An electrical control system preferably for vehicles such as a transit vehicle is arranged with a plurality of separate modules each receiving input from a series of inputs and each providing a series of outputs so that the modules combined receive inputs from all of the control, transducer and other input elements of the vehicle and the modules as a whole provide output to all of the controlled elements of the vehicle. The modules communicate between one another via a communication bus and an operational program is installed in each of the modules so that all modules contain programming for the functions of each module. A replacement module is generic and thus can contain any operational program and thus can be used for many different designs of the system. As supplied, the module may contain an existing program or no operational program if not yet programmed. On a subsequent power-up after installation of the replacement module, a check program is run to determine that a replacement module is in place and to download the operational program from a selected one of the existing modules into the replacement module. This allows service personnel to readily install replacement modules without the necessity for dedication of the modules to specific design schemes.

This invention relates to an electrical control apparatus for use in receiving input data from a plurality of separate sources and providing a plurality of outputs to separate controlled elements based upon a predetermined program, wherein the apparatus includes a plurality of separate control modules communicating on a connecting bus, and particularly to an improvement in which the modules can be readily replaced in the event of failure.
Control apparatus for controlling electrical systems for various end uses are well known and widely required. The present invention is particularly but not exclusively concerned with such control apparatus for use in vehicles such as trucks, trains, boats, aircraft and passenger transit vehicles. However devices of this type can also be used for controlling industrial processes.
A vehicle such as a passenger transit vehicle has a large number of electrical inputs from operator actuated switches and from various other transducers such as temperature sensors and door closure switches. The vehicle further has a large number of electrical outputs where various components such as lighting, air conditioning, door actuators and engine control systems require output at a predetermined voltage from the power system of the vehicle.
One conventional arrangement for controlling the various outputs from the various inputs includes a plurality of control modules which are interconnected by a communication bus.
Each module has a series of input terminals for receiving control signals from a selected combination of the various inputs of the system. Each module has a plurality of outputs for supplying output voltage to selected ones of the series of controlled elements of the system. Each module has a plurality of switches which can be actuated to supply output as required to one or more of the output terminals. The switches are controlled by a processor in the module. The switches are preferably electronic but other electromechanical switches can be used in some cases. The module has a communications connection for two way communication between the processor and the communication bus so that the status of the module can be communicated onto the communication bus and so that information concerning the other modules can be communicated from the communication bus to the processor.
The modules are programmed with the necessary program to effect the function of each of the modules so that the modules are in effect identical and each can carry out the function of the others. This ensures that replacement modules for use in the event of a failure of one of the modules can simply be taken from a supply of the modules and can carry out whichever function is required of that particular module. An input arrangement provided by one or more conductors is provided for communicating to the module which function it is to undertake when installed in the vehicle.
The modules are programmable to provide a base program which carries out the basic functioning of the module and to receive an operating program relating to the functions of the modules.
It will of course be appreciated that the vehicles manufactured by a particular manufacturer using this system vary over the years as modifications are introduced and also may vary at any particular time due to different options and different configurations of the vehicles be manufactured.
The modules therefore must be programmed with the particular configuration of vehicle with which the module is to be used thus requiring an inventory of replacement modules dedicated to the particular vehicles concerned.
It is one object of the present invention therefore to provide an improved apparatus which avoids or reduces the necessity for an inventory of modules dedicated to different system configurations.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a control apparatus comprising:
a plurality of sources of input signals;
a plurality of controlled elements;
a communication bus;
and a plurality of separate control modules each having:
connection to the communication bus for transmitting communications on and receiving communications from the bus;
a plurality of input terminals arranged for receiving at least one input from a respective one of said plurality of sources of input signals;
a plurality of output terminals at least one of which is arranged for connection to a respective one of the controlled elements;
a plurality of switches each associated with a respective one of the output terminals for effecting control of the respective controlled element;
a processor programmable so as to actuate the switches in response to data from the input terminals and in response to said communications on the communication bus in accordance with a predetermined program stored in the module;
the modules each having a different function such that each receives input from a different one or more of the sources of input data and each effects control of a different one or more of the controlled elements;
wherein said predetermined program is the same in each of the modules and includes a base program and an operating program portion having respective sub-portions thereof with each sub-portion arranged to control the function of the respective module in which the program is stored;
and wherein the modules and the predetermined program therein are arranged such that, at a predetermined condition of the apparatus, the processor of each module emits to the communication bus a signal indicative of the operating program portion stored in the respective module, such that there is effected a comparison of the emitted signals, and such that, in the event that the emitted signal of one of the modules is different from that of the others, a selected one of the others is arranged to download the operating program portion from said selected one to said different one.
Preferably all of the modules are substantially identical and wherein each module has an input for determining which of the functions of the modules is applicable to that module. It is preferred to provide identical modules since this provides the best efficiency for inventory control. However in some cases, the modules may have different hardware configurations for effecting different functions, but contain the same base software for running the basic programs as described hereinafter and the same operating program programmed in the manner of the present invention and described herein.
Preferably the emitted signal comprises a reference number included in the operating program portion and identifying the operating program portion. This can be supplemented by an optional check sum calculated from the operating program portion to ensure checking of accuracy.
Preferably the apparatus includes a port connected to the communication bus for receiving programming information on the communication bus for simultaneously programming all of the modules with said operating program portion.
Preferably the predetermined condition is arranged to occur at an initial power-up of the apparatus.
Preferably each of the modules is arranged to be in an operating condition only in the event that it is receiving an input on one or more of a selected number of the input terminals thereof and wherein the predetermined condition is arranged such that each of the modules is receiving an input to said selected number of input terminals thereof such that each is in the operating condition.
Preferably the inputs to each module are arranged so that the predetermined condition only occurs at a power-up and only in the event that each of the modules is receiving an input to said selected ones of input terminals thereof.
Preferably the predetermined program is arranged, in the event that the emitted signal of one of the modules is different from that of the others, to select a particular one of the modules to download the operating program portion unless the particular one is the different one in which case selects another one of the modules is selected.
Preferably the selected one downloads the operating program portion in a plurality of separate sections of program each including a check sum.
Preferably the control apparatus is provided in a vehicle for controlling electrical components of the vehicle and in such a case, the modules may be located at different locations in the vehicle including at least one at the front, at least one at the rear and at least one at an intermediate location along the length thereof.
Preferably a first one of the modules is connected to a source of 12 vDC voltage and is arranged to control the switches thereof to provide the 12 vDC voltage as a high side output at least at some of the outputs thereof for supply to the controlled elements and a second one of the modules is connected to a source of 24 vDC voltage and is arranged to control the switches thereof to provide the 24 vDC voltage as a high side output at least at some of the outputs thereof for supply to the controlled elements. More preferably each module has two rails or input bars each of which can be supplied with either 12 vdc or 24 vdc, so that both rails are of the same voltage or each is of a different voltage depending upon the output requirements. Each module is preferably powered by a logic voltage which is either 24 v or 12 v depending upon the convenience of the system.
Preferably at least one of the first and second modules includes at least one further output arranged to be connected by a respective one of the switches, which is bi-directional, to ground such that said one further output provides a low side output.
Preferably each module includes a set of input status LEDs and a set of output status LEDs and wherein each input is associated with a respective one of the input LEDs and each output is associated with a respective one of the output LEDs and wherein the input LEDs are arranged to be on when an input is present and to be off when no input is present and wherein the output LEDs are arranged to be on when an output is present and to be off when no output is present and to flash when a fault is present on the output.
Preferably there is provided a diagnostic harness arranged to provide a feedback connection from respective ones of the output to respective ones of the inputs.
Preferably each module is arranged to provide a power save mode wherein the module goes power-off except when an input is provided to selected ones of the inputs thereto.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of replacing a module in a control apparatus as defined above wherein the method comprises:
replacing one of the modules with a replacement module;
after replacement, at a predetermined condition of the apparatus, causing the processor of each module to emit to the communication bus a signal indicative of the operating program portion stored in the respective module;
causing the modules to effect a comparison of the emitted signals;
and, in the event that the emitted signal of one of the modules is different from that of the others, causing a selected one of the others to download the operating program portion from said selected one to said different one.
According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided an individual module for use in a system of the type defined above arranged by the program stored therein to effect the steps set forth in the method above when connected into the apparatus.

Electrical control apparatus including a plurality of programmable modules


Disclosed herein are compositions and methods for purifying antibody products from a sample matrix. In particular, the present invention relates to compositions and methods for purifying antibody products employing hydrophobic interaction chromatography media. In certain embodiments, the invention provides a method for reducing process-related impurities (e.g., host cell proteins), as well as product-related substances, including molecular weight variants (e.g., aggregates and fragments of the antibody product).

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) media interact with hydrophobic regions present on an antibody of interest and the characteristics of that interaction can be calibrated by selecting specific HIC media types and binding conditions. In the context of commercial chromatographic purification, HIC medias are used to separate antibody product present in a variety of sample mixtures, including partially purified samples, e.g., samples that have been subjected to filtration and/or one or more step of affinity, ion exchange, and/or mixed mode chromatography. HIC is conventionally used in such strategies as a means for retaining an antibody product on a chromatographic support, while allowing other components in a partially purified sample, including product-related substances (e.g., product aggregates and fragments) and process-related impurities (e.g., host cell proteins), to be washed from the support and discarded and/or allow for the impurities to be resolved from the antibody product by selective elution of the antibody product. The retained antibody product can then be eluted from the chromatographic support by disrupting the antibody/HIC media interaction and the product can subsequently be subjected to further purification steps, e.g., those relying on charge (e.g., ion exchange chromatography), biological interaction characteristics (e.g., affinity chromatography), and/or size (e.g., ultrafiltration).
There remains a need in the art for high-efficiency methods of purifying antibody products away from product-related substances and process-related impurities at relatively low cost. Reduction of such substances and/or impurities is particularly advantageous in the context of commercially produced recombinant bio-therapeutics as such substances and/or impurities have the potential to impact numerous product characteristics, including, but not limited to, product stability, product safety and product efficacy.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Purification of antibodies using hydrophobic interaction chromatography


A computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes receiving historical sales data, transforming a nonlinear, non-convex optimization model for weighting optimization into a linear optimization model, determining a number of historical periods of the historical sales data and weights to be applied to a historical conversion rate and a historical growth rate for the number of historical periods of the historical sales data, utilizing the nonlinear, non-convex optimization model or the linear optimization model, predicting a future optimal conversion rate and a future optimal growth rate by applying the weights to the historical conversion rate and the historical growth rate for the number of historical periods of the historical sales data, and applying the future optimal growth rate and the future optimal conversion rate to current sales pipeline data to determine future sales data.

The present invention relates to data analysis, and more specifically, this invention relates to predicting future sales data by analyzing historical sales data.
Business competitiveness may rely on how accurately organizations predict revenues from pipelines, in a timely manner that allows them to take corrective actions. For example, accurate revenue prediction may allow for fair pre-setting of sales force objectives, and may help in planning and allocating resources ahead of time. As a result, technologies for accurate pipeline prediction are desirable.
Service organizations manage a pipeline of sales opportunities with variable sales engagement lifespan, maturity level (belonging to progressive sales stages), and contract values at any given point in time. Accurate predicting of contract signings by the end of a time period (e.g., quarterly) is a desirable for many IT service organizations in order to get an accurate projection of incoming revenue, and to provide support for delivery planning, resource allocation, and budget and effective sales opportunity management.
While the problem of sales predicting has been investigated in its generic context, sales predicting for services organizations entails considering additional complexity, which has not been thoroughly investigated: (i) considering opportunities in multi-staged sales pipeline, which means providing stage-specific treatment of sales opportunities in each group, and (ii) using the information of the current pipeline build-up, as well as the projection of the pipeline growth over the remaining time period before the end of the time period in order to make predictions.

Revenue prediction for a sales pipeline using optimized weights

International Business Machines Corporation


A modular jack and a modular jack connector which are suitable for use in twisted pair wiring system and suppress coupling in and out of a modular jack are provided. A modular jack, comprising, a hollow housing of which one end is opened, and eight conductor pins which are arranged with predetermined intervals to right and left directions inside said housing, each of said conductor pins has bending portion projecting toward said opening portion (this direction is defined by “forward”), lower part of said each conductor pin corresponds to a conductor pin leg which passes through bottom of said housing, when numbers from No. 1 to No. 8 are given respectively to said each conductor pin starting from right, each set of conductor pins of No. 1 and No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6, No. 4 and No. 5, and No. 7 and No. 8 is used respectively as conductor pair, bending portions of said No. 3 and No. 6 conductor pins are positioned more forward than bending portions of other conductor pins, and conductor pin legs of said No. 3 and No. 6 conductor pins are positioned more forward than conductor pin legs of other conductor pins.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a modular jack and a modular jack connector which are suitable for use in twisted pair wiring system, and more specifically to a modular jack and a modular jack connector which suppress coupling in and out of a modular jack.
2. Prior Art
In a wiring system for information communication such as LAN (Local Area Network) or telephone, a modular jack which is used for branch and extension of a wiring is defined in U.S.A. Wiring System Standard TIA/EIA568 or Japanese Industrial Standards JISX5150.
In an office of recent years, installation of LAN has been being carried out actively, and TP (twisted pair wire) which is comparatively easy for laying and changing has been being used in many wiring systems in office. A wiring system using this TP and combining data system and telephone system is shown in FIG. 1.
In this wiring system, plurality of IDFs (Intermediate Distribution Panel) 62 which are concentrically wired to MDF (Main Distribution Frame) 61 are installed, for example, on every floor of building, one or more consent box 63 or boxes 63 which is or are wired to IDF 62 is or are provided to various place of floor, if necessary next step consent box 64 is connected to consent box 63, and terminal 65 is connected to each consent box 63, 64.
A modular connector type patch panel which concentrically wires TP is shown in FIG. 2, and consent box is shown in FIG. 3. As shown in these figures, plurality of modular connectors or modular jack connectors 71, 81 are arranged side-by-side to patch panel or consent box.
Modular jack is shown in FIG. 4. Modular jack 91 comprises housing 93 provided with opening 92 to which modular cable (not shown in the figure) is inserted, and eight conductor pins 94 which are incorporated within housing. Provided, this modular jack shown in the figure is according to an embodiment of the present invention, conventional modular jack is different from the figure in arrangement of conductor pins.
Modular jack connector is shown in FIG. 5. Modular jack connector 101 is constituted by mounting modular jack 91 on substrate 102 and mounting crimping terminal array 103 which is so-called 110 type on substrate 102. This modular jack connector 101 is according to an embodiment of the present invention, modular jack connector which combined modular jack and crimping terminal array has not been realized heretofore.
As shown in FIG. 6, crimping terminal 111 comprises blade portion 112 to which TP is inserted and lead portion 113 which is soldered to substrate 102.
Inner structure of conventional modular jack is shown in FIG. 7(a) and FIG. 7(b). As shown in FIG. 7(a), this modular jack 121 is provided with approximately cubic shaped hollow housing 122 of which left side end in the figure is opened, and inside of the housing 122, eight conductor pins 125 having convex bending portion 124 toward opening portion 123 (referred to as "forward") are arranged at even intervals to right and left direction. Lower part of each conductor pin 125 corresponds to conductor pin leg 126 which passes through bottom of housing 122, and as shown in FIG. 7(b), numbers one to eight (1–8) are given to each conductor pin 125 in a manner of arranged order from right end as viewed opening portion 123 from outside. Each set of No. 1 and No. 2 conductor pins 125, No. 3 and No. 6 conductor pins 125, No. 4 and No. 5 conductor pins 125, and No. 7 and No. 8 conductor pins 125 is used as conductor pair. Conductor pair means a set of conductors connected to same twisted pair wires.
As shown in the figures, in conventional modular jack, all bending portions 124 of eight conductor pins 125 are lined up at same position toward forward, and eight conductor pin legs 126 are arranged in two lines, wherein No. 1, 3, 5, and 7 conductor pin legs 126 are in a forward line, and No. 2, 4, 6 and 8 conductor pin legs 126 are in a backward line.
In conventional U.S.A. Wiring System Standard, only category 5e which defines near end cross talk attenuation between twist pairs to be more than 43 dB at 100 MHz is provided. However, category 6 which defines up to frequency band of 250 MHz is engaged to be enacted in U.S.A. Wiring System Standard in 2002. In category 6, connector is required to have near end cross talk attenuation of more than 54 dB which exceeds category 5e 11 dB at 100 MHz and more than 46 dB at 250 MHz, it becomes necessary to cancel coupling (electromagnetic coupling) within modular jack and coupling caused by components (substrate, crimping terminal and etc.) other than modular jack. Coupling within modular jack is notably caused by arrangement of No. 3 and No. 6 conductor pins which are sandwiching No. 4 and No. 5 conductor pins, and moreover No. 3 and No. 6 conductor pair space being larger than other conductor pair space, this coupling originates deterioration of cross talk characteristics. Accordingly, improvement to reduce this coupling is desired.
As explained above, in order to fit for category 6 which defines near end cross talk attenuation to be more than 54 dB at 100 MHz and more than 46 dB at 250 MHz, it is necessary to suppress coupling in and out of modular jack. Also, the applicant is going to provide a component (modular jack connector) which combined and unified modular jack with twisted pair wire fitting terminal, it is necessary to suppress coupling in whole modular jack connector.


In a brake shoe (1) comprising a carrier plate (2) having arranged thereon first a dampening and noise-reducing intermediate layer (4) and then a friction lining (6), it is provided that the intermediate layer (4), on the side thereof facing towards the friction lining (6), comprises a three-dimensional surface structure, and that the friction lining (6) on the carrier-plate side is adapted to the surface contour (5) of the intermediate layer (4).

The invention relates to a brake shoe according to the preamble of claim 1, and a method for producing a brake shoe according to the preamble of claim 11.
It is already known to arrange a dampening intermediate layer between a carrier plate and a friction lining. This intermediate layer has a uniform layer thickness of 3 mm, for instance. This intermediate layer is useful, e.g., for bonding the friction lining to the carrier plate with high strength.
In known brake linings, undesired accompanying phenomena will occur during braking, depending on the wear condition of the brake shoe. With increased wear, for instance, brake shoes are known to contribute to a heightened generation of brake noises because the friction linings tend to become harder and lose compressibility with increased service life and thermal stress. For this reason, the friction linings will become less capable to adapt to the brake disks which undergo geometric changes (e.g. shield formation) under the influence of heat.
The generated noises can be characterized as follows:
crumpling (broad-band noise: 200 Hz to 8 kHz)
squeaking (1500 Hz to 15 kHz)
juddering (20 Hz to 100 Hz)
humming (200 Hz to 600 Hz), and
wire-brush noises.
Juddering effects such as vibrations of the steering wheel and pulsation of the brake pedal, as well as humming, can increase along with the progression of the wear condition.

Brake shoe and method for producing a brake shoe


A gas transportation device is provided and includes a plurality of flow guiding units. Each of the flow guiding units includes an inlet plate, a substrate, a resonance plate, an actuating plate, a piezoelectric component, an outlet plate and a valve, which are sequentially stacked. A convergence chamber is formed between the resonance plate and the inlet plate. The actuating plate has a suspension part, an outer frame and a plurality of interspaces. The piezoelectric component is attached on a surface of the suspension part. Gas is inhaled into the convergence chamber via an inlet aperture of the inlet plate, is transported into a first chamber via a central aperture of the resonance plate, is further transported into a second chamber via the interspaces, and is discharged out from an outlet aperture of the outlet plate. The gas is transported by the flow guiding units disposed in a specific arrangement.

Currently, in all fields, the products used in many sectors such as pharmaceutical industries, computer techniques, printing industries or energy industries are developed toward elaboration and miniaturization. The gas transportation devices are important components that are used in, for example, micro pumps. Therefore, how to utilize an innovative structure to break through the bottleneck of the prior art has become an important part of development.
With the rapid advancement of science and technology, the application of gas transportation device tends to be more and more diversified. For the industrial applications, the biomedical applications, the healthcare, the electronic cooling and so on, even the most popular wearable devices, the gas transportation device is utilized therein. It is obviously that the conventional gas transportation devices gradually tend to miniaturize the structure and maximize the flow rate thereof.
In the prior art, the gas transportation device is mainly constructed by stacking the conventional mechanism components. Moreover, the miniaturization and thinning of the entire device are achieved by minimizing or thinning each mechanism component. However, while miniaturizing the structure of the conventional mechanism components, it is difficult to control the dimensional accuracy and the assembly accuracy. As a result, the product yield rate is unstable. Moreover, it even results in an unstable flow of gas transportation.
Furthermore, the conventional gas transportation device also has the problem of insufficient amount of the transportation. It is difficult to meet the requirements of transporting a great amount of gas by a solo gas transportation device. Moreover, the conventional gas transportation devices usually have conducting pins protruding outwardly for the purpose of power connection. If a plurality of conventional gas transportation devices are disposed side by side to increase the amount of the transportation, it is difficult to control the assembly accuracy. The conducting pins are likely to cause obstacles for assembling, and wires provided for external connection are too complicated to be set up. Therefore, it is still difficult to increase the amount of the transportation by the above-mentioned methods, and the arrangement of the gas transportation devices cannot be flexibly applied.
Therefore, there is a need of providing a gas transportation device to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks in prior arts. The gas transportation device can make an apparatus or equipment utilize the conventional gas transportation device to achieve small size, miniaturization, and mute. The gas transportation device can also avoid the difficulty of controlling the dimensional accuracy and overcome the problem of the insufficient flow rate. The gas transportation device can be a miniature gas transportation device to be flexibly applied to various apparatus or equipment.


An image forming apparatus having a photosensitive unit including a film disposed thereon. The film wears over time causing its thickness to decrease, which causes non-uniformity in line image data produced by the apparatus. The invention counteracts changes in the film thickness by adjusting the intensity of the edges of the image in response to the amount of wear the apparatus has undergone. The amount of wear can be gauged by detecting the number of rotations made by the photosensitive unit or the number of sheets processed by the photosensitive unit. The invention has the particular advantage of ensuring consistency in the thickness of line images. A method for controlling exposure is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine, printer, or like device, and a method for operating such an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic image forming technique, as used, for example, in a digital copying machine, can determine characteristics of an input image and then perform processing which is suited to the determined characteristics. For example, such an apparatus can emphasize the edges of characters in images containing character data. To perform this function, an edge is recognized in the image data based on whether or not the difference in density between a target pixel and its surrounding pixels exceeds a prescribed threshold value. A latent image is then formed on a photosensitive unit based on the image data thus processed. The latent image is developed, and then the developed image is transferred to a sheet of paper. In this manner, the image of a character in which the edges are emphasized can be reproduced.
In a conventional image forming apparatus, when the photosensitive unit is exposed to light in order to form a latent image, the electric charge (comprising electrons and electron holes) occurring at exposed areas of the photosensitive unit becomes diffused as it moves toward the surface of the photosensitive unit. As a result, the electric charge can expand to these exposed areas, which leads to thickening of the image.
In an image forming apparatus using an organic photosensitive unit, the film thickness disposed on the photosensitive unit varies depending on how often the photosensitive unit has been used. The film thickness, in turn, affects the level of diffusion of the electric charge. When the film is thick, the range of diffusion is relatively large, and when the film is thin, the range of diffusion is relatively small. Therefore, the latent image formed by such an apparatus changes depending on how often the photosensitive unit has been used. This effect is particularly noticeable in line images, in which the thickness of the line image changes as a function of the amount of use of the photosensitive unit. Generally, the line image increases in thickness as the film increases in thickness.
A problem therefore arises in conventional reverse image forming apparatuses in that the thickness of a line image varies depending on how often the photosensitive unit is used. In other words, the conventional apparatuses do not provide consistent line image thicknesses over time.

Image forming apparatus and method for controlling exposure conditions


An improved method is provided for applying an antireflective high contrast coating to a lens, as well as a lens system made with said method. By coating the lenses with a mixture of an oxide and fluoride, the transmission of undesirable visible light wavelengths is reduced, as is the reflection of undesirable light. This combination not only increases perceived sharpness and detail associated with viewing objects through the lenses, but also reduces undesirable reflected glare. Utilization of increased vacuum during the coating process reduces problems of humidity associated with plastic lenses. The combination of oxide and fluoride is controlled to reduce colored tint or hue in the resulting lenses. By imparting little to no color hue to the lenses, the lenses virtually eliminate any undesired color shift associated with prior art lenses.

Antireflective coatings on eyeglass lenses such as oxidic coatings are desirable as they reduce the amount of bounce-back glare from the interior or concave surface of the lenses to the user's eye. Such coatings are especially desirable in sunglasses, which typically are used where lighting conditions are more intense and/or include glare or other optically undesirable properties. In particular, it is desirable to minimize reflection on the "wearer's side" of a lens such that a wearer is less likely to see a reflection of his own eye in a sunglasses lens. Prior art lenses often have an antireflective coating comprising an oxide applied at a thickness that is one-quarter the wavelength of a particular light frequency for which it is desirable to minimize reflection. As a result of this coating, one portion of the light is reflected from the surface of the antireflective oxidic coating and another portion of the light is reflected back from the interface between the antireflective oxidic coating and the lens surface. This well-known phenomenon results in destructive interference wherein there are two reflected waves of light, with each one-half wave out of phase with the other. Because the two waves of reflected light are one-half wave out of phase with one another, they interfere with, and cancel each other out. This cancellation of what would otherwise be reflected light reduces perceived light reflection at the cancelled wavelength.
One drawback associated with the prior art is that these prior art antireflective coatings typically reduce reflection at only a single wavelength. Reducing reflection associated with only a single wavelength or narrow range of wavelengths may impart a perceived hue or color to the lens that is associated with a color complementary to the blocked wavelength or narrow wavelength range. For instance, glasses which block a wavelength associated with the blue end of the visible spectrum may impart a yellow hue due to the remaining reflected light which has not been cancelled out. Although it is known in the art to provide a plurality of coatings that impede a plurality of wavelengths, there is a need to provide a set of antireflective coatings sufficient that impart antireflective properties onto the surface of the lens, canceling reflection of certain wavelengths without imparting a color to the lens and without significantly altering the viewed colors of images seen through the lens.
Although it is known in the optics art to provide antireflective coatings associated with a wider band of visible light, and such coatings may be applied to high-end optics in expensive cameras or microscopes, the costs associated with such coatings have heretofor been cost-prohibitive for sunglasses or the like. In addition, another drawback associated with prior art antireflective coatings is their lack of abrasion resistance, which is an essential property for use in sunglasses lenses.
Additional drawbacks associated with prior art antireflective coatings come from the current processes of applying the coatings. Plastic lenses absorb moisture and gases. Such lenses may also release moisture and gases and may even change size as they are heated or cooled. Variation in humidity, as well as gas and moisture absorption often inhibits consistent application of prior art antireflective coatings on plastic lenses.
Still another drawback associated with prior art methods for application of antireflective coatings to plastic lenses is the inability of plastic lenses to withstand the high temperatures commonly associated with the application of antireflective coatings. Polarized films used in association with sunglasses and the like are also sensitive to high heat and may not be able to withstand the high heat associated with many prior art antireflective coating processes. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a reproducible method for applying a durable antireflective coating to plastic lenses, including those with polarizing film(s), under conditions that do not damage the lenses or polarizing film(s).
It is also known in the art to provide lenses with high contrast coatings. By suppressing the transmission of certain wavelengths through the lens (e.g., wavelengths near the blue end of the visible light spectrum), the contrast associated with the transmitted light is increased. This increased contrast translates into a sharper image being transmitted to the lens-wearer. One drawback associated with prior art high contrast coatings, however, is that such high contrast coatings, like the antireflective coatings, typically impart a color to the transmitted image. In accord with well-known optics principles, this imparted color is complementary to the blocked wavelength, and it may affect the trueness of image color that a wearer can perceive through a lens. As a result, many prior art sunglasses lenses with antireflective coatings distort colors in a manner undesirable to many sunglasses-wearers. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a coating to a lens that blocks certain shorter bands of wavelength in a manner that increases clarity without imparting a colored hue to the transmitted image.
The difficulties encountered in the prior art described hereinabove are addressed by the present invention.

Lens system and method with antireflective coating


A stackable polymeric foam adjustment or grade ring is provided for the construction of the adjustment courses or manhole chimney portion of a sewer system. The adjustment ring is circular and may include concentric annular grooves on at least one surface and male portions corresponding in size and shape to the concentric annular grooves on a second surface. The adjustment rings are stacked one on another with the respective male portions being coupled within a corresponding annular groove to provide a manhole construction that is resistant to inflow, chemicals and freeze-thaw cycle damage.

Generally, the construction of a manhole includes an underground horizontal main sewer line having vertical access pipes or sections connected to the main sewer line which lead to a truncated cone and ultimately to a manhole frame and cover. On top of the cone a manhole chimney or adjustment courses are constructed which lead upward and are of the same diameter as the upper surface of the cone. The manhole frame is placed on top of this chimney and holds the manhole cover.
Past constructions of the manhole chimney or adjustment courses included using brick and mortar to build up the manhole chimney or in the alternative precast concrete rings have been used which are stacked on top of one another. The state of the art is generally shown in the following cited references: U.S. Pat. No. 1,639,495 issued to Frame; U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,533 issued to Binette; German Patent No. 2,525,285; U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,390 issued to Hall; U.K. Patent No. 2,088,446; U.K. Patent No. 2,102,479, U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,421 issued to Pai; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,467 issued to Odill, et al.
Upon completion of the construction, the surrounding surface is back filled, and the upper surface is paved such that the manhole is generally flat with the surrounding roadway surface. In areas other than streets the top of the cover is also generally adjusted to the surrounding ground level.
Because of the numerous and varying stresses on these constructions, manhole chimney constructions of the past have been prone to rapid deterioration. For instance, the hydrogen sulfide gas and other chemicals commonly found in sewer systems, may be corrosive to cement and may tend to deteriorate the preformed rings or the cement that holds the brick constructions together. In addition, the freeze-thaw cycles of the surrounding ground place strong pressure on the construction and may crush the construction. These freeze-thaw cycles may also work to widen any cracks or deformations in the structure thereby breaking down the structure. Also jolts or shock waves produced by passing traffic and road scrapers accentuate the destructive forces acting on the construction thereby breaking down the construction even sooner. Because of these and other problems the integrity of the structure is eventually broken such that water and sediment may be permitted to flow through the manhole chimney and into the sewer system.
This process is called inflow and is undesirable in a sewer system in that these sediments may cause clogging of the sewer system or create undesirable conditions for workers working inside the sewer system. In addition, inflow may soon result in a void in the underlying support of the roadway surface were the sediment has entered through the breaches in the manhole chimney, which may then cause structural problems with the roadway surface since it is not supported where the void occurs.
The precast spacing rings of the past have also been troublesome to install in a manhole chimney. These precast rings are heavy and require heavy equipment or several men to install. In addition these rings tend to be somewhat fragile and may shatter or crack if dropped or mishandled.
In the past, constructions have been attempted wherein seals have been placed between the precast ring in an attempt to stop the inflow problem. In addition, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,467 issued to Odill and assigned to Cretex Companies, manhole chimney seals have been attempted which seal the manhole chimney by a rubber tubular seal placed either on the inside or the outside of the manhole chimney. However, these constructions may still allow freeze-thaw damage or other damage to the chimney construction to occur.

Construction of a foamed polymeric manhole chimney


Provided is an image forming system wherein an image forming apparatus and another apparatus respectively including operation/display units are connected with each other via a network, and a remote operation of the image forming apparatus is enabled via the operation/display unit of the other apparatus, including a control unit for managing a state of the image forming apparatus, wherein when an alarm event occurs in the image forming apparatus during the remote operation, the control unit changes a display content of the operation/display unit of the image forming apparatus on which the alarm event has occurred to a first display form, and changes a display content of the operation/display unit of the other apparatus to a second display form which is different from the first display form.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a paper, an image forming system including the image forming apparatus, and an image forming method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printing is carried out by forming a toner image on a photoreceptor provided in an image forming unit based on image data acquired by reading from a document reading apparatus, for example, transferring the toner image to a paper fed from a tray, and fixing the toner image in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, and a multi-function machine. Moreover, an image forming apparatus including a finisher, thereby enabling post processing such as stapling and punching is proposed.
The image forming and the post-processing are carried out based on set contents such as job setting on the image forming apparatus. The job setting can be carried out by an operator via an operation/display unit.
Moreover, image forming systems for enabling a remote operation of an image forming apparatus by using an external apparatus connected via a communication network for the sake of utility for a user are proposed (refer to Japanese Patent No. 3042655 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-340259).
According to Japanese Patent No. 3042655, a display same as that on a display unit of the image forming apparatus, and a display imitating operation keys are displayed on a display unit of a workstation for the remote operation.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-340259, in an image forming system where multiple image forming apparatuses can be remotely operated via a network, a display of which image forming apparatus main body is being carried out can be displayed in an easy-to-understand manner.
By the way, for example, after papers are sufficiently supplied, and the job setting is carried out, the user may not always stay in front of the machine in the image forming apparatus. Thus, for example, if there is an alarm for a jam or a toner supply, a large-scale alarm display such as an alarm using an entire screen of a display unit, or a blinking display is carried out so that a user tends to recognize the alarm even if the user is remote from the image forming apparatus.
Moreover, the image forming system enabling the remote operation of the image forming apparatus via the communication network so that the user can carry out a monitoring without staying in front of the apparatus also preferably carries out an alarm display upon a jam.
For example, the jam or the like requires an actual operation in front of an image forming apparatus main body, a reset of the alarm (jam reset) is required before the actual print operation, and thus the large scale alarm is necessary. However, the alarm display such as that for the jam which can be reset only in front of the image forming apparatus main body is not often necessary (however, the generation of jam needs to be recognized), and the large-scale alarm which prevents an operation such as remote generation of a job poses a problem in the image forming system for the remote operation via the network.

Image forming apparatus, image forming system, and image forming method


A stackable group of containers permit transport of up to 21/2 cups of cereal, at least 5 oz of fruit, at least 10 teaspoons full of sugar, up to 12 oz of milk which is kept chilled for up to 8 hours by a freezable cup, each is a separate compartment. The three principle components include an insulated compartment, a cereal bowl unit, and a cereal container, each element nesting within the next successively named element. The cereal bowl unit has individual compartments for fruit and sweetener which threadingly engage other members of the bowl unit, the unit itself threading onto the cereal container. A single serving transport can be created using the cereal bowl unit and a bowl liner which alternatively snaps onto the top of the insulated compartment, when used, or the cereal bowl unit to form the single serving transport. When the full stackable group is used, a tote bag with a draw string can be used for carrying convenience and providing added thermal insulation.

In America alone, people consume approximately 3 billion boxes of cereal per year. The bulk of that cereal is eaten at home. It is submitted that the primary reason for this is that transporting the necessary elements, i.e., a thermos bottle of milk, a container of cereal, a bowl, a spoon, a container of fruit, a supply of sugar or other sweetener, has, until now, been so cumbersome and troublesome to assemble the components as to make cereal an unattractive option for midday meal or snack. In addition, there is the significant problem of cleaning up the milk container and cereal bowl at school or work or allowing the milk to sour until returning home. This avoidance of cereal for meals away from home is in spite of the fact that cereal has nutritional advantages over other food options and would actually be preferred by a significant number of children and adults if the logistical hurdles could be overcome.
One attempt to make taking cereal for lunch more attractive is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,835 issued to David Ascone and reissued as Re. 35,437. The Ascone invention consists of a two compartment container interconnected by an orifice that has a valve 18 controlling flow of milk from a first compartment 12 to the second compartment 14 where the cereal is stored. A freeze pack 17 can be utilized to keep the milk chilled and removable cap 26 affords access to the second compartment for consuming the cereal and milk. This attempted solution has its limitations. Once the valve is opened, all the cereal in compartment 14 will be wetted and must be eaten. Further, the flow orifice is difficult to access and, therefore, hard to clean. Thirdly, the Ascone device lacks provision for separately transporting servings of fruit and sweetener. Lastly, Ascone's device would not be usable with a hot cereal since the cereal container could not be microwaved apart from the milk storage compartment and freeze pack.
The present invention overcomes these difficulties providing a compact, convenient device for transporting and serving as many as five healthy servings of cereal with fruit topping, or the like. The device, which may be marketed under the trademark STACK N' SACK, includes three principle components: a) a cereal container for receiving and transporting at least one serving of cereal; b) a separate cereal bowl unit; and c) an insulated compartment for maintaining a container of milk chilled. The insulated compartment has at least a gel pack portion which can be frozen and then inserted in the compartment to maintain a container of milk chilled for a period as long as 8 hours. Preferably, the insulated compartment comprises a freezable cozy, a cylindrical cup which can be inserted in a freezer and then placed around a milk container. The separate cereal bowl unit includes a first compartment which can receive a serving of cereal, a second compartment which is threadably attachable to the first which can hold a serving of fruit, yogurt or the like, and a third compartment, which can store a measured amount of sugar, brown sugar, or artificial sweetener, which can be threadably interconnected to the second compartment. The interconnecting threads are of the same pitch and the elements of the same diameter so that the fruit container, for example, can be omitted and the sweetener compartment attached directly to the cereal bowl. The cereal container can hold multiple servings of cereal which can be sequentially poured into the bowl unit for eating a serving at a time.
The milk container, which holds 12 oz of milk is a cylindrical vessel having an open top which is closed by a closure top threadably attachable to said cylindrical container, said closure top having a smaller pouring orifice which is sealed by a flip-top cap. A disk insert affords additional flexibility for the device's use. The disk can be inserted between the cylindrical freezable cozy and a plastic cap which engages an upper rim of the cozy to reduce the size of the opening in the top so the cozy can accommodate a smaller milk container such as a commercially available bottle or carton or a soon to be released new product known as "Chugs".
The three main components can be interconnected to form a unit which approximates the size of a conventional thermos, 33/4" in diameter by 101/2" tall. The insulated compartment nests within cereal bowl unit and is separated from the fruit compartment by only the uninsulated bottom of the cereal bowl. In this manner, the gel pack can chill the fruit compartment as well as keep the milk container cold. The compressible insulation surrounding the insulated compartment is squeezed into the cereal bowl and this provides a frictional retention force that keeps these two of the three principle components interconnected. The cereal bowl unit nests within the cereal container and a downwardly protruding flange on the bowl, which partially surrounds a pedestal thereof, threads onto an upper rim of the cereal container to maintain the container engaged with the other two components. A cereal bowl liner which can be disposable, is inverted and snapped over the top of the insulated compartment after the milk container is inserted therein. The cereal bowl liner can be turned upright and inserted in the cereal bowl so that cereal can be eaten from the bowl liner and the liner discarded to eliminate the need for washing. A cloth bag or sack receives the stacked components and a pull string closes the top of the bag and helps retain the stack as a transportable unit. In addition, tests have indicated the bag affords additional insulation that helps keep the milk chilled until use.
Should the consumer have access to a supply of milk, through a school milk program or the like, the cereal bowl unit can be filled with a single serving of cereal, fruit placed in its compartment and sweetener in its, and the bowl liner snapped to the top of the bowl. Alternatively, sweetener could be added to the fruit compartment or the fruit compartment omitted since the threads on the caps and pedestals make interconnection interchangeable. This individual cereal server which is 3 3/4" in diameter and 3" tall, can be easily fit into a lunch box with other lunch items.
Various other features, advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after a reading of the following specification.


A process comprising:. reacting a first polymer containing at least one haloalkyl substituted styrene, with a reactive acrylate compound wherein the haloalkyl substituent is converted to an alkylacrylate ester or an alkylacrylate ester ammonium salt to form an acrylated second polymer, and PA1 irradiating said acrylated second polymer.

The present invention is directed to a process for preparing photopatternable polymers and to thermal ink jet print heads generated with the photopatternable polymers. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a process for the functionalization, for example, acrylation, methacrylation, or aminoalkylacrylation, of polymers containing halogenated aromatic mers or monomers, for example, homopolymers of poly(haloalkylstyrene) and random copolymers comprised of polystyrene and poly(haloalkylstyrene), and subsequent patterning. In embodiments of the present invention, there are provided processes for the preparation of an intermediate molecular weight, narrowly dispersed, poly(haloalkylstyrene) or copoly(haloalkylstyrene-styrene) using a stable free radical moderated polymerization procedure, followed by reacting these polymers with a reactive acrylate, alkacrylate salt, or an alkylaminoacrylate in, for example, sequential reactions, or alternatively, by a one pot procedure thereby forming a photopatternable acrylated, alkacrylated, or alkylaminoacrylated polymer. The acrylated, alkacrylated, or alkylaminoacrylated polymer can be conveniently and readily cross-linked when exposed to radiation of, for example, less than about or equal to about 400 nanometers.
In microelectronics applications, there is a great need for low dielectric constant, high glass transition temperature or highly crosslinked, thermally stable, photopatternable polymers for use as interlayer dielectric layers and as passivation layers which protect microelectronic circuitry. Poly(imides) are widely used in attempts to satisfy these needs; these materials, however, have disadvantageous characteristics such as relatively high water sorption and hydrolytic instability. Thus, there is a need for high performance polymers which can be effectively photopatterned and developed at high resolution.
One particular application for such materials is the formulation of ink jet print heads. Ink jet printing systems generally are of two types: continuous stream and drop-on-demand. In continuous stream ink jet systems, ink is emitted in a continuous stream under pressure through at least one orifice or nozzle. The stream is perturbed, causing it to break up into droplets at a fixed distance from the orifice. At the break-up point, the droplets are charged in accordance with digital data signals and passed through an electrostatic field which adjusts the trajectory of each droplet in order to direct it to a gutter for recirculation or a specific location on a recording medium. In drop-on-demand systems, a droplet is expelled from an orifice directly to a position on a recording medium in accordance with digital data signals. A droplet is not formed or expelled unless it is to be placed on the recording medium.
Since drop-on-demand systems require no ink recovery, charging, or deflection, these systems are much simpler than the continuous stream type. There are different types of drop-on-demand ink jet systems. One type of drop-on-demand system has as major components an ink filled channel or passageway having a nozzle on one end and a piezoelectric transducer near the other end to produce pressure pulses. The relatively large size of the transducer prevents close spacing of the nozzles, and physical limitations of the transducer result in low ink drop velocity. Low drop velocity seriously diminishes tolerances for drop velocity variation and directionality, thus impacting the system's ability to produce high quality images. Drop-on-demand systems which use piezoelectric devices to expel the droplets also suffer the disadvantage of a slow printing speed.
Another type of drop-on-demand system is known as thermal ink jet, or bubble jet, and produces high velocity droplets and allows very close spacing of nozzles. The major components of this type of system are an ink filled channel having a nozzle on one end and a heat generating resistor near the nozzle. Printing signals representing s digital information originate an electric current pulse in a resistive layer within each ink passageway near the orifice or nozzle, causing the ink in the immediate vicinity to vaporize almost instantaneously and create a bubble. The ink at the orifice is forced out as a propelled droplet as the bubble expands. When the hydrodynamic motion of the ink stops, the process is ready to start all over again. With the introduction of a droplet ejection system based upon thermally generated bubbles, commonly referred to as the "bubble jet" system, the drop-on-demand ink jet printers provide simpler, lower cost devices than their continuous stream counterparts, and yet have substantially the same high speed printing capability.
The operating sequence of the bubble jet system begins with a current pulse through the resistive layer in the ink filled channel, the resistive layer being in close proximity to the orifice or nozzle for that channel. Heat is transferred from the resistor to the ink. The ink becomes superheated far above its normal boiling point, and for water based ink, finally reaches the critical temperature for bubble formation or nucleation of around 280.degree. C. Once nucleated, the bubble or water vapor thermally isolates the ink from the heater and no further heat can be applied to the ink. This bubble expands until all the heat stored in the ink in excess of the normal boiling point diffuses away or is used to convert liquid to vapor, which heat is dissipated by vaporization. The expansion of the bubble forces a droplet of ink out of the nozzle, and once the excess heat is removed, the bubble collapses. At this point, the resistor is no longer being heated because the current pulse has passed and, concurrently with the bubble collapse, the droplet is propelled at a high rate of speed in a direction towards a recording medium. The surface of the printhead encounters a severe cavitational force by the collapse of the bubble, which tends to erode it. Subsequently, the ink channel refills by capillary action. This entire bubble formation and collapse sequence occurs in about 10 microseconds. The channel can be refired after about 100 to about 500 microseconds minimum dwell time to enable the channel to be refilled and to enable the dynamic refilling factors to become somewhat dampened.

Process for the preparation of photopatternable polymers


The present invention provides a field effect transistor that includes a semiconductor layer (15) containing an organic substance, and a first electrode (16), a second electrode (12), and a third electrode (14) that are not in contact with each other at least electrically. The first electrode (16) is arranged above the semiconductor layer (15), the second electrode (12) is arranged below the semiconductor layer (15), and the third electrode (14) is arranged beside the semiconductor layer (15). The semiconductor layer (15) is connected electrically to two electrodes selected from the first electrode (16), the second electrode (12), and the third electrode (14), and the electrically insulating layers (13,17) are interposed between the electrodes (12, 14, 16). The first electrode (16) lies over the semiconductor layer (15) so as to extend beyond the periphery of the semiconductor layer (15). With this configuration, it becomes possible to provide a field effect transistor that is highly resistant to air and water and thus has a long lifetime even though an organic semiconductor is used therein, and a display device using such a field effect transistor.

In recent years, organic semiconductors are being developed energetically as semiconductors that can be substituted for inorganic semiconductors. Representative examples of an organic semiconductor material include pentacene and polythiophene. In particular, it has been reported that when pentacene is used as a semiconductor in a field effect transistor, a carrier mobility, which is one of the transistor characteristics, achieved by the field effect transistor, can exceed 1 cm2/Vs. In the case where amorphous silicon is used, the mobility achieved is about 1 cm2/Vs. Thus, it is expected that organic semiconductors will replace amorphous silicon. However, in fact, there has been little progress toward such replacement. One major factor hindering the progress toward the replacement is the lifetime of organic semiconductors. Many of the organic semiconductors are susceptible to water and oxygen. Thus, there is a possibility that the semiconductor may be doped with oxygen present in an atmospheric gas so that an OFF current increases to decrease an ON/OFF ratio, resulting in degraded transistor characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary that an organic semiconductor material be stable with respect to oxygen and water so that, in a manufacturing process and a use environment, the doping due to the oxidation can be prevented or minimized. However, developing such an organic semiconductor material requires enormous cost and time.
In conventionally reported organic transistors, an oxide film or insulating resin is provided on an organic semiconductor so as to prevent the entry of oxygen and the like. Although the oxide film is highly resistant to oxygen and water, there has been a problem in that, when forming the oxide film on the semiconductor, a high film forming temperature is required so that the semiconductor may be damaged, degrading its characteristics. On the other hand, the resistance of the insulating resin to oxygen and water is not as high as that of the oxide film. Thus, it is difficult to improve the lifetime of the transistors sufficiently by the use of the insulating resin.
Moreover, the structures of the transistors also pose a problem. For example, in a bottom-gate type transistor, a semiconductor is exposed to the air, so that the contact area of the semiconductor with oxygen is large. In a top-gate type transistor, although the contact area of a semiconductor with oxygen is smaller than that in the bottom-gate type transistor, the semiconductor is vulnerable to oxygen entering from the direction perpendicular to the thickness direction. Furthermore, in a side-gate type transistor in which a semiconductor layer, a source electrode, and a drain electrode are laminated vertically and a gate electrode is formed beside this laminate via an insulating layer, the semiconductor is vulnerable to oxygen entering from the direction perpendicular to the thickness direction as in the case of the top-gate type transistor (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). Therefore, it is possible to improve the lifetime of a transistor by allowing the transistor to have a structure in which oxygen or water cannot enter easily from any directions, thereby protecting an organic semiconductor.    Patent Document 1: JP 2003-110110 A    Patent Document 2: JP 2003-209122 A

Organic field effect transistor and display using same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method of operating an image processing according to an example embodiment includes generating a plurality of encoded bitstreams having different resolutions using an original image output from a video source, generating a plurality of restored images corresponding to the plurality of encoded bitstreams, respectively, the plurality of restored images having a same resolution as a first resolution of the original image, and outputting one of the plurality of encoded bitstreams, based on the plurality of restored images and the original image.

Example embodiments of inventive concepts relate to an image processing method which may selectively output an encoded bitstream having a resolution related to a minimum distortion value and devices performing the method.
Image sensors such as a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a CMOS image sensor (CIS) capture an image and output the image as the image data.
As technology of manufacturing image sensors has been developed, a capacity or a volume of the image data has increased.
In order to inhibit the capacity of the image data from being increased, various image compression methods of compressing the image data has been studied. When the image data are compressed, the capacity (or size) of the image data is decreased. However, compression of the image data may affect the image quality.

Methods for selecting resolution with minimum distortion value and devices performing the methods


A system and method which displays a graphical icon, such as a slider bar, on a subscriber's television or display unit for indexing to different positions in a video stream in an interactive video delivery system. The interactive video delivery system preferably comprises at least one media server which stores one or more video streams, and one or more subscribers which each include a display device, such as a television. The television displays a slider bar or other graphical icon, and the slider bar is used to index to different locations in the video stream. During video delivery, the user may use or adjust a knob on the slider bar, preferably using a remote control device, to indicate a desire to "jump" to a different location in the movie or video stream. The media server receives the slider bar user input from the subscriber device and begins outputting the normal play stream at the desired position.

A compression standard referred to as MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) compression is a set of methods for compression and decompression of full motion video images which uses the interframe compression technique described above. MPEG compression uses both motion compensation and discrete cosine transform (DCT) processes and can yield compression ratios of more than 200:1.
The MPEG standard requires that sound be recorded simultaneously with the video data, and the video and audio data are interleaved in a single file to attempt to maintain the video and audio synchronized during playback. The audio data is typically compressed as well, and the MPEG standard specifies an audio compression method such as MPEG Layer II, also known by the Philips trade name of "MUSICAM".
An MPEG stream includes three types of pictures, referred to as the Intra (I) frame, the Predicted (P) frame, and the Bi-directional Interpolated (B) frame. The I or Intra frames contain the video data for the entire frame of video and are typically placed every 10 to 15 frames. Intra frames provide entry points into the file for random access, and are generally only moderately compressed. Predicted frames are encoded with reference to a past frame, i.e., a prior Intra frame or Predicted frame. Thus P frames only include changes relative to prior I or P frames. In general, Predicted frames receive a fairly high amount of compression and are used as references for future Predicted frames. Thus, both I and P frames are used as references for subsequent frames. Bi-directional pictures include the greatest amount of compression and require both a past and a future reference in order to be encoded. Bi-directional frames are not used for references for other frames.
After the I frames have been created, the MPEG encoder divides each I frame into a grid of 16.times.16 pixel squares called macro blocks. The respective I frame is divided into macro blocks in order to perform motion compensation. Each of the subsequent pictures after the I frame are also divided into these same macro blocks. The encoder then searches for an exact, or near exact, match between the reference picture macro block and those in succeeding pictures. When a match is found, the encoder transmits a vector movement code or motion vector. The vector movement code or motion vector only includes information on the difference between the reference frame and the respective succeeding picture. The blocks in succeeding pictures that have no change relative to the block in the reference picture or frame are ignored. In general, for the frame(s) following a reference frame, i.e., P and B frames that follow a reference I or P frame, only small portions of these frames are different from the corresponding portions of the respective reference frame. Thus, for these frames, only the differences are captured, compressed and stored. Thus the amount of data that is actually stored for these frames is significantly reduced.
After motion vectors have been generated, the encoder then tracks the changes using spatial redundancy. Thus, after finding the changes in location of the macro blocks, the MPEG algorithm further reduces the data by describing the difference between corresponding macro blocks. This is accomplished through a math process referred to as the discrete cosine transform or DCT. This process divides the macro block into four sub blocks, seeking out changes in color and brightness. Human perception is more sensitive to brightness changes than color changes. Thus the MPEG algorithm devotes more effort to reducing color space rather than brightness.
Each picture or frame also includes a picture header which identifies the frame and includes information for that frame. The MPEG standard also includes sequence headers which identify the start of a video sequence. Sequence headers are only required once before the beginning of a video sequence. However, the MPEG-2 standard allows a sequence header to be transferred before any I frame or P frame. The sequence header includes information relevant to the video sequence, including the frame rate and picture size, among other information.
MPEG video streams used in digital television applications generally include a sequence header before every I frame and P frame. This is necessary to facilitate channel surfing between different video channels, which is an important user requirement. In general, when a user switches to a new channel, the video for the new channel can not be displayed until the next sequence header appears in the stream. This is because the sequence header includes important information about the video sequence which is required by the decoder before the sequence can be displayed. If a sequence header were not included before each I frame and/or P frame, then when the user switched to a new channel, the video for the new channel possibly could not be immediately displayed, i.e., the video could not be displayed until the next sequence header.
The sequence headers in an MPEG encoded stream include presentation timestamps which are used for providing a timestamp or time base within the encoded stream.

Video delivery system and method for displaying an indexing slider bar


Methods, systems and computer program products are provided. Methods for controlling a multiple participant communication session include identifying a current speaker to other ones of a plurality of participants in the multiple participant communication session. A speaker rating input is received from at least one of the participants that corresponds to the helpfulness of the current speaker. A speaker reputation score is generated responsive to receiving the speaker rating input. A reputation-based speaker hierarchy is generated for the participants using the speaker reputation score. A contribution signal strength corresponding to ones of the participants is regulated to be positively correlated with the reputation-based speaker hierarchy.

Electronic communications have become widely accepted for communicating among people and/or groups of people. Such electronic communications may include real-time communications involving more than two participants such as conference calls. In some cases, only one speaker may be broadcast to the group of participants, thus effectively muting other participants who may be prepared to provide contributions to the discussion. In some cases, the person speaking may take priority over other potential speakers who may be precluded from contributing to the discussion. In other cases, a new speaker is given priority over an existing speaker, thus an interrupting speaker may take priority over the current speaker. Unfortunately, it may in some cases be difficult for participants with helpful discussion content to be heard by other ones of the participants.

Participant reputation in a group communication environment


Decision feedback equalization is used in a communication system which employs coded modulation, such as trellis coded modulation. The transmitted stream of signal points includes first signal points that were generated using a particular coded modulation scheme interspersed with second signal points that were generated without the using of coding, and estimated intersymbol interference components for the second signal points are generated in response to tentative decisions as to the first signal points formed by the Viterbi decoder. Rather than forming immediate final decisions as to the second signal points, there is formed a tentative decision for each one of the second signal points associated with each Viterbi decoder state using an estimated intersymbol interference component provided from a decision feedback equalizer associated with that state. Each second-signal-point tentative decision is used to extend the surviving path for the associated state and to also update its path metric.

The present invention relates to the use of decision feedback equalization in communication systems which employ coded modulation.
Decision feedback equalization is a preferred technique for compensating for intersymbol interference, or ISI, engendered in certain kinds of transmission channels. In a traditional decision feedback equalization arrangement, an estimate of the ISI component of a received signal representing a transmitted signal point is subtracted from the received signal prior to a decision being made as to which signal point was transmitted. The estimate is generated as a function of a plurality of previous decisions--typically, as a linear combination of same.
Using decision feedback equalization in a communication system which employs coded modulation, such as trellis coded modulation, gives rise to at least one difficulty. Specifically, the process of decoding the transmitted signal points involves a delay of many signaling intervals due to the use of maximum likelihood decoding in, for example, the Viterbi decoder that is typically used. However, the decision feedback equalizer, or DFE, requires immediate past decisions in order to estimate the ISI component. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,117 issued to Gitlin et al. on Oct. 8, 1991 discloses a joint Viterbi decoder/DFE arrangement which addresses this problem by providing a separate DFE for each state of the Viterbi decoder. The tentative signal point decisions along the surviving path of each state are used in the associated DFE to generate an equalized signal for use in calculating the so-called branch metrics for trellis branches emanating from the state in question.

Joint viterbi decoder and decision feedback equalizer


A manufacturing method of a circuit board is provided. A metal core is provided. A conductive layer is formed on each of some carriers. The carriers and dielectric layers are laminated at both sides of the metal core to form a stacked structure. Each of the dielectric layers is located between the corresponding carrier and the metal core, and a portion of the conductive layer is embedded in the corresponding dielectric layer. Then, the carriers are removed. A blind via and/or a through via are/is formed in the stacked structure to connect the corresponding conductive layer and the metal core and/or connect the conductive layers at both sides of the metal core, wherein the through via penetrates the metal core. The conductive layer on a surface of the dielectric layer is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a circuit board and a method of manufacturing the same, and particularly to a circuit board having an odd number of circuit layers and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
As the electronic technology advances rapidly and the high-technology electronic industry continues burgeoning in recent years, electronic products with more human touch and better functions keep hitting the market and developing towards the trend of light weight, slimness, and tiny and compact size. Inside these electronic products are usually disposed circuit boards having conductive circuits.
For those conventional circuit boards, the manufacturing method thereof usually includes forming a first conductive layer at both sides of a core layer. Afterwards, each of the first conductive layers is patterned to form a first circuit layer. Then, two dielectric layers and two second conductive layers are laminated respectively at the both sides of the core layer by lamination so that the dielectric layers are laminated between the core layer and the second conductive layer. Next, openings are formed in the second conductive layer and the dielectric layers respectively to expose the first circuit layers. Then, an copper electroplating process is performed to form a conductive via in each of the openings. Thereafter, each of the second conductive layers is patterned to form a second circuit layer on the dielectric layer, and the second circuit layers are connected to the first circuit layers through the conductive vias. Certainly, more circuit layers may be formed in the same way to fulfill actual requirements.
Since circuit layers are sequentially formed at the both sides of the core layer symmetrically, the circuit board thus manufactured has an even number of circuit layers. However, the aforementioned manufacturing method often limits the scope of freedom for circuit design, which means that circuit boards to be thereby manufactured must have an even number of circuit layers. In addition, some circuit boards do not require using an even number of circuit layers. Therefore, the said manufacturing method often results in redundant circuit layers in the circuit boards and thereby causes waste in manufacturing costs.

Circuit board and manufacturing method thereof


This invention relates to a thin film transistor substrate, a method of manufacturing the same, and a liquid crystal display panel including the same. The thin film transistor substrate includes a substrate, gate lines disposed on the substrate and extending in one direction, common voltage lines disposed on the substrate and spaced apart from the gate lines, and a gate insulating film disposed on the gate lines and the common voltage lines, the gate insulating film having first contact holes exposing a part of each common voltage line. Common electrodes are disposed on the gate insulating film and are connected to the common voltage lines through the first contact holes. Data lines are disposed on the gate insulating film and extend in a direction crossing the gate lines and thin film transistors are disposed at crossings of the gate lines and the data lines. The thin film transistors are connected to the gate lines and the data lines and include source electrodes and drain electrodes. Pixel electrodes are connected to the thin film transistors.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to thin film transistor substrates, methods of manufacturing thin film transistor substrates, and liquid crystal display panels including thin film transistor substrates. More particularly, the invention relates to a thin film transistor substrate having a structure in which a common electrode is disposed on a gate insulating layer and is connected to a common voltage line through a contact hole, as well as a method of manufacturing such a thin film transistor substrate and a PLS (plane-to-line switching) mode liquid crystal display panel including such a thin film transistor substrate.
2. Discussion of the Background
In order to improve the viewing angle of a liquid crystal display panel, different wide viewing angle technologies, such as in-plane switching (IPS) mode, fringe-field switching (FFS) mode, and patterned vertical alignment (PVA) mode, have been developed.
However, the above wide angle viewing technologies present challenges. For example, a field distortion in the upper part of an electrode may be caused due to a mode characteristic that uses a lateral field of the electrode, thereby causing the region that actually transmits backlight to be limited.
Therefore, recently, a plane-to-line switching (PLS) mode that utilizes the dead space of the electrode as an opening has been developed.
In PLS mode, a plane-shaped common electrode and a linear pixel electrode are disposed on a thin film transistor substrate. Liquid crystal molecules are aligned by an electrical field generated when voltages are applied to the electrodes. The PLS mode is advantageous because it removes the dead space of an electrode in IPS mode by using an additional common electrode.
In the PLS mode liquid crystal displays of the prior art a common electrode is formed first and then a gate line is formed. Thereafter, three layers, including a gate insulating layer, an active layer, and an ohmic contact layer, are sequentially deposited on the common electrode at a high temperature, for example, at 350° C. or higher.
In this case, if the common electrode, for example, an indium tin oxide (ITO), is exposed to a high temperature, the bonding strength between the compositions may weaken, and thus, the indium ion or the tin ion may damage the other layers. In order to prevent this damage, the three layers may be deposited at a lower temperature, for example, at 280° C. However, even if the weakening of the bonding strength between the compositions can be prevented, the interface properties of the three layers, including an active layer formed of amorphous silicon, is remarkably degraded, which may degrade the reliability of the thin film transistor.

Thin film transistor substrate, method of manufacturing the same, and liquid crystal display panel having the same


According to example embodiments for use in a communication system that is adapted to permit the users to transmit data simultaneously via shared frequency and spatial resources, an allocation of user transmission rates involves setting and maintaining the transmission rates of the users to at least a minimum user transmission rate to provide an expected minimum quality of communication for each of the users. These rates of the users are incrementally adjusted by iteratively changing the transmission rate of each user as a function of a resulting vector of transmit powers ensuing from the increased transmission rate, a degree of transmission-rate-allocation unfairness relative to the transmission rates of all the users, and a power-based selection criteria. With such an approach, the rates are fairly allocated without a disproportionate allocation of system bandwidth. Various embodiments are applicable to a variety of communication applications including OFDM or CDMA communication systems.

Digital data transmission provides communication in a variety of applications including, for example, communication over wired and wireless telephone system infrastructure and various types of area-defined networks. Cellular telephone communication systems are examples of existing telephone system infrastructure, involving both wired and wireless signal communication. Examples of area-defined networks include mobile wireless and digital subscriber link communication systems, and wireless personal area networks ("WPAN"). Each of these types of communication systems have associated standards that define the manner of communication between users over the wired and/or wireless communication channels.
The communication standards for these communication systems may define a frequency range or band that is shared by multiple users to permit simultaneous transmission of the users' respectively-defined information. For example, in multi-carrier communication using existing telephone lines, such systems transmit data using discrete frequency bands or subchannels over telephone-lines typically arranged in a binder with a number of wire pairs in each binder. Each of the multiple users is permitted to transmit simultaneously over an assigned one of wire pairs. In a CDMA (code-division-multiple-access) system, such as a CDMA cellular telephone system, multiple users are permitted to transmit simultaneously in the same frequency, temporal and spatial dimension; the users' respectively-defined information is encoded before transmission, and decoded at the receiver, using a spectral-based signal coding protocol.
An OFDM (orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplex) communication system is typically a multi-carrier system that transmits the respective users' information simultaneously as data bits encoded to multiple sub-carriers. This approach is directed to optimizing use of the allocated frequency band and is applicable, for example, to ADSL, Hiperlan/2, DAB, etc. A set of orthogonal sub-carriers together forms an OFDM symbol. Various approaches for implementing an OFDM system have been considered including the approach described by the IEEE 802.11a OFDM system.
Ideally, each of these systems would be implemented with optimal signal quality at the highest data transmission rate (or throughput). In a typical system, however, an increase in the data transmission rate compromises signal quality due to noise resulting from various system-related issues. For example, in a multi-carrier twisted-pair telephone-line system in which the twisted-pairs are bundled, crosstalk interference arises between twisted pairs arising from electromagnetic coupling within the binder that may degrade the communication signals. As the speed and/or power of data transmission increases, the crosstalk interference becomes more severe. CDMA-based and OFDM-based systems transmit the data from multiple users as symbols via the same, or a shared, frequency band, and a consequential noise concern includes inter-symbol interference (ISI). Thus, in each of these communication systems, signals from different users interfere with one another.
Various approaches have been investigated to address the adverse effects of such multi-user interference. In CDMA-based systems, a combination of user specific signature sequences, multi-user processing at the receiver and spatial processing is used to separate the signals from the different users. Ideally, the objective of the rate allocation is to maximize the achievable rate of each user given the transmit power constraints. However, because user signals interfere with one another, a change in the data rate of one user causes a change in power allocation for all users, and hence it is not possible to simultaneously maximize the rate of every user. Consequently, realizing an ideal system, one that properly allocates transmission rates to each of the users while attempting to maximize the system throughput, has been challenging.

Concurrent frequency-sharing multi-user communication system with rate allocation approach

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


In an optical disk apparatus, when a focus deviation occurs, amplitude driving of a pickup is performed for focus pull-in immediately without a waiting time. The amplitude driving is performed with a first amplitude a given number of times, and when detection of a focusing point fails, amplitude driving with a second amplitude larger than the first amplitude is performed.

The present invention relates to an optical disk apparatus such as a portable CD player. In particular, the present invention belongs to a technology related to pull-in operation performed at an occurrence of a focus deviation.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a conventional focus pull-in method, and FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing conventional focus operation. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when a focus deviation is detected (YES in SZ1), a predetermined waiting time is first provided (SZ2) to wait for a spring supporting a lens of a pickup to stop vibrating, and then pull-in operation of jogging the pickup vertically at a fixed frequency is performed to search for a focusing point between the pickup and the disk (SZ3). A focus error is detected only near the focusing point. Therefore, detection of the focusing point is confirmed by generation of a focus error signal, and then servo operation is resumed. By operating in this way, focus pull-in is completed.
Problem to be Solved by the Invention
In recent years, manufacturers of portable CD players, for example, are active in development of joggable models free from skipping during jogging. Conventional portable CD players are equipped with a shockproof function of temporarily storing reproduced data. However, in a situation like jogging in which vibration is given at a fixed period, such a shockproof function will be of no use unless the time from a skip until recovery is sped up because a next skip will occur before reproduced data is stored, resulting in occurrence of an interruption.
Therefore, it is very important to perform focus pull-in swiftly once a focus deviation occurs, to ensure that new reproduced data can be stored before reproduced data stored in a memory is read out. In other words, one of requisites for implementing a joggable model is speeding up the focus pull-in.

Optical disk apparatus and pickup control unit/method


New polymer electrolytes were prepared by in situ cross-linking of allyl functional polymers based on hydrosilation reaction using a multifunctional silane cross-linker and an organoplatinum catalyst. The new cross-linked electrolytes are insoluble in organic solvent and show much better mechanical strength. In addition, the processability of the polymer electrolyte is maintained since the casting is finished well before the gel formation.

Since the first introduction of polymer electrolytes as a new class of solid electrolyte for energy storage applications, studies of all solid polymer electrolytes with ionic conductivity of 10−5–10−2 S/cm at ambient temperatures have received much attention owing to the potential applications in various electronic devices. Most of the previous efforts were based on the poly(oxyethylene) complexes with inorganic salts such as LiClO4, LiSO3CF3 and most recently, LiN(SO2CF3)2, these systems are often denoted as binary electrolytes as both anion and cation contribute to the ion transportation. To achieve the practical applications of polymer electrolytes, the polymer has to satisfy several rigorous requirements: (1) bear strong ion coordinating sites to solvate inorganic salts, (2) must be amorphous with substantial segmental flexibility, (3) have durable mechanical and electrochemical stability for specific application environments. Numerous attempts have been tried to increase the conductivity by making PEO derived polymers, such as block copolymers, comb-branch polymers containing methylated poly(ethylene glycol) side chains, polymer networks and adding plasticizer or additives to break down the crystalline phase, which is detrimental to the transportaton of charge carriers. In all these cases, however, the essential problem related to the efficiency of rechargeable polymer lithium batteries, i.e., polarization and very low Li+ transference number is inevitable with a binary salt electrolyte. It is, therefore, desirable to properly design and synthesize polymers with the anion attached covalently to the polymer chain. The instant invention solves the aforementioned problems. Compared with binary systems, single-ion conductors show constant dc conductivity during dc polarization and shall have Li+ cation transfer number of 1. Normally, single-ion conductors have much lower conductivity than binary salt electrolytes under the same conditions, in the range of 10−8 to 10−6 S cm−1 at 25° C. for alkali metal cations, due to the ion paring to the immobile anion. It is therefore necessary to develop new materials with improved conductivity, e.g., 10−4 S cm−1 at room temperature, if they are to be used for lithium rechargeable batteries.
Hyper-comb-branched polymer conjugates are known in the art, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,442 to Yin et al. Therein are described a class of hyper comb-branched polymers conjugates with carrier materials. This reference is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
One major limitation for comb branched polymers is the lack of mechanical strength to form free standing films when still soluble, and the lack of processability when mechanically strong. Various chemical and physical means have been applied to solve this issue, including using a post-cross-linking process. For instance, Andrei and coworkers (Solid State Ionics 72 (1994) 140–146), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, prepared a comb branched copolymer incorporating allyl functional groups at the end of the side chains. These allyl groups were allowed to undergo a hydrosilation reaction with excess triethoxysilane in the presence of H2PtCl6H2O catalyst. The copolymer now carrying triethoxysilyl groups was dissolved, along with lithium salt and acidified diethylene glycol, in a solvent and was cured in the shape of a thin membrane. Transparent and easily handled membranes were obtained with good mechanical properties and no penalty due to the cross-linking in terms of conductivity. While the post-cross-linking strategy is appealing, there are some problems with this prior art polymeric electrolyte design:
1) The concentration of allyl groups in the polymer is very low, which means an excess amount of the other reactant has to be used in order to obtain acceptable conversion of the allyl groups. After the completion of hydrosilation, the excess silane is now an impurity and should be removed as completely as possible. However, triethoxysilane employed has a relative high boiling point (134° C.), which makes it impossible to completely remove the excess. This excess silane will affect the electrochemical properties of the electrolyte.
2) Since the mechanism of the cross-linking involves the breaking and reformation of Si—O—C bonds, the chemical stability of this network is in question. These linkages are subject to hydrolysis due to moisture. Any unreacted, acidified diethylene glycol will mean introduction of hydroxyl groups in the membrane and would react with lithium metal in a cell.
3) The catalyst used contains trace amounts of water that should be avoided.

Polymeric electrolytes based on hydrosilyation reactions

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