A magnetic transfer method for transferring a magnetic recording information on a master carrier for magnetic transfer to a slave medium by bringing the master carrier for magnetic transfer with a magnetic layer with magnetic recording information recorded thereon into close contact with the slave medium where the information is to be transferred, whereby initial DC magnetization is performed on the slave medium in advance in track direction, and using a magnetic material having a product (Ms·δ) of saturation magnetization (Ms) and magnetic layer thickness (δ) within the range of 0.025 T·μm (20 G·μm)–2.3 T·μm (1830 G·μm) inclusive as the master carrier for magnetic transfer, the slave medium after the initial DC magnetization is brought into close contact with the master carrier, and a magnetic field for transfer is applied in a direction opposite to the direction of the initial DC magnetization of the slave surface, and magnetic transfer is performed.

The present invention relates to a magnetic transfer method for transferring a recording information to a magnetic recording medium used in a large capacity and high recording density magnetic recording and reproducing system. In particular, the invention relates to a magnetic transfer method to be used in the recording of servo signal, address signal, other normal video signal, audio signal, data signal, etc.
With rapid propagation and progress in the technique to utilize digital image, the amount of information processed by devices such as personal computer has extensively increased. To cope with the increase of the amount of information, there are now strong demands on a magnetic recording medium, which has large capacity for information recording and is available at low cost, and further, can record and read within shorter time.
In a high density recording medium, e.g. hard disk or large capacity removable type magnetic recording medium such as ZIP (Iomega Inc.), the information recording region has narrower tracks compared with floppy disk. In order to accurately scan the magnetic head with narrower track width and to record and reproduce signals at high S/N ratio, it is necessary to perform accurate scanning by using tracking servo technique.
In a large capacity magnetic recording medium such as hard disk or removable type magnetic recording medium, there are provided regions where servo signal for tracking, address information signal, reproduction clock signal, etc. are recorded at a given angular spacing. The magnetic head reproduces these signals at a given spacing and accurately scans on the track while confirming and correcting the position of the head. These signals are recorded on the magnetic recording medium in advance by the so-called "preformat" process when the magnetic recording medium is manufactured.
Accurate positioning is required for recording of servo signal for tracking, address information signal, reproduction clock signal, etc. In this respect, after the magnetic recording medium is incorporated in the drive, the preformat recording is performed by the magnetic head under strict position control using a special-purpose servo recording system.
However, in the preformat recording of servo signal, address signal, and reproduction clock signal, recording is performed under strict position control of the magnetic head using a special-purpose servo recording system, and this means that much time is required for the preformat recording. Also, magnetic recording density is increased and the amount of signals to be recorded by the preformat recording is also increased, and this means that much more time is required. The percentage of the cost required for the preformat recording process of servo signal in the total manufacturing cost of the magnetic recording medium is increased, and there are now strong demands on the reduction of the cost in this process.
On the other hand, a method is proposed, by which magnetic transfer of a preformat information is performed from the master carrier to the slave medium without recording the preformat information track by track. For instance, JP-63-183623 and EP-0915456 (JP-10-040544, JP-10-269566) describe such transfer technique.
According to the methods described in JP-63-183623 or EP-0915456, surface irregularities (i.e. convex and concave portions) corresponding to an information signal are formed on the surface of a substrate used as a master carrier for magnetic transfer, and a ferromagnetic thin film is formed at least on the surface of convex portions among the surface irregularities of the master carrier for magnetic transfer. The surface of the master carrier is brought into contact with the surface of a sheet-type or a disk-type magnetic recording medium where a ferromagnetic thin film or a coating layer of a composition containing ferromagnetic powder is formed. Or, AC bias magnetic field or DC magnetic field is applied on the surface, and the ferromagnetic material on the surface of the convex portions is excited. Thus, a magnetization pattern corresponding to the surface irregularities (convex and concave portions) is recorded on the magnetic recording medium. According to this method for magnetic transfer, the surface of convex portions of the master carrier for magnetic transfer is brought into close contact with the magnetic recording medium to be preformatted, i.e. the slave medium, and the ferromagnetic material of the convex portions is excited. Then, a predetermined preformat information is recorded on the slave medium. By this method, static recording can be achieved without changing relative positions of the master carrier and the slave medium, and accurate preformat recording can be performed. Also, this method is characterized in that the time required for the recording is very short.
This magnetic transfer method is a method to transfer by bringing the master carrier for magnetic transfer and the slave medium in stationary condition. In this respect, damage occurs less frequently on the master carrier and the slave medium in the process for recording the servo signal, and this method is considered as a method to provide high durability.
As the magnetic material used for the master carrier for magnetic transfer, a soft magnetic material is used. Initially, it has been believed that magnetic permeability of the magnetic layer gives extensive influence on the transfer property, and the priority has been given on high magnetic permeability when the material is selected. However, signal quality is in marginal region, and it is necessary to improve the signal quality further. Also, transfer magnetic field intensity region where magnetic transfer of the signal of good quality can be accomplished is very narrow, and there are problems relating to the facilities.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic transfer method, by which it is possible to increase the quality of the signal transferred when a recording information recorded on the carrier for magnetic transfer is transferred to the slave medium and which can provide extensive transfer magnetic field intensity region.


A method of displaying images via touching and an electronic apparatus thereof are provided. The method includes the following steps. A basic input/output system (BIOS) is loaded to execute an initialization program of the electronic apparatus, where the electronic apparatus has not loaded an operating system. The touch display module is defined to include a human interface device, and the touch display device has a virtual input area, and an input interface is displayed at the virtual input area. A touch event is generated when the touch display device is touched, and a coordinate value is generated according to the touch event. When the coordinate value locates in the input interface, the coordinate value corresponds to a functional code of the human interface device, and a corresponding operation is executed according to the functional code.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an electronic apparatus, and more particularly to an electronic apparatus capable of providing an input function during an initialization stage and a method of displaying images via touching thereof.
2. Related Art
Recently, the touch screen has become one common technology in the daily lives, and the touch screen can be found in an electronic device such as mobile phone, tablet computer, automatic teller machine (ATM), and the personal digital assistant (PDA). Because the touch screen can provide people with an operating experience which is more convenient than that of traditional physical keys, making the electronic device to be designed to have fewer physical keys. However, even though the touch screen brings users high extent conveniences, the users may feel inconvenient when operating the electronic device sometimes due to the insufficient physical keys.
For example, when the user needs to input commands into the electronic device having a touch screen during the initialization and the driver of the electronic apparatus has not been loaded (e.g., the stage for selecting a boot mode), the electronic device itself may not have a sufficient amount of physical keys for the user to operate. Accordingly, the user can not input some required commands and feels inconvenient during the initialization process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of displaying images via touching and electronic apparatus thereof


A fluorochemical composition for rendering fibrous substrates oil repellent, water repellent, and/or stain repellent and comprising a fluorinated polymer dispersed in water or dissolved or dispersed in an organic solvent, the fluorinated polymer comprising units derived from (i) a mixture of two or more fluorinated polyether monomers that differ in at least their molecular weight, the fluorinated polyether monomers having an ethylenically unsaturated group and a perfluorinated polyether group and wherein at least 90% by weight of the mixture consists of fluorinated polyether monomers that have a perfluorinated polyether group having a molecular weight of at least 750 g/mol and (ii) one or more units derived from one or more co-monomers other than a fluorinated polyether monomer and wherein the co-monomers comprise at least one non-fluorinated monomer. Also, method for treating fibrous substrate with such composition, fluorinated polyether monomers, and fluorinated polymers derived from such monomers.

Compositions for making substrates, in particular fibrous substrates, such as textile, oil- and water repellent have been long known in the art. When treating fibrous substrates and in particular textile such as apparel, it is desired that the textile retains its look and feel as much as possible. Therefore, the composition should normally not contain components that would affect the look of the product, i.e., the treatment should be substantially invisible to the unaided human eye. Also the feel of the substrate should preferably be substantially unaffected. Typically this means that only low amounts of the solids of the composition can be applied. Accordingly, an oil- and/or water repellent composition should be highly effective in rendering a substrate repellent.
Commercially available oil- and/or water repellent compositions are typically based on fluorinated compounds that have a perfluorinated aliphatic group. Such compositions are also described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,175 and EP 435 641. The commercial success of this type of compositions can be attributed to their high effectiveness. Fluorinated compounds based on perfluorinated ether moieties have also been described in the prior art for rendering fibrous substrates oil- and/or water repellent. For example, perfluorinated polyether compounds have been disclosed in EP 1 038 919, EP 273 449, JP-A-04-146917, JP-A-10-081873, U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,710, U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,741, U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,179 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,761.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,179 discloses acrylate type esters of perfluoropolyoxa-alkaneamidoalkyl alcohols and homo- and copolymers derived therefrom and the treatment therewith of fabrics to render the latter oil- and/or water repellent. According to the teaching of this patent, the best results are obtained when the polymer is derived from monomers in which the perfluorinated polyether moiety has a fairly low molecular weight. Such compounds however have the disadvantage that perfluorinated degradation products may form or perfluorinated residuals from the preparation of polymer may be present that have a low molecular weight. These compounds can be present in substantial amounts and may not eliminate quickly from living organisms and are therefore environmentally less desired. Additionally, the examples in this patent indicate that fairly high levels of the fluorinated polymer need to be applied on the fabric and even then, the compositions do not always seem to provide oil repellency properties.
Accordingly, it is a desire to find fluorochemical compositions based on a perfluorinated polyether compound that can provide good to excellent oil- and/or water repellency properties to a fibrous substrate. Preferably, the fluorochemical composition is capable of providing durable oil- and/or water repellency properties to a fibrous substrate such that a treated fibrous substrate can substantially maintain the repellency properties even after several washing cycles. Preferably a fibrous substrate treated with the fluorochemical composition has a soft feel, preferably the feel of a treated fibrous substrate is either the same or softer compared to the untreated fibrous substrate. It is a further desire that the fluorochemical compositions can be easily and efficiently manufactured at a low cost. It is further desired to find compositions that have environmentally beneficial properties.

Fluorochemical composition comprising a fluorinated polymer and treatment of a fibrous substrate therewith


This invention provides a method of isolating CD8+ cells which employs an antibody which specifically binds to CD8 molecules present on the surface of CD8+ cells but does not activate the CD8+ cells once bound. This invention also provides related hybridoma cell lines, monoclonal antibodies, antigenic polypeptides, isolated CD8+ cells, and kits.

In humans, CD8+ cells play a vital role in the immune system's ability to defend against potentially harmful foreign entities, such as bacteria and viruses [1]. CD8+ cells circulate in the blood and possess on their surface the CD8 protein. When necessary, these cells are converted into cytotoxic cells (i.e. cell-killing cells) which proceed to destroy foreign cells, viruses, and other harmful pathogens present in the subject [2]. Because of CD8+ cells' effective role in host defense, they hold great potential in isolated form as therapeutics for treating disorders such as viral infections and malignancies [3].
In the past, purification of human CD8+ cells has been achieved by negative selection. Specifically, peripheral blood mononuclear cells ("PBMC's") are incubated with a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies specific for non-CD8 sub-populations. These sub-populations include, for example, B-cells, CD4+ cells, NK cells, macrophages and neutrophils, and each contains specific, non-CD8 "markers". The sub-populations are then removed from the resulting antibody cocktail using magnetic beads [4]. This technique has certain major disadvantages. The first is that several monoclonal antibodies are required for removing non-CD8+ cells. The second is that the resulting CD8+ population suffers from contamination from non-CD8+ cells that possess relatively low levels of non-CD8 markers. Finally, when a magnetic separation procedure is used to remove all non-CD8+ cells, a large number of magnetic beads are needed.

Monoclonal antibody which specifically binds to but does not activate the CD8


According to the present invention, for a dead human body in which the blood contains a predetermined ratio or more of bilirubin, which causes discoloration of the body, before the primary embalmment processing employing the perfusion type antiseptic fixing method using a formalin solution, the body is cleaned with an antiseptic solution, and the preliminary processing is performed. Specifically, a photo catalyst embalming solution containing a photo catalyst is injected into the vessels of the body, and after the photo catalyst embalming solution has been distributed to the capillaries in the dermis of portions of the body for which discoloration is to be prevented, the portions are irradiated by an electromagnetic wave (e.g., UV) to induce photo catalytic activity to locally, at the least, decompose bilirubin and reduce the amount in the body portions. As a result, the appearance of a body in a special state, wherein the amount of bilirubin is excessive, can be maintained so it is as natural as possible.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dead human body embalming method for preventing decomposition and for preserving human bodies for which death was the result of various causes.
2. Related Arts
Since for human bodies, for which death was the result of various causes, tissue degeneration and damage proceed quickly, discoloring the skin and producing odors and gas, bodies of the dead are conventionally cleaned using an antiseptic solution, such as ethanol, and are cooled with dry ice or with an ice bag to delay decomposition. But, while disinfection of the skin surface and cooling applied from the outside can, to a degree, delay decomposition, this processing method is not very effective during a hot summer or in a location having a warm or tropical climate. Further, since when such a cooling preservation method is used the surface of a body is rapidly cooled and the skin is darkened, the appearance of the body tends to become even more unnatural.
Furthermore, since embalmment and sterilization of the organs of a body are not possible when ethanol, formalin or another antiseptic solution is used only for surface disinfection, internally retained viruses and other pathogenic bacteria can be discharged with the gas generated by decomposition, and medical personnel and bereaved family members, and those other than the immediate family who attend a funeral service, may be in danger of contracting an infectious disease. Aside from the process that has been described here, there is one old anatomic preservation method whereby, for the antiseptic processing of a deceased, the body is immersed in a formalin solution of about 5 to 7% and the formalin is permitted to permeate the skin. However, as it has elsewhere been pointed out, this is not an acceptable method because a long, drawn-out procedure is required, since a protracted period is required for the formalin to permeate the surface of skin, and also because this method can not satisfactorily prevent the spread of infectious diseases. There is, however, another popular antiseptic and bacteriological fixing method, currently used for anatomical preservation, for which a perfusion type fixing procedure is employed that includes the injection of an antiseptic fixing solution into an artery of a body and the discharge of blood from a vein.
This type of anatomical preservation procedure is generally called "embalming". Embalming not only tends to preserve and improve the external appearance of a body, thereby reducing the disturbing effect viewing the body could have on a bereaved family and other mourners at a funeral, but also normally resolves the problems attendant with the spread of an infectious disease, and unhygienic conditions. Embalming, therefore, is performed for 90 to 95% of the dead in North America, in the United States and Canada, 70 to 75% of the dead in The United Kingdom and Northern Europe, and 70% of the dead in Singapore, and its use in Japan is gradually increasing.
One conventional embalming example using the perfusion type of antiseptic fixing method is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-24901. According to this embalming method, incisions are made in a body in at least two places, and a preservative agent is injected, by manual injection hand pump, through a blood vessel (e.g., a femoral artery) at one of the incisions, and this injected agent forces blood out, discharging it from another vessel (e.g., a carotid artery) at the other incision. In this manner, the blood inside a body can be replaced with the agent, and the body preserved while not distorting its external shape. Agents that can be used for this embalmment procedure are also disclosed.
According to this publication, for injection, a liquid agent is required that has an antimicrobial or an antiseptic function. Formalin, cresol, phenol or isopropanol may be employed, although a formalin solution or a formalin and phenol solution having a density of 40% or less is preferable. Furthermore, according to this publication, since the contents of the abdominal organs, such as the stomach and intestines, are aspirated, defects such as decomposition and discoloration do not occur before thirty days have elapsed. As described above, embalming wherein formalin is used for disinfection and preservation provides appropriate effects.
However, when because of impaired liver function, for example, the blood in a dead body contains a predetermined level or higher of bilirubin, which is the main element of a bile pigment, and signs of jaundice have appeared on the body, the color of the body changes to green, due to a chemical reaction with the formalin element. It is said that of all dead bodies, the number for which symptoms of jaundice are present can reach about 10%. When such discoloration occurs in the capillaries in the dermis, the skin of the body turns green, and the appearance is far removed from that of living tissue. This is absolutely not desirable because it would shock the bereaved family and other people who viewed the body. Therefore, When such discoloration does occur, a conventional, temporary measure used to hide the green skin is the application to the body of a thick, unnatural make-up.


Method and an apparatus for determining the pathloss between a base transceiver station (BTS) and a mobile station (MS) in a mobile radio network. In detail, a signal carrier (BCCH) having a transmitting power (PTXAV) is transmitted by a first base transceiver station (BTS-1). Thereafter, said signal carrier (BCCH) transmitted by said first base transceiver station (BTS-1) is received by a mobile station (MS) spatially separated from said first base transceiver station (BTS-1), and the signal level (PTXAV) of the received signal carrier (BCCH) is detected by said mobile station (MS). Furthermore, the detected signal level (PTXAV) of said received signal carrier (BCCH) is transmitted to a second base transceiver station (BTS-2) of a neighboring cell. In addition, the detected signal level (PTXAV) of said signal carrier (BCCH) received by said mobile station (MS) is compared with the transmitting power (PTXAV) of said signal carrier (BCCH) transmitted by said first base transceiver station (BTS-1). A signal is then output which indicates the difference between these two signal levels, this difference being a measure of the pathloss, L, between said first base transceiver station (BTS) and said mobile station (MS). As a result, the pathloss between a base transceiver station and a mobile station in a cellular mobile radio network (FIG. 3) is effectively determined. In turn, this permits controlling the power of the BCCH carrier, including reducing it, thereby reducing interference, and increasing the capacity and traffic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for determining the pathloss between a base transceiver station and a mobile station of a cellular mobile radio network such as the GSM network.
2. Background of the Invention
In recent years, the use of mobile telephones has become increasingly popular. One such mobile telephone system which is used in Europe and which is implemented as a fully digital cellular network is the GSM network set up according to the specifications of the CEPT committee xe2x80x9cGroupe Speciale Mobilexe2x80x9d.
The GSM network belongs to the group of systems operating on the basis of TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access). In systems using TDMA, data are transmitted using successive TDMA frames. In many cases, each of these frames consists of eight time slots. In each time slot, a data packet is sent in the form of a radio frequency burst having a finite duration and consisting of a set of modulated bits. The time slots are used for transmitting control channels and traffic channels. On the control channels, signaling and synchronization information between a base station (BS) and a number of mobile stations (MS) is exchanged, whereas, on the traffic channels (TCH), data and speech are transmitted. See FIG. 1. One time slot of a traffic channel is assigned to each mobile station so that a base station may be simultaneously connected in a parallel fashion to a number of mobile stations using the same carrier frequency.
According to the GSM standard, the number of mobile stations simultaneously connectable to a single station amounts to eight. The data transfer rates are 9.6 kbit/s for data or 13 kbit/s for speech (TCH/F) as user rates. In addition, half-rate traffic channels (TCH/H) are available at 4.8 kbit/s for data which offer a doubled capacity, i.e. up to 16 mobile stations can be simultaneously connected to a base station using a single carrier frequency.
In order to establish a proper communication between a mobile station and a base station, general information concerning the base station is transmitted from the base station (BS) to the mobile station, i.e. in the downlink direction, using the so called Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH), as shown in FIG. 1. More particularly, the base station transmits TDMA frames which include one Broadcast Control Channel and at least seven full-rate traffic channels or 14 half-rate traffic channels. For transmission of signaling information, 51 frames are combined into a single multi-frame, while for transmission of traffic information, a multi-frame consists of only 26 frames. Such a multi-frame is shown in FIG. 2. The idle frame after the last of the 24 frames used for the traffic channels is not used. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, a Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) is provided as one of the dedicated channels and is associated with a traffic channel. The Slow Associated Control Channel is used by the mobile station for transmitting different measurement results to the base station in the uplink direction. Any of a full-rate traffic channel, a half-rate traffic channel and a Standalone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) is always allocated together with a Slow Associated Control Channel. On the other hand, the base station uses the Slow Associated Control Channel to transmit commands related to power control to the mobile station in the downlink direction.
FIG. 1 shows a block circuit diagram illustrating the structure of the mobile radio network including a mobile station in a single cell according to the GSM specification. The Broadcast Control Channel including the eight time slots is transmitted on the BCCH carrier in all time slots continuously with a constant power and at a standard frequency according to the GSM specification, usually with the highest allowable power. As will be described in detail below, a mobile station periodically measures the signal strength of the BCCH carrier in neighboring cells. In addition, the mobile station also determines the connection quality to the serving cell, i.e. to its own base station, by means of the bit error ratio. The results obtained are used e.g. in the handover process. A handover is a transfer of a mobile station from one channel to another channel of the same cell (intracell handover) or a transfer of the mobile station from one cell to another (neighboring) cell (intercell handover) during an ongoing call.
The power control to be implemented both in the base station as well as in the mobile station serves for minimizing channel interference and for saving energy in the mobile station so as to increase the battery life of the mobile telephone handset. The power control process always precedes a handover process. The transmitting power levels of the mobile stations can be controlled from the maximum power to as low as 20 mW in steps of 2 dB.
For handover purposes, the mobile station controller (MS) measures the signal level received from up to 32 neighboring base stations and transmits the signal levels of its serving cell as well as of those neighboring cells having the six strongest received signal levels and the signal quality value of the serving cell to its own base station. The measured signal level of the serving cell is also to be used for downlink power control, i.e. for power control of the carrier transmitted from the base station to the mobile station. This transmission of the measurement results is even performed during an ongoing call during which speech data are transmitted. The base station conveys the measurement results received from all mobile stations linked thereto to a base station controller (BSC), FIG. 1, which performs averaging and weighting on the measurement data obtained from the base station. In detail, as described above, the transmitted measurement results which are regularly updated comprise the received signal level (RXLEV) and the received signal quality (RXQUAL) of the serving cell of the mobile station as well as the received signal levels of the neighboring cells.
According to the GSM recommendation, the measurement results must be reported at least once a second to the base station. The transmitted value RXLEV of the received signal level is the average of the samples measured in a period of 480 ms containing four multi-frames. The measurement results are transmitted in another cycle of 480 ms also containing four multi-frames. On the other hand, the base station measures only the received signal level on the associated traffic channel in all time slots. The base station controller which analyses the received measurement results decides on the basis of the received data e.g. whether a handover is to be effected.
More particularly, a handover is requested in cases where the transmitting power of a mobile station cannot be further increased, where the measured values are larger or smaller than the threshold values for effecting a handover, or where the transmission could be continued with another cell having a lower pathloss than the serving cell.
From WO-96/21 987 and WO-96/21 998 originating from the applicants of the present invention, mobile radio systems are known in which a power control of the transmitter of the base station as well as of the mobile station is effected. However, since, in these two conventional systems, intercell handovers are prevented due to the fact that a subscriber is only allowed to move within his home cell, the signal strength of the BCCH carrier of neighboring stations is not measured. Therefore, the BCCH carrier is not continuously transmitted, i.e. not in all time slots of a frame, which results in that this system cannot be used for a proper mobile communication between a fixed base station and moving subscribers not restricted to a particular cell.
Furthermore, due to the radio link pathloss between transmitter and receiver the received field strength RXLEV decreases with increasing distance from the transmitter. The pathloss is a critical factor for mobile radio systems since a handover has to be effected if the measured field strength RXLEV falls below the corresponding threshold value. Since the mobile station is allowed to arbitrarily change its location within the entire area covered by the base stations, the distance between the base station and the mobile station which, apart from the carrier frequency used, determines the pathloss may also vary arbitrarily. In case of a handover effected either between two cells or two frequencies, the pathloss will even change abruptly.
Thus, none of the above described systems caters for the variable control of the power of the transmitter of the mobile station and/or the base station, taking into consideration the pathloss between the mobile station and a particular base station. Since the distance between the mobile station and the base station is inherently variable in any type of mobile radio system, and since the frequency may also change, a variable power control would allow to actually compensate for the variations of pathloss occurring between the base station and the mobile station.
For effecting a power control of the mobile station, an accurate estimation of the pathloss between the mobile station and the respective base station is required. However, in order to assess the actual pathloss between base station and mobile station, the actually transmitted signal level has to be known. Since the power of the transmitted signal usually varies from time slot to time slot, the transmitting power is not known with a sufficient accuracy. Therefore, the determination of the pathloss by calculating the difference between transmitted power and received signal level measured by the mobile station is not possible. Hence, since the actual pathloss in current GSM networks can only be obtained if the base station controller knows the power transmitted by the base station, no power control of the carrier is possible on which the Broadcast Control Channel is transmitted. Thus, the BCCH carrier is conventionally transmitted with a constant high power. In contrast thereto, since only the BCCH carrier of neighboring cells is measured, the carrier on which only the traffic channels are transmitted may be power controlled.
The continuous transmission of a high power BCCH carrier, however, represents a serious problem in mobile radio systems since it brings about an increase in the interference level of the network. In detail, when a traffic channel carrier in the cell concerned is the same as the BCCH carrier of a nearby cell, interference in the reception of the traffic channel carrier is caused. This is due to the fact that the radio traffic between a base station and a mobile station to which that specific high power carrier is allocated causes crosstalk and thus disturbs the communication between other base stations and mobile stations using the same carrier. In addition, since the communication is performed between a base station and a specific mobile station at a constant power level, typically at full power, the available frequency spectrum cannot be used effectively, thus also decreasing the network capacity. As a result, these conventional GSM networks suffer from a comparatively low spectral efficiency.
In order to increase the spectral efficiency by keeping the interference in a mobile radio network as low as possible, the power transmitted on each channel is normally set to a minimum level just enough to maintain the communication between base station and mobile station, as is known e.g. from WO-95/07012 filed on Sep. 2, 1994, in the name of the applicants of the present invention. However, since a power control of the BCCH carrier is not available in conventional GSM networks, all traffic channels on that carrier have to be sent at a constant and relatively high power. This inevitably results in a high interference level. The interference is particularly high if only one transmission and reception frequency (TRX) is used by a base station acting as a base transceiver station.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for determining the pathloss between a base transceiver station and a mobile station in a mobile radio network so as to allow a power control of the Broadcast Control Channel carrier, thereby reducing the interference in the network and increasing the capacity and traffic.
According to the present invention, this object is accomplished by a method for determining the pathloss between a first base transceiver station and a mobile station in a mobile radio network, the mobile station being spatially separated from the first base transceiver station and a second neighboring base transceiver station, the method comprising the steps of transmitting a signal carrier having a transmitting power from the first base transceiver station, detecting the signal level of the signal carrier transmitted by the first base transceiver station after having been received by the mobile station, transmitting the signal level detected by the mobile station from the mobile station to the second base transceiver station, receiving the signal level transmitted by the mobile station in the second base transceiver station, and comparing the transmitting power of the signal carrier transmitted by the first base transceiver station and the received signal level transmitted from the mobile station with each other, thereby obtaining the pathloss between the first base transceiver station and the mobile station.
According to the present invention, this object is also achieved by an apparatus for determining the pathloss between a first base transceiver station and a mobile station in a mobile radio network, the mobile station being spatially separated from the first base transceiver station and a second neighboring base transceiver station, the apparatus comprising transmitting means for transmitting a signal carrier having a transmitting power from the first base transceiver station, the signal level of the signal carrier transmitted from the transmitting means being detected by the mobile station and transmitted to the second base transceiver station, receiving means for receiving the signal level transmitted from the mobile station, and comparing means for comparing the transmitting power of the signal carrier transmitted by the transmitting means and the received signal level transmitted from the mobile station with each other, thereby obtaining the pathloss between the first base transceiver station and the mobile station.
In detail, a mobile station measures the signal level transmitted from neighboring base transceiver stations in the monitoring slot which is the sixth slot after the transmission slot. Since the time slot is known (with a certain accuracy) in which the mobile station measures the received signal level in its monitoring slot, and since also the actual transmitted power is known in that time slot, the average power transmitted on the particular channel which is measured can be calculated (over an averaging period). Then, the signal level measured by the mobile station is transmitted to the second base transceiver station using the Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) and passed on to the base station controller where it is compared with the average transmitted power. The actual pathloss, L, is estimated by calculating the difference between the average power transmitted by the first base transceiver station and the average signal level received by the mobile station in the concerned time slot according to the following equation:
L=a=10 dB log[PTXAV/PRXAV]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(Eq. 1)
where a denotes the attenuation between a mobile station and the first base transceiver station, i.e. the pathloss, L, therebetween, PTXAV denotes the averaged power of the signal transmitted from the first base transceiver station, and PRXAV denotes the averaged signal strength of the signal received by the mobile station.
The present invention is particularly suited for the usual transmission systems wherein the base transceiver stations are essentially synchronized. Due to the synchronization of the base transceiver stations, the timing relation between a particular mobile station and its base transceiver station as well as the neighboring base transceiver stations is accurately known, and, hence, the actual pathloss between a particular mobile station and all base transceiver stations concerned can be calculated with a very high accuracy.
Thus, since the present invention enables the reliable estimation of the actual pathloss with a high accuracy, control of the non-constant power of the BCCH carrier by the base transceiver station becomes possible. In detail, for a handover process, the mobile station is allocated to that base transceiver station which has the highest received signal level. Therefore, in order to assure a communication having the best possible transmission quality already at the beginning of the radio link, it is indispensable to know the actual pathloss between the mobile station and the base transceiver station.
In addition, since it has become possible to effect a power control of the BCCH carrier, the power consumption of the transmission can be significantly decreased. If the BCCH carrier is power controlled, it is possible to individually control the transmitting powers at the corresponding frequencies used by the base transceiver stations so that the use of the frequency spectrum and, thus, the spectral efficiency can be maximized in the mobile radio network. This permits the following advantages:
1) Considerable reduction of the generated interference.
2) The method and the apparatus according to the present invention allow more traffic than the prior art systems since the same radio channels can be re-used at a shorter distance than has been possible with the prior art systems.
3) Hence, the capacity of a mobile radio system incorporating the method and/or the apparatus according to the present invention can be improved.
According to the present invention, only little additional equipment is necessary for determination of the pathloss, but no change of the transmission system is required. That is, the method and the apparatus according to the present invention still fully conform to the GSM recommendation.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Method and an apparatus for determining the pathloss between a base transceiver station and a mobile station in a mobile radio network


A liquid crystal display device includes: first and second substrates; a gate line and a data line on an inner surface of the first substrate; a thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the data line; a plurality of pixel electrodes and a plurality of common electrodes in the pixel region; a color filter layer on an inner surface of the second substrate; a black stripe and a column spacer on the color filter layer, the black stripe having a first thickness and the column spacer having a second thickness greater than the first thickness, and the black stripe corresponding to the gate line; and a liquid crystal layer between the first and second substrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device and a method of fabricating the liquid crystal display device where fabrication process is simplified.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device has been in the spotlight because the LCD has high value added due to its low-power consumption and good portability.
An active matrix liquid crystal display (AM-LCD) device, which includes thin film transistors as a switching device for a plurality of pixels, has been widely used due to its high resolution and superiority in displaying moving images.
In general, the LCD device is fabricated through an array substrate process for forming a thin film transistor and a pixel electrode on an array substrate, a color filter substrate process for forming a color filter layer and a common electrode on a color filter substrate and a cell process for forming a liquid crystal layer between the array substrate and the color filter substrate.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a liquid crystal display device according to the related art. In FIG. 1, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device 35 according to the related art includes an array substrate 40, a color filter substrate 70 and a liquid crystal layer 90. The array substrate 40 and the color filter substrate 70 face and are spaced apart from each other, and the liquid crystal layer 90 is between the array substrate 40 and the color filter substrate 70.
A gate electrode 45 and a gate line 43 are formed on an inner surface of the array substrate 40, and a gate insulating layer 47 is formed on the gate electrode 45 and the gate line 43. A semiconductor layer 50 including an active layer 50a and an ohmic contact layer 50b is formed on the gate insulating layer 47 over the gate electrode 45, and source and drain electrodes 58 and 60 are formed on the semiconductor layer 50. The source and drain electrode 58 and 60 contact the ohmic contact layer 50b and are spaced apart from each other.
In addition, a passivation layer 63 is formed on the source and drain electrodes 58 and 60, and a pixel electrode 67 of a transparent conductive material is formed on the passivation layer 63. The passivation layer 63 has a drain contact hole 65 exposing the drain electrode 60 and the pixel electrode 67 is connected to the drain electrode 60 through the drain contact hole 65.
A black matrix 73 of a lattice shape having a plurality of openings is formed on an inner surface of the color filter substrate 70, and a color filter layer 76 including red, green and blue color filters 76a, 76b and 76c is formed on the black matrix 73. The red, green and blue color filters 76a, 76b and 76c are sequentially disposed in the plurality of openings. A common electrode 79 of a transparent conductive material is formed on the color filter layer 76. In addition, a plurality of column spacers 83 are formed on the common electrode 79. The plurality of column spacers 63 are spaced apart from one another and contact the common electrode 79 and the passivation layer 63.
Although not shown, an orientation layer for an initial alignment of liquid crystal molecules is formed on each of the pixel electrode 67 of the array substrate 40 and the common electrode 79 of the color filter substrate 70. A liquid crystal layer 90 is formed between the orientation layers of the array substrate 40 and the color filter substrate 70.
In the LCD device 35, the pixel electrode 67 is formed over the array substrate 40 and the common electrode 79 is formed over the color filter substrate 70 such that the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer 90 are driven by a vertical electric field generate between the pixel electrode 79 and the common electrode 79.
Recently, an in-plane switching (IPS) mode LCD device, where the pixel electrode and the common electrode are formed over the array substrate and the black matrix, the color filter layer, the overcoat layer and the column spacer are formed over the color filter substrate, has been suggested. In the IPS mode LCD device, since the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer are driven by a horizontal electric field between the pixel electrode and the common electrode, a property in a viewing angle is improved.
The color filter substrate for the LCD device according to the related art may be fabricated through a five-mask process. For example, the color filter substrate for the IPS mode LCD device may be fabricated through a five-mask process including: a step of forming the black matrix (a first mask process); steps of forming the red, green and blue color filters for the color filter layer (second to fourth mask processes); and a step of forming the column spacer (a fifth mask process) without a step of forming the common electrode.
The mask process may be defined by a photolithographic process and an etching process. For example, the mask process may include a plurality of unit steps such as a step of forming a photoresist layer having a photosensitivity on a material layer over a substrate, a step of irradiating a light onto the photoresist layer through a photomask having a transmissive area and a blocking area, a step of developing the irradiated photoresist layer to form a photoresist pattern, a step of etching the material layer using the photoresist pattern as an etching mask, and a step of stripping the photoresist pattern.
Accordingly, the mask process requires a plurality of apparatuses for the plurality of unit steps and a plurality of materials for the plurality of unit steps. In addition, it takes much time to perform the plurality of unit steps for the mask process. Since the mask process includes the plurality of unit steps, increase in number of the mask process causes increase in fabrication cost and fabrication time. For the purpose of reducing fabrication cost and improving productivity of the LCD device, it is required to reduce the number of the mask process.

Liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same


A method for detecting a leak in a fluid-conducting conduit is disclosed herein. The method includes generating a first flow vector variation pattern representative of fluid flow through the conduit under known conditions. The method also includes collecting flow data from flow sensors positioned along the conduit. In addition, a second flow vector variation pattern is generated based upon the flow data. The first flow vector variation pattern and the second flow vector variation pattern are then compared in order to detect whether a leak exists in the conduit.

It is common practice in the utility industry to locate transmission line conductors underground, particularly within urban areas. Typically, such electrical conductors are enclosed within an insulating or "cooling" pipe. The pipe carries a dielectric fluid which functions to cool and insulate the electrical conductors which it surrounds. The dielectric fluid, which is often toxic or otherwise environmentally hazardous, is provided under pressure and may be static or circulate throughout "feeder" networks of the cooling pipes. Sensors are often placed throughout the feeder network to detect the pressure, flow, and level of the dielectric fluid, ground ambient temperature, and current loading of the electrical conductors.
Leaks of the hazardous dielectric fluid can occur within the feeder networks due to corrosion of the cooling pipes, valve leaks, or faulty operation. In order to minimize environmental degradation, it is desirable that actual or imminent leaks of such fluid be quickly detected, located and the feeder network repaired. Although the sensors throughout the feeder network may potentially be utilized in detecting such leaks, it is often relatively difficult to distinguish between sensed conditions indicative of leakage and other operational effects.

System and method for leak detection based upon analysis of flow vectors


A portable computing device includes a processor, a memory, and a portable computing device case that encloses one or more integrated circuits, including at least the processor and the memory. The case includes a molded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) material that includes a polymer material and elongated fibers that adhere to the polymer material and that have a property that varies over a length of the fibers along an elongation axis of the fibers, wherein an adhesion strength between the fibers and the polymer is determined at least in part by a property of the fibers that varies over a length of the fibers along the elongation axis.

Molded fiber reinforced plastics (FRPs), such as, for example, injection-molded FRP's, are increasingly used in a wide variety of products because of advantageous properties they possess with respect to competitive materials, such as, for example, their low-cost, low weight, strength and flexibility. However, injection-molded, fiber reinforced plastics can be quite brittle when compounded with high fiber loadings. The brittleness leads to poor energy absorption in overloads, such as, for example, drop tests. In addition, advantageous properties of the injection-molded, fiber reinforced plastics often must be traded off against each other when selecting a material for a particular use. For example, FRPs having a high density of fibers in the material may be relatively strong but also relatively brittle, while FRP's having a low density of fibers in the material may be relatively weak but also may have a relatively high ductility.
Accordingly, there exists a need for materials and products to address the shortfalls of present technology and to provide other new and innovative features.

Chopped-fibers with axial property gradient for molded parts


The invention provides prodrugs of inhibitors of PI-3 kinase. The compounds are LY294002 and analogs thereof comprising a reversibly quaternized amine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to prodrugs of PI-Kinase inhibitors and methods of using these inhibitors.
2. Description of Related Art
PI-3 kinases are a large family of lipid kinases that phosphorylate phosphatidylinositol in the D3 position to generate an important second messenger, phosphatidylinositol 3′-phosphate. Members of the PI-3 kinase family are divided into 3 classes based on sequence homology and the product formed by enzyme catalysis. The class I PI-3 kinases are composed of 2 subunits: a 110 kd catalytic subunit and an 85 kd regulatory subunit. Class I PI-3 kinases are involved in important signal transduction events downstream of cytokines, integrins, growth factors and immunoreceptors, which suggests that control of this pathway may lead to important therapeutic effects.
Inhibition of class I PI-3 kinase induces apoptosis, blocks tumor induced angiogenesis in vivo, and increases the radiosensitivity of certain tumors. LY294002 (2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one) (Compound 1) is a well known specific inhibitor of class I PI-3 kinases and has been demonstrated to possess anti-cancer properties.

However, the anti-cancer applications of LY294002 are severely limited by its lack of aqueous solubility and its poor pharmacokinetics. Moreover, LY294002 has no tissue specific properties and has been demonstrated to be rapidly metabolized in animals. Because of these factors, LY294002 would need to be administered at frequent intervals and thus has the potential to also inhibit PI-3 kinases in normal cells thereby leading to undesirable side effects.
There continues to be a need for class I PI-3 kinase inhibitors with improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.


An in-line electron gun for a color cathode ray tube having a main lens comprised of an in-line focusing electrode and accelerating electrode, with which it is possible to easily improve an assembly precision of field-correcting electrode plates provided at the focusing electrode and accelerating electrode and having three through apertures through which the R, G, and B electron beams pass and with which it is possible to easily perform an adjustment of aberration of the main lens. The two side through apertures among the three through apertures formed in the field-correcting electrode plate provided at the focusing electrode and accelerating electrode are formed basically as circular apertures with arc shaped cut-away portions continuous with the outside of the circular apertures and concentric with the circular apertures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-line electron gun of a color cathode ray tube, more particularly relates to an improvement in the electrode structure in a main lens electric field generating portion of an in-line electron gun of a color cathode ray tube.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in order to improve the resolution at a peripheral portion of a screen of a cathode ray tube, wide use has been made of cathode ray tubes using the common electric field system for the main lens of the in-line electron gun. In such an in-line electron gun, enlargement of the diameter of the main lens is achieved by forming a focusing electrode constituting the main lens and an accelerating electrode adjoining this by a cylindrical metal member having an elliptical cross-section having an opening through which three electron beams can pass.
In the in-line electron gun described above, since the shape of the opening of the focusing electrode and the accelerating electrode adjoining this is elliptical, the electric field in the main lens is asymmetrically distorted, aberration such as spherical aberration, astigmatism, or frame aberration occurs in the main lens and exerts an adverse influence upon the focusing characteristics etc. of the electron gun.
As a method for reducing the effect of the degree of the aberration, for example, a method of providing a field-correcting electrode plate comprised of a metal plate for correcting the electric field of the main lens along an opening direction of an internal portion of each of the focusing electrode and the accelerating electrode adjoining this has been known. This field-correcting electrode plate has three through apertures through which the electric beam may pass arranged in-line in the long axis direction of the elliptically shaped metal plate. Correction and adjustment of the aberration in the main lens is possible by adjustment of the shape of the through apertures, for example, not making the shape of the through apertures circular, but a special shape such as an ellipse, for example, suitably changing the diameter in the lateral direction and the diameter in the vertical direction.
However, in order to improve the performances of the in-line electron gun, it is necessary to raise the assembly precision at the time of assembly of the main lens. When positioning the field-correcting electrode plate with respect to the path of the electron beam, when the through apertures on both sides are circular in shape, high precision positioning is possible by inserting circular inner core guides into the through apertures, but when the above field-correcting electrode plate is used, since the through apertures do not have a circular shape, inner core guides having circular cross-sections for insertion into the through apertures cannot be used and therefore it was difficult to control the precision of positioning, particularly the precision of positioning in the rotation direction of the metal plate.
A method for solving the above problem has been proposed in for example Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 6-75378. In this method, by forming the center through aperture among the three through apertures of the field-correcting electrode plate as an elliptical aperture, forming the through apertures on the two sides as circular apertures, setting an aspect ratio of the elliptically shaped center through aperture of the field-correcting electrode plate within a predetermined range, and inserting circular inner core guides into the through apertures on the two sides at the time of assembly of the electron gun, high precision positioning can be carried out and, at the same time, distortion of the electric field of the main lens can be corrected. According to Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 6-75378, since the through apertures on the two sides of the field-correcting electrode plate are formed as circular apertures, it is easy to raise the assembly precision of the in-line electron gun, but since adjustment of the astigmatism is not possible, a corrective metal plate etc. for adjusting the astigmatism newly becomes necessary, therefore there was the continued disadvantage that the structure of the main lens became complex and also the assembly process became complex.

In-line electron gun for color cathode ray tube with cut away structure on field correcting electrodes


The present invention provides a level conversion circuit including first and second transistors, a clock terminal, first switch means, second switch means, and a capacitance element. The first and second transistors are of the opposite conduction types to each other connected in series between a first power supply potential and a second power supply potential. The clock terminal is inputted a clock signal. The first switch means is connected between the clock terminal and the gate of the first transistor and has an on state when a circuit operation control signal is in an active state. The second switch means is connected between the second power supply potential and the gate of the second transistor and has an off state when the circuit operation control signal is in an active state. The capacitance element is connected between the clock terminal and the gate of the second transistor.

This invention relates to a level conversion circuit (level shifting circuit), a power supply voltage generation circuit, a shift circuit, a shift register circuit, and a display apparatus, and more particularly to a level conversion circuit formed on an insulating circuit board, a power supply voltage generation circuit formed using the level conversion circuit, and a display apparatus in which the power supply voltage generation circuit is incorporated.
A current mirror type level conversion circuit in related art is known formed using a current mirror circuit. One of such current mirror type level conversion circuits is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-347926 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1).
FIG. 76 shows an example of a configuration of one of current mirror type level conversion circuits in related art. Referring to FIG. 76, the current mirror type level conversion circuit 100 shown includes a circuit operation control section 101, two bias shift sections 102 and 103, a level shifting section 104, and an outputting section 105.
The circuit operation control section 101 includes two P-channel MOS transistors (P-channel MOS transistor is hereinafter referred to as PMOS transistor) p101 and p102 and an N-channel MOS transistor (hereinafter referred to as "NMOS transistor") n101. The PMOS transistor p101 and the NMOS transistor n101 are connected in series between a power supply line (hereinafter referred to as "Vdd line") to which a positive side power supply potential Vdd is applied and another power supply line (hereinafter referred to as "Vss line") to which a negative side power supply potential Vss is applied. The PMOS transistor p101 and the NMOS transistor n101 are connected to each other at the gates and the drains.
A circuit operation controlling signal xstb is applied from the outside to the gates of the PMOS transistor p101 and the NMOS transistor n101. The circuit operation controlling signal xstb normally has a Low potential when the circuit is in a standby state (inoperative) but normally has a High potential when the circuit is operative. The PMOS transistor p102 is connected at the source thereof to the Vdd line and at the gate thereof to the gates of the PMOS transistor p101 and the NMOS transistor n101.
The bias shift section 102 is formed from two PMOS transistors p103 and p104 and an NMOS transistor n102. The PMOS transistor p103 and the NMOS transistor n102 are connected in series between the Vdd line and the Vss line, and are connected at the gates thereof to each other and also to the drains of the PMOS transistor p101 and the NMOS transistor n101. The PMOS transistor p103 and the NMOS transistor n102 are connected at the drains thereof to each other. The PMOS transistor p104 is connected in parallel to the NMOS transistor n102 and receives a clock CK at the gate thereof. The bias shift section 102 performs an operation of shifting the DC bias of the clock CK.
The bias shift section 103 is formed from two PMOS transistors p105 and p106 and an NMOS transistor n103. The PMOS transistor p105 and the NMOS transistor n103 are connected in series between the Vdd line and the Vss line, and are connected at the gates and the drains thereof to each other. The PMOS transistor p106 is connected in parallel to the NMOS transistor n103 and receives a clock xCK having a phase opposite to that of the clock CK at the gate thereof. The bias shift section 103 performs an operation of shifting the DC bias of the opposite phase clock xCK.
The level shifting section 104 is formed from two PMOS transistors p107 and p108 and two NMOS transistors n104 and n105. The two PMOS transistors p107 and p108 are connected at the sources thereof to the Vdd line and at the gates thereof to each other. The gate and the drain of the PMOS transistor p107 are connected to each other. Thus, a current mirror circuit is formed. The PMOS transistor p107 is connected at the drain (gate) thereof to the drain of the PMOS transistor p102.
The NMOS transistor N104 is connected at the drain thereof to the drain (gate) of the PMOS transistor p107 and at the gate thereof to the drains of the PMOS transistor p103 and the NMOS transistor n102. The opposite phase clock xCK is applied to the source of the NMOS transistor N104. The NMOS transistor N105 is connected at the drain thereof to the drain of the PMOS transistor p108 and at the gate thereof to the drains of the PMOS transistor p105 and the NMOS transistor n103. The clock CK is applied to the source of the NMOS transistor N105.
As can be recognized from the configuration described above, the level shifting section 104 has a circuit configuration of a current mirror amplifier of the source input type. The opposite phase clock xCK and the positive phase clock CK are inputted to the sources of the NMOS transistors n104 and n105, respectively.
The outputting section 105 is formed from an NMOS transistor N106 connected at the drain thereof to the drains of the PMOS transistor p108 and the NMOS transistor N105 and at the source thereof to the Vss line. The NMOS transistor N106 is further connected at the gate thereof to the gates of the PMOS transistor p105 and the NMOS transistor n103.
As one of the shift circuits, which are used for transfer stages (shift stages) of a shift register circuit, a shift circuit with a level shift function is known which level-shifts (level-converts) a clock pulse to be used as a reference for operation from a first amplitude to a second amplitude. One of such shift circuits with a level shift function is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-287711 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2). A shift register circuit of the type described is used as a shift register circuit forming a scanner used in a display apparatus or an image pickup apparatus.
FIG. 77 shows an example of a configuration of a shift circuit with a level shift function. Referring to FIG. 77, the shift circuit 100 shown includes a current mirror circuit 101 as a basic circuit. The current mirror circuit 101 is formed from NMOS transistors n101 and n102 connected at the gates thereof to each other. The NMOS transistor n101 is connected in a diode connection wherein the gate and the drain thereof are connected to each other. Clocks CK and xCK of the opposite phases to each other having a low voltage amplitude (for example, 0 to 3 V) are inputted to the sources of the NMOS transistors n101 and n102, respectively.
In the current mirror circuit 101, the drain output of the NMOS transistor n102 has a high voltage amplitude of VSS-VDD (for example, 0 to 8 V) and is outputted as a transfer pulse OUT after it is inverted by an inverter 102. PMOS transistors p101 and p102 are connected between the drains of the NMOS transistors n101 and n102 and the power supply potential VDD, respectively.
NMOS transistors n103 and n104 are connected in series between the drain of the NMOS transistor n101 and the power supply potential VSS. A transfer pulse IN is applied to the gate of the NMOS transistor n103 after it is inverted by an inverter 103. The drain output of the NMOS transistor n102 is applied directly to the gate of the NMOS transistor n104.
PMOS transistors p103 and p104 are connected in series between the gate of the PMOS transistor p101 and the power supply potential VDD. PMOS transistors p105 and p106 are connected in series to the gate of the PMOS transistor p102 and the power supply potential VDD. PMOS transistors p107 and p108 are connected in parallel between the drain of the NMOS transistor n102 (drain of the PMOS transistor p102) and the power supply potential VDD.
The drain output of the NMOS transistor n102 after being inverted by the inverter 102, that is, the transfer pulse OUT, is applied to the gates of the PMOS transistors p103, p105, and p107. The transfer pulse IN is applied directly to the gates of the PMOS transistors p104, p106, and p108.
The clock pulse xCK is applied to the gate of the PMOS transistor p101 through NMOS transistors n105 and n106 connected in parallel to each other. The clock pulse CK is applied to the gate of the inverter 102 through NMOS transistors n107 and n108 connected in parallel to each other. The transfer pulse IN is applied directly to the gates of the NMOS transistors n105 and n107. The transfer pulse OUT is applied to the gates of the NMOS transistors n106 and n108.
PMOS transistors p109 and p101 are connected between the gate of the NMOS transistor n103 and the power supply potential VDD and between the drain of the NMOS transistor n102 (drain of the PMOS transistor p102) and the power supply potential VDD, respectively. A Low-active reset pulse rst is applied to the gates of the PMOS transistors p109 and p101.
As can be recognized apparently from the circuit configuration described above, the shift circuit 100 in related art is configured as a combination of a current mirror type level shift circuit, which uses the current mirror circuit 101, and a clock extracting shift circuit. The level shift circuit operates when the transfer pulse IN has the High level or the transfer pulse OUT has the High level.

Level conversion circuit, power supply voltage generation circuit, shift circuit, shift register circuit, and display apparatus


A white light emitting diode (LED) and the packing method thereof are described. The white LED includes a supporting frame, a LED chip, glue for mixing phosphor powder, and phosphor powder, wherein the glue for mixing phosphor powder comprises a first set of compositions and a second set of compositions, the first set of compositions comprises polydimethyl-siloxane, and the second set of compositions comprises the copolymer having dimethyl-siloxane, methyl hydrogen siloxane and vinyl-siloxane wherein the copolymer has a weight percentage from about 94% to 99%, the dimethyl-siloxane has a weight percentage from about 84% to 90%, the methyl hydrogen siloxane has a weight percentage from about 4% to 9%, and the vinyl-siloxane has a weight percentage from about 2% to 7%.

A light emitting (LED) is a semi-conductive lighting element widely which is used and serves as an indicator light and a display screen. People praise the white light emitting diode (WLED) as the fourth generation light source which substitutes for fluorescent lights and incandescent lights. Theoretically, although the life span of LEDs is 100,000 hours, however, the life span of a white light emitting diode (WLED) in the spot market is much less than the theoretical time of 100,000 hours.
FIG. 1 is a graph of a test profile of luminance decay for a conventional white light emitting diode (WLED) wherein the WLED is tested at a constant current 25 mA in the room temperature 25° C. during a continuous duration of 2520 hours. The horizontal axis represents time and the vertical axis represents the luminous flux maintenance percentage. According to the graph, the rate of luminance decay at 168th hour is 13%, the rate of luminance decay at 336th hour is 20%, the rate of luminance decay at 504th hour is 25%, the rate of luminance decay at 648th hour is 31%, the rate of luminance decay at 1128th hour is 49%, and the rate of luminance decay at 2520th hour is 80%. To further verify the rate of luminance decay, the WLED is tested at a constant current 40 mA in room temperature 25° C. during a continuous duration of 1032 hours, as shown in FIG. 2. The rates of luminance decay at 168th, 336th, 504th, and 1032th hours are 34%, 45%, 68%, and 88%, respectively.
In view of luminance decay of WLED, many manufactures attempt to make efforts to reduce luminance decay. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, it is a graph of a test profile of luminance decay for a conventional WLED, mode number of "NSPW500CS", manufactured by "NICHIA" Corporation wherein the WLED is tested at a constant current 25 mA in room temperature 25° C. during a continuous duration of 2520 hours. According to the graph, the rate of luminance decay at 168th hour is 3%, the rate of luminance decay at 336th hour is 5%, the rate of luminance decay at 504th hour is 8%, the rate of luminance decay at 648th hour is 10%, the rate of luminance decay at 1128th hour is 12%, and the rate of luminance decay at 2520th hour is 24%. To further verify the rate of luminance decay, the WLED is tested at a constant current 40 mA in room temperature 25° C. during a continuous duration of 1032 hours, as shown in FIG. 4. The rates of luminance decay at 168th, 336th, 504th, and 1032th hours are 10%, 13%, 14%, and 24%, respectively.
FIG. 5 is a graph of a test profile of luminance decay for a conventional WLED, mode number of "LC503TWN1-15Q-A1", manufactured by "COTCO" Corporation wherein the WLED is tested at a constant current 25 mA in room temperature 25° C. during a continuous duration of 2520 hours. According to the graph, the increment of luminous flux maintenance percentage at 168th hour is 4%, the luminous flux maintenance percentage at 336th hour is still 104%, the luminous flux maintenance percentage at 504th hour is dropped as 103%, the luminous flux maintenance percentage at 648th hour is continuously dropped as 101%, the rate of luminance decay at 1128th hour is 3%, and the rate of luminance decay at 2520th hour is up to 9%. To further verify the rate of luminance decay, the WLED is tested at a constant current 40 mA in room temperature 25° C. during a continuous duration of 1032 hours, as shown in FIG. 6. The increment of luminous flux maintenance percentage at 168th hour is 4%, the rate of luminance decay at 336th hour is 2%, the rate of luminance decay at 504th hour is 7%, and the rate of luminance decay at 1032th hour is up to 17%.
According to the above-mentioned descriptions, the luminance decay of the WLEDs manufactured by "NICHIA" and "COTCO" is reduced. However, the prices of WLEDs are much too high, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of the WLEDs and restricting their application fields.

White light emitting diode (WLED) and packing method thereof


A power supply apparatus for supplying a device (1) with electric energy comprises at least two test inputs (5a, . . . , 5d) for receiving test signals which are dependent on a variable which itself is dependent on the power applied to the device. Each test input is connected to a first input of an associated comparator circuit (9a, . . . , 9d), the second input (11a, . . . , 11d) of which is connected to a generator for generating a number of reference signals which corresponds to the number of test inputs. The reference signals represent the desired values of said variables. The outputs of the comparator circuits are connected to a control member which is adapted to control the power applied to the device by the power supply apparatus so that at least one of the variables is essentially equal to the desired value, the other variables deviating from their desired values in a predetermined sense only.

This invention relates to a power supply apparatus for supplying a device with electric energy and, comprising at least one test input for receiving a test signal which is dependent on a variable which itself is dependent on the power applied to the device. The test input is connected to a first input of a comparator circuit, a second input of which is connected to a generator which is adapted to generate a reference signal which is a measure of a desired value of said variable. An output of the comparator circuit is connected to a control member which is adapted to control the power applied to the device by the power supply apparatus so that said variable is essentially equal to the desired value.
An example of such a power supply apparatus is described in Philips Technical Review 39 (1980), No. 2, pp. 37-47, notably with reference to FIG. 14. The known power supply apparatus is intended to power a semiconductor laser and includes, a photodiode which is accommodated in the same envelope as the laser for generating a photocurrent which is proportional to the light flux of the laser and which constitutes the test signal. The power applied to the laser in the known power supply apparatus can be controlled so that the current produced by the photodiode (monitor) remains constant at a desired value. The control of only one variable, however, involves the risk that the value of another laser variable is no longer within the desired range or, even worse, no longer within the safe range. Driving a semiconductor laser diode beyond the safe working range can readily damage the laser. For safe operation of a laser, therefore, it would be desirable to control the power applied to the laser so that more than one of the laser variables is maintained at or near a desired value. In addition to said monitor current, such variables are, for example, the laser current and the laser voltage and the radiant power of the laser. However, in practice this is a difficult problem because the various variables are interrelated in a rather complex manner.

Power supply with multi-parameter control


An image forming apparatus includes a paper cassette feeding a recording material, an image forming unit forming an image on a photosensitive member, a primary transfer roller transferring the image onto an intermediate transfer belt, a secondary transfer roller transferring the image onto the recording material, and a sensor detecting the size of the recording material. The timing of starting feeding the recording material is later than the timing of starting forming the image. When image formation on the recording material is started, until the sensor detects the size of the recording material, a plurality of images are formed on the intermediate transfer belt at a first interval according to a predetermined recording material size, and after the sensor detects the size of the recording material, a plurality of images are formed on the intermediate transfer belt at a second interval according to the detected recording material size.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic or electrostatic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates an example structure of a color laser printer as an image forming apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the color laser printer forms electrostatic latent images on photosensitive members in image forming units with light emitted based on image signals transmitted from a controller (not shown). The electrostatic latent images formed on the photosensitive members are developed. The visible images are transferred in a superposed manner onto an intermediate transfer member so as to form a color visible image. This color visible image is transferred onto a recording material 2 and is then fixed.
The image forming units are aligned and develop four colors (yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K)). Each image forming unit has a photosensitive member (5Y, 5M, 5C, or 5K). Each image forming unit has a charger (7Y, 7M, 7C, or 7K) serving as a primary charging unit, and a developer (8Y, 8M, 8C, or 8K). The color laser printer further includes toner cartridges (11Y, 11M, 11C, and 11K) for supplying toners, an intermediate transfer member 12, a paper feeding unit 1, primary transfer units (29Y, 29M, 29C, and 29K), a secondary transfer unit 9, and a fixing unit 13.
The photosensitive members (5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K), the chargers (7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K) serving as primary charging units, and the developing units (8Y, 8M, 8C, and 8K) are integrated in process cartridges (22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K) that are detachable from the image forming apparatus main body.
The photosensitive drums (also referred to as photosensitive members) 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K each include an aluminum cylinder and an organic photoconductive layer applied to the periphery of the cylinder. The driving force of a driving motor (not shown) is transmitted to the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K to rotate them. The driving motor rotates the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K counterclockwise in the figure in accordance with image forming operation. The photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K are irradiated with light emitted from scanner units 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K. The surfaces of the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K are selectively irradiated with light in accordance with image signals so that electrostatic latent images are formed.
The four chargers 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K serving as primary charging units charge the yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) photosensitive members. Each charger includes a charging roller (also referred to as charging sleeve) 7YS, 7MS, 7CS, or 7KS.
The four developers 8Y, 8M, 8C, and 8K, which serve as developing units, perform development of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) to make the electrostatic latent images visible. Each developer includes a developing roller (also referred to as developing sleeve) 8YS, 8MS, 8CS, or 8KS. Each developer is detachable. The intermediate transfer member 12 is in contact with the photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K. The intermediate transfer member 12 rotates clockwise in the figure during the image formation. A drive roller 18 drives the intermediate transfer member 12. The visible images on the rotating photosensitive drums 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K are transferred to the intermediate transfer member 12. A transfer roller (29Y, 29M, 29C, 29K) is a member to transfer the visible image from the photosensitive drums to the intermediate transfer member 12. Each of the transfer rollers (29Y, 29M, 29C, 29K) is positioned at the position facing each of plural drums (5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K).
During the image formation, a below-described transfer roller 9a comes into contact with the intermediate transfer member 12, the recording material 2 being nipped and conveyed. The color visible image formed on the intermediate transfer member 12 by the image forming units is transferred onto the recording material 2. While the color visible image is transferred onto the recording material 2, the transfer roller 9a is in contact with the intermediate transfer member 12. At the end of the printing process, the transfer roller 9a moves to a position 9b.
While conveying the recording material 2, the fixing unit 13 fixes the color visible image transferred on the recording material 2. The fixing unit 13 includes a fixing roller 14 that heats the recording material 2, and a pressing roller 15 that presses the recording material 2 against the fixing roller 14. The fixing roller 14 and pressing roller 15 are hollow and house heaters 16 and 17, respectively. The recording material 2 holding the color visible image is conveyed by the fixing roller 14 and pressing roller 15, and heated and pressed so that the toner is fixed on the surface. After the visible image is fixed, the image forming operation is ended by ejecting the recording material 2 onto a paper ejecting section.
The color laser printer detects the conveying position and monitors the conveying state with sensors 23, 24, 25, 26, and 19, a pre-fixing sensor 27, a fixing/ejecting sensor 20, and an ejecting sensor 28 in a recording material conveying path. The sensors 23 and 25 detect a recording material supplied from a lower cassette 1B. The sensors 24 and 26 detect a recording material supplied from an upper cassette 1A.
A cleaner 21 serving as a cleaning unit 21 removes toners remaining on the intermediate transfer member 12. After the color visible image formed on the intermediate transfer member 12 is transferred onto the recording material 2, the cleaner 21 removes toners remaining on the intermediate transfer member 12 and stores the toners in a cleaner container.
A color misregistration sensor 6 detects the color misregistration of the image formed on the intermediate transfer member 12. A density sensor 4 detects the density of the image. Based on the detection results of these sensors, the color misregistration and density are corrected.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system configuration of the image forming apparatus. A controller 201 is capable of two-way communication with a host computer 200 and an engine control unit 202 (arrows 222 and 220 in FIG. 2). The engine control unit 202 includes a CPU 211 in communication with an image processing GA 212, image control unit 213, fixing control unit 214, sheet conveying unit 215 and driving control unit 216. The CPU and image processing GA are further in interfaced with video interface unit 210 which is interfaced to the controller 201 via lines 220 and 221.
The controller 201 receives image information and printing conditions from the host computer 200. The controller 201 transmits a print reservation command to the engine control unit 202 to make a reservation for a printing operation based on the received printing conditions and printing information (paper feeding unit, recording material size, printing mode, and so forth) of each recording material. The controller 201 analyzes the received image information and converts the image information into bitmap data (printing data). At the end of the analysis of the image information, the controller part 201 transmits a print start command for instructing to start the printing operation and printing data to the engine control unit 202.
Receiving the print start command, the engine control unit 202 outputs a /TOP signal (arrow 221 in FIG. 2) and starts the paper feeding operation. The /TOP signal serves as the reference timing of outputting of an image signal to the first image forming unit. After temporarily stopping the fed recording material at the registration roller 3 (see FIG. 1), the engine control unit 202 refeeds the recording material from the position of the registration roller 3 when the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer member reaches the secondary transfer position.
This /TOP signal instructs to write an image on the photosensitive drum in the image forming unit. The engine control unit 202 outputs this /TOP signal, and a latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum.
In the above-described image forming apparatus, the distance (A in FIG. 1) from the image formation starting position (developing position) of the first (yellow) image forming unit to the secondary transfer position can be larger than the distance (B) from the paper feeding position to the secondary transfer position.
In this case, the number of images formed per unit time (hereinafter referred to as throughput) can be increased by forming a plurality of pages of images on the intermediate transfer member when a recording material is fed or when the recording material is refed from the registration roller 3. Therefore, control has been performed so that images are formed on the intermediate transfer member before a recording material is fed or refed.
The first image forming unit refers to the yellow image forming unit. The image formation starting position refers to the position where the development is started on the photosensitive drum. In FIG. 1, the image formation starting position corresponds to the position where a toner image is developed on the yellow photosensitive drum.
FIG. 3 is a timing chart in the case where a plurality of pages of images are formed on the intermediate transfer member to increase throughput. Throughput means the number of images formed per unit time.
Receiving a print start command from the controller 201, the engine control unit 202 performs a preparation operation for printing. After completion of the preparation operation, the engine control unit 202 outputs a /TOP signal for the first recording material and outputs /TOP signals for the subsequent recording materials so that the time interval between successive /TOP signals (311, 321, and 331) for the recording materials has a desired value. A predetermined time after outputting the /TOP signal for each recording material, the engine control unit 202 starts the paper feeding operation (312, 322, and 332). Based on the time points (313, 323, and 333) when the supplied recording materials reach the registration roller 3, the engine control unit 202 conveys the leading edge of each recording material to a desired position and temporarily stops the conveyance of the recording materials (314, 324, and 334). In addition, time points (316, 326, 336) are the timing when an end of the recording material passes sensor 19. In synchronization with the conveyance of the toner images formed on the intermediate transfer member, the engine control unit 202 resumes the conveyance of the recording materials (315, 325, and 335) and transfers the toner images onto the recording materials. When the refeeding of the first sheet is started, the image formation for the third sheet is started.
In order to perform the above-described operation, it is necessary to form images on the intermediate transfer member so that there is a suitable distance (spacing) between the images to be transferred onto successive sheets of recording material. During feeding of a series of sheets to the secondary transfer unit there must be some gap between the trailing edge of one sheet and the leading edge of the next sheet. However, the minimum interval between sheets arriving at the secondary transfer unit is mainly determined by the sheet size in the direction in which the sheets are conveyed. Therefore, the engine control unit 202 needs to know the size of recording material in advance.
In the case where the size of recording material is not known in advance, the size of the first fed recording material is detected with a sensor in the recording material conveying path. After the size of the first recording material is detected, paper feeding operations are performed at an interval based on the detected size of recording material. This is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-272781.
FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation in the case where the distance (A in FIG. 1) from the image formation starting position in the first image forming unit to the secondary transfer position is larger than the distance (B in FIG. 1) from the paper feeding position to the secondary transfer position, and the size of recording material is initially unknown (undetermined).
The engine control unit 202 outputs the /TOP signal of the first sheet (411) and image formation for the first sheet is commenced at that time. The engine control unit 202 also starts a paper feeding operation (412) for the first sheet a predetermined time after outputting the /TOP signal for that sheet. Based on the time point (413) when the supplied recording material reaches the registration roller 3, the engine control unit 202 conveys the leading edge of the first sheet of recording material to a desired position and temporarily stops the conveyance of the recording material (414). After that, in synchronization with the conveyance of the toner image formed on the intermediate transfer member, the conveyance of the first sheet of recording material is resumed (415) so that the toner image is transferred onto the first sheet of recording material. At this time, the engine control unit 202 carries out a size detection operation to detect the length in the conveying direction of the first recording material (hereinafter also referred to as actual length of recording material) based on the time from when the leading edge of the first recording material reaches the registration sensor 19 to when the trailing edge of the recording material leaves the registration sensor 19. Thus, completion (416) of the size detection operation does not occur until the trailing edge of the first sheet has reached the registration sensor 19.
When the trailing edge of the first sheet of recording material leaves the registration sensor 19, the engine control unit 202 starts the printing operation of the second sheet and outputs the /TOP signal of the second sheet (421). The engine control unit 202 outputs the /TOP signals of the second and subsequent sheets at an interval according to the detected length of recording material so that an optimum throughput can be achieved. Reference numeral 422 denotes the start of feeding of the second recording material. Reference numeral 423 denotes the time point when the second recording material reaches the registration roller. Reference numerals 424 and 425 denote the timing of driving the registration roller for the second recording material. Reference numeral 431 denotes the /TOP signal of the third recording material. Reference numeral 432 denotes the start of feeding of the third recording material. Reference numeral 433 denotes the time point when the third recording material reaches the registration roller. Reference numerals 434 and 435 denote the timing of driving the registration roller for the third recording material.
However, because in this case the size of recording material is initially unknown, the engine control unit 202 has to delay the output of the /TOP signal of the second sheet until the detection of the sheet size is completed based on the first sheet (i.e., until the first sheet leaves the sensor 19). Therefore, compared to the case where the size of recording material is known in advance, the printing interval between the first and second sheet is larger. This degrades throughput and therefore performance of the image forming apparatus.
The larger the distance from the image formation starting position of the first image forming unit on the intermediate transfer member to the secondary transfer position, the larger the degradation in performance.

Image forming apparatus wherein a setting unit sets an interval of image formation according to a size of a recording medium


A method is provided for setting an initial value on a charge-storage element. A circuit includes at least one charge-storage element with at least one signal node coupled to at least one reset circuit that is associated with the charge-storage element. A diode can be included between the charge-storage element and the reset circuit. Initially, an initial potential is applied to the at least one signal node during a setting phase by connecting the at least one signal node to the initial potential. A rest potential can then be applied to the signal node during a subsequent holding phase.

According to the prior art as illustrated in FIG. 1, a signal node 101 of a charge-storage element 100 is connected directly to a reset circuit 102 which normally comprises a single switch 103. In the phase in which the signal node is intended to be set to an initial value, the connection of the reset circuit 102 is connected with a low impedance to a voltage potential 104, by closing the switch 103.
In the other phase, the holding phase, the connection of the reset circuit is connected with a high impedance to a voltage potential 104 by opening the switch 103. During the holding phase, the voltage potential 104 can be varied as required. The impedance of the reset circuit 102 must be sufficiently high during the holding phase to avoid the voltage potential 104 reacting with the signal node 101.
The switch 103 can normally be provided by means of a transistor. One disadvantageous characteristic of a transistor is, however, that currents, so-called off-state currents or leakage currents, still flow into and out of the transistor connections even in the switched-off state.
If the switch 103 in the reset circuit 102 is formed by a transistor, the impedance of the reset circuit 102 will in some circumstances not be sufficiently high owing to the unavoidable off-state and leakage currents in the holding phase.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,498, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a pixel sensor, in which the 1/f noise is reduced and the voltage range is increased, and the cell size is reduced. The threshold voltage is essentially overcome by using a reset diode and, in contrast to a reset transistor, this cannot be significantly influenced by the 1/f noise.

Method and circuit arrangement for setting an initial value on a charge-storage element