An optoelectronic sensor device (S) for detecting a yarn passing through a scanning zone (3) comprises at least one light source (L, L'), at least one photoelectric receiver (R1, R2) which is responsive to light variations and which is connected to an evaluation circuit (C), and a slit aperture (A1, A1) arranged between the yarn and the receiver. In a weft-yarn measuring and storing device (F), the sensor device (S) forms a withdrawal sensor for the yarn which is withdrawn overhead from the storage body (B). According to the invention at least two receivers that are closely adjacent to each other are oriented towards the scanning zone, with the receiving surfaces (4, 5) of the receivers being each covered by an upstream slit aperture (A1, A2), except for a limited area. The slit apertures (A1, A2) are arranged relative to one another at an acute angle of not more than 90.degree..

In an optoelectronic sensor device which is known from GB-C-1 283 528, the transverse passage of a spun yarn is detected in a ring spinning machine, with the unwinding running yarn orbiting in an opening. The opening has a light beam passing diametrically therethrough, the light beam being emitted from a light source, which is arranged in an opening wall, and through the opening onto an opposite receiver. A slit aperture is arranged in front of the receiver. The receiver responds to light variations or to the shadow of the yarn which passes over the slit aperture. Disturbing factors, such as vibrations, extraneous light, or the like, can prompt the receiver to output a wrong signal, despite the fact that the yarn has not properly passed through the slit aperture in the scanning zone.
In weft-yarn measuring and storing devices, as typically used on weft looms for providing weft yarn, exact information as to when and that the weft yarn passes through a scanning zone upon withdrawal is required for controlling and monitoring the feed operation of each weft yarn. To this end, at least one withdrawal sensor is provided which is equipped with a receiver that is oriented towards the illuminated scanning zone and is responsive to light variations. Since vibrations, the effect of extraneous light, or other unwanted factors that are observed during practical operation also prompt the receiver to respond, the significance of the signals gained from the weft-yarn passages is not to be relied on. Therefore, a method has been adopted in practice in which two receivers which are closely arranged one after the other in the axial direction of the storage body are oriented towards the same scanning zone and in which a significant signal for the yarn passage is derived from the response of the two receivers in a differential circuit, the signal being distinguishable from signals produced by unwanted factors because of the fact that an unwanted factor is observed on both receivers at the same time and in the same manner, whereas the yarn is recorded by the two receivers such that the record is offset in time. Nevertheless, this known scanning sensor with the two receivers does not reliably operate for several reasons. The receiving surface of each receiver is approximately circular as a rule. The yarn which moves relative to the receiving surface is only gradually imaged by its reflective light or its shadow because of the circular form of the receiving surface and due to transitional imaging. In addition, the response sensitivity of the receiver in the edge portions of the receiving surface is weaker than near the center. The signal which is evaluated in the differential circuit is therefore weak because of the gradual signal increase and the also gradual signal decrease and requires considerable amplification efforts which, however, are undesirable in the case of unwanted factors. Furthermore, such measuring and storing devices imperatively operate with a distinctly axial reciprocating movement of the yarn supply border at the withdrawal side of the yarn supply on the storage body, especially with when yarn separation and/or when a lively pattern is being weaved. This results in a yarn withdrawal geometry in which yarn withdrawn from the last winding of the yarn supply varies its longitudinal orientation in the scanning zone between approximately axial and approximately circumferential, respectively related to the axis of the storage body. With an approximately axial orientation of the yarn in the scanning zone the yarn is perceived by both receivers at the same time and in a similar manner, which renders a distinction difficult, or even excludes it, with respect to unwanted factors that are also perceived at the two receivers at the same time and in a similar manner.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a simple optoelectronic sensor device of the above-mentioned type and a weft-yarn measuring and storing device in which a strong and significant useful signal which can easily be distinguished from signals caused by unwanted factors can be produced on the basis of the yarn passing therethrough. In the measuring and storing device, the withdrawal sensor is intended to supply exact information as to when and that the yarn has passed through the scanning zone, despite varying yarn withdrawal speeds, different yarn qualities and variations of the orientation of the yarn in the scanning zone. The term "yarn" generally refers to yarn-like substrates, such as threads, twisted threads, filaments, spun threads, wires, narrow bands, foil-slips, or the like.
However, complicated electronic sensor devices whose receivers image or sharply image the object to be scanned and require position-sensitive detectors, optical imaging systems and high-quality circuits are explicitly excluded. Such sensor devices are too complicated and expensive for scanning a yarn passing therethrough either as such or in a measuring and storing device and are thus excluded from use for other reasons as well (for instance WO 89/00215, EP-A-0529 281).
The above object is achieved in an optoelectronic sensor device wherein first and second slit apertures are arranged relative to each other at an angle of 90.degree. or less, and in a weft-yarn measuring and storing device having such an optoelectronic sensor device.
In the optoelectronic sensor device and in the weft-yarn measuring and storing device, an exact, significant and strong useful signal which can easily be distinguished from signals resulting from unwanted factors is obtained during scanning of each yarn passage as a special advantage, i.e., under efforts which are small under constructional and circuitry aspects and are not costly. The orientation of the yarn direction in the scanning zone is of no importance any more, since the yarn passes through the two slit apertures at different times or with different geometrical location, so that the differential evaluation of the response of the two receivers leads, at any rate, to a clear signal which clearly differs from a signal resulting from an unwanted factor, because the unwanted factor is recorded at the two receivers at the same time and with the same geometrical location. Furthermore, a strong modulation of the signal is obtained on the basis of the yarn passage in the scanning zone because, on the one hand, the less sensitive edge portions of the receiving surfaces are covered and do not become operative and because, on the other hand, the yarn becomes visible in its full size at an extremely rapid pace (almost no transition) in each slit aperture (by its reflective light or its shadow). Since the time which passes up to a full imaging of the yarn onto the receiving surface portion narrowed by the slit aperture is extremely short, as is also the time up to a complete disappearance of the full image, the signal which is produced by a differential evaluation technique contains strong frequency portions which can be derived with little amplification efforts and which are not present in a signal produced by an unwanted factor. On the whole, the use of two receivers, two slit apertures and the geometrical arrangement of the slit apertures independently of the orientation of the yarn in the scanning zone, the strength and frequency of unwanted factors, and also largely independently of contaminations, results in a strong and significant signal obtained on the basis of a yarn passage, which can be further processed by taking little circuitry efforts. Use is made of simple and inexpensive receivers which respond to light variations. The response characteristics of these receivers, which are smooth as such, are respectively enhanced in an unexpected manner by the slit aperture during proper yarn passage. The receivers can be arranged in close relationship with one another. This advantageous result is guaranteed even at maximum yarn speeds which are customary in modern yarn-processing systems. However, it is also possible to use more than two receivers each with one respective slit aperture.
The edge portions of the receiving surface which are critical with respect to the response characteristics of receivers reacting to light variations preferably define a diameter greater than the slot aperature; However, it is also possible to make the slit aperture as long as or even longer than the diameter of the receiving surface.
In the embodiment wherein the receivers are jointly connected to an evaluation circuit the useful signal is produced from the response of the two receivers in the evaluation circuit which is designed as a differential circuit.
In the embodiment wherein one slit aperature extends in a circumferential direction of the storage drum and another slot aperature extends in an axial direction; a compact construction of the withdrawal sensor can be achieved, with the withdrawal sensor being virtually independent of the speed variations of the yarn moving through the scanning zone, and being above all independent of the respective orientation of the yarn in the scanning zone.
The embodiment wherein an imaginary extension of one slit aperatur intersects another slit aperature is especially expedient. It is thereby ensured that the yarn is perceived by both receivers only on portions of the receiving surfaces which are limited by the slit apertures, and independently of the orientation of the yarn in the scanning zone at different times and/or with different geometries.
An especially expedient embodiment has the slit apertures arranged in a T; A situation is here expedient where the transverse bar T is slightly spaced apart from the upright leg, resulting in an asymmetry during scanning of the yarn through the geometrical configuration of the slit aperture, the asymmetry being important for a distinction between useful signal and unwanted signal and for a strong useful signal.
The shapes of the slit apertures can be rectangular, double-concave or double-convex, and ensure that a full light impingement or shadowing of the portions of the receiving surface begins and stops, respectively, at a very rapid pace to achieve a frequency portion which is as high as possible for the useful signal.
Slit apertures of the same size are advantageous.
The embodiment wherein the slit apertures are arranged such that a movement of a yarn over the slit aperatures which is geometrically identical or in time is prevented. is especially important. Such an adaptation of the positions of the slit apertures to possible orientations of the yarn in the scanning zone rules out a situation where the yarn is perceived by the two receivers with the same geometry or at the same time.
The embodiment block-shaped holder with channels permits a compact, operationally safe and also reliable design of the withdrawal sensor. The holder with its channels, the receivers, the light source and the slit apertures is a component which is simple and inexpensive and which can be prefabricated with high accuracy and can advantageously be accommodated and easily replaced even within a limited space.
In the embodiment the channels are arranged in specific inclinations. the components are combined within a very confined constructional space.
In the embodiment wherein a transparent cover pane is provided on the holder the cover pane protects the components arranged in the holder from soiling or dust.
The slit apertures may be spaced apart in an axial direction of the storage body at a dimensional distance of approximately the width of the slit apertures. This dimensional distance has turned out to be advantageous.
Finally, in the embodiment wherein the slit apertures are formed in a plate which may be adjusted in position the respective position of the slit apertures and the relative position between the slit apertures can be set or adjusted.

Optoelectric sensor and weft yarn measurement and feeding equipment


A method of refreshing a sticky cleaner used for cleaning a fuser member in an electrophotographic printer is disclosed. The method includes the steps of precoating the cleaner member with a low cost polymer toner material prior to a printing operation removing contaminants from the sticky surface of the cleaner member. A refreshed cleaning member prior to being used to clean a fuser in an electrophotographic printer in accordance with the features of the present invention includes a surface cleaning member having minimal contaminants thereon, and a coating of a plastic toner material that can become tacky at the operating cleaner temperatures.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cleaning systems for electrostatographic printing machines, and more particularly for cleaning systems for a fuser or transfuse apparatus as employed in these machines. Even more particularly this invention relates to a method for refreshing a cleaner roll used to clean a fuser or transfuse subsystem as employed in a electrophotographic printing machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrophotographic marking is a well known and commonly used method of copying or printing original documents. Electrophotographic is typically performed by exposing a light image of an original document onto a substantially uniformly charged photoreceptor. In response to that light image the photoreceptor discharges so as to create an electrostatic latent image of the original document on the photoreceptor""s surface. Toner particles are then deposited onto the latent image so as to form a toner powder image. That toner powder image is then transferred from the photoreceptor, either directly or after one or more intermediate transfer steps, onto a marking substrate such as a sheet of paper. The transferred toner powder image is then fused to the marking substrate using heat and/or pressure. The surface of the photoreceptor is then cleaned of residual developing material and recharged in preparation for the creation of another image.
The foregoing generally describes a typical black and white electrophotographic marking machine. Electrophotographic marking can also produce color images by basically repeating the above process once for each color that makes the color image. For example, the charged photoconductive surface may be exposed to a light image which represents a first color, say cyan. The resultant electrostatic latent image can then be developed with cyan toner particles to produce a cyan image which is subsequently transferred to a marking substrate. The foregoing process can then be repeated for a second color, say magenta, then a third color, say yellow, and finally a fourth color, say black. Beneficially each color toner image is transferred to the marking substrate in superimposed registration so as to produce the desired composite toner powder image on the marking substrate.
The color printing process described above superimposes the various color toner powder images directly onto a marking substrate. Another electrophotographic color printing process uses an intermediate transfer member. In systems which use an intermediate transfer member successive toner images are transferred in superimposed registration from the photoreceptor onto the intermediate transfer member. Only after the composite toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer member is that image transferred and fused onto the marking substrate.
The most common developing materials are dry powder toners. Dry powder developers are typically comprised of not only toner particles but also of carrier granules. The toner particles triboelectrically adhere to the carrier granules until the toner particles are attracted onto the latent image. An alternative to dry powder developing materials are liquid developers. Liquid developers, also referred to as liquid inks, have a liquid carrier into which toner particles are dispersed. When developing with liquid developers both the toner particles and the liquid carrier are advanced into contact with the electrostatic latent image. The liquid carrier is then removed by blotting, evaporation, or by some other means, leaving the toner particles behind.
Intermediate transfer members can also be used in the fusing process. Intermediate transfer members which are used in fusing are referred to herein as transfusing members, and the combined processes of transferring and fusing is called transfusing. Transfusing is highly desirable in high image quality electrophotographic printing. Transfusing members are usually pinched between one or more contact rollers and a backup roller such that a fusing pressure is created between the nip of the backup roller and the transfusing member. During fusing a marking substrate moves between the backup roller and the transfusing member and heat is applied to the toner image. The combination of heat and pressure causes the toner image to transfer and fuse onto the marking substrate. Transfusing may be done without heat, but the resulting quality is usually inferior.
As referred to above, electrostatic printers are known in which a toner image is fused or fixed to a substrate to form a final document. The fusing can occur after transfer of the toner image to the substrate, or transfer and fusing can simultaneously occur in a transfuse process. In either arrangement the substrate is fed into a fusing nip where a combination of fusing members, such as fusing or transfuse belts or rollers, apply heat and pressure to the toner image and substrate to fix or fuse the toner image to the substrate. During the fusing process, toner particles from the toner image, and debris from the substrate can adhere to the fusing member. These toner particles and other debris and contaminants can transfer from the fusing member to subsequent documents in the machine resulting in print defects. In addition, the build up of toner particles can also decrease the operational life of the fusing member. Therefore it is preferred to be able to clean the fusing members to remove toner particles and other particulate debris, such as dirt and fiber, that can affect final print quality.
One prior cleaner for a fuser such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,992 employs a cleaning roller engaging the surface of a fuser roll to remove toner particles. A toner layer initially applied to the roller surface becomes partially molten and tacky due to heating from the hot fuser surface, and additional toner particles, paper debris, and other contaminants on the fusing system preferentially adhere to the cleaner roller during the cleaning process. As excess toner particles accumulate on the cleaner roller, the toner layer on the surface of the cleaner roller can become uneven, resulting in uneven cleaning of the fusing member. Also, as excessive contaminants are trapped by the tacky toner layer due to for example long printing runs, tackiness of the toner layer can be reduced and cleaning function relative to further ability to trap contaminants can begin to degrade. These problems can be reduced by adding sufficient additional toner layers onto the tacky cleaner to xe2x80x9crefreshxe2x80x9d the surface and restore tackiness and thus allow additional cleaning of contaminants.
For xe2x80x9crefreshingxe2x80x9d, a layer of toner can be periodically applied to the tacky cleaner surface in a variety of ways. For example, in a transfuse process a toner layer can be periodically developed and transferred to the transfusing member without engaging the final media substrate, and this refreshing layer of toner can then be made to adhesively transfer from the transfuse member to the tacky cleaner surface for refreshing the cleaner. Alternatively according to aspects of this patent application, for any type of fusing system toner layers can periodically be directly contact to, developed to, or transferred to the fusing member in a variety of other ways for refreshing the tacky cleaner via adhesive toner transfer to the cleaner from the fusing member. Further according to aspects of this patent application, toner layers can be more directly applied to the tacky member by various means such as by periodically engaging other surfaces to the tacky cleaner that have previously been covered with toner. For example, toner can be developed or otherwise previously applied to an additional roller or belt and the toner laden belt or roller can subsequently be engaged to the tacky cleaner member for refreshing the cleaner. Also, periodically, toner or like material can simply be substantially uniformly sprinkled onto the tacky cleaner.
These refreshing approaches can extend the ability of the tacky cleaner to clean contaminants for longer printing intervals. However, these approaches can not be continued indefinitely because eventually the toner layer on the cleaner roller can become excessively thick, and this can lead to back transfer to the fusing member of some fraction of the tacky toner layer, with resulting early failure of the cleaner. Thus a tacky cleaner requires maintenance to remove the excess toner in order to extend life and reliability of the cleaner.
In one alternative assembly (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,947) the cleaner roller is formed of a hollow cylinder and apertures are provided in the cylinder to permit excess toner to be driven inward through the openings. Excess toner therefore is collected on the inside of the cylinder, extending the period between servicing or the life of the cleaner roller. However, the openings can result in gaps in the cleaning surface of the roller, requiring multiple cleaning cycles to completely clean the surface of the fusing member by the tacky cleaner. Therefore in a continuous printing system toner particles on the fusing member can continue to disrupt fusing, or be transferred to subsequent documents, before their removal. An object of the present invention is to eliminate the need for multiple cleaning cycles with a tacky cleaner while maintaining or extending life and reliability.
Another cleaning assembly for a fusing member is described in copending U.S. patent Ser. No. 09/464,134, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,223,016, filed Dec. 16, 1999 and assigned to the same assignee as the present application i.e. Xerox Corporation.
It is known to employ a sticky cleaner roll in an electrophotographic printer and refresh it by routinely (i.e. once per several hundreds copies) transferring uniformly developed solid toner image out the cleaner roll surface. Disadvantages of this method is that it consumes a large amount of fresh toner, and this can be wasteful and costly. Toners used for electrophotographic systems tend to require costly pigments, additives, charge-control agents, severe size classification and other special property requirements to enable processes such as image development and transfer, and these requirements typically add high cost to the toner.
Another objective of this invention is to reduce the cost and wastefulness associated with tacky cleaning and refreshing approaches. In one embodiment of this invention, a less wasteful approach is preferably used where the waste toner from other cleaners that would otherwise be discarded in the electrophotographic system is used for the tacky cleaner refreshment. In another possible embodiment, the refreshing xe2x80x9ctonerxe2x80x9d that is applied to the tacky cleaner member is lower cost material such as unclassified toner polymer particles or polymer layers rather than the toner used for the electrophotographic process. These less wasteful approaches can optionally be applied to any type of tacky cleaning system, such as existing perforated tube tacky cleaners, and these can be especially beneficial with the improved tacky cleaning systems described in this invention.
Other examples of cleaning systems employed in electrophotographic printers which relate to the technology described in this application are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,649,992, 4,000,963, 4,013,400 and 4,607,947.
To achieve the advantages described herein in accordance with the purpose of the invention, the inventive features as embodied by the present invention include a method of refreshing a sticky cleaner member for a fusing system comprising the steps of: (I) precoating the cleaner member with a low cost polymer toner material prior to a printing operation; and (ii) removing contaminants from the sticky surface of the cleaner member.
In accordance with the features of the present invention lower cost raw polymer materials rather than higher cost toners are used in the electrophotographic system. Also the present invention employs a less wasteful approach by using the waste toner from other cleaning sub-systems such as photoreceptor cleaner in the electrophotographic system.
A refreshed cleaning member prior to being used to clean a fuser in an electrophotographic printer comprises a surface having substantially minimal contaminants thereon and a coating of a plastic toner material that can become tacky at the operating cleaner temperatures.


A radiation detector includes a scintillator layer configured to absorb radiation emitted from a radiation source and to emit optical photons in response to the absorbed radiation. The radiation detector also includes a photodetector layer configured to absorb the optical photons emitted by the scintillator layer. The radiation detector further includes a reflector configured to reflect the optical photons emitted by the scintillator layer towards the photodetector layer and to absorb select wavelengths of optical photons associated with an afterglow emitted by the scintillator layer.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to radiographic detectors for non-invasive imaging and particularly to the use of a reflector with the radiographic detectors.
In radiographic systems, an X-ray source emits radiation (e.g., X-rays) towards an object or subject (e.g., a patient, a manufactured part, a package, or a piece of baggage) to be imaged. As used herein, the terms "subject" and "object" may be interchangeably used to describe anything capable of being imaged. The emitted X-rays, after being attenuated by the subject or object, typically impinge upon an array of radiation detector elements of an electronic detector. The intensity of radiation reaching the detector is typically dependent on the attenuation and absorption of X-rays through the scanned subject or object. At the detector, a scintillator may convert some of the X-ray radiation to lower energy optical photons that strike detector elements configured to detect the optical photons. Each of the detector elements then produces a separate electrical signal indicative of the amount of optical light detected, which generally corresponds to the incident X-ray radiation at the particular location of the element. The electrical signals are collected, digitized and transmitted to a data processing system for analysis and further processing to reconstruct an image.
After X-ray excitation, the scintillator continues to emit a broad spectrum of wavelengths of optical photons for an extended period of time (e.g., microseconds to milliseconds) known as an afterglow signal. Different wavelengths of light from the afterglow signal may persist for different amounts of time after the X-ray excitation, with some wavelengths persisting longer than other wavelengths. The afterglow signal may result in artifacts in the reconstructed image.


A organic electroluminescent device comprising: a pair of electrodes; and at least one organic layer between the pair of electrodes, wherein the at least one organic layer contains a specific compound in which a transition metal and a carbene carbon are bonded to each other.

Since an organic electroluminescent device (organic EL device) can emit high-brightness light with a low voltage, the organic EL device has been actively studied. In general, the organic EL device includes an organic layer (hereinafter, also referred to as an organic compound layer) having a light emitting layer and a pair of electrodes with the organic layer therebetween and uses light emitted from exciters generated by recombining electrons injected from a negative electrode and holes injected from a positive electrode with each other in the light emitting layer.
In recent years, increase in efficiency of the organic EL device has been advanced by using a phosphorescent material. An iridium complex (WO 00/57676) and a platinum complex are known as the phosphorescent material, but the phosphorescent material requires improvement in efficiency, durability, and emitted color.


A method for controlling an input device is provided. The input device has a resistor matrix having M first traces, N second traces and M×N resistors. Each second trace is coupled to a reference resistor and M−1 variable resistors. M and N are integers greater than 1. A first voltage level of each second trace is measured when a first voltage is applied to a first end of the reference resistor and a second voltage is applied to first ends of the M−1 variable resistors via the M first traces. Variations of the first voltage level of each second trace are measured, such that it could be determined whether any touch point of the input device exists according to the variations of the first voltage level of each second trace.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method for controlling operations of an input device, and more particularly to a method for controlling operations of an input device having a resistor matrix.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of an input device 100 according to the prior art. The input device 100 has a power control circuit 110 and a switch matrix 120. The power control circuit 110 sequentially supplies voltages V1, V2, V3 and V4 to the switch matrix 120. The switch matrix 120 has a plurality of first traces 121, a plurality of second traces 122 and a plurality of switches P11 to P44. A first end of each of the switches P11 to P44 is coupled to one of the first traces 121, and a second end of each of the switches P11 to P44 is coupled to one of the second traces 122. Each of the second traces 122 is coupled to one of output terminals O1 to O4 of the input device 100.
When a user touches the input device 100, a switch located at the touch point is turned on. For example, when the user touches an area around the switch P11, the switch P11 is turned on. Since the switch P11 is turned on, when the power control circuit 110 supplies the voltage V1 to the switch matrix 120, a current flows from the power control circuit 110 through the switch P11 to the output terminal O1. Therefore, the location of the touch point of the input device 100 could be determined according to detected currents outputted from the output terminals O1 to O4 and the timing of sequentially applying the voltages V1, V2, V3 and V4 to the first traces 121.
However, when two or more touch points of the input device 100 are triggered at the same time, the input device 100 may miscalculate the locations of the touch points . For example, when the user touches an area around the switches P21, P12 and P22, the switches P21, P12 and P22 are turned on accordingly. Since the switches P21, P12 and P22 are turned on, when the power control circuit 110 supplies the voltage V1 to the switch matrix 120, a current I flows from the power control circuit 110 through the switch P21, P22 and P12 sequentially to the output terminal O1. Accordingly, the input device 100 miscalculates that the touch point is located on the position of the switch P11.

Method for controlling operations of input device having resistor matrix


An image recording paper has a recording surface comprised of a film obtained by the steps of coating or impregnating a substrate comprised primarily of a pulp fiber with a liquid composition comprising a silicone compound and a finely divided material, which silicone compound is capable of combining with the substrate and with the finely divided material by a chemical reaction, and drying the coated or impregnated liquid composition. The liquid composition preferably contains besides the silicone compound a modified-silicone oil having in a molecule thereof a reactive group. This image recording paper eliminates a conflict between fixability and releasablilty of an image forming material and is easily reusable without altering the appearance of plain paper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reusable image recording paper which is used in an image forming apparatus based on an electrophotographic process or a thermal transfer process and more particularly to a reusable image recording paper which withstands repetitions of a cycle consisting of image formation with an image forming material and removal of the image either by use of an image removing apparatus destined for the removal from substrate of the image forming material fixed thereto by an image forming apparatus or by use of an image forming apparatus equipped with such an image removing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, because of the emergence of the problem of environmental pollution on a global scale, the importance of the protection of forest resources has been recognized with the result that the reduction in the consumption of wood resource as a material for paper has become important. As part of the measure for reducing the consumption, the reuse as waste paper of used paper is advocated instead of disposing it as a waste. Although the reuse of waste paper is an important recovery of resources, reuse of paper involves many problems.
For example, as regards the recovery of waste paper, particularly in business companies, the problems raised include leak of secret documents or data, different recovery operations according to the kinds of paper, transportation of paper and locations and controls of waste paper collecting places. In addition, since repulping treatment of waste paper shortens the pulp fibers, the quality of the regenerated paper tends to become inferior. And, a de-inking apparatus for de-inking treatment of existing images become necessary. Further, since a paper making machine itself is gigantic, complicated and expensive, the paper reuse work is intractable by any individual and is only manageable by a limited number of enterprises.
Unless the above-mentioned discriminate recovery, transportation, collection, operation of gigantic equipment and the like are conducted in an efficient way, a large amount of energy will be consumed (i.e., increase in CO.sub.2 emission) and as a result the problem of global warming phenomenon which is one of global environmental problems and which ensues from the increase in the amount of CO.sub.2 will be exasperated.
As one of the solutions to the above-mentioned problems, there have been proposed methods whereby an image on a sheet of paper once formed is erased so that the paper is used again. Exemplary of these methods are those described in the following laid open patent applications.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2-55195 provides a erasable printing substrate by coating an image support material made, for example, of plastics, metal, liquid-impermeable paper or ceramics, with a silicone sealing agent, i.e., a silicone rubber-based releasing agent. When removing an image, the image printed in a thermally fusible ink on the support is heated and pressed together with a thermally fusible release coating present therebetween and is then cooled down to remove the image from the support.
In this case, since the silicone sealing agent tends to migrate, it adheres to contact surfaces of paper feeder or delivery rollers and the like inside an apparatus to cause paper block up. In addition, the block up causes dust and toner to float inside the apparatus and to deposit on paper, thus smearing the paper. An attempt to form a thin and uniform coating layer of the silicone sealing agent on a substrate to reduce the migration of the silicone sealing agent has proved to be unsuccessful. This is because, where the substrate is simple paper, such factor as penetration of the silicone sealing agent into paper or irregularity on the surface of paper causes discontinuity of coating layer including uncoated areas. Accordingly, in order to fulfill the function as an erasable printing substrate, the film thickness of the silicone sealing agent needs to be at least Sum, which enhances the surface smoothness and results in poor fixability of image.
Besides, in the above-cited invention, utilized as a substrate is a material which is exemplified by polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or a laminated film and which usually has a surface smoothness of at least 300 seconds as measured by a Beck's smoothness meter. In the case where such a substrate is coated with a silicone sealing agent layer having a thickness of 3 um or more which is necessary for satisfactory removal of an thermally fusible ink, the fixability of image recording material is so poor that mere rubbing the image with hand will cause the image part to easily peel, thus resulting in unsatisfactory preservation of the record.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 5-216376 provides an erasable printing paper having a recording surface coated with a releasing agent, which, when erasing the image, is press-contacted with a medium comprised of a material causing an easy offset so that the image forming toner will be transferred and removed. The releasing agents utilized include a silicone oil, a fluorinated oil and other aliphatic oils. When these oils are utilized, in order to obtain a satisfactory level of toner release property, it will be necessary to apply them to paper in such a large amount that the coated printing paper will become transparent. Therefore, the problems involved are that the obtained printing paper will present an appearance different from that of plain paper, that mere rubbing the image with hand causes the image part to easily peel due to poor fixability thus resulting in unsatisfactory preservation of the record and that migration tendency of the releasing agent presents the same problems as in the case of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2-55195.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 6-219068 provides a reusable printing paper obtained by coating or impregnating a thermal transfer recording paper with a thermally modifiable material which, when heated, becomes less adherent to an image forming material and which is exemplified by a fluorine-containing acrylate. In this case, the recording paper is a thermal transfer recording paper, which has a higher smoothness and poor fixability in comparison with plain paper. The above-mentioned thermally modifiable material has poor adhesion to the thermal transfer recording paper as a substrate and exhibits migration, which causes slip between paper delivery rollers and the recording paper thereby increasing the possibility of causing block up of recording paper and failure in setting due to deviation of location. Although there is described a technique consisting of creating on the thermal transfer printing paper a limited region where the thermally modifiable material is not coated or impregnated as a measure for the prevention of the above-mentioned problems, fresh problems will be more labor that will be involved, difficulty in the manufacture of the printing paper and higher production costs.
In addition, in the case of the above-mentioned reusable recording paper utilizing a thermally modifiable material, a fixing treatment by the application of pressure is necessary, which is disadvantageous from the viewpoint of wide use of this type of paper, because, in current copiers based on electrophotography, the fixation of an image forming material on a recording paper is performed by a thermal press. Other problems include that the writings by pencil, ball point pen, water base ink pen and the like are too light-colored to be discernible and that the surface is too repellent to write.


The present invention relates to diesel oxidation catalyst compositions and catalyst articles, wherein the compositions and articles include a plurality of platinum group nanoparticles substantially in fully reduced form, wherein the nanoparticles have an average particle size of about 1 to about 10 nm and at least about 90% of the nanoparticles have a particle size of +/− about 2 nm of the average particle size. Such compositions can further include a refractory metal oxide material, wherein the nanoparticles and refractory metal oxide material can be combined within the same coating on a substrate or can be applied sequentially on a substrate. The nanoparticles can advantageously be substantially free of halides, alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, sulfur compounds, and boron compounds. Methods of preparing and using such compositions and catalyst articles (e.g., for the treatment of diesel exhaust gas streams) are also provided herein.

Emissions of diesel engines include particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), unburned hydrocarbons (HC), and carbon monoxide (CO). NOx is a term used to describe various chemical species of nitrogen oxides, including nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), among others. The two major components of exhaust particulate matter are the soluble organic fraction (SOF) and the dry carbon or soot fraction. The SOF condenses on the soot in layers, and is generally derived from unburned diesel fuel and lubricating oils. The SOF can exist in diesel exhaust either as a vapor or as an aerosol (i.e., fine droplets of liquid condensate), depending on the temperature of the exhaust gas. Soot is predominately composed of particles of carbon.
Platinum group metal (PGM) and, in particular, platinum (Pt)-based and platinum/palladium (Pt/Pd)-based catalysts are useful in treating the exhaust of diesel engines to remove hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) by catalyzing the oxidation of these pollutants to carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). In addition, oxidation catalysts that contain platinum promote the oxidation of NO to NO2. Catalysts are typically defined by their light-off temperature or the temperature at which 50% conversion is attained, also called T50. Such catalysts may be contained within diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) systems, catalyst soot filter (CSF) systems, or combined DOC-CSF systems. These catalyst systems are placed in the exhaust flow path from diesel power systems to treat the resulting exhaust before it vents to the atmosphere. Typically, diesel oxidation catalysts are deposited on ceramic or metallic substrates.
Diesel soot removal is achieved via either active or passive regeneration. Active soot regeneration is carried out by injecting additional diesel fuel at the DOC inlet, and the exotherm released by the fuel combustion significantly raises the temperature at a downstream CSF and initiates soot combustion by O2 (C+O2→CO/CO2). This reaction typically requires temperatures in excess of 600° C. Passive soot regeneration utilizes NO2 rather than O2 to oxidize soot (C+NO2→CO/CO2+NO). This reaction becomes quite efficient at T>300° C. and can often be accomplished during normal driving, without requiring fuel injection, which results in a fuel penalty. In current heavy-duty diesel vehicles and light-duty diesel vehicles, some manufacturers predominantly utilize passive regeneration strategy for their system design, i.e., high engine-out NOx in combination with low soot emission. However, NO2 typically constitutes <10% of the total engine-out NOx. For maximal passive soot removal, additional NO2 has to be formed by oxidation of NO.
Platinum (Pt) remains the most effective platinum group metal for oxidizing NO to NO2, and the mild aging conditions (˜550°) of passive heavy-duty diesel systems render it particularly suitable. Even for light-duty diesel systems where DOC exhaust temperatures can reach 800° C., catalyst designs with Pt-rich zones can be made thermally durable. NO oxidation has been widely reported to be structure-sensitive on Pt, i.e., turn-over frequency (TOF) is strongly dependent on the Pt particle size (B. M. Weiss, E. Iglesia, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2009, 30, 13331-13340). In addition, a fully reduced metallic Pt surface is most active for NO oxidation. There remains a need in the art for new DOC catalyst formulations that meet increasingly stringent regulations. Colloidal platinum group metal nanoparticles (PGMNPs) with high metal content (e.g., high platinum content) would be useful for preparation of such DOC compositions.

Diesel oxidation catalyst comprising platinum group metal nanoparticles


A line driver circuit can include an integrated circuit substrate of a first conductivity type having at least a first and a second well of a second conductivity type formed therein. The second well can be coupled to a first power supply node. A first transistor can be formed in the first well having a source coupled to a first input signal node, a drain coupled to a conductive line, and a gate coupled to a second input signal node. A second transistor can have a source coupled to a second power supply node, a drain coupled to the conductive line, and a gate coupled to the second input signal node. A third transistor can be formed in the second well and have a source coupled to the first power supply node, a drain coupled to the first well, and a gate coupled to receive a mode signal.

Integrated circuits can include line driver circuits that can drive signals across relatively long conductive lines. For example, memory circuits can include word lines, each connected to a row of memory cells that can be driven between select and de-select states. Higher density memory circuits can partition word lines to reduce overall word line size, and thus drive such word lines faster. In such architectures, word lines can include global word lines (GWLs) each of which can activate a number of sub word lines (SWLs).
Conventional SWL drivers can suffer from gate induced drain leakage (GIDL) when implemented in sub micron technologies. Such SWL gate induced drain leakage can be as much as 8 to 10% of the chip standby current (ISB).
To better understand various features of the disclosed embodiments, a conventional SWL driver will now be described with reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 shows a conventional SWL driver 700 that includes a PMOS device P70, and n-channel MOS (NMOS) devices N70 and N72. Device P70 has a source that receives a block select signal BLK, a drain connected to SWL 702, and a gate connected to a global word line select signal GWLB. Device N70 has a source connected to a low power supply GND, a drain connected to SWL 702, and a gate also connected to signal GWLB. Device N72 can have a drain connected to SWL 702, a source connected to low power supply GND, and a gate connected to receive a signal BLKB that is the inverse of signal BLK.
Conventional SWL driver 700 can be placed in a standby mode by driving signal BLK low, signal BLKB high, while signal GWLB can be high. In such a state, significant current leakage (shown by arrows "IIk") can occur through an n-well containing device P70, because a source and drain of device P70 can be at a ground potential, while the gate of the device is at a higher potential. Such leakage has GIDL as the dominant component if |Vgd| or |Vgs|=Vpwr (magnitude of gate-to-drain or gate-to-source voltage is higher or equals to supply voltage Vpwr) for any OFF transistor in standby mode. Gate induced drain leakage is not a function of gate length, and can vary exponentially with |Vgd| or |Vgs| for an off transistor.
A first conventional approach to addressing GIDL can be to reduce a gate potential applied at the affected device (e.g., PMOS P70). However, such an approach can require additional power control and regulation circuitry, and thus increases die (i.e., integrated circuit) area and design complexity. A second conventional solution can be to reduce the number of SWL drivers by increasing the number of memory cells driven by a given SWL. This can have the disadvantage of reduced speed due to increased loading. A third conventional solution can be to reduce the potential at the n-well containing the affected PMOS device, to some constant lower voltage or to ground (zero volts). Disadvantages of such an approach can also be an additional regulator circuit, resulting in increased die area and design complexity. Still further, driving an n-well to a zero volt potential can cause an increase in standby currents as a parasitic npn transistor can be formed with nearby n-wells.

Line driver circuit and method with standby mode of operation


Described is a method and system for performing path-sensitive value flow analysis on a software program. Concrete state and value alias information is tracked along each statement and each relevant path in an abstract program and is stored as a symbolic state in a symbolic store. The value alias information includes a first set of aliases that identify aliases for a designated value that is being analyzed and a second set of aliases that identify possible aliases for the designated value. The value alias information is obtained using imprecise memory alias analysis. Along each relevant path for each statement, transforms are applied to the sets of aliases to update the first and second sets of aliases. The transforms are applied based on the type of statement being processed. Symbolic states existing at the same location are merged if the value alias information is identical within the symbolic states.

Today, some software programs contain one million lines of code (LOC) or more. In order to ensure the reliability of these software programs, the software programs undergo testing before releasing the software programs to consumers. Typically, the testing includes a value flow analysis. Value flow analysis analyzes the software program to determine which memory locations hold a given value at a given program point along a given execution path within the program. The analysis then identifies code that incorrectly uses a value. For example, the analysis may check whether a function call has acquired a lock that was created by a preceding function call, whether a value is valid for a given function call, and the like. Because values created in one portion of the code may be passed to numerous other portions of the code, value flow analysis tracks each execution path for every value.
The current approaches for value flow analysis make a trade-off between precision and scalability. If the value flow analysis is precise, the analysis maintains information about all the values for each execution path. When the software program is very large, this precise value flow analysis can not compute the necessary information in a timely manner. Thus, precise value flow analysis does not scale well to large software programs. In contrast, imprecise value flow analysis does scale well to large software programs. However, imprecise value flow analysis does not keep accurate information. Rather, at certain locations within the program, the information is merged. Because, the imprecise value flow analysis merges some of the information, the results identify some portions of the code as having errors, when in fact those portions do not have errors. This reporting of incorrect errors is commonly referred to as noise. If the imprecise value flow analysis has too much noise, the analysis is not useful. Thus, full-scale reliable value flow analysis of a software program having a large code base has been unattainable.

System and method for performing path-sensitive value flow analysis on a program


A method is disclosed. The method includes receiving a print job to be printed, determining if the print job is to be printed as a monochrome print job, invoking a monochrome International Color Consortium (ICC) profile if the print job is determined to be a monochrome print job, printing the monochrome print job and tracking a first print volume during periods in which the monochrome ICC profile has been invoked.

Print systems include presentation architectures that are provided for representing documents in a data format that is independent of the methods that are utilized to capture or create those documents. One example of a presentation system is the (Advanced Function Presentation) AFP™ system developed by International Business Machines Corporation. Other examples of presentation systems include Portable Document Format (PDF) and PostScript (PS). According to these systems, documents may include mixed content data objects (e.g., combinations of text, image, graphics, etc.).
Moreover, these print systems typically perform color printing using a, combination of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) color inks, where mixed content input color data objects received at a print system are rendered using all colorants. Thus, print jobs designated as having black (or monochrome) objects are sometimes rendered using a combination of color inks in full color print systems.
This results in undesirable CMYK black combinations for print jobs that are to be printed with black only ink because it results in a substantial use of C, M and Y ink to print various shades of black and gray. Since C, M and Y ink are each more expensive, the unnecessary use of these colors results in wasted resources. Further, a higher maintenance fee is incurred for print customers using full color print systems. As a result, a number of print customers are hesitant to move to full color print systems because of the total cost of print is higher for these systems.
In order to encourage a transition from monochrome printing to full color, a mechanism is desired to enable customers to print monochrome pages on full-color systems, while incurring costs and usage fees for single color printing.


A method and apparatus for estimating the slowness of a geological formation using waveforms recorded by an acoustic borehole logging tool. Phase slowness coherence is extracted from the recorded waveforms after transformation to the frequency domain (804) at various frequencies (806), and this is converted into a formation slowness curve (808) which can be used as an objective function from which an anomaly, such as a local maximum or minimum (810), can be identified as representative of an estimate of the formation slowness.

This invention relates generally to acoustic well logging, and in particular to estimating formation slowness using an acoustic well logging tool.
Formation compressional and shear slowness are two of the most important parameters used in the exploration and production of hydrocarbon. Conventionally, they are measured by sonic logging. A sonic logging tool consists of two primary parts: data acquisition and data processing. Data acquisition is done by sending a logging tool down into an exploration or production well, and the acoustic source on the logging tool sends an acoustic signal that subsequently propagates along the well and is recorded at several evenly spaced receivers that are some distance away from the source. Formation compressional and shear slowness are then estimated by processing the recorded waveforms, using array sonic processing techniques, such as the slowness-time coherence method (STC).
Recent studies have shown that STC yields an accurate slowness estimation when, and only when, the acoustic waves propagated along a wellbore are non-dispersive, or multiple arrivals contained in the waveforms are well separated in the slowness-time domain. When the underlying waveforms are dispersive or the waveforms compose of mixed modes with similar group velocities, such as in the case of wireline leaky P-mode (for compressional slowness in very slow formation), wireline dipole mode (for shear slowness), quadrupole mode (for shear slowness) in logging while drilling (LWD) or some monopole mode (for compressional slowness) in LWD, STC produces a systematic error in the slowness estimation. The amount of those systematic errors is large enough to result in negative implications in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, such as oil can be mistaken as water in prospect assessment. Furthermore, the correlogram produced by STC method, currently used as a quality control tool for slowness estimation by industry, does not reflect the accuracy of the slowness estimation.
Recently, several approaches have been developed to address the limitations of the existing methods and apparatus for estimating formation slowness. Theses fall into two categories: model-driven dispersion correction and phase velocity processing. The model-driven dispersion correction approaches have been adapted by major logging companies, such as Schlumberger and Baker Hughes. They have been developed to address wireline dipole mode and leaky P mode. Baker Hughes also applies its approach to their quadrupole LWD data. The model-driven approach still makes use of STC and corrects dispersion effects by applying a theoretically calculated dispersion curve of the corresponding mode. The dispersion correction of the model-driven approach is only accurate under several assumptions that are hard to meet in reality, including circular borehole, homogeneous and isotropic formation and good knowledge of a variety of formation and mud properties, including slowness and density. In the case where the waveforms contain multiple arrivals that are not well separated in slowness-time domain, all model-driven methods will not arrive at the correct formation slowness. The phase velocity processing approach estimate instantaneous phase slowness for each receiver pairs, which could potential yield more accurate slowness estimation than STC method. However as the formation slowness value is computed by averaging over the desired travel time interval, the phase velocity processing still generates a systematic error in slowness estimation. Also the phase velocity processing may suffer some stability problems.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations of the existing methods and apparatus for estimating formation slowness.

Method and apparatus for estimating formation slowness


A method and apparatus for carrying out the method in which a clamp made from a flat blank is plastically deformed into circular shape, is locked in its closed condition, is transferred from the deformation station to a transfer station where it is placed over the object to be fastened and is thereafter tightened onto the object. In order to maintain the clamp in predetermined position on the object before being tightened, the clamp is additionally plastically deformed into a slightly non-circular shape differing from the circular shape of the object and is again elastically deformed into its original circular shape before being placed over the object so that return of the clamp to its slightly non-circular configuration will provide sufficient frictional engagement to hold the clamp in predetermined position.

Open clamp structures of the type, for example, illustrated in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,299,012 which include a so-called "Oetiker" ear have found widespread use in various applications. In one of these applications, such types of open clamps are used on the assembly line in the automobile industry to fasten axle boots onto axles. For that purpose, open clamps which are already preformed into substantially circular configuration are placed about the axle boots, are manually closed by engagement of the hooks provided on the inner band portion in apertures in the outer band portion and are thereafter fastened by contraction of the so-called "Oetiker" ear.
It is also known to ship open clamp structures to the user as flat blanks for space- and cost-saving reasons and to deform the flat blanks into a predetermined shape at the user. My prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,633,698 and 4,425,789 disclose machines for preforming the flat blanks at the user.
The manual operations involved heretofore required four persons before the installation of the clamps on the axle boots was completed. Because of human errors, a fifth person was normally present to control for proper installation of the clamp and a sixth person had to be available to remove improperly installed clamps and correct the deficiencies noticed by the control person by installing another clamp in its place. Thus, the prior art method for installing these clamps was relatively labor-intensive. Additionally, the waste was relatively high because the improperly installed clamp structures had to be destroyed in order to remove the same and thus became useless scrap. Apart from normal human errors, the problems in the prior art method were further compounded by lack of uniformity in the installation of the clamps, not only due to improper application of the pincer-like pneumatic tool closing the so-called "Oetiker" ear but also by vastly varying actuation of the pneumatic tool, which in turn resulted in closing of the ear at different speeds and with greatly differing forces. However, for metallurgical reasons, an excessively rapid deformation of the ear and/or excessive closing forces may affect the quality of installation of the installed clamp and its holding ability.
Thus, the prior art method as described above, which has been used on the assembly line in the automotive industry, entailed numerous problems which not only affected cost, but also quality of the installation of the clamp on the axle boot and therewith the length of life of the axle assembly dependent on the ability to retain in an absolutely tight manner the lubricant present on the inside of the axle boot.

Apparatus and method for automatically installing and fastening clamps onto objects to be fastened

Hans Oetiker AG Maschinen- und Apparatefabrik

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A haptic device having a plurality of operational modes, including a first operational mode and a second operational mode is provided. The first operational mode is associated with a frequency range. The second operational mode is associated with a frequency range that is different from the frequency range of the first operational mode. A controller is coupled to the haptic device, and is configured to send the haptic device a plurality of control schemes. Each control scheme is uniquely associated with an operational mode from the plurality of operational modes.

The invention relates generally to haptic feedback devices. More specifically, the invention relates to controlling haptic devices each having multiple operational modes.
Computer users often use interface devices to provide information to computers or other electronic devices. For example, with such interface devices, a user can interact with an environment displayed by a computer to perform functions and tasks on the computer, such as playing a game, experiencing a simulation or virtual reality environment, using a computer aided design system, operating a graphical user interface (GUI), or otherwise affecting processes or images depicted on an output device of the computer. Common human interface devices for computers or electronic devices include, for example, a joystick, button, mouse, trackball, knob, steering wheel, stylus, tablet, pressure-sensitive ball, remote control, wireless phone, and stereo controls.
In some interface devices, feedback, such as force feedback, can also be provided to a user. Each of these interface devices, for example, includes one or more haptic devices, which are connected to a controlling processor and/or computer. Consequently, by a controlling processor, controller, and/or computer, haptic forces produced by the haptic device can be controlled in coordination with actions of the user and/or events associated with an audible environment or a graphical or displayed environment by sending control signals or commands to haptic feedback device.
Multi-mode haptic devices that provide desirable performance have been developed. For example, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/301,809, entitled, "Haptic Feedback Using Rotary Harmonic Moving Mass," the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses haptic feedback using a device having a rotary harmonic moving mass. Accordingly, additional systems and methods for controlling multi-mode haptic devices are desirable.

System and method for controlling haptic devices having multiple operational modes


An osteosynthetic implant for setting a broken bone. The implant comprises a nail having a plurality of helically twisted blades that share a common helical axis. At least two of the blades define an angle of less than 180.degree. in a plane perpendicular to the helical axis. In a preferred embodiment, one pair of the blades of the nail is tapered towards its proximal portion and another pair has a uniform thickness. The blades are twisted by at least about 30.degree.. A cannulation runs through the center of the nail to receive a guide wire. The nail is slidably engageable to a member that is securable to an elongated portion of the bone, such as a side plate or an intramedullary nail. In a preferred implantation orientation, the proximate portion of the tapered blades is parallel to the elongated portion of the bone, and a proximate portion of the uniform blades is perpendicular thereto.

The elderly population experiences a high incidence of femoral fractures, commonly in the femoral neck and intertrochanteric regions. These fractures are normally treated by inserting a nail or hip screw from the side of the femur, through the neck, and into the femoral head. The nail or screw is then fixed to a side plate, that is fastened to the outside of the femur shaft, or to an intramedullary nail, that is inserted through the femur shaft. Both the side plate and the intramedullary nail may by secured to the femur shaft with bone screws.
A high incidence of death, between 10% to 25%, is associated with this type of hip fractures due to the injury itself or related complications. Frequent complications may arise when two or more bone fragments are forced towards each other when the patient supports his or her weight on the healing bone. For example, a sharp implanted nail or hip screw may cut through and penetrate the femoral head or neck; or a nail, hip screw, side plate, or intramedullary nail may bend or break under load where the contact between bone fragments is insufficient for the bone itself to carry the patient's weight.
Collapsible implants have been developed to maximize bone to bone contact by permitting bone fragments to migrate towards one another. Examples in the prior art include the Richards-type compression hip-screw and the Kenn-type nail. Richards screws comprise a long, smooth shaft and external threads at the tip. Kenn nails comprise a wide, tri-flanged tip at the end of a smooth shaft. In both examples, the nail or screw implanted through the neck of the femur is allowed to slide back through the side plate or intramedullary nail as the bone fragments move together under a load.
On the other hand, these known implants are laterally stiff. Their sharp ends may cut sideways through the cancellous tissue of a femoral head after implantation and migrate within the bone, either piercing the surface of the femur or simply no longer retaining proper alignment of bone fragments. To resolve this problem, single, helical blades were developed, such as the SPIRAL BLADE brand, currently sold by Synthes, Paoil, Pa., and such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,300,074 and 4,978,349. These blades are twisted about 90.degree. along their length and have a substantially uniform width. When implanted into the neck and head of a femur, the distal end of the blade lies in parallel with the femur shaft, and the proximal end lies perpendicularly to the shaft. In this position, the load on the head acts on relatively flexible, large, flat surface, reducing the pressure on the cancellous tissue and diminishing the tendency of the implant to further cut through the bone once implanted. The distal end, being aligned with the femoral shaft, provides a higher bending stiffness than the tip to sufficiently support the blade. Also, unlike previous nails and screws, these blades require little or no material removal in the femoral head, prior to implantation, where the amount of bone is critical.
These single, helical blades, however, are fairly compliant in the transverse direction, towards the fore and aft of the patient's body, because of the vertical positioning of the distal end of the blade. Moreover, the blades provide little resistance to cutting through the cancellous bone like a knife in directions aligned with the width of the blade at any station along its length. A need exists, therefore, to provide improved osteosynthetic implants which do not have a tendency to cause such cutting.


Provided herein is an electrostatic capacitive type window integrated touch screen panel and a method for manufacturing a touch screen panel thereof, the method comprising: forming an oxide metal oxide (OMO) hybrid electrode on a strengthened substrate; and etching the OMO hybrid electrode and forming a pattern, and forming a pattern insertion layer on the pattern, wherein the OMO hybrid electrode is formed by depositing a bottom-layer, metal-layer and top-layer on top of the strengthened substrate, and the pattern insertion layer is formed based on an oxide having a refractive index of a certain range.

1. Field
The following description relates to a touch screen, more particularly, to a touch screen panel and a method for manufacturing the touch screen panel.
2. Description of Related Art
Touch screens may be classified into electrostatic capacitive type touch screens, resistive overlay type touch screens, infrared ray (IR) type touch screens, and surface acoustic wave (SAW) type touch screens.
In a resistive overlay (constant pressure) type touch screen, a touched position is recognized based on the electric signals generated as transparent electrodes of a upper substrate and lower substrate contacts each other when a finger or pen touches the substrates. Resistive overlay type touch screens are inexpensive, and are favorable for miniaturization since they are highly accurate. Thus, resistive overlay type touch screens may be mainly adopted for usage in personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable multimedia players (PMPs), navigations, and handsets and the like.
In an electrostatic capacitive type touch screen, when an electric conductor touches a transparent electrode on a substrate, for example by a finger touching the transparent electrode on the substrate, a constant electrostatic capacitive layer will be formed on an insulation layer, through which signals are transmitted. The touched position can then be recognized by calculating the size of the transmitted signals and detecting the position accordingly.
Although resistive overlay touch screens are favorable in terms of cost, and electrostatic capacitive type touch screens cost more that resistive overlay type touch screens, electrostatic capacitive type touch screens are more preferred by users due to their high light transmission index, multi-touch capability, and high reaction speed. Hence, electrostatic capacitive type touch screens are expected to become the mainstream in portable terminal touch panels in the years to come.
A surface acoustic wave (SAW) type touch screen recognizes a touched position by sensing the reduction in wave size as the surface acoustic wave discharged meets an obstacle. Surface acoustic wave type touch screens have high light transmission index, accuracy and definition, and thus they are mostly applied to unmanned information terminals installed in outdoor places. They are applicable to large sized panels, but are susceptible to contamination of sensors and liquid.
Infrared ray (IR) type touch screens use the characteristic of infrared ray which is not visible to humans but goes straight and thus gets blocked when it meets an obstacle. This type of touch screen may be made by just one sheet of glass without the need of depositing an indium tin oxide (ITO) film or glass plate on a front surface of a display, and thus it is a method providing the highest transmission index.
The electrostatic capacitive type TSP (touch screen panel) is the only type of touch screen which enables multi-touching that is the basis for emotional touching and where high transmission sensors can be provided therein. Large area slim touch sensor technique providing the emotional touch function applicable to large area displays is expected to be the center of touch sensor technique within the next 10 years.

Method for manufacturing touch screen panel and touch screen panel

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


Organosiloxane compositions curable by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction contain as the adhesion promoter a silane comprising an silicon-bonded alkenyl radical containing at least five carbon atoms and at least one alkoxy group. The silane or a hydrolysis-condensation product thereof is optionally used in combination with a catalyst that promotes reaction of the silane with groups present on the surface of the substrate to which bonding is desired.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to curable organosiloxane compositions. More particularly this invention relates to organosiloxane compositions that cure by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction and develop strong cohesive bonds to various substrates, particularly aluminum, steel and glass, that the compositions are in contact with during curing.
2. Background Information
Organosiloxane compositions that cure by a hydrosilation reaction between alkenyl hydrocarbon radicals and silicon bonded hydrogen atoms are well known. The curing reaction is typically catalyzed by a metal from the platinum group of the periodic table or a compound of one of these metals, and the consistency of the cured materials range from gels to elastomers to resins. The ability of these compositions to cure at temperatures from ambient to about 200.degree. C. without the evolution of by-products make them desirable for a wide range of end use applications, including fabricated articles and encapsulating materials. A disadvantage that has delayed wider acceptance of this type of organosiloxane composition as coating materials is the relatively poor adhesion to organic and metal substrates developed during curing of the compositions.
Attempts have been made to improve the adhesion of organosiloxane compositions that cure by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction by coating the substrate with a primer prior to applying the curable organosiloxane composition or by adding an adhesion promoter to the curable composition. Organosilicon compounds containing a variety of reactive groups have been used as both primers and adhesion promoters for curable organosiloxane compositions. Silanes that have been used for these purposes typically correspond to the formula ASi(OR).sub.3, where R represents a lower alkyl radical. A represents a group capable of reacting with the substrate during curing of the organosiloxane composition, and includes but is not limited to ethylenically unsaturated groups such as vinyl radicals and 3-(meth)acryloxypropyl groups, epoxy-containing groups such as gamma-glycidoxypropyl, aminoalkyl, mercaptoalkyl, isocyanato and alkoxy groups. Organosiloxanes containing at least one of these reactive groups per molecule have also been used as adhesion promoters.
Adhesion promoting organosiloxanes containing two or more types of reactive groups per molecule are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,188, which issued on Mar. 22, 1990; in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 3/234,768; and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,932, which issued on Mar. 22, 1988.
Primer compositions and adhesion promoters comprising mixtures or reaction products of two or more organosilicon compounds containing at least one of the reactive groups discussed in the preceding paragraphs are also known. Mixtures of previously known adhesion promoters include the combination of an epoxy-substituted silane and an organosiloxane containing at least one vinyl radical and at least one silicon-bonded hydroxyl group described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,585; the combination of a 1,2-bis(trialkoxysilyl)ethane and an organosilicon compound containing at least one hydroxyl group or suitable hydrolyzable precursor and a group that reacts with the 1,2-bis(trialkoxysilyl)ethane or the curable organosiloxane composition, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,562; and liquid vinyl-containing organosiloxanes prepared by the hydrolysis of a mixture of vinyltriethoxysilane and vinyltrichlorosilane in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 72/36,255, published on Sep. 12, 1972.
A variety of catalysts have been used to promote a hydrolysis-condensation reaction involving the alkoxy and/or hydroxyl groups present on the adhesion promoter molecules and reactive groups present on the surface of the substrate. Suitable catalysts include but are not limited to tetraalkyl titanates and chelates such as acetylacetonates derived from metals including but not limited to aluminum, copper and titanium.
A disadvantage of using as adhesion promoters alkoxysilanes or organosiloxanes containing either vinyl or allyl as the silicon-bonded reactive group is the inhibiting effect of these compounds on the platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction used to cure the organosiloxane composition. This inhibition is particularly evident at curing temperatures below about 120.degree. C.
One objective of this invention is to improve the adhesion to a variety of substrates exhibited by organosiloxane compositions that cure by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction.
A second objective is to define a class of organosilicon compounds containing at least one silicon-bonded higher alkenyl radical and at least one alkoxy group as the reactive groups. The compounds function as adhesion promoters for organosiloxane compositions curable by a platinum-catalyzed hydrosilation reaction without substantially inhibiting curing of the composition at temperatures below about 150.degree. C.

Organosiloxane compositions exhibiting improved bonding to substrates during curing


A method of manufacturing a pneumatic tire having an innerliner formed of thermoplastic elastomer. The method comprises the steps of: heating a surface of a tire building drum in advance; placing the innerliner on the heated surface of the tire building drum, the innerliner being cylindrically shaped and having a radially outer surface to which an adhesive has been applied; disposing uncured tire components radially outwardly of the innerliner to form a green tire; and curing the green tire.

In general, a pneumatic tire has an innerliner formed of rubber such as butyl rubber inside the tire to prevent permeation of air with which the inner cavity is filled. Recently, it has been proposed to use thermoplastic elastomer for the innerliner instead of rubber to lighten a tire (see Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 10-25375 and 11-199713, for example). The innerliner of thermoplastic elastomer can be formed into a film thinner than that of rubber, which makes a contribution to weight lightening of a tire.
An adhesive is applied to the radially outer surface of the innerliner film of thermoplastic elastomer to secure adhesion to a tire component such as a carcass ply disposed outwardly of the innerliner. Therefore, when the innerliner with the adhesive is applied to a tire building drum during building of a green tire, there is a handling problem such that parts of the radially outer surface of the innerliner adhere to one another, for example. If the tackiness of the adhesive is reduced to facilitate handling, a problem arises such as separation of the innerliner after building of a green tire.

Method of manufacturing pneumatic tire and tire building machine used therefor


An optical observation apparatus includes: an optical system which produces an image of an object being observed and a video device (7) for recording the image and producing an image signal. The video device (7) includes a first memory (71) for temporarily storing the image signal, a second memory (73) in data communication (77) with the first memory (71), and a control device (75) in communication (76A, 76B) with both memories (71, 73) for controlling the storage procedure in the first memory and data transfer from the first to the second memory. The control device (75) controls the storage procedure and the data transfer so that overwriting of such data already stored for a given period of time in the first memory (71) is effected and that transfer of the content of the first memory (71) to the second memory (73) takes place as a reaction to a trigger signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an optical observation apparatus, in particular an operation microscope, with a video device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical observation apparatuses such as for example microscopes, telescopes or endoscopes are used for example to view objects which are small, far away or which involve difficulties in access. In such an apparatus the objects are frequently reproduced by means of an optical system which in the simplest case can be an objective lens, in the form of an intermediate image on an image plane, referred to as the intermediate image plane. That intermediate image can be viewed on a magnified scale by means of an eyepiece.
Often however there is a wish to subject the intermediate image to electronic analysis. In addition, it is frequently desirable for the intermediate image to be made accessible not only to a single viewer but a plurality of viewers at the same time. In order to permit simultaneous viewing of the intermediate image by a plurality of viewers, the intermediate image can be recorded by a camera in analog or digital form and the recorded image can be displayed on a monitor or a plurality of monitors. In addition in particular recording the intermediate image by means of a digital camera permits electronic analysis of the intermediate image. A microscope which is combined with a video camera and in which the intermediate image is recorded by the image sensor of a video camera is described for example in JP 910 28 99 A.
While working with an optical observation apparatus which is equipped with a video device, many users want to record images of the situations being observed, for documentation purposes. Frequently however a situation arises only over a short period of time and also can no longer be reconstructed after that period of time has elapsed. For example, it is usual for surgeons to record images for scientific purposes during an operation. In that case however it frequently happens that the surgeon carrying out the procedure is too busy, during the operation, to immediately cause a situation which arises to be recorded, so that the situation can only be incompletely recorded or often cannot even be recorded at all. Frequently the situation can also no longer be reconstructed in the desired manner, for image recording thereof at a later time. Complete documentation of such situations is therefore not possible with the optical observation apparatuses in accordance with the state of the art.
Therefore the object of the present invention is to provide an improved optical observation apparatus which in particular can be an operation microscope or an endoscope and which simplifies documentation of the observed situation for the user.

Optical observation apparatus with video device


The jumping or skipping plaything has a flattened and twisted connector between a roller, drum or wheel at one end and an ankle ring at the other end. The connector rotates with the wheel or roller or drum relative to the ankle ring. The connector also contains day glow material to provide an edge glow.

Devices of the above general type are known (e.g. Arad ET al U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,675; Liquori U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,871; Larson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,654; McGowan et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,452; Shure et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,651), and these include the aforementioned ring at one end, the elongated element, e.g. a rope-like element, hereinafter referred to as a "connector" extending therefrom, and a wheel, e.g. for counting rotations, or roller element of the some type, at the opposite end of the connector from the ring. The roller or wheel provides both a weight at the opposite end of the connector so as to provide more efficient swinging of the device about the ankle of the user due to the effects of centrifugal force, and also in some devices rotates along the ground or other supporting surface on which the device is used, e.g. about an axis generally concentric with the connector.
The wheels or rollers of some of the prior devices are fixed to the end of connector so that the wheel or roller may rotate about the connector and along an axis at least parallel with and normally concentric with the axis of the connector.


A method for determining the redox status of a protein sample, the method comprising the steps of: a) contacting the sample with a first label adapted to bind to at least one reduced cysteine group therein; b) contacting the sample with a reducing agent to reduce at least one oxidized cysteine group therein; c) contacting the sample with a second label adapted to bind to any reduced cysteine groups produced in step (b); and d) determining the ratio of the signal from the first label to the signal from the second label wherein the ratio indicates the redox status.

The term reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a generalized description for a collection of reactive oxygen molecules of biological significance. These include: superoxide (O2), hydroxyl radical (OH.), peroxyl radical (ROO), alkoxyl radical (RO), hydroperoxyl radical (HOO), hypochlorous acid (HOCl), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), ozone (O3), singlet oxygen (1O2) and peroxinitrite (ONOO).
ROS are often though of as being directly detrimental to cell viability because they can irreversibly damage key macromolecules such as proteins, nucleic acids and lipids. however there is now evidence that low levels of at least one ROS, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been implicated in the regulations of signal transduction pathways linked to the control of cell proliferation, cell growth and cell death.
ROS, particularly those with mild oxidant capabilities, form suitable signaling molecules as they are capable of oxidizing the reduced thiol groups of cysteine residues to form disulfide bonds with glutathione, an adjacent cysteine residue or a small protein such as thioredoxin. This mild and reversible oxidation is referred to as thiol group modification. As ROS levels increase, more thiol groups become oxidized to disulfides. Consequently, the ratio of reduced groups (thiols) to oxidized groups (disulfide) is a measure of the redox status of proteins, cells or tissues.
Once oxidised, thiol group modifications can be reversed or reduced by specialised enzyme systems, such as thioredoxin or glutaredoxin. This reversible modification of a protein's cysteines between an oxidised and reduced state is analogous to the regulation of a protein's function by phosphorylation/dephosphorylation. Changes in the redox status of a protein, involving disulfide formation and glutathionylation, have been shown to affect the activity of several different signalling transduction proteins and it is thought that changes in the thiol redox status may influence many aspects of cell function, viability and survival.
Mammalian tissues are rich in protein thiols (20-40 mM) and many intracellular proteins have been identified that can undergo thiol group modification. However, despite great interest, only in a few cases has the biological significance of these modifications been identified. This is in part due to a poor understanding of the complexity of the system, a lack of knowledge of the relationship between the thiol redox system and other antioxidant systems and the difficulty in identifying specific biological effects. For example, it is difficult to establish that specific thiol group modifications exist in vivo and are not simply a manifestation of the unnatural oxidising conditions of in vitro systems.
Furthermore, the current methods for determining the redox status of biological systems e.g. proteins, cells, tissues in vivo (and even in vitro) lack sufficient sensitivity, reproducibility or specificity and do not allow the detailed investigation of the effects of changes in redox status on cell function, viability and survival. The current methods fall into two main categories and are discussed further below.
Methods Based on Total Redox Changes
One method involves reacting reduced thiol groups of proteins with groups such as DTNB or Ellman's reagent (for colorimetric determination), bromobimane (for fluorescence based determination) or groups that result in signal amplification (papain). However, most (greater than 90%) of the cysteine residues on a protein are in the reduced thiol form. Therefore, techniques must be very sensitive to detect the difference between, for example, 90% reduced cysteine and 95% reduced cysteine. A more sensitive assessment of thiol redox changes comes from measuring the oxidised disulfides, but this increases the complexity of the method. Furthermore, such methods of measuring oxidised disulfides are not particularly precise and are technically demanding and time consuming.
A second approach to measuring changes in thiol groups is indirect and involves assessing the ratio of oxidised glutathione (GSSG) to reduced glutathione (GSH). Glutathione is the substrate for several antioxidant enzymes. The underlying assumption is that changes in the GSSG/GSH ratio will reflect changes in the reduction status of the cysteine groups on a protein. However, the glutathione system can act independently of the thioredoxin thiol reduction system. Furthermore, the GSSG/GSH analytical techniques are not suitable for the analysis of mitochondria, cells or tissues where only limited sample is available.
Additionally, the above methods rely on the determination of the relative abundance of reduced or oxidised cysteine residues relative to the amount of protein in the sample. The relatively poor precision of protein assays reduces the precision in assessing thiol redox changes.
Methods Involved with Measuring Specific Protein Changes
A third approach to the analysis of thiol redox changes uses a "one label" approach and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Generally, this involves attaching or reacting one label, such as a radioactive label, to the reduced thiol groups and measuring the relative amount of labelled residues compared to the total amount of protein. Alternatively, the reduced thiol groups initially present on a protein are blocked and then the protein is exposed to a reducing agent. A label, such as a radioactive label, is then attached to the thiol groups that have been generated following the reduction of any groups that were initially in the oxidised disulfide state. However, this method does not allow the concurrent measurement of both the reduced and oxidised cysteine residues of a protein.
The lack of precision of this approach is further accentuated by variations inherent with PAGE and other systems for visualising the results of the methods. This greatly reduces the practical utility of these methods where only one signal is measured at a time.
The present invention seeks to address or at least partially ameliorate the problems attendant with the prior art.

Methods for determining the redox status of proteins


A booster includes a boosting circuit and a feedback control circuit. The boosting circuit is used to boost an input voltage into a predetermined output voltage; the feedback control circuit detects the output voltage of the boosting circuit and stops boosting the voltage when the output voltage is higher than a predetermined value so as to prevent additional power consumption of a battery and increase transferring efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a booster, and more particularly to a booster of a fuel cell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Energy plays an essential role in our lives. With the improvement and progress of technology, different power-supply equipment has been invented for different sorts of electrical products. The design and quality of power-supply systems may directly influence the quality of electrical systems. A stable power supply allows electrical equipment to work in a stable condition, and also allows better performance with less noise. On the other hand, if the power supply is unstable, unexpected operation or circuit malfunction can occur. Therefore, increasingly higher quality of today's electrical products is needed, so that producing good and stable power supplies has become an important issue.
A fuel cell is a kind of environmental energy source. However, fuel cells can only provide lower electrical power than the operation power of normal electrical products. Furthermore, a fuel cell outputs different voltage because of different external electrical equipment connected to the fuel cell. For solving this problem, a transformer is added external to the fuel cell for adjusting the output voltage of the fuel cell to a predetermined voltage value to provide a fixed and high-stability power supply to different sorts of electrical products.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a diagram of a booster 10 external to a battery 12 according to the prior art. The booster 10 comprises a boosting circuit 11, a battery 12, and a feedback oscillation controller 14. The boosting circuit 11 is electrically connected to the battery 12 and used for adjusting the voltage of the battery 12 to a predetermined voltage value. The feedback oscillation controller 14 detects the output voltage of the boosting circuit 11 and utilizes the output voltage as a feedback signal to change the period of the oscillating signal generated by the feedback oscillation controller 14 for controlling the boosting circuit 11.
Tank devices, such as capacitors and inductances, are often set up inside the boosting circuit 11. These tank devices need a periodic signal or an AC signal to store or transform energy. The oscillating signal generated by the feedback oscillation controller 14 is therefore provided to the boosting circuit 11 for boosting.
The theory behind the function of the feedback oscillation controller 14 is to utilize an oscillating signal of pulse width modulation to control the boosting circuit 11. If the output voltage added by the booster does not reach a predetermined value, the feedback oscillation controller 14 outputs an oscillating signal with a longer period to make boosting faster. Similarly, if the output voltage added by the booster has reached the predetermined value, the feedback oscillation controller 14 outputs an oscillating signal with a shorter period to make the boosting slower.
However, even when the output voltage of the prior art booster has reached the predetermined value, the feed-back oscillation controller 14 still continuously outputs oscillating signals. But in fact, at this time, the boosting circuit 11 does not need the oscillating signals because the mechanism of boosting can be paused. As a result of the continuous oscillating signals outputted by the feed-back oscillation controller 14, the following disadvantages could occur. First, power is lost unnecessarily when there is no need for boosting. And second, because of the power consumption inside the booster, the battery can only provide lower power to the external loads. As a result, there is a need for a booster that can stop the function of charging when the output voltage reaches the predetermined value to solve the prior art problems.


A receiver/decoder for use in a digital satellite radio or television system includes a decoder and means to accommodate a credit or bank card carrying a microprocessor, and means to interact with said microprocessor when the credit or bank card is inserted into an operative position in said receiver/decoder in order to enable data carried by said credit or bank card to be read and data to be input to the microprocessor carried by said credit or bank card. A PIN number may be transmitted to the receiver/decoder in a secure fashion by means of a remote controller, which is also described. Applications of the invention include Pay-Per-View television, teleshopping and telebanking.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a broadcast and reception system, in particular (but not exclusively) to a mass-market digital interactive satellite television system. It also relates to a receiver/decoder and a remote controller therefor.
2. Background Art
More particularly the present invention relates in a main aspect to a so-called pay radio and/or television system where a user/viewer selects a programme/film/game to be viewed for which payment is to be made, this being referred to as a Pay-Per-View (PPV) event or in the case of data to be downloaded a so-called Pay-Per-File (PPF) event.
With such known PPV or PPF systems the end user/viewer is required to interact initially with the system in order not only to select a product to be delivered but also in some cases to effect payment for such delivery. The term "product" is here used to denote any programme, film or other event or data to be transmitted either to the end user's television set or personal computer associated with the system.
The invention also relates to a tele-shopping system or a tele-banking system in which a credit or bank card is used in conjunction with broadcast information to effect a transaction, for example purchase of an advertised item or service.

Broadcast and reception systems, and receiver/decoder and remote controller therefor