A imidazoline concentrate, uses of the concentrate, and methods of increasing a storage stability of solutions containing the concentrate are disclosed. The concentrate may include a reaction product of a fatty acid, an alkylene polyamine, a hydrocarbyl succinic acid or anhydride, and an alkoxylated alkylphenol component. The concentrate may contain from about 2 to about 50 wt. % of the alkyphenol component.

Imidazolines may be used as corrosion inhibitors and/or rust inhibitors in a variety of applications including refinery operations, oil and gas well drilling fluids and pipelines therefor, and in storage containers for petroleum products. Other uses of imidazolines include, but are not limited to, biocides, herbicides, pesticides, and as additives for metal working fluids. Imidazoline compositions are typically provided as concentrates dissolved in solvents to allow delivery of a desired amount to a fluid. If imidazoline solutions are stored in a location where ambient temperatures drop below 0° C., the solutions may freeze, separate, or form sediment thus inhibiting the delivery of sufficient imidazoline to the desired fluid.
Alcohol-water imidazoline solutions are relatively low cost, have relatively low freezing points and are good solvents in locations that experience moderately low temperatures. However, alcohol-water solutions of imidazolines can separate, solidify, or otherwise become inhomogeneous at extremely low temperatures such as found in arctic locations. Accordingly, there is a need for imidazoline solutions that remain stable and clear at temperatures below about −20° C.
With regard to the foregoing, one or more embodiments described herein may provide an imidazoline concentrate, uses of the concentrate and methods of increasing a storage stability of the concentrate. The concentrate includes a reaction product of a fatty acid, an alkylene polyamine, a hydrocarbyl succinic acid or anhydride, and an alkoxylated alkylphenol component. The concentrate contains from about 2 to about 50 wt. % of the alkyphenol component.
In other embodiments, there are provided pipeline additives, oil well additives, and refinery additives. Each additive includes a reaction product of a fatty acid, an alkylene polyamine, a hydrocarbyl succinic acid or anhydride, and an alkoxylated alkylphenol component. The additive contains from about 2 to about 50 wt. % of the alkyphenol component.
In yet another embodiment there is provided a method for increasing a storage stability of an imidazoline concentrate. According to the method, from about 50 to about 95 wt. % of an imidazoline derived from a fatty acid, an alkylene polyamine, and a hydrocarbyl succinic acid or anhydride is blended with from about 2 to about 50 wt. % of an alkoxylated alkylphenol component.
The compositions and methods described herein are particularly suitable for additive solutions that may be used in extremely cold environments, such as in arctic regions. In addition to a greater storage stability of the additive solutions containing the imidazoline concentrates described herein, the imidazoline concentrates also may exhibit low flash points and low volatility. Other features and advantages of the compositions and methods described herein may be evident by reference to the following detailed description which is intended to exemplify aspects of the embodiments without intending to limit the embodiments described herein.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are intended to provide further explanation of the embodiments disclosed and claimed.


An egg-examining device, comprising a sampling device, by which a liquid sample to be taken can be taken from an egg of a rack loaded with eggs, a feeding device for feeding the rack loaded with eggs to the sampling device, and a control unit, by which the feeding device and the sampling device can be controlled. The feeding device feeds the rack to the sampling device at an oblique angle of between 20° and 80° to a plane perpendicular to the direction of gravity. A lifting-out device is provided, by which the egg can be lifted out of the rack and by which the egg can be put into a sampling position, in which the liquid amount to be taken can be taken from the egg by the sampling device.

In the device described in EP 2 786 656 A1, liquid samples are taken from an array of eggs by means of cannulas in order to be able to characterize the eggs more precisely on the basis of the characteristic properties of the respective liquid sample.
For example, a predetermined amount of allantoic liquid is taken from the eggs to determine the sex of embryonic chicks.
A plurality of eggs is accommodated in a grid-like array into a rack. In said rack, the eggs lie in their horizontal direction, i.e. the axis of rotation of the egg is perpendicular to the direction of gravity. Since the eggs are not arranged in a non-rotating manner in the rack, the eggs in the device according to EP 2 786 656 A1 are fixed and positioned in their horizontal direction within the rack by means of a forming punch which is pressed laterally onto the egg.
The shell is then punctured using a thin cannula provided on a sampling device which pierces the egg from the side, i.e. perpendicular to the horizontal direction of the egg, to extract a liquid sample.
The method described in this prior art is relatively inaccurate, because a positioning of the eggs and thus an extraction of a liquid at a specific location within the egg is not always guaranteed.
Based on the foregoing, the invention proposes an egg inspection device in order to solve the above problem.
This is characterized in that the feeding system is arranged to feed the rack to the sampling device at an oblique angle of between 20° and 80° to a plane perpendicular to the direction of gravity, and an excavating device is provided, by means of which the egg can be lifted out of the rack and by means of which the egg can be brought into a sampling position in which the quantity of liquid to be removed can be extracted from the egg by means of the sampling device, wherein the lifting-out device is controllable by means of the control unit.
Particularly when allantoic liquid is extracted, it has been shown that if the eggs are not pierced perpendicularly to the horizontal but slightly obliquely to the axis of rotation, preferably obliquely from the rear of the egg, an area within the egg is hit in order to be able to extract predetermined amounts of liquid in a reproducible manner. If the egg is twisted by the previously described angle with respect to its base, the allantoic liquid accumulates to a suitable extent at a well-defined point in the egg so that a desired amount of allantoic liquid can be extracted through the cannula. Particularly preferred angle ranges are between 30° and 60°, preferably 40° to 50°, in particular 45°. The corresponding angle ranges may each form upper or lower limits of the egg alignment. In addition, it has been shown that a good puncture force is guaranteed under the angle ranges described above, without permanent damage to the shell leading to breakage of the egg. Since the eggs lie either horizontally or vertically in the rack, in particular vertically, i.e. the longitudinal axis of the eggs is perpendicular to the rack plane, there is a corresponding oblique angle at which the individual eggs are transferred from the lifting-out device to the sampling device. From the lifting-out device, the eggs are preferably brought out perpendicularly to the rack or the surface formed by the rack or perpendicular to the inclined feeding plane, preferably through the dimensions of the rack, and fixed in this position, e.g. by a corresponding device. After such an egg has been sampled, i.e. a corresponding amount of liquid has been taken from it, it can be returned to the rack with the lifting-out device and the rack is preferably moved translationally in the same oblique angle in order to sample the next egg in the rack. In this way, essentially all eggs arranged diagonally one behind the other in the inclined rack can be sampled one after the other. For sampling, the respective egg is lifted out of the rack by means of a lifting-out device and positioned in the sampling position. Since the racks are already fed obliquely, the eggs can be pierced obliquely while they are individually lifted.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the lifting-out device can be configured such that it can rotate an egg lifted with the lifting-out device into a predetermined puncture position. When the egg is lifted out of the rack by the lifting-out device, it may occur that it is not in a position where the sampling would ideally take place. Often the egg can be rotated by rotation, e.g. around its longitudinal and/or transverse axis, to be brought into a better sampling position. This can be achieved by vibrating, for example, or by electrically driven rollers on the lifting-out device.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the lifting-out device may be a mechanical lifting-out device, or an air-stream operated lifting-out device in which the egg is lifted by means of an air-stream. As far as a mechanical lifting-out device is concerned, a design as described below with an egg stamp and a stop element is advantageous. However, the egg can also be lifted out by means of an air stream and pressed against a stop element, for example, in order to be brought into the correct position. In this case, a hose with an opening below the egg is positioned in the rack and the egg is lifted in the air stream using compressed air.
In order to enable the positioning and alignment of the egg to be sampled, a guided lifting of the egg is advantageous that may be done via the egg stamp, preferably via a rotatably mounted egg stamp and/or via an air stream. The egg is then held in position from the other side, e.g. with a soft suction cup. This fixation can also be done mechanically and/or by air stream. In addition, the egg can be guided ventrally into position.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the sampling device may have a cannula connected to a vacuum generating device, the quantity of liquid to be extracted from the egg being controllable by means of the control unit via the pressure generated in the vacuum generating device. The control unit may control a pneumatic system formed, for example, by a vacuum hose connected to the cannula and connected to a vacuum generator. By controlling the pressure, a well-defined amount of liquid can be extracted from the egg after the cannula has obliquely pierced the egg shell. With such a pneumatic system and sampling via vacuum control, mechanical elements similar to those present when simple piston syringes are used as sampling devices can be reduced. The sampling device with the cannula protruding from it can be moved vertically, i.e. in the direction of gravity, for sampling, with the cannula or tip of the cannula piercing the egg shell and taking the corresponding predetermined amount of liquid, e.g. from the allantois. Preferred cannula outer diameters are 0.55 mm; 0.60 mm; 0.65 mm; 0.70 mm; 0.75 mm; 0.80 mm and preferred cannula inner diameters are 0.10 mm; 0.15 mm; 0.20 mm, 0.25 mm, 0.30 mm; 0.35 mm; 0.40 mm; 0.45 mm; 0.50 mm. The above values can each be upper or lower limits of a cannula thickness range.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the sampling device may have a cannula revolver with several cannulas. A cannula revolver may be provided as a rotatable device in which the cannula is rotated after each puncture, preferably by means of the control unit. Thus, a new or different cannula can be used for each puncture. This ensures faster process control. Preferably, while the other cannula is used for piercing, the cannula with which the egg was previously pierced can be cleaned at the same time. Combining piercing and cleaning the needle in one step can save time in sampling and cleaning. The cannula revolver can have several needles, in particular 6 needles.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the cannula may include at least two openings through which the amount of liquid to be extracted can be taken from the egg. It has been shown that sometimes, because the position of membranes within the egg is not the same even when the egg is always oriented in the same way, if only a single opening is provided at the tip of the cannula, problems may occur with liquid extraction because such a membrane covers the opening. If at least two openings are provided, in particular exactly two openings, it is unlikely that both openings will be covered at the same time.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the cannula may include at least two openings by means of which the amount of liquid to be extracted can be taken from the egg. It has been shown that sometimes, because the position of membranes within the egg is not the same even when the egg is always aligned in the same way, provided that only a single opening is intended at the tip of the cannula, problems may arise during liquid extraction because such a membrane covers the opening. If at least two openings are provided, in particular exactly two openings, it is unlikely that both openings will be covered at the same time.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a protruding length of the cannula, with which this protrudes from the contact surface provided on the sampling device, which comes into contact with the egg during sampling, may be adjustable. Since the eggs arranged in a rack can be of different sizes, e.g. depending on the laying age of the hen or the genetics, a different puncture depth of the cannula may be necessary depending on the egg size in order to extract the amount of liquid from the egg. The optimum puncture depth can be determined automatically by imaging methods. The protruding length of the cannula is preferably adjusted automatically for each egg.
After a definite sampling situation has been found, the sampling device is always pressed vertically on the egg until the cannula has completely disappeared into the egg. The immersion of the needle in liquid/allantois can be confirmed via a control device and the defined suction process can be started.
For example, it may also be detected as soon as the egg hits a contact surface of the sampling device. As soon as this contact surface is touched by the egg, which can be measured by means of optical methods such as a camera or a pressure sensor on the contact surface, the control unit instructs the sampling device to stop its movement. The length of the cannula protruding from the sampling device therefore determines the depth at which the liquid is extracted from the egg. According to a further aspect of the invention, the protruding length of the cannula can be adjusted by means of the control unit. For example, the control unit can adjust and vary the length of the cannula depending on the information about the egg, and thus selectively predetermine a depth for each corresponding egg depending on its properties, e.g. its thickness, from which the amount of liquid is taken.
Alternatively or additionally, or also if the protruding cannula length cannot be changed, the control unit can move the sampling device forward until the cannula is immersed in the liquid in the egg (allantois). The control unit may, for example, detect the cannula being immersed in a liquid (allantois) and stop the forward movement of the sampling unit when the desired depth is reached. The suction process is then started, for example.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the sampling device can identify a light barrier which can be used by means of the control unit to determine whether the amount of liquid extracted from the egg corresponds to the amount of liquid to be extracted and cannot be altered by air bubbles. The light barrier can be provided in a position in which, for example, the vacuum hose or another transparent element through which the liquid is sucked in is illuminated. As soon as so much liquid has been drawn in via the cannula that the predetermined amount of liquid has been reached, the light barrier can determine the meniscus and thus the amount of liquid extracted from the egg. Preferred amounts of liquid may be 1 μl to 50 μl, preferably 5 to 30 μl, in particular 10 to 20 μl. The above values may form upper and lower limits. Particularly when extracting such small amounts of liquid, the determination of the extracted amount of liquid using light barriers has proven to be a good solution in order to carry out an exact determination of the extraction amount and, if necessary, to detect air bubbles.
Several light barriers may also be provided, e.g. light barriers based on different colored light. For example, problems that occur when measuring the amount of liquid taken can be minimized, in the event that red blood cells are present in the extracted liquid.
According to a further aspect of the invention, at least two sampling devices may be provided which are combined in one sampling unit so that each sampling device of the at least two liquid samples to be taken at the same time may be used to extract the liquid sample from one egg of each rack, and at least two lifting-out devices may be provided, wherein by means of the respective lifting-out device of the at least two lifting-out devices, the egg of the rack associated with the respective sampling unit may be lifted out of the rack and brought into the sampling position. In particular, more than two sampling devices are provided.
According to this further aspect, at least two sampling devices may be provided, each of which is associated with a lifting-out device, whereby each lifting-out device lifts an egg from the rack and feeds it to the respective sampling device. In this way, at least two eggs may be sampled simultaneously. This further aspect may also include more than two sampling devices and correspondingly, more than two lifting-out devices so that, for example, three, four, five or even ten eggs may always be sampled simultaneously. The corresponding eggs of the racks which can be sampled at the same time, should preferably be placed next to each other in a row of the rack in a transverse direction to the inclination of the rack.
For example, it is possible that at least two or more eggs can always be sampled side by side using a plurality of corresponding sampling devices and, after the corresponding row of eggs has been sampled, the rack will be moved by one unit to sample the row of eggs lying below in the oblique direction.
Insofar as the rack comprises more eggs next to each other (transverse to the inclined position) than sampling devices are provided for, the sampling unit with the sampling devices can also be moved in this horizontal direction, thus, in the direction of the eggs lying next to each other in a row, by means of the control unit. For example, two, three, four or five eggs lying next to each other in a row can be sampled simultaneously. After sampling an entire row of eggs from a rack in the horizontal direction, the next row below in the oblique direction is sampled.
The configuration of at least two sampling devices with one lifting-out device directed to this device provides a fast procedure so that several eggs can always be sampled at the same time.
According to a further aspect, the control unit can be configured in such a way that for each of the at least two sampling devices it individually adjusts the amount of liquid to be taken from the egg depending on the egg parameters of the egg assigned to the sampling device.
Depending for example on the egg size or the hatching day of the egg, the amount of allantoic liquid contained in the egg may vary. It is therefore convenient to set the amount of allantoic liquid to be extracted individually for each of the at least two or more sampling devices, depending on previously determined egg parameters. For this purpose, it may be provided that the pressure in the corresponding vacuum hoses assigned to each sampling device can be individually adjusted to extract an appropriate amount of liquid. The positioning of the preferably provided light barriers for determining the quantity of liquid extracted can therefore also be controlled by the control unit depending on the amount of liquid to be extracted.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the sampling device may be movable in the direction of gravity. In addition, the sampling device may be movable parallel to the surface within which the rack is translationally movable by the feeding device, and transverse to the direction of translation of the rack prescribed by the feeding device.
In particular, the sampling device moves in the direction of gravity and in the direction of the individual eggs in rows side by side transversely to the direction of translation of the rack, that is parallel to the surface within which the rack can be translationally moved by the feeding device, and in the direction transversely to the direction of translation of the rack prescribed by the feeding device. For example, the control unit can control an actuator that interacts with the sampling device. This means that the sampling device can be moved in at least two directions within one plane. Such translational operability can be provided both for the case of a single sampling device and for the case where several sampling devices are combined in one sampling unit. If all sampling devices are combined in the sampling unit, it is possible to move all sampling devices simultaneously in a uniform manner. The direction of movement in the direction of gravity is intended to move the sampling device towards the respective egg, for example to press the cannula into the egg shell. The movement in translation direction is intended, for example, for the sampling of eggs lying in rows next to each other transversely to the feeding device in the rack. If all eggs lying next to each other in the rack are sampled simultaneously with the sampling devices combined in one sampling unit, such movement in translational direction can be omitted completely.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a sample collection device can be provided which takes up the amount of liquid extracted from the egg by the sampling device. Such a sample collection device can be any vessel or nonwoven assigned to the egg inspection device into which the amount of liquid extracted from the egg by the sampling device can be delivered. It is a matter of course that preferably the liquid extracted from an egg is placed in a corresponding empty sample collection device, e.g. the empty vessel or an unused nonwoven, and therefore as many sample collection devices can be provided as eggs are contained in the rack.
According to a further aspect of the invention, at least two sample collection devices combined in one unit may be provided from which the respective amount of liquid extracted from the respective egg by the at least two sample collection devices can be delivered. As soon as, for example, two or more sampling devices are provided next to each other, it is also advantageous to arrange two or more (e.g. a corresponding number of) sample collection devices next to each other into which the liquid can be dispensed simultaneously from the respective sampling devices. In particular, the number of sample collection devices may be such that they at least correspond to the number of eggs in the rack, and preferably the sample collection devices may also be arranged in the same way as the eggs in the rack, e.g. in the form of a grid.
The more sample collection devices are combined into one unit, the easier it is to move this unit relative to the sample collection device to collect the extracted samples.
According to a further aspect, the at least two sample collection devices combined in the unit can be configured by a nonwoven or a titer plate. The method of determining a property of an amount of liquid is used in particular, for example, to determine whether an embryonic structure in an egg will later become a male or female chick by means of the oestrone sulfate concentration of the allantoic liquid. Such a method is a biochemical method which is carried out using a double anti-body technique. On the nonwoven or the titer plate, for example, there are bound oestrone sulfate-specific antibodies. The reaction to determine the concentration of oestrone sulfate, for example, is carried out directly on the sample collection device, i.e. the concentration can be carried out indirectly at the corresponding location of the nonwoven where the sample taken is applied or at the corresponding location of the titer plate or so-called well plate. For further details, reference is made to the German patent application no. DE 10 2015 226 490.4, the disclosure of which is used to determine the oestrone sulfate concentration in allantoic liquid by means of the double antibody technique. In particular, a titer plate coated by direct coating or such a nonwoven can be used as a sampling device. For the determination of the concentration of oestrone sulfate, reference is made to the aforementioned application.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the sampling device may be positioned in a delivery position after sampling and extraction of the same from the respective egg, and the sample collection device, when the sampling device is positioned in the delivery position, may be movable from a sample collection device rest position to a collection position in which the sample may be delivered from the sampling device to the sample collection device.
An actuator, for example, which is controlled by the control device in such a way that after sampling by means of the sampling device and taking it out of the respective egg when the sampling device is positioned in a sampling position, the sample collection device is moved from a sample collection device rest position to a collection position in which the sample is delivered from the sample device to the sample collection device, is associated with the sample delivery device. Thus, the control unit can bring the sample collection device to the sampling device via an actuator in such a way that it does not have to be translationally moved for sample delivery to the sample collection device with the exception of movement in the height direction.
It is therefore possible to configure the sampling device in such a way that, for example, it can only be moved in two directions, namely in the vertical direction and in the lateral direction, thus, in the direction in which the eggs are arranged next to each other in the rack transversely to the oblique orientation of the rack. Nevertheless, there are also variants in which it is preferred to configure the sampling device in such a way that it can be moved translationally in all directions and/or can also be rotated. The sampling device is therefore preferably always moved to a position below the sampling device, especially below the end of the cannula from which the sampled liquid is to be dispensed.
In addition to vertical movement, the sample collection device can also move not only in a horizontal direction but also in another horizontal direction where the eggs lie next to each other.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a rinsing device may be provided which, after sample delivery into the sample collection device, can be moved from a rinsing device rest position to a rinsing position in which the sampling device is rinsed by means of a pressure profile of the pressure generated in the vacuum generating device. After the liquid sample has been discharged from the sampling device, it is rinsed by means of the rinsing device. For this purpose, the sample collection device can first be returned to the sample collection device rest position and the rinsing device can be moved from the rinsing device rest position to the rinsing position. Both situations can take place simultaneously, e.g. using the cannula revolver described above.
The rinsing device is therefore preferably always moved to a position below the sampling device, especially below the end of the cannula, and the sampling device or cannula is immersed in the rinsing device filled with rinsing liquid. The pressure curve in the vacuum hose is controlled via the control device in such a way that rinsing liquid is sucked in and subsequently discharged again. This rinsing device preferably contains alcohol, which denatures the biological material from the egg which remains in the sampling device. Additional rinsing after rinsing with alcohol may, for example, take place via the pneumatic system by pumping demineralized water through the vacuum hoses.
After rinsing, air can also be blown through the sampling device via the pneumatic system in order to dry said device.
After rinsing and drying, the sampling device can be reused to take another liquid sample from the egg.
In particular, the procedure carried out in the egg inspection device is controlled by the control unit in such a way that, insofar as only one sampling device is provided, it takes a liquid sample from the individual eggs according to the grid method and delivers it to a corresponding sample collection device. After each sampling and delivery, a rinsing process is carried out. If several sampling devices are provided next to each other, a corresponding liquid sample can always be taken simultaneously, e.g. from two, three, four, five or ten eggs. This liquid sample is then transferred to a corresponding number of sample collection devices. All sampling devices are then rinsed. The rinsing device may be a simple liquid vessel into which all sampling devices are immersed simultaneously.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the sample collection device and rinsing device for rinsing the sampling device may be configured in one unit. If the sample collection device and the rinsing device are configured as one unit, they can be easily replaced.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the lifting-out device can have an egg stamp which can be moved through a mesh of the rack in order to lift the egg stored in this mesh out of it. In addition, a stop element may be provided, preferably with a cranial egg head stop, against which the egg can be pressed by the egg stamp and which determines the sampling position. The egg stamp can have or be made of a buffering and/or balancing material which allows the egg to be adjusted in the correct direction. An egg stamp preferably moves perpendicularly to the inclined orientation of the rack through a respective mesh of the rack to lift the respective egg out of the rack. During the egg being pushed out of the rack by the egg stamp, the egg stamp is lifted and the egg base is pressed against a stop element to fix the egg. The stop element may be configured to have a curvature corresponding to the curvature of the egg base to hold the egg between the stamp and the stop element so that the axis of rotation of the egg passes through the egg stamp and the stop element. Preferably, the control unit controls the egg stamp and the stop element.
According to a further aspect of the invention, at least one actuator can be assigned to the egg stamp and the stop element which can be controlled via the control unit. The respective actuator of the egg stamp or the stop element causes a translational movement of the egg stamp and the stop element by instruction of the control unit so that these elements are moved translationally perpendicular to the inclined rack. This facilitates pushing the egg through the rack. Since both parts, namely the stamp and the stop element, are equipped with an actuator, these two elements can interact in such a way that they grip and hold the egg between them. In this way, the egg held in the sampling position can be safely sampled.
According to a preferred further aspect of the invention, a position determining device may be provided by which the position of the egg is determined, wherein the control unit controls the positioning of the egg based on the data of the position determining device. The lighting units described below which are preferably provided in the egg stamp, can serve as such a position determining device. As an alternative or in addition, any other method or system, such as a camera system or an infrared system, may also be provided to determine the relative position of the egg and/or in particular the position of internal compartments of the egg, in particular the allantois.
On the basis of the data from the position determining device, the control device can give instructions to position the egg accordingly. The positioning is carried out, for example, by means of the lifting-out device (mechanically and/or by air stream).
According to a further aspect of the invention, a lighting unit can be provided to illuminate the egg in order to determine the position of the egg. Said lighting unit can preferably be configured of one or more LED lamps. Said lighting unit illuminates the egg, which is referred to as the so-called shearing. This allows the positioning of the embryonic chick or the allantois to be better determined. In addition to a single lighting unit, several lighting units can also be provided.
In connection with this further aspect, it may be advantageous that the egg stamp works together with another rotating element that rotates the egg in such a way that a predetermined position of the egg can be better reached. In this case, the system can be buffered.
The egg stamp can be provided with the lighting unit in accordance with a further aspect of the invention. Advantageously, the lighting unit can be arranged inside the egg stamp.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a UV lamp unit can be provided which illuminates at least one of the following devices to kill bacteria and/or germs: eggs, sampling device, rinsing device, sample collection device, lifting-out device. In particular, it is advantageous to arrange the UV lamp unit as a kind of UV tube above the inclined rack and between the sampling device and the sample collection device. The UV tube is preferably arranged transversely to the inclined position of the rack.
According to a preferred further aspect of the invention, the control unit may be configured in such a way that a sampling of the eggs in the racks is automated after the racks with the eggs have been introduced into the egg inspection device, and after all eggs of the rack have been sampled, a corresponding information is output. This means that a kind of program is stored in the control device in which an automated method for sampling the eggs is carried out.
Insofar as the invention is based on the lifting-out device, this can also be omitted completely and any combination or configuration of sampling device, rinsing device, sample collection device, rack, control device, position determining device, or even an individual of these elements can form an invention in itself. The aforementioned devices or elements can also each form their own invention independently of the other components of the overall device.


An attachment apparatus is disclosed suitable for use with ladders comprising a wedging section enabling it to be wedged into a central bore of a rung of a ladder for attachment thereto. The attachment apparatus may have a wedging section formed from a resilient material. It may further include elongate engaging section whose cross-sectional dimension is less than that of a largest dimension of a central bore of a rung of a ladder for attachment thereto. It allows a user of the such apparatus to safely suspend items such as paint pots or tools from a ladder for easy reach.

Ladders are frequently used when users have to access areas at a height. They may be widely used in such disparate fields from interior painting to maintenance of external telecommunications apparatus.
They consist, in the main, of two vertical spars connected by a set of cross-members called rungs. The rungs may be of a variety of cross sections, but are typically circular, triangular or largely cuboidal. They may be constructed from many materials, but are frequently made of metal or wood. To save on weight and material, some or all of the rungs may be hollow with a central bore.
They are not without their drawbacks however, and are the source of a multitude of accidents every year. Users may injure themselves by falling or the ladder slipping. Often this is caused by the user having to ascend the ladder with some form of hand-tool, paint-brush or the like in their hand, cutting down on the points of firm contact they have with the ladder. Further, this drawback may be exacerbated if the user is foolish enough to ascend or stand on the ladder with both hands occupied by such tools, for example, holding a paint-brush and a paint-pot, reducing their points of contact with the ladder to two: their feet. This can be extremely hazardous for the user, and the root cause of a great deal of injuries every year.
Prior art solutions include attachments that fit over the top of a set of ladders or step ladders, which have attachment sockets to receive the top of the vertical spars. These may not be possible if, as is often the case, the top of the vertical spars are resting against a wall for example. The user may wear a tool belt, but this may not be practical if they must employ some other form of harness around their waist, or is simply not a practical solution for the paint-brush and paint-pot example described above.
Further solutions include deploying an elongate bar within the hollow bore of the rung, and physically attaching it to the rung by way of a pin or a bolt arrangement. The elongate bar may be provided at one end with a shelf, allowing the user to rest, for example, a paint pot on it whilst painting.
This has several drawbacks. First, further holes must be drilled on each or all of the ladder rungs that the device will be attached to. This either has to be done as a later modification, or has to be built into ladders increasing manufacturing time and cost. Second, the holes would act as stress raisers in the rung, reducing the working capacity of the ladder and substantially increasing possible failure. Lastly, the user has to climb the ladder and will generally have to use two hands to properly fit the attachment, mitigating any benefit it may have.


Tracks formed on an optical card loaded into a card holder are scanned so that ID information about a reference position on the card is read. This ID information may be used to correct an appraisal of where the card is loaded on the card holder. If the correction operation fails, then the optical head is moved in a direction transverse to the tracks to again perform the correction operation at another track.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical card apparatus arranged in such a manner that an action of relatively locating an optical card with respect to an optical head is retried on another track if the above-described action results in failure at the time of loading the optical card.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical information recording medium, for example, an optical card, exhibits an advantage in that it can be easily carried because its size and the shape are the same as those of the credit card. Another advantage is that it has a large recording capacity and a low cost per card. Therefore, a variety of types of optical cards have been suggested recently to serve as next generation information recording medium.
An optical card apparatus serving as a conventional optical recording/reproducing apparatus, which uses an optical card of the above-described type, has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-154264 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,876.
As shown in FIG. 1, an optical card 1 for use in the above-described optical card apparatus is formed into a rectangular shape and having an optical recording portion 3 arranged in such a manner that a plurality of parallel straight tracks 2 are formed therein, the optical recording portion 3 serving as an optical recording region. In order to be capable of reading recorded data in the optical recording portion 3 regardless of the direction of scanning performed on the track, ID portions 3A and 3B, to which information denoting the address corresponding to each track, are formed at the two end portions, the ID portions 3A and 3B being formed in the opposite direction to each other. As a data portion 4 for recording data, the optical recording portion 3 is formed between the above-described ID portions 3A and 3B.
Therefore, when the optical card 1 is moved with respect to the position of an optical head 5 (see FIG. 2 or FIG. 3) in a direction, for example, from the left portion to the right portion along the track (hereinafter this direction is called a "forward direction"), the left ID portion 3A is read, while the right ID portion 3B is read when the optical card 1 is moved from the right portion to the left portion (hereinafter this direction is called a "reverse direction"). As a result, track address information which corresponds to the track can be recognized. In the structure arranged as described above, the two ID portions 3A and 3B respectively are formed at an inner portion at predetermined distance (for example, 4 mm) away from the end portion of the optical card 1 in order to prevent an influence of damage or a contamination of the card end portion and as well as to sufficiently stable the relative movement velocity in a direction of the track between the optical card 1 and the optical head 5.
As shown in FIG. 2, the optical card 1 is manually or automatically first inserted into a card holder 6 which has guide grooves formed in the two horizontal end portions thereof. As a result, a state of insertion (loading) as shown in FIG. 3 is realized. In the above-described state of loading, the optical head 5 is able to move in a direction of X. Since the optical card 1 is not located with respect to the position of the optical head 3 in the above-described state of loading, the above-described relative location must be compensated (an error taken place in loading of the optical card 1 must be compensated) so as to enable recording/reproducing data to and from an arbitrary track to be performed.
That is, the optical card 1 loaded into the card holder 6 is not accurately positioned with respect to the card holder 6 (or the optical head 5) such that the identification action can be performed. Therefore, access to an arbitrary track cannot be made in the above-described state. Therefore, it is necessary for a correcting action (also called a "presetting action") for correcting the relative position between the optical head 5 and the optical card 1 to be first performed.
The presetting action is performed in the following sequence arranged such that: the focus servo and the track servo are turned on when the optical card 1 is loaded into the card holder 6; the card holder 6 is moved to scan the track of the optical card 1 with beam spot S held in a tracking state; and thereby the ID portion formed on the optical card 1 is read.
However, in a case where there is a defect C such as dust or a flaw in the track (for example, a portion 2a shown in FIG. 3), to which presetting will be made, the above-described conventional example encounters a problem at the time of the presetting action in that the beam spot S for scanning the track deviates from a normal track servo state such that the beam spot S undesirably moves to a portion in the vicinity of the portion 2a of the track 2 (for example, the beam spot S undesirably scans a position deviated from pit columns on which information is recorded). If the retrial is made at the undesirable position to which the beam spot S has been moved, the presetting action cannot sometimes be performed in a case where there is a critical defect in the track.
If the above-described presetting action cannot be performed, the relative position between the optical card 1 and the optical head 5 cannot be located. As a result, access of an arbitrary track cannot be attained. Therefore, if the presetting action cannot be performed, recording/reproducing to and from the optical card 1 cannot be performed. In this case, neither recording nor reproducing can be performed and the optical card 1 is discharged from the card holder 6.

Optical card apparatus in which retrial of locating operation of optical card is retried on another track at the time of loading the same


A flow guide element is provided for guiding a flow of a fluid medium which is particularly suitable for use in an intake tract of an internal combustion engine. The flow guide element includes a flow tube having an elbow for diverting the flow. In the region of the elbow there is situated, in this case, at least one flow baffle having at least one deflector. The deflector is penetrated by an opening, going right through the flow baffle, in at least one area.

The present invention relates to flow guide elements such as the ones used in various fields of natural science and technology. These flow guide elements are used as a part of flow guide systems which are used to guide flowing fluid media, especially gases or liquids over a specified path, for instance, to supply gases to a process or drain off exhaust gases from this process.
One important field of application of a flow guide is motor vehicle technology, and within that field, especially the area of guiding gaseous media. A first important example in the field of motor vehicle technology is the area of air guidance in connection with air filters in the intake tract of internal combustion engines. The air taken in, in this instance, has to be guided from the air filter to the internal combustion engine by using several partially straight, partially curved pieces of tubing.
A second example, in which flow guide elements are important, is air mass meters such as may also be used in the intake tract of internal combustion engine, for example. One important measuring principle is the so-called hot-film air mass meter, like the one described in German Patent Application No. DE 102 53 970, for example. In such devices, which may be inserted as plug-in sensors into the intake tract, for example, a part of the air is guided through a so-called bypass channel, which is curved several times, to a sensor chip on which the air mass throughput may be determined, using heating elements and temperature sensors. German Patent Application No. DE 102 53 970, for instance, describes the method of functioning of such hot-film air mass meters.
Depending on the field of application, such flow guide elements or systems, which are composed of these elements, are subject to various requirements. Thus, in the intake tract, especially in the area of the air filters, besides an intake air quantity that is stable in time and as free from fluctuations as possible, a high air throughput is of decisive importance. In other systems, by contrast, such as the hot-film air mass meters mentioned, the emphasis of requirements (besides as high a throughput as possible, which is subject to a signal level swing) is especially on high stability of the flow of the fluid medium.
In order to do justice to these requirements, even today, in many flow systems, especially in air flow systems, guide blades are used in order to divert the flow in as lossfree a manner as possible, and without flow separation. Such guide blades are used under various designations, and are also designated as auxiliary wings or sheet metal diverters.
One example of such guide blades is described in German Patent Application No. DE 102 53 970. In the system described there, in order to improve the flow conditions in the bypass channel of the hot-film air mass meter, a guide blade is proposed (there designated by reference numeral 50), which guides the flow and counteracts flow separation of the flow of the partial media flow from the channel walls of the measuring channel. Other examples may be found in the constructions of many current motor vehicle air filters.
An important disadvantage of this design approach is that the geometry and the position of the guide blades has to be adapted very carefully to be effective. Unfortunately, this constructive adaptation is not always possible, since the flow topology in air guidance systems frequently changes rapidly with flow speed. In this case it may happen that the guide blades or sheet metal baffles themselves cause additional separations and interferences.

Flow guide element for guiding the flow of a fluid medium


There is provided an input apparatus having a configuration simple enough to be compact and capable of presenting an operator with the same real feeling of pressing as the feeling of operating a push-button switch when the operator operates a pressing-type input unit. The input apparatus includes an input unit which accepts a pressure input; a load detection unit which detects a pressure load to the input unit; a vibration unit which vibrates the input unit; and a control unit which, when the pressure load detected by the load detection unit satisfies a predetermined criterion for accepting an input to the input unit, controls driving of the vibration unit so as to generate a floating force on a pressing object pressing the input unit.

Recently, as an input unit which accepts an input operation by a user, an input apparatus having a plate-shaped input unit which accepts an input by pressing a touch panel, a touch switch, and the like, is widely used in information equipment, household electric appliances and the like. Such input units include various types thereof such as a resistive film type and a capacitance type and the like, but all accept an input by a finger or a stylus pen pressing the input unit, and the input unit itself is not changed when pressed in the same manner as when a push-button is pressed.
For this reason, the operator cannot get feedback when the pressure input is accepted. For example, when an input apparatus having a touch panel is used, an input error tends to occur due to an operation error such as pressing the same position several times, which may cause stress on the operator.
In order to prevent such an input error, there has been known a method of confirming an input operation aurally, visually, or tactually by feeding back the input operation such as by generating sound in response to a pressure input, changing the display mode so as to change the display color of an input object such as an input button which is displayed on a display unit corresponding to the pressure area, or driving a vibrator.
However, these feedback methods simply inform the operator that the input has completed, but do not present the operator with a feeling of "pressing" a push-button switch. For this reason, when a touch panel is configured to include an input key of information equipment such as a mobile terminal like a cellular phone, a calculator, and a ticket vending machine, or an input key of the operation unit of a household electric appliance such as a microwave oven and a TV, and the above feedback technologies are applied to the touch panel, the operator feels uncomfortable using the touch panel.
Further, in the case of a feedback method of appealing to a sense of hearing, confirmation is difficult in a noisy environment. If the device in use is in a mute state such as in a manner mode or the like, the method does not work. Moreover, in the case of a feedback method of appealing to a sense of sight, when a small input object is displayed on the display unit, and particularly in the case of a finger input, the input object is hidden behind the finger and the change of the display mode may be difficult to confirm.
Alternatively, as still another feedback method, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-92472 proposes a method by which when the operator press a display area of a touch operation member (input object) displayed on a display panel of a display device having a touch panel, the touch panel moves in a direction opposite to the pressing direction, and when the force of pressing the display area is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the touch panel moves in the pressing direction.
According to the display device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-92472, when the operator presses the input object displayed on the display panel with a pressing force equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the touch panel moves in the pressing direction, and thus the operator can get a feeling of pressing the touch panel.
However, this display device may cause a problem in that the moving mechanism becomes complicated and the entire device grows in size since the touch panel is configured to be moved together with the display panel. Further, the operator can only get a feeling of pressing the touch panel, but this feedback is quite different from a feeling of pressing a push-button switch.

Input apparatus accepting a pressure input


A system, method, and computer program product are provided for implementing asymmetric AES-CBC (Advanced Encryption Standard-Cipher Block Chaining) channels usage between encryption and decryption of data. In operation, data to be written to memory is identified. In addition, the data is encrypted utilizing a first AES-CBC channel. Additionally, at least one of a plurality of AES-CBC channels is utilized to decrypt the data to achieve a determined performance target.

Data security in the context of computer system environments and operating systems has become increasingly important with the constant increase in the development of various systems. In the context of data security, many systems implement AES-CBC (Advanced Encryption Standard-Cipher Block Chaining) mode encryption while writing data to memory and AES-CBC decryption while reading the data back from the memory (e.g. embedded memory, external memory, etc.). As memory has become faster, AES-CBC mode encryption/decryption throughput has become a key performance bottleneck. Thus, there is a need for addressing this issue and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method, and computer program product for optimizing data encryption and decryption by implementing asymmetric AES-CBC channels


A slide holder (6) for use with a microscope to accurately locate a slide (19) in position under the microscope has a pivotal lever (13) having a clamping and locating portion (14) with abutments (15) and (16) which bear on respective edges of the slide when it is in the clamped position. Further abutments (10) on a fixed angular plate (9) locate the other edges of the slide. The slide holder is adapted for mounting on a slide translation stage of a slide loader (1) which includes a stationary sensor block (20) positioned to engage the lever (13) when the slide holder moves from its inspection or scanning position under the microscope to a loading/unloading position. The slide translation stage includes a robotic head for lifting and depositing slides and the translation stage includes a bar code reader to read a bar code on the slide.

In recent years there has been a rapid growth in the reported use of automated image processing systems to analyse images obtained from video and digital cameras mounted on optical microscopes. However, the benefits of using such systems have been offset by the need to manually load and unload microscope slides on the microscope.
There is no stand-alone automated slide loader in the market that loads and unloads slides to and from an external, free-standing optical microscope. Current processes of loading and unloading slides are either performed manually or require a dedicated instrument that already has a built-in microscope and imaging system.
There are several patents that describe systems to automatically load and unload slides onto microscopes including U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,498 (Georges), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,495 (Faulkner). These patents describe systems whereby the slide loader is integrated into a microscope/imaging platform. It is not possible with these designs to interface to free-standing microscopes.
Slide holders on current model microscopes typically consist of a spring loaded pivot arm to position and clamp slides onto the slide holder. One form of slide holder disclosed is U.S. Pat. 4,159,875 (Hauser). The shortcomings of such holders include:
a) they are limited to manual operation only. They require the user to manually open the clamping mechanism, accurately position the slide on the slide holder, and then release the clamping mechanism. Consequently, such methods are not suited to automated scanning systems as they require constant attendance from laboratory staff to load and unload slides.
b) the positional accuracy achieved by manually locating slides is not always guaranteed.
The use of vacuum chucks as an alternative means to clamp slides on microscope stages have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,435 (Graham) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,345 (Berry). These chucks can accommodate X and Y motion of the stage by the use of flexible vacuum connections but have the following shortcomings:
a) positional accuracy of the slide under the microscope is not guaranteed either by manual or robotic positioning;
b) considerable modifications to a microscope stage are required to accommodate vacuum lines (a vacuum pump is also required but can be mounted away from the microscope).
c) to obtain adequate clamping (suction) of a slide, both ends of the slide would require vacuum thereby reducing the effective scan area on the slides. Therefore critical features on the slide may be missed.
d) Vacuum chucks and associated plumbing can obstruct the optical path between a microscope's condenser and objective lens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,111 describes a slide holder that requires the user to position the slide by hand and push to clamp the slide down. It claims to be able to position slides accurately and repeatedly. The shortcomings of this holder are:
a) the slide holder can only be used manually as it request the user to manually place the slide against one slide retainer before the slide could be clamped down.
b) the slide holder requires a user to use two hands to position a slide correctly; one hand to hold the slide against the fixed locaters on the back and the slide retainer, and the other hand to clamp the slide. It is not designed to automatically locate the slide.
c) the positional accuracy in the x-y plane is dependent on human placement of the slide.
d) the positive force required to clamp the slide into position may lead to crack and chipping of slides.

Slide holder for an automated slide loader


A lottery game played on an electronic game machine using a pre-printed lottery ticket is disclosed. The lottery ticket is embedded with game and prize information that can be read by the game machine. After inserting the lottery ticket into the game machine, the player may play a game using the game machine based upon the information on the lottery ticket. If the player is a winner, an award is given to the player. The player can redeem the award for cash with the lottery authority.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to lottery game apparatuses, and more particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic game apparatus that interacts with a lottery ticket.
2. Description of the Related Art
Scratch-off or instant win lottery tickets have been a staple of the lottery industry for decades. They have been enjoyed by billions of players over the world for years. Innovations in instant win ticket game design have sustained the product and allowed for growth. However, recently the instant win lottery ticket market sales increases have become relatively flat. One method of combating this undesirable trend is to produce higher payout instant win tickets. Most lottery jurisdictions regulate payout percentages by charter and therefore cannot utilize higher payout tickets as a means of increasing sales.
Another method is to expand the distribution of lottery tickets to new locations like super market checkout lanes. However, the logistics and security problems associated with placing instant lottery tickets in super market check out lanes has hitherto made this expanded distribution impractical.
A third method is to enlarge the lottery ticket to expand the limited amount of play (a.k.a. scratch-off) area to create an extended play experience. These larger tickets permit larger or multiple play areas (e.g., Bingo games). But, the physical size of a ticket can be increased only by a limited amount. Typically the largest tickets measure 4×10 inches and, at that size, are cumbersome. The players often perceive that the playing time does not reflect the higher cost of larger tickets.
It is therefore desirable to develop a new methodology of marketing instant win lottery tickets where the player perceives added value independent of increases in payout percentages. it is to such a methodology the present is primarily directed.

Preprinted lottery tickets using a player activated electronic validation machine


Polymer pellets are formed using air to influence the separation of polymer from a polymer melt. In accordance with one or more embodiments, a polymer material is extruded through a nozzle to form a polymer melt extending from the nozzle. A non-uniform thickness is generated in the polymer melt using a gas or gasses to apply a drag force to the polymer melt. This drag force reduces a thickness of a portion of the polymer melt adjacent the nozzle, and the polymer melt is fractured into discrete droplets at the reduced thickness. The discrete droplets are then solidified to form pellets.

Polymer-based pellets are useful in a multitude of applications. In particular, powders and micropellets (e.g., with cross-sections of less than 2 mm, 50 microns or smaller) have been in increasing demand in the field of polymer processing. For example, processes such as the selective laser sintering processes (SLS) benefit from powders having a specific size distribution and shape in order to achieve high quality products. High powder layer density and small porosity can be achieved with a continuous size distribution of spherical particles.
While various micropellets have seen increasing demand, controlling the properties of pellets in terms of their size and shape at desirable costs has been challenging. Previous approaches have been costly to implement and resulting products have been insufficient to meet certain needs. These and other problems have been challenging to the manufacture and implementation of a variety of types of micropellets.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An interference-canceling receiver is configured for cancelling inter-symbol interference due to both inter- and intra-channel interference in coded, multiple-access, spread spectrum transmissions that propagate through frequency-selective communication channels. The receiver mitigates the effects of post-cursor inter-symbol interference using feedback of previously estimated symbols, and mitigates pre-cursor inter-symbol interference using an interference canceller, such as an iterative interference canceller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for cancelling inter-symbol interference (ISI) in coded spread spectrum communication systems.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In an exemplary wireless multiple-access system, a communication resource is divided into code-space subchannels, which are allocated to different users. A plurality of subchannel signals received by a wireless terminal (e.g., a subscriber unit or a base station) may correspond to different users and/or different subchannels allocated to a particular user.
If a single transmitter broadcasts different messages to different receivers, such as a base station in a wireless communication system broadcasting to a plurality of mobile terminals, the channel resource is subdivided in order to distinguish between messages intended for each mobile. Thus, each mobile terminal may decode messages in its allocated subchannel(s) from the superposition of received signals. Similarly, a base station typically separates received signals into subchannels in order to differentiate between users.
In a multipath environment, received signals are superpositions of time-delayed and complex-scaled versions of the transmitted signals. The multiplicity of time-delayed paths effectively causes the transmitted waveform to spread out in time en route to the receiver. Several types of interference can arise in multipath channels. Intra-channel interference occurs when multipath delay causes leakage between subchannels. For example, forward-link subchannels that are orthogonal at the transmitter may not be orthogonal at the receiver. Leakage due to multipath delay can also occur within a subchannel when multiple symbols are transmitted sequentially (such as in a multi-shot transmission), as the modulated waveforms for different symbol intervals overlap each other at the receiver. This leakage is known as inter-symbol interference (ISI), which is defined as spurious contributions to a received signal in a given symbol interval due to symbols transmitted during other symbol intervals. ISI can be especially significant when the delay spread of the fading is a substantial fraction of the duration of a spreading code. Inter-channel interference occurs when multiple base stations (or sectors or cells) are active so that the received signal includes unwanted contributions from arriving signals sent by other base stations.
Interference can degrade communications by causing a receiver to incorrectly decode received transmissions, thus increasing a receiver's error floor. Interference may also have other harmful effects on communications. For example, interference may diminish the capacity of a communication system, decrease the region of coverage, and/or decrease maximum data rates. For these reasons, a reduction in interference can improve reception of selected signals while addressing the aforementioned limitations due to interference.
There are many techniques for dealing with intra-channel interference and inter-channel interference (e.g., maximum likelihood and linear minimum mean-squared error), including the low-complexity iterative interference canceller (IIC) described in Provisional U.S. Pat. Appl. Ser. No. 60/736,204. Embodiments of the present invention may work in conjunction with various interference cancellers in order to cancel ISI, in addition to intra-channel and inter-channel interference.

Inter-symbol interference cancellation for wireless multiple access


There is disclosed a data processing method for correcting heating data for a thermal head of a thermal printer, to eliminate influence of heat energy accumulated in first to Nth heat accumulating layers of the thermal head. Basic heating data of a subject line is corrected with first to Nth correction data obtained by multiplying first to Nth heat accumulation data by predetermined coefficients respectively. The heating elements are driven in accordance with the corrected heating data, to print the subject line. A drive voltage to be applied across heating elements of the thermal head is determined at the start of printing a frame of image, according to an environmental temperature around the thermal head and a head temperature measured through a thermistor mounted in the Nth heat accumulating layer of the thermal head. The Nth coefficient is calculated according to a formula that includes the head drive voltage as a parameter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing method for correcting heating data for a thermal head of a thermal printer, to eliminate influence of heat energy accumulated in the thermal head such that print quality may not be degraded by the heat accumulation. The present invention relates also to a data processing apparatus for this method.
2. Background Arts
There are thermosensitive recording type thermal printers and thermal transfer type thermal printers. The former heats a thermosensitive recording sheet directly with a thermal head, to cause the sheet to develop color. The latter heats the back of an ink ribbon placed upon a recording sheet to transfer ink to the recording sheet. The thermal printer has a thermal head which has an array of heating elements arranged on a ceramic substrate. The array of heating elements correspond to a line of pixels, and the heating elements are each individually driven to record a dot at a time, as the recording sheet is conveyed in a perpendicular direction to the heating element array. Thus an image is printed line by line on the recording sheet. Hereinafter, the direction along which the heating element array extends will be called a main scan direction, whereas the direction along which the recording sheet is conveyed will be called a sub scan direction.
In the thermosensitive recording type and sublimation ink transfer type thermal printing, one dot constitutes one pixel of the printed image, and has a variable density including a zero level, that is designated by image data for each pixel. However, where the heating elements are driven simply in accordance with the image data, the densities of the dots can deviate from the designated densities because of heat accumulation in the thermal head.
Most of heat energy generated from the heating elements is used for recording, but the rest stays unused or dissipates. The unused heat energy is mainly accumulated in a glazing layer which is formed between the heating elements and ceramic substrate. Part of the accumulated heat energy is transmitted from the glazing layer to the ceramic substrate and is accumulated therein, or partly transmitted further to an aluminum plate supporting the substrate and is accumulated therein. From the aluminum plate, the heat energy is partly transmitted to a radiation plate, and radiates from the radiation plate. Hereinafter, the layers disposed under the heating elements will be referred to as heat accumulating layers. The heat energy accumulated in this way is partly transmitted back to the heating elements and added to the heat energy presently generated from the heating elements, thereby rising the densities of the dots from the designated values. Where density should change steeply from high to low, the change becomes gentler in the printed image, so the contour or edge of the printed image becomes vague. Since the heat accumulation in the thermal head gradually increases as the recording proceeds, it results a gradual density change overall the printed image, called shading. That is, the density is generally low at the start of recording, and as the recording proceeds, it becomes higher as a whole.
In order to prevent the above mentioned degrading of the printed image caused by the heat accumulation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,075 suggests a data processing method, wherein the heat accumulation in the respective heat accumulating layers of the thermal head is estimated on the basis of input image data, and the input image data is corrected with correction data determined for each pixel based on the estimated heat accumulation.
According to this method, because the heat energy values transmitted to the heat accumulating layers are calculated by linear conversion of the generated heat energy values, if a high density area, e.g. black characters or lines, is included in a middle density area, peripheral portions around the high density area have higher densities than expected, and the image quality is degraded.
The thermal printers also have a problem that the environmental temperature has influence on the densities of the printed dots because the heat energy generated from the heating elements of the thermal head is transmitted to and diffused in the ink ribbon, the recording sheet, a platen roller, a platen drum or the like. That is, if the environmental temperature is pretty high or low, the dot densities get higher or lower than expected, even while the heat energy generated from the heating elements is proper. As a solution for this problem, it is known in the art to adjust voltage applied to the thermal head depending upon the temperature of the thermal head and the environmental temperature.
Since the above data processing method is on the presumption that the head drive voltage applied to the thermal head is kept unchanged, this method rather causes a problem where the head drive voltage is changed according to the temperature of the thermal head and the environmental temperature. That is, the dot densities would deviate from the designated values as the recording proceeds.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a data processing method for correcting heating data for a thermal head and an apparatus therefor, whereby the influence of heat accumulation in the thermal head on the recording density is well eliminated taking account of head drive voltage applied to the thermal head.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a data processing method for correcting heating data for a thermal head to eliminate influence of heat accumulation in the thermal head on recording density, and an apparatus therefor, whereby conditions of heat energy accumulated in the respective heat accumulating layers are estimated with high accuracy, taking account of heat transmission properties between the heat accumulating layers, and thus the influence of heat accumulation on the recording density is well eliminated.
On the assumption that a thermal head has an array of heating elements arranged in a line and first to Nth heat accumulating layers disposed under the heating elements in this order from the side of heating elements, and the heating elements are driven in accordance with corrected heating data, to print one line after another on a recording sheet, one pixel of each line corresponding to one heating element of the array in regular sequence, and that a drive voltage to be applied across the heating elements is determined according to a temperature of the Nth heat accumulating layer and an environmental temperature around the thermal head, a data processing method of the present invention comprising the steps of:
A. determining first to (Nxe2x88x921)th coefficients for the first to (Nxe2x88x921)th heat accumulating layers based on heat transmission properties between the first to Nth heat accumulating layers, and a Nth coefficient for the Nth heat accumulating layer based on the drive voltage for the thermal head and on the heat transmission properties between the first to Nth heat accumulating layers;
B. obtaining first to Nth correction data for each pixel of a subject line to print, by multiplying first to Nth heat accumulation data by the first to Nth coefficients respectively, the first to Nth heat accumulation data being representative of heat accumulation amounts in the first to Nth heat accumulation layers respectively, and previously stored in relation to each heating element of the array;
C. obtaining corrected heating data for each pixel of the subject line, from basic heating data representative of a heat energy value to be applied to the recording sheet for recording the pixel and the first to Nth correction data for the pixel;
D. obtaining a new series of first heat accumulation data by multiplying the corrected heating data of the subject line by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored first heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence;
E. obtaining a new series of Jth heat accumulation data, J being 2 to N, by multiplying the previously stored (Jxe2x88x921)th heat accumulation data by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored Jth heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence; and
F. storing the new series of first to Nth heat accumulation data in place of the previously stored first to Nth heat accumulation data, while the subject line is printed in accordance with the corrected heating data.
The above steps B to F are repeated for each line to print.
In this way, the drive voltage for the thermal head is taken into consideration on determining the Nth correction data, so the corrected heating data is effective for printing the data at the expected density even where the drive voltage is changed according to the head temperature and the environmental temperature.
A data processing apparatus of the present invention comprises:
a voltage determining means for determining a drive voltage to be applied to the thermal head, according to a temperature of the Nth heat accumulating layer and an environmental temperature around the thermal head;
a memory means for storing first to Nth heat accumulation data in relation to each heating element of the array, the first to Nth heat accumulation data being representative of heat accumulation amounts in the first to Nth heat accumulation layers respectively;
first to Nth multipliers multiplying the first to Nth heat accumulation data by first to Nth coefficients respectively, to obtain first to Nth correction data for each pixel of a subject line to print;
a coefficient determining means for determining the Nth coefficient based on heat transmission properties between the first to Nth heat accumulating layers, and on the drive voltage for the thermal head;
a correcting means for correcting basic heating data of the subject line, with the first to Nth correction data and a coefficient in pixel-to-pixel correspondence, to produce corrected heating data of the subject line, the basic heating data being representative of a heat energy value for each pixel to be applied to the recording sheet for recording the pixel;
a first calculator for obtaining a new series of first heat accumulation data by multiplying the corrected heating data of the subject line by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored first heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence; and
second to Nth calculators for obtaining a new series of Jth heat accumulation data, J being 2 to N, by multiplying the previously stored (Jxe2x88x921)th heat accumulation data by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored Jth heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence, wherein the new series of first to Nth heat accumulation data are written on the memory device in place of the previously stored first to Nth heat accumulation data, during the printing of the subject line, and are used for obtaining first to Nth correction data for a next line to print.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a data processing method for correcting heating data for a thermal head to eliminate influence of heat accumulation in the thermal head on recording density, comprises the steps of:
A. obtaining first to Nth correction data for each pixel of a subject line to print, by multiplying first to Nth heat accumulation data by first to Nth coefficients respectively, the first to Nth heat accumulation data being representative of heat accumulation values in the first to Nth heat accumulation layers respectively, and previously stored in relation to each heating element of the array;
B. obtaining corrected heating data for each pixel of the subject line, from basic heating data representative of a heat energy value to be applied to the recording sheet for recording the pixel and the first to Nth correction data for the pixel;
C. converting the corrected heating data for the subject line, into modified heating data through a non-linear function that is predetermined based on heat transmission properties between the heating elements and the first heat accumulating layer;
D. obtaining a new series of first heat accumulation data by multiplying the modified heating data of the subject line by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored first heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence;
E. obtaining a new series of Jth heat accumulation data, J being 2 to N, by multiplying the previously stored (Jxe2x88x921)th heat accumulation data by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored Jth heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence; and
F. storing the new series of first to Nth heat accumulation data in place of the previously stored first to Nth heat accumulation data, while the subject line is printed in accordance with the corrected heating data.
The above steps A to F are repeated for each line to print.
Since the heat accumulation data for the first heat accumulating layer is determined based on the modified heating data that is obtained by converting the corrected heating data for the subject line through a non-linear function that is predetermined based on heat transmission properties between the heating elements and the first heat accumulating layer, conditions of heat energy accumulated in the respective heat accumulating layers are estimated with high accuracy.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the heat accumulating layers of the thermal head comprise a glazing layer, a ceramic substrate and an aluminum plate laid on one another in this order from the side of heating element, and the glazing layer is hypothetically divided into a number of heat accumulating layers arranged vertically from each other, to obtain the heat accumulation data and the correction data for each of the hypothetically divided heat accumulating layers. Thereby, thermal conductivity of the glazing layer is taken into consideration on estimating condition of heat energy accumulated in the glazing layer.
A data processing apparatus for correcting heating data for a thermal head to eliminate influence of heat accumulation in the thermal head on recording density, the thermal head having an array of heating elements arranged in a line and first to Nth heat accumulating layers disposed under the heating elements in this order from the side of heating elements, the heating elements being driven in accordance with corrected heating data, to print one line after another on a recording sheet, one pixel of each line corresponding to one heating element of the array in regular sequence, the data processing apparatus comprising:
a memory means for storing first to Nth heat accumulation data in relation to each heating element of the array, the first to Nth heat accumulation data being representative of heat accumulation values in the first to Nth heat accumulation layers respectively;
first to Nth multipliers for multiplying the first to Nth heat accumulation data by first to Nth coefficients respectively, to obtain first to Nth correction data for each pixel of a subject line to print;
a correcting means for correcting basic heating data of the subject line, with the first to Nth correction data and a coefficient in pixel-to-pixel correspondence, to produce corrected heating data of the subject line, the basic heating data being representative of a heat energy value for each pixel to be applied to the recording sheet for recording the pixel;
a conversion means for converting the corrected heating data for the subject line, into modified heating data through a non-linear function that is predetermined based on heat transmission properties between the heating elements and the first heat accumulating layer;
a first calculator for obtaining a new series of first heat accumulation data by multiplying the corrected heating data of the subject line by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored first heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence; and
second to Nth calculators for obtaining a new series of Jth heat accumulation data, J being 2 to N, by multiplying the previously stored (Jxe2x88x921)th heat accumulation data by a coefficient, multiplying the previously stored Jth heat accumulation data by a coefficient, and adding multiplication results in pixel-to-pixel correspondence, wherein the new series of first to Nth heat accumulation data are written on the memory device in place of the previously stored first to Nth heat accumulation data, during the printing of the subject line, and are used for obtaining first to Nth correction data for a next line to print.

Data processing method for eliminating influence of heat accumulation in thermal head of thermal printer


One aspect of the invention is a method for scheduling a meeting. An interface is provided to allow a user to input information regarding a meeting into a computer. The interface may include an alternative attendee data field to allow a user to provide alternative attendee information. The alternative attendee information may indicate whether an invitee to a meeting may send an alternate person to the meeting in place of the invitee. The alternative attendee information may be received using the interface, and then stored and associated with other data concerning the meeting being scheduled.

Large organizations, such as corporations, currently use computer software to aid in the scheduling of meetings. For example, one popular computer software package to aid in the scheduling of meetings is Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook allows a user to schedule a meeting and to invite others to the meeting. In Microsoft Outlook, the meeting invitation is sent to the electronic mailbox of each invitee. Each invitee may accept, tentatively accept, or reject the invitation to the meeting. If the invitation is accepted or tentatively accepted, then the meeting may be electronically entered into an electronic calendar also associated with Microsoft Outlook. Other calendaring programs may check the availability of invitees to attend a meeting based on the invitees' electronic calendars and automatically schedule the meeting if the invitees are available during a particular timeslot without sending an invitation to such invitees. Existing automated meeting-scheduling systems, however, lack certain desirable features that may be useful for scheduling meetings.

Method and system for automated meeting scheduling

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present disclosure provides an organic electroluminescent device including: an anode; a cathode; and one or more organic material layers interposed between the anode and cathode and selected from the group consisting of a hole injection layer, a hole transporting layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transporting layer, and an electron injection layer, and further including a lifetime enhancement layer (LEL) between the light emitting layer and the electron transporting layer.

Studies on an organic electroluminescent (EL) device have continued to blue electric light emission using an anthracene single crystal in 1965, and then an organic electroluminescent device having a two-layer laminated structure, which is composed of a hole layer (NPB) and a light emitting layer (Alq3), was proposed by Tang in 1987. Since then, the organic electroluminescent device has been proposed in the form of a multilayer-laminated structure which imparts each characteristic and subdivided function, such as an organic layer which is responsible for injecting and transporting holes, an organic layer which is responsible for injecting and transporting electrons, and an organic layer which induces electroluminescence to occur due to the combination of holes and electrons in the device in order to implement high efficiency and long lifetime characteristics required for commercialization. The introduction of a multilayer-laminated structure improved the performance of the organic electroluminescent device to the level of commercialization characteristics, thereby expanding the application range of the multilayer-laminated structure from the start of a radio display product for a vehicle in 1997 to a mobile information display device and a display device for TV.
The demand for enlargement and high resolution of a display imposes challenges of high efficiency and long lifetime on an organic electroluminescent device. In particular, the high resolution implemented by forming a larger number of pixels in the same area incurs a result of decreasing the light emitting area of the organic electroluminescent pixel, thereby reducing the lifetime, which has become the most important technical challenge which the organic electroluminescent device needs to overcome.
In the organic electroluminescent device, when current or voltage is applied to two electrodes, holes are injected into an organic material layer at the anode, and electrons are injected into an organic material layer at the cathode. When the injected holes and electrons meet each other, an exciton is formed, and the exciton falls down to a bottom state to emit light. In this case, the organic electroluminescent device may be classified into a fluorescent electroluminescent device in which singlet excitons contribute to light emission and a phosphorescent electroluminescent device in which triplet excitons contribute to light emission according to the type of electron spin of the excitons formed.
In the electron spins of the excitons formed by recombining electrons and holes, the singlet exciton and the triplet exciton are produced at a ratio of 25% and 75%. In the fluorescent electroluminescent device in which light is emitted by singlet excitons, it is impossible for the internal quantum efficiency to theoretically exceed 25% according to the production ratio, and the external quantum efficiency of 5% is accepted as the limitation. In the phosphorescent electroluminescent device in which light is emitted by triplet excitons, when a metal complex compound including a transition metal heavy atom such as Ir and Pt is used as a phosphorescent dopant, the light emitting efficiency may be improved up to 4 times compared to the fluorescent electroluminescent device.
As described above, the phosphorescent electroluminescent device exhibits higher efficiency in terms of light emitting efficiency than the fluorescent electroluminescent device based on theoretical facts, but in a blue phosphorescent device except for green and red phosphorescent devices, the development level for the color purity of the deep blue color, a phosphorescent dopant with high efficiency, and a host with a wide energy gap, which satisfies the requirements, is so minimal that the blue phosphorescent device has not been commercialized up to now, and a blue fluorescent device is used for products.
In order to improve characteristics of the organic electroluminescent device, study results for enhancing stability of the device by preventing holes from diffusing into an electron transferring layer have been reported. There has been proposed a technology in which a material such as BCP or BPhen is used between a light emitting layer and an electron transferring layer to prevent holes from diffusing into the electron transferring layer, and a probability of recombining holes and electrons is effectively increased by limiting the diffusion into the inside of the light emitting layer. However, in derivatives such as BCP or BPhen, oxidation stability for holes deteriorates and durability for heat is weak, and accordingly, the lifetime of the organic electroluminescent device is decreased, and the commercialization is not achieved. Further, these materials simply serve to block holes and thus inhibit electrons from moving, thereby increasing the driving voltage of the organic electroluminescent device.


A conveyor drive having a first crank (44) rotatably mounted to a base (24) for producing a first sinusoidal harmonic and a second crank (62) rotatably mounted to a conveying trough (22) for producing a second sinusoidal harmonic. A link (66) is connected between the first and second cranks (44, 62) to impart a first sinusoidal harmonic of the first crank (44) to the second crank (62). The second crank imparts a working displacement to the conveying trough (24) as a function of a phase relationship between the first and second sinusoidal harmonics of the respective eccentrics (44, 62). A synchronizer (FIG. 5) is operatively connected to the cranks (44, 62) for selectively adjusting the angular phase relationship between the first and second sinusoidal harmonics of the respective cranks (44, 62) to correspondingly vary the working displacement imparted to the trough (22), thereby controlling the speed of material being conveyed along the trough (22).

Vibrating conveyors are often used to transport solid materials in and along a conveyor trough which is either generally horizontal, inclined or declined with respect to the conveying direction. Conveying troughs are oscillated at certain frequencies with amplitudes and directions of motion which are known to cause the desired material conveyances. The solid materials can be transported over distances of from several feet to several hundred feet. Longer vibrating conveyors, for example, those over forty feet, most commonly incorporate resonant frequency spring systems and are powered by displacement input drive systems, for example, crank arm assemblies, operating at or near the spring system resonant frequencies. Conveyors so constructed are known as resonant frequency vibrating conveyors and operate with reduced operating stresses and energy requirements.
Many vibrating conveyor applications require the ability to change the conveying speed of the material conveyance during the operation of the conveyor. In vibrating conveyor applications such as metering solid material, parts sorting and parts inspection, it is often desired to vary the material conveying speed during the operation of the conveyor.
One method for varying the material speed of a resonant frequency vibrating conveyor during its operation is to adjust the frequency of trough oscillation. This method is greatly limited because of the undesirable vibrations and stresses imparted to the vibrating conveyor apparatus when operated at frequencies substantially different from its resonant frequency.
Another method for varying the material speed during operation of a resonant frequency vibrating conveyor is to change the direction of oscillating motion. This requires changes to the resonant frequency spring systems and the displacement input drive system. The configuration of these systems are very costly to alter on a vibrating conveyor without compromising the strength and reliability of the apparatus.
A further method for varying the material conveying speed during conveyor operation is to change the amplitude of trough displacement. Varying the displacement of a displacement drive system is known, for example, one such vibrating conveyor construction is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,996. Two cranks are mounted on a base, and a first crank arm is driven by a constant speed motor. The cranks are interconnected by sheaves and belts so that the motor driven crank arm provides power to the second crank arm. The interconnecting belts also extend around a mechanical phase angle adjustment plate which functions to vary the belt lengths interconnecting the crank arms, thereby varying the rotational phase between the crank arms. The distal ends of the crank arms are interconnected together by a linkage assembly that is also connected to the conveying trough. Changing the rotational phase angle between the crank arms changes the amplitude of displacement imparted to the conveying trough. The above device has a first disadvantage of requiring a complex linkage assembly interconnecting the crank arms and the trough. The oscillating motion of the crank arms is transmitted across four link elements and six pivot joints. The large number of pivot joints which are subject to wear during operation adversely impacts the cost and reliability of the conveyor drive. A second disadvantage to the system is the relatively complex phase angle adjustment mechanism that also has six rotating elements which are subject to wear during conveyor operation. Therefore, there is a need to provide a conveyor drive system for varying the and speed of material being conveyed along the conveyor utilizing a simple, reliable system having a minimum number of parts that are subject to wear and replacement.

Vibrating conveyor drive with continuously adjustable stroke