In a method of manufacturing semiconductor chips for display, a semiconductor thin film is first formed on an insulating substrate, and then a series of processes including a heat-treatment process for the semiconductor thin film are carried out to form integrated thin film transistors on a sectioned area for one chip. Thereafter, pixel electrodes for one picture (frame) are formed within the sectioned area. During the series of processes, a laser pulse is irradiated onto the sectioned area by one shot to perform a heat treatment on the semiconductor thin film for one chip collectively and simultaneously (i.e., perform a batch heat treatment on the semiconductor thin film). Through the batch heat treatment, the crystallization of the semiconductor thin film is promoted. In addition, after the semiconductor thin film is doped with impurities, the activation of impurities doped in the semiconductor thin film can be performed by the batch heat treatment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing semiconductor chips for display, and more particularly to a method of thermally treating a semiconductor thin film with laser irradiation.
2. Description of Related Art
Liquid crystal display devices which are designed in a large size and with high minuteness and in which polycrystal silicon thin film transistors are used as switching elements have been developed with much hope. In order to mass-produce liquid crystal displays with polycrystal silicon thin film transistors in a large size and with high minuteness, it is indispensable to establish a low-temperature process in which low-price glass substrates are usable. A technique that a laser beam is irradiated onto a semiconductor thin film of amorphous silicon or the like to form high-quality polycrystal silicon on a glass substrate having a low melting point has been greatly expected as a method to perform the low-temperature process.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a previous paper suggested laser beam irradiation method. A semiconductor chip 101 for display which is a target to be processed has such a laminating structure that a semiconductor thin film 103 is formed on a transparent insulating substrate 102. In this method, a laser beam 105 is irradiated onto a predetermined sectioned area 104 which is provided on the semiconductor thin film 103. In the conventional method, the output power of the laser beam is limited to a small level, and thus the maximum area which can be irradiated with one-shot laser irradiation of laser is limited to a narrow area about 100 .mu.m.sup.2. Accordingly, when a semiconductor thin film 103 having a large area is required to be processed to satisfy a requirement for a large-scale picture, the laser beam is irradiated onto the whole semiconductor thin film while scanning the laser beam 105 or shifting the laser-irradiation area stepwisely. That is, it has been hitherto considered important to increase the energy density of the laser beam rather than to narrow the laser-irradiation area down. With increase of the energy density, a semiconductor thin film of amorphous silicon or polycrystal silicon having relatively small grain size is perfectly melted to increase its grain size. In this method, however, an irradiation time per chip increases and thus manufacturing throughput is reduced. Furthermore, the scanning of the irradiation of the laser beam causes temperature difference to occur locally, and thus causes increase in variability of crystal grain size. Therefore, wide variations occur in electrical characteristics of the thin film transistors such as mobility, a threshold voltage, etc.
The above point will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.
In the method as described above, the semiconductor thin film 103 having a large area is crystallized by irradiating a laser beam onto a small area while scanning the laser beam as shown in FIG. 2. Accordingly, non-uniformity of crystallization occurs at an overlap area 106 between a laser shot and a next laser shot, so that the electrical characteristics of thin film transistors formed at the overlap area 106 are uneven. For example, the overlap area 106 is subjected to the laser irradiation several times, whereas the other areas are subjected to the laser irradiation only once, so that the heating temperature for the semiconductor thin film is also locally uneven.
In addition to the method as described above, various laser irradiation systems have been hitherto proposed. For example, in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Sho-60-245124, a laser pulse having wavelength of 150 nm to 350 nm is irradiated at an energy density of 200 to 500 mJ/cm.sup.2 to promote crystallization of a semiconductor thin film. In this system, an amorphous area and a crystal area coexist on a substrate, and thin film transistors are integrated over the two areas. Accordingly, the electrical characteristics of the thin film transistors vary between both the amorphous area and the crystal area, and thus controllability is lost.
Furthermore, in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei-3-273621, a laser annealing treatment is performed on a memory-cell basis (microarea in several tens .mu.m order), and non-irradiated areas remain in between memory cells. Therefore, it is impossible to irradiate a laser beam onto a large-scale circuit at the same time.
Still furthermore, in a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei-5-66422, for crystallization of a semiconductor thin film, a one (single) shot of laser pulse is irradiated onto each of areas on which a horizontal scanning circuit and a vertical scanning circuit respectively will be formed. In this case, it is necessary to make crystallized areas continuous, and thus the crystal particle size is dispersed at a linking boundary between the laser-irradiated areas.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor chips for display


Filamentary fastener and method of making the same. According to one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of (a) providing a length of stretched flexible filamentary material, (b) insert molding a cross-bar onto the length of stretched flexible filamentary material, (c) insert molding a paddle onto the length of stretched flexible filamentary material, the paddle being spaced apart from the cross-bar, and (d) removing any stretched flexible filamentary material not located between the paddle and the cross-bar. The cross-bar and the paddle may or may not be made of the same material as the stretched flexible filamentary material. Preferably, the stretched flexible filamentary material is made of a plastic, such as propylene, nylon, urethane and combinations thereof.

The present invention relates generally to fasteners of the type having a flexible filament and more particularly to a novel such fastener and to a method of making said novel fastener.
Filamentary fasteners of the type commonly used to attach tags and the like to articles of commerce are well-known and widely used. Typically, such fasteners are unitary structures made of molded plastic. One such fastener, which is still in widespread use today, includes an elongated, flexible filament having a cross-bar disposed at a first end thereof and either a paddle or a second cross-bar disposed at a second end thereof. In use, the cross-bar disposed at the first end is typically inserted first through a tag and then through the desired article of commerce, with the paddle or second cross-bar not being inserted through the tag or article in order to retain the fastener and tag on the article. Typically, a plurality of the aforementioned fasteners are fabricated together as part of a fastener assembly, examples of which include fastener clips or continuously connected fastener stock. An example of a fastener clip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666, inventor Bone, which issued Sep. 17, 1963, and which is incorporated herein by reference. An example of continuously-connected fastener stock is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,487, inventor Bone, which issued Oct. 24, 1978, and which is incorporated herein by reference.
Typically, plastic fasteners of the types described above are fabricated as follows: First, molten plastic is injected into a mold having an impression resembling a fastener clip or continuously connected fastener stock. The molten plastic is then allowed to cool in the mold to the shape defined by the impression. Next, the molded plastic is removed from the mold, and the filamentary portions of the fasteners therein are stretched to a desired length and cross-sectional thickness.
One reason for molding the fastener assembly and then stretching the constituent filaments thereof to the desired final dimensions, as opposed to simply molding the fastener assembly with filaments having the desired final dimensions, is that it is very difficult to mold a filament so that it is as thin and as flexible as is often desired. Another reason is that the stretching of a filament typically alters the polymeric structure of the filament in a beneficial way, endowing the filament with certain physical properties (e.g., resistance against unwanted stretching and/or creeping) it otherwise would not enjoy. For these and other reasons, it has been much more desirable to mold a filamentary fastener so that the filament portion thereof is thicker and shorter than is ultimately desired and then to stretch the filament portion to the desired dimensions.
Typically, the above-described stretching of the filamentary portion of a fastener is performed with a specially-designed stretching machine, which grabs opposite ends of a fastener and pulls them apart in opposing directions. Unfortunately, such machines are often quite expensive, as is the automated equipment typically used to feed unstretched fasteners into said stretching machines.

Filamentary fastener and method of making same using insert molding


An approach is provided for receiving information from a plurality of communication services in a plurality of communication service formats and adjusting the information into another communication service format that is configured for receipt by a device and for communication to a user. A transmission session is established between a device and one of the plurality of communication services. Information from the one communication service is adjusted from a first communication service format into the another communication service format, seamlessly.

Modern technology has provided a broad variety of devices that can be used to access information including data, media, etc., and to allow communication between people using various means. For example, service providers provide streaming and on-demand video to customers that can be viewed on a television, personal computer (PC) or cellular phone. Also, service providers provide data and other media to customers that can be accessed using a personal computer or other similar device, and such devices may also allow users to communicate using Instant Messaging (IM), email, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies. In addition to standard wired telephone services and VoIP services, users can communicate wirelessly using cellular telephones via cellular and/or wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi) service providers. As such, a user may end up owning numerous different devices in order to access and utilize each of these services from one or a plurality of service providers.
Therefore, there is a need to enable multiple devices to efficiently and conveniently access communication services.

Device optimized transmission and reception for multi-mode, multi-media communications


This invention relates to a quinoline compound of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is a pyridyl group or aryl, each of which may be substituted with suitable substituent(s),. A is --COHN-- or --NHCO--, PA1 n is an integer of 0 or 1, and ##STR2## is a group of the formula: ##STR3## In which R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.6 and R.sup.7 are as defined,. and pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, to processes for preparation thereof, to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same, and to a method for the prevention and/or the treatment of bone diseases caused by abnormal bone metabolism in human being or animals.

Some heterocyclic compounds have been known as described in, for example, J. Chem. Soc. Pak. (1995), 17(4), 232-6; J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1994), 116(24), 11014-19; or Chem. Pharm. Bull. (1990), 38(10), 2841-6. However, it is not known that said compounds have inhibitory activities of vacuolar type H.sup.+ -ATPases or inhibitory activities of bone resorption.


A semiconductor display device with which flicker, vertical striping, and horizontal striping are not easily seen, and a method of driving the semiconductor display device, are provided. Display signals inputted to a plurality of pixel electrodes have a positive or negative polarity based on the electric potential of an opposing electrode, and pixel electrodes to which display signals having a positive polarity are inputted, and pixel electrodes to which display signals having a negative polarity are inputted, differ for each frame period with the method of driving the semiconductor display device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a very suitable driving method for a semiconductor display device using a display medium such as liquid crystals, and to a semiconductor display device which performs display using the driving method. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of driving an active matrix liquid crystal display device, and to an active matrix liquid crystal display device which performs display using the driving method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Techniques of manufacturing an element formed using a semiconductor thin film on an insulating substrate, a thin film transistor (TFT) for example, have been rapidly developing in recent years. The reason for the demand is that the demand for semiconductor display devices (typically active matrix liquid crystal display devices) has risen.
Active matrix liquid crystal display devices display an image by controlling electric charges applied to several hundreds of thousands to several millions of pixels, arranged in a matrix shape, with pixel switching elements (pixel TFTs) structured by TFTs.
Note that, throughout this specification, pixels are mainly structured by a switching element, a pixel electrode connected to the switching element, an opposing electrode, and liquid crystal formed between the pixel electrode and the opposing electrode.
A general example of the display operation of an active matrix liquid crystal display device is explained simply below with reference to FIGS. 20A and 20B. FIG. 20A is a top view of a liquid crystal panel, and FIG. 20B is a diagram showing pixel arrangement.
A source signal line driver circuit 701 is connected to source signal lines S1 to S6. Further, a gate signal line driver circuit 702 is connected to gate signal lines G1 to G4. A plurality of pixels 703 are formed in portions surrounded by the source signal lines S1 to S6 and the gate signal lines G1 to G4. Pixel TFTs 704 and pixel electrodes 705 are formed in the pixels 703. Note that the number of source signal lines and the number of gate signal lines are not limited to these values.
A display signal is inputted to the source signal line S1 in accordance with a signal from a circuit such as a shift register (not shown in the figures) within the source signal line driver circuit 701. Further, the gate signal line G1 is selected in accordance with a selection signal inputted to the gate signal line G1 from the gate signal line driver circuit 702, and the pixel TFT 704 of a pixel (1,1), at which the gate signal line G1 and the source signal line S1 intersect, turns on. The display signal inputted to the source signal line S1 is then inputted to the pixel electrode 705 of the pixel (1,1) through the pixel TFT 704. The liquid crystal is driven in accordance with the electric potential of the inputted display signal, the amount of transmitted light is controlled, and a portion of an image (the image corresponding to the pixel (1,1) is displayed in the pixel (1,1).
Next, with the state, in which the portion of the image in the pixel (1,1) is displayed, maintained by means such as a storage capacitor (not shown in the figures), a display signal is inputted to the source signal line S2 in the next instant in accordance with a signal from the shift register or the like (not shown in the figures) within the source signal line driver circuit 701. Note that the storage capacitor is a capacitor for storing the electric potential of the display signal inputted to the gate electrode of the pixel TFT 704 for a fixed period.
The gate signal line G1 is maintained as is, selected, and the pixel TFT 704 of a pixel (1,2), at which the gate signal line G1 and the source signal line S2 intersect, turns on. The image signal inputted to the source signal line S2 is then inputted to the pixel electrode 705 of the pixel (1,2) through the pixel TFT 704. The liquid crystal is then driven in accordance with the electric potential of the inputted display signal, the amount of light transmitted is controlled, and a portion of the image (the image corresponding to the pixel (1,2) is displayed in the pixel (1,2), similar to the pixel (1,1).
The above display operations are performed one after another, and portions of the image are displayed in succession in all of the pixels (1,1), (1,2), (1,3), (1,4), (1,5), and (1,6) connected to the gate signal line G1. The gate signal line G1 continues to be selected in accordance with the selection signal inputted to the gate signal line G1 during this period.
The gate signal line G1 is deselected when the display signal is inputted to all of the pixels connected to the gate signal line G1. Continuing, the gate signal line G2 is selected in accordance with a selection signal inputted to the gate signal line G2. Portions of the image are then displayed in succession in all of the pixels (2,1), (2,2), (2,3), (2,4), (2,5), and (2,6) connected to the gate signal line G2. The gate signal line G2 continues to be selected during this period.
One image is displayed in a pixel portion 706 by repeating the above stated operations for all of the gate signal lines. A period in which the one image is displayed is referred to as one frame period. The period during which one image is displayed in the pixel portion 706, and a vertical return period may also be taken together as the frame period. All of the pixels are maintained in a state of displaying the image by means such as a storage capacitor (not shown in the figures) until the pixel TFT of each pixel is again turned on.
In a liquid crystal panel using a component such as a TFT as a switching element, the polarity of the electric potential of the signal inputted to each pixel is normally inverted (alternating current drive) with the electric potential of the opposing electrode (common electric potential) as a standard in order to prevent degradation of the liquid crystal. Frame inverting drive, source line inverting drive, gate line inverting drive, and dot inverting drive can be given as methods of alternating current drive. Each of the driving methods is explained below.
A polarity pattern of a display signal inputted to each pixel in frame inverting drive is shown in FIG. 21A (hereafter referred to simply as a polarity pattern). Note that, with a common electric potential as a standard, "+" is shown when an electric potential of a display signal inputted to a pixel is positive, while "−" is shown when an electric potential of a display signal inputted to a pixel is negative in the figures showing polarity patterns in this specification (FIGS. 21A to 21D, FIG. 2, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7). Further, the polarity patterns shown in FIGS. 21A to 21D correspond to the pixel arrangement shown in FIG. 20B.
Note that, throughout this specification, a display signal having a positive polarity denotes a display signal having an electric potential which is higher than the common electric potential. Further, a display signal having a negative polarity denotes a display signal having an electric potential which is lower than the common electric potential.
Regarding a method of scanning, there is: interlaced scanning in which scanning is divided into two times (two fields), one for odd numbered gate signal lines and one for even numbered gate signal lines; and non-interlaced scanning in which the odd numbered and even numbered gate signal lines are scanned in order without being divided, in one image (one frame). Examples in which mainly non-interlaced scanning is used are explained here.
With frame inverting drive, the display is performed so that display signals having an identical polarity are inputted to all of the pixels within one arbitrary frame period (polarity pattern 1), and the polarity of the display signals inputted to all of the pixels is inverted in the next frame period (polarity pattern 2). Namely, focusing on only the polarity pattern, the frame inverting drive is a driving method in which two types of polarity patterns (the polarity pattern 1 and the polarity pattern 2) are repeated every other frame period and the display is performed.
Source line inverting drive is explained next. Polarity patterns of pixels in the source line inverting drive are shown in FIG. 21B.
With source line inverting drive, display signals having the same polarity are inputted to all pixels connected to the same source signal line in one arbitrary frame period as shown in FIG. 21B, and display signals having the inverse polarity are inputted to pixels connected to adjacent source signal lines.
Note that, in this specification, pixels connected to a source line denotes pixels having pixel TFTs in which a source region or a drain region is connected to the source signal line.
Then, in the next frame period, display signals having the polarity that is the reverse of the display signals inputted in the previous one frame period, are inputted to each source signal line. Therefore, if a polarity pattern in an arbitrary frame period is taken as polarity pattern 3, then the polarity pattern in the next frame period becomes polarity pattern 4.
Gate line inverting drive is explained next. Polarity patterns in gate line inverting drive are shown in FIG. 21C.
As shown in FIG. 21C, display signals having the same polarity are inputted to all pixels connected to the same gate signal line during one arbitrary frame period in gate line inverting drive, and display signals having the reverse polarity are inputted to pixels connected to adjacent gate signal lines.
Note that, in this specification, pixels connected to a gate signal line denotes pixels having pixel TFTs whose gate electrode is connected to the gate signal line.
Then, in the next frame period, display signals having the inverse polarity to the display signals inputted in the previous frame period are inputted to pixels connected to each gate signal line. Therefore, if a polarity pattern in one arbitrary frame period is taken as polarity pattern 5, then the polarity pattern in the next frame period becomes frame pattern 6.
In other words, similar to source line inverting drive, the gate line inverting drive is a driving method in which two types of polarity patterns (polarity pattern 5 and polarity pattern 6) are repeated every other frame period, and display is performed.
Dot inverting drive is explained next. Polarity patterns in dot inverting drive are shown in FIG. 21D.
Dot inverting drive is a driving method in which the polarity of display signals inputted to the pixels is inverted for all adjacent pixels, as shown in FIG. 21D. Then, in one arbitrary frame period, display signals having polarities which are inverse to those of the previous frame period are inputted to each pixel. Therefore, if the polarity pattern occurring in one arbitrary frame period is taken as polarity pattern 7, then the polarity pattern of the next frame period becomes polarity pattern 8. In other words, the dot inverting drive is a driving method in which two types of polarity patterns are repeated every other frame period and display is performed.
The above alternating current drives are useful methods for preventing deterioration of the liquid crystal. However, when using the above alternating current drives, the screen flickers, and vertical striping or horizontal striping is visible.
It is considered that this is because the screen brightness differs subtly between inputted display signals of the positive polarity and those the negative polarity when performing the same gray-scale display in each pixel. This phenomenon is explained in detail below taking frame inverting drive as an example.
A timing chart when performing frame inverting drive for the active matrix liquid crystal display device of FIGS. 20A and 20B is shown in FIG. 22. Note that FIG. 22 is a timing chart of a case in which white display is performed provided that the liquid crystal display device is normally black, and black display is performed when normally white. A period during which a selection signal is inputted to one gate signal line is taken as one line period, and a period during which the selection signal is inputted to all gate signal lines and one image is displayed is taken as one frame period.
When a display signal and a selection signal are inputted to the source signal line S1 and the gate signal line G1, respectively, a display signal of a positive polarity is inputted to the pixel (1,1) provided in a portion at which the source signal line S1 and the gate signal line G1 intersect. Note that, in this specification, a display signal being inputted to a pixel denotes the display signal being inputted to the pixel electrode through the pixel TFT. The electric potential applied to the pixel electrode in accordance with the inputted display signal then ideally continues to be maintained throughout one frame period by means such as a storage capacitor.
In practice, however, if the electric potential of the gate signal line G1, when one line period is completed, shifts to an electric potential which makes the pixel TFT to be turned off, the electric potential of the pixel electrode may also be caused to change by an amount ΔV in the direction of the shift of the electric potential of the gate signal line G1. This phenomenon is referred to as field-through, and ΔV is referred to as penetration voltage.
The voltage ΔV is given by the following equation:ΔV=V×Cgd/(Cgd+Clc+Cs).  [Eqn. 1]
Note that V is the amplitude of the electric potential of the gate electrode, Cgd is the capacitance between the gate electrode and the drain region of the pixel TFT, Clc is the capacitance of the liquid crystal between the pixel electrode and the opposing electrode, and Cs is the capacitance of the storage capacitor.
In the timing chart of FIG. 22, the actual electric potential of the pixel electrode in the pixel (1,1) is shown by a solid line, and the electric potential of an ideal pixel electrode in which field-through is not considered is shown by a dotted line. In the first frame period, a display signal of a positive polarity is input to the pixel (1,1). The electric potential of the gate signal line changes to negative at the same time as the first line period is completed in the case of the first frame period shown in FIG. 22, and the electric potential of the pixel electrode of the pixel (1,1) also in practice changes in the negative direction by the amount of penetration voltage. Note that the penetration voltage in the first frame period is denoted by ΔV1 in FIG. 22.
Next, in a first line period of a second frame period, a display signal having a negative polarity, the inverse of the polarity of the first line period of the first frame period, is inputted to the pixel (1,1). When the first line period in the second frame period is then complete, the electric potential of the gate signal line G1 then changes in the negative direction. At the same time, the pixel electrode electric potential of the pixel (1,1) also changes in the negative direction by the amount of penetration voltage. Note that the penetration voltage in the second frame period is denoted by ΔV2 in FIG. 22.
The driver voltage after completion of the first line period of the first frame period is denoted by V1, and the driver voltage after completion of the first line period of the second frame period is denoted by V2 in FIG. 22. Note that, in this specification, driver voltage refers to the potential difference between the electric potential of a pixel electrode and the common electric potential.
The driver voltage V1 and the driver voltage V2 have the difference of ΔV1+ΔV2. The screen brightness of the pixel (1,1) therefore differs between the first frame period and the second frame period.
A method of reducing a value of the common electric potential has also be considered in order that the driver voltage V1 and the driver voltage V2 will become the same.
However, the capacitance Cgd between the gate electrode and the drain region of the pixel TFT differs between when a display signal having a positive polarity is inputted to the pixel and when a display signal having a negative polarity is inputted to the pixel. In addition, the capacitance Clc of the liquid crystal between the pixel electrode and the opposing electrode fluctuates in accordance with the electric potential of the display signal inputted to the pixel. The values of Cgd and Clc thus differ in accordance with each frame period, and therefore the value of the penetration voltage ΔV also differs for each frame period. Consequently, even if the value of the common electric potential is changed, the driver voltage in the pixel (1,1) differs in accordance with the frame period, and as a result, the screen brightness differs.
This is a phenomenon which is not limited to the pixel (1,1), and occurs in all of the pixels, and the brightness of the pixels differs according to the polarity of the display signal inputted to the pixels.
With frame inverting drive, therefore, the brightness of an image displayed in the first frame period and that of an image displayed in the second frame period differ, and this is seen as flicker by an observer. In particular, a remarkable amount of flicker has been confirmed in intermediate gray-scale display.
The display brightness of pixels into which a display signal of a positive polarity is inputted also differs from that of pixels into which a display signal of a negative polarity is inputted, in cases of source line inverting drive, gate line inverting drive, and dot inverting drive.
As a result, vertical stripes are displayed on the screen by source line inverting drive, and horizontal stipes are displayed on the screen by gate line inverting drive. Further, vertical stripes and horizontal stripes appear with dot inverting drive depending upon the image displayed in the screen.
It is considered that increasing the frame frequency is effective in preventing observable screen flicker, and vertical and horizontal striping due to alternating current from being seen. However, it is necessary to increase the driving frequency of the driver circuit, in particular the driving frequency of the source signal line driver circuit, in order to increase the frame frequency. If the driving frequency of the source signal line driver circuit is then increased, there is the possibility that the operating speed of the TFTs of the source signal line driver circuit is unable to respond to the driving frequency of the source signal line driver circuit, and operation thus becomes impossible, or difficulties arise relating to reliability.

Semiconductor display device and method of driving semiconductor display device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


In a fault-tolerant computer system, a primary replica supervisor is interposed between an operating system and a primary replica of an application program being executed by a primary processor. An object-code editor locates calls to the operating system and loops in the application program and inserts instruction sequences that enable the replica supervisor to intercept the calls to the operating system, results returned by the operating system as a result of the calls and asynchronous events delivered by the operating system to the replica. A backup replica supervisor is similarly interposed between an operating system and a backup replica of the application program being executed by a backup processor. The primary replica interacts with an environment. The replica supervisors ensure that the backup replica undergoes state transformations, as a result of the calls to the operating system and asynchronous events, that are equivalent to state transformations that the primary replica undergoes as a result of corresponding calls and asynchronous events. Thus, after a failure in the primary processor, the backup replica can interact with the environment in a manner consistent with interactions between the primary replica and the environment prior to the failure.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to fault-tolerant computer systems and, in particular, to replica coordinators for such fault-tolerant systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A need exists for "fault-tolerant" computer systems that can continue to operate despite a failure of one of their components. Examples include inter-bank electronic funds-transfer systems and airline flight reservation systems. To achieve fault-tolerance, these systems typically employ redundancy in the components that are likely to fail, i.e., they employ "replicas" and replace a failed component with a non-faulty replica ("spare"). These systems coordinate the replicas so all replicas are in the same state and, therefore, the spare is able to take over for the failed component. Coordinating these replicas poses a key problem in the design of a fault-tolerant system.
One approach to replica coordination, known as the "state machine approach," calls for each replica to be a deterministic state machine that reads a sequence of commands, each command causing a state transition that is completely determined by the command and the current state of the machine. The state transitions can produce outputs to an environment, e.g. I/O requests. Each replica of the state machine starts in the same state and reads an identical sequence of commands. Each replica, therefore, undergoes an identical sequence of state transitions and produces an identical sequence of outputs. This approach ensures that, when a failure occurs, the spare is in the same state as the failed component at the time of, or just prior to, the failure. The spare can therefore interact with the environment in a manner consistent with past interactions between the now-failed component and the environment.
Fault-tolerant systems mask replica failures by combining the output sequences from multiple replicas into a single output sequence that appears to have come from a single, non-faulty state machine. According to this approach, each replica produces a sequence of outputs, but a replica coordination mechanism allows only one replica's sequence of outputs to reach the environment. For example, accepting outputs from 2t+1 replicas, a "majority voter" can selectively provide the outputs to the environment and thereby mask as many as t faulty replicas. In a "primary/backup" method of replica coordination, all non-faulty replicas perform the same computations, but only one replica (the primary) interacts with the environment. In either case the fault-tolerant system must ensure that each replica reads the same sequence of commands and the environment receives only a single output.
A computer system is composed of layers, as shown in FIG. 1. An Application program makes calls to application support routines (DLLs, RTLs, etc.), which in turn call operating system software. Optionally, the application software can bypass the support routines and call the operating system directly. Lower layers include computer hardware (CPU, memory, bus, network, etc.), and I/O components (disks, user terminals, etc.)
Prior-art systems provide replica coordination by adding a layer or significantly modifying one or more of the existing layers. Each such approach poses problems, however. For example, in hardware-layer replica coordination, the CPU, memory, operating system and application are replicated and the hardware chooses which replica interacts with the environment. This requires no changes to the operating system or application software, but, quite problematically, each new hardware realization requires a separate design and consequentially these systems lag behind the hardware cost/performance curve.
Adding replica coordination to an existing operating system is difficult because a developer must identify state transitions implemented in the operating system. This is difficult because mature operating systems are very complex. Furthermore, modifying an operating system and then maintaining the modified operating system is very costly. Some prior-art systems provide an additional application support layer between the application and the operating system. Problematically, this requires application developers to learn and use a new interface. Furthermore existing applications must be rewritten to be made fault-tolerant. Fault-tolerance can also be built into an application. However, this shifts the problem of replica coordination to the application's developers and the same problems must be solved anew for each application. Furthermore, application developers generally are not acquainted with the complexity and nuances of replica coordination.
Some prior-art systems, such as a so-called "hypervisor" system, impose a heavy performance penalty due to a high frequency with which the replica coordinator must be invoked.

Transparent fault tolerant computer system


A service call system for reprographic machines includes an operator initiated calling routine that automatically communicates the machine with a remote diagnostic or service facility. Predetermined data relating to the identity of the machine and the nature of the fault are communicated at the time of the initial call. The system provides for interactive communication to obtain additional information or display status messages at the reprographic machine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reprographic machines. It has particular applicability to service call systems for reprographic machines.
2. Description of Related Developments
Recently, systems for monitoring the operation of a plurality of reprographic machines from a remote source by use of a powerful host computer having advanced, high level diagnostic capabilities have been installed. These systems have the capability to interact remotely with the machines being monitored to receive automatically initiated or user initiated requests for diagnosis and to interact with the requesting machine to receive stored data to enable higher level diagnostic analysis. Such systems are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,038,319 and 5,057,866 (the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference), owned by the assignee of the present invention. These systems employ Remote Interactive Communications (RIC) to enable transfer of selected machine operating data (referred to as machine physical data) to the remote site at which the host computer is located, through a suitable communication channel. The machine physical data may be transmitted from a monitored document system to the remote site automatically at predetermined times and/or in response to a specific request from the host computer.
In a typical RIC system, the host computer is linked via a public switched telephone system or a combination of public and dedicated systems to local reprographic machines via modems. The host computer may include a compiler to allow communication with a plurality of different types of machines and an expert diagnostic system that performs higher level analysis of the machine physical data than is available from the diagnostic system in the machine. After analysis, the expert system can provide an instruction message which can be utilized by the machine operator at the site of the document system to overcome a fault. Alternatively, if the expert system determines that more serious repair is necessary or a preventive repair is desirable, a message is sent to a local field work office giving the identity of the machine and a general indication of the type of service action required.
A call for service is initiated by an operator at the machine location and is transmitted orally by telephone from the local machine operator to an operator at the host computer or at a local field work support system. This system is disadvantageous from the standpoint that the communication between the local machine operator and the remote operator is oral, the local operator commonly has only limited information about the technical aspects of the machine requiring repair and the local operator normally has little time to spend in communicating the information. The result is that the remote operator receives only limited or erroneous information relating to the identity of the machine requiring service and only a brief description of the problem requiring a repair action. If the faulted machine is erroneously identified in the oral communication between the local and remote operators, the remedial information necessary to effect a repair may be misdirected or may be inappropriate to the faulted machine, thereby causing delay in returning the machine to service and adding expense to the repair procedure. Further, in many instances, the local operator has no indication of the status of the repair request or an indication of when repair procedures will be made.

Service call initiation and feedback interface for a reprographic machine


A system retrieves structured documents based on first desired concept item having first concept items classified hierarchically and subordinated to first desired concept item, second desired concept item having second concept items classified hierarchically and subordinated to second desired concept item, generates a table displaying retrieval results, and associates groups of desired component, one of first items classified as first concept items immediately lower than first desired concept item, and desired second concept item with column index cells of table respectively. When a display area where one of the column index cells is displayed is designated, the system acquire the groups associated with the designated area, and retrieves, based on the acquired group, structured documents each including the desired component including a value in which one of the first concept items subordinated to the one of the first item and one of the second concept items are included.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for retrieving a desired structured document from a structured document database having a hierarchical logical structure which stores a plurality of structured documents having different document structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, along with the advance of IT (information technology), a huge volume of information can be easily acquired. On the other hand, required information is buried in a large volume of information, and cannot be fully utilized. Even when a large volume of information is present, there is no significance in it unless it can be used efficiently.
Hence, an activity that accumulates data, which are important for corporate management, of know-how and job data possessed by specific persons and departments, and utilize them as "management resources", i.e., knowledge management, has been proposed.
For example, some documents such as patent specifications, weekly reports, and the like have predetermined formats, and are standardized to these formats. In addition to such documents which are standardized to given formats, many documents with free formats are also present.
Hence, in order to realize knowledge management, a database which can store and manage both documents with predetermined document structures, and other documents with free formats is required.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is expected to be the core technology of the next-generation knowledge management.
An XML document is data having a tree structure. An XML database that stores and manages XML documents has a tree-like hierarchical data structure that manages components of a plurality of structured documents to be managed as those which form a document structure of one, giant structured document. That is, the XML database stores XML documents as one tree-like, giant XML document. Each component on this hierarchical structure can be specified by a "pass". The pass is a means for indicating a specific area (location) on the XML database. Using this pass, a partial XML document can be accessed from the XML database.
The document structure of an XML document stored in the XML database need not always be defined by a schema. If the schema is defined, only one schema per database is allowed. That is, if no schema is used, documents with different document structures can be stored and managed together. However, if one schema is set, documents with document structures different from that defined by the schema cannot be stored together.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 7-56786 "structured document management apparatus" has proposed a method that sets one schema in an XML database, and stores and manages only documents that match the set schema.
On the other hand, a technique called OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) is known. This is an analytical application which allows an end user to directly retrieve and aggregate data in a database so as to find out problems and solutions. With this technique, for example, a huge volume of sales information for respective shops can be analyzed while being instantaneously switched across various dimensions such as products, areas, years, and the like.
As a database to which OLAP is applied, a multi-dimensional database that can switch a plurality of attribute items (dimensions) in turn and can retrieve and calculate data has received a lot of attention. Upon selecting two arbitrary attribute items, data is immediately displayed in a two-dimensional table format (map).
However, the multi-dimensional database must manage a large volume of data, since aggregated results corresponding to all combinations of attribute items are prepared in advance. Also, since this database has a unique data structure, dedicated client software is required.
By contrast, a relational database (RDB) manages normalized data using a two-dimensional table format, and generates one table of an aggregated result by combining a plurality of tables required for analysis. Since data are coupled every time the viewpoint changes, a long response time is required.
In order to store and manage a huge number of structured documents of different document structures on a database, when a specific document structure is predetermined for a specific type of documents, it is convenient to standardize all documents of such type to an identical document structure for the purpose of data manipulations such as retrieval and the like.
However, there is no conventional XML database which can store and manage documents of different document structures while maintaining consistency of document structures corresponding to different document types. That is, the conventional XML database can store and manage documents that match one schema, but cannot store and manage documents corresponding to a plurality of different schemas together with documents which do not correspond to any schemas.
A plurality of databases which correspond to a plurality of schemas may be prepared. In this case, if the schema is different, the database to be accessed is different. For this reason, access to a huge number of documents with various document structures cannot be uniformly made, and it is difficult to retrieve and extract a related information group from a huge number of pieces of various kinds of information.
As described above, conventionally, since documents having various document structures defined in advance in correspondence with the types of documents cannot be simultaneously managed together with structured documents which have no document structure, it is impossible to retrieve and extract a related information group from a huge volume of various kinds of information by uniform access to various document structures irrespective of a specific document structure.
Hence, conventionally, it is difficult to easily implement OLAP that displays the retrieved and aggregated results of data from a huge number of structured documents having various document structures, while switching a plurality of attribute items (dimensions) in turn.
Once the attribute item has changed to change the analytical viewpoint, retrieval/aggregation operations must be redone by re-setting the attribute item in a retrieval condition. Since such process is required, it is not easy to switch the display window for displaying the retrieved/aggregated result using an attribute item set based on a given viewpoint to that from another viewpoint.
In this manner, in order to implement OLAP, every time the analytical viewpoint changes, the display window of the data retrieved/aggregated result using the changed attribute item must be switched, but it is not easy to attain such window transition that involves retrieval and aggregation processes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus, method, and program for retrieving structured documents


To provide a jog switch type composite switch which has a waterproofness and in which a letter scroll is easy. Three button axles corresponding to three individual switches are attached to through-holes of an armoring cover while being made possible to perform a reciprocal movement in an axial direction and through waterproof packings. A button head can be pushed in its intermediate position and is attached to the armoring cover while being made possible to slide in a disposition direction of the button axles. If the button head is pushed in its intermediate position, the center button axle makes only the center individual switch ON. If the button head is slid to an underside, the underside button axle makes only the underside individual switch ON and, if it is slid to an upside, the upside button axle makes only the upside individual switch ON.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a composite switch used in an electronic equipment such as multifunction electronic timepiece.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The electronic timepiece is made the multifunction, and an input work by a switch becomes frequent as well. For example, if it is attempted to input a letter row, the letter row is scrolled by a switch operation from among many letter information such as 50 Japanese syllabary characters of hiragana, 26 letters of alphabet and numerals, thereby deciding one letter desired. In order to perform this by a push-switch, the operation becomes intricate. A rotary switch adopted whereupon in order to solve the above point is obliged from its structure to make an external shape of the electronic timepiece into a circular shape, and thus has a problem that a degree of freedom in design is limited.
In a field other than the electronic timepiece, there is a jog switch made into an input operation structure corresponding to the letter scroll, and a merit in its operability is widely recognized. However, in a product in which this has been mounted, a waterproofness is not taken into consideration. For this reason, the conventional jog switch cannot be adopted in the electronic timepiece.
As the composite switch for the electronic timepiece having the waterproofness, there is one disclosed in JP-A-2001-215288 Gazette (Patent Document 1). This conventional composite switch is a dome type composite switch having a high waterproofness, which comprises plural fixed contacts, movable contacts each of which is supported by an elastic body under a state capable of contacting with or separating from each of the fixed contacts, and plural movable axles each of which has a pressing end part and an operating end part and can axially reciprocate so as to press each of the movable contacts to thereby perform the contact with or the separation from each of the fixed contacts, wherein the operating end part of each of the plural movable axles is retained by being monolithically covered with a soft member such as silicone rubber. However, in a case where this dome type composite switch is adopted in the multifunction timepiece and the letter scroll is performed, since it must be continued to be pressed by a finger from start to end of the scroll, a problem remains in its operability.
<Patent Document 1> JP-A-2001-215288 Gazette
A problem that the present invention is to solve is to provide a jog switch type composite switch used in the electronic equipment such as multifunction electronic timepiece, which has the waterproofness and in which the letter scroll is easy.

Composite switch, and electronic equipment and electronic timepiece which possess composite switch


Designs for basecurves are disclosed which are designed to promote adhesion of an excess polymer HEMA ring to the basecurve during a demolding operation such that the excess polymer HEMA ring is removed along with the basecurve during the demolding operation. The basecurve mold designs promote and maintain adhesion of an excess polymer HEMA ring to the basecurve in a process for molding cast contact lenses in mold assemblies, each comprising a frontcurve and a spaced basecurve, and wherein a molded lens is formed therebetween. In an embodiment of the invention, the annular area of the basecurve mold can be formed with an annular step which includes projecting teeth positioned therearound which project into the excess polymer HEMA ring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides designs for basecurves which are designed to promote adhesion of an excess polymer HEMA ring to the basecurve during a demolding operation, such that the excess polymer HEMA ring is removed along with the basecurve during the demolding operation.
The present invention relates generally to basecurve mold designs for maintaining adhesion of an excess polymer HEMA ring to a basecurve in a process for molding cast contact lenses in mold assemblies, each comprising a frontcurve and a spaced basecurve, and wherein a molded lens is formed therebetween. The subject invention pertains generally to an arrangement for producing ophthalmic contact lenses in cast contact lens mold assemblies, and provides for the improved removal of an excess polymer HEMA ring with a basecurve mold during a demolding operation.
The present invention is particularly well suited to molded ophthalmic lenses such as hydrogel contact lenses, although it also has applicability to other small, high-precision ophthalmic lenses such as intraocular lenses.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
As the ophthalmic lens industry has grown, and in particular the industry related to supplying contact lenses which are provided for periodic frequent replacement, the number of contact lenses required to be produced has increased dramatically. This has spurred manufacturers to strive for automated methods and apparatus which are adaptable to automated practices and consistent performance.
It is generally known in the prior art to make ophthalmic lenses, such as soft hydrogel contact lenses, by molding a monomer or monomer mixture in a mold such as one made from polystyrene or polypropylene.
Examples of this prior art can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,039,459, 4,889,664 and 4,565,348. These patents discuss therein the requirement for a polystyrene mold in which the materials, chemistry and processes are controlled such that the mold portions do not require undue force to separate by sticking to the lens or to each other. In contrast to the above polystyrene molds, another example is the use of polypropylene or polyethylene molds as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,896.
The mold assembly to mold an ophthalmic contact lens typically includes a lower concave mold portion referred to as a frontcurve and an upper convex mold portion referred to as a basecurve. The concave surface of the lower frontcurve and the convex surface of the upper basecurve define therebetween a mold cavity for a contact lens.
A particular problem in the prior art is that the frontcurve and basecurve molds are usually surrounded by a flange, and the monomer or monomer mixture is supplied in excess to the concave frontcurve mold prior to the assembly of the molds. As the molds are placed together, defining the lens and forming an edge, the excess monomer or monomer mixture is expelled from the mold cavity and rests on or between the flange of one or both mold portions. Upon polymerization, this excess material forms an annular ring around the mold assembly which resists separation of the mold portions during a demolding operation. In such contact lens manufacturing processes, lens defects such as chips and tears as well as missing lenses are believed to result, in part, from difficulties in the demolding operation.
In the demolding process, it is desirable that the excess polymer HEMA ring remain adhered to the basecurve for removal of the excess polymer HEMA ring with the basecurve when the basecurve is demolded and removed, leaving only the cast contact lens in the frontcurve.

Basecurve mold designs to maintain HEMA ring/basecurve adhesion


The invention features devices for mixing fluids, e.g., for lysing cells, and methods of use thereof. One device is based on the ability to control the flow of fluids, e.g., by contact angle and channel size. Fluids in this device can be divided to form segments of controlled volume, which are then brought together to initiate mixing. An exemplary use of the device is for the lysis of single cells. Another device is based on the ability to two mix two fluids in a channel and affinity capture of analytes. The devices can be integrated on the same chip with other devices, for example, for cell handling or analysis of DNA, mRNA, and proteins released from the lysis of a cell.

The invention relates to the fields of microfluidics and cellular assays.
Better understanding of normal and pathogenic processes at the cellular level increasingly requires sensitive analysis of homogenous samples often containing only a few cells. One critical aspect of such analysis, considering the small amounts of target molecules contained in each cell, is to avoid excessive sample dilution and minimize losses. In addition, access to intracellular contents generally requires cell lysis, and current macroscopic approaches that work well on large samples cannot achieve controlled mixing of two solutions in volumes comparable to the cell volume. Cells are the basic structural and functional units of living organisms and analyzing the composition and behavior of individual cells is fundamental for understanding the physiology and pathology of any organism. Still, the majority of the biochemical methods employed in current biological research use samples containing several thousands of cells and as a result can only extract averaged information from the populations. Such global information is not always relevant to processes taking place in individual cells and concerted efforts are made to develop new techniques for quantitative analysis at single cell level.
In order to obtain comprehensive pictures of cell function, simultaneous examination of the expression of thousands of genes may be necessary. This examination is made possible by the development of microarray techniques for DNA and RNA. In general, simple knowledge of the gene sequence or the quantity of gene expression may be insufficient to predict biological functions or provide appropriate diagnostic information. Thus, several techniques to enable efficient and highly parallel identification, measurement, and analysis of proteins have been developed (e.g. protein-chip array).
Most array methods require concentrations of material above a certain threshold (e.g., 2 μg at 0.02 μg/μl concentration for MRNA analysis), and few methods can work with samples as small as 1000 cells. Flow cytometry can address issues of heterogeneity at the single cell level, but only for a small number of targets, which is limited by the number of fluorescent dyes available. In the case of genes, another limitation in the use of fluorescent probes comes from the requirement for a priori knowledge of the sequence of interest. Consequently, it has not yet been possible to address the issue of heterogeneity using current techniques for global analysis at the single cell level.
Previously reported techniques for single cell biochemical analysis involved the micropipette aspiration of the cell content, lysis of cells, and release of the molecules of interest in the surrounding environment form where they could be detected by capillary electrophoresis or electrochemical methods. Still, these methods cannot control the diffusion of the molecules into the surrounding medium and thus they are prone to errors when performing quantitative measurements. Some improvement may come from confining the diffusion to smaller volumes, e.g., by the use of microfluidic devices where intracellular contents from one or more cells have been released in a microchannel. In these systems, the progressively diminishing concentration of the molecule of interest due to the combined effects of diffusion and drift with time and distance from the source, complicate the attempts for quantification. Moreover, the reverse situation, where molecules from a fluid stream are slowly captured by one cell, locally decreasing their concentration, are difficult to probe and quantify under flow conditions. One way to address the sample dilution problem is by isolating cells in vials with volumes comparable to mammalian cell volume. Previously approaches used micro-vials, like the ones formed at the tip of micropipettes after etching. Problems with the control of fluid evaporation, and the lack of visual control of the cells in vials during experiments due to the geometry of the vial, limit the utility of such methods.
Thus, there is a need for new devices and methods for analyzing the contents of individual cells that have increased sensitivity.

Device and method for contacting picoliter volumes of fluid


An LED driving apparatus controls a light emitting unit including first to k-th LED arrays, a rectifier for rectifying an AC signal, and first to (k−1)-th driving units respectively corresponding to the first to (k−1)-th LED arrays. Each driving unit includes an input terminal connected to a first terminal of the LED array, a sensing terminal connected to a second terminal of the LED array, an output terminal connected to a next driving unit, a transistor between the input terminal and the sensing terminal, and a sensing resistor between the sensing terminal and the output terminal. The rectified signal or voltage is applied to the first driving unit.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to an apparatus for driving a light emitting diode (LED) and an LED system including the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With the development of semiconductor technology, the efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs) has been significantly improved. An LED has advantages such as long lifetime, low energy consumption, economic efficiency and eco-friendliness, as compared to existing illumination apparatuses such as incandescent lamps and fluorescent lamps. Given these advantages, the LED is currently attracting considerable attention as a light source for replacing the backlight of a flat panel display apparatus such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and traffic lights.
In general, if an LED array is used as a light source and an alternating current (AC) power source is used as a power source, there is a need for an LED control apparatus for controlling on/off states of the LED array.
The LED control apparatus for controlling the LED array may generally rectify the AC voltage and control on/off states of the LED array using the rectified pulsating current voltage.

Apparatus for driving light emitting diode (LED) and illumination system including the same


A carrier or substrate for a photoconductor to be used for the formation of an electrophotographic recording element, particularly an imaging drum for an electrophotographic printing press, wherein the carrier is made of a metal or a metal alloy, preferably of aluminum, is prepared wherein the surface of the carrier supporting the photoconductor, used to form a barrier layer, is oxidized, preferably by etching and/or anodizing. The oxidized surface of the barrier layer is sealed with a sealing material following oxidation, and a preservative or impregnating agent is used as the sealing material.

For the electrophotographic process, the formation of the photoconducting recording element, which can also be called photo carrier or imaging unit, is particularly important. The basic principle of electrophotography can hereby be taken from U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,691, issued on Oct. 6, 1942, in the name of Chester F. Carlson, wherein a metal plate, on which a thin layer made of a photoconducting insulating material was deposited, has been used as a recording element.
Today, the recording element can include, for example, a drum that has a body made of aluminum, or a flexible strip, each of which has a suitable photoconducting sheath or coating. For the formation of the photoconducting layer (photoconductor)to occur, essentially three possibilities are considered. First, the layer can include arsenic triselenide (As2Se3) or similar materials containing selenium. Second, an organic photoconductor (organic photoconductor OPC) is considered. Third, amorphous silicon can be used for the photoconductor (a-Si, or also called α-Si). A coating with an organic multi-layer system is the most widespread method for producing a photoconductor.
For example, a photo carrier with an OPC coating can be used, that is homogenously negatively chargeable. For the imaging of this homogenously charged photo carrier, the photo carrier is then exposed in an appropriate manner. The light is absorbed in a charge-generating base coat. Positive charges are thus generated, that, by a charge transport layer, compensate for the negative charge on the surface in the image areas exposed at any one time. When a—Si or selenium coating is used, the surface becomes positively charged. In comparison to OPC layers, coatings made of a—Si have a higher wear resistance, but are burdened with higher production costs. OPC coatings can also be improved by using wear-reducing coatings.
Single-layer photoreceptors require the photo-generation and transport of electrons and holes in the same layer.
A vapor-deposited, semi-permeable metal carrier, made, for example, of Al, Ni, or Cr on a polymer carrier, such as, polyethylene terephthalate, is used as the substrate for electrophotographic strips. Metal cylinders serve as electrodes for imaging drums or cylinders. Suitable collars are generally pulled or stretched across them.
Normally, a thin blocking layer is inserted between the electrodes and the photoreceptor, in order to prevent a charge injection. This blocking layer should not be so thick that a residual charge accumulates during the charging/discharging cycles. To avoid hysteresis effects, blocking layers are normally less than 1 μm thick. The purpose of the blocking layer is to reduce the rate of dark discharge, to increase charge acceptance, and prevent point injections that could lead to local defects in the final image. Numerous insulating polymers have already been used as a blocking layer, including: acrylic polymers, epoxide resins, polyamides, polyester, polyphosphazene, polysiloxane, polyurethane, polyvinyls, etc. Bonding agents, namely, those with unsaturated bonding for bonding metal and resin, can likewise be used.
A photoconductor, as described above, including a blocking layer that contains a resinous material, suffers from a relatively high residual charge, and therefore, from a relatively low photosensitivity. Toner particles consequently, tend to adhere to non-imaged areas that have no electrostatic latent image, so that defective images are created, namely, "fuzzy" images. Such a phenomenon is particularly observed at relatively low temperatures, and at a relatively low atmospheric humidity. For the elimination of such a phenomenon, an intermediate layer or a bottom layer that includes resinous material and has conducting particles or metal oxides has been recommended. Alternatively, a bottom layer can be formed, by applying an oxide film to the conducting substrate using anodic oxidation. This is frequently used in highly reliable photoconductors, since oxide films are at beneficially high temperatures and high atmospheric humidity. A conductive base can also be oxidized, and saturated in an electrolytic solution. An oxide film can subsequently be molded on the conductive base by etching, for example.
On the other hand, oxidized aluminum surfaces are not homogenous. They exhibit a typical, sponge-like, or craterlike microstructure. This surface structure in turn leads to charge injection and charge collapse, which cause image defects, particularly, if the thickness of the blocking layer (or "barrier layer") is significantly less than 1 μm.
A portion of a laser light used for imaging that falls onto a photoconductor, reaches the aluminum oxide film without being absorbed by a charge-generating layer. The light partially penetrates the oxide layer. The penetrated light is reflected at the boundary between the aluminum base and the aluminum oxide layer. A portion of the light does not penetrate the aluminum oxide film. This portion is reflected at the boundary between the charge-generating layer and the aluminum oxide film. Both reflected light portions have the same wavelength and are coherent. As a result, these light portions interfere with each other, which can lead to interference rings, depending upon variations in layer thickness. These types of interference rings lead to an irregular print density.

Method for preparing a carrier for a photoconductor for the formation of an electrophotographic recording element and a recording element formed accordingly


A method for predicting the internal resistance of an energy storage battery in assumed environmental and battery state conditions includes subdividing the internal resistance into a first resistance component which represents the electrical resistance of the energy storage battery for the region of electron conduction and a second resistance component which represents the electrical resistance of the energy storage battery for the region of ion conduction. The method also includes determining the first and second resistance components to be expected for the assumed environmental and battery state conditions. Each of the first and second resistance components are determined as a function of parameters of the assumed environmental and battery state conditions. Monitoring devices or computer programs may be utilized to carry out the method.

The present invention relates to a method for prediction of the internal resistance of an energy storage battery in assumed environmental and battery state conditions. The present invention also relates to a monitoring device for energy storage batteries having measurement means for measurement of parameters for the environmental and battery state conditions for the energy storage battery and also having computation means. The present invention also relates to a product in the form of a computer program with program code means for carrying out the method mentioned above.
During operation of energy storage batteries, in particular starter batteries in motor vehicles, there is a need to determine the instantaneous state of the energy storage battery and to predict a future state in assumed environmental and battery state conditions. For example, it is desirable to determine the starting capability of a starter battery for starting an internal combustion engine in assumed temperature conditions. It is known for the instantaneous internal resistance to be determined for this purpose. This may be done, for example, from the drop in voltage on starting as the quotient of the voltage change divided by the current change. The internal resistance may also be obtained by matching the voltage and current information for the energy storage battery to a relatively complex equivalent circuit. An internal resistance determined in this way may then be used as a prognosis for a future starting process.
DE 198 47 648 A1 discloses a method for determination of the state of charge and of the high-current load capacity of batteries, in which the internal resistance of the battery is determined by means of a voltage and current measurement on high load, for example, during the starting process. Furthermore, the state of charge SOC of the energy storage battery is determined in a first state. This is done, for example, by measurement of the no-load voltage. The internal resistance is subdivided into a part which is only temperature-dependent and is virtually independent of the state of charge, and into a component which varies to a major extent with the state of charge for states of charge below 50%. A no-load voltage for a subsequent time is predicted from the internal resistance that has been subdivided in this way for a predetermined temperature and from the most recently determined state of charge, from which no-load voltage it is possible to use the known current required for starting an internal combustion engine to derive a statement about the capability of the energy storage battery for starting.
It would be advantageous to provide an improved method for predicting the internal resistance of an energy storage battery in assumed environmental and battery state conditions, by means of which, for example, the starting capability of a starter battery for a motor vehicle for a subsequent time can be predicted. It would be also advantageous to provide a monitoring device for energy storage batteries having measurement means for measurement of parameters for the environmental and operating state conditions for the energy storage battery, and having computation means which are designed to carry out the method described above. It would be also advantageous to provide a product in the form of an embodied computer program with program code means which are designed to carry out the method described above when the computer program is run using a processor device.
It would be advantageous to provide a system and/or method that includes any one or more of these or other advantageous features.

Method for prediction of the internal resistance of an energy storage battery, and a monitoring device for energy storage batteries


An articulated shuttlecar having two end sections and at least one center section with spaced longitudinal edges. A vertical pivot connecting the center section to one end of each end section. Each section has a pair of driven wheels mounted on an axis located approximately at its longitudinal center. A continuous flexible conveyor extends throughout the length of the sections of the shuttlecar to transport loose mined material from one end of the shuttlecar to the other end of the shuttlecar, and a continuous flexible retaining wall extends upwardly along each edge of all of the sections of the elongated shuttlecar to maintain loose mined material on the continuous flexible conveyor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to mine haulage vehicles and more particularly to a shuttlecar having a plurality of sections connected by articulation joints.
In underground mining, the loose mined material must be transported from the mine face to a haulage system for removal from the mine. It is often not possible to transport the loose mined material on a fixed conveyor. For example, the path which must be travelled by the material may be too long or tortuous, or it may intersect with major underground tunnels so that a fixed conveyor would create an unacceptable obstruction. In these and other circumstances, a vehicle is used to transport the loose mined material away from the mine face. Such a vehicle must be dimensioned to operate within the confines of the mine. It must be sufficiently low to permit it to operate on undulating terrain in low tunnels, and it must be able to negotiate short-radius turns between tunnels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of vehicles have been designed to operate in mines. These vehicles include front end loaders, scoops, ram cars and shuttlecars. The scoops and ram cars have tractor sections including or connected to load-carrying cargo compartments. Such devices are manufactured by Envirotech Corp., and marketed under the EIMCO name.
In order to negotiate short-radius turns, some scoop-type vehicles are horizontally articulated about a vertical axis. This allows the vehicle to turn more easily at corners and to turn around after the loose mined material has been discharged. Turning a vehicle requires a relatively large area which limits the application of the prior art scoop-type vehicles.
Prior art shuttlecars have been designed to load and unload loose mined material without turning around. This is accomplished by using a central conveyor extending along the length of the shuttlecar to load and unload the material. Since the conveyor extends throughout the length of the shuttlecar, the load-carrying capacity of such a vehicle is relatively high.
However, the capacity of prior art shuttlecars with a conveyor is limited by the length, height and width of the vehicle. The height and width of the vehicle are dictated by the height and width of the mine tunnels in which the shuttlecar must operate and are fixed parameters. The length of a shuttlecar is dictated by the necessity of negotiating short-radius turns and undulations within mine tunnels. The longer the car, the less able it is to negotiate sharp turns and the more likely it is to be upset by undulations in the floors of the mine tunnels. In order to negotiate undulating mine floors, shuttlecars may be vertically articulated about a horizontal axis. Such a shuttlecar is disclosed, for example, in Canadian Patent No. 666,032 assigned to Joy Manufacturing Co.
A horizontally articulated shuttlecar is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,619. The vehicle disclosed in that patent has two body sections, each of which is necessarily shorter than a single-section shuttlecar and, thus, the carrying capacity of the vehicle is not substantially greater than a single-section shuttlecar. Furthermore, the majority of the load is carried in a compartment located at one end of the vehicle which equates the vehicle to a scoop-type vehicle with a discharge conveyor. The bulk of the vehicle remains lightly loaded, unlike a true shuttlecar wherein the load carrying compartment extends throughout the length of the vehicle. The vehicle disclosed in the patent is also deficient in that the horizontal articulation joint is not strong enough to withstand the normal wear which occurs in a mine.


A control device of a vehicle provided with an engine, and a fluid-operated power transmitting device provided with a lock-up clutch and configured to transmit a drive force of said engine to drive wheels, and an engine connecting/disconnecting clutch configured to selectively place a power transmitting path between said engine and said fluid-operated power transmitting device in a power transmitting state and a power cutoff state, said vehicle being able to run in an engine drive mode in which said engine is operated as a vehicle drive power source while said engine connecting/disconnecting clutch is placed in a fully engaged state, comprising: a lock-up clutch control portion configured to bring said engine connecting/disconnecting clutch from the fully engaged state into a slipping state and temporarily place the engine connecting/disconnecting clutch in the slipping state while said lock-up clutch is placed in a slipping state, when a lock-up slip control is implemented to place said lock-up clutch from a fully released state into the slipping slip and gradually bring the lock-up clutch into a fully engaged state, in response to an increase of a required amount of acceleration of said vehicle, during running of the vehicle in said engine drive mode with said engine connecting/disconnecting clutch being placed in the fully engaged state.

There is well known a vehicle provided with a fluid-operated power transmitting device provided with a lock-up clutch and configured to transmit a drive force of an engine to drive wheels. Patent Document 1 discloses an example of such a vehicle. The above-indicated lock-up clutch is generally commanded to be selectively placed in its engaged and released states, on the basis of a running state of the vehicle and according to a relationship predetermined for the purpose of improving fuel economy of the vehicle. For example, a lock-up control of the lock-up clutch is initiated when the running state of the vehicle falls within a lock-up control region. Further, the lock-up control region can be enlarged to improve the fuel economy, by implementing a slip control of the lock-up clutch (a lock-up slip control or flexible lock-up control) wherein the lock-up clutch is given a suitable amount of slipping on the basis of the vehicle running state and according to the above-indicated predetermined relationship, so as to permit a lock-up action of the lock-up clutch over a wide range of the vehicle running state. For instance, the Patent Document 1 proposes a vehicle starting slip control of the lock-up clutch (vehicle starting slip control or flexible vehicle starting control) to improve the fuel economy, by controlling a slipping state of the lock-up clutch so as to positively bring the lock-up clutch in its engaged state during starting of the vehicle with the engine operated as a vehicle drive power source, for thereby reducing a rise of an operating speed of the engine (reducing an amount of racing of the engine).


Provided is a graft copolymer and a treatment method which give excellent antifouling property to a substrate, especially a carpet. The graft copolymer has a trunk polymer having a hydroxyl group; and a branch having a C7-40 hydrocarbon group bonded to the trunk polymer at a carbon atom substituted with the hydroxyl group, wherein the branch has a repeating unit formed from an acrylic monomer represented by the formula: CH2═C(—X)—C(═O)—Y1—Z(—Y2—R)n. The treatment method include applying the graft copolymer to the substrate.

Products containing perfluorocarbon groups have a long history of providing fluid repellency to a variety of substrates, including paper, textile, carpet, and nonwoven applications (e.g., "Technology of Fluoropolymers", J. G. Drobny, CRC Press, 2001, Chapter 6). In particular, fluorochemical-containing treatments have been beneficially used for treating paper substrates for the express purpose of improving the paper's resistance to penetration by grease and oil. This oleophobicity is useful in a variety of paper applications for quick service restaurant food wrap and pet food bags, as well as carbonless fan-apart forms and other specialty applications ("The Sizing of Paper", J. M. Gess & J. M. Rodriquez ed, TAPPI Press, 2005, Chapter 8)
Graft copolymers may comprise numerous types of structures. Typically, graft and block copolymers are both presented as having long sequences of 2 or more types of monomers. A general discussion of graft copolymers appears in the textbook "Principles of Polymerization", G. G. Odian, Wiley Interscience, 1991, 3rd edition, page 715-725. This discussion teaches, among several paths, that the ceric (IV) ion may be used to cause trunk polymers containing secondary alcohols, such as cellulose or polyvinyl alcohol, to undergo redox reactions with the ceric ion. The resulting polymer radicals are capable of initiating polymerization, thus creating homo or copolymer branches off of the main polymer chain. The resulting branched copolymer is one type of graft copolymer. Graft copolymers provide a vehicle for combining attributes of widely varying monomers into a structure where those attributes are retained.
Conventionally, graft copolymer having a fluoroalkyl group has been used to impart water- and oil-repellency and antifouling property.
JP S54-132694 (A) discloses a process for the production of producing a water- and oil-repellent agent by grafting a vinyl monomer containing a polyfluoroalkyl group on a stem polymer having a hydroxyl group to obtain a fluorine-containing graft polymer.
WO 2007/018276 (A1) discloses a fluorine-containing graft copolymer having a hydroxyl water-soluble polymer stem and fluorine-containing branches bonded to carbon atoms substituted by a hydroxyl group.
WO 2011/122699 (A1) discloses a fluorine-containing graft copolymer having fluorine-containing branches and a repellent composition.
A copolymer free from a fluoroalkyl group did not give sufficient water-repellency and antifouling property (soil resistance).
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a copolymer (particularly a fluorine-free copolymer) which does not have a fluoroalkyl group and which gives sufficient water-repellency and antifouling property.

Graft copolymer and soil resistant composition


Implementations include identifying, from a database of entries reflecting past automated assistant commands submitted within a threshold amount of time relative to a current time, particular entries that each reflect corresponding features of a corresponding user submission of a particular command. Further, those implementations include determining that the particular command is a golden command, for a particular automated assistant function, responsive to determining that: at least a threshold percentage of the user submissions of the particular command triggered the particular automated assistant function, and a quantity of the user submission of the particular command satisfies a threshold quantity. Those implementations further include, responsive to determining that the particular command is currently the golden command: processing a stream of current occurrences of submissions of the particular command to determine whether the particular automated assistant function is triggered; and when the processing indicates that a threshold quantity and/or percentage of the current occurrences fails to satisfy a potential problem threshold: causing one or more electronic alerts to be transmitted.

Humans can engage in human-to-computer dialogs with interactive software applications referred to herein as "automated assistants" (also referred to as "digital agents," "interactive personal assistants," "intelligent personal assistants," "assistant applications," "conversational agents," etc.). For example, humans (which when they interact with automated assistants may be referred to as "users") may provide commands and/or requests to an automated assistant using spoken natural language input (i.e., utterances), which may in some cases be converted into text and then processed, by providing textual (e.g., typed) natural language input, and/or through touch and/or utterance free physical movement(s) (e.g., hand gesture(s), eye gaze, facial movement, etc.). An automated assistant responds to a request by providing responsive user interface output (e.g., audible and/or visual user interface output), controlling one or more smart devices, and/or controlling one or more function(s) of a device implementing the automated assistant (e.g., controlling other application(s) of the device).
Automated assistants can be installed at a variety of different devices such as, for example, mobile phones, smart home devices, and/or vehicles. Automated assistants can have different capabilities based on the devices they are installed on, invoked on, or commanded to perform actions on. Automated assistants can receive software updates (client-side and/or server-side) to their functionality and natural language understanding models over time, which may vary based on the device on which the automated assistant is installed. Automated assistants may also be configured to interact with various third-party services and applications running on different platforms, and those third-party services, applications, and platforms may themselves receive functional updates at various times. These various device-dependent capabilities and/or software updates can result in unintended changes in the automated assistant functionality.

Low latency automated identification of automated assistant function failure


An apparatus for converting an input analog audio signal into digital form including an analog-to-digital converter. An amplifier circuit and step-down transformer provide an interface for the input analog audio signal to the analog-to-digital converter. The step-down transformer includes a primary winding operably coupled to the amplifier circuit and a secondary winding operably coupled to the analog-to-digital converter. The amplifier circuit drives the primary winding with the input analog audio signal (or an amplified version thereof). The step-down transformer generates a stepped-down representation of the input analog audio signal at its secondary winding. Advantageously, the step-down transformer lowers the effective output impedance of the amplifier circuit, which reduces distortion in the audio analog input signal supplied to the analog-to-digital converter. In addition, the step-down transformer reduces (by the factor 1/N) the demand placed on amplifier circuit in charging a sampling capacitor typically realized as part of the input stage of the analog-to-digital-converter.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to analog-to-digital converters. More particularly, this invention relates to analog-to-digital converters that store an analog input signal voltage level on one or more capacitive circuit elements.
2. State of the Art
As shown in FIG. 1, an analog-to-digital converter 10 typically includes a sample-and-hold input stage that utilizes a switch 12 to selectively couple a sampling capacitor Csample to the input 14, which allows the sampling capacitor Csample to charge to an analog voltage level that corresponds to the analog voltage level at the input 14. The switch 12 is opened and analog-to-digital conversion circuitry 16 converts the analog voltage level stored on the sampling capacitor Csample to a sequence of digital words (each word being one or more bits) corresponding thereto. As is well known in the electronic arts, there are many different architectures that may be used to implement the analog-to-digital conversion process carried out by the converter 16, including voltage-scaling converters, charge-scaling converters, successive-approximation converters, flash-type converters, sigma-delta converters, etc. The suitability of a given approach is dependent upon the desired resolution (e.g., number of bits) of the conversion process and the frequency of the signal that is converted.
Conventionally, an operational amplifier buffer 18 is used to charge the sampling capacitor Csample to an analog voltage level that corresponds to the analog voltage level at the input 14. This configuration is shown in FIG. 1. The output impedance of the operational amplifier 18 together with the sampling capacitor Csample cause a lagging phase shift. This phase shift, together with the operational amplifier's internal phase shifts and high feedback ratio, causes undesired instability and/or ringing. Such instability and/or ringing is exacerbated by the fact that the sampling capacitor Csample is switchably coupled to the output of the operational amplifier 18 at the sampling rate of the analog-to-digital converter 16 (or a multiple thereof). In audio applications, such instability and/or ringing distorts the audio input signal and subsequent analog-to-digital conversion process, which is typically most evident at high audio frequencies.
In addition, any "real world" operational amplifier will have an input offset voltage error (typically due to internal device mismatches or other circuit imbalances). Such input offset voltage errors, if significant, will make the operational amplifier 18 unsuitable for use in multi-bit analog-to-digital conversion operations. Moreover, "real world" operational amplifiers with low input offset voltage errors generally have insufficient slew rates to achieve low distortion at high audio frequencies.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide improved circuitry that converts an analog audio signal into digital form in a manner that reduces distortion in the conversion process.

Audio signal analog-to-digital converter utilizing a transformed-based input circuit