A process is disclosed for the purification of natural gas in which the reduction of the nitrogen content of a natural gas stream is achieved by a combination of absorption, purification, flashing, and reflux steps. More specifically, the process achieves the rejection of inert components such as nitrogen from hydrocarbon gas streams without operating in the cryogenic temperature range. The process uses a lean solvent to absorb the non-rejected components in a recovery zone of an absorber and uses a cooled light gas stream to purify the rich solvent in a purification zone of the absorber. The process can be employed to reject hydrogen and recover C.sub.3 +hydrocarbons from a dehydrogenation reaction zone integrated with an etherification zone for the production of ethers to improve recovery and lower operating costs.

Processes for removing light components such as hydrogen or nitrogen, or other light components from a hydrocarbon gas mixture represent a problem in petroleum processing. Typically, the hydrocarbon gas mixture is a refining off-gas or a natural gas and the presence of the light components in the mixture limit further processing, or prevent sales of the gas mixture without the removal of the light components. Often these light components include hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, helium, argon, and mixtures thereof. A wide variety of hydrocarbon gas mixtures are found in petroleum refineries. Some streams are integral parts of specific processes. Often these streams are recycled from a fractionation column or a separator to a reactor. One such recycle stream may be an impure hydrogen stream which must be purified before returning the stream to the reactor. Other of these streams may be by-product streams of a major hydrocarbon conversion process such as a fluid catalytic cracking unit or an ethylene plant. Processes available for the rejection of the light components from these gas mixtures can employ solvent absorption, cryogenic separation, adsorption over molecular sieve adsorbents, or membrane separation. The choice of a suitable process depends upon many factors, some of which are the product purity that is desired, the gas recovery levels, available pressure losses, pretreatment requirements, off-gas composition, impact of reaction products remaining in the light component stream, and the turndown capability of the selected process.
When natural gas is produced from a gas well or is recovered as associated gas from an oil well, the natural gas contains a number of light components which can reduce its heating value. Typically, a natural gas stream comprises nitrogen, methane, ethane, carbon dioxide, inerts, and C.sub.3.sup.+ hydrocarbons. In order to improve the heat content of the product natural gas, the concentration of nitrogen and other inerts must be reduced. This reduction of inerts is often required to meet the quality specifications of pipeline companies that transport natural gas from a well head or natural gas processing plant to the consumer. Typically the natural gas must meet the following specifications:
Heat Content--900 to 1000 BTU PA0 Total Inerts (N.sub.2 +CO.sub.2)--7 mol % maximum PA0 Nitrogen--4 mol % maximum
Actual pipeline specifications vary somewhat depending upon the producer's contract for price and quality. In general, a specification for a higher heating value requires a reduced amount of light components such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Typically, natural gas at the well head can contain between 3 and 60 mol % nitrogen, between 0.1 and 10 mol % ethane, between 0.1 and 20 mol % C.sub.3 +hydrocarbons and between 0.1 and 20 mol % CO.sub.2 with the balance being methane. Light components, of which nitrogen is typically the major component, must be removed from natural gas to improve the heat content of the gas and to meet pipeline specification.
Compositions of the raw gas and the amount of impurities that can be tolerated in the product generally determine the selection of the most suitable process for purification.
Cryogenic technology, which consists of several process variations, has traditionally been employed to separate nitrogen from natural' gas. The operating principle of the process entails partially or fully liquefying the high nitrogen content feedstream under pressure and at very low temperatures (e.g., as low as -185.degree. C. (-300.degree. F.)). Afterwards, the partially or fully condensed stream is fractionated in one or two columns, which operate in tandem at two different pressures, to separate the feedstream into a rejected nitrogen stream overhead and a high methane content product stream at the bottom. After heat exchanges with the incoming feedstream, the rejected nitrogen stream is used for gas field operation, vented to atmosphere or reused. The bottom nitrogen-depleted product stream is regasified via process heat exchanges, recompressed, and delivered to the battery limits as an upgraded sales gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,888 relates to the use of cryogenic technology in an integrated dual distillation system for rejecting nitrogen in concentrations as high as 75 mol % or more from gaseous methane in a distillation system employing a high pressure fractionator and a low pressure fractionator. The low pressure fractionator accepts a feed predominantly comprising liquid nitrogen under conditions to produce a high purity nitrogen overhead stream and a high purity methane bottom stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,651 relates to a process for the separation of a high pressure gas stream such as refining gas in which the starting gas mixture is cooled and separated into a first vapor portion and a first liquid portion which is expanded to an intermediate pressure. The first vapor portion is further cooled and separated into a second vapor portion which may be further processed for ultimate recovery of a methane-rich product gas. Refrigeration is recovered from the mixed intermediate pressure stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,120 relates to the cryogenic processing of a feed containing nitrogen and methane. The method is used in treating natural gas which is contaminated with nitrogen. An improved stripping column is provided in which the methane product is produced at a higher pressure than would otherwise be possible.
Other process options have used non-cryogenic routes which employ solvent extraction. U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,718 relates to a process for processing a natural gas, a thermal or catalytic cracking gas or refining off-gas to produce a methane-rich product, a nitrogen-rich product, a hydrogen-rich stream or an olefin-rich product therefrom by solvent extraction. The process further relates to extractive flashing and extractive stripping using selective physical solvents. The process employs a solvent to separate N.sub.2 from hydrocarbons by extraction (i.e., absorption) at moderate temperatures (ambient to -30.degree. F.) and under pressure. As an N.sub.2 -rich gas stream and a solvent stream come in intimate contact in a packed column, the solvent dissolves nearly all of the hydrocarbons and a small amount of N.sub.2 in the feed gas stream, leaving behind a rejected gaseous N.sub.2 stream that contains the major fraction of the N.sub.2 previously present in the feed stream and a small amount of unrecoverable hydrocarbons. The dissolved hydrocarbons are subsequently released from the rich solvent by successive pressure reductions. The gases that evolve from the pressure reductions are recompressed and recombined into an upgraded sales gas stream. The regenerated lean solvent stream is recycled to the absorber. After refrigeration recoveries, the rejected N.sub.2 stream is available at a relatively high pressure and can be used for field applications, vented to the atmosphere, or reused.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,371 relates to the recovery of hydrocarbons from natural gas containing acidic compounds and from 3-75 mol % nitrogen to provide up to three products: nitrogen-gas product, C.sub.1 -rich gas product, and a C.sub.2.sup.+ liquid product. The process extracts a natural gas stream with a physical solvent to produce a nitrogen stream and a methane-rich solvent stream. The methane-rich solvent stream is flashed to provide a stripped solvent stream and substantially all of the C.sub.1.sup.+ hydrocarbons as a stream of flashed-off-gases. The stripped solvent is recycled to the extraction step.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,074 relates to a process for purging nitrogen from natural gas by passing the gas through an absorption column at elevated pressure and contacting the gas with an absorbent consisting primarily of a poly alpha olefin. The non-absorbed gas consisting predominantly of nitrogen is passed out of the absorption column to waste or to recovery. The resulting rich absorbent is desorbed to obtain the desorbed light hydrocarbons and the lean absorbent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,143 relates to the use of a particular group of solvents including paraffins, naphthenes, C.sub.6 -C.sub.10 aromatic compounds and dialkyl ethers of polyalkylene glycol to contact the gas feed mixture in a demethanizing absorber with a reboiler operating between 50 to 400 psig and a temperature of +10.degree. to -40.degree. F. for the separation of ethylene and lighter hydrocarbons from the feed with a distillation column to regenerate the rich solvent. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,511,381 and 4,526,594 relate to the separation of natural gas from natural gas liquids with physical solvents. Natural gas liquids include hydrocarbons heavier than methane. The physical solvent used for the absorption step in U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,381 is described in terms of a solvent having a relative volatility of methane over ethane of at least 5.0 and a hydrocarbon loading capacity at least 0.25 standard cubic feet of ethane per gallon of solvent. The rich solvent stream is flashed and the gas fraction is compressed, cooled, and condensed to produce the natural gas liquids. U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,594 relates to the selective extraction of a stream of hydrocarbons that are heavier than methane from a natural gas stream with a physical solvent by selectively rejecting the consecutively lowest molecular weight portion of the extracted stream by the use of a second extraction step with a physical solvent to reject hydrocarbons heavier than methane, flashing the resulting rich solvent to separate the selected heavier hydrocarbons, and subsequently de-ethanizing the selected heavier hydrocarbons.
U.S. Pat No. 4,883,514 relates to a process for the removal of nitrogen from nitrogen-rich gases which contain more than 3 mol % nitrogen. The nitrogen-rich gas stream is contacted with a lean oil comprised of paraffins, aromatic or cyclohydrocarbons or mixtures thereof having molecular weight between 75 and 250 at temperature no lower than -40.degree.F. to produce a nitrogen stream as an overhead product and a bottoms methane-rich oil stream. The bottoms methane-rich oil stream is flashed to recover a methane-rich overhead gas product and a lean oil rich bottoms stream, and the lean oil stream is recycled to the absorption step. The patent teaches that the contacting or absorption may take place in a methane extraction column which includes a reboiler and is operable in an extractive stripping mode.
In the art of separation of light hydrocarbons from heavy hydrocarbons, there are a number of mass-transfer operations which can be employed to perform physical separation. The primary difference between the mass-transfer operations is the nature of the phases involved in the operation. In distillation, a vapor phase contacts a liquid phase, and mass is transferred both from the liquid to the vapor and from the vapor to the liquid. The liquid is at its bubble point and the vapor in equilibrium is at its dew point. Mass is transferred simultaneously from the liquid by vaporization and from the vapor by condensation. The net effect is the increase in concentration of the more volatile component in the vapor and an increase in concentration of the less volatile component in the liquid.
Gas absorption involves the transfer of a soluble component of a gas phase into a relatively nonvolatile liquid absorbent. The liquid absorbent is below its bubble point and the gas phase is well above its dew point. Unlike distillation, in gas absorption the liquid and the vapor phases usually do not contain all of the same components.
Stripping or desorption is the opposite of absorption. In desorption, the soluble gas is transferred from the liquid to the gas phase because the concentration in the liquid is greater than that in equilibrium with the gas, and the concentration driving force is opposite to that for absorption.
Generally, when a absorption section is combined with a stripping section to perform a hydrocarbon separation as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,976 in Col. 4, lines 40-68, a stripping medium which has been heated is passed countercurrently to an enriched solvent stream in the stripping section wherein the light component and a portion of the more soluble component is stripped from the enriched solvent. In other combinations of adsorption and stripping, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,108, the enriched solvent having the absorber is heated and passed to a separate stripper at a higher pressure wherein an absorbed light component is stripped from the solvent. Thus, in both of these examples, heat is added to the stripping section either by heating the enriched solvent or by heating the stripping medium to effectively remove the absorbed light component from the enriched solvent at the pressure of the absorption pressure or a pressure greater than the absorption pressure.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for the rejection of a light component from a hydrocarbon gas stream using noncryogenic absorption with a hydrocarbon solvent. It is a further object of this invention to provide a process for the rejection of a light component from hydrocarbons which can achieve hydrocarbon recoveries of greater than 90 mol % and provides lower compression requirements, lower capital investment, and lower solvent losses than previous technology.


Accelerated behavior change for upgrades in a distributed system is described herein. A method as described herein can include facilitating a file system upgrade of a first computing node of a computing cluster from a first file system version to a second file system version that is newer than the first file system version, wherein the file system upgrade comprises pre-restart operations and a system restart performed subsequent to the pre-restart operations; activating a supervisor system of the first computing node in response to the first computing node completing the file system upgrade; and causing, in response to the activating, the supervisor system of the first computing node to initiate concurrent performance of the pre-restart operations of the file system upgrade at second computing nodes of the computing cluster, distinct from the first computing node.

Software updates in a distributed computing system, such as file system or operating system update, can be performed as a rolling upgrade in which respective nodes of the distributed system are upgraded one at a time in sequence. A rolling upgrade can be desirable, for example, to minimize the number of nodes of the distributed system that are unavailable due to upgrades at any given time. Due to the rotating unavailability of system nodes during a rolling upgrade, operations associated with the upgrade can be coordinated via a supervisor system that is initiated at various nodes of the system over the course of the rolling upgrade process, e.g., such that the functionality of the supervisor system is moved from node to node during the rolling upgrade.

Accelerated behavior change for upgrades in distributed systems


An image-recording apparatus including a casing section that encases a light and heat sensitive recording material therein; an optical recording section that exposes to light a light and heat sensitive recording material fed from the casing section, and thereby records a latent image thereon; a thermal developing section that develops the latent image with heat; a moisture content-controlling section that controls moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material after exposure and before development; and an optical fixing section that fixes the developed image by irradiating it with light. The image-recording apparatus can be a completely dry system that is capable of forming good print images without producing waste materials such as image transfer sheets. By controlling moisture content of the recording material, problems such as mottling of images can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-recording apparatus, more precisely to an image-recording apparatus for recording an image on a light and heat sensitive recording material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional photo-recording systems such as, typically, those for silver photography, films such as negative or positive films are exposed to light to form images thereon, and then developed. The image information thus recorded on the developed films is optically printed on printing paper, which is then processed with a processing solution to obtain prints. Color negative films generally have a layer to be exposed to blue light to form a yellow color image thereon, a layer to be exposed to green light to form a magenta color image thereon, and a layer to be exposed to red light to form a cyan color image thereon. In a developing process, latent image-bearing silver halide grains in the film are reduced to silver while a developer used is oxidized, and the oxidized product is reacted with a coupler (coupling reaction) to form a color image. The non-developed silver halides and the developed silver are removed with a bleach-fixer in a bleach-fixing process that follows the developing process. Then, color printing paper is exposed to light through the resulting negative color image, and developed, bleached and fixed in the same manner as above to obtain a color print. Hence, most conventional photo-recording systems are wet systems that use processing solutions. Therefore, processing apparatuses are large, and processing costs are often high.
On the other hand, a simple and rapid method has been developed for processing silver halide photographic materials through thermal development. For this method, some systems are commercially available on the market, such as Fuji Photo Film""s Pictrography and Pictrostat. However, this method of thermal development requires a process of transferring dyes formed through thermal development onto an image-receiving material to give prints, and a drawback is that it produces waste material.
Given this situation, a mono-sheet type, light and heat sensitive recording material capable of forming a latent image thereon through exposure to light and capable of being processed by heat to develop the latent image is now attracting much attention in the art, with hopes of constructing a completely dry system for image formation that does not produce waste material. However, the light and heat sensitive recording material is still problematic in that it contains moisture and other volatile substances, and images printed thereon are often mottled because of the moisture and other volatile substances in the recording material. It is thought that moisture and the like in the recording material vaporize when the recording material is developed by heating, and locally adhere onto the recording surface of the material, whereby the thermal sensitivity of a moisture-adhered portion is lowered, which causes mottling of the printed image. This problem of mottling can be solved by prolonging the time for development, but this leads to another problem in that the image-recording system is not convenient.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide an image-recording apparatus for a completely dry system that is capable of forming good print images with no mottling and without producing waste materials.
To attain the object described above, the present invention provides an image-recording apparatus that includes: a casing section which encases a light and heat sensitive recording material; an optical recording section, downstream of the casing section, which exposes the light and heat sensitive recording material, which has been fed from the casing section, for recording a latent image; a thermal developing section, downstream of the optical recording section, which develops the latent image by heating; a moisture content-controlling section, upstream of the thermal developing section, which controls moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material after exposure; and an optical fixing section, downstream of the thermal developing section, which irradiates light for fixing a developed image.
In the apparatus of the present invention, a light and heat sensitive recording material is fed from the casing section to the optical recording section, in which it is exposed to light to thereby have the latent image recorded thereon. In the apparatus, the moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material is controlled in the moisture content-controlling section after exposure and before development, and the latent image formed on the recording material is thereafter developed by heating in the thermal developing section. Then, the developed image is irradiated with light in the optical fixing section and is thus fixed on the recording material. In this manner, the latent image formed on the recording material is thermally developed, and the thus-developed image is then optically fixed thereon through irradiation with light, and the process does not require a processing solution or an image-receiving member. Accordingly, in this image-recording apparatus, images can be recorded on recording materials with a completely dry system, and no waste materials are left after the process of image formation. In addition, in this apparatus, the moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material is controlled in the moisture content-controlling section after exposure and before development. Therefore, the moisture content of the recording material can, before the material is thermally developed, be controlled suitably so as to prevent uneven development. Because the recording material does not contain enough moisture to cause uneven development, the recording material can be uniformly developed by heating, to provide good images with no mottled printing thereon.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the moisture content-controlling section includes at least one of a heating device that heats the light and heat sensitive recording material and a moistening device that moistens the light and heat sensitive recording material.
Ordinary light and heat sensitive recording materials are free from the problem of uneven development in thermal development when moisture content thereof is low. For controlling the moisture content, therefore, these ordinary light and heat sensitive recording materials are heated by a heating device to remove moisture and thereby reduce the moisture content. However, some light and heat sensitive recording materials perform better when containing a certain amount of moisture. Therefore, for controlling the moisture content, these light and heat sensitive recording materials are moistened by a moistening device to give moisture and increase the moisture content. By using both a heating device and a moistening device, the moisture content of a light and heat sensitive recording material can be decreased or increased in any desired manner.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the moisture content-controlling section includes a moisture content-measuring device that measures the moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material for generating a measurement signal; and a moisture content-controlling device that controls the moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material by at least one of heating and moistening, on the basis of the measurement signal of the moisture content-measuring device.
In the moisture content-controlling section, the moisture content-measuring device is for measuring the moisture content of the exposed light and heat sensitive recording material; and the moisture content-controlling device is for controlling the moisture content of the recording material by heating and/or moistening the recording material on the basis of signals from the moisture content-measuring device. In this embodiment of the present invention, the moisture content-controlling device functions to control the moisture content of the exposed light and heat sensitive recording material on the basis of the signals from the moisture content-measuring device. Thus, the recording material is heated when the moisture content is high, and when its moisture content is low, the exposed light and heat sensitive recording material is not heated but may be moistened. Thus, the moisture content of the exposed light and heat sensitive recording material is well controlled before the recording material is developed by heating.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the exposed light and heat sensitive recording material is heated from a side thereof which is opposite to an exposure surface side thereof.
When the exposed light and heat sensitive recording material is heated, moisture is evaporated away through its exposed surface, which has recording layers and other layers thereon. Therefore, when the material is heated from the side opposite to the exposed surface, as in this embodiment, the moisture is more readily evaporated away. Accordingly, the moisture content-controlling treatment can be effected within a short period of time, and good print images can be efficiently obtained.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the moisture content-controlling device controls the moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material such that a measurement value from the moisture content-measuring device approaches a setting value.
A desired value of the moisture content of the light and heat sensitive recording material to be processed in the apparatus of the present invention is preset, and the moisture content of the recording material is, after exposure to light, controlled by the moisture content-controlling device such that the moisture content values measured by the moisture content-measuring device get closer to the desired value. For example, when a measured value is higher than this preset value, the recording material is heated, and when the measured value is lower than the preset value, the recording material is not heated.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus is equipped with an exhaust device that sucks and discharges vapors.
In this embodiment, vapors from the heated light and heat sensitive recording material are discharged through the exhaust section by suction, and are therefore prevented from staying in or condensing in the apparatus, and causing problems in the apparatus. Accordingly, the apparatus of this embodiment assures stable image formation.
The light and heat sensitive recording material to be processed in the image-recording apparatus of the present invention may contain a photo-curable composition. A recording material of this type is exposed to light that has passed through or been reflected by an image original, or is exposed to light through optical scanning of image data. Thus, the photo-curable composition in the recording material is photo-cured to form a latent image on the recording material. The recording material is then heated, and a color-forming or color-erasing component in a non-cured portion, depending on the latent image formed, moves inside the recording material to thereby form a color image. In addition, when the surface of the recording material is irradiated with light, the image formed is cured and fixed thereon, and any unnecessary coloring component is eliminated. This image-recording process is useful not only for recording black-and-white images but also for recording color images. The light and heat sensitive recording material of this type may have any of light and heat sensitive recording layers (a) to (f) mentioned below.
A photosensitive thermal layer (a) contains 1) thermally-responsive microcapsules which encapsulate a color-forming component A and, outside the microcapsules, 2) a photo-polymerizable composition which contains at least i) a compound B which is substantially colorless and has, within the same molecule, a polymerizable group and a site which reacts with the color-forming component A to form color, and ii) a photoinitiator.
A light and heat sensitive recording layer (b) contains 1) thermally-responsive microcapsules which encapsulate a color-forming component A and, outside the microcapsules, 2) a photo-polymerizable composition which contains at least i) a substantially colorless compound C which reacts with the color-forming component A to form color, ii) a photo-polymerizable compound D and iii) a photoinitiator.
A light and heat sensitive recording layer (c) contains 1) thermally-responsive microcapsules which encapsulate a color-forming component A and, outside the microcapsules, 2) a photo-polymerizable composition which includes at least i) a substantially colorless compound C which reacts with the color-forming component A to form color, ii) a photo-polymerizable compound Dp which has a site that suppresses the reaction of the color-forming component A with the compound C, and iii) a photoinitiator.
A light and heat sensitive recording layer (d) contains 1) thermally-responsive microcapsules which encapsulate a substantially colorless compound C which reacts with a color-forming component A to form color and, outside the microcapsules, 2) a photo-polymerizable composition which contains at least i) the color-forming component A, ii) a photo-polymerizable compound D and iii) a photoinitiator.
A photo-curable photosensitive thermal layer (e) includes an oxidant precursor E which is encapsulated in thermally-responsive microcapsules, an activator G which exists outside the thermally-responsive microcapsules and which reacts with the oxidant precursor E to generate an oxidant F, and a dye forming coupler H which couples to the oxidant F to generate a dye. By irradiation of light, an irradiated portion of the light and heat sensitive recording layer (e) is cured.
A light and heat sensitive recording layer (f) includes the oxidant precursor E outside thermally-responsive microcapsules, the activator G which is encapsulated in the thermally-responsive microcapsules and which reacts with the oxidant precursor E to generate the oxidant F, and the dye forming coupler H which couples to the oxidant F to form a dye. By irradiation of light, an irradiated portion is cured.


Provided is a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus capable of performing sheet feeding by electrostatic adsorption at a low noise with a simple configuration. A first outer nip conveying roller 201b and a second outer nip conveying roller 202b that nip an adsorbing member 200 supported in a state an inside is loose by a first inner nip conveying roller 201a and a second inner nip conveying roller 202b are provided.

An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer according to a related art includes a sheet feeding device that feeds a sheet, and as the sheet feeding device, there is a friction feed system in which a topmost sheet is separated and fed from a cassette on which a sheet bundle is loaded using frictional force of a rubber roller or the like. In the sheet feeding device of the friction feed system, the topmost sheet is fed by the rubber roller rotating while pressing the sheet bundle. Here, when a sheet is fed, multi-sheet feeding in which a plurality of sheets are conveyed by friction between sheets may occur. On the other hand, conveyance resistance works on the remaining sheets excluding the topmost sheet through a separating pad or a retard roller, and thus only the topmost sheet is fed to an image forming portion.
Meanwhile, in the sheet feeding device of the friction separation system, since the rubber roller feeds a sheet while applying great pressure to the sheet, noise generated by sliding friction between sheets or between the sheet and the rubber roller is problematic. In addition, when the multi-sheet feeding caused by the separating pad or the retard roller is prevented, sliding fricative between sheets is greatly generated. Further, since the separating pad or the retard roller serves as conveyance resistance of the topmost sheet even when the multi-sheet feeding does not occur, a sound is generated by stick slip between the separating pad or the retard roller and the sheet.
In this regard, as a technique of solving the problem, there is a sheet feeding device configured to separate and feed a sheet while adsorbing the sheet using electrostatic adsorption force, specifically, by an electric field formed on a belt surface (see Patent Literatures 1, 2, and 3). In the sheet feeding device of the electrostatic adsorption separation system, since it is possible to convey the topmost sheet as if the topmost sheet is peeled off from the sheet bundle, it is possible to significantly reduce noise generated in a feeding portion.

Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus


The capacitor 10 (laminated ceramic capacitor) of the invention comprises a capacitor body 11 wherein internal electrodes 12 (electrodes) and a dielectric layer 14 are alternately laminated, and external electrodes 15 are provided on the end faces thereof. The dielectric layer 14 has a site containing particles of a dielectric material which is formed of only one of these particles in its thickness direction. Regions 24 comprising at least one element selected from a group comprising Si, Li and B are scattered between the internal electrodes 12 and dielectric layer 14.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminated ceramic capacitor.
2. Related Background of the Invention
A laminated ceramic capacitor generally has a structure wherein a dielectric layer of a ceramic material and an internal electrode are laminated alternately. In recent years, a demand has emerged for a small laminated ceramic capacitor having a large electrostatic capacitance. In order to satisfy this demand, in laminated ceramic capacitors, the dielectric layer is being made thinner, and the number of laminated layers is increasing.
In one example of such a laminated ceramic capacitor known in the art, the dielectric layer has a structure formed only of single ceramic material particles, i.e., a one layer-one particle structure (e.g., JP-B No. 3370933).


The LCD device includes a pixel circuit and a driving circuit. The pixel circuit comprises thin film transistors serving for driving pixels of the LCD The driving circuit is coupled to the pixel circuit, generating a driving signal for driving the transistors. The gate terminal driving signal of the pixel transistors has a high state and a low state, and the threshold voltage of the transistor is set at a level at zero volt, or depending on whether the transistor is n-type or p-type, between zero volt and the low or high states of the gate terminal driving signal, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), more particularly to a low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) LCD.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer, communication and consumer products have become the main trend of high technology. Portable electronic devices are also the essential products of development. Of course, displays are also included. Today, the displays include: Plasma Display Panel (PDP), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Electro-luminescent Display, Light Emitting Diode Display, Vacuum Fluorescent Display, Field Emission Display (FED) and Electro-chromic Display. Compared with these displays, the low temperature poly-silicon LCD, however, has advantages of high resolution, low power consumption, easy manufacturing process, low costs, low operational temperature, etc. It has potential application and can become the main trend for the next generation displays.
Referring to FIG. 1, it is a timing chart of the low temperature polysilicon LCD in the prior art. When the gate terminal driving signals Vg is in low state, the data signal Vdata cannot be applied thereto. When the gate terminal driving signals Vg is in high state at T1, the data signal Vdata can be applied thereto. The pixel voltage Vpixel arises. When the gate terminal driving signals Vg is down to low state at T2, the data signal Vdata also be turned off and the pixel voltage Vpixel charges the capacitor and keeps thereat for turning on the pixel. When the power is disconnected at T3, the gate terminal driving signals Vg and the data signal Vdata suddenly drop to 0V. Because the NMOS thin film transistors have been turned off, the charges stored in the capacitor can not be discharged immediately. Therefore, remaining images will exist on the LCD for tens of seconds to several minutes.
Referring to FIG. 2, an I-V curve of the NMOS thin film transistor of the low temperature poly-silicon LCD panel in prior art is shown. The gate terminal driving signals Vg has a high state Vgh and a low state Vgl. Because the threshold voltage of the NMOS thin film transistors and the voltage of the driving circuit are both higher than 0V, the remaining images exist. Therefore, when the gate terminal driving signals Vg is down to 0V, the NMOS thin film transistors are turned off and the pixel voltage Vpixel cannot be discharged immediately.


Embodiments disclosed herein provide a high performance content delivery system in which versions of content are cached for servicing web site requests containing the same uniform resource locator (URL). When a page is cached, certain metadata is also stored along with the page. That metadata includes a description of what extra attributes, if any, must be consulted to determine what version of content to serve in response to a request. When a request is fielded, a cache reader consults this metadata at a primary cache address, then extracts the values of attributes, if any are specified, and uses them in conjunction with the URL to search for an appropriate response at a secondary cache address. These attributes may include HTTP request headers, cookies, query string, and session variables. If no entry exists at the secondary address, the request is forwarded to a page generator at the back-end.

Communication of data over computer networks, particularly the Internet, has become an important, if not essential, way for many organizations and individuals to disseminate information. The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers using a client-server architecture in which any computer connected to the Internet can potentially receive data from and send data to any other computer connected to the Internet. The Internet provides a variety of methods in which to communicate data, one of the most ubiquitous of which is the World Wide Web, also referred to as the web. Other methods for communicating data over the Internet include e-mail, Usenet newsgroups, telnet and FTP.
The World Wide Web is a system of Internet servers, typically called "web servers", that support the documents and applications present on the World Wide Web.
Documents, known as web pages, may be transferred across the Internet according to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP") while applications may be run by a Java virtual machine present in an internet browser. Web pages are often organized into web sites that represent a site or location on the Web. The web pages within a web site can link to one or more web pages, files, or applications at the same web site or at other web sites. A user can access web pages using a browser program running on the user's computer or web-enabled device and can "click on" links in the web pages being viewed to access other web pages.
Each time the user clicks on a link, the browser program generates a request and communicates it to a web server hosting web pages or applications associated with the web site. The web server retrieves the requested web page or application from an application server or Java server and returns it to the browser program. Web pages and applications can provide a variety of content, including text, graphics, interactive gaming and audio and video content.
Because web pages and associated applications can display content and receive information from users, web sites have become popular for enabling commercial transactions. As web sites become more important to commerce, businesses are increasingly interested in quickly providing responses to user's requests. One way of accelerating responses to requests on a web site is to cache the web pages or applications delivered to the requesting user in order to allow faster access time to this content when it is next requested.
Commercial web sites typically want to serve different versions of a page to different requesters even though those requesters all request the same Uniform Resource Locator (URL). For example, the front page of a site is often addressed simply as /index.html or /index.jsp, but the site operator may wish to deliver different versions of that page depending upon some property of the requester. Common examples are versions of a page in different languages. The selection of an appropriate variant to serve is commonly known as content negotiation, which is defined in the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) specification.
Existing content negotiation schemes (as typified in Request for Comments (RFCs) 2616, 2295, and 2296) apply to general characteristics of content: the language used in the content, the style of markup, etc. A user-agent (i.e., a client application used with a particular network protocol, particularly the World Wide Web) can include in a request a description of its capabilities and preferences in these areas, and a server can deduce the best version of content to send in response. For example, a client application may specify, via headers in an HTTP request, that it prefers to receive English, French, and German content, in that order; if the server receives a request for a page that is available only in French and German, it will send the French version in response. This preference will only be applied when there is a choice of representations which vary by language. It's also possible for the server to respond with a list of possible options with the expectation that the client application will then employ its own algorithm to select one of those options and request it. These schemes rely on a certain degree of cooperation on the client application's part, and concern variations that the client application can reasonably be expected to be aware of.
Currently, some servers support driven content negotiation as defined in the HTTP/1.1 specification. Some servers also support transparent content negotiation, which is an experimental negotiation protocol defined in RFC 2295 and RFC 2296. Some may offer support for feature negotiation as defined in these RFCs. An HTTP server like Apache provides access to representations of resource(s) within its namespace, with each representation in the form of a sequence of bytes with a defined media type, character set, encoding, etc. A resource is a conceptual entity identified by a URI (RFC 2396). Each resource may be associated with zero, one, or more than one representation at any given time. If multiple representations are available, the resource is referred to as negotiable and each of its representations is termed a variant. The ways in which the variants for a negotiable resource vary are called the dimensions of negotiation.
In order to negotiate a resource, a server typically needs to be given information about each of the variants. In an HTTP server, this can be done in one of two ways: consult a type map (e.g., a *.var file) which names the files containing the variants explicitly, or do a search, where the server does an implicit filename pattern match and chooses from among the results. In some cases, representations or variants of resource are stored in a cache. When a cache stores a representation, it associates it with the request URL. The next time that URL is requested, the cache can use the stored representation. However, if the resource is negotiable at the server, this might result in only the first requested variant being cached and subsequent cache hits might return the wrong response. To prevent this, the server can mark all responses that are returned after content negotiation as non-cacheable by the clients.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for managing page variations in a page delivery cache


A method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting the impedance between a transmitter's power amplifier (PA) and antenna to efficiently transfer power from the PA to the antenna. The impedance between the PA and the antenna is adjusted based on power level measurements and/or PA direct current (DC) consumption measurements, depending on whether the PA is a linear PA or a switch-mode PA. In another embodiment, a hybrid PA including a first stage linear PA and a second stage switch-mode PA is implemented in a transmitter. The hybrid PA selectively connects the output of the first stage linear PA to one of the input of the second stage switch-mode PA and the output of the hybrid PA, depending on the output power level of the first stage linear PA, the output power level of the hybrid PA, or a requirement indicated by a transmit power control (TPC) command.

In a wireless communication system, a transmission signal is amplified by a PA before being transmitted via an antenna. Currently, reduced conduction angle AB PAs, (i.e., similar to class B), are used for constant envelope modulation schemes, and increased conduction angle AB PAs, (similar to class A), are used for non-constant envelope modulation schemes. In order to enhance transmitter efficiency and reduce battery consumption, class AB PAs with sliding bias, (i.e., current and voltage), are also used. The typical power added efficiency (PAE) in a conventional PA is roughly 35% at maximum output power.
Theoretically, switch-mode PAs are capable of achieving 100% efficiency. Practical implementations of a switch-mode PA have been shown to achieve better than 50%, (typically 60%-70%), PAE. However, the dynamic range of a low cost switch-mode PA suitable for user equipment (UE)-grade transmitters is typically less than 40 dB.
A typical transmitter in 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) for both the time division duplex (TDD) and frequency division duplex (FDD) must be able to support at least 80 dB of output power control range. Therefore, a switch-mode power amplifier alone cannot be used as the final stage of a UE-grade transmitter.
Another important parameter that is related to a PA is impedance matching to effect maximum power transmission to an antenna. It is important to ensure that the output impedance of the PA is matched to the input impedance of the antenna. When a mismatch occurs, the transfer of power from the PA to the antenna is decreased, which results in an inefficiency of the transmitter and increased battery power consumption.
In the case of a class AB PA with sliding bias, the PA output is conjugately matched to the load at maximum rated output power. The load condition is changed based on operation conditions of the antenna. In the sliding bias class AB PA, the output impedance of the PA changes with the direct current (DC) bias. The DC bias, as well as the output load, need to be dynamically adjusted with changing output power levels to optimize the class AB PA output match and thus maximize the efficiency. The load should be dynamically adjusted to compensate for both the effects caused by the changing bias conditions of the PA as well as changing load conditions presented by the antenna.

Method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting a transmitter's impedance


An outboard motor comprises a cowling, having a top cowling and a bottom cowling, that cooperate to define an engine compartment. An intake air duct draws outside air into the engine compartment. A water collecting part is arranged in the bottom cowling for accumulating water that may enter the cowling through the air duct. A water passage may also be provided for guiding water from the intake air duct to the water collecting part. The water passage may have air openings for allowing air to enter the engine compartment independent of the water. A floor of the engine compartment may be adapted to contain water splashing and direct water to a water collecting part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an outboard motor. More specifically, the present invention relates to an outboard motor having a system for minimizing the possibility that water will impinge on an internal combustion engine of the outboard motor and/or enter the engine air intake system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an outboard motor comprises an internal combustion engine enclosed in an engine compartment defined by a cowling comprising a top cowling and a bottom cowling. An intake air duct is formed through the cowling for supplying air to the engine. The cowling air duct is generally provided with a water-separating structure for preventing the entrance of water from outside the cowling. The air duct preferably has a cross sectional area large enough to secure an adequate amount of intake air. Therefore, it may be difficult to keep water from entering and flowing through the intake duct.
Water entering the cowling typically contacts the top face of a flywheel magneto cover. From the flywheel cover, water flows or drips to the bottom of the cowling. Possibly, water may drip onto the engine from the flywheel equipment cover, or water accumulated in the bottom of the cowling may scatter onto the engine or auxiliary due to vibration or trimming, turning tilting motion of the outboard motor. Also, there is a possibility that water is ingested by the engine via its air intake system.
In one known technique, water accumulated in the bottom of the cowling is drained by means of a check valve. This technique does not work until a sufficient amount of water is accumulated to push open the check valve. In addition, it may take a long time to drain the water completely.
Technology also exists to prevent water that enters a cowling from dripping directly on an engine. However, since the water accumulates in the bottom cowling before it is drained, it can scatter and splash onto the engine prior to being drained due to vibrations and/or motion of the motor due to wave action.
In other art, a water drain outlet on the top cowling faces rearward and has a cover. This structure is especially susceptible to water intrusion, especially is a large wave contacts the outboard motor. In addition, there is a chance that water will flow back from the drain outlet into the outboard motor.
Large outboard motors with high power output typically require large quantities of intake air for engine operation. Thus, a cross-section of an intake air duct is typically relatively large for such motors in order to assure a sufficient amount of air is provided to the engine. As such, water intrusion prevention techniques are typically less effective for such motors, and problems in connection with accumulation of water in the bottom of cowlings are particularly relevant in large, high power outboard motors.


A data cartridge shuttle apparatus (100) is used to permit a robotic hand (40) to insert and remove a data cartridge (246) into and out of a manual cartridge drive mechanism (20). A pawl and lever linkage (104) is rotated to open and close a handle (26) of the tape drive mechanism by contact with a pawl stop (134), which is mounted on a spring-biased sliding block/plate assembly (106). The sliding block/plate assembly has a triangular clasp (228) that engages the data cartridge for extraction of the tape cartridge from the drive bay to a point where the robotic hand can grasp and remove it.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of robotic data storage and retrieval systems that transport data storage cartridges between cartridge storage locations and cartridge drive mechanisms which conduct read, write, and erase operations on the cartridges. More specifically, the cartridge drive mechanism is provided with a cartridge shuttle mechanism that facilitates robotic transfer of the data cartridge into and out of the drive mechanism.
2. Statement of the Problem
Robotic tape library systems provide reliable, low cost data storage and retrieval services. A plurality of data cartridges, e.g., cartridges containing spooled reels of magnetic tape, reside in their respective storage compartments for use as needed. A robotic arm is used to grasp a particular cartridge for transport to a cartridge drive mechanism or drive bay that is compatible with the cartridge. The drive mechanism conducts read, write, and erase operations on the cartridge. Examples of commercially available cartridge library systems include the 4400 and Wolfcreek library systems, which can be purchased from Storage Technology Corporation of Longmont, Colo.
The robotic arms of these systems move with great speed and precision, but finite limits exist as to the tasks that the arms can perform. A robotic arm sometimes cannot be made to access a particular cartridge drive mechanism because such access requires the robotic arm to perform simultaneous tasks, or because structure on the drive mechanism interferes with travel of the arm. Thus, drive mechanisms that are designed to accommodate a manually inserted cartridge often cannot be adapted for use in robotic library systems.
FIG. 1 depicts a manual tape drive 20 that is commercially available as one of the 2000, 4000, or 6000 Series drives from Quantum Corporation of Shrewsburg, Mass. Drive 20 includes a drive bay 22 having an interior tape-receiving compartment 24. A front, manually operated handle 26 is depicted in an extended position that permits frontal access to compartment 24. Handle 26 is attached to pivot rod 28 for pivoting movement of handle 26 along arrow 30 between the extended position as depicted and a downwardly retracted position where rearward surface 32 of handle 26 abuts lower forward surface 34 beneath drive bay 22. Pivoting of handle 26 towards surface 34 provides minor positional adjustments to a data cartridge (not depicted) that is to be placed in compartment 24, latches the cartridge within compartment 24 by moving internal components within compartment 24, unlocks a tape spool (not depicted) within the cartridge, and engages the drive motor with the tape spool. As depicted in FIG. 1, pivot rod 28 has a notch 36 that can receive torque for pivoting of handle 26 through pivot rod 28.
In the commercially available device, a user operates handle 26 between the respective extended and downwardly retracted positions. Drive 20 includes a conventional solenoid lock assembly 38 that locks handle 26 into the downwardly retracted position along arrow 30 while drive 20 conducts read and write operations on the data cartridge within compartment 24. This locking feature prevents untimely attempts to remove or insert a data cartridge into compartment 24, and is controlled by conventional electronic circuits within drive 20. Thus, a user places the data storage cartridge into compartment 24, operates handle 26 to close handle 26 and cause drive 20 to load the data storage cartridge. Upon completion of the cartridge read/write operation, the user pivots handle 26 to the extended position. This motion causes the drive 20 to eject the data storage cartridge to a position where the user can manually grasp the data cartridge and remove it from compartment 24.
FIG. 2 depicts a robotic hand 40 that is commercially available from Storage Technology Corporation of Longmont, Colo., as a component in a robotic data cartridge library system. Robotic hand 40 is normally connected to the end of a conventional robotic arm (not depicted). Hand 40 includes a robotic eye 42 that scans targets for positional alignment or adjustment of hand 40. A belt-driven pulley wheel is used to extend and retract a cartridge-grasping assembly 46 between forward and rearward positions. Assembly 46 includes four outwardly extending fingers 48, 50, 52, and 54. A horizontally elongated cartridge backstop 56 is mounted in the recessed area between the respective fingers to place fingers 48 and 54 above backstop 56 while placing fingers 50 and 52 below backstop 56. A pair of opposed cartridge-grasping paddles 58 and 60 can be pivoted up and down along the direction of arrow 62 for grasping and releasing data cartridges (not depicted) that are positioned between the fingers 48-54. Paddles 58 and 60 grasp the cartridge with sufficient force to prevent the cartridge from becoming dislodged from hand 40 while hand 40 moves the cartridges from one position to another.
It has heretofore been impossible to use hand 40 (FIG. 2) for inserting a data cartridge into drive 20 (FIG. 1) and then removing the cartridge. One problem is that fingers 50 and 52 of hand 40 (FIG. 2) will contact the extended handle 26 of drive 20 (see FIG. 1) in a manner that precludes full insertion of the data cartridge into compartment 24. In the robotic cartridge insertion operation, the data cartridge must be released to compartment 24, the robotic hand moved up, and the data cartridge must be pushed in by fingers 50 and 52. Finally, the handle must be lowered to the downwardly retracted position proximal to surface 34. It is impossible to perform these operations because structure on drive 20 contacts and interferes with the required motion of robotic hand 40, e.g., as fingers 50 and 52 or paddle 58 contact handle 26. Yet another problem arises when drive 20 has finished interacting with the data cartridge. Robotic hand 40 is required to raise handle 26 to the extended position shown in FIG. 1, for ejection and removal of the data cartridge. Even if robotic hand 40 succeeds in raising handle 26, the ejected cartridge remains partial received within compartment 24 at a position that precludes paddles 58 and 60 from grasping the data cartridge. These problems prevent the use of drive 20 in a robotic library system.
There remains a true need for a device that can be used to adapt manual cartridge drive mechanisms for use in robotic systems.

Data cartridge shuttle mechanism and method of operating the same


A motorcycle having an engine and a clutch may be lubricated by supplying to the engine, but not to the clutch a lubricant of an oil of lubricating viscosity, an overbased detergent, a dispersant, a metal salt of a phosphorus acid, and a hydroxyalkyl-substituted imidazoline having a hydrocarbyl substituent of at least about 8 carbon atoms and a hydroxyalkyl substituent having 2 to 8 carbon atoms.

The disclosed technology relates to a lubricant suitable for a motorcycle that does not have a clutch lubricated by the same lubricant, e.g., with non-lubricated ("dry") clutch plates.
Lubricants for motorcycles typically provide lubrication for the engine (a crankcase) and a wet clutch. These two devices, although often lubricated by the same fluid, often have different lubrication requirements. For example, the lubrication of the engine desirably provides low metal-on-metal friction, to promote good fuel economy. (Typically, the "metal" referred to is steel.) However, the friction coefficient for the metal-on-composition interfaces located within the wet clutch is typically desired to be relatively high, to assure good engagement and power transmission. Additionally, motorcycle lubricants will also lubricate other devices such as gears or bearings, each having their own lubricating requirement. Many lubricants have been designed over the year for lubrication of motorcycles (also known as motorbikes or motorscooters). One such lubricant is described in U.S. Patent Publication 2008-0096778, Breon et al., Apr. 24, 2008.
Because of the varied and demanding lubrication performance required of them, motorcycle lubricants are typically designed specifically for use in motorcycles. That is, typical lubricants as used in lubricating passenger car engines are not normally used for motorcycles. Such lubricants may exhibit a low coefficient of friction that is undesirable for lubricating the wet clutch found in most motorcycles. The two types of lubricant technologies have, simply put, diverged in recent years.
Nevertheless, there are a certain number of motorcycles which do not employ a wet clutch, but, rather, "dry" or non-lubricated clutches or clutch plates. (Likewise there might be motorcycles for which a wet clutch is lubricated by a separate lubricants from that used to lubricate the engine.) For those motorcycles, the high metal-on-composition friction is of no benefit to the engine and is indeed undesirable to the extent that it may interfere with the provision of the lowest possible friction in the metal-on-metal interfaces. While one possible approach to solving this problem would be to remove from the lubricant those components that provide high metal-on-composition friction, this is not necessarily desirable. The additives within such lubricants are usually carefully balanced, so that the removal of one component may affect the performance of the lubricant in unintended ways. Furthermore, it may be undesirable, from a commercial standpoint, to stock multiple complete motorcycle lubricants: some for motorcycles with a wet clutch, and some for motorcycles with a dry clutch.
Various friction-reducing additives are known. Glycerol monooleate ("GMO") is a well-known friction modifier for engines as disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Patent Publication 2008-0280795, Fujitsu, Nov. 13, 2008. However, GMO does not appear to be particularly effective in the present application. Various molybdenum compounds are also known as friction modifiers, as disclosed in, the aforementioned US 2008-0280795. However, Mo compounds are relatively expensive and thus may be impractical at the concentrations that may be required to achieve the desired effect in the present application.
Various materials are known as friction modifiers or friction stabilizers in the context of lubrication of automatic transmissions, that is, devices that do involve lubrication of a wet clutch. U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,579, Ohtani et al., Sep. 6, 1994, discloses a friction modifier system with the capability of establishing and maintaining a substantially constant static breakaway coefficient of friction between a pair of friction surfaces. The additive the composition comprises (a) a hydroxyalkyl aliphatic imidazoline in which the hydroxyalkyl group contains from 2 to about 4 carbon atoms, and in which the aliphatic group is an acyclic hydrocarbyl group containing from about 10 to about 25 carbon atoms, and (b) a di(hydroxyalkyl) aliphatic tertiary amine. A particularly preferred compound is said to be 1-hydroxyethyl-2-heptadecenyl imidazoline.
U.S. Patent Publication 2008/0051306, Chasan et al., Feb. 28, 2008, discloses a lubricant composition containing sterically hindered amine compounds as antioxidants. The lubricants disclosed are said to be functional fluids, that is, lubricants, hydraulic fluids, or metal working fluids. The antioxidants are said to be of particular importance, in that, for instance, oxidative degradation of lubricants plays a significant role especially in motor oils because of the high temperature prevailing in the combustion chamber of the engines. Various other additives may be present, including, for instance, as examples of rust inhibiters and friction modifiers: nitrogen-containing compounds, for example: heterocyclic compounds, for example: 2-heptadecenyl-1-(2-hydroxyethyl)imidazoline.
The disclosed technology, therefore, solves the above problems by providing a top-treatment of an additive which can effectively convert a traditional motorcycle lubricant into one having improved (reduced) metal-on-metal friction and resulting improved fuel economy. The top-treatment may be added by the consumer, by a retailer, or by the manufacturer. The resulting lubricant provides a desired reduction in friction coefficient which is typically reflected by an increase in fuel economy. The disclosed technology may also be used to lubricate internal combustion engines generally (that is, not exclusively motorcycle engines).


The present invention is directed to a hydrophilic composition which is the reaction product of a polyvinylpyrrolidone, an organic monoisocyanate, and an oxyalkylene group containing mono- or di- hydroxyl compound.

There has been a need for lubricious materials which are non-slippery when dry but exhibit lubricious or slippery properties when contacted with aqueous fluids. Applications for such materials are numerous and include fabrication into surface coatings, foams, fibers, films, or solid articles which absorb water, impart wettability or reduce the coefficient of friction in aqueous environments.
Reaction products of polyvinylpyrrolidones and polyisocyanates are known (U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,983). It is known to provide hydrophilic coatings which have low coefficients of friction. Such coatings include polyvinylpyrrolidones (U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,873), polyvinylpyrrolidone-polyurethane interpolymers (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,100,309 and 4,119,094), and mixtures of hydrophilic polyurethanes and polyvinyl pyrrolidones (U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,003 and published European Patent Application 396,431). Another method of providing low coefficient of friction hydrophilic coatings is to first apply a coating of an isocyanate group containing material to the surface to be coated, and to thereafter apply a coating of a solution containing a polyvinylpyrrolidone (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,585,666, 4,666,437 and 4,729,914). It is also known to prepare hydrophilic, flexible, open cell polyurethane-poly vinylpyrrolidone interpolymer foams (U.S. Pat. No. 4,550,126). Blends of thermoplastic polyurethanes and polyvinylpyrrolidones are also known and are described as exhibiting reduced coefficients of friction when wet (U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,267).


A CF substrate (2) is designed such that at an area of a black matrix (22) that is closer to a TFT substrate (1), a counter electrode (24) does not cover at least a part of a first area that faces source lines (13). Consequently, even when a foreign matter (13a) attaches to the source line (13), it is possible to prevent the foreign matter (13a) from contacting the counter electrode (24). This allows realizing a display panel and a display device in which electric leakage between a line electrode and a counter electrode is prevented even when a foreign matter attaches to a line electrode and a counter electrode.

In an active matrix liquid crystal display panel that performs color display, data signal lines and scanning signal lines provided on a TFT substrate and portions of counter electrodes provided on a CF (color filter) substrate to be on a black matrix region are positioned to face each other.
As an example, FIG. 9 illustrates a cross sectional drawing of a liquid crystal display panel in a MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) mode described in Patent Document 1, taken along a line perpendicular to a direction in which data signal lines extend.
In the liquid crystal display panel, the TFT substrate is configured such that gate electrodes (scanning signal lines) made of aluminum etc. (not shown) are formed on a glass substrate 124 and a gate insulating film 136 of approximately 400 nm in thickness is formed on the gate electrodes. Data signal lines 112 of approximately 150-350 nm in thickness are formed on the gate insulating film 136, and a passivation film 130 of approximately 330 nm in thickness for covering the TFT is formed on the data signal lines 112. ITOs (transparent electrodes) of approximately 50-150 nm in thickness, serving as pixel electrodes 116, are formed on the passivation film 130, and an alignment film 132 of approximately 30-120 nm in thickness is formed in order to cover the passivation film 130 and the pixel electrodes 116.
Further, the CF substrate is configured such that black matrixes 134 made of chrome are formed on a glass substrate 122 to have a thickness of approximately 100-200 nm, and color filters R, G, and B are formed on the glass substrate 122 to have a thickness of approximately 0.9-2.5 μm. ITOs of approximately 50-150 nm in thickness, serving as counter electrodes 126, are formed on the color filters R, G, and B, and an alignment film 128 of approximately 30-120 nm in thickness is formed on the counter electrodes 126. Further, bumps 120 and sub-bumps 120b, each of approximately 1.2-1.8 μm in thickness, are formed on the counter electrodes 126 and are covered by the alignment film 128.
A liquid crystal layer LC is provided between the TFT substrate and the CF substrate.
[Patent Document 1]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 83517/2001 (published on Mar. 30, 2001)
[Patent Document 2]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 281693/2001 (published on Oct. 10, 2001)

Display panel and display device having foreign-matter blocking counter electrode


Methods and systems for resolving naming contests when a user seeks to register an account associated with a login identifier that is already in use by another user. An authentication server notifies the user of a contested registration when the requested login identifier, such as an e-mail address, matches one of the identifiers stored in an authentication database. The server then solicits confirmation from the user that the login identifier belongs to the requesting user rather than the earlier user. By forcing the earlier user to select a different login identifier, the server renders the existing user account inactive but retains a unique account identifier and associated account information for the inactive user account.

Web sites, or Internet sites, very often provide information, products, services, and the like to their users. Many web sites require users to "register" before their web servers will grant access to the users. During registration, a user typically supplies personal information such as username, account number, address, telephone number, e-mail address, computer platform, age, gender, and/or hobbies to the registering web site. The registration information may be necessary to complete transactions (e.g., commercial or financial transactions). Typically, the information also permits the web site to contact the user directly (e.g., via electronic mail) to announce, for example, special promotions, new products, or new web site features. Additionally, web sites often collect user information so web site operators can better target future marketing activities or adjust the content provided by the sites.
When registering a user for the first time, a web site typically requests that the user select a login identifier, or login ID, and an associated password. The login ID allows the web site to identify the user and retrieve information about the user during subsequent user visits to the web site. Generally, the login ID must be unique to the web site such that no two users have the same login ID. The combination of the login ID and password associated with the login ID allows the web site to authenticate the user during subsequent visits to the web site. The password also prevents others (who do not know the password) from accessing the web site using the user's login ID. This password protection is particularly important if the web site stores private or confidential information about the user, such as financial information or medical records.
If the user visits several different web sites, each web site may require entry of similar registration information about the user, such as the user's name, mailing address, and e-mail address. This repeated entry of identical data is tedious when visiting multiple web sites in a short period of time. Many web sites require the user to register before accessing any information provided on the site. Thus, the user must first enter the requested registration information before he or she can determine whether the site contains any information of interest.
After registering with multiple web sites, the user must remember the specific login ID and password used with each web site or other Internet service. Without the correct login ID and password, the user must re-enter the registration information. A particular user is likely to have different login IDs and associated passwords on different web sites. For example, a user named Bob Smith may select "smith" as his login ID for a particular site. If the site already has a user with a login ID of "smith" or requires a login ID of at least six characters, then the user must select a different login ID. After registering at numerous web sites, Bob Smith may have a collection of different login IDs, such as: smith, smith1, bsmith, smithb, bobsmith, bob_smith, and smithbob. Further, different passwords may be associated with different login IDs due to differing password requirements of the different web sites (e.g., password length requirements or a requirement that each password include at least one numeric character and/or at least one uppercase character). Thus, Bob Smith must maintain a list of web sites, login IDs, and associated passwords for all sites that he visits regularly.
Using a presently available multi-site user authentication system (e.g., Microsoft®.NET™ Passport single sign-in service), a web user can maintain a single login ID (and associated password) for accessing multiple, affiliated web servers or services. Such a system permits the user to establish a unique account identified by an e-mail address. An EASI (E-mail As Sign-In) account allows the user to use an existing e-mail address as a login ID, or sign-in name (e.g., firstname.lastname@example.com) while supplying all of the other attributes used to create an account. Note that the user can specify different passwords for the authentication system account and the e-mail account. In general, only the e-mail sign-in name needs to be common between the accounts. Contrary to a non-EASI account, a third party or otherwise unaffiliated e-mail provider hosts the user's e-mail service.
Notwithstanding the benefits of such a system, allowing users to use any e-mail address that is not hosted within the authentication system creates a problem. A user can create an authentication account using an e-mail address that he or she does not own. For example, Jane owns an e-mail account at firstname.lastname@example.com. However, when she signed up for an account with the multi-site authentication system, she registered a different sign-in name (e.g., firstname.lastname@example.com). In this example, Harry will not be allowed to use email@example.com as his sign-in name even if he properly owns the e-mail address because someone else, namely, Jane, has already taken the sign-in name. Moreover, Harry may receive e-mails from various affiliated web sites intended for Jane because she signed into the sites using Harry's e-mail address.
The problem is compounded when the original owner of the e-mail address (i.e., Harry in the example) attempts to register for an account. The service notifies the user that the selected sign-in identity (i.e., the e-mail address) is already in use by another user. The owner of the e-mail address is then forced to register with a different e-mail address (either by obtaining a different e-mail account or by registering under a false e-mail address), which creates additional problems.
For these reasons, improved conflict resolution is desired for authentication systems and the like to reduce operational errors and improve user registration experience.


Processes comprising: (a) enantioselectively hydrogenating a staffing material comprising a component selected from geraniol, nerol and mixtures thereof to form optically active citronellol; (b) converting the optically active citronellol to optically active citronellal; (c) cyclizing the optically active citronellal to form a mixture comprising optically active isopulegol; and (d) subjecting the mixture to further processing comprising: (i) separating the optically active isopulegol from the mixture and hydrogenating the separated optically active isopulegol to form optically active menthol; or (ii) hydrogenating the optically active isopulegol in the mixture to form optically active menthol and separating the optically active menthol from the mixture.

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of optically active menthol from geraniol or nerol or mixtures of geraniol and nerol.
Menthol is one of the most important aroma chemicals, the bulk of which is still isolated from natural sources. For totally synthetic routes to menthol, especially the naturally occurring enantiomer L-menthol, on the industrial scale, there is consequently a constant need to optimize the economics of the process. In particular, the synthesis of L-menthol from inexpensive achiral educts is therefore still a challenge.
L-menthol can be synthesized by pursuing two strategies: On the one hand, racemic menthol, obtainable e.g. by the hydrogenation of thymol, can be obtained after esterification by racemate resolution (by crystallization or enzymatic resolution), as described e.g. in EP-A 0 743 295, EP-A 0 563 611 or EP-A 1 223 223. On the other hand, it is also possible to pursue asymmetric synthesis strategies comprising an enantioselective synthesis step.


To perform conformance checking of a software implementation with a (possibly non-deterministic) specification, a software implementation and a software specification are applied to produce a CT enabled implementation. Nondeterministic choices of the software specification result in assigning a corresponding choice of the CT enabled implementation to a variable. The CT enabled implementation includes a test that the variable then comprises one of the nondeterministic choices of the software specification. To perform conformance testing where the software specification includes ordered steps, and calls to methods of other classes (mandatory calls), a software object is produced and organized such that each step of the software specification has a corresponding code section in the software object. The software object includes instructions to generate an identification of a mandatory call comprised by the software specification, and instructions to test that the state of the implementation conforms to the software specification during the mandatory call.

One of the most important and challenging aspects of software development is testing. Testing involves determining whether software executes in a manner consistent with the software's intended behavior. The software's intended behavior may be defined using an executable specification language such as the Abstract State Machine Language (AsmL). AsmL may be employed to specify precise conforming behavior (a deterministic specification), or to specify ranges or choices within which various acceptable behaviors may take place (a non-deterministic specification). Non-deterministic specifications are desirable because they do not specify the implementation behavior down to the finest detail. Non-deterministic specifications define choices for behavior, allowing the software implementer design freedom within those choices. An AsmL specification may be executed by itself (in a stand-alone manner) or in conjunction with a separate implementation in order to ascertain whether or not the behavior defined by the specification is in fact the desired behavior.
A software implementation's runtime behavior may be compared against the specified behavior to identify non-conformities. This process is referred to as conformance testing. One approach to conformance testing is to insert code into the software to test conditions. The conditions define the desired state of the software at method boundaries of the software. For examples of this approach, see Bertrand Meyer, Eiffel: The Language, Object Oriented Series, Prentice Hall, New York, N.Y., 1992. See also the White Paper by Murat Karaorman et al. of Texas Instruments et al., entitled jContractor: A Reflective Java Library to Support Design By Contract, and the White Paper by Reto Kramer of Cambridge Technology Partners, entitled iContract—The Java Design by Contract Tool.
A limitation of existing methods of conformance testing is that they do not provide adequate support for non-deterministic specifications. Another limitation of existing methods is that they do not adequately address the conformance checking of call sequences. A software specification may indicate that processing within a method of an implementing class should proceed in steps, e.g. in a particular order. The specification may also indicate that the implementation method must make calls to methods of another class (so called 'mandatory calls'). The mandatory calls may lead to re-entrance of methods of the implementing class, resulting in unpredictable state changes while the mandatory calls are still pending. Existing approaches to conformance checking do not adequately address this situation.

Conformance execution of non-deterministic specifications for components


Improved gripping structures for a hand-held umbrella are provided. In one example structure, a first grip is fixedly attached to an end of a shaft of the umbrella, such as the end located distally away from a canopy of the umbrella. A second grip is coupled to the shaft. The second grip may be slidably repositionable along the shaft. The second grip may include an interlocking device to lock the second grip at a desired location along the shaft. The second grip may further include a runner interface. An accessory mount may be disposed at the first grip to couple an accessory, such as a camera, at the end of the shaft distally away from the canopy of the umbrella.

Known hand-held umbrella designs have not appropriately addressed various considerations that can significantly affect the comfort and convenience of the user, and/or affect the operational performance of the umbrella, particularly in connection with umbrellas that may have a canopy encompassing a relatively large surface area and/or a relatively long shaft and thus may result in relatively large forces when subjected to wind.
For example, known umbrella designs tend to exhibit a generally rigid approach to how the user holds the umbrella. One example of the rigid approach of such umbrella designs is that a handle fixed at a singular position is provided to indiscriminately fit all users, regardless of individual user preferences and/or variable operational conditions. Further, umbrella handles are commonly affixed to the end of the shaft furthest from the umbrella canopy, and this is not necessarily the best position when considering comfort, convenience and performance under a variety of weather and operational conditions. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide practical and cost-effective structural improvements that can readily and in a user-friendly manner accommodate individual user preferences while providing ergonomic benefits to the user, such as grip positional adaptability under various operational circumstances, such as light rain versus heavy rain, light wind versus heavy wind, or even when holding other objects in addition to the umbrella.


A control circuit of a power converter includes: an input signal detection circuit, configured to operably detect a magnitude of an input signal to generate a detection signal; a clock generation circuit, configured to operably generate a clock signal; an error detection circuit, configured to operably generate an error signal according to a reference signal and a feedback signal; a control signal generation circuit, coupled with the clock generation circuit and the error detection circuit, configured to operably control a switching frequency of a power switch according to the clock signal and the error signal; and a reverse adjusting circuit, coupled with the input signal detection circuit, configured to operably adjust the clock generation circuit or the control signal generation circuit according to the detection signal to configure the switching frequency of the power switch to be inversely proportional to the magnitude of the input signal.

The disclosure generally relates to a power converter and, more particularly, to a control circuit applicable to various power converters with different input voltages.
In general, the conduction loss and the switching loss of a power converter are inversely proportional to each other. The best switching frequency of a power switch in the power converter is a switching frequency that minimizes the sum of the conduction loss and the switching loss, which is also the switching frequency that renders the power converter to reach the optimal power conversion efficiency.
The best switching frequency of the power switch varies with several external conditions, such as the input voltage, the output voltage, and the load. For example, the best switching frequency of the power switch in an application where the input voltage is 155V is different from the best switching frequency of the power switch in another application where the input voltage is 230V. Accordingly, the designer of a conventional control circuit is required to adjust the component parameters of the conventional control circuit in advance based on the magnitude of the input voltage of a particular power converter, so that the conventional control circuit is enabled to configure the power switch in the particular to operate at the best switching frequency.
However, the conventional control circuit is unable to dynamically adjust the best switching frequency of the power switch based on the change of the external conditions. Therefore, once the conventional control circuit is employed in other application with different input voltage, the conventional control circuit is unable to configure the power switch to operate at the best switching frequency under the application. As a result, the power conversion efficiency of the power converter would be greatly reduced.
In other words, the structure of the conventional control circuit is only applicable to particular power converters having the same input voltage, and not suitable to other power converter with different input voltage. Apparently, the application scope and application flexibility of the conventional control circuit are very restricted.

Control circuit of power converter with error detection circuit and reverse adjusting circuit


A pouch type secondary battery, in which a bent state of a cathode tap and an anode tap is maintained by eliminating a restoration phenomenon caused by an elastic force of the insulating tape when the cathode tap and the anode tap are bent by forming bending grooves on cathode and anode insulating tapes, includes: an electrode assembly which includes a cathode electrode plate where a cathode tap is connected, a anode electrode plate where an anode tap is connected, and a separator interposed between the cathode electrode plate and the anode electrode plate; a pouch containing the electrode assembly therein such that the cathode tap and the anode tap are exposed to the outside; a cathode insulation tape forming a first bending groove on at least one side portion and wrapped around the cathode tap so as to insulate a region where the cathode tap is in contact with the pouch; and an anode insulation tape forming a second bending groove on at least one side portion and wrapped around the anode tap so as to insulate a region where the anode tap is in contact with the pouch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a secondary battery, and more particularly, to a pouch type secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the proliferation of portable electronic devices, such as video cameras, cellular phones, portable computers, etc., secondary batteries have been used as their driving power supplies. Especially, lithium secondary batteries can be rechargeable rapidly and has higher energy density per unit weight than conventional lead batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, and nickel-zinc batteries. Accordingly, lithium secondary batteries are being actively used.
A lithium secondary battery uses lithium group oxides as cathode active materials, and a carbon material as an anode active material. An electrode assembly is fabricated by laminating a cathode plate where a cathode tap is connected to a cathode collector formed of the cathode active material, an anode plate where an anode tap is connected to an anode collector formed of the anode active material, and a separator interposed between the cathode plate and the anode plate, are laminated and wound together. The electrode assembly is contained within a metal can of an angle type or a cylinder type or in a pouch.
A lithium secondary battery can be divided into a lithium ion battery using a liquid electrolyte, and a lithium ion polymer battery using a polymer solid electrolyte, depending on the kind of electrolyte. A lithium ion polymer battery can be divided into a solid type lithium ion polymer battery containing no electrolyte, and a gel type lithium ion polymer battery using a gel type polymer electrolyte.
A lithium secondary battery using the liquid electrolyte is usually contained within a metal can of a cylinder or an angle type which is sealed by welding.
Since a can type secondary battery using a metal can has a fixed shape, the design of electronic products is limited, and reducing a volume of electronic products is difficult. Accordingly, the pouch type secondary battery has been developed by putting two electrodes, a separator and an electrolyte in a pouch made of a film and sealing the pouch.
The pouch conventionally used for the lithium ion polymer battery includes a multilayer structure laminated by a polyolefin group resin layer that is an inner heat adherent layer having a heat adhesion property as a sealing material, an intermediate aluminum layer (AL) functioning as a base material to maintain mechanical strength and a barrier layer with respect to moisture and oxygen, and an outer nylon layer functioning as a base material and a protection layer.
In a method of fabrication of a pouch type secondary battery, the pouch is first divided into a lower part receiving the electrode assembly in a receiving part of the pouch, and an upper part covering an opening of the lower part. The cathode tap is coupled to the cathode plate so as to protrude outside of the pouch. The anode tap is also coupled to the cathode plate so as to protrude outside of the pouch. An insulating tape is wrapped on a region where the cathode tap is in contact with the pouch, so as to insulate the pouch and the cathode tap. The insulating tape is also wrapped on a region where the anode tap is in contact with the pouch, so as to insulate the pouch and the anode tap. The cathode tap and the anode tap are coupled to a protection circuit substrate by bending an end portion of both the cathode tap and the anode tap.
There is a problem in that the cathode tap and the anode tap are not bent to a desirable angle because a restoration phenomenon after bending the cathode tap and the anode tap is produced by an elastic force of the insulating tape occurring in bending the end portion of both the cathode tap and the anode tap. In addition, there is a problem in that an assembly error occurs when the protection circuit substrate is coupled because the bent region is not uniform when the cathode tap and the anode tap are bent.

Pouch type secondary battery and fabrication method thereof

Gongse-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do


The present application relates to an electric circuit breaker device and has an object to reduce in size while maintaining a required strength. The electric circuit breaker device includes, in a resin housing (10), an igniter (20), a rod-like projectile (40), a conductor portion (50), which are disposed in this order from a first end portion (11) of the housing toward a second end portion (12) opposite the first end portion in an axial direction, and an insulating closed space (60) between the second end portion of the housing and the conductor portion, wherein the conductor portion is a plate portion including connection portions (51, 52) on both end sides; and a cut portion (53) at an intermediate portion, the conductor portion extending in a width direction orthogonal to a housing axial direction, the rod-like projectile is disposed to face the cut portion in the axial direction, and the cut portion includes fragile portions (55a, 55b) formed at two locations on the second end portion side of the conductor portion, each of the fragile portions being a notch portion.

With regard to abnormalities and the like in electric circuits of vehicles and electric home appliances or in a system including the electric circuits, electric circuit breaker devices that break the electric circuits to prevent large damage have been used. Importance of the electric circuit breaker device is particularly large in the electric circuits of electric vehicles. The electric circuit breaker devices are known that contain an igniter, a projectile (piston), a conductor, and the like in a housing (US 2005/0083164 A, US 2005/0083165 A, US 2012/0234162 A, JP H11-232979 A, JP 2014-49300 A, JP 2016-85947 A, JP 2014-49300 A).
US 2005/0083164 A and US 2005/0083165 A exemplify a material of a housing such as metals, ceramics, and polymers and describe that certain polymers are preferable (in pages 2 to 3 of US 2005/0083164 A and page 2 of US 2005/0083165 A).
In JP H11-232979 A, a casing 13 is made of stainless steel (paragraph number 0011).
In JP 2014-49300 A, a case 30 is formed of a material having electrical insulating property and high strength (e.g., a resin material) (paragraph 0034). When a polymeric material (resin material) is used, the housing (casing) needs to be thickened in terms of imparting a required strength as can be understood from, for example, FIG. 1 of each of US 2005/0083164 A, US 2005/0083165 A, and JP 2014-49300 A. When the stainless steel casing 13 is used, the increase in mass becomes greater, and the insulating case 14 needs to be arranged in combination, so the structure and assembly are complicated.
In JP 2016-85947 A, a metallic cylinder is used to reinforce a resin housing to provide an effect that is not provided in US 2005/0083164 A, US 2005/0083165 A, US 2012/0234162 A, JP H11-232979 A, and JP 2014-49300 A.
In JP 2014-49300 A, an arc extinguishing chamber 32 for extinguishing an arc that occurs when an energized conductor is cut (in claims).


A multiple node network includes a plurality of terminal nodes. A management node manages the terminal nodes. A bus connects the respective terminal nodes and the management node to one another. The respective terminal nodes and the management node communicate with each other using a frame that includes at least an identifier field and a data field. The data field has a discriminative number. Each terminal node transfers the frame to the management node. A contention between the terminal nodes is arbitrated by comparing the respective identifier fields of the terminal nodes. When the arbitration fails, each terminal node repeatedly transfers the frame to the management node after a delay time that is unique for the particular terminal node and that is calculated based upon the discriminative number in the data field.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a multiple node network and a communication method within the network. The present invention more particularly relates to a network having a plurality of terminal nodes and a management node that manages the terminal nodes and also to a communication method among the terminal nodes and the management node.
2. Description of Related Art
Computerized controls have become popular for various systems such as, for example, land vehicles and watercrafts in recent years. Components of the systems such as engines and navigation devices typically are connected with each other using a network. Such engines and navigation devices each have a terminal node on the network. A bus connects together the respective terminal nodes. A management node also is provided within the network and is connected to the bus to manage the terminal nodes.
The terminal nodes and the management node frequently communicate with each other through the bus. Generally, the bus is common to all of the nodes. In some particular transfers, two or more nodes, which simultaneously are trying to communicate, place their own frames onto the bus and a contention thus occurs between the nodes. A protocol can be provided in this communication system to arbitrate the nodes in contention. One node that wins in the arbitration only has the priority to transfer the frame. Another node that loses in the arbitration should wait until an opportunity to use the bus exists. For example, JP2001-119416A discloses a network that has such a protocol.
In such a conventional network, the nodes can use a particular frame that has at least an identifier field to communicate with each other. The identifier field can include a classification identifier or ID of each node. If two or more nodes simultaneously try to transfer the frames, the identifier field of each frame is compared with one another. In general, the respective components have different identifiers. The arbitration thus is effected and the node that has won can obtain the priority.
Watercraft, however, can employ a plurality of outboard drives such as, for example, outboard motors to propel the watercraft at significant speed. Typically, the outboard motors are controlled by the same application program because there is no reason to provide a separate communication system for the outboard motors. Drive nodes for the outboard motors thus have the same classification identifier.
Under the circumstances, the terminal nodes first transfer the frames to the management node to obtain a network address when the network is switched on. If two or more nodes simultaneously place the frames onto the bus, the identifier field of each frame is compared with one another as described above. The comparison, however, does not successfully arbitrate the contention because the identifier of each drive node is the same as one another. The arbitration thus fails. Accordingly, the network requires a large amount of time to boot up.

Multiple node network and communication method within the network