A liquid ejection head including at least one head chip including a plurality of heating elements on a surface of a substrate, a nozzle sheet having nozzles disposed on the respective heating elements, a barrier layer disposed between the head chip and the nozzle sheet, reservoirs disposed between the heating elements and the nozzle sheet, the reservoirs being defined by part of the barrier layer, a common flow path communicating with the reservoirs, and a liquid storage chamber disposed on at least one region of the surface of the substrate excluding a region on which the reservoirs are disposed, the liquid storage chamber being defined by part of the barrier layer and communicating with the common flow path and the reservoirs, the liquid storage chamber storing liquid such that part of the nozzle sheet is in contact with the liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to thermal liquid ejection heads for inkjet printers and liquid ejection apparatuses such as inkjet printers including the liquid ejection heads, and more particularly, to a technique for cooling a liquid ejection head, that is, a technique that can reduce thermal variation of the liquid ejection head per unit time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thermal liquid ejection heads and piezoelectric liquid ejection heads are well known examples of liquid ejection heads used in liquid ejection apparatuses such as inkjet printers. The former utilizes expansion and contraction of bubbles generated by heat, whereas the latter utilizes the variation in shape and volume of piezoelectric elements. The thermal liquid ejection heads include heating elements on semiconductor substrates. When the heating elements heat up, generated heat vaporizes liquid in reservoirs to create bubbles, thereby ejecting liquid drops from nozzles, which are disposed above the heating elements, onto recording media.
FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a liquid ejection head or head 1 of a known type. Although a nozzle sheet 17 is bonded to a barrier layer 3 in an actual configuration, the nozzle sheet 17 is separated from the barrier layer 3 in FIG. 17 and the nozzle sheet 17 and the barrier layer 3 are inverted for convenience. FIG. 18 shows the structure of a flow path of the head 1 shown in FIG. 17.
Referring to FIGS. 17 and 18, a plurality of heating elements 12 is disposed on a semiconductor substrate 11. The barrier layer 3 and the nozzle sheet 17 are disposed on the semiconductor substrate 11 in this order. A head chip la includes the semiconductor substrate 11, provided with the heating elements 12, and the barrier layer 3 disposed on the semiconductor substrate 11. The head 1 includes the head chips 1a and the nozzle sheet 17 bonded onto the head chip 1a.
The nozzle sheet 17 includes nozzles 18 disposed right above the respective heating elements 12. The nozzles 18 have openings from which ink drops are ejected. Since the barrier layer 3 is disposed between the heating elements 12 and the nozzles 18, reservoirs 3a are formed in the spaces enclosed by the barrier layer 3, the heating elements 12, and the nozzles 18.
As shown in FIG. 17, the barrier layer 3 has a comb-shape when viewed from above. Therefore, three sides of each heating element 12 are enclosed by the barrier layer 3 but one side thereof is open such that this opening serves as an individual flow path 3d, which is connected to a common flow path 23.
The heating elements 12 are aligned in the vicinity of one side of the semiconductor substrate 11. As shown in FIG. 18, since a dummy chip D is disposed on the left side of the semiconductor substrate 11 (head chip 1a), the common flow path 23 is formed between the left side of the semiconductor substrate 11 (head chip 1a) and the right side of the dummy chip D. The dummy chip D may be composed of any component that can form the common flow path 23 with the semiconductor substrate 11.
As shown in FIG. 18, a channel plate 22 is disposed on the side of the semiconductor substrate 11 opposite from the side on which the heating elements 12 are disposed. The channel plate 22 includes an inlet 22a and a supplying flow path 24 communicating with the inlet 22a. The supplying flow path 24 having a rectangular cross section, in turn, communicates with the common flow path 23.
Ink supplied from the inlet 22a passes through the supplying flow path 24, the common flow path 23, and the individual flow path 3d to enter the reservoir 3a. When the heating element 12 heats up, a bubble is generated in the reservoir 3a on the heating element 12. The generated bubble ejects a drop of ink in the reservoir 3a through the nozzle 18.
In FIGS. 17 and 18, dimensions are not to scale and some parts are enlarged to aid understanding. In actual size, the thickness T of the semiconductor substrate 11 shown in FIG. 19 is about 600 to 650 μm, and the thicknesses of the nozzle sheet 17 and the barrier layer 3 are about 10 to 20 μm, for example.
FIG. 19 shows a state in which a droplet is ejected due to the heat by the heating elements 12 disposed in the head chip 1a shown in FIG. 18. Typically, a distance Yn from the center of the heating element 12 to a first side surface of the head chip 1a that faces the dummy chip D is about 100 to 200 μm, whereas the width of the head chip 1a is about ten times larger than the distance Yn, namely, larger by an order of magnitude. That is, the heating elements 12 are disposed close to the first side surface of the head chip 1a.
In the structure shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, when the heating elements 12 heat up to high temperatures, the temperatures of the heating elements 12 can be hundreds of degrees Celsius at a moment. This generated heat brings liquid on the heating elements 12 to a boil. At this time, the heat also travels through the semiconductor substrate 11 on which the heating elements 12 are disposed. To minimize this energy loss, a heat-insulation layer composed of a material having a low thermal conductivity such as silicon oxide is disposed between the heating elements 12 and the semiconductor substrate 11.
It is the top surface of the semiconductor substrate 11 that the heat traveling through the semiconductor substrate 11 reaches first. The top surface of the semiconductor substrate 11 is flash with the top surface of the heating elements 12 and is in contact with liquid. Secondly, the heat traveling through the semiconductor substrate 11 reaches the first side surface of the semiconductor substrate 11, that is, the surface forming the common flow path 23 with the dummy chip D.
Now, a mechanism of how a bubble is generated in a thermal liquid ejection head will be described. A heater, e.g., the heating element 12 is in contact with liquid such as ink, and thermal energy from the heater heats up the liquid. When the temperature of the heater exceeds the boiling point of the liquid, the liquid boils. From an academic point of view, "boiling" denotes nucleate boiling. More specifically, the surface of the heater has small scratches or dents in which masses of air, which are called bubble nuclei, exist. Bubbles are generated in these bubble nuclei.
Accordingly, even though the heaters are in contact with liquid, generation of bubbles depends on the condition of the surfaces of the heaters at the same temperature. The number of bubble nuclei determines the number of bubbles generated on the surface of the heater. More bubbles are generated on the surface of the heater with many bubble nuclei than on the surface of the heater with a small number of bubble nuclei. That is, bubbles are readily generated on a rough surface but are hardly any generated on a smooth surface.
The surface of the head chip 1a on which the heating elements 12 are disposed is very precisely finished by a semiconductor process and thus is extremely smooth. By contrast, since the first side surface of the head chip 1a is processed through dicing, that is, cutting using, e.g., a rotary saw, the first side surface of the head chip 1a has irregularities and thus bubble nuclei exist therein. FIG. 20 is an enlarged photomicrograph showing the surface of the head 1 and a surface cut through dicing. Hence, bubbles are readily generated in liquid on the first side surface of the head chip 1a.
To prevent bubbles from being generated on the first side surface of the head chip 1a, the following methods are proposed. A first method is that the heating elements 12 are aligned well remote from the first side surface of the head chip 1a such that it is difficult for the heat generated by the heating elements 12 to reach the first side surface. In this way, thermal energy reaching the first side surface of the head chip 1a hardly brings liquid to a boil.
A second method is that the first side surface of the head chip 1a is made smooth such that irregularities in which bubble nuclei exist are eliminated. A third method, which is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 9-11479, is that an ink inlet or opening is formed through anisotropic etching in the center area of the head chip 1a and a heating element is disposed in the vicinity of the ink inlet.
With the first method, since a wide gap is disposed between the first side surface of the head chip 1a and the aligned heating elements 12, the gap makes the head 1 large, which contradicts high-density packaging of the head chip 1a. The second method requires an additional step of processing the surface of the head chip 1a after the head chip 1a is cut through dicing, resulting in increased cost.
With the third method, anisotropic etching is performed on the head chip 1a and thus the surface on which the ink inlet is formed is extremely smooth. Therefore, bubbles do not develop on this smooth surface of the head chip 1a. Unfortunately, since the ink inlet is provided in the center area of the head chip 1a, the head chip 1a has a complex structure. Thus, provision of the ink inlet is not suitable for the structure of the head chip 1a including the heating elements 12 aligned close to the first side surface of the semiconductor substrate 11.
The influences of development of bubbles on the first side surface of the head chip 1a will now be described. FIG. 21 is a cross-sectional view of the head chip 1a shown in FIG. 18 showing the state where bubbles are generated. FIG. 21 shows the head chip 1a when it is actually used and so the elements shown in FIG. 18 are inverted in FIG. 21. As described above, in the semiconductor substrate 11, bubbles are generated the most at a portion whose temperature is highest in the region where bubbles are generated (bubbling region) shown in FIG. 21. This portion is in contact with ink and bubble nuclei exist therein. This portion is the lowermost part in the bubbling region in FIG. 21.
Theoretically, bubbles generated in ink move upward by its buoyancy. In actual use, however, ejection of ink drops reduces the amount of ink in the reservoir 3a. Accordingly, ink in the bubbling region is drawn towards the nozzle 18, that is, towards the reservoir 3a, and the bubbles are also drawn towards the common flow path 23 and the individual flow path 3d.
FIG. 22 is an enlarged photograph of the head 1 including the transparent nozzle sheet having the same structure as that of the nozzle sheet 17. The photograph in FIG. 22 is taken immediately after liquid drops are ejected and shows the generation of bubbles. White dots in FIG. 22 are bubbles, whereas black dots are spatters of ejected ink drops.
Even when the number of bubbles generated in the individual flow paths 3d and the common flow path 23 close to the individual flow paths 3d is very small, ejection of ink may be influenced by these bubbles to some extent. When the number of generated bubbles is large, small bubbles may be united into larger bubbles. In this case, the surface tension of the bubbles decreases the amount of ink supplied to narrow flow paths, that is, the individual flow paths 3d. Moreover, ink cannot flow into the individual flow paths 3d at all in some cases. FIG. 23 is an enlarged photograph of the head 1, showing the region where ink supply is decreased because some small bubbles are united into larger bubbles.
Due to a decrease in the amount of ink supplied to the individual flow path 3d, a sufficient amount of ink cannot be ejected as ink drops. Moreover, sometimes no ink is ejected from a nozzle at all. A serial head for a serial printer prints an image or character by multiple ink ejection by being slightly moved while printing and thus the amount of ejected ink can be evened out over the print sheet. Thus, failure in ink ejection is not noticeable. On the other hand, a line head for a line printer prints an image or character by a single ink ejection. Therefore, when the line head encounters failure in ink ejection, the resulting printing has a line (white line) at a position corresponding to the part of the head suffering from the failure.
FIG. 24 is an enlarged photograph of a line head, showing a white line formed due to lack of ink supply to the reservoirs 3a, which is caused by the generation of bubbles. In FIG. 24, ejection failure occurs in the width for about four nozzles out of the entire width of about 2.7 mm for 64 nozzles.

Liquid ejection head and liquid ejection apparatus


A face recognition-based method includes, when a terminal detects a placement posture on the terminal, obtaining placement posture information of the terminal, where the placement posture information is used to determine a tilt angle of the terminal relative to a first plane; performing facial recognition on a user when determining that a tilt angle meets a preset range without notifying the user and regardless of detecting an action of the terminal other than obtaining the placement posture information; and opening the application when the facial recognition succeeds.

With popularization of mobile payment manners, security of mobile payment draws increasing attention. In a mobile payment process, user identity authentication is most important. In addition, payment convenience gradually attracts people's attention.
Currently, common mobile payment manners include graphic code payment (for example, at least one of two-dimensional code payment and bar code payment), near field communication (near field communication, NFC) payment, and the like. For the first payment method, for example, a merchant provides a receipt code, and a user scans the receipt code for payment (as shown in FIG. 1), or a user provides a payment code, and a merchant scans the payment code for payment collection (as shown in FIG. 2). In this case, the user usually needs to manually enter a password or perform fingerprint verification to complete the payment. For the second payment method, for example, an electronic wallet is installed on a mobile phone to simulate the mobile phone as a card, the user needs to place the mobile phone in a sensing area of a point of sale (point of sale, POS) terminal, and the mobile phone prompts the user to manually enter a password (as shown in FIG. 3a) or perform fingerprint verification (as shown in FIG. 3b). In this case, the user needs to actively pick up the mobile phone, enter a payment password or a fingerprint, and put the mobile phone close to a POS machine again to complete the payment, or the user may enter a payment password or a fingerprint in a process of keeping the mobile phone close to the POS machine to complete the payment. For the latter, the user needs to keep movements steady; otherwise, once the mobile phone is not in the sensing area of the POS machine, the user needs to put the mobile phone close to the sensing area again for payment. In the foregoing payment methods, the user usually needs to actively enter identity authentication information such as a password and a fingerprint, especially, the NFC payment may further cause a problem of moving close to the POS machine again. Therefore, operation steps are not simplified, and payment efficiency is affected.
With development of an identity authentication manner and a change in a requirement for convenience and security, a facial recognition technology already meets an engineering implementation requirement in scenarios such as payment, access control, and unlocking. For example, Apple has applied the facial recognition technology to mobile payment. However, (as shown in FIG. 4a, FIG. 4b, and FIG. 4c), a user needs to open an electronic wallet (for example, apple pay) in advance. As shown in FIG. 4a, a mobile phone prompts to perform verification of facial recognition (for example, enter a face ID). As shown in FIG. 4b, after the recognition succeeds, the mobile phone prompts, by using a mobile phone screen, to move the mobile phone close to a POS machine (for example, hold near reader). As shown in FIG. 4c, payment (for example, done) is completed. Currently, proactive triggering by a user is still needed, the operation is complex, the efficiency is low, and the experience needs to be optimized.

Facial recognition-based payment method, apparatus, and terminal


An antenna for a wireless device including a meander structure formed from a plurality of meanders and a conductive strip connected in parallel to the meander structure and including a plurality of tabs projecting toward the meander structure, a first group of tabs connected to a first group of meanders corresponding to the first group of tabs, a second group of tabs disconnected from a second group of meanders corresponding to the second group of tabs. In an embodiment, the antenna is incorporated into a wireless device having a transceiver and a finite ground plane.

Wireless devices provide connections to multiple wireless networks in multiple and varied frequency bands by means of antenna(s). This requires multiband antennas that can be used in multiple frequency bands. An antenna is a medium for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves. These days' consumer wireless handheld devices are getting thinner and more compact; this in turn calls for a size reduction for most of the components including the antenna. On the other hand more and more communication protocols using different frequency bands are being added. As more frequency bands (larger bandwidths) need to be supported, a larger antenna volume is desired. As you can see both the statements above are contradicting and it is a challenge to satisfy all the requirements. However, achieving a wide low band bandwidth separately or in conjunction with an ultra wide high band has been very challenging if not impossible using a passive antenna in the past, especially in ultra slim and small portable wireless devices. Cellular portable devices available in the market today that cover a wide low band bandwidth generally use one of two approaches. One approach uses some type of active solution (e.g., radio frequency (RF) switch, tunable capacitors and so on) to tune the resonance frequency depending on the band usage at a given point. Disadvantages of this solution include added cost and complexity, more discrete components are required, increased complexity from a software perspective, and increased losses in the RF chain.
Another approach is to split the low band section into two antennas (e.g., one at the bottom and one at the top). The antenna at the bottom covers the 850/900 bands and the antenna at the top covers the 700 band). A disadvantage of this solution is that two antennas need more real estate in an already very crowded small portable device. Furthermore, the device is more expensive and complex from the point of having two separate radiators, feeding clips, matching components, coaxial cable, etc. Also, if one of the transmitting antennas is placed at the top of the handset, this might cause specific absorption rate (SAR) issues that may be very hard to resolve.
Therefore, there is an opportunity to develop very wide bandwidth multiband internal antennas that are compact.

Wireless communication device with a multiband antenna, and methods of making and using thereof


A hemispheric bearing apparatus for preventing deformation of a hemisphere occurring when a shaft is push-fitted into a shaft inserting hole formed at the center of a hemisphere in a hemispheric bearing which supports a thrust load and a radial load at the same time, the apparatus including a pair of hemispheres fitted into a fixing shaft to face each other around a spacer, and having a first section disposed opposite to the spacer and a second section contacted with the spacer; a first deformation preventing portion formed in the first section at a predetermined distance around the fixing shaft to prevent deformation of the hemispheres; and a second deformation preventing mechanism formed in the second section at a predetermined distance around the fixing shaft to prevent deformation of the hemispheres.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hemispheric bearing apparatus, and more particularly, to a hemispheric bearing apparatus for preventing deformation of a hemisphere occurring when a shaft is push-fitted into a shaft inserting hole formed at the center of a hemisphere in a hemispheric bearing which supports a thrust load and a radial load at the same time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with improvement of technologies in computer industries, in retrieving data, storing them, and reproducing them, there has been a trend to require high accuracy in having no movement or oscillation of a shaft, as well as excellent rotation performance at high speed in driving motors, which are required of various machines, such as a polygon mirror driving gear of a laser printer, a spindle motor of a hard disk, a head driving motor of a VCR, and the like. In this respect, a driving motor capable of stably rotating at high speed by reducing movement or oscillation of the shaft has been developed together with various kinetic pressure fluid bearing apparatuses which enable the shaft of the driving motor to rotate.
In such kinetic pressure fluid bearing apparatuses, there are provided a kinetic pressure generating groove which supports a shaft direction load, and another kinetic pressure generating groove which supports a radial load against the shaft direction. However, in a hemispheric bearing apparatus which has recently been developed, there is provided one kinetic pressure generating groove which supports the shaft direction load and the radial load.
A conventional hemispheric bearing apparatus will be described below.
In the conventional hemispheric bearing apparatus, a pair of hemispheres whose surfaces face each other are tightly fitted into a fixing shaft. A spiral shaped kinetic pressure generating groove having a predetermined depth is formed on the surfaces of the pair of hemispheres. The hemispheres face a cylindrical shaped bushing in which the hemispheric surfaces are engraved. The bushing rotates without contacting with the hemispheres by a kinetic pressure generated by the kinetic pressure generating groove of the hemispheres.
At this time, to maintain a predetermined clearance of several .mu.m between the hemispheric surface and a hemispheric groove of the bushing which face each other, a spacer is precisely formed between the hemispheres. A motor is mounted on an external surface of the bushing. The hemispheric surface and the hemispheric groove of the bushing rotate without contacting each other by a fluid pressure generated by the kinetic pressure generating groove formed on the hemispheric surface as the motor rotates.
However, the aforementioned conventional hemispheric bearing apparatus has several problems.
If the position of the hemisphere fitted into the shaft 20 is varied (see FIG. 1), the clearance formed between the hemispheric surface and the hemispheric groove of the bushing 40 is varied, thereby significantly reducing bearing performance. For this reason, the hemisphere is tightly fitted into the shaft. In this case, deformation of the hemisphere having high accuracy (sphericity; 0.05 .mu.m) occurs due to inner stress occurring when the hemisphere is tightly fitted into the shaft because the shaft hole formed in the hemisphere has a diameter smaller than that of the shaft. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the hemisphere surfaces 30c and 30d are deformed so that the clearances between the hemispheres 30 and 35 and the hemispheric grooves 30a and 30b becomes uneven. The fluid pressure is unevenly distributed between the hemispheres and the hemispheric grooves, resulting in deterioration of rotative performance. In addition, the hemispheres are partially contacted with the hemispheric surfaces to cause abrasion of the hemispheres, thereby reducing life-span of the hemispheric bearing.

Hemispheric bearing apparatus for preventing deformation of hemisphere


An apparatus for sequentially performing multiple downhole functions in a well has tubing arranged to transmit pressure conditions from the surface of the well, upper and lower hydraulically activated firing heads suspended within the well on the lower end of the tubing, and a hydraulically responsive movable member between the tubing and the firing heads. Each firing head is configured to detonate an associated tool in response to an associated elevated tubing pressure condition. The movable member transmits a first elevated pressure condition to activate one of the firing heads, and moves in response to a subsequent elevated pressure condition to activate the other firing head. In one embodiment, the movable member has a through passage for transmitting the first elevated pressure condition, the passage being subsequently blocked by a ball dropped through the tubing to move the member in response to the second elevated tubing pressure condition. In a second embodiment, the movable element is a free floating piston, with a stem which moves in response to the second elevated pressure condition. In other embodiments more than two firing heads are employed. Methods of sequentially performing multiple downhole functions in a well by such an apparatus are also disclosed.

In the process of completing an oil or gas well, it is common to lower tool strings into the well on long lengths of tubing, typically from a coiled roll. The tubing serves not only to support the weight of the string of tools in the well, but also to transmit pressure from the surface of the well for activating the tools to perform various functions, such as sealing the well bore or perforating the well casing for access to product-bearing deposits. Such systems are sometimes referred to as tubing-conveyed perforating systems, or "TCP" systems.
Downhole ballistic tools of such systems are typically detonated by an attached firing head which, in the case of TCP systems, is hydraulically activated from the surface of the well. Good examples of such hydraulically activated TCP firing heads are disclosed by Huber et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,261, issued Apr. 9, 1996 and incorporated herein by reference as if entirely set forth. Huber et al. discloses three examples of TCP firing heads referred to as Circulation Direction Firing (CDF), Circulation Ball Firing (CBF) and Ball-actuated Circulation Firing (BCF) heads, each of which receives tubing pressure from the surface of the well to activate the firing head to detonate an associated tool.
Several of such firing heads have been successfully employed in field operations and have been received favorably in the market.
Because of the cost advantages of performing as many functions as possible with one trip down the well, several attempts have been made to combine multiple firing heads into a single string to be remotely operated by tubing pressure. Among these is a system described by Burleson et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,924, which discloses selective communication devices between each of the firing heads in the string.
Another such system is described by Edwards et al. in U.S. Ser. No. 08/752,810, filed Nov. 20, 1996, entitled "Device and Method for Performing Downhole Functions", which employs hydro-mechanical locks associated with each firing head.

Tubing-conveyer multiple firing head system


A speed mode for a printer (1) which has a pivotally mounted autocompensating system (19) mounted at an intermediate position in paper guide (17). That system (19) is driven by a motor (40) through a slip drive (70, 72, 74). The motor also drives paper feed system (15). When the motor turns in a direction to feed by system (15), the intermediate system is moved away from the paper guide. In basic operation, when a sheet (5) reaches a position to be fed by the intermediate system, the motor is reversed, and the intermediate system pivots against the paper for moving it further through the paper guide. In the speed mode the intermediate system is not employed and all of the feed is by the system at the tray. Since this will not feed shorter sheets, preferably the speed mode must be positively invoked, as by operator input or definitive information in the header of a print job.

Printing devices utilizing a media tray under the device typically feed the media out of the tray to the rear and around a "C" shaped path to enter the imaging area and exit to the front of the device. This provides a very compact machine. Because of the varying lengths of media fed through such a device, some mechanism must be provided to accommodate the discrepancy between the length of short media and the path length. This conventionally is done by using a relatively large drive roller (or rollers) which move the media toward non-driven idler rollers to maintain contact with the media while it is being fed around the path and into the imaging area.
In a separate patent application recently filed and commonly owed with this application, an improved mechanical system to feed the documents is described and claimed which employs two autocompensating systems, one intermediate in the feed path. That system is described in detail here as this invention provides modes of use of that system which increase the speed of media through the "C" path for certain media.


A power supply circuit includes a voltage booster circuit that generates a boosted voltage by boosting a second voltage with respect to a first voltage, and a limiter circuit that limits a potential of the boosted voltage. The limiter circuit discharges a charge to or charges a charge from a power supply line so that the boosted voltage becomes a given target voltage, the second voltage being supplied to the power supply line. The voltage booster circuit changes a boost capability corresponding to an output load of the power supply circuit.

The present invention relates to a power supply circuit, a display driver, an electro-optical device, an electronic instrument, and the like.
A reduction in power consumption is desired for portable electronic instruments. A liquid crystal display device is generally used as a display device incorporated in such electronic instruments. A plurality of power supply voltages such as a high voltage and a negative voltage are required to drive a liquid crystal display device. In this case, it is desirable from the viewpoint of cost that a liquid crystal driver device which drives a liquid crystal display device include a power supply circuit which generates a plurality of power supply voltages.
Such a power supply circuit includes a voltage booster circuit. As the voltage booster circuit, a charge-pump circuit which generates a boosted voltage by a charge-pump operation is generally used (see JP-A-9-312095, for example). A charge-pump circuit connects one end of a capacitor which stores a charge to various voltages using switching elements (e.g., metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors), thereby boosting the voltage corresponding to the charge stored in the capacitor. Power consumption can be reduced using such a charge-pump circuit.
It is desirable to reduce the output load of the voltage booster circuit as much as possible from the viewpoint of the power efficiency of the voltage booster circuit. Therefore, the output of the voltage booster circuit is directly connected to a circuit to which the output voltage from the voltage booster circuit is supplied, as disclosed in JP-A-9-312095, for example.
A regulator is used when regulating the output potential of the voltage booster circuit. In this case, it is desirable to operate the regulator at a low operating voltage in order to reduce power consumption. Therefore, a voltage regulated using the regulator is input to the voltage booster circuit instead of regulating the voltage boosted by the voltage booster circuit using the regulator.
When regulating a potential using the regulator, the maximum value of the output voltage from the regulator is lower than a high-potential-side power supply voltage of the regulator by at least a threshold voltage AVthp of a transistor, for example. This also applies to the minimum value of the output voltage from the regulator. Specifically, the minimum value of the output voltage from the regulator is higher than a low-potential-side power supply voltage of the regulator by at least a threshold voltage ΔVthn of a transistor. Specifically, the range of the output voltage from the regulator is narrow as compared with the voltage between the low-potential-side power supply voltage and the high-potential-side power supply voltage of the regulator. When the output voltage from the regulator is boosted by a factor of S (S is a number larger than one), only a voltage which is lower in potential by S×ΔVthn than a voltage obtained by boosting the high-potential-side power supply voltage of the regulator can be obtained. This means that the power supply voltage range of a circuit to which a voltage obtained by boosting the output voltage from the regulator is supplied decreases. As a result, a power supply margin decreases.
When the voltage of the voltage booster circuit which boosts the voltage regulated by the regulator exceeds the target voltage, a charge is discharged to a system ground power supply in order to decrease the voltage which exceeds the target voltage. For example, when the absolute maximum rating of an integrated circuit is 6 V and a voltage of 3.3 V is boosted by a factor of two, a charge is discharged so that the potential of the boosted voltage decreases by 0.6 V (=3.3×2-6). Therefore, the power consumption of the power supply circuit can be reduced by reducing the amount of charging/discharging for regulating the voltage which exceeds the target voltage.
The power efficiency of the power supply circuit changes corresponding to the output load of the power supply circuit. This means that a boost operation is performed using unnecessary power depending on the output load. Therefore, it is desirable that the boost capability be changed corresponding to the output load of the power supply circuit, and that the boost capability be changed so that a stable voltage can be supplied to the output load.
Moreover, the output load of the power supply circuit which supplies a power supply voltage to a liquid crystal display device may differ depending on a display image or a display mode of the liquid crystal display device. The boost efficiency of the power supply circuit may decrease when the output load is low.

Power supply circuit, display driver, electro-optical device, and electronic instrument


A sewing machine includes a needle bar, a feed mechanism, a swinging mechanism, a display device, and a control device. The control device determines whether each one of a plurality of sets of sewing data for sewing a pattern is editable, displays on the display device, editable pattern described by the sewing data that has been determined to be editable, and acquires a selection command that selects an object pattern from among the editable pattern. The control device also acquires edit command to edit the selected object pattern, edits object sewing data that are for the object pattern, in accordance with the edit command that has been acquired, and causes the sewing machine to sew the object pattern on a sewing workpiece, based on the edited object sewing data, by operating the feed mechanism that moves the sewing workpiece and the swinging mechanism that swings the needle bar.

The present disclosure relates to a sewing machine that is provided with a swinging mechanism that swings a needle bar, and to a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a sewing machine control program.
A pattern data creation device is known that, in accordance with a command from a user, generates sewing data for sewing a pattern. The sewing data are data that specify an amount that a sewing workpiece is fed by a feed mechanism and a position to which a needle bar is swung by a swinging mechanism. The pattern data creation device is built into a sewing machine that is provided with a feed mechanism that has a feed dog and with a swinging mechanism that swings a needle bar. By operating the feed dog, the feed mechanism moves a sewing workpiece in a first direction. The swinging mechanism swings the needle bar in a second direction that intersects the first direction. In a case where the user will create the sewing data for a new pattern in the sewing machine, the user sequentially inputs a plurality of needle drop points on a touch panel with which the sewing machine is provided. The sewing machine creates the sewing data for the pattern based on the needle drop points that have been input.

Sewing machine and non-transitory computer-readable medium storing sewing machine control program


An image forming device, an image forming method, and a program intended to print out multiple documents of different sizes collectively in one output sheet with a margin upon adjustment of the magnification of the documents to an appropriate size. The image forming device used for combined printing is capable of printing image data obtained from multiple documents into one output sheet which includes a margin generating section for generating a margin area upon the output sheet, a document arranging section that arranges the multiple documents in a document depicting area without the margin area in the output sheet with respect to one corner of the document depicting area as a reference for the purpose of minimizing the generation of blanks, and a magnification processing section that adjusts the magnification of the multiple documents in order to make them fit into the document depicting area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device, an image forming method, and a program intended to print out image data obtained from multiple documents in one output sheet of paper, and more particularly relates to an image forming device, an image forming method, and a program designed to print out multiple documents of different sizes in one output sheet of paper.
2. Description of Prior Art
A conventional technique relating to an image forming device which forms an image derived from multiple documents in one sheet of paper has been disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-335388 (Means to Solve the Problems—paragraphs numbered [0036] to [0044], and [0047] to [0050]), for example (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 1"). Such image forming device includes paper size detecting means to detect paper size, document size detecting means to detect the size of multiple documents, a counter for counting the number of documents, and margin setting means for setting margin intervals between multiple images of the documents when the images are formed on the same sheet of paper without overlapping. The image forming device then determines the reduction magnification of the total size of the documents which is calculated based on the number and size of the documents, the margin intervals between the images, and the sheet sizes, and forms the multiple document images in one sheet by reducing the document images without overlapping. The margin intervals are set in advance. Moreover, to improve the appearance of the composed image, the margin intervals of the various images are automatically set based on the selected paper size.
In this case, a predetermined table has been prepared in advance, and the margin intervals of the images are set in relation to the sizes of paper. Moreover, the appearance of the conveyed documents changes due to their size, and the margin intervals of the images are thus automatically set based on the size of the documents. On the other hand, a composed copy is produced by changing the magnification depending on the contents of a document so as to achieve unified magnification in one document containing characters, and to reduce the graphics contained in two documents loaded upon a document conveying device, for example. In this way, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of forming images coming from multiple documents of the same size upon the same sheet of paper while margin intervals are provided, and overlapping is prevented by reduction.
Moreover, an image forming device which forms an image while setting margins for a read document has been disclosed Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-86832 (paragraphs numbered [0006], [0008], [0043] to [0052]), for example (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 2"). The technique disclosed in Patent Document2 is such that when the device forms an image while setting margins for a read document, an image processing section forms the image by processing the image including the document and the margins, while changing the magnification thereof to ensure that it would fit into a transfer sheet of paper of a specified size. In this manner, the image forming device according Patent Document 2 eliminates the problem of setting margins to a sheet of paper of standard size, by ensuring that the size of the paper sheet does not deviate from the standard when margins are set.
However, while the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 permits the forming of an image by reducing multiple documents to be uniform in size to fit the documents into one sheet while setting margin intervals, it does not consider allow the forming of an image derived from and by reducing documents of different sizes so as to fit the documents into one and the same sheet. Moreover, the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1 does not consider the case for setting a margin in advance for staples, memos, or images or the like to be applied or inserted after printing. On the other hand, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 forms an image by adding margins to one document thereby altering the magnification of the multiple documents to fit them into one sheet, and does not consider either a case of forming images derived from multiple documents in one and the same sheet. Accordingly, these techniques do not permit the printing of multiple documents of different sizes in one output sheet of paper after allocating a margin.

Image forming device, image forming method, and program


A thermoplastic resin composition which comprises (A) a thermoplastic polyester resin such as polybutylene terephthalate, (B) a rubber-modified styrenic resin such as an ABS resin, (C) an olefinic copolymer composed of (c-1) an olefinic polymer fragment and (c-2) a vinyl-series polymer fragment and (D) a branched ester obtainable from a C.sub.16-30 fatty acid and/or alcohol having at least one branched chain, and which may contain (E) an inorganic filler, (F) a flame-retardant, (G) an inorganic flame-retardant auxiliary and so on. This resin composition has improved friction/abrasion characteristics with maintaining its high mechanical characteristics, and is useful for providing a moulded article including a sliding member.

A crystalline thermoplastic polyester resin (e.g. a polyalkylene terephthalate resin), which has not only excellent mechanical properties, electrical properties, and other physical and chemical characteristics but also good processability, has been in use as an engeneering plastic for a wide range of products such as cars and vehicles, elecric or electronic parts.
Such a crystalline thermoplastic polyester resin can be used for various moulded articles by itself. For some applications, however, various reinforcing agents or additives are incorporated into the resin to improve its properties, in particular its mechanical properties. Where a high mechanical strength and rigidity is required, fibrous reinforcing agents, a glass fibre and a carbon fibre to name a few, are added to the crystalline thermoplastic resin. For a high dimentional stability and surface smoothness or surface properties, there has been a practice of adding a noncrystalline polymer such as a styrene-butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer (ABS resin) to the polyester resin.
Required characteristics for the moulded article are getting higher and higher. For example, further improvement is hoped in sliding properties. A composition containing the fibrous reinforcing agent and a composition containing the noncrystalline polymer have a high mechanical strength and dimentional stability. However, once they are rubbed along with an article of a metal or a resin counterpart member, both of the resin compositions and the counterpart member (if the member is a resin) are worn out with creaking sounds only to deteriorate the sliding properties of the compositions. A moulded article which is made of a polyester incorporated with a noncrystalline polymer such as an ABS resin shows a poorer abrasion resistance with respect to the counterpart member of a resin than a moulded article comprising a polyester alone, and wears itself out to a great extent and spreads its worn-out powder.
As a solution to these problems, a grease has been conventionally applied to a sliding site. However, the performance can be declined once a grease runs out during a long operation period. By way of illustration, in the case of an information recording medium which demands high precision (e.g. a compact disc (CD), a read only memory (ROM) and other devices with high precision), attachment of a grease on the CD may cause a read error. Thus, improvement of slidability is a matter of great importance.
In order to enhance sliding properties, there has been suggested a composition blended with an agent for improving sliding characteristics including a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) powder and a graphite (a black lead). Such a composition shows a slightly improved coefficient of friction, but its abrasion properties are not improved, rather on the further decline. Addition of the agent for improving sliding characteristics in a large amount, which is aimed at an achievement of a low friction coefficient, results in sacrificing the mechanical characteristics such as mechanical strength and toughness. Further improvements have been thus required.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 76048/1992 (JP-A-4-76048) discloses sliding parts which are made of a resin composition comprising a polybutylene terephthalate or a polyethylene terephthalate, a graft copolymer such as an ABS resin, and an inorganic filler, with an intention of improving friction/abrasion characteristics and preventing a creak or squeak while sliding.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 150022/1995 (JP-A-7-150022) discloses a polyester resin composition with a good slidability which comprises a crystalline thermoplastic polyester resin, an olefinic copolymer composed of an olefinic polymer fragment and a vinyl-series polymer fragment, and a fatty acid ester obtainable from a fatty acid having 12 or more carbon atoms.
Despite all these attempts, it is still difficult to enhance the friction/abrasion characteristics of the above-mentioned resin composition to a great extent while retaining the mechanical characteristics at a high level.

Thermoplastic resin composition and a method of producing the same


The disclosure generally relates to methods, devices, systems and components configured to position an element in a lens assembly, such as a lens assembly for microlithography, in which the element to be positioned is moved from an actual position to a target position via at least one actuator, and in which at least the positioning movement of the actuator is superimposed with an oscillating movement.

In lens assemblies for microlithography applications, it can be desirable for the optical elements like filters, apertures, lenses, mirrors, prisms, to be positioned with high precision, such as, for example, in the nanometer range. In some instances, one or more optical elements can be replaceable elements (e.g., to adapt the imaging properties in different applications).

Method and a device for positioning an element in an optical system


The invention provides a plant EPSPS mutant (i.e. 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase mutant), which is derived from plant, and has glyphosate resistance after mutation. Also provided is an encoding gene, which can encode the above plant EPSPS mutant; and a vector containing the above encoding gene; and a cell containing the above vector. Further provided are uses of the above plant EPSPS mutant.

Glyphosate is one of the most common herbicides currently used in the world, and has been used for nearly 40 years up to now. Glyphosate inhibits activity of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS). EPSPS catalyzes PEP and shikimate-3-phosphate to synthesize EPSP in a shikimic acid pathway, and finally leads to the synthesis of aromatic amino acid tryptophan, phenylalanine and tyrosine. Glyphosate blocks the synthesis of these aromatic amino acids, thereby affecting normal growth of plants, and eventually causing death of affected plants.
At present, a main method for creating a glyphosate-resistant breed is to use gene engineering to transform a glyphosate-resistant gene derived from bacteria into the crop, thereby cultivating a new breed of transgenic glyphosate-resistant crop. Since the launch beginning in 1996, the cultivated area has increased quickly, and as of 2015, the cultivated area of the glyphosate-resistant transgenic crops in the world has reached 150 million hectares, accounting for 83% of total cultivated area of transgenic crops, and bringing huge benefits to agricultural production and environment.
However, the most widely used glyphosate-resistant gene currently in agriculture is CP4 EPSPS derived from Agrobacterium tumefaciens CP4 strain. Although many EPSPS genes capable of resisting glyphosate have been found from microorganisms, these genes have not been widely used in crops. To use glyphosate-resistant genes derived from these microorganisms in crops, these genes, e.g. CP4 EPSPS, are expressed in crops by transgenic methods, resulting in transgenic crops. Although transgenic crops produced thereby have been commercialized at quite large area, public acceptance of transgenic crops is still a major issue around the globe, and even in America with the largest cultivated area of transgenic crops, the transgenic crops are mainly limited to a few crops such as maize, soybean, and cotton.

K85 mutation-containing plant EPSPS mutant, and encoding gene and application thereof


The present invention provides a semiconductor device manufacturing method of a semiconductor device having a contact plug, in which a contact hole formed by a surface portion of a high-concentration N-type diffusion layer formed on a semiconductor silicon substrate surface and an interlayer insulating film is implanted with indium ions at an energy ranging from 30 to 120 keV and an implantation amount ranging from 1.0×1013/cm2 to 5.0×1014/cm2 to grow an indium-containing layer on the surface portion of the high-concentration N-type diffusion layer at the bottom of the contact hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing method, and particularly to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having a contact plug.
2. Related Art
In a semiconductor device, a semiconductor silicon substrate and an upper wiring layer are generally connected by use of a contact plug.
Here, a conventional method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is described with reference to FIGS. 1A through 1E.
As shown in FIG. 1A, an interlayer insulating film 2 made of SiO2 or the like is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1.
Then, a photoresist layer (not shown) is formed at a given position on the aforementioned interlayer insulating film 2, and this photoresist layer is used as a mask in a well-known dry etching process to form a contact hole 3 shown in FIG. 1B.
Next, as shown in FIG. 1C, a sputtering process is performed to form a titanium layer 4 on the surface of the contact hole 3. Then, annealing treatment is performed in an atmosphere of N2 gas thereby to make the titanium layer 4 become a barrier layer 6 of TiN as illustrated in FIG. 1D. At this point, a metal silicide layer 5 of TiSi2 is formed on the semiconductor silicon substrate 1 under the bottom of the contact hole 3.
Then, provided on the aforementioned contact hole 3 is a conducting layer comprised of tungsten, polysilicon containing impurities or the like to form a contact plug 7 as shown in FIG. 1E.
The resistance of the thus formed contact plug is preferably lower so as to reduce power consumption of the semiconductor device. For the purpose of reducing the resistance of the contact plug and the like, there is known a method of forming a TiSi2layer at the bottom of the aforementioned contact hole.
Meanwhile, there is also known a method of manufacturing an insulated gate field effect transistor, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, by implanting the whole surface of the N-type diffusion layer of the semiconductor silicon substrate with indium ions.
This method is explained below:
First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a device separation insulating region 13 and an insulating film 14 are formed on the semiconductor silicon substrate. Then, phosphorus ions and boron ions are implanted into the semiconductor silicon substrate and thereby, a P-type well 8 and an N-type well 9 are formed in the semiconductor silicon substrate.
This is followed by selectively implanting boron ions into the P-type well 8 and phosphorus ions into the N-type well 9. Then, a P-type high-concentration well layer 10 and an N-type high-concentration well layer 11 are formed on the P-type well 8 and the N-type well 9, respectively.
After that, indium ions are implanted into the whole surface of the P-type well 8 and the N-type well 9 and thereby, an indium-containing layer 12 is formed on the semiconductor silicon substrate.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, arsenic ions are selectively implanted into the P-type high-concentration well layer 10 with a gate electrode structure 20, which is provided on the semiconductor silicon substrate, used as an implantation blocking mask, and thereby high-concentration N-type diffusion layers 15 and 16 are formed.
Likewise, BF2 ions are selectively implanted into the N-type high-concentration well layer 11 and thereby high-concentration P-type diffusion layers 17 and 18 are formed.
Here, the high-concentration N-type diffusion layers 15 and 16 and the high-concentration P-type diffusion layers 17 and 18 correspond to a source/drain structure of the insulated gate field effect transistor.
The just-described method of manufacturing a semiconductor device having an indium-containing layer, is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-368212.

Semiconductor device manufacturing method including forming a metal silicide layer on an indium-containing layer


Methods and systems for recognizing Devanagari script handwriting are provided. A method may include receiving a handwritten input and determining that the handwritten input comprises a shirorekha stroke based on one or more shirorekha detection criteria. Shirorekha detection criteria may be at least one criterion such as a length of the shirorekha stroke, a horizontality of the shirorekha stroke, a straightness of the shirorekha stroke, a position in time at which the shirorekha stroke is made in relation to one or more other strokes in the handwritten input, and the like. Next, one or more recognized characters may be provided corresponding to the handwritten input.

Devanagari is an alphabet commonly used throughout India and Nepal. Devanagari script is written from left to right, does not have distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a horizontal line that runs along the top of full letters, typically referred to as a shirorekha stroke. Devanagari is used to write Standard Hindi, Marathi, Nepali along with Awadhi, Konkani, Magahi, Maithili, Marwari, and several other Indic languages. Because it is the standardized script for the Hindi language, Devanagari is one of the most used and adopted writing systems in the world.
In typical handwriting recognition systems, a computer may receive and interpret intelligible text input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. Among various recognition techniques, a complete handwriting recognition system also handles formatting, performs correct segmentation into characters and finds the most plausible words. Handwriting recognition of Devanagari script, however, can be challenging because of the shirorekha stroke that connects individual characters.

Segmentation of devanagari-script handwriting for recognition


A method and system are disclosed for controlling radio communications between a terminal (MS, TE) and a communications system (CN, GRAN). A communications connection between the system and the terminal is established by an active radio network controller (RNC) and an active base station (BS). In one embodiment, data communications within the communications connection is directed to the active radio controller by a second radio network controller.

1. Field
The invention relates to a method and system for controlling a radio communications network and a radio network controller. Particularly the invention relates to the handover procedure in a cellular system. The invention can be advantageously applied in broadband radio networks that offer fixed network services to their users.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Below it will be described the prior art by first illustrating the operation of a popular second-generation cellular system and in particular the handover, or change of active base stations serving a mobile station moving in the cellular network's coverage area. Then it will be disclosed the characteristics of new, third-generation cellular systems and problems related to prior-art handover solutions.
Prior Art; Second-generation Cellular Systems
A terminal of a cellular radio system attempts to choose a base station so as to operate on said base station's coverage area, or cell. Conventionally, the choice has been based on the measurement of the strength of the received radio signal in the terminal and base station. For example, in GSM (Global System for Mobile telecommunications) each base station transmits a signal on a so-called broadcast control channel (BCCH) and the terminals measure the strengths of the received BCCH signals and based on that, determine which cell is the most advantageous one as regards the quality of the radio link. Base stations also transmit to the terminals information about the BCCH frequencies used in the neighbouring cells so that the terminals know what frequencies they have to listen to in order to find the BCCH transmissions of the neighbouring cells.
FIG. 1 shows a second-generation cellular system that comprises a mobile switching centre (MSC) belonging to the core network (CN) of the cellular system as well as base station controllers (BSC) and base stations (BS) belonging to the a radio access network (RAN), to which mobile stations (MS) are linked via radio interface. FIG. 2 shows the coverage areas C21-C29 of base stations BS21-BS29 of a second-generation cellular system.
In second-generation cellular systems, such as GSM, communication between base stations BS and the core network CN occurs via base station controllers BSC. Usually, one base station controller controls a large number of base stations so that when a terminal moves from the area of a cell to the area of another cell, the base stations of both the old and the new cell are connected to the same base station controller. Thus the handover can be executed in the base station controller. So, in the conventional GSM system, for example, there occur fairly few handovers between a base station of a first base station controller and a base station of a second base station controller. In such a case, the switching centre has to release the connection with the first base station controller and establish a new connection with the new base station controller.
Such an event involves a lot of signaling between the base station controllers and the switching centre and as the distances between the base station controllers and the switching centre may be long there may occur disturbances in the connection during the handover.
Third-generation Cellular Systems
The prior-art handover arrangement is suitable for the so-called second-generation digital cellular radio systems such as GSM and its extension DCS 1800 (Digital Communications System at 1800 MHz), IS-54 (Interim Standard 54), and PDC (Personal Digital Cellular). However, it has been suggested that in future third-generation digital cellular systems the service levels offered to the terminals by the cells may differ considerably from a cell to another. Proposals for third-generation systems include UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) and FPLMTS/IMT-2000 (Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications System/International Mobile Telecommunications at 2000 MHz). In these plans cells are categorised according to their size and characteristics into pico-, nano-, micro- and macrocells, and an example of the service level is the bit rate. The bit rate is the highest in picocells and the lowest in macrocells. The cells may overlap partially or completely and there may be different terminals so that not all terminals necessarily are able to utilise all the service levels offered by the cells.
FIG. 3 shows a version of a future cellular radio system which is not entirely new compared with the known GSM system but which includes both known elements and completely new elements. In current cellular radio systems the bottleneck that prevents more advanced services from being offered to the terminals comprises the radio access network RAN which includes the base stations and base station controllers. The core network of a cellular radio system comprises mobile services switching centres (MSC), other network elements (in GSM, e.g. SGSN and GGSN, i.e. Serving GPRS Support Node and Gateway GPRS Support node, where GPRS stands for General Packet Radio Service) and the related transmission systems. According e.g. to the GSM+ specifications developed from GSM the core network can also provide new services.
In FIG. 3, the core network of a cellular radio system 30 comprises a GSM+ core network 31 which has three parallel radio access networks linked to it. Of those, networks 32 and 33 are UMTS radio access networks and network 34 is a GSM+ radio access network. The upper UMTS radio access network 32 is e.g. a commercial radio access network, owned by a telecommunications operator offering mobile services, which equally serves all subscribers of said telecommunications operator. The lower UMTS radio access network 33 is e.g. private and owned e.g. by a company in whose premises said radio access network operates. Typically the cells of the private radio access network 33 are nano- and/or picocells in which only terminals of the employees of said company can operate. All three radio access networks may have cells of different sizes offering different types of services. Additionally, cells of all three radio access networks 32, 33 and 34 may overlap either entirely or in part. The bit rate used at a given moment of time depends, among other things, on the radio path conditions, characteristics of the services used, regional overall capacity of the cellular system and the capacity needs of other users. The new types of radio access networks mentioned above are called generic radio access networks (GRAN). Such a network can co-operate with different types of fixed core networks CN and especially with the GPRS network of the GSM system. The generic radio access network (GRAN) can be defined as a set of base stations (BS) and radio network controllers (RNC) that are capable of communicating with each other using signaling messages. Below, the generic radio access network will be called in short a radio network GRAN.
The terminal 35 shown in FIG. 3 is preferably a so-called dual-mode terminal that can serve either as a second-generation GSM terminal or as a third-generation UMTS terminal according to what kind of services are available at each particular location and what the user's communication needs are. It may also be a multimode terminal that can function as terminal of several different communications systems according to need and the services available. Radio access networks and services available to the user are specified in a subscriber identity module 36 (SIM) connected to the terminal.
FIG. 4 shows in more detail a core network CN of a third-generation cellular system, comprising a switching centre MSC, and a radio network GRAN connected to the core network. The radio network GRAN comprises radio network controllers RNC and base stations BS connected to them. A given radio network controller RNC and the base stations connected to it are able to offer broadband services while a second radio network controller and base stations connected to it may be able to offer only conventional narrowband services but possibly covering a larger area.
FIG. 5 shows coverage areas 51a-56a of base stations 51-56 in a third-generation cellular system. As can be seen from FIG. 5, a mobile station travelling only a short distance can choose from many base stations for the radio link.
New cellular systems can employ a so-called macrodiversity combining technique related to CDMA systems. This means that on the downlink path a terminal receives user data from at least two base stations and correspondingly, the user data transmitted by the terminal is received by at least two base stations. Then, instead of one, there are two or more active base stations, or a so-called active set. Using macrodiversity combining it is possible to achieve a better quality of data communications as momentary fade-outs and disturbances occurring on a given transmission path can be compensated for by means of data transmitted via a second transmission path.
For selecting an active set an active radio network controller determines, on the basis of the geographic location, for example, a candidate set of base stations, which is a set of the base stations that are used for measuring general signal strength information using e.g. a pilot signal. Below, this candidate set of base stations will be called a candidate set (CS) in short. In some systems, such as IS-41, separate candidate base stations are used.
Problems Related to Prior Art
Let us consider the application of a prior-art arrangement to a proposed third-generation digital cellular system. In third-generation systems, base station handovers and radio network controller handovers are more frequent than in second-generation systems. One of the reasons behind this is that the cell sizes may be remarkably small and that there may occur need to change the service type e.g. from narrowband to broadband during a call.
In accordance with the prior art a handover between radio network controllers would be carried out in such a manner that the user data connection between the switching centre and the so-called old active radio network controller/base station is released and a new connection is established between the switching centre and the so-called new active radio network controller/base station. Then the switching centre would have to release/set up many connections, which involves a lot of signaling between the switching centre and the radio network controller. Furthermore, there are very many small-sized cells in the area of one switching centre, and in broadband applications the amount of user data transmitted is great. This puts very tight requirements for capacity and speed on the switching centre hardware, which in large systems cannot be met at reasonable costs using current technology.
Secondly, known systems have a problem of how to transmit signaling and data of the core network CN and signaling of the radio network to a terminal moving in the radio network's area. CN signaling and data are specifically meant for the terminal and routed via radio network controllers. Radio network signaling may be intended either for the terminal or for the radio network itself so that it can arrange optimal use of radio resources in the network area. The problem is caused by the moving terminal and its effect on the flow of data in the radio network's area.
When using macrodiversity combining the prior art further has the problem that after a handover between radio network controllers the new radio network controller does not have knowledge of the base stations suitable for macrodiversity combining so that macrodiversity combining cannot be used before the new radio network controller has established a candidate set of its own. Therefore, transmission power has to be increased and only one transmission path can be used temporarily between the system and the terminal. This degrades the quality of communications and causes stability problems which must be corrected by constant adjustments.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for combining macrodiversity spread code signals


Processes for refining dialkyl carbonate-containing compositions are described, wherein a composition comprising a dialkyl carbonate is provided; and the composition is subjected to a rectification wherein low-boiling impurities are removed, and a rectification wherein high-boiling impurities are removed; and subsequently to a deodorization wherein medium-boiling impurities are removed.

Dialkyl carbonates are interesting new oil components for cosmetic products and are normally obtained by transesterification of dimethyl or diethyl carbonate with relatively long-chain fatty alcohols. Particular preference attaches to the production and use of dioctyl carbonate which is commercially available under the INCI name of Dicaprylyl Carbonate and the registered name of Cetiol® CC (Cognis Deutschland GmbH) [cf. WO 97/47583 (Cognis)]. Unfortunately, carbonates have the disadvantage of a "sweaty" odor so that perfuming is necessary where they are used in cosmetic products. The deodorization with steam normally applied in such cases has proved unsuccessful.
Accordingly, the problem addressed by the present invention was to provide dialkyl carbonates which would have an improved odor quality in relation to the prior art and which would therefore be suitable for use in cosmetic products.

Processes for refining compositions containing dialkyl carbonates


An image forming apparatus for forming images with an electrophotographic system. The image forming apparatus includes a laser drive unit configured to control a laser light, and an image data transfer control unit configured to control image data from to the laser drive unit. The apparatus also includes a polygon mirror configured to reflect laser light from the electrophotographic system, a polygon mirror drive unit including a motor configured to rotate the polygon mirror, and a power supply level detecting unit configured to detect a voltage level of power supplied to the polygon mirror drive unit by an electric power supply unit. The image data transfer control unit is configured to provide any width and any number of a first pulse signal indicating a state when power supply is cut off to the polygon mirror drive unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of image forming devices such as, for example, copiers and printers. More specifically, the present invention relates to optical control for image formation in image forming devices.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the background art, an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer turns a light on and off according to the image data. The apparatus rotates a polygon mirror by a certain number of rotations according to a resolution (recording density) of the image data. The laser light emitted from a laser diode is scanned with a polarized light by the polygon mirror rotated by a motor, and the apparatus forms images by projecting the laser light on a pre-charged photosensitive drum.
After a predetermined time has passed from when the motor was driven in the image forming apparatus, the number of rotations (RPM: rotations per minute) is checked to determine if an error is present by measuring the current flowing in the motor. And when an error, such as a motor lock, is detected by the current flowing in the motor, an error correction process is executed against the error.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-259677 describes an invention in which an ambient temperature of an exposure unit detected by a temperature sensor is compared with a predetermined temperature. If the ambient temperature is higher than the predetermined temperature, an operation environment of the motor is judged to be better than a predetermined level, and thus the period of time between error judgments (i.e. the judgment permission time) is set to a short value. Further, the apparatus does not make an error judgment until a passing time from the output time of a driving control signal to a motor driving circuit reaches the judgment permission time. The apparatus makes an error judgment based upon the passing time and the ambient temperature.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-64927 describes a system that includes a power supply control unit that controls whether electricity is supplied to an electric component, and an electric component control unit outputs a control signal to the power supply control unit. The system monitors a conduction of a power distribution in the electric component, and the system is reset when the system turns on for a period of time that is longer than a preset time. And the system reset is repeated until the electric component reaches a normal operating condition. If the system does not recover when the reset frequency reaches a preset number, an electric power supply is cut off. The interruption control of the power supply to the system is executed by monitoring of the preset time.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H7-294839 describes a timing changing means that changes the detection timing for checking for an error in a number of rotations of a motor. When the rotation of the motor is signaled to stop, the apparatus decides whether it stops the rotation immediately according to the detected number of rotations or whether it reduces the speed of the rotation and then stops the rotation. In the latter case, the apparatus can also restrict the detection of the error for a certain number of rotations.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H8-156316 describes a control of an applied voltage and plural motors. In a standby mode, an applied voltage is 12V. A driving motor is controlled to a number of N3 rotations. In a copy operation mode, at first the driving motor of the first polygon mirror is applied the standby mode voltage, then the applied voltage is increased to 24V and the number of rotations becomes N5 during the writing operation. When a voltage detection unit detects 18 V, the voltage detection unit outputs a detection signal to the control unit. The control unit outputs a voltage supply signal to the second polygon mirror and activates a second driving motor. In the same way, when the applied voltage of the second driving motor becomes 18 V, then a third driving motor of the third polygon mirror is activated. And when the voltage of the third driving motor becomes 18 V, then a fourth driving motor of the fourth polygon mirror is activated. And a rotation of each polygon mirror is increased sequentially to the number of rotations used in an optical writing. Using this method, it is possible to reduce electric power consumption by providing a time lag for the activation of the driving motors, and an operating time of the first copy is stable using such a control system.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 2003-90976 describes a light polarization unit that drives the rotation of rotating parts with mirrors using a motor. The apparatus includes a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the motor, a fan for cooling off the motor, and a fan control unit for controlling the number of rotations of the fan. Using this configuration, it is possible to reduce a rise in temperature and to increase the cooling efficiency of the motor by using an air-cooling system. It is further possible to reduce electricity use using an over-speed rotation of the fan.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-3115 describes a mechanical switch that attaches with an apparatus and is activated by an operating part of a process cartridge. The switch detects the process cartridge. The switch cover is closed only when a process cartridge is detected. The apparatus turns a photosensitive drum with a driving gear of an image support unit. Using this configuration, a connection error of connector between apparatus and a non-volatile memory (NVRAM) is eliminated, and it is possible to detect an error of the NVRAM itself.
However, in the above-mentioned background art, an environmental temperature, a passing time, a number of rotations, a changing state of applied voltage, and an error judgment are determined by monitoring an electric component in a motor control of a polygon mirror. These documents do not describe detecting and monitoring an interception state of a power supply voltage applied to the motor from outside. For example, when a power supply voltage (normally +24V) from a power supply to a motor is cut off by some factor, the motor driving unit cannot operate. As a result, a state signal (e.g., a polygon stack signal) becomes an inactive state, and an error outbreak is notified to the system. Further, since the error state is displayed as the error (polygon motor stack error) from the motor drive means, the error in the power supply is not displayed. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to specify a cause of the error.
Furthermore, in the invention described in JP 2000-3115, a notification means stops the operation of the unit and notifies an operator of this state when a process cartridge is not completely loaded. However, this system allows for the detection of only NVRAM. As a result, a control of the other units when errors occur in those other units is not described in the document.

Apparatus and method for optical image formation control


In one embodiment, a secure communication is initiated between two devices by generating a pairing message from a pre-determined static identification on the first device, transmitting the pairing message to the second device, generating a pairing identification from the static identification, and initiating a secure communication between the first and second device if the pairing message corresponds with the pairing identification.

Wireless networking has become a mainstream technology. End users are adopting wireless technology in record numbers despite security concerns. Unfortunately, many current wireless security mechanisms demand significant user interactions including multiple steps, repetitive procedures, and out-of-band transfers of complex passwords or security indicias. Even mechanisms considered to be "simplified" may be unacceptably complex for many wireless network users or may be prone to compromise.
For example, different "push-button" methodologies are used to simplify security set-up. One current push-button security implementation is configured using a static seed value that may be determined through inspection over time and, thus, may become insecure. Another common push-button security implementation is configured using a fixed seed value, widely known to be zero, which may allow easy access to unsophisticated network interlopers. In one proposed improved security procedure, a wireless network user supplies a variable seed value for a security process by pushing a security configuration button from one to thirty-two times for each wireless device to be secured. However, even these improved procedures may be thwarted by pragmatic human limitations. For example, a typical user is unlikely to push the configuration button more than a few times, instead using just the first few values in the available range of seed values. This practice may not provide sufficient network security and may lead to an increase in technical support calls to resolve configuration errors. In another proposed improved security procedure, a wireless network user enters into an access point (AP) or wireless router an eight-digit identification number displayed on a wireless client. In addition to being cumbersome to the network user, this procedure requires an AP or wireless router to have an interface with an indicia pad, at a significant increase in cost. As a result, wireless network users may elect not to activate wireless network security mechanisms, despite the daunting risks posed by an unsecured wireless network operation.
Same reference numbers indicate the same step or element in the figures.


A panel carrier comprising a box and a plurality of attaching elements is provided. The interior lateral surfaces of the box have a plurality of cannelures. The ends of each attaching element are inserted into the corresponding cannelures on the lateral surfaces of the box so that the interior of the box is partitioned into variable size compartments.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier for packaging panels. More particularly, the present invention relates to an adjustable panel carrier.
2. Description of Related Art
At present, panels are often packaged inside a carrier unit having an integrative design. In general, the panels are laid down flat inside a carrier or plugged into the specially designed slots of a carrier. Since the grooves for gripping each panel are normally fixed in dimension, a panel of one particular size can be accommodated inside the carrier. However, due to the rapid improvement in digital technologies, newer types of panel with a range of different dimensional designs are constantly developed. To accommodate newer versions of the panels, the carrier has to be redesigned and fabricated while the old ones have to be scrapped. This leads not only to a waste of material but also a waste of molding resources.
Furthermore, the material for fabricating an integrative carrier unit also has some important effects on protecting the panels being accommodated. If the carrier is fabricated using a harder material, the carrier can act as a rigid body to resist any deformation. On the contrary, if the carrier is fabricated using a softer material, the carrier can act as a buffer to absorb any shock or vibration. However, the conventional carrier can serve either as a rigid body resisting any deformation or a softer body resisting shock but not both. Furthermore, each carrier normally has a considerable number of interior slots rendering a proper cleaning difficult. If some chipped pieces happen to stick to the surface of a slot due to breakage of some panel, all panels subsequently lowered into the slot of the carrier may be scratched.

Liquid crystal panel carrier with plurality of cannelures inside a box and a plurality of separate attaching elements


A turbine airfoil includes a body including a wall defining pressure and suction sides, and a leading edge extending between the pressure and suction sides. A cooling circuit inside the wall of the body includes at least one of: a) a suction side to pressure side cooling sub-circuit including a first cooling passage(s) extending from the suction side to the pressure side around the leading edge to a first plenum, and a plurality of first film cooling holes communicating with the first plenum and extending through the wall on the pressure side; and b) a pressure side to suction side cooling sub-circuit including second cooling passage(s) extending from the pressure side to the suction side around the leading edge to a second plenum, and a plurality of second film cooling holes communicating with the second plenum and extending through the wall on the suction side.

Leading edges of turbine airfoils are typically cooled with a set of outwardly directed cooling holes in the leading edge of the airfoil. The cooling holes are fluidly coupled via cooling passages to a coolant source in the body of the airfoil. The location of the cooling holes affects the amount of coolant needed to effectively cool the leading edge. Reducing the coolant volume through improved coolant delivery systems would positively impact gas turbine efficiency and output.

Turbine airfoil with leading edge cooling passage(s) coupled via plenum to film cooling holes, and related method


The present invention relates to an assay system and method for testing compounds for their ability to regulate the hepatic lipase (HL) promoter. In particular, the invention relates to the identification of estrogen receptor ligands having this activity. Compounds that inhibit HL promoter activity are useful as leads, or on their own, to develop therapeutics in the prevention of heart disease.

The physiological response to steroid hormones is mediated by specific interaction of steroids with nuclear receptors, which are ligand-activated transcription factors that regulate the expression of target genes. These receptors consist (in an amino-terminal-to carboxy-terminal direction) of a hypervariable amino-terminal domain that contributes to the transactivation function; a highly conserved DNA-binding domain responsible for receptor dimerization and specific DNA binding; and a carboxy-terminal domain involved in ligand binding nuclear localization, and ligand-dependent transactivation.
In vivo, estrogen has been identified as having utility in treating adverse behavioral/clinical symptoms that accompany fluctuations in hormones associated with menopause in aging women, although the biochemical basis for these effects has never been determined. As such, the treatment of behavioral effects with estrogen in human subjects has been restricted to the treatment of menopause in women who demonstrate signs of deficiency in estrogen, and use in prevention of the sequelae of menopause, namely hot flashes and osteoporosis, which are typically corrected by replacement therapy of estrogen.
Recently, cDNA was cloned from rat prostate and shown to have significant homology to a previously isolated rat estrogen receptor (Kuiper et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:5925, 1996); this receptor was designated ERβ to distinguish it from the previously cloned receptor, ERα. Rat ERβ was shown to be expressed in prostate, testes, ovary, and thymus, in contrast to ERα, which is most highly expressed in uterus, breast, liver, and pituitary. A human ERβ homologue has been reported (Mosselman et al., FEBS Letts. 392:49, 1996), having the amino-terminal sequence Gly-Tyr-Ser. A human ERβ has been described in PCT Publication WO 99/07847.
Hepatic lipase (HL) is a lipolytic enzyme that is synthesized primarily in the liver. HL hydrolyzes triglycerides and phospholipids present in chylomicron remnants, intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Through its function as a lipolytic enzyme, HL plays a major role in the metabolism of circulating plasma lipoproteins resulting in elevation of small, dense atherogenic LDL with a decrease in HDL plasma levels. Several lines of evidence demonstrate the important role of HL in HDL metabolism. Patients with a genetic deficiency of HL have increased plasma levels of HDL cholesterol and phospholipids (Breckenridge et al., Atherosclerosis, 45:161, 1982). Increased HDL is also a hallmark of HL-deficient states induced by infusion of anti-HL antibodies (Goldberg et al., J. Clin. Invest. 70:1184, 1982), genetic manipulation (Homanics et al. J. Biol. Chem. 270:2974, 1995) or naturally present in various animal models (Clay et al. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1002:173, 1989). Conversely, overexpression of HL decreases plasma HDL concentrations in transgenic mice (Busch et al. J. Biol. Chem. 269:16376, 1994) and rabbits (Fan et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:8724, 1994).
In terms of ERT in postmenopausal women, it is well established that trafficking of lipoprotein cholesterol is enhanced via the reverse cholesterol transport system. HL activity has been shown to be reduced by 31% due to ERT, levels similar to that found in premenopausal women (Tikkanen et al. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand Suppl. 88:83, 1979). Diminishment of HL activity by ERT is thought to improve the reverse cholesterol transport system by blocking the metabolism of HDL thereby maintaining higher plasma levels of HDL. In addition, inhibition of HL activity may result in a reduction in the amount of small, dense atherogenic LDL.
Thus, there is a need in the art to identify compounds that can modulate HL production. There is a further need in the art to identify compounds that can act through the estrogen receptor to modulate, and preferably inhibit, HL expression by acting on the HL promoter.

Assay to identify estrogen receptor dependent ligands that regulate the hepatic lipase promoter


The present invention is a method for purifying an NCA, including the steps of: a) dissolving an NCA contaminated with impurities into a solvent which is a good solvent and is not a chlorinated solvent followed by stirring to precipitate an undissolved impurity to afford a suspension, b) adding an acidic filter aid having ability to trap a basic impurity to the obtained suspension followed by filtration and/or forming a fixed bed of the acidic filter aid having ability to trap a basic impurity followed by filtering the suspension to bring the suspension to be in contact with the acidic filter aid having ability to trap a basic impurity, and c) adding the obtained filtrate dropwise to a poor solvent for NCA to crystallize out the NCA in which the impurities are removed. This makes it possible to purify a low-purity NCA conveniently to afford a high-purity NCA.

Amino acids, especially N-carboxy anhydrides (N-carboxyanhydride; hereinafter, abridged to NCA) obtained from α-, β-, or γ-amino acids are very useful intermediates because they each have an active acid anhydride group, and an amino group in each molecule is protected. This acid anhydride group can react with any nucleophilic units, so that it can react with an amino group to afford an amide group easily. Accordingly, they can be polymerized easily, thereby being useful for forming peptides. Alternatively, NCAs can easily form an ester bond through reaction with an alcohol and are also important to reduce the acid anhydride group.
The NCA has extremely high electrophilicity and gives polypeptide with a uniform molecular weight by living ring-opening polymerization initiated by amine. The initiator of amine is introduced into the terminal of polypeptide. Accordingly, various star-shaped polymers, graft copolymers, and block copolymers can be synthesized precisely by using a polyfunctional amine or a polymer having an amino group at the side chain or the terminal as an initiator. The obtained polypeptide is expected as a biocompatible material and can be block-copolymerized with hydrophilic polyethylene glycol to form a polymer micelle composed of a hydrophilic segment and a hydrophobic segment. This polymer micelle functions as a drug carrier by encapsulating the drug into the polymer micelle to give various effects including gradual release of the drug in a body and a concentrated dosage to a lesion, and is also useful in the field of drug delivery systems. The polypeptide also attracts enhanced interests in the peculiar self-organization due to its characteristic α-helix and a ρ-sheet structure, together with functions brought therefrom. In particular, having functions such as optical properties, piezoelectric properties, molecular permeability, and thermoresponsive properties, they are increasingly expected as next-generation materials such as electronics materials, liquid crystal materials, gas permeation materials, and high-performance fibers.
As for the synthesis of NCA, various methods have been reported. One of the most ordinary and direct method is a method of obtaining an NCA by reaction of amino acid or hydrochloric salt thereof and phosgene, diphosgene, or triphosgene in a solvent as expressed by the following reaction formula.

In the formula, R represents a central group between the acid group and the amino group of the amino acid, which may be modified; R′ represents a hydrogen atom or a group bonded to the nitrogen atom in the amino acid; R and R′ may be bonded with each other to form a cyclic amino acid structure.
In this reaction, it has been known that hydrogen chloride is formed, together with the NCA, in an amount of 2 mol per 1 mol of NCA. The hydrogen chloride, having higher reactivity, causes side reaction when it is contained in a medium to form a chlorinated by-product. These chlorinated by-products remain in the produced NCA to hinder polymerization reaction of the NCA seriously such as forming a bi-product and so on when the NCA is used for the polymerization reaction. The hydrogen chloride also acts as a stopper for a basic initiator. Accordingly, the amounts of chlorinated by-products and hydrogen chloride in an NCA monomer have to be sufficiently decreased in order to promote the polymerization precisely. The residual chlorine concentration is generally required to be 0.05 mass % or less.
The methods for decreasing the residual chlorine concentration in NCA include a method of decreasing the concentration in the stage of synthesizing an NCA and a method of purifying an NCA obtained by synthesis. Examples of the method of decreasing a residual chlorine concentration in the stage of synthesizing an NCA include a method of adding an unsaturated organic compound having an ethylenic double bond in the reaction of amino acid and phosgene to cause reaction of the produced hydrogen chloride and the unsaturated organic compound (Patent Document 1), together with a method of performing the reaction under reduced pressure to remove the produced hydrogen chloride (Patent Document 2). These methods make it possible to decrease the residual chlorine concentration to 0.05 mass % or less.
On the other hand, examples of the method of purifying an obtained NCA include a method in which an NCA is dissolved (or suspended) in a non-polar solvent, brought to be in contact with silica, and then taken out (Patent Document 3). This method makes it possible to afford a high-purity NCA in a higher yield, but the residual chlorine concentration is not described in the literature. This literature also describes treatment of the purified NCA with aqueous inorganic acid or organic acid solution to enhance the purity, but the treatment can causes a risk of forming by-products due to newly mixed acid and water. It employs a nonpolar solvent, and the soluble NCA is limited thereby. A recent report describes a method that allows NCA to be synthesized and purified in larger scale (Non-Patent Document 1). In this method, NCA is synthesized, and then purified by dissolving the NCA into dichloromethane, followed by filtration with weakly basic celite. This makes it possible to remove the residual chlorine to prevent forming of an NCA polymer due to the residual chlorine when the NCA is polymerized. However, the conceivable impurities contained in NCA include an impurity having a basic group such as an amino group, and the removal thereof has not been reported.
In currently commercially available NCAs, the residual chlorine concentration is rarely standardized to 0.05 mass % or less and is ascertained to vary depending on the production lot. They are also degraded largely with time and can form a polymer, especially after opening the package, caused by water in the air. Accordingly, the intended purity is frequently missed when using. In that case, additional purchase or re-purification is required, but cost increase cannot be avoided especially in the former case. Accordingly, it has been demanded to develop a convenient purification method to obtain NCA with stable residual chlorine concentration and purity.

Method for purifying an amino acid-n-carboxy anhydride