The invention is directed to a catalyst composition suitable for addition reactions of ethylenically and acetylenically unsaturated monomers comprising a metal oxide support having covalently bound to the surface thereof directly through the oxygen atom of the metal oxide an activator anion that is also ionically bound to a catalytically active transition metal cation compound. The invention includes a preparation process for the invention catalyst composition exemplified by reacting a Lewis acid, such as trisperfluorophenyl boron with residual silanol groups of a silica support, preferably then reacting with a Lewis base such as diethylaniline, so as to prepare a silica bound anionic activator that when combined with a suitable transition metal compound will protonate it so as to form the ionic catalyst system. Use of the invention catalyst to polymerize alpha-olefins is exemplified.

Coordination polymerization of olefinically unsaturated monomers is well known and has led to the great proliferation in modern society of elastomeric and plastic compositions of matter, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and ethylene propylene rubber. Early pioneers utilized transition metal compounds with such activators as aluminum alkyls and later development extended this work to bulky ligand-containing (e.g., .eta..sup.5 -cyclopentadienyl) transition metals ("metallocenes") with activators such as alkyl alumoxanes. The most recent developments have shown the effectiveness of ionic catalysts comprised of metallocene cations activated by non-coordinating anions, see for example EP-A-277,004 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,401. These references described protonation of metallocene compounds by anion precursors to form stable ionic catalysts.
The ionic catalysts of the prior art have shown to varying degrees significant sensitivity to catalyst poisons present in monomer feed streams or in recycled fluid streams in the polymerization process and have posed problems for use with inert oxide supports that typically have either or both of retained moisture or polar hydroxyl groups. Accordingly processes have been developed to utilize poison scavenging compounds, for example alkyl aluminiums or alumoxanes, for solution polymerization and to remove or neutralize polar groups retained in or on metal oxide supports. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,157, describing Group-IIIA metal scavenger compounds, and WO-A-91/09882, WO-A-94/00500 and WO-A-94/03506 describing supporting techniques utilizing similar compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,197 describes enhanced polymerization of styrene where the ionic catalyst systems include a metal hydrocarbyl, and, which may be supported. All documents are referred to for description of metallocene compounds, ionic activators and useful scavenging compounds.
Supported catalysts based on the reaction of chromocenes with metal (M) oxides, suggested to yield a chromate or dichromate structure, --Cr(--O--M--).sub.2 or (--M--O--Cr--)(O)(--Cr--O--M--), are also a well-known class of supported metallocene catalysts found to be useful particularly for linear polyethylene by any of solution, slurry or gas phase commercial processes. See, for example, "Supported Chromium Catalyst for Ethylene Polymerization", McDaniel, Advances in Catalysis 1985, 33, 47-97. Silica is a less preferred support due to a lower reactivity than, for example, aluminum phosphate, typically no other activator is required, and the metal center of the metallocene is covalently bound through the oxo-linkage (--O--) to the support metal/metalloid.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,991 and equivalent WO-A-93/11172 describe the chemical bonding of non-coordinating anionic activators to supports so as to prepare polyanionic activators that when used with the metallocene compounds avoid problems of catalyst desorption experienced when ionic catalysts physically adsorbed on metal oxide supports are utilized in solution or slurry polymerization. The supports are core components of inert monomeric, oligomeric, polymeric or metal oxide supports which have been prepared so as to incorporate chemically bound non-coordinating anions. The teaching of the preparation of polyanionic activators from metal oxides (FIG. 8) entails the reaction of a hydroxylated silica surface with silane coupling agents at least some of which contain halolaryl moieties which can be lithiated to form chemically bound arylithium groups. These are subsequently treated with the bulky metalloid precursor trisperfluorophenylboron (B(pfp).sub.3) and subjected to an ion exchange reaction with diemthylanilinium hydrochloride ([DMAH].sup.+ [Cl].sup.-) so as to prepare a silica surface having covalently linked activator groups of [DMAH].sup.+ [(pfp).sub.3 B].sup.-. The examples illustrate the bulk polymerization of polypropylene using hydrocarbyl support based polyionic catalyst systems in batch autoclave reactors.
There is a need to address further both the preparation of ionic catalyst systems on supports and a need to find support catalysts that are not subject to problems in the polymerization process leading to reactor instability from over-production, fouling of polymerization equipment surfaces, and unwanted preparation of polymer particles of poor morphology not suited to efficient polymer production on an industrial scale.


A resistive sheet thermal transfer printer includes a printing head having m (m is an integer) recording electrodes and a common electrode both-in contact with a resistance layer of an ink sheet, the m recording electrodes being arranged in a line, and being separated from the common electrode by a predetermined distance, where m is an integer, a driving circuit for applying a driving voltage across the common electrode and one or plurality of recording electrodes selected from the m recording electrodes in accordance with printing data supplied from an external unit, a controller for controlling the driving circuit, when the driving voltage is simultaneously applied across the common electrode and selected successively arranged recording electrodes, so that an amount of driving voltage applied across the common electrode and an end recording electrode positioned at an end of the selected successively arranged recording electrodes is less than an amount of driving voltage applied across the common electrode and each of the selected successively arranged recording electrodes other than the end recording electrode.

Field of the invention
The present invention generally relates to a resistive sheet thermal transfer printer, and more particularly to a resistive sheet thermal transfer printer in which unevenness of the density of a line image formed of a plurality of dots can be prevented. The unevenness of the density of the line image is referred to as a multi-dot density unevenness.
A description will now be given of a conventional resistive sheet thermal transfer printer with reference to FIGS.1 and 2.
Referring to FIG.1, an ink sheet 501 is put upon a recording sheet 502. The ink sheet 501 has a resistance layer 501a, a conductive layer 501b and an ink dyes layer 501c. The conductive layer 501b is sandwiched between the resistance layer 501a and the ink dyes layer 501c, and the ink dyes layer 501c is in contact with the recording sheet 502. The resistance layer 501a is made, for example, of an Aramid film including carbon grains. The conductive layer 501b is made, for example, of aluminum. A common electrode 503 and a plurality of recording electrodes 504 arranged in a line are arranged at predetermined interval on the resistance layer 501a of the ink sheet 501. The common electrode 503 and the recording electrodes 504 are pressed against the resistance layer 501a.
When a voltage is applied across the common electrode 503 and each of the recording electrodes 504, an electric current flows through a first part of the resistance layer 501a corresponding to the common electrode 503, the conductive layer 501b between the common electrode 503 and each of the recording electrodes 504, and a second part of the resistance layer 501a corresponding to each of the recording electrodes 504, as shown by arrows in FIG.1. In this case, when the electric current flows through the first and second part of the resistance layer 501a, Joule heat is generated from each of the first and second parts of the resistance layer 501a. An amount of Joule heat generated in the resistance layer 501a is proportional to the square of electric current density therein. Thus, as the end surface of each of the recording electrodes 504 is smaller than that of the common electrode 503, the generation of Joule heat is concentrated in the second part of the resistance layer 501a corresponding to each of the recording electrodes 504 (an area shown by a slanted lines in FIG.1). The ink in the ink dyes layer 501c, positioned under each of the recording electrodes 504, is fused and sublimated due to the Joule heat in the second part of the resistance layer 501a, so that ink corresponding to each of the recording electrodes is transferred to the recording sheet 502.
In the above conventional resistive sheet thermal transfer printer, when the voltage is simultaneously supplied to successive some of the electrodes 504, the following problem occurs.
For example, when the voltage is simultaneously supplied to three of m recording electrodes 504, second (2), third (3) and fourth (4) recording electrodes 504, as shown in FIG.2, an additional current flows into end positioned recording electrodes, such as the second and fourth recording electrodes (2) and (4), from a periphery thereof. Thus, in this case, the amount of current flowing into the third recording electrode (3) between the second and fourth electrodes (2) and (4) is less than the amount of current flowing into the end positioned recording electrodes, the second and fourth recording electrodes (2) and (4) in this case. That is, the amount of heat generated in the resistance layer corresponding to the third recording electrode (3) is less than the amount of heat generated therein corresponding to the end positioned recording electrode. As a result, unevenness of the density occurs in the image formed on the recording sheet 502.
To eliminate the above problem, conventionally, "ELECTRIC INK TRANSFER RECORDING METHOD USING MULTI-STYLUS" has been proposed in THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF IMAGE ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS OF JAPAN 16, 1, (1987). In this method, one line is divided into a plurality of blocks, and the voltage is not simultaneously supplied to adjacent recording electrodes.
However, in the above method, as one line image is printed through printing a divided plurality of blocks, the time required for printing one line increases. Thus, the printing speed is decreased.

Resistive sheet thermal transfer printer


First and second switchback convey paths are arranged to be symmetrical about the convey path between an inlet and a discharge path. First and second detection sensors are arranged on the first and second switchback convey paths, respectively, to detect sheets conveyed therein. A switching gate is rotatably placed between the respective convey paths. The switching gate is constituted by a first reverse guide path for causing the inlet to communicate with the first switchback convey path and also causing the discharge path to communicate with the first switchback convey path, and a second reverse guide path for causing the discharge path to communicate with the second switchback convey path and also causing the inlet to communicate with the second switchback convey path. The switching gate is switched in a state wherein the trailing end of a conveyed sheet is detected by the first detection sensor on the first switchback convey path, but no sheet is detected by the second detection sensor on the second switchback convey path. With this operation, switching control can be accurately performed without leaving the trailing end of a sheet in any of the guide paths of the switching gate.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet discharge processing device for performing discharge processing upon determining in accordance with an instruction whether to discharge a sheet on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus with the image-bearing surface facing down or up.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Recently, a digital copying machine has been commercialized as a multi-function machine which operates in the printer mode, the facsimile mode, and the like as well as in the copy mode. In the general copy mode, sheets of paper are sequentially discharged facing up, i.e., with the image-bearing surface facing up. In the printer mode, face-down paper discharge, i.e., paper discharge with each image-bearing surface facing down, is generally performed. More specifically, in the general copy mode, in consideration of the collation of image-formed sheets to be discharged, an automatic document feeder or the like is used to feed originals so as to cause the machine to sequentially form images on sheets from the last page, thereby discharging image-formed sheets in the collated or sorted state. In contrast to this, when the machine operates as a printer, since image data is sequentially transferred from an external device from the first page, image formation is performed from the first page. For this reason, sheets must be discharged without changing their postures or discharged after being reversed.
In order to realize this sheet discharge processing function, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 5 No. 310357 discloses a device having that function. The arrangement of this device will be briefly described below. As shown in FIG. 21, when a toner image on a photoreceptor 101 is transferred onto a sheet fed from a paper feed tray 100, the sheet passes through a fixing device 102 and is discharged out of the device. A paper discharge processing unit 103 switches the sheet discharge modes in accordance with the copy mode or the printer mode.
When the image forming apparatus is in the copy mode, the sheet is discharged, with the recording surface facing up, onto a first discharge tray 105 through a paper outlet 104 via various convey rollers of a paper discharge processing unit 103. In the printer mode, the convey path is switched to temporarily guide the sheet to a switchback convey path 106 via various convey rollers, and the convey direction is switched by a switching means 107. Thereafter, the sheet is discharged, with the recording surface facing down, onto a second discharge tray 109 through a paper outlet 108.
Referring to FIG. 21, reference numeral 110 denotes an intermediate unit for double-sided image formation which is detachably or integrally mounted on a digital image forming apparatus body 111. When the intermediate unit 110 is mounted on the image forming apparatus body 111, in forming images on the upper and lower surfaces of a sheet, the sheet is conveyed into an intermediate tray 112 via the paper discharge processing unit 103 and the switchback convey path 106, and is conveyed again from the intermediate tray 112 to the transfer position on the photoreceptor 101 on which a toner image is formed.
In order to form images, a laser beam irradiation unit 113 is placed above the photoreceptor 101, and a read unit (scanner) 114 for optically reading an image on an original is placed in the uppermost portion of the apparatus. An image on an original placed on a transparent original table 115 is formed on a CCD 117 as a read element by the scanner 114 through an optical system 116. The image is photoelectrically converted and read by the CCD 117. The semiconductor laser of the laser beam irradiation unit 113 is driven on the basis of the read image data to form an image on the photoreceptor 101.
In discharging sheets on which image are formed by the above arrangement, because of the use of the switchback convey path 106, the sheet convey cycle must be set to a value larger than the length of each sheet in the convey direction so as to prevent the leading and trailing ends of sheets from overlapping. As the image formation speed increases, the convey speed of the switchback convey path 106 needs to be higher than the convey speed in an image formation process. If, however, the convey speed increases, jams and the like may occur frequently.
In order to eliminate such a drawback in the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 5 No.310357, the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Sho 60 No.52458 alternately uses two switchback paths to shorten the sheet convey cycle. In this device, as shown in FIG. 22A, a reverse convey device 120 is placed midway along the path extending from an inlet 121 to which a sheet having undergone an image formation process in the image forming apparatus is conveyed to an outlet 122 through which the sheet is discharged. Convey rollers 123 are arranged at the inlet 121, and the fed state of a sheet is detected by a paper feed detection switch 124. Discharge rollers 125 are arranged at the outlet 122.
A switching gate 128 is rotatably placed between the inlet 121 and the outlet 122. The switching gate 128 guides a sheet P to linear switchback paths 126 and 127 extending in the vertical direction. The switching gate 128 has a first guide surface 128a for guiding a sheet to the upper or lower switchback path 126 or 127, a second guide surface 128b for guiding the sheet from the upper or lower switchback path 126 or 127 to the outlet 122, and a straight guide path 128c for causing the sheet to travel straight from the inlet 121 to the outlet 122 without reversing it.
In the above arrangement, when a sheet P having undergone image formation in the image forming apparatus is conveyed to the inlet 121, the sheet P is clamped between the convey rollers 123 to be continuously conveyed. When the leading end of the sheet P is detected by the paper feed detection switch 124, the switching gate 128 is switched first to the state shown in FIG. 22A to guide the sheet P to the upper switchback path 126. After the paper feed detection switch 124 detects that the sheet P is reliably conveyed into the switchback path 126, i.e., after the paper feed detection switch 124 detects the trailing end of the sheet P, and the trailing end of the sheet P is clamped between convey rollers 126a arranged at the switchback path 126, the switching gate 128 is switched to the position in FIG. 22B.
After this operation, the rotating directions of the convey rollers 126a are reversed to guide the sheet P to the discharge rollers 125 at the outlet 122 along the first guide surface 128a. At the same time, the next sheet P having undergone image formation is guided to the second switchback path 127 along the second guide surface 128b of the switching gate 128. At the timing when the trailing end of the sheet P is detected by the paper feed detection switch 124, and the sheet P is clamped between convey rollers 127a at the lower switchback path 127, it is assumed that the sheet P in the switchback path 126 is completely discharged, and the switching gate 128 is rotated through 90.degree. (in the counterclockwise direction).
As described above, after sheets P on which images are formed are conveyed into the upper and lower switchback paths 126 and 127, the sheets P are alternately discharged to the outlet 122. For this reason, even if one sheet P is conveyed into the reverse convey path at the same time another sheet P is conveyed from the reverse convey path to the outlet, the leading and trailing ends of the sheets P dot not overlap, and the sheets P can be reversed/discharged in a shorter cycle.
As described above, with the use of the sheet discharge processing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Sho 60 No.52458, sheets P can be discharged in a shorter convey cycle. Even if, therefore, the processing speed of an image formation apparatus increases, appropriate discharge processing can be performed.
In the arrangement having two switchback paths, the guide surfaces are arranged to guide the sheet P to the switchback path and also guide the sheet P from the switchback path to the outlet. This arrangement also includes guide plates 129a to 129d and the like in FIG. 22 opposing these guide surfaces to reliably guide the sheet P. However, when the switching gate 128 is to be rotated about a rotating shaft, these guide plates 129 and the like must be retracted. Without the guide plates 129, the switching gate 128 can be rotated without being interfered, and hence the rotation mechanism can be simplified. However, the sheet P is guided unstably, so that a convey failure or a jam of the sheet P may occur frequently when the sheet P is conveyed into the switchback paths 126 and 127 or guided from the switchback paths 126 and 127 to the discharge rollers 125. The sheet P tends to curl in one direction because it passes through the fixing rollers in the process of image formation. For this reason, the sheet P cannot be reliably guided with only the guide surfaces 128a and 128b of the switching gate 128.
In addition, since the switchback paths are formed in a line, a very large wasteful space is required in the vertical direction. Since each switchback path requires a linear distance long enough to store a sheet of the maximum size, a space exceeding twice the maximum size is required. Consequently, the sheet discharge processing device has a large size, and a large wasteful space is formed.
Furthermore, according to the above description, sheets are alternately discharged. In this technique, however, if a sheet jam occurs in the image forming apparatus body, or the image formation cycle becomes unstable, the switching timing of the switching gate greatly shifts, and switching is performed while a sheet is discharged. As a result, the sheet, the switching gage, or the like may be damaged.


The present invention provides a magnetic recording medium having a magnetic layer comprising a ferromagnetic powder dispersed in a binder so as to exhibit an excellent electromagnetic property.. The magnetic recording medium has a magnetic layer formed on a non-magnetic body, from a magnetic paint mainly consisting of a ferromagnetic powder and a binding agent. This magnetic layer also contains a metal chelate compound of a diketone shown in Chemical Formula given below: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 to R.sup.3 are selected from a group consisting of hydrogen, halogen, hydroxyl group, nitro group, carboxyl group, carbonyl group, amino group, amide group, and sulfonic acid group as well as alkyl group, aryl group, hetero-aromatic group replaced therewith and wherein the metal of the chelate compound is Ti, Zr, Ni, Sn, Co, or Cr.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium of paint type and, in particular, to a magnetic recording medium having an excellent dispersing ability of a magnetic powder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic recording medium are widely used in the forms of audio tapes, video tapes, backup data cartridges. floppy disks and the like. For these magnetic recording media, discussions are going on so as to obtain a higher density such as shorting the recording wave length, requiring an improvement of electromagnetic conversion property.
In the paint type magnetic recording medium, in order to attain a high density recording, there are considered various techniques such as a use of a ferromagnetic alloy powder as the ferromagnetic powder, refining of the ferromagnetic powder, increase of the coercive force of the ferromagnetic powder and uniform distribution thereof, and a mirror finished surface of a magnetic layer. At present, the magnetic material has been significantly improved and it is possible to obtain a ferromagnetic powder having a saturation magnetization exceeding 140 Am.sup.2 /kg and a ferromagnetic powder having a longer axis length of 0.1 .mu.m or below. Moreover, there exists a ferromagnetic powder having a coercive force exceeding 160 kA/m with a uniform particle size distribution reflected in the coercive force. Thus, a remarkable development can be seen in this field.
It is necessary to uniformly distribute the ferromagnetic powder in a magnetic paint so that the magnetic recording medium can exhibit a preferable electromagnetic conversion property. Actually, however, it becomes more and more difficult to uniformly distribute a ferromagnetic powder of a smaller particle size which satisfies the aforementioned conditions.
In order to cope with such a circumstance, it is considered to increase a time required for kneading or dispersion when preparing a magnetic paint. However, this also causes deterioration of the ferromagnetic powder, decreasing the production efficiency.
On the other hand, it has also been tried that a bonding agent is made to contain a dispersing agent having a particular functional group, so as to increase the interaction with the ferromagnetic powder and improve the dispersibility. However, the dispersing agent presently available cannot sufficiently disperse a fine ferromagnetic powder which has been developed for a high-density recording.


A method for manufacturing a capacitor is disclosed. An etch-stop layer or a polishing stop layer is employed to protect a storage electrode of the capacitor from being damaged by a chemical mechanical polishing process or an etch-back process during its fabrication.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for manufacturing a capacitor and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device incorporating the capacitor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a capacitor without damaging a storage electrode thereof, and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device incorporating the capacitor.
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application No. 2003-89397 filed on Dec. 10, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the level of integration in conventional semiconductor memory devices increases, the area taken up by a single memory cell unit in a semiconductor memory device decreases accordingly. To ensure sufficient storage capacitance in the semiconductor memory device, a capacitor generally takes on one of various shapes such as a box, a fin, a crown, or a cylinder. One conventional capacitor comprises a cylindrical storage electrode connected to a contact pad formed on a semiconductor substrate. Such a capacitor having a cylindrical storage electrode is typically formed using a mold layer. A conventional method for forming a capacitor using a mold layer is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,696, Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2001-210804, and Korean Laid Open Patent Publication No. 2003-67821.
FIGS. 1A through 1E are cross-sectional views illustrating a method for forming a conventional capacitor using a mold layer.
Referring to FIG. 1A, an insulating interlayer 5 is formed on a semiconductor substrate (not shown) including contact regions. The insulating interlayer 5 is then partially etched by a photolithography process to form openings that expose the contact regions in the semiconductor substrate.
A first conductive layer of polysilicon or metal is formed on the insulating interlayer 5 to fill the openings. The first conductive layer is etched by a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process or an etch-back process until the insulating interlayer 5 is exposed, thereby forming contacts 10 filling the openings.
An etch-stop layer 15, a mold layer 20, and a mask layer are successively formed on the insulating interlayer 5 and the contacts 10. A photoresist pattern 30 is then formed on the mask layer.
Using the photoresist pattern 30 as an etching mask, the mask layer is patterned to form a storage electrode mask 25 on the mold layer 20. The mold layer 20 and the etch-stop layer 15 are partially etched using the storage electrode mask 25 such that storage electrode contact holes 35 are formed through the mold layer 20 and the etch-stop layer 15. The storage electrode contact holes 35 expose the contacts 10.
Referring to FIG. 1B, the photoresist pattern 30 is removed by an ashing and/or stripping process and a second conductive layer 40 of doped polysilicon is formed on the contacts 10, on inner sidewalls of the storage electrode contact holes 35 and on the storage electrode mask 25.
Referring to FIG. 1C, a sacrificial oxide layer 50 is formed on the second conductive layer 40, thereby filling the storage electrode contact holes 35.
Referring to FIG. 1D, storage electrodes 60, which are electrically connected to contacts 10, are formed using a CMP process. The CMP process is used to remove portions of the sacrificial oxide layer 50, the second conductive layer 40, and the storage electrode mask 25, until the mold layer 20 is exposed. Each of the storage electrodes 60 has a cylindrical shape with a patterned sacrificial layer 55 filling a gap between sections of the cylindrical storage electrode 60.
Referring to FIG. 1E, the storage electrodes 60 are completed by removing the mold layer 20 and the patterned sacrificial layer 55. Dielectric layers 65 and plate electrodes 70 are then successively formed on the storage electrodes 60 to form capacitors 75 on the semiconductor substrate.
The method described above has at least one significant shortcoming. In forming the capacitors 75 using the mold layer 20, an upper portion of the resulting storage electrodes 60 is removed by the CMP process which is applied to remove the storage electrode mask 25. When this upper portion of the storage electrode 60 is removed, the effective area of the storage electrode 60 is reduced, thus reducing the overall capacitance of the capacitor 75.

Method of manufacturing a capacitor having improved capacitance and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including the capacitor


Technologies are generally described herein for controlling and using integrated occupancy and ambient light sensors. In some examples, a lighting device includes an illumination source, a light sensor, and a transceiver. A determination can be made to determine if the illumination source is operating in an on mode of operation or an off mode of operation. In response to determining that the illumination source is operating in the off mode of operation, an instruction can be received at the lighting device to pulse operation of the illumination source to emit a light pulse. The lighting device can also be configured to receive an instruction to compressively sense, using the light sensor, a light level associated with an area illuminated by the light pulse. The lighting device can output data indicating the light level compressively sensed by the light sensor.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In some business and personal settings, electricity and other utility costs can be expensive. To address the high costs of electricity and other utilities, some entities adopt energy conservation polices for turning lighting and other energy-consuming devices off when not in use. Because employees and/or other occupants of a particular business or home may be unaware of such energy conservation policies, such policies may or may not be useful.
Some employers or homeowners install lighting control mechanisms. Such mechanisms often require installation of motion detectors or other devices. Such devices may be bulky, expensive, computationally intensive, and/or obtrusive. Furthermore, such devices often must be retrofitted, which can require expense not only in hardware costs, but also in installation and servicing costs.

Integrated occupancy and ambient light sensors


An egg candling device according to the present invention includes at least an egg input and alignment unit for installing trays with eggs to be tested taken out from an incubator on a transporting means. An egg candling unit determines goodness or badness of eggs to be tested in the tray transported from the egg input and alignment unit, and specifies defective eggs. A disposal unit picks up the eggs determined as defective eggs in the egg candling unit. The egg candling unit includes light sources arranged above, a lift unit for lifting up the eggs to be tested installed below the tray and causing the eggs under test to contact the light source. A determining unit determines the goodness or badness of the eggs illuminated by the light source. A notification means specifies the position of the egg determined as a defective egg by the determining unit, and notifies the position to a disposal unit. The lift unit includes an egg holding base having a smaller diameter than diameters of eggs to be tested, a moving means for moving the egg holding base up and down, a tested egg holding unit has plate-like elastic members provided around the egg holding base at specific intervals and extending at a specific length above from the egg holding base.

Patent Document No. 1 (JP2008-256424 A) by the applicant constitutes basics of the present invention. For instance, as shown in FIG. 6, an egg candling device is constituted of an egg input and alignment unit 2 on which a plurality of trays 10 are installed where sperm eggs as a specimen material are arranged. A first examination part 3 is for selecting whether eggs in the trays 10 are sperm eggs or not and further whether the sperm eggs are excellence developed eggs or not. An extracting abnormally developed eggs part 4 extracts infertile eggs and abnormally developed eggs due to information from the first examination part 3, picking them from the tray 10 and disposing of them is a disposal box 5. An excellent eggs compensating part 6 automatically compensates for the removed eggs by filling in tested excellence developed sperm eggs into the trays 10 where the infertile eggs and the abnormally developed eggs were picked away. A second examination part 7 reexamines eggs including the growth excellent sperm eggs supplied from the excellent eggs compensating part 6 so as not to have any examination errors to increase accuracy of the examination, and an egg takeoff part 8 for keeping the trays 10 in which the excellent eggs are filled into parts where the abnormal eggs were removed by re-examination in the second examination part 7.
In the first examination part 3 and the second examination part 7 of the automatic sperm egg candling device 1, eggs to be tested which are moved on the tray 10 are brought up in every column of the eggs automatically or manually and the light radiates every eggs in order to judge whether the eggs are infertile eggs or sperm eggs by conditions or shadows of transmitted light through them and further to judge whether the eggs are growth excellence eggs or abnormally developed eggs, and moreover, as shown in FIG. 6, the case of visual judgment by workers for examination or the case of automatic judgment by image treatment are carried out selectively.


An image forming apparatus includes a main body, an image carrier provided in the main body and configured to retain electrostatic latent images on its surface, and a developing unit including a holding unit holding plural developing devices, rotatably supported by the main body. Further, a driving source is configured to rotate the developing unit and move a desired developing device to a developing position opposed to the image carrier. A stopping member is configured to be moved to an unstopping position unengaged with the holding unit and to a stopping position to stop a one-way direction rotation of the developing unit at an exchanging position for exchanging the developing devices. A backstop member is configured to be moved to a removing position unengaged with the holding unit and to an engaged position engaged with the holding unit to prevent a rotation of the developing unit in a direction opposite the one-way direction rotation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses such as electro-photographic apparatuses, printers and the like, and an image forming apparatus to get color developed images using a revolver type developing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image forming apparatuses to get color images according to an electro-photographic system such as color copiers, printers and the like, for achieving the downsizing, an apparatus is developed, which forms latent images corresponding to yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (BK) on a photosensitive drum by rotating the drum plural times and supplies toners in different colors to the drum from plural developing devices visualizes the formed color images and obtains a full-color image by superposing the visualized toner images on a photosensitive drum or an intermediate transferring substance.
Further, a revolver type developing unit is developed to supply toners in different colors to latent images formed on a photosensitive drum when the drum is rotated. This revolver type developing unit is equipped with 3 developing devices containing yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) toners and further, a developing device for black (BK) toner added.
For this revolver type developing unit, there are two methods available for removing developing devices from a revolver during the maintenance including a periodic inspection; one method is to pull out developing devices in the longitudinal direction from the opening of the front frame of the main body of an image forming apparatus after rotating the developing unit to a prescribed position and the other method is to take out developing devices in the direction vertical to the shaft of a revolver from the side frame of the main body of an image forming apparatus after rotating a developing unit to a prescribed position.
In both methods, it is necessary to prevent a developing unit from rotating in the reverse direction for a malfunction when a developing unit is unbalanced when removing developing devices from a revolver. In Japanese Patent Application No. 11-316479, a device is disclosed to prevent the rotation of a developing unit in the reverse direction. This device prevents the rotation of a developing unit that is positioned using a stepping motor by engaging a plunger into a notch or prevents the reverse rotation of a developing unit by providing a one-way clutch to a central shaft of a developing unit. Thus, the reverse rotation of a developing unit when removing developing devices is prevented.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional image forming apparatus, developing devices are removed by stopping a developing unit in the state with voltage or current applied to a stepping motor for driving the developing unit. Therefore, for example, even when a developing unit is blocked to rotate by a plunger or a one-way clutch, there is still the possibility for generating abnormal rotation for a malfunction of a stepping motor.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned conventional image forming apparatus is in such a structure that a one-way clutch is installed to the central shaft of a developing unit and the one-way clutch is easily worn by the rotation of a developing unit, the clutch accuracy drops for its wear and tear and a certain play may be produced during the operation of the one-way clutch. Therefore, for example, when the central shaft of the developing unit rotates in conjunction with the rotation of a developer conveying auger of developing devices, a play is produced when the one-way clutch is operating, and when the developing unit rotates in the reverse direction even if only slightly, not only safety in the developing device removing work is impaired but also the developing devices can be damaged.
Accordingly, a highly reliable image forming apparatus to obtain developed color images using a revolver type developing unit is desired, which is capable of surely preventing the counter-rotation of the developing unit in the removing work of developing devices from a revolver, securing safety during the maintenance and preventing the damage of developing devices held by the developing unit.

Image forming apparatus with stopper for preventing rotation of a developing unit


An improved contaminant shield and method for making the shield, including one or more panels constructed of interconnected frame members, such as extruded aluminum, having longitudinal recesses and consisting of substantially closed sections in closed sections in cross-sections. Thin flexible sheeting is inserted within the frame members, and fastening members are used to frictionally engage the recesses and capture the sheeting in seli-tensioned position.

The entire disclosure of commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,312 is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates in general to shields used to prevent air-borne particles from contaminating the environment within the shield. More particularly, the invention relates to clean environment enclosures typically employed in paint operations in manufacturing plants.
In manufacturing facilities where products are painted, it is necessary that the environment immediately surrounding the paint operation be as free as possible from dust, dirt and other air-borne contaminants in order to provide the best application of paint to the product.
Various forms of enclosures have been used to prevent air-borne contaminants from interfering with the paint application process. Such contaminant shields or "clean environment enclosures" are typically provided with positive airflow into the enclosure to prevent dust and dirt from entering the open ends of the enclosure. They are built of rigid side and top panels with opposed ends, with an attached flexible sheet(s) covering the periphery.
Two examples of prior art contaminant shields are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,769,962 and 4,860,778. These enclosures are relatively expensive to manufacture and require lengthy installation times. For example, with each of these prior art shields flexible sheets are attached to individual panels in a relatively complicated manner, using multiple connectors and/or a "tongue-in-groove" connection system, with clamps or other supports also being employed.
The shield disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,312 is an improvement over these prior art shields, and provides a controlled environment enclosure which can be more easily and inexpensively constructed, quickly altered in structure, adapted for different applications and easily repaired. Further improvements in contaminant shields are possible, however.
Most contaminant shields used for automotive painting utilize Unistrut (steel) frame members and custom plastic Unistrut caps to retain the plastic film. The Unistrut frame members consist of open section (C-channel) lengths which are only available in steel, and which do not provide adequate strength if they are constructed of lighter weight materials such as aluminum. in another design, a frame is constructed of tubular steel, a steel rod is welded to the front face of the frame around its perimeter, and a plastic clip is used to retain the plastic to the steel frame.
In still another design, a plastic extrusion is inserted into an open section C-channel, the film is inserted over the extrusion, and a plastic bead is then inserted over the film to couple with the extrusion and seal the film. This design is overly complicated and also provides less strength since it employs an open section frame assembly.
In a further design disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,354, a main frame of tube steel has a steel rod welded to its surface. A rounded retainer or clip is snapped over the rod, securing a shrink film in place. One disadvantage with this design is that the convex shape of the retainer creates a dust ledge. A second disadvantage is that the film tends to pool with water adjacent the raised retainer surface.
In every known design, the frames are constructed of steel. However, steel frames are heavy and unwieldy. It is also difficult to fasten modular steel panels, which are typically shipped to a job site for installation, using conventional means such as self-drilling ("Tek") screws.
An object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide an contaminant shield which can be economically constructed from inexpensive materials.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a lightweight contaminant shield which can be quickly and easily constructed in the field.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a contaminant shield which can be assembled into a variety of shapes without providing a dust ledge, and which can be easily altered or repaired.


In applications that use fractional-N phase locked loops (PLLs), the use of spread spectrum clocking (SSC) to reduced electromagnetic interference (EMI) would be desirable, but conflicts can occur. Here, a circuit is provided that includes both fractional logic circuitry and spread spectrum logic circuitry. This logic circuitry operates in combination with a phase selector to generally ensure that the likelihood of conflicts (which can occur in conventional circuit) are reduced.

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) originating from high frequency applications is a problem that increases with the multiplication of wireless services and devices. Shielding is the conventional approach to counteract EMI; however, it requires considerable investment on the hardware side. A different approach is spread spectrum clocking (SSC) that can be used in digital circuits, especially when the operating frequency required by a particular application is generated with a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit. With SSC, a center frequency is modulated in accordance with an appropriate pattern so that the average frequency over time is still the center frequency. In the PLL, a change of frequency can be obtained by adding discrete phase steps to the feedback signal in one or the other of two opposed directions. For example, in a "down spread" the phase of the feedback signal is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction, for "up spread" the phase is rotated in a clockwise direction, and for "center spread" the phase is rotated once in a clockwise and then in an anti-clockwise direction (with reference to a 360° phase diagram of the feedback signal). To add phase steps to the feedback signal in one or the other of the two opposite directions, a phase selector can be used if the oscillator used in the PLL has multiple phase outputs (such as in a ring oscillator, for example). When small phase steps are required, a phase interpolator can be used in conjunction with the phase selector to divide the phase gaps between adjacent phases of the multiple oscillator outputs. Some logic circuitry is provided to control the phase selector and the phase interpolator in accordance with a desired frequency pattern.
A PLL circuit can be used as a frequency synthesizer to generate from an input reference frequency an output frequency determined by the ratio of the dividends used in the input divider and in the feedback divider. When a frequency needed for a particular application cannot be achieved with fixed dividends in the input and feedback dividers, a "fractional-N phase locked loop" is needed. A fractional-N PLL can generate a fractional frequency from a reference frequency. In addition to the conventional input and feedback dividers of the PLL, the feedback loop includes a phase selector or phase aligner capable of adding discrete phase steps to the feedback signal in one or the other of opposite directions. The phase selector is controlled by logic circuitry so that the required number of phase steps is added to the feedback signal in one or the other direction for the desired output frequency of the PLL.
In an application that needs a fractional-N PLL, it would be a major advantage if SSC could be used to reduce the EMI. A possible approach is to interface SSC circuitry with the fractional-N PLL. However, since both approaches, fractional-N and SSC, use the concept of adding phase steps to the feedback signal, conflicting situations can occur. A first situation is when the fractional-N logic and the SSC logic both request a phase step at the same time and in the same direction. In that case, two phase steps are needed, but if both phase steps are made at the same time, the feedback divider experiences a huge phase step and can fail. In addition, a phase shifting circuit is needed that can handle both phase steps at the same time, which is more difficult to achieve. A second situation is when the fractional-N logic and the SSC logic both request a phase step at the same time but in the opposite directions. In such a case, no phase step at all can be needed.

Spread spectrum clocking in fractional-N PLL


Compositions, methods, and devices are provided for use in containing and releasing a gas, particularly a reactive gas. The composition can include a reactive gas, reactive gas precursor, or combination thereof; a fluid in which the reactive gas, reactive gas precursor, or combination thereof is dissolved; and a solid material (e.g., particles or fibers) in which fluid is absorbed or adsorbed, wherein the solid material controls the formation or release of the reactive gas. The materials and methods allow rapid and safe generation, transfer, and application of high concentrations of chlorine dioxide gas in solid, liquid, and gas phase systems and are suitable for a variety of chlorine dioxide applications, such as disinfecting and sanitizing liquids, solid surfaces, and porous materials.

The field of this invention is generally related to the generation and containment of solutions incorporating reactive gases and their precursors.
Reactive and inert gases have significant utility in modern society. Therefore, significant effort has been expended in the development of methods to isolate, concentrate, store, and transport highly purified single compositions as well as mixtures of gases with specific component ratios. The beneficial characteristics of gases such as chlorine dioxide, oxygen, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, chlorine, and nitrogen containing gases are known in many fields. These gases modify solution properties by interacting with both chemical and biological components contained therein.
Methods have been extensively described for generating and packaging many reactive gases for transportation and for storage on-site when continual use is required. However, a particular distinction must be made concerning chlorine dioxide gas generation, storage, and transport, because chlorine dioxide is a highly reactive gas, which cannot be compressed, contained/stored, or transported like many other gases. Chlorine dioxide thus must be generated as needed at the site of application. While this gas has exceptional utility, the inability to store it has limited its widespread use. For instance, this gas has been difficult to utilize in many small volume, low concentration applications, and by consumers in residential applications.
Safe, convenient, batch mode preparation of small volumes of chlorine dioxide gas, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, chlorine, gases which contain nitrogen, and other reactive gases continues to receive the attention and interest of many research and development groups. While carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, as well as nitrogen-containing gases, are easily stored and transported, the requirements for storage and transport of chlorine dioxide precursor reagents, as well as generation of the gas, are much more complicated. Chlorine dioxide is commonly generated in batch mode through the mixing of metal chlorite and acidic solutions or solutions containing chlorine-based oxidizers.
The patent literature and prior art associated with the storage of chlorine dioxide precursor reagents, and the generation of chlorine dioxide gas can be generally classified into three arenas. The first arena is directed toward mechanical devices and their methods of use. These mechanical devices target the controlled mixing and reaction of chlorine dioxide precursor reagents, separation of the product gas from the reaction solution, increasing the efficiency of reagent use, and ultimately controlling the delivery of gas into a liquid or gas phase system. Examples in this arena are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,039, 6,428,696, 6,203,688, and 5,415,759.
The second arena is directed toward powdered materials which contain all or some of the chlorine dioxide precursor reagents and their methods of use. These chemical systems target the protective storage of the precursor reagents, the mechanism of exposure of the dry powder and precursor reagents to water, and the interaction of the powdered components and precursor reagents with activators, to generate chlorine dioxide. Important considerations in the design of these powdered systems include the concentration of precursor reagents, the stability of the precursor reagents, the need for activating agents, sensitivity to liquid and vapor water, and the rate and duration at which chlorine dioxide gas can be generated. In the majority of powdered and compressed powder systems silicates, zeolites, and desiccants are used to carry the precursor reagents for generating chlorine dioxide and for protecting the reagents from water. Many preparations require spray drying or other rapid means of removing water from the precursor reagents. Exposure to water often initiates reactions yielding chlorine dioxide gas. Much of this prior art requires sophisticated control of materials, chemical reagents, and powder processing technical know-how and specialized packaging. These requirements limit the range of gas concentrations that can be generated, the rate and duration of gas release, and ultimately the types of applications that can be addressed with these materials. Examples in this arena are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,238,643, 6,432,322, 6,605,304, 4,585,482, 6,503,419, and 6,458,735.
The third arena involves the use of solutions which contain the precursor reagents for chlorine dioxide generation. These solutions are often referred to as stabilized chlorine dioxide and usually consist of an aqueous solution of sodium chlorite with an alkaline pH. Exposure of these solutions to an activator, a powdered or aqueous acid solution, yields chlorine dioxide gas. Packets of liquid and powdered reagents are usually combined in a large volume vessel and then diluted with water for application.
Manipulation of concentrated solutions containing both precursor reagents and the reactive gas require extreme care and thus many products utilize dilute solutions of reagents. Additionally, viscous solutions of stabilized chlorine dioxide precursor reagents and/or chlorine dioxide gas containing solutions have been disclosed. These viscous solutions are prepared through the addition of polymer additives commonly used in the food and cosmetic industries. These highly viscous materials, while suitable for niche applications such as skin lotions, are inconvenient and difficult to use in many atmospheric, liquid and solid surface treatment applications. Examples in this arena are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,084,747, 4,330,531, and 6,451,253.
Accordingly, there remains a need for new materials and methods for generating reactive gases, materials and methods which facilitate the storage and transport of gas precursor reagents, materials and methods which facilitate the preparation of solutions which contain a wide range of reactive gas concentrations, and materials and methods which can serve as a platform for safe, inexpensive, and consumer friendly products.

Materials for storing and releasing reactive gases


A solar control glazing laminate may include a solar control film disposed between first and second polyvinyl butyral layers and first and second glazing substrates. The solar control film may include an infrared radiation reflecting polymeric film and a polymeric binder layer disposed on the infrared radiation reflecting polymeric film. The polymeric binder layer may include a polyester and cross-linked multi-functional acrylate segments and may have infrared radiation absorbing nanoparticles dispersed therein.

The present disclosure relates generally to solar control glazing laminates and a method of forming the same.
Solar control glazing provides comfort to passengers in, for example, a vehicle, especially in the side glass when the sun is in a location that more directly hits a passenger. Solar control glazing reduces the amount of infrared energy that transmits into, for example, a vehicle. Solar control glass is commonly used as the solar control glazing, however, because of legal limits on the transmission of windshields, backlights and sidelights, only a small portion of the solar energy is adsorbed.
Another solar control technology is metal/oxide coatings on glass. This improves solar control over the absorbing glass, but the metal coating can interfere with electro magnetic frequencies utilized with cell phones, garage door openers, radar detectors, automated toll collectors, and the like.
In addition, any solar control solution must be able to meet the bending requirements of windshields and other glazing units. These bending requirements often lead to delamination of solar control glazing laminates.


A method of inspecting a defect on a surface of a printed matter includes a step of applying a gray scale erosion filter to a non-defect surface of a printed matter to prepare a gray scale erosion filter applied image and then adding a predetermined density value to the gray scale erosion filter applied image, thereby preparing a reference image, a step of subtracting a captured image of the surface of the printed matter to be inspected from the reference image, thereby preparing a differential image, and a step of applying a density compensation process to the differential image to prepare a density compensated image, then applying an edge detection filter to the density compensated image to prepare an edge detection filter applied image and then converting the edge detection filter applied image into binary data according to a predetermined threshold value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection method and apparatus that are capable of detecting defects such as stains or spots on the surface of a printed matter, printed character deficiencies and the like, and more particularly to an inspection method and apparatus that is capable of detecting these defects of printed matters with high accuracy by reducing influences of positional displacement of a printed matter, warped printed matter and any other printed matters conveyed under various conditions on a conveyor line or other conveyor means particularly during they are conveyed independently of each other in a sequential order. The aforesaid defects also represent any foreign matters such as dusts mixed into the inside of a printed matter, which are visible through the surface of the printed matter when the printed matter is made of a transparent and/or opaque material with printed information thereon (e.g., a paper packet for a dose of medicine).
2. Discussion of the Background
A known method to determine the presence of a defect of a printed matter involves capturing as an inspection object an image of such as a continuously-conveyed elongated printed matter to produce an inspection image (a captured image of the surface of the printed matter), and comparing the inspection image to a reference image (a captured image of the surface of a non-defect printed matter) on a pixel-by-pixel basis, so that a defect is recognized as "present" at a pixel where the density difference is larger than a predetermined value.
In the above prior method, where positional displacement exists between the compared reference image and inspection image, accurate detection of the defect is unlikely to be made. In order to address this problem, various methods for accurate positioning both images were proposed.
Another approach to address the above problem hitherto proposed is to reduce the possibility of misjudgment due to error in image positioning by masking a specific region of a printed matter such as an edge of a printed image at which a sharp increase or decease in density difference occurs if the positional displacement has been caused, so that such a region is removed from the inspection image.
Still another approach to address the above problem hitherto proposed such as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei-7-186375 is to detect a defect while avoiding the occurrence of a region, which might be removed from the inspection image by the masking process, by applying a gray scale dilation filter or a gray scale erosion filter to any one of the reference and inspection images, generating a differential image and converting the same into binary data.
However, the inspection methods as described above each are intended to inspect printed matters successively conveyed under a secured condition. Therefore, these methods may not accurately inspect printed matters conveyed under unstabilized imaging condition (e.g., lighting condition), such as those conveyed independently of each other in a sequential order under various conditions, which are likely to be relatively largely displaced from the correct or intended position within the imaging field of view, or warped. Hence, the conventional methods have a problem that a minor defect of such printed matters may not be detected only by converting a differential image into binary data.
Particularly, where printed matters to be inspected are provided by punching or die cutting a substrate on which printing has been applied, punching errors must be taken into account. That is, such punching error makes it unlikely to punch or die cut the matter at a constant position in every operation, with the result that printed matters produced by punching or die cutting may have different contours and cause positional displacement on the conveyor. Thus, the positional displacement of the contour of the inspection image relative to the contour of the reference image already exists before the inspection, thus posing a problem of necessarily causing a region, which may not be inspected on the basis of the differential image.
The present invention has been conceived to address the above problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inspection method and apparatus that are capable of achieving inspection of a defect with high accuracy by reducing influences of printed matters, which have been displaced from the correct or intended position during the conveyance, or warped printed matters.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an inspection method and apparatus that are capable of achieving inspection of a defect with high accuracy by reducing influences of printed matters, which have contours displaced from each other, such as those produced by punching or die cutting a substrate with printing applied thereon.

Print inspection method and print inspection apparatus


There is described a compound apparatus, having a plurality of outputting functions including at least a copy function. The compound apparatus includes: an image-reading device to read an original image residing on a document so as to convert the original image into image data; a binary-coded image data generating section to generate binary-coded image data by applying a binary-coding processing to the image data; an image-data storing section to store the image data or the binary-coded image data; a designating section to designate an outputting function among the plurality of outputting functions; a resolution setting section to set an output-image resolution, based on an output resolution of the outputting function; and a resolution converting section to convert a resolution of either the image data or the binary-coded image data, stored in the image-data storing section, to the output-image resolution set by the resolution setting section.

The present invention relates to a compound apparatus having various functions, in which at least a copy function is included.
Conventionally, there has been well-known a compound apparatus having two or more specific functions among data accessing functions, such as image-outputting functions including a copying function, a printing function, a facsimile transmitting function, etc., and image-inputting functions, such as a scanner function, etc. According to such the compound apparatus, it has been possible to output an original image, which was read by using, for instance, the scanner function, by employing a desired outputting function selected from the copying function, the printing function and the facsimile transmitting function.
Conventionally, however, since output resolutions corresponding to the functions provided with the compound apparatus, such as the copying function, the printing function and the facsimile transmitting function, are generally different relative to each other, the original image should be read again corresponding to the resolution for the function currently employed, even if the same original image have already read for another function.

Image-processing apparatus, method and program for outputting an image to a plurality of functions


A water-based ink for ink-jet printing, comprising colored particles containing: (a) a core particle having a colorant; and (b) a shell having a resin and encapsulating the core particle, wherein the resin comprises a monomer unit having a hydroxyl group in an amount of 0.1 to 50 weight % based on the total weight of the shell.

In recent years, elimination of solvents and use of water-based constitution have been demanded in the field of recording materials and an inking material utilized for printers, printing machines, markers and writing tools. Especially, there have been widely used recording materials comprising mainly an aqueous solution of a water-soluble dye and those comprising mainly a fine particle dispersion of a pigment for a water-based ink of ink-jet recording.
In a water-based ink comprising a water-soluble dye, there is used an aqueous solution of a water-soluble dye selected from the group of dyes that are categorized mainly into acid dyes, direct dyes and some food dyes. To the aqueous solution is added a glycol or an alkanolamine as a wetting agent, a surfactant or an alcohol to adjust the surface tension, thickeners and other agents according to need. The water-based inks using water-soluble dyes are most commonly used because of their high reliability of anti-clogging at pen tips or in a printer. The water-based inks using water-soluble dyes, however, easily cause blotting on recording paper because they comprise an aqueous solution of dyes. Therefore, they have only limited uses and their print quality tends to be deteriorated due to blotting of the ink. In addition, water-soluble dyes that only permeate into the recording material and are then dried to adhere in the recording paper, can hardly be said to be "dyed". Thus, the light fastness of such water-based inks is not fully satisfactory.
Further, proposals of coloring water-dispersible resins with an oil dye or a hydrophobic dye as an ink utilized for ink-jet recording have been made in order to solve problems of low water resistance and low light fastness of water-based inks utilizing water soluble dyes. Inks utilized for ink-jet recording using emulsion polymerization particles or dispersed polymerization particles colored with an oil dye have been proposed, for example, in JP-A No. 55-139471 (the term, JP-A refers to an unexamined and published Japanese Patent Application), JP-A No. 58-45272, JP-A No. 3-250069, JP-A No. 8-253720, JP-A No. 8-92513, JP-A No. 8-183920 and JP-A No. 2001-11347.
Proposals have been made of not only coloring water-dispersible resins with an oil dye or hydrophobic dye but also utilizing colored fine particles comprising a colorant and a resin that is coated with the colorant, and also utilizing colored fine particles comprising a colorant and a resin further coated with a film-forming resin on the surface of the particles.
In a water-based ink utilizing these colored fine particles, there are problems in that the effect to improve light fastness is decreased and enhancing properties such as dispersion stability and discharge stability, which are needed for an ink utilized for an ink-jet system, are difficult, when the dyes remain on the surfaces of the particles or the dyes are separated from the particles.
On the other hand, in a pigment ink comprising mainly fine particle dispersion of a pigment, disclosed have been several proposals of coating the surface of a pigment with a film-forming resin in order to reduce problems of not obtaining enough density or poor color reproduction quality due to bronzing, and further, to improve light fastness, dispersion stability and discharge stability. Examples of coating a pigment with a resin are described in JP-A No. 8-269374, JP-A No. 9-151342, JP-A No. 10-88045 and JP-A No. 10-292143.
The above-mentioned colored fine particles produced by covering colored particles or colorant fine particles such as pigment particles have the possibility of overcoming problems accompanied with a water-based ink so as to achieve excellent recording quality. However, there still remain problems of dispersion stability after preparation of an ink, and requires special techniques in the production process. Additionally, dispersion stability in an aqueous medium is not fully sufficient and as a result, stability as an ink and discharge stability of an ink do not reach sufficient levels as required.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a colored fine particle dispersion used in an ink for an ink-jet system that can be manufactured stably and having excellent dispersion stability. A further object is to provide a water-based ink comprising the colored fine particle dispersion and utilized for an ink-jet system having good stability. A still further object is to provide an image forming method by using the ink.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Colored fine particle dispersion and a water-based ink for an ink-jet system


Known methods for construct a tree, for a context tree algorithm for coding symbols, construct trees by adding nodes. These methods need a giant memory capacity, which can be reduced in case unnecessary nodes are not added to the tree. This should be done through dependence on values of parameters belonging to a node where each parameter defines a number of symbols received that have a certain value.

The invention relates to a method for constructing a tree for a context tree algorithm for coding symbols, which method comprises the steps of:
-x- in dependence of a value of a symbol to be coded, adapting a value of either a first parameter or a second parameter, which values correspond to a node of said tree, PA1 -y- in dependence of a value of a previous symbol, in case the node is preceded by a previous node, continuing with step -x- for the previous node, and PA1 -z- in dependence of a value of a previous symbol, in case the node is not preceded by a previous node, creating another previous node and continuing with step -x- for said other previous node. PA1 -w- a fifth parameter d being adapted for each further node and being compared with a threshold value D after each adaptation. PA1 adaptation means for, in dependence of a value of a symbol to be coded, adapting a value of either a first parameter or a second parameter, which values are stored at at least two of said first locations, PA1 comparison means for, through dependence of a value of a previous symbol, comparing a value of a third parameter, which value is stored at at least one of the first locations, with a prefixed value, whereby, in case of a first comparison result, a value of either a first parameter or a second parameter is adapted, which values are stored at at least two of the second locations, through dependence of a value of a symbol to be coded, by using the adaptation means, and PA1 allocation means for, in case of a second comparison result, in dependence of a value of a previous symbol, allocating a value to a fourth parameter, which value is stored at at least one of the third locations, whereby, a value of either a first parameter or a second parameter is adapted, which values are stored at at least two of the third locations, through dependence of a value of a symbol to be coded, by using the adaptation means. PA1 check means for checking at least one value of at least of the first and second parameters for, in case of a first check result, activating said allocation means and for, in case of a second check result, deactivating the allocation means. PA1 further adaptation means for adapting a fifth parameter d after each adaptation of the value of either the first parameter or said second parameter, and PA1 further comparison means for comparing said fifth parameter d with a threshold value D after each further adaptation. PA1 IEEE Transactions on INFORMATION THEORY, May 1995, Volume 41, Number 3, in particular "The Context-Tree Weighting Method: Basic Properties", by F. M. J. Willems, Y. M. Shtarkov and T. J. Tjalkens, pages 653-664 PA1 EP 96202007.9 (priority/filing date Jul. 15, 1996) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,861 PA1 EP 0 480 115 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,611 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,258 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,256 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,108 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,250
Such a method is known from IEEE Transactions on INFORMATION THEORY, May 1995, Volume 41, Number 3, in particular "The Context-Tree Weighting Method: Basic Properties", by F. M. J. Willems, Y. M. Shtarkov and T. J. Tjalkens, pages 653-664, which article discloses a sequential universal data compression procedure for binary tree sources. By using a context tree, this procedure weights in an efficient recursive way the coding distributions corresponding to all bounded memory tree sources, and achieves a desirable coding distribution for tree sources with an unknown model and unknown parameters.
Such a method is disadvantageous because it needs a giant memory capacity.

Context tree algorithm method and system


A gas turbine engine comprises a fan configured to produce propulsive thrust from a fan discharge air stream. A bypass duct is located between a cowl and an engine core, the bypass duct is fluidly coupled to the fan. An impeller pump has an intake manifold fluidly coupled to the bypass duct. The impeller pump has an outlet coupled to an outlet duct fluidly coupled to an environmental control system, wherein the impeller pump is configured to raise pressure of the fan discharge air stream and pump the fan discharge air into the environmental control system for cooling. An integrated drive pump is connected to the impeller pump for driving the impeller pump at a constant speed. The integrated drive pump is positioned on the engine core.

The present disclosure relates to the provision of further performance capability on a gas turbine engine by integrating a constant-speed device into an environmental control system.
Gas turbine engines typically require air-driven systems to provide high-pressure air for use in the passenger cabin via an environmental control system (ECS). ECS air is provided by bleed ports on the engine, typically on the high pressure compressor (HPC), which may result in some performance loss. ECS air is routed through a series of pipes and valves, then through a pre-cooler near the top of the engine/aircraft interface to cool air prior to entry into the aircraft wing, and then through the aircraft air cycle machine (ACM) for use in the cabin.

Constant speed pump system for engine ECS loss elimination


Rule selection is enforced on user email inboxes using an inbox monitor and administrative rules at an email server. The inbox monitor includes a first agent for identifying inactive user inboxes from email messages stored at the email database, and a second agent for identifying, from the inactive user inboxes identified by the first agent, user inboxes without appropriate user rules activated. For each user inbox identified by the second agent, administrative rules are applied to the user inbox if the user inbox has been inactive for at least a predetermined period of time. If the user inbox has not been inactive for at least the predetermined period of time, a notification message is sent to a user associated with the user inbox. The notification message informs the user that administrative rules will be applied to the user inbox if appropriate user rules are not activated.

Some email client applications allow users to define and set rules for managing their inbox. For example, rules can be set so that certain email messages are moved to a particular folder, deleted, flagged, or redirected, based on set criteria. Other example rules include sending an automatic reply to the sender, and sending window or sound notifications to the user when messages arrive that match the set criteria. These rules are useful tools for managing email inboxes, especially when a user is on vacation or on leave.
When a user goes on an extended leave of absence, the user can define and activate rules to help manage his/her inbox while the user is away. However, if the leave is unexpected, the user may not have these rules activated prior to commencing the leave. Email messages to the user's inbox would thus not be managed while the user is away. For example, message senders may not be notified of the user's absence if no Out of Office message rule has been activated; the user's allotted storage on the email server database may become full before the user returns, preventing further messages from reaching the user; and messages with virus content will sit in the email server database until opened or deleted. When the user returns and accessed his/her inbox, the user would be required to spend a considerable amount of time reviewing and organizing messages. The failure to activate the user rules for his/her email inbox thus results in stress on the email servers and the user upon his/her return.

Enforcing rule selection on user inboxes

International Business Machines Corporation


A modified three-pixel antialiasing method wherein the closest pixel from a displayed line has a constant display intensity includes the steps of locating a first pixel having a shortest distance along an axis of the pixel matrix array from the line, determining the shortest distance, calculating pixel intensity for the first pixel by multiplying a maximum intensity of the first pixel with a constant value, locating a second pixel having a second shortest distance along the axis from the line, locating a third pixel having a third shortest distance along the axis from the line, calculating pixel intensity for the second pixel, and calculating pixel intensity for the third pixel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to a method for displaying or providing an antialiased image and, more particularly, to a pre-filtering method for generating an antialiased image in a device having a matrix array of pixels.
2. Description of the Related Art
In applications that provide a display or output as a plurality of pixels arranged in a predetermined pattern, such as in computer graphics, copiers and printers, the displayed image often appears "jagged" or stepped" around the contour or boundary lines. This is known as aliasing. Since the pixels in these applications are arranged in a matrix, when an output, for example, a line, is horizontal or vertical, the line is displayed by a row or column of pixels, respectively, that the line coincides with. The displayed line appears as a smooth straight line. However, when the output line is near, but not coincident with, the horizontal or vertical direction, the pixel-displayed line is approximated by a series of pixels because many parts of the line do not overlie any pixel. As a result, the displayed line exhibits "jaggies" or a stair step appearance. Conventionally, several antialiasing techniques are employed to remove the "jaggies" and reduce the effect of aliasing. The techniques may be divided into pre-filtering and post-filtering techniques.
Pre-filtering techniques are those implemented before pixel sampling. Each pixel is treated as an area, and pixel intensity is computed based on the overlap of an object to be displayed with a pixel's area. Pre-filering techniques may be further divided into unweighted area sampling and weighted area sampling. Unweighted area sampling, effected by means such as a box filter, sets pixel intensity in proportion to the amount of pixel area covered. Weighted area sampling determines pixel intensity based on the distance between the displayed object to the center of the pixel with reference to a weighted function. One filter that uses such a weighting function is a cone filter. Post-filtering, meanwhile, also known as supersampling, takes several samples and computes an average of the samples to determine each pixel's intensity.
Filters that are used to either provide pre-filtering or post-filtering are controlled by filter functions which represent distribution of light emitting areas for each pixel. Filter function, therefore, may provide an effective quantized formula to calculate the "image point," and is obtained through mathematical implementations and revisions until an acceptable image point is found. In an unweighted filter, each data or image sample has equal influence in determining the pixel's intensity. In other words, an unweighted filter computes an unweighted average. In contrast, a weighted filter provides the weights used to compute the average wherein each data sample is multiplied by its corresponding "weight" and the products are summed to produce a weighted average. This weighted average is used as the pixel intensity.
As described above, weighted pre-filtering determines pixel intensity proportional to distance, and the relationship may be expressed as follows : EQU P.sub.I =F.sub.r (p, t)*I.sub.max
where P.sub.I is the display intensity of the pixel, and I.sub.max is the maximum pixel intensity. F.sub.r represents a variable filter function according to the filter radius, r, and p is the normal distance from the pixel center to the center of the displayed line. Additionally, t represents the width of the displayed line. Conventionally, the center-to-center distance between two neighboring pixels is considered a unit distance. FIG. 1 shows a conical filter function having a radius equal to one. A conical function has a maximum value at the center, and the value decreases linearly away from the center. Referring to FIG. 1, when a straight line passes through the pixel, its intensity is proportional to the volume of the cone intersecting the line.
Even though the conical filter as shown in FIG. 1 generally provides acceptable displays, there are a number of calculations required to obtain display pixel intensity and generally a look-up table stored in a read-only-memory ("ROM") is also required to implement the conical filter. These factors, in turn, decrease the speed with which an image can be generated for display.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The invention relates to non-woven protein fibers and to methods for forming and producing the same. In certain embodiments, the invention provides a method of processing a protein comprising dissolving a protein in a solution, optionally removing any insoluble materials from the solution, and spraying the solution under an applied pressure. In other embodiments, the protein can be derived from a range of sources, including but not limited to arthropod silks, animal keratin (e.g. hair and wool), tissue elastin, collagen, resilin, and plant protein. In certain embodiments, the methods of the invention are an alternative to electrospinning methods known in the art.

Due to their incredibly high strength and extensibility, as well as their combination of biocompatibility and biodegradability, protein materials have found applications in various fields such as biomedical research and materials science. However, many of the polymer products on the market today are very toxic, or rely on complex chemistries and cannot be manipulated easily with tunable physical properties. Also, such materials are not biologically and environmentally friendly, or able to integrate with living systems. It is thus desirable to tune the intimate connections between amino acid sequence, molecular structure, and material properties and to develop an environmentally friendly process for the production of biomaterials with low cost, high mechanical flexibility, and specific desired material properties.
Protein-based fibers, such as silk fibers, have been important materials in textiles, medical sutures, and armor since ancient times. Common sources of silk fibers for industrial applications are spiders, the larvae of Bombyx mori, other moth genera such as Eri, Muga, Thai, Tussah, and numerous other insects. Silk fibers are made up of the large naturally occurring polypeptide, called fibroin, which occurs in fibrous form featuring highly repetitive amino acid sequences. Silk fibroin is an insoluble protein that consists of two types of building blocks, a soft amorphous component and a strong crystalline component. Silk fibroin protein is commonly prepared by degumming silk fibers. In this procedure, silk fibers are boiled in a dilute solution of sodium carbonate, which removes sericin, one of the two major proteins that make up the cocoon. There are numerous varieties of silk fibroin, the composition of which depends on the source of silk fiber and the hydrolytic treatment used. Silk fibroins can then be further dissolved into a solution that can be stored and shaped into various forms, including soft sponges, hard discs, and films for structure studies.
Many plant-based proteins (soy, corn, and so forth) have also been used for material applications. For example, zein is a major storage protein rich in prolamine found in the endosperm of the corn kernel. It is a by-product from the processing of maize corn present in corn gluten meal and from the manufacturing of ethanol in both wet and dry milling. Zein has a molecular weight of about 40 kDa and is rich in glutamine, proline, alanine, and leucine residues. Zein proteins have hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains, but are frequently considered to be a hydrophobic protein due to its insolubility in water and solubility in ethanol, acetone, and acetylacetone. The excellent material properties of zein, such as biodegradability, mechanical resistance, water absorption and barrier ability, make it attractive in applications such as drug delivery and coatings in food and pharmaceuticals.
Protein polymers are known to be soluble in several types of high ionic strength aqueous salt solutions. To be widely applied in pharmaceuticals, foods, medical dressings and technical applications, the salts must be dialyzed out to produce a pure solution of protein. There are few reports of fibers and non-woven materials made of pure proteins, because to the weak fiber forming properties of proteins when used in conjunction with salt/organic solutions. It is possible to make protein fibers such as silk fibroin without the use of compatible solvents, primarily through by electro-spinning. However, current electro-spinning processes known in the art have low output efficiency and are limited by the dielectric constant of the materials. Another commonly used technique is wet-spinning, which involves the extrusion of a polymer solution through a spinneret into an acid-salt coagulating bath. Although wet-spinning is commonly considered the method with the most potential for scaling to commercial production of nanofibers, it relies on the use of expensive and harmful solvents, such as aqueous ammonium sulfate, acetic acid, isopropanol, or acetone.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for methods and devices for producing and collecting micro and nanofibers made from naturally occurring proteins. In certain embodiments, such methods and devices should avoid the biologically toxic solvent systems needed for wet- and electro-spinning. In other embodiments, the fibers produced should mimic the morphological characteristics of native collagen fibers and be useful in the fabrication of protein-cell constructs for medical applications. In yet other embodiments, the fibers should be useful as drug delivery vehicles. In yet other embodiments, the fibers should be useful as filters. The present invention meets these needs.

Method of producing non-woven protein fibers


A traffic light control system includes at least one parameter and a signal decoding circuit. The parameter or parameters are useful for assisting in differentiating between multiple communication modes. The signal decoding circuit has a front-end circuit and a back-end circuit. The front-end circuit is adapted to receive respective signals transmitted in multiple communication modes. The front-end circuit is adapted to produce data representative of at least a portion of the respective signals. The back-end circuit is adapted to interpret and process the produced data according to at least one of multiple traffic light control protocols respectively associated with the multiple communication modes. The signal decoding circuit is adapted to access said at least one parameter and associate the produced data with one of the multiple communication modes.

Traffic signals have long been used to regulate the flow of traffic at intersections. Generally, traffic signals have relied on timers or vehicle sensors to determine when to change the phase of traffic signal lights, thereby signaling alternating directions of traffic to stop, and others to proceed.
Emergency vehicles, such as police cars, fire trucks and ambulances, are generally permitted to cross an intersection against a traffic signal. Emergency vehicles have typically depended on horns, sirens and flashing lights to alert other drivers approaching the intersection that an emergency vehicle intends to cross the intersection. However, due to hearing impairment, air conditioning, audio systems and other distractions, often the driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection will not be aware of a warning being emitted by an approaching emergency vehicle.
There are presently a number of optical traffic priority systems that permit emergency vehicles to preempt the normal operation of the traffic signals at an intersection in the path of the vehicle to permit expedited passage of the vehicle through the intersection. These optical traffic priority systems permit a code to be embedded into an optical communication to identify each vehicle and provide security. Such a code can be compared to a list of authorized codes at the intersection to restrict access by unauthorized users. However, the various optical traffic priority systems are incompatible because the vehicle identification code for each of the various optical traffic priority systems is embedded in the optical communication using incompatible modulation schemes.
Generally, an optical traffic priority system using a particular modulation scheme is independently purchased and implemented in each jurisdiction, such as a city. Thus, the traffic lights and the emergency vehicles for the jurisdiction are equipped to use the particular modulation scheme. However, a neighboring jurisdiction may use equipment that embeds the vehicle identification code using an incompatible modulation scheme. Frequently, a pursuit by a police car or the route of an ambulance may cross several jurisdictions each using an incompatible modulation scheme to embed the vehicle identification information. It may be burdensome and expensive to allow a vehicle from a neighboring jurisdiction to preempt traffic lights while maintaining appropriate security to prevent unauthorized preemption of traffic lights.

Multimode traffic priority/preemption intersection arrangement