A balloon catheter for use in the region of a vessel branching and, in particular, in coronary vessels is provided. The catheter comprising a catheter stem disposed at the distal end of which are provided at least one balloon and at least one first guide means arranged in the region thereof for positioning the balloon in the region of a vessel branching. The first guide means is adapted to be introduced into the lateral branch of the vessel transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the balloon catheter. The balloon comprises at least two chambers which are spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction of the balloon catheter and between which the first guide means is arranged.

The present invention relates, generally, to a balloon catheter for use in the region of vessel branchings and, in particular, in coronary vessels. More specifically, the present invention relates to a catheter comprising a catheter stem, at the distal end of which are provided at least one balloon and at least one first guide means which is arranged in the region of the balloon for positioning the balloon in the region of a vessel branching, wherein the first guide means is adapted to be introduced into the lateral branch of the vessel transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the balloon catheter.
Balloon catheters are used for dilating constricted vessels in the human and animal body. The balloon, which is typically arranged at the distal end of the catheter stem, is generally introduced into the vessel system at a distance from the constriction and moved within the vessel system to the position of the constriction. The balloon is then expanded to enlarge the constriction by the action of pressure. Frequently, a tubular intraluminal support element, referred to as a stent, is arranged on the balloon such that it can be radially stretched and deformed upon expansion of the balloon. When the balloon is removed from the vessel, the stent remains in its radially deformed condition in the vessel thereby supporting the vessel in a permanently expanded state.
In a region containing vessel branchings and, in particular, for coronary vessels, it is necessary, particularly when a stent is to be implanted, for the balloon to be positioned as accurately as possible with respect to the vessel branching. For that purpose, a first guide means is typically provided, which is arranged in the region of the balloon and which, for the purposes of positioning the balloon in the region of a vessel branching, can be introduced into the lateral branch of the vessel transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the balloon catheter, thus serving as a positioning aid.
Such a balloon catheter is known in the prior art, such as, for example, from European patent application EP 0 904 745 A2, in which a guide wire which can be introduced into the lateral branch of the vessel is arranged along the outside of the balloon. This conventional balloon catheter design, however, suffers from the disadvantage that, upon expansion of the balloon, the guide wire, which is arranged on the outside of the balloon and which is surrounded by a guide tube, causes an irregular load to be applied to the vessel or the stent, if such is provided, in a peripheral direction. This irregular load is the result of the outwardly bulged configuration of the balloon in the region of the guide wire. The outwardly bulged configuration results in unwanted irregular deformation of the wall vessel or of the stent, which is disposed between the balloon and the wall of the vessel, in the peripheral direction. In this irregular deformed situation, relatively small radii of curvature, that is to say a relatively high degree of deformation, is induced in the region of the guide wire. This deformation can have a detrimental effect, not only on the weakened wall of the vessel, but also on the filigree structure of a stent. The stent structure may even suffer from local ruptures, which must be avoided.
A further disadvantage of the known balloon catheter lies in the relatively large transverse dimension of a balloon with a guide wire and a guide tube disposed on its outside surface.
Accordingly, there is a need for a balloon catheter which both provides the smallest possible transverse dimension for the balloon, and also ensures that the elements disposed therearound are deformed as uniformly as possible in the peripheral direction of the balloon upon expansion.
In accordance with the invention, a balloon catheter is provided for use in the region of vessel branchings and, in particular, of the coronary vessels. The balloon catheter of the present invention is designed to provide a uniform deformation of adjoining elements in the peripheral direction of the catheter upon expansion of the balloon. In one embodiment of the invention, the balloon catheter comprises a catheter stem, at the distal end of which are provided at least one balloon and at least one first guide means arranged in the region of the at least one balloon for positioning the balloon in the region of a vessel branching. In this embodiment the first guide means is adapted such that it may be introduced into a lateral branch of the vessel by extending the first guide means transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the balloon catheter.
Although the above embodiment is described in terms of a single balloon, it should be understood that the term balloon is used herein in a broad sense and is also intended to embrace any suitable arrangement of individually inflatable chambers. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, the balloon has at least two inflatable chambers which are longitudinally spaced from each other along the length of the balloon catheter. In this embodiment the first guide means is arranged between the two chambers such that the outside of the balloon is not deformed by the presence of the first guide means. During operation of this embodiment, the substantially circular-cylindrical balloon is able to exert a substantially uniform deformation force and produce substantially uniform deformation in the peripheral direction.
In an alternative embodiment the balloon in accordance with the invention has at least two chambers which are longitudinally spaced from each other along the length of the balloon catheter. In this embodiment the first guide means can be arranged between the two chambers such that any guidance or feed means, such as, for example, a guide wire having a guide tube or hoze can be integrated into the stem of the catheter thereby allowing for a balloon catheter having a smaller transverse dimension.
As will be understood, the first guide means can take any form suitable for assisting with positioning of the balloon catheter into a lateral branch of a vessel, such as, for example, as a balloon which would extend into the lateral branch of the vessel upon expansion. In one alternative embodiment, the first guide means comprises a first guide wire. The first guide wire may be guided by any suitable means. In one embodiment of the invention the first guide wire is controlled through a mechanism in the catheter stem. In this embodiment a lateral exit for the guide wire would be provided in the catheter stem between the two inflatable chambers.
In another alternative embodiment of the invention a second guide wire is provided for guiding the balloon catheter in a longitudinal direction. In this embodiment the second guide wire can also be guided by a mechanism within the catheter stem, in which case the catheter stem is provided with a second guide wire exit means at its distal end.
In yet another alternative embodiment one or both of the guide wires can be provided with X-ray markers, such as, for example, an X-ray-opaque coating or the like in order to make it easier to monitor the positioning operation.
In still another preferred embodiment of the balloon catheter according to the invention, the first guide means is also adapted to deform support elements of a stent arranged in the region of a vessel branching such that the passage between the two vessel branches is opened.
In still yet another preferred embodiment of the balloon catheter according to the invention, the inflatable chambers are adapted to be filled separately.
In still yet another embodiment, the invention concerns a system for dilating constricted vessels and, in particular, coronary vessels, in the region of vessel branchings. The system comprising a balloon catheter according to the invention and a stent arranged on the balloon thereof. In this embodiment, the stent is provided with at least one branching portion arranged at the periphery of the peripheral casing of the stent in the region adjoining the first guide means. Also in this embodiment the branching portion of the stent may include at least one first support element which is provided for supporting the vessel transition in the region of a vessel branching and which can be pivoted substantially radially out of the peripheral surface and the first guide means is further adapted to pivot the support element of the peripheral surface. This provides a system for dilating constricted vessels, in the region of vessel branchings ensuring reliable dilation of the vessel including support for the transition into the branching-off branch of the vessel.

Biotronik Mess und Therapiegerate GmbH and Co. Ingenieurburo Berlin


A paper supply device for reliably delivering sheets of paper one at a time from a stock of multiple sheets even when the leading ends of the sheets are not neatly aligned together. This paper supply device M1 has a paper insertion part 11 for holding a plurality of sheets of paper S; a rotationally driven supply roller 20 having a fan-shaped profile including a circular arc part 23 and a bowed part 24; a pressure member 30 for resiliently urging the paper S to the supply roller 20 surface; a pressure member control mechanism 37 for displacing the pressure member 30 to a position separated from the supply roller 20 when the bowed part 24 is opposite the pressure member 30; a separation pad 40 being resiliently urged toward the trailing end of the stacked paper and having a rotating free end that pivots freely to change the angle of contact of the separation pad with the leading edge of the paper S and a pad control mechanism 47 for displacing the separation pad 40 to a position for aligning the ends of the paper S when the bowed part 24 opposes the pressure member 30.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper supply device for supplying paper one sheet at a time from a stack of multiple sheets to the processing unit of an apparatus such as a data reader or printer.
2. Description of Related Art
Roller-type paper supply devices are commonly used in printers, facsimile machines, copiers, and other office machines.
These roller-type paper supply devices typically have a cylindrical supply roller at the end in the paper feed direction, and a pressure means having a spring or other elastic means for pressing the paper to the supply roller so that the supply roller nips the paper near the leading edge of the sheet and feeds the paper into the paper path. A consistent paper supply operation can thus be achieved regardless of the stiffness (rigidity) of the paper by nipping and feeding the paper from the leading end.
Some paper supply devices also have a separation pad disposed downstream from the supply roller to separate the sheets one at a time from the stack using friction when the leading ends of the sheets slip. In this arrangement, locating the separation pad and supply roller close together affords better separation of multiple sheets.
However, if the supply roller is located at the end in the feed direction and the ends of the sheets are not aligned flush with each other, the end of the topmost sheet may not reach the point where the paper contacts the roller. The supply roller may therefore not be able to nip the end of the sheet, and it may not be possible to convey the sheet into the paper supply path.
Some means of aligning the ends of the sheets is therefore typically provided in such paper supply devices. The methods used to align the sheets are generally one of the following types.
In machines such as laser printers and photocopiers, the paper is generally stocked horizontally in a flat stack in a paper cassette that reliably positions the sides and top and bottom of the stack. See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication (kokai) H8-277044.
In inkjet printers, however, the paper is typically placed standing up vertically with the leading ends of the pages at the bottom so that gravity is used to drop the leading edge of the sheets to a pad at the bottom. See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication (kokai) S62-153033.
This method of horizontally stacking the paper to precisely position the sides and top and bottom surfaces requires a paper cassette, however, which makes it difficult to make the paper supply device smaller.
Setting the paper in a vertical stack and using gravity to drop the leading edge of the paper to the bottom pad makes it possible to reduce the size of the paper supply device. However, because the paper cannot be supplied if it is not stacked vertically, this limits the orientation in which the printer and paper supply device can be used.
Conventional roller-type paper supply devices thus use the transportation force created by a spring urging the supply roller against the paper to take the single sheet closest to the supply roller from the stack of multiple sheets loaded in the paper supply device. The problem with this arrangement is that if the spring is too strong, two or more sheets are supplied together, but if the spring is too weak, paper supply may be unreliable or impossible. Determining the appropriate spring force (transportation force) is therefore difficult.
An object of the present invention is therefore to solve these problems and provide a paper supply device that is small, simply constructed, and can be used in various postures while still reliably supplying paper one sheet at a time from a stack of multiple sheets even when the edges of the sheets are somewhat misaligned.

Paper supply device with multiple cam surfaces and followers


A thin film electromagnetic head has an inductive transducer with a double-nosed ferromagnetic trailing pole layer. The trailing pole layer has a trailing pole tip disposed adjacent to a media-facing surface, a trailing pole yoke disposed distal to the media-facing surface, and a trailing pole nose disposed between the trailing pole tip and the trailing pole yoke. The media-facing surface extends as a substantially flat surface in all directions from the trailing pole tip. The length of the trailing pole nose may be at least twice as long as the trailing pole tip length. The width of the trailing pole nose can be 10 to 30 times as wide as the trailing pole tip width. An inductive transducer having a double-nosed trailing pole layer provides a higher ratio of on-track to off-track write fields, thereby improving the density with which data can be written to the recording media. Such a double-nosed trailing pole layer can be used in transducers for either longitudinal or perpendicular magnetic recording.

The present invention relates to electromagnetic transducers, which may for example be employed in thin film inductive write heads of the type formed on the trailing ends of air bearing sliders used in magnetic recording disk drives.
An inductive transducer used for writing and/or reading magnetic information on storage media, such as a disk or tape, typically includes electrically conductive coil windings that encircle a magnetic core. The magnetic core has leading and trailing pole layers. The pole layers have pole tip portions adjacent to the recording media. The magnetic core is interrupted by a submicron nonmagnetic gap disposed between the pole tip portions to divert magnetic flux to the media during writing. To write to the media, electric current is flowed through the coil windings, which produces magnetic flux in the core encircling the coil windings, the magnetic flux fringing across the nonmagnetic gap adjacent to the media so as to write bits of magnetic field information in tracks on the recording media.
The leading pole layer is typically substantially flat, whereas the trailing pole layer can be curved in order to cover coil windings and insulation disposed between the pole layers. Alternatively, the trailing pole layer can be flat if a pedestal adjacent to the recording media is magnetically coupled to either the leading or the trailing pole layer. In that case, the submicron nonmagnetic gap is located between the pedestal and the pole layer to which it is not magnetically coupled.
The width of the pole tip portion, which corresponds to the track width, may be decreased to allow more tracks to be written on the recording media. As track width is decreased, however, it becomes more difficult to transmit high-intensity magnetic flux through the pole tip portion. A standard technique for increasing the strength of the magnetic field at the pole tip surface has been to increase the magnetic moment of the material near both the pole tip surface and the recording gap. One way to accomplish this is to form a pedestal of material having a high magnetic moment between a pole layer and the recording gap, increasing the magnetic field at the edge of the pole tip surface adjoining the gap.
As noted above, the trailing pole layer and/or pedestal may have a flared or tapered width near the region around the pole tip surface in which the sides are parallel. Various geometries of tapered pole layers near the pole tip portions have been used, such as the geometries depicted in FIGS. 2A–2D. In all of the geometries shown in FIGS. 2A–2D, the sides 80 immediately adjacent to the pole tip surfaces 82 are parallel. In each of the geometries, after a flare point 84, the width of the pole layer increases more or less at a steady rate extending away from the pole tip surface 82. It is also possible that tapered pole layers may have curved regions adjacent pole tip sides.
FIG. 2C is an attempt to replicate the shape of a pole layer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,137 to Ishiwata et al. Ishiwata et al. teach that when the width of the pole-like distal end portion of the other magnetic pole decreases, the magnetic anisotropy of the other magnetic pole becomes difficult to form, and tends to be formed in an undesirable direction. Ishiwata et al. avoid that undesirable magnetic anisotropy by shaping the pole tip with a focused ion beam (FIB) that ablates parts of a trailing pole tip. The "recessed portions" that remain adjacent the pole tip would disrupt the air-bearing surface, however, as well being difficult to form. Moreover, should the FIB be slightly misdirected and cut into the leading pole tip, the etched corners of the leading pole layer may create funnels for off-track flux.

Double-nosed inductive transducer with reduced off-track writing


The disclosure provides an infrared optical imaging lens, a camera module and a DMS. From an object side to an image side along an optical axis, the infrared optical imaging lens sequentially includes a stop, a first lens with a positive refractive power, a second lens with a positive refractive power, a third lens with a negative refractive power, and a filter. An object side surface of the first lens is convex, an image side surface of the first lens is concave. An object side surface of the second lens is concave, an image side surface of the second lens is convex. A paraxial portion of an object side surface of the third lens is convex, and a paraxial portion of an image side surface of the third lens is concave.

Industry-related data shows that, 80% of road safety accidents are directly or indirectly caused by drivers' dangerous driving. If the driver's driving behavior could be detected and the driver could be reminded in time, the probability of traffic accidents would be effectively reduced.
A Driver Monitor System (DMS) uses images captures by a DMS camera to detect the driver's driving behavior and physiological state through visual tracking, target detection, motion recognition and other technologies. When the driver is fatigued, distracted, calling, smoking, not wearing a seat belt or in other dangerous situations, the system will alarm within the set time to avoid accidents. The DMS system can effectively regulate the driver's driving behavior, reduce accidents caused by human error, and escort driving safety.
When using the DMS camera to detect the driver's driving behavior and facial information, it is necessary to select a suitable light source. In order to reduce the impact of ambient light on imaging, the intensity of the active light source needs to be higher than that of the ambient light, but strong light will interfere with the human eyes and reduce the user's comfort. Therefore, the active light source should locate in the invisible band, such as infrared light band, ultraviolet light band, etc. Long-term exposure to ultraviolet light is likely to cause permanent damage to human skin and eyes. The mid-to-far infrared band light imaging will lose most of the information on the surface of the object, which is generally not used for object imaging. Therefore, the near-infrared band light becomes the best choice for DMS systems. That is, the camera used in the DMS system needs to have good imaging capabilities in the near-infrared band to ensure that the system is also applicable in complex lighting environments such as night, backlight, shade and sunlight.
With the increasing miniaturization of optoelectronic components, the DMS system needs to be equipped with a small and low-cost infrared optical imaging lens to meet the needs of use. However, in the prior art, spherical glass lenses are often used which are bulky and costly. Although the use of all-plastic lenses can reduce the volume, however, the thermal expansion coefficient of the plastic material is large, which easily causes the lens to appear focal points offset problem due to temperature changes.

Infrared optical imaging lens, camera module and driver monitor system


Embodiments of the present invention are directed toward enabling a user to quickly interact with a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed by the HMD. Utilizing techniques provided herein, a hand or other object can be used to select visual elements displayed by the HMD. The visual elements can be located within larger active regions, allowing the user to more easily select a visual element by selecting the active region in which the visual element is disposed.

A see-through head-mounted display (HMD) can provide transparent display area within a user's field of view in which a user can view both physical objects in the user's surroundings and virtual objects on the display. Some HMDs can provide "augmented reality" functionality by overlaying physical objects viewed by a user with digital content (such as text, pictures, and/or video) associated with the physical objects, or associated with the user's location and/or context, for example. Input to such HMDs are typically limited to buttons, a touch pad, or other simple input devices. These input devices can be bulky and inefficient.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

User interface interaction for transparent head-mounted displays


A segmented rotatable beam provides a spar or rib in an aircraft wing. The rotatable beam has a variable stiffness dependent upon the radial orientation of the rotatable beam about a longitudinal axis of the beam. The segmented rotatable beam comprises a plurality of tubular segments that are pivotly interconnected by connecting beam links that are rotatably mounted in bearings disposed along the longitudinal axis of the beam.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a variable stiffness structural member for use in the wing of an aircraft, and more particularly to a rotatable structural member that provides selectivity in the amount of strength and stiffness that the structural member contributes to the wing structure.
2. History of Related Art
An arrangement of spars, ribs, and wing skin typically provide the primary load-carrying structure of an aircraft wing. This assembled structure, called the wing structural box, provides the primary source of structural stiffness for modern, high-performance, monocoque wings. The wing structural box determines the load-carrying capability of the wing and the structural stiffness of the wing's aeroelasticity.
The aeroelasticity of a conventional wing with fixed stiffness dictates that as the wing speed increases, the aerodynamic moments of the wing air loads progressively become stronger and may reach a value that exceeds the torsional stiffness of the wing. Large aerodynamic moments become especially troublesome for wings that provide aircraft control functions by means of leading and/or trailing edge control surfaces, or flaps. High aerodynamic moments may cause a loss in the control forces that the flaps are able to provide to the aircraft if the aeroelastic losses become so great that control capability is compromised. The air speed at which this occurs is classically referred to as the aileron or control reversal air speed. If the air speed is increased past the reversal air speed, the force perturbations begin to return but are opposite in sign to those generated below the reversal air speed.
The aeroelastistic contributions to the loss of the control functions may be so severe that the utility of using wing-mounted ailerons is marginal for high performance transonic aircraft of any size. The control function is usually recovered by the use of a much less efficient all-movable horizontal tail surfaces. Aircraft designers would like to employ higher aspect ratio wing platforms for increased range or speed without the need for roll control from horizontal tails.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems described above. It is desirable to have a wing structural box in which the stiffness of the wing can be varied to turn the aeroelastistic control function loss into an aircraft control function asset. A variable stiffness wing permits the use of more efficient wing plan forms and the removal of horizontal tail control surfaces. Moreover, it is desirable to have at least one of the structural members, i.e., a spar or rib, that has selectively variable stiffness so that the amount of strength and stiffness that the spar or rib contributes to the wing structure can be modulated. It is also desirable to have a wing structural box in which the wing torsional stiffness can be varied with changes in air speed, so that in all speed ranges the wing ailerons produce the necessary control forces to properly maneuver the aircraft, with aircraft roll control being desirably provided by using only the wing-aileron surfaces.

Rotary beam variable stiffness wing spar


A powder container is configured to be installed in a substantially horizontal manner in an apparatus in which the powder container is used. A powder inlet is provided, through which a powder enters into the powder container. A powder detecting unit includes a powder detector for detecting a full of the powder. A powder conveying unit is provided between the powder inlet and the powder detecting unit. A space between the powder inlet and the powder detecting unit is divided into a plurality of areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a powder container for collecting and accumulating powder such as toner, and an image forming apparatus having the powder container, such as a copier, a printer, and a plotter.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, toner remaining after transfer on a photosensitive drum or an intermediate transfer belt after a toner image is transferred to a recording medium or an intermediate member is removed by a cleaning mechanism, and is collected in a powder collecting box for collection and storage in a centralized manner.
The powder collecting box of this type includes a toner inlet connected to the cleaning mechanism, a toner conveying unit that conveys toner introduced to the box, and a toner detecting unit that detects a degree of a toner capacity of the box (fill factor).
Upon detection by the detecting unit that the box is completely filled with toner, the powder collecting box is replaced.
In view of improving user convenience, the number of times of replacing the power collecting box is reduced as much as possible. To achieve this, the capacity of the box is desirably increased as much as possible.
However, as has been well known, more downsizing and cost reduction have been seen in the image forming apparatus of this type and, in reality, increasing the size of the box only in view of improving powder collectability is not allowed.
The powder collecting box is often placed by using a so-called dead space, such as a space between a paper feeding unit placed at the bottom of the image forming apparatus and an image forming unit positioned above the paper feeding unit.
An exemplary configuration of the powder collecting box is such that a toner conveying unit is provided in a toner cartridge in a box shape (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-002947). In this configuration, an eccentric cam is provided on a shaft of a screw for supplying toner to the outside. With this eccentric cam, a flat plate is caused to reciprocate in a horizontal direction to convey toner with the use of protrusions that are formed integrally with the flat plate and are directed inwardly in a shape of an upward arrow head. Furthermore, the cartridge has also provided therein a configuration for detecting the remaining amount of toner.
On the other hand, as for toner introduced to a developing device for development, it is important to achieve a smooth toner movement to prevent a supply failure. However, some of the accommodated toner may be coagulated to cause a so-called blocking phenomenon, which will inhibit a smooth movement.
To get around this problem, a conventional configuration for loosen toner with such a blocking has been suggested (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-207202). In this configuration, in some cases, a plate member that is placed in a developer accommodating unit and is capable of reciprocating is provided, and the plate member is provided with a protruding portion at a toner flow inlet and in the entering toner. By causing the plate member to reciprocate, the protruding portion looses the toner.
However, in view of downsizing, when there is no margin in a height direction of the image forming apparatus body, the dimensional ratio of the powder collecting box inevitably be such that the box is long in a horizontal direction (X and Y directions) and small in a height direction (Z direction). That is, the box shape tends to be a flat shape that is wide in a horizontal direction and low in height.
With such a box shape, it is extremely difficult to evenly accumulate toner, and there is a possibility that the toner may be accumulated as being partially coagulated. If the toner is coagulated near the toner detecting unit, it is detected that the box is filled with toner despite the fact that the entire box is not yet full, and a replacement operation is requested early in a non-full state, thereby leading to deterioration in user convenience.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-002947 is aimed at efficiently supplying toner to the end while preventing coagulation of toner previously accommodated in a cartridge. The conveying direction of the protrusions placed in an upward arrow head is such that, as shown in FIG. 7 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-002947, the protrusions cause the toner to be unidirectionally headed toward the toner detecting unit through a mutual operation, even though the protrusions cross and differ one another.
Therefore, when this conveying scheme is applied to the powder collecting box, the toner tends to be coagulated near the toner detecting unit, thereby not solving the problem of erroneous detection.
On the other hand, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-207202, the introduced toner is pushed by the reciprocating plate member for movement. However, the introduced toner has the largest amount at an introduction side, and as the toner gradually moves from an introduction inlet, the toner becomes evened in an inner space and the amount to be moved by the plate member is decreased. This may decrease the amount reaching the position of the toner detecting unit. For this reason, in the case where the toner collected in the powder collecting box is deposited in a manner such that the amount of toner is the largest near the introduction inlet and is gradually decreased in the course of reaching the position of the toner detecting unit, if a state occurs such that the movement of toner to be newly introduced to the powder collecting box is inhibited, this state cannot be detected by the toner detecting unit. For example, since a toner-full state cannot be detected, toner will flood near the introduction inlet to pollute an area near a grounding portion of the powder collecting box.
In this manner, if the toner behavior in the powder collecting box is inappropriate, even with provision of the powder detecting unit for detecting a toner-full state, a toner-full state may not be correctly detected by this unit.

Powder container, toner container, and image forming apparatus


Embodiments of systems and approaches for managing post-harvest crop quality and pests are described. Such a system may include a plurality of edge devices each comprising sensor components and collectively forming a mesh network, for measuring the local physical environment within stored crops and, for example, transmitting the measurements to a service from within the crop storage area. In certain embodiments, such a system may be used to manage post-harvest crops and storage areas—for example, approaches are described for determining fumigation treatment duration, determining phosphine dosage, determining heat treatment duration, and determining safe storage time for crops.

For centuries the global food and agriculture industry has tolerated significant post-harvest waste, presently estimated at approximately $1 trillion annually. World population is expected to reach 10.5 billion by 2050, further exacerbating global food availability and security concerns. According to research data, food supplies would need to increase by 60% (estimated at 2005 food production levels) in order to meet the food demand by 2050. Food availability and accessibility can vastly improve by increasing production, enhancing logistics, and reducing waste. Thus, reduction of post-harvest waste is a critical component of ensuring future global food security.
Additionally, health and safety concerns feature high on the agendas of governments and regulators. In this respect, the application of agrichemicals needs to be monitored with advanced technology, to ensure proper use (adherence to precise pest control protocols), environmental safety (managing stored product pests and controlling tolerance and resistance to pesticides) and operator safety (controlling leaks of harmful toxic substances).
End users in this field, such as farmers, operators of storage and logistics facilities, agronomists, food scientists, pest control technicians and quality control experts, have used certain methods in the prior art to combat post-harvest waste and its root causes including pest infestations. These methods have employed technology conceived several decades ago, to perform functions such as fumigation chemical (i.e. fumigant) dosage monitoring, insect infestation detection, spoilage detection. Our assessment revealed that none of these legacy solutions and methods in the prior art effectively addressed the trillion-dollar waste problems. Moreover, prior art methods for post-harvest monitoring and quality control have also been manual, error-prone, cumbersome, not scalable, outdated and impractical. They have also been costly without resultant benefits. Specifically:
Draeger-type fumigant meters have the form of tubes. These require a lot of manual effort by experienced operators. There are hazards related to their use. Data is typically recorded by pen and paper.
Certain electronic equipment vendors are offering measurement devices for fumigation monitoring. These require special plumbing for sampling fumigant levels inside storage areas, are difficult to operate and are usually practical only for infrequent sampling. The data collected is not practically correlated with proper fumigation protocols or insect mortality statistics.
Certain crop silo monitoring solutions focus specifically on temperature tracking to detect spoilage as it occurs. They employ old technology (wired thermocouples) and are difficult to install. They also malfunction or get completely destroyed in the presence of fumigant gas. Consequently, when a spoilage hotspot is detected, it is usually already too late to take corrective action.
Insect collectors and detectors such as pheromone traps require manual inspection. Electronic products for insect detection that can transmit insect population data cannot be placed inside bulk product where insects may take refuge. The data collected is not correlated with pest management parameters (such as recent fumigation dosages and durations) or environmental conditions (such as temperature, humidity).
Certain methods in the prior art provide computational means for assessing properties related to the spoilage of crops (such as grains) in storage, by estimating key parameters such as product moisture based on parameters that can be readily observed (such as product temperature and ambient relative humidity). However, these tools are of limited accuracy and usefulness as storage microclimate may change unpredictably (e.g. during a hot and humid weather spell) and thus render any initial estimates invalid. Moreover, the initial conditions of a stored product may not be fully known—e.g. unknowingly mixing a quantity of damp and infested grain with a larger quantity of drier and good quality grain may spread the spoilage and infestation to the entire lot of grain.
Researchers in this field have resorted to numerical analysis techniques such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to predict the effects of climate conditions on stored commodities. However, these visionary approaches have not materialized into convenient and handy tools for the actual end user (who is typically not expert in numerical analysis) as they have been overly complicated, not easy to control and re-use and not generic enough to address a good variety of commodity storage scenarios. Besides, these techniques have fallen short of correlating concurrently updated physical parameters with biological effects related to grain spoilage and quality degradation.

Methods for post-harvest crop pest management


Certain exemplary embodiments can comprise a system comprising a first bracket, which can be adapted to be coupled to a first pole. The first bracket can comprise a collar defining a cavity, which can be adapted to receive the first pole. The system can comprise a second bracket, which can be adapted to be coupled to a second pole. The second bracket can comprise a collar defining a cavity, which can be adapted to receive the second pole. The second bracket can be adapted to be rotateably coupled to the first bracket via a hinge. The second bracket can be adapted to be releaseably coupled to the first bracket via a substantially non-destructively removable fastener.

Eleas (U.S. Patent Publication Number 20040221543) allegedly recites a "structure for mounting a pole firmly in the ground, the structure having an anchor section and a pole section, wherein the anchor section is an auger, wherein the sections are hinged together with the pole section lying on the ground after the auger is screwed into the ground, and wherein the pole section can then be hoisted or lifted around hinge to an upright position, and wherein cooperating elements of connector structure are provided on the sections for firmly affixing the sections together with the anchor section remaining in the ground and with the pole in a desired upright position." See Abstract.
Alberti (U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,630) allegedly recites a "sports pole includes two to four elongated tubular members permanently joined together with a first of the tubular members or poles pivotably joined near one end to a second of the poles. A third of the poles may be telescopically received within or about the first pole and slidingly movable therealong between retracted and extended positions. There is a U-shaped spring and pin arrangement for locking the third tubular member in the extended position. A fourth of the poles may be telescopically received within or about the second pole and be similarly slidingly movable therealong between retracted and extended positions. Again, there is a U-shaped spring and pin arrangement for locking the fourth tubular member in the extended position. The first and second tubular members are pivotably joined by a hinge mechanism which allows selective pivotal motion between generally coaxial and generally parallel positions. A locking arrangement prevents pivotable motion between the first and second members when the first and second members are in the coaxial position. This unique combination of hinging with telescoping allows compacting of the sports pole structure with no disassembly." See Abstract.
Ivey (U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,687) allegedly recites a "breakaway system is disclosed for timber utility poles. The breakaway system limits the amount of force and energy imparted to an impacting vehicle and its occupants by incorporating an arrangement of slip plates and bolts to form a shear plane on the utility pole at or near ground level, and by providing a hinge mechanism on an upper section of the utility pole below conducting lines and the like. The material and configuration of the lower shear plates are selected to permit activation for any direction of collision loading. The material and configuration of the upper connection or hinge are selected to allow for adequate resistance to environmental loads while at the same time allowing for precise determination of the magnitude of failure load. In addition, the combination of upper connectors prevents the lower portion of the utility pole from rotating upward into the conducting wires after a vehicle impact. In this manner, impact by a moving vehicle with a timber utility pole equipped with the breakaway device shears the lower connection causing a middle portion of the timber utility pole to rotate upward. The upper connection allows limited rotation sufficient to permit the impacting vehicle safely to travel completely beneath the middle section of the utility pole while at the same time preventing the middle section from impacting the conducting wires carried by the utility pole." See Abstract.

System and method for assembling a structure


An imaging apparatus is provided with a main body; a cover member which is swingably connected to the main body between a closed position for closing the main body and an open position for opening the main body; and an image read unit and a platen member defining a feeding path of a sheet therebetween. A pressing/separating mechanism pressedly contacts the image read unit and platen member with respect to each other when the cover member is in the closed position and separates the image read unit and platen member from each other when the cover member is in the open position.

The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus for forming a visible image (e.g., toner image) on a sheet, more specifically, to an imaging apparatus in which an image read unit and a platen member provided which are pressedly contact each other and between which a feed path of the sheet is defined.
A document reading unit for reading information recorded to a document in a facsimile and the like is arranged such that a line-shaped image sensor is disposed perpendicular to the direction in which the document is fed in the vicinity of the feed path of the document. The recorded information is read by the image sensor while the document is being fed.
It has recently been contemplated to dispose an image sensor having the same length as the width of a document in close contact with the document being fed. With this arrangement, the size of a device can be reduced because a reduction optical system is not necessary. In this close contact type image sensor, since the degree of close contact of the document with the image sensor influences reading accuracy, a press member is disposed in confrontation with the image sensor to press the document against the image sensor and cause the same to come into in pressed contact therewith.
A reading unit making use of the aforesaid close contact type image sensor has a problem such that when a paper (document) is jammed between the image sensor and the press member, the document is dragged between the image sensor and it is the press member and difficult to be released from this state.

Imaging apparatus having a pressing/separating mechanism


A session singleton object, design pattern, and method for providing computer program code that defines a class for instantiating a session singleton object are disclosed. The class includes a constructor for instantiating the session singleton object, and an access method for accessing the session singleton object. The access method has an input parameter, which is used to locate a session, logic for determining whether the session singleton object exists, logic for creating the session singleton object, and associating the session singleton object with the session only when the session singleton object does not exist, and logic for returning the session singleton to a caller of the access method. Executing the code in a server that is coupled to clients in respective communication sessions results in instantiating one and only one instance of the session singleton object for each of the sessions communicating with the server.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In client-server software applications, a server typically communicates with multiple clients. Frequently, there is a need to maintain information at the server that corresponds to each of the clients. For example, the server may maintain information defining the state of particular transactions with the clients. Furthermore, there is a need to maintain this information in such a manner that the server has access to the information for all of the clients, while each client only has access to the information associated with itself.
In object-oriented programming, design patterns are used to provide re-usable solutions to a recurring problem. Design patterns are described comprehensively in E. Gamma et al., "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software" (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1994), ISBN 0-201-63361-2.
A first approach to the client-server computing problem just described would be to use an object class, instantiated into objects at the server, which stores and represents client information. However, such a class would have no inherent limitations on the number of objects that may be instantiated from it. Accordingly, a program using such an approach could potentially instantiate more than one object instance per client. This could lead to storing inconsistent client-related information in different client objects.
Another approach to the problem just described uses programmatic objects that conform to the "singleton" design pattern of Gamma et al. The singleton design pattern ensures that an executing program has only one instance of any class. However, using the singleton pattern would result in instantiation of only one object instance for all of the clients in a client-server application. With only one object instance, it would be impossible to maintain information that corresponds to each of the clients. For example, if a server-side application program maintained a telephone number value in a singleton object, and one client modified its phone number value, then all of the other clients would be affected.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for a better way to maintain information on behalf of multiple clients in a client-server application.
There is a specific need for a method in which each client only has access to the information associated with the respective client, but the server has access to the information associated with all of the clients, and yet the server cannot duplicate information associated with a particular client through multiple object instances.

Method and system for providing a single object instance per client-server session


An electronic printing apparatus employs a digitally controlled toner conveyor and large scale integrated circuits (ICs) controlling write electrodes to print monocomponent toners on plain paper in a single pass. The ICs convert high level image information into toner controlling pulses. Pixel intensity is programmed by associating a counted number of packets of toner with each level of pixel depth.

Of the various electrostatic printing methods, electrophotography has dominated high resolution monochrome printing for several decades. The electrophotographic process includes uniformly coating a photoconductive surface with charge, selectively exposing the charged surface with light to form a latent image, developing the latent image by causing charged toner particles to come in contact with it, transferring the image to a receiving sheet, and fixing the image. This printing method has produced high quality printing and has been refined to effectively service a broad range of printing applications. However it is mechanically complex, requires precision optical components, and has proven difficult to adapt to color printing.
Direct Electrostatic Printing (DEP) can be simpler than electrophotographic printing. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,935 Pressman et al disclose a DEP device in which toner is deposited directly through apertures onto a plain paper substrate in image configuration. This method has been improved by Schmidlin in U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,489 issued Mar. 27, 1990 in which a control voltage as low as 100 V is sufficient to modulate the flow of toner through the apertures. The Schmidlin device employs a travelling wave conveyor to present toner to the printhead apertures. Generally, DEP processes have used single component insulating toners, and this has helped to simplify printing systems compared with prior two-component toner systems. The DEP devices do not require optics for the exposure step, nor do they require a photoconductive surface. Thus the printing process has been simplified. However, the apertures in the prior art DEP printers discussed above are subject to clogging arising from toner agglomeration. Additionally, ambient dust may clog an aperture. In either case, repair of a clogged aperture is difficult and costly. DEP line printers generally use multiple lines of apertures, for example four lines. The multiple lines of apertures are the result of manufacturing considerations relating to the apertures which are formed in a supporting member, with space provided for metal electrodes surrounding each electrode. This arrangement requires separating a pixel line of monochrome image data into data subsets, each subset corresponding to a line of apertures and their associated electrodes. Each data subset must be printed at a different time, with paper advances in between, in order that the original pixel line is reconstructed as a single line on the paper. Color printing generally requires the superposition of multiple monochrome images, and is more complex.
Travelling wave devices have been used to move particles along a tubular duct of insulating material. U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,678 issued to Masuda describes such a device which has three elongated electrodes spirally wound along its outer surface, uniformly spaced from one another. The electrodes are connected with the terminals of an alternating current source having a voltage of the order of 5-10 kV to produce a wave-like electric field within the duct by which particles are repelled from the inner duct surface and repulsively propelled along the duct. It is an object of the Masuda device to levitate the particles near the center of the tube, so that they do not make contact with the tube walls. A similar Masuda device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,361 which discloses annular electrodes as well as elongated electrodes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,926 Schmidlin et al disclose a toner/developer delivery system that includes a pair of charged toner conveyors which are supported in face-to-face relation. A bias voltage is applied across the two conveyors to cause toner of one charge polarity to be attracted to one of the conveyors while toner of the opposite polarity is attracted to the other conveyor. Another embodiment includes a single charged toner conveyor supplied by a pair of three-phase AC current generators which are biased by a DC source which causes toner of one polarity to travel in one direction on the electrode array while toner of the opposite polarity travels generally in the opposite direction. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,561, also issued to Schmidlin, the charged toner conveyor may have over 400 electrodes per inch to enable a high toner delivery rate without risk of air breakdown.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,855 issued to Fujii at al, discloses an improved device for delivering charged particles to the vicinity of imaging electrodes. The improvement lies in that the charged particles are supported on a supporting member and an alternating electric field is applied between the supporting member and the control electrode. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,955 Hosoya et al disclose a recording apparatus using a toner-fog generated by electric fields applied to electrodes on the surface of a developer carrier. The electric fields are produced by an AC and a DC source connected to the electrodes, causing oscillations of the developer which generates the toner fog. U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,426 issued to Kohyama discloses the improvement of an AC voltage whose frequency varies with time. The voltage is applied to the gap between a toner carrying surface and a drum whose surface contains an electrostatic latent image. The multiple frequencies increase the toner particle jumping probabilities, thus improving gradation and denseness properties of the resulting developed image.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,575 issued to Hays discloses an apparatus for dynamic toner metering and charging of nonmagnetic single component toner. The apparatus includes a flexible rotating rod having an electric bias applied thereto, and the rod is in a self-spaced relationship to a rigid donor roll. The apparatus effectively creates a monolayer of charged toner on the donor roll.
The author's co-pending application, Ser. No. 07/658,397 filed Feb. 20, 1991 is incorporated herein by reference. It describes multiphase clocks applied to a linear array of electrodes to implement an imaging conveyor; toner delivered to each pixel site on the receiving sheet can be individually controlled by application of voltages to the electrodes. However, the imaging conveyor in the co-pending application uses dense multilayer thin film circuits which may be expensive to manufacture. By comparison, the present invention requires only a single toner conveyor for full color printing, most of the thin film circuitry is single layer, and the thin film circuits are less dense for a given print resolution. Furthermore, only one integrated circuit driver is required for each pixel site.

Electrostatic printing apparatus and method


An inkjet ink is provided, which includes a solvent and a pigment having an average particle diameter of not larger than 250 nm. The number of flocculates of pigment particles having a diameter of 1 μm or more is 1.6×108/cm3 or less.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inkjet ink, an inkjet recording method, a method of evaluating an inkjet ink, and a method of manufacturing the inkjet ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been increasing demands for an inkjet type printer. Namely, it is expected that the inkjet type printer which is high in printing speed and capable of achieving high-quality printing is useful not only as a printer for personal computers in offices and at home but also as a printer for printing a fairly large number of copies of printed matter such as a poster of large scale, a local advertisement bill and an enterprise handout, thus substituting for the conventional printing utilizing a form plate. This inkjet type printer may be considered as being an on-demand printer which is capable of quickly coping with the diversification of needs.
As for the ink to be employed in the inkjet type printer, an aqueous ink using water-soluble dyes has been mainly employed in viewpoint of overcoming the problems of odor and safety. In recent years however, inks employing pigments as a colorant have been proposed in order to improve the quality of printing such as water resistance and light stability. To meet such a proposal, it is now required to control the particle diameter of pigments to be included in the ink and to secure the stability of dispersed state of pigments. If the dispersed state of pigments is instable, the flocculation of pigment particles will occur. In the case of inkjet type printer in particular, the flocculation of pigment particles may trigger the instability in the delivering state of ink. As a result, the rectlinearity in delivery of ink would be degraded, thus generating streak lines and the like on printed matters and hence making it impossible to obtain printing of high quality. In the worst case, there may be a case where the delivery port is clogged on the occasion of delivering ink. There is also the problem that the ink would become poor in long-term storage stability.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, it is required to control the state of pigment particles. Up to date however, no one has succeeded to find means to directly observe the particles of pigment as well as the flocculation of pigment particles. As for the means conventionally available to obtain the information with regard to the particle diameter of pigments, etc., there have been employed various kinds of particle size-measuring apparatuses where a dynamic light scattering method, a light diffraction scattering method or a laser Doppler method are utilized. However, even with these measuring apparatuses, the particle size to be obtained from these measuring apparatuses is that of the population of the entire sample being measured, so that it has been very difficult to know the size of particle or the quantity of particle, especially that of flocculation which are contained only as a relatively small number. Further, under some circumstances, it is required to dilute a measuring sample on the occasion of measuring the particle size. However, there are possibilities that the state of dispersion of pigment particles when the measuring sample is diluted is not the same as the state of dispersion of pigment particles when the pigment particles exist as they are in an actual ink. It is also tried to observe the state of pigment particles by electronic microscope. In this case however, the measurement is directed not to the state of pigment particles in the ink but to the simple substance of pigment itself. Therefore, there are possibilities that the state of dispersion of pigment particles as measured by electronic microscope is not the same as the state of dispersion of pigment particles when the pigment particles exist as they are in an actual ink. Because of this, it has been very difficult to know not only the particle size of pigment particles and of the aggregate of pigment particles but also the distribution of the particle size thereof.
As for various kinds of ink that have been disclosed up to date, there are known an ink wherein only the range of average particle diameter is regulated, an ink wherein the distributed ratio of pigment particles included in the distribution range is regulated, an ink wherein the volume ratio of distributed pigment particles having a particle diameter of 1 μm or more is regulated, etc. These inks are all formed of an aqueous ink, and, moreover, it is considered difficult to considerably enhance the delivery stability of ink by simply controlling only the average particle diameter of pigment particles or the distribution thereof. Furthermore, even if only the dispersed pigment particles having a particle diameter of 1 μm or more is regulated, it is considered impossible to considerably enhance the delivery stability of ink. Namely, even if only the average particle diameter of pigment particles or the distribution thereof is regulated, it does not lead to the reduction in a sufficient degree of the number of coarse pigment particles. Further, even if it is possible to regulate the volume ratio of the dispersed pigment particles having a diameter of 1 μm or more, it is impossible, according to the conventional methods, to detect the aggregate (secondary particle) of dispersed pigment particles having a diameter of less than 1 μm as well as the flocculate formed of a plurality of secondary particles which are weakly bonded together. Because of these reasons, it has been impossible to sufficiently eliminate the flocculate of pigment particles and to considerably enhance the ink delivery stability.

Inkjet ink, inkjet recording method, method of evaluating inkjet ink, and method of manufacturing inkjet ink


The invention relates to a sleeve, particularly a rubber blanket sheath, for a printing machine. The sleeve (10) has a two-layer structure comprising an internal layer designed as support layer (11), and an external layer designed as cover layer (12) and used for the print transfer, with the external or cover layer (12) being connected directly to the internal or support layer (11). A three layer composite sheath also is disclosed.

Blanket sleeves in printing machines promote a quite and smooth pay out from successive printing machine cylinders as a result of the absence of a disruption by gripping channels which are usually present on the circumference of printing and transfer cylinders.
DE 199 50 643 A1 discloses a sleeve with a four-layer overall structure for a web-fed offset rotary printing press. The sleeve according to DE 199 50 643 A1 has an internal layer designed as a support layer, namely a metal sheath, as well as an external layer designed as cover and used for the print transfer, where two additional layers being provided between the support layer and the cover layer. The internal support layer is adjacent to a compressible layer, while the external cover layer is adjacent to a layer made of an inelastic material. The compressible layer adjacent to the support layer and the layer made of inelastic material adjacent to the cover layer are connected to each other. Such a four-layer sleeve design requires considerable manufacturing effort and is therefore expensive.


A vehicle crash cushion is mounted to a wall adjacent to a roadway. The cushion includes an array of panels positioned to overlap one another and oriented parallel to the wall. A mechanical linkage couples the panels to the wall and suspends the panels above grade such that the panels are movable toward the wall. Energy absorbing elastomeric tubes are positioned between the panels and the wall such that movement of the panels toward the wall deforms the energy absorbing elements, thereby retarding movement of the panels toward the wall.

This invention relates to a vehicle crash cushion for decelerating a vehicle that has left a roadway and is moving toward a wall.
Young U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,657 (assigned to the assignee of the present invention) discloses a vehicle crash cushion of the general type defined above. The Young system includes an array of parallel diaphragms with water-filled energy absorbing elements between the diaphragms. The outermost diaphragms are arranged to overlap, and the entire assembly is mounted to slide on slide plates perpendicular or adjacent to a wall. An impacting vehicle will move the outermost diaphragms toward the wall, thereby accelerating water in the energy absorbing elements. In this way, the severity of the impact between the vehicle and the wall is substantially reduced.
The Young crash cushion has shown itself to be quite effective in actual use. In one installation the Young crash cushion was placed on a wall at a freeway turn in Detroit. Over ten years of practical experience have shown a substantial reduction in serious injuries and fatalities.
Nevertheless, the Young crash cushion is not without drawbacks, primarily with respect to the level of maintenance required to maintain the crash cushion in an operational condition. It has been found that there is a tendency for the outermost diaphragms not to return to the original position after an impact. In some applications this may require that an entire freeway be shut down while the outer diaphragms are pulled back to the operational position. In practice there is a tendency to delay such maintenance, and the diaphragms themselves are more susceptible to damage if hit by a second impact at a time when they have not recovered properly from the first. Furthermore, the Young crash cushion includes a number of interior diaphragms which are susceptible to damage in a severe impact. Certain elements are formed of wood, which are susceptible to water damage and rotting, and debris such as sand and litter tends to be trapped within the system. It is difficult to remove this debris, and excessive sand can build up inside the unit and interfere with the operation of the crash cushion.
The present invention is directed to an improved vehicle crash cushion which is less susceptible to the maintenance problems of the Young crash cushion described above.


A standard SNMP management station is replaced by a client computer having a standard Web browser while utilizing the services of a Web/SNMP proxy agent in accordance with the present invention. The Internet locations of the ASN.1 specifications for various MIB modules, as well as other information resources associated with those MIB modules, are stored in resource records in a section of the DNS established for storing such information. The Web/SNMP proxy agent automatically locates the ASN.1 specification for each MIB module of any identified SNMP agent, by looking up the location in the DNS. The Web/SNMP proxy agent then compiles the ASN.1 MIB module specifications into HTML documents for viewing on the client computer. User requests for retrieving data from specified MIB objects and/or for sending data values to specified MIB objects are communicated from the client computer to the Web/SNMP proxy agent using standard HTTUP communications. When the specified SNMP agent is remotely located from the Web/SNMP proxy agent, the Web/SNMP proxy agent converts the user requests into SNMP packets that are communicated to the specified SNMP agent. SNMP reply packets are converted into HTML documents, generally by inserting the information in the reply packets into previously generated HTML MIB specification documents, that are then communicated back to the user's client computer.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) was developed to provide a tool for multivendor, interoperable network management. SNMP provides a set of standards for network management, including a protocol, a database structure specification, and a set of data objects. SNMP was adopted as the standard for TCP/IP-based intemets in 1989.
An explanation of SNMP technology is beyond the scope of this document and the reader is assumed to be either conversant with SNMP or to have access to conventional textbooks on the subject, such as William Stallings, "SNMP, SNMPv2 and RMON," Addison Wesley (1996), which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as background information.
When a network management station first encounters a SNMP-manageable device, it is fairly easy for the management station to obtain a dump of all the MIB (Management Information Base) objects supported by that device's SNMP agent, simply by walking through the agent's MIB with GET-NEXT or GET-BULK PDUs. Unfortunately, the information that the management station can obtain in this way is nearly useless without additional resources that are not usually available from the SNMP agent. The most obvious example of such a resource is the ASN.1 specification of the MIB module that contains the objects in question: without the ASN.1 specification, most of the contents of most MIB modules are just collections of unlabeled integers. Other useful resources might be a human-readable specification of the MIB module (such as an RFC document in the case of an IETF Standards track MIB), or specialized executable code to perform higher-level management of the object.
At present, these additional resources must be provided via external means, usually by tracking down floppy disks or anonymous FTP sites, and then manually configuring the management station to use the additional resources.
It is a goal of the present invention to greatly simply and facilitate the management of remotely located, SNMP-manageable devices, even when the structure of the MIB modules for the device's SNMP agent is not known to the user or the user's management station.
It is also a goal to enable users to communicate with the SNMP agents of SNMP-manageable devices through the use of standard WWW browsers.

Computer network system and method using domain name system to locate MIB module specification and web browser for managing SNMP agents


Coating system (1) for coating a surface (3) of a substrate (5), the coating system (1) comprising; a coating (7), and an adhesive layer (9), that is disposed between the substrate (5) and the coating (7), wherein the adhesive layer (9) comprises a first adhesive layer portion (13) adjacent the substrate (5) and a second adhesive layer portion (15) adjacent the coating (7) and a carrier (11) placed between said first and second adhesive layer portions (13, 5), wherein the first adhesive layer portion (13) is composed of a first adhesive layer material, wherein the second adhesive layer portion (15) is composed of a second adhesive layer material, wherein the first adhesive layer material and the second adhesive layer material is having an adhesive or bond strength to the surface (3) of the substrate (5) and to the coating (7) respectively that exceeds their respective cohesive or tensile strength, wherein the first and second adhesive layer materials and carrier (11) combination is configured for having an adhesive strength that is less than their respective cohesive or tensile strength, wherein the carrier (11) is configured with grab tensile properties such that the carrier (11) in combination with the second adhesive layer portion (15) and the coating (7) will separate from the first adhesive layer portion (13) under the action of a peeling force.

Surfaces that are exposed to the elements may be subject to erosion caused by abrasion by particles and water droplets in the air that are present in the environment. The erosion process is accelerated when the particles are passing the surface at high speed. Moreover, the density of particles is also influencing the progression of the erosion.
This applies to surfaces placed in adverse environments and surfaces placed outside and exposed to the weather as well as submerged surfaces that are exposed to subsea conditions.
In order to protect the surfaces and underlying structure a protective coating is applied to the surface. The protective coating may act as a sacrificial layer that will prevent the erosion from removing material from the underlying structure. This is provided that the coating is replaced or repaired at intervals before the protective coating is completely eroded through.
Should the protective coating be completely removed such that the underlying structure is exposed to the environment said underlying structure may be permanently damaged. In case of a damaged underlying structure the process of restoring the underlying structure to its original strength and function may be costly if possible at all.
An example of a structure exposed to erosion is a blade of a wind turbine, more specifically the leading edge of the blade. The speed of the air flowing past the blade increases towards the tip of the blade. Moreover, if the rotational speed of the wind turbine is increased the tip speed increases and thus the speed of the air flowing past the blade increases. Therefore the erosion becomes more severe with increased span and increased rotational speed of the wind turbine. In practise the erosion is not linear but may vary along the span.
As the leading edge erodes the performance of the wind turbine blade deteriorates. It has been found that even light erosion may lead to a 5% decrease in annual energy production, and heavy erosion may reduce energy production by as much as 25%.
Other examples of structures exposed to erosion include but are not limited to blades of gas turbines, steam turbines or water turbines, leading edge surfaces of aircraft, exposed surfaces of buildings in desert areas, leading edge surfaces of tidal stream generators.
To slow down the development of erosion and to prevent permanent damage to a structure, a protective coating especially suited for protection against abrasion may be applied to the surface of the structure. The protective coating is usually formed of a resilient material that resists abrasion.
For a wind turbine, experiences have shown that leading edge erosion begins early in the life of a blade depending on site location and wind classes. Leading edges on blades without protection as young as three years old will begin to show signs of light erosion. Leading edges that are not repaired at this stage may have a damaged underlying structure as early as year five. At this time the blade may provide as little as 75% of the intended yearly energy production.
Wind turbine blades having a service life of 20 years would require leading edge repair as much as 6-7 times during its life in order to provide an acceptable lifetime energy production.
Leading edge maintenance can be performed on-site with the blade mounted on the wind turbine. This is applicable to on-shore as well as off-shore applications. However, in relation to wind turbines located off-shore the challenges with leading edge maintenance are amplified.
For example all materials that are removed from the blade or used during the maintenance action, except clean water, shall be collected and taken back to shore due to environmental restrictions.
Therefore any remaining protective coating that must be removed in order to leave a clean base surface for the application of a new layer of protective coating must be collected and taken to shore. Special tools are required to achieve this which increases the cost of the maintenance operation.
The coating is difficult to remove due to its resilience and adherence to the surface. Methods of removal of the damaged protective coating include manually scraping, grit blasting or sanding. This is time consuming and therefore requires the wind turbine to be stopped for a relatively long time, during which the wind turbine is out of production. The duration of the downtime determines when the maintenance procedure can be performed because certain weather conditions are required for safety- and processing reasons. Therefore an increased downtime reduces the availability of time windows in which the maintenance procedure can be completed.
Additionally, most often the coating is only removed to a level where the surface is clean and level and not to the surface of the underlying structure. Therefore, over time, there is a build-up of coating that changes the aero dynamic profile of the coated structure. This is a major problem in relation to a wind turbine blade, where the aerodynamic shape of especially the leading edge is critical to the performance of the blade.
The surface must be thoroughly cleaned before a new layer of protective coating is applied in order to ensure sufficient adhesion of the protective covering.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved coating system for a surface subject to erosion.

Coating system for coating a surface of a substrate


A synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) terminates a write operation in response to detecting deactivation of a data strobe signal applied to it during the write operation. In one example, the SDRAM comprises a buffer circuit and an early write termination circuit. The buffer circuit is configured to sample input data responsive to a data strobe signal applied to the SDRAM during a write operation and direct the input data to one or more memory cells of the SDRAM for storing the input data. The early write termination circuit is configured to terminate the write operation at less than a programmed burst length by disabling access to one or more of the memory cells after storage of the sampled input data responsive to detecting deactivation of the data strobe signal.

The present invention generally relates to dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), and particularly relates to terminating write operations in synchronous DRAMs (SDRAMs).
Data transfers to and from an SDRAM are initiated by a memory controller. The memory controller provides a series of instructions to the SDRAM in the form of commands along with corresponding data. The SDRAM receives, interprets and executes the commands. The commands are issued by the memory controller, and processed by the SDRAM, in synchronization with a system clock. Likewise, data is written to and read from the SDRAM in synchronization with the system clock.
To achieve improved data transfer speeds, some types of SDRAMs, in particular, double-data rate SDRAMs (DDR SDRAMs), incorporate data strobe signals. In operation, data strobe signals are output by the device providing data and received by the device capturing, or sampling, the data. For example, during read operations, a DDR SDRAM outputs data signals and a corresponding data strobe signal for use by a memory controller. The memory controller samples the data signals using the data strobe signal as a timing reference. Likewise, during write operations, the DDR SDRAM samples data signals using the data strobe signal as a timing reference.
Transferring data to and from SDRAMs in "bursts" further improves SDRAM performance. The length of a data burst, commonly referred to as burst length, defines the maximum number of memory array column locations that are accessed during a particular read or write operation. Accessing multiple column locations during a single memory operation reduces the latency associated with activating blocks of SDRAM memory cells. Burst length is programmed during a hardware initialization process of the SDRAM. Once programmed, it generally is inefficient to modify the burst length during SDRAM operation. The burst length can be modified only when all SDRAM memory banks are idle and no bursts are in progress. Additionally, the memory controller must wait a specified time after modifying the burst length before initiating a subsequent operation. As such, conducting memory operations based on programmed burst lengths sometimes results in inefficiency, such as when there is a need to write data in amounts smaller than the programmed burst length.
Conventional SDRAMs may support early write termination in a number of known ways. That is, conventional SDRAMs may terminate or truncate an ongoing write operation before its completion, e.g., at less than a programmed burst length. However, conventional early write termination techniques come at the expense of performance, risk of uncertainty, or both. For example, early write termination may be accomplished by issuing a precharge command during an ongoing write operation. The precharge command deactivates the open row currently being written to. Deactivating the open row during a write operation prevents the write burst from completing. However, the deactivated row will be unavailable for a subsequent access until a precharge latency is satisfied. Thus, the deactivated row can not be written to or read from immediately after the precharge command is used for early write termination. In addition to the precharge latency, the row must be re-activated before another read or write command can be issued to the same row. This row activation process further increases the latency penalty associated with using the precharge command as a method of early write termination.
Issuing a subsequent read or write command during an ongoing write operation also results in early write termination. However, this requires the memory controller to issue an additional command and the SDRAM to interpret this command. Furthermore, data must be available for transmission to the SDRAM when the subsequent command is issued. Also, when terminating an ongoing write operation by issuing a subsequent read command, data masking may be required depending upon the write-to-read command interval. For example, if the write-to-read command interval is greater than one clock cycle, then data masking may be required.
Use of a burst stop command represents another option for early write termination. However, the burst stop command is well defined for read operations only. Use of the burst stop command during ongoing write operations may cause data uncertainty. That is, uncertainty may arise as to which data was or was not written to the SDRAM when the burst stop command was issued. Further, because use of the burst stop command for early write termination is not a standardized technique, its use for this purpose may cause SDRAM malfunction.

Method and apparatus for early write termination in a semiconductor memory

Infineon Technologies North America Corp.


Method and system for calibrating a plurality of voltages of a light-emitting element and a plurality of grayscale values of a respective pixel of the light-emitting element on a display panel are provided. The method may include determining a mapping correlation between the plurality of voltages of the light-emitting element and a plurality of luminance values of the light-emitting element, determining N grayscale values of the pixel, and determining N first luminance values each corresponding to the respective one of the N grayscale values. The method may also include determining N first voltages mapped to the N first luminance values using the mapping correlation and determining, of each one of the N first luminance values, (M−1) second luminance values. Each one of the (M−1) second luminance values may correspond to a different dimmed luminance value of the respective first luminance value.

The disclosure relates generally to display technologies, and more particularly, to display panel calibration.
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panels are widely used in different fields to display images of various colors, luminance values, and grayscale values. The luminance and grayscale of a display panel are partially dependent on the characteristics of the OLEDs on the display panel. Due to the nonuniformity of fabrication process, OLEDs of one display panel may be different from OLEDs of another display panel. For example, the threshold voltage of an OLED can be different from that of another OLED, causing the amount of light emitted by these OLEDs to vary when a same driving voltage is applied on them. This nonuniformity in luminance values can result in nonuniformity in grayscale values of the OLEDs, resulting in display performance of a display panel to be different from one another. Thus, a calibration of display panels is often performed, e.g., by the manufacturer, to ensure display characteristics of OLEDs to be consistent/uniform in these display panels.
The calibration process often includes a Gamma correction that adjusts the grayscale values of a pixel (e.g., one or more subpixels/OLEDs) under different gate voltages applied on the pixel so the grayscale values of different pixels in the same display panel and/or different display panels can be consistent. Because of the nonuniformities in pixels/subpixels, the correlation between the grayscale values and gate voltages can vary amongst different pixels, affecting the Gamma correction. It is thus important to obtain an accurate correlation between the grayscale values and the gate voltages in OLED display panels.

Methods for calibrating correlation between voltage and grayscale value of display panels

KUNSHAN YUNYINGGU ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A core voltage generation circuit includes a comparator configured to perform a differential comparison of a reference voltage and a feedback core voltage. An amplifier is configured to amplify the external power supply voltage in response to an output signal of the comparator to generate the core voltage. A control switch is configured to form a current path of the comparator using different switch units according to a voltage level of an external power supply voltage input to the core voltage generation circuit.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly, to a core voltage generation circuit for generating core voltage.
A semiconductor memory device is used in storing data in a variety of applications. Such a semiconductor memory device is widely used in desktop computers, notebook computers and portable electronic apparatuses. Therefore, there is a need for the semiconductor memory device of large capacity, high speed, small size and low power.
In order to achieve the semiconductor memory device of low power, a method for minimizing power consumption in a core area of the memory device has been proposed. The core area includes a memory cell, a bit line and a word line, and is designed according to an ultra-fine design rule. To design an ultra-fine semiconductor memory device for performing high frequency operations, it is essential to lower power source voltage.
The semiconductor memory device uses an internal voltage of a voltage level adequate for operations in an internal circuit of the semiconductor memory device, which is generated by an external power supply voltage (VDD) lower than a certain voltage level. Specifically, a memory device, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which utilizes a bit line sense amplifier, uses a core voltage (VCORE) to sense cell data. When a word line is enabled, data in a plurality of memory cells connected to the word line are transferred to bit lines, and then the bit line sense amplifier sense and amplify voltage differences of bit line pairs. Generally, thousands of bit line sense amplifiers are operated at the same time. Thus, a large amount of current is consumed at a time at a core voltage terminal to drive pull-up power lines of the bit line sense amplifiers.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a conventional core voltage generation circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional core voltage generation circuit includes a comparator 10, an amplifier 11 and a feedback voltage generator 12. The comparator 10 differentially compares a feedback voltage of half core voltage (½ voltage level of a potential at a core voltage terminal) and a reference voltage (VREFC) (of ½ voltage level of a target core voltage; 0.75 V). The amplifier 11 generates an amplified core voltage of approximately 1.5 V in response to an output signal of the comparator 10. The feedback voltage generator 12 divides the amplified core voltage, and outputs the feedback voltage having ½ voltage level of the potential at the core voltage terminal to monitor the core voltage. The conventional core voltage generation circuit further includes a control switch 13 configured to control operations of the comparator 10.
The core voltage generation circuit determines operation point of the comparator 10 using an external power supply voltage VDD applied to an NMOS transistor MN1 constituting the control switch 13.
As the NMOS transistor MN1 is turned on in response to the external power supply voltage VDD and the NMOS transistor MN2 is turned on in response to the reference voltage VREFC applied from the outside, drain voltages of the transistors MN1 and MN2 are lowered. That is, the potential of the node N1 is lowered. Then, a low level signal is applied to a gate of a PMOS transistor MP3 to turn on the PMOS transistor MP3, thereby increasing the core voltage VCORE output from the core voltage generation circuit.
As the core voltage VCORE is increased, the feedback voltage is also increased to thereby turn on an NMOS transistor MN3. As the NMOS transistor MN3 is turned on, a potential of the node N2 is decreased to decrease a voltage level applied to gates of the PMOS transistors MP1 and MP2. As a result of the decrease of the voltage level at the gates of the PMOS transistors MP1 and MP2, the PMOS transistors MP1 and MP2 are turned on, thereby increasing a potential of the node N1 gradually. That is, a gate voltage of the PMOS transistor MP3 is gradually increased. Such operations are repeated until the feedback voltage becomes equal to the reference voltage VREFC.
The conventional core voltage generation circuit determines an operation point of the comparator 10 using the external power supply voltage VDD applied to the gate of the NMOS transistor MN1 constituting the control switch 13. However, the external power supply voltage VDD inevitably has an error range within a certain range because it is applied from the outside.
Therefore, the turn on characteristic (current path) of the NMOS transistor MN1 is determined by the external power supply voltage VDD applied to the control switch 13. The turn on characteristic of the NMOS transistor MN1 affects the turn on characteristic of the NMOS transistor MN2 in the comparator 10, and thus the turn on characteristic of the PMOS transistor MP3 in the amplifier 11.
However, as described above, the conventional core voltage generation circuit determines the operation point of the comparator 10 only through the NMOS transistor MN1 regardless of the voltage level of the external power supply voltage VDD. Therefore, the conventional core voltage generation circuit has the limitation that the core voltage VCORE may become instable according to the external power supply voltage VDD.