A surface-emitting laser array includes a plurality of surface-emitting laser devices arranged in an array. An optical system includes a plurality of optical devices to guide a light beam composed of lights emitted from the surface-emitting laser array to a target surface to be scanned. A light-intensity-control-device switching unit places one of light-intensity control devices having different light transmittances at a predetermined position in an optical path of the light beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for scanning a target surface with a light emitted from a light source including a surface-emitting laser array.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there are known optical scanning devices provided in image forming apparatuses such as copiers, facsimiles, printers, and optical plotters. The optical scanning device emits a light from a light source based on information corresponding to an image to be formed and scans a surface to be scanned on an image carrier with the emitted light. The optical scanning device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-033062, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-341699, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.2003-260813. The optical scanning device disclosed therein includes an optical system that guides the light emitted from the light source to the surface to be scanned.
The optical system is formed with various optical devices such as a deflecting unit being a polygon mirror or the like, a cylindrical lens, and a scanning lens. However, the optical devices have variations in each optical characteristic such as light transmittance and light reflectance, and the optical characteristics vary depending on an incident angle of light on each optical device, or positions where the optical devices are arranged are difficult to be made perfectly identical to each other between optical scanning devices. From these reasons, even if the optical scanning devices having an identical configuration, there are variations in a ratio of an intensity of scanning light on the surface to be scanned to a light emission intensity of the light source, or in light-use efficiency.
Because the variation in the light-use efficiency may cause variation in the intensity of scanning light, and further cause variation in image quality, this doest not meet requirements for formation of high-quality images. Therefore, a technology for reducing the variation in the intensity of scanning light is proposed. The technology is such that the intensity of the scanning light is made uniform by giving a certain allowance to the light emission intensity of the light source and controlling the light emission intensity.
However, by using the technology, the light emission intensity is caused to decrease in any device with high light-use efficiency. If the light emission intensity is decreased, droop characteristics become worse, and light emitting properties of the light source may thereby become unstable. The unstable light emitting properties of the light source cause the light emission intensity to vary and a beam spot size to be degraded, which exerts an effect on an output image.
In contrast, there are known technologies for enabling reduction of the variation in the light-use efficiency itself. As one of the technologies is such that by reducing light transmittance of optical devices such as a cylindrical lens, the variation in the light-use efficiency is reduced (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-033062). By minimizing the variation in the light-use efficiency itself, the light emission intensity of the light source does not have to be reduced to such an extent that the light emitting properties of the light source become unstable. It is therefore expected to reduce the effect exerted on the output image and also to minimize the variation in the light emission intensity.
Meanwhile, there is known a technology for actively changing a moving speed of an image carrier such as a photosensitive element and changing an image forming speed called "process speed" or the like in the image forming apparatus. Namely, there is known a technology in which when an image is to be formed on an OHP transparency or a thick paper by the image forming apparatus, the image forming speed is reduced more than a case in which an image is to be formed on a plain paper (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-341699 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-260813). This technology has advantages such that a bright image is obtained when an image is formed on a sheet such as the OHP transparency and such that glossiness is improved. Especially, when a color image is formed by superimposing toner images formed with different colors, such as yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, on one another, this technology is suitable for preventing color muddiness to obtain a bright image by preventing reflection on boundary between toner particles by reducing the image forming speed and sufficiently resolving toners of the colors.
As explained above, in the technology for changing the moving speed of the image carrier to change the image forming speed, it is important for prevention of a decrease in image quality to control an exposure amount of the image carrier according to the change in the moving speed. For example, if the rotational speed of the image carrier is reduced to one-half or one-third of an original speed, then it is required to reduce a light emission intensity and a light emission time of the light source, so that a light emission intensity in total is set to one-half or one-third of the original intensity. To control the exposure amount, a technology for controlling a light emission intensity of the light source in the optical scanning device is proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-062725), and a technology for intermittently using a polygon mirror is proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-260813).
However, these technologies cannot sometimes support the change in the moving speed of the image carrier. For example, in the former of these technologies, the droop characteristics may be worsen similarly to the technology, while in the latter of them, the control of the exposure amount cannot sometimes be dealt with by intermittently using the polygon mirror depending on how the moving speed of the image carrier is changed. Therefore, further development of the technologies is demanded.
Especially, when a surface-emitting laser array in which a plurality of surface-emitting laser devices are arranged is used as the light source, the problem may easily arise because of a narrow light output range.
When the surface-emitting laser array is used as the light source, because the light output range is narrow, the following problems may also arise. The problems include those in a case of correction of shading properties and a case of dealing with time degradation of the image carrier and environmental changes thereof.
The shading properties are explained below. Exposure intensities are nonuniform in each central portion and edges of the polygon mirror and optical devices in a main scanning direction due to their optical characteristics. The nonuniformity is comparatively large because it is caused by a product of the optical characteristics and the light-use efficiency. To correct the shading properties, it is necessary to change the output power of the light source so as to cancel out the comparatively high nonuniformity. However, if the light output range is narrow, then it is impossible to obtain the output power such that the nonuniformity is sufficiently canceled out.
The time degradation and environmental changes of the image carrier are explained below. The output power of the light source is determined after the device is assembled allowing for the light-use efficiency. The output power needs to be controlled according to situations when the device is actually used, allowing for the time degradation and environmental changes of the image carrier. The control is implemented by, for example, process control. However, the narrow light output range causes the control to be inadequately performed.
As a result of intense study, the inventors of the present invention have found that by controlling an exposure amount in the following manner, the control can support the change in the moving speed of the image carrier although there arises some problem as follows. The exposure amount is controlled by using a plurality of light-intensity control devices called "neutral density (ND) filters" with different light transmittances, selecting a light-intensity control device with an appropriate light transmittance according to the change in the moving speed of the image carrier, and causing the selected light-intensity control device to enter an optical path from the light source to the image carrier. It is noted that there is known a technology for selectively using the light-intensity control devices with different light transmittances in fields other than the field of optical scanning devices (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-241867).
The problem is such that when a light-intensity control device is simply placed in the optical path, a reflected light by the light-intensity control device placed in the optical path may exert an effect on image formation. A technology for controlling a light emission intensity of the light source by detecting the intensity of light emitted from the light source is sometimes used in the optical scanning device. When this technology is used, the reflected light by the light-intensity control device is detected together with the light emitted from the light source, and control accuracy of the light emission intensity is thereby decreased, which causes uneven image density, to be affected on the image quality, and this is a problem. Further, if the reflected light enters the image carrier, then a so-called "ghost" image is formed, which affects the image quality, and this is also a problem. These problems may arise by the reflected light in the optical device also in the technology for reducing the light transmittance of the optical device such as the cylindrical lens.
Thus, when the light-intensity control devices with different light transmittances are selectively used, it is desirable to take these problems into consideration.
There are also known technologies allowing reduction of variations of the light-use efficiency itself, which are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-033062, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-305460, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-235213, and Japanese Patent No. 2534656. One of the technologies is a technology for reducing variation in the light-use efficiency by decreasing the light transmittance of the optical device such as the cylindrical lens (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-033062). If the variation in the light-use efficiency itself is suppressed, the light emission intensity of the light source does not have to be reduced to such an extent that the light emitting properties of the light source become unstable. It is therefore expected to reduce the effect exerted on the output image and also to minimize the variation in the intensity of scanning light.
However, the technology for reducing the variation in the light-use efficiency by decreasing the light transmittance of the optical devices is designed to reduce the light transmittance of the optical devices originally provided in the optical system, in which target values of rates to reduce the light transmittance are equally set. Therefore, although a range of the variation in the light-use efficiency is decreased, the light-use efficiencies cannot be controlled according to actual values of the light-use efficiencies in the optical scanning devices, and thus, the intensity of scanning light may also be inadequately controlled.
For example, in an image forming apparatus that includes a plurality of image carriers and forms a color image as a composite image of images of the colors formed on the respective image carriers, the images of the colors need to be formed so as to achieve excellent quality of the image obtained as the composite image. To achieve the quality, the image carriers need to be scanned with respective intensity of scanning light suitable for obtaining such images of the colors as above. However, if the target values of the rates to decrease the light transmittances are equally set, then it is difficult to scan the image carriers with the respective intensity of scanning light suitable for obtaining such images of the colors as above, and therefore the quality of the image obtained as the composite image may possibly be decreased.
Meanwhile, a method of controlling the light transmittance includes a method of controlling light reflectances in a light-entrance side and in a light-exit side of the optical device. When the light reflectances in the both sides are to be controlled, each light-use efficiency is determined by a product of the respective reflectances. As a result of intense study, the inventors of the present invention have found that even if the light-use efficiencies are the same as each other, the intensity of so-called "ghost" light is changed due to a correlation between the reflectances in the light-entrance side and the light-exit side. The ghost light appears when the reflected light produced in the optical device is inclined with respect to the optical axis of an incident light, and the image carrier is thereby scanned at a position different from an original scanning position. Thus, the ghost light becomes a direct factor to cause irregularities in an image and therefore needs to be avoided as much as possible.
However, the ghost light appears not only when a light-incident plane and a light-exit plane of the optical device are curved and when these planes are intentionally inclined with respect to the optical axis of an incident light, but also when there is an error in installations of optical devices or the like. Therefore, the ghost light is difficult to be perfectly removed, and thus the intensity thereof is desirably reduced as much as possible. However, if, for example, the cylindrical lens is used to reduce the variation in the light-use efficiencies simply by reflection on the incident plane and the reflection plane, then this causes the intensity of the ghost light to be increased in addition to the problems, which is not preferred.

Optical scanning device, image forming apparatus, and optical scanning method having a plurality of light intensity control devices with a switching unit


The interactive and shared surface technique described herein employs hardware that can project on any surface, capture color video of that surface, and get depth information of and above the surface while preventing visual feedback (also known as video feedback, video echo, or visual echo). The technique provides N-way sharing of a surface using video compositing. It also provides for automatic calibration of hardware components, including calibration of any projector, RGB camera, depth camera and any microphones employed by the technique. The technique provides object manipulation with physical, visual, audio, and hover gestures and interaction between digital objects displayed on the surface and physical objects placed on or above the surface. It can capture and scan the surface in a manner that captures or scans exactly what the user sees, which includes both local and remote objects, drawings, annotations, hands, and so forth.

It is currently difficult for remote collaborators to work together in full color on arbitrary surfaces in a natural way. For instance, remote collaborators cannot easily share a physical document (e.g., a blank paper, magazine, architectural diagram) or a whiteboard, draw on it, annotate it, and see each other as they perform these actions (e.g., point, gesture, circle, and so forth). While some technologies for collaboration exist (e.g., tablet PCs, slates, instrumented surfaces, and digital surfaces with dedicated embedded cameras), they often require specialized and instrumented surfaces.


A blood testing method for use in the detection of a disease, wherein at least one characteristic antibody or complement factor is bound to a subject's red blood cells, comprises providing a microarray wherein a plurality of binding agents therefor are immobilized on a substrate at discrete pre-defined positions; and contacting a blood sample therewith. The presence of bound red blood cells is then detected.

The direct Coombs test (also known as the direct antiglobulin test or DAT or DAGT) is used to detect if antibodies or complement system factors have been bound to erythrocyte or red blood cells (RBC) surface antigens in vivo. Such bound antibodies are associated with various diseases in which an immune mechanism is attacking the patient's own RBCs. This mechanism could be autoimmunity alloimmunity or a drug-induced immune-mediated mechanism. In more detail such diseases include:
Examples of Alloimmune Haemolysis
Hemolytic disease of the newborn (also known as HDN or erythroblastosis fetalis)
Rhesus D hemolytic disease of the newborn (also known as Rh disease)
ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn (the indirect Coombs test may only be weakly positive)
Anti-Kell hemolytic disease of the newborn
Rhesus c hemolytic disease of the newborn
Other blood group incompatibility (RhC, Rhe, RhE, Kid, Duffy, MN, P and others)
Alloimmune haemolytic transfusion reactions
Examples of Autoimmune Haemolysis
Warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia
Idiopathic
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Evans' syndrome (antiplatelet antibodies and haemolytic antibodies)
Cold antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia
Idiopathic cold hemagglutinin syndrome
Infectious mononucleosis
Paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria (rare)
Drug-induced immune-mediated haemolysis
Methyldopa
Penicillin (high dose)
The complement system is composed of a number of small proteins found in the blood, which co-operate with the antigen-antibody interaction to kill target cells. Over 20 proteins and protein fragments make up the complement system.
Conventionally the DAT test has been carried out as an agglutination test in a test tube. More recently this test has also been carried out using agglutination microplate and gel technology. The test however, is still somewhat cumbersome and automated read-out of the results can be problematic.
More recently it has been found that ABO blood typing can be successfully carried out using non-agglutination protein microarrays, in which an immobilized antibody binds to an antigen on the surface of the RBC, and the presence of RBCs so immobilized is detected (J S Robb et al 2006). It has further been found that antibody microarray technology can be used to phenotype erythrocytes by detecting complex mixtures of antigens on cell surfaces (C J Campbell et al 2006). The antigens are both sugar antigens, which tend to be well presented and easily accessible, and peptide antigens, which are epitopes of transmembrane proteins and therefore buried and held more closely to the cell surface, and these were successfully differentiated using the correct choice of antibodies.
We have now surprisingly found that RBCs coated with antibody and/or complement (protein) can withstand the required processing and remain 'sensitised' (coated) with said antibody or complement bound to said RBCs, and that microarray technology can be used to detect antibodies and/or complement present on the surface of RBCs, thereby providing a test which is a much more efficient and an effective alternative to conventional DAT testing, and which can, moreover, be readily integrated into a single microarray with other tests important in blood processing—including blood grouping phenotyping for multiple antigens on the surface of the RBC.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A delay module, a delay method, a clock detection apparatus, and a digital locked loop (DLL) are disclosed. The delay module includes a first delay unit, a second delay unit and an inverter. Each of the first delay unit and the second delay unit include two logic gates adapted to invert a phase: a logic gate for gating and a logic gate for delaying. These two logic gates are electrically connected. The input port of the logic gate for gating of the first delay unit is electrically connected to the output port of the inverter; the output port of the logic gate for delaying of the first delay unit is electrically connected to the input port of the logic gate for delaying of the second delay unit; the input port of the inverter is electrically connected to the input port of the logic gate for gating of the second delay unit; the input port of the inverter is adapted to input a clock signal to be delayed, and the logic gate for delaying of the second delay unit is adapted to output a delayed clock signal. With the present invention, a more accurate delay step value may be achieved.

Currently, in a lot of chips, a phase delay relationship must be maintained for information exchange between two signals. Taking clock and data as an example, if the clock needs to sample data stably, the rising edge of the clock must have at least a setup time later than the data. However, due to the impact of the manufacturing technique, voltage and temperature (PVT), the delay requirement for these signals may be changed. In addition, the delay of a circuit that implements the delay requirement may be changed. Taking the most basic unit, the NAND gate, as an example, the drive power may turn higher as the temperature turns lower or the voltage turns higher. In this case, the delay time may also turn shorter. To guarantee the delay relationship between signals, the impact of the PVT needs to be compensated. One of compensation methods is using a digital locked loop (DLL). The DLL is used in various circuit systems, especially in high-speed circuits, to dynamically compensate the delay due to the impact of the PVT. The DLL generally consists of two parts: one part is used for dynamically detecting a clock period of the system and the other part is used for implementing a delay according to the detected clock period. In high-speed circuits, the clock period is as short as several nanosecond (ns for short), so that the DLL delay error is less than 100 picosecond (ps for short). With the evolution of technologies and increase of market demands, there are more and more high-speed chips. So, A DLL circuit with high accuracy is required. The DLL circuit generally consists of multiple delay units. The delay time of each delay unit is a delay step value of the DLL.
During the implementation of the present invention, the inventor discovers at least following problem in the prior art: The delay step value of the DLL in the prior art is less accurate, thus failing to meet the requirements for high-frequency circuits that require high accuracy.

Method and apparatus for improving accuracy of signals delay


In an operating device for a cooking system with a hob and an operating surface, at least one operating element with a contact detection function is positioned under the operating surface. The at least one operating element is implemented as a motion or movement sensor with a camera, which detects a movement or a contact point on the operating surface and determines a position and/or a position change of the contact point on the operating surface. In an operating method for activating an operating function an evaluation unit evaluates the position or the position change of the contact point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of electrical devices, and, more particular to electrical appliances and methods for their operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
The operation of electrical appliances such as those used in cooking systems and for other types domestic and office frequently involve the use of capacitive or optically operating switching elements, which are preferably positioned under an operating area like a glass ceramic hob that is provided with an operating surface. These switching elements detect whether a finger of a user is or is not located on the operating surface. Sliding switches and similar switching elements typically can only be implemented with such operating elements by providing several such operating elements positioned successively with one another. This can impose a considerable space requirement and involve considerable costs.

Operating device and operating method for an electric domestic appliance


To synthesize an aperture mask having unnoticeable steps with a taken fundus image. In an image processing apparatus, taken fundus image data is inputted and then analyzed. After that, an aperture mask is selected and inputted as aperture mask data, and an image size of the fundus image compared with an image size of the aperture mask. The image size of the aperture mask is adjusted to the image size of the fundus image and then the fundus image data and the aperture mask data are developed in raster format to image memories. The image size of the fundus image is adjusted to the image size of the aperture mask based on the comparison result and a coefficient for low pass filtering process is determined according to the image size of the fundus image. After that, the degree of clearness of corresponding fundus image data is calculated based on each pixel value of the aperture mask data on which the low pass filtering process has been performed and the calculation result is outputted to the image memory. After the process is performed for all the pixels, a fundus area in the fundus image is moved to predetermined coordinates. A resultant fundus image is outputted as final image data to a storage device and a display memory and then a series of processes are completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmologic image processing apparatus used for ophthalmologic examination in an ophthalmologic clinic and the like.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional fundus camera, image taking is performed with an aperture mask that performs light shielding on an area other than a central region inside a flare region located at a position immediately before an image pickup plane or at an equivalent position on an optical path, in order to determine an effective image taking area by eliminating a flare caused near a formed image, to determine a positional relationship between the image and an eye to be examined, or to determine a left or right eye in a case of picking up a pair of a papillary area and a macular area. In such fundus camera, because the aperture mask is located near an imaging plane of a fundus image, a boundary between the fundus image and the mask on the taken image is natural, so that a smooth image can be obtained.
On the other hand, there exists a fundus camera that produces a fundus image without using the aperture mask. However, the fundus image taken by such fundus camera has an unnecessary flare caused in the vicinity thereof, an image taking direction thereof cannot be checked, or left or right eye may be inadvertently determined. Therefore, when printing the images thereof, various problems may occur in the diagnostic process.
Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-206278, a method of electrically adding an aperture mask to a fundus image by synthesizing processing has been proposed. In this method, image processing for replacing a signal in an aperture mask area on the taken fundus image with data of a black level is performed. In the case where the fundus image is a video signal, the signal is changed into a signal of the black level at a display timing of the aperture mask area. In the case where the fundus image is inputted as image data, a black value is written into each pixel data in the aperture mask area.
However, performing the above-mentioned image processing to add the aperture mask causes the following problem. That is, generally, the fundus image becomes a circular image or an oval image whose top and bottom portions are chipped because an image taking object is spherical and it is preferable to perform image taking for its maximum area. Therefore, the vicinities of a horizontal portion and a vertical portion of the image become a gentle curve. However, in the case where an aperture mask process is performed on such a fundus image, an aliasing (step portion) is caused in the boundary between the aperture mask and the fundus. In particular, the aliasing becomes conspicuous in the gentle curve part of the horizontal and vertical portions, so that a region having developed the steps is very noticeable due to an extremely high contrast.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a fundus image synthesized with the aperture mask. This is an image obtained by synthesizing an aperture mask with a fundus image taken with the fundus camera using no aperture mask by a conventional method.
FIGS. 9A and 9B each show an enlarged image of a horizontal portion A and an enlarged image of a vertical portion B in the boundary region between the aperture mask and the fundus image as shown in FIG. 8. As is also apparent from the enlarged images, the boundary line between the aperture mask and the fundus image is a gentle curve. Therefore, the steps are very noticeable.
Further, a viewer may visually sense the step portion as a noise to hinder diagnosing operation. Alternatively, a viewer may feel uncomfortable with the image having the aperture mask, and this becomes a factor of a viewer's fatigue in diagnosing operation in which the viewer views several tens to several hundreds of images per day. Even in the case where the step portion is viewed through either a monitor or a printed paper, the similar influences are caused. In particular, in the case where the step portion is viewed through a monitor having a small number of pixels, the influences are noticeable.
In the case where the synthesized image is transmitted through a communication unit or subjected to JPEG compression for storage, the step portion becomes a discontinuous image. Consequently, there is a problem in that a contour in which the boundary portion between the fundus image and the aperture mask appears somewhat bright develops. A false color is generated in the portion which appears bright and it is a color which is not included in the original fundus image, so that attention is required for diagnosis. In order to suppress the generation of the false color, it is necessary to reduce the degree of compression, which means that it is useless to perform the compression. Further, because the step portion has a large number of harmonic components, there is a problem in that the compression efficiency is reduced.

Ophthalmologic image processing apparatus


An integrated circuit comprises a control unit, a plurality of control inputs for the provision of control signals to said control unit and a deactivation circuit for disabling the provision of at least one of said control signals. After reception of a first coded message by said integrated circuit the provision of at least one of said control signals to the control unit can be disabled by said deactivation circuit.

Many integrated circuits (ICs) include a control input for receiving an enabling signal, which is used for activating or deactivating the IC. Such ICs are useful in situations in which ICs are connected and operated in parallel. An example is a plurality of ICs connected to a common communication bus. Another example, where the disabling of individual ICs connected in parallel is important, are chips that are being tested in parallel after manufacturing. Yet another example are ICs that provide functionality, which should only be available in a special test mode, but remain disabled in a normal operation mode.
For example, many chips provide a chip enable (CE) pin, which will activate the IC once a voltage of a predefined level, e.g., 5 V, is supplied to the CE pin. Otherwise the IC is not active or deselected, e.g., if the CE pin is connected to electrical ground.
Such an arrangement is suited for a situation where several chips are connected to a common bus and one chip is selected by a bus arbitrator. The bus arbitrator can be implemented, for example, as a bus controller or a processor controlling the bus. However, such an arrangement requires one control line connected to the CE pin of each integrated circuit on the bus. For example, many memory modules can be connected in parallel, i.e., use the same data and address lines. In order to address the individual modules of a memory bank individually, a control chip decodes the address values and activates only one of the memory modules at a time using a control signal sent to the corresponding memory module. In situations where many integrated circuits are connected and operated in parallel this results in a complicated and thus costly design.
In the second example of chip testing, this is particularly disadvantageous. There, many chips execute test sequences in parallel, controlled by a controller of the testing arrangement. During testing, all chips, which are also called "devices under testing" (DUT), are active and execute the same test sequence. For cost reasons as many chips as possible should be tested at the same time.
However, once a DUT has been identified as being defective, it needs to be excluded from further testing for two reasons. Firstly, to avoid a corruption of further test results through the defective device and, secondly, to preserve the defective device in the erroneous state for further analysis. Thus, the device needs to be deactivated.
If the control lines, e.g., the line connected to the CE pin, of all DUTs were connected in parallel, such an individual deselection would not be possible at all. As a consequence, the defective device would need to be physically removed from the testing arrangement, which is infeasible for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the DUTs are mounted in large testing arrangements, which are contained in a climatic chamber preventing direct access. Secondly, tests are executed continuously in a test run and interrupting the test run would invalidate the results obtained from the non-defective devices as well. Lastly, such a manual interference would be too tedious and costly in a manufacturing environment. Consequently a defective DUT cannot be excluded from further tests and kept in its erroneous state. This is particularly disadvantageous in the testing of non-volatile memory modules. In addition, having to keep a device known to be defective in a testing arrangement can also affect subsequent tests adversely.
In an improved testing arrangement, the controller of the testing arrangement allows the selection or deselection of every DUT. However, this requires a separate line between the controller and each control input of each DUT used in the test. Usually the controller of the testing arrangement will provide only a limited number of control outputs. For example, there are controllers that provide up to a few hundred control outputs. However, many DUTs require a multitude of control signals to be provided, e.g., a chip might comprise 16 control input pins. As a consequence such testing arrangements are limited to a few chips to be tested in parallel, e.g., one per 16 control outputs of the controller of the testing arrangement for chips with 16 control inputs.
In a further refinement of the testing arrangement the DUTs are arranged in an array and a combination of two or more signals are used to activate a particular DUT. Consequently, the control outputs available to a controller of the testing arrangement can be used more efficiently. For example, a controller with 390 control outputs is used to provide an array of 16 rows and 15 columns, totaling 240 DUTs. Each DUT is provided with a multitude of control input signals, i.e., 15 control signals per row of the testing arrangement and 2 signals per column of the testing arrangement.
In another exemplary arrangement, all the CE pins of a column of DUTs are connected together to one control output of the controller. In addition, all command latch enable (CLE) pins common to a row of DUTs are connected to another control output of the controller. Because a chip will only react to a command provided to it if both the CLE and CE pins are connected to a predefined voltage, a single DUT can be enabled by selecting the control output of the controller connected to the line supplying the CE and CLE pins corresponding to the column and the row of the DUT in question. At the same time it is possible to enable all DUTs by selecting all columns and rows at the same time.
These two options are used in combination, for example, during the testing of memory chips. In a first phase all DUTs are enabled and a command is issued to all of them to write a particular test pattern into the memory of the DUTs. In a second phase each DUT is enabled individually and the written pattern is read in and verified. Alternatively, the DUT can comprise a status register, which can be read out by the test controller and provides a status value for the last operation, i.e., whether the operation was completed successfully or failed with an error. Because the reading process is performed much faster than the writing process, the individual selection during the reading process does not slow down the test significantly.
However, if one DUT is known to be defective, it cannot be excluded from further write operations in this arrangement. At best a complete row or column can be deselected by disabling the corresponding control output of the testbed controller. In this case all other devices in the same row or column are excluded from further tests as well, which is equally disadvantageous.

Integrated circuit with a control input that can be disabled

Infineon Technologies Flash GmbH & Co. KG


A method and system provides for electrophysiological data analysis in a networked processing environment. The method and system includes receiving, via a networked connection, electrophysiological data of a patient and electronically performing, via at least one network processing device, a data analysis on the electrophysiological data. The method and system includes generating at least one report based on the data analysis, wherein the at least one report includes determination of one or more intervention options for the patient and therein transmitting the report to a recipient device across the network connection for utilization with the patient. The results of the report direct the user to apply from within the same system non-invasive brain stimulation, neurofeedback, and biofeedback modalities. Re-assessment can occur from within the same system following the training or modulation of electrophysiology and thereby generate a comparison report showing functional changes from the provided intervention or combined interventions.

Traumatic brain injuries can result in physical and/or emotional dysfunction. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are similar to those of a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and the two are difficult to differentiate using current assessment methodologies such as symptom assessments and questionnaires. In Army deployment, statistics have shown that upwards of 20% of soldiers suffer from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Head and neck injuries, including severe brain trauma, have been reported in one quarter of United States service members who have been evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan in the first decade of the 21st century. A common cause of such injuries arises from exposure to percussive force from explosive devices. Further, recent military analysis indicates that over 90% of patients with acute mTBI will have vestibular (inner ear balance) disorders and those vestibular disorders are present in over 80% of persons with chronic mTBI symptoms. Likewise, stress disorders further affect numerous individuals, whether in a military or civilian situation. Brain injuries may further be incurred from car and bicycle accidents, sports accidents, falls, and the like. Up to 15% of persons suffering even a mild brain injury, or concussion, will suffer from persistent symptoms for more than a year, which significantly negatively affect their ability to work and function in daily life. It is estimated that there are currently 5.3 million Americans living with a disability as a result of a TBI. There are approximately 1.5 million diagnosed brain injuries in the U.S. annually, and it is estimated that another 2 million TBIs occur but are not properly diagnosed. Current assessment methods are either prohibitively expensive or do not diagnose the root cause of the suffering. Thus, there is a need in the art to accurately and quickly assess brain injury and associated dysfunction and then find ways to aid or enhance optimal functioning.
The brain is composed of about 100 billion neurons, more than 100 billion support cells and between 100 and 500 trillion neural connections. Each neuron, support cell and neural connection is extremely delicate, and the neural connections are tiny (approximately 1 micrometer). When the brain moves within the skull, such as occurs in rapid acceleration/deceleration (e.g., exposure to sudden impact and/or explosive devices), axons within the brain can pull, stretch and tear. If there is sufficient injury to the axon or support cells, the cell will die, either immediately or within a few days. Such damage can occur not only in the region that suffered direct trauma but in multiple regions (e.g., diffuse axonal injury). Loss of consciousness is not a prerequisite for mild traumatic brain injury and occurs in less than 5% of mild brain injuries, and head injuries such as diffuse axonal injury are not detectable in routine CT or MRI scan. High false negative findings may lead to patients being undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Unfortunately current imaging methods still lack the resolution and sensitivity to determine functional brain capacity. Rating scales and other neuropsychological and functional examination methods have long been used to elucidate these functional questions, but they too are fraught with false negative results and limited specificity.
Problems exist in the collection and management of such large amounts of data. The performance of these measurements generate significant amounts of data, both personal in nature the patient, but in need of processing power to perform proper analysis of the data.
Wearable wireless transmitting physiology sensors and digital recording and processing of these human physiology measurements have permitted new technologies to measure and modify human physiology and to treat disorders from remote locations around the world.
Therefore, there are needs for insuring the security of such human data. Another need is the importance of mobile access to the testing and treatment and training data that is housed and managed with smart technology that both processes physiology data and allows access to individual interventions at any suitable location.

Electrophysiology measurement and training and remote databased and data analysis measurement method and system


A method and apparatus for preventing leakage and spillage of oil from a wireline lubricator when the lubricator is disconnected from an oil and/or gas well including a generally cylindrical hollow coupling assembly adapted for connection to the bottom of the wireline lubricator, and a swab for contacting and forming a seal with the exterior of the tool in the wireline lubricator to prevent leakage of oil from the wireline lubricator.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to wellhead lubricators. In particular, the invention relates to wellhead lubricators connected to the top of a wellhead or "Christmas Tree."
2. Description of the Related Art
"Wellhead lubricators" and "wireline lubricators" are well known in the art. "Wellhead lubricators" and "wireline lubricators" are devices which are connected to the top of a wellhead of an oil and/or gas well, or to a Christmas Tree connected to an oil and/or gas well to receive a cylindrical wireline tool which is suspended from a wire and lowered into the well to perform such tasks as logging, perforation, and the like. The lubricators are used to seal the volume of the pipe in which the wireline and tool is inserted to counteract the pressure in the petroleum and/or gas well and prevent gas and/or oil from escaping around the wireline during wireline operations.
When a wireline lubricator is removed from a Christmas Tree, there is a leakage of oil from the lubricator onto the area around the Christmas Tree. The leakage of lubricant from the lubricator can cause damage to the environment. Furthermore, it is expensive and time consuming to remove the spilled lubricant from the area upon which it has leaked.
Exemplary of the patents of the related art are the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,369,913; 3,500,907; 3,556,209; 3,568,767; 3,924,686; 4,489,780; 4,658,894; 4,665,976; 4,716,962; 5,088,559; and 5,392,861.


A mobile radio station is disclosed having a device for synchronization with data streams transmitted over radio channels by base stations of a cellular mobile radio network. After an erroneous attempt at synchronization with a radio channel that has a receiving level, another attempt at synchronization with the radio channel is made after a delay. The delay depends on the receiving levels of different radio channels, the number of erroneous synchronization attempts, the number of radio channels with which the mobile radio station has already been synchronized, or the velocity of the mobile radio station. A new delay may also be obtained based on the old delay and the last two receiving levels.

The invention relates to a mobile radio station comprising means for synchronization with data streams transmitted by base stations of a cellular mobile radio system over radio channels.
GSM mobile radio systems (Global System for Mobile communications) comprise a network of radio cells. But each radio cell has a base station which radiates radio signals for mobile radio stations located in such a radio cell, a data traffic between a base station and mobile radio stations being effected over radio channels while use is made of the TDMA multiplex technique (Time Division Multiple Access). If a user of a mobile radio station moves with his station from one radio cell to a neighboring radio cell, there is to be ensured that a bidirectional radio link to at least one base station is available without interruptions, with a quality sufficient for an error-free data exchange. For this purpose, a mobile radio station in operation monitors all the available RF channels (Radio Frequency radio channels) of the mobile radio system (compare GSM 05.08, DRAFT pr ETS 300 578, March 1995, Second Edition, to which also the following state of the art implementations relate; when other parts of the GSM recommendations are cited in the following, also the respective version, dated March 1995, is meant). During this monitoring operation, the receiving levels of the RF channels are measured and an average receiving level is determined from a plurality of measured receiving levels of an RF channel. For a cell selection or cell reselection, i.e., for setting up a connection to the base station of such a radio cell, the mobile station is to be in a position to synchronize with the carrier frequency of a so-termed BCCH (Broadcast Control Channel) transmitted by the base station, and to read BCCH data. BCCH data contain system information and the so-termed BSIC (Base Transceiver Station Identity Code, Base Station Transceiver Code). A radio cell selected in this way is called a serving cell. In accordance with the standardized GSM recommendations, a mobile radio station is to try at least every thirty seconds to decode the BSIC of a serving cell. Furthermore, a mobile radio station is expected to verify at least every 30 seconds the BSIC of the other radio cells having the highest average receiving level. The BSIC is transmitted over the BCCH in signal beams by means of Synchronization Bursts (SB). A so-termed cell change function is carried out in which the function of serving cell changes to another radio cell based on the evaluation of the receiving level and the evaluation of the BSIC.
The operations of synchronization with a BCCH carrier frequency and of the decoding of a BSIC, require energy and form a load on the energy store of a mobile radio station. As a rule, accumulators are used as energy stores. Especially with mobile radio stations, this is a critical item. The smaller the energy consumption when a mobile radio station is operated, the longer such a mobile radio station can be operated, until a renewed charging of the accumulator is necessary, so that the user's convenience is enhanced.


A procedure and an apparatus for plumbing and installing the shaft equipment for an elevator uses a plumbing jig. The plumbing jig is mounted in the upper part of the elevator shaft from the top floor, plumb lines are attached to the plumbing jig from the top floor and, using the plumb lines attached to the plumbing jig, the shaft equipment is positioned, whereupon the shaft equipment is fixed in place. The apparatus includes supporting elements that can be fixed to the elevator shaft, a plumbing jig that can be attached to the supporting elements and mounted substantially from the top floor, and plumb lines that can be suspended from the plumbing jig and extend into the elevator shaft below the plumbing jig.

For trouble-free operation of an elevator, it is necessary that the elevator should run along a vertical line. The elevator is normally installed in an elevator shaft built from concrete. The guide rails for the elevator car and counter-weight are fixed to the shaft walls using rail fixtures. During the installation of the elevator, the guide rails and other shaft equipment are adjusted to their proper positions. In this context, shaft equipment refers to guide rails, landing doors and their mounting brackets. In the vertical direction, the alignment is effected using plumb lines, which are fixed at a point above the shaft equipment to be installed in the elevator shaft and which extend through the whole length of the shaft. It has also been suggested that the alignment could be done using a laser beam, but this method has not gained ground due to the costs and the difficult conditions at the site of the installation.
In prior art, the plumb lines are fixed to the floor of a machine room above the shaft and so positioned that they can be used to align the shaft equipment, such as guide rails, and the landing doors. The ceiling of the elevator shaft must be provided with holes for the plumb lines.

Procedure and apparatus for the installation of an elevator


A method for concentrating airborne particles and microorganisms by injecting them into a swirling air flow from where they are removed into one or more receiving tubes. The swirling air motion and the aerosol injection into it are achieved by pushing or drawing the airborne particles and microorganisms through one or more nozzles that are directed at an angle towards the surface of the containment vessel. The ratio of air flow rate into the vessel to the air flow rate through the receiving tube is equal to the maximum aerosol concentrating ratio desired.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the methods of concentrating the number of airborne particles and microorganisms in the air or gas medium in which they are suspended. In particular, the present invention relates to the method of concentrating aerosol particles by injecting them into a swirling air flow and transferring them to a minor air flow while the major air flow swirls away from the region of particle transfer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Airborne particles and microorganisms are concentrated in air when they are present in such small quantities that they do not yield a sufficiently strong signal when exposed to a given sensing method. For instance, when collected on a filter, there may not be enough particles or microorganisms per unit filter area. Particles or microorganisms suspended in air are herein referred to as "aerosol particles."
The principal method by which airborne particles are concentrated in air is by "virtual impaction." The term "virtual" is used in contrast to "solid-plate." In a "solid-plate impactor," the aerosol flow is directed towards a solid plate so that the high-inertia particles move towards the plate and are removed by it while the low-inertia particles continue with the laterally deflected air flow. In a "virtual impactor," the solid plate is replaced by an air interface (a "virtual" plate) so that the particles are inertially impacted into a dead air volume. Since turbulence in the dead air volume eventually washes the particles back out, unless they have deposited onto the containing wall of the dead volume chamber, some air is usually withdrawn continuously from this air space. The air flow from this receiving volume is typically between 1/5th to 1/20th of the total incoming air flow. The remaining air flow is laterally deflected.
This method is also called "dichotomous flow method," because two flows leave the interaction region while only one air flow enters it. The larger particles are transferred to the smaller flow by inertial impaction. The receiving tube usually has an inner diameter that is equal to or slightly larger than the inlet tube, and the tubes are axially aligned with each other. There are usually high particle losses to the inner surfaces for particle sizes at or near the "cut size" of this method. The "cut size" for the particle size distribution is the particle size at which the number of particles in the smaller air flow equals the number of particles in the remaining air flow. The particle losses may be high because particles that do not have enough inertia to be projected into the smaller air flow may have too much inertia to negotiate the sideways deflection with the remaining air flow.
Another method that relates to the present invention is that of aerosol particle removal by centrifugal force. The embodiment of this method is usually referred to as a "cyclone." In a cyclone, the aerosol is drawn into a cylindrical chamber so that the air makes one or more rotations inside before leaving the chamber through a tube at its center. Particles with sufficient inertia move centrifugally toward the inner wall. The problem with this method is that particles that enter the cyclone near its inner effluent tube have a great radial distance to traverse. This method is, therefore, not effective for particles less than a few micrometers in diameter. Also, it does not provide a sharp particle size separation between the collected and uncollected particles. This method does not concentrate aerosol particles in the airborne state but removes them from the air flow.

Method for concentrating airborne particles and microorganisms by their injection into a swirling air flow


A developer storage device and an image forming apparatus having the same include a developer storage part including a first storage part and a second storage part having widths different from each other, and a first developer conveying member to convey a developer stored in the first storage part to the second storage part in a diagonal direction. The first developer conveying member includes conveying elements extended slantingly with respect to a width direction of the developer storage part. An angle between the conveying elements and the width direction of the developer storage part is determined depending on relative positions of the first storage part and the second storage part. Accordingly, the developer storage device can effectively convey a developer by designing the developer conveying member adequately for an overall shape or structure of the developer storage device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a developer storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional image forming apparatus is an apparatus that prints an image on a printing medium according to an input image signal. An image forming apparatus is classified as a printer, a copying machine, a fax machine, a multi-function printer which has multiple functions of printing, scanning, copying and faxing, and the like.
A particular type of image forming apparatus, for example an electrophotographic type image forming apparatus, includes a photosensitive body, a laser scanning unit and a developing unit. The laser scanning unit scans light to the photosensitive body charged to a predetermined electric potential to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive body. The developing unit supplies a developer to the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image.
The visible image formed on the photosensitive body is directly transferred onto a printing medium, or is transferred onto a printing medium via an intermediate transfer unit. The image transferred onto the printing medium is fused to the printing medium through a fusing process.
In the printing operation, the visible image on the photosensitive body is not totally transferred onto the printing medium or the intermediate transfer unit. A portion of the developer remains on the photosensitive body. The residual developer on the photosensitive body is removed by a cleaning device, and is stored in a waste developer storage container.
A new developer, which is to be supplied to the photosensitive body, is stored in the developing unit, and a waste developer collected from the photosensitive body is stored in the waste developer storage container. Thus, both the developing unit and the waste developer storage container correspond to a developer storage device.
In order to store a sufficient amount of developer, the developer storage device should have a large capacity. However, the large capacity of the developer storage device results in difficulty in manufacturing a compact image forming apparatus.
In this regard, the developer storage device is designed so that an inner space of the image forming apparatus can be utilized as efficiently as possible. That is, the shape and structure of the developer storage device are adequately determined, depending upon arrangement of other components in the image forming apparatus.
A developer conveying member may be mounted inside the developer storage device to convey the developer to a predetermined target position. In order to effectively convey the developer so as to be evenly loaded in the developer storage device, the developer conveying member should be designed adequately to correspond to the shape and structure of the developer storage device.

Developer storage device and image forming apparatus having the same


An approach for enabling event notifications to be directed to one or more contacts based on the acquiring of common event data by one or more wireless devices is described. A multimedia event processor receives event data corresponding to an event from a mobile device. The event data is associated with a tag for describing the event data and classified as corresponding to a level of severity based on the tag. A target destination is then determined for transmission of a notification message, the event data, or a combination thereof.

Modern telecommunications services, particularly wireless mobile communication devices, have proved to be effective public safety tools. For instance, during emergencies, these devices (e.g., smartphones) are indispensable for contacting the appropriate people or authorities. In addition, such devices can be useful for acquiring audio, video or other multimedia or textual data related to the emergency event by way of integrated capture tools such as cameras, video and audio recorders, keyboards, etc. By way of example, when a vehicle accident occurs at a busy thoroughfare, some device users at or near the scene of the accident may capture a video of the accident using a video recorder at their device. Others at or near the scene may snap pictures using an integrated camera or post messages regarding the event to a social networking site. Unfortunately, such data remains isolated to the users.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for enabling event notifications to be directed to one or more emergency contacts based on the acquiring of common event data by one or more wireless devices.

Method and system for generating emergency notifications based on aggregate event data


An active composition for an electrode of an electrochemical cell. The active composition comprises an active electrode material and a conductive polymer. The electrochemical cell is preferably a battery cell or a fuel cell.

In rechargeable electrochemical battery cells, weight and portability are important considerations. It is also advantageous for rechargeable battery cells to have long operating lives without the necessity of periodic maintenance. Rechargeable electrochemical battery cells are used in numerous consumer devices such as calculators, portable radios, and cellular phones. They are often configured into a sealed power pack that is designed as an integral part of a specific device. Rechargeable electrochemical cells can also be configured as larger "cell packs" or "battery packs".
Rechargeable electrochemical battery cells may be classified as "nonaqueous" cells or "aqueous" cells. An example of a nonaqueous electrochemical battery cell is a lithium-ion cell, which uses intercalation compounds for both anode and cathode, and a liquid organic or polymer electrolyte. Aqueous electrochemical cells may be classified as either "acidic" or "alkaline". An example of an acidic electrochemical battery cell is a lead-acid cell, which uses lead dioxide as the active material of the positive electrode and metallic lead, in a high-surface area porous structure, as the negative active material. Many of the alkaline electrochemical battery cells are nickel based. Examples of such cells are nickel cadmium cells (NiCd), nickel metal hydride cells (NiMH), nickel hydrogen cells (NiH), nickel zinc cells (NiZn), and nickel iron cells (NiFe).
Ni—MH cells use negative electrodes having a hydrogen absorbing alloy as the active material. The hydrogen absorbing alloy is capable of the reversible electrochemical storage of hydrogen. Ni—MH cells typically use a positive electrode having nickel hydroxide as the active material. The negative and positive electrodes are spaced apart in an alkaline electrolyte such as potassium hydroxide.
Upon application of an electrical current across a NiMH cell, water is dissociated into a hydroxyl ion and a hydrogen ion at the surface of the negative electrode. The hydrogen ion combines with one electron and forms atomic hydrogen and diffuses into the bulk of the hydrogen storage alloy. This reaction is reversible. Upon discharge, the stored hydrogen is released to form a hydrogen ion and an electron. The hydrogen ion combines with a hydroxyl ion to form water. This is shown in equation (1):
                    M        +                              H            2                              O                +                              e            -                                                                                ⟷            discharge            charge                                                                        M—H                +                  OH          -                                    (        1        )
The reactions that take place at the nickel hydroxide positive electrode of a Ni—MH battery cell are shown in equation (2):
                                          Ni                                      (              OH              )                                2                +                              OH            -                                                                                ⟷            Discharge            charge                                                                        NiOOH                +                              H            2                              O                +                  e          -                                    (        2        )
The use of disordered negative electrode metal hydride material significantly increases the reversible hydrogen storage characteristics required for efficient and economical electrochemical cell applications, and results in the commercial production of electrochemical cells having high energy density storage, efficient reversibility, high electrical efficiency, bulk hydrogen storage without structural change or poisoning, long cycle life, and deep discharge capability.
Certain hydrogen absorbing alloys result from tailoring the local chemical order and local structural order by the incorporation of selected modifier elements into a host matrix. Disordered hydrogen absorbing alloys have a substantially increased density of catalytically active sites and storage sites compared to single or multi-phase crystalline materials. These additional sites are responsible for improved efficiency of electrochemical charging/discharging and an increase in electrical energy storage capacity. The nature and number of storage sites can even be designed independently of the catalytically active sites. More specifically, these alloys are tailored to allow bulk storage of the dissociated hydrogen atoms at bonding strengths within the range of reversibility suitable for use in secondary battery applications.
The use of disordered negative electrode metal hydride material significantly increases the reversible hydrogen storage characteristics required for efficient and economical battery applications, and results in the commercial production of batteries having high energy density storage, efficient reversibility, high electrical efficiency, bulk hydrogen storage without structural change or poisoning, long cycle life, and deep discharge capability.
Some extremely efficient electrochemical hydrogen storage alloys were formulated, based on the disordered materials described above. These are the Ti—V—Zr—Ni type active materials such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,400 ("the '400 Patent") the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. These materials reversibly form hydrides in order to store hydrogen. All the materials used in the '400 Patent utilize a generic Ti—V—Ni composition, where at least Ti, V, and Ni are present and may be modified with Cr, Zr, and Al. The materials of the '400 Patent are multiphase materials, which may contain, but are not limited to, one or more phases with C14 and C15 type crystal structures.
Other Ti—V—Zr—Ni alloys, also used for rechargeable hydrogen storage negative electrodes, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,586 ("the '586 Patent"), the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. The '586 Patent describes a specific sub-class of Ti—V—Ni—Zr alloys comprising Ti, V, Zr, Ni, and a fifth component, Cr. The '586 Patent, mentions the possibility of additives and modifiers beyond the Ti, V, Zr, Ni, and Cr components of the alloys, and generally discusses specific additives and modifiers, the amounts and interactions of these modifiers, and the particular benefits that could be expected from them. Other hydrogen absorbing alloy materials are discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,096,667, 5,135,589, 5,277,999, 5,238,756, 5,407,761, and 5,536,591, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The positive electrodes of a Ni—MH battery cell include a nickel hydroxide material as the active electrode material. Generally, any nickel hydroxide material may be used. The nickel hydroxide material used may be a disordered material. The use of disordered materials allow for permanent alteration of the properties of the material by engineering the local and intermediate range order. The general principles are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,822, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. The nickel hydroxide material may be compositionally disordered. "Compositionally disordered" as used herein is specifically defined to mean that this material contains at least one compositional modifier and/or a chemical modifier. Also, the nickel hydroxide material may also be structurally disordered. "Structurally disordered" as used herein is specifically defined to mean that the material has a conductive surface and filamentous regions of higher conductivity, and further, that the material has multiple or mixed phases where alpha, beta, and gamma-phase regions may exist individually or in combination.
The nickel hydroxide material may comprise a compositionally and structurally disordered multiphase nickel hydroxide host matrix which includes at least one modifier chosen from the group consisting of Al, Ba, Bi, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Fe, In, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Nd, Pb, Pr, Ru, Sb, Sc, Se, Sn, Sr, Te, Ti, Y, and Zn. The nickel hydroxide material may include a compositionally and structurally disordered multiphase nickel hydroxide host matrix which includes at least three modifiers chosen from the group consisting of Al, Ba, Bi, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Fe, In, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Nd, Pb, Pr, Ru, Sb, Sc, Se, Sn, Sr, Te, Ti, Y, and Zn. These embodiments are discussed in detail in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,423 the contents of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The nickel hydroxide materials may be multiphase polycrystalline materials having at least one gamma-phase that contain compositional modifiers or combinations of compositional and chemical modifiers that promote the multiphase structure and the presence of gamma-phase materials. These compositional modifiers are chosen from the group consisting of Al, Bi, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, In, LaH3, Mg, Mn, Ru, Sb, Sn, TiH2, TiO, Zn. Preferably, at least three compositional modifiers are used. The nickel hydroxide materials may include the non-substitutional incorporation of at least one chemical modifier around the plates of the material. The phrase "non-substitutional incorporation around the plates", as used herein means the incorporation into interlamellar sites or at edges of plates. These chemical modifiers are preferably chosen from the group consisting of Al, Ba, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Sr, and Zn.
The nickel hydroxide material may comprise a solid solution nickel hydroxide material having a multiphase structure that comprises at least one polycrystalline gamma-phase including a polycrystalline gamma-phase unit cell comprising spacedly disposed plates with at least one chemical modifier incorporated around the plates. The plates may have a range of stable intersheet distances corresponding to a 2+ oxidation state and a 3.5+, or greater, oxidation state. The nickel hydroxide material may include at least three compositional modifiers incorporated into the solid solution nickel hydroxide material to promote the multiphase structure. This embodiment is fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,822, the contents of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Preferably, one of the chemical modifiers is chosen from the group consisting of Al, Ba, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Na, Sr, and Zn. The compositional modifiers may be chosen from the group consisting of a metal, a metallic oxide, a metallic oxide alloy, a metal hydride, and a metal hydride alloy. Preferably, the compositional modifiers are chosen from the group consisting of Al, Bi, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, In, LaH3, Mn, Ru, Sb, Sn, TiH2, TiO, and Zn. In one embodiment, one of the compositional modifiers is chosen from the group consisting of Al, Bi, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, In, LaH3, Mn, Ru, Sb, Sn, TiH2, TiO, and Zn. In another embodiment, one of the compositional modifiers is Co. In an alternate embodiment, two of the compositional modifiers are Co and Zn. The nickel hydroxide material may contain 5 to 30 atomic percent, and preferable 10 to 20 atomic percent, of the compositional or chemical modifiers described above.
The disordered nickel hydroxide electrode materials may include at least one structure selected from the group consisting of (i) amorphous; (ii) microcrystalline; (iii) polycrystalline lacking long range compositional order; and (iv) any combination of these amorphous, microcrystalline, or polycrystalline structures.
Also, the nickel hydroxide material may be a structurally disordered material comprising multiple or mixed phases where alpha, beta, and gamma-phase region may exist individually or in combination and where the nickel hydroxide has a conductive surface and filamentous regions of higher conductivity.
Nickel-metal hydride batteries are used in many different applications. For example, nickel-metal hydride batteries are used in numerous consumer devices such as calculators, portable radios, and cellular phones. They are also used in many different vehicle applications. For example, nickel-metal hydride batteries are used to drive both pure electric vehicles (EV) as well as hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Hybrid electric vehicles utilize the combination of a combustion engine and an electric motor driven from a battery.
There are different requirements for the energy storage system of a hybrid electric vehicle than for a pure electric vehicle. Range is a critical factor for a practical pure electric vehicle, making energy density the critical evaluation parameter. In contrast, in hybrid electric vehicle applications, gravimetric and volumetric power density is the overwhelming consideration. A key enabling requirement for HEV systems is an energy storage system capable of providing very high peak power combined with high energy density while at the same time accepting high regenerative braking currents at very high efficiency.
The output power of a battery may be increased by reducing the battery's internal resistance. The internal resistance of the battery includes the resistance of both the positive and negative electrodes, the resistance of the electrolyte, separators as well as other components. The resistance of the electrodes may be decreased by lowering the resistance of the electrode components such as the electrode tabs, electrode substrates as well as the resistance of the electrode active compositions. The resistance of the electrode substrates may be lowered by using more conductive materials (such as copper) wherever possible. The resistance of the positive and/or negative active electrode compositions may be lowered by adding conductive additives to the active material. For example, conductive additives (such as nickel, graphite and carbon particles) may be mixed together with the active electrode materials to form an active electrode composition having an increased conductivity. The methods discussed above, while lowering the resistance and increasing the power of the electrodes have still not realized the full potential thereof. There is still a need for significant gains in power. Therefore, there is a need in the art for additional improvements in the conductivity for both the positive and negative electrodes.

Active electrode composition with conductive polymeric binder


The present invention provides a vitreous-bonded abrasive tool wherein the abrasive grit portion comprises a thermally sensitive abrasive grain, such as sintered sol gel microcrystalline alpha alumina abrasive grain or superabrasive grain, and wherein the vitrified bond may be matured by firing at a temperature below about 875.degree. C. The invention further includes a novel vitrified bond composition.

The invention relates to abrasive tools, particularly vitrified abrasive wheels made with a low temperature bond and containing sintered sol gel alumina abrasive grain. The abrasive tools are characterized by improved resistance to grain degradation from bond firing during manufacture of the tools. The invention further includes a vitrified bond composition suitable for firing at relatively low temperatures such as 600.degree.-875.degree. C.
Abrasive tools comprising seeded or unseeded sintered sol gel alumina abrasive grain, also referred to microcrystalline alpha-alumina (MCA) abrasive grain, are known to provide superior grinding performance on a variety of materials. The manufacture and characteristics of these MCA grains and the performance of these MCA grains in various applications are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,623,364, 4,314,827, 4,744,802, 4,898,597 and 4,543,107, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Vitreous or glass bonded abrasive tools containing MCA grain are commercially useful for grinding precision metal parts and other industrial components requiring consistent and improved grinding performance. To produce these types of abrasive tools with consistent quality, reactions between glass bond components and the MCA grain at typical temperatures encountered during firing of the bond, e.g., 1100.degree.-1400.degree. C. must be avoided. Controlling these reactions minimizes damage to the critical microcrystalline structure of the grain.
To reduce the amount of reaction between MCA grain and vitrified bond, U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,107 discloses a bond composition suitable for firing at a temperature as low as about 900.degree. C. In an alternate approach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,597 discloses a bond composition comprising at least 40% fritted materials suitable for firing at a temperature as low as about 900.degree. C. In certain grinding applications these low temperature bonds have demonstrated insufficient mechanical strength to meet commercial objectives prompting development of stronger bonds.
Vitrified bonds characterized by improved mechanical strength have been disclosed for use with either alumina oxide or MCA (also referred to as sol gel alpha-alumina) abrasive grits in manufacturing grinding wheels having improved form holding properties. Such bonds are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,886, U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,284 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,283, which are hereby incorporated by reference. These vitrified bonds may be fired at relatively low temperatures (e.g., about 900.degree.-1100.degree. C.) to avoid reaction with high performance, sintered sol gel alpha-alumina abrasive grain. The wheels made with these bonds and MCA grain have shown excellent performance in finishing precision moving parts, particularly ferrous metal parts.
It has now been discovered that by selecting appropriate material components, suitable bonds may be made and fired at about 600.degree.-875.degree., preferably 700.degree.-800.degree. C. In particular, by selecting appropriate contents of boron oxide, alkali oxides and alkaline earth oxides, and by maintaining the correct ratios of boron oxide to alkali oxides, sodium oxide to lithium oxide, and silicon oxide to the combination of alkali oxides and alkaline earth oxides in these bonds, and then formulating a wheel comprising this new bond and MCA grain, abrasive tools having improved G-ratio and grinding performance with reduced power draw and acceptable workpiece surface finish can be produced. These tools are an improvement over the low temperature fired, vitrified bonded MCA grain tools previously known in the art.


A tensile-stress-generating structure is formed above a gate electrode in a CMOS image sensor to apply a normal tensile stress between a charge collection well of a photodiode, which is also a source region of a transfer transistor, and a floating drain in the direction connecting the source region and the floating drain. The tensile stress lowers the potential barrier between the source region and the body of the transfer transistor to effect a faster and more through transfer of the electrical charges in the source region to the floating drain. Image lag is thus reduced in the CMOS image sensor. Further, charge capacity of the source region is also enhanced due to the normal tensile stress applied to the source region.

An image sensor converts a visual image to digital data that may be represented by a picture. The image sensor comprises an array of pixel sensor cells, which are unit devices for the conversion of the visual image into the digital data. Digital cameras and optical imaging devices employ an image sensor. Image sensors include charge-coupled devices (CCDs) or complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors.
While CMOS image sensors have been more recently developed compared to the CCDs, CMOS image sensors provide an advantage of lower power consumption, smaller size, and faster data processing than CCDs as well as direct digital output that is not available in CCDs. Also, CMOS image sensors have lower manufacturing cost compared with the CCDs since many standard semiconductor manufacturing processes may be employed to manufacture CMOS image sensors. For these reasons, commercial employment of CMOS image sensors has been steadily increasing in recent years.
A CMOS image sensor unit cell comprises a pixel area and a logic area. The pixel area typically contains one of each type of active pixel, e.g., a red pixel having a first photodiode underneath a red optical filter, a green pixel having a second photodiode underneath a green optical filter, and a blue pixel having a third photodiode underneath a blue optical filter. The pixel area may also contain a dark pixel, which is covered with an opaque layer such as an aluminum light shield and employed to measure a background output level in the absence of illumination so that the output of other pixels may be referenced and calibrated. U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,912 to Tennant et al., which is incorporated herein by reference, describes the use of a dark pixel. Each photodiode generates charges upon exposure to light. Logic devices connected to the photodiode detect and amplify the charges to generate signals proportional to the incident light. Each pixel comprises at least one photodiode to covert incident photons into electrical charges.
During a read out of the charge from a photodiode, charge carriers stored in a charge collection well is transferred through a body of a transfer transistor to a floating drain. The transfer of the charge needs to be complete to maximize the signal strength from the pixel. Electrical charges remaining in the photodiode after the transfer of the charge through the transfer transistor causes "image lag" when the next image is taken by the photodiode. A photodiode that retains residual electrical charges from the prior exposure due to the incomplete transfer of the electrical charges thus imparts some of the image from the previous exposure to the image from the next exposure. Thus, the next image includes a component of the previous image through the image lag.
The image lag causes signal loss for a current image. Further, the image lag mixes the signals from the current exposure with the signals from the previous exposure, which is partially retained in the photodiode through the residual electrical charges in the photodiode after the incomplete charge transfer during the previous operation. The trapping of the residual charges in the photodiode is typically caused by a potential barrier between the charge collection well and the channel of the transfer transistor, which prevents transfer of all of the electrical charges during a read operation or a reset operation.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a CMOS image sensor structure that provides reduction of image lag. Particularly, there exists a need for a CMOS image sensor, that effects a complete transfer of electrical charges from the photodiode to the floating drain as quickly as possible, i.e., before the next image is taken.

International Business Machines Corporation


A heat pump system usable as an air-conditioning apparatus, a refrigerant apparatus, or a temperature-conditioning apparatus, having a heat capacity detection mechanism for detecting a signal indicative of a ratio of or a difference between the total heat-emitting capacity of the condenser and the total heat-absorbing capacity of the evaporator, and an energy-supplying mechanism for exerting energy onto the refrigerant, thereby compensating for insufficient total hear-absorbing capacity, especially in the cooling mode when condensation capacity increases due to, for example, a cold or wind environment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat pump system usable as an air-conditioning apparatus, a refrigeration apparatus, or a temperature-conditioning apparatus, and in particular, to such an apparatus provided with an energy compensation system and/or a refrigerant flow control system which allow(s) for stable heat pumping operation by compensating for insufficient total heat-absorbing capacity, especially when condensation capacity increases due to, for example, a cold or windy environment. This invention also relates to a method for stable heat pumping operation.
2. Background of the Art
A heat pump system, which is used as an air-conditioning apparatus or a refrigeration apparatus, enables cooling the air in a room or a refrigerator by circulating refrigerant in a refrigerant circulation line through an outside heat-exchanger (condenser), an expansion valve, an inside heat-exchanger (evaporator), and an accumulator in sequence, with a compressor driven by an engine or an electric motor, for example.
In operating a heat pump system as an air-conditioning apparatus, for example, it is necessary in some cases to cool a room even when the outside is very cold or very windy because heat is internally generated in the room. When a heat pump system has an outside heat-exchanger with a heat exchange capacity sufficient for operating multiple inside heat-exchangers (evaporators), it is necessary in some cases to cool only some of the rooms, i.e., inside heat-exchangers.
In operating a heat pump system as a refrigeration apparatus, it is necessary in some cases to cool or freeze material in a storage compartment of a refrigerator such as a display case, which is placed in an air-conditioned (warm) room even when the outside is very cold or very windy. When a heat pump system has an outside heat-exchanger with a heat exchange capacity sufficient for operating an inside heat-exchanger (evaporator) with a high cooling capacity, it is necessary in some cases to operate the apparatus only with a low cooling capacity.
As understood from the above, when a heat pump system is used as an air-conditioning apparatus to cool the air in a room or as a refrigeration apparatus to cool the air in a storage compartment of a refrigeration apparatus, condensation capacity at an outside heat-exchanger (condenser) exceeds evaporation capacity at an inside heat-exchanger (evaporator) in some cases. When such cases occur, the pressure in a refrigerant circulation line upstream of an evaporation valve (i.e., on the high pressure side) decreases, the difference in pressure between upstream of and downstream of the evaporation valve, i.e., between the high pressure side and the low pressure side, is then reduced. As a result, the volume of a refrigerant passing through the evaporation valve is reduced, and then total heat-absorbing at the inside heat-exchanger (evaporator) is diminished, thereby lessening cooling capacity. Further, because the volume of refrigerant passing through the evaporation valve decreases, stable cooling and refrigeration operation suffers.

Heat pump system with balanced total heating-emitting and absorbing capacities and method for stable heat pumping operation


A first electric motor cooling flow passage (120A) and a first electric motor lubrication flow passage (121A) supply oil from an electric oil pump (70) through the outer side of one end (E1) of the first electric motor (2A) to the portions (A1, A2) of the first electric motor (2A) which are to be cooled/lubricated. A second electric motor cooling flow passage (120B) and a second electric motor lubrication flow passage (121B) supply oil from the electric oil pump (70) through the outer side of the other end (E2) of the second electric motor (2B) to the portions (B1, B2) of the second electric motor (2B) which are to be cooled/lubricated.

There is disclosed a conventional vehicle driving device in an electric vehicle according to Patent Document 1, in which the device includes a pair of right and left electric motors, and a mechanical oil pump is provided between the electric motors, so that oil is supplied to an oil passage inside a driving shaft to lubricate a torque transmission system; in addition, a motor for traveling is cooled by an electric oil pump that is provided additionally. The mechanical oil pump defines, with a partition wall of a case and a pump cover, a pump chamber in which a rotator is contained, and rotates by driving the electric motors.


A method for multipath imaging of three-dimensional volumes of seismic data, given the subsurface velocity distribution. Ray tracing is used to generate the volumes of information needed for migration, but using coarse-scaled grids for computational efficiency. Interpolation methods are disclosed that address the specific shot points and receiver locations and that enable a final image on a grid with the desired resolution. Data storage and retrieval techniques are also disclosed.

Examples of such geology occur in the Gulf of Mexico adjacent to or under salt bodies, in offshore Angola adjacent to or under salt, or in complex overthrust formations such as found in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies or the Andes of Venezuela. When imaging in such complex formations one of the basic problems is that seismic energy may reach each image point from source or receiver by a variety of raypaths. This phenomenon is referred to as "multipathing". Current methods proposed to deal with multipath imaging are slow and expensive, and therefore impractical for widespread application to 3-D imaging using present computer technology.
Most conventional imaging methods assume there is only one path connecting the source, image point and receiver. This is true whenever the subsurface velocity behaves in a sufficiently simple manner, for example when it is controlled mostly by compaction and varies mainly in a vertical direction but only slowly in a lateral direction.
Attempts to deal with multipath imaging fall into three classes:
(a) Kirchhoff Common Offset Depth Migration
In this approach the seismic data is assembled into common offset (source-receiver distance) bins and migrated using a single preferred ray path connecting source to image point to receiver. When there are many possible ray paths, a single path is selected, often the path having the strongest amplitude, first arrival or some other preselected criterion. This imaging method is satisfactory whenever lateral velocity variation is not strong. However, multipathing is a significant effect in subsalt imaging, and many ray paths may have comparable weight in the image. Thus it often occurs that Kirchhoff migration is unable to image subsalt reflectors satisfactorily. In addition, it is inconvenient to correct Kirchhoff images for spherical divergence since this requires the relatively expensive computation of the Beylkin determinant. The theory of how to correct Kirchhoff amplitudes for spherical divergence is explained in Schleicher et al., "3-D True-Amplitude Finite-Offset Migration", Geophysics 58, 1112–1126 (1993). Thus, Kirchhoff amplitudes are often less useful for subsequent data interpretation.
(b) Wave Equation Migration (WEM)
WEM is a more ambitious method of imaging. In a typical approach the data recorded at all the receivers for a given shot point are back-propagated using the wave equation. Energy from the shot is forward-propagated using the wave equation, and the two wave fields are cross-correlated thus producing an image as described by Claerbout in Fundamentals of Geophysical Data Processing, McGraw-Hill (1976). One difficulty with this approach is that the answers generally do not preserve seismic amplitude and therefore the resulting image cannot be directly interpreted for amplitude. This is a significant problem for the seismic interpreter because amplitudes convey information about reflection coefficients, and hence about subsurface rock properties.
Another problem with WEM is that downward wave continuation is computationally expensive. In addition the wave fields have to be computed for all of the locations downward from the source and receiver, including locations of no interest for the final image: it is difficult in WEM to use "target-oriented imaging". (Both the Kirchhoff method and the below-described CRAM method can operate in target-oriented mode.) Thus WEM generally requires large computer resources and still takes a long time to produce a result.
(c) Common Reflection Angle Migration (CRAM)
In this approach the data are migrated into common reflection angle bins. Because rays are uniquely determined by their takeoff angle and starting point in space, CRAM enables all rays connecting source, image point, and receiver to be added into the image. In principle CRAM combines much or most of the imaging power of WEM with the relative economy of Kirchhoff migration. Xu et al. ("Common-angle migration: A strategy for imaging complex media", Geophysics 66, 1877–1894 (2001)) describe theoretical aspects of CRAM in some detail. The method described by the authors does preserve seismic amplitude through amplitude weighting of the migrated traces. However they do not describe a computational method that is practical for application to typically sized 3-D data sets.
Koren and Kosloff ("Common reflection angle migration", Journal of Seismic Exploration 10, 41–57 (2001)) describe an approach to CRAM. Their method proceeds image point by image point. From each image point, rays are shot up to the surface. The migrated trace added into the image is that acquired at the source and receiver locations so found. This means that the seismic data has to be read in what amounts to random order from the disk. Such a computational approach is inefficient and is only practical for 2-D imaging. However in operational practice, and especially in complex geology, one generally requires true 3-D images.
As a consequence of the limitations of the above methods, there remains a need for a method of subsalt imaging (or imaging other complex formations) that is computationally affordable and is able to provide multipath imaging in 3-D space. The present inventive method satisfies this need.

Method for seismic imaging in geologically complex formations