A protective material from which a protective garment such as is used by motorcyclists is made, and has an outer layer of fibres having a high softening temperature 400.degree. C. and a mass (580 g.m.sup.-2 to 620 g.m.sup.-2) to provide high quality abrasion resistance. The outer layer is preferably two separate sheets one preferably being of Terry Loop knitted fabric, and the other of high tenacity Polyester having a 300 g.m.sup.-2 upwards warp knit permitting high air flow therethrough. An inner layer conveniently of a Polyamide Rachel knit supports an impact attenuating layer preferably made from one of Polyurethane, Polynorbornene, Nitrile/PVC or synthetic rubber. The impact attenuating layer is preferably solid and flexible, is attached to the inner layer between the outer and inner layers. The material so formed provides sufficient abrasion resistance and high tensile strength together with permeability through the material which is ensured by providing through holes directly through the impact attenuating material.

This invention relates to a protective material particularly but not solely for use in the manufacture of garments which would be used by motor cyclists to provide them with adequate protection against injury in accidents involving road surface impacts whilst not imposing an excessive thermal load on the rider in warm weather.
It is generally well known that motor cyclists, for example, will ride their motor cycles wearing normal street clothing which provides very little protection in road surface impacts, or will alternatively use specialist leather clothing which provides better protection. Racing motor cyclists almost always wear leather clothing but only high quality thick leather provides good protection in accidents. However, leather is in itself impermeable to wind and this leads to overheating of the rider during warm weather because body heat is retained causing excessive sweating inside the garment. To combat this effect perforated leather has been used but if a high visibility garment is worn over the perforated leather, such as the type of garment used by motor cycle traffic policemen, then air flow becomes considerably reduced with the resultant overheating of the motor cyclist in hot weather.
Impact protection has been provided in motorcycle riders' clothing for some years by the insertion of plastic or synthetic rubber foam materials, solid flexible materials, plastic sheet materials which may be somewhat stiffer and various combinations of these materials. Some or all of these layers are impermeable to wind. There are some designs of the material which do allow for air circulation within or below them relative to the skin of the rider. Disadvantageously, where this protection is held against the body by the clothing stretching over the knees, the movement is restricted and heat builds up generating sweat which leads to discomfort when the bike rider is too hot. In such garments as has been referred to, the evaporation of sweat from below the impact padding is not achieved using perforations in leather over or around the impact padding. This is also the case when normal street clothing fabrics, or normal woven motorcycle riders' fabric clothing are used because there is insufficient air movement beneath the impact protection in any of these combinations.
Therefore, for the protection of motor cyclists, for example, though the material qualities of leather have been found to be good, leather has to be perforated or provided with other systems to ventilate the clothing. Fabric clothing generally provides very poor protection from abrasions and cuts, and even high performance fabric clothing which is generally a multi-layer woven material and is impermeable to wind is still a poor protection from abrasions and cuts in a high speed accident. Any impact protection which is provided by foams, plastics etc. in pads is generally found to be impermeable to wind and sweat causing overheating of riders in hot weather. The sweat is not evaporated from below an impact protection material and consequently dampness builds up, adversely.
To overcome these particular problems manufacturers of such materials for use in protective clothing have utilised lightweight honeycomb materials of metal, plastics, paper and composites such as are used in construction boards and aerospace materials. These provide rigidity for particularly low weight. However, when honeycomb materials are used as impact energy absorbers the compression of the honeycomb structure of the rigid walls causes crumpling. The particular disadvantages to be found with such a material are that only one single use is possible because having crumpled their recovery is almost non-existent, and they are rigid.
Similar materials which are made from various plastics and welded into hexagonal cells or manufactured from parallel tubes bonded together will give flexible lightweight systems with some recovery after impacts. HEXCEL (Registered Trademark) and AEROLEN (Registered Trademark) are hexagonal cell materials which have been used in products such as trauma packs for wearing beneath ballistic armour. Although the products provide spacing between layers, some energy absorption, and are light, the performance of the products is not adequate for padding in motorcyclists clothing where the force level of impacts can be very high and thick materials are not acceptable in that they restrict movement.
Perforated plastics have been used in products such as football players' shin-guards but not with exclusively air permeable materials and sweat is therefore not able to evaporate through them. Although perforated foam materials have been used in footwear to "aid air circulation" they are generally used in conjunction with impermeable layers and therefore do not function to assist sweat evaporation.
The problem of allowing sweat to evaporate from adjacent to the skin has been met to some extent by some bulk air impermeable materials such as GORETEX (Registered Trademark) and AQUATEX (Registered Trademark) which are used in clothing. Because these products are fully windproof and do not permit bulk air movements sweat generated on the skin has to evaporate in relatively still air and to diffuse to the surface layer of the clothing, or the inner lining of the GORETEX or similar material, before escaping from the clothing. However, the amount of sweat which can be evaporated in this way with materials such as GORETEX is limited.


Methods and computer-readable mediums are provide that, in some embodiments maximize bending of an actuator and, in other embodiments, minimize bending of the actuator. For example, in one embodiment, a method is provided that acquires a first ratio of a modulus of inertia for a first component to a Young's Modulus for the first component. The method also acquires a second ratio of a modulus of inertia for a second component to a Young's Modulus for the second component. Thereafter, the method provides an actuator (which includes the first component and second component). The actuator has a cross-sectional shape such that the first ratio substantially equal to said second ratio. In various embodiments of the invention, the actuator is spun fibers formed into batting and used as insulation, or may form an active element of a thermostat.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to actuators and more specifically to tailoring the moments of inertia of at least two components, of the actuator, to enhance or suppress bending.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has long been known that two sheets of metal with different coefficients of thermal expansion ("CTE") will bend with changes in temperature. The traditional approach to this technology is illuminated by the "bi-metallic spring." The general relationship for when the two metals (i.e., in a bi-metallic strip) are of the same thickness is analyzed in Timoshenko, S., Analysis of Bi-metal Thermostats, J. Opt. Soc. Am. (1925), 11(2), pp. 233-255 (hereinafter "Timoshenko").
Timoshenko analyzed the bending of a bi-metal thermostat of rectangular cross-section and concluded:                The curvature is proportional to the difference in elongation of the two metals and inversely proportional to the thickness of the strip. It is seen that the magnitude of the ratio [of the Young's moduli of the two metals] does not produce any substantial effect on the curvature of the strip. See Timoshenko at page 235.
A bi-metallic strip 100 is provided in FIG. 1. Specifically, the bi-metallic strip 100 includes a first component 102 and a second component 104. The first component 102 is made of a different metal than the second component 104. The first component 102 and second component 104 have the same dimensions and different coefficients of linear expansion and moments of inertia. Heating the bi-metallic strip 100 causes bending of the bi-metallic strip 100.
Equations are provided below for calculating the temperature of buckling, the complete travel during buckling, and the temperature of buckling in a backward direction. By using these equations, the dimensions of the bi-metallic strip 100 for a given temperature of operation and a given complete range of temperature can be calculated. It has long been known that two sheets of metal with different coefficients of thermal expansion ("CTE") will bend with changes in temperature. The general relationship for the two metals (i.e., components 102 and 104) are of the same thickness (as provided by Timoshenko) is provided by Equation 1:
                              1          ρ                =                              24                                      (                                                α                  2                                -                                  α                  1                                            )                                                  (                              Δ                                                                                T                            )                                            h                                      (                              14                +                n                +                                  1                  n                                            )                                                          Equation                                                            (          1          )
where the CTEs of the two materials are α1 (component 102) and α2 (component 104), the change in temperature is ΔT, h is the combined thickness of components 102 and 104, n is the ratio of the mechanical moduli of components 102 and 104, the radius of curvature is ρ, and the "curvature" is 1/ρ.
Note that Equation (1) can alternatively be expressed as Equation (2) below.
                              1                      ρ            rect                          =                              6                                      (                                                α                  2                                -                                  α                  1                                            )                                                  (                              t                -                                  t                  0                                            )                                                                  (                                  1                  +                  m                                )                            2                                            h                                      [                                                3                                                                              (                                              1                        +                        m                                            )                                        2                                                  +                                                      (                                          1                      +                                              n                                                                                m                                                              )                                                                          (                                                                  m                        2                                            +                                              1                                                  n                                                                                m                                                                                )                                                              ]                                                          Equation                                                            (          2          )
where
  1      ρ    rect  is the radius of curvature of the strip 100, h is the height or diameter of the fiber, α2 is the coefficient of thermal expansion for component 104, α1 is the coefficient of thermal expansion for component 102, n is the ratio of the Young's moduli of the components 102 and 104, and m is a ratio of the thickness of components 102 and 104. Note that setting m=1 in Equation (2) yields Equation (1).
According to the analysis in Timoshenko, the bending of the bonded metal sheets (i.e., components 102 and 104 combined) is not a strong function of the mechanical modulus of the component metals. E1 and E2 are the elastic moduli of components 102 and 104, respectively. It is seen that the magnitude of
  n  =            E      1              E      2      does not produce any substantial effect on the curvature of the strip. For example, when n=1, then Equation (1) above is reduced to Equation (3).
                              1          ρ                =                              3                                      (                                                α                  2                                -                                  α                  1                                            )                                                  (                              Δ                                                                                T                            )                                            2                        h                                              Equation                                                            (          3          )
where the CTEs of the two materials are α1 (component 102) and α2 (component 104), the change in temperature is ΔT, h is the combined thickness of components 102 and 104, the radius of curvature is ρ, and the "curvature" is 1/ρ.
Similarly, when n=½ or n=2 then Equation (1) is reduced to Equation (4) below.
                              1          ρ                =                              48                                      (                                                α                  2                                -                                  α                  1                                            )                                                  (                              Δ                                                                                T                            )                                            33                        h                                              Equation                                                            (          4          )
where the CTEs of the two materials are α1 (component 102) and α2 (component 104), the change in temperature is ΔT, h is the combined thickness of components 102 and 104, the radius of curvature is ρ, and the "curvature" is 1/ρ.
"For a ratio of Young's moduli of 2, the "difference . . . [in curvature] is only about 3 percent." See Timoshenko at page 236.
However, many combinations of materials that could be useful have mechanical moduli which can vary by a factor or ten or more. Based on these same equations the bending would be reduced by about one third. If the mechanical moduli differ by two orders of magnitude the bending is reduced to only 15% of the amount of bending that would be seen in the case where mechanical moduli are equal.
Examples of materials with very different mechanical moduli are polymers above and below their glass transition temperatures. Amorphous polymers above their glass transition temperature (i.e., in a rubbery state) usually have much higher CTEs than those below their glass transition temperature (i.e., in a glassy state) and would make good candidates for bending in response to temperature changes to act as a thermostat or a temperature adaptive insulation. Unfortunately, a decrease in modulus of about 3 orders of magnitude occurs at the glass transition making this combination of materials essentially useless.
Many materials of current technological interest such as gels, amorphous metals, shape memory polymers, and nanocomposites have mechanical moduli which vary by orders of magnitude limiting the combinations of materials that can be used.
However, for polymeric materials, the elastic modulus can change by three orders of magnitude below and above the glass transition temperature (Aklonis and McKnight, 1983). It is just such a combination of a polymer above its glass transition temperature and one below its glass transition temperature (or in a crystalline form) that gives the greatest difference in coefficients of thermal expansion.
The prior art (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,620 issued Sep. 19, 1978) discloses an even polymer blend (i.e., extruded at 50:50 ratio).
Although U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,881 (issued Feb. 16, 1982) discloses that the ratio by weight of extruded fiber components is 30:70 to 70:30 and 40:60 to 60:40.
Generally, the prior art does not use the moments of inertia of the components to determine the ratio of those components (in an extruded material) and manipulate the shape of the extruded material to maximize bending.
Thus there is a need to use a wider selection of materials of significantly different mechanical moduli. There is also a need to tailor the moments of inertia of at least two components, in an actuator, to enhance or suppress bending.

Actuators based on unbalanced moments of inertia

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A process for the preparation of encapsulated toner compositions which comprises dispersing a mixture of addition monomers, an optional preformed polymer resin, a free radical initiator, a colorant comprised of a pigment, dye or mixtures thereof, and shell forming monomer in an aqueous medium containing a cellulose polymer and a first ionic surfactant thereby forming a stable microdroplet suspension; and subsequently adding an aqueous solution of a second stabilizing surfactant followed by the formation of a soluble monomer forming shell wall by interfacial polymerization, and thereafter initiating and completing the core resin-forming free radical polymerization by heating thereby resulting in toner compositions with an average volume particle size of from about 3 to about 7 microns.

The present invention is generally directed to toner compositions and processes thereof, and more specifically, the present invention relates to colored encapsulated toner compositions and processes thereof, and wherein these toners can be directly generated without resorting to the conventional pulverization and classification methods. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to processes for the preparation of colored encapsulated toner compositions comprised of a core comprised of a polymer resin and colorants, including color pigments, dyes, or mixtures thereof, and coated thereover a polymeric shell like a polyurethane shell material. In one embodiment, the present invention relates to processes for preparing encapsulated toners, which process comprises dispersing a mixture of free radical monomer, colorant, or pigment, optionally a charge control agent and containing a shell forming monomer such as dodecane diisocyanate, trimethylhexamethylene diisocyanate and the like in an aqueous medium containing a cellulose surfactant, such as hydroxyethylmethyl cellulose (TYLOSE.RTM.), methyl cellulose and the like; and a dispersant such as sodium dodecylsulfate to control the volume average particle size of from about 3 to about 7 microns in diameter; and adding subsequently a second polymeric stabilizing surfactant, such as polyvinyl alcohol; followed by the addition of a second shell forming monomer, such as an amino terminated propylene glycol (JEFFAMINE D-400.TM. available from Texaco), yielding by polymerization a polyurethane shell; and accomplishing core resin formation step by free radical polymerization. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a process of preparing colored encapsulated toner of fine particle size of from about 0.5 micron to about 7 microns in diameter and more preferably from about 2 microns to about 7 microns in diameter, as measured by the Coulter Counter. In another embodiment, the present invention relates to colored encapsulated toner compositions which display low fixing temperatures of from about 100.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C., thereby reducing the energy consumption of an electrostagraphic imaging or printing apparatus and prolonging the lifetime of the fuser contained therein. Furthermore, in another embodiment, the present invention relates to a colored encapsulated toner composition and process of generating a polyurethane material surrounding a core material, and wherein the polyurethane material has a softening point of from about 80.degree. C. to about 110.degree. C. as measured by the Shimadzu Flowtester. Additionally, in another embodiment, the present invention relates to colored encapsulated toners which display high projection efficiency of from about 60 percent to about 95 percent transparency as measured by the Match Scan II spectrophotometer available from Milton Roy Corporation. In embodiments, the processes of the present invention can also utilize a combination of cellulose polymers of from about 0.1 percent to about 5 percent by weight of toner, and ionic or inorganic surfactants of from about 0.01 percent to about 0.5 percent by weight of toner, such as potassium oleate, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and the like during the dispersion step. The cellulose-ionic and alkali surfactant system facilitates efficient generation of very small sized microdroplets, particularly those with an average particle diameter of from about 0.5 micron to about 7 microns, together with a narrow particle size distribution of less than 1.35, as measured by the Coulter Counter. The main function of the second surfactant, such as polyvinyl alcohol, selected in effective amounts of, for example, from about 0.1 to about 2 percent by weight of the aqueous fraction and preferably from about 0.5 to about 1 percent by weight of the aqueous portion is to stabilize the microdroplet size such that when the subsequent addition of diamine, such as JEFFAMINE D-400.TM., is employed to form the polyurethane shell, particle coalescence, particle growth or aggregation does not occur, or is minimized.
The primary function of the polyurethane shell of the colored encapsulated toner of the present invention is to provide for the mechanical integrity of toner, minimizing or eliminating the seepage of the inner core material, hence preventing undesired toner aggregation or coalescence. Additionally, another function of the polyurethane shell of the colored encapsulated toner of the present invention, such as that obtained when dodecane diisocyanate and JEFFAMINE D-400.TM. are utilized, is to provide a softening point of from about 80.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C., such that when the aforementioned encapsulated toner is fixed on paper, by the utilization of a hot-roll fusing device, the polyurethane shell melts, deforms or fixes on paper and provides excellent adherence to paper at low minimum fixing temperatures of from about 100.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C., and provides a smooth surface such that when fixed on transparency sheets, results in high projection efficiency.
In color reprography, such as in full color or highlight color applications, colored toners with a wide variety of colors including black are usually employed. In color reprography, a heat-assisted transfix step or heat-roll fusing is applied to the toner image on paper. It is highly desirable to use VITON.RTM. fuser rollers rather than the conventional silicone roll fusers due to the drastically prolonged lifetime attained by a fuser roll containing VITON.RTM. surfaces. During the fixing step employing heated Viton roll fusers, the toner is fixed on paper or transparency, and the energy necessary to achieve this is related to the temperature applied by the rolls. Accordingly, toners which fix on paper with a minimum amount of heat are highly desirable. The temperature necessary to properly fix a particular toner onto paper is known as the minimum fixing temperature (MFT). It is known that encapsulated toner compositions are highly desirable for low minimum fixing applications, such as from about 110.degree. C. to about 150.degree. C., and preferably from about 110.degree. C. to about 130.degree. C. The aforementioned encapsulated colored toners are comprised of a core resin with low glass transition temperature resin enabling, for example, excellent fixing of the toner onto paper at the aforementioned low minimum fixing temperatures. Also, the core is surrounded by a shell material avoiding or minimizing core aggregation or agglomerate during storage or until use. Encapsulated toner fusing onto paper is accomplished by the rupturing of the shell component, release of the sticky inner core resin and its penetration into the paper fiber, and sticking or adherence of the resin onto the paper with colorants, dyes and additives. The primary function of many of the prior art encapsulated toners containing polyurethane shell was for containment of the sticky core resin to avoid toner aggregation. Toner aggregation can result in a dramatic increase of toner particle size, and when transferred electrostatically to paper by various imaging methods results in broad images or undesired low resolution. Accordingly, many prior art encapsulated toners which utilize polyurethane shells rupture during the fixing step and do not melt or adhere to paper, but permit the core binder resin to be released and to fix and adhere onto the paper and to stick or adhere to the ruptured polyurethane component. The aforementioned ruptured shell results in an uneven or bumpy surface texture especially when fused on a transparency causing low projection due to the scattering of light on the toner surface. In color reprography, it is highly desirable to generate process color images on a transparency, which can be used on overhead projectors to project bright colors on wall screens. The quality of the color projection or the percent of transmittance of light through the toner image on the transparency depends on several factors such as acceptable toner pigment dispersion, similar refractive index of shell and core resin, and the surface texture of the toner image whereby surface scattering of light is minimized or eliminated. It is known that bumpy surface texture of toner images on a transparency results in undesired light scattering, hence a low projection efficiency of less than 60 percent transmittance can occur. The encapsulated toners of the present invention in embodiments contains a shell such as a polyurethane shell which is heat fusible, hence melts and softens during the fixing step and is sticky providing excellent adherence to paper or transparency with the core resins such that low minimum fixing temperatures of from about 100.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C. are obtained, thus greatly reducing the energy requirements of the fuser and prolonging its lifetime. Furthermore, the ability of the shell material to soften or melt provides a smooth toner surface and results in low surface scattering, hence a high projection efficiency of from about 60 percent to about 95 percent transmittance as measured by the Match Scan II. Furthermore, the colored encapsulated toners of this invention are of fine average volume particle sizes of from about 0.5 micron to about 7 microns and more preferably from about 2 microns to about 7 microns in diameter. The process for preparing encapsulated colored toners of this invention with average particle sizes of from about 0.5 micron to about 7 microns, utilizes a second surfactant, such as polyvinyl alcohol, which stabilizes the microdroplet and prevents it from coalescing or aggregating during the polyurethane shell forming state. In prior art encapsulated toner processes, a second surfactant to stabilize the microdroplet is not utilized and average particle sizes of from about 0.5 micron to about 7 microns cannot be readily attained, rather average particle sizes of from about 11 microns to about 19 microns are, for example, disclosed. Additionally, the encapsulated toner compositions of the present invention display excellent tribo characteristics such that the triboelectric properties of different colored toners be desirably controlled thus they all can attain similar equilibrium triboelectric charging levels when utilized against a selected carrier. This is especially useful for custom colored toner packages since colored toners with a wide variety of custom colors can be obtained by simple blending of the primary colored toners. Another important aspect for two component development is the rate of charging of the fresh toners to the equilibrium charge levels when they are added to the toner depleted development housing. A fast rate of charging of fresh toner can be important in ensuring proper image development, particularly for high speed, greater than 70 copies per minute for example, reprographic systems.
There was reported in a patentability search relating to encapsulated toners the following prior art: U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,240, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, illustrates a pressure fixable encapsulated toner comprised of a core, and an encapsulating substance comprised of a pressure rupturable shell, wherein the shell is formed by an interfacial polymerization, such as a polyurethane shell, and processes thereof wherein a surfactant stabilizing step prior to the shell formation is not utilized and particle sizes of 13 microns to about 21 microns are reported, however, the process of this '240 patent does not, it is believed, yield toner particles of less than 7 microns, reference Comparative Examples I and II. Furthermore, the polyurethane shell of the aforementioned '240 patent is believed to rupture and may not melt readily resulting in an uneven surface, and hence, display low projection efficieny. The process of the present invention contains a second stabilizer step before formation of the shell resin in order to provide particle stabilization and thus providing small particle sizes of less than or equal to 7 microns in diameter. The utilization of a second surfactant is important in generating small particle size encapsulated toners of less than or equal to 7 microns. Additionally, the polyurethane shell is pressure rupturable and heat fusible, and the monomer components of the polyurethane shells invention include diamino-ethers, such as JEFFAMINE D-400.TM., JEFFAMINE D-700.TM., and the like to enable low softening points of from about 80.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C. such that during the fixing step the polyurethane shell melts, adheres to paper or transparency and provides a smooth toner surface, and hence, high projection efficiency. Other prior art toner patents include U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,962 which discloses a toner composition comprising a finely divided mixture comprising a colorant material and a polymeric material which is a block or graft copolymer, including apparently copolymers of polyurethane and a polyether (column 6), reference for example the Abstract of the Disclosure, and also note the disclosure in columns 2 and 3,6 and 7, particularly lines 13 and 35; however, it does not appear that encapsulated toners are disclosed in this patent; U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,490 discloses an encapsulated toner comprising a binder of a mixture of a long chain organic compound and an ester of a higher alcohol and a higher carboxylic acid encapsulated within a thin shell, reference the Abstract of the Disclosure, for example, and note specifically examples of shell materials in column 8, beginning at line 64, and continuing on to column 9, line 17, which shells can be comprised, for example, of polyurethanes, polyurea, epoxy resin, polyether resins such as polyphenylene oxide or thioether resin, or mixtures thereof; 4,937,167 relating to encapsulated toners with a diameter of less than 10 microns; and U.S. patents of background interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,442,194; 4,465,755; 4,520,091; 4,590,142; 4,610,945; 4,642,281; 4,740,443 and 4,803,144.
Interfacial polymerization processes are described in British Patent Publication 1,371,179, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, which publication illustrates a method of microencapsulation based on in situ interfacial condensation polymerization. Moreover, there are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,922, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, interfacial polymerization processes for pressure sensitive toner compositions comprised of a blend of two immiscible polymers selected from the group consisting of certain polymers as a hard component, and polyoctadecylvinylether-co-maleic anhydride as a soft component.
Other prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,091, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, which illustrates an encapsulated toner material wherein the shell can be formed by reacting a compound having an isocyanate with a polyamide, reference column 4, lines 30 to 61, and column 5, line 19; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,669 illustrating a pressure sensitive recording sheet comprising a microcapsule with polyurea walls, and wherein polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate can be reacted with a polyamide to produce the shell, see column 4, line 34.
Illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,506 (D/84024), the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, are single component cold pressure fixable toner compositions, wherein the shell selected can be prepared by an interfacial polymerization process.
There is a need for colored encapsulated toners which display low minimum fusing temperatures of from about 100.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C., wide fusing latitude, can be formed in fine particle sizes such as from about 0.5 to 7 microns, have nonblocking tendencies, and with heat-fusible polyurethane shells with softening points of from about 80.degree. C. to about 120.degree. C., of high projection efficiency on a transparency such as from about 60 to about 95 percent transmittance, and of stable triboelectricity properties including substantially complete passivation. These and other needs are accomplished with the colored encapsulated toners and process thereof of the present invention. More specifically, thus with the toners of the present invention, the toner properties can in many instances be tailored to certain specifications. Additionally, complete or substantial passivation of the triboelectric charging effects of the colorants is accomplished, and smaller toner particle sizes of from about 2 microns to about 7 microns with narrow size distribution can be achieved without conventional classification techniques. Also, the toners of the present invention do not block or agglomerate over an extended period of time, for example up to six months, in embodiments.


Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for timing synchronization of sidelinks. In some example embodiments, there may be provided an apparatus including at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least receive information to enable synchronized operation of a vehicle-to-vehicle sidelink with another user equipment; and configure the vehicle-to-vehicle sidelink. Related systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are also disclosed.

In vehicle-to-everything (V2X), vehicles may be equipped with user equipment configured to wirelessly communicate with other user equipment, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) user equipment, vehicle-to-network nodes (V2N), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), and/or any other type of device. The V2X messages may be used to exchange messages, such as traffic related messages, alerts, autonomous or semi-autonomous driving messages, and/or any other type of data or message. For example, a V2X message may be sent from a first vehicle via a sidelink to other nearby vehicles warning the other vehicles of a hazardous traffic condition.

Timing synchronization of 5G V2X sidelink transmissions


An automated metadata discovery, assignment, and submission system is disclosed. The system includes a photosharing service coupled to a network through a server, where the server stores metadata fields. The system also includes at least one client computer capable of communicating with the server over the network, where the client computer stores a plurality digital files and an automation application. When executed, the automation application establishes communication with the photosharing service and downloads the metadata fields. The content of a first file is then automatically analyzed and one or metadata values are assigned to the downloaded metadata fields based on the analysis. In addition, the automation application automatically discovers any pre-existing metadata values associated with the file and uses the metadata values to populate corresponding downloaded metadata fields. Both the pre-existing and automatically assigned metadata values are then displayed to the user for viewing and editing. The metadata values assigned to the file are recoded for use with a next image, and the file and the metadata values are uploaded to the photosharing service for storage.

Over the past several years, photosharing has become widely accepted by photo enthusiasts. Many photosharing websites currently exist that allow users to upload digital images to the site for storage on a server and for viewing by others over the Internet. There are generally three methods for delivering images to the photosharing site: 1) using file upload capabilities of a web browser, 2) delivering images via e-mail submission, and 3) installing a separate upload application on the user's computer to upload the images. Examples of photosharing sites that offer a separate upload application include Ofoto.com and Shutterfly.com.
As digital photography becomes more prevalent, the number of digital images that are stored on photosharing sites will increase dramatically, and the number of images will make it increasingly difficult for a user to find desired images. Metadata offers a solution to this problem by providing a means by which users can categorize their images for later search and retrieval. Metadata is typically supported by most online photosharing sites in that once images are uploaded to the site, the user may view the metadata associated with an image.
There are PC-based image applications in existence that allow a user to enter metadata to categorize the images stored on the PC. However, only the upload application submission method allows the user to view, modify, or add any metadata associated with the images prior to the submission process, assuming of course that the upload application is programmed with these capabilities.
If the upload application is not programmed with such capabilities, then at least two different applications are required the upload application, and a PC-based image application. Obviously not every user of the upload application will have, or will use, a PC-based image application to enter metadata prior to uploading the images.
In addition, whether or not the user uses a PC-based image application or an image upload application to enter metadata, requiring the user to manual input all the metadata has a further drawback. The drawback is that in order to categorize a group of images, the user must retype the metadata values for each image. When categorizing the contents of a digital camera, manually entering metadata for each image is extremely tedious and time-consuming for the user. The problem is even worse for users who have a large collection of photo CDs or scanned images that they wish to electronically archive on the photosharing site.
In addition to requiring the user to manually input metadata, conventional upload applications have the further disadvantages. For example, upload applications do not have the ability to edit images, add additional file type support, or the ability to support well-known image recognition applications. Upload applications further fail to distinguish different types of metadata to the user. For example, one type of metadata is metadata that is automatically attached to the image by a digital camera at the time of capture that identifies attributes about the image, such as exposure setting, image resolution, file size, and so on. Another type of metadata may be user categorization information entered into the PC-based image application by the user. Most conventional application that are capable of displaying metadata display all metadata together as one group.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method and system for automatically discovering and assigning metadata to digital images, and for submitting the metadata to the photosharing service using a single application. The present invention addresses such a need.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Automated discovery, assignment, and submission of image metadata to a network-based photosharing service


One aspect of the invention relates to an apparatus for detecting environmental faults in a computer system. In one version of the invention, the apparatus includes a means for measuring a physical parameter with a sensor coupled to the computer system, the sensor being associated with a sensor type and identification code; a means for transmitting a signal from the sensor to the computer system, the signal being responsive to the measurement; a means for determining whether an environmental fault condition exists by comparing the signal to a pre-determined threshold; means for determining an error type, identification code and sensor type; and a means for writing fault data to an environmental warning register, the fault data comprising the sensor type, identification code and error type.

Complex computer systems require stable environmental and power conditions to ensure proper operation. When site environmental problems occur, such as air conditioning malfunctions, restricted air flow around the computer system, a/c power glitches, etc., the computer system may not properly perform, resulting to injury to important data stored on the computer by logical damage, e.g., disk sectors data corruption, or even complete hardware malfunction.
Accordingly, many complex systems are provided with various sensors for detecting these types of environmental and power problems and providing appropriate error messages to inform users of these problems. Also, these error messages are used by computer repair service personnel to diagnose and correct the problem. One exemplary environmental and power warning system is provided in the PowerPC Common Hardware Reference Platform, ("CHRP") and RS/6000 Systems to inform the operating system of these types of events. The Common Hardware Reference Platform is described in detail in "PowerPC Microprocessor Common Reference Platform: A System Architecture," ISBN 1-55860-394-8, available from IBM.
In general, the CHRP employs a variety of sensors which detect and measure environmental conditions. If the measurements of these conditions exceed certain threshold values, then data reflecting the conditions is written into an environmental and power warning register ("EPOW" register) in the system. In the CHRP architecture, the data written into the EPOW register is referred to an "action code". However, the action code does not provide adequate information associated with the problem sources. For example, in the CHRP architecture, there are 7 defined action codes which can be written to the EPOW register. Action code 0 indicates the absence of an environmental fault condition. Action code 1 is a cooling system warning, action code 2 is a power warning, and action code 3 is a system shut down warning. Action code 4 is a system halt warning, which is similar to the system shutdown except that it is more critical and indicates that the system may shut down in 20 seconds. Action code 5 is an EPOW "main enclosure" warning which indicates the system may lose power within 4 milliseconds, and action code 7 is an EPOW power off indication.
While the above information provides some indication of the problem experienced by the system, it is insufficient from a diagnostic point of view. For example, action code 1 indicates the system is experiencing a cooling problem, however, it does not indicate which sensor provided the warning, what caused the warning, or the degree of severity of the problem. Therefore, customers may erroneously call the computer repair service for an error caused by site environmental problems. Also, the computer service personnel have difficulty isolating the root cause of the problem and may make incorrect or incomplete repairs. It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide an improved environmental and power warning system which addresses these difficulties. Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in view of the following disclosure.

Environmental and power error handling extension and analysis

International Business Machines Corporation


A high frequency receiver of the present invention has a mixer of which one input part is connected to an output part of a filter and the other input part is connected to an output part of a frequency-variable local oscillator, and an output terminal connected to an output part of the mixer. The mixer is an image rejection mixer. The filter has a moderated damping characteristic in a frequency where the image rejection mixer reduces an image. Therefore, a high performance filter is not required, and hence a low price is realized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high frequency receiver for receiving a broadband high frequency signal.
2. Background Art
A conventional tuner will be described hereinafter with reference to a drawing. FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram of the conventional tuner.
In FIG. 26, a high frequency signal of about 50 to 860 MHz is fed into input terminal 1.
Antenna filter 2 connected to input terminal 1 is a single tuning filter. Tuned frequency by antenna filter 2 is tuned to a frequency of a received channel, and an undesired frequency is removed. High-frequency amplifier 3 is connected to an output part of antenna filter 2 and amplifies the high frequency signal.
An output part of high frequency amplifier 3 is connected to step-to-step filter 4. Step-to-step filter 4 is a double tuning filter.
Mixer 5 is a double balanced mixer, and one input part thereof is connected to the output part of step-to-step filter 4 and the other input part is connected to the output part of frequency-variable local oscillator 6. Mixer 5 converts the frequency of a signal to a predetermined intermediate frequency (IF).
Band-pass filter 7 receives an output from mixer 5, and removes signals other than a desired signal. An output from band-pass filter 7 is supplied to output terminal 8.
Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. H7-297682, for example, is known as prior art information related to the present invention.
The frequency conversion by a mixer generally generates an image interfering signal, so that an image (this is simply called an image) for generating the image interfering signal must be previously suppressed with a filter on the upstream side of the mixer. The conventional high frequency receiver therefore increases a damping amount of the image with respect to frequency, using a filter having a high-performance damping characteristic in a two-stage structure of a single tuning filter and a double tuning filter.
The conventional high frequency receiver requires two filters, namely one double tuning filter having two tuning circuits and one single tuning filter, so that the receiver is expensive.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A turbogenerator power electronics system for use with a turbogenerator is described, wherein the turbogenerator power electronics system comprises a plurality of power electronics subsystems connected in parallel, each power electronics subsystem comprising an inverter. In such a way, a modular, reconfigurable power electronics system with increased ability to operate during a fault is provided.

In the state of the art, power electronics systems frequently include inverter systems that convert direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The incorporation of an inverter remains commonplace where any power electronics system operates in tandem with a turbogenerator system.
The electrical output of any turbogenerator system may lie anywhere within a wide range of values, depending on the specific size and use of the turbogenerator system in question. As such, the capacity of any inverter operating alongside a turbogenerator system must also be chosen and tailored to meet the operational requirement of the turbogenerator system.
To provide an inverter which meets the requirements of any one particular turbogenerator system, it is common to design a specific, custom inverter unit. In this way, the inverter unit will have a capacity which is precisely aligned with the output of the turbogenerator system. However, such an approach is problematic as any fault with the inverter will result in the complete shutdown of the turbogenerator unit and, therefore, the generation of electrical power. Additionally, the design and construction of a custom inverter is often relatively expensive, placing this technology out of the reach of many businesses and industries.

Power electronics system comprising parallel inverters


In a method for manufacturing an electrically writeable and erasable ad-only memory cell arrangement, by self-adjusting process steps, a read-only memory cell arrangement having memory cells that respectively comprise an MOS transistor with a floating gate is manufactured. The MOS transistors are arranged in rows that run parallel. Adjacent rows thus respectively run alternately on the bottom of longitudinal trenches and between adjacent longitudinal trenches. The control gates laterally surround the floating gates so that the memory cells on the bottom of the longitudinal trenches also comprise a coupling ratio>1. A surface requirement per memory cell of 2F.sup.2 (F minimum structural size) is achieved.

For many applications, read-only memory cell arrangements with electrically writeable and electrically erasable read-only memory cells in silicon technology, known as flash EEPROM, are required. These flash EEPROM arrangements maintain the stored data even without a voltage supply.
Technologically, these memory cells are mostly realized by an MOS transistor comprising in the channel region a first dielectric, a floating gate, a second dielectric and a control gate. If a charge is stored on the floating gate, this influences the threshold voltage of the MOS transistor. In such a memory cell arrangement, the state charge on the floating gate" is allocated to a second logical value. The information is written into the memory cells via a Fowler-Nordheim tunnel current, through which electrons are injected onto the floating gate. The information is erased by a tunnel current in the opposed direction through the first dielectric.
The MOS transistors are formed in memory cell arrangements of this sort as planar MOS transistors, and are arranged in a planar cell architecture. In this way, the theoretically minimum surface requirement of a memory cell is 4F.sup.2, whereby F is the smallest manufacturable structural size in the respective technology. Flash EEPROM arrangements of this type are currently offered for data quantities of a maximum of 64 Mbit.
In EP 0 673 070 A2, an EEPROM arrangement was proposed in which planar MOS transistors in the sense of a NAND logic are connected in series. Source/drain regions connected with one another of adjacent MOS transistors are thus designed as a common doped region. The EEPROM arrangement is realized in a semiconductor substrate that is provided on a main surface with strip-shaped trenches running in parallel. The MOS transistors connected in series are respectively arranged on the bottom of the trenches or between adjacent trenches on the main surface of the substrate. Adjacent rows of MOS transistors are insulated against one another by the side wall of the trenches, and insulating spacers are provided on the side wall of the trenches. The floating gates of the MOS transistors arranged on the bottom of the trench respectively fill out the trench width. Due to the insulating spacers arranged on the side walls of the trenches, the width of the floating gate at the boundary surface to the second dielectric is slightly larger than at the boundary surface to the first dielectric. The known EEPROM arrangement thus comprises a coupling ratio close to one. The term coupling ratio designates the quotient of the capacitance between the control gate and the floating gate and the capacitance between the floating gate and the channel region.

Method for manufacturing an electrically writeable and erasable read-only memory cell arrangement


In an optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus having a device for seeking a predetermined position on a postscript type optical disc, a device for reading recorded data from the disc, and a device for recording data and a time table on predetermined data area and table area of the disc, respectively, a method of recording the time table comprising the steps of: reading position data corresponding to a position of each recorded data on the disc; detecting remaining data area on which no data is recorded; dividing the remaining data area into a plurality of small areas; and recording the position data of each recorded data and each small area on the time table area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc recording/reproducing apparatus using a postscript type CD-R disc which can record music data and so forth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Thus far, a postscript type CD which satisfies the optical standard of a CD (Compact Disc) and which can reproduce data which has been recorded thereon with a conventional CD player is becoming known. This type CD is hereinafter referred to as the CD-R. With this postscript type CD-R, a small number of CDs can be easily produced for specific purposes and personal use.
A CD is provided with a TOC (Table of Contents) at a lead-in area located on the outermost periphery thereof. In the TOC, data position information such as an absolute time at which each music program recorded on the disc starts, a first music program number, a last music program number, and an end time at which the last music program ends is recorded. In a conventional CD player, usually, this lead-in TOC is first accessed. Thus, the data position information is obtained. With this data position information, a pick-up is accessed to a desired music program position and a random access operation is performed.
With respect to the postscript type CD-R, so far the following techniques for recording TOC data have been proposed.
One of these techniques is referred to as the after-TOC technique. In this technique, all music programs to be recorded are recorded on a disc. After TOC data according to the recorded music programs has been designated, TOC data is recorded at the lead-in area. This after-TOC technique is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,927.
The other technique is referred to as the pre-TOC technique. In this technique, a TOC area has been recorded in advance so that music program areas are divided into segments of a predetermined time period. After the TOC data has been recorded, music data is recorded in accordance with the music program areas divided by the TOC data.
In the after-TOC technique, since the TOC data is recorded after the music data has been recorded and then the TOC data has been designated, the start time and end time of each music program which has been recorded accord with those designated with the TOC data. Thus, when a music program is reproduced, its start and end position can be easily accessed.
However, in the postscript type CD, the TOC data cannot be changed. Thus, in the after-TOC technique, even if a blank area is present in a record area where music data has been initially recorded, another music data cannot be recorded on a postscript basis. This is because the postscript music data causes the TOC to be changed. Thus, in the after-TOC technique, the record area is sometimes wastefully used.
On the other hand, in the pre-TOC technique, since a TOC which divides music data into segments of a predetermined time period has been recorded, a music data area for each music program has been provided in advance. Thus, on a disc where several music programs have been recorded, music data can be recorded on the postscript basis. However, in the pre-TOC technique, since the music data area is divided into segments of a predetermined time period, the time period of a music program which has been recorded does not sometimes match that designated with the TOC data. Thus, it becomes difficult to access the start and positions of each music program by using the TOC data.

Disc recording/reproducing apparatus with a selectable method of generating a table of contents


Disclosed are a method, system, and computer program product for implementing incremental placement for an electronic design while predicting and minimizing a perturbation impact arising from incremental placement of electronic components. In some embodiments, an initial placement of an electronic design is identified, an abstract flow is computed, target locations of various electronic components to be placed are identified, a relative ordering of electronic components is determined, and the placement is then legalized. Furthermore, in various embodiments, the method, system, or computer program product starts with an initial placement of an electronic design and derives a legal placement by using an incremental placement technique while minimizing the perturbation impact or an total quadratic movement of instances. In some embodiments, an augmented or incremental clumping technique based data structure is utilized for rapid and substantially exact perturbation prediction of effects of local incremental placement operations.

Modern integrated circuit design has become an enormously complex problem. Issues such as timing, manufacturability, noise and crosstalk have become substantial hurdles for many designs. With physical effects having increasing impact on the behavior of integrated circuits, it becomes clear that the idealized "top-down" design flow has become impossible. For example, prediction of timing prior to placement has limited worth, as the correlation between such predictions and the post-placement timing has weakened. Thus, the incremental design paradigm has taken hold.
In an incremental design flow, emphasis is placed on iteratively performing analysis to determine problem areas, and re-executing parts of the design flow to correct these problems as they are identified. For instance, one might perform a placement, obtain some timing estimates, then insert buffers and re-do placement in order to improve timing.
Moreover, when placing the components of an electronic circuit, such as some standard cells instances, as part of the placement process in an integrated circuit digital design flow, a reiterative or incremental placement process is often used to analyze and resolve timing and design issues. For example, CAD (Computer Aided Design) tools may perform a placement, generate timing estimates, then insert buffers to improve timing. These tools are then re-run to perform another placement, timing analysis, and correction. In an incremental design flow, this iterative process of placement, analysis, correction and re-placement continues until timing and design closure is reached. A primary concern in this incremental placement flow is the minimization of perturbation (disturbance) of the prior placement. Specifically, if a new placement differs significantly from the previous placement, this difference can introduce additional timing problems, and the design flow may not converge to a satisfactory solution. Therefore, the most stable and satisfactory results are obtained when a new placement is produced that corrects timing problems and which differs minimally from the prior placement.
In the integrated circuit design literature, the search for an optimal or nearly optimal method, algorithm, or technique that creates new placements with minimal disturbance of the prior placement is referred to as a search for legal placements with minimized perturbation. This is a difficult challenge and prior attempts to find satisfactory incremental placement algorithms have had limited success.
Existing approaches to obtain placement legalization with perturbation minimization sometimes use flow-based techniques as a final placement step or, in an incremental placement flow, use simulated annealing, exhaustive search (branch-and-bound) and, more recently, diffusion-based placement techniques. One of the primary drawbacks of flow-based techniques is that these conventional flow-based techniques lack the capability of predicting perturbation which arises from cell movements. This lack of prediction in conventional flow-based legalization techniques often leads to inferior quality of placement results. Another limitation of flow-based methods is that they are applied once at a final placement stage and do not satisfactorily predict the movement of cells that will result from adding and removing cells from a placement.
Other existing approaches such as the simulated annealing, exhaustive search (branch-and-bound), and diffusion-based placement techniques are slow and inefficient (require more computer cycles) and do not result in new legalized placements that minimally disturb the prior placement.
Another approach utilizes the technique of network flow or greedy techniques. This approach tends to, however, miss a lot of opportunity to reduce perturbation by making somewhat arbitrary decision at the flow realization stage but not predicting such perturbation and are thus relatively inflexible. Another approach utilizes local search based methods. This approach wastes computational resources by examining many interesting possibilities.
Another school of conventional approaches is to utilize the placement techniques using the clumping algorithm. However, the conventional clumping algorithm as used in the conventional placement techniques does not provide incremental capabilities. Moreover, the conventional clumping algorithm approach is typically used as a touch-up final phase for the legalization rather than some tool which may be iteratively called and executed many times.
Another approach to address the problems described above is to use the diffusion-based technique. These approaches are, however, computationally expensive and inefficient and thus may be prohibitively expensive for incremental placement, since in an incremental design flow, incremental placement may be called and executed many times in an iterative fashion. The diffusion-based technique is also inflexible in the sense that it is more difficult to tune.

Method, system, and computer program product for implementing incremental placement in electronics design


An absorbent material that can be used as an absorbent core in absorbent articles such as disposable diapers, feminine hygiene products and incontinence devices is provided. An absorbent material of this invention contains a blend of cellulosic fibers and a superabsorbent material. The absorbent material has superior wicking, strength and softness properties when compared to existing core materials. The material can be air-laid as a homogeneous blend of fiber and superabsorbent in one or more layers.

Disposable absorbent articles, such as diapers, feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence devices and the like have found widespread acceptance. To function efficiently, such absorbent articles must quickly absorb body liquids, distribute those liquids within and throughout the absorbent article and be capable of retaining those body liquids when placed under loads. In addition, the absorbent article need be sufficiently soft and flexible so as to comfortably conform to body surfaces.
While the design of individual absorbent articles varies depending upon use, there are certain elements or components common to such articles. The absorbent article contains a liquid pervious top sheet or facing layer, which facing layer is designed to be in contact with a body surface. The facing layer is made of a material that allows for the unimpeded transfer of fluid from the body into the core of the article. The facing layer should not absorb fluid per se and, thus, should remain dry. The article further contains a liquid impervious back sheet or backing layer disposed on the outer surface of the article and which layer is designed to prevent the leakage of fluid out of the article.
Disposed between the facing layer and backing layer is an absorbent member referred to in the art as an absorbent core. The function of the absorbent core is to absorb and retain body fluids entering the absorbent article through the facing layer. Because the origin of body fluids is localized, it is necessary to provide a means for distributing fluid throughout the dimensions of the absorbent core. This is typically accomplished either by providing a distribution member disposed between the facing layer and absorbent core and/or altering the composition of the absorbent core per se.
Fluid can be distributed to different portions of the absorbent core by means of a transfer or acquisition layer disposed between the facing layer and core. Because of the proximity of such an acquisition layer to the body surface of the wearer, the acquisition layer should not be formed from material that retains large amounts of fluid. The purpose of the acquisition layer is to provide for rapid transfer and distribution of fluid to the absorbent core.
The absorbent core is typically formulated of a cellulosic wood fiber matrix or pulp, which pulp is capable of absorbing large quantities of fluid. Absorbent cores can be designed in a variety of ways to enhance fluid absorption and retention properties. By way of example, the fluid retention characteristics of absorbent cores can be greatly enhanced by disposing superabsorbent materials in amongst fibers of the wood pulp. Superabsorbent materials are well known in the art as substantially water-insoluble, absorbent polymeric compositions that are capable of absorbing large amounts of fluid in relation to their weight and forming hydrogels upon such absorption. Absorbent articles containing blends or mixtures of pulp and superabsorbents are known in the art.
The distribution of superbasorbents within an absorbent core can be uniform or non-uniform. By way of example, that portion of an absorbent core proximate to the backing layer (farthest away from the wearer) can be formulated to contain higher levels of superabsorbent than those portions of the core proximate the facing or acquisition layer. By way of further example, that portion of the core closest to the site of fluid entry (e.g., acquisition zone) can be formulated to wick fluid into surrounding portions of the core (e.g., storage zone).
In addition to blending pulp with superabsorbent material, a variety of other means for improving the characteristics of pulp have been described. For example, pulp boards can be more easily defiberized by using chemical debonding agents (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,933). In addition, cellulose fibers of wood pulp can be flash-dried prior to incorporation into a composite web absorbent material (see, e.g., U.K. Patent Application GB 2272916A published on Jun. 1, 1994). Still further, the individualized cellulosic fibers of wood pulp can be cross-linked (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,822,453; 4,888,093; 5,190,563; and 5,252,275). All of these expedients have the disadvantage of requiring the wood pulp manufacturer to perform time-intensive, expensive procedures during the wood pulp preparation steps. Thus, use of these steps results in substantial increases in the cost of wood pulp.
Although all of the above treatment steps have been reported to improve the absorption characteristics of pulp for use as absorbent cores, there are certain disadvantages associated with such treatments. By way of example, the manufacturer of the end use absorbent article (e.g. feminine hygiene product or diaper) must fluff the fibers in the wood pulp so as to detach the individual fibers bound in that pulp. Typically, pulp has a low moisture content which results in the individual fibers being relatively brittle. If the pulp manufacturer performs such fluffing prior to shipment to the absorbent article maker, the transportation costs of the pulp are increased. At least one pulp manufacturer has attempted to solve this problem by producing flash-dried pulp without chemical bonding agents in a narrow range of basis weights in pulp density (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,005). However, even with this process, the manufacturer of the absorbent article must still defiber the pulp after purchase.
There continues to be a need in the art, therefore, for a material that satisfies the absorbency requirements needed for use as absorbent core in disposable absorbent articles and which simultaneously provides time and cost savings to both the pulp manufacturer and the manufacturer of the absorbent article.

Soft, strong, absorbent material for use in absorbent articles


A shaft tool for metal cutting machining, includes a cutting portion and a shaft portion. The cutting portion includes a fist part formed with a cutting edge, and a second part formed with an external screw thread. The first and second parts are of one-piece integral construction. The shaft portion includes an internal screw thread to which the external screw thread is removably secured.

The present invention relates to a shaft tool with a detachable top for metal cutting machining.
Most rotating cutting tools comprise a shaft portion for fixing the tool in a holder and an operative cutting portion comprising cutting edges of a hard material such as cemented carbide, different ceramics, polycrystalline diamond and cubic boron nitride. The cemented carbide may be either coated or uncoated. Usually, the cutting edges consist of one or more of the edge lines on a cutting insert that is fastened upon and constitutes the active, cutting part of the operative cutting portion. This cutting insert is often fastened by a screw, the cutting insert having a through-hole, through which the screw is introduced. In other cases the cutting insert is fastened by a clamp or similar fastening or squeezing element; or by soldering or brazing. Although these well-known fastening arrangements function satisfactorily per se, they are all marred by different inconveniences. Thus, screws and clamps may for instance burst after repeated and/or too strong tightening, or they may sometimes loosen due to vibrations, which in a best case makes necessary a retightening but in a worst case may cause a tool breakdown. Moreover, soldering may cause brittleness and micro-cracks due to the heat when soldering, particularly in the soldered seam. Furthermore, a damaged soldered cutting insert cannot be replaced, wherefore the whole tool has to be disposed of, which of course increases costs. A further disadvantage in connection with locking screws is that it is time-consuming to screw and unscrew locking screws for the fastening of indexable cutting inserts, particularly when there are tens or even hundreds of cutting inserts to be mounted, demounted or indexed.
Tools that are smaller in volume, such as end mills and drills, are usually made integrally of one single piece, whereby they consist of the same hard material as the cutting edges. This brings the advantage that the boundary layer of a screw joint, a clamp joint, a soldered seam, etc, is avoided. On the other hand, this "entirety solution" entails that the expensive and sometimes brittle and heat variation sensible hard material also is present in tool parts where it would not be necessary, for instance in the shaft portion.
Still further fastening arrangements comprise wedges, draw bars, etc.
One drawback in connection with more bulky and material-demanding rotary cutting tools is that each individual tool requires its own material-demanding shaft portion, in spite of the fact that this portion is not worn to the same extent as the operative cutting portion.
Thus, a first object of the present invention is to provide a tool which in first hand is a rotating cutting tool and which comprises a simplest possible fastening arrangement between the shaft portion of the tool and the operative cutting portion.
A second object of the present invention is to decrease the material consumption when manufacturing the tool.
Still another object of the present invention is to lay the basis of a more flexible and polyvalent tool system.


A process for checking the air pressure in the tires of motor vehicle wheels wherein at least a pressure signal characteristic for the air pressure will be picked up as a measured signal by a measurement device located in or on the tire of each motor vehicle wheel, wherein at least. a data signal containing a measured air pressure value derived from the pressure signal as well as an identification value characteristic for the respective transmitter device will be generated and output by a transmitter device located in or on the tire of each motor vehicle wheel, wherein the data signal output by the transmitter devices will be received by a reception device located at a distance to the motor vehicle wheels, and wherein the identification value of the transmitter device contained in the data signal will be compared by a control unit to identification comparison values assigned to the respective transmitter devices such that further processing of the data signal by the control unit will be effected only, if the identification value and the identification comparison value meet a specified assignment criterion.

The invention concerns a process for checking air pressure in vehicle wheel tires, as known from EP 0 626 911 B1.
The correct air pressure setting in vehicle wheel tires is of major significance for reasons of economic efficiency and driving safety: an incorrectly set air pressure value--i.e. if the actual air pressure is either too high or too low--will cause increased tire wear on the one hand, necessitating early tire changes, as well as an increase in fuel consumption, and will lead on the other hand to an increase in sidewall flexing as a result of which tire temperatures rise very significantly; this may lead to the destruction of the tire even (in particular when the motor vehicle is traveling at high speeds) which frequently causes extremely serious traffic accidents.
For these reasons, tire pressures should/must be checked at regular intervals; in the case of trucks this check should/must be carried out on a daily basis. However, this check is frequently not carried out as measuring tire air pressure is a relatively timeconsuming and even dirty task which also requires a certain degree of technical skill. Therefore, processes are known already, for example from DE 39 30 489 A1, that are used to measure the air pressure in the tires of motor vehicle wheels by means of a pressure sensor located on the motor vehicle wheel and to indicate to the driver by some suitable means the air pressure signal actually measured.
In the generic type process of EP 626 911 B1, the pressure obtaining in the air chamber of the motor vehicle wheel will be measured by means of a pressure measurement device fitted in or on the tire of each motor vehicle wheel; then, an electric signal representative of the measured air pressure value will be output, and, by means of a transmitter device fitted in or on the tire of each motor vehicle wheel (directly on the valve, for example), a data signal comprising at least the measured air pressure value and an identification value will be generated from the electrical signal, and output; then, the data signals output by the transmitter devices will be detected by means of a stationary reception device, or a reception device fitted in the vehicle, and by means of a control unit these data signals will be evaluated. For reasons of data transmission reliability between the transmitter devices and the reception device (protection against interference signals), the reception unit features identification comparison values that are assigned to the respective identification values of the transmitter devices (thus, the identification value and the assigned identification comparison value are either identical or are found to be in a certain relationship towards each other); fiirther processing of the data signal will take place only if the identification value transmitted by the transmitter device and received by the reception device is identical with the identification comparison value of the reception unit or has been assigned to the same. The identification comparison value can be changed in order to allow a (variable) assignment of the positions of the motor vehicle wheels (for instance when changing a tire, or when changing over from summer tires to winter tires and vice versa); to this end, a control unit enables the reception device to be switched over from its normal operating mode--in which air pressure is checked--into a pairing mode, in which the reception device will receive the identification value output by each transmitter device and store this value as an identification comparison value together with the assignment of the respective wheel position. The disadvantage here is that the assignment or definition of the positions of the motor vehicle wheels is very complex and does not happen automatically.

Process for checking air pressure in vehicle wheel tires


A display device for indicating the internal pressure of a tube of an infusion device having an infusion drive for supplying an infusion fluid from a solution container to the human body through the tube and a sensor for detecting the internal pressure of the tube. The display device includes a message indicator for displaying the internal pressure of the tube as detected by the sensor. The message indicator has a plurality of alphanumeric display elements each consisting of a plurality of segments. The display elements are used to display a value, in alphanumeric terms, of the internal pressure of the tube. Further, some of the segments of the display elements are used to display the quantitative change of the pressure as a bar graph.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device for indicating the internal pressure of the tube of an infusion device, and more particularly, to a display device for informing the user such as a nurse or hospital staff of the pressure detected by an occlusion detector mounted on the downstream of the tube of the infusion device for supplying an infusion fluid from a solution container to the human body through the tube.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a medical infusion device, an infusion drive disposed on the tube thereof operates to infuse a fluid from a solution container to the human body through the tube. There are cases where a partial or total occlusion occurs in the tube between the infusion device and the patient. In order to detect such an occlusion, an occlusion detector comprising a sensor for detecting the tube internal pressure is mounted in the downstream side of an infusion drive means. The occlusion detector is connected to a microcomputer for controlling the operation of the infusion drive means. If the internal pressure of the tube exceeds a predetermined pressure, the operation of the infusion drive means is suspended and an alarm sounds based on the decision that the tube has been occluded.
As apparent from the above, conventionally, it is not until an alarm is given as a result of the stop of the infusion supply operation due to the occurrence of a tube occlusion that the user such as a nurse or hospital staff is informed of the tube occlusion. Such being the case, it is necessary for the user to carry out a troublesome work in order to resume the infusion supply operation. In addition, known medical infusion device has a disadvantage that the infusion supply operation is suspended although a patient requires a continuous supply of infusion. Further, it is necessary to check the cause of the tube occlusion and whether or not the tube occlusion has been already released. Thus, it takes time and labor to resume the infusion supply operation.

Display device for indicating the internal pressure of the tube of an infusion pump


The present invention provides a nitrogen-containing carbon material characterized in that it satisfies a specific relational expression between the number ratio of nitrogen atoms to carbon atoms and the number ratio of hydrogen atoms to carbon atoms and has peaks in specific regions in the X-ray diffraction and in the laser Raman spectrum. The nitrogen-containing carbon material of the present invention can be produced by carbonizing azulmic acid in an inert gas atmosphere, and it is useful as an electrode material or the like because it has a high nitrogen content and a low hydrogen content.

Carbon materials, which have been used mainly for adsorbents and the like, are being investigated for wide applications because they have basic properties such as physical properties for electronic materials such as conductivity, high thermal conductivity, a low coefficient of thermal expansion, lightness, and heat resistance. In recent years, their physical properties for electronic materials have received attention, and they are thus used in or investigated particularly for electronic material fields such as lithium ion secondary battery negative electrodes and capacitor electrodes.
Such carbon materials are produced by using coconut husks, coal coke, coal or petroleum pitch, furan resins, phenol resins or the like as a raw material and subjecting the raw material to carbonization.
In recent years, there have been attempts to develop carbon materials by allowing such carbon materials to contain other elements to further extend the range of the physical properties of the carbon materials. Under these circumstances, nitrogen-containing carbon materials have recently received attention because of reports that they provide improved electrochemical characteristics in applications such as lithium ion secondary battery negative electrodes and capacitor electrodes and electrodes for electrolysis (refer, for example, to Patent Documents 1 and 2) and reports on the characteristics thereof as adsorbents (refer, for example, to Patent Document 3) and as hydrogen-occluding materials (refer, for example, to Patent Documents 4 and 5).
Conventionally known methods of producing nitrogen-containing carbon materials and such nitrogen-containing carbon materials are listed below.
As the methods of producing nitrogen-containing carbon materials, there are mainly known (1) a method of subjecting a low molecular nitrogen-containing organic compound as a raw material to chemical vapor deposition (CVD); (2) a method of polymerizing a low molecular nitrogen-containing organic compound as a raw material and then subjecting the resulting resin to carbonization; and the like.
In the above-described (1), there are known, for example, a method of depositing a nitrogen-containing organic compound such as pyrrole on a substrate (refer to Patent Documents 6 and 7); a method of depositing a nitrogen-containing organic compound in the pores of a porous body (refer to Patent Document 3); a method of depositing an acyclic organic compound such as acetonitrile on a carbon material (refer to Patent Documents 8 and 5); a method of polymerizing 2,3,6,7-tetracyano-1,4,5,8-tetraazanaphthalene and carbonizing the resulting polymer at a high temperature (refer to Patent Document 9); and the like.
In the above-described (2), there are known, for example, a method of carbonizing a melamine resin, a urea resin, an aniline resin at a high temperature (refer to Patent Document 10); a method of carbonizing a polyimide at a high temperature (refer to Patent Document 1); a method of carbonizing a polyaniline at a high temperature (refer to Patent Document 2); a method of carbonizing a polypyrrole at a high temperature (refer to Patent Document 11); a method of mixing phthalocyanine with a precursor of a furan resin and then carbonizing the resulting mixture at a high temperature (refer to Patent Document 12); a method of carbonizing polyacrylonitrile at a high temperature (refer, for example, to Patent Document 13); and the like.
However, neither the method (1) nor the method (2) is an economical production. In addition, they are not a satisfactory method of producing a material having a high nitrogen content and a low hydrogen content.
That is, the method (1) is not preferred because a process using CVD itself is not suitable for industrial mass-production, and because when a halogen-containing compound such as chlorine is used in a CVD process there is a problem of corrosion of materials.
In the method (2), an expensive resin such as a resin whose monomer used as a raw material is produced by a complicated production process such as multistage reaction or a resin which is not industrially mass-produced is used as a raw material to produce a carbonized product. Therefore, considering processes starting from a basic raw material, there is a problem of consuming an enormous amount of raw materials and energy until a carbon material is produced. Further, since a polymerization process and a process of forming resins or fibers are complicated, a nitrogen-containing carbon material obtained by carbonization consumes an increasingly greater amount of raw materials and energy. This increases the cost of nitrogen-containing carbon materials, making it unsatisfactory for them to be supplied to various applications. Furthermore, there have been problems such as a problem that the yield of a carbonized product at carbonization is low; a problem that the nitrogen content in the obtained nitrogen-containing carbon material is low; or a problem that when carbonization temperature is lowered or carbonization time is shortened in order to increase the nitrogen content, the progress of carbonization is suppressed to increase hydrogen content, leading to insufficient formation of a conjugated structure, which prevents development of characteristics as a carbon material in the first place. In addition, use of halogen such as chlorine or application of high pressure in the carbonization process is industrially disadvantageous in terms of materials and operation.
Characteristics as a substance of nitrogen-containing carbon materials having been produced by the above-described methods will be summarized below as follows.
A nitrogen-containing carbon material obtained by CVD generally has a low nitrogen content and a high hydrogen content, contains a residual nitrile group or a residual halogen group, and tends to have a shorter interlayer spacing of a layered structure. For example, in Patent Documents 6, 9, and 5, a nitrogen-containing carbon material is produced by CVD using pyrrole, 2,3,6,7-tetracyano-1,4,5,8-tetraazanaphthalene, acetonitrile, or cyanogen bromide as a raw material. However, it has a low nitrogen content or a high hydrogen content, contains a residual nitrile group or a residual halogen group, or has a short interlayer spacing. That is, in the X-ray diffraction pattern thereof, the peak location of the angle of diffraction (20) corresponding to the (002) plane is 26.50 (corresponding to a interlayer spacing of 3.36 angstroms).
Patent Document 11 discloses an example of producing a nitrogen-containing carbon material obtained by a method in which pyrrole is polymerized and the resulting polymer is carbonized at a high temperature. In the X-ray diffraction pattern of the resulting nitrogen-containing carbon material, the peak location of the angle of diffraction (2θ) corresponding to the (002) plane is 26.0°, which corresponds to a interlayer spacing of 3.42 angstroms. Patent Document 11 also discloses the laser Raman spectrum of the nitrogen-containing carbon material, wherein the peaks are located at 1,600 cm−1 corresponding to crystallinity and 1,350 cm−1 corresponding to amorphousness, showing substantially no peak shift. The 1,600 cm−1 and 1,350 cm−1 peaks are clearly separated, indicating that the Raman peaks each have a narrow half-width.
The above-described Patent Document 4 discloses a nitrogen-containing carbon material produced by CVD from N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone. The laser Raman spectrum data of the resulting nitrogen-containing carbon material shows that the nitrogen-containing carbon material has a peak at 1,350 cm−1 with a sharp half-width of 97 cm−1. Patent Document 4 also discloses an example in which a nitrogen-containing carbon material is produced by pulverizing graphite powder at a very high acceleration of pulverization under a high-pressure nitrogen atmosphere. However, the 1,350 cm−1 peak has a relatively sharp half-width of 87 cm−1 at the most.
The half-width or the broadness of a peak of the laser Raman spectrum is an index showing crystallinity, and it is well known that the peak becomes sharper as the crystallinity increases (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
That is, the nitrogen-containing carbon materials obtained by conventional techniques are those having at least one of the following four characteristics: (i) having a low nitrogen content, having a high hydrogen content, and/or containing a nitrile group and a halogen group; (ii) having a short interlayer spacing of the (002) plane as measured by X-ray diffraction; (iii) having a peak of the spectrum measured by laser Raman spectroscopy which is not shifted; and (iv) having a peak with a small half-width, showing high crystallinity.
It is known that carbon materials having a higher nitrogen atom content are more advantageous as a carbon material used in electronic material applications such as lithium ion secondary batteries and capacitors (for example, Patent Documents 7 and 14). In addition, a lower hydrogen content is more advantageous to electronic physical properties such as electron conductivity because the lower the hydrogen content, the more the conjugated structure develops. Preferably, a functional group is not present.
It is known that a carbon material having a low crystallinity is known as a non-graphitizable carbon (also referred to as a hard carbon), which is advantageous to the improvement of capacitance (for example, Non-Patent Document 2). It is also known that the low crystallinity makes it possible to use propylene carbonate which is excellent in low temperature operating characteristics as a solvent for an electrolyte (for example, Non-Patent Document 3).
Moreover, a large interlayer spacing is advantageous to the formation of an intercalation compound. In the case of a lithium ion secondary battery, it is advantageous to the insertion of lithium ions into and elimination from between the layers.
Therefore, a new carbon material having none of the above characteristics (i) to (iv) has been desired.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2001-80914
Patent Document 2: JP-A-10-21918
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2004-168587
Patent Document 4: JP-A-2005-798
Patent Document 5: JP-A-2003-277026
Patent Document 6: JP-A-7-90588
Patent Document 7: JP-A-9-27317
Patent Document 8: JP-A-2004-342463
Patent Document 9: JP-A-2003-137524
Patent Document 10: JP-A-2000-1306
Patent Document 11: JP-A-8-165111
Patent Document 12: JP-A-2004-362802
Patent Document 13: JP-A-8-180866
Patent Document 14: JP-A-2005-239456
Non-Patent Document 1: Large-capacity secondary battery for automobiles, p. 140, CMC Publishing (2003)
Non-Patent Document 2: Carbon material for negative electrode lithium ion secondary battery, P. 4, Realize Co. (1996)
Non-Patent Document 3: Carbon material for negative electrode for lithium ion secondary battery, P. 11, Realize Co. (1996)
In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide an energy-saving, resource-saving method of producing a nitrogen-containing carbon material characterized by utilization of a monomer directly derived from a basic chemical raw material such as natural gas or a fraction from a naphtha cracker or produced as a by-product thereof, simplicity of the polymerization step and the polymer pulverization step which is a step after polymerization, and a high carbonized-product yield in the step of carbonizing the obtained pulverized polymer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of producing a nitrogen-containing carbon material which is industrially simple and allows mass production.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new nitrogen-containing carbon material having a high nitrogen atom content, a low hydrogen atom content, a low residual ratio of a nitrile group and a halogen group, a layered structure, a long interlayer spacing, and a specific peak shift in the laser Raman spectrum.

Nitrogen-containing carbon material and method of producing the same


An image processing apparatus includes a document feeding unit, a document reading unit, a first set-document direction accepting key, an automatic determination mode setting accepting key, a set-document direction determining unit, and an image processor. The set-document direction determining unit is configured to determine, on a per-page basis, a set-document direction of documents set on the document feeding unit, based on original image data read by the document reading unit. The image processor is configured to perform a rotation process on original image data read by the document reading unit, based on the determination result by the set-document direction determining unit, and to perform a rotation process based on the first set-document direction accepted by the first set-document direction accepting key for a page for which the determination by the set document direction determining unit fails.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Since directions of upper edges of a bundle of documents set at a document feeding unit are not always aligned, the following technique has been proposed. The technique automatically determines set document directions of respective pages based on read original image data. Based on the determination result, the technique performs a rotation process on the original image data on the respective pages as necessary to automatically align upper edges of the original image data upward.
The determination process of set document direction is generally performed based on characters itself, which have directionality, and a layout with page number notation or similar. If the bundle of documents includes a document that includes only a photograph or an illustration or a blank document, the set document direction is failed to be determined or results in erroneous determination. Accordingly, the document that includes only a photograph or an illustration may have a different upper edge from other pages. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 16, if the third page is a document that includes only a photograph or an illustration and therefore the set document direction is failed to be determined or results in erroneous determination, the rotation process possibly rotates the document in any direction. The possibility of rotation in correct direction is around one-quarter.
Therefore, if the set document direction is failed to be determined, there has been proposed a technique that determines the set document direction with reference to a back surface. Alternatively, there has been proposed a technique that determines only a set document direction of a first page, and the technique performs the rotation process same as the rotation process of the first page on original image data on all pages based on the determination result.
However, determining the set document direction with reference to the back surface is effective to a document whose front and back surfaces are mistakenly set or a duplex printed document. However, there is a problem that such technique cannot handle a document where only a photograph or an illustration is printed on one surface.
Assume that the rotation process same as the rotation process of the first page is performed on the original image data on all pages based on the determination result of the first page. If directions of images on some pages differ from images on other pages among the bundle of documents, there is a problem that only these some pages have upper edges different from other pages. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 17, assume that the set document direction on the fourth page has an upper-edge at back and therefore differs from an upper-edge at left, which is the set document direction of the first page. Then, the original image data on the fourth page is rotated right by 90 degree same as the rotation of the first page, thus setting a different upper edge only to the original image data on the fourth page.

Image processing apparatus creating image data with same direction