Formation of an assemblage of electrically conductive components for a new electrosurgical pencil is disclosed, and assembly of those components in a method for automating the manufacture and combination of current carrying metal circuitry and operable switching components in “electrosurgical pencils” which supply current to an active terminal, for application of high frequency or high power electrical current to a surgical site, and control of such current through coaction of the elements of the switch. In manufacture, the design of the switch components allows start-to-finish automated assembly of the switch, in an industry which knows only partially automated assembly, and partial assembly by hand, to create an improved tool for surgical cutting, coagulation, and cauterizing.

Electrosurgical instruments have become widely used by surgeons in recent years. Most electrosurgical instruments include a hand-held instrument, or pencil, which transfers radio-frequency (RF) electrical energy (electrical current) to a tissue site. The electrical current may be returned to the source via a return electrode pad positioned under a patient (typically monopolar use), or a smaller return electrode positioned in bodily contact with or immediately adjacent to the surgical site (typically bipolar use). The waveforms which result from the RF electrical current may be used to produce a variety of effects, depending on the power applied, and the frequency used. These effects include surgical cutting, coagulation, and cauterizing (or sealing), by application of electric current to biological tissue. The current is produced by radio-frequency electrical energy generated from an appropriate electrosurgical generator.
These useful effects are produced during surgery by "electrosurgical pencils," surgical instruments which have a hand piece, to which is attached an active electrode. The main body of the hand piece for most electrosurgical pencils is comprised of a molded plastic hand piece, within which resides a second plastic holder, for positioning and holding appropriate electrical circuitry, which acts as a conduit for electrical current, and a switch (or switches) by which the current may be controlled. The active electrode, at the distal end of the electrosurgical pencil, is, by such switch or switches, electrically connected, through the electrical circuitry within the interior plastic holder, to a suitable RF source of electrical current (i.e., an electrosurgical generator, or "generator") which produces the radio-frequency electrical energy necessary for the operation of the electrosurgical pencil.
In general, when a monopolar procedure is performed on a patient with an electrosurgical pencil, electrical energy from the generator is conducted through the active electrode to the tissue at the site of the operation and then through the patient to a return electrode. The return electrode is typically placed at a convenient place on the patient's body and is attached to the generator by a conductive material. The active electrode is an electrically conducting element which comes in a variety of forms, so that the surgeon may apply the electrical energy from the electrosurgical pencil in a variety of ways.
When a bipolar procedure is performed on a patient with an electrosurgical pencil, electrical energy from the generator is conducted through and active electrode to the tissue at the site of the operation, and then through the patient tissue to a return electrode. The return electrode in such case is proximal to the active electrode, typically within millimeters distance, and provides a return path to the generator, alleviating the need for a separate return pad electrode as used in monopolar procedures.
The electrosurgical pencils already in use may be operated by a handswitch or a foot switch. However, hand switching on the hand piece of the electrosurgical pencil has become the standard method for changing the electrical current from that suitable for surgical cutting, to coagulation and cauterizing, and back to cutting. Typically, electrosurgical instrument systems allow the surgeon to change between two pre-configured settings (i.e., coagulation and cutting) via two discrete buttons disposed on the exterior of the electrosurgical pencil (external "Buttons"). Such Buttons, when pressed, generally activate another conductive or non-conductive component, which then activates the conductive switching elements of the electrosurgical pencil, thereby allowing current to flow through the electrosurgical pencil to the active electrode. Other switching arrangements have been developed, including three button systems and rocker arm systems, depending on the number of functions which are desired, and the surgeon's preferred switching "feel" and activation method.
Regardless of the switch type and number of settings, many switches for electrosurgical pencils presently in use utilize suitably sized, stamped, metal to form the electrical circuitry which carries current from the electrical generator leads, through one or more electrical conductors (or conducting strips), to the active electrode. Other switches for electrosurgical pencil include the use of small printed circuit boards ("PCBs"), with attached conductors, dome switches, and various connectors. Once a switch has been assembled, it may then be incorporated as a sub-assembly into the hand piece of an electrosurgical pencil.
Examples of such stamped electrical circuitry may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,376,089 and 4,427,006. U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,089 shows an invention in which the circuitry of the electrosurgical pencil switch is stamped in a single piece, to form the totality of the switching circuitry, and then stamped again at a number of "punch points," to electrically isolate each of the conducting strips of the switch after the conducting strips are positioned and secured within a housing. After securing the conducting strips, the switch sub-assembly is then assembled within the housing of an electrosurgical pencil.
One benefit of stamping switch circuitry in a single piece is ease of manufacture, as stamping all the circuitry in a single piece avoids wiring by hand in a "bread board" fashion, with conducting wire and solder. Another benefit of stamping switch circuitry is the creation, with one single stamping, of all electrical conducting strips necessary to conduct current from generator leads to active electrode. At the same time, the stamping operation may be used to create electrical spring contacts, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,089, or "cantilevered conductor strips," as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,006 (collectively, these may be termed "Spring Contacts"). The Spring Contacts generally provide the resistive mechanism necessary to break electrical contact between the generator leads and the active electrode. In operation, the Spring Contacts may flex, to make electrical contact between the otherwise electrically isolated electrical strips of the electrosurgical pencil switch circuitry. Flexing of the Spring Contacts occurs when buttons which may be reached and activated from the exterior of the electrosurgical pencil hand piece are pressed. As resilient pieces, however, the Spring Contacts may also return to their original positions, or move partially to their original positions, to break electrical contact, and thereby again electrically isolate the electrical strips of the electrosurgical pencil switch circuitry. This occurs when pressure on the accessible exterior buttons is reduced.
The largest single problem with most common switching arrangements is that, while the electrosurgical pencil switch circuitry as a whole may be stamped in a single piece, the conducting strips of the circuitry must be stamped again at the "punch points" to electrically isolate each of the conducting strips. This second, punch point, stamping generally takes place before the conducting strips of the electrosurgical pencil switch circuitry are fastened in place within the molded insulative holding and positioning body of the hand piece of the electrosurgical pencil. As a result, the conducting strips of the electrosurgical pencil switch circuitry, or other necessary electrical components such as "dome switches," must be located by human eyes, selected with human thought, and touched by human hands. Hand labor, in fact, is often necessary, depending on the arrangement utilized, to locate the correct electrical component for loading into the molded insulative holding and positioning body, positioning such components within that body, or fastening such components in place. As the electrical components of electrosurgical pencil switches are small, such work by humans is slow, sometimes inaccurate, and often requires special tools or fasteners.
In a small number of switching arrangements where the circuitry is stamped in a single piece, the conducting strips of the circuitry may be stamped at the punch points to electrically isolate each of the conducting strips after the conducting strips are fastened in place within the molded insulative holding body of the hand piece. This kind of manufacture, which may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,089, allows the elimination of some human handling of small switch parts, however some assembly by hand is still necessary even in the invention of this patent, as the dome shaped members which make contact with underlying Spring Contacts must be positioned after the molded insulative holding body of the hand piece is assembled, and sealing tape is placed such dome shaped members. As a result, the conducting some conductive and non-conductive components of all electrosurgical pencil switches presently must still be located, selected, and positioned by human hands.
As electrosurgical pencils are, even when assembled by humans, relatively small and simple devices, and used by medical professionals under circumstances which benefit from a "disposable" tool, electrosurgical pencils have become less expensive to produce. However, like most manufactured items, and all medical tools (especially inexpensive medical tools), the distribution of electrosurgical pencil adds greatly to their overall cost to the surgical profession and, ultimately, to their patients and health care costs. What is needed, then, is an even less resource intensive method of manufacturing electrosurgical pencils, particularly at the stage where the electrosurgical pencil switch circuitry is loaded into the molded insulative holding and positioning body of the electrosurgical pencil hand piece.
The Switch of the Pencil of the present invention reduces the cost of manufacture of electrosurgical pencil by eliminating human selection and handling during the assembly of electrosurgical pencil switches and hand pieces. The design of the Switch allows this through an innovative design in the Switch circuitry and other electrical components, which allows 100% machine assembly (i.e., the assembly of the Switch and Cabinet of the hand piece is entirely automated), and by use of otherwise common components. The present invention thereby overcomes the cost drawbacks of prior devices, saving significant manufacturing costs, which results in the saving of dollars of unnecessary cost to the surgeon, and tens of dollars of extra cost to the patient or her insurer.
The Switch of the Pencil of the present invention also allows use of commonly available, inexpensive, and standardized "snap dome springs." The Dome Springs, which may be of formed from different materials and different thicknesses, provide a variety of electrical contact closing forces. The Dome Springs therefore provide a variety of pressures and "actions" when depressing or releasing the exterior activation buttons of the Pencil during use. This is important, as individual surgeons, having individual strengths and preferences, wish to select the tactile feel of the tool they will use while undertaking the delicate tasks of cutting and cauterizing.
No patent or electrosurgical pencil of which the inventor is aware allows automation of the assembly of the electrosurgical pencil hand piece, to reduce costs, and free up direct human attention and effort, and no electrosurgical pencil of which the inventor is aware allows the surgeon to so finely select the tactile feel of her electrosurgical pencil by selecting activation button pressure and action in a electrosurgical pencil costing so little.

Switch, circuitry, and method of assembly for electrosurgical pencil


A process for the purification of solutions containing metals comprising neutralization of the solution, reduction of Fe(III) present, and elimination of ingoing dissolved zinc, whereby the ingoing solution containing metals is neutralized using magnetite and/or metallic iron, that the ingoing iron (III) is reduced to iron (II) by means of an addition of metallic iron, that ingoing heavy metals are precipitated by the addition of a precipitating amount of a sulphide, whereby the metal sulphides precipitated are recovered by means of filtration, that the solution is, optionally, subjected to an ion exchange operation to transfer ingoing zinc into non-complex bound form, whereupon zinc is recovered as zinc carbonate, that iron (II) in the remaining solution is oxidized to iron (III), whereupon the solution is used as such or is further treated for increasing the metal content for the purpose intended.

In connection with surface treatment of metallic objects these are pickled in acidic baths, whereby in particular hydrochloric acid is generally used, in order to provide the metal object with a clean surface to which the surface treatment adheres. Hereby metal and metal oxides are dissolved from the metallic objects, which metal will be found in the pickling solutions in the form of ions, which can be recovered in the form of salts of different kinds. Most of all pickling solutions containing iron, aluminium, and zinc are present, which pickling solutions are a great problem as they can not be deposited in any arbitrary way as the metals present can create an environmental problem. Furthermore, the metals present are a resource if they should be able to be recovered.
EP-A1-0 141 313 discloses a process for recovering iron and zinc from spent pickling solutions, whereby the pickling solution is first treated with an absorption agent to eliminate any organic material present, whereupon the iron present in three valence form is first reduced using metallic iron and zinc, to two valence form, the zinc present is extracted using a complex forming solvent, whereupon zinc and iron are recovered in a traditional way. The addition of zinc is carried out in a step following the addition of metallic iron in order to precipitate heavy metals present by means of a cementation. In connection with the cementation zinc will dissolve and can then be recovered as zinc chloride. When the zinc chloride has been eliminated by means of extraction iron can be recovered as a solution of iron(III) chloride after oxidation of the two valence iron. The process is hereby based on a cementation of the heavy metals present and a solvent extraction of the zinc present by means of trioctyl amine in a mixture with kerosine/isodecanol. The use of the organic solvent is a complication as these have to be recovered, partly for cost reasons, partly for environmental reasons.
There is thus a desire for a more simplified and cost efficient process for recovering the metals present, and in particular to eliminate the need for organic solvents.

Purification of metal containing solutions


A method for an initial activation of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell includes: humidifying a fuel cell stack; performing a small-current driving operation for applying a small current to the humidified fuel cell stack; and performing an activating operation by repeatedly performing an activation cycle a predetermined number of times. The activation cycle includes: a first driving operation for driving the fuel cell stack to output a first predetermined voltage; a first pausing operation for controlling the fuel cell stack in a no-load open-circuit voltage state; a second driving operation for driving the fuel cell to output a second predetermined voltage; and a second pausing operation for controlling the fuel cell stack in the no-load open-circuit voltage state.

Generally, a fuel cell generates electricity through an electro-chemical reaction between hydrogen supplied to a fuel electrode and air supplied to an air electrode. The electrochemical reaction between the hydrogen and the air is derived by an electrolyte membrane that is disposed between the air electrode and the fuel electrode. A fuel cell that has a solid type electrolyte membrane is generally called a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), or a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell.
The electrolyte membrane of a PEFC is generally made of a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) based ionomer, such as Nafion (registered trademark) of DuPont Co.
The normal operating condition of the electrolyte membrane is preferably between normal ambient temperature and 80° C., more preferably, between 55 and 65° C., and temperatures of the fuel and the oxidizing gas are preferably similar to body temperature, more preferably within a temperature difference of 10° C. In addition, an amount of supplied hydrogen (fuel gas) is preferably 1.7 to 2.0 times of a theoretical amount thereof, and an amount of supplied air (oxidizing gas) is preferably 1.2 to 1.5 times of a theoretical amount thereof. Meanwhile, the PEFC is an energy generating device having a low-voltage and high-current characteristic, and a theoretical maximum output voltage of a unit cell is 1.23V in an open-circuit state. However, a plurality of unit cells must be used for a power source of a vehicle, and it is preferable that power in a voltage range of 0.4˜0.9V is used for the unit cell to provide reasonable energy conversion efficiency of the fuel cell.
However, in a normal operating range of a PEFC, the fuel cell output can be mainly determined by movements of electrons and ions generated during the electrochemical reaction of the fuel cell. In particular, such electron and ion flow relates to a passage or movement of protons.
Therefore, initial activation of a fuel cell, i.e., to make sufficient passage of protons before a normal operation phase of the fuel cell, just after manufacturing the fuel cell, is needed, in order to achieve an efficiency of the fuel cell in a short time even if the fuel cell does not operate for a long time.
In a conventional method for initial activation, load that is continuously changed according to a load changing curve, and load cycles according to a forward load changing curve and a reverse load changing curve are alternately applied several times.
However, in such a conventional method for fuel cell initial activation of the fuel cell, the operation must be continuously performed for more than a day, and the extent of passages produced for protons also can be limited.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.

Method for initial activation of polymer electrolyte fuel cell


Methods and systems for determining an engine temperature for a gas turbine engine are provided. An estimated combustor temperature is determined based on at least one operating condition of the gas turbine engine and an estimated vane mass flow. A corrected vane mass flow is determined based on the estimated combustor temperature, the estimated vane mass flow, and a combustor pressure. The corrected vane mass flow is compared to a reference vane mass flow to obtain the mass flow correction factor. When a condition associated with the mass flow correction factor is not satisfied, the estimated combustor temperature is adjusted based on the mass flow correction factor to produce an adjusted combustor temperature; and the mass flow correction factor is updated based on the adjusted combustor temperature. When the condition associated with the mass flow correction factor is satisfied, the estimated combustor temperature is assigned as the engine temperature.

In a gas turbine engine, continuous inlet air is compressed, mixed with fuel in an inflammable proportion, and exposed to an ignition source to ignite the mixture which then continues to burn to produce combustion products. The combustion of the air-fuel mixture can be used to power various mechanical components, which in turn can be used to produce thrust.
Monitoring of various temperatures within the engine during operation thereof can be of interest in assisting a control system or an operator responsible for the engine. Although existing approaches for measuring engine temperature are suitable for their purposes, improvements remain desirable.
As such, there is room for improvement.

Method and system for determining an engine temperature


An apparatus and a method for deactivating an airbag in a motor vehicle with at least one vehicle seat, to which a child seat placed on the seat can be fastened. A device is provided for deactivating an airbag located in front when the child seat is mounted. In order to allow such a device to be retrofitted simply and economically even in existing mass-produced vehicles, the device is formed by a tongue additionally mounted on the child seat and a latch connected in an active relationship with a central triggering unit. The airbag is deactivated by inserting the tongue into the latch and is reactivated by releasing the connection. For this purpose, the latch has an integrated sensor connected by a lead to the central triggering unit. In order to increase the certainty that the airbag will be shut off when the child seat is mounted, the sensor is made redundant.

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for deactivating an airbag in a motor vehicle.
The motor vehicle has at least one vehicle seat, to which a child seat, placed upon it, can be fastened, with a device being provided to deactivate an airbag located in front when the child seat is mounted. In order to allow a device of this kind to be retrofitted simply and economically even in existing mass-produced vehicles, the device is constituted by a tongue additionally mounted on the child seat and a latch in an active connection with a central triggering unit, with the airbag being deactivated by inserting the tongue into the latch and reactivated when the connection is broken. For this purpose, the latch has an integral sensor connected by a lead with a central triggering unit. The sensor is constructed in a redundant manner in order to improve reliability.
Advantageously, the certainty that the airbag will be shut off when the child seat is mounted is considerably increased by this measure so that a child sitting in the child seat is better protected against the airbag being triggered.
According to the present invention, an apparatus for deactivating an airbag in a motor vehicle is provided, comprising: at least one vehicle seat; a child seat which is mountable on said vehicle seat; a device for deactivating an airbag located in front of the child seat when the child seat is mounted on said vehicle seat, said device comprising a tongue mounted on the child seat, and a latch in an active connection with a central triggering unit, said airbag located being deactivated by inserting the tongue into the latch and being reactivated by releasing the tongue from the latch, said latch having an integral sensor connected by a connecting lead to the central triggering unit, said sensor being made in redundant form.
According to the present invention, a method for deactivating an airbag in a motor vehicle having at least one vehicle seat and a child seat which is mountable on said vehicle seat is provided, comprising: providing a device for deactivating an airbag located in front of the child seat when the child seat is mounted on said vehicle seat, said device comprising a tongue mounted on the child seat, and a latch having an integral sensor in an active connection with a central triggering unit, said sensor being made in redundant form; deactivating said airbag via said central triggering unit when said tongue is inserted into said latch; and reactivating said airbag via said central triggering unit when said tongue is released from said latch.
According to certain preferred embodiments, the redundant system is formed by using duplicate sensors. This double installation of the sensor significantly reduces the probability that the insertion of the tongue into the latch will not be recognized by a defective sensor.
According to certain preferred embodiments, a switch element is provided in the sensor. With a switch element, for example a switch or a reed contact, the insertion of the tongue into the latch can be recognized very reliably in a known manner.
According to certain preferred embodiments, the sensor is formed as a chain of two resistances connected in series, with the switch element bridging one of the resistances. With such a design for the sensor, in addition to the unswitched state of the switching element (both resistances active) and the switched state of the switching element (only one resistance active), a break in the lead (infinite resistance) and a short circuit (resistance=0) can be identified.
According to certain preferred embodiments, the resistance chains of a redundant system of sensors are connected in parallel. By virtue of the two states described above, additional identification can be performed to determine whether one of the two sensors or one of the switch elements contained in the two sensors is defective.
According to certain preferred embodiments, the central triggering unit evaluates the signal from the sensor and permits triggering of the airbag located in front only if the evaluation indicates beyond a doubt that the tongue is not inserted into the latch. This evaluation is preferably intended to be performed by comparing a total resistance of the sensor with a set value range. In this way, in case of doubt, an airbag located in front of the child seat will not be triggered, so that even if a child seat is in fact mounted but this condition is not recognized because of a defect, a child sitting in the child seat will be protected against the airbag being triggered.

Apparatus and method for deactivating an airbag


Described herein is a framework to facilitate traffic prediction. In accordance with one aspect, training data including historical traffic information and precipitation data is received. An impulse response function may be determined based on the training data. One or more traffic parameters may be predicted by calculating a weighted linear system model based on the impulse response function.

Traffic forecasting is an important component of an intelligent transportation system in a smart city. Research efforts have been made to manage traffic congestion using various traffic prediction models and methods. Generally, traffic prediction problems can be classified into two categories with respect to time scale: long-term and short-term. Long-term prediction provides monthly or even yearly information of traffic states, and is used for long-term transportation planning. Short-term prediction, on the other hand, provides traffic forecasts for the near future, such as 15 minutes later. It can be used by experts to guide traffic flow and to manage congestion. It may also be made available to commuters to help them plan their trips wisely. Short-term traffic prediction provides estimates of future key traffic parameters, such as speed, flow, occupancy or travel time, with a forecasting horizon typically ranging from five to thirty minutes at specific locations, given real-time and historical traffic data from relevant surveillance stations.
Bad weather conditions, such as rain, snow, fog, ice, flooding, wind and high temperature, generally result in more accidents on road. Heavy precipitation conditions may also impact traffic speed, capacity, volume, intensity, flow and travel time. Heavy rainfall may decrease the visibility and causes wet surface on roads, so road users will slow down their vehicles in order to drive safely. Although the impact of rainfall on traffic is generally recognized on an anecdotal basis, current traffic prediction systems do not provide a quantitative approach to forecasting traffic based on rainfall data.


An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection apparatus, coupled between a first rail line and a second rail line, includes a clamp circuit and a detection circuit. The detection circuit includes an electronic element having an equivalent capacitance value, and a transistor having a gate, a first input and a second input respectively coupled to a first node, the first rail line and a drive terminal of the clamp circuit. In response to an ESD event, leakage currents pass between the first input and the gate and between the second input and the gate to equivalently form parasitic resistance therein, respectively. The parasitic resistances and the electronic element form a delay circuit to provide a drive voltage between the gate and the first input, and to provide a trigger current for conducting the clamp circuit, so that the first and second rail lines perform an ESD operation via the clamp circuit.

A power-rail electrostatic discharge (ESD) clamp circuit plays a critical role in achieving whole-chip ESD protection. A conventional ESD clamp circuit includes a clamp circuit and a detection circuit. The detection circuit detects whether an ESD event occurs on the power rails, and drives the clamp circuit to perform an ESD operation when the ESD event is detected.
As CMOS technologies approach a nanometer scale, for a transistor, a breakdown voltage of a gate oxide layer that is getting thinner and thinner also rapidly drops along with advancements in manufacturing techniques. Thus, a leakage current of the transistor device is correspondingly increased to significantly complicate ESD protection circuit designs. Therefore, there is a need for an ESD clamp circuit having a low leakage current for adapting to the ever-increasing CMOS technologies.

Electrostatic discharge protection apparatus and associated method

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An optical communication system for a printer includes an infrared light emitting diode for emitting a radiation for transmitting a printing data, an infrared receiver for receiving the printing data transmitted with the radiation, a printer body to which the printing data is supplied through the infrared receiver, a microcomputer for detecting a state of data transmission of the printing data, an indicator light emitting diode for indicating the state of transmission in accordance with the microcomputer so that the state of printing data transmission is visible to a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical data communication system and a printer which receives printing data through the optical data communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been developed small portable printers for personal computers. The portable printer is not installed at a specific place but is put on a user's desk or the like when it is used. Printing data is sent to the portable printer from a personal computer or a portable data communication device through a data transmission means such as an interface or a cable which connects the printer and the personal computer.
Recently, infrared data transmission means using no cables have been proposed. In the infrared data communications system, the data transmitter and the data receiver are provided with light emitting elements and light receiving elements that transmit and receive printing data in accordance with a predetermined communication protocol, respectively.
However, the conventional data communication means are not provided with a display which indicates the communication state. Consequently, even if the printing operation is not correctly completed, a user cannot be informed of such an incomplete printing operation.

Optical data communication system and printer


An image processing system comprising: an image acquisition unit for acquiring a scanned image; a non-voltage storage medium that stores correction information corresponding to a known object having a three-dimensional shape defined by the standard; when an object of the scanned image is the known object, a correction unit that corrects a shadow area of the scanned image corresponding to a shadow resulting from thickness of the known object, on the basis of the correction information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system and an image processing method, and more specifically, correcting of scan images of an object having a shape of which is defined by the specification, in particular.
2. Description of Related Art
So-called flat bed type copier having an image reading function and a printing function that can copy a label of standardized disk type storage media such as a Compact Disk (CD), DVD and the like are known. (for example JP-A-2004-199489, JP-A-2003-1873). However, in such copiers in related art, there has been the problem that a shadow of a disc placed on a document bed and illuminated from below the document bed is cast onto the document backing mat, and this shadow is printed on the label as the print medium.
Also, in general, in scanners, since the sampling pitch at the time of reading slightly differs in the main scanning direction and the auxiliary scanning direction due to production tolerance, secular variations, temperature changes and the like, scanned images are distorted approximately 1 to 2%. Correction of distortion of scanned images prior to reading to compensate for secular variations, temperature changes and the like is difficult to implement, because it decelerates reading rate or it requires mounting on a scanner and the like of a standard object that is less susceptible to secular variations or temperature changes Consequently, copiers of related art had a problem that an unwanted blank area is formed on a label obtained by hard-copying or ink has run off into areas outside of the label area.

Image processing system and image processing method


A novel prosthetic valve is described herein, as well as methods of making such novel prosthetic valves.

Unlike a wide variety of mechanical and bioprosthetic heart valves implanted and delivered via catheter into adult patients, a heart valve that can grow and maintain function for pediatric patients has not yet been demonstrated. The only accepted options for these children are valves made from chemically-fixed tissues that often become dysfunctional due to calcification and almost always will need to be replaced at least once since it has no growth capacity due to the chemical fixation. These children will need to endure at least one, usually several, and sometimes five open heart surgeries until adulthood, when a mechanical valve would typically be implanted, requiring lifelong anticoagulation therapy. Clearly, if a valve could be implanted the first time that is able to grow with the recipient (e.g., somatic growth; see, for example, Syedain et al., 2016, Nat. Commun., 7:12951. PMCID: 5052644), as well as development of a functional endothelium (see, for example, Syedain et al., 2016, Nat. Commun., 7:12951. PMCID: 5052644), it would alleviate immense suffering for these children and their families, and reduce an immense health care cost.
In addition, a major weakness of current prosthetic heart valves is the tendency of the commissures to fail, as the collapsing leaflet is constantly pulling against the connection with the outer supporting tube. This disclosure describes a multi-leaflet valve that is made by suturing tubular members together along their longitudinal axis as well as horizontally to define the leaflets, resulting in commissures that cannot fail in the manner current prosthetic valves fail and that are as strong as native material because they are formed by tubular members attached longitudinally, not within one another.


An input circuit of a microwave amplification tube achieves improved instantaneous bandwidth. By directly coupling the transmission line carrying a modulating radio frequency signal to a control grid, a low-Q input circuit is created that increases the fractional bandwidth of the system. A resonant cavity may be used to generate a voltage across the gap between the cathode and the control grid. Alternative geometries are presented whereby the electron beam is emitted from a cathode connected either to the center conductor of the transmission line or to the outer conductor of the transmission line. Alternatively, the electric field of the radio-frequency signal propagating through the transmission line may be used to create a voltage across the gap between the cathode and the control grid without using a resonant cavity. Likewise, alternative geometries are presented by which the electron beam is emitted from a cathode connected either to the center conductor or to the outer conductor of the transmission line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microwave amplification tubes, such as an inductive output tube (IOT), and, more particularly, to an input circuit for an IOT or other emission-gated device providing improved instantaneous bandwidth.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the art to utilize a linear beam device, such as a klystron or traveling wave tube amplifier, to generate or amplify a high-frequency RF signal. Such a device generally includes an electron-emitting cathode and an anode spaced therefrom. The anode includes a central aperture, and by applying a high voltage potential between the cathode and anode, electrons may be drawn from the cathode surface and directed into a high-power beam that passes through the anode aperture. One class of linear beam device, referred to as an inductive output tube (IOT), further includes a grid disposed in the inter-electrode region defined between the cathode and anode. The electron beam may thus be density modulated by applying a radio-frequency (RF) signal to the grid relative to the cathode. After the anode accelerates the density-modulated beam, the beam propagates across a gap provided downstream within the IOT, and RF fields are thereby induced into a cavity coupled to the gap. The RF fields may then be extracted from the output cavity in the form of a high-power, modulated RF signal.
More particularly, an IOT, as well as other emission-gated microwave amplifiers, use density modulation to establish an AC current Jb on the electron beam directly at the cathode surface. This current is subsequently converted to RF energy through the Jb·Ec interaction with the output circuit field, Ec. Density-modulated amplifiers are highly efficient, even when operated in the linear region. Direct modulation of the beam at the cathode also enables compact device size.
In most density-modulated devices, RF gating of the electron emission is accomplished via an input cavity structure with a high-electric-field region situated between the cathode surface and a control grid. Energy from the signal generator is coupled into the input circuit, modulating the electron beam at the grid-to-cathode (g-k) gap. The basic elements of the input circuit are a resonant cavity, a coupled transmission line and a DC block. The gain-bandwidth product is limited by the interaction impedance R/Q·Q, where R/Q is the shunt impedance across the g-k gap, primarily determined by the gap geometry, and Q is the quality factor. The Q, proportional to the ratio of stored energy to dissipated power, determines the bandwidth of interaction between the drive signal and the electron beam. The power is dissipated by cavity ohmic losses, beam loading and external loading. The total Q is thus the parallel combination of the ohmic quality factor Q0, the beam loading quality factor Qb and the external quality factor Qext. When heavily loaded by the generator impedance through the transmission line, the cavity is strongly coupled and has a correspondingly low Qext. This reduces the total Q, which increases the bandwidth.
The input resonant cavity can be modeled as a parallel RLC circuit. The beam is included as a shunt impedance and the connection to the drive line is represented by a transformer with a turns ratio of N. The Qext is related to the turns ratio by:N2Z0=R/Q·Qext,where Z0 is the characteristic impedance of the input transmission line. Driven at its resonant frequency ω0, the cavity presents a purely resistive load of magnitude R/Q·Q to the signal generator, where R/Q is the shunt impedance across the g-k gap. As the drive frequency is shifted away from ω0, the load becomes increasingly reactive, and the resistive component decreases. At a small offset Δω from the center frequency, the load impedance is given by:
      Z    load    =      R          1      +              2                j                                                  Q                                                            Δω          /                      ω            0
When the real component of the load impedance has dropped to half of its value at resonance, or R/2, the power delivered by the generator will be halved. This occurs when Δω/ω0=1/(2Q). Hence, the fractional bandwidth of a resonant cavity, defined as the distance between the two half-power points divided by ω0, is given by the reciprocal of the total quality factor (1/Q).
The coupling transformer connecting the signal generator to the resonant cavity is typically implemented using an inductive loop to transfer power from the signal generator to the cavity. The degree of coupling is proportional to the ratio of the magnetic flux enclosed by the inductive loop to the total flux in the cavity. A resonant cavity is formed around the electron gun in the IOT, with the g-k gap supporting the electric fields that modulate the electron beam. The electron beam passing through the grid is bunched at the frequency of the input signal. Electrons are accelerated towards a positively biased anode before their energy is extracted by the output circuit. For existing IOT applications, such as UHF television broadcast, loop coupling provides adequate bandwidth of a few percent. Practical limits on the loop size prevent substantially larger bandwidths from being achieved. Hence, if a wide-bandwidth IOT were possible, the compactness and linearity of this device would make it an attractive option for many other applications.
Accordingly, it is highly desirable to improve the instantaneous bandwidth of the input circuit of an IOT or other density-modulated device.

Method and apparatus for RF input coupling for inductive output tubes and other emission gated devices


A contact and separating device includes a roller member disposed to be capable of being contacted to an abutted member, a bearing member supporting the roller member and configured to be movable together with the roller member in a contact and separation direction with respect to the abutted member, and a biasing member biasing the roller member toward the abutted member through the bearing member. The contact and separating device further includes a separation member holding the roller member and the abutted member in a separation state where the roller member is separated from the abutted member against a biasing force of the biasing member by engaging with the bearing member in the separation state, and a release member releasing engagement between the bearing member and the separation member by moving the separation member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact and separating device that enables contact and separation between an abutted member such as an intermediate transfer belt and a roller member such as a transfer roller, and an image forming apparatus including the contact and separating device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, an apparatus using an intermediate transfer belt and a transfer roller is well known as an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus is in an unused state for a long period of time until reaching an end user from the shipment thereof. In particular, the apparatus is often placed in a harsh environment such as a high-temperature and humidity environment during the transportation thereof. When the image forming apparatus is not used for a long period of time in such a state, the transfer roller is placed for a long period of time in a state where the transfer roller is pressed and welded into the intermediate transfer belt, and thus there is a concern of an image being disturbed by the attachment of an exuding material to the surface of the intermediate transfer belt.
In addition, the local deformation of the transfer roller may cause defective transfer. For this reason, a shipment configuration may be adopted in which the intermediate transfer belt and the transfer roller are set to be in a light-pressure state or a separation state by interposing a sheet-shaped member between the intermediate transfer belt and the transfer roller or inserting a separation member into the transfer roller side. In addition, as disclosed in JP-A-2006-113283, a configuration is proposed in which separation is released by using a driving gear being transmitted to a secondary transfer outer roller during an initial startup, from the viewpoint of improving serviceability and preventing an operational error due to forgotten removal or the like.
However, in the configuration disclosed in JP-A-2006-113283, the meshing of the driving gear with a transmitted gear of a secondary transfer roller even after release is a precondition, and thus the driving gear meshes with the transmitted gear even in a separation state. For this reason, a sufficient amount of separation cannot be secured between both of the gears, and thus it is difficult to sufficiently separate the secondary transfer roller from the intermediate transfer belt. Accordingly, there is a concern that exudation from the secondary transfer roller onto the surface of the intermediate transfer belt and the local deformation of the secondary transfer roller may not be avoided. In addition, the configuration cannot be adopted in a system in which a secondary transfer outer roller rotates in a driven manner.

Contact and separating device and image forming apparatus


An array substrate comprises a substrate, a passivation layer on a surface of the substrate, a first organic film on a surface of the passivation layer and provided with a groove, a common electrode disposed on a surface of the first organic film outside the groove, and a pixel electrode disposed in the groove. A vertical projection of the common electrode on the surface of the passivation layer does not overlap with a vertical projection of the pixel electrode on the surface of the passivation layer.

Thin film transistor liquid crystal displays are developing more and more rapidly and have become mainstream flat panel displays. From the time they came out up to the present, multiple categories of thin film transistor liquid crystal displays have been developed, driving modes and display effects thereof are different, and each category has its own advantages. Among them, a thin film transistor liquid crystal display in an In-Plane Switching (IPS) mode (comprising an array substrate in the IPS mode) exhibits excellent display capability and effect with its unique structural characteristics and driving principle.
As shown in FIG. 1, which is a plane view of an array substrate in the IPS mode, specific gaps 7 for avoiding short-circuit faults are provided between a pixel electrode 1 and a common electrode 2 when seen from the normal direction of the surface of the array substrate.
FIGS. 2a-2c are section views of an array substrate along the line I-I′ in FIG. 1 in continuous manufacturing steps thereof in the prior art. As shown in FIGS. 2a-2c, firstly, a first organic film 4 as shown in FIG. 2b is formed on the surface of a passivation layer 3 as shown in FIG. 2a, and then a strip-shaped pixel electrode 1 and a strip-shaped common electrode 2, which are arranged alternately as shown in FIG. 2c, are formed on the surface of the first organic film 4. Since the pixel electrode 1 and the common electrode 2 are arranged on the same plane of the array substrate, the aperture ratio of the array substrate is small and thus the light transmittance is low in the display process.
FIGS. 3a-3d are section views of an array substrate along the line I-I′ in FIG. 1 in another series of continuous manufacturing steps in the prior art. As shown in FIGS. 3a-3d, firstly, a strip-shaped pixel electrode 1 as shown in FIG. 3b is formed on the surface of a passivation layer 3 as shown in FIG. 3a, and then a first organic film 4 as shown in FIG. 3c covering the pixel electrode 1 is formed, and a strip-shaped common electrode 2 as shown in FIG. 3d is formed on the surface of the first organic film 4. In the manufacturing method, the pixel electrode 1 and the common electrode 2 are arranged on different planes of the same array substrate, so the transmittance can be increased, but the pixel electrode 1 and the common electrode 2 are formed in different processes. According to the above manufacturing steps, when the common electrode 2 is formed, the pixel electrode 1 has already been covered by the first organic film 4, and the common electrode 2 cannot be formed with the position of the pixel electrode 1 as a reference, so an error may occur on the specific gaps between the pixel electrode 1 and the common electrode 2 to thereby result in low precision of overlapping of the pixel electrode 1 and the common electrode 2 with respective preset positions.
To sum up, currently there is no array substrate capable of simultaneously achieving a high transmittance and overcoming the defect of the low precision of overlapping of the pixel electrode and the common electrode with respective preset positions.

Liquid crystal display, array substrate in in-plane switching mode and manufacturing method thereof


Protective leg gear for a hockey goalie includes a protective leg pad which is molded to be lightweight and include substantially anatomically matching rear portion with provisions for the knee, foot and ankle so that a break-in period is not required. A method of molding the leg pad for the protective leg gear includes a single molding process in which a mold is charged with a semi-flexible open cell urethane material which is permitted to cure.

The present invention relates generally to protective leg gear and a method of making the same, especially adapted for sports participants such as hockey goalies or the like.
Protective leg gear, such as hockey goalie pads, provides crucial protection for the leg, ankle and foot by serving as a protective barrier between the goalie's leg and the outer environment or playing area. Such gear is generally adapted to absorb the impact from a high speed object such as an ice hockey puck or street hockey ball as well as protect the wearer from other potentially dangerous objects such as hockey sticks and skate blades that may come in contact with the goalie's legs. Leg protection is crucial for goalies and many manufacturers offer such protective equipment to both professional and amateur sports participants.
Even with the advent of new technology in the area of protective sports equipment, numerous disadvantages and shortcomings exist with currently available protective leg gear. Problems are found both in the overall design of the gear as well as in the manufacturing processes used to fabricate the protective equipment. Such disadvantages and shortcomings are particularly prevalent in protective gear of professional quality which is used at higher levels of competition, whether professional or amateur.
For example, at the design level, typical protective goalie pads have been made from stuffing various fill materials, such as deer hair, kapok, or polyester fiber, into certain specifically shaped pockets, which then are sewn closed. These filled pockets are then assembled together to form the leg gear to protect the wearer. The fill material is chosen to allow adequate impact absorption to provide protection against a puck or other impacts. One substantial shortcoming of these types of filled leg pads, especially the deer hair stuffed pads, is that the fill material after extended use and, over time, suffers significant breakdown. Namely, as time and wear progresses, the deer hair turns increasingly brittle and will break into smaller and smaller fragments leading to less than adequate shock absorption for the wearer. Also, kapok is quite expensive and generally unavailable.
In addition to unwanted breakdown, the fill material, particularly polyester, is often undesirably heavy and can unnecessarily weigh down the wearer of the pads. Thus, although these stuffed pads may adequately protect the wearer from the impact of a high speed hockey puck, at least before the fill material breaks down, such protection is provided at the expense of increased weight on the legs thereby hindering the agility and mobility of the goalie.
In addition to the weight problem of the typical stuffed protective pads, another shortcoming is that they generally do not matchingly conform to the contour of the wearer's legs and therefore must be sufficiently "broken-in" to provide adequate comfort to the wearer. Only after such pads are "broken-in" will the pad be less of a hindrance to the mobility of the goalie. Breaking in the pads is especially important at the ankle, and existing pads do not provide an adequate and appropriately shaped bend in the ankle area and thus must be repeatedly worn to provide a sharp enough and appropriately shaped bend to be comfortable to wear and not interfere with the goalie's mobility. Similarly, the knee area of existing pads is stiff and not contoured to the shape of the human knee. It too requires a break-in period before the pads are comfortable and do not hinder the goalie's movements. The process of breaking in the pads often takes numerous hours of wearing the pads which are often initially uncomfortable until fully broken-in to the satisfaction of the wearer. Further, during such a break-in period, the pad is subject to undue wear which limits the useful life of the pad.
The sports equipment industry has attempted to address mainly the weight problem of usual stuffed protective pads by using synthetic foam cushioning materials to provide the requisite padding and protection. Although such foam pads are lighter than their stuffed counterparts, they too suffer from the problem of requiring a break-in period in order to achieve a sufficient comfort level to the wearer. Again, adequate break-in is necessary due to the fact that the foam provided around the leg of the wearer, typically in the form of a smooth and straight groove, does not correspondingly match the contours of a human leg, especially in the ankle and knee areas.
In addition, the foam cushioning materials used in existing pads do not exhibit the most desirable "flex" characteristics. For instance, it is often necessary for goalies to come close to doing a "split" so that one leg rests on the ice from the knee to the toe (the other leg rests on the ice from the back of the knee to the heel). The toe of the skate is pointed back so that the point of the toe aligns with the plane of the shin and knee. This requires the pad to flex in a reverse direction from the direction it must flex when the goalie bends his knee. Existing pads are made of foam cushioning materials which do not readily flex in both directions.
Furthermore, in addition to the aforementioned design difficulties other problems also exist at the assembly stage which unnecessarily add to increased manufacturing costs. For example, with the typical stuffed pads, it is often time-consuming and labor-intensive to first hand stuff and then close up each individual pocket which ultimately forms the protective pad. These increased manufacturing costs to the producer are usually passed on to the customer in the form of higher priced protective leg gear.
Even with the increased use of synthetic foam instead of other fill materials, many manufacturing processes are still unnecessarily labor intensive in that the foam must be cut and shaped into individual sections, typically four or five pieces, that are then hinged together to form the full pads. Such angling, cutting and hinging of the foam is necessary to achieve a better fit, but also increases manufacturing costs by also being both labor-intensive and time-consuming.
German Offenlegungsschrift 3,433,005 discloses a leg protector and method for making the same, most likely for street hockey and not a high level goal pad for ice hockey, whereby the leg protector is made from two continuous laminated foam layers (4, 5), whereby the density of the outer foam material (4) of the cushion material is substantially less than that of the inner foam material layer (5), as well as a cushioning material (10). The disclosure relates primarily to the formation of the continuous laminated layers. The cushioning material (10) of the body protector is shown as being made up of three separate longitudinal pieces of material. Applicant herein believes that the cushioning portion (10) of the body protector in this reference is made up of a foam material which is at least partially cut by hand, if not entirely cut by hand. Consistent with this belief, the reference shows three separate pieces which make up the back portion of the body protector. Instead of cutting out the hollow for the leg, it would be easier to cut three separate pieces into the shapes shown and attach them as shown in the reference. Thus, although this reference appears to be directed to decreasing manual labor and costs, its efforts in this regard focus on the continuous laminated protective portion in the front of the body protector. The construction of the rear portion of the body protector still results in high manufacturing costs in view of the manual labor involved. The pad shown in this reference does not have a bent portion for the thigh, a knee area or a relatively sharp angle at the ankle area.
Some high level goal pads which are available for ice hockey are laboriously cut and shaped from foam and have outer materials which are designed to accept a sharp angle at the ankle after a break-in period. None are designed to have a structure which requires no break-in period, but rather provides at the outset a superior-fitting pad in the area of the ankle (as well as in the area of the knee).
Accordingly, existing protective leg gear, whether commercialized or simply described in a patent reference, has suffered from the significant shortcomings explained above. To summarize, leg gear is either too heavy, requires an extensive break-in period, or is costly to manufacture. Thus, there is a great and a long felt need to solve these aforementioned problems by providing light-weight leg gear which does not require an extensive break-in period as required by existing pads. Such leg gear should be manufactured and assembled in a manner that takes fewer steps, or at least less involved steps, to result in a lower cost for both the manufacturer and ultimately the consumer.

Method for making a foamed goal pad for hockey


A diving mask, in particular to fit optical glasses, including a face of elastomeric material, provided with at least one opening, and a stiff body having at least one seat to house a glass or lens. Watertight elements are provided between the lens or glass and the seat, and a framework holds the lens or glass in the seat. Along a substantial part of the peripheral edge of the stiff body, on a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the lens or glass, guiding means are formed for the insertion of the framework into the seat.

The present invention relates to diving masks, and in particular it relates to diving masks wherein it is possible to use corrective lenses instead of normal glass.
A problem which has existed for years in the production of diving masks is concerned with the possibility of making them suitable to fit both tempered non-corrective lenses and corrective lenses, to help those users needing such a correction. In many cases the most common way consisted of complicated interventions both by specialized opticians and the mask user himself. However these kinds of changes could only produce masks provided with fixed fitted lenses which were not adjustable in case of eventual changes in the user""s visual defect.
One solution to this problem is offered by the mask described in U.S. Pat. No. 4056853.
That mask is provided with a fairly stiff plastic body having two seats to house two lenses. Around the two seats there are two U shaped relief edges opened to the side ends of the mask. In the edges there are two grooves which house two suitable frames sliding within the same grooves and provided with locking means.
An evident problem is the impossibility of changing the mask from a certain outline provided for by the molding of the stiff body. The user""s choice of the shape of the mask is then strictly limited. In particular, this system appears to be little or not at all suitable for monocular type masks. Moreover, the assembly described above is difficult to use, and even its assembly seems to be difficult.
An aim of the present invention is then to provide a diving mask, in particular to fit optical glasses, which is easy to assemble and which allows a large choice among different shapes.
An object of the present invention is then to provide a diving mask, in particular to fit optical glasses, including a face of elastomeric material, provided with at least one opening, a stiff body having at least one housing seat for a glass or lens, and having watertight means between said lens or glass and said seat, and holding means for holding said lens or glass in said seat; wherein along a substantial part of the peripheral edge of the stiff body there is provided, in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the lens or glass, guiding means for the insertion of the holding means of the lens or glass into the seat.
The guiding means can include a groove provided in the wall facing the inside of the stiff body in a relief which projects axially from the peripheral edge of the same. Advantageously, the relief and the groove extend substantially for half of the stiff body perimeter, and in particular for the half facing the diver""s mouth.
The holding means can include a stiff frame, made of a plastic or metallic material, provided with means to lock the coupling between the frame and the stiff body.


A card edge slot connector includes an insulative housing defining a central slot for receiving a card therein with a plurality of passageways disposed therein by two sides of the central slot. A corresponding number of signal contacts are received within the passageways, respectively. At least an elongated grounding member is disposed in the inner portion of the housing with a series of grounding straps extending from the grounding member into the corresponding passageways, respectively, wherein each grounding strap shares the same passageway with the corresponding signal contact.

1. Field of The Invention
The invention relates to card edge connectors with grounding devices, and particularly to the card edge connector with signal contacts and grounding contacts for engagement with a card received in the connector and with a mother board on which the connector is mounted.
2. The Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,099 discloses a high speed card edge connector having signal contact members and ground contact members wherein the ground contact member is spaced both vertically and horizontally from the associated contact section of the signal contact member whereby the contact section of the signal contact member will not engage grounding means on the inserted card.
The disadvantages of the aforementioned prior patent, includes using a single ground contact member corresponding each pair of signal contact members in a transverse plane. The blanked or stamped ground contact member uses too much material on a row carrier, so it is not economic enough. Additionally, the stamped ground contact member should be installed or inserted into the housing of the connector one by one, so it takes time and complicates the manufacturing process. Moreover, the simplex type ground contact member is relatively small the thin, so it tends to create inductance resulting in grounding bounces and noises, thus precluding the efficient true signal transmission.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a high speed card edge connector having a grounding device which is adapted to be easily installed and to obtain the reliable and good grounding effect.

Grounding structure for use with card edge connector


A reclining modular seating section having a recliner assist apparatus for initiating reclining movement of the seating section and extending movement of a leg rest assembly thereof. The release assist apparatus includes an insert member fixedly secured to a drive rod of a recliner mechanism of the seating unit. A drive bracket is fixedly secured to the insert member and pivotally coupled to a L-shaped coupling bracket. The L-shaped coupling bracket is in turn coupled to a biasing spring which exerts a tensioning force to drive the drive bracket and drive rod, to thereby cause the seating section to assume a reclined position with its leg rest member in an extended position when the drive bracket reaches an over center position. A release assist bracket is disposed coaxially about the insert member and has an end thereof coupled to a handle member which is graspable by an occupant of the seating unit. By pulling on the handle member, the release assist bracket urges the drive bracket to an over center position, thereby enabling the biasing spring to continue driving the drive rod so as to extend a leg rest assembly and simultaneously recline a seatback portion of the seating unit.

The present invention relates to furniture and, more particularly, to an improved recliner assist apparatus for articles of furniture such as chairs, sofas and loveseats.
Conventionally, recliner type seating units (i.e. chairs, sofas, loveseats and the like), generally require a predetermined distance between an adjacent wall surface and the seatback to avoid contact therebetween during reclined operation. In addition, loose seat cushions are not generally used in most recliner type seating units due to the height requirements associated with operably supporting the mechanical recliner mechanism under the seat.
Reclining mechanisms typically generate a relatively large amount of frictional drag which must be overcome for smooth movement between an "upright" and a "tilted" position. In particular, lighter weight seat occupants must normally exert a deliberate leveraged thrust or force, in addition to pulling the actuator lever, for completely extending the leg rest and moving the seat section to its "tilted" position. Moreover, it is often difficult for the seat occupant to return to the upright position from the "tilted" or a fully "reclined" position due to the height and the upward angular tilt of the seat relative to the reclined seatback. As such, the occupant must exert a relatively large and deliberate leveraged force to return the reclined seat section to the full upright position. Another drawback associated with recliners is that the leg rest assembly cannot be retracted to its stowed position from an extended elevated position until after the seat occupant has completely returned the seat section to its full upright position.
As is known, virtually all traditional recliner type seating units require the seat occupant to either forcibly urge a portion of the seating section forwardly (i.e. by pulling on an arm portion of the chair), or manually move some type of actuating lever to initiate movement of the leg rest assembly from a retracted position toward an extended and elevated position. While most recliner type seating units have proven to be generally successful, it nevertheless would be desirable to permit the seat occupant to deliberately initiate movement of the leg rest assembly toward its extended position with virtually no physical effort. Such a leg rest release arrangement would be particularly advantageous for elderly or handicapped persons who typically have difficulty, because of lack of strength, in using conventional release means (i.e. movement of levers or gripping an arm portion of a recliner chair) to initiate the extending action of a leg rest assembly and/or tilting action of the seat assembly.
The above described traditional means for initiating reclining movement present additional problems when used with a seating section intended for use in a modular seating unit such as a modular sofa. If the seating section is not one of the corner sections but rather a center section of the seating unit, the seating unit is disposed between outer seating sections thus preventing the use of any graspable lever member on the side of the seating section. Since the center seating section has no arms, the occupant cannot initiate extension of a leg rest member thereof by simply pushing on the arm members. Accordingly, the use of center seating sections having extendable leg rests present particular problems with regard to initiating extending movement of the leg rest assembly conveniently and with a minimum amount of effort on the part of the occupant.


An image data flow control and storage facility having a secondary storage, a secondary storage controller, an image input controller, an image output controller and an optional loop-back controller. According to one embodiment, the image input controller, the image output controller and the loop-back controller communicate with the secondary storage controller by way of a PCI-type bus. The secondary storage controller communicates with the secondary storage by way of an SCSI interface. Preferably, the secondary storage controller operates in master mode to transfer blocks of image data directly between the secondary storage and the image output, image input and loop-back controllers. By performing direct image data transfers, the facility of the invention avoids intermediately storing image data in costly DRAM page buffers.

The invention relates to improved image reproduction systems. More particularly, the invention is directed to a data flow control and storage facility for reducing the amount of electronic memory in an image reproduction system.
Electrophotographic copiers, such as digital copiers, are widely used in many business and commercial environments. In a digital copier an input scanning facility captures a document image, and converts the captured image into digital data. A control unit then compresses the image data and either forwards the compressed data to a suitable printing facility, or stores the data in a system memory. System memory typically includes both magnetic disk storage and electronic storage. In conventional systems, electronic storage consists of random access memory (RAM) devices, such as DRAM. The DRAM is used essentially as a page buffer for intermediate storage of image data. To store an 8.5xc3x9711.0 inch image having 600xc3x971200 dots per square inch (dpsi), monochrome applications typically require 8.4 M-bytes of DRAM. Additionally, even relatively low-end copiers require an image data bandwidth of 6 to 7 M-bytes per second. A drawback of storing the image data in DRAM is that it is expensive relative to other, cheaper secondary storage devices, such as a magnetic disk, magnetic tape, optional disk or non-DRAM solid state memories.
To reduce the amount of DRAM required, conventional copiers spool image data from DRAM to magnetic disk memory during scanning. Subsequently, the copier spools the image data from magnetic disk back to DRAM for printing. To facilitate data transfer between DRAM and the magnetic disk memory, conventional high-performance SCSI-based disk subsystems operate disk controllers as bus masters. Operating in master mode, the disk controller can increase the rate with which data is spooled between magnetic disk memory and DRAM. However, even with the above discussed improvements, conventional copiers, nevertheless, continue to employ large amounts of expensive DRAM, and to waste significant time performing spooling operations.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to reduce system costs by reducing the amount of DRAM required to operate image reproduction systems.
Another object of the invention is to increase the speed with which image data can be transferred by reducing the number of spooling operations.
The invention will next be described in connection with certain preferred embodiments. However, it should be clear that various changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
The invention attains the foregoing objects by providing a data flow control and storage facility (hereinafter a xe2x80x9ccontrol and storage facilityxe2x80x9d) for operation within an image reproduction system. According to one embodiment, the control and storage facility includes a digital communication bus, a secondary storage device, an image output controller, an image input controller and a secondary storage controller. The image output controller, image input controller and secondary storage controller are in digital communication over the digital communication bus. Optionally, the secondary storage device and the secondary storage controller communicate by way of an SCSI interface. In a further embodiment, the secondary storage device may be magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk, solid state memory or any other type of digital storage other than DRAM.
The digital communication bus, optionally a PCI-type bus, transfers digital image data in the image reproduction system. The secondary storage device stores the digital image data. The image output controller receives digital image data by way of the digital communication bus and can output the received digital image data to an external destination. The image input controller is adapted for receiving digital image data from an external source and for transferring the received digital image data by way of the digital communication bus.
The secondary storage controller is adapted for transferring digital image data directly from the secondary storage device to the image output controller by way of the digital communication bus. The secondary storage controller is also adapted for transferring digital image data directly from the image input controller to the secondary storage device. Optionally, the secondary storage controller operates in master mode to gain control of the digital communication bus, and transfers blocks of digital image data in a burst format. In a further embodiment, the secondary storage controller includes a buffer cache memory having a write buffer portion and a read buffer portion. The write buffer portion can accumulate a block of digital image data for direct transfer from the image input controller to the secondary storage device. In a similar fashion, the read buffer portion can accumulate a block of digital image data for direct transfer from the secondary storage device to the image input controller. According to one preferred embodiment, the buffer cache memory is a FIFO-type cache memory.
In a further embodiment, the image output controller includes an output cache memory for accumulating a block of digital image data for outputting. Further, the secondary storage controller includes a read master controller. The read master controller determines whether the output cache memory has enough storage available to receive a block of digital image data. In response to determining that enough storage is available, the master controller writes a block of digital image data from the read buffer portion of the buffer cache memory directly to the output cache memory.
Optionally, the read master controller queries the image output controller to determine whether the output cache memory has enough storage available to receive a block of digital image data. Additionally, the image output controller includes output control elements in digital communication with the output cache memory and with the digital communication bus. In response to a query from the read master controller, the output control elements signal the read master controller regarding whether there is enough storage available in the output cache memory to receive a block of digital image data. According to a further embodiment, the output control elements signal a PCI-type disconnect to the read master controller in response to the output cache memory having insufficient storage available.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the image input controller includes an input cache memory for accumulating a block of digital image data for transfer to the write buffer portion of the buffer cache memory. Additionally, the secondary storage controller includes a write master controller for determining whether the input cache memory has accumulated a block of digital image data. In response to determining that a block of digital image data has been accumulated, the write master controller transfers the block of digital image data directly from the input cache memory to the input buffer portion of the buffer cache.
According to a further embodiment, the write master controller signals the image input controller to determine whether the input cache memory has accumulated a block of image data. Additionally, the image output controller includes input control elements in digital communication with the input cache memory and with the digital communication bus. Optionally, in response to the input cache memory not having a block of data accumulated, the input control elements signal the write master controller with a PCI-type disconnect, without transferring any image data.
In an alternative embodiment, the control and storage facility of the invention includes a loop-back channel controller in digital communication with the digital communication bus and adapted for receiving digital image data by way of the digital communication bus and for outputting the received digital image data for additional processing. Additionally, the secondary storage controller is further adapted for transferring digital image data directly to the loop-back channel controller by way of the digital communication bus.
According to additional embodiments, the control and storage facility includes a secondary storage device for storing image data within an image reproduction system; elements for transferring image data from a source external to the control and storage facility to the secondary storage device, without intermediately storing the image data in DRAM; and elements for transferring the image data from the secondary storage device to a destination, external to the control and storage facility, without intermediately storing the image data in a DRAM.
In yet another embodiment, the control and storage facility includes a secondary storage device for storing image data within the image reproduction system; elements for transferring image data, optically scanned into the image reproduction system, into the secondary storage device without intermediately storing the image data in a DRAM buffer; and elements for transferring the image data, stored in the secondary storage device, to an image data output interface of the image reproduction system, without intermediately storing the image data in a DRAM buffer.
According to an alternative embodiment, the invention comprises a method of transferring image data in an image reproduction system. According to one embodiment, the method includes the steps of transferring digital image data from an image input section of the image reproduction system directly to a secondary storage device, without intermediately storing the digital image data in a DRAM buffer; and transferring the image data from the secondary storage device to an image output section of the image reproduction system, without intermediately storing the digital image data in a DRAM buffer.
Thus, the invention provides an improved image data flow control and storage facility, along with related methods, for operation in an image reproduction system. According to the improvements of the invention, image data can be transferred directly from an input interface, such as an optical scanner interface, to a secondary storage device, such as magnetic or optional memory, without intermediately storing the scanned image data in a DRAM buffer. Similarly, the image data can be transferred directly from the secondary storage device to an output interface, such as a printer interface or a supplemental processor interface, also without being stored intermediately in a DRAM buffer.

Data flow control and storage facility for an image reproduction system


An apparatus and method for testing a secondary battery. The apparatus includes a test path, test terminals provided at two ends of the test path and electrically connected to a positive terminal and a negative terminal of the secondary battery respectively, a sensor unit provided on the test path and configured to measure a discharge current of the secondary battery, a constant voltage generation unit provided on the test path and configured to maintain a constant voltage between the secondary battery and the sensor unit, and a control unit configured to receive data indicating the discharge current from the sensor unit, measure an inflection point on a profile of the discharge current, measure an intensity of the discharge current on the basis of the inflection point, and test a level of self-discharge of the secondary battery based on the intensity of the discharge current.

Recently, there is dramatically growing demand for portable electronic products such as laptop computers, video cameras and mobile phones, and with the extensive development of electric vehicles, accumulators for energy storage, robots and satellites, many studies are being made on high performance secondary batteries that can be recharged repeatedly.
Currently, commercially available secondary batteries include nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, lithium secondary batteries and the like, and among them, lithium secondary batteries have little or no memory effect, and thus they are gaining more attention than nickel-based secondary batteries for their advantages of free charging and discharging, a very low self-discharge rate and high energy density.
The lithium secondary battery mainly uses lithium-based oxide and a carbon material for a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material respectively. The lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly including a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate coated with the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material respectively with a separator interposed between, and a packaging material, i.e., a battery case hermetically sealed, in which the electrode assembly is received together with an electrolyte solution.
In general, lithium secondary batteries may be classified into can type secondary batteries in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a metal can, and pouch type secondary batteries in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a pouch of an aluminum laminate sheet, according to the shape of the packaging material. These secondary batteries are generally manufactured by receiving the electrode assembly in the packaging material, injecting the electrolyte solution, and sealing the packaging material.
More recently, as the range of applications of pouch type secondary batteries expands, pouch type secondary batteries are widely used not only in small mobile devices such as smartphones, but also in medium- and large-scale devices such as electric vehicles including hybrid electric vehicles or power storage systems.
The secondary batteries may manifest different degrees of self-discharge for each secondary battery depending on environments in which the secondary batteries are manufactured or used. Additionally, in the case of a battery module including a plurality of secondary batteries, when a voltage deviation between the secondary batteries occurs due to self-discharge, the life and performance of the battery module may degrade. Accordingly, it is necessary to accurately predict a low voltage battery possibility according to the self-discharge degree of the secondary battery.

Apparatus and method for testing secondary battery


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may receive a signal identifying a first beam configuration and a second beam configuration to be used for performing a beamformed transmission of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal. The UE may determine, for a first PUCCH transmission occasion associated with the first beam configuration, that a communication metric associated with performing the beamformed transmission of the PUCCH signal using the first beam configuration fails to satisfy a threshold. The UE may perform, at a second PUCCH transmission occasion and based at least in part on the determining, the beamformed transmission of the PUCCH signal according to the second beam configuration.

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) reliability enhancements.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Wireless communication systems may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequency ranges, e.g., 28 GHz, 40 GHz, 60 GHz, etc. Wireless communications at these frequencies may be associated with increased signal attenuation (e.g., path loss), which may be influenced by various factors, such as temperature, barometric pressure, diffraction, etc. As a result, signal processing techniques, such as beamforming, may be used to coherently combine energy and overcome the path losses at these frequencies. Due to the increased amount of path loss in mmW communication systems, transmissions from the base station and/or the UE may be beamformed. Moreover, a receiving device may use beamforming techniques to configure antenna(s) and/or antenna array(s) such that transmissions are received in a directional manner.
In some aspects, wireless communication systems may utilize PUCCH transmissions for a variety of reasons. The PUCCH transmissions may be uplink transmissions from a UE to a base station. In a mmW network, the PUCCH transmissions may be used to support beam management functionality. As one example, a UE may rely on the reliability of the PUCCH signals to carry or otherwise convey an indication of periodic channel performance feedback reporting, e.g., channel state information (CSI) reporting. As another example, the PUCCH signals may carry or otherwise convey an indication of acknowledgement/negative-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) feedback for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), which may also carry a beam-control related medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). However, in some situations the beam used to transmit the PUCCH signal may suddenly degrade to a point that the beam (e.g., the beam configuration) no longer supports PUCCH transmissions reliably. In some aspects, the sudden loss of the beam used for PUCCH transmissions may result in a beam management failure condition occurring.

Physical uplink control channel reliability enhancements


A surface-emitting laser apparatus includes: a surface-emitting laser element; and a driving apparatus supplying a modulation-driving current to the surface-emitting laser element. The modulation-driving current is intensity-modulated to vary across a value of a bias current. The number of lateral modes of laser oscillation of the surface-emitting laser element changes from one to three at maximum in accordance with a value of the modulation-driving current. Among changing currents at which number of the lateral modes of the laser oscillation of the surface-emitting laser element changes, if a first changing current is defined at which the number of the lateral mode of the laser oscillation changes from one to two, the driving apparatus supplies the modulation-driving current to the surface-emitting laser element. The modulation-driving current is set so that a value of the first changing current is not between the bias current and a maximum value of the modulation-driving current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface-emitting laser apparatus, an optical module, and a method of driving a surface-emitting laser element.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surface-emitting laser elements (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers: VCSELs) are used sometimes as signal light sources in a relatively short reach optical transmission such as optical interconnections. For example, Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses a multimode surface-emitting laser element oscillates laser in a plurality of lateral modes at a wavelength of 850 nm.

Surface-emitting laser apparatus, optical module, and method of driving surface-emitting laser element


An information processing apparatus includes a processor that can take plural power control modes different in rated power from one another, a fan that rotates to dissipate heat generated by the processor, and a power control unit that controls the power consumption of the processor. The plural power control modes include two or more stages of dynamic control modes different in rated power from one another and a unified communication mode. The power control unit selects any one of the dynamic control modes based on an event in which a power consumption state of the processor continues for a predetermined duration or more, and when the unified communication works, the power control unit preferentially selects the unified communication mode.

Various forms of communication services are used for communication between remote areas. For example, as typical communication services, there are voice call, video conferencing, instant messaging, providing presence information, and the like. An information processing apparatus including plural kinds of devices can be used to receive plural forms of communication services all at once by using information media according to respective devices. For example, instant messaging or presence information may be able to be provided at the same time as voice call or video conferencing. Such a unification of communication services or a unified communication service is called unified communication (UC).
The unified communication is realized by using a user interface that unifies two or more kinds of communication services. It is common to provide such a user interface by executing a predetermined application program (which may be called an "application" or an "app" in this application).
For example, in Japanese Translation of PCT International Application Publication No. 2012-502532, a user interface for displaying various function buttons, a presence status icon of each user, images of the user as a communication partner, and the like on an apparatus connected to a network to make it possible to send and receive text data, image data, and voice data is described.

Information processing apparatus and control method


A POS terminal apparatus is adapted to be connected to an external device. With an application running in the POS terminal apparatus, a device manager determines whether the external device is capable of counting a first value indicating a usage amount of the external device, and if so, the device manager acquires the first value from the external device in response to a first command from the application. A counter retains a second value indicating the usage amount of the external device and notifies the second value to the application in response to a second command from the application. If it is determined that the external device is not capable of counting the first value, the counter virtually counts the second value in accordance with a third command sent from the application to the external device. An updater updates the second value with a third value which is obtained by a fourth command from the application. The first value is retained even when the second value is updated with the third value.

The present invention relates to a POS system including a POS (point-of-sale) terminal apparatus and a device connected thereto, and relates more particularly to technology for determining device usage.
JAVA POS is an application programming interfacing for building point-of-sale (POS) systems using JAVA (registered trademark). JAVA POS also has a function for using device statistics, that is, information relating to usage of devices connected to a POS terminal. The JAVA POS standard enables an application running on a POS terminal to acquire and use these device statistics for example as device usage information. This usage information is information indicating usage of particular device functions, and in the case of a printer is information relating to the number of lines printed or the number of characters printed, for example.
Depending on the model or type of device, some devices have an internal maintenance counter for counting usage of particular functions. A device having such an internal counter can acquire device statistics about device operation by reading these counters. There are also devices that do not have such an internal counter.
Some applications that run on a POS terminal can preferably use such device statistics regardless of whether the connected device has a maintenance counter.
Furthermore, the maintenance counters provided in such devices are typically used for maintenance of that device. A POS terminal connected to the device therefore preferably does not rewrite the maintenance counters.


An OLED device includes: a first insulator sheet; a light-emitting stack stacked with the first insulator sheet and including a transparent anode layer, a cathode layer, and a functional layer; a metallic mesh stacked with the anode layer in a vertical direction, the metallic mesh contacting the anode layer and being covered by the anode layer; a second insulator sheet stacked with the cathode layer in the vertical direction; a plurality of cathode-connecting vias extending through the second insulator sheet; and a cathode-connecting metallic layer stacked with the second insulator sheet in the vertical direction and connected electrically to the cathode layer through the cathode-connecting vias.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an organic light emitting diode device, more particularly to an organic light emitting diode device including an anode layer and a metallic mesh stacked with the anode layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are useful for lighting. A conventional OLED device normally includes a transparent substrate, a transparent anode layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) formed on the transparent substrate, an active (or functional) layer of a conductive polymer formed on the anode layer, and a cathode layer formed on the active layer. The conventional OLED device is electrically activated by injecting an electric current to a peripheral side of the anode layer through a metallic busbar which is connected to an external power source. Since ITO has a much higher resistivity compared to a metallic material, the anode layer may suffer from a poor current distribution over the entire area thereof when the electric current is injected to the peripheral side of the anode layer, which results in a non-uniform illumination throughout the entire area of the active layer. In addition, since ITO is brittle, the OLED device is susceptible to deterioration due to bending or deformation thereof.