In a plasma addressed display apparatus, a given first pixel of a plurality of pixels belongs to one of a plurality of row groups each having a plurality of continuous rows. A signal generation supply circuit receives video data and corrects first video data to be displayed by the first pixel based on a predetermined correction function that includes as variables the first video data and second video data to be displayed by a second pixel belonging to a same row group and a same column as the first pixel and belonging to a row different from the first pixel. In certain embodiments, the first and second pixels are in the same plasma discharge channel so that the first video data is corrected based upon variables relating only to pixel(s) in the same plasma discharge channel in which the first pixel is located.

The present invention relates to a matrix display apparatus, and more particularly, to a plasma addressed display apparatus.
As one type of image display apparatuses, conventionally known is a plasma addressed display apparatus that includes a flat panel essentially composed of a display cell and a plasma cell laminated together and peripheral circuits such as a signal circuit and a vertical scanning circuit. One example of such a conventional plasma addressed display apparatus is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-217396.
FIG. 22 shows a structure of a panel of a conventional plasma addressed display apparatus, which is a flat panel structure essentially composed of a display cell 1 and a plasma cell 2 laminated together with a microsheet 3 therebetween. The plasma cell 2 includes a glass substrate 4 and plasma discharge channels 5 arranged in rows, and generates plasma discharge line-sequentially for effecting scanning. The plasma discharge channels 5 are separated from the adjacent ones by barrier ribs 6 that define spaces arranged in rows. Stripe-shaped anode electrodes (A) 7 and stripe-shaped cathode electrodes (K) 8 are formed on the inner surface of the glass substrate 4 inside the respective plasma discharge channels 5. Ionizable gas is enclosed in the spaces of the respective plasma discharge channels 5.
The display cell 1 includes a liquid crystal layer 10 as a display medium retained between an upper glass substrate 9 and the microsheet 3. Stripe-shaped color filters 12 and stripe-shaped data electrodes (P) 11 are formed on the inner surface of the glass substrate 9 in this order so as to extend in the direction intersecting with the plasma discharge channels 5. Pixels are defined at the respective intersections of the color filters 12 and the data electrodes (P) 11 with the plasma discharge channels 5 forming a shape of matrix.
The operation of the plasma addressed display apparatus shown in FIG. 22 will be described with reference to FIG. 23 that shows a portion of FIG. 22 in more detail. When a discharge pulse is applied, plasma discharge is generated in the plasma discharge channel 5 and the inside of the plasma discharge channel 5 is turned to and maintained at around an anode potential. In an equivalent circuit, a virtual electrode 20 is formed on the surface of the microsheet 3 inside the plasma discharge channel 5 and a switch 21 is turned on. A pulse application circuit 22 is a circuit for applying xe2x80x9cvideo dataxe2x80x9d between the data electrode 11 and the anode electrode 7. When the pulse application circuit 22 applies video data in synchronization with the generation of plasma discharge, video data is written in the liquid crystal layer 11 of the pixel via the microsheet 3. When the plasma discharge is terminated, the switch 21 is turned off. The plasma discharge channel 5 is put in the floating state, allowing the written video data to be retained in the pixel. The transmittance of the liquid crystal changes depending on the retained video data.
In the plasma addressed display apparatus with the above construction, if higher resolution is intended, the components of the apparatus must be miniaturized both in the horizontal (row) and vertical (column) directions. In the case of enhancing the resolution in the vertical direction, the plasma discharge channels arranged in rows must be narrowed. In order to achieve this, the barrier ribs may be narrowed. However, extremely narrowing the barrier ribs is difficult from the standpoints of the fabrication technology and the mechanical strength. If the pitch of the barrier ribs is reduced while the width of the barrier ribs is kept unchanged, the aperture ratio will lower. Moreover, the viewing angle is narrowed since tilted incident light is blocked by the height of the barrier ribs.
The present inventor, together with other co-researchers, proposed a technique for enhancing the resolution of the plasma addressed display apparatus (Japanese Patent Application No. 10-253145, which, as well as corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/391,804 filed on Sep. 8, 1999, are herein incorporated by reference). This technique attempts to enhance the vertical resolution of the plasma addressed display apparatus without changing the width and pitch of the barrier ribs.
FIG. 24 shows a panel structure of a plasma addressed display apparatus proposed by the present inventor and co-researchers described above. The plasma addressed display apparatus of FIG. 24 is different from that of FIG. 22 in that scanning electrodes (S) 13 are used as the electrodes for plasma discharge. The scanning electrodes (S) 13 are disposed at the bottoms of the barrier ribs 6 and at positions between the adjacent barrier ribs 6.
The operation of the plasma addressed display apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 25A and 25B. FIG. 25A illustrates the video data write operation of the conventional plasma addressed display apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-217396 described above, and FIG. 25B illustrates the video data write operation of the high-definition plasma addressed display apparatus proposed by the present inventor and co-researchers (Japanese Patent Application No. 10-253145) employing a conventional drive method.
Referring to FIG. 25A, at timing T11, a discharge pulse is applied to a cathode K1, and video data D11 is written and retained in a plasma discharge channel including the cathode K1 and an anode A1. At timing T12 as the next scanning period, a discharge pulse is applied to a cathode K2, and video data D12 is written and retained in a plasma discharge channel including the cathode K2 and an anode A2. At timing T13 as the subsequent scanning period, video data D13 is written in a similar manner. By this series of processing at timings T11 through T13, predetermined video data are written in predetermined plasma discharge channels as shown under timing T1E. In this case, one piece of video data is written in one plasma discharge channel.
Referring to FIG. 25B, at timing T21, a discharge pulse is applied to a selected scanning electrode S1 to allow plasma discharge to be generated between the selected scanning electrode S1 and the adjacent scanning electrodes, i.e., between S0-S1 and S1-S2, and video data D21 is written and retained in a plasma discharge channel including the selected scanning electrode S1. At timing T22 as the next scanning period, a discharge pulse is applied to a selected scanning electrode S2 to allow plasma discharge to be generated between the selected scanning electrode S2 and the adjacent scanning electrodes, i.e., in regions between S1-S2 and S2-S3 that are located in different plasma discharge channels blocked by the barrier rib 6. Video data D22 is written and retained in these plasma discharge channels. At this time, focusing on the video data written in the region between the scanning electrodes S1 and S2, the video data D21 written at timing T21 is overwritten with the video data D22 at timing T22. Similarly, at timings T23, T24, T25, and T26, a discharge pulse is applied to selected scanning electrodes S3, S4, S5, and S6, and video data D23, D24, D25, and D26 are written and retained. By this series of processing at timings T21 through T26, predetermined video data are written in predetermined plasma discharge channels as shown under timing T2E. In this way, in the plasma addressed display apparatus of FIG. 24, two pieces of video data are written in one plasma discharge channel. This improves the vertical resolution of the plasma addressed display apparatus, compared with the case shown in FIG. 25A, without changing the structure such as the pitch and width of the barrier ribs.
FIG. 26 shows the entire construction of the plasma addressed display apparatus shown in FIG. 24. Referring to FIG. 26, the plasma addressed display apparatus includes a panel 201, a signal circuit 202, a vertical scanning circuit 203, a control circuit 204, an input terminal group 206, a synchronous separation circuit 207, a system microcomputer 208, and a vertical compensation circuit 210.
The panel 201 has a flat panel structure essentially composed of a plasma cell and a display cell laminated together. The plasma cell has scanning electrodes S1 to Sn arranged in rows, and the display cell has data electrodes P1 to Pm. Pixels 205 are defined at respective intersections between the scanning electrodes S1 to Sn and the data electrodes P1 to Pm. The synchronous separation circuit 207 extracts a horizontal synchronous signal and a vertical synchronous signal from video data input via the input terminal group 206, and supplies extracted various timing signals to the control circuit 204 and the system microcomputer 208. The system microcomputer 208 manages the display phase of video data when displayed on the panel 201. The control circuit 204 controls synchronization between the signal circuit 202 and the vertical scanning circuit 203. The vertical scanning circuit 203 applies a discharge pulse to the scanning electrodes S1 to Sn line-sequentially to effect scanning. The signal circuit 202 supplies video data to the data electrodes P1 to Pm in synchronization with the scanning by the vertical scanning circuit 203. The vertical compensation circuit 210 compensates a vertical high frequency component of the video data.
FIG. 27 is a block diagram of the vertical compensation circuit 210 shown in FIG. 26. FIGS. 28A and 28B are diagrammatic illustrations of the operation of the vertical compensation circuit 210. Referring to FIG. 27, the vertical compensation circuit 210 delays a signal by a scanning period unit using line memories 32 and 33. Signals obtained from the line memories 32 and 33 are subjected to various operations and then gain-adjusted by a gain circuit 39. The resultant value is added to a current signal W2 by an adder 40.
The operation of the vertical compensation circuit 210 of FIG. 27 will be described with reference to FIGS. 28A and 28B. FIG. 28A represents the state where pixels u1 to u4 having a video level 50 and pixels u5 to u8 having a video level 150 are lined in the stream of scanning periods. Assume that the pixel u4 having a video level 50 corresponds to a current signal, i.e., the pixel u4 is a focusing pixel. In this case, the signal W2 in FIG. 27 corresponds to u4, while signals W1 and W3 correspond to the pixel u5 having a video level 150 and the pixel u3 having a video level 50, respectively.
Signals obtained from the line memories 32 and 33 are multiplied by xe2x88x92xc2xc by multipliers 34 and 36 and by xc2xd by a multiplier 35. The results from the multipliers 34, 35, and 36 are summed by adders 37 and 38. An output W4 from the adder 38 is xe2x88x9225. An optimal operational value used by the gain circuit 39 is not uniquely determined but varies depending on the preference of the viewer of the plasma addressed display apparatus. In many cases, however, a value between 0 and 1 is used. Assuming that the operational value is ⅕ in this case, an output W5 from the gain circuit 39 is xe2x88x925. An adder 40 adds the value W5 to the current signal W2. As a result, an output W6 is 45. Similarly, when the pixel u5 corresponds to a current signal, the output W6 becomes 155 as a result of the operations with the preceding and subsequent signals. If the focusing pixel has the same video level as the adjacent pixels, such as the pixel u6, having no discernable change in the image from adjacent pixels, the output W6 is 150 indicating that no compensation is made.
FIG. 28B represents the results of the compensation made for the video data by the vertical compensation circuit 210. As is apparent from FIG. 28B, a compensating signal has been added to the original signal at the edge portion of an image where the pixel level shifts, such as the portion between the pixels u4 and u5, thereby emphasizing the edge portion.
The conventional high-definition plasma addressed display apparatus shown in FIG. 24 proposed by the present inventor and co-researchers has a problem of generating a phenomenon that video data within one plasma discharge channel interfere with each other. For example, at timing T2E in FIG. 25B, the video data D21 and D22, as well as the video data D23 and D24, interfere with each other. This is due to absence of a barrier rib therebetween.
The interference between video data in the plasma addressed display apparatus of FIG. 24 will be described with reference to FIGS. 29A and 29B. FIGS. 29A and 29B are diagrammatic illustrations of the display states of video data displayed on the plasma addressed display apparatus of FIG. 24, specifically showing the state where a black line such as a part of a letter is displayed on a white background in a region of eight scanning lines (L1 to L8) and ten pixels (X1 to X10). FIG. 29A shows the state intended to write and display video data. Video data in one plasma discharge channel influence each other in the vertical direction due to absence of a barrier rib therebetween as described above. That is, the brightness for white video data tends to decrease, becoming dark, and in reverse, the brightness for black video data tends to increase. As a result, as shown in FIG. 29B, two pixels, one is black and the other is white, in the same plasma discharge channel, for example, the pixel at the crossing (L5, X6) and the pixel at the crossing (L6, X6), interfere with each other, changing the original video data. This results in quality degradation of the resultant display image such as lowered sharpness and smear at edges, which may cause the viewer to feel uncomfortable.
The vertical compensation circuit 210 is unable to minimize the above disturbance due to the interference. Rather, the compensation of a vertical edge signal tends to facilitate the disturbance, making the disturbance more conspicuous. In other words, it is not possible to use a sufficiently large gain for the vertical compensation for fear of influence of the interference.
The above problem does not only arise in the plasma addressed display apparatus exemplified above, but also may arise in other line-sequential drive type matrix display apparatuses. In such a line-sequential drive type, pixels are electrically addressed independently and the display states of the pixels are electrically retained. This may cause electrical interference between rows or columns (interference between video data). Such interference is particularly significant in matrix display apparatuses employing an addressing method that makes the interference between video data especially eminent between specific rows (between continuous scanning units), such as the plasma addressed display apparatus described above.
An object of the present invention is providing matrix display apparatus and a plasma addressed display apparatus capable of minimizing interference between video data.
In relation to the above object, the present invention is in particular aimed at obtaining high-definition, high-quality images without blur or smear by detecting the degree of disturbance due to interference from the amplitudes of video data adjacent in the vertical direction in the same discharge channel, processing the detected component in an optimal manner to obtain a correction signal, and correcting the video data with the correction signal.
The matrix display apparatus of this invention includes: a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns; a plurality of row selection elements provided to correspond to the plurality of rows; a plurality of video signal supply elements provided to correspond to the plurality of columns; a scanning circuit for supplying a scanning signal sequentially to the plurality of row selection elements for line-sequential scanning of the plurality of pixels for each of the plurality of rows; and a signal generation supply circuit for generating a video signal corresponding to video data to be displayed and supplying the video signal to the plurality of video signal supply elements in synchronization with the line-sequential scanning, wherein a given first pixel of the plurality of pixels belongs to one of a plurality of row groups each having a plurality of continuous rows, and the signal generation supply circuit receives video data, corrects first video data to be displayed by the first pixel based on a predetermined correction function that includes as variables the first video data and second video data to be displayed by a second pixel belonging to a same group and a same column as the first pixel and belonging to a row different from the first pixel and depends on the relative positional relationship between at least the first pixel and the second pixel, generates a video signal corresponding to the corrected first video data, and supplies the generated video signal to the video signal supply element corresponding to the column to which the first pixel belongs.
In one embodiment, each of the plurality of row groups includes at least three continuous rows, and the correction function is a predetermined function that further includes as a variable third video data to be displayed by a third pixel belonging to a same row group and a same column as the first pixel and belonging to a row different from the first pixel and the second pixel and further depends on the relative positional relationship between the first pixel and the third pixel.
In another embodiment, the correction function is a pre-determined function that further includes as a variable third video data to be displayed by a third pixel belonging to a same row group as the first pixel, belonging to a column different from the first pixel, and located adjacent to the first or second pixel and further depends on the relative positional relationship between the first pixel and the third pixel.
In still another embodiment, the correction function is a predetermined function that further includes as a variable fourth video data to be displayed by a fourth pixel belonging to a same row group as the first pixel, belonging to a column different from the first pixel, and located adjacent to the first or second pixel and further depends on the relative positional relationship between the first pixel and the fourth pixel.
In still another embodiment, the correction function is a linear function of the first video data and the second video data.
In still another embodiment, a coefficient of the linear function by which the first video data and the second video data are multiplied is predetermined based on brightness characteristics of the plurality of pixels.
In still another embodiment, wherein the signal generation supply circuit includes an interference detection correction circuit, and the interference detection correction circuit executes the correction based on the correction function by an arithmetic operation.
In still another embodiment, the signal generation supply circuit executes the correction based on the correction function by use of a lookup table.
In still another embodiment, the matrix display apparatus further includes a plurality of plasma discharge channels each having a plurality of scanning lines running therein, wherein each of the plurality of row groups corresponds to each of the plurality of plasma discharge channels, and each of the plurality of row selection elements corresponds to each of the plurality of scanning lines.
The plasma addressed display apparatus of this invention includes: a panel having a layered structure essentially composed of a plasma cell and a display cell laminated together, the plasma cell including plasma discharge channels arranged in rows each having at least two scanning lines allocated thereto, the display cell including data electrodes arranged in columns, pixels being defined at intersections between the plasma discharge channels and the data electrodes forming a matrix; a vertical scanning circuit for effecting scanning of the panel by applying a discharge pulse sequentially to the plasma discharge channels; a signal circuit for supplying video data to the data electrodes in synchronization with the scanning; and an interference detection correction circuit for detecting correlation between video data for the scanning lines allocated to the same plasma discharge channel and correcting the video data to be supplied to the data electrodes according to the detected correlation.
In one embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit includes a line memory for accumulating video data for one scanning period required for an operation using video data of adjacent scanning lines.
In another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit completes the operation using video data of adjacent scanning lines within the scanning lines allocated to the same plasma discharge channel.
In another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit includes a complete control circuit that considers a possible shift of a vertical display position of video data when the video data is displayed on the plasma addressed display apparatus.
In still another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit determines a correction amount by a lookup table method using a memory.
In still another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit compensates a vertical high frequency gain of the video data.
In still another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit accumulates video data for one scanning period required for extracting a vertical high component in the line memory.
In still another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit sets an optimal gain in cooperation with a gain control circuit for correcting interference.
In still another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit includes a noise reduction circuit for reducing noise.
In still another embodiment, the noise reduction circuit controls a reduction amount according to a noise level of the video data.
In still another embodiment, the noise reduction circuit stores noise reduction compensation characteristics in a memory.
In still another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit determines a correction amount in consideration of electrooptical characteristics of the display cell.
In still another embodiment, the interference detection correction circuit stores the electrooptical characteristics in a memory.

Matrix display apparatus and plasma addressed display apparatus


The invention describes a sweetener of glycosylated steviol glycosides and a rebaudioside in an aqueous solution for convenience of use in the food and beverage industry.

Stevia is a genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native to subtropical and tropical South America and Central America.
The species Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, commonly known as sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. The leaves have traditionally been used as a sweetener. Steviosides and rebaudiosides are the major constituents of glycosides found in the leaves of the stevia plant.
Over 100 phytochemicals have been discovered in stevia. It is rich in terpenes and flavonoids. Of these eight glycosides, stevioside is considered the sweetest and has been tested to be approximately 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevioside, comprising 6-18% of the stevia leaf, is also the most prevalent glycoside in the leaf. Other sweet constituents include steviolbioside, rebaudiosides A-E, and dulcoside A.
Stevia extracts generally contain a high percentage of the glycosides of the diterpene steviol. The leaves of Stevia rebaudiana contain over 10 different steviol glycosides. Steviol glycosides are considered high intensity sweeteners (about 250-300 times that of sucrose) and have been used for several years in a number of countries as a sweetener for a range of food products. Stevioside and rebaudioside A are the principal sweetening compounds and generally accompanied by smaller amounts of other steviol glycosides. The taste quality of rebaudioside A is better than stevioside, because of increased sweetness and decreased bitterness (Phytochemistry 68, 2007, 1855-1863).
The structures and chemical abstract service registry numbers for steviol and its glycosides that are the main sweetening agents of the additive steviol glycosides are shown below:
 Compound nameC.A.S. No.R1R21Steviol  471-80-7HH2Steviolbioside41093-60-1Hβ-Glc-β-Glc(2→1)3Stevioside57817-89-7β-Glcβ-Glc-β-Glc(2→1)4Rebaudioside A58543-16-1β-Glcβ-Glc-β-Glc(2→1)|β-Glc(3→1)5Rebaudioside B58543-17-2Hβ-Glc-β-Glc(2→1)|β-Glc(3→1)6Rebaudioside C63550-99-2β-Glcβ-Glc-β-Rha(2→1)|β-Glc(3→1)7Rebaudioside D63279-13-0β-Glc-β-β-Glc-β-Glc(2→1)Glc(2→1)|β-Glc(3→1)8Rebaudioside E63279-14-1β-Glc-β-β-Glc-β-Glc(2→1)Glc(2→1)9Rebaudioside F438045-89-7β-Glcβ-Glc-β-Xyl(2→1)|β-Glc(3→1)10Rubusoside63849-39-4β-Glcβ-Glc11Dulcoside A64432-06-0β-Glcβ-Glc-α-Rha(2→1)12Rebaudioside M1220616-44-3  (β-Glc)2-β(β-Glc)2-β-glc-(also known asglc-Rebaudioside X)
In addition to the above mentioned steviol glycosides, many steviol glycoside derivatives can be obtained for example, by synthetic manipulation or by enzymatic processes. KR10-2008-0085811 herein incorporated by reference, discloses the following steviol glycoside derivatives obtained from enzymatic processes.
 NameR1R2Stevioside(ST)—H —H Stevioside-G1-glucosyl—H (ST-G1)—H -glucosylStevioside-G2-(glucosy)2—H (ST-G2)-glucosyl-glucosyl—H -(glucosy)2  NameR1R2R3Rebaudioside A—H —H —H Rebaudioside A-G1-glucosyl—H —H (RA-G1)—H -glucosyl—H —H —H -glucosylRebaudioside A-G2-(glucosy)2—H —H (RA-G2)—H -(glucosy)2—H —H —H -(glucosy)2-glucosyl-glucosyl—H —H -glucosyl-glucosyl-glucosyl—H -glucosyl
As shown, several glucosyl groups can be added on the backbone of a steviol glycoside such as, stevioside and rebaudioside A, by the disclosed enzymatic process. The glycosylated steviol materials with 1 additional glucosyl are referred to as G1, the materials with 2 additional glucosyls are referred to as G2, and so forth. Without limitation, glycosylated steviol glycosides containing even more glucosyl groups can be made.
As a sweetener and sugar substitute, rebaudioside A has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and be deemed very close to sucrose, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations. All steviol glycosides are bitter or lingering, some in less degree and some in greater degree.
The relationship between steviol glycoside mixtures, solubility, and how solubility of these mixtures affects the overall taste profile of stevia sweeteners has not been studied in detail.
Therefore, a need exists for glycosidic compositions with superior taste profiles for the food and beverage industry.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Compositions of steviol multiglycosylated derivatives and stevia components

SWEET GREEN FIELDS INTERNATIONAL CO LIMITED


The invention relates to a dispersion slope compensating optical fiber which compensates the chromatic dispersion and dispersion slope of a positive dispersion slope optical fiber such as TRUE WAVE and increases reliability of wavelength division multiplex transmission in a wavelength from 1530 nm to 1610 nm. The center core (3) is covered by a side core layer (4), and the outside thereof is covered by a cladding layer (5), wherein the relationship between the relative refractive index differences .DELTA.1, .DELTA.2, .DELTA.3 of the center core (3), side core layer (4) and cladding layer (5) and pure SiO.sub.2 glass is established to be .DELTA.1) .DELTA.3) .DELTA.2, .DELTA.2/.DELTA.1=Rd.ltoreq.-0.45, and .DELTA.1.gtoreq.1.2%. The average dispersion slope in a wavelength from 1530 nm to 1610 nm is established to be -0.6 ps/nm.sup.2 /km or less, and the value obtained by dividing the dispersion value in the same wavelength by a dispersion slope is made 160 or less, wherein by connecting the dispersion shifted optical fiber to TRUE WAVE, whose average dispersion slope in said wavelength is approximately 0.07 to 0.1 ps/nm.sup.2 /km and whose dispersion value is greater by approximately 15 to 60 times than the dispersion slope, with a length which is shorter by approximately one-ninth than the length of TRUE WAVE, the dispersion in the said wavelength band can be drawn to nearly zero dispersion.

Recently, in line with realization of an optical amplifier (EDFA: Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) using an optical fiber to which erbium is doped, it became possible to directly amplify optical signals in a wavelength band of 1.55 .mu.m (1550 nm) without converting them to electric signals, whereby in a field of optical transmission, high bit rate and long-haul optical transmission has been achieved. Furthermore, on the other hand, transmission is carried out by a wavelength division multiplex system (WDM system) in which optical signals of different wavelengths can be transmitted by a single optical fiber, in order to increase transmission capacity in optical transmission, wherein, by employing an optical amplifier using said erbium doped optical fiber in an optical transmission system in which the wavelength division multiplex system, it can be expected that the transmission capacity is further increased, and a longer haul transmission is further achieved by the wavelength division multiplex system.
Also, as an optical fiber used for a wavelength division multiplex transmission system in which said EDFA is employed, a dispersion shifted optical fiber having zero dispersion wavelength in the wavelength band of 1550 nm has been proposed. However, in a case where an optical fiber has a zero dispersion wavelength in almost the entire gain band of the said EDFA, it is already known that a four-wave mixing (FWM) which is one of the non-linear phenomena occurs when light of a plurality of wavelengths is made incident into the optical fiber. Signal light power is lost due to the four-wave mixing, wherein the original signals are converted to signals of other wavelengths and become noise, resulting in a problem in the transmission characteristics. Furthermore, any one of the conventional dispersion shifted optical fibers has a so-called positive dispersion slope by which the dispersion value (chromatic dispersion value) is increased in line with an increase in wavelength, and the positive dispersion slope by which the dispersion value is generally about 0.07 ps/nm.sup.2 /km.
Therefore, in order to eliminate the problem resulting from the four-wave mixing, an attempt, by which said problem resulting from the four-wave mixing is solved, has been made by separating the dispersion value at the wavelength used and setting the dispersion value at the wavelength used, so that it becomes .+-.1.5 ps/nm/km to .+-.4 ps/nm/km. This is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 168046 of 1995. An optical fiber which is able to solve the four-wave mixing is registered by the AT & T Corporation with the trademark "TRUE WAVE". Furthermore, the TRUE WAVE is based on the NEO DSF concept (Dispersion shifted optical fiber of the next generation). An optical fiber called TRUE WAVE has a zero dispersion wavelength in the vicinity of wavelength of 1520 nm or in the vicinity of wavelength 1580 nm and has a positive dispersion slope.
Hereinafter, like the TRUE WAVE and the said conventional general dispersion shifted optical fibers, an optical fiber having a positive dispersion slope is called "Positive dispersion slope optical fiber".
Since the dispersion of the positive dispersion slope optical fiber called TRUE WAVE is not zero at the wavelength used as described above, dispersion resulting from the TRUE WAVE itself will occur at the use wavelength band. Therefore, in a case where the TRUE WAVE is used, the following measures are taken. That is, TRUE WAVE having the chromatic dispersion characteristics shown by the characteristics line b1 in FIG. 7 and TRUE WAVE having the chromatic dispersion characteristics shown by the characteristics line b2 in the same drawing are alternately connected to each other, whereby the TRUE WAVE is caused to have, as a whole, chromatic dispersion characteristics shown by the characteristic line b3 in the same drawing, and an attempt is made by which the dispersion at the center wavelength (for example, 1550 nm) of the wavelength is made zero.
However, if so, the dispersion at the center wavelength becomes zero, residual dispersion occurs at wavelengths other than the wavelength, for example, residual dispersion of -1.6 ps/nm/km is produced at a wavelength of 1540 nm, wherein if the relay interval (transmission distance) is 80 Km, dispersion of 128 ps/nm remains. In this case, a difference is produced in the transmission capacity due to dispersion between various wavelengths of signal light at the wavelength band of 1550 nm, the waveform of the signal light is distorted to cause the bit error rate to be changed between the center wave and the end waves, wherein the efficiency of the wavelength division multiplex transmission is lowered and reliability may be remarkably lowered.
Therefore, in Japanese Patent Application No. 85846 of 1997 filed at the Japanese Patent Office, the present applicant proposed a dispersion slope compensating optical fiber in which the dispersion slope of a positive dispersion slope optical fiber of, for example, said TRUE WAVE, etc., is compensated. Furthermore, the dispersion slope compensating optical fiber is an optical fiber which has a dispersion value of a general dispersion shifted optical fiber which is a positive dispersion slope optical fiber, and a negative signed dispersion value, the absolute value of which is equivalent thereto, and has a negative signed dispersion slope, the absolute value of which is equal to that of the dispersion shifted optical fiber.
However, in order to compensate the positive dispersion slope of TRUE WAVE by, for example, connecting the dispersion slope compensating optical fiber to the existing line (optical transmission line) composed of the TRUE WAVE, it is necessary to connect the dispersion slope compensating optical fiber, the length of which is almost equal to that of the TRUE WAVE of the existing line. Therefore, it will become necessary to provide a very long dispersion slope compensating optical fiber. For this reason, it is difficult to insert, as a module, the proposed dispersion slope compensating optical fiber into, for example, a repeater of the existing line and to use it therein.
Furthermore, on the other hand, since the gain band of EDFA is liable to expand to a longer wavelength side, it will become possible to amplify optical signals in the vicinity of a wavelength of 1600 nm. Therefore, the necessity of dispersion slope compensating optical fiber used in this wavelength bandwidth has been increased.
The present invention is developed in order to solve the said problem, and it is therefore an object of the invention to provide a dispersion slope compensating optical fiber which, in the wavelength band, from 1530 nm to 1610 nm in wavelength, which is the gain band of EDFA, is able to almost compensate the chromatic dispersion slope and chromatic dispersion of a positive dispersion slope compensating optical fiber such as TRUE WAVE, etc., by a short optical fiber, and for example, by inserting it into the existing line having a positive dispersion slope for optical transmission as a module, and enables satisfactory wavelength division multiplex transmission at the said wavelength band.

Dispersion slope compensating optical fiber


A promoter can have utility in selective heterogeneous oxidation of arylalkyl hydrocarbons such as, for example, cyclohexyl benzene and/or sec-butyl benzene to form hydroperoxides. The promoter can include the product of contacting a solid support comprising a metal oxide surface and an iron compound. The solid support can include, for example, titanium dioxide and/or an iron oxide such as magnetite and can have magnetic susceptibility. A method for the oxidation of arylalkyl hydrocarbons to form hydroperoxides can include contacting 16 an arylalkyl hydrocarbon with oxygen in the presence of the promoter under catalytic oxidation conditions to form arylalkyl hydroperoxide, which can then be converted to phenol via cleavage 26. The method can include recovery 22 of the promoter from the arylalkyl hydroperoxide and can further include recycling the recovered promoter to the contacting 16. Where the solid support has magnetic susceptibility, the recovery 22 can include magnetic separation of the promoter.

Organic hydroperoxides can be prepared by oxidizing arylalkyl hydrocarbons having a tertiary hydrogen with an oxygen containing gas. For example, the well known cumene hydroperoxide process employs air oxidation of cumene at a temperature of 80°-130° C. and elevated pressure with promoters such as sodium hydroxide or carbonate, followed by cleavage of the cumene hydroperoxide at 60°-100° C. with agitation under acidic conditions that can include a non-oxidizing acid such as sulfur dioxide gas. The resulting mixture of phenol, acetone and various byproducts is neutralized and separated to recover phenol and acetone in approximately equimolar proportions.
There are drawbacks to the cumene hydroperoxide process. Notably, the economics of the process for phenol production are tied to the market for acetone. The use of another arylalkyl hydrocarbon with an alkyl group other than isopropyl would yield a different ketone, however, air oxidation of such other arylalkyls can be problematic. The use of catalysts or other promoters to improve oxidation conversion rates and yields can complicate the downstream purification and/or cleavage reactions. The economics could be improved by the use of an oxidation promoter system that could be easily prepared, recovered and recycled.

Heterogeneous arylalkyl oxidation promoter


A novel system for safely transferring liquids from containers such as plastic jugs that are sealed by frangible seals, to conventional drums of the character having coupler-operated extractor valves. In one form of the invention, a standard coupler mechanism has been modified in a manner to provide means for rupturing the frangible seal of the sealed container without adversely affecting the manner in which the coupler is used to operate the extractor valve that is carried by the drum to which the liquid is to be transferred. Additionally, a novel adapter member has been provided for interconnecting the sealed container to the coupler mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to liquid transfer systems for transferring liquid from one container to another. More particularly, the liquid transfer system of the invention permits the safe and efficient transfer of liquid from a container sealed by a frangible seal to a drum type container of the character having a coupler operated extractor valve.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
A number of different types of reusable systems for the storage, shipment and transport of liquid formulations have been suggested. One of the most advanced of such systems was developed by and is presently commercially available from Micro Matic, Inc. of Northridge, Calif.
The Micro Matic system is basically a two-part system which comprises a coupler operated extractor valve which is interconnectable with a conventional drum via existing threaded connections and a cooperating coupler which is operably coupled with the extractor valve to allow drum emptying through the use of a separate pumping system. The extractor valve apparatus which can either remain with the drum after emptying, or can be removed for drum processing, includes a valve body and a down tube connected to the valve body which extends to the bottom of the drum to permit the complete transfer of liquid from the drum.
Recently a need has developed to safely transfer liquids, including hazardous liquids, from containers such as plastic jugs that are sealed by frangible seals, to conventional drums of the character having coupler operated extractor valves. Problems related to such transfers include providing means for safely rupturing the frangible seal of the plastic jugs and means for operating the coupler operated extractor valve of the drum in a manner to permit the liquid to be safely transferred from the plastic jug into the reservoir of the drum. As will be better understood from the discussion which follows, after carefully analyzing these problems the present inventor solved them by providing an elegant but relatively simple closed system that includes a modified coupler which, upon normal operation, safely ruptures the frangible seal of the plastic jug and at the same time opens the coupler operated extractor valve on the drum so as to permit fluid to flow freely from the plastic jug into the reservoir of the drum. Without the present invention, in order to transfer liquids from a sealed plastic jug to the reservoir of a drum having a coupler-operated extractor valve, it would be necessary to remove the extractor valve from the drum, manually rupture the foil seal on the plastic jug and then pour the contents of the plastic jug into the drum. Such a procedure would be not only time-consuming but extremely dangerous if the liquid in the plastic jug was a hazardous liquid.


A flow resistance measuring or black-pressure tester is provided for ink cartridges. A syringe pump extracts fluid at a desired flow rate from an outlet port of an ink cartridge. An ink removal device allows a user to selectively purge air from the system to improve the accuracy of the meassurements. A variety of flow rates are measured to collect as benchmark data and allow new designs to be similarly sized, specified, and materials and pathways selected to control fluid delivery in replacement ink cartridges.

This application relates to a testing system, and more particularly to a back-pressure and impedance tester for use with ink jet cartridges.
Ink jet printers have been commercially successful forms of printers that are used widely by individual consumers and business users. Typically, ink cartridges are selectively removed from a printer once they are spent or empty and replaced with a new cartridge, remanufactured cartridge, or the removed cartridge is refilled or replenished with ink. Consumers expect and printers require that the cartridges (new, remanufactured, or refilled) operate effectively with the printer. Thus, it is important that the installed ink cartridge exhibit similar fluid delivery characteristics when compared with the original ink cartridge so that the consumer does not encounter a different delivery of ink to the printer.
Heretofore, it has been very difficult to analyze the effects or changes made to fluid delivery systems without building and testing many sample ink cartridges. Such trials were time consuming and many times it is difficult to interpret the data. Such trials were necessary, however, to analyze the effect of component changes in the cartridge and how it impacted on fluid delivery, i.e., ink. Thus, a need has arisen to accurately measure the effect of component changes to a fluid delivery system. This, in turn, is expected to yield a cost and manpower savings if such trials can be conducted more efficiently.
Thus, not only is a reduced cost for a replacement ink cartridge required, but in addition the consumer wants to be assured that the replacement ink cartridge operates in substantially the same manner as that of the OEM product. After-market replacements have developed over the years for various ink cartridges. As a new style of cartridge enters the market, however, it is necessary for the remanufacturers to undertake a new round of testing and develop a data base of information relating to size, specification, materials, and fluid performance in order to control fluid delivery to the printer. This test data allows a quicker, more effective benchmarking of testing and developing ink jet cartridges.

Back-pressure and impedance tester for ink jet cartridges


A knee airbag arrangement for a vehicle. The knee airbag arrangement includes an inflatable airbag and an external tether. The airbag is adapted to be inflated to a position between an instrument panel of the vehicle and a knee/shin region of a vehicle occupant. The knee airbag is adapted to form a first deployment mode or a second deployment mode when in a deployed state. The external tether controls deployment of the airbag to the second deployment mode. The depth (D2) of the airbag in the second deployment mode is greater than a depth (D1) of the knee airbag in the first deployment mode. A depth of the airbag in a deployed state is a greatest extent of the airbag perpendicular to the instrument panel in the knee/shin region.

A vehicle may be equipped with a knee airbag for protection of the knee/shin region of the vehicle occupant during a collision. The knee airbag in its inflated position is intended to restrain the knee/shin region of the vehicle occupant and thereby protect the vehicle occupant from colliding with an interior object such as the instrument panel in front of the seat. It is known various knee airbags aiming at providing protection for different sized vehicle occupants and different crash modes.
With the introduction of vehicles with AD capabilities, i.e. autonomous drive capabilities, there is a potential for the occupants to move and adjust the vehicle seat even more freely than is possible today. In particular, a more retracted, as well as reclined position, than allowed today may be desirable, or at least more frequently used, in particular by a driver of the vehicle when the vehicle is driving autonomously.
Hence, the development of AD vehicles poses new challenges to inflatable restraint devices, such as a knee airbag. A vehicle occupant may be seated further away from the instrument panel and potentially also in a more reclined position when the vehicle is in an autonomous driving mode. Thus, the adjustable range of the vehicle seat in the vehicle may be increased further rearwards in the vehicle. In this way, a deployment configuration of existing/current knee airbag may be insufficient for achieving the desired early interaction between the knee/shin region of a vehicle occupant and a knee airbag in the event of a collision. Meanwhile, it is anticipated that the vehicle will be driven in both manual and autonomous driving mode, thus still requiring a deployment of a knee airbag adapted for vehicle occupants seated for manual driving.
As may be realized from above, there is a desire to improve knee/shin protection for a vehicle occupant during a collision when the vehicle occupant is situated further rearwards in the vehicle, as may occur when a vehicle is in autonomous driving mode, whilst maintaining an appropriate protection for the knee/shin region of vehicle occupant seated for manual driving of the vehicle.

Knee airbag arrangement comprising external tether


An example one-shot circuit includes: circuitry including a set-reset (SR) latch to produce an output pulse of controlled duration in response to an input signal rising edge, where the SR latch includes a first circuit input and a second circuit input; a circuit path to provide a signal to the first circuit input; and a delay element connected to the circuit path and to the second circuit input.

Generally, a one-short circuit includes circuitry to produce an output pulse of controlled duration in response to an input signal rising edge. One-shot circuits have traditionally been produced using an AND gate. A one-shot circuit implemented using an AND gate includes possible drawbacks. For example, if an input pulse width goes below a nominal output pulse width, the output pulse width can track the input pulse width, rather than staying constant. Also, if a downward pulse preceding the input pulse is shorter than the nominal output pulse width, the output pulse front edge can shift-out, and its width can track the downward pulse width.


A fluid filter system for use with a positive displacement pump in an automatic power transmission having a main filter located on the suction side of the power transmission pump and an auxiliary bypass filter located on the pressure side of the pump wherein provision is made for controlling the fluid flow through the auxiliary filter whereby bypass flow path through the auxiliary filter is decreased when the flow demand on the pump is increased, the auxiliary filter being adapted to filter small particle sizes and the main filter being adapted to filter and to retain larger particles.

My invention comprises improvements in automatic power transmission mechanisms of the type shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,978,328 and 5,081,886. Both of these patents disclose automotive vehicle transaxles having a hydrokinetic torque converter mounted on an engine axis and multiple ratio gearing mounted on an axis that is in parallel disposition with respect to the engine axis. Each transaxle has structural features that are similar to the other, although the transaxle of the '328 patent has five forward driving ratios, whereas the transaxle of the '886 patent has four forward driving ratios.
Each transaxle has a positive displacement pump that is connected drivably to the impeller shaft for a hydrokinetic torque converter situated on the engine crankshaft axis. A control valve body is secured to the transmission housing adjacent the positive displacement pump. The control valve body controls distribution of control pressure to pressure-operated servos for the clutches and brakes of the multiple ratio gearing.
An example of a control valve system capable of controlling the servos of the planetary gearing described in the '886 and '328 patents can be seen by referring to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,637,281 and 4,665,770. U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,481 shows a control system capable of performing the functions of the hydraulic valve system of the '770 and '281 patents, but it includes microprocessor based electronic solenoid valve operators for triggering the operation of the hydraulic control valves in establishing ratio changes in the planetary gearing.
All of the patents referred to in the preceding discussion are assigned to the assignee of my present invention.
A transaxle of the type described above includes a housing and a transaxle sump in which is positioned an oil filter located on the suction side of the positive displacement pump. In a typical commercial embodiment of a transaxle of the kind described above, the filter on the suction side of the positive displacement pump is capable of filtering particles in the 60 micron range. It has been found, however, that particles that are of a size less than 60 microns will pass through a typical prior art filter system in the sump of the transaxle.
In a typical automotive-type transmission valve body having aluminum alloy valve elements in an aluminum alloy valve body, the manufacturing clearances for the valve elements and the bores in which they fit range from 0.0003 inch to 0.0013 inch. Therefore, it is possible for contaminant particles of sizes between 3 microns to 33 microns to enter the clearances and cause valve element sticking. This particle size range is not within the filtering capability of a typical prior art filter system which cannot capture particles smaller than about 60 microns.
Such valve element sticking may result in high warranty costs for the vehicle manufacturer. If an attempt were made to use finer filter medium in a filter system in the fluid supply line for a transaxle positive displacement pump, and if the filter medium were designed to entrap and to hold particles with sizes less than approximately 60 microns, inadequate fluid flow might occur when the filter medium becomes contaminated. Thus, the effective pump capacity might be reduced so that inadequate flow for the transaxle clutch and brake servos would be developed when high pump capacity is required.

Partial flow filter system for an automatic power transmission mechanism


A line striper with optical sighting means, and guide line marking devices adapted to be used simultaneously with the application of a paint stripe. The line striper has a forward extending guide bar for direct sighting on the surface to be marked, as well as an optical sighting means for aligning the line striper on a distant fixed point for application of a guide line. Adjustable length booms mounted transverse to the line striper allow application of guide lines a distance removed from the paint spray nozzle. The line striper has multiple paint reservoir paint storage capability to facilitate application of different color paints.

Line stripers have been employed for a number of years to apply permanent lines to surfaces such as roadways, parking lots, and the like. Particularly in the instance of striping areas for parking, the line striping procedure is typically at least a two-man operation. These areas usually require a line striper which is highly maneuverable. Thus, a walk-behind unit is preferred, though small self-propelled units are useful also.
In preparation for striping a surface, such as a parking lot, first the surface to be marked must be measured, followed by performing the calculations necessary to optimize the use of the available space, such as by providing the maximum number of equally sized stalls for automobiles. Then, to ensure that the paint stripes applied to the parking surface are straight and of the correct length, the parking surface is typically premarked using stretched chalk lines and hand-drawn lines over which the paint stripe is applied. For applying guide lines, two workers are needed to stretch a chalk line the necessary distance and snap a mark onto the surface. Over longer distances, the string or cable tends to develop a curve in the presence of any breeze, which has substantially more effect on the line even at low wind speeds in an exposed open area such as a parking lot. Individual lines defining the sides of the parking stalls are laid out referencing the chalk line and are marked on the surface by stretching shorter lengths of chalked lines between two points. Those lines perpendicular to the base line are laid out by the use of a T-square or other measuring tool or method.
Where permanent paint lines are used to mark or outline driving lanes, walkways, dividers and the like, curved lines may need to be applied. Where, for example, a curved driving lane or bicycle path must be striped, it is often necessary to mark one side of the lane by free hand, and then trace a second line equidistant from the first to create the lane. However, it is difficult to use this method to accurately mark the curved line.
These marking operations are time-consuming and will typically require at least two persons to accurately chalk the parking area prior to striping. Because the chalking operation involves the use of powdered chalk on a line or cable, it is typically not possible to mark the guide line when it is raining, or even when the parking surface is wet from a previous application of water. Also, the powdered chalk is easily lifted from the surface by rain or other application of water.
Once the parking area or other surface to be marked has received the guide lines, the line striper apparatus is then used to apply the paint stripe, with or without added glass beads for reflectivity, and thereby provide the permanent lines for the surface to be marked. Typically, the line striper apparatus has a single paint gun offset from the wheel which is directed downwardly and located on the forward portion of the line striper. Forward placement allows the operator to more easily see the stripe being applied. The offset is required to insure that the wheels of the line striper do not roll though the drying paint.
This type line striper performs adequately in large open areas. However, where the line stripe must be applied near to a curb or island, the paint gun is often improperly positioned to complete the striping of the line. Where the clearance is insufficient to use the mounted paint gun, hand spraying is often required, which is less precise and provides more irregular results.

Line striper apparatus with optical sighting means


Disclosed are systems and methods for automatically applying special effects based on media content characteristics. A digital image is obtained and depth information in the digital image is determined. A foreground region and a background region in the digital image are identified based on the depth information. First and second effects are selected from a grouping of effects, where the first effect is applied to at least a portion of the foreground region and the second effect is applied to at least a portion of the background region.

With the ever-growing amount of content available to consumers through the Internet and other sources, consumers have access to a vast amount of digital content. Furthermore, the availability of multimedia content in a wide array of digital formats facilitates distribution of multimedia content due to the high degree of portability. With existing media editing tools, users can manually edit digital photos to achieve a desired effect or style. However, while many media editing tools are readily available, the editing process can be tedious and time-consuming.

Systems and methods for automatically applying effects based on media content characteristics


A method and device for aligning an antenna to a desired heading. A laser beam is generated and aimed in a direction perpendicular to the desired heading. The line of sight of the laser is translated along the desired heading until the laser is directed to a reflective surface on the antenna's axis of transmission. The antenna is then positioned until the laser beam returns to a detector whose horizontal line of sight is the same as that of the laser, i.e., in a direction perpendicular to the desired heading.

In a microwave communications network, wherever a transmission path (link) is to exist, accurate antenna path alignment is required to insure proper communications. Typically, links are between tower-mounted antennas up to 25 miles apart, and an initial alignment process requires tower crews to physically align the antennas using sophisticated test equipment to monitor the results. Using today's techniques, initial alignment can be off-path by several degrees to either side of the target antenna, resulting in the target being in a null or side lobe of the pattern of the antenna being aimed.
More specifically, one current practice of initial alignment of tower-mounted antennas requires that the two antennas be installed on their towers to provide a signal link for power measurements. A compass bearing to the distant end is taken and the antenna is visually aimed at a ground-based reference along that direction, typically a marker or a natural reference such as a tree. Radios are installed at each site and used to optimize the path.
Some antenna alignment methods use out-of-network radio devices, which permit tower installation crews to perform the alignment process before network radios are installed. One example is the Path Align-R™ test set from XL Microwave. Two identical test sets are used, one at each tower site. Each test set drives its respective antenna directly, while receiving the signal from the other test set. During alignment, the test sets provide continuous duplex voice communication over the antenna link, allowing the two technicians to communicate with each other. Both units indicate the received path loss, and each antenna's azimuth and elevation is physically adjusted, until minimum loss (maximum alignment) has been reached.

System and method for path alignment of directional antennas


A paint spray rig is disclosed for applying "high gain" reflective paints to a motion picture projection screen. The rig includes a tower which extends vertically of the screen and which can be indexed laterally across the screen. A paint spray head is carried by a carriage assembly that is vertically movable on a tower. The spray head can be moved towards and away from the screen under the control of ultrasonic sensors that measure the distance between the spray head and the screen, for maintaining the distance substantially constant. The spray head can also be moved progressively in the vertical direction with respect to the carriage so that it is at the bottom of the carriage for painting the bottom edge of the screen and at the top of the carriage for painting the top edge of the screen. The spray head can also be swapped from one side of the carriage to the other for painting opposite side edge portions of the screen.

In the field of high-quality motion picture projection systems such as those available from Imax Corporation, great emphasis is placed on image brightness. One factor in achieving high levels of image brightness is the reflective characteristics of the screen on which images are projected. Special so-called "high gain" reflective paints have been developed that are applied to the image receiving surface of the screen. In the case of 3-D projection systems in which the projected light is polarized, the paint also has the effect of preserving linear polarization of the light.
At least in the case of screens other than domed screens, the paint typically is applied to the screen using a spray gun as the screen is erected in a theatre. A single coat of paint is applied to the front surface of the screen by moving the gun across the screen as it is withdrawn upwardly from a housing on the floor of the theatre.
The present inventors have recognized that it is important to maintain a constant paint spray fan width as the paint contacts the screen, over the entire screen surface. If the width of the spray changes due to bulges in the screen (in or out), the same thickness of paint may not be applied to all areas of the screen. This affects the appearance of the screen and can lead to visible vertical stripes. In addition, a narrower paint spray would have a greater concentration of paint than a wider area, and vice versa; this will affect the drying time of the paint which can exacerbate the appearance of stripes.
So far as is known, the prior art fails to provide a solution to this problem. It has been proposed to use mechanical sensors to space a spray gun from a surface to receive paint. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,317 (Kraus) shows a spray gun which is fitted with a wheel adjacent the gun nozzle for maintaining a constant distance between the paint gun nozzle and the surface of a work piece to be painted. U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,105 (Wiggins) discloses a paint spray system in which a mechanical sensor is used to determine the width of a workpiece and then control the distance of the paint nozzles from the workpiece. However, mechanical sensors that contact the surface to be painted are not acceptable in the case of motion picture screens because of the risk of marking or otherwise damaging the screen.
Examples of other prior art patents of which applicant is aware are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,278,046 (Clarke et al.) and 5,203,923 (Hartman).
An object of the present invention is to provide a painting method and apparatus which is designed to permit the application of substantially uniform paint coatings to motion picture projection screens and other vertical surfaces.


The systems and method described in this specification relate to a method for determining a residual oil saturation of a reservoir. The method includes obtaining a plurality of rock samples from the reservoir; determining a permeability of each of the rock samples; measuring a fluid viscosity of oil in the reservoir; estimating a location-specific permeability of the reservoir across the reservoir based on the permeability of each of the rock samples; determining a location-specific displacing velocity of the reservoir based on a function of the location-specific permeability and the fluid viscosity of the oil; determining the residual oil saturation of the reservoir based on the location-specific displacing velocity using Franklin's equation; and predicting a recovery of the oil from the reservoir using the residual oil saturation in a computational model of the reservoir.

Oil wells can be used to recover oil from a subterranean reservoir. The amount of oil recovered from the well generally decreases over time as oil becomes trapped within microstructures of the rock that make up the reservoir. Waterflooding can be used to aid in the recovery of the oil, but eventually the amount of energy needed to displace the trapped oil becomes so prohibitive that the well is sometimes abandoned.
Residual oil saturation (Sor) is the remaining oil saturation in a reservoir. In some examples, residual oil saturation is defined as the saturation achieved after an infinite number of pore volumes of a displacing fluid (e.g., water) have flowed through a particular portion of reservoir. The residual oil saturation represents the ratio of a volume of the residual hydrocarbon divided by the effective porosity of the rock of the reservoir (e.g., shale, sandstone, etc.). A reservoir with a residual oil saturation of zero (or 0%) means that all oil has been recovered and no residual oil remains. A reservoir with a residual oil saturation of one (or 100%) means that all the oil is residual hydrocarbon that cannot be recovered.
Several methods are available to determine residual oil saturation, but these methods generate different results with varying accuracy. Some methods include lab experiments (e.g., sponge core, centrifuge, and steady state water-flood tests), single well tracer experiments, and logging experiments (e.g., resistivity, log-inject-log, electromagnetic propagation, and NMR). These experiments are expensive to conduct and/or difficult to implement. It is especially difficult to implement these experiments in low-permeability rocks, heavy-oil fields, or fields with a large oil viscosity variation (e.g., horizontally or vertically). Another way to determine residual oil saturation is by using Aboujafar's method but Aboujafar's method does not account for permeability variations in the reservoir and can be inaccurate.
It can also be impractical to conduct lab experiments using heavy oil or multiple oil properties since these experiments are costly and require a long time to obtain results. For example, interfacial tension tests and wettability tests to determine parameters to determine residual oil saturation are time consuming because they oftentimes require repeated measurements to obtain accurate results.

Oil recovery of a reservoir based on residual oil saturation


The present invention provides systems and methods which can be employed to locate or detect presence of various materials, including nonferrous metals. These systems include new and useful sensors, circuits, systems and devices which power and/or interoperate with the sensors, and methods of making, operating and using such systems. Any or all of the systems, devices or processes can be combined with other systems, devices or processes disclosed.

FIG. 5-1 shows the simplified equivalent circuit for a coil in the presence of an ac magnetic field. The magnetic field induces voltage of magnitude, VB, in the coil. The coil has an inductance, LC, a resistance, RC, and a capacitance, CC. For simplicity consider a coil of circular cross section in a uniform ac magnetic field parallel to its axis whose amplitude is given by Bsin(ωt). The coil resistance is given by:RC=2πrρN  (5-1)Where r is the radius of the coil, N is the number of turns in the coil, r is the radius of the coil, and ρ is the wire resistance per unit length. The coil inductance is given by:LC=μ0N2πr2K/1  (5-2)Where μ0 is the permeability of free space, 1 is the coil length, and K is an inductive shape constant. K is generally in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 for real coils. There is no simple formula for the coil capacitance but it generally proportional to NX, where x is between 1 and 2. The magnitude of the voltage induced in the coil is given by:VB=−Nπr2ωB  (5-3)The magnitude of the open circuit voltage across the coil, VC, is given by:VC=VB/[(1−ω2LCCC)+jωRCCC]  (5-4)As ω goes to zero VC goes to VB which goes to zero. Also as ω goes to infinity VC goes to zero. This limits the range of usefulness. In addition when ω is equal to (1/LCCC)1/2, then Vc is given by:VC=−Nπr2ωB/(jωRCCC)  (5-5)This represents a resonance. Since the coil resistance and capacitance is small the Q of this resonance is high. The useful range of operation is thus limited to well below the resonance. If the number of turns and or radius of the coil are increased to improve the sensitivity then the resonant frequency is moved lower further reducing the useful frequency band of the sensor.
If the coil is used instead as a current source, the short circuit coil current, Is, is given by:IS=−Nπr2ωB/(RC+jωLC)  (5-6)This is a highpass response with a corner frequency, ω0, given by, RC/LC or:ω0=2ρl/(μ0NrK)  (5-7)As the frequency goes to zero the short circuit coil current goes to zero; however above the corner frequency, the current is independent of the frequency and proportional to the magnetic field magnitude. For the frequency above the corner frequency the short circuit coil current is given by:IS=jB1(μ0NK)  (5-8)The current mode provides a wide frequency band of operation above the corner frequency. In addition the corner of the band can be made as small as desired by decreasing the wire resistance, ρ, or by increasing the coil radius, r. This can be accomplished without changing the sensitivity of the coil's response, IS. It is also important to note that the coil capacitance, which was responsible for the resonance in the voltage mode case, has no affect on the current mode transfer function.

Systems and methods useful for detecting presence and / or location of various materials


Disclosed herein are novel unsymmetrical dithiol ketals which are useful in the treatment or prevention of hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipoproteinemia, and atherosclerosis.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to unsymmetrical dithiol ketals composed of a farnesyl mercaptan unit and a thiol phenol moiety. The compounds of the present invention are useful in the treatment or prevention of hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipoproteinemia and atherosclerosis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Unsymmetrical dithiol ketals composed of a farnesyl mercaptan unit and a thiol phenol moiety are unknown in the literature. However, examples of similar symmetrical diaryl dithiol ketals are abundant. (Newworth and Laufer, J. Med. Chem, 170, 13(4), 722).
An example of a known symmetrical diaryl dithiol ketal is Probucol (4,4'-(isopropyledevedithio)bis(2,6-di-tertbutylphenol). Probucol is a potent synthetic hypolipidemic agent effective in human at dosage around 500 mg b.i.d. The mechanism of action of this symmetrical diaryl dithiol ketal has been a subject of debate for many years. It has recently been suggested that the antioxidation properties of Probucol is responsible for its therapeutic actions. (Minakami et. al., Drug Res. 1989, 39(II), 1090). Dithiol ketals are hydrolysed to give reductive intermediates which are capable of neutralizing any harmful oxidative products such as hydroxyl radical. The precise mechanism of how the reductive species are released is still unclear as is the interaction with the oxidizing toxic substances. Being a highly lipophilic compound, Probucol (or any other non-polar substance) is transported into plasma in lipoproteins, primarily in LDL and VLDL (Marshall, F. N., Artery, 1982, 10, 7), and is preferentially distributed in high concentrations in cell membranes which consist of phospholipids. Thus, it is strategically positioned to offer maximum protective action against oxidative modifications to the lipoproteins and cell membranes.
The unsymmetrical dithiol ketals of the present invention act not only as antioxidants, but also as potential biofeedback regulators. The unsymmetrical dithiol ketals of the present invention are also capable of down regulating the crucial hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGCo-A reductase) and, therefore, are more desirable for the treatment of hypolipidemia.

Hypocholesterolemic unsymmetrical dithiol ketals


A dynamically varying linearity system “DVLS” capable of varying the linearity of a radio frequency (RF) front-end of a communication device responsive to receiving a condition signal indicating a desired mode of operation of a transmitter. The DVLS may include a condition signal indicative of the desired mode of operation and a controller that adjusts the linearity of the transmitter responsive to the condition signal. The condition signal may be responsive to a user interface. The controller, responsive to the condition signal, may dynamically adjust the operating current of the transmitter.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a radio frequency (RF) front-end of a communication device and, in particular, to a system for varying the linearity of the RF front-end transmitter.
2. Related Art
In today's society the presence and utilization of telecommunication systems is increasing at a rapid pace. Wireless and broadband systems and infrastructures continue to grow resulting in crossover between both types of systems. As such, wireless systems utilizing third generation "3G" wireless standards (such as Code Division Multiple Access "CDMA" 2000 (a IS-95 based system), wideband CDMA "WCDMA," frequency division duplex "FDD" and time division duplex approaches "TDD," time Division-Spatial CDMA "TD-SCDMA" and others may be configured to handle a number of diverse applications other than voice transmission.
A few of these diverse applications may include low, medium and high data rate applications, such as, for example, e-mail, text, video and streaming applications. These communication devices may be configured to handle multiple modes of operation, including, without limitation, voice, low data rate, medium data rate, and high data rate modes of operation.
Each of these modes of operation may impose widely differing processing and/or transmitter requirements on the communication device. For example, the peak-to-average ratio, or crest factor, of the modulated baseband signal varies widely depending upon the nature of modulation, coding schemes, band-limited filtering employed, and the mode of operation. These different crest factors result in different linearity requirements for the RF front-end of a transmitter. The linearity requirements are important because of the stringent adjacent channel power/leakage specification requirements of many typical standards that should be met by the mobile transmitter. These specifications attempt to limit interference to other users in CDMA systems and thus increase the overall network capacity. To limit the adjacent channel interference to typically acceptable specification values, the transmitter front-end should be highly linear. This high linearity in turn determines the operating current for the RF front-end of the transmitter.
Unfortunately, energy is expensive and at times in short supply. Modem communication devices such as radios, televisions, stereos and computers consume a significant amount of power that translates into expensive electrical costs. Additionally, current mobile wireless devices (also known as mobile units) such as cellular telephones, portable televisions, portable radios, personal communication devices, pagers and satellites operate on battery power and thus have limited battery time. Limited battery time translates into limited continuous operation time.
In a multi-mode transmitter such as a transmitter configured to handle voice, low data rate, medium data rate, and high data rate applications, the conventional approach is to configure the transmitter for the application that imposes the most stringent linearity requirement on the system such as high data rate transmission. This approach results in excessive operating current in the other modes of operation. Because of the excessive operating current, the battery life, and hence talk-time, of the communication device will be decreased. Reduced talk-time in turn results in lower battery life and the necessity for frequent charging of the mobile communication device. Therefore, there is a need for a system that reduces the amount of power required by the RF front-end transmitter of a communication device.

Dynamically varying linearity system for an RF front-end of a communication device


An energy storage system having a number of trays with each tray having a number of battery cells in which power is controllably stored and discharged. A first Battery Management System (BMS) is electrically coupled to a tray contained in a rack of trays. A second BMS is electrically coupled to and controls the first BMS. The first BMS includes a control unit electrically coupled to and controlling the battery cells. It further includes a switch unit electrically coupled to the control unit and selectively applying driving power according to a control signal from the second BMS.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a battery managing apparatus, a battery pack using the battery managing apparatus, and an energy storage system using the battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to problems of environment destruction, resource exhaustion, and the like, there is increasing demand for a system capable of efficiently using stored power. Also, there is increasing demand for renewable energy that does not cause pollution during power generation. An energy storage system is a system that connects renewable energy, a power storing battery, and existing power from a grid, and much research has been conducted to conform to environmental changes.
The above information disclosed in this Related Art section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Battery managing apparatus, battery pack, and energy storage system

Gongse-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do


The object of the present disclosure is to obtain a filler particle having stable insulation property, and a resin composition, grease, and a coating composition comprising the same, respectively. Filler particles comprising a composite zinc oxide expressed by the following chemical formula (1):ZnxMyO  (1)in the formula, M is Mg, Co, Li, K, Na, or Cu, and x+ny/2=1 when the valence of M is n.

Zinc oxide particles are widely used as filler particles in the fields such as resins, coating compositions, and greases. Such zinc oxide particles being as the filler particles are expected to have various functions. As one of features of the zinc oxide particles, there is the high conductive property.
The high conductive property causes no particular problem according to the application, but there is a difficult purpose to use the zinc oxide particles as the filler because the conductive property causes adverse effect on the use as the filler. It's often the case that the conductive property brings undesirable consequence especially in the fields of electronic materials and electronic products. Therefore, zinc oxide particles with suppressed the conductive property are expected.
As the zinc oxide particles with suppressed the conductive property, the particles disclosed in Patent Document 1 are known. Patent Document 1 discloses the zinc oxide powder of which outer periphery is modified to a high-resistivity layer by doping with the use of a monovalent dopant.
Patent Document 2 discloses zinc oxide particles suitable for the purpose as a varistor powder, and that various metals are added in definite proportion. However, concerning the zinc oxide particles disclosed in the document, the use as the varistor powder is disclosed not the use as the filler. Furthermore, the document discloses that other metals may be added but it is not able to suppress the conductive property sufficiently because aluminum is used as an essential component so that the insulation property is likely to foe reduced. That is, a career which carries an electric charge of ZnO is a free electron, and shows N-type semiconductor character. It is thought that the conductive property may be increased because Al3+ acts as a donor which gives a free electron to Zn2+ to increase the free electrons of ZnO when Al3+ is added to ZnO.
Patent Document 3 discloses an orientational zinc oxide-based piezoelectric material. However, the zinc oxide disclosed in Patent Document 3 is a zinc oxide being the piezoelectric material, there is no description about the use as the filler.

Filler particles, resin composition, grease, and coating composition


A microplate liquid handling system capable of automatically performing both longitudinal collective suction/discharge and lateral collective suction/discharge on a single microplate. The microplate liquid handling system has a main body equipped with a moving device, a rotating mechanism, a dispensing mechanism, and a stage. Connected to the moving device is the dispensing mechanism for performing dispensing on wells in a microplate on the stage through the rotating mechanism. A plurality of cylinders are arranged in a row in the dispensing mechanism. The dispensing mechanism is capable of moving forwards and backwards and to the right and left with respect to the main body, and is rotatable about a vertically directed rotation axis, making it possible to change the direction of the cylinder array from origin position to 90 degrees position and vice versa.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microplate liquid handling system and, more particularly, to a microplate liquid handling system for simultaneously delivering liquid reagent, liquid specimen, etc. to a plurality of desired wells for specimen/reagent reaction arranged in a microplate in n×m matrix.
2. Description of the Related Art
A microplate liquid handling system has conventionally been known which is used to deliver reagent, specimen, etc. to desired ones of a plurality of wells formed in a microplate. The microplate liquid handling system has a dispensing mechanism and a moving mechanism, and the dispensing mechanism is equipped with a cylinder having a nozzle. Mounted to the nozzle is a dispensing tip, through which liquid can be sucked and discharged. The cylinder is equipped with a plunger for sucking liquid into the dispensing tip mounted to the nozzle and for discharging liquid from the interior of the dispensing tip.
As disclosed, for example, in JP 8-271528 A and JP 5-232124 A, the moving mechanism is capable of moving the nozzle to an appropriate position above a desired well in the microplate, and the dispensing mechanism can be moved in the lateral, longitudinal, and vertical directions (the X-, Y-, and Z-axis directions) above the microplate. Generally speaking, arranged in the microplate are 96 wells in 12×8 matrix, and so-called dispensing is conducted, that is, reagent or specimen is delivered to a desired well from a dispensing tip mounted to the nozzle of the cylinder of the dispensing mechanism, so that reagent-specimen reaction or the like is effected in the well.
There are four types of microplate liquid handling system: 12-gang type, 8-gang type, single-gang type, and 96-gang type. In a 12-gang type microplate liquid handling system, the nozzles of twelve cylinders arranged in parallel and in a straight line in the longitudinal direction of the microplate are operated in synchronism with each other, and it is possible to perform suction or discharge of liquid such as reagent collectively on the dispensing tips mounted to the twelve nozzles. For example, it is possible to simultaneously discharge reagent onto each of the specimens in the plurality of wells arranged longitudinally in a row in the microplate.
Similarly, in an 8-gang type microplate liquid handling system, eight nozzles arranged in parallel and in a straight line in the lateral direction of the microplate are operated in synchronism with each other, and it is possible to perform suction or discharge of liquid such as reagent collectively on the dispensing tips mounted to the eight nozzles. In a 96-gang type microplate liquid handling system, 96 nozzles arranged in 12×8 matrix are operated in synchronism with each other, and it is possible to perform suction or discharge of liquid such as reagent collectively on the dispensing tips mounted to the 96 nozzles and to discharge reagent or the like simultaneously onto all the 96 wells in the microplate. In a single-gang type microplate liquid handling system, a single nozzle is solely operated.
When discharge is to be performed simultaneously on a plurality of wells in the above conventional 12-gang and 8-gang microplate liquid handling systems, there is a limitation in terms of discharging direction. That is, in the case of the 12-gang type microplate liquid handling system, it is only possible to perform simultaneous discharge on a plurality of wells arranged in a row in the longitudinal direction, and it is impossible to perform simultaneous discharge on a plurality of wells arranged in a row in the lateral direction. In the case of the 8-gang type microplate liquid handling system, it is only possible to perform simultaneous discharge on a plurality of wells arranged in a row in the lateral direction, and it is impossible to perform simultaneous discharge on a plurality of wells arranged in a row in the longitudinal direction.
In the case of the 96-gang type microplate liquid handling system, suction and discharge are performed collectively on all the 96 wells in the microplate, so that it is impossible to dispense liquid onto a particular longitudinal row or to perform automatic dispensing on a particular lateral row. That is, after performing dispensing on a longitudinal row, the dispensing tip must be replaced manually before dispensing can be performed on a lateral row. In the case of the single-gang type microplate liquid handling system, it is possible to perform suction or discharge on an arbitrary one of the 96 wells whether it is in the longitudinal or lateral direction of the microplate. However, it is impossible to perform suction/discharge operation simultaneously and collectively on a plurality of wells. Thus, control of time, which is an important factor in drug metabolic reaction, involves a problem. For example, the reaction time differs from well to well.
Thus, none of the above-mentioned conventional microplate liquid handling system is capable of performing a drug metabolic reaction test or the like in which it is necessary to automatically conduct collective suction/discharge operation in both the longitudinal and lateral directions in a single microplate.


The present invention relates to a method of synthesizing a compound of formula (I) also referred to as 4-(((2S,4S)-(4-ethoxy-1-(((5-methoxy-7-methyl-1H-indol-4-yl)methyl)piperidin-2-yl))benzoic acid, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and/or intermediates thereof, their use as pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical compositions and the use of intermediates for preparing a compound of formula (I), or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of phenylpiperidinyl indole derivatives. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for the preparation of the compound of formula (I)

also referred to as 4-((2S,4S)-(4-ethoxy-1-((5-methoxy-7-methyl-1H-indol-4-yl)methyl)piperidin-2-yl))benzoic acid, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, which is capable of inhibiting the activation of the alternative pathway of the complement system. The complement system plays a major role in the innate and adaptive immunity system and comprises a group of proteins that are normally present in an inactive state. These proteins are organized in three activation pathways: the classical, the lectin, and the alternative pathways (Holers, In Clinical Immunology: Principles and practice, ed. R. R. Rich, Mosby Press; 1996, 363-391). Molecules from microorganisms, antibodies or cellular components can activate these pathways resulting in the formation of protease complexes known as the C3-convertase and the C5-convertase. The classical pathway is a calcium/magnesium-dependent cascade, which is normally activated by the formation of antigen-antibody complexes. It can also be activated in an antibody-independent manner by the binding of C-reactive protein complexed to ligand and by many pathogens including gram-negative bacteria. The alternative pathway is a magnesium-dependent cascade, which is activated by deposition and activation of C3 on certain susceptible surfaces (e.g. cell wall polysaccharides of yeast and bacteria, and certain biopolymer materials). The alternative pathway (AP) utilizes C3 fragments (C3b) to opsonize the pathogens hence targeting them for phagocytosis without the need for antibodies. Hyperactivity of the complement system, and in particular in its AP, plays a role in a large number of complement-driven diseases, such as C3 glomerulopathy (C3G), paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Phenylpiperidinyl indole derivatives, such as compound of formula (I), or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, play a role in the inhibition of complement factor B, a known critical enzyme for activation of the alternative complement pathway (Lesavre et al J. Exp. Med. 1978, 148, 1498-1510; Volanakis et al New Eng. J. Med. 1985, 312, 395-401), which may also be a suitable target for the inhibition of the amplification of the complement pathways. The phenylpiperidinyl indole derivatives, such as compound of formula (I), or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and a method for preparing such derivatives, are described in WO2015/009616. In particular, compound of formula (I) is described in example 26, of WO2015/009616. One of the drawbacks of the synthesis was the use of hazardous chemicals (such as sodium hydride, or dimethylacetamide, which represent safety concerns on a larger scale) and the poor enantio- and diastereo-selectivity of the steps, leading to unwanted stereoisomers.
Thus, there is a need to provide an alternative reaction route in a process for producing compound of formula (I), or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, generating less by-products, and easier to handle on a large scale.

Chemical process for preparing phenylpiperidinyl indole derivatives


In a method of cultivating multipotent stem cells, the multipotent stem cells are cultivated while suppressing differentiation of the multipotent stem cells sealed in a first cultivating container. Then, the cultivated multipotent stem cells are cultivated while applying a force to the cultivated multipotent stem cells sealed in a second cultivating container to promote the differentiation of the cultivated multipotent stem cells.

Now, in a regeneration medicine, the consideration of a technique for recovering and regenerating a targeted tissue and organ by using a stem cell transplantation has been advanced. A multipotent stem cell has differentiation potency to differentiate into various mature cells, together with the self-replicating ability to repeat self-multiplication and passage. It is considered that the tissue and organ can be recovered and regenerated by cultivating the multipotent stem cells extracted from a living body, carrying out a differentiation induction and returning into the living body again.
However, now, the subsequent survival rate of transplanted stem cells is low. Although the transplanted stem cells can exist inside the living body, it does not still exhibit an original function of the stem cell. Moreover, since the stem cells change differentiation directions easily depending on an environmental factor, it is impossible to deny a possibility that the transplanted stem cells are not differentiated into the targeted tissue and organ.
In order to establish a stem cell transplanting technique, it is necessary to establish a technique for cultivating multipotent stem cells. At first, it is necessary to establish a technique for cultivating the multipotent stem cells in an indifferentiation state. In addition, it is necessary to establish a technique for transplanting the multipotent stem cells in a proper differentiation process while increasing the subsequent survival rate and also carrying out a proper differentiation induction on the multipotent stem cells in advance.
Conventionally, as the transplanting technique of the stem cells and the differentiation inducing technique, a technique for cultivating the stem cells in a medium containing medical substances serving as a multiplying factor and a differentiating factor is known. Also, a technique for cultivating the stem cells by mixing with different cells is known. However, both of them do not reach a practical use stage. Moreover, an animal plant breeding apparatus for breeding an animal and a plant while rotating a container so as to receive gravitation from many directions is disclosed in Japanese patent Examined application (JP-B-Heisei 7-89798).

Method and apparatus for cultivating multipotent stem cells


A method of optimizing an imaging performance of a projection exposure system is provided, wherein the projection exposure system includes an illumination optical system for illuminating a patterning structure and a projection optical system for imaging a region of the illuminated patterning structure onto a corresponding field. The method involves setting the field to a first exposure field, setting optical parameters of the projection exposure system to a first setting such that the imaging performance within the first exposure field is a first optimum performance, changing the field to a second exposure field, and changing the optical parameters to a second setting such that the imaging performance within the second exposure field is a second optimum performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of optimizing an imaging performance of a projection exposure system and a projection exposure system adapted to carry out the method.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Lithographic processes are commonly used in the manufacture of semiconductor elements, such as integrated circuits (ICs), LSIs, liquid crystal elements, micropatterned members and micromechanical components.
A projection exposure apparatus used for photolithography generally comprises an illumination optical system with a light source and a projection optical system. Light from the illumination optical system illuminates a reticle (mask) having a given pattern and the projection optical system transfers an image of the reticle pattern onto a photo-sensitive substrate. The image of the reticle pattern may also be reduced in size by the projection optical system so as to produce a smaller image of the reticle pattern on the substrate.
The trend towards ever more sophisticated semiconductor devices requires semiconductor elements of smaller size and higher complexity which, in turn, makes higher demands on an imaging performance achievable with projection exposure systems. In particular, the image of the reticle pattern needs to be very accurately projected onto the substrate. Therefore, for instance, aberrations of the wave-fronts of the light transferring the image of the reticle pattern onto the substrate need to be reduced to the greatest extent possible. Also other factors, such as transmission properties, evenness and efficiency of illumination as well as polarization effects need to be closely controlled.
In addition, efforts are being made to increase the throughput of exposures such as to decrease the overall manufacturing time and thus manufacturing costs. The efficiency of the lithographic process therefore needs to be optimized.
Various methods and systems are known which allow to alter the imaging performance of the projection exposure systems after assembly of the various components comprised in the projection exposure system. For instance, one or more lenses can be tilted or moved perpendicular to or along an optical axis of the system to reduce certain types of aberrations, such as astigmatism.
Generally, a projection exposure system is optimized after assembly to provide optimum performance.
However, after assembly and optimization, the imaging performance of a projection exposure system may undergo a change induced by a variation in atmospheric conditions of the environment the projection exposure system is exposed to, for example. Transport of the assembled projection exposure system may also cause mechanical changes affecting a quality of a projection exposure. The imaging performance of the projection exposure system may also change over time due to damage to optical elements induced by extended exposure to radiation and resulting change in aberrations, transmittance and/or reflectance, for instance. In addition, a change of a mode of illumination, for instance off-axis illumination or multipole illumination modes, may require imaging characteristics to be adapted.
Given the ever increasing demands on imaging performance and efficiency, there remains a need for a method of optimizing an imaging performance of a projection optical system and projection exposure systems adapted to carry out the method.

Method of optimizing imaging performance