A tool for effecting attachment of an electrical terminal terminated on a wire with respect to a mating electrical contact is provided including an elongate tubular body having a first opened end, a second opened end and a continuous slot from the first to the second opened end. The continuous slot defines a pair of inwardly deflectable opposed sidewalls, wherein the wire may be loosely received between the opposed sidewalls. A first recessed stop toward the first opened end of the tubular body is adapted to seat at least the terminal at the first opened end. The opposed sidewalls are inwardly deflectable so as to grip the wire to effect attachment to the mating electrical contact.

Terminals are widely used in the field of electrical connections. Examples of commonly used electrical terminals include crimp terminals, ring terminals, butt terminals, butt splices, butt disconnects, bullet connectors, blade terminals, pin terminals and the like. These terminal contacts provide reliable connections in a variety of industrial applications.
Typical terminals provide a connection between a wire attached to the terminal and a contact mated to receive the terminal. Terminals may be used with a range of wire gauges, typically from about 6 American Wire Gauge (AWG) to about 22 AWG. Referring now to FIG. 1, a conventional terminal connected to a wire is shown. The terminal, generally referred to as reference numeral 10, includes a conductive contact 14 covered at least in part by an insulating sleeve 16. The contact 14 includes a distal contact portion and a proximal crimp barrel portion. The crimp barrel portion is crimped about a wire 18 which include an electrical conductor (not shown) inside an insulative jacket. Distal contact portion of contact 14 matingly corresponds to the electrical contact with which it is designed to be used. As shown, contact 14 is a vinyl insulated female disconnect adapted to fit securely about a blade shaped contact (not shown). Attachment of terminal 10 to the mating contact establishes an electrical connection therebetween.
The efficacy of the electrical connection made by a terminal with its corresponding or mating contact is related to how completely and securely the terminal is seated on the mating contact. Failure to properly seat the terminal so as to achieve a secure fit with the mating contact may compromise the integrity of the electrical connection.
In many modern configurations, electrical contacts are closely spaced to one another and arranged behind a protective housing. The protective housing is typically provided with a series of small access points to the contacts. For example, the use of multi-contact devices is a well-known method for providing an organized and orderly connection of multiple leads, wires or cables. Multi-contact devices terminate conductors and cables between circuits within a system, between systems, and between systems and external power sources and signal lines. Multi-contact devices interconnect circuits on circuit boards with backplanes or backpanels or wiring within an enclosure.
In many instances, access to the mating electrical contact is restricted such that it is not possible to manually install the terminal thereto. In order to achieve a secure connection a tool of some sort must be used to extend the reach of the installer to connect the terminal to the mating contact.
Additionally, each terminal must be oriented properly with respect to its mating contact in order to make the proper connection. It is therefore important that a tool used to form the connection can maintain the orientation of the terminal with respect to the mating contact so as to avoid damage of the terminal and/or mating contact as well as to assure a proper seating. To this end, it is desirable for a tool to control the orientation of the terminal contact while connecting the terminal to a mating electrical contact.
Tools for connecting terminals to mating electrical contacts are known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,294 to Makino discloses a tool having a stepped tubular portion and a grip portion connected thereto. The tubular portion has a plurality of cylindrical portions. The diameter of the cylindrical portions increases from a distal cylindrical portion to a proximal cylindrical portion. A slit extends from the distal cylindrical portion to the proximal cylindrical portion of the tool. The slit allows a wire to pass through it. The tool is used to insert a metal terminal with a water proof seal into a cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,392 to Lin discloses an insertion tool including an elongate body having a longitudinal concave portion therein which extends the length of the tool and is shaped in accordance with the size of the cord for which the tool is created. An elongate member extends from one end of the elongate body which is capable of receiving a crimp ring and stabilizing the cord during an insertion operation. An inner surface of the elongate member is shaped to accommodate a crimp ring portion of the crimp ring about the cord.
While these tools serve adequately in connecting terminals to mating contacts, there is a present need for tools which provide for installation and removal of differently sized terminals with respect to mating electrical contacts while also providing for proper orientation of the terminal with respect to the electrical contact.


An apparatus for deposition of plasma reaction films includes a substrate for the deposition of either thin or thick films. The substrate also allows for a film deposition which adheres to the substrate, and also films which may be removed after deposition. The cathode may be fabricated from individual wires, or it may be fabricated from a single conductor. A macro-particle filter which preferentially traps larger particles may be introduced between a porous cathode and the deposition surface. The macro-particle filter may also carry electrical current as is useful for generating a magnetic field such that a Lorentz force acts preferentially on ionized particles, allowing them to pass through the filter while trapping macroparticles that are not influenced by the magnetic field.

This invention relates generally to the coating of substrates using vacuum arc evaporation, and more particularly to an improved method and apparatus that employs a cylindrical metallic cathode and a magnetic field interacting with a plasma arc to cause the plasma arc to follow a helical trajectory on the surface of the cylindrical cathode.
Vacuum arc evaporation can be used for deposition of metal, alloy, and metal compound coatings. A cathode composed of the material to be deposited is vaporized by a high current, low voltage arc plasma discharge in a vacuum chamber, which has been evacuated to a pressure of typically 10−4 Torr or less. The substrates to be coated are placed in the vacuum chamber facing the evaporable surface of the cathode, at a distance of typically 10-50 cm. Typical arc currents range between 25 and 500 amperes, with voltages between 15 and 50 volts. The arc discharge occurs between an anode terminal and a cathode terminal in the partially evacuated chamber, resulting in a metal vapor plasma created by vaporization and ionization of the cathode material by the arc. The cathode, or negative electrode, is an electrically isolated structure which is at least partially consumed during the process. The anode, or positive electrode, comprises a cylinder disposed around the cathode. An arc is initiated on the evaporable surface of the cathode by means of mechanical contact, high voltage spark, or laser irradiation. The ensuing arc plasma discharge is highly localized in one or more mobile arc spots on the cathode surface, but is distributed over a large area at the anode. The extremely high current density in the arc spot, estimated to be 1010-1012 amperes/m2, results in local heating, evaporation, and ionization of the cathode material. Each arc spot emits a jet of metal vapor plasma in a direction approximately perpendicular to the cathode surface, forming a luminous plume extending into the region between the cathode and anode, where the substrates to be coated are disposed. The metal vapor condenses on the substrate surface, forming a dense coating. Reactive gases may be introduced into the vacuum chamber during the evaporation process, resulting in the formation of metal compound coatings on the substrate surface.
When the arc current is below 70-100 amperes, depending on the material, only a single arc spot will exist. At higher arc currents, multiple arc spots exist simultaneously, each carrying an equal fraction of the total arc current. An arc spot, in the absence of applied magnetic fields, tends to move rapidly and semi-randomly around the target surface, leaving a trail of microscopic crater-like features on the target surface. Although the small-scale motion of the arc is a semi-random jumping from crater site to crater site, the electromagnetic force due to the interaction between the current in the arc jet and any magnetic field present at the cathode surface has a dominant influence on the large-scale average movement of the arc spot. An externally applied magnetic field causes a force on the arc jet in a direction perpendicular to both the field lines and the jet. In the absence of an applied magnetic field, the interaction of the current in the arc jet with the self-magnetic field caused by the arc current flowing through the cathode can tend to draw the arc spot toward the current input, if the current flow through the cathode is asymmetrical. The direction of the motion of the arc in a magnetic field is opposite or retrograde to the vector J×B direction expected based on Ampere's law, considering the current to be in the same direction as in the external circuit.
An undesirable side effect of the vaporization of the target material at the arc spot is the generation of droplets of molten target material, which are ejected from the target by the reaction forces due to expansion of the vapor jet. These droplets are called macro-particles, and range in diameter from sub-microns to tens of microns. The macro-particles become imbedded in the coating when they land on the substrate, forming objectionable irregularities. Various strategies have been devised to reduce the generation of macro-particles or to prevent their arrival at the substrate. The problem of macro-particles is particularly acute at the point of arc initiation at the start of the helical trajectory, and also at the terminus of the helical trajectory where the arc extinguishes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,972,695 describes magnetic stabilization of a vacuum arc used for evaporation deposition including a coaxial deposition geometry. U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,848 describes an arc evaporation apparatus with certain electrode configurations and also teaches the use of a magnetic field to increase the evaporation rate and to direct ions to the substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,231 describes the use of a magnetic field activated when the arc spot moves off the desired evaporation surface of the cathode. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,724,058 and 4,849,088 each describe an arc evaporation apparatus using a magnetic field in the shape of a closed loop tunnel, which confines the arc spot to a closed loop circular trajectory at a fixed location on the cathode surface. In order to uniformly erode the entire target surface, it is necessary to move the magnetic field generating means to move the arc trajectory over the target surface, either by mechanical movement of the magnet means as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,849,088, 5,908,602, and 5,306,408 or by use of multiple electromagnets, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,058.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,845 describes an arc evaporation apparatus using an annular cathode, in which the evaporable surface is the outer wall, facing a cylindrical anode of larger diameter and greater length than the cathode. The substrates to be coated are disposed inside the annular cathode, not facing the evaporable surface. A coaxial magnetic field is described for diverting charged particles of evaporated material away from the anode and back toward the substrate to be coated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,564 describes a coaxial deposition system without the use of an external magnetic field, and includes cathode temperature control. The problem of tapered material deposition is also discussed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,489 discloses a coaxial coating system for bottles. This system includes a cathode, an anode comprising the object to be coated, a heating source for the anode, an evacuation system, and a source of nitrogen gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,522 describes the use of a cathode in the form of a long cylinder or rod, which makes use of the self-magnetic field of the arc current to force motion of the arc along the length of the cathode. The direction of the arc's travel on the cathode may be reversed by switching the power supply connection from one end of the cathode to the other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,898 describes a system for an arc evaporation coating chamber where an arc between a coaxial inner cathode and outer anode traverses a helical path which may be altered by either feeding the cathode with a balanced current from each end, or by applying a magnetic field coaxial to the anode and varying the current generating the magnet field, thereby varying the speed of helical movement of the arc down the cathode. The magnetic field generator is inside the evacuated chamber, disposed about the cathode, and with the anode outside the extent of the objects being coated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,489 describes a system for coating a cylindrical bottle using a plasma arc in the presence of an inert gas. U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,522 describes a coaxial system of an anode and cathode, whereby the arc that is struck is used to make uniform coatings on the inner surface of a cylindrical tube placed between an anode and cathode. In both of these systems, the current drawn through the inner cathode is responsible for the creation of a magnetic field, which causes the arc to travel a helical trajectory along the inner conductor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,963 describes a surface heat treatment using a plasma arc in the presence of an inert gas and a magnetic field for controlling the direction of the plasma.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,636 describes a plasma arc plating system including helical coils for the direction of the plasma towards the items to be plated.
While the prior art describes the use of either varying magnetic fields or changing the applied electric arc current to change of rate of deposition in a coaxial ion deposition system, it is desired to control the thickness of material deposited, and to control the composition of the material deposited along the axis of the object being coated. Additionally, it is desired to provide for a uniform coating thickness over the extent of the object, as well as at the point of arc initiation and arc termination.

Coaxial plasma arc vapor deposition apparatus and method


Depolymerization during melt processing of poly(methyl methacrylate) that is grafted onto a backbone of propylene polymer material is retarded by adding 0.025 parts to 5.0 parts of a hydroxylamine compound per hundred parts of the graft copolymer. The methyl methacrylate can be copolymerized with another monomer such as methylacrylate.

When methyl methacrylate is graft polymerized onto a backbone of propylene polymer material, the product contains a certain amount of free monomer. When the resulting graft copolymer is subjected to melt processing, e.g., extrusion and/or molding, depolymerization occurs and additional monomer is formed. The free monomer in the graft copolymer can lead to surface irregularities known as "splaying" and can produce an odor in the finished product. The conventional method for limiting depolymerization is to copolymerize the methyl methacrylate with a monomer that acts as a chain stopper during the depolymerization reaction, e.g., methyl acrylate, although this method does not eliminate depolymerization entirely.
European patent application 726,289 discloses the addition of compounds containing a .dbd.N--O group, e.g., a 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy group, to a polymer to inhibit undesirable reactions during heating. e.g., to inhibit depolymerization of polystyrene or poly(methyl methacrylate) during thermal processing, or to inhibit crosslinking of unsaturated polymers such as polybutadiene or butadiene-styrene copolymers during thermal grafting with compounds such as methacrylic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,721 discloses the use of hydroxylamine derivatives to stabilize polyolefins against degradation or discoloration after high temperature extrusion, exposure to the combustion products of natural gas or to gamma irradiation, or upon storage for extended periods. U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,300 discloses the use of long chain N, N-dialkyl-hydroxylamines as process stabilizers for polyolefins that are processed at elevated temperatures.

Retarding depolymerization of poly(methyl methacrylate) grafted onto a propylene polymer


A method for recovery of iron in the form of an iron oxide as useful product, such as hematite, from a leach solution obtained from leaching of a nickel laterite ore, is proposed which comprises an oxidation and a hydrolysis of a ferric sulphate and urea mix solution stemming from leaching of nickel laterite ores at a temperature of 60-100° C.

Leaching of nickel laterite ores with sulphuric acid is a widely applied process. Some recent researches indicate that when urea is added to the leach solution in sufficient amounts, metal dissolution rates and metal recoveries into the solution markedly increase. As such, the leaching time drops to one hour and metal recoveries rise above 95%.
These improvements are due to the effect of urea on the dissolution of iron contained in the metal bearing material. When iron is attacked and forced into dissolution, other metals that are bound with iron in some kind of iron bond become easy targets for sulphuric acid and thus their dissolution rate increases markedly.
Iron removal from the leach solution is important for the recovery of other metals and for process economics. Iron is normally removed from the solution as jarosite, goethite or hematite but none of them result in a usable iron product. Jarosite and goethite produced as such are discarded as waste with no economic value. For hematite production, iron precipitation should be carried out in an autoclave at temperatures of over 200° C. and oxygen pressure of 18 bars or above. Iron can also be precipitated out of the solution as hydroxide produced by precipitation with lime to be discarded as waste.
A great deal of research has been conducted in respect of iron precipitation as hematite that can be used in industry. U.S. Pat. No. 7,294,319 describes a method for precipitating iron from zinc sulphate solution as hematite under atmospheric conditions. Similarly, WO 2007/079532 describes a hydrometallurgical method for precipitating iron in the form of hematite from leach solutions containing nickel, cobalt and iron.
The Article 'Uniform Particles with a large surface area formed by hydrolysis of Fe2(SO4)3 with Urea' published in 1999 in Materials Research Bulletin Vol 34 No 6 pp 905-919 describes hydrolysis of iron oxide from a solution of Fe2(SO4)3/Urea mixture under various conditions. The article indicates that slow hydrolysis of aqueous solutions of Fe2(SO4)3 with Urea in the temperature range 60-100° C. leads to a characteristic form of iron (III) hydrous oxides and basic sulfates. Thermal dehydration of this iron (III) hydrous oxides yields amorphous Fe2O3.


This disclosure is related to systems, methods, apparatuses, and techniques for generating water using waste heat. In certain embodiments, a system includes a water generating unit and a waste-heat-generating-system. The water generating unit can be configured to generate the water and comprises a desiccation device and a condenser coupled to the desiccation device. The waste-heat-generating-system can generate the waste heat when operating or is use. The water generating unit can be configured to use waste heat generated by the waste-heat-generating-system to generate the water.

Many different systems, apparatuses, and devices produce heat during operation. For example, heat may be produced by engines, household devices (e.g., refrigeration systems, air conditioners, stoves, gas heaters, etc.), generators, fuel cells, and/or many other systems, apparatuses, and devices. In many cases, the heat of can be a by-product that is produced during the operation of these systems, apparatuses, and devices. The heat generated by these systems, apparatuses, and devices is typically released into the atmosphere in the vicinity of the systems, apparatuses, and devices, and is not used for any purpose. There exists a need for systems, methods, and apparatuses that advantageously make use of waste heat.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "include," and "have," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms "left," "right," "front," "back," "top," "bottom," "over," "under," and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
The terms "couple," "coupled," "couples," "coupling," and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements or signals, electrically, mechanically and/or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled together, but not be mechanically or otherwise coupled together; two or more mechanical elements may be mechanically coupled together, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled together; two or more electrical elements may be mechanically coupled together, but not be electrically or otherwise coupled together. Coupling may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant.
"Electrical coupling" and the like should be broadly understood and include coupling involving any electrical signal, whether a power signal, a data signal, and/or other types or combinations of electrical signals. "Mechanical coupling" and the like should be broadly understood and include mechanical coupling of all types.
The absence of the word "removably," "removable," and the like near the word "coupled," and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.
As defined herein, "approximately" can, in some embodiments, mean within plus or minus ten percent of the stated value. In other embodiments, "approximately" can mean within plus or minus five percent of the stated value. In further embodiments, "approximately" can mean within plus or minus three percent of the stated value. In yet other embodiments, "approximately" can mean within plus or minus one percent of the stated value.

Systems for generating water with waste heat and related methods therefor


A method of structuring an active organic layer deposited on a substrate, including depositing a sacrificial layer on the substrate by photolithography, the sacrificial layer being made of at least one resist, creating at least one pattern inside of the sacrificial layer, depositing an active organic layer on the sacrificial layer and in the pattern, depositing a protective layer made of organic polymer on the active layer and in the pattern of the resist sacrificial layer, removing the sacrificial layer by projection of a solvent on the resin forming the layer, and removing the protective layer by dissolving the polymer forming it in a solvent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to organic electronic components, and more particularly to issues due to the localizing of an active organic layer on forming of electronic components or the like. The invention more specifically relates to a method of structuring an active organic layer deposited on a substrate, and to the step of chemically etching the active layer, on manufacturing of an organic diode.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of microelectronics, that is, of micrometric-scale electronic components, the electronic components have been initially developed from inorganic materials such as silicon or gallium arsenide (GaAs), particularly to form the active layer of the components, the latter being formed of a stack of such inorganic layers.
Such inorganic electronic components have the disadvantage of being expensive to manufacture and of being rigid, and accordingly of being fragile and impossible to use for certain applications.
Thus, the active layers of electronic components are now more and more frequently made of organic materials, such as polymers, for example, which have the advantage of being easy to manufacture at a large scale, of having a good mechanical and/or thermal behavior, of having a flexible structure and of being easy to recycle. Further, polymers being soluble in a solvent, the latter may advantageously be deposited in a layer by low-cost and easy-to-implement deposition methods such as, particularly, spin coating, inkjet deposition, or silk-screening deposition.
This is why displays based on OLED or Organic Light-Emitting Diodes or based on OTFT or Organic Thin-Film Transistors can now currently be encountered. Such electronic components are usually formed of a stack of organic and/or inorganic layers where the active layer is made of an organic material.
However, such a stack of organic and/or inorganic layers raises a number of issues, particularly on forming of organic diodes, which requires a highly-homogeneous deposition of an organic active layer, the stacking of the layers of an organic diode usually being as follows: a substrate made of glass, plastic, silicon, etc., a local conductive layer made of indium-tin oxide or ITO, metal, a conductive polymer, etc., a injector layer made of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) or PEDOT:PSS, for example, an active layer made of a mixture of n- and p-type semiconductor called bulk heterojunction, and a local conductive layer made of metal or a conductive polymer, for example.
Indeed, in the manufacturing of an organic diode, the deposition of the active organic layer is the critical step. Such an organic layer should be very homogeneous and with no defect capable of causing an electric leakage between the two conductive layers of the diode. The active organic layer is usually deposited by a spin coating method, which provides film-forming deposits. However, spin coating does not enable to structure the active organic layer. To structure the active layer, after its deposition on the substrate, several techniques are used, including subtractive etching, also called direct etching, and lift-off.
Subtractive etching, for example illustrated in FIG. 1, comprises, after having deposited an active layer 1 on a substrate 2 at a step 1a, depositing during a step 1b a polymer 3, and this locally on active layer 1 by any appropriate means such as inkjet or silk-screening, for example, the polymer 3 for example being a fluoropolymer sold under trade name CYTOP®. At a step 1c, the portions of active layer 1 which are not covered with the polymer are then chemically etched by application of a solvent such as xylene, chlorobenzene, tetraline, toluene, etc., after which the polymer is stripped, that is, dissolved with a solvent which does not etch active layer 1, such as perfluorotributylamine (FC43) for example.
Such a subtractive etching is particularly described in document WO 2011/004198.
Subtractive etching has the disadvantage of deteriorating the active layer, as can be seen in FIG. 2, which is an optical microscope view of the surface of the active layer after a subtractive etching. Indeed, the chemical action of the etch solvent causes an overetching of the active layer on the pattern edges.
The second structuring technique, called lift-off, comprises, referring to FIG. 3, depositing a sacrificial resist layer 4 on a substrate 2 at a step 1a, and then structuring the sacrificial layer 4 to create a pattern 5 in the sacrificial layer 4 by chemical etching, for example, at a step 1b. At step 1c, an active organic layer 1 is deposited on sacrificial layer 4 and at the bottom of pattern 5, after which, at a last step 1d, sacrificial layer 4 is dissolved in a solvent bath, generally acetone, to only leave the pattern of active layer 1 on substrate 2.
This type of "lift-off" structuring method is especially described in documents US 2005/0048414 and US 2011/0012097.
The lift-off technique also has the disadvantage of deteriorating active layer 1. Indeed, active layer 1 is damaged by the action of the acetone bath during the dissolution of the sacrificial layer, the acetone bath lasting for approximately 20 minutes. Such an acetone bath weakens active layer 1, resulting in poorly-defined pattern edges and pittings, as can be seen in FIG. 4A and respectively 4B.

Process of structuring an active organic layer deposited on a substrate

Commissariat A L'Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives


An ink jet printing apparatus for performing maintenance ejection onto a printed image makes it possible to obtain a favorable printing image by rendering maintenance ejection ink dots inconspicuous. Pixel position comparison is performed between an objective pixel and data in a pixel position at the same address to detect whether image data is present at the same address. When the image data is not present in the same position, comparison operation is performed on a subsequent objective pixel. When the image data is present in the same position, processing with an image processing mask is performed on the image data in a print buffer. The image data in the print buffer is combined with the maintenance ejection data to generate image printing data. This image processing makes it possible to thin out dots from the image data and to render the maintenance ejection ink dots inconspicuous.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and an ink jet printing apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image processing method and an ink jet printing apparatus for the case of performing maintenance ejection onto a printing medium for the purpose of maintenance of an ink nozzle for ejecting ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printing apparatus has various advantages including low noises, low running costs, capabilities of downsizing the apparatus and color printing, and so forth. Such an ink jet printing apparatus is configured to print an image on a printing medium by ejecting ink from ink ejection nozzles provided in an ink jet printing head. The trend is that ink droplets ejected therefrom are becoming smaller from about 15 pl to 5 pl, or further to 2 pl. Thus, graininess is reduced, for example, in a halftone part of a gray-scale image, in a gradation part of a color image and in a highlighted part. Along with reduction in size of droplets, an aperture size of an ink ejection nozzle orifice is also reduced.
Incidentally, water evaporation of the ink in the vicinity of the nozzle orifice is accelerated when the ink is not ejected from the ink ejection nozzle. A clogged orifice caused by an increase in viscosity of the ink leads to defective ejection such as deviation in the direction of ink ejection and failure of an ink droplet to reach a sheet surface. Moreover, such defective ejection tends to occur more often when the nozzle orifice has a small orifice diameter. Meanwhile, the defective ejection may also occur due to other reasons such as adhesion of minute paper powder or water droplets on the nozzle orifice.
To solve aforementioned problems of the defective ejection, an ink jet printing apparatus has been conventionally configured to perform ink ejection outside a printing sheet area immediately before printing or at periodic intervals in the course of printing. This maintenance ejection which is ink ejection aiming at maintenance is performed either arbitrarily or periodically at a waste ink absorber, an aperture region exclusively used for maintenance ejection and the like, which are disposed inside the printing apparatus. Although a scale of maintenance ejection varies depending on ejection power of a printing head used therein, a drying performance of ink used therein, an environmental temperature, and the like, several shots to over a dozen shots of ejection are usually performed at an interval of about 3 to 10 seconds.
When this maintenance ejection is performed during a process of printing an image on a printing medium by scanning the medium with a carriage mounting the printing head, the carriage has to travel from a position for printing the image to a predetermined position outside the printing medium where the waste ink absorber is located. Therefore, required time duration from start to end of printing the image on the printing medium is extended. In particular, in a high-speed printing mode for minimizing a printing operation per page by use of high-speed printing head movement and maximum performance ejection of the printing head for the purpose of high-speed printing, a loss attributable to the maintenance ejection may occupy a considerable portion from several to over ten percent relative to the total time for printing the image.
Now, a case of performing printing based on data equivalent to one line of a band width of a printing head length on a page by one scanning of the printing head will be described below as an example. A printable area of an A4 printing sheet is defined as being 11 inches long and 8 inches wide, and an image will be printed using a 0.53-inch printing head provided with 320 nozzles for accommodating an ink droplet amount of 30 pl each and a pitch equivalent to 600 dpi. The printing head has to scan 21 scans (movements of the printing head+line feeds) to print an image over one page. Moreover, when a drive frequency of the printing head is equal to 15 kHz and dot density in the scanning direction is equal to 600 dpi, a scanning speed of the printing head is equal to 25 inches per second. Estimating that line feed time, rise time or fall time of the movement of the printing head (rank up and rank down) is equal to 0.1 second each, printing duration per line is approximately equal to 0.52 second. Therefore, a total time duration required for printing on one A4 paper is approximately equal to 11 seconds. Further, estimating that an interval of maintenance ejection is set to 5 seconds, the maintenance ejection will be performed twice during printing on one page. One scan row is inserted for one maintenance ejection operation separately from the printing operation. Accordingly, a rate of the time used for the maintenance ejection to the time used for printing the image is calculated as:
                              2                                                              scans                                                              for                                                              maintenance                                                                          ejection            /            21                                                                        scans                                                              for                                                              printing                =        0.092                                =                  about                                                              10                    %
On the other hand, another conventionally known technique for maintenance ejection control to reduce the time loss associated with the maintenance operation is configured to eject ink on a printing medium not for the purpose of image printing. According to technique, movement of a carriage associated with a maintenance operation is reduced to decrease a time loss. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 8-112904 (1996) discloses a technique for maintenance ejection control focused on which region (such as a white portion without an image, a black image portion and a colored image portion) of a printed image maintenance ejection should take place. Specifically, this publication discloses a method of ejecting ink in the vicinity of an edge of an image or a method of forming a watermark on a printing medium so that such a visible image does not cause a problem.
However, the place, the number, and other parameters of maintenance ejection onto a printed image are preset in the conventional example described above, and the maintenance ejection is performed regardless of presence of an image to be printed on a printing medium, ink colors, and the like. In this concern, the pattern of the maintenance ejections may be visible as an image depending on the presence or absence of a printed image on a printing medium on which the ink is ejected by the maintenance ejection, and a relation between the color of ink to be ejected by the maintenance ejection and the color of the printed image.
In other words, visibility of ink dots as a result of the maintenance ejection tends to be different between the case of performing the maintenance ejection on to a white portion of a printing medium and the case of performing the maintenance ejection on a printed portion. Such a difference may pose visibility problems of the ink dots in some cases.
For example, when cyan ink is ejected as the maintenance ejection onto a yellow solid image, such ink dots are prone to be more visible (conspicuous) than ink dots ejected onto a white region.
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are views schematically showing print samples subjected to visibility judgments of ink dots ejected as the maintenance ejection onto printing media such as paper sheets. FIG. 1A shows a state of performing the maintenance ejection of one dot onto a white portion of the paper sheet while FIG. 1B shows a state of performing the maintenance ejection of one dot onto a solid portion in a printed image in a different color from that of the image. Here, a lattice 210 is provided for schematically illustrating the print resolution and is not printed in actuality.
FIG. 1A shows the ink dot formed by the maintenance ejection onto the white portion and FIG. 1B shows the ink dot formed by the maintenance ejection when there is a solid image in a different color as a background. When there is the solid image in the different color as a background, an ink dot of the maintenance ejection bleeds into solid image ink dots 220 of the different color and the shape of the ink dot spreads irregularly (reference numeral 230). Accordingly, visibility of the ink dot ejected as the maintenance ejection is increased.

Image processing method and ink jet printing apparatus


A low melting point glass for covering electrodes, which contains Cu in a content as calculated as CuO within a range of from 0.1 to 0.9% by mass percentage and which contains neither Mo or Sb.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a low melting point glass suitable for covering for insulation of transparent electrodes of e.g. ITO (indium oxide doped with tin) or tin oxide, and a plasma display device.
2. Discussion of Background
In recent years, a thin flat plate type color display device has attracted an attention. In such a display device, it is necessary to form an electrode for each pixel in order to control the display state in the pixel for forming an image. In order to prevent deterioration of the image quality, transparent electrodes are used as such electrodes. As the transparent electrodes, thin films of ITO or tin oxide formed on a glass substrate, are commonly employed. Here, the tin oxide includes tin oxide doped with e.g. fluorine or antimony.
Transparent electrodes which are formed on the surface of a glass substrate to be used as a display panel of the above display device, are formed into fine lines to realize fine images. In order to control the respective pixels independently, it is necessary to secure insulation among such finely formed transparent electrodes. However, if moisture is present on the surface of the glass substrate, or if an alkali component is present in the glass substrate, it may happen that an electrical current flows to some extent via the surface of this glass substrate. To prevent such a current, it is effective to form an insulating layer between the transparent electrodes. Further, in order to prevent deterioration of the image quality by the insulating layer formed between the transparent electrodes, such an insulating layer is preferably transparent.
Various materials are known as an insulating material for forming such an insulating layer. Among them, a glass material is widely employed which is a transparent and highly reliable insulating material.
In a plasma display device (hereinafter referred to as PDP) which is recently expected as a large size flat color display device, cells are defined and formed by a front substrate used as a display surface, a rear substrate and barrier ribs, and an image will be formed by generating plasma discharge in the cells. Transparent electrodes are formed on the surface of the front substrate, and it is essential to cover the transparent electrodes with a glass excellent in plasma durability in order to protect the transparent electrodes from plasma.
Such a glass to be used for covering electrodes, is employed usually in the form of a glass powder. Namely, to such a glass powder, a filler, etc. may be added as the case requires, and then the mixture is formed into a paste. A glass paste thus obtained is coated on a glass substrate having transparent electrodes preliminarily formed, followed by firing to cover the transparent electrodes.
Such a glass for covering electrodes, is required to have an electrical insulating property, and it is further required that the softening point is, for example, at most 650xc2x0 C., the linear expansion coefficient is, for example, about 80xc3x9710xe2x88x927/xc2x0 C., and transparency of the glass layer covering the electrodes, obtainable by firing, is high. Various glasses have been proposed. For example, JP-A-11-180726 discloses a non-crystalline glass consisting essentially of from 52 to 86% of PbO+Bi2O3, from 14 to 28% of B2O3, from 0 to 5% of SiO2, from 6 to 23% of ZnO, from 0 to 8% of Al2O3, from 0 to 5% of CeO2 and from 0 to 5% of SnO2, as represented by mass percentage.
However, for PDP, a further improvement of image quality has been desired in recent years. Accordingly, it is required to further improve the transparency of the glass layer covering electrodes.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a low melting point glass for covering electrodes and a plasma display device, which will solve such problems.
The present invention provides a low melting point glass for covering electrodes, which contains Cu in a content as calculated as CuO within a range of from 0.1 to 0.9% by mass percentage and which contains neither Mo nor Sb.
The present invention also provides a low melting point glass for covering electrodes, which contains Cu in a content as calculated as CuO within a range of from 0.1 to 0.9% by mass percentage and which contains at least one of Mo and Sb, wherein the total of the content of Cu as calculated as CuO, the content of Mo as calculated as MoO3 and the content of Sb as calculated as Sb2O3 is within a range of from 0.2 to 1.4% by mass percentage.
Further, the present invention provides a plasma display device having a front substrate, wherein transparent electrodes formed on a glass substrate constituting the front substrate are covered by such a low melting point glass for covering electrodes.
The present inventors have considered that one of the causes for the decrease in the transparency of the glass layer covering electrodes in PDP is attributable to retention of the after mentioned carbon-containing impurities in the glass layer covering electrodes, and have arrived at the present invention based on this assumption.
The low melting point glass for covering electrodes is used usually in the form of a powder. The powder of the low melting point glass for covering electrodes is formed into a glass paste by using an organic vehicle or the like to impart printability, and such a glass paste is coated on electrodes formed on a glass substrate, followed by firing to cover the electrodes.
The glass layer covering electrodes, obtained by firing, is colored brown or black in many cases even if a coloring component such as a transition metal, is not contained. This phenomenon is considered to be such that carbon-containing impurities contained in the organic vehicle or the like remain in the glass layer covering electrodes, and the glass layer covering electrodes is colored by such carbon-containing impurities. By the above coloring with the brown color, the transmittance of light having a wavelength of 400 nm typically decreases. Further, it is considered that when plasma is generated in PDP, such carbon-containing impurities react with water or the like present in the glass layer covering electrodes and will be discharged from the glass layer covering electrodes, whereby brightness of PDP will also decrease.

Low melting point glass for covering electrodes, and plasma display device


A novel cover plate assembly includes of two decorative face plates and a base plate for mounting electrical devices. The two face plates fabricated from steel plate are screwless and provide noble decorative appearances after the surfaces properly treated. The inner face plate is snapped into the base plate through a snap fit connection. The outer face plate is attached to inner face plate through a snap fit connection. The base plate can be molded of any flame retardant materials.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel cover plate assembly of the type used to provide support, enclosure and decorative functions for a wall box mounted switch, receptacle and the like.
2. Prior Art
Screwless switch cover plates made of metal can provide noble decorative appearances and better quality than those made of other materials such as plastics.
A novel 3-piece cover plate assembly for electrical devices comprising of two decorative face plates and a base plate with the face plates free of screw holes and fabricated from metal plate is not solved by prior art devices.
3. Objects and Advantages
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel cover plate assembly wherein no attachment screws are visible.
An important object of the invention is to fabricate the face plates of the assembly from steel plate to provide noble decorative appearances.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel cover plate assembly having snap fit connections for easy installation and demounting.
Another object of this invention is to have the base plate mounted to a wall box against the wall to receive and maintain alignment of electrical devices.
The foregoing objectives are met by a cover plate assembly comprising a base plate and two decorative face plates.
The base plate may be molded of any flame retardant materials. The face plate are fabricated from metal plate by employing punches and presses. After properly treated, the surfaces of the metal face plates provide noble decorative appearances for room decoration.


A CABAC decoding system includes at least a decoding unit group. Each decoding unit group includes N decoding units connected with each other. The Mth decoding unit receives parameter information for decoding bins and bit streams to be decoded, decodes the bins of the bit streams to be decoded, obtains the decoding result of the current decoding unit bin, and sends the updated parameter information to the (M+1)th decoding unit and an output unit. The CABAC decoding system achieves high decoding rate and keeps a reasonable cost of hardware resource, and thereby provides a high efficient and reasonable decoding solution.

Context-Based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC) is one of the two entropy-coding schemes adopted in the International video coding standard H.264, and has higher compressive efficiency than the other entropy-coding scheme, namely Context-based Adaptive Variable Length Coding (CAVLC).
The function of an entropy coder is to code the values of all syntax elements in each macro block (MB) into code streams successively according to the MB scanning order. Here, the MB is a basic unit block for video image coding. Each image to be coded is divided into several MBs and further processed by encoding. The video coding standard H.264 supports two kinds of basic MB scanning orders.
Generally, the CABAC encoding process includes three primary parts, i.e. binarization, selection and update of context probability model, and binary arithmetic coding.
Particularly, the binarization is a pre-processing procedure for the syntax elements prior to encoding. The value of each syntax element is mapped into a binary character string including '0's and '1's according to a certain mapping rule. The mapping rule may vary depending on the nature of syntax elements.
Further, the binary arithmetic coder performs coding on the basis of the probability estimation value PLPS of the bin (the basic bit for CABAC coding and decoding) to be encoded, wherein, the context probability model is defined for the calculation of the PLPS. Concretely, the probability estimation of a bin to be '0'or '1' is performed before the bin is encoded. If the probability of '0' is greater than that of '1', the most probable symbol (MPS) is set to '0' and the least probable symbol (LPS) is set to '1'; otherwise, MPS is set to '1' and LPS is set to '0'. PLPS is the probability estimation value of a bin value being LPS. The range value of PLPS is 0 through 0.5. During the CABAC encoding process, a corresponding context probability model for every bin is set. Each context probability model contains a state value and an MPS value, and the state indicates the PLPS. The information of the adjacent left and top MBs that have been encoded is utilized to calculate the context probability model for the encoding of the bins of the current MB. The calculation rules are detailedly specified in the documents JVT-G050 for H.264 standard, "Draft ITU-T Recommendation H.264 and Draft ISO/IEC 14496-10 AVC" in JVT of ISO/IEC doc, T. Wig, Ed., Pattaya, Thailand, March 2003. It is ready to perform binary arithmetic coding for the bins after the selection of the context probability models.
The basic principle of the binary arithmetic coding process is to encode the source data with a real number between 0 and 1. The length of the real number depends on the probability of the source symbol sequence. Two basic parameters are used during the arithmetic coding process: the probability estimation values of the symbols and the current interval. The detailed encoding method is to set the current interval to [0,1] firstly, and then to encode or decode each bin. The encoding or decoding of each bin repeats the following process: a. subdivide the current interval to several subintervals, the length of each subinterval is proportional to the probability estimation value of each symbol maybe inputted; and b. choose the subinterval corresponding to the symbol that actually occurs as the new current interval.
In the above encoding process, the current interval becomes smaller and smaller because of the recursive interval subdivisions. To keep the calculation precision, a renormalization process is performed whenever the length of the current interval is smaller than 0.5 after the procedure b completes, to ensure the length of the current interval is always bigger than 0.5 when the next symbol is encoded.
The renormalization process is shown as below:                1. calculating the probability value PLPS of the least probable symbol;        2. calculating the coding intervals RLPS and RMPS separately corresponding to the least probable symbol (LPS)) and the most probable symbol (MPS), details as follows:RLPS=Rangei*PLPS;RMPS=Rangei−RLPS;         where, Rangei is the range value of the decoding interval.        3. calculating the new interval value:        If the current input bin is corresponding to the value of LPS, then:Rangei+1=RLPS;Offseti+1=Offseti+RLPS;        where, Offseti is the offset value in decoding process.        If the current input bin is corresponding to the value of MPS, then:Rangei+1=RLPS;        4. updating the probability value RLPS of the least probable symbol LPS;        5. outputing the decoding result, and renormalize the coding interval Rangei+1.
The CABAC implementation process is carried out with integer precision. Both the lower bound of the current subinterval Offseti and the range of the subinterval Rangei are all in 9 bits integer precision. The renormalization process ensures the 8th bit, the highest bit of Rangei, is always 1.
It is shown from the formula above that the value of Rangei*PLPS is required by the binary arithmetic coder. To decrease the implementation complexity, the value is not directly calculated by the multiplication of the probability value of the least probable symbol PLPS and the Rangei, on the other hand, all the possible values are stored in a 2-dimension table and the expected value is obtained by querying the table. The index of the table includes a 6-bit value STATE and a 2-bit value qCodIRangeIdx. The 6-bit value is got from PLPS which is corresponding to the context probability model, while the 2-bit value is obtained from the 6th and 7th bits of Rangei, that is, the 2 highest bits except the 8th bit. The range of the 6-bit value STATE is from 0 to 63, and the range of the 2-bit value qCodIRangeIdx is from 0 to 3.
After the bin is encoded, the context probability model needs to be updated according to the value of the current bin encoded. The transition of the MPS value takes place only when the current bin is LPS and the state value before encoding is 0. Otherwise, it is kept unchanged. The transition is performed by changing the MPS value from 0 to 1, or from 1 to 0.
The CABAC arithmetic is formally presented in the JVT (ITU-T international video organization MPEG associated group) conference in 2003. So far, the corresponding CABAC decoders are mainly software or software/hardware based decoding structures.
At present there is a software-based CABAC decoder, of which the decoding process is performed by PC according to the arithmetic flow. Therefore, in the software-based CABAC decoder it is CPU that takes on the whole decoding task, which results in awfully slow decoding rate that can't meet the demand of real time applications.
At present there is another solution that provides software/hardware based decoding architecture, wherein, the hardware component contains the hardware architecture to decode a single bin, and in the hardware architecture one cycle one bin is adopted for the decoding of each bin.
It can be shown that the solution with hardware acceleration of one-cycle-one-bin improves the decoding efficiency greatly compared with the above software-based decoding solution.

Decoding system and method based on context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding


An image transfer system includes a display (10), which has associated therewith a plurality of pixels formed by optical fiber ends (12) which provide the terminating end of a plurality of optical fibers disposed in a fiber optic bundle (14). The opposite end of the optical fibers in the fiber optic bundle (14) are disposed on a display module (16), which is operable to generate a transferred image through the fiber optic bundle (14). Each of the optical fibers associated with the display module (16) have associated therewith a light emitting diode (LED) (20). Each of the LEDs (20) are operable to directly drive each of the associated optical fibers. The LEDs (20) are arranged in a display array (30) and are controlled to generate information associated with a given pixel. The optical fiber ends (12) are fabricated with a tapered configuration such that the end of each of the associated optical fibers tapers from a narrow dimension to a wider diameter, this being a linear taper on the end thereof. This provides an expansion of the optical fiber along its length.

Display technology has evolved from the original TV cathode ray tube, which utilizes a phosphorescent screen over which a stream of electrons is directed to cause changes in the optical properties thereof, to liquid crystal (LCD) displays which allow the implementation of flat screen displays. Another kind of display, image transfer display, has been utilized to realize large format displays, such as billboards and the such. One common aspect of the latest technology is the conversion of the image to individual picture elements (pixel) and the mapping of these pixels onto a display surface.
The image transfer displays have generally utilized fiber optic bundles to pick up an image in one plane and transfer that image to another plane. However, one disadvantage to this type of display is that it is merely an image transfer display and requires the image to be projected onto the first plane with sufficient intensity to propagate through the fibers and onto a larger display. The larger display achieves its size increase through a number of different techniques. One is the use of a lens at the exit end of the fiber optic cable and another utilizes a slanted fiber optic cable. This slanted fiber optic cable increases the overall surface area as compared to the input of the cable. This type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,730, issued Sep. 27, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,280, issued Mar. 17, 1987 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,530, issued Sep. 19, 1989, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Fiber optic display with direct driven optical fibers


Polysuccinimide of varying molecular weight has been prepared in a solvent system by heat polymerization of aspartic acid. The solvent system includes a sulfur oxygen acid and a sulfur oxygen acid salt. In a preferred embodiment, aspartic acid is polymerized in a liquid solvent reaction mixture at a temperature in the range of about 110.degree. C. to about 320.degree. C.

Polyanhydroaspartic acid (also known as polysuccinimide) is the key commercial precursor to polyaspartic acid, an increasingly important biodegradable water soluble polymer. The chemistry and process fundamentals of polysuccinimide by the thermal condensation polymerization of aspartic acid are well established in the patent and journal literature. Illustrations are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,597, to Koskan and U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,010 and No. 5,221,733 to Koskan et al. The weight average molecular weights obtained by thermal condensation of aspartic acid by these methods are usually about 5000.
No commercial processes employing phosphoric acid based additives to prepare relatively low weight average molecular weight polysuccinimide exist for several reasons. First, the cost of the reactants, phosphoric acid and its anhydride, are relatively high. Second, waste streams containing phosphate salts are damaging to the environment because phosphorous promotes algae blooms in lakes and rivers which in turn deplete the level of oxygen necessary to sustain marine life.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,434 to Batzel et al. describes an unstirrable, highly viscous, thin layer melt process for the production of polysuccinimide with the concomitant release of water vapor. However, this particular process requires post-synthetic treatment of the product which adds to the overall cost of production. The post-synthetic treatment includes the additional steps of collecting and crushing the porous solid succinimide then extracting the sulfuric acid and salts contained within by numerous washing steps followed by drying of the product.
The present invention provides an economical, ecologically tolerable, and phosphoric acid free solvent system manufacturing process for preparing relatively low weight average molecular weight polysuccinimide in the range of about 1000 to 5000 Mw.

Production of polysuccinimide and derivatives thereof in a sulfur-containing solvent


The present invention is a surgical instrument for use with a viewing system and, if desired, an irrigation fluid supply system. The surgical instrument can be readily assembled and includes an elongated shaft and a flexible endoscope or optical assembly that can be readily and removably secured along substantially the entire length of the shaft by a mounting tube or other mounting means.

Instruments having endoscopic or optical assemblies have been extensively used by surgeons to provide an internal view of an organ, body passage or lumen of a patient during a surgical procedure. Such instruments usually include working elements, such as forceps, scissors, probes and the like, to enable the surgeon to manipulate body tissue during the surgical procedure. Such instruments have been used in a wide range of surgical and microsurgical procedures including, for example, operations on small intracranial vessels, extirpation on small pituitary adenomas, low-risk clipping of intracranial aneurysms, removal of extensive pituitary adenomas with conservation of the infundibulum and the small hypothalamic vessels as well as the preservation of the facial nerve, and preservation of the cochlear nerve in connection with extirpation of acoustic neuromas.
There are, however, drawbacks associated with the use of surgical instruments having endoscopic assemblies. For example, the endoscopes tend to interfere with the surgical procedure and affect the control and tactile feel imparted by the instrument to the surgeon. Additionally, the endoscope may be difficult to remove or replace, and, as a result, the surgical instrument may have a limited life and may be difficult and costly to sterilize.
For example, surgical instruments have been used that include endoscopes having channels that receive the surgical tools. Such instruments tend to be large and difficult to work with, however. The instruments are difficult to control and the tactile feel of the tools is significantly affected by the endoscopes.
Surgical instruments that have the endoscopes mounted within the shaft of the instrument often tend to be relatively large in diameter which limits their use. Since the endoscope cannot be removed, the entire instrument must be replaced if the endoscope becomes damaged. Also, it is likely that the instrument cannot be heat sterilized since endoscopes can be damaged by exposure to heat.
Those surgical instruments that include an endoscope attached to the exterior of the shaft of the instrument tend to be awkward because the endoscopes protrude from the shaft of the instrument and tend to interfere with the surgical procedure and limit the surgeon's ability to move or twist the instrument during surgery. Also, because precise alignment is required between the endoscope and the working element, the endoscope cannot be replaced quickly and easily if it becomes damaged or if the instrument is being heat sterilized.
Additionally, rigid endoscopes are often used which are difficult to work with and expensive to manufacture because the instruments require precise alignment of the endoscope. Since surgical instruments with rigid endoscopes cannot be bent, they also limit the surgeon's ability to gain access to many areas of the body to be worked on.
Although it is known to use flexible endoscopes to enable access to parts of the body that are not accessible with rigid instruments, it often is difficult to position the working end of the instrument due to the construction of the device. A surgical instrument having a distal end that cannot be precisely maneuvered tends to interrupt a surgeon's tactile feel and ability to control the working element of the instrument and the tissue being manipulated.
For many of the same reasons described above, surgical instruments having irrigation systems also have limitations. Irrigation systems tend to interfere with the surgical procedure and affect the control and tactile feel of surgical instruments because they tend to protrude from the instrument and impose forces on the instruments.
Accordingly, what is needed is a surgical instrument having an optical assembly that does not interfere with the surgical procedure and does not substantially affect the control and tactile feel of the instrument. Such an instrument should provide improved viewing of the surgical procedure. The optical assembly should also preferably be readily and removably secured to a shaft of the instrument so that the instrument can be assembled readily and easily and so that the optical assembly can be removed or replaced readily and easily. The optical assembly also should be flexible to facilitate quick and easy assembly, even if the handle of the instrument is offset relative to the shaft or if the shaft is curved. The device should also be small in cross section to provide for easy access to the tissue and improved tactile feel. Desirably, the device also should preferably include a convenient irrigation means for providing an irrigation fluid to the surgical area. The present invention meets these desires.

Surgical instrument for use with a viewing system


An apparatus for controlling a storage system having a data replication function, comprises: a storage array component being operable to send notification to a replication engine that a write of data to a primary storage location by a host is subject to data replication; the replication engine being operable to receive the notification and in response to instruct the storage array to copy the data to a secondary storage location; wherein the data is copied to the secondary storage location unmediated by the replication engine.

One of the important services provided by modern storage controller products is a copy services solution. Copy services include, but are not limited to, remote copy, point in time copy, and continuous data protection (CDP). These copy services are today typically implemented inside storage controllers as an integral part of the storage controller microcode. Recently, though, a new approach has emerged in the industry whereby copy services are implemented in an appliance which will here be called a "Replication Engine", rather than inside a storage controller.
All the above copy services, or replication, functions rely on "writes" of the protected data being "split". What this means is that the copy services appliance receives a notification that a write is ongoing synchronously with the write being performed to the storage controller.
In systems according to the prior art there are, broadly speaking, two distinct implementations of this splitter technology. These arrangements are shown in FIG. 1. Firstly there is the technique of using a splitter implemented in the fabric. This is shown on the left-hand side of FIG. 1, where host 100 is connected to SAN fabric 104, and SAN-based splitter 116 performs primary I/O to physical storage 106. SAN-based splitter 116 also directs I/O to replication engine 110, in which the copy services component 112 resides and performs copy services. The second technique is to implement a splitter in the host software stack, such as the device driver. The host operating system's logical volume manager (LVM) can also be used for this function. This arrangement is shown on the right-hand side of FIG. 1, where splitter 114 is connected to host 102 above the fabric level 104. In each of these implementations, the write data is sent from the splitter to the replication engine.
The disadvantages of all these schemes are:
1. Multiple different implementations are required to cover all host types and switch types.
2. Splitting in the host consumes host CPU MIPS and doubles write bandwidth requirement on the host to switch links.
3. Hosts and switches typically do not have access to non volatile memory. This means that it is hard for the hosts to reliably keep track of the state of in-flight writes, forcing design compromises which either impact performance, robustness or the speed at which the solution can recover from loss of power.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/840,179 discloses a technique that permits implementation of a generic splitting protocol inside the Storage controller rather than in the host or in the storage area network (SAN). This protocol provides the infrastructure to build a common Copy Function across several different Storage Controllers. The interface is intended to be a simple interface that makes it possible to connect storage arrays (SA) to replication engines (RE) and to each other and allow new replication functions to be more rapidly deployed. This implementation relies on the use of a protocol in which each write command received by the splitter is duplicated and sent in parallel to both the primary storage and also to the replication engine. The replication engine has some storage, usually (but not required to be) provided by the same storage array that contains the splitter. The RE uses this as a "repository" to implement its copy services. This repository will typically contain the data that has been written to the primary disks, together possibly with older copies of the data which was on the primary disks at some time in the past, together with metadata. In this protocol, the commands used transfer both control information and the data that was received from the host. The expected implementation of a replication engine is that it will not include disk storage but will instead use storage LUNs that are provided by the storage array. Thus the data flow for a simple write which the RE just needs to store one copy of in its repository is: Host→storage controller→Replication Engine→storage controller→disks (repository storage). Of course in reality, the RE will probably need to associate some metadata with the data and may also need to copy data from one place in its repository to another place in the repository. It may also need to copy data between the primary disks and the repository.
Such an arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 2, in which are additionally illustrated a storage appliance 200 having a splitter 202 and a storage virtualization controller 204 having a splitter 206.
The data flow for a split write according to all of these implementations of the prior art may be shown in simplified form as illustrated in FIG. 3, in a which a host 300 writes data at flow 1 to storage array 302. Storage array 302 flows the data to the primary physical storage 306 at flow 2 and to replication engine 304 at flow 3. Replication engine 304 adds metadata and flows the data and metadata to the storage array 302 at flow 4, and storage array 302 flows the data to the secondary physical storage 308 at flow 5.
Flowing the data through the RE has the following disadvantages:                The data has to make at least an extra two passes across the network and across the busses that connect the Storage array memory to the network. This limits the bandwidth that can be achieved by the solution for any given hardware platform.        If the storage controller implements a data format including check-bytes for data integrity checking then either the RE has to participate in the scheme or the data is unprotected in this part of the data flow.
It would thus be desirable to have an improved technology for managing storage systems having storage copy services.

Apparatus and method for managing storage copy services systems

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) has an algorithm for executing a method for diagnosing a high-voltage (HV) fault condition aboard the HEV. The HEV includes a high-voltage (HV) battery, an auxiliary power module (APM), a power inverter module (PIM), and a three-phase motor/generator unit (MGU). A controller executes the method to thereby measure a DC output current from the HV battery, a DC inlet current into the APM, and a pair of AC phase currents in the MGU. The method further includes calculating a DC inlet current into the PIM using the AC phase currents, diagnosing the HV fault condition using the DC output currents and the DC inlet currents, and executing a control action in response to the diagnosed condition. The method can include shutting off the APM to determine whether the APM is the root cause of the HV fault condition.

In a three-phase permanent magnet and induction-type motor, an application of a three-phase alternating current (AC) voltage to the stator windings induces a changing magnetic field around the rotor, with the force of an opposing magnetic field, whether induced or generated by a set of permanent magnets, causing a rotor shaft to rotate. Torque provided by the rotor shaft then can be harnessed and directed as needed for performing useful mechanical work within a system. For example, the rotor shaft can drive a belted alternator starter (BAS) system of a mild hybrid electric vehicle to enable rapid restart of the HEV after an Auto Stop event. Likewise, the rotor shaft can be selectively connected to a transmission shaft in a full hybrid design to electrically propel the vehicle.
To ensure proper functioning of the various components of a motor control circuit aboard the HEV, such as the electrical motor or motor/generator unit (MGU), an auxiliary power module (APM), and a power inverter module (PIM), a phase current sensor is ordinarily positioned within the MGU to directly measure each of the three phase currents transmitted to the MGU from the PIM. An electronic control unit or controller in communication with each of the three-phase current sensors can determine a phase current error by adding the various phase currents together and setting a diagnostic failure condition when the sum exceeds a zero value or a near-zero calibrated threshold. Such methods may be less than optimal for certain purposes, including the use of three different phase current sensors within the motor control circuit.

Method and apparatus for diagnosing a motor control circuit in a hybrid vehicle


Methods and arrangements of data communications are discussed. Embodiments include transformations, code, state machines or other logic to provide data communications. An embodiment may involve receiving from a protocol stack a request for a buffer to hold data. The data may consist of all or part of a payload of a packet. The embodiment may also involve allocating space in a buffer for the data and for a header of a packet. The protocol stack may store the data in a portion of the buffer and hand down the buffer to a network device driver. The embodiment may also involve the network device driver transferring the entire packet from the buffer to a communications adapter in a single direct memory access (DMA) operation.

Data to be transmitted over a network typically is sent from an application to the protocol stack, a series of programs to transform the data into accordance with the standards for network transmissions. The data may be transformed into packets—small portions of the data with added headers. The protocol stack may turn over the packets to a network device driver. It, in turn, may transfer the packets to a communications adapter, a device providing an interface between a computing device and a communications link such as Ethernet cable.
A packet handed down to a network device driver by the protocol stack is typically composed of several linked buffers. These buffers include one or more header buffers, containing the network layer headers, and one or more payload buffers containing user data. To send a packet from the network device driver to the network adapter by direct memory access (DMA), the network device driver may either dynamically DMA map all the buffers or copy all the buffer pieces into a pre-mapped DMA buffer.
FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart 400 of a prior-art method of transferring a packet from a protocol stack 405 to a network device driver 415, and from the network device driver 415 to a communications adapter 465. The protocol stack 405 requests from the network device driver 415 an interface-specific buffer (ISB), a form of pre-mapped DMA buffer (element 410). The network device driver 415 then returns an ISB (ISB 420) to the protocol stack 405. The protocol stack 405 then hands down the packet to the network device driver 415 (element 425). The packet is stored in two linked buffers, a non-ISB buffer 430 to store the header and the mapped ISB buffer 420. The network device driver 415 copies the header to mapped buffer 445 (element 440). Then, in separate operations, mapped buffer 445 and mapped ISB buffer 420 are DMAed to the communications adapter 465 (elements 455 and 460, respectively).

Single DMA transfers from device drivers to network adapters

International Business Machines Corporation


An intermediate transfer material, for use in an image forming apparatus in which a toner image on an electrostatic latent image carrier is transferred onto the intermediate transfer material and the toner image on the intermediate transfer material is further transferred onto a final transfer material, wherein the intermediate transfer material comprises a substrate layer having thereon a surface layer, and the surface layer comprising a cured (meth)acrylic resin. There are also disclosed an image forming method by use of the intermediate transfer material and an image forming apparatus by use of the image forming method.

Recently, there have been brought into practical use image forming apparatuses of an electrophotographic system which enable copying or printing full-color images. A secondary transfer system using an intermediate transfer material is advantageous as a transfer system of full-color images onto transfer material, in terms of paper-free copying and full copying feasibility and is broadly used.
The secondary transfer system using an intermediate transfer material is a system in which the respective color images of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (Bk) which are successively formed on an electrostatic latent image carrier are transferred onto an intermediate transfer material and superposed after which a transferred full-color toner image is transferred in one transfer operation onto a final transfer material, and is also called a intermediate transfer system.
Thermoplastic resins such as polyimide resin or polyamide resin, used in intermediate transfer materials have not been capable to achieve sufficient secondary transferability, specifically in an atmosphere of high temperature and high humidity. To overcome the foregoing problem, there was attempted a process by using an intermediate transfer material of a multilayer structure. Specifically, there was studied reduction of the surface energy of a surface layer. However, enhancement of the secondary transfer rate resulted in lowering of abrasion resistance and sufficient improvement was not achieved, as described in JP-A Nos. 2003-330216, 2004-21188, 2004-4504 and 2005-99182 (hereinafter, the term JP-A refers to Japanese Patent Application Publication).

Intermediate transfer material, image forming method and image forming apparatus

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


Upon extraction of a human figure region in an image, a face or facial part is detected in the image, and an estimated region which is estimated to include the human figure region is determined from position information of the detected face or facial part. The human figure region is extracted in the estimated region. Judgment is made as to whether at least a portion of the human figure region exists in an outline periphery region of the estimated region, and the estimated region is extended and updated so as to include a near outer region near the human figure region in the outline periphery region and outside the estimated region, in the case where a result of the judgment is affirmative. The human figure region is extracted in the extended and updated estimated region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for extracting a human figure region in an image. The present invention also relates to a program that causes a computer to execute the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
For image editing such as image classification, automatic trimming, and electronic photo album generation, extraction of human figure regions and recognition of poses in images are expected. As a method of extraction of human figure regions by separation from backgrounds in images, a method described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-339363 has been known, for example. In this method, a person is photographed with a predetermined specific background, and a human figure region is cut out from the background based on the difference in colors therebetween.
In addition to the method using a predetermined background setting as has been described above, a method of separating a human figure region from any arbitrary background in an image by advance manual input of information on a portion of the human figure region and the background has been proposed in Y. Boykov and M. Jolly, "Interactive Graph Cuts for Optimal Boundary & Region Segmentation of Objects in N-D Images", Proc. of Int. Conf. on Computer Vision, Vol. I, pp. 105-112, 2001. This method, which adopts advance specification of a portion of human figure region and background, has been used mainly for interactive cutting.
Furthermore, an automatic human figure region extraction method has been proposed in G. Mori et al., "Recovering Human Body Configurations: Combining Segmentation and Recognition", CVPR, pp. 1-8, 2004. In this method, a whole image is subjected to region segmentation processing and judgment is made on each region as to whether the region is a portion of a human figure region based on characteristics such as the shape, the color, and texture thereof. An assembly of the regions having been judged to be the portions is automatically extracted as a human figure region.
However, in this method of human figure region extraction using the characteristics of respective regions generated through segmentation, human figure regions cannot be extracted correctly in the case where a degree of segmentation is not appropriate for human figure extraction such as cases where regions generated through segmentation are too small for accurate judgment of portions of human figure regions, or too large and include background regions as well. Therefore, the accuracy of human figure region extraction is strongly affected by the degree of segmentation in this method.

Method, apparatus, and program for human figure region extraction


A hair cleansing composition contains (a), (b), and (c). Component (a), as particles having mean particle size of 0.5-50 μm, is a polyalkyleneimine derivative or a salt thereof, having weight average molecular weight of 3,300-50,000, with at least one of R1—CO—, R2—(CH2)n—CHX—CH2—, and R3—NH—CO— bonded to 40 mol % or more of the N atoms of the polyalkyleneimine. In (a), R1 represents H, alkyl, alkenyl, or the like; R2 represents H, alkyl, alkoxy, alkenyl, or the like; n is 0 or 1; X represents H or OH; R3 represents H, alkyl, or alkenyl; at least one of R1 to R3 has 13 or more carbon atoms, and the entirety of R1 to R3 has an average number of carbon atoms of 9 or more and a linear group content of 30 mol % or more. Component (b) is an anionic surfactant. Component (c) is a water-soluble cationic polymer.

One of the common troubles in relation to the hair style is poor voluminous sensation of hair (hereinafter may be referred to as volume of hair). Complaints of such poor hair volume are generally heard from people who have thin hair or thin hair filaments. Thinning of hair or hair filaments aggravates with aging, and increases frequent use of a hair dye, which is generally applied to hair roots. Under such circumstances, people who are troubled with poor hair volume generally suffer from thinning of hair or hair filaments, as well as hair damage due to a chemical treatment; i.e., hydrophilization of the hair surface.
Poor hair volume is primarily caused by adhesion of hair to the scalp, which reduces rise of hair roots at the scalp. Such reduction of rise of hair roots is caused by hydrophilization of the hair surface due to a chemical treatment, as well as by thinning of hair or hair filaments, which reduces elasticity of hair. In other words, when the hair surface has been hydrophilized, difficulty is encountered in removal of water from hair tresses after towel drying, thereby increasing the time required for drying. In this case, people fail to have a stable hair style with a natural stream of healthy hair.
Hitherto, the volume of hair has been enhanced by, for example, semi-permanently modifying the hair style through permanent waving, or use of a styling product for keeping the hair style through modifying the interaction between hair fibers. In fact, these techniques increase the volume of hair. However, the former technique may cause hair damage, and the latter technique may provide unnatural hair sensation such as stickiness of hair or adhesion of hair filaments.
Meanwhile, a hair conditioning product such as a hair conditioner can increase the volume of hair by virtue of its base residing on hair surfaces. However, on a global basis, in some areas where many people having thin hair filaments desire to increase the hair volume, such a hair conditioner is not used very often. Therefore, it is considerably important to impart a function of increasing the volume of hair to a hair cleansing composition which can be routinely used.
Hitherto, some efforts have been made to impart a volume-increasing property to a hair cleansing composition. Patent Document 1 discloses a hair cleansing composition for increasing the hair volume containing a cationic polymer, a collagen derivative, and a polysiloxane in combination. Patent Document 2 discloses a hair wash containing elastic solid particles which can more effectively remain on the hair surface via coacervation. Besides techniques employing a hair cleansing composition, Patent Document 3 proposes a hair cosmetic composition which can promote drying of hair. The proposed cosmetic composition can enhance the speed of evaporation of water attached to hair by the mediation of co-boiling of lower alcohol and water, and can disentangle wet hair by means of spherical powder particles.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


To provide a bright, high-image-quality image display apparatus, in an overlap scanning mode in which two scan-wiring lines are selected simultaneously in each horizontal scanning period, high-frequency emphasis filtering is performed on a video signal so that a gain at a spatial frequency corresponding to ½ of a vertical critical resolution is within the range of 0 dB to +6 dB. It is even preferable that a gain of this high-frequency emphasis filtering at a spatial frequency corresponding to 7/10 of the vertical critical resolution be higher than or equal to +3 dB. For example, this high-frequency emphasis filtering can be implemented by a 3-tap FIR filter having filter coefficients (h1, h2, h3)=(−x/2, 1+x, −x/2).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image signal processing apparatus and method and an image display apparatus and method. In particular, the invention is suitably applied to various display apparatus such as EL displays, plasma displays, and electron beam emission type fluorescent displays.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 15 shows the configuration of a conventional display apparatus, more specifically, a spontaneous light emission type image display apparatus having pixels each being a combination of an electron-emitting element and a light emitter (phosphor) that emits light as it receives electrons from the electron-emitting element.
The conventional display apparatus is mainly composed of a display panel 1, a scanning driving unit 2, a modulation driving unit 3, a sync separation unit 4, an AD converter 5, a control unit 6, and an image processing unit 7. The control unit 6 is a microcomputer, a logic circuit, or the like.
The display panel 1 displays an image using surface conduction electron-emitting elements. Row scan-wiring lines Dx1–Dxm and column modulation lines Dy1–Dyn are arranged in matrix form, and electron-emitting elements (not shown) are located at their crossing points. As such, the display panel 1 is equipped with m-row/n-column electron-emitting elements. Each electron-emitting element, which emits electrons while a current flows through it, has a nonlinear characteristic as shown in FIG. 16. For example, whereas electrons are emitted when a voltage 16 V is applied to the element, almost no electrons are emitted when a voltage 8 V is applied to it. Emitted electrons are accelerated by an accelerating means (not shown) and collide with a phosphor screen (not shown) to cause light emission. That is, although the element emits light when supplied with 16 V, it does not emit light when supplied with 8 V, that is, a half of the former voltage. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, this enables passive matrix driving.
The scanning driving unit 2 is composed of changeover switches 22, a selection potential generation unit 23, and a non-selection potential generation unit 24.
The modulation driving unit 3 is composed of a shift register 31, a latch 32, a pulse width modulation circuit 33, and a drive amplifier 34.
Reference symbol S1 denotes an analog video signal that is input to the apparatus. Reference symbol S2 denotes a sync signal that is separated from the analog video signal S1. Reference symbol S3 denotes a digital video signal obtained by sampling the analog video signal S1 with the AD converter 5. Reference symbol S4 denotes a display signal obtained by performing image processing on the digital video signal obtained S3. Reference symbol S5 denotes a conversion timing signal that is supplied to the AD converter 5. Reference symbol S6 denotes an image processing control signal to be used for controlling the signal processing unit 7. Reference symbol S7 denotes a video clock signal to be used for controlling the operation of the shift register 31. Reference symbol S8 denotes a modulation control signal to be used for controlling the operation of the modulation driving unit 3. Reference symbol S9 denotes a PWM clock as a reference of operation of the pulse width modulation circuit 33. Reference symbol S10 denotes a scanning control signal to be used for controlling the operation of the scanning driving unit 2.
The sync signal S2 that is extracted by the sync separation unit 4 from the analog video signal S1 that is input to the apparatus is input to the control unit 6.
The control unit 6 generates the control signals S5–S10 on the basis of the sync signal S2.
The AD converter 5 samples the analog video signal S1 according to the conversion timing signal S5 and outputs the digital video signal S3.
The image processing unit 7 input the digital video signal S3 performs image processing such as image adjustments and a resolution conversion on the digital video signal S3, and outputs the display signal S4.
The operation that the scanning driving unit 2 and the modulation driving unit 3 drive the display panel 1 will be described below. FIG. 18 shows timing of this operation.
In the modulation driving unit 3, data of the display signal S4 are sequentially input to the shift register 13 in synchronism with the video clock signal S7 and display data are held by the latch 14 in response to a LOAD signal of the modulation control signal S8. The pulse width modulation circuit 33 generates pulse signals whose lengths correspond to the data that are held by the latch 32 using the PWM clock S9 as a reference in response to a START signal of the modulation control signal S8. The voltage of the pulse signals is amplified to Vm by the drive amplifier 34 and the modulation lines Dy1–Dyn of the display panel 1 are driven by the amplified pulse signals.
With the above operation, the content of the input video signal S1 is displayed on the display panel 1.

Image signal processing apparatus and method and image display apparatus and method


Described is a method of decreasing the weight in mammals to a desired level comprising orally administering thereto an effective weight reducing amount of a non-toxic anion exchange resin containing composition for a desired period of time to achieve a desired weight reduction. Compositions useful for reducing weight in patients contain an anion exchange resin such as cholestyramine, colestipol or polidexide, with bran and optionally, artificial sweeteners and flavors.

Ion exchange resins are used for various therapeutic purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,923 describes the use of cholestyramine, colestipol and polidexide as bile acid sequestrants and cholesterol lowering agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,501 teaches the use of a pharmaceutical composition for oral usage endowed with sequestering activity for the biliary acids containing cholestyramine as its active principle further containing at least one anti-microbial agent, one suspending agent and one coating agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,288 teaches a drug delivery system designed to be chewed or swallowed comprising cholestyramine, a hydrophobic matrix containing an emulsifier and an edible material, a glyceride and a coating material effective to delay hydration until ingested. The coating material forms a protective barrier effective to prevent the unpleasant taste perception for the cholestyramine material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,991 teaches an ingestible aggregate containing a dietary fiber and a drug that is an anti-cholesterol agent such as cholestyramine.
European patent application No. 332,600 teaches a combination of cholestyramine and sorbic acid. European patent application 320,519 teaches the use of corn syrup or sucrose syrup to assist in eliminating the fishy odor of cholestyramine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,255 teaches the use of an improved taste when aspartame is used as a sweetener.
Chewable delivery systems for cholestyramine are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,676
None of the references teach a method of decreasing weight in mammals by the use of an effective weight reducing amount of an anion exchange resin such as cholestyramine, colestipol or polidexide, particularly when combined with bulking agents and/or artificial sweetening agents and flavors.