A snow plow and mount frame assembly permits an operator to attach and detach a snow plow to and from a mount frame secured to a vehicle, without the operator exiting a cab of the vehicle. The assembly comprises a mount frame, a snow plow frame, a plow blade, a first actuator for pivoting the A-frame relative to the lift frame, a latch mechanism, and a second actuator to either latch or unlatch the latch mechanism. When the vehicle is driven toward the snow plow the snow plow frame mates with the mount frame and an electrical connection is made between the vehicle electrical system and at least the first actuator without manual manipulation. The second actuator is energized to either latch the latch mechanism thereby securing the snow plow frame to the mount frame or unlatch the latch mechanism thereby freeing the snow plow frame from the mount frame.

Conventional pickup truck mounted snow plow assemblies have a mount frame that attaches to the truck frame below and behind the front bumper, and a snow plow frame that removably attaches to the mount frame. When not in use the snow plow frame is detached from the mount frame and stored; the mount frame remains on the truck frame but is generally unobtrusive as it is below and behind the front bumper.
A conventional snow plow frame has a lift frame and an A-frame. The lift frame removably attaches at its lower ends to the mount frame, and generally extends forwardly and upwardly from the mount frame. The A-frame is pivoted at its rearward end to the lower ends of the lift frame for pivoting about a transverse horizontal lift axis. A plow blade is pivoted to the A-frame at its forward end for pivoting about a vertical axis. Hydraulic cylinders are attached on one end to the blade and on the other end to the A-frame to pivot the blade about the vertical axis. The plow blade may also be pivoted to the A-frame for pivoting about a transverse horizontal blade trip axis, in the event that the snow plow employs a blade trip, or alternatively, a lower edge of the blade may be pivoted to the balance of the blade for pivoting about a transverse horizontal edge trip axis, in the event that the snow plow employs an edge trip. A hydraulic cylinder is operable between the lift frame and the A-frame to pivot the A-frame about the transverse horizontal lift axis and hence raise and lower the blade. There are at least two different types of lift arrangements.
One type of lift arrangement has a hydraulic cylinder attached on one end to the lift frame and attached on the other end to the A-frame. In this arrangement, retracting the cylinder directly raises the A-frame and blade, and extending the cylinder directly lowers the A-frame and blade. The other type of lift arrangement has a lift arm pivoted to the lift frame, a chain or cable or other tethering device attached on one end to the free end of the lift arm and attached on the other end to the A-frame, and a hydraulic cylinder attached on one end to the lift frame and attached on the other end to the lift arm. In this arrangement, extending the cylinder raises the A-frame and blade via the lift arm and chain, and retracting the cylinder lowers the A-frame and blade via the lift arm and chain.
Over the years a number of different hitching mechanisms have been proposed to allow an operator to more quickly and easily hitch the snow plow frame to the mount frame. Some examples of hitch assemblies are shown in the assignee's U.S. Pat. Nos. Re. 35,700, 6,928,757, 6,711,837, 6,526,577, 5,353,530, 7,797,859, 7,681,334, 7,430,821, 6,944,978, 6,615,513, 6,393,737, 6,276,076, and 6,178,669, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in their entirety.
A more recent development in the area of hitching mechanisms to allow an operator to more quickly and easily hitch the snow plow frame to the mount frame is shown in the assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 9,869,067, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in its entirety.
Current snowplow mount designs require the user to exit the vehicle during the plow attachment process to confirm plow to vehicle mount alignment, engage the plow retention device (hitch pins, latch, etc.), make the electrical connections for plow and lighting, and operate the snowplow stand. This process is again repeated during the plow detachment process. Requiring the user to exit the vehicle to perform the manual attach/detach process has multiple disadvantages. Exiting the vehicle increases the time required to attach/detach the plow and physical effort. The sequence of operations is subject to the user following the instructions, and can result in malfunctioning of the plow or inability to correctly achieve plow to vehicle connections. The user is exposed to hazards such as ergonomic factors from bending down and exerting force at operation points to achieve attachment. It exposes the user to hazards of having body parts in proximity to moving components, as well as environmental exposure (low temperature, wind, precipitation), and possible traffic hazards. Impaired visibility due to darkness or snow covering plow parts can make operation difficult and more time consuming, and affect the ability of the user to confirm correct connection has been established.
Despite the advances made in the area of hitching mechanisms over the years, further improvement is nevertheless desired to improve the speed, convenience, ergonomics, safety, and reliability of attaching/detaching the snow plow to/from the vehicle.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method for manufacturing camera modules for use in portable electronic devices, such as mobile phones, is provided. More specifically, in camera modules utilizing lens motion type auto focus actuation, permanent magnets associated with voice coil motors utilized in the auto focus system, generate magnetic flux that can interfere with the process of bonding image sensors to camera modules if the permanent magnets of different voice coil motors are positioned too closely. Incorporating a magnetic shield into the manufacturing process to restrain or control the magnetic flux generated by the permanent magnets permits voice coil motors camera modules to be positioned closer together during the manufacturing process. This increases manufacturing throughput and reduces cost.

The disclosure herein relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to digital camera modules. Even more particularly, it relates to a digital camera module manufacturing technique.
Digital camera modules are currently being incorporated into a variety of electronic devices. Such camera hosting devices include, but are not limited to, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and computers. The demand for digital camera modules continues to grow as the ability to incorporate the camera modules into host devices expands. Therefore, one design goal of digital camera modules is to make them as small as possible so that they will fit into an electronic device without substantially increasing the overall size of the device. Means for achieving this goal must, of course, preserve the quality of the image captured by the camera modules.
Such digital camera modules typically include a substrate, an image capture device, a housing, and a lens unit. The substrate is typically a printed circuit board (PCB) that includes circuitry to facilitate data exchange between the image capture device and the host device. The image capture device is mounted and electrically coupled to the circuitry of the PCB. The housing is then mounted on the PCB over the image capture device. The housing includes an opening that receives and centers the lens unit with respect to the image capture device. The housing may include a voice coil motor (VCM) module for adjusting the position of the lens unit. To save time and costs of manufacturing, a group of camera modules may be simultaneously manufactured in array form.
The VCM module may include components such as a frame, permanent magnets, one or more springs, and an EMI shield. The magnets produce a strong magnetic field and will interact with another magnet nearby, such as if another VCM module is nearby. An example of this is shown in FIG. 1. This can present challenges in array manufacturing. Repelling forces from the magnets inside the VCM modules can cause inconsistent repelling distances, in one case in the range of 3.0-4.0 mm. Accordingly, larger spacing between image sensors on the silicon (minimum unit to unit gap 4.50 mm) may be required. This spacing increases the cost per camera module significantly. The EMI shield is designed to significantly block electromagnetic interference or flux, but does not significantly block magnetic flux.
One approach to addressing this problem is to increase the unit to unit gap. That is, increase the unit to unit gap to 4.50 mm in order to minimize the repelling force between the VCM. (Refer to panel layout in FIG. 2). One problem with this approach is that it results in inefficient and costly use of the silicon. Another problem is that the reduced unit quantity per silicon wafer results in a low VCM attach machine throughput (measured in units per hour, or UPH).
Another approach to addressing this problem includes the singulation method illustrated in FIG. 3. The image sensors on the silicon can be singulated and attached onto a copper frame with greater spacing than on the silicon. The singulation method is an additional process that increases the manufacturing cost. Also, the singulation method tends to generate particulate debris that can degrade the image quality of the camera module and cause high yield loss.
What is needed, therefore, is a camera module manufacturing technique that is allows for small module spacing in array processing.

Camera module with magnetic shielding and method of manufacture


A process and associated apparatus can automatically read a dot matrix code marking on an article even when the marking has been partly obscured or damaged in some way. The process comprises capturing a video image of the dot matrix code and correlating points on the captured image with a mask of expected dot appearance, using a known two-dimensional correlation technique. However, the correlation is performed in accordance with certain thresholding and mask adjustment criteria to improve read reliability and map the possible dot pattern in preparation for an attempt at reading the code. After automatically reorientating the map of possible dots to a read orientation if necessary, decoding of the pattern of possible dots is then attempted by comparing it with a datum grid representing rows and columns of valid dot matrix codes. The process can output a signal affirming that a valid code has been found.

It is often required for components to be individually identified as they pass through a series of manufacturing stages so that a history of their manufacture is available for reference. One known method of identification is disclosed in our U.K. Patent No. 2201808.
These components or workpieces are conveniently provided with a dot matrix code identification marking and the dot matrix code is read using an optical reader. The dot matrix code marking comprises a plurality of rows and columns on which dots comprising the code marking are located. The reader produces an output which is converted into a digital form by a processor. A further processor is provided to determine the orientation and position of the dot matrix code from the digitised image. The further processor works by calculating the outer borders of the dot matrix code from the individual dots in the digitised image. This means that the edge of the dot matrix code has to have a reasonable number of dots along it and each dot must be accurately located. However, not all dot matrix codes meet these requirements because the edges of some dot matrix codes have very few dots and in some cases the image processing performed to locate the dots is insufficient to locate all the dots. Our U.K. Patent Application No. 9405337.8 describes a method and apparatus for identifying the orientation of a dot matrix code marking of an article. However, there still remains the problem of reading a code that has been partly obscured or damaged during processing of the article.

Process and apparatus for reading a dot matrix code marking on an article


Film scanning apparatus having a film cartridge chamber for receiving a film cartridge containing photographic film having images to be scanned, a film takeup chamber and a film scan gate therebetween. The apparatus has an upstream nip roller set positioned between the film cartridge chamber and the film scan gate and includes at least one drive roller and pinch roller set in which the drive roller has a compliant film engagement surface. A downstream nip roller set is positioned between the film scan gate and the film takeup chamber and includes at least one drive roller and pinch roller set in which the drive roller has a compliant film engagement surface. The upstream nip roller set exerts constant tensioning force on film in the film scan gate buffering the film in the film scan gate against variable tensioning effects on the film caused by the film cartridge. A drive motor is directly connected to the downstream drive roller set and the downstream roller set is drivingly connected to the upstream drive roller set by an elastic drive belt. A differential compression force is exerted on the pinch rollers such that the force on the downstream pinch rollers is greater than on the upstream pinch rollers thereby causing a film speed differential between the upstream and downstream roller sets that maintains a desired degree of tension on film transported through the film scan gate.

A film scanner that passes film across a linear scanning gate must maintain the film absolutely in a flat plane along the length of the scanning aperture and must also advance the film through the scanning zone at a constant scan pitch in order to achieve proper scanning of the image on the film. It is known to provide an arced film scanning surface so that the scan direction of the film lies in a flat plane as the film passes over the scanning aperture. This procedure requires that the film be held in slight tension as it passes over the scanning aperture. Additionally, the rate of advance of the film across the scan gate must be held constant in order that the resultant lines of image scan be uniformly spaced in the direction of film motion across the scanning aperture. This tensioning and uniform rate of film drive can be achieved without great difficulty using a stepper motor to drive a single nip roller set downstream to pull the film from the film supply reel. In a scanner designed to pull film from an Advanced Photo System film storage cartridge, it has been found that the normal retention force of the film spool is somewhat irregular which adversely affects the uniformity of the film feed rate across the scanning aperture. For this reason, it is desirable to utilize a mechanism, such as an upstream nip roller set, to isolate the film drive from the irregular retention forces of the film cartridge. The introduction of an upstream nip roller set, however, introduces additional problems in holding the film feed rate constant across the scanning aperture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,754 discloses a paper feeding device for a printer that utilizes a timing belt, i.e. impliedly an inelastic belt, to drive upstream and downstream nip roller sets at the same angular velocity and avoids irregular paper feed across a linear print head by tensioning the paper between the upstream and downstream roller sets. The tensioning is accomplished according to the explanation in the patent by employing metal, i.e. non-compliant, drive rollers and compliant pinch rollers and by applying a higher degree of pressure on the downstream pinch rollers than on the upstream pinch rollers. According to the explanation, the higher pressure on the downstream pinch rollers deforms the pinch roller surface engaging the print side of the paper stock causing the paper feed amount through the downstream nip roller set to be slightly greater than the paper feed amount through the upstream nip roller set thereby maintaining tension in the paper and avoiding irregular paper feed through the print zone.

Film drive apparatus for a photographic film scanner


A wireless extension device to end-user wireless device has a collar that is worn around the neck. The collar has two end-members that are positioned on the two collarbone areas next to the neck. The end-members have positioned directional speakers therein that radiate sound in the direction of two ears of the human wearing the collar around the neck. The end-members have positioned microphones that pick up voice commands of a human wearing the collar around the neck. The wireless collar extension device is used for hands free communication with end-user wireless device, without having to plug a prior art BLUETOOTH earpiece into one of the ears. The collar using voice commands can control operational mode of the end-user device pertaining to communications, music, computations, record, send and enter data and images.

Headphones are used for private listening such as for music. They are also used for private communication as in telephone communication. These types of headphones are worn over the head. Office secretaries and order taking clerks use such headphone in a business environment.
A single ear piece that is plugged in the ear canal is also used in applications that include portable MP3 music playing devices. Bluetooth ear pieces are also plugged in the ear canal to communicate with a smart phone that is positioned in the vicinity of a person for hands free operation of the smart phones.
Use of such headphones, earphones, and Bluetooth® ear pieces make them uncomfortable for extended wearing as they are required to be plugged into the ear canal or cupped over the entire ear. This mode of use makes them both unsightly and uncomfortable to wear or use. They affect normal hearing while worn as they are intended to cut out ambient noise from the environment.
In communication devices, such as cell phones, the Bluetooth version of the earpiece that has become very popular lately to provide a hands free cell phone operation, also directs RF radiation in close vicinity to the brain.
Therefore, it is an objective of the embodiments herein to have headphone, earphones, and Bluetooth earphones that do not have the drawbacks of the prior art as summarized above. Yet another objective is to have more versatile and user-friendly music listening and wireless communication and command and control devices to work in conjunction with such end-user devices.

Apparatus and method for a wireless extension collar device for altering operational mode of mobile and fixed end-user wireless devices by voice commands


A probe-based storage device comprises a storage surface for storing data represented by deformations in the surface. A probe faces the surface and includes a resonant circuit having a reactance dependent on deflection of the probe relative to the surface. A scanner is provided for scanning the probe across the surface such that the probe follows said deformations. A detector reads data stored on the surface by detecting variation of the resonant frequency of said circuit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reading data in probe-based data storage devices.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Techniques employing nanometer-sharp tips for imaging and investigating the structure of materials down to the atomic scale, such as the atomic force microscope (AFM) and the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), also find application in ultra high density storage devices. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,822 and P. Vettiger et al., "The Millipede—More than one thousand tips for future AFM data storage," IBM Journal of Research and Development, vol. 44 No. 3 May 2000, pp. 323–340. In the device described by Vettiger, information is stored as sequences of "pits" and "no pits" written on a polymer storage surface via an array of cantilevers each carrying a tip. The cantilevers, and the tips thereon, are selectively heated to write data onto the surface. The heating of each tip to a sufficient level produces a corresponding deformation of the surface adjacent the tip. The stored information is read back by treating each cantilever as a thermo-mechanical sensor in a circuit which is electrically equivalent, to a first degree of approximation, to a current source or a voltage source in cascade with a variable resistor. The sensor transforms the physical value carrying the read information into an electrical signal. The value of the variable resistor depends on the temperature at the tip of the cantilever. During the read process, the cantilever reaches different temperatures whether it moves over a "pit" (bit "1") or a "no pit" (bit "0"). A detection circuit senses a voltage which is dependent on the value of the cantilever resistance to make a decision on whether a "1" or a "0" is detected.
Conventionally, to read the recorded information, the cantilever employed for writing is provided with the additional function of a thermal read back sensor by exploiting its temperature dependent resistance. In general, the resistance increases non-linearly with heating power/temperature from room temperature to a peak value of 500–700 degrees C. The peak temperature is determined by doping concentration in the variable resistance of the cantilever, which ranges from 1×1017 to 2×1018 cm−3. Above the peak temperature, the resistance drops as the number of intrinsic carriers increases through thermal excitation. For sensing, the resistor is operated at about 350° C. This temperature is not high enough to deform the surface as in the case of writing.
The principle of thermal sensing is based on the thermal conductance between the heater platform and the surface changing according to the distance between them. The medium between the heater platform and the surface, such as air, transports heat from the cantilever to the surface. When the distance between cantilever and surface is reduced as the tip moves into a pit, the heat transport through the air becomes more efficient. As a result, the evolution of the heater temperature in response to a pulse applied to the cantilever is different and, in particular, the maximum value achieved by the temperature is smaller than in the case in which no pit is present. As the value of the variable resistance depends on the temperature of the cantilever, the maximum value achieved by the resistance will be smaller as the cantilever moves over a pit. Therefore, during the read process, the cantilever resistance reaches different values whether it moves over a pit (bit "1") or no pit (bit "0").
The thermo-mechanical cantilever sensor, which transforms temperature into an electrical signal that carries information, is electrically equivalent, to a first degree of approximation, to a variable resistance. A detection circuit should therefore sense a voltage that depends on the value of the cantilever resistance to make a decision on whether a "1" or a "0" is written. The relative variation of thermal resistance is typically around 10−5/nm. Hence, a written bit "1" typically produces a relative change of the cantilever thermal resistance ΔRΘ/RΘ of about 10−4˜5×10−4. The relative change of the cantilever electrical resistance is of the same order of magnitude. As a consequence, an important issue in detecting the presence or absence of a pit is a sufficiently high resolution to permit extraction of the signal that contains the information about the bit being "1" or "0". The signal carrying the information can be viewed as a small signal superimposed to a very large offset signal, which can be three to four orders of magnitude larger.
Parallel operation of large two-dimensional arrays can be achieved by a row/column time-multiplexed addressing scheme similar to that implemented in DRAMs. In the device described in [5], such a multiplexing scheme is employed to address the array column by column for parallel write/read operation within one column. In particular, read back signal samples are obtained by applying a read pulse to the cantilevers in a column of the array, low-pass filtering the cantilever response signals, and sampling the filter output signals. This process is repeated sequentially until all columns of the array are addressed, and then restarted from the first column. The time between two pulses corresponds to the time needed for a cantilever to move from one bit position to the next. Another problem encountered with time-multiplexed read operations based on thermo-mechanical sensing stems from an inherent limitation to achievable data rate which is determined by the cantilever thermal time constant. Specifically, a read pulse needs a duration at least equal to the time taken for the cantilever to achieve a temperature of about 350 degrees C., at which reading can take place.

Reading data in probe-based storage devices

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a method for preparing graphene, including reacting graphite in an acid solution in which an oxidant is present so as to obtain a graphene. Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention reside in that, the graphene prepared by the method of the present invention has excellent quality and substantially increased yield and production rate, as compared with mechanical stripping, epitaxial growth, and chemical vapor deposition; and the graphene prepared by the method of the present invention has significantly improved quality, substantially reduced structural defects, and significantly increased conductivity, as compared with oxidation-reduction preparation in the solution-phase; besides, the method is also advantageous for a simple process, mild conditions, low cost, and very easy for scale production. The graphene prepared by the present invention has very broad prospects in the fields of lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, functional composite materials, transparent conductive films, and microelectronic devices, etc.

Since discovered in 2004, as a new carbon material, graphene has immediately excited great interest among scientists. Graphene having a unique two-dimensional nanostructure is high in electron transport rate, conductivity, and thermal conductivity. Besides, graphene is a material of the highest mechanical strength ever known, which is also advantageous in stable chemical properties and good light transmittance. Graphene provides a very attractive prospect in many fields such as the semiconductor industry, energy storage materials, functional composite materials, sensors and bio-pharmaceutical fields. Thus, fundamental and application studies on graphene have become a focus among international researches.
The preparation method for graphene is the key issue as to whether the material can achieve practical applications. As research continues, many fields, including energy storage materials and functional composite materials, have proposed stricter requirements on the quality and production scale of graphene. Methods for preparing graphene reported in the prior art include mechanical stripping (K. S. Novoselov, A. K. Geim, S. V. Morozov, D. Jiang, Y. Zhang, S. V. Dubonos, I. V. Grigorieva, A. A. Firsov, Science 2004, 306, 666), epitaxial growth (C. Berger, Z. M. Song, X. B. Li, X. S. Wu, N. Brown, C. Naud, D. Mayou, T. B. Li, J. Hass, A. N. Marchenkov, E. H. Conrad, P. N. First, W. A. de Heer, Science 2006, 312, 1191), chemical vapor deposition (K. S. Kim, Y. Zhao, H. Jang, S. Y. Lee, J. M. Kim, K. S. Kim, J.-H. Ahn, P. Kim, J.-Y. Choi, B. H. Hong, Nature 2009, 457, 706), and oxidation-reduction preparation in the solution-phase (S. J. Park, R. S. Ruoff, Nature Nanotechnology 2009, 4, 217)
Among the above methods, mechanical stripping and epitaxial growth are low in production efficiency, and thus have difficulties in meeting the large-scale needs. Chemical vapor deposition may produce a successive graphene film having a large size; however, the graphene film produced is merely applicable to micro-nano electronic devices or transparent conductive film, but can not meet the large-scale needs in the fields of energy storage materials and functional composite materials.
Compared with the above three methods, the oxidation-reduction preparation in the solution-phase has significantly improved scale of production, but the fierce redox condition in the oxidation-reduction preparation in the solution-phase disclosed in the prior art results in many defects in the graphene product, and significantly deteriorates the quality and performance such as conductivity of graphene. Moreover, the conventional oxidation-reduction preparation in the solution-phase is complicated in process and has considerable difficulties in handling of the reaction waste liquid. In summary, none of the methods in the prior art is suitable for large-scale preparation of high-quality graphene.

NINGBO INSTITUTE OF MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


First, the strength A of a first pilot signal currently transmitted by a base station and strength B of a second pilot signal transmitted by a base station other than the foregoing base station are measured, the correction value D of a handoff threshold value according to the multicast service availability and radio configuration information of the multicast content is obtained, and handoff threshold value C is obtained, as well. Next, if the difference between the strength B of the second pilot signal and the strength A of the first pilot signal is greater than the sum of the handoff threshold value C and the correction value D, the idle handoff is started. Through this, idle handoff to neighbor base stations delivering the same multicast content is facilitated and idle handoff to other base stations is made difficult.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handoff control method in a mobile communication system and a mobile station implementing thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, services which distribute, through distribution to a plurality of users, contents such as images and voices via a wired broadband line, such as ADSL and FTTH, are becoming increasingly popular. IP multicast technology, represented by Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), has implemented such a multicast service.
On the other hand, with the diffusion and sophistication of mobile phones, expectations for wireless multicast service provisions are rising. Specific methods for providing multicast service using mobile phones have been proposed (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 2001-308856). In the above mentioned technology, each cell has a forward traffic channel provided for multicast services, and all mobile devices using the service monitor this same channel. In addition, when the mobile device moves between cells while using the multicast service, a normal idle handoff processing is performed, after which reception of multicast service is performed once again in the cell of the destination.
Automobile/mobile phone systems take on a so-called cell configuration, wherein wireless zones are divided finely in order to effectively use limited frequency segments and repeatedly implement the frequency for every cell of a certain interval.
Handoff (handover) refers to control which changes connection from the base station to which connection is currently made to the base station of the cell of the destination. For example, horizontal handoff is a handoff between the same wireless systems and a vertical handoff is handoff between different wireless systems.
Idle handoff control refers to control for changing the base station connection when in an idle state.
Here, common idle handoff methods are as follows:    (1) a mobile station which is in an idle state in a first cell moves to a second cell.    (2) the strength of the pilot signal of the first cell gradually falls and the strength of the pilot signal of the second cell gradually rises.    (3) idle handoff processing begins in the second cell when the difference in the strength of the pilot signal of the second cell and the strength of the pilot signal of the first cell exceeds a certain threshold value.
Here, the foregoing threshold value can be, for example, a predetermined fixed value. However, although, on one hand, the idle handoff plays a part in actualizing a favorable incoming rate by actively catching pilot signals with high pilot strengths, there is a problem in that performing frequent idle handoff is not desirable from the point of view of power consumption.
Therefore, a method is proposed for controlling the increase in idle handoff frequency due to sudden fluctuations in the electromagnetic wave environment by enabling adjustment according to the pilot signal strength (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 11-113042) or by implementing, not the instantaneous value of the pilot signal pilot strength, but the temporal average value (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 6-335051) However, actively catching pilot signals with high pilot strengths is not necessarily preferable while using multicast service because the multicast contents distributed to each cell differ. For example, the multicast contents distributed in the first cell is not distributed in the second cell (cannot be distributed). In this case, if reception is moved from the first cell to the second cell or remains in the vicinity of the border between the first cell and the second cell, while receiving multicast contents, the pilot signal of the second cell may become stronger and idle handoff may be performed from the first cell to the second cell. If idle handoff is performed to the second cell, the multicast contents are not distributed in the second cell, and therefore, the reception cannot be continued. In this case, depending on the user, it is preferable that reception of multicast contents is continued, even if reception conditions are poor to a certain extent. Alternatively, it is preferable that idle handoff to the base station distributing the multicast contents is facilitated and that to other base stations is made difficult.

Handoff control method and mobile station


In a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet having phosphate-based coatings, which contain no chromium and which impart a tension, on the surfaces of a steel sheet with ceramic underlying films therebetween, the coating amount of oxygen in the underlying film is 2.0 g/m2 or more and 3.5 g/m2 or less relative to both surfaces of the steel sheet. Consequently, a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet with a chromium-less coating is provided. The resulting steel sheet has coating properties at the same level as those of a steel sheet with chromium-containing coatings and realizes high hygroscopicity resistance and a low iron loss without variations.

In general, surfaces of grain-oriented electrical steel sheets are provided with coatings in order to impart an insulating property, workability, rust resistance, and the like. The coating is usually composed of a ceramic underlying film primarily containing forsterite, which is formed during final annealing, and a phosphate-based over coating applied thereon. These coatings are formed at high temperatures, and have low thermal expansion coefficients. Consequently, a large difference in the thermal expansion coefficient occurs between the steel sheet and the coating before the temperature of a steel sheet is lowered to room temperature and, thereby, a tension is imparted to the steel sheet. Therefore, the coatings are effective at reducing the iron loss. It is desired that the coating has a function of imparting a maximum tension to the steel sheet.
In order to satisfy the above-described various characteristics, various over coatings have been proposed previously. For example, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 56-52117 proposes over coatings primarily containing magnesium phosphate and colloidal silica, and improved over coatings further containing chromic anhydride.
Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 53-28375 proposes over coatings primarily containing aluminum phosphate, colloidal silica, and chromic anhydride.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in environmental conservation and, thereby, demands for products not containing harmful substances, e.g., chromium and lead, have become intensified. In the field of grain-oriented electrical steel sheets as well, development of a method for forming an over coating not containing chromium has been desired. However, if chromium is not used, quality problems, e.g., significant deterioration of the hygroscopicity resistance and reduction of tension imparted to the steel sheet (therefore, the effect of improving the iron loss disappears) and the like, occur, and no addition of chromium cannot be realized in actual industrial production. Here, deterioration of the hygroscopicity resistance of the coating refers to that the coating absorbs moisture in the air, this moisture is liquefied partly and, thereby, the film thickness is decreased or a portion with no coating results, so as to deteriorate the insulating property and the rust resistance.
For the purpose of avoiding the addition of chromium, improving the hygroscopicity resistance of the coating, and furthermore, maintaining the tension imparted to the steel sheet, Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. 57-9631 describes a method for applying a coating treatment solution composed of colloidal silica, aluminum phosphate, boric acid, and sulfate. Further, methods based on the phosphate-colloidal silica based coating treatment solutions have been disclosed. In a method in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-169973, a boron compound is added in place of the chromium compound. In a method in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-169972, an oxide colloid is added. In a method in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-178760, a metal organic acid salt is added.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-18064 proposes a treatment solution for over coating, in which phosphoric acid and the like are added to a composite metal hydroxide including a divalent metal and a trivalent metal, as a technology for improving the tension induced by a coating (a tension imparted to a steel sheet by a tension coating) regardless of the presence or absence of chromium.
However, there are variations in effects of improving the iron loss and the hygroscopicity resistance by these methods, and in some cases, the iron loss or the hygroscopicity resistance deteriorates to a level which causes a problem. Such variations in quality is significant in a single coil as well, and become main cause of reduction in the amount of production, because a inhomogeneous portion must be eliminated by using a rewinding line, so that a large yield loss results and, in addition, an operation of the rewinding line undergoes pressure.
Thus, the above-described variations in quality have resulted from coating defects, which have been previously inevitably generated during formation on the surface of the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet having a coating not containing chromium. These coating defects may reach the underlying film.
It could therefore be advantageous to prevent the occurrence of coating defect and improve the surface coating properties even when a coating not containing chromium is applied to a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet.
It could also be advantageous to provide a grain-oriented electrical steel sheet, which is provided with chromium-less coatings and which realizes high hygroscopicity resistance and a low iron loss at the same level as those of a steel sheet provided with chromium-containing coatings, and a method for manufacturing the grain-oriented electrical steel sheet.

Grain-oriented electrical steel sheet and method for manufacturing grain-oriented electrical steel sheet


A suction cleaner comprising a source of suction, for creating a suction airflow and a separator upstream of the source of suction, for separating and retaining entrained matter from the suction airflow, wherein the separator is adapted for separation of wet material from the suction airflow, the cleaner has a reservoir for liquid and there is a liquid delivery device for delivering the liquid into the suction airflow which enters the separator.

This invention relates to suction cleaners ("vacuum cleaners").
So-called "wet or dry" suction cleaners are known, being capable of sucking up solid matter in the manner of conventional suction cleaners, and, when required, liquids such as spillages of water or other liquids. Such cleaners generally incorporate a dust receptacle in the form of a tank. The suction airflow containing the solid or liquid matter which has been sucked up is led into the tank in such a way that any liquid in such air flow is deposited in the tank before the airflow reaches the cleaner's source of suction. If solid matter is to be sucked up, either a dust-filtering and retaining bag is disposed in the tank with the airflow passing through it, or, alternatively, a filter is provided at the exit from the tank leading to the source of suction, so that dry matter separated from the suction airstream by the filter is collected in the tank. Whilst such machines are effective, they may require some adaptation of the cleaner to be carried out by the user depending on whether wet or dry matter is to be sucked up, which is inconvenient. When used in "wet" mode, such a cleaner is also usable for carpet or other surface cleaning, being provided in this case with a tank for cleaning liquid e.g. a solution of a suitable detergent-type substance in water, which is delivered to a cleaning head which also provides for the suction extraction of dirty such liquid from the surface being cleaned.
Another disadvantage of such cleaners when used in the "dry" mode is that accumulation of separated dust in the material of a bag or on a filter can lead to a rapid loss of the suction power of the cleaner.
It is broadly the object of the present invention to address such problems associated with known wet or dry suction cleaners.

Techtronic Floor Care Technology Limited


Information associated with a radiation treatment plan includes, for example, values of dose per voxel in a target volume, values of dose rate per voxel in the target volume, and values of parameters used when generating the values of dose per voxel and the values of dose rate per voxel. Renderings that include, for example, a rendering of an image of or including the target volume, and a rendering of selected values of the radiation treatment plan, are displayed. When a selection of a region of one of the renderings is received, a displayed characteristic of another one of the renderings is changed based on the selection.

The use of radiation therapy to treat cancer is well known. Typically, radiation therapy involves directing a beam of high energy proton, photon, ion, or electron radiation ("therapeutic radiation") into a target or volume in a target volume (e.g., a volume that includes a tumor or lesion).
Before a patient is treated with radiation, a treatment plan specific to that patient is developed. The plan defines various aspects of the therapy using simulations and optimizations that may be based on past experiences. In general, the purpose of the treatment plan is to deliver sufficient radiation to the unhealthy tissue while minimizing exposure of surrounding healthy tissue to the radiation.
The planner's goal is to find a solution that is optimal with respect to multiple clinical goals that may be contradictory in the sense that an improvement toward one goal may have a detrimental effect on reaching another goal. For example, a treatment plan that spares the liver from receiving a dose of radiation may result in the stomach receiving too much radiation. These types of tradeoffs lead to an iterative process in which the planner creates different plans to find the one plan that is best suited to achieving the desired outcome.
A radiobiology study has demonstrated the effectiveness of delivering an entire, relatively high therapeutic radiation dose to a target within a single, short period of time. This type of treatment is referred to generally herein as FLASH radiation therapy (FLASH RT). Delivery of the dose can be spatially and/or temporally fractionated. That is, for example, a FLASH treatment of a particular patient can be delivered in multiple fractions, which may be separated in time and/or which may be delivered to different sub-volumes of a target. Evidence to date suggests that FLASH RT advantageously spares normal, healthy tissue from damage when that tissue is exposed to a high radiation dose for only a very short period of time.
FLASH RT introduces important interdependencies that are not captured by conventional radiation treatment planning. Current tools such as dose-volume histograms and dose-rate volume histograms do not capture the interdependence of dose and dose rate. For example, developing a dose rate distribution for a high-quality plan is not trivial from a clinician's perspective because normal tissue might benefit from a low dose rate in certain regions if the dose is minimized in these regions. Also, for example, irradiating a restricted number of spots in a treatment volume may lead to high dose rate delivery but low dose homogeneity at the level of the tumor, while on the other hand, plan quality could be improved by increasing the number of spots at the cost of lowering the dose rate.

Assessing treatment parameters for radiation treatment planning


It is provided a semiconductor integrated circuit device capable of easily designing a large scale circuit, particularly a circuit of a system LSI designed by combining circuits using plural intellectual properties and the like. The semiconductor integrated circuit includes a driving unit which is connected to a driven circuit via a transmission line and supplies a driving signal for driving the driven circuit to the driven circuit, a switch which is inserted into the transmission line between the driven circuit and the driving unit and which causes the driving signal, which is to be supplied to the driven circuit, to flow or to be cut off, and a transmission unit which is connected to the transmission line between the switch and the driving unit, and which transmits, to the driven circuit, a test signal supplied from outside the semiconductor integrated circuit device instead of the driving signal.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an evaluation and adjustment method of a semiconductor integrated circuit device, and particularly to an evaluation method of a System Large Scale Integration (LSI) which is designed based on Intellectual Property (IP).
(2) Description of the Related Art
It has been possible to manufacture a large scale integrated circuit onto one semiconductor chip by integrating complicated systems onto the semiconductor chip, following the dramatic increase in the number of transistors which can be integrated onto one semiconductor chip due to fine processing (for example, Patent Reference 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-533738). Furthermore, the number of circuits, which do not contribute to normal operations of a Super Large Scale Integration (SLSI) such as test circuits and timing adjustment circuits, has been increased in order to test such large scale integrated circuit and to improve quality, and the wiring area has also been increased. With respect to circuits to be used to perform testing easier, wiring areas and the amount of power consumption have been reduced by sharing the circuits and controlling the circuits when they are not activated, and the like. However, in reality, a fundamental reduction in the number of circuits has not been realized.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


There is provided a process for producing (meth)acrylic acid including an absorption step of bringing a (meth)acrylic acid-containing gas obtained by a gas phase catalytic oxidation method into an absorption tower and allowing the gas to contact with an absorbent, in which absorption step a crude (meth)acrylic acid solution is withdrawn from a withdrawal outlet positioned between a supply point for the (meth)acrylic acid-containing gas and a supply point for the absorbent on the absorption tower, and then supplied to a next step. The process for producing (meth)acrylic acid makes it possible to suppress the formation of Michael adducts, thereby obtaining a (meth)acrylic acid containing solution in high yield and in high concentration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing (meth)acrylic acid. The term "(meth)acrylic acid" as used herein means acrylic acid or methacrylic acid.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, acrylic acid and methacrylic acid are useful raw materials widely used as the raw materials of chemical products, and various processes for their production have been proposed. For example, acrylic acid is produced by the gas phase catalytic oxidation of propylene and/or acrolein. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publications Nos. 2001-520213, 2004-359614, 2004-359615, and 2005-511776 disclose processes in which an acrylic acid-containing gas obtained by a gas phase catalytic oxidation method is absorbed into an absorbent to provide an acrylic acid containing solution, followed by distillation and/or crystallization steps, thereby obtaining purified acrylic acid. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publications Nos. 2001-516737, 2002-539104, and 2002-509903 disclose processes of directly obtaining crude acrylic acid from an acrylic acid-containing gas by fractional condensation.
These production processes have various improvements for the purpose of producing acrylic acid with high efficiency. In particular, regarding the method employing absorption with a solvent, there have been proposed, for the purpose of obtaining higher purity acrylic acid, a method of adding a polymerization inhibitor to be used in the separation and purification step (see Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-520213), a method of improving the rate of absorption of acrylic acid (see Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-359614), and a method of carrying out the purification of acrylic acid easily and simply by the use of a high concentration acrylic acid containing solution. In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-511776 proposes a method of forming acrylic acid with high efficiency in the gas phase catalytic oxidation reaction.

Process for producing (meth) acrylic acid


A monitoring device 100 comprises a control unit 101 including a positional information acquisition section 101A that tracks an existing position of the communication terminal 120 and acquires positional information of the communication terminal 120 and a jurisdiction retaining section 101B that retains a jurisdictional district to receive an emergency telephone call where a building under security exists, an input/output unit 102 that detects an emergency situation based on a sensor output from the input/output device 110, and an alarm sending unit 103 that reports an e-mail transmission or an image via the telephone line 130. The control unit 101, when having detected an emergency situation, performs control to specify a communication terminal 120 that exists in the police jurisdictional district or fire jurisdictional district with reference to the jurisdiction retaining section 101B, and to report preferentially to the specified communication terminal 120. Accordingly, reporting preferentially to a mobile phone within a jurisdictional district where a building under security exists allows promptly reporting when an emergency call is made from the mobile phone.

Security systems to exercise vigilance against intrusion of suspicious persons in individual residences or premises or commercial facilities, financial institutions, corporate buildings, or the like have been commonly known. For example, when a suspicious person intrudes into a residence or on a premise or the like, a security system issues a warning or the like to the suspicious person to threaten him/her and reports the matter to its resident, staff, security company, and/or the like.
Patent Literature 1 describes a security system that makes an abnormality in a switching operation recoverable at a stage the abnormality in a switching operation by an operator has been detected. In the security system described in Patent Literature 1, a control device that detects and reports an abnormality in a monitoring area stores identification information assigned to users and identification information assigned to an administrator associated with e-mail addresses respectively, accepts a switching operation for the setting of a security mode, and creates and transmits an e-mail message including a specified e-mail address according to these judgment results.
Patent Literature 2 describes an area security system that exercises vigilance in a specific area including housing lots for sale. The security system described in Patent Literature 2 determines the existing position and behavior pattern of a stranger, and displays stranger information in a display format according to the behavior pattern of the stranger at a point on map information corresponding to the existing position of the stranger.
On the other hand, portable telephones are currently commonplace, and some can even perform, in addition to basic voice calls, e-mail communications and image acquisition by an electronic camera and communications of the images, and can further acquire positional information using a positioning system (GPS: Global Positioning System) to display a current position on a map. Because portable telephones are by their nature carried and used whenever leaving home as information tools on a personal basis, individual location retrieval services and emergency report services in emergencies using portable telephones have been commercially available and used little by little. Moreover, there have been various proposals for emergency reports using portable telephones (for example, Patent Literatures 3 to 5).
That is, Patent Literature 3 describes an abnormality reporting system capable of simply reporting an abnormality when the abnormality has occurred. Moreover, Patent Literature 4 describes equipment that reports, with no effort, emergency information including map information to a variety of client terminals registered at the time of a service contract. Moreover, Patent Literature 5 describes a technique for promptly reporting positional information and the like of a reporter at the time of an abnormality. According to the system described in Patent Literature 5, a reporter carries a small-sized transmission device with him/her, and a portable telephone, upon having received a trigger signal from the small-sized device, receives a GPS signal to calculate positional information of the portable telephone, and transmits the same to an administrative server together with information such as its telephone number over a mobile telephone network. The administrative server transmits the information to terminals by push-based delivery.

Digital security network system and method


A chemical-mechanical polishing process for planarizing at least one or more of thin films formed on a substrate, wherein the chemical-mechanical polishing is performed using a slurry containing abrasive particles mainly made of sialon or boehmite. This process is advantageous in improvement of a polishing rate without degradation in planarity of the processed surface and in level of metal impurities.

The present invention relates to a chemical-mechanical polishing process, and particularly to a chemical-mechanical polishing process for planarizing at least one or more of thin films formed on a substrate (wafer). The present invention is suitable for forming multilayers of interconnections in a process of fabricating semiconductor devices, particularly, for planarizing interlayer dielectric films or forming metal plugs at high reliability. More specifically, the present invention is suitable for forming multilayers of interconnection used for memory elements or logic operation elements having highly fine and highly integrated structures.
The interconnection technology is increasingly toward finer geometries and multilayers of interconnections along with high density mounting for devices. The technology for forming multilayers of interconnections comes to play a larger role in a process of fabricating semiconductor integrated circuits. On the other hand, the multilayers of interconnections bring about a new disadvantage.
More specifically, steps of interlayer dielectric films become larger and steeper along with a tendency toward fine geometries and multilayers of interconnections, to thereby cause degradation both in processing accuracy and in reliability of an interconnection formed on the interlayer dielectric films having such steps.
At the present time, it is difficult to improve step coverage of an Al interconnection, and accordingly, the planarity of interlayer dielectric films must be improved for ensuring the processing accuracy and reliability of the above interconnection.
The improvement in planarity of interlayer dielectric films also becomes important because it compensates for a reduction in focal depth with the shortened wavelength of light in lithography. In other words, the improved planarity of interlayer dielectric films makes it possible to keep the resolution already reaching the critical value.
Various technologies for forming dielectric films and planarizing them have been developed. However, when applied to multilayers of interconnections having finer geometries, they present vital disadvantages in terms of shortage of planarity in the case of wide gaps between interconnections and in terms of connection failure between interconnections due to spaces generated in interlayer films in gaps between interconnections.
To improve such disadvantages, a chemical-mechanical polishing process (CMP) for global planarization of interlayer dielectric films has been recently carried out or examined. This process has been originally used for mirror-like polishing for a silicon substrate.
The chemical-mechanical polishing process is expected to positively planarize the entire surface of an interlayer dielectric film. In this process, a polishing cloth is placed on a polishing plate and the polishing plate is rotated while slurry is supplied on the polishing cloth. At the same time, a substrate disposed on a carrier is rotated and pressed on the polishing cloth, to thus polish a dielectric film formed on the surface of the substrate. At this time, KOH or the like is added to the slurry for etching the dielectric film in a basic atmosphere.
In the practical use, cleaning is performed after chemical-mechanical polishing for sufficiently removing the residual slurry and the like, thus completing the planarization.
This process, however, has a disadvantage in processing speed, that is, polishing rate. Specifically, the polishing is as low as about 100 nm/min. This is inconvenient for the future chemical-mechanical process in terms of the increased cost due to poor productivity.
In recent years, one approach using a cerium base slurry, that is, a slurry containing particles of cerium oxide has been proposed. This is expected to obtain a polishing rate being 3 to 4 times that in the case of using a related art silica base slurry. The cerium base slurry, on the other hand, presents a problem in poor planarity of the processed surface and in poor level of metal impurities, and therefore, it actually fails to exhibit the expected result.


A system for servicing a shock strut may comprise a system controller and a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the system controller. The tangible, non-transitory memory may have instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the system controller, cause the system controller to perform operations, which may comprise: receiving, by the system controller, a hydraulic fluid volume difference or a pressurized gas volume difference from a ground support controller; determining, by the system controller, a desired fluid flow rate based on the hydraulic fluid volume difference or the pressurized gas volume difference; and outputting, by the system controller, a desired fluid flow rate signal corresponding to the desired fluid flow rate to at least one of a hydraulic fluid flow controller or a pressurized gas flow controller.

Shock absorbing devices are used in a wide variety of vehicle suspension systems for controlling motion of a vehicle and its tires with respect to the ground and for reducing transmission of transient forces from the ground to the vehicle. Shock absorbing struts are a common component in most aircraft landing gear assemblies. Current shock struts generally rely on pressurized gas (e.g., nitrogen gas) and hydraulic fluid (e.g., oil) to absorb various shock load. Having a correct quantity of each of these fluids in the shock strut is needed for proper performance. During landing gear maintenance, gas and/or hydraulic fluid may be added to the shock strut. Current fluid servicing systems are operated manually, for example, by maintenance personnel controlling the pumps used to input the fluid into the shock strut. Manually controlling the pumps is time consuming, may require skilled maintenance personnel, can lead to overflow and/or wasted fluid, and is generally a less accurate way of controlling the amount of fluid added.

Systems and method for automated servicing of shock struts


A magneto-optic memory medium comprising a dielectric film, a magneto-optic memory film, a dielectric film and a reflective film superposed in layers on a light trnasmitting substrate, the magneto-optic memory film being a rare earth-transition metal alloy film having the composition formula of: EQU (Gd.sub.x Tb.sub.1-x).sub.y Fe.sub.1-y. wherein x is 0.58 to 0.62, and y is 0.27 to 0.33, which is useful as a magneto-optic disc or magneto-optic card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to magneto-optic memory media, and more particularly to a memory medium for use in memory devices, such as magneto-optic discs and magneto-optic cards, utilizing a magneto-optic effect.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Active research has been carried out on thin films of amorphous alloys comprising a rare-earth element and a transition metal for use as magneto-optic memory media. Among these, thin films of GdTbFe alloy composed of gadolinium and terbium as rare-earth elements and iron as a transition metal are in the range of 150 to 200.degree. C. in Curie temperature and have a suitable recording sensitivity for use as magneto-optic recording media with a semiconductor laser for recording, reproducing or erasing data.
However, the GdTbFe alloy usually has a small Kerr rotation angle of about 0.3 and therefore has the drawback of being unsatisfactory in the quality of signals reproduced. Accordingly, we have proposed a method of giving an increased Kerr rotation angle by using a dielectric film and a reflective film, i.e., by forming a dielectric film, GdTbFe film, dielectric film and reflective film in this order (see, for example, Applied Optics, Vol. 23, No. 22, p. 3927). With this four-layer film structure, the GdTbFe alloy film is made to have a reduced thickness of 10 nm to 50 nm to utilize both the Kerr effect and the Faraday effect. The Kerr rotation angle can then be increased easily threefold to fivefold to reproduce signals with an improved quality.
Nevertheless, the composition of the GdTbFe alloy is a further important factor in providing magneto-optic memory media of four-layer film structure which are satisfactorily usable in respect of the quality of reproduced signals, uniformity of size of recording bits and stabilized record retentivity.
The rare earth-transition metal alloy films for use as megneto-optic memory media are generally ferrimagnetic materials wherein the spins of the rare earth and the transition metal are in an antiparallel arrangement and which have a compensation point composition when the proportion of rare earth atoms is about 25 atomic %. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the coercive force Hc of such films and the rare earth proportion thereof. The variation rate of the coercive force is smaller in compositions (RE-rich compositions) containing a larger amount of rare-earth atoms (RE) than the compensation point than in compositions (TM-rich compositions) containing a larger amount of transition metal atoms than the compensation point.
The coercive force, like the Curie temperature, is an important parameter influencing the recording sensitivity of magneto-optic memory media. The coercive force, when different at room temperature, also differs at the recording temperature as shown in FIG. 5, such that even if the medium is externally given the same recording magnetic field, data can be recorded at some portions but can not be recorded at other portions. In other words, if a memory medium varies in coercive force distribution along the plane thereof and is irradiated with a laser beam under the same condition for recording, the size (width) of bits recorded differs from portion to portion. Thus, the variation in the coercive force distribution is a primary cause of the degradation of reproduced signals. Variations in the coercive force distribution in the medium are mainly due to irregularities in the alloy composition of the medium and are therefore difficult to obviate.
Accordingly, in order to make the bit width uniform to the greatest possible extent and thereby preclude the degradation of reproduced signals, there arises a need to select a region of composition (e.g., the RE-rich composition region of FIG. 4) wherein the variation rate of coercive force is small relative to variations in composition.
The rare earth-transition metal alloy film for use as a magneto-optic medium must to have an axis of easy magnetization perpendicular to the plane of the film. When the coercive force is small, an intraplanar component of the axis occurs so as to make the recording bits unstable and impair the quality of reproduced signals. It is therefore desired that the GdTbFe alloy have a composition at least about 1000 oersteds in coercive force.
It is also known that with rare earth-transition metal alloy films, the Kerr effect and the Faraday effect at room temperature increase as the Curie temperature rises, giving reproduced signals of higher quality.
The foregoing indicates that magneto-optic memory media, in order to be useful, must have such a composition as to give signals of satisfactory quality.
In this connection, Laid-Open Dutch Patent Specification No. 7,713,503, FIG. 2 discloses a magnetic material which comprises an Fe-rich GdTbFe alloy represented by the formula (Gd.sub.x Tb.sub.1-x).sub.y Fe.sub.1-y wherein x is 0.65, and y is 0.23.
On the other hand, Examined Japanese Patent Publication SHO 60-32331 discloses a magneto-optic recording medium which comprises an Fe-rich GdTbFe alloy thin film represented by the above formula wherein x is 0.37, 0.50 or 0.81, and y is 0.27, 0.26 or 0.21.
The GdTbFe alloy films specifically disclosed in these publications afford reproduced signals which are satisfactory to some extent in quality when incorporated into magneto-optic memory media of the foregoing four-layer film structure. However, a further improvement in the quality of reproduced signals is desirable in avoiding reading errors and assuring reading at a higher speed.


A toothed belt has cores coated with a resorcin-formalin-latex liquid that includes as the latex component at least about 60 wt % of a hydrogenated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber or a chlorosulfonated polyethylene rubber. The teeth can be covered with a tooth covering fabric that is made from yarns containing at least 50 volume percent of aramid fibers.

Toothed belts having tooth elements and a surface rubber layer that are formed of a rubber mix containing chloroprene as the main rubber component, a fiber core adhesively treated with a resorcin-formalin-latex (RFL) and a tooth covering fabric material are known. The core can be a glass fiber cord or an aramid fiber cord made from glass or aramid filaments. Crimped nylon yarns can be used as fillings in the longitudinal direction of the belt. The belts can contain 10 to 25 cords with a pitch of 0.8 to 1.5 millimeters (mm). Conventionally, the teeth are covered with a fabric material made of 6,6 nylon. These belts can be used in automobiles.
The ambient temperature conditions in which automotive toothed belts of an overhead cam drive are used have recently become more and more demanding because engine compartments have become more compact and because of the adoption of the forced fuel system, i.e., fuel injection. These conditions have increased the ambient temperature within the engine compartment to which the belt is exposed. Conventional toothed belts that use chloroprene often experience cracking and/or breaking off of the rubber surface or tooth or deterioration of the cores due to flexing at high temperatures. The belt often breaks under these conditions.
Due to the requirements for greater surface durability of toothed belts in general and automotive toothed belts in particular, either hydrogenated nitrile rubber (HNBR) produced by hydrogenating acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer or chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSM) is used as the main rubber. Use of such a rubber is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-159827.
Cords are conventionally treated with an RFL liquid in which the latex component is an emulsified latex having a vinylpyridine-styrene-butadiene terpolymer as a principal ingredient with which a copolymer is blended. Representative copolymers include butadiene-styrene copolymer and acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer. However, the glass fiber cords and aramid fiber cords treated with this RFL latex experience hardening of the RFL liquid deposited thereon during vulcanization because, as it is presently theorized, radicals produced during the decomposition of the organic peroxides cause excessive crosslinking. The hardening results in a loss of flexibility. When the belt is bent in use, filament breakage often occurs, which results in premature belt breaking and a decrease in tensile strength of the belt. In particular, glass filaments, which are less flexible than aramid fibers are more liable to fail.
The rubber composition in the backing member and/or tooth elements, the adhesive bond of the glass or aramid fiber cord and the tooth covering fabric material are all in close relationship and interact to affect the surface life of the belt. For example, in some experiments in which toothed belts were run in a high temperature environment, RFL liquid deposited on the glass or aramid fiber cord became heat-aged even when the rubber composition used for the backing member and/or tooth elements was heat resistance HNBR or CSM rubber. The cord and the rubber composition separated from each other because of the reduced bond strength caused by heat aging. Furthermore, the flex resistance of the belt was substantially lowered.
Belts under high load and tension conditions require suitable reinforcement from the covering fabric material. In a high temperature environment, the tooth root flank covering fabric that comes in contact with the pulley teeth can wear early which leads to cracking at the tooth flank and loss of the belt. Therefore, the fabric does not provide sufficient protection of the tooth.
The present invention is directed to solving these problems, and it is a primary object of the invention to provide a toothed belt which can retain good heat, flex and wear resistance during operation under high temperature conditions and which can maintain good serviceability for a long time.

Toothed belt having coated cores exhibiting improved resistance


A method of reading a memory device having rows and columns of memory cells formed on a substrate, where each memory cell includes spaced apart first and second regions with a channel region therebetween, a floating gate disposed over a first portion of the channel region, a select gate disposed over a second portion of the channel region, a control gate disposed over the floating gate, and an erase gate disposed over the first region. The method includes placing a small positive voltage on the unselected source lines, and/or a small negative voltage on the unselected word lines, during the read operation to suppress sub-threshold leakage and thereby improve read performance.

The structure, formation and operation of split gate non-volatile memory cell devices are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,927,994 discloses a split gate non-volatile memory cell device and its operation, and is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. This split gate memory cell device include an array of memory cells arranged in rows and columns. FIG. 1 illustrates a pair of such memory cells formed on a semiconductor substrate 12. Source and drain diffusion regions 16/14 are formed in the substrate 12, defining a channel region 18 therebetween. Each of the memory cells has four conductive gates: a select gate 20 disposed over and insulated from a first portion of the channel region 18, a floating gate 22 disposed over and insulated from a second portion of the channel region 18 and a portion of the source region 16, an erase gate 24 disposed over and insulated from the source region 16, and a control gate 26 disposed over and insulated from the floating gate 22. Preferably, the erase gate 24 can have an upper portion that is disposed vertically over the floating gate 22 (e.g. a vertical overhang).
The memory cells are arranged in an array, with columns of such memory cells separated by columns of isolation regions in an interlaced fashion. Each column of memory cells contains pairs of the memory cells in FIG. 1 arranged end to end, whereby each pair of memory cells share the same source region 16, and adjacent pairs share the same drain region 14. The select gates 20 for an entire row of the memory cells are formed as a single conductive line (commonly referred to as a word line WL), such that each word line forms the select gate 20 for one of the memory cells in each column of the memory cells (i.e. each word line electrically connects together a row of the select gates 20). The control gates 26 are similarly formed as a continuous control gate line extending along the row of memory cells (i.e. electrically connecting together a row of the control gates 26), and the erase gates 24 are also similarly formed as a continuous erase gate line extending along the row of memory cells (i.e. electrically connecting together a row of the erase gates 24). The source regions 16 are also continuously formed as a source line SL that extends in the row direction and serves at the source regions 16 for the entire row of memory cell pairs (i.e. electrically connecting together a row of the source regions 16). Conductive bit line contacts 72 electrically connect the drains 14 to a bit line 70, whereby each column of drain regions 14 are electrically connected together by a bit line 70. FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic representation of a portion of the memory array.
An individual target memory cell can be erased, programmed and read by applying various voltages to the selected lines for the target memory cell (i.e. the word line 20, bit line 70, source line 16, control gate line 26 and erase gate line 24 associated with the targeted memory cell), and by applying various voltages to the unselected lines (i.e. the word lines 20, bit lines 70, source lines 16, control gate lines 26 and erase gate lines 24 not associated with the targeted memory cell).
For example, for erase operation, the following voltages may be applied to the selected (Sel.) lines and unselected (Unsel.) lines:
WL (20)BL (70)SL (16)CG (26)EG (24)Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.0 v0 v0 v0 v0 v0 v0 v or −60 v9-11 v0 vto −9 vor 7-9 vDuring erase, a voltage of 9-11 volts is applied to the erase gate 24, to cause electrons to tunnel from the floating gate 22 to the erase gate 24. A negative voltage on the order of −6 to −9 volts may be applied to the selected control gate 26. In that event, the voltage applied to the selected erase gate 24 may be lowered to approximately 7-9 volts. It is also known to use a voltage of 11.5 volts on the selected erase gate line 24, with zero voltages on all other lines.
For programming, the following voltages may be applied to the selected (Sel.) lines and unselected (Unsel.) lines:
WL (20)BL (70)SL (16)CG (26)EG (24)Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.1-2 v0 v0.5-5 uA1.5-3 v3-6 v0 v6-9 v0 v6-9 v0 vDuring programming, the target memory cell is programmed through efficient hot-electron injection with the portion of the channel under the floating gate in inversion. The medium voltage of 3-6 volts is applied to the selected source line SL to generate the hot electrons. The selected control gate 26 and erase gate 24 are biased to a high voltage (6-9 volts) to utilize the high coupling ratio and to maximize the voltage coupling to the floating gate 22. The high voltage coupled to the floating gate induces FG channel inversion and concentrates lateral field in the split area to generate hot electrons more effectively, which are injected onto the floating gate 22. In addition, the voltages provide a high vertical field to attract hot electron into the floating gate and reduce injection energy barrier.
It is also known to use the following combination of programming voltages:
WL (20)BL (70)SL (16)CG (26)EG (24)Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.0.8 v0 v1.0 uA>1.08 v4.5 v0.5 v10.5 v0-2.5 v4.5 v0.5 v
For reading, the following voltages may be applied to the selected (Sel.) lines and unselected (Unsel.) lines:
WL (20)BL (70)SL (16)CG (26)EG (24)Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.Sel.Unsel.1.5-3.7 v0 v0.5-1.5 v0 v0 v0 v0 v-3.7 V0 v0 v-3.7 V0 vDuring a read operation, depending upon the balance between program and read operations, the voltages on the selected control gate 26 and the selected erase gate 24 can be balanced because each is coupled to the floating gate. Thus, the voltages applied to each of the selected control gate 26 and selected erase gate 24 can be a combination of voltages ranging from 0 to 3.7 volts to achieve optimum window. In addition, because the voltage on the selected control gate 26 is unfavorable due to the RC coupling, voltages on the selected erase gate 24 can result in a faster read operation. It is also known in a read operation to apply a voltage of 1.2 volts on the selected word line and a voltage of 2.5 volts on the unselected control gate 26. During a read operation, the voltage on the select gate turns on (makes conductive) the portion of the channel region under the select gate 20. If the floating gate is programmed with electrons, the portion of the channel region under the floating gate will not conduct or provide little conduction. If the floating gate is not programmed with electrons, the channel region under the floating gate will be conductive. The conductivity of the channel region is sensed to determine if the floating gate is programmed with electrons or not.
As the memory cells are scaled down in size, the cell current is reduced, which can result in read errors. One option to increase cell current is to reduce the memory cell threshold voltage WLVT. However, lowering WLVT would increase column leakage current, which may cause programming errors. Therefore, there is a need to improve read performance and reliability without necessarily changing the memory cell threshold voltage WLVT.

Low leakage, low threshold voltage, split-gate flash cell operation


A method permitting beam forming at a ground station for providing a coherent and stable uplink signal to a satellite system employing multiple spot beams by combining orthogonal synchronous code division multiplex codes and pseudo-random spreading codes with an information signal to implement a satellite feeder uplink.

Ground station to satellite 16 systems include mobile satellite programs where multiple spot beams are engaged to connect a large number of mobile users at L-Band or S-Band frequencies to a hub station or gateway between the ground station and satellite operating at Ku-Band or C-Band frequencies. Multiple spot beams are generated using either a phased array or a reflector antenna with an array feed. Current systems may utilize more than 100 feed elements and may beam form combinations of these to generate up to several hundred beams.
Beam forming is implemented by adjusting the amplitude and phase of each signal path routed to each feed element. Each individual signal path is routed to multiple feeds with relative amplitudes and phases which define each intended beam.
On many satellite programs, beam forming is accomplished by constructing a fixed beam forming network behind the feed array. The ports on one side of this network are routed to the feed elements. Ports on the other side are routed by payload hardware in the feeder link to the ground station.
With a fixed beam former, the beam pattern must be configured prior to launch and cannot easily be adapted while in orbit if coverage requirements change after launch. To provide such an ability, recent mobile satellite programs have employed an onboard digital signal processor (DSP) which performs digital beam forming allowing an entire beam pattern to be re-optimized at any time during the life of the spacecraft. The DSP, however, adds significant weight and power to the payload.
Ground based beam forming provides the same or greater flexibility than digital beam forming onboard the satellite without the weight and power penalty of an on-board DSP. The difficulty with ground based beam forming, however, is that multiple paths (one for each feed element) must be maintained between the beam former located on the ground and each feed element located on the spacecraft with relative phase coherency and sufficient amplitude and phase stability to support accurate beam forming.
Most satellite feeder links requiring multiple paths employ Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) whereby each path is transferred between the ground station and the satellite on a separate frequency. While coherency is usually not a requirement, it is difficult to maintain coherency in an FDM feeder because the paths are subject to frequency dispersion in either system elements or in the propagation path. As a result most prior art programs requiring beam forming have implemented either fixed or digital beam forming onboard satellite
The present invention overcomes this problem by utilizing a Code Division Multiplexer (CDM) feeder with a novel architecture using orthogonal and pseudo-random CDM codes which permits ground based beam forming with a significant reduction in payload processor complexity. This use of both orthogonal and pseudo-random CDM codes enables a CDM feeder to have the required coherency and stability to support ground system beam forming.

Ground based beam forming utilizing synchronized code division multiplexing


To suppress generation of a joint when detaching an applicator roll and cylindrical substrate from each other in a simple control to form a coating film having a uniform thickness efficiently on the cylindrical substrate is provided. A coating liquid is supplied from a pan to an applicator roll via a metalling roll, the applicator roll supplied with the coating liquid and a cylindrical substrate provided so as to be close to or in contact with the applicator roll are rotated. The coating liquid is transferred from the applicator roll to the cylindrical substrate, and the cylindrical substrate is rotated in a predetermined number. Thereafter, such control is carried out that the circumferential speed V1 of one of the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate is higher than the circumferential speed V2 of the other when detaching the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for applying a coating liquid to a cylindrical substrate. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for producing an electrophotographic photoreceptor that is used in an image forming apparatus such as copiers, printers, and facsimiles and produced by applying a coating liquid to a cylindrical conductive support.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrophotographic photoreceptor used in an image forming apparatus such as copiers, printers, and facsimiles is formed by applying a photosensitive layer to an outer circumferential surface of a hollow cylindrical conductive support. In recent years, as a result of in-depth development in response to demand for high performance, many of the electrophotographic photoreceptors are provided with a photosensitive layer having a laminated structure in which an intermediate layer, a charge-generating layer and a charge-transporting layer, and further a protective layer for improving the durability as its outer layer in some photoreceptors, are applied sequentially.
In this specification, a layer constituted by an intermediate layer, a charge-generating layer, a charge-transporting layer and a protective layer is collectively referred to as a sensitive layer. The intermediate layer and/or the protective layer are provided for the purpose of improving the performance of an electrophotographic photoreceptor, and are not essential, so that a layer consisting of a charge-generating layer and a charge-transporting layer and a layer in which a charge-generating layer and a charge-transporting layer are constituted as one layer are also referred to as a photosensitive layer.
The photosensitive layer provided in the electrophotographic photoreceptor is required to be a thin film and have a uniform thickness. Therefore, new application methods have been under development and examination in order to realize higher performance by applying an even thinner photosensitive layer with uniform thickness and to allow application at low cost.
As a method for applying a photosensitive layer to the outer circumferential surface of a conductive support that is an original pipe for an electrophotographic photoreceptor, spray coating, immersion coating, blade coating and the like are conventionally known. However, conventionally known application methods have problems such as inability of providing uniform coating films or poor production efficiency.
For example, in spraying coating, coating is performed by spraying a coating liquid from a spray nozzle in the form of fine particles, and therefore the appearance after coating is good. However, since a thickness of a layer formed by one coating is small, it is necessary to repeat coating a plurality of times in order to obtain a desired thickness. Furthermore, when a large amount of coating liquid is used for coating, the coating liquid is dropped, and a coating layer with non-uniform thickness is formed. In addition, since the volatile component in the coating liquid is easily vaporized when the coating liquid is sprayed for coating, the viscosity of the coating liquid is increased and orange peel (a phenomenon in which a orange skin-like swell occurs) occurs in the formed coating layer.
In immersion coating, a cylindrical conductive support that is an original pipe for an electrophotographic photoreceptor is immersed with one end thereof held and the axis of the cylinder being perpendicular to the liquid surface of the coating liquid, and then lifted from the coating liquid. Thus, a photosensitive layer is applied onto the surface of the conductive support, and this method is often used to produce an electrophotographic photoreceptor. However, the thickness of the layer (also referred to as "film thickness") that is applied by immersion coating depends significantly on the lifting speed at which the conductive support is lifted from the coating liquid, the viscosity of the coating liquid, and the speed at which the volatile component contained in the coating liquid evaporates. Therefore, these factors have to be controlled strictly. Furthermore, since the conductive support is lifted from the coating liquid in the vertical direction, the coating liquid flows down along the surface of the conductive support by gravity effect, and the film thickness of the conductive support on the upper side in the lifting direction is smaller than that on the lower side.
In order to solve the problem of non-uniformity of the film thickness, it is necessary to control the lifting speed strictly. However, the control is difficult, and furthermore in order to form a coating film having a uniform thickness, the lifting speed after immersion has to be slow, which is a basic problem. Furthermore, a coating film is formed on the internal portion and the end face of the conductive support, for which coating is not necessary, and therefore it is necessary to peel the coating film formed on the internal portion and the end face. Moreover, since the conductive support is immersed in the coating liquid, it is necessary that a bath for storing a coating liquid contains constantly the coating liquid in an amount sufficient for the total length of the conductive support to be immersed. Thus, since the coating liquid in an amount that exceeds the amount necessary for coating and forming a film is constantly prepared, the use efficiency of the coating liquid becomes poor. Then, in order to improve the use efficiency, instead of preparing a new coating liquid for each occasion of use, a coating liquid that is newly produced is added in a necessary amount to the coating liquid contained in the storage bath that already has been used, and thus the same coating liquid is used many times. However, the viscosity and the characteristics of the coating liquid are changed over time and are changed with a fine difference from those of the newly added coating liquid. Therefore, the application conditions have to be optimized for each coating operation, which decreases the work efficiency.
In blade coating, in view of a conductive support, a blade is positioned near the conductive support and a coating liquid is supplied to the blade. Then, the coating liquid is applied onto the conductive support with the blade, and the blade is withdrawn after one rotation of the conductive support. This method provides high productivity, but when the blade is withdrawn, a part of the coating film applied to the conductive support is protruded by surface tension of the coating liquid and the film thickness becomes non-uniform.
As another method than the above, there is a roll coating method. In this method, a film of a coating liquid with a regulated thickness is formed on an applicator roll, and while a conductive support located near or in contact with the applicator roll and the applicator roll are rotated, the coating liquid is transferred and applied from the applicator roll to the conductive support. However, also in the roll coating method, when detaching the conductive support from the applicator roll after coating, so-called a liquid trailing phenomenon, that is, a phenomenon in which extra coating liquid is attached to the conductive support by the surface tension of the coating liquid tends to occur, and a joint remains in the coating film because of this liquid trailing phenomenon, and the film thickness becomes non-uniform. As a result, defects occur in the images. Herein, "joint" refers to a portion in which the film thickness is non-uniform because extra coating liquid is attached when detaching the conductive support from the applicator roll.
There are conventional techniques for preventing the occurrence of this joint that have been proposed. For example, after a cylindrical substrate is rotated once or more times and coating is ended, the cylindrical substrate is detached from the coating material supplying roll, and it is attempted to achieve leveling (making the film thickness uniform) by allowing the cylindrical substrate to continue to rotate (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 3-12261 (1991)). However, in the method disclosed in JP-A 3-12261, it is necessary to perform precise control of film thickness, estimating the amount of coating material storage to be leveled in advance, and it is difficult to eliminate the joint completely.
Moreover, there is a method for preventing the occurrence of a joint by decreasing the film thickness of coating material on the applicator roll when detaching between the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate from each other after application (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 11-216405 (1999)). Furthermore, there is a method in which after coating, the relationship between the film thickness of the coating material on the applicator roll and the gap formed by the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate is defined, and the amount of the coating material on the applicator roll is reduced from this state, and the linkage of the coating material between the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate is cut (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2000-325863). However, in the methods disclosed either in JP-A 11-216405 or JP-A 2000-325863, the joint cannot be eliminated to such an extent that defects in the images are suppressed completely. Furthermore, in these methods, it is necessary to control the application conditions strictly at the time of application and detachment, so that high production efficiency cannot be expected.
Furthermore, there is a method of controlling the speed at which the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate are detached from each other after coating (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 11-276958 (1999)). However, also in the method disclosed in JP-A 11-276958 as well as in the methods in JP-A 11-216405 or JP-A 2000-325863, the joint cannot be eliminated to such an extent that defects in the images are suppressed completely.
Furthermore, there is a method of forming a rib in a coating film by changing the circumferential speed between the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate and detaching the applicator roll and the cylindrical substrate from each other in that state (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2000-84472). However, in the method disclosed in JP-A 2000-84472, since a rib is formed in the coating film, there are problems described below. That is, when a solvent having a low boiling point is used, the leveling time to eliminate the rib and make the thickness uniform is not sufficient and therefore the coating film swells in waves. When a solvent having a high boiling point is used, the leveling time can be sufficient, but drying takes a long time, which deteriorates the production efficiency significantly. Furthermore, it is necessary to determine strictly the various conditions such as the roll diameter, the circumferential speed, the gap, the coating material viscosity, the surface tension, etc., in order to form a rib, so that it is difficult to determine the application conditions, and the acceptable range for setting of the composition of the coating liquid or apparatus structure is limited. In particular, since the thickness formed as a charge-generating layer and an intermediate layer is small, it is very difficult to set the conditions for forming a rib and even if a rib is formed, it dries in a short time, and a sufficient time for leveling cannot be ensured. As a result, it is difficult to obtain a layer having a uniform film thickness.

Method and apparatus for applying coating liquid to cylindrical substrate and method for producing electrophotographic photoreceptor and electrophotographic photoreceptor produced by the production method


A method of recovering a rare earth element. The method comprises dissolving a rare earth element magnetic material in a dissolution organic solvent and a β-diketone compound to form a dissolved rare earth element mixture. A rare earth element of the rare earth element magnetic material and the β-diketone compound are reacted to form a β-diketonate chelate complex and the dissolution organic solvent is removed. The β-diketonate chelate complex is removed using a separation organic solvent, and the β-diketonate chelate complex is recovered. Additional methods are also disclosed.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are used in consumer and commercial products, such as in rare earth magnets. The rare earth magnets may include neodymium, such as an alloy of neodymium-iron-boride (Nd—Fe—B), or samarium, such as is found in samarium cobalt magnets. Neodymium magnets are permanent magnets having many applications, such as in electric motors for cordless power tools, computer hard disk drives, magnetic resonance imaging devices, wind turbine generators, speakers, headphones, electric vehicle magnets, etc. Methods to manufacture rare earth magnets include compression of the magnetic materials into blocks or sheets, which are cut to shape and then thermally processed. The scrap material and metal shavings, e.g., swarf, are produced during the manufacturing process, and include the REE alloys. With few domestic deposits of REEs, recovering the REEs from magnetic products, swarf, and scrap is of increasing importance. Aqueous-based processes, such as aqueous precipitation or aqueous/organic phase separations, are used to recover the REEs. These processes require a number of process acts to produce REEs of the desired purity, and generate large amounts of aqueous and organic waste.

Methods of recovering rare earth elements