An optical pickup has

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical pickup for optically recording and reproducing information onto and from optical disks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The structure of a conventional optical pickup will be described with reference to FIG. 20. The optical pickup shown in FIG. 20 has two laser light sources of different wavelengths, that is, a semiconductor laser 101 of a wavelength of 660 nm that performs recording and reproduction onto and from high-density media such as digital versatile disks (DVDs), and a semiconductor laser 115 of a wavelength of 780 nm that performs reproduction from media such as compact disks (CDs).
To an actuator movable member 111 of the optical pickup, two kinds of objective lenses 107 and 118 are attached, and switching between the two kinds of objective lenses is made by the actuator movable member 111 rotating about a rotation shaft 120. The two kinds of objective lenses 107 and 118 are switched between when recording or reproduction onto or from a disk 108 with a base material thickness of 0.6 mm such as a DVD is performed and when reproduction from a disk 109 with a base material thickness of 1.2 mm such as a CD is performed by the different light sources.
First, an optical system that performs recording and reproduction onto and from media such as DVDs will be described. A light beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 101 of high power is converted into a parallel beam by a collimator lens 102, and is incident on a mirror 103. On the mirror 103, a wavelength selective film is formed where light of a wavelength of 660 nm is mostly transmitted and partly reflected and light of a wavelength of 780 nm is substantially totally reflected. Therefore, an extremely small part of the light beam incident on the mirror 103 is reflected and most of the light beam is transmitted. The reflected part of the light beam is directed to a photodetector 110, where the light quantity of the light beam is detected. By doing this, the emission power of the semiconductor laser 101 is monitored to satisfy the function of keeping constant the power on the disk surface in recording and reproduction.
The light transmitted by the mirror 103 is reflected at a reflecting mirror 106, and is transmitted by a polarizing hologram 104 provided on the actuator movable member 111. The polarizing hologram is formed by forming a grating with a depth d on a substrate of an anisotropic material such as lithiumniobate and filling an isotropic material (refractive index n1) in the grooves of the grating. Generally, when the phase difference between light passing through the grooves and light passing between the grooves is xcfx86, the transmittance is represented by cos2("PHgr"/2). When the refractive indices of the substrate for polarized light parallel to the grating grooves and polarized light vertical to the grating grooves are n1 and n2, respectively, for the polarized light parallel to the grating grooves, since xcfx86=0, the transmittance is 1. For the polarized light vertical to the grating grooves, since xcfx86=2xcfx80(n1xe2x88x92n2) d/xcex, by setting the depth d so that xcfx86=xcfx80, the transmittance is 0 and the polarized light is completely diffracted.
Therefore, by considering the polarization direction of the light beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 101 and the bearing of the grooves of the polarizing hologram 104, the light beam from the light source can be transmitted without diffracted when passing through the polarizing hologram 104. The transmitted light is converted from linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light by a quarter wave plate 105, is aperture-limited by an objective lens attachment hole of the actuator movable member 111, is incident on the objective lens 107, and is condensed on the signal surface of the disk 108 with a material thickness of 0.6 mm.
The light beam reflected at the disk 108 passes through the objective lens 107, and is transmitted by the wave plate 105. Since the light beam is converted into linearly polarized light orthogonal to the direction in which the light beam is polarized on the way to the disk 108 at this time, most of the light beam is diffractivey branched by the polarizing hologram 104. These diffracted light beams are reflected at the reflecting mirror 106, are transmitted by the mirror 103, pass through the collimator lens 102, and are condensedly incident on a photodetector 117 integrated with the laser 101. By use of variations in the quantity of this light, a servo signal and an RF signal such as a focus signal or a tracking signal can be obtained.
Next, an optical system that performs reproduction from media such as CDs by use of the other semiconductor laser 115 will be described. A light beam emitted from the semiconductor laser 115 is diffractively branched to xc2x1first order light and to zero order light by passing through a glass hologram 114 not depending on polarization. These light beams are condensed by a collimator lens 113, are reflected at a mirror 112, the mirror 103 and the reflecting mirror 106, are incident on the objective lens 118 provided on the actuator movable member 111, and are condensed as three spots on the signal surface of the disk 109 with a base material thickness of 1.2 mm. The main beam spot is used for an RF signal, and the two sub beam spots, for three beam tracking.
The light beam reflected at the disk 109 passes through the objective lens 108, the reflecting mirror 106, the mirror 103, the mirror 112 and the collimator lens 113, is further diffractively branched by the glass hologram 114, and is condensedly incident on a photodetector 119 integrated with the semiconductor laser 115. By use of variations in the quantity of this light, a servo signal and an RF signal can be obtained.
In optical pickups that perform recording and reproduction of highly dense signal pits such as those on DVDs, it is required to form very small and high-quality light condensation spots on the optical disk surface. Generally, the size of a light condensation spot depends on the numerical aperture (NA) of the objective lens, the light wavelength xcex, and the light intensity at the aperture pupil end of the objective lens, that is, the rim intensity. The light source wavelength xcex and the NA of the objective lens are defined by a specification or the like, for example, for DVDs; xcex is approximately 650 nm, and NA is 0.6. However, to ensure the spot quality commensurate with the numerical aperture, it is necessary to secure a sufficient rim intensity.
Generally, a light beam emitted from a semiconductor laser has an elliptical far field pattern. For this reason, in the optical pickup structure shown as a conventional example, when the rim intensity in the direction of minor axis of the far field pattern is ensured, the rim intensity is considerably high in the direction of the major axis, that is, the amount of eclipse, due to the aperture limitation, of the light beam incident on the objective lens is considerably large in the direction of the major axis.
In an optical pickup for recording, high optical power is required on the disk surface; a power of approximately 12 to 17 mW is necessary as the objective lens exit light quantity. Therefore, it is necessary to cause the optical pickup to operate within the emission power rating of the laser light source by maximizing the transmission efficiency of the optical system. However, in the conventional structure, since the amount of eclipse in the direction of major axis of the emission far field pattern is large, the light quantity loss is large, so that to ensure the power on the disk surface, the margin for the maximum rating is small even though a high-power laser is used.
FIG. 21 is a view showing the structure of another conventional optical pickup for preventing such a light quantity loss. Since the structure of this optical pickup is substantially the same as that of the conventional example of FIG. 20 except for some parts, detailed description thereof is omitted. In the conventional example shown in FIG. 21, a light beam emitted from a high-power semiconductor laser 201 is converted into a substantially parallel beam by a collimator lens 202, and has its diameter increased only in the Y direction of FIG. 21 by being refracted and transmitted by a triangular prism 221, so that the elliptical far field pattern shown by the broken line enlarges in the direction of the minor axis into a circular far field pattern as shown by the solid line. Therefore, by performing such beam shaping, light use efficiency can be increased.
However, in this case, the number of parts of the optical system increases as shown in FIG. 21 and the optical system layout is difficult, so that the size of the optical pickup increases and the number of man-hours of assembly and cost increase.
The far field pattern means the intensity distribution of light on a surface away from the light emission point of a laser light source. Generally, in the case of a semiconductor laser used as a light source for optical disks, the far field pattern is an elliptical intensity distribution such that an emission angle xcex8a in the horizontal direction of the laser chip, that is, in the polarization direction of the emission linearly polarized light and an emission angle xcex8b in a direction orthogonal thereto satisfy the relationship of the following expression (1):
xc2xc less than (xcex8a/xcex8b) less than xc2xdxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
Another problem of the conventional example is aberrations of the optical system. Generally, optical parts constituting an optical system have a certain amount of aberration such as spherical aberration, coma aberration or astigmatism. When such aberration is present, light condensation spots formed by the objective lens are distorted, which significantly affects the recording quality and the reproduction signal quality. Therefore, in manufacturing optical pickups, it is customary to clarify the aberration specifications of the optical elements constituting the optical system and not to use optical elements exceeding a limit.
However, even though a specification is provided to each optical element, the light condensation spot quality cannot be prevented from being degraded by the aberrations of the optical elements accumulating. Particularly, to optical pickups that perform recording and reproduction of highly dense signals, spot distortion is fatal. Moreover, coma aberration and astigmatism significantly affect the margin performance in recording and reproduction because spots are asymmetrically distorted at the time of defocus where the distance between the disk and the best image point increases and decreases.
Coma aberration can be removed when the head is assembled by a tilt adjustment of the objective lens. However, in conventional optical pickups, when astigmatisms of component parts are accumulated, for example, in the same direction, light condensation spots have large astigmatism, so that characteristics for defocus and the like are significantly degraded.
As described above, it is demanded that optical disk apparatuses for recording or reproducing information by use of laser beams be reduced in size, and attempts have been made to reduce optical pickups in size and weight. Typical examples thereof include optical disk apparatuses that records information onto a disk or reproduces information recorded on a disk by use of a semiconductor laser. In these apparatuses, to enhance light use efficiency and obtain light spots having an axisymmetric intensity distribution, it is necessary that the equal intensity line shape of the light beams (hereinafter, abbreviated as the beam shape) be circular.
As described above, since a light beam emitted from a semiconductor laser generally diverges at different angles in directions horizontal and vertical to the p-n junction surface, when the light beam is collimated by use of a collimator lens, the beam shape thereof is elliptical. Therefore, an optical system that converts the elliptical light beam into a circular light beam has previously been proposed.
Or even when it is not highly necessary to enhance light use efficiency and it is unnecessary to shape the elliptical light beam into a circular light beam, there are cases where astigmatism is caused by a laser light source and optical parts and consequently, the quality of the beam spots obtained by the laser light source is degraded. Therefore, a technique has been proposed of making an adjustment to improve the spot quality by generating astigmatism for correction by inserting a beam shaping prism that has a slight beam shaping effect into the optical system and slightly changing the parallelism of the light beam passing through the beam shaping prism.
When conventional optical disks that are set to use wavelengths of 780 nm to 830 nm like CDs although capable of reducing the wavelength of the light source used, improving the optical resolution and increasing the recordable or reproducible frequency band to achieve high density like DVDs is reproduced with a shorter-wavelength semiconductor laser, a sufficient reproduction signal or control signal cannot be obtained because of differences in the reflectance, the absorptance and the like of the recording surface. This problem is noticeable in disks such as CD-Rs standardized as writable CDs and of which reflecting film has a high wavelength dependency.
To solve the above-mentioned two problems, a method has been considered in which two light sources as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23 are used and a beam shaping function is additionally provided.
FIGS. 22 and 23 are views showing the structure of a conventional optical pickup using this method. FIG. 22 shows a case where a high-density optical disk 1044 with abase material thickness of 0.6 mm is reproduced. FIG. 23 shows a case where an optical disk 1050 with a base material thickness of 1.2 mm is reproduced.
In FIG. 22, a light beam 1037 of a wavelength of 650 nm emitted from a semiconductor laser 1060a of a first module 1060 passes through a hologram 1060c, and is converted into an elliptical parallel beam by a condensing lens 1038. The first module 1060 is oriented so that the direction of major axis of the ellipse of the beam pattern coincides with the direction of thickness of the optical disk apparatus. In this figure, since the structure of each optical pickup is two-dimensionally shown, the direction in which the light beam is decentered at a totally reflecting mirror 1041, which direction is actually vertical to the plane of the figure, is rotated 90 degrees about the center of the optical axis on the A plane. This applies to the figures described later.
The elliptical parallel beam is shaped into a circular beam by a beam shaping prism 1039, passes through a compound prism 1040, has its optical path vertically bent at the totally reflecting mirror 1041, passes through aperture limiting means 1042, is condensed by an objective lens 1043, and is applied onto the surface of the optical disk 1044 as a minute light spot 1045. The aperture limiting means 1042 is structured so that light of a wavelength of 650 nm is all transmitted thereby and of light of a wavelength of 780 nm, only an inner part corresponding to a numerical aperture of 0.45 is transmitted thereby. Moreover, the aperture limiting means 1042 is designed so as to be most suitable for a case where the numerical aperture of the objective lens 1043 is 0.6 and the base material thickness of the optical disk 1044 is 0.6 mm. Therefore, the light beam 1037 of a wavelength of 650 nm is converged with a numerical aperture of 0.6.
Then, a light beam 1046 reflected at the optical disk 1044 again passes through the objective lens 1043, has its optical path horizontally bent at the mirror 1041, passes through the compound prism 1040, and is then again incident on the beam shaping prism 1039.
Since the optical path at the beam shaping prism 1039 is reverse in direction to the above-mentioned optical path, the circular reflected beam is reduced in the direction of thickness of the optical pickup into an elliptical beam by the beam shaping prism 1039.
The reflected beam converted into an elliptical beam is converged by the condensing lens 1038, and is incident on the first module 1060. The light beam 1046 incident on the first module 1060 is diffracted at the hologram 1060c, and is incident on a photodetector 1060b to detect a focus control signal for causing the objective lens 1043 to follow the recording surface by use of a so-called SSD (spot size detection) method and a tracking control signal for causing the objective lens 1043 to follow the tracks on the track surface by use of a phase difference method.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 23, a second module 1047 is provided with a semiconductor laser 1047a of a wavelength of 780 nm. A light beam 1049 of a wavelength of 780 nm emitted from the second module 1047 passes through a hologram 1047c, and is incident on the compound prism 1040. The light beam 1049 slightly diverged by being condensed by a condensing lens 1048 is incident on the compound prism 1040, and is reflected at an optical film 1040a. The light beam 1049 is further reflected at the totally reflecting mirror 1041, and then, only an inner part thereof corresponding to a numerical aperture of 0.45 is transmitted by the aperture limiting means 1042, is incident on the objective lens 1043, and forms a light spot 1051 on the recording surface of the optical disk 1050. By limiting the aperture only in the case of a wavelength of 780 nm, the numerical aperture is 0.45, so that the optical disk 1050 with a base material thickness of 1.2 mm like a CD can be handled.
A light beam 1052 reflected at the optical disk 1050 again passes through the objective lens 1043 and the aperture limiting means 1042, has its optical path horizontally bent at the totally reflecting mirror 1041, and is incident on the compound prism 1040. The incident light beam is mostly reflected at the optical film 1040a, is converged by the condensing lens 1048, and is incident on the second module 1047. The light beam 1052 incident on the second module 1047 is diffracted at the hologram 1047c, and is incident on a photodetector 1047b to detect a focus control signal for causing the objective lens 1043 to follow the recording surface by use of the SSD method and a tracking control signal for causing the objective lens 1043 to follow the tracks on the track surface by use of a push-pull method. While generally, a three beam method is frequently used for the tracking control signal for CDs, in this conventional example, the push-pull method is used for simplification of explanation.
By using the optical system as described above, when the high-density optical disk 1044 designed for a wavelength of 650 nm is reproduced, the semiconductor laser 1060a is turned on, the light beam is brought to a focus on the optical disk 1044, and the reflected light therefrom is received by the photodetector 1060b, whereby the reproduction signal and the control signal can be obtained, and when the optical disk 1050 designed for a wavelength of 780 nm is reproduced, the semiconductor laser 1047a is turned on, the light beam is brought to a focus on the optical disk 1050, and the reflected light therefrom is received by the photodetector 1047b, whereby the reproduction signal and the control signal can be obtained. In this manner, reproduction and recording are performed from and onto the optical disks 1044 and 1050 that are different in thickness and the wavelength for which they are designed.
However, in the above-described prior art, since the beam shaping prism 1039 is inserted between the first module 1060 and the compound prism 1040, the overall optical path length of the optical system is large, so that it is difficult to reduce the optical pickup in size and thickness.
When the beam shaping means is added to the totally reflecting mirror 1041 or the compound prism 1040 for size reduction, since the light beam 1049 emitted from the second module 1047 is not a parallel beam when passing through the beam shaping means, astigmatism is generated, so that an excellent spot cannot be obtained.
An object of the present invention is to provide an optical pickup in which light use efficiency is enhanced without the number of parts increased and light condensing power is ensured.
Another object of the present invention is to realize a structure correcting astigmatism of the optical system.
Yet another object of the present invention is to realize with a simple structure an optical pickup comprising an optical system having two different light sources and NAs.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an optical pickup, having a plurality of light emission sources, that is small in size and can be manufactured inexpensively, in which a light beam can be converged into an excellent light spot on an optical disk even though a beam shaping function is provided.
One aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup comprising:
a light source that emits a light beam having a far field pattern being elliptical in cross section;
a collimator lens that converts the light beam from said light source into a substantially parallel light beam;
a beam shaping element that performs beam shaping by changing a substantial aspect ratio of the far field pattern of the light beam from said collimator lens;
light condensing means of condensing the light beam shaped by said beam shaping element on an optical information recording medium; and
light detecting means of detecting a light beam reflected at said optical information recording medium.
wherein said beam shaping element makes the cross section of the light beam having been shaped close to a circle by compressing the light beam substantially in a direction of a major axis of the elliptical cross section of the far field pattern, and reflects the light beam from said collimator lens to said light condensing means.
Another aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein said beam shaping element has a light incident and exit surface and a reflecting surface, and the light incident and exit surface and the reflecting surface are nonparallel to each other.
Still another aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup further comprising an adjusting mechanism that corrects an astigmatism in an optical system by changing relative positions of said collimator lens and said beam shaping element.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein said beam shaping element compresses a diameter substantially in the direction of the major axis of the far field pattern within a range of 0.85 to 0.95 with respect to an input light beam.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein a first light source and a second light source that emit light beams of different wavelengths are provided, and two optical systems comprising said first light source and said second light source share said collimator lens and said beam shaping element.
A further aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein an optical axis of incidence of said collimator lens and an optical axis of incidence on said beam shaping element are different between said two optical systems.
A still further aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup further comprising a light transmitting parallel or nonparallel plate that is disposed between said first light source and said collimator lens and/or between said second light source and said collimator lens.
Further, describing an example of the present invention, a beam shaping element is provided that performs beam shaping in a direction that compresses the light beam in the direction of major axis of the elliptical emission far field pattern of the semiconductor laser. Here, the beam shaping magnification m is defined as the following expression (2):
m=d/Dxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
where D is the beam diameter in the direction of major axis of the far field pattern before the beam is shaped, and d is the beam diameter in the direction of major axis of the far field pattern after the beam is shaped.
Since the light quantity distribution of the beam is gathered inside by compressing the beam in the direction of major axis of the elliptical emission far field pattern, the quantity of the light eclipsed by the aperture limiting member before the beam is incident on the objective lens is reduced, so that light use efficiency can be enhanced. For the effect of reducing the light quantity loss, it is necessary only that the beam shaping magnification be smaller; it is desirable that the beam shaping magnification be at least not more than 0.95. Moreover, a collimator lens is provided that condenses a light beam emitted from a semiconductor laser, the optical path bending and the shaping of the light beam condensed by the collimator lens are performed by the beam shaping element, and an adjusting mechanism is provided that changes the relative positions of the collimator lens and the beam shaping element along the optical axis.
Generally, a spherical wave is generated by changing the relative distance between the light source and the collimator lens, and by the spherical wave passing through the beam shaping element, an astigmatism corresponding to the degree of sphericity of the spherical wave is generated. By adjusting by using this the position of the collimator lens so that an astigmatism reverse to the astigmatism immanent in the optical system is generated, the astigmatism immanent in the optical system can be canceled, so that the quality of light condensation spot by the objective lens can be ensured.
Moreover, when the magnification of the beam shaping by the beam shaping element is 0.85 or higher, the amount of variation in astigmatism with respect to the movement amount of the collimator lens is appropriate, so that realization of adjustment accuracy in the pickup manufacturing process is enabled. Moreover, by the beam shaping magnification being 1 or lower, the intensity at the aperture pupil end in the direction of major axis of the elliptical far field pattern decreases, so that the influence on the light condensing power of the objective lens becomes a problem. However, when the shaping magnification is 0.85 or higher, the deterioration of the light condensing power is only small.
Moreover, in a structure having two optical systems that are different in wavelength and NA, the two optical systems share the collimator lens and the beam shaping element. This is advantageous in size, assembly and cost because an optical pickup having two optical systems can be easily structured while the above-mentioned advantages are obtained. Moreover, since the optical axis of the light beam elevated by the beam shaping element is the same between the two optical systems by the axes of incidence on the collimator lens and on the beam shaping element being different between the two optical systems, one objective lens can be shared by the optical systems and the axis serving as the reference of the tilt adjustment of the objective lens can be made the same between the two optical systems, so that the light condensation spot quality can be ensured for both of the optical systems.
Moreover, in the case of an optical system having two light sources, that is, a first light source and a second light source that are different in wavelength, a light transmitting parallel or nonparallel plate is disposed in a divergent system of the light beam from each of the light sources. This enables the astigmatism generated in each optical system to be independently corrected while the above-mentioned advantages are obtained, so that a high-performance optical pickup can be realized in which the quality of the light condensation spot formed by each of the optical systems is ensured.
A yet further aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup comprising:
a first light source that emits a first light beam;
light condensing means of condensing said first light beam from said first light source;
beam shaping means of shaping said first light beam condensed by said condensing means;
converging means of converging said first light beam shaped by said beam shaping means, on a first optical disk corresponding to said first light beam;
a second light source that emits a second light beam; and
astigmatism providing means of providing a predetermined astigmatism to said second light beam from said second light source,
wherein said second light source is disposed in a position such that the light beam it emits passes through said astigmatism providing means and is directed to said beam shaping means,
said converging means converges said second light beam from said second light source on a second optical disk corresponding to said second light beam,
said astigmatism providing means is disposed between said second light source and said beam shaping means, and
a relationship between a position of said second light source and a position of said astigmatism providing means is such that an astigmatism for reducing an astigmatism generated when said second light beam passes through said beam shaping means is provided to said second light beam having passed through said astigmatism providing means.
A still yet further aspect of the invention shows generic contents of the invention.
An additional aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup comprising:
a first light source that emits a first light beam;
reflecting means of reflecting said first light beam from said first light source, said reflecting means being substantially a plane,
light condensing means of condensing said first light beam reflected at said reflecting means;
beam shaping means of shaping said first light beam condensed by said light condensing means;
converging means of converging said first light beam shaped by said beam shaping means, on a first optical disk corresponding to said first light beam;
a second light source that emits a second light beam; and
astigmatism providing means of providing a predetermined astigmatism to said second light beam from said second light source,
wherein said reflecting means has a function of transmitting said second light beam,
said second light source is disposed in a position such that the light beam it emits passes through said reflecting means and is directed to said light condensing means and said beam shaping means,
said converging means converges said second light beam from said second light source on a second optical disk corresponding to said second light beam,
said astigmatism providing means is disposed between said second light source and said reflecting means, and has a light incident surface and a light exit surface, said light exit surface and said reflecting means being substantially parallel to each other, and
a relationship between a position of said second light source and a position of said light incident surface of said astigmatism providing means with respect to said reflecting means is such that an astigmatism for reducing an astigmatism generated when said second light beam passes through said beam shaping means is provided to said second light beam having passed through said astigmatism providing means.
A still additional aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein said reflecting means and said light exit surface of said astigmatism providing means are in contact with each other, and said reflecting means and said astigmatism providing means are integrated with each other.
A yet additional aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup further comprising an optical element disposed between said second light source and said astigmatism providing means,
wherein a relationship between a position of said second light source and a position of said light incident surface of said astigmatism providing means with respect to said reflecting means is such that an astigmatism for reducing an astigmatism of said second light beam based on said second light source and/or an astigmatism of said second light beam based on said optical element is provided to said second light beam having passed through said astigmatism providing means.
A still yet additional aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup comprising:
a first light source that emits a first light beam;
light condensing means of condensing said first light beam from said first light source;
beam shaping means having a function of shaping said first light beam condensed by said condensing means, and having a reflecting surface that reflects said first light beam;
converging means of converging said first light beam shaped and reflected by said beam shaping means, on a first optical disk corresponding to said first light beam;
a second light source that emits a second light beam; and
astigmatism providing means of providing a predetermined astigmatism to said second light beam from said second light source,
wherein said reflecting surface of said beam shaping means has a function of transmitting said second light beam;
said second light source is disposed in a position such that the light beam it emits passes through said beam shaping means and is directed to said converging means,
said converging means converges said second light beam from said second light source on a second optical disk corresponding to said second light beam,
said astigmatism providing means is disposed between said second light source and said beam shaping means, and has a light incident surface and a light exit surface, said light exit surface and said reflecting surface of said beam shaping means being substantially parallel to each other, and
a relationship between a position of said second light source and a position of said light incident surface of said astigmatism providing means with respect to said reflecting surface of said beam shaping means is such that an astigmatism for reducing an astigmatism generated when said second light beam passes through said beam shaping means is provided to said second light beam having passed through said astigmatism providing means.
A supplementary aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein said reflecting surface of said beam shaping means and said light exit surface of said astigmatism providing means are in contact with each other, and said beam shaping means and said astigmatism providing means are integrated with each other.
A still supplementary aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup further comprising an optical element disposed between said second light source and said astigmatism providing means,
wherein a relationship of a position of said second light source and a position of said light incident surface of said astigmatism providing means with said reflecting surface of said beam shaping means is such that an astigmatism for reducing an astigmatism of said second light beam based on said second light source and/or an astigmatism of said second light beam based on said optical element is provided to said second light beam having passed through said astigmatism providing means.
A yet supplementary aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup comprising:
a first light source that emits a first light beam;
light condensing means of condensing said first light beam from said first light source;
beam shaping means of shaping said first light beam condensed by said condensing means;
converging means of converging said first light beam shaped by said beam shaping means, on a first optical disk corresponding to said first light beam;
a second light source that emits a second light beam; and
reflecting means of reflecting said second light beam from said second light source and transmitting said first light beam, said reflecting means being integrally provided on a predetermined surface of said beam shaping means,
wherein said converging means converges said second light beam from said second light source on a second optical disk corresponding to said second light beam.
A still yet supplementary aspect of the invention shows generic contents of subsequently described 16th and 17th inventions of the invention.
A further aspect of the invention shows generic contents of subsequently described 16th and 17th inventions of the invention.
a first light source that emits a first light beam;
light condensing means of condensing said first light beam from said first light source;
beam shaping means of shaping said first light beam condensed by said condensing means, and transmitting said first light beam;
converging means of converging said first light beam shaped by said beam shaping means and transmitted by said beam shaping means, on a first optical disk corresponding to said first light beam;
a second light source that emits a second light beam; and
reflecting means of reflecting said second light beam from said second light source and transmitting said first light beam, said reflecting means being disposed on a surface of said beam shaping means from which said first light beam exits,
wherein said converging means converges said second light beam from said second light source on a second optical disk corresponding to said second light beam.
Still another aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup comprising:
a first light source that emits a first light beam;
light condensing means of condensing said first light beam from said first light source;
beam shaping means of shaping said first light beam condensed by said condensing means, and reflecting said first light beam;
converging means of converging said first light beam shaped and reflected by said beam shaping means, on a first optical disk corresponding to said first light beam;
a second light source that emits a second light beam; and
reflecting means of reflecting said second light beam from said second light source and transmitting said first light beam, said reflecting means being disposed on a surface of said beam shaping means on and from which said first light beam is incident and exits,
wherein said converging means converges said second light beam from said second light source on a second optical disk corresponding to said second light beam.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein said first light beam emitted from said first light source and said second light beam emitted from said second light source are different in wavelength.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is an optical pickup wherein said beam shaping means also has a function of correcting chromatic aberration of said first light beam from said first light source.

Abstract: An optical pickup has

Abstract: a collimator lens that converts the light beam from the light source into a substantially parallel light beam;

Abstract: a beam shaping element that performs beam shaping by changing a substantial aspect ratio of the far field pattern of the light beam from the collimator lens;

Abstract: light condensing means of condensing the light beam shaped by the beam shaping element on an optical information recording medium; and

Abstract: light detecting means of detecting a light beam reflected at the optical information recording medium.

Abstract: wherein the beam shaping element makes the cross section of the light beam having been shaped close to a circle by compressing the light beam substantially in a direction of a major axis of the elliptical cross section of the far field pattern, and reflects the light beam from the collimator lens to the light condensing means.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to antibodies for inducing cell death by the specific binding of (ROR1), domains thereof or nucleotide molecules encoding (ROR1). There are also provided methods involving and uses of the antibodies of the invention.

The work leading to this invention has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/under grant agreement No HEALTH-F5-2008-200755.
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a white blood cell cancer that is characterised by an abnormal neoplastic proliferation of B lymphocyte cells (B cells). The B cells of CLL differ from normal B cells in their activation and maturation stage and are in particular derived from antigen experienced B cells with different immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (IgVH) gene mutations (Chiorazzi N et al., N Engl J Med 2005; 352:804-15). CLL patients with mutated IgVH genes have a better prognosis compared to patients with unmutated genes (Damle R N et al., Blood 1999; 94:1840-7; Hamblin T J et al., Blood 1999; 94:1848-54).
Global gene expression profiling studies have revealed partly distinguishing but in general overlapping expression profiles in mutated and unmutated leukaemic B cells, suggesting a common phenotype (Klein U et al., J Exp Med 2001; 194:1625-38; Rosenwald A et al., J Exp Med 2001; 194:1639-47).
Gene expression profiling studies have shown a 43.8 fold increase of the orphan receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ROR1 in CLL cells (Klein U et al., J Exp Med 2001; 194:1625-38). Ror1 is a member of the RTK family of orphan receptors related to muscle specific kinase (MUSK) and Trk neurotrophin receptors (Glass D J, et al., Cell 1996; 85:513-23; Masiakowski P et al., J Biol Chem 1992; 267:26181-90; Valenzuela D M et al., Neuron 1995; 15:573-84).
Ror receptors are cell surface receptors participating in signal transduction, cell-cell interaction, regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, cell metabolism and survival (Masiakowski P et al., Biol Chem 1992; 267:26181-90; Yoda A et al., J Recept Signal Transduct Res 2003; 23:1-15). They are evolutionarily highly conserved between different species e.g. human, mouse, Drosophila, and C. elegans.
The human ROR1 gene has a coding region of 2814 bp with a predicted 937 amino acids sequence and 105 kDa protein size including an Ig-like domain, cysteine-rich domain, kringle domain, tyrosine kinase domain, and proline-rich domain (FIG. 1) (Yoda A et al., J Recept Signal Transduct Res 2003; 23:1-15).
ROR1 is located on chromosomal region 1p31.3 (http://www.ensembl.org), a region where chromosomal aberrations are not frequently seen in haematological malignancies (FIG. 2). The human ROR1 is expressed in heart, lung, and kidney but less in placenta, pancreas and skeletal muscles (Reddy U R et al., Oncogene 1996; 13:1555-9). ROR1 was originally cloned from a neuroblastoma cell line (Masiakowski P et al., J Biol Chem 1992; 267:26181-90) and subsequently a shorter form lacking the entire extracellular domain but containing the transmembrane domain was isolated from a foetal brain library. Truncated Ror1 (t-Ror1) gene has been reported in foetal and adult human central nervous system, in human leukaemias, lymphoma cell lines, and in a variety of human cancers derived from neuroectoderm (Reddy U R et al., Oncogene 1996; 13:1555-9). A shorter transcript from exons 1-7 including a short part of intron 7 has also been described with a predicted length of 393 amino acids and a molecular weight of 44 kDa (Ensembl ID; ENSG00000185483).
The expression of ROR-1 in cancer cells has been described for CLL (Baskar et al (2008) Clin Cancer Res, 14, p 396-404; Choudhury et al (2010) B. J. Haem, 151, p327-335; and Hudecek et al (2010) Blood, online publication DOI: 10.1182/blood-2010-05-283309); MCL (Hudecek (2010)); B-ALL (Hudecek (2010) and Shabani at al (2008) Leuk & Lymph, 49 p1360-1367), other leukaemias and lymphomas (Fakuda et al (2008) PNAS, 105, p3047-3052; and Barna et al (2010) Hematol Oncol, online publication DOI: 10-1002/hon.948) and solid cancers (renal and colon) (Katoh & Kotoh (2005) Oncol Rep 14, p1381-4).

Antibodies against ROR1 and uses thereof


A showerhead system with internal filtration media includes a fluid-tight pressure housing having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet, the outlet substantially co-axial with the inlet, the housing having a substantially cylindrical internal surface. The system further includes several porous radial disks axially disposed internally to the pressure housing and having circumferential edges in integral communication with the internal cylindrical surface of the pressure housing. The system also include filtration media positional within regions defined between the porous disks. The system additionally includes at least one rigid radial disk axially disposed within the axial distribution of the plurality of porous disks, the rigid disk including groups of apertures. The rigid disk may or may not have an integral securement to the internal cylindrical surface of the pressure housing such that its axial position, within the system, is defined by filtration media packed on either side of it. As such, water is able to pass both through apertures in the rigid disk and across an annular region between the circumference of the rigid disk and the internal diameter of the internal surface of the pressure housing. Water flows of enhanced general turbulence are obtained.

The present invention relates to a showerhead and, more particularly, to a showerhead system which provides for internal purification and filtration of water delivered therefrom.
A problem in the prior art of showerheads having internal means for purification and filtration has been that the velocity of water passing therethrough has often been insufficient to accomplish efficient removal of contaminants. In addition to the problem of sufficient velocity, it has been found that prior art showerheads, provided with internal water filtration means, do not operate efficiently if there does not exist sufficient turbulence, that is, random or chaotic motion within the showerhead housing to expose all parts and elements of the filtration media to water passing therethrough. Resultingly, when sufficient turbulence or random motion of the water does not exist within the showerhead housing, so-called dead spots will develop which give rise to internal channeling within the filter media.
The instant invention may, accordingly, be viewed as a response to the above set forth need in the art for a showerhead with internal water purification means that will treat water passing therethrough in an optional fashion through increases in axial velocity, internal turbulence, and random radial motion of water passing through the filtration media of such showerheads.
The inventor is unaware of any prior art which specifically addresses the issues set forth above.

Showerhead system with turbulence inducing and water purification means


A reagent for desulfurizing molten iron comprising calcium carbide and/or lime and an asphaltite. The reagent may contain, in addition, magnesium which is either uniformly distributed within the reagent mixture, or stored separately and added to the mixture during fluidized transport of the reagent just prior to injection to vary the addition of magnesium for any given injection.

This invention relates to reagents for the desulphurization of iron melts such as pig iron and cast iron and the use of the reagent for said purpose.
The desulfurization of molten iron, outside a blast furnace, in the open ladle or in the torpedo is well known to those skilled in the art. Calcium carbide or lime-based mixtures have been used as reagents for many years and have been found to be efficient with respect to causing rapid and significant removal of the sulfur from the iron.
Most recently, specific reagents have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,764,211 and 4,832,739 as containing from about 50-98 percent, by weight, of calcium carbide and 2-50 percent, same basis, of a dried coal which contains at least 15 percent, by weight, of volatile components and which evolves a gas volume of at least 80 standard liters of gas/kg of coal. This prior art product is described as not introducing further slag-forming components into the iron melt, evolving an adequate amount of gas for the dispersion of the calcium carbide, possessing advantageous consumption values, causing short treatment times and resulting in high sulfur removal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A novel reagent for the desulfurization of molten iron has been discovered which is based on calcium carbide and/or lime and which contains, as a gas generating component, an asphaltite. The reagent is chemically engineered to maximize the desulfurizing efficiency of all its components. Since the asphaltite is available as a fine powder, it may be mixed with the other component(s) without milling. Its use is therefore less of a safety hazard than a milled mixture of calcium carbide and/or lime and coal which, due to the temperatures generated during milling, may spontaneously combust when exposed to air.
The use of an asphaltite for gas generation is advantageous over volatile coals in that it contains considerably less oxygen. The corresponding decrease in the oxygen available upon volitalization substantially increases the reagent's desulphurization efficiency. The higher percentages of hydrogen and free carbon in the asphaltites also provide an enhanced environment in the gas generated plume for deoxidization of the hot metal. Additionally, the asphaltites typically contain less sulphur and fixed carbon than volatile coals. These differences act to increase the reagent's desulphurizing efficiency by minimizing sulphur input and to decrease slag production by minimizing the fixed carbon remaining in the kish. The higher percentage of volatiles in the asphaltites (approximately 85 percent) relate to lower addition levels required for equivalent mixing as provided by the volatile coals (approximately 40 percent). This naturally leads to the production of lower slag quantities as increased levels of desulfurizing components can then be utilized to decrease the overall quantities of reagent required for equivalent desulphurization.
As is mentioned in previous patents, it is considered advantageous to have the volatile contents of the gas generator released as quickly as possible upon contact with the molten bath. Gilsonite in particular, has been shown in explosion tests to have a maximum rate of pressure rise of 3,700 psi per second as compared to 2,300 psi per second for 37 percent volatile coal. This attribute is considered advantageous in improving the distribution of the desulphurizer immediately upon immersion into the molten iron.

Powdered desulfurizing reagent and process of use


A method for making a prepreg of an epoxy resin impregnated fiberglass substrate for preparing an electrical laminate provides prolonged shelf life of the prepreg, improved adhesive strength between the prepregs or between a metal foil and the prepreg, and also excellent heat resistance for soldering of the laminate, etc. The method of the present invention comprises preparing a resin mixture of an epoxy resin having at least two epoxy groups, a curing agent consisting of dicyandiamide and a halogenated diaminodiphenylmethane derivative of the formula ##STR1## (wherein R1 stands for a hydrogen atom, or a lower alkyl group, R2 stands for a halogen atom, or a lower alkyl group, each of R3 and R4 stands for a lower alkyl group, a hydrogen or halogen atom, and also at least one of R3 and R4 stands for a halogen atom), and a catalyst for effecting the reaction between the epoxy resin and the curing agent, diluting the resin mixture in a solvent to form a resin varnish, impregnating a fiberglass substrate with the resin varnish, and then drying to partially cure the resin impregnated substrate, so that a B-stage cured prepreg is formed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for making a prepreg of an epoxy resin impregnated fiberglass substrate, from which an electrical laminate is formed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various combinations of materials are utilized to make an electrical laminate for a printed circuit board. For example, as it has already been known, a method for making the electrical laminate comprises impregnating a substrate such as fiberglass cloth with a resin such as epoxy resin, drying to partially cure the resin impregnated substrate into a prepreg, forming sheets of the prepreg into a stacked array, laminating a metal foil on at least one side of the stacked array if necessary, and then heat-curing the stacked array with the metal foil under pressure in order to form the electrical laminate. However, heat resistance, drilling workability and humidity resistance of the thus obtained electrical laminate is not enough to form a small-sized or more dense integrated circuit. It is also required that adhesive strength between the prepregs or between the metal foil and the prepreg is improved. For improving the above problems, U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,059 describes that poly-functional epoxy resin and dicyandiamide as a curing agent are used to form a prepreg. The prior electrical laminate demonstrates high glass transition (Tg) temperature, strong adhesive strength between a copper foil and the prepreg, and also excellent heat resistance for soldering. However, the prior laminate also shows poor electrolytic corrosion resistance and humidity resistance. This undesirable performance results from dicyandiamide being used as the curing agent. On the other hand, another prior electrical laminate is made by using diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS), diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM), or an alkylated or monohalogenated DDM, etc., as the curing agent. The prior electrical laminate has high Tg, but it also shows poor humidity resistance. A prepreg made in accordance with this prior art has short shelf life. An electrical laminate of another prior art is made through using an imido resin modified epoxy resin. The prior electrical laminate demonstrates excellent heat resistance, but there are problems with respect to low adhesive strength between prepregs and between a copper foil and the prepreg, and also expensive production cost for preparing the laminate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,059 also describes that a phenolic resin having a phenolic hydroxy group, for example, such as phenol novolac resin and cresol novolac resin, is utilized as the curing agent. The prior laminate has excellent humidity resistance and, heat resistance for soldering. A prepreg made in accordance with this prior art has long shelf life. However, there are problems with respect to low Tg, discoloration of the laminate which is caused by heating it or exposing it in ultraviolet light. The laminate also shows poor adhesive strength between the copper foil and the prepreg. Therefore, it is difficult to improve all problems described above, that is, a method for making a prepreg for forming an electrical laminate which has well-balanced properties such as excellent heat resistance, humidity resistance and electrolytic corrosion resistance, strong adhesive strength between the prepregs and between the metal foil and the prepreg, etc., has not been known yet.

Method for making a prepreg of an epoxy resin impregnated fiberglass substrate


A fastening device for fastening a decoupling device relative to a hole rim of a hole opening of a shielding part; to achieve the vibration-decoupling connection of a bushing to the shielding part, the decoupling device has at least one bridge element, which, at its radially outer edge, has fasteners for producing a fastening connection of the bridge element to the hole rim of the shielding part, wherein the fasteners comprise at least four tabs which, starting from the bridge element, protrude radially outward and a subset of at least two tabs of the bridge element is provided to rest against a first outside of the shielding part and a remainder of at least two tabs is provided to rest against an opposite second outside of the shielding part and the hole rim can be immobilized with a force fit relative to the decoupling device by means of the tabs of the subset and the tabs of the remainder.

A fastening device having the features of the preamble to claim 1 is known from DE 60 2004 002 062 T2. In its radially outer region, a bridge element for connecting a bushing to a shielding part has a fastener for connecting the outer edge of the bridge element to a hole rim of the shielding part. Such a fastener is disclosed as a ring with an s-shaped cross-section, which at one end, embraces the edge of the bridge element and at the other, embraces the hole rim with a folded-over collar. The proposed fastening device requires an undesirably large amount of installation work because the fastener must first be attached to the decoupling device and then the combined decoupling device and fastener must be attached to the shielding part. In addition, a large number of material folds occur in the region of the hole rim, which can promote unwanted corrosion, particularly during operation of the shielding part.
Based on the above-mentioned prior art, the object of the invention is to disclose a fastening device for fastening a decoupling device relative to a hole rim of a hole opening of a shielding part, which is easy and inexpensive to produce and requires a small amount of installation work.

Securing device for a decoupling device on a shielding part, decoupling device having the securing device, and shielding part having the decoupling device


A light guide (4) for guiding light emitted from a primary light source (2), having a light incident face (41) which light emitted from the primary light source (2) enters and a light emitting face (43) from which the guided light is emitted. The light emitting face (43) is uneven surface having a large number of micro convex curved surface areas. The average slant angle θa is 0.3° to 30°. The ten-point average roughness Rz is 0.7 μm to 10 μm. A light deflector (6) composed of a prism sheet is disposed beside the light emitting face (43).

In recent years, liquid crystal display devices have been broadly used as monitors for portable notebook-size personal computers and the like, or as display units for liquid crystal television, video integrated liquid crystal television and the like, and further in other various fields. The liquid crystal display device basically comprises a backlight and a liquid crystal display element. As the backlight, an edge light system has been frequently used from a viewpoint of miniaturization of liquid crystal display device. The backlight has been heretofore broadly used in which at least one end face of a rectangular plate-shaped light guide is used as a light incident face, a linear or rod-like primary light source such as a straight tube type florescence lamp is disposed along the light incident face, and the light emitted from the primary light source is introduced into the light guide from the light incident face of the light guide, and emitted from a light emitting face that is one of two major surfaces of the light guide.
Moreover, in recent years, there have been demands for miniaturization as well as reduction of power consumption with respect to liquid crystal display devices having comparatively small screen dimensions, such as indicators for portable electronic apparatuses including a cellular phone, portable game machine and the like, or various electric or electronic apparatuses. Then, a light emitting diode (LED) which is a spot light source is used as the primary light source of the backlight for the reduction of the power consumption. As the backlight in which the LED is used as the primary light source, for example, as described in JP(A)-7-270624, a plurality of LEDs are one-dimensionally arranged along the light incident face of the light guide in order to exert a function similar to that of a backlight using a linear light source. When the primary light source with one-dimensional arrangement of a plurality of LEDs is used, a required light quantity, and uniformity of luminance distribution over the whole screen can be obtained.
Furthermore, in JP(B)-7-27137, a method has been proposed in which a light guide including a rough surface formed on a light emitting face, comprising micro concave/convex portions as a light emission control function structure, is used. A prism sheet having a surface on which a large number of elongated prisms are arranged/formed is disposed on the light emitting face of the light guide in such a manner that the elongated prism formed surface is disposed on a light guide side (i.e., the elongated prism formed surface constitutes a light incident surface), so that the power consumption of the backlight is suppressed, and distribution of the emitted light is narrowed in order to prevent luminance from being sacrificed to the utmost.
Additionally, in recent years, thinning of the light guide and further the prism sheet which is a light deflector has been advanced even in the backlight based on demands for lightening and thinning of various apparatuses such as a liquid crystal display device.
In this case, even when the light incident surface of the prism sheet is used as the elongated prism formed surface as described above, adhesion or sticking sometimes non-uniformly occurs between the light guide and prism sheet formed of a dielectric material such as a synthetic resin, by attractive forces therebetween, such as an electrostatic attractive force. There has been a problem that an apparent defect of the planar light source device is made, and a quality level thereof drops, when the sticking occurs.
In JP(A)-10-48429, it has been proposed that the light emitting face of the light guide be formed into a mat-finished surface having an arithmetic average roughness (Ra) of 0.02 to 0.25 μm in order to prevent the occurrence of the sticking between the light guide and the prism sheet in the planar light source device. However, the occurrence of the sticking can be prevented to a certain degree on the mat-finished surface, but this has not been sufficiently satisfactory yet. The mat-finished surface of the light guide only has a purpose of preventing the occurrence of the sticking, and a mat structure which is a light emission control function structure has not been considered.

Surface light source and light guide used therefor


A self-activated acaricide applicator for killing ticks on large mammals. The applicator is self-activated by motion and heat detection when the mammal moves to investigate an attractant canister. This results in the discharge of an atomized acaricide onto the mammal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling ectoparasites on animals.
2. Description of Related Art
There exist many diseases that are transmittable to man and animals by ectoparasites. Of particular concern is Lyme disease. This disease has been shown to have serious and long-lasting, debilitating effects on man and domestic animals.
The economic impact of Lyme disease is considerable in terms of the cost of the health care associated with the disease, and the loss of productivity for people disabled by the illness. The white-tailed deer is the reproducible host of the adult female deer tick. When these ticks attach to deer, feed to repletion and then drop off they produce between 2,500 to 3,500 eggs, most of all of which hatch in the leaf litter below. Deer are therefore potent amplification arms for deer tick populations.
A system for controlling the deer tick population through the effective application of acaricides to deer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,539. In that system, a salt-lick is provided to entice the deer to a particular location. An automatic pressure responsive spray device for dispensing acaricide is positioned to spray the deer. The spray device is actuated by a sensor which detects the pressure on a platform caused by a deer when licking the salt lick. In this way the deer come to the site of application of the acaricide on a regular basis to be de-ticked.
Sensing the pressure on a platform is not always satisfactory. The pressure applied to the platform by a deer licking the salt-lick, may or may not actuate the spray. If the sensor is very sensitive to pressure, then it can easily be actuated by other animals which may approach the salt-lick, which animals would not be carrying the ticks. Alternatively, these systems are not constantly watched and if an object, such as a branch or the like, fell upon the platform, the acaricide would be sprayed continuously.

Self-activated acaricide applicator for controlling ectoparasites on animals

The Board of Governors for Higher Education, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations


Inhibitors of MIF are provided which have utility in the treatment of a variety of disorders, including the treatment of pathological conditions associated with MIF activity. The inhibitors of MIF have the following structures:

The lymphokine, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), has been identified as a mediator of the function of macrophages in host defense and its expression correlates with delayed hypersensitivity, immunoregulation, inflammation, and cellular immunity. See Metz and Bucala, Adv. Immunol. 66:197–223, 1997. Macrophage migration inhibitory factors (MIFs), which are between 12–13 kilodaltons (kDa) in size, have been identified in several mammalian and avian species; see, for example, Galat et al., Fed. Eur. Biochem. Soc. 319:233–236, 1993; Wistow et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:1272–1275, 1993; Weiser et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:7522–7526, 1989; Bernhagen et al., Nature 365:756–759, 1993; Blocki et al., Protein Science 2:2095–2102, 1993; and Blocki et al., Nature 360:269–270, 1992. MIF inhibitors are also disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/156,650 filed May 24, 2002, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Although MIF was first characterized as being able to block macrophage migration, MIF also appears to effect macrophage adherence; induce macrophage to express interleukin-1-beta, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha; up-regulate HLA-DR (Human Leucocyte Antigen, d-Related, encoded by the d locus on chromosome 6 and found on lymphoid cells); increase nitric oxide synthase and nitric oxide concentrations; and activate macrophage to kill Leishmania donovani tumor cells and inhibit Mycoplasma avium growth, by a mechanism different from that effected by interferon-gamma. In addition to its potential role as an immunoevasive molecule, MIF can act as an immunoadjuvant when given with bovine serum albumin or HIV gp120 in incomplete Freunds or liposomes, eliciting antigen induced proliferation comparable to that of complete Freunds. Also, MIF has been described as a glucocorticoid counter regulator and angiogenic factor. As one of the few proteins that is induced and not inhibited by glucocorticoids, it serves to attenuate the immunosuppressive effects of glucocorticoids. As such, it is viewed as a powerful element that regulates the immunosuppressive effects of glucocorticoids. Hence, when its activities/gene expression are overinduced by the administration of excess exogenous glucocorticoids (for example when clinical indicated to suppress inflammation, immunity and the like), there is significant toxicity because MIF itself exacerbates the inflammatory/immune response. See Buccala et al., Ann. Rep. Med. Chem. 33:243–252, 1998.
While MIF is also thought to act on cells through a specific receptor that in turn activates an intracellular cascade that includes erk phosphorylation and MAP kinase and upregulation of matrix metalloproteases, c-jun (the protooncogene jun), c-fos (the protooncogene fos) and IL-1 mRNA (see Onodera et al., J. Biol. Chem. 275:444–450, 2000), it also possesses endogenous enzyme activity as exemplified by its ability to tautomerize the appropriate substrates (e.g., dopachrome). Further, it remains unclear whether this enzymatic activity mediates the biological response to MIF and the activities of this protein in vitro and in vivo. While site directed mutagenesis of MIF has generated mutants which possess full intrinsic activity, yet fail to possess enzyme activity (Hermanowski-Vosatka et al., Biochemistry 38:12841–12849, 1999), Swope et al. have described a direct link between cytokine activity and the catalytic site for MIF (Swope et al., EMBO J. 17(13):3534–3541, 1998). Accordingly, it is unclear that strategies to identify inhibitors of MIF activity through inhibition of dopachrome tautomerase alone yields inhibitors of MIF activity of clinical value. The ability to evaluate the inhibition of MIF to its cell surface receptor is also limited since no high affinity receptor is currently known.
The interest in developing MIF inhibitors derives from the observation that MIF is known for its cytokine activity concentrating macrophages at sites of infection, and cell-mediated immunity. Moreover, MIF is known as a mediator of macrophage adherence, phagocytosis, and tumoricidal activity. See Weiser et al., J. Immunol. 147:2006–2011, 1991. Hence, the inhibition of MIF results in the indirect inhibition of cytokines, growth factors, chemokines and lymphokines that the macrophage may otherwise bring to a site of inflammation. Human MIF cDNA has been isolated from a T-cell line, and encodes a protein having a molecular mass of about 12.4 kDa with 115 amino acid residues that form a homotrimer as the active form (Weiser et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:7522–7526, 1989). While MIF was originally observed in activated T-cells, it has now been reported in a variety of tissues including the liver, lung, eye lens, ovary, brain, heart, spleen, kidney, muscle, and others. See Takahashi et al., Microbiol. Immunol 43(1):61–67, 1999. Another characteristic of MIF is its lack of a traditional leader sequence (i.e., a leaderless protein) to direct classical secretion through the Endoplasmic Reticulum/Golgi (ER/Golgi) pathway.
A MIF inhibitor (and a method to identify MIF inhibitors) that act by neutralizing the cytokine activity of MIF presents significant advantages over other types of inhibitors. For example, the link between tautomerase activity alone and the inflammatory response is controversial. Furthermore, inhibitors that act intracellularly are often toxic by virtue of their action on related targets or the activities of the target inside cells. Small molecule inhibitors of the ligand receptor complex are difficult to identify let alone optimize and develop. The ideal inhibitor of a cytokine like MIF is one that alters MIF itself so that when released from the cell it is effectively neutralized. A small molecule with this activity is superior to antibodies because of the fundamental difference between proteins and chemicals as drugs. MIF inhibitors are disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/156,650 filed May 24, 2002.

Inhibitors of macrophage migration inhibitory factor and methods for identifying the same

Abstract: including stereoisomers, prodrugs and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, wherein n, R1, R2, R3, R4, X, and Z are as defined herein. Compositions containing an inhibitor of MIF in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier are also provided, as well as methods for use of the same.


The present invention relates to compounds according to Formulas I, IA or IB:

Substituted 5-(pyrazin-2-yl)-1h-pyrazolo [3, 4-b] pyridine and pyrazolo [3, 4-b] pyridine derivatives as protein kinase inhibitors are described in US patent publication No. 2013/0102586 and International Publication No. WO2012/135631.
Salt Inducible Kinase 2 (SIK2)(SEQ ID NO:11) is a centrosome kinase required for bipolar mitotic spindle formation and is a Ser/Thr kinase. Three isoforms of SIK family have been reported; SIK1 (SNF1LK)(SEQ ID NO:10), SIK2 (SNFILK, QIK)(SEQ ID NO:11) and SIK3 (QSK)(SEQ ID NO:24). The SIK2 (SEQ ID NO:11) is amplified in large B-cell lymphoma, ovarian, melanoma and beast cancer patients. Recent findings suggest that SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) over expression enhanced cell death after ischemia and metabolic diseases as well. Inhibition of SIK2 (SEQ ID NO:11) was reported to cause SIK2-dependent centrosome splitting in interphase while SIK2 (SEQ ID NO:11) depletion blocked centrosome separation in mitosis, sensitizing ovarian cancers to paclitaxel in culture and in xenografts. Depletion of SIK2 (SEQ ID NO:11) also delayed G1/S transition and reduced AKT phosphorylation. Higher expression of SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) significantly correlated with poor survival in patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancers (Bast, Jr., et al., Cancer Cell., 18, 109-121, 2010) and is a plausible therapeutic target for therapy in ovarian cancers.
The Salt Inducible Kinase 2 (SIK2) (SEQ ID NO:11) depletion in cancer cells had a significant decrease in cancer cell growth, delayed mitotic progression and G1/S transition and decreased AKT phosphorylation. Deficiency of SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) significantly sensitized cancer cells to taxnae and paclitaxel in vivo xenograft models in interfering with mitotic progression. In this work we established the basis of utilizing SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) as a target for therapy in cancer by evaluating its effect on taxane, paclitaxel sensitization in a panel of cell lines, confirming activity in xenografts that the SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) is over-expressed in 30% of ovarian cancers and to further develop an assay to measure SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) activity. Ovarian Cancer (OC) accounts 3% of cancers in women and is the fifth leading cause of cancer related death among women. Nearly 22,240 women were diagnosed in 2013 with OC in US alone with about 14,030 women estimated to die from this deadly gynecologic malignancy of American women. Ovarian cancer is one of the cancers difficult to detect prior to its advanced stage. The currently available treatments, other than surgery and radiation, are chemotheurapeutics and the few approved targeted agents.
Additionally, an advantage of SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) inhibitors that block SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) activity is to recruite melanogenesis. This leads to recovery of brown hair in 6 to 8 weeks.
Recent reports suggests that the over expression of SIK2 (SEQ ID NO:11) controlled the TORC1 (Transducer of regulated CREB activity-1) from entering the nucleus and activating CREB, and this enhanced cell death after ischemia. The SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) inhibitor could enhance CREB (cAMP Responsive Element-Binding) protein activity and prevent neuron death in response to ischemia. The SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) deficient mice were protected from stroke suggests that SIK2 degradation after ischemia is required for neurons.
There continues to be a need for new drugs to treat multiple cancer indications, melanogenesis, stroke, cardiovascular, obesity and type II diabetes diseases where SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) and its isoforms play a pivotal role in these multiple disease indications. Using the homology structure of the SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) and our FFDD (Fragment Field Drug Design) or FIELDS guided lead identification, screening and SAR efforts; we have discovered the first-in-class novel H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine and 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine inhibitors of SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) that would be useful for treating multiple disease indications, including cancer (ovarian, breast, prostate, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and melanoma), stroke, obesity, type II diabetes. We disclose here the composition and method of use for inhibitors of SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11).
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to composition and method of use for novel H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine and 1H-pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridine inhibitors of SIK2(SEQ ID NO:11) and SIK3(SEQ ID NO:24) useful for treating multiple disease indications, including cancer (ovarian, breast, prostate, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, lung, NSCL and melanoma), autophagy function, stroke, obesity, and type II diabetes.

Substituted 1H-pyrrolo [2, 3-b] pyridine and 1H-pyrazolo [3, 4-b] pyridine derivatives as salt inducible kinase 2 (SIK2) inhibitors

Abstract: to pharmaceutically acceptable composition, salts thereof, their synthesis and their use as SIK2 inhibitors including such compounds and methods of using said compounds in the treatment of various diseases and or disorders such as cancer, stroke, cardiovascular, obesity and type II diabetes.


A machine for pressing a shirt cuff and the pleated portion of a shirt sleeve adjacent the shirt cuff during the same pressing operation,. The machine includes a main upper head and a main lower buck which are closed to press the cuff. An auxiliary buck is mounted adjacent to and forwardly of the main buck to receive the pleated portion of the shirt. An auxiliary head is movable, after the main head and buck are closed, from a retracted non-pressing position to an extended position, pressing the pleated portion against the auxiliary buck.

This invention relates generally to apparatus and method for pressing the collar and cuffs of a long sleeve shirt and more particularly to a machine capable of pressing the cuffs of a sleeve and the pleated area of the sleeve just above the cuff during the same pressing operation.
The sleeve of a standard long sleeve shirt is manufactured with a pleat just above the cuff on the outside edge of the shirt while wearing it. This pleat is present due to the fact that the sleeve diameter is larger than the cuff diameter causing the gathering of the material, hence the pleat. Traditionally, the collar and cuffs of the shirt are pressed in a single operation by a machine including a lower buck assembly constituting an essentially arched collar buck and an arched cuff buck at each end of the collar buck and an upper head assembly having collar and cuff pressing surfaces configured to mate with the lower buck surfaces to press a collar and cuffs of a shirt resting thereon. Typical of such machines is the ALC8 machine manufactured and sold by Hoffman/New Yorker, Inc., the assignee of this invention.
In traditional machines such as the ALC8 machine the collar and two cuffs of a shirt are pressed at the same time. The shirt is loaded on the machine, first by placing the collar on the central buck with the inside of the shirt facing up. Next the cuffs of the shirt are placed on the cuff bucks with the outside of the cuff facing up. The upper pressing head is then closed to press the shirt to the desired look. The pleat formed on the sleeve just above the cuff on the outside edge of the shirt is not pressed during this initial operation. When the shirt is removed from the press, the pleat is pressed by a secondary operation separate from the machine and is normally performed on an ironing board with a hand iron.
It certainly is desirable to be able to press the pleats on the sleeve during the same collar/cuff pressing operation, and thereby eliminate the separate manual pleat pressing operation. One proposal for accomplishing this is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,918. The upper and lower cuff pressing chests illustrated in that patent are of special configuration and include integral forward protruding portions for pressing the pleats simultaneously with pressing the cuffs themselves. The upper and lower chests also include a cut out portion for providing clearance for the unpleated portion of the sleeve. While the configuration illustrated in the ""918 patent provides some benefits, it also suffers some disadvantages. For example, the special configuration of the upper and lower chests in deviating from the standard design used in the past, adds to the cost of the machine. Furthermore, during the pressing operation the cuff of the shirt has to be manually held on the lower cuff buck or chest while the pleated portion of the shirt is aligned on the protruding section of the chest and while the unpleated portion of the shirt is gathered at the cutout portion of the chest. This is necessary because as the upper chest is closed upon the lower chest, the cuff and pleats of the shirt are simultaneously pressed and there is no opportunity to realign the pleats if necessary. Thus, the step of placing the cuff and pleats on the lower chest can be awkward and can result in improper alignment in pressing the pleats.
Accordingly, the need for an efficient, reliable, economical machine for pressing the cuffs and pleated portion of a shirt sleeve during the same pressing operation remains, and the invention as described hereinafter has been developed to satisfy that need and to serve as an improvement over systems such as that illustrated in the ""918 patent.
Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide a novel shirt collar/cuff pressing machine which includes means for pressing the pleat on the shirt sleeve just above the cuff during the same collar/cuff pressing operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide the above novel machine wherein the main collar and cuff pressing heads and pressing bucks are essentially the same as those used in prior standard machines such as the ALC8 machine and wherein separate pleat pressing heads and bucks are provided to press the pleats of the sleeves during the same pressing operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide the above novel machine wherein the pleat pressing heads are operated independently of the main pressing heads of the machine.
The above objectives are accomplished by providing each cuff pressing head and buck with a separate auxiliary pleat pressing head and buck, respectively, which are independently actuatable to press the pleat area of a shirt sleeve located just above the cuff of the sleeve. The pleat pressing buck is mounted adjacent to and extends forwardly from each main cuff pressing buck and a pleat pressing head is connected to and extends forwardly from each main cuff pressing head so as to be positioned above and below the pleat pressing area of the shirt sleeve when the main head is closed upon the cuff positioned upon the main buck. Each pleat pressing head is extended through a pressing stroke by a pneumatic non-rotating air cylinder which the press operator energizes separately from the main pressing heads.
Operation of the novel machine of this invention is as follows. A shirt is loaded on the machine first by placing the collar of the shirt on the collar pressing buck with the inside of the shirt facing up. Next, each cuff of the shirt is placed on its respective cuff pressing buck with the outside of the cuff facing up. In this position the pleats on the shirt sleeves will be positioned inwardly of the cuff bucks adjacent the main collar buck. With the collar and cuffs properly loaded on the collar and cuff bucks, the operator hits start buttons to close the main head down upon the main buck to lock the collar and cuffs of the shirt in place for pressing between the main heads and the main bucks. At this time the separate pleat pressing heads remain spaced from the pleats of the shirt so that the shirt can be dressed, that is, arranged to properly align the pleats, simply by pulling on the shirt sleeves. The cuffs themselves are being held in place by the main head and main buck and will not pull away from the machine. Thus, the operator has both hands available to quickly and properly align the pleats. When the desired dressed look of the pleats is obtained the operator energizes a foot operated air pedal to close the auxiliary pleat pressing heads towards the pleat pressing bucks and thus press the pleat area of the shirt sleeves positioned between the pleat heads and pleat bucks. Steam is then supplied to the main and auxiliary heads and bucks and the novel machine will then press the shirt to the desired look and when completed the pleat heads will retract and the main head will open.
It is apparent that applicant""s novel method of operation eliminates the need to press the pleats by way of a secondary operation such as by using an iron and traditional ironing board. Furthermore, the provision of the separate pleat pressing heads and bucks which are not operated until the cuffs themselves are being held by the main head and bucks enables the operator to more quickly and more reliably dress the shirt, that is, align the pleats prior to the pleat pressing operation. In addition, if the operator does not want to press the pleats, the pleat pressing heads and bucks may be deactivated and the machine can be used in a conventional manner.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from reading the following detailed description of the invention wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

Apparatus and method for pressing shirt collar and cuffs


An automatic, telescoping, buoyant identification device for use with a water sports life vest is provided having an otherwise conventional life vest/floatation device that is equipped with a telescoping spotting pole or flag mounted to the back of the vest. The spotting pole, constructed of a buoyant foam, slides freely within a tubular main housing such that when the wearer becomes submerged, the spotting pole automatically telescopes from the main housing into the air. It is envisioned that the spotting pole has a visible identification device, such as a flag, mounted on its end. The identification device is colored in a manner such that it will be highly visible to approaching boaters. It is envisioned that the present invention may also be sold as an add-on kit. The unit will attach to existing life vests using fastening devices, such as hook and loop fasteners, ties or belts. It is envisioned that the spotting pole and main housing will be manufactured of a material selected from the group comprising plastic and foam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to water sports safety equipment and, more particularly, to an automatic, telescoping, buoyant identification device for use with a water sports life vest.
2. Description of the Related Art
Water sports are becoming more popular then ever. Boating, water skiing and riding wave runners are all extremely popular recreational activities. As these activities increase in popularity, so too does the need to follow adequate safety measures. Crowded waters, coupled with the speed at which many water craft travel, create a situation where a collision could cause serious injury or death. These dangers are especially present where water skiers, wave runner riders or other water sports participants fall into the water, making them difficult to spot by other boaters. Accordingly, the need has developed for a means by which one can easily spot those who fall into the water, thus preventing the danger of being struck by other boaters.
In the related art, several patents disclose life vests that include telescoping signaling flags to identify the location of the wearer. These include U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,711, issued in the name of Samano, U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,369, issued in the name of Coffey, U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,661, issued in the name of Roe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,476, issued in the name of Howard, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,212, issued in the name of Howard.
These devices, however suffer from an inherent design problem. All of these inventions require that the wearer extend the flag manually when he/she enters the water. Thus, protection for the individual is dependent on their remembering to deploy the flag. This causes problems if the person is unconscious, forgets to deploy the flag, or a boat is oncoming quickly.
Two patents disclose life vests that include permanently extended signaling flags to identify the location of the wearer. These are U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,282, issued in the name of Krull et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,264, issued in the name of Melendez et al.
Other patents disclose signaling devices used to locate people in open waters include U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,127, issued in the name of Willis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,351, issued in the name of Danielson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,297, issued in the name of Loughlin, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,252, issued in the name of McNeil.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention. Consequently, a need has been felt for providing an apparatus and method which overcomes the problems cited above.

Automatic telescoping bouyant identification device for use with a water spout life vest


A modular ceiling fan assembly and system is disclosed in which the functioning components are standardized, including standardized connections for their assembly, and multiple components are provided with a plurality of alternate parts for assembly into a variety of uniquely differentiating configurations, styles and appearance without substantially increasing the cost to the manufacturer. The motor platform, including the motor, shafts, switch housing and electrical components and wiring, are standardized into a single configuration, and the holes for mounting the fan blades on the lower surface and/or upper surface of the rotor have a standardized size and spacing. A modular motor housing is formed from multiple horizontal sections, preferably two or three, with a standardized height to accommodate the common single motor platform. The various sections of the modular motor housing are selected in order to produce a variety of uniquely different appearances. Alternative modular blade attachments, including blade ring and paddle assemblies, blade ramps and blade irons, with and without blade rings, are configured to be mounted in the standardized mounting holes of the rotor. These components, together with the fan blades, have standardized hole spacing for interchangeable assembly of components into differentiating fan styles. As a result, top mounted fan styles, bottom mounted fan styles, and mid-body fan styles can be assembled from the modular components. Standardized packing cushion materials are also disclosed.

The popularity of ceiling fans has increased tremendously in recent years. Today, consumers having a wide range of tastes and needs often purchase numerous ceiling fans for a single home or business to enhance the decor of the environment and to provide an extremely effective means to conserve the energy required to heat and cool the environment. As a result, the traditional ceiling fan market has evolved from a few basis models into a choice of hundreds of different fans. Further, due to their economic power, large retail chains often are in a position to require manufacturers to provide new designs for ceiling fans on an exclusive basis or as private label products in order to distinguish the configuration, style or appearance of their ceiling fans from the products offered by their competitors, even though the fans may be made by the same manufacturer. Thus, in response to evolving consumer tastes and demands and competitive pressures within the ceiling fan market, ceiling fan manufacturers are compelled to continuously create entirely new fan designs or lines of fan products in order to provided a variety of ceiling fans which are clearly distinguishable both from other fans in their own product lines and from ceiling fan products marketed by other competing manufacturers.
Whenever the design of a ceiling fan is changed, whether due to a change in consumer preferences or as an accommodation to a retail chain or other outlet, new parts and assembly drawings must be created, and different tooling must be produced for each of the new parts of the fan. The new parts then must be manufactured and inventoried. In addition, different packing materials must be developed and produced for each new fan design, including different size packing cartons, different cushion material customized to fit the cartons and the parts, different ornamentation for the cartons, and different arrangement of cartons for shipment on a pallet. The production of many different lines of ceiling fan products also substantially increases the cost of raw materials, labor, material, handling and inventory for a manufacturer. Further, it often is necessary to provide a separate packing line to package the final product after it comes off of the assembly line. Moreover, typically a production line must be completely shut down in order to incorporate adjustments for a new ceiling fan design.
The few prior efforts to produce a ceiling fan having interchangeable components typically utilize a limited number of parts for only one of the components of the ceiling fan. However, these efforts to not significantly reduce manufacturing costs or allow the production of a large variety of uniquely different fan configurations, styles or appearances.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,011 discloses only non-modular interchangeable matched top and bottom globe-like covers for a lighted ceiling fan in which each cover is manufactured as a complete unit. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,441,387 and 5,503,524 disclose ceiling fan motor housings configured to receive different inserts which alter only the decorative pattern on the housing. Clearly, none of these prior efforts provide a system in which a wide variety of ceiling fans having uniquely differentiating styles, configurations, and appearances can be produced from a single standardized ceiling fan assembly, while substantially reducing the cost to the manufacturer.


To suppress an image trouble resulting from abnormal discharge independent of the use conditions and use environment of an electroconductive member, provided is an electroconductive member to be used while being brought into contact with a body to be contacted, the electroconductive member comprising a layer of a network structural body on an outer peripheral surface of a electroconductive support, in which: when a surface of the network structural body in a surface of the electroconductive member is observed, at least a part of the network structural body exists in an arbitrary square region having one side length of 200 μm; the network structural body contains non-electroconductive fibers; and an average fiber diameter of a top 10% of fiber diameters of the non-electroconductive fibers measured at arbitrary points is 0.2 μm or more and 15 μm or less.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electroconductive member for electrophotography, a process cartridge, and an electrophotographic apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In an electrophotographic apparatus as an image-forming apparatus adopting an electrophotographic system, an electroconductive member has been finding use in various applications, e.g., an electroconductive roller such as a charging roller, a developing roller, or a transfer roller. The electrical resistance value of such electroconductive roller needs to be controlled to from 103 to 1010Ω independent of its use conditions and use environment. Accordingly, the roller is provided with an electroconductive layer having added thereto an electron conductive agent typified by carbon black or an ion conductive agent such as a quaternary ammonium salt compound, the electron conductive agent or the ion conductive agent being added for adjusting the electroconductivity of the electroconductive layer. Each of those two kinds of electroconductive agents has advantages and disadvantages.
An electron conductive roller obtained by adding the carbon black has the following advantages. A change in its electrical resistance value due to its use environment is small and there is a low possibility that the roller contaminates an electrophotographic photosensitive member (hereinafter referred to as "photosensitive member"). On the other hand, however, the following has been known. It is difficult to uniformly disperse the carbon black, and hence unevenness in the electrical resistance value resulting from the agglomeration of the carbon black occurs, and in particular, there is a possibility that a low-resistance site locally occurs. Even when the addition amount, of the carbon black is adjusted to optimize the electrical resistance value of the entirety of the conductive roller, it is not easy to prevent the local occurrence of the low-resistance site.
In an ion conductive roller obtained by adding the ion conductive agent, the ion conductive agent is uniformly dispersed in a binder resin as compared with the electron conductive roller. Accordingly, unevenness in its electrical resistance value resulting from the dispersion unevenness of the conductive agent can be reduced, and the local occurrence of a low-resistance site observed in an electron conductive system is hardly observed. On the other hand, however, the ion-conducting performance of the ion conductive roller is affected by the amount of moisture in the binder resin under its use environment in an extremely strong manner. Accordingly, it has been known that the electrical resistance value increases owing to the drying of a material for the roller particularly under a low-temperature and low-humidity environment having a temperature of 15° C. and a relative humidity of 10% (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "L/L environment"). Accordingly, it is not easy to secure sufficient electroconductivity under the low-temperature and low-humidity environment.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-274424 discloses an approach involving using the ion conductive agent and the electron conductive agent in combination as means for adjusting the electrical resistance value of the electroconductive roller to a proper region independent of its use conditions and use environment.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-272187 discloses, as an approach involving uniformizing the electrical resistance of a charging member to uniformly charge the surface of a photosensitive member, a charging member having an electron conductive fiber-entangled body. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open. No. H10-186805 discloses, as means for uniformly charging the surface of a body to be charged, a charging device in which a uniform fine void is formed between a charging electrode and the body to be charged by winding a thread-like member around the charging electrode and fixing the member.

Electroconductive member for electrophotography, process cartridge, and electrophotographic apparatus