A method and circuit for triggering an electronic instrument only once during a period of an input signal having multiple triggering events during that period. A signal applied to an electronic instrument, such as an oscilloscope, is acquired. Qualified triggering events occurring on the acquired signal are identified. A selected one of the qualified triggering events during the period of the applied signal causes a trigger signal output to occur, while other qualified triggering events are ignored. In the preferred embodiment a triggering event is qualified by a first comparator that compares the input signal to a first reference level and produces a predetermined logic level output if the input signal bears a predetermined relationship to the reference level. When a qualified triggering event occurs, a buffer amplifier applies the predetermined logic level to charge a capacitor, which thereafter stores some energy from the input signal and applies it to a comparator for a predetermined period of time. The comparator compares the voltage on the capacitor to a second reference level and produces a pulse if the capacitor voltage has a predetermined relationship to the second reference level. The leading edge of the pulse comprises a trigger output signal. Subsequent triggering events which occur before a predetermined period of time are unable to produce another trigger signal. Five alternative embodiments employing the same general principle as the preferred embodiment are disclosed.

This invention relates to methods and circuits for triggering electronic instruments, particularly triggering an oscilloscope to display a signal that has multiple potential triggering events during a period of that signal.
An oscilloscope ordinarily has a triggering circuit built. into it that enables the user to view a stable graphic display of a repetitive input signal. A stable display is created by synchronizing the horizontal sweep with the signal that is to be displayed.
Triggering circuits in oscilloscopes typically compare the amplitude of the input signal to a user set amplitude (often referred to as the "trigger level") and start the horizontal sweep signal as soon as the input signal crosses the trigger level in a user selected direction. The reference amplitude often is adjusted so as to start the sweep at a unique point on the repetitive input waveform.
A problem is encountered when trying to use an oscilloscope to display the waveform of a signal that produces multiple triggering events during one sequence of the repetitive input signal. For example, large transients superimposed on a sine wave signal several times during the period of the sine wave may cause the oscilloscope to trigger several times during that period, thereby making it very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve synchronism.
AC and DC motors, and uninterruptable power supplies, often create signals that have multiple triggering events during a single period of the signal. For example, a variable frequency motor controller for an AC motor typically produces a set of sine weighted, pulse width modulated output signals used to drive the AC motor. Since each successive pulse could ordinarily produce a trigger, it is exceedingly difficult to synchronize the oscilloscope sweep signal to the motor controller output waveform.
Another example of multiple triggering events in a single period of a signal can be found in DC motor drive circuits, which produce transient signals on the power line feeding the drive circuit. This happens because the impedance seen by the power line changes when a thyristor turns on to pass power to the motor at some point during each half-cycle. Such transients often propagate to other electrical systems connected to the same power line, such as computer systems, and there produce performance problems. Since the transients ordinarily occur at least twice during one period of the 60 Hz power supply, it is exceedingly difficult to synchronize an oscilloscope to the power line for diagnosing the source of problems for such systems.
Therefore, it can be seen that there is a need for an effective method and circuit for triggering an electronic instrument, such as an oscilloscope, only once during a single period of a signal having multiple triggering events during that period.

Method and circuit for triggering an electronic instrument only once during a period of a signal


A method for detecting powder is performed in a powder detection device including a pair of electrodes arranged to be opposed to each other with a gap interposed therebetween and an electric circuit electrically connected to the pair of electrodes. The method includes detecting powder filling in a case where the electric circuit together with powder and the electrodes forms a closed circuit when the powder fills the gap.

Sand mold casting is a technique of making a sand mold by compacting powder such as green sand, and forming a casting using this sand mold. In making the sand mold, it is extremely important to check the presence or absence of powder in the powder filling process in order to stably make sand molds and reduce defects.
The green sand molding method in sand mold casting includes, for example, a sand filling process, that is, aeration by which green sand is blown in with compressed air, gravity filling, or blow by which sand is blown in to fill, and a subsequent process of compressing the filling green sand by mechanical squeeze. Green sand molds are made through these combined processes.
For example, when castings with a complex shape, such as engines, are to be obtained, the shape of the sand mold having the inverted shape of the casting is also complicated accordingly, and the filling of the complex-shaped part with green sand may be insufficient. In this case, sufficient sand mold strength may not be obtained by subsequent squeeze.
Since such defects in making a sand mold (for example, Patent Literature 1) cause casting defects, it is desired to prevent filling defects of casting molds in the previous process. For this purpose, simulation of molding sand filling defects (for example, Patent Literature 2) has been carried out, but in practice, no checking method by electrical means has been developed heretofore.

Method for detecting powder and powder detection device


A multiple video preview system for a production video switcher or digital effects device compresses a plurality of input video signals taken from various points along a video path through the switcher or effects device. The compressed input video signals are stored in a display memory in respective designated regions. The display memory is read out in a raster scan manner. The readout of a portion of the display memory occurs simultaneously with the storing of the compressed input video signals occurs in another portion of the display memory to provide a realtime video output signal that includes each input video signal in a compressed form. The video output signal is input to a monitor to display the input video signals simultaneously.

The present invention relates to video viewing, and more particularly to a multiple video preview system for a video production switcher or video effects device for observing the video simultaneously at several points within the switcher or effects device.
Users of video production switchers often need to preview the result of a next transition that the switcher will make. It is particularly useful for setting up keys and other effects. This preview capability is built into most switchers. However users often also want to see the video "inside" the switcher at several different locations. For example in a switcher with multiple mix/effects sections and a downstream keyer they would like to view the clean output of each of the mix/effects sections, the preview or next transition output of each mix/effects section, and the downstream keyer. Live production particularly requires extensive preview capabilities. To provide several different preview outputs at the same time requires multiple preview circuits inside the switcher.
Previously viewing of multiple preview outputs also has required multiple output amplifiers in the switcher together with multiple cable connections to multiple video monitors. The monitors are expensive and bulky. Alternatively each preview output may be switched one by one to a single monitor, but for live production this is time consuming and impractical as decisions have to be made rapidly.
Therefore what is desired is a multiple video preview system that allows multiple preview outputs to be viewed simultaneously on a single monitor.

Video preview system for allowing multiple outputs to be viewed simultaneously on the same monitor


An instrument configured and arranged to detect a change in thickness or refractive index of a thin film substrate. A method for optimizing the instrument and a method for detecting a change in thickness or refractive index of a thin film substrate.

Sandstr om et al., 24 Applied Optics 472, 1985, describe use of an optical substrate of silicon with a layer of silicon monoxide and a layer of silicon dioxide formed as dielectric films. They indicate that a change in film thickness changes the properties of the optical substrate to produce different colors related to the thickness of the film. That is, the thickness of the film is related to the color observed and a film provided on top of an optical substrate may produce a visible color change. They indicate that a mathematical model can be used to quantitate the color change, and that "[c]alculations performed using the computer model show that very little can be gained in optical performance from using a multilayer structure . . . but a biolayer on the surface changes the reflection of such structures very little since the optical properties are determined mainly by the interfaces inside the multilayer structure . . . . The conclusion is, somewhat surprisingly, that the most sensitive system for detection of biolayers is a single layer coating, while in most other applications performance can be improved by additional dielectric layers."
Sandstr om et al., go on to indicate that slides formed from metal oxides on metal have certain drawbacks, and that the presence of metal ions can also be harmful in many biochemical applications. They indicate that the ideal top dielectric film is a 2-3 nm thickness of silicon dioxide which is formed spontaneously when silicon monoxide layer is deposited in ambient atmosphere, and that a 70-95 nm layer of silicon dioxide on a 40-60 nm layer of silicon monoxide can be used on a glass or plastic substrate. They also describe formation of a wedge of silicon monoxide by selective etching of the silicon monoxide, treatment of the silicon dioxide surface with dichlorodimethylsilane, and application of a biolayer of antigen and antibody. From this wedge construction they were able to determine film thickness with an ellipsometer, and note that the "maximum contrast was found in the region about 65 nm where the interference color changed from purple to blue." They indicate that the sensitivity of such a system is high enough for the detection of protein antigen by immobilized antibodies. They conclude "the designs given are sensitive enough for a wide range of applications. The materials, i.e., glass, silicon, and silicon oxides, are chemically inert and do not affect the biochemical reaction studied. Using the computations above it is possible to design slides that are optimized for different applications. The slides can be manufactured and their quality ensured by industrial methods, and two designs are now commercially available. It is our hope that these sensitive, versatile, and inexpensive tools will further the development of simplified methods in immunology and biochemistry." [Citation omitted.]
Nygren et al., 59 J. Immunol. Methods 145, 1983, describe a system similar to that described above, in which specific anti-human serum albumin (HSA) antibodies are used to detect HSA. FIG. 2 of this publication indicates that 10.sup.-5 mg/ml of HSA can be detected with a 16 hour incubation, but that 10.sup.-6 mg/ml could not be detected in this system. They also state "[a]fter 72 hour of incubation time, the detection limit was lower (down to 1 ng/ml), however, the reaction was then more sensitive to unspecific reactions, giving rise to eventually occurring positive controls."
Nygren et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,012 describe a similar system except that the overall array of layers is adapted to reduce reflection in respect to non-monochromatic or white light in the wavelength range of 525-600 nM.

Method and instrument for detection of change of thickness or refractive index for a thin film substrate


A method, executed by a computer, includes receiving a triple comprising a predicate, a first entity and an un-typed second entity, scanning a collection of triples for triples that match the predicate of the triple to produce similar triples, determining frequency information for second entity types referenced by the similar triples, and processing the un-typed second entity using the frequency information. A computer system and computer program product corresponding to the method are also disclosed herein.

The present invention relates generally to the field of data processing, and more particularly to processing un-typed string literal data in triples.
Data type information can improve the quality of data processing results. For example, data type information provides useful information when generating candidate answers in a question answering system. Unfortunately, when information appears in string literal form (e.g., in a database) data type information is generally unavailable.
Triple stores, where data is stored as a flat table of "triples" that each comprise a subject, predicate and object, offer a flexible alternative to relational databases. The subject and object are often referred to as "entities" and the predicate defines the (typically one-way) relationship between those entities. For example, the triples "< . . . /resource/France>< . . . /property/city>< . . . /resource/Paris>" and "< . . . /resource/France>< . . . /property/city>< . . . /resource/Lyon>" indicate that the entities 'Paris' and 'Lyon' are cities of the entity 'France'. Triple stores provide increased flexibility and do not require the generation of schemas and linking tables previous to conducting information processing tasks on the stored data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present disclosure provides recording media and methods. In one example, a light weight media sheet for high speed printing can comprise a paper substrate having a basis weight of less than 100 gsm; a first flatness control layer applied directly to a first side of the paper substrate, the first flatness control layer having a coating weight from 1 to 15 gsm, wherein the first flatness control layer comprises a polymer selected from the group consisting of a polyvinyl alcohol, a polyamide, a polyimide, a polyethylene oxide, a polyvinyl pyrrolidone, a cellulose, a starch, an acrylate, copolymers thereof, and mixtures thereof; and a first ink-receiving layer applied directly to the first flatness control layer, the first ink-receiving layer having a coating weight from 1 to 40 gsm, where the light weight media sheet has a total basis weight from 40 to 150 gsm.

There are a variety of methods for commercial high speed printing to produce large quantities of print material, such as books, magazines, newsprints, and brochures. In the past, traditional analog printers, such as web fed offset and gravure contact printers, were the most common type of printers for such commercial applications. In recent years, digital web fed high speed inkjet non-contact printers have become more prevalent due to 100% variable print content and multi-color printing at a relatively low cost to consumers.
While paper media typically used for more traditional analog printers can perform somewhat acceptably on high speed web fed inkjet (non-contact) printing devices, such paper media are subject to problems relating to one or more of cockle, curl, wrinkle, crease, and misregistration and other similar problems, which can detrimentally impact productivity, product quality, and cost. For example, inkjet printing has a much higher moisture level than offset and gravure printing due to the colored pigments of the inkjet ink being applied to the paper media using a generally water based liquid vehicle, which will cause non-uniform hygro-expansion that appears to be related to cockle/waviness and misregistration issues. Cockle refers to a small scale expansion in paper fiber width when wetted with water, for example from water-based inkjet inks.
As such, research and development of media continue to be sought.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the technology is thereby intended.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An electrical connector having an insulative housing having a mating cavity and a plurality of passageways, a plurality of electrical contacts received in the corresponding passageways and a sealing member received in the mating cavity. The insulative housing defines a front face and a mounting wall, the mating cavity is formed between the front face and the mounting wall. Each electrical contact has a contacting portion, a tail portion, and a main portion connecting the contacting portion with the tail portion, each main portion defines a plurality of barbs on both sides thereof. The sealing member has a base portion and at least one opening defined in the base portion for tail portions passing through. At least one electrical contact defines a wing on one side thereof, and the sealing member is restricted between the wing and the mounting wall.

A conventional electrical connector assembly used for an electric car includes a plug and a receptacle mating with each other, the plug has a mating portion, and the receptacle has a receiving space for receiving the mating portion of the plug. To realize a waterproof property, the electrical connector assembly defines a sealing member between the mating portion and the receiving space. The sealing member is usually fixed by a bolt or a plastic locking member, to achieve a firm sealing effect. However, the two configurations of fixation are required additional elements to achieve the fixation of the sealing member.
Hence, an improved sealing member of the electrical connector is highly desired to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.


A piggy back evaporator includes a drip pan having an oblique condensate drain sheet extending over the major length of the same. A steam hole within the condensate drain sheet allows steam to reach the lower surface of a bottom wall of a piggy back pan. The piggy back pan bottom wall is corrugated to define a series of laterally spaced troughs on its upper face and flues on its lower face. Maple sap is fed into the piggy back pan to a level covering the corrugations of the bottom wall. A hood overlies the piggy back pan and seals off the interior thereof. A high pressure air blower is mounted to the hood and feeds air under pressure into a plenum chamber and downwardly through the downpipes into individual horizontal sparging tubes which extend the length of the piggy back pan and are located within the bottoms of individual troughs defined by the corrugations. Air under pressure passes through pin holes within the sparging tubes with the bubbles formed thereby scouring the metal surfaces of the troughs within the piggy back bottom wall and additionally creating an effective frothing action for the sap within the piggy back pan. The air passing through the sap is effectively heated and saturated with moisture with the resulting evaporation of the moisture captured by the air consuming a large quantity of heat to maintain a temperature differential between the sap/air mixture and condensing steam under the pan such that almost all of the steam is condensed in the area between the drip pan and the piggy back pan to increase the liquid concentration of the sap being processed.

In concentrating maple syrup, it is necessary to boil off the water which forms a high percentage of the liquid content of the maple sap thereby concentrating the maple syrup by subjecting the sap as removed from the maple tree to heat, and permitting the water vapor to be driven therefrom. Typically, the maple sap is fed into an upwardly open flue pan supported over a wood or coal fire and collecting the concentrated maple syrup which fails to be driven off by the vaporization process. Such known maple syrup evaporator apparatus is relatively ineffective. There is considerable waste heat generated and the steam driven off by the process of heat application to the sap filling the flue pan to a given level is simply lost.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a piggy back evaporator physically mounted in overlying position to an evaporator flue pan, to feed maple sap to both the flue pan and a piggy back pan, to utilize the heat within the steam generated by vaporization of the water content of the maple sap within the flue pan as the source of heat for the piggy back pan while, simultaneously increasing the heat exchange between the steam and the sap born by the piggy back pan.

Piggy back evaporating for maple syrup evaporator apparatus or the like


A device, and a method for forming a softgel having multiple gelatin layers and softgels having multiple gelatin layers are disclosed. In particular there is provided a device for forming a gelatin sheet having at least two gelatin layers. Each gelatin layer has a thickness. The device comprises a gelatin spreader box which includes at least one opening for extruding a gelatin sheet. The device also includes a first and a second height adjustable gate disposed at least partially across the opening; and a first and a second height adjustment control. Adjustment of the first height adjustment control varies the height of the first gate and adjustment of the second height adjustment control varies the height of the second gate, thereby controlling the thickness of the at least two gelatin layers.

Apparatus for extruding sheets of material are known in the art. For example, Chiverton U.S. Pat. No. 2,052,695 discloses a device for producing films or foils from cellulose acetate. Wickham U.S. Pat. No. 1,924,010 discloses a device for casting double films of materials such as cellulose acetate. Hayward, U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,357 discloses an apparatus for forming non-gelatin, polymeric films of two or more layers. The films are formed by a die having fixed, non-adjustable extrusion slots.
Apparatus for extruding gelatin sheets are also known in the art. Ericson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,533 discloses a gelatin encapsulating spreader box which uses a single adjustable doctor blade to vary the thickness of a gelatin layer. Scherer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,339,114 discloses a spreader box for forming a gelatin layer which uses a single adjustable doctor blade to vary the thickness of a gelatin layer.
Capsules of more than one layer are also known. Scherer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,379,831 discloses a gelatin capsule which can include multiple layers. However, the substance forming the additional layer is disclosed as being other than gelatin, because a fill material in the capsule is incompatible with gelatin. Also, the capsules are formed by nozzle extrusion. Kikuchi, U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,835 and Suzuki, U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,564 also disclose a gelatin capsule which can include multiple layers. The substance forming the additional layer is disclosed as being other than gelatin, because a fill material in the capsule is incompatible with gelatin. Also, the capsules are formed by nozzle extrusion. Mizuno, U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,679 discloses a gelatin capsule coated with a wax, such as carnauba wax. The use of wax instead of an additional gelatin layer is taught as preventing problems associated with having an external gelatin layer.
It would be desirable to have softgel capsules which can exhibit different properties such as the degree of permeability, rate of dissolution, mouth feel, taste, and color. These different properties can be provided by producing capsules having more than one layer of gelatin. It also would be desirable to produce a softgel capsule of more than one color, for example, a light color such as yellow and a dark color such as blue, in which the dark color did not rub off on the light color when a number of softgels are in contact with each. Application of a clear gelatin layer over the colored gelatin layer can eliminate such color transfer problems.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a gelatin spreader box that allows for the extrusion of two separate gelatin layers which can vary in thickness and in other properties such as the degree of permeability, rate of dissolution, mouth feel, taste and color, and to provide multiple layer softgels.


An amusement device which includes a transparent tank filled with a liquid medium such as water. Contained within the tank is a plurality of uniform diameter, positive and negative buoyant spheres. Disposed inside the tank is a downward directional tubal system and an upward directional tubal system which are used to move the spheres in opposite directions of their buoyancies. Located beneath the floor of the tank is an air pump which feeds air into the tubal systems to create currents which forcibly move the spheres through the tubes. Also disposed in the tank are downward and upward directional tracks which route the spheres to their respective staging areas, depending upon their buoyancies. For example, positive buoyant spheres travel upward in the liquid medium along the underside of the upward directional track while the negative buoyant spheres travel downward in the liquid medium along the top side of the downward directional track. The positive buoyant spheres move through the downward directional tubal system and then along the bottom surface of the track to a staging area. From there, they are again drawn into the downward directional tubal system and the cycle repeats. The negative buoyant spheres travel in the opposite direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to amusement devices and, more particularly, to amusement devices filled with a liquid medium that have objects that move in an intriguing manner therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many amusement devices available today which contain a liquid medium and have objects or material which are moved or dispersed therein for entertainment purposes. Movement of the objects or the material in the liquid medium is usually predictable and constant and has a soothing effect on an observer. Typically, the objects or material have uniform buoyancies so that they move in the liquid medium in one direction when the device's outer container is tilted, inverted, or shaken.

Dual motion liquid-filled amusement device


An organic light emitting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a substrate; a first signal line and a second signal line formed on the substrate and intersecting each other; a common voltage line formed on the substrate, and intersecting one of the first signal line and the second signal line; a switching thin film transistor connected to the first signal line and the second signal line; a driving thin film transistor connected to the switching thin film transistor; an insulating layer covering the first signal line, the second signal line, the switching thin film transistor, and the driving thin film transistor; a pixel electrode formed on the insulating layer, and electrically connected to the driving thin film transistor; an organic light emitting member formed on the pixel electrode and including an emission layer and a member layer; and a common electrode formed on the organic light emitting member, wherein the member layer is made of a plurality of layers including electrons or holes, and at least one layer of the member layer is disposed between the common voltage line and the common electrode to electrically connect between the common voltage line and the common electrode.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device.
(b) Description of the Related Art
The organic light emitting device includes an organic light emitting element and a plurality of thin film transistors to drive it. The thin film transistors are made of a plurality of thin films and are generally disposed at the lower side of the organic light emitting device, the organic light emitting element is disposed at the upper side thereof, and an anode of the organic light emitting element is disposed at the lower side and a cathode thereof is disposed at the upper side.
The organic light emitting device may be divided into a top emission type that emits light to the upper side and a bottom emission type that emits light to the lower side. In the case of the bottom emission type, the thin film transistors are disposed under the organic light emitting element such that the area where the light is emitted is decreased, and accordingly it is advantageous to apply the top emission type with regard to the aperture ratio. Also, in the bottom emission type, spots may be generated due to optical interference generated when the light passes through the thin films, but the thin films exist in a minor amount on the path where the light passes such that the possibility thereof is slim.
In the case of the top emission type, since there is no transparent material satisfying the work function condition required as the cathode, an opaque metal material is very thinly deposited to be used as the cathode, thereby allowing the light to pass. However, resistance of the cathode is increased in this case such that an additional common voltage line for transmitting a common voltage on a substrate is needed, and the cathode of the organic light emitting element is connected to the common voltage line.
However, when the common voltage line is formed separately from the cathode, an emitting member between the cathode and the common voltage line must be removed such that the manufacturing process becomes complicated.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A squeegee apparatus of a liquid electrophotographic printer is provided. The apparatus has a squeegee roller for pressing a photoreceptor belt to squeegee excess developer from an image developed on the transfer surface of the photoreceptor belt. A squeegee backup roller is provided opposite to the squeegee roller, to press a reverse surface of the photoreceptor belt. The squeegee apparatus includes a heating device installed in the squeegee backup roller, for heating the photoreceptor belt at a predetermined temperature. During printing, since the photoreceptor belt is squeegeed while it is heated to a predetermined temperature, the squeegeeing efficiency is enhanced, thereby improving the printing quality of the printer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a squeegee apparatus of a liquid electrophotographic printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a liquid electrophotographic printer such as a color laser printer includes laser scanning units (LSUs) 50 for forming a latent electrostatic image of an image to be developed on a photoreceptor belt 10 by irradiating a laser beam onto the photoreceptor belt 10, development units 20 for developing the latent electrostatic image into a predetermined image using a developer liquid having a liquid solvent mixed with a powdered toner, a drying unit 30 for drying and removing the liquid solvent remaining on the image after development, and a transfer unit 40 for printing the image developed on the photoreceptor belt 10 on a sheet of printing paper (S).
Here, each of the development units 20 includes a development device having a development roller 21, a cleaning brush 24 and a developer liquid supply nozzle 23, and a squeegee apparatus having a squeegee roller 25, a squeegee backup roller 26 and an air spray nozzle 27. The squeegee apparatus squeegees the imaging region of the developed image to remove excess developer liquid therefrom. The excess developer liquid which is not used for development is removed from the photoreceptor belt 10 by the squeegee apparatus.
If the excess developer liquid is not sufficiently withdrawn from the photoreceptor belt 10 by the squeegeeing action of the squeegee roller 25, the operation load of the drying unit 30 is increased. Also, since the image which is not completely dried may migrate to the transfer unit 40, a clean image quality cannot be obtained. Thus, the overall printing quality is influenced by the efficiency of removing the excess developer liquid by the squeegee roller 25, that is, the squeegeeing efficiency.
The squeegeeing efficiency varies with the temperature of the photoreceptor belt 10. When the photoreceptor belt 10 is heated at a temperature of 40 to 45.degree. C., the squeegeeing efficiency is highest. In the printer having the above-described construction, since the photoreceptor belt 10 contacts the respective heated rollers in the drying unit 30 and the transfer unit 40 while the printing operation is carried out, the photoreceptor belt 10 appears to be kept at a high temperature. However, in practice, the photoreceptor belt 10 is rapidly cooled by the heat exchange with the developer liquid while passing through the development units 20 and the contact with the squeegee roller 25, the development backup roller 22 and the squeegee backup roller 26. Thus, it is difficult to keep the photoreceptor belt 10 at a temperature higher than 30.degree. C. while squeegeeing.
Therefore, in order to attain an optimum squeegeeing efficiency, there is an increasing demand for means for keeping a photoreceptor belt at a high temperature while a squeegeeing operation is carried out.

Squeegee apparatus of liquid electrophotographic printer


An improved slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser which includes two parallel, rectangular, flat, spaced-apart, slab electrodes whose surfaces excite a laser gas and guide laser light in a plane perpendicular to the surfaces of the slab electrodes. The component of the light propagating parallel to the electrode surfaces is not guided and is acted on only by resonator mirrors which form an unstable resonator. The improved slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser operates on a single vibrational transition of the CO.sub.2 molecule by employing wavelength selective optics.

Many studies has been made in the prior art of various configurations of waveguide and slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 lasers due to their compact size, high power per volume, and low manufacturing cost. A waveguide laser is different from a conventional laser because, in a waveguide laser, light does not follow the laws of free-space propagation over some (or all) of the propagation path inside a waveguide resonator structure, i.e., some structure within the laser acts to confine and guide the light. In more mathematical terms, one uses Fresnel number, defined as a2/(.lambda.L), to characterize a waveguide resonator; where a is the half-width of an exposed mirror surface, .lambda. is the wavelength of light inside the resonator, and L is the resonator length. The Fresnel number measures the importance of diffraction effects and a low number indicates strong diffraction. A waveguide resonator has a Fresnel number on the order of unity or less and, as a result, spatial modes, frequency spectra, and losses are not adequately described by laws governing free-space resonators.
A slab-waveguide laser is different from a standard waveguide laser because a slab-waveguide laser does not confine propagation light fully, but does so in one dimension only. For example, consider a Cartesian coordinate system (x,y,z) with light propagating in the z-direction. A rectangular waveguide laser would confine light in the x- and the y-direction, whereas, a slab-waveguide laser would confine light in the x- or the y-direction (but not both), with the unconfined direction obeying normal free-space propagation theory.
Slab-waveguide lasers are disclosed in many U.S. patents, notably U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,639 (Tulip) issued Jan. 12, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,738 (Opower) issued Jul. 3, 1990; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,048 (Nishimae) issued Sep. 10, 1991. The Tulip patent discloses an RF-excited slab-waveguide laser which uses a positive-branch unstable resonator for the unconfined direction and a stable waveguide resonator for the guided direction. The Opower patent discloses an RF-excited slab-waveguide laser which uses a positive-branch unstable resonator for the unconfined direction and which also uses astigmatism corrective optics, which astigmatism corrective optics are incorporated as part of the laser structure. Astigmatism is a by-product of the slab geometry (except in certain specially chosen resonator designs). As a result, astigmatism correction is usually required, although it need not be part of the laser housing. The Nishimae patent discloses a microwave-excited slab-waveguide laser which uses spherical mirrors to define a negative-branch unstable resonator in the unconfined direction. The negative-branch resonator exhibits an internal focus typically found within the active region of the laser which, if the intensities are high enough, causes loss of efficiency and possibly even optical breakdown of the gain medium. However, as is well-known in the art, negative-branch unstable resonators are much less alignment sensitive than their positive-branch counterparts. Further, as pointed out in the Nishimae patent, the slab-waveguide produces a line focus, not a point focus, within the medium; hence intensities are reduced somewhat. Therefore, depending on power levels and size of the device to be constructed, either positive-branch or negative-branch designs may prove optimal.
Refinements to the basic slab lasers disclosed in the above-identified patents have been disclosed in further U.S. patents, specifically: U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,028 (Hobart, et al.) issued Jun. 16 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,003 (Mefferd) issued Jul. 14 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,004 (Dallarosa, et al.) issued Jul. 14, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,606 (Yarborough, et al.) issued Aug. 18, 1992; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,739 (Mefferd) issued Oct. 13, 1992. The Hobart et al. patent discloses the use of spherical mirrors in a negative-branch geometry, which spherical mirrors are placed a prescribed distance from the slabs so that the radius of curvature of light in the confined (waveguide) direction at the mirror surface approximately matches the radius of curvature of the mirror. The Mefferd '003 patent discloses the use of a support structure for electrodes that allows for thermal expansion during operation of the laser. The Dallarosa et al. patent discloses a method of pre-ionizing a CO.sub.2 gas mixture to help stabilize the discharge, especially when the laser is run in a low duty-cycle pulsed mode. The Yarborough et al. patent discloses a mechanism for holding electrodes a required distance apart while minimizing constrictions on gas flow within the laser housing. Lastly, the Mefferd '739 patent discloses a mechanism for holding adjustable mirrors in a low-pressure, sealed-off environment.
Most slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 lasers exhibit switching between rotational transitions of the CO.sub.2 molecule that occur within a specific vibrational transition, which switching produces relatively small variations in wavelength. This switching between rotational transitions within a specific vibrational transition is common to most CO.sub.2 lasers and has become known in the art as "line-hopping." For medical applications, the small variations in wavelength caused by line-hopping do not present a problem and can usually be ignored.
However, we have discovered a phenomenon which is unknown in the art. In particular, we have discovered that, unless special care is given to the design of both the slab-waveguide and the resonator optics, a slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser is capable of emitting light over a wide range of wavelengths, which wavelengths arise from two different vibrational transitions of the CO.sub.2 molecule. These wavelength regions are centered approximately at 10.6 .mu.m and 9.4 .mu.m, respectively. The transition producing 10.6 .mu.m radiation has the highest gain of any transition of the CO.sub.2 molecule and, therefore, nearly all conventional CO.sub.2 lasers operate at 10.6 .mu.m without the need to take precautions to avoid laser light from occurring at 9.4 .mu.m. However, using slab geometries and standard broadband optics as described in the prior art, we have discovered that a slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser can switch erratically from one vibrational transition to the other and back again.
The lack of understanding of this problem in the prior art occurs for two reasons: lack of continuous monitoring of the output beam and fortuitous waveguide suppression. Wavelength switching which occurs in lasers fabricated according to prior art teachings are understood from the following. FIG. 9 shows, in pictorial form, a configuration used to measure output power from conventional slab-waveguide laser 100 utilizing ZnSe beamsplitter 10. As shown in FIG. 9, output beam 110 from slab-waveguide laser 100 is split into reflected beam 120 and transmitted beam 130. Reflected beam 120 is detected by detector 11 and transmitted beam 130 is detected by detector 12, reflected beam 120 and transmitted beam 130 are monitored simultaneously. FIG. 9A shows a measured plot of ZnSe beamsplitter 10 characteristics. As seen from FIG. 9A, ZnSe beamsplitter 10 has an approximately 1% measured reflectivity at 10.6 .mu.m and an approximately 4% measured reflectivity at 9.4 .mu.m. This is to be contrasted with a variation due to line hopping which would produce a variation of about 10% in the transmitted and reflected signals.
FIG. 10 shows a plot of measured output power of conventional slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser 100 vs. time taken simultaneously from detector 12 monitoring transmitted beam 130 and detector 11 monitoring reflected beam 120. As seen in FIG. 10, reflected beam 120 experiences very wide fluctuations in relative power, while transmitted beam 130 is very nearly constant, except for the .sup..about. 10% fluctuation expected from normal "line-hopping."
FIG. 11 is a plot of measured output power of conventional slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser 100 vs. time obtained using the configuration illustrated in FIG. 9. However, in generating FIG. 11, conventional slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser 100 was run so as to mimic actual surgical use. That is, fifteen (15) laser bursts, each 45 seconds long and separated by two (2) minutes off-time, were recorded by a digital oscilloscope and the high-low envelope of the bursts is shown in FIG. 11. As can be seen in FIG. 11, in agreement with FIG. 10, the envelope of the reflected beam is much greater than that of the transmitted beam. This confirms that conventional slab-waveguide laser 100 switched wavelength over a wider range than could be accounted for by line-hopping and that the change in reflectivity of beamsplitter 10 for the different wavelengths caused wide fluctuations in reflected beam 120.
FIG. 12 shows, in pictorial form, a configuration used to confirm that the above-described wavelength fluctuations were due to switching between vibrational bands of the slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser. As shown FIG. 12, output beam 110 from slab-waveguide laser 100 impinges upon ZnSe beamsplitter 10, which beamsplitter has a reflectivity of 10% at 10.6 .mu.m and a reflectivity of 12% at 9.4 .mu.m. Reflected beam 120 is spectrally separated by diffraction grating 140 (-- order, near-Littrow) into spectral bands corresponding to the 10.6 .mu.m band and the 9.4 .mu.m band detected by detectors 150 and 160, respectively. FIG. 13 is a simultaneous plot of the 10.6 .mu.m band and the 9.4 .mu.m band in output beam 110 from detectors 150 and 160, respectively. As can be seen from FIG. 13, slab-waveguide laser 100 is periodically switching wavelengths. It can also be seen that the sum of both components is roughly constant, in agreement with the transmitted portions of the output beam presented in FIGS. 10 and 11.
Two facts become clear from the above. First, wavelength in the output beam of a conventional slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser changes dramatically over time and, second, total laser output remains nearly constant over time. Thus, since prior art apparatus typically do not continuously monitor the laser output beam, wavelength switching has gone unnoticed. A further reason that wavelength switching has not been detected in the prior art is that it is possible, as a fortuitous matter, to choose a waveguide design that helps suppress one of the wavelength regions. However, even though this is possible, we have discovered that the selectivity of a waveguide itself is generally quite low i.e., the losses are comparable for 9.4 .mu.m and 10.6 .mu.m. For that reason, we have discovered that one cannot depend on the selectivity of a waveguide structure alone to reliably suppress unwanted wavelength switching.
The large wavelength shift produced by changing vibrational transitions causes a problem for CO.sub.2 lasers used in medicine due to the high water absorption of the CO.sub.2 wavelength. Since the primary constituent of most tissue is water, this absorption means that CO.sub.2 laser energy is applied efficiently and, equally as important, locally to target tissue. The measure of locality of a laser-tissue interaction depends on the size of the focused beam and the penetration depth of the beam, which penetration depth is governed mainly by the water absorption coefficient. Referring to tabulated values of absorption coefficients for water (for example, "Infrared Optical properties of Water and Ice Spheres", W. M. Irvine and J. B. Pollack, Icarus 8, [1968], p. 324), the absorption coefficient is 720 cm-1 at 10.5 .mu.m and drops to 410 cm-1 at 9.5 .mu.m. Although exact values are not tabulated, the coefficients vary smoothly with wavelength and the values at 10.5 .mu.m and 9.5 .mu.m are quite close to those at 10.6 .mu.m and 9.4 .mu.m. Therefore, the characteristic penetration depth (defined as the point where laser intensity is .sup..about. 63% of its initial value) is .sup..about. 13.9 .mu.m at 10.6 .mu.m and it increases to .sup..about. 24.4 .mu.m at 9.4 .mu.m; a 76% variation. As a result, for consistent treatment results, especially in delicate surgery, it is imperative to keep the laser operating within a given vibrational transition.
In light of the above, we have discovered that there is a need to prevent switching between vibrational transitions in a slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser and, as a result, there is a need in the art for a slab-waveguide CO.sub.2 laser that is stable and that operates within a given vibrational transition of the CO.sub.2 molecule.


A process for preparing alkanesulfonyl pyridines of the formula 1:

This invention relates to a process for the preparation of alkanesulfonyl pyridine derivatives having the formula 1
which are useful as intermediates in the synthesis of pyrazole compounds having the formula 5:
wherein R1 is unsubstituted (C1-C6)alkyl; R6 is phenyl optionally substituted by 1-3 substituents independently selected from the group consisting of halo, hydroxy, cyano, mercapto, (C1-C6)alkyl, (C2-C6)alkenyl. (C1-C6)alkoxy, xe2x80x94OCF3, (C1-C6)alkyl-Sxe2x80x94, (C1-C6)alkyl-S(xe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94, (C1-C6)alkyl-SO2xe2x80x94, amino, (C1-C6)alkylamino, di[(C1-C6)alkyl] amino, H2N-(Cxe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94, (C1-C6)alkyl-NH-(Cxe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94and formyl; Rb is hydrogen, halo or (C1-C6)alkyl; and Rc is (C1-C6)alkyl optionally substituted with from one to three halo atoms.
The compounds of formula 5 (xe2x80x9cthe active compoundsxe2x80x9d) are useful in the treatment or alleviation of inflammation and other Inflammation associated disorders, such as arthritis, neurodegeneration and colon cancer, in mammals, preferably humans, dogs, cats or livestock. It Is believed that the active compounds inhibit the biosynthesis of prostaglandins by intervention of the action of the enzyme cyclooxygenase on arachidonic acid.
Compounds of formula 5 and other processes for preparing alkanesulfonyl pyridine derivatives are disclosed in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/724,446, filed Nov. 28, 2000, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The PCT International Patent Application corresponding to Ser. No. 09/724,446 was published on Jun. 7, 2001 as WO 01/40216. In application 09/724,446 (and WO 01/40216), the sulfonyl pyridine is prepared according to a two-step process involving a first step of forming a sulfide by either nucleophilic substitution using e.g., alkylsulfide or methylation of a mercapto pyridine followed by a second step which Is oxidation of the sulfide to a sulfonyl group.
In the present invention, the alkyl sulfonyl group R1-SO2xe2x80x94 is added in a single step to the metallated pyridine (i.e., the Grignard reaction product), thereby avoiding the necessity of an oxidation step from a sulfide. In particular, applicants found that the use in step (b) of alkyl sulfonylating reagents such as alkanesulfonyl halides or alkanesulfonyl anhydrides, which are poor electrophiles compared to, e.g., disulfides (see, Wang et al. (2000) Tet. Lett 41:4335-4338), unexpectedly provided the alkane sulfonyl pyridine selectively and in high yield. It is also worth noting that the alkyl sulfonylating reagents such as those disclosed herein are inexpensive and thus particularly suited for commercial production of the compound of formula 1 and upon further modification, production of compounds of formula 5. Finally, the present invention allows both step (a), metallation, and step (b), alkyl sulfonylation, to be carried out at non-cryogenic temperatures, i.e., above xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. Accordingly, the present invention provides a direct and regioselective route to the 5-(alkanesulfonyl)-2-bromo-pyridine.
The present invention relates to a process for preparing a compound of formula 1:
which comprises the steps of:
(a) reacting a compound of formula 2
xe2x80x83with a Grignard reagent; and
(b) reacting the product of step (a) with an (C1-C6)alkyl sulfonylating reagent;
wherein R1 is unsubstituted (C1-C6)alkyl.
In an embodiment of the invention, R1 is unsubstituted (C1-C3)alkyl. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, R1 is methyl. In a preferred embodiment of the invention R1 is methyl and the alkyl sulfonylating reagent is a methyl sulfonylating reagent.
In another embodiment of the invention, the Grignard reagent is a linear or branched (C1-C10)alkyl magnesium halide, i.e., a compound of the formula RMgX, wherein R is linear or branched (C1-C10)alkyl and X Is halide. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the Grignard reagent is a (C1-C4)alkyl magnesium halide, e.g., methylmagnesium halide, ethylmagnesium halide, propylmagesium halide, isopropylmagnesium halide, butylmagnesium halide or tert-butylmagnesium halide. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the Invention, the Grignard reagent is isopropylmagnesium chloride.
In another embodiment of the invention, step (a) is carried out in a solvent selected from the group consisting of diethyl ether, tetrahydrofuran (xe2x80x9cTHFxe2x80x9d), glyme (1,2-dimethoxyethane) or diglyme (bis(2-methoxyethyl) ether). In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the solvent in step (a) is THF.
In another embodiment of the invention, step (a) is carried out at a temperature of from about xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. to about room temperature (about 20xc2x0 C.-25xc2x0 C. ). In another embodiment of the invention, step (a) is carried out at a temperature of from about xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. to about 10xc2x0 C. In another embodiment of the invention, step (a) is carried out for a period of from about 30 minutes to about 4 hours, preferably for about 45 minutes.
In another embodiment of the invention, the alkyl sulfonylating agent is a (C1-C6)alkanesulfonyl halide or a (C1-C6)alkanesulfonic anhydride. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the alkyl sulfonylating agent is an alkanesulfonyl halide of the formula R1SO2X, wherein X is chloro or fluoro. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the alkanesulfonyl halide is unsubstituted (C1-C3)alkanesulfonyl halide. In a more preferred embodiment of the invention, the alkanesulfonyl halide is methanesulfonyl fluoride or methanesulfonyl chloride. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the alkanesulfonyl halide is methanesulfonyl chloride. In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the alkyl sulfonylating agent is an alkanesulfonic anhydride of the formula (R1SO2)2O. In a more preferred embodiment of the invention, the alkanesulfonic anhydride is unsubstituted (C1-C3)alkanesulfonic anhydride. In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the alkanesulfonic anhydride is methanesulfonic anhydride.
In another embodiment of the invention, step (b) is carried out in THF.
In another embodiment of the invention, the process further comprises preparing a compound of formula 3
by hydrazinolysis of the compound of formula 1 in the presence of an amine, in a suitable solvent. In an embodiment of the invention, the hydrazinolysis is carried out using a hydrazine such as hydrazine hydrate. In an embodiment of the invention, the amine is selected from the group consisting of triethylamine, diisopropylethylamine, 2,6-lutidine and N,N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x2-tetramethylethylenediamine. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the amine is triethylamine. In another embodiment of the invention, the suitable solvent for hydrazinolysis is selected from the group consisting of water, dichloromethane, dichloroethane and toluene. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the solvent is water.
The compounds prepared by the processes of the present invention that are basic in nature, e.g., compounds of formula 3, are capable of forming a wide variety of different salts with various Inorganic and organic acids. The acid addition salts of the base compounds prepared by the processes of this invention are readily prepared by treating the base compound with a substantially equivalent amount of the chosen mineral or organic acid in an aqueous solvent medium or in a suitable organic solvent. Upon careful evaporation of the solvent, the desired solid salt is readily obtained. The desired salt can also be precipitated from a solution of the free base in an organic solvent by adding to the solution an appropriate mineral or organic acid.
In another embodiment of the invention, the process further comprises treating the compound of formula 3 with an acid in a suitable solvent. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the acid is hydrochloric acid. In an embodiment of the invention, the acid addition salt of the compound of formula 3 prepared according to the process of the invention Is the hydrochloride salt.
In another .embodiment of the invention, the hydrazinolysis is carried out at a temperature between room temperature and about 100xc2x0 C., preferably at about 70xc2x0 C. In another embodiment of the invention, the hydrazinolysis is carried out for a period of from about 3 hours to about 24 hours, preferably about 5 hours.
The present invention also relates to the hydrochloride addition salt of the compound of formula 3 prepared by the process of this invention.
It is to be noted that the term xe2x80x9cmixturexe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, is used without regard to the state of dispersion of the components thereof.
The phrase xe2x80x9corganic solventxe2x80x9d as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, means a non-aqueous solvent or mixture of non-aqueous solvents.
In a preferred embodiment of the processes described herein, the reaction is carried out at about atmospheric pressure. In this application, the term xe2x80x9catmospheric pressurexe2x80x9d means a pressure within the normal range of meteorologic atmospheric pressure for a particular altitude, while the term elevated pressure means a pressure above atmospheric pressure. In another embodiment of the processes described herein, the reaction is carried out at elevated pressure.
Unless otherwise indicated, the term xe2x80x9calkylxe2x80x9d as referred to herein, as well as the alkyl moieties of other groups referred to herein (e.q., alkoxy), may be linear or branched (such as methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, iso-butyl, secondaty-butyl, tertiary-butyl), and they may also be cyclic (e.q., cyclopropyl, or cyclobutyl); optionally substituted by 1 to 3 suitable substituents as defined below such as fluoro, chloro, trifluoromrethyl, (C1-C6)alkoxy, (C6-C10)aryloxy, trifluoromethoxy, difluoromethoxy or (C1-C6)alkyl. The phrase xe2x80x9ceach of said alkylxe2x80x9d as used herein refers to any of the preceding alkyl moieties within a group such alkoxy, alkenyl or alkylamino.
Unless otherwise indicated, the terms xe2x80x9chaloxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9chalogenxe2x80x9d are used herein interchangeably to mean fluoro, chloro, bromo or iodo, or fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine, respectively, while the term xe2x80x9chalidexe2x80x9d is used herein to refer to the fluoride, chloride, bromide or iodide anions.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9chalo-substituted alkylxe2x80x9d refers to an alkyl radical as described above substituted with one or more halogens including, but not limited to, chloromethyl, dichloromethyl, fluoromethyl, difluoromethyl, trifluoromethyl, 2,2,2-trichloroethyl, and the like; optionally substituted by 1 to 3 suitable substituents as defined below such as fluoro, chloro, trifluoromethyl, (C1-C6)alkoxy, (C6-C10)aryloxy, trifluoromethoxy, difluoromethoxy or (C1-C6)alkyl.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9calkenylxe2x80x9d means straight or branched chain unsaturated radicals of 2 to 6 carbon atoms, including, but not limited to ethenyl, 1-propenyl, 2-propenyl (allyl), iso-propenyl, 2-methyl-1-propenyl, 1-butenyl, 2-butenyl, and the like; optionally substituted by 1 to 3 suitable substituents as defined below such as fluoro, chloro, trifluoromethyl, (C1-C6)alkoxy, (C6-C10)aryloxy, trifluoromethoxy, difluoromethoxy or (C1-C6)alkyl.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9calkynylxe2x80x9d is used herein to mean straight or branched hydrocarbon chain radicals of 2 to 6 carbon atoms having one triple bond including, but not limited to, ethynyl, propynyl, butynyl, and the like; optionally substituted by 1 to 3 suitable substituents as defined below such as fluoro, chloro, trinfluoromethyl, (C1-C6)alkoxy, (C6-C10)aryloxy, trifluoromethoxy, difluoromethoxy or (C1-C6)alkyl.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9calkoxyxe2x80x9d refers to O-alkyl groups, wherein alkyl is as defined above.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9calkoxycarbonylxe2x80x9d refers to an alkoxy radical as described above connected to a carbonyl group ( greater than Cxe2x95x90O), which, in turn, serves as the point of attachment.
The phrase xe2x80x9cpharmaceutically acceptable salt(s)xe2x80x9d, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, includes salts of acidic or basic groups which may be present in the compounds of the present invention. The compounds prepared by the processes of the present invention that are basic in nature are capable of forming a wide variety of salts with various inorganic and organic acids. The acids that may be used to prepare pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts of such basic compounds of the present invention are those that form non-toxic acid addition salts, i.e., salts containing pharmacologically acceptable anions, such as the hydrochloride, hydrobromide, hydroiodide, nitrate, sulfate, bisulfate, phosphate, acid phosphate, isonicotinate, acetate, lactate, salicylate, citrate, acid citrate, tarlrate, pantothenate, bitartrate, ascorbate, succinate, maleate, gentisinate, fumarale, gluconate, glucaronate, saccharate, formate, benzoate, glutamate, methanesulfonate, ethanesulfonate, benzenesulfonate, p-toluenesulfonate and pamoate [i.e., 1,1xe2x80x2-methylene-bis-(2-hydroxy-3-naphthoate)] salts. The compounds prepared by the processes of the present invention that include an amino moiety may form pharmaceutically acceptable salts with various amino acids, in addition to the acids mentioned above.
The present invention includes processes for preparing a compound of formula 1 wherein one or more hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen or other atoms are replaced by isotopes thereof. Such compounds are useful as diagnostic tools and in metabolic, pharmacokinetic and binding studies. Examples of isotopes that can be utilized in the processes of the invention include isotopes of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, fluorine and chlorine, as 2H, 3H, 13C, 14C, 15N, 18O, 17O, 35S, 18F, and 36CI, respectively. Processes of the present invention which utilize the aforementioned isotopes and/or other isotopes of other atoms are within the scope of this invention. Certain isotopically-labelled compounds prepared by the processes of the present invention, for example those into which radioactive isotopes such as 3H and 14C are incorporated, are useful in drug and/or substrate tissue distribution assays. Tritiated, i.e., 3H, and carbon-14, i.e., 14C, isotopes are particularly preferred for their ease of preparation and detectability. Further, substitution with heavier isotopes such as deuterium, i.e., 2H, can afford certain therapeutic advantages resulting from greater metabolic stability, for example increased in vivo half-life or reduced dosage requirements and, hence, may be preferred in some circumstances. Isotopically labelled compounds prepared by the processes of this invention can generally be prepared by carrying out the procedures disclosed in the Schemes and/or in the Examples below, by substituting a readily available isotopically labelled reagent for a non-isotopically labelled reagent.
The process of the present invention may be carried out according to Scheme 1 below and the description that follows.
Schemes 1 and 2 given above are illustrative only and are described in further detail below and in the Examples further hereinbelow. Substituents R1 and Ra-Rc in Schemes 1 and 2 are as follows: R1 is (C1-C6)alkyl, Ra is phenyl optionally substituted by 1-3 substituents independently selected from the group consisting of halo, hydroxy, cyano, mercapto, (C1-C6)alkyl, (C2-C6)alkenyl, (C1-C6)alkoxy, xe2x80x94OCF3, (C1-C6)alkyl-Sxe2x80x94, (C1-C6)alkyl-S(xe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94, (C1-C6)alkyl-SO2xe2x80x94, amino, (C1-C6)alkylamino, di[(C1-C6)alkyl]amino, H2N-(Cxe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94, (C1-C6)alkyl-NH-(Cxe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94and formyl; Rb is hydrogen, halo or (C1-C6)alkyl; and Rc is (C1-C6)alkyl optiona substituted with from one to three halo atoms.
The first stage in Scheme 1 is a direct alkylsulfonylation of 2,5-bromopyridine. The compound of formula 2,2,5-dibromopyridine, is (1) treated with a Grignard reagent and then (2) reacted with an alkyl sulfonylating agent to yield the compound of formula 1. The Grignard reagent, i.e., RMgX, wherein R is (C1-C6)alkyl and X is halo, is preferably a propyl or butyl Grignard reagent, e.g., propylmagesium halide or isopropylmagnesium halide, most preferably isopropylmagnesium chloride. The metallation (Grignard) reaction is preferably carried out at a temperature between about xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. to about room temperature for a period of from about 0.5 hours to about 4 hours, preferably for about 45 minutes. Suitable solvents for the Grignard reaction include, but are not limited to, diethyl ether, tetrahydrofuran (xe2x80x9cTHFxe2x80x9d), glyme (1,2-dimethoxyethane) or diglyme (bis(2-methoxyethyl) ether). Preferably, the solvent is THF.
The alkyl sulfonylating agent is preferably an alkanesulfonyl halide (i.e., R1SO2X, wherein X is halo) or an alkanesulfonic anhydride (i.e., (R1SO2)2O). Preferably, the alkanesulfonyl halide is unsubstituted (C1-C3)alkanesulfonyl halide. More preferably, the alkyl sulfonylating agent is methanesulfonyl fluoride or methanesulfonyl chloride. Particularly preferred is methanesulfonyl chloride. A preferred alkanesulfonic anhydride is unsubstituted (C1-C3)alkanesulfonic anhydride. A particularly preferred alkanesulfonic anhydride is methanesulfonic anhydride.
The second, optional stage is hydrazinolysis of the compound of formula 1 to yield the compound of formula 3. The compound of formula 1 is reacted with a hydrazine, such as hydrazine hydrate, in the presence of an amine such as triethylamine, diisopropylethylamine, 2,6-lutidine, N,N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x2-tetramethylethylenediamine, preferably in triethylamine in the presence of a solvent such as water, dichloromethane, dichloroethane, toluene, preferably in water, at a temperature between room temperature and 100xc2x0 C., preferably at about 70xc2x0 C. for a period of from about 3 hours to about 24 hours, preferably 5 hours, to afford a compound of formula 3.
Scheme 2 shows the use of the compound of formula 3 in the preparation of a compound of formula 5. Processes for preparing the compound of formula 5 are disclosed in co-pending U.S. aplication Ser. No. 09/724,446, filed Nov. 28, 2000, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The PCT International Patent Application corresponding to Serial No. 09/724,446 was published on Jun. 7, 2001 as WO 01/40216. Processes for preparing the compound of formula 5 are also disclosed in the copending U.S. provisional application xe2x80x9cProcess for preparing heterocyclo-alkylsulfonyl pyrazole derivativesxe2x80x9d by David Ripin, Michael Castaldi and Dennis Bourassa, which has been filed concurrently with the present application, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The active compounds prepared using compounds of formula 1 and formula 3 prepared by the processes of this invention, may be administered through oral, parenteral, topical, or rectal routes in the treatment or alleviation of inflammation and other inflammation associated disorders, such as arthritis, neurodegeneration and colon cancer, in mammals, preferably humans, dogs, cats or livestock.
In general, the active compounds are most desirably administered in dosages ranging from about 0.2 mg per kg body weight per day (mg/kg/day) to about 200 mg/kg/day in single or divided doses (i.e., from 1 to 4 doses per day), although variations will necessarily occur depending upon the species, weight and condition of the subject being treated and the particular route of administration chosen. However, a dosage level that is in the range of about 4 mg/kg/day to about 50 mg/kg/day is most desirably employed. Variations may nevertheless occur depending upon the species of mammal being treated and its individual response to said medicament, as well as on the type of pharmaceutical formulation chosen and the time period and interval at which such administration is carried out. In some instances, dosage levels below the lower limit of the aforesaid range may be more than adequate, while in other cases still larger doses may be employed without causing any harmful side effects, provided that such larger doses are first divided into several small doses for administration throughout the day.
The active compounds may be administered alone or in combination with pharmaceutically acceptable carriers or diluents by the routes previously indicated, and such administration may be carried out in single or multiple doses. More particularly, the active compounds may be administered in a wide variety of different dosage forms, i.e., they may be combined with various pharmaceutically acceptable inert carriers in the form of tablets, capsules, lozenges, troches, hard candies, powders, sprays, creams, salves, suppositories, jellies, gels, pastes, lotions, ointments, aqueous suspensions, injectable solutions, elixirs, syrups, and the like. Such carriers include solid diluents or fillers, sterile aqueous media and various non-toxic organic solvents, etc. Moreover, oral pharmaceutical compositions can be suitably sweetened and/or flavored. In general, the active compounds are present in such dosage forms at concentration levels ranging from about 5.0% to about 70% by weight. Numerous examples of acceptable carriers, diluents, excipients, disintegrants, lubricating agents, sweetening and flavoring agents, coloring matter or dyes, emulsifying agents, suspending agents, diluents, buffers, creams, jellies, gels, pastes, patches, ointments, etc. useful in the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions and formulations are known in the art, see, Reminoton""s Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mack Publishing Company, Easton, Pa., 18th Edition, Gennaro, ed. (1990), pages 1545-1580. The preparation of all these compositions under sterile conditions is readily accomplished by standard pharmaceutical techniques will known to those skilled in the art.
For administration to animals other than humans, such as cattle or domestic animals, such as dogs or cats, the active compounds may be administered in the feed of the animals or orally as a drench composition.
The active compounds may also be administered in the form of liposome delivery systems, such as small unilamellar vesicles, large unilamellar vesicles and multilamellar vesicles. Liposomes can be formed from a variety of phospholipids, such as cholesterol, stearylamine or phosphatidylcholines.
The active compounds may also be coupled with soluble polymers as targetable drug carriers. Such polymers can include polyvinylpyrrolidone, pyran copolymer, polyhydroxypropylmethacrylamide phenyl, polyhydroxyethylaspartamide-phenol, or polyethyleneoxide-polylysine substituted with palmitoyl residues. Furthermore, the active compounds may be coupled to a class of biodegradable polymers useful in achieving controlled release of a drug, for example, polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, copolymers of polylactic and polyglycolic acid, polyepsilon caprolactone, polyhydroxy butyric acid, polyorthoesters, polyacetals, polydihydropyrans, polycyanoacrylates and cross-linked or amphipathic block copolymers of hydrogels.

Process for preparing alkanesulfonyl pyridines

Abstract: is disclosed, wherein R1 is as defined herein. The compounds of formula 1 are useful in the preparation of pyridyl-substituted pyrazoles used in the treatment and alleviation of inflammation and other inflammation associated disorders.


One embodiment of the present invention provides a flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) based on a feedforward perceptron. The ADC includes a plurality of N stages to provide N digital signals. The plurality of N stages includes a first stage to provide a sum of an input current, related to a voltage to be converted, and of a reference current. The first stage provides a first digital signal in one of first and second states if the sum has one of first and second signs, respectively. The plurality of N stages further includes i stages, with i=2 . . . N. Each stage i includes an output circuit and 2.sup.(i-2) sub-stages coupled to the output circuit. Each sub-stage includes an input and a hidden circuit coupled therebetween. The input circuit is configured to provide a first sum of the input current and of a first reference current. Each hidden circuit provides to the output circuit a second reference current when the first sum has a first sign. The output circuit generates an i.sup.th digital signal in one of a first and second states when a second sum of the input current and of the second reference current has one of first and second signs respectively.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of analog to digital converters. More particularly, this invention relates to neural analog to digital converters.
(2) Background Information
Most sensing devices such as temperature, pressure, level or flow rate sensors, yield signals which are analog in nature. Usually, these analog signals are continuous over some normally pre-determined range. These signals are transformed to digital or discrete signals to use digital computing devices to process these signals. The process of converting analog signals into corresponding digital signals is known as analog-to-digital conversion and the circuits or devices used to perform this conversion are called Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADC).
There has been increasing interest in the design of ADC based on neural networks. Artificial neural network (ANN, commonly just "neural network" or "neural net") conventionally may be viewed as a network of many very simple processors ("units" or "neurons"), each possibly having a (small amount of) local memory. The processors may be connected by unidirectional communication channels ("connections"), which carry numeric (as opposed to symbolic) data. The processors conventionally may operate only on their local data and on the inputs they receive via the connections. In this regard, a neural network may be a processing device, either an algorithm, or actual hardware, whose design may have been inspired by the design and functioning of animal brains and components thereof.
As an artificial intelligence, most conventional neural networks have some sort of "training" rule whereby the weights of connections are adjusted on the basis of presented patterns. In other words, neural networks "learn" from examples, just like children learn to recognize dogs from examples of dogs, and exhibit some structural capability for generalization.
Neurons are often elementary non-linear signal processors (in the limit they may be simple threshold discriminators). Another feature of neural networks that may distinguish them from other computing devices is a high degree of interconnection that allows a high degree of parallelism. Further, there is no idle memory containing data and programs, but rather each neuron may be pre-programmed and continuously active. The term "neural net" logically may include biological neural networks, whose elementary structures conventionally are far more complicated than the mathematical models used for neural networks.
In regards to Analog-to-Digital converters, one such neural ADC was proposed by Hopfield and Tank in the reference, "Simple Neural Optimization Networks: An A/D Converter Signal Decision Circuit and Linear Programming Circuit." IEEE TRANS. On Circuits and Systems. Vol. CAS-38 No. 5, May 1986, pp 533-541. This ADC is formulated as an optimization problem. Due to the recurrent structure of the ADC, the output of the ADC is plagued by a local minima problem. It is desirable to provide a neural ADC that is manufacturable, robust, process tolerant, fast responding and that consumes less power than conventional neural ADCs.

Neural-flash analog-to-digital converter using weighted current similation


An electronic device displays an image in a sequence of images. The sequence of images includes a representative image and images acquired by the camera before and after acquiring the representative image. While displaying the image, the device detects a first input and, in response, displays a user interface for trimming the sequence of images. The user interface includes: representations of images in the sequence of images; a begin-trim icon that delimits a beginning image in the subset of the sequence of images; and an end-trim icon that delimits an ending image in the subset of the sequence of images. The begin-trim and end-trim icons are located at positions that are automatically selected by the device. The device detects a second input and, in response, trims the sequence of images to the subset of the sequence of images based on the positions of the begin-trim and the end-trim icons.

The use of electronic devices for capturing, viewing, editing, and sharing digital content has increased significantly in recent years. Users frequently record digital content (e.g., images and/or videos) with their portable electronic devices (e.g., smart phones, tablets, and dedicated digital cameras); view and edit their digital content in image management applications (e.g., Photos from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.) and/or digital content management applications (e.g., iTunes from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.); and share their digital content with others through instant messages, email, social media applications, and other communication applications.
Portable electronic devices typically capture two types of digital content: still images and video. A still image is typically captured by simply pressing a shutter button. The still image freezes an instant in time, but details of the moment surrounding that instant are lost. Videos record extended periods of time, which may include both interesting moments and not-so-interesting moments. Significant editing is typically required to remove the less interesting moments.

Devices and methods for capturing and interacting with enhanced digital images


An illumination device includes a light source, a micromirror array having micromirror actuators, switchable in each case between an on state and an off state, an optical unit, and an optical sensor unit. The light is guided onto the array and proportionally at a respective one of the actuators in an on tilt position is reflected to an illumination application, and in an off tilt position is reflected to the optical sensor unit. The device is configured such that a first actuator, which is in an on state in the on tilt position, is brought to the off tilt position for a first test interval, and a second actuator, which is in an off state in the off tilt position, remains in the off tilt position for the first test interval. A radiation power incident on the sensor unit during the first test interval is detected by the sensor unit.

A micromirror array is constructed from a multiplicity of micromirrors arranged in matrix form, said micromirrors being switchable and thus tillable independently of one another as actuators. In projection applications, such micromirror arrays are used as image generators. Each micromirror actuator thus corresponds to a pixel, wherein, depending on the tilt position, the light of a specific color (e.g. red, green or blue) that is incident thereon at respective points in time is forwarded onto the projection surface for the purpose of imaging in an on tilt position, or is guided onto an absorber (Beam Dump) and "annihilated" in an off tilt position.


A cooling mechanism of high mounting flexibility includes a heat sink including a heat sink body defining an accommodation portion and position-limit sliding grooves and stop blocks fastened to the heat sink body, heat pipes positioned in the position-limit sliding grooves and stopped against the stop blocks, each heat pipe having a hot interface accommodated in the accommodation portion and an opposing cold interface positioned in one position-limit sliding groove, heat transfer blocks each defining a recessed insertion passage for accommodating the hot interfaces of the heat pipes and an opposing planar contact surface for the contact of a heat source of an external circuit board, and an elastic member elastically positioned between the heat sink and the heat transfer blocks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hard disk drive technology and more particularly, to a cooling mechanism of high mounting flexibility, which provides a margin between each heat pipe and each respective position-limit sliding groove that accommodates the respective heat pipe for enabling the hot interfaces of multiple heat pipes to be positioned in one heat transfer block in reversed directions so that the cold interfaces of the heat pipes can be extended to different peripheral sides of the heat sink to enhance the overall heat dissipation efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of technology, advanced computers, notebooks and many other electronic products have been continuously created and widely used in every corner of the society. It is the market trend to create electronic products having the characteristics of strong computing capabilities, high operating speed and small size. However, increasing the operating speed of a computer or notebook will lead to an increase in the amount of latent heat produced by the CPU, imaging processor or other active component parts of the motherboard. It is quite important to keep the temperature of the component parts within the optimal range.
It is the normal way to dissipate heat from heat sources of a circuit board by directly attaching a heat sink to the heat sources. Heat sinks with thick cooling fins or different sizes of heat sinks are selectively used to mate with different heat sources having different heights. However, thick cooling fins have a relatively higher thermal resistance. Taking into consideration the characteristics of low thermal resistance, it needs to use different sizes of heat sinks to mate with different heat sources.
This heat transfer medium can be used in a heat sink to reduce thermal resistance. However, the thickness of the applied heat transfer medium affects the thermal resistance. Cooling modules are then developed to effectively reduce the thermal resistance by means of reducing the thickness of heat transfer medium. A conventional cooling module A, as shown in FIG. 10, comprises a heat sink base A1 which defines a plurality of openings A12, a plurality of locating grooves A11 respectively extended from the openings A12 and a plurality of mounting holes A13 respectively disposed at two opposite sides relative to each opening A12, a plurality of heat pipes A2 respectively accommodated in the locating grooves A11, each heat pipe A2 having one end A21 thereof bonded to one end of one respective locating groove A11 and an opposite end thereof extended to one respective opening A12, a plurality of metal blocks A3 fastened to the heat sink base A1 over the openings A12 and respectively abutted against the respective heat pipes A2, and a plurality of spring members A33 stopped between the heat sink base A1 and the metal blocks A3. Each metal block A3 comprises a plurality of mounting through holes A31, and a plurality of screws A32 respectively inserted through the mounting through holes A31 and the spring members A33 and fastened to the respective mounting holes A13 heat sink base A1. Thus, the metal blocks A3 are flexibly supported on the spring members A33 for abutting against respective heat sources in a circuit board of an electronic apparatus to transfer latent heat from the heat sources to the heat pipes A2 for quick dissipation. Subject to the functioning of the spring members A33, the metal blocks A3 can be kept in tight contact with the respective heat sources, reducing the thermal resistance. However, the arrangement of the spring members A33 between the metal blocks A3 and the heat sink base A1 affects the heat transfer efficiency of transferring latent heat from the heat sources to the heat sink base A1. In this design, the spring members A33 are respectively stopped at the four corners of the metal blocks A3 to keep the metal blocks A3 in balance. However, because each heat pipe A2 has one end A21 thereof bonded to one end of one respective locating groove A11 and an opposite end thereof extended to one respective opening A12, thus, the opposite ends of the heat pipes A2 can simply be arranged in one direction in a parallel manner and bonded to the respective metal blocks A3, i.e., the heat pipes A2 cannot be symmetrically arranged at two opposite sides relative to the metal blocks A3 to let the opposite ends thereof be extended to all different peripheral sides of the heat sink base A1, restricting the use of space and limiting the cooling performance. An improvement in this regard is desired.

Cooling mechanism of high mounting flexibility


An apparatus for turning the external circumference of an optical lens mount, a collimator is optically aligned with the turning axis (y-y). A fixture is mounted on the apparatus to accommodate the lens assembly. The fixture provides a translatory adjustment motion transverse to the axis (y-y) and a pivot motion about a universal joint. Electromechanical adjustment actuators operatively engage the fixture to move the optical axis of the lens assembly into alignment with the axis (y-y). An electronic deviation control system converts the light output of the collimator into an axis deviation signal which is encoded according to the rotary position of the lens assembly to generate translatory and pivot motion adjustment signals which control the action of the adjustment actuators. The electronic deviation control system consists of a continuous position sensing silicon photodetector which generates the deviation signal, a microprocessor controller receives the deviation signal and encodes it with a rotary position indicator and sends an adjustment signal to the Electromechanical adjustment actuators.

An important step in the manufacture of a precision optical instrument is the accurate installation of the finished lens in its mount. The mounting process, however often results in slight misalignments which require further adjustment. To compensate for the inaccuracies in the mounting process, the lens mount or holder is finished after the lens is mounted. This is generally performed on a centering lathe in preparation for the finish turning of the circumference of the mount. It is necessary to align the optical axis of the lens as closely as possible with the mechanical axis of the mount to insure that the lens/mount assembly can be accurately aligned in proper relation to the optical axis of the instrument during its assembly.
In the systems of the prior art, as shown in FIG. 1, the lens assembly is adjustable in the lathe on a fixture which allows limited movement to affect alignment. A light beam is directed to the lens by a collimator which also collects the reflected light and directs it to a display. The display gives a visible indication of the deviation of the optical axis of the lens from the axis of the collimator which is coincident with the mechanical axis of the lathe. The position of the lens assembly is adjusted by manually tapping the fixture with a mallet or other suitable device. The display is observed during the tapping to determine when the adjustment is complete. This is a time consuming process which is dependent on the skill of the operator and accordingly lacks consistency.
It is the purpose of this invention to automate this alignment process and to provide a simple effective method and apparatus to accomplish the centering step accurately and quickly while controlling the adjustment to reduce human error.

Method and apparatus for centering optical lens mount


An improved transport trailer is configured for transporting generally cylindrical drum-like containers and includes spacer members which abut the containers in a region intermediate the annular projecting surfaces of the container. The spacer members include a smooth surface for prevention of damage to the container surface and are disposed within the trailer so that the container contact surface is spaced a distance away from the walls of the trailer that is greater than the projecting distance of the annular projecting members of the containers to prevent contact of the annular projecting surfaces with the walls of the trailer. The containers are arranged within the trailer in a staggered pattern to maximize the utilization of cargo space within the trailer and, in cooperation with the spacer members, to substantially prevent movement of the containers during transportation.

The present invention relates generally to improvements in cargo trailers and more specifically to an improved cargo trailer and method for transporting cylindrical containers.
Cylindrical storage containers, such as 55-gallon drums or barrels, are used extensively in industries which must store and transport liquids in relatively substantial quantities for on-site use. The containers typically have two annular ring-like surfaces projecting outwardly from the side walls thereof in generally spaced parallel relation. These annular projections, commonly known as "hoops" in the container industry, allow a container to be positioned on its side for rolling movement thereof. The projecting hoops provide support to space the walls of the container above the ground and thereby reduce the surface contact area, and the rolling resistance, thus enhancing the ability of the container to be rolled by hand.
After the containers are manufactured, they must be transported to the end user where they are filled with material for distribution thereof. Typically, the newly manufactured containers are individually loaded onto conventional transport trailers for transport to the end user. The transport trailers thus utilized typically consist of a generally planar cargo support surface having a box-like cover attached thereto and mounted to a plurality of wheels for rolling movement thereof. The box-like cover typically consists of a plurality of planar wall members which are supported internally by a plurality of vertically oriented support members arranged around the periphery of the cargo support surface in generally spaced parallel relation.
These conventional cargo trailers are often constructed for transporting goods of no particular type and generally consist of no more than a cargo box on wheels. Accordingly, if the containers are transported in such a conventional trailer, there is usually a spacing between the containers and the side walls, and the containers can collide with the walls of the trailer and with each other, which can damage either the container or the trailer, or both. Further, the movement of the trailer along a highway tends to cause the containers to vibrate and rotate which can cause scraping of the containers against one another and thereby cause degradation of the surface appearance of the newly manufactured containers, and the containers can eventually rub holes in the side walls of the cargo trailer.

Transport trailer and method for transporting cylindrical containers


This invention relates to the field of computer image processing technology, particularly, to a method for adding marks in the process of page rasterizing, which in detail is the method for adding marks on the output medium when description files of pages are output in raster imaging devices. The description files of pages are generally PostScript file, i.e. PS file, and Portable Document Format (PDF) files, i.e. PDF file. The prior art has disadvantages of poor compatibility, slow speed and the like. The present recognizes adding various marks to description files of pages in the process of page rasterizing in an RIP, thereby it is possible to add marks to any of PS files and PDF files without pre-scanning the description files of pages, and obtain good flexibility and compatibility substantially without effects on speed.

PostScript (i.e. PS) is a programming language for describing page contents in the computer image processing technology, which is developed by Adobe Company and widely used as page description in most of software for processing texts, graphics and images. PS has become an industry standard in the field.
Portable Document Format (i.e. PDF) is an electronic document format for describing page contents, which was developed by Adobe Company. Generally, for the same page content, a PDF file has a smaller size and a more compact structure than those of a PS file.
Raster Image Processor (i.e. RIP) is a processor for transforming page description in PS or PDF to raster images and outputting in raster imaging devices (e.g. phototypesetter, computer-to-plate equipment and printer). A RIP system mainly comprises an RIP user interface for providing users with a user-friendly graphical interface, an RIP kernel for transforming page description in PS or in PDF to raster bitmaps, and a driver for outputting the raster bitmaps to raster devices.
The term "mark" in the present disclosure generally refers to various marks to be added to margins of a page to be output, like collimating marks, clipping marks, step wedges, color plate names, margents, job file names, outputting times, page numbers, customized marks defined by a user, and so on.
The term "job file" in the present disclosure refers to a description file of pages as filed to a RIP device for rasterizing and printing. A job file is generally a PS file, a PDF file or the like. Hereinafter, the term "job PS/PDF file" refers to the job file.
In the print field, a CMYK (i.e. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black printing ink) color model is used for color separation overprint. The definition of the overprint directly influences the quality of final products. To this end, collimating marks are generally added around pages to be printed. Besides, other marks like clipping marks, step wedges may be added, too.
Generally, there are three methods for adding marks. One is to directly arrange marks required by the back-end output in the front-end plate making software so that the job PS/PDF filed with a RIP includes the arranged marks. Those arranged marks actually become a part of page content in the RIP. Another is to preprocess a job file before the job PS/PDF file is filed with a RIP so that a PS stream describing marks is inserted into a page PS stream. In this way, the PS stream describing marks actually becomes a part of the preprocessed job file. The common feature of the two methods is that a job PS/PDF file filed with a RIP contains marks already, namely, the marks are added to a page before the page is rasterized by a RIP and the RIP is not responsible for adding marks. The third method is to splice stored mark bitmaps onto page bitmaps to generate the final bitmaps.
All the methods above have limitations. In the first one, an operator should be good at making plates and familiar with back-end output devices and post-press processes. On the other side, operators don't know, from time to time, what kind of back-end output devices and post-press processes will be used when plates they made are completed. This is so-called "separating editing from printing" work model, namely, making plates and editing are separated. This model does not allow operators adding marks during making plates. Instead, marks have to be added by those operators who operate back-end output devices.
Pre-processing of the second method is hard to adapt to the PS files generated by various existing typesetting software, especially to those multi-page PS files whose page description of each page is not independent. Adding marks by said pre-processing needs to add the PS stream describing the marks at the end of the page description PS stream of every page. However, the two PS streams are not compatible, resulting in that the pre-processed job file cannot be correctly interpreted in the RIP. Moreover, page-end symbols of PS files generated by different typesetting software are not uniform. Therefore, it is hard for the pre-processing program to find page-end symbols in the PS stream of the job file. It needs to specially process the PS files generated by various software or various versions of the same software. Therefore, this method cannot solve the problem of adding marks to any PS file. One more disadvantage of this method is that a job file should be pre-scanned, resulting in low efficiency.
The mentioned third method overcomes the problem of compatibility existing in the second method but the efficiency of the third becomes lower than the second one because the third one is to splice the mark bitmaps onto the page bitmaps to generate the final bitmaps. The size of the bitmaps to be processed becomes very large, especially in a raster device with high resolution.

Method for adding marks in the page rasterizing process

Peking University Founder Group Co., Ltd.