A paper guide unit is disposed in a signature delivery section of a rotary press in which signatures are inserted between vanes of a delivery fan and dropped onto a conveyor located under the delivery fan through rotation of the delivery fan. A guide member located in the vicinity of a rotation area of the delivery fan has a signature guide surface which comes into contact the signatures inserted between vanes of the delivery fan in order to guide them toward the conveyor. A movable unit is provided to support the guide member. The movable unit is reciprocatively movable in a substantially horizontal direction to move the guide member toward or away from the delivery fan. An adjusting unit is linked to the movable unit for moving the guide member toward or away from the delivery fan via the movable unit to thereby adjust the gap between the guide member and the delivery fan. A posture-holding mechanism is further provided in the movable unit for selectively holding the guide member in either a guide posture or an opening posture. In the guide posture, the guide member faces the trajectory of vane tips of the delivery fan so as to guide rear end portions of signatures. In the opening posture, the guide member is angularly displaced far away from the delivery fan and does not face the trajectory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signature delivery section of a folding machine of a rotary press. More particularly, the invention relates to a paper guide unit in a signature delivery section of a folding machine of a rotary press. The folding machine allows the size of signatures to be varied arbitrarily. The paper guide unit comes into contact with and guides rear end portions of signatures projecting from the circumference of a delivery fan while the signatures are received in the delivery fan and then drop onto a conveyor located under the delivery fan.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a rotary press, web printed in a printing section is folded and cut at a folding machine to become signatures. The signatures are sent to a delivery fan in a signature delivery section.
Each signature drops in a vertical posture into a space defined by adjacent vanes of the delivery fan. Each signature is received in its space with its rear end portion projecting from the circumference of the delivery fan. As the delivery fan rotates, each signature is rotationally moved and changes its posture from vertical to horizontal. As the delivery fan rotates further, each signature is further moved rotationally and drops onto a conveyor located under the delivery fan.
The conveyor is vertically movable in accordance with signature thickness, so that the gap between the circumference of the delivery fan and the upper surface of the conveyor can be adjusted in accordance with signature thickness.
Through the above-mentioned gap adjustment, signatures are conveyed on the conveyor without jamming.
In order to prevent flutter or droop of signature rear end portions projecting from the circumference of the delivery fan, there is generally provided a paper guide unit which comes into contact with signature rear end portions in order to guide them toward the conveyor.
A conventional technique related to the above-mentioned paper guide unit is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-37682 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-17980.
The paper guide unit disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-37682 has a paper guide whose shape corresponds to the trajectory of vane tips of a rotating delivery fan.
The paper guide has a mechanism for coping with a signature jam. Specifically, upon a signature jamming between the delivery fan and the paper guide for some reason, the jamming pressure causes the paper guide to move parallel away from the delivery fan against a spring force.
The paper guide unit disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-17980 includes movable means and adjusting means. The movable means enables a paper guide to move away from a delivery fan along rails provided on both sides of the paper guide. The adjusting means enables an operator to move the movable means through operation of a handle so as to adjust the gap between the delivery fan and the paper guide.
The paper guide unit disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-37682 does not have adjusting means for adjusting the gap between the delivery fan and the paper guide through movement of the paper guide away from the delivery fan. Thus, even when the size of signatures is changed, the gap between the delivery fan and the paper guide cannot be adjusted accordingly. Consequently, signature rear end portions projecting from the circumference of the delivery fan cannot come into proper contact the paper guide. Specifically, the following problems are involved.
(1) When the gap between the delivery fan and the paper guide is excessively wide for the size of signatures, rear end portions of signatures may not come into contact with the paper guide or may come into only slight contact. As a result, the signature rear end portion may flutter, droop, or exhibit like behavior while the signature is rotationally moved with rotation of the delivery fan.
Subsequently, the signature drops onto a conveyor such that its rear end portion is knocked down on the conveyor surface. The impact causes the signature rear end portion to jump up on the conveyor surface. As a result, leaves of the signature may be turned over at a corner section or across the entire width of the signature rear end portion. A subsequent signature drops onto and presses the turned-over leaves, causing formation of a fold at the signature rear end portion.
(2) When the gap between the delivery fan and the paper guide is excessively narrow for the size of signatures, a contact area between rear end portions of signatures and the paper guide becomes relatively large, resulting in an increase in frictional resistance therebetween. This disturbs the timing of the signature rear end portion dropping onto a conveyor. For example, the dropping may be delayed.
As a result, signatures fail to drop onto the conveyor in an orderly manner and be conveyed at regular overlapping intervals.
If a signature drops onto the conveyor in a misaligned manner, the signature may be caught by a side plate or the like provided on either side of the conveyor and serving as a paper guide, thus remaining in place on the conveyor. As a result, following signatures will accumulate on the stopped signature, causing signature jamming.
The paper guide unit disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-17980 has the adjusting means for enabling an operator to horizontally move the paper guide toward or away from the delivery fan so as to adjust the gap between the paper guide and the delivery fan in accordance with the size of signatures.
However, the paper guide is in a flat shape, which does not correspond to the trajectory of vane tips of a rotating delivery fan.
Further, the paper guide faces the delivery fan in a substantially vertical posture. Accordingly, the gap between the delivery fan and the paper guide is not constant over the entire paper guide. In other words, the gap becomes relatively wide at a certain point on the paper guide and becomes relatively narrow at another point. Even though the gap is adjusted according to the size of signatures through movement of the paper guide effected with the adjusting means, there are involved problems similar to those in the case of the above-mentioned paper guide unit disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-37682.
Also, even when signature jamming occurs on the conveyor and propagates up to the gap between the delivery fan and the paper guide due to accumulation of following signatures, the paper guide is not adapted to respond to an increased jam pressure and move away from the delivery fan, resulting in a mechanical breakage.
Further, since the paper guide cannot be moved far away from the delivery fan during work for coping with a signature jam, a worker takes a long time and must perform burdensome operation to remove jammed signatures, so that a significant burden is imposed the worker.


A filter assembly (10) with a filter housing (12) and a bag-type filter element (14). A collar (36) is disposed inside the housing below an opening (42) through which a process stream is introduced into the filter assembly. The filter element includes a filter bag (70) to which a sealing ring (72) is attached. The sealing ring is formed to define a channel (84) in which the collar is seated. The sealing ring also has a lip (86) that snap secures against a complementary stepped surface (60) formed around the collar. A gasket (85) attached to the sealing ring forms a liquid-tight barrier between the collar and the sealing ring. The collar is also formed with a boss (62). The sealing ring defines a alignment notch (88). In order to seal the filter element in place, boss (62) must seat in alignment notch (88); this ensures that when the filter element is secured in place, it is properly aligned with the other components of the filter assembly.

Filter assemblies are used in many industrial facilities to selectively remove material from liquid-state process streams. Filter assemblies are used to both remove undesirable contaminates from process streams and to remove desirable filtrates out of process streams. One type of filter that is employed in many industrial processes includes a bag-type filter element. As the name implies, the actual filter media of these filters is a flexible material such as woven polypropylene. The filter media is shaped to form an elongated bag having an open end and a closed end. The filter element is disposed in an elongated housing so that the open end is located adjacent the top of the housing. The process stream to be filtered is introduced into the top of housing so that it flows through the open end of the filter bag. The material is then trapped by the media and the filtered process stream flows out through the sides and closed bottom of the filter bag. The filtered process stream is discharged through an opening in the bottom of the filter housing.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,771,664 and 4,157,964, owned by the assignee of this application and incorporated herein by reference, disclose two known bag-type filter assemblies. More specifically, these patents disclose mechanisms for securing the top open end of the bag-type filter element into the top of the complementary housing. A satisfactory mechanism for securing a filter element in a housing must accomplish two tasks. First, it must secure the filter bag in the housing so that the top of the bag, referred to as the rim, is held in place. Secondly, the mechanism must provide a seal between the rim of the filter element and the surrounding, complementary component of the housing to which the rim is mated. This seal is important because, if it does not exist, the process stream, which is under pressure, can flow in the interstitial space around the rim. If this flow occurs, than at least a fraction of the process stream bypasses the filter and flows out of the filter assembly in the unfiltered state. It should thus be clear that for any bag-type filter element to function properly, a very strong seal needs to be formed around the open end of the bag.
The above patents disclose securement mechanisms, called seal compressors, that maintain good, liquid-tight seals around the open end of a bag-type filter element. A typical seal compressor includes a compressible seal that is located around the open end of the bag. Disks are employed to compress the seal against the housing in order to form a liquid-tight barrier.
While seal compressors work well for establishing a seal around the open end of a bag-type filter element, there is a disadvantage associated with their use. Specifically, a seal compressor is formed out of a large number of components. Providing and assembling these components together can significantly add to the overall cost of providing a filter assembly with a bag-type filter element. Also, a seal compressor must be partially disassembled and then reassembled whenever a filter assembly is serviced. Clearly, the time it takes to perform these processes adds to both the overall time it takes the technician to service the filter assembly and the time the assembly is out of service.
Also, it has recently become desirable to provide bag-type filter elements with handles that extend upwardly from the open end of the filter bag. Providing a filter bag with these handles facilitates the removal of the bag especially when it is weighted down with a large volume of removed material and any unfiltered liquid. However, if the handles are not properly aligned, they may be positioned in the path of process stream that is introduced into the filter assembly. If this occurs, the handles could be subjected to the substantial force that is presented by the pressure head of the process stream introduced into the filter assembly. Over time, there is a possibility that this force can weaken the connection between the handle and the component of the filter bag to which it is connected. If this connection is sufficiently weakened, the handle can be torn away from the filter bag while the bag is in use. Alternatively, the handle could separate from the filter bag as it is used to lift the filter bag from the filter assembly. In either case, the usefulness of the handle would be lost.


The invention concerns a process for covering a container opening with a container cover (11), which is peelably connected to the container rim (7) surrounding the container opening. The process according to the invention is characterized in that on a first material strip (1) of the container cover (11) at least one second material strip (2) partially covering the first material strip is arranged, that subsequently both material strips (1, 2) are coated with a sealing agent (5) at least in a marginal area formed between these material strips, and that during a subsequent process step the container rim (7) surrounding the container opening is peelably connected to the first as well as the second material strips (1, 2) in a circular manner, wherein the second material strip (2) overlaps a marginal partial section of the container opening in such a way that the partial section of the first material strip (1), arranged on the side of the container cover (11) facing away from the container interior, overlapping the second material strip (2) and thus free of the sealing agent, forms a tear-open flap. The invention also concerns a container (10) with a container cover (11) as well as lid material (3) for the manufacture of a container cover (11).

The invention concerns a process for covering a container opening by means of a container cover which is connected to the container rim surrounding the container opening and which can be peeled off, wherein on a first material strip of the container cover at least one second material strip is arranged partially covering the first material strip, wherein the two material strips are connected with each other by a sealing layer at least in an edge area formed between these material strips, and wherein a partial section of the container cover, which is maintained free of the sealing layer by means of the second material strip, forms a tear-off flap.
Object of the present invention is also a container with a container cover, connected in a circular manner to the container rim surrounding a container opening, which can be peeled off and which has a first material strip as well as a second material strip, wherein these two material strips are tightly connected with each other at least in the edge regions situated between them while forming a tear-off flap.
The present invention also concerns itself with a cover material for manufacture of a container cover, which cover material has first material strip, on the side of which facing the container interior at least one second material strip is provided covering a partial section of the first material strip.
Container covers of the type mentioned above are used as lids of various designs for covering containers used for packaging.
A container whose container opening is sealed by means of a container cover consisting of aluminum foil is already known. This container cover is provided with a first layer of material which is connected tightly and in a circular manner to the container rim surrounding the container opening in a circular manner, but which cannot be peeled off. On the surface not facing the interior of the container, the first layer of material is connected with punched-out and sealed-on flaps serving to tear open the cover; these flaps are made of a second layer of material which seals off an opening for drinking provided in the first layer of material, whereby the second layer of material can be peeled off the first layer of material via a projecting partial section in the shape of a flap thus uncovering the opening for drinking.
Due to providing the opening for drinking in the first layer of material, punching out and sealing on the tear-off flap including the necessary positioning of both layers of material in relation to each other, and due to punching out the container cover, the manufacture of this cover necessitates considerable expenditure. Furthermore, there is the possibility that germs may accumulate in the space between the two layers of material arranged on top of each other, especially under the projecting partial section in the shape of a flap; these germs cannot be eliminated completely even by subjecting the lid material to an aseptic bath.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,745 is already known a container cover of the type mentioned at the outset for closing a container opening, which is peelably connected with the container rim surrounding the container opening. This previously known container cover has an outer first material strip, which is connected by a full surface sealing layer with a second material strip partially covering the first material strip. The first and the second material strips are connected on their side facing the container opening by the sealing layer connecting them with each other with a further base layer, which touches on the container edge on its opposite-lying flat side by an additional hot-adhesive layer.
For this purpose, the second material layer lies loose on the base layer and is connected tightly with the first material strips by the sealing layer in such a manner that in the continuous base layer in the region of its interior separation line with the second material strips a breakthrough position is formed, which above all (as shown in FIG. 8 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,745) leads to a nonuniform separation line. A further disadvantage is that the manufacturer of the previously known cover material from U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,745 entails a not insubstantial expenditure on account of the many layered construction.

Method of closing off the mouth of a container, a container with a closure of this kind and a material for manufacturing the closure


A method for predicting the location of stress corrosion cracking in a steel gas pipeline in which in-line stress corrosion cracking smart tool data, external low level metal loss data and soil characterization data are compiled to predict the location of stress corrosion cracking in a steel gas pipeline segment.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a method for detecting stress corrosion cracking in steel gas pipelines, and in particular to a method for predicting with a high degree of accuracy the presence at a specific location of stress corrosion cracking in such pipelines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the early 1960's pipe manufacturers have developed high strength steels for pipeline applications in order to reduce the pipe wall thickness required to achieve maximum allowable operating pressures specified by pipeline operators. These higher strength steels have higher tensile or residual stresses and in combination with applied stresses (hoop stresses from pressure generated by compressing natural gas for transportation) increase the potential for stress corrosion cracking (SCC) to occur.
In-line inspection tools or instrumented tools also known as intelligent or smart tools contain various sensors, sophisticated electronics, onboard computers and recording devices that collect data which is later analyzed by a specialist using special software to reveal information about the condition of the pipeline. Technology has been commercially developed and applied to detect pipe body wall metal loss and crack-like features. Unfortunately, the most useful signature from these tools has been ignored. Low level analysis for metal loss has not been used to indicate disbanded coating in conjunction with topography and SCC indications. This methodology is critical to determining where SCC really exists and for prevention of very costly exploratory digs on high-pressure pipeline systems. These are different types of technology with the in-line inspection smart tools run separately to collect the metal loss or crack feature data.
The principles of magnetic flux leakage technology are predominantly used to detect pipe body wall loss in gas pipelines. When the pipe is magnetized to an optimum inspection level and no defects exist, all lines of magnetic flux will be contained within the pipe wall. If defects exist, the lines of magnetic flux will be redistributed around the defect. The result will be that some of the lines of magnetic flux will 'leak' out into the surrounding medium. A magnetic field sensor, scanning along the surface of the pipe wall will detect any leakage field and output an electrical signal proportional to the defect's depth and shape. Originally, analog smart tools were developed using flux leakage technology in the 1960's and presently these tools are being converted to digital technology. Trained analysts review the processed data in a visual computer format to review and interpret the inspection data and grade the metal loss severity. In-line inspection metal loss smart tool vendors typically report the metal loss depth from 15% or greater depth penetration allowing for pipe manufacturing mill tolerance variances. Surveys can be graded at a specific depth more or less than 15% if requested by the operating company and if feasible for the vendor to interpret data results.
The principles of ultrasonic technology have been used successfully by commercial smart tool vendors for many years to find crack-like features in pipeline steels. Ultrasonic waves, such as elastic waves or electromagnetic acoustic waves, are transmitted via transducers into the pipe wall. These waves are reflected when they encounter discontinuities such as cracks and a portion of their energy is reflected back as an ultrasonic signal. The signal is then processed and recorded for later analysis. A serious problem with using ultrasonic technology for finding crack-like features is the inability to adequately distinguish a crack-like feature to non-critical reflector features such as manufacturing inclusions or mechanical scratches on the pipe surface as a result of construction or manufacturing practices. As many as 50% of the crack-like features reported from the smart tool can be attributed to mechanical or metallurgical defects rather than SCC. Interpretation analysts using specially developed computer software grade the survey and prepare the survey report.
Soil characterization and modeling is a tool which predicts SCC susceptibility based on a database of soil characteristics and then combining that information with the physical pipeline characteristics such as steel grade, age, coating type and condition, operating pressure, etc. The soil characterization survey is performed by walking the length of the pipeline segment and periodically collecting a soil sample from pipeline depth with a hand auger. The soil type is determined along with the associated drainage and topography. The bottom soil sample collected at pipeline depth can be tested for pH and presence of carbonate substances and other chemicals known to be present where SCC has been found on pipelines. All data collected is then associated with the pipeline footage/chainage survey. This data is then combined with the pipeline physical characteristics into a specialized computer model to predict the possibility of SCC being present assuming the coating is disbonded allowing the environment to make contact with the pipe wall at the pipeline footage/chainage location.
A hydrostatic test is a method of confirming pipeline integrity by pressuring the pipeline up to a defined pressure above the operating pressure using a liquid medium such as water. For a gas pipeline, it involves removing the pipeline from gas service, installing special test manifolds, filling and pressurizing the pipe using a liquid medium. This technique will find SCC features that will not sustain the achieved pressure, but will not find or identify the location of any sub-critical crack-like features.
Historically, gas pipeline operators have relied on periodically pressure testing pipelines to confirm integrity as a method of finding SCC. Some operators have also run in-line inspection SCC smart tools to identify where the cracks could be located. Unfortunately, numerous excavations have to be performed where mechanical or metallurgical false reflector indications are found rather than SCC. Other operators have used the soil characterization and SCC model surveys to perform excavations to investigate whether SCC is present. The soil characterization survey does not provide a survey that definitively confirms SCC but indicates the possible presence if the coating is disbanded and the environment has come into contact with the pipeline for a sustained period of time to promote crack growth.
Stress corrosion cracking is a form of environmentally assisted cracking where the surrounding environment, pipe material and stress act together to reduce the strength or load carrying capacity of the pipeline. It is the result of a chemistry and a physics problem working together, and the mechanism is electrochemical-mechanical. When steel comes into contact with water, the minerals and gases in the water at the pipe surface create cells that attack the steel. This chemical or electrochemical reaction is corrosion and, in other situations, would typically create general pipe wall thinning or pits in the steel. In SCC, stress and corrosion work together to weaken the pipe. Ultimately, the cracks continue to develop in depth and width or merge together with adjacent cracks to make a single longer crack to the point that the crack location is weakened beyond the stress load and thus mechanical failure occurs.
Research into the process of near neutral/low pH stress corrosion cracking has only been initiated in the last fifteen years or so since the first pipeline failure occurred that was attributed to this type of SCC. The scientific research community generally agrees that the following processes are required for near neutral or low pH SCC to develop.
Three conditions are necessary and must be present for stress corrosion cracking to occur: 1) a chemical environment that initiates a crack at the pipeline wall surface; 2) a susceptible steel pipe material, and 3) tensile stress in the pipeline steel. If any one of these three conditions listed above could be eliminated or reduced to a point where cracking would not occur, then SCC could be prevented.
Cracks are most likely initiated at pits on the steel surface of the pipeline where a localized environment is generated that has a pH low enough to produce atomic hydrogen in the pit. The presence of carbon dioxide in the groundwater assists in creating near neutral pH levels. Some of the discharged atomic hydrogen enters the steel, degrading the mechanical properties locally so that the cracks are initiated or grown by a combination of dissolution and hydrogen embrittlement. Continued anodic dissolution in the crack is necessary for crack growth, assisted by hydrogen entry into the steel. The plastic stress level necessary to produce cracking may not be related solely to fracturing the embrittled steel. It may also contribute by rupturing the protective film, allowing hydrogen to reach and then penetrate the steel. The cracks generated by near neutral/low pH SCC are generally transgranular where the cracks follow a path across or through the grains.
Near neutral/low pH stress corrosion cracking is associated with shallow external corrosion pitting. Internal in-line inspection smart tools are commercially available that detect external corrosion pitting. The environment for near neutral/low pH SCC can only develop after damage to or disbondment of the pipe coating and in the absence of the cathodic protection current used to control external pipeline corrosion. Some types of pipeline coatings when disbanded act as a barrier shielding cathodic protection from reaching the pipe surface.
The Canadian National Energy Board held an inquiry and subsequently published a Report of the Inquiry titled Stress Corrosion Cracking on Canadian Oil and Gas Pipelines in November 1996. Following that report the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) published Stress Corrosion Cracking Recommended Practices in May 1997. These documents discuss the processes described above (in-line metal loss and SCC smart tools, soil characterization and modeling) as separate technologies. The CEPA SCC Recommended Practices consist of a compilation of guidelines based on practices at the time of publication to support companies in the management of their longitudinal, low-pH SCC concerns. In April 1995, the Gas Research Institute published a report for member companies titled Stress Corrosion Cracks in Pipelines: Characteristics and Detection Considerations. This report presents an overview of stress corrosion cracking in pipelines with a particular emphasis on aspects that are relevant to the development of in-line inspection tools and interpretation of inspection signals. Numerous other research articles on near neutral/low pH SCC mechanics have been written and published by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers.
There are many disadvantages associated with the traditional SCC detection methods for near neutral/low pH stress corrosion cracking on steel gas pipelines. The traditional SCC detection methods include using separately 1) in-line pipeline inspection data obtained with smart tools that are designed to detect external pipeline wall crack-like features; 2) in-line smart tool inspection for external metal loss corrosion anomalies; or 3) soil characterization surveys having computerized data modeling to determine susceptible terrain for SCC.
One disadvantage is that the traditional near neutral/low pH SCC detection methods yield false or inconclusive results. Moreover, the methods to confirm the location of SCC in a pipeline are costly and highly labor-intensive. Heretofore, such pipelines in which SCC was suspected were taken out of gas transmission service, and subjected to hydrostatic testing.
Another disadvantage is that the results of the traditional SCC detection methods have not been integrated and comparatively evaluated to determine with high confidence whether actual SCC exists at a physical gas pipeline location. A key component not used before this invention was to utilize low level analysis of metal loss in-line inspection tool surveys rather than conventional grading methodology. Heretofore, such detection results were evaluated separately.
Accordingly, prior to the development of the present invention, there has not been a method of integrating in-line pipeline wall inspection results, in-line low level external metal loss external corrosion analysis results and soil characterization model results to determine with high confidence whether actual SCC exists at a physical gas pipeline segment location. Therefore, the art has sought a low cost and reliable method of integrating such methods to confirm and/or predict the location of segment of a steel gas pipeline that is susceptible to SCC.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system to detect stress corrosion cracking in pipeline systems


In order to efficiently utilize the energy of the flux leaked from the vicinities of the edges of a fixing roller having a part to be heated, which is made of magnetic material that has Curie point, the energy of the leaked flux is stored to be utilized as need arises, or is utilized to heat the vicinity of the center of the fixing roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing device of an electromagnetic induction heat system for heating a fixing roller, and more particularly, to a technology for preventing excessive heating of the vicinities of the edges of said fixing roller.
2. Description of the Related Art
Art A fixing device of an electromagnetic induction heat system for heating a fixing roller by electromagnetic induction is used in image forming apparatuses, such as printers, copiers, facsimiles, and MFPs thereof.
More specifically, an electromagnetic coil is disposed inside of a tubular fixing roller made of magnetic material, and alternating current is provided therein so that flux is generated. This generates eddy current (induced current) to produce heat in the fixing roller, resulting from electromagnetic induction occurred by flux (magnetic field) in the electromagnetic coil. The image forming apparatus structured as such generally conducts temperature control of the fixing roller based on the detection result of the temperature sensor, that detects the temperature of the fixing roller, by means of controlling alternating current applied to the electromagnetic coil.
When a small-sized paper is used in printing output, there have been conventionally occurred a problem of excessive heating of a non-paper-passing area, where the paper does not pass through, in the vicinity of the edge of the fixing roller. Here, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-325678 has been disclosing a structure which uses magnetic shunt alloy in the fixing roller for the purpose of preventing excessive heating in the non-paper-passing area in the fixing roller. For confirmation, magnetic shunt alloy has a property for rapidly decreasing its magnetic quality when it reaches the Curie point.
In such a structure, the magnetic quality in the non-paper-passing area rapidly decreases when the temperature in the non-paper-passing area of the fixing roller exceeds the Curie point of its magnetic shunt alloy, thereby rapidly reducing the eddy current occurred from electromagnetic induction. Hence, excessive heating of the non-paper-passing area of the fixing roller can be prevented without using a temperature sensor, a thermostat, and the like.
On the other hand, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-223063 has been disclosing a structure in which a metal, such as copper, having diamagnetism is provided in the circumference of the fixing roller made of magnetic materials. For confirmation, diamagnetism means a nature to be magnetized in the opposing direction of the flux. In such a structure, when the flux passing through the fixing roller from the electromagnetic coil leaks, this leaked flux can therefore be prevented to leak to the outside because of the counteraction of the metal of diamagnetism.
However, both Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 2004-325678 and No. 2003-223063 are still having a problem that the flux, which is leaked from the fixing roller due to the temperature rise in the non-paper-passing area of the fixing roller, is counteracted or discharged as it is to the outside, leaving the energy of the flux vainly consumed.
In view of the above problem residing in the prior arts, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus and a fixing device therefor which efficiently utilize the energy of the leaked flux that is leaked from the vicinities of the edges of the fixing roller.

Image forming apparatus and fixing device therefor


A harvester for crops including biomass crop material and seed heads. The harvester includes a base unit, a biomass harvester sub-system for harvesting the biomass crop material, and a seed harvester sub-system for harvesting the seed heads. The biomass harvester sub-system includes a biomass harvester carried by the base unit. The seed harvester sub-system is carried by the base unit and operable independent from the biomass harvester sub-system, whereby the biomass crop material and seed heads are processed independently from each other within the harvester.

Two known types of stalk-like crops in the North American market are sugar cane and sorghum. Other stalk or cane type crops are recently receiving more attention with increased interest in bio-energy such as miscanthus, energy cane and giant reed. During the harvesting of sugar cane, it is known to "top" the sugar cane plant by cutting off the top portion of the plant using a separate cutter head and allowing the top of the plant to simply fall to the ground.
Sorghum is a major cereal grain that is one of the oldest known crops and is used as a staple food in many places in Africa and Asia. Sorghum is a major feed grain crop in the U.S., Mexico, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. It is believed that sorghum was introduced into the United States in the 1700's and some believe that Benjamin Franklin introduced the first grain sorghum crop. The seed of grain sorghum is the smallest of the major spring planted field crops, such as corn and soybeans
Sorghum is a member of the grass family that is classified into four groups, those being: grain sorghums, grass sorghums, sweet sorghums, and broomcorn. Broomcorn is grown for the brush or the branches of the seed cluster with the fibers thereof being used for the making of brooms. Sweet sorghums are grown for the production of sorghum syrup which is produced from the juices pressed from the stems that is then subsequently boiled to the proper thickness. Animal feed and silage can also be made from sweet sorghums. Grassy sorghums are grown for green feed and hay, often reaching 10 feet in height. Grain sorghums are grown especially for their rounded, starchy seeds. Some grain sorghums grow as much as 15 feet or more tall with the seed being used as seed grain and the plant utilized for silage. Nearly all grain sorghums are much shorter than the other three types of sorghum and as such the collection devices used to collect seed typical grain sorghum are not ideal for collecting seed from very tall cane crops.
The use of sorghum for the production of ethanol has brought additional emphasis to the economics of sorghum production. It is known to gather sorghum grain by utilizing a regular grain header on a combine that is utilized to cut the heads from the sorghum and then process the heads through the threshing portion of a combine. A row crop attachment can be utilized to help the pickup and intake of the crop. The row crop attachments fit in front of the grain header cutter bar and have gathering points, gathering chains, and kicker wheels like a forage harvester head. Sorghum stems often catch and choke the straw walkers of a combine causing inconvenience and lost time in the cleaning of the straw walkers. Grain sorghum stalks are smaller and normally wetter to harvest than corn stalks and are more likely to be chopped up and delivered into the grain tank. Pieces of stalk return to the cylinder in the tailings and can exacerbate this condition. To handle this situation the chaffer section may be covered with sheet metal to keep the stalks out of the return flow to the cylinder.
For the harvesting of the sorghum stalk, sugar cane harvesters can be utilized that cut the stalk into billets for transfer to a wagon for further processing. Sugar cane harvesters may include a top cutting tool for the cutting off of the seed portion of the sugar cane. The seed portion of the sugarcane plant is discarded in this harvesting system since it has low amounts of sugar content. In the harvesting operation it is advantageous to use a height of cut that is substantially close to the surface of the ground to optimize the amount of the stalk harvested yet high enough to minimize any damage to the equipment by contact with the ground. Another problem with harvesting the cane too close to the ground results in increased damage to the plant, thereby decreasing the long term productivity of the cane plantation.
What is needed in the art is a sorghum or stalk-like crop harvester which removes and separately processes both the seed and biomass material in an effective and efficient manner.

Agricultural harvester with simultaneous and independent seed and biomass processing


The present invention relates to a computer mouse having a front sight button and the method for generating local coordinates with the same, which comprises a position sensor for generating coordinates in accordance with the movement of the mouse, a front sight button for generating a local shooting signal when being pressed, a serial interface device, of which one end is connected to a personal computer for exchanging data between the mouse and the personal computer, and a processing unit. The processing unit is connected to the position sensor, the front sight button and the serial interface device. Upon receiving a local shooting signal, the processing unit generates a specific area having plural perimeter coordinates corresponding to the current coordinate. The processing unit further transmits the current coordinate, the perimeter coordinates and corresponding key-stroke signals sequentially to the personal computer through the serial interface device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technology of computer mouse and, more particularly, to a computer mouse having a front sight button and method for generating local coordinates with the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Due to rapid growth in the development of personal computers, not only does the overall processing capabilities increase, the memory capacity also expands tremendously, allowing personal computers to achieve various performance-intensive tasks, such as playing multimedia and executing sophisticated computer games. For that reason, playing games on personal computers has already become prevailing and popular among computer users.
In first-person-shooting games, conventionally certain keys on a keyboard or the right and the left buttons on a mouse are used to carry out movement, aiming and firing. However, when a player uses the conventional method, whereby tapping the button numerous times in order to fire a burst of shots, such firing technique may not be quickly nor consistently carried out due to fatigue after a period of time. Also with the up-tempo game plots and the high-leveled intensity during the combats, players may not be able to control the mouse appropriately and therefore lose their accuracy when aiming at the opponents, which would let opponents easily get away without any damage, resulting in less gratification and enjoyment that a player could gain from playing the game.
In order to allow players to easily aim at a moving target, conventionally a stand-alone firing button is provided on the mouse. For example, when a player presses that firing button, a burst of three straight shots will be fired. However, due to a result of overcrowding area of impact or even shots aligned in a straight line, such technique may not be as effective on moving targets. The player often needs to wobble the mouse horizontally back and forth in order to increase the chances of hits by expanding area of impact, from which the player's wrist is prone to injury. Therefore, it is necessary to come up with an improvement to overcome the above deficiencies in the conventional mice, particularly those designed for game playing.

Computer mouse having a front sight button and method for generating local coordinates with the same


A method for detecting an initial rotor angular position and starting a dynamoelectric machine having a stator and a rotor includes the steps of driving the dynamoelectric machine into partial magnetic saturation to determine the initial rotor angular position of the dynamoelectric machine, and starting the dynamoelectric machine utilizing the initial rotor angular position previously determined.

This disclosure relates to a dynamoelectric machine, and more particularly to a rotor angular position and start-up system for a dynamoelectric machine.
In aeronautical applications, it is desirable to use a single machine as both a starter (to start an engine) and a generator (to supply electricity). For example, an aircraft may utilize a single motor to both start an engine and to generate electricity. In another example, an integrated electrical motor may be utilized for starting and driving a fan, compressor, pump, etc., of an aircraft. The motor is sometimes called a dynamoelectric machine because of its dual functionality as a starter and generator. A typical dynamoelectric machine includes a stationary stator and a rotating rotor. The dynamoelectric machine may also include a permanent magnet. Dynamoelectric machines having a permanent magnet are classified into two types: interior buried permanent magnetic motors and surface mounted permanent magnetic motors. In an interior buried permanent magnetic motor, the magnet is buried within the interior of the rotor. Surface mounted permanent magnetic motors are also known that include a magnet that is mounted radially outward from the exterior surface of the rotor.
In some motors, it is necessary to detect a position of the rotor in order to sustain operation of the motor during start-up. The initial rotor angular position is necessary to ensure that the rotor spins in the correct direction to avoid damaging the bearings of the parts being driven by the dynamoelectric machine. Determining an initial rotor angular position typically requires a shaft mechanical sensor that is coupled to a rotor shaft of the rotor. However, in some applications it is not feasible to install a shaft mechanical sensor onto the rotor. Additional benefits of a sensorless control of a dynamoelectric machine include reduced weight, reduced cost and overall reliability improvement of the dynamoelectric machine.
Methods for the sensorless detection of rotor angular position are known. For example, a back EMF method and a carrier injection approach are used to determine an initial rotor angular position prior to start-up. The back EMF method determines the rotor position based on voltage and works well at a high angular rotor velocity. The carrier injection approach explores the spatial saliency of the rotor to determine an initial rotor position. An alternating voltage or current is communicated to the dynamoelectric machine and the resulting current or voltage is measured and analyzed to decode the rotor position information in the carrier injection approach. Both the EMF method and the carrier injection method are effective for interior buried permanent magnetic motors. Disadvantageously, however, neither of these methods has proven effective for a surface mounted permanent magnetic motor. Surface mounted permanent magnetic motors are generally preferred over interior buried permanent magnetic motors because of their ease of manufacturability.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved rotor angular position and start-up system for sensorless control of a dynamoelectric machine.

Initial rotor position detection and start-up system for a dynamoelectric machine


Provided herein is a toothpaste composition, tube, and delivery system/kit. The disclosure also provides methods for use of the toothpaste composition and/or delivery system/kit.

Toothpastes and other dentifrices typically include fluoride as an active agent (e.g., to prevent tooth decay, formation of dental caries). While topical administration of fluoride to teeth can reduce tooth decay, fluoride can be harmful if ingested. When brushing teeth the consumption of fluoride by children can be a particular concern because, due their relatively small body mass, the quantity of fluoride they may ingest (inadvertently or purposefully) is proportionally greater compared to the amount an adult may ingest.
Children may also object to practicing a routine for brushing their teeth. Prior attempts to encourage brushing have included development of toothpaste flavors that appeal to children. However, because of the better flavor, children may intentionally or unintentionally swallow substantial amounts of toothpaste. Moreover, children generally do not understand that it is not proper to swallow toothpaste and might swallow large amounts even though many children's toothpastes include a warning label against ingestion of the product. Much of the problem stems from the tendency of children to apply too much toothpaste onto the brush.
In response to these concerns, toothpaste manufacturers generally recommend that children use only a pea-size quantity of toothpaste on the brush. While such warnings are certainly proper, they are often not understood and ignored by both children and adults who assist children in brushing their teeth, alike. Similarly, certain toothpaste formulations intended for adult use may require adults to limit the amount of toothpaste composition that used and that may be applied to a brush; however adults may not read instructions for application and use or may simply not appreciate the importance of regulating the amount of product used in such situations. Thus, when brushing teeth, adults and children will often apply a solid strip of toothpaste across the entire length of the toothbrush bristles, creating the potential for ingesting elevated amounts of fluoride or other actives that may cause deleterious effects.
Accordingly, toothpaste formulations, delivery systems (e.g., tubes), and kits that are able to control the amount of toothpaste applied to a toothbrush and/or can induce or encourage a child to comply with a regular brushing routine and/or assist adults in dispensing proper amounts of product on a toothbrush would be of great benefit.


The object of the invention is to provide a frequency generator which is composed of an oscillator and a frequency doubler and in which difference in amplitude between differential outputs of the frequency doubler can be equalized at low power consumption without adjustment. To achieve the object, the amplitude of differential outputs of the frequency doubler is detected and the delay time of a variable delay circuit is controlled. Owing to this configuration, in case a frequency of the oscillator varies or in case delay time by the delay circuit used in the frequency doubler varies by process variation and others even if the frequency is fixed, the amplitude of the differential outputs of the frequency doubler can be also equalized in the frequency generator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a frequency generator provided with an oscillator and a frequency doubler that doubles its output frequency and a communication system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a frequency generator using a frequency doubler 50 showing a first conventional type example. In a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 2, the oscillation frequencies of its differential output signals 101, 102 are controlled by voltage applied to a frequency control terminal 1. The differential output signals 101 and 102 are branched in two and are input to a Gilbert-type multiplier 6 via a delay circuit (DLY) 4a and a delay circuit 4b. Signals 113, 114 via the delay circuit 4B are input to the bases of transistors Q1 and Q2 and signals 111 and 112 via the delay circuit 4A are input to the bases of transistors Q3 to Q6.
Current flowing at a connector common terminal of the transistors Q3 and Q5 is converted to voltage by a load 10 and emerges at a node 103 as a voltage signal. Similarly, current flowing at a connector common terminal of the transistors Q4 and Q6 is converted to a voltage output signal 104 by a load 11. The voltage output signals 103 and 104 are input to a differential amplifier 5 and output signals 105 and 106 are acquired. The delay time TdA of the delay circuit 4A and the delay time TdB of the delay circuit 4B are determined so that the Gilbert-type multiplier 6 executes doubling operation.
The frequency multiplying operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 4 will be described below. Delay time difference (TdA−TdB) is made between input voltage from the transistor Q1 to the base terminal of the transistor Q2 in the Gilbert-type multiplier 6 and input voltage from the transistor Q3 to the base terminal of the transistor Q6 similarly. Time at which a collector current pulse from the transistor Q3 to the transistor Q6 is generated is determined by the time difference. In a T/4 cycle (T: a cycle of an input signal), the pulse width of synthetic current of the transistors Q3 and Q5 and the pulse width of synthetic current of the transistors Q4 and Q6 are equal. These output currents are converted to voltage in the loads 10, 11 and voltage pulse signals of a double frequency are output from terminals 105, 106 via the differential amplifier 5. For a conventional type example of a frequency doubler using the Gilbert-type multiplier, FIG. 11 shown in a patent document 1 can be given.
For a second conventional type example, in a patent document 2, a frequency doubler that can automatically adjust the duty ratio of an output signal and can be formed by a digital circuit is disclosed. The frequency doubler is composed of a variable delay circuit 72, an exclusive OR gate 73, allow pass filter (LPF) 74 and an integrator 75 as shown in FIG. 17. The exclusive OR gate 73 exclusive-ORs an input signal Vin and a signal delayed in the variable delay circuit 72 and outputs a frequency doubled signal. The low pass filter 74 filters the frequency doubled signal of a lower frequency and outputs its mean voltage. The integrator 75 integrates voltage difference between the output voltage of the low pass filter 74 and reference voltage input to a terminal 76. The delay time of the variable delay circuit 72 is controlled and a frequency doubled signal of desired duty can be acquired by feeding back the output of the integrator 75 to the variable delay circuit 72.
[Patent document 1]
JP-A-2000-68744 (FIG. 11)
[Patent document 2]
JP-A-4-329710 (FIG. 1)

Frequency generator and communication system


A method for the preparation of potassium silanolates comprising reacting a mixture comprising solid potassium hydroxide and a polyorganosiloxane described by formula R.sup.1 R.sup.1 R.sup.2.sub.2 SiO(R.sup.2.sub.2 SiO).sub.m R.sup.3 or (R.sup.2.sub.2 SiO).sub.n, where m is an integer from 1 to about 1000, n is an integer from 3 to about 20, R.sup.1 a hydroxyl group or an alkoxy group comprising from 1 to about 8 carbon atoms and R.sup.2 is a hydrogen atom or an independently selected substituted or unsubstituted monovalent hydrocarbon group comprising from 1 to about 8 carbon atoms R.sup.3 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group comprising from 1 to 8 carbon atoms in the presence of an organic solvent which forms an azeotrope with water at a temperature within a range of about 90.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. thereby forming a potassium silanolate.

The invention is a method for the preparation of potassium silanolates. The method comprises reacting a mixture comprising solid potassium hydroxide and a polyorganosiloxane in the presence of an organic solvent which forms an azeotrope with water at a temperature within a range of about 90.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. thereby forming a potassium silanolate.
Bostick et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,090, teach the preparation of hexamethylphosphoramide complexes made by effecting contact between hexamethylphosphoramide and an alkali metal silanolate. The hexamethylphosphoramide complex is useful as polymerization initiators for polyorganosiloxanes and polyorganosiloxane block copolymers. Bostick et al., does not teach making potassium silanolates using solid hydroxide.
In the process as taught by Bostick et al., large quantities of water must be removed in order to drive the reaction to completion and to minimize problems with phase separation, poor shelf-life, high branching, and quality variance. Water and residual solvent are typically removed from the reaction by distillation followed by high temperature stripping. However, under these conditions batch time is about 24 hours and the prolonged elevated temperatures during distillation and stripping can cause excessive cleavage of carbon-silicon bonds resulting in phase separation, poor shelf-life, quality variance, and high branching in the final product.
The present inventors have discovered that preparing potassium silanolates with solid potassium hydroxide eliminates the need to remove large quantities of water at elevated temperatures which is believed to cause the above problems. Another advantage is that the time to prepare potassium silanolates can be shortened from 24 hours to about 12 hours. Another advantage is water can be removed from the potassium silanolate by azeotropic distillation at lower temperatures than conventional distillation methods, thus reducing the degree of branching in the final product. Another advantage is that residual water and solvent can be stripped from the potassium silanolate at lower temperatures and in a shorter time period than for conventional stripping methods. Another advantage is that the potassium silanolates can be stored over an extended time period without the phase separation problems of known silanolate preparations.

Method for the preparation of potassium silanolates


A touch type keyboard with an array of mechanical keys. Each key has a plurality of capacitive sensors to detect a finger's location on the surface of the key. The array provides single strike access to an entire alphabet, while reducing hand motion. The invention overcomes previous conflicts, to combine wide finger-spacing with closer reach to each character. One embodiment also includes cursor control functions embedded within the home row, and layered labeling to improve visual simplicity.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to a keyboard. More specifically, embodiments of the invention relate to a touch type keyboard having cursor control functions embedded in the home row.
2. Background
With the increasing ubiquity of mobile products, reduced sized keyboards are increasingly important. Various manufacturers have provided different types of keyboards, many of which are actually larger than the devices with which they communicate. Many keyboards provide a single layer of functions associated with particular location on the keyboard. As used herein, a "layer" refers to a character and the shift of the character. Thus, capital J and lowercase j are regarded as falling within a single layer as is commonly the case on standard touch-type keyboards. To make keyboards smaller, it can be desirable to overlap functions under the same location on the keyboard. Taken to its extreme, a typical phone keypad allows cycling through letters and symbols using multiple touches to cause the cycling. This however, does not permit efficient entry and does not constitute what is commonly regarded as a touch-typing keyboard. Generally, touch-typing keyboards are constrained by spacing between keys and single touch access to alphabetic characters. Common touch type patterns include QWERTY and AZERTY keyboards. But merely having e.g. a QWERTY pattern does not make a keyboard a touch-type keyboard. International touch typing standard requires spacing between keys to be 19 mm±1 mm. Smaller devices such as netbooks have compressed this limit, but the practical limitation for touch-typing appears to be a key spacing of greater than 14 mm. Most typists would need at least 17 mm spacing to touch type effectively.
In addition to alphanumeric keys, many existing keyboards provide additional keys for popular commonly used functions. Such functions include the cursor keys, that is the up, down, and right and left arrow keys commonly provided as dedicated keys, usually on the right side of the keyboard. Unfortunately, these cursor keys, while popular, occupy valuable real estate where form factor of the keyboard is constrained and increased cost to manufacture these additional structures must be provided. More importantly, these side-located cursor keys cause the user to leave home row frequently, which slows typing.

Multi-touch mechanical-capacitive hybrid keyboard


A composite material made of continuous aluminum oxide fibers reinforcing an aluminum matrix to form a strand where the strands are formed into a structure and brazed together in a vacuum using an aluminum brazing alloy. The brazing alloy is preferably an aluminum silicon alloy.. In winding filament wound vessels, an electric current may be used to heat the strands to cause a coating of the aluminum brazing alloy to melt.

This invention relates to composite materials. Composite materials have found application in numerous industries such as pressure vessels, aircraft skins, crane booms, bicycle frames, tennis rackets, golf clubs and the like.
Materials used in space systems have traditionally been common aerospace materials with the majority of structural and mechanical components being constructed of aluminum alloys. Materials that have been used for specific applications require properties which cannot be met by aluminum have included magnesium, steel and titanium. Polymer composites are finding a growing acceptance in space systems due to their tailorability and relative ease of fabrication for complex parts, and their improved performance in the harsh environments of space.
Continuous-fiber metal matrix composites have been successfully applied in space systems, notably the space shuttle tube truss structure of boron/aluminum composite.
Current limitations to the application of metal matrix composites relate mainly to the difficult and expensive fabrication processes that are involved in producing even the simplest metal matrix composite part or components.
The most common useage of composite materials are for boats, and other recreational vehicles and are increasingly used in advanced car designs.


Analyzing a buried layer on a sample includes milling a spot on the sample using a charged particle beam of a focused ion beam (FIB) column to expose the buried layer along a sidewall of the spot. From a first perspective a first distance is measured between a first point on the sidewall corresponding to an upper surface of the buried layer and a second point on the sidewall corresponding to a lower surface of the buried layer. From a second perspective a second distance is measured between the first point on the sidewall corresponding to the upper surface of the buried layer and the second point on the sidewall corresponding to the lower surface of the buried layer. A thickness of the buried layer is determined using the first distance and the second distance.

In the study of electronic materials and processes for fabricating such materials into an electronic structure, a specimen of the electronic structure can be used for microscopic examination for purposes of failure analysis and device validation. For instance, a specimen such as a silicon wafer that includes one or more electronic structures formed thereon can be milled with a focused ion beam (FIB) and analyzed to study specific characteristics of the structures formed on the wafer.
Many modern electronic structures include different alternating layers of material in one or more portions of the structure. Important characteristics of these layers include composition and thickness. To determine thickness, specimens can be milled with a FIB, and layer thickness can be determined using, for example, optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), or scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. These techniques can provide accurate thickness measurements, but they generally require the specimen to be carefully milled with a FIB to provide a vertical cross-section so that the measurements can be performed. This milling step can be time consuming.
Improved methods for measuring thickness of buried layers on specimens are desired.


Operating a graphics processing pipeline that includes processing stages including a rasteriser that rasterises input primitives to generate graphics fragments to be processed, each graphics fragment having one or more sampling points associated with it, and a renderer that processes fragments generated by the rasteriser to generate output fragment data for output to a render output, comprising the following steps: (i) determining first information to test whether at least a part of a primitive should be processed further; (ii) using at least some of the first information to decide whether to process at least a part of the primitive further; and if it is decided that at least a part of the primitive is to be processed further: (iii) determining further information to be used in further processing of the primitive; and (iv) further processing at least a part of the primitive using the determined further information.

The technology described herein relates to a method of and apparatus for processing graphics, and in particular to a method and apparatus for use when processing graphics primitives to generate a render output in a graphics processing system.
As is known in the art, graphics processing is normally carried out by first splitting the scene to be displayed into a number of similar basic components or "primitives", which primitives are then subjected to the desired graphics processing operations. The graphics "primitives" are usually in the form of simple polygons, such as triangles.
The primitives for an output such as a frame to be displayed are usually generated by the applications program interface for the graphics processing system, using the graphics drawing instructions (requests) received from the application (e.g. game) that requires the graphics processing.
Each primitive is at this stage usually defined by and represented as a set of vertices. Each vertex for a primitive has associated with it a set of data (such as position, colour, texture and other attributes data) representing the vertex. This data is then used, e.g., when rasterising and rendering the vertex (the primitive(s) to which the vertex relates), e.g. for display.
Once primitives and their vertices have been generated and defined, they can be processed by the graphics processing system, in order, e.g., to render the frame.
This process basically involves determining which sampling points of an array of sampling points covering the output area to be processed are covered by a primitive, and then determining the appearance each sampling point should have (e.g. in terms of its colour, etc.) to represent the primitive at that sampling point. These processes are commonly referred to as rasterising and rendering, respectively.
The rasterising process determines the sampling points that should be used for a primitive (i.e. the (x, y) positions of the sample points to be used to represent the primitive in the render output, e.g. frame to be displayed).
The rendering process then derives the data, such as red, green and blue (RGB) colour values and an "Alpha" (transparency) value, necessary to represent the primitive at the sample points (i.e. "shades" each sample point). This can involve, as is known in the art, applying textures, blending sample point data values, etc.
(In 3D graphics literature, the term "rasterisation" is sometimes used to mean both primitive conversion to sample positions and rendering. However, herein "rasterisation" will be used to refer to converting primitive data to sampling point addresses only.)
The rasterisation process basically maps the primitives defining the render output to be generated to the array of sampling points that will be used to render the output. This is typically done by determining, for each sampling point of the render output, whether the sampling point is covered by the primitive in question or not. This determination is typically done by testing the sampling points' positions against the edges of the primitive, to see if the sampling points are covered by the primitive. To do this, graphics processing systems typically derive (line) equations representing each of the edges of a primitive (e.g. using the defined vertices of the primitive), and then test the sampling points' positions using these edge equations. If a sampling point position "passes" the edge test, it is taken to be within the primitive. A positive value for the edge equation is usually taken to indicate that the sampling point is inside the edge in question (that the edge test is "passed"), a negative value for the edge equation is usually taken to indicate that the sampling point is outside the edge in question (that the edge test is "failed"), and a value of "0" may be taken to indicate that the sampling point is inside or outside the edge in question (that the edge test is passed or not), depending on the "tie-break" rule being used.
The rasterisation process is typically carried out by testing sets of one, or of more than one, sampling point. For each set of sampling points found to include a sample point that is covered by the primitive in question (being tested), a discrete graphical entity usually referred to as a "fragment" on which the graphics processing operations (such as rendering) are to be carried out is then generated by the rasteriser and sent to the rest of the graphics processing pipeline (such as the renderer) for processing.
Covered sampling points are thus, in effect, processed as fragments that will be used to render the primitive at the sampling points in question. The "fragments" are the graphical entities that pass through the rendering process (the rendering pipeline). Each fragment that is generated and processed may, e.g., represent a single sampling point or a set of plural sampling points, depending upon how the graphics processing system is configured.
(A "fragment" is therefore effectively (has associated with it) a set of primitive data as interpolated to a given output space sample point or points of a primitive. It may also include per primitive and other state data that is required to shade the primitive at the sample point (fragment position) in question. Each graphics fragment may typically be the same size and location as a "pixel" of the render output (e.g. output frame) (since as the pixels are the singularities in the final display, there may be a one to one mapping between the "fragments" the graphics processor operates on (renders) and the pixels of a display). However, it can be the case that there is not a one to one correspondence between a fragment and a display pixel, for example where particular forms of post processing, such as down-sampling, are carried out on the rendered image prior to displaying the final image.)
(It is also the case that as multiple fragments, e.g. from different overlapping primitives, at a given location may affect each other (e.g. due to transparency and/or blending), the final pixel output may depend upon plural or all fragments at that pixel location.)
(Correspondingly, there may be a one to one correspondence between the sampling points and the pixels of a display, but more typically there may not be a one to one correspondence between sampling points and display pixels, as down-sampling may be carried out on the rendered sample values to generate the output pixel values for displaying the final image. Similarly, where multiple sampling point values, e.g. from different overlapping primitives, at a given location affect each other (e.g. due to transparency and/or blending), the final pixel output will also depend upon plural overlapping sample values at that pixel location.)
Many graphics processing systems use so-called "tile-based" rendering. In tile-based rendering, the two-dimensional render output or target (i.e. the output of the rendering process, such as an output frame to be displayed) is rendered as a plurality of smaller area sub-regions, usually referred to as "tiles". The tiles are each rendered separately (typically one after another). The rendered tiles are then combined to provide the complete rendering output (e.g. frame for display). In such arrangements, the render target (output) is typically divided (by area) into regularly-sized and shaped rendering tiles (they are usually e.g., squares or rectangles) but this is not essential.
Other terms that are commonly used for "tiling" and "tile-based" rendering include "chunking" (the rendering tiles are referred to as "chunks") and "bucket" rendering. The terms "tile" and "tiling" will be used hereinafter for convenience, but it should be understood that these terms are intended to encompass all alternative and equivalent terms and techniques.
The advantage of such tile-based rendering is that primitives that do not appear in a given tile do not have to be processed for that tile, and therefore can be ignored when the tile is processed. This allows the overall amount of graphics processing necessary for a given render output to be reduced.
In order for a primitive to be rasterised and rendered, various information is provided and determined. As described above, each primitive is initially defined by and represented as a set of vertices. Each vertex for a primitive has associated with it a set of data (such as position, colour, texture and other attributes data) representing the vertex. In order for the rasterisation and rendering processes to be performed, various further data/information is determined from this initial set of data. This further data includes: edge equations, depth equations and barycentric interpolation equations. The edge equations define each edge of the primitive and are determined from its vertices. The depth equations are equations defining the relative depth of the primitive. The barycentric interpolation equations are the equations used for barycentric interpolation with barycentric coordinates at the rendering stage.
Usually, all of this information (edge equations, depth equations and barycentric interpolation equations) is determined at an initial primitive set-up stage which is performed before both rasterisation and rendering.
The Applicants believe that there remains scope for providing improved methods and apparatus for processing primitives when generating a render output in a graphics processing system.
A number of embodiments of the technology described herein will now be described.

Method and apparatus for improved processing of graphics primitives


The present invention provides an aqueous resin composition that can be utilized in a wide variety of fields including paints for vehicles, paints for cans, paints for the outer facings of buildings, adhesives, inks, impregnating agents for fibers and paper, and sealing agents and the like, wherein the aqueous resin composition comprises a polyester resin (A) having an acid value from 10 to 50 and a hydroxyl value from 20 to 150, a vinyl modified polyester resin (B) having an acid value from 20 to 100 and a hydroxyl value from 20 to 150, and a curing agent (C).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aqueous resin composition that can be utilized in a wide variety of fields including paints for vehicles, paints for cans, paints for the outer facings of buildings, adhesives, inks, impregnating agents for fibers and paper, and sealing agents and the like.
This application is the U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/JP03/07209, filed on Jun. 6, 2003, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-172679, filed Jun. 13, 2002, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, environmental protection measures have required reductions in the volatile matter such as solvents that is discharged from paints, and the substitution of solvent based paints with water based paints is occurring in most fields.
For example, in the vehicle paint application field, large quantities of solvent based paints are used, and reducing the quantity of organic solvents discharged from these paints is now a primary concern, and the replacement of solvents based paints with water based paints is being investigated for paints used in all of the paint application processes, including priming, intermediate coats, and top coats.
Of the above types of paint, paints used in the intermediate coating of vehicles require high performance characteristics including resistance to chipping (chipping: paint film damage caused by small stones and the like flying off the road and striking the paint film), good adhesion to paint films such as the priming coating, good storage stability (pigment dispersibility), solvent resistance, and a favorable external appearance, and as a result, resin compositions comprising an organic solvent based polyester resin and an amino resin curing agent as the primary components have been used conventionally.
In recent years, aqueous coatings have started to be used in some vehicle intermediate coating materials, although an aqueous paint for use as a vehicle intermediate coating that is able to provide a high level of performance for all of the above required characteristics is still to be developed.
For example, aqueous intermediate coating materials comprising a polyester resin, a curing agent, and an amine salt of an organic sulfonic acid have been reported (for example, patent reference 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 11-76937), and the disclosed technique enables a reduction in the quantity of organic solvent discharged during the vehicle paint application process. However, these aqueous intermediate coating materials display inadequate pigment dispersibility, and problems arise during storage, including coagulation or precipitation of the pigment.
Known techniques for resolving problems associated with the storage stability of the paint, arising from factors such as coagulation or precipitation of the pigment, or separation and precipitation of the resin, typically involve improving the pigment dispersibility using a pigment dispersing agent such as a surfactant or the like. However, in order to achieve the desired effect using this technique, a significant quantity of the pigment dispersing agent must be used, and because this pigment dispersing agent remains in the final paint film, it has a deleterious effect on the physical properties of the paint film such as the water resistance and the like, which presents a considerable practical problem.
Furthermore, it has also been reported that a paint produced using a pigment and a water dispersible alkyd resin composition, in which a hydrophobic alkyd resin having an acid value of no more than 5 and a hydroxyl value of 1 to 50, and a hydrophilic alkyd resin having an acid value of 10 to 20 and a hydroxyl value of no more than 5 are bonded together chemically, displays minimal variation in viscosity over time, and offers excellent storage stability (for example, patent reference 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 5-287184). However, these water dispersible alkyd resin compositions display a structural characteristic wherein the surface of the dispersed particles within the aqueous medium are coated with the hydrophilic alkyd resin having a hydroxyl value of no more than 5, and the hydrophobic alkyd resin having a hydroxyl value of 1 to 50 exists internally, inside the particles, in other words, a structure in which hydroxyl groups are localized inside the particles, and consequently the curability of the composition when an amino resin or the like is used as the curing agent is poor, and the physical characteristics of the paint film, such as the solvent resistance, tend to be inferior.
Furthermore, it has also been reported that an aqueous resin composition comprising an aqueous alkyd resin produced by condensing a specific vinylated fatty acid with a polyol compound, and then performing a neutralization with a basic compound, displays excellent resin stability and paint stability, and also offers excellent overall storage stability (for example, patent reference 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 9-111184). However, if a water based paint that utilizes this type of aqueous resin composition is used as the intermediate coating material for a vehicle, although the storage stability of the paint is excellent, the chipping resistance of the produced paint film is unsatisfactory.
As described above, substituting conventional solvent based paints with water based paints, while retaining a good balance between the typically required characteristics for a vehicle intermediate coating material such as chipping resistance, and ensuring excellent pigment dispersibility and storage stability is extremely difficult, and at present no such water based paint is available, although the need for a water based paint capable of satisfying the above required characteristics to a high level is growing rapidly stronger in the marketplace.


A method for producing multiply charged ions is provided. In the method, a laser is used to ablate a sample comprising a matrix and an analyte. The sample is in the liquid form when it is ablated and the ions produced are passed through a heated conduit. The multiply charged ions produced may be used in mass spectrometry to measure the mass of the analyte.

The invention relates to methods of producing ions. The ions produced may be used in the field of mass spectrometry.
In biological mass spectrometry (MS), two ionization techniques are predominantly employed for the analysis of analytes which are larger biomolecules, for example polypeptides. These are nanoelectrospray ionization (nanoESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI). In MALDI a laser is used to ablate a matrix/analyte material to release ions into the gas phase. These ions are then passed into a mass analyzer/spectrometer. Both techniques are considered to be 'soft', allowing the desorption and ionization of intact molecular analyte species and thus their successful mass spectrometric analysis. One of the main differences between these two ionization techniques lies in their ability to produce multiply charged ions. MALDI typically generates singly charged ions when used with peptide analytes while nanoESI easily provides multiply charged ions, even for peptides as low as 1,000 Da in mass. The production of highly charged ions is desirable as this allows the use of mass analyzers such as ion traps (including orbitraps) and hybrid quadrupole instruments, which typically offer only a limited m/z range (<2,000-4,000). It also enables more informative fragmentation spectra using techniques such as collision-induced dissociation (CID) and electron capture/transfer dissociation (ECD/ETD) in combination with tandem MS (MS/MS). The MALDI technique can be preferable as it has higher tolerance to contaminants and additives, ease-of-operation, potential for high-speed and automated sample preparation and analysis as well as MS imaging capabilities. Thus, MALDI is an ionization technique that can cover bioanalytical areas where ESI is less suitable. A MALDI technique which can produce multiply charged ions is therefore desirable.
Previous MALDI methods which have applied a laser to a liquid matrix/analyte system are described in 'Liquid ultraviolet matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometery for automated proteomic analysis, R. Cramer and S. Corless Proteomics 2005, 5, 360-370' and 'Employing target modifications for the investigation of liquid infrared matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometery, R. Cramer and A. L. Burlingame, Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. 14, 53-60 (2000)'. Neither of these methods produced desirable amounts of multiply charged ions.


A transmitting and receiving system including, a transponder always maintains a transmission function even if circuit constants of circuit elements are deviated or such circuit constants are shifted in association with temperature changes. The transponder includes a transponder coil electromagnetically coupled to an antenna coil through which a response signal is transmitted, a resonance capacitor, a main modulation circuit including a first modulation capacitor, and a supplemental modulation circuit including a second modulation capacitor whose static capacitance value is different from that of the first modulation capacitor. A response signal is transmitted in changing an impedance of a transmitting and receiving portion by the main modulation circuit when a question signal is received and by the supplemental modulation circuit when a correction command signal is received.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transmitting and receiving system conducting a bi-directional communication between a transmitting and receiving means having an antenna coil and a transponder having a transponder coil electromagnetically coupled to the antenna coil.
2. Description of Related Art
In an automobile, to improve security against stealing, for example, a function such as an electronic key storing an electrical identification code therein is added to an ignition key of the automobile. On the automobile side, a transmitting and receiving Electrical Control Unit (ECU) has an immobilizer function that reads the identification code formed on the ignition key. While the ignition key is inserted in a key hole and manipulated to an ON position (or an Accessory (ACC) position) for engine start, the engine starts only when the code read from the ignition key coincides with the identification code that has been preset.
To realize such a transmitting and receiving system, the system is employed to conduct a bi-directional communication between the transmitting and receiving ECU and the transponder which is disposed on an ignition key side. More specifically, the transmitting and receiving system includes an antenna coil disposed around a key hole on a side of the transmitting and receiving ECU. The system transmits, through this antenna coil, a carrier signal that serves as a power source for the transponder, and a question signal that is modulated with this carrier signal.
The transponder placed on the ignition key side includes: a resonance circuit that has a transponder coil which is electromagnetically coupled to the antenna coil, and a resonance capacitor; a modulation circuit having a circuit element to change an impedance synthesized with the resonance circuit; a transmitting and receiving portion having a power source circuit for obtaining power by rectifying the carrier signal. The identification code stored on the ignition key side is transmitted to the transmitting and receiving ECU from the transponder as a response signal in response to the question signal. The transmitting and receiving portion of the transponder changes an impedance status in response to the question signal generated by a modulation circuit on the transmitting and receiving ECU side through the antenna coil.
Circuit constants of the transponder coil and the resonance capacitor are set to be values satisfying the resonance condition of the resonance circuit corresponding to the carrier signal frequency. The modulation circuit for changing the impedance of the transmitting and receiving portion on the transponder side generally has a serial circuit that includes a modulation capacitor and a switching element which is coupled in parallel to the resonance capacitor of the resonance circuit. The switching element is turned ON and OFF corresponding to the response signal to change the impedance of the transmitting and receiving portion.
However, in actual systems, the impedance change amount of the transmitting and receiving portion may not be ensured adequately due to deviations of circuit constants of components of the transmitting and receiving portion such as the transponder coil, the resonance capacitor, and the modulation capacitor, and due to shifts accompanied by circumstantial temperature changes of those circuit constants. If such an impaired state occurs, the transponder cannot return the response of the response signal, thereby causing a major problem that the transmitting and receiving system itself loses its function.


A side air bag expands near a window at a time of collision of a vehicle to restrain an occupant from moving in a lateral direction. The air bag has an expansion duration protracted  which is extended to constrain the occupant during overturning of the vehicle. Stowability for stowing the air bag in a folded state in a side structure of the vehicle, such as a pillar and a roof side rail portion, is enhanced in that two woven fabrics are connected along an outer peripheral portion,  to form a bag portion, by a textile structure woven using a common yarn include in  of both fabrics  fabric sheets forming opposing sides of the air bag. A whole of the bag portion is coated and sealed by an air non-permeable  impermeable coating material to improve air tightness. A mounting portion for mounting the air bag in the side structure, such as a pillar or a roof side rail, is integrally formed by extending the woven fabrics or the common-yarn textile structure portion outward from the outer peripheral connection portion, thereby improving stowability.

The present invention relates to a side air bag which expands near a window of a vehicle at a collision of the vehicle, and particularly relates to a side air bag formed by a woven fabric such as a hollow weave.
An air bag apparatus for a vehicle is an apparatus for constraining a vehicle occupant, i.e. passengers and a driver, by inflating and expanding an air bag at a time of collision of the vehicle, and generally comprises an inflator (a gas generating device) for inflating the air bag in response to a signal from a sensor for detecting a  predetermined collision characteristics of the vehicle. The air bag is inflated by gas from the inflator. The air bag is formed in a bag shape by a woven fabric.
A so-called hollow weave, in which two fabrics are interwoven as a  one woven fabric and  by a yarn, partly constituting each of the two fabrics, partly to form a common textile structure so as to combine  of the interwoven two fabrics, is generally known in weaving for producing industrial materials and the like. There are some examples in which the woven fabric of the hollow weave is used for ane  an air bag, for example, JP-A-02158442 (Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2-158442) describes a bag formed by the hollow weave. JP-A-03128743 describes that  connection of the  woven fabric  fabrics in the  a peripheral portion is performed  by a single-layer joint textile structure for connection , and similar matter is described in PCT  WO90/09295 (PCT/GB90/00215, Japanese Patent National Publication of translated version 4-504988) .
However, the air bags of these references are basically uncoated bags which are woven by hollow weave. The references disclose that air bags can be partly coated or coated, but have no intention for reducing an air-permeability of a fabric by coating.
On the other hand, while  While the conventional air bag apparatus includes both an air bag for a driver's seat,  and an air bag for a front-passenger seat and the like, a common point thereof is to constrain an occupant from the front within a short time such as some milliseconds to some ten  tens of milliseconds.
Recently, as an air bag apparatus, in  In addition to the above air bag apparatus which constrains the occupant from the front, a side air bag apparatus for constraining the occupant from a left-hand side or a right-hand side is developed  known.
The side air bag is structured such as to be housed in a side structure of the vehicle such as a front pillar, a roof side rail portion, a center pillar, a quarter pillar and the like, and as to receive  receives a gas supplied from an inflator fixed to a bottom part of the front pillar or a neighboring side panel and the like at a time when the vehicle receives a predetermined impact from the side surface thereof so that the air bag inflates and expands near the window along a side surface of a cabin, thereby restraining the occupant from moving in a lateral direction of the vehicle.
A point in which the  The side air bag is greatly  different from the above typical-type conventional  described air bag is  in that a long expanding time, such as some seconds, is required to be continued for constraining the occupant at a time of overturning of the vehicle.
Accordingly, the typical-type conventional  above described air bag has a function of inflating and expanding for a short time, such as some milliseconds, to some ten  tens of milliseconds and of discharging the gas while constraining the occupant. In contrast to this, in the newly suggested  side air bag, to meet a constraint requirement of the occupant at a time of overturning of the vehicle, it is required to set  have an expansion holding time to  for a relatively long time such as some seconds.
Further, the typical-type conventional  air bag mentioned above for front collision operation is housed in a relatively large size trim part of the vehicle, such as a horn pad, an instrumental panel, a seat or the like, and a cross sectional area of the air bag in a direction of folded and piled fabrics is about 20 to 150 cm2. However, in the side air bag, since it is housed in a column shaped pillar, a roof side rail portion or the like, there is a problem that the side air bag has to be folded in a relatively small cross sectional area such as 4 cm2 so as to be housed .


The present invention has as its object to automatically provide information about an object image-sensed by a camera and automatically image-sense and present an object described by browsed information while a user is browsing the information. To achieve this object, the present invention includes scope holding unit, picture operating unit, first instruction unit, picture display unit, map operating unit, second instruction unit, map display unit, document operating unit, third instruction unit, and document display unit.

Conventionally, information presenting apparatuses are available, which acquire and display information such as pictures at camera angles designated by users operating cameras in remote places through networks such as the Internet upon operating devices at the user side. Some apparatus is designed to display a map of an area around the installation position of a camera on the apparatus, graphically show the camera angle, and operate the camera angle on the map, as well as operating the camera angle by directly designating the panning value, tilt value, and zoom value of the camera.
With an apparatus of this type, a user can virtually experience a remote place. In many cases, the user wants to see a specific object and know information about an object image-sensed by a camera.
Information about an object is provided by the WWW on the Internet and the like, and a user can browse the information with an apparatus having a WWW browser. However, the above conventional information presenting apparatus is not linked to such an information browsing apparatus. For this reason, it takes much time and labor for the user to see information to be browsed and operate the camera at the same time to see an object described with the browsed information or search the WWW or the like for information about an image-sensed object.

Information presenting apparatus, operation processing method therefor, storage medium storing program for executing operation processing