An image forming apparatus capable of carrying out color misregistration correction at an appropriate time and providing a high-quality image free from color misregistration. A toner image is formed on the basis of an input image information signal. A width of the toner image is determined on the basis of the input image information signal, before forming the toner image in a predetermined area. The width of the toner image formed in the predetermined area is detected. The detected width of the toner image is compared with the determined width of the toner image. It is judged on the basis of the comparison result whether or not color misregistration is present.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method which are of an electrophotographic type, an electrostatic recording type, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been proposed a one drum type multicolor image forming apparatus capable of forming a color image. This image forming apparatus irradiates a drum-shaped electrophotographic photosensitive member as an image carrier, i.e., a photosensitive drum with laser beams or light from a light-emitting element such as an LED and forms electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive drum by an electrophotographic process. The electrostatic latent images are converted into visible images (toner images) for respective color components such as magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (BK) using developing agents (toners) of the respective color components. In a transfer section, the toner images on the photosensitive drum are multiply transferred onto a transfer material conveyed by a drum-shaped transfer material conveying member (transfer drum) or the images are multiply transferred onto a belt-shaped intermediate transfer member (intermediate transfer belt) and then collectively transferred onto the transfer material.
There has also conventionally been proposed a color image forming apparatus having a plurality of photosensitive drums. This image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming sections, each of which performs a latent image forming step and a image development step on a corresponding photosensitive drum by an electrophotographic process. In a transfer section, toner images obtained in the image development step are multiply transferred onto a transfer material conveyed by a belt-shaped transfer material conveying member (transfer conveying belt) or the images are multiply transferred onto a belt-shaped intermediate transfer member (intermediate transfer belt) and then collectively transferred onto the transfer material.
An image forming apparatus of this type may suffer so-called "color misregistration" that is, a phenomenon in which images of respective colors are out of alignment when they are finally multiply transferred onto a transfer material. In particular, in a color image forming apparatus having a plurality of photosensitive drums, "color misregistration" may occur due to mechanical mounting errors among the photosensitive drums, errors in optical path length among laser beams, a change in optical path, or the like.
To cope with this, there is known an image forming apparatus which corrects color misregistration (see, e.g., Japanese Patent No. 02603254). In this image forming apparatus, optical sensors arranged adjacent to a photosensitive drum of an image forming section on the lowermost stream side read color misregistration correcting patterns formed on an intermediate transfer member (transfer and conveying belt) and detect color misregistration among images of respective colors formed on the transfer and conveying belt by image forming sections. The image forming apparatus performs electrical correction for image signals to be recorded on the basis of the detected color misregistration and, additionally or alternatively, drives turn-back mirrors provided in a laser beam optical path to automatically correct errors in optical path length or a change in optical path (a mode of performing automatic correction will hereinafter be referred to as an automatic adjustment mode).
The automatic adjustment mode is automatically activated, e.g., on the basis of the number of images formed or the number of hours the machine is used or at power-on to automatically correct process conditions for image formation.
Since a color misregistration correcting pattern is formed a plurality of times in the automatic adjustment mode to reduce errors caused by, e.g., eccentricity in a drive system, the automatic adjustment mode may last for several minutes. Also, the adjustments described above are performed between handling of one paper sheet (recording sheet) and that of another, and once the automatic adjustment mode is activated, image formation cannot be performed until the automatic adjustment mode exits. This reduces productivity.
To cope with this, there is known a technique for sensing color misregistration on the basis of an image formed on a recording sheet and correcting an image writing time and the like on the basis of the image (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-314911).
However, the technique of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-314911 suffers the following problems. First, an image with color misregistration is formed on a recording sheet until correction is performed. Secondly, if an appropriate image as shown in the embodiments of Japanese Patent No. 02603254 is not input, it is impossible to accurately perform color misregistration correction.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method


A vending arrangement for computerized vending machines, retail displays, automated retail stores, utilizes a centralized, robotic gantry associated with companion modules for vending a plurality of selectable products. The modularized design enables deployment of half-sized or larger, full sized machines. The robotic gantry is deployed in a centralized module disposed adjacent display and inventory modules. Inventory modules can be fitted to both gantry sides, and doors can be fitted to the gantry front or rear. The gantry comprises an internal, vertically displaceable elevator utilizing a central conveyor for laterally, horizontally moving selected items from associated display and inventory positions to a vending position. Computerized software enables the display and vending functions, and controls elevator movement to dispense products from twin sides of the gantry by appropriately controlling the conveyor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automated and modularized vending machines that can be custom deployed in diverse configurations. More specifically, the present invention relates to automated vending systems utilizing a common, robotic dispensing module and associated modules that can be assembled and configured to create diverse vending arrangements, with components linked together via a virtual integrated network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous prior art vending machines exist for selling or vending diverse products through an automated, or 'self-service' format. Vending reached popularity in the late 1800's with coin-operated devices dispensing diverse merchandise. More recently vending machines have evolved to include robotic dispensing components, and/or PCs and virtual interfaces. These new vending platforms have emerged in the marketplace under the popular descriptions "automated retail," "interactive retail," and/or "interactive retail displays." Such vending machines may be deployed within a variety of commercial or public settings. They typically include illuminated displays that seek to showcase merchandise and offer convenient purchasing.
In the vending arts, machines historically have a similar design and orientation that make them unable to easily change machine sizes and configurations, inventory storage sizes and product form factors without rebuilding or redesigning the machine. Typically machines are "one size fits all". There are some models of traditional vending machines that allow additional inventory areas to be added on, but these models do not utilize a robotic dispensing unit to move the product from the shelf to the collection area and rely on gravity (drop) systems. Because of the expense of robotic delivery systems and the configuration of these systems, these machines have been constrained to serving one user at a time through one side of the machine. In addition the machines come in a single size format and two machines have to be stacked adjacently to expand site capacity. In more modern robotic machines, the size of the machines tends to be larger than traditional vending and units cannot be reduced based on the robotic architecture and production of the machine. In all of these machines, the robotic dispensing system is built as a continuation of the inventory system and cannot be easily separated.
This invention introduces an isolated and centralized robotic dispensing system that can support multiple inventory areas and technologies within those areas. The system provides a single collection area (central column) that can be used with a number of different typed and sized inventory areas, solo or in any combination. With its orientation and modular design, it can be easily configured to vend out of multiple sides of the machine allowing more than one person to simultaneously conduct transactions within the same machine, or to contract into a half-sized machine (one inventory wing vs. two) Its design also allows for display components to be separately operating as independent merchandising displays that can be placed in a field apart from the centralized dispensing totem and connect to this totem via wireless connectivity, increasing merchandising capability.
There is great value in having a centralized and isolated universal system for collecting and dispensing items. Various inventory areas can be used with the same dispensing system allowing a great deal of flexibility in how the machine is configured. A machine can be composed of inventory elements, display units and a central dispensing area "strung together" enabling the machine footprint to grow/contract depending on environmental constraints. Inventory solutions can be updated and reconfigured to work with the central dispensing mechanism without significant customization of the dispensing mechanism, allowing for rapid accommodation of new types and amounts of merchandise for purchase or promotion.
This central dispensing system design allows greater reliability of dispensing by providing a uniform broader surface area (landing pad) for products to dispense. It also reduces axes of motion by 1 (e.g. X, Y, and Z reduces to Y and Z motion) by eliminating excess movement through inefficient placement of inventory and robotic components. Elimination of excess movement reduces potential points of failure and additional calibration and programming, along with increasing power efficiency and delivery speed. This design also affords the ability to dispense out of multiple sides of the machine allowing more than one user to use the machine at the same time.
It is thus desirable to provide a method and system that centralizes the robotic dispensing components into a separate area that can be combined with various numbers and sizes of inventory areas and various display doors to dynamically create a vending unit or automated retail store.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Modular vending with centralized robotic gantry


A frequency compensation circuit internal to an integrated circuit which comprises a transconductance amplifier having a first input configured to receive a reference voltage, a second input configured to receive an input voltage and an input current, a first output configured to output a first output current and a second output configured to output a second output current; and a compensation circuit connected to said second output of said transconductance amplifier, wherein said first output is connected to said second input.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a frequency compensation configuration for integrated circuit (IC) controllers using closed loop feedback. In particular, this invention relates to a circuit for summing the difference between two voltages with another variable, such as, for example, a current.
2. Background of the Related Art
In electronic circuit implementations of IC control systems, it is often required to sum a difference between a variable voltage and a reference voltage with another variable such as a current. It is also required to further process the summed result with an integrator that may, in addition to the pole near zero frequency, also have a real zero at a finite frequency, and to output this result as a voltage to be used in other functions.
This function would ordinarily be accomplished with a circuit implementation utilizing an operational amplifier as shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, the circuit includes an amplifier 20 having a gain of A, a voltage source 1, a current source 2 and a reference voltage 4. The voltage source 1 is coupled to a negative input of the amplifier 20 through a resistance 3 and the current source 2 is also coupled to the negative input of the amplifier 20. The reference voltage 4 is coupled to a positive input of the amplifier 20. The output of the amplifier 20 is coupled to the negative input through a feedback connection comprising a resistance 5 and a capacitance 6.
Assuming the input impedance of the amplifier 20 is large enough and initial conditions are ignored, the transfer function in the frequency domain of the circuit shown in FIG. 1 is:
                                                        -                              V                OUT                                                    (                                                                                V                      1                                        -                                          V                      REF                                        +                                                                  V                        OUT                                            A                                                                            R                                                                                s                                                  -                                  I                  2                                            )                                =                                                    S                                                                                R                  F                                                                  C                  F                                            +              1                                      S                                                                                C                  F                                                                  (                                      1                    +                                          1                      A                                                        )                                                                    ,                            (        1        )            where A is the gain of the amplifier 20. If A>>1, then the term 1/A becomes negligible. It is noted that this expression can be extended with additional voltage variable and/or current variable inputs (in addition to V1 and I2).
However, there are difficulties when implementing this circuit in an integrated circuit. For example, the required value CF of the capacitance 6 may be difficult to realize because of the physical size of the capacitance in the integrated circuit. It is also difficult to initialize a desired value of voltage on the capacitance 6 because neither of its terminals is grounded.
Therefore, there is a need for a circuit capable of summing the difference between two voltages with another variable such as a current that overcomes aforementioned difficulties associated with prior art circuit designs.

Internal frequency compensation circuit for integrated circuit controllers


A Content Addressable Memory (CAM) circuit includes memory cells preferably formed as two memory cells each having internal nodes. A compare circuit is operative with the memory cells. A common terminal (VPL) exists for the memory cells. Capacitors are added between the internal nodes of each of the memory cells and common terminal for memory cell stability.

Content Addressable Memory (CAM) circuits use semiconductor memory components such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) circuits forming memory cells and additional comparison circuitry that permits any required searches to be completed in a single clock cycle. Searches using Content Addressable Memory circuits and associated comparison circuitry are typically faster than algorithmic searches. Because Content Addressable Memory circuits are faster, they are often used in Internet routers for complicated address look-up functions. They are also used in database accelerators, data compression applications, neural networks, Translation Look-aside Buffers (TLB) and processor caches.
In a content addressable memory circuit, any data is typically stored randomly in different memory locations, which are selected by an address bus. Data is also typically written directly into a first entry or memory location. Each memory location could have associated with the memory a pair of special status bits that keep track of whether the memory location includes valid data or is empty and available for overriding. Any information stored at a specific memory location is located by comparing every bit in memory with any data placed in a comparand register. A match flag is asserted to allow a user to know that the data is in memory. Priority encoders sort the matching locations by priority and make address matching location available to a user.
As compared to more standard memory address circuits, in a Content Addressable Memory circuit, data is supplied and an address obtained, and thus, address lines are not required. A router address look-up search examines a destination address for incoming packets and examines the address look-up table to find an appropriate output port. This algorithm and circuitry involves longest-prefix matching and uses the Internet Protocol (IP) networking standard in most cases.
Current routing tables have about 30,000 entries or more and the number of entries is increasing rapidly. Terabit-class routers perform hundreds of millions of searches per second and update routing tables thousands of times per second. Because of present and future projected routing requirements, Content Addressable Memory circuits are used to complete a search in a single cycle. In these circuits, comparison circuitry is usually added to every CAM memory cell, forming a parallel look-up engine. The CAM memory cells can be arranged in horizontal words, such as four horizontal words that are each five bits long, for example. The memory cells contain both storage and comparison circuitry. Search lines run vertically and broadcast search data to the CAM memory cells. Match lines run horizontally across the array and indicate whether a search data matches the word in the row. An activated match line indicates a match, and a deactivated match line indicates a non-match or mismatch. The match lines are input to the priority encoder, which generates an address corresponding to a match location.
Typically, a search will begin by precharging high all match lines in a matched state. Data is broadcast by drivers onto search lines. The CAM cells compare the stored bit against a bit on corresponding search lines. Any cells that match data do not affect match lines, but any cells with a mismatch would pull-down a match line for any word that has at least one mismatch. Other match lines are activated and pre-charged high.
The priority encoder will generate a search address location for any matching data. For example, an encoder could select numerically the smallest numbered match line for two activated match lines and generate a match address, for example 01. This can be input to a RAM that contains output ports. The match address output is a pointer that retrieves associated data from RAM. An SRAM cell could include positive feedback in a back-to-back inverter with two access transistors connecting bit lines to storage nodes under control of a word line. Data is written or read into and from a cell through the bit lines. Mismatches occur quite often and typically only a small number of matches occur, and the circuit function results in high power consumption on match lines.
The circuit can be arrayed to handle a number of binary divisible row locations. A column structure can be hierarchical in nature. In a CAM circuit, it is sometimes necessary to encode one or more row locations. Because only one location can typically be encoded at a time, the locations are prioritized and the highest priorities are encoded. The priority can be set based on a physical order. Devices made from CAM circuits also typically require a physical prioritization. Usually a priority encoder is done with many stages of combinational logic.
In commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,184, the disclosure which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, the CAM circuit has a reduced semiconductor substrate area to provide an increase in performance and improves packing density to make router designs smaller and more efficient. The reduction of substrate area is accomplished by the unique placement, organization, and interconnection of transistors in the CAM circuit. As disclosed, the CAM circuit is in a semiconductor substrate and includes a match signal output having a logical state set to a first value. The compare circuit compares a stored data value to an input compare data value having an enable input. A matched output is coupled to the matched signal output and a compare data input is coupled to a compare data signal and a stored data input. If the enable input receives an enable true signal and a stored data input receives a stored data signal, and the compare data false input receives a compare data signal, then the logical state of the matched signal output changes to a second value to indicate no match. As also disclosed, a first data storage device stores the data value having first and second word lines, first and second bitlines, a stored data output, and a first conductive strip electrically coupling the stored data output to the stored data input of the compare circuit. The stored data output provides the stored data signal. The first word line of the first data storage device is formed in a first conductive region and a second word line of the first data storage device is formed physically separate and distinct from the first conductive region in a second conductive region. The second data storage device has a memory cell storing an enable value having first and second word lines, first and second bitlines, and an enable output. A second conductive strip electrically couples the enable output to the enable input of the compare circuit. The enable output provides the enable true signal.
Although this design provides for an increase in performance and improves the packing density of the CAM circuit, the memory cell stability is not robust. Alpha or similar atomic particles can cause shorts and memory cell instability.

Content addressable memory circuit with improved memory cell stability


A method of creating and using a polishing substrate having a coating layer that includes providing a substrate having a predetermined pattern disposed on a surface of the substrate and coating the surface of the substrate with an abrasive to form a coated substrate conforming to the predetermined pattern is described. In addition, an apparatus enabling preparation and use of a fixed abrasive polishing member is described that includes a patterned substrate, an abrasive coating a surface of the patterned substrate and a vacuum deposition chamber in which the abrasive is applied to the surface of the substrate. In addition, rather than a fixed abrasive, non-abrasive material may be applied to the surface of the patterned substrate, in which case, a conventional slurry may be used in planarization of an applied semiconductor wafer.

The present invention relates to the field of fixed abrasive substrates. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for fixed abrasive preparation and use in a cluster chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) tool.
One of the last stages before fabrication of semiconductor devices on a semiconductor substrate, such as Si or III-V related compounds (e.g. GaAs, InP), involves the polishing of the semiconductor wafer. One reason wafer polishing is performed is to remove any irregularities present on the surface so that the wafer is smooth and flat prior to performing any initial fabrication steps (such as etch, metalization or photolithography). In addition, CMP is also used to planarize the semiconductor wafer subsequent to initiation of device fabrication, for example after deposition of polyamide or other insulating material on the wafer.
In general, prior to device fabrication, there are two types of polishing: rough polishing and chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) in which the rough polishing precedes the CMP. Rough polishing is a conventional abrasive process whose primary purpose is to remove the surface damage leftover from the wafer-slicing process of diamond saws that created the wafer. CMP follows the rough polishing and is typically a combination of chemical etching and mechanical buffing. During device fabrication, only CMP is used as rough polishing is too abrasive to afford the necessary planarization control.
In a conventional CMP rotary or orbital system, wafers are mounted upside-down on rotating circular holders and lowered onto a polishing pad rotated in the opposite direction. The polishing pad is generally polyurethane or urethane-coated with felt and sits on a pallet. For ridding the surface of irregularities prior to fabrication, a slurry containing silica suspended in a mild etchant such as potassium or ammonium hydroxide is added to the polishing pad. A thin layer of silicon dioxide chemically grows on the surface of the wafer as a result of contact with the alkaline slurry. This layer is continuously removed mechanically by the buffing action of the polishing pad. The process generally reduces the irregularities of the wafer to a small percentage of the wafer diameter over the entire surface of the wafer. For planarization during processing, e.g. planarizing to flatten the wafer profile in multi-metal interconnection schemes, the CMP apparatus must remove oxides and various metals in addition to any planarizing material and/or wafer material.
To achieve the necessary precision without polishing away the active circuitry, a number of variables in any CMP apparatus can be controlled. For example, the numerous diverse variables that can be controlled include: composition of the slurry, rate of feed or introduction of the slurry to the pad, pad characteristics (both the pad material and the condition of the pad), polishing time, rotational speed of both the pad and wafer, and pressure of the wafer on the pad. The slurry characteristics to be controlled include the particulate size and pH of the etchant solution. In addition, slurries are chosen to balance chemical removal with abrasiveness so that the production rate of wafers through the CMP apparatus is acceptable (as is the planarity of the resultant wafer).
More recently, some current CMP systems/modules have eschewed conventional slurries as described above, turning to fixed abrasive polishing instead. To date, a number of forms of fixed abrasives exist. Materials are produced either as a roll or as a fixed pad. The roll is slowly and continuously fed into a CMP module, while the fixed pad is applied to the conventional rotary or orbital system. At least one of the problems with these current fixed-abrasive CMP systems is similar to that of more-conventional slurry-type systems; a high cost of ownership of the system for the user. Additional problems include both inconsistent results of the fixed abrasive as the abrasive wears away due to usage and reliance on third-party produced consumable abrasive or slurry material.
To solve these problems, an arrangement containing a modified fixed abrasive material and method of using the same has been developed using a pre-patterned substrate onto which the fixed abrasive is disposed.
A first aspect of the present invention is directed towards a method of fixed abrasive substitute preparation and use. The method entails providing a substrate having a predetermined pattern on a surface of the substrate and introducing an abrasive/binder mixture to the surface of the substrate. The abrasive/binder mixture coats the pattern on the surface of the substrate. A semiconductor wafer is planarized to a desired uniformity by the interaction of coated substrate and the semiconductor wafer. In one embodiment, the method may include patterning the substrate prior to introducing the abrasive/binder mixture to the surface of the substrate. Introducing the abrasive/binder mixture to the surface of the substrate may include vacuum depositing the abrasive/binder mixture o n the surface of the substrate. Similarly, the method may include a cure mechanism enabling curing of the binder such that the abrasive better adheres to the surface of the semiconductor. In other embodiments, the method may include stripping the substrate of remaining abrasive subsequent to planarizing semiconductors wafers. The stripping of the abrasive occurs in cleaning chamber and the substrate would be subsequently transferred to a deposition chamber in which the substrate would be re-coated with the abrasive/binder mixture to which new semiconductor wafers requiring planarization may be applied.
A second aspect of the present invention is directed towards an arrangement using a pre-patterned substrate containing a fixed abrasive coated on a surface of the substrate and a wafer to which the coated substrate is applied. The second aspect of the invention may also include a vacuum deposition chamber in which an abrasive/binder mixture is applied and a chemical-mechanical polishing chamber to which the substrate and wafers are introduced and the wafer planarized. A curing mechanism may also be included in which the abrasive/binder mixture is annealed, allowing the abrasive to better adhere to the surface of the substrate. The second aspect of the invention may also incorporate the use of a cleaning chamber in which the remaining abrasive after planarization is stripped from the surface of the substrate and after which the substrate is transferred to the deposition chamber and the abrasive/binder mixture is reapplied to the surface of the substrate.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to increase the reliability and decrease the cost of a CMP system by providing an arrangement and method to better control the amount of abrasive material used during planarization of a semiconductor wafer. An additional advantage of the present invention is the improvement in process control of the planarization of the semiconductor wafer.
The following figures and detailed description of the preferred embodiments will more clearly demonstrate these and other objects and advantages of the invention.

Method and apparatus for fixed abrasive substrate preparation and use in a cluster CMP tool


A tape storage medium comprises at least one servo band along a longitudinal extension of the tape storage medium for comprising positional information. The servo band comprises a first servo subband and a second servo subband extending along the longitudinal extension of the tape storage medium. The first servo subband comprises a frame servo pattern containing a first set of servo frames, wherein each servo frame of the set comprises a first burst and a second burst. Each burst comprises at least two servo stripes inclined at an angle with respect to a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal extension of the tape medium. The second servo subband contains a set of servo tracks extending along the longitudinal extension of the tape storage medium and arranged next to each other, wherein each servo track of the set contains a servo pattern of magnetic transitions.

The present invention relates generally to the field of tape storage medium, and more particularly to the servo pattern of a tape storage medium.
Tape storage media typically comprise servo information prerecorded in one or more dedicated servo bands that extend next to data bands for storing data. Servo bands extend in a longitudinal direction along the tape medium. A servo band typically is read by a dedicated servo reader of a tape head of a tape drive. A cartridge containing the tape storage medium is inserted into the tape drive. The read servo information allows for determining a lateral deviation of the tape storage medium from a reference position, which reference position is desired for correctly reading data from and writing data to the tape storage medium by dedicated data readers and writers of the tape head. A position error signal representing the lateral deviation will be translated into a control signal for an actuator for controlling a lateral position of the tape head with respect to the tape medium.

International Business Machines Corporation


A drive unit includes: a rotary electric machine; a rotary electric machine case accommodating the rotary electric machine; an electric power conversion device electrically connected to the rotary electric machine and configured to convert electric power supplied to the rotary electric machine and electric power supplied from the rotary electric machine; and an output shaft extending out from the rotary electric machine case and configured to output power of the rotary electric machine. The electric power conversion device is arranged on one side of the rotary electric machine. The output shaft is arranged between the rotary electric machine and the electric power conversion device.

Vehicles such as a hybrid vehicle and an electric vehicle using a rotary electric machine as a drive source are known. In such a vehicle, an electric power conversion device that is electrically connected to the rotary electric machine and converts electric power supplied to the rotary electric machine and electric power supplied from the rotary electric machine is mounted together with the rotary electric machine. In the related art, a rotary electric machine and an electric power conversion device are electrically connected using a three-phase line, but in recent years, attempts have been made to directly fix the rotary electric machine and the electric power conversion device into a unit.
For example, WO 2016/121032 proposes that an electric power conversion device is directly fixed above a rotary electric machine as a drive unit. On the other hand. US 2018/0262089 A1 proposes that an electric power conversion device is directly fixed to one side of a rotary electric machine in a direction orthogonal to both a rotation axis direction and an upper-lower direction as a drive unit.
However, when a distance between the rotary electric machine and the electric power conversion device is short, heat of the rotary electric machine is likely to be transmitted to the electric power conversion device.


Systems, devices, and methods for powering and/or controlling electrically powered devices. A power supply system is operable to provide a voltage across at the active and the counter electrode assemblies of a transdermal delivery device. The system includes a power source and a magnetic coupling element.

1. Field
This disclosure generally relates to powering and/or controlling devices, for example medical devices, for instance transdermal delivery devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical devices that employ electromotive forces are well known in the art. For example, iontophoretic drug delivery devices employ an electromotive force and/or current to transfer an active agent (e.g., a charged substance, an ionized compound, an ionic drug, a therapeutic, a bioactive-agent, and the like), to a biological interface (e.g., skin, mucus membrane, and the like), by using a small electrical charge applied to an iontophoretic chamber containing a similarly charged active agent and/or its vehicle.
Iontophoresis devices typically include an active electrode assembly and a counter electrode assembly, each coupled to opposite poles or terminals of a power source, for example a chemical battery or an external power station connected to the iontophoresis device via electrical leads. Each electrode assembly typically includes a respective electrode element to apply an electromotive force and/or current. Such electrode elements often comprise a sacrificial element or compound, for example silver or silver chloride. The active agent may be either cationic or anionic, and the power source may be configured to apply the appropriate voltage polarity based on the polarity of the active agent. Iontophoresis may be advantageously used to enhance or control the delivery rate of the active agent. The active agent may be stored in a reservoir such as a cavity. Alternatively, the active agent may be stored in a reservoir such as a porous structure or a gel. An ion exchange membrane may be positioned to serve as a polarity selective barrier between the active agent reservoir and the biological interface. The membrane, typically only permeable with respect to one particular type of ion (e.g., a charged active agent), prevents the back flux of oppositely charged ions from the skin or mucous membrane.
Commercial acceptance of iontophoresis devices is dependent on a variety of factors, such as cost to manufacture, shelf life, stability during storage, efficiency and/or timeliness of active agent delivery, biological capability, and/or disposal issues. Commercial acceptance of iontophoresis devices is also dependent on their versatility and ease-of-use. Therefore, it may be desirable to have novel approaches for powering iontophoresis devices.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the shortcomings set forth above, and providing further related advantages.

Systems, devices, and methods for powering and/or controlling devices, for instance transdermal delivery devices


A conveyor system that includes a zoned conveyor surface and a loading sensor. The loading sensor is configured to detect placement of a load into the zone. A loading timer is activated by loading detection by the sensor and while activated, a controller system halts movement of the zone. This stops movement of the zone, facilitating placement of the load in the zone. Also, a sensor blocked signal may be sent to the upstream zone to stop movement of any loads in the upstream zone into the zone while loading. Normal movement in the upstream zone is handled by triggering a travel timer for a predetermined period of time, during which the loading timer is overridden so that the upstream load travels normally downstream.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to conveyor systems, and more particularly to systems for facilitating loading of conveyors.
2. Description of Related Art
Conveyors are used to transport goods and packages in all types of environments and experience especially heavy use in manufacturing and shipping industries. In addition, characteristics of the flow of goods and packages along such conveyor systems, such as timing and positioning of the goods and packages, must often be tailored to the needs of the manufacturer or shipper. Accumulator conveyor systems are divided into zones in which a driving force may be selectively applied to a conveying surface which provides each package with a stopping position. As a result, packages or goods may be accumulated in successive zones for eventual discharge from the conveyor.
As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,862,907 to Taylor ("Taylor") discloses an accumulation conveyor 10 that is divided into a plurality of accumulating zones A, B, C, D and E, as shown in FIG. 1 of Taylor. The conveyor 10 includes a conveying surface, in this case a plurality of rollers 14, that are selectively driven under the control of a plurality of accumulation modules 20A-E that correspond to the accumulating zones. Each module 20 is capable of communication with its neighboring or adjacent module in the upstream and downstream directions through communications cables 42A-E. Photoelectric or ultrasonic sensors 28 are used to determine the presence or absence of an item or package within each of the accumulating zones. Thus, when a sensor fails to detect a package in a downstream zone, its module communicates with the upstream zone to activate its conveying surface and convey an object held therein to the downstream zone.
Despite improvements in the control systems of conveyors, conventional conveyors have other areas in which improvements are needed. For instance, when a driver places a package or load with a forklift on an infeed conveyor zone, a sensor at the downstream end of the zone detects the placement and wakes up the zone. The rollers of the zone then begin to turn as the load is lowered onto the conveying surface. This has the drawback of putting pressure on the sides of the forks of the forklift, making it difficult for the forklift to disengage from the load. In another scenario, the forklift is placing the load into an intermediate zone which adds the complication of possibly having an upstream load move into the intermediate zone.
One conventional way to avoid these problems is to apply a zone stop signal to the module that controls the loading zone and the upstream zone, if one is present. This requires the zone stop signal to be activated in some manner, such as through a photoelectric eye aimed horizontally across an approach path of the forklift. The zone stop 1) stops the rollers in the loading zone and 2) stops the upstream zone (if present) from conveying the load into the loading zone. Backing the forklift away from the conveyor unblocks the photoelectric sensor allows the conveyor to commence normal operation.
However, the photoelectrical eye must often be installed in several zones as an aftermarket assembly with external controls and wiring. This can be a complex and expensive undertaking.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a conveyor and loading zone system that provides for loading at multiple zones of the conveyor without extensive external controls and wiring. It would be further advantageous if the loading zone system were operable with a zero-pressure accumulation conveyor system.


The present invention relates to a protection method based on preplanning duality of paths for a unicast and/or a multicast traffic, by extending a network into hierarchy of connected rings to form a hierarchical ring based tree (HRBT) structure. The present method enables a deterministic method to route a frame (or packet) when a primary path to destination is unavailable due to node/link failure, bandwidth crunch, mis-configuration, etc. If both primary and secondary (or alternate) path are pre-provisioned before traffic is allowed, the switch-over time from primary (P) path to secondary (S) path will be minimized, thus enabling 50 ms protection switching in packet network.

Networks design is important in deciding the performance of the network during fault conditions. Traditionally, the ease of operation, administration, management and provisioning (OAMP) of ring based network design of transport networks like Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) and Synchronous Optical Network's (SONET) have triggered extensive research of similar mechanisms for the packet network.
The ring based network design like Unidirectional Switch Ring (UPSR) and Bidirectional Line Switch Ring (BLSR) yields a number of advantages, including simplified management and control of the network, and fast restoration mechanisms upon link or node failure occurrence. The design of a given arbitrary topology in the form of a set of interconnected rings reduces the overall network connectivity and hence may limit the number of distinct cables that carry working fibers in the final network layout. With reduced number of cables in the system the overall network cost may also be reduced. Due to these and other advantages, it is not surprising that ring based network designs are often preferred to other network topologies.
The new networks are required to have both high capacity and high survivability. In a ring structure there are two ways to send traffic, clockwise or counter-clockwise. This means that the traffic can be sent even if a single link or node breaks down, by using the opposite direction of the ring. The rings are so called self healing rings (SHR) where some capacity is unused until the event of a link or node failure. The technology is based on SDH standard for optical transmission. Newer packet-based ring standards also behave in similar fashion (for example G.8031)
There have been efficient protection mechanisms for protecting multicast traffic in a mesh or ring topology network utilizing label switching protocols. The label switching technique was developed to expedite the look-up process at each network node as packets travel from a source to a destination. Abstractly, label switching involves attaching a label to a packet that enables the next node (i.e., hop) of the packet to be quickly determined by an intermediate network node that receives the packet. An example for such a label switching protocol is the Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) protocol.
The existing methods are not deterministic to route a frame (or packet) when a primary path to destination is unavailable due to node/link failure, bandwidth crunch, mis-configuration, etc. Also, there is no provision of primary and secondary (or alternate) path to route the traffic to minimize the switch-over time to enable 50 ms protection switching in a packet network. Furthermore, even though the traffic is provisioned results in increase in the complexity of the network.
Thus there is a need to have a hierarchy of cycles capable of providing 50 ms protection for unicast and multicast traffic. Also, there is therefore a requirement of a network system which allows for better propagation of packets through the network and allows for quick recovery at the time of fault conditions.

Protection method and system for preplanning duality of paths for a unicast and/or a multicast traffic


A conveying system includes a transport conveyor and a diverter mechanism disposed thereabove for pushing articles transversely off the transport conveyor. The diverter mechanism includes a belt having paddles projecting therefrom. The belt is periodically driven to cause a paddle to transverse the main conveyor to displace an article. Each paddle is formed by two plates connected at their inner ends to the belt via hinges, with the hinge of one plate being spaced from the hinge of the other plate in the direction of belt travel. The outer ends of the plates are fixed together and sandwich a flexible wiper therebetween.

The present invention relates to an endless belt and in particular to a belt having paddles projecting therefrom for pushing objects off a transport conveyor.
Depicted in FIG. 1 is a conventional conveying system 10 which comprises a main transport conveyor 12 for conveying articles A therealong in a selected path of travel. Disposed at various locations along the transport conveyor 12 are chutes 14 onto which selected ones of the articles are to be diverted. For example, the articles could comprise thin envelopes or larger packages which are being sorted according to destination.
The articles can contain codes which are scanned by sensors (not shown) to provide a signal indicating which chute is to receive each particular article.
In order to direct the article onto the chute, a diverter mechanism 16 is arranged above the transport conveyor 12. That diverter mechanism 16 comprises a belt in the form of two spaced apart, narrow belt segments 18A, 18B. Alternatively, a single wide belt could be used. The belt segments are mounted on two pairs of pulleys 20, 22, each pair of pulleys being affixed to a common axle 24, 26. The axles are mutually parallel, and one of the axles is driven intermittently by a motor 28 by means of a drive belt 30.
Mounted to the belt segments is a plurality of paddles 32, 34 (e.g., two or more). Upon receipt of a signal, a motor 28 drives the belt segments by a selected distance in either direction to cause one of the paddles 32, 34 to pass across the conveyor 12 and displace an article A onto a respective chute 14.
The paddles are attached to each belt segment in a fixed manner, e.g., by being bolted to tabs 36 that are, in turn, fixed to the belt segments. For instance, the belt segments and tabs could be formed of urethane, with the tabs being fused to the belt segments.
It will be appreciated that as a paddle contacts a package, the paddle tends to be bent backwards, whereby forces will be transmitted by the paddle to its mounting tabs 36. Consequently, the tabs are stressed in a manner that can eventually produce a failure of their fused connections with the belt segments.
Moreover, in the event that the articles are thin and tend to lie flat against the transport conveyor (e.g., envelopes), it may be necessary to compensate for the tendency for a paddle to bend backwardly, and consequently pass over the article. Such compensation may be accomplished by arranging the paddle to have a length greater than the vertical distance from the belt to the transport conveyor. As a result, the paddle will tend to wipe across the transport conveyor. In so doing, however, the paddle will push downwardly against the article, whereby the friction forces between the article and transport conveyor are increased to such an extent that the article may resist being pushed laterally from the transport conveyor.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a diverter mechanism which minimizes stress at the connection between the paddle and belt, and which minimizes friction between the articles (especially thin articles) and the transport conveyor.

Conveyor system with article diverting mechanism


The invention relates to a power modulator of pulse transformer type. The pulse transformer includes at least one secondary winding and a number of primary windings. The primary windings share a common ground terminal, but each "hot" terminal is independently connected to a respective dedicated pulse generating module, which includes a pulse switch, such as an IGBT-switch, connected to an energy storage capacitor. The pulse switch is electronically controllable at turn on and turn off, and eliminates the need for Pulse Forming Networks. The electronic pulse switch control is preferably used in combination with pulse voltage droop-compensating circuits that connect the switches to the primary windings. Furthermore, the transformer design is such that each primary winding only surrounds a portion of the total magnetic core cross section, giving an effect of a fractional turn primary.

High power pulses are used in a wide variety of applications. By way of example, high power electrical pulses are utilized for powering microwave amplifier tubes used in driving electron accelerator systems and/or microwave generating systems for medical radiation-production applications and radar. Of course, several other applications also exist. The quality requirements on the generated pulses are generally high. Pulse energy, pulse width, rise time, fall time and pulse flatness are some of the quality parameters usually under consideration.
Systems or circuits employed for generating these high power pulses are commonly referred to as power modulators or pulse modulators. Most power modulators use pulse transformers to obtain the required pulse energy. However, conventional pulse modulators generally require a huge amount of subsystems and pulse-forming networks (PFN's) to drive the pulse transformer. Consequently, then physical size of these prior art power modulator systems is very large. In addition, the pulse-forming network (PFN) of an old-type power modulator normally operates at high voltage, driven by high voltage capacitors. High voltage always involves great danger. Furthermore, the expected lifetime of conventional power modulator systems using pulse forming networks is generally low.


A sea surface antenna comprises a cylindrical tube of metallic material 13 on a dielectric former. The tube has a longitudinal slot shorted at each end and coupled at its midpoint to a coaxial feed. The slot is bridged by two groups of capacitances each group being distributed along a respective half of the slot. The length of the antenna is less than 0.25 λ and the diameter of the antenna is less than 0.02 λ, where λ is the free space wavelength at the operating frequency. The antenna is dimensioned so as to operate in an evanescent mode at a resonant frequency less than the cut-off frequency.

A so-called buoyant antenna is disclosed in the paper "A Slender Resonator—Slot Antenna" by J. C. Lee, IEE International Conference on Antennas and Propagation, Conf. Publ. No. 195, pp 442–446, 1981. Essentially the antenna disclosed comprises a slot formed by the edge opening in a roll-resonator of copper clad plastic dielectric, approximately ½ free-space wavelength long. The slot is short circuited at the two ends, and the antenna is fed by a coaxial line the inner and outer conductors of which are soldered to respective sides of the slot. A modified antenna is disclosed in "UHF Buoyant Antenna" by M. S. Smith et al, IEE ICAP 87, pp 1.273–1.276, 1987. The modified antenna augments the "per unit length" capacitance by discrete capacitors connected across the slot, the length of the antenna being approximately equal to λ/2, where λ is the free space wavelength at the operating frequency of the antenna. The practical design disclosed in FIG. 1(b) of the paper comprises a cylindrical tube of metallic material on a dielectric former having a longitudinal slot which is shorted at each end and coupled to a coaxial feed at its center, the slot being bridged by two capacitances respectively positioned approximately midway between the center feed and the shorted ends. The antenna length is approximately λ/2 and operates in a weakly evanescent mode. However, there are applications in which a buoyant antenna is required which is limited to smaller dimensions imposed by physical constraints in its operating environment.


In a method for coating a substrate, and a coated object, in a first step, in an external current-less or electrolytic manner, nickel and/or cobalt and/or platinum are deposited on a substrate in a deposition bath. In the deposition bath, particles are additionally suspended which contain at least one metal selected from Mg, Al, Ti, Zn and no Cr, the particles becoming occluded in the coating. In a second step, the actual protective layer is produced by heat treatment. The coating of component parts may be used for aircraft turbines or gas turbines or for garbage incineration systems having temperature-resistant protective layers against high temperature corrosion.

Components for use in aggressive, hot and corrosive conditions are mostly made of special high temperature alloys based on nickel or cobalt. These alloys are damaged during use, by high temperature corrosion. Due to the high temperatures and accelerated by the presence of even the smallest proportions of chlorine and sulfur, nickel and cobalt are converted to their oxides and sulfides. The oxides and sulfides of nickel and cobalt are, however, connected only loosely to the metallic undersurface, and scale off little by little.
It is known that nickel and cobalt alloys, beginning from a certain proportion of aluminum content, have an increased stability against high temperature corrosion. At high temperatures, these alloys develop on their surface a strongly adherent layer of aluminum oxide which regenerates by itself if the layer is damaged. In order to be able to select the base material according to strength criteria, methods for diffusion coating were developed, such as alitizing, by which the base alloy may be enriched retroactively with aluminum in the region near the surface.
An aluminization method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,102,044, in which a layer of aluminum is deposited on the component part. During the subsequent heat treatment, the aluminum melts and reacts with the substrate to form NiAl.
European Published Patent Application No. 0 748 394 describes an aluminide coating, enriched with platinum, that is modified with silicon. In order to prepare this layer, in a first step, platinum is deposited on the surface of a nickel superalloy. Subsequently, an aqueous suspension of pulverized elementary aluminum and silicon is applied and dried. Finally the aluminum is molten, whereupon the silicon dissolves and aluminum atoms and silicon atoms diffuse into the substrate.
Another protective layer against high temperature corrosion is made of MCrAlY (M=Ni, Co; CrAlY=chromium aluminum yttrium).
German Published Patent Application No. 35 35 548 describes a method for preparing a an MCrAlY coating. By galvanic dispersion deposition, a metal matrix is produced of Ni or Co having intercalated particles made of CrAlY. Upon subsequent tempering, the actual protective layer is then created.


In a plant cultivating apparatus for cultivating plants by using an artificial light source, partition walls having a high light reflectance are arranged in a cultivation area to divide the cultivation area into small spaces and in each small space a light-reflecting plate is arranged, and the distance between an artificial light source and a plant is narrowed to irradiate the plant with a light having a low illuminance. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, there is provided a plant cultivating apparatus comprising sets of pallets which have plants placed therein and are arranged in rows in a growing chamber where environmental conditions which are artificially controlled and which are moved in a direction radial to the row direction in accordance with the growth of plants, wherein all the peripheral surface of the growing chamber are covered with a reflecting plate having a high light reflectance. Low-illuminance artificial light sources for emitting a light of a low illuminance are arranged so that the distance between the light sources and plants are small, and the spaces between the rows of pallets are 1.1 to 1.5 times the spaces between plants provided when plants are closely set to such an extent that adjacent plants do not overlap each other.

The present invention relates to a plant cultivating apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a plant cultivating apparatus in which cultivating conditions are artificially controlled.
As is well known, the growth of plants depends greatly on the environment. However, the natural environment on the earth varies and it is not always suitable for the growth of plants. The season when the natural environment has conditions suitable for the growth of plants is not present in some areas or is very short in other areas. Accordingly, conventionally, cultivation has been performed in facilities for artificially controlling environmental factors causing reduction of the productivity of plants to engender plant productivity at a level as high as possible. In these cultivation facilities, however, influences of the natural environment are not completely eliminated and, therefore, increase of plant productivity is limited.
Accordingly, attempts have been made to foster maximum plant growth in an artificial environment. Namely, plant factories have been constructed. In a plant factory, a plant is cultivated in an environment which can be optionally controlled, and completely controlled cultivation is possible. Accordingly, such a plant factory has many merits. However, in the above-described plant factory, since the environment is artificially prepared, the cost is increased because of consumption of energy. Accordingly, in order to make such artificial cultivation practical while utilizing the merits of such a plant factory, it is necessary to produce an energy saving effect and increase the productivity of the land used. Moreover, it is important to provide high-grade plants which are uniform in quality.
Plant cultivation in such a plant factory is carried out under artificial illumination in a building in which such conditions as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide gas concentration and air speed are controlled. The property required for a light source suitable for this artificial illumination is that light having the necessary wavelength for the growth of plants be emitted at a predetermined intensity at high efficiency. The predetermined intensity referred to herein differs according to the kinds of plants that are to be grown. If this intensity is expressed in terms of illuminance, about 20 Klx is necessary for a weak-light plant and it is difficult to satisfy this requirement by using a single light source. Light sources having high luminous intensity and efficiency, such as high-pressure sodium lamps, mercury lamps, or metal halide lamps are used as the main light source in combination with fluorescent lamps to cover the wavelength.
When employing a central light source such as a high-pressure sodium lamp, the lamp should be disposed at a considerably higher position then the fluorescent lamps because the luminous intensity of one sodium lamp is very high. Otherwise, the plants cannot be irradiated at a uniform illuminance.
For example, in the case of lettuce, when cultivation is carried out at an illuminance of 18 to 20 Klx, if other environmental conditions are suitable, weight is increased 10 times in 7 to 8 days, and high-speed cultivation is possible.
As a means for reducing the power required for this artificial illumination, a method has been proposed in which a plant is irradiated at a low illuminance of about 5 Klx uniformly from all directions. According to this method, in the case of lettuce, the illumination power necessary for production of 100 g is only 0.65 KWH if an extremely high-efficiency fluorescent lamp is used. In a plant cultivated in such a way, the water content is about 95%, and the contents if inorganic substances (mineral) and vitamin C are as high as 30 mg/100 g. However, the method is defective in that the leaf shape of the plant is excessively long.
In the case where plants are cultivated with predetermined spaces provided between adjacent plants in a conventional plant factory as described above, even areas not requiring irradiation are illuminated, and therefore, an excess number of illuminating devices must be provided, requiring more equipment, land and building space. Accordingly, land utilization efficiency is low, and the cost of air-conditioning and other equipment and maintenance costs thereof are increased, having a great effect on production costs.
A means for obviating this disadvantage is provided in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Specification No. 55-24000. There a plant cultivating apparatus in which a plurality of pallets having plants placed therein are arranged in rows and a plurality of sets of pallets are arranged in a direction orthogonal to said rows. The space between adjacent pallets is increased in accordance with plant growth and the pallets are moved in a direction orthogonal to the row direction and fed to a harvesting line.
In such a plant cultivating apparatus, the speed of the movement of the pallets in the advance direction is changed in accordance with the growth of the plants to increase the space between the plants in the direction orthogonal to the row direction to provide an optimum space, whereby the amount of effective irradiation light is minimized by effective irradiation and the area occupied by cultivating facilities can be reduced.
In a conventional plant factory, because of the above-mentioned structure, since the luminous intensity per lamp is high when high-pressure sodium lamps or the like are used as the main light source, the lamps should be separated from the plants. Otherwise, the plant is not uniformly irradiated with light and the leaf temperature of the plant is excessively elevated injuring growth.
However, if the distance between the plants and the lamps is increased, the capacity of the building has to be increased, resulting in an increase in construction costs. Moreover, since the light should be dispersed, the efficiency of utilization of the light is inevitably reduced. Further, the quantity of air circulated in the building is increased and, consequently, air-conditioning costs are increased. On the other hand, in the case where a fluorescent lamp having good wavelength characteristics is used, since the fluorescence intensity is low, in order to obtain an illuminance of about 20 Klx, it is necessary to arrange many fluorescent lamps together without any substantial space between adjacent lamps.
Even at a low illuminance below 20, Klx, for example, at an illuminance of about 5 Klx, if plants are uniformly irradiated and cultivation conditions, such as carbon dioxide gas concentration and temperature, are maintained at appropriate levels, the plants can be grown at a high speed. Accordingly, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem in the use of fluorescent lamps, there may by be adopted a method in which the inner surface of a growing chamber is constructed with a reflecting plate having high light reflectance and the distance between the fluorescent lamp and the plant is shortened, whereby light of low illuminance is applied by using a small number of fluorescent lamps. In this method, however, if plants are cultivated close together so as to reduce the cultivated area and enhance land utilization, growth speed is reduced at such low illuminance as 5 Klx, and when the size of the plant leaves increases adjacent plants overlap each other. Consequently, the method is defective in that uniformly high-quality plants cannot be obtained.
As is apparent from the foregoing description, a low-illuminance, omni-directional irradiation plant cultivating system is promising as a power-saving technique, but in the cultivation of plants, where commercial value is influenced by the leaf shape, such as with lettuce, this system is not preferred from the view point of the product price because leaves grow excessively thus degrading the commercial value. Furthermore, if plants grow too long, the area occupied by plants in the plant cultivating bed is increased and, therefore, the equipment and illumination power costs are increased and cultivation becomes economically disadvantageous.
The above-mentioned conventional plant cultivating apparatus is constructed so that plants are supported by plate-like plant supports. However, as the plant grows, adjacent plants become too close to each other and the plant supports are covered with leaves of plants, while the plants grow leaning on plant supports. Accordingly, with an increase of the cultivation area, leaf portions of the plants fall down and the shape becomes bad. If the plants are uniformly irradiated with light, high-speed cultivation is possible even at a low illuminance. However, if the plants grow while leaning on the surface of the plant supports, reflection of light of the fluorescent lamp on the surface of the plant support is attenuated as the plants grow, with the results that uniform irradiation becomes impossible and reduction of the efficiency in photosynthesis of the plants is caused.
As pointed out hereinbefore, in the conventional plant cultivating apparatus, spaces between plants are increased only in a direction orthogonal to the row direction; but in the row direction, spaces corresponding to the size of fully grown plants are provided and these spaces are maintained throughout the cultivation period from the small seedlings stage to the mature plant stage. Accordingly, in the small seedlings stage the spaces are superfluous and the apparatus is defective in that effective utilization of the emitted light and floor surface cannot be attained.
As a means for overcoming this disadvantage, to broaden the spaces between pallets having plants placed therein in the row direction, troughs for guiding the pallets are radially formed and the respective pallets in the row direction are pushed out in the advance direction by a push-out rod. The push-out rod should cover the entire width when the spaces between the plants in the row direction become largest in the last stages where the plants are most mature. Accordingly, in the stages where the plants have not grown, the push-out rod is unnecessary. However, the length of the push-out rod cannot be reduced. Therefore, the total range covered by the push-out rod corresponds to the surface occupied by the plant cultivating apparatus and the method is defective in that the efficiency of utilization of the area of the land is very low. Consequently, this method is not suitable for practical application.
In conventional pallets having the above-mentioned structure, thinning operations have to be manually performed according to the growth of plants, and such pallets have unnecessary parts which contact the floor surface, increasing friction, with the result that excessive force is necessary for the moving device.
If the environmental conditions including light, are appropriately controlled, plants grow at high speeds with good reproducibility. A great deal of the problems involved in conventional plant cultivation techniques are economic problems, and, at present, the cost of the electric power for the light source for irradiating plants with artificial light is about 40% of the total manufacturing cost. In view of the manufacturing cost, this light source power cost is a heavy burden.


The first and second flip-flop circuits are connected in series included within a combinational logic for carrying out a delay test. The first and second flip-flop circuits are provided with control pins, system clock pins, scan clock pins, system data pins and scan data pins, respectively. A delay time propagated from the first flip-flop circuit to the second flip-flop circuit through the path of the combinational logic to be tested is measured by detecting an input time to the first flip-flop circuit by the system clock signal to the first flip-flop circuit in response to an input signal to the control pins and a time stored in the second flip-flop circuit corresponding to output system data from the first flip-flop circuit. By measuring the delay time, whether the combinational logic is normal or abnormal is detected.

Generally, a combinational logic circuit operating at high speed has an additional circuit for testing the combinational logic. The additional circuit is called a scan circuit. The scan circuit can be set to a state for testing and observing the state of the combinational logic using flip-flop circuits connected to an input terminal and an output terminal of the combinational logic.
A logic circuit for carrying out the delay test of a combinational logic is disclosed, for example, in "A logic chip delay-test method based on system timing" IBM Journal of Research and Development, Vol. 34, No. 2/3 pp. 299-313 (Mar./May 1990).
Hereunder, we will explain the above-mentioned prior art referring to FIGS. 18 to 21.
Referring to FIG. 18, 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D denote flip-flop circuits. The flip-flop circuits 10A and 10B correspond to a flip-flop circuit 10 shown in FIG. 1 mentioned later. The flip-flop circuits 10C and 10D correspond to a flip-flop circuit 13 shown in FIG. 1. The flip-flop circuits 20A, 20B, 20C and 20D are the same as flip-flop circuit 20 shown in FIG. 19. The operations of the flip-flop circuits 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D and the flip-flop circuits 20A, 20B, 20C and 20D are shown by FIG. 4 and FIG. 20, respectively. Numerals 2013 and 2014 show system clocks which are not overlapped and are used for operating an actual system. Numerals 2011 and 2012 show scan clocks. The scan clocks 2011 and 2012 are used together with a scan-in data pin 2015 and a scanout data pin 2016 for carrying out initialization and observation of these flip-flop circuits independently from a system logic. Hereunder, we will explain a procedure for carrying out a delay test of a path 2000 shown in FIG. 18 referring to the time chart shown in FIG. 21. For initializing all the flip-flop circuits and a combinational logic 200, the system clocks 2013 and 2014 are turned OFF, namely made to zero levels, at first, then the scan clocks 2011 and 2012 are alternately turned to ON states giving data to the scan-in data pin 2015 as shown in 2101 of FIG. 21 so that the data to be initialized is shifted to the flip-flop circuit in order. Next the data of the flip-flop circuits 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D are stored in the flip-flop circuits 20A, 20B, 20C and 20D by turning the scan clock to OFF state and the system clock to ON state. Thereby, a change signal 2102 is transmitted to the path 2000 for changing from level 0 to level 1 or from level 1 to level 0 of the flip-flop circuits 20A, 20B, 20C and 20D. After a transmission delay time of the path 2000 has passed, the system clock 2014 is turned to ON state as shown in 2103 of FIG. 21 so that the flip-flop circuit 10C stores the output signal of the path 2000. Then, the flip-flop circuit 10C stores different signals corresponding to normal state and abnormal state of the delay transmission time of the channel 2000. Lastly, the scan clocks 2011 and 2012 are alternately turned to ON states as shown in 2104 of FIG. 21, and the states of the flip-flop circuit 10C are shifted to the scan-out pin 2016 for observing the stored signal of the flip-flop circuit 10C.
Since the prior art mentioned above has a double latch structure of the flip-flop circuits in the input and output sides of the combinational logic which is to carry out the delay test, the transmission delay time of the path between the flip-flop circuits is longer than a single flip-flop circuit so that the performance of the circuit is lowered. Further, since the prior art can use either one of the system clock or the scan clock as a clock for the second flip-flop circuits 20A, 20B, 20C and 20D provided at both sides of the combinational logic, the additional element 21 is necessary on the clock channel compared with the circuit in which only the system clock is used. When the element is added on the clock channel, fluctuation of the clock skew is increased and power consumption is increased thereby increasing the drive performance of the clock pulse.

Logic circuit with additional circuit for carrying out delay test


A kinematic mount assembly is provided. The kinematic mount assembly includes a fixed mount and a pivot mount. The fixed mount and pivot mount together have a plurality of an protrusions and recesses to guide the mounts into a repeatable position when rotating from an opened to a closed position. The protrusions may be semispherical balls and the recesses may be gothic-arch shaped. The pivot mount and fixed mount may be coupled by a pivot pin and rotate about the pivot pin. The pivot mount may contain holes configured to mount an accessory. A latch assembly may hold the fixed mount and pivot mount closed until the latch is actuated, usually by a switch, to allow the system to open.

Firearm accessories may be mounted to firearms. Firearm accessories may include sights, optics, lasers, lights, or others. As may be desired from time to time, the configuration of an accessory on a firearm may vary based on personal preference and/or application, requiring the ability to move between multiple positions. As an example, in some configurations, an optic is positioned on top of the firearm. In other configurations, the optic may be positioned on the side of the firearm out of the way. Yet further, in some configurations, the optic can rotate between two or more positions, allowing customization without requiring removal and remounting of a particular optic. However, if a shooter wants to change from one configuration to another, or one optic to another, such change may be difficult, time-consuming, require special tools, and/or not possible. The change to and from differing configurations may require adjustment to calibrate the optic again.


Using a “reference” sensor, a reference position is detected in a frame of reference that is moving along a predetermined path relative to the reference sensor. The reference position is used to derive a position-dependent indicator of a position-dependent “longitudinal” offset component (i.e. along the path). An output from the target sensor is monitored using a “target window” that is partially based on the position-dependent indicator.

A variety of applications exist in which two or more sensors are used in one control or monitoring system. Typically, each of the sensors is monitored in parallel. In certain critical applications, for example, two or more mutually redundant sensors monitor the same target simultaneously. A selector is used to determine which of the their outputs is deemed most reliable, and the selected output is used for system control.
In other applications, an array of sensors is used to obtain a comparative or other composite measurement from which an inference can be drawn. By averaging measurements from such an array, for example, one can determine an areal average of a statistic of interest such as height or magnetic flux density. By comparing sensor outputs, also, one can also determine which sensor is nearest or best aligned with a feature of interest.
Recently, certain applications have arisen in which access to a sensor (or its data path) is scarce. This may be the case where data bandwidth, component life, or available energy is limited. Although time multiplexing is generally available as a means for sharing a resource, its application to sensors has thus far been limited to contexts with exceedingly simple geometries. Accordingly there is a need for more a more versatile way to use sensors efficiently, on an intermittent basis.

Monitoring a sensor's output using a target window that is based on a longitudinal offset's position-dependent indicator


A cathode material has one of olivine and NASICON structures and includes micrometer-sized secondary particles having a particle size ranging from 1 to 50 μm. Each of the micrometer-sized secondary particles is composed of crystalline nanometer-sized primary particles of a metal compound having a particle size ranging from 10 to 500 nm.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cathode material for manufacturing a rechargeable battery, more particularly to a cathode material for manufacturing a rechargeable battery which includes micrometer-sized secondary particles, each of which is composed of crystalline nanometer-sized primary particles. This invention also relates to a cathode for a rechargeable battery including the cathode material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with diversified development of electronic products, there is increasing need for portable power supplies. For example, electronic consumer products, medical devices, motorcycles, automobiles, and power tools and the like require a portable power supply for power source. For current portable power supplies, rechargeable batteries are relatively popular. Since lithium rechargeable batteries have a high ratio of volume to capacity, pollution-free and recyclable charge/discharge properties, and no memory effect, it has a great development potential in the future.
Additionally, a cathode material used for manufacture of the cathode plays an important role in the performance of the rechargeable battery. Among the known cathode materials, since lithium ferrous phosphate compounds and the related compounds having similar properties to LiFePO4 compounds, such as LiMPO4, in which M represents transition elements, e.g., manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni), are environmentally benign, relatively stable and abundant, and have relatively good electrochemical properties, e.g., high specific capacity, good charge/discharge cycling performance, and good thermostability, they have been evaluated to be the cathode material with greatest development potential.
However, at present, there is a difference between practical and theoretical electrochemical properties of known LiFePO4 compounds and the related compounds. For example, the theoretical specific capacity of LiFePO4 compounds and the related compounds is about 170 mAh/g, whereas the LiFePO4 compounds disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,382 have a specific capacity of about 95 mAh/g, which is far below the theoretical specific capacity. In order to improve the capacity property of the LiFePO4 compounds, it has been proposed to add other elements to the LiFePO4 compounds having one of olivine and NASICON structures so as to increase the capacity property of the LiFePO4 compounds, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,716,372 and 6,815,122. However, since the elements used for substituting iron are not easily available, production cost is relatively high.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,632,566 (hereinafter referred to as the '566 patent) discloses increase in the specific surface of the LiFePO4 compound powders in favor of diffusion of lithium ions in the powders, thereby enhancing capacity of a cathode material made from the LiFePO4 compound powders. Particularly, the cathode material described in the '566 patent is produced by sintering the LiFePO4 compound powders at a suitable temperature in such a manner that the cathode material thus formed is composed of separate single-phase crystalline particles having a grain size not larger than 10 μm. Although the capacity of the cathode material illustrated in the Examples of the '566 patent can be about 163 mAh/g, the LiFePO4 compound powders included in the cathode material have a relatively large particle size and uneven distribution. Thus, the cathode material of the '566 patent cannot be used with aqueous binders and aqueous solvents when applied to manufacture of the cathode. Besides, since the charge/discharge rate of the battery with the cathode material of the '566 patent is about C/37, which is calculated based on data shown in the Examples of the '566 patent, such charge/discharge rate is too low for practical application and needs to be improved.
The parent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/222,569 (hereinafter referred to as the '569 application) discloses a method for making a lithium mixed metal compound, such as the lithium ferrous phosphate compounds having an olivine structure. The method disclosed in the '569 application includes preparing a reactant mixture that comprises ion sources of the lithium ferrous phosphate compounds, and exposing the reactant mixture to a non-oxidizing atmosphere in the presence of suspended carbon particles. The lithium ferrous phosphate compounds thus made are in powder form and have relatively small particle size and even distribution.

Cathode material for manufacturing a rechargeable battery


A twin-spool turbine engine includes a low-pressure rotor and a high-pressure rotor, an alternator, including an inductor winding and an armature, the high-pressure rotor rotating the inductor winding of the alternator. The armature is mounted so as to rotate and the low-pressure rotor is connected to a clutch arranged so that the low-pressure rotor drives the armature in a manner that is contrarotational to the inductor winding when the clutch are engaged.

A portion of the power generated by an aviation turbine engine is used for supplying various members of the turbine engine but also of the aircraft whose turbine engine participates in the propulsion.
A portion of this power is currently taken off at the high-pressure compressor, whose compressed air is used particularly for pressurizing and air conditioning the aircraft cabin, or else deicing. Another portion of this power is taken off mechanically from the shaft of the high-pressure (HP) body of the turbine engine, in order to drive the input shaft of an accessory gearbox. This input shaft is rotated by a transmission shaft extending in a structural arm of the casing and itself driven by a gear fixedly attached to the HP shaft.
The accessory gearbox (AGB), well known to those skilled in the art, comprises various machines, or accessories, for example an electric generator, a starter, an alternator, hydraulic, fuel or oil pumps, etc. These various accessories are mechanically driven by the power taken off from the HP shaft as has just been seen.
The current trend aims to increase the portion of the mechanical power offtake that is converted into electric power because of the increasing role of electric means that are considered to be more flexible to use on the aircraft.
However, too high a mechanical power offtake has a negative effect on the operation of the HP body, because it is capable of causing pumping of the HP compressor, in particular when the engine operates at low speed. This effect is all the more problematic when the demand for power is just as great, if not greater, at idle speeds as at cruising or "full throttle" speeds: the offtake from the HP body, as a proportion of the total power, is then very great and the risk of pumping very high.

Turbine engine with an alternator and method for transmitting movement to an alternator


A method of treating venous insufficiency and lymphedema in an individual by placing pulsatile, localized pressure or compression on deep veins and subcutaneous tissue by inflating and deflating volume-changing members implanted within the individual. A method of potentiating venous circulation, by placing pulsatile, localized pressure that compresses the deep veins by expanding and contracting volume-changing members located between the fascia and muscular compartment, such that the increase in volume from the volume-changing members is transferred to deep veins, and augmenting the effects of muscle contractions around the deep veins and improving blood circulation. A method of potentiating lymphatic circulation. A method of potentiating venous and lymphatic circulation. A pulsatile pressure implant including at least one volume-changing member in electronic connection with an electronic-controlled microprocessor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to devices for the treatment of venous insufficiency and lymphedema.
2. Background Art
A healthy vein contains valves that open and close to assist the return of blood to the heart. Venous insufficiency refers to damaged or diseased valves that can result in a backward flow of blood, a condition known as venous reflux. This reflux causes blood to pool, often in the lower legs, and can lead to symptoms of pain and swelling. Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a long-term, persistent state of venous reflux and associated symptoms. Advanced stages can lead to inflammation, deep vein thrombosis (DVTs, known as blood clots), ulcers and limb amputation. These symptoms can be unbearable and affect daily activities. Varicose veins are often a precursor or symptom of CVI. Valves become damaged or diseased for many reasons, including obesity, heredity, prolonged standing and inactivity. There are currently an estimated 24 million people in the United States with varicose veins. An estimated 6 million individuals in the United States have severe symptoms of CVI ranging from skin changes to ulcerations. Annual treatment costs of venous ulcers in the United States are estimated to be $3 billion with a loss of 2 million work days as a result.
Lymphedema is a condition where swelling occurs due to an accumulation of lymphatic fluid often in the legs and arms that is unable to drain back into the blood circulation because of a compromised lymphatic system. As the lymph fluid pools a high concentration of bacteria may form and the swollen area becomes more susceptible to infection. Patients with lymphedema experience pain and are at risk of severe infection. Similar to venous insufficiency, lymphedema occurs for a variety of reasons including, obesity, heredity, and inactivity. Lymphedema is also known to occur after certain cancer surgeries, such as breast cancer, where the lymph nodes are disrupted due to radiation treatments. It is estimated that 3 to 5 million people in the United States experience lymphedema.
Even with the high incidence of venous insufficiency and lymphedema, the existing treatment options available are ineffective and outdated, especially given the technological advances in electronics and hardware within the last decade. In addition, chronic conditions of these disease states mean that the patient will need life-long therapies to treat the symptoms. Existing treatments to reduce the swelling associated with venous insufficiency and lymphedema are often difficult to apply, uncomfortable, and/or render the user immobile. The result is that the user often abandons treatment and the swelling persists. Existing treatments include, but are not limited to, elastic compression stockings, inelastic compression bandages, and external compression pumps. Elastic compression stockings have the complication in that they are very difficult for the user to pull them over the swollen area. The stocking is such a tight fit to begin with that the user struggles to pre-compress the swollen area so that it can slide into the stocking. Further, in hot environments, the stockings are insufferable. Often the patients are non-compliant with elastic compression stocking treatments. Inelastic compression bandages are wraps that are similar to wearing a cast and are normally applied by a certified technician. The user must go to a particular venue or clinic where the wraps are applied. The user's mobility is limited by the wraps and they are unable to bathe the wrapped area during treatment. Often the skin becomes rough, eczema forms and the area becomes odorous. The treatment is approximately a 2-week cycle that includes removing and rewrapping the swollen area. External compression pumps require a cumbersome pumping unit and a power outlet to inflate a sleeve or boot that is placed over the swollen area. The treatments can be done at home; however, an approximate treatment regiment requires one-hour sessions 5 days a week for 35 sessions. These units require that the user be immobile during the treatment period.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0071135 to Shaknovich discloses a treatment strategy for treatment of elevated pressure in a body conduit, such as a pulmonary vein, with a prosthetic partitioning device that permits coaxial attachment to the body conduit, e.g. the pulmonary vein, as well as delivery systems, and strategies for use thereof. A control device configured to transmit signals to the prosthetic device to effectuate the repetitive transition between a first, less restricted flow configuration and a second, restricted flow configuration is described. A sensor device can be provided for monitoring physiological parameters of the patient, and can provide signals to the control device for effectuating the transition between the first and second configuration. The prosthetic partitioning device can include one or more inflatable members (shown at 20 in the figures in the '135 application) that are supplied with gas or fluid by an implantable pump via a supply line (shown at 26 in the '135 application). A control device (shown at 14 in the '135 application) controls the configuration of the prosthetic partitioning device between less and more restriction of flow.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0248142 to Perkins, et al. discloses methods and systems for improving the competency of a venous valve wherein one or more compressor(s) (e.g., space occupying material(s) or implantable device(s)) is/are delivered to one or more location(s) adjacent to a venous valve to compress the venous valve in a manner that causes one or both leaflets of the valve to move toward the other, thereby improving closure or coaptation of the valve leaflets. The compressor(s) can be delivered by an open surgical approach, by a direct percutaneous approach or by a transluminal catheter-based approach. The compressor can be an implantable, inflatable member filled with solid, liquid, gaseous, or gelatinous material. The device is inserted in a contracted state and once in place is activated to be in an expanded state. However, once expanded, the compressor does not again retract, and there is no control to manipulate the configuration of the compressor.
It is important to note that the prior art prosthetic devices are required to be attached directly to the veins necessitating major invasive surgery in order for the devices to be implanted. For example, the motivation of the '135 application to Shaknovich is for the prosthetic to be clamped to the pulmonary vein. There remains a need for a prosthetic device that does not require direct access to the veins in order to generate therapeutic compression and that is a minimally invasive surgical procedure. There remains a need for a treatment of venous insufficiency and lymphedema that is easy to use, easier to implant, and effective that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.

Implantable device for pulsatile compression