An organic light emitting display device including: a substrate having a pixel region and a non-pixel region; a first buffer layer and a second buffer layer formed over the substrate; a thin film transistor formed over the second buffer layer; an organic light emitting device formed in the pixel region and electrically connected with the thin film transistor; and a photo diode formed in the non-pixel region, for receiving external light of red wavelength at a certain absorption rate, and for controlling brightness of the organic light emitting device. Here, the first buffer layer can be formed to be from 2900 Å to 3100 Å in thickness, the second buffer layer can be formed to be from 200 Å to 400 Å in thickness, and the photo diode can include: an N-type doping region, a channel region being from 3 to 10 μm in width, and a P-type doping region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting display device, which includes a photo diode for receiving light of red wavelength incident from an external source to a non-pixel region, and for controlling brightness of an organic light emitting device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, an organic light emitting device includes: a pair of electrodes having an anode electrode and a cathode electrode, and a light emitting layer. In more detail, the organic light emitting device can include: a hole injecting layer, a hole transporting layer, an electron injecting layer and an electron transporting layer. Such an organic light emitting device can emit light because of the following light emitting principle. Positive charge carries or holes are injected into a hole injecting layer from an anode electrode, and the holes injected into the hole injecting layer are transported to a light emitting layer by a hole transporting layer. Further, negative charge carriers or electrons are injected into an electron injecting layer from a cathode electrode, and the electrons injected from the electron injecting layer are transported to the light emitting layer by an electron transporting layer. The holes and the electrons that are transported to the light emitting layer are then coupled with each other to form excitons, thereby light-emitting the light emitting layer.
Hereinafter, a conventional organic light emitting device will be described in more detail with reference FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional organic light emitting diode.
Referring to FIG. 1, an organic light emitting diode 10 includes a buffer layer 110 on a substrate 100. A thin film transistor 120 is formed over the buffer layer 110. The thin film transistor 120 includes: a semiconductor layer 121, a gate electrode 122, and source and drain electrodes 123. A planarization layer 130 is formed over the thin film transistor 120, a first electrode layer 140 electrically connected with the source or drain electrode 123 is formed over the planarization layer 130, and a pixel defined layer 150 is formed over the first electrode layer 140. The pixel defined layer 150 includes an opening part for at least partially exposing the first electrode layer 140. A light emitting layer 160 is formed over the opening part. A second electrode layer 170 is formed over the light emitting layer 160. Besides, one or more of an electron injecting layer, an electron transporting layer, a hole transporting layer and a hole injecting layer can be formed between the first electrode layer 140 and the second electrode layer 170.
In the above organic light emitting diode, the organic material, which is the light emitting layer 160 of the organic light emitting diode, may be deteriorated to change the brightness of pixel, as time passes, resulting in that the image quality or brightness of a display is displayed in values different from the expected values. Accordingly, the organic light emitting diode does not have a long lifespan.
In order to solve the above problems, an approach of forming a photo diode in the organic light emitting diode is proposed. This approach allows for a constant brightness to be represented for an input signal regardless of the deterioration of the organic light emitting device by using the photo diode to convert light energy received by (or incident on) the photo diode into an electric signal.
However, the aforesaid photo diode has a relatively low light receiving rate (less than 50% according to a wavelength of light), and there is a limit to its control of the brightness of the organic light emitting device.

Organic light-emitting display device including a photo diode


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. In some systems, a base station may configure a user equipment (UE) with multiple control resource sets (CORESETs) for control channel monitoring. In some cases (e.g., based on a random access (RACH) procedure), the base station may update a CORESET with an updated downlink beam and, correspondingly, an updated active quasi-co-location (QCL) assumption for monitoring. In some cases, this updated active QCL assumption may cause the total number of active QCL assumptions to exceed a UE threshold value for monitoring. The UE may determine a priority order for monitoring the CORESETs, where the CORESET corresponding to the updated active QCL is assigned highest priority and the remaining CORESETs are prioritized based on CORESET or search space parameters, and the UE may either drop CORESETs from monitoring or modify active QCL assumptions for CORESETs based on the determined priority order.

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to control resource set (CORESET) monitoring rules based on active quasi-co-location (QCL) assumption capabilities of a user equipment (UE).
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as UE.
In some wireless communications systems, a base station may configure a UE with a number of CORESETs. Each CORESET may include one or more search spaces for the UE to monitor for downlink transmissions from the base station. The base station may transmit a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission in any of these search spaces, and the UE may blind decode the PDCCH transmission according to the configured search spaces and a QCL assumption for the transmission. However, in some cases, a base station may configure different CORESETs for a UE with different active QCL assumptions for downlink transmissions. If the number of active QCL assumptions for the configuration of the CORESETs is greater than a UE monitoring capability, the UE may not be able to monitor the search spaces in all of the configured CORESETs. As such, the UE may fail to detect downlink transmissions in one or more of the CORESETs based on the configured number of active QCL assumptions for the UE to monitor exceeding an active QCL monitoring threshold of the UE.

Control resource set monitoring rules based on active quasi-co-location assumption capabilities of a user equipment (UE)


A method and an apparatus for encoding a video are disclosed. For at least one block from a picture of said video, a first rate-distortion optimization is performed (602) for determining for a first splitting mode of said block into at least one first subblock, coding parameters of said at least one first subblock. At least one second rate-distortion optimization is performed (609) for determining for at least one second splitting mode of said block into at least one second subblock, coding parameters of said at least one second subblock. A best splitting mode for coding said block is determined (613) according to at least said first rate-distortion optimization and said second rate-distortion optimization, and said block is encoded (616) according to said best splitting mode. While performing (609) said at least one second rate-distortion optimization and when said at least one second subblock is located at a same position in the picture as said at least one first subblock and said at least one second subblock has a same width and same height as said at least one first subblock, at least one coding parameter of said at least one first subblock determined during said first rate-distortion optimization is used (605) for determining said coding parameters for said at least one second subblock.

For coding a picture of a video sequence, video compression methods usually divide the picture into a set of blocks of pixels.
In an HEVC video compression standard ("ITU-T H.265 Telecommunication standardization sector of ITU (10/2014), series H: audiovisual and multimedia systems, infrastructure of audiovisual services—coding of moving video, High efficiency video coding, Recommendation ITU-T H.265"), a picture is divided into Coding Tree Units (CTU), which size may be 64×64, 128×128 or 256×256 pixels. Each CTU may be further subdivided using a quad-tree division, where each leaf of the quad-tree is called a Coding Unit (CU). Each CU is then given some Intra or Inter prediction parameters. To do so, a CU is spatially partitioned into one or more Prediction Units (PU), a PU may have a square or a rectangular shape.
The Partitioning of a Coding Unit into Prediction Unit(s) is done according to a partition type, signaled in the bit-stream. For Intra coding unit, only the partition types 2N×2N and N×N, illustrated on FIG. 1, are allowed. This means only square Prediction Units are used in Intra Coding Units. On the contrary, Inter Coding Units can use all partition types shown on FIG. 1.
A Quad-Tree plus Binary-Tree (QTBT) coding tool ("Algorithm Description of Joint Exploration Test Model 3", Document JVET-C1001_v3, Joint Video Exploration Team of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11, 3rd meeting, 26th May-1st Jun. 2015, Geneva, CH), provides a CTU representation for representing picture data in a more flexible way than the units arrangement of the HEVC standard. The Quad-Tree plus Binary-Tree (QTBT) coding tool consists in a coding tree where coding units can be split both in a quad-tree and in a binary-tree fashion. Such coding tree representation of a Coding Tree Unit is illustrated on FIG. 2A, where solid lines indicate quad-tree partitioning and dotted lines indicate binary partitioning of a CU. The splitting of a coding unit is decided on the encoder side through a rate distortion optimization procedure, which consists in determining the QTBT representation of the CTU with minimal rate distortion cost. In the QTBT representation, a CU has either a square or a rectangular shape. The size of coding unit is always a power of 2, and typically goes from 4 to 128. The QTBT decomposition of a CTU is made of two stages: first the CTU is split in a quad-tree fashion, then each quad-tree leaf can be further divided in a binary fashion, as illustrated on FIG. 2B, where solid lines represent the quad-tree decomposition phase and dotted lines represent the binary decomposition that is spatially embedded in the quad-tree leaves.
With the introduction of the QTBT tool, a given block may be encoded through different splitting paths, as can be seen on FIG. 3. As shown from FIG. 3, the sub CU (hashed filled on FIG. 3) may be obtained by:
a horizontal splitting of the current CU to evaluate (with bolded boundary on FIG. 3) delivering a top sub CU and a bottom sub CU, followed by a vertical splitting of the top sub CU, or,
a vertical splitting of the current CU to evaluate delivering a left sub CU and a right sub CU, followed by a horizontal splitting of the left sub CU, or,
a quadtree splitting of the current CU to evaluate.
Therefore, for determining a best coding mode including a splitting configuration for the current CU, the computation of the rate-distortion costs for the top-left sub CU are done multiple times.

Method and apparatus for encoding a video


A single screw extruder of the type having a drive shaft coupled to the screw for rotational movement wherein the improvement comprises coupling the drive shaft to one end of the screw through a plurality of splines on the screw.

Thermoplastics resins are typically formed by extruding the material through a through a die which shapes the material. The raw material is placed in a hopper where it is moved into and through a chamber by a screw. The mechanical action of the feeder screw heats and feeds the material through chamber which is typically in the shape of a barrel. The heated and compressed material is forced through the die at the discharge end of the extruder. The extruded part assumes the cross-sectional shape of a die.
In a single screw extruder, the screw typically has an external diameter corresponding to outer edges of the helical threads or flights. The flights may be under sized in relation to the barrel in the feed or hopper area so as to reduce feedthroat friction. Typically, a single keyway in the shaft area of the screw matches a keyway in a sleeve portion of a drive shaft so that a key positioned in the matching keyways is utilized to transmit rotational movement from the drive shaft to the screw. The key is a separate piece of rectangular metal which fits into the matching keyways. A disadvantage attendant with the use of keys is that they may be lost or misplaced. Also, worn keys can contribute to screw wobble.
As the viscosity of the thermoplastic material increases, it has been observed, that in single screws of the above described type, radial screw movement or wobble may develop. Clearance in the feed area between the outside diameter of the screw and the inside of the barrel permits movement of screw. As the screw wears, metal may be removed between the exterior of the screw and the inside of the barrel. This creates additional clearance which may cause even more wobble or radial movement.
Hence, it is desirable, to reduce radial movement without reducing clearance in the feed screw area which clearance is desirable for extruding higher viscosity materials. Reduction in radial movement beneficially reduces screw wear and contamination of the finished product with residual metal particles from the screw or barrel. Reduction in radial movement also helps maintain tighter tolerances between the screw and the barrel and can result in higher feed rates. Any reduction in radial movement can result in a more efficient powder feed and less wear on single screw extruders.


Disclosed is a process for making extruded, closed-cell alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structure having an average cell size of from about 0.3 to about 3.0 millimeters. The process comprises: a) heating an alkenyl aromatic polymer material having greater than 50 percent by weight alkenyl aromatic monomeric units to form a melt polymer material; b) incorporating into the melt polymer material at an elevated pressure a blowing agent comprising at least 50 percent by weight 1,1-difluoroethane (HFC-152a) based upon the total weight of the blowing agent to form a foamable gel; c) cooling the foamable gel to an optimum foaming temperature prior to extrusion through a die; and d) extruding the foamable gel through a die to form the foam structure. Further disclosed is a foamable gel capable of forming an alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structure having an average cell size of from about 0.3 to about 3.0 millimeters.

This invention relates to a process for making a large cell size alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structure with 1,1-difluoroethane. The invention further relates to a foamable gel capable of being expanded to form such a foam structure.
Alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structures have been used extensively commercially in floral and craft applications. The most desirable of such foam structures are typically closed-cell, and further are of relatively large cell size, i.e. 0.3 to 3.0 millimeters.
Due to environmental concerns, it would be desirable to blow large cell size alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structures with a blowing agent having a low ozone depletion potential. One such blowing agent is 1,1-difluoroethane (HFC-152a). HFC-152a is relatively economical, and is readily-available commercially.
In making an alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structure of relatively large cell size, one skilled in the art might select an environmentally-acceptable blowing agent having relatively high solubility in the alkenyl aromatic polymer. High solubility would be sought after because, as a general principle, blowing agents with relatively high solubility in a particular polymer usually produce foam structures with relatively large cell sizes. Blowing agents of relatively low solubility usually produce foam structures having relatively small cell size. Thus, it would not be expected that a blowing agent of relatively low solubility, such as HFC-152a, in an alkenyl aromatic polymer would produce a foam structure of relatively large cell size.
Surprisingly, it has been found that a large cell alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structure can be blown using HFC-152a as a primary blowing agent. Further, the foam structure blown with HFC-152a has high heat distortion temperature properties and low impact strength characteristics.

Foamable composition and process for making large cell size alkenyl aromatic polymer foam structure with 1,1-difluoroethane


A method comprises detecting two fingers touching a first object icon on a touch sensitive display and then moving in generally opposing directions. The first object icon is associated with on or more constituent elements. In response to such detecting, the method causes additional object icons to appear on the display. Each additional object icon represents a constituent element of the first object icon.

Computer systems usually have a graphical user interface that enables a user to use a mouse to "click" or "double click" an icon on a display to view the contents of that icon. For example, if the icon represents a folder, double clicking on the icon will cause a new window to be shown on the display containing the constituent elements of the selected folder. The constituent elements may comprise additional folders and/or files. Searching the multiple folders may involve a great deal of clicking which can be cumbersome to the user.

Rendering object icons associated with a first object icon upon detecting fingers moving apart

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.


An insulating substrate is bonded to a monocrystalline Si substrate that includes a monocrystalline Si thin film transistor and a hydrogen ion implanted portion. After depositing an amorphous Si thin film, the amorphous Si thin film is modified into a polycrystalline Si thin film by irradiation of the excimer laser. In laser irradiation, the irradiation of the laser beam on the monocrystalline Si thin film transistor is blocked either by inserting a mask in part of the optical path of the laser beam, or by irradiating the laser beam before unnecessary portions of the monocrystalline Si substrate is detached. In this way, the irradiation of the laser beam for forming the polycrystalline Si thin film will not damage the monocrystalline Si thin film transistor in a semiconductor device in which the monocrystalline Si thin film transistor, which has been transferred, and the polycrystalline Si thin film transistor, which has been formed on the insulating substrate, are formed on the insulating substrate.

With the recent pervasion of personal information terminals using a computer or flat display panel, there has been rapid development of technologies involving integrated circuit element, TFT (Thin Film Transistor)-liquid crystal display, or TFT-organic EL display.
For example, in the integrated circuit element technology, a commercially-available monocrystalline Si (silicon) wafer, circular in shape with a thickness of less than 1 mm and a diameter of about 20 mm, is processed and about several hundred million transistors are formed on the monocrystalline Si wafer.
The TFT-liquid crystal display or TFT-organic EL display technology now employs a technique in which pixels or drivers of the liquid crystal display are made first by forming an amorphous Si film ("a-Si" hereinafter) or a polycrystalline semiconductor film such as a polycrystalline Si film ("p-Si" hereinafter) on a light-transmissive amorphous substrate such as a glass substrate, and then by processing such a film into a thin film transistor ("TFT" hereinafter). For example, display devices that drive the liquid crystal display, organic EL display, and the like by a method of driving generally known as active-matrix driving have been used, wherein the active-matrix driving is realized by the MOS transistor, used as a switching element, which is processed out of an amorphous Si film deposited on a high-strain-point glass substrate. The MOS transistor is formed by melting the amorphous Si film with the heat of a heat source such as a laser, so as to achieve a polycrystalline state in the amorphous Si film.
Particularly common is one with integrated peripheral drivers using p-Si that offers fast operation by its high mobility.
For the system integration of high-performance devices such as an image processor or timing controller, there is a demand for a Si device with better performance.
The need for better performance arises from the insufficient performance of the transistor for making a high-performance Si device, owning to the fact that the mobility is decreased or S coefficient (sub-threshold coefficient) is increased by the presence of a local level in the gap caused by the incomplete crystallinity of the polycrystalline Si, or by the presence of a defect or such a gap local level in the vicinity of a crystal grain boundary.
In light of such a drawback, there has been active research since the 1980's on a so-called SOI (silicon on insulator) technique, in which a monocrystalline Si thin film is formed on a substrate whose amorphous portion is in contact with the Si film. Note that, as the term is used herein, "SOI" refers to the act of forming the monocrystalline Si film on an insulating substrate, or a structure in which the monocrystalline Si film is formed on an insulating substrate. (Generally, the term "SOI" is used when the monocrystalline Si film is formed as a Si layer.)
In the field of integrated circuit, the SOI substrate is used to make desirable transistors and thereby drastically improve the functions of the semiconductor element. Generally, the type of substrate on which the monocrystalline Si film is formed in the integrated circuit is not particularly limited as long as it is an insulator. The substrate may be transparent or non-transparent, or crystalline or amorphous. Further, with the elements completely isolated, the integrated circuits have less restriction in term of operation. Thus, by making the transistor using the SOI substrate, desirable characteristics and high performance can be realized at the same time.
For improved performance of the Si device, a technique of making a semiconductor device has been researched, in which the semiconductor device is formed by first processing a monocrystalline Si thin film into a device such as a thin film transistor, and then by bonding the thin film transistor on an insulating substrate. (For example, see International Publication No. WO93/155898, J. P. Salerno "Single Crystal Silicon AMLCDs", Conference Record of the 1994 International Display Research Conference (IDRC), pp. 39-44 (1994), Q.-Y. Tong & U. Gesele, SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER BONDING: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, John Wiley & Sons, New York (1999)).
For example, Japanese Publication for Unexamined Patent Application No. 17107/1999 (Tokukaihei 11-17107, published on Jan. 22, 1999) (Publication 1) discloses a technique in which a two-dimensional LSI made from a monocrystalline silicon layer is formed on a porous silicon layer formed on a monocrystalline silicon substrate, and a supporting substrate is bonded to a surface of the two-dimensional LSI, before the two-dimensional LSI is detached from the monocrystalline silicon substrate in portions of the porous silicon layer.
In the SOI device, the monocrystalline Si is solely formed on the Si wafer having an insulating film, as disclosed in this publication. In fabricating a latch-up free or completely depleted element, this is advantageous over the bulk monocrystalline Si element that is directly made out of a Si wafer. However, due to chip size restriction etc., the applicable area of the SOI device has been limited to the fields of ICs and LSIs, including the semiconductor memory element.
This makes the use of the SOI device solely made of monocrystalline Si difficult when the semiconductor device is to be formed on a large-area light-transmissive amorphous substrate as in the active-matrix display device. In order to avoid such a drawback, the active-matrix display device generally adopts a structure in which a non-monocrystalline Si device is formed on a large-area light-transmissive substrate such as a glass substrate.
However, when used alone, it is extremely difficult for the non-monocrystalline Si device to match its performance with that of the monocrystalline Si device. For example, a non-monocrystalline Si thin film transistor (low-temperature polycrystalline Si thin film transistor, etc.) formed on a high-strain-point glass substrate by being crystallized by irradiation of an energy beam has incomplete crystallinity and therefore it can achieve a mobility of only about 300 cm2/VS even when it is an NMOS transistor. This arises from the insufficient performance of the transistor for making a high-performance Si device, owning to the fact that the mobility is decreased or S coefficient (sub-threshold coefficient) is increased by the presence of a local level in the gap caused by the incomplete crystallinity of the polycrystalline Si, or by the presence of a defect or such a gap local level in the vicinity of a crystal grain boundary.
That is, while the common method of depositing the amorphous Si film and crystallizing it into a polycrystal by irradiation of an energy beam may be sufficient to raise the performance of the Si film to the level of monocrystalline Si, it is insufficient to exactly match the performance of the Si film to that of the monocrystalline Si film. Thus, in order to obtain the very same performance of the monocrystalline Si device with the non-monocrystalline Si device alone, a further technical breakthrough is needed, requiring many more stages of development.
Note that, the source driver (data driver) of the active-matrix display device can still meet the requirements of required performance as a source driver even when devices of the same material are monolithically mounted on a single glass substrate. However, for devices (controller, D/A converter, etc.) that need to satisfy tougher requirements for their characteristics, it is difficult to monolithically mount devices of the same material on a single glass substrate and still obtain uniform threshold voltages and uniform elements with high mobility. That is, required characteristics cannot be obtained.
As another method of forming a high-performance semiconductor device, a method is available in which two kinds of semiconductor devices with different characteristics are formed on a single substrate. For example, Japanese Publication for Unexamined Patent Application No. 24106/1999 (Tokukaihei 11-24106, published on Jan. 29, 1999) (Publication 2) discloses a technique in which a substrate for a liquid crystal panel is fabricated by transferring polycrystalline silicon TFTs from one substrate to another substrate on which pixel regions with amorphous silicon TFTs have been formed.
It should be noted here that the foregoing publications 1 and 2 assume a construction in which a monocrystalline Si device and a polycrystalline Si device are formed on a single insulating substrate, wherein the former has been transferred from a different substrate, and the latter has been deposited on the insulating substrate. In this case, the polycrystalline Si thin film is formed by turning the amorphous Si thin film to a polycrystal by irradiation of a laser beam.
There are two ways to form the two kinds of semiconductor devices, the monocrystalline Si device and the polycrystalline Si device, on the insulating substrate. The first method is to first transfer the monocrystalline Si device on the insulating substrate and then form the polycrystalline Si device. The second method is to first form the polycrystalline Si device on the insulating substrate and then transfer the monocrystalline Si device.
By comparing these two methods, the advantage of the first method in which the polycrystalline Si device is formed after the monocrystalline Si device is transferred is that it allows the monocrystalline Si device to be transferred onto a flat surface of the insulating substrate and thereby prevent the problem of contact failure, etc. However, a drawback of this method is that the monocrystalline Si device is damaged as the laser that irradiates the amorphous Si thin film in the step of turning the amorphous Si thin film to a polycrystal also irradiates the monocrystalline Si device.
More specifically, the energy of the irradiated beam for achieving a polycrystalline state damages the monocrystalline Si device, making it difficult to obtain uniform threshold voltages and uniform elements with high mobility.

Fabrication method of semiconductor device


Provided are a photothermographic material which includes, on at least one side of a support, an image forming layer containing at least a photosensitive silver halide, a non-photosensitive organic silver salt, a reducing agent, and a binder, and is X-ray exposed with a fluorescent intensifying screen, wherein (1) the photosensitive silver halide includes tabular grains having a mean aspect ratio of 2 to 100 and a mean equivalent spherical diameter of 0.3 μm to 10 μm, (2) an exposure value necessary for obtaining an image density of fog+0.5 after exposing the photothermographic material with monochromatic light having the same wavelength as the main emission peak wavelength of the fluorescent intensifying screen and having a half width of 15 nm±5 nm and thermally developing the photothermographic material is from 1×10−6 watt·sec·m−2 to 1×10−3 watt·sec·m−2, and (3) haze of the photothermographic material after thermal devolpment is less than 80% of that before thermal development; and an image forming method using the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photothermographic material and an image forming method. More particularly, the invention relates to a high image quality photothermographic material with high sensitivity and preferable gradation and an image forming method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the medical field and the graphic arts field, there has been a strong desire for providing a dry photographic process from the viewpoints of protecting the environment and economy of space. Further, the development of digitization in these fields has resulted in the rapid development of systems in which image information is captured and stored in a computer, and then when necessary processed and output by transmitting it to a desired location. Here the image information is output onto a photosensitive material using a laser image setter or a laser imager, and developed to form an image at the location. It is necessary for the photosensitive material to be able to record an image with high-intensity laser exposure and that a clear black-tone image with a high resolution and sharpness can be formed. While various kinds of hard copy systems using pigments or dyes, such as ink-jet printers or electrophotographic systems, have been distributed as general image forming systems using such digital imaging recording materials, images on the digital imaging recording materials obtained by such general image forming systems are insufficient in terms of the image quality (sharpness, granularity, gradation, and tone) needed for medical images used in making diagnoses, and high recording speeds (sensitivity). These kinds of digital imaging recording materials have not reached a level at which they can replace medical silver halide film processed with conventional wet development.
Photothermographic materials utilizing organic silver salts are already known. Photothermographic materials have an image forming layer in which a reducible silver salt (for example, an organic silver salt), a photosensitive silver halide, and if necessary, a toner for controlling the color tone of developed silver images are dispersed in a binder.
Photothermographic materials form a black silver image by being heated to a high temperature (for example, 80° C. or higher) after imagewise exposure to cause an oxidation-reduction reaction between a silver halide or a reducible silver salt (functioning as an oxidizing agent) and a reducing agent. The oxidation-reduction reaction is accelerated by the catalytic action of a latent image on the silver halide generated by exposure. As a result, a black silver image is formed on the exposed region. Photothermographic materials are described in "Thermally Processed Silver Systems", appearing in "Imaging Processes and Materials", Neblette, 8th edition, edited by J. M. Sturge, V. Warlworth, and A. Shepp, chapter 8, pages 279 to 291, 1989, and the Fuji Medical Dry Imager FM-DPL is an example of a medical image forming system that has been made commercially available.
Since this kind of image forming system utilizing an organic silver salt has no fixing step, undeveloped silver halide remains inside the film after thermal development. Thus, there have intrinsically been two serious problems in the system.
One of them involves image instorability after a thermal developing process, particularly fogging due to print-out when the material is exposed to light. As a means to improve print-out, a method of using silver iodide is known. Silver iodide has the characteristic of causing less print-out than silver bromide or silver iodobromide having an iodide content of 5 mol % or less, and has a potential for fundamentally solving the problem. However, the sensitivity of silver iodide grains known until now is extremely low, and the silver iodide grains do not achieve a level of sensitivity that is applicable for an actual system. When means of preventing recombination between photoelectrons and holes is performed to improve the sensitivity, it is an inherent problem that the characteristic of being excellent in the print-out property will be lost.
As means of increasing the sensitivity of a silver iodide photographic emulsion, the literature discloses addition of a halogen acceptor such as sodium nitrite, pyrogallol, hydroquinone or the like, immersion in an aqueous silver nitrate solution, sulfur sensitization at a pAg of 7.5, and the like. However, the sensitization effect of these halogen acceptors is very small and extremely insufficient for use in photothermographic materials.
Another problem is that light scattering due to the remaining silver halide grains may cause cloudiness whereby the film turns translucent or opaque and image quality is degraded. To solve this problem, means in which the grain size of photosensitive silver halide grains is made fine (to within a range of practical use of 0.08 μm to 0.15 μm) and the addition amount is reduced as much as possible to suppress the cloudiness caused by the silver halide have been practically employed. However, the compromise results in decreasing the sensitivity further, the problem of cloudiness is not completely solved, and a dark milky color continues to remain and generate haze in the film.
In the case of a conventional wet developing process, the remaining silver halide is removed by processing with a fixing solution containing a silver halide solvent after the developing process. For the silver halide solvent, many kinds of inorganic and organic compounds are known which can form complexes with silver ions.
Even in the case of a dry thermal developing process, many attempts to introduce similar fixing measures in the material have been made. For example, a method has been proposed where a compound capable of forming complexes with silver ions is incorporated in the film and the silver halide is solubilized (usually referred to as fixing) through thermal development. However, this proposal only applies to silver bromide and silver chlorobromide, and the process also requires an additional heat treatment step for fixing, and the heating conditions require a high temperature within a range of from 155° C. to 160° C. Thus, the system is one in which fixing is difficult to achieve. In another proposal, a separate sheet (referred to as a fixing sheet) that includes a compound able to form complexes with silver ions is prepared, and after thermally developing the photothermographic material to form an image, the fixing sheet is overlaid on the developed photothermographic material, heating is carried out, and the remaining silver halide is dissolved and removed. However, since this proposal requires two sheets, from a practical viewpoint the obstacles are that the processing step is complicated and the operational stability of the process is hard to maintain, and that there is a necessity to discard the fixing sheets after processing, resulting in generation of waste.
As another fixing method usable in thermal development, a method is proposed where a fixing agent for the silver halide is encapsulated in microcapsules, and thermal development releases the fixing agent and causes it to act. However, it is difficult to achieve a design that effectively releases the fixing agent. A method for fixing using a fixing solution after thermal development is also proposed, but it requires a wet process and therefore is not adequate for a completely dry process.
As described above, known methods for improving the turbidity of film have negative effects, and there have been substantial difficulties in their practical application.
On the other hand, attempts have also been made at applying the above-mentioned photothermographic material as photosensitive material for photographing. The term "photosensitive material for photographing" as used herein means a photosensitive material on which images are recorded by a one-shot exposure through a lens, rather than by writing the image information by a scanning exposure with a laser beam or the like. Conventionally, photosensitive materials for photographing are generally known in the field of wet developing photosensitive materials, and include films for medical use such as direct or indirect radiography films, mammography films and the like, various kinds of photomechanical films used in printing, industrial recording films, films for photographing with general-purpose cameras, and the like. For example, an X-ray photothermographic material coated on both sides using a blue fluorescent intensifying screen, a photothermographic material containing tabular silver iodobromide grains described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 59-142539, and a photosensitive material for medical use containing tabular grains that have a high content of silver chloride and have (100) major faces, and that are coated on both sides of a support, which is described in JP-A No. 10-282606, are known. However, according to these disclosed examples, fine particle silver halide grains having a grain size of 0.1 μm or less are used, and the sensitivity is very low. Therefore, it has been difficult to obtain a sensitivity required for use in photographing. On the other hand, in the case of using silver halide grains having a grain size of 0.5 μm or more, because the remaining silver halide may increase the haze and worsen the print-out, deterioration of the image quality is severe, and the grains are not applicable for practical use.
The problem of low sensitivity has been a fundamental problem and a significant obstacle, and therefore it was largely unclear what other problems existed for practical use.

Photothermographic material and image forming method


The optical storage medium according to the invention uses a mask layer as a super resolution near field structure, which comprises a doped semiconductor material. The semiconductor material is n-doped particularly such that the reflectivity of the semiconductor material is increased, when irradiated with a laser beam. As a semiconductor material advantageously an indium alloy and as a doping material selenium or tellurium can be used. For the manufacturing of a respective optical storage medium a sputtering method for depositing the doped semiconductor material as the mask layer can be used, wherein the dopant is included already in the semiconductor sputtering target.

Optical storage media with a super resolution near field structure (Super-RENS) offer the possibility to increase the data density of the optical recording medium by a factor of three in one dimension as compared with regular optical recording media. This is possible by a so-called super RENS structure, which is placed above a data layer of the optical recording medium, and which significantly reduces the effective size of a light spot used for reading from and/or writing to the optical storage medium. The super resolution layer corresponds also, in a simplified picture, with a mask layer, because it is placed above the data layer and only the high intensity center part of a laser beam can penetrate the Super-RENS layer. However, also other types of Super-RENS layers are known where the reflectivity in the center point of the laser beam is increased.
A super resolution near field technique for recording and retrieving small marks beyond the optical diffraction limit is described be Tominaga, Nakano and Atoda in "An approach for recording and readout beyond the diffraction limit with an Sb thin film", Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 73, No. 15, 12 Oct. 1998, which describe to use an Sb thin film as the super resolution layer.
The Super-RENS layers at present under development for future optical storage media have the drawback that a high laser power is needed to heat the mask layer and the respective surrounding protection layers.
It is known that also semiconductor materials can be used as a mask layer for Super-RENS optical storage media, for example ZnO. A semiconductor material of this kind for a Super-RENS layer is described by Takamori et al, "Energy-Gap-Induced super-Resolution Optical Disc using ZnO Interference Film", Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 44, No. 5b, 2005, pp. 3627-3630. Takamori et al describe a Super-RENS disc with ZnO as an active layer deposited on a ROM type substrate and show that a temperature rise can locally increase the ZnO transmittance, thus triggering a near field interaction capable of below-diffraction-limit detection.
In the articles Hyot et al, "Phase change materials and Super-RENS", E*PCOS 05, Technical Digest, Cambridge, 2005, and Pichon et al, "Multiphysics Simulation of Super-Resolution BD ROM Optical Disk Readout" 2006 IEEE, 0-7803-9494-1/06, PP 206-208, a semi-conducting mask layer is proposed in which a local change of the refractive index can be obtained through photo generation of free carriers. A thermal description is given to provide information on temperature distribution during readout of the data layer.
In US2003/0193857 an optical disc comprising a Super-RENS mask layer is described comprising a semiconductor film which can have a contamination or a matrix material mixed into the semiconductor which is not more than 20 at %. The Super-RENS detection is based on an increase of the transmittance of the mask layer, which the transmittance being increased by absorption saturation of the semiconductor layer upon radiation with an incident laser beam. The mask layer may include impurities, which allows to shift the energy gap such that efficient absorption is obtained for a certain wavelength. An embodiment is described for which a GaP layer can be utilized as a Super-RENS layer when doping the GaP layer with Be, which provides an acceptor level, or Te, which provides a donor level. This allows an absorption saturation of the GaP layer by providing electron excitation when using a reproduction beam having a wavelength of 650 nm. For providing absorption saturation, a comparatively high laser power is required, for example 1.3 mW when using a pulsed laser source.

Optical storage medium comprising a mask layer with a super resolution near field structure


Processes for continuously forming latex emulsions useful in preparing toners are provided.

This disclosure relates to processes for preparing latex emulsions. More specifically, continuous processes for emulsion polymerization are described. These processes can be used to produce a latex suitable for use in the preparation of toner compositions.
Processes for forming toner compositions for use with electrostatographic, electrophotographic, or xerographic print or copy devices have been previously disclosed. For example, toners can be prepared by a process that involves emulsion preparation, followed by aggregation and coalescence of the emulsion, washing the resulting product, and then isolating the toner.
Methods of preparing an emulsion aggregation (EA) type toner are known and toners may be formed by aggregating a colorant with a latex polymer formed by batch or semi-continuous emulsion polymerization. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,943, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, is directed to a semi-continuous emulsion polymerization process for preparing a latex by first forming a seed polymer. Other examples of emulsion/aggregation/coalescing processes for the preparation of toners are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,290,654, 5,278,020, 5,308,734, 5,370,963, 5,344,738, 5,403,693, 5,418,108, 5,364,729, 5,346,797, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/155,452 filed on Jun. 17, 2005 entitled "Toner Processes", the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Other processes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,348,832, 5,405,728, 5,366,841, 5,496,676, 5,527,658, 5,585,215, 5,650,255, 5,650,256 and 5,501,935, the disclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
As noted above, latex polymers utilized in the formation of EA type toners may be formed by batch or semi-continuous emulsion polymerization. Where a batch process is utilized, because the individual batch process involves the handling of bulk amounts of material, each process takes many hours to complete before moving to the next process in the formation of the toner, that is, aggregation and/or coalescence. In addition, batch-to-batch consistency is frequently difficult to achieve because of variations that may arise from one batch to another. While semi-continuous polymerization may reduce the time required to proceed to aggregation and/or coalescence, it still can be difficult to achieve consistency in the product because of variations which can arise from one emulsion to another.
Spinning disc reactors (SDR) are known. The spinning disc concept for reactors attempts to apply process intensification methods within the fields of heat and mass transfer. The technology was developed for heat and mass transfer operations such as heat exchanging, heating, cooling, mixing, blending and the like, for example, as disclosed by Jachuck et al., "Process Intensification: The Opportunity Presented by Spinning Disc Reactor Technology," Inst. Chem. Eng. Symp. Ser. 1997, Vol. 141, pp. 417-424. The technology operates by the use of high gravity fields created by rotation of a disc surface causing fluid introduced to the disc surface at its axis to flow radially outward under the influence of centrifugal acceleration in the form of thin, often wavy, films. Such thin films exhibit excellent heat and mass transfer rates.
It would be advantageous to provide a process for the preparation of a latex resin suitable for use in a toner product that is more efficient, takes less time, and results in a consistent toner product.

Latex emulsion polymerizations in spinning disc reactors or rotating tubular reactors


A method and apparatus for accurately determining the location of a component picked up by a pickup device for facilitating accurate mounting of the component. The method employs an arrangement wherein diffusion-type light sources can be employed and the coordinates of the corners of the component are determined by measuring the shifting of the shadow of the component on a receptor by illuminating the light sources in sequence. In some instances, the accuracy of the measurement can be improved by rotating the component this being particularly useful if the component has a shape that deviates greatly from a square shape.

This invention relates to a position detector and more particularly to an improved position measuring apparatus and method of accurately locating components for use in placement apparatus such as chip mounters.
There is a considerable demand for devices that are capable of mounting or positioning small components such as integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors and the like at accurate locations on substrates such as printed circuit boards. This type of apparatus is generally referred to as a "chip" or "surface" mounter.
The components that are positioned are generally fed to the apparatus at a feeder location. Frequently, the components are positioned in specially-formed tapes that form individual pockets in which the components are received. Tape feeders present these components to a pickup device which then picks them up and positions them on the substrate.
At one time, these components were accurately positioned on the pickup apparatus by gripping fingers or other devices that physically engaged the component and would shift the component to a corrected position before placement. Many types of components do not, however, lend themselves to handling in this manner.
Therefore, a wide variety of types of non-contact sensors have been employed. These sensors sense the actual position of the component as picked up by the pickup device. By being able to determine the actual position of the component, then correction in its position can be made when the component is positioned on the substrate.
This invention deals primarily with such a non-contact type of sensing arrangement and method. One type of arrangement which is conventionally utilized for providing this sensing utilizes a plurality of laser-type light sources that operate through optical devices to cast a plurality of parallel light rays across a sensing station in which the component and its pickup device is positioned. A receptor is disposed on the other side of the pickup device and held component and a shadow is cast on that receptor. By rotating the component in the path of the light rays it is possible to measure from the shifting and size of the shadow the actual position of the component. These types of devices can be quite accurate.
However, they are also quite expensive. They require a plurality of laser light sources and frequently require in addition to a laser generator, a condenser lens, a mirror and a parallel light-forming lens all of which add to the cost of the apparatus.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement wherein a more simple light source can be employed for accurately determining the position of a component as picked up by a pickup device.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved low-cost sensor and sensing method for such applications.
In conjunction with the detecting of the component position and as has been noted, frequently a procedure is utilized that involves the rotation of the component and its pickup device in a sensing station. Although this procedure may be carried out during the time when the component is being transported, it nevertheless can be time-consuming. In addition, if the rotational movements are made rapidly or abruptly, they may actually cause the component to shift or in extreme cases become displaced from the pickup device.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved detecting method and apparatus for determining the position of a component which does not necessarily require rotation of the component.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved detecting apparatus and method wherein no relative movement need be required in order to provide a determination of the condition of the component relative to its pickup device.
One type of rotational methodology employed involves rotating the component to a position where the shadow which it casts has a minimum width. With rectangular components this permits determination of when an end of the component is perpendicular to the light sources. However since the initial position of the component may vary, the time to accomplish this step varies from component to component. Thus the apparatus must be capable of adjustment in its time sequence. This greatly complicates programming of the apparatus.
It is therefore a further object of this invention to provide a position determining method and apparatus that can operate on a fixed rather than variable time sequence.


The present invention generally relates to devices for imaging the interior of a vessel. The device can involve an elongated body configured to fit within the lumen of a vessel, a rotatable shaft positioned inside the elongated body, and a telescoping element, wherein a portion of the elongated body extends through the telescoping element, in which the elongated body is configured to contain the rotatable shaft inside the telescoping element.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is an important interventional diagnostic procedure for imaging atherosclerosis and other vessel diseases and defects. The procedure involves the threading of an IVUS catheter over a guidewire into a blood vessel and the acquisition of images of the surrounding area using ultrasonic echoes. The three-dimensional images obtained via IVUS are often more informative than images derived from other imaging techniques, such as angiography, which provide only two dimensional images.
Conventional IVUS catheters come in various designs, including include mechanical or rotational IVUS catheters. In a rotational IVUS catheter, a single transducer having a piezoelectric crystal is rapidly rotated while the transducer is intermittently excited with an electrical pulse. The excitation pulse causes the transducer to vibrate, sending out a series of transmit pulses. The transmit pulses are emitted at a frequency that allows time for receipt of echo signals. The sequence signals interspersed with receipt signals provides the ultrasound data required to reconstruct a complete cross-sectional image of a vessel.
Conventional rotational IVUS catheters include a drive cable disposed within a catheter body. A transducer is attached to the distal end of the drive cable. A coaxial cable or transmission line is disposed within the drive cable and also couples to the transducer. The coaxial cable delivers the intermittent electrical transmit pulses to the transducer, and delivers the received electrical radio signals from the transducer to the receiver amplifier. The IVUS catheter is removably coupled to an interface module, which controls the rotation of the drive cable and the coaxial cable within the catheter body and contains the transmitter and receiver circuitry for the transducer. Imaging catheters may also include a telescoping element, which is used to advance the transducer towards the distal end of the device.
Preventing the drive cable from buckling is important during operation of the IVUS catheter. When the drive cable folds over onto itself in the event of significant buckling, the electrical connections of the coaxial cable are severed and the imaging catheter is rendered inoperative. Even in less severe cases, buckling of the drive cable pulls the transducer inward, thereby scanning the incorrect region of the anatomy. This buckling of the drive cable often results from the small but still excessive amount of space between the drive cable and various components of the imaging device that surround the drive cable. Typically, a polyamide tube is used inside the telescope section of the catheter to constrain and support the drive cable, especially when the telescope is fully extended. This helps keep the drive cable from buckling when the telescope is moving forward from the fully extended position. The polyamide tube, however, adds unnecessary complexity (increased part number) to the device and also adds to assembly costs.

Rotational ultrasound imaging catheter with extended catheter body telescope

PHILIPS IMAGE GUIDED THERAPY CORPORATION


A rechargeable membrane flow cell battery useful for providing electrical power to electric loads. The rechargeable membrane flow cell battery includes a bipolar stack of at least two membrane flow cells and a single fuel cell electrode pair for converting membrane potentials generated by acidic and basic electrolyte ions to electrical potential. The ability to stack numerous membrane flow cells provides for increases in the energy density of the battery. The presence of a single electrode pair reduces activation polarization and decreases the cost and weight of the battery. Rapid recharging is accomplished by draining spent fluid and providing fresh electrolyte fluids. Conventional recharging is accomplished by reversing the fluid flows and applying electrical power, to regenerate the electrolytes.

1. Field the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ion membrane flow cell batteries for generating electrical potential. More particularly the present invention involves rechargeable batteries wherein membrane potentials generated by ions moving across ion membranes located in a stacked series of ion membrane flow cells are converted to electrical current and voltage by a single electrode pair.
2. Description of Related Art
Batteries which provide electrical voltage for utility load leveling and powering electric vehicles and spacecraft instrumentation have been the subject of intensive research for decades. In particular, efforts have been directed toward providing batteries having higher energy densities and higher power densities. Increased battery energy density contributes to increased vehicle driving range between battery recharging. On the other hand, increased power density provides improved vehicle acceleration and high speed driving. Thus, batteries used to power drive train motors are benefitted by high energy densities and power densities.
Electric vehicles and other drive train motors currently in use typically are powered by lead-acid batteries. One problem associated with these batteries is their limited cycle life when used under deep discharge conditions. Further, since the structural components of these batteries are metal, they are prone to corrosion. Also, the metal contained in the lead-acid voltage generating system contributes to high battery weights.
Additionally, lead-acid batteries contain numerous cells and incorporate an electrode pair for each cell. For many applications, multi-cell batteries having an electrode pair for each cell are needed to generate the power and current densities required for powering, for example, electric vehicles.
A significant problem associated with multi-cell batteries is that provision must be made for the conduction of electric current from one cell to the next. In lead-acid batteries, substantial amounts of lead are provided solely for current conduction. This lead contributes substantial weight and does not contribute useful energy. An additional problem associated with battery electrodes involves activation polarization, a voltage loss due to the process of changing electronic flow into ionic flow. Unfortunately, since multi-cell batteries have numerous electrode pairs, they exhibit substantial amounts of activation polarization and decreased cycle lives. The presence of numerous electrode pairs also contributes to decreased battery efficiency, decreased power density and decreased current density.
It would be desirable to provide a battery in which multiple, heavy internal current conductors are not needed. It would also be desirable to provide corrosion resistant batteries which exhibit decreased amounts of activation polarization. Further, it would be desirable to provide batteries having increased cycle lives while being capable of developing power densities and energy densities sufficiently high to power vehicles having acceptable acceleration, high speed and range.


A rubber composition comprising as a rubber component a specified styrene-butadiene copolymer (A) and a styrene-isoprene copolymer of a specified hydrogenation ratio (B) wherein a bound styrene content of the copolymer (B) is larger by a given value than a bound styrene content of the copolymer (A) is good in the wear resistance and fracture property and further excellent in the wet-skid resistance and dry gripping property.

Recently, the demand on the high-speed running stability of the vehicle becomes further severer, and hence it is strongly desired to use rubber having excellent wet-skid resistance and dry gripping property in addition to the wear resistance and fracture properties required from the past as a rubber material for a tire tread in the vehicle. However, it is difficult to simultaneously satisfy these properties, and particularly the wear resistance, wet-skid resistance and dry gripping property have a conflicting relation to each other. The gripping property is dependent on the hysteresis loss of the rubber composition. In order to enhance the gripping property of the rubber composition, a greater amount of an aromatic type softening agent has hitherto been compounded, which brings about the lowering of the fracture properties.
In order to solve this problem, the invention disclosed in JP-A-63-101440 proposes the use of low molecular weight SBR. However, a double bond having a crosslinking property is existent though the molecular weight is low, so that there is a problem that a part of the low molecular weight component is crosslinked with rubber matrix and taken into the matrix and hence the sufficient hysteresis loss is not produced. Also, if the double bond part is rendered into a saturated bond by hydrogenation so as not to take the low molecular weight component into the matrix through the crosslinking, the compatibility with the matrix becomes considerably poor, and as a result, there are problems that the fracture properties lower and the low molecular weight component bleeds out.
Furthermore, rubber compositions aiming at the improvement of workability, low fuel consumption, fracture properties and gripping force by a blend of high molecular weight body and a low molecular weight body are disclosed in the inventions of JP-B-59-52664, JP-A-58-147442, JP-A-58-147443, JP-A-60-240746, JP-A-61-203145, JP-A-62-135506, JP-A-64-16845 and the like, but they can not sufficiently satisfy the wet-skid resistance, dry gripping property and wear resistance.
JP-A-2000-129037 discloses a technique solving the above problems. This technique uses a rubber composition using a specified styrene-butadiene copolymer (A′) and a styrene-butadiene copolymer having a specified hydrogenation ratio (B′) as a rubber component, in which a bound styrene content of the copolymer (B′) is made larger by a given value than a bound styrene content of the copolymer (A′), as a rubber material for a tire tread. However, tires having a further improved gripping property are demanded at the present, and the gripping property is insufficient even in the tire using the rubber composition disclosed in the JP-A=2000-129037 in the tread.

Rubber composition and pneumatic tire using the same in tread


A method and apparatus for configuring an image production device is disclosed. The method may include receiving a signal to scan a document containing one or more coded objects, scanning the object coded document, decoding the one or more coded objects from the scanned object coded document into feature identification data, matching the feature identification data to one or more corresponding image production device features, and enabling the one or more corresponding image production device features on the image production device.

Disclosed herein are a method and apparatus for configuring an image production device.
To increase the efficiency of a supply chain, it is advantageous to ship only one manufactured product for multiple sold products (i.e., customer end items). In conventional supply chains, multiple products, such as image production devices, are shipped from a manufacturer or distributer for multiple end items that contain different features (e.g., different speeds, fax enabled, software features, print drivers, security features and scan to e-mail features, etc.).
However, this process is costly as it requires a vendor, distributer, or manufacturer to carry a large, space consuming, and costly inventory of devices to meet customers' demands for specific devices with specific features. Alternatively, the manufacturer may customize each machine for each customer (or a majority of their customers) which is slow, time consuming, and costly.

Method and apparatus for configuring an image production device


A strap handle for a package and being capable of attachment to the sidewall of the package comprises a longitudinal slit sufficiently long to divide the strap handle into a lower attachment portion which is secured to the package and an upper free ribbon portion which can be pulled away from the sides of the package and lifted over the top of the package for transport. The strap handle is a flexible sheet or film which can be glued to the package.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel handle for packages. The invention is also directed to packages, in general, containing the novel handle and, more specifically, to flip-top packages containing the novel handle which can be used for transporting the package after the package has been opened. The invention is also concerned with a novel handle for packages used to store granular products.
2. Description of Prior Art
Many products are provided to consumers in granular form which includes any form having physical characteristics similar to granular materials, such as powders. Among the list of granular consumer products are many laundry detergents and dish washing detergents. Granular detergents are generally used in relatively large volumes. Due to the vast quantity of consumer products sold in granular form, there is a great demand for convenient and strong packages to house these products.
Packages for granular consumer products should have several key characteristics. The package must be able to withstand the rigors of transportation from the manufacturer to the retailer and to the ultimate place of use by the consumer. It is also desirable that the package enable the consumer to remove product therefrom as simply as possible. Furthermore, the package should be easy to lift and carry, thereby making it desirable in many instances for the package to include a handle.
Perhaps most importantly, it is desirable, particularly in today's competitive marketplace, to reduce the costs associated with packaging. These costs, of course, include the costs of the materials required to make the package, the costs of making the package, shipping the empty package to the granular product manufacturer, forming and filling the package at the product manufacturer, shipping the filled package to the retailer, and all handling costs along the way.
Combining all of these features into one package for housing granular materials is not an easy task. Particularly troubling is the inclusion of a handle on a package while maintaining costs at a minimum. Handles often increase costs significantly. Sometimes the handles themselves or their attaching elements are expensive and sometimes the method of attachment is costly. Handles, also, often create irregularly shaped blanks and containers which occupy excessive space increasing shipping and handling costs.
Attachment of handles to various types of containers is not new. U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,423 issued to Wigemark on Dec. 4, 1979 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,052 issued to Bringer on Sep. 14, 1971 are exemplary of handles attached to containers by inserting their ends into openings in the container. There is, however, nothing to prevent granular material from flowing out through the openings with this type of arrangement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,534 issued to Sutton on Aug. 17, 1982 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,687 issued to Taguchi et al on May 14, 1985 are exemplary of typical package handles attached externally to containers. These handles are attached to the container by the use of an externally mounted fitment. The fitment is generally a "U" shaped attachment and the handle fits through the space in the "U". Although this arrangement effectively prevents the escape of granular materials since there is no opening in the container, this arrangement results in increased packaging costs due to the irregularly shaped container caused by the external fitments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,420, to Gunn et al, discloses a package with a strap handle which avoids the prior handles which were inserted into the openings of the container and the need for externally attached fitments which resulted in increase packaging costs. The handle of the patent includes barbs at each end which are fitted into apertures in the side walls of the container. The package also includes an insert so that granular material does not flow out of the package. The barb members on each end of the strap handle are adapted to hook into the respective apertures without permitting the handle to pull completely out during normal use. While being disclosed as a handle which minimizes packaging costs, the process for inserting the barbed strap handles into the apertures requires specialized machinery and, accordingly, the manufacture and use of such machinery adds to the production costs of the package.
Recently, strap handles have been used on packages which contain granular material such as detergents in which the strap handle is attached to the top of the package. Such packages, in particular, those packages used to hold a granular detergent material include a flip-top in which the top is attached to the body of the container by means of a hinge at the rear of the package and to the remaining package sides by an intermediate tear strip which extends around three sides of the package. The tear strip is torn away by the consumer allowing the top to flip up and close along the rear hinge. Unfortunately, once the tear strip is removed, the handle cannot readily be used again since the top simply flips up upon lifting of the handle. Such a handle is not very convenient as the consumer cannot carry the package from one location to another once the tear strip has been removed. The invention is not limited to only those packages which contain granular products, but to packages with handles, in general, regardless of the contents of the package.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a handle for a package which is suitable for housing granular materials.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a package which includes a handle and is strong enough to withstand the rigors of transportation from the manufacturer to the consumer, and is convenient for the consumer to transport and remove the contents therefrom.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a handle for a package and which can be attached to the package in a manner which allows the consumer to readily transport the package from one location to another both before and after the top lid of the package has been opened.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a package with a strong and convenient handle while maintaining all packaging associated costs to a minimum.
Yet another object of the invention is to manufacture a package which contains a handle and to maintain all manufacturing costs for such package to a minimum.

Strap handle and package containing same


A fire alarm system comprises one or more fire alarm addressable modules (3), which interface with a fire alarm loop (1) along which data and power may be transmitted, and a voice alarm system comprising one or more amplifiers (6) connected to respective speakers (7) for transmitting voice alarm messages. The or each fire alarm module comprises a message store (22), means for interfacing with an amplifier (6) of the voice alarm system, means for interfacing with the fire alarm loop (1) and means for interpreting signals from the loop (1) and for selecting an appropriate message for transmission from the message store (22).

There is increasing demand for voice alarm systems resulting from an increased awareness on health and safety issues and legislation.
Essentially a voice alarm (VA) system is the sounder part of a fire alarm system. The two are inextricably linked and must work together. In the U.K. there are two standard codes of practice for the installation of fire alarm (FA) and voice alarm (VA) systems, these are BS 5839 pts 1 and 8 respectively.
VA systems tend to be expensive to install and they also tend to be installed by the audio industry, (public address (PA) type audio contractors). There is quite often a conflict at the interface of the two systems where the contractors and equipment meet.
Traditionally PA equipment has been build in 19″ racks from discrete parts. There has then been introduced a form of control console and interface with the FA system. Most of these systems are centralised although there are one or two so called distributed systems available. All of these systems basically work in the same manner viz;                The FA system detects a fire and gives a corresponding signal to the VA system via an interface.        This interface whilst capable of being intelligent is almost always in the form of discrete relay switches of one form or another because of the incompatibility between the two systems.        The VA system comprises a control section which then works out what this signal should be interpreted as via its programming and then routes a required pre-recorded digital message to a correct array of amplifiers.        The amplifiers then route these appropriate messages to correct sets of speakers.        The VA control system is responsible for interpreting the incoming signal and deciding the priority of the message (compared to other current audio signals) and the routing of the response through its own programming regime.        The VA control system is responsible for monitoring itself and its external wiring and giving life safety fault messages back to the FA equipment in a manner prescribed by the aforementioned standards.
In the types of buildings that require VA systems to be installed there is also quite often a need for a PA system. Traditionally the two systems form just one (hence the involvement of the PA installation industry) where the standards dictate that the life safety function is paramount amongst other requirements. All equipment is currently made to be capable of being extended into the PA mode for example switching matrixes and paging panels are available to be connected to the equipment so that it may also be used as a PA system.
Current VA systems in their most rudimentary of forms tend to come in small racks requiring connection interfacing and programming into the FA system as a minimum. Currently the lowest available price for the smallest of such systems is well in excess of £2K.
In almost all cases where a VA system is required there will be installed an analogue addressable type of FA system. These systems have many detectors/manual call points/peripheral devices connected to one pair of wires going round a building in the form of a loop both beginning and ending at the control equipment. The devices connected to these 'loops' are termed analogue addressable devices since they each have an individual address and communicate continuously backwards and forwards individually with the control equipment using the pair of wires as both a power source and the data highway. One type of device that fits onto these 'loops' is termed an 'output unit' which is basically an addressable relay. One common way of triggering the VA is by an array of these output units where they are programmed in the FA control panel to give outputs at specific times under specific conditions of various detectors/manual call points being triggered.
It can be seen therefore that the interfacing of the two systems can become quite complex and that both systems require a degree of programming and interfacing. This can become quite involved and contentious when the two systems are to an extent incompatible.
It is known in the marketplace that there is a likelihood of a PA system being required as well as a VA system. However, specifications tend to be directed at providing the statutory function of VA as opposed to the utility function of PA. It is therefore not necessary to accommodate any normal PA function within the equipment, just the facility to be able to extend it to also provide this utility function at some future time and place.


An opposed-piston engine has a cylinder block with a plurality of cylinders arranged inline, with each cylinder including an intake port longitudinally separated from an exhaust port. The engine is equipped with an air handling system that includes intake and exhaust chambers inside the cylinder block. All of the cylinder intake ports are contained in the intake chamber to receive charge air therein. The intake chamber includes elongated air inlets opening through opposing sides of the cylinder block. The exhaust chamber includes at least one exhaust outlet opening through a side of the cylinder block; all of the cylinder exhaust ports are contained in the exhaust chamber to discharge exhaust thereinto.

The field relates to two-stroke cycle, opposed-piston engines. Particularly, the field concerns an air handling system that delivers air to, and transports exhaust from, the inline cylinders of an opposed-piston engine.
A two-stroke cycle engine is an internal combustion engine that completes a cycle of operation with a single complete rotation of a crankshaft and two strokes of a piston connected to the crankshaft. The strokes are typically denoted as compression and power strokes. One example of a two-stroke cycle engine is an opposed-piston engine in which two pistons are disposed in the bore of a cylinder for reciprocating movement in opposing directions along the central axis of the cylinder. Each piston moves between a bottom center (BC) location where it is nearest one end of the cylinder and a top center (TC) location where it is furthest from the one end. The cylinder has ports formed in the cylinder sidewall near respective BC piston locations. Each of the opposed pistons controls one of the ports, opening the port as it moves to its BC location, and closing the port as it moves from BC toward its TC location. One of the ports serves to admit charge air into the bore, the other provides passage for the products of combustion out of the bore; these are respectively termed "intake" and "exhaust" ports (in some descriptions, intake ports are referred to as "air" ports or "scavange" ports). In a uniflow-scavenged opposed-piston engine, pressurized charge air enters a cylinder through its intake port as exhaust gas flows out of its exhaust port, thus gas flows through the cylinder in a single direction ("uniflow")—from intake port to exhaust port.
Charge air and exhaust products flow through the cylinder via an air handling system (also called a "gas exchange" system). Fuel is delivered by injection from a fuel delivery system. As the engine cycles, a control mechanization governs combustion by operating the air handling and fuel delivery systems in response to engine operating conditions. The air handling system may be equipped with an exhaust gas recirculation ("EGR") system to reduce production of undesirable compounds during combustion.
In an opposed-piston engine, the air handling system moves fresh air into and transports combustion gases (exhaust) out of the engine, which requires pumping work. The pumping work may be done by a gas-turbine driven pump, such as a compressor, and/or by a mechanically-driven pump, such as a supercharger. In some instances, the compressor unit of a turbocharger may feed the inlet of a downstream supercharger in a two-stage pumping configuration. The pumping arrangement (single stage, two-stage, or otherwise) drives the scavenging process, which is critical to ensuring effective combustion, increasing the engine's indicated thermal efficiency, and extending the lives of engine components such as pistons, rings, and cylinders. The pumping work also drives an exhaust gas recirculation system.
FIG. 1 illustrates a turbocharged, two-stroke cycle, opposed-piston engine 10 with uniflow scavenging. The engine 10 has at least one ported cylinder 50. For example, the engine may have one ported cylinder, two ported cylinders, or three or more ported cylinders. Each ported cylinder 50 has a bore 52 and longitudinally-spaced intake and exhaust ports 54 and 56 formed or machined near respective ends of a cylinder wall. Each of the intake and exhaust ports includes one or more circumferential arrays of openings or perforations. In some descriptions, each opening is referred to as a "port"; however, the construction of one or more circumferential arrays of such "ports" is no different than the port constructions shown in FIG. 1. Pistons 60 and 62 are slidably disposed in the bore 52 with their end surfaces 61 and 63 in opposition. The piston 60 controls the intake port 54, and the piston 62 controls the exhaust port 56. In the example shown, the engine 10 further includes at least one crankshaft; preferably, the engine includes two crankshafts 71 and 72. The intake pistons 60 of the engine are coupled to the crankshaft 71, and the exhaust pistons 62 to the crankshaft 72.
As the pistons 60 and 62 near their TC locations, a combustion chamber is defined in the bore 52 between the end surfaces 61 and 63 of the pistons. Combustion timing is frequently referenced to the point in the compression cycle where minimum combustion chamber volume occurs because the pistons end surfaces are nearest each other; this point is referred to as "minimum volume." Fuel is injected directly into cylinder space located between the end surfaces 61 and 63. In some instances injection occurs at or near minimum volume; in other instances, injection may occur before minimum volume. Fuel is injected through one or more fuel injector nozzles positioned in respective openings through the sidewall of the cylinder 50. Two such nozzles 70 are shown. The fuel mixes with charge air admitted into the bore 52 through the intake port 54. As the air-fuel mixture is compressed between the end surfaces 61 and 63, the compressed air reaches a temperature and a pressure that cause the fuel to ignite. Combustion follows.
With further reference to FIG. 1, the engine 10 includes an air handling system 80 that manages the transport of charge air to, and exhaust gas from, the engine 10. A representative air handling system construction includes a charge air subsystem and an exhaust subsystem. In the air handling system 80, a charge air source receives intake air and processes it into pressurized air (hereinafter "charge air"). The charge air subsystem transports the charge air to the intake ports of the engine. The exhaust subsystem transports exhaust products from exhaust ports of the engine for delivery to other exhaust components.
The air handling system 80 may include a turbocharger 120 with a turbine 121 and a compressor 122 that rotate on a common shaft 123. The turbine 121 is in fluid communication with the exhaust subsystem and the compressor 122 is in fluid communication with the charge air subsystem. The turbocharger 120 extracts energy from exhaust gas that exits the exhaust ports 56 and flows into an exhaust channel 124 directly from the exhaust ports 56, or from an exhaust manifold assembly 125 that collects exhaust gasses output through the exhaust ports 56. In this regard, the turbine 121 is rotated by exhaust gas passing through it to an exhaust outlet channel 128. This rotates the compressor 122, causing it to generate charge air by compressing fresh air. The charge air subsystem may include a supercharger 110 and an intake manifold 130. The charge air subsystem may further include at least one charge air cooler (hereinafter, "cooler") to receive and cool the charge air before delivery to the intake port or ports of the engine. The charge air output by the compressor 122 flows through a charge air channel 126 to a cooler 127, whence it is pumped by the supercharger 110 to the intake ports. Charge air compressed by the supercharger 110 is output to an intake manifold 130. The intake ports 54 receive charge air pumped by the supercharger 110, through the intake manifold 130. A second cooler 129 may be provided between the outlet of the supercharger 110 and the inlet of the intake manifold 130.
In some aspects, the air handling system 80 may be constructed to reduce undesirable emissions produced by combustion by recirculating a portion of the exhaust gas produced by combustion through the ported cylinders of the engine. The recirculated exhaust gas is mixed with charge air to lower peak combustion temperatures, which reduces production of the undesirable emissions. This process is referred to as exhaust gas recirculation ("EGR"). The EGR construction shown obtains a portion of the exhaust gasses flowing from the port 56 during scavenging and transports them via an EGR channel 131 external to the cylinders into the incoming stream of inlet air in the charge air subsystem. The recirculated exhaust gas flows through the EGR channel 131 under the control of a valve 138 (referred to as the "EGR valve").
FIG. 2 shows the air handling system 80 of FIG. 1 in schematic detail. In this regard, the charge air subsystem provides intake air to the compressor 122. As the compressor 122 rotates, compressed air flows from the compressor's outlet, through the charge air channel 126, and into the supercharger 110. Charge air pumped by the supercharger 110 flows through the cooler 129 into the intake manifold 130. Pressurized charge air is delivered from the intake manifold 130 to the intake ports of the cylinders 50, which are supported in a cylinder block 160. In some aspects, the engine may include a recirculation channel 112 that couples the outlet of the supercharger 110 to its inlet. Provision of a valve 139 in the recirculation channel 112 allows the charge air flow to the cylinders to be varied by modulation of charge air pressure downstream of the supercharger outlet.
Exhaust gasses from the exhaust ports of the cylinders 50 flow from the exhaust manifold 125 into the turbine 121, and from the turbine into the exhaust outlet channel 128. In some instances, one or more after-treatment devices (AT) 162 are provided in the exhaust outlet channel 128. Exhaust is recirculated through the EGR channel 131, under control of the EGR valve 138. The EGR channel 131 is in fluid communication with the charge air subsystem via an EGR mixer (not shown).
Opposed-piston engines have included various constructions designed to transport engine gasses (charge air, exhaust) into and out of the cylinders. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,517,634 describes an early opposed-piston aircraft engine that made use of a multi-pipe exhaust manifold having a pipe in communication with the exhaust area of each cylinder that merged with the pipes of the other cylinders into one exhaust pipe. The manifold was mounted to one side of the engine.
Later, in the 1930s, the Jumo 205 family of opposed-piston aircraft engines established a basic air handling architecture for dual-crankshaft, inline, opposed-piston engines. Each engine was equipped with multi-pipe exhaust manifolds that bolted to opposite sides of an inline cylinder block with six cylinders so as to place a respective pair of opposing pipes in communication with the annular exhaust area of each cylinder. The outlet pipe of each exhaust manifold was connected to a respective one of two entries to a turbine. A two-stage pressure charging system provided pressurized charge air. The pressurized charge air output by the second stage flowed through an intercooler that straddled the bottom of the engine. The charge air then flowed out from the intercooler through pipes to intake conduits which ran along the sides of the engine like the exhaust manifolds. The constructions of the exhaust and intake systems imposed considerable burdens that resulted in increased engine volume, weight and cost, and reduced performance.
The prior art exhaust manifolds extracted a penalty in increased engine size and weight. Each individual pipe required structural support in order to closely couple the pipe opening with the annular exhaust space of a cylinder. Typically, the support was in the form of a flange at the end of each pipe with an area sufficient to receive threaded fasteners for sealably fastening the flange to a corresponding area on a side of the cylinder block. The flanges of each manifold were arranged row-wise in order to match the inline arrangement of the cylinders. The flange width restricted cylinder-to-cylinder spacing, which required the engine to be comparatively heavy and large.
The prior art intake construction for the Jumo 205 required an intercooler mounted to the engine that was coupled to two intake conduits, one on each side of the engine, via pipes and fittings that introduced length, bends, and constrictions into the charge air pathway between the cooler and the conduits. The variations in direction and flow resistance resulted in parasitic eddies and oscillations that produced sharp variations in charge air pressure from cylinder to cylinder and that changed in response to changing engine conditions. Surges, spikes, and other sharp inconsistencies and asymmetries in the pressure of charge air delivered to the intake ports can produce inconsistent combustion and incomplete scavenging, making the engine less efficient, dirtier-running, and more difficult to control over the range of engine operating conditions that the engine was designed for.
The Jumo intake construction also included a manifold structure formed inside the cylinder block by subdividing space into individual compartments for the inlet areas of the cylinders. Each compartment opened through opposing sides of the cylinder block to receive charge air from the intake conduits. Such a manifold structure may produce charge air pressure differentials between inlet ports, which can cause variations in combustion and scavenging as engine operating conditions change.

Air handling constructions for opposed-piston engines


In the three-terminal optical signal amplifying device 10, a portion of the neighboring light LS at other wavelength than that of the first wavelength λ1 that is selected from the output light from the element 14 by the optical add drop filter 16, and the control light Lc at the second wavelength λ2 input from the external are together input to the second semiconductor optical amplifying element 18. The output light including the output signal light LOUT at the second wavelength λ2 and the neighboring light at the neighboring wavelength to the second wavelength λ2 that is modulated and controlled by the control light LC in the cross gain modulation is output from the second semiconductor optical amplifying element 18. And the output signal light LOUT at the second wavelength λ2 passes through the wavelength selecting filter 20.

Actually, in optical communication, an optical signal that has been transmitted at a high speed is once converted into an electrical signal, which is subjected to data processing in an electronic circuitry, and the processed data signal is then reconverted into an optical signal to be transmitted. This incapability to achieve direct control of an optical signal with another optical signal has limited the efficiency of optical signal processing.
In such as high-speed processing of bulk information and broad-band services that provide information such as dynamic image communication and picture image transmission or distribution, using fiber-optic communication capable of broad-band efficient and high-speed data transmission or transfer, there is expected technique for processing an optical signal by another optical signal. In electronics, for example, there have been required functional elements (signal amplifying elements) equivalent to transistors, that is, optical function devices capable of controlling an optical signal directly with another optical signal.
The present inventors has suggested an optical function element and an optical function device that are configured to output an amplified signal light by controlling an input light using a control light as disclosed in WO02/086616 A1, Patent Document 1. It discloses a three-terminal optical function element to output a processed signal light of a first wavelength after such as a switching processing by a control light, as follows. A first input light at the first wavelength and a bias light at a second wavelength having a predetermined intensity are input to a first semiconductor optical amplifying element. A light at a second wavelength selected from the output light from the first semiconductor optical amplifying element and another laser light (control light) at another wavelength, for example, the first wavelength, are coupled together and input into a second semiconductor optical amplifying element. A portion of the output light from the second semiconductor optical amplifying element is returned by positive feedback, and an output signal light at the first wavelength is selected from the other portion.
Patent Document 1: WO02/086616 A1

Three-terminal optical signal amplifying device