A depth signal generation apparatus includes a depth signal estimation unit, a depth signal histogram generator, and a depth signal level converter. The depth signal estimation unit estimates a depth signal for each pixel of a predetermined unit in a video image signal. The depth signal histogram generator divides a range of a depth signal level which the depth signal can have, into depth signal level regions each having a predetermined range size, determines which depth signal level region includes the depth signal for each pixel, counts the number of pixels included in each depth signal level region to generate depth signal histogram data according to the count value. The depth signal level converter generates a depth signal level conversion curve according to the depth signal histogram data and generates a depth signal after level conversion by executing depth signal level conversion according to the depth signal level conversion curve.

The present invention relates to a depth signal generation apparatus, a pseudo stereo image signal generation apparatus, a depth signal generation method, a pseudo stereo image signal generation method, a computer-readable recording medium recording a depth signal generation program therein, and a computer-readable recording medium recording a pseudo stereo image signal generation program therein, for generating a depth signal from a usual still image or moving image, that is, an image (non-stereo image) which is not provided with depth information explicitly, or implicitly as in a stereo image, providing processing based on this depth information for the non-stereo image, and thereby generating and outputting a pseudo stereo image which provides a stereoscopic effect.
In a stereo display system, for enabling the non-stereo image to be viewed in pseudo stereo image viewing, there is performed processing of generating a pseudo stereo image from a usual still image or moving image, that is, an image (non-stereo image) which is not provided with depth information for expressing a stereo object explicitly, or implicitly as in a stereo image.
As an example of such a technique, there is known an approach of generating a stereo image on the basis of a depth signal generated by superimposing a depth model which combines a plurality of basic depth models according to a feature of an input non-stereo image, on an R signal of a non-stereo image, for example (refer to Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 4214529).
In the pseudo stereo image generation technique as represented by patent document 1, when estimation error is caused in the depth signal, there is a possibility that a stereo image generated according to the estimated depth signal provides uncomfortable feeling. Meanwhile, this uncomfortable feeling could be reduced by the use of a weak gain in the depth signal estimation when the stereo image is generated. In such a case, however, the gain becomes weak also in an image area where the estimation error is not caused in the depth signal, and sometimes the whole image provides a poor stereoscopic effect.

Depth signal generation apparatus, pseudo stereo image signal generation apparatus, depth signal generation method, pseudo stereo image signal generation method, computer-readable recording medium recording depth signal generation program, and computer-readable recording medium recording pseudo stereo image signal generation program


A meter driving system measures a period of input signals, and operates meters based on the measured period data. When no period data arrive in a preset period of time after the last period data, the lapsed time is treated as the period data so as to renew the meter indication. The meter driving system is very responsive to a signal whose frequency is gradually decreased, thereby giving the indication with little delay.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvement in a system for driving meters such as a speedometer or a tachometer in response to an output from a speed or rotation sensor, and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plurality of meters are used in a vehicle. They include a speedometer, a tachometer, a water temperature gauge, an oil pressure gauge, a boost gauge, and so on. These meters are operated by a driving system.
FIG. 8 of the accompanying drawings shows the configuration of an example of a conventional meter driving system. The meter driving system operates a cross-coil meter 10. The cross-coil meter 10 includes two coils which are crossed as shown in FIG. 9. A meter pointer is moved in response to a current supplied to these coils.
The two excitation coils L.sub.S and L.sub.C generate magnetic fields having desired angles and orientations when a pulse current having a pulse width corresponding to input data such as speed is supplied to the coils. A rotatable permanent magnet M receives torque generated by the magnetic fields of the coils L.sub.S and L.sub.C.
The pointer connected to the magnet M moves by angle .theta. from a reference position so as to indicate a value (a speed in FIG. 10), according to the input, on a meter panel.
The meter driving system of FIG. 8 comprises a period counter 12, a CPU 14, a reference clock generator 16, a ROM 18, a RAM 20, a digital to analog converter 24, a driver 26, an address bus 28 and a data bus 30.
The period counter 12 receives a pulse output from a sensor, and measures a period of the pulse. It is assumed here that the pulse period corresponds to a detected result (e.g. speed). In this case, the period counter 12 measures the interval (period) of the leading edge or the trailing edge of the pulse based on the number of the reference clocks, which are periodically generated by the reference clock generator 16. The period of the sensor output measured by the period counter 12 is transmitted to the data bus 30 as data, which is then forwarded to the CPU 14. In this case, the period is measured instead of frequency so as to be compatible with a low frequency output from the sensor.
The CPU 14 processes the output from the period counter 12 according to a program stored in the ROM 18. The RAM 20 is used as a work area for the CPU 14. The calculated result of the CPU 14 is sent to the data bus 30 so as to be latched in the register 22.
The register 22 latches the output from the CPU 14, supplying the output to the digital to analog converter 24 serving as a PWM modulator. The CPU 14's output which is subject to the digital to analog conversion is supplied to the driver 26. The driver 26 operates the cross-coil meter 10 accordingly. In other words, the output current from the driver 26 flows through the coils L.sub.S and L.sub.C.
With the foregoing circuit, the periods of sensor outputs are discretely measured, so that indication of the measured values are sometimes given with delay. For example, when the frequency of output pulses decreases as shown by the broken line in FIG. 11, the indication of the measured result will vary stepwise on the cross-coil meter 10 as shown by the solid line. Therefore, the indication of the cross-coil meter 10 is delayed by the amount which corresponds to the difference between the value shown by the broken line and that shown by the solid line. When no pulse output arrives from the sensor, the period counter 12 cannot count the pulse, so that the indication remains the same on the cross-coil meter 10.


Among many things, in some embodiments, dual-function additives that enhance fluid loss control and the stability of viscoelastic surfactant fluids, and their associated methods of use in subterranean formations, are provided. In one embodiment, the methods comprise: providing a viscoelastic surfactant fluid that comprises an aqueous base fluid, a viscoelastic surfactant, and a dual-function additive that comprises a soap component; and introducing the viscoelastic surfactant fluid into at least a portion of a subterranean formation.

The present invention relates to viscoelastic surfactant fluids useful in subterranean operations, and more particularly, to dual-function additives that enhance fluid loss control and the stability of viscoelastic surfactant fluids, and their associated methods of use.
Treatment fluids may be used in a variety of subterranean treatments, including, but not limited to, stimulation treatments and sand control treatments. As used herein, the term "treatment," or "treating," refers to any subterranean operation that uses a fluid in conjunction with a desired function and/or for a desired purpose. The terms "treatment," and "treating," as used herein, do not imply any particular action by the fluid or any particular component thereof. These subterranean operations include, but are not limited to, hydraulic fracturing treatments, acidizing treatments, gravel-packing treatments, sand control treatments, and the like.
Maintaining sufficient viscosity in the treatment fluids used in these operations is important for a number of reasons. Maintaining sufficient viscosity is important in fracturing and sand control treatments for particulate transport and/or to create or enhance fracture width. Also, maintaining sufficient viscosity may be important to control and/or reduce fluid loss into the formation. At the same time, while maintaining sufficient viscosity of the treatment fluid often is desirable, it may also be desirable to maintain the viscosity of the treatment fluid in such a way that the viscosity also may be reduced easily at a particular time, inter alia, for subsequent recovery of the fluid from the formation.
To provide the desired viscosity, polymeric gelling agents commonly are added to the treatment fluids. The term "gelling agent" is defined herein to include any substance that is capable of increasing the viscosity of a fluid, for example, by forming a gel. Examples of commonly used polymeric gelling agents include, but are not limited to, guar gums and derivatives thereof, cellulose derivatives, biopolymers, and the like. To further increase the viscosity of a treatment fluid, often the polymeric gelling agent is crosslinked with the use of a crosslinking agent. Treatment fluids comprising crosslinked gelling agents also may exhibit elastic and/or viscoelastic properties, wherein the crosslinks between gelling agent molecules may be broken and reformed, allowing the viscosity of the fluid to vary with certain conditions such as temperature, pH, and the like.
The use of polymeric gelling agents, however, may be problematic. For instance, polymeric gelling agents may leave an undesirable gel residue in the subterranean formation after use, which can impact permeability of the formation. As a result, costly remedial operations may be required to clean up the fracture face and proppant pack. Foamed treatment fluids and emulsion-based treatment fluids have been employed to minimize residual damage, but increased expense and complexity often have resulted.
To combat perceived problems associated with polymeric gelling agents, some surfactants have been used as gelling agents. It is well understood that, when mixed with a fluid in a concentration above the critical micelle concentration, the molecules (or ions) of surfactants may associate to form micelles. The term "micelle" is defined to include any structure that minimizes the contact between the lyophobic ("solvent-repelling") portion of a surfactant molecule and the solvent, for example, by aggregating the surfactant molecules into structures such as spheres, cylinders, or sheets, wherein the lyophobic portions are on the interior of the aggregate structure and the lyophilic ("solvent-attracting") portions are on the exterior of the structure. These micelles may function, among other purposes, to stabilize emulsions, break emulsions, stabilize a foam, change the wettability of a surface, solubilize certain materials, and/or reduce surface tension.
When used as a gelling agent, the molecules (or ions) of the surfactants associate to form micelles of a certain micellar structure (e.g., rodlike, wormlike, vesicles, etc., which are referred to herein as "viscosifying micelles") that, under certain conditions (e.g., concentration, ionic strength of the fluid, etc.) are capable of, inter alia, imparting increased viscosity to a particular fluid and/or forming a gel. Certain viscosifying micelles may impart increased viscosity to a fluid such that the fluid exhibits viscoelastic behavior (e.g., shear thinning properties) due, at least in part, to the association of the surfactant molecules contained therein. As used herein, the term "viscoelastic surfactant" refers to surfactants that impart or are capable of imparting viscoelastic behavior to a fluid due, at least in part, to the association of surfactant molecules to form viscosifying micelles. Moreover, because the viscosifying micelles may be sensitive to hydrocarbons, the viscosity of these surfactant fluids may be reduced after introduction into the subterranean formation without the need for certain types of gel breakers (e.g., oxidizers). The term "breaker" is defined herein to include any substance that is capable of decreasing the viscosity of a fluid. This may allow a substantial portion of the surfactant fluids to be produced back from the formation without the need for expensive remedial treatments. Moreover, these viscoelastic surfactants may not leave the undesirable gel residue in the subterranean formation found in uses of polymeric gelling agents, reducing or alleviating the need for costly remedial operations.
However, the use of viscoelastic surfactant fluids may be problematic in certain subterranean formations exhibiting high temperatures (e.g., above about 200° F.). Many viscoelastic surfactant fluids become unstable at these temperatures, which reduces the viscosity of the fluid. Moreover, the stability of viscosifying micelles in viscoelastic surfactant fluids may be extremely sensitive to various conditions (e.g., temperature, pH, presence of other additives in the fluid, composition of the subterranean formation, etc.), and thus the inclusion of other additives in the viscoelastic surfactant fluid that are needed for a given treatment using that fluid may detrimentally affect the rheological properties (e.g., viscosity) of the fluid. This inability to maintain a desired level of viscosity at higher temperatures, among other problems, may increase fluid loss and decrease the ability of the fluid to suspend and/or transport particulate materials.
Numerous additives are used in the art to help control fluid loss in subterranean operations. Numerous additives are also used in the art to maintain stability and/or viscosity of a treatment fluid at higher temperatures. However, the use of these conventional additives may give rise to other problems. First, the necessity of both a fluid loss control additive and a separate stabilizing or viscosifying additive in a treatment fluid may increase the complexity and cost of a treatment fluid and/or a subterranean application utilizing that fluid. Moreover, many conventional fluid loss control additives permanently reduce the permeability of a subterranean formation, affect the rheology of the treatment fluid in which they are used, and/or reduce the rate at which the fluid is allowed to penetrate or leak off into the subterranean formation. However, in some instances, while it may be desirable to control or prevent fluid loss for a given period of time, it may become desirable to allow the treatment fluid to penetrate or leak off into the subterranean formation, or to increase the permeability of the subterranean formation, at some later point in time. Costly and time-consuming operations may be required to reverse the effects of conventional fluid loss control additives on the treatment fluid and/or to restore permeability to those portions of the subterranean formation affected by the fluid loss control additives.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dual-function additives for enhancing fluid loss control and stabilizing viscoelastic surfactant fluids


A method adjusts operation of a printer in accordance with an analysis of image content used to generate printed images. The method includes measuring image content of a first print image, comparing the measured image content to a predetermined threshold, and altering a print process parameter to adjust operation of a printer component in response to the measured image content exceeding the threshold.

Droplet-on-demand ink jet printing systems eject ink droplets from print head nozzles in response to pressure pulses generated within the print head by either piezoelectric devices or thermal transducers, such as resistors. The ejected ink droplets, commonly referred to as pixels, are propelled to specific locations on a recording medium where each ink droplet forms a spot on the recording medium. The print heads have droplet ejecting nozzles and a plurality of ink containing channels, usually one channel for each nozzle, which interconnect an ink reservoir in the print head with the nozzles.
In a typical piezoelectric ink jet printing system, the pressure pulses that eject liquid ink droplets are produced by applying an electric pulse to the piezoelectric devices, one of which is typically located within each one of the ink channels. Each piezoelectric device is individually addressable to enable a firing signal to be generated and delivered for each piezoelectric device. The firing signal causes the piezoelectric device receiving the signal to bend or deform and pressurize a volume of liquid ink adjacent the piezoelectric device. As a voltage pulse is applied to a selected piezoelectric device, a quantity of ink is displaced from the ink channel and a droplet of ink is mechanically ejected from the nozzle associated with each piezoelectric device. The ejected droplets are propelled to pixel targets on a recording medium to form an image on an image receiving member opposite the print head. The respective channels from which the ink droplets were ejected are refilled by capillary action from an ink supply.
In some printers, the image receiving member is a rotating drum or belt coated with a release agent. The print head ejects droplets of melted ink onto the rotating image receiving member to form an image, which is then transferred to a recording medium, such as paper. The transfer is generally conducted in a nip formed by the rotating image member and a rotating pressure roll, which is also called a transfix roll. The pressure roll may be heated or the recording medium may be pre-heated prior to entry in the transfixing nip. As a sheet of paper is transported through the nip, the fully formed image is transferred from the image receiving member to the sheet of paper and concurrently fixed thereon. This technique of using heat and pressure at a nip to transfer and fix an image to a recording medium passing through the nip is typically known as "transfixing," a well known term in the art.
Ink jet printers are capable of producing either simplex or duplex prints. Simplex printing refers to producing an image on only one side of a recording medium. Duplex printing produces an image on each side of a recording medium. In duplex printing, the recording medium passes through the nip for the transfer of a first image onto one side of the recording medium. The medium is then routed on a path that presents the other side of the recording medium to the nip. By passing through the nip again, an image is transferred to the other side of the medium. When the recording medium passes through the nip the second time, the side on which the first image was transferred is adjacent to the transfix roll. Release agent that was transferred from the image receiving member to the recording medium may now be transferred from the first side of the recording medium that received an image to the transfix roll. Thus, a duplex print transfers release agent to the transfix roll and multiple duplex prints may cause release agent to accumulate on the transfix roll.
The amount of release agent on the transfix roll may reach a level that enables release agent to be absorbed by the back side of a recording medium while an image is being transfixed to the front side of the recording medium. If a duplex print is being made, the side of the recording medium receiving a second image may now have release agent on it. The release agent on the recording medium may interfere with the efficient transfer of ink from the image receiving member to the recording medium. Consequently, ink may remain on the image receiving member rather than being transferred to the recording medium. This inefficient transfer of ink may produce an image in which partial or missing pixels are noticeable. This phenomenon is known as image dropout. Additionally, ink remaining on the image receiving member may require the image receiving member to undergo a cleaning cycle. Otherwise, the ink not transferred from the image receiving member may interfere with the formation of a subsequent image on the image receiving member.
To aid in the transfer of ink from the image receiving member to the second side of a recording medium, some printers transfix all duplex images at a rotational speed that is slower than a rotational speed used for simplex printing. The slower speed exposes the medium in the nip to the pressure in the transfer nip longer and that exposure helps improve the efficiency of the image transfer to recording media having release agent on the surface of the media. The slower speed of the duplex printing process, however, reduces printer throughput during duplex printing operations. Therefore, performing duplex printing in a manner that improves throughput without subjecting image quality to dropout and the like is useful.
Application of release agent to the imaging member also affects image quality. When the applicator that applies release agent to the imaging member contacts the imaging member while it rotates at higher rotational speeds, more release agent is deposited on the imaging member. Slower rotational speeds result in less release agent being applied to the imaging member. Consequently, the imaging member speed also affects the amount of release agent available for absorption by the front side of a media sheet during a duplex printing cycle.
Excessive use of release agent not only contributes to image dropout, but may also shorten the life of a consumable module known as the cleaning unit. The process of applying release agent to the image receiving member, in terms of rotational speed and timing, also affects how much release agent is consumed during printing. Therefore, regulating the application of release agent to an image receiving member also contributes to conservation of release agent and extension of the operational life of the cleaning unit.

System and method for optimizing printing throughput and print quality by evaluating image content


The invention is concerned with the formation of modular units from individual plate-like elements and other elements with special interlocking joints at their ends that allow them to form cubes that can be grouped together to form storage "cubbies" and modular structural systems and toy construction sets and the like, wherein, in one embodiment, the plates are formed with one end having studs on a 45 degree angled surface, and the other end having receptacles or openings such as sockets on a 45 degree angled surface for interlocking with a second mating plate like the first, but in which the studs and sockets are interchanged, allowing a cube to be formed by two of each type of plate, with the use of studs and sockets on the surfaces allowing two or more such cubes to stick together; and wherein, in another embodiment, the cube is made from four identical plates, as by an extrusion process, where one end of a plate contains double male features, such as barb arrows, and the other end contains double corresponding female features that mate with the male features from other plates, whereby the male and female features allow the ends of the plates to slide into each other like a dovetail to form a cube, and with adjoining cubes sharing surfaces. Other variations are also disclosed, as well as novel extruded truss sections.

There are a great many different types of storage devices on the market embracing a variety of different techniques and designs for storage volumes, containers, shelving systems and the means for assembling them. There are also numerous types of construction sets, building blocks and interlocking accessories useful as toys. There are also varied designs for joining and attaching components and structures together for such storage systems, wall shelving, toys, and in the shelter fabrication and assembly industry, among others. The patent categories related to this invention have been identified as: collapsible crates, open-end boxes and containers; modular shelving, display racks, and storage devices; housing and building materials, larger structures, paneling and tiles; workspace management systems; toy construction sets and accessories; joints and interlocking features.
The category of crates and containers includes numerous prior inventions for desired ornamental appearances and for functions of stackable and often collapsible, knock-down, and foldable types of containers similar, for example, to the common milk crate and the like. U.S. Pat. Nos. D273,338; D273,523 through D273,526; D277,797 through D277,800; 4,619,371; and 4,911,303, as illustrations, show various designs of such single-piece stackable crates. Often these crate designs include small tabs or other features that align the crates when situated side-by-side or with one on top of another.sup.-- (typical vertical stacking). Actual use of these crates in non-vertical stacking situations, however, demonstrates that the crates are not well-connected to one another and are therefore susceptible to separation and disorganization. A collapsible container, moreover, is often desired for its more-compact shape when not being used to transport or store objects or materials. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,433, for example, the need for edge strength in a knockdown box is recognized and the structure accordingly includes a frame of stronger material in the fold-over wall panels of the container. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,931, the walls of the container are held together by simple grooves and connecting strips. These two concepts allow for the compact stacking of the wall panels when not in use; but when in use, however, the joints are not strong enough to resist shear loads and side loads that occur when the containers are oriented with the "top" opening disposed sideways. While improvements in these structural deficiencies have been addressed, they still exist in prior single-piece crates and containers, as well as in the more robust, often plastic and ribbed, designs of, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,485,433; 3,613,931; 4,044,910; 4,238,044; 4339047; 4,343,400; 4,789,075; 4,917,255; 4,923,079; 4,940,155; 4,964,349; 5,094,356; 5,398,834; and 5,398,835. Such prior collapsible container designs have numerous varied mating features; some even include springs and small parts that must be assembled into the container wall panels. These complicated features and numerous parts, however, add to the cost of the products without actually significantly improving structural quality when stacked with openings oriented sideways. The panels themselves, moreover, are different within each container set, with sides and bottoms being significantly different from one another, thereby increasing the number of components that must be manufactured, distributed, stored and inventoried. Also, when stacking these containers in arrays, container walls are redundant--neighboring container units can share common walls, but these designs do not provide a means of sharing walls in semi-permanent applications such as storage and object organization and similar useages.
In the field of modular shelving, display racks, and storage devices, there are three general classes of such devices: single-piece storage units that interlock; free-standing modular shelving-type designs; and shelving designs for wall-mounted assemblies.
The prior single-piece container type designs in this grouping include means for more rigid attachment to neighboring containers, as opposed to the alignment features of the crates of the previously-described section which provide alignment and very little resistance to dismounting. Systems of this type include the structures of, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,964,809; 3,999,818; 4,528,916; and 4,889,254. The design of U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,809 features a locking tab and pin component on the inside of one of the unit cabinet walls that interlocks with the component on another stacked cabinet unit. While this secures a plurality of container units together in a more rigid fashion, the additional locking elements to each cabinet unit raises part count and increases the cost of such units. U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,818 shows a storage module with interlocking dovetail projections and grooves that are integral to each unit and that allow slide-motion interlocking at any of the five walls of the module, the sixth side being open. These grooves and projections, however, are numerous and leave the outer walls of any unattached unit with a non-flat surface. The walls between attached units, moreover, are redundant. For applications where a storage configuration is not often changed, this redundancy costs the user some storage space and money. U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,254 is a similar design for interlocking boxes in which the unit boxes have dovetail features on the four sides so that a two-dimensional array of container units can be formed. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,642, as a further example, a display and storage rack is disclosed for cassettes and like shapes and that is comprised of single storage units that can be attached to other identical units to form a larger structure. The design of previously cited U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,916, as still another illustration, relates to the customization of safety deposit boxes, and provides a means of using a single, shared partition wall between adjacent safety deposit box volumes that can be removed only when the two doors of the adjacent boxes have been opened. The width of the boxes, however, is not changeable, nor can the array of boxes be modified to be larger or smaller than the outside frame structure, so that all modifications to the array must occur inside that given frame.
Prior art shelving and structure designs that are of the modular, free-standing types are also numerous. Examples are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,964,810; 3,986,316; 4,934,858; 4,940,149; 4,940,150; 4,964,150; 5,158,187; involving separate shelf units and post units. By combining shelf units and the requisite number of post units, a customizable shelf structure of any integral dimensions can be obtained. In some of these designs, the shelf units are shared by adjacent storage volumes, and in some designs, the post units are also shared by adjacent shelf units. Thus, these structures are more efficient in terms of element usage as they do not result in redundant members. Such designs either involve additional parts, like the several parts that make up a post unit in U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,316 or the multiple components of the shelf unit of U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,350, for example, or the attachment between the posts and shelf units are susceptible to separation by side, shear or upward forces. Another approach is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,982, using a corner joint of vertical and horizontal rail members of a modular assembly of an open frame. But such a design does not allow change in array size of a given frame without replacing original rail members with longer or shorter rail members, resulting in several unused original members, which is deemed undesirable and wasteful.
Previously proposed wall-mounted shelving designs are also numerous and extensive. U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,826 is an example of prior wall-mounted shelving comprised of rails that are mounted to a wall, cantilever brackets that fit into the rails, and shelf elements that are placed on the brackets. While this type of shelving is popular and widely used, it requires the mounting of rails to walls, which does not allow for simple removal or lateral relocation of the shelving. For those users who do not have the skills or tools safely to mount the brackets to the wall, moreover, this design is not desirable. These wall-mounted designs, furthermore, do not provide for integrated divisions along a shelf, so additional bookends and the like must be used. Such a wall-mounted system is also often difficult to make aesthetically attractive in its setting, since the rails and brackets are quite visible.
Turning now to the art embracing modular housing and building materials, large structures and paneling, the construction industry often uses modular materials that allow for the construction of structures involving joined modular components such as wall elements, tiles and panels. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,290 discloses interlocking connectors to attach structural components together. This connector features a multiple dovetail cross-section that slides into the attaching structural unit along the edge of that unit and thus prevents detachment in the orthogonal direction. As will later be more fully explained, for the purposes of the present invention such multiple dovetail joint configurations are not well suited to connect multiple components at a single joint since the multiple dovetail features make the connector rather large at each joint. U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,388 also shows the use of a dovetail clamp to connect adjacent construction members, but in this use, where elements are pushed together to mate, adequate pulling forces in the opposite direction or twisting can cause the joint to fail. When the dovetail joint is used in a sliding fashion, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,942,290; 4,884,378; and 4,688,362, for example, and as is typically done in wood-working joints, an assembled structure has stronger joints; but when using a plastic or rubbery material that can undergo elastic or plastic deformation, a dovetail protrusion can pull out of the dovetail groove. As still a further approach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,362 discloses a basic set of modules that can form end-to-end, T-, L- or cross-joints without using end-to-end, T-, L- or cross-connectors. The end features have dovetail or like coupling-shaped protrusions and grooves in such a fashion that the elements of the basic set of modular parts can form walls without additional connectors or parts. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,817,356 and 4,922,678 are further illustrations that describe prior sets of structural elements having mating features to assemble the structures.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,932,976 and 5,074,093 are exemplary of prior techniques involving interlocking tiles and panels. The joints disclosed in the patents, however, are meant for low-load applications and are thus not well-suited for the hereinafter described applications of the present invention.
In still another field, that of workspace management systems, the organization of the workplace often involves the separation of space into personal or smaller workspaces. Illustrative approaches to suitable structures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,038,534; 5,038,539 and 5,394,658, all disclosing designs describing the numerous modules and pieces involved in assembling customizable workspace management systems. The joints between modules, however, do not scale well for the later-described applications intended by the present invention; on the other hand, the present invention discloses designs of joints that can well be applied to the workspace management system designs.
Discussing, now, the field of toy construction sets and accessories, there exist on the market many popular and successful toy construction sets which comprise building blocks, attaching elements and joints in many variations. These include, for example, the current designs known as LEGO.RTM., Duplo.RTM., and K'Nex.TM.. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,005,282; 3,162,973; 3,597,875; 4,571,200; 4,585,422; 4,895,548; 5,061,219; 5,137,486 and 5,350,331 describe some of the designs for elements of these and other toy systems. In each of these designs, the assembly of interlocking pieces is made simple enough for children to assemble, while providing adequate structural properties to withstand loads and forces typical of the playing environment. For larger loads and twisting forces, however, the joints may not be adequate.
There also exist a great number of accessories for such play sets. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,314 involving a container on which construction blocks may be attached and in which the same blocks may be stored. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,000 discloses a play kit with a detachable play surface, a carrying case with a playing surface on which building blocks may be attached and in which the blocks may be stored. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,758, a play tray with hinged legs is provided. In each of these accessory designs, the case or container serves a second purpose in addition to its play value. These designs, however, do not lend themselves to the building of larger-scale structural arrays with play and storage value by elements that are themselves modular building entities.
In addition to the joining techniques and interlocking features disclosed in the patents discussed above, there are many other prior joint designs that have proposed, such as those disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,991,535; 4,233,878; 4,542,702; 4,545,698; 4,629,161; 4,820,077; 4,825,529; 4,962,805; 5,018,628; 5,137,239; 5,397,087; 5,399,043; 5,399,044; 5,433,053; and 5,439,309.
Despite all these varied approaches over the years in the many fields above-described, there still remains the need and the desire for providing improved modular elements, components and accessories for economical, attractive, practical and simple customizable modular storage systems, and also for toy sets, workspace management systems, and housing and building applications, by employing novel and robust designs that are easy to make and assemble and that eliminate the various disadvantages of prior art techniques as before described.
Even in the light of all the designs that have been previously developed, indeed, the most popular and widely-used design for modular storage is still that of the common "milk crate", or a formed cubicle storage container. This is due to the fact that it is inexpensive and widely available; however, it is also unstable when stacked with open ends horizontal for loading with objects unless one takes the time to bolt or affix the crates together. In the end, however, they still look like milk crates, and they are bulky to ship, and they take up a large amount of shelf space in stores and inventories. The wall thickness, moreover, is not sufficient to support substantial loads such as books. Furthermore, because they must sell for little money to attract buyers, the return on investment for a retailer with limited shelf space or stockroom space is very low. If, indeed, one needs to assemble an array of 20 milk crates in a home or office to form a wall unit this is most awkward.
This has led to the development of the present invention that, in one application, provides what might be characterized as "take-apart milk crates". Such novel and structurally-sound design of modular storage units and accessories also leads to greater applications of these storage systems, with the designs, detailed features, and means of assembly readily scaleable for other applications as well, such as workspace management systems, modular housing construction, and toy construction systems among others.

Modular storage system, components, accessories, and applications to structural systems and toy construction sets and the like


A palmtop computer for entering characters using one or more input modes. In one example, a physical sensor is coupled to select the input mode. The physical sensor may be in the form of a button, rocker switch, dial, pressure strip, moveable bar, or accelerometer mounted to the device. The physical sensor may also be mounted to a pen. In another example, a ridge is formed on the digitizer pad and positioned to define input regions associated with particular input mode. In another example, a border is formed around the digitizer pad. The border includes a ridge coupled to select the input mode. The digitizer pad may also be textured. A first textured region is associated with one input mode and a second textured region is associated with another input mode.

The present invention relates to the field of palmtop computers. More particularly, the present invention relates to the selection of input modes for entering alpha-numeric characters on palmtop computers.
The palmtop computer has evolved as a portable device which provides for easy storage, organization, and recollection of information. Palmtop computers are small, compact computers that generally fit in the palm of a person""s hand. The palmtop computer allows for easy operation, as a user simply holds the palmtop computer in one hand (the xe2x80x9cwriting handxe2x80x9d) while entering information with the other hand (the xe2x80x9cnon-writing handxe2x80x9d). Because of the small size of the palmtop computer, the user may simply place the device in a pocket or briefcase when not in use.
When the user wishes to enter information, it is desirable to record the information promptly and accurately. Otherwise, a broad range of problems might occur when the user needs to recall the information. A busy professional might miss an important deadline or meeting. A grocery shopper might buy only a portion of the items needed to prepare a meal.
Conventional palmtop computers generally employ a digitizer pad upon which a user may write with a pen or finger. A handwriting recognition system is generally incorporated to recognize strokes and presses made by the user upon the digitizer pad as individual characters. The handwritten characters are then converted into a machine-readable format such as ASCII code.
One problem associated with conventional palmtop computers has been the poor performance of handwriting recognition systems. Characters input by the user are often improperly identified. For example, a user may attempt to write the number xe2x80x9c1,xe2x80x9d but the letter xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is recognized. Similar, the letter xe2x80x9csxe2x80x9d may be confused for the number xe2x80x9c5.xe2x80x9d When the user recalls what was entered, the palmtop computer returns the erroneous information. The user must then waste time and energy in attempting to ascertain what he originally wrote.
Techniques have been developed to differentiate between characters written on the digitizer pad. One way has been to provide for different xe2x80x9cmodesxe2x80x9d of input. In one embodiment, one mode allows for only lowercase letters to be input (xe2x80x9calpha modexe2x80x9d), a second mode is for only uppercase letters (xe2x80x9ccaps modexe2x80x9d), a third mode is for numbers (xe2x80x9cnumeric modexe2x80x9d), and a fourth mode is for punctuation (xe2x80x9cpunctuation modexe2x80x9d). When input modes are used, the number of possible characters which may be confused for a particular stroke is greatly reduced. For example, if alpha mode is selected, the recognition system will not recognize the letter xe2x80x9csxe2x80x9d as the number xe2x80x9c5.xe2x80x9d Similarly, a lowercase xe2x80x9ccxe2x80x9d will not be recognized as an uppercase xe2x80x9cC.xe2x80x9d
Selecting and switching among various input modes using conventional means takes time and effort on the part of the user. The user must take some action to switch from one mode to another, in addition to the strokes and motions he would otherwise have to make to input the actual characters. For example, some conventional schemes involve the use of xe2x80x9cmode changexe2x80x9d strokes which the user makes on the digitizer pad to change input modes. These mode change strokes must be interspersed with strokes the user ordinarily would make to enter characters. Such systems present various problems. Additional time is required to make the mode change strokes. The mode change strokes themselves are often confused for input characters. Also, it is often not immediately clear to the user which input mode is being used. The particular mode may be displayed on a display area of the digitizer pad, but the user must still look at the device to determine which mode is active.
Thus, conventional methods for input mode selection introduce such discontinuities into the input activity that the quality of interaction is reduced. Users often compromise what is inputted for the ease of inputting it. For example, users may choose not to take the time to capitalize or punctuate when they enter notes because of the time and effort required to change modes. While such informal data entry may be acceptable for personal notes, it may not be acceptable if the user is creating or editing a document that is to be distributed to others.
The present invention relates to a palmtop computer. Characters may be entered using one or more input modes. The computer includes a casing and a digitizer pad coupled to the casing.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the computer includes a physical sensor coupled to select an input mode.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a ridge is formed on the digitizer pad. The ridge is positioned on the pad to define a first input region associated with one input mode and a second input region associated with another input mode.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a border is formed around the digitizer pad. The border includes a ridge coupled to select an input mode.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the digitizer pad has a first textured region associated with one input mode and a second textured region associated with another input mode.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a pen is incorporated. A physical sensor is mounted to the pen and coupled to select an input mode.

Method and apparatus for selecting input modes on a palmtop computer


Methods of using WIPI-1 to impart anti-aging benefits to the skin and/or improve skin conditions resulting from reduced autophagy activity.

Consumers are increasingly interested in cosmetics that treat, mitigate, or delay the signs of aging or aged skin. During the aging process, the complexion of the skin, i.e., the color and appearance of the skin, deteriorates slowly from aging and/or exposure to sunlight. Dermatological signs of chronologically, hormonally-aged, or photo-aged skin manifest themselves in lines and wrinkles, sagging, dullness, discoloration, uneven tone, and/or rough texture. Further, aged skin lacks strength and elasticity and is therefore fragile. The cosmetics industry is actively pursuing products that may be used to reduce signs of aging or aged skin (anti-aging compounds) and thereby provide anti-wrinkle, rejuvenating, and skin coloring benefits.
Autophagy is a catabolic process that helps in maintaining an unequivocal balance between the synthesis and degradation of proteins, and subsequent recycling of cellular products. Autophagy is a mechanism for recycling and detoxifying cellular components and organelles, i.e., it gets rid of bulky cell components such as damaged organelles (e.g. mitochondria) and protein aggregates. In particular, autophagy makes it possible to regulate, repair and eliminate proteins with a long service life in skin cells (e.g., fibroblasts, melanocytes, and/or keratinocytes), thus ensuring a control during differentiation and aging of human skin.
On the cellular plane, the autophagy mechanism comprises four stages: (1) initiation, (2) formation of an initial vacuole ("autophagosome"), which sequesters the cytoplasmic material, (3) the maturation of the autophagosome into a degradative vacuole, and (4) fusion with the lysosome until the degradation of the sequestered material is achieved. If this process breaks down or slows down, damaged organelles and proteins will accumulate within the cell interfering with normal cellular functions, especially protein synthesis, and ultimately cell viability.
WIPI-1 (Atg-18) is a member of the WD40 repeat proteins, and has a 7-bladed propeller structure that allows reversible protein-protein interactions. WIPI-1 also contains a conserved motif for interaction with phospholipids. These structural features make WIPI-1 a good candidate to be a part of the autophagasome vacuole, and recent studies have confirmed its involvement in autophagy in human cells. Autophagy 7:3, 279-296; March 2011; © 2011 Landes Bioscience and Anne Simonsen and Sharon A. Tooze, "Coordination of membrane events during autophagy by multiple class III PI3-kinase complexes," J. Cell Biol. Vol. 186 No. 6 773-782. It has been demonstrated that endogenous WIPI-1 protein co-localizes with the autophagosomal marker LC3 at punctate cytoplasmic structures in human cells to initiate the formation of the vacuole. Proikas-Cezanne et al., Human WIPI-1 puncta-formation: A novel assay to assess mammalian autophagy, FEBS Letters 581 (2007) 3396-3404.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 20120225092 entitled Cosmetic Use of Skin Cell Autophagy Activators discusses the use of various compounds to increase autophagy within skin cells through the up-regulation of the ATG5-12 and MAP-LC3 protein complexes. Also, Hu et al., WIPI1 Coordinates Melanogenic Gene Transcription and Melanosome Formation Via TORC1 Inhibition, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 286, No. 14, pp. 12509-12523 (2011), discloses WIPI1's influence upon the regulation of melanosome formation.
Thus, a need remains for cosmetic compositions which reduce the manifestations of skin aging associated with reduced autophagy activity within skin cells. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide new compositions and methods for increasing, maintaining and/or restoring autophagy activity levels within skin cells. It is a further object of the invention to improve the overall appearance of skin, including treating, reversing, and/or preventing signs of skin aging or damage, such as wrinkles, fine lines, discoloration, loss of tone, loss of elasticity, thinning, etc. by up-regulating WIPI-1 within skin cells.
The foregoing discussion is presented solely to provide a better understanding of nature of the problems confronting the art and should not be construed in any way as an admission as to prior art nor should the citation of any reference herein be construed as an admission that such reference constitutes "prior art" to the instant application.

Method of improving aging appearance of skin by modulation of WIPI-1


A dispenser niche for a refrigerator is provided. The dispenser niche includes an illuminator to at least partially illuminate the niche. The illuminator has LEDs that are arranged on a common circuit board with first electrical contacts. A wall of the dispenser niche has second electrical contacts and a recess that receives the common circuit board in a single orientation. The first electrical contacts of the common circuit board and the second electrical circuits of the wall touch each other in the single orientation.

The present invention relates to a dispenser niche for a refrigerator, in particular a household refrigerator, at which the contents of the refrigerator, such as ice or chilled water can be dispensed, without a door of the appliance needing to be opened.
A user standing in front of the appliance in order to remove cooled material generally casts a shadow over the niche with his body. Without an illuminating device in the niche itself it is thus often difficult to detect the fill level of a vessel placed in the niche and to terminate a dispensing procedure in a timely manner, when a desired fill level of the vessel is reached.
With the use of conventional incandescent bulbs as the means of illumination, the problem arises that an incandescent bulb with sufficient lighting output can be accommodated in the niche only with difficulty due to its dimensions. As a result of the high level of heat given off by the incandescent bulb, heat-sensitive parts must maintain a considerable safety-related distance from the incandescent bulb, which makes their incorporation even more difficult. Although halogen bulbs achieve better light yields coupled with compact dimensions, their high surface temperatures mean that it is scarcely any simpler to accommodate them than is the case with a conventional incandescent bulb.
As at best a single means of illumination can be accommodated, shadows may arise in the niche or the vessel placed therein, which even in the case of good levels of lighting render the correct estimation of the fill level difficult.


A production method for sintered bearing member comprises: compacting a metal powder into a green compact, sintering the green compact into a sintered compact; impregnating a resin solvent into the sintered compact, and removing the resin solvent adhering to a surface of the sintered compact, thereby exposing a matrix as sintered on a surface of the sintered compact. Pores existing in portions other than the surface are sealed with the resin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to production methods for sintered bearing members, fluid dynamic pressure bearing devices, and spindle motors, and in particular relates to production techniques for sintered bearings which are used in spindle motors rotating with high precision for information devices.
Bearing devices using sintered bearing members have been used for spindle motors installed in optical disk devices in the field of information devices and for spindle motors used for polygonal mirrors installed in laser printers, and the like. Recently, these bearing devices have been also used for spindle motors installed in magnetic disk devices (hard disk drives). Fluid dynamic pressure bearing devices are used for spindle motors installed in magnetic disk devices as the bearing devices, and are required to have higher levels of performance such as high precision rotation, low noise, shock resistant, and low bearing torque loss even in the case of using sintered bearings. Therefore, several techniques have been researched for sintered bearing members to efficiently generate dynamic pressure.
The following techniques regarding the fluid dynamic pressure bearing devices have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 7-216411, in the Abstract, proposes a technique to reduce friction coefficient and improve sliding performance, in which pores of at least a sliding surface of a sliding member is sealed by an impregnant to reduce the frictional resistance to sliding, thereby improving the frictional performance of the sliding member. Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 11-62948 proposes a technique to reduce production cost and ensure high precision rotation, in which a bearing surface facing an outer surface of a shaft is formed on an inner surface of a bearing body made from a sintered alloy, and is formed with dynamic pressure grooves inclined toward the axial direction of the bearing body, whereby the shaft is supported in a floating condition by air dynamic pressure generated by relative rotation of the shaft and the bearing body.
Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2002-333023 proposes a technique to produce sintered sliding bearings with few processes, high quality, and stable yield performance, in which a resin is impregnated into pores of a sintered body and hardened therein; the sintered body is inserted into a die and compressed to reduce or close by plastic working the clearance formed between the pore and the resin due to shrinking during hardening of the resin.
Conventional fluid dynamic pressure bearings obtained by the techniques in the above proposals can ensure precise high speed rotation and low noise compared to ball bearings. Furthermore, the bearings can support large loads by suitable design and forming of the dynamic pressure grooves on the bearing surface. The dynamic pressure grooves on the bearing surface are formed in a sintered bearing member by plastic working. The sintered bearing member is produced by compacting a metal powder and sintering a green compact, and is a porous material usually having about 20% porosity, whereby lubricating oil is impregnated into pores, and the bearing member is used in several kinds of motors. The fluid dynamic pressure bearing device used for spindle motors which is required to have precision rotation as mentioned above is formed with dynamic pressure grooves to generate dynamic pressure on a bearing surface, and a member rotating relative thereto is supported by the dynamic pressure.
An ordinary sintered bearing member made of a porous material has a disadvantage that the dynamic pressure generated on a bearing surface leaks through pores, thereby decreasing load supporting capacity. As means for preventing leakage of the dynamic pressure, it has been known to impregnate a resin into pores and seal in a production process of the sintered bearing member. By such a treatment, decrease of the dynamic pressure generated on the bearing surface is avoided and the rotating member can rotate with high precision.
When the dynamic pressure grooves are formed on the bearing surface, for example, in a case of a sintered bearing member having multiple circular arc grooves, such as three circular arc grooves shown in FIG. 3, a pin having protrusions corresponding to the three circular arc grooves is inserted into an inner peripheral surface of a ring-shaped sintered material into which a resin was impregnated, and the pin is extracted therefrom, whereby the shape of the three circular arc grooves is transferred to the inner peripheral surface of the sintered material. For example, in a case of a sintered bearing member having herringbone grooves shown in FIG. 4, a pin having protrusions corresponding to the herringbone grooves is inserted into an inner peripheral surface of a ring-shaped sintered material into which a resin was impregnated, and the outer peripheral surface of the sintered material is compressed to abut the inner peripheral surface to the pin, whereby the shape of the herringbone grooves is transferred to the inner peripheral surface of the sintered material.
When the three circular arc grooves or the herringbone grooves are repeatedly formed by the above-mentioned plastic working in the ring-shaped sintered material into which a resin was impregnated, the resin impregnated into the sintered material may adhere to the surface of the pin which forms the dynamic pressure grooves. If the resin adheres to the surface of the pin which forms the dynamic pressure grooves, the shape of the dynamic pressure grooves is not precisely transferred to the inner peripheral surface of the sintered material. Furthermore, scratches may be formed on the inner peripheral surface of the sintered material when the pin is extracted during the forming of the three circular arc grooves in the sintered material, and the scratches may result in leakage of dynamic pressure.

Production method for sintered bearing member, fluid dynamic pressure bearing device, and spindle motor


An absorbent composite structure suitable for absorbing aqueous body fluids is provided which includes a substrate having two surfaces, a plurality of hydrogel-forming polymer particles and a chemical cross-linking agent capable of bonding to both the substrate and the hydrogel-forming particles. In at least a substantial portion of the structure, the majority of the hydrogel-forming polymer particles are connected by the chemical cross-linking agent directly to at least one of the substrate surfaces. The absorbent composite structure can be incorporated into an absorbent article. A method of making the absorbent composite structure is also disclosed.

Particulate, absorbent, polymeric compositions are capable of absorbing large quantities of liquids such as water and body exudates (e.g., urine) and are further capable of retaining such absorbed liquids under moderate pressures. The absorption characteristics of such polymeric compositions make them especially useful for incorporation into absorbent articles such as diapers. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,103 (Harper et al), issued Jun. 13, 1972, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,731 (Harmon), issued Jun. 20, 1972, that disclose the use of particulate, absorbent, polymeric compositions (often referred to as "hydrogels", "superabsorbents", or "hydrocolloid materials") in absorbent articles.
Conventional particulate, absorbent, polymeric compositions, however, have the limitation that the particles are not immobilised and are free to migrate during processing and/or use. Migration of the particles can lead to material handling losses during manufacturing as well as non-homogeneous incorporation of the particles into structures in which the particles are being used. Especially when the absorbent polymer particles are incorporated in a fibrous matrix at high concentrations, the particles may sift out of the matrix of may become inhomogeneously distributed in an uncontrolled manner, as for instance described in European application number 94111955.4 (Bogdanski et. al.) Another significant problem occurs when these particulate materials migrate during or after swelling in use. Such mobility leads to high resistance to liquid flow through the material due to the lack of stable interparticle capillary or liquid transport channels. This phenomenon is one form of what is commonly referred to as "gel blocking."
One attempt to overcome the performance limitations associated with absorbent particle mobility during use in absorbent articles is incorporation of the particulate, absorbent, polymeric compositions into tissue laminates, i.e. layered absorbent structures. By encapsulating the particles between tissue layers, and affixation of the particles by water bonding or glue bonding, the overall particle mobility within an absorbent structure is diminished. However, upon liquid contact, the particles within the laminate are often free to move relative to each other resulting in the breakdown of any pre-existent interparticle capillary channels.
Another attempted solution is to immobilise the particulate, absorbent, polymeric compositions by the addition of large quantities of liquid polyhydroxy compounds that act as an adhesive to hold the particles together or attach the particles to a substrate. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,571 (Korpman), issued Oct. 18, 1983. While this approach does limit migration before and, to some extent, during swelling, the particles eventually become detached from each other or from the substrate in the presence of excess liquid, resulting again in the breakdown of any pre-existing capillary channels between the particles.
Another attempted solution to overcome the problem of absorbent particle mobility is to produce a hydrogel-forming film by extrusion of a solution of a linear absorbent polymer and subsequently crosslinking it. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,539 (Allen at al), issued Aug. 29, 1989 (crosslinked with a polyhydroxy compound such as a glycol or glycerol); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,673 (Burkholder), issued Feb. 28, 1978 (crosslinked with polyamine-polyamide epichlorohydrin adducts such as Kymene.RTM.). While these hydrogel-forming films may absorb significant quantities of liquids, they have limited liquid transport properties because they are essentially non-porous, i.e. lack internal capillary channels. Indeed, due to the lack of internal capillary channels, these hydrogel-forming films are especially prone to gel blocking.
A more recent solution proposed to overcome the problem of absorbent particle mobility is to form these particles into aggregate macrostructures, typically as sheets of bonded absorbent particles. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,597 (Roe et al), issued Apr. 7, 1992. These aggregate macrostructures are prepared by initially mixing the absorbent particles with a solution of a nonionic crosslinking agent, water and a hydrophilic organic solvent such as isopropanol. These nonionic crosslinking agents include polyhydric alcohols (e.g., glycerol), polyaziridine compounds (e.g., 2,2-bishydroxymethyl butanoltris[3-(1-aziridine) propionate]), haloepoxy compounds (e.g., epicholorhydrin), polyaldehyde compounds (e.g., glutaraldehyde), polyamine compounds (e.g., ethylene amine), and polyisocyanate compounds (e.g., 2,4-toluene diisocyanate), preferably glycerol. See Column 11, lines 22-54, of U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,597.
It has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,597 that the hydrogel-forming polymeric precursor particles may be brought into mutual contact by first depositing the particles on a substrate and subsequently effecting inter-particle crosslinking of the contiguous particles.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,188, reinforcement structures such as fibers, webs or scrims may be embedded into the macrostructures of crosslinked particles, to provide structural integrity. Embedding the fibers or webs into the macrostructure of crosslinked particles is effected by mixing the fibers with the solution containing the inter-particle crosslinking agent or by mixing the fibers with the particles prior to inter-particle cross-linking. Kneading the fibers into the interparticle crosslinking agent/precursor particle mix is preferred.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,622 (Berg), the formation of an interparticle crosslinked aggregate is described, wherein the aggregate is joined to a carrier, which may be comprised of cellulosic fibers or which may be formed by a web. Joining the aggregate and the carrier is generally described as being effected via physical or chemical bonding using adhesives or chemicals that react to adhere the macrostructure, or inter-particle crosslinked aggregate, to the carrier.
The known formation of composites of combined interparticle crosslinked aggregates and reinforcing webs is relatively complex, and results in structures which comprise a relatively large weight of hydrogel-forming polymeric particles relative to the weight of the substrate or carrier. Hence the known composites are less suitable for absorbent products in which less absorbency is required, such as for instance pantiliners.
Also, joining of the interparticle crosslinked aggregate to a web, will lead to some degree of loss of flexibility of the combined substrate and aggregate. Composites of good flexibility may be obtained, although this requires addition of for instance a plasticiser to the interparticle crosslinked aggregates. However, it has been found that known interparticle crosslinked aggregates may lose water when stored for a larger period of time in a dry environment. This may then cause the aggregates to become stiff or brittle.
Finally, the known interparticle crosslinked aggregates are relatively fluid stable as they isotropically expand upon being wetted. However, the inter-particle crosslinked aggregates may form a resistance to vertical transmission of liquid through the absorbent structure, which in multilayer absorbent products as described in European application no. 93305150.0 and no 93309614.1 may lead to reduced acquisition or fluid uptake rates.
In EP-B-0 273 141 it has been described to adhere hydrogel-forming polymeric particles to fibers to form absorbent flocks. The particles are attached to the fibers by adhesive attachment or by mixing fibers and monomers followed by polymerisation to form the absorbent polymer in which the fibers are embedded. A preferred way of attaching fibers and particles is by dissolving the polymeric particles in water, mixing the fibers into the solution, drying the solution to solidify the polymeric material, and grinding the polymeric material-fiber composite to form flocks of the desired size.
The absorbent flocks have as a disadvantage that adhesive attachment of polymeric particles to the fibers may negatively impact on the absorptive properties of the particles. Furthermore, an absorbent product formed of a multiplicity of flocks will not isotropically swell upon being wetted and hence have a tendency to exhibit gel blocking.
It is an object of the present invention to form an absorbent composite structure comprising hydrogel-forming polymeric particles connected to a substrate which do not become detached from the substrate upon being wetted.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an absorbent composite structure in which the hydrogel-forming polymeric particles have a reduced tendency to exhibit gel blocking.
It is again a further object of the invention to provide an absorbent structure which comprises a relatively low basis weight of hydrogel-forming polymeric particles.
It another object of the invention to provide an absorbent composite structure which is flexible and which has relatively little resistance to vertical transmission of liquids.

Absorbent composite structure formed of a substrate and cross-linkable hydrogel polymer particles


A method for the refining and structural modification of Al—Mg—Si alloys for permanent-mold casting or sandcasting, which Al—Mg—Si alloys have the general composition of 5.0-10.0 weight % Mg; 1.0-5.0 weight % Si; 0.001-1.0 weight % Mn, 0.01-0.2 weight % Ti, less than 0.001 weight % Ca, less than 0.001 weight % Na, and less than 0.001 weight % Sr, and as the remainder, Al, and wherein phosphorus is added to the alloy melt in a quantitative range of from 0.01 to 0.06 weight %, referred to the total mass of the alloy.

Alloys of the Al—Mg—Si type are preferentially used in diecasting processes, and they are especially advantageous for producing thin-walled components.
For example, for an Al—Mg—Si alloy of the following general composition: 5.0-6.0 weight % Mg, 1.8-2.6 weight % Si, 0.5-0.8 weight % Mn, and Al as the remaining ingredient, the breaking elongation [A5] is 16% for components with a wall thickness of 4 mm, 7% with a wall thickness of 18 mm, and only 4% with a wall thickness of 24 mm. Thus in workpieces produced by diecasting, a pronounced worsening of the breaking elongation with increasing wall thickness is found.
Furthermore, it is known that workpieces of alloys of the Al—Mg—Si type that have been produced by permanent-mold casting or sandcasting have poor mechanical properties, in particular with regard to their breaking elongation.
For instance, if an alloy having the following general composition: 4.5-6.5 weight % Mg, 1.5 weight % Si, 0.45 weight % Mn, and Al as the remaining ingredient, is used in permanent-mold casting or sandcasting, the breaking elongation [A5] is 3% for a workpiece with a wall thickness of 20 mm produced by sandcasting, and also 3% for a workpiece with a wall thickness of 16 mm produced by permanent-mold casting. Thus comparably poor breaking elongation values to those in diecasting are obtained.
To improve the mechanical properties of components, among other things particle refining treatments can be performed.
In diecasting, a particle refining treatment is generally unnecessary and can even have adverse effects. The solidification conditions in diecasting, and especially the high cooling rate, already effectively counteract particle growth. However, in the prior art, a treatment with melt treatment salts that contain halogen, such as MgCl2, or so-called, active gases, such as chlorine gas with nitrogen or argon, in various concentrations are known for achieving a fine microstructure and thus good mechanical properties.
It is moreover known that the microstructure of Al—Mg—Si alloys, in particular for diecasting, can be controlled by adding alloy elements such as Mn, Cr and Zr; see ASM Specialty Handbook: Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys, 1993, ASM International, p. 44.
From all the data sheets for the applicable alloys and in the literature, it can be learned that any addition of phosphorus, whether intentional or not, is to be avoided, since it counteracts an advantageous microstructural development and thus makes the mechanical properties of workpieces of these alloys worse.
Conversely, what is known in the prior art is an addition of phosphorus to Al—Si—Mg alloys; see for example ASM Specialty Handbook Aluminum and Aluminum. Alloys, 1993, ASM International. p. 44. The term Al—Si—Mg, in contrast to Al—Mg—Si, means that such an alloy has a higher proportion of Si than Mg.
The addition of phosphorus is done especially in near-eutectic and supereutectic Al—Si—Mg alloys. Supereutectic Al—Si—Mg alloys are alloys with an Si content that is slightly, or considerably, more than 12% Si. With a content of 12% Si. the alloy is exclusively eutectic, in the form of a fine-grained Al—Si mixed crystal.
In supereutectic Al—Si—Mg alloys, as the alloy melt cools, coarse-grained Si crystals develop first, which are subsequently embedded in the fine-grained mixed crystal structure. Because of the coarse Si crystals, the mechanical properties become worse. Adding AlP makes these Si crystals finer, since AlP acts as a nucleating agent for Si crystals, which are therefore present in markedly smaller sizes in the resultant structure, thereby improving the mechanical properties.
Conversely, adding phosphorus to subeutectic Al—Si—Mg alloys is ineffective, since as these alloys cool, α Al crystals form first, not Si crystals, and the eutectic Al—Si alloy forms after that.

Method for the refining and structure modification of AL-MG-SI alloys


The present invention relates to a poison bait for controlling pest insects comprising (a) an insecticidally active ingredient, (b) a sauce for seasoning or a sauce spice flavor, (c) a vegetable oil and, if necessary, (d) at least one of grain powder, dextrin and sugar. The inventive poison bait controls pest insects such as cockroaches and the like based on feeding preference.

Controlling of pest insects, such as cockroaches, by feeding poison bait containing an insecticidally active ingredient, has been routinely conducted. However, since the feeding preference of pest insects to poison bait has not been always good, the efficacy in controlling pest insects using poison bait has still not been satisfactory.

Poison bait for controlling pest insects


A cable landing station for an undersea cable shared by a plurality of carriers is provided according to some examples of the invention. The cable landing station includes a first interface adapted for coupling to a first undersea cable portion and at least a second interface adapted for coupling to at least a second undersea cable portion. The cable landing station further includes a router including a plurality of ports. Each carrier of the plurality of carriers is assigned at least one exclusive port of the plurality of ports. The router is coupled to the first interface and the at least second interface. The router is logically partitioned between the carriers of the plurality of carriers and is configured to route packets between the first interface, the second interface, and the plurality of ports according to the logical partitioning between the carriers.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of undersea cable, and in particular, to an undersea cable system and a cable landing station shared by a plurality of carriers.
2. Statement of the Problem
Undersea cable networks are used to connect landmasses separated by seas or oceans. The landmasses can include islands, continents, etc. One or more undersea cables are used to link together multiple landmasses and exchange communications between the landmasses.
Optical cables are widely used for undersea cable systems due to their high bandwidth capacity. An optical cable typically comprises a bundle of multiple optical fibers. In addition, each fiber can carry multiple signals through use of some manner of compression, multiplexing, etc. One commonly used capacity expansion technique for optical fibers is a wavelength multiplexing technique. Separate wavelengths of light can be injected onto a fiber at one end and received and separately processed at the other end. Each wavelength can therefore convey an individual data stream.
In the prior art, each carrier installs, operates, and maintains their own router (and any other cable terminating equipment). Typically, due to their inherently high cost, multiple communication carriers share the expense of installing and operating such a cable system. As a result, communications of these multiple carriers must be exchanged while yet being kept segregated from the communications of other carriers. A prior art cable landing station therefore includes as many routers as there are carriers, leading to crowding in the installation, complexity, and excessive cost. In addition, controlling the resulting heating of multiple, essentially redundant pieces of equipment can be expensive and difficult.

Undersea cable system and cable landing station shared by a plurality of carriers


A ballistic-resistant material having a first exterior layer formed of a ballistic-resistant non-woven textile, a second exterior layer formed of a ballistic-resistant non-woven textile, and an interior layer of ballistic-resistant woven textile arranged between the first exterior layer and the second exterior layer. The woven textile is a tight weave. The woven layer a high occupation, high fabric density woven textile at or near the technical jamming point of fabric construction. Also disclosed are articles made from the ballistic-resistant material.

Garments and equipment fabricated from ballistic resistant materials, sometimes referred to as "bullet-proof" materials, serve to protect against penetration by a bullet or other ballistic object.
Despite a number of advances in the field, needs still exist for improvements in ballistic-resistant materials. It is to the provision of improved ballistic-resistant materials, and to garments (vests, helmets, body armor and the like) and equipment (shielding, coverings, shrouds, etc.) made of such materials, that the present invention is primarily directed.


In a memory unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a memory cell array is configured, when, of a plurality of memory cells, multiple first memory cells whose corresponding fourth wiring line and first wiring line are different from one another are simultaneously accessed, to allow for simultaneous access to the multiple first memory cells, without allowing for simultaneous access to memory cells corresponding to the fourth wiring line shared by the first memory cells.

In recent years, a resistive random access memory (ReRAM) has received attention as a non-volatile memory device that allows for faster data access than a flash memory and the like. Examples of forms of ReRAMs include a structure called vertical 3D ReRAM; the vertical 3D ReRAM has a memory cell including a variable resistive element at each point of intersection of a word line (WL) horizontal to a board surface and a bit line (BL) vertical to the board surface.

Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation


Several techniques are described for reducing or mitigating the formation of seams and/or voids in electroplating the interior regions of microscopic recessed features. Cathodic polarization is used to mitigate the deleterious effects of introducing a substrate plated with a seed layer into an electroplating solution. Also described are diffusion-controlled electroplating techniques to provide for bottom-up filling of trenches and vias, avoiding thereby sidewalls growing together to create seams/voids. A preliminary plating step is also described that plates a thin film of conductor on the interior surfaces of features leading to adequate electrical conductivity to the feature bottom, facilitating bottom-up filling.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to electroplating and, in particular, to electrochemical deposition of metals, most particularly to the electrochemical deposition of copper into microscopic recessed features such as high aspect ratio trenches and vias as may occur in the fabrication and packaging of integrated circuits.
2. Description of Related Art
The art of integrated circuits is moving irresistibly towards increased density of components and faster operating speeds. One problem encountered in decreasing the size of components fabricated on an integrated circuit relates to the conductivity of metallic interconnections. Conventional integrated circuits use aluminum as a conductor but for future generations of submicron components, the conductivity of aluminum is not sufficiently high to give desired performance. Smaller dimensions for conductive interconnections lead to higher resistance and degraded circuit performance. The trend in modern integrated circuit design is to substitute higher conductivity copper for aluminum conductors.
While copper apparently has sufficiently high conductivity to handle the foreseen submicron electronic components, its use brings challenges as well. For example, copper (Cu) tends to diffuse readily into the insulator and other layers making up the integrated circuit, necessitating the interposition of special barrier layers to prevent Cu diffusion. Tantalum (Ta) and/or tantalum nitride (TaN) are common copper barrier layers. Such barrier layers may play dual roles; preventing unwanted diffusion of Cu and providing improved adhesion between the Cu metal and the underlying layer.
Conductive interconnections on integrated circuits typically take the form of trenches and vias. In modern submicron integrated circuits, trenches and vias are typically formed by a "damascene" or "dual damascene" process as described, for example, in the reference ULSI Technology, Eds. C. Y. Chang and S. M. Sze (McGraw-Hill, 1996, pp. 444-445.) In damascene processing, an interlayer dielectric (typically SiO2) is deposited atop a planarized layer containing, for example, a metal via. The top dielectric layer is patterned and etched, typically using conventional photolithographic procedures. Metal is then deposited into features and on the flat field region atop the features, typically first by CVD, PVD and then by electrodeposition. The metal layer is typically planarized resulting in the desired metallic pattern. Dual damascene processing is similar but makes use of two patterning and etching steps and typically fills features with metal spanning more than one layer in a single metallization step. A more complete description of damascene and dual damascene processing is found in the cited reference.
Thus, as the art moves towards integrated circuits having reduced feature sizes, it becomes increasingly difficult to form electrically conductive metallizations such as vias, contacts and conductors. Techniques for forming such metallizations include physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and electrochemical deposition (also referred to as electroplating or electrodeposition) of metals such as copper. Electroplating is particularly well suited for the formation of small embedded damascene feature metallization due to the ability to readily control the growth of the electroplated film for bottom-up filling without voids, and due to the superior electrical conductivity characteristics of the electroplated film. However, there are also several obstacles which need to be overcome to fully realize these advantages.
One challenge facing dual damascene processing techniques noted above is the difficulty of initiating the growth of the metal film within recessed features without forming voids or seams. In typical PVD and some CVD processes, metal may preferentially deposit near the top of recessed features leading to a "bottleneck" shape. Further plating of metal onto the bottleneck may result in sealing the top of the feature before completely filling the feature with metal, creating thereby a void. Voids increase the resistance of the conductor over its designed value absence of planned-for conductor. Also, trapped electrolyte sealed in voids may corrode the copper. This may lead to degraded device performance or device failure in extreme cases. It would be desirable to provide electroplating processes that reduce or avoid such problems.
Another factor in metallization that needs to be considered is the time the metallization process takes to complete. As integrated circuits increase in complexity, the number of processing steps typically also increases. It is important in process economics (that is, keeping the cost per unit low) that such processes are reasonably rapid. Slow processes are disadvantageous in that increasing the work-in-progress increases the capital needs of the production process. A related consideration is the cost of the equipment needed to perform the required plating process. Thus, achieving reasonably high processing speeds and the ability to use less costly equipment are among the goals to be sought in an electroplating process.
A field layer of copper typically has a thickness from approximately 1000 Å to approximately 3000 Å lying atop a barrier layer of typically tungsten (W) Ta, TaN among other choices. Ta/TaN are the typically preferred materials for the barrier layer due to their relatively superior ability to mitigate the diffusion of Cu. Diffusion of Cu into the dielectric layer may ruin the circuit. An additional function of the barrier layer is to provide improved adhesion between the Cu field layer and the underlying dielectric layer. These barrier layers typically have thicknesses from approximately 100 Å to approximately 400 Å.
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a typical section, 12, of a substrate, 10. Substrate 10 can be any article to be electroplated such as a semiconductor wafer upon which integrated circuits are fabricated. Formed in (or in a layer lying over) substrate 10 may be one or more trenches (a typical example is denoted by 14) and vias 16, 16a, 18. Although only a single trench 14, and three vias 16, 16a and 18, are illustrated for simplicity of discussion, it is understood that typically a large number of trenches and vias may be formed in substrate 10. It is common in a typical damascene or dual-damascene structure occurring in the fabrication of integrated circuits that vias occur in trenches to provide electrical contact between a conducting trench and a different level. This is depicted as 16a in FIG. 1. However, it is more convenient to describe trenches and vias in a non-overlapping configuration as depicted by 14, 16 and 18 for purposes of illustration, understanding thereby that vias occurring in trenches, 16a, are included.
Trench 14, vias 16, 16a and 18 are typically filled with an electrically conductive material such as a metal, e.g. copper, to form electrically conductive metallizations. For example, trench 14 may be filled to form a single layer conductor. As further examples, vias 16, 16a and 18 may be filled to form electrically conductive vias between interlevel conductors or to form contacts with semiconductor regions.
While a typical Cu seed layer onto which Cu is electroplated is 1000 Å to 3000 Å thick, the feature widths to be plated are commensurate in size. Present features are around 3000-4000 Å (0.3-0.4 micron, μm) and future features are expected to be in the range 1000-2000 Å. Thus, the number and size of the features can have a significant fractional effect on the projected surface area to be bottom-up fill electroplated and, therefore, on the current that must be delivered to effect electroplating in a reasonable time.
FIG. 13 depicts the effect of increasing the number of features on the current required to fill the trenches (for a fixed fill time). This means that the current required to fill features in a specified amount of time increases with the fraction of features on the surface. In addition to process economics, we demonstrate herein that the process of the present invention make use of the time for electrochemical reactions to occur on surfaces in effecting proper metal filling of features. Thus, the number of features on the surface to be coated (feature density) as well as the aspect ratio of the features determine the current needed to effect plating in a specified time.
FIG. 14 depicts the increase in surface area as an increasing fraction of the surface contains features, also illustrating the effect of increasing aspect ratio "AR," for either trench or via. FIG. 14 presumes all trenches or all vias are the same size for purposes of illustration while practical integrated circuits will have both. This reinforces the conclusion of FIG. 13 that current may vary substantially from case to case (wafer type to wafer type) depending on the density and characteristics of the features.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of substrate 10 along the line II-II of FIG. 1. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a seed layer 20 is typically formed over the entire substrate 10. Seed layer 20 is typically a conductive layer overlaying a barrier. The conductive layer is typically a sputtered (PVD) copper film although other conductors and other methods of deposition (such as CVD, PECVD, etc.) are not excluded. The barrier layers are typically Ta, TaN, Ti, TiN. The function of the seed layer is to allow electrical current to be distributed across substrate 10 thereby facilitating electroplating. Seed layer 20 typically covers the flat principal surface 22 of substrate 10 (hereinafter "field region 22") and also lines the inside of trench, 14, and vias 16, 16a and 18.
In conventional electroplating, the thickness of seed layers 20 on sidewalls 14S, 16S, 18S of trench 14, vias 16, 18, respectively, is commonly significantly less than the thickness on field region 22. This can be understood by considering a simple geometric model wherein seed layers 20 are assumed to be deposited uniformly on field region 22 and the material which would have been deposited on field region 22 over trench 14, via 16 or 18 is evenly distributed within the respective trench or via. Thinning of the deposited layers in trenches and vias occurs according to this model due to the geometric fact that the trench or via presents more surface area to be coated by a given amount of coating material than would a substantially flat field region. It is useful to consider such layer thinning in terms of the aspect ratio ("AR") of the feature. The AR of a trench or via is defined as the ratio of depth to width of the feature. Vias are depicted as square in FIG. 1 for convenience only. Vias can be square, circular or other cross section. The discussion of vias herein illustrated by reference to square vias is readily modified to apply to circular vias or to vias having other shapes as well. The AR is thus taken to be the ratio of the via's depth to a typical linear dimension in the plane of field region 22. A more precise definition of AR is not necessary for a description of the present invention.
Sidewall thinning according to this model is illustrated in FIG. 3. which depicts on the vertical axis the ratio of the feature sidewall thickness (trench or via) to the field region thickness of seed layer 20 depicted as a function of the AR of the feature. As shown in FIG. 3, as the AR becomes large, the thickness of seed layer 20 on sidewalls 14S, 16S, 18S can decline to less than 10% of the thickness of seed layer 20 on the field region 22.
In practice, the difficulty of depositing metal uniformly on the sides of trenches and vias to form a seed layer is further exacerbated by the following effects: 1) The generally directional nature of the PVD sputtering process, 2) greater deposition at the opening of the feature ("necking") and 3) The relative inaccessibility of the feature to species transported by diffusion. Thus, in practice the portions of the sidewalls near the bottom of the feature tend to receive the thinnest seed layer.
Referring again to FIG. 2, the relative thinness of seed layer 20 on sidewalls 16S (for example) results in a relatively high electrical resistance R between field region 22 and the bottom 16B of via 16. This resistance R impedes electroplating current distribution to bottom 16B and consequently inhibits or prevents formation of an electroplated layer on bottom 16B. For similar reasons, increased resistance results between seed layer 20 and 14B, 18B, inhibiting or preventing formation of an electroplated layer on the bottom 14B of trench 14, and 18B of via 18, respectively. Similarly, increased resistance results between seed layer 20 and 14B, 18B.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of substrate 10 along the line II-II of FIG. 1 after electroplating in accordance with conventional electroplating methods. As shown in FIG. 4, an electroplated layer 24 has been electroplated on substrate 10 and in trench 14, vias 16, 18. Often due to the increased resistance encountered in delivering current to bottom 16B of via 16, a teardrop shaped void 26 can be formed in via 16 by such electroplating methods. The specific shape of the voids or seams formed in a feature generally depends on the AR of the feature, the electroplating conditions and other factors.
Since via 18 has a smaller AR than via 16 (in this illustration), seed layer 20 may have a thickness on sidewalls 18S sufficient to support an electroplating current to bottom 18B. Nevertheless, seams/voids may form, depicted as 28, if conditions for bottom-up filling (current, electrolyte, additive concentration, etc.) are not achieved
Voids and seams in electroplated features are undesirable for several reasons. Voids and seams disrupt the electrical continuity of the resulting metallization and hence unpredictably increase the electrical resistance. In extreme cases, voids and/or seams may result in an open circuit. Furthermore, the voids and seams can trap impurities, including the acid plating solution. Entrapped acid plating solution can corrode the circuit and add significant internal pressure as the circuit/chip heat during operation. Device failure may result.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to an improved method of reliably electroplating high AR features including methods of reducing or eliminating the formation of voids and seams in electroplated features.

Process for electroplating metals into microscopic recessed features


A system and method for laser marking can end, including a can end center panel and/or pull tab. The decorated can end and/or tabs may have a machine readable image.

This invention relates to containers, and more particularly to marking components of metal cans with machine readable information.
Two piece metal cans include a can body on which a can end is attached by a seam. Commercial two piece beverage cans are formed by a drawing and ironing process that forms the body sidewall integral with the base. Three piece metal cans include a cylindrical body, each end of which has a can end attached by a seam.
Two piece beverage cans are produced in vast quantities for beverages and foods use; three piece beverage cans are produced in vast quantities for food uses. Accordingly, the components of the cans must be produced at high speeds.
Conventional beverage cans and many easy open food cans have pull tabs. Pull tabs are formed from metal sheet in a tab press. Because of the quantities required, conventional tab presses form multiple tabs at once in lanes of two, three, or four tabs.
Typically, pre-lacquered coil of aluminum is fed into a shell press to form the can end shells. A pre-lacquered coil of aluminum is fed into a tab press to form the pull tabs. The shells and pull tabs are combined in a conversion press to form the unseamed can end.
Decoration of can ends, especially pull tabs, is known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,806 discloses laser etching or removal of portions of a coating on a pull tab. U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,318 acknowledges difficulties in marking metal cans and discloses ablating metal pull tab stock.
The inventors are aware of a commercial, conventional system for laser etching pull tabs that includes a CO2 laser that often operates at about 100 W. Each lane of a tab press has its own laser such that the tab press can operate at about 700 tabs per minute with a laser having a resolution or dimension of approximately 100 microns. Typically, a dark coloured lacquer is removed by the laser to expose bare aluminum in the form of a simple logo or a few characters. The limitation on the process speed is also a limitation on the amount of decoration.
Laser marking of coatings is employed for flexible and card packaging for various marking applications. Typically, a thermally active pigment is loaded into a transparent or light colored lacquer, and a CO2 laser induces a color change. For example, a laser may be applied to a white lacquer label to display black text. Laser marking systems of this type are available from Sun Chemical, under the trade name Sunlase and employ a 100 micron YAG laser.

Can ends having machine readable information