A cleaning device excellent in cleaning performance and durability and an image forming apparatus using the same are provided. The cleaning device includes an edge part coming into contact with the surface of the image carrier; the edge part is made of an elastic expanded body having an expanded cell; and number particle size distribution values D10 and D90 of the expanded cell meet the following requirements (1) and (2) against a number particle size distribution value D10 of the toner. (1) The number particle size distribution value D10 of the expanded cell is ¼ times or more of the number particle size distribution value D10 of the toner. (2) The number particle size distribution value D90 of the expanded cell is not more than 50 times of the number particle size distribution value D10 of the toner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning device and to an image forming apparatus using the same. In detail, the invention relates to a cleaning device excellent in cleaning performance and durability and to an imaging forming apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A general electrophotographic process includes a step of charging an image carrier such as a photoconductor; a step of forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor by image exposure; a step of developing the electrostatic latent image with a toner to form a toner image; a step of transferring the toner image onto a material to be transferred; and a step of cleaning the residual toner on the photoconductor, and further includes a step of destaticizing the photoconductor as the need arises. In a development step of a dry electrophotographic system, a toner image is formed by using a powdered toner, which is then transferred onto a material to be transferred such as paper and an intermediate transfer medium. The residual toner on the photoconductor after the transfer or the toner which has not been transferred from the photoconductor due to a paper jam or the like is removed from the photoconductor in a subsequent cleaning step by a cleaner such as a blade, a brush applied with a bias, and a roller.
For example, though a blade cleaning system can be configured relatively cheaply, it is insufficient for cleaning a toner which is in general a fine particle; and for the purpose of obtaining a sufficient cleaning performance, when the blade is brought into strong contact with the photoconductor, an edge part of the blade is partially broken, or the blade is turned up. And, when the edge part of the blade is broken or turned up, a cleaning performance set up at the beginning is not obtained, cleaning failure occurs, and a serious defect is generated on an image.
Then, there is taken a countermeasure for widening a margin of a cleaning condition by containing a fluorocarbon resin in a photoconductor surface portion which is a member to be cleaned or mixing a lubricant such as zinc stearate into a toner, thereby reducing the friction between the blade and the photoconductor surface to make the toner easy to peel away from the photoconductor. However, if a large amount of a mold releasing agent is mixed in the photoconductor surface portion, characteristics of the photoconductor must be sacrificed to some extent, and it is difficult to obtain a photoconductor with high performance. Also, if a lubricant is mixed in the toner, a charging performance as the toner is influenced not a few, and it is difficult to obtain a toner with high performance. Also, even when the foregoing countermeasure is taken, it is difficult to make both sufficient cleaning performance and durability compatible with each other.
Also, in addition to the blade cleaning system, for example, a sponge roller is used as a cleaning measure using a roller. This is a system in which an elastic sponge roller constituted of expanded polyurethane or the like is brought into contact with a photoconductor and a toner is moved into a side of the sponge roller by an electric field and is a system in which cleaning is performed while storing the toner in the sponge roller during the image forming action and the toner is discharged out into a side of the photoconductor between papers on which an image is not formed or at the time of finish action or the like, thereby recovering the toner by a development unit or a separately provided cleaner. Separately from this, there is also known a system in which a metallic roller or the like is further brought into contact with a sponge roller and provided with a blade cleaner or the like, thereby recovering the toner.
In the foregoing cleaning measure using a roller, since the electric field is applied by using the sponge roller, a bearing or a bias feed measure is essential. Also, in the foregoing system of once storing the toner in the roller and then discharging out it, a reversely charged toner or the like cannot be controlled, a problem of deterioration of image quality is inevitable, and simultaneously, a discharge-out action or the like must be frequently carried out, whereby the performance of apparatus is lowered. Also, in the system of recovering the toner by providing a metallic roller or the like, parts such as a metallic roller and a blade are additionally needed, the costs are expensive, and the configuration becomes large in size. Furthermore, even in the foregoing systems, when the particle size of the toner is small, sufficient cleaning becomes difficult. Under these circumstances, there are made some attempts to improve the performance of an elastic roller such as a sponge roller.
For example, JP-A-2003-226773 discloses a method of preparing an expanded elastic roller for cleaning by a supercritical fluid technology and results of use thereof. Furthermore, JP-A-2003-231769 discloses a method of preparing expanded polyurethane by employing a supercritical fluid technology, an expanded sponge roller obtained by the subject method and results of use thereof. According to the expanded sponge roller disclosed in JP-A-2003-231769, it is disclosed that a cleaning performance is improved and that a blade can be prepared in the same configuration.
On the other hand, the blade cleaning is advantageous as a cleaning measure because of a relatively cheap device configuration. Then, the present inventors made expanded blades on an experimental basis in the manufacturing methods disclosed in the foregoing patent documents and carried out tests. As a result, they found the following problems.
(i) When the foregoing expanded blade is formed in a pad-like shape and brought in a fixed area into contact with a photoconductor, though the initial cleaning performance is good, cleaning failure occurs immediately due to plugging.
(ii) When an edge part of the foregoing expanded blade is brought into contact with a photoconductor as in usual blades, a good cleaning performance is not obtained from the beginning. Also, when a paper-passing test is carried out, cleaning failure occurs immediately as the case may be.
(iii) As compared with conventional urethane rubbers, the expanded polyurethane is weak in "elasticity" and narrow in a margin of a cleaning condition, and blade turning up is easy to occur overwhelmingly.
As described above, though JP-A-2003-226773 and JP-A-2003-231769 describe that the elastic expanded body prepared by a supercritical fluid technology can be utilized as a cleaning roller or a blade in an electrophotographic apparatus, even when an expanded blade is prepared merely by the technologies disclosed in these patent documents, a sufficient cleaning performance cannot be obtained. Originally, in the case of blade cleaning, when an expanded body is used, it is just like the matter that "blade breakage" appears to occur from the beginning, and a good cleaning performance cannot be expected. Also, as common sense in the art, the "cleaning using an expanded body" as referred to herein is not blade cleaning but means a technology using a cleaning roller or a cleaning pad. Accordingly, there has not hitherto been made a proposal to venture to employ an elastic expanded body for blade cleaning, thereby improving cleaning performance or durability or the like as in the invention.

Cleaning device and image forming apparatus using the same


Provided are a display panel and manufacturing method thereof, control method and display apparatus. The display panel includes a first substrate including first base substrate and driving structure layer, and a second substrate including second base substrate and black matrix layer, driving structure layer includes multiple switching transistors, the display panel includes multiple pixel units, each pixel unit includes a switching transistor. One side of black matrix layer close to first substrate is provided with multiple groove structures corresponding to multiple pixel units one-to-one. Orthographic projection of black matrix layer on first base substrate covers those of multiple switching transistors on first base substrate, and orthographic projection of the groove structure on first base substrate at least partially overlaps with that of a channel region of switching transistor in corresponding pixel unit on first base substrate to enable light meeting preset wavelength condition to be incident into the display panel.

A Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is a kind of a flat panel display apparatus, and gains popularity in the field of high-performance display for its small size, low power consumption, no radiation and relatively low manufacturing cost, etc.
A liquid crystal display panel and a backlight module are important components of a liquid crystal display apparatus. The backlight source is disposed on one side of the liquid crystal display panel to achieve image display. The liquid crystal display panel includes an array substrate, a color filter substrate and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the array substrate and the color filter substrate.

Display panel and manufacturing method thereof, control method and display apparatus

Beijing BOE Display Technology Co., Ltd.


A dual-stack document storage bin comprises a substantially U-shaped container including a first bottom wall which interconnects first and second sidewalls to provide (i) the substantially U-shape, and (ii) a first document storage chamber which is defined between the first and second sidewalls and into which documents can be stacked to form a first stack of documents when the U-shaped container is in a first position. The dual-stack document storage bin further comprises a substantially L-shaped housing including a second bottom wall and a third sidewall which is disposed relative to the second bottom wall to provide (i) the substantially L-shape, and (ii) a second document storage chamber which is defined between the third side wall and the second sidewall and into which documents can be stacked to form a second stack of documents when the U-shaped container is in a second position which is different from the first position. The dual-stack document storage bin also comprises a mechanism operatively coupled between the first and second bottom walls to support substantially horizontal sliding movement of the U-shaped container between the first position in which documents can be stacked onto the first stack of documents in the first document storage chamber and the second position in which documents can be stacked onto the second stack of documents in the second document storage chamber.

The present invention relates to stacking deposited documents in a self-service environment, such as stacking checks and currency notes which have been deposited at an automated teller machine (ATM), and is particularly directed to a dual-stack document storage bin for use in a self-service bunch document depositing terminal, such as a bunch document depositing automated teller machine (ATM).
In a typical bunch document depositing ATM, an ATM customer is allowed to deposit a bunch of documents of the same type such as currency notes or checks (without having to place any of the documents in a deposit envelope) in a publicly accessible, unattended environment. To deposit a bunch of documents, the ATM customer inserts a user identification card through a user card slot at the ATM, enters the amount of the bunch of documents being deposited, and inserts the bunch of documents to be deposited through a slot of a bunch document acceptor module. A document transport mechanism receives the inserted bunch of documents and transports the documents one-by-one in a forward direction along a document transport path to a number of locations within the ATM to process the documents.
If a particular document is not accepted for deposit, the document transport mechanism transports the entire bunch of documents in a manner to return the bunch of documents to the ATM customer. If the entire bunch of documents is accepted for deposit, the amount of the bunch of documents is deposited into the ATM customer's account and the documents are transported one-by one to a number of document storage bins within the ATM. If a bunch of documents is a bunch of checks, an endorser printer prints an endorsement onto each check as the check is being transported to and stored in a check storage bin. If a bunch of documents is a bunch of currency notes, then each currency note is transported to and stored in a currency storage bin. Documents in the different storage bins are periodically picked up and physically transported via courier to a back office facility of a financial institution for further processing.
Each of the check storage bin and the currency storage bin is a type of document storage bin which may be of the same construction. Both document storage bins are usually located inside of a pocketing module. The pocketing module is usually located below the bunch document acceptor module. If additional document storage capacity is desired (e.g., additional check storage capacity or currency storage capacity is desired), then another document storage bin is added to the pocketing module. A drawback in adding another document storage bin to the pocketing module is that additional hardware for the document transport mechanism and another document storage bin are needed. It would be desirable to provide a type of document storage bin in which document storage capacity (i.e., either check storage capacity or currency storage capacity, or both) is increased without having to add another document storage bin to the pocketing module.

Dual-stack document storage bin for use in a self-service bunch document depositing terminal


An antenna includes an antenna substrate comprising a first end and a second end, and an antenna element attached to the antenna substrate. The antenna element is configured to receive communication signals within a partial hemispherical-shaped signal reception region oriented about the first end of the antenna substrate. A signal gain reduction portion is at least partially located between the antenna element and the second end of the antenna substrate, and is configured to reduce signal gain in an opposite partial hemispherical-shaped region oriented about the second end of the antenna substrate.

Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication is a technology that allows vehicles to communicate with other vehicles, infrastructures, and pedestrians to improve safety, energy/fuel efficiency and traffic flow. V2X can be based on V2X radio technology, cellular based V2X technology (CV2X) or other types of related technologies that provide communication via wireless signals.
A vehicle equipped with V2X technology may contain an onboard communication module and an antenna. The onboard module transmits information about the vehicles speed, direction, position, etc. The V2X antenna may be placed on top of the vehicle or in the passenger cabin. However, V2X antennas placed on roofs may not be able to provide complete 360-degree coverage around the vehicle, and certain types of integrated multimedia antennas can block the signal in a given direction.
The addition of another antenna placed in a rearward or forward position on the vehicle may obstruct the driver's view. For example, an antenna may be placed in the windshield of the vehicle, however this space is already becoming crowded with other items such as front mounted cameras, rain sensors, heating elements, etc., and the available space is expected to decrease further with the adoption of autonomous vehicles.
These and other problems are addressed in the present application.


This invention is directed to a composite composition of particles of highly oriented graphite in the form of flakes having a hexagonal crystal orientation and an aspect ratio of at least 5 to 1 and a polymeric binder which when polymerized under compression forms a solid having a high thermal conductivity and low density and to a method of forming a machinable composite of high thermal conductivity comprising the steps of combining particles of highly oriented graphite flakes having an hexagonal crystal orientation and an aspect ratio of at least 5 to 1 with a polymeric binder to form a composition having at least a 40% graphite particle volume fraction, compressing the composition under a pressure sufficient to substantially align the particles parallel to one another and to the surface of the composition normal to the direction of the applied pressure until said binder polymerizes into a solid thereby forming an electrically conductive solid having a high thermal conductivity.

It is well known that high power electronic assemblies and components are generally provided with an aluminum or copper heat sink for dissipation of waste heat. Similarly, individual integrated circuits are also mounted on aluminum or copper for heat transfer and heat spreading to alleviate hot spots. As electronic device densities continue to increase, more components are packed into smaller areas and management of the waste heat becomes increasingly more important. High temperature can seriously degrade the life of the electronics.
Hitherto, aluminum or copper has been the material of choice for dissipating and spreading heat. Copper has a thermal conductivity of 380 watts/meter-K which is higher than that of aluminum with a thermal conductivity of 180 watts/meter-K but the density of copper (8.9 gm/cm.sup.3) is over three times that of aluminum (2.7 gm/cm.sup.3). In fact the ratio of thermal conductivity to unit density for copper is 44 as compared to a thermal conductivity ratio for aluminum of 64. Hence, in an application where weight is an important factor aluminum is preferred for use in dissipating heat over that of copper. As electronic items shrink in size, power densities and waste heat become increasing problems and the geometry of the aluminum or copper heat dissipator becomes a limiting factor. For effective heat transfer with aluminum the dissipator will need to be very large whereas for effective heat transfer with copper both weight and geometry considerations prevail. The geometry of the heat dissipator must fit into the space left after the packing of the device is optimized. This necessitates using a dissipator of a versatile formable shape. Materials which have been developed to date as heat dissipating substitutes for copper or aluminum all suffer from low thermal conductivity, high density or rigid geometric design criteria.

High thermal conductivity composite and method


A composite structural laminate plate construction comprises two outer metal layers, a form between them and an elastomer layer bonded to the outer metal layers and filling the space between them other than that occupied by the form. The form may be foam and may be in partial contact with the metal layers.

In applications such as ship hulls or bridge decks, the steel plates forming such constructions are generally stiffened to increase stiffness and strength by preventing localised plate buckling. The stiffeners may be comprised of plates, cold formed or rolled sections that are welded orthogonally to the main load bearing plate. These are generally equally spaced and may be oriented in one or two directions that are aligned with the plan dimensions of the main plate. The number, size, location and type are dependent on the application and the forces that must be carried by the structure. The use of stiffeners requires welding, complicates the manufacturing process and adds weight. Stiffeners, their connection to the main plate or intersection with other main framing members are often the source of fatigue and corrosion problems. Complex and congested structures that result from combining stiffened plates are often difficult to maintain and to provide adequate corrosion protection.
Metal-foam laminates with improved sound or heat insulating properties ate known for use in cladding or roofing buildings, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,278. Such laminates generally employ foamed or fibrous materials and are not intended to, nor capable of, bearing significant loads, i.e. significantly greater than self-weight and small loads due to localised wind or snow action. Not withstanding, the use of a steel-polyurethane foam-steel sandwich was investigated for use in hulls in ships. It was concluded that this type of sandwich construction was unsuitable as it did not have sufficient bond strength to provide equivalent in-plane or transverse stiffness and strength to stiffened plate structures that is required to carry the applied loads.
GB-A-2 337 022 discloses the use of an intermediate layer comprised of an elastomer located between and adhered to the inner surfaces of first and second metal layers.

Composite structural laminate plate construction

Intelligent Engineering (Bahamas) Limited


In a device for bistatic radar applications, at least two spaced-apart radar sensors having separate carrier-frequency oscillators are provided, which do not require phase synchronization. The pulse modulation is carried out time-synchronously for all transmitter and receiver pairs. The cross-echo signals can be analyzed in an analyzing unit, in which a mixing of the transmitted and received signals takes place.

The fundamental operation of pulsed radars for measuring the distance and velocity of objects had already been described in 1938 by Col. William Blair of the U.S. Signal Corps. When a microwave carrier undergoes pulse modulation, a signal of a defined pulse duration Tp is periodically transmitted at the pulse repetition frequency PRF. The signal reflected off of an object is attenuated in the receiver to the baseband range. By analyzing the baseband signal, the signal propagation time T and possibly the signal Doppler shift fD are determined. From the propagation time T, the object-sensor slant distance R is derived, ultimately based on the speed of light c, from the relationship R=c·T/2, and the object velocity v is determined, with the carrier frequency being fC, from the relationship v=c/2·fD/fC.
Conventional pulsed radar systems use the following operating modes:
LPRF (Low Pulse Repetition Frequency):
In this case, pulsed radars have such a low pulse repetition frequency PRF, that a unique measurement up to the greatest desired object distance is always possible. However, if velocities occur that can result in fD being greater than PRF/2, the velocity determination is no longer unique.
HPRF (High Pulse Repetition Frequency):
Here, operation takes place at such a high pulse repetition frequency that the velocity determination in the entire relative velocity range is always unique. The distance measurement is only unique when all objects in the detecting range exclusively have smaller distances than c/(2 PRF) to the sensors.
PRF Staggering (Staggered PRF):
To avoid so-called blind speeds which occur at constant pulse repetition frequency, or to flatten the line spectrum of the transmitted signal that exists given a constant pulse repetition frequency, e.g., for improved interference suppression, pulse pause intervals of variable length (variable interpulse period VIP) are also used.
Coherent Mixing:
To attenuate the received signal to the baseband range, it is customary for the receiver to mix the received signal with a copy of the transmitted signal. Given a spatial proximity of the transmitter and receiver, the copy can be possibly derived from the same oscillator as the transmitted signal or from a second oscillator of the receiver's own. Depending on whether a stochastic relationship exists from pulse to pulse, among the phases of the received signal and its copy, one speaks of incoherent or coherent mixing. The coherent mixing affords a precise Doppler or velocity determination. However, to achieve the desired coherence, considerable outlay must be expended to synchronize the phases (e.g., use of lock-pulse methods or digital detectors of the transmission phase). Incoherent methods are usually called for when no velocity measurement or only an imprecise velocity measurement is required.
Monostatic, Bistatic:
If the transmitting and receiving antennas are "distinctly" spatially distant from one another, and if the transmitted signal and its copy are derived from different oscillators for mixing purposes, one usually speaks of bistatic radar systems, in contrast to monostatic radar systems.
Pulse Compressions:
For a pulsed radar to achieve a minimal coverage range, a minimum of total energy is required which must be reflected off of an object and integrated by the receiver. Given a predefined pulse repetition frequency, limited peak power output of the transmitter, and limited permissible integration time, the energy can only be still increased by prolonging the pulse duration. On the other hand, the correlation duration (width of the autocorrelation function) of a pulse determines the attainable resolution of a pulsed radar. By using internal pulse modulation/coding, also referred to as pulse compression methods, the correlation duration (the resolution) and pulse duration (energy and average power output and, thus, instrumented coverage range) can be theoretically defined independently of one another. Customary compression methods are linear or non-linear frequency modulation, as well as biphase or multiphase modulation.
It is known that varying combinations and hybrid forms of the above mentioned methods are used.
Fields of Application of Pulsed Radars:
Monostatic Pulsed Radars:
In military applications and in civilian air-traffic control, e.g., monostatic pulsed radars having substantial transmitting power and antenna directivity (beam focusing) are often used for measuring great distances and, to some extent, high velocities. Frequently, a range and azimuth scan is carried out, as well as a relatively complex Doppler processing (MTI (moving target indication), MTD (moving target detection) process), as well as, typically, pulse coding/pulse compression, e.g., chirp (dynamic wavelength change) and modulation of the pulse repetition frequency (VIP (variable interpulse period), staggered PRF (pulse repetition frequency)).
Bistatic Pulsed Radars:
Bistatic pulsed radars are found in military applications, in astronomy and in meteorology, where the object distances are large and are accompanied by great transmitter and receiver distances (for example, baselines in the range of hundreds of kilometers). High demands are typically placed on the components of such bistatic radars, particularly due to the requisite time synchronization of the sensors (pulse synchronization for distance measurement, phase synchronization for velocity measurement (Doppler)) over large spatial distances. Also regarded as difficult are the required synchronized alignment of the viewing directions and, in some instances, allowance for platform movements.
Low-cost Pulsed Radars:
Microwave pulsed radars are increasingly being used in applications where objects are detected at small distances, using low transmitting power and a wide visual range, and where, additionally, low costs are required, such as for door openers, room surveillance, detection of motor-vehicle surrounding fields. Often used in this context are monostatic LPRF (low pulse repetition frequency) methods, incoherent mixing, no pulse compression, or possibly pulse compression including biphase modulation. In contrast to military radar systems or air-traffic control radars, for the low-cost pulsed radars, high-quality components are rarely used. Rather, oscillators having low frequency stability, mixers and LNAs (low-noise amplifiers) having low bandwidth and high noise factor are used, for example.

Device for, in particular bistatic radar applications


A fork stop assembly for preventing overrotation of a bicycle fork into engagement with the frame of the bicycle. The fork stop assembly includes at least one catch surface on the frame of the bicycle and a fork stop pin on the bicycle fork. Upon rotation of the fork beyond a predetermined position, the fork stop pin engages the catch surface and further rotation of the bicycle fork is thereby prevented. Thus, the fork is prevented from crashing into the bicycle frame. The catch surface and fork stop pin are preferably formed such that they may be nonrotatably coupled to the respective parts of a bicycle manufactured without such a stop assembly. Most preferably, the fork stop assembly is removable from the bicycle without damaging the frame or bicycle fork or leaving any significant permanent marks thereon.

The present invention relates to the design and construction of a steering or fork stop that limits the turn angle of a bicycle fork to prevent the fork from hitting the bicycle frame upon turning of the front wheel.
Suspension systems have been provided on bicycles to improve handling of the vehicle by absorbing shocks caused by roughness, discontinuities such as rocks, potholes, tree roots and other obstacles, and/or other variations in the vehicle's path that disturb smooth riding. Thus, disturbances in the road are absorbed by the suspension system and are minimally transmitted to the rider, thereby preventing, or at least greatly reducing, transmission of the disturbances to other parts of the vehicle. The rider thus is afforded better control of the bicycle without interference by disturbances in the riding path.
Bicycle suspension systems have been provided and positioned to absorb shocks affecting, for example, the front wheel of a bicycle. Front wheel suspension systems typically are provided in a specially designed front wheel fork having telescoping stanchions or fork tubes within which a shock absorber of the suspension system is positioned. The fork is thus formed with two (right and left) upper tubular elements and two (right and left) lower tubular elements. One of the upper and lower pairs is an inner tubular element pair and the other of the upper and lower pairs is an outer tubular element pair such that each leg of the fork has an inner tubular element slidable within an outer tubular element.
Various available suspension systems permit adjustability of suspension performance by adjustment of the spring rates. However, in order to achieve sufficient suspension performance in certain situations, structural modifications sometimes are necessary in addition to adjustments of spring rates and damping characteristics. For example, dual crown suspension forks have been designed for situations in which very stiff suspension structures and high damping capabilities are required, such as is true for bicycles used in downhill racing. In such a dual crown suspension system, the fork tubes may extend as far as the top of the head tube of the bicycle in order to provide sufficient structure for shock absorption.
A known disadvantage with certain bicycle forks, particular dual crown suspension forks, is that when the handlebars are turned during steering, at extreme turning angles the fork tubes can hit the bicycle frame. Such contact impacts the frame, sending vibrations therethrough interfering with a controlled steering of the bicycle. Moreover, even when the bicycle is not in use, such impacts may damage the frame and/or the suspension fork, or, at least, their finish. This is particularly likely to occur if the frame or suspension fork is made of a light-weight material which may not be able to endure side impacts without detrimentally affecting its structural integrity.
Steering stops or fork stops have been provided on motorcycle forks in order to prevent the fork tubes of the front fork from hitting the motorcycle frame. However, typical steering stop designs are integrated into the fork crown and motorcycle frame. A steering stop assembly has been provided in a downhill bicycle fork design by FOES RACING.TM. in the form of a fork stop comprising a bolt threaded into the fork crown and a semicircular catch surface bolted onto the head tube of the bicycle frame. Because, among other things, the FOES RACING.TM. steering stop is integrated into the lower crown of the FOES.TM. fork, the FOES.TM. steering stop assembly cannot be applied to bicycles other than those using the FOES.TM. Fork.

Steering stop for bicycle fork suspension system


Conventional tele-presence robots have their own limitations with respect to task execution, information processing and management. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a tele-presence robot (TPR) that communicates with a master device associated with a user via an edge device for task execution wherein control command from the master device is parsed for determining instructions set and task type for execution. Based on this determination, the TPR queries for information across storage devices until a response is obtained enough to execute task. The task upon execution is validated with the master device and user. Knowledge acquired, during querying, task execution and validation of the executed task, is dynamically partitioned by the TPR across storage devices namely, on-board memory of the tele-present robot, an edge device, a cloud and a web interface respectively depending upon the task type, operating environment of the tele-presence robot, and other performance affecting parameters.

People often are dependent on others for performing tasks. Such tasks not only consume a larger amount of time; but also cost a lot of money. There are modern systems that provide a low-cost, time-efficient alternative. Using such tools, users can perform tasks as required. However, such a setup has many limitations that can neither provide the experience nor support various activities that are possible in physical presence and environment. Assuming that there is a task being assigned for execution by a user to a modern system such as a tele-presence robot (also referred as a robot and interchangeably used hereinafter) wherein the robot is say in a first location that is different from a location (e.g., a second location) of the user. In other words, the user and robot are in a geographically separated environment. A remote participant (user) takes control of the telepresence robot from a specific location and then instructs the robot to perform a specific task. However, in order to perform such specific tasks, the tele-presence robot should have several capabilities and needs to acquire enough information to ensure that the task is executed in an efficient manner. However, given the configuration of robot, the information storage is dependent on its storage capability, processing speed, information retrieval for task execution, its ability to interact with users for completing the given task, and the like. However, tele-presence robots are not equipped with above capabilities and configurations to meet desired outcome and have their own limitations. For instance, network bandwidth is the biggest bottleneck for such a system. Even though there exists a high bandwidth network, it often becomes congested when there could be other processes that are running at the background. This not only effects a specific capability of the robot but has impact over other features and functionalities of the robot which can jeopardize the manual control of the telepresence robot from the remote side and inaccurate information processing during a task execution. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that information required is available, and enough for task execution and at the same time knowledge acquired during the task execution is effectively captured and stored for information retrieval in an effective manner for subsequent task execution. The existing methods of telepresence do not cater to the problem of handling decision making based on layers of knowledge (e.g., information processed during task execution).

Knowledge partitioning for task execution by conversational tele-presence robots in a geographically separated environment


A sealing member to be used for sealing a constituent member of a fuel cell is provided, the sealing member including a cross-linked product of a rubber composition, in which the rubber composition contains the following components (A) and (B). With this, rubber elasticity is maintained without being lost even under extremely low temperature conditions, and in the case where the sealing member is used in a fuel cell sealed body, an excellent sealing property is exhibited. (A) a rubber component including at least one of an ethylene-propylene rubber or ethylene-propylene-diene rubber having a ratio of ethylene-ethylene diad distribution of at most 29 mol %. (B) a cross-linking agent including an organic peroxide.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to a sealing member for a fuel cell to be used for sealing a constituent member of a fuel cell such as a metal separator. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sealing member for a fuel cell exhibiting an excellent low-temperature sealing property and a fuel cell sealed body using the same.
Background Art
Fuel cells, which generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction of gases, exhibit high power generation efficiency, and have an extremely small influence on the environment by virtue of discharging a clean gas. Of the fuel cells, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell can be operated at relatively low temperature and has a high power density. Therefore, the polymer electrolyte fuel cell is expected to be used in various applications such as a power source for power generation and a power source for an automobile.
The polymer electrolyte fuel cell includes as a power generation unit a cell including metal separators and a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) or the like sandwiched between the metal separators. The MEA is formed of a polymer membrane (electrolyte membrane) serving as an electrolyte and a pair of electrode catalyst layers [a fuel electrode (anode) catalyst layer and an oxygen electrode (cathode) catalyst layer] arranged on both surfaces of the electrolyte membrane in its thickness direction. Further, a porous layer (gas diffusion layer) for diffusing a gas is arranged on each of surfaces of the pair of electrode catalyst layers. A fuel gas such as hydrogen is supplied to a fuel electrode side, and an oxidant gas such as oxygen or air is supplied to an oxygen electrode side. Power is generated through an electrochemical reaction at a three-phase interface between the supplied gas, the electrolyte, and the electrode catalyst layer. The polymer electrolyte fuel cell is constructed by securing a cell stack, in which a plurality of the cells are stacked, with end plates or the like arranged at both ends of the cell stack in a cell stacking direction.
In addition, the metal separators each include a flow passage for the gas to be supplied to each of the electrodes and a flow passage for a cooling medium for alleviating heat to be generated during the power generation. In addition, it is necessary to keep the electrolyte membrane in a wet state at the time of operation, because the electrolyte membrane exhibits proton conductivity in a state of containing water. Therefore, in order to prevent the gases from being mixed with each other, prevent leakage of the gases and cooling medium, and keep an inside of the cell in a wet state, it is important to ensure a sealing property at a periphery of the MEA and porous layers or a sealing property between the metal separators adjacent to each other. As a sealing member for sealing such constituent member, there has been proposed, for example, an adhesive sealing member for a fuel cell that ensures a sealing property with the constituent member such as a metal separator without applying an adhesive agent (free of an adhesive agent) by kneading an adhesive component such as a resorcinol-based compound into a rubber component such as an ethylene-propylene rubber (EPM) or an ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM) and thereby allowing the sealing member itself to have adhesiveness (see JP-A-2011-249283). Further, such sealing member has a risk of losing rubber elasticity of the EPM or EPDM at extremely low temperature, and hence it is difficult to ensure a desired sealing property in the case of using a fuel cell in cold climates or the like. Accordingly, there have been investigations on development of a sealing member capable of exhibiting a satisfactory sealing property even at extremely low temperature. For example, there has been proposed an adhesive sealing member for a fuel cell including a rubber component formed of at least one of an EPM or EPDM having a content of ethylene of at most 53 wt %, an organic peroxide having a 1 hour half-life temperature of at most 130° C., a cross-linking aid, and a specific adhesive component (see JP-A-2012-226908).

Seal member for fuel cell and fuel cell seal body using same


A device and method for storing toner within an image forming apparatus having an upper reservoir and a lower toner reservoir. A pass through region between the reservoirs may journal a rotatable metering bar. The bar may include convex depressions to dispense toner from the upper to the lower reservoir. The convex shape reduces the toner adherence to the bar, particularly in the case of chemically polymerized toner.

The present invention is directed to an image forming apparatus and, more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a meter for moving toner from an upper toner supply reservoir to a lower toner supply reservoir.
Image forming devices including copiers, laser printers, facsimile machines, and the like, include a photoconductive drum (hereinafter photoconductor) having a rigid cylindrical surface that is coated along a defined length of its outer surface. The surface of the photoconductor is charged to a uniform electrical potential and then selectively exposed to light in a pattern corresponding to an original image. Those areas of the photoconductive surface exposed to light are discharged thus forming a latent electrostatic image on the photoconductive surface. A developer material, such as toner, having an electrical charge such that the toner is attracted to the photoconductive surface is used for forming the image. The toner is stored in a reservoir adjacent to the photoconductor and is transferred to the photoconductor by the developer roll. The thickness of the toner layer on the developer roll is controlled by a nip, which is formed between the doctor blade and the developer roll. A recording sheet, such as a blank sheet of paper, is then brought into contact with the discharged photoconductive surface and the toner thereon is transferred to the recording sheet in the form of the latent electrostatic image. The recording sheet is then heated thereby permanently fusing the toner to the sheet.

Reducing adhesion of toner to metering devices


A plurality of probes 3 or 10 are arranged in a conveying path of a web 1 or 9 comprising a slit sheet or a nonwoven fabric for contact with the web 1 or 9. The probes 3 or 10 are rotatably supported and arranged so that if a defect portion exists in the web 1 or 9, the probes 3 or 10 rotate to the defect portion of the web and protrude under the web, and when the probes 3 or 10 protrude under the web, a detecting means 6b outputs a defect detection signal.

Recently, a variety of webs such as films or nonwoven fabrics are manufactured and used for various purposes. Defects in said webs, such as a tear (a portion at which fibers are broken) or a portion having insufficient strength, have occurred during the manufacturing process or the conveying process. To provide high quality products, it is necessary to detect such defects and remove same.
Conventionally, regarding the detection of defects in a film, there are devices for detecting defects in a film, in which light from a light emitter is irradiated on a surface of the film, and the amount of light passing through the film is measured with a detector arranged on the back side of the film. However, in conventional detecting devices, it is possible to accurately detect defects when said defects of the film exist in a relatively broad area, but it is difficult to accurately detect defects when defects of the film exist in a relatively narrow area. Also, since conventional detecting devices includes a complex means for the determination of defects, conventional detecting devices are expensive and the operation thereof is complex.
Moreover, conventionally, there are no devices for rapidly and reliably detecting defects such as tears in a web having network structures, such as nonwoven fabrics or the like. Therefore, it is necessary that the detection of defects such as tears in a web having network structures, such as nonwoven fabrics or the like, must be done by visual inspection by operators. It is therefore necessary to increase the number of operators, resulting in an increase in manpower in a manufacturing process. Also, visual inspection of defects in a high speed continuous manufacturing process results in the operators becoming fatigued thereby making it difficult to carry out a continuously accurate inspection of defects during the manufacturing process, and accordingly, the inspection of defects is carried out slowly by having to rewind the web after manufacturing the web. Therefore, an inspection of defects is not only laborious, but is also apt to result in a delay in the feedback of defect occurrence during manufacturing. Also, as it is difficult for the operators to maintain constant vigilance over a long time period of time, defects are sometimes overlooked.


To eliminate undesirable energy recorded during seismic surveying, a trace that models the undesirable energy on the recorded data trace is prepared. The model trace is first estimated using a suitable technique, such as wavefield extrapolation. Then, the model trace is modified using a best estimate of the amplitude, phase and time delay differences between the model trace and the data trace. The estimated amplitude, phase and time delay differences may be used to design a cross-equalization filter, which is used to cross-equalize the model trace with the data trace. Alternatively, the best estimate determination may include using a weighted sum of the model trace, its imaginary component, and their derivatives. When weighted and summed together, these components form a cross-equalized model trace that closely approximates the undesirable energy on the recorded data trace. Lastly, the cross-equalized model trace is subtracted from the data trace to substantially eliminate the undesirable energy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to marine seismic exploration and, more particularly, to a technique for achieving multiple attenuation on marine seismic data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In marine seismic exploration, a seismic survey ship is equipped with an energy source and a receiver for taking seismic profiles of an underwater land configuration. The act of taking profiles is often referred to as "shooting" because explosive devices have been commonly used for many years as energy sources. The energy source is designed to produce compressional waves, commonly referred to as "primary" waves, that propagate through the water and into the underwater land formation. As the compressional waves propagate through the land formation, they strike interfaces between the formations, commonly referred to as "strata," and reflect back through the earth and water to the receiver. The receiver typically converts the reflected waves into electrical signals which are then processed into an image that provides information about the structure of the subterranean formation.
Presently, one of the most common energy sources is an airgun that discharges air under very high pressure into the water. The discharged air forms a pulse which contains frequencies within the seismic range.
The receivers in marine applications are typically referred to as hydrophones. The hydrophones convert pressure waves into electrical signals which are used for analog or digital processing. Most commonly, hydrophones include a piezoelectric element for converting the pressure waves into electrical signals. The hydrophones are mounted on a long streamer which is towed behind the survey ship at a depth of about 30 ft. It is not uncommon for the streamer to be several miles long and to carry receivers every few feet in a regularly spaced pattern.
As previously mentioned, each time the energy source imparts a seismic pulse into the water, the compressional waves propagate through the land formation, strike strata, and reflect back through the earth and water to the receivers. Each receiver detects the reflected wave, and delivers an electrical signal to a recording device aboard the survey ship. Each recorded signal from a receiver is commonly referred to as a "trace." Thus, for each seismic pulse generated, many traces may be recorded.
The wave that is reflected off of the strata and detected by the receivers is commonly referred to as a "primary reflection." Unfortunately, the receivers detect pressure waves other than the primary reflection. For instance, a problem encountered in marine seismic surveying is that of water column reverberation. This problem arises as a result of the inherent reflectivity of the water surface and the water bottom. After the primary reflection travels upwardly past the receiver, the wave continues upward to the water's surface. The primary reflection reflects off of the air-water interface and begins to travel downwardly toward the water bottom where it is again reflected. Thus, this multiply reflected wave, often referred to as a water bottom multiple, travels past the receivers again. The receivers detect this reflection and the reflection is recorded on the traces. Depending upon the nature of the earth's material at the water bottom, the multiple may itself be reflected again, and give rise to a series of one or more subsequent multiple reflections.
This reverberation of the seismic wave field in the water obscures seismic data, amplifying certain frequencies and attenuating others, thereby making it difficult to analyze the underlying earth formations. When the earth material at the water bottom is particularly hard, most of the acoustic energy generated by the seismic source can become trapped in the water column. As a result, the multiple energy tends to cover the weaker primary seismic reflection signals sought for study.
In an effort to isolate the data produced by the primary reflections from the data produced by reverberation and other noise sources, engineers model the undesirable data produced by multiple reflections for each data trace. Theoretically, the model of the undesirable data can be subtracted from the recorded data trace to yield a clean data trace that contains only the data produced by the primary wave.
However, the current modeling techniques cannot achieve this theoretical result. In one technique, an initial estimate of the undesirable data is formed using a wave field extrapolation technique. See J. Claerbout, Imaging the Earth's Interior (1985). Wave field extrapolation is often used to build the model trace, but the model so constructed may be in error for the following reasons:
(1) the velocity of sound in the multiple generating layer is not accurately known;
(2) the thickness o the multiple-reflection generating layer is not accurately known;
(3) the magnitude of the reflection coefficients at the reflection boundaries may not be well known; and
(4) the reflection boundaries may not be single interfaces.
These problems result in a distorted model. Therefore, the model trace is processed to provide a closer approximation to the recorded data trace. Conventionally, this has been achieved using cross-equalization of the model to the real data. Cross-equalization involves the determination of a filter, which, when applied, will make one seismic trace look like another. This method works well, but exhibits an intrinsic problem. If multiple-reflection energy lies directly on top of primary energy on the recorded data trace, i.e., the receiver detected the multiple wave and the primary reflection at the same time, then the cross-equalization filter will force the model of the multiple-reflection energy to look like the primary and multiple energy on the recorded data trace. Thus, cross-equalization filters treat desirable primary reflection data as undesirable multiple-reflection data, and subsequent subtraction of the cross-equalized model from the recorded data trace will attenuate the primary energy.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least minimizing, one or more of the problems set forth above.

Method for attenuating undesirable data, such as multiples, using constrained cross-equalization


A technique for improving random number generation (RNG) security for a data processing system includes a storage subsystem of a processing unit receiving a first deliver a random number (DARN) operation. The storage subsystem issues the first DARN operation with a first value, retrieved from a first base address register (BAR), on a first bus. The processing unit receives (from a first RNG unit) at least one of a first data and a first indication (that indicate whether the first RNG unit is functional) when a second value stored in a second BAR of the first RNG unit is the same as the first value. In response to the first and second values not being the same or the first RNG unit not being functional, the storage subsystem issues the first DARN operation with the first value on a second bus that is coupled to a second RNG unit.

The present disclosure is generally directed to random number generation and, more particularly, to techniques for improving random number generation security in a data processing system.
Random number generators (RNGs) may be employed in various applications, such as computer simulation, statistical sampling, cryptography, and other areas where producing an unpredictable result is desirable. There are two primary approaches for generating random numbers. A first approach measures some physical phenomenon that is expected to be random and then compensates for possible biases in the measurement process. For example, atmospheric noise, thermal noise, and other external electromagnetic and quantum phenomena may be utilized to generate random numbers. A second approach employs computational algorithms that can produce long sequences of apparently random numbers, which are, in fact, completely determined by a shorter initial value (i.e., a seed value). Unfortunately, if the seed value is known or readily discernible, a random sequence generated by a computational algorithm based on the seed value may be readily reproduced.
In general, pseudo (software) RNGs do not rely on sources of naturally occurring entropy, although they may be periodically seeded by such sources. While a software RNG based solely on deterministic logic can never be regarded as a true random number source, in practice software RNGs are sufficient for many applications. In applications where unpredictability is demanded, e.g., security applications, hardware RNGs are generally preferable to software RNGs that implement pseudo random algorithms. In computing, a hardware RNG is an apparatus that generates random numbers from a physical process, as contrasted with pseudo random numbers generated by a computer program. Hardware RNGs usually utilize phenomena that generate low-level statistically random noise signals (e.g., thermal noise, the photoelectric effect, and other quantum phenomena). A hardware RNG typically includes: a transducer that converts some aspect of a physical phenomena to an electrical signal; an amplifier and other electronic circuitry to increase the amplitude of the random fluctuations to a measurable level; and some type of analog-to-digital converter to convert an analog input signal to a digital output signal. By repeatedly sampling a randomly varying signal to provide different seeds, a series of random numbers may be obtained from a hardware RNG.
A primary application for hardware RNGs is cryptography, where hardware RNGs are used to generate cryptographic keys for secure data transmission. For example, hardware RNGs are widely used in various Internet encryption protocols, e.g., secure sockets layer (SSL). Hardware RNGs generally produce a limited number of random bits per second. In order to increase the data rate, hardware RNGs may be used to generate a seed for a faster cryptographically secure software RNG that generates a pseudo random output sequence. Hardware RNGs are generally a more secure alternative to software RNGs, which are software programs commonly used in computers to generate random numbers. Software RNGs employ a deterministic algorithm to produce numerical sequences. While pseudo random numerical sequences usually pass statistical pattern tests for randomness, by knowing the algorithm and the conditions used to initialize the algorithm (i.e., the seed), the output of a software RNG can be predicted. That is, a sequence of numbers produced by a software RNG may be predictable and data encrypted with pseudo random numbers provided by a software RNG is potentially vulnerable to being decrypted by an unrelated third-party. In contrast, hardware RNGs produce sequences of numbers that are not predictable and, therefore, provide greater security than software RNGs when used to encrypt data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a self-propelled material processing and/or handling system for processing and/or handling construction and/or raw materials, in particular in the form of a mobile crushing system, with at least one working unit, which is drivable, by an electric unit drive, with an electric motor, at least one electric travel drive with an electric motor, as well as a control device to control the electric motors of the unit and travel drives. According to the invention, the control device comprises a common frequency converter for the at least one travel drive and the at least one unit drive and provides various parameter sets for the common frequency converter so that the travel drive is actuatable by the frequency converter on the basis of a first parameter set and the unit drive is actuatable by the common frequency converter on the basis of a second parameter set.

The present invention relates to a self-propelled material processing and/or handling system for processing and/or handling construction and/or raw materials, in particular in the form of a mobile crushing system, with at least one working unit, which is drivable, by an electric unit drive, with an electric motor, at least one electric travel drive with an electric motor, as well as a control device to control the electric motors of the unit and travel drives.
In mobile crushing systems, it has been proposed in recent times to form the travel drives electrically, in order to be able to achieve high torques and a compact construction at low weight, wherein in particular the hydraulic lines of hydraulic drives, as well as also the hydraulic oil needed for this can be saved. In a similar way, electric drives for the function units of such crushing systems were also already proposed, in particular for the conveyor belts by means of which the mineral raw materials are supplied into the actual crushing device, wherein, if necessary, the drive of the crushing device itself can also be embodied electrically with one or multiple electric motors. Not only the hydraulic lines and the hydraulic oil which is needed for hydraulic drives are saved through such electric drives, but actuation of the drives is also simplified.
The control device for actuating the electric motors of the travel and unit drives here usually includes a power electronics, via which the electric motors are supplied with electrical energy, wherein frequency converters are usually provided as part of the power electronics, in order to be able to correspondingly control the electric drives.
Here, various requirements are placed for the actuation of the various drives, as the drives of the conveyor belts, for example, usually operate with constant working speeds in the working operation, if one refrains from start-up processes, while the travel drives must operate with variable speeds and different drive directions, for example in order to be able to go forward and back up or to be able to drive curves, which, in the usually available crawler chassis, is accomplished in that an outside crawler track is driven with greater speed than an inside crawler track.
At the same time, the various travel and unit drives differ considerably with respect to their power demands and the arising power fluctuations. While the crusher, for example, has a higher power demand and can show greater power fluctuations with, for example, high power peaks, if a larger piece of rock comes into engagement with the crushing tool, the conveyor belt drives can be operated with lower power and smaller fluctuations. The travel drives, in turn, are to be operated variably not only with respect to the drive speed and direction, but are also subject to different power requirements, for example if the system is moved uphill or downhill.
These different control requirements can be fulfilled in a simple way with frequency converters, as the respective drive can be actuated by the associated frequency converter with the required supply voltage and frequency.
However, in more complex processing or handling systems, a correspondingly larger space requirement and a complex wiring results, since the corresponding frequency converters for the various travel and unit drives are, in the switch cabinet of the system, to be accommodated and, in a corresponding way, to be wired. At the same time, relatively high costs result for the needed components and the assembly of the switch cabinet. In self-propelled crushing systems, diverse drives are namely usually present. Besides the two travel drives for the right and left chassis parts, multiple conveyor belts are usually to be driven in the functional working operation, i.e. crushing operation. In addition comes the drive for the crushing device itself, which can essentially be formed in various ways, wherein, for example, crushing rollers or shafts, or impact tools, such as hammer or mallet tools are to be driven.
In a similar way, with sieve and/or handling systems, such as belt systems, for handling mineral raw materials, there are also diverse working units, which are to be driven by respective unit drives in a corresponding way.
Against this background, the object of the invention is that of creating an improved processing and/or handling system of the aforementioned type, which avoids disadvantages of the prior art and develops the latter in an advantageous way. In particular, a space-saving, cost-effective actuation of the travel and unit drives is meant to be achieved, which takes into consideration the different power level and various operating characteristics of the drives.

Self-propelled material processing and/or handling system


A kit for making a wall decoration assembly is described. The kit includes a suspension system and one or more wall decorations. A method for making and hanging the wall decoration assembly is also described.

People have always paid a lot of attention to their interior and to wall decorations. Hanging wall decorations such as posters, pictures or prints to a wall can be difficult and tricky, especially if one wants to perfectly align the wall decoration with the wall.
Moreover, it has become practice for most people to frequently change or alter their interior or interior elements, in order to create a new look and feel. Concepts such as Ikea which focus on affordable and flexible furniture have become very successful riding this wave.
To date, systems exist that allow alignment and fixation of wall decorations to a wall. Some of them even allow re-use of the system, allowing taking the decoration down, and to rehang it somewhere else or replace it with another decoration. However, most of these known systems are not user-friendly, or are restricted in their amount of re-use.
There remains a need in the art for an improved suspension system for wall decorations, which allows multiple re-use and repositioning of the system.
There is also a need in the art for wall decorations which can be easily aligned to a wall, which can be easily re-used and are not restricted to a specific size, and which can be dynamically altered.
The present invention aims to resolve at least some of the problems mentioned above.
The invention thereto aims to provide a wall decoration which can be easily hung and aligned to a wall in a removable manner, and which allows dynamic use of the wall decoration.

Wall decoration assembly, kit for making a wall decoration assembly and method for hanging such assembly


An enzymatic nucleic acid molecule comprising a 5'- and/or a 3'-cap structure, wherein said structure is not a 5'-5'-linked inverted nucleotide or a 3'-3'-linked inverted nucleotide.

This invention relates to chemically synthesized ribozymes, or enzymatic nucleic acid molecules and derivatives thereof.
The following is a brief description of ribozymes. This summary is not meant to be complete but is provided only for understanding of the invention that follows. This summary is not an admission that all of the work described below is prior art to the claimed invention.
Ribozymes are nucleic acid molecules having an enzymatic activity which is able to repeatedly cleave other separate RNA molecules in a nucleotide base sequence-specific manner. Such enzymatic RNA molecules can be targeted to virtually any RNA transcript, and efficient cleavage achieved in vitro (Zaug et al., 324, Nature 429 1986; Kim et al., 84 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 8788, 1987; Haseloff and Gerlach, 334 Nature 585, 1988; Cech, 260 JAMA 3030, 1988; and Jefferies et al., 17 Nucleic Acids Research 1371, 1989).
Because of their sequence-specificity, trans-cleaving ribozymes show promise as therapeutic agents for human disease (Usman & McSwiggen, 1995 Ann. Rep. Med. Chem. 30, 285-294; Christoffersen and Marr, 1995 J. Med. Chem. 38, 2023-2037). Ribozymes can be designed to cleave specific RNA targets within the background of cellular RNA. Such a cleavage event renders the mRNA non-functional and abrogate protein expression from that RNA. In this manner, synthesis of a protein associated with a disease state can be selectively inhibited.
Six basic varieties of naturally-occurring enzymatic RNAs are known presently. Each can catalyze the hydrolysis of RNA phosphodiester bonds in trans (and thus can cleave other RNA molecules) under physiological conditions. Table I summarizes some of the characteristics of these ribozymes. In general, enzymatic nucleic acids act by first binding to a target RNA. Such binding occurs through the target binding portion of a enzymatic nucleic acid which is held in close proximity to an enzymatic portion of the molecule that acts to cleave the target RNA. Thus, the enzymatic nucleic acid first recognizes and then binds a target RNA through complementary base-pairing, and once bound to the correct site, acts enzymatically to cut the target RNA. Strategic cleavage of such a target RNA will destroy its ability to direct synthesis of an encoded protein. After an enzymatic nucleic acid has bound and cleaved its RNA target, it is released from that RNA to search for another target and can repeatedly bind and cleave new targets.
The enzymatic nature of a ribozyme is advantageous over other technologies, since the effective concentration of ribozyme necessary to effect a therapeutic treatment is lower than that of an antisense oligonucleotide. This advantage reflects the ability of the ribozyme to act enzymatically. Thus, a single ribozyme molecule is able to cleave many molecules of target RNA. In addition, the ribozyme is a highly specific inhibitor, with the specificity of inhibition depending not only on the base-pairing mechanism of binding, but also on the mechanism by which the molecule inhibits the expression of the RNA to which it binds. That is, the inhibition is caused by cleavage of the RNA target and so specificity is defined as the ratio of the rate of cleavage of the targeted RNA over the rate of cleavage of non-targeted RNA. This cleavage mechanism is dependent upon factors additional to those involved in base-pairing. Thus, it is thought that the specificity of action of a ribozyme is greater than that of antisense oligonucleotide binding the same RNA site.
Chemically-modified ribozymes can be synthesized which are stable in human serum for up to 260 hours (Beigelman et al., 1995 supra) and maintain near wild type (the chemically unmodified equivalent of a modified ribozyme) activity in vitro. A number of laboratories have reported that the enhanced cellular efficacy of phosphorothioate-substituted antisense molecules. The enhanced efficacy appears to result from either i) increased resistance to 5'-exonuclease digestion (De Clercq et al., 1970 Virology 42, 421-428; Shaw et al., 1991 Nucleic Acids Res. 19, 747-750), ii) intracellular localization to the nucleus (Marti et al., 1992 Antisense Res. Dev. 2, 27-39), or iii) sequence-dependent non-specific effects (Gao et al., 1992 Molec. Pharmac. 41, 223-229; Bock et al., 1992 Nature 355, 564-566; and Azad, et al., 1993 Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 37, 1945-1954) which are not manifested in nonthioated molecules. Many effects of thioated compounds are probably due to their inherent tendency to associate non-specifically with cellular proteins such as the Sp1 transcription factor (Perez et al., 1994 Proc. Natl Acad Sci. U.S.A. 91, 5957-5961). Chemical modification of enzymatic nucleic acids that provide resistance to cellular 5'-exonuclease and 3'-exonuclease digestion without reducing the catalytic activity or cellular efficacy will be important for in vitro and in vivo applications of ribozymes.
Modification of oligonucleotides with a 5'-amino group offered resistance against 5'-exonuclease digestion in vitro (Letsinger & Mungall, 1970 J. Org. Chem. 35, 3800-3803).
Heidenreich et al., 1993 FASEB J. 7, 90 and Lyngstadaas et al., 1995 EMBO. J. 14, 5224, mention that hammerhead ribozymes with terminal phosphorothioate linkages can increase resistance against cellular exonucleases.
Seliger et al., Canadian Patent Application No. CA 2,106,819 and Prog. Biotechnol. 1994, 9 (EC B6: Proceedings Of The 6th European Congress On Biotechnology, 1993, Pt. 2), 681-4 describe "oligoribonucleotide and ribozyme analogs with terminal 3'-3' and/or 5'-5' internucleotide linkages".

Enzymatic nucleic acids containing 5'-and/or 3'-cap structures


The invented system and its components utilize RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to store and locate assets or asset control devices within security enclosures of a wide range of sizes and configurations.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of controlling, tracking, and managing access to assets or asset control devices, such as keys at an auto dealership, by authorized users in a wide variety of sizes, locations, and types, including the ability to report and analyze the status and complete history of all inventoried assets at any time.
2. Background Art
Assets
Assets by definition have intrinsic value and in some cases require security of some kind. Some assets are themselves secured but their security can be compromised through access to a control device such as a key, remote, badge, etc. in which case the control devices themselves require security.
One example of assets requiring security is the vehicle inventory of a car or truck dealership or fleet operator. In this example, the keys and remotes for each vehicle are the control devices to be secured such that (a) only authorized users have access to them (to prevent theft and vehicle damage liabilities) and (b) each authorized user is made accountable for the vehicle keys he/she removes from the secure environment.
Another example of assets requiring security is the door keys of apartment, condominium, office, school, medical, and other buildings or groups of buildings. In this example, the building or complex maintains no master keys but keeps the management key copies in a secured environment which controls access to authorized users and records the accountability of each authorized user of each key to reduce liabilities for personal harm, theft, damage, etc.
Asset Management Without Security
Typically, managers in the field of this invention have a hundred or hundreds of assets or asset control devices to be managed. This given, unsecured methods have evolved around organization of the assets such that they can be readily located for use.
In the car dealership example, a common method has been "pegboards" or an array of hooks mounted on a wall where each asset tag has an assigned hook which allows a particular asset to be located by its stock or other code number. Even in cases where the pegboard is mounted inside a locked cabinet, the cabinet is generally unlocked and open during business hours. This method presents a number of problems and liabilities for the dealer. One problem is that there is usually no indication what employee has taken an asset that is not currently on the board. Another problem is that only honesty and consistent application of dealership policies by all employees allows this method to work—typically, assets are not properly returned to their assigned hooks and may not be returned in a timely manner since employees understand that they have no accountability. An important liability is that employees, customers, or other visitors in the dealership have easy access to vehicle keys without detection or accountability in order to steal a vehicle or use it for unauthorized purposes—legal precedent clearly assigns liability to the dealership when it has poor security or lax procedures for security and its vehicles used by unauthorized drivers become involved in personal or property damage accidents. Even in the absence of damage liability, vehicles may be damaged during their unauthorized use which causes repair costs to the dealer and possibly a lost sale if the damage is discovered in the process of conducting a prospect demonstration ride.
In the apartment or multi-family housing example, managers generally have a number of master keys which can unlock any apartment door and are assigned to specific managers, custodians, and maintenance contractors. Problems and liabilities arise because master keys can be (illegally) copied so there is no definitive way to know how many keys exist. Nor is there any accountability for each master key holder for his supervision of the key at all times and no way for management of the key holders to prove or disprove any use of the key in any apartment unit door by any master key holder. If management determines a breach of master key security, its only recourse is to re-key all apartment units and re-establish security but at a significant cost to management and with some irritation for tenants. More serious is the potential liability of tenants who may be injured during a break-in by a master key holder or who reports theft of possessions or damage to their apartment due to unauthorized entry, none of which can be aggressively disputed by management.
Secured Asset Management Without Accountability
As a result of the serious liability potential and significant costs of unsecured asset management, there have been and are still sold today in the market of this field systems or methods which provide some level of security for the assets but no accountability for even authorized users.
One such system requires badge and/or password identification of authorized users in order to electronically open a secure enclosure of assets—however, once opened, the system relies on the honesty and policy compliance of the users to properly record all of the assets they remove. With no way to prove perfect compliance among all of its users, asset managers limit only their liabilities related to casual or negligent theft but still bear the burden of proof in all other cases.
Another specific method still in use involves a locked box attached to the asset, possibly a vehicle in a car dealership or the door of a vacant apartment. While providing some security against casual theft, lock boxes once opened by an authorized user or broken into by an unauthorized user provide no accountability for the use of the secured key. In addition, this method usually results in the keys in lock boxes being attached to the asset they protect after business hours and in the least secure environments for theft.
Secured Asset Management with Accountability
There are also systems in which assets can be secured with accountability but with no application of low-frequency RFID technology. In prior mechanisms, technologies which include but are no limited to bar codes and contact-based semiconductors have been used with grids where the location of tags with bar codes and/or chips are identified by x-y coordinates. These currently existing mechanisms are inadequate or undesirable because of their high cost, limited density, restricted enclosure specifications, and/or user inefficiencies in locating tags by coordinates.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,441 entitled "Inventoriable-Object Control and Tracking System," the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
An object of this invention is to provide an improved asset management system that is more functional with more features than prior art systems.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved asset management system that is more economical to manufacture with greater reliability than prior art systems.
These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or by modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a more comprehensive understanding of the invention may be obtained by referring to the summary of the invention, and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A process for etching a silicon dioxide layer is disclosed. The novel two step etch process is used, for example, to perform a contact etch through a BPSG layer. Both etch steps are carried out in a flow of O.sub.2 and CHF.sub.3. In the first step, a high flow rate of oxygen (approximately 19 SCCM) is used. During this step, the bulk of the oxide is removed, without the problem of micro masking wherein small localized regions remain partially un-etched. In the second step, the remaining oxide is removed in a lower O.sub.2 flow rate, giving good oxide to silicon selectivity.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to the field of semiconductor device fabrication and more specifically to a process designed to etch contact openings or vias in an insulative layer.
2. Prior Art
In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, there is a need to make electrical contact to certain regions of the device. For example, in a wide variety of devices such as MOS transistors, EPROMS, capacitors, etc., electrical contact must be made to various regions including diffusion regions in the semiconductor substrate such as source or drain diffusions, and polysilicon gates. In addition, it is usually necessary to make electrical contact to other structures of the device as well, for example, to the first metalization. Normally, the regions which must be contacted are completely covered with a dielectric layer during fabrication which is deposited to provide electrical isolation. Electrical contact is made to the above described regions by first forming an opening in the dielectric over the contact region or metal layer and next filling the opening with a conductive material. The openings can be filled in the same step in which interconnects are formed, for example, by depositing a blanket layer of aluminum, forming a masking layer to cover the openings, as well as the regions which will become interconnects, and then etching the exposed aluminum. The above described processing fills the opening with aluminum and forms interconnects which are necessary for functioning of the device. Alternatively, the opening can be filled in a separate process followed by aluminium deposition, masking, and etch to form interconnects which contact the fill material.
Generally, when etching an opening in a dielectric layer overlying a contact region such as a source, drain, or gate, the process is referred to as the "contact etch", and the openings thus formed are called contact openings. When etching an opening in a dielectric layer overlying, for example, a metal layer to be contacted, the process is referred to as the "via etch", and the openings thus formed are called vias.
Various types of insulative layers are formed at several different process steps during fabrication. Thermal oxide of approximately 5000-6000 .ANG. is grown as field isolation relatively early in the processing. Later, a gate oxide is formed. Then, through a sequence of steps, the gate is formed and diffusion regions are defined within the substrate. Next, a borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) inter-level dielectric layer is deposited on the substrate. It is through this BPSG layer which the contact openings must be made. It addition to the BPSG layer, there may be other oxide layers overlying the contact regions. For example, the source and drain may still be covered with the gate oxide, a pad oxide layer, or a sacrificial oxide layer. In CMOS devices, there may be a low temperature oxide (LTO) between the contact regions and the BPSG layer to prevent counter-doping. If any of these other oxides are present, they are etched in the same step as the BPSG layer. Generally, these layers are much thinner than the BPSG layer. In the present discussion, it will be assumed that the BPSG layer is deposited directly on the contact region. However, the presence of these additional layers will not affect the practice of the present invention as described herein.
In order to form the contact openings, a masking material such as photoresist is formed over the entire BPSG layer. The resist is patterned by well known methods to expose openings in the BPSG layer over the contact regions. Additionally, the BPSG layer is exposed in other regions, such as in the scribe lines between die and, for example, portions of the mask alignment mark region to allow for alignment with subsequent layers. Next, the dielectric layer is etched in the exposed regions to form the contact openings.
In the prior art, various dry etching processes are used to etch the oxide. Although oxide can be wet etched in a solution containing hydrofluoric acid (HF), dry processes are preferred since they are non-intrusive (since the wafers do not need to be submerged in an acid solution) and do not have the undercutting problems associated with wet etches. Nearly all modern processes use dry etches or wet/dry etches to etch oxide layers. The dry processes are carried out by plasma etching or reactive ion etching (RIE). Typical gasses used in dry processes include oxygen and various halocarbons, particularly chloro and/or fluoro carbons such as CHF.sub.3 (Freon 23), C.sub.3 F.sub.8, C.sub.2 F.sub.6, and CF.sub.4. Other halogenated compounds such as NF.sub.3, SF.sub.6, SiF.sub.4, and SiF.sub.2 may also be used. In addition, other gasses such as A.sub.r, He, N.sub.2, H.sub.2, Cl.sub.2 and F.sub.2 are often added to the gas flow. The particular gas mixture used will depend on, for example, the characteristics of the oxide being etched, the stage of processing, the etch tool being used, the desired etch characteristics such as etch rate, wall slope, anisotropy, etc.
One problem with the above-mentioned dry etching processes for etching oxides is the occurrence of the "micro masking" effect. This effect occurs most commonly when etching a BPSG layer in a dry process, and occurs mostly in large open sites on the wafer. Generally, very little micro masking occurs in the contact openings. Although the exact cause of the phenomena is not known, is believed that during the plasma etch some cross-linking occurs to form a polymer on the surface of the BPSG layer which is resistant to the etch. FIG. 1 shows an example of the result of a prior art dry etching process. FIG. 1 shows the top view of a portion of a semiconductor substrate after BPSG deposition, masking, and etch. In the contact regions where the contact openings will be formed (not shown in FIG. 1), the BPSG is deposited directly on top of the contact regions, for example, directly on top of a source region. In the region shown in FIG. 1, the BPSG film is deposited on top of a thermal oxide. The inner region 10 was left unmasked in order to etch all BPSG from region 10 as well as some of the underlying thermal oxide. The outer region 11 is unetched BPSG which was masked by photoresist during the etching process. As can be seen, within inner region 10 there are a plurality of micro masking defects 15. Each micro masking defect 15 has a diameter of approximately 0.5 microns and a height of approximately 0.2-0.3.mu.. However, the size and the shape of the micro masking defects 15 can vary.
Surrounding the micro masking defects 15 is a clear surface 16 of underlying oxide which has been completely cleared of the BPSG layer during the etch. Usually, the inner region 10 of an open site such as that shown in FIG. 1 would be used to measure the total oxide thickness removed, in order to determine etch rates and to ensure adequate overetch. Region 10 is used since the contact openings themselves are too small in diameter to permit measurement of remaining oxide in those regions. Also, since the BPSG is on top of a relatively thick thermal oxide in the open regions shown in FIG. 1, overetch can be determined. That is, by measuring the remaining oxide in region 10, the amount of thermal oxide removed after the BPSG layer has been removed can be determined, giving an indication of the extent of overetch of the BPSG layer.
The micro masking problem illustrated in FIG. 1 causes several problems. The presence of a large number of micro masking defects 15 causes light to be reflected randomly or scattered from the surface. Because of this scattering, film thickness of the remaining oxide in region 10 cannot be determined accurately. This is due to the fact that analytical instruments for measuring film thickness shine an optical beam through the film and measure the intensity of the reflected beam to determine film thickness. Since the remaining film thickness in these areas cannot be measured, on-line determination of the amount of oxide removed, and the etch rate cannot be made. The lack of on-line measurement is a serious detriment as process control is much more difficult without the availability of on-line data with which to control the process. Finally, the micro masking defects 15 make surface features harder to see through a microscope such as an alignment microscope. Thus, alignment of subsequent layers is more difficult due to the presence of the micro masking defects 15.
What is needed is a process to etch a BPSG layer from contact openings which does not create micro masking defects in large open areas so that film thickness can be measured reliably, etch parameters can be measured on-line, and alignment to subsequent layers is not impeded.

Process for etching silicon dioxide layer without micro masking effect


A modular guard system for a power saw includes a riving knife mounted to the saw rearwardly of the blade and having first and second notches with openings facing away from each other. A blade guard assembly is releasably mounted on the riving knife and configured to cover the blade. The blade guard assembly includes a mounting portion configured to receive a top portion of the riving knife having the first and second notches and a release mechanism provided in the mounting portion and having a spring member for engaging the first notch and a latch member connected to the spring member for engaging the second notch. The latch member exerts a force on the spring member to cooperatively hold the first and second notches between the spring member and the latch member to retain the riving knife in the mounting portion.

The present invention generally relates to power tools and, more particularly, to power table saws.
Guard systems for power table saws typically include three components, namely, a splitter or riving knife, a kickback prevention device, and a blade guard that covers the blade. A kickback prevention device is a safety device that reduces the likelihood of a kick-back event where a work piece is somehow caught or bound up during a cutting operation and the inertia of the blade throws the work piece back toward the user. A riving knife is typically considered to function similarly to a spreader or splitter on a blade guard assembly, but does not extend above the top of the blade.
Depending on the type of cut being made, there are times when it is desirable to separate and remove the blade guard from the riving knife. For example, when making a non-through cut, the user must remove the guard system if the guard system is of the type which is attached to the undercarriage or the rear of the table saw. These mounting configurations are typically utilized on most portable and bench top models that are presently commercialized. Because there is a need to remove the guard system during non-through and other special types of cuts and because special wrenches or the like are often necessary to do so on many commercial bench top models, many users simply leave the guard system off. While some table saws incorporate features in the blade guard for removing the blade guard without the use of tools, they utilize internal mounting with very limited spring action, which requires very high precision of all mating parts.


A microprocessor based transmitter and a microprocessor based receiver in which a user interface is located on the receiver. The transmitter has an internal DC digital voltage measuring circuit to determine the voltage level of the battery powering the transmitter. Periodically, the transmitter's microprocessor inserts this digitally encoded voltage level in the sub-code area of the digital data being transmitted. The receiver decodes the DC voltage level of the transmitter battery, displays it, and inserts this voltage level in the sub-code area of its digital audio output signal. The voltage level of the transmitter battery is automatically recorded in the sub-code area of the DAT. By observing the DC voltage level, a trained operator can determine when the batteries are nearing the end of their useable life or that the battery voltage level is approaching its cut-off level.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved, voice transmitter/receiver system, and more particularly to a microprocessor controlled transmitter and microprocessor controlled receiver system in which the receiver is used to program the transmitter's RF operating frequency and RF power output level, as well as other features. The operating frequency to which the receiver is tuned is programmed into the transmitter and insures that the receiver and transmitter are operating on the same frequency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, in certain situations, it is desirable to listen to and/or record at a remote receiver a conversation between two or more people. A microphone converts the acoustic signal to an electrical analogue signal and a transmitter, which is connected by a wire to the microphone, broadcasts the voice signal to a remotely located receiver as a modulated radio frequency (RF) signal, preferably as a digitally encoded signal. The transmitter and receiver for these applications are designed to operate over a selectable one of several different operating frequencies. This allows the selection of an operating frequency that is not being overwhelmed by an interfering broadcast source on the same or adjacent frequencies. In prior art the transmitter's operating frequency and the receiver's operating frequency are inputted separately to the transmitter and to the receiver. Typically, prior art systems use so-called dip switches or jumpers located on the transmitter to input the transmitter's operating frequency and a set of dip switches or a dial on the receiver to set the operating frequency of the receiver. Since in the prior art the transmitter's and receiver's operating frequency are inputted separately, different operating frequencies can be erroneously input to the transmitter and receiver.
Usually, in these systems, the transmitted voice signal is recorded on a tape; in a digital transmitter/receiver system the digital receiver output can be recorded on a Digital Audio Tape (DAT). In any event, the recorded signal may be degraded or may have gaps or other abnormalities. There are a number of possible causes for such abnormalities. Some of these possible causes are related to the transmission of the signal by the transmitter to the receiver and other possible causes are not. In analyzing a voice recording, it is often useful to identify, if possible, the cause of an abnormality or apparent abnormality in the recording.

Battery powered voice transmitter and receiver tuned to an RF frequency by the receiver


An operation method for a memory device is provided. The operation method includes: increasing a dummy word line voltage to a first dummy word line voltage during a pre-tum on period; increasing the dummy word line voltage from the first dummy word line voltage to a second dummy word line voltage during a read period; and lowering the dummy word line voltage after the read period is finished. Wherein the first dummy word line voltage is lower than the second dummy word line voltage.

For three-dimension (3D) memory devices, after heavy read cycles, e.g. 100K read cycles, some of dummy word lines (DWL) suffers read disturbance, especially for dummy word lines of unselected (de-select) sub-blocks.
Analysis reveals that when the pre-turn on period of the string select lines (SSLs) or the global select lines (GSLs) is closed, if the pass voltage (Vpass) of the unselected word lines is lower than the threshold voltages of the SSLs or GSLs, then the down-coupling effect occurs. This may cause large channel potential difference between the SSLs and the dummy word lines, or large channel potential difference between the GSLs and the dummy word lines; and has a high vertical electronic field at the dummy word lines. Hot carrier injection is likely to occur and then read disturbance occurs.


A mask supported at a frame when a tensile force is applied in a first direction is provided. The mask includes a mask main body in a band shape extended in the first direction, and a plurality of pattern openings formed in the mask main body. the mask main body has ends supported by the frame, and the pattern opening are arranged in the first direction. The mask further includes a dummy opening provided between the pattern openings and one of the ends of the mask main body. The dummy opening has a form that is different from forms of the pattern openings.

Field
The described technology relates generally to a mask and a mask assembly. More particularly, the described technology relates generally to a mask used for depositing an organic layer and a mask assembly.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, as a representative example of a flat panel display, there are an organic light emitting display, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display panel, etc.
Among them, in order to manufacture the organic light emitting display, an electrode having specific patterns, an organic emission layer, etc. should be formed. The method for forming the electrode and the organic emission layer, etc. can be applied to a deposition method using a mask assembly.
More specifically, the organic light emitting display includes pixels that are a basic unit displaying images on a substrate and arrayed in a matrix form, and an organic light emitting diode that has an anode, a first electrode and a cathode, and a second electrode sequentially formed, with organic emission layers each emitting light such as red, green, blue, or white, for each pixel therebetween. Organic materials forming the organic emission layer are very vulnerable to moisture and oxygen, etc., such that they should be thoroughly isolated from moisture during a process of forming the organic emission layer and after forming the organic emission layer. Therefore, it is difficult to perform patterning using a general photolithography process. Consequently, the organic emission layer is formed using a mask in which pattern openings for penetrating deposition materials only through a portion corresponding to each pattern is formed.
Recently, a mask assembly including a frame including an opening and a plurality of masks in a band shape of which both ends are fixed to the frame, corresponding to the opening, has been used.
The mask assembly in the related art is fixed to the frame by applying tensile force to the mask, such that the shape of the pattern openings formed in the mask due to the tensile force applied to the mask may be deformed.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the described technology and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Samsung-ro, Giheung-Gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-Do