A power take-off unit includes an input shaft for operative connection to a source of motive power and a first drive gear operatively mounted to the input shaft and having a first set of drive teeth. The power take-off unit also includes a second drive gear having a second set of drive teeth and a first set of bevel teeth, the second set of drive teeth being meshingly engaged to the first drive teeth. The power take-off unit further includes an output gear mounted transversely to the second drive gear and having a second set of bevel teeth meshingly engaged to the first set of bevel teeth to transfer torque transversely from the input shaft to drive a set of wheels of a vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to power take-off units and, more particularly, to a power take-off unit employed with a transmission of a vehicle to provide four-wheel drive capability.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally speaking, land vehicles require three basic components. These components comprise a power plant (such as an internal combustion engine), a power train, and wheels. The internal combustion engine produces force by the conversion of chemical energy in a liquid fuel into the mechanical energy of motion (kinetic energy). The function of the power train is to transmit this resultant force to the wheels to provide movement of the vehicle.
The power train's main component is typically referred to as the "transmission". Engine torque and speed are converted in the transmission in accordance with the tractive-power demand of the vehicle. The vehicle's transmission is also capable of controlling the direction of rotation being applied to the wheels, so that the vehicle may be driven both forward and backward.
In larger or commercial vehicles, it is known to provide transmissions with power take-off units that provide a secondary source of torque, or rotational power, from the transmission to any of a variety of power driven accessories, implements, or devices. The power take-off unit and transmission can be structured to provide a selectable source of output power. The power take-off unit can also be structured to provide output power at a reduction or increase over that of the transmission output.
It is also known to provide vehicles with the ability to drive all four wheels (i.e., four-wheel drive) from the output of the transmission. Numerous approaches to providing four-wheel drive capability to a vehicle presently exist. Certain conventional approaches provide constant, or full-time, four-wheel drive that is not de-selectable. Other vehicle drive systems may provide part-time, user selectable four-wheel drive, or automatically selected part-time four-wheel drive. Still other four-wheel drive systems provide a combination of automatic and user selectable drive mechanisms.
One manner of providing four-wheel drive capability to motor vehicles has been to modify and adapt the traditional power take-off unit and power the forward wheels of a primarily rear wheel driven vehicle. One of the most notable approaches has been to employ a specific type of power take-off known as a "transfer case". Transfer cases have been generally employed within a drive train having a longitudinally mounted engine and transmission that is designed to drive the rear wheels. The transfer case takes torque output from the transmission, and passes the torque to the rear wheels. The transfer case also provides a secondary torque output, which is directed forward to a front differential to distribute torque to the front wheels. In most cases, the transfer case is selectable to engage or disengage the front wheels from the drive train.
In recent years, the consumer demand for four-wheel drive capability has expanded into almost all types of and styles of motor vehicles. Satisfying this demand has been problematic in some types of vehicles, especially those with transverse mounted engines or transaxle type transmissions that drive the front wheels. In response, a number of other adaptations of power take-off units have evolved to provide drive capability to both the front and rear wheels.
The newer approaches to the design of power take-off units for four-wheel drive vehicles that are designed to work with a transverse mounted transmission most often first drive the front wheels and use the power take-off unit to selectively drive the rear wheels. Known power take-off units of this type have the disadvantage of being bulky and complex. This disadvantage of conventional four-wheel drive power take-off units arises from the inclusion of one or more clutch mechanisms and planetary gear assemblies that are employed to transfer torque to the drive assemblies that drive the front and rear wheels. These associated assemblies require a great number of operative parts to be incorporated into the four-wheel drive power take-off unit, making it a large supplemental component of the drive train. Additionally, providing the operative torque through one or more power take-off clutch devices and/or planetary gear assemblies increases the likelihood of mechanical failures.
Other examples of conventional four-wheel drive power take-off units move the clutching assemblies and planetary gear systems into the transmission and transaxle and, in some cases, completely integrate the power take-off and transmission together. In these examples, shifting the complexity and bulk of the power take-off unit into the transmission or transaxle or merely integrating the power take-off unit into the transmission or transaxle itself only further enlarges the size of the transmission and increases its complexity. The underlying disadvantages still remain in the vehicle's drive train.
In any case, the size and complexity of the conventional four-wheel drive power take-off units makes it quite difficult to mount these devices in smaller more compact vehicles where physical space and ground clearance is already at a premium. Additionally, a power take-off unit employed for providing four wheel-drive capability must be robust enough to transfer torque to both sets of drive wheels under periods of physically demanding driving conditions. In this manner, attempting to simply reduce the size of the conventional power take-off units to allow them to fit within the physical restraints of a smaller motor vehicle is unacceptable as their load carrying capability is similarly reduced.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a power take-off unit to be employed with a transverse transmission or transaxle of a motor vehicle that has reduced size and complexity compared to conventional units by reducing the number of parts, the overall size, and the cost. It is also desirable to provide a power take-off unit that employs a direct drive to one set of drive wheels without clutching mechanisms or planetary gear assemblies. It is further desirable to provide a power take-off unit that provides torque to all four wheels and is a separate unit from the transmission or transaxle. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide a power take-off unit for use with a transverse mounted transmission or transaxle to provide four-wheel drive capability that meets these desires.


A fixed wireless access subscriber unit containing a wireless transceiver and a telephone subscriber line interface circuit which supports privacy and remote release of hold between the subscriber unit and extension telephones are disclosed. The subscriber unit detects when the primary handset, or an extension telephone set goes off-hook. In response the subscriber unit modifies the voltage and/or current characteristics on the telephone subscriber line which connects the extension sets to the subscriber unit in such a manner that extension sets connected to the telephone subscriber line will sense when the primary handset goes off-hook.

It is well known to connect two or more telephone sets, for example, in different rooms of a residence, to the same telephone subscriber line, thus enabling calls to be originated or terminated at each telephone set or permit two or more people in the residence to participate simultaneously in a telephone conversation via the telephone subscriber line. A disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the privacy of a person using a first telephone set may be lost due to another person taking a second telephone set, connected to the same telephone subscriber line, off-hook (lifting the handset). While in some circumstances a click may be audible to the person using the first telephone set when the second telephone is taken off-hook, this does not provide a convenient or reliable indication that privacy has been interrupted. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a more reliable indication at one telephone set of the hook state of another telephone set connected to the same line.
Such an indication is also useful even when the first telephone set is on-hook, as it can then serve to indicate to a prospective user of this telephone set whether or not the telephone subscriber line is already in use by another person using one of the other telephone sets connected to this line.
Furthermore, it is desirable for a user of the first telephone set to be able to place this in a hold state during a telephone call, to go to a second telephone set connected to the same line to continue the call, and to have the first telephone set automatically release itself from the hold state when the second telephone set is taken off-hook. This is referred to as remote release from hold.
Prior art devices take advantage of the fact that a change in the voltage between the two wires of the telephone subscriber line can be detected and used to take an appropriate action, for example to provide an indication at a first telephone set whether another telephone on the same telephone subscriber line has gone off-hook or to effect a remote release of hold.
As an example of such a prior art device, the reader is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,404, issued Feb. 15, 1994, naming Pepper et al as inventors, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art arrangement in which three telephones are shown connected to the same telephone subscriber line within a residence wherein said telephone subscriber line is directly connected to a central office using the conventional analog telephone subscriber line interface. In such a prior art arrangement, the central office 10 includes a subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) 20 to which is attached telephones 52, 54 and 56, within the residence 50, via a telephone subscriber line 30. For example, let us assume that telephone set 52 contains a device for detecting changes in the voltage and current (VI) characteristic of the telephone subscriber line according to the prior art. If telephone set 56 goes off-hook, then set 52 can indicate to a user, for example, via a light, that set 56 has gone off-hook.
By way of example, let us assume that central office SLIC 20, using an open circuit voltage of 52 V, generates a potential of 52 volts between the two wires of the telephone subscriber line 30 when all telephone sets are on-hook. When telephone set 56 goes off-hook, telephone set 56 starts to draw current from the central office SLIC, via the telephone subscriber line, decreasing the voltage potential between the two wires to approximately 15 volts or less at the residence. The telephone set 52 senses this drop in potential which indicates that another extension connected to the telephone subscriber line has gone off-hook. Furthermore, if telephone 54 subsequently goes off-hook in parallel with telephone set 56, the current drawn from the central office SLIC by telephone 56 decreases, and if telephone set 56 also contains a device for detecting changes in the voltage and current characteristic of the telephone subscriber line, telephone 56 senses this drop in current or potential and indicates that another extension connected to the telephone subscriber line has gone off-hook.
While such features were designed for conventional (e.g. POTS) telephony service provided by a central office switch, it should be appreciated that other telephony services exist. For example, wireless (e.g. cellular) telephony has been proposed as a means of providing telephony services to a residence. In order to save costs associated with mobile cellular telephony, fixed wireless access (FWA) systems have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,096 naming West et al as inventor, describes an interface system for connecting a conventional telephone to a cellular transceiver. Such an interface system includes a SLIC for providing central office subscriber line interface features to a conventional telephone connected to the interface. However, there exists a need for providing more advanced features to such a system.
It is advantageous to add a handset (hereafter referred to as the primary handset), keypad, speaker, and display directly to the subscriber unit containing the SLIC. This transforms the subscriber unit into a wireless terminal which can also provide central office subscriber line interface features to additional conventional telephones via the built in SLIC. However, when this primary handset goes off-hook, there is no affect on the telephone subscriber line attached to the SLIC interface within the subscriber unit. Thus, a telephone set connected to the subscriber unit will not be able to detect the primary handset going off-hook. Therefore there exists a need for regulating the VI characteristics of the telephone subscriber line attached to the SLIC in the subscriber unit.

Simulating changes in telephone subscriber line


Reflection means such as a mirror are provided on the output end of an optical fiber, and the input signal light and control light are returned to the optical fiber. Although the zero-dispersion wavelength of the optical fiber fluctuates in the longitudinal direction, if the length is relatively short, it is possible to manufacture a high yield of optical fibers, which monotonically changes the zero-dispersion wavelength. Therefore, a relatively short optical fiber with a monotonic zero-dispersion change can be used. Since the zero-dispersion change is monotonic and the optical fiber is short, the amount of change in the zero-dispersion wavelength is small and the bandwidth becomes broader when the control light is set at the position of the average zero-dispersion wavelength. Additionally, although the length of the optical fiber is short, the operating length is twice as long and thus the generation efficiency does not degrade.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical switch.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent increases in the capacity of optical fiber communications, the bit rate of these communications has reached 160 Gb/s or higher and an optical switch that can adopt such speeds has been sought in research aiming at the next generation system. Among optical switches that are operated at ultra-high speed there exists an optical fiber switch employing an all-optical processing technique that controls light via another light and that utilizes a nonlinear optical effect in an optical fiber. Optical switches employing a highly nonlinear fiber, in particular, generally have characteristics of high switching efficiency and low loss.
One of the nonlinear optical effects applied to such an optical fiber switch is a phenomena referred to as four-wave mixing. Four-wave mixing is a phenomena in which third light (idler light) is generated when control light (λC) having the same wavelength as the zero-dispersion wavelength (λO) of the optical fiber and signal light of a wavelength different from the wavelength of the control light are input into an optical fiber. When that happens, gain of power is generated in the signal light like in the idler light. This is referred to as parametric gain.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the typical configuration of the optical fiber switch utilizing four-wave mixing.
This configuration causes the polarization state of signal light with wavelength λS and the control light with wavelength λC to be parallel with each other using polarization controllers 10-1 and 10-2, respectively, multiplexing the lights using a directional coupler 11 such as an optical coupler, and inputting the light into an optical fiber 12 of a zero-dispersion wavelength λO.
In order to generate four-wave mixing efficiently, a phase matching condition of the signal light and the control light must be satisfied along through the highly nonlinear fiber. The phase matching condition is a condition in which the amount of phase mismatching Δβ of the signal light and the control light is 0, as shown in equation (1). Here, dD/dλ denotes the dispersion slope of the optical fiber [ps/nm2/km], c denotes the speed of light [m/s], and π denotes the ratio of the circumference of a circuit to its diameter.
                              Δ                                                              β                =                              -                                          2                                                                                π                                                                                c                                            λ                0                                                                                ⅆ              D                                      ⅆ              λ                                                      (                                          λ                c                            -                              λ                0                                      )                                                        (                                                λ                  c                                -                                  λ                  s                                            )                        2                                              Equation                                                            (          1          )
As is clear from equation (1), if the wavelength of the control light λC and the zero-dispersion wavelength λO of the optical fiber are the same, the amount of phase mismatch Δβ is 0. Accordingly, if the wavelength of the control light λC and the zero-dispersion wavelength λO of the optical fiber are the same at any place over the length of the optical fiber in the longitudinal direction, the highest efficiency four-wave mixing can be generated.
The definitions of generation efficiency η and the bandwidth of four-wave mixing are given next. The four-wave mixing efficiency η is defined as PI/PS, which is the ratio of the idler light optical power (PI) at the optical fiber output end to the signal light optical power (PS) at the input end of the optical fiber. The efficiency is, as shown in equation (2), a value proportional to the squared product of a nonlinear coefficient of an optical fiber γ[W−1 km−1], a length of the optical fiber L[km], and the peak power of the control light (PC).η∝(γPCL)2  Equation (2)
Here, the bandwidth of four-wave mixing is defined as the bandwidth of the signal light where the maximum generation efficiency is reduced by half (reduced by 3 dB) by measuring the generation efficiency of four-wave mixing when the wavelength of the signal light (λS) is shorter than that of the control light (λC) (λS<λC), and when the wavelength of the signal light (λS) is longer than that of the control light (λC) (λS>λC).
When four-wave mixing is utilized in an optical switch, it is desirable to have a high generation efficiency and to operate over a broad bandwidth. If the phase mismatch Δβ is 0 at any place, the phase matching condition is satisfied in any wavelength of the signal light, and the operation bandwidth increases to infinity. In order to satisfy the phase matching condition, the dispersion slope of the optical fiber has to be 0 at any place, or the wavelength of the control light (λC) and the zero-dispersion wavelength (λO) of the optical fiber have to match completely. It is clear from equation (2) that the generation of high-efficiency four-wave mixing requires an increase in the nonlinear coefficient, enhancement of the peak power of the control light, and an increase in the length of the optical fiber. These characteristics are the same for the parametric gain to the signal light.
However, it is difficult to obtain a dispersion slope of exactly 0 in actual optical fibers, and the zero-dispersion wavelength fluctuates along the length of the optical fibers in the longitudinal direction. For example, the measurement result of the zero-dispersion wavelength in the longitudinal direction of an optical fiber is reported in Non-patent Document 1, and that of the highly nonlinear fiber is reported in Non-patent Document 2.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the distribution of the zero-dispersion wavelength measured along the length of the highly nonlinear fiber in the longitudinal direction, reported in Non-patent Document 2.
Fiber-A and Fiber-B in FIG. 2 are samples of highly nonlinear fibers having different nonlinear coefficients. It is reported that both fibers have zero-dispersion wavelengths that fluctuate by approximately 2 nm in 2 km of an optical fiber. Although explained later, the fluctuation state of the zero-dispersion wavelength is first described here. "Sample" in FIG. 2 indicates a 100 m sample cut out from the whole. From FIG. 2, many samples which have a zero-dispersion wavelength that monotonically increases (or monotonically decreases) in the longitudinal direction can be cut out by limiting their length to several hundred meters.
As explained above, in conventional optical fibers the phase matching condition cannot be satisfied completely because the zero-dispersion wavelength fluctuates in the longitudinal direction, and this is one of the factors that limit the generation efficiency and bandwidth of four-wave mixing.
Conventional optical devices employing four-wave mixing are described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, and these documents disclose a technology for reducing the polarization dependency of optical devices which utilize four-wave mixing.
[Non-patent Document 1]
L. F. Mollenauer, et al., Tech. Digest, OFC' 97 pp. 255-256
[Non-patent Document 2]
Hirano et al., OFC 2005 Post deadline session 4
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 05-289124
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-238941
In order to solve the above issue, the conventional method reduces the fluctuation range of the zero-dispersion wavelength by shortening the length of the highly linear fiber to obtain a wider operation band bandwidth; however, this causes a problem in which the generation efficiency is lowered. On the other hand, if the length L of the optical fiber is extended in order to enhance the efficiency, a problem occurs in which the bandwidth becomes narrow and the bandwidth and the efficiency therefore enter a trade-off relation, as shown in FIG. 7.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the concept of the trade-off relation between the bandwidth and the efficiency.
As shown in FIG. 3, when a comparison is made under the same power conditions, if the length L of an optical fiber is short, as indicated by the dotted line, the efficiency η is low but has a wide bandwidth. In addition, if the length L of the optical fiber is long, as shown by the solid line, the bandwidth becomes narrow but has a high efficiency η.


The present invention concerns a dialysis acid precursor composition for use during preparation of a dialysis acid concentrate solution and for mixing with water and a bicarbonate containing concentrate into a ready-for-use dialysis solution. Said dialysis acid precursor composition consist of powder components comprising sodium chloride, at least one dry acid and at least one magnesium salt, and optionally potassium salt, calcium salt, and glucose. According to the invention said at least one magnesium salt and said optional glucose, are present as anhydrous components in said dialysis acid precursor composition.

When a person's kidney does not function properly uremia is developed. Dialysis is a well established treatment technique for uremia. Essentially, dialysis artificially replaces the functions of the kidney. There are two distinct types of dialysis, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis.
Hemodialysis involves withdrawing blood from the body and cleaning it in an extracorporeal blood circuit and then returning the cleansed blood to the body. The extracorporeal blood circuit includes a dialyzer which comprises a semipermeable membrane. The semipermeable membrane has a blood side and a dialysate side, and waste substances and excess fluid is removed from the blood passing on the blood side of the semipermeable membrane through the semipermeable membrane over to the dialysate side of the semipermeable membrane.
Hemodialysis may be performed in three different treatment modes, hemodialysis, hemofiltration, and hemodiafiltration. Common to all three treatment modes is that the patient is connected by a blood line to the dialysis machine, which continuously withdraws blood from the patient. The blood is then brought in contact with the blood side of the semipermeable membrane within the dialyzer in a flowing manner.
In hemodialysis, an aqueous solution called dialysis solution is brought in contact with the opposite membrane surface, the dialysate side, in a flowing manner. Waste substances (toxins) and solutes are removed/controlled mainly by diffusion. Excess fluid is removed by applying transmembrane pressure over the semipermeable membrane. Solutes and nutrients may diffuse in the opposite direction from the dialysis solution, through the semipermeable membrane and into the blood.
In hemofiltration, no dialysis solution is brought in contact with the dialysate side of the semipermeable membrane. Instead only a transmembrane pressure is applied over the semipermeable membrane thereby removing fluid and waste substances from the blood through the semipermable membrane wall and into the dialysate side thereof (convective flow). Fluid and waste substances are then passed to drain. To replace some of the removed fluid, a correctly balanced electrolyte/buffer dialysis solution (also named infusion fluid or replacement fluid) is infused into the extracorporeal blood circuit. This infusion may be done either pre the dialyzer (pre-infusion mode) or post the dialyzer (post-infusion mode) or both.
Hemodiafiltration is a combination of hemodialysis and hemofiltration, a treatment mode that combines transport of waste substances and excess fluids through the semipermeable wall by both diffusion and convection. Thus, here a dialysis solution is brought in contact with the dialysate side of the semipermeable membrane in a continuously flowing manner, and a dialysis solution (also named infusion fluid or replacement fluid) is used for infusion into the extracorporeal blood circuit in pre-infusion mode, post-infusion mode or both.
For many patients, hemodialysis is performed for 3-5 hours, three times per week. It is usually performed at a dialysis centre, although home dialysis is also possible. When home dialysis is performed patients are free to perform dialysis more frequently and also in more gentle treatments with longer treatment times, i.e. 4-8 hours per treatment and 5-7 treatments per week. The dose and treatment times may be adjusted due to different demand of the patients.
In the case of patients suffering from acute renal insufficiency, a continuous treatment, throughout a major portion of the entire day for up to several weeks, a continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), or intermittent renal replacement therapy (IRRT) is the indicated treatment depending on the patients status. Also here the removal of waste substances and excess fluid from the patient is effected by any or a combination of the treatment modes hemodialysis, hemofiltration and hemodiafiltration.
In a peritoneal dialysis treatment a hypertonic dialysis solution is infused into the peritoneal cavity of the patient. In this treatment solutes and water is exchanged in the capillary vessels of a patient's peritoneal membrane with said hypertonic dialysis solution. The principle of this method is diffusion of solutes transferred according to the concentration gradient and water migration due to the osmotic differences over the peritoneal membrane.
The dialysis solutions used in all the above dialysis techniques contain mainly electrolytes like sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium, an acid/base buffer system buffers and optionally glucose or a glucose-like compound. All the components in dialysis solutions are selected to control the levels of electrolytes and the acid-base equilibrium within the blood and to remove waste materials from the blood.
Dialysis solutions are today prepared from different types of concentrates. It may be liquid concentrates of different degree of concentration, where the acid/electrolyte part is separated from the buffer part. It may be provided in highly concentrated volumes of 1-8 L in bags for bedside use, or in more diluted concentrated volumes of 5-20 L in canisters, which still are for bedside use. Concentrates may also be prepared in central tanks in volumes of 300-1000 L.
When using bicarbonate as a buffer component in the dialysis solution, bicarbonate is often provided as a dry concentrate for on-line-preparation of saturated bicarbonate containing concentrate. The saturated bicarbonate containing concentrate is thereafter mixed with an acid/electrolyte concentrate and further diluted with purified water to produce the on-line prepared dialysis solution.
Dialysis solutions have improved in quality over the years, and the availability of concentrated precursor compositions for further dilution and mixing with other components into a ready-for-use dialysis solution have decreased the costs and improved the environmental issues.
One way to further limit the costs and improve the environmental issues would be to provide a dialysis precursor composition in which all component are dry. However, having all components as dry components adds new problems.
Firstly, dry acid and bicarbonate powder are not compatible. When small amounts of humidity is present, bicarbonate will break down to carbon dioxide.
Secondly, magnesium chloride and calcium chloride mixed with bicarbonate will provide areas were the solubility product of calcium carbonate and/or magnesium carbonate will be exceeded, which would cause precipitation thereof when water is added during preparation of a concentrate or a dialysis solution.
Thirdly, even if bicarbonate is excluded to a separate cartridge, still problems would be experienced. E.g caking and lump formation of the different components will render the dissolution thereof more difficult or even impossible when preparing the ready-for-use dialysis solution.
Fourthly, if glucose is present, a discoloration of the precursor, and later on, the ready-for-use dialysis solution would arise as a result of glucose degradation products, which should be avoided due to toxicity and limits set by authority regulations, e.g. European Pharmacopeia.
All the problems above are due to the presence of humidity within the dry precursor compositions.
In prior art this has been solved by preparing granulates of the different components and creating different layers of the different components within each granulate, like disclosed in EP0567452 or EP1714657.
However, this still may give rise to interactions between the different layers, and it is also a time-consuming matter of providing a completely and properly dissolved granulate for the preparation of the ready-for-use dialysis solution. Further, it is difficult to ensure proper composition and concentration of the different components both within the granulate and within the prepared ready-for-use dialysis solution.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A diarylide yellow pigment formed by a coupling reaction of a benzidine and a mixture comprising 4-chloro-2,5-dimethoxy-acetoacetanilide and 2,4-dimethyl-acetoacetanilide. The diarylide yellow pigment has a desirable reddish shade than C.I. Pigment Yellow 83, exists in a solid solution, and contains fewer aromatic amine impurities.

Diarylide yellow pigments are well known disazo organic pigments. They are manufactured by tetrazotizing a benzidine to form the tetrazo salt, which is coupled with an acetoacetanilide coupling agent. Examples of acetoacetanilide coupling agents include acetoacetanilide (AAA), acetoacet-m-xylidide (AAMX), acetoacet-o-toluidide (AAOT), acetoacet-p-touidide (AAPT), acetoacet-o-anisidide (AAOA), acetoacet-o-chloroanilide (AAOCA), and acetoacet-2,5-dimethoxy-4-chloroanilide (AADMCA). Common benzidines are 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine (DCB), 2,2′,5,5′-tetrachlorobenzidine, 3,3′-dimethoxybenzidine, and 3,3′-dimethylbenzidine, but others are known.
Diarylide yellow pigments produced from DCB and acetoacetanilides constitute a family of pigments produced in large volumes for all the most common uses of organic pigments. Color Index Pigment Yellow 13 (C.I. Pigment Yellow 13), which is produced from tetrazotized 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine and two equivalents of AAMX, and Color Index Pigment Yellow 83 (C.I. Pigment Yellow 83), which is produced from tetrazotized 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine and two equivalents of AADMCA, are examples of such diarylide yellow pigments which possess somewhat different characteristics that will ultimately come from substituents on the acetoacetanilides.
When a mixture of acetoacetanilides is present at the reaction stage, the result will be a mix of pigments, many of which do not have Color Index status. U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,984 describes the formation of a mixture of three pigments when a mixture of two different acetoacetanilides is used, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,818 generalizes this concept to as many as six different acetoacetanilides. Both disclosures operate with minimum molar fractions of coupling agent down to approximately 5%. Pigments produced by these methods will exhibit improved application properties in printing inks and lacquers (e.g. increased tinctorial strength, transparency, gloss and lower rheology).
During the formation of C.I. Pigment Yellow 83, AADMCA decomposes resulting in some aromatic amine impurities. These impurities cause health concerns and regulatory compliance issues for products where Pigment Yellow 83 is incorporated. The acetoacetanilide coupling agent AAMX used to form C.I. Pigment Yellow 13 does not have the same stability problem as AADMCA, however, C.I. Pigment Yellow 13 has a much greener shade.
Lower levels of primary aromatic amines can be achieved with C.I. Pigment Yellow 83 by extensive purification but the byproduct amines must be treated and the purification process decreases product yield.
Consequently, a significant need exists for a pigment with a shade similar to C.I. Pigment Yellow 83, yet containing a low level of aromatic amine. There is also a need for a pigment that provides a combination of shade and durability.
An improved pigment may be produce by reacting a two equivalent mixture of AAMX and AADMCA with tetrazotized DCB. The pigment shows a surprisingly red shade over a large composition range, and exhibits an unexpected morphology.
These and other objects and advantages shall be made apparent from the accompanying figures and the description thereof.


A logarithmic current measurement circuit for operating upon an input electric signal utilizes a quad, dielectrically isolated, well-matched, monolithic bipolar transistor array. One group of circuit components within the circuit cooperate with two transistors of the array to convert the input signal logarithmically to provide a first output signal which is temperature-dependant, and another group of circuit components cooperate with the other two transistors of the array to provide a second output signal which is temperature-dependant. A divider ratios the first and second output signals to provide a resultant output signal which is independent of temperature. The method of the invention includes the operating steps performed by the measurement circuit.

This invention relates generally to means and methods for obtaining measurements and relates, more particularly, to solid state measurement circuits.
The circuits with which the present invention is to be compared are logarithmic signal processing circuits commonly used in instrumentation applications. These circuits of the prior art commonly utilize a bipolar transistor employing a matched pair of transistors connected for logarithmic current measurement. However, unless means are incorporated within the circuit to compensate for the intrinsic temperature variations of the transistor pair, measurements obtained with the circuit may be inaccurate.
A temperature-sensing resistor (i.e. of a predetermined temperature coefficient) can be utilized within the logarithmic circuit to compensate for the aforementioned intrinsic temperature variations, but the resulting circuit is limited in several respects. For example, the resistors do not possess precise resistance versus temperature characteristics necessary to provide accurate compensation over a relatively broad range of operating temperatures. Furthermore, because the compensating resistors and the log transistor chip may be at slightly different temperatures due, at least in part, to different self-heating rates of the two devices and because the compensation resistor does not correct for variations in the emission coefficient of the log transistor pair, temperature compensation is imperfect. Moreover, the temperature coefficient of the compensating resistor has a poor tolerance rendering the circuit not compatible with high-volume production techniques. Still further, the prior art circuit is further limited in that it is not compatible with the possible use of a small thermoelectric cooler to cool the log transistor pair for the purpose of reducing measurement errors due to leakage current and extending the useful measurement range well below 1 pA. Still further, the prior art temperature compensation means normally require precise scale factor calibration of the log conversion function and thus require the use of a manually trimmed resistor locally in the log converter circuit rather than the often preferred approach of computer-assisted scale factor correlation after the measurements have been digitized.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved circuit and an associated method for logarithmically measuring current which circumvents the aforementioned limitations associated with circuits of the prior art which employ temperature compensating resistors.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a circuit which provides an output signal which is totally independent of temperature.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a circuit which possesses a high degree of accuracy over a relatively large decade range of input signal.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a circuit which is uncomplicated in construction and effective in operation.

Logarithmic current measurement circuit with improved accuracy and temperature stability and associated method


Two system boards may be connected by a blind plug connector assembly. The top system board supports a first connector and has a hole adjacent the first connector that secures a guide bracket. The blind plug connector assembly is selectively received in the guide bracket to position a proximal connector on the assembly for connecting to the first connector on the top system board and position a distal connector on the assembly for connecting to a second connector on the lower system board. A flexible wired connection extends within the assembly between the proximal connector and the distal connector, and may form a scalability cable. The interaction between the assembly and the guide bracket provide alignment of the connectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to interconnections for scaling system boards.
2. Background of the Related Art
Processors may be interconnected to achieve greater performance. The greater performance may include faster memory access or increased data handling capacity. An interconnection between two or more processors may be referred to as a bus, such as with the front side bus (FSB), or a point to point interconnect, such as with the Intel Corporation's QUICKPATH INTERCONNECT (QPI). When an interconnection is made between processors, the processors are referred to as being scaled and a cable used to complete the interconnection is referred to as a scalability cable.
Processor scalability requires a high signal quality electrical connection between the processors. When the processors being scaled are mounted on the same circuit board, such electrical connection may be made with conductive traces that extend from the socket for one processor to the socket for another processor. However, when the processors being scaled are located in different housings, the electrical connection must allow for mechanical compliance of each housing. For example, mechanical compliance is required to allow each housing to be properly inserted into a chassis and also to resist damage from shock and vibration.

Vertical blindmate scaling of identical system boards

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A toner image fixing device in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus has a heating roller containing a heater and a backup roller, a surface of which is in contact with a surface of the heating roller. A toner image on the paper is fixed by causing the paper to pass through a contacting portion of the heating roller and the backup roller. The toner image fixing device also has a driving device for supplying driving power to the heating roller or the backup roller to rotate both the heating roller and the backup roller, and a controller. The controller controls the driving section in such a way that both the heating roller and the backup roller begin to rotate intermittently immediately after an electric power supply switch of the apparatus is turned on and heat generation from the heater is initiated, and subsequently begin to rotate continuously when the backup roller achieves one revolution by the intermittent rotation. Alternatively, the rotation speed of the heating roller and backup roller is gradually and continuously increased immediately after electric power is initiated and subsequently reach a constant speed.

The present invention relates to a toner image fixing device in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic printer.
In conventional electrophotographic printers, an electrostatic latent image is formed by an LED head on a surface of a photosensitive drum which has been charged uniformly in advance, and the electrostatic latent image is developed into a toner image by a developing roller. Then, the toner image on the photosensitive drum is transferred to paper by a transfer roller, and the toner image is fixed on the paper by a toner image fixing device.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional toner image fixing device. As shown in FIG. 1, a toner image fixing device 57 includes a heating roller 17a which contains a heater 58, a backup roller 17b, a surface of which is in contact with a surface of the heating roller 17a, and a temperature sensor 60 which is in contact with the surface of the heating roller 17a.
The heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b are kept at a set temperature by the heater 58 before the fixing process. When the paper 16 passes through a fixing position formed between the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b, toner 19 constituting the toner image is heated and pressed. As a result, the toner image is fixed on the paper 16.
When the electric power supply switch (not shown in FIG. 1) of the electrophotographic printer is turned on and the current begins to flow from the power source (not shown in FIG. 1) to the heater 58, temperature of the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b is still equal to ambient temperature. In the conventional printers, two methods to be described below have been used to raise the temperatures of the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b to a set temperature.
FIG. 2A is a diagram showing temperature curves of the heating roller when a first and a second conventional methods of raising the temperature of the heating roller 17a are adopted, FIG. 2B is a diagram showing maximum and minimum temperature curves of the backup roller when the first method is adopted, and FIG. 2C is a diagram showing maximum and minimum temperature curves of the backup roller when the second method is adopted. Further, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing surface temperature distribution of the backup roller when either the first or second method is adopted.
In FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C, horizontal axes represent time. In FIG. 2A, a vertical axis represents a surface temperature of the heating roller 17a, and in FIGS. 2B and 2C, vertical axes represent a surface temperature of the backup roller 17b. In FIG. 3, a horizontal axis represents a position of the backup roller 17b in the circumferential direction, and a vertical axis represents a surface temperature of the backup roller 17b.
In FIG. 2A, a curve L1 indicates the surface temperature of the heating roller 17a in the first method, and a curve L2 indicates the surface temperature of the heating roller 17a in the second method. In FIG. 2B, a curve L1.sub.MAX and a curve L1.sub.MIN indicate the highest temperature and the lowest temperature on the backup roller 17b, respectively, in the first method. In FIG. 2C, a curve L2.sub.MAX and a curve L2.sub.MIN indicate the highest temperature and the lowest temperature on the backup roller 17b, respectively, in the second method. The maximum temperature curves L1.sub.MAX and L2.sub.MAX in FIGS. 2B and 2C represent the temperatures on a contacting portion S.sub.1 (shown in FIG. 3) of the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b, while the minimum temperature curves L1.sub.MIN and L2.sub.MIN represent the temperatures at the location being farthest (180 degrees different in phase) away from the contacting portion S.sub.1 on the circumference of the backup roller 17b.
In the first method, when the electric power supply switch of the electrophotographic printer is turned on and the current begins to flow into the heater 58, the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b are still not rotated. After that, when the temperature sensor 60 detects a set temperature t.sub.s, the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b are rotated for a predetermined period of time, which is referred to as an equalizing time. This equalizing time is determined in such a way that the surface temperature distribution of the backup roller 17b is made uniform and the surface temperature of the backup roller 17b exceeds the set temperature.
In the second method, when the electric power supply switch of the electrophotographic printer is turned on and the current begins to flow into the heater 58, the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b are still not rotated. When the set time T.sub.1 elapses, the heating roller and the backup roller 17b are rotated for a predetermined equalizing time.
In the above-mentioned conventional methods, the rotation speeds of the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b during the equalizing time are set to be identical to those during the printing operation of the electrophotographic printer.
In the above-mentioned conventional methods, however, the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b are not rotated until the temperature sensor 60 detects the set temperature t.sub.s or the set time T.sub.1 elapses. For this reason, the temperature on the contacting portion S.sub.1 alone on the circumference of the backup roller 17b rises abruptly, as shown in FIG. 3.
In order to prevent this, the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b are rotated at ordinary rotation speeds for the equalizing time, as described above. Nevertheless, a difference between the temperature on the contacting portion S.sub.1 and the temperature on a portion other than the contacting portion S.sub.1 remains for a long time, as shown in FIG. 3. For this reason, if the equalizing time is short, a variation in the surface temperature of the backup roller 17b in the circumferential direction is large, thus resulting in the degradation of the image quality. Moreover, since a difference between the temperature on the contacting portion S.sub.1 and the temperature on the portion other than the contacting portion S.sub.1 is great, the life of the backup roller 17b is shortened.
In contrast therewith, if the equalizing time is long, the surface temperature of the backup roller 17b in the circumferential direction becomes rather uniform. However, it takes a longer time for the electrophotographic printer to be started up.
The method of initiating the rotation of the heating roller 17a and the backup roller 17b at a constant speed immediately after the electric power supply switch of the electrophotographic printer is turned on and the current flows into the heater 58 may also be conceived. In this method, however, heat diffusion from the heating roller 17a to the backup roller 17b increases, so that it takes a longer time to raise the surface temperature of the heating roller 17a to the set temperature. Accordingly, it also takes a longer time for the electrophotographic printer to finish a starting-up operation required before the fixing process.

Toner image fixing device with rotational control of fixing rollers


An assembly having a retaining element, an outer race of a constant velocity joint, and a shaft of an outboard drive axle that is axially joined to the outer race. The shaft has an external groove circumferentially formed on its external surface for receiving the retaining element. The external surface of the shaft supports a new generation wheel bearing assembly and a wheel hub that is non-rotatably coupled to the external surface of the shaft. The retaining element engages the external groove of the shaft and retains the wheel hub without requiring a preload on the bearing. The wheel hub is held in place by the retaining element and the shaft, wherein the wheel bearing assembly is retained by the wheel hub, thereby allowing the retained wheel hub to be rotatably drivable within the wheel bearing assembly by the constant velocity joint.

Driving and non-driving hub and wheel bearing assemblies of an automotive vehicle require a preload to be imparted upon the wheel bearings in order to align and retain the hub and wheel bearings. The preload is accomplished by using an axle washer that is forced against a wheel hub by an axle nut. The axle nut has internal threads that engage the external threads of a shaft of an outboard drive axle. The shaft is axially coupled to an outer race of a constant velocity joint. A wheel bearing assembly typically includes an outer bearing race and two separable inner races rotatably coupled by two sets of bearings, each set of bearings being thrust against the outer bearing race by its inner race. The outer bearing race is fixedly attached to a vehicle's frame, for example the bearing support or steering knuckle of a motor vehicle. The inside inner race is supported against the outer race of the constant velocity joint axially coupled to the shaft. The outside inner race is supported against the wheel hub and is axially coupled to the shaft or the wheel hub. The wheel hub transfers the preload force through the outside inner race into the bearings and outer bearing race. The preload force is opposed in the opposite direction by the outer race of the constant velocity joint through the inside inner race into the bearings and outer bearing race thus supporting and aligning the hub and wheel bearings when a preload is applied by the axle nut.
The preload may also be applied by using a wedge or spacer that fills a gap on the end shaft when the hub is preloaded against the bearing assemblies and the wedge or spacer is fit into the gap to maintain the preload. Other methods have also been employed for obtaining the pre load on the hub and bearing assembly, such as using a head of a bolt that is threaded into the axial end of the shaft and torqued against the axle washer or hub.
To insure that the preload is maintained, the axle nut is assembled with a lock nut, cotter pin or other similar methods known for securing nuts onto rotating shafts. A method of securing the preload typically requires a threaded shaft having a hole drilled radially within, an axle nut with corrugated recesses, an axle washer and locking pin. The locking pin engages the corrugated recess of the axle nut and is inserted into the hole of the threaded shaft locking the axle nut to the shaft. Alignment typically is required in order to install the locking pin and the locking pin is only attachable in incremental steps. In order to attach the locking pin it is sometime necessary to either increase or decrease the preload by adjusting the axle nut upon the shaft. This results in varying inconsistencies in the preload of each bearing assembly.
The preload is imparted during assembly of the wheel hub and wheel bearings onto the shaft. Using a torque wrench or other torque device, the axle nut is threaded onto the shaft against the assembly until a given torque range is obtained. The axle nut, typically, is then rotated back relieving some of the torque and locked into place.
It would be advantageous to have a shaft that is not threaded and eliminates the need for an axle washer and axle nut, or bolt, while still being able to retain the hub and wheel bearing assembly. It would be of further advantage to have an assembly that requires no preload or no lock nut adjustment. Also, it would be of advantage to eliminate the torque assembly procedure.


A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for facilitating local signaling among a plurality of agents are presented. An agent 100 including a digital processor 102 a transmitter 104, and a directional receiver 106 comprising a plurality of angular regions 108 is configured to enable the selection of a signal from a plurality of signals received on the basis of local data such as the strength of the received signal. The local data may be incorporated into a cumulative data portion of a signal that is passed from local agent 100 to local agent 100 across a plurality of agents 100 in order to provide a gradient across the plurality of agents 100. The gradient could be used, for example, to determine a shortest path across the agents. The signaling techniques described can also be used to determine the distance and direction to objects in the signaling path.

(1) Technical Field
The present invention is related to the field of data signaling. More specifically, this disclosure presents a method and apparatus for local signaling among a plurality of agents in order to assist in coordination and messaging therebetween.
(2) Brief Discussion of the Prior Art
Over the past several decades, the electronic communications field, particularly in the area of wireless communication, has exploded. In addition, the abilities of small processing devices have increased considerably while the cost of these devices has decreased. Wireless communication generally takes place between specific devices or nodes. In order to perform tasks such as developing routes through a network, it is necessary to provide each member of a network with a unique identification so that specific devices may communicate. For example, in a cellular network or even in an adhoc network, a unique identification or address is assigned to each device so that it may exclusively receive calls targeted to its address. In addition, communications in most networks also require a "handshake" or mutual acknowledgement that a call, or communication, is to be set up. These networks depend on physical reliability in order function properly. Various communication properties are used in monitoring the performance of individual links in the network in order to adjust parameters of the communication system in order to maximize its effectiveness.
With the increased computational abilities and reduced cost of small, relatively simple devices comes the need for additional communication schemes. In particular, it is desirable to take advantage of the processing capability of modem devices while conserving power by using local communications.

Method and apparatus for signaling among a plurality of agents


The elements of a transform processing circuit are switchable to change the order of data in a data stream and/or to perform a fast Fourier transform (FFT) or inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) on the data stream. Each arithmetic circuit element performs an M-point butterfly operation on complex sample points and includes an adder/subtractor and a serial memory capable of storing M/2 sample points. Each multiplication unit performs an n-point complex twiddle factor operation on its input. The conjugator units conjugate inputted sample points. All circuit elements are connected to buses by switches. These connections are switchable so that in one switch state data input at left terminal flows to right terminal and in another state data input at right terminal flows to left terminal. The state of the bus switches also determines whether the circuit performs a FFT, an IFFT, or a bit reversal operation on input data. Transfer processing circuit may be incorporated into an integrated circuit together with a complex multiplier and a multiplexer, the integrated circuit is capable of performing FFT and IFFT operations on vectors or on transformed vectors and is capable of performing vector multiplication.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a transform processing circuit which is particularly, but not exclusively, advantageous for performing Fourier Transforms.
The Fourier Transform is an algorithm which has many applications in signal processing techniques and is used to transform variables, functions and data from a first domain to a second domain and the inverse of the algorithm performs the reverse transformation. The discrete version of the Fourier Transform is given by the following equation where x(k), k=0,1,2 . . . N-1, represents complex sample points in a first domain, N is the number of sample points, and X(n), n=0 . . . N-1, represents the transformed points in a second domain. ##EQU1## The inverse transform is as follows. ##EQU2##
For the purposes of simplifying the remaining description the first domain is chosen to be the time domain and the second domain is chosen to be the frequency domain.
The FFT was introduced in 1965 and reduces the number of arithmetic operations which need to be performed in order to carry out an N point transform. The FFT now forms the basis of efficient algorithms for filtering, convolution, correlation, smoothing and other signal processing techniques. The transform is also used in the operation of signal processors such as those employed in spectrum analysers and sonar array beam formers.
A number of FFT processors have been proposed which receive N sample points and produce N transformed points, corresponding to the samples, in a "bit reversed order". Bit, reversed order means the transformed points are not produced in the same order as the sample points are received, e.g. for N=4, x(0), x(1), x(2), x(3) are received and X(0), X(2), X(1) and X(3) are produced, respectively.
Once a number of points have been transformed it is often desirable to multiply the transformed points by a predetermined frequency response and then inverse transform the result into a number of output points in the time domain, using the inverse FFT. This enables the effect of the response on real time signals to be determined and allows a precise frequency response to be applied to a real time signal. To do this, however, a separate processing unit is normally required to perform the inverse FFT (IFFT) and the bit reversed order of the transformed points must be corrected before the points are applied to the frequency response. The points produced after application of the response are transformed by the IFFT processing unit, and the transformed points generated thereby are in the time domain and represent the real time effect of the response. The transformed points in the time domain, however, are produced in bit reversed order and again an adjusting process needs to be performed so as to produce a natural order representation of a real time signal. Alternatively in performing the above procedure the frequency response may be bit reversed, applied to the bit reversed output of the FFT processor and the result reordered before being applied to an IFFT processing unit, yet the end result will still appear in bit reversed order.
The bit reversal problem also occurs in performing transforms other than the FFT and it is desirable to provide a general transform processing circuit which is able to overcome this problem.
A further problem associated with known FFT processors, apart from the bit reversal problems discussed above, is that the range of applications for FFT processors is limited by their speed of operation. To enhance the speed of operation it is desirable to perform as many operations as possible in parallel when performing an N point transform, for example, by using a pipelining technique. Known FFT processors are also usually configured by controlling the steps of a transform using software and, hence, it is also desirable, in order to obtain improvements in speed and size, to provide an FFT processor which may be configured in hardware to perform a predetermined FFT algorithm.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation


Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided for purging charged powder particles from a mixture of ferromagnetic carrier particles and said powder particles. One example embodiment may include a powder purging apparatus comprising a support surface comprising a first side for supporting said carrier particles; a plurality of magnets, arranged on a second side of said support surface for generating magnetic fields at said first side to attract said carrier particles for forming a magnetic brush of said carrier particles, said magnetic fields and said support surface moveable relative to each other; an attracting surface facing said first side and spaced apart therefrom; and a field generator adapted for generating an electrical field between said attracting surface and said support surface for attracting said powder particles away from the carrier particles and towards said attracting surface, wherein said magnetic brush of carrier particles is spaced apart from said attracting surface.

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for purging charged powder particles from a mixture of said powder particles and ferromagnetic carrier particles. Carrier particles comprising a ferromagnetic core surrounded by a thin coating are used for instance in applications such as laser printing and powder coating of substrates to transport powder particles such as toner particles and/or powdered paint particles towards a substrate on which the powder particles are to be applied. When changing powder types, for instance when changing from a black toner to a yellow toner, the batch of carrier particles used must be changed as well to avoid mixing of the earlier color with the latter color on the substrate. To reduce the number of batches of carrier particles that must be kept at hand, a number of cleaning methods have been proposed in the art. Many of these comprise cleaning the carrier particles using liquids and solvents, which are environmentally unfriendly and require the carrier particles to be dried for some time before they can be reused.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,430 describes a toner purging apparatus for cleaning carrier particles from charged toner particles without using a liquid. The purging apparatus comprises a roller with an outer surface to which toner laden carrier particles are attracted by means of a magnetic core placed within the roller and adapted for counter rotation with respect to the surface. A coronode wire, at a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the charged toner particles, is arranged close to the outer surface of the roller and adapted for detoning the magnetic carrier particles by repelling the toner particles away from their laden relationship with the magnetic carrier particles and away from the coronode wire and therefore onto the outer surface. The carrier particles are then skived off the outer surface and collected in a sump.
A drawback of the known apparatus is that as the toner is separated from the carrier particles by discharge of a coronode wire, the known apparatus is not suitable for quickly purging large amounts of toner from carrier particles. Moreover, a coronode wire typically generates sparks and/or ozone, and must often be replaced due to wear.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a powder purging apparatus and method solving at least one of the drawbacks mentioned above.


A pressure sensor is provided with a means for efficiently removing heat from a circuit portion of a sensor die by providing an elastomeric member between a first surface of the sensor die and electrical leads. A thermally conductive, but electrically insulative, portion of the elastomeric member is disposed between the circuit portion of the sensor die and the leads and a means is provided for urging the first surface of the sensor die into thermal communicating contact with the thermally conductive portion of the elastomeric member. In addition, a selectively conductive portion of the elastomeric member is disposed between contact pads on the first surface of the sensor die and electrical leads encapsulated within a portion of the sensor housing. The elastomeric member is also provided with an opening formed therethrough and aligned with the diaphragm portion of the sensor die to permit the media to be in fluid communication with the diaphragm of the sensor die. The improved sensor die arrangement provided by the present invention can be adapted for use in either an absolute pressure sensing embodiment or a differential pressure sensing embodiment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a pressure sensor and, more particularly, to a pressure sensor that is provided with a thermally conductive member disposed between a heat producing portion of a pressure sensor die and one or more electrical leads which are used to dissipate the heat in cooperation with heat dissipation through the housing structure of the pressure sensor structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many different types of pressure sensors are well known to those skilled in the art. One particular type of pressure sensor comprises a silicon die that has a first surface and a second surface. The first surface comprises a relatively thin layer of material, such as or silicon nitride. The second surface is partially etched to form a cavity through a portion of the thickness of the die. Since the cavity in the second surface does not completely penetrate through the thickness of the die, a portion of the first surface extends, as a diaphragm, over the cavity. Piezoresistive components are disposed on the diaphragm and are sensitive to distortions of the diaphragm in response to pressure changes.
Certain pressure sensor applications also incorporate a plurality of electronic components formed in a portion of the first surface of the sensor die. These electronic components form amplification and linearization circuits that are connected in signal communication with the piezoresistive components on the diaphragm. In applications of this type, the electronic components produce heat which must be dissipated so that the pressure sensor die is not adversely affected by the temperature changes that could otherwise occur as a result of the heat produced by the integrated circuit comprising the electronic components.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/962,641, which was filed by Maurer on Oct. 16, 1992 and assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a pressure sensor that is specifically adapted for use with a component carrier. It is provided with a housing member that is attached to a rigid and generally planar member, such as a ceramic circuit board. The legs of the housing member can pass through holes in the circuit board or, alternatively, can attached to edges of the board. The legs of the housing are provided with bails which have steps shaped to seize the circuit board after the legs are flexed to permit insertion of the board between them. The housing is provided with an opening that is shaped to receive a media seal, a pressure sensor die and a conductive seal between a surface of the opening and a surface of the ceramic circuit board. When the circuit board is attached to the housing, the seals and the pressure sensor die are compressed therebetween to provide good fluid sealing association between the components and to also provide electrical communication between the components on the pressure sensor die and the components on the circuit board. An alternative embodiment of the sensor comprises two housing members that are attached to opposite sides of the same circuit board so that a differential pressure sensor can be provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,454, which issued to Rosenberger on Apr. 7, 1987, discloses a piezoresistive pressure transducer with elastomeric seals. A piezoresistive stress sensitive element in the form of a diaphragm of semiconductor material is provided with a thickened rim to hold the diaphragm between a pair of premolded elastomeric seals in a thermoplastic housing. Electrical connections with external circuitry are made with strain relief jumpers which connect conductive regions on the element outside the seals to conductors which pass through the housing wall.
Selectively conductive elastomeric components are available in commercial quantities from Fujipoly and are referred to as the low resistance ZEBRA elastomeric connectors. They are constructed of alternating parallel layers of electrically conductive and nonconductive silicon elastomer. The electrically conductive layers are filled with silver-metal particles. The low resistance elastomeric connectors of this type provide a redundant connection with a minimum of two conductive layers recommended for each printed circuit contact pad. The connectors are available with an insulating barrier or silicon supports. The connectors are used for connecting electroluminescent and plasma type displays to printed circuit boards or for connecting hybrid circuits to printed circuit boards. In the Dec. 7, 1989 edition of EDN Magazine, an article titled "Elastomeric Connectors" by J. D. Mosley describes elastomeric connectors and many different types of applications where they can be used. Several sources of these connectors, such as Fujipoly and Elastomeric Technologies, are discussed in this article along with many different types of connectors provided by the suppliers.
In the Dec. 4, 1972 edition of "Electronics" magazine, an article titled "Integration Brings A Generation Of Low-Cost Transducers" was written by Arthur R. Zias and William F. J. Hare. This article discusses pressure transducers which use an all silicon vacuum reference chamber and a Wheatstone bridge arrangement of diffused piezoresistive resistors to measure pressures over a large range.
The thermally conductive and electrically insulative component which is utilized by the present invention is a commercially available component. It can be purchased from the Bergquist Company under the name "SIL-PAD".
The elastomeric components described above are well known to those skilled in the art. Although many different techniques are used to provide the selective conductivity of the elastomeric connectors, they share a common characteristic of conducting electrical current in one direction through their thickness while preventing the conduction of electric current in other directions through the elastomeric member. The thermally conductive elastomeric material described above is electrically insulative in all directions through its structure. These materials are all available in commercial quantities from several different suppliers. Although the elastomeric portions of the present invention, as will be described below, are arranged in a particular configuration to specifically suit the needs of the present invention, it should be clearly understood that each of the separate portions of the elastomeric elements of the present invention are individually known to those skilled in the art and to those companies that manufacture the various forms of elastomeric materials.
U.S. patent application 07/961,994, which was filed by Maurer on Oct. 16, 1992, and assigned to the assignee of the present application, describes a force sensor that incorporates a pressure transducer disposed within a housing structure. A force transmitting means, such as a shaft which is slidably disposed within an opening, is provided to communicate force from an external source to a diaphragm of a pressure sensor. An elastomeric conductor is disposed between electronic components on the diaphragm of a pressure sensor die and conductive leads that are used to communicate signals from pressure sensor die to components which are disposed externally relative to the force sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,107, which issued to Maurer on Feb. 2, 1993 discloses a low cost piezoresistive pressure transducer which utilizes premolded elastomeric seals in which at least one seal is electrically conductive. A piezoresistive stress sensitive element in the form of a diaphragm of a semiconductor material is provided with a thickened rim and is held at its rim between a pair of premolded elastomeric seals in a two piece housing. Electrical connections with external circuitry are made by conductive paths through one of the elastomeric seals which makes contact with electrical leads which pass through a housing wall.

Pressure sensor with improved heat dissipation characteristics


In a BTL amplifier of the present invention, between first and third transistor parts which are laterally adjacent, directions of semiconductor regions are parallel. Between the first and second transistor parts and the third and fourth transistor parts, each which are longitudinally adjacent, directions of semiconductor regions are perpendicular. The first and the third transistor parts are connected to a power supply terminal through a first wire. The second and the fourth transistor parts are connected to a ground terminal through a second wire. The first and the second transistor parts are connected to a first output terminal through a third wire. The third and the fourth transistor parts are connected to a second output terminal through a fourth wire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a BTL (balanced transformer-less or bridge-tied load) amplifier, in particular, relates to a BTL amplifier composed of semiconductor integrated circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
A BTL amplifier has been generally in use for a power amplifier for an electronic device of relatively high power consumption such as an audio equipment, an audio output device of a television receiver, or the like. The BTL amplifier includes two output circuits, each having a single output, and drives those circuits in an opposite phase in relation to each other. A load such as a speaker or the like is connected between output terminals of the output circuits. This causes the amplitude of an individual voltage output from each output circuit to be half of the amplitude of a total voltage to be applied to the load. Allowing a half voltage amplitude means lowering power consumption of each output circuit. As described above, since a withstand voltage or a current capacity of a circuit element of the BTL amplifier is smaller than that of an amplifier having a single output, the BTL amplifier facilitates miniaturization and power saving. These features particularly have an advantage in circuit integration.
In recent years, the BTL amplifier is frequently in use for a portable information-processing device such as a mobile phone or the like due to the above-mentioned features.
FIG. 6 is one example of a plan view of an output transistor included in a BTL amplifier of a prior art (see the Japanese patent laid-open publications No. 61-142763 and 2-132838.)
An output transistor 100 of this BTL amplifier is mounted in a rectangular region on a substrate. The rectangular region is divided into four rectangular parts 10, 11, 12 and 13 in lattice patterns. Each of the rectangular parts 10, 11, 12 and 13 is equivalent to a single transistor. The rectangular parts 10, 11, 12 and 13 are hereinafter referred to as transistor parts.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a layout of three semiconductor regions 102, 104 and 106 for a transistor part 10 of FIG. 6 included in the BTL amplifier of the prior art. In each of transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13, as shown in FIG. 7, semiconductor regions 102, 104 and 106 which are laterally parallel to each other are located repeatedly in a longitudinal direction. For example, the semiconductor regions 102, 104 and 106 are n-type semiconductor region, n-type semiconductor region and p-type semiconductor region, and compose a collector region, an emitter region, and a base region of an NPN transistor, respectively. Contacts 103 and 105 are located in the semiconductor regions 102 and 104, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 6, a power supply terminal 1 is provided at an edge of the transistor part 10. The power supply terminal 1 is connected to an external constant voltage source (not shown) and is kept at a constant potential. A ground terminal 2 is provided at an edge between the transistor parts 11 and 13. Output terminals 3 and 4 are provided at each edge of the transistor parts 11 and 13. An external load such as a speaker or the like is connected between the output terminals 3 and 4.
The four transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13 are covered with four wires 51, 52, 53 and 54.
These wires 51, 52, 53 and 54 are preferably a metal wire layer made of aluminum or the like and composed by a multi-layer wiring process. The four transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13 are connected to the power supply terminal 1, the ground terminal 2, and the two output terminals 3 and 4 through the four wires 51, 52, 53 and 54, as follows.
In the transistor parts 10 and 12 which are laterally adjacent to each other, the collector region 102 is connected to the wire 51 through the contact 103. The wire 51 is connected to the power supply terminal 1. In the transistor parts 11 and 13 which are laterally adjacent to each other, the emitter region 104 is connected to the wire 52 through the contact 105. The wire 52 is connected to the ground terminal 2. The emitter region 104 of the transistor part 10 is connected to the wire 53 through the contact 105, and the collector region 102 of the transistor part 11 is connected to the wire 53 through the contact 103.
The wire 53 is connected to the output terminal 3. The emitter region 104 of the transistor part 12 is connected to the wire 54 through the contact 105, and the collector region 102 of the transistor part 13 is connected to the wire 54 through the contact 103. The wire 54 is connected to the output terminal 4.
Therefore, the transistor parts 10 and 11 are equivalent to two transistors connected in series across the power supply terminal 1 and the ground terminal 2, and constitute one push-pull type output circuit. In a similar way, the transistor parts 12 and 13 are equivalent to two transistors connected in series across the power supply terminal 1 and the ground terminal 2, and constitute another push-pull type output circuit.
The base regions 106 of the four transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13 are connected to external preamplifiers (not shown) through other wires which are different from the four wires 51, 52, 53 and 54. A push-pull operation for the transistor parts 12 and 13 and that for the transistor parts 10 and 11 are controlled in opposite phase to each other through the preamplifiers. That is, two push-pull type output circuits are driven in opposite phase to each other. As a result, voltage amplitude of an output voltage output across the two output terminals 3 and 4 is twice as large as amplitude of individual electrical potential change of respective output terminals 3 and 4.
For further improved integration of the transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13, further miniaturization of the wires 51, 52, 53 and 54 is required.
However, in the BTL amplifier of the prior art, positions to locate the power supply terminal 1, the ground terminal 2, and the two output terminals 3 and 4 for the transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13 are limited to positions shown in FIG. 6, for example. In particular, the power supply terminal 1 is located apart as far as it can be from the other terminals 2, 3 and 4 to prevent short-circuiting between the power supply terminal 1 and the other terminals 2, 3 and 4. On the other hand, the wires 53 and 54 extend linearly in parallel to longitudinal direction of the transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13, namely in a direction perpendicular to the lateral semiconductor regions 102, 104 and 106 included in the respective transistor parts 10, 11, 12 and 13, or in a longitudinal direction in FIG. 6. As a result, the wire 51 has to protrude outside of the transistor parts 10 and 12 so as to keep the wire 51 apart as far as it can be from both the wires 53 and 54 and prevent short-circuiting between the wire 51 and the others. That is, the wire 51 has to be longer than the other wires. The longer the wires are, the larger the wire resistances become. Therefore, it is difficult to further improve integration degree with keeping wire resistance low. The above-mentioned wire resistance rise is not preferable since the wire resistance rise increases power loss and reduces power to be output.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


This invention relates to an ink jet printer including a printing-head which discharges photo-curing ink toward a printing sheet, and a light irradiation unit which irradiates the ink landing surface of the printing sheet with light, wherein the light irradiation unit irradiates the ink landing surface by optical scanning via a reflecting member with rays having a wavelength range in which ink is cured, and an image printing apparatus having the ink jet printer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet printer and an image printing apparatus having the printer and, more particularly, to an ink jet printer using photo-curing ink which is advantageous to increasing the image printing speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An ink jet image printing method of photo-curing type such as ultraviolet curing type can print on various base materials without any dedicated image-receiving layer, and is a technique which receives a great deal of attention mainly for business and industrial purposes. In ultraviolet curing ink jet image printing, an active species is generally produced within a short time by using a high-power light source such as a high-pressure mercury lamp or metal halide lamp, thus promoting ink curing.
In the use of a high-power light source, the ink film characteristic readily degrades after curing, which is unprofitable in terms of power saving and downsizing of the printer. A long time is taken to obtain a printed image by light irradiation on the entire printing surface subsequent to ink jet printing, and the printer inevitably becomes bulky.
To solve this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-144553 discloses that a printer is so constituted as to follow and irradiate an ink landing position by an ultraviolet light spot guided from an ultraviolet source via an optical fiber, ink can be cured even by a small-output light source, and the image printing speed can also be shortened by almost simultaneously performing ink jet printing and ultraviolet irradiation.
According to the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-144553, when a serial type on-demand ink jet head is used, the total image printing speed can be increased to a certain degree in correspondence with an increase in ink jet printing speed by executing light spot irradiation in cooperation with head scanning. If a line type on-demand ink jet head advantageous to further increasing the ink jet printing speed is used, an increase in speed is limited due to a restriction by the light spot irradiation speed of ultraviolet rays in mechanically moving the irradiation position.
In recent years, color image printing apparatuses adopt an ink jet printing system which has widely spread for personal use. The ink jet printing system directly prints a color image on a printing sheet, and can print an image without any complicated reversal delivery mechanism for printing images on two sides. The ink jet printing system directly sprays ink from the printing-head to a printing sheet. In order to fix the image, printing sheet and image must be satisfactorily dried. At a portion where printing sheets overlap each other after delivery when images are printed on many printing sheets, drying is insufficient, and images blur (ink transfers or smears) owing to contact between the sheets. This problem is also caused by an additive which is contained in ink in order to prevent nozzle clogging.
To solve this problem, there is proposed the use of ultraviolet curing ink (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-158865).
There is also proposed an ink jet printer which comprises two printing-heads and increases the speed by coupling U- and 8-shaped convey paths and combining convey procedures and printing orders in double-side printing and single-side printing (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-328297).
There is also proposed an ink jet printer in which ultraviolet curing ink is used, ultraviolet rays are guided close to a printing-head from an ultraviolet irradiation device via an optical fiber, and an ink landing position on a printing sheet is followed and irradiated to cure ink immediately after each printing (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-144553).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-328297 requires many main driving levers for controlling a printing sheet convey direction. When the printing speed is further increased, control of the main driving levers becomes very cumbersome, generating noise and impairing reliability and durability.
The method in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-144553 is suitable when the printing-head prints while moving in the main scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the printing sheet convey direction). If printing-heads are linearly arrayed in the main scanning direction and mechanically moved to print in the main scanning direction in order to further increase the speed, ultraviolet rays must be arrayed in the main scanning direction similarly to the printing-heads, greatly increasing the cost.

Ink jet printer, and image printing apparatus having the printer


Ambient light incident upon a polarizer 105 passes through a liquid crystal layer 103 and is then reflected by reflective films 116 via transparent electrodes 115. The reflected light passes again through the liquid crystal layer 103 and the polarizer 105 and is output to the outside thereby displaying an image in a reflective displaying mode. The reflective films 116 are disposed at locations corresponding to the respective transparent electrodes 115 such that they are spaced from each other. In this structure, some ambient light passes through the spaces between adjacent transparent electrodes 115, however, such light is not reflected by the reflective films 116 toward the outside and thus a reduction in contrast due to such reflection is prevented.

Various types of liquid crystal devices are known in the art. They include a reflective liquid crystal device which displays an image by reflecting ambient light through a liquid crystal by reflecting means provided in the device, a transmissive type liquid crystal device in which light emitted from a light source provided in the device is passed through a liquid crystal and output to the outside thereby forming an image, and a transflective liquid crystal device capable of switching its displaying mode between reflective and transmissive modes.
Of these liquid crystal devices, reflective liquid crystal devices can operate with very low power consumption because they need no light source. Because of such an advantage, the reflective liquid crystal device is widely used as a display unit in portable devices and other various systems.
In the transflective liquid crystal device, an image is displayed in the transmissive mode using a light source when used in a dark environment. However, when used in a light environment, an image is displayed using ambient light as in the reflective liquid crystal device, and thus it needs low power consumption. Because of such an advantage, the transflective liquid crystal device is widely used as a display unit in portable devices and other various systems. A typical transflective liquid crystal device is, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-049271, composed of a polarizer, a transflector, and a backlight which are successively disposed on the outer surface, opposite to the viewing side, of a liquid crystal panel. A transflective liquid crystal device with improved brightness is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-292413. In this liquid crystal device, a transflector, a polarizer, and a backlight are successively disposed on the outer surface, opposite to the viewing side, of a liquid crystal panel. Because there is no polarizer between the liquid crystal cell and the transflector, an image with improved brightness can be displayed.
With recent advances in portable devices and office automation devices, there is an increasing need for color liquid crystal devices. In many cases, the capability of displaying a color image is also required in systems or devices using a reflective or transflective liquid crystal device. To realize a liquid crystal device having the capability of displaying a color image in the reflective or transflective mode, a color filter having a large number of colored areas of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) is disposed on one of a pair of substrates between which a liquid crystal is disposed. To avoid mixing among different colored areas of the color filter, and to avoid a reduction in the contrast ratio due to light-struck (white defects) caused by the spaces between adjacent colored areas, a light shielding film generally called a black mask or a black matrix is disposed in the spaces between adjacent colored areas.

Liquid crystal device and electronic apparatus


A gaming machine includes a housing, which is playable by a plurality of players, that has a station provided for each individual player; an operation detection unit that detects an operation of a player present at each of the stations performing a bet operation through a bet image displayed on the image display unit; an image capturing unit, provided at the housing, that can capture images of a player present at each of the stations, and a determination unit that determines tampering or an error of a game by comparing image capturing information obtained by the image capturing unit with predetermined information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine including an image display unit and a plurality of game stations, provided for each player, through which the players can participate in a game executed in the image display unit, and a gaming management system that manages a game of the gaming machine.
2. Related Art
Generally, various types of gaming machines are installed at an amusement facility, a casino, and the like. One configuration has been known which is composed of an image display unit and a plurality of game stations (hereinafter, referred to as a station), provided for each player, through which the players can participate in a game executed in the image display unit.
Such a gaming machine includes an image display unit on which a game is executed and a plurality of stations provided around the image display unit. Then, each of the players participates in a game executed on the image display unit at each of the stations. Furthermore, each of the stations is provided with a gaming medium processing unit for processing gaming media (mainly, insertion processing and payout processing) such as money, medals, or the like, used for executing a game, and a bet operation unit for performing a bet operation for a game executed in the image display unit.
For example, a configuration disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Application, Publication No. 2005-317032 has been known as a gaming machine capable of executing the abovementioned game. This gaming machine includes a table-shaped housing, and can project various images (for example, a bet operation image) necessary for a gaming image and a game by way of a projector installed in the housing with respect to the image display unit (a display) installed in a horizontal state. Furthermore, a detection means is provided in the housing which includes a light source irradiating an infrared light toward the image display unit so as to detect various operations (such as a bet operation), which a player executes through the image display unit, and a camera receiving reflected light reflected from a player's finger irradiated by the light source, the finger moving over the image display unit. According to the gaming machine thus configured, a player can participate in a game by performing various operations, for example, by moving the player's finger on the image display unit in a game executed on the image display unit provided on a surface of the housing.
Here, as a first problem, in a gaming machine thus configured as described above, for example, there may be a case in which there is no observer such as a dealer who advances, manages, and monitors a game or in which it is difficult to confirm every operation of all the players even if there is an observer. Therefore, it is difficult for a management party of an amusement facility to recognize potential fraudulence in a game. More specifically, in a case in which such fraudulence may affect a balance status of a gaming machine, the management party of the amusement facility may suffer a substantial loss if the management party cannot recognize it.
The invention in relation to the first problem addresses the abovementioned matter, and thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine and a game management system that can effectively prevent fraudulence in a game and, more specifically, prevent fraudulence which may affect a balance of a gaming machine under a gaming environment where there is substantially no observer.
In addition, as a second problem, in a gaming machine thus configured as described above, there are possibilities that, in a case in which a plurality of stations are provided so that a plurality of players can participate in a game, fairness in a game can be damaged or fraudulent operations are performed.
For example, the abovementioned detection means provided in the housing simply determines whether there is a bet operation by a player and manages the bet operation for each of the stations and, in reality, cannot determine whether the player present at the station of interest has performed the bet operation. Therefore, even in a case in which a person who is not concerned with the station of interest performs an operation accidentally or performs operations maliciously by remote control, the game continues, and thus a bet operation may be accepted and payout processing may be executed.
The invention in response to the second problem addresses the abovementioned matter, and thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine that can specify whether an operation is performed by an actual player with progression of the game.
In addition, as a third problem, in a gaming machine thus configured as described above, for example, there may be a case in which there is no observer such as a dealer who advances, manages, and monitors a game. Therefore, it is difficult for a management party of an amusement facility to visually recognize a gaming status and to recognize potential fraudulence in a game.
The invention in relation to the third problem addresses the abovementioned matter, and thus, it is an object of the present invention to visually recognize a gaming status and potential fraudulence in a game under a gaming environment where there is no observer.

Gaming machine and gaming management system