A process for roughening aluminum or aluminum alloys useful as support material for printing plates, in which process two electrochemical roughening steps are carried out in direct succession and are followed by a pickling step. Printing plates are produced from this support material by coating with light-sensitive coatings, which printing plates, when exposed and developed, give corresponding printing formes of very uniform topography, high run stability and good damping agent supply.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for roughening aluminum or aluminum alloys as support material for printing plates, in which process two electrochemical roughening steps are carried out in direct succession. The invention also relates to a printing plate comprising a support material which is produced by the process.
2. Description of Related Art
Printing plates, in particular offset printing plates, generally comprise a support and at least one radiation-sensitive coating arranged thereon, said coating being applied to the coating support by the user in the case of non-precoated plates or by the manufacturer in the case of precoated plates.
Aluminum or one of its alloys have found acceptance as coating supports in the printing plate sector. In principle, these coating supports can be used without a modifying pretreatment, but in general they are modified in or on the surface, for example by a mechanical, chemical and/or electrochemical roughening, which is sometimes also termed graining or etching, a chemical or electrochemical oxidation and/or a treatment with agents which render the surface hydrophilic.
In modern continuous high-speed plants for the production of printing plate supports and/or precoated printing plates a combination of the said processing steps is frequently used, in particular a combination of electrochemical roughening and anodic oxidation, optionally with a subsequent step for rendering the surface hydrophilic.
The roughening can be carried out in aqueous acids, for example aqueous HCl or HNO.sub.3 solutions, or in aqueous salt solutions, for example aqueous NaCl or Al(NO.sub.3).sub.3 solutions, applying alternating current. The peak-to-valley heights of the roughened surface which are achievable in this way and which are given, for example, as average peak-to-valley heights R.sub.z are in the range from 1 to 15 .mu.m, in particular in the range from 2 to 8 .mu.m. The peak-to-valley height is determined in accordance with DIN 4768 in the October 1970 version. The arithmetic mean of the individual peak-to-valley heights of five adjacent individual measured sections is calculated as the average peak-to-valley height R.sub.z.
The roughening is carried out, inter alia, in order to improve the adhesion of the reproduction coating to the coating support and of the damping agent supply to the printing form formed from the printing plate by exposure and development.
The water supply is an important quality characteristic for offset printing plates. It is defined in the publication "Ermittlung einer optimalen Wasserfuhrung zur Steigerung der Leistungsfahigkeit des Offsetdruckes" [Determination of an optimum water supply to increase the performance of offset printing] (Albrecht, J.; Rebner, W., Wirz, B., Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne and Opladen 1966, page 7) as the metering and control of the damping of the printing form during the printing run. The water supply also depends, inter alia, on the surface roughness of the printing form, i.e., graining of the surface. The problems of inadequate water supply are adequately known: if too much water is required to keep non-printing parts of a printing form free from ink, more water is able to emulsify into the ink and the print becomes flat. Moreover, water marks can be produced, the paper becoming damp. In addition, register problems can arise and in the case of web-offset printing there is an increased risk of the paper web tearing. The above lists only a few of the problems. Comments on the significance of a correct water supply can also be found in the publication "Beitrag zur Analyse des Offsetprozesses" ("Contribution on the analysis of the offset process"), pages 17-18 (Deoker, P.; Polygraph Verlag, Frankfurt am Main). In this publication the consequences of too high and too low damping agents supply are discussed. This term is more appropriate than the term "water supply" in so far as, in offset printing, in general, pure water is not used for damping, but usually several components are added to the water.
In the cited publication, the disadvantages of an excessive damping agent supply, which have already been mentioned above, are listed. However, too low a supply of damping agent is also a disadvantage. If the printing plate in the printing machine is supplied with too little damping agent, as a result of too low a setting of the damping unit, or if the printing plate requires more damping agent than the damping unit of the printing machine is able to supply by reason of its construction or on other grounds, parts of the printing plate which otherwise are non-printing are also able to take up ink and co-print, fine raster areas being particularly sensitive to co-printing. The co-printing of non-image areas within the raster areas is known as "smearing in".
Thus, a worthwhile aim is a printing plate which requires only very little damping agent, in order to still keep fine rasters, but also large-area non-image areas, free from ink, but which, on the other hand, also shows a neutral reaction towards large amounts of damping agent and gives flawless prints even if the damping agent supply at times exceeds the norm as a result of plant-induced fluctuations.
It is true that the damping agent consumption of a printing plate can be determined objectively with sufficient accuracy, but this is not the case for the damping agent supply, since there are no objective methods of determination for some of the above-mentioned adverse phenomena, for example smearing in (Decker, P., in "Beitrag zur Analyse. . ." ["Contribution on the analyse. . ."], page 18). For this reason the damping agent supply to a printing plate is here assessed qualitatively, using the adjectives "very good", "good", "satisfactory", "adequate", "moderate", "poor" and "very poor". The conditions under which these adjectives form the basis for the assessment are described below in the context of the discussion of the examples.
A further quality characteristic of an offset printing plate is the brightness and the uniformity of the brightness of the support material. The brightness can, for example, be determined in the manner described in DIN Standard 6174 in the January 1979 version. This standard also indicates how the uniformity of the color print can be quantified. In this standard the value .delta.E.sub.ab*, which can be calculated from the three colour values L*, a* and b*, is used as a measure for the uniformity. A support must not be too dark, so that not too much of the incident light is absorbed by the support surface itself and is thus lost to photochemical reactions in the actual light-sensitive coating. Similarly, the surface should be uniformly bright, so that the sensitivity to light does not vary from location to location on the printing plate.
By means of the exposure or irradiation and development or decoating in the case of process coatings which act electrophotographically, the image areas, which carry ink during subsequent printing, and the non-image areas, which carry damping agent and which generally are composed of the exposed support surface, are produced on the printing plate and by this means the actual printing form is formed. Very diverse parameters have an influence on the subsequent topography and thus on the damping agent supply on the surface to be roughened. For example, the following literature references provide information on this:
In the article "The Alternating Current Etching of Aluminum Lithographic Sheet" by A. J. Dowell in Transactions of the Institute of Metal Finishing, 1979, Vol. 57, pages 138 to 144, the fundamental principles of the roughening of aluminum in aqueous hydrochloric acid solutions are discussed, the following process parameters being varied and the corresponding effects are studied. In the case of repeated use of the electrolyte, the electrolyte composition is changed, for example in respect of the H.sup.+ (H.sub.3 O.sup.+) ion concentration, which can be determined via the pH value, and the Al.sup.3+ ion concentration, with observable effects on the surface topography. Temperature variation between 16.degree. C. and 90.degree. C. shows a modifying influence only above about 50.degree. C., which is discernable, for example, in the substantial decline in coating formation on the surface. The roughening period, of between 2 and 25 min, also leads to an increasing dissolution of metal with increasing period of action. Variation in the current density between 2 and 8 A/dm.sup.2 also results in higher roughness values with increasing current density. If the acid concentration is in the range of 0.5 and 2% HCl, only minor changes in the hole structure occur, below 0.5% HCl there is only a local attack at the surface and at high values an irregular dissolution of aluminum occurs. If pulsed direct current is used instead of alternating current, it is found that both half-wave types are apparently required for a uniform roughening. In this literature reference it is pointed out that the addition of sulfate ions increasingly leads to undesired, coarse, non-homogeneous roughening structures, which are not suitable for lithographic purposes.
The establishment of a flat and uniform surface topography is difficult in pure hydrochloric acid electrolytes and in this case it is necessary to keep the operating conditions within very narrow limits.
The influence of the composition of the electrolyte on the roughening quality is also described, for example, in the following publications:
DE-A 22 50 275 (=GB-A 1,400,918) names aqueous solutions containing 1.2 to 1.5% by weight of HNO.sub.3 or 0 4 to 0.6% by weight of HCl and optionally 0.4 to 0.6% by weight of H.sub.3 PC.sub.4 as electrolytes for the alternating current roughening of aluminum for printing plate supports,
DE-A 28 10 308 (=U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,589) names aqueous solutions containing 0.2 to 1.0% by weight of HCl and 0.8 to 6.0% by weight of HNO.sub.3 as electrolytes for the alternating current roughening of aluminum.
The purpose of additives to HCl electrolytes is to prevent adverse local attack in the form of deep holes. Thus, the following additions are described:
monocarboxylic acids, for example acetic acid, in DE-A 28 16 307 (=U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,772),
gluconic acid, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,594,
citric acid and malonic acid, in EP-A 0,036,672 and
tartaric acid, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,275.
All of these organic electrolyte constituents have the disadvantage that they become electrochemically unstable and decompose at high current load, which is to be equated with high voltage load.
DE-A 35 03 927 describes ammonium chloride as an inorganic additive to a HCl electrolyte.
Inhibiting additives, as described as phosphoric acid or chromic acid in U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,447 and as boric acid in DE-A 25 35 142 (=U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,539), have the disadvantage that the protective effect frequently collapses locally and individual, particularly pronounced graining is able to form in the affected areas.
JP-A 91 334/78 discloses an alternating current roughening in an electrolyte composed of hydrochloric acid and an alkali metal halide for the production of a lithographic support material.
DE-A 16 21 115 (=U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,486 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,043) mentions a direct current roughening in dilute hydrofluoric acid, the aluminum strip being connected as the cathode.
Another known possibility for improving the uniformity is the modification of the type of current used. These include, for example,
alternating current, with which the anode voltage and the anodic coulomb input are greater than the cathode voltage and the cathodic coulomb input (DE-A 26 50 762=U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,341), the anodic alternation time of the alternating current generally being set at less than the cathodic alternation time; reference is also made to this method, for example, in DE-A 29 12 060 (=U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,229), DE-A 30 12 135 (=GB-A 2,047,274) or DE-A 30 30 815 (=U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,342),
alternating current, with which the anode voltage is clearly increased compared with the cathode voltage (DE-A 14 46 026 =U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,485), and
interruption of the current flow for 10 to 120 s, and current flow for 30 to 300 s, alternating current and, as electrolyte, an aqueous 0.75 to 2 N HCl solution containing added NaCl or MgCl.sub.2 being used (GB-A 879,768). A similar process with interruption of the current flow in the anode or cathode phase is also described in DE-A 30 20 420 (=U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,672).
The said methods give aluminum surfaces which, it is true, have a relatively uniform hole size distribution, but require relatively high expenditure on apparatus and can also be used only within very narrow parameter limits. Moreover, the supports can be produced with uniform brightness only with difficulty.
Another procedure disclosed in the patent literature is the combination of two roughening processes. Compared with the one-step process, this has the advantage that, depending on the process control, the influence of one or the other step can predominate within certain limits predetermined by the characteristics of the individual steps.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,591, GB-A 1,582,620, JP-A 123 204/78, DE-A 30 31 764 (=GB-A 2,058,136), DE-A 30 36 174 (=GB-A 2,060,923), EP-A 0,131,926, DE-A 30 12 135 (=GB-A 2,047,274) and JP-B 16 918/82 describe the combination of a prestructuring, carried out mechanically in the first step, followed by an optional chemical cleaning (pickling), with an electrochemical roughening by means of modified alternating current in electrolytes containing hydrochloric acid or nitric acid, it being possible for a further cleaning step then to take place.
These processes make use of the advantage of double roughening, with a mechanical roughening as the first step, as a result of which, in particular, a current saving is achieved.
DE-A 38 36 810 discloses a double roughening with two electrochemical roughening steps and an etching treatment which takes place between the two roughening steps.
Various two-step processes are known for the production of capacitors from aluminum foils. U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,249 describes a process which uses hydrochloric acid in the first step and in the second step treats the aluminum foil with a dilute nitric acid, which also contains aluminum in the form of aluminum nitrate, in the absence of current. This process does not yield surfaces which are able to meet the current stringent requirements in respect of offset printing plates.
Two-step processes which use electrochemical processes in both steps have also been disclosed. In the process according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,552, the first electrolyte contains hydrochloric acid while the second electrolyte can also contain hydrochloric acid in addition to nitric acid. A similar process is described in JP-A 86/051 396. These known processes do indeed give surfaces which are usable for lithographic purposes, but in respect of the fineness of the surface structure, these surfaces are inferior to those which are achieved in accordance with the teaching of DE-A 37 17 654.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,955discloses a two-step electrochemical roughening process for the production of capacitors using a hydrochloric acid-containing electrolyte in the first step and a chloride and sulfate ion-containing electrolyte in the second step. The electrolyte in the second step is not acid and in this step the process is carried out using direct current.
A further, two-step, electrochemical process for the production of a capacitor foil is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,471. In this process the electrolytes in both baths are identical and contain dilute hydrochloric acid and aluminum ions. The baths are operated at different temperatures, specifically at 70.degree. to 85.degree. C. in the first step and at 75.degree. to 90.degree. C. in the second step.
The surfaces produced by the latter two processes, which have been optimized for electrolyte capacitors, are too pitted for use in lithography.
DE-A 38 36 810 describes a process in which aluminum is roughened, likewise in two steps, for the production of printing plate supports. In this process pickling is carried out between the first and the second roughening step. This process has the disadvantage that the plates develop an irregular surface and become very dark, especially if chloride-containing electrolytes are used in the final pickling step.

Process for roughening aluminum or aluminum alloys


A brake is disclosed for use with a cart. The brake includes a pad that contacts the floor to resist movement of the cart. The height of the pad is adjustable.

The present invention relates devices having wheels. More particularly, the present invention relates to devices for braking a device having wheels.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a brake is provided for use with a cart having a frame and a plurality of wheels supporting the frame on a floor. The brake includes a base configured to couple to a frame of a cart, a pedal supported by the base, and a pad operably connected to the pedal. The pad is moveable by the pedal between a first position spaced apart from the floor and a second position in contact with the floor to inhibit movement of the cart relative to the floor. The pad is spaced apart from the base by a first distance when in the first position. The first distance is adjustable.
According to another aspect of the present invention, another brake is provided for use with a cart configured to transport items from one location to another over a floor. The cart includes a frame and a plurality of wheels supporting the frame on the floor. The brake includes a base configured to be coupled to the frame, a pedal supported by the base, and a pad operably connected to the pedal. The pad is moveable by the pedal between a first position spaced apart from the floor and a second position in contact with the floor to inhibit movement of the cart relative to the floor. The pad includes a plurality of suction cups in contact with the floor when the pad is in the second position.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of adjusting a brake of a cart is provided. The method includes the step of providing a cart including a frame, a plurality of wheels supporting the frame, and a brake. The brake includes a base and a pad moveable between a first position spaced apart from the floor and a second position in contact with the floor. The pad is spaced apart from the base by a first distance when in the first position. The method further includes the step of adjusting the first distance to compensate for wear of at least one of the wheels.
Additional features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


The present invention relates to the regulation of reproductive development, particularly to the genetic ablation of reproductive tissues in angiosperm and gymnosperm species. Reproductive-preferred promoters, regulatory elements, and cytotoxic nucleotide sequences are disclosed herein, as are constructs and methods for genetic ablation.

With the advent of plant genetic engineering technology, the ecological implications of genetically modified crops are of great concern, particularly when there are no inherent barriers to the spread of transgenes through sexual reproduction. Specifically, concerns have arisen in cases when transgenes can spread from a transgenic plant to a weedy species through hybridization, or when the crop species itself exists in weedy forms. Bergelson et al. Nature 395: 25 (1998). One way to address such concerns is by genetically engineering sterility in a plant through complete ablation of reproductive structures.
Recently, there has been significant interest in using an ablation system for controlling reproductive development in plants. Reproductive control has been achieved in several plant species by genetic ablation, which entails linking a reproductive-preferred promoter with a cytotoxic gene to ablate reproductive cells. For example, barnase, an extracellular ribonuclease from Bacillus amyloliquifaciens has been employed for inducing male sterility. Paddon et al. J. Bacteriol. 171:1185-1187 (1989). European Patent No. 344,029 describes a system for producing a male sterile plant by transforming a plant with a DNA encoding barnase under the control of a tapetum-specific promoter. Transformation of tobacco and oilseed rape plants with such a promoter-gene construct prevented the plants from producing fertile pollen. Mariani et al., Nature 347: 737-741 (1990). Flowers of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing a fusion construct of the APETALA3 (AP3) promoter and the diphtheria toxin A chain (DTA) gene lack petals and stamens, suggesting that transgene expression ablated petal and stamen cells. Transgenic Arabidopsis expressing the DTA gene under control of the LEAFY promoter produced no flowers. Tobacco plants transformed with a tobacco stigma-specific promoter driving the barnase gene lacked the stigmatic secretory zone and were female sterile.
Although genetic ablation has been effective, the promoters generally used for ablation are not well-suited for tissue-specific expression. As a consequence, leaky gene expression can significantly reduce and damage plant vegetative growth. Depending on the plant species, ablation can reduce vegetative growth by 80%. Strauss, S. H. and Meilan, R. TGERC Annual Report (1998). For genetic ablation to be commercially useful in the forestry industry, the amount of damage to vegetative tissues must be minimized to nominal levels.
While numerous patents and patent application publications disclose genetic ablation using a variety of promoters and cytotoxic genes, there is little disclosure addressing the effects of ablation on a plant's vegetative growth and development. The LFY promoter from Arabidopsis, which is expressed strongly in floral meristems and weakly in developing leaves, has been used for producing plants with ablated flowers. Nilsson et al., Plant J. 15:799-804 (1998). However, very few plants transformed with LFY had ablated flowers and uncompromised vegetative development. Therefore, it would be impractical to use a similar approach for reproductive ablation in a tree species, since it would take years to produce, grow, and test many transgenic trees to identify those few trees that have sterility and normal vegetative growth.
The genetic ablation of a reproductive organ requires a delicate balance between promoter activity and ablation gene toxicity. While the barnase gene is widely used for ablation in plants, barnase-induced toxicity frequently causes detrimental effects on plant growth and development. Thus, it may be desirable to reduce the toxicity of barnase, such that reproductive ablation occurs without deleterious and unrecoverable damages to a plant's vegetative growth.
Concurrent with the production of a mutant barnase having reduced toxicity, it may also be desirable to minimize leaky expression of a reproductive ablation construct in a plant's vegetative tissues. By minimizing leaky or ectopic expression of a reproductive ablation construct in a plant, expression of a mutant barnase gene in the vegetative tissues may be better tolerated by the plant due to attenuated ablation, which depends on promoter activity and RNase activity of a barnase mutant.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a reproductive ablation system having reduced barnase-induced toxicity and minimal leaky expression in a plant's vegetative tissues.


A driver IC (4) and a current driver circuit (40) are shared by a first organic EL panel (2) and a second organic EL panel (3). Therefore, not like conventional cases, the current driving circuit (40) on a side not selected is not necessarily in a standby state, and power consumption can be reduced. In a case where the first and second organic EL panels are passive matrix type, a first diode is provided between each column line of the first and the second organic EL panels and corresponding each terminal pin so as to prevent a reverse flow.

The organic EL display device can perform high luminance display due to spontaneous light emission and is suitable for a small area display. Therefore, the organic EL display device has been paid attention as a next generation display device to be mounted on a portable telephone set, a PHS, a DVD player or a PDA (digital portable terminal device).
In a portable telephone set, for example, a main display panel and a sub-display panel are arranged back to back. A switching of display is performed between the sub-display panel provided on a front side of a cover of the organic EL display device to display information necessary for the sub-display panel when the cover is closed and to display operation information such as a menu on the main display panel provided on a rear side of the cover when the cover is opened.
In this case, the main display panel is for a high resolution color display and the sub-display panel having display area smaller than that of the main display is for a monochromatic display. In particular, the sub-display panel of the portable telephone set displays time and image of a call when a signal is received.
Drivers of the main display panel and the sub-display panel have different specifications and are chipped on respective display substrates. Therefore, these drivers are usually provided separately.
A current drive circuit of the organic EL display panel includes current source drive circuits, for example, output circuits formed by current mirror circuits corresponding to respective terminal pins (column pins), regardless of the type of the organic EL panel, active matrix type or passive matrix type.
In the active matrix type organic EL panel, pixel circuits are provided correspondingly to display cells (pixels) and each pixel circuit drives a transistor according to a voltage stored in a capacitor and the organic EL element (referred to as "OEL element", hereinafter) is current-driven by the transistor.
On the other hand, in the passive matrix type organic EL panel, anodes of the OEL elements arranged in a matrix are connected to output pins of drive current sources through column pins and the OEL elements are driven by the respective drive circuits.
Incidentally, a drive circuit for an organic EL display panel, which is constructed with D/A converter circuits provided correspondingly to column pins, is disclosed in JP2003-234655A (Patent Reference 1). In the drive circuit disclosed in Patent Reference 1, the D/A converter circuits provided correspondingly to the column pins receive display data and a reference drive current, converts the digital display data into an analog signal according to the reference drive current and generates drive currents corresponding to the respective column pins or a current on which the drive currents are generated.
Patent Reference 1: JP2003-234655A


The e-mail system includes a responsible person terminal holding a plurality of recipient addresses to which given e-mail is sent, and a reference list editor terminal connected to the responsible person terminal through a network for editing a reference list comprising one or more recipient addresses to be updated from among the recipient addresses. The reference list includes recipient addresses to be replaced, recipient addresses to be deleted, and recipient addresses to be added. The reference list end a program or tool that references the reference list to update an e-mail recipient address list are recorded/stored on a server. The reference list editor terminal and the responsible person terminal access the server to cause the update function to be performed.

Communication by e-mail has become increasingly important with the growth of the Internet and other communication networks and the widespread use of information terminals, including personal computers. As a result, e-mail systems continue to become an important social infrastructure, and not simply a business tool.
E-mail is used as the above-mentioned business tool as well as for personal use. Therefore, an e-mail user may often send e-mail containing the same contents to a number of recipients. In addition, it is commonplace that a user sends e-mail to a number of recipients on a regular basis. There exists a common usage pattern in which certain e-mail is distributed (broadcasted) to a number of fixed recipients on a regular basis.
In order to support such a usage pattern, the recipients of e-mail are often grouped. That is, the e-mail user groups and registers a plurality of e-mail addresses into a list and can then select the listed group as the recipient of the e-mail, thereby eliminating the need to select the plurality of e-mail addresses individually.
The e-mail addresses grouped and registered by the e-mail user into a list can change. A specific example of this will be described with respect to usage of e-mail in a company. For example, a certain employee may utilize e-mail to report the progress of his/her activity in a certain time period to a plurality of other employees. The employee who reports the progress is called the "sender" and the employees who receive the report are called "recipients" herein. Personnel changes, including changes in responsibility, may occur quite often in the company. Therefore, the intended recipients may change according to the personnel changes. Because information about the personnel changes is typically provided to the employees of the company, the sender can know the information on his/her own to individually change the e-mail addresses registered by him/her.
However, it is not necessarily easy for the sender to know all the personnel changes without fail. It is especially difficult if the scale of the company is large because the number of the recipients may be as large as several hundred. As a result, employees who should no longer receive an e-mail message may receive it or employees who should receive the e-mail message may not receive it. If this occurs, quick business activities using information technology would not be ensured. Furthermore, even if the sender knows all the personal changes, the large number of recipients may burden the sender with update tasks such as the addition and deletion of the recipients. For example, every member of a project team in a company can be a sender. In that case, each individual sender updates e-mail addresses. Such update tasks are undesirable for the efficiency of business activities in the company.
The e-mail addresses update tasks described above with respect to in-company e-mail by way of example are not limited to a company. They can generally occur in anywhere e-mail is used.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an e-mail system capable of reducing the burden of updating a list of e-mail addresses. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of updating an e-mail recipient address list that allows such updates. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a computer apparatus that is useful with respect to such an e-mail system and for performing the e-mail recipient address list updating method.

System, method and apparatus for updating electronic mail recipient lists

International Business Machines Corporation


A turbomachine wheel assembly having slotted flanges includes a turbomachine wheel having a first wheel arm and a second, opposing wheel arm. The first wheel arm includes a first flange having a first radially outer surface and the second wheel arm includes a second flange having a second radially outer surface. The second flange includes a fastener retaining member extending axially outwardly from the second radially outer surface and an opening extending axially through the flange at the fastener retaining member. The fastener retaining member includes at least one wall section extending radially inward from the second radial outer surface.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the art of turbomachines and, more particularly, to a turbomachine wheel assembly having slotted flanges.
Gas turbomachines include a compressor portion linked to a turbine portion through a common compressor/turbine shaft and a combustor assembly. The compressor portion guides compressed air flow through a number of sequential stages toward the combustor assembly. In the combustor assembly, the compressed air flow mixes with a fuel to form a combustible mixture. The combustible mixture is combusted in the combustor assembly to form hot gases. The hot gases are guided to the turbine portion through a transition piece. The hot gases expand through the turbine portion acting upon turbine blades mounted on wheels to create work that is output, for example, to power a generator, a pump, or to provide power to a vehicle.
Multiple wheels are connected to spacers by bolted joints to form a stacked wheel assembly. Typically, D-nuts are employed at one end of a fastener portion of the bolted joint. In some cases, the D-nuts act upon one another to prevent rotation of the fastener portion while a nut is tightened on an opposing end. In other cases, the D-nuts act upon an outer/inner, flange extensions/arms on the wheel. In such cases, the D-nuts apply an radial force to the outer/inner flange extensions/arms.

Turbomachine wheel assembly having slotted flanges


A wavelength division multiplexing transmission device includes a multiplexer part which multiplexes a plurality of first signals having a first bit rate and different wavelengths into a second signal having a second bit rate higher than the first bit rate and inserts wavelength data information concerning the different wavelengths into the second signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wavelength discriminating function, and more particularly to a wavelength division multiplexing transmission device and method having a wavelength discriminating function applicable to a wavelength division multiplexing transmission system in an optical communication system.
Recently, there has been considerable activity of increasing communication channels due to an abrupt demand for communications in optical transmission systems. However, an extension work of optical fiber cables needs a huge amount of cost. Hence, a wavelength division multiplexing transmission system is positioned as a key scheme because such a system efficiently utilizes the existing optical fiber cables and can increase the channel capacity by increasing the degree of multiplexing. Nowadays, four-wave multiplexing, eight-wave multiplexing, 16-wave multiplexing and 32-wave multiplexing have been used in practice in the wavelength division multiplexing transmission system.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional wavelength division multiplexing transmission system (four-wave multiplexing). Line terminal equipment LTE receives four data signals STM-M of a relatively low bit rate and multiplexes the data signals into an optical signal STM-N of a relatively high bit rate having a given wavelength by a method which will be described with reference to FIG. 2.
A line terminal equipment (LTE) 11 multiplexes 1 multiplexes four data signals STM-M#1-#4 of a relatively low bit rate into a single optical signal STM-N of a relatively high bit rate having a wavelength xcex1 to an optical coupler 15. Similarly, line terminal equipment LTE 12, 13 and 14 respectively output multiplexed optical signals STM-N having wavelengths xcex2, xcex3 and xcex4 and supply them to the optical coupler 15, which has a wavelength multiplexing function (MUX).
The wavelengths xcex1-xcex4 are arranged as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the wavelengths xcex1-xcex4 are respectively set equal to 1548.51 nm, 1551.72 nm, 1554.94 nm and 1558.17 nm. With this arrangement, the wavelength division multiplexing can be realized. Further, 8-wave multiplexing and 16-wave multiplexing can be realized as shown in FIG. 3.
Turning to FIG. 1 again, the optical coupler 15 combines the four high-bit-rate optical signals STM-N having the different wavelengths from the line terminal equipment 11-14, and outputs a combined, namely, multiplexed optical signal to an optical coupler 17 via an optical fiber cable 16.
The optical coupler 17, which has a wavelength demultiplexing function (DMUX), demultiplexes the multiplexed STM-N signal received from the optical fiber cable 15 into four optical signals STM-N having the different wavelengths. Then, the optical coupler 17 outputs the optical signal STM-N of the wavelength xcex1 to line terminal equipment LTE 18. Similarly, the optical coupler 17 outputs the optical signals STM-N of the wavelengths xcex2-xcex4 to line terminal equipment LTE 19-21, respectively.
The line terminal equipment 18 is supplied with the high-bit-rate optical signal STM-N of the wavelength xcex1 and demultiplexes it into four low-bit-rate data signals STM-M by a method which will be described later with reference to FIG. 2. Similarly, the line terminal equipment 19, 20 and 21 are respectively supplied with the high-bit-rate optical signals STM-N of the wavelengths xcex2-xcex4 and demultiplex them into four low-bit-rate data signals STM-M.
The line terminal equipment LTE will be described with reference to FIG. 2, which is a block diagram thereof. The line terminal equipment 11 receives the four low-bit-rate data signals STM-M#1-STM-M#4 from an external device, and outputs these signals to a multiplexer (MUX) 29 via interface parts 25-28, respectively. The multiplexer 29 inserts OHBs (Over Head Bit or Over Head Byte), which are used to transfer maintenance information between communication devices.
A system controller 30 performs various control procedures in accordance with information and data supplied from a local terminal 33 and/or a remote terminal 23 such as a workstation (WS) connected to a network management system (NMS) 22. The remote terminal 23 enables a remote maintenance work.
The multiplexer 29 multiplexes the four data signals STM-M supplied thereto into a single high-bit-rate data signal, and adds OHB data thereto. Then, the multiplexer 29 supplies an electro-optic converter (E/O) 34 with the multiplexed data signal with the OHB data added thereto.
The electro-optic converter 34 converts the received electric signal into a corresponding optical signal. Although not shown in FIG. 2, the optical signal outgoing from the electro-optic converter 34 is supplied to the optical coupler 15 shown in FIG. 1, which coupler multiplexes other optical signals generated similarly. Then, the multiplexed optical signal is output from the optical coupler 15 to the optical coupler 17 via the optical fiber cable 16.
An opto-electric (O/E) converter 36 receives the multiplexed optical signal from the optical fiber cable 16. The converter 36 converts the received optical signal into a corresponding electric signal, which is supplied to a demultiplexer (DMUX) 37. The demultiplexer 37 demultiplexes the received signal into the data signals STM-M#1-STM-M#4 and the OHB data. The data signals STM-M#1-STM-M#4 are respectively supplied to devices of the next stage via interface parts 43-46. The OHB data is supplied to a system controller 38, which performs various controls in accordance with instructions supplied from a local terminal 42 or the aforementioned remote terminal 23.
A description will now be given of a transfer of the maintenance information between the communication devices using the OHB data. The wavelength division multiplexing transmission is used in an SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) optical communication system which conforms to the international standard of synchronous multiplexing recommended by ITU-T. In the SDH optical communication system, the maintenance information is transferred between the communication devices using the OHB data provided in the STM-N frame which is the unit for multiplexing. The way of using the OHB data is defined.
The minimum management interval between the communication devices in the SDH optical communication system is called xe2x80x9csectionxe2x80x9d, and the OHB data for managing the section is called RSOH (Reg. Section Over Head). Conventionally, the RSOH has a section trace function of performing the inter-section management, called J0 byte. The section tracing function using the J0 byte shows from where the signal being transferred comes.
The section trace function will be described with reference to FIG. 4. A station (A) 50 is now located on the transmission side. The optical coupler 15 of the station 50 combines the optical signals respectively having the wavelengths xcex1-xcex4 generated by the line terminal equipment 11-14, and sends the multiplexed signal to a station (B) 51 located on the reception side. The interval between the stations 50 and 51 is the section, and the section trace function using the J0 byte manages information on the section including the country number, the name of the station and the name of the transmitter device
However, in the wavelength division multiplexing transmission system, the J0 bytes of all the wavelength-division-multiplexed signals having different wavelength have the same value because the J0 bytes show from which the respective signals come from (station 50 in the case shown in FIG. 4). Hence, it is impossible to check each of the wavelength-division-multiplexed signals having the different wavelengths by referring to the respective J0 bytes. Conventionally, a spectrum analyzer is used to measure the wavelengths of the wavelength-division-multiplexed signals and check each of them. The above work by the maintenance person is very cumbersome.
In the wavelength division multiplexing transmission system, as an increased number of wavelengths, the adjacent wavelengths become closer to each other. Thus, if a wavelength connection fails, the signals cannot be received correctly or signals other than the target signals may be received. Furthermore, an increased number of wavelengths which are multiplexed and transferred over a single optical fiber needs a more complex management work directed to, for example, getting information on the states of channels.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a wavelength division multiplexing transmission device and method and a wavelength division multiplexing system, in which the above disadvantages are eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a wavelength division multiplexing transmission device, method and system in which each of wavelengths multiplexed and transferred over an optical fiber in the wavelength division multiplexing system can be checked and the wavelength management can be facilitated.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by a wavelength division multiplexing transmission device comprising: a multiplexer part which multiplexes a plurality of first signals having a first bit rate and different wavelengths into a second signal having a second bit rate higher than the first bit rate and inserts wavelength data information concerning the different wavelengths into the second signal. With the above structure, it is possible to notify a remote device of information indicative of the wavelengths included in the second signal.
The above objects of the present invention are also achieved by a wavelength division multiplexing transmission device comprising: a plurality of multiplexer parts, each of which multiplexes a plurality of first signals having a first bit rate and different wavelengths into a second signal having a second bit rate higher than the first bit rate and inserts wavelength data information concerning the different wavelengths into the second signal; and an optical coupler which combines second signals from the plurality of multiplexer parts and outputs a resultant optical signal.
The above objects of the present invention are also achieved by a wavelength division multiplexing transmission device comprising: a demultiplexer part which demultiplexes a second signal having a second bit rate into first signals having a first bit rate lower than the second bit rate and having different wavelengths and wavelength value data concerning the different wavelengths. With the above structure, it is possible to recognize, on a reception side, which wavelengths are included in the second signal.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are achieved by a wavelength division multiplexing transmission device comprising: an optical coupler which separates an optical signal transferred over an optical fiber cable into second signals; and a plurality of demultiplexer parts, each of which demultiplexes one of the second signals having a second bit rate into first signals having a first bit rate lower than the second bit rate and having different wavelengths and wavelength value data concerning the different wavelengths.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are also achieved by a wavelength division multiplexing transmission system comprising: a first wavelength division multiplexing transmission device; a second wavelength division multiplexing transmission device; and an optical fiber cable. The first and second wavelength division multiplexing transmission devices are configured as described above.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are also achieved by a wavelength division multiplexing transmission method comprising the steps of: multiplexing a plurality of first signals having a first bit rate and different wavelengths into a second signal having a second bit rate higher than the first bit rate; and inserting wavelength data information concerning the different wavelengths into the second signal.
The above-mentioned objects of the present invention are also achieved by a wavelength division multiplexing transmission method comprising the steps of: receiving a second signal; and demultiplexing a second signal having a second bit rate into first signals having a first bit rate lower than the second bit rate and having different wavelengths and wavelength value data concerning the different wavelengths.

Wavelength division multiplexing transmission device and method having waveform discriminating function, and wavelength division multiplexing transmission system


An electric circuit breaker or load switch has at least one fixed contact, a movable contact and a spring system having a rigid arm and a leaf spring. The leaf spring is hinged to the arm to provide an arm-leaf spring assembly in the form of a toggle mechanism, having a first end hinged to a movably supported element bearing the movable contact, and a second end which is hingedly supported at a distance from and opposite the fixed contact. The second end, the first contact and the movable element are positioned such that the arm-leaf spring assembly in both the open and closed position of the contacts assumes a deflected position, by which the connection length of the switch is effectively reduced.

The invention relates to an electric switch, in particular a load switch or power circuit breaker for low-voltage applications, comprising a housing, at least one pair of contacts consisting of a fixed and a movable contact which can assume a first and second position relative to the fixed contact; a spring system having a rigid arm and a leaf spring, which leaf spring is hinged by one end to the arm, in such a manner that an arm-leaf spring assembly in the form of a toggle mechanism with a first and second end is formed, in which the first end is hinged to a movably supported element which bears the movable contact, and in which the second end is disposed hingedly supported at a distance from and opposite the fixed contact; control means acting upon the arm-leaf spring assembly for taking the contacts into the first and/or second position, in which the leaf spring is released or tensioned; and latching means for locking the contacts in the first and/or second position.
A switch of this type, in which the movable contact is disposed in a linear, slidable manner by means of the movably supported element, is known from European Patent Application 0,322,986 A1.
Switching components for low-voltage applications must meet a number of requirements, inter alia with regard to the contact distance, i.e. the distance between the contacts in the open (non-conducting) state of the switch; the contact force, i.e. the force with which the contacts are held against each other in the closed (conducting) state of the switch; the contact opening speed; the short-circuiting capacity, i.e. the maximum permissible short-circuit current under the influence of which the contacts do not open by themselves; the contact wear, also called contact erosion; and if desired they must have provisions enabling them to separate from each other contacts which have become welded together.
The abovementioned requirements are for low-voltage applications, i.e. direct or alternating voltages in the range of about 42-750 V, depending on the nominal amperage of the switch, i.e. the maximum current intensity which the switch must be able to conduct continuously. Standardised amperages are specified in practice.
As in the case of electronic components, efforts are currently being made to achieve the smallest possible dimensions also in electrical components for low-voltage use. The reason for this is to accommodate as many components as possible in installation boxes or wiring boxes of standard dimensions, in order to improve the space filling factor, or to be able to utilise installation boxes or apparatus housings of reduced dimensions with the same number of components.
An obvious solution for reducing the switch length by reducing the length of the arm-leaf spring system in its extended state does little or nothing to help.
Shortening the leaf spring is possible only to a very limited degree, on account of the inadmissible increasing mechanical stress in the leaf spring material when the length is reduced. The selection of weaker spring material is limited, inter alia, because of the requirements concerning the contact force and the contact opening speed.
Shortening the arm of the arm-leaf spring assembly, if the arm is supported with one end rotatable in the housing and the leaf spring is coupled to the movable element, is also possible only to a limited degree because of the requirements concerning the contact distance. For, in order to achieve a desired contact distance in the case of an arm of reduced dimensions, this shorter arm must be turned from the extended position of the arm-leaf spring assembly through a greater angle than a longer arm. This greater angular rotation, in particular the time required for it, has an adverse effect on the contact opening speed of the switch.
Although in the opposite case, i.e. when the leaf spring is firmly clamped and the arm is coupled to the movable element, shortening of the arm does not have any direct influence on the contact opening speed, the greater angular rotation of the arm, which also occurs in that case, results in an undesirable greater friction force on the guiding of the movable element. Apart from the disadvantages of greater wear and mechanically narrower tolerances in the guiding of the slidable element, the greater friction force also has an adverse effect on the speed of movement of the slidable element.
A desired, effective reduction of the switch length can consequently not be achieved only by simply changing the dimensions of the arm-leaf spring assembly.
French Patent Application 2,061,682 discloses an electric switch comprising a toggle mechanism, spring means, a latching mechanism and control means. The toggle mechanism is made up of hingedly coupled arms, whereas the spring means comprise conventional compression and draw springs. The latching mechanism is designed in order to achieve a small force exerted by the toggle mechanism in its extended or nearly extended position on the control means. With regard to obtain an effective reduction of the switch length, while maintaining the requirements for a desired nominal amperage, switching speed, contact force, contact distance and acceptable mechanical loading, this switch construction offers no alternatives.

Electric switch, in particular a load switch or electric circuit breaker


A method for securely accessing a peripheral device at an absolute address is disclosed. A computer program is executed to request from an operating system a memory access object including a procedure executable to address the peripheral device at the absolute address. An operating system procedure is executed to provide the memory access object to the computer program if a value associated with the computer program indicates that the computer program is trusted to perform absolute addressing. If the operating system procedure provides the memory access object to the computer program, the computer program is executed invoke the memory access object procedure to address the peripheral device at the absolute address.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer programming. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method for providing secure input/output (I/O) device addressing.
(2) Art Background
Virtually all modern operating systems support the notion of a user-installable device driver. A device driver is a computer program that provides an operating system (OS) with a well-defined set of services to control the operation of a specific computer hardware component. The act of installing a device driver generally involves loading the device driver into system memory and recording the location of the device driver in an OS-maintained data structure. Once installed, the device driver operates as an extension of the OS. When an application program requests the OS to perform device I/O, the operating system identifies the device driver responsible for the subject device and requests service via the OS/device driver interface.
In order for a device driver to perform device control, the device driver must be able to access locations in the computer system's I/O space, where device registers and device buffers are mapped. These locations are called absolute addresses. The need to access absolute addresses presents several difficulties. First, if device driver access to the computer system's I/O space is not sufficiently restricted, the computer system becomes more vulnerable to being corrupted or crashed by buggy device driver code. This presents a major impediment to the ability to download remote code for execution. At present, a "sandbox" model is typically employed to prevent remote code from addressing critical memory regions such as the I/O space. In the sandbox model, code is verified instruction by instruction to ensure that memory access outside a specified memory range does not occur. Unfortunately, the sandbox model significantly restricts the types of programs that can securely be downloaded for execution. Further, the sandbox model does not address security issues of locally resident application programs.
A second problem with I/O space addressing from device drivers is that some modern computer programming languages, most notably the Java.TM. programming language developed by Sun.TM. Microsystems of Mountain View, Calif., do not support the sort of peek and poke operations necessary to read and write absolute memory locations in the I/O space. Java and Sun are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Consequently, though they might want to, programmers cannot presently implement device drivers that must read and write absolute memory locations in such programming languages.
Yet another problem caused by I/O space addressing from device drivers is reduced portability. The manner in which I/O space is addressed changes from hardware platform to hardware platform. As a result, a different device driver is usually required for each different hardware platform to which a device might be coupled. This complicates matters not only for device driver programmers, but also for systems administrators and on-line device driver providers. Instead of being able to make one device driver available for download and installation, systems administrators and on-line providers must provide as many device drivers as there are hardware nuances affecting device driver code.
It would be desirable therefore, to provide a method for limiting access to a computer system's I/O space to secure, trusted programs and then to the precise range of I/O space necessary for a given secure, trusted program to perform its intended function. Further, it would be desirable to provide a method for accessing the I/O space from a program written in a programming language having no facility for asserting an absolute address in the I/O space. It would also be desirable to provide a method for accessing I/O space in a way that allows the accessing program to be easily ported between different hardware platforms.

Apparatus and method for secure device addressing


A blind assembly that includes a pivoting support rail assembly, an opening and closing rod, at least two wall attachable rail supports, a number of vertical blind slats, and a blind slat spacing chain; the pivoting support rail assembly including a forward L-shaped slat support rail, a rear L-shaped slat support rail, and two hinge connectors, the forward and rear L-shaped support rails each including a slat engagement ridge extending outwardly from the shorter length leg thereof, each hinge connector being pivotally connected between the longer legs of the forward and rear L-shaped slat support rails and at the center thereof to one of the wall attachable rail supports in a manner such that the forward and rear L-shaped slat support rails move in opposite directions as the center of each hinge connectors pivots from the wall attachable rail supports; the opening and closing rod being secured to the forward L-shaped slat support rail; each wall attachable rail support including a wall attachment plate and a pivot plate including a hinge shaft receiving slot and a receiving slot closure.

Vertical blind assemblies provide attractive and effective window and door screening within many buildings and homes. Although vertical blinds are popular, they often include an adjustment mechanism that is difficult to keep operational and blind slats that are difficult for the end user to replace. It would be a benefit, therefore, to have a blind assembly that included an adjustment mechanism having two rigid slat support rails between which the vertical blind slats are pivotally supported. In addition, it would of course also be a benefit to have a blind assembly that included a slat attachment mechanism that allowed a user to easily replace blind slats as they become worn or broken.


A method of fabricating a nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes an oxide area forming step, a word line forming step, an etching step and a source area forming step in turn. In the oxide area forming step, oxide areas are formed in parallel bands. In the word line forming step, word lines are formed in parallel and perpendicularly to the oxide bands formed in the oxide area forming step. In the etching step, oxides, existing in areas between pairs of adjacent word lines in which source regions are to be formed, are etched, whereby field areas are created from the oxide areas. And in the source area forming step, areas functioning as source regions and source lines are formed between the word line pairs by doping impurity into the semiconductor substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory having plural memory cells each provided with a floating gate and a control gate, and to a method of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A type of nonvolatile semiconductor memory, in which transistors (memory cells), each having a floating gate and a control gate, are arranged in a matrix, is known. Such a nonvolatile semiconductor memory is provided with plural source lines, each electrically connected with source regions of transistors belonging to the same row. It is also provided with plural bit lines each electrically connected with drain regions of transistors belonging to the same column. Further, it is provided with plural word lines each including the floating gate and the control gate of the transistors belonging to the same row.
Conventionally, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory like this is fabricated in accordance with the following procedure.
First, a pad oxide layer (pad SiO.sub.2 layer) and silicon nitride layer (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer) are formed on the entire surface of a silicon substrate (Si wafer). Subsequently, a resist pattern, which covers only areas where source lines and transistors will be created, is formed on the silicon nitride layer using lithography. Then, several processes, starting with an etching process are performed, whereby silicon dioxide areas, i.e., field areas for accomplishing isolation between memory cells, are formed on areas where no source line and no memory cell are formed.
Once the structure which has field areas and an area where no silicon dioxide exists (hereinafter, called active area) on the surface is completed, the entire surface is again covered with several layers for word lines. Thereafter, a resist pattern for patterning the layers is formed through lithography. The layers are then etched using the resist pattern as a mask, whereby the word lines are formed. After forming the word lines, a doping process is carried out. Then, an intermediate insulating layer covering the entire surface is formed. Further, a resist pattern, which covers areas except the drain regions, is formed on the intermediate insulating layer using lithography. Then, the intermediate insulating layer is etched using the resist pattern as a mask, and holes reaching the drain regions (i.e. drain contact holes) are formed. Thereafter, a conducting material (A1) is deposited on the surface, and the deposited conducting material is patterned, whereby the bit lines are formed.
Note that, for details of a fabrication procedure for a nonvolatile semiconductor memory like this, reference may be made for instance, to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-77160, published in 1989.
As stated above, in the conventional nonvolatile semiconductor memory, both the word lines and the source lines are formed using resist patterns (lithography). Therefore, when a nonvolatile semiconductor memory to be fabricated with the above structure is designed, intervals between the word lines and the source lines are determined with consideration given to the accuracy of alignment of the photomask. That is, intervals between the word lines and the source lines are designed in such a manner that a nonvolatile semiconductor memory of normal function can be obtained when the resist pattern is formed at a position distant from the standard position. As a result, in the conventional nonvolatile semiconductor memory, there are useless areas having no effect on the function around source lines.
Further, the conventional nonvolatile semiconductor memory also uses lithography when drain contact holes are formed. At this time, when the drain contact holes are directly in contact with the floating gates or the control gates of the word lines, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory which does not function normally is fabricated. Consequently, the design relative to the drain contact holes is also made with consideration given to the accuracy of alignment of the photomask. As a result, useless areas, which have no effect on the memory function, also exist around drain contact holes in the conventional nonvolatile memory.

Nonvolatile semiconductor memory and fabricating method thereof


The color of magenta using newly developed magenta ink has characteristics L*≈41, a*≈82, and b*≈24, and has differences ΔL*≈4, Δa*≈0, and Δb*≈26 from the conventional magenta ink, i.e., the lightness value is low, and the color difference b* assumes a very small value. When the color of red is reproduced using such new magenta ink, its lightness and saturation values are low, and subdued red is reproduced, i.e., a visually favorable color cannot be obtained. Hence, when a color included in a first color gamut is input, and the input color is converted into the color of a second color gamut narrower than the first color gamut, color conversion is made using a three-dimensional lookup table having red defined by L*≈45 to 50, a*≈67 to 70, and b*≈50 to 55.

There is a gamut mapping technique that represents a color, which exists in a color space (e.g., an RGB color space of a digital camera) with a broad color gamut but does not exist in a color space (e.g., a CMYK color space of a printer) with a narrow color gamut, in the color space with the narrow color gamut. The general gamut mapping attains the above color representation by selecting a region where it seems like an identical color (e.g., by selecting an equal hue line, selecting a region where it seems like an identical color, and so forth), as disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-104604.
The color of red is reproduced by a combination of color recording materials of magenta and yellow. The color of magenta using the color recording material of magenta has characteristics L*≈45, a*≈82, and b*≈2 on an L*a*b* color space. The color of yellow using the color recording material of yellow has characteristics L*≈88, a*≈4, and b*≈105 on the L*a*b* color space. The color of red is reproduced using these two color recording materials.
However, new ink as a color recording material of magenta is developed (to be referred to as "new magenta ink" hereinafter), and the color of magenta using the new magenta ink has characteristics L*≈41, a*≈82, and b*≈24 on the L*a*b* color space. Therefore, the differences from the conventional magenta ink (to be referred to as "old magenta ink" hereinafter) are ΔL*≈4, Δa*≈0, and Δb*≈26, i.e., the lightness value is low, and b* assumes a very small value.
Note that new ink as a color recording material of yellow is also developed (to be referred to as "new yellow ink" hereinafter), and its characteristics (color) are nearly the same as those of the conventional yellow ink (to be referred to as "old yellow ink" hereinafter).
When the color of red is reproduced using the new magenta ink and new yellow ink with these characteristics, its lightness and saturation values are low, and subdued red is reproduced, i.e., a visually favorable color cannot be obtained. Hence, how to reproduce the visually favorable color of red is a question. As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-104604 above, if an equal hue line is used, a close visual hue value can be selected on the color space with the narrow color gamut, but a saturation value often becomes low. In this case, a color with a subdued, light impression is obtained. If this is used in the reproduction of a photo or the like, a color that creates an impression different from that in the original photo is reproduced.
Furthermore, no problem is experienced when an allowable range of an identical color exists. However, when the color gamut is different beyond the allowable range, no measure can be taken.

Color processing apparatus and its method, program, and printer driver


An input buffer circuit with hysteresis includes a first stage and a second stage. The first stage includes a resistive device to provide a resistance between two nodes of the first stage. The two nodes are responsive to a signal input. The second stage includes four series-coupled transistors. A first node is coupled to the control electrodes of two of the four transistors and the second node is coupled to the control electrodes of the other two transistors. The second stage includes a signal output. In some examples, a resistance provided by the resistive device is variable and provides the buffer circuit with hysteresis.

Input buffers are used to condition signals transmitted to an integrated circuit from an external source. A common input buffer includes a simple CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) inverter circuit having a P-channel transistor coupled in series with an N-channel transistor. The gates of the transistors are coupled together to receive an input signal. A common problem with this type of circuit is that as the input signal is transitioning from one logic state to another there is a point when both the P-channel and N-channel transistors are both conducting at the same time, causing a current, sometimes referred to as a crowbar current, to flow through both devices for a short period. The circuit of FIG. 1, described below, has been used to reduce the crowbar current in an input buffer.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a prior art input buffer circuit 10. To reduce the crowbar current, input buffer circuit 10 includes a resistor 13 between a P-channel transistor 12 and an N-channel transistor 14 that make up an inverter circuit. There are two outputs from the inverter, labeled "A" and "B", separated from each other by resistor 13. Output A is coupled to drive the gate of P-channel transistor 16 and output B is coupled to drive the gate of N-channel transistor 18. The resistor functions to prevent P-channel transistor 16 from being conductive at the same time N-channel transistor 18 is conductive when an input signal IN transitions from, for example, a logic low voltage to a logic high voltage. This reduces the crowbar current and thus reduces power consumption.
Frequently, input buffers with hysteresis characteristics are necessary, such as in circuits that handle low frequency signals. A circuit with hysteresis has two switching voltage levels, an upper level and a lower level. As a signal transitions from a logic low to a logic high, the circuit will switch states as the signal passes the upper voltage level. As the signal transitions from a logic high to a logic low, the circuit will switch states as the signal passes the lower voltage level. This prevents the circuit from inadvertently switching states in response to a rapidly changing signal due to, for example, noise. A problem with some existing input buffers with hysteresis is that a relatively high amount of power is consumed to provide the hysteresis. Therefore, what is needed is an input buffer with hysteresis with lower power consumption.

Latching input buffer circuit with variable hysteresis


A method, mobile device, application server, and computer program product, for requesting a geospatial-location-specific application associated with a geospatial-location-specific service that are both specific to a geospatial location corresponding to a current geospatial location of the mobile device. The mobile device determines a current geospatial location of the mobile device and sends a request message to an application server. The request message includes the current geospatial location of the mobile device and a request to receive a geospatial-location-specific application associated with a geospatial-location-specific service. The mobile device receives a response message including identification of a candidate geospatial-location-specific application associated with a geospatial-location-specific service, specific to a geospatial location within a defined nearby vicinity area of the current geospatial location of the mobile device. The mobile device displays a list of selectable choices prioritized by proximity of geospatial location associated with each candidate geospatial-location-specific application.

Various embodiments of the present invention relate to wireless communication devices, mobile devices, and wireless communication systems, that facilitate selection of mobile applications and related services, and more specifically, to location-based selection of mobile web applications and services.
The primary method of accessing mobile web applications and mobile web sites—entering a URL—suffers from two primary drawbacks. First, users may not know the appropriate URL for the application or service they want to access. Second, manually typing URLs on mobile devices is slow and cumbersome.
Previous and current approaches primarily rely on alternative approaches to discovering and entering URLs. For example, mobile devices can use infrared beacons and RFID tags as a way to discover URLs for local services. As other examples, mobile devices can use readers of QR codes to discover URLs for local services or can use Near-Field Communication to detect URLs using device sensors. However, these approaches normally require that users have a line of sight or direct physical proximity to the source of the QR codes or other markers, and thus are not always easily accessible, or even easily discoverable, by users.

Location-based mobile application and service selection


A globe lighting assembly comprises a metal cage, a plastic globe at least partially surrounded by the metal cage, a reflector reflecting light from a light source throughout the globe, and a socket clip disposable into the reflector. The socket clip includes legs having at least one position along each of the legs corresponding to settings for the light source in the reflector. The metal cage has lower and upper rings, and prongs which all surround and give structural support for at least one of an upper portion and a lower door of the globe. The upper portion is hingedly connected to the lower door. The lower door has a circular rim that fits into an inner surface of the lower ring when the globe is in the closed position. As a result, the circular rim of the lower portion is not viewable from the outside of the globe. The lower ring of the cage has an inner circular lip that aids in preventing moisture from entering an interior of the globe. The upper portion of the globe has a bottom edge that attaches to the lower ring just to an outside of the inner circular lip to aid in preventing moisture from entering the interior of the globe. The prongs are aligned with flanges and lip extensions extending from the inner circular lip. The prongs are spaced approximately equally from each other around the globe.

This invention relates to a globe lighting assembly having a globe and a cage surrounding the globe that lets light diffuse from both a top and a bottom of the globe.
Lighting assemblies generally emit light from either a top or a bottom of the assembly. Emitting light from each of the top, the bottom, and the sides of the assembly presents several difficulties in manufacturing of the assembly. In particular, the placement of a lamp and of a reflector, if any, will effectively block the light in one of the directions.
A globe lighting assembly comprises a metal cage, and a plastic globe with an upper portion and a lower portion. The globe lighting assembly also has an open position, and a closed position. The globe is substantially spherical with the upper portion and the lower portion substantially being two separable hemispheres of the sphere. The upper portion is hingedly connected to the lower portion to move between the closed position and the open position.
The metal cage has a lower ring, an upper ring, prongs, and a hub. The hub connects the assembly to a post or an arm. The lower and upper rings along with the prongs surround and give structural support for an upper portion of the globe. There are four prongs spaced approximately equal from each other around the globe.
The lower ring has an inner circular lip. The upper portion of the globe has a bottom edge that abuts against the lower ring just to an outside of the inner circular lip. The inner circular lip aids in preventing moisture from entering the interior of the globe, along with gaskets and silicon sealant.
The lower ring has lip extensions with flanges. The number of lip extensions, the spacing between the lip extensions, the width of the lip extensions, as well as the location of the lip extensions each correspond to that of the prongs. The flanges are parallel to the upper ring. As a result of the flanges positioning, the light from a lamp will cast the shadow of the flanges onto the cage, and will not be seen from outside the globe.
The lower portion of the globe has an upper circular rim that fits into an inner surface of the lower ring when the globe is in the closed position. As a result, the upper circular rim of the lower portion is not viewable from the outside of the globe.
The globe lighting assembly further comprises a reflector with a rim. The rim of the reflector attaches to the flanges. The reflector has an aperture covered with a light diffuser so that light diffuses substantially through the upper portion of the globe, as well as the bottom portion of the globe. The light diffuser is translucent, preferably plastic and glass between the plastic and a light source. The plastic is an opal polycarbonate diffuser or an acrylic plastic. The glass is clear tempered glass.
The globe lighting assembly further comprises a metal socket clip. The reflector has an aperture dimensioned to receive the socket clip. The socket clip has four legs with multiple settings along each of the legs. The multiple settings are for light source positions. The legs are flexible and are biased outwards from each other such that there is adequate resistance to maintain and hold the socket clip in the determined setting.
An alternative embodiment of the globe lighting assembly comprises a cage, and a globe surrounded by the cage. The cage has a bottom ring, a top ring, prongs, and a hub. The bottom and top rings, along with the prongs give structural support for the globe at a lower portion. There are four prongs spaced approximately equal from each other around the globe.
Many of the attendant features of this invention will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description and considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference symbols designate like parts throughout.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a globe lighting assembly;
FIGS. 2 to 4 are side views of the globe lighting assembly illustrating the steps to opening the lower door;
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a lower ring of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 7 is a view into the lower door of the globe lighting assembly in the open position;
FIG. 8 is a detailed view of the latches shown in FIGS. 2 to 4;
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a reflector of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a socket clip of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate embodiment of the globe lighting assembly;
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of another alternate embodiment of the globe lighting assembly; and
FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the alternative embodiment of FIG. 12.


A device for calculating the number of recording papers on an automatic sheet feeder, including a sheet thickness detector, generating a sheet thickness value, and a sheet pile thickness detector, generating a sheet pile thickness value, which the processor divides by the sheet thickness value, generates and displays the number of the recording papers on the sheet feeder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for calculating a sheet number of recording papers piled up on an automatic sheet feeder (ASF) in an image recording apparatus and a method for calculating the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An image recording apparatus, such as a wire dot printer, a thermal printer, or ink jet printer, includes a unique recording head for recording image data on a recording medium such as a recording paper or overhead projector (OHP) film. These recording apparatuses generally include automatic sheet feeders guides to assure proper feeding of the recording papers through the apparatus. Conventional automatic sheet feeders typically do not apprize the user as to the number of sheets piled thereon. When the recording apparatus has print jobs which would exhaust the number of papers in the feeder, the user typically discovers same upon returning to collect the jobs after a sufficiently long period of time deemed necessary to complete the job and must re-supply the increasing the time needed to get the job done.
Several types of sheet feeding apparatus are disclosed in the patent literature. Unfortunately, the apparatuses described do not provide the features in the convenient simple manner of the preset invention does. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,960, issued Mar. 12, 1985, to G. A. A. Koeleman, describes a Method and Apparatus for Sensing a Supply of Sheets in a Magaziue. Referring to FIG. 1, the device includes a height sensor 1 which ascertains the height of a stack of sheet by unknown means. An equally unknowable calibration element 3 applies a conversion factor to the height signal to convert the height signal into a number of sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,014, issued Feb. 4, 1997, to Y. Kitahara et al., describes a Sheet Conveyor Apparatus. Referring to FIG. 2 and column 4, lines 1-9, the device includes sheet thickness sensors 75a and 75b, each employing an optical sensor of the permeable type. Referring to lines 10-17, the thickness detector only ascertains and produces a signal for either a thick or thin sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,163, issued Sep. 8, 1992, to K.P. Cowan et al., describes a Film Sheet Mode Magazine. Referring to FIG. 5 and column 7, lines 45-69, the device employs a primary feed roller 48 having a drive shaft which contacts a lever member 134. A pointer 130 is fixed to the lever member 134. The pointer corresponds to a thickness of films 12 relative to a sheet feeder bed and indicates same unremovable scale. Different scales may be substituted corresponding to estimated empirical thicknesses attributed to the sheet stock maintained in the sheet feeder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,496, issued Mar. 17, 1992, to H. Madate, describes a Sheet Extracting Mechanism with Function for Detecting the Amount of Stacked Sheets and Recording Systemn Utilizing the Same. Referring to FIG. 1and column 4, lines 5-10, the film amount detecting mechanism detects a position where a suction cup picks up film stock and compares the measurement to a calibrated position where the suction cup would not be able to pick up a film stock.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,128, issued Apr. 30, 1991, to K. Tsuji, describes an Apparatus for Detecting the Thickness of Sheets. Referring to FIG. 1and column 7, lines 63-68, the invention includes an auxiliary roller 11, abutting against the movable roller 3, mounted on a detecting arm 12. The detecting arm is mounted to an angle sensor 13. The mechanics of the angle sensor are not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,729556, issued Mar. 8, 1988, to K. Fujii et al., describes an Apparatus for Detecting the Thickness of Bank Notes. Referring to FIG. 1and column 3, lines 49-63, the device includes a detection roller 17 which is pushed upward when a sheet is received thereunder, rotating the detection arm 16 counterclockwise, actuating a potentiometer 23.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,747, issued Mar. 29, 1988, to M. Okuda et al., describes a Copying Machine with a Copy Paper Detection Device. Referring to FIG. 6 and column 6, lines 56-68, the device includes a light emitting element 52 and five light detecting elements 53a-53e. As the paper supply 55 diminishes, more sensors are exposed to light.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,573, issued May 30, 1989, C. Rohrer et al., describes a Machine Control System Utilizing Paper Parameter Measurements. Referring to FIG. 1and column 5, lines 33-68, the device includes an elevator mechanism in a copy supply bin 20 and an elevator motor 30, including a tachometer, to raise and lower the elevator. The paper supply bin also has a limit switch which is tripped by a stack of paper. Rohrer et al. describes calculating the sheet thickness by converting the output of the tachometer as sheets are removed and counted, and the elevator is elevated to maintain the sheets at a constant level.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,715, issued Dec. 9, 1989, to M. Kikuno, Describes a Programmable Copier. Referring to FIG. 5 and column 3, lines 7-20, the device includes three sets of light detectors 10a-10c, positioned at different heights within a sheet feeder bin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,816, issued May 5, 1987, to P. Fabrig, describes a Method of Breaking up Stacks of Paper Sheets or the Like. Referring to FIG. 1and column 8, lines 34-62, the device includes a means 55 for monitoring thickness, including a reciprocal ram that is coupled to any of a number of dial gages, which may be changed depending on a predetermined notion of sheet thickness.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,587, issued Jul. 31, 1984, to H. T. Graef et al., Describes a Method of and System for Detecting Bill Status in a Papers Money Dispensing Machine. Referring to FIGS. 8A-8B and column 10, lines 21-34, the device includes electronic sensors 62 having rollers 60 in contact with rolls 56, 58, 54 or 52 of the apparatus. Paper or bills are not received between the sensor roller 60 and contacting roller 56, 58, 54 or 52.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,135, issued Feb. 8, 1983, to W. L. Mohan et al., describes a Pitch Matching Detecting and Counting System. Referring to FIG. 7 and column 5, lines 3-24, the device includes a single sensor 102 positioned relative to a stack of similar objects 104 and a light source 106. The light source is focused by a condensing lens 110 on the edges of the stack objects to form an illuminated area 112. The width of the slit formed between the masks is adjusted by positioning a pitch match dial 118, the width of the paper being ascertained therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,487, issued Jul. 30, 1974, to K. Forster et al., describes a Control Apparatus and Method for Transporting Sheets. Referring to FIGS. 3-6, and column 3, the device includes a magnitude sensor 8 having a transducer 9 mounted thereon. As the sensor is strained, the transducer generates a signal corresponding to the sheet thickness. Alternatively, referring to FIG. 5, the device may include a sensor 8" with a sensing piston 34 that contacts the sheets. The rear portion 34a of the sensing piston interrupts a light beam issued from a light source 36 toward a photoelectric matrix 35.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,051, issued Dec. 11, 1973, to J. H. Allen et al., describes a Superposed Sheet Detector. Referring to FIG. 1and column 3, line 60 through column 4, line 7, the device includes a transducer 101 adapted to produce a signal proportional to the thickness of a sheet material. The device also may employ a proximity detector between rollers conveying the sheets.
I have found that the art represented by the above demonstrates a lack of recognition of the need for a device which measures the thickness of a recording medium, by means of light intensity, and the thickness of a stack of recording media so as to apprize a user with the number of sheets available.
None of the above references, taken alone or in combination, are seen as teaching or suggesting the presently claimed device for calculating sheet number in a sheet feeder and method for calculating same.

Device for calculating sheet number in a sheet feeder and method for calculating the same


A motor drive includes an electromagnetic connector for connecting an alternating current (AC) power source to an AC/DC conversion unit or disconnecting therefrom, a DC link unit, a DC/AC conversion unit for converting smoothed direct current voltage to AC voltage, a DC link voltage detection unit for measuring voltage of the DC link unit, and a control unit. The control unit includes a time measurement unit for measuring elapsed time since switching by the electromagnetic connector, and a welding judgment unit for judging that the electromagnetic connector is welded, provided that the difference between voltage between terminals of the DC link unit after charging the DC link unit and voltage between the terminals of the DC link unit after predetermined time has elapsed since disconnecting the AC power source from the AC/DC conversion unit, after the charge of the DC link unit, is less than a predetermined voltage level.

In motor control devices for driving machine tools, industrial machines, robots and the like, there is a known method for preventing a motor from operating in case of emergency shut-down or raising an alarm, by which an electromagnetic connector provided in an input power line is turned off to disconnect the motor control device from a power source so that power supply from the power source is stopped (for example, Japanese Patent No. 3506590 (JP 3506590 B)).
According to this conventional method, excessive current passing through the electromagnetic connector can possibly weld a contact and disable the electromagnetic connector from disconnecting. Therefore, generally a method in which the electromagnetic connector is turned on and off in a state of stopping a machine and consuming no energy, and an auxiliary contact of the electromagnetic connector is monitored at this time in order to check the presence or absence of welding of the electromagnetic connector is used (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-181885 (JP 2007-181885 A)).
However, this conventional art requires providing the electromagnetic connector having the auxiliary contact, and also an additional circuit for monitoring the auxiliary contact in a motor drive or the outside thereof, resulting in an increase in costs.
An object of the present invention is to provide a motor drive that can detect the presence or absence of welding of an electromagnetic connector without an increase in costs, by utilizing a DC link voltage detection unit or a current detection unit, without requiring the provision of the auxiliary contact of the electromagnetic connector and the additional circuit.

Motor drive having function of detecting welding of electromagnetic connector


A decorative display article is provided having a plate and a transparent vessel mounted thereon. The vessel defines a reservoir for retaining a liquid and a particulate material which will fall gently through the liquid upon agitation. The reservoir is mounted within the central portion of the plate and a peripheral rim on the plate extends radially outwardly therefrom. A sculpture is positioned within the reservoir and fixed proximal to the plate. Decorative artwork may be provided on the plate and/or as part of the vessel.

A number of decorative display type devices are known in the art. Such known displays include a domed member for retaining articles such as flowers, taxidermy, minerals or the like. Examples of such displays are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 660,782 to Strumpell; 2,580,821 to Storck; Des. 264,452 to Crawford; Des. 215,204 to Rimm; and 5,057,344 to Mealey. It is also known to include a liquid and particulate materials within a transparent vessel, such that upon agitation of the liquid the particulate will settle softly over a period of time. Such elements are sometime called "snow globes". The combination of particles and liquid with in a vessel for decorative or entertainment purposes has also been incorporated into display such as placemats or the like. Examples of these type articles are found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,183,426 to Hart and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,047,267; 5,104,699; and 5,256,457 each to Pantaleo et. al. It is also known to motorize snow globe displays for continuous agitation of the liquid and particles, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,587,620 to Hormann and 5,301,444 to Horiuchi.


A method for transmitting data from within a wired communication system is disclosed. A first network-enabled device can select one of a plurality of communication mediums for transmitting the data stream to the second device and transmit the data stream to the second device using the selected communication medium. The first device determines that the transmission of the data stream using the selected communication medium is being interfered with by transmission of other data from the first device to a third device on another of the plurality of communication mediums. In response to determining that the transmission of the data stream to the second device on the selected communication medium is being interfered with by the transmission of the other data to the third device using the other communication medium, the first device turns off the transmission of the other data to the third device on the other communication medium.

In a home network, a variety of different networking technologies may be utilized by consumer devices. Both wired and wireless networking technologies are currently used by end users for network connectivity. Because no single networking technology may be suitable for all applications and/or devices, the IEEE developed the IEEE 1905.1 standard for home networking.
The IEEE 1905.1 standard supports both wireless and wired technologies—including wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), Ethernet, powerline communication (PLC), and Multimedia over Coax (MoCA)—in order to provide a more complete home networking coverage. However, the IEEE 1905.1 standard may not necessarily satisfy the needs of consumers in certain markets (for example, markets where co-axial cables are dominant), and does not currently include other home networking technologies, such as Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) and Ethernet Passive Optical Network Protocol over Coax (EPoC).

Selecting a communication medium for data transmission


A system for generating electricity from solar energy comprises a first vertically-oriented bifacial photovoltaic module, a second vertically-oriented bifacial photovoltaic module positioned a horizontal distance form the first bifacial photovoltaic module, and a macro-textured structure positioned between the first and second bifacial photovoltaic modules. The macro-textured structure includes a plurality of protruding features having reflective surfaces, and the protruding features are operative to reflect light incoming within a range of 0 to 10 degree of vertical toward the first and second bifacial photovoltaic modules.

Bifacial solar (PV) modules are panels that include photovoltaic cells on both planar faces. In many applications, bifacial PV modules are mounted in a vertical alignment that is helpful for reducing dust accumulation. Obliquely-mounted, i.e., non-vertical, panels tend to dramatically decrease in energy yield over time due to dust accumulation unless they are regularly cleaned. Due to this advantage, vertically-mounted bifacial PV modules are particularly promising candidates for power generation in desert-like environments in which the concentration of aerosols is high for a significant portion of the year and because they are subject to high rates of dust accumulation.
A drawback of installing bifacial PV modules in a vertical configuration is that they tend to receive less sunlight during the middle of the day when the solar radiation is parallel or near parallel to the surfaces of the modules.
It would therefore be advantageous to remedy, mitigate, or at least ameliorate the midday power loss associated with vertically-mounted bifacial modules, so that the benefits of the vertical configuration in terms of reduced dust accumulation can be realized without suffering undue midday losses. It would be a further benefit to remedy, mitigate, or ameliorate power loss associated with vertically-mounted bifacial modules in a way in which cleaning operations are not impeded or complicated. The present invention addresses one or more of these and other problems in the art.

Apparatus for increasing energy yield in bifacial photovoltaic modules