisotropy within the plane of the film.
During a casting process, molecular orientation may arise from a number of sources including shear of the dope in the die, shear of the dope by the metal support during application, shear of the partially dried film during the peeling step, and shear of the free-standing film during conveyance through the final drying step. These shear forces orient the polymer molecules and ultimately give rise to undesirably high birefringence or retardation values. To minimize shear and obtain the lowest birefringence films, casting processes are typically operated at very low line speeds of 1-15 m/min as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,694 to Iwata. Slower line speeds generally produce the highest quality films.
Although films prepared by casting methods have lower birefringence compared to films prepared by melt extrusion methods, birefringence remains objectionably high. For example, cellulose triacetate films prepared by casting methods exhibit in-plane retardation of 7 nanometers (nm) for light in the visible spectrum as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,694 to Iwata. Polycarbonate films prepared by casting methods exhibit in-plane retardation of 17 nm as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,478,518 and 5,561,180 both to Taketani. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2001/0039319 A1 to Harita claims that color irregularities in stretched cellulose acetate sheets are reduced when the difference in retardation between widthwise positions within the film is less than 5 nm in the original unstretched film.
For many applications of optical films, low in-plane retardation values are desirable. In particular, values of in-plane retardation of less than 10 nm are preferred.
Commonly-assigned U.S. Patent Application Publications 2003/0215658A, 2003/0215621A, 2003/0215608A, 2003/0215583A, 2003/0215582A, 2003/0215581A, and 2003/0214715A describe a coating method to prepare resin films having low birefringence that are suitable for optical applications. The resin films are applied onto a discontinuous, removable carrier substrate from lower viscosity polymer solutions than are normally used to prepare cast films.
Another drawback to the casting method is the inability to accurately apply multiple layers. As noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,357 to Hayward, conventional multi-slot casting dies create unacceptably non-uniform films. In particular, line and streak non-uniformity is greater than 5% with prior art devices. Acceptable two layer films may be prepared by employing special die lip designs as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,357 to Hayward, but the die designs are complex and may be impractical for applying more than two layers simultaneously.
Another drawback to the casting method is the restrictions on the viscosity of the dope. In casting practice, the viscosity of dope is on the order of 50,000 cp. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,357 to Hayward describes practical casting examples using dopes with a viscosity of 100,000 cp. In general, cast films prepared with lower viscosity dopes are known to produce non-uniform films as noted for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,694 to Iwata. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,694 to Iwata, the lowest viscosity dopes used to prepare casting samples are approximately 10,000 cp. At these high viscosity values, however, casting dopes are difficult to filter and de-gas. While fibers and larger debris may be removed, softer materials such as polymer slugs are more difficult to filter at the high pressures found in dope delivery systems. Particulate and bubble artifacts create conspicuous inclusion defects as well as streaks which may result in substantial waste.
In addition, the casting method can be relatively inflexible with respect to product changes. Because casting requires high viscosity dopes, changing product formulations requires extensive down time for cleaning delivery systems to eliminate the possibility of contamination. Particularly problematic are formulation changes involving incompatible polymers and solvents. In fact, formulation changes are so time consuming and expensive with the casting method that most production machines are dedicated exclusively to producing only one film type.
Cast films may exhibit undesirable cockle or wrinkles. Thinner films are especially vulnerable to dimensional artifacts either during the peeling and drying steps of the casting process or during subsequent handling of the film. Very thin films are difficult to handle during this lamination process without wrinkling. In addition, many cast films may naturally become distorted over time due to the effects of moisture.
For optical films, good dimensional stability is necessary during storage as well as during subsequent fabrication of polarizer plates. In addition, resin films used in protective cover sheets for polarizer plates are susceptible to scratch and abrasion, as well as the accumulation of dirt and dust, during the manufacture and handling of the cover sheet. The preparation of high quality polarizer plates for display applications requires that the protective cover sheet be free of defects due to physical damage or the deposition of dirt and dust.
It would be very advantageous to avoid the need for saponification of protective cover sheets in the preparation of polarizer plates from resin films which requires a lamination process involving pretreatment in an alkali bath and then application of adhesives, pressure, and high temperatures. Avoiding such a saponification operation would improve both productivity and reduce the necessary conveyance and handling of the sheets. Although advantageous for protective cover sheets in general, this would be especially desirable for relatively thinner protective cover sheets.

Polarizing plate laminated with an improved glue composition and a method of manufacturing the same


A pole layer of a magnetic head incorporates a soft magnetic film made of an iron-cobalt-nickel-base alloy. When the total of the iron, cobalt and nickel contents of the soft magnetic film is assumed as 100 weight percent, the iron content of the soft magnetic film is within a range of 42 to 90 weight percent inclusive, the cobalt content thereof is within a range of 0 to 48 weight percent inclusive, and the nickel content thereof is within a range of 10 to 20 weight percent inclusive. The soft magnetic film has a crystal structure that is a mixed crystal of a body-centered cubic structure phase and a face-centered cubic structure phase. The soft magnetic film is manufactured by performing electroplating using a plating current whose direction is alternately switched.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a soft magnetic film and a method of manufacturing the same and a thin-film magnetic head incorporating the soft magnetic film and a method of manufacturing the thin-film magnetic head, and to a head arm assembly and a magnetic disk drive each of which incorporates the thin-film magnetic head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Performance improvements in thin-film magnetic heads have been sought as areal recording density of magnetic disk drives has increased. A widely used type of thin-film magnetic head is a composite thin-film magnetic head that has a structure in which a write (recording) head having an induction-type electromagnetic transducer for writing and a read (reproducing) head having a magnetoresistive (MR) element for reading are stacked on a substrate.
The recording systems of magnetic disk drives include a longitudinal magnetic recording system wherein signals are magnetized in the direction along the surface of the recording medium (the longitudinal direction) and a perpendicular magnetic recording system wherein signals are magnetized in the direction orthogonal to the surface of the recording medium.
For each of the longitudinal magnetic recording system and the perpendicular magnetic recording system, a write head incorporates: a coil for generating a magnetic field corresponding to data to be written on a recording medium; and a pole layer allowing a magnetic flux corresponding to the field generated by the coil to pass therethrough and generating a write magnetic field for writing the data on the recording medium.
For the write head to achieve higher recording density, particularly required are a reduction in track width, that is, a reduction in width of the end face of the pole layer located in the medium facing surface, and an improvement in write characteristics. However, if the track width is reduced, write characteristics such as an overwrite property that is a parameter indicating an overwriting capability suffers degradation. Therefore, it is required to achieve better write characteristics as the track width is reduced.
To improve the overwrite property, it is required that the pole layer be made of a material having a high saturation flux density. It is also required that the material of the pole layer have an excellent soft magnetic characteristic, that is, a low coercivity. To be specific, it is required that the material of the pole layer have such a characteristic that the saturation flux density is 2.0 T (tesla) or higher and the coercivity is 5.0×79.6 A/m or lower.
One of known materials having a high saturation flux density is an iron-cobalt-nickel alloy. As shown in FIG. 3 of Osaka et al., "Controlling Microstructure of Soft Magnetic Thin Films by the Electrodeposition Method", Journal of The Magnetics Society of Japan, Vol. 24, No. 11, 2000, pp. 1333-1341, a bulk material of an iron-cobalt-nickel-base alloy exhibits a high saturation flux density.
Conventionally, however, it is difficult to stably achieve such a characteristic that the saturation flux density is 2.0 T or higher and the coercivity is 5.0×79.6 A/m or lower with a soft magnetic film made of an iron-cobalt-nickel-base alloy (such a soft magnetic film will be hereinafter referred to as an FeCoNi film), particularly an FeCoNi film formed by plating. The reason will be described in detail later.
Japanese Published Patent Application (hereinafter referred to as "JP-A") 2002-134318 discloses a technique of fabricating an FeCoNi film by plating using direct currents through controlling the concentrations of Fe ions, Co ions and Ni ions in a plating bath, thereby suppressing occurrences of pits and cracks in the FeCoNi film.
JP-A 2000-187808 discloses a technique of fabricating an FeCoNi film having a high saturation flux density and a low coercivity by plating through controlling the proportions of Fe, Co and Ni and the proportion of one or two elements selected from P, B, C and N.
JP-A 2002-217029 discloses a technique of fabricating an FeCoNi film having a high saturation flux density and a low coercivity by plating through using pulse currents and controlling the concentrations of Fe ions, Co ions and Ni ions in a plating bath.
JP-A 2003-34891 discloses a technique of fabricating a cobalt-iron-alloy-plated magnetic thin film or a cobalt-iron-molybdenum-alloy magnetic thin film that has a high saturation flux density by plating using bipolar pulse currents.
Japanese Patent No. 2821456 discloses a cobalt-iron-nickel magnetic thin film that is fabricated by electroplating, contains 40 to 70 weight percent cobalt, 20 to 40 weight percent iron, and 10 to 20 weight percent nickel, and has a crystal structure that is a mixed crystal of a γ phase having a body-centered cubic structure and an a phase having a face-centered cubic structure.
As previously described, it is conventionally difficult to stably achieve such a characteristic that the saturation flux density is 2.0 T or higher and the coercivity is 5.0×79.6 A/m or lower with an FeCoNi film formed by plating. The reason will now be described.
It is possible to increase the saturation flux density of an FeCoNi film by increasing the iron content thereof. For an FeCoNi film formed by plating, however, if the iron content is increased, the amount of impurities taken into the FeCoNi film increases, and it is therefore difficult to make the saturation flux density as high as that of a bulk material. It is possible to improve the soft magnetic characteristics of an FeCoNi film by optimizing the impurities content of the FeCoNi film. However, the saturation flux density of the FeCoNi film decreases if the impurities content thereof increases.
As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 7 of Osaka et al. mentioned previously, an FeCoNi film having a saturation flux density of 2.0 T or higher typically has a body-centered cubic crystal structure. Therefore, an FeCoNi film having a body-centered cubic crystal structure easily has a high saturation flux density. However, in such an FeCoNi film, crystal grains are likely to be enlarged and the soft magnetic characteristics are thereby likely to be degraded.
In the case of forming an FeCoNi film by plating using direct currents as disclosed in JP-A 2002-134318, the soft magnetic characteristics of the FeCoNi film are likely to be degraded because the crystal grains are likely to be enlarged in the film, and furthermore, it is difficult to obtain a saturation flux density as high as that of a bulk material because a large amount of impurities are taken into the FeCoNi film. The technique disclosed in JP-A 2000-187808 also seems to use direct currents in plating, and it is therefore difficult through this technique, too, to obtain an FeCoNi film having a saturation flux density as high as that of a bulk material. Actually, as is clear from comparison between FIG. 2 of JP-A 2000-187808 and FIG. 3 of Osaka et al., the saturation flux density of the FeCoNi film fabricated through the technique of JP-A 2000-187808 is lower than that of a bulk material.
In the case of forming an FeCoNi film by plating using pulse currents as disclosed in JP-A 2002-217029, it is possible to reduce enlargement of crystal grains and the amount of impurities taken into the film, compared with the case of forming an FeCoNi film by plating using direct currents. However, if comparison is made between FIG. 8 of JP-A 2002-217029 and FIG. 3 of Osaka et al., it is noted that some of the FeCoNi films fabricated through the technique of JP-A 2002-217029 have a saturation flux density lower than that of a bulk material. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 9 of JP-A 2002-217029, compositions of the FeCoNi film fabricated through the technique disclosed in this publication that allow the coercivity of the film to be 5.0×79.6 A/m or lower are limited to a very narrow range. Because of the foregoing, it is also difficult by using the technique disclosed in JP-A 2002-217029 to stably achieve such a characteristic of an FeCoNi film that the saturation flux density is 2.0 T or higher and the coercivity is 5.0×79.6 A/m or lower.
FIG. 6 of JP-A 2003-34891 shows the relationship between the composition and the easy axis coercivity of a cobalt-iron-molybdenum alloy formed through the technique disclosed in this publication. As shown in FIG. 6 of this publication, there are few cobalt-iron-molybdenum alloys having a coercivity of 7×79.6 A/m or lower while most cobalt-iron-molybdenum alloys have a coercivity higher than 7×79.6 A/m.
Furthermore, as can be seen from FIG. 3 of Osaka et al., it is difficult to achieve a saturation flux density of 2.0 T or higher with a cobalt-iron-nickel magnetic thin film having a composition within the range disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2821456.

Soft magnetic film and method of manufacturing same, thin-film magnetic head and method of manufacturing same, head arm assembly and magnetic disk drive


In accordance with the invention an integrated optic device useful as a low level polarization independent optical tap comprises a pair of optical waveguides intersecting at an angle of 10.degree.-25.degree. to provide a tap signal in the range minus 20 dB to minus 60 dB. In a preferred embodiment for use in a passive repeater for undersea cable, the device comprises fiber-matching waveguides of phosphorus silicate glass on an oxide covered silicon substrate with a boron and phosphorus silicate cladding. The waveguides preferably intersect at an angle of 13.degree.-16.degree.. The preferred repeater further comprises a 3 dB coupler for averaging the power provided by two external pumping sources and a pair of wavelength division multiplexers for applying the pumping power to the outputs of the tap.

A critical application for integrated optic devices is the passive portion of repeaters for long haul fiber optic communications cable such as undersea cable contemplated for spanning the Pacific. Due to the extreme length of such cable, a large number of repeaters must be periodically located along the length of the cable to amplify and monitor signals traveling in both directions and to permit precise location of any fault in the cable.
It is contemplated that the passive portion of such a repeater will be a six terminal fiber optic device having two input terminals for receiving eastbound and westbound signals, respectively; two terminals for receiving optical pump signals; and two output terminals. The passive device must add to the eastbound signal a low level loop back signal from the westbound signal for monitoring and fault location. Similarly, it must add a loop back signal from east to west. The passive device must also introduce optical pump signals into both the eastbound and westbound fibers in order to facilitate the amplification of the signals these fibers carry. Because of the great length of the cable and the large number of repeaters which the length entails, the repeaters must perform these functions with low levels of back reflection and high levels of isolation.
Of the several functions performed by the passive repeater, one of the most demanding is tapping stable, low level loop back signals. The conventional approach to providing such signals is to pass two waveguides in close adjacency for a length dependent upon the desired degree of coupling. Energy from one core extends across the cladding to excite a diminished corresponding signal in the other core. This approach, however, does not work well when the desired degree of coupling is small. The coupled power decays exponentially with distance away from the core, rendering the core separation distance critical. For example a minus 45 dB tap typically has a core center-to-center separation of about 15 micrometers. However at such separations, the tail of the exponential field decay is both sensitive to processing of the device and dependent upon the polarization state of the signal. Accordingly, there is a need for a stable, low level optical tap which is reproducible and essentially independent of polarization.


A method of making ball valves, including the steps of forging two symmetrical ball valve halves into shape such that they each have a spherically curved outer wall and a cylindrical inner wall joined at one end to the outer wall and otherwise separated by a channel; bringing the ball valve halves together to form a spherical ball valve; friction welding the ball valve halves as a whole so that reinforcing ribs are formed on the welding surfaces due to fusion and a straight flow path is defined in the ball valve; using a punch with a ram having a diameter corresponding to that of the straight flow path of the ball valve to remove the reinforcing rib on the inner wall of the straight flow path so that the wall surface of the straight flow path is smooth; and processing the surface of the ball valve. A weight-reduced hollow ball valve having a straight flow channel in the center thereof is therefore accomplished to allow smooth flow of water therethrough, and reduction in the weight of the ball valve borne by water stopping washers on both sides of the ball valve to thereby prolong the service life of the water stopping washers.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of making ball valves, and more particularly to a method in which two symmetrical ball valve halves are forged into shape and are welded together using friction welding such that a hollow spherical ball valve with a straight flow channel in the center is accomplished. Ribs formed on the welding surfaces at the straight flow path are removed by punching to achieve smooth surfaces. The surface of the ball valve is finally processed to achieve a weight-reduced ball valve. In use, the load borne by the water stopping washers on both sides of the ball valve can be reduced to prolong the service life of the water stopping washers. Besides, the straight flow channel allows smooth flow of water therethrough; the ball valve has good structural strength; and manufacturing costs can be lowered.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
The ball valve referred to herein is, as shown in FIG. 1, a ball valve structure that rests against water stopping washers 51 of a water valve and rotates to control the opening and closing of a water faucet. Referring to FIG. 2, in the past, ball valves were made by casting. Cast iron is poured in a mold, and a ball-shaped semi-finished product is removed from the mold after drying. The surface thereof is then processed and burred to accomplish a ball valve product.
However, there are many disadvantages with a ball valve made in the above-described method.
1. As the conventional ball valve is formed by casting, there are air bubbles inside during casting. During formation, in order to reduce the number of pores formed on the surface of the ball valve, the thickness of the ball valve is increased deliberately. After formation, the surface layer is processed using a lathe. It can be seen that proportion of waste material is high, yet there are still pores on the surface of the ball valve. As a result, the surface of the ball valve is not in tight fit with the water stopping washers on both sides of the water hole of the faucet, and water leaks through the pores of the ball valve. It can therefore be seen that it is impossible to form a ball vale free of pores using such a casting method. PA0 2. Furthermore, the conventional ball valve has a substantially spherical hollow interior (as shown in FIG. 2). When water from the water hole of the faucet flows through the hollow interior of the ball valve, it will hit against the walls of the substantially spherical hollow interior of the ball valve so that air bubbles are formed in the piping. These air bubbles obstruct the smooth flowing of liquid, thereby causing the formation of turbulence.
In order to overcome the above-described drawbacks, forging is adopted make ball valves. Referring to FIG. 3, a steel material is heated at high temperature and forged directly into a solid spherical semi-finished product. After surface processing, a ball valve structure 3 is accomplished.
However, although making ball valves using forging can eliminate the disadvantages of the cast ball valves, there are other problems to be solved.
Since a solid ball valve is heavy, when the ball valve urges against the water stopping washers 51 of the water valve 5 and rotates, the weight of the ball valve on the water stopping washers (since both side portions of the ball valve are inserted into the water stopping washers) will cause the water stopping washers to deform in shape after a period of time, and they will also become vulnerable to wear during rotation of the ball valve. As a result of deformation and wear, the ball valve can no longer be in tight fit with the water stopping washers on both sides, and clearances are formed. Therefore, even when the ball valve closes, there is leakage in the piping. And when a technician come to maintain the piping by employing welding, explosion may easily occur.

No. 13, Fang Yuan Hsiang, Hou Liao Tsun, Kung Chu 4 Road


A system, apparatus, and method to dynamically select and establish connections with portals of a mesh network are described herein.

In recent years, wireless mesh networks have increased in popularity due in part to their decentralized infrastructure which allows such networks to remain relatively inexpensive and reliable. Their reliability stems from the interconnectivity between multiple nodes on the network. When a connection breaks down or is blocked, the multiple other connections allow reconfiguration by "hoping" from node to node until the destination is reached. This advantage coupled with the ease of deployment has led business networks to increasingly utilize the mesh infrastructure.
Within a mesh network, it is important that mesh nodes be allowed access to outside networks, the internet for example. This access is accomplished by enlisting the use of mesh portals. Mesh portals may have direct access to an outside network, and consequently, permit mesh nodes connecting to the mesh portals access to an outside network. Typically, mesh nodes are statically programmed with an address of a mesh portal on a network and continually access an outside network through the specific portal. This method of statically programming mesh nodes often leads to problems related to traffic and mobility.
Trafficking problems arise when a majority of the mesh nodes access an outside network through a single mesh portal leaving other mesh portals of the network relatively unused. This misallocation of mesh portals may serve to slow the overall speed and utility of the mesh network. Mobility problems arise when a mesh node moves away from its statically programmed portal. As a node moves further away, it may be required to either make an increased number of "hops" across other mesh nodes to reach its programmed portal or communicate directly with the mesh portal over a degraded direct communication link. As the length of the direct link or the number of hops increases, the efficiency and quality of the link decreases.

Selecting portals to service network transmissions


The present invention relates to a process for obtaining metal oxide catalysts comprising gallium which are capable of synthesizing higher alcohols from lower alcohols. The process for obtaining said catalysts is also disclosed.

The synthesis of high-molecular-weight alcohols (containing between 4 and 8 carbon atoms) from low-molecular-weight alcohols (e.g. methanol and ethanol) has acquired considerable interest in recent years due to the potential use of these oxygenated compounds in the preparation of automotive fuels and also additives for the latter.
In particular, n-butanol (n-ButOH), with a worldwide production of approx. 4-5 million tons per year, is primarily used as an additive for liquid fuels, as a starting chemical reagent in the plastics industry and also as an extraction agent in the aroma and fragrance industry. N-butanol is primarily produced through the petrochemical pathway. Methods for producing n-butanol by fermentation are also widely known.
Alternatively, n-butanol can be obtained by means of the well-known Guerbet reaction, which makes it possible to convert a low-molecular-weight alcohol (e.g. ethanol) into a linear or branched alcohol with a higher molecular weight in the presence of a metal alkoxide dissolved in the alcohol to be transformed. The main disadvantages associated with the Guerbet reaction are: i) the production of water, which must be eliminated from the reaction medium in order to favour the formation of the desired compounds, ii) the production of carboxylic acids, and iii) the use of homogeneous catalysts, which cause both corrosion in the reactors and final separation problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,695 discloses K, Na, Ba and Cs cations exchanged zeolites, amongst others, as catalysts in the condensation of low-molecular-weight alcohols, to obtain selectivities to iso-butanol of 30%-35% at a 45% methanol conversion rate. Several basic oxides containing Cu, commonly used in the production of high-molecular-weight alcohols from syn-gas (CO/H2), have also been assayed in methanol and ethanol condensation reactions, to produce high-molecular-weight alcohols, albeit with a relatively low production of C4 alcohols (U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,570). Another group of catalysts used are calcium-phosphate-based materials of the hydroxyapatite type (US20070255079). These catalysts have been tested in fixed-bed continuous reactors at 300° C. with very short contact times. The best results were obtained for materials with a Ca/P molar ratio of 1.5-1.7, with ethanol conversion of 12% and selectivities to C4 alcohols (primarily iso-butanol) close to 78%. Oxides of alkaline-earth metals, particularly materials based on MgO with supported transition metals, have also been used for the transformation of ethanol into n-butanol.
In recent years, numerous scientific publications and patents have appeared on the use of hydrotalcite-type materials as catalysts in alcohol condensation reactions, such as the Guerbet reaction, in both batch systems and fixed-bed continuous reactors. The studies performed with these mixed Mg—Al oxides revealed that the catalytic activity of these materials is dependent on the nature, density and strength of the basic surface sites, which, in turn, are dependent on the molar Mg/AI composition in the solid. For example, international application WO2009026510 discloses a process for synthesising n-butanol by means of a material derived from the thermal decomposition of a hydrotalcite which preferably comprises magnesium and aluminum. Moreover, WO2009097312, US20100160693 and WO2009097310 disclose materials obtained by the thermal decomposition of hydrotalcites modified by the inclusion of metal carbonates and ethylenediamine-tetraacetates, which have been developed by DU PONT as catalysts in alcohol condensation reactions operating in a fixed bed at 300° C. and atmospheric pressure. The best results under these conditions have been achieved with a material derived from Mg—Al-based hydrotalcite (containing OH− as the anion), which presents high ethanol conversion (≈44%) with moderate selectivities (≈44%) to n-butanol. When these same materials were assayed in the catalytic conversion of ethanol into n-butanol in the presence of hydrogen in the reaction system, the yields of n-butanol obtained were significantly lower in all cases.
Given the importance of higher alcohols, new, improved catalysts are still needed for the synthesis thereof.

ABENGOA BIOENERGÍA NUEVAS TECNOLOGÍAS, S.A.


An ink-jet-printer driver employs clustered-dot dither to generate binary image signals that represent an image that has been adjusted for the ink-duty limit that must be imposed to avoid bleeding on some print media. Some image values that would result in ink duties that exceed the limit without adjustment are actually reduced by more than needed to meet the ink-duty limit. The resultant adjusted value is an increasing function of unadjusted value even for unadjusted values that exceed the ink-duty limit. To impose the limit, a Bayer dither process (94) receives an input that represents the ratio of ink-limit-adjusted ink duty to unadjusted ink duty. A gating operation (96) permits an ink request only at those locations where both dither processes (92 and 94) indicate that an ink is permitted.

The present invention is directed to ink-jet printers and in particular to mechanisms for controlling the ink duty.
A digitally expressed color image is quite often stored or expressed as three-dimensional values of picture elements ("pixels") that in combination make up the image. The pixel value represents a location in a color space. Most typically, that color space is the red-green-blue color space or, complementarily, the cyan-magenta-yellow color space. That is, the vector components respectively represent red, green, and blue or cyan, magenta, and yellow. Other color spaces are used less frequently.
Most imaging systems express the pixel-value components with a relatively high resolution, such as eight bits per pixel, at some point in the processing. In such a case, each component can have a value between 0 and 255 (2.sup.8 -1=255). In contrast, although some printers do apply ink dots of different sizes, most apply only single-sized dots, so the control for a given color component is binary: the dot is either applied or not at any given pixel location. The higher intensity resolution of the original pixel values is simulated by half-toning, in which different intensities are achieved by applying dots in different percentages of the pixels. If the component-value range is 255, and the value of a particular component is 255 throughout a region, then all pixels in that region receive a dot of the ink whose color is associated with that component. If the component value is 128, on the other hand, only 128 out of every 255 pixels receive ink of that color.
In "ordered dither"-type half-toning, for instance, thresholds of a "dither matrix" are associated with respective display-medium pixel locations, and the printer deposits ink on those locations at which the component value equals or exceeds the associated matrix threshold. So if the matrix consists of threshold values more or less evenly distributed throughout a range, a component value in the middle of the range is likely to result in dots' being deposited at approximately half of the pixel locations, whereas a component value at the top of the range is deposited in all locations: the ink duty is 100%.
The form in which the image typically is stored electronically represents quantities of ideal color components, which real-world inks do not match exactly. Moreover, ink-dot geometry is such that color darkness does not increase linearly with the ink's duty cycle. So it is a feature of some printer drivers that they adjust the image-representing signals to compensate for these limitations and produce signals that specify the ink duties that would match the ideal image with the greatest fidelity.
But the medium on which the image is printed unfortunately imposes further limitations in some cases. In particular, the high ink duties that would produce the darkest requested colors most faithfully would cause ink "bleeding" on some types of paper and other media. Coated types of paper are typically subject to such bleeding, and transparencies often are similarly afflicted. So the printer driver must additionally impose an ink-duty limit, which necessarily compromises image fidelity. This compromise is unavoidable: there is no way in which a limited ink duty can result in as faithful a reproduction of the darkest colors as ink duties can that are not so limited. So it would seem that the best that can be done for unadjusted ink duties that exceed a given medium's ink-duty limit is to print them with the limit value and thus obtain a darkness as great as the medium's limitations permit.


An image processing method configured to produce image data output from an image forming apparatus configured to form an image by using a recording head composed of a liquid ejecting head having plural arranged nozzles configured to eject a liquid drop and an energy generating device configured to generate ejection energy corresponding to each nozzle while conducting a halftone processing configured to covert input image data to an N value which is less than a tone (M value) thereof (N value: M>N≧2) is provided, wherein a halftone processing configured to substantially reduce a driving frequency of a driving wave pattern applied to the energy generating device is conducted when a liquid drop with a drop size causing ejection irregularity or a liquid drop from a nozzle causing ejection irregularity is ejected.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to an image processing method, a program, a recording medium, an image processing device, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine, and a composite machine thereof, for example, a liquid ejection type image forming apparatus using a liquid ejecting head (liquid drop ejecting head) as a recording head, for example, an ink jet recording apparatus, is known. The ink jet recording apparatus conducts image formation (wherein recording, character printing, photography printing, and printing may be used as synonyms) by ejecting ink as recording liquid from an ink recording head onto a paper sheet (which is not limited to paper but includes an OHP, means an object to which an ink drop, other liquids, or the like is allowed to adhere, and may be referred to as a medium to be recorded, a recording medium, a recording paper, a recording paper sheet, a recording material, a medium, or the like).
In such an image forming apparatus, recording liquid drops with only about four kinds of sizes (four tones), for example, no dot, a small dot, a middle dot, and a large dot, may be ejected separately, and therefore, a representation with multi-tone is hardly conducted with the dot sizes of the recording liquid drops. Accordingly, a dither method and an error diffusion method are generally known as a method for reproducing halftone by means of a combination of a density tone (intensity tone) and surface area tone (surface area modulation) whose level numbers are less than those of an original one.
The dither method (binary dither method) is a method for determining '1' (image printing or light emission) or "0" (no image printing or no light emission) in comparison with the density of a picture element at a corresponding address point to conduct binary coding while the value of each of dither matrices is a threshold value, and has an advantage such that binary-coded data for a surface area tone may be obtained by only an operation of comparison of original image data with a threshold value and a high speed operation is allowed. Also, the error diffusion method is for diffusing errors provided when tone image data are converted into data with a less level number (for example, binary) onto nearby picture elements so as to reduce the tone representation errors together with the surrounding or nearby picture elements.
In both the dither method and the error diffusion method, the number of levels is three or greater. For example, a multilevel error diffusion method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-112089.
Also, as a dither matrix used in the dither method, there are known a dispersing type one such as a bayer dither, a random dither and a blue noise dither and a concentration type one in which a sub-matrix is arranged in a dither matrix so as to have a screen angle, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-259118.
Meanwhile, particularly, in an image forming apparatus with a low precision of ink drop (liquid drop) landing, there is a problem of causing "ejection irregularity" such that an ejected liquid drop is hardly landed on a target landing position thereof by an external disturbance or mechanical factor such as variation of the viscosity of ink (liquid), irregularity of the speed of a carriage mounting a recording head, an error in the precision of manufacture of a nozzle and the like, disturbance of a driving wave pattern supplied to an energy generating device of the head, and the like, whereby a target image or tone characteristic is hardly obtained.
Then, Japanese Patent Application Publication 2005-138494 discloses that timing for supplying a driving frequency to plural recording elements is adjusted to control a landing error caused by ejection irregularity.
However, when timing for supplying a driving frequency to plural recording elements is adjusted to address the liquid drop ejection irregularity caused by the external disturbance or mechanical factor described above, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication 2005-138494, it is required to modify a processing for each recording element or set the order of liquid drop landing and further to determine a processing depending on an ejection pattern, and therefore, there is a problem such that only an addressing with a particular pattern is allowed.
In particular, since the driving frequency of a deriving wave pattern supplied to a liquid ejecting head tends to increase (attainment of a higher clock frequency) in order to increase a printing speed (decrease a printing time period), the influence of the external disturbance or mechanical factor described above increases so that ejection irregularity of liquid drops is easily caused. The smaller the drop size is, the more the ejection irregularity is easily caused, and it is easily caused in the case where a liquid drop is ejected from a nozzle with a low nozzle precision.

Image processing method, program, recording medium, image processing device, and image forming apparatus


A method and apparatus for positioning substrates is provided. The substrates are typically semiconductor wafers that require centering on a mounting location within a process module and orientation of a notch, flat or perimeter interruption to a known rotational position. A robot arm transfers wafers from a source to the process module. A camera is provided adjacent a path of travel of the robot arm to scan the wafers as they pass thereover. A grayscale analysis determines the centroid, or other reference point, of the wafer and the location of the notch or flat. The path of travel of the arm is altered to account for misalignment of the centroid/reference point from a known location. Data related to the rotational offset of the notch or flat relative to a known standard location is also obtained. The wafer can be rotated to position the notch or flat at a desired standard position using a rotator mounted on the robot arm or at a remote site.

The production of etched semiconductor wafers for use in microcircuit chips typically employs large process module systems. Semiconductor process modules form part of a large grouping of components that are usually located in a clean room environment. A clean room is an isolated environment in which the introduction of dust and other foreign matter is strictly controlled. Only by maintaining such control can a high quality semiconductor product be produced. The high level of environmental control makes clean room space extremely expensive. Since the majority of semiconductor processing equipment must be located within the floor space of the clean room, the size of that equipment becomes a significant cost consideration.
A conventional semiconductor wafer processing facility, according to the prior art, is detailed in FIG. 1. The facility in this example is a cluster tool 20. A variety of arrangements and organizations of facilities are in use. In particular, the cluster tool includes a central transport or handling module or platform 22 that is surrounded by modules that perform operations on the wafers. In this example, unprocessed wafers 24 are stored in a vacuum cassette elevator 26 that moves a stack of wafers upwardly to provide new wafers as needed. A robot arm 28 having articulating joints 30 and 32 connecting arm segments 33 and 35 is used to handle wafers 24 within the facility 20. An end effector 34 engages each wafer 24 and withdraws it (double arrow 36) from the vacuum cassette elevator 26 as needed. The arm 28 moves about its pivoting base 38 to access each of the facility modules according to a preprogrammed sequence or "recipe."
Wafers 24 are processed to include etched or deposited surfaces by process modules that perform specific tasks. A typical cluster tool can include two to four process modules. Wafers are often shuttled between one process module and another to undergo multiple process steps. Prior to entry of a wafer, into a process module it is common practice to align and orient the wafer into a standard position. Most wafers are circular in perimeter outline, but each may include a notch, flat or other "interruption" at an arbitrary location along its perimeter. This notch or flat serves to provide a standard rotational reference point for further processing.
When wafers 24 are stacked in the cassette 26, they are not generally oriented so that all notches or flats are similarly positioned. In addition, wafers are not always accurately centered on the end effector 34 following retrieval from the cassette 26. Hence, without performing prior alignment, each wafer may enter a particular process module with its own unique rotational orientation and centering. Proper processing generally necessitates that wafers be centered in the various process modules. Thus they must be centered relative to the end effectors that place wafers into the modules. Rotational orientation should also remain constant, particularly during the photolithography step of the process so that patterns are stacked over one another in the proper relationship. It is also desirable to maintain a known rotational orientation when wafers are periodically inspected for non-uniformities. An inspection usually entails a survey of the processed surface with respect to the notch or flat. If some portion of the processed surface includes a non-uniformity or defect, then this may suggest that a particular process module should be serviced. Accordingly, the position of the notch or flat relative to the mounting location 41 and 43 of the respective process module 40 and 42 must be known to derive the source of the non-uniformity. Hence, prior to insertion of wafers 24 into process modules 40 and 42, the wafers are fed (arrow 44) to an alignment module 46 that places each wafer in a properly centered and rotated position with respect to the robot arm.
During the alignment step, the end effector 34 lays each wafer atop a spinner or capstan 48 having a series of vacuum ports 50, or other friction-generating devices that retain the wafer on the spinner 48. A lifter having four pins 52 can be employed to carefully lower the wafer onto the spinner once the end effector is located over it. FIG. 2 illustrates the positioning of a typical wafer 24, in an unaligned state, on the spinner 48. The wafer's center 54 is offset from the desired center 56. Likewise, the notch 58 is offset from the desired rotational positioning of the notch (shown in phantom). This rotational offset is represented by an angle .theta.. The spinner 48 rotates the wafer 24 as an edge detector 60 scans the perimeter 62 of the wafer. Changes in position of the detected perimeter edge during rotation are used to derive the eccentricity of the wafer center 54 relative to the spinner center 56. An edge detect circuit 66 calculate the degree of eccentricity based upon the detected changes.
Based upon signals from a robot arm controller 68, the wafer is periodically lifted by the robot arm 28 to reposition the wafer so that its center 54 is aligned with the spinner center 56. Once the wafer is ally centered, the edge detector 60 is then focused upon the notch 58. The wafer is spun until the notch is found. The spinner 48 rotates the wafer so that the notch is positioned at a desired rotation orientation. Following the centering and orienting procedure, the wafer is lifted from the spinner 48 using, for example, the pins 52 and reengaged by the arm end effector 34. The end effector then transports the wafer (arrow 68) to the process module 40. At this time, the end effector enters the module and places the wafer at a precise, preprogrammed location for semiconductor processing. Following processing, the wafer is typically moved by the arm (arrow 70) to a receive indexer 72. The wafer may be realigned in the alignment module each time a further process is performed. Thus, if the wafer is subsequently moved to the second process module 42, it may, first, make a return trip to the alignment module 46.
In some facilities, process modules include elaborate entrance and exit load locks (ELL's and XLL's) each having individual arms with individual alignment units. Clearly, a great deal of space is occupied by the need for dedicated alignment modules and mechanisms. As noted above, this waste of precious clean room floor space to provide alignment devices adds substantial costs to the process.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for aligning and rotationally orienting substrates, such as semiconductor wafers, that omit complex alignment modules and mechanisms. This method and the related apparatus should increase the overall process speed for manufacturing wafers, but should still provide desired information on the precise orientation and alignment of individual wafers. The method and apparatus should also provide improved tracking of wafers as they move through a processing facility.

Method and apparatus for positioning substrates


The step for performing machine learning includes acquiring shape data; acquiring geometric information for each of a plurality of machining faces; acquiring a tool path pattern selected for the machining faces from among a plurality of tool path patterns; and performing machine learning by using the geometric data for known workpieces and the tool path patterns wherein the input is the geometric information for the machining faces and the output is the tool path pattern for the machining faces. The step for generating a new tool path includes: acquiring shape data for the workpiece; acquiring geometric information for each of the plurality of machining faces of the workpiece to be machined; and generating a tool path pattern for each of the plurality of machining faces on the workpiece on the basis of the results of the machine learning using the geometric information of the workpiece to be machined.

Conventionally, various technologies for supporting NC (Numerical Control) machining have been proposed. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method and device for supporting mold design using NC data. In Patent Literature 1, when designing a mold using the NC data of an existing mold, CAM data of the existing mold and CAM data of the design target mold are compared, and for each machining location, it is determined whether or not the data of the existing mold can be used. The ratio between the number of machining locations where the data of the existing mold can be used and the total number of machining locations is calculated as a diversion rate. A neural network is used in the calculation of the diversion rate.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a device for supporting the generation of tool path data in an NC machine tool. In Patent Literature 2, tool path data is automatically generated based on characteristic data of the three-dimensional shape of the product, material data, data on each machining step, data on the shape after each machining step, and data on usable tools.

Method and device for generating tool paths


In a channel managing apparatus and method for a digital/analog TV, if a user selects a desired channel, a type of broadcasting corresponding to the channel selected by the user is automatically switched to tune the channel. The channel managing apparatus for a digital/analog TV includes a memory for storing tabled channel information of all the broadcasting signals including digital and analog broadcasting signals, a controller for extracting channel information corresponding to a channel selected by a user if the user selects the channel and for outputting a control signal to tune the corresponding channel, a first switching portion for selecting one of outputs of a digital broadcasting receiver and an analog broadcasting receiver, and a signal processing and display portion for processing and displaying output signals of the first switching portion. Since it is possible to tune a desired channel using a number key or a channel up/down key without selecting a separate input mode, the user can be provided with convenience.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TV, and more particularly, to a channel managing apparatus and method for a digital/analog TV.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, an analog TV has poor picture quality in case of a large size, and has a limited channel structure including 80 channel bands of very high frequency and ultra high frequency. For these reasons, the analog TV has a limitation as a unidirectional medium.
To solve this problem of the analog TV, there is provided a digital TV which provides clear picture quality by two times as compared with the analog TV. Moreover, the digital TV can use all the channel regions which were not previously available because there is no interference between adjacent channels.
However, to convert the current analog broadcasting to the digital broadcasting, it is necessary to convert all of broadcasting apparatuses and a TV receiver This requires much time and thus it is probably that there co-exist the analog broadcasting and the digital broadcasting for a certain time period.
It is therefore expected that there will be a trend to a digital/analog TV which is capable of receiving both analog signals and digital signals at the same time, until the digital broadcasting system is completely established. A system which receives different broadcasting systems such as the digital/analog TV and a satellite broadcasting TV is required to overcome various drawbacks which may obstruct broadcasting quality.
A channel managing apparatus and method for a related art digital/analog TV will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a channel managing apparatus for a related art digital/analog TV, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a channel managing method for a related art digital/analog TV.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art digital/analog TV includes a satellite tuner 1 for selectively receiving a certain frequency band among satellite broadcasting signals, a demultiplexer 2 for demultiplexing broadcasting signals received by the satellite broadcasting tuner 1 to image signal, voice signal and various control signals, an A/V decoder 3 for decoding voice signals and image signals output from the demultiplexer 2, an NTSC encoder 4 for encoding a digital image signal output from the A/V decoder 3 to an NTSC signal and outputting a luminous signal Y and a color signal C to be displayed on a TV or a monitor, a ground wave tuner 5 for selectively receiving a certain frequency band among analog ground wave broadcasting signals, an outer input portion 6 for inputting outer signals such as a VTR signal or audio signal, a switching portion 7 for selecting one of the output of the ground wave tuner 5 and the output of the outer input portion 6, a VCD processor 8 for processing a series of signals to display the output of the switching portion 7 on a screen, a display portion 9 for displaying the output of the VCD processor 8 on the screen, a controller 10 for outputting a control signal to the switching portion 7 to tune into a channel selected by a user, and a memory 11 for storing channel information of all the broadcasting signals.
The satellite broadcasting tuner 1 and the ground wave tuner 5 receive the satellite broadcasting or the analog ground wave broadcasting to select a desired channel.
The demultiplexer 2 outputs a corresponding signal only by a control signal of the channel selected by the user among signals output from the satellite broadcasting tuner 1. The A/V decoder 3 recovers and outputs image and voice signals among signals selectively output from the demultiplexer 2.
The NTSC encoder 4 encodes the digital image signal to an NTSC signal and then outputs the luminous signal Y and the color signal C to be displayed on a TV or monitor
The switching portion 7 selectively outputs one of the outputs of the NTSC encoder 4, the ground wave tuner 5, and the outer input portion 6 in response to the control signal of the controller 10.
The VCD processor 8 processes image and deflection by inputting signals output from the switching portion 7, and the display portion 9 displays signals processed by the VCD processor 8 on the screen.
A channel managing method for the aforementioned digital/analog TV will be described with reference to FIG. 2.
First, an input mode is selected by key input operation of the user (S1). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not outer apparatuses have been selected (S2). As a result, if the outer apparatuses have been selected, an outer input mode is switched (S3). While, if the outer apparatuses have not been selected, it is determined whether or not the ground wave broadcasting mode has been selected (S4). If the ground wave broadcasting mode has been selected, the channel selected by the user is tuned (S5). If the ground wave broadcasting mode has not been selected, the satellite broadcasting mode is switched (S6). A channel is selected by manipulating a number key or a channel up/down key so that the selected channel is tuned (S7).
However, the related art digital/analog TV has a problem that causes the user inconvenience because a desired channel should be tuned after determining a type of broadcasting.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a channel managing apparatus and method for a digital/analog TV that substantially obviate one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a channel managing apparatus and method for a digital/analog TV in which if a user selects a desired channel, a type of broadcasting corresponding to the channel selected by the user is automatically switched to tune the channel.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a channel managing apparatus for a digital/analog TV according to the present invention includes a memory for storing tabled channel information of all the broadcasting signals including digital and analog broadcasting signals, a controller for extracting channel information corresponding to a channel selected by a user if the user selects the channel and for outputting a control signal to tune the corresponding channel, a first switching portion for selecting one of outputs of a digital broadcasting receiver and an analog broadcasting receiver, and a signal processing and display portion for processing and displaying output signals of the first switching portion.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

Channel managing apparatus and method for digital/analog TV


A filtering system for very high-speed image processing performs such image processing in parallel for each unit sequentially in each line. The filtering system includes an input unit having input elements for taking up all or a part of image data of each line in the order of raster scan, a processing unit having processing elements for performing image processing computation in parallel for each pixel as image data from each input element is transferred simultaneously, an output unit having output elements where processing data from each processing element is simultaneously transferred, and a controller for controlling the input unit, the processing unit, and the output unit. Each processing element includes an endless memory having memory capacity for storing as much data as required of a row in charge of processing and has a terminal address connected to a top address, a base pointer for writing the top address next to the terminal address such that each content is changed for each line by a command from the controller, and a reference pointer for writing the content of the base pointer for each line and for specifying an address of the memory by changing each content of the data read from the endless memory. By this arrangement, a region of the endless memory corresponding to a mask size of the filter is sequentially accessed by the reference pointer.

The present invention relates to a filtering operation method of a very high-speed image processing system RIPE (real-time image processing engine) for performing large-scale pre-processing of an image in real time.
There are now increasing demands on an image processing using computers in the fields of medical electronics, industrial production, etc. The primary, aim of the development in these applications in the near future is to achieve real-time processing of 2-dimensional or multi-dimensional large-scale images (high quality image). To improve recognizing ability of the system, it is essential to increase resolution of the image itself. For this purpose, it is necessary to increase the number of pixels and to enlarge mask size of the filter in pre-processing.
Actual requirements on image processing for the next several years would be:
(1) Multi-valued and color image having more than 2048.times.2048 pixels per image which can be processed.
(2) Local parallel processing such as filtering can be accomplished at high speed for the above image.
(3) Filtering operation can be achieved using a mask of 50.times.50 size.
In the image processing, pre-processing such as filtering is often performed. As the scales of image and filter become larger, calculation time required for pre-processing rapidly increases.
In the image processing system applied practically in medical electronics and industrial applications, processing is primarily performed for an image having about 512.times.512 pixels. For the pre-processing of an image with complicated density such as X-ray film for medical use with resolution of 2048.times.2048 pixels, real-time processing is practically difficult to perform even when a general-purpose large computer such as supercomputer is used. In order to actualize a special-purpose system for efficient pre-processing of such large-scale image, it seems to be essential to perform processing in parallel and in pipeline. In particular, most of the algorithms for filtering operation frequently use parallel type multiplication and addition, and it appears that spatial parallel processing for each pixel is effective.
To store data in so-called line parallel local computation where parallel processing for each pixel is performed by preparing as many computing elements as the pixels in a line of an image, a memory of finite length having linear address has been used in the past. However, when it is attempted to execute line parallel local computation by a program using such memory, it is necessary to sequentially change (move) the storage site of original data and intermediate results in memory. One of the effective methods is to move a base pointer of the storage site of original data and intermediate results in memory. When this method is used, it is necessary to make access to the original data and the intermediate results always through the base pointer. For this purpose, the memory must be accessed twice, i.e. it is essential to change the content of the base pointer and to read the content of the memory specified by the base pointer. Also, much time is required because of overhead for processing to operate the pointer at memory boundary.
In the filtering operation of line parallel local computation for performing parallel processing for each pixel by preparing as many computation elements as the pixels in a line of an image, each processing element performs computation on pixel data of a row, for which it is in charge of processing, and receives pixel data of the other rows. This data is multiplied by weight of a filter and processings are performed such as addition. Thus, the numbers of transfers, the number of multiplications and additions between the rows are increased. Especially, when mask size of the filter is increased, much time is required for filtering operation.

Filtering operation method for very high-speed image processing system

Research Development Corporation of Japan


The present invention is directed to a vehicle motion control apparatus, which includes a hydraulic pressure regulating device disposed between a master cylinder and a pair of wheel brake cylinders included in each of a dual hydraulic circuit, and a monitor for monitoring state variable of the vehicle. A desired value is provided for a wheel brake cylinder operatively associated with a wheel to be controlled, on the basis of the state variable. The regulating device is controlled in response to a result of comparison between the desired value and the state variable, to regulate the pressure in at least the wheel brake cylinder operatively associated with said wheel to be controlled. A pressure increasing gradient of the hydraulic braking pressure in the wheel brake cylinder operatively associated with the wheel to be controlled, is set in response to a result of comparison between the desired value and the state variable. The pressure increasing gradient provided when the brake pedal is depressed is set to be steeper than that provided when the brake pedal is not depressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle motion control apparatus, particularly relates to the vehicle motion control apparatus for regulating a hydraulic braking pressure supplied to at least one wheel brake cylinder out of a pair of wheel brake cylinders included in a hydraulic circuit, to restrain an excessive oversteer and/or an excessive understeer, thereby to maintain stability of a vehicle in motion.
2. Description of the Related Arts
As for a vehicle motion control apparatus, there is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3058172, which corresponds to the U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,431, for example, an apparatus for controlling vehicle motion, by determining a desired yaw rate of a vehicle, and controlling braking force in response to a comparison of the desired yaw rate with a sensed actual yaw rate of the vehicle to maintain a vehicle stability during the vehicle motion.
In Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 10-211873, a vehicle posture control apparatus has been proposed, so as to enable a vehicle driver to depress a brake pedal even when a vehicle posture control is being performed, and enable the posture control to be performed by his own braking operation. In this publication, it is described that the apparatus is provided with two circuits of brake conduits for communicating a master cylinder with a pair of brake cylinders out of four brake cylinders, respectively, a pair of cut-off valves for shutting off the communication between the master cylinder and the brake conduit of each circuit to be capable of being opened or closed, and a hydraulic pressure source provided for supplying brake pressure individually to the two circuits of brake conduits. As for means for controlling the vehicle posture, there are disclosed a main control section for regulating the brake pressure supplied from the pressure source into each brake cylinder, with the pair of cut-off valves placed in their closed positions to shut off the communication between the master cylinder and all of the brake cylinders, and an opening motion control section for controlling one of the cut-off valves to be changed over to an open state, when braking operation by the vehicle driver is detected by braking operation detection means.
Also, in Japanese Patent (PCT) Laid-open publication No. 2000-503279, which corresponds to the U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,018, there is disclosed a motor vehicle braking system with traction control and/or movement dynamics regulating device, as explained hereinafter. That is, to enable building up brake pressure rapidly, one additional pump is provided in each brake circuit, whose intake side is connected directly to a master cylinder, and between an intake side of the additional pump and the master cylinder, there are no hydraulic components that would act as throttles and thereby delay the brake pressure buildup. Then, with respect to an improvement of the intake side of the additional pump and its effect, it is described that the invention has the advantage of a rapid brake pressure buildup when the master cylinder is not actuated. Furthermore, it is described (with reference numerals omitted herein) that a switchover valve is embodied as a controllable differential pressure valve, that is, a pressure difference between the wheel brake cylinder side and the master cylinder side can be established, with the pressure higher on the wheel brake cylinder side. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the switchover valve is a differential pressure proportional magnet valve. Then, it is described that if a tendency to locking or slipping occurs at one of the vehicle wheels, or if the electronic control unit by means of its gyroscope finds that the vehicle is threatening to skid, then the pump motor is turned on, and that an individual-wheel brake pressure regulation is effected in a manner known per se using the return pump, brake pressure buildup valves, and brake pressure reduction valves.
In Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 11-301435, there is disclosed a linear pressure difference valve for use in a brake-by-wire system, similar to the valve as shown in FIG. 1 of the publication No. 2000-503279. Then, it is described (with reference numerals omitted herein) that the linear pressure difference valves allow the flow of brake fluid between a reservoir and each wheel cylinder, almost without flow resistance, at a communication position through each valve member. A valve state with the valve member placed in a pressure difference position is controlled by electric current fed to each solenoid, to control an amount of the valve member lifted from a valve seat. In the pressure difference position, the state of the valve member can be controlled from a position for completely shutting off a conduit to a throttle position, in response to the lifted amount. In the case where the lifted amount corresponds to an approximately intermediate position from the valve seat, the throttle position has been provided for the conduit, thereby to restrict the brake fluid from flowing from the wheel cylinder to the reservoir. As a result, the brake pressure in the wheel cylinder (wheel cylinder pressure) can be held with the pressure difference against the reservoir. And, there is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 9-240455, which corresponds to the U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,581, a reservoir having a function for shutting off an intake passage for a hydraulic pressure pump when introducing brake fluid, as indicated by "200" in FIG. 6 of the Japanese publication No. 9-240455.
In order to improve a decelerating response of a vehicle, when a vehicle driver makes a braking operation while a vehicle motion control is being performed, a vehicle motion control apparatus has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 10-24821, wherein braking force applied to each wheel of the vehicle is detected by wheel braking force detection means, and wherein motion control means prohibits a wheel to be controlled from being controlled thereby, when the braking force applied to a wheel not to be controlled by the motion control means exceeds the braking force applied to the wheel to be controlled, while the vehicle motion control is being performed. And, the motion control means includes turning control means for applying the braking force to a first wheel out of all the wheels, so as to modify a vehicle moment for forcing the vehicle to be in a stable state, and deceleration control means for applying the braking force to a second wheel out of all the wheels, except for the first wheel, so as to reduce the vehicle speed.
As for the wheel braking force detection means, in Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 10-24821, for example, employed is wheel deceleration detection means for calculating a deceleration of each wheel on the basis of a wheel speed detected by a wheel speed sensor. Therefore, it is described that such an expensive sensor as a master cylinder pressure sensor, or wheel cylinder pressure sensor is not required. More practically, the deceleration control is prohibited, when a brake switch (stop switch) has been turned on for a period longer than a predetermined time, and when acceleration of the wheel not to be controlled is smaller than acceleration of the wheel whose deceleration is to be controlled. Furthermore, in Japanese Patent No. 3045057, disclosed is a vehicle behavior control apparatus for terminating a behavior control when hunting might be caused in the behavior control. In practice, when the braking force is applied to a wheel and released from the same, repeatedly and continuously, it is determined that the hunting might be caused in the behavior control. In order to stable the behavior, therefore, it is proposed to prohibit the braking force from being applied to each wheel.
According to the apparatuses as disclosed in the above publication Nos. 10-211873 and 2000-503279, however, it is required that the hydraulic pressure discharged from the hydraulic pressure pump is regulated by controlling the brake pressure buildup valves and brake pressure reduction valves, with the communication with the master cylinder being shut off, when the control for maintaining a stability of the vehicle in motion (i.e., vehicle stability control) is performed. Therefore, required is a master cylinder pressure sensor as disclosed in the above publication No. 10-211873 for detecting the master cylinder pressure discharged in response to braking operation of the vehicle driver while the vehicle stability control is being performed. And, presumably, the apparatus as disclosed in the above publication No. 2000-503279 will also require a hydraulic pressure sensor similar to the sensor as described above.
However, the pressure sensor for detecting the master cylinder pressure is very expensive, so that if it is not required to detect the operation of the brake pedal during the vehicle stability control, and if the hydraulic pressure sensor can be omitted, a great cost down can be achieved. Supposing that the linear pressure difference valve as disclosed in the above publication No. 11-301435, or known linear solenoid valves are employed, and that switching valves for use in the vehicle stability control are controlled in a different manner from the prior control manner, the vehicle stability control can be performed smoothly, without the expensive master cylinder pressure sensor provided in the apparatus.
As for an embodiment for controlling valves or the like in the stability control, may be employed for example a so-called diagonal control system, wherein a hydraulic circuit connected to wheel brake cylinders is divided into two hydraulic circuits each including a pair of wheel brake cylinders, and a hydraulic pressure regulating device is disposed between a master cylinder and a pair of wheel brake cylinders included in each hydraulic circuit, and wherein one of the pair of wheel brake cylinders is selected to be the one operatively associated with the wheel to be controlled, so that the hydraulic braking pressure therein is regulated in response to the vehicle state variable, whereby the vehicle stability control may be performed smoothly, without the master cylinder pressure sensor. In the case where the vehicle stability control is being performed according to the diagonal control system, however, when the brake pedal is depressed to terminate the vehicle stability control, the hunting might be caused, so that the stability control might not be terminated smoothly.
In the mean time, it is described in the above publication No. 10-24821 that without using any expensive sensors such as master cylinder pressure sensor or wheel cylinder pressure sensor, motion control means can prohibit the wheel to be controlled from being controlled, when the braking force applied to the wheel not to be controlled exceeds the braking force applied to the wheel to be controlled. However, this relates to the deceleration control on the basis of the comparison between the braking force applied to the wheel to be controlled and the braking force applied to the wheel not to be controlled, without directly using the brake pressure increased in response to operation of the brake pedal.
Although it is proposed in the Japanese Patent No. 3045057 that when the hunting might be caused in the behavior control, the behavior control shall be terminated. As a result, the hunting will be prevented, while a trace property will be deteriorated. It is, therefore desired that the hunting can be prevented by decelerating the vehicle speed, with the trace property being maintained as the effect of the stability control. Particularly, in case of the diagonal control system as described above, the apparatus as disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 3045057 will not act as an appropriate countermeasure against the hunting that will be caused when the brake pedal is depressed during the stability control, thereby to terminate the control.


The present invention relates to a device for detecting whether a battery is connected to an electric charger or the battery is disconnected therefrom. This invention is simple in construction, and can effectively carry out the operation thereof. The device of this invention includes a heat sensitive element connected through a temperature detecting line to a data processor and a reference voltage source connected to the end of the heat sensitive element. After at least one battery is connected to the device and an electric charging into the battery is completed, the battery is removed, whereby a data processor detects the resulting voltage change through the temperature detecting line similarly operating as a voltage detecting line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a device for detecting connection or disconnection of a battery to an electric charger.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Secondary batteries, especially Ni-Cd storage batteries, are used in various fields as power sources for cordless telephones, video recorders and other home electric appliances. Generally, rapid charging is carried out in about 1-2 hours at a charging rate of between 0.5 C and I.5 C. The Ni-Cd cell or battery is frequently used so that during the use thereof, it often requires an electrical charging, and in many cases, the rapid or quick charge is carried out. The quick charging operation means that the battery is subjected to a type of treatment which is carried out under a comparatively severe condition to the battery and therefore, it is necessary for the quick charging to be controlled so as not to overcharge the battery.
A -.DELTA.V system and a temperature control system have been put into practical use as systems for controlling the rapid charge. The temperature control system is carried out in such a manner that a heat sensitive element (such as, a thermistor) is contained in a battery pack, and a temperature detecting line connected to an end of the thermistor is led to a data processor within an electric charger. The thermistor's resistance value is changed depending on a change in the ambient or environmental temperature. Therefore, if a current flowing therethrough or an electric voltage at the end of the thermistor is measured, the temperature around the thermistor can be effectively detected. Accordingly, if the data processor detects that the temperature of the battery has risen at around the time when the charging by the electric charger has ended, the rapid charging operation can be terminated. Thereafter, the rapid charging is switched to an ordinary trickle charging. Trickle charging means a charging operation by which a battery is electrically charged in a continuous manner with a current which is near the self-discharge of the battery.
There is another control system for controlling the rapid charging. This control system operates in such a manner that a timer is provided to control the charging time at a predetermined value. More particularly, the timer is set in advance for preventing the rapid charging from being continued for an excessive period of time on such an occasion when the temperature control system or the -.DELTA.V system fails to operate for some reason, and a further continuous rapid charging is carried out beyond the predetermined time. This timer, however, has to be reset after the operation of the control system has ended or switched to a trickle charging. The timer is usually reset after it is detected that the storage battery after the completion of the charge is removed from the electric charger. Furthermore, the electric charger has lamps for indicating operations (such as, rapid charging and trickle charging), whereby the battery pack is not connected to the battery charger or the like.
The conventional charger is, in general, sufficient in that it detects whether the battery to be charged is connected thereto or not, and the lamp indication is changed over, and the timer is reset. For this purpose, a mechanical switch is used for detecting whether the battery pack is connected to the electric charger or not, and the switch is actuated by the size and weight of the battery. However, if the mechanical switch is used, the reliability thereof is decreased, and it is not suitable for use in a small-sized device. Furthermore, it has been hitherto carried out that the connection or disconnection of the battery pack is detected by a current or a voltage. However, in such an operation, there is the fear of erroneous detection in a case where the battery is inactive or deteriorated.

Device for detecting connection or disconnection of a battery to an electric charger


An air intake device of an internal combustion engine comprises a cylinder head having therein two intake ports that are adapted to connect to a cylinder of a cylinder block; and a single partition plate that extends across both the two intake ports so that each of the two intake ports is divided into first and second air passages.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates in general to air intake devices of internal combustion engines, and more particularly to the air intake devices of a type that has two intake ports for each cylinder of a cylinder block of the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of Related Art
Laid-open Japanese Patent Application (Tokkai) 2001-193469 shows an air intake device of the above-mentioned type that is constructed to strengthen a tumbling air flow led to the cylinders of the engine. That is, in the air intake device disclosed by the publication, an elongate partition plate is installed in each intake port in a manner to extend along an axis of the intake port defining upper and lower parallel passages therein. The partition plates are integrally installed in the cylinder head upon casting of the cylinder head. Each partition plate has side edges embedded in a cylindrical wall of the intake port.

Air intake device of internal combustion engine


A display panel and a mask plate are provided. The display panel includes a base substrate, a thin film transistor substrate disposed on the base substrate, a light-emitting layer disposed on the thin film transistor substrate, a cathode layer disposed on the light-emitting layer, a covering layer and a protective layer laminated on the cathode layer, and an encapsulation layer disposed on the protective layer. Wherein, the cathode layer is provided with a through hole penetrating the cathode layer, and the through hole is filled with a transparent layer.

Compared with conventional liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) devices have advantages of light weight, wide viewing angles, fast response time, low temperature resistance, and high luminous efficiency. Therefore, they have been regarded as the next generation of new display technologies in the display industry. To improve screen ratio of OLED panels, panel manufacturers have successively launched notched screens, water drop screens, tear-dropped screens, and other products.
As shown in FIG. 1, an OLED display panel is characterized in that an O-shaped hole 10 is designed in a non-edge display area, and a camera, an infrared sensor, an earpiece, and the like can be placed under the O-shaped hole 10. The position of the O-shaped hole 10 can be arbitrarily disposed by design, which can be used for position flexibility of the camera, the infrared sensor, the earpiece, and the like in the display area of the panel.
However, due to low transmittance of a part of film layers in OLED panels such as cathodes, the loss of external light after passing through the O-shaped area is large, which ultimately prevents the camera and other modules from forming images clearly.

Display panel and mask plate having a through hole penetrating cathode layer


Embodiments of the invention relate to processing queries that utilize fact and/or dimension tables. In one aspect, a pre-join filtering phase precedes a star join. The necessary conditions for the pre-join filtering are considered for a given SQL query, including an estimated size of the hash table exceeding a threshold and presence of a local predicate either on the fact table or one or more dimension tables that is not a large dimension table. Once the necessary conditions are satisfied, the execution of the query exploits the pre-join filtering to build a pre-join output filter from columns of a reduced fact table that joins with each large dimension table. Thereafter, all the dimension tables and the fact table are joined in a star join while exploiting each pre-join filter.

The invention relates to efficiently performing hash join with large dimension tables. More specifically, the invention efficiently performs star join queries that reference large dimension tables.
A fact table is the central table in a star schema of a data warehouse. The fact table stores quantitative information for analysis and works with dimension tables. A fact table holds data to be analyzed, and a dimension table stores data about the ways in which the data in the fact table can be analyzed. Accordingly, dimension tables contain attributes that describe fact records in the fact table.
A star schema is a data warehousing schema that consists of one or more fact tables referencing any number of dimension tables. SQL queries to star schemas are accomplished with inner joins between the fact table and its dimension tables, also known as a star join. The star join is constrained by memory, and as such a star join for a large dimension table is prohibitive.

Efficient join with one or more large dimension tables

International Business Machines Corporation