A Wireless battery area network permits the wirelessly monitoring and controlling of individual batteries within large-scale battery applications. The system automatically configures its wireless nodes in the network and provides for the linking of a plurality of batteries (10) to a master battery management unit (M-BMU) (100) by establishing a wireless battery area network within a battery pack that include slave units (S-BMU) (210). The entire system may also be controlled by a top level battery management unit (T-BMU) (510). The system and method allows for the monitoring of voltage, current, temperature, or impedance of individual batteries and for the balancing or bypassing of a battery. A communications controller allows for optimization of wireless communications parameters and beamforming.

Field of Invention
The invention relates to a battery management system including a plurality of battery cells in a battery pack in which a wireless battery area network is automatically established between a base station (M-BMU) and a plurality of slave battery cell sensor nodes (S-BMU).
Description of Related Art
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are growing in popularity as energy storage reservoirs for industrial and automotive applications, high-voltage energy uses (smart grid), such as wind turbines, photo-voltaic cells, and hybrid electric vehicles, and this has spurred demand for safer, higher performing battery monitoring and protection systems. Compared to NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) battery management systems, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,097, Li-ion batteries have better energy-to-weight ratio, offer more efficient storage capacity over multiple charge-discharge cycles, and suffer less charge leakage when not in use. Unlike NiMH batteries traditionally used in high-voltage applications, battery stacks using Li-Ion technology can comprise a large number of individual cells totaling hundreds of cells at different voltages. Each cell must be properly monitored and balanced to ensure user safety, improve battery performance and extend battery life. Therefore, the battery management system (BMS) is one of critical components for small and large-scaled battery applications. Examples of Li-ion battery packs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,602,460; 5,631,537; and 5,646,508. The main objectives of a BMS are: (1) to guarantee appropriate use of the battery, (2) to guarantee maximum performance of the battery, (3) to monitor necessary battery state data, and (4) to permit diagnosis. The BMS architecture should overcome the three major hurdles of state-of-the-art Li-Ion batteries: life cycle, cost and scalability. For example, in Smart Grid and power plant applications, the battery capacity needs to be as large as a few hundred kWh to a few MWh. However, current BMS architecture is not scalable to handle such a large number of battery cells. More importantly, the complexity and cost of wire harnesses for handling large-scaled battery applications is often not acceptable. Also, conventional battery management systems require data bus isolators such as an opto-coupler based vertical bus, and suffer from high cost and high power consumption. Most research efforts have been focused on improving the cell chemistry aspects. Considering that roughly 30% of the cost of a battery pack is for the BMS and the percentage increases as the battery capacity becomes larger, BMS can be a source of significant cost reduction especially for large-scale Li-Ion battery packs. Very few prior art battery management systems use wireless communication, instead of wired media, or a combination of wired and wireless.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,097 describes a battery management system for Ni—Cd and NiMH, while the following U.S. patents discuss possibly relevant battery management systems for Li-Ion or Li-Polymer batteries: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,963,019; 7,619,417; 7,888,912; 8,022,669; and US 2007/0029972. A useful discussion of secondary battery reuse and protection is found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,710,073.
Lastly, the following U.S. patents are cited for their useful discussions of the current state-of-the-art of wireless communication in battery management systems: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,598,880; 7,774,151; and US 2006/0152190.
Wireless systems for Battery Management System (BMS), Light Emitting Diode (LED) controller, and Photovoltaic (PV) applications have many attractive features over existing and conventional wired systems. However, because of nature of wireless communication, it requires complicated process to optimize communication parameters. Without Self Organizing Network (SON), it is not feasible to tune a wireless system for the best communication performance in case of mass production.
The best and only existing solution of this issue is using a manual optimization that is not a practical solution for production.
Use of wireless communication in battery pack, LED lighting system, and PV systems may encounter the issue of wave propagation since materials used for those systems are mainly metal, e.g. aluminum and shapes of battery packs, LED lighting system and PV systems are various depending on the application or manufacturer. Known solutions include tuning antenna matching and gain of radio frequency (RF) transceivers manually to work for a specific application. Use of beamforming technology can automatically configure the system for optimal wireless communication conditions regardless of material of system and shape of system design.

Fault tolerant wireless battery area network for a smart battery management system


Disclosed is a tap driver for rigid tapping, which includes adjustable tension and compression of the tap driver. In the preferred embodiment, the tap drive is adjustable by rotation of the outer collar between a plurality of settings, each of which provide a different tension or compression in the tap driver.

For many decades and back to the early 1900's, tension/compression tap drivers were used in production applications such as on transfer or assembly lines in the tapping or cutting of internally threaded holes in parts. These prior tension/compression devices required what the industry views as substantial movability in the tapping attachments because the tapping attachments would generally be utilized for multiple tap sizes and varying hole positions on different and irregular work surfaces. The old conventional machines and even the prior computer controlled machines utilized before rigid tapping was developed in the 1980's, required the springy tension/compression tapping attachments in order to produce good threads.
In or around 1982, synchronous feed or rigid tap and control was invented and developed, and by approximately 1992 the computer programmed and CNC machines became widely used in industry, including for tapping. The precision and accuracy of the newly developed CNC machines completely changed the tapping industry by providing much more precise control over the entire tapping process and tool movement than the older tension/compression tapping attachments. It rendered the old tension/compression tapping attachments too imprecise and antiquated. The new CNC machines provided more precise movement of the tapping attachments and tools to the desired locations, more precise controls over the speed and rotation of the tapping attachments and tapping tools, and the changing of tapping tools utilized.
The industry soon recognized that the new use of rigid tapping via CNC machines outperformed the older methods in several ways. For example, the speed at which the tapping occurred could be optimized for the particular tap, tap size and material being cut, versus the old method and tools wherein the tension/compression tapping attachments needed to be used because generally one slow speed was used for all taps in a multi-spindle tapping application. In another example, the new CNC machines provide a more accurate depth control, which can be important in tapping.
Due to the sophistication and precise performance capabilities of the newer CNC machines, the industry originally assumed that all that was required in the way of a tapping attachment was a simple rigid or soled tapping attachment or tap holder, and the CNC machines would do the rest. In fact early in the process, the machine builders recommended that solid rigid tap holders be used. Eventually rigid tapping has become the preferred and predominant way of cutting or tapping internally threaded holes.
Over time however the industry began to understand that there were physical limitations to any machine because of the mass involved when the tap must be properly located, fed according to the appropriate feed rate for the specific holding tap and threads being cut, slowed down, stopped, and then reversed within each hole. Eventually some companies began to recognize the need to soften up the rigid tapping attachments while still maintaining the rigidness required by these applications. The industry knew the old tension/compression tapping attachments would not work in the new CNC applications and therefore began to use and develop plastic dampeners and O rings to slightly soften the rigid tapping while still maintaining the rigidness required for rigid body tapping.
In machining metallic work pieces, an apparatus called a tap is used to create internally threaded holes for receiving screws in the metallic work pieces. The tap itself is a tool with external cutting threads. In order to create the internally threaded hole in the work piece, the tap is rotated and driven into the work piece to the desired hole depth, and then reverse rotated and retracted from the work piece.
The tap is held by a tap driver, and the tap driver is held or secured within a machine which provides the forward and reverse rotation as well as the forward and reverse drive.
In creating the internally threaded hole, the tap driver is first rotated and driven into the base material or metal to the desired depth. Once the tap reaches the desired depth, the rotation of the tap driver and the tap is reversed and the tap is retracted from the base material. order to create the best internally threaded hole, the tap should be simultaneously advanced and rotated at precisely correlated rates of rotation and forward movement for a given tap pitch. By way of example, a one-quarter-twenty tap should be advanced into the work piece one inch for every twenty revolutions, or 0.05 inch for each revolution. In typical rigid tapping, the driver machines provide the synchronization of the spindle rotation and feed advance to match the tap pitch.
During the creation of a tap hole, the machine spindle goes through several stages, namely driving the rotating tap into the tap hole, slowing the forward drive or feed rate and the rotation until the tap comes to a stop in the work piece, reversing the direction of the rotation and accelerating or increasing the reverse rate of rotation to match the desired tap pitch as the tap is retracted. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that during the changes in rotation speed, the feed advance of the tap must be adjusted or correlated to precisely match the tap pitch. However, in practice it is very difficult to precisely match the rotation, drive and tap pitch and there are small errors that occur in the synchronization of the rotation speed and the feed rate during the deceleration or slowing down phase, and during the reverse rotation acceleration phase.
In machining numerous internally threaded apertures, one machine may be used to drill pilot holes into which the taps are driven, while a different machine may be used for the actual tapping. This may lead to slight positioning errors wherein the tap for instance is not exactly aligned with the pilot hole, but instead may be one or two thousandths of an inch off.
It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that there is a need for a tap driver which has some limited flexure for the location errors associated with locating the tap with respect to the desired tap hole location, and a further need for such a tap driver wherein the tension and/or compression can be pre-set and/or adjusted to suit the application.
It is desirable to be able to pre-adjust the stiffness or softness of the tap holder for larger or for smaller taps, and for softer and harder work piece materials. In the pre-setting of the tension and or compression, it is also desirable to impart forces that result in effecting the tension or compression axial movement of the chuck portion from a lateral direction. This lateral direction may be perpendicular to the axis of the tap holder or any one of a number of angles from the side.
It is also advantageous in synchronized tapping to provide a small amount of tension and compression flow in a way that allows the tap holder to be preset or adjusted to different settings so that the holder is more effective for example for larger or smaller taps, harder or softer work piece materials and other reasons desired in a tapping environment.
It is an object of some embodiments of this invention to provide a tap driver wherein the tension and/or compression can be pre-set and/or adjusted to suit the application, incrementally and infinitely.
It is an object of some embodiments of this invention to provide a tap driver which provides a plurality of incrementally different tensions and compressions on the tap driver spindle and consequently the chuck portion of the tap driver.
It is also an object of some embodiments of this invention to provide said adjustability from a lateral direction to the axis of the tap driver, directly or indirectly through a plurality of components.
Other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will appear from the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. In carrying out the objects of this invention, it is to be understood that its essential features are susceptible to change in design and structural arrangement, with only one practical and preferred embodiment being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, as required.

Self-synchronizing tap driver for rigid/synchronous tapping with adjustable tension and/or compression


Error detection codes implemented in standard network interface circuits are enlisted in obtaining high reliability necessary for safety systems by virtual testing of the network interface circuits using background levels of network errors. The frequency of the testing matches the frequency of the network errors.

The present invention relates to industrial controllers used for real-time control of industrial processes, and in particular to high-reliability industrial controllers appropriate for use in devices intended to protect human life and health.
Industrial controllers are special purpose computers used in controlling industrial processes. Under the direction of a stored control program, an industrial controller examines a series of inputs reflecting the status of the controlled process and changes a series of outputs controlling the industrial process. The inputs and outputs may be binary, that is, on or off, or analog, providing a value within a continuous range. The inputs may be obtained from sensors attached to the controlled equipment and the outputs may be signals to actuators on the controlled equipment.
"Safety systems" are systems intended to ensure the safety of humans working in the environment of an industrial process. Such systems may include, for example, the electronics associated with emergency stop buttons, interlock switches and machine lockouts.
Safety systems were originally implemented by hard-wired safety relays but may now be constructed using a special class of high reliability industrial controllers. "High reliability" refers generally to systems that guard against the propagation of erroneous data or signals to a predetermined high level of probability (defined by Safety Certification Standards) by detecting error or fault conditions and signaling their occurrence and/or entering into a predetermined fault state. High reliability systems may be distinguished from high availability systems, however, the present invention may be useful in both such systems and therefore, as used herein, high reliability should not be considered to exclude high availability systems.
Standard protocols for high-speed serial communication networks normally used in industrial control are not sufficiently reliable for high reliability industrial controllers used for safety systems. For this reason, efforts have been undertaken to develop a "safety network protocol" for high-speed serial communication providing greater certainty in the transmission of data. Such safety network protocols employ a variety of error detecting means to ensure that even small errors may be detected at a very high probability and are described in co-pending application Ser. No. 09/663,824 filed 18 Sep. 2000 entitled "Network Independent Safety Protocol for Industrial Controllers" and Ser. No. 09/667,145 filed 21 Sep. 2000 entitled "Safety Network for Industrial Controllers Allowing Installation on Standard Networks", both assigned to the same assignee as the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference.
A common part of many high-speed serial communication networks is a standard network interface circuit (NIC) that handles the low level protocol of the network. Such NICs may make use of one or more specialized integrated circuits produced at high volumes for low cost.
As part of the network protocol, the NIC may attach a cyclic redundancy code (CRC) to messages transmitted on the network. The CRC is functionally derived from the transmitted message and allows the detection of errors introduced into the message during transmission such as from electromagnetic interference. When the message is received, if the message and attached CRC no longer agree, corruption of the message may be inferred.
Ideally, the CRC used by the standard network interface circuit could be relied on in part to meet Safety Certification Standards. Unfortunately, error detection measures relied on under the most common Safety Certification Standards must be capable of being periodically tested. Common NICs do not allow errors to be injected into network messages and/or CRC's to test the receiving network interface circuits.
Accordingly, either the CRC error detecting circuitry of the standard NIC must be disregarded under the Safety Certification Standards or specialized NICs (that allow error injection) must be used. As a practical matter, these choices increase the cost or decrease the performance of the safety network.

Noninvasive testing of network interface error codes for safety network


A backside illuminated image sensor includes pixel regions disposed in a substrate, a light-blocking pattern disposed on a backside surface of the substrate and having openings corresponding to the pixel regions, a color filter layer disposed on the light-blocking pattern, a micro lens array disposed on the color filter layer, and refraction patterns respectively disposed in the openings to condense light passing through the micro lens array and the color filter layer into the pixel regions.

The present disclosure relates to a backside illuminated image sensor and a method of manufacturing the same.
In general, an image sensor is a semiconductor device that converts an optical image into electrical signals, and may be classified or categorized as a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) or a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Image Sensor (CIS).
The CIS includes unit pixels, each including a photodiode and MOS transistors. The CIS sequentially detects the electrical signals of the unit pixels using a switching method, thereby forming an image. The CIS may be classified as either a frontside illuminated image sensor or a backside illuminated image sensor.
The frontside illuminated image sensor may include photodiodes formed in a substrate, transistors formed on a frontside surface of the substrate, wiring layers formed on the frontside surface of the substrate, and a color filter layer and micro lens array formed on the wiring layers.
Meanwhile, the backside illuminated image sensor may have an improved light-receiving efficiency in comparison with the frontside illuminated image sensor. The backside illuminated image sensor may include transistors and wiring layers formed on a frontside surface of a substrate, a light-blocking pattern and an anti-reflective layer formed on a backside surface of the substrate, a passivation layer formed on the light-blocking pattern and the anti-reflective layer, and a color filter layer and a micro lens array formed on the passivation layer.
The light-blocking pattern may be made of tungsten and may be formed by forming a tungsten layer on the anti-reflective layer and patterning the tungsten layer to have openings corresponding to pixel regions of the backside illuminated image sensor. The light-blocking pattern may be used to improve the crosstalk of the backside illuminated image sensor. However, the light condensing efficiency of the backside illuminated image sensor may be reduced by the light-blocking pattern.

Backside illuminated image sensor and method of manufacturing the same


Compositions and methods are provided for enriching mitochondrial DNA and optionally chloroplast DNA from eukaryotic cells in a simple rapid method that provides greater than 100 fold enrichment. Affinity protein-coated substrate in a buffer is used to efficiently bind chromosomal DNA and thereby remove it from the buffer. Mitochondrial sequencing reads reveal that non-biased sequence selection providing representation of a substantial proportion of mitochondrial DNA in the eukaryotic cells analyzed.

Viruses, bacterial, yeast and eukaryotic multicellular organisms may coexist in complex associations in nature. An example of this type of association is that of microbiomes, which inhabit mammalian hosts. Rapid DNA sequencing techniques have been used to investigate microbiomes. The accuracy of the species identification has been adversely affected by uncertainty concerning the presence and amount of mammalian genomic DNA in the samples that affect the signal to noise ratio. This is particularly problematic in those situations where the DNA of interest is present in very small amounts amidst a high background of host genomic material.
Zhigang Wu, et al. (Lab Chip, 9:1193-1199 (2009)) developed a microfluidic device to physically separate bacterial cells from human blood cells based on soft inertial force-induced migration using flow-defined, curved and focused sample flow inside a microfluidic device resulting in 300-fold enrichment of bacteria. This type of cell separation can only reduce background contamination of the DNA between two types of cells if the cells are viable.
Another method used to isolate DNA from sepsis-causative bacteria in blood relies on the selective lysis of human-nucleated cells using a chaotropic reagent (MolYsis, Molzym GmbH, Bremen, Germany). This method also relies on viable cells. A salt-resistant DNase was used to degrade human DNA from lyzed cells, while intact bacterial cells were unaffected by DNAse. The DNAse was then inactivated and the bacterial DNA extracted and purified for analysis. The technique reduces the total human DNA concentration in the sample by 99.5%. However, total bacterial DNA recovery was low at only 30% of the expected total (Horz, et al., Anaerobe 16:47-53 (2010)).
At present, there is no satisfactory method for enriching target DNA from an environmental sample, which contains a mixture of DNAs under conditions in which loss of target DNA is minimized and viable cells as a source of DNA are not a requirement.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and compositions for enriching either target polynucleotides or non-target polynucleotides from a mixture of target and non-target polynucleotides


In a comparator, diodes are disposed between differential pair transistors and current mirror pair transistors forming active loads. The diodes may be disposed between the differential pair transistors and the current mirror pair transistors or between the current mirror pair transistors and a ground line. In addition, diodes are disposed between signal input transistors and the ground line and between the differential pair transistors and the signal input transistors, respectively.

Many electronic control Units (ECUs) are mounted in a vehicle and connected to a communication network. The ECUs perform communication with each other to obtain necessary information, and perform control of respective actuators. As the communication between those ECUs, an in-vehicle local area network (LAN) is used. In a portion requiring high speed communication (˜1 Mbps) in a control system of a vehicle, a controller area network (CAN) is often used as a communication protocol. In a body system portion not requiring high speed communication, a local interconnect network (LIN) is becoming a standard.
With respect to circuit elements forming the ECU for communication, the following problem arises. In a state where many ECUs are connected to a bus for communication, in one or some of them, there can occur such a failure as ground disconnection. This disconnection is that the connection between a circuit ground and a ground as a potential reference is shut-off. In this case, the circuit ground of the ECU, which is brought into an open state by the GND disconnection, may rise to the same potential as the power source voltage.
When such a state occurs, current may flow in reverse from the circuit ground of the ECU to the bus for communication. In the ECU for communication and in a receiver circuit as a part to receive a signal transmitted through the bus, a comparator is used to compare a voltage level of a received input signal with a reference voltage level to convert it into two values of high and low. The comparator is constructed by using a differential amplifier circuit.
When the "GND disconnection" occurs, the current flows in reverse from the circuit ground side of the comparator to the input terminal side. Thus, it becomes impossible to perform a normal comparison operation, and in the worst case, the communication of the network is likely to be blocked.


In a watermark processing system, a watermark detector detects first information represented by a watermark from an image, a watermark encoder decodes and error-corrects the first information and re-encodes it to second information, and a watermark eraser identifies the position of the tint-block pattern included in the watermark according to the second information and produces a watermark-erased image from which the watermark is erased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for processing an image, and, in particular, to an image processor that converts information embedded in a print medium in an unreadable format to an electronic form and erases and updates the information embedded in the unreadable format, and also to an image processing method for reading, erasing and updating information embedded in an unreadable format.
2. Description of the Background Art
One of the recent social problems is a number of information-leakage incidents having occurred from, for example, printed documents. In particular, the information-leakage incidents from printed documents are described in "2004 Investigative Report on Information Security Incidents", Japan Network Security Association (JNSA), January 2006. The report, which is herein referenced merely as a document teaching the background art, says that such incidents occupy about as much as 46% of the entire information-leakage incidents. Immediate measures are required.
As measures against information leakage from printed materials, printed materials may be provided with a function of identifying the routing path of the printed materials, thereby facilitating diagnosis of information leakage. This can effectively exert suppression of information leakage. That function includes, for example, a process of embedding in an unreadable format information on a person and a place concerned with printing the printed materials. In order to identify the leakage path, it is preferable to be able to derive, from the printed materials, information on all people and places concerned with the distribution of the printed materials. Technology to embed into printed materials in an unreadable format information on a historical record obtained on a routing path of a printed material till it is actually printed is disclosed by, for example, JP Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-286963, US Patent Application Publication No. US2003/0021442A1 to Suzaki, and JP Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-269551.
JP 2005-286963 discloses a scheme in which a plurality of small dots are arranged to record information. The small dots include an area-prescribing dot which prescribes a unit area that represents information, and an information dot which represents information using a relative position in the unit area prescribed by the area-prescribing dot, thus being arranged to embed information. Information is read out by detecting an area-prescribing dot to know a unit area, recognizing the position of the information dot in the unit area, and determining the relative position of the information dot from the unit area.
Suzaki and JP 2005-269551 disclose a scheme in which a dot pattern, referred to as a signal pattern, is provided in which dots are arranged with the propagation direction and wavelength of waves changed so that each signal pattern is provided with one or more symbols and the signal patterns are combined and arranged to thereby embed information. Information is read out by detecting a signal pattern wave using a Gabor filter to identify a symbol, and decoding information from the resulting symbol using an error correction code and a determination on majority rule.
In any of the above schemes, the patterns including dots carrying information have different shapes depending on the embedded information, although the patterns are averagely almost uniform in concentration distribution. That causes information, when embedded even in the entire background of a document image, to be visually inconspicuous, thus not significantly affecting the readability of the original document image. The dots of a tint-block may be changed in diameter and density so as to vary the concentration without affecting the embedded information, thereby sometimes intentionally drawing a picture and a letter on the tint-block.
With reference to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C of the accompanying drawings, Suzaki and JP 2005-269551 disclose signal patterns specific thereto. FIG. 1A shows an example of signal pattern recording binary information "1". FIG. 1B shows an example of signal pattern recording binary information "0". FIG. 1C shows an example of pattern that is formed when the embedded information is three rows by four columns, corresponding to 12 bits.
Such signal patterns are repeatedly subject to error correction encoding and information processing before being embedded in order to avoid failure in reading out information caused by a corrugation or a stain of printed materials or copying, aging or cutting out printed materials. FIG. 2 schematically shows an example where 256-bit information is embedded.
With reference to FIG. 2, 256-bit information 500 is divided into four sets of 64-bit information 502, 504, 506, and 508. Each of the sets of 64-bit information is added with 4 bits of index information 510 different from each other and 12 bits of page information 512 common to each other for identifying a page to thereby produce four sets of 80-bit information 514. The index information 510 may be represented by, for example, '0000', '0001', '0010', or '0100'.
Each 80-bit information is encoded to an error correction BCH (144, 80) code (Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem) 516, which is 8-bit correctable and has its code length of 144 bits. The encoded information is represented by blocks 518, 520, 522 and 524, each of which is formed by 12 rows by 12 columns consisting of 144 bits and contains information different from each other. When a signal pattern for recording information has a size of 18 rows of 18 pixels, one block containing 144-bit information has its size of 216 rows of 216 pixels.
When information is embedded in an A4 size sheet, for example, an A4 sized image of 300 dpi (dots per inch) has 2500 rows of 3500 pixels. The A4 sized sheet thus has 11 sets of 16 blocks, corresponding to 176 blocks, arranged thereon. With reference to FIG. 3, 256-bit information is embedded in four types of information blocks A, B, C and D, each of which are repetitive 44 times (176/4=44).
In order to read out the 256-bit information thus embedded in the A4 sheet in the ideal condition where it is not necessary to consider the letters, printing distortion, scanning distortion and stain on the document, it is sufficient to readout the information from the area corresponding to four of the blocks on the sheet.
Unfortunately, in the above methods, it is hard to fetch information on the historical record of, for example, the copy operator who copied the documents and the equipment and places on most of the routing paths. In order to have the information during the copying held in the printed materials as a historical record, it is required to update the embedded information during the copying by the copier. In the technologies disclosed by JP 2005-286963, Suzaki and JP 2005-269551, information is represented by visible dots, which are apt to be easily duplicated and the information embedded in an unreadable format is hard to update. Because, when the updated information is embedded in a copy, the dots holding the original information become an obstacle to forming a pattern representing the correct information on the print material.
In addition, copying slightly degrades a watermark pattern. It is thus hard to avoid the degradation through repeated copying. Furthermore, when printed materials are duplicated as magnified or reduced, watermarks are significantly degraded. In practice, therefore, the magnification/reduction during copying may be inhibited or the number of copies for enabling information to be read may be limited by the performance.
A technology is thus required by which a signal pattern printed in a printed document in an unreadable format may, when scanned, be erased from the scanned image and renewed information may be embedded thereinto.

Processor and method for processing image to update information embedded unreadably in a printed document


A financial analysis program includes an object oriented architecture having a number of abstract classes associated with performing financial calculations. The abstract classes include an instruments class that defines a number of financial instruments in a hierarchical manner. The abstract classes also include a models class that defines a number of objects or functions used to perform financial calculations. The program also includes an interface to allow a user to pass instrument parameters to the objects or functions and execute the object or function using the instrument parameters.

Financial data is often analyzed to gain information of interest. For example, assets in a portfolio are often analyzed to minimize risk in the portfolio and optimize return. As another example, pricing a bond may involve complex data analysis that takes into consideration a number of factors (e.g., yield, maturity date, risk, etc.) associated with the bond. Financial analysis programs are often used to perform these tasks. However, such financial programs are often inefficient and suffer from interoperability issues between various tools or functions.
For example, considerable data input is often required in order for a user to perform a particular function that may be repeated many times. Such data input is typically time consuming and inefficient. In addition, each particular function may have a different input mechanism associated with performing the desired calculation. This may make it difficult for the user to interact with the program to perform multiple calculations. Still further, different tools or functions within a program often perform similar processing with respect to analyzing financial data. However, due to interoperability issues, one tool or function cannot typically use a structure or function associated with another tool/function.


A desk top cleaner for cleaning dust from the top of a table includes a crankshaft rotatably supported in a frame. A broom is formed with an elongated slot to engage with the crankshaft and has its upper end portion fitted in a supporting portion formed in the frame and its lower end portion equipped with a brush. A drive mechanism is provided for transmitting a rotating force from a drive source to the crankshaft. A dust case for accommodating the dust swept by the broom is included in the frame.

The present invention relates to a desk top cleaner for cleaning fine dust from the top of a desk or table.
In the prior art, a cleaner of this kind is exemplified by both a cleaner for adhering dust of an eraser or the like to an adhesive layer, which is formed on the outer circumference of a roller, and-cleaning it off by rotating the roller while pushing it onto the cleaning surface, and a battery type cleaner for sucking the eraser dust by using a fan actuated by a motor.
The cleaner for cleaning the dust by pushing the roller onto the cleaning surface has problems that the adhesion of the adhesive layer of the roller will drop to fail to catch the dust after use for a while and that it cannot intrinsically catch dust of large size.
On the other hand, the cleaner using the motor for sucking the dust has a problem in its high price.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a desk top cleaner inexpensively with a simple structure.
A second embodiment of the present invention is to provide a desk top cleaner which is enabled to give the user a pleasant atmosphere by the rhythmical motions of its broom.
In order to achieve the above-specified object, the desk top cleaner of the present invention provides that a crank shaft is rotatably supported in a frame; that a broom is formed with an elongated slot to engage with the crank shaft and has its upper end portion fitted in a supporting portion formed in the frame and its lower end portion is equipped with a brush; that there is provided a power transmission mechanism for transmitting a rotating force from a drive source to the crank shaft; and that a dust case for accommodating the dust swept by the broom is formed in the frame.
A plurality of brooms may be arranged in parallel with the extending direction of the crank shaft.
The drive source may be at least one wheel attached rotatably to the frame.
The power transmission mechanism is equipped with clutch means for transmitting the one-way rotation of the wheel only.
The power transmission mechanism has its rotation transmission ratio set such that the distance, by which the frame is moved forward by the angle of rotation of the wheels required for the broom to move from a cleaning start position to clear the cleaning surface and to reach the cleaning start position again, is smaller than the cleaning distance of the broom.
The elongated slot of the broom is formed at one portion with a smaller cut portion than the diameter of the crank shaft, and at least one of the members divided from the cut portion is an elastic part, the end portion being formed at the side of the cut portion with a tapered surface.
The broom is equipped at its upper end portion with an engaging portion for regulating the protruding, length of the broom from the lower face of the frame.
The dust case is so supported as to rock freely with respect to the frame while having its rocking range restricted by the engaging portion and is equipped with bias means for pushing the dust entrance at its front end portion into contact with the cleaning surface, and the bias means is either a resilient portion formed integrally with one of the frame and the dust case of a moment by the force of gravity around the rocking center of the dust case.
The dust case may be formed integrally with a resilient portion to come into resilient contact with the cleaning surface.
The broom may be equipped with a weight.
The crank shaft may be capable of having its lower end face pushing the lower end portion of the broom.
One of the lower end portion of the broom or the lower end face of the crank shaft is formed integrally with a resilient portion for urging the broom resiliently downward.
The frame is equipped with a selecting member for regulating the size of dust to be swept in.
A plurality of wheels may be rotatably attached to the frame, and a belt may be made to run on the wheels. The power transmission mechanism may be interposed between one of the wheels and the crank shaft.
The drive source may be not only the wheels but also a drive motor mounted in the frame.
If the cleaner thus constructed is moved forward while being pushed onto the cleaning surface, the rotation of the wheel is transmitted to rotate the crank shaft so that the broom is rocked to sweep the dust on the desk top into the dust case.
In case the cleaner is backed, the clutch means terminates the rotation transmission from the wheel to the crank shaft so that the broom is not moved and the dust is not swept back onto the cleaning surface.
Since the rotation transmission ratio is set at the above-specified value, the desk top is not left unswept.
Since the crank shaft is inserted from the cut portion into the elongated slot of the broom, the assembly is facilitated, and unnecessary upward motions of the broom are eliminated.
Since the broom is formed with the engaging portion, it does not protrude downward, if unnecessary, even if the cleaner body is lifted up, to avoid the disadvantages that the broom cannot be rocked or is damaged.
Since the brush at the lower end portion of the broom and the dust entrance of the dust case are pushed to contact the cleaning surface, the dust swept by the broom is smoothly carried into the dust case.
The dust of a size to be carried in is selected by the selecting member so that oversize dust is prevented from invading into the cleaner.
If the belt is made to run on plural belts, the power generated by the advance of the cleaner is transmitted without fail to the crank shaft.


A rotor unit for a centrifugal separator, which centrifugal separator comprises a non-rotatable housing wherein the rotor unit is disposed about a central axis of rotation, an inlet for supply of a mixture of components to be separated, at least one outlet for a component separated during operation, whereby the rotor unit, at least parts of which are made of metal, comprises a separating chamber formed inside the rotor unit, an inlet chamber connected to the inlet and the separating chamber, is formed radially within said separating chamber and is usually shielded from the separating chamber, at least one outlet connected to the separating chamber, a plurality of separating discs disposed at a distance axially from one another in said separating chamber coaxially with the axis of rotation, at least a number of the metal parts of said rotor unit are undetachably joined together to form a composite assembly.

An example of a centrifugal separator is referred to in WO 90/04460. In that centrifugal separator, the inlet chamber is shielded from separating chamber by a dividing wall in the form of seal means which are disposed in recesses in the separating discs or are integrated with the respective separating discs if the separating discs and the seal means are made of plastic. In addition to having to cater to a large number of separating discs, the seal means disposed in recesses in the separating discs entail problems in catering to many more parts which will, if the seal means are for example made of a rubber material, be liable to wear and have to be replaced at regular intervals. Seal means integrated with the respective separating discs and made of plastic involve limitations with regard to the strength of the separating discs. The material characteristics of the discs and seals also limit the applications for which the centrifugal separator can be used.
A common way of holding rotor parts of the kind indicated above together is to cause them to be in engagement with one another by means of threaded connections as referred to in WO 90/04460. The separating discs are held securely in place by rods and are compressed by a compression tool to increase the rigidity of the fitted separating discs. Compression of the separating discs presses them together so much as to affect their symmetry and mutual positioning, thus possibly causing imbalance which might be critical when the rotor rotates.

Rotor unit for a centrifugal separator having undetachably joined separating discs


Structures and methods for write once read only memory employing floating gates are provided. The write once read only memory cell includes a floating gate transistor formed in a modified dynamic random access memory (DRAM) fabrication process. The floating gate transistor has a first source/drain region, a second source/drain region, a channel region between the first and the second source/drain regions, a floating gate separated from the channel region by a gate insulator, and a control gate separated from the floating gate by a gate dielectric. A plug couples the first source/drain region to an array plate. A bitline is coupled to the second source/drain region. The floating gate transistor can be programmed by trapping charge on the floating gate.

Many electronic products need various amounts of memory to store information, e.g. data. One common type of high speed, low cost memory includes dynamic random access memory (DRAM) comprised of individual DRAM cells arranged in arrays. DRAM cells include an access transistor, e.g a metal oxide semiconducting field effect transistor (MOSFET), coupled to a capacitor cell. Another type of high speed, low cost memory includes floating gate memory cells. A conventional horizontal floating gate transistor structure includes a source region and a drain region separated by a channel region in a horizontal substrate. A floating gate is separated by a thin tunnel gate oxide. The structure is programmed by storing a charge on the floating gate. A control gate is separated from the floating gate by an intergate dielectric. A charge stored on the floating gate effects the conductivity of the cell when a read voltage potential is applied to the control gate. The state of cell can thus be determined by sensing a change in the device conductivity between the programmed and un-programmed states.
With successive generations of DRAM chips, an emphasis continues to be placed on increasing array density and maximizing chip real estate while minimizing the cost of manufacture. It is further desirable to increase array density with little or no modification of the DRAM optimized process flow.
A requirement exists for memory devices which need only be programmed once, as for instance to function as an electronic film in a camera. If the memory arrays have a very high density then they can store a large number of very high resolution images in a digital camera. If the memory is inexpensive then it can for instance replace the light sensitive films which are used to store images in conventional cameras.
Thus, there is a need for improved DRAM technology compatible write once read only memory. It is desirable that such write once read only memory be fabricated on a DRAM chip with little or no modification of the DRAM process flow. It is further desirable that such write once read only memory operate with lower programming voltages than that used by conventional DRAM cells, yet still hold sufficient charge to withstand the effects of parasitic capacitances and noise due to circuit operation.

Write once read only memory employing floating gates


Methods and systems of processing print jobs are disclosed. A feasible route for processing each of a plurality of jobs is determined. For each feasible route, the time to process the job via the feasible route is determined. Each job is assigned to a first feasible route. A first objective function value is determined using a time to process each job assigned to each autonomous cell. A job is selected. A second feasible route is selected for the selected job. A second objective function value is determined by substituting the second feasible route for the first feasible route for the selected job. If the first value plus a threshold exceeds the second value, the second value replaces the first value, and the second feasible route replaces the first feasible route. Selection and substitution are repeated for each job. The jobs are then processed.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to printing systems and methods, and especially methods ad systems for improving the performance of workflow in a production environment, such as a document production environment or printing environment. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for improving the routing of jobs, such as print jobs, in a production environment.
2. Background
Document production environments, such as print shops, convert printing orders, such as print jobs, into finished printed material. A print shop m-ay process print jobs using resources, such as printers cutters, collators and other similar equipment. Typically resources in print shops are organized such that when a print job arrives from a customer at a particular print shop, the print job can be processed by performing one or more production functions.
Scheduling architectures that organize print jobs received by a document production environment and route the print jobs are known in the art. Exemplary scheduling architectures are described in, for example. U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,328 to Rai et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,065,567 to Squires et al. The exemplary architectures receive print jobs and route the print jobs to autonomous cells. Autonomous cells typically include one or more resources needed to completely process an entire job.
The exemplary scheduling architectures appropriately route print jobs in many cases. However, in some cases, the allocation of print jobs using such algorithms can be unbalanced among autonomous cells. If print job allocation is unbalanced among autonomous cells, the overall efficiency of the document production environment could be reduced. This could manifest itself by having, more print jobs complete late, having late jobs complete later than otherwise necessary, and/or underutilizing particular resources.

Job allocation method for document production


The material or fragment discharge is controlled by means of a device (4) in connection to the triggering, such as by means of an initiation charge (5), of the main charge (3) in the ammunition unit (1). The liner is devised as being exposable for effect from the explosive charge or charges (6) that are devised as being able to be initiated upon or shortly prior to the triggering of the main charge. The explosive charge achieves, upon initiation a pre-deformation of the liner (4) prior to the liner being affected by the triggering of the main charge for the material or fragment discharge The fragment forms can be rendered more effective in relation to design solution known by prior art by means of the choice explosive charge form and placement.

There are, by prior art, known manners of devising ammunition units/projectiles to accomplish different combat situations, e.g., in a first case to effect a Shaped Charge Warhead (SCW) function against hard targets and in a second case to effect fragmentation function against soft targets. It is also known by prior art to propose the use of a deformed primary liner or secondary liner with a unit equipped with a main charge that achieves Shaped Charged Warhead (SCW) effect. The liner is made with pre-deformed shape and shall facilitate the design of a penetration projectile for hard objects in relation to the use of the ammunition unit. Prior art entails reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,667.

Device for control of fragment discharge from main charge liners


A toner replenishing apparatus is provided. The toner replenishing apparatus includes a toner replenishing container for replenishing toner stored therein to a developing section by a rotation of the container itself, a toner scraping member provided to be movable without being fixed in the toner replenishing container and to rub against an inner wall surface of the container, including a plurality of magnetic bodies arranged in a predetermined direction and a support section that extends in an arranging direction of the magnetic bodies and supports an one end portion of each of the magnetic bodies, and a magnet for attracting the magnetic bodies with a magnetic force, disposed along an outer peripheral surface of the toner replenishing container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner replenishing apparatus for replenishing toner to a developing section for developing an electrostatic image on a surface of a photoreceptor with the toner, and an image forming apparatus including the toner replenishing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a toner replenishment method in an image forming apparatus in which an electrostatic image on a surface of a photoreceptor is developed with toner to form an image on a recording medium, a toner replenishing container is firstly filled with the toner. Then, the toner filled in the toner replenishing container is replenished to a toner hopper and is supplied from the toner hopper to the electrostatic image on the surface of the photoreceptor. In the case of such an image forming apparatus, when a user thereof tills the toner replenishing container with the toner, there is a problem that a toner filling work tends to be troublesome since the toner sometimes adheres to a user's hand to soil it, and so on.
In order to solve such a problem, recently, a method has become a mainstream, in which method, when the toner to be supplied to the electrostatic image on the surface of the photoreceptor becomes insufficient, it is determined that the toner in the toner replenishing container is exhausted and the toner replenishing container itself is replaced with a new one, but in such a toner replenishing container, sometimes, the toner particles are aggregated to one another and get solidified due to the weight of the toner itself, resulting in that the toner may not be able to be replenished smoothly to the toner hopper and thus, there is a problem that it is impossible to completely use the toner in the toner replenishing container.
In order to prevent the toner particles in such a toner replenishing container from being aggregated to one another, a rotary toner replenishing container is practically in use, in which, with the toner replenishing container itself rotating, the toner is guided and transported by a spiral projection formed on an inner surface of the toner replenishing container and then replenished to the toner hopper. Such a rotary toner replenishing container is able to suppress aggregation of the toner in the toner replenishing container with the simple structure. However, the rotary toner replenishing container has a problem that the toner in the toner replenishing container adheres to the inner wall of the toner replenishing container and remains undischarged from the toner replenishing container.
For coping with such a problem, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2000-147887 discloses a rotary toner replenishing container provided with a spiral scraping member that rotates along an inner wall of the rotary toner replenishing container to scrape off toner adhering to the inner wall.
However, in the toner replenishing container disclosed in JP-A 2000-147887, when there remains a large quantity of toner in the toner replenishing container, frictional resistance between the spiral scraping member and the toner is so large that a drive torque required for rotating the toner replenishing container is also large, thereby a problem is posed that wear of driving components for the toner replenishing container and the scraping member itself are rapidly progressed.

Toner replenishing apparatus and image forming apparatus


An electrical plug includes a first portion and a second portion that is matable with the first portion. The second portion has a channel for receiving a wire. The first portion includes at least one prong having a bifurcated contact. The bifurcated contact can pierce an insulation of the wire in the channel and can make contact with at least one conductor of the wire when the first portion is mated with the second portion. The bifurcated contacts are displaced longitudinally from one another along the length of the channel.

A plug can be used for mating with a receptacle to transfer electrical power between two or more electrical components. Appliances for home and commercial use can have one or more wires that extend from the appliance and terminate in a plug at the opposite end of the wire. The plug can have conductive external blades that can be configured to seat into a receptacle outlet that can supply electrical power to the blades and then to the appliance through the wires. The wires may enter the plug either parallel to or at an angle to the blades. The wires may be electrically connected to the blades inside the plug in a variety of methods. One method of connection is by screw terminals where the wire can be positioned under a screw electrically connected to the blade and driving the screw with a screw driver. Soldering is another method of connection in which the wire is placed in electrical contact with the blade and a heating tool melts solder onto the connection. A mechanical connection between the wire and the blade can be made by, for example, by crimping a conductive sleeve with a crimping tool around both the conductor and a blade contact. Insulation displacement connection (IDC) is another way to make electrical contact between the wire and the blade. In an IDC, each blade is electrically connected to a piercing prong that pierces an insulation jacket surrounding a center conductor of each wire and electrically contacts the center conductor.


Embodiments of the present description include methods for attaching a microelectronic device to a microelectronic substrate with interconnection structures after disposing of an underfill material on the microelectronic device, wherein filler particless within the underfill material may be repelled away from the interconnection structures prior to connecting the microelectronic device to the microelectronic structure. These methods may include inducing a charge on the interconnection structures and may include placing the interconnection structures between opposing plates and producing a bias between the opposing plates after depositing the underfill material on the interconnection structures.

The microelectronic industry is continually striving to produce ever faster and smaller microelectronic devices for use in various mobile electronic products, such as portable computers, electronic tablets, cellular phones, digital cameras, and the like. As these goals are achieved, packaging of the microelectronic devices becomes more challenging. A typical microelectronic package includes at least one microelectronic device that is mounted on a microelectronic substrate such that bond pads, or other such electrical attachment structure, on the microelectronic device are attached directly to corresponding bond lands, or other such electrical attachment structure, on the microelectronic substrate with interconnection structures. To enhance the reliability of the connection between the microelectronic device bond pads and the substrate bond lands, an underfill material may be deposed between the microelectronic device and the microelectronic substrate for mechanical reinforcement. Underfill materials are generally low viscosity materials, such as low viscosity epoxy materials, which may be dispensed from a dispensing needle along at least one edge of the microelectronic device. The underfill material is drawn between the microelectronic device and the microelectronic substrate by capillary action, and the underfill material is subsequently cured (hardened). However, the reduction in the size of the gap between the microelectronic device and the microelectronic substrate, the reduction of the interconnection structure pitch, and the constraints with regard to keep-out zones make standard underfilling techniques challenging. Thus, the industry is moving toward wafer level attachment techniques, wherein the underfill material is disposed on an active surface of the microelectronic device to cover the interconnection structures. The interconnection structures are then brought into contact with the microelectronic substrate bond lands during the attachment process, thereby "pushing" the underfill material out of the way. However, such underfill materials are generally comprised of a resin material with filler particles dispersed therein. The filler particles are used to lower the coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch between the underfill material and the microelectronic device and/or the microelectronic substrate. During the attachment process, filler particles may get trapped between the microelectronic device interconnection structures and the microelectronic substrate bond lands, which may result in the reliability issues and/or reduce the current carrying capacity of the connection, as will be understood to those skilled in the art. Therefore, there is an ongoing effort to develop ever more effective techniques to dispose an underfill material between a microelectronic device and the microelectronic substrate.

Methods to prevent filler entrapment in microelectronic device to microelectronic substrate interconnection structures


The present subject matter discloses processing documents for printing. In an example implementation, a print preview of a plurality of documents to be printed by an image forming system is generated. The plurality of documents is assigning to at least one print job bucket. Each print job bucket is indicative of a print job for documents assigned to a respective print job bucket. A set of print job attributes is assigned to each print job bucket. The set of print job attributes is indicative of print settings for printing documents associated with a respective print job bucket.

Image forming systems, such as ink-jet printers, photocopiers, laser printers, and multi-function printers may have scanning and printing capabilities. Some documents, such as photographs, pages of books, certificates, identification cards, or the like, may be scanned and then printed in order to reproduce them. Documents to be scanned and printed may be of different sizes, may have varying margin requirements, and may include different contents.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Light scatter control is provided in rear projection and front projection of light images focused upon a screen having a liquid crystal droplet film, and modulated light gain control of single and multi panel screens is provided, without size restriction, maximizing light transmission and reflection, for brilliant high resolution viewing of cinema and video regardless of high degree of ambient light. Panels of liquid crystal film lamina and associated laminates are joined by imperceptible optical splicing.

This invention relates to viewing screens upon or through which images are projected, it being a general object of this invention to efficiently control and maximize light emission or xe2x80x9cgainxe2x80x9d, especially from large screen areas. More particularly, it is an object here to provide a variable gain viewing screen for either rear or front projection, and a screen that can be implemented without restriction to size and shape.
The basic prior art projection screen is a planar matte or flat-white surface onto which an image is projected with white light, and which requires a darkened area, room or auditorium, whereby the dark parts of the image are formed by the absence of light. And, the darker the room, the greater is the contrast. Since total darkness is difficult to obtain, particularly in theaters, the famous xe2x80x9csilver screenxe2x80x9d of Hollywood""s heyday was devised in order to increase reflective xe2x80x9cgainxe2x80x9d, which increased light emission and contrast from the screen, thereby producing better black. However, as the ambient light increases in the theater, the screen image washes out.
The white or silver screen was then improved by adding minute glass beads to the reflective surface of the screen, which improved gain or light reflection efficiency by two to ten times that of a matte or flat-white screen. But unfortunately, the glass beads give the reflected image a xe2x80x9cgrainyxe2x80x9d soft focus effect, the adhesive used to hold the beads oxidizes and yellows the screen, and the beads fall off of the screen, whereupon the gain deteriorates and the screen becomes more and more dependent upon room darkness.
An improvement over the xe2x80x9csilver screenxe2x80x9d is the xe2x80x9clenticular screenxe2x80x9d having a vertically disposed corrugated reflective surface for the purpose of horizontally expanding the reflected xe2x80x9ccone of lightxe2x80x9d, and silvered so as to improve image contrast when ambient light increases. The xe2x80x9cgainxe2x80x9d of lenticular screens is approximately two to four times that of a matte or flat-white screen. The lenticular screen produces a fairly good image even in a room with ambient light sufficient to wash out the image from a white or beaded screen, in spite of its lower gain factor which requires a higher wattage projector. However, the lenticular screen has several defects in addition to the requirement of higher projection wattage, there being visible vertical lines coextensive of the screen reducing image sharpness, and that the screen must be maintained substantially flat and cannot be overly bent and/or successfully rolled.
State of the art full color image projection recognizes that a flat white surface produces the sharpest image (definition), that a highly reflective surface efficiently returns reflected light (contrast), that a beaded effect expands the cone of reflected light (displaced observation), and that a lenticular effect expands the cone of reflected light in the horizontal plane for viewing from side to side of the theater but not so in the vertical plane (efficiency). Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to increase and control screen light emission or xe2x80x9cgainxe2x80x9d, to maximize focus as well as contrast for image and color definition and brightness, to provide a wide xe2x80x9ccone effectxe2x80x9d for horizontal as well as vertical displacement of observation, and to thereby obviate the deficiencies of prior art screens.
An object of this invention is to provide a basic high-gain viewing screen for image projection characterized by a thin film containing liquid crystal material having a light scattering function and applied as a layer on or encapsulated in a planar substrate of transparent material onto which a light image is focused and diffused therefrom in wide angled cones for front viewing rear image projection.
Another object of this invention is to provide a controllable high-gain screen for image projection characterized by a thin film containing liquid crystal material having a light scattering function in an electrically unenergized state so as to be opaque or translucent, and by a light transmitting function in an electrically energized state so as to be more or less translucent and/or transparent, and applied as a layer on or encapsulated in a planar substrate of transparent material onto which a light image is focused and diffused therethrough to emanate in wide angled cones for viewing rear image projection. In practice, xe2x80x9cmicro encapsulatedxe2x80x9d liquid crystal is employed, made as by encapsulating liquid crystal droplets within a thin polymer to form cells which are then introduced into a matrix having light scattering properties similar to Polymer Dispersal Liquid Crystal (PDLC) which is responsive to electric fields, or Encapsulated (ENCAP).
An object of this invention is to provide a basic high-gain front viewing screen for image projection and characterized by a thin film of liquid crystal material having a light scattering function and applied as a layer on or encapsulated in a planar substrate of transparent material onto which a light image is focused and refracted through a front side thereof, there being a light reflective surface contiguous to a back side of said substrate for forward reflection of the image diffused through and from the substrate in wide angled cones for front viewing of the projected image.
Another object of this invention is to provide a controllable high-gain front viewing screen for image projection and characterized by a thin film containing liquid crystal material having a light scattering function in an electrically unenergized state so as to be opaque or translucent, and by a light transmitting function in an electrically energized state so as to be more or less translucent and/or transparent, and applied as a layer on or encapsulated in a planar substrate of transparent material onto which a light image is focused and refracted through a front side thereof, there being a light reflective surface contiguous to a back side of said substrate for forward reflection of the image diffused by diffraction through and from the substrate in widened angles for front viewing. In practice, a PDLC material is employed and by means of its nematic director has light scattering properties responsive to electrical potential for controlling orientational order and diffusion by diffraction of light therethrough in widened angles for front viewing the projected image.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a high-gain Liquid Crystal Screen hereinafter referred to as an xe2x80x9cLCSxe2x80x9d, an image viewing screen characterized by a laminaform structure, preferably comprised of a polymer substrate including functional laminations/that implement the basic structure herein disclosed, and including the Liquid Crystal Screen (LCS) coating or lamina, transparent protective coatings or lamina, transparent electrically conductive coatings or lamina, reflective coatings or lamina, and adhesive coatings or lamina, all as may be required and as hereinafter described.
An object of this invention is to provide a unique projection screen material for use in both front and rear image projection, with high-gain image viewing, and controlled light scattering and contrast properties adjusted by film thickness, droplet size, and/or electrically to optimize viewing under ambient light conditions. In practice, the screen is a liquid crustal encapsulated in a clear substrate.
An object of this invention is to overcome the present size limitations that restrict construction of high-gain screens in theaters, by splicing and optically coupling sheet-screen segments into larger sized screens devoid of visible segment joinder, at normal viewing distances.
An object of this invention is to accomodate a plurality of image projectors electronic, video or film projectors, for projecting high resolution images on or through enlarged screens, for example large elongated theater screens. In carrying out this invention, the Liquid Crystal Screen (LCS) is segmentally zoned and each is electronically addressed to adjust light gain levels that correct the brightness factors of overlapping image projection. In practice, multiple projectors for optically composite imagry are arranged at perspective angles and with variable intensity light projection for creating screening that has and all of which is optically blended by electronic control.
An object of this invention is the provision of special effects capability, as by the reflection or transmission of secondary imagry with laser light fired through or reflected from the screen, dependent upon its embodiment as a rear or front projection screen, thereby creating special effects that are added to the primary image projection.
Heretofore, liquid crystals have been addressed electrically in order to form images and switchable light panels (windows). A common example is the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) with its seven segment characters for presenting numerals 1-0. The LCD is characterized by liquid crystal cells layered between transparent electrode laminae, and all of which is laminated between top and bottom transparent plates. And an additional reflective lamina is used only if the LCD is to be used in the reflective mode. Characteristically, the imagry or display is generated within the laminate structure and not imposed thereon from an external source. The principle of such panels is to obscure light by preventing transmission therethrough, and reversely to clear the panel. Previous attempts in projecting light through or reflecting from liquid crystal screens have been unsuccessful because of a xe2x80x9chot spotxe2x80x9d on the projection axis of the screen. This invention corrects this by adjusting light scatter with the selection of liquid crystal material and the film thickness thereof.
This Liquid Crystal Screen (LCS) is embodied in either a rear or a front projection configuration and the surface upon which an image is focused is either planar, or arcuate as may be required (single or compound curvature). The screen per se is essentially a laminate comprised of a structural substrate which can be rigid such as a panel of glass, or it can be flexible such as a sheet of polymer material. In practice, the screen is fabricated singularly or of coplanar segments of substrate abutted edge to edge and positioned for viewing by means of a frame or planar support as circumstances require. Or contiguously secured to a concaved (or spherical) wall, such as in a typical wide screen theater installation.
Novelty resides in a means by which projected light is diffracted so as to be diffused and emanate in relatively widened angles for viewing of imaging focused upon the screen surface (front or rear), said means being comprised of a coating or lamina, or encapsulation of minute nematic liquid crystals for controlled projected light diffracted therethrough.
In the basic rear projection embodiment, the projected light is partially blocked by a nematic phase of the liquid crystal which renders the lamina thereof translucent and thereby scattering a portion of said light by diffraction so as to be diffused when emanating forwardly from the screen in relatively widened angles for viewing. Light emission gain is determined and fixed by the translucency dependent upon the set condition of the liquid crystal nematic director.
A feature is control of screen translucency by means of variable electrical potential applied to the director of the liquid crystal cells throughout a range of opaqueness to transparency. Accordingly, in an unenergized condition the nematic phase of the liquid crystal is characterized by having the long axes of its molecules in parallel lines but not in layers, with the liquid crystals at random in light scattering positions. However, in the energized condition the liquid crystals are orientationally ordered with molecules arranged perpendicular to the plane of the cells and with the liquid crystal crystals aligned more or less in a xe2x80x9cclearxe2x80x9d light transmitting condition. The degree of translucency or transparency is dependent upon the strength of the electrical potential applied above an operational threshold.
Another feature is the front projection embodiment having the aforesaid advantageous features of the basic Liquid Crystal Screen (LCS) and electrical gain control, and which includes a reflective surface contiguous to the back side of the LCS substrate. In practice, a first surface laminaform mirror is contiguously fixed to the back side of the transparent liquid crystal carrying substrate for efficient return of light and diffraction for viewing as thus far described.
A feature is the minuscule configuration of the liquid crystal, the size and density of which is selectively controlled for high resolution, and that diffracts the light for the scattering effect and desired forward diffusion of wide angle image projection to the viewer.
This LCS projector screen is a laminate structured about a flexible dimensionally stable transparent substrate, and comprised of a plurality of lamina and each having a function related to light and electrical conductivity for variably controlling light gain and forward conical projection in either of two modes, rear projection and front projection.
The foregoing and various other objects and features of this invention will be apparent and fully understood from the following detailed description of the typical preferred forms and applications thereof, throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings.


The present invention relates to a process for blow molding a polyethylene container comprising the steps of:                a) providing a solid preform made from a polyethylene material having a melt flow index from 0.01 to 10.0 g/10 minutes, wherein the preform comprises a neck region, side walls and a base region, and wherein the side walls between the neck region and the base region have substantially straight and parallel outer walls;        b) reheating the preform so that the maximum temperature difference between the hottest and coldest regions of the side walls and the base region of the reheated preform is less than 4° C.;        c) transferring the reheated preform to a blow mold;        d) stretching the preform at a pressure below 10 bars; and        e) increasing the pressure within the reheated preform so as to cause the walls of the stretched preform to expand to the shape and dimensions inside the blow mold.

The physical properties of polyethylene terephthalate are such that this material lends itself well to the injection stretch blow molding process.
In contrast, the physical properties of polyethylene are considered much less well-suited for injection stretch blow molding. JP-A-2000/086722, published on Mar. 28, 2000, discloses a high density polyethylene resin which is subjected to injection stretch blow molding. The polyethylene resin has a melt flow index of from 1 to 15 g/10 minutes; a flow ratio of from 10 to 14.5; and a density of from 0.961 to 0.973 g/cm3.
Plastic parts stress crack when they are under tensile stress and in contact with liquids either by an oxidative or lubrication mechanism. This process is known as Environmental Stress Cracking. The oxidative mechanism (i.e., cleavage of polymer molecules) is present in liquids that contain oxidants (e.g. hypochlorite, and hydrogen peroxide) and the lubrication mechanism is present in liquids that contain surfactants. With either mechanism, the number density and length of the tie molecules (i.e., molecules that connect the various crystallites) is the controlling parameter for the environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR). Note that stress cracking occurs only in tensile loading, not compressive. In other words, in a bottle, stress cracking can occur only in the regions that are under tensile deformation and in contact with the liquid. As the polyethylene material is under tensile load in the trade or in the lab, the crystallites are under stress and they start moving away from each other as the tie molecules are stretched. In the brittle mode of failure, the tie molecules completely pull away from the crystallites causing them to separate. In the ductile failure, the tie molecules cause the crystallites to fracture and create fibrils. The oxidants in the liquid (e.g. bleach) cleave the tie molecules causing earlier failure than when the material is exposed to water or air. Furthermore, surfactants in the liquid lubricate the disentanglement of the tie molecules and their separation from the crystallites. In terms of measurable properties, ESCR increases with the average molecular weight (as the number of tie molecules increases with molecular weight), and decreases with increasing breadth of the molecular weight distribution, crystallinity and spherulitic size.
Limitations including manufacturing cost and manufacturing speed, and environmental stress crack resistance properties have prevented injection stretch blow molded polyethylene bottles from achieving commercial success. The present invention aims to overcome the limitations of the prior art.

Abstract: A polyethylene container made according to the present invention preferably has a minimum wall thickness of the container of less than 200 micrometers, and a weight to volume ratio of the empty container of less than 50 grams per liter.


A liquid rubber composition including a 1,2-polybutadiene resin component dispersed in the form of fine particles in a liquid rubber component in a weight ratio of 1:100 to 50:100 has a high dispersion stability and a low specific gravity and is useful for forming a cured rubber article having a high elastic modulus and a satisfactory mechanical strength and ultimate elongation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid rubber composition. More particularly, the present invention relates to a rubber composition comprising a liquid rubber component reinforced by fine particles of a 1,2-polybutadiene resin component.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that a liquid rubber has a flow property at room temperature, and thus allows processing procedures using liquid rubber to be easily mechanized, automated and carried out continuously and with reduced labor. Also, it is known that when the liquid rubber is cured by a certain chemical treatment, the resultant cured rubber exhibits similar physical properties to those of conventional vulcanized rubber materials and thus, usually, the cured liquid rubber can be reinforced by conventional inorganic fillers.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 54-70,349 discloses that when a liquid polybutadiene rubber is mixed with an electroconductive filler, a cured rubber material having a stable electroconductivity is obtained. Also, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 1-37,407 discloses that when a liquid diene polymeric material is mixed with carbon black having a specific average molecular weight and a specific particle size, a cured elastic material having excellent flexing resistance and cutting resistance.
However, the inorganic fillers are disadvantageous in that since the inorganic fillers have a significantly higher specific gravity than that of the liquid rubber, it is difficult to uniformly disperse the inorganic fillers in the liquid rubber and even when uniformly dispersed in the liquid rubber, the inorganic fillers separate from the liquid rubber within a short time.


Antibodies that penetrate cell nuclei and inhibit DNA repair or interfere with DNA metabolism are provided for treatment of cancer (both directly and by sensitizing cancer cells to DNA-damaging treatments) or inhibiting or preventing viral infection, proliferation or metabolism. The method involves treating cells with a composition containing cell-penetrating anti-DNA antibodies or derivatives thereof, alone or in combination with treatment that induces DNA damage such as DNA-damaging chemotherapy or radiation. The impact of the cell-penetrating anti-DNA antibodies or derivatives thereof is potentiated in cancer cells that are deficient in DNA repair, and the cell-penetrating anti-DNA antibodies or derivatives thereof are synthetically lethal to cancer cells with DNA repair deficiencies.

Most cancer therapies are severely limited by significant side effects due to non-specific tissue toxicity, and identification of novel agents that are selectively toxic to cancer cells or selectively sensitize tumors to treatment is a key goal in cancer research. A significant amount of work has focused on applying the specific binding activity of monoclonal antibodies to the development of tumor-specific therapies. Select antibodies such as trastuzumab (Herceptin®), rituximab (Rituxan®), and cetuximab (Erbitux®) have received approval for use in human cancer therapy, but all lack the ability to penetrate into cancer cells and are therefore limited to attacking targets located on the external surface of tumor cells.
A significant number of tumor-specific targets are located inside cells and nuclei, and numerous types of cancer are particularly vulnerable to treatments that inhibit DNA repair.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide cell-penetrating antibodies, such as anti-DNA antibodies, that inhibit DNA repair.
It is a further object of the invention to provide compositions that increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy.
It is a further object of the invention to provide cell-penetrating antibodies and derivatives thereof that are selectively toxic to cancer or other undesirable cells with pre-existing deficiencies in DNA repair, typically associated with familial syndromes due to mutations in DNA repair genes but also occurring sporadically with silencing or a mutation in DNA repair genes.
It is a further object of the invention to provide cell-penetrating antibodies and derivatives thereof that prevent or inhibit viral infection, integration, and/or replication by perturbing host DNA repair.

Cell-penetrating anti-DNA antibodies and uses thereof inhibit DNA repair

The Regents of the University of California

The United States Government Represented by the Department of Veterans Affairs


The subject invention involves a method of preparing and the constrained geometry catalyst thereby prepared of the general formula Ar'R4(O)Ar"R'.sub.4 M(CH.sub.2 Ph).sub.2 where Ar' is a phenyl or naphthyl group; Ar" is a cyclopentadienyl or indenyl group, R and R' are H or alkyl substituents (C.ltoreq.10) and M is Ti, Zr or Hf. The synthetic method involves a simple alkane elimination approach which permits a "one-pot" procedure. The catalyst, when combined with a cocatalyst such as Pb.sub.3 C.sup.+ B(Ar.sub.3.sup.F).sub.4 BAr.sub.3.sup.F or methyl alumoxane where Ar.sup.F is a fluoroaryl group, is an effective catalyst for the polymerization of .alpha.-olefins such as ethylene, propylene and styrene.

This invention relates to the compositions of matter useful as a catalyst system, to a method for preparing these catalyst systems and to a method for polymerization utilizing the catalyst system.
The use of soluble Ziegler-Natta type catalysts in the polymerization of olefins is well known in the prior art. In general, such systems include a Group IV-B metal compound and a metal or metalloid alkyl cocatalyst, such as aluminum alkyl cocatalyst. More broadly, it may be said to include a mixture of a Group I-III metal alkyl and a transition metal complex from the Group IVB-VB metals, particularly titanium, zirconium, or hafnium with aluminum alkyl cocatalysts.
First generation cocatalyst systems for homogeneous metallocene Ziegler-Natta olefin polymerization, alkylaluminum chlorides (AlR.sub.2 Cl), exhibit low ethylene polymerization activity levels and negligible propylene polymerization activity. Second generation cocatalyst systems, utilizing methyl aluminoxane (MAO), raise activities by several orders of magnitude. In practice however, a large stoichiometric excess of MAO over catalyst ranging from several hundred to ten thousand must be employed to have good activities and stereoselectivities. Moreover, it has not been possible to isolate characterizable metallocene active species using MAO. The third generation of cocatalyst, B(C.sub.6 F.sub.5).sub.3, proves to be far more efficient while utilizing a 1:1 catalyst-cocatalyst ratio. Although active catalyst species generated with B(C.sub.6 F.sub.5).sub.3 are isolable and characterizable, the anion MeB(C.sub.6 F.sub.5).sub.3.sup.- formed after Me.sup.- abstraction from metallocene dimethyl complexes is weakly coordinated to the electron-deficient metal center, thus resulting in a decrease of certain catalytic activities. The recently developed B(C.sub.6 F.sub.5).sub.4.sup.- types of non-coordinating anions exhibit some of the highest reported catalytic activities, but such catalysts have proven difficult to obtain in the pure state due to poor thermal stability and poor crystallizability, which is crucial for long-lived catalysts and for understanding the role of true catalytic species in the catalysis for the future catalyst design. Synthetically, it also takes two additional steps to prepare such an anion than for the neutral organo-Lewis acid.
Ligand modifications have played a key role in developing new "single-site" group 4 metallocene catalyst precursors for optimizing polymerization activity as well as polymer properties such as stereoregularity, molecular weight, thermal/rheological characteristics, bulky and polar comonomer incorporation and microstructure. In particular, complexes of bifunctional monocyclopentadienyl ligands having an appended heteroatom donor attracted considerable attention, as exemplified by "constrained geometry catalysts" having the formula ME.sub.2 Si(.eta..sup.5 -Me.sub.4 C.sub.5)(BuN)MX.sub.2 (CGCMX.sub.2 ; M=Ti, Zr, Hf; X=Cl, Me, CH.sub.2 Ph). These catalysts have a covalently attached amide donor ligand which stabilizes the electrophilic metal center electronically, while the short Me.sub.2 Si<bridging group considerably opens the metal coordination sphere vis-a-vis a conventional metallocene. The result upon activation with a variety of cocatalysts is a new generation of catalysts which, among other features, efficiently produce ultra-low density elastomeric ethylene-octene copolymers. ##STR1##
Given the import of the Cp-appended heteroatom donor groups on the catalytic performance of such complexes, ligand design remains a very active and challenging area of olefin polymerization research and much attention has been paid to the design of new N- and O-containing ligands.

Phenolate constrained geometry polymerization catalyst and method for preparing


A multi-tray distillation unit having a separator for de-entraining liquid particles which are picked up by an upwardly flowing gaseous stream which is flowing countercurrent to a descending liquid flow in the unit. The separator which is placed above the contact plate on which the gas contacts the liquid, comprises vertically spaced tiers of elongated, substantially horizontal open-topped liquid collector channels arrayed in parallel rows transversely to the flow of the gas. The liquid collector channels are vertically staggered to deflect the gas flow from a lower tier level through the gaps between the collection channels of an upper tier and around the channels so as to cause the entrained liquid particles to separate from the gaseous stream by inertia into the channels of the lower tier. The collected liquid is then returned through a liquid downcomer to a contact plate. An improved channel configuration has a rigidly-mounted, horizontally-elongated flow deflector extending downwards from an upper tier channel toward a lower tier channel, this provides gas flow deflection and increased efficiency of liquid particle de-entrainment. The flow deflector may be mounted directly on each upper tier channel. The channels may be formed from a single crimped and perforated metal sheet or the like, and adjacent formed tiers may be stacked to form a de-entrainment zone array. The lower tier channels may be formed from a single metal sheet having a channel bottom and sides, with a foraminous section extending upwardly from one side and a transverse section extending away from the lower channel, and terminating in a flow deflector adjacent to the bottom of a channel of an upper tier.

Typically, distillation unit operations are conducted in countercurrent multi-tray towers in which the liquid flows across the trays and down the column by way of downcorners, while the gas passes upward through the trays, which may contain contact plates, bubble caps, sieves or similar contact devices. Mass transfer occurs in the liquid-gas mixtures near the bottom of each tray. Phase separation, necessary to secure overall countercurrent flow of gas and liquid, takes place by gravity in the spaces between the trays.
During the flow of the vapor and the liquid through the unit, liquid particles or droplets become entrained in the vapor phase of the upwardly flowing gaseous stream. The entrained liquid is difficult to separate from the flowing stream, and various techniques have been employed to provide phase separation. Various mechanisms may be exploited in the separation. Micro-droplets may be coalesced to form larger drops and liquid particles may be separated by centrifugal force, gravity, or impingement on solid surfaces. Demister screens and flow deflectors of varied design have proven effective in phase separation. Many of these devices, however, are expensive to fabricate and operate, and create excessive pressure drops.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,469 (Trutna) teaches co-current distillation components employing a multi-level array of rectangular horizontal channels (or U-shaped troughs) adapted for liquid separation, collection and distribution. The liquid collected in the channels is discharged to a downcorner that delivers the liquid to the tray of a lower stage. The de-entrainment devices may be installed above one or more distillation trays, as required by the particular application. In arrangements of this type, it is expected that most of the liquid swept up between one set of channels will continue to be entrained upward by the gas. The main liquid collection mechanism seems to be eddy flows past the upper edges of the channels. While this method exhibits a low pressure drop, the relative amount of recovered liquid particles is lower than desired. This deficiency is believed to be related to the relatively unrestricted flow path of the vapor stream with entrained particles as it passes through the array of channels.

De-entrainment of liquid particles from gas

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company


A clock frequency control unit for an integrated circuit (IC) includes a clock generator, a finite state machine (FSM), and a gating circuit (GC). The FSM has at least first and second states corresponding to non-low workload low workload states, respectively. In the first state, the GC provides a clock signal to functional units of the IC with the same frequency as the clock generator output. In the second state, the GC reduces the frequency of the clock signal. In one embodiment, the GC masks out selected cycles of the clock generator output to reduce the clock signal frequency. The FSM monitors the operation of the IC to transition from the first state to the second state when selected “low workload” conditions are detected (e.g., long latency cache miss). Similarly, the FSM transitions from the second state to the first state when selected “non-low workload” conditions are detected.

A semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) device, such as a processor, may include circuitry of many types of discrete circuit components, including transistors, resistors, and capacitors, as well as other components. Semiconductor IC manufacturers are subject to ever-increasing pressure to increase the speed (i.e. the clock rate) and performance of such IC devices while reducing package size and maintaining reliability. Thus, by way of example, a modern processor (e.g., general purpose microprocessors, digital signal processors, microcontrollers, etc.) may be implemented in a die that includes literally millions of closely spaced transistors and other discrete sub-micron components and operating at clock rates in the GHz range. As is well known, the power dissipation of a processor (and other IC devices) generally increases with operating frequency. As a result, these modern processors exhibit relatively high power dissipation. High power dissipation is generally undesirable and can be especially problematic in battery-powered applications.
One conventional technique to reduce power dissipation is "clock throttling". Typical clock throttling techniques include reducing the frequency of a clock signal provided to selected units or subunits of the processor. Clock throttling tends to reduce the performance of the processor since the clock frequency is reduced even when the processor is trying to perform useful work. In addition, current clock throttling solutions are relatively coarse (i.e., take a relatively large number of clock cycles to enter the reduced clock frequency mode and to return to the normal clock frequency mode).
Another conventional technique is to reduce the supply voltage provided to the processor. The lower supply voltage tends to slow the switching speed of the transistors in the processor, which in turn tends to reduce the performance of the processor. In addition, the lower supply voltage may undesirable increase the processor's noise sensitivity. Further, like clock throttling, changing the supply voltage is a relatively coarse power conservation technique. This technique is widely used as an efficient way of reducing power dissipation as the power relates to the voltage in the power of three. For example, lowering the voltage by 20% would lower the power by 49%, while hurting the performance (clock rate) by only 20%. The limitation is that it takes many millions of clock cycles to stabilize a new voltage on an IC.
These clock throttling and voltage reduction techniques are commonly used in controlling the temperature of the processor and, thus, the aforementioned shortcomings are acceptable to prevent damage to the processor. However, for purely power conservation applications, these shortcomings may be unacceptable.

Method and apparatus for reducing clock frequency during low workload periods