The invention relates to monoclonal antibodies which specifically bind to the TRBV9 family of human T-cell receptors. The invention also relates to a nucleic acid which codes for said antibody or for an antigen-binding fragment thereof, to an expression vector, to a method for producing the antibody, and to the use of said antibody for treating diseases or disorders associated with the family of human T-cell receptors. The invention is directed towards producing antibodies that can be used for eliminating T-cells carrying T-cell receptors of the TRBV9 family, in particular for treating ankylosing spondylitis, coeliac disease, and blood cancers, in the pathogenesis of which T-cell receptors of the TRBV9 family are involved.

In the treatment of human autoimmune diseases, the use of drugs based on antibodies against the major inflammatory process mediators, such as TNF alpha, IL1, IL6, IL17, IL23 (van der Heijde D et al., Ann Rheum Dis. 2011 June; 70(6):905-8, Baeten D, et al, N Engl J Med. 2015 Dec. 24; 373(26):2534-48). Monoclonal antibodies to CD3 and CD4 receptor complexes, which have immunomodulating properties, are in clinical trials for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, (Kuhn C. and Weiner L., Immunotherapy 2016 July; 8(8):889-906; Helling B. et al., Immunology and Cell Biology 2015 Apr.; 93(4):396-405; Konig M. et al., Front Immunol 2016 Jan. 25; 7:11). However, it has been shown that the use of such drugs, although leading to a decrease in inflammation, does not stop the development of a disease and does not directly act at the cause of the disease, i.e. autoreactive T lymphocytes (Haroon N et al., Arthritis Rheum. 2013 October; 65(10):2645-54., Duarte J. et al., PloS One 2010 May 10 5(5):e10558; Konig M. et al., Front Immunol 2016 Jan. 25; 7:11).
Despite the success of symptomatic treatments of ankylosing spondylitis (AS, Bekhterev's disease) using monoclonal antibodies, an effective drug has not yet been created that allows selective and long-term suppression of autoimmune response and to stop the progression of AS. Thus, it is an urgent task to generate antibodies that allow to rid the AS patients' organism of autoreactive T lymphocyte clones, the emergence of which is associated with the development of the disease.
It is known that the interaction between the antigen-recognizing T cell receptor (TCR) and main histocompatibility complex (MHC, HLA) proteins, which are processed peptides of intracellular proteins or proteins of pathogenic organisms on the surface thereof, plays an important role in the emergence of autoreactive T lymphocyte clones. A number of autoimmune diseases are associated with the presence of a particular HLA gene variant in humans. For example, the HLA-B27 allele is associated with AS, reactive arthritis, and Crohn's disease. The risk of developing autoimmune diseases in carriers of certain HLA allelic variants can be explained by preferential presentation by these alleles of certain peptides that are autoantigens, immune response against which triggers the development of an autoimmune disease. One of the possible mechanisms for the initiation of an autoimmune reaction is the presentation by histocompatibility complex molecules of peptides from proteins of bacterial or viral origin that are homologous to the organism's own peptides, which fact can lead to an immune response against self antigens due to cross-reactivity.
As is known from the prior art, a T cell receptor (TCR) sequence is a marker allowing to identify a T-lymphocytes clone involved in the pathogenesis of an autoimmune disease. Structurally, the subunits of T-cell receptors are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily and are formed from several gene segments. TCR variable regions form the TCR antigen-binding site. This means that they are clone-specific, i.e. differ in T lymphocytes that respond to distinct antigens.
In terms of the amino acid homology of variable (V) gene segments within the TCR variable domain, T cell receptors are divided into different families. According to the IMGT nomenclature, the beta-chain is distinguished into 26 distinct families, and the alpha chain is distinguished into 41 families (Turner Si et al., Nature Reviews Immunology 2006, V.6, 883-894). To determine the TCR chain family, one uses multiple alignment of a test amino acid sequence and known TCR chain sequences, the information on which is summarized in the IMGT database ("The international ImMunoGeneTics information system", Lefranc M-P., Nucl Acids Res 2001; 29:207-209).
A consensus variant of autoimmune TCRs in patients with AS has been described, it has been shown that it is present in synovial fluid and peripheral blood in patients with AS and absent at the same depth of analysis in healthy donors, regardless of their HLA*B27 allele status (Faham M. et al., Arthritis Rheumatol. 2017; 69(4):774-784; Komech E et al. 12th EJI-EFIS Tatra Immunology Conference; 2016 Sep. 3-7; Strbske Pleso, Slovakia. Abstract book p. 39). These TCRs are members of the TRBV9 family (according to the IMGT nomenclature).
It has been shown that T cell receptors bearing TRBV9 family beta-chains are also involved in the development of such an autoimmune disease as celiac disease (Petersen J et al., J Immunol. 2015; 194(12): 6112-22). Also, they are found on the surface of T cells subject to malignization in T cell lymphomas and T cell leukemias, including T-cell lymphoma caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) (Toyabe S et al., Clin Exp Immunol. 2003; 134(1): 92-97).
The closest analogues of the present invention are the monoclonal antibodies W112 and 2D1 to the beta-chain regions of human T cell receptor variable domains, which belong to TRBV5-3 TRBV8-1 families, which were described in a patent application (WO9006758) as a tool for diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. These monoclonal antibodies recognize between 0.3 to 5% of peripheral T lymphocytes bearing TRBV5-3 and 0.5 to 13% of peripheral T lymphocytes bearing TRBV8-1, respectively. The results of many studies demonstrating the involvement of T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis gave rise to the use of monoclonal antibodies specific for T receptors' beta-chain regions. In particular, the data of Brennan et al., Clin Exp Immunol. 1988 September; 73(3): 417-423 has demonstrated elevated percentage of T lymphocytes bearing TRBV5 and TRBV8 in synovial samples of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis as compared to healthy donors.
Also, WO9405801 discloses monoclonal antibodies for diagnosis and therapy of rheumatoid arthritis interacting with an epitope of the VB3.1 variable region of human T-cell receptor, which interact with the TCR V(beta)3.1 subfamily.
The main disadvantage of the approaches for treating rheumatoid arthritis described in WO9405801 and WO9006758 is the lack of convincing evidence of a connection between pathogenesis and a particular family of beta-chain variable segment.
Monoclonal antibodies that specifically recognize the 13th family beta-chain of rat TRC have also been described. Animal models has demonstrated that, with the help of these antibodies, it is possible to preventively remove a small population of T cells, the T receptor of which comprises VB13 beta-chain (VB13+ T cells), and it has been shown that such procedure protects against the development of type I diabetes in rats of type I diabetes-prone line, and also significantly reduces the risk of development of virus-induced diabetes (Zhijun Liu et al., Diabetes. 2012 May; 61(5): 1160-1168.). At the same time, the depletion of T cells, the T receptor of which comprises a distinct beta-chain family (VB16), does not differ in result from control groups. It is important to note that even the first administration of a monoclonal antibody against VB13 results in a 60% decrease in the number of VB13+ T cells in the rat spleen.
All of the described analogues do not bind to TCRs belonging to the TRBV9 family, and are not suitable for treating AS and other diseases associated with TCRs belonging to the TRBV9 family.
Monoclonal antibodies suitable for the elimination of T cells bearing the TRBV9 family TCRs, which antibodies can be used in treating AS and celiac disease, have not been described.

Monoclonal antibodies that bind TRBV9 and methods for using same for inhibiting the T cell receptor for treatment


A method of specifying an input edge router has: obtaining a first value of an input packet counter from each of input candidate edge routers having possibility to receive a specified packet passing through a specified area; transmitting a test packet having a destination address of an output edge router supplying the specified packet or a test packet having a destination address of the specified packet, to a source router connected to a network indicated by a source address of the specified packet; obtaining a second value of the input packet counter from each of the input candidate edge routers; calculating a difference between the first and second values in each input candidate edge router; and specifying an input edge router through which the specified packet passes according to the difference.

1. Field
This invention relates to a technology for specifying a communication path in a specific area on a network divided into a plurality of areas.
2. Description of Related Art
An example of an Internet Protocol (IP) network is illustrated in FIG. 1. In this network, it is desired that a communication path on the network can be specified, for example, for the following purposes: (1) to check whether the communication path follows the design of the network; (2) to specify a path to be affected in case degradation in communication quality occurs; (3) to specify a path around which a maintenance worker needs to detour at a maintenance work.
For example, an Open Shortest Path Fast (OSPF) protocol is used in a routing control in the IP network. In the OSPF, respective network devices (for example, a router) exchange packets called Link State Advertisement (LSA) to generate and store a topology and a routing table.
There is a technology for specifying a communication path in a network which performs the routing through the OSPF by providing a monitoring server which captures packets flowing in the network to collect the LSA. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the case of providing with the monitoring server. In FIG. 2, the monitoring server captures the packets flowing in a router e and generates and maintains the same topology and routing table as the router. For example, the path passing through a router g, a router b, a router c, a router d and a router i is specified as the communication path of the packet transmitted from "126.96.36.199/8" to "10.0.0.0/8". In FIG. 2, the router g and the router i are the Autonomous System Boundary Routers (ASBRs).
Further, the network may be operated, divided into a plurality of areas, as illustrated in FIG. 3, in order to reduce the loads on the router in the OSPF. In FIG. 3, a router g and a router i are the ASBRs and a router a, a router b, a router d, and a router f are the area border routers (ABR: Area Border Router) (hereinafter, the area border router is referred to as an edge router). In this case, it may happen that the monitoring server connected to the backbone (Backbone) cannot obtain the detailed LSA about an area other than the area to which the server is connected (i.e. Area 1 and Area 2). In FIG. 3, the packets transmitted from "22.214.171.124/8" to "10.0.0.0/8" pass through the router a or the router b. The edge router which receives packets from a router in a neighboring area is referred to as an input edge router. When the monitoring server cannot obtain the detailed LSA about the Area 1, the communication path in the Area 1 is left unspecified, consequently, the edge router which receives the packets cannot be specified. Therefore, the monitoring server cannot specify the input edge router and, as a result, the monitoring server cannot specify the communication path in the Backbone. In this case, it is necessary to provide another monitoring server on the Area 1 which is not monitored, in order to specify the communication path in the Backbone.


A method for designing a system on a target device utilizing field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) includes duplicating a plurality of components in response to slack values associated with connections to the components in placement locations.

FPGAs may be used to implement large systems that include millions of gates and megabits of embedded memory. Of the tasks required in managing and optimizing a design, placement of components on the FPGAs and routing connections between components on the FPGA utilizing available resources can be the most challenging and time consuming. In order to satisfy placement and timing specifications, several iterations are often required to determine how components are to be placed on the target device and which routing resources to allocate to the components. The complexity of large systems often requires the use of EDA tools to manage and optimize their design onto physical target devices. Automated placement and routing algorithms in EDA tools perform the time consuming task of placement and routing of components onto physical devices.
Traditional duplication procedures performed after placement identified sufficiently long and critical connections between nodes or components in a system. For each connection identified, a determination would be made as to whether duplicating the source of the connection and placing it closer to its destination would improve the overall slack of the system. Although these procedures yielded some positive results, the procedures failed to recognize situations where duplication of a group of components would be beneficial when duplication of a single component in the group alone would not be beneficial.
Thus, what is needed is a method and apparatus for performing compound on on FPGAs.

Method and apparatus for performing compound duplication of components on field programmable gate arrays


An image data enlargement/reduction method for use in a digital image processing system, performs enlargement and reduction of image data by employing a small quantity of data from a look-up table while satisfying a large range of enlargement and reduction operations as requested by a user, with a simplified circuit structure. Enlargement/reduction data is calculated by a microprocessor so that the zooming ratio can be easily modified by a software change.

The present invention relates to a method for enlargement/reduction of image data in a digital image processing system, and more particularly, to a method for enlargement/reduction of input image data according to an arbitrary enlargement and reduction rate designated by a user.
Generally, digital image processing systems, for example, a digital copier or facsimile that converts an image into an electrical signal and processes the result by employing a photoelectric device (i.e., an image sensor such as a charge-coupled device), require a function for enlarging or reducing an original size image, in other words, a rate-converting function or an enlargement/reduction function. In order to satisfy such a requirement, an enlargement/reduction function is realized in a conventional method in which a regulated copy ratio (e.g., zooming), even in lot units for standard-sized documents, is made possible.
A technique applied for the conventional enlargement and reduction operations as above is illustrated in FIG. 1. Here, the pulse rate of an input (write) clock is controlled to correspond to a zooming ratio when image data is written into an image memory, for example, a line memory for storing the image data in units of one line of the main scanning direction, by employing a sync signal of the image data, and the pulse rate of an output (read) clock is controlled to correspond to a zooming ratio when the image data is read out from the image memory. In other words, when an image is to be doubled in size, the image data input at the image sync signal rate is written into an image memory and the same image data is read out from the image memory for two image sync signal pulses, to thereby output an image whose size is twice the original. Meanwhile, when an image is to be halved in size, alternating image data is written into the image memory every two image sync signal pulses and the image is read out from the image memory at the image sync signal rate, to thereby output an image whose size is half the original. (A more detailed method is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Publication No. sho59-39158.)
Enlargement (115% reproduction) and reduction (85% reproduction) operations performed according to the above technique are exemplified in the following Tables 1 and 2, respectively, where P is a value used in connection with zooming ratio, K is an integer value and R is the zooming ratio.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ number of data data data number of input pixels value P + R value P value K output pixels ______________________________________ 1 1.15 0.00 1 1 2 1.30 0.15 1 2 3 1.45 0.30 1 3 4 1.60 0.45 1 4 5 1.75 0.60 1 5 6 1.90 0.75 1 6 7 2.05 0.90 2 7, 8 8 1.20 0.05 1 9 9 1.35 0.20 1 10 10 1.50 0.35 1 11 11 1.65 0.50 1 12 12 1.80 0.65 1 13 13 1.95 0.80 1 14 14 2.10 0.95 2 15, 16 15 1.25 0.10 1 17 16 1.40 0.25 1 18 17 1.55 0.40 1 19 18 1.70 0.55 1 20 19 1.85 0.70 1 21 20 2.00 0.85 2 22, 23 21 1.15 0.00 1 24 22 1.30 0.15 1 25 23 1.45 0.30 1 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ______________________________________
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ number of data data data number of input pixels value P + R value P value K output pixels ______________________________________ 1 0.85 0.00 0 2 1.70 0.85 1 1 3 1.55 0.70 1 2 4 1.40 0.55 1 3 5 1.25 0.40 1 4 6 1.10 0.25 1 5 7 0.95 0.10 0 8 1.80 0.95 1 6 9 1.65 0.80 1 7 10 1.50 0.65 1 8 11 1.35 0.50 1 9 12 1.20 0.35 1 10 13 1.05 0.20 1 11 14 0.90 0.05 0 15 1.75 0.90 1 12 16 1.60 0.75 1 13 17 1.45 0.60 1 14 18 1.30 0.45 1 15 19 1.15 0.30 1 16 20 1.00 0.15 1 17 21 0.85 0.00 0 22 1.70 0.85 1 18 23 1.55 0.70 1 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ______________________________________ In the above tables, a zooming ratio (R) is sequentially added to the number of input pixels, and the zooming ratio (R) is accumulated again with respect to the decimal value of the accumulated values, and an integer portion (K) of the accumulated values is examined. In the operation state of Table 1, the zooming ratio (R) is 1.15. Here, if the examined integer portion (K) is above two, the next pixel data value is added to the input pixel data value, to thereby perform an enlargement corresponding to the zooming ratio (R). In the operation state of table 2, the zooming ratio (R) is 0.85. Here, if the examined integer portion (K) is less than one, the pixel data is not output and the next pixel data value is output, to thereby perform an reduction corresponding to the zooming ratio (R). However, the circuit for implementing such an enlargement/reduction method is very complicated, and controlling the timing for high-speed processing is difficult. In addition, the circuit is costly and the range of the enlargement/reduction ratio cannot be easily extended or otherwise modified. Another conventional technique is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Publication No. hei2-132963, which is shown in FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D. Referring to FIG. 2A, reference numerals 25 and 26 denote FIFO memories A and B each having a capacity of one line of the main scanning direction, for example, 4752 pixels (16 pels/mm.times.297 mm; i.e., length of A4-sized paper). As shown in FIG. 2B, a memory write operation is performed when write enable signals /AWE and /BWE are low, and a memory read operation is performed when read enable signals /ARE and /BRE are low. In addition, the output of FIFO A is at a high impedance state when its read enable signal (/ARE) is high, and the output of FIFO B is at a high impedance state when its read enable signal (/BRE) is high. Thus, the respective outputs of FIFO A and FIFO B are output in a wired-OR state (D.sub.OUT) . In FIFO memories 25 and 26, an internal pointer proceeds in accordance with a write address counter and a read address counter which are operated by write clock WCK and read clock RCK, respectively, as shown in FIG. 2C. Therefore, the input image data is reduced when, with the sync signal VCLK of the image data (Din) which is divided by a rate multiplier (RMP1) 27, is applied to the write clock port of write address memory 30 and the sync signal VCLK, which is similarly divided by a rate multiplier (RMP2) 28, is applied to the read clock port of read address memory 31. Conversely, the input image is enlarged if the applied clock signals are reversed. Thus, FIFOs A and B alternately perform read and write operations. Meanwhile, a write address counter 30 and a read address counter 31 of FIFO memories 25 and 26 are structured such that counting is performed by a clock for the section where enable signals (WE and RE) are low, and are initialized (reset) upon a logic "low" state of a reset signal RST. For example, as shown in FIG. 2D, after an RST pulse (the inverted sync signal /HSYNC of main direction scanning) is input, pixel data from pixel n1 to pixel n1+m is written during the logic "low" state of the write enable signals of FIFOs A and B (/AWE and /BWE). Then, pixel data from pixel n2 to pixel n2+m is read out during the logic "low" state of the read enable signals (/ARE and /BRE). As a result, the write data becomes the read data, as shown in FIG. 2D. The above-described method controls an output sync signal of image data at the point of reading/writing the image data from/to a line memory so as to perform enlargement or reduction which can be achieved stably in 1% units. However, the circuitry for achieving such an enlargement/reduction operation (i.e., 1% units) is quite complex. Further, in order to perform enlargement and reduction over a greater range of zooming ratios (beyond, say, 25% to 400%), the hardware needs to be physically altered. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for the enlargement/reduction image data in a digital image processing system, for promptly outputting image data of the desired reproduction or reduction rate with reference to data stored in a look-up-table (LUT) having a small capacity, whenever a user changes a zooming ratio. It is another object of the present invention to provide a circuit suitable for realizing the above method. To accomplish the above first object, there is provided an image data enlargement/reduction method in a digital image processing system which comprises an LUT where a small quantity of data for use in enlargement/reduction is stored and a memory for use in enlargement/reduction, and which enlarges/reduces input image data in accordance with a user-designated zooming ratio, the method comprising the steps of: (a) dividing the user-designated zooming ratio by one and calculating the quotient and remainder thereof; (b) reducing image data with reference to the data stored in the LUT, if the quotient calculated in the step (a) is less than one; (c) enlarging image data with reference to the data stored in the LUT, if the quotient calculated in the step (a) is greater than one and the remainder thereof is not zero; (d) performing a simple enlargement process, if the quotient calculated in the step (a) is greater than one and the remainder thereof is zero; and (e) writing the enlargement/reduction data calculated via the steps (a) to (d) into the memory. To accomplish the above second object, there is provided an enlargement/reduction circuit for enlarging and reducing image data input to a digital image processing system and outputting an image corresponding to a user-designated zooming ratio, the circuit comprising: a first memory for storing an LUT for use in enlargement/reduction; a microprocessor for calculating enlargement/reduction data corresponding to the zooming ratio, using the LUT stored in the first memory; a second memory for temporarily storing, in the course of calculating the enlargement/reduction data by the microprocessor, the enlargement/reductio n data of the LUT and enlargement/reduction data for an amount of one line calculated from the microprocessor; first and second line memories for storing the input image data to be enlarged/reduced, in units of one scanned line, respectively; a third memory for performing enlargement/reduction by employing the enlargement/reduction data stored in the second memory; a first counter for counting a sync signal of the image data in order to write the one scanned line units of the image data, into predetermined addresses of the first and second line memories; a second counter for counting the sync signal of the image data in order to output the data of the third memory as addresses of the first and second line memories, so that data can be written into the third memory by the microprocessor and so that enlargement/reduction can be performed with respect to the user-designated zooming ratio during a scanning operation; and a frequency divider for frequency-dividing a line sync signal such that the read and write operations of the first and second line memories can be performed alternately.

Method for enlargement/reduction of image data in digital image processing system and circuit adopting the same


A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) includes forming only a λ/4 plate between a polarizer and a display panel and setting a direction of an absorption axis of the polarizer and a slow axis of the λ/4 plate, so that the LCD can have a smaller thickness and its fabrication cost can be reduced while having better or the same characteristics than an LCD using both λ/2 and λ/4 plates. In addition, in an ECB mode backlit LCD, transmittance, contrast ratio, and viewing angles can be enhanced by attaching both the λ/4 or λ/2 plate and allowing the absorption axis of the polarizer and the slow axis of the λ/4 and λ/2 plates to have predetermined angle relationships.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color filter display panel, thin film transistor ("TFT") array panel, liquid crystal display ("LCD") thereof, and method thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a color filter display panel and TFT array panel each having a reduced fabrication unit cost and smaller thickness, an LCD having the color filter display panel and the TFT array panel and having improved luminance and viewing angle characteristics, and a method of maintaining or improving luminance and viewing angle characteristics of the LCD.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display ("LCD"), one of the most commonly used flat panel displays, includes two display panels on which field generating electrodes such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode are formed and a liquid crystal layer interposed there between. In the LCD, a voltage is applied to the field generating electrodes to generate an electric field on the liquid crystal layer to thereby determine an alignment of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer and control polarization of an incident light, thereby allowing display of images.
According to a light source, the LCD can be divided into a backlit LCD that displays images by using a lighting unit positioned at a rear surface of a liquid crystal cell, a reflective LCD that displays images by using natural external light, and a transflective LCD, a combination of the backlit LCD and the reflective LCD, which is operated in a transmission mode to display images by using an internal light source of a display element itself in an indoor or dark environment where there is no external light source, and is operated in a reflection mode to display images by reflecting external light in an outdoor environment with high illumination intensity.

Color filter display panel, thin film transistor array panel, liquid crystal display thereof, and method thereof


An edge crack monitoring system for an integrated circuit provided on a die, comprises a conductive trace comprising at least a first conductive path for allowing current in a first direction, and a second adjacent conductive path for allowing current in a second direction opposite to the first direction. Both adjacent conductive paths form at least one loop surrounding a semiconductor device on a die. The arrangement of the trace is adapted to provide compensation of EM interferences. The trace comprises two terminals being connectable to a detection circuit for detecting damages by generating a fault signal upon detection of disruption of the conductive trace due to a damage. The conductive trace comprises high resistance portions with a resistance of at least 1 kΩ, adapted for reducing self-resonance.

During manufacture of integrated circuits, a semiconductor wafer is processed in order to provide a plurality of electronic chips. The number of chips, that a wafer can provide, depends of the area per chip and the total area of the wafer, which is dictated by industrial trends and technology. It is commercially important to obtain a high chip yield per wafer. However, the dice are required to be cut and separated. It is known that during the separation of semiconductor devices from the wafer the die edge may crack or otherwise become damaged during manufacturing. This may happen also during handling (e.g. during assembly in a larger circuit) or even during use, depending on the conditions and particular application. It is also known that during the separation of the devices from the wafer, any small imperfection along the die edge may give rise to damages, for instance to cracks or other mechanical failures. Even if these damages are small and do not reach the metallic layers of the chip, cracks might further expand during other manufacturing stages, or in qualification of the integrated circuit and handling, or during its lifetime, especially in thermally, mechanically or chemically harsh environments as for instance automotive applications. The cracks may introduce defects in the structure and damage the metallization layers, as well as being a path for further damage if corrosive or harsh gasses and chemicals enter the cracks. The function of the semiconductor device might be disturbed. Thus, cracks and damages may produce a total failure of a semiconductor device, disturb its function, or at least cause relevant parametric deviation.
There is therefore a need to control such cracks or damages in an early stage, before they might arrive in the active functional area of the chip. As an example, ISO26262 requires a failure signal to be used by a higher-level system, such that if a failure occurs during the lifetime of an IC, the higher-level system can take adequate measures.
Many devices contain passive measures to improve cutting and reduce the influence of any damage in the semiconductor material. For example, passive means include introducing extra electronics-free area around the scribe lines. This makes damages less likely to reach electronic components in the die. However, it requires more area per die in the semiconductor wafer, thus reducing yield, which is undesirable. Alternatively or additionally, active electronic components can be used for monitoring the integrity of the edge during cutting. The area around the scribe lines can be reduced in this way. However, the monitoring is limited to cutting or, in the best case, to handling. Any damage occurring afterwards (e.g. during use in a harsh environment) will be unnoticed. The compromised integrated circuit may create malfunction in the whole system.
US2013009663A1 shows a semiconductor device comprising a conductive line surrounding circuitry, and connected to two terminals and a test circuit. This system is not appropriate for many sensitive applications in which any electromagnetic disturbance needs to be avoided. Additionally, the system itself may be susceptible of malfunction due to peak currents and/or antenna effects. Adding further electronic circuit elements (such as inductive coils or capacitors) to improve shielding is possible, but this also increases the area of the chip and reduces manufacturing yield, both of which are commercial disadvantages.
US2014375341A1 shows a crack testing system comprising conductive paths with gaps and bridges for shielding the system against humidity. Cracks are detected by introducing an electric signal and measuring changes thereof. The gaps of the inner ring are offset with the gaps of the outer ring, in order to provide simultaneous protection against humidity and good crack detection. As in the case of US2013009663A1, electromagnetic shielding is necessary.
US2016197056A1 discloses a double conductive path sectioned in several portions for protection of a die against cracks which can also be used to monitor cracks. However, the applications of such system are limited, because the paths may catch stray signals and interferences and give false readings.
US2015115993A1 discloses at least one double conductive loop for a circuit stack, which is suitable to detect delamination of stacked dies by detection of electric changes in the conductive path. As with the previous systems, this system is susceptible of interferences, and it is not suitable for a single die.


Disclosed is an image forming apparatus including: a sheet feeding tray to store a sheet; an image forming section to form an image on the sheet; a fusing section to fuse the image; a controlling section to perform cleaning of the fusing section when a sheet has been nipped in the fusing section at an occurrence of a jam by passing a sheet through the fusing section after the jam is relieved; an operating section to set an allowed condition of a sheet; and a memory section to store an allowed condition, wherein the controlling section determines whether the sheet feeding tray stores a sheet which satisfies the allowed condition, and when the sheet feeding tray stores the sheet which satisfies the allowed condition, selects the sheet feeding tray and controls the sheet feeding tray to feed the sheet and controls the fusing section to pass the sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which includes a function of cleaning a fusing section by passing a sheet on which an image is not formed, before resuming printing after relieving a jam, when a sheet is nipped in a fusing section at the time of an occurrence of the jam.
2. Description of Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a printer using electrophotography which transfers toner images on a sheet and heat-melts and fixes the transferred toner images fusing section cleaning methods have been proposed where, when a sheet may be nipped in a nip section of a fusing section when a jam occurs, a sheet on which an image has not been formed is passed through the fusing section after the jam is settled and before resuming printing, and toner adhered on a surface of the fusing section is transferred to the passed sheet so that the residual toner is removed.
For example, a technique is proposed such as when a printing operation is interrupted by a jam occurrence, etc., if a sheet may be nipped in a nip section of the fusing section at the time, a sheet with a same sheet size or larger and a smaller basis weight than the sheet used in the interrupted printing is chosen from the sheet storing section, and is fed through a fusing roller and pressure roller without forming an image after jam processing, so that residual adhered toner on the rollers are transferred and adhered to the passed sheet and the sheet is ejected to a sheet ejection tray different from the tray where the printed sheet is ejected (For example Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2006-154192, hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1).
However, with the method of Patent Document 1, sheets which meet the above mentioned size condition and basis weight condition are automatically fed and passed from the sheet storing section. As a result, when size condition and basis weight condition are satisfied, even expensive special sheets such as coated sheets and high quality sheets which a user does not desire to use for cleaning may be used for cleaning.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A fitting for a vehicle seat includes a first fitting part, a second fitting part which is rotatable relative to said first fitting part, a peripheral clamping ring which has a substantially L-shaped cross section, and which is connected to the first fitting part and extends over the second fitting part, and an intermediate ring which has a substantially L-shaped cross section, and which is arranged between the peripheral clamping ring and the second fitting part. A ledge is formed on the second fitting part, which ledge has an end surface and a cylindrical supporting surface. The supporting surface has a diameter which is smaller than the maximum outer diameter of the second fitting part, and the cylindrical supporting surface directly or indirectly supports the peripheral clamping ring.

EP1676502 A2 discloses a fitting which provides for a direct bearing of the metal fitting members on each other in the region of the outer periphery of the second fitting member, the clamping ring being of L-like form, being securely connected to the first fitting member at the outer periphery thereof or in the immediate vicinity thereof, having a cylindrical region and an inwardly extending edge region, wherein it engages behind the outer peripheral region of the second fitting member with the inwardly extending edge region and is in sliding contact with an outwardly directed lateral face of the first fitting member by means of a plurality of protrusions which project in an axial direction in the direction of the first fitting member. The bearing in a radial direction may be brought about either by means of the clamping ring or—alternatively—by means of the first fitting member which has a corresponding shoulder in the region of the outer periphery. This results in an unfavorable friction coefficient of the metal/metal material pairing.
DE102004010491 B4 discloses a fitting for a vehicle seat, of which a section is illustrated in the drawings. This fitting has a first fitting member 111, a second fitting member 112 which is supported on the first fitting member 111 and which is rotatable relative thereto about a center axis, and a clamping ring 121 which is connected to the first fitting member 111 and engages over the second fitting member in order to axially secure it. In this instance, a plastics intermediate ring 131, which is of L-like form and which is positioned in accordance with the L-like clamping ring 121 so as to extend on the inner surface and inner lateral face thereof, is arranged between the L-like clamping ring 121 and the second fitting member 112. The intermediate ring 131 is connected to the second fitting member 112 in a rotationally secure manner and supports the first fitting member 111 in a radial direction with a bearing face which is formed by the inner surface of the cylindrical region and, in an axial direction, by the end face which extends in a radial direction.


The present invention is directed to a geosynthetic wicking fabric for transporting water from beneath pavement structures to reduce or prevent damaged caused by frost heave and thaw. Further, the present invention is directed to a wicking drainage system employing the wicking fabric.

Frost heave and thaw weakening can cause damage to pavement structures, such as parking areas, roadways, airfields, etc., in northern regions. The formation of ice lenses in the pavement structure is a significant contributor to such damage, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Three elements are necessary for ice lenses, and thus frost heave, to form. These are: (1) frost susceptible soil, (2) subfreezing temperatures, and (3) water. Often, water is available from the groundwater table, infiltration, an aquifer, or held within the voids of fine-grained soil. By removing any of the three elements above, frost heave and thaw weakening can be at least minimized or eliminated altogether.
Techniques have been developed to mitigate the damage to pavement structures caused by frost heave and thaw weakening. One such method involves removing the frost susceptible soils and replacing them with non-frost susceptible soils. The non-frost susceptible soil is placed at an adequate thickness to reduce the strain in the frost-susceptible soil layers below to an acceptable level. Other methods include use of insulation to reduce the freeze and thaw depth. In areas where removal of frost susceptible soils and reduction of subfreezing temperature are difficult and expensive, removal of water can lead to savings in construction costs by reducing the formation of ice lenses. By breaking the capillary flow path, frost action can be less severe.
A capillary barrier is a layer of coarse-grained soils or geosynthetic in a fine grained soil that (i) reduces upward capillary flow of soil water due to suction gradient generated by evaporation or freezing, and (or) (ii) reduces or prevents water from infiltrating from the overlying fine-pored unsaturated soil into the soil below the capillary barrier. In the latter case, if the capillary barrier is sloped, the infiltrating water flows in the fine soil downwards along the interface with the capillary barrier. Geosynthetic drainage nets (geonets) have been found to serve as capillary barriers because of their large pore sizes. The performance of nonwoven geotextiles as a capillary barrier appears to be compromised by soil intrusion into their interiors, decreasing the pore size and increasing the affinity of the material to water. Further, as reported by Henry (1998), "The use of geosynthetics to mitigate frost heave in soils." Ph.D. dissertation, Civil Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle, hydrophobic geotextiles have been more effective in reducing frost heave than hydrophilic geotextiles.
The above mentioned capillary barriers attempt to cut off the capillary water flow by generating a horizontal layer with very low unsaturated permeability under suction. The whole structure is permeable for downward rainfall infiltration. This type of capillary barrier requires that the barrier thickness exceed the height of the capillary rise of water in them. In addition, it provides conditions suitable for water vapor flow because of their high porosity and comparatively low equilibrium degrees of saturation.
Thus, there remains a need for a woven geosynthetic fabric with differential wicking capability that reduces or eliminates frost heave in soils. Accordingly, it is to solving this and other needs that the present invention is directed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Woven geosynthetic fabric with differential wicking capability


The invention relates to a rubber tire with carbon black reinforced carcass and quantitatively silica reinforced rubber tread, said tread having a thin overcoat thereon of rubber containing a quantitative amount of electrically conductive carbon black, a coating composition therefor and a method of application.

Pneumatic rubber tires are conventionally prepared with a rubber tread which can be a blend of various rubbers, typically sulfur curable, diene-based elastomers. The tire rubber, including its tread portion, is typically reinforced with carbon black reinforcing filler.
For the purposes of this presentation, a tire is viewed as being composed of a circumferential tread and supporting carcass therefor. The carcass is viewed as being composed of relatively conventional elements which include but are not limited to sidewalls, beads, innerliner and the supporting carcass plies, including fabric reinforced plies. A shoulder region of a tire is considered as being a portion of the tire where its sidewall meets its tread. It is not normally a sharp line of demarkation and its actual position may vary somewhat from tire to tire. The bead portion of the carcass is typically composed of a relatively inextensible bundle of wires which is encased in carbon black reinforced rubber and is designed to contact a metal rim on which the tire itself is mounted to form a tire/rim, or tire/wheel, assembly which itself conventionally adapted to be mounted on a vehicle. The rim is typically steel or aluminum, or alloy thereof, and is thus electrically conductive since the metal is considered as having a very low resistance to flow of electricity. The term metal as used herein for the metal rim is intended to be electrically conductive metals such as the aforesaid steel and aluminum rims as would be understood by those having skill in such art.
It is acknowledged that, in some tire constructions, carbon black reinforced rubber components such as for example chippers and chaffers may be positioned in the bead area of the tire construction to assist in cushioning the bead component against the metal rim. In the context of this description, a reference to the aforesaid bead component of the tire carcass is intended to include such other rubber components unless otherwise indicated.
In practice, air pressure is applied to the cavity enveloped by the metal rim and the pneumatic tire carcass.
Such construction elements, or components, of a pneumatic tire and tire carcass, as well as such tire/wheel or tire/rim assembly, are well known to those familiar with such tire art.
Rubber by itself is generally considered as being a substantial electrical insulator or, in other words, a rather poor conductor of electricity.
A carbon black reinforced rubber vehicular tire, while still providing a degree of resistance to flow of electricity, has a considerably higher electrical conductivity, or lower resistance to flow of electricity, than rubber without the carbon black reinforcement.
It is considered herein that a continuous electrical dissipation path is created between the electrically conductive metal rim of a tire/wheel (tire/rim) assembly to the to the ground via the carbon black reinforced rubber of the tire, including its ground-contacting tread component, for such a tire/rim assembly mounted on a vehicle which is intended to travel over the ground.
In this manner, it is considered herein that potential electrical energy which may be created by components of or within a moving vehicle as its tires, or tire/wheel assemblies, are rotating and traveling over the ground, is dissipated from the rim of a tire/rim assembly to the ground via the carbon black reinforced rubber path of the tire carcass and tread, which is understood herein to be primarily the outer rubber surface of the tire.
Thus, in one aspect, it is considered herein that the carbon black reinforced rubber of the tire carcass and associated tread normally provide a continuous path to dissipate electrical energy and thereby retard or eliminate static electrical charge from building up and/or accumulating under dynamic conditions of a rotating tire on a vehicle traveling across the ground.
While most carbon blacks are electrically conductive to some degree, some carbon blacks are more electrically conductive than others and are often referred as being electrically conductive carbon blacks. It is understood or believed that such electrically conductive carbon blacks are sometimes used with various industrial products where electrical conductivity is a factor in their utility. However, insofar as it is known, such electrically conductive carbon blacks are not used for commercially manufactured carbon black-reinforced rubber tire treads primarily because such classified electrically conductive carbon blacks are not normally considered the best rubber reinforcing carbon blacks for rubber tire treads.
For the purposes of this invention, electrically conductive carbon blacks are those which, when blended in amount of 50 phr with a diene-based elastomer such as, for example emulsion polymerization prepared styrene/butadiene copolymer, and the resulting mixture sulfur cured, provide a composition demonstrating a surface electrical resistance of 10,000 ohms or less according to ASTM D257-66, Mod G, as hereinafter described.
In one aspect, carbon black reinforced rubber tires may sometimes be prepared which have outer rubber treads designed to be ground contacting which are quantitatively reinforced with silica and thus contain only minimal amounts such as for example 10 phr or less of carbon black.
In such silica reinforced tire tread construction, although the various other rubber components of the tire, namely the aforesaid tire carcass, are quantitatively reinforced with carbon black and thus have a degree of electrical conductivity, the silica reinforced tread itself has a substantially lower electrical conductivity, or in other words a substantially higher electrical resistance and thus create a degree of electrical insulating effect between the tire carcass and ground. Such a tire construction has a substantially less tendency to dissipate static electricity from the tire to the ground, and particularly from the metal rim of a tire/rim assembly to the outer surface of the tire tread and thence to the ground, which may be generated by a dynamic condition of the rotation of the tire on a moving vehicle. Accordingly, a potential for static electricity to build up, or increase, is considered to be higher for such a tire construction than for a similar tire with a carbon black reinforced tread.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a designed path for electrical leakage or static electricity dissipation for such a tire having a quantitative silica reinforced rubber tread and minimal, if any, carbon black reinforcement.
It acknowledged that it might be thought of to apply a coating of carbon black-containing rubber composition over the outer surface of the silica reinforced rubber tread to facilitate an electrical leakage or dissipation path connecting the tire's carbon black reinforced rubber sidewall region to the ground as the tire rotates on the vehicle. Indeed, elastomer/carbon black coatings, which may be applied as either water-based or organic solvent-based compositions and which are sometimes called pre-cure paints, are often applied to various surfaces of green, or unvulcanized, tire constructions before the tire is vulcanized. A purpose for such pre-cure paints is to reduce friction between the tire and its associated vulcanization mold and increase air bleed between the tire and mold during the vulcanization operation. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,857,397 and 4,329,265.
However, it is recognized that a thin outer rubber coating, if applied to a tire tread surface, will relatively quickly wear away as the tire is used, leaving the coating on surfaces within the grooves in a tire tread which has a lug/groove configuration. Thereby, it is considered herein that only a very small portion of the coating on the walls of the tire tread grooves is actually available to be directly presented to, or contact, the ground to facilitate electrical dissipation from the tire to the ground.
It is, therefore, considered herein that in order to be practical, such a thin carbon black-containing rubber coating must be very highly electrically conductive for purposes of dissipating electrical charge from the walls of silica reinforced rubber tire tread grooves to the ground without relying upon a coating on the outer surface of the tire lugs itself.
While the dissipation of generated electrical energy may not be completely understood, it is believed that the electricity is transmitted primarily on the surface of the carbon black reinforced rubber surface of the tire carcass and aforesaid coating from the steel rim to the ground.
It is highly desirable for such a coating to be applied as a water based, film forming carbon black containing rubber composition. By desiring that the film coating be film forming in nature as it is applied to the rubber surface, it is envisioned that it forms a substantially continuous film on the tread surface and ultimately the surfaces of the grooves therein. It is also desirable that the coating adequately adheres to the tire tread surface, ultimately its groove walls.
However, it is a particular challenge to formulate a water based rubber composition composed of a blend of rubber latex and water dispersion of electrically conductive carbon black which will, after coating onto an unvulcanized rubber composition, dry within an acceptable period time to be practical in a commercial manufacturing circumstance. Commercial electrically conductive carbon black water dispersions are understood to be conventionally supplied in concentrations on an order of 20 to 25 weight percent of carbon black. Most synthetic rubber latices are commercially provided, for example, in elastomer concentrations on an order of about 40-43 weight percent for polybutadiene rubber and about 40 to about 50 weight percent for styrene/butadiene copolymers elastomers. Natural rubber might be provided as a latex with about 65 to 70 percent rubber. It is considered herein that a blending of such aforesaid relatively dilute electrically conductive carbon black dispersion with such aforesaid synthetic latices would be expected to yield a water mixture that is too dilute and therefore contain too much water to be highly practical for commercial tire manufacturing practices where relatively short drying times for the coating are desired unless the composition is applied to a hot rubber surface and/or external heat is applied to the coating after it is coated onto the rubber surface.
In one aspect, for a tire tread conventionally configured with a combination of lugs and grooves, it is desired that the grooves communicate with the carbon black reinforced rubber shoulder of the tire, the area of the tire where the sidewall and tread meet, in order for the coating to communicate with the carbon black reinforced rubber portion of the tire, namely the tire carcass and the tread base in a tread cap/base construction.
In a tire tread cap/base construction which is well known to those having skill in such art, and for the purposes of this invention, it is envisioned that the cap is substantially silica reinforced and its base is substantially carbon black reinforced.
It is, therefore, desirable that the rubber coating (i) contains a quantitative amount of electrically conductive carbon black for dissipation of electrical energy under the aforesaid conditions (ii) is covulcanized with the rubber tire tread in order that it be integral with the tread and the walls of grooves of a tire tread configuration composed of lugs and grooves (iii) be extremely thin so that it does not appreciably increase the volume of the tire and does not appreciably affect the tread properties of the tread and (iv) be applicable as a water based composition with a suitably short drying time in order to be practical in a manufacturing process.
For the rubber coat to contain a quantitative amount of electrically conductive carbon black, it is considered herein that it means that the coating should contain a sufficient amount of the carbon black to suitably dissipate an electrical charge although it is believed that too high of a carbon black concentration in the rubber coat would cause the coat to excessively crack on the rubber surface and thus interfere with a continuous coating film aspect. In practice, it is also considered herein that the thinness of the coating is important to not add to the volume of the tire in its vulcanization mold and to not detract appreciably from the tire's tread properties. Indeed, in one aspect, it is expected that the film will wear off of the outer surface of tire tread lugs during use of the tire.
In order for such a coating to be successfully water based, it is considered herein that the coating composition should be composed of a blend of (i) one or more of aqueous rubber emulsions having a basic pH selected from emulsion polymerization prepared synthetic rubber(s) and natural rubber latex and (ii) a water dispersion of carbon black having a basic pH. It is considered herein that the basic pH would normally be expected for the aforesaid synthetic and natural rubber emulsions and is highly desirable and perhaps necessary for the carbon black dispersion in order that an addition of the carbon black dispersion to the latex not pre-precipitate or cause a coagulation of the rubber from the emulsion.
It is also desired that the water based coating composition wet the surface of the rubber to be coated and form a continuous film thereon upon drying. For such purpose it is understood that one or more wetting agents and perhaps a thickening agent, defoamer, preservative and biocide might be added to the basic coating composition.
As used herein, the terms "quantitatively reinforced with silica", "quantitative silica reinforced rubber" and the like which may be used in conjunction with rubber tire treads refer to such rubber treads which contain silica in a range of about 40 to about 90 phr and, optionally, carbon black reinforcing filler in an amount of up to about 10 phr.
The term "phr" as used herein, and according to conventional practice, refers to "parts of a respective material per 100 parts by weight of rubber".

Tire with coated silica reinforced rubber tread


A method for selecting, processing and displaying data or data objects (13 to 16, 21 to 23, 30) that are stored in a predetermined hierarchy in addressable memory locations of a data processing system. The hierarchy has a tree structure with a trunk and branched-off subdivisions. The method allows the association or common processing of the data or the data objects (13 to 16, 22 to 23, 30) derived from listings on different hierarchical levels of the tree structure in a common table.

The invention relates to a method for selecting, processing and/or displaying data in an electronic data processing system, and associated software and systems.
It is well-known in the art to control electronic data processing systems in such a way that, for the selection of stored, calculated or otherwise established data, the data is stored in a predefined hierarchy in addressable memory locations. These hierarchies generally have a so-called tree structure with a trunk and branched-off subdivisions, or branches, to enable efficient and reliable program-controlled processing of predefined routines and the corresponding allocation of data volumes.
Particularly when specific program parts are addressed and data from any given subdivisions of the tree structure are simultaneously allocated, conventional methods have the disadvantage that the hierarchical tree structure can select, process or also display only one list of data or data addresses contained in a subdivision. In these known methods, lists of data or data addresses in hierarchically higher or lower branched subdivisions cannot be readily interlinked with one another because these two aspects, tree structure and list in table form, are processed separately. In other words, it is possible either to select individual objects in the hierarchy or to carry out mass processing in the table without a hierarchical order.

Method for selecting, processing and displaying data or data objects