A method includes (a) putting a multielectrodic chip lithographed in a wafer that contains between 2 and 2000 individually polarisable electrodes, in contact with a solution or suspension that includes modified colloidal particles with a (bio)chemical recognition element; (b) applying to an electrode of the multielectrodic chip, a potential between −1 and +2V vs. Ag/AgCl saturated, for a period of time between 1 and 300 seconds; (c) washing the chip after this stage (b); and (d) repeat the steps (b) and (c) as many times as needed to deposit a (bio)chemical recognition element, same or different to the one or ones previously deposited, on each one of the electrodes of that chip. The method is applicable for the fabrication of multisensors, particularly in chips and arrays for analytical and diagnostic applications.

In the last few years, great advances have been made in the development of chips (microelectronic devices) capable to characterise and identify analytes of interest. In general, a chip or multisensor for the detection of analytes is composed of a substrate over which is placed a plurality of individually addressable analysis sites (IAASs). Each IAAS includes a selectively immobilised specific receptor. This receptor can be of biological nature, for instance, antibody, enzyme, oligonucleotide, etc., or a living biological system, for example, cell, tissue, live organism, etc., or of chemical nature, for example, aptamer, imprinted polymer, zeolite, etc., which recognises the analyte that selectively binds to or interacts with that receptor. When a solution that contains a sample with one or several analytes is put in contact with a chip that has one or more binding sites that have modified IAASs with specific receptors for those analytes, a receptor-analyte interaction is produced on the corresponding IAASs and, consequently, the presence of those analytes can be deduced in the assay sample and their concentration can be quantified by appropriate transduction schemes.
Selective deposition of molecules on the IAASs is very important in industrial scale manufacturing of arrays (devices that have a repetitive microelectronic architecture) for genetic analysis, chemical sensors, enzymatic and affinity biosensors and, microinterfaces for direct communication between microelectronic devices and living beings (like, for example, the direct control by the nervous system of biomechanical implants).
One of the methods followed by the industry to manufacture oligonucleotide arrays includes the application of site-addressable techniques based on photolithographic activation. This photolithographic activation uses solid-phase chemical synthesis (in situ), that is compatible with fabrication techniques employed in the semiconductor industry. Using a series of photolithographic masks to define chip exposure sites, followed by specific chemical synthesis steps, the process constructs high-density arrays of oligonucleotides, with each probe in a predefined position in the array. The resolution of this technique is of the order of 1 μm or even less (0.1 μm). It is ideally limited by the wavelength of radiation used for patterning of the array. The disadvantage of this technique is that there is no possibility for the control of quality of the synthesised probes and, consequently, a redundancy in the number of hybridisation sites is necessary to assure reliability.
Other approaches to produce biochips (arrays in which the immobilized molecule is biological) use different microfluidic contact and non-contact printing technologies, which allow dispensing volumes of liquids in the range of the nanoliter. These contact and non-contact printing methods have the advantage that the biochemical compounds can be preselected in compliance with quality control standards. However, the resolution of the method (density of points) is one or two orders of magnitude smaller than the photolitographic activation.
Electrochemical methods are cheaper than the above-mentioned strategies. These methods include the electrochemical copolimerization of pyrroles and modified oligonucleotides with pyrrole groups. Ideally, the resolution of these techniques is also limited by the photolitographic limit of the design of the array. Besides, these techniques also allow a previous selection of oligonucleotides based on their quality. Consequently, they are more advantageous than the techniques previously mentioned, but, maybe, require more time for their design and might present the drawback of non-selective deposition. In addition, liquid chemistry is used for the production, which is not a standard in the semiconductor industry.
Colloidal gold is adequate for the immobilisation of mercapto-modified molecules, which form dative bonds with the gold surface. The use of colloidal gold is known to immobilise enzymes in sensors through electrodeposition. Crumbliss and collaborators [Crumbliss et al. (1992), Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 40:483–490], combined glucose oxidase (GOx), peroxidase (HRP) and xanthine oxidase (XO) with colloidal gold and electrodeposited those conjugates in platinum or vitreous carbon applying +1,6V (vs. Ag/AgCl saturated) for 2 hours. These enzymatic electrodes gave an electrochemical response to the corresponding enzymatic substrates in presence of mediators of the ferrocene family. Through this study they demonstrated the utility of the colloidal gold as vehicle of biocompatible deposition appropriate for the elaboration of enzymatic electrodes. Yabuki and Mizutani [Yabuki S. and Mizutani F. (1995), Denki Kagaku, 63(7): 654–659] also conjugated GOx with colloidal gold and deposited the conjugate on vitreous carbon, gold and platinum, by means of the same process, and observed that the intensity currents were ten times smaller using platinum or gold than with vitreous carbon, probably due to the lesser quantity of adsorbed conjugate in the metallic electrodes. However, none of these previous articles mentions the possibility of selective deposition with micrometric or sub-micrometric resolution.

Fabrication method of multisensors chips for detecting analytes


A toner cartridge (20) has a cartridge main body (21) as a container filled with a developer and a shutter mechanism (25) that opens and closes a developer discharging orifice (231) formed in the cartridge main body (21). The cartridge main body (21) has a pair of end walls (left end wall (22) and right end wall (23)) opposing each other and a barrel (24) installed between a pair of these end walls (22) and (23). A shape of a cross section of the barrel (24) orthogonal to a direction of a tube center line is set to a shape of a Reuleaux polygon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner cartridge filled with a developer made of toner particles or the like, an adaptor for toner cartridge, a toner cartridge assembly, and an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to which the foregoing components are attached detachably.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an image forming apparatus applied with the electrophotographic method, an electrostatic latent image is formed by irradiating light from an exposing device onto the peripheral surface of a photoconductive drum being rotated according to image information obtained by reading a document or transmitted from another device, and a toner image is formed by supplying toner particles from a developing device onto the peripheral surface of the drum on which the electrostatic latent image is formed, after which the toner image is transferred onto a sheet of paper. The sheet bearing the transferred toner image is subjected to a fixing process by heating in a fixing device and discharged to the outside thereafter. To the image forming apparatus configured as above, a toner cartridge is attached detachably in order to replenish the developing device with a developer (toner particles or a mixture of toner particles and a carrier).
Incidentally, the toner cartridge is a consumable article and is normally stored at the site where the image forming apparatus is installed. A toner cartridge being used is replaced with a new one in store as soon as it becomes empty.
Normally, a stirring mechanism having, for example, a spiral feeder, is internally attached to such a toner cartridge. When the toner cartridge is attached to the image forming apparatus, a drive force of a drive source inside the image forming apparatus is transmitted to the stirring mechanism inside the toner cartridge. The stirring mechanism is thus driven so that a developer inside the toner cartridge is replenished to the developing device with stirring. The toner cartridge as above, however, has an inconvenience that the need to provide the stirring mechanism inside the toner cartridge increases the cost.
In order to eliminate this inconvenience, a toner cartridge described, for example, in Patent Document 1 (referred to as the bottle in JP 6-43755) is formed of a circular tubular body. The toner cartridge formed of the circular tubular body is attached to the image forming apparatus and rotated about the tube center. A spiral rib is provided to bulge on the inner peripheral surface of the circular tubular body along the full length. Accordingly, when the toner cartridge rotates, the developer inside the toner cartridge is guided by the spiral rib while it is loosened and eventually migrates toward the opening, so that it is replenished to the developing device through the opening. According to the toner cartridge of JP 6-43755 configured as above, it is possible to achieve a reduction in cost because there is no need to provide the stirring mechanism inside the toner cartridge.
With the toner cartridge of JP 6-43755, however, in a case where the toner cartridge has been stored, for example, in a vertical posture over a long period, the developer falls down to the bottom (end wall) of the toner cartridge in a vertical posture and the developer at the lower end is hardened to form lumps. In a case where the toner cartridge in a state where lumps are formed therein is attached to the image forming apparatus, even when the toner cartridge is rotated about the tube center, the lumps of the developer are hardly pulverized. This results in a problem that the developer cannot be transported toward the developing device.
Incidentally, in order to eliminate this inconvenience, the user is recommended to hold the toner cartridge in hands and shake the toner cartridge sufficiently before he or she attaches the toner cartridge to the image forming apparatus. The user, however, often forgets such a shaking operation.

Toner cartridge, adaptor for toner cartridge, toner cartridge assembly and image forming apparatus


A programmable data processing apparatus having a bit-plane extraction operation is described, for extracting data from a value of, for example, 32 bits containing 4 bytes, 1a to 1d. Each byte 1a to 1d comprises 8 bits, (a0-a7, b0-b7, c0-c7 and d0-d7, respectively). The bit-plane extraction operation retrieves one bit from each of these bytes, for example the second bit (a1, b1, c1, d1), which is specified by an argument. The operation involves concatenating these bits (a1, b1, c1, d1) and returning a result value 5. Depending on the particular data processing application, the result value may be bit-reversed to provide a result value 7 (for example, if a bit-reversal is required to deal with endianness, or other reasons). The bit-plane extraction operation can be used as a pre-processing operation in data processing operations such as “sum-of-absolute-differences” in the processing of video data.

In the video domain pixels are typically represented by one or several bytes of data. For example, in the default format used for MPEG video encoding, a pixel is stored by saving its luminance component as a byte. The chrominance part of the pixel is stored as two bytes, but these values are shared for several pixels at the same time. If the luminance part is considered, for example, the byte consists of 8 individual bits, and is referred to as a "bit-plane".
A dominant part of MPEG video encoding consists of motion estimation, which can be computed very efficiently when carried out on a bit-plane basis. The "sum-of-absolute-differences" operation, when executed on a bit-plane basis, involves an exclusive-or operation only, followed by counting the bits of the result value, the latter often being supported as a single instruction in a DSP processor. During a pre-processing step, the bit-plane has to be extracted from the video stream. Such a pre-processing step may involve, for example, extracting a particular bit from each byte in a 32 bit value containing four packed bytes. To perform the bit-plane extraction operation in software involves the following operations (shown in pseudo C) to obtain a 4-bit result value, r.The result, r=bpext(x,y)
where,
x=32 bit value containing four packed bytes
y=integer number between 0 and 7 referring to the bit to be extracted
A bit-plane extraction operation may comprise the following operations:
unsigned bpext_big (unsigned x, unsigned y){unsigned t0 = x>>y;return (t0 & 0x00000001) |((t0 & 0x00000100) >> 7) |((t0 & 0x00010000) >> 14) |((t0 & 0x01000000) >> 21);}
The bit-plane extraction operation shown above will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 1. First, in step 101 the value x is shifted over y positions (ie "y" being the numerical number representing the bit to be extracted), such that the bits to be extracted are all at the same location. Then, in step 103, one bit is extracted using an AND operation (for example t0 & 0x00000001 for the first bit). This is repeated, steps 105 to 107, to extract the relevant bit from each of the other bytes until the nth bit is extracted ("n" being four in the example). In step 109 the extracted bits are then shifted to the target bit locations (corresponding to the final positions of the bits in the end result), and ORed together, step 111.
The pixel data may be arranged in "big endian" format or "little endian" format. In the big endian format the bytes are arranged with the most significant byte first, while in the little endian format the bytes are arranged with the least significant byte first. Therefore, depending on the endianness of the pixel data, or indeed for other reasons, it may be desirable to reverse the resulting bits.
An implementation example of how to reverse the bits is shown below:
unsigned bpext_reverse (unsigned x, unsigned y){unsigned r = bpext (x, y);return ((r&1)<<3) | ((r&2)<<1) | ((r&4)>>1) | ((r&8)>>3);}
The instruction code shown above selects individual bits and shifts them to their reversed locations, so that bit 0 becomes bit 3 ((r&1)<<3), bit 1 becomes bit 2 ((r&2)<<1), etc., and these bits are again ORed together.
It is noted that the example above shows how to select just a single bit from packed data. However, more than one bit can also be extracted, for example, selecting two bits per byte or data element, and concatenating these bits into an eight bit result value.
It will be appreciated that, to perform the bit-plane extraction operation described above on a programmable data processor, the bit-plane extraction operation involves the execution of several (non-dedicated) operations. This has disadvantages both in terms of performance and power consumption.
The aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a programmable data processing apparatus having a bit-plane extraction operation that does not have the disadvantages mentioned above.


A recording apparatus includes a transport section that transports a recording medium; and a floating detection section that detects floating of the recording medium. The floating detection section has a plurality of light emitting elements capable of emitting light to positions different from each other in the recording medium and one light receiving element capable of sequentially receiving reflected light emitted from the plurality of light emitting elements. The floating in the different positions is capable of being detected from received light intensity of the reflected light.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording medium by transporting the recording medium is used. In the recording apparatus having such a configuration, the recording medium may be transported on a skew and a failure occurs by transporting the recording medium on the skew. Thus, a technique for suppressing such a failure is disclosed.
For example, a configuration that receives a coherent light beam that is emitted from a light emitting section and reflected by the recording medium, and calculates a skewed amount and the like from an interference pattern generated in the reflected light is disclosed in JP-A-2003-205654.
In the recording apparatus of the related art described above, a detection section for detecting skew transport of the recording medium is used which is configured of one light emitting element and one light receiving element, or which includes a plurality of detection units configured of such one light emitting element and one light receiving element.
However, in the detection section configured of one light emitting element and one light receiving element, a detection capability of the skew transport of the recording medium may be low. Furthermore, in the detection section including the plurality of detection units configured of one light emitting element and one light receiving element, if the units are arranged close to each other to enhance the detection capability of the skew transport of the recording medium, the light emitted from each light emitting element is unpredictably interfered with and a false detection may occur.
Thus, in the recording apparatus of the related art, control of the failure due to the skew transport of the recording medium may be insufficient.

Recording apparatus with floating detection


Device and process for determining a distance to an object. The device includes a low coherence light source, at least one lens arranged to focus light from the low coherence light source onto the object and to collect light reflected and scattered from the object, and a window arranged between the lens and the object. An apertured element includes a circular aperture structured and arranged to form a circular light beam from the reflected and scattered light, and a detector system is structured and arranged to receive the circular light beam. The detector system is sensitive to light beam diameter. Further, a determining device is structured and arranged to determine a distance to the object based upon signals from the detector system.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an optical distance measuring device and process in a web production machine, e.g., a paper or board machine, for measuring a parameter of the web, e.g., web thickness, surface roughness, etc. More particularly, the invention relates to an air bearing supported optical distance measuring device measuring a distance to the web.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Known optical distance measurement in the micrometer range is generally based on either laser triangulation or confocal principle. Laser triangulation is accomplished by a device projecting a small spot of light onto a surface. A lens having an optical axis oriented at an angle to the axis of the projected light forms an image of the spot onto a position sensitive detector. As the surface moves closer or farther from the device, the image of the spot moves, such that the output of the position sensitive detector is used to determine the distance from the device to the surface.
In accordance with the confocal principle, a confocal sensor light from a source, typically a laser, passes through a beam splitting mirror and is focused onto an object through a lens. Light scattered back from the object returns through the same lens, is separated from the source beam by the beam splitting mirror and is focused onto a pinhole. A detector behind the pinhole collects light that passes through it.
When the object is at exactly the focal point of the lens system, the image of the laser spot is tightly focused on the pinhole and the detector collects the maximum possible light. When the object moves away from the focal point, the image of the laser spot at the pinhole spreads out, such that less light passes through the pinhole to the detector.
Distance is measured by moving the pinhole and finding the distance at which the maximum amount of light penetrates the pinhole. Alternative methods for measuring distance are also known, e.g., as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/108,337, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
However, a difficulty arises with optical devices using the coherent light from a laser diode. Coherence is the property of light that enables it to exhibit interference. To be coherent, a light source must be monochromatic and emit light waves in phase. In theory, perfectly coherent light will remain coherent until disrupted. Light emitted from a nearly coherent source will lose its coherence after some distance. The distance light travels before it loses its coherence is the coherence length. Lasers emit light with a high degree of coherence. Even small amount of coherent stray light reflected and/or scattered from the source can interfere with the measurement of the relatively small amount of light backscattered from the object being measured. Also, very small amounts of light reflected back into the laser diode can cause significant interference with the functioning of the laser diode. Of particular difficulty are reflections from optical surfaces such as windows, beam splitters and lenses because the reflected light often follows the same path as the light to be measured. While anti-reflection coatings reduce reflected light to a fraction of a percent, with an intense source even this fraction is sufficient to cause problems. The above-noted conventional confocal microscope mitigates the effect of stray light to some extent by using a tiny pinhole at the focal point of the collecting lens. However, reflected light traveling the same path as the light being measured is allowed through the pinhole into the detector and can interfere with the measurement.
It is likewise known to utilize an optical device to observe surface topography at high speed (several MHz) in order to measure roughness. In the paper industry, surface roughness is a parameter relating directly to print quality. High quality printing grades go through coating and calendering steps to improve roughness and therefore print quality.
Further, the thickness (caliper) of a sheet can be measured with two (2) optical devices located on opposite sides of the sheet and separated by a known distance. If the distance between the optical devices is not constant, it can be measured with an inductive device that is not sensitive to the presence of the sheet. Thickness is calculated by subtracting the measured distances from the two optical devices to respective surfaces of the sheet from the distance between the optical devices.
Moreover, it is known to use an air bearing supported sensor to follow the sheet, but such sensors must be very small and light. However, this small size results in a light source located very near the sheet, such that the resulting optical light path to be measured is very short. Also, a significant fraction of the light reflected from the sheet and the surfaces of the window can be traveling back into the light source. If the source is a laser diode, this optical feedback is still coherent with the outgoing beam and can cause significant changes in the output amplitude.
With a fixed distance from the source to the window and a variable distance to the sheet, the two reflections from the window will interfere with the reflection from the sheet in such a way that the interference will be either destructive or constructive depending on the distance from the window to the sheet. Thus, the intensity of the light reflected back into the light source will not be constant, making the feedback effect very serious. Periodic variations are caused by the above-noted optical feedback, and the period of the error curve is approximately half of the wavelength used. If a laser is used as a source with a window close to the sheet, then, to reduce periodic variations, the reflections back to the laser must be reduced to a very small percentage of the output intensity. The reflection from the inner side of the window will be attenuated naturally because it is relatively far from the focal area near the sheet, but the outer side of the window is very close to the sheet and the reflection from that surface will almost inevitably end up going back to the light source, particularly because the sensor has been miniaturized so that it can be supported by an air bearing.
Methods have been devised in an effort to limit this effect. Such methods include using a very small source aperture or adding a strongly attenuating neutral density filter to the source beam. While both of these methods reduce the feedback effect, they also reduce the available signal intensity significantly. Other possible methods use optical surfaces that are either not flat or not in a right angle relative to the optical axis of the sensor. These methods complicate the design, and the outer side window surface, which is most likely to cause the problem, should be flat and parallel with the sheet, i.e., it will be at least nearly perpendicular to the optical axis.
An anti-reflection coating on the outer side of the sensor window will not last because it will occasionally be scraped off by the moving sheet of a paper machine. A fast flutter of the paper sheet combined with the inertia of the sensor can overcome the force of the air bearing allowing the sheet to scrape occasionally. Cleaning the surface would also eventually destroy the coating.

Device and process for optical distance measurement


A two-component solventless adhesive composition is disclosed, the adhesive composition comprising an isocyanate component comprising at least one isocyanate, and a polyol component comprising at least one amine-initiated polyol having a functionality of from 3 to 8 and a hydroxyl number of from 20 to 1,000. Further, a method for forming a laminate is disclosed, the method comprising forming a solventless adhesive composition comprising an amine-initiated polyol, applying a layer of the adhesive composition to a surface of a film, bringing the layer into contact with a surface of another film to form a laminate, and curing the adhesive composition. Still further, a laminate formed by the method is disclosed.

Adhesive compositions are useful for a wide variety of purposes. For instance, adhesive compositions are used to bond together substrates such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, polyamide, metal, paper, or cellophane to form composite films, i.e., laminates. The use of adhesives in different end-use applications is generally known. For example, adhesives can be used in the manufacture of film/film and film/foil laminates used in the packaging industry, especially for food packaging. Adhesives used in laminating applications, or "laminating adhesives," can be generally placed into three categories: solvent-based, water-based, and solventless. The performance of an adhesive can vary by category and by the application in which the adhesive is applied.
Solventless laminating adhesives can be applied up to 100% solids without either organic solvents or an aqueous carrier. Because no organic solvent or water has to be dried from the adhesive upon application, these adhesives can be run at high line speeds. Solvent and water-based laminating adhesives are limited by the rate at which the solvent or water can be effectively dried and removed from the laminate structure after application of the adhesive. For environmental, health, and safety reasons, laminating adhesives are preferably aqueous or solventless.
Within the category of solventless laminating adhesives, there are many varieties. One particular variety includes two-component polyurethane-based laminating adhesives premixed prior to application, referred to herein as "premixed two-component adhesives." Typically, a two-component polyurethane-based laminating adhesive includes a first component comprising an isocyanate-containing prepolymer and/or a polyisocyanate and a second component comprising a polyol. The prepolymer is obtained by the reaction of excess isocyanate with a polyether and/or polyester containing two or more hydroxyl groups per molecule. The second component is a polyether and/or polyester functionalized with two or more hydroxyl groups per molecule. The two components are combined in a predetermined ratio, or "premixed," and then applied on a substrate, which is then laminated to another substrate.
Two-component solventless polyurethane-based laminating adhesives, compared to traditional solvent-containing adhesives, include weak initial bonds and slow bond development before the laminate can be processed. In addition, these adhesives tend to exhibit poor chemical resistance, especially in acidic conditions. Still more, conventional two-component solventless polyurethane-based laminating adhesives exhibit slow primary aromatic amine and isocyanate decay and, therefore, lower conversion efficiency. Further, catalysts are widely used in polyurethane chemistry to speed up the reaction of isocyanates and hydroxyl terminated compounds. Typical catalysts include amine catalysts, metal catalysts, blocked amine and metal catalysts, and microencapsulated amine and metal catalysts. These catalysts can be very effective, but they are not ideally suited for food contact applications. This is because small molecule amine and metal catalysts can potentially migrate into food, which can be a concern from a food safety standpoint. In addition, small amine catalysts often possess strong odor that can alter the taste of food, making them not desirable for direct or indirect food contact applications.
Accordingly, two-component solventless polyurethane-based laminating adhesive compositions with improved bond strength and faster developing bonds, improved chemical and thermal resistance, and faster primary aromatic amine and isocyanate decay, are desirable. Still further, two-component solventless polyurethane-based laminating adhesive compositions not requiring the use of a catalyst to speed up the isocyanate and polyol reaction are desirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Two-component solventless adhesive compositions comprising an amine-initiated polyol


A data recovery device using a sampling clock with a half frequency of data rate is disclosed, which includes a phase detection circuit, a charge pump and a double clock frequency oscillation circuit. The phase detection circuit receives a data signal and a first clock signal for generating an up-adjustment signal and a down-adjustment signal. The charge pump generates a control voltage in accordance with the up- and down-adjustment signals. The double clock frequency oscillation circuit receives the control voltage for generating the first clock signal with adjustment phase. The invention uses the sampling clock with a half frequency of the data rate not only reduces the die size, but also reduces the power consumption.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technical field of clock data recovery and, more particularly, to a data recovery device using a sampling clock with a half frequency of data rate.
2. Description of Related Art
The first generation ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) structure includes a clock data recovery (CDR) internally having a clock generator with a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The VCO outputs eight clock signals with different phases and a same oscillation frequency of 375 MHz. Next, a quadruple clock frequency circuit receivers the 375 MHz clock signals for processing them by 4× and accordingly outputs a 1.5 GHz clock signal for reading a 1.5 GHz data signal. When the serial ATA structure advanced from the first generation to the second generation, the frequency of data signal increased from 1.5 GHz to 3 GHz and thus the operating frequency of clock signal was from 1.5 GHz to 3 GHz for latching the data. At this point, the VCO has to generate eight clock signals with different phases and a same oscillation frequency of 750 MHz. Next, a quadruple clock frequency circuit processes the 750 MHz clock signals for generating a 3.0 GHz clock signal.
However, due to the 3.0 GHz clock signal, the VCO requires driving each stage circuit in a shorter time for generating the aforementioned eight clock signals with different phases and the same oscillation frequency of 750 MHz. Thus, using an element with higher driving capability is required, which relatively increases area of the VCO and its power consumption also relatively increases with higher clock frequency.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved clock data recovery device to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Data recovery device using a sampling clock with a half frequency of data rate


A three-dimensional display apparatus (10) for displaying true three-dimensional images that can be viewed without special three-dimensional eye glasses is disclosed. The apparatus includes a screen (12), a screen moving assembly (14) for moving the screen to a selected number of depth locations, and an imaging assembly (16) for displaying images on the screen as it is moved to its different depth locations. The imaging assembly includes a CRT (80) for successively generating the two-dimensional images as the screen is moved, a focusing system (82) for focusing the images from the CRT to the screen, and a control system (84) for driving the CRT. The control system includes a frame buffer processor (92) for receiving a signal representative of a three-dimensional image and for separating the signal into a number of two-dimensional images, an active pixels processor (94) for selecting only the active pixels for each image, and a graphics driver (96) responsive to the active pixels processor for turning on only the active pixels of the CRT for each two-dimensional image in synchronization with the back and forth movement of the projection screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three dimensional display apparatus that displays true three dimensional images that can be viewed without the use of three-dimensional eye glasses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Three-dimensional images improve the visual effects of video devices such as movies, televisions, video games, computer graphics, and radar imaging devices. Numerous display devices have been proposed to provide three-dimensional images. One type of prior art display device uses specially-designed "three-dimensional" or stereo vision glasses for simulating three-dimensional images on a two-dimensional display screen. This type of device is unsatisfactory because viewers often object to wearing the special glasses, especially viewers who already wear vision correcting eyewear.
Other types of prior art display devices use vibrating mirrors or multiple, stacked two-dimensional screens to display three-dimensional images. While these types of devices create actual three-dimensional displays, they have not been commercially successful because of high costs, poor reliability and poor resolution.
Another type of prior art display device separates the information from a three-dimensional image into several two-dimensional planes. The two-dimensional planes are then individually generated on a CRT screen while the CRT screen is moved back and forth to different depth locations. This type of display requires the focusing parameters of the system to be continuously adjusted electromechanically as the screen is moved back and forth. Additionally, the mechanical system that moves the CRT screen successively stops and restarts the screen at each of the endpoints of the viewing region, and in doing so, generates excessive noise and vibration. Specifically, the screen moving system for this type of prior art display consists of a mechanical cam system including a plurality of wheels each having a diameter equal to the size of the display depth space, a pair of linear slides that move the distance of the depth space, and a long rod coupled between the wheels and the slides for moving the slides back and forth as the wheels rotate. This type of screen moving system is large and heavy and generates excessive noise and vibration during operation.
Another known type of three-dimensional display uses laser beams and high-precision optical components to access pixels on a rotating helical screen. Although this type of device is much quieter than the previously described display, it is extremely expensive and therefore not practical for most uses. Additionally, this type of device can access only a small, fixed number of pixels over a three-dimensional volume.


In one aspect, a level shifter for shifting a voltage level from a first voltage level to a second voltage level and having a predictable power-up state is provided. The level shifter comprises a first input and a second input forming a differential input to receive signals at the first voltage level, a first output and a second output forming a differential output to provide output signals at the second voltage level, and at least one circuit element coupled between the differential input and the differential output to pull the first output to a lower voltage level than the second output during power-up so that the level shifter powers-up in a desired state.

The proper functioning of many electronic circuits involves shifting a digital signal from one voltage level to another. For example, an internal digital logic signal may need to be converted to a higher voltage level I/O signal to allow proper communication with external circuits and/or devices. However, there are numerous circumstances in which level shifting may be required to ensure that signals are of the appropriate voltage when traveling between different circuits, or different portions of a single circuit. A circuit which performs this function is herein referred to as a "level shifter."
A schematic of a conventional level shifter circuit is illustrated FIG. 1. Level shifter 100 includes differential inputs 110a and 110b arranged to receive differential digital logic input signals in+ and in−, respectively. The voltage levels received at in+ and in− are either in a low state at ground (GND) or a high state of VDD1. The differential inputs may be formed from transistor devices, for example, NMOS devices N1 and N2, connected between ground and differential outputs 120a and 120b, which respectively provide differential digital logic output signals out+ and out−.
Further transistor elements, for example, PMOS devices P1 and P2 may be connected between VDD2 and differential outputs and having their respective gates cross-coupled to the opposing differential output. Thus, the voltage levels of differential digital logic output signals out+ and out− are either in a low state of GND or a high state of VDD2. For a level shifter that shifts voltage levels at the input to higher voltage levels at the outputs, VDD2 is greater than VDD1. For example, VDD1 may be the relatively low voltage level of internal logic voltages and VDD2 may be the relatively high voltage level of an external circuit or device.
As discussed above, level shifters are commonly used to shift internal logic signals to higher levels appropriate for I/O signals, for example, at I/O pads designed to interface with external circuits, devices or chips. FIG. 2A illustrates an output channel of a integrated circuit adapted to provide an internal logic signal to an output pad at voltage levels required for a particular I/O interface. Output channel 200 includes an output pad OUT 210 at which an external circuit or device may connect to receive I/O signals from the integrated circuit. OUT 210 is connected to a low voltage source (VL), a mid-level voltage source (VM, which may be ground) and a high level voltage source (VH) via switches 225, 235 and 245, respectively. Ultimately, which of these voltage levels is provided to OUT 210 depends on level shifters 220, 230 and 240, as discussed in further detail below.
Level shifters 220, 230 and 240 are schematically shown, and each may be similar to the level shifter illustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically, the in+ and in− connections in each of the level shifters in FIG. 2A may correspond to the IN+ and IN− connections illustrated in FIG. 1 and are arranged to receive the internal signals from the integrated circuit. As discussed above, these signals may be internal logic signals generated by the integrated circuit and are typically at a low voltage level relative to the voltage levels required at the output pad OUT 210. Similarly, the out+ and out− connections illustrated in FIG. 2A may correspond to OUT+ and OUT− in FIG. 1, and are arranged to provide voltage levels shifted up from the voltage levels received at the inputs. The out+connection of the level shifters 220, 230 and 240 are coupled to the switches 225, 235 and 245, respectively, to control which voltage level VL, VM or VH is provided at the output pad OUT 210. For example, when level shifter 240 generates a high level voltage at out+, switch 245 is turned on and the high voltage VH is provided at OUT 210. Similarly, when level shifter 220 generates a high level voltage at out+, switch 225 is turned on and the low voltage VL is provided at OUT 210.
Thus, output channel 200 implements a voltage level shift from relatively low internal voltage levels to relatively high voltage levels appropriate for a particular I/O application. It should be appreciated that an integrated circuit may include multiple output channels. For example, FIG. 2B illustrates an integrated circuit 250 that has a multiple output pads 210′. Each output pad may be connected as illustrated in FIG. 2A to level shifters to form an N-channel I/O interface to external (e.g., off-chip) circuits or devices. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1A, only a single level shifter is provided for each voltage level in output channel 200. However, multiple level shifters may be provided in series to obtain increased voltage level shifting to accommodate I/O interfaces where significant level shifting may be required. For example, the output connections of one level shifter may be provided to the input connections of another level shifter to achieve an intermediate voltage level. This configuration may be repeated until the desired voltage level increase is achieved.

Methods and apparatus for predictable level shifter power-up state


A circuit for enabling a sense amplifier in a semiconductor memory device includes a delay unit for outputting the delayed sense amplifier enable signal as a sense amplifier enable delay signal after delaying a sense amplifier enable signal in response to a delay control signal; and a delay control unit for controlling an intensity of the delay control signal by receiving a reference signal having a temperature reduction dependent characteristic. The length of the sensing time can increase by adjusting the delay at the sense amplifier enable signal according to a temperature decrease when a memory cell is formed on a silicon on insulator, and the sense amplifier enabling circuit is formed on a bulk silicon layer. In addition, the enable time point in the sense amplifier can be smoothly adjusted, and the possibility of operation failure in the semiconductor memory device can be reduced by reducing the occurrence of the sensing failure at the sense amplifier.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a circuit for enabling a sense amplifier in a semiconductor memory device and, more particularly, to a circuit for enabling a sense amplifier in a semiconductor memory device that is capable of adjusting an enable time of the sense amplifier according to a temperature change.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In fabricating an MOS transistor, a large isolation region is generally formed to provide isolation between devices and to prevent a latch-up phenomenon in the MOS transistor. In this case, the isolation region increases the area of a chip and degrades integration. Silicon on insulator (SOI) has been conventionally suggested to solve such problems.
The SOI is a technique of more efficiently isolating semiconductor devices formed on a silicon substrate, and has a structure in which a mono-crystalline silicon layer is laid on an insulating layer. Because the SOI structure has a thin insulating layer buried between a surface of a wafer, which forms a circuit, and an under layer, the SOI is more robust against light and a high supply voltage, as compared to a junction isolation structure. Advantageously, a device formed on SOI requires a smaller number of processes than a device formed on a bulk silicon layer and has less capacitive coupling between devices formed in a chip.
When devices are formed on both a lower bulk silicon layer and an upper mono-crystalline silicon layer, a resultant structure has a stacked solid form. Accordingly, a semiconductor memory device having this structure is defined as a semiconductor memory device of a stack type. For example, if a memory cell of an SRAM is formed, the SRAM having that structure is defined as an SRAM of a stack type.
Examples of a semiconductor memory device having the SOI are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,060,738 and 6,288,949.
When a memory cell is formed on the SOI, it may be inferior in operation to a memory cell formed on a bulk silicon layer due to its structural features, for example, a back bias voltage (VBB) is allowed to be applied to the device formed on a lower bulk silicon, but not to the device formed on the SOI.
In particular, in conventional memory cells formed on a bulk silicon substrate, since a temperature decrease leads to performance improvement of a transistor, pulse width or sensing time reduction due to a temperature decrease is not problematic.
In the memory cells formed on SOI, however, a delay reduction at the transistor due to temperature increase may be problematic.
In addition, when the bulk silicon is used with the SOI, a control circuit for controlling a delay at the transistors is needed, since the delay according to the temperature may differ.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional sense amplifier enabling circuit.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell 2, a sense amplifier 4, and a sense amplifier enabling circuit 6.
In a read operation of the semiconductor memory device, data dat a and data dat aB stored in the memory cell 2 are transferred to a pair of bit lines corresponding to the memory cell 2. The data dat a and dat aB are sensed and amplified by the sense amplifier 4 and then output along a read path RD. Typically, a word line connected to the memory cell 2 needs to be first selected by a row address decoder (not shown).
A sensing margin of the pair of bit lines should be sufficient from a time point at which the word line connected with the memory cell 2 is selected to a time point at which the sense amplifier 4 is enabled, that is, a sense amplifier enable signal is applied. This is shown in the timing diagram of FIG. 2 and, thus, will be described with reference to FIG. 2.
The sense amplifier enabling circuit 6 receives an externally applied sense amplifier enable signal SA_EN. The sense amplifier enabling circuit 6 generates a sense amplifier enable delay signal DSA_EN and applies it to the sense amplifier 4. The sense amplifier enabling circuit 6 includes one or more inverters INV1, INV2, INV3, and INV4. The sense amplifier enable delay signal DSA_EN is a signal obtained by delaying the sense amplifier enable signal SA_EN for a predetermined time at the sense amplifier enabling circuit 6.
For example, the inverter INV1 includes a PMOS transistor PM1 and an NMOS transistor NM1. Gates of the PMOS transistor PM1 and the NMOS transistor NM1 are connected to each other. A power voltage VCC is applied to a source of the PMOS transistor PM1, and a source of the NMOS transistor NM1 is grounded. Drains of the PMOS transistor PM1 and the NMOS transistor NM1 are connected to each other, and a connection between the drains is an output terminal of the inverter INV1. While only one inverter INV1 has been described by way of example, the other inverters INV2, INV3, and INV4 have the same configuration as the inverter INV1. The number of inverters may be variously changed.
The sense amplifier enabling circuit 6 is generally formed on a bulk silicon layer. When the memory cell 2 is formed on the bulk silicon, performance of a memory cell is improved as the temperature decreases, and the sensing time correspondingly decreases. In a semiconductor memory device having a memory cell formed on SOI or a memory cell having an opposite tendency according to temperature relative to a conventional memory cell, however, the use of a sense amplifier enabling circuit formed on a bulk silicon layer, as in the prior art, causes the following problems.
First, if the sense amplifier enabling circuit is configured in consideration of a sensing time and a sensing margin at a high temperature, a failure is caused because the performance of the memory cell is degraded as the temperature decreases.
On the contrary, if the sense amplifier enabling circuit is configured in consideration of the sensing time and the sensing margin at a low temperature, the sensing is made relatively excellent due to the performance of the memory cell being improved as the temperature increases. Since a delay amount in the sense amplifier enabling circuit at a high temperature is greater than an actually required amount than at a low temperature, however, the cycle time is reduced.
FIG. 2 is a timing diagram illustrating the sensing margin and the sensing time present in the circuit shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 2, a timing diagram of a pair of bit lines BL and BLB and a sense amplifier enable delay signal DSA_EN is shown.
The pair of bit lines BL and BLB are lines via which the data dat a and dat aB are transferred from the memory cell to the sense amplifier in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the pair of bit lines BL and BLB may be considered as the lines indicated as dat a and dat aB in FIG. 1.
The sense amplifier enable delay signal DSA_EN is a signal obtained by delaying the sense amplifier enable signal SA_EN by the sense amplifier enabling circuit 6, as described above.
The reference character t1 indicates the sensing time and the reference character m1 indicates the sensing margin. The sensing time t1 refers to a period of time from a time at which the word line is enabled to a time at which the sense amplifier is enabled by a sense amplifier enable signal. The sensing margin m1 refers to a minimal width within which the enabled sense amplifier can sense and amplify data on the pair of bit lines BL and BLB.
When the data in the memory cell is loaded on the pair of bit lines BL and BLB after the word line (not shown) is selected, the pair of bit lines BL and BLB will have a predetermined sensing margin m1. Since the sensing margin m1 is a minimal width that allows the enabled sense amplifier to sense and amplify data on the pair of bit lines BL and BLB, the sense amplifier enable signal SA_EN needs to be applied at a time point when the sensing margin is greater than the sensing margin m1. That is, the sense amplifier enable signal SA_EN has to be applied after the sensing time t1 lapses, such that a sensing failure does not occur.
The sensing margin and sensing time vary with temperature. This will be described with reference to FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 is a timing diagram illustrating the sensing margin and sensing time according to the temperature in the sense amplifier enabling circuit of FIG. 1
Referring to FIG. 3, the sensing margin and the sensing time varying with temperature are shown. The sensing margin m1 and the sensing time t1 are values present at a normal temperature, and a sensing margin m2 is sensed in a sensing time t2. When a sense amplifier enabling circuit is formed on a bulk silicon layer, the current driving capability of the transistors constituting the sense amplifier enabling circuit is improved as the temperature decreases, such that a delay at the sense amplifier enabling circuit decreases. Accordingly, the sensing time t2 is smaller than the sensing time t1. A sensing margin m3 indicates a minimum width of data that can be sensed by the sense amplifier. The sensing time t3 is a time needed to reach the sensing margin m3 and is greater than the normal sensing time t1.
For example, in a semiconductor memory device having a memory cell formed on an SOI, current driving capability of transistors constituting the memory cell is degraded when the temperature decreases. Accordingly, the sensing margin m2 at the sensing time t2 is smaller than the sensing margin m1, as described above. In this case, a failure occurs in the read operation of the semiconductor memory device.
In this case, if the sensing margin is to be greater than m3 in order to prevent a failure from occurring, the sensing time has to increase to t3. That is, the sense amplifier enabling circuit needs to additionally delay the sense amplifier enable signal by t3-t1 in addition to the normal sensing time t1.
In this manner, in the case of a typical memory cell formed on the bulk silicon layer, the current driving capability of a transistor constituting the memory cell increases as the temperature decreases. Accordingly, a decrease of the sensing time t1 to the sensing time t2 is not problematic. This is because the sensing margin increases correspondingly.
In the case of a memory cell formed on an SOI, however, since the current driving capability of a transistor constituting the cell is degraded as the temperature decreases, the sensing time needs to increase in order to obtain a sensing margin allowing the sense amplifier to sense and amplify data on the pair of bit lines.

Circuit for enabling sense amplifier and semiconductor memory device having the same


Ironing system comprising an iron, a machine body provided with steam generating means, a tube for sending steam from the machine body to the iron and an electrical cable for supplying the iron; said steam tube and said electrical cable coming from the iron comprise a first connector suitable to be connected, according to a first operating mode of the system, to a second connector connected to a portion of steam tube inside the machine body and to conductors of said electrical cable inside the machine body; in said first and second connectors there are provided electrical contact elements suitable to cooperate with one another and to enable contact of said electrical conductors with said electrical cable and valve means suitable to enable connection of said portion of tube with said tube to enable the passage of steam from the machine body to the iron; said first connector is connectable, according to a further operating mode of the system, directly with an electrical supply cable connectable to the electricity distribution system thus excluding the machine body.

The present invention relates to an ironing system.
Conventional ironing systems are essentially composed of an iron and of a machine body connected indissolubly and inseparably by means of an electrical cable and a steam tube. This machine body comprises therein steam generation means, for example a boiler, associated with a solenoid valve suitable to enable delivery of these means toward the iron. This solenoid valve is controlled by a switch operable by a button positioned on the box body of the iron and pressed by the user during normal ironing operations. The iron normally has a soleplate provided with holes for output of the steam and an electrical heating element for heating the soleplate.
The fact that the machine body and the iron are connected indissolubly to each other by means of this electrical cable and by means of this steam delivery tube represents a substantial limitation to these systems; in fact the iron can only be used when the machine body is switched on and therefore, even for small ironing operations, the whole ironing system, which is generally relatively bulky and heavy, must be moved. The fact that the iron must always be used connected to the machine body also leads to substantial consumptions of electricity, even in cases in which only smaller amounts would be necessary. Moreover, in the event of a fault in the machine body or in the iron, the user generally requires to replace the whole ironing system.

Ironing system with iron and machine body separable

De' Longhi Appliances S.r.l. Divisione Commerciale Ariete


An inkjet recording apparatus has: a head having a plurality of nozzles which eject an ink onto a recording medium; a conveyance device which conveys the recording medium; a droplet ejection control device which controls ink ejection of the head; a test image forming device that forms a test image on the recording medium by causing the ink to be ejected from every n (where n is a natural number equal to 2 or higher) nozzles in an X direction perpendicular to a direction in which the recording medium is conveyed, and causing the ink to be ejected so as to form vertical lines forming n columns which shift by one nozzle in the X direction and each extend continuously in terms of a Y direction parallel to the direction in which the recording medium is conveyed; and a reading device which is provided on a conveyance path of the recording medium, reads in a test image on the recording medium and has an image reading structure covering a length corresponding to full width of the recording medium in a breadthways direction which is perpendicular to the direction in which the recording medium is conveyed, wherein in the test image, an arrangement pitch in the X direction of the vertical lines is equal to or exceeding a reading pitch in the X direction of the reading device, an arrangement pitch in the Y direction of the vertical lines is N times a reading pitch in the Y direction of the reading device (where N is a natural number), and an interval corresponding to variation in a conveyance of the recording medium is provided between the vertical lines in such a manner that a length in the Y direction of each of the vertical lines is less than the reading pitch in the Y direction of the reading device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus, a test image forming method and a computer-readable medium, and more particularly to an in-line inspection and an ejection abnormality determination technology for an image determination apparatus of an inkjet recording apparatus or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, it is suitable to use an inkjet recording apparatus as a general image forming apparatus. An inkjet recording apparatus forms a color image on a recording medium by ejecting colored inks of black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and the like, from a plurality of nozzles provided in an inkjet head. However, in an inkjet recording apparatus, if an ejection abnormality occurs, such as an ejection failure in which ink is not ejected, an abnormality in the direction of flight, an abnormality in the ejection volume, or the like, then the quality of the image declines markedly. In particular, in single-pass image forming using a full line head having nozzle rows of a length corresponding to the full width of the recording medium, if an ejection abnormality such as that described above occurs, then a white stripe following the conveyance direction arises in the recording medium and marked decline in quality occurs in the recorded image. Various methods for judging the presence or absence of ejection abnormalities in an inkjet recording apparatus have been proposed.
For example, there is a method which uses an in-line inspection apparatus using a CCD (Changed Coupled Device) having a structure in which photocells are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction (conveyance direction) of the recording medium that is the object of inspection, a test pattern is printed on the recording medium, the test pattern is read in by the in-line inspection apparatus, and ejection abnormalities are judged from the read results.
The line inkjet printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-9474 is an inkjet printer which carries out printing with a fixed print head having a greater width than the printing width of the printing paper, having a composition whereby a test pattern printed in a portion of the paper by displacing the ejection nozzles by a uniform interval is read in by a scanner unit, and checking of ejection failures for all of the nozzles is carried out for each plurality of pages or each page.
However, in order to judge accurately the presence or absence of an ejection abnormality for each nozzle, it is necessary to prepare a line CCD having a higher reading resolution than the print resolution, but a high-resolution line CCD requires a longer time to read in the determination signal than a low-resolution line CCD, and hence there are concerns about decline in the determination efficiency. Furthermore, a high-resolution line CCD is expensive and is therefore unbeneficial from the viewpoint of cost. On the other hand, if a low-resolution line CCD is used, there may be a plurality of dots in the determination area of one element and therefore it is extremely difficult to determine ejection for each respective nozzle (each dot).
In the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-9474, the image is read in by a scanner unit having a reading resolution which is equal to or higher than the printing resolution, and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-9474 makes absolutely no mention of a case where a scanner unit having a lower reading resolution than the printing resolution is used.
In other words, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-9474 discloses a method in which a test pattern of vertical lines in a 1-on N-off arrangement (N=natural number) (namely, a test pattern comprising a plurality of lines extending in the conveyance direction of the paper printed by displacing the print nozzles) is printed in one portion of the paper, and the test pattern is read in and binarized; when the line scanning rate is 1 (msec/Line) and the paper feed rate is 1 (m/sec), then the width of the pattern is calculated to be 1 mm (=1(m/sec)×0.001 (sec/Line)), but it is not stated what value N is set to in cases where the printing resolution of the ejection nozzles and the reading resolution of the scanner unit are close to each other (or a case where the reading resolution of the scanner unit is finer than the printing resolution of the ejection nozzles) or cases where the reading resolution of the scanner unit is coarser than the printing resolution of the ejection nozzles.
If the reading resolution of the scanner unit is coarser than the printing resolution of the ejection nozzles, then a plurality of lines are read in by one determination element of the scanner unit, and as a result of this, there is a possibility that the position of a nozzle suffering ejection failure cannot be identified. If the reading resolution of the scanner unit is not sufficiently large, then one pixel of the inspection sensor also include the next pixel of the image, and hence there is a possibility that a nozzle suffering ejection failure cannot be identified in the conveyance direction either.
In other words, if the length is insufficient in the paper conveyance direction, then this means that two patterns are read in by one determination element, and hence a nozzle suffering ejection failure cannot be identified.
Moreover, if there is change in the size of the ejected droplets or their direction of flight, in either the main scanning direction (the breadthways direction of the paper, X direction) or the sub-scanning direction (the conveyance direction, Y direction), or if the position of the ejection head is displaced with respect to the paper, the interval of the test pattern in the X direction which is set once, in other words, the number N in the 1-on N-off arrangement, becomes inappropriate, and there is a possibility that a plurality of ejected droplets can be included in one inspection pixel of the scanner unit. Even after the length of the test pattern in the Y direction has been set to a state whereby only the ejection from one nozzle is contained in one inspection pixel of the scanner unit, if deviation occurs in the droplet ejection size or direction or the position of the ejection head, then there is a possibility that the state changes to one where the droplet ejection from a plurality of nozzles is contained in one inspection pixel of the scanner unit and hence the nozzles cannot be identified.

Inkjet recording apparatus, test image forming method, and computer-readable medium


According to one embodiment of the present invention, a multi-hop network system includes: a transmission node; a reception node; a router node; and a flow control node connected to all nodes within the multi-hop network system. The flow control node periodically receives flow monitoring information from at least one transmission node and evaluates whether the distributed state of the bandwidth of a network is fair. At this time, the flow control node sets a queue length threshold as transmission rate control information for fairly distributing the bandwidth of the network and transmits the set queue length threshold to at least one transmission node when unfairness has been detected. The transmission node sets the queue length threshold as a reference point for adjusting the transmission rate and performs the packet and/or link scheduling.

IETF has standardized IEEE802.11s (multi-hop relay based on IEEE 802.11) as a protocol for enhancing transmission and reception efficiency with respect to coverage and energy of IEEE 802.11. In addition, in a similar way, it has also standardized IEEE802.16j employing the multi-hop relay of IEEE802.16.
Based on the multi-hop relay, signals can be transferred even outside the region of a base station through a relay station (RS), and a terminal within the region of the base station may set a path of high quality having a high-level adaptive modulation and coding scheme through the relay station, and thus system capacity can be improved using the same wireless resources.
However, since such a multi-hop situation has link dependency among adjacent routing nodes due to sharing of wireless channels for transmitting data, throughput starvation occurs, in which throughputs of some flows are extremely lowered.
Furthermore, probability of congestion occurring is high in a network which frequently changes depending on a wireless channel state. Accordingly, it is impossible to flexibly adjust and improve fairness in a conventional method of adjusting a transmission rate by monitoring only own flow state.
For example, a distributed scheduling technique for controlling a transmission rate among distributed end points has been proposed in the prior art in order to prevent the throughput starvation.
In such a distributed scheduling technique, an end node directly or indirectly monitors a state of a network path through which its own flow passes, instead of information regarding the entire network, and determines a transmission rate based on the monitored information in order to control its own transmission rate. Particularly, a flow having a low throughput tries to obtain higher throughput by continuously increasing its own transmission rate in order to increase fairness.
Accordingly, the distributed scheduling technique is a problem of determining a sequence of communication with adjacent nodes in the nodes configuring the network.
At this point, the nodes try to increase fairness by solving the problem of throughput starvation in a method of monitoring states of geographically close nodes and granting a higher communication priority to a flow which obtains a low throughput based on the monitored states.
However, such a method does not work based on the information regarding the entire network. Accordingly, the determination is wrong in many cases due to limited amount of information, and thus there is a problem in that a high fairness is not demonstrated.

Flow control node for managing throughput fairness of a plurality of flows, transmission node, method for controlling flow, and method for controlling transmission rate

Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology


Reamers for use in core-sample drilling include PDC inserts. Such reamers with PDC inserts may be used to maintain borehole diameters, reduce deviation, and/or stabilize drill strings used in core sample drilling. The PDC inserts may be of different sizes and shapes and may be arranged around the reamers in various ways.

1. The Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to drilling methods and devices used in core drilling. In particular, this application relates to a method and apparatus for using polycrystalline diamond compact in reamers and other core drilling equipment.
2. Background and Related Art
Many drilling processes are currently known and used. One type of drilling process, exploration drilling, often includes retrieving a sample of a desired material from below the surface of the earth. In some processes used in exploration drilling, an open-faced drill bit is attached to the bottom or leading edge of a core barrel for retrieving the desired sample. The core barrel is then attached to a drill string, which is a series of connected drill rods that are assembled section by section as the core barrel moves deeper into the desired sub-surface formation. The core barrel is rotated, pushed, and/or vibrated into the formation to obtain a sample of the desired material (often called a core sample). Once the core sample is obtained, the core barrel containing the core sample is retrieved by removing (or tripping out) core barrel. The core sample can then be removed from the core barrel.
Reamers are sometimes used in the drill string to maintain a desired diameter of the borehole and to remove loose or uneven material from the walls of the borehole. Reamers are also sometimes used to maintain drill string alignment in the hole because the reamers have an outer diameter similar to the inner diameter of the hole, while the drill string is usually smaller than the diameter of the hole. Reamers are generally made using a steel tube that can be placed in line with the drill string. The steel tube may have abrasive pads or rings extending around the steel tube to achieve a desired stability for the drill string and/or to maintain the diameter of the borehole.
Maintaining consistent diameter from the top of the borehole to the bottom and clearance between the borehole walls and the drill string can facilitate removing and replacing of the drill string and allow space for drill cuttings clear. Accordingly, the reamer ensures the borehole does not press in on the drill string, which would require additional power to turn the drill string against the surface on significant portions of the borehole. A reamer may also minimize the surface area of the drill string in friction contact with the wall of the borehole while maintaining the lateral support for the drill string and reducing the energy required to turn and advance the drill string. In some applications, damaged or consumed reamers require tripping the entire drill string out for repairs or replacement with a new reamer.

Reamer with polycrystalline diamond compact inserts


A cleaning unit for smelt spouts of a recovery boiler. A motorized cleaning member is configured to clean smelt spouts of a recovery boiler. A motorized transfer device is configured to transfer the cleaning unit from the location of a first smelt spout to the location of a second smelt spout.

The spent lye, i.e. the so-called black liquor created in pulp manufacture is burnt in a recovery boiler, on one hand, in order to recover the energy it includes, and on the other hand, in order to recover the chemicals in it and to recycle them back to circulation. A char bed is created on the bottom of the recovery boiler when burning black liquor, which in a high temperature forms into smelt, which is removed from the boiler as a continuous flow via smelt spouts to a dissolving tank.
Below the furnace is located the cover area of a dissolving tank of the recovery boiler, i.e. the smelt spout area, where the smelt from the lower part of the furnace is directed along the so-called smelt spout to the dissolving tank. FIG. 1 shows a typical smelt spout area of a recovery boiler, which comprises smelt spouts 1, along which the smelt is directed from the furnace 2 to the dissolving tank 3.
Typically, the smelt is very hot (for example 750 to 820° C.). The possible splashes of smelt cause danger to the personnel working and moving in the surroundings. Because of this, there is typically a protection area near the smelt spouts, moving on which area should be avoided and working on which area requires using special protection equipment.
However, it is necessary to work in the vicinity of the smelt spouts relatively often, because the operation of the smelt spouts must be monitored periodically. In practice, smelt accumulates on the surfaces of the smelt spout, which smelt tends to solidify and cause plugging. When necessary, pile-up and pluggings must be removed from the smelt spouts in order for the smelt to be able to travel to the dissolving tank in a desired manner.
The smelt spout cleaning means are typically hand tools used by the operating personnel, such as, for example, cleaning rods. To increase work safety, motor-operated smelt spout cleaning means have been developed, where the cleaning means are moved by a motor, thus cleaning the smelt spout.

Cleaner equipment for the smelt spouts of a recovery boiler


A method, system, and apparatus to detect when one or more moving vehicles are close to a first vehicle, and to take necessary actions to maintain a minimum distance between vehicles in a dynamic environment by automatic navigation. A computer method and apparatus for automobile accident reduction by maintaining a minimum distance with respect to all nearby vehicles on the road. In addition, methods to synchronously move a group of vehicles on a highway through a swarming action where each vehicle keeps a region immediately around it free of other vehicles while maintaining the speed of the vehicle immediately in front or nearby is also disclosed.

Various methods and apparatus are known for preventing automobile accidents. Accidents happen when two moving objects collide, or the distance between two objects reduces to zero, with the "intensity" of the accident depending upon vehicle speed, orientation and road conditions among other things. Going through a red light, accelerating towards a post, not stopping at "STOP" signs, can all lead to accidents. For example, running through a red light can cause collision with another approaching vehicle that has a green light. A method and system to detect these situations, and take necessary actions to maintain a minimum distance between vehicles in a dynamic environment by automatic navigation is proposed in this invention. Prior art in this context is the ABS (Automatic Braking System), now universally adopted in almost all modern vehicles, where depending on the road traction in hostile weather conditions, the onboard computer takes over the braking procedure which helps avoid losing control of the vehicle on the road. Mercedes (trademarked), BMW (trademarked), and other companies have configured small radars into the chassis of some of their models to sense the distance to the closest neighbor (vehicle in front) and engage brakes automatically to avoid a collision.

Method and apparatus for automobile accident reduction using localized dynamic swarming


A storage device includes a source volume and a processor. The source volume includes a plurality of data blocks. The processor is configured to execute a full copy process of copying all data blocks of the source volume to form a full backup volume. The processor is configured to execute, at a generation change timing of changing from a current generation to a next generation, a difference copy process of copying a first data block that has been updated in the current generation into a corresponding region of the full backup volume. The processor is configured to execute a generation backup process of storing the first data block of a previous generation in a generation backup volume corresponding to the current generation.

As a method for backing up a source volume (for example, a business volume) of a storage device, One Point Copy (OPC) is known. OPC is executed to form, for data to be backed up, a snapshot that is data at a predetermined time. The storage device executes OPC. When receiving an OPC instruction from a user, the storage device backs up the source volume by copying all data of the source volume at the time of the reception of the OPC instruction and storing the data as a snapshot (backup data).
As advanced functions of OPC, Quick One Point Copy (QOPC), Snapshot One Point Copy (SnapOPC), SnapOPC+, and the like are known.
QOPC is a function of reflecting only updated data (differential data) in a backup volume updated before reception of a restart instruction when the restart instruction is received from a host device after all data is physically copied by OPC and the backup volume is formed. QOPC has the following two features (1) and (2).
Feature (1): After a copy process by OPC is completed, a location in a copy source volume (source volume), at which data is updated, is memorized. Upon a restart request (restart instruction), only the data at the location updated until the restart request is copied into a backup volume. In QOPC, after all data is physically copied, it is sufficient if only the difference is copied in accordance with the restart request. Thus, QOPC may achieve a reduction in the amount of data to be copied and an increase in the speed of the copy process.
Feature (2): A session is not automatically released even after the completion of the copy process by OPC and is released when stopped by software. When the session is released, the process of copying differential data is not restarted. Thus, the session is not easily released.
SnapOPC is executed, when backup data is to be formed, to back up only an updated part among data of a copy source volume and thereby reduces a physical region of a copy destination (backup destination) and the cost of copying.
SnapOPC+, which is an advanced function of SnapOPC, is executed to form a backup volume for each generation without fully copying a source volume. In SnapOPC+, data (old data) that is stored, before update, at a location targeted for update is copied into a backup volume for a corresponding generation when the source volume is updated. Specifically, in SnapOPC+, a snap data volume (SDV), which is a generation backup volume, is formed for each of generations (for example, for each day of the week), and only data of differences between the generations is copied into the SDVs.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, a storage device that has SnapOPC+installed therein forms SDVs 201, 202, and 203 for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, respectively, as generation backup volumes for a source volume 100 that is a copy source. In this case, only data before update that is updated on Monday is stored in the SDV 201 for Monday; only data before update that is updated on Tuesday is stored in the SDV 202 for Tuesday; and only data before update that is updated on Wednesday is stored in the SDV 203 for Wednesday.
Thus, in the generation management by SnapOPC+, data of multiple generations may be backed up using a small physical capacity for the source volume 100. In the example illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, the source volume 100 and the SDVs 201 to 203 are provided as physical volumes, while the SDVs 201 to 203 store data of differences between the generations and have a smaller capacity than the source volume 100. The storage device provides, as logical volumes, backup volumes (data on Monday, data on Tuesday, and data on Wednesday) for generations to a host device 2 by combining the source volume 100 and the SDVs 201 to 203 for the generations and enables the host device 2 to access the backup volumes.
Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-292865, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-341840, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-140065.
However, in operation, data is frequently input and output between the source volume 100 and the host device 2 connected to the storage device, that is, input and output requests and data based on the input and output requests are frequently transmitted and received between the source volume 100 and the host device 2. Thus, the source volume 100 may fail or be broken at a higher rate than a backup volume formed by QOPC and the generation SDVs 201 to 203 formed by SnapOPC+. When the source volume 100 fails as illustrated in FIG. 12, backup volumes, which serve as logical volumes, for all generations fail even if the SDVs 201 to 203 do not fail. Thus, inputting and outputting to and from the host device 2 all cause an error and may affect a system operation.

Storage device and method for backing up source volume


The invention concerns a real-time navigation method for locating a rover using three-carrier radio signals of three different frequencies to determine the position of a user, transmitted by satellites. The method comprises a first step for determining “extra-wide lane” carrier phase ambiguity, a second step for estimating “wide-lane” phase ambiguity, and a third step for resolving the phase ambiguity of one of the frequencies. An additional step consists in the application of real-time ionospheric corrections during the third step, these ionospheric corrections being based on a continuously updated ionospheric model of said ionospheric layer calculated by a fixed ground reference station combined with geodetic data calculated by a so-called master fixed ground reference station. The invention also concerns a system for implementing the method.

The invention concerns a method and a system for real-time navigation using satellite-transmitted three-carrier radio signals and ionospheric corrections, more precisely corrections obtained by means of a continuously updated real-time ionospheric model, the model being based on data from a satellite navigation system, for example implemented like a three-dimensional voxel model.
It is particularly though not exclusively, applicable to the field of high-precision instantaneous navigation, typically having a precision within one decimeter, as will be shown below, at distances on the order of hundreds of kilometers or more.
By way of illustration, we will hereinafter focus on the preferred application of the invention, without in any way limiting its scope.
One of the current commonly used techniques for obtaining a precise positioning of an "object," whether stationary or moving, and in the latter case, data relative to its position, its movement, the direction of this movement and/or its speed, is to use radio signals transmitted by artificial satellites orbiting around the earth. The term "object" should be understood in its most general sense, notably a land, sea or air vehicle. For simplicity's sake, we will hereinafter refer to this "object" as a "rover."
There are various known techniques for obtaining the aforementioned positioning. They are based in particular on the knowledge of the instantaneous position of several satellites in space (or a constellation of satellites, as these satellites may or may not be geostationary) and of the propagation speed of the radio waves. High-precision clocks are installed aboard the satellites, and the transmitted signals include time-stamped information, which makes it possible to know precisely the moment of both transmission and reception. It is thus possible to determine the theoretical distance separating a satellite in view of the rover from the latter at a given moment, knowing the propagation speed of the waves and the time they take to reach the rover. If a sufficient number of satellites is observable, it is thus possible to determine the coordinates of the rover relative to a reference frame, in two dimensions (longitude and latitude on the earth) or even three dimensions (longitude, latitude and altitude/vertical).
However, as will be shown, because of the accumulation of errors in the measurements due to various causes, the distances calculated are only approximate, and the determination of the position of the rover suffers from a more or less substantial degree of imprecision, depending on the technologies used.
One of the best known satellite navigation systems is the system known as "GPS" for "Global Positioning System."
Customarily, "GPS" (or similar system) satellites transmit in two frequency bands, generally designated L1 (a carrier frequency equal to 1.575 GHz) and L2 (a carrier frequency equal to 1.227 GHz), hence the adjective "dual frequency" that is applied to them.
The use of these two frequencies, in accordance with certain methods well known to one skilled in the art, makes it possible to improve the precision of the determination of a rover's position relative to a reference frame, but it requires "GPS" receivers that are more complex and more costly.
A position determination can be made using two main methods: real-time, or after-the-fact, by performing what is known as a "post-processing." The first case is commonly referred to as "single-epoch" resolution (a term that will be used below) or instantaneous resolution, the calculations being performed during a single observation "epoch." The second method ("post-processing") makes it possible to improve precision. However, while the latter method does not present any major drawbacks for slow-moving rovers (ships, for example), it is not appropriate for rovers that move very fast (aircraft, for example).
Precision can be further improved by combining the signals transmitted by the satellites with signals originating from fixed ground reference stations whose positions are well known. However, if the rover travels great distances, it is necessary for this network of stations to be relatively dense, especially in cases where high precision is desirable in the determination of the rover's position, which correspondingly increases the cost of the global system.
Moreover, among the numerous causes of errors, differential ionospheric refraction, when considering distances equal to tens of kilometers or more, is one of the main problems affecting capacities for instantaneous resolution of carrier phase ambiguity, and consequently the capability to provide a navigation wherein the precision is on the order of one centimeter with dual-frequency global navigation satellite systems such as the aforementioned "GPS" system. This characteristic will remain true with respect to future three-frequency systems like the "GALILEO" system and the "Modernized GPS" system.
In essence, the three-carrier systems currently being planned offer the potential advantages of a high success rate and high integrity in instantaneous ambiguity resolution, with a minimal number of geodetic calculations. This is particularly due to the fact that a higher quantity of different data (i.e., associated with the aforementioned three frequencies) is made available, which correspondingly improves the chances of obtaining an instantaneous ("single epoch") ambiguity resolution.
But here again, this resolution can be seriously affected by ionospheric refraction, as explained below.
In order to achieve high precision in the instantaneous determination of the position of a rover, particularly a rover that travels great distances, there is still a need to implement techniques that make it possible, in particular, to reduce the harmful influence of ionospheric refraction.
In the prior art, various methods for meeting this need have been proposed.
For example, there is the method known as "TCAR," for "three-carrier ambiguity resolution." This method is described in the article entitled "ANALYSIS OF THREE-CARRIER AMBIGUITY RESOLUTION (TCAR) TECHNIQUE FOR PRECISE RELATIVE POSITIONING IN GNSS-2," by U. VOLLATH et al., published in "Proceedings of the ION GPS" 1998, IX-O-13, pages 1–6.
There is also the method known as "CIR," for "cascade integer resolution." This method is described in the article by Jaewo JUNG et al., entitled "Optimization of Cascade Integer Resolution with Three Civil GPS Frequencies," published in "Proceedings of the ION GPS 2000."
These two techniques share a similar basic approach: the double difference ambiguities of integers are successively resolved by calculating wave frequency beats. This calculation is performed from the longest to the shortest beat wavelength, including combinations of so-called "wide" lane and "extra wide" lane carrier phases (with wavelengths of 7.480 m and 0.862 m, respectively), and a first carrier at the "L1 frequency" (with a wavelength of 0.190 m).
The "TCAR" method in particular constitutes a simple approach that tries to resolve the full set of ambiguities instantaneously (in "single epoch" mode). But the performance of "TCAR" is strongly affected by the ionospheric refraction decorrelation that occurs with distance. In fact, as explained below, ionospheric delay is a problem when (as in the case of two-frequency systems) the value of its double differential is more than 0.26 TECU (which corresponds to a 4-cm delay for L1).
A "TECU" is a unit used to describe certain electrical characteristics of the ionosphere. In essence, the ionosphere can be described using a map that represents a count of the total number of electrons, or "TEC" (for "Total Electron Content"). The map represents the integration of the number of electrons in a vertical direction as a function of latitude and longitude. A unit of TEC is referred to as a "TECU" (for "TEC Unit"), with one TECU=1016 electrons contained in a cylinder aligned on the line of observation of an observed satellite, the cross-section of which is 1 m2. The charged particles in the ionosphere are generated by the sun, whose radiation intensity varies naturally as a function of the time in question. Because the earth rotates on its axis underneath the ionospheric layer, the "TEC" map is normally considered to represent a reference frame that is fixed relative to the sun, but that changes as a function of time.
The above-mentioned threshold is easily exceeded, as may be seen by consulting ionospheric ("TEC") maps of vertical delays calculated from "GPS" data. Such maps are issued, for example, by the "Jet Propulsion Laboratory," the University of Bern, etc., and published on the Internet by the "University Corporation for Atmospheric Research" and other similar organizations.
Consequently, in order to further improve the "TCAR" method, an integrated approach known as "ITCAR" (for "Integrated TCAR") was developed. This technique is described, for example, in the above-mentioned article by VOLLATH et al.
This technique uses search algorithms and a navigation filter wherein the ambiguities are part of the output signals and the residual ionospheric errors are roughly estimated. For a more detailed description of the techniques used, it would be worthwhile to refer to this article.
However, although it provides a significant improvement, the "ITCAR" technique is nonetheless still affected by the lack of knowledge of the double difference of the ionospheric refraction, thus limiting the success rate of the ambiguity resolution for distances greater than several tens of kilometers, as described in the article by VOLLATH et al., entitled "Ambiguity Resolution Using Three Carriers—Performance Analyzing Using 'Real' Data, published in "GNSS Symposium," Seville, May 2001.
It has also been proposed, again with a view to improving the precision of the determination of a rover's position relative to a reference frame, to combine a real-time ionospheric model of the ionosphere, obtained from "dual-frequency" data generated by a network of fixed stations, with data from a geodetic program, and to use such data to perform ionospheric corrections. This method has been used with some success in resolving ambiguities in real-time in two-frequency systems of the "GPS" type.
One method of this type, called "WARTK" (for "Wide Area Real-Time Kinematics"), is described for example in the article by Hernández-Pajares et al. entitled "Tomographic Modeling of GNSS Ionospheric Corrections: Assessment and Real-Time Applications," published in "ION GPS" 19–22 Sep. 2000, pages 616–625. This method does make it possible to attenuate the harmful effects of the disturbances experienced by the radio waves propagating in the ionosphere, and consequently, to substantially improve the success rate of the phase ambiguity resolution and the determination of a rover's position relative to a reference frame, but it requires a large number of calculations to produce the aforementioned model in real time and to determine, also in real time, the ionospheric corrections to be applied to the distance measurements.

Method and system for real time navigation using satellite transmitted three-carrier radio signals and ionospheric corrections

Organisation Intergouvernementale Dite Agence Spatiale Europeenne