The present invention is a hygienic toothbrush with cover, which utilizes a uniquely designed novel brush cover to keep the brush head bristles free of harmful particles and contaminants when not in use. The unique cover design allows for bristles to dry through utilization of finely woven mesh/screen-like side panels which allows the largest surface area of the brush head bristles to be exposed to the maximal amount of airflow without risk of contamination. The desired effect of faster drying reduces the ability of bacterial agents to grow on the brush bristles. The unique feature of the cover always remaining fastened to the brush handle helps prevent the contamination of the cover which happens when it is set upon a contaminated surface, and also accomplishes the desired goal of encouraging consistent use. When the toothbrush is being used, the cover is conveniently stored within the handle in a storage compartment, always remaining with the toothbrush.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to devices used for Hygienic Protection of a toothbrush, more specifically to a toothbrush utilizing a cover to achieve such hygienic effect, for the primary purpose of protection against airborne contaminants, as well as harmful bacterial and viral agents.
2. Description of Prior Art
Toothbrushes have been used for many years to clean ones teeth. Only in the more recent past has the importance of a sanitary brush become well known. Toothbrushes are often stored in the bathroom and a Bathroom can be a very unclean place. Even if it appears to be clean on the surface airborne contaminants, viral agents, and bacterial agents abound and thrive under such conditions. These same airborne contaminants (ie. Fecal material from a flushed toilet), bacterial and Viral agents are the cause of Illness and Disease. There is a need for a hygienic toothbrush that is economical, easily used and effective in prevention of bacterial and viral contamination.
More recently Hygienic Toothbrushes or related devices have been developed and used to clean, or keep toothbrushes clean and sanitized, yet none of these prior art inventions has been able to achieve any significant degree of commercial success due to one or more of the inherent problems/flaws discussed more thoroughly below.
It has been found that many of the prior art inventions are simply inadequate in preventing contamination of the toothbrush. Many are inadequate in preventing bacterial growth on the bristle head due to poor ventilation (poor airflow) allowing bacterial growth on the brush head. Worse yet, Some Prior art inventions don't ventilate their covers at all, allowing bacteria growth to flourish. Bacterial growth is aided by warm moist conditions. In addition, many prior art inventions simply take up too much space; they are "space-inefficient". In a bathroom, or elsewhere, space is a limited commodity, especially countertop space.
Much of the prior art is complex and/or expensive to manufacture, this expense of course is being passed on to the consumer, and preventing mainstream acceptance. In addition to this, many are complex enough to use to become a hassle to the user, thereby preventing mainstream acceptance. In general, an easy to use product will gain acceptance faster than a complex one, especially when dealing with an everyday, mundane task of brushing ones teeth. Furthermore, many of the prior art inventions are too unconventional, and depart too much from the mainstream toothbrush that the brushing public has come to know and become comfortable with. In short, they are too far off the mainstream to gain public acceptance.
Please consider the following prior art inventions in light of the preceding discussion:
Much of the prior art can be recognized as disinfecting containers/storage holders for one or more toothbrush(s). As a group they are bulky, that is they take up unnecessary countertop and or wall space, and as mentioned space is a limited commodity. Such disinfecting containers create countertop clutter. Additionally, many of them are designed such that the brush head is to soak in a sterilizing liquid. Soaking the bristles makes them less stiff, and diminishes their ability to clean as well as a dry, stiffer bristle does. In addition to this many of the prior art inventions in this grouping are complex and expensive. Most of them also have poor ventilation, which inhibits the drying of the brush, making it an easier place for bacterial contaminants to flourish (Bacteria thrive in warm moist conditions, and the longer the toothbrush remains moist when exposed to air the more chance that bacteria will colonize in such a place.) They are also not easily transportable if the user is traveling. Additionally, they are often messy to maintain, especially if utilizing a liquid disinfectant. The following prior art inventions share one or more of the above shortcomings.U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,629 to Marchand, et al (1991) is a canister which utilizes a sterilizing liquid for storage and sterilization of the container.U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,460 to Foster et al, (1991) Is a toothbrush sanitizing container utilizing ultraviolet lights to sterilize the toothbrush, is large and bulky, very complex, and expensive.U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,813 to Gipson (2000), is an expensive and complex toothbrush holder and sanitizer.U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,613 to Gipson (1999) features a toothbrush sterilizing container, where the toothbrush is immersed in disinfecting liquid—this softens the bristles (making them not as effective; it also is bulky, expensive and messy.U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,987 to Palazzalo (1992) features a container utilizing a liquid disinfectant for the brush to soak in. This is messy, takes up additional space, and softens the bristles from soaking.U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,742 to Piedmont (1994) utilizes a mounting plate that dispenses plastic covers. The user must screw the mounting plate into the wall thereby damaging the wall. Additionally, this prior art invention also uses Plastic bags, which have questionable ventilation, are messy, and have to be replaced at the expense and inconvenience of the user.U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,487 to Ritter (1989) is a sterilizing container utilizing UV lights to sterilize the toothbrush head. The invention is unnecessarily complex, and expensive.U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,859 to Evans (1989) is a toothbrush storage and dryer system that uses light bulbs to dry the bristles. The invention is bulky, and costly to maintain.U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,521 to Borgue (1992) is a container that uses UV light to sterilize. Like Ritter (U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,487) the invention is bulky, and costly to maintain.U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,572 to Chu (1992)Is another a container that uses UV light to sterilize, and has the same shortcomings as Ritter (U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,487)U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,238 to Torruella (1983) is Bulky, and not economically manufactured.U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,648 to Dusabek (1989) Uses Heat to disinfect and is expensive complex and BulkyU.S. Pat. No. 5,086,916 to Gray (1992) features a Toothbrush Sterilization unit and mounting bracket—it is not easily transportable and is, Bulky, expensive, messy, and Complex.U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,301 to Foley (1996) features a carrying case/container that is bulky and poorly ventilated.U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,556 to Wilkinson (1991) Is a Toothbrush Traveling case that is Large and Bulky, and won't fit within a conventional toothbrush holder. This prior art invention also exhibits poor ventilation.U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,521 to McNamee (1998) Features a sanitary brush cover system that is really a container. The invention groups multiple brushes together allowing for transmission of bacterial and viral agents. It is also large and Bulky.U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,559 to Sanders (2001) is a sterilization storage unit, which utilizes a hot air drying system and microbial spray. This is expensive, unnecessarily complex, and expensive to maintain (battery operated) It is also bulky.U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,854 to Prentice (2000) is a sanitary toothbrush storage unit with a liquid filled reservoir. It is bulky, messy, and has the effect of softening the bristles through soaking them in disinfectant, thereby diminishing the effectiveness of the bristles in cleaning between teeth.U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,657 to Winston (1980) is a toothbrush holder and sterilizer that has the same problems as with others, in that the toothbrush bristles stay wet reducing their stiffness, and thereby reducing their effectiveness. Winston's Invention is two pieces, messy, requires maintenance (changing of sterilization fluid on regular basis), and is bulky.U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,087 to Pandak (1980) is a combination toothbrush holder/carrier, which sits on countertop, and has the same aforementioned shortcomings as the othersU.S. Pat. No. 4,585,119 to Boyinaton (1986) is another prior art invention that uses a Liquid sanitizing agent and has all of the shortcomings of Winston (U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,657)Let it be known that after an exhaustive search of the available prior art I Have Not found any Single-piece Hygienic Toothbrush with cover that is permanently fastened. All prior art utilizes a cover system in which the cover separates from the main toothbrush unit—thereby encountering problems such as increased contamination when the cover piece must be set on the contaminated countertop, or inconveniently held during the entire brushing period.
All of the following prior art has a cover unit that is a separate piece than the toothbrush itself, and is not permanently attached in any fashion. All of the following Prior art has the problem of temporary storage of the bristle cover while brushing is taking place (My hygienic toothbrush with cover solves this problem). It is a problem because the cover is otherwise placed on the countertop or like surface, and contaminated with harmful bacteria. Additionally, if the bristle cover is not permanently fastened to the toothbrush it may easily be lost rendering it useless to the owner. A bristle cover that is always conveniently and unobtrusively stored with the brush is more likely to be used, and therefore more effective. Furthermore, the prior art inventions within this category all have relatively poor ventilation of the covering mechanism, making it easier for harmful bacteria to flourish.
Please consider the following prior art in light of the immediately preceding discussion. All of the following utilize a cover that is completely separable from the Toothbrush itself, none of them are permanently fastened to the toothbrush structure, as is the present invention. Other shortcomings of the prior art are as discussed.
U.S. Pat. No. D343296 to Schneider (1994) is a large bulky cover where the ventilation slots at the top of the cover allow airborne contaminants to settle through ventilation slots onto the bristles/brush head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,920 to Walther (1983) has poor ventilation.
U.S. Pat. D351286 Tapocik (1994) is a toothbrush Cover with poor ventilation, and is bulky.
U.S. Pat. D351286 to Tiramani, Et al (1992) is large and bulky, and won't fit in most toothbrush holders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,386 to Nelson (1991) has a poor ventilation system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,750 to Clark (1981) features a separate Toothbrush cover with poor ventilation and a bulky handle, which won't fit in conventional toothbrush holders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,567 to Wenum (1999) features a re-useable storage cap that is not fastened to the toothbrush, and that has no internal storage compartment to store the cap during brushing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,813 to Lorenzana, Et al (1989) exhibits a protective cover for a toothbrush having poor/inadequate ventilation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,039 to Picard (1991) also exhibits a poorly ventilated cover for toothbrush Bristles that are not permanently fastened to the brush structure itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,144 to Andrews (1991) features frictionally engaging sides gripping the bristle head to form temporary attachment. The attachment to the brush structure is in no way permanent, and can easily be lost or contaminated since it is not attached permanently. When lost the cover is of course useless to it's would be user.Additionally, there is no top piece to the cover. The bristle cover is ventilated through the top most portion, which allows free floating airborne contaminants to settle on and contaminate the bristles. My hygienic toothbrush with cover covers the topmost portion, and ventilation is on the sides of the cover, where particles are less likely to settle, and where the most surface area is.U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,046 to Plakos (1998) uses a decorative toothbrush guard featuring a hinged cover, which is not permanently attached. It has inadequate ventilation, is bulky, and suffers from the same shortcoming as the other previously mentioned art.U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,801 to Vermooten (1999) Features a complex toothbrush accessory/enclosure that uses a sanitizing tablet, which turns gaseous to sterilize the brush head. Utilization is expensive and inconvenient for the user.U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,433 to Villanueva (1983),U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,203 to Marro (2000),U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,090 to Pillar Et al (2000), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,532 to Catanzaro (2000) all utilize a separable cover piece, that is not permanently attached in any fashion to the toothbrush structure resulting in the aforementioned problems. Other shortcomings mentioned in previous prior art discussion are readily apparent with these prior art inventions as well.U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,601 to King (-1999) features a two Piece Toothbrush, similar to separated Cover/Cap above Prior art. The same problems as in the immediately preceding prior art exist here (ie. Contamination by placing on countertop, Loss of cover due to not being permanently attached, etc.). Additionally, the adjoining pieces used to form the toothbrush are meant to be able to be deconstructed, and can easily come apart during brushing resulting in injury.U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,142 to Simon (1992) features a disposable Toothbrush Cover for a toothbrush bristle head. The Simon invention has limited ventilation resulting in increased risk of bacteria growth on the bristle head. Furthermore, disposability means constant replacement and expense, this is an inconvenience to the user both economically, as well as physically. Also, the would be user is not protected when it runs out of the disposable item. It is expensive and, prone to countertop contamination when the user temporarily places the cover on the countertop. Additionally, the dispensing mechanism is bulky, and unsightly/unattractive.Similar to the above mentioned prior art "self-contained" toothbrushes utilizing a cover system U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,940 to Embry et al; (1998) utilizes a telescoping cover for toothbrush. This invention like the above prior art has a separate cover and the resulting shortcomings apply to this prior art invention as mention in the preceding discussion relation to toothbrush covers that were not permanently fastened to the brush structure.Additionally, Embry invention suffers from poor ventilation, it is unnecessarily bulky, and is unnecessarily complex and expensive.U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,920 to Pearlman, Et al (2004) like Embry (U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,940) features a telescoping "self-contained" toothbrush. It has the same problems and additionally has poor ventilation. It furthermore, has a necessarily wide base so can receive the telescoping components preventing it from fitting into conventional toothbrush holders. Additionally, the wide base also makes it uncomfortable to hold.The stability of the brush, when in use, is also compromised due to telescoping feature.
Much of the remaining relevant prior art can be categorized as Collapsible Toothbrushes or Foldable Toothbrushes. All Such prior art inventions to date inherently have the following problems that they all share:
They are less sturdy than single piece construction toothbrushes, and they can easily lead to injury. Brushing is often a vigorous exercise. Any compromise in sturdiness, or resulting wobbliness may easily lead to injury of the user. If the hinged mechanism comes apart during use, or even wobbles a little this can result in gum, tooth, and/or mouth injury. Additionally, because all of the prior art folding and collapsible toothbrushes fold or collapse into themselves they are as a result more bulky, and won't fit in a conventional toothbrush holder when folded/collapsed.Furthermore, the folding/collapsible toothbrush prior art all have poor/inadequate air ventilation for the bristle head since the head of the brush disappears into a solid handle lacking ventilation completely, or at best is poorly ventilated. This of course facilitates the previously discussed problems of Bacterial and Viral contamination and growth. Finally, many are prohibitively expensive to the consumer.
Please consider the following relevant prior art in light of the immediately preceding discussion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,809 to Pelletier (1989) exhibits a telescoping feature to collapse and extend the handle of the brush. This Telescoping feature is not as sturdy as a one piece, single construction/non-collapsible brush. Also the telescoping construction is more expensive and difficult to manufacture, has a wide base, which is uncomfortable to the user, and won't fit in a conventional toothbrush holder. Finally, the cover piece is removable, which results in the same problems associated with separable cover prior art previously discussed. The Pelletier prior art invention also exhibits poor ventilation.U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,810 to Jacobson (2003) features a folding toothbrush that is hinged in the middle, which decreases its overall stability. Brushing is often a vigorous exercise. Any compromise in sturdiness/wobbliness may easily result in injury to the user.Here, the cover piece is clumsily attached to handle, making the handle difficult to effectively use. Also, as a result of the width when in folded position it cannot be stored in a conventional toothbrush holder.Finally, there also appears to be no or inadequate ventilation.U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,333 to Mathews (1995) showcases another foldable toothbrushMathews exhibits all of the above-mentioned problems in U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,810 to Jacobson (2003) as well, as having the shortcomings of being expensive, complicated and messy to refill. Finally, the cover is not attached, and is awkwardly positioned.U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,298 to Mayne (1998) features a Tri-fold multi purpose brush, which has the same problems and shortcoming discussed for foldable/collapsible toothbrushes.U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,107 to Nian (1995) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,294 to Chee (1995) have the same shortcomings and problems as discussed above in the discussion on Collapsible toothbrushes and foldable toothbrush prior art.Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,923 to Schultheiss (1988) features a permanently attached cover system not compatible with a toothbrush. The Schultheiss invention is a dental instrument that has a cover/cap that is permanently attached towards the top of the dental instrument. The Cover does not completely recess into the handle of the toothbrush; Furthermore this design could not be effectively used with a toothbrush because the cover would be in such a position that it would be injurious to the toothbrush user, when brushing their teeth, could cut their gums etc. The cap/cover is permanently positioned in such a way that if used, as a toothbrush it would be in the user's mouth!Another shortcoming of Schultheiss is poor/inadequate air ventilation.
The fact that Hygienic Toothbrush's utilizing cover systems are not in widespread use suggests that barriers exist to their acceptance/commercial production. This is because there are no products on the market that meet the main consumer criteria of inexpensiveness, effective, easy to store, easy to use, and are not a radical departure from the look and feel from the toothbrush that they have become comfortable with. Additionally, many prior art inventions in this category have failed to reach market, or have failed to gain commercial/consumer acceptance because of cost, difficulty of operation of the device, or difficulty to manufacture.
The Present inventor recognizes the need for a Hygienic Toothbrush with cover that addresses the aforementioned problems and disadvantages of the prior art. The present inventor also recognizes the importance of addressing these needs in a simple and low cost manor. My Hygienic Toothbrush with Cover achieves these goals, and others, while improving on all prior art. This becomes clear in the following section(s) of this application.


A heat-sensitive mimeograph stencil having a uniform shape of openings, which have an excellent balance of retention and permeation of printing ink is disclosed.. The heat-sensitive mimeograph stencil includes a polyester film and a porous support made of polyester fibers, which is laminated on the polyester film, wherein the porous support constitutes a network having fused points formed by fusion of the fibers, and that membranes spanning the fibers are formed at some of the fused points, the membranes having thicknesses smaller than average diameter of the fibers. By virtue of this structure, the printed matter obtained by mimeographing using the stencil has high quality and is free from backside transcription. Further, the mimeograph stencil is excellent in ease of transportation.

Heat-sensitive mimeograph stencils (hereinafter referred to as "stencils" for short) are known which comprise a thermoplastic film such as acrylonitrile-based film, polyester film, vinylidene chloride film or the like and a porous support such as a tissue paper, a non-woven fabric or a woven fabric, that is made of natural fibers, chemical fibers, synthetic fibers or mixtures thereof, the porous support being adhered to the above-mentioned thermoplastic film (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) Nos. 51-2512, 51-2513 and 57-182495).
However, these conventional stencils have the following drawbacks.
(1) Since the film and the porous support are adhered by using an adhesive, the permeation of ink is hindered by the adhesive, so that clarity of image is low. PA1 (2) As for the adhesive used, for example, acrylic resin-based adhesives and vinyl acetate resin-based adhesives are likely to be softened, swelled and dissolved by printing ink, so that resistance to ink is poor. In case of using a thermosetting adhesive, since non-cured materials are likely to be left over, the stencil is likely to be fused with the thermal head during mimeographing. In the case of using a chlorine-based adhesive, toxic chlorine gas is liberated by heating the thermal head. PA1 (3) Further, in cases where an adhesive is used, an adhering step is necessary in the production process of the stencils, and equipment for recovering a solvent is required because a solvent is used when applying the adhesive. Thus, the cost of the production process is high. PA1 (4) Troubles such as breakage of the film and formation of wrinkles are likely to occur during the adhering step, so that the yield is low. PA1 (5) The adhesive and the solvent make the environment of workers bad. Use of adhesive and solvent is also not preferred in view of protection of the environment of the earth.
To improve these drawbacks, it has been proposed to make the amount of the adhesive used as small as possible (e.g., Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) Nos. 58-147396 and 4-232790). However, the above-mentioned drawbacks have not yet been overcome completely.
As a method in which an adhesive is not used, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 4-212891 proposes to form a heat-sensitive mimeograph stencil comprising a thermoplastic resin film and synthetic fibers scattered on one surface of the thermoplastic film, which are bonded to the film by thermocompression bonding. However, with this method, since synthetic fibers having lengths of not more than 50 mm are scattered by blowing wind or by electrostatic force, the fibers are not uniformly scattered, so that permeation of ink is irregular and clarity of image is insufficient. Further, since the adhesion between the resin film and the fiber layer is not necessarily sufficient, wrinkles and breakage are likely to occur during transportation of the film. It has been proposed to blend binder fibers in the fiber layer, or to apply a small amount of a viscose material to the film surface in order to attain complete adhesion. However, if binder fibers or a viscose material are used, permeation of ink is hindered and so clarity of the image is deteriorated. To overcome the drawbacks, it is desired to provide a heat-sensitive mimeograph stencil which does not utilize an adhesive, viscose material or a binder at all.
To promote clarity of image, it is desired that no fiber constituting the support exists at the region at which a hole is formed in order not to hinder permeation of ink. Therefore, it has been proposed to make the amount of the fibers constituting the porous support as small as possible, or to make the thickness of the fibers as small as possible (e.g., Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 59-16793). However, if the amount the thickness of the fibers is made small, the strength of the support is decreased, so that ease of transportation of the film is deteriorated. Further, since it is difficult to uniformly disperse the fibers, the basis weight and thickness of the support are irregular, so that permeation of ink is also irregular. As a result, clarity of image is deteriorated. In addition, when printed sheets are stacked, the image is transcribed to the backside of a sheet thereon.
To promote clarity of image and printing resistance, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 2-107488 proposes a heat-sensitive mimeograph stencil comprising a thermoplastic resin film and a non-woven fabric made of synthetic fibers consisting of continuous filaments. However, the balance of retention and permeation of ink is not sufficient.


System and methods for storing electronic data is provided, where the system comprises a storage manager component and a management module associated with the storage manager component. The management module is configured to receive information related to storage activities associated with one or more storage operation components within the storage operation system under the direction of the storage manager component. The management module is adapted to predict storage operation resource allocations based on the received information related to the storage activities.

The invention disclosed herein relates generally to performing storage operations on electronic data in a computer network. More particularly, the present invention relates to managing the allocation of resources in a storage operation system.
Current storage management systems employ a number of different methods to perform storage operations on electronic data. For example, data can be stored in primary storage as a primary copy or in secondary storage as various types of secondary copies including, as a backup copy, a snapshot copy, a hierarchical storage management copy ("HSM"), as an archive copy, and as other types of copies.
A primary, copy of data is generally a production copy or other "live" version of the data which is used by a software application and is generally in the native format of that application. Primary copy data may be maintained in a local memory or other high-speed storage device that allows for relatively fast data access if necessary. Such primary copy data is typically intended for short term retention (e.g., several hours or days) before some or all of the data is stored as one or more secondary copies, for example to prevent loss of data in the event a problem occurred with the data stored in primary storage.
Secondary copies include point-in-time data and are typically intended for long-term retention (e.g., weeks, months or years depending on retention criteria, for example as specified in a storage policy as further described herein) before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or discarded. Secondary copies may be indexed so users can browse and restore the data at another point in time. After certain primary copy data is backed up, a pointer or other location indicia such as a stub may be placed in the primary copy to indicate the current location of that data.
Based on the many storage operations that may be performed on primary, secondary, or other types of storage data, information associated with these storage operations may exists. For example, administrative users or managers of a storage operation system may wish to leverage such storage operation information to a better understanding of system operation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for allocation of organizational resources


The invention relates to a method and a device for power management of an electrical drive for a hybrid vehicle, wherein the method comprises the following steps: detecting (S1) an adjustable power requirement for the electrical drive device and an available electrical battery capacity of the electrical energy store by means of a detecting unit (21); comparing (S2) the detected adjustable power requirement to the detected available electrical battery capacity by means of a control unit (22); and deactivating (S3) at least one of the electrical consumers in dependence on criteria specified by the control unit for one or a plurality of specified time intervals by the control unit (22), if the comparison results in a lower available electrical battery capacity than the adjustable power requirement.

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for power management of an electric drive for a hybrid vehicle.
US 2005 0137764 A1 describes an energy management system for controlling an electrical system. The energy management system comprises data detection components, such as sensors, for example, for providing quantified variables for forming an instantaneous state vector. A time series predictor generates an estimated future vector value in response to the instantaneous state vector. An electrical system manager comprises predetermined decision rules which are called up in response to the estimated future vector value in order to match the electrical system to expected electrical conditions.
The energy management system described therein further comprises an independent energy manager unit in the form of a microcontroller and a driver/switching module. The independent energy manager unit in this case controls power inputs of a multiplicity of energy sources, including an electrochemical battery and an electric generator.
US 2003 0200017 A1 describes an apparatus in a motor vehicle for prioritizing and start-sequencing super capacitors and ultra capacitors, when the current source and the electrical consumers are used indirectly coupled in the vehicle electrical distribution system in the motor vehicle. The apparatus furthermore comprises a circuit breaker, a CAN bus (Controller Area Network Bus) and further interfaces with energy or current sources provided in the motor vehicle. In addition, the apparatus described therein uses load shedding and temperature compensation, which are implemented in control electronics.

Method and apparatus for power management of an electric drive for a hybrid vehicle


Examples are disclosed that relate to planarizing substrates without use of an abrasive. One example provides a method of chemically planarizing a substrate, the method comprising introducing an abrasive-free planarization solution onto a porous pad, contacting the substrate with the porous pad while moving the porous pad and substrate relative to one another such that higher portions of the substrate contact the porous pad and lower portions of the substrate do not contact the porous pad, and removing material from the higher portions of the substrate via contact with the porous pad to reduce a height of the higher portions of the substrate relative to the lower portions of the substrate.

Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) is commonly used in integrated circuit fabrication processes to smooth surfaces, such as that of a semiconductor substrate, by removal of material using a combination of chemical and mechanical forces. A typical CMP process involves using an abrasive and a chemical slurry that can be corrosive to the material being removed, in combination with a polishing pad. The substrate and polishing pad are pressed together, and rotated relative to one another with non-concentric axes of rotation. The combination of the force and slurry removes areas of the substrate with a higher topology compared to areas with a lower topology, thereby smoothing the surface.


The present invention relates to image processing in general and more specifically to methods and means facilitating the human detection of physical object representations in colour images with a wide range of applications such as aviation and air transport, land transportation, shipping, submarine work, underwater inspections, medical investigations, marine archaeology, land archaeology, agriculture, surveillance and security, food safety, energy systems and forestry. The invention achieves this by providing an image processing method for a colour image representation, Ic, formed by at least two distinct colour pixel matrixes, Mi, by carrying out a histogram equalization processing step (250), which is carried out separately for each colour pixel matrix. Different pre-washing steps may be applied prior to the histogram equalization processing step (250). The invention also provides a number of apparatuses adapted for different applications using the method according to the invention.

Assume an object, O, imaged on the human retina and subsequently "seen" in the visual cortex of the brain. The quality of the image I, can be described in terms of how useful I is for "understanding" O and/or as the perceived similarity between O and I. Thus if one, or a combination, of the following items
a) the space (empty space, air, fluid) between the eye and the object is "contaminated" with fog, haze, smoke, snow, dust, silt or other types of dispersed particles (e.g. blood corpuscles)
b) the space (gas, fluid) between the eye and the object has a different wavelength dependent relative transparency compared to normal air or vacuum
c) the object O has limited colour content
d) the image is captured in conditions where retinal receptors have particularly limited capacity to separate luminance or colour differences, e.g. low-light conditions
occur, then the quality of the perceived image I can be severely disturbed which in turn means that the interpretation of I can be deficient. Such a disturbance in visual appearance can have grave practical consequences in situations like investigations of the body's interior (e.g. the eye), air traffic control, driving, other land or sea traffic, underwater work, fire fighting or other surveillance situations. Pathological details in the fundus of the eye can be missed because of blood contamination, an airplane or a ship can be missed in the fog, a fire fighter can lose his way in the smoke, a diver may not find his way out of a wreck. Thus, in such situations, the lack of effective image enhancing systems providing a possibility to facilitate the human interpretation of images, i.e. enhancing the human seeing, constitute a serious problem. Below some areas of interest and problems are discussed in more detail.
Aviation and Air Transport
Fog, smog, haze, snow, smoke, rain, clouds of living beings such as bugs and insects, e.g. grasshoppers, bees etc, low-light conditions, e.g. at dusk and dawn or inadequate lighting, i.e. inadequate for unaided detail perception, at airports and/or outside/inside cockpit, constitute a security risk for air travel in general and cause severe air traffic control problems with possible rerouting or cancellation of flights as a result Obviously, these problems may also cause negative economical consequences for both airline companies and passengers, and in the worst case even mortal accidents. Even though the air traffic is guided and controlled by sophisticated navigation and radar systems, there is still the need to have visual contact. Too many accidents have been caused by reduced visibility and unknown objects moving. Even a slight increase in visibility would give the pilot and air traffic controller a better chance to handle difficult situations. Thus, there is a need to provide means and methods that overcome or reduce these problems.
Land Transportation
In a similar way smog, haze, snow, smoke, rain, clouds of living beings such as bugs and insects, e.g. grasshoppers, bees etc, low-light conditions, e.g. at dusk and dawn or inadequate lighting, i.e. inadequate for unaided detail perception, constitute problems regarding road and railway safety and may also increase costs of goods transportation. Thus, there is a need to provide means and methods that overcome or reduce these problems.
Shipping
Even though ships usually have very sophisticated navigation equipment, e.g. radar, GPS and so forth, the crew still need to have visual contact with for instance shore line, small boats and other ships. It may be a problem to establish such a visual contact in environments containing smog, haze, snow, smoke, rain, clouds of living beings such as bugs and insects, e.g. grasshoppers, bees etc, low-light conditions, e.g. at dusk and dawn or inadequate lighting for unaided detail perception. As a consequence, either safety or shipping cost is compromised. Thus, there is a need to provide means and methods that overcome or reduce these problems.
Submarine Applications
Silt, particles, 'floating' sediments, wavelength filtering by water, inadequate lighting, i.e. inadequate for unaided detail perception under water, clouds of living beings such as e.g. algae, plankton etc all make human interpretation of images more difficult under water. A general problem is that all underwater work close to the bottom of the sea is difficult because of sea floor silt and how easily it is disturbed. This bottom disturbance creates a dense "fog" which highly reduces visibility. This is both a security problem and an economical problem during diving, or e.g. during installation work under water when using e.g. a submerged vehicle with video recording equipment. For instance, the diver may lose orientation with possible catastrophical consequences and some building and/or installation work become unnecessarily expensive or even impossible to carry out due to these problems. As an example, under-sea infrastructure such as bridges, dams, oil and gas pipelines, drilling platform parts, telecommunication cables, etc, must be constructed/installed, inspected and maintained, and all these activities require an accurate interpretation of underwater images in order to be carried out effectively. Also, ships and boats, commercial or for leisure purposes, must be maintained and inspected below the sea surface. If the boat is small this is done by lifting it out of the sea. If the ship is large it is done either by a diver or a video equipped ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) The processed video footage gives a much better picture of potential problems. A problem is that when the sea floor is accidentally disturbed, the silt will prevent any more work until it has set. This is both dangerous and leads to efficiency problems. Any underwater construction or inspection is difficult because of visibility problems, depending on the water quality, silt, and amount of particles and other of above visibility disturbances.
Thus, there is a need to find methods and means facilitating the human interpretation of images in such situations so as to, possibly in combination with video equipped "Remotely Operated Vehicles" (ROV), reduce the time and cost required for carrying out such activities and improving safety.
Medical Applications
Various particles, such as blood corpuscles, in medical recording or viewing situations (e.g. during opthalmology, eye fundus inspection, skin image inspection, identification of local cell variations in endoscopic images, etc.) make human interpretation of images more difficult which may lead to erroneous diagnoses and/or misjudgments regarding accurate medical treatment. Apart from causing human suffering, this causes economical problems in terms of costs for both society and patients, some of which may have to live with severe handicaps for the rest of their lives. Thus, there is a need to provide means and methods that overcome or reduce these problems.
Marine Archaeology
Marine archaeology means disturbing the bottom of the sea with great visibility problems. Often the only possibility to retrieve artefacts is through "vacuuming" and filtering, but that destroys a lot of information, for instance the position of the artefact. Thus, there is a need to provide means and methods that overcome or reduce these problems.
Land Archaeology
Finding the place for digs is much more efficient if it would be possible to utilize airplane mounted video equipment. However, a problem is that no effective image processing technology capable to find remains through difference in soil colour, for instance pole holes from houses and other constructions, is available today. Thus, there is a need to provide means and methods that overcome or reduce this problem.
Also, much of the age estimation in a dig is done through the knowledge of different soil layers dating from different time periods. There is thus a need to provide effective methods and means capable of facilitating the detection and interpretation of different soils providing a possibility to estimate the "historical age" of soils in an accurate and secure manner.
Agriculture
Polluted soil areas differ slightly in colour from the surroundings. The colour difference can be so small that it is difficult to detect it with pure visual inspection. Thus, there is a need to provide effective methods and means capable of facilitating the detection of polluted soil.
Crop quality and growth status can be seen in slight colour differences. The colour difference can be so small that it is difficult to detect it with pure visual inspection. There is a need to provide effective methods and means capable of detecting crop quality and growth status based on said colour differences in an accurate, secure and efficient way.
Food Safety
The quality degradation of food and eatables often manifests itself as small colour changes, for instance meat turns darker when it turns bad. There is a need to provide effective methods and means capable of detecting the quality degradation of food based on said colour changes in an accurate, secure and efficient way.
Energy Systems
In many cases airborne inspections are carried out for the purpose of power grid network planning, maintenance and control, e.g. in case of power failures, after storms, etc. Thus, there is a need to provide effective methods and means capable of facilitating the accurate interpretation of images captured during such airborne inspections, facilitating an effective planning, operation, maintenance and control of the power grid network.
Forestry
In many cases airborne inspections are used in forest maintenance and control, e.g. to investigate/estimate quality, growth, health status, environmental problems, illegal logging, etc. There is a need to provide effective methods and means capable of facilitating the accurate interpretation of images captured during such airborne inspections, allowing an effective inspection, maintenance and control of forests.
Monitoring/Security/Surveillance
Imagine a surveillance pan camera mounted immediately under the roof of an airport terminal building. The camera may be tilted and is mainly pointed at the tarmac. The camera is used for security surveillance as well as general activity surveillance. Imagine further that the weather conditions are foggy. In such situations it is certainly a problem that the detection of unauthorized personnel, which may be recognised e.g. by wearing clothes and/or objects having a specific form and/or reflection characteristics, is hindered by the low visibility. Thus, there is a need to provide effective methods and means capable of accurately distinguishing authorised personnel from unauthorised persons in colour images captured during difficult image conditions.
The information given in this background section is intended to better understand the invention and no information is admitted to be prior art with respect to the present invention by its mention in this background section.
Thus, there is a need to find methods and means that solves or alleviates the problems discussed above and which are capable of detecting various object representations in colour images in an effective and efficient way, e.g. for the applications discussed above.

Method that improves human interpretation of color images with limited spectral content


Method of fabricating TFTs (thin-film transistors) having a crystallized silicon film and a gate-insulating film. First, an amorphous silicon film is formed on an insulating substrate. A first dielectric film is formed from silicon oxide on the amorphous silicon film. Holes are formed in the first dielectric film to selectively expose the surface of the amorphous silicon film. Nickel is introduced as the metal element into the amorphous silicon film. The film is heat-treated, thus forming crystallized silicon film. This crystalline silicon film is etched together with the silicon oxide film to form an active layer. The etched silicon oxide film acts as the aforementioned gate-insulating film. Even after the crystallization step, the silicon oxide film is left behind. As a result, the interface with the crystalline silicon film is kept in a good state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating semiconductor devices such as thin-film transistors (TFTs) and, more particularly, to a method of fabricating semiconductor devices using a silicon film which is crystallized by the catalytic action of a metal element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a configuration using TFTs as liquid crystal devices has attracted attention. This is known as an active matrix liquid crystal display and has millions of pixels arranged in rows and columns. TFTs are connected with each pixel. This liquid crystal display is characterized in that the manner in which electric charge is stored in pixels and transmitted out of them is controlled by these TFTs. This active matrix liquid crystal display is capable of providing a display with high information content and at a high speed. Consequently, the active matrix liquid crystal display is used in portable wordprocessors and computer displays.
Although amorphous silicon film is conveniently used as a silicon film incorporated in TFTs, the electrical characteristics of the amorphous silicon film are much poorer than those of single-crystal semiconductor used in a semiconductor integrated circuit. Therefore, TFTs using the amorphous silicon film can be used only in limited applications such as switching devices in active matrix circuits.
In order to improve the characteristics of a TFT, a silicon film having crystallinity may be used. Besides single-crystal silicon, polycrystalline silicon film and crystallite silicon film are known as silicon films having crystallinity. In order to obtain a silicon film having such crystallinity, an amorphous silicon film is grown and then heated by thermal annealing to crystallize the amorphous film. This method is known as solid phase epitaxy, because the crystal state is changed from amorphous state to crystalline state while the solid phase is maintained.
Generally, liquid crystal displays are required to use substrates having transparency and so limitations are imposed on the substrate material. Generally, a material which satisfies the various requirements, i.e., it has transparency, is cheap, and provides a large area, is only glass.
Where silicon is grown by solid phase epitaxy, the heating temperature is above 600.degree. C. and the heating time is more than 10 hours. Corning 7059 glass which is widely accepted into general use has a strain point of 593.degree. C. Where increases in area of substrates are taken into account, it is difficult to perform thermal annealing above 600.degree. C.
Process Leading to the Invention
In view of these problems, we have conducted researches. We have found that if a trace amount of a metal element is added to an amorphous silicon film, crystallization of silicon is promoted by the catalytic action of the metal element, and that the crystallization temperature can be lowered and the crystallization time can be shortened. More specifically, we have discovered that silicon can be crystallized by performing a heat-treatment at 550.degree. C. for about 4 hours. Therefore, TFTs using a crystalline silicon film can be fabricated on a glass substrate.
One or more elements selected from the group consisting of Fe, Co, Ni, Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt, Cu, and Au can be appropriately selected as the aforementioned metal element producing catalytic action. Among them, nickel (Ni) produces especially conspicuous crystallization effect.
Methods for introducing metal elements into amorphous silicon film include (i) a method consisting of bringing a coating, particles, clusters, or the like including a metal element into intimate contact with an amorphous silicon film, (ii) a method of consisting of applying an aqueous solution containing a metal element, and (iii) an ion implantation method. An amorphous silicon film in which a metal element has been introduced is crystallized by heating the film at a temperature of 450-580.degree. C. for 4 to 8 hours.
As a result of our research, we have elucidated the crystallization process of silicon where a metal element is added. That is, heating causes amorphous silicon to react with the metal element, thus forming silicide. Then, silicon is heteroepitaxially grown on the surface of the silicide which acts as embryos. The dimensions of embryos of silicide depend on thermal factors, the thickness of the amorphous silicon, and other factors. Where nickel is used as a metal element, the dimensions are on the order of 500-2000 .ANG.. Therefore, obtained silicon crystals are pillar-shaped crystals having widths comparable to those of the embryos. The crystals grow from regions in which the metal element has been introduced toward the surroundings. Consequently, the crystal growth can be controlled by controlling the regions in which the metal element is introduced and their shapes.
FIGS. 6(A)-6(D) illustrate the prior art process of crystallization of silicon, utilizing the catalytic action of a metal element, for explaining its mechanism elucidated by us. As shown in FIG. 6(A), a buffer layer 12 consisting of silicon oxide and an amorphous silicon film 13 are formed over a glass substrate 11.
Then, a silicon oxide film 14 is formed to a thickness of 500 to 2000 .ANG.. A hole 14a is formed in the film. Typically, the hole 14a takes a rectangular form extending in a direction vertical to the plane of the figure.
In the hole 14a, a thin oxide film (not shown) is formed on the surface of the amorphous silicon film 13 to a thickness of about 10 to 50 .ANG.. This thin oxide film improves the surface characteristics of the amorphous silicon film 13 and thus the amorphous silicon film no longer repels water. The thin oxide film can be formed by ultraviolet radiation within an oxygen ambient or immersing the substrate in ozone water or hydrogen peroxide water.
In order to introduce nickel, which is a metal element for promoting crystallization of silicon, into the amorphous silicon film 13 under this condition, aqueous solution of nickel acetate is applied by spin coating and dried. As a result, an extremely thin nickel film 15 is formed in intimate contact with the surface of the amorphous silicon film 13 in the hole 14a within the silicon oxide film 14.
As shown in FIG. 6(B), the laminate is heat-treated at a temperature of 450 to 640.degree. C. for 4 to 8 hours, typically at 550.degree. C. for 8 hours. Crystals are grown from the regions with which the extremely thin nickel film 15 is in contact in directions parallel to the substrate 11 indicated by the arrows. As a result, a crystalline silicon film 16 is formed. The crystal growth depth can be set to tens of micrometers to 100 .mu.m or more. Where a glass substrate is used as the substrate, the heating temperature is preferably set below the strain point of the glass substrate in order to prevent the glass substrate from shrinking or deforming.
As shown in FIG. 6(C), after the crystal growth, the silicon oxide film 14 is removed. Thereafter, if necessary, laser annealing may be performed to improve the crystallinity of the crystalline silicon film 16. This crystalline silicon film 16 has a region 16a located immediately under the thin nickel film 15. In this region 16a, crystals are grown vertical to the glass substrate 11. The crystallographic axis is not uniform. This growth is referred to as vertical growth. On the other hand, in a region 16b located around the vertical growth region 16a, crystals are grown parallel to the glass substrate 11 with a substantially uniform crystallographic axis. This crystal growth is referred to as lateral growth.
As shown in FIG. 6(D), the crystalline silicon film 16 is patterned to form an active layer 17 for TFTs. A silicon oxide film 18 acting as a gate-insulating film is formed. The TFTs are completed by well-known fabrication techniques. The region located just under the extremely thin nickel film 15 and the regions in which the crystal growth terminates are heavily doped with nickel and so it is necessary that these regions be not contained in the channel formation region.
Silicon crystals can be grown parallel to the substrate 11, i.e., laterally, as shown in FIG. 6(B), by adopting the above-described crystallization techniques. Since the directions of crystals of the obtained crystalline silicon film 16 are uniform, TFTs using this crystalline silicon film 16 show good electrical characteristics and are capable of operating at high speeds.
In the above-described crystallization step, however, after obtaining the crystalline silicon film 16, the mask 14 is removed, and the surface of the crystalline silicon film 16 is exposed. Therefore, there is the possibility that the surface is contaminated. Furthermore, ridges might be formed because the laser annealing is carried out while the surface of the crystalline silicon film 16 is exposed. The contamination and the ridges will raise the energy levels at the interface between the active layer 17 and the gate-insulating film. Hence, the characteristics of the TFTs are deteriorated.

Method of fabricating semiconductor devices by crystallizing amorphous silicon with nickel

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An electrical connector (1) adapted for mating with a complementary connector includes a jack housing (10), a metal jack (20) and a contact (40). The metal jack is assembled with the jack housing, and includes a latching member (22) extending toward the jack housing along a front-to-back direction. The contact extends through the jack housing and the metal jack. The metal jack exerts a forward compressing force toward the jack housing when the latching member of the metal jack latches with the complementary connector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector used in Automotive application.
2. Description of Prior Art
Cable to cable connectors and printed circuit board to cable connectors may be standardized according to various schemes. One standardization scheme commonly used in automotive applications is referred to as FAKRA. FAKRA, a standardization group, is a Germen word that stands for Normenausschuβ Kraftfahrzeuge with English translation known as "Automotive Standards Committee in the German Institute for Standardization." The FAKRA standardization scheme establishes how a jack housing must be configured in order to provide proper keying for integration into an appropriate plug, and at the same time allow for the connection of a desired SMB jack into the jack housing, which has the appropriate SMB interface.
Normally, the electrical connector with FAKRA standardization comprises a housing and a metal jack integrated with the housing. The housing defines a plastic latching member at the top face thereof, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,824,403. The electrical connector is used to electrically connect a complementary cable connector for transmitting signals from a cable to a printed circuit board, However, when the cable is of the complementary cable connector pulled unwilledly, the housing is tends to separate from the metal jack for lacking sufficient retaining force between the housing and the metal jack. When the unwilled pulling force is big enough, the housing with the latchmay be separated from the jack. For enhance the retaining force, the improved structure between the housing and metal jack is provided, but either the cost is too high or the structure is too complex.
Hence, it is desirable to have an improved electrical connector to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.

Electrical connector for automotive with latch


An electric motor includes a stator frame carrying a coil, and a rotor bushing carrying a magnet. The coil rotates the rotor bushing relative to the stator housing about a vertical axis. The stator frame and rotor bushing together form a cavity in which a spherical bearing is disposed. The rotor bushing includes a contact member engaging an upper portio of the spherical bearing with a point contact, to transfer the weight of the rotor bushing to the spherical bearing. The axis passes through the cavity and the spherical bearing. An outer cylindrical surface of the rotor bushing faces a cylindrical inner surface of the cavity and has grooves formed therein for drawing-in air.

Among the different bearings that support shafts undergoing rotative or rectilinear movement and make such movement smooth, the semi-spherical bearing is advantageous in that it is able to simultaneously support load in both the radial and axial directions. Accordingly, it is unnecessary to use separate bearings for each of the directions such that weight can be reduced, allowing application to internal motors in electronic goods such as computer hard drives, laser beam scanners, laser beam printers, etc.
With regard to the laser beam printer, laser beams are used to perform the printing operation. That is, a scanned image is formed on a photosensitive drum, which is responsive to light, by radiating the laser beams thereon. A rotating multi-faceted mirror system is provided to move the beams at a uniform velocity such that the beams are aligned on the photosensitive drum in an axial direction thereon.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a sectional view illustrating a rotating multi-faceted mirror system in which a conventional semi-spherical bearing is mounted. As shown in the drawing, the rotating multi-faceted mirror system 10 comprises a multi-faceted mirror 11 which reflects beams onto a photosensitive drum (not shown), and a motor 20 for rotating and supporting the multi-faceted mirror 11. A housing 12 is provided encasing the multi-faceted mirror 11. The housing 12 includes a hole 12a through which the multi-faceted mirror 11 is exposed.
The motor 20 comprises a stator 21 and a rotor 22, electromagnetically cooperating with the stator 21. The stator 21 includes a stator frame 21a and a stator coil 21b wrapped around the stator frame 21a, while the rotor 22 includes a rotor bushing 22a and a rotor magnet 22b provided around a circumference of the rotor bushing 22a. A lens bracket 13, which fixedly supports the multi-faceted mirror 11, is mounted on an upper portion of the rotor bushing 22a such that the multi-faceted mirror 11 rotates together with the rotor bushing 22a.
A semi-spherical bearing 24 is inserted in upper and lower parts of the rotor bushing 22a such that the bushing is supported and able to rotate. The semi-spherical bearings 24 are fixed by a support shaft 23 provided through a center of the rotor frame 21a, the semi-spherical bearings 24 being disposed such that their spherical portions face one another.
A plurality of grooves 24a are formed on an outer circumference of the semi-spherical bearings 24 to allow for smooth rotation with the rotor bushing 22a. The grooves 24a, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, are spiral-shaped to allow for suction of air for smooth rotation.
However, in the above-described prior art multi-faceted mirror system, the manufacturing process of the bearings is complicated. Namely, a lathe is first used to form the semi-spherical shape, and then the grooves are formed at a predetermined depth using an etching process. Because many steps are needed in the process to manufacture the semi-spherical bearing, overall manufacturing costs are increased.
Further, wear occurs between the bearings and rotor bushing, especially when the rotor bushing starts and stops its rotation. This results in a reduction in the life span of both the bearings and rotor bushing. Also, the wearing of these two elements makes it necessary to use increasingly larger amounts of electricity to maintain the same level of rotational speed.

Electric motor having a spherical bearing


To provide a heater control apparatus capable of checking, during initial installation, whether heaters and temperature sensors are connected together so as to be correctly paired, and whether the outputs from the temperature sensors are correct. The present invention is characterized in that a heater control apparatus comprises a large number of heaters, each provided so as to correspond to each of a large number of yarn processing units installed in parallel; a large number of temperature sensors each provided so as to pair with each of the heaters and detecting the temperature of the heaters; a large number of switches each provided so as to pair with each of the heaters and turning on and off the power to the heaters; a switch control device for sequentially turning on and off the large number of switches to sequentially provide power to the large number of heaters; and a combination determining device for determining whether a temperature sensor that has detected the temperature of an activated heater should be paired with said heaters.

If, for example, a draw texturing machine is used to process yarn at high temperature, the temperature of the heater is set so that yarn at the heater's outlet will be at the required temperature. With polyester yarn, for example, the temperature at the heater outlet is set at 190.degree. C..about.230.degree. C. This temperature is set after taking into account factors such as yarn speed, yarn thickness (denier) and heater length. A heater control apparatus is conventionally provided in the draw texturing machine to adjust the heaters to a set temperature. To allow the heater control apparatus to function correctly, the individual heaters and temperature sensors must be paired together correctly.
When, however, a large number of heaters and temperature sensors are wired together, they may be connected so as to be incorrectly paired, causing the incorrectly paired heater to become excessively hot and melt the yarn.
The present invention is provided in view of this problem, and is intended to provide a heater control apparatus that can confirm during initial installation whether the heaters and temperature sensors are correctly paired, and whether the outputs from the temperature sensors are correct.

Heater control apparatus for textile machine


An adhesive composition according to the present invention contains a polymerizable monomer (A) and a block copolymer (B) including a polymer block (a) which includes structural units derived from a styrene compound and from a maleimide compound, and an acrylic polymer block (b), in which the polymer block (a) and the acrylic polymer block (b) have a solubility parameter of 10.0 or more and 9.0 or more, respectively; the polymer block (a) contains the structural unit derived from a maleimide compound at a concentration from 30% by mass to 99% by mass with respect to the total mass of the polymer block (a); the polymer block (a) has a glass transition temperature of 150° C. or higher; and the polymer block (b) has a glass transition temperature of 20° C. or lower.

Sealing materials widely used in industrial settings include various elastomers, such as nitrile rubbers, acrylic rubbers, silicone rubbers, fluorine rubbers, and tetrafluoroethylene resins (PTFEs). Among those, acrylic rubbers, which are rubbery materials mainly composed of acrylate esters, have excellent heat and oil resistances and are thus widely used as materials of, for example, various hoses, adhesives, and coating materials, as well as materials of automotive gaskets, and sealing materials.
There is an increasing demand for improved heat and oil resistances in various types of materials including adhesives particularly in automotive applications, because the temperature in the engine room tends to rise due to increased engine power, placement of sound insulation materials for silence purposes, and the like.
In such a context, several elastomer compositions having high heat and oil resistances have been presented.
A thermoplastic elastomer composition which consists of an epoxy group-containing acrylic rubber (Component (A)), a thermoplastic polyester resin (Component (B)), and a certain graft copolymer composed of an olefin polymer segment and a vinyl copolymer segment, or a precursor thereof (Component (C)) and is obtained by cross-linking of the above Component (A) is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
Additionally, an acrylic rubber composition prepared by mixing a carboxyl group-containing acrylic rubber with at least one each of filler and foil filler is disclosed in Patent Document 2.


A carton for accommodating a plurality of articles, such as bottles, in a group, comprises a first wall panel, a pair of substantially opposing second wall panels interconnected with the first panel, and a handle structure overlying the first wall panel. The handle structure is manipulative from a flat stowed position in which it closely overlies the first wall panel, to a raised position in which the end portions of the handle structure are displaced inwardly of the carton and that portion of the handle structure intermediate its ends is spaced apart from the first wall panel. The handle structure is formed from a pair of mutually hinged and superposed panel strips formed integrally with each other. Each panel strip of the handle structure is hinged to and formed integrally with the second wall panels.

This invention relates to an article carrier, more specifically to a carton having a reinforced integral strap handle structure which can be manipulated from a flat stowed position in which it overlies one of the carton walls into a raised position in which it is extended outwardly above that carton wall.
EP-A-89304604.5 relates to a carton having a reinforced handle structure in which end portions of the handle structure are displaceable inwardly into the carton when the carton is lifted by the handle structure so as to shorten the distance between the opposite ends of a central handle strip of the handle structure so that it can be upwardly moved away from the adjacent carton wall. The disclosed handle structure must be formed at the ends of the blank from which the carton is formed.
In designing such a handle structure of a carton for accommodating a relatively large number of articles, it is necessary to take account of the mechanical strength of the handle structure. In view of the intended contents of the carton, i.e., bottles or cans, as well as the manner in which a carton is to be lifted or carried, some flexibility of a specific location of the handle on the carton is desirable.
What is needed, therefore, is a carton with an integral handle structure having good mechanical strength and location flexibility and capable of being manipulated from a flat stowed position in which it overlies one of the carton walls into a raised position in which it is extended above that carton wall.


A method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit, comprises: replacing a circuit element disposed in the semiconductor integrated circuit with a transistor having a high threshold value or a circuit element having a small juxtaposition number in order to prevent deviation of a signal voltage flowing through the semiconductor integrated circuit from a power voltage and a ground voltage; replacing a circuit element disposed in a subsequent stage of the replaced circuit element in order to prevent the deviation of the signal voltage from the power voltage and the ground voltage from being propagated to a subsequent stage with a transistor having a high threshold value or a circuit element having a small juxtaposition number; and then arranging circuit elements constituting the semiconductor integrated circuit in such a manner that the semiconductor integrated circuit stably operates.

The present invention relates to a method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit, a designing apparatus, and an inspection apparatus, particularly to a method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit and a designing apparatus for designing a high-speed operation circuit in which stability of the whole semiconductor integrated circuit is secured and an increase of a leak current is suppressed, and an inspection apparatus for a semiconductor integrated circuit, which reduces a leak current to thereby stably operate.
In recent years, with speeding-up/reduction of threshold values of the semiconductor integrated circuit, power consumption of the circuit has increased more than ever. The power consumption also includes the leak current, and as a method of reducing the leak current, a designing method is well known in which the circuit is designed in such a manner as to arrange transistors having high and low threshold values in a mixed manner. In this designing method, a high-speed transistor having a small threshold value (i.e., the leak current is large) is used in a portion in which high speed is required, and a low-speed transistor having a large threshold value (i.e., the leak current is small) is used in another portion. Accordingly, while the leak current of the whole circuit is kept to be small, the speed is raised.
However, when this replacement is performed, the following problem occurs. As shown in 13(a), when 1 is input into both inputs of a circuit (NAND circuit in this drawing) including PMOSs arranged in parallel, output indicates a value floating a little from a value of 0 (the value does not completely agree with a predetermined value, and has a difference from the predetermined value) because of the leak current on a PMOS side. For example, the output is 0.05 V with respect to a power voltage of 1 V.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 14, in a circuit in which the number of transistors arranged in parallel increases, and three inputs are arranged in parallel (3-input NAND circuit in this example), a voltage further distant from a ground voltage is output. This phenomenon remarkably appears in a transistor having a small threshold value as shown in FIGS. 13(a) (b). When the transistor having a large threshold value is used as shown in FIGS. 12(a) (b), the leak current of the transistor itself is small, and therefore a problem is small.
Moreover, when a floating output (e.g., 0.95 V) is received by a PMOS juxtaposed circuit (e.g., the NAND circuit) as shown in FIGS. 15(a) (b), the output further floats. Therefore, for example, in the example shown in FIG. 15(b), 0.10 V is output, and the leak current of the transistor which receives the output voltage indicates a large value. When an input voltage floats from a power voltage or ground voltage as shown in FIGS. 15(b) and 16(b), a potential difference is generated between gate and source of the transistor which receives the input, and the leak current exponentially increases because of properties of the transistor (see FIG. 17). Therefore, problems occur that the leak current of the whole circuit increases, or a circuit operation becomes unstable. This phenomenon does not raise a very large problem with respect to an output on a 1-side of a juxtaposed portion in a PMOS circuit, or an output on a 0-side of a juxtaposed portion in a NMOS circuit as shown in FIGS. 15(a) and 16(a). This is because the voltage floats a little.
It is to be noted that a circuit shown in FIGS. 18(a) (b) is a constitution example in which AND-NOR circuits are continuously arranged. FIG. 18(a) is a transistor connection diagram, and FIG. 18(b) is a logical circuit diagram. In a logical circuit constitution, an AND circuit for calculating a logical product of inputs B and C, and a NOR circuit for calculating exclusive OR of two inputs including the output of the AND circuit as input A are continuously arranged as shown in FIG. 18(b). In the transistor circuit shown in FIG. 18(a), a logical operation in a case where inputs A, B, C are changed at 0 V and 1 V is shown in FIGS. 19(a) (b).
FIG. 19(a) shows a case where the input A is 0 V, and inputs B, C are 1 V, and a leak current is generated in a juxtaposed PMOS transistor disposed in an upper stage. FIG. 19(b) shows a case where inputs A, B are 0 V, and input C is 1 V, and a leak current is generated in a juxtaposed NMOS transistor disposed in a lower stage. A deviation between an operation voltage and a power voltage of a portion in which leak occurs is caused. When the high-speed transistor having a small threshold value is applied to this portion, a problem occurs.
It is to be noted that as prior techniques of the present application, there are U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,761B1, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-9242 and the like.
As described above, in the conventional semiconductor integrated circuit design, the transistor constituting the logical circuit in order to speed up the circuit operation is uniformly replaced with the high-speed transistor having the small threshold value. Then, the leak current increases in a case where the logical circuits having juxtaposed inputs are continuously arranged. There are problems that the deviation between the operation voltage and the power voltage or the ground voltage increases, and the operation of the logical circuit becomes unstable because of the deviation generated between the operation voltage and the power voltage.
Therefore, in order to prevent a signal from being separated from the power voltage and the ground voltage, there has been a demand for a semiconductor integrated circuit capable of preventing the signal from being separated from the power voltage and the ground voltage, or preventing the separation from being propagated to a subsequent stage, or further capable of securing circuit operation stability, and preventing increase of the leak current of the transistor by replacement with a transistor having a large threshold value or replacement/insertion with a circuit having a small number of juxtaposed transistors.

Designing apparatus, and inspection apparatus for designing an integrated circuit having reduced leakage current


A process gas atmosphere consisting essentially of (a) organosiloxanes and inert gas, or (b) pure silane or (c) silane plus inert gas is introduced into a vacuum chamber and exposed to microwaves to produce an electro-cyclotron resonance in a plasma for coating substrates. The process is useful for producing an adherent coating on a plastic substrate, especially an intermediate coating for a reflective coating in an automotive headlamp.

The invention relates to a method for producing an adhesion-mediating coating on the surface of workpieces, preferably those of headlight reflectors made of plastic, having a vacuum tank in which the workpieces are exposed to a plasma coating process, with inlet and outlet openings in the tank, by which a process atmosphere determining the plasma coating process can be produced, during a controlled inlet and outlet of substances.
From DE-A 40 10 663, an apparatus and method are known for the production of coatings on the surface of workpieces, preferably headlight reflectors made of plastic. It involves especially a special surface treatment of three-dimensional substrate surfaces, the object being to achieve a corrosion-resistant and nonsmearing mirror surface.
What is involved is a PCVD coating process with a microwave-ECR plasma coating source and a so-called rotary cage situated in the vacuum chamber and carrying the substrates past the coating source in a planetary motion controlled by frequency and phasing.
The coating process provides a plurality of process steps which first modify the substrate on its surface within the scope of a noncoating plasma pretreatment so that functional groups will form on it, such as hydroxyl-carbonyl or amino groups. After that, for improved adhesion mediation, a coating formed from a SiC or SiCO gas atmosphere is deposited onto the substrate surface. This is followed by the application of an aluminum coating to the substrate. In a final step, a protective coating of the same coating composition as the above-described adhesion mediating layer is applied to the metallized substrate to increase its resistance to corrosion and smearing.
Further testing has shown, however, that many substrate materials, such as plastics and varnishes, undergo irreversible damage to the substrate surface under the process conditions described in DE-A 40 10 663 This is especially true of the first monolayers of plastic substrates, where damage is caused by ultraviolet rays occurring in the plasma and by collision of high-energy plasma particles with the substrate surface. Such disadvantageous interactions with the substrate surface depend on the types of particles included, and on the distance between substrate and plasma, as well as on the prevailing particle partial pressures.

Method for producing a reflective surface on a substrate


In some examples, a circuit includes an amplifier, a resistor, and a damping network. The amplifier has an amplifier output and first and second amplifier inputs. The first amplifier input is adapted to be coupled to a first terminal, and the second amplifier input is configured to receive a reference voltage. The resistor is coupled between the amplifier output and the first amplifier input. The damping network is coupled between the amplifier output and the first terminal.

A switched mode power supply (SMPS) transfers power from an input power source to a load by switching one or more power transistors. The transistors are coupled through a switch node/terminal to an energy storage element (such as an inductor/transformer and/or capacitor) that is capable of coupling to the load. The power transistors can be included in a power converter that includes, or is capable of coupling to, the energy storage element. An SMPS can include an SMPS controller to provide one or more gate drive signals to the power transistor(s). The switching on and off of the power transistors sometimes creates noise on a signal line, such as an input voltage line, that can present as electromagnetic interference that can at times be detrimental or undesirable.

Active electromagnetic interference filter with damping network


Method and system for performing semi-supervised regression with a generative adversarial network (GAN) that includes a generator comprising a first neural network and a discriminator comprising a second neural network, comprising: outputting, from the first neural network, generated samples derived from a random noise vector; inputting, to the second neural network, the generated samples, a plurality of labelled training samples, and a plurality of unlabelled training samples; and outputting, from the second neural network, a predicted continuous label for each of a plurality of the generated samples and unlabelled samples.

Deep learning has shown great success in various domains such as natural language processing (NLP), autonomous driving, gaming, and unsupervised learning. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have been developed to generate synthetic realistic images. GANs correspond to a minimax two-player game where two models are trained simultaneously: a generative model G that captures data distribution, and a discriminative model D that computes the probability that a sample comes from the training data rather than the generator.
GAN solutions can be useful when there is a scarsity of training samples.
Despite the recent advances in GANs, critical issues remain with regards to evaluating, training, and labeling generated samples.

Semi-supervised regression with generative adversarial networks


A method for cleaning plastic objects, especially for recycling, whereby liquid surfactant and liquid caustic are added as separate feed streams to water to create a cleaning solution. The concentrations of surfactant and caustic in the cleaning solution are periodically monitored so that the feed rates can be adjusted as necessary to maintain the optimum concentrations of each component.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the cleaning of plastics, especially for purposes of recycling. More specifically, this invention comprises a method by which a liquid surfactant and a liquid caustic are separately introduced into the cleaning phase of a recycling system so as to increase the cleaning efficiency while reducing the presence of foam.
2. Related Art
Plastic recycling is a relatively new industry which is currently experiencing tremendous growth. Recent concerns about the environmental impact of plastic use and disposal, as well as recent legislation, have led to a widespread demand for recycling used plastic products into new, usable consumer goods. Plastics are a petroleum product, and concerns about oil conservation have also led to a demand to recycle post-consumer plastic rather than meeting demand with new plastic products.
Since the recycling business is relatively new, there are few standard methods for recycling plastics, and improved means for accomplishing any recycling step are constantly sought. While there are few industry standards, a typical recycling business collects used plastic products, and then sorts them according to the type and color of the plastic. The sorted plastics are then shredded by some means into small plastic chips or flakes. These chips must then be cleaned to remove any dirt, oil, food particles, labels, glue, or other contaminants which may be present. The clean chips are then usually pelletized, or somehow organized in a usable form for a plastic manufacturer.
The chips are usually cleaned by a continuous flow process which introduces an aqueous cleaning solution and agitates and scrubs the plastic chips to remove contaminants. Some recycling businesses employ a batch process for cleaning. The cleaning process has been generally operated at a temperature of about 190.degree. F. After cleaning, the chips have been typically moved on to a drying process, while the cleaning solution has been filtered, recycled, and renewed for further use. The renewal process has usually involved filtering the cleaning solution to remove glue and paper, followed by a blowdown of about 10% of the old solution, and then adding some fresh solution and recycling the solution to the cleaning phase.
Typically, the cleaning solution has contained a surfactant with sufficient cleaning properties to clean the plastic chips, and sufficient caustic compound to maintain an alkalinity adequate to remove labels and glue. Few commercial cleaning products are offered specifically for cleaning plastics in a recycling process. A general discussion of the effectiveness of several commercially available detergents for cleaning polyethylene chips is provided by Dr. Sidney Ranking, Ph.D. in "Technical Report #14: Process Simplification-Washing Technology", published by Rutgers University Center for Plastics Recycling Research, 1988. That article examines and compares several detergents, some of them household dishwashing detergents, which the solid either as solids or highly concentrated liquids and must be dissolved in water to create a cleaning solution.
These commercially available detergents generally comprise both a surfactant and a caustic in constant weight percentages. Such detergents may be a hindrance if a mixture of plastics from various sources is to be cleaned by the same system. The only way to increase the effectiveness of a cleaning solution prepared with these detergents has been to add more detergent to the solution. Unfortunately, this practice can cause excessive foaming, which may not be adequately rectified by using anti-foam products; moreover, the cleaning solution may still be inadequate to clean a particular plastic.
There can also be a large unnecessary expense associated with the use of such detergents. If more caustic is needed in the cleaning solution to help remove glue and labels from the plastic, there is no way to add more caustic without also adding more surfactant to the solution. Conversely, if only a small amount of caustic is needed, there is typically no way to reduce the amount of caustic in the cleaning solution without changing detergents. Significant expense is involved in using the wrong quantities of an inadequate detergent, when a lesser amount of a different cleaning solution would satisfactorily clean the plastic. Thus there is a continuing need for a method for cleaning plastic which can be adequately modified to meet the needs of a particular recycling system, and for monitoring the cleaning solution to help ensure that a proper amount of cleaner is constantly present.

Use of caustic and surfactant as a cleaner for recycled plastic


The image forming apparatus includes a developing device, a movable member, a replenishment device, a developer replenishment path, and a conveyance screw so arranged within the developer replenishment path as not to come into contact with the internal wall of the developer replenishment path, wherein X (g) representing the quantity of the developer for replenishment present in the clearance section between the developer replenishment path and the conveyance screw, Y (g) representing the quantity of the developer in the developing device, Q(μC/mg) representing the absolute value of the electric charge per unit weight of the toner in the developing device, and A(μC/mg) representing the absolute value of the electric charge per unit weight of the toner relative to a 1% variation in the toner density satisfy the condition of a relationship of X≦(Y×Q)/(500×A).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, facsimile machines and printers which form an electrostatic latent image on an image bearing member by an electrophotographic or electrostatic recording method or otherwise, and turns this electrostatic latent image into a visible image (toner image) with a developer accommodated in a developing device.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional color image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic type, for example, toner images each of a different color, namely yellow, cyan, magenta and black, are formed on an image bearing member such as a photosensitive member (photosensitive drum), and these toner images of different colors are transferred and superposed on a recording sheet to have a full color image formed on the recording sheet in turn. This is known as a multi-layer transfer process.
Since it is required in this multi-layer transfer process to form toner images of different colors on the photosensitive drum in turn, one at a time of a plurality of developing devices, each containing a toner of one color or another, is selectively set in a developing position opposite the photosensitive drum, and all other developing devices have to be set in waiting positions away from the image bearing member.
For this reason, this conventional color image forming apparatus uses a so-called rotary developing unit, in which the plurality of developing devices are arranged at equal intervals on a movable member. The movable member has a circumferential surface of a cylindrical rotating body and is rotatable(hereinafter referred to as developing rotary). The movable member selectively sets one or another of the four-color developing devices in the developing position. By the movable member, any desired developing device is set in the developing position by the rotation of the developing rotary, while the other developing devices are kept away from positions close to the photosensitive drum.
Incidentally, a two-component developing system which uses a mixture of a non-magnetic toner and a magnetic carrier as the developer is extensively used in image forming apparatuses which form color images in particular among electrophotographic image forming apparatuses. The two-component developing system has advantages in the stability of image quality and the durability of the apparatus among other respects over other developing systems which have been proposed so far.
In the developing using two-component developers, out of the toner and the carrier contained in each developing device, only the toner is consumed by the development of electrostatic latent images, and accordingly the developing device held by the developing rotary has to be replenished with a new supply of toner in turn. Therefore, in order to maintain the developed density of electrostatic latent images at the desired level all the time, the quantity of the toner with which each developing device is replenished with should be kept under strict control.
There is another problem. Every time the developing rotary is turned to change the developing device set in the developing position, a developing device, a toner replenishment container and a toner replenishment passage have to turn around the rotation axis of the developing rotary and, even in a state in which a conveyance screw disposed in the toner replenishment passage is at halt, the toner moves along the spiral blades of the conveyance screw and automatically conveyed within the toner replenishment passage, inviting an excess or shortage of the toner for replenishment.
As a proposed solution to these problems, as shown in FIG. 5 appended to the present application, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open H10-149012 discloses a rotary developing unit in which a developing rotary 100 is mounted with a developing device 101, and toner conveyance means 104 for conveying the toner from a toner replenishment container 102 to the developing device 101 within a toner replenishment passage 103 is provided. When the toner conveyance means 104 is stopped and the developing rotary 100 is turned, the toner within the toner replenishment passage 103 is conveyed from a developing device discharge outlet 105 to a toner replenishment container receptacle 106, and the toner replenishment quantity is controlled according to the rotational speed of the developing rotary 100.
However, when the developing device is sent in the developing position opposite the photosensitive drum, the vibration at the time of stopping causes the toner remaining in the toner replenishment passage to slip sideways, and the toner gradually moves toward the developing device to be eventually fed to,the developing device.
When this phenomenon occurs, no large quantity of toner moves into the developing device in a single turn of a developing rotary 18 around a rotation axis 18a. However, in an image forming apparatus which has developing devices for yellow, cyan, magenta, black, light magenta and light cyan, for instance, and can operate in either a four-color mode or a six-color mode, the rotation of the developing rotary around its rotation axis accelerates the movement of toners remaining in the toner replenishment passage into the developing devices for light magenta and light cyan, neither used in the four-color mode. Therefore, unintended feeding of toners to the developing devices for light magenta and light cyan is especially accelerated, resulting in an increased density of these toners and a corresponding variation in development performance.

Image forming apparatus having movable developing devices and developer replenishment device


A five-transistor static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cell accessed by a single bitline merged with heterogeneous memories, such as ROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, and DRAMs. Combined ROM and RAM cells have been included within a high performance signal processor. Advantages include area and power dissipation savings resulting from shared column bitlines, associated column decoders, and column sense amplifiers. This eliminates circuit duplication.

This invention relates to memory circuitry, and more specifically, to a memories which merge the bit lines of heterogeneous memory cells and concatenate rows of memory within single arrays, with a resultant sharing of bitlines, column decoders, and sense amplifiers.
The invention allows a single output bus for multiple memory components in lieu of one routed among the components. Traditionally, heterogeneous memory units have individual blocks of circuitry connected to shared data and address busses. For microcode data storage generally the address and data busses can have a width, for example, of 32, 64 or 128 bits, thus requiring a significant amount of routing area on integrated circuitry to connect memory blocks.
In addition, added area is needed, and power consumed, by replicating the functions of address decoders, array bitlines and sense amplifiers to detect data on bitlines for each heterogeneous memory. This loosely integrated approach, besides being larger and less power efficient, is more difficult to manage in the design hierarchy since the macrocells and all their subcells must be designed, debugged and maintained, instead of having a single merged macrocell.
The task of reducing power dissipation and circuit area required by architectures with mixed memories, by sharing bitlines, decoders, and sense amplifiers, and merging different memory cells into a single concatenated array, is alleviated, to some extent, by the systems described in the following U.S. patents, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,323 to Nizaka; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,323,342 & 5,313,418 to Wada et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,420 to Masuoka; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,848 issued to Nakagawara.
The patent to Nakagawara discloses bitlines and column lines arranged alternately in common in each cell column, so as to be used in common by adjacent memory cells in a word line direction. The remaining patents are of similar interest.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force