An erosion control system is useful for coastlines, riverbeds, and the like, to protect against erosion caused by a wavefront. The system typically includes an integrated armor layer mounted upon and covering an embankment adjacent the shoreline. The armor layer comprises a plurality of blocks connected in a chainlike configuration by connecting members disposed between neighboring blocks. Each chain is linearly aligned in a direction generally perpendicular to the shore and wavefront, and each chain abuts neighboring chains, but not affixed in any manner thereto. The connecting members have separate elements for absorbing tension and compression.

This invention relates to the prevention or limitation of shoreline or coastal erosion due to wave action, and more particularly, to an erosion control system using an array of blocks chained together by connecting members and placed on the surface of an embankment in the water generally parallel to the shoreline.
Shoreline erosion is a major threat to coastal areas where large land masses are exposed to the continual pounding of the ocean wavefronts. While this problem is of concern to any country having significant coastline, the problem is particularly acute in island nations, such as Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Numerous systems have been proposed to prevent erosion at the interface of water and land.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,222 (Jansson et al.) discloses an articulated mat comprising concrete blocks arranged in a rectangular and flexible grid. Each block has the shape of an elongated cube and has a hole centrally disposed therethrough enabling each block to be readily removed from a form used for casting each block.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,504 (Whitman et al.) Discloses an underwater erosion control system having primary elements that are equilateral triangles having truncated tips, each side of the triangle having a truncated, conically-shaped aperture disposed at the midpoint thereof. A link has truncated, conically-shaped ends that secure two abutting primary elements together, maintaining a fixed distance between the primary elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,705 (Atkinson) discloses an articulated erosion control system of lock blocks and key blocks, which enable the blocks to be interlocked together without extraneous connectors. The lock blocks have a generally hexagonal shape, with cylindrical grooves in alternating sides thereof, and the key blocks comprise a central locking hub from which extend three separately spaced-apart locking arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,536 (Jarlon) discloses a breakwater disposed upon a rubble mound. Each block includes marginal partial ducts on the four side surfaces that form ducts with some adjacent blocks or intermeshed engagement with the adjacent blocks. The breakwater includes an armor capping of blocks having interlocking surfaces disposed therebetween.
While these systems and others like them have generated much discussion and interest, none have provided a satisfactory solution.
What is needed is an integrated armor cladding mounted onto an embankment, the cladding having a high wave energy dissipation rate. An integrated armor structure is needed that can be advantageously used for redirecting and redistributing hydrodynamic forces caused by pounding seawater on an embankment, by cladding the embankment with the armor layer.
The integrated armor structure will resist movement of the blocks relative to each other by the use of connecting members disposed between each pair of adjacent blocks in the chain.

Integrated armored erosion control system

Suite 200-2525 Tecumseh Road West, P.O. Box 1299


Imaging methods and systems for controlling equipment in remote environments are disclosed herein. An example system disclosed herein to control equipment in a remote environment includes an imaging assembly to determine feedback data based on measurement data obtained from a plurality of remote imaging systems controllable to process different respective optical fields-of-view in the remote environment, a flushing assembly controllable to project fluid to clear the optical fields-of-view in the remote environment, and a controller to process the feedback data to determine a control signal to control operation of at least one of (1) the plurality of remote imaging systems or (2) the flushing assembly.

Many oilfield applications, such deepwater and subterranean drilling applications, rely on remote control of equipment, such as manipulators and other robotic automation, operating in remote environments. For example, in deepwater applications, remote manipulators and other robotic automation, such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is controlled from a surface ship or other location, are used to observe, monitor and/or maintain the subsea equipment and instrumentation installed on the seabed. Remote manipulators and other robotic automation are also used in other hazardous remote environments, such as in offshore and/or land-based drilling applications. For example, remote manipulators may be used to install and handle downhole drilling equipment, such as downhole tools, drilling pipes, collars, etc.


Provided is an input device including a coordinate input unit having plural capacitance detection units, a capacitance measurement unit that measures capacitance for each of the plural capacitance detection units, and performs an AD conversion on the measured capacitance to output the converted capacitance as a measurement signal, and a control unit that controls the capacitance measurement unit, calculates a data signal by arithmetically operating the measurement signal, stores the data signal in association with coordinate information of the capacitance detection unit, and outputs a control signal. The control unit calculates a difference value between a predetermined reference value and the data signal at a constant time interval, performs a weighted average process on the data signal and the predetermined reference value to update and store a value on which the process is performed as a new reference value, and changes a weight given to the weighted average process.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an input device, and particularly relates to an input device capable of returning from an erroneous detection due to a foreign substance or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional capacitance-type input devices can determine an operation position by detecting a change in capacitance accompanied by an operation. However, in such capacitance-type input devices, a change in temperature, for example, causes the detection value thereof to be changed, and thus malfunction may occur.
Operations of the input device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-048340 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating operations of the input device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-048340.
As shown in FIG. 5, sensor output values are acquired periodically (step S901), and it is determined whether a predetermined time serving as conditions for performing a correction coefficient update process has elapsed (step S902). When it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed (step S902: YES), it is determined whether the sensor output value is equal to or more than a touch determination threshold (step S903). When it is determined that the sensor output value is less than the touch determination threshold (step S903: NO), a determination threshold change flag F1 is set to "0" (step S908), and the process proceeds to step S909.
In step S903, when it is determined that the sensor output value is equal to or more than the touch determination threshold (step S903: YES), it is determined whether event occurrence information composed of identification information is notified (step S904). When it is determined that a push event notification is not performed, a push event is notified (step S905). When the push event is notified, the process proceeds to step S906 as it is. Thereafter, the determination threshold change flag F1 is set to "1" (step S906), and a difference value between the sensor output value and a predetermined reference value ("512" in an example of the related art) is calculated as a correction coefficient A1 (step S907).
Next, a stored correction coefficient is updated (step S909). Thereby, the content of the correction coefficient is updated so that the sensor output value is set to be equal to the predetermined reference value.
As stated above, in order to suppress a malfunction due to a change in temperature, the detection value is replaced by a new reference value when the operation is not detected, and the sensor output value and the predetermined reference value are replaced by new reference values when the operation is detected. With such a configuration, it is possible to suppress the influence of the detection value caused by a fluctuation in capacitance due to the temperature change.
However, when the operation is detected, the difference value between the sensor output value and the predetermined reference value are set to a new correction coefficient, and the correction coefficient is updated. Therefore, a correct operation can be performed following a fluctuation such as the temperature change. However, when a foreign substance such as, for example, hard currency is placed on the input device, and a touch is detected erroneously, there is a problem in that an output signal indicating an operation until the foreign substance is removed is continued and hence the return from the erroneous detection is not possible.
These and other drawbacks exist.


A device, having a planetary gear and a single motor, in use for switching and transmitting a driving force of the motor to any one of station gears and for driving each station gear in both rotational directions. The operation of locking levers for preventing a planetary gear from revolving around a sun gear is controlled by a cam. The cam is actuated by a driving force of the motor. A spring frictionally connecting the cam and an output shaft of a speed reduction system is interposed therebetween, and a magnet is disposed so as to restrict the movement of the cam when the motor rotates. A sun gear is connected with the output shaft of the speed reduction system with a "play" or gap in order that the rotation of the sun gear is reversed behind time corresponding to the play when the rotation of the motor is reversed, thus making it possible to start actuating the cam earlier than the sun gear for making sure that the locking levers are shifted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an actuating mechanism able to accomplish a plurality of different works independently by the operation of a single motor, and particularly relates to the actuating mechanism for switching and transmitting a driving force to a desired mechanism provided in a camera.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Conventionally, there have been provided some types of actuating mechanisms. Taking actuating mechanisms shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent (Unexamined) Publication Nos. 1-287648 and 3-208033 (FIGS. 8-11 in particular) for examples, a sun gear is connected to an output shaft of a motor, planetary gears are revolved around the sun gear, and a driving force can be switched and transmitted to any desired one of driving stations via one of the planetary gears.
In the former conventional art, a plurality of planetary gears is provided in one-to-one correspondence to respective station gears; namely, there are provided planetary gears equal in number to the station gears. Furthermore, the actuating mechanism is constructed so that one rotational direction of the motor makes each planetary gear revolve, while the other rotational direction thereof makes each planetary gear rotate on its axis. Accordingly, it is only in one direction that each planetary gear can rotate on its axis, and it is not possible to transmit to each station gear the driving force enabling it to rotate in both directions.
In the latter conventional art, it is possible to drive each station gear in both rotational directions, because the revolution of one planetary gear can lead to switching from one station gear to another, and because the movement of its planetary carrier is restrained with the planetary gear engaging the station gear. However, because the restraint or unrestraint of the planetary carrier with respect to each station gear is performed by using a driving source different from one for driving the actuating mechanism itself, and because a large power is required to move the restraining member on which a load due to the driving is imposed and to overcome its friction, a large and expensive plunger must be used in the actuating mechanism. Employing such a large and expensive plunger acts as a disadvantage in providing a smaller and cheaper actuating mechanism.


The present invention provides a correcting method of exposure pattern, an exposure method, a exposure system, a photomask and a semiconductor device, which can simplify an operation required for correcting an optical proximity effect of a light shielding film pattern and data processing. A serif pattern (37) relative to a light shielding film pattern (35) constituting a layout-designed exposure pattern (1) is prepared, and the light shielding film pattern (35) and the serif pattern (37) is graphically computed so as to correct the light shielding film pattern (35). An optical proximity effect in exposure is corrected by using the light shielding film pattern (35), and thereby, it is possible to simplify operational processing required for making an optical proximity effect correction with respect to the light shielding film pattern (35), and to considerably shorten a processing time for making the optical proximity effect correction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a correcting method of exposure pattern, an exposure method, an exposure system, a photomask and a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of preparing a photomask having a light shielding film pattern, prior to a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, computer-aided design (CAD) data relative to an exposure pattern having a previously designed light shielding film pattern is converted into data for lithography system. Subsequently, patterning is faithfully carried out by the lithography system on the basis of the above data for lithography system so as to generate an exposure pattern having the light shielding film pattern thus prepared. Then, the exposure pattern is transferred onto a glass substrate using a photographic technology so as to generate a photomask having the exposure pattern.
In the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, the exposure pattern on the photomask is projected on a semiconductor wafer, on which a photosensitive thin film is previously formed, by using a pattern transfer technology such as a so-called photolithography. Then, the photosensitive thin film is exposed by light and is then developed. Thus, a resist pattern faithfully following a shape of the light shielding film is generated on the semiconductor wafer.
Reference document:
xe2x80x9cIllustrated Ultra-LSI Optics (Zukai Cho-LSI Kogaku)xe2x80x9d published by Tetsugaku Shuppan (K.K.)
In this photolithography process in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a resist pattern having a pattern width near a wavelength of light used for exposure is formed on a semiconductor wafer, and an interference effect of light remarkably appears in the exposure. As a result, a defect by optical proximity effect becomes a problem. Specifically, the optical proximity effect is a factor in causing a dimensional error between a pattern prepared in making a design and the resist pattern that uses the prepared pattern and is generated on the semiconductor wafer in the aforesaid manner using the pattern.
The defect by optical proximity effect appears as an enlargement phenomenon of a width of resist pattern occurring between a plurality of resist line patterns which are formed by being repeatedly arranged, and as a line shrinkage phenomenon occurring in an end portion of an isolated resist pattern. For this reason, in a manufacturing process of the semiconductor device, there is the possibility of causing problems such as a deterioration of gate line width control and a reduction of margin in alignment.
In a semiconductor device manufactured by the manufacturing process having the problem as described above, a dispersion increases in a transistor characteristic, and finally, the yield is reduced. As a result, there is the possibility of remarkably giving an influence to a productivity of a semiconductor chip.
The aforesaid problem is a fatal factor in a manufacturing process of a repeated memory cell requiring a high integration. In order to solve the above problem, after generation of device manufactured by a manufacturing process based on a design by 0.35 xcexcm rule, there is a need for exposing a pattern width in the vicinity of exposure wavelength of a light used in exposing on a semiconductor wafer. For this reason, a high, accurate optical proximity effect automatic correction (hereinafter, referred simply to as OPC) system based on a light intensity simulation has been developed.
After generation of manufacturing a semiconductor device on the basis of a design by 0.35 xcexcm rule, the defect resulting from the optical proximity effect appears as the following phenomena. The phenomena includes a dispersion of a line width of a line pattern arranged and formed in not only repeated memory cell area but also one chip random circuit IC area generated by an ASIC (application specific IC) type semiconductor device such as gate array or the like, and a line shrinkage occurring in an end portion of an isolated resist pattern. Finally, the yield is reduced. As a result, there is a problem of remarkably giving an influence to a productivity of a semiconductor IC chip.
In the aforesaid random circuit IC, in order to correct the optical proximity effect in a random pattern formed into a one-chip scale, the OPC system based on light intensity simulation is applied. However, in this case, the following problems arise. Specifically, a huge calculating time for calculating the correction data is required, and there is an influence of increasing of the number of days required for TAT (turn-around time) from design to manufacturing processes of a semiconductor chip.
For example, a required time for making a correction for each cell unit of about several pm angle is about 10 seconds. However, about several hundreds of days are required in the case of correcting all of defects resulting from the optical proximity effect for each cell unit of the entire semiconductor chip.
In order to solve the problem of requiring a huge required time, the following method has been known as a proper method. Specifically, there is a rule base method of correcting the defect of only limited pattern of the entire IC chip on the basis of a previously set rule. However, at present, this method has no level of making a perfectly satisfied correction on defect.
Next, with reference to FIGS. 4A and B, FIGS. 5A and B and FIG. 8, the following examples will be described. More specifically, there are shown light intensity simulation results of an influence of an optical proximity effect resulting from a coarse and dense dependency of pattern array, and of correcting a pattern receiving the optical proximity effect by using a conventional method.
In FIG. 4A, a reference numeral 1 denotes an exposure pattern formed on a photomask, and the exposure pattern 1 is composed of an isolated light shielding film pattern portion 3, light shielding film pattern portions 5A, 5B and 5C which are densely arranged in parallel with each other.
FIG. 4B shows a resist pattern 7 that is formed on a surface of a semiconductor wafer by exposing the semiconductor wafer using a photomask including the pattern 1 described and shown in FIG. 4A. In the resist pattern 7, 3A is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 3, 7A is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 5A, 7B is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 5B, and 7C is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 5C.
As seen from the resist pattern portions 7A, 7B and 7C shown in FIG. 4B, individual pattern widths 10A, 10B and 10C of these resist pattern portions are formed narrower than individual widths 9A, 9B and 9C of the light shielding film patterns 5A, 5B and 5C. In other words, there is a problem that these pattern widths 10A, 10B and 10C are formed narrower than the pattern width of the resist pattern 3A resulting from an influence of the optical proximity effect.
Next, shrinkage of each pattern width shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B resulting from the optical proximity effect is subjected to a light intensity simulation. Based on the simulation result, individual widths 9A, 9B and 9C of the light shielding film patterns 5A, 5B and 5C are corrected, and then, a semiconductor wafer is exposed using the corrected photomask so as to form a resist pattern. The light intensity simulation result of the resist pattern will be described below with reference to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B.
In FIG. 5A, a reference numeral 11 denotes an exposure pattern of the corrected photomask, and the exposure pattern 11 is composed of an isolated light shielding film pattern portion 13, light shielding film pattern portions 15A, 15B and 15C which are densely arranged in parallel with each other.
In the exposure pattern 11 shown in FIG. 5A, based on the light intensity simulation result of the shrinkage resulting from the optical proximity effect of each pattern shown in FIG. 4A, a pattern width 13A of the isolated light shielding film pattern portion 13 is corrected, and then, the pattern width 13A of the isolated light shielding film pattern portion 13 is formed narrower than individual pattern widths 19A, 19B and 19C of the light shielding film pattern portions 15A, 15B and 15C.
FIG. 5B shows a resist pattern 17 that is formed on a surface of a semiconductor wafer by exposing the semiconductor wafer using a photomask including the pattern 11 described and shown in FIG. 5A. In the resist pattern 17, 16A is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 13, 17A is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 15A, 17B is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 15B, and 17C is a resist pattern according to the light shielding film pattern portion 15C.
As seen from the resist pattern portions 17A, 17B and 17C shown in FIG. 5B, resulting from an influence of the optical proximity effect, individual pattern widths 20A, 20B and 20C of these resist pattern portions are formed narrower than individual widths 19A, 19B and 19C of the light shielding film patterns 15A, 15B and 15C. However, the pattern width 13A of the light shielding film pattern portion 13 is corrected on the basis of the light intensity simulation result. Therefore, it is possible to form the pattern width 16B having the same width as the pattern width 20B. Thus, it is possible to solve the problem as described in FIG. 4B.
Next, a pattern 27 shown in FIG. 6A is an isolated light shielding film pattern formed on a photomask, a pattern 29A shown in FIG. 6B is a resist pattern whose end portion causes a shrinkage resulting from an influence of the optical proximity effect when exposing the isolated light shielding film pattern 27 formed on the photomask on a semiconductor wafer so as to form a resist pattern on a surface of the semiconductor wafer.
Pattern 29 shown by a dotted chain line in FIG. 6B is an assumed resist pattern that will be formed in the case where the resist pattern exposed on the semiconductor wafer and formed on the surface thereof causes no shrinkage.
Pattern 31 shown in FIG. 6C is a pattern that corrects the shrinkage to a direction extending a longitudinal pattern width 27A of the isolated light shielding film pattern portion 27 on the basis of the light intensity simulation result. Thus, when the pattern 31 is exposed onto the semiconductor wafer so as to form a resist pattern on the surface thereof, as shown in FIG. 6D, the resist pattern can be generated as a pattern 33 having the same length as the pattern 29 shown by the dotted chain line.
According to the conventional correcting methods as described above, in the case where there is a need for exposing a pattern width having a size near an exposure wavelength of light used in exposure on a semiconductor wafer, an edge of the pattern is divided. Then, a light shielding film pattern formed on the photomask is exposed on the semiconductor wafer for each divided edge of the pattern so as to generate a semiconductor transfer resist pattern. Subsequently, bias is applied to the resist pattern for each divided edge so that a pattern having a desired shape can be obtained, and thus, correction is made.
The following methods have been proposed as the method of applying bias. Specifically, there are a method of reading a pattern for each divided edge as a data, and computing the data so as to obtain correction data, and a method of obtaining the correction data by mutually connecting moved edges after being moved for edge unit.
However, according to the aforesaid conventional methods, the operation as described above is successively carried out with respect to all patterns per semiconductor wafer formed on the photomask, and then, correction data is generated. For this reason, a processing time for the operation is much spent, and a large amount of memory is required for storing a pattern data generated by the operation. As a result, there is a problem that the operation must be carried out while transferring the memory contents to other high capacity memory, and therefore, a much of time is required. Moreover, it is difficult to obtain a correction data by carrying out the operation in a TAT having a range allowable in practical use.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a correcting method of an exposure pattern comprising the following steps of: generating a serif pattern relative to a layout-designed exposure pattern; correcting the layout-designed exposure pattern by graphically computing the layout-designed exposure pattern and the serif pattern; and correcting an optical proximity effect in exposure by the layout-designed exposure pattern. Therefore, it is possible to rapidly perform operational processing for correcting the optical proximity effect.
Further, the present invention provides an exposure method using an exposure pattern, comprising the following steps of: generating a serif pattern relative to a layout-designed exposure pattern; correcting the layout-designed exposure pattern by graphically computing the layout-designed exposure pattern and the serif pattern; and using an exposure pattern correcting an optical proximity effect in exposure by the layout-designed exposure pattern. Therefore, it is possible to rapidly perform operational processing for correcting the optical proximity effect of the exposure pattern.
Further, the present invention provides an exposure system using an exposure pattern, which generates a serif pattern relative to a layout-designed exposure pattern, and corrects the layout-designed exposure pattern by graphically computing the layout-designed exposure pattern and the serif pattern, and further, uses an exposure pattern correcting an optical proximity effect in exposure by the layout-designed exposure pattern. Therefore, it is possible to rapidly perform operational processing for correcting the optical proximity effect of the exposure pattern of the exposure system.
Further, the present invention provides a photomask including an exposure pattern, which generates a serif pattern relative to a layout-designed exposure pattern, and corrects the layout-designed exposure pattern by graphically computing the layout-designed exposure pattern and the serif pattern, and further, corrects an optical proximity effect in exposure by the layout-designed exposure pattern. Therefore, it is possible to realize a photomask that is capable of rapidly performing operational processing for correcting the optical proximity effect of the exposure pattern.
Further, the present invention provides a semiconductor device manufactured in the following manner of: generating a serif pattern relative to a layout-designed exposure pattern; correcting the layout-designed exposure pattern by graphically computing the layout-designed exposure pattern and the serif pattern; and using an exposure pattern correcting an optical proximity effect in exposure by the layout-designed exposure pattern. Therefore, it is possible to provide a semiconductor device using a correction exposure pattern that is capable of rapidly performing operational processing for correcting the optical proximity effect of the exposure pattern.

Correcting method of exposure pattern, exposure method, exposure system, photomask and semiconductor device


The purpose of the present invention is to more assuredly generate a system construction procedure, while reducing the amount of calculation. This system construction assistance system is provided with: a state model dividing unit 501 that divides state models into one or more groups, on the basis of at least the dependency between state elements included in the state models; a invertibility determination unit 502 that determines the invertibility of a set of state elements belonging to a specified group; a group dependent procedure calculation unit 503 that calculates, for each group after division, a procedure for transitioning the set of state elements belonging to the group to a requested state; and a procedure integration unit 504 that integrates the procedures calculated for each group.

In general, construction and a change of a system is performed by an administrator of the system who create a procedure manual for making components included in the system be in a state as requested and by a worker who executes work according to the procedure manual. In general, so-called construction of system means causing each of the components to transition from an initial state to a required state. So called system change means causing each of the components to transition from a current state to a required state. However, they are different only in the state from which they transit, which is any one of many states or an initial state, and therefore, in the present specification, both are referred to as "construction of the system" that includes both of them. That is, in this specification, the construction of the system means causing the system to transition from any one of many states to a required state. In the following, elements included in a system may be referred to as constituent elements or components of the system.
In order to complete the construction work correctly, the construction work needs to be executed in correct order. Ordering of construction work varies depending on the characteristics and combination of constituent elements of a system. Therefore, in order to correctly generate the procedure manual, it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the targeted system and its components, requiring a high level of expertise and enormous time.
To solve such a problem, there is a technique of representing a component formally on the basis of a requirement concerning a construction procedure and generating a construction procedure automatically from the requirement. For example, NPL 1 describes calculating difference between a current state of a system and a post-construction state of the system on the basis of information in which the post-construction state of the system (i.e. required state of each component) is declaratively described as a model and generating a construction procedure automatically.

System construction assistance system, information processing device, method and storage medium for storing program


A seal for a printer toner cartridge, and a method for employing the seal is provided. The seal provides a flexible thin sheet material that can be folded to form two plies. The thin sheet material defines a seal that is wrapped around the developer roller of the toner cartridge so that a portion of the sheet material extends outwardly from the toner cartridge and can include a pull tab. The sheet material fills gaps formed between the developer roller and a doctor blade and also between the developer roller and a toner application roller. An additional layer is preferably provided to the seal, and joined adjacent the pull tab. It passes through a gap defined between the application roller and another roller, such as a primary charge roller. In addition a compressible strip may be provided between layers of the seal for enhancing the seal. By sealing these gaps, a positive barrier to toner expulsion is created. The seal is easily removed by pulling on the pull tab to slide it over and away from the developer roller. The seal can include foam projections for enhanced sealing at the walls of the cartridge that can be formed from a polymer such as polyethylene.

Most modem laser printers and an increasing number of faxes, copiers and other image-transfer devices utilize self-contained, replaceable toner cartridges. These cartridges include a tank or tanks filled, typically, with a one-part toner, a toner metering system that includes a developer roller and a photosensitive drum. Such cartridges are disposable, but are sufficiently complex so that they are normally recycled after the toner supply in the tank or tanks is exhausted.
A continuing annoyance that plagues both new and remanufactured toner cartridges is the leakage of toner during shipment. Various techniques have been employed to limit toner leakage. Most of these techniques involve the placement of a removable seal adjacent the outlet of the toner tank. During shipment, toner particles, which are sized a few microns or less, act almost as a fluid, tending to slosh about the tank and exhibit hydraulic pressure-like effects. During rough shipment, the pressure often defeats the loosely attached seals. Additionally, dropping the cartridge, subsequent to arrival can also lead to significant toner leakage. The leaking cartridge thus, may be covered in wasted toner before it is installed, soiling the printer interior and the installer.
FIG. 1 illustrates a seal utilized, in particular, in IBM Series 4019/14028/4029/40391/4049 printer cartridges. The toner tank 20 and developer roller structure 22 are shown separated from the remaining cartridge shell and photosensitive drum, which are normally attached, but have been omitted for clarity. The tank 20 includes a rotating agitator 24 to which the seal strip 26 is joined at one end 28. The seal strip 26 lays along the feed slot 30 of the tank 20 that leads into the developer roller structure 22. A series of metering rollers (not shown) are provided within the developer roller structure 22 for dispensing a predetermined quantity of toner from the tank 20 into the developer roller structure 22. These metering rollers will be described further below.
The prior art seal 26 is attached over the slot 30 with a low-tack contact adhesive. When the agitator 24 rotates, in response to the gear wheel 32 (shown in phantom), during operation of the printer, it rolls the seal 26 onto the axle 33 of the agitator 24, separating it from the slot 30. The rolled-up seal remains twisted around the agitator 24 throughout the subsequent operation of the cartridge. An advantage of the self-removing seal 26 is that it is automatically removed upon start-up of the printer without intervention by the operator. However, a major disadvantage is that the seal is, by necessity, only lightly adhered to the slot 30. It is, thus, prone to leakage and rupture during shipment. In addition, the far end 34 of the slot 30, adjacent the attached end 28 of the seal 26 is often poorly seated against the slot 30 and provides a ready opening through which toner can leak.
Thus, the prior art seal system of FIG. 1 exhibits several weaknesses that limit its effectiveness. The seal 26, which is generally constructed from a piece of relatively thick fabric ribbon takes up room inside the tank, reducing the amount of toner that can be placed within the tank 20. The seal 26, due to its weak adhesion to the slot 30, cannot withstand a strong pulse of hydraulic pressure which could result from a completely filled toner tank. Thus, toner levels are usually maintained at only approximately 3/4 of the tank capacity to reduce; "pressures" within the tank during rough handling.
Attempts have been made to overcome the disadvantages of the self-removing seal shown in FIG. 1 by providing an operator-removed seal (not shown) having a pull tab that exits the tank. The operator pulls the tab, which removes a more-securely adhered seal from the tank feed slot. However, this seal is still prone to leakage and the exit hole through which the pull tab is located provides yet another passage for toner leakage. In addition, the cartridge can be installed and operated without removing this type of seal and substantial time, and paper, can be wasted before the operator realizes that the seal has not yet been removed, since the cartridge can run with the seal still in place.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a toner cartridge seal that provides a more-reliable and positive seal during shipment. This seal should enable the toner tank to be filled further and should resist outward pressures of toner during rough handling. The seal should be located so that its presence is obvious to an operator, and should be easily removable prior to installation of the cartridge within a print engine. Finally, the seal should be easy to install during manufacture of the cartridge and inexpensive and easy to manufacture.

Removable shipping seal for a toner cartridge and method for employing the same


An impregnated pallet including a porous metal body to which an electron radiating material is impregnated, a cathode ring having an upper portion in which the impregnated pallet is fitted, and a cathode sleeve containing a heater therein and having a closed upper end mounted to the lower end of the cathode ring such that the closed upper end surface thereof is in close contact with the lower surface of the impregnated pallet, so as to transmit directly the heat from the heater accumulated in the cathode sleeve to the impregnated pallet. A plurality of uniformly spaced metal ribbons are formed integrally with the lower end of the cathode ring. Each metal ribbon has an end fixed to the closed upper end surface of a cathode holder. In accordance with the present invention, the impregnated cathode has an improved construction capable of shortening the video producing time and simplifying the manufacturing process, thereby improving the workability and the productivity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an impregnated cathode, and more particularly to an impregnated cathode with a construction comprising a cathode ring having an upper end to which an impregnated pallet is fitted and a lower end to which a cathode sleeve is fitted and a plurality of metal ribbons formed integrally with the cathode ring, each metal ribbon having an end fixed to a cathode holder, thereby capable of simplifying the manufacturing process and shortening the video producing time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Impregnated cathodes have been mainly used in oscilloscopes which require high cathode current. Recently, they have been also applied to electron tubes which are used in televisions, since the electron tubes require high cathode current, according to the tendency of high resolution and large screen in televisions.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, there is shown an example of conventional impregnated cathode constructions. As shown in the drawings, the cathode comprises a cylindrical cathode cup 12 made of a heat-resistant metal and closed at its lower end, an impregnated pallet 11 fitted in the cathode cup 12 and having a porous heat-resistant sintered body to which an electron radiating material is impregnated, and a cylindrical cathode metal sleeve 13 having a closed upper end and mounted to the cathode cup 12 such that the closed upper end surface is in close contact with the lower end surface of the cathode cup 12. The cathode also comprises a cylindrical cathode holder 14 surrounding the cathode sleeve 13, a plurality of metal ribbons 15 adapted to fixedly maintain the cathode sleeve 13 and the cathode holder 14 and having one end fixed to the upper end surface of the cathode sleeve 13 and the other end fixed to the outer surface of the upper end of cathode holder, and a coil type heater 18 adapted to heat the interior of cathode and received in the cathode holder 14 to extend into the interior of cathode sleeve 13 such that the outer surface thereof is uniformly spaced from the inner surface of the cathode sleeve 13, the heater having an upper end being in contact with the inner surface of the upper end of cathode sleeve 13.
In the drawings, the reference numerals 16 and 17 designate fixing areas where the metal ribbons are fixed to the cathode sleeve 13 and the cathode holder 14.
Now, the operation of the conventional cathode with the above-mentioned construction will be described.
As a drive power is supplied to the heater 18 disposed in the cathode which has been assembled in an electron tube, the heater 18 emits heat, thereby causing the cathode to be heated. At this time, the heat emitted from the heater 18 is transmitted to the cathode cup 12, via the upper end surface of the cathode sleeve 13. The transmitted heat to the cathode cup 12 is then transmitted to the impregnated pallet 11, so that the impregnated pallet 11 radiates electrons, by virtue of the transmitted heat.
In the case of the above-mentioned construction, however, there is a disadvantage of increasing the video producing time, in that the heat generated from the heater 18 is transmitted to the impregnated pallet 11, via the closed surface of the cathode sleeve 13 and the closed surface of the cathode cup 12. Herein, the video producing time means the period of from the turning-on time point of the heater 18 to the time point that a video appears on an electron tube screen, as an electron is radiated from the impregnated pallet 11. In making the conventional cathode with the above-mentioned construction, the cathode cup 12 and the cathode sleeve 13 should be also accord with each other, so as to improve the heat transmission efficiency. Furthermore, the metal ribbons 15 should be fixed to the upper end surface of the cathode sleeve 13 at fixing areas 16 which has been accurately predetermined on the upper end surface. However, these works are very troublesome.


The present invention relates to a nucleic acid ligands capable of binding to one or more target molecules in a complex mixture.

Many biological and chemical systems are composed of a large number of different interacting molecular species. The manner in which many of these molecules interact with each other determines the properties and functions of the particular system. For example, the function and properties of a particular biological system are due to the many and varied interactions that occur between the proteins, nucleic acids and other molecules that make up the system.
In order to understand how such complex systems function, it is necessary to define the individual interactions that occur between the different molecular species. A first step in defining these interactions is the identification of what molecular species are present in a system, and at what concentration they exist to exert their actions.
An improved understanding of the molecular species present in a complex system, and at what concentrations they exist, is also important in determining how some complex systems undergo a transition from one state to another state. For example, such considerations are important in understanding how the change from a normal state to a diseased state occurs for some cell types. An understanding of the identity and concentration of the molecular species present in a system is also important in terms of diagnosis and prognosis. For example, the transformation of a normal tissue to a pre-malignant tissue, and ultimately to a malignant one, may be able to be identified by an improved understanding of the presence and concentration of the molecular species present at any particular time in the cells of interest.
A powerful tool for the identification of the molecular species present in a complex mixture is the use of probe molecules that have the capacity to bind or interact with a particular molecule of interest. For example, antibodies may be used to identify specific antigens in complex mixtures of antigens. Naturally occurring ligands to a molecule (or engineered variants thereof) may be detectably labelled and used to identify their targets in complex mixtures of receptor molecules. Nucleic acids complementary to another specific nucleic acid may be used to identify and characterise the specific nucleic acid in a complex mixture of nucleic acids.
Accordingly, the generation of ligands with specificity to new or important target molecules is an important tool for research, diagnosis and treatment. However, the generation of new ligands to a specific target molecule is often problematic. In some cases, rational design of new ligands may be effective. In such instances a detailed understanding of the three dimensional structure of the relevant part of the target molecule is usually required. However, many target molecules (for example proteins) have complex structures, making the rational design of new ligands to the molecule difficult.
In some instances it is possible to identify new ligands to a target molecule without knowledge of the structure of the target molecule. In this case, the ability to identify new ligands is usually dependent upon the ability to generate a large number of molecules of different structure, a proportion of which may have the capacity to bind to a target molecule with useful affinity. For example, the generation of antibodies in vivo relies on such a principle. However, for the generation of antibodies specific to a particular target molecule it is usually necessary to first isolate the target antigen and/or screen a large number of monoclonal antibodies for binding to the target antigen. In addition, the use of antibodies as tools is often limited by the capacity to generate and isolate antibodies against specific types of target antigens, and the fact that the generation and testing of antibodies is a time consuming and labour intensive process.
Single stranded nucleic acids also have the capacity to form a multitude of different three dimensional structures. Indeed, single stranded nucleic acids may have a three dimensional structural diversity not unlike proteins. The three dimensional structure adopted by any one single stranded nucleic acid is dependent upon the primary sequence of nucleotides, and ultimately is the result of the numerous types of intra-molecular interactions that occur between atoms present in the molecule and inter-molecular interactions that occur between atoms present in the molecule and the surrounding solvent. The three dimensional structure will also depend upon the kinetics and thermodynamics of folding of any one structure.
Because single stranded nucleic acids have the capacity to form a multitude of different three dimensional structures, they may also be potential ligands to a large variety of different types of target molecules. Single stranded nucleic acids that have the capacity to bind to other target molecules are generally referred to as aptamers. In fact, given the structural diversity possible with single stranded nucleic acids; it may be possible to isolate a single stranded nucleic acid with a useful binding affinity to any molecule of interest.
In this regard, chemical synthesis of nucleic acids allows the generation of a pool of large numbers of single stranded nucleic acids of random nucleotide sequence. If the complexity of the pool of single stranded molecules generated by chemical synthesis is sufficient, it may be possible to isolate a unique nucleic acid ligand to any specific molecule. For example, SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) is a technique that allows the isolation of specific nucleic acid ligands from a starting pool of candidate single stranded nucleic acids. By a process of reiterated steps of binding nucleic acids to a target molecule, isolation of the bound nucleic acids and subsequent amplification, nucleic acid ligands to a specific molecule may be quickly and easily identified.
However, a deficiency in the use of single stranded nucleic acid targets has been the inability to identify and use single stranded nucleic acid ligands to complex mixtures of molecules, as for example are present in cellular extracts. The large number of molecules present in the mixture, and the variety of interactions of varying affinity that are possible between molecules in the mixture and nucleic acid ligands, has made the identification and use of specific nucleic acid ligands to such mixtures problematic.
For example, the isolation of a specific nucleic acid ligand to a specific molecule by a process such as SELEX using purified, or even partially purified targets, does not necessarily result in a nucleic acid ligand that is effective in binding to the specific molecule when that molecule is present in a complex mixture of other potential target molecules. It would be advantageous to isolate nucleic acid ligands that can bind to specific molecules present in complex mixtures. It would also be advantageous to use such ligands to screen for differences in the concentration of specific target molecules between different sets of complex mixtures.
In addition, a further deficiency with the identification of nucleic acid ligands to complex mixtures has been the inability to readily produce a library of different nucleic acid ligands to the complex mixture. For example, it would ultimately be advantageous for many reasons to be able to readily isolate a unique nucleic acid ligand to every biologically significant molecule in a complex mixture.
To produce such a library of nucleic acid ligands by existing SELEX techniques would require the isolation of a specific target molecule present in the complex mixture and the independent isolation of a nucleic acid ligand to that specific molecule. In such a way, by repeating this process for each newly isolated molecule present in the complex mixture, a library of nucleic acid ligands to a number of different molecules in the complex mixture could be built up. However, not only is such a sequential manner of isolating nucleic acid ligands laborious and time consuming, the ligands so isolated may not be effective in binding to their specific target molecules, when those molecules are present in a complex mixture of other molecules.
The present invention relates to methods for the isolation of nucleic acid ligands that are capable of binding to target molecules present in complex mixtures.


A mold assembly device for use in sand casting of engine cylinder blocks is disclosed, the mold assembly device includes a magnet for securing a cast-in-place cylinder bore liner during assembly of a mold package, wherein the magnet militates against undesirable movement of the bore liner during assembly of the mold package.

In a sand casting process for an aluminum internal combustion engine block, an expendable mold package is assembled from a plurality of resin-bonded sand cores that define the internal and external surfaces of the engine block. Typically, each of the sand cores is formed by blowing resin-coated foundry sand into a core box and curing it therein. Cast-in-place bore liners are often used in such castings.
Typically, in the manufacture of an aluminum engine block with cast-in-place bore liners, the mold assembly method involves positioning a base core on a suitable surface and building up or stacking separate mold elements to shape such casting features as the sides, ends, water jacket, cam openings, and crankcase. The bore liners are positioned on barrel core features such that the liners become embedded in the casting after the metal is poured into the mold. Additional cores may be present as well depending on the engine design. Various designs for the barrel cores are used in the industry. These include individual barrel cores, "V" pairs of barrel cores, barrel-slab cores, and integral barrel crankcase cores. The barrel-slab and integral barrel crankcase designs are often preferred because they provide more accurate positioning of the liners within the mold assembly.
The engine block casting must be machined in a manner to ensure, among other things, that the cylinder bores (formed from the bore liners positioned on the barrel features of the barrel cores) have uniform bore liner wall thickness, and that other critical block features are accurately machined. This requires the liners to be accurately positioned relative to one another within the casting. The ease and consistency with which the bore liners are brought into the desired final position during the mold assembly process is an important consideration.
In barrel slab cores, the bore liners are positioned on the barrel core features by slidingly placing the bore liners on the barrel core features. Alternatively, the liners may be placed into the core tooling and the core sand blown into the liners to form the barrel core feature. Prior to casting, the barrel-slab cores are inverted for assembly into the mold package. Undesirable movement of the bore liners relative to the slab core may occur while the assembly is inverted.
One attempt to resolve the issues described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,997. In the '997 patent, an internal diameter chamfer is incorporated into the cylinder bore liner design to militate against undesirable displacement of the cylinder bore liner. Another attempt to resolve the issues described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,200. In the '200 patent, an expanding mandrel is used inside of a hollow barrel core to secure the cylinder bore liner to the barrel core during assembly of the mold package.
It would be desirable to produce a mold assembly device which secures a cast-in-place cylinder bore liner for use in sand casting of engine cylinder blocks during assembly of a mold package, wherein the mold assembly device militates against undesirable movement of the bore liner during assembly of the mold package.


A trimodal microlens configuration is provided for the lenses in a microlens array utilized as a diffraction separator for generating separated bands of different color when the microlens array is provided with a collimated light source. To provide the trimodal functionality, each microlens is divided up into three segments, with the center segment providing a red, green, blue diffraction pattern, with the left segment providing a blue, red, green diffraction pattern, and with the right segment providing a green, blue, red diffraction pattern. This pattern is directed towards an adjacent liquid crystal color display in which its sub-pixels are arranged red, green, blue, with the green sub-pixel aligned with the center segment of the corresponding lens. The result of the trimodal lens is an overlapping of illumination for each of the sub-pixels in that the lens segment aligned with the particular colored sub-pixel provides one third of the light, with the other two thirds of the light being provided by adjacent segments of the lenses in the microlens array. The result of the overlapping illumination of the sub-pixels is that the viewing direction is symmetric about a normal to the array which makes the design of the diffuser used with liquid crystal displays quite simple and eliminates off-axis dead zones. The trimodal structure of the microlens also permits fabrication of a thin lens which minimizes the number of steps for a diffraction line and thus limits the number of etching steps required as well as making the etching process easier to control.

This invention relates to diffractive color separation and more particularly to a diffraction color separation microlens which is trimodal.
It will be appreciated that color liquid crystal display panels are routinely utilized in laptop computers. However, these displays are not generally sunlight viewable due to the reflection of the sunlight back towards the viewer. In an effort to provide such displays with enough brilliance and enough color saturation to be able to be viewed in direct sunlight, recently a liquid crystal display has been provided with a microlens array in which the colors from a light source are separated out into distinct bands which illuminate the various red, green and blue sub-pixels associated with the display.
The microlens array used for diffractive color separation may be made in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,486, incorporated herein by reference, in which there are only a few steps in each diffraction line of the lens. Recently by applying a genetic algorithm, a large number of steps are provided per grating line to improve color separation and saturation. In this improvement over the Gal et al Patent, a microlens array is provided in which each microlens diffraction grating has a large number of steps for each grating line. However, the thickness of such a microlens in one embodiment is on the order of 12 microns. The 12 micron thickness is required due to the microlens design in which all portions of the microlens contribute to the red, green and blue bands of light imaged on the sub-pixels of the color liquid crystal display. Because of the many steps for each diffraction line a deeply etched structure is required. Generating such a deeply etched lens is difficult due to the multiple masks required and extensive process control, as will be appreciated control difficulty is proportional to the etch depth. It is therefore desirable to provide a microlens in which etch depth can be minimized so as to bring down the overall thickness of the lens from a 12 microns thickness to a 4 microns thickness. The result of so doing is to decrease the etching time and increase etch accuracy. Additionally, the ability to limit the etch step depth decreases the number of different masking steps necessary to provide the various steps in the diffraction grating.
Moreover, with the aforementioned microlens arrays it will be appreciated that each microlens is responsible for separating collimated light into three colored bands, each focused on one of the three sub-pixels. What this means is that for sub-pixels which are not the center sub-pixel, namely the red sub-pixel and the blue sub-pixel, light exiting the sub-pixel is not symmetrically distributed around the normal to the face of the display. What this means is that in uncompensated displays the observer must move his or her head to the left or right in order to see the red or blue hue. For the red pixel for instance, if the person""s head is to the left of the normal, the individual may see no color at all or a black region. What this means is that for displays which are not angle corrected, off-normal viewing is impeded.
In the past, in order to correct for the off-normal viewing a properly designed diffuser adjacent the front face of the liquid crystal display is required to distribute the light into the appropriate viewing angle. However the design of such a diffuser is made somewhat complicated by the non-symmetrical light emanating from the red and blue sub-pixels.
By way of further background, U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,257, incorporated herein by reference, describes a flat panel display utilizing the microlenses. U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,269, incorporated herein by reference, describes a dispersive microlens for use in detecting multiple, different wavelengths and for combining a plurality of different, emitted wavelengths. As illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,482,800 and 5,310,623, a method for fabricating microlenses utilizing photolithographic techniques is described.
In order to provide for a thinner microlens structure involving significantly less etch step depth and in order to correct for non-symmetrical distribution of light from the non-center sub-pixels, in one embodiment a trimodal lens is provided with a central region which diffracts the light about a normal thereto in the usual red, green, blue diffraction pattern. This is accomplished by the center third of the lens. The left hand third of the lens has specially configured diffraction lines to provide a blue, red and green diffraction pattern and the right hand third has specially configured diffraction lines to provide a green, blue, red diffraction pattern. The result is that for any sub-pixel, its light comes from the lens segment immediately in front of it and two adjacent lens segments such that the cone of illumination is symmetric about a normal to the microlens array and has the viewing direction. This eliminates the dead zones associated with single mode microlenses.
As a result, all light from a sub-pixel exits in a cone symmetrical about this normal, thereby minimizing the viewing angle discrepancy, and permitting a much simplified diffuser for the liquid crystal display.
In addition to solving the viewing angle discrepancies associated with prior microlens diffractive separators, the subject array of microlenses can be fabricated more exactly due to the thinness of the microlens and decrease in depth of the etching steps. The reason is that since a sub-pixel has light from the three closest symmetrically arranged microlens segments, a single segment need not output light at a larger angle, as in the case with a single mode lens. A significant portion of the etch depth is due to the focusing requirement. With the reduced focusing requirement of the trimodal lens, the total etch depth is reduced dramatically.
The iterative algorithm for defining the stepped structure and the fresnel focusing is now described. For purposes of this invention a genetic algorithm is an iterative method to design the surface profile of the color separator by defining several physical features of the surface profile as genes which are allowed to evolve to an optimal solution. For the present purposes the gene involved is the width of each of the optical elements. Other factors include the design wavelength and the focal plane as physical constraints. Each generation of the genetically defined surface function is scored with a testing function. High scoring surfaces are allowed to go on to the next generation, thus to provide a test of the fit of the surfaces to provide an ideal result.
In the present case the widths and heights of all portions of the design including the diffraction grating and the fresnel portion are provided in terms of a set of seed functions. The resulting surface profile is tested with the testing function, with the testing function giving an overall weight to the profile generated. Succeeding generations of the design are based on the initial seeds plus random elements to allow for genetic variation. Iteratively stepping through this process provides a maximal fit for optimal design.
In one embodiment, with physical constraints as to step width and the overall pixel size, a seed set is generated which includes a particular step width and a pattern of step heights for each element. In one embodiment the microlens is to have a 330 micron diameter. This is broken up into 1.2 micron elements. The seed set generates a surface which is tested using standard diffraction grating theory to ascertain the diffraction efficiency and focusing capability. Standard diffraction grating theory is described in a text entitled Optics by Hecht, p. 312-465 in a section entitled Diffraction. The surface profile of the microlens can be described as a transmission phase grating with non-uniform placement of elements. The test function analyzes the phase contribution from each element from first principles of diffraction theory.
The test determines at a given off axis angle what the expected light intensity should be at a given color. The test also convolves the focusing merit figure, so that after a number of iterations in which random variations are added, an optimal solution is finally achieved.
This is accomplished by crossing for instance 5 seeds with each other. This means that the result of one seed is crossed with the result of another seed, with the results being tested. If 5 seeds are crossed one can obtain as many as 25 testable results. These results are tested and the worst 20 are discarded. The results are then crossed again along with a random seed input to permit the genetic change.
Thus, in general a genetic algorithm is one in which as number of seeds are used to create a result. The results are then crossed with each other to obtain multiple results which are then tested. Superior results are selected and crossed with each other along with a random seed factor and the results tested again. In this manner a large number of results can be tested to determine the optimal result.
In summary, a trimodal microlens configuration is provided for the lenses in a microlens array utilized as a diffraction separator for generating separated bands of different color when the microlens array is provided with a collimated light source. To provide the trimodal functionality, each microlens is divided up into three segments, with the center segment providing a red, green, blue diffraction pattern, with the left segment providing a blue, red, green diffraction pattern, and with the right segment providing a green, blue, red diffraction pattern. This pattern is directed towards an adjacent liquid crystal color display in which its sub-pixels are arranged red, green, blue, with the green sub-pixel aligned with the center segment of the corresponding lens. The result of the trimodal lens is an overlapping of illumination for each of the sub-pixels in that the lens segment aligned with the particular colored sub-pixel provides one third of the light, with the other two thirds of the light being provided by adjacent segments of the lenses in the microlens array. The result of the overlapping illumination of the sub-pixels is that the viewing direction is symmetric about a normal to the array which makes the design of the diffuser used with liquid crystal displays quite simple and eliminates off-axis dead zones. The trimodal structure of the microlens also permits fabrication of a thin lens which minimizes the number of steps for a diffraction grating and focusing lens and thus limits the number of etching steps required as well as making the etching process easier to control.

Bae Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration, Inc


A method whereby a mass spectra generated by a mass spectrometer is calibrated by shifting the parameters used by the spectrometer to assign masses to the spectra in a manner which reconciles the signal of ions within the spectra having equal mass but differing charge states, or by reconciling ions having known differences in mass to relative values consistent with those known differences. In this manner, the mass spectrometer is calibrated without the need for standards while allowing the generation of a highly accurate mass spectra by the instrument.

Not Applicable
The present invention relates generally to a method for improving the calibration of a mass spectrometer. More specifically, the invention is a method whereby a mass spectra generated by a mass spectrometer is calibrated by shifting the parameters used by the spectrometer to assign masses to the spectra in a manner which reconciles the signal of ions within the spectra having equal mass but differing charge states, or by reconciling ions having known differences in mass to relative values consistent with those known differences. In this manner, the present invention allows calibration of the mass spectrometer without the need for standards while allowing the generation of a highly accurate mass spectra by the instrument.
The ability of mass spectrometry to rapidly sort through complex biological mixtures and identify the component proteins, peptides, oligonucleo-tides, and noncovalent complexes is rapidly being adopted in biological research, especially for proteome characterization and protein profiling. There is a well recognized need for the high throughput identification of these and other species, for example proteins and their posttranslational modifications that are, for example, up-regulated or down-regulated in response to a specific external stimulus, the onset of disease, or normal aging. The conventional approach to proteomics involves the high resolution separation of proteins using 2D polyacryl-amide gel electrophoresis followed by their one-at-a-time excision and characterization, increasingly exploiting mass spectrometry. Additional information is generally gathered in the form of a correlation between the peptide masses for peptide fingerprinting (e.g., their common origin from a single protein), or by partial peptide sequencing. However, even complete automation of separations and sample processing imposes practical limitations upon the throughput of these methods.
The use of higher mass accuracy mass measurements has the potential to greatly speed proteome characterization and protein identification. Sufficiently high mass measurement accuracy, in principal, can enable the identification of a protein from a single peptide mass. Thus, a complex protein mixture can be enzymatically digested and the resulting peptide mixture separated and used for protein profiling and posttranslational modification determination. Yates and co-workers have pioneered an approach based upon capillary liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) of enzymatically digested protein mixtures in McCormack, A. L.; Schieltz, D. M.; Goode, B.; Yang, S.; Barnes, G.; Drubin, D.; Yates, J. R. Anal. Chem. 1997, 69, 767-776, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by this reference.
Processing of more complex mixtures for ever higher throughput analyses, such as the analysis of whole proteomes, results in much greater demands on mass spectrometry, in terms of speed, resolution, mass measurement accuracy, and data-dependent acquisition. As such, calibration schemes that can enable higher mass accuracy measurements to be accomplished over a wide range of conditions play an essential role in the successful application of mass spectrometry to protein identification from complex peptide mixtures. Experiments involving on-line chromatographic or electrophoretic separations also present the additional constraint that mass calibration functions, for example, in Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR), can change from spectrum to spectrum for reasons related to variations in the size of the trapped ion population. For example, Easterling et al. recently demonstrated that the detected cyclotron frequency (and the derived mass measurement) in FTICR experiments could change over a range of 110 ppm for MALDI mass spectra of the peptide bradykinin de-pending upon trapped ion population size in Easterling, M. L.; Mize, T. H.; Amster, I. J. Anal. Chem. 1999, 71, 624-632, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference. Clearly, such a level of mass measurement uncertainty greatly limits protein characterization efforts and generally precludes the use of mass measurements for single peptide species for protein identification (i.e., to serve as a xe2x80x9cbiomarkerxe2x80x9d for a specific protein). Importantly, Easterling et al. also showed that this frequency shift, at least to the very low ppm level is linearly related to the number of trapped ions and thus, can be effectively corrected when the ion population size is known or reproducibly controlled. This observed effect of ion population is also consistent with the understanding of the effects of space charge upon ion cyclotron motion in FTICR. In Burton, R. D.; Matuszak, K. P.; Watson, C. H.; Eyler, J. R. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 1999, 10, 1291-1297, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference, Burton et al. showed that measurements based upon xe2x80x9cexternal calibrationxe2x80x9d and a single xe2x80x9cinternalxe2x80x9d standard could provide mass accuracies essentially equivalent to those obtained with multiple internal calibrants, and an order of magnitude greater accuracy than external calibration alone. These results are also consistent with the conclusion of Easterling et al., showing that variations in trapped ion population sizes lead to essentially constant ion cyclotron frequency shifts or offsets across the mass spectrum.
Space-charge effects on mass calibration are manifested by stepwise shifts, or offsets, of all frequencies to an extent that depends upon ion population size, a quantity that is generally unknown or not well defined in most experiments. Thus, the requirement for prior knowledge of the sample, the trapped ion population, or the conditions under which the measurements were made, presents a drawback for this technique, and there is still a general need for improved methods for calibrating a mass spectometer without the use of calibrants and where the ion population size is unknown.
The present invention exploits information that is derived from the mass differences for different charge states of the same molecular species that are generally present in a mass spectra where molecules of differing charge states but identical mass are present, such as those formed in electro-spray ionization mass spectra. The operation of the present invention is described herein in the context of addressing space-charge effects on mass calibration for Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry, but as will be apparent to those having skill in the art, the present invention is equally applicable to other types of instruments as well, because similar offsets in time-of-flight, sector mass spectrometers, or quadrupole ion trap data, for example, can readily be assessed using the method of the present invention. The use of the present invention with such instruments should therefore be understood to be within the scope of the present invention. The method of the present invention is also applicable in cases where ions having predictable mass differences occur, such as the case with adducts, and the present invention should be understood to include such cases.
The present invention determines the frequency shift in a way that does not require any prior knowledge of the sample, trapped ion population, or the conditions under which the measurements were made. In fact, with larger numbers of charge states, possible higher-order nonlinear frequency shifts (frequency shifts that vary across the frequency or m/z spectrum) should also be amenable to deconvolution, because subsequent pairs of charge states across the envelope could be used to effectively define the frequency shift as a function of frequency. However, the present invention described herein shows that first order, linear effects of space charge, can be corrected to provide improved mass measurement accuracy.
The present invention makes use of the fact that mass resolution sufficient to resolve isotopic peaks in electrospray source ionization (ESI) FTICR and other mass spectrometers allows definitive charge state assignment. In cases where multiple charge states are observed, as is common with electro-spray ionization, a relationship exists between the m/z of each isotopic peak for each charge state of a given species. For positively charged species resulting from protonation or other cation attachment, this relationship is defined by             (              m        /        z            )        n    =                    M        +                  n                                (                          M              c                        )                              n        =          kB      fn
where (m/z)n is the observed mass to charge ratio of a given peak in the isotopic envelope, n is the number of charges, M is the molecular weight, and Mc is the mass of the charge carrier, k is a proportionality constant relating m/z to the magnetic field (B) and the cyclotron frequency (fn). The first order linear shift of the observed cyclotron frequencies due to space-charge effects results in m/z values for each of the peaks being shifted from their xe2x80x9ctruexe2x80x9d position. In addition, because of the constant frequency shift and the relationship between m/z and frequency, the relationship between charge states is also affected and is observed in the xe2x80x9cdeconvolutedxe2x80x9d mass spectrum. For example, solving the above equation for M in terms of cyclotron frequency gives   M  =            n                    xe2x80x83                          kB        fn              -          n                    (                  M          c                )
From this equation, it is clear that if all cyclotron frequencies fn are shifted by some offset Df due to space-charge effects, the observed perturbation on the deconvoluted mass, M, is charge state dependent since the quantity kB/(f1 Df) is multiplied by the charge state in the above equation. Thus, Df can be derived from the mass domain by the iterative addition or subtraction of incremental frequency shifts prior to deconvolution. The minimum error is obtained when the observed mass differences produced for different charge states are eliminated; i.e., when the optimal frequency offset due to space-charge effects has been determined.
Thus, the present invention is a method for improving the calibration of a mass spectrometer having calibration parameters by first measuring the mass to charge signal generated by ions within the mass spectrometer using the calibration parameters, then identifying a plurality of ions of equal mass having differing charge states, then adjusting the calibration parameters to cause the plurality of ions of equal mass having differing charge states to be shifted to show the same mass, and finally adjusting the measured mass to charge signal generated by the ions within the mass spectrometer utilizing the adjusted calibration parameters. In this manner, a spectrum of the ions having improved calibration may be determined. In cases where ions are present which have predictable mass differences, such as with known adducts, the present invention proceeds in an analogous manner by first measuring the mass to charge signal generated by ions within the mass spectrometer using the calibration parameters, then identifying a plurality of ions having known mass differences having differing charge states; then adjusting the calibration parameters to cause the plurality of ions having differing masses to be shifted to a relative position corresponding to the known differences in their mass, and finally adjusting the measured mass to charge signal generated by the ions within the mass spectrometer utilizing the adjusted calibration parameters.
The subject matter of the present invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. However, both the organization and method of operation, together with further advantages and objects thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like elements.

Method for calibrating mass spectrometers


The invention relates to a hydraulic fluid power transmission comprising: actuator apparatus having a plurality of chambers, each of the chambers having a respective fluid driving surface configured to drive or be driven by hydraulic fluid therein; a discretised pressure control system configured to selectively connect one or more first chambers of the said plurality of chambers to one of a plurality of hydraulic fluid sources or sinks, at least two of the plurality of hydraulic fluid sources or sinks having different fluid pressures; a continuous pressure control system configured to control the pressure of hydraulic fluid, or a flow rate of hydraulic fluid, input to or output from one or more second chambers of the said plurality of chambers, the pressure or flow rate of the hydraulic fluid input to or output from the second chambers being thereby variable within a range of pressures or flow rates respectively; and a controller configured to control the discretised and continuous pressure control systems to thereby regulate a property of the actuator affected by the hydraulic fluid pressure in the said chambers.

The load applied by hydraulic actuators can be controlled in two main ways: continuous smooth pressure control to the actuator or actuators; or switching the total area of an actuator or actuators between high and low pressure to produce discrete or "quantised" load steps (rather than a smoothly varying function).
A straightforward and commonly used means of continuously controlling the pressure applied to an actuator is by using a proportional control valve to regulate the pressure in the actuator chamber directly. Fluid is pumped up to a high pressure and stored in an accumulator. When the actuator is to be driven a proportional control valve is used to throttle much of this pressure away to produce an intermediate pressure that is applied to the actuator to drive it at a prescribed load or speed. When the actuator must resist motion a control valve throttles pressure generated in the actuator back to low pressure reservoir. While being simple and potentially permitting high instantaneous powers this approach is of course very inefficient and wasteful as control can only be effected in either mode by dissipating excess pressure energy as heat and noise.
Another common method is to use a closed hydraulic circuit where a single bidirectional hydraulic pump-motor (operable to function as a pump or a motor in different operating modes) is used to alternately take fluid from one side of a bidirectional actuator and pump it into the other. This allows for continuous and high bandwidth control of load and motion but instantaneous power is limited to that of the pump-motor, no energy storage or smoothing is possible, and while usually better than the purely dissipating system above (in most circumstances) part load efficiency is poor due to the full instantaneous power rating of the pump-motor machine and the fact that it must run continuously.
A third method, illustrated in FIG. 1, uses a pair of pump-motors 10, 12 on a common shaft 14 which creates a true continuously variable transmission with energy storage. One pump-motor 10 exchanges fluid between a high pressure energy store 16 and a low pressure reservoir 18, under control of its displacement, to provide a bi-directional torque to the common shaft 14. The other pump-motor 12 can then use this torque to transmit flow bi-directionally to or from the actuator 20. Thus power can be transmitted between the actuator 20 and the energy store 16. A hydraulic pump or motor 21 coupled to a prime mover or generator 22 may be provided in communication with the energy store 16 to thereby provide an overall power source or sink of the average power requirements of the system. This system allows for power exchange and storage and a much smaller prime mover or generator rating but suffers from the instantaneous power and part load efficiency limits of the rotating machines.
As well as avoiding the need to rate the prime mover or generator for the instantaneous power requirements (as does the quantised system described below), this system allows continuously variable transmission of flow, load and power without the discrete steps of a quantised system. On the other hand, while common in mobile and industrial applications where cost and efficiency is not a primary concern (for example in offshore lifting equipment, or in large earth moving equipment), conventional fluid power transforming systems would have fundamental drawbacks that prevent their useful application in renewable energy applications where the high peak-to-average power and flow ratios mean that the high capital costs and high losses at part load would be unacceptable given the wider economic drivers.
Quantised transmissions typically use digitally controlled fast acting valves to actively pressurise and de-pressurise discrete actuator areas. This alters the aggregate area over which a nominally steady pressure is applied to vary the total applied force in a series of steps rather than as a smooth function. This is known as a 'quantised' system and the process of approximating the desired continuous system or function with a series of steps is known as 'quantisation'. In hydraulic transmissions such an approach provides for rapid control of force with relatively very efficient power transmission between the actuators and a local energy store. The working pressure in the energy store may be controllable via a secondary transmission (generation/supply) system.
Quantised approximation to continuous control can be achieved by selecting from the available discrete load steps in real time. A quantised fluid power transmission uses digitally controlled hydraulic valves to admit flow between the individual areas of the load bearing actuators (e.g. either side of hydraulic cylinder pistons or between the ports of rotary hydraulic actuators) and the high or low pressure parts of the circuit. Hence the net forces applied by each actuator area, and hence the load as a whole, can be controlled in real time by combining different chamber pressures in sequence with accurate timing.
An example of a quantised transmission is shown in FIG. 2 for the case of a simple fixed displacement rotary actuator 30. In this example, single actuator chambers of an actuator 30 operate in opposing directions, the actuator chambers being selectively connected to a high pressure energy store 32 or a low pressure reservoir 34 by way of respective pairs 36, 38 of electronically controlled low and high pressure valves 40, 42. The valves may be switched open or closed to admit flow to or from the actuators from or to the high or low pressure galleries to which they are connected to control the pressure in each actuator chamber. There are three possible load states of the actuator 30: zero; and one step in either direction, the magnitude of the load steps being a function of the relative actuator area (e.g. the area of a fluid driving surface of a piston of the actuator) and the step pressure applied. Additional actuators can be added in parallel together to increase the available load and number of load steps. The greater the number of steps the closer the stepped load profile will approximate a continuous load control function (but the greater the number of components, overall complexity and cost).
The quantised transmission may be hydraulically coupled (e.g. by way of energy store 32) to a hydraulic pump or motor 43 coupled to a prime mover or generator 44, thereby providing an overall power source or sink to the system.
For any applied load the absorbed power passes to and from the energy storage system without passing through any finite displacement and inefficient rotating machines. The flow only has to pass through the switched inlet and outlet valves and any plumbing connections. These can be sized to accept effectively unlimited flow potential at very little cost and complexity. The quantised transmission thus provides a route between the actuator(s) and the power pack (or electricity generator) components through a set of digitally controlled valves with no fixed losses and minimal restriction of the fluid. This offers lower losses and improved efficiency compared to a design using conventional variable displacement pump/motors to vary the pressure in the primary actuators. This is because the losses associated with conventional variable displacement pump/motors include leakage, churning, friction, and parasitic losses in the boost system that are not present in the quantised transmission using digital valves to pressurise and depressurise discrete actuation steps.
Furthermore, the quantised system can transmit power and flow over a range only limited by the fluid resistance through the digital valves and fluid connections (connections required for any system), whereas the finite rating of any variable displacement pump/motor arranged in line with the actuator(s) must also limit the power rating of the whole primary actuation system. The latter is a far greater restriction in terms of power rating and equipment cost, size, and poor part-load efficiency.
For a given power handling capability, the cost of the digital control manifolds required to implement the quantised transmission are relatively low when compared to variable displacement pump-motors. The quantised system has relatively flat efficiency across the power range: there are zero fixed losses (except for the relatively tiny power requirements of the digital control solenoids), flow losses lie only in fluid transit, and volumetric losses are only significant for very small actuator motions. A directly coupled variable displacement pump/motor transmission would suffer excessive losses at low powers. Sizing a variable displacement pump/motor to meet a given power range makes it very inefficient towards the bottom of that power range. Therefore, for applications involving large ratios of peak to average power and flow, such as in renewable energy power take-off or in heave compensation systems, conventional systems are ill-suited.
A major drawback of the quantised approach lies in the application of discrete load steps rather than a continuously variable load. Hysteresis, is required in the quantisation process to avoid limit cycling (instability where the quantised system switches rapidly back and forth between two states due to interaction with the step load and the dynamic response of the system affecting the demand signal) around transitions so at practical step sizes, the quantisation process must introduce a significant phase shift from the ideal load signal to maintain stable operation. This limits the performance of the load and motion control system as a whole to well below that possible with a continuous load control.
The switching of pressures in the hydraulic cylinders leads to a stepped load profile when a smoothly varying one would be preferable from a control point of view. The steps in load can cause significant limitations to the gains that may be attained in a force or motion control loop. In many applications, a quantised system is not viable due to the need for absolute motion control, the need to hold static loads, and/or the requirement to smoothly control the motion of elements with low inertia. Continuously varying the pressure in the hydraulic actuators is a necessary or attractive feature for the vast majority of applications. The only way to achieve this with a digital quantised system alone would be to have a very large number of very small actuator load steps which will not be attractive or practical for many applications.
For the vast majority of applications to date, continually varying the pressure applied to the actuator has been used in preference to the step changes that are present in the quantised transmission. However, a digitally controlled quantised system offers major advantages in efficiency of power transmission and in power and flow capacity for a given cost and size of equipment. Although quantised transmission offers potentially greater efficiencies than the continuous transmission it cannot be used for a number of applications due to its stepped output.
An improved hydraulic transmission would therefore be desirable.


A method for preparing a modular planar interconnect plate includes steps of a) providing a metal blank sheet having a main region and two first lateral regions, b) forming two openings respectively in the first lateral regions, and c) stamping to form protrusions and depressions at the main region on lower and upper surfaces of the metal blank sheet. In the stamping step, each of two lower surrounding protrusions and two upper surrounding depressions is formed to surround a corresponding one of the openings, and each of an upper surrounding protrusion and a lower surrounding depression is formed to surround the first lateral regions and the corresponding ones of the protrusions and depressions formed at the main region.

The present inventors have previously proposed, in US 2020/0266455 A1, a method for preparing a modular planar interconnect plate for a solid oxide fuel cell, which includes the steps of: (a) providing a metal blank sheet, (b) stamping a main region of the metal blank sheet to forma plurality of columns of upper protrusions on an upper surface of the main region of the metal blank sheet and a plurality of columns of lower depressions on a lower surface of the main region of the metal blank sheet, and (c) stamping the main region of the metal blank sheet to form a plurality of rows of lower protrusions on a lower surface of the main region of the metal blank sheet and a plurality of rows of upper depressions on the upper surface of the main region of the metal blank sheet.

Method for preparing modular planar interconnect plate

NATIONAL TAIPEI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY


The battery pack includes an assembled battery including a plurality of secondary battery cells connected at least in series; a voltage detector which detects a terminal voltage of each of the plurality of secondary battery cells; a charge/discharge controller which controls charge/discharge of the assembled battery based on the terminal voltage of each cell detected by the voltage detector; a short-circuiting section which short-circuits a node between cells to the high voltage side or the low voltage side of a power line, or which short-circuits nodes between the cells to each other; and a disconnection detector which controls conduction/non-conduction of the short-circuiting section and which detects a disconnection of the connection line from the voltage detector to the node between the cells, based on a state of controlling the conduction/non-conduction, and at least one of a voltage at the node between the cells detected by the voltage detector, a voltage of the high voltage side or the low voltage side of the power line, and a terminal voltage of each cell. The floating (disconnection) of intermediate taps of the secondary battery cells can be reliably detected without causing losses in regular processes.

A typical conventional technology capable of detecting the floating of an intermediate tap is disclosed, for example, in patent document 1. According to this conventional technology, a protection circuit for a secondary battery is proposed in which a connection line from the intermediate tap to voltage detection means is connected with a power line via a pull-up resistor or a pull-down resistor and, when the intermediate tap is disconnected, the voltage on the connection line increases to a charge prohibiting voltage, thereby preventing an occurrence of an overvoltage and an overcharge.
However, the above conventional technology has a problem that loss occurs in a steady state due to the pull-up resistor or pull-down resistor. Accordingly, the resistance value of the pull-up resistor or the pull-down resistor needs to be increased to reduce the loss.
On the other hand, the battery pack often includes, in addition to the voltage detection means, a double protection IC or the like for detecting terminal voltages of the respective cells, detecting an abnormality based on a threshold value equal to or higher than that of charge and discharge controller and performing a protection operation. If the double protection IC is provided, charge terminals of the battery pack are connected via uniform internal resistors in the double protection IC. Thus, cell voltages to be measured are divided into voltages equally constituting the total voltage between the charge terminals, which leads to a problem of being unable to detect an actual overcharge state. Specifically, in the case where some of the cells are in an overcharge state (state where abnormality is originally supposed to be detected by the double protection IC) due to a cell balance disorder even if the total voltage is not abnormal in the actual battery, the total voltage is made uniform by voltage dividing resistors in the double protection IC if the intermediate tap is floating. Thus, neither an overcharge detection by the voltage detection means and the charge and discharge controller nor an overcharge detection by the double protection IC functions, wherefore charge is continued even in the overcharge state.
Accordingly, if another circuit such as the double protection IC is provided in parallel with the voltage detection means, it becomes even more difficult to detect the disconnection of the connection lines to the terminals of the respective cells due to the input resistance and capacitance of the other circuit, the internal voltage dividing resistors thereof and the like. Particularly, if the resistance value of the pull-up resistor or the pull-down resistor is increased to reduce the loss as described above, a voltage inputted to the voltage detection means upon the disconnection of the intermediate tap does not largely vary, making detection difficult.
Patent Document 1:
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-150721

Battery pack and method for detecting disconnection of same