An improvement of the conventional method of wrapping cryogenic insulation around an inner tank disposable within an outer tank of a cryogenic tank system, where cryogenic insulation paper is unrolled from a roll thereof, wrapping the paper in serially disposed wraps around the inner tank, unrolling cryogenic insulating metal foil from a roll thereof and wrapping the foil in serially disposed wraps onto respective serial wraps of the paper. In the improvement there is provided at least one combined roll of cryogenic insulation having alternating combined layers of the paper of a defined first width and foil of a defined second width wherein the defined second width is less than the defined first width and the foil is centered on the paper so as to provide edge portions at each edge of the paper which are not contacted by the foil. Lengths of combined layers are unrolled from the combined roll, and the lengths of combined layers are serially wrapped around the inner tank.

As is well known in the art, cryogenic tank systems have an inner tank disposed within an outer tank for creating a space therebetween such that a vacuum can be maintained between the inner and outer tanks for insulation purposes. While the outer tank may be insulated in a variety of conventional fashions, the inner tank is wrapped with cryogenic insulation.
That cryogenic insulation is comprised of two elements. The first element is referred to in the art as a "paper" but, in fact, is made of a fibrous felt-like material. That fibrous felt-like material is referred to as a "paper", since the thickness thereof is similar to industrial papers and has in the past been made on paper-making machines.
The second element of the cryogenic insulation is a metal foil. These foils are quite thin and may be made of a variety of metals. However, the foil is often made of aluminum, since aluminum has a reflective surface and the foil is used as a radiation barrier in the cryogenic insulation.
While a number of methods are employed by the art in wrapping the paper and foil around the outer surface of the inner cryogenic tank in the more usual method, cryogenic insulation paper is unrolled from at least one roll thereof, and the paper is wrapped in serially disposed wraps around the inner tank. Likewise, cryogenic insulating metal foil is unrolled from at least one roll thereof, and the foil is serially wrapped onto the respective serial wraps of the paper. Multiple layers of such serial wraps are placed around the inner tank. In this regard, "serial wrap" means that a wrap around the outer surface of the inner cryogenic tank is placed substantially adjacent to a prior wrap and substantially adjacent to a succeeding wrap, as explained in more detail below.
In such wrapping, it is of substantial importance that the edges of a wrap of the metal foil do not contact edges of a preceding wrap of the metal foil or the edges of a succeeding wrap of the metal foil, and it is likewise important that the metal foil of a wrap in one layer does not contact the metal foil of a wrap in a preceding layer or a succeeding layer. If such contact occurs, heat may flow by conduction, either between metal foil wraps in the same layer or metal foil wraps in a preceding or succeeding layer. If heat can flow by conduction, then a "short" or "hot spot" occurs, and the insulation value at such "short" or "hot spot" is severely reduced. This is because the metal foil is intended to function as a radiation barrier in such cryogenic tank systems, and in order for that radiation barrier to be fully effective, such metal-to-metal contact of the metal foil must be avoided.
One of the most common methods in the prior art for wrapping the inner tank involves rotating the inner tank about its longitudinal axis while wrapping the tank with the paper unwound from a roll thereof and with metal foil unwound from a roll thereof. This is generally achieved by means of a pivot arm rotated about a central axis with a roll of the paper on each extremity of the pivot arm and a roll of the foil near each roll of paper. The pivot arm is rotated in a plane generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the inner tank, while the inner tank is being rotated about that longitudinal axis.
By this arrangement, a wrap of paper is placed on the tank and a wrap of foil is placed on that wrap of paper to form one layer of wraps of a multi-layered insulation. Since there is a roll of paper and a roll of foil at each extremity of the pivoted arm, two combinations of foil and paper are simultaneously wrapped onto the rotating inner tank. The common prior art method may be referred to as the orbital method.
This prior art process, however, suffers from decided disadvantages. First of all, since each extremity of the pivot arm can carry only one paper roll and one foil roll, only two combinations of paper and foil, one at each extremity of the pivot arm, can be wrapped onto the outer surface of the inner tank during rotation of the inner tank. This results in a relatively slow and time-consuming wrapping procedure, which not only considerably slows production, but increases the cost of wrapping the cryogenic insulation around the inner tank.
Secondly, in order to avoid shorts or hot spots, as explained above, it is necessary to carefully control the wrap of the metal foil onto the wrap of the paper such that the foil of a wrap does not contact the foil of a preceding wrap or succeeding wrap or contact the foil of a preceding layer of wraps or a succeeding layer of wraps. This requires careful monitoring and control of the wrapping system.
While all of the above has long been known in the art, the art has not discovered methods for wrapping the inner tank in a manner which will both speed the wrapping of that inner tank and, at the same time, avoid the possibility of shorts or hot spots. It would, therefore, be of considerable advantage to the art to provide a method of wrapping cryogenic insulation around the inner tank where the speed of that wrapping can be considerably increased, e.g. at least doubled, and where the possibility of shorts and hot spots is essentially eliminated.

Method of wrapping cryogenic insulation around an inner cryogenic tank


Provided is a technique to manufacture a honeycomb structure reducing a width of dimensional difference generated during firing between an end part and a central part and having excellent thermal shock resistance, and the method includes: a honeycomb formed body preparing step of extruding a kneaded material including a cordierite forming raw material A, to prepare a formed body; a plugged honeycomb formed body preparing step of filling cell openings thereof with a plugging material which includes a forming raw material containing a cordierite forming raw material B and resin balloon of 1.0 to 15 mass % and has a difference in firing shrinkage rate of −1.0 to +2.0% from the formed body, to prepare a plugged formed body; and a honeycomb structure preparing step of firing the prepared plugged formed body, to prepare a honeycomb structure provided with porous plugged portions.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a honeycomb structure capable of using as an exhaust gas purification filter and relates to a honeycomb structure.
Description of Related Art
Heretofore, honeycomb structures have been used as a trapping filter to remove particulate matter (PM) discharged from a diesel engine or the like. As a honeycomb structure used as a trapping filter for particulate matter, there has been used a plugged honeycomb structure provided with plugged portions at predetermined position of the both end faces.
Herein, a plugged honeycomb structure includes a honeycomb structure part having porous partition walls defining a plurality of cells serving as through channels of fluid, and plugged portions provided with an end part of a predetermined cell (first cell) on the fluid inflow-side and with an end part of a remaining cell (second cell) on the fluid outflow-side. These plugged portions are generally arranged so that the first cell and the second cell are alternately arranged to form a so-called checker board pattern. According to such a plugged honeycomb structure, when exhaust gas flows into the cells from the end face on the exhaust gas inflow side, the exhaust gas flowing into the cells passes through the partition wall. Then, as the exhaust gas passes through the partition wall, the PM contained in the exhaust gas is trapped by the partition wall. Therefore, the exhaust gas passing through the partition wall is discharged as purified gas.
The plugged honeycomb structure is prepared by filling a plugging material serving as a material of the plugged portions into cell openings of the honeycomb formed body, which is formed into a honeycomb shape with a use of kneaded material, followed by firing. A ceramic raw material is contained both in the kneaded material serving as a material of the honeycomb formed body and in the plugging material serving as a material of the plugged portions, but there is a difference in firing shrinkage rate between the honeycomb formed body and the plugging material during firing.
As a case where there is a difference in firing shrinkage rate between the honeycomb formed body and the plugging material during firing, it can be divided broadly into a case, where the shrinkage of the honeycomb formed body is larger than that of the plugging material during firing, and the opposed case, where the shrinkage of the plugging material is larger than that of the honeycomb formed body during firing.
When the honeycomb formed body shrinks more than the plugging material, in the honeycomb structure obtained after firing, the shrinkage at end face part having a plugged portion is smaller than the central part having no plugged portion. This is because that a plugging material does not shrink so much as the honeycomb formed body during firing, and hence the end face part of the honeycomb formed body is constrained by the low shrinkage of the plugging material. Therefore, a diameter at the end face part of the honeycomb structure becomes larger than that at the central part. As a result, honeycomb structure should have originally in cylindrical shape, but it becomes a concave drum shape. When the deformation of such a concave drum shape is remarkable, it becomes impossible to keep the diameter of the honeycomb structure within predetermined dimensional tolerance. Therefore, it becomes necessary to grind the outer periphery of the honeycomb structure to a cylindrical shape after firing, and then to perform the outer coating.
In addition, when the honeycomb formed body shrinks more than the plugging material, the end face part of the honeycomb formed body is constrained by the low shrinkage of plugging material as stated above, and hence compressive stress remains in the end face part of the honeycomb structure obtained after firing. However, this residual compressive stress hardly causes a problem of decrease in thermal shock resistance in the honeycomb structure. This is because that, when the honeycomb structure is used as a filter for trapping particulate matter, the compressive stress remaining in the end face part is offset by tensile stress generated at the time of burning and removing the deposited particulate matter.
On the other hand, when the plugging material shrinks more than the honeycomb formed body, a plugging material excessively shrinks at the end face part. Therefore, a gap is often generated between the plugged portion and the partition wall at the end face part of the honeycomb structure obtained after firing. Such a gap may cause the lacking of the plugged portion or cause the leakage of particulate matter when the honeycomb structure is used as a filter for trapping particulate matter. Moreover, when the plugging material shrinks more than the honeycomb formed body, there is a case where the aforementioned gap is not generated, but in such a case, the end face part having the plugged portion shrinks more than the central part having no plugged portion. This is because that plugging material shrinks more than the honeycomb formed body during firing, and hence the end face part of the honeycomb structure is constrained by the high shrinkage of the plugging material. As a result, the honeycomb structure should have originally in cylindrical shape, but it becomes a barrel shape. When the deformation of such a barrel shape is remarkable, it becomes impossible to keep the diameter of the honeycomb structure within predetermined dimensional tolerance. Therefore, it becomes necessary to grind the outer periphery of the honeycomb structure to a cylindrical shape after firing, and then to perform the outer coating.
In addition, when the plugging material shrinks more than the honeycomb formed body, the end face part of the honeycomb formed body is constrained by the high shrinkage of plugging material as stated above, and hence tensile stress remains in the end face part of the honeycomb structure obtained after firing. When a honeycomb structure is used as a filter to trap particulate matter, high heat is generated inside the honeycomb structure at the time of burning and removing the deposited particulate matter. The honeycomb structure is expanded due to this high heat, and hence high tensile stress is generated in the honeycomb structure. As stated above, when tensile stress remains in the end face part of the honeycomb structure by a difference in firing shrinkage rate between the honeycomb formed body and the plugging material, it would be overlapped to the tensile stress resulting from the burning of the particulate matter. Thus generated overlapped tensile stress might be exceeded the structural strength of the honeycomb structure. Consequently, when the plugging material shrinks more than the honeycomb formed body, thermal shock resistance might be reduced in the honeycomb structure obtained after firing.
In order not to reduce the thermal shock resistance of the honeycomb structure, it is needed to limit the difference in firing shrinkage rate between the plugging material and the honeycomb formed body to a predetermined value or less. Under such a background, there has been proposed a method for manufacturing a plugged honeycomb structure, wherein a difference in firing shrinkage rate between the honeycomb formed body and the plugging material is 7% or less (Patent Document 1).    [Patent Document 1] WO 2004/085029

Manufacturing method for honeycomb structure and honeycomb structure


A surface acoustic wave device has a duty that is greater than about 0.5, attenuation outside the pass band is increased, and an undesirable spurious response is effectively suppressed. The surface acoustic wave device includes an LiNbO3 substrate having Euler angles (0°±5°, θ±5°, 0°±10°), an electrode that is provided on the LiNbO3 substrate and that includes an IDT electrode primarily made of Cu, a first silicon oxide film that is provided in an area other than an area in which the electrode is arranged so as to have a thickness substantially equal to that of the electrode, and a second silicon oxide film that is arranged so as to cover the electrode and the first silicon oxide film, wherein the surface acoustic wave device utilizes an SH wave, wherein a duty D of the IDT electrode 3 is at least about 0.52, and θ of the Euler angles (0°±5, θ+5°, 0°±10°) is set so as to fall within a range that satisfies the following Inequality (1A) or (1B):(1) When 0.52≦D≦0.6, −10×D+92.5−100×C≦θ≦37.5×D2−57.75×D+104.075+5710×C2−1105.7×C+45.729   Inequality (1A)(2) When D>0.6, 86.5−100×C≦θ≦37.5×D2−57.75×D+104.075+5710×C2−1105.7λC+45.729  Inequality (1B)                where D is a duty, and C is a thickness of the IDT.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface acoustic wave device that is used, for example, as a resonator or a band-pass filter and, more particularly, to a surface acoustic wave device that includes an IDT electrode and a silicon oxide film provided on an LiNbO3 substrate and that utilizes an SH wave.
2. Description of the Related Art
A band-pass filter used in an RF stage of a cellular phone, or other suitable device, must have a wide band and desirable temperature characteristic. Thus, the related art utilizes a surface acoustic wave device such that an IDT electrode is provided on a piezoelectric substrate made of a Y-rotated X-propagating LiTaO3 substrate or a Y-rotated X propagating LiNbO3 substrate and a silicon oxide film is arranged so as to cover the IDT electrode. The piezoelectric substrate of this type has a negative frequency-temperature coefficient. Thus, in order to improve the temperature characteristic, a silicon oxide film having a positive frequency-temperature characteristic is arranged so as to cover the IDT electrode.
However, with the structure described above, when the IDT electrode is made of Al or an alloy that primarily includes Al, which are typically used, the IDT electrode has not been able to attain a sufficient reflection coefficient. Thus, there has been a problem that a ripple tends to occur in the resonance characteristic.
To solve the above-described problem, WO2005-034347 discloses a surface acoustic wave device including an IDT electrode made of a metal having a density that is greater than that of Al that is provided on a piezoelectric substrate made of LiNbO3 having an electromechanical coefficient K2 of at least about 0.025, a first silicon oxide film is provided in the area, other than the area in which the IDT electrode is provided, so as to have a thickness substantially equal to the electrode, and a second silicon oxide film is laminated so as to cover the electrode and the first silicon oxide film.
In the surface acoustic wave device described in WO2005-034347, the density of the IDT electrode is greater than or equal to about one and half times the density of the first silicon oxide film, and, therefore, the reflection coefficient of the IDT electrode is sufficiently increased to thereby suppress a ripple that occurs in the resonance characteristic.
In addition, in WO2005-034347, a Rayleigh wave is utilized and Au, Cu, or other suitable material, is used as the electrode material. The structure in which the electrode made of Cu has a thickness of about 0.0058λ to about 0.11λ is described. In this case, the LiNbO3 substrate having Euler angles of (0°±5°, 62° to 167°, 0°±10°), and preferably, (0°±5°, 88° to 117°, 0°±10°), is described, and the thickness of the second silicon oxide film and ranges from about 0.15λ to about 0.4λ where λ is the wavelength of a surface wave.
In the surface acoustic wave device described in WO2005-034347, when θ of the Euler angles of the LiNbO3 substrate, the thickness of the electrode made of Cu and the thickness of the second silicon oxide film are set so as to fall within the specific ranges described above, it is possible to increase the electromechanical coefficient of a mode to be used, and it is possible to reduce the electromechanical coefficient of a mode that becomes a spurious response.
That is, WO2005-034347 describes that it is only necessary that the Euler angles of the LiNbO3 substrate are set so as to reduce the electromechanical coefficient of the mode that becomes a spurious response.
However, for example, when a surface acoustic wave filter device is used as a duplexer of a cellular phone, the transmission-side filter is required to increase attenuation in the pass band of the reception-side filter, which is the filter at the other side. Thus, in order to increase attenuation in the pass band at the other side, a method of varying a duty of the IDT electrode is known.
That is, usually, the duty of the IDT electrode is set to about 0.5. However, there is a case in which the duty is increased to greater than about 0.5 in order to increase attenuation in the specific frequency band. In the surface acoustic wave device described in WO2005-034347, the Euler angles of the LiNbO3 substrate, which reduce the electromechanical coefficient of the mode that becomes a spurious response is described. However, when the duty of the IDT electrode is varied as described above, even when the Euler angles described in WO2005-034347 are selected, a spurious response may still be too large. That is, in the surface acoustic wave device described in WO2005-034347, the duty of the IDT electrode has not been considered.
In addition, depending on the conditions under which the surface acoustic wave device is manufactured, a spurious response has occurred due to variations in the size of each electrode finger in the width direction.


An axial retention system for restraining axial movement of a first machine component having a dovetail within a complimentary-shaped dovetail slot in a second machine component that includes a first curved groove formed in a bottom surface of the dovetail slot and a second curved groove formed in a bottom surface of the dovetail. The first and second grooves are in alignment when the dovetail is located within the dovetail slot to thereby form a closed periphery aperture. A curved locking clip is received within the closed periphery aperture. An optional cover plate may be placed over the ends of the locking clip, with ends of the locking clip deformed by, for example, swaging.

In a conventional turbine compressor component, rotor blades are held in a rotating blade wheel by means of a dovetail connection (i.e., a dovetail on the blade is received in a complimentary slot in the wheel).
The fit between the blade and the dovetail slot in the wheel is loose to allow for assembly and tolerances. Therefore, if the blades are not properly retained, the loose fit may allow the hardware to move in the slot, leading to excessive wear. The excessive wear would eventually fail the part, requiring the unit to be shut down until a repair can be made.
Typically, each blade is retained in the wheel to limit motion along the wheel dovetail slot by one or more stakes. This is a process where material at the edge of the wheel slot is plastically deformed and displaced into a void created by a local chamfer of the blade dovetail. This is a manual and highly variable process which can in some cases provide inadequate retention of the blade in the wheel. Vibratory forces acting on the rotor can produce wear on the stake leading to eventual failure of the retention feature. Once the stake is worn, the blade can then slide freely in the dovetail slot. At very high amplitudes, this motion can lead to wearing of the blade dovetail and eventual failure. This could then lead to blade liberation and subsequent collateral damage to the gas turbine. There have also been many documented instances of rotor blades being installed incorrectly either by inserting the blade in the dovetail slot backwards or inserting the blade in the wrong axial position (stage). Some of these mis-assemblies have been identified as causes of subsequent failure of machine equipment.
There remains a need for a field-retrofittable blade retention mechanism that will allow the blade to be installed, removed and reinstalled without damaging the blades of the wheel.


A biodegradable anti-scalant for steam generators, boilers and other heat transfer equipment is provided. Anti-scalants prepared in accordance with the present invention include aspartic acid, poly(aspartic acid) and copolymers of aspartic acid and functionalized aspartic acid. Anti-scalants provided in accordance with the present invention are biodegradable and therefore more environmentally friendly than currently available anti-scalant for use with hard water. Methods and use of making anti-scalants are also provided.

The present invention relates generally to industrial boilers and steam generators and more specifically to the prevention of calcium, magnesium and silicate scale build-up on the inside surfaces of the boilers and steam generators.
In the design and operation of steam generators, it is essential that the boiler be designed efficiently and operated efficiently as well. However, during operation, scale build-up on the inside surfaces of a boiler can be very problematic. The presence of scaling inside the boiler significantly interferes with the heat transfer from the inside surface of the boiler to the water or steam. By interfering with the heat transfer process, the scaling significantly reduces the efficiency of the boiler. Even more important than heat loss is that scaling causes overheating of the boiler metal and can result in subsequent tube failures. Costly repairs and boiler outages are the results of such a condition.
Also, scaling on the surface of metal leads to corrosion underneath the scaling. Thus, scaling contributes to corrosion of systems which prematurely weakens the structure and leads to leaks and ruptures in the boiler system. Therefore, scale prevention directly contributes to corrosion prevention as well.
In boilers used in steam generators, it has been found that the primary components of scale build-up are calcium derivatives, magnesium derivatives, silicates and iron derivatives in the feedwater. Deposits formed on the inside surfaces of the boiler can be removed by shutting the boiler down and cleaning the inside surfaces of the boiler, either chemically or mechanically. Obviously, any shut-down of a boiler is going to adversely effect the efficiency and overall economics of the operations.
Alternatively, treatment chemicals that inhibit or reduce scale buildup can be added directly to the boiler feedwater. Soda ash, sodium aluminate and phosphates have been such additives. These additives are non-corrosive to internal surfaces, but they can reduce heat transfer efficiency if they form insulating scales such as calcium phosphate scales. Chelating agents such as nitrilotriacetic acid and ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid offer superior cleanliness over phosphate programs. However, chelating agents have the potential for corrosion if they are overfed or fed to a system containing oxygen.
Synthetic organic polymers offer the cleanliness of chelates without the potential for boiler corrosion, even if overfed. They also offer greater hardness transport than conventional phosphate programs. However, until now, such synthetic organic polymers have been limited to non-biodegradable polymers. Increasing pressure on the water treatment industry has generated interest in the development of environmentally friendlier chemistries that offer biodegradability in addition to improved scale inhibition.

Biodegradable aspartic acid polymers for preventing scale formation in boilers


A transmission for an outboard motor, the transmission having an input shaft with an input gear. A countershaft has a countershaft driven gear and a reverse driving gear, where the countershaft driven gear meshes with the input gear. An output shaft has first and second driven gears. First and second driving gears mesh with the first and second driven gears. A reverse idler gear meshes with the reverse driving gear and also with a reverse driven gear. A plurality of clutches includes first, second, third, and reverse clutches. The first and second clutches selectively rotate the first and second driving gears with the countershaft in first and second modes in forward rotation, respectively. The third clutch selectively rotates the second driving gear with the input shaft in a third mode in forward rotation. The reverse clutch selectively rotates the output shaft with the reverse driven gear in reverse rotation.

The following U.S. Patents and Patent Application provide background information and are incorporated by reference in entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,083 discloses a gear shift mechanism in which a cam structure comprises a protrusion that is shaped to extend into a channel formed in a cam follower structure. The cam follower structure can be provided with first and second channels that allow the protrusion of the cam to be extended into either which accommodates both port and starboard shifting mechanisms. The cam surface formed on the protrusion of the cam moves in contact with a selected cam follower surface formed in the selected one of two alternative channels to cause the cam follower to move axially and to cause a clutch member to engage with either a first or second drive gear.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,133,910 discloses a marine transmission that includes a synchronizer on a counter rotating shaft to shift into a high speed gear. The synchronizer includes friction surfaces on both sides of the gear body for the high speed gear. The high speed gear mesh is helical and generates axial force that enhances the torque carrying capacity of synchronizing friction surfaces, thereby enabling the shifting into the high speed gear without torque interrupt.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,446,829 discloses a transmission for an outboard marine engine. The transmission comprises a rotatable input shaft that is rotated by an internal combustion engine, a rotatable output shaft that powers a propulsor, a forward gear that causes forward rotation of the output shaft and propulsor, a reverse gear that causes reverse rotation of the output shaft and propulsor, a clutch that is movable between a forward clutch position wherein the forward gear causes the forward rotation of the output shaft and propulsor and a reverse clutch position wherein the reverse gear causes the reverse rotation of the output shaft and propulsor, and an internal ring gear that couples the output shaft to one of the forward gear and the reverse gear.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,676,463 discloses a transmission for a marine propulsion device having an internal combustion engine that drives a propulsor for propelling a marine vessel in water. An input shaft is driven into rotation by the engine. An output shaft drives the propulsor into rotation. A forward planetary gearset that connects the input shaft to the output shaft so as to drive the output shaft into forward rotation. A reverse planetary gearset that connects the input shaft to the output shaft so as to drive the output shaft into reverse rotation. A forward brake engages the forward planetary gearset in a forward gear wherein the forward planetary gearset drives the output shaft into the forward rotation. A reverse brake engages the reverse planetary gearset in a reverse gear wherein the reverse planetary gearset drives the output shaft into the reverse rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,718,529 discloses a marine transmission located within drive housing that includes a torque transmitting gear set and a clutch mechanism. The torque transmitting gear set includes top and bottom bevel gears and opposing side idler bevel gears mounted to a pinion shaft. The pinion shaft is mounted on a carrier and the clutch mechanism engages the carrier to rotate with the input shaft to drive the output shaft in the forward direction and engages the carrier to a reaction plate fixed to the drive housing to drive the output shaft in the reverse direction.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/171,490 discloses an outboard motor having a powerhead that causes rotation of a driveshaft, a steering housing located below the powerhead, wherein the driveshaft extends from the powerhead into the steering housing; and a lower gearcase located below the steering housing and supporting a propeller shaft that is coupled to the driveshaft so that rotation of the driveshaft causes rotation of the propeller shaft. The lower gearcase is steerable about a steering axis with respect to the steering housing and powerhead.

Multi-speed transmissions for marine propulsion devices


A system and method for providing remote access to a automated financial transaction machine. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the system includes an automated financial transaction machine, and a receiver provided at the automated financial transaction machine for receiving data transmitted via a electromagnetic waves. Although not necessary for the invention, in a preferred the automated financial transaction machine includes a card reader for receiving and reading magnetically encoded cards. In this embodiment, the receiver is operatively and electrically connected to the magnetic card reader, so as to allow the system to operate either by access from a remote transmitter or by way of an inserted card. The system of the invention further includes a remote access unit having a memory configured to store user identification data and a low-power transmitter adapted to transmit the user identification data to the receiver. The remote access unit is manually operated by a transmit button, which, when depressed, causes a controller to retrieve user identification data from the memory and transmit the user identification data from the low-power transmitter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system for automatic financial transaction machines, and more particularly to a transmitter for accessing various automatic financial transaction machines, including automatic teller machines.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been a vast proliferation in automatic and automated banking and other financial transactions. This advancement has been driven, in large part, by the development of more powerful computers and electronic computing devices. Automatic teller machines embody one such example. However, the list does not end there. As is now well known, many supermarkets employ a financial transaction device. Whether they operate from a banking card, debit card, or a credit card, these devices allow a patron to make a non-cash grocery purchase. Similarly, many gas pumps are now equipped with a mechanism, such as a credit card reader, to allow patrons to make non-cash purchases.
While such automated financial transaction machines have greatly enhanced customer convenience, particularly for after-hours banking, there are various shortcomings in these devices. For example, these automated devices are generally operated by a user inserting a plastic card into a card receiving slot. The plastic card includes a ferromagnetic strip that is encoded with certain user-identifying information, including an account number. This account number may be an account number for a banking account, a credit account, a debit account, etc. A corresponding transducer is provided in connection with the card receiving slot to "read" the magnetic information stored on the card. This information is then transmitted, generally through a computer network, to an appropriate location so that the user or customer may access the appropriate identified account. Certain safeguards, such as requiring the customer to manually input a unique identifying personal identification number are also employed by the automated machine to provide security to the customer's account in the event that a banking card is lost or stolen.
One of the shortcomings noted in these automated financial transaction machines relates to the high incidence of failure in the card reading devices. Specifically, it is known that the mechanical card reading device often fails, which leads to customer aggravation. The relatively high failure rates noted in the card reading devices is partially attributable to the inherent inaccuracies in such mechanical devices, but is quite often attributable to dirty or damaged banking cards. Indeed, men generally carry such cards in a billfold, which is worn on their person, and which, over time, fatigues the card or otherwise corrupts the magnetic strip containing the user's account information.
Another problem noted with these types of cards, particularly in connection with automatic banking machines, relates to increased risks of being robbed. It is now an unfortunate, but known, risk that patrons are often targets when accessing automatic banking machines, particularly in remote locations or after dark. Would-be robbers recognize that a person preparing to use an automatic banking machine is generally using the machine for the purpose of withdrawing cash, thereby leaving the patron more susceptible to theft or even bodily injury. To make matters worse, the very fact that the vast majority of people store their banking cards either in a billfold or in a purse generally results in the persons having their billfolds and/or purses exposed during the time of the banking transaction. Thus, not only is money retrieved from an automatic banking device exposed for would be robbers, but the patron's billfold and/or purse is also similarly exposed. Furthermore, the fact that a person must generally retrieve the automated banking card from a billfold and/or purse typically requires a greater amount of time, thus further increasing the risk of unlawful activity.
As is further known, some automated banking machines are disposed so that they may be accessed in drive-up fashion from an automobile window. These banking devices not only provide an added degree of safety for the patron, but also provide further convenience, in that the patron need not shut down and exit a vehicle in order to access the automated machine. Nevertheless, a person must still retrieve an automatic banking card from his/her billfold/purse in order to access the automated machine.
Therefore, there is a tremendous need and desire to provide an improved mechanism for accessing various automated financial transaction machines. Several attempts to provide such apparatus are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,185 discloses an automated cash transaction apparatus, which includes a circuit for performing signal reception and transmission with a card carried by a user. The signal reception and transmission is transmitted via electromagnetic waves. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,857 discloses a rather sophisticated electronic identification system having remote automatic response capability. Indeed, both of these devices disclose rather sophisticated electromagnetic transceivers capable of wireless, bi-directional communication with a remote device. A particular and acute shortcoming in these and similar devices relates to the relative sophistication, and therefor expense, of the circuitry required to implement the functionalities therein. Particularly for purposes of the banking industry, it is desired to be able to provide a very low cost device, and for this reason, banking cards encoded by a ferromagnetic strip have heretofore been preferred. In the case of a bank providing automated access to a customer account, each customer is generally provided with one or more such access devices, and for this reason, the relatively sophisticated transceiver circuits of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,757,185 and 5,565,857 generally provide a cost prohibitive mechanism for wide spread use.

Transmitter for accessing automated financial transaction machines


The present invention provides for compositions and methods for producing crop plants that are resistant to herbicides. In particular, the present invention provides for wheat plants, plant tissues and plant seeds that contain altered acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) genes and proteins that are resistant to inhibition by herbicides that normally inhibit the activity of the ACCase protein.

Wheat is grown worldwide and is the most widely adapted cereal. Common wheats are used in a variety of food products such as bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, and noodles. In general the hard wheat classes are milled into flour used for breads and the soft wheat classes are milled into flour used for pastries and crackers. Wheat starch is used in the food and paper industries, as laundry starches, and in other products.
The primary threat to commercial wheat production is weed competition, resulting in decreased grain yields and inferior grain quality. Although cultivation can be used to eliminate weeds, soil from tilled fields is highly vulnerable to wind and water erosion. Due to ease of application and effectiveness, herbicide treatment is the preferred method of weed control. Herbicides also permit weed control in reduced tillage or direct seeded cropping systems designed to leave high levels of residue on the soil surface to prevent erosion. The most significant weed competition in wheat comes from highly related grasses, such as wild oat and jointed goatgrass, and it is difficult to devise effective chemical control strategies for problematic weed species related to the cultivated crop since they tend to share herbicide sensitivities. One approach to solving this problem involves the development of herbicide resistant varieties. In this system, herbicide-is applied "in-crop" to control weeds without injuring the herbicide-tolerant crop plants.
The development of herbicide resistance in plants offers significant production and economic advantages; as such the use of herbicides for controlling weeds or plants in crops has become almost a universal practice. However, application of such herbicides can also result in death or reduced growth of the desired crop plant, making the time and method of herbicide application critical or in some cases unfeasible.
Of particular interest to farmers is the use of herbicides with greater potency, broad weed spectrum effectiveness and rapid soil degradation. Plants, plant tissues and seeds with resistance to these compounds would provide an attractive solution by allowing the herbicides to be used to control weed growth, without risk of damage to the crop. One such class of broad spectrum herbicides are those compounds that inhibit the activity of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) enzyme in a plant. Such herbicides are included in the aryloxyphenoxypropionate (FOP) and cyclohexanedione (DIM) chemical families. For example, wheat is susceptible to many ACCase inhibiting herbicides that target monocot species, making the use of these herbicides to control grassy weeds almost impossible.
Due to the importance of wheat as a crop plant on the world stage, there is a need for wheat hybrids that are resistant to the inhibitory effects of ACCase herbicides, thereby allowing for greater crop yield when these herbicides are used to control grassy weeds.

Acetyl co-enzyme A carboxylase herbicide resistant plants

Colorado Wheat Research Foundation, Inc.


A system for controlling electromechanical of an internal combustion has a valve-closing electromagnet for attracting the armature coupled to the valve to close the valve, a valve-opening electromagnet for attracting the armature to open the valve, a valve-opening spring for biasing the valve open, and a valve-closing spring for biasing the valve closed. The method includes de-energizing the valve-closing electromagnet for a predetermined time, enabling the valve to oscillate by the valve springs, and then energizing the valve-closing electromagnet to close the valve. Consequently, only the valve-closing electromagnet is energized to open and close the valve. The valve biasing springs force the valve to a location at which the valve-closing electromagnet can close the valve. This provides an electrical energy over prior methods in which both the valve-opening and valve-closing electromagnets are energized to actuate the valve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for controlling electromechanical valves in an internal combustion engine.
2. Background of the Invention
An electromechanically operated poppet valve in the cylinder head of an internal combustion, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,543, is actuated by energizing and de-energizing electromagnets acting upon an armature coupled to the poppet valve. Because the actuation of the electromagnets is controlled by an electronic control unit, valve opening and closing events occur independently of engine rotation. In conventional engines with camshaft actuated valves, which have timings based on engine rotation, air delivery to the cylinders is controlled by a throttle valve placed in the inlet duct of the engine. In contrast, electromechanical valves are capable of controlling air delivery based on valve timing, thereby providing a thermal efficiency improvement over throttled operation of a conventional engine.
However, a drawback to electromechanical valves is the amount of electrical energy consumed in actuating them. The inventors of the present invention have recognized a method to operate electromechanical valves in a manner which consumes less electrical energy than prior methods.

Method to control electromechanical valves


A combination sock and shoe includes a shoe sole, an exterior sock that is secured to the shoe sole, an intermediate sock positioned inside the exterior sock, and an interior sock positioned inside the exterior sock and inside the intermediate sock. The intermediate sock is constructed as an anklet having an elastic ankle opening. The exterior and interior socks conceal the intermediate sock from view by sandwiching the intermediate sock between them. When a wearer's foot is inserted into the combination sock and shoe, the elastic ankle opening of the intermediate sock securely engages around the ankle of the wearer's foot and holds the wearer's foot to the shoe sole, thereby preventing the shoe sole from separating away from the heel of the wearer's foot during walking.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a novel construction of a combination sock and shoe that is securely held to the foot of a wearer. In particular, the present invention pertains to a combination sock and shoe that includes a conventionally constructed athletic shoe sole, an exterior sock that is secured to the shoe sole, intermediate sock that is positioned inside the exterior sock, and an interior sock that is positioned inside the intermediate sock. The interior sock is constructed of substantially the same material as the exterior sock. The intermediate sock is constructed as an anklet having an elastic ankle opening. The exterior and interior socks conceal the intermediate sock from view by sandwiching the intermediate sock between them. When a wearer's foot is inserted into the combination sock and shoe, the elastic ankle opening of the intermediate sock securely engages around the ankle of the wearer's foot and holds the wearer's foot to the shoe sole, thereby preventing the shoe sole from separating away from the heel of the wearer's foot during walking.
2. Description of the Related Art
Casual shoes and slippers have been constructed that are combinations of a shoe sole and a sock. The prior art combination shoe and sock is basically constructed by securing the bottom surface of a sock to a top surface of a shoe sole. However, in the prior art combination shoe and sock construction, because the shoe sole is typically more rigid and less flexible than the material of the sock, when the wearer of the combined shoe and sock walks, the heel of the wearer's foot will often lift up from the shoe sole, causing the heel to move up into the portion of the sock that typically surrounds the wearer's ankle. This can result in the portion of the sock that now surrounds the wearer's heel to move between the wearer's heel and the top of the shoe sole, resulting in an annoying and uncomfortable feel to the wearer's foot as the wearer continues walking.


Recording of information is performed by selectively forming a high-temperature level state and a low-temperature level state on a recording medium which is capable of an optical modulation overwrite operation to multi-value power levels on the basis of a multi-pulse recording waveform. A power level PHth of the light beam immediately before the high-temperature level state begins to be formed on the medium is detected and a minimum power level PLmin of the light beam, which can form the low-temperature level state on the medium, is detected. Then, the multi-pulse recording waveform is switched on the basis of the detected power levels PHth and PLmin. Upon recording of a non-overwrite recording medium, a power level Pth of the light beam immediately before recording begins on the medium is detected and a maximum reproduction power level Prmax of the light beam at which information recorded on the medium is not erased is detected. Then, the multi-value recording waveform is switched on the basis of the detected power levels Pth and Prmax.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information recording/reproducing apparatus for recording information on a recording medium that allows an overwrite operation, and on a non-overwrite medium.
2. Related Background Art
As apparatuses for optically recording information or reproducing information by irradiating a light beam onto an information recording medium, a read-only type apparatus for reproducing information from a read-only recording medium on which information is recorded in advance, a WORM (write once, read many) type apparatus for recording information pits by forming pits on a recording film by heat, an apparatus for changing the crystal state of a medium and recording information as a difference in reflectance, a rewritable type apparatus for recording information pits by changing the direction of magnetization of a perpendicular magnetic film, and the like are available.
FIG. 1 shows the arrangement of a rewritable optical modulation overwrite type magnetooptical disk apparatus of the above-mentioned apparatuses. Referring to FIG. 1, a magnetooptical disk 1 serves as an information recording medium, and is constituted by forming a magnetic film 2 on a transparent substrate such as glass, plastic, or the like. The magnetooptical disk 1 is mounted on the rotation shaft of a spindle motor 3, and is driven to rotate at a predetermined velocity by the spindle motor 3. An optical head 4 is arranged below the lower surface of the magnetooptical disk 1, and a bias magnet 13 is arranged above the upper surface of the disk 1 to oppose the optical head 4. In the optical head 4, a semiconductor laser 5 serving as a recording/reproducing light source is arranged. A light beam emitted by the semiconductor laser 5 is collimated by a collimator lens 6, is transmitted through a polarization beam splitter 7, and is incident on an objective lens 8. The incident light beam is focused by the objective lens 8, and forms a very small (micro) beam spot on the magnetic film 2 of the magnetooptical disk 1. When information is recorded, the light beam emitted by the semiconductor laser 5 is modulated in accordance with an information signal, and is irradiated onto an information track of the magnetooptical disk 1. Also, upon recording information, the bias magnet 13 applies a magnetic field in a predetermined direction to the magnetooptical disk 1, and a series of information pits are recorded by the application of the magnetic field and the irradiation of the light beam.
The light beam irradiated onto the magnetooptical disk 1 is reflected by the medium surface. The reflected light is incident on the polarization beam splitter 7 via the objective lens 8 again, and is reflected toward the beam splitter 9 side by the polarization surface of the splitter 7. In this manner, the light beam is split from the incident light from the semiconductor laser 5. In the beam splitter 9, the incident light beam is split into two light beams. One light beam is received by an optical sensor 11 via a sensor lens 10. The light-receiving signal of the optical sensor 11 is input to an AT.cndot.AF circuit (auto-tracking.cndot.auto-focusing control circuit) 12. The AT.cndot.AF circuit 12 generates a tracking error signal and a focusing error signal on the basis of the light-receiving signal. An objective lens actuator 14 is driven on the basis of the generated tracking error signal and focusing error signal to displace the objective lens 8 in the tracking and focusing directions, thus attaining tracking control and focusing control.
On the other hand, when information recorded on the magnetooptical disk 1 is to be reproduced, a light beam to be emitted by the semiconductor laser 5 is set to have reproduction power lower than recording power, and recorded information is reproduced by scanning the reproduction light beam onto a target track. More specifically, reflected light of the reproduction light beam from the disk surface is received by an optical sensor 16 via the polarization beam splitter 7, the beam splitter 9, and a sensor lens 15. The light-receiving signal of the optical sensor 16 is supplied to a reproduction signal processing circuit (not shown), and is subjected to predetermined signal processing, thereby reproducing the recorded information. Of course, in the reproduction mode, the reflected light of the reproduction light beam is received by the optical sensor 11, and the AT.cndot.AF sensor 12 performs tracking control and focusing control based on the light-receiving signal.
The recording process of the optical modulation overwrite method in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described below. Note that the optical modulation overwrite method is described in detail in, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 63-239637. The magnetic film 2 of the magnetooptical disk 1 consists of first and second magnetic layers which are exchange-coupled to each other. The coercive force at room temperature of the first magnetic layer is larger than that of the second magnetic layer, and the Curie temperature of the first magnetic layer is lower than that of the second magnetic layer. When information is recorded on this disk 1, the second magnetic layer with a higher Curie temperature is initialized in one direction, and thereafter, an overwrite operation is performed by intensity-modulating the laser beam from the optical head 4. In this case, the laser beam has two different laser powers, i.e., first and second laser power levels. The first laser power level is a power level (a power level PL that forms a low-temperature level state) which raises the temperature of the disk 1 to the Curie temperature of the first magnetic layer, and the second laser power level is a power level (a power level PH that forms a high-temperature level state) which raises the temperature of the disk 1 to the Curie temperature of the second magnetic layer.
More specifically, a laser beam is modulated between the two different power levels in correspondence with information. When a laser beam having the first laser power level (PL) is irradiated, magnetization of only the first magnetic layer with a lower Curie temperature disappears, and magnetization that appears at the irradiated portion in a later cooling process aligns in a direction stable with respect to the initialized second magnetic layer by exchange coupling with the second magnetic layer with a higher Curie temperature (erasing process). Subsequently, when a laser beam having the second laser power level (PH) is irradiated, magnetizations of the first and second magnetic layers disappear in the irradiated portion, and the magnetization of the second magnetic layer, which appears in a later cooling process, aligns in the direction of the bias magnetic field. The magnetization of the first magnetic layer aligns in a direction stable with respect to the direction of magnetization of the second magnetic layer by exchange coupling, thus recording information (recording process). In this manner, by selecting the first and second laser power levels in correspondence with information, the magnetization of the first magnetic layer aligns in the initialization direction with the first laser power level, and aligns in the direction of the bias magnetic field with the second laser power level, thus recording information. In this manner, the laser beam is controlled between the two different laser power levels, and upon recording, an overwrite operation is allowed independently of the magnetization state of the first magnetic layer before recording.
The magnetooptical disk apparatus described above with reference to FIG. 1 is an apparatus which performs an overwrite operation of the optical modulation method, as described above, and can record information without erasing information, so as to meet the requirement for high-speed information recording. In recent years, in order to record information at high density, pit edge recording that assigns meanings as information to the two edges of a recording pit is becoming popular. However, in such pit edge recording, each recording bit must be formed to have a desired length, and to have a symmetrical shape in its longitudinal direction.
In general, when recording is performed by lighting a laser beam in correspondence with a recording signal itself, each bit formed on the medium has a teardrop shape which widens in the diffusion direction of heat. More specifically, this phenomenon occurs due to thermal interference between adjacent bits, and this means that the method of lighting a light beam in correspondence with the recording signal cannot cope with the above-mentioned pit edge recording. In order to eliminate the influence of thermal interference, as shown in FIG. 2, a method of performing recording using a four-value multi-pulse recording waveform, i.e., a method of performing recording by lighting a laser beam using four power level values has been proposed. FIG. 2 shows, as an example, a laser lighting waveform when a 4T pattern is to be recorded.
Referring to FIG. 2, PL indicates the power level for forming a low-temperature level state (erasure) on a recording layer of an overwrite recording medium such as the above-mentioned magnetooptical disk 1, i.e., for executing an erasing process. When the medium is pre-heated by a light beam with the power level PL, a preheat effect can be obtained. PH1 and PH2 indicate the power levels for forming a high-temperature level state (recording) on the recording layer, i.e., for executing a recording process, and Pr indicates the reproduction power level with a constant value. PH1 is lighted for a 1.5T period, and PH2 is then pulse-lighted at 0.5T intervals. After PH2, a 1.0T cooling period is assured, and this period is normally called a trailing cooling gap. In this manner, in FIG. 2, the laser lighting operation is controlled using four values, i.e., PL, PH1, PH2, and Pr (Pb). The reason why PH2 is pulse-lighted after PH1 is to maintain the temperature of the recording medium to a predetermined value, and to prevent the medium from being overheated.
When the laser lighting operation is controlled in this manner, the above-mentioned influence of thermal interference can be eliminated, and variations in pit edge can be suppressed. Therefore, the laser beam control method shown in FIG. 2 can be suitably used in pit edge recording. Note that FIG. 2 shows the laser lighting waveform of the 4T pattern. Also, patterns with other lengths are formed as follows. When, for example, (1-7) modulation is used as the modulation method of recording data, the shortest bit length is 2T, and the longest bit length is 8T. Therefore, taking (1-7) modulation as an example, in order to form the shortest 2T pattern, only PH1 is lighted after PL in FIG. 2. To form a 3T pattern, PH1 is lighted after PL, and thereafter, only one PH2 pulse (one period of PH2) is lighted. To form a 4T pattern, a laser beam is lighted, as shown in FIG. 2. Similarly, to form 5T, 6T, 7T, and 8T patterns, three, four, five, and six PH2 pulses respectively follow PH1.
When the laser lighting operation is controlled by the above-mentioned control method to record information on an overwrite medium, a single medium may exhibit different recording characteristics depending on different setting values of PL. More specifically, as the value PL is set to be closer to a power level PHth immediately before the high-temperature level state begins, the leading edge of a recording bit becomes less sharp, and such a blunt leading edge increases jitter upon reproduction. This phenomenon occurs since the edge of a recording bit becomes sharper as it undergoes a larger temperature change. Also, the value of PL is determined by the characteristics of a medium to some extent. That is, if the power difference between the power level PHth immediately before the beginning of recording and a minimum erasing power level PLmin at which a recorded bit can be completely erased is small, the value PL must be set to be close to the power level PHth. Therefore, in this case, a sharp leading edge of a recording bit cannot be formed, resulting in large jitter upon reproduction.
On the other hand, if the power difference between the power level PHth immediately before the beginning of recording and the minimum erasing power level PLmin at which a recorded pit can be completely erased is large, the value PL can be separated from PHth. Therefore, in this case, a sharp leading edge of a recording bit is formed, and jitter upon reproduction can also be reduced. In this manner, since the value PL is determined depending on the medium characteristics, a sharp leading edge of a recording bit cannot be formed in a medium with characteristics with a small power difference between PHth and PLmin, resulting in large jitter upon reproduction.
When recording is performed on a non-overwrite medium, the influence of thermal interference can also be eliminated using the four-value multi-pulse recording waveform, as shown in FIG. 2. The laser control method for a non-overwrite medium is the same as that in the above description. For a non-overwrite medium, the power level for pre-heating a medium is called Pas. However, in a non-overwrite medium as well, a single medium has different recording characteristics depending on different values Pas as in an overwrite medium. More specifically, as the value Pas is set to be closer to a power level Pth immediately before the beginning of recording, a sharp leading edge of a recording bit cannot be formed, and jitter upon reproduction increases. This is because the edge of a recording bit becomes sharper as it undergoes a larger temperature change, as in the above-mentioned overwrite medium.
Also, in a non-overwrite medium, the value Pas is determined by the medium characteristics to some extent. More specifically, when the power difference between the power level Pth immediately before the beginning of recording and a maximum reproduction power Prmax at which a recorded pit is not erased is small, the value Pas must be set to be close to the power level Pth immediately before the beginning of recording. However, in this case, since Pas and Pth are close to each other, a sharp edge of a recording bit cannot be formed, resulting in large jitter upon recording. Conversely, when the power difference between the power level Pth immediately before the beginning of recording and the maximum power level Prmax at which a recorded pit is not erased is large, since the value Pas can be set to be separated from Pth, a sharp edge of a recording pit can be formed, and jitter upon reproduction can be reduced. As described above, in a non-overwrite medium as well, since the value Pas is determined depending on the medium characteristics, a medium having characteristics with a small power difference between Pth and Prmax suffers large jitter upon reproduction.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the overwrite and non-overwrite media, a method of assuring a cooling gap before a four-value multi-pulse recording waveform, as shown in FIG. 3, is proposed. More specifically, FIG. 3 shows a laser lighting waveform used when a 4T pattern is recorded, as in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, by assuring a 0.5T cooling gap (called a leading cooling gap) before PH1, the medium is cooled in advance to obtain an abrupt temperature change of the medium. Therefore, with this method, when an overwrite medium has a small difference between PHth and PLmin and PL must be set to have a value close to PHTh, or when a non-overwrite medium has a small difference between Pth and Prmax and Pas must be set to have a value close to Pth, since the medium is cooled before a bit is formed, an abrupt temperature change is obtained at the leading edge of a bit, and a sharp leading edge of a pit can be formed.
However, conversely, when PL is set to be a value separated from PHth in an overwrite medium, or when Pas is set to be a value separated from Pth in a non-overwrite medium, this method is not suitable in terms of stability of a recording signal since such an unerased portion may remain. That is, in this case, the recording waveform shown in FIG. 2 is suitable. As described above, in the conventional method, when information is recorded on an overwrite or non-overwrite medium using multi-value recording powers, since the recording characteristics vary depending on the medium characteristics, if recording is performed using an unsuitable recording waveform, jitter upon reproduction increases, or an unerased portion undesirably remains.

Optical information recording/reproducing apparatus and method capable of selecting recording waveform in correspondence with characteristics of medium


A smart card and a method for manufacturing the same wherein the smart card is composed of a printed circuit board, having a top surface and a bottom surface, a plurality of circuit components attached to the top surface of the printed circuit board, a filler board, attached to the top surface of the printed circuit board, a bottom overlay attached to the bottom surface of the printed circuit board, a top overlay positioned above the top surface of the printed circuit board and a thermosetting polymeric layer positioned between the top surface of the printed circuit board and the top overlay.

Generally, smart cards may be used as credit cards, bankcards, ID cards, telephone cards, security cards or similar devices. Smart cards are generally constructed by assembling several layers of plastic sheets in a sandwich array. Further, smart cards contain electronic components that enable the smart card to perform a number of functions.
European Patent 0 350 179 discloses a smart card wherein electronic circuitry is encapsulated in a layer of plastic material that is introduced between the card's two surface layers. The method further comprises abutting a high tensile strength holding member against a side of a mould, locating the smart card's electronic components with respect to that side and then injecting a reaction moldable polymeric material into the mould such that it encapsulates the electronic components.
European Patent Application 95400365.3 teaches a method for making contact-less smart cards. The method employs a rigid frame to position and fix an electronic module in a void space between an upper thermoplastic sheet and a lower thermoplastic sheet. After the frame is mechanically affixed to the lower thermoplastic sheet, the void space is filled with a polymerizable resin material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,847 teaches a credit card that is comprised of three layers, namely, a first outer layer, a second outer layer and an intermediate layer. The intermediate layer is formed by injection of a thermoplastic binding material that encases the smart card's electronic elements (e.g., an IC chip and an antenna) in the intermediate layer material. The binding material is preferably made up of a blend of copolyamides or a glue having two or more chemically reactive components that harden upon contact with air. The outer layers of this smart card can be made up of various polymeric materials such as polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,905 teaches a method for manufacturing plastic credit cards wherein a mold tool comprised of two shells is closed to define a cavity for producing such cards. A label or image support is placed in each mold shell. The mold shells are then brought together and a thermoplastic material injected into the mold to form the card. The inflowing plastic forces the labels or image supports against the respective mold faces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,074 teaches a method of manufacturing smart cards having a card body with substantially parallel major sides, a support member with a graphic element on at least one side, and an electronic module comprising a contact array that is fixed to a chip. The manufacturing method generally comprises the steps of: (1) placing the support member in a mold that defines the volume and shape of the card; (2) holding the support member against a first main wall of the mold; (3) injecting a thermoplastic material into the volume defined by the hollow space in order to fill that portion of the volume that is not occupied by the support member; and (4) inserting an electronic module at an appropriate position in the thermoplastic material before the injected material has the opportunity to completely solidify.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,407 discloses an electronic circuit encapsulation device in the form of a carrier having walls that have a specific arrangement of lands, grooves and bosses in combination with specific orifices. The mold's wall sections hold a circuit assembly in a given alignment. The walls of the carrier are made of a slightly flexible material in order to facilitate insertion of the smart card's electronic circuitry. The carrier is capable of being inserted into an outer mold. This causes the carrier walls to move toward one another in order to hold the components securely in alignment during the injection of the thermoplastic material. The outside of the walls of the carrier has projections that serve to mate with detents on the walls of the mold in order to locate and fix the carrier within the mold. The mold also has holes to permit the escape of trapped gases.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,553 teaches a method of producing a decorative pattern on, and placing an electronic circuit in, a plastic card in an injection molding machine. The method comprises the steps of: (a) introducing and positioning a film (e.g., a film bearing a decorative pattern), over an open mold cavity in the injection molding machine; (b) closing the mold cavity so that the film is fixed and clamped in position therein; (c) inserting an electronic circuit chip through an aperture in the mold into the mold cavity in order to position the chip in the cavity; (d) injecting a thermoplastic support composition into the mold cavity to form a unified card; and (e) thereafter, removing any excess material, opening the mold cavity and removing the card.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,893 teaches a smart card whose main feature is a support element that supports an integrated circuit chip. The support element is used for positioning the chip inside a mold cavity. The card body is formed by injecting a plastic material into the cavity so that the chip is entirely embedded in the plastic material. In some embodiments, the edge regions of the support are clamped between the load bearing surfaces of the respective molds. The support element may be a film that is peeled off the finished card or it may be a sheet that remains as an integral part of the card. If the support element is a peel-off film, then any graphics elements contained therein are transferred and remain visible on the card. If the support element remains as an integral part of the card, then such graphics elements are formed on a face thereof and, hence, are visible to the card user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,388 teaches a smart card device that includes a card board having a through opening. A semiconductor module is mounted onto this opening. A resin is injected into the opening so that a resin molding is formed under such condition that only an electrode terminal face for external connection of said semiconductor module is exposed. The card is completed by mounting a card board having a through opening onto a lower mold of two opposing molding dies, mounting a semiconductor module onto the opening of said card board, tightening an upper die that has a gate leading onto a lower die and injecting a resin into the opening via the gate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,705 teaches a disc having a disc body made of a thermoplastic injection molded material and a laminate layer that is integrally joined to a disc body. The laminate layer includes an outer clear lamina and an inner white and opaque lamina. An imaging material is sandwiched between these lamina.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,054 discloses a method for constructing a smart card using low shrinkage glue to hold the electronic devices in place during the devices immersion in thermosetting material that becomes the core layer of the smart card.
Generally, all of the above methods for making smart cards are concerned with properly positioning and fixing electronic components, modules or assemblies inside the smart card. If the electronic components are not properly affixed they will be moved to random positions when a thermoplastic material is injected into a card-forming, or card core-forming, cavity under the influence of rather high thermoset material injection pressures. The prior art noted above reveals use of various solid holding members such as frames or supports that are often used to position and fix the electronic elements during the thermoplastic injection processes. The use of relatively large, mechanical holding devices having hard, sharply defined, bodies to hold their electronic components in place during injection of such thermosetting materials has, however, created certain problems. For example, the bodies of these relatively large holding devices (i.e., large relative to the electronic components they hold) are often adversely affected by those shock, flexure and/or torsion forces the card may encounter in normal (and abnormal) use. In order to minimize the damage caused by such forces, the electronic components held by some of these hard, sharply defined bodies are often positioned in a corner of such smart cards. This positioning limitation usually cuts down on the size and number of electronic components that can be placed in such cards.
Moreover, due to differences in the coefficient of expansion of the materials used to make these relatively large holding devices—relative to the coefficient of expansion of the other elements of such cards—deformations often appear on the external surfaces of finished cards that contain such electronic component holding devices. Deformations may prevent the card from lying completely flat in the card-receiving receptacles in certain card reading machines.
Some smart card manufacturers have dealt with this problem by reducing the size and/or body of such holding devices by using various glues (rather than mechanical interconnecting locking devices) to securely position their holders (and hence the electronic component that they hold) in their card-forming cavities during the thermoplastic injection process. However, the use of such glues to secure these holder devices has produced another set of problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,054 discloses a method for constructing smart cards using cured, low shrinkage glues to position and hold electronic elements during injection of a thermosetting material that forms the core layer of the card. The method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,054 has considerable drawbacks. Primarily, the disclosed method produces warping and other undesirable physical defects caused by the curing of thermosetting material. Further, this method is suitable only for cards having one or two components, thus limiting its functionality. In addition, the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. '054 creates defects such as voids and air bubbles within a smart card because the geometric shapes of the electronic components within the card obstruct the flow of the thermosetting material such that the thermosetting material flows around the components faster than the air can be pushed out of the core of the smart card. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. '054 requires the use of custom equipment, significantly limiting the scope and scalability of its application.
In view of the following, there is a need for a smart card and a method of constructing the smart card that is capable of housing numerous electrical components without exhibiting warping and other undesirable physical defects.

Smart card and method for manufacturing a smart card


An image forming apparatus includes an optical writing device. The optical writing device includes an optical writing unit that emits laser light beams toward image carriers, an outer case that accommodates the optical writing unit, and air supplying devices that supply air into the outer case. The outer case includes openings through which the laser light beams pass. Another image forming apparatus includes an optical writing device that emits laser light beams toward image carriers to form latent images thereon, partition members that are interposed between the image carriers and the optical writing device and that have openings elongating along a scanning direction of the optical writing device, and shutter mechanisms including shutter members to open and close the openings. The laser light beams are emitted from the optical writing device toward the image carriers through the openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical writing device and an image forming apparatus including the optical writing device that prevents scattered toner and powder dust from entering the optical writing device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes an optical writing unit having optical members, such as a semiconductor laser and a polygon mirror. In the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, an electrostatic latent image is formed on an image carrier by emitting a laser light beam from the optical writing unit to a surface of the image carrier. The electrostatic latent image is developed with toner supplied from a developing device and is formed into a toner image. The toner image formed on the image carrier is transferred to a recording medium, and is then fixed onto the recording medium. Subsequently, the recording medium having a fixed toner image is discharged from the image forming apparatus.
In this image forming apparatus, when scattered toner and powder dust enter an outer case that accommodates an optical writing unit, the scattered toner and powder dust can adhere to the optical writing unit, thereby interrupting the emission of a laser light beam from the optical writing unit. As a result, image quality can be deteriorated.
If image quality is deteriorated due to scattered toner and powder dust adhered to the optical writing unit, the optical writing unit needs to be cleaned. In this condition, it can require a lot of time and efforts for cleaning.
Especially when an optical writing unit is disposed below an image forming device including an image carrier and a developing device in an image forming apparatus, scattered toner and powder dust can tend to enter an outer case that accommodates the optical writing unit.
To prevent scattered toner and powder dust from entering an optical writing unit, some conventional image forming apparatuses employ an airflow generating mechanism that generates a flow of air in a space formed between an image forming device and an optical writing unit. For example, Published Japanese Patent application No. 2001-138574 describes an image forming apparatus employing an airflow generating mechanism.
However, when scattered toner and powder dust are blown off by airflow, some scattered toner and powder dust can scatter toward an optical writing unit.
In some full-color image forming apparatuses, such as a printer, image carriers and developing devices are disposed above an optical writing device. In this configuration, toner and powder dust scattered from the image carriers and the developing devices can enter the optical writing device and accumulate at positions where laser light beams are emitted from the optical writing device. Accordingly, the accumulated toner and powder dust interrupt the emission of laser light beams toward the image carriers, thereby causing an occurrence of a white streak image.
Therefore, as discovered by the present inventors, it is desirable to provide an optical writing device and an image forming apparatus including the optical writing device that prevents scattered toner and powder dust from entering the optical writing device, and which prevents the deterioration of image quality caused by scattered toner and powder entered in the optical writing device.

Optical writing device and image forming apparatus including the optical writing device that prevents scattered toner and powder dust from entering the optical writing device


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes (a) under a first process condition, supplying a purge gas containing hydrogen and oxygen to a process chamber from which an oxide film adhering to an internal member is removed by a cleaning gas containing a halogen element and exhausting the purge gas from the process chamber; and (b) under a second process condition differing from the first process condition, supplying the purge gas to the process chamber and exhausting the purge gas from the process chamber after performing (a), wherein the first process condition is a process condition under which reactivity of the halogen element, which remains within the process chamber when the cleaning gas is supplied to the process chamber, with the purge gas is higher than reactivity of the halogen element with the purge gas under the second process condition.

As an example of processes of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a process of forming a film on a substrate accommodated within a process chamber is often carried out. When carrying out this process, deposits including a film adhere to the interior of the process chamber. Thus, a cleaning process is often performed by supplying a cleaning gas into the process chamber, after the process of forming the film has been performed, and removing the deposits adhering to the interior of the process chamber.
In this cleaning process, a cleaning gas containing a halogen element is often used. Along with the cleaning process using the cleaning gas including the halogen element, it is sometimes the case that the halogen element originating from the cleaning gas remains within the process chamber.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device and recording medium


This disclosure relates generally to machine design, and more particularly to method and system for generating physical design parameters of an object. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a graphical design of the object along with a desired axis of rotation, categorizing the object into an object type based on the graphical design of the object and the desired axis of rotation of the object, and determining a regression weight and a regression estimate for each of the plurality of physical design parameters based on the object type, determining a plurality of proximity metrics based on the regression estimate for each of the plurality of physical design parameters, adjusting the regression weight for each of the plurality of physical design parameters based on the plurality of proximity metrics, and generating a value for each of the plurality of physical design parameters based on the corresponding adjusted regression weight.

In today's world, machines have become ubiquitous and are employed in almost every aspect of life. Examples of machines may include, but are not limited to, a variety of vehicles, appliances in home and office, farm machinery, factory automation systems, and robots. However, in most industries, machines may be designed based on roughly calculated mechanical patterns as per assumption, and followed by experimentation.
For example, assuming automotive engineers require to design a wheel chassis, which should have accuracy in rotation, but are uncertain about the mass or which material would decrease the mass so that the designed chassis requires less amount of rotation. In such a cases, a system may be required to understand the required mass for obtaining required force. Such understanding may help to increase the efficiency of the fuel, since less force may be required to rotate the wheel. Thus, such system may not only help the vehicle manufacturers but also help end users. In another example, while designing the curve end bending momentum of building, bridges or highways, the infrastructure designer may need to determine how much applied force would break up the infrastructure. In such cases, the virtual design may be built on workstation, and the tensile strength of the infrastructure may be determined from the virtual design.
As will be appreciated, most of the time, simulation of machines related to automobile, civil engineering, etc. may be done using software applications. However, existing software applications typically assume static physical design parameters for simulating inertia effect of machine design. It should be noted that the physical design parameters may include various combinations of mass, radius, acceleration; initial velocity, final velocity, time, distance, and displacement. Thus, existing software applications may not automatically generate adaptive and accurate physical design parameters for simulating inertia effect during machine design.
Some of the existing techniques provide for computation of moment of inertia using linear regression, such as, for uniformly distributed mass of rigid plate. However, existing techniques do not provide for generating self-learning and accurate physical design parameters for simulating inertia effect of machine design. Additionally, existing techniques are limited with respect to objects with different symmetrical or asymmetrical size and shape. In other words, existing techniques may not be suitable for generating adaptive physical design parameters for designing machine parts with different symmetrical and asymmetrical size and shape. Further, existing techniques do not provide for interactive generation of physical design parameters for machine parts of different size and shape.

Method and device for generating physical design parameters of an object


A photoconductive layer is formed on the entire outer peripheral surface of a light transmissive drum, and a conductive layer is formed on the photoconductive layer and is made up of a plurality of strip-like conductive portions. Provided around the drum are a tank for storing thermo-melting ink, a blade which removes surplus ink on the outer peripheral surface of the drum, a drier for drying the ink filling the gaps between the conductive portions in the conductive layers, a platen roller which presses against the outer peripheral surface of the drum with a sheet of recording paper in between, and a light source which is provided inside the drum, facing the inner peripheral surface thereof. When the light source is selectively operated in accordance with image information, current is made to flow between the conductive portions in the conductive layer via the photoconductive layer at image recording areas, thus causing the ink filling the gap to be transferred to the recording paper.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an opto-thermal conversion recording apparatus which converts light corresponding to image information into heat to melt thermo-melting ink so that the image information is recorded on a sheet of recording paper.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, as an image recording system, a thermal transfer recording system has been known in which as shown in FIG. 7, an ink ribbon 3 that is composed of a base film 2 and thermo-melting ink 1 applied on a surface thereof is heated by a thermal head 4 so that the thermo-melting ink 1 on the ink ribbon 3 is melted and transferred to a sheet of recording paper 5.
An ink film used in this thermal transfer recording system is expensive and it is very difficult to recycle the ink film which has been once used for a thermal transfer process. Therefore, even if the thermal transfer recording apparatus itself is inexpensive, the running cost due to the consumption of ink films is high. Since the number of recording pixels and the resolution are determined by the number and density of the heat generating elements on the thermal head, development of the head to a higher resolution or provision of a line head increases the cost. Moreover, since the recording trace of the ink which has not been thermally transferred remains as it is on the ink film, this results in poor security protection.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 4 No.255,392 proposes an opto-thermal conversion recording system which uses a heat generating drum 11 having a light transmissive hollow base 6 with a lamination of a transparent electrode layer 7, a photoconductive layer 8, a conductive layer 9 and a thermo-melting ink layer 10 formed thereon in this sequential order, as shown in FIG. 8. In this configuration, with a voltage applied between the transparent electrode layer 7 and the conductive layer 9, rotatable heat generating drum 11 is irradiated with light which contains image information from the inner portion thereof. This causes the photoconductive layer 8 at the illuminated portion thereof to become conductive so that heat is generated by the Joule effect and the ink in thermo-melting ink layer 10 melts and transfers to the recording sheet. Then, ink is supplied to the portion where ink has been transferred, to restore the thermo-melting ink layer to its original state. In this way, this system realizes continuous recording.
However, the opto-thermal conversion recording system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 4 No.255,392 suffers from the following problems:
1) It is very difficult to create a thermo-melting ink layer of a uniform thickness on a drum; PA0 2) Since ink is transferred to the recording paper whilst the thermo-melting ink layer and the recording paper are being pressurized between the heat generating drum and a platen roll, the ink could adhere to areas other than the recording portions due to friction or the like, polluting the recording sheet; and PA0 3) Since the recorded quality of the pixel area is determined in accordance with an area of the illuminated portions, due to heat diffusion it is impossible to create fine or micro recording pixels which are required for high resolution and high gradation image forming.

Opto-thermal conversion recording apparatus