Fermentable sugar useful for the production of biofuels can be produced from biomass by contacting the biomass with a solution containing at least one α-hydroxysulfonic acid. The α-hydroxysulfonic acid can be easily removed from the product and recycled.

Lignocellulosic biomass is viewed as an abundant renewable resource for fuels and chemicals due to the presence of sugars in the cell walls of plants. More than 50% of the organic carbon on the earth's surface is contained in plants. This lignocellulosic biomass is comprised of hemicelluloses, cellulose and smaller portions of lignin and protein. Cellulose is a polymer comprised mostly of condensation polymerized glucose and hemicellulose is a precursor to pentose sugars, mostly xylose. These sugars can easily be converted into fuels and valuable components, provided they can be liberated from the cell walls and polymers that contain them. However, plant cell walls have evolved considerable resistance to microbial, mechanical or chemical breakdown to yield component sugars. A number of approaches to overcome this recalcitrance have been performed and the breakdown of these polymers into sugars, saccharification, has a long history. General methods are outlined schematically in FIG. 1.
The original approaches dating back to the early 19th century involve complete chemical hydrolysis using concentrated mineral acids such as hydrochloric acid, nitric, or sulfuric acid. Numerous improvements to these processes have been made earning higher sugar yields from the biomass feedstock. These higher acid concentration approaches provide higher yields of sugars, but due to economic and environmental reasons the acids must be recovered. The primary obstacle to practicing this form of saccharification has been the challenges associated with recovery of the acid (M. Galbe and G. Zacchi, A review of the production of ethanol from softwood, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 59 (2002), pp. 618-628). Recent efforts toward separating sulfuric acid and sugars using ion resin separation or hydrochloric acid and sugars via amine extraction and subsequent thermal regeneration of the acid have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,687 and WO2010026572. Both approaches are cumbersome and expensive.
Dilute acid processes have also been attempted to perform chemical Saccharification and one such example is the Scholler-Tornesch Process. However usage of dilute acid requires higher temperatures and this usually results in low yields of the desired sugars due to thermal degradation of the monsaccharides. Numerous approaches of this type have been made in the past and all have failed to meet economic hurdles. See Lim Koon Ong, Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuel ethanol—A brief review, The Planter, Vol. 80, No. 941, August 2004 and Cell Wall Saccharification, Ralf Möller, Outputs from the EPOBIO project, 2006; Published by CPL Press, Tall Gables, The Sydings, Speen, Newbury, Berks RG14 1RZ, UK.
The Saccharification of the cellulose enzymatically holds promise of greater yields of sugars under milder conditions and is therefore considered by many to be more economically attractive. The recalcitrance of the raw biomass to enzymatic hydrolysis necessitates a pretreatment to enhance the susceptibility of the cellulose to hydrolytic enzymes. A number of pretreatment methods, such as described in Nathan Mosier, Charles Wyman, Bruce Dale, Richard Elander, Y. Y. Lee, Mark Holtzapple, Michael Ladisch 'Features of promising technologies for pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass" Bioresource Technology 96 (2005) pp. 673-686, have been developed to alter the structural and chemical composition of biomass to improve enzymatic conversion. Such methods include treatment with dilute acid steam explosion described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,648, hydrothermal pretreatment without the addition of chemicals described in WO 2007/009463 A2, ammonia freeze explosion described in AFEX; Holtzapple, M. T., Jun, J., Ashok, G., Patibandla, S. L., Dale, B. E., 1991, The ammonia freeze explosion (AFEX) process—a practical lignocellulose pretreatment, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 28/29, pp. 59-74, and organosolve extraction described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,032. Despite this, pretreatment has been cited as the most expensive process in biomass-to-fuels conversion ("Methods for Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Efficient Hydrolysis and Biofuel Production" Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2009, 48(8), 3713-3729.)
One pretreatment that has been extensively explored is a high temperature, dilute—sulfuric acid (H2SO4) process, which effectively hydrolyzes the hemicellulosic portion of the biomass to soluble sugars and exposes the cellulose so that enzymatic Saccharification is successful. The parameters which can be employed to control the conditions of the pretreatment are time, temperature, and acid loading. These are often combined in a mathematical equation termed the combined severity factor. In general, the higher the acid loading employed, the lower the temperature that can be employed; this comes at a cost of acid and its recycle. Conversely, the lower the temperature, the longer the pretreatment process takes; this comes at the cost of volumetric productivity. It is desirable to lower the temperature because pentose sugars readily decompose to form furfurals and other species which represents a yield loss and these compounds are poisons to downstream fermentation. However the use of the higher concentrations of acid required to lower the pretreatment temperatures below that where furfural formation becomes facile (B. P. Lavarack, G. J. Griffin, D. Rodman "The acid hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse hemicelluloses to product xylose, arabinose, glucose and other products." Biomass and Bioenergy 23 (2002) pp. 367-380) once again requires the recovery of the strong acid. If dilute acid streams and higher temperatures are employed the pretreatment reaction produces increased amounts of furfural and the acid passing downstream must be neutralized resulting in inorganic salts which complicates downstream processing and requires more expensive waste water treatment systems.

Treating biomass to produce materials useful for biofuels


A system and method for independent control of simultaneous fracturing for multiple wellbores is disclosed. In certain embodiments, a first clean pumping unit and a first dirty pumping unit are fluidically coupled to a first wellbore, wherein the first clean pumping unit pumps a first fluid to the first wellbore and the second clean pumping unit pumps a second fluid to the first wellbore. In certain embodiments, a second clean pumping unit and a second dirty pumping unit are fluidically coupled to a second wellbore, wherein the second clean pumping unit pumps the first fluid to the second wellbore and the second dirty pumping unit pumps. In certain embodiments, a controller controls a pumping rate of at least one of the first clean pumping unit and the first dirty pumping unit based on a desired parameter of a combined fluid pumped to the first wellbore.

Hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, are commonly obtained from subterranean formations that may be located onshore or offshore. The development of subterranean operations and the processes involved in removing hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation are complex. Typically, subterranean operations involve a number of different steps such as, for example, drilling a wellbore at a desired well site, treating the wellbore to optimize production of hydrocarbons, and performing the necessary steps to produce and process the hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation. In the production of hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation, the subterranean formation should be sufficiently conductive to permit the flow of desirable fluids to a well bore penetrating the formation. One type of treatment used in the art to increase the conductivity of a subterranean formation is hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing operations generally involve pumping a treatment fluid (e.g., a fracturing fluid or a "pad fluid") into a wellbore that penetrates a subterranean formation at or above a sufficient hydraulic pressure to create or enhance one or more pathways, or "fractures," in the subterranean formation. These fractures generally increase the permeability and/or conductivity of that portion of the formation. The fluid may comprise particulates, often referred to as "proppant," that are deposited in the resultant fractures. Proppant may help prevent the fractures from fully closing upon the release of the hydraulic pressure, forming conductive channels through which fluids may flow to a wellbore.
In certain instances, it may be desirable to perform hydraulic fracturing on multiple wellbores at the same time. Currently, some present systems only allow for fracturing a single wellbore at a time. Other systems that allow for simultaneous fracturing on two or more wells typically require using the same proppant delivery schedule for each well. In those systems, control of pumping schedules to the multiple wellbores may be controlled by way of upstream flow control from a common blender system. For example, a common blender system may mix fluid and slurry upstream of one or more fracturing pumps and deliver the same flow and concentration of the mixed fluid and slurry to the pumps for injection into multiple wellbores. Such a system does not allow for flexibility based on the needs of a given individual wellbore. Additionally, such a system may cause wear and tear on equipment due to dirty fluid flowing through components including the pumps, piping, valves, etc. Limiting the flow of dirty fluid through a subset of pumps may extend the life of other pumps and associated components.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted, such embodiments do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation should be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.

Independent control for simultaneous fracturing of multiple wellbores


A portable battery-powered ozone generator, or ozonator, contained in a waterproof housing with an air intake and an ozone discharge conduit diffuses ozone directly into a body of water in a pool, pond or tank. The ozone generator and housing can be part of (1) a buoyant floating platform that is also equipped with solar power collector panels to provide a recharging current for the battery; (2) a robotic, self-propelled pool cleaner; or (3) a skimmer filter assembly that can include a solar panel under a solar transmissive cover that is flush mounted in the walk area alongside the pool.

Ozone generators or ozonators have been utilized in connection with fixed or permanent swimming pool water purification systems, as well as in various commercial and industrial water treatment processes. The ozone is typically introduced as a pressurized gas into a pipeline through which the water is circulated, or through a fixed injector or other diffusing pipe passing through a side wall of the pool or tank.
Ozone, or O3, is a highly-reactive oxidizing agent formed of three loosely bound oxygen atoms, one of which readily dissociates to oxidize organic matter and/or to form oxides of inorganic dissolved minerals. The ozone can be generated at the site of use by a corona discharge generator. The desirable effect achieved by introducing dissolved ozone molecules into swimming pool water is to kill or render harmless bacteria, algae and fungi and, in the case of hard water, to form insoluble mineral oxides which can then be removed in the pool's mechanical filtration system.
A further advantage of ozone treatment of swimming pool water is the ability to reduce the amount or concentration of chlorine and/or bromine in the water. Chlorine and bromine at any concentration produces unpleasant odors for bathers and can cause severe eye irritation, dry skin and other unpleasant effects. Moreover, it has been found that some bio-organisms are able to mutate and become resistant to chlorine at customary concentrations. Special action must be taken to "shock" treat the water to kill these organisms. By contrast, ozone acts as a biocide upon contact at any concentration.
Another desirable attribute of ozone is that its reaction by-product is pure oxygen. Water treated with ozone can at first appear cloudy; however, once the organic and/or mineral by-products are removed by the filter system. The water has a sparkling and clear appearance as well as a pleasant, fresh smell and taste. The ozone can be produced by electrical corona discharge from atmospheric oxygen. No special chemicals are required and no chlorine is released into the environment.
The principal disadvantage to ozone addition processes and apparatus of the prior art is their relatively high cost. The ozone generator must be incorporated into the water pumping and filtration system that circulates the water in the pool. Installation requires a substantial capital investment and skilled labor. Retrofitting an existing system will be even more expensive than incorporating an ozone generator at the initial stage of construction.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an ozone treatment system and method for swimming pools and tanks that is relatively inexpensive compared to those of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ozone generator for swimming pools that is portable and also reliable and simple to operate and requires relatively little maintenance.

Portable ozone treatment for swimming pools


A storage system and method for retention-based zone determination are provided. In one embodiment, a storage system is presented comprising a memory comprising a plurality of blocks and a controller. The controller is configured to receive, from a host, a zone-create command comprising a health requirement; and in response to receiving the zone-create command, create a zone of memory from blocks of the memory that satisfy the health requirement. Other embodiments are provided.

A host and storage system can operate under a standard, such as the Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) standard. One feature of the NVMe standard is Zoned Namespace (ZNS). A Zoned Namespace divides the logical address space of a memory into zones. Each zone, which can be in a single memory die or span several memory dies, provides a logical block address (LBA) range that must be written sequentially and must be erased/reset before it can be written into again. Such zones reduce write amplification, overprovisioning, and internal controller memory usage, while improving throughput and latency. The host manages the creation and use of zones, and the storage system can have parallel input/output (I/O) queues to handle reads and writes into the zones. Different applications on the host can direct I/Os to different zones, which can be dedicated to storing different types of data (e.g., music, video, images), so that the usage pattern for the data in any given zone is constant and predictable.

Storage system and method for retention-based zone determination


A camera for recording images of subjects on a light-sensitive substance, including an output source for producing a particular output that provides blank areas without image content in the recorded images to make write-on spaces available on prints corresponding to the recorded images, is characterized in that the output source is able to have its actual output varied in order to vary the blank areas from one recorded image to another and provide similar varied write-on spaces on prints corresponding to the recorded images, and a multi-position selector is coupled with the output source for movement to respective positions to vary the actual output of the output source.

It is desirable to place written information on the face rather than on the back of photographic prints. Written information on the back of photographic prints is not visible when the prints are mounted in an album.
It has been proposed to provide a narrow white write-on border along the bottom edge portion of a photographic print. This allows written information to be placed on the face of the photographic print.
To obtain a write-on border for the photographic print, a camera for exposing latent images of subjects on a light-sensitive filmstrip includes a light source that is activated to fog respective bottom edge portions of the latent images during film movement in the camera. As a result, the bottom edge portions of the latent images are rendered indistinct or blank, i.e. without any image content, through exposure to light. This is further described in prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,705 issued Dec. 24, 1991. The size and the location of the fogged portions of the latent images and, thus, the size and location of the blank write-on portions for the photographic prints are always the same.

Apparatus for providing fogged write-on borders on film frame in camera


An ink jet recording apparatus, which records a image on a recording medium using a recording head provided with a plurality of ink discharge ports, comprises a rotative platen having a plurality of supporting pieces arranged at predetermined intervals; rotation means for rotating the platen; conveyance means for conveying the recording medium; control means for controlling the rotation means to rotate the platen in the conveying direction of the recording medium in synchronism with the conveyance of the recording medium when recording is performed near the edge of the recording medium conveyed by the conveyance means. With the structure thus arrange, this ink jet recording apparatus is capable of performing the entire area recording (no margin recording) on a recording medium without staining the platen that supports the recording medium at the time of recording.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that conveys a recording medium for recording images on it by use of an ink jet method. The invention also relates to a recording method therefore.
2. Related Background Art
An ink jet recording apparatus forms droplets of ink by various methods and discharges them onto a recording medium, such as recording paper, for recording by the adhesion of the ink droplets to the recording medium. Particularly, the ink jet recording apparatus that utilizes heat as energy for forming the discharge droplets makes it easier to arrange a plurality of discharge ports (nozzles) in high density. Then, with the nozzles thus arranged in high density, the ink jet recording apparatus can provide high quality images in high resolution at high speeds to make it easier to form color images. These are excellent features. Since the ink jet recording apparatus discharges ink onto a recording medium in accordance with a recording signal, it is used widely as a quiet recording method which is applicable at lower running costs.
Now, with the ink jet recording apparatus thus structured, it may be desired to perform recording on the entire recording area (recording without any margins) on a recording medium in order to obtain an image recorded in the same size as that of the recording medium. However, when operating such an entire area recording, it is required to provide highly precise positioning with respect to the relative relations between the recording medium and the ink jet recording head. Actually, therefore, the positional deviation may take place between the recorded image and the recording medium so that a small amount of ink is discharged outside the recording medium, and the platen of the apparatus is stained. Moreover, in some cases, a margin may be produced on the recording medium to the extent that ink is discharged onto the platen. In order to prevent the creation of such a margin on a recording medium due to the errors existing in the relative positions between the recording medium and the ink jet recording head, it may be possible to record an image in a size larger than that of the recording medium. In this case, however, a problem is encountered that the amount of ink that may be discharged outside the recording medium becomes greater to eventually stain the platen. If the platen is stained by ink, there occurs such trouble that the front side or the reverse side of the recording medium carried to the position of the platen is stained by ink that has adhered to the platen, and the recording medium on which images are recorded is made worthless.
Further, if recording is performed on a recording medium which has been carried obliquely a large amount of ink is discharged on the platen, and not onto the recording medium eventually. Then, the recording apparatus itself may be damaged. Furthermore, when recording should be made on the trailing edge of the recording medium, it is required to continuously record on the recording medium even after the recording medium has passed the conveying roller which is positioned on the entrance side of the recording unit. However, while the recording medium is being conveyed in this manner, errors tend to take place in the conveying amount of the recording medium due to the kicking out thereof by the conveying roller on the entrance side at the moment the recording medium passes over the position of the conveying roller on that side (that is, the moment the trailing edge of the recording medium has passed through the roller on the entrance side). As a result, a problem is encountered that a margin is created inevitably between the image recorded by the scanning of the recording head before the kick-out of the recording medium and the one recorded by the scanning of the recording head after the kick-out of the recording medium.

Ink jet recording apparatus and recording method therefor


There is disclosed a low calorie fat substitute comprising a non-flowable aqueous phase and an oil phase, with the interaction between said aqueous and oil phases resulting in a pourable emulsion. Also disclosed are food compositions containing pourable and nonpourable emulsions.

The present invention is directed to low calorie fat substitutes. More specifically, it is directed to an emulsion containing an oil phase and an aqueous phase which is useful as a low calorie fat substitute.
In today's health conscious society, there is a growing demand for low calorie foods. Excess body weight not only creates a feeling of low self confidence in social situations but also has been shown to contribute to the impairment of the cardiovascular function of the individual. Moreover, the reduction of the performance capacity of the individual is another consequence of excess body weight.
Many approaches have been suggested to control excess body weight. The use of chemical appetite suppressants and appetite inhibitors is a well known approach but these chemical agents are often unsafe for long term use and/or may have undesirable side effects. Moreover, they are usually available only through a physician's prescription.
Low calorie foods have also been widely advocated as a diet regimen to control excess body weight. Such low-calorie foods include low calorie spreads, which are typically water-in-oil emulsions; and low calorie sauces, such as salad dressings and mayonnaise which are typically oil-in-water emulsions.
Recently water-in-oil-in-water emulsions (w/o/w) have been described as additives for low calorie foods. Such w/o/w emulsions are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,650,690, 4,632,840 and 4,590,086.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,520 refers to a low fat comestible spread which is an oil-in-water emulsion containing about 20% to about 40% fat, a lipoidal emulsifier, and a water-soluble or dispersible thickening agent. The fat is chosen to impart a plastic-like consistency to the emulsion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,655 refers to a flavored comestible spread which is an oil-water dispersion comprising water, a partial glyceride ester composition containing about 38-48% diglyceride or monoglyceride in the ratio of about 1:5 to 1:1.5 based on the diglyceride content, and triglyceride in an amount less than the mono and diglyceride contents combined.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,964 refers to food products comprising a continuous aqueous phase and a dispersed gelled aqueous phase.
European Patent Application No. 244,009 refers to a spread containing a heated dairy cream.
European Patent Application No. 257,714 refers to a multifunctional fat-continuous emulsion. The composition is a water-in-oil emulsion with a proteinaceous aqueous phase, wherein the emulsifier system comprises mono fatty acid esters of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids with a polyhydroxy alcohol.
European Patent Application No. 265,003 refers to a water-in-oil emulsion which contains a thickened proteinaceous aqueous phase, a fatty phase, an emulsifier and a mixture of phosphatides.
European Patent Application No. 279,498 refers to a plastified dispersion with a continuous fat phase and a dispersed aqueous phase with the dispersed phase containing less than 0.1% amino acid residues.
European Patent Application No. 279,499 refers to a plastified dispersion wherein the aqueous phase has a viscosity of less than 400 cps. at 35.degree. C.
Great Britain Patent No. 1,564,800 refers to a low fat spread containing a gelled proteinaceous aqueous phase and a continuous fatty phase.
PCT application 88/04525 refers to a water in oil (w/o) emulsion which contains at least 25% crystallized fat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,125 refers to a process for producing a low fat emulsion using a natural dairy cream and an emulsifier having a hydrophilic to lipophilic balance of about 3 to 5.
United Kingdom Patent application No. 2,021,140 refers to a dairy blend comprising butter and vegetable oil. United Kingdom Patent Application No. 1,277,772 refers to a fluid beverage comprising a mixture of whey solids and fat.
Great Britain Application No. 2,205,849 refers to a low fat spread containing an emulsifying agent, a continuous fatty phase and an aqueous phase containing protein, gelatin, starch and optionally hydrocolloids.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,690 refers to an acidified food containing fats, milk solids, an edible protein, an edible emulsifier and a Xanthomonas colloid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,236 refers to an edible w/o emulsion with a gelled aqueous phase containing a medium melting point gelling agent, i.e. xanthans, carrageenans and locust bean gum.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,426 refers to a w/o emulsion with a gelled phase containing two hydrocolloids.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,758 refers to a process for making a low calorie food spread by producing an oil-in-water emulsion having 1% protein in the aqueous phase.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,970 refers to an edible fat spread of the water-in-oil emulsion type containing a continuous fatty phase, a dispersed liquid aqueous phase, and dispersed gelled aqueous ingredients.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,408 refers to a low-fat, butter-flavored oil in water liquid spread with a dispersed phase having 5 to 40 percent fat and a continuous phase comprising 65-95% water with stabilizers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,261 refers to a hard-frozen beverage containing fat and a film-forming protein.


The invention provides a decode unit for decoding instructions in a processor. The decode unit comprises opcode decoding logic, operand decoding logic, and a sixteen-bit input. The opcode decoding logic is operable to determine an opcode using five bits of the input and the operand decoding logic is operable to determine three four-bit operand elements from the remaining eleven bits of the input, the three operand elements each having one of twelve possible binary values. The operand decoding logic is operable to decode an encoded group of the eleven bits to determine a first part of each of the three operand elements, and to read verbatim a verbatim group of the eleven bits to determine a second part of each of the three operand elements.

A processor instruction can be considered to consist of two portions: an opcode portion and an operand portion. The opcode in the opcode portion defines the type of instruction and, when decoded by the processor's execution unit, causes the processor to perform the corresponding operation (add, subtract, I/O, etc.) The operand portion may contain one or more operand specifiers. These operand specifiers specify which of the processor's operand registers, if any, the instruction defined by the opcode is to operate upon. Alternatively, or additionally, the operand portion may contain an "immediate" operand, i.e. an operand which is contained directly within the operand portion of the instruction, rather than being taken from a specified register. If the instruction does not involve any operands then the operand portion may go unused, or more likely may be used to encode additional opcodes.
Given that the instructions typically have predetermined sizes or formats, this means a trade-off must be made when designing a processor between the size of the opcode and the size of the operand portion.
When small opcodes are used, then only a limited set of instructions can be encoded due to the limited permutations of opcode bits. Such instruction sets would usually comprise only simple, low-level machine code for performing fundamental operations of the processor. This results in a low code density, in the sense that fewer operations can be stored per unit of instruction data, because complex operations must be defined in software as whole sequences of lower-level instructions. In some less usual processors, small opcodes may be used to encode a small number of more complex instructions, whereby complex operations are implemented in hardware and invoked by dedicated instructions. But then the limited number of opcodes available results in the processor only having a very specialised set of possible operations. In any case, small opcodes limit the instruction set size and so limit the processor. However, there is also an advantage in using small opcodes, in that more bits may be available in the instruction for operands.
When large opcodes are used, more numerous types of instruction can be encoded due to the larger number of permutations of opcode bits. Thus, a greater variety of instruction types is available to the processor designer. However, the disadvantage is that fewer bits are available in the instruction for operands.
Thus it can be seen how opcode size must be balanced against the size of the operand portion.
For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional instruction format having sixteen bits i[15:0]. The sixteen instruction bits are each input to an execution unit's decoding logic from an instruction register 50. The decoding logic comprises opcode decoding logic 70 which decodes a four-bit opcode portion 102 of the instruction, and operand decoding logic 80 which determines three four-bit operand specifiers from three respective operand portions 104, 106 and 108 of the instruction. According to this format, each of the three operand specifiers can take a value from zero (0000) to fifteen (1111) in order to specify any one of a set of sixteen operand registers from which to read a source operand or to store a destination operand.
A problem with this conventional sixteen-bit style instructions is that, with sixteen possible operand registers and three operand specifiers 104, 106 and 108, then twelve bits i[11:0] of each instruction are taken up with the operand specifiers. This leaves only four bits i[15:12] for the instruction opcode 102, which only allows sixteen different instructions to be encoded. Existing techniques to overcome this have involved providing restricted operand specifiers (such as ARM Thumb which uses only three bits) or providing most instructions with only two register operands. Other solutions involve moving away from a sixteen-bit instruction format. However, this has its own complications due to the fact that the instruction size is not a conveniently expressed in a number of bytes, or otherwise requires needlessly large twenty-four or thirty-two bit instructions.
Further, the instruction set complexity may affect the processor's speed. Large instruction set processors can sometimes be faster than small instruction set processors because less code is required to execute complex operations. However, the speed of the execution unit is limited by the time to decode the most complex instruction. Therefore larger instruction set processors may actually be slower if there are too many superfluous, unused, or needlessly complex instructions in the set.
Further, compared to large instruction sets, small instruction sets require less hardware logic in the execution unit in order to decode and execute the opcodes, although small sets typically also require more program memory and use more operand registers. The size of the instruction set may therefore have a bearing on the cost, power consumption and silicon area of the processor, depending on the operand registers, decode logic and program memory that are required in conjunction with a particular instruction format.
It is an aim of the present invention to find a preferred balance between the size of an instruction's opcode and the size of it's operand portion, and to achieve this using an encoding scheme which can condense opcodes efficiently into a given instruction length whilst also being quick to decode. It is a particular aim of the invention to find a balance which is advantageous for use in a processor for interfacing with external devices. It is another particular aim of the invention to find a balance which is advantageous for use in a processor for managing the execution of a plurality of threads.


An electrical assembly comprises an upper electrical center assembly and a lower mounting bracket lift assembly that is adapted for being secured to a support panel such as a support panel in an automobile. After the lower mounting bracket lift assembly is secured to the support panel, the upper electrical center assembly is attached to the lower mounting bracket lift assembly. The lower mounting bracket lift assembly is then operated to plug wiring harness end connectors in the lower mounting bracket lift assembly into lower sockets of the upper electrical center assembly.

This invention relates to electrical connectors and more particularly to a mechanism for engaging electrical connectors.
Electrical centers for automobiles generally include a large number of electric terminals that must be plugged into a corresponding number of mating electric terminals in one or more electrical connectors usually at the end of one or more wiring harnesses. The engagement force, that is, the force required to engage the electrical connector or connectors to the electrical center is relatively high due to the large number of terminals. This relatively high engagement force requires mechanical assistance.
There are two generally known solutions to the assembly problem caused by high engagement forces. One type uses a nut and bolt arrangement to draw the electrical connector into engagement with the electrical center. An example of this first mechanical solution is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,752 granted to Gary C. Detter et al. Jun. 11, 1991 for an electrical power distribution center. Systems such as that disclosed in the Detter et al. patent have several drawbacks. They take up precious space on the printed circuit board, require assembly tools in the assembly plant where the electrical connectors are mated, and assembly time to mate each electrical connection which can become particularly burdensome if multiple connections are involved such as shown in the Detter et al. patent.
The second generally known solution to the assembly problem uses a cam lever and cam follower draw the electrical center and the electrical connector together. An example of this second mechanical system is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,094,081 granted to Joseph M. Senk et al Aug. 22, 2006 for an electrical connector assembly. These systems also have their drawbacks. Extra components such as cam levers and followers are required which increases piece and tooling cost. Moreover, additional space is required to operate the cam lever or levers.


A table top is arranged to include a mammary plate, having opposed first and second arcuate recesses to each individually accommodate a mammary during an examination procedure. A modification of the invention includes the mammary plate formed of expandable and contractible relative L-shaped components to accommodate variation in sizing of the first and second arcuate recesses.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to examination table structure, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved examination table top arranged to include a mammary plate arranged for orientation within the table top structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various examination tables for use in the medical field have been employed in the prior art wherein theretofore, particularly during breast examination, a table directed to the convenience of positioning the breast portions of a woman in an orientation to permit examination and associated X-ray photography with the organs in a non-compressed state is availed in the instant invention to overcome deficiencies in the prior art in that regard. Examples of prior art examination tables are indicated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,416; 5,014,292; 5,020,089; and 5,058,871.


A method for position restoration. By comparing the graphic data and the restored graphic data, the graphic data closest to the restored graphic data is selected. Therefore, the graphic data scanned subsequently is correctly connected to the restored graphic data to avoid the missing line or repetition of graphic data.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a method for determining restored position, and more particular, to a restoration method to avoid missing line and image repetition.
2. Related Art of the Invention
Due to advancing and fast-developing electronic techniques, the electronic industry has become one of the most important industries in modern society. Many high performance calculating systems are consequently being produced, and more and more electronic products are being used in daily life. In recent years, the growing processing speed and data storage capacity of the processor has greatly enhanced the performance of image processing, while the image processor such as the optical scanner or digital camera have become widely applied.
In the current operating process of the scanner, the graphic data generating speed is far faster than the data transmission speed between the scanner and the host, and therefore the graphic data scanned by the scanner requires a place for temporary storage. Such place for temporary storage is called a buffer, which ranges between about 32 Kbytes to about 512 Kbytes.
The faster the graphic data is generated; the more graphic data is stored in the buffer. When the buffer is full of the graphic data, the scanner has to stop scanning. If the scan continues under such circumstances, the graphic data will be lost, or operation problems may occur.
When the scanner head is performing scanning, the scanning process has to be stopped if the buffer is filled with the graphic data. Generally speaking, the stopped position is called the restored position. To allow each area of the document to have the same exposure time, the scanner head has a constant speed during scanning. Thus, the scanner head has to move backward with a certain distance. When the is completely emptied, the scanner head proceeds to the previously stopped position, that is, the restored position, to continue scanning. The scanning speed has to reach the previous scanning speed to result in a stable performance.
The procedure from filling the buffer with the graphic data, stopping scanning, the scanner head moving backward and restoring to the restored position and starting scanning is called smearing.
The smearing procedure is normally determined by the low transmission speed of interface connected to the host, such as the SCSI, USB and EPP. Alternatively, it also occurs when the computer host is too busy with other operation processes to read data from the interface. As a result, the graphic data is accumulated in the buffer until it is completely filled to cause smearing.
In the above smearing procedure, while returning to the restored position after moving backward, the scanner head may not return to the exact restored position due to the inertia effect or mechanic error of the scanner; therefore missing line and repetition of graphic data may occur.

Method for determining restored scanning position


A linkage couples the coin return door of a coin telephone instrument to a cam mounted in the coin return chute. When the coin return door is opened in the normal manner by a customer to retrieve coins from the coin return hopper, the cam closes a contact of a microswitch that completes a circuit. After a normal coin retrieval the door closes and the switch contact returns to open. Such momentary switch closures are considered normal. However, if foreign matter has been stuffed into the coin return hopper by a fraudulent user, the material will be engaged by a comb at the end of the cam, preventing the coin return door from closing normally. When the door is prevented from closing normally and remains open for more than a few moments, the switch remains actuated, keeping the circuit closed for longer than normal thereby signaling the signaling the telephone company that the phone has been tampered with.

A species of coin fraud has arisen in which a fraudulent user accesses the coin return hopper of a coin telephone instrument and stuffs the hopper with a wad of material which interferes with the normal function of the instrument to return deposited coins. Fraudulent users do so in the expectation that subsequent legitimate users will be prevented from retrieving coins that should be returned to them so that coins will accumulate behind the blocking wad. Legitimate customers may thus falsely be led to believe that the telephone company inadvertently or deliberately neglected to return their coins. After a while, the fraudulent user returns to the vandalized telephone instrument, removes the blockage and retrieves the fraudulently stored coins. Apparently, two different techniques have been employed by fraudulent users. In one, a balloon is inflated inside the coin return hopper after the coin return door has closed. In the other, a wad of stuffing material is inserted into the coin return hopper and a tool used to force the coin return door to close. While devices have apparently been devised to inhibit coin return hopper stuffing, it appears that such devices tend to jam the coin return chute when a large number of coins are required to be returned to a legitimate user, thereby necessitating that a technician be dispatched by the telephone company to clear the coin path. It would be advantageous to overcome the difficulties of prior art methods of attempting to prevent coin return hopper stuffing.


An apparatus for detecting a motion mask includes: an image processor configured to generate a plurality of image frames; a first motion mask detector configured to detect at least one first motion mask by calculating a local feature of each pixel included in a partial or entire area of at least one current image frame which indicates a pixel value relationship between the each pixel and at least one neighboring pixel, and comparing the calculated local feature with a local feature of a corresponding pixel of at least one previous image frame; a second motion mask detector configured to detect at least one second motion mask based on a difference between the partial or entire area of the current image frame and a corresponding area of the previous image frame; and a motion mask generator configured to generate a final motion mask comprising at least one of the first motion mask and the second motion mask.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to of detecting a motion mask.
2. Description of the Related Art
A general image processing apparatus has a limited luminance range for capturing/expressing an image, compared to a luminance range of a human being that perceives a natural image with the naked eyes. Thus, an image captured or reproduced by using a digital image processing apparatus may have luminances and colors of pixels only within a limited range. In particular, when an image is captured in an environment having both a bright area and a dark area, for example, when a backlight is used to capture an image or when a bright light source exists in a dark room, information, gradation, and color reproduction of an object are degraded in the image. A digital image processing technique used to address this problem is wide dynamic range imaging.
A high dynamic range (HDR) image is obtained by applying weights to a plurality of low dynamic range (LDR) images and merging the weighted images. However, while the LDR images are obtained, an image overlap may occur when a target object moves or a background changes. Thus, it is necessary to detect and compensate for this image overlap of the object or the change in the background in the LDR images.
Examples of a related art method of avoiding an image overlap during HDR imaging include distribution-based motion detection, entropy-based motion detection, and histogram-based motion detection.

Apparatus and method of detecting motion mask


A resistance variable device of an embodiment includes a stack arranged between a first electrode and a second electrode and including a resistance variable layer and a chalcogen-containing layer. The chalcogen-containing layer contains a material having a composition represented by a general formula: C1xC2yAz, where C1 is at least one element selected from Sc, Y, Zr, and Hf, C2 is at least one element selected from C, Si, Ge, B, Al, Ga, and In, A is at least one element selected from S, Se, and Te, and x, y, and z are numbers representing atomic ratios satisfying 0<x<1, 0<y<1, 0<z<1, and x+y+z=1, and when an oxidation number of the element C1 is set to a, and an oxidation number of the element C2 is set to b, the atomic ratio x of the element C1 satisfies x≤(3−(3+b)×y−z)/(3+a).

A resistance variable device having a switch layer and a resistance variable layer as a nonvolatile memory layer, is used for a storage device. In such a resistance variable device, it is demanded to lower a threshold voltage (Vth) at which the switch layer transits from an off-state where a resistance value is high to an on-state where the resistance value is low, without impairing thermal stability of the switch layer.

Resistance variable device with chalcogen-containing layer


A container dispenser having a lid and a case housing is disclosed. The dispenser includes an outlet at a bottom portion of the case housing and communicating with a vertical passage, a wing rotating within the case housing and dropping articles into the vertical passage, a cylindrical framework receiving the article through the vertical passage and dropping the same into the outlet while making a rotation in the vertical transfer passage, a rotational means formed in an external portion of the case housing and sequentially rotating the wing and the cylindrical framework; and a sealing means for sealing the framework to prevent the ambient coming in through the outlet from being flowed into the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dispenser. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved multi-purpose dispensing container which enables articles stored in the container to be sealed even when the articles are being discharged, thereby preventing deformation of the articles contained therein as well as facilitating article storage.
2. Description of Prior Art
In general, storage containers are widely used to store therein relatively small articles such as cigarettes, matches, tablets, toothpicks, sweets, sanitary chopsticks and disposable medical items. Conventional storage containers for these items includes a case housing and a lid, wherein the items are kept within the case housing. To use the conventional storage container, articles are placed within the case housing which is then covered by a lid to thus seal off the interior of the storage container.
However, although the sealing status of the conventional storage container may be reserved good when the lid is assembled to the case housing, the articles stored in the case housing has to be undesirably exposed to the ambient air in order for a user to pick out one of the articles from the case housing.
Further, when applied to sealing-required medical items such as tablets, cotton, and contraceptives, or to vapor-vulnerable items such as pasteurized spoons, matches, cigarettes, and toothpicks, these articles when contained in conventional storage containers has been subject to deformation since the those articles are inevitably exposed to the external environment whenever the lid is taken off
There are other containers which don""t require that a lid be taken off to dispense the contents therein. These other containers have a dispensing system which has a discharge hole defined at a lower end of the container for discharging items therethrough. The discharge of items through the hole is regulated by a covering or a single revolving door-like member at the hole. These containers are better at reducing exposure of the contents within the container to the ambient air by reducing the need to open the lid; however, air still seeps into the container through the hole.
The present invention is contrived to overcome the conventional disadvantages. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved storage container system which enables the articles therein to be preserved from premature deformation by maintaining the interior of the container in a sealed-off status during an article discharge.
To achieve the above-described object, the storage container system according to the present invention comprises an outlet formed at a bottom portion of the case housing and communicating with a vertical passage formed within the case housing to facilitate an article discharge therethrough. Furthermore, a wing rotatably mounted within the case housing serves to drop articles into the vertical passage and to a cylindrical framework rotatably mounted within the case housing. The cylindrical framework receives the article dropped through the vertical passage and thereafter drops the same into the outlet while making a rotation in the vertical passage. A rotational means is formed in an external portion of the case housing and sequentially rotates the wing and the cylindrical framework in a predetermined rate of rotation. To effect sealing of the housing, a sealing means is utilized to seal the cylindrical framework and the wing to prevent the ambient atmosphere from flowing in through the outlet and into the case housing.


A solenoid valve includes a tubular coil bobbin 12 having a coil 13 wound around the outer peripheral surface thereof, a core 8 arranged inside the coil bobbin 12, a yoke 7 for fixing the core 8, a plunger 10 having a central axis coaxial to that of the core 8 and being movable in the axial direction, and a valve housing 5 having ports 3, 4, wherein the yoke 7 is provided, in the outer surface thereof, with a fitting hole 7d projecting tubularly for receiving and fixing the core 8 inserted therein and securing it in place, and the core 8 is provided with a projection 8a to be inserted into the fitting hole 7d and a flange 8b to abut against the inner surface of the yoke 7.

A solenoid valve is a valve that generates a magnetic force by applying electric power to its solenoid coil, and controls the flow of a gasoline vapor or air flowing in a fluid passage by driving its valve plunger with the generated magnetic force. A solenoid valve is mounted, e.g., in an engine room, and controls the flow rate of gasoline vapor in a pipe by controlling the power applied to its solenoid coil. The magnetic circuit energized or generated by applying power to the solenoid coil is composed of magnetic members around a coil. In conventional solenoid valves, a bracket for attaching the valve to an outside system is secured to the outer periphery of a yoke by welding.
Thus, in conventional solenoid valves, a bracket and a yoke have been constituted by respective separate members; however, in recent years, to reduce the cost, a technology by which a bracket and a yoke are constituted by the same member has been widespread. Yet, even when a bracket and a yoke are constituted by the same member to be provided for a yoke-bracket, it is necessary to provide a fixed iron core supporting hole in the yoke-bracket in which a fixed iron core is inserted and fixed. The fixed iron core is joined in the supporting hole by welding, spinning, or punching (see, e.g., Patent Document 1). Further, as another fixing method, a technology by which the iron core is fittedly inserted and secured in the supporting hole of the yoke-bracket is also disclosed.    Patent Document 1: JP-A 2004-251315
Since the conventional solenoid valve has been arranged as described above, the following problem may occur: when a fixed iron core is fittedly inserted into and attached to a supporting hole provided in a yoke in order to reduce the cost, not only the weight of the fixed iron core but also that of internal constituent parts such as a coil and the like constituting a magnetic circuit are applied on the supporting hole, and stress caused by the vibration of an engine or the like is concentrated at the supporting hole, which results in deforming, breaking, or wearing out the supporting hole. To deal with such vibration problems, the increase of thickness of a yoke board or the change of material of a yoke board is contemplated; however, other problems may occur: the thickened yoke board makes the working process difficult; and the material-changed yoke board increases the cost.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a solenoid valve having high durability to the vibration of an engine or the equivalent without increasing the thickness of its yoke board or without changing the material of its yoke board.

Solenoid valve having a yoke with an externally-accessible fitting hole


The torque sensor of the present embodiments comprises a first structure to be coupled to an object to be measured, a second structure, a first bridge circuit including a plurality of first strain sensors configured to detect force to be transmitted between the first structure and the second structure, a second bridge circuit including a plurality of second strain sensors configured to detect force to be transmitted between the first structure and the second structure, and a controller configured to output a signal indicating an abnormality when a difference between a first output voltage of the first bridge circuit and a second output voltage of the second bridge circuit is greater than a first threshold voltage.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
For example, in a production line, a plurality of robot arms is provided and these robot arms cooperate to assemble the products. Each joint of these robot arms is provided with a torque sensor (see, for example, Patent Literature 1 (JP 2013-096735 A), Patent Literature 2 (JP 2015-049209 A), and Patent Literature 3 (JP 5640905 B)).


A handled, open-ended, single layer, elastic and resilient thermal insulator for cylindrical beverage containers made in the form of a flat rectangular strip of foamed cross-linked polyolefin which is slightly longer than the circumference of the container to be insulated and has a pair of overlapping inter-engaging tabs at its opposite end portions and integral closed handle elements extending radially outwardly from above and below the tabs when the strip is applied to such a container. The insulator is made by a method in which a generally rectangular strip is cut from a panel of such flexible expanded thermal insulating material and, at the same time, a U-shaped cut is made in the interior of each of the opposite terminal portions of the strip to thereby produce flexible tabs, with the open end of each of the U-shaped cuts facing each other. Cooperative, interlocking engagement means such as Velcro is secured to opposite sides of the two tabs so that when overlapped, they will secure the strip in tight encircling relation to a cylindrical container, thereby causing the end portions of the strip to extend radially outwardly to cooperatively function as closed handle elements.

The closest prior art known to the inventor herein is believed to be U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,668, which discloses a multi-layered thermal wrap for beverage containers having an inner coolant layer and an outer insulating layer which is externally surrounded by a protective layer. This item is obviously relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture. FIG. 4 shows one version of the invention in which end portions are secured together and provided with openings to function as a handle. FIG. 3 shows overlapping portions secured by Velcro with no handle function provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,567, shows an insulating wrap for beverage cans in which adhesive is applied to opposite surfaces at its end portions to secure the wrap. No handle members are provided. U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,765 shows the same construction as U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,567.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,277, shows a thermal jacket having a cap member and a lower portion comprised of a pair of semi-cylindrical members.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,303, shows a beverage container in which a cooling fluid is contained in frozen condition within the insulating strip.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,279, shows a multi-layered insulator strip with overlapping end portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,950,505, shows a jacket for liquid dispensing receptacles comprised of a flat strip having overlapping end portions with adhesive at each end at the same side so that when they meet and adhere, they form a radially outwardly extending grip.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 159,535; shows a jacket-type coaster in which the end portions of the jacket meet and are secured together with a ring, while the ends extend radially outwardly to function as a grip.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,047, shows an insulating container for canned beverages which is non-collapsible and is made of foamed insulating materials and has separate cover and jacket elements secured in operating position by a single rubber band.
As can be seen from the above, various forms of insulating jackets have been designed in the past. None of these have proved particularly successful and all of them have disadvantages which cause them to function inadequately or involve expensive manufacture. Many of them have relatively large compass and hence require relatively large storage areas and cannot be stacked handily adjacent a cash register or sales point so as to be brought to the attention of the customer. All of them are relatively costly. Thus, there is definite need for a truly inexpensive insulating jacket which will function in an improved way, can be stored and offered for sale in unassembled condition, can be quickly, simply, and easily assembled, and can be disassembled easily for storage and future use. My new insulating jacket overcomes each of the above disadvantages.

Method of making insulated jacket for beverage container


A valve member having a valve part and a piston part is accommodated in a piston accommodation cylinder part of a case reciprocatably, and a damper chamber that is substantially a sealed space is formed in an anti-valve seat side in the valve member so that fluid flows without flowing via the damper chamber. Accordingly, since the fluid does not pass through the damper chamber, a fluid force that occurs in the piston part due to a fluid flow does not change easily, thus it becomes difficult to increase hunting at the valve members. Moreover, in a vibrational component in the valve member reciprocating direction of the valve members, amplitude of the vibration can be decreased by a damping force generated in the damper chamber.

A conventional check valve has a case where a fluid passage and a valve seat are formed, a valve member that touches and separates from the valve seat to open and close the fluid passage, and a spring that energizes the valve member in a valve-closing direction.
Further, the check valve is opened when an energization force of fluid in a valve opening direction exceeds an energization force of the spring in a valve closing direction (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-50174, for example).
However, since an opposite side of the valve seat in the valve member serves as the fluid passage and the fluid flows along with the valve member in the conventional check valve, fluid force occurs parallel with a fluid flowing direction by the fluid flow during the check valve is opened (in other words, in a direction that the valve member reciprocates), thus the valve member easily hunts (i.e. undergoes oscillatory behavior of a non-converging feedback loop) in the valve member reciprocating direction.
Moreover, there is a problem that, due to the hunting of the valve member, pressure pulses occur, or noise occurs from apparatus and piping that vibrate due to the pressure pulses.


Thickening agents which containing a specific N-acylamino acid (component A) and a specific amideamine (component B) are capable of generating, when used in combination with a wide variety of oily bases including a hydrocarbon oil and silicone, a creamy thickening composition having a practical dissolution temperature and a smooth feeling in use when applied to the skin.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to thickening agents useful for thickening a composition containing an oily base. The present invention also relates to compositions which contain such a thickening agent and an oily base.
2. Discussion of the Background
As a thickening agent or a solidifying agent for an oily base that is not soluble in water, a polyamide resin, 12-hydroxystearic acid, fatty acid dextrin, fatty acid inulin, fatty acid glycerin, dibenzylidene-D-sorbitol, acylamino acid, an acylamino acid amine salt, and the like have heretofore been known in general. However, although these thickening agents or solidifying agents are capable of thickening or solidifying specific oily agents, they are not capable of thickening or solidifying a wide variety of oily agents.
In the case of using an acylamino acid as a solidifying agent (see, JP-A-51-91884), the obtained gel composition is not smooth when applied to the skin and does not provide a good feeling in use.
Also, in the case of using acylalanine among acylamino acids as a thickening agent (see, JP-A-2004-100826), although acylalanine thickens silicone, acylalanine is not always satisfactory since it requires strong stirring during cooling in preparation of a gel oil.
The use of an acylamino acid amine salt as a gelatinizing agent has been known (see, JP-A-51-19139). Although an alkylamine salt is used as the amine salt of acylamino acid, the amine salt is considerably limited in the types of oily agents it can gelatinize, and the capability of the amine salt as a thickening agent is not always satisfactory since it is necessary to reinforce its gelatinizing capability by using waxes such as vaseline, lanoline, beeswax in combination in an amount of several times that of the amine salt in the case of using the amine salt for cosmetics such as a hair-styling agent and a cleansing gel.
Cosmetics containing N-acyl-L-glutamic acid dibutylamide have been reported as a gelatinizing agent (see, JP-A-2002-31697). N-acyl-L-glutamic acid dibutylamide is known to gelatinize various oily agents such as a hydrocarbon oil, an ester oil, and a silicone oil. However, the cosmetics have problems of: a low solubility to ordinary oily agents; a high temperature of about 150° C. is required for dissolving the gelatinizing agents; and they are not smooth when applied to the skin due to a hard and crumbly form of the obtained thickening composition.
Thus, there has been a strong demand for a thickening agent capable of thickening a wide variety of oily bases including a hydrocarbon oil and silicone as well as of generating a thickening composition having a practical dissolution temperature and excellent comfortableness in use.


Systems and methods provide for detection and controlled interaction with one or more objects. The system can include an imaging subsystem (20), a tool subsystem (26) containing one or more tools, a stage subsystem (16) and a control system (40). The control system (40) can integrate controls for each of the other subsystems, which controls can be implement desired functions over a variety of process parameters to perform the controlled interaction.

Systems exist to provide for the automatic selection and harvesting of cells and cell colonies. Such systems involve various levels of automation. Such systems can also utilize current selection algorithms to facilitate the screening and harvesting of clone cells for a wide range of cell types and development of cell lines. While advancements continue to be made in such systems, further automation and improved accuracy is desirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for detection, analysis, isolation and/or harvesting of biological objects


According to one embodiment, a magnetic memory device includes a stacked structure including a magnetic element, a protective insulating film covering the stacked structure, and an interface layer provided at an interface between the stacked structure and the protective insulating film. The interface layer contains a predetermined element which is not contained in the magnetic element or the protective insulating film.

Recently, many kinds of solid-state memories which record data based on new principles have been suggested. In particular, as a solid-state magnetic memory, a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) comprising a magnetoresistive tunneling junction (MTJ) element using the magneto resistance (MR) effect is known. Currently, the MRAM stores the information of 0 or 1 depending on the state of magnetization of the storage layer of an MTJ element.
The MTJ element includes a magnetic storage layer (hereinafter, storage layer) and a magnetic reference layer (hereinafter, reference layer). In the storage layer, data is stored and the magnetization is variable. In the reference layer, the magnetization is fixed and does not move. When the direction of magnetization of the storage layer is parallel to the direction of magnetization of the reference layer, the resistance is low (0 state); when anti-parallel, the resistance is high (1 state). This difference in resistance is used to determine the information.
As a method for writing data to the MTJ element, a current magnetic-field-writing system (hereinafter, magnetic-field writing) by the current magnetic field from a bit line is known. In this system, lines are provided near the MTJ element. By the magnetic field produced by the current flowing through the lines, the magnetization of the storage layer of the MTJ element is inverted. When the MTJ element is made small to miniaturize the MRAM, the magnetic field necessary to invert the storage layer of the MTJ element increases. In sum, the magnetic coercive force Hc is increased. Thus, in the magnetic-field-writing MRAM, a large current magnetic field is required in association with the development of the miniaturization, and the write current is large. As a result, it is difficult to realize both the miniaturization and the low current of the memory cell for the purpose of increasing the capacity.
To solve this problem, a writing system (hereinafter, spin transfer torque writing) using spin-momentum transfer (SMT) is suggested.
In a spin transfer torque writing MRAM, the state of magnetization of the storage layer of the MTJ element is changed (inverted) by vertically passing current into the film surface of each film constituting the MTJ element.
In the magnetization inversion by spin transfer torque, the current Ic necessary for magnetization inversion is defined by the current density Jc. Therefore, if the area of the surface of the MTJ element in which current passes is reduced, the injection current Ic for inverting the magnetization is also decreased. In a case where writing is performed with a constant current density, when the MTJ element is small, the current Ic is also small. Thus, the spin transfer torque writing system is, in principle, scalable. With the spin transfer torque writing system, an MRAM with a large capacity has become possible.
The above-described MTJ element (magnetic element) is covered by a protective insulating film. However, generally, the coefficient of thermal expansion of the material contained in the MTJ element (magnetic element) is greater than the coefficient of thermal expansion of the material contained in the protective insulating film. Therefore, a thermal stress may be applied between the magnetic element and the protective insulating film, and have a negative influence on the characteristic and reliability of the magnetic memory device.
In view of the above factors, an MRAM comprising an MTJ element in which the stress between an MTJ element (magnetic element) and a protective insulating film is reduced is desired.


A method of fabrication wherein a nitride layer is spaced from a conductive substrate by an insulating layer and etching removes at least portions of an insulating layer to leave a nitride membrane spaced from the substrate. The surface of the conductive layer where the insulating layer is removed is chemically roughened and the etchant is removed by freeze-drying and sublimation to eliminate sticking of the nitride layer to the substrate surface during fabrication.

Ultrasonic transducers operating into liquids, solids and gas have found many applications in signal processing devices such as delay lines, resonators, convolvers and correlators, and in systems for medical imaging, non-destructive evaluation, and underwater sensing.
The generation of ultrasound in air is of interest for a variety of applications including robotic distance sensing and imaging, gas flow measurements, in-situ process monitoring and acoustic microscopy. To achieve maximum resolution, it is necessary to operate at the highest possible frequency. This is limited by the attenuation of sound waves in air which is about 1.2 dB/cm at 1 MHz, and increases as the square of the frequency. Of particular interest is operation in the 200 kHz to 10 MHz frequency range.
Conventional techniques to generate sound at these frequencies use a piezoelectric material (typically lead-zirconium-titanate). These piezoelectric materials have an acoustic impedance of approximately 35 MRayls (kg/m.sup.2 s), while air has an impedance of 0.0004 MRayls. Thus, there is an impedance mismatch of 5 orders of magnitude. This results in extremely poor efficiency and bandwidth. In practice, one or more quarter-wave layers of material are used to match the impedance of the piezoelectric material to air. Because of the low bandwidth, prior art transducers are very dependent on the attenuation of the matching layer. Materials for matching layers which have the right acoustic impedance, low attenuation and are easy to work with are not available. Thus, efficient high-frequency ultrasonic air transducers are not available.
Electrostatic transducers have been used for transmitting, emitting and receiving acoustic energy. For example, electrostatic transducers have long been used for audio speakers and capacitance receivers. Large-area electrostatic transducer arrays have been used for acoustic imaging. Electrostatic transducers work on the principle of electrostatic attraction between the plates of a capacitor. The attractive force is proportional to the square of the electric field. As the plates are moved by the application of an electrical signal, they generate sound at that frequency. When sound is received by the transducer, it can be used to generate a corresponding electrical signal.
Electrostatic transducers have also been used for ultrasonic application. Electrostatic ultrasonic sources have typically relied on roughening the surface of a metal plate and bonding a thin metalized dielectric to the plate. The microscopic grooves in the plate act as resonators and determine the frequency response of the transducer. These devices are not easily characterized and their fabrication is more art than science.
There is a need to provide electrostatic transducers which can efficiently generate and receive ultrasound in air over a broad band of frequencies.

Method of fabricating an electrostatic ultrasonic transducer

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A of a method of securely transferring information between execution environments includes: receiving, at a crypto engine, original plaintext from a first execution environment; obtaining a first cryptographic key by the crypto engine, the first cryptographic key being retained in memory such that the first cryptographic key is associated with the first execution environment and a second execution environment that is not the first execution environment; encrypting the original plaintext by the crypto engine using the first cryptographic key to produce encrypted information, and storing the encrypted information in an intermediate storage location; obtaining, at the crypto engine, the encrypted information from the intermediate storage location; decrypting the encrypted information by the crypto engine using the first cryptographic key to produce reconstituted plaintext; and making the reconstituted plaintext available to the second execution environment by the crypto engine.

Distributed computing systems are becoming more prevalent as the demand for processing capacity increases. Various forms of distributed computing systems exist, such as portions of processing capacity of multiple computers being allocated for a common task. Distributed computing systems may comprise different physical processors, portions of different physical processors, multiple operating systems resident on multiple processors, multiple operating systems resident on a single processor, combinations of two or more of any of these, or still other configurations. For example, different sensors, which may or may not include their own processors including processing algorithms, may be used to provide many different types of information, e.g., eye or retina scanning for identification, voice recognition for identification, heartbeat detection, respiration detection, gesture detection, fingerprint recognition, etc.
In many cases of distributed computing systems, it may be desirable or even necessary for different execution environments to communicate securely with each other. While in previous, centralized systems, secure communication was easily managed, providing secure communications in distributed systems, even if those systems are in a single device, is more challenging. One way to provide secure communication is to establish a secure channel between execution environments (i.e., between one or more processors, and/or one or more operating systems, and/or one or more virtual machines, etc., or combinations of any of these). Establishing a secure channel between execution environments traditionally has been cumbersome, using significant design effort, and sometimes key provisioning and secure storage. For example, each execution environment may have a public key and use this key to encrypt information that is then transferred to another execution environment for decryption using a private key. For example, using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) cryptographic protocol, the execution environments exchange certificates (using certificate authorities and a public key infrastructure) to establish a session key. This protocol involves complex key provisioning of many keys to many entities. Alternatively, a shared memory may be established for each pair of execution environments that are to exchange information. This entails dedicating expensive memory resources to each pair, inhibiting scalability, and may also use memory management that is complex and costly. Further, a memory manager may access the information and/or may remove protection on the information.

Secure execution environment communication


A human body attached wing device (20) for use during downhill alpine activities such as skiing and snowboarding. Wing device (20) includes independently operable, mirror image, left and right wings (24) and (26), which may be joined to a user (22) on or about the shoulders via a harness (28) that is worn by user (22). Each of wings (24) and (26) generally include ram-air canopies, (30) and (32), respectively, that inflate during use to form lift-providing airfoils. The surface area of canopy (30) is defined by first and second ends (34) and (36), a leading edge (38), and a trailing edge (40). Canopy (30) may include additional stiffening members to help maintain the shape of wings (24) and (26) when it is either deflated or only partially inflated, or when it is used as an air brake. Canopy (30) may also include flexible triangular struts (110) that stabilize trailing edge (40).

Various human body attached wing devices are known in the prior art. Earlier devices were designed primarily as flying devices, generated enough lift forces for flight rather than just enough to reduce a user's effective weight. Only later were devices designed specifically for sporting activities such as ice-skating, roller-skating, or downhill alpine activities such as skiing and snowboarding.
Typically, prior art devices have been developed primarily as either aerodynamic braking devices or lift wings. Prior art devices often lack functional versatility in that no single prior art device is believed to effectively offer a combined variety of alternate functionality such as being a stabilizing lift wing, acting as an air brake, serving as a steering aid, and providing propulsion assistance on flat terrain.
Prior art devices are often complex and cumbersome to a user. Many prior art devices are not retractable or adjustable during use and do not offer left and right wings that can be manipulated independent of one another. Further, they are often large and require a significant buffer zone around a user during use. Prior art devices are often obtrusive and threatening to others on the mountain slopes and cannot be manipulated to avoid obstacles on the slopes.
To be effective, prior art devices often require a user to assume a particular body position during use that is not consistent with normal skiing or snowboarding. Prior art devices are often attached to a user below the user's center of gravity, e.g., at or around the user's waist, rather than above their center of gravity, e.g., adjacent a user's shoulders. As a result, prior art devices typically do not assist a user to remain upright during alpine skiing or snowboarding activities.
Prior art devices that are worn by a user rather than those that are attached to user via a tether, e.g., snow kiting or paragliding, fail to include effective airfoils such as ram-air canopies and fail to provide wings that are lightweight, portable, easily attached or detached, and conducive for repeated use. In addition, prior art devices fail to include improved ram-air canopies having stiffening members to better maintain wing shape.


An ejector for providing motive gas for conveying particulate solids from a solids supply vessel through a conveying pipeline includes a gas introduction stage and a solids introduction stage. The gas introduction stage includes a fluids mixing chamber having a principal inlet port for connecting to a source of high-pressure compressed gas, an outlet port connected to the solids introduction stage, and a secondary inlet port that is open to the atmosphere or other low-pressure gas source. The solids introduction stage includes a fluids/solids mixing chamber having an inlet port connected to the gas introduction stage, an outlet port for connecting to a pipeline, and a material receiving port for connecting to a vessel outlet. As the compressed gas enters the gas introduction stage, the high velocity gas induces atmospheric air or other low-pressure gas from the secondary inlet port, thus increasing the mass flow into the solids introduction stage.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic system for conveying particulate materials and more particularly to pneumatic conveying ejectors for introducing a flow of pressurized motive gas that provides energy for conveying the particulate solids.
Typically, particulate material that is stored in a hopper or silo or is exiting a manufacturing process is gravity fed into a solids supply vessel or rotary valve airlock and then conveyed through a pipeline to a remote collection site. The pipeline, which is connected to the material outlet at the bottom of the solids supply vessel or rotary valve airlock, is pressurized to within a desired pressure range that provides a pressure differential between the solids supply vessel or rotary valve airlock and the remote collection site suitable to achieve a desired material flow in the pipeline. An ejector may, under certain conditions, replace the solids supply vessel or rotary valve to supply compressed gas (e.g., air) into the pipeline to move the particulate material through the pipeline as it is delivered from the granular solids source.
In certain environments, particulate material is conveyed using a supply of compressed gas having a gauge pressure of 15 psig or less. This low pressure gas is supplied by a suitable low-pressure compressor. Alternately, rather than using a dedicated low-pressure compressor, the plant's high-pressure (e.g., 80-120 psig) compressed gas source may be used to power the conveying ejector. The high-pressure supply is regulated to a lower pressure before delivery to the ejector.

Bulk material conveying system and ejector therefor


The present application generally relates to a method and apparatus for object detection in a location obscured from a camera field of view in a motor vehicle. In particular, the system is operative to illuminate a FOV from a low angle using a light source, capture an image of the FOV from a high angle and to detect a shadow within the image indicative of an object being illuminated by the light source.

The present disclosure relates generally to cameras, and more particularly, includes cameras used on vehicles. More specifically, aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods and devices for overcoming camera blind zones by utilizing a light emitting diode (LED) to project light from the vehicle and illuminate objects within a camera blind zone and detecting the resultant shadows within the camera field of view (FOV).
As autonomous vehicle, or automated driving assist features on vehicles, become more ubiquitous, detecting objects around a vehicle will become increasingly necessary to ensure proper control and handling of the vehicle. Digital cameras employed by vehicular systems receive light through a lens and may convert the incoming light rays to an electronic signal for display, evaluation or storage of the images defined by the light rays. As these cameras are more increasingly flush mounted with the vehicle body surface or located behind vehicle glass, the FOV of these cameras may become obstructed by other parts of the vehicle. Increasing the number of cameras and corresponding processing circuitry may be prohibitively expensive to overcome this issue.
For example, cameras for autonomous vehicle or automated driving assist systems ideally are mounted at a high point on the vehicle, such as behind the rear view mirror to enable a better view of the area surrounding the vehicle. However, these high points on the vehicle tend to result in obstructed views of the road surface immediately surrounding the vehicle It would be desirable to overcome these problems in order to reduce camera blind zones for a vehicular camera.
The above information disclosed in this background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method and apparatus for object detection in camera blind zones


There is provided a fluorine-containing polymer solid electrolyte which has an excellent ion-conducting property, is high in oxidation resistance, is stable electrochemically and thermally, has sufficient strength and is applicable to various electrochemical devices. The electrolyte comprises (A) a non-crystalline fluorine-containing polymer having, in a trunk chain and/or side chain of the polymer molecule, a structural unit D having five or more chained units derived from a fluorine-containing ether, (B) an electrolytic compound and (C) a solvent, and has an ionic conductivity of from 10−10 to 101 S/cm measured at 25° C. by an alternating current complex impedance method. The electrolyte is useful for various electrochemical devices.

The present invention relates to a fluorine-containing polymer solid electrolyte which comprises a non-crystalline fluorine-containing polymer having, in its trunk chain and/or side chain, structural units derived from a specific fluorine-containing ether, an electrolytic compound and as case demands, a solvent
The fluorine-containing polymer solid electrolyte is useful as an electrolyte for electrochemical devices, particularly various batteries, capacitors, solid display devices and sensors.
So far ion conductors in the form of solution or paste have been used as an electrolyte for electrochemical devices such as batteries, capacitors and sensors from the viewpoint of good ion-conducting property. However electrolytes of such forms have problems with safety such as damage of devices due to leakage of solution and occurrence of fire. Also since there arises scattering of solution at a sealing part of a housing case of a device, a high technique for sealing is required, and further a separator for impregnation of an electrolytic solution is necessary. It is therefore pointed out that there is a limit in downsizing of devices and making devices thin.
On the other hand, there are proposed solid electrolytes of inorganic crystalline substances, inorganic glass, organic polymeric substances and the like. Represented examples of an inorganic material are ceramics such as β-Al2O3. However since those ceramics exhibit ion-conducting property only at high temperatures of not less than 300° C., they cannot be applied to batteries used at ordinary temperature, and applications thereof are limited. Also ceramics are very fragile and have disadvantages that breaking occurs when assembling or using devices and molding thereof is difficult, and therefore ceramics are not practicable.
Organic polymeric substances are generally excellent in processability and moldability, and obtained solid electrolytes have flexibility and processability in bending. Therefore a degree of freedom in device design is increased, and development thereof is expected. At present, there is available a complex of polyethylene oxide (PEO) and inorganic salt as a represented organic solid polymer having ion-conducting property, which however, has low ion-conducting property when an electrolytic solution is not contained therein, and is not practicable. Therefore an amorphous polypropylene oxide (PPO) and a PEO derivative having an oligoethylene oxide chain in its side chain are studied, but ion-conducting property thereof is still insufficient (for example, JP8-113496A, JP8-173435A, JP8-183186A, etc.).
Also there is a trial of enhancing ion-conducting property by adding, to a PEO/inorganic salt complex, a proper amount of plasticizer such as an organic solvent. However since the mixture has flowability and cannot maintain a solid state, there are disadvantages that assembling work of device becomes difficult, fire arises more easily and strength is low.
Heretofore polymers having anionic functional group such as —SO3— or —COO— at an end of a side chain thereof have been primarily studied as an ion-conducting material of fluorine-containing polymeric substance. Those fluorine-containing polymers act as a polymer anion and functions as a single ion conductor for conduction of a cation only. Therefore application thereof is limited and applications mainly for an electrolyte for fuel cells and for ion exchange membrane have been studied (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,875, Journal of Power Sources, No. 29, p. 399 (1990), Journal of Electro-chemical Society, No. 135, p. 2209 (1988), etc.).
With respect to an ion-conducting material which is prepared from a fluorine-containing polymeric substance having no ionic functional group, a compound comprising polyvinylidene fluoride and electrolytic solution and a compound comprising a polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropene copolymer and electrolytic solution have been widely studied as a gel electrolyte for lithium battery (for example, Polymer Bulletin, Vol. 7, pp. 271-275 (1982), U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,318, etc.). A polymer battery comprising polyvinylidene fluoride and an electrolytic solution is electrochemically stable and has a characteristic that the polymer itself is difficult to burn since fluorine atom is contained therein, but has a disadvantage that when temperature is raised, the electrolytic solution bleeds out from the polymer. For the purpose to improve a property of holding an electrolytic solution, a polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropene copolymer is used, but since the polymer itself has no ion-conducting property, it cannot be used as a solid electrolyte, and also a large amount of electrolytic solution need be contained in order to obtain sufficient ion-conducting property as a gel electrolyte. As a result, there remain problems with safety such as damage of devices due to leakage of solution and occurrence of fire, and a high technique for sealing is required to prevent scattering of solution at a sealing part of a housing case of a device.
On the other hand, a PPO derivative obtained by converting methyl group of PPO to trifluoromethyl group has been studied mainly as an electrolyte for lithium battery (for example, JP6-103764A, JP8-217872A, JP8-222270A, JP9-48832A, etc.). However there are disadvantages that when an electrolytic solution is not contained, ion-conducting property is low, oxidation resistance and heat resistance are not sufficient and a mechanical strength is low as well as a disadvantage that when crosslinking with an acrylic crosslinking agent, electrochemical stability is not good.
The object of the present invention is to provide a solid electrolyte which has high ion-conducting property, has electrochemical and thermal stability and is safe. Another object of the present invention is to provide a fluorine-containing polymer solid electrolyte which is capable of making thin, small and light-weight electrochemical devices such as battery, capacitor and electro-chromic device.

Solid electrolyte comprising fluorine-containing polymer having fluorine-containing ether chains


An image forming apparatus having a refeeding unit for temporarily containing image-formed sheets as a horizontal pile and for refeeding the sheets for the second image forming operation. The refeeding unit can be pulled out from a body frame in the direction perpendicular to a sheet transporting direction. A setting position of the refeeding unit in the body frame can be adjusted to be parallel with the sheet transporting direction. The refeeding unit has an intermediate tray on which the sheets are piled, a refeeding roller which feeds the sheets piled on the intermediate tray from the most bottom sheet successively one by one, a sheet front end aligning member, a sheet rear end aligning member, a sheet side aligning member and a sheet pressing plate which, every time a sheet is transported to the intermediate tray and every time a sheet is refed from the intermediate tray, presses the sheet toward the refeeding roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a laser printer.
2. Description of Related Art
In the art of electrophotographic copying apparatus, an electrophotographic copying apparatus which comprises a refeeding unit to feed the same sheet twice for duplex copying (images are formed on both sides of a sheet) and a composite copying (images are formed overlaid on one side of a sheet) is provided. This type of refeeding unit is mainly composed of an intermediate tray for containing a sheet temporarily and a refeeding roller and so on. Also, the refeeding unit has to be adjusted such that a refed sheet comes in transporting standard position at a sheet transporting way of the copying apparatus.
Conventionally, a refeeding unit frame which houses the intermediate tray is fixed to a body frame of the copying apparatus at a specified position, and the sheet transporting standard position of the refeeding unit is adjusted by turning a position of a widthwise sheet aligning plate which is provided at the intermediate tray. However, in this structure, the refeeding unit has to be pulled out from the body of the copying apparatus for adjusting the sheet transporting standard position, and that shows a poor working efficiency.
In the duplex copying, sheets which have obtained an image on one side are contained on the intermediate tray one by one, and then refed. Generally, the sheets which are piled up on the intermediate tray are refed from the most bottom sheet. This is called a "bottom sheet refeeding".
In the bottom sheet refeeding, the sheets on the intermediate tray have to be aligned accurately. Otherwise, while refeeding, one or more sheets are drawn by the most bottom sheet and refed together, or the sheets on the intermediate tray can not be fed from the most bottom sheet in correct order, which may cause a sheet jam.
Since the transporting way become longer, a sheet may be transported to the intermediate tray askew or may be put on the intermediate tray out of position. Also, the sheet transported to the intermediate tray is heated while going through a fixing device and curled. Thus, the sheets piled up on the intermediate tray are not aligned enough to be refed. Therefore, particularly in a high-speed copying apparatus, above-mentioned malfunctions while refeeding are apt to occur.
Also in the bottom sheet refeeding, the sheet is refed by a frictional force between the refeeding roller and the most bottom sheet. Therefore, when the number of sheets on the refeeding roller is small, enough frictional force for refeeding can not be obtained. In this case, the sheets are pressed by a sheet pressing member made of a metal plate from above. Thereby, a pressure is given between the refeeding roller and the sheet, and a necessary frictional force is generated. On the other hand, when a sheet is coming onto the intermediate tray, the sheet pressing member which is provided above the intermediate tray have to retreat in order to make the sheet transporting way. For this purpose, the sheet pressing member is movable between a retreating position and a pressing position.
In a conventional refeeding unit, the sheet pressing member is movable between a retreating position and a pressing position. However, since the moving distance of the sheet pressing member is large, the sheet pressing is carried out with a significant delay. In addition, noise is made when the sheet pressing member comes down and beats the sheet. Moreover, while refeeding, if the sheet pressing member keeps staying at the pressing position, the sheets piled up on the intermediate tray are drawn to the refeeding direction by the frictional force between the fed sheet and the sheets piled up, and a loop may be formed at a front end of the sheet in the refeeding direction. This loop has to be eliminated for a smooth refeeding.
Also in the bottom sheet refeeding, the weight of the sheets is applied to the most bottom sheet. Therefore, when the most bottom sheet is refed, a pick up pressure and a frictional force between the sheets are changed according to the number of piled sheets. Thus, while refeeding, two or more sheets may be refed together, or the sheets on the intermediate tray may not be able to refed from the most bottom sheet in correct order, which may cause a sheet jam.
Further, while a copying operation, since the sheets are transported to the intermediate tray successively, the jam which occurred on the intermediate tray can not be found easily. Thus, in the conventional copying apparatus, a photosensor is provided at the transporting way near the transporting roller which sends the sheet to the intermediate tray, in order to detect the jam at the transporting way. However, in this method for detecting the jam at the transporting way near the transporting roller, it is impossible to detect a jam on the intermediate tray. When a jam occurred on the intermediate tray, a sheet which is transported after the jammed sheet is interrupted and jammed at the transporting way. In this method, the jam on the intermediate tray can be detected indirectly by detecting a jam of a sheet which is transported after the above-mentioned jammed sheet at the transporting way. Therefore, when the copying apparatus is stopped upon the jam detection, a plural number of sheets are stuck on the intermediate tray. That may damage parts around the intermediate tray or make the removal of jammed sheets difficult.

Image forming apparatus including a sheet refeeding unit