Data channels are sorted into an order in terms of an exponent E, where E is defined in the equation: segment interval=C*2E, in which segment interval is a number of the slots between instances of a given data channel, and the data channels are assigned to ones of the slots in terms of the order. Subsequent to the assigning data channels, the control channel is assigned to ones of the slots on the data line. Optionally assigning the data channels assigns all data channels to ones of the slots on the data line to reduce the number of unassigned slots.

Time-division multiplexing can be used for scheduling one or more data channels (for transferring data) and control channels (for transferring control information and messages) periodically on a data line. Data channels are periodic time periods in which certain data is transmitted on the data line. Each data channel can include multiple slots, with each slot comprising multiple bits. Data channels can have different lengths, with and the length can be measured in units of bits or slots, where a slot can comprise multiple bits. The period between each instance of a data channel can be called a "segment interval"
Scheduling a data line with control and data channels using conventional time-division multiplexing techniques can involve use of lookup tables to determine where channels can be assigned. This can be resource intensive, and in some applications can present design and implementation challenges. The design and implementation challenges that can be associated with these conventional scheduling techniques can arise in various applications, for example making a data line compatible with the Serial Low-Power Inter-Chip Media Bus (SLIMBUS). SLIMBUS is a standard defining communications between baseband or application processors and peripheral components in mobile terminals. The SLIMBUS standard is intended to accommodate simultaneous access of multiple digital audio devices to a single two-line bus, and its contemplated benefits include, for example, reducing pin count, package size, printed circuit board (PCB) layout area, and/or power consumption.
Among factors that can complicate design and implementation issues and challenges that may be associated with SLIMBUS, and possibly other present or future standards, is that the standard establishes interfaces and protocols for a data and clock line in terms of a physical layer, framer layer, interface device, manager device, framer device, and various other devices that will be collectively referenced as "generic devices." However, SLIMBUS omits, and perhaps other future standards similarly omit, description of software instructions for configuring general purpose programmable processors to perform in accordance with the standard. For example, the SLIMBUS standard does not specify software instructions, or processing logic flow sufficiently to readily map to software instructions, for various tasks required to meet the standard. Examples of such tasks can include, without limitation, allocating data and control channels within a superframe of the data line.


A fold-up mechanism for an electric treadmill having a single lifting motor for bringing a main frame thereof in a tilt and a fold-up position. The lifting motor and a transmission spindle are positioned between both inverted T-bases. A slide tube with a female threaded hole is threadedly mounted on the transmission spindle. An opposing end of the slide tube is pivotally coupled to a lifting rod. Meanwhile, a front cross bar is attached to an opposing end of the lifting rod. Two handrails are extended upwardly from both side of the front cross bar. Moreover, one end of the main frame is pivotally attached to middle bars of the inverted T-bases while a telescopic unit and a pull rod are pivotally coupled at a first end thereof to the bottom end of the main frame as well as at a second end thereof to slide tube and the lifting rod, respectively. In this way, when the lifting motor comes into operation to impart motion to the transmission spindle for an in-place rotation, the slide tube undergoes a reciprocating displacement, thereby bringing the main frame in a tilted and a fold-up position.

1. Fields of the Invention
The invention relates to a fold-up mechanism for an electric treadmill, and more particularly, to a fold-up mechanism that employs a single lifting motor to bring a main frame in a tilt or a fold-up position.
2. Description of the Related Art
A tilting mechanism of a conventional treadmill is used to adjust the supported angle of a main frame relative to a base frame for creating a certain walking slope. Meanwhile, a fold-up mechanism is used to fold-up the main frame in a storage position for reducing the space occupied by the treadmill. Generally speaking, these can be classified into a manual and an automatic type. The present invention is an improvement of the above-mentioned mechanisms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,228 teaches a mechanism with a lifting motor, pull cable, pulley wheels and return springs to fold-up a main frame of a treadmill between two handrails. Therefore, the main frame can be lifted in a tilt and a fold-up position. Although this prior art has its original design, the mechanism requires complicated and miscellaneous components. In addition, the pull cable and the return springs are subject to fatigue and slack. This is regarded as drawbacks of this prior art.
Another prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,745 teaches a treadmill with its main frame pivotally coupled to a slide groove of a base. Meanwhile, a lifting motor pushes downwardly a supporting rod pivotally attached to the main frame. In this way, the main frame is swivelable in the slide groove to be lifted in a storage position. However, this apparatus doesn't have the function to bring the main frame in a tilt position. Besides, the lifting motor applied its driving force to only one end of the main frame so that the arm of force is evidently mechanically too short. Especially, the lifting motor is movable with the lifting action, and the lifting motor bears all loading created by the main frame. So, the lifting motor is subject to overload that would cause damage to the lifting motor.
A further prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,368 teaches a treadmill with a longer spindle and sleeve to support a rear supporting rod at a bottom end behind a main frame over a long distance to fold-up the main frame. Also, this prior art doesn't have the function of tilting the main frame. Moreover, a lifting motor has to be movable with the lifting action. Thus, it has the same disadvantages as U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,745.

Fold-up mechanism for an electric treadmill


Method and system to detect orientations of a moving object using one or more magnetic compasses. The method and system minimize magnetic field interference in a space where an object is moving such that the orientations of the moving object can be precisely detected. The method includes setting one or more earth magnetic field (EMF) conditions without a magnetic field interference component to determine whether the one or more magnetic compasses are located in an EMF area, calculating a magnitude of a magnetic field applied to the moving object using the one or more magnetic field compasses, and detecting an orientation of the moving object by determining whether the calculated magnitude of the magnetic field satisfies the one or more EMF conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a method and system to detect orientations of a moving object using magnetic compasses, and, more particularly, to a method and system to minimize magnetic field interference in a space in which an object is moving such that the orientations of the moving object can be precisely detected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, robots have been used for various purposes in various industrial fields. For example, moving robots (hereinafter, referred to as moving objects) that have been used indoors, such as cleaning robots, service robots, etc., must detect their orientation so that their movement may be precisely controlled.
One type of sensor for detecting the orientations of the moving object is a magnetic compass which calculates an azimuth of the moving object i.e., an absolute orientation using a direction of the Earth's magnetic field (EMF), which is always oriented toward the north pole.
A method of detecting orientations of a moving object using a magnetic compass was proposed by L. Ojeda and J. Borenstein in Proc. Of IASTED Int. Conf. Robotics and Applications, Honolulu, Hi., 2000 entitled "Experimental results with the KVH C-100 Fluxgate Compass in Mobile Robots."
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the method disclosed in the abovementioned document reads two azimuths θc1, θc2 from two magnetic compasses 3 installed on a moving object 1 in step S10, and compares the two azimuths θc1, θc2 with one another in step S11. If the two azimuths θc1, θc2 are equal to each other, a determination is made that there is no magnetic field interference in the space where the moving object is located, and accordingly, one of the two azimuths, i.e., θc1, is set as an orientation θ of the moving object 1 in step S12. Otherwise, step S10 is repeated to perform the azimuth determination procedure.
However, as illustrated in FIG. 3, since there is an area where a magnetic field interference is present, within the indoor space in which the object 1 is moving, outside of an Earth's magnetic field (EMF) area, the magnetic compasses 3 cannot direct the moving object 1 north in the area of the magnetic field interference. Namely, the magnetic field interference causes interference with a determination of the earth's magnetic field in the magnetic field interference area.
In such a situation, if the two magnetic compasses 3 have the same value, a determination is made that no magnetic field interference occurs in that area, thereby causing fatal errors when determining the orientation of the moving object 1.
On the other hand, there are cases when the two magnetic compasses 3 have the same value as a result of the magnetic field interference in the magnetic field interference area. Since the value may be quite different from an azimuth of the EMF, the method of detecting the orientation of the moving object of FIG. 2 has disadvantages in that it cannot determine whether the azimuth acquired from the magnetic compasses 3 is an azimuth of the EMF or an azimuth that results from magnetic field interference.

Method and system to detect an orientation of a moving object


The present invention discloses a user equipment and a communication system. The user equipment configured in a first communication system comprises: a receiver for receiving pre-configured information for co-existence working mode from a base station in the first communication system; a processor for generating a mode establishing request for indicating a co-existence problem experienced by the user equipment and providing assistance information for co-existence working mode in which the user equipment performs a first communication with the base station of the first communication system and performs a second communication with an apparatus in a second communication system which is different from the first communication system; and a transmitter for transmitting the mode establishing request to the base station in the first communication system.

As the rapid development of wireless communication system, a user equipment such as a mobile phone and the like (also referred to terminal apparatus) plays a more and more important role in people's living. Functions other than the communication function in the user equipment, for example, access to a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) by utilizing the user equipment, have been used more and more. In addition, in order to facilitate the communication link and data exchange performed by the user equipment and another apparatus, interfaces such as infrared, Bluetooth, USE and the like have been becoming standard configurations of the user equipment. In particular, a Bluetooth earphone has been used more and more widely. The WLAN system, the Bluetooth system and the like all work in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) frequency band. For example, the frequency band of 2400 MHz-2483.5 MHz is one of the international general ISM frequency bands, and is also one of the most common ISM frequency bands.
In case that the frequency band on which the communication between the user equipment and a corresponding base station is based is close to or a multiple of the frequency band on which the communication between the user equipment and another apparatus is based, such two communications may interfere with each other. For example, the wireless communication system LTE (Long Term Evolution) system is one of the super 3G (Beyond IMT-2000) systems. According to the LTE series standards [36.101], LTE system may work in several frequency bands. In these LTE working frequency bands, some frequency bands are immediately adjacent to the ISM frequency bands, such as the frequency band 40 for deploying a LTE TDD (Time Division Duplexing) system, 2300 MHz-2400 MHz; and the frequency band 7 for deploying a LTE FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) system, 2500 MHz-2570 MHz for uplink and 2620 MHz-2670 MHz for downlink. In these LTE frequency bands, multiples of some frequency bands are also adjacent to the GPS (Global Positioning System) system, such as the frequency band 13 for deploying a LTE FDD system, 777 MHz-787 MHz for uplink and 746 MHz-756 MHz for downlink; and the frequency band 14 for deploying a LTE FDD system, 788 MHz-798 MHz for uplink and 758 MHz-768 MHz for downlink. If a LTE user equipment works in above frequency bands while the WLAN system or the Bluetooth system on the user equipment is at activated status, the LTE system and the ISM system (WLAN system, the Bluetooth system and the like) in the user equipment may interfere with each other due to adjacent frequency band leakage, and even result in communication failure due to an extremely high code error rate. If the GPS system on the user equipment is activated at the same time, the GPS system may be interfered with by the LTE system and can not work normally.
The conventional method for solving such issue is to employ higher performance transmitting filter in the transmitting terminal of the user equipment which communicates with the base station and/or in the transmitting terminal of the user equipment which communicates with another apparatus to reduce the adjacent frequency band leakage and/or suppress the harmonic frequency interference. The disadvantage is that such method may largely increase the cost of the user equipment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Coexistent working mode establishment method, user equipment, base station and system


A computer system selectively loads graphics for a web page. The user selects graphics on, graphics off or necessary graphics. In response to the user selection of graphics on, the system automically selects to display a web page with regular text and graphics associated with the web page. In response to the user selection of graphics off, the system selects to display a web page with regular text, without graphics and with alternate text, if any, for the graphics. In response to user selection of necessary graphics, the system selects to display a web page with regular text, without nonclickable graphics, without clickable graphics that have alternate text, with the alternate text, and with clickable graphics that do not have alternate text. Thus, all graphics necessary to know the consequence of selecting a hot link are displayed. Also, the system displays background images, if any, which are necessary for text readibility.

The invention relates generally to web browsers for the World Wide Web (WWW) and deals more particularly with a web browser which automatically loads selected types of graphics from a server to a client.
The WWW is well known and comprises a multitude of computer servers, respective data bases and a network by which clients can communicate with the servers and request and load the data. A server may directly manage its own data base and access other, remote data bases on behalf of a client user. The client typically includes a xe2x80x9cweb browserxe2x80x9d to provide a user interface to the WWW.
The server presents the data to the user as xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d and each web page is represented by a xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d address. The URL comprises an access method/protocol such as http as a prefix, a server name or xe2x80x9chome pagexe2x80x9d and the data type, if any, as a suffix. The server name typically includes a xe2x80x9cdomain namexe2x80x9d which is the name of a company, educational institution or other organization that owns the server. There are different ways that a client can access a web page. If the client knows the server name and data type suffix, if any, the client can directly request the web page from the server. However, if the client only knows the server name, the client can address the server name, and in response, the server will present the xe2x80x9chome pagexe2x80x9d for the server. The home page, as well as other web pages, typically include text or graphics which serve as links to other web pages. The links are termed xe2x80x9chot linksxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cclick pointsxe2x80x9d.
For those web pages for which the user does not know at least the server name, there are different types of search engines, such as key word search engines and catalog search engines, to identify a server and/or web page of interest.
After the user identifies a web page of interest, the server may load the web page to the user""s client machine. The web page loaded to the client is represented by an html file and comprises a specification of each component of the web pagexe2x80x94regular text (i.e. text other than alternate text), graphics, alternate text, the nature of the component and whether each text or graphic is clickable, i.e. a link to another web page. The format of html is an industry standard and is further defined in xe2x80x9cHTLL for Fun and Profitxe2x80x9d by Mary E. S. Morris published in 1995 by SunSoft Press, A Prentice Hall title. In the case of text, the html defines the actual text and its location on the web page. However, in the case of graphics, the html does not define the graphics itself but instead specifies a pointer to other files which actually define the graphics. Some of the graphics are complex. While the graphics add meaning to the web page and can serve as click points, they are often time consuming to load. To minimize load time, existing web browsers permit the user to request a web page without graphics. In such a case, the web browser displays simple icons instead of the respective graphics and does not load any background images. Typically, if the graphic was clickable, so is the simple icon which substitutes for the graphic; however, the simple icon does not provide any information as to the nature of the link or whether the graphic had multiple click points or links. In some cases, the html specifies xe2x80x9calternatexe2x80x9d text which substitutes for a graphic if the user opts not to download the graphic, and this alternate text is clickable and provides information as to the nature of the link. However, the alternate text will only provide one clickable link even if there were multiple click points on the original graphic.
The flow chart of FIG. 1 illustrates a known web browser which permits a user to request a web page with or without graphics. In step 100, the user sets web browser parameters including graphics xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d, and then requests a web page by URL address using http access method (step 102). The server responsible for that URL then loads the web page html to the client using http access method (step 104).
FIG. 2 illustrates a web page 105 with graphics on. Web page 105 includes graphics 108, 110, 112 and 114, regular text 116, 118, 120, 122, 124 and 126 and simple horizontal lines 119, 127 and 130. Graphics 112 and 114 are clickable, i.e. when graphics 112 and 114 are selected with a mouse or otherwise, client 210 sends a corresponding URL address onto the web to request the corresponding web page. Graphics 108 and 110 are not clickable. As described in more detail below, graphics 110 and 114 include alternate text, but the alternate texts are not illustrated in FIG. 2 because graphics are on for FIG. 2. Text 124 is also clickable.
FIG. 3 illustrates the same web page 105 with graphics off Simple envelope icons 121, 123, 125 and 127 substitute for the respective graphics 108, 110, 112 and 114 of FIG. 2. However, in the cases of graphics 110 and 114, the alternate texts xe2x80x9cphoto not displayed . . . xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cResumesxe2x80x9d, respectively, from the html are displayed within the simple icons.
The following is the html for web page 105 (and if used to generate the displays of FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 6).
133.  less than HTML greater than
135.  less than HEAD greater than
137.  less than TITLE greater than Joans""s home page less than /TITLE greater than
139.  less than /HEAD greater than
140.  less than CENTER greater than  less than H1 greater than Joan Reester less than /H1 greater than  less than /CENTER greater than
141.  less than CENTER greater than  less than b greater than i greater than Last Updatexe2x80x94 less than /i greater than  less than /b greater than  less than tt greater than September 06th, 1996 less than /tt greater than  less than /CENTER greater than
142.  less than p greater than  less than br greater than
143.  less than center greater than  less than h3 greater than  less than IMG SRC=xe2x80x9cpics/icons/smiley.gifxe2x80x9d greater than
148. RESUME  less than /h3 greater than  less than /center greater than
149.  less than hr greater than
150.  less than IMG src=xe2x80x9cjason.gifxe2x80x9d border=0 align=right ALT=xe2x80x9cPhoto not displayed . . . xe2x80x9d greater than
152. email@example.com (Internal MCCAMBRI at GDL VM7)  less than br greater than
154.  less than P greater than
160. 607-752-6335 (Internal 852-6335)  less than br greater than  less than br greater than  less than p greater than
170.  less than a href=xe2x80x9cquicklist.htmlxe2x80x9d greater than  Most Used and Favorite Links  less than /a greater than  less than br CLEAR=ALL greater than
180.  less than RIGHT greater than No Photo Available for me . . . Here is my son Jason less than /RIGHT greater than  less than HR greater than  less than br greater than
186.  less than A HREF=xe2x80x9cpeople.htmxe2x80x9d greater than  less than  IMG SRC=xe2x80x9cpeople2.jpgxe2x80x9d WIDTH=100 HEIGHT=56 greater than  less than /A greater than
188.  less than A HREF=xe2x80x9cresumes.htmxe2x80x9d greater than  less than  IMG SRC=xe2x80x9cresumes2.jpgxe2x80x9d WIDTH=100 HEIGHT=56 ALT=xe2x80x9cResumesxe2x80x9d greater than  less than /A greater than  less than br greater than  less than HR greater than  less than /BODY greater than  less than /HTML greater than
The first entry 133 xe2x80x9c less than html greater than xe2x80x9d indicates that this is an html. The next entry 135 xe2x80x9c less than head greater than xe2x80x9d indicates page header. The next entry 137 begins with a tag xe2x80x9c less than title greater than xe2x80x9d which indicates that the subsequent text is a title of the web page used for print job name and quicklist. The next entry 139 is the tag  less than /head greater than  which indicates end of page header. The next entry 140 begins with the tag  less than center greater than  less than h1 greater than  and indicates the subsequent text should be centered. Likewise the next entry 141 begins with the tag  less than center greater than  and indicates that the subsequent text should be centered. The next entry 142 comprises the tag  less than p greater than  less than br greater than  which indicates paragraph and break. The next entry 143 begins with the  less than center greater than  format tag and also includes a tag  less than IMG SRC which indicates that the following file names the graphic 108. Entry 148 indicates the text xe2x80x9cRESUMExe2x80x9d (109 in FIG. 2) and the center format . The next entry 149 in the html is xe2x80x9c less than hr greater than xe2x80x9d which means horizontal rule, i.e. straight line 119. The next entry 150 describes non-clickable graphic 110.  less than IMG src=xe2x80x9cjason.gifxe2x80x9d is the URL for the source of the graphic itself. xe2x80x9cBorder=0xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9calign=rightxe2x80x9d specify the border and alignment characteristics of the graphic 110. The next entry 152 is for nonclickable text 120. The next entry 154 means a paragraph. The next entry 160 is for nonclickable text 122. Entry 170 begins with tag xe2x80x9c less than a greater than xe2x80x9d which means that the subsequent text 124 is clickable. Entry 180 is for nonclickable text 126. Entry 186 is for clickable graphic 112, which does not include any alternate text. Entry 188 is for clickable graphic 114, and includes alternate text xe2x80x9cResumesxe2x80x9d.
After receiving the html, the web browser displays the regular text, clickable text or regular text (but not alternate text) and horizontal lines of the web page (step 105). Next, the web browser determines if there is a graphic yet to be read from the html (decision 106). This is done by scanning down the html looking for a xe2x80x9cIMGxe2x80x9d tag. If not, then the display is complete (step 107). However, if there is a graphic yet to be displayed, the web browser reads the web browser parameters entered in step 100 to determine if this user has requested the web page with graphics or without graphics, i.e. xe2x80x9cgraphics onxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cgraphics offxe2x80x9d, respectively (decision 110). In the former case, i.e. xe2x80x9cgraphics onxe2x80x9d, the web browser reads the file name of the first graphic from the html (step 111). In the illustrated example, the first graphic is graphic 108, and graphic 108 is defined by the file name xe2x80x9cpics/icons/smiley.gifxe2x80x9d. Then, the web browser loads the graphic from the URL indicated by the pointer (step 112). Then, the web browser displays the first graphic on the web page along with the text and horizontal lines that were previously displayed in step 105 (step 114). If the html specifies another graphic (decision 106), then the client repeats steps 110, 111, 112 and 114 until all graphics are displayed.
Referring again to decision 110, if the web browser parameters indicate xe2x80x9cgraphics offxe2x80x9d (instead of xe2x80x9cgraphics onxe2x80x9d as previously discussed), then after the web browser displays the regular text of the web page in step 105, the web browser identifies the first graphic, reads the specification of the first graphic (step 118) and determines if alternate text is specified (decision 120). If so, as is the case for graphics 110 and 114, the client displays the respective alternate text xe2x80x9cPhoto not displayed . . . xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cResumesxe2x80x9d inside simple envelope icons 123 and 127 instead of the graphics 110 and 114 (step 122). However, if no alternate text is specified (decision 120) as is the case for graphics 108 and 112, then the client displays respective simple envelope icons 121 and 125 instead of the actual graphics 108 and 112, respectively (step 124). After step 122 or 124, the client returns to decision 106 to process the next graphic, if any, in the html.
Thus, if the user selects xe2x80x9cgraphics onxe2x80x9d, all graphics, all regular text (but not alternate text) and the horizontal lines are displayed as the web page. However, if the user selects xe2x80x9cgraphics offxe2x80x9d, all regular text, all alternate text, if any, and the horizontal lines are displayed but no graphics are displayed; however, simple icons, if any, are displayed instead of the graphics when no alternate text is specified for the graphics.
While the foregoing technique for selectively displaying web pages with or without graphics permits the user to selectively avoid the delay caused by loading complex graphics, a problem may arise if the graphics provide single or multiple click points and there is no alternate text(s) to inform the user of the function of the single or multiple click points. While the simple icon can serve as a click point in those cases where there is no alternate text, the simple icon does not indicate the consequence of selecting the icon, i.e. to what URL the icon is linked.
Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to permit a user to control the amount of graphics to load, but ensure that the user loads all graphics necessary to fully understand all click points and utilize the web page.
The invention resides in a computer system for selectively loading graphics for a web page. The user selects graphics on, graphics off or necessary graphics. In response to the user selection of graphics on, the system selects to display a web page with regular text and graphics associated with the web page. In response to the user selection of graphics off, the system selects to display a web page with regular text, without graphics and with alternate text, if any, for the graphics. In response to user selection of necessary graphics, the system selects to display a web page with regular text, without nonclickable graphics, without clickable graphics that have alternate text, with the alternate text, with clickable graphics that do not have alternate text. Thus, all graphics necessary to know the consequence of selecting a hot link, i.e. those graphics for which there is no alternate text, are displayed. In those cases where the system does not display a graphic, the system displays a simple icon instead of the graphic.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, the system will display a graphic with multiple click points regardless of whether there is alternate text. This is because such alternate text will not ordinarily describe all click points in sufficient detail.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, in response to the user selection of necessary graphics, the system will also display background images, if any, which are necessary for text readibility.

Web browser which automatically loads selected types of graphics

International Business Machines Corporation


A transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin comprises 70 to 96 parts by weight of a copolymer formed of 20 to 70 wt. % of styrene monomer units and 30 to 80 wt. % of alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer units and 4 to 30 parts by weight of a rubbery polymer. The rubbery polymer is dispersed in the copolymer as particles having an average particle size of 0.1 to 2.0 .mu.m. At least 70 wt. % of the rubbery polymer is a styrene-butadiene block copolymer which is formed of 5 to 50 wt. % of styrene units and 50 to 95 wt. % of butadiene units, has a viscosity in a range of 3 to 60 cps when measured as a 5 wt. % styrene solution at 25.degree. C. and possesses a ratio (Mw/Mn) of a weight average molecular weight (Mw) to a number average molecular weight (Mn) in a range of 1.0 to 1.8. The copolymer and the rubbery polymer have substantially the same refractive index. Also disclosed is a production process of the transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin, which comprises polymerizing a styrene monomer and an alkyl (meth)acrylate to a high degree of polymerized conversion in the presence of the rubbery polymer so that the rubbery polymer is formed into particles while allowing the copolymer to occur with substantially the same refractive index as the rubbery polymer.

(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rubber-modified styrene resin having excellent transparency and good impact resistance and to a production process thereof. More specifically, this invention is concerned with a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin obtained by polymerizing a styrene monomer and an alkyl (meth)acrylate to a high degree of polymerized conversion in the presence of a rubbery polymer having a specific structure in accordance with an extremely simple polymerization process so that the rubbery polymer is formed into particles while allowing a styrene copolymer having substantially the same refractive index as the rubbery polymer to occur, and with the production process for the transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Styrene resins are used for a wide variety of applications, led by home electric and electronic appliances, office automation equipments and packaging materials, for their characteristic properties of excellent transparency, stiffness and moldability. Use of a styrene resin alone however cannot provide sufficient impact resistance so that, for applications where impact resistance is required, the styrene resin is generally used after modifying it with a rubbery polymer. This rubber-modified styrene resin has been significantly improved in impact resistance compare with the unmodified resin but is no longer equipped with the inherent characteristic property of the styrene resin, that is, transparency. This is attributed to the difference in refractive index between the styrene resin and the rubbery polymer.
According to J. Brandrup and E. H. Immergut, Polymer Handbook, 3rd ed., VI, 451-461, John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y. (1989), the refractive index of polystyrene is 1.59 to 1.592 while that of polybutadiene is 1.516 to 1.520. In general, a styrene resin has a higher refractive index than a rubbery polymer.
However, there is still a strong market demand for the transparency of styrene resins. It is therefore an extremely important theme from the industrial standpoint to develop a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin, in other words, to retain the transparency of a styrene resin while imparting impact resistance to it.
Upon using a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin especially in the field of packaging materials, the resin is first formed into a sheet or the like, followed by secondary processing into a desired shape in accordance with vacuum forming or pressure forming. This secondary processing however causes the transparency of the resin to be lowered. There is accordingly a great market demand not only for the transparency of the resin itself but also for the retention of transparency upon its forming or shaping.
Reflecting ever-increasing concern for environmental problems in recent years, there is an increasing desire toward resins which permit easy material recycling. Development of a resin permitting easy material recycling is also important from the viewpoint of productivity because, when a resin sheet is subjected to secondary processing to form, for example, blister cases or the like, higher productivity can be achieved by using the resin, which still remains after punching out the processed products, again as a molding or otherwise forming material. To recycle a resin as a natural resource, the once-processed resin is ground, is heated, molten and kneaded by an extruder or the like, and is then used again as a material. A conventional transparent, rubber-modified styrene is accompanied by the problems that when repeatedly heated, the color of the resin changes and the impact resistance becomes lower. For the development of a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin, it is accordingly an important theme now to prevent deterioration of its physical properties, especially, a change in its hue and a reduction in its impact resistance upon heating.
Conventional transparent, rubber-modified styrene resins are produced, for example, by blending a polystyrene as a styrene resin with a styrene-butadiene block copolymer as a rubbery polymer as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 195139/1982. However, products obtained by such blending however cannot successfully meet the market demand in view of the problems to be described next. Namely, if the blending method or condition for the polystyrene and the styrene-butadiene block copolymer is changed (for example, the type of an extruder in which the blending is to be performed is changed from the single screw type to the twin screw type even when the same materials are employed, or the extrusion temperature, residence time, rotational speed and the like are changed although the same materials and the same extruder are used), the kneaded state, the thermal deterioration and/or the degree of discoloration of the two materials change, resulting in changes in both transparency and impact resistance. This leads to a problem in reproducibility. Depending on the extrusion conditions, the rubbery polymer may be gelled, leading to serious problems from the standpoint of molding and/or processing such as occurrence of fish eyes. Moreover, their refractive indices are basically different so that there is naturally a limit to the transparency of the resulting product.
From the viewpoint of material recycling, the deterioration of the resin significantly proceeds to lower the impact resistance as the heat history becomes longer. This is certainly not preferred. To improve the transparency, it has also been proposed to make the content of styrene higher in the styrene-butadiene block copolymer to be blended. The copolymer however is imparted with properties similar to polystyrene so that physical properties, especially, impact resistance of the product is extremely lowered. This approach is therefore not preferred.
With a view to overcoming the above-described problems, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 351649/1992, for example, discloses a process in which a styrene copolymer, which has been obtained by copolymerizing one or more alkyl acrylates or alkyl methacrylates with a styrene monomer and has a refractive index similar to a rubbery polymer, is blended with the rubbery polymer.
The important point of the production of the copolymer having a similar refractive index as the rubbery polymer resides in controlling the ratio of styrene monomer structural units to alkyl (meth)acrylate structural units, said former and latter structural units making up the styrene copolymer, in conformity with the molecular structure of the rubbery polymer so employed.
Assuming, for example, that the rubbery polymer is a styrene-butadiene copolymer, the styrene-butadiene copolymer is required to satisfy the following formulae (1), (2) and (3): EQU .vertline.n.sub.1 -n.sub.2 .vertline..ltoreq.0.01 (1)
where EQU n.sub.1 =0.01591.times.X+0.01518.times.(100-X) (2) EQU n.sub.2 =n.sub.s .times.Y.div.100+n.sub.M .times.(100-Y).div.100(3),
X: the mole % of styrene structural units contained in the rubbery polymer, PA1 Y: the mole % of styrene monomer structural units contained in the styrene copolymer, PA1 n.sub.s : the refractive index of the structural unit of the styrene monomer, and PA1 n.sub.M : the refractive index of alkyl (meth)acrylate structural units. PA1 (1) 70 to 96 parts by weight of a copolymer (A) formed of 20 to 70 wt. % of styrene monomer units and 30 to 80 wt. % of alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer units, and PA1 (2) 4 to 30 parts by weight of a rubbery polymer (B), said rubbery polymer being dispersed in said copolymer (A) as particles having an average particle size of 0.1 to 2.0 .mu.m, at least 70 wt. % of said rubbery polymer being a styrene-butadiene block copolymer (B1) which is formed of 5 to 50 wt. % of styrene units and 50 to 95 wt. % of butadiene units, has a viscosity in a range of 3 to 60 cps when measured as a 5 wt. % styrene solution at 25.degree. C. and possesses a ratio (Mw/Mn) of a weight average molecular weight (Mw) to a number average molecular weight (Mn) in a range of 1.0 to 1.8, PA1 wherein said copolymer (A) and said rubbery polymer (B) have substantially the same refractive index. PA1 continuously charging into a polymerizer polymerization raw materials composed primarily of (B) a rubbery polymer, a-styrene monomer and an alkyl (meth)acrylate, said rubbery polymer (B) comprising at least 70 wt. % of (B-1) a rubbery polymer which is a styrene-butadiene block copolymer formed of 5 to 50 wt. % of styrene units and 50 to 95 wt. % of butadiene units, has a viscosity of 3 to 60 cps when measured as a 5 wt. % styrene solution at 25.degree. C. and possesses a ratio (Mw/Mn) of a weight average molecular weight (MW) to a number average molecular weight (Mn) in a range of 1.0 to 1.8; PA1 polymerizing the raw materials at a polymerization temperature of 80.degree. to 160.degree. C. under continuous stirring of the resulting polymerization mixture to form (A) a copolymer of the styrene monomer and the alkyl (meth)acrylate having a refractive index substantially the same as the rubbery polymer (B), and under the condition that the solid content of the polymerization mixture is not higher than 60 wt. %, causing the copolymer (A) and the rubbery polymer (B) to transform into a continuous phase and a dispersed phase, respectively, so that the rubbery polymer (B) is formed into dispersed particles having an average particle size of 0.2 to 2.0 .mu.m; and PA1 feeding the polymerization mixture into a volatile elimination unit to eliminate any unreacted monomers from the polymerization mixture.
The values of n.sub.s and n.sub.M in the formula (3) can be found in a publication such as J. Brandrup and E. H. Immergut, Polymer Handbook 3rd ed. , VI, 451-461, John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y. (1989) on the basis of the types of the monomers employed.
It is therefore possible to determine the ratio of the styrene monomer structural units to the alkyl (meth)acrylate structural units in the styrene copolymer in accordance with the formulae (1), (2) and (3).
The above process can improve the transparency to some extent because the styrene copolymer and the rubbery polymer have substantially the same refractive index. With respect to the impact resistance, especially, the impact resistance after repeated heating, the problem has not been improved at all because the process relies upon blending. Namely, the resulting blend has low impact resistance and moreover, its impact resistance considerably varies depending on the degree of kneading and is progressively lowered as it is repeatedly heated. The blend is therefore not preferred.
A process has hence been proposed to produce a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin by subjecting a styrene monomer and an alkyl (meth)acrylate at a particular ratio to emulsion polymerization in the presence of a rubbery polymer latex as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 43450/1987.
Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 224848/1992, it has also been proposed to produce a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin by blending in an extruder or the like a graft polymer--which has been obtained by polymerizing a styrene monomer and an alkyl (meth)acrylate with a rubbery polymer obtained by emulsion polymerization--with a copolymer of a styrene monomer and an alkyl (methacrylate) produced by bulk or solution polymerization. According to these processes, the impact resistance has been far improved over the blending process, because the rubbery polymer exists as stable particles adequately crosslinked in advance with divinylbenzene or the like and a portion of the copolymer of the styrene monomer and the alkyl (meth)acrylate formed by the polymerization has been grafted on the rubbery polymer. Because of the production process, however, an amphiphatic low-molecular compound called an "emulsifier" has to be added to emulsify and disperse the hydrophobic monomers in water upon polymerization and moreover, a coagulant such as calcium chloride has to be added subsequent to the completion of the polymerization in order to separate the resultant polymer latex from water. The resin so produced therefore contains impurities such as the emulsifier and the coagulant so that the resin has extremely low transparency due to these impurities. Further, upon molding such resins, impurities remain on a mold. The impurities deposited on the mold are discolored as molding is repeated. Eventually, the impurities are transferred onto the resin, resulting in molded products having poor external appearance. In addition, when a vent portion of the mold is clogged by such impurities, gas is not released from the mold. Therefore the mold is no longer uniformly filled with the resin so that a short shot takes place. To avoid such poor external appearance or short shot, the mold is usually washed periodically. Deposit of such impurities in a large quantity hence requires frequent washing, resulting in a reduction in productivity. To reduce such impurities, it may be contemplated to repeatedly and thoroughly wash the resin in the coagulation step of the resin production process. This measure is however not preferred for a higher production cost, because it requires additional production equipments, a great deal of water for washing and tremendous labor for the treatment of waste water.
To eliminate impurities such as an emulsifier contained in a resin, it has been proposed to change polymerization from emulsion polymerization to bulk or solution polymerization.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 25215/1980 discloses to produce a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin by dissolving a rubbery polymer in a monomer composed of methyl methacrylate and styrene, and then subjecting the resulting solution to batchwise bulk polymerization. The rubbery polymer is a substance which has ability to react with radicals and is rubbery at room temperature. Usable examples of the rubbery polymer include polybutadiene, butadiene-styrene random copolymers, and butadiene-styrene block copolymers. This process does not use an emulsifier or the like which poses a problem in the production of a resin by emulsion polymerization or bulk-suspension polymerization, so that the above-described impurity-related problem does not arise. According to the specification as published, however, the resulting rubbery polymer has a particle size as large as 4 to 7 .mu.m so that the molded or otherwise formed product has rough surfaces. Scattering of light therefore takes place, resulting in low transparency. In addition, the transparency is also lowered by molding or processing. The resin is also accompanied by the drawbacks that compared with the impact resistance and hue of the resin before heating, its impact resistance and hue after heating are significantly lower and substantially different.
To improve a reduction in transparency due to a distribution in the copolymerized composition, Japanese Patent Publication No. 31488/1988 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,833) discloses production of a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin by continuous-flow bulk polymerization. Described specifically, a polymerization raw material formed by dissolving a rubbery polymer in a monomer composed principally of methyl methacrylate and styrene is continuously supplied to a single reaction tank. While continuously stirring the solution and controlling the temperature, pressure and average residence time at 161.degree. C. to 195.degree. C., 100 to 175 psig and less than 90 minutes, respectively, polymerization is conducted to produce a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin. Usable examples of the rubbery polymer include polybutadiene, butadiene-styrene copolymers, butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymers, ethylene-propylene-diene copolymers, and isoprene polymer and copolymers.
Since this process makes use of continuous-flow bulk polymerization and the polymerization is conducted in the single reaction tank, the copolymer so formed has a narrow composition distribution. This process is therefore considered to be suited for providing a resin with transparency. Production of a resin on the basis of this process however requires extremely precise control of polymerization conditions such as polymerization temperature, reaction pressure and average residence time. Further, the polymerization reaction tends to run away as the polymerization temperature is as high as 161.degree. C. to 195.degree. C. It is therefore difficult to maintain the polymerization conditions within the prescribed ranges for a long period of time. To practice this process as an actual plant, there is accordingly a serious problem in the operation stability of the plant, hence, in the ability to stably produce a resin having high transparency and impact resistance. Moreover, a great deal of labor is needed for the control of the polymerization conditions so that the production cost is high. In addition, the high polymerization temperature results in the formation of low m.w. copolymers in large quantities. Like impurities contained in a resin produced by the above-described emulsion or suspension polymerization, these low m.w. copolymers cause a reduction in the transparency of the resin and also induce discoloration or a short shot upon molding or processing.
As a production process of a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin by another continuous-flow bulk polymerization, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 180907/1992, for example, discloses to use a styrene-butadiene copolymerized rubber containing 1,2-vinyl bonds in a proportion of 14 to 25% based on unsaturated bonds derived from butadiene and to conduct polymerization under static mixing of a polymerization mixture in an apparatus with a built-in tubular reactor in which plural mixing elements having no movable parts are internally fixed. This process features easy controllability of the size of rubber particles. However, the tubular reactor which makes up a recirculation line and a non-recirculation line for the polymerization mixture has lower mixing ability for the polymerization mixture compared with a complete-mixing reaction tank. The composition of the polymerization mixture therefore becomes uneven, resulting in the formation of a copolymer of a styrene monomer and a (meth)acrylate ester with a broader composition distribution. On the other hand, use of plural reactors requires a great deal of labor for the control of the copolymer composition because the mixing ratio of the unreacted styrene monomer to the unreacted (meth)acrylate ester varies from one reactor to another. Accordingly, the resulting styrene resin is not significantly improved in transparency compared with that produced by a batchwise reaction. Further, any attempt to increase the concentration of the rubbery polymer in the resin requires to substantially lower the degree of polymerized conversion in each reactor depending on the number of reactors, thereby posing problems on the controllability of the polymerization and the productivity at that time.
As a production process of a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin by further continuous-flow bulk polymerization, Japanese Patent Publication No. 54484/1993, for example, discloses a process for the production of a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin, which features mixing a first flow--which has been obtained by polymerizing a solution of a rubbery polymer, a styrene monomer, an alkyl (meth)acrylate and a solvent and terminating the polymerization at such a degree not exceeding a degree of polymerized conversion beyond which the rubbery polymer is converted into particles--with a second flow of a solution of the styrene monomer, the alkyl (meth)acrylate and the solvent, the latter solution being in the course of polymerization, and polymerizing the thus-obtained mixture to form the rubbery polymer into particles. As the rubbery polymer, one or more rubbery polymers selected from polybutadiene and butadiene-styrene copolymers can be used. According to this process, polymerization is conducted to an appropriate degree in each of plural reactors. Since the mixing ratio of the unreacted styrene monomer to the unreacted alkyl (meth)acrylate varies from one reactor to another, the resulting copolymer of the styrene monomer and the alkyl (meth)acrylate however tends to have a broad composition distribution. There is accordingly a problem in that strict control of polymerization reactions is needed for the assurance of transparency. Further, nothing is taken into consideration for the maintenance of hue and impact resistance after heated.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 145443/1994 discloses a styrene resin composition which has been obtained by blending a rubber-modified styrene polymer with a styrene-butadiene block copolymer and a terpene resin and which undergoes less reduction in transparency upon molding or processing, especially upon secondary processing. As the styrene-butadiene block copolymer and the terpene resin are added in this process, the production cost of the resin composition is high and no improvement has been made for the variation in hue after heated. In addition, the impact resistance progressively lowers as the resin composition is repeatedly heating. This process is therefore not preferred.
To obtain a transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin having high impact resistance, the conventional art is recognized, as described above, to have changed the production process from emulsion polymerization or bulk-suspension polymerization to batchwise bulk or solution polymerization or continuous-flow bulk or solution polymerization and also to have investigated additives. However, neither a rubber-modified styrene resin composition achieved both possession of transparency and impact resistance and prevention of a reduction in transparency upon molding or processing and a change in hue and a reduction in impact resistance even when heated nor a production process therefor has been developed yet.

Transparent, rubber-modified styrene resin and production process thereof


In a method for improving call performance of a mobile device, the strength of received signals is sent to a base station when the mobile device receives signals from the base station. The method obtains a path balance value sent by the base station, and determines whether the path balance value is greater than a predefined threshold value. The path balance value is obtained according to the strength of the received signals of the mobile device and an emission intensity of the mobile device. When the path balance value is greater than the predefined threshold value, the method obtains a transmitting power of the mobile device, and increases the transmitting power of the mobile device according to the path balance value to improve call performance of the mobile device.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to communication technologies, and particularly to a mobile device and a method for improving call performance of the mobile device.
2. Description of Related Art
When a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone) makes a call, the mobile device receives signals from a base station. The mobile device sends the strength of the received signals back to the base station. Because jamming, such as a wireless signal from a radio station, affects on the mobile device, the strength of the received signals is not the signal strength that the mobile device actually receives from the base station, and the strength of the received signals of the mobile device is superposed by a jamming intensity of the mobile device and the signal strength that the mobile device receives from the base station. The base station compares the strength of the transmitted signals as transmitted from the base station to the strength of the received signals of the mobile device. If needed, the base station sends a command to the mobile device to adjust a transmitting power of the mobile device according to the strength of the received signals of the mobile device while the signal strength of the base station usually cannot be adjusted once the base station is built. For example, when the base station determines that the strength of the received signals of the mobile device is too high, the mobile device reduces the transmitting power according to the command. Because there is an effect of the jamming intensity of the mobile device on the strength of the received signals of the mobile device, and because the transmitting power of the mobile device is adjusted according to the strength of the received signals of the mobile device, the transmitting power of the mobile device can be reduced when the mobile device receives low signal strength. However, when the mobile device receives low signal strength, and the mobile device further has low transmitting power, the mobile device may drop a call, which affects call performance of the mobile device. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

Mobile device and method for improving call performance of the mobile device

SHENZHEN FUTAIHONG PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.


Provided are a shift register, a display panel, a driving method, and a display device. The shift register includes a plurality of shift register units that are cascaded, where each of the plurality of shift register units includes a latch circuit, at least one scan switch circuit and at least one light emission control switch circuit; where the latch circuit is configured to, in response to a clock signal inputted by a clock signal input, latch an upper-stage shift signal inputted by an upper-stage shift signal input and output the upper-stage shift signal through a lower-stage shift signal output; each of the at least one scan switch circuit is configured to, in response to a lower-stage shift signal outputted by the lower-stage shift signal output, output a scan signal inputted by a scan signal input through a scan signal output.

The organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display has the advantages of self-lamination, low drive voltage, high luminous efficiency, short response time and flexible display realizability, and thus has become the most promising display.
The OLED element of the OLED display panel belongs to a current-driven element and thus needs to be provided with a corresponding pixel circuit and a drive circuit. The drive circuit provides a drive signal for the pixel circuit so that the pixel circuit provides a drive current for the OLED element to drive the OLED element to emit light. The pixel circuit of the OLED display usually includes a drive transistor, a light emission control transistor and a reset transistor. The drive circuit includes a light emission control drive circuit and a scan drive circuit. The light emission control drive circuit outputs a light emission control signal to control the light emission control transistor to be turned on or off, and the scan drive circuit outputs a scan signal to control the reset transistor to be turned on or off. That is, each signal (light emission control signal and scan signal) requires a separate group of drive circuits so that the drive circuit occupies a large area of the non-display area, which does not facilitate the narrow border design of the display.

Shift register, display panel including voltage range adjustment unit, driving method, and display device


A first image to be recorded on a first surface is divided into front and rear half regions. Obtained thereafter is front-side ink volume and rear-side ink volume necessary for recording these half regions on the first surface. Among these half regions, the one having more ink volume is recorded in the first place. In the event of recording the rear half region in the first place, the first image is turned upside down and recorded on the first surface of the recording paper being fed in a forward direction. Alternatively, the first image is recorded on the first surface of the recording paper being fed in a backward direction. After the ink has dried on the first surface, the recording paper is reversed back to front and fed in the forward direction, and a second image is recorded on a second surface.

There is known an ink jet recording apparatus that ejects droplets of ink from a nozzle of an inkjet head and deposits them onto a recording paper, so as to record an image represented by ink dots. There is also known a type of ink jet recording apparatus which performs duplex recording by reversing the front and rear surfaces of a recording paper. Typically, a conventional ink jet recording apparatus with duplex recording capability feeds a recording paper in a forward direction, and ejects ink droplets to the front side (first surface) of the recording paper during the feed, so as to record a first image. When the deposited ink has dried on the first surface, the recording paper is fed in a backward direction, and reversed back to front. Then, the recording paper is fed again in the forward direction, and ink droplets are ejected to the back side (second surface) of the recording paper during the feed, so as to record a second image.
A certain drying time is necessary after the first surface recording process because, if the recording paper was reversed before the deposited ink had dried and fixed completely on the first surface, the undried ink droplets would be pulled by a roller or a guide that touched the first surface, and blur the first image. This drying time also prevents the ink from transferring to the roller or the guide to smear the next recording paper.
The conventional ink jet recording apparatus uses a long drying time so that the recording paper is reversed when the deposited ink on the first surface has completely dried and fixed. However, the drying time is not changed in most cases even for an image with a few ink droplets (an image with low average density), and thus it takes a long time to complete duplex recording. An ink jet recording apparatus to solve this drawback is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,327. This ink jet recording apparatus measures total volume of ink droplets necessary for the first surface of a recording paper, and determines the drying time based on the measured volume.
Ink droplets dry and fix slower when deposited densely to overlap with each other than when deposited separately. The above ink jet recording apparatus is, however, unable to judge whether the ink is deposited densely or separately, and would reverse the recording paper before the ink has not dried completely on the first surface. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-125750 discloses an ink jet recording apparatus to solve this drawback. This ink jet recording apparatus divides an image to be recorded on the first surface into several regions, and measures volume of ink droplets necessary for each region, and determines the drying time based on the measured volume.
Ink droplets on a recording paper start drying and fixing as soon as they are deposited. In other words, the time it takes to record an image way down to the rear end of a recording paper can be used as the drying time for the deposited ink droplets on the front end of the recording paper. Although the ink jet recording apparatus of the publication No. 2005-125750 regards the drying time for the most-ink-droplets region as the drying time for the first surface, it cannot reduce the drying time when the most-ink-droplets region lies on the rear end of a recording paper. In other words, the recording time cannot be used in full measure as the drying time.

Ink jet recording apparatus and method of ink jet recording


An improved nylon-free recyclable multilayer package and a method for manufacturing the same is provided that addresses the shortcomings of currently available recyclable materials for flexible packaging and containers. One object of embodiments of the present invention will be to provide a flexible plastic package suitable for curbside recycling, for example, a package that may be in compliance with recyclability as defined by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR). One such embodiment comprises a package manufactured from a material that is substantially free of nylon. Another or a second embodiment comprises a package manufactured from a material using a certain optimized ratio of compatibilizers in order to achieve suitable packaging performance and standards for recyclability. The flexible recyclable multilayer packaging material comprises a first laminate film and a second laminate film. The first laminate film further comprises, in order: a first sealable polyethylene layer with low initial seal band defining an exterior layer of the first laminate film; a second sealable polyethylene having a certain pre-determined thickness; a first tie layer; a first gas barrier layer of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH); a second tie layer; a second sealable polyethylene layer; and a third sealable polyethylene layer. The second laminate film further comprises, in order: a first sealable polyethylene layer with low initial seal band defining an exterior layer of the second laminate film; a first sealable polyethylene layer having a certain pre-determined thickness; a first tie layer; a first gas barrier layer of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH); a second tie layer; a second sealable polyethylene layer; a third sealable polyethylene layer; and wherein the flexible material is substantially free of nylon.

Flexible containers manufactured from flexible materials are used across a variety of products and industries. Flexible container products made from such flexible material can be less expensive to make, can use less material, and can be easier to decorate, when compared with conventional rigid containers. However, most such packages lack the recyclability performance necessary for an impactful approach in reducing the environmental footprint.
The recyclability of the flexible packages—specifically polymeric flexible packages—is primarily based on the type of material used in the package. For example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one common recyclable polymer, and is designated by the number "1" according to the common numbering scheme created by the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI). High-density polyethylene (number "2") and low-density polyethylene (number "4") are other commonly recycled plastics. However, many packages are made from one or more plastic materials, and such packages are difficult for recyclers to handle because the different materials cannot easily be separated into different recycle streams.
Packages made with one or more layers combining a low-density polyethylene layer with a PET layer will be designated with a number for plastic packages that are not easily recyclable. In addition, many materials used to improve performance of otherwise recyclable packages, such as barrier layers made of ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH) or nylon, can also contribute to a package not easily being placed into the recycle stream.
Many types of flexible packages exist. Examples of flexible packages that may be useful with the present invention include flexible air frame packages such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,682,537 and 9,469,088, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/144,314 filed Feb. 1, 2021, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Further, the presence of a PET print layer in the film structure makes the material non-recyclable. There is a dearth of suitable flexible recyclable multilayer film structures that can be used for flexible packaging for various containers while at the same time reducing the substantial amount of plastic being introduced into the environment.
Therefore, there is a market need to develop a sustainable alternative material in the recyclable material packaging industry. More particularly, there is a market need for a substantially nylon-free recyclable multilayer package and a method for manufacturing the same—improved recycle-ready and curbside recyclable plastic packaging material that is compatible with the current technology and manufacturing process.


It is intended to provide a sodium-independent transporter carrying an acidic amino acid and its gene. A protein having the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 and being capable of sodium-independently transporting an acidic amino acid and its analogs; a gene encoding this protein; a fused protein of the above protein with an auxiliary factor enabling the expression of its function; a gene encoding the same; a method of analyzing the function of a transporter using the same: and utilization thereof.

A cell always requires the uptake of an amino acid as a nutrition, and such a function is exerted by an amino acid transporter which is a membrane protein existing in a cell membrane. The amino acid transporter is distributed in a specific site in each tissue in a multicellular organism and plays an important role in expressing the specific function of each tissue. For example, in kidney cells and small intestine, it plays a role for epithelial absorption of amino acid in lumen and, in nerve tissues, it is in charge of recovery of amino acid as a neurotransmitter released as a result of neurotransmission and also of supply of amino acid as a precursor for neurotransmitter to nerve cells. Further, it exists in blood-brain barrier and placental barrier and makes permeation of the amino acid possible.
With regard to an amino acid transport mechanism, its identification and classification have been conducted using cultured cells and membrane specimens since 1960's and, reflecting the multiplicity of amino acid molecules, many transport systems have been described. However, there has been no independent transport system for each amino acid but most of the amino acid transports have been conducted by a few kinds of transport systems which transport several amino acids having similar side chains (Christensen, Physiol. Rev., volume 70, page 43, 1990).
Transport of acidic amino acids such as glutamic acid and aspartic acid having carboxyl group on a side chain has been believed to be carried out by both of a sodium-dependent transporter which requires sodium ion for its function and a sodium-independent transporter which does not require sodium ion for its function.
However, in a conventional method, it is difficult to analyze the details of the transport of an amino acid or its analogue via the acidic amino acid transport system and the in vivo functional roles, and it has been desired to enable a detailed functional analysis by isolating a gene of acidic amino acid transporter responsible for the function of the acidic amino acid transport system.
With regard to sodium-dependent acidic amino acid transporters, five kinds of glutamate transporters—EAAC1, GLT-1, GLAST, EAAT4 and EAAT5—have been cloned (Kanai, Curr. Opin. Cell Biol., volume 9, page 565, 1997; Kanai and Endou, Curr. Drug Metab., volume 2, page 339, 2001).
With regard to sodium-independent transporters, LAT1 (Kanai, et al., J. Biol. Chem., volume 273, pages 23629-23632, 1998) and LAT 2 (Segawa, et al., J. Biol. Chem., volume 274, pages 19745-19751, 1999) have been cloned as neutral amino acid transporters corresponding to a transport system L. It was also shown that LAT1 and LAT2 function only when they coexist with a cofactor 4F2hc which is a single membrane-spanning type protein. LAT1 shows an exchange transport activity which transports large-sized neutral amino acids such as leucine, isoleucine, valine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, methionine and histidine while LAT2 shows a broad substrate selectivity transporting small-sized neutral amino acids such as glycine, alanine, serine, cysteine and threonine in addition to large-sized neutral amino acids and they are not acidic amino transporters.
With regard to proteins analogous to LAT1 and LAT2, the above-mentioned y+LAT1 and y+LAT2 having the functions of a transport system y+L which transports neutral amino acids and basic amino acids have been cloned (Torrents, et al., J. Biol. Chem., volume 273, pages 32437-32445, 1998). It was also revealed that both of y+LAT1 and y+LAT2 function only when being coexisting with a cofactor 4F2hc. y+LAT1 and y+LAT2 mainly transport glutamine, leucine and isoleucine as neutral amino acids and do not transport acidic amino acids.
With regard to a transporter which requires a cofactor 4F2hc for expressing its function, Asc-1 which is a protein analogous to LAT1 to LAT2 was cloned (Fukasawa, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 275: 9690-9698, 2000). Asc-1 selectively transports alanine, serine, cysteine, threonine, glycine, etc., shows a substrate selectivity of amino acid transport system asc and does not transport acidic amino acids.
With regard to a transporter which requires another cofactor rBAT having an analogous structure to 4F2hc for expressing its function, BAT1 which is a protein analogous to LAT1 and LAT2 was cloned (Chairoungdua, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 274: 28845-28848, 1999). BAT1 transports cystine, neutral amino acids and basic amino acids and does not transport acidic amino acids.
As described above, molecular entity of a transporter which functions by binding to 4F2hc and rBAT was characterized and, the presence of a group of transporters which achieves a transport ability by forming heterodimer with a single membrane-spanning type protein and a heterodimeric amino acid transporter family was established.
Further, with regard to a transporter requiring a cofactor 4F2hc for expressing its function, xCT which is a protein analogous to LAT1 and LAT2 was cloned (Sato, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 274; 11455-11458, 1999). xCT transports cystine, glutamic acid and sodium aminoadipate in a sodium-independent manner and corresponds to an amino acid transport system Xc. xCT needs a negative charge of side chain of amino acid for recognition of substrate and is classified under sodium-independent acidic amino acid transporters (Kanai and Endou, Curr. Drug Metab., volume 2, page 339, 2001).
xCT transports glutamic acid but does not transport aspartic acid and its transport is suppressed by cystine. In addition, xCT is a transporter where expression is induced by oxidative stress and, except a few cases, its expression in common normal tissues is not detected. However, it has been reported that there is a sodium-independent glutamic acid and aspartic acid transporter which is not suppressed by cystine (Christensen, Physiol. Rev., volume 70, page 43, 1990) and it has been suggested that there is a sodium-independent acidic amino acid transporter other than xCT which has not been identified.
Further, Asc-2 which is a protein having an analogous structure to LAT1 and LAT2 and binds to unidentified protein other than rBAT or 4F2hc was cloned (Chairoungdua, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 276: 49390-49399, 2001). Asc-2 is not expressed in a cell membrane by itself, however, by preparing a fusion protein with 4F2hc or rBAT, it transfers to a cell membrane as a fusion protein and a transport activity can be detected. When Asc-2 is expressed in a cell membrane as a fusion protein with 4F2hc or rBAT, it shows a characteristic of a sodium-independent neutral amino acid transport system asc.

Sodium-independent transporter carrying acidic amino acid and its gene


The present invention comprises a process for preparing a pre-cooked, microwaveable frozen baked food product, said process comprising: (a) preparing a dough and shaping the dough into a desired preform; (b) baking the preform to a fully baked state to produce a baked product having an outer crust; and (c) freezing and tempering the baked product by adding moisture to the outer crust in an amount sufficient to raise the moisture content of the baked product to within the range of from about 20% to about 55% by weight, thereby producing a frozen, tempered baked food. The present invention further comprises a product produced by the above-described process.

Microwave ovens provide a number of convenience benefits. For example, they are useful for quickly defrosting frozen fresh foods such as frozen fresh meats; quickly cooking raw foods; and quickly reheating pre-cooked materials, both frozen and non-frozen. However, there are a number of problems associated with using microwave ovens for reheating frozen, pre-cooked items, especially baked foods such as buns, breads, rolls, etc., and products containing or prepared with or from baked foods such as French bread pizza, turnovers, pastries, etc. One significant problem is that the baked foods tend to be tough, dried out and excessively chewy after being reheated in a microwave. These pre-cooked, frozen baked foods also tend to be intolerant of power variations in the broad spectrum of microwave oven brands in use today. This power variation, and intolerance, has an impact on the requirements for reheating a frozen product. For example, in one brand of microwave oven it may take 3 minutes on a high setting to optimally reheat a frozen, pre-cooked baked food product, whereas in another brand of microwave oven it may take only two and one-half minutes on a high setting to optimally reheat that same frozen, pre-cooked baked food product.
Thus, it would be desirable to prepare a pre-cooked, frozen baked food product which can be reheated in a microwave oven and not have the poor texture associated with microwaved products such as a tough, dry and excessively chewy texture. It would also be desirable to produce a frozen, pre-cooked baked food product which is less sensitive to the power variations between different brands of microwave ovens. The present invention provides such a product, as well as a process for making such a product.

Process for preparing a pre-cooked, microwaveable frozen baked food product


A data structure is used to configure and transform a computer machine learning system. The data structure has one or more records where each record is a (vector) representation of a selected object in a corpus. One or more non-zero parameters in the records define the selected object and the number of the non-zero parameters define a word length of the record. One or more zero-value parameters are in one or more of the records. The word length of the object representation varies, e.g. can increase, as necessary to accurately represent the object within one or more contexts provided during training of a neural network used to create the database, e.g. as more and more contexts are introduced during the training. A minimum number of non-zero parameters are needed and zero-value parameters can be clustered together and compressed to save large amounts of system storage and shorten execution times.

The present invention relates to Machine Learning. More specifically, the invention relates to systems and methods for efficiently creating and using embedded databases of representations of objects with different contextual meanings in Machine Learning systems.
Many embodiments of Machine Learning (ML) systems are structured to have embedded databases that map objects to (numeric) representations so that the objects can be compared, selected, categorized, stored, indexed, organized, classified, etc. Here the term "object" has a general meaning and can refer to words in a document and/or corpus of documents, images and/or pixels in a corpus of images, geometries or patterns in a corpus of patterns, etc.
Some ML computer systems are initially trained with sets of training data. Often the training involves mapping objects in the training data with numeric representations, e.g. one or more (parameter) vectors, each with one or more numeric parameters mapped to a particular object. (The number of numeric parameters is sometimes defined as the length or dimensionality of the parameter vector.) The ML system may require multiple iterations through the training data before an accurate mapping between an object and its numeric representation is achieved and/or a database of representations can be created. Once trained, the ML system can use the database of numeric representations to identify and make inferences about unknown objects, i.e. target objects, that are also numerically represented.
For example, a ML system is trained on a corpus of words (objects). During the training, a vector representation with a word length of multiple numeric parameters (parameters) is mapped to the word "cat". When the training/mapping is complete the vector will have parameters with values that associate/map the vector with the word "cat". When an unknown target word has a numeric representation that matches the values of the parameters in the vector mapped to the word "cat", the system infers that the target word is "cat" and/or has the meaning of "cat". In ML systems, this process is repeated for an enormous number of objects.
To complicate the problem, the meaning of objects can vary greatly depending on the object context. For example, the word "cat" has very different meanings in each of the following phases: "the cat in the hat", "the cat sat", and "the cat dug a roadbed" (referring to a "caterpillar" earth moving machine). Enabling mapping to numeric representations that accurately represent objects for a wide number of contexts may require information within the representation (e.g. word length, or in other words, word vector dimensionality) to increase. For example, the number of variables or the "word length" of the vector mapped to the meaning of the word "cat" used in multiple contexts has to increase. Often the number of parameters needs to increase to very large word length to achieve an accurate mapping. However, this is not always the case.
Requiring embedded representations with large word lengths increases system storage requirements and processing time. This is particularly true if the storage systems must be designed to so every record has to accommodate the largest word lengths. This problem multiplies as ML systems need to train on larger and more complex corpuses of objects.
There is a need to reduce storage requirements and processing times of ML systems with embedded databases of numerical representations of objects while maintaining the accuracy of the object representation over multiple object contextual meanings.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to low reabsorbing semiconductor nanocrystals having, simultaneously, an emission center core surrounded by at least one absorbing shell capable of absorbing blue or purple light and a protective exterior shell. The emission center core is capable of emitting at least one different wavelength range of light. The low reabsorbing semiconductor nanocrystals demonstrate an absorbance ratio greater than or equal to 10. These low reabsorbing semiconductor nanocrystals can be used in optical applications, some of which can include, for example, light-emitting diodes, solid-state-lighting, solar cells, lasers, and biomedical tags.

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals are nanometer-sized fragments of the corresponding bulk crystals, which have generated fundamental interest for their promise in developing advanced optical materials. The size-dependent emission is probably the most attractive property of semiconductor nanocrystals. For example, differently sized CdSe nanocrystals can be prepared that emit from blue to red, with comparatively pure color emissions. These nanocrystal-based emitters can be used for many purposes, such as for light-emitting diodes, solid-state-lighting, solar cells through frequency down conversion, lasers, biomedical tags, and the like.
For any application of semiconductor nanocrystals as emitters, photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) is a basic and well accepted requirement. However, this previous work has not recognized that the absorption of the nanocrystals is as important as their PL QY. In applications, such as solid-state-lighting, solar cells through frequency down conversion, and some types of biomedical applications, the absorption of the nanocrystals should be as high as possible at the excitation wavelength but as low as possible at the emission wavelengths. This means that the main absorption band should reduce sharply when the wavelength is longer than the excitation wavelength, implying a separate main absorption band and emission peak. To obtain semiconductor nanocrystals with both desired emission properties and absorption properties is a challenge. This becomes even more difficult, as the focus in the field has been only on the emission properties in the past. There remains a need for nanocrystals with absorption as high as possible at the excitation wavelength and as low as possible at the emission wavelengths.
One type of useful nanocrystalline material is the core/shell nanocrystal, which features a nanocrystalline core of one type material, coated with a shell of another type material. Core/shell nanocrystals are representative of a number of different complex structured nanocrystals, such as core/shell/shell structured materials, the architectures of which are aimed at providing fine control over the nanocrystal's photophysical properties. Previously, the main goal has been to boost the emission properties, including the photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) and the photo-stability, of the nanocrystals. There remains a need for nanocrystals with optimized absorption properties of the nanocrystals through core/shell nanocrystals.
Shells of graded composition, which are multiple monolayers in thickness, are known. See, for example, Liberato Manna, Erik C. Scher, Liang-Shi Li, and A. Paul Alivasatos, "Epitaxial Growth and Photochemical Annealing of Graded CdS/ZnS Shells on Colloidal CdSe Nanorods", J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 124, No. 24, 7136-7145 (2002) (referred to herein as "Alivasatos"); Renguo Xie, Ute Kolb, Jixue Li, Thomas Basche, and Alf Mews, "Synthesis and Characterization of Highly Luminescent CdSe-Core CdS/Zn 0.5Cd0.5S/ZnS Multishell Nanocrystals", J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 127, No. 20, 7480-7488 (2005) (referred to herein as "Mews"), both incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. A graded shell composition is useful because the core and shell semiconductors generally have different lattice constants, which can cause significant lattice mismatch. Although graded shell composition are known, all graded systems are designed with the core as the central concern. The entire shell—including the graded part—is considered as a "protection layer" to boost the emission properties of the nanocrystals. See, for example, WO 2009/014707 to Kazlas, pg. 36. Such a protection layer is thought to prevent the photo-generated charges from being exposed onto the surface of the nanocrystals. The protection layer should thereby increase the photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) by offering a higher chance for the charges to recombine within the core of the nanocrystals and enhance the photostability by eliminating photochemical reactions on the surface of the nanocrystals. Papers published by the Alivisatos group and the Mews group could be considered as typical examples of such core/graded shell/shell nanocrystals.
The "Alivisatos" paper discusses growth of ZnS shell(s) onto CdSe nanorods with CdS as the graded shell between the core and outer ZnS shell to improve the photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY). The photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) of the resulting CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell nanorods is about 10-20%, which is not very high but is significantly improved in comparison to the core nanorods. The "Mews" paper, using a new growth technique (successive-layer-adsorption-and-reaction, SILAR, as described in WO 2004/066361 and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2007/0194279, both incorporated herein by reference in their entirety), discloses the growth of CdSe/CdS/Cd0.5Zn0.5S/ZnS core/shell/shell/shell nanocrystals to minimize the lattice mismatch between the CdSe core and the ZnS outer shell, about 12%. The photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) in "Mews" is as high as 70-85%, but the authors don't pay attention to optimizing the absorption properties. In other words, the middle CdS and Cd0.5Zn0.5S are introduced as pure "lattice matching" layers. A nanocrystal (CdSe/thick CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell) synthesized by using SILAR, as disclosed in Yongfen Chen, Javier Vela, Han Htoon, Joanna L. Casson, Donald J. Werder, David A. Bussian, Victor I. Klimov, and Jennifer A. Hollingsworth, "'Giant' Multishell CdSe Nanocrystal Quantum Dots with Suppressed Blinking", J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 130, No. 15, 5026-5027 (2008) (referred to herein as "Chen"), incorporated herein by reference, has quite poor emission properties, but the thick CdS shell offers excellent absorption properties although the authors did not intend the absorption properties of their nanocrystals.

Simultaneous optimization of absorption and emission of nanocrystals


A method of preserving porcine heart valves so that they may be incorporated into prosthetic heart valves for human implant. During fixation, the leaflets of the valves are repeatedly flexed throughout their full range of motion. Flexing of the leaflets continues throughout fixation, and is accomplished by providing for alternating fluid flow through the valve from the inflow and outflow sides sufficient to cause the leaflets to fully open and close.

This invention relates generally to prosthetic heart valves, and more particularly to porcine xenograft heart valves, and their methods of preparation.
Traditionally, porcine heart valves are treated with a cross-linking agent or tanning fluid in order to stabilize the tissue against degradation. There have been a variety of approaches taken, but most involve exposure of the porcine valve to glutaraldehyde or other cross-linking agent, with the valve displaying a configuration in which the leaflets are closed. Maintaining the leaflets in closed position has typically been accomplished by providing a pressure differential across the valve. Pressure differential is used in a range from less than 4 mm Hg, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,743, issued to Lane, up to 120 mm Hg, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,893, issued to Hancock et al. Fixation has also been accomplished without a pressure differential across the valve, in which case the valve is fixed with leaflets assuming a relaxed, neutral position. One such method is suggested in the article "Influence of Fixation Conditions on the Performance of Glutaraldehyde-Treated Porcine Aortic Valves: Towards a More Scientific Basis", by Broom et al, published in Thorax, Vol. 34, pp. 166-176, 1979.
An alternative method of fixing heart valve tissue is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,401, issued to Hancock et al. In the method disclosed therein, the outflow side of the heart valve is coupled to a source of pressurized fixative, and the pressure applied to the outflow side of the heart valve is pulsed, from a high pressure level in the range of 80 to 120 mm, down to a low, or in some cases, negative pressure. It is believed that this process would provide a repetitive ballooning and relaxing of the aorta and valve leaflets. However, actual fluid flow through the valve is not disclosed, and it is believed that this process would not result in the repetitive opening and closing of valve leaflets during fixation.

Dynamic fixation of porcine aortic valves


A method employing a porous material sheet which has at predetermined positions plural dots each being composed of a group of probe molecules and a stimulable phosphor sheet having a phosphor layer which contains a stimulable phosphor in an amount of 10 to 140 g/m2 is favorably utilized to detect by autoradiography radioactively labeled substances originating from living body or its analogues which are able to be fixed to the probe molecules by biochemically specific binding reaction.

Recently, analytical elements such as a macro-array sheet and a micro-array sheet are widely utilized in gene analysis technology in the biological and medical fields. These analytical elements are used to analyze nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA, their fragments, and their duplicates such as PCR products. The analysis is performed by detecting the nucleic-acids utilizing hybridization, which is one of biochemically specific binding reaction. The former macro-array sheet is made of porous sheet of polyamide resin or the like. For the analysis using the macro-array sheet, a large number of nucleic acid fragments (probe molecules) such as DNA fragments are first fixed to the porous sheet by entanglement. The binding reaction is carried out using (target) sample nucleic acid fragments labeled with radioisotope (RI). The latter micro-array is composed of solid carrier such as surface-treated slide glass plate. For the analysis using the micro-array sheet, the probe molecules are first fixed to the surface of the solid carrier. The binding reaction is carried out between the probe molecules and sample nucleic acid fragments labeled with fluorescent compound.
However, the names of macro-array sheet and micro-array sheet are not always employed distinctly to mean each of the above-described analytical elements.
The gene analysis utilizing a macro-array sheet is advantageous because it can be carried out using the conventional autoradiography.
The conventional procedures for detecting a nucleic acid such as DNA are generally conducted by the process comprising the following steps:
(1) preparing a number of single-stranded nucleic acid fragments (probe molecules: generally employed are those of which base sequences are already known); spotting in series an aqueous solution containing the fragments on a macro-array sheet using a spotter so that a large number of spots can be densely placed on the sheet to form a matrix composed of pores to which probe molecules are fixed by entanglement, whereby a large number of probe molecule spots in the form of dots are produced;
(2) bringing single-stranded sample nucleic acid fragments (to be analyzed) with a radioisotope label (RI, for instance, 32P and 33P) contained in an aqueous solution into contact with the macro-array sheet (for instance, by immersing the macro-array sheet in an aqueous solution of the radioisotope-labeled sample nucleic acid fragments placed in a specific vessel) to fix target nucleic acid fragments to the macro-array sheet by hybridization with the probe molecules; namely, the target complementary nucleic acid fragments in the sample nucleic acid fragments are bound to the probe molecules in the spot by hybridization;
(3) removing unfixed radioisotope-labeled sample nucleic acid fragments from the macro-array sheet by washing;
(4) drying and placing the macro-array sheet on a radiographic film for detecting radiation coming from the radioisotope-labeled target nucleic acid fragments by autoradiography, whereby the binding information of the fixed target nucleic acid fragments (for instance, presence and amount of fixed fragments) are obtained; and
(5) determining at least local base sequence information of the target nucleic acid fragments according to complementation principle, in the case that the base sequence of the probe molecules is previously known.
Thus, a large number of genes are simultaneously analyzed in their expression, mutation, and polymorphism, utilizing the above-described technology.
Recently, a radiation image recording and reproducing method utilizing a radiation image storage panel (which is also named "imaging plate" or "stimulable phosphor sheet") has been developed for performing autoradiography of radioisotope-labeled biological specimen and polymers originating from living body, in place of the conventional autoradiography using a radiographic film.
The radiation image recording and reproducing method utilizes stimulable phosphor (i.e., radiation image storage phosphor) which absorbs and stores radiation energy when it is exposed to radiation such as X rays, and thereafter produces emission in an amount proportional to the stored radiation energy when it is irradiated with electromagnetic wave (stimulating light) such as visible light or infrared rays, and is generally carried out by a procedure of the following steps:
applying to a stimulable phosphor sheet containing stimulable phosphor a radiation transmitted through or emitted by a target subject, whereby recording the radiation image in the phosphor sheet;
scanning sequentially the phosphor sheet with a stimulating light such as laser light, whereby the phosphor sheet sequentially produces stimulated emission;
photoelectrically detecting the stimulated emission to obtain a series of electric image signals (digital signals); and
storing in an appropriate recording means the digital signals as such or after being subjected to various image processings for forming a visible image.
The autoradiography according to the above-described radiation image recording and reproducing method which utilizes a stimulable phosphor sheet is considered to be important autoradiographic technology, because it has various advantageous features, for instance, it gives a radiation image with high sensitivity even if the amount of radiation coming from the radioisotope-labeled specimen is extremely small, and it gives an image information of digital data which is easily subjected to various image processing procedures and is easily stored.
The autoradiographic procedure utilizing the stimulable phosphor sheet for measuring radiation coming from radioisotope-labeled target molecules is already reported. For instance, Human Molecular Genetics, 1999, Vol. 8, No. 9, 1715–1722 describes that a target molecule can be detected by the steps of producing a large number of spots of DNA fragments (probe molecules) on a porous sheet, hybridizing radioisotope-labeled sample DNA fragments complementary to the probe molecules on the porous sheet, and carrying out the autoradiographic process by placing the porous sheet on a stimulable phosphor sheet.
The gene analysis utilizing a porous sheet such as a macro-array sheet enables to detect radioisotope-labeled target molecules with a high sensitivity when an autoradiographic process is performed utilizing the stimulable phosphor sheet.
It has been noted by the inventor, however, that a stimulable phosphor sheet having a stimulable phosphor layer of approx. 200 to 400 μm thick which has been generally employed for radiographic clinical examination as well as a stimulable phosphor sheet having a stimulable phosphor layer of approx. 50 to 200 μm thick which has been generally employed for conventional autoradiography are not appropriate for obtaining a reproduced radiation image with high resolution in the autoradiographic gene analysis using a macro-array sheet.

Stimulable phosphor sheet for detection of substances originating from living body or its analogues