A recording head of an ink-jet-recording apparatus has a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of pressure chambers connected to the plurality of nozzles respectively, and an ink saving chamber connected to the plurality of the pressure chambers for supplying ink into the pressure chambers and for temporarily saving the ink. An ink way is connected to the ink saving chamber for supplying the ink into the ink saving chamber. A driver causes respective pressures in the pressure chambers to change in such a manner that the ink is jetted from the nozzles so as to carry out flushing operations of the nozzles. A flushing controller causes the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that a flushing operation for a first pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way is delayed in starting for a predetermined time with respect to a flushing operation for a second pressure chamber arranged relatively closer to the ink way. In addition, the volume of ink jetted from the first pressure chamber during the flushing operation is greater than the volume of ink jetted from the second pressure chamber.

This invention relates to an ink-jet recording apparatus having an ink-jet recording head capable of jetting ink from nozzles to form dots on a recording medium according to printing data. In particular, this invention is related to an ink-jet apparatus which can recover the ability of a nozzle to jet ink by discharging ink with no relation to a printing operation from the nozzles.
FIG. 10 is a partly sectional view of a general recording head. The recording head has a base plate 46, piezoelectric vibrating members 42 vibratably contained and mounted in a containing space 53 formed in the base plate 46, and a passage unit 47 fixed to an under surface of the base plate 46.
The passage unit 47 has: a nozzle plate 50 having openings such as nozzles 40, a thin vibrating plate 43 which can deform elastically, and a passage forming plate 49 sealingly fixed between the nozzle plate 50 and the vibrating plate 43. In the passage forming plate 49, pressure chambers 41 respectively communicating with the nozzles 40, an ink saving chamber 48 for temporarily saving ink supplied into the pressure chambers 41, and ink supplying passages 51 respectively connecting the pressure chambers 41 and the ink saving chamber 48 are formed. On the other hand, the base plate 46 has an ink way 55 connecting to the ink saving chamber 48 through an ink supplying hole 52. Thus, new ink is supplied into the ink saving chamber 48 through the ink supplying hole 52.
The arrangement of the ink supplying hole 52, the ink saving chamber 48 and the pressure chambers 41 is explained with reference to FIG. 11. As shown in FIG. 11, the ink saving chamber 48 has a flat trapezoidal shape. The ink supplying hole 52 is connected to a substantially middle portion of the ink saving chamber 48. The pressure chambers 41 and the ink supplying passages 51 are arranged in parallel with each other in one side of the ink saving chamber 48. Each of the pressure chambers 41 and each of the ink supplying passages 51 are perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ink saving chamber 48. The pressure chambers 41 are respectively communicated to the nozzles 40.
Each of the piezoelectric vibrating members 42 is fixed to a supporting plate 54 fixed in the containing space 53 of the base plate 46 in such a manner that the piezoelectric member 42 can vibrate in the containing space 53. A lower end of the piezoelectric vibrating member 42 adheres to an island portion 43a of the vibrating plate 43 of a passage unit 47.
The recording head operates as below. At first, electric power is supplied to a piezoelectric vibrating member 42. Then, as shown in FIGS. 12a and 12b, the piezoelectric vibrating member 42 contracts with respect to a normal original state thereof, a pressure chamber 41 expands with respect to a normal original state thereof, and the pressure therein is reduced. Thus, a meniscus 46 of ink in a nozzle 40 is dented toward the pressure chamber 41, and ink in an ink saving chamber 48 is supplied into the pressure chamber 41 through an ink supplying passage 51.
When electric charges are discharged from the piezoelectric vibrating member 42 after a predetermined time, the piezoelectric vibrating member 42 returns to the original state thereof, as shown in FIG. 12c. Then, the pressure chamber 41 contracts and the pressure therein is increased. Thus, the ink in the pressure chamber 41 is pressed to jet from the nozzle 40 as ink drops, which form images or characters on the recording paper.
In the above recording head, the ink 44 in the nozzles 40 may dry up and clog the nozzles 40 while the recording head remains stopped after a printing operation. Then, the nozzles are sealed by a capping unit except while the recording head is in the printing operation. However, a solvent of the ink 44 in the nozzles 40 may gradually evaporate to increase a viscosity of the ink 44 if the nozzles are sealed for a long time. In that case, it may be difficult to start a printing operation immediately. In addition, there may be some troubles, including that the quality of printed images may deteriorate.
During the printing operation, the nozzles 40 frequently jetting inkdrops 45 are scarcely clogged with the ink 44 because new ink 44 is supplied thereinto in succession. However, even during the printing operation, the nozzles 40 rarely jetting inkdrops 45 (for example, the nozzles arranged at an upper end portion or a lower end portion) are liable to be clogged with the ink 44 because the ink 44 in such nozzles 40 is liable to dry to increase the viscosity thereof.
To solve the above problems, a xe2x80x9cflushing operationxe2x80x9d or a xe2x80x9ccleaning operationxe2x80x9d is carried out by forcibly discharging the clogging ink 44 from the nozzles 40 in no relation to the printing operation, to recover the ability of the nozzles 45 to jet inkdrops. The above flushing or cleaning operation may be carried out when power supply starts to be given to the recording apparatus or when a first printing signal is inputted to the recording apparatus, as a preparatory step before the printing operation.
In the flushing operation, a driving signal in no relation to the printing data is supplied to the piezoelectric vibrating members 42 to jet the clogging ink 44 having a relatively increased viscosity from the nozzles 40. The cleaning operation is carried out when the ability of the nozzles to jet inkdrops is not sufficiently recovered by the flushing operation. In the cleaning operation, a suction pump applies a negative pressure to the nozzles 40 to forcibly absorb the clogging ink 44 having a relatively increased viscosity from the nozzles 40.
The degree of the increasing viscosity of the ink 44 in the nozzles 40, i.e., the degree of clogging the nozzles 40, becomes worse depending on the length of the capping time for which the recording head remains sealed by the capping unit or on the length of the total printing time until, the recording head is sealed by the capping unit.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13, whether the flushing operation or the cleaning operation should be carried out is determined by the combination of the capping time and the total printing time. The flushing operation is carried out when the capping time or the total printing time is relatively short (see a flushing area in FIG. 13). The cleaning operation is carried out when the capping time or the total printing time is relatively long (see a cleaning area in FIG. 13).
In the above apparatus, when ink in the pressure chambers 41 is consumed for a flushing, cleaning or printing operation, new ink is supplied from the ink supplying hole 52 into the pressure chambers 41 through the ink saving chamber 48. Then, the new ink supplied from the ink supplying hole 52 flows easily into the pressure chambers 41 disposed near to the ink supplying hole 52. However, on the contrary, it is difficult for the new ink supplied from the ink supplying hole 52 to flow into the pressure chambers 41 disposed far from the ink supplying hole 52. Thus, there may be a difference in viscosity of the ink in the different portions of the ink saving chamber 48. That is, the viscosity of the ink at a portion near to the ink supplying hole 52 may be different from the viscosity of the ink at a portion far from the ink supplying hole 52.
For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the viscosity of the ink in the ink saving chamber 48 may be highest to lowest in the order of D area, C area, B area and A area. In that case, volumes of ink jetted from the nozzles 40 far from the ink supplying hole 52 in the flushing operations may be small when the same driving signal is used for all of the pressure chambers 41. Thus, ink having an increased viscosity might remain in the pressure chambers 41 far from the ink supplying hole 52. That is, the ability of the nozzles 40 far away from the ink supplying hole 52 to jet ink might not be recovered sufficiently. In that case, there may be such a difference in the ability to jet ink due to the positions of the nozzles 40 so that the quality of printing may deteriorate.
In addition, when a flushing operation is carried out for a pressure chamber 41 in which ink having an increased viscosity remains, as shown in FIG. 14, a meniscus 46 of the ink may become unstable and dented deeply and obliquely to take an air bubble in the nozzle 40. Thus, a cleaning m operation has to be carried out to remove the ink having the increased viscosity from the pressure chambers 41 far from the ink supplying hole 52, even when the ability to jet ink of the nozzles 40 near to the ink supplying hole 52 can be recovered by flushing operations. That is, a range of conditions wherein the ability of the nozzles 40 to jet ink can be recovered by only the flushing operations (which range is called a flushing area) is small.
In this case, a relatively larger volume of ink may be necessary to recover the ability of the nozzles 40 to jet ink. That is, the volume of ink capable of being used for the printing operation may be small, and the volume of the waste ink may be large.
The object of this invention is to solve the above problems, that is, to provide an ink-jet recording apparatus that can carry out efficient flushing operations by changing the conditions for the flushing operations depending on distances of the pressure chambers from the ink supplying hole.
In order to achieve the object, an ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head having: a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of pressure chambers connected to the plurality of nozzles respectively, an ink saving chamber connected to the plurality of the pressure chambers for supplying ink into the pressure chambers and for temporarily saving the ink, and an ink way connected to the ink saving chamber for supplying the ink into the ink saving chamber. The ink-jet recording apparatus also includes a driver for causing respective pressures in the pressure chambers to change in such a manner that the ink is jetted from the nozzles to carry out flushing operations of the nozzles, and a flushing controller for causing the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that a flushing operation for a pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way is delayed starting for a predetermined time with respect to a flushing operation for another pressure chamber arranged relatively closer to the ink way.
According to the above feature, the flushing operation for the pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way (ink supplying hole) is delayed starting for a predetermined time. Thus, new ink is easily and sufficiently supplied into the pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way during the flushing operation. This reduces the difference in viscosity of the ink due to portions in the ink saving chamber. Therefore, in the flushing operations, sufficient volumes of ink may be respectively jetted from the nozzles communicated to the pressure chambers, even if the pressure chambers are arranged far from the ink way. That is, the ability of the nozzles to jet ink can be recovered sufficiently to prevent the quality of printing from deteriorating.
In addition, a meniscus of the ink may remain stable to prevent an air bubble from being taken into the nozzles since the new ink is always supplied by the flushing operations. Furthermore, the flushing area wherein the ability of the nozzles to jet ink can be recovered by only the flushing operations may be enlarged. In addition, the volume of ink necessary to recover the ability of the nozzles to jet ink may be reduced, the volume of ink capable of being used for the printing operation may be increased, and the total volume of the waste ink may be reduced.
Preferably, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that flushing operations for at least three pressure chambers have delayed starts for respective predetermined times. The predetermined times may depend on respective distances of the pressure chambers from the ink way.
Furthermore, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that the flushing operations for all the pressure chambers have delayed starts for respective predetermined times. The predetermined times may also depend on respective distances of the pressure chambers from the ink way.
In addition, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that the flushing operations for each two of the pressure chambers are not carried out simultaneously. Alternatively, the flushing operation controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that the flushing operations for each two of the adjacent pressure chambers are carried out partly simultaneously.
The pressure chambers may be classified into at least two classes (or groups) according to respective distances of the pressure chambers from the ink way in such a manner that if the distance of a pressure chamber of a first class from the ink way is less than the distance of a pressure chamber of a second class from the ink way, a distance of any pressure chamber of the first class is less than a distance of any pressure chamber of the second class from the ink way. In this case, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that flushing operations for all pressure chambers of each class have delayed starts for the same predetermined time. The predetermined time for each class may depend on respective distances of the pressure chambers of each class from the ink way.
In that case, since the flushing operations for all pressure chambers of each class have delayed starts for the same predetermined time, the flushing operations may be easily controlled and completed in a shorter period.
The driver may have a plurality of piezoelectric members or a plurality of heating members mounted on the respective pressure chambers to change the pressures in the respective pressure chambers.
Another ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head having: a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of pressure chambers connected to the plurality of nozzles respectively, an ink saving chamber connected to the plurality of the pressure chambers for supplying ink into the pressure chambers and for temporarily saving the ink, and an ink way connected to the ink saving chamber for supplying the ink into the ink saving chamber. The ink-jet recording apparatus also includes a driver for causing respective pressures in the pressure chambers to change in such a manner that the ink is jetted from the nozzles to carry out flushing operations of the nozzles, and a flushing controller for causing the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that a volume of the ink jetted in a flushing operation for a pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way is greater than a volume of the ink jetted in a flushing operation for another pressure chamber arranged relatively closer to the ink way.
According to the above feature, the volume of the ink jetted in the flushing operation for the pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way (ink supplying hole) is greater. Thus, new ink is easily (smoothly) and sufficiently supplied into the pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way in the flushing operation. This reduces the difference in viscosity of the ink in different portions of the ink saving chamber. Therefore, in the flushing operations, sufficient volumes of ink may be respectively jetted from the nozzles communicating with the pressure chambers, even if the pressure chambers are arranged far from the ink way. That is, the ability of the nozzles to jet ink can be recovered sufficiently to prevent the quality of printing from deteriorating.
In addition, the flushing area may be enlarged, the volume of ink necessary to recover the ability of the nozzles to jet ink may be reduced, the volume of ink capable of being used for the printing operation may be increased, and the total volume of the waste ink may be reduced.
Preferably, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that respective volumes of ink jetted in flushing operations for at least three pressure chambers are great in order of respective distances of the pressure chambers from the ink way.
Furthermore, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out this flushing operations so that respective volumes of ink jetted in flushing operations for all pressure chambers are great in order of respective distances of the pressure chambers from the ink way. In this case, the new ink may be easily supplied into the whole ink saving chamber.
The pressure chambers maybe classified into at least two classes according to respective distances of the pressure chambers from the ink way in such a manner that if a distance of a pressure chamber of a first class from the ink way is less than a distance of a pressure chamber of a second class from the ink way, a distance of any pressure chamber of the first class from the ink way is less than a distance of any pressure chamber of the second class. In this case, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that volumes of ink jetted in the flushing operations for all the pressure chambers of each class are the same levels. The level for each class may depend on respective distances of the pressure chambers of each class from the ink way.
In this case, since the volume of ink jetted in the flushing operations for all the pressure chambers of each class are the same levels, the flushing operations may be easily controlled and completed in a shorter period.
Furthermore, the flushing controller may cause the driver to carry out the flushing operations so that the flushing operations for all the pressure chambers start simultaneously and so that a operation for a pressure chamber arranged relatively further from the ink way has delayed stops for a predetermined time with respect to a flushing operation for another pressure chamber arranged relatively closer to the ink way.
In that case, since the flushing operations for all the pressure chambers start simultaneously, the flushing operations may be completed by a shorter period.
Preferably, the flushing controller may control a driving frequency of the driver. For example, the flushing operation controller may control the driving frequency of the driver in such a manner that the driving frequency is great when the volume of the ink jetted in the flushing operation is large, and that the driving frequency is low when the volume of the ink jetted in the flushing operation is little.
Alternatively, the flushing controller may control respective changing ranges of the pressures in the respective pressure chambers via the driver.
The driver may have a plurality of piezoelectric members or a plurality of heating members mounted on the respective pressure chambers to change the pressures in the respective pressure chambers.
In addition, the flushing controller may control the driving frequency of the driver in such a manner that the driving frequency is high at the beginning of the flushing operation. According to this feature, the ink in the nozzle may be loosened by the flushing operation of the high frequency. Thus, the flushing operation may be carried out more effectively.


A phantom for heavy ion radiation therapy provides characterization of an ion beam that may enter but not exit from the phantom. The phantom may include multiple materials and multiple spatially dispersed ion detectors to obtain signals that may be fit to known beam curves to accurately characterize the location and other parameters of Bragg peak of a given ion beam within a patient.

The present invention relates to radiotherapy systems using ions for the treatment of cancer and the like and, in particular, to a phantom for such systems.
External beam radiation therapy may treat a tumor within the patient by directing high-energy radiation in one or more beams toward the tumor. Recent advance external beam radiation systems, for example, as manufactured by Tomotherapy, Inc., treat the tumor with multiple x-ray fan beams directed at the patient over an angular range of 360°. Each of the beams is comprised of individually modulated rays whose intensities can be controlled so that the combined affect of the rays over the range of angles provides an arbitrarily complex treatment area with minimized skin dose.
The benefit of the improved accuracy possible with such systems is ensured by careful characterization and monitoring of the x-ray beam geometry and intensity, for example, through portal imaging devices and entrance dose monitors.
X-rays expose tissue not only within the tumor but also along the path of each ray into and out of the patient. While judicious selection of the angles and intensities of the rays of x-ray radiation can limit radiation dose outside of the tumor, a desire to more closely conform the radiation dose to the tumor has raised interest in substituting ions such as protons for x-ray radiation. Unlike x-rays, the dose deposited by a proton beam is not uniform in homogenous tissue, but rises substantially, at the "Bragg peak" just before the proton stops within the tissue. Further, because the proton can be controlled to stop within the tissue, exit does from the proton beam can be substantially eliminated. These two features allow improved placement of dose within the tumor.
Unfortunately, unlike x-rays, ions are not easily characterized by entrance dose monitors and portal imaging device. In part, this is because such devices are sensitive largely to flux (photons per unit time) as opposed to radiation energy, and it is this latter characteristic which determines the important quality of proton range. Portal imaging systems, which rely on radiation exiting the patient, are of limited value in a proton imaging system in which the protons stop within the patient.


A method, a device and a storage medium for evaluating speech quality include: receiving speech data to be evaluated; extracting evaluation features of the speech data to be evaluated; performing quality evaluation to the speech data to be evaluated according to the evaluation features of the speech data to be evaluated and a predetermined speech quality evaluation model, in which the speech quality evaluation model is an indication of a relationship between evaluation features of single-ended speech data and quality information of the single-ended speech data.

With the continuous development of technologies, the role of communication becomes more important in people's life, such as speech data transmission by communication network. Speech quality is an important factor for evaluating quality of the communication network. In order to evaluate the speech quality, it is necessary to develop an effective speech quality evaluation algorithm.
The speech quality evaluation in the communication network can be performed using, for example, Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) algorithm and Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Analysis (POLQA) algorithm. In order to implement these algorithms, input speech data and output speech data are often needed to be obtained. The input speech data is generally clean speech data and the output speech data is generally degraded speech data after passing the communication network. The output speech data may be evaluated by analyzing the input speech data and the output speech data. The input speech data is generally collected by road detection vehicles of operators. However, the input speech data cannot be obtained on the floors of residential area, malls or other indoor conditions because the road detection vehicles cannot collect in these conditions. Thus, speech quality evaluation cannot be performed according to the input speech data, and the mentioned algorithms based on the input speech data and output speech data to evaluate the speech quality of the output speech data have limitations in application.

Method, device, and storage medium for evaluating speech quality


This is a system having a personal identification function to perform a registering operation not as an explicit one. The system simplifies the confirmation of an identification result thereby to improve dictionary updating conveniences. A device control apparatus is configured to include a face identification processor, a device setting unit and an interactive processor. The device control apparatus is configured to acquire personal data on the face image of a user, to identify a person matching the acquired personal data, by comparing the acquired personal data and registered personal dictionary data, to display the face image, as matching the identified person, at the registration time on the basis of the registered personal dictionary data, to receive such confirmation information from the user as to confirm whether or not the displayed person is identical to the user, and to set device environment parameters matching the confirmed person.

In recent years, there has been raised an interest in the security such as the personal identification technique using biometrics. A personal identification method utilizing the biological information of a human being employs a face, a voiceprint, a fingerprint, an iris and so on. Among them, the technique employing the face is featured in that it can identify the person without any mental or physical burden and can be easily used. Moreover, the face image is the feature for the decision that is means for the human being to identify and discriminate in the various biometrics.
The face identifying technique finds its application not only for securities but also for improving the conveniences in the interface so that the personal identification technique is utilized for the system to match the user. However, most conventional proposals thus far made are conscious of the securities so that the "registering operations" and the "updating operations" explicitly occur. In order to configure more convenient interfaces, it is necessary to omit the explicit "registering operations" and "updating operations".
In Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. 2002-288670, there is a disclosure the setting of the state of a device, which is adjusted to a person in front of an electronic device. A device to set a seat by identifying the face of the driver of a vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. 2004-54580. These inventions have a function to register, in case the user cannot be specified, the user newly in a database. In Japanese Patent No. 3590285, on the other hand, there is disclosed a method in which when an unregistered passenger passes by, the passenger is newly registered in the database so as to identify the passenger.
However, several problems arise in case those automatic registrations are made.
(1) When the identification is mistaken, another person may be set, but this recovery method is not disclosed.
(2) In case the face identification is mistaken although the face has been registered, the person may be identified as a new person. However, this method has failed to tell the mistake to the system.
(3) In order to improve the precision for the face identification, the automatically updating method is needed. In case, however, the system identifies the person erroneously, a problem is that data of another person is mixed into that of a registered person.
(4) In the case of the automatic registration, one person may be doubly registered. This makes it necessary to integrate and discard the person's dictionary for maintenances. As a process for coping with the possibility that the identification is mistaken, Japanese Patent No. 3590285 discloses means for asking the person to confirm himself/herself. However, since this means is aimed at security application, it is an invention configured to deny the person based on the identification result, and therefore it does not suit for interface application.
In the system having the personal identification function which does not perform the registrations as the explicit operations, the invention has an object to simplify the confirmation of the identification result and to improve the conveniences for dictionary updating operations.

Face recognition for automatic adjustment of personalized device parameters


A method is disclosed for preparing a stable preliposomal powder which, when reconstituted with water or saline solution, forms a suspension of liposomes containing a polyene drug, such as nystatin. The method involves the steps of combining at least one phospholipid with a first organic solvent to form a first solution, adding a clarifying amount of water to the first solution, combining a polyene with a second organic solvent to form a second solution, combining the first and second solutions to produce a substantially clear combined solution, and then removing the organic solvents, leaving a powder.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a freeze-dried powder, which can be used to quickly and conveniently generate a liposomal formulation of a polyene such as nystatin.
Nystatin is a tetraene-diene polyene antibiotic, first isolated from Streptomyces noursei, which is used in the treatment of various fungal infections. Unfortunately, nystatin, as well as other polyenes, is not generally useful for parenteral administration, because of its high toxicity and insolubility in water. A formulation of a polyene, such as nystatin, which could be administered parenterally would substantially enhance the drug's therapeutic usefulness.
Some of the inventors of this patent previously discovered that these problems could be overcome by formulating nystatin in phospholipid vesicles, or liposomes. Such a liposomal formulation is considerably less toxic to the animal to which it is administered, but is still effective against fungal infection, and therefore is suitable for systemic use. U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,312 discloses that invention, and is incorporated here by reference.
One drawback to some liposomal drug formulations is their less-than-desirable shelf life. Another drawback is the relative complexity of the process needed to prepare them. In view of these drawbacks, it would be highly desirable to produce a stable, dry formulation which could be rehydrated when needed for treatment of a patient. Lyophilized, or freeze-dried, powders are a possible answer to this need. However, in order to be practical, a lyophilized powder must not only be stable and capable of reconstituting as liposomes, it must capable of being prepared by a process that is simple and inexpensive enough so that it will be practical and cost-effective for commercial use.
The present invention solves these and other problems found in the prior art.

Liposomal-polyene preliposomal powder and method for its preparation

The University of Texas System & Board of Regents


A v-ribbed belt manufactured in a molding or grinding process has in different areas of the structure thereof different elastomer materials. In upper rib segments oriented toward the belt pulley there is an elastomer material that is not electrically conductive. The lower rib segments are made of an electrically conductive elastomer material. The height ratio a/(a+b) of the height (a) of the lower rib segments to the overall height (a+b) of the rib, as measured at the material boundary located at the rib flank, is at least 6 percent, or the absolute height of the lower rib segments is at least 0.12 mm.

V-ribbed belts are used in various technical areas, in particular as endless transmission belts. They are distinguished by the fact that, on its side facing the belt pulley, the belt has a plurality of ribs running longitudinally, which interact with a multi-grooved belt pulley. The number of ribs is greater than or equal to 2 and is generally between 3 and 10 V ribs. The force between belt pulley and belt is introduced via the rib flanks.
There are industrially standardized rib profiles. Here, the profiles PH, PJ, PK, PL, PM have overall belt heights between 2 and 15.0 mm with rib spacings between 1.6 and 9.4 mm. The rib heights are approximately between 1 and 9 mm.
In general, the ribbed belts have the structure usual for transmission belts, comprising the following zones:    1. the back of the belt or the expansion zone facing away from the belt pulley;    2. a load-bearing zone having tension carriers running, for example wound, in the circumferential direction, made of cables, cords or strips;    3. a substructure or a compression zone directed toward the belt pulley, on which the ribs for the engagement in the grooves of the belt pulley are formed.
Here, the entire belt body and in particular the substructure is composed of at least one high-performance elastomer, traditionally a rubber elastomer.
In order to improve the mechanical properties and the running performance of the belts, novel elastomer materials, which are frequently electrically non-conductive, are increasingly used nowadays. Electrostatic charging of the belt therefore occurs during running.
While a V-belt normally runs sunk in the individual groove of the associated belt pulley and thus has complete contact with the belt pulley at the sides, this is not the case in a V-ribbed belt, since the belt pulley engages in the interspaces between the ribs only frontally, so that the belt rests on the circumference of the belt pulley. The back of the belt and the tension carrier layer have no contact with the belt pulley in this case; the contact is produced exclusively via the rib flanks.
In the case of ribbed belts, it is therefore not possible to effect the dissipation of electrostatic charges via a conductive textile layer on the back of the belt. In addition, the complete sheathing of the ribbed belt with a conductive textile material is not feasible or reduces the belt quality considerably, because of the acute-angled valleys between the steep rib flanks. Complete coating or sheathing of the ribs additionally destroys the mechanical action of the high-performance elastomer lying underneath during the introduction of force.
WO 2009/16797 A1 discloses a ribbed belt, of which the ribbed elastomer contains short fibers and large-grained carbon distributed in point form. However, fibers and relatively large particles made of foreign materials have a detrimental influence on the mechanical-dynamic properties of the elastomer of the force transmission zone, so that this method cannot be the method of choice.

V-ribbed belt and method for producing same


A casting die applied with laser machining and carbon-film coating on a die surface is provided with multiple grooves formed spaced at a predetermined pitch by the laser machining; multiple ridges between the multiple grooves; and multiple carbon portions buried in the multiple grooves by the carbon-film coating, wherein the die surface with the ridge and the carbon portion alternately disposed is configured such that molten metal flows thereon; the grooves are 45 μm or less in opening width and 60 μm or more in depth; and the ridge has, on a top surface thereof applied with the laser machining, multiple micro-grooves for reducing a contact area with the molten metal. The casting die is aimed to balance expanding the groove width and increasing a thickness of the carbon film and to achieve suppression of the molten metal entering into the groove and exfoliation of the carbon film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a casting die.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in order to produce high quality castings by suppressing an occurrence of casting defects such as flow lines and cold shuts, casting dies applied with surface-machining or surface-treatment have been developed.
For example, the following Patent Literature 1 and 2 disclose a casting die whose surface is formed with grooves or dimples, in order to ensure a space (air gap) into which residual gas in a cavity can enter.
Further, the following Patent Literatures 3 and 4, in order to increase a contact angle of molten metal, disclose a casting die whose surface is coated with a carbon film including a nano-carbon.


A system for securing a protected area (such as an internal compartment of a safe) by locking an operable opening (such as a door) in a closed position. The invention comprises a wireless lock system that may include an input apparatus located on the outside of the protected area that communicates wirelessly with other components of the lock system located inside the protected area. Various wireless technologies may be employed including, for example, infrared communication.

Many modern lock systems for safes and other secure areas are electrically powered. In such systems, some or all the components require electricity to function. One benefit of electrically powered systems is that components in the system can communicate with each other by sending and receiving various types of signals. When a component receives a signal, the component can then take some type of action. Signals between components in an electrically powered lock system often take the form of a digital or analog signal sent from one component to another via a wired connection.
A problem with electrically powered lock systems is the potential for failure of one or more wires. Of particular concern is a mechanical failure of the wire running between an input device such as an electronic keypad and the main circuit board. This wire has historically had a relatively high rate of failure due to recurring movement of the input device (whether it is changing batteries in a keypad or disassembling the input device for troubleshooting). The security industry has been plagued by mechanical failure of this type of wire, and it has been one of the main reasons electrical lock system stop functioning. Mechanical failure of this nature can occur when a soldered connection at the end of a wire fails due to mechanical stress, or it can be caused when an insulative jacket on the wire is worn away due to contact with the wire's surroundings which can result in a short circuit.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for an improved electrical lock system. The present invention addresses this need.


A process is disclosed for topically applying additive compositions to planar substrates, such as tissue webs. In one embodiment, the process is designed to apply relatively high viscous compositions to base sheets at high speeds in a manner that prevents the additive composition from penetrating into the sheet. The additive composition having the relatively high viscosity can be applied to the base sheet in one embodiment using an offset gravure printing process. The applicator roll includes a pattern of raised elements. The raised elements define a surface having at least one dimension that is less than 500 microns. The raised elements are also spaced closely together in order to prevent fiber buildup on the roll during relatively fast processing speeds.

Low density webs that are used to produce absorbent tissue products (e.g. facial tissues, bath tissues and other similar products) are designed to include several important properties. For example, it is desirable that the products have good bulk, a soft feel and absorbency. It is also desired that the product have good strength and resist tearing, even while wet. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to produce a high strength tissue product that is also soft and highly absorbent. Usually, when steps are taken to increase one property of the product, other characteristics of the product are adversely affected.
For instance, softness is typically increased by decreasing or reducing cellulosic fiber bonding within the tissue product. Inhibiting or reducing fiber bonding, however, adversely affects the strength of the tissue web.
Softness may be enhanced by the topical addition of a softening agent to the tissue web. For example, recently those skilled in the art have proposed applying aqueous dispersions containing polymer particles to tissue webs for increasing softness. Such polymer dispersions are disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,785,443, U.S. Pat. No. 7,820,010, U.S. Pat. No. 7,807,023 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0073045, which are all incorporated herein by reference. In the above patents and patent application, the aqueous dispersion contains an alpha-olefin polymer, an ethylene-carboxylic acid copolymer, or mixtures thereof. In addition to increasing softness, the polymer dispersion has been found to reduce lint, sheet to sheet adhesion, and even improve strength. In fact, the above patents and patent application represent great advances in the art.
Problems have been experienced, however, in applying the above polymer dispersions to tissue webs. More particularly, problems have been experienced in applying the polymer dispersions to tissue webs without having to crepe the webs. When applying the polymer dispersion without the assistance of a creping surface, the dispersion can either be applied to the web before drying while the web is still wet or after drying in a post-treatment stage. Unfortunately, if the dispersion is applied to a low density web in the above situations, it tends to penetrate the web which can increase the stiffness of the product. Thus, a need exists for a process for applying compositions, such as polymer dispersions, to base sheets such that the composition remains on the surface of the sheet in controlled amounts. A need also exists for a process capable of applying a composition to a surface of a base sheet at normal processing speeds.

Process for applying high viscosity composition to a sheet with high bulk


A differential assembly for a powertrain of a vehicle includes a differential housing, a differential shaft, and a retainer ring. The differential shaft retains a pair of opposing bevel gears within the differential housing in mesh with a pair of opposing side gears each connected to a half shaft. The retainer ring is disposed on the outside of the differential housing covering the bores in which is fit the differential shaft.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
Automotive powertrains generally employ a transmission and a differential mechanism. The differential mechanism is included to permit distribution of power from the transmission to the drive wheels of a vehicle or to the fore and aft drive differentials of a vehicle. The differential mechanism has an input gear member which rotates a housing or casing, a plurality of side gears, one of which is connected to drive a right axle and another of which is connected to drive a left axle.
The differential components for the most part rotate in unison with the rotation of the input gear. However, during some maneuvers, one axle may rotate more rapidly than the other. For example, if the vehicle is cornering, the outside wheel and axle and therefore the side gear of the differential rotate at a higher speed than the radially inner side gear of the differential. Also, when one axle is on a very slippery surface, such as snow or ice, that tire or wheel may rotate faster than the opposite tire or wheel that is on dry or good traction pavement. While the rotational difference during vehicle cornering is acceptable the rotation of one axle relative to the other resulting from slippage is not a desirable feature.
In prior differential designs there have been many mechanisms employed to assemble and improve the functionality of a differential. However, many of these attempts still require high assembly cost while adding little if any functionality. Accordingly, there is a constant need to improve the assembly, costs, and functionality of an automobile differential.


In a gain-controlled erbium-doped optical amplifier, gain control is achieved by clamping the gain of a laser cavity to be equal to the overall cavity loss and by fixing the resonant wavelength of the amplifier to be at a first wavelength. When an optical signal to be amplified having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength passes through the amplifier the gain experienced by the signal depends entirely on the gain of the cavity, and not on the intensity of the signal. If the first wavelength is arranged to be at the peak of the sum of the absorption and emission cross sections of erbium, the amplifier exhibits minimum sensitivity to ambient changes in temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical amplifiers and, in particular, but not exclusively, to a rare earth doped fibre amplifier with improved operating characteristics.
2. Related Art
Rare earth doped optical fibre amplifiers are ideal as repeaters, pre-amplifiers or the like in optical communication systems. The desirable features of such amplifiers include low noise operation, polarisation insensitivity and low insertion loss. One particular advantage derived from using rare earth dopants is that they typically exhibit sharp spectral features. In contrast, transition metal ion-doped media exhibit very broad absorption and fluorescence features. Of the rare earth dopants, erbium, when used as a dopant in silica fibre, has lasing properties in the desirable 1550 nm window for optical communications, and similarly, praseodymium operates in the desirable 1300 nm window. For convenience only, erbium and praseodymium doped silica fibres will be referred to in the following description, although it is emphasised that the description applies equally as well to other rare earth dopant species and host configurations.
The relatively long fluorescence lifetime of the upper state of the amplifying transition in erbium, compared with for example semiconductor laser transitions, has many important implications. One implication is that electrical noise on the bias supply to a semiconductor pump laser used to pump an erbium doped fibre amplifier introduces a degree of modulation on the gain of the amplifier at low frequencies of pump noise components below 100 KHz. Therefore, electrical bias supplies for pump lasers need to be noise free at these low frequencies at least. Another implication is that the propagation of a signal through an erbium doped fibre amplifier can cause modification of the population inversion and therefore a modification of the amplifier gain for its own and other wavelengths. This effect is particularly marked for pulses that are sufficiently intense to saturate the gain. Severe pulse shaping can occur as a result of this process.
In multi-wavelength multiplexed transmission, for example wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems, modulation of the amplifier gain by one of the multiplexed signals can result in low frequency crosstalk effects on the other signals. These effects are particularly significant, where the transient effects associated with turning channels off and on can seriously disrupt other wavelengths. This effect can be eliminated if the amplifier's gain, and hence gain spectrum, is controlled independently of input signal level.
Known systems for implementing independent amplifier gain control use automatic gain control (AGC) in the form of opto-electronic or all optical feedback loops, where the all-optical option is more desirable in terms of reduced complexity and cost. Also, opto-electronic feedback loops suffer with limited speed of response and potential degradation of the amplifier noise response.
One method of making an amplifier gain independent of input signal using an all-optical feedback loop has been proposed in European Patent Application 92300519.3. The method describes a semiconductor pumped erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) which has coupled to it an optical feedback loop which couples the output of the amplifier to the input of the amplifier. A narrow bandwidth filter coupled to the feedback loop allows selected control wavelengths of the amplified spontaneous emission to pass from the output of the fibre amplifier to the input of the fibre amplifier. The feedback signal has a control wavelength which is different from that of the pump and the wavelengths of the signals to be amplified. The feedback control signal in effect locks the amplifier in a ring laser configuration. Thus, lasing conditions are controlled by the wavelength of the feedback control signal and the attenuation in the feedback loop, and not the input power of the pump or signal wavelengths. The ring laser configuration necessitates the use of a wavelength selective coupler (WSC) and three 3 dB couplers or alternatively three WSCs, which, in terms of manufacture, is a complex arrangement.
An alternative arrangement is proposed in "Gain control in erbium-doped fibre amplifiers by lasing at 1480 nm with photoinduced Bragg gratings written on fibre ends", Delevaque et al., Electronic Letters, June 10th, Vol 29, no. 12. The arrangement involves writing Bragg reflectors at a control wavelength at both fibre ends of an EDFA, there being no intrinsic loss mechanism for the signal except for the reflectors and for coupling losses due to fusion splicing.

British Telecommunications public limited company


Methods and devices are provided for encoding/decoding structured documents, particularly XML documents, wherein a bit stream or part of a bit stream is produced from a schema as a function of a metaschema with the aid of an encoding method. Under an exemplary embodiment, at least one of the following optimization processes is carried out: separation of anonymous types from element declarations and attribute declarations and encoding as own type, the type definition thereof being instantiated in the schema definition as a top level element; normalization of the syntax trees on the encoder side; replacement of the character strings of type names; and transmission of information for the inheritance tree. The decoding takes such optimization processes into account and conversely produces a schema from the bit stream.

The present invention relates to methods or devices for encoding structured documents, particularly XML documents, in which a bit stream is generated from a structured document as a function of a schema, and a method or device for decoding, in which a structured document is generated from a bit stream as a function of a schema.
In the context of the work on the MPEG-7 standard, a method for binary encoding of XML data was developed which is referred to as the BiM method in the following and which is known, for example, from the publication ISO/IEC FDIS 15938-1:2001(E), "Information Technology—Multimedia Content Description Interface—Part 1: Systems." This method uses XML schema definitions which are available at the encoder and the decoder, such as the MPEG-7 schema, in order to generate the codes for the individual data elements of the XML description. A precondition for this method is that the same schema definitions are available at least in part to the encoder and the decoder. This can be ensured, for example, if a standardized XML schema is permanently installed in the decoder. Moreover, the possibility exists of transferring the schema to the decoder separately or in addition to the actual document. The transmission of the schema from the encoder to the decoder can be carried out in textual form, where standard text compression, such as ZIP, can be applied.
The present invention is directed toward specifying methods or devices in such a way that the transmission of the schema is carried out particularly efficiently and the dataset transmitted and the computing performance at the decoder, which is needed for generating the code tables from the schema, is reduced. Moreover, the consistency of a schema which has not been transmitted in full should be ensured.

Method and devices for encoding/decoding structured documents, particularly XML documents


An apparatus driven by an output voltage of a battery when the power is ON includes a voltage detection circuit for detecting the output voltage of the battery, a judging circuit for judging whether or not a remaining capacity of the battery is greater than a predetermined value based on an output detection signal of the voltage detection circuit, and a control circuit for carrying out a resume process only if the judging circuit judges that the remaining capacity of the battery is greater than the predetermined value when the power is turned ON. The resume process returns a state of the battery powered unit to a state at a time when the power was previously turned OFF.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to battery powered units, and more particularly to a battery powered unit such as an electronic device which is powered by a battery and a resume process is positively carried out to resume the state at the time when the power source was turned OFF.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there are various kinds of battery powered units such as hand-held computers, lap-top computers and palm-top computers, and these battery powered units are popularly used. In the battery powered unit, the power is turned ON/OFF frequently to minimize the discharge of the battery and to enable the normal operation of the battery powered unit to be carried out for a long time. For this reason, it is desirable that the state at the time when the power was previously turned OFF is restored when the power is turn ON, so that the operator may continue the operation from where he previously interrupted.
A battery powered unit having a resume function is conventionally known. The resume function saves predetermined information when the power is turned OFF by carrying out a suspend operation, and restores the predetermined information saved by the suspend process when the power is turned ON by carrying out a resume process. Hence, the resume function enables the battery powered unit to be used from the state at the time when the power was previously turned OFF.
However, the conventional battery powered unit carries out the above resume process independently of the remaining capacity of the battery. For this reason, the resume process may be carried out even when the battery has virtually no remaining capacity. In this case, the voltage supplied from the battery may decrease to a voltage which cannot drive the battery powered unit while the resume process is carried out. As a result, there are problems in that the resume process cannot be carried out in a normal manner when the power is next turned ON because the memory contents within the battery powered unit may be destroyed and the resume process may only be carried out half way due to the insufficient voltage supplied from the battery.

Battery powered unit with battery sensor and resume processing control means


An equipment controller is disclosed that includes a CPU instructed to switch to a low power mode when being in a non-execution state. The equipment controller determines whether there is any execution task when the state of equipment switches to an energy-saving mode in which consumption power is reduced, and sets the interrupt cycle of a system timer of a real time OS that generates an interrupt for causing the CPU to awaken to be long if there is no execution task so that the CPU is caused to switch to the low power mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to equipment controllers, image forming apparatuses, and programs and, in particular, to an equipment controller having a CPU capable of switching to a low power mode when the equipment switches to an energy-saving mode, an image forming apparatus, and a program that controls the CPU.
2. Description of the Related Art
As image forming apparatuses such as printers, facsimile machines, copiers, plotters, and multi-task machines having plural such functions, ink jet recording apparatuses using a recording head that ejects, for example, ink liquid droplets are known. The image forming apparatus of this type ejects ink droplets onto a sheet during conveyance from the recording head to perform image formation (used synonymously with recording, printing, and imaging). Examples of the image forming apparatus include a serial-type image forming apparatus in which the recording head ejects liquid droplets to form an image while moving in a main scanning direction and a line-type image forming apparatus using a line-type head in which the recording head ejects liquid droplets to form an image without moving.
Note that in the present invention, the "image forming apparatus" refers to an apparatus that shoots ink droplets onto a medium such as paper, a thread, a fiber, a fabric, leather, metal, a plastic, glass, wood, and a ceramic so as to perform the image formation. Furthermore, the "image formation" refers to forming on the medium not only relevant images such as characters and graphics, but also irrelevant images such as random patterns (i.e., liquid droplets are just ejected and shot out). Furthermore, the "ink" is not limited to one as generally called ink, but it is used as a generic name of various liquid available for the image formation such as recording liquid, fixing treatment liquid, and liquid. Furthermore, the material of the "sheet" is not limited to paper. That is, the sheet refers to ones including an OHP sheet, a fabric, etc., onto which ink droplets are ejected, and it is used as a generic name of one including a medium to be recorded, a recording medium, a recording sheet, a recording paper, etc.
According to an information processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, when display and music devices are controlled by plural tasks, the use or unused status of the devices is reported by the tasks. In consideration of the reported information and the execution statuses of the devices, optimum low power settings of the devices are calculated to attain energy saving. Furthermore, an information processing apparatus described in Patent Document 2 has a configuration for attaining the same object as the above.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2005-182223    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2006-235907
According to the configuration of Patent Document 3, even if a printing apparatus such as a facsimile machine switches to an energy-saving mode, it is automatically restored from the energy-saving mode upon receiving data from the outside.    Patent Document 3: JP-A-2006-352914
In an embedded device (system) based on a real time OS, system time is managed. It is known that the embedded device is installed using a cyclic interrupt with a cycle timer. For example, when an image forming apparatus switches to the energy-saving mode to reduce consumption power, it stops supplying power to respective parts. For the processing of a CPU as well, there is no task (program) to be executed in the energy-saving mode. Therefore, the real time OS issues a WAIT instruction to switch to a mode (low power mode) that consumes less power.
However, in the switch to the low power mode by the CPU according to the WAIT instruction from the real time OS, a system timer is set at a predetermined cycle (for example, 1 msec). Therefore, even if there is no task (program) to be executed, a timer interrupt always occurs at a short cycle of 1 msec to cause the CPU to awaken. As a result, the low power mode cannot be appropriately executed at low power. In this case, if the cycle of the system timer is set to be long for attaining low power effects, the respective tasks (programs) cannot maintain hard real time property in general operations.

Equipment controller, image forming apparatus, and method for controlling equipment


To relate to a head liquid which is supplied to efficiently remove ink residues and the like which are attached to the surface of an inkjet head provided with ejection openings through which an ink containing a color material is ejected. In a case where a nonvolatile solvent such as glycerin is used as the head liquid, the nonvolatile solvent absorbs moisture, and thereby an extremely large change in mass is exhibited. As a result, the above supply amount is varied. To solve the problem, it was found that the previous mixing of water with the nonvolatile solvent can provide a smaller change in mass than that in a case where the nonvolatile solvent by itself is caused to absorb moisture. Accordingly, a mixture prepared by mixing the nonvolatile solvent and water in an appropriate predetermined ratio is used as a head liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head liquid used to efficiently remove an ink residue and the like which adhere on a surface (hereinafter also referred to as ejection face) on which ink ejection openings of an inkjet head (hereinafter also referred to as a recording head) is formed. Moreover, the present invention relates to a method of determining the contents of components and a method of stabilizing a component ratio of the liquid as well as an inkjet recording apparatus using the liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cleaning technique for a recording head which ejects an ink is a very important factor of an inkjet recording method because the method is the system in which input image data is converted to the output image using a liquid ink as a medium. Main problems in requiring the cleaning are briefly described as follows.
An ink ejection recording head directly ejects an ink through a fine nozzle (hereinafter, as such collectively referred to as an ejection opening, a liquid passage communicated therewith, and an element for generating energy utilized to eject ink unless otherwise stated) to a recording medium. Accordingly, the ejected ink hits against the recording medium and bounces back, and, in addition to the main ink involved in the recording when the ink is ejected, fine ink droplets (satellites) are ejected and drift in the atmosphere in some cases. Then, these droplets become ink mists, and, in some cases, adhere around the ink ejection opening of the recording head. Furthermore, dust drifting in the air may sometimes adhere thereto. Subsequently, the ejected main ink droplets are pulled by these attached matters, thereby the ink ejection direction is deflected, i.e., the main ink droplets are blocked from going straight in some cases.
Then, as a cleaning technique for solving this problem, an instrument called a wiping is employed to remove attached matters in the inkjet recording apparatus. The instrument wipes, at a predetermined timing, the ejection face of the recording head by means of a wiping member (wiper) made of an elastic material such as rubber.
Meanwhile, for the purpose of improving the recording density, water-resistance, light-resistance and the like of a recorded matter, an ink containing pigment components as a color material (pigment-based ink) has recently been used in many cases. The pigment-based ink is made by dispersing, in water, the color material which is originally solid by introducing a dispersant or a functional group on the surface of the pigment. Accordingly, the dried matter of the pigment ink formed by evaporating and drying the water content in the ink on the ejection face damages the ejection face seriously as compared to the dried sticky matter of a dye-based ink in which a color material itself is dissolved at a molecular level. A characteristic is also recognized that a high molecular compound used to disperse the pigment in a solvent tends to be adsorbed on the ejection face. This is a problem which occurs even in inks other than the pigment-based one in a case where a reaction liquid is added to an ink for the purpose of controlling the viscosity of the ink, improving light-resistance and for others, resulting in the presence of a high molecular compound in the ink.
To solve these problems, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, disclosed are techniques for removing an accumulated matter by applying a head liquid on the ejection face to reduce the wear of a wiper and dissolve the ink residue accumulated on the recording head in wiping the recording head. Moreover, the adhesion of a foreign matter to the recording head is prevented by forming a thin film of the head liquid on the recording head, and wiping easiness is improved by these. A construction in which the head liquid used in these wiping is stored in the body of a printer is employed.
In addition, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, disclosed are a step of cleaning by moving the wiper relative to the ejection face, and a step of supplying a nonvolatile solvent as a head liquid on the ejection face prior to the previous step. However, disclosed contents of the nonvolatile solvent are very few. Specifically, polyethylene glycol (PEG) having a molecular weight of 200 to 600 in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-138503, and polyethylene glycol having a molecular weight of 300 (PEG300) in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-203037 are the only things that have been disclosed.
The present inventors found a problem that there were a large number of variations of the supply conditions of the solvent to the head, when a nonvolatile solvent was supplied prior to the cleaning step with the method disclosed in the above Patent Documents. When researching this problem further, the present inventors found that the causes which the nonvolatile solvent itself had were dominant. As long as the nonvolatile solvent is used by itself as the head liquid, it is usually natural that those skilled in the art select the nonvolatile solvent based on evaporation properties. Therefore, the present inventors researched processing solvents which do not tend to evaporate when the solvents are used as a head liquid. In this research process, the present inventors found that it was difficult to control the correlation between properties of the nonvolatile solvent itself and the moisture absorption property thereof attributable to the environment in which the nonvolatile solvent was placed. In addition, it was found that the nonvolatile solvent exhibited extremely large changes in weight due to moisture absorption, and thereby that the variation on the above supply amounts was not able to be reduced.
Then, the present inventors saw that the main technical problem is to stabilize the supply amount of the liquid by substantially reviewing the above liquid supplied to the ejection face to inhibit changes in weight (mass) due to the moisture absorption. When this problem was pursued, knowledge was obtained that the above problem can be solved by intentionally adding water to a nonvolatile liquid in advance. This is based on a completely reversed idea.
On the other hand, there has so far been a problem that the head liquid leaks out of the storage section due to changes in posture, vibration, and the like of the printer main body during the distribution. To be more specific, how the head liquid can be retained against leaking due to the posture, vibration, and the like during the distribution exists as an important problem to be solved. Moreover, the content of technique for inhibiting the changes in the physical properties (composition) of the head liquid due to the evaporation caused by the environmental changes during distribution and what kind of actions will be taken when drastic environmental change occurs are also important problems to be solved. The change in the physical properties (composition) of the head liquid due to the evaporation does not allow the head to sufficiently exert the cleaning effect at which the head liquid aims, thus resulting in damages to the ejection face. Furthermore, when the change in physical properties of the head liquid occurs by not only environmental change during distribution but also the change in the environment in which the printer is used, a problem occurs that the cleaning of the recording head at which an object of the head liquid aims cannot sufficiently be performed.

Liquid for head and method of determining contents of components thereof and method of stabilizing component ratio


In one face of an annular permanent magnet 20, notch recesses 30 and 31 are formed in diameter directions which are different in phase by 90.degree. and used as positioning recesses 30 and fixing recesses 31. The positioning recesses 30 are positioned with respect to a mounting jig 41 by keys 61 which are similar to a magnetizing head, and fixed in the portions of the fixing recesses 31 by plastic working which is performed on an end face 62 of a case 18 by incision and bend cutters 48. Therefore, both the magnetization and the mounting can be performed by using the same reference, i.e., the positioning recesses 30 of the permanent magnet 20, and hence the accuracy of the magnetized positions can be ensured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a small DC motor, and more particularly to fixing magnetized position setting means for a permanent magnet and means for fixing the permanent magnet to a case constituting a motor case.
2. Related Art
In a small DC motor 100 such as that shown in FIG. 9, usually, an annular permanent magnet 102 which is produced by sinter forming is attached to the inside of a cup-like motor case 101, and the outer peripheral face of an armature 106 which is rotated integrally with a rotary shaft 105 supported on a bearing 104 is opposed to the inner wall face 103 of the annular permanent magnet 102 with maintaining a predetermined gap d. A commutator unit 108 having a plurality of slits in the circumferential direction is fitted onto the rotary shaft 105. A pair of brushes 109 are slidingly contacted with the commutator unit 108, so that coils 107 of the armature 106 are energized via the brushes 109 and the commutator unit 108. In the small brush DC motor, the switching accuracy of the energization of the coils, i.e., that of the polarity switching depends on relative positional relationships among the magnetized positions of the permanent magnet 102 with respect to the motor case 101, the positions of the slits of the commutator unit 108 with respect to the salient poles of the armature core 106, the positions where the brushes 109 are slidingly contacted with the commutator unit 108, and the position where the brushes 109 are fixed with respect to the motor case 101 to which the permanent magnet 102 is attached. When the positional relationships are not matched with each other or any one of the positions is deviated, torque ripple and cogging are increased, thereby impairing the characteristics of the motor. The phase number of the motor, i.e., the number of operations of switching the polarity may be increased in order to increase the torque of a motor, reduce the power consumption, and reduce the size of a motor. In such a case, particularly, the impairment of the motor characteristics due to such positional relationships becomes remarkable.
Therefore, means for enhancing the positional accuracy of the permanent magnet with respect to the motor magnet is considered.
In the small DC motor 100 of the prior art, usually, means for positioning and fixing the annular permanent magnet 102 to the inside of the cup-like motor case 101 is realized by bonding means using an adhesive agent, or integral molding means for outsert molding the annular permanent magnet and the cup-like case.
In the case of the bonding means using an adhesive agent, however, there is no reference for positioning, and the positional accuracy between the magnetized positions and the fixing position in the case becomes unstable. Furthermore, there arise disadvantages that the bonding strength is not stabilized because of the application thickness of the adhesive agent, uneven application, the ambient temperature, the curing time, and the like, and that the adhesive agent may be applied to an undesirable place.
By contrast, in the case of the integral molding means by outsert molding, the positional accuracy between the magnetized positions and the case can be sufficiently ensured by performing integral molding before magnetization. However, the cup-like case has the bottom, and hence the bottom obstructs the magnetization, so that the total magnetization is hardly performed. Furthermore, the integral molding means involves dispersion of magnetization due to misalignment, and hence the rotation torque characteristics of the motor are impaired. When integral molding is performed after magnetization, the molding temperature causes the magnetizing force to be impaired.

Kabushiki Kaisha Sankyo Seiki Seisakusho


In one embodiment, the magnetic disk drive has a magnetic head, an actuator driving the magnetic head, and a control portion controlling a controlled object, including the magnetic head and the actuator, by creating a control signal based on a given target position signal and on a position signal played back by the magnetic head such that the magnetic head reaches a target position. The control portion is so configured that the phase of the open-loop transfer characteristic at the frequency of the resonant characteristics is arctangent ((Rop+1)/Iop) when (a) the resonant characteristics are present at frequencies other than the mechanical resonant frequency of the controlled object in the open-loop transfer characteristics when the control portion and the controlled object are connected, (b) the frequency of the resonant characteristics is higher than the frequency at which the gain characteristic of the open-loop transfer characteristics becomes 0 dB, and (c) the coordinates of a vector locus of the open-loop transfer characteristic at the frequency of the resonant characteristic are given by (Rop, Iop).

The present invention relates to a magnetic disk drive and is especially adapted for a magnetic disk drive fitted with a control portion for providing control to place an object to be controlled including a magnetic head in position.
In a magnetic disk drive, a magnetic head follows a track of interest on a surface of a rotating magnetic disk to record (write) and play back (read out) data. In such a magnetic disk drive, the magnetic disk that is a recording medium is fixed to the rotating shaft of a spindle motor. The magnetic disk is driven by the spindle motor and rotates at a determined rotational frequency. Furthermore, a pivot bearing is mounted radially outside the magnetic disk held to the rotating shaft of the spindle motor and parallel to the shaft of the spindle motor. The magnetic head is fixed to the front end of a carriage which is swingably mounted to the pivot bearing. The carriage is driven by a voice coil motor (VCM) and swings about the pivot bearing. That is, the magnetic head is moved radially over the surface of the magnetic disk by swinging movement of the carriage, arrives at a target track, and follows the track to record and play back data.
The magnetic head is moved by the VCM. The magnetic head detects a position signal recorded on a servo sector on the magnetic disk and knows the present position. The position signal detected by the magnetic head is amplified by a head signal amplifier and demodulated into a servo signal by a servo signal demodulator. The servo signal becomes a digital position signal via an A/D converter and is accepted via a bus into an MPU that is a control portion.
The A/D converter, a D/A converter, the MPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an interface controller are connected with this bus. Various kinds of control programs executed by the MPU are stored in the ROM. Furthermore, parameters necessary for various kinds of control are stored.
The position signal accepted into the MPU is processed by the MPU. A VCM control signal is created by the following method. First, the interface controller receives a command of a host-side controller and issues an access request for recording and playback to the MPU. When the command making a request of recording and playback of data is issued, the MPU implements a positioning method recorded in the ROM and creates an optimum VCM control signal according to the distance from the present head position indicated by the accepted position signal to the target position. The created VCM control signal is output to the bus and becomes a power amplifier control signal through the D/A converter. The signal is input to a power amplifier. The input power amplifier control signal is converted into an electrical current by the power amplifier and applied to the VCM. According to the applied electrical current, the VCM produces a driving force for the actuator to place the magnetic head into a target position.
In magnetic disk drives that are external storages for computers, the track width is reduced year by year in order to increase the storage capacity. In order to place the magnetic head in position accurately relative to the track width, it is necessary to improve the positioning accuracy in pursuit to the track width that is reduced year by year. It is necessary that this be achieved in a high-speed operation. Vibrations synchronized to rotation of the disk that are factors deteriorating the positioning accuracy and vibrations by the effects of wind produced inside the apparatus, and so on deteriorate the positioning accuracy at a certain frequency. For example, if the center of rotation of the magnetic disk and the center of the track deviate, the magnetic head must vary its position radially to follow the track even when the magnetic head follows the same track. The situation is the same when the track is not a genuine circle but is distorted. In this case, motion of the magnetic head becomes vibrations of a frequency synchronized to rotation of the magnetic disk. The accuracy of pursuit at this frequency deteriorates. Also, as the magnetic head rotates, wind is produced near the surface of the magnetic disk. This wind produces vibrations of the magnetic head, deteriorating the positioning accuracy. The vibrations occur at a certain frequency that is affected by the structure of the magnetic head or carriage and by the rotational frequency of the magnetic disk.
As mentioned previously, vibrations of the position signal synchronized to rotation of the disk and vibrations of the mechanical system are factors deteriorating the positioning accuracy. These appear as vibrations of the position signal. Control that sufficiently suppresses such vibrations is necessary. A prior art technique for this is available, for example, in JP-A-5-298842 (Patent Reference 1). A technique of placing the magnetic head in position in pursuit of the eccentric component contained in the positional information is disclosed. In the magnetic disk drive of this Patent Reference 1, a method is shown which consists of creating a control signal for suppressing the vibrations using a mathematical model and a low-pass filter limiting the band and applying the control signal as a servo control signal to place the magnetic head in position. The mathematical model has resonant points at vibrational frequencies due to disk rotation, external disturbances, and so on.
Other prior art techniques are described in JP-A-2002-352534 (Patent Reference 2) and JP-A-2003-331543 (Patent Reference 3). Methods of designing a resonant filter are shown, the filter achieving a mechanical resonant mode having a resonant point close to the frequency at which the positioning accuracy is improved. In the magnetic disk drive of Patent Reference 2, a method of coupling a resonant filter having stable phase conditions in series to the object to be controlled is shown. In the magnetic disk drive of Patent Reference 3, a method of coupling a resonant filter having stable phase conditions in parallel to an object to be controlled is shown.

Magnetic disk drive with positioning accuracy

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


The invention provides an evaluation method for a polycrystalline silicon film by which the film quality of a polycrystalline silicon film can be evaluated by a simple method. A silicon oxide film is formed on a p-type silicon substrate, and a photo-resist film having two openings therein is formed on the silicon oxide film. The silicon oxide film is etched to form openings therein, and a polycrystalline silicon film is deposited. Then, arsenic is ion implanted, and heat treatment is performed to form a diffused layer. The polycrystalline silicon film is patterned to form polycrystalline silicon electrodes. A voltage is applied between the polycrystalline silicon electrodes to measure a withstanding voltage and a condition of the diffused layer is recognized, and evaluation of the film quality of the polycrystalline silicon film and an interface condition between the polycrystalline silicon film and the p-type silicon substrate is performed based on the recognition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an evaluation method for a polycrystalline silicon film formed using a low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) method or a like method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, since a simple method for a film quality of a polycrystalline silicon film has not been available, in-line evaluation of a film quality of a polycrystalline silicon film has not been performed in a manufacturing process of semiconductor devices. However, it is widely known that the film quality of a polycrystalline silicon film has a significant influence on the characteristics of a semiconductor device. For example, in a manufacturing process of a bipolar transistor, a polycrystalline silicon film, for example, of the n type is formed on a base region and heat treatment is performed to form an n-type emitter diffusion layer. Since difference in particle size of polycrystalline silicon, interface condition with a substrate and so forth makes the diffusion rate of an impurity different, the emitter diffusion layer is formed in different junction depth and consequently in different base width (height).
Conventionally, a device is produced and a characteristic of the device is evaluated to indirectly effect evaluation of a polycrystalline silicon film which has been used to produce the device. This evaluation method is described with reference to FIGS. 4(a) to 4(e) taking a bipolar transistor as an example.
First, as seen in FIG. 4(a), an n.sup.+ -type buried layer 12 is formed on a p-type silicon substrate 11 applying a photo-lithography method, a thermal diffusion method and so forth, and an n-type epitaxial layer 13 is grown using a reduced pressure epitaxial growth method or the like. Then, as shown in FIG. 4(b), a base diffused layer 14 is formed applying a photo-lithography method and an ion implantation method or the like, and similarly, a collector lead diffused layer 15 is formed applying a photo-lithography method and an ion implantation method or the like similarly, whereafter a silicon oxide film 16 is grown on the n-type epitaxial layer 13, base diffused layer 14 and collector lead diffused layer 15 using a CVD method or the like. Then, in an emitter formation region, an emitter opening 17 is formed using a photo-lithography method and a dry or wet etching method. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4(c), a polycrystalline silicon film 18 is grown using an LPCVD method, and an n-type impurity such as, for example, arsenic (As) is ion implanted over the entire area of the polycrystalline silicon film 18.
Then, as shown in FIG. 4(d), the polycrystalline silicon film 18 is patterned so as to cover over the emitter opening 17 using a photo-lithography method and a dry etching method, and in order to isolate a transistor and wiring lines, an inter-layer insulating film 19 in the form of a silicon oxide film or the like is grown on the polycrystalline silicon film 18 using a CVD method. Thereafter, heat treatment is performed around 900.degree. C. to diffuse As in the polycrystalline silicon film 18 in the emitter opening 17 into the base diffused layer 14 to form an emitter diffused layer 20. Finally, as shown in FIG. 4(e), contact openings for electrodes are formed above the base diffused layer 14, emitter diffused layer 20 and collector lead diffused layer 15 using a photo-lithography method and a dry or wet etching method, and a layer of an electrode material such as aluminum is formed by a sputtering method and then patterned using a photo-lithography method and a dry etching method to form a base electrode 21, an emitter electrode 22 and a collector 23.
Then, the emitter electrode 22 is connected to the ground potential while the base electrode 21 and the collector 23 are connected to a positive potential, and a value (current amplification factor=hFE) is calculated by dividing a current flowing through the collector electrode 23 by a current flowing through the base electrode 21 then to measure a characteristic of the transistor. Here, if the value hFE is within a predetermined range, then it is determined that the polycrystalline silicon film is formed in a normal state. In any other case, it is estimated that the film quality of the polycrystalline silicon film is defective, and evaluation of the film quality is performed and a countermeasure is taken. For the evaluation of the film quality, a transmission electron microscope (TEM) is used in most cases. In particular, a polycrystalline silicon film is cut into a thin piece, and the thin piece is mounted in position on a transmission electron microscope to observe the crystal structure of it.
Where the method wherein a device is produced and a characteristic of the device is measured to evaluate a polycrystalline silicon film is employed, since all steps for manufacture of the device must be completed, much time is required until evaluation of the film quality becomes possible. Further, since the characteristic of the device is varied also by a factor other than the film quality of the polycrystalline silicon, accurate evaluation is difficult with the evaluation method.
Further, where a transmission electron microscope is used for evaluation of the film quality of a polycrystalline silicon film, it is very cumbersome and requires many man-hours to produce a specimen for the evaluation, and much time is required until observation for particle sizes becomes possible. Furthermore, a correlation between a result of observation and an actual device characteristic cannot be discriminated clearly, and besides, integrated evaluation of polycrystalline silicon including an interface condition between the polycrystalline silicon and a silicon substrate cannot be performed.

Evaluation method for polycrystalline silicon film


A high strength hot-dip galvanized steel sheet has TS of 440 MPa or more and an average r value of 1.30 or more, where the absolute value of the planar anisotropy of the r value (Δr) is 0.20 or less. A chemical composition contains C: 0.010% or more and 0.04% or less, Si: more than 1.0% and 1.5% or less, Mn: 1.0% or more and 3.0% or less, P: 0.005% or more and 0.1% or less, S: 0.01% or less, sol. Al: 0.005% or more and 0.5% or less, N: 0.01% or less, Nb: 0.010% or more and less than 0.05%, Ti: 0.015% or more and 0.120% or less, and the remainder composed of Fe and incidental impurities, wherein (Nb/93)/(C/12) 0.20 and 0.005<C*≦0.020 are satisfied.

In recent years, an improvement in automobile fuel efficiency (car body weight reduction) to regulate the amount of CO2 emission has been required from the viewpoint of global environmental conservation. In addition to this, in order to ensure the safety of occupants at the time of crash, an improvement in safety on the crash properties of automobile bodies has also been required. It is said that weight reduction due to a decrease in sheet thickness by the high strengthening of a steel sheets within the range of not impairing the stiffness is effective in satisfying an automobile body weight reduction and an improvement in safety at the same time. Recently, high strength steel sheet has been actively used for automobile parts. The weight reduction effect increases as the steel sheet used has higher strength. Therefore, in the automobile industry, there is a tendency to use steel sheet having TS of 440 MPa or more as, for example, an inner panel and an outer panel.
On the other hand, most of automobile parts are formed by press forming. Therefore, an automobile steel sheet is required to have excellent press formability. However, a high strength steel sheet has significantly poor formability, in particular deep drawability, as compared with a mild steel sheet. Consequently, demands for a steel sheet satisfying TS 440 MPa, more preferably TS 500 MPa, and further preferably TS 590 MPa and having still better deep drawability in combination have been increased as issues in pursuing automobile weight reduction, and a high strength steel sheet having a high r value, where an average r value≧1.30 on a Lankford value (hereafter referred to as an r value), which is an evaluation indicator of the deep drawability, has been required.
Furthermore, when the average r values are the same, a reduction in the planar anisotropy has also been required for the smaller planar anisotropy contributes to an improvement in the formability.
As how to enhance the strength while it maintains high r value, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method in which, with respect to an ultra low carbon steel sheet, solid-solution hardening elements, e.g., Si, Mn, and P, are added to a base steel allowed to become IF (Interstitial atom free) steel by addition of Ti or Nb.
However, according to such a technology in which the ultra low carbon steel is used as a raw material and a solution hardening element is added, when production of a high strength steel sheet having TS of 440 MPa or more, 500 MPa or more, or 590 MPa or more is intended, the amount of addition of an alloy element increases. For example, if the amount of addition of Si increases, Si is concentrated in the surface during continuous annealing and reacts with very small amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, Si based oxides are formed on the steel sheet surface, the wettability of the coating is made poor and the quality of coating is degraded significantly. Meanwhile, there are problems in that if the amount of addition of P increases, P segregates at grain boundaries to degrade the resistance to cold-work embrittlement, if the amount of addition of Mn increases, the r value decreases and, therefore, if enhancement of strength is intended, the r value decreases.
As how to enhance the strength of a steel sheet, besides the above-described solid-solution hardening method, a transformation strengthening method is mentioned. In general, a dual-phase steel sheet made from soft ferrite and hard martensite has good ductility and excellent strength-ductility balance and further has a feature of low yield strength. Consequently, the press formability is relatively good. However, the r value is low, and the deep drawability is poor. It is said that this is because martensite, which does not contribute to the r value from the viewpoint of crystal orientation, is present and, in addition, solid solution C indispensable to formation of martensite hinders formation of a {111} recrystallization texture effective for increasing the r value.
As for a technology to improve the r value of such a dual-phase steel sheet, for example, Patent Literature 2 discloses a method in which box annealing is performed at a temperature from a recrystallization temperature to an Ac3 transformation point after cold rolling and, subsequently, in order to obtain dual phase, quenching and tempering is performed after heating in temperature of 700° C. to 800° C. Meanwhile, Patent Literature 3 discloses a high strength steel sheet containing a predetermined amount of C, including 3% or more of at least one of bainite, martensite, and austenite in total in the microstructure, and having an average r value of 1.3 or more.
However, both the technologies described in Patent Literatures 2 and 3 are in need of each of the annealing, which enhances the r value by developing a texture through formation of clusters and precipitates of Al and N, and the heat treatment to form the microstructure. In this regard, at the annealing process, box annealing is required and the holding time is 1 hour or more. Therefore, the box annealing is necessary, but the treatment time is long and the number of steps increases as compared with continuous annealing. Consequently, the efficiency and the productivity are very poor, so that the economy is poor from the viewpoint of the production cost. In addition, there are many problems, e.g., frequent occurrences of adhesion between steel sheets, occurrences of temper color, and reduction in the life of a furnace body inner cover, in the production process.
Meanwhile, Patent Literature 4 discloses a technology to improve the r value of a dual-phase steel sheet by optimizing the V content related to the C content. This produces a dual-phase steel sheet by minimizing the amount of solid solution C through precipitation of C in a steel as a V based carbide before recrystallization annealing to increase the r value, performing heating in an α-γ two-phase region to dissolve the V based carbide and concentrate C into γ, and generating martensite in a cooling step thereafter.
However, in the method in which the V based carbide is dissolved during the two-phase annealing, there is apprehension that the mechanical properties fluctuates because of variations in the dissolution rate of V carbide. Therefore, it is necessary that the annealing temperature and the annealing time be controlled with high precision, and there is a problem in the stability in production with an actual facilities.
Also, Patent Literature 5 discloses a technology to ensure compatibility between a high r value and conversion to a dual-phase by performing control in such a way that the C content is within the range of 0.010% to 0.050% and the Nb content and the C content satisfy 0.2≦(Nb/93)/(C/12)≦0.7. In this regard, according to the technology disclosed, solid solution C necessary for forming martensite after annealing is allowed to remain at the stage of hot rolled sheet and, in addition, the r value is increased on the basis of an effect of a grain refinement of hot-rolled microstructures due to addition of Nb and an effect of reducing solid solution C due to precipitation of NbC.
However, it is the element which the Nb has high cost and delays recrystallization of the austenite. Therefore, there is a problem in that a load in hot rolling is high. In addition, NbC precipitated in the hot rolled sheet enhances the deformation resistance during cold rolling. Therefore, a risk of trouble of the production increases and, in addition, there are problems, e.g., reduction in productivity and limitation on the range of producible products. In this regard, according to the research of the present inventors, in the case where the amount of Nb and the amount of C are somewhat large in this technology, the average r value is good, although the planar anisotropy of the r value tends to increase. Consequently, it is an issue to reduce the planar anisotropy of the r value in a high C content region.
Also, Patent Literature 6 discloses a technology to obtain a high strength steel sheet, wherein the average r value≧1.2 is satisfied and the planar anisotropy thereof is reduced by controlling the Nb content and the C content in a steel in such a way that (Nb/93)/(C/12) becomes 0.15 to 0.45, where the C content is within the range of 0.035% to 0.05%, controlling the slab heating temperature to become 1,000° C. to 1,200° C. and satisfy a relational expression in accordance with the amount of C and the amount of Nb, performing cold rolling, and performing slow heating in a high-temperature region after recrystallization, so as to develop a {111} recrystallization texture effectively. In addition, a technology to perform combined addition in such a way that the Nb content, the Ti content, and the V content satisfy {(Nb/93)+(Ti*/48)+(V/51)}/(C/12)=0.15 to 0.45 has been disclosed, where Ti*=Ti—1.5S-3.4 N and Ti*=0 when Ti*≦0.
However, in the technology described in Patent Literature 6, the average r value in the examples is 1.32 at the maximum and the r values are not always good although the C content is a somewhat high 0.035% to 0.05% and, therefore, the average r value ≧1.2 is satisfied. Therefore, it is predicted that application to a part required to have a higher r value is difficult. Meanwhile, the cost is high because 0.05% or more of very expensive Nb is contained to achieve the average r value ≧1.2, and there is a problem in that a load during hot rolling is high because Nb delays recrystallization of austenite remarkably. Also, NbC precipitated in a hot rolled sheet enhances the deformation resistance during cold rolling and, therefore, reduction in productivity, limitation on the range of producible products, and the like become problems.

High strength hot-dip galvanized steel sheet having excellent deep drawability