A trocar assembly for use in surgery in a patient, comprising an elongated outer tubular member having a first or proximal end and a second or distal end. The proximal end has a housing enclosing a fluid pressure chamber therein. The distal end of the outer tubular member has a gaseous fluid discharge arrangement therethrough, through which a medical instrument is disposed for surgical manipulation of the patient.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to medical devices and more particularly to access devices, and particularly their seal arrangements and closure mechanisms applicable to such medical devices.
2. Prior Art
Laparoscopic surgery is now standard procedure in hospitals today. Abdominal operations are being performed with narrow elongated instruments inserted through small incisions into interior portions of the body. Such laparoscopic procedures are now considered the treatment of choice for operations such as the removal of the gall bladder, spleen, adrenal glands, uterus and ovaries. Such laparoscopic procedures are accomplished via access through a device typically known as a trocar which facilitates the introduction of laparoscopic instruments into the abdomen of the body. The introductions of these instruments typically are done in regions which include a fluid under pressure. In the abdomen, this fluid may be a gas such as insufflation gas. It is desirable to provide for the introduction of a surgical instrument into the body cavity without permitting the reduction or loss of the operative pneumoperitoneum.
During typical laparoscopic procedures, the surgeon makes three to four small incisions, usually no larger than about twelve millimeters. These facial incisions are made with the trocar devices. The trocar makes the incision and then provides a tubular access for other instruments to be inserted into the abdominal space. The trocar also provides a means to insufflate the abdominal cavity with a low pressure gas, typically carbon dioxide, so that the surgeon has an open interior space in which to work. The trocar must provide a means to maintain the internal gas pressure with some sort of a seal between the trocar and the medical instrument he is utilizing, and still allow those surgical devices to be inserted and withdrawn. Such surgical instruments introduced through the trocar tube and into the abdomen may include scissors, grasping instruments, occluding instruments, cauterizing units, cameras, light sources and other surgical instruments.
Currently, insufflation is performed by providing a regulated pressurized gas to the peritoneal cavity via the trocar cannula. This gas, typically carbon dioxide, is supplied to a connection on the side of the trocar tube by a flexible hose thereattached. The medical instrument going through the trocar or innermost tube thereof, should be sealed relative to the trocar so that insufflation gas will not escape from the patient.
Sealing mechanisms are utilized within the trocar to prevent the escape of fluid. Such mechanisms said typically comprised an aperture or septum valve which has functioned to form a seal around the outer surface of the instrument positioned and moved within the trocar or access device. When the instrument is inserted, or is removed, the hole in the seal contracts to restrict outward gas flow. Such seals usually accept a range of instrument diameters and usually do not totally restrict outward gas flow when these instruments are retracted. Other types of valves and seals include flapper valves or trap type doors which are spring loaded. When a instrument penetrates the trocar tube access device the instrument pushes the door open. However when the instrument is retracted, such a trap door or valve may interfere with the removal of the instrument or any tissue being transported thereby.
Certain problems arise with the types of seals utilized in these trocar devices. Certain seals only work for a limited range of instrument diameters. Certain other seals inhibit the motion of the instrument as it is being inserted or as it is being withdrawn from the trocar. Typically the seals do not last through any procedures because they are subject to wear and tearing. Those prior art seals also may often interfere with the removal of the instrument and/or any tissue being withdraw from the patient utilizing that particular instrument.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a seal which will work with a wide range of instrument sizes, shapes and diameters.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a universal trocar seal for use without the seal interfering with or touching any instrument utilized therewith.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide a seal which will eliminate any motion restriction for those instruments inserted therethrough, and permit improved tactile feedback to the surgeon.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a seal which may be automatic in its function, as well as being controllable and adjustable, by or according to the needs of the attending surgeon.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a path for exiting liquid and gas and a collection arrangement therefore, with a prevention of any splash therewith.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide a seal which will not interfere with the removal of tissue from the interior of a body cavity as it moves through the trocar.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to allow instruments with an irregular outside surface configuration to still maintain a seal with the trocar.
It is yet another object of the present invention to allow an instrument and a trailing suture to be utilized as in a surgical procedure such as a Nissen fundal placation.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to permit the use of two or more instruments with a combined OD less than the ID of the cannula wherein one instrument could be used for grasping and stabilizing tissue the other instrument used for cutting that stabilized tissue or cannulation (cholangiogram) of a ductal tissue without the loss of gas or the use of a further trocar.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for securing a trocar assembly at a surgical site and for assisting in returning that site to closure.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means for illuminating an abdominal site during a procedure using a trocar.


A method of transferring information stored in a mobile instrument, the information including a first information file (140) containing metadata and a pointer indicative of a first auxiliary file address; and a first auxiliary file (141) containing image information, the first auxiliary file being located at the first auxiliary file address. The method includes the steps of: storing the metadata in a second information file (140′); storing the image information in a second auxiliary file (142′) at a second auxiliary file address; generating a second pointer indicative of the second auxiliary file address; and storing the second pointer in the second information file. The instrument includes a camera (70); one or more spatial sensors; and an external sensor port (56). Power to the sensors can be controlled asynchronously. Various parsing methods are also described. The instrument includes a marker module configured to superimpose a marker on the image.

Instruments are known which combine a digital camera and distance meter or range finder such as a laser range finder, and which are intended to be hand held or tripod or monopod mounted in use. Such instruments may also be associated with a GPS receiver and a compass, in order to record when an image of a subject is taken by the camera, the position of the camera or person operating the camera, the direction in which the camera is aimed, the distance to the subject or target, and the inclination to the subject or target. See for example www.mdl.co.uk.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mobile instrument, viewing device, and methods of processing and storing information


A latching device provides locking of the backrest of a tilt-adjustable seat in a motor vehicle against undergoing pivotal movement in response to the motor vehicle exceeding a predetermined acceleration value in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle. The latching device includes an internal-toothed annular member on a backrest-secured part of a seat articulation which pivotally mounts the backrest to a seat part of the seat, an eccentric inertial weight pivotally supported on a pivot axle of the seat articulation pivotally mounting the backrest-secured part to a seat-secured part of the seat articulation, at least one stop on the inertial weight spaced from the pivot axle, and two locking pawls pivotally supported at least at one center of rotation disposed on the seat-secured part of the seat articulation and having tooth segments capable of lockably engaging with the internal-toothed annular member. At normal acceleration values the locking pawls are held under the action of a spring out of engagement with the internal-toothed annular member. Above a predetermined high acceleration value, such as occurs during a crash, the inertial weight pivots about the pivot axle pressing at least one of the tooth segments of one of the locking pawls into locking engagement with the internal-toothed annular member, thereby securing the backrest from undergoing pivotal movement responding to the occurrence of the high acceleration value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tilt-adjustable motor vehicle seat of the type in which a backrest of the seat is connected with a seat part of the seat via bilateral articulations including a first articulation part secured stationarily on the seat, a second articulation part secured stationarily on the backrest, and a pivot axle disposed between and pivotally coupling the articulation parts together. More particularly, the present invention relates to a latching device for locking the backrest relative to the seat part in response to the motor vehicle exceeding a predetermined acceleration value acting in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The articulations between a seat part of a motor vehicle seat and its backrest whose inclination can be adjusted relative to the seat part are implemented as inclination adjustment fittings. For the pure function of adjustment of the angle of inclination an adjustment fitting disposed on one of the sides of the seat is entirely sufficient. At normal vehicle acceleration or at normal seat loading through the passenger, this one adjustment fitting secures the backrest securely in the adjusted angle of inclination. In the event of a crash in which very high negative or positive accelerations occur, the backrest of a seat equipped in this way would unavoidably "slide through", i.e. the adjustment fitting could not absorb the large forces and shunt them into the seat frame.
For this reason motor vehicle seats are conventionally built with one adjustment fitting on each seat side. In order to attain synchronous adjustment, the two fittings are coupled with one another through a shaft. In the case of motor vehicle seats integrated with belts, the adjustment fitting on the one seat side where the belt member is integrated into the backrest frame must be implemented especially strong since the retaining forces of the integrated belt carried on the seat must be intercepted in the seat itself, i.e. by its frame construction, which forces are carried off therefrom into the motor vehicle floor. The articulations between the backrest and the seat part represent a substantial member in the chain of diversion of force.
German patent document No. DE-OS 22 38 899 discloses a safety locking mechanism in particular for a reclining seat fitting of a motor vehicle seat. This fitting comprises a first fitting part fixedly disposed on the seat frame and a second fitting part disposed on the seat backrest and articulated with the first fitting part through a pivot axle. Both fitting parts are adjustable relative to one another by means of a latching arrangement. This latching arrangement comprises a pinion, rotatably supported on the first fitting part secured stationarily on the seat frame, which engages an internal teething disposed concentrically to the pivot axis. On the pinion axle extending parallel to the pivot axis and on the second fitting part is seated a toothed wheel which can be locked by an arresting lever. In the locked position, the first and second fitting parts cannot be pivoted toward one another. Also on the pinion axle parallel to the toothed wheel is seated a locking wheel with which is associated at least one locking pawl articulated on the first fitting part secured on the seat frame, which through inertia can be made to engage the locking wheel. Thereby the seat backrest is said to be blocked even with the latching device disengaged during strong accelerations.
The above-described arrangement has several drawbacks. It comprises a relatively large number of structural members and for that reason is disturbance-prone. Furthermore, it is neither suitable for replacing an adjustment fitting on a seat side nor can it be used for reinforcing an adjustment fitting.

Latching device for locking backrest of tilt-adjustable motor vehicle seat

Bertrand Faure Sitztechnik GmbH & Co. KG


A new bidens plant particularly distinguished by large yellow flowers and an upright plant habit, is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct variety of bidens, botanically known as Bidens ferulifolia and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'KLEBF15323'. 'KLEBF15323' originated from a controlled-cross between the proprietary female bidens variety 'BF-2009-1018' (unpatented) and the proprietary male bidens variety 'BF-2010-0032' (unpatented).
In July 2011 the two bidens parental lines 'BF-2009-1018' and 'BF-2010-0032' were crossed in Stuttgart, Germany and seeds were obtained. The seeds were sown and plants were grown for evaluation. A plant line was selected in May 2012 and subsequently named 'KLEBF15323'. In May 2012 'KLEBF15323' was first vegetatively propagated by vegetative cuttings in Stuttgart, Germany. 'KLEBF15323' was found to reproduce true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation via vegetative cuttings in Stuttgart, Germany.


When a user clicks a Back button or a Forward button while reviewing an application page in a browser, the client performs an action in response which is specified by a server. The Back and Forward buttons may be controlled by the server and may be used to provide real undo and redo functionality for stateful server applications. The functionality may be implemented using invisible pages loaded in the browser. If it is determined that undo or redo cannot be performed, the client may continue to display the application page, optionally with a message to the user.

Conventional browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator have "Back" and "Forward" buttons. The function of these buttons in different browsers is essentially the same. When a user navigates from a first page displayed in the browser to a second one, for example using a hyperlink, the browser registers the navigation in its history. If the user clicks the Back button while the second page is displayed, the browser "steps back" in its history and instead displays a cached version of the first page. At that time, the user can click the Forward button to resubmit the request for the second page. This functionality usually is sufficient for displaying pages from a stateless application in the browser. For stateful applications, in contrast, there may be problems. Some users wrongly assume that they can undo or redo changes in the application by clicking the Back and Forward buttons.
On the contrary, Back and Forward actions by the user are usually not communicated to the server at all. If the first page was obtained (from the server) using the GET command as specified in the Hypertext Transfer Protocol ("HTTP"), then the Back button click causes the browser to display the cached version of the first page without sending any request to the server. The server is therefore not "aware" that this navigation takes place in the browser. This may lead to problems. For example, some or all information on the first page may have become invalid in the meantime. This is because the browser's navigation back to the cached version of the first page does not undo any action that the server took in the process of changing from the first page to the second page. In other words, if the first page corresponds to the server application having a first state and the second page corresponds to a second state, then clicking the Back button does not change the application back to the first state.
Another HTTP command, POST, may cause similar problems. This command may not permit the use of the Back button at all. That is, although the Back button appears active in the browser, clicking it may result in an error message. Accordingly, the Back button does not accomplish what the user may have intended by clicking the Back button—to undo the last taken step. Alternatively, clicking the Back button after a POST request may prompt the browser to confirm whether the user wishes to have the original request for the first page resubmitted to the server. But because the server did not revert the application back to its previous state, the original request may now be ill-defined or nonsensical to the server. The above described problems are not limited to the Back button. Also the Forward button may lead to unexpected events, for example if it causes a previous request to the server to be resubmitted when the server application is in a different state than when the request was originally sent.
In response to problems such as these, it has been proposed that at least the Back button in the browser be deactivated. However, conventional browsers do not allow the Back button to be deactivated. Others have implemented special "Back" and "Forward" buttons in the application page(s) that may allow the user to undo or redo actions. One problem with this approach is that the browser's Back and Forward buttons remain active. Because browsers have become so widely used, users are likely to click on the browser buttons out of habit instead of on the designated buttons.
Yet another attempted approach is to prevent the browser from caching a page, thereby forcing the browser to request the page anew from the server. One disadvantage with this approach is that it only works with the GET request. Another is that it does not allow the server to control what happens on the browser when the user clicks the Back or Forward button.


An imaging sensor (13) has a multiplicity of sensor elements (16). Each sensor element (16) has a light-sensitive zone (17) in which radiation is detected as a function of position. A multiplicity of storage cells (21) successively store charges detected in the light-sensitive zone (17) of each sensor element (16) in synchronism with a modulation signal which is produced by the radiation source. The imaging sensor (13) simultaneously detects and demodulates intensity-modulated radiation as a function of position. The invention makes it possible to determine a range of parameters for the object (11) being examined, thus ensuring that the object is accurately recorded for rangefinding purposes.

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for detection and demodulation of an intensity-modulated radiation field.
The behavior of many systems in technology is investigated, inter alia, with the aid of modulated signals. The system is in this case excited with a modulated signal, for example a sinusoidal signal, and the response of the system is measured. The modulation of the system response obtained, its phase shift with respect to the exciting signal, and the background signal level (offset) are defined as characteristic variables.
In the case of known semiconductor image sensors, two-dimensional distributions of the light intensity are converted into two-dimensional photoelectric current density distributions. The light-generated signal charges are integrated with respect to time in so-called pixels. For example, a CCD image sensor is disclosed in DE 39 09 394 C2, in which the charge pattern generated is shifted laterally during the exposure. This is intended to avoid the occurrence of movement blurring when recording objects which are moving relative to the image sensor.
A method is known for use in non-scanning, imaging laser-radar 3D cameras, in which modulated light is imaged on a conventional image sensor (Laser-Radar Imaging Without Scanners, Photonics Spectra, (28 Apr. 1994). The demodulation is carried out using an intensifier element, which receives images and is variable with respect to time, between the imaging objective and the semiconductor image sensor. The intensifier element is designed as a microchannel plate (MCP), it being necessary to operate at high voltages of 100 to 1000 volts. The incoming light is absorbed in the intensifier element, being modulated with respect to time, and then passes to the image sensor, the latter having only the function of an integrator. Three or more images can be recorded in this case, it being necessary to accept a considerable loss of light because of absorption in the intensifier element. In addition, the images must be read out of the image sensor completely between the recordings.
In addition, a CCD image sensor is known for the demodulation of time variable polarized light (H. Povel, H. Aebersold, J. O. Stenflo, "Charge-coupled device image sensor as a demodulator in a 2-D polarimeter with a piezoelastic modulator", Applied Optics, Vol. 29, pp. 1186-1190, 1990). A modulator is arranged between the objective and the CCD image sensor for this purpose, which modulator changes the polarization of the light between two states in rapid sequence. The two images produced of the two polarization states are accumulated and stored in the image sensor. A known image sensor is for this purpose provided with a strip mask, which covers every other image sensor line in a light-proof manner. In this way, the image of the respective polarization state can be accumulated in the correct cycle by shifting the image charge pattern up and down vertically.

Apparatus and method for detection and demodulation of an intensity-modulated radiation field


A system and method is provided for authenticating access in a mobile wireless network. The system and method comprise exchanging an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) packet with an access terminal over a high rate packet data radio link and a signaling interface through a radio access network, encapsulating the EAP packet in an authentication authorization and accounting (AAA) packet, and sending the AAA packet to an authentication server for authentication.

The phenomenal growth of information technology and the Internet, and the general population's desire for timely information services, create a need for a high performance wireless Internet technology.
Current CDMA2000 data networks, though, rely on the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to establish wireless networking sessions. Such a reliance on PPP results in a significant performance bottleneck. PPP signaling is not optimized for a wireless environment, particularly for handoff scenarios. PPP authentication and call setup time may be in the order of several seconds, which is unacceptable for most real-time telephony applications. Moreover, a single PPP session requires substantial memory resources, and the PPP state machine is quite processing and memory intensive.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods for access authentication in a mobile wireless network that reduce call setup times.

System and method for access authentication in a mobile wireless network


An original reading apparatus with an original feeding apparatus pivotally connected thereto, including a detecting device for detecting the opened state and the closed state of the original feeding apparatus, and a controller for rendering a part or the whole of the original feeding apparatus operable, on the basis of the result of the detection by the detecting device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an original reading apparatus with an original feeding apparatus mounted thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, an original reading apparatus with an original feeding apparatus pivotally mounted thereon contains therein digital circuits for apparatus control and original reading. Generally, these digital circuits generates an unnecessary radiation wave, and if the unnecessary radiation wave is strong, it may sometimes wrongly operate other nearly apparatus and therefore, such an apparatus is provided with means for suppressing the unnecessary radiation wave (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-92311).
As one of techniques of suppressing the above-mentioned unnecessary radiation wave, there is a method of wrapping a generating source of the unnecessary radiation wave with a condition, but in this method, when the earthing of this conductor itself is insufficient, the conductor becomes an antenna, and this results in the problem that the unnecessary radiation wave is amplified. In order to solve this problem, it has been proposed to provide a mechanism for consolidating the contact between the original reading apparatus and the housing of the original feeding apparatus when the original feeding apparatus is in a closed state, thereby enhancing the earthed state of the original feeding apparatus. However, when the original feeding apparatus is in an opened state, the earthed state of the original feeding apparatus is inferior to that in the closed state and therefore, the digital circuits in the original feeding apparatus need be provided with a countermeasure for the unnecessary radiation wave.
In the original reading apparatus with the conventional original feeding apparatus pivotally mounted thereon, as described above, when the original feeding apparatus is in the opened state, the earthed state of the original feeding apparatus is inferior, and this has led to the problem that additional parts and manufacturing process for providing the digital circuits in the original feeding apparatus with the countermeasure for the unnecessary radiation waves are increased and the cost becomes higher.
Further, in spite of the original feeding apparatus being not operated during the use in a pressure plate mode, electric power is supplied to the original feeding apparatus, and this also has led to the problem that useless electric power is consumed.

Original reading apparatus with openable and closable state and control based thereon


A seal structure in which a hole (5) is defined by a metal base member (4) as a partition member for partitioning the regions on the opposite sides thereof to a gas tight or liquid tight state and a member passes through the hole (5) and extends therefrom. The member passing through the hole (5) may be an electric conductor (2), a pipe member for flowing gas or liquid, a heat pipe for flowing a heat medium, an optical fiber for transferring an optical signal, or the like, and the structure is arranged such that the member passing through the hole is disposed through a synthetic resin seal member (3) and the hole (5) is sealed based on the confinement effected by the plastic deforming action of the base member (4) and the deforming action of the seal member (3) effected by making use of the elastic plasticity thereof, whereby the structure exhibits an excellent pressure resistive performance and can effectively seal the hole (5).

A hydraulic machine such as, for example, a hydraulic shovel and the like has, for example, a pressure sensor, pressure difference sensor, displacement sensor and the like disposed in the respective sections of the hydraulic fluid contained in a hydraulic drive unit for operating the machine to check the operating state of the hydraulic drive unit so that the pressure state and the like in the unit can be measured. The circumstance in which the pressure sensor and the like are disposed is the high pressure circumference in the hydraulic fluid contained in the unit. For example, the pressure sensor is usually arranged as an electric unit including a Wheatstone bridge circuit making use of strain gauges and the like. A hydraulic pressure as an object to be sensed is converted into an amount of electricity by the pressure sensor and sensed as an electric signal. The electric signal produced by the pressure sensor is derived from the high pressure interior of the unit to the outside thereof at an atmosphere pressure through a signal deriving line. A control unit is disposed outside the hydraulic drive unit to control the operation thereof and the thus sensed signal derived to the outside through the signal deriving line is input to the control unit and used for various controls effected thereafter as an information regarding the operating state.
In the above arrangement, a conventional typical arrangement for extracting the signal deriving line to the outside is such that, for example, a hole is bored in a portion of the metal vessel of the unit to cause the signal deriving line to pass therethrough and further the signal deriving line is fixed within the hole by the application of a hermetic seal structure to thereby seal hydraulic fluid as well as maintain electric insulation between the signal deriving line and the metal vessel. There has been conventionally a glass hermetic seal and plastic hermetic seal as such a hermetic seal.
The glass hermetic seal used in the conventional seal structure of the signal line deriving portion must be processed at a high temperature of about 1000.degree. C. in an N.sub.2 atmosphere by using a furnace. Therefore, a manufacturing cost is expensive as a whole. Further, a caution must be also paid to a coefficient of linear expansion and thus a metal material used as the core member of the signal line and the vessel wall being a base is limited. For example, Fe--Ni is used as the core member of the signal line and stainless steel having a large coefficient of expansion is used as the metal material of the vessel wall. As a result, the manufacturing cost is further increased. Further, brittleness is a problem due to the use of glass and thus the glass hermetic seal is difficult to be practically applied to construction machines and civil engineering machines.
Further, in the plastic hermetic seal, a problem arises in the force for bonding the hermetic seal to the metal material of the vessel wall serving as a base and there is a problem in that the plastic hermetic seal cannot be used at high pressure and lacks in durability.
Although the above example describes the structure by which an electric signal supplied from the electric unit disposed in the hydraulic drive unit at high pressure is derived to the outside of the unit at an atmospheric pressure through the signal deriving line, a similar problem may also arise in the case in which an electric signal is derived from an electric unit disposed in the interior of a vacuum vessel having a high degree of vacuum to the outside of the vessel at an atmospheric pressure.
Further, in the general consideration of the above problem, when there is a metal partition member for isolating the interior thereof from the outside such as, for example, a closed metal vessel and the regions on the opposite sides of the partition member must be isolated from each other and units disposed in the respective regions on the opposite sides must be bonded or communicated to each other through any rigid member, there must be provided a structure by which the member is caused to pass through a hole bored in the partition member and the hole is sealed. The seal structure is not limited to the case in which the pressures in the regions on the opposite sides of the partition member are greatly different but must be also applied to the case in which the physical or chemical conditions and the like in the regions on the opposite sides of the partition member are different (there exist different kinds of gases, liquids and the like).
Further, the member passing through the hole bored in the metal partition member is not limited to the afore-said signal deriving line but generally includes a member with necessary rigidity such as a conducting member for transferring an electric signal or electric power, pipe member for flowing various fluids, heat pipe for flowing a heat medium, optical fiber for transferring an optical signal, and the like. The aforesaid problem also arises when these members are caused to pass through the hole bored in the metal partition member and the hole is sealed.
Further, reference is cited here to two Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Nos. Sho 63-214429 and Sho 63-214430 as conventional technical literatures relating to the present invention. Although the technologies disclosed in these literatures are used to bond two members and do not propose a seal structure, they will be described below because these technologies can be understood as similar related technologies.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 63-214429 relates to a structure for bonding a cylindrical member made of fiber-reinforced plastic to a metal mounting member. As shown in, for example, FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 of the literature, the structure is arranged such that an end of the cylindrical member is inserted into a hole bored in the mounting member, a reinforcing member is inserted into the stepped portion in the interior of the cylindrical member, and the portion around the inserting port of the hole of the mounting member is forcibly compressed by a punch pressure to cause plastic deformation (metal flow) to the inner surface of the hole of the mounting member so that the end of the cylindrical member is held by the plastically deformed portion and the reinforced member to thereby bond the cylindrical member to the mounting member. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the metal flow is produced to the inner circumference portion in the vicinity of the opening at one end of the hole by applying a pressure by the punch. Further, the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 of the literature shows a bonding structure made by producing the metal flow to the inner circumferential portions in the vicinity of the openings on the opposite ends of the hole.
Further, the technology disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 63-214430 relates to a structure for bonding a fiber-reinforced plastic bar-shaped member to a metal mounting member and has substantially the same structure as the bonding structure making use of the metal flow which is described in the above literature (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 63-214429). For example, FIG. 10 of the literature shows the structure by which the metal flow is produced to the inner circumferential surface in the vicinity of the opening at one end of a hole and FIG. 11 of the literature shows the structure by which the metal flow is produced to the inner circumferential surfaces in the vicinity of the openings at the both ends of the hole.
The technologies disclosed in the above two literatures intend to bond the member made of the fiber-reinforced plastic to the metal mounting member by making use of the metal flow technology. From the view point of the sealing performance of a bonded portion, since the aforesaid cylindrical member or bar-shaped member made of the fiber-reinforced plastic is formed by impregnating resin into a hard fiber material such as carbon fiber, glass fiber or the like which is wound by a filament winding method or the like, it has an increased hardness as a whole and does not have desirable elastic plasticity, and thus the member cannot be effectively deformed and cannot exhibit a sufficient sealing performance. Therefore, the technologies disposed in the above two literatures simply intend to bond the fiber-reinforced resin member to the metal mounting member and do not intend to seal the portion between them. This fact is apparent from, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 63-214429 wherein FIG. 7 shows that an O ring for seal is separately provided.
Further, when a problem is indicated from another point of view, although the bonding structure disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 63-214429 has a ring-shaped reinforcing material disposed in the interior of the cylindrical member of the fiber-reinforced plastic, the axial length thereof is substantially the same as the thickness of the metal mounting member. Therefore, even if the cylindrical member is compressed and bonded from the opposite sides thereof, when a bending stress is applied to the cylindrical member, the bending stress is applied about the circumference of the end of the reinforcing member as a fulcrum, and thus a problem arises in that creep is liable to be caused to the bonded portion and the reliability of the bonded portion is lowered. Further, in the bonding structure disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 63-214430, since the bar-shaped member made of the fiber-reinforced plastic has low rigidity at the portion thereof where the resin exists, a problem arises in that the vicinity of the compressed portion is locally and concentrically deformed, whereas since the member has high rigidity as a whole, a compressing force cannot be applied to the interior thereof.
An object of the present invention is to provide a seal structure for a member-passing-through hole bored or formed in a metal partition member by which the hole having a member passing therethrough can be sealed securely as well as stably for a long time with a very high pressure resistive performance, the seal structure further being simply arranged and made by a simple process at a low cost, in the structure for sealing the hole bored in the metal partition member, which isolates the inside region thereof from the outside, such as, for example, a pressure vessel, vacuum vessel and closed vessel for accommodating gas and liquid and which has a member such as, for example, a conductor or conductor pin for transferring an electric signal or electric power, other conductors, metal pipe member for flowing fluid, heat pipe for flowing a heat medium, optical fiber for transferring an optical signal, and the like each passing through the hole.

Seal structure for member-passing-through hole bored in metal partition member

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


There is disclosed a method of digital signal compression, coding and representation, and more particularly a method of video compression, coding and representation system that uses multi-frame motion estimation and includes both device and method aspects. The invention also provides a computer program product, such as a recording medium, carrying program instructions readable by a computing device to cause the computing device to carry out a method according to the invention.

Due to the huge size of the raw digital video data (or image sequences), compression must be applied such data so that they may be transmitted and stored. There have been many important video compression standards, including the ISO/IEC MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 standards and the ITU-T H.261, H.263, H.263+, H.263++, H.264 standards. The ISO/IEC MPEG-1/2/4 standards are used extensively by the entertainment industry to distribute movies, digital video broadcast including video compact disk or VCD (MPEG-1), digital video disk or digital versatile disk or DVD (MPEG-2), recordable DVD (MPEG-2), digital video broadcast or DVB (MPEG-2), video-on-demand or VOD (MPEG-2), high definition television or HDTV in the US (MPEG-2), etc. The later MPEG-4 was more advanced than MPEG-2 and can achieve high quality video at lower bit rate, making it very suitable for video streaming over internet, digital wireless network (e.g. 3G network), multimedia messaging service (MMS standard from 3GPP), etc. MPEG-4 will be included in the next generation DVD players. The ITU-T H.261/3/4 standards are designed for low-delay video phone and video conferencing systems. The early H.261 was designed to operate at bit rates of p*64 kbit/s, with p=1,2, . . . , 31. The later H.263 is very successful and is widely used in modern day video conferencing systems, and in video streaming in broadband and in wireless network, including the multimedia messaging service (MMS) in 2.5G and 3G networks and beyond. The latest H.264 (also called MPEG-4 Version 10, or MPEG-4 AVC) is currently the state-of-the-art video compression standard. It is so powerful that MPEG decided to jointly develop with ITU-T in the framework of the Joint Video Team (JVT). The new standard is called H.264 in ITU-T and is called MPEG-4 Advance Video Coding (MPEG-4 AVC), or MPEG-4 Version 10. Based on H.264, a related standard called the Audio Visual Standard (AVS) is currently under development in China. Other related standards may be under development.
H.264 has superior objective and subjective video quality over MPEG-1/2/4 and H.261/3. The basic encoding algorithm of H.264 is similar to H.263 or MPEG-4 except that integer 4×4 discrete cosine transform (DCT) is used instead of the traditional 8×8 DCT and there are additional features include intra prediction mode for I-frames, multiple block sizes and multiple reference frames for motion estimation/compensation, quarter pixel accuracy for motion estimation, in-loop deblocking filter, context adaptive binary arithmetic coding, etc.
In particular, H.264 allows the encoder to store five reference pictures for motion estimation (ME) and motion compensation (MC). However, the processing time increases linearly with the number of reference pictures used. This is because motion estimation needs to be performed for each reference frame in a simple implementation. This full selection process (the examination of all five reference frames) provides the best coding result but the five-fold increase in computation is very high.

Efficient multi-frame motion estimation for video compression

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology


By providing a frame assembly, two wheel holding carriers which are arcuately pivotably mounted to the frame assembly, and a support platform which is also pivotally mounted to the frame assembly and controls the movement of the wheel holding carrier, a small, compact, two wheeled, luggage cart/carrier is achieved which is capable of quickly and easily arcuately pivoting wheel support brackets between two alternate positions, with ease and convenience. In addition, the arcuate pivoting movement of the wheel supporting brackets is automatically achieved simultaneously with movement of the luggage support platform from a stowed position to a deployed, usable position. The support platform is pivotally mounted to the terminating end of the frame assembly for being arcuately pivoted between a first, stowed position and a second, deployed position wherein the support platform is substantially perpendicular to the plane established by the frame assembly.

In order to accommodate the diverse needs and desires of consumers, numerous luggage cart constructions have been developed over the years. In this regard, many prior art constructions presently exist which enable consumers to easily transport a plurality of suitcases on a single cart or carrier which is also easily folded or collapsed into a small, compact configuration.
As these prior art, portable, luggage carts/carriers were developed, numerous alternate designs were implemented for increasing consumer convenience. In this regard, one area which received particular attention was the construction of a luggage cart/carrier wherein the support wheels automatically arcuately pivot between a stowed position and a fully deployed, usable position. Although this type of construction quickly became popular, difficulties were often encountered with prior art constructions due to their inability to provide repeatable, reliable, controlled movement of the support wheels in a cost effective construction.
In attempting to resolve this difficulty and satisfy consumers' needs and desires, several prior art products have attempted to produce luggage cart/carriers with pivotable wheel members. However, although substantial effort has been expended in attempting to develop a reliable and dependable construction, these efforts have generally failed to fully satisfy all of the consumers needs and demands.
In particular, these prior art products are typically constructed with extremely complicated pivoting systems, requiring numerous parts and assembly difficulties. As a result, substantial expense is incurred in the manufacture of these products, as well as suffering from breakdowns and operational malfunctions.
In addition, other prior art products are constructed with activation systems which are susceptible to jamming or failure during the opening operation. In addition, some systems require sliding engagement of metal parts which are prone to incur jamming during repeated use. As a result, these prior art systems are frequently difficult to operate and have proven to be unacceptable to consumers, due to these difficulties.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a portable luggage cart/carrier having a two-wheeled configuration wherein the movement of the wheels are easily, conveniently, and reliably controlled by the user.
Another object of the president invention is to provide a portable luggage cart/carrier having the characteristic features described above which is quickly and easily folded by the user in its entirety for occupying a minimum area.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable luggage cart/carrier having the characteristic features described above wherein movement of the luggage support member automatically causes the wheel supporting brackets to pivot between the two desired positions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable luggage cart/carrier having the characteristic features described above which is constructed using a minimum number of components all of which are capable of being quickly and easily assembled.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable luggage cart/carrier having the characteristic features described above which is capable of being manufactured and sold at competitive prices.
Other and more specific objects will i n part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.


A disclosed information processing system includes a first apparatus including a storage unit storing types of events which occur in the first apparatus so as to be reported to an information processing apparatus via a network, and a sending unit sending, when one of the events stored in the storage unit occurs, event information of the event to the information processing apparatus; and the information processing apparatus including a delivery destination storage unit storing identification information of a second apparatus existing at a delivery destination of the event in the first apparatus, and a delivery unit sending the event information of the event to the second apparatus of which identification information is stored in the delivery destination storage unit when the event information is received by the information processing apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to to an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, and an information processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus which can achieve function enhancement by installing an application program.
Meanwhile, in recent years, cloud computing service attracts attention. If the functions of application programs for an image forming apparatus are served by cloud computing services such as a Web application or a server application, users can enjoy added value.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-079211

Information processing system, information processing apparatus, and information processing method


A pliers-type hand tool includes first and second arms, a pivot joint, and a locking member. The first arm is formed with a threaded blind hole. The second arm is formed with a through hole. The pivot joint extends through the through-hole in the second arm and threadedly engages the threaded blind hole in the first arm, and is formed with a threaded through-hole. The locking member threadedly engages and extends through the threaded through hole in the pivot joint, and abuts against the first arm.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tool, more particularly to a pliers-type hand tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional pair of pliers includes first and second arms. Each of the first and second arms includes a handle, a jaw, and an intermediate portion that interconnects the handle and the jaw thereof. The intermediate portions of the first and second arms are pivotally connected together by means of a rivet.
The aforementioned conventional pair of pliers has the following disadvantages:
1. Since the rivet is installed by a riveting machine, the imprecision inherent in riveting machines is such that the rivet may be too loose or too tight, thereby affecting adversely operation of the conventional pair of pliers.
2. After the installation of the rivet, the intermediate portions of the first and second arms need to be smoothened, thus increasing manufacturing costs.
3. Re-tightening of the rivet when the rivet becomes loose after a certain period of use of the conventional pliers is not possible.


Disclosed herein is a method of forming a guanidine group on carbon nanotubes to improve the dispersibility of carbon nanotubes, a method of attaching carbon nanotubes having guanidine groups to a substrate, and carbon nanotubes and a substrate manufactured by the above methods. The method of forming the guanidine group on the carbon nanotubes includes forming a carboxyl group on the carbon nanotubes, and forming the guanidine group on the carboxyl group of the carbon nanotubes. In addition, the method of attaching the carbon nanotubes having guanidine groups to the substrate includes coating a substrate with a polymer having crown ether attached thereto, drying the polymer layer having crown ether attached thereto formed on the substrate to be semi-dried, and coating the semi-dried polymer layer with a solution including carbon nanotubes having guanidine groups dispersed therein. The carbon nanotubes having guanidine groups, which are manufactured by the method of the current invention, are hydrogen bonded with the solvent molecule capable of reacting with the guanidine group to form the hydrogen bond, and thus, are uniformly dispersed in the solvent. Further, by using the properties of the guanidine group capable of being selectively combined with crown ether, the carbon nanotubes having guanidine groups are aligned perpendicularly to the substrate at regular intervals thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to methods of forming a guanidine group on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and of attaching CNTs having guanidine groups to a substrate, and CNTs and a substrate manufactured by the above methods. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of forming a guanidine group on CNTs to improve the dispersibility of CNTs, a method of attaching CNTs having guanidine groups to a substrate by combining the guanidine group with the crown ether, and CNTs and a substrate manufactured by the above methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dispersion of CNTs is essential for all pre-treatment processes using the CNTs. However, in cases where the CNTs are dispersed in water or a protic solvent, it is difficult to uniformly disperse the CNTs, composed completely of carbons, in the solvent. Therefore, a dispersing agent, such as a surfactant, is used. To achieve the uniform dispersion of the CNTs, the CNTs that are partially negatively charged should be formed in the shapes of micelles or inverse micelles including CNTs surrounded by the dispersing agent. As such, the dispersing agent is used in a predetermined concentration or more. In addition, various dispersing agents, such as nonionic-, cationic-, anionic-, and polymeric-type dispersing agents, are typically used. However, the dispersing agent surrounding the CNTs may function as an impurity in the process of using the CNTs.
Hence, since the dispersing agent used for the dispersion of the CNTs may cause problems in the subsequent process, methods of introducing a functional group able to directly react with the solvent to the CNTs have been proposed to uniformly disperse the CNTs while solving the above problems. For example, methods of forming a carboxyl group, a hydroxy group or an amine group on CNTs have been known.
In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,569 discloses a method of forming a carboxyl group on CNTs, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,187,823 and 6,331,262 disclose a method of forming an amine group on CNTs. When the carboxyl group (—COOH) as a hydrophilic functional group is introduced to the CNTs, the CNTs are surrounded with water molecules due to the hydrogen bond between the carboxyl group and the water molecule of H—O—H. Thus, the CNTs are uniformly dispersed at regular intervals in water, even without the use of the dispersing agent. The amine group, which is a hydrophilic functional group, is hydrogen bonded with a water molecule so that the CNTs are dispersed in the solvent.
However, in the cases where a metal cation is present in the solution, the carboxyl group or amine group of the CNTs may be undesirably chelated with the metal cation.

Method of coating a substrate with a polymer having a combination of crown ether and carbon nanotubes having guanidine groups


A conical spring is formed by a steel wire, which is coiled into a series of rings in opposite directions. The wire is first coiled from the base thereof in one direction and in accordance with a predetermined rotating angle and is then coiled in a reverse direction according to a predetermined rotating angle.

There are various springs, such as wire springs, flat springs, special springs, etc. The wire springs comprise the compression straight springs, the tension straight spring, the torsion spiral spring, the conical spring, and so forth.
The wire springs are generally the straight spring and the conical spring, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Under the circumstance that the greatest stress of the straight spring does not exceed the elastic limit of the straight spring, the elasticity of the straight spring is eventually undermined after the prolonged use of the straight spring, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the conical spring is defective in design in that the base portion of the spring is caused to deform first when the conical spring is exerted on by a load, and that the midsegment and the top portion of the conical spring are subsequently caused to deform. As a result, the use of the conical spring can not be easily controlled.


An alkaline battery has a cathode including a nickel oxyhydroxide.

This invention relates to batteries.
Batteries, such as primary alkaline batteries, are commonly used as energy sources. Generally, alkaline batteries include a cathode, an anode, a separator, and an electrolytic solution. The cathode can include an active material, such as manganese dioxide or nickel oxide, carbon particles that enhance the conductivity of the cathode, and a binder. The anode may be, for example, a gel including zinc particles as the active material. The separator is disposed between the cathode and the anode. The electrolytic solution can be, for example, a hydroxide solution that is dispersed throughout the battery.
Desirable primary alkaline batteries have a high energy density and low capacity loss upon storage. Capacity retention upon storage can be important in primary battery systems where, unlike secondary battery systems, capacity cannot be recovered through recharging. Primary batteries having nickel oxide cathodes and amalgamated zinc anodes have high energy densities, but can lose significant amounts of capacity upon storage at 60xc2x0 C. Self-discharge, either by hydrogen reduction or oxygen evolution from the nickel oxide cathode can result in loss of discharge capacity and formation of non-conductive regions.
The invention features a primary alkaline battery including a nickel oxyhydroxide cathode. The battery preferably has a capacity loss after storage for 2 weeks at 60xc2x0 C. of less than 40 percent. The cathode can include a cobalt oxyhydroxide-modified nickel oxyhydroxide or non-fractured nickel oxyhydroxide, which can improve the capacity loss proper ties of the battery.
Cobalt oxyhydroxide-modified nickel oxyhydroxide is a nickel oxyhydroxide having cobalt oxyhydroxide on a portion of the surface of the nickel oxyhydroxide. For example, the cobalt oxyhydroxide-modified nickel oxyhydroxide can be nickel oxyhydroxide having a coating of cobalt oxyhydroxide on a nickel oxyhydroxide. The coating can be substantially uniform, meaning that the coating covers at least 60% of the surface of the nickel material.
The nickel oxyhydroxide can be substantially non-fractured. Non-fractured nickel oxyhydroxide is nickel oxyhydroxide that is formed from nickel hydroxide by oxidation and inter-layer spacing contraction or no change in inter-layer spacing. For example, when xcex1-Ni(OH)2 is used as the precursor the degree of fracturing can be significantly reduced because xcex1-Ni(OH)2 has an inter-layer spacing of about 8 xc3x85, which contracts upon formation of xcex3-NiOOH to about 7 xc3x85. Alpha nickel hydroxide, xcex1-Ni(OH)2, is a class of nickel hydroxide materials that has the general formula:
(Ni1xe2x88x92nAn)(OH)2Xn/mxc2x7(H2O)z
where A is Al, Co, Fe, Mn, or other trivalent metal ion, or a mixture thereof,
X is an anion having charge of -m, m being 1 or 2,
n is between zero and 0.8, inclusive, and
z is between 0 and 0.3, inclusive. X can be a halide, carbonate, carboxylate, sulfate, sulfite, phosphate, or phosphite. Preferably, A is Al, Co, Fe, or Mn, or a mixture thereof, X is CO32xe2x88x92(m=2), NO3xe2x88x92(m=1), Clxe2x88x92(m=1), or SO42xe2x88x92(m=2) and n is between zero and 0.3.
In one aspect, the invention features a primary alkaline battery including a cathode, an anode, a separator, and an alkaline electrolyte. The cathode can include a cobalt oxyhydroxide-modified nickel oxyhydroxide or a nickel oxyhydroxide derived from xcex1-Ni(OH)2. The nickel oxyhydroxide can be xcex3-NiOOH. The nickel oxyhydroxide can be substantially non-fractured.
In another aspect, the invention features a method of manufacturing an alkaline battery. The method includes assembling a cathode, an anode, a separator, and an alkaline electrolyte to form the alkaline battery. The method can include forming a cathode including the nickel oxyhydroxide. The method can also include forming a cobalt oxyhydroxide-modified nickel oxyhydroxide or non-fractured nickel oxyhydroxide. Forming the nickel oxyhydroxide can include converting xcex1-Ni(OH)2 to nickel oxyhydroxide, for example, by exposing nickel hydroxide to ozone.
In yet another aspect, the invention features a method of decreasing capacity loss in a nickel oxyhydroxide primary alkaline battery. The method includes forming a cathode including a nickel oxyhydroxide, and assembling the cathode, an anode, a separator, and an alkaline electrolyte to form the alkaline battery. The method can include converting xcex1-Ni(OH)2 to the nickel oxyhydroxide or converting cobalt hydroxide-coated xcex1-Ni(OH)2 to the nickel oxyhydroxide.
In another aspect, the invention features a cathode for a primary battery including non-fractured nickel oxyhydroxide or a cobalt oxyhydroxide-modified nickel oxyhydroxide.
The anode can include zinc.
In preferred embodiments, the cathode further includes an oxidizing additive. Reduction reactions at the surface or in the bulk of the nickel oxyhydroxide particles, which can lead to decreased storage capacities, can be partially eliminated or prevented by including oxidizing additives in the cathode. Electrochemically active additives are preferred to reduce oxygen evolution by raising the overpotential to avoid losses in capacity that can result from the use of electrochemically inactive additives.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

Primary alkaline battery including nickel oxyhydroxide


A back-channel media delivery system that may be used for tracking the number and type of human impressions of media content rendered by the system during the time the media was rendered is provided. The back-channel media delivery system includes a rendering device for rendering media, an environmental sensor for sensing impressions and other environmental variables and a computing device configured to play media on the rendering device, and gather data related to the external states detected by the environmental sensor. The system may include rules that interpret that data and may cause the system to custom select, tailor or control future playback of media on the system.

It has always been difficult for advertisers to gauge the effectiveness of their advertisements particularly where the advertising is done through traditional modes of advertising such as television or newspaper. Generally speaking, television networks and newspaper publishers have only approximate statistics on the number of viewers or readers within a given market. Newspaper publishers, for example, can approximate the number of newspapers that are read on any given day based on subscription and other sales data. Of course, every person who receives a newspaper is not going to read every advertisement within that paper. Consequently, newspaper publishers and those who purchase advertisements from the publishers have only a loose idea of how many people are exposed to or actually read their advertisements. Likewise with television advertising, the viewership of any given program, and the commercials that run during such programs, is not known with precision. The so-called 'ratings' for television programs are gathered statistically and again, calculating the number of people who are reached with any given advertisement is imprecise. Ideally, advertisers would like more substantive feedback about who and how their advertising content is being viewed.
With the rise of Internet advertising, advertisers are given more direct and immediate feedback on who is viewing their advertisements. Suppose, for example, that an advertiser purchases advertisements on the website of a major internet search engine such as Google. The advertisement provider, Google in this case, gathers data on the precise number of times that a given advertisement is actually rendered during a page view. Likewise, the advertisement provider can gather data representing the precise number of times a given advertisement is actually clicked by the viewer of the advertisement. Such feedback is invaluable because it allows advertisers to get feedback on the exact, rather than approximate, number of impressions the advertising made on the target audience. An 'impression' is any exposure a person has to an advertisement. In the context of a newspaper, an advertisement has an impression every time a person turns to the page of the paper where the advertisement is located. Since it is not possible to know with any certainty what pages of a newspaper are every actually viewed by a person, it is not possible to know with any certainty how many impressions a newspaper-based advertisement receives. A similar problem exists with television advertising because, as was discussed above, television 'ratings' are statistical estimates and calculating the number of people reached with any given advertisement is imprecise.
In addition to impression information, the feedback provided by an internet advertisement provider such as Google also provides valuable information about how effective an internet-based advertisement is in generating an inquiry (i.e. it tells you how many impressions actually result in a click on the advertisement). Data generated by, and fed back from, an advertising channel is more commonly known as 'back-channel data.' Back-channel data has increasingly become the currency driving Internet advertising business. Absolute measurement—vs. statistical analysis—is key to advertisers, corporate and content programmer confidence.
Although television, newspaper and magazine advertising channels continue to be very important, other forms of advertising such as audio, video and electronic signage in retail spaces, hotels, restaurants and other public places are becoming increasingly prevalent. Such advertising media might comprise playback of DVD's, computer generated media or animation, set-top box video and audio, satellite dish video, streaming internet protocol television ('IPTV'), still pictures, or even audio. Some such systems have the capability to report on what media content was played at what time and to schedule the time at which particular media is played. While these are very valuable controls for advertisers who wish to control their messaging, there is currently no mechanism for reporting how many people were or are exposed to an impression of such media content. Likewise, there is no mechanism for adapting the media content to account for local variables and conditions detected during media playback.
There is therefore a need for an media delivery system that gathers data about the number and type of human impressions of media content delivered by a content rendering device for cross-correlation of such impression data with the media content. Such a system may also alter the media content it delivers based on such data.


Current control circuitry for controlling current supplied from a source, that may be a current-constrained source, to a load and a battery. A current limit control circuit limits current supplied by the source to the load in accord with a programmed current limit. Load current is measured, and an input charger control circuit controls magnitude of current to the battery based on the difference between measured load current and battery current programmed to be supplied to the battery, such that the sum of load current and battery current is maintained within the programmed current limit.

Rechargeable batteries are commonly used to power portable electronic devices, such as laptop computers, PDAs, digital cameras and MP3 players. Many of those portable electronic devices include circuitry for charging their batteries whenever the devices are connected to external power sources such as a wall adapter, USB, Firewire, and Ethernet. For example, the USB itself can be used to directly power the devices and charge their batteries. According to the USB specification, USB hosts, or USB powered hubs, provide as much as 500 mA from their nominal 5V supply. The USB is known as a current constrained source.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing circuit topology for providing power to a load and charging a battery, incorporated into a portable USB device. As shown in FIG. 1, a USB linear charger 2 generally provides current constrained power directly to a battery 4 to which a system load 6 is tied in parallel with battery 4. This topology maintains the USB current constraint but sacrifices efficiency in that there is a substantial voltage drop from a USB input voltage to a battery voltage. Since load 6 is tied directly to battery 4, if the battery voltage is very low or battery 4 is dead, there will not be enough voltage applied to load 6 to run an application. The voltage input to system load 6 is the battery voltage and the current drawn by system load 6 is equal to the power requirement of load 6 divided by the battery voltage. This is true even if there is external power applied to load 6 and battery 4 because the battery dictates the voltage applied to load 6. When battery 4 is fully discharged, several minutes of charging may be required before any load can be connected to the battery. Moreover, many battery or handheld applications have peak current that can exceed the 500 mA USB specification. Input current from the current constrained source to USB linear charger 2 needs to be controlled properly when peak current of load 6 exceeds the USB specification.
The subject matter described herein addresses, but is not limited to, the above shortcomings.

Current control circuitry and methodology for controlling current from current constrained source


A toner which includes a toner material, wherein the toner satisfies the following formula:0° C.≦ΔTm≦20° C.where ΔTm represents Tma (° C.)−Tmb (° C.), Tma (° C.) is ½ flown-out temperature of the toner by a capillary type flow tester, and Tmb (° C.) is ½ flown-out temperature of a melt kneaded mixture of the toner by the capillary type flow tester, and wherein Tma is from 130° C. to 200° C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to toners for developing electrostatic images of electrophotography, electrostatic recording, electrostatic printing, and the like; and to developers, toner containers, process cartridges, image forming apparatuses, and image forming methods using the toners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image formation by e.g. electrophotographic method is generally carried out by a series of processes including: forming a latent electrostatic image on a photoconductor (latent electrostatic image bearing member); developing the latent electrostatic image by a developer containing a toner to form a visible image (toner image); then transferring the visible image to a recording medium such as paper; and fixing the image to form an fixed image.
The toner is a colored particle comprising a binder (binder resin), colorant, charge controlling agent, etc. which are contained in the binder. As the method for producing the toner, pulverization and suspension polymerization are mainly known.
The pulverization is a method for producing a toner in which a colorant, charge controlling agent, etc. are melt-mixed and are uniformly dispersed into a binder to obtain a toner composition, and the obtained toner composition is grinded, classified, etc. to form a toner. The pulverization has drawbacks as follows. Specifically, a grinder, etc., are required to grind a toner composition, resulting in high cost, and thus the method is not effective. In addition, during the grinding, toner particles with wide distribution of particle diameter tend to be formed. Therefore, in order to obtain images with high resolution and high gradation, a portion of the toner particles, for example, minute particles of 5 μm or less in diameter and large grains of 20 μm or more, must be removed by classification, inviting a significant reduction of yield. Furthermore, it is difficult to disperse additives such as a colorant, and charge controlling agent into the binder uniformly. The use of the toner in which the additives are not dispersed uniformly deteriorates flowability, developability, durability, image quality, etc.
Recently, to overcome these problems in pulverization, a method for producing a toner by polymerization of monomer is proposed and carried out. For example, toner particles are produced by suspension polymerization. However, toner particles obtained by suspension polymerization are generally spherical and have drawback of poor cleaning ability. Poor cleaning ability causes non-transferred residual toner on a photoconductor, and the accumulation of such residual toner leads to background smear. Moreover, residual toner contaminates components such as a charging roller, which charges a photoconductor by contact charging, and subsequently reduces the charging performance of the charging roller.
Therefore, a method for producing toner particles is proposed in which emulsion polymerization is used to form resin fine particles, which are subsequently associated to obtain toner particles having irregular shapes (See Japanese Patent (JP-B) No. 2537503). However, toner particles formed by emulsion polymerization have residual surfactants in large amounts inside the particles as well as on the surface thereof even after being washed by water. As a result, charge stability of toner is reduced, the distribution of the amount of charge is increased, causing background smear on a printed image. In addition, the residual surfactant contaminates photoconductor, charging roller, developing roller, etc. Therefore, toner cannot fulfill its original function.
On the other hand, for the fixing process by contact heating, in which heating members such as a heating roller are used, the toner particles must possess releasability, which may be referred to as "offset resistance" hereinafter, from the heating members. In such case, offset resistance can be improved by allowing a releasing agent to exist on the surface of toner particles. In contrast, methods to improve offset resistance are disclosed in which resin fine particles are not only contained in toner particles, but are concentrated at the surface of the toner particles (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-292973 and JP-A No.2000-292978).
These proposals, however, cause increase of lowest fixing temperature, resulting in unsatisfactory fixing ability at low temperatures, i.e. energy-saving fixing ability. In addition, this method, in which resin fine particles obtained by emulsion polymerization are associated to provide irregular-shaped toner particles, has another problem. Generally, releasing agent particles are additionally associated to improve the offset resistance. However, the releasing agent particles are captured inside the toner particles and therefore the improvement of the offset resistance is not sufficient. Moreover, since each toner particle is formed by a random adhesion of molten resin fine particles, releasing agent particles, colorant particles, and the like, the composition (the ratio at which each component is contained), molecular mass of the resin, and the like may be different and dispersed for each obtained toner particle. In result, the surface properties of toner particles are different from one another, and it is impossible to form stable images for a long period. Additionally, in a low-temperature fixing system, the resin fine particles that are concentrated at the surface of the toner particles inhibit fixing and therefore the range of fixing temperature is not sufficient.
Recently, a new method for producing a toner, called solution suspension method (Emulsion-aggregation method (EA method), has been suggested (See JP-B No. 3141783). In this method, particles are formed from polymers that are dissolved in an organic solvent or the like whereas in suspension polymerization, polymer particles are formed from monomers, and the method is advantageous in that, for example, there is a larger selection of resins that can be used and polarity can be controlled. Furthermore, the method is advantageous in that it is possible to control the structure of toner particles (core/shell structure control). However, the shell structure is a layer consisting only of a resin and the purpose thereof is to lower the exposure of pigment and wax to the surface. The purpose is not to alter the structure in the resin, and the structure is not capable for such purpose (See "The characteristics of newly developed toner and the vision for the future" by Takao Ishiyama, and two others from The 4th Joint Symposium of The Imaging Society of Japan and The Institute of Electrostatics Japan on Jul. 29, 2000). Therefore, although the toner particle has a shell structure, the surface of the toner particle is a usual resin without any ingenious feature so that when the toner particle is targeted at fixing at a lower temperature, there is a problem that it is not satisfactory from the standpoint of anti-heat preservability and environmental charge stability.
In any of the conventional methods such as the suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization, and solution suspension, styrene-acrylic acid ester copolymer is used as a binder resin in many cases. Polyester resins are not generally used because they are difficult to be made into particles, it is uneasy to control particle diameter, diameter distribution, particle shape, etc., and their fixing ability is insufficient under the condition of fixing at a lower temperature.
In pulverization, in order to achieve fixing at low temperatures, a polyester resin having a high acid value is used. For example, JP-B No. 3141783 and JP-A No. 09-204071 propose toners comprising a resin of which acid value, hydroxyl value, molecular mass distribution, THF insoluble content, or the like, are defined. The toner in these proposals, however, causes the reduction of melting temperature at the same time, resulting in the deterioration of offset resistance. In order to achieve all of fixing property at low temperatures, offset resistance and anti-heat preservability, further improvement is needed.
Much work has been done from various angles of approach in the field of electrophotography to improve quality, and it is being recognized that it is extremely effective to reduce the size and increase the sphericity of the toner particle. However, as the diameter of toner particles becomes smaller, the transferability and fixing ability tend to decrease, and image quality becomes poor. Especially, with respect to fixing, fixing ability at a halftone portion becomes worse. This is because at the halftone portion, the adhesive amount of toner is low, the toner, transferred to the concave portion on a transfer material, is given extremely small amount of heat from a fixing roller, causing generation of offset phenomenon easily. In addition, it is known that by making toner particles round, the transferability rises (See JP-A No. 09-258474).
In such situation, everfaster image production is desired in the field of color copiers and printers. For a faster printing, the "tandem method" is effective (Se JP-A No.05-341617). The "tandem method" is a method in which images formed by respective image forming units are overlaid and sequentially transferred onto a sheet of paper that is advanced by a transfer belt so that a full-color image is obtained on the sheet. In a color image forming apparatus using tandem method, various kinds of paper can be used, the quality of full-color images is high, and full-color images can be formed at high speed. The high-speed output of full-color images is especially characteristic and no other color image reproduction machines have that characteristic. There are other attempts to increase speed while improving the quality by using round toner particles. In order to increase speed more, the round toner is required to be fixed quickly; however, in a present situation, such round toner that has both quick fixing ability and fixing ability at low temperature has not been achieved.
Toner may be subjected to severe circumstances such as high temperature and humidity, and low temperature and humidity during storage and transport after the production. There has been a demand for a toner which does not aggregate to each other, of which flowability, transferability, and fixing ability do not deteriorate or rarely do, and which has excellent preservability, even after storage for a long period under such circumstances. However, in the present situation, effective means for such demand has not been found especially with respect to spherical toner.
In electrophotographic system, a heat-pressure fixing method by means of a heating roller is conventionally used. In the method, while the surface of a heat roller possessing releasability for a toner is brought contact with the toner image on the surface of a receiving sheet under pressure, the receiving sheet is allowed to pass through to thereby fix the toner image. In this method, the surface of the heat roller and toner image on the receiving sheet are brought into contact with each other under pressure. Thus, heat efficiency during the melt-fixing of toner image on the receiving sheet is extremely satisfactory, which enables quick fixation.
By the way, in the heat-pressure fixing method by means of a heating roller, the surface of the heating roller and toner image are brought into contact with each other in a melted state and under pressure. A portion of toner image is transferred to the surface of fixing roller to adhere, and the transferred portion of toner image is re-transferred to the next receiving sheet, leading to the pollution of the receiving sheet. This so-called offset phenomenon is greatly influenced by the fixing speed and fixing temperature. This is because almost constant amount of heat for fixing toner is given to toner without depending on the fixing speed.
In general, when the fixing speed is slow, the surface temperature of heating roller is set to relatively low temperature. In contrast, when the fixing speed is fast, the surface temperature of heating roller is set to relatively high temperature.
The toner on the receiving sheet forms several toner layers. Thus, particularly, in a system where fixing speed is fast, the surface temperature of heating roller is high, an uppermost layer of toner layers which contacts with a heating roller and a lowermost of toner layers which contacts with the receiving sheet temperature difference becomes large. Therefore, when the surface temperature of heating roller is high, the toner of the uppermost layer tends to cause offset phenomenon, and when the surface temperature of heating roller is low, toner does not fix to the receiving sheet because the toner of the lowermost layer does not melt sufficiently, causing low-temperature offset phenomenon easily.
As a way to solve this problem, when the fixing speed is fast, a method is normally carried out in which pressure during fixing is increased, making the toner to be anchored to the receiving sheet. This method can reduce heating roller temperature to some degree, and can prevent high-temperature offset phenomenon of the uppermost layer of toner layers. However, shearing force on the toner becomes very large, receiving sheet winds around the fixing roller, i.e., so-called winding offset occurs, and a trace of separating pawls for separating the receiving sheet from the fixing roller is likely to appear on a fixed image. Further, inferior fixed images are likely to occur, such as such as failure of line images during fixing and toner scattering, due to a high pressure.
Moreover, in a high-speed fixing system, a toner having a lower melt viscosity is generally used than in the case of low speed fixation, and the surface temperature of the heating roller and fixing pressure are lowered. Thus, a toner image is fixed while obviating the high-temperature offset and winding offset. However, the use of such a toner having a low melt viscosity in low speed fixation is likely to cause an offset phenomenon at high temperature.
Accordingly, in fixing, there has been demand for a toner which shows a wide fixable temperature range and excellent offset resistance and is applicable from a low-speed apparatus to a high-speed apparatus.
In order to obtain high quality image, an attempt to make the size of toner particles smaller has been made. Smaller particle size toner increases the resolution and clearness of an image, but impairs the fixability of a halftone image. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable in high-speed fixation. This is because the adhesive amount of toner in a halftone part is small and the toner transferred to a concave portion of a receiving sheet receives only a small quantity of heat from a heating roller and the pressure applied thereto is also suppressed because of the convex portion of the receiving sheet. The toner transferred onto the convex portion of the receiving sheet in a halftone part receives a larger shearing force per toner particle because of thin toner layer thickness, compared with that in a solid image part with thick toner layer thickness. Thus, offset phenomenon is likely to be caused and fixed image is likely to have low quality.
Until now, in order to pursue fixing performance and anti-hot offset, a variety of studies, mainly on binder resin, have been made. For example, JP-A No. 05-107803 proposes resin having a molecular mass distribution such that the distribution has at least one local maximal value in each of the region of a molecular mass of 103 to 7×104 and the region of a molecular mass of 105 to 2×106 in a chromatograph by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) of resin for toner. Further, in JP-A No. 05-289399 and JP-A No. 05-313413, the molecular mass distribution of vinyl copolymer is defined and releasing agent such as polyethylene is added to pursue fixing ability and hot offset. Furthermore, in JP-A No. 05-297630, by combining a resin having low viscosity with resin having high viscosity, an attempt to improve fixing property at low temperatures and hot offset property simultaneously is made. In other Patent literatures, many techniques have been proposed that pursue optimization of balance of preservability, fixing ability, and hot offset that are difficult to pursue simultaneously by widening the molecular mass distribution of binder resin (See e.g. JP-A No. 05-289399, 05-313413, 05-053372, 06-027733, 06-075426, and 06-118702).
In electrophotography, anti-heat preservability, which is influenced by elements with a low molecular mass, must be also satisfied besides these two properties that are difficult to pursue simultaneously. For example, in JP-A No. 08-146661, attempts to improve anti-heat preservability, etc. by using a novolac type phenol resin or polyurethane other than molecular mass distribution have been made.
In these proposals, the effect by defining the molecular mass distribution or the effect by olefin having low molecular mass improves fixing at low temperatures and anti-heat preservability; however, these binder resins do not meet the recent demand for energy-saving and low-power enough and further investigation has been desired.
In particular, in order to improve fixing property at low temperatures, it is required to lower the glass-transition temperature (Tg) and molecular mass of binder resin. However, in the present situation, it is difficult to develop such toner that satisfies all these properties in light of balance between hot offset property and preservability.
For example, JP-A No. 11-133665 proposes a dry toner containing a urethane-modified polyester (A) as a toner binder obtained by elongation reaction and having a practical sphericity of 0.90 to 1.00 in order to improve the fluidity, fixing property at low temperatures, and hot offset property. Further, a dry toner is proposed that has excellent powder fluidity and transferability, although the toner has a small particle diameter, and is also excellent in any of anti-heat preservability, fixing property at low temperatures, and hot offset resistance. The dry toner produces glossy images, especially, when used in e.g. a full-color copier and does not require application of oil to a heat roller.
Although the dry toner proposed by JP-A No. 11-133665 is novel in that binder obtained as a result of a urethane reaction is employed, it is produced by a pulverization process and does not have satisfactory fixing ability at low temperatures. In addition, specific conditions enabling a small particle diameter and controlling particle shape so as to be spherical are not described.
Moreover, JP-A No. 11-149180 and JP-A No.2000-292981 propose a dry toner comprising a toner binder formed from an elongation and/or a crosslinking reaction of an isocyanate group-containing prepolymer, and a colorant, wherein the dry toner is formed of particles formed from an elongation and/or a crosslinking reaction of the modified polyester (A) by amines (B) in an aqueous medium. JP-A Nos. 11-149180 and 2000-292981 also propose a method for producing the toner, which is an economically affordable method to obtain a dry toner.
The toners proposed in these JP-A Nos. 11-149180 and 2000-292981 are prepared by granulation in water. However, in such granulation in water, a pigment in an oil phase aggregates at the interface with an aqueous phase, which leads to decreased volume resistivity or uneven pigment distribution and causes problems in fundamental properties of the toner. To achieve simultaneously a small particle diameter and a satisfactorily controlled shape of a toner for use in a machine without application of oil, the specific shape and/or properties must be defined and without such specified shape and/or properties, effect cannot be achieved. However, each Patent Literature dose not describe adequately the effects of the combination of properties and/or processes or effects of the balance between detailed conditions, and thus effects on the problems may not be significantly achieved. Particularly, in the case of toner particles prepared by granulation in water, pigment and/or wax is likely to gather on the surface of the particles of toner. Ibner particles having a particle diameter of about 6 μm or less have a large specific surface area, thus design of the particle surface becomes important for achieving desired charging properties fixing properties in addition to the design of the polymer component.
In general, conventional electrophotographic image forming apparatus comprises a heat fixing unit in which a pressure member such as a pressure roller is brought into contact with a heating member such as heating roller having a heat source inside thereof, a recording medium on which image has been transferred is passed therebetween and while the recording medium being transported, toner images on the recording medium are fixed.
In this type of heat fixing unit, so-called offset phenomenon that toner on the recording medium adheres to a heating member may occur. It is known that when this offset phenomenon occurs, offset toner also adheres to the pressure member, and toner adhered to those heating member and pressure member is transferred back to a recording medium to contaminate the recording medium. In order to prevent the occurrence of offset, in a conventional heat fixing unit, for example, the surface of a heating member was coated with fluorine. However, it is difficult to prevent offset phenomenon completely depending on environmental conditions, types of recording medium, etc, eventually causing reverse transfer.
Therefore, a heat fixing unit is proposed in which a cleaning member such as cleaning roller is provided in contact with a heating member and pressure member to thereby remove toner adhered to the heating member and pressure member. In this heat fixing unit, cleaning member, made of pure metal material is brought into contact with a heating member or pressure member having improved surface releasability, thereby removing toner due to the difference of surface releasability.
Recently, an image forming apparatus has been constructed in the following manner in order to prevent a waste of energy. Specifically, during the stand-by state, current to the heat source of a heat fixing unit is stopped, only when image forming starts, current is allowed to flow to the heat source, and the temperature of the heating member is raised to the fixing temperature. Therefore, the heating member is required to have improved response to temperature, for example, a heating roller has a thickness of 1 mm or less, thereby shortening the time to rise to a fixing temperature to approximately 10 seconds.
In such image forming apparatus, the heating member of a heat fixing unit has a low thermal capacity, thus heat easily moves to a recording medium at the time of fixing or to a member contacting with the heating member, or the heating member is liable to be influenced by the flow of the wind around the heating member. These cause a problem that the temperature distribution of the heating member is likely to become uneven in the direction of width Therefore, it is impossible to make the temperature distribution even over the entire region in terms of space and cost.
In a heat fixing unit, uneven temperature distribution of heating member in the direction of width leads to unstability of fixing performance, and at the same time, offset is likely to occur. In addition, there is a problem that deterioration by heat makes the lifetime of a heating member shorter. In particular, the use of polymerized toner produced by polymerization described in JP-A Nos. 11-133665 and 2000-292981 causes a problem that tone adheres to a cleaning member and accumulates thereon, and the masses of toner melt again and the toner is transferred back to a recording medium. This is because when pulverized toner produced by pulverization is used, the toner adhered to the cleaning member has a high storage modulus and is unlikely to melt; however, when polymerized toner produced by polymerization is used, the toner adhered to the cleaning member has a low storage modulus, as is expected to toner produced by polymerization.
This problem is caused especially when recording medium, e.g. a paper, with small size compared with maximum size to which sheet is run through is passed through. The reason for this is considered as follows. The passed region by a recording medium with small size is narrow and thus the contact area with a heating member is small. Therefore, only the narrow region has decreased temperature and temperature sensor corresponding to the region dictates switch-on of a heat source, resulting in unnecessary rise in temperature of the region where sheet has not passed. This causes the toner on a cleaning member corresponding to the region where sheet has not passed to melt and be transferred back.
In attempting to solve such problem of back transfer, JP-A No. 09-325550 proposes a heat fixing unit in which in order to make the temperature distribution of heating roller uniform in the direction of width, wind is applied, thereby preventing the region where sheet has not passed of the heating roller from having excessively raised temperature.
In addition, JP-A No. 2002-123119 proposes a heat fixing unit in which air holes are provided along a cleaning roller so that air in the heat fixing unit is circulated with rotation of the cleaning roller to thereby prevent the temperature of the cleaning roller from being raised.
However, there has not been provided a toner which can fix satisfactorily immediately after power activation and even under low-power condition, which has releasability applicable to from low-speed through high-speed image forming apparatuses, which is excellent in offset resistance, blocking resistance, and flowability, which does not affect fixing efficiency in a heat fixing unit, and which is not transferred back when adhered to a cleaning member; and related techniques. Thus, in the present situation, it has been desired that such toner and related techniques are provided as soon as possible.

Toner, and, developer, toner container, process cartridge, image forming apparatus and image forming method