A vehicle drive apparatus includes: a first bearing disposed between a rotor support member and a case in a radial direction so as to restrict movement of the rotor support member to a first axial side relative to the case; and a second bearing disposed between a connecting shaft and the case in an axial direction so as to restrict movement of the connecting shaft to a second axial side relative to the case. A fluid transmission device is disposed on the first axial side relative to the connecting shaft. The rotor support member includes a tubular portion having a tubular shape extending in the axial direction and fitted to an outer peripheral surface of the connecting shaft. Movement of the connecting shaft to the first axial side relative to the tubular portion is restricted.

An example of such vehicle drive apparatuses is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-177884 (JP 2017-177884 A), which will be referred to as "Patent Document 1". The reference signs within parentheses in the following description of BACKGROUND ART correspond to those used in Patent Document 1. A vehicle drive apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a connecting member (9) for connecting a rotary electric machine (MG) to a torque converter (TC). A rotor support member (22) supporting a rotor body (Ro) of the rotary electric machine (MG) is connected to the connecting member (9). The connecting member (9) is disposed such that its movement to both sides in an axial direction (L) relative to a tubular support (61) secured to a case (3) is restricted.
Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 3 of Patent Document 1, the connecting member (9) includes two members, i.e., a first connecting member (91) and a second connecting member (92). A first bearing (71) for restricting movement of the first connecting member (91) to a second axial side (L2) is disposed between the tubular support (61) and the first connecting member (91) in the axial direction (L). A second bearing (72) for restricting movement of the second connecting member (92) to a first axial side (L1) is disposed between the tubular support (61) and the second connecting member (92) in the axial direction (L). The first connecting member (91) and the second connecting member (92) are connected to each other with a bolt so as to restrict relative movement of the first connecting member (91) and the second connecting member (92) in the axial direction (L). Thus, movement of the connecting member (9) to both sides in the axial direction (L) relative to the tubular support (61) is restricted by the two bearings, i.e., the first bearing (71) and the second bearing (72). A load may be exerted on the connecting member (9) in the axial direction (L) owing to, for example, ballooning of the torque converter (TC) described in paragraph 0061 of Patent Document 1.


A pasta dispenser includes a portion wheel having variously sized apertures. The portion wheel is integrated into a cap or lid for the dispenser. In use, the user turns the portion wheel to the desired portion size, tips the dispenser, and retrieves the correct amount of pasta. In some embodiments the apertures are oval. Further, some embodiments include an integrated lid that covers the portion wheel to create a contaminate free enclosure for storing pasta. Yet other embodiments include a pasta dispenser including a head unit having an aperture opening and a shutter that can be slid or rotated over the head unit to partially block the aperture opening. When the container is tipped, portions of pasta can slide out of the opening.

Portion measurers for long-noodle pasta such as spaghetti, fettuccini, linguini, bucatini, and angel-hair pasta are known. A typical portion measurer is a series of different-sized holes through a material through which the long noodles are passed. The amount that passes through the selected hole is a precisely measured amount of dry pasta that, when cooked, provides the desired amount of cooked pasta.
These measurers fail to be convenient, however, in that they are an extra kitchen gadget that must be located each time pasta is measured.
Another type of pasta measurer is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,361 to Gorski et al., which includes a container to hold pasta, but lacks any mechanism to positively select any particular quantity. Instead, Gorski's container includes measurement marks for a sliding door to gate the pasta, but nothing keeps the door in a set position during operation.
Embodiments of the invention address this and other limitations of the prior art.

Pasta dispenser having integrated portion selector


A method and system for forming chalcogenide semiconductor absorber materials with sodium impurities is provided. The system includes a sodium vaporizer in which a solid sodium source material is vaporized. The sodium vapor is added to reactant gases and/or annealing gases and directed to a furnace that includes a substrate with a metal precursor material. The precursor material reacts with reactant gases such as S-containing gases and Se-containing gases according to various process sequences. In one embodiment, a selenization operation is followed by an annealing operation and a sulfurization operation and the sodium vapor is caused to react with the metal precursor during at least one of the annealing and the sulfurization steps to produce a chalcogenide semiconductor absorber material that includes sodium dopant impurities.

Chalcogenide semiconductor materials are used in many applications and their popularity is increasing in recent years. A chalcogenide is a binary compound of a chalcogen and a more electropositive element or radical. Chalcogens are the group XVI elements of the periodic table: oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium. One particularly popular chalcogenide semiconductor material is CIGS, copper indium gallium selenide. CIGS materials find use in various applications and are particularly popular as absorber layers for solar cells. Due to the growing demand for clean sources of energy, the manufacture of solar cells has expanded dramatically in recent years, increasing the demand for CIGS and other chalcogenide materials. CIGS is a tetrahedrally bonded semiconductor, with a chalcopyrite crystal structure. In addition to the CIGS, copper indium gallium selenide chalcogenide discussed supra, other chalcogenide semiconductor materials include CuInSe2, CuGaSe2, and indium. The aforementioned and other chalcogenide semiconductor materials such as CIGSS, copper indium gallium sulfur-selenide, are semiconductors with a chalcopyrite structure and are therefore often referred to as chalcopyrite-based semiconductor materials or chalcopyrite-structured semiconductor materials. Other chalcogenide materials may also include chalcopyrite crystal structures.
Solar cells are photovoltaic components that provide for the direct generation of electrical current from sunlight. The absorber layer that absorbs the sunlight that will be converted into electrical current, is therefore of paramount importance. The formation of the absorber layer, the composition of the absorber layer and the placement of the same on a solar cell substrate are therefore each critical matters. The demand for the efficient, accurate and reliable production of an efficient absorber film is of growing and critical importance.
It would therefore be desirable to produce a high quality chalcogenide film with superior absorber qualities, using a method and system that produces smooth and uniform deposited chalcogenide films that are defect free and efficient absorbers.

Apparatus and method for forming chalcogenide semiconductor absorber materials with sodium impurities


A manufacturing process for cat litter having 30 to 80 parts of weight of a powdered organic substance as the base material having particle sizes less than 840 μm, 1 to 10 parts of weight of a powdered highly absorbing resin, 5 to 20 parts of weight of powders of either green tea leaves before extraction of the water soluble effective ingredient or Japanese Cypress, 3 to 10 parts of weight of a binder consisting of a highly water soluble natural macromolecule having particle sizes less than 74 μm, being input into a high-speed mixer, and the mixture evenly mixed by this high-speed mixer by agitating blades rotating at a speed of 300 to 800 rpm are granulated by a granulating device, and then the granules thus obtained are dried by a drier until they become to have a bulk density of 0.20 to 0.50 g/cm3 and a water absorbing capacity of 1.3 to 3.5 times of their own weight.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an animal excretions disposal material in order to treat and dispose of the excretory products of pets and animals and a manufacturing method therefore.
2. Description of the Related Art
The animal excretions disposal materials such as cat litters have been traditionally used for treating and disposing excretory products of pets and animals. These animal excretions disposal materials are the man-made granules mostly made of sand, bentonite, zeolite, and/or pulp.
Among them, those mineral based disposal materials made of bentonite or zeolite are non-combustible, and therefore, cause certain inconveniences to ordinary households when disposing because they are only collectible on Non-combustible Garbage Collection Days.
On the other hand, those organic disposal materials made of pulp or pulp sludge as the main material thereof would cost expensive, thus priced higher, in comparison with those mineral based disposal materials. Furthermore, they have to be actually disposed as raw garbage in most cases because they tend to float on water surface and thus less flushable due to their very light specific gravity and sometimes cause clogging of sewer pipe in spite of their claiming to be flushable.
In other aspect, those disposal materials as above referred can treat and dispose animal excretions by absorbing by themselves, however, it is impossible for the users to dispose occasionally the part of them which have been moistened by absorbing animal excretions because those animal excretions osmose into and spread inside the layers of animal excretions disposal material used. Thus, the users are compelled to use those animal excretions disposal materials until they have been entirely used for absorbing animal excretions.
Accordingly, those animal excretions disposal materials tend to stay longer in the litter box from the point of their first absorption of animal excretions until their disposition, and thus, to start smelling bad and being unsanitary.
In order to solve these problems, it was noticed that used green tea leaves, which used to be disposed as industrial wastes, have a property of antifungal and antibacterial function, and therefore, could be used for the material to be mixed in animal excretions disposal materials. Thus, a manufacturing method thereof has been proposed. (Reference: Patent Publication # Hei-6-7051)
As having been pointed out in the proposal for a patent as above referred, it is definitely necessary for the production of such animal excretions disposal materials to find out a supply source of such used green tea leaves in large quantity. Otherwise, a manufacturing method thereof doesn't fit to factory production.
However, in order to obtain such used green tea leaves in large quantity, it was only possible way to obtain those used leaves from a bottling factory that should have been generated as the residue in large quantity after extraction of green tea for drinking.
In this case, it becomes necessary to purchase the used green tea leaves, as residue, in big lot from a factory bottling green tea for drinking, and keep them in storage at a certain place in the manufacturing factory of animal excretions disposal materials.
The FIG. 2 is an illustration to show the flow of processes after having received such used green tea leaves from a bottling factory. (See: FIG. 2)
As shown in the FIG. 2, the used green tea leaves received are dried at Process-11, coarsely milled at Process-12, and then, mixed together with other materials at Process-1 where the respective necessary quantities, mixing ratio, etc. are fixed. The mixture thus obtained is put into a high speed mixer for mixing at Process-2, granulated by a granulator at Process-3, sized by a /sizing machine at Process-4 and dried by a drier at Process-5, thus the final product is obtained.
In general, the used green tea leaves received are highly perishable, if left untouched for long time, due to their high moisture content as much as 80%, especially in summer season, therefore, it is necessary for a factory to equip with an expensive dryer with a large drying capacity as much as 1.0 ton per hour.
Furthermore, an expensive milling machine is needed to pulverize the dried used green tea leaves into an appropriate size as well.
Thus, it requires a good amount of fund to construct such a factory, and therefore, it has been considered difficult to manufacture such animal excretions disposal materials by modern factory system even though the manufacturing method has been regarded as an useful way of recycling industrial wastes contributing to environmental preservation.

Animal excretions disposal material and a manufacturing method therefore


When a French character is selected while an English character string candidate is presented, a mobile terminal presents English and French character string candidates by using an English/French mixed candidate dictionary. Furthermore, when a French character is selected while English and French character string candidates are presented by using the English/French mixed candidate dictionary, the mobile terminal presents a French character string candidate by using a French candidate dictionary. Moreover, when a character other than French is selected while a French character string candidate is presented by using the French candidate dictionary, the mobile terminal presents an English character string candidate by using an English candidate dictionary.

In an information processing apparatus capable of inputting characters in multiple languages, such as Japanese or English, a character input mode is provided for each language. When a user is to input characters in a desired language, the user performs a switch operation to switch and set the input mode to that of the desired language. Therefore, when a user is to input a text in a desired language, the user changes and sets the input mode to that of the desired language.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-331354
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-44075
With the above information processing apparatus, however, if, for example, the mode is switched to English and, while an English text is being created, a few French words, such as a French character string "Café du Crie", are to be input on a temporary basis, the setting is purposefully switched from the English mode to the French mode. Therefore, in the above information processing apparatus, if characters in a different language are to be input on a temporary basis, i.e., if a character format is to be changed, an operation to switch the input mode needs to be performed, which increases the user workload.

Recording medium, information processing apparatus, and presentation method


The position of a product is measured using an alignment mark on the product. Radiation is transmitted towards the alignment mark and diffracted by a pattern in the alignment mark. Position information is determined from phase relations of the diffracted radiation. The alignment mark comprises a set of mutually parallel conductor tracks from which the diffracted radiation is collected, the pattern being defined by a pattern of variation of the pitch between successive tracks as a function of position along the surface of the product. Thus, for example the pattern comprises alternating first and second areas wherein the pitch has a first and second value, respectively. Because the tracks in the different parts of the pattern, such as the first and second areas, are parallel to each other improved measurements are possible.

1. Field of Invention
In general terms, the invention relates to a product with an alignment mark thereon, a method of aligning a product and a method for manufacturing a device.
2. Related Art
A lithographic apparatus applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g., comprising part of, one, or several dies) of a substrate (e.g., a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
Substrates and patterning devices need to be very accurately aligned during exposure. It is known to provide optical alignment marks on the substrate and/or patterning device for this purpose. One known alignment mark has reflection properties that vary periodically as a function of position, so that the mark can be used as an optical grating. The period of such a grating may be sixteen micron for example, when light with a wavelength of about 0.6 micron is used to measure position. An optical system measures the position of the substrate and/or patterning device by forming an image of the diffracted light using selected orders of diffraction from this grating. In a simple alignment mark each period of the periodic variation is realized by one area of high reflection (e.g., metal) and one area of low reflection (e.g., oxide), for example one eight micron wide area of metal and one eight micron wide area of oxide in each period.
Two such alignment marks may be used, one wherein the periodic areas repeat in a first direction along the surface of the wafer (the X-axis) and one wherein the periodic areas repeat in a second direction along the surface of the wafer (the Y-axis). Moreover, typically alignment measurements are performed with light of two wavelengths.
However, an alignment mark with periods made up of two homogeneous areas tends to make use of homogeneous areas of sizes that are much larger than that of tracks in modern integrated circuits. In response, it is possible to construct the different areas in each period of the alignment mark from finer lines. From an article titled "Advances in Process overlay-Alignment Solutions for Future Technology Nodes", in Metrology, Inspection and Process Control for Microlithography XXI (Chas N. Archie editor) Proc SPIE Vol 6518 by Henry Megens et al. an alignment mark is known wherein the periodic structure comprises alternately a first area with fine conductive tracks directed along a first direction and second areas with fine conductive tracks directed along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The distance between these conductive tracks is made smaller than the wavelength of the light that is used to measure the position of the alignment mark.
Such line patterns results in a wired grid polarization effect, whereby polarization components of the light with electric field components parallel and perpendicular to the tracks are mainly reflected and transmitted respectively. Because the direction of the tracks alternates in the alignment mark, such an alignment mark provides an offset between the periodically varying reflection properties for the respective polarization components. As a pattern of variation of the direction gives rise to diffraction: the pattern of directions acts as a diffraction grating that produces different orders of diffraction at different angles. Light from these orders of diffraction is used to measure the position of the alignment mark.
Unfortunately, this type of alignment mark is incompatible with the use of diffractive imaging techniques that use pairs of orders of diffraction. An example of such imaging technique is the dipolar illumination method. In the dipolar illumination method light falls on the mask at an oblique angle of incidence with respect to the optical axis of the illumination system. Light with an oblique angle of incidence will generate transmitted diffraction orders that have large diffraction angles. The projection system may be configured to capture only the zero and the first transmitted diffraction orders and projects them on the resist layer constructing an image of the grating. If the grating lines are perpendicular to the plane of incidence that contains the optical axis and the wave-vector of the incident beam, a sharp image of the grating will be formed on the resist layer. But if the gratings lines are parallel to this plane of incidence a poor resolved image of the grating will be formed on the resist layer. The poor image results in a grating with different parameters or no grating at all. If the alignment mark period consists of sub-wavelength lines that are perpendicular in directions, lines in one direction will be well resolved and the lines in the perpendicular direction will not be resolved under dipolar or polarized illumination. When alignment marks in the X and Y direction are used that are the same except for a rotation over ninety degrees, the same polarization component cannot be used to measure the position of both X and Y marks.

Alignment method, alignment system, and product with alignment mark


A method for placing a virtual network function (VNF) in a datacenter system based on historical data. The method includes receiving, by a placement service from a client device, a VNF placement request that includes an identifier of the VNF, wherein the VNF placement request requests placement of an instantiation of the VNF with a node in a set of candidate nodes of the datacenter system; calculating, by the placement service, a set of similarity values between the set of candidate nodes of the datacenter system and the historical data, wherein the historical data represents previous placements of the VNF in the datacenter system, including performance indicators associated with these placements; and determining, by the placement service, a placement node from the set of candidate nodes for placing the instantiation of the VNF based on the set of similarity values.

In a distributed cloud environment, featuring edge and centralized computing, network and compute nodes become candidates for hosting virtual network functions (VNFs), network services, and applications. Such nodes are deployed in cloud sites which are typically geographically distributed and interconnected through a wide area network (WAN). The large size of the network and cloud infrastructure requires efficient algorithms and solutions for orchestration or placement of VNF instantiation requests. The reason for seeking efficiency in placement is that there may be placement constraints, related to infrastructure capabilities, such as, but not limited to, compute node capacity (e.g., processing, memory, and storage capacity) and link latency and/or throughput. Therefore, quickly arriving at a placement decision is essential for provisioning new services in networks in an expedient manner. However, placement decisions are often inaccurate when solely based on current infrastructure information as these predictions fail to take into account actual performance on a corresponding node.

Virtual network function placement in a cloud environment based on historical placement decisions and corresponding performance indicators


Certain exemplary embodiments provide a method for automatically optimizing an FTMS. The method can comprise a plurality of potential activities, some of which can be automatically, repeatedly, and/or nestedly performed, and some of which follow. A composite amplitude relating to an FTMS spectral output signal for each of a plurality of FTMS samples can be obtained, each of the samples having an substantially similar number of molecules. The FTMS variable can be changed repeatedly and the composite amplitude re-obtained until a value of an optimization parameter substantially converges, the optimization parameter a function of the composite amplitude.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,955 (Comisarow), titled "Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance spectroscopy method and apparatus", allegedly cites that a "gas sample is introduced into an ion cyclotron resonance cell enclosed in a vacuum chamber, and ionized. A magnetic field constrains ions to circular orbits. After an optional delay adequate to allow ion-molecule reactions to occur, a pulsed broad-band oscillating electric field disposed at right angles to the magnetic field is applied to the ions. As the frequency of the applied electric field reaches the resonant frequency of various ions, those ions absorb energy from the field and accelerate on spiral paths to larger radius orbits. The excited motion is sensed and digitized in the time domain. The result of the digitization is Fourier transformed into the frequency domain for analysis. If desired, a sequential series of pulsed broad-band oscillating fields can be applied and the resulting change in motion sensed, digitized and accumulated in a sequential manner prior to Fourier transformation." See Abstract.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,697 (Nakagawa), titled "Fourier transform mass spectrometer", allegedly cites that the "present invention relates to a Fourier transform mass spectrometer suitable for analysis of a particular component of a sample gas made of known components, which is adapted so as to prevent the high-frequency electric field applied to the high vacuum cell from deviating due to a variation in the long cycle of the static magnetic field applied to the high vacuum cell, which is characterized in that the variation in the long cycle of the magnetic field applied is detected as a deviation in the ion cyclotron resonance frequency of the particular component and the high frequency for forming the high-frequency electric field is made variable in accordance with the variation in the ion cyclotron resonance frequency." See Abstract.
U.S. Patent Application No. 20020190205 (Park), titled "Method and apparatus for fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) in a linear multipole ion trap" allegedly cites a "means and method whereby ions from an ion source can be selected and transferred via a multipole analyzer system in such a way that ions are trapped and analyzed by inductive detection. Ions generated at an elevated pressure are transferred by a pump and capillary system into a multipole device. The multipole device is composed of one analyzing section with two trapping sections at both sides. When the proper voltages are applied, the trapping sections trap ions within the analyzing region. The ions are then detected by two sets of detection electrodes." See Abstract.

Method, system, and device for optimizing an FTMS variable


In some instances, spatial mapping data from one spatial mapping is used to augment the spatial mapping data in another spatial mapping. First and second spatial mapping data is accessed, where both the first and second spatial mapping data overlap in that they both, at least partially, describe the same portion of an environment three-dimensionally. A determination is made as to whether the second spatial mapping data is to augment the first spatial mapping data. If so, then the second spatial mapping data is used to augment the first spatial mapping data. Otherwise, the second spatial mapping data is not used to augment the first spatial mapping data. These determinations may be based, at least in part, on determined quality levels of the first and second spatial mapping data.

Mixed-reality systems, including virtual-reality (VR) and augmented-reality (AR) systems, have received significant attention because of their ability to create truly unique experiences for their users. For reference, conventional VR systems create a completely immersive experience by restricting their users' views to only virtual environments. This is often achieved through the use of a head-mounted device (HMD) that completely blocks any view of the real world. As a result, a user is entirely immersed within the virtual environment. In contrast, conventional AR systems create an augmented-reality experience by visually presenting holograms that are placed in or that interact with the real world. As used herein, a "hologram" is a virtual image/object that is formed by projecting light patterns to form a desired design or a 3D representation of a computer-generated image. Examples of holograms include, but are not limited to, virtual cars, planes, text, graphics, videos, books, magazines, laser guns, dragons, zombies, and others. It will be appreciated that a mixed-reality system is able to project and render any kind of hologram in any shape, dimension, size, or configuration.
As used herein, VR and AR systems are described and referenced interchangeably. Unless stated otherwise, the descriptions herein apply equally to all types of mixed-reality systems, which (as detailed above) include AR systems, VR systems, and/or any other similar system capable of displaying holograms. One object or purpose of a mixed-reality environment/scene is to provide a user with a virtualized experience where, although the displayed content may be a fantasy, the interactions with the displayed content are designed to be as realistic as possible. For instance, a user may understand that a zombie is not real. Regardless, the mixed-reality system can enable the user to interact with the zombie in a highly realistic manner. This experience (i.e. providing a highly realistic interactive experience) is achieved by displaying 3D content (i.e. holograms) using a mixed-reality system. To do so, some systems scan the environment using any number of different 3D sensing technologies in order to generate an understanding of the environment in which the holograms will be placed. Ideally, the potentially multiple 3D scans from different systems would improve the rendering of the 3D space, but that is not always the case, as described further below.
Some of the disclosed mixed-reality systems use one or more on-body devices (e.g., the HMD, a handheld device, etc.). The HMD provides a display that enables a user to view overlapping and/or integrated visual information (e.g., holograms) in whatever environment the user is in, be it a VR environment, an AR environment, or any other type of environment. Continued advances in hardware capabilities and rendering technologies have greatly improved how mixed-reality systems render holograms, or 3D content, to the user. Notwithstanding those advances, the process of immersing a user into a mixed-reality environment creates many challenges and difficulties, particularly when the mixed-reality environment relies on different three-dimensional (3D) data sets that each have different quality levels.
For instance, there are many difficulties associated with developing a mixed-reality environment (also referred to herein as a "scene"), particularly when the mixed-reality environment is dependent on 3D information obtained from multiple different sources and when the data from those different sources varies in quality and integrity. Current methodologies are in place to scan an environment (e.g., including scans of any objects) in order to reconstruct geometric surfaces included within that environment. In some cases, this scanning process includes obtaining multiple images of the environment and then generating a spatial mapping of the environment. The spatial mapping is then consulted and used for presenting virtual content to a mixed-reality system user. Sometimes, spatial mappings are shared between disparate mixed-reality systems, which enables virtual content to be broadly used and accessed. In this regard, some spatial mappings (which describe 3D objects, spaces, and/or other elements) may be scanned by different sources, thus resulting in potential disparities between the configurations and content included within these different spatial mappings. Disparities include, but are not limited to, differences in rendering information included in point clouds, meshes, or textured/colored meshes. Unfortunately, however, use of different spatial mappings results in differing levels of quality and sometimes having to rely on a quality that is lower or higher than desired. Sometimes, the different spatial mappings are also incompatible with disparate systems. Additionally, there is a need to better manage the input that is provided to a spatial mapping, particularly when received from different scanning hardware sources. As such, there is a need to be able to modify the manner in which spatial mappings are generated, and in particular to be able to modify the quality of these spatial mappings, especially if those mappings are to be shared with or accessed by other mixed-reality systems.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Spatial mapping fusion from diverse sensing sources


A radio signal transceiver receiving at its input a speech signal and producing an output signal at a given output rate, the speech signal having undergone a source coding intended to sufficiently compress the input signal to obtain the desired output rate while an acceptable distortion ratio is maintained. In order to improve the compromise of transmission quality of the speech signal and transmission rate by selecting the optimum coder from the available coders, the transceiver comprises a measuring device for measuring the distortion of the output signal of a coder and a check circuit for comparing the estimated distortion with set values and deriving therefrom the optimum coder for the measured distortion.

This invention relates to a digital signal transceiver comprising a transmitting part and a receiving part, the transmitting part receiving at its input a speech signal called original signal, and including:
source coder means including a plurality of source coders for compressing said speech signal and delivering a compressed signal at a given output rate, said compressed signal having a measurable distortion and
means for selecting a source coder from the plurality of coders.
The invention also relates to telephony equipment and a digital telecommunications system.
The invention likewise relates to a digital signal transmission process, comprising the following steps:
a receiving step of receiving a speech signal called original signal,
a source coding step of compressing said speech signal and delivering a compressed signal at a given output rate, said compressed signal having a measurable distortion, and
a selection step of selecting a source coder from a plurality of coders for realizing the source coding step.
The invention finally relates to a digital signal reception process, comprising a source-decoding step.
The invention is notably applied to any cellular terminal operating according to a digital telecommunications standard of the GSM type (Global System for Mobile communications), PCS1900 (Personal Communications System), PHS (Personal Handyphone System), TDMA (Time-Division Multiple Access), CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access), WBCDMA (WideBand CDMA), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) etc.
Japanese abstract published under no. 08237711 A describes a transceiver of the type defined in the opening paragraph, for enhancing the quality of an audio signal to be transmitted. For this purpose, the transceiver comprises means for directly testing in the useful signal the performance of families of source coders successively selected from a list of available families and means for comparing each output signal with the original signal so as to transmit only the coded signal that comes nearest to the original signal.
The invention proposes a less expensive method for optimizing the compromise between transmission quality of the speech signal and capacity of the communication means in digital telecommunications devices that involve a source coding.
For this purpose, a device of the type defined in the opening paragraph is provided, characterized in that said selection means comprise:
calculation means for forming an estimate of the distortion of the compressed signal,
check means for comparing this estimate with set values and selecting a source coder in dependence on the result of this comparison.
Thus, each original signal undergoes only one source-coding test before the optimum coder is selected, while the same coder family is adhered to.
According to an important characteristic feature of the invention, the receiving part comprises a plurality of decoders compatible with said source coders and control means co-operating with said check means for automatically selecting from the plurality of decoders a decoder that is compatible with the source coder selected by said check means.
According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the source coder delivers an internal residual error signal and said calculation means use said error signal for estimating said distortion.
According to another embodiment, the calculation means comprise:
inverse source decoder means co-operating with the source coder means for producing a decoded signal based on said compressed signal,
means for comparing the decoded signal with the original signal to produce a residual error signal and
means for processing the residual error signal to derive said estimate therefrom.
A transmission process of the type defined in the opening paragraph is provided, characterized in that said selection step comprises:
a calculation sub-step for forming an estimate of the distortion of the compressed signal,
a check sub-step for comparing this estimate with set values and selecting a source coder as a function of the result of said comparison.
The invention finally provides a reception process of the type defined in the opening paragraph for decoding a compressed signal via a transmission process of the above type, characterized in that the reception process comprises a step of automatically selecting a decoder from a plurality of available decoders as a function of said selected source coder.

Transceiver for selecting a source coder based on signal distortion estimate


The module is of the type comprising an electronic component provided with a conductive face that is electrically connected to a connection member of the component by means of a conductor that is corrugated at least in part so as to define an alternating sequence of oppositely-directed arcs, a first series of arcs being connected to the conductive face of the electronic component. The conductor also includes a second series of arcs opposite to the arcs of the first series and interposed between the arcs of the first series, the second series of arcs being connected to the conductive face of the connection member.

In the state of the art, and in particular from WO 2004/100258, there is known more particularly a module of the type comprising an electronic component provided with a conductive face that is electrically connected to a connection member of the component by means of a conductor that is corrugated at least in part so as to define an alternating sequence of oppositely-directed arcs, a first series of arcs being connected to the conductive face of the electronic component.
By way of example, in such a module, the electronic component comprises a semiconductor chip arranged on a substrate. The conductive face is generally metallized, e.g. covered in a film of metal.
By way of example, the connection member comprises connection means for connecting the component to its environment, to heat dissipation means, or to a second electronic component.
A power module for a motor vehicle carries relatively high currents, and such a module is generally installed in an environment that is subjected to high temperatures.
It is therefore desirable for the module to give off as little heat as possible, and consequently for its resistance to be as low as possible, in order to avoid the electronic component being damaged because of too high a surrounding temperature.
For this purpose, the conductor described in WO 2004/100258 has the general shape of a tape, and it has a first end connected to the connection member and a second end that is corrugated, defining alternating oppositely-directed arcs.
Each of the arcs of the first series is bonded to the conductive face of the electronic component so as to establish a multiple contact zones between said face and the conductor.
Those multiple contact zones between the conductive face and the conductor serve to limit the length of the path followed by current in the metalized conductive face, and consequently to reduce the resistance thereof, thereby limiting heat dissipation by said face.
Nevertheless, in WO 2004/100258, the path followed by the current between the two ends of the conductor is relatively long, such that a relatively large quantity of energy is dissipated by the Joule effect in the conductor, and that can also give rise to a large rise in temperature in the vicinity of the electronic component.

Electronic module having a multi-layer conductor for reducing its resistivity and a method of assembling such a module


Particular aspects provide methods for specific amplification of template DNA in the presence of potentially contaminating PCR products from previous amplification experiments. Particular embodiments comprise, in a first step, contacting DNA with a bisulfite solution, which sulfonates unmethylated (but not methylated) cytosines, resulting in cytosine deamination and generation of sulfonated uracil. Such sulfonation protects the template nucleic acid from being a target for the enzyme uracil-DNA-glycosylase (UNG), whereas any contaminating DNA, which contains unprotected unsulfonated or desulfonated uracils, is degraded enzymatically while the UNG is active. After UNG treatment and inactivation thereof, the sulfonated uracil bases are converted into uracil by desulfonation. Such aspects have substantial utility for decontamination of nucleic acid samples; e.g., for avoiding amplification of ‘carry over products’ in the context of DNA methylation analysis. In further aspects, the inventive methods can be generally used as simplified methods of bisulfite treatment.

In recent decades, molecular biology studies have focused primarily on genes, the transcription of those genes into RNA, and the translation of the RNA into protein. There has been a more limited analysis of the regulatory mechanisms associated with gene control. Gene regulation, for example, at what stage of development of the individual a gene is activated or inhibited, and the tissue specific nature of this regulation is less well understood. However, such regulation can be with the extent and nature of methylation of the gene or genome. Specific cell types can be correlated with specific methylation patterns, as has been shown for a number of cases (Adorjan et al. (2002) Tumour class prediction and discovery by microarray-based DNA methylation analysis. Nucleic Acids Res. 30 (5) e21).
In higher order eukaryotes, DNA is methylated nearly exclusively at cytosines located 5′ to guanine in the CpG dinucleotide. This modification has important regulatory effects on gene expression, especially when involving CpG rich areas, known as CpG islands located in the promoter regions of many genes. While almost all gene-associated islands are protected from methylation on autosomal chromosomes, extensive methylation of CpG islands has been associated with transcriptional inactivation of selected imprinted genes and genes on the inactive X-chromosome of females.
Cytosine modification, in form of methylation, contains significant information. The identification of 5-methylcytosine in a DNA sequence, as opposed to unmethylated cytosine; that is, the methylation status, is of great importance and warrants further study. However, because 5-methylcytosine behaves like cytosine in terms of hybridization preference (a property relied on for sequence analysis), its positions/status can not be identified by a normal sequencing reaction. Furthermore, in any amplification, such as a PCR amplification, this relevant epigenetic information, methylated cytosine or unmethylated cytosine, will be lost completely.
Several methods are known in the art that relate to this problem. Usually genomic DNA is treated with a chemical or enzyme leading to a conversion of the cytosine bases, which consequently allows subsequent base differentiation. The most common methods are: a) the use of methylation sensitive restriction enzymes capable of differentiating between methylated and unmethylated DNA; and b) the treatment with a bisulfite reagent. The use of said enzymes is limited due to the selectivity of the restriction enzyme towards a specific recognition sequence.
Therefore, the specific reaction of bisulfite with cytosine, which, upon subsequent alkaline hydrolysis is converted to uracil (whereas 5-methylcytosine remains unmodified under these conditions) (Shapiro et al. (1970) Nature 227: 1047) is currently the most frequently used method for analyzing DNA for 5-methylcytosine. Uracil corresponds to thymine in its base pairing behaviour; that is, it hybridizes to adenine; whereas 5-methylcytosine does not change its chemical properties under this treatment, and therefore still has the base pairing behavior of a cytosine (hybridizing with guanine). Consequently, the original DNA is converted in such a manner that 5-methylcytosine, which originally could not be distinguished from cytosine by its hybridization behavior, can now be detected as the only remaining cytosine using standard molecular biological techniques, for example, amplification and hybridization or sequencing. All of these techniques are based on base pairing, which can now thereby be more fully exploited. Comparing the sequences of the DNA with and without bisulfite treatment allows an easy identification of those cytosines that have been unmethylated. An overview of further known methods for detecting 5-methylcytosine may be gathered from the following review article: Fraga & Esteller, Biotechniques 33:632, 634, 636-49, 2002.
Again, because the use of methylation-specific enzymes is restricted to certain sequences (comprising restriction sites), most typical methods are based on a bisulfite treatment that is conducted before a detection or amplifying step (for review: DE 100 29 915, A1 p.2, lines 35-46 or the according translated U.S. application Ser. No. 10/311,661, see also WO 2004/067545 ). The term 'bisulfite treatment' in this context is meant to comprise treatment with a bisulfite, a disulfite or a hydrogensulfite solution. As known to a person or ordinary skill in the art (and as used herein), the term "bisulfite" is used interchangeably for "hydrogensulfite".
Several bisulfite-based protocols are known in the art. However, all of the described protocols, comprise the following steps: the genomic DNA is isolated, denatured, converted several hours by a concentrated bisulfite solution and finally desulfonated and desalted (see, e.g., Frommer et al.: A genomic sequencing protocol that yields a positive display of 5-methylcytosine residues in individual DNA strands. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 89:1827-31, 1992).
Recent technical improvements of bisulfite methods. The art-recognized agarose bead method incorporates the DNA to be investigated in an agarose matrix, through which diffusion and renaturation of the DNA is prevented (bisulfite reacts only on single-stranded DNA) and all precipitation and purification steps are replaced by rapid dialysis (Olek A. et al. A modified and improved method for bisulphite based cytosine methylation analysis, Nucl. Acids Res. 24, 5064-5066, 1996).
Patent application WO 01/98528 (20040152080) describes a bisulfite conversion in which the DNA sample is incubated with a bisulfite solution of a concentration range between 0.1 mol/l to 6 mol/l in the presence of a denaturing reagent and/or solvent and at least one scavenger. In said patent application, several suitable denaturing reagents and scavengers are described. Desulfonation of the deaminated nucleic acid is afforded by incubation of the solution under alkaline conditions.
Patent application WO 03/038121 (US 20040115663) discloses a method in which the DNA to be analysed is bound to a solid surface during the bisulfite treatment. Consequently, purification and washing steps are facilitated.
Patent application WO 04/067545 discloses a method in which the DNA sample is denatured by heat and incubated with a bisulfite solution of a concentration range between 3 mol/l to 6.25 mol/l. Thereby the pH value is between 5.0 and 6.0 and the nucleic acid is deaminated. Deaminated nucleic acids are desulfonated by incubation of the solution under alkaline conditions.
The art-recognized understanding that a 'bisulfite conversion' typically comprises a desulfonation step is illustrated in WO 04/067545:                "According to the invention the term a "bisulfite reaction", "bisulfite treatment" or "bisulfite method" shall mean a reaction for the conversion of a cytosine base, preferably cytosine bases, in a nucleic acid to an uracil base, preferably uracil bases, in the presence of bisulfite ions whereby preferably a 5-methyl-cytosine base, preferably 5-methyl-cytosine bases, is not significantly converted. This reaction for the detection of methylated cytosines is described in detail by Frommer et al., supra and Grigg and Clark (Grigg, G. and Clark, S., Bioessays 16:431-436, 1994). The bisulfite reaction contains a deamination step and a desulfonation step, which can be conducted separately or simultaneously (see FIG. 1; Grigg and Clark, supra). The statement that 5-methyl-cytosine bases are not significantly converted shall only take the fact into account that it cannot be excluded that a small percentage of 5-methyl-cytosine bases is converted to uracil although it is intended to convert only and exclusively the (non-methylated) cytosine bases (Frommer et al., supra). The expert skilled in the art knows how to perform the bisulfite reaction, e.g. by referring to Frommer et al., supra or Grigg and Clark, supra who disclose the principal parameters of the bisulfite reaction."
Moreover, WO 04/067545 describes the general state of the art with regard to the different protocols:                "From Grunau et al., supra, it is known to the expert in the field what variations of the bisulfite method are possible. In summary, in the deamination step a buffer containing bisulfite ions, optionally chaotropic agents and optionally further reagents as an alcohol or stabilizers as hydroquinone are employed and the pH is in the acidic range. The concentration of bisulfite is between 0.1 and 6 M bisulfite, preferably between 1 M and 5.5 M, the concentration of the chaotropic agent is between 1 and 8 M, whereby preferably guanidinium salts are employed, the pH is in the acidic range, preferably between 4.5 and 6.5, the temperature is between 0° C. and 90° C., preferably between room temperature (25° C.) and 90° C., and the reaction time is between 30 min and 24 hours or 48 hours or even longer, but preferably between 1 hour and 24 hours. The desulfonation step is performed by adding an alkaline solution or buffer as e.g. a solution only containing a hydroxide, e.g. sodium hydroxide, or a solution containing ethanol, sodium chloride and sodium hydroxide (e.g., 38% EtOH, 100 mM NaCl, 200 mM NaOH) and incubating at room temperature or elevated temperatures for several min, preferably between 5 min and 60 min."
Desulfonation is, therefore, an inherent feature of all of these methods, and in any case a desulfonation takes place before the nucleic acids are used as templates for amplification reactions, in order to provide an ideal template for the polymerase utilized in subsequent reactions.
Patent application WO 05/038051 describes improvements for the conversion of unmethylated cytosine to uracil by treatment with a bisulfite reagent. According to this method the reaction is carried out in the presence of 10-35% by volume, preferentially in the presence of 20-30% by volume of dioxane, one of its derivatives or a similar aliphatic cyclic ether. The bisulfite reaction can also be carried out in the presence of a n-alkylene glycol compound, particularly in the presence of their dialkyl ethers, and especially in the presence of diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DME). These compounds can be present in a concentration of 1-35% by volume, preferentially of 5-25% by volume. The bisulfite conversion is conducted at a temperature in the range of 0-80° C. and that the reaction temperature is increased for 2 to 5 times to a range of 85-100° C. briefly during the course of the conversion (thermospike). It is further preferred that the temperature increases to 85-100° C., in particular to 90-98° C. during the temperature increase of brief duration.
Subsequent to a bisulfite treatment, usually short, specific fragments of a known gene are amplified and either completely sequenced (Olek A, Walter J, The pre-implantation ontogeny of the H19 methylation imprint. Nat Genet. 3:275-6, 1997) or individual cytosine positions are detected by a primer extension reaction (Gonzalgo M L and Jones P A., Rapid quantitation of methylation differences at specific sites using methylation-sensitive single nucleotide primer extension (Ms-SNuPE). Nucleic Acids Res. 25:2529-31, 1997; WO 95/00669) or by enzymatic digestion (Xiong Z, Laird P W., COBRA: a sensitive and quantitative DNA methylation assay. Nucleic Acids Res. 25: 2535-4, 1997).
Another technique to detect hypermethylation is the so-called methylation specific PCR (MSP) (Herman J G, Graff J R, Myohanen S, Nelkin B D and Baylin S B., Methylation-specific PCR: a novel PCR assay for methylation status of CpG islands. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 93: 9821-6, 1996). The technique is based on the use of primers that differentiate between a methylated and a non-methylated sequence if applied after bisulfite treatment of said DNA sequence. The primer either contains a guanine at the position corresponding to the cytosine in which case it will after bisulfite treatment only bind if the position was methylated. Or the primer contains an adenine at the corresponding cytosine position and therefore only binds to said DNA sequence after bisulfite treatment if the cytosine was unmethylated and has hence been altered by the bisulfite treatment so that it hybridizes to adenine. With the use of these primers, amplicons can be produced specifically depending on the methylation status of a certain cytosine and will as such indicate its methylation state.
Another technique is the detection of methylation via a labeled probe, such as used in the so called Taqman™ PCR, also known as MethyLight™ (U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,393). With this technique it became feasible to determine the methylation state of single or of several positions directly during PCR, without having to analyze the PCR products in an additional step.
Additionally, detection by hybridization has also been described (Olek et al., WO 99/28498).
The treatment with bisulfite (or similar chemical agents or enzymes) with the effect of altering the base pairing behaviour of one type of cytosine specifically, either the methylated or the unmethylated, thereby introducing different hybridisation properties, makes the treated DNA more applicable to the conventional methods of molecular biology, especially the polymerase based amplification methods, such as the PCR.
Base excision repair. Base excision repair occurs in vivo to repair DNA base damage involving relatively minor disturbances in the helical DNA structure, such as deaminated, oxidized, alkylated or absent bases. Numerous DNA glycosylases are known in the art, and function in vivo during base excision repair to release damaged or modified bases by cleavage of the glycosidic bond that links such bases to the sugar phosphate backbone of DNA (Memisoglu, Samson, Mutation Res., 451:39-51, 2000). All DNA glycosylases cleave glycosidic bonds but differ in their base substrate specificity and in their reaction mechanisms.
Carry-over contamination of amplification reactions (e.g., PCR); inadequacy of the prior art. One widely recognized application of such glycosylases is decontamination in PCR applications. In any such PCR amplification, 2 to the 30 (230) or more copies of a single template are generated. This very large amount of DNA produced helps in the subsequent analysis, like in DNA sequencing according to the Sanger method, but it can also become a problem when this amount of DNA is handled in an analytical laboratory. Even very small reaction volumes, when inadvertently not kept in a closed vial, can lead to contamination of the whole work environment with a huge number of DNA copies. These DNA copies may be templates for a subsequent amplification experiment performed, and the DNA analysed subsequently may not be the actual sample DNA, but contaminating DNA from a previous experiment. This may also lead to positive negative controls that should not contain any DNA and therefore no amplification should be observed.
In practice, this problem can be so persistent that whole laboratories may move to a new location, because contamination of the work environment makes it impossible to still carry out meaningful PCR based experiments. In a clinical laboratory, however, the concern is also that contaminating DNA may cause false results when performing molecular diagnostics. This would mean that actually contaminating DNA that stems from a previous patient is analyzed, instead of the actual sample to be investigated.
Therefore, measures have been implemented to avoid contamination. This involves, for example, a PCR amplification and detection in one tube in a real time PCR experiment. In this case, it is not required that a PCR tube be opened. After use, the tube will be kept closed and discarded and therefore the danger of contamination leading to false results is greatly reduced.
In addition, molecular means exist that reduce the risk of contamination. In a polymerase chain reaction, the enzyme uracil-DNA-glycosylase (UNG) reduces the potential for false positive reactions due to amplicon carryover (see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,996 or Thornton C G, Hartley J L, Rashtchian A., Utilizing uracil DNA glycosylase to control carryover contamination in PCR: characterization of residual UDG activity following thermal cycling. Biotechniques, 13:1804, 1992). The principle of this contamination protection method is that in any amplification instead of dTTP dUTP is provided and incorporated and the resulting amplicon can be distinguished from its template and any future sample DNA by uracil being present instead of thymine. Prior to any subsequent amplification, uracil DNA-glycosylase (UNG) is used to cleave these bases from any contaminating DNA, and therefore only the legitimate template remains intact and can be amplified. This method is considered the standard method of choice in the art and is widely used in DNA based diagnostics. The following is a citation from a publication that summarizes the use of UNG (Longo M C, Berninger M S, Hartley J L., Use of uracil DNA glycosylase to control carry-over contamination in polymerase chain reactions. Gene., 93:125-8, 1990):                "Polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) synthesize abundant amplification products. Contamination of new PCRs with trace amounts of these products, called carry-over contamination, yields false positive results. Carry-over contamination from some previous PCR can be a significant problem, due both to the abundance of PCR products, and to the ideal structure of the contaminant material for re-amplification. We report that carry-over contamination can be controlled by the following two steps: (i) incorporating dUTP in all PCR products (by substituting dUTP for dTTP, or by incorporating uracil during synthesis of the oligodeoxyribonucleotide primers; and (ii) treating all subsequent fully preassembled starting reactions with uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG), followed by thermal inactivation of UNG. UNG cleaves the uracil base from the phosphodiester backbone of uracil-containing DNA, but has no effect on natural (i.e., thymine-containing) DNA. The resulting apyrimidinic sites block replication by DNA polymerases, and are very labile to acid/base hydrolysis. Because UNG does not react with dUTP, and is also inactivated by heat denaturation prior to the actual PCR, carry-over contamination of PCRs can be controlled effectively if the contaminants contain uracils in place of thymines."
Another method for carry over protection in PCR has been described by Walder et al (Walder R Y, Hayes J R, Walder J A., Use of PCR primers containing a 3-terminal ribose residue to prevent cross-contamination of amplified sequences. Nucleic Acids Res., 21:4339-43, 1993). Walder et al describe that carry over protection can be achieved—however not very reproducibly—by using primers consisting of a 3′-end which is characterized as a ribo-cytidine. After primer extension the amplification product is cleaved specifically at the site of this ribonucleotide by an enzyme known as RNase A. That way the potentially contaminating amplificates are shortened at their ends and cannot serve a templates for said primers in the following amplification procedure. However, a significant disadvantage inherent to this method is the instability of the primer molecules, containing a ribonucleotide at the 3′-end.
All of the documents cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Substantial problem in the prior art. Because the existence of uracils is an inherent feature of bisulfite converted DNA and the necessary property relied upon for detecting methylation differences, the prior art method of choice for carry over protection based on uracil-DNA-glycosylase enzyme activity, as described above, cannot be applied. This limitation is very unfortunate, because a number of powerful assays for diagnosis are based on PCR performed on bisulfite converted DNA as a template. The difficulty of solving the problem for decontamination of bisulfite converted templates is considered a general one, that can not be solved by adaptation of the standard UNG method, as any bisulfite converted DNA will contain uracil as well. It has therefore commonly been argued that, in any uracil-DNA-glycosylase step, the template DNA would be destroyed along with any contaminating DNA.
Therefore, there is a pronounced need in the art for new methods for carry over prevention that have utility for routine performance of such assays. There is a pronounced need in the art to provide solutions to the problem of how to achieve a reliable carry over protection when analysing methylation of cytosine positions in DNA from patient samples.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for the carry-over protection in DNA amplification systems targeting methylation analysis achieved by a modified pre-treatment of nucleic acids


An image forming apparatus capable of settling such problem as an error between a cumulative developer consumption calculated on the basis of image information inputted into a exposing device and an actual developer consumption, which occurred due to fog. The image forming apparatus changes inputted image information into binary image information, exposes photosensitive body on the basis of the binary image information, forms a developer image on record medium, and comprises an exposure picture element number counting section for counting picture element number of exposed picture elements in all picture elements to constitute the binary image information; a print condition detecting section for detecting appointed print condition; a revision information storing section for storing revision information on the basis of the print condition; and a developer quantity calculating section for calculating a developer consumption on the basis of the picture element number counted by the exposure picture element number counting section, the print condition detected by the print condition detecting section, and the revision information stored in the revision information storing section.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as printer or the like.
2. Related Background Art
An image forming apparatus with electrophotography is formed from an image carrying body which is formed in a developing device and is used to form an electrostatic latent image; a transferring roller which is placed to face to the image carrying body and is supplied a transfer voltage by a voltage supplying section; a transferring belt which is made out of member having a definite electrical resistance and is used to convey record medium; a driving section for transferring device to drive the transferring belt; and a fixing device which is used to fix developer onto the record medium conveyed by the transferring belt.
When the image forming apparatus received image information from outside, the image forming apparatus makes the surface of the image carrying body be on charge; forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrying body by an exposing device based on the image information; forms a developer image on the image carrying body on which the electrostatic latent image is formed by supplying developer such as toner filled in a cartridge to the image carrying body formed in developing device; transfers the developer image onto record medium by using the image carrying body and the transferring roller; and forms an image onto the record medium by making the fixing device to fix transferred developer.
In such image forming apparatus, while forming the developer image on the image carrying body, a remainder quantity of the developer is calculated by measuring a consumption of consumed developer. Such technology is disclosed by patent document 1.
Patent document 1: Japan patent publication 2002-283675.
In the patent document 1, in the concrete, picture element number to constitute the image information inputted into the exposing device is counted; a unit quantity of the consumed developer for one picture element is previously set; a developer consumption is calculated by using a proportional relation between the unit quantity per picture element and the picture element number to constitute the image information; and the developer consumption is recorded cumulatively. A difference between a developer initial quantity accommodated in an unused cartridge and the developer consumption cumulatively recorded serves as a remainder quantity of the developer in the cartridge.
However, with long time use, the electrical characteristic of the surface of the image carrying body falls, and the electric potential distribution in neighborhood of border between exposure portion and un-exposure portion on the surface of the image carrying body is not steep but becomes some flat. Therefore, while developing image, a phenomenon called fog happened, that is, a trace of the developer sticks to the portion on which image should not be formed. On the contrary, another phenomenon also happened, that is, the developer does not stick to the portion on which image should be formed. When such phenomenon happens, the proportional relation between the unit quantity per picture element and the picture element number to constitute the image information is not valid, an error happens between the cumulative developer consumption calculated on the basis of the image information inputted into the exposing device and the actual developer consumption. If such phenomenon often happens, the error will enlarge.


A muntin clip supports a muntin grid inside an insulating glazing unit. The clip includes a positioning arm that allows the clip to be positioned with respect to the spacer. In one embodiment, the clip has a flat base adapted to be positioned on the inwardly facing surface of the spacer. The positioning arm extends from one side of the plate with the muntin-engaging body extending from the other side of the plate. The arm has an outer end that projects beyond the outer edge of the plate. A method for using the clip includes the step of using one of the glass sheets to engage and position the positioning arm of the muntin clip. Stops may be provided to limit the insertion of the clip into the spacer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to insulating glazing units and methods for assembling the glazing units. More particularly, the invention relates to the structure of muntin clips and methods of using muntin clips during the assembly of the insulating glazing unit. Specifically, the present invention relates to a muntin clip and a method of using the muntin clip wherein the muntin clip has a positioning arm that may be used to position the muntin clip and muntin grid with respect to a spacer during the assembly of an insulating glazing unit.
2. Background Information
Muntin clips are used to support and position muntin grids with respect to insulating glazing units. The muntin clips typically attach to or around the spacer that supports and spaces the glass sheets of the glazing unit. The muntin clips are typically disposed between the glass sheets to support a muntin grid between the glass sheets. These muntin grids created the appearance of a traditional divided lite window.
One type of spacer known in the art is a foam-bodied spacer such as the exemplary spacers disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,799. Muntin clips have been connected to these types of spaces by sliding or pushing a portion of the muntin clip into a slit formed in the spacer. A drawback with this installation method is that each clip must be manually centered with respect to the spacer to properly align the muntin grid within the glazing unit. Aligning these types of muntin clips consumes valuable manufacturing time. Manufacturers who use highly efficient automated equipment to assemble glazing units desire an improved muntin clip that reduces or eliminates the step of manually aligning the muntin clips with respect to spacers.

Muntin clip and method of using the same


A furnace includes: a furnace housing; a perforated tray mounted in the furnace housing; and a stirring rod disposed rotatably on the perforated tray. The stirring rod has top and bottom ends, two opposite lateral ends, a middle portion, and opposite first and second portions, each of which extends from the middle portion to a respective one of the lateral ends. Each of the first and second portions has an inclined face that extends between the top and bottom ends of the stirring rod from the respective one of the lateral ends toward the middle portion of the stirring rod, that is inclined relative to the perforated tray, and that faces toward the perforated tray.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a furnace, more particularly to a furnace including a stirring rod having an inclined face for stirring a combustible material on a perforated tray.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional furnace normally includes: a furnace housing; a perforated tray mounted in the furnace housing, dividing the inner space into upper and lower chambers, adapted to support a combustible material thereon, and formed with a plurality of apertures for passage of ash therethrough; a stirring rod disposed rotatably on the perforated tray for stirring the combustible material on the perforated tray; and a shaft extending through the perforated tray to connect with the stirring rod so as to drive rotation of the stirring rod using a motor.
In operation, the motor is actuated to drive rotation of the stirring rod, which results in stirring of the combustible material and ash formed from combustion of the combustible material on the perforated tray, which, in turn, results in falling of the ash through the apertures in the perforated tray to a bottom exit of the furnace.
Since there exists a gap between the perforated tray and the stirring rod, undesired accumulation of combustible material and ash in the gap is likely to occur, which can hinder rotation of the stirring rod.


A stacked gate flash memory device and method of fabricating the same. A cell of the stacked gate flash memory device is disposed in a cell trench within a substrate to achieve higher integration of memory cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same. More particularly, it relates to a stacked gate flash memory device that can achieve high memory cell capacity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) memory is generally categorized into two groups: random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM). RAM is a volatile memory, wherein the stored data is erased when power is turned off. On the contrary, turning off power does not affect the stored data in a ROM.
In the past few years, market share of ROM has been continuously expanding, and the type attracting the most attention has been flash memory. The fact that a single memory cell is electrically programmable and multiple memory cell blocks are electrically erasable allows flexible and convenient application, superior to electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) and programmable read only memory (PROM). Furthermore, fabricating flash memory is cost effective. Having the above advantages, flash memory has been widely applied in consumer electronic products, such as digital cameras, digital video cameras, mobile phones, notebooks, personal stereos and personal digital assistants (PDA).
Since portability of these electrical consumer products is strongly prioritized by consumers, the size of the products must be minimal. As a result, capacity of flash memory must increase, and functions must be maximized while size thereof is continuously minimized. Having an increased amount of access data, capacity of memory cells has been enhanced from 4 to 256 MB, and even 1G byte will become the market trend in the near future.
Hence, there is a need for a flash memory device with high memory cell capacity.

Stacked gate flash memory device and method of fabricating the same


This circuit arrangement comprises a transformer (2) for transmitting a measurement current (I), which is output by a sensor arrangement (1) at a measurement location situated in an intrinsically safe area (10), to a non-intrinsically safe area (20), in which a current measuring resistor (5) is situated. A DC converter (3) serves for the power supply of the sensor arrangement. A transformer (2) belongs to the DC converter (3), has a primary winding, which faces the non-intrinsically safe area, two identical partial windings (21, 22) connected in series in the same sense, and a single secondary winding (23), which faces the intrinsically safe area. A first end of the current measuring resistor (5) is connected to a circuit zero-point (SN) and a second end to a center tap of an output stage (31) of the DC converter (3). The center tap is connected to the input of an offset adjusting stage (6), an output of which is connected to the input of a voltage/current converter (7). A power source (4) is connected to the junction point of the partial windings (21, 22) and to the circuit zero-point.

According to an industrial metrology standard which has existed for a long time, electrical signals which are output by sensors and which are generated by the sensors on the basis of a physical or chemical law are converted into a measurement current, corresponding to the measurement range of a sensor, of 4 mA to 20 mA. The sensor is often augmented by a conversion stage, which is provided for this and is structurally combined with the sensor, and forms a sensor arrangement.
The measurement current can, on the one hand, be conducted via a transmission line, for example via a two-wire line, to a suitable display location, for example to a central measurement control station. On the other hand, power is supplied to the sensor arrangement via the transmission line.
In the latter context, DE-A 27 01 184 describes a circuit arrangement which serves for transmitting a measurement current, which is output by a sensor arrangement at a measurement location, to a current measuring resistor, which is situated at a distance therefrom, in conjunction with simultaneous power supply of the sensor arrangement via the current measuring resistor, which is connected in series with a power source, by means of a two-wire line.
Furthermore, DE-A 35 26 997 describes a circuit arrangement which serves for transmitting a measurement-current of 0 mA to 20 mA generated in a first circuit to a second circuit by means of a transformer, which belongs to a DC converter used for the power supply of the first circuit and situated on the side of the latter, the transformer having, on the side of the second circuit, two series-connected partial windings, to whose junction point a first pole of a power source is connected and to whose terminals which are remote from the junction point a second pole of the power source is connected.
Finally, DE-A 38 12 861 describes a circuit arrangement for intrinsically safe power supply from a non-intrinsically safe area by means of a DC converter situated in this area, to which DC converter a push-pull transformer belongs, which has a primary winding, which faces the non-intrinsically safe area and has two partial windings connected in series in opposite senses, and a secondary winding, which faces the intrinsically safe area and has two identical partial windings connected in series in opposite senses.

Circuit for transmitting a measurement current from an intrinsically safe sensor to a non-intrinsically safe area


A lightweight portable steam carpet cleaning machine 10 comprised of two main structures, a handle assembly 45 and the recovery tank 12. Connected to the machine are two hoses, the supply hose 58 which supplies clear water to the machine and the discharge hose 60 which takes dirty water away depositing it in a sanitary disposal. A 27 capacity spray jet 44 is used to apply a high volume of clear water to the carpet. A recovery tank 12 which is less than a cubic foot in volume is used to transport the vacuum from the vacuum motor 24 to the water pick-up 56. During the cleaning process, a channel 84 is used to direct extracted water to the bottom of the recovery tank 12. A float switch 36 is used to automatically activate or deactivate the discharge pump 26 during the cleaning process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to steam carpet cleaning machines.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The machine of the present invention relates to portable hot water extractors, also called portable steam carpet cleaners. These machines have almost always been self-contained. By self-contained it is meant it has a holding tank for its cleaning water and a large recovery tank 12 for the dirty water. These machines work by pulling water from the holding tank with a high pressure pump, spraying it on the carpet and recovering it with a vacuum source forming a water pick-up area.
Traditionally, the main problem with steam carpet cleaning machines has been their over wetting of carpets. This over wetting is due to the inability of these machines to generate enough vacuum or suction at the carpet. This inability has led to restricting the amount of water used in the cleaning process. This restriction in water flow has limited the cleaning ability of these machines.
The water recovery systems within these machines produces much less vacuum or suction at the carpet than the machine described herein, even though they often use the same type of vacuum motor. This is caused by three reasons:
1) The much longer distance between their vacuum motor and water pick-up;
2) The comparatively large volume of air contained in their recovery tanks;
3) The comparatively large area the vacuum acts upon on the inside of their recovery tanks.
All steam carpet cleaning machines have recovery tanks. These are the tanks which hold the recovered water sprayed onto the carpet. Other than the machine of the present application, there are only two other known types of portable steam carpet cleaning machines. Both of these types have similar recovery tanks:
1) Self-Contained Pull Behind Machines which have recovery tanks in the 7 to 10 gallon range;
2) Box and Wand Machines which have recovery tanks in the 10 to 18 gallon range.
The main difference with these two types of machines is that the box and wand has a vacuum hose running from the recovery tank 12 to the cleaning wand. The self-contained pull behind has the cleaning wand connected directly to the recovery tank 12.
How these recovery tanks work is as follows. A vacuum motor capable of generating anywhere from 2 to 4 HP is mounted on the outside of the recovery tank 12. A vacuum hole in the recovery tank 12 allows the vacuum generated by the vacuum motor to enter the tank. When the wand or water pick-up part of the machine makes contact with the carpet, it partially closes the system. The vacuum motor immediately starts removing air from the recovery tank 12. As air is removed from the recovery tank 12 a vacuum or suction is exerted on both the inside area of the vacuum tank and the carpet that is under the water pick-up. This vacuum increases as more and more is removed from the recovery tank 12.
Since all vacuum motors are limited in the amount of air they can remove per minute, it stands to reason that the smaller the volume of air in the recovery tank 12 the faster the vacuum will act at the carpet under the water pick-up. Also since all vacuum motors are limited in the power they can generate, it stands to reason that the fewer square inches this power has to act upon the more vacuum response it will be to the areas that it does act on.
In a large recovery tank 12 much of the power generated by the vacuum motor is wasted by acting on the large inside volume of the recovery tank 12. To get as much vacuum to the carpet as possible, it is vitally important to reduce both the volume and the inside area of the recovery tank 12. By doing this you usually reduce the distance between the vacuum motor and the water pick-up.


In the present disclosure, a plurality of types of data are received from a base station and these pieces of data are learned, whereby a first model capable of calculating an estimated value of an index indicating an operation status of the base station is generated. Then this estimated value is compared to a measured value of the index indicating the operation status of the base station.

In recent years, with the rapid increase in the amount of traffic, the importance of radio communication networks has increased. When an abnormality occurs in a radio base station, it is possible that this abnormality may severely disrupt people's lives. It is therefore required to accurately grasp whether or not there is an abnormality in a radio base station.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2018-195929 discloses a method of detecting an abnormality in a radio base station, in which time-series data of a future traffic amount is estimated from time-series data of a past traffic amount, and then the time-series data of the future traffic amount is compared with an actual traffic amount, whereby an abnormality is detected.
In a building or a place where a large number of people gather in a specific time zone or on a specific date such as a stadium or an event space, however, it is difficult to estimate the time-series data of the future traffic amount only from the time-series data of the past traffic amount. Therefore, it is considered that, with the device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2018-195929, it is impossible to estimate a sudden increase in the traffic amount due to holding events, a sudden decrease in the traffic amount due to end of events etc. As a result, it is possible that an abnormality that should be occurring may not be detected or an abnormality that has not yet occurred may be falsely detected.

Server, radio communication system, and control method


A radar antenna is provided. The radar antenna includes an antenna unit provided with dielectric bodies in a front part thereof in a radio wave radiating direction, a pedestal, a supporting bar attached between the antenna unit and the pedestal to separate the antenna unit from the pedestal, and formed with a hollow section therein, and one of a cable and a waveguide passing through the hollow section and connected with the antenna unit.

Conventionally, radar antennas each including an antenna unit and a housing unit has been known. The antenna unit radiates outside radio waves. The housing unit is built therein with a motor for rotating the antenna unit, a coaxial cable for supplying radio waves to the antenna unit, etc.
Moreover, various kinds of antenna units have conventionally been known, such as, an antenna unit having a shape in which the cross-section of an opening part thereof becomes gradually spreads wider toward outside (horn shape, trumpet shape). In supporting the horn-shaped antenna unit, it has been known that even if a metal is disposed right beneath or behind the horn part, it does not give any influence on a beam formation. Therefore, conventionally, in order to stably support the horn-shaped antenna unit, the antenna unit is generally substantially directly attached to the housing unit (with an attaching plate interposing therebetween).
Moreover, JP1991-042723A discloses an antenna unit having dielectric bodies. The antenna unit includes a dielectric body waveguide mechanism comprised of two dielectric body flat plates opposing to each other.
However, with the antenna unit having the dielectric bodies as disclosed in JP1991-042723A, when a metal is disposed near the antenna unit, a beam cannot be formed appropriately. Therefore, the antenna unit having the dielectric bodies is preferred not to be disposed near the housing body, which is different from the conventional horn-shaped antenna unit.
Therefore, the antenna unit having the dielectric bodies is preferred to be supported to be separated from the housing unit. However, in this case, it is concerned that a coaxial cable or the like connecting the antenna unit with the housing unit will be exposed outside.
Thus, an ultraviolet ray countermeasure is needed for the part of the coaxial cable exposed outside. Moreover, when applying to a ship radar apparatus, since it is concerned that the exposed cable receives seawater and a stress due to air pressure, a countermeasure for these factors is also needed. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the radar antennas increases.
Moreover, in the case where the coaxial cable is exposed outside, the appearance of the radar antenna will seem untidy and it is not preferable also in view of the design.
However, JP1991-042723A only discloses the configuration having the shape of the antenna unit with the dielectric bodies, and the details in connecting or protecting the coaxial cable and a waveguide are not disclosed.

Radar antenna and radar antenna manufacturing method


A mixed blue emitting phosphor is obtained by mixing ZnS:Ag,Al with at least one green emitting phosphor selected from the group consisting of Y.sub.3 (Al,Ga).sub.5 O.sub.12 :Tb, Y.sub.2 SiO.sub.5 :Tb and LaOCl:Tb of an amount below 20 wt %, thereby greatly enhancing luminance and luminance-saturation characteristic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mixed blue emitting phosphor, for cathode ray tube and more particularly to a mixed blue emitting phosphor having improved luminance and luminance-saturation characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the achievement of enlargement and high definition of color cathode ray tubes, display tubes, projections tubes, etc., various studies are being carried out to enhance the luminance of a screen. Especially, as current density is heightened, the chromaticity coordinates of light emitted from phosphors shift and luminance variation occurs. Thus, concentration is on developing phosphors which have an excellent current-to-emission characteristic (hereinafter, referred to as the .gamma.-characteristic) as well as very good temperature and durability characteristics. The phosphor which should particularly have an excellent .gamma.-characteristic is the blue emitting phosphor. This is because, while the green and red emitting phosphors utilized in the projection tube which is driven under high current density and high voltage are composed of rare earth elements and thus have an inherently good .gamma.-characteristic, the zinc sulfide (ZnS)-based phosphor used as the blue emitting phosphor has a poor .gamma.-characteristic since it does not belong to the rare earth phosphors.
In view of this problem, different from the ZnS:Ag,Cl phosphor for the use as the blue emitting phosphor in a general cathode ray tube, a ZnS:Ag,Al phosphor having an improved .gamma.-characteristic has been developed. However, there is room for further improvement of this phosphor, which thereby stipulates the need for a better phosphor.
Accordingly, in order to improve the characteristic of the ZnS:Ag,Al phosphor, research is being conducted on the control of phosphor characteristics, on the partial replacement of the host and/or activator with another element and on the use of mixed phosphors.
Japanese Patent No. sho 52-30158, and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. sho 55-1003 describe that, when the ZnS:Ag,Cl and ZnS:Ag,Al phosphors have a cubic crystalline structure, they display excellent luminance characteristics.
European Patent Laid-open Publication No. EP 0 408 113 Al discloses a technique wherein chromaticity coordinates are adjusted by adding cadmium (Cd) and selenium (Se) to ZnS:Ag phosphor to thereby enhance the emission characteristic. Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. hei 2-255791 improves the luminance-saturation characteristic by adding Cd and Se to ZnS:Ag,Al phosphor.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. hei 2-135276 discloses a technique for improving the luminance under a high current density by mixing ZnS:Ag,Al phosphor with a secondary phosphor, e.g., [(Sr,Ca,Eu).sub.3 Mg]ZnSi.sub.2 O.sub.8, Ca.sub.3 MgEu(PO.sub.4).sub.2 or (ZnMEu).sub.2 Al.sub.4 Si.sub.5 O.sub.18.
However, any luminance increase is slight when achieved by lengthening the wave of a single phosphor or mixing the phosphors. Thus, it has been determined that the effect of increasing the liminance attained by mixing the ZnS:Ag,Al phosphor (currently the best-known blue emitting phosphor for a projection tube) with another blue emitting phosphor, cannot satisfy the demand.
As described above, the ZnS-based phosphors is chiefly used as the blue emitting phosphor for a cathode ray tube. Although these phosphors have excellent luminance, they have poor durability and luminance saturation characteristics, and therefore are unfavorable for the use in projection tubes to be stimulated under high voltage and high current.
On the other hand, copper, gold-activated, aluminum-coactivated, zinc sulfide (ZnS:Cu,Au,Al), copper-activated, aluminum-coactivated zinc sulfide (ZnS:Cu,Al) phosphors are widely used as the green emitting phosphor for the cathode ray tube. However, since these ZnS-based phosphors have luminance-saturation, temperature and durability characteristics unsuitable for use in projection tubes, phosphors of rare earth elements, e.g., terbium-activated yttrium aluminum galate (Y.sub.3 (Al,Ga).sub.5 O.sub.12 :Tb), terbium-activated yttrium silicate (Y.sub.2 SiO.sub.5 :Tb) and terbium-activated lanthanum oxychloride (LaOCl:Tb), have been developed to solve the above-mentioned problem, and are currently being used satisfactorily.


An intermediate lever arrangement for a mechanically-controllable valve drive arrangement, includes a pivot lever arrangement. At least one intermediate lever(s) comprising a working cam is configured to be in an operative connection with the pivot lever arrangement. A bearing shaft is arranged on the at least one intermediate lever(s). An engagement element comprising a circumferential point is mounted in the at least one intermediate lever(s) arrangement so as to rotate about an axis of rotation. A fixing device is arranged on the bearing shaft. The fixing device is configured to fix the engagement element in a defined position. A device is configured so that the circumferential point of the engagement element, upon a rotation by an angle α, describes a curved shape which deviates from an arc of a circle.

Such arrangements have previously been described in the field of internal combustion engines. DE 10 2006 033 559 A1 and DE 10 2007 022 266 A1, for example, describe valve drive arrangements wherein a respective gas exchange valve is adjustable in its lifting height. For this purpose, both of the valve drive arrangements are provided with an intermediate lever arrangement which is connected to a cam shaft for periodically moving the gas exchange valve and comprises a working element by which the maximally and respectively minimally attainable lifting height is adjustable. Due to manufacturing tolerances, however, all of these valve drive arrangements have the disadvantage that they will not have the exactly-desired valve stroke after manufacture and subsequent assembly. In view of the requirement of an identical valve stroke for all valves and cylinders, this disadvantage may lead to an unsatisfactory operating performance of the engine, particularly for small valve strokes.

Mechanically controllable valve drive arrangement


There is provided an information processing device and an information processing method that enable a desired voice recognition result to be easily obtained. The information processing device includes a presentation control unit that controls a separation at a time of presenting a recognition result of voice recognition on the basis of context relating to voice recognition. The present technology can be applied, for example, to an information processing device that independently performs voice recognition, a server that performs voice recognition in response to a call from a client and transmits the recognition result to the client, or the client that requests voice recognition to the server, receives the recognition result from the server, and presents the recognition result.

Presentation of a candidate to a user has been conventionally disclosed. In the presentation, a candidate having a maximum score in the first voice recognition is removed from candidate groups of recognition results for the first and second voice recognitions, and another candidate having a maximum score is selected from a candidate group, having larger score dispersion, of the first and second candidate groups after the removal (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Information processing device and information processing method