Provided is an electro-mechanical brake with a differential gear which includes a driving unit that generates a rotational force by a power that is selectively applied along with the operation of the brake pedal, a differential gear unit that is connected to the driving unit through a gear and in which a first shaft and a second shaft that are disposed in a straight line, an external braking unit that is connected to the first shaft of the differential gear unit through a gear, and an internal braking unit that is connected to the second shaft of the differential gear unit through a gear.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electro-mechanical brake with a differential gear, and more particularly, to an electro-mechanical brake with a differential gear that is attached to one side of a brake disc provided inside vehicle wheels to selectively reduce or stop rotations of the vehicle wheels along with an operation of a brake pedal by a user and in which when a driving unit that generates a rotational force by a power that is selectively applied along with the operation of the brake pedal by the user is driven, the rotational force of the driving unit is transmitted to a differential gear unit and an external braking unit and an internal braking unit that are connected to the differential gear unit simultaneously provide braking powers to the disc along with the rotation of the differential gear unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, it is well known that a brake serves to decelerate or stop a vehicle by converting kinetic energy of a driving vehicle into heat energy by mechanical friction of a friction material to radiate the heat energy into the air.
In the driving method of generating the mechanical friction, a hydraulic caliper having a hydraulic cylinder and a piston is mostly used in the vehicle. A force by which a driver steps on a brake pedal is amplified through a hydraulic booster, and the amplified hydraulic pressure is transmitted to the hydraulic caliper (a large cross sectional area) attached to each wheel through an oil pipe and a master cylinder having a small diameter (a small cross sectional area).
As a result, the piston is pushed by a force obtained by multiplying the hydraulic pressure transmitted to a slave cylinder of the caliper by a cross sectional area of a caliper cylinder, and the piston moves a pad toward a disc to bring the pad into contact with the disc to generate a large clamping force.
A force obtained by multiplying the clamping force by a frictional coefficient of a contact surface between the pad and the disc is applied to the disc as a braking power. As a result, a small pedal force is converted into a high clamping force to be used for braking.
A hydraulic disc brake system that has been widely used is classified into a disc floating type, a fixed caliper type, and a floating caliper type.
First, since the disc floating type has a structure in which the disc is moved along with the movement of the piston while the caliper is fixed, noise may be caused in the disc, and reliability is poor. Thus, the disc floating type is rarely used.
Further, the fixed caliper type has a structure in which the pad is almost simultaneously clamped to the disc by two pistons on both sides of the disc.
Although the fixed caliper type has high reliability, since a volume is increased, a ventilation property may be poor.
Finally, the floating caliper type has a structure in which a hydraulic piston pressing unit moves an inner pad toward the disc to clamp the inner pad to the disc, a caliper housing slides in an opposite direction to the motion of the inner pad by a repulsive force after the inner pad is clamped against the disc, and an outer pad is pulled toward the disc to clamp and brake both side surfaces of the rotating disc.
Since the floating caliper type has a small number of components, a light weight and an excellent cooling function, the floating caliper type has been used in most vehicles. However, since the inner pad is first clamped in initial braking and the outer pad is operated by the repulsive force, there may occur a difference in wear between the inner pad and the outer pad.
Furthermore, a braking power at an initial brake operation may be insufficient until the outer pad is clamped.
Meanwhile, along with a change to a future vehicle such as a hybrid car, a fuel cell car and an electric car, safety of the vehicle, and a need for an environment-friendly vehicle, there is an increasing need for an electro-mechanical brake (EMB) in which an electric motor is applied to brake wheels instead of an existing hydraulic brake, so that various EMB products have been developed.
The EMB product has a structure in which a hydraulic driving unit (a hydraulic cylinder, a piston) that presses the pad is removed from the existing hydraulic disc brake to be replaced with a motor driving unit (motor, a roller screw, a decelerator), and the disc rotated using the motor as a driving source is braked.
Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2001-0032508 (filed on Apr. 25, 2001) discloses an electro-mechanical wheel brake for a vehicle including an electric motor; an operating device that is driven by the electric motor, converts a rotation driving motion of the electric motor into a linear motion, and has no auto locking function; and an electronic brake having a frictional brake pad that is pressed against a brake main body connected to vehicle wheels from the operating device through the driving of the operating device using the electric motor so as not to be rotated and a first electromagnet for operation. In the electro-mechanical wheel brake for a vehicle, the electric motor and the operating device are respectively fixed to their positions by using the electronic brake, and the electronic brake has a second electromagnet for operation.
Further, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2009-0130602 (filed on Dec. 24, 2009) discloses a caliper-integrated electronic parking brake including an EPB-ECU that controls driving of a vehicle and receives a signal of an operation button to generate a control signal for parking; a driving assay that includes a decelerator in which an outer ring gear is circumscribed in parallel to a side surface of a gear wheel circumscribed in parallel to a side surface of a driving gear directly receiving a rotational force of a motor being rotated or reversely rotated under the control of the EPB ECU and has an axial force generating gear disposed to pass through the inner space of the outer ring gear in an axial direction to generate an axial-direction driving power for pressing the pad toward the wheel disc, and an integrated housing for accommodating the motor and the decelerator therein; a straight line motion unit that has a screw shaft receiving output torque generated in the driving assay to be moved in a straight line motion back and forth; and a caliper that is provided to surround a wheel disc attached to a vehicle wheel and implements a parking braking state of a vehicle by allowing a piston to press a pad by an axial-direction pressing force applied by a nut and the screw shaft as the straight line motion unit at the time of driving the motor to restrain the wheel disc.
The electro-mechanical parking brake (EPB) has a mechanism similar to the floating caliper type of the hydraulic disc brake.
That is, the EPB has a structure in which the inner pad is moved and clamped using the motor as the driving source and the sliding caliper is moved by the repulsive force after the inner pad is clamped to clamp the outer pad, so that the braking is performed.
The existing hydraulic disc brake and the electro-mechanical brake have basically the same mechanism except that the hydraulic pressure or the motor are respectively used as the driving sources in the existing hydraulic disc brake and the electro-mechanical brake, and the piston or the screw (gear) are respectively used as the driving power transmitting structure in the existing hydraulic disc brake and the electro-mechanical brake.
In other words, the inner pad is first moved and clamped, and the outer pad is clamped by the repulsive force to perform the braking.
In the two mechanisms, there may occur a different in wear between the inner pad and the outer pad in the floating caliper type. Further, it takes a longer time to reach a required braking power due to the operation principle (the caliper is moved to clamp the outer pad by the repulsive force after the inner pad is moved to be clamped) than the fixed caliper type, so that responsiveness may be degraded.
In order to obtain a braking power provided by the existing hydraulic pressure, a driving power transmitting manner such a ball screw method or a screw method having a relatively high deceleration ratio is mostly used in the EMB. Since the screw method has a driving power transmitting efficiency (efficiency: 0.6 to 0.8) lower than that (efficiency: 0.98) of a general spur gear or a helical gear, the screw method needs to select a driving motor of a higher output.
Moreover, since the ball screw method (efficiency: 0.9 or more) has relatively high manufacturing cost, unit cost of components may be increased.
In addition, in order to reduce the entire size of the EMB, the specifications of the motor need to be small. When the specifications of the motor are small, since a final output after gear shifting is performed is decreased, a braking power (1,200 Kgf) for maintaining parking braking and provision of the vehicle and during driving is decreased. For this reason, reliability for performance of the EMB may be degraded.
In addition, when a motor driving power is large, the braking power for maintaining the parking braking is sufficiently generated. However, since the entire size and weight of the EMB are increased due to the motor, the weight of the vehicle may be increased. Accordingly, the attachment may be easily degraded.
Meanwhile, a relatively simple mechanism in which the driving power of the motor is transmitted to a rack and a pinion without a differential gear may be designed.
However, in this case, when the wears of the inner pad and the outer pad are constantly generated, the two pads can be simultaneously clamped.
This is because strokes of the inner pad and the outer pad (distance by which racks are moved from a driving power transmitting shaft) are constantly the same.
That is, when there is a difference in wear between the inner pad and the outer pad, only one pad is first clamped, and a certain portion of the firstly clamped pad is worn. Thereafter, both of the inner pad and the outer pad are clamped. Accordingly, in this case, accurate responsiveness may not be expected.

Electro-mechanical brake with differential gear

DAEGU GYEONGBUK INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


An integrated optical signal Synthesizer and Analyzer for optical communications, each formed on a single chip, is disclosed. The Synthesizer and Analyzer are both design to use a Dual-Polarization Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) for communication operating at high data rates. A communication system for data transmission having such synthesizer and the analyzer is also disclosed.

The effective extension of the communication distance and the data capacity in the next-generation optical signal technology is no longer a theoretical possibility, becoming the feasible solutions for the modern optical network. This is due, mainly, to the combination of several critical technological advancements, such as, 1) coherent optical detection development, 2) QAM format adoption, 3) progress in adaptive electrical equalization technology.
A typical single-polarization transmitter configuration suitable for generating arbitrary PSK/DPSK signals, which has recently been employed with high-order phase modulation, uses binary electrical driving signals and is composed of a combination of an optical IQ modulator and consecutive phase modulators, as depicted in FIG. 1. The optical IQ modulator, whose Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) are driven at the minimum transmission point, accomplishes a quaternary phase modulation, and higher-order phase modulation signals are generated by the consecutive phase-modulators (PMs). Such PSK/DPSK transmitters are extended by an additional intensity MZM at the end, see FIG. 1, for a Star-QAM generation with symbols placing at the different intensity levels.
The high-speed wide-bandwidth Lithium Niobate (LN) modulators are typically based on either an X-cut (Y-propagating) or Z-cut MZM with traveling-wave electrodes. The single-mode optical waveguides can be fabricated by either Ti-in-diffusion or annealed proton exchange. In a single MZM the refractive index is changed by an externally applied voltage. Such transmitters can be enhanced to polarization multiplexing using polarization-rotators converters that can be built-in into the same LN chip.
On the receiving side a coherent detection is implemented to decode the received optical beam. In contrast to existing optical direct-detection system technology, an optical coherent detection scheme would detect an optical signal's amplitude as well as its phase and polarization. Within the fixed optical bandwidth more data can be transmitted using a coherent detection scheme with increased detection capability and spectral efficiency. Coherent detection provides increased receiver sensitivity by 2-6 dB compared to an incoherent system. In addition, since coherent detection enables an optical signal's phase and polarization to be measured and processed, the transmission impairments that previously presented challenges to accurate data reception can, in principle, be mitigated electronically when an optical signal is converted into the electronic domain. Tier-1 network providers have now realized the potential for optical coherent systems by deploying DPSK systems with improved DSP receiving circuits based on complicated optical phase-lock loops.
FIG. 2 shows the basic setup of a digital coherent receiver with homodyne synchronous detection and polarization division de-multiplexing.
The signal launched into the receiver is split by a polarization beam splitter (PBS). Than both polarization components are interfered with the LO light in two 2×4 90° hybrids. In practice, both separated polarization components of the information signal at the PBS outputs exhibit the same linear polarization state, and it suffices when the LO light, whose polarization must then be aligned to the polarization of the signal at the two PBS outputs, is equally split with a 3 dB coupler. The carrier synchronization is performed by digital signal processing (DSP). The output signals of the two 2×4 90° hybrids are detected by two pairs of balanced detectors which provide the in-phase and quadrature photocurrents of both polarization components at the outputs of the optical receiver frontend. In the electrical receiver part, the in-phase and quadrature signals are sampled by A/D-converters and then further processed by elaborate digital signal processing.
Arbitrary formats modulation formats can be demodulated by such a receiver since demodulation is based on absolute phases. For the detection of any modulation format, the same optical frontend can be used. The digital algorithms and the data recovery must be adapted in accordance with the particular received format. Receiver sensitivity is also increased in comparison with receivers based on differential detection. Moreover, the availability of the optical phase information in the electrical domain enables an efficient digital equalization to compensate for transmission impairments.
The optical hybrids show in FIG. 2 are the critical part of the coherent receiver needed to combine a local oscillator wave, Lo, with the received signal, S. Such an optical hybrid is a key component in phase- or polarization-diversity schemes. Ideally, the hybrid should combine waves with quadrature relative phases at the outputs, providing the advantage of base-band processing. In a two-phase case outputs must be mutually phased at 90° (in-phase and quadrature, referred to as I and Q signals).
It would be desirable to create highly integrated devices with functionality shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, preferably built-in within the same electro-optical chip, sharing a single package with electronics components.
The goal of this invention is to use coherent transmitters/receivers, and channel compensation algorithms to achieve agile free-space optical communications links. The flexible, highly integrated architecture will provide a secure, robust, multi-rate/multi-format cost-efficient optical transmission that is resistant to jamming and eavesdropping and achieves spectrally-efficient high data rate throughput in any challenging communication environment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus for dual-polarization QAM and optical communications system using the same cross-reference to related application


An optical rotary angle sensor with at least one first measurement member able to move in the measuring direction having light-transparent and non-transparent regions located on it, at least one second measurement member arranged static relative to the first measurement member in the measuring direction, and/or at least one photoelectric transducer. To keep the distance between the rotating measurement member and the static measurement member and/or the optical-electrical transducer very small, i.e. in the range of about 10–20 μm, and to make the centering of the two relative to each other independent of the formerly necessary shaft bearing, the measurement members are configured so that they are properly oriented relative to each other in the measuring direction and kept spaced apart by a guide provided between the measurement members. The guide can be a form-fitting connection in at least one of the directions not representing the measurement direction.

The invention concerns an optical sensor for determining angles of rotation.
Such optical systems all work on the principle of the object to be measured moving in a measurement direction relative to a stationary scanning system. Measurements concerning the object are then processed as light and directed onto electrical photoreceivers.
One commonly used principle for operating such optical systems is the transmitted light principle, in which the object, which could be made of glass, transparent plastic, or metal with light-transparent structures etched out, is penetrated by light, preferably parallel light. On the opposite side, the light which has been modulated by the movement of the object is transformed by photoreceivers into electrical signals. This method is relatively simple and economical to carry out.
Another principle used for such optical sensors is optically scanning the object for light reflected by it. Less common, because it is relatively costly and demands more precision parts, is the principle of interferometric scanning of the object. In this case, coherent light interferes on a lattice with a lattice width on the order of the wavelength of the light to produce an extinction or amplification of the light and, thus, a corresponding electrical modulation at the optical receiver. It is known to employ this technique in sensors employing either the transmitted light principle or the reflection principle.
The fundamental problems of all principles are, first, that the distance or spacing between the rotating object and the optical receiver or a static object must be precisely controlled for good modulation and, secondly, the two objects must be accurately centered relative to each other.
In industry, distances of between 100 to 300 μm are customary for optical sensors employing the transmitted light principle. But such relatively large distances are only attainable with modulation structures that are of about the same order of magnitude. For shaft encoders with very high resolution or with very small divisions, the distances must be kept much smaller, which then entails high costs for the mechanical support and the required precision mechanics. The centering of the objects relative to each other is done either optically with appropriate magnification optics or electrically by scanning processed optical signals. In all applications, the rotating object is supported by a separate shaft bearing, which controls both the distance of and the centering relative to the static object. Such shaft encoders are known, for example, from German patent publication DE 100 60 574 A1.


A clamping cartridge is provided which comprises a plurality of clamping mechanisms spaced apart on a frame or chassis. The clamping mechanisms are generally oriented perpendicular to their direction of spacing. The clamping mechanisms are of the type which comprise a pair of relatively movable jaws which are normally biased towards one another such that they resist opening and which return to a closed or substantially closed condition in the absence of external forces. An actuator operable in association with the clamping mechanisms serves to open and close the jaws of the clamping mechanisms in unison. The actuator includes a series of rotatable tapered cylindrical cam wheels disposed on a rotatable cam shaft to ultimately effect opening and closing of the clamps, which cam wheels are disposed generally within the clamps. By providing apertures or slots in the jaws of the clamps to accommodate the cam shaft, a considerable reduction in the height of the cartridge can be realized. The cam shaft is rotatably supported in bearings and a detachable handle is provided with which the shaft can be rotated. While the clamps are closeable in unison, they are individually self-adjusting so the extent of closure for each clamp is dependent on the thickness or presence of an inserted article. The clamping cartridges are useful in a variety of applications requiring clamping of one or more articles in a side-by-side relationship. One such application is a transportation/storage rack which includes a plurality of aligned horizontal and vertical clamping cartridges for clamping the edges of glass panels.

There are numerous instances where a series of sheet or panel-type products need be transported and/or stored. When all such items are identical, there is usually no need to be concerned over loading and unloading sequences. However, when the items are not identical, any sequenced access must be predetermined which usually entails predetermined loading strategies and, furthermore, random access may simply not be possible. Moreover, where the items vary in thickness, group clamping typically requires individual (i.e. time-consuming) adjustment of respective clamping mechanisms. Existing solutions are either cumbersome, inefficient and/or unable to address all of the user-defined requirements. These requirements and the challenges were, mainly, the following:                the ability to load a variety of panel sizes and thicknesses within a given packaging unit, for example in a custom metal rack;        the ability to access, remove or replace any one or all panels individually, without affecting the rest of the panels;        the ability to grip and hold the parts (panels) during transport and storage;        user-friendly operating sequences;        reliability and ease of maintenance; and        cost effectiveness.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,946,453 describes a supporting rack for automobile windshields having a plurality of pairs of posts, half of which are fixed while the other half are associated with a movable frame so as to enable the movable posts to be moved in unison against the fixed posts to provide a clamping action therebetween.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,253 illustrates a windshield carrier having a pair of fixed parallel slotted frames for receiving windshields therein. Clamping is effected either by an associated pair of movable parallel frames having corresponding slots therein (FIG. 1) or a series of pressure elements movable through a linkage (FIG. 8). The devices of both of these patents have unitary movement of all clamping elements, but the fixed spacing structure will only function to clamp the thickest of a plurality of planar articles of variable thicknesses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,251 discloses a windshield carrier having a plurality of posts in two rows. A rotatable friction element is disposed atop each post which can be rotated into engagement with the surface of a windshield disposed between adjacent posts. The friction elements are individually rotatable. This device has the capacity to accommodate a plurality of planar articles of variable thicknesses, but each clamping mechanism must be operated independently.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,452 shows a supporting rack for breakable articles comprising a plurality of spaced apart posts in parallel rows. An inflatable tube is provided on the exterior of each post and, thus, between adjacent posts. The tube is inflatable to contact the articles disposed between the posts in a secure and safe fashion. This apparatus has the capacity to accommodate a plurality of planar articles of variable thicknesses and is operable to close and release all clamps in unison. However, the apparatus requires the hydraulic/pneumatic system to be operating/pressurized at all times when clamping is required. Thus, if the system fails, the clamping function ceases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,936 illustrates a device for holding flat objects, such as circuit boards, wherein a plurality of slots are provided in a tray having cooperating blocks with ridges moveable relative thereto. In order to accommodate a variety of thicknesses of boards, resilient cushions are disposed between the ridges which compress to the extent necessary. The device is spring biased in the open position. This device has the capacity to accommodate a plurality of planar articles of variable thicknesses and is operable to close and release all clamps in unison. Like with U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,452, this apparatus is open in its relaxed state.

Compact clamping cartridge for panel-type products


A light scanning device, including a light source including plural light emitting elements arranged linearly, a deflection section that deflects plural light beams emitted from the light source to scan a surface to be scanned, a photosensor that receives at least one of the plural light beams that are deflected by the deflection section, a signal generation section that generates a signal when a light energy amount received at the photosensor reaches a predetermined amount, and a control section that starts scanning of the surface to be scanned by each light beam after a predetermined amount of time passes from a point in time when the signal is generated by the signal generation section, the light receiving surface of the photosensor being inclined to receive light beams emitted from at least two light emitting elements among the plural light emitting elements, is provided.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light scanning device for scanning a surface to be scanned by deflecting plural light beams emitted from a light source by a deflection section.
2. Related Art
In an image forming device in an electronographic system, for high resolution and high speed, a light scanning device has been widely used, which simultaneously emits plural light beams from a light source in which plural light emitting elements such as a semiconductor laser is arranged two-dimensionally and deflects them on the same deflection surface to scan a photoreceptor at the same time by plural light beams simultaneously. In addition, as a light source of this light scanning device, a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (a so-called VCSEL) has been widely used because of its high degree of freedom in arrangement of the semiconductor laser and low manufacturing cost.
In the light scanning device, generally, a photodetector is arranged so that light beam at starting of a main scanning can enter upon. This photodetector generates a scanning onset signal (hereinafter, called as a SOS signal) in accordance with timing of detection of the scanned beam and a driving circuit of a light source controls a start position of the main scanning based on a SOS signal generated by the photodetector.
As shown in FIG. 9, as a photodetector, one configured by a photodiode applying a current depending on a light incident amount, an amplifier OP for perform I (current)/V (voltage) conversion by amplifying the inputted current, a threshold power source SP for generating a voltage indicating a threshold, and a comparator CP for comparing each output voltage of the amplifier OP and the threshold power source SP has been widely known. In this photodetector, the SOS signal is made a high level when the output voltage of an amplifier OP is not less than a threshold.
It is general that a single mode oscillation (oscillation in a single wave length) is required for the light scanning device in order to obtain a minute beam spot, however, if the single mode oscillation is made in the VCSEL, there is a tendency that the light emission output is small. Therefore, in the case of scanning a photodiode PD by lighting only one VCSEL, the light energy amount received by the photodiode PD is small. So it may be required that the amplification gain of the photodiode PD is increased or the threshold voltage is decreased. However, in this case, this makes the scanning easily affected by the noise. Therefore, a method to increase a light energy amount received by the photodiode PD by lighting plural VCSELs of which positions in the main scanning directions are close to each other and scanning the photodiode PD is devised.
According to this method, when there is no displacement in the positions in the main scanning directions of plural VCSELs (Δ=0 μm), plural light beams emitted from the plural VCSELs at the same time enters the photodiode PD at the same time, so that, as shown in a graph of FIG. 10, a received light energy profile is formed, which has one rising and one falling and has the maximum value larger than the light emission energy amount of each VCSEL. Therefore, there are only two cross points between the received light energy profile and an energy level corresponding to a threshold vale of generation of a SOS signal without raising the amplification gain of the photodiode PD or lowering the threshold voltage, and this makes it possible to generate a SOS signal stably. Further, the graph of FIG. 10 shows a received light energy profile in a main scanning direction in the photodiode PD when three VCSELs having Gaussian distribution with a beam diameter of 60 μmare lighted at the same time to scan the photodiode PD.
However, if there is a displacement in the positions of the main scanning directions of plural VCSELs (Δ=100 μm), there is a difference in times that plural light beams emitted from the plural VCSELs at the same time enter the photodiode PD. Therefore, as shown in the graph of FIG. 10, rising and falling are repeated for each light beam and the received light energy profile of which the maximum value is substantially equivalent to the light emission energy amount of each VCSEL is formed. Therefore, in order to make only two cross points between the received light energy profile and the energy level corresponding to the threshold vale of generation of the SOS signal, the amplification gain of the photodiode PD should be increased or the threshold voltage should be increased, and this makes the affect of the noise easy to receive.


Process for the preparation of pure propanephosphonic anhydride, which comprises distilling crude, impure propanephosphonic anhydride having an average degree of polymerization of 20 to 200 and containing less than 0.5% by weight of water by heating to 230 to 300.degree. C. under a pressure of 0.1 to 100 mbar, pure propanephosphonic anhydride having an average degree of polymerization of 20 to 60 being obtained.

Propanephosphonic anhydride is a valuable intermediate product. It is used, for example, for the preparation of flameproofing agents, for corrosion prevention on metals, for formation of complexes with metals, for linking peptides or as a crosslinking agent for polymers. For many of the intended uses mentioned, it is necessary to employ propanephosphonic anhydride which is as far as possible colorless and pure. This means that the propanephosphonic anhydride must in general contain 95% by weight, but at least more than 85% by weight, of the component mentioned, and the remainder should not contain intensely colored impurities. The propanephosphonic anhydride is not a compound of defined molecular size, i.e. defined degree of polymerization, but a mixture of polymolecular anhydrides of different chain length formed by elimination of water from the propanephosphonic acid groups, it also being possible for cyclic anhydrides to be present.
Various methods are known for the preparation of alkanephosphonic acid anhydrides. Those processes which start from phosphonic acids are of particular interest here. It is known first to convert the phosphonic acids into phosphonyl dichloride using phosphorus trichloride, thionyl chloride or phosgene, and then to purify the low-boiling propanephosphonyl dichloride by distillation. This product is then reacted with the stoichiometric amount of water or with propanephosphonic acid to give propanephosphonic anhydride and hydrogen chloride. Because of the use of chlorinating agents and of the hydrogen chloride unavoidably obtained, this method meets technical difficulties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,035 describes in Example 2 a process for preparing propanephosphonic anhydride by heating propanephosphonic acid at 360.degree.-420.degree. C. under a pressure of 25 mm Hg. This eventually results in the elimination of water, which is distilled off together with the low molecular weight propanephosphonic anhydride formed by the elimination of water. This process can be realized industrially only with difficulty and with great expense. Practically no apparatus material is resistant in the long term at the high temperature required for elimination of the water, because of the corrosive aggressiveness of the medium. Furthermore, when the propanephosphonic anhydride which distills over together with the eliminated water is condensed in the condensation step, some of the propanephosphonic anhydride formed unavoidably reacts again with the gaseous eliminated water, so that the propanephosphonic anhydride formed always contains portions of re-formed propanephosphonic acid. The propanephosphonic anhydride which is formed in the first stage and distills over together with the eliminated water probably comprises cyclic, low molecular weight compounds. This process moreover requires the use of relatively pure propanephosphonic acid, because by-products contained therein also distill at the high temperatures necessary for elimination of the water, and therefore contaminate the resulting propanephosphonic anhydride.
The present invention now provides a process for the preparation of pure propanephosphonic anhydride in which the disadvantages mentioned for the customary processes no longer occur.
It has now been found that impure polymolecular propanephosphonic anhydride can be distilled under certain conditions as low molecular weight cyclic propanephosphonic anhydride, which changes back into higher molecular weight purified propanephosphonic anhydride when the vapors condense.


A particle image analyzer provided with an image processor for executing predetermined image processes on a particle image containing an image of a particle, a reading means for reading test result data from a flash memory card on which are previously recorded test result data equivalent to the processing result of the image processor during normal operation, and a testing means for determining whether or not the image processor is operating normally by comparing the processing result obtained when the test image is used in the image processor, and test result data read from the flash memory card by the reading means.

Particle image analyzers used to manage powder products, mainly fine ceramic particles, pigments, cosmetic powders and the like, are widely known (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,433). This particle image analyzer encompasses a particle suspension flow with a sheath fluid using a sheath flow cell to convert the flow to a narrow or flat flow, and photographs the particle in the suspension flow to obtain a particle image that contains the image of a particle, so as to acquire information relating to the size and shape of the particle by executing predetermined image processes on the particle image. In general, since a large quantity of images of particles are contained in the particle image, it is desirable to increase the processing speed as much as possible in the particle image analyzer. Therefore, the particle image analyzer is provided with a special built-in image processing circuit board having an image processor (image processing circuit) capable of executing high-speed image processing.
Furthermore, the particle image analyzer is provided with a testing function for testing whether or not a frame memory is writable using the image processor, and testing whether or not the image processor is operating normally.
The previously mentioned conventional particle image analyzer, however, is provided with an image processor having a testing function, and this testing function is independent from the image processing function of the image processor, such that it is necessary to provide a special testing structure (hardware or software) such as a SCAN circuit, BIST (built-in self test) circuit and the like separately from the image processing hardware structure. Accordingly, in order to install the testing function it is necessary to design and develop testing hardware or software completely separately from the image processing hardware, thereby increasing number of development processes and number of design processes.

Method for testing image processing circuit, particle image analyzer, and storage medium


A system for connecting electrical leads having connector assemblies carrying electrical connectors to an implantable electrical device having a device housing containing electrical circuitry, including a first connector module fixedly mounted to the device housing, with a first set of electrical connectors coupled to the circuitry within the device housing and a second connector module, with a second set of electrical connectors engageable with the first set of connectors and a second set of connectors electrically coupled to the second set of connectors and engageable with the connectors on the electrical leads and a mechanism for retaining the second module on an outer surface of the device housing adjacent the first module while the second set of connectors engages the first set of connectors. The first and second sets of connectors preferably engage one another as a result of movement of the second module in a first direction into engagement with the second connector module and the retaining mechanism preferably functions to engage and retain the second connector module on the outer surface of the device housing during movement of the second module in the first direction.

The present invention relates generally to mechanisms for interconnecting electrical leads and electrical medical devices, and more particularly to interconnecting implantable electrical leads and implantable medical electrical devices such as pacemakers, nerve stimulators, implantable defibrillators, implantable monitors and so forth.
As implantable electrical devices have increased in their complexity, there has been an increasing variety of electrical lead systems developed for use in conjunction with these devices. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the context of implantable cardioverter/defibrillators, which may include three, four, five, or more electrodes located on various numbers of implantable electrical leads. The leads themselves may carry one, two, three, or more electrodes, and may employ a variety of different electrical connector configurations and types. As a result, manufacturers of implantable cardioverter/defibrillators have had to produce their products with a variety of connector block configurations, capable of use with different lead systems. For example, Medtronic, Inc. presently manufactures implantable cardioverter/defibrillators with four basic connector designs, designated configurations "B", "C", "D", and "E". The "B" configuration includes three 6.5 mm connector bores for receiving high voltage electrical lead connectors of the type used to couple to cardioversion/defibrillation electrodes and one IS-1 compatible 3.2 mm in-line electrical connector bore for receiving an IS-1 electrical lead connector of the type generally used to couple to cardiac pacing and sensing electrodes. The "C" configuration includes a single 3.2 mm "DF-1" connector bore for receiving high voltage electrical lead connectors used to couple to cardioversion/defibrillation electrodes and a single IS-1 connector bore. The "D" configuration includes three DF-1 connector bores and one IS-1 connector bore. The "E" configuration includes two 6.5 mm connector bores and two 5 mm connector bores for receiving electrical lead connectors used to couple to individual cardiac pacing and sensing electrodes.
Traditionally, incompatibility between the configuration of the connector block and the connector assemblies on the implanted leads has been addressed by means of adapters. Typically, these adapters take the form of a relatively short lead which at one end has a connector assembly which may be inserted into one or more bores on the connector block on the implantable device and at the other end has one or more connector bores capable of receiving the connector assembly or assemblies on the electrical leads to be used with the device. These adapters are bulky and add substantially to the size of the pocket in which the device is to be implanted. In addition, they tend to require a number of additional steps to be performed by the physician in order to couple the leads to the implanted device, and are thus seen as undesirable generally. Such adapters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,177, issued to Hoffmann, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,442, issued to Levine. Some adapters, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,050,602 issued to Osypka and 5,060,649 issued to Hocherl et al. even required removal of the connector assembly of the lead as part of the connection process. Another approach to resolving lead/device incompatibility problems is the up-sizing sleeve, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,543, issued to Peers-Trevarton and U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,864, issued to Stutz Jr. However, up-sizing sleeves are usable only in cases in which the connector assembly of the lead is smaller than the connector bore, and only in some of these cases. While it would be preferable if a universal interconnection system could be developed for use in conjunction with implantable pacemakers, cardioverters and defibrillators, this goal remains elusive.

Apparatus for interconnecting implantable electrical leads and medical device


A combustion type power tool having an arrangement avoiding direct striking of a drive shaft against a cylinder head when combustion pressure is exerted. A motor is disposed at the cylinder head and includes a motor body and a drive shaft extending in an axial direction and protruding into a combustion chamber. A fan is connected to the drive shaft to be rotatable within the combustion chamber. A buffer piece made from an elastic material is supported to the cylinder head. The buffer piece is movable relative to the cylinder head in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axial direction. The buffer piece is formed with a through-hole through which the drive shaft extends.

The present invention relates to a combustion-type power tool, and more particularly, to such power tool capable of driving a fastener such as a nail, an anchor, and a staple into a workpiece.
A combustion type power tool provides high operability in comparison with a pneumatically operated power tool requiring a compressor and a hose. In a conventional combustion-type driving tool such as a nail gun, a gaseous fuel injected into a combustion chamber is ignited to cause gas expansion in the combustion chamber, which in turn causes a linear momentum of a piston. By the movement of the piston, a nail is driven into a workpiece. In order to improve combustion, a motor having a motor shaft is supported to a cylinder head, and a fan connected to the motor shaft is disposed in the combustion chamber for agitating a combustible gas. Further, a bumper is disposed to absorb kinetic energy of the piston moving toward the workpiece. Such conventional combustion-type driving tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,280.
The motor is reciprocally moved relative to the cylinder head in the sliding direction of the piston at the explosion timing and bumping timing of the piston against the bumper. To this effect, a predetermined gap is provided between the motor shaft and the cylinder head.

Combustion type power tool having buffer piece


A pump absorbs ink from nozzles of an ink-jet head by increasing an internal space of the pump and discharges the ink by decreasing the internal space. A valve has an absorbing path formed therein and a discharging groove formed thereon, and passes through a wall of the pump. A communicating unit communicates with a first end of the absorbing path of the valve and causes the nozzles of the ink-jet head to communicate with the internal space of the pump through the absorbing path. When the pump absorbs ink from the nozzles of the ink-jet head, the valve moves through the wall of the pump so that a second end of the absorbing path is exposed to the internal space of the pump, and the pump increases the internal space. When the pump discharges ink, the valve moves through the wall of the pump so that the second end of the absorbing path is opened externally and the discharging groove is aligned with the wall of the pump, and the pump decreases the internal space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet head back-up device and an ink-jet printer.
In an ink-jet printer, ink is sprayed from thin nozzles of an ink-jet head and thereby characters and so forth are printed on a recording medium such as a sheet of paper. In this arrangement, the following problems occur. Ink in the nozzles can become dry and have an increased viscosity. Paper dust can be adhered onto and cover the nozzles because the nozzles are wet due to the ink. Due to vibration, bubbles enter the ink-jet head via the nozzles. Due to these problems, some or all the nozzles clog and ink spray failure occurs. Further, the pressure by which ink is sprayed is absorbed by the bubbles and insufficient spraying is performed. Thus, printing quality is substantially degraded. Further, in an operation where the ink cartridge is replaced with a new old one, air enters the nozzle. When the air entered the nozzles, ink jet failure occurs. In order for the nozzle to provide stable ink jet printing, the ink-jet printer include an ink-jet head back-up device.
The ink-jet head back-up device absorbs forcibly ink from the nozzles. Thereby, high-viscosity ink, bubbles, paper dust and so forth are removed from the ink-jet head. Thus, the ink-jet head back-up device is a sort of head projection mechanism which performs an unclogging operation on a nozzle (hereinafter, simply referred to as a `purge`). This purge is performed after ink cartridge replacement is performed. In other cases, the purge is performed if necessary or periodically. For example, the purge is during an initial operation immediately after the ink-jet printer power-on operation or when an operator gives an instruction.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet head back-up device in the related art includes a pump which is connected with a tube from a nozzle cap which covers the nozzles of an ink-jet head, a valve and so forth. In order to miniaturize the ink-jet head back-up device, the valve is included in the pump. The valve is operated by the pressure in the pump or the operation of the pump. Thus, the valve is indirectly operated.
The purge includes, generally speaking, a main purge and an emptying purge. In the main purge, in a condition where the nozzle cap covers the nozzles of the ink-jet head, the pump and valve operate with a predetermined timing. Thereby, first, absorption is performed and ink and bubbles in the nozzles of the ink-jet head are absorbed into the pump. Then, the ink and bubbles are discharged from the pump. In the emptying purge, in a condition where the nozzle cap is removed from the ink-jet head, the above-mentioned operations are performed. Thereby, ink adhered in the nozzle cap and the tube is removed.
As mentioned above, the valve is operated by the pressure in the pump or the operation of the pump. Thus, the valve is indirectly operated. Accordingly, valve closing timing is slightly delayed. Thereby, although instantaneously, ink flows in the reverse direction to the nozzle cap and the purge cannot be properly performed. Thus, the ink-jet head back-up device in the related art has a reliability problem.

Ink-jet head back-up device and ink-jet printer


An organic semiconductor material, enabling to exhibit liquid crystal phase at wide temperature range including at least ordinary temperature and to exhibit high charge carrier mobility, and an organic semiconductor structure and organic semiconductor device formed from the organic semiconductor material. The organic semiconductor material has a quaterthiophene skeleton as shown in a following chemical formula 1, wherein R1 in the chemical formula 1 is an alkyl group of C1 to C20 or a hydrogen, and R2 is an alkyl group of C1 to C20 or a hydrogen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic semiconductor material, an organic semiconductor structure and an organic semiconductor device, wherein the organic semiconductor material exhibiting liquid crystal phase at wide temperature range, including at least ordinary temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, study about an organic semiconductor structure using an organic semiconductor material attracts attention, and its application to various devices is expected. As such application, a thin-film transistor (also called organic TFT) usable for a flexible display and the like, a light emitting element, solar battery and the like are being studied.
For the organic semiconductor structure, to be used at practical level, it is required to exhibit high charge carrier mobility at wide using temperature range. Also, preparation of a flexible molecular alignment film, which is uniform over a large area, is required. Therefore, it is desirable that the organic semiconductor structure exhibits liquid crystal phase at wide using temperature range (around −40 to +90° C.) including ordinary temperature, and that the liquid crystal phase has high charge carrier mobility.
Conventionally, for example, it has been reported that a rod-shaped liquid crystal material, such as a phenyl benzothiazole derivative, shows high charge carrier mobility in a liquid crystal state (for example, see M. Funahashi and J. Hanna, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 35, L703-L705 (1996)). Although this liquid crystal material shows liquid crystallinity at relatively high temperatures, this dose not show liquid crystallinity at wide using temperature range (around −40 to +90° C.) including ordinary temperature.

Organic semiconductor material, organic semiconductor structure, and organic semiconductor device


An apparatus for mating a base unit with a transmitter unit has a first face provided with a plurality of bores that spatially conform to a pattern of the mounting elements of the base unit and a second face that has a plurality of bores that spatially conform to the pattern of the mounting elements of the transmitter unit. To hydraulically connect the flow bores of the base unit and the transmitter unit, the plate includes a plurality of fluid conduits. Each flow conduit hydraulically connects a flow bore of the base unit to an associated flow bore of the transmitter unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a field mounted measurement transmitters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fluids such as liquids and gases are often conveyed via flow lines fitted with instrumentation that measures flow parameters such as pressure, temperature and flow rates. One exemplary type of instrumentation is a differential transmitter. In some arrangements, several pressure transmitters are strategically positioned along the flow line and transmit pressure readings to a desired location such as a central control room. As is generally, known pressure measurements along flow lines can be of critical importance because operating pressure must be kept within prescribed ranges to ensure safety and efficient operations. Moreover, due to their length, flow lines can require dozens, if not hundreds, of pressure transmitters and differential pressure transmitters to ensure adequate monitoring of flow. Conventionally, a differential pressure transmitter consists of a base unit and a transmitter unit. The base unit, which can include manifolds and suitable flanges, is fixed onto a section of a flow line. The transmitter unit, which includes the pressure sensor and transmitter, is thereafter mated with the base unit. During operations, the transmitter unit can occasionally fail. Typically, the differential pressure transmitter is sold as a unit. Thus, the entire assembly may have to be ordered even though the base unit does not have to be replaced. In other instances, the mating arrangement between the differential transmitter and the base unit does not conform to a particular industry generic form. In either of these situations, it can be costly and time-consuming to replace a defective pressure transmitter.
The present invention addresses these and other drawbacks of the prior art.

Universal converter plate for pressure transmitters


A method and an apparatus for inducing artificial hibernation of marine animal, wherein the temperature of sea water with marine animals is gradually lowered in stepwise process, while the sea water temperature is kept as is for a predetermined period of time at each step of lowering temperature, whereby the predetermined period of time maintained for each step of the lowered temperature is gradually increased to a point where changes of oxygen consumption by the marine animals greatly decreased or the changes of oxygen consumption is reached almost zero, and starting from this point, the time of constantly maintaining the sea water temperature at each step is gradually reduced to thereby ensuring a long survival rate (viability) of marine animals.

Rapid improvement of fish raising technologies (aquaculture) in 1980s has prompted a significant increase of high value or quality fishery products from aquaculture farms even in Korea starting from early part of 1990s (total mariculture fishery products in 1997: 39,121 tons), and demand and consumption of live fish (the word "fish" is used herein to include fin fish such as halibuts, crustaceans such as crabs, and shellfish such as clams and other aquatic animals) has greatly increased partially due to increased personal income. However, current domestic circulation of aquatic fisheries products including live fishery products depends on low density (approximately 15-20% of total weight) transportation systems using trucks equipped with water filled tanks which results in many associated distributional problems including difficulty in maintaining freshness due to delay in delivery caused by transportation problems such as traffic congestion; expensive transportation cost due to high fuel/labor costs and distance from farm and final consumers; and spoiled taste when the live fish is hauled long distances over land.
The typical methods of transporting such marine animals including live fish can be broadly categorized into four types, that is, (1) anesthetic transport, (2) electric shock transport, (3) cooling tank transport, and (4) artificial (dormant state of) hibernation transport.
To be more specific, one such recent system and method for transporting the live fish are described in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0232408 entitled as "high density transport method of live fish using cooled water", in which water, ice and salt are filled into a live fish water tank, and the temperature of water therein is cooled by 5˜15 degrees Celsius lower than the typical transport water temperature.
Other systems and methods are disclosed, for example, in Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0531728 entitled as "icy sea water cooling apparatus for live cuttlefish transport and storage" in which an icy seawater cooling apparatus is proposed for storage and transportation of cuttlefish in icy state of low temperature. Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0046109 entitled as "method and apparatus for storage and transportation of live fish" provides that a tank with several holes is maintained in low temperature for accommodating in each hole one or more fish to protect live fish from being bodily injuries and restraining the fish from moving freely.
However, as all these disclosures basically require a method for lowering temperature of water tank containing live fish, there are still problems in the live fish tank transportation methods of distributing live consumables with truck delivery system for domestic as well as foreign consumptions (hereinafter referred to as "tank transport"). Such specialized equipment for distribution is costly, and uncertainties of low temperature environment also have surfaced for various kinds of fish. In addition, high mortality of live fish persists during the long haul of transportation over land. Furthermore, the anesthetic transport method may cause hygienic safety problems and abhorrence. Another method such as the electric shock transport method may also pose a difficulty in pre-treatment, high morality rate, and deteriorated flesh quality of live fish.

Method and apparatus for inducing artificial hibernation of marine animal

Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute


A sailboard for sailing on snow or ice with a conventional articulated hand held sail mounted on the sailboard. Two runners underneath the sailboard are located to provide balanced gliding and to permit the sailboard to be rolled laterally on the outermost portion of the runners. Each runner glides longitudinally and has low resistance to lateral slippage. However, the rear of each runner is shaped to resist lateral slippage. A blade is provided on the runner for sailing on ice. As the sailboard pitches fore and aft, the blade pivots to remain flat on the ice.

It is well known in the prior art to construct ice boats and a variety of other devices to sail on ice and snow. It is also well known to manufacture devices for sailing on water which comprise a sailboard and a hand held sail mounted on the sailboard by means of an articulated mast. (The term "sailboard" is sometimes used in the prior art to mean only the hull of such a sailing craft and sometimes to indicate to whole craft including the sail. In this specification it is used to refer to the hull portion only.) The sail of such craft is usually equipped with a wishbone boom or functionally similar structure to enable a sailor to pull (or to push) the sail against the wind from either side of the sail. The articulated mast permits the sailor freely to rotate or pivot the sail as he wishes to control and direct the craft in the wind. Such sailboats are hereafter referred to as "free sail" sailboats.
It is also known to the inventor that attempts have been made in the prior art to construct free sail sailboats for sailing on snow or ice. The inventor is aware of
C.P. 1,148,587 to Bruce Price, PA0 C.P. 1,204,467 to Francois Lecomte PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,341 to Torok PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,567 to Swanson PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,436,087 to Noland PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,357 to Krupnik PA0 U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,262 to Riedel, and
D. 194,270 to Dunn
All such devices known to the inventor seem, however, to be constructed on the same principle, that is, a platform is provided upon which a sailor rides and either ski runners for snow or skate blades for ice are provided on struts to permit sliding over the terrain. In the inventor's opinion, having a platform separated from the runners by struts provides an inherently weak structure. It is particularly important to have a stable and strong structure should the runners strike a hole or crack in ice or other irregularities in the terrain surface. A depending blade or a ski might get caught, bend or break to cause the sailboard to upset. Since a sailing craft on ice or snow can achieve high speeds, such as 60-70 miles per hour, there could be serious consequences if there was a sudden loss of control and failure of the supporting structure in a high speed condition.
It has also been observed that many prior art sailing craft of this type have outstanding parts, such as a cross beam and front extension for the runners, which could catch on landscape features in passing and thereby create a dangerous situation during high speed sailing.
The present invention is designed to overcome these problems and may be constructed in a single piece to present a sailing device with no outstanding parts. The sailboard has a low design profile to be as close to the ground as possible. Therefore, it is perceived by the inventor to be safer than those known in the prior art. A large underside "surfing area" acts like a snowshoe in deep soft snow and will support a sailor on the surface of the snow and not get stuck like other prior art devices might. The sailboard is very manoeuvrable allowing the operator to turn sideways while rolling the sailboard over at an angle such as 45.degree. while gliding or sailing on one runner only. In this position there is a lot more gripping against lateral slippage and greater potential for high speed. The board is built like a surfboard and has some water floating capabilities so that in emergengy situations it can go over weak ice or even some open water.
Further, the present invention provides a structure that permits good steering control during operation over a wide range of speeds without having moveable steering controls on the sailboard. Therefore, steering may be obtained by weight shifts and sail manipulation by a sailor operating the sailing craft in a manner similar to that conventionally used for sailing sailboards on water. Thus, skills acquired from one sport may be readily transferred to the other because of the nature of the construction of the present invention. Accordingly, the construction has the advantage of facilitating access to an existing parallel market.


A combination cooler and audio system device is described which is configured to insulate foods and beverages while simultaneously emitting audio from at least one onboard speaker. The device is equipped with a Bluetooth radio configured to interface with an audio device such as a cell phone or Mp3 player over conventional Bluetooth wireless frequencies. The device also has a wireless remote control, storage drawer, and solar powered lighting.

Conventionally, it is known that people enjoy music even when away from their home stereo or car stereo. The advent of the portable audio market in the 1980's has continued to advance today. In modern times, digital audio players and most cell phones are capable of playing music, and some are even capable of wirelessly transmitting the audio to wireless speakers of a vehicle or home sound system via conventional Bluetooth or WiFi wireless technologies. Unfortunately, in some hazardous or outdoor conditions, the use of these devices can be prohibitive to their durability.
For example, places with hazardous conditions are conventionally known not to be conducive to a long lifespan of a portable electronic device such as a cell phone or iPod™ without appropriate protection from the elements. For example, the water found at beaches and pools can damage most electronics without proper casings. A rain delay during an outdoor sport such as beach volleyball, soccer, Frisbee, or football can easily cause many portable audio electronics to fail and short circuit due to water damage without adequate protection.
Additionally, at beaches and pools, many people like to bring beverages and/or food with them in a cooler. The cooler effectively insulates the beverages and keeps them at an ideal temperature for a long period of time. Given that many people bring portable speakers to pools and beaches as well, conventionally individuals are required to bring both a cooler and a speaker system to their destination. If the two devices were combined, individuals would no longer have to carry both items to their destination.
Thus, there is a need for a combination cooler and audio system device, capable of interfacing with a portable audio device such as an Mp3 player, cell phone, CD player, iPod™, Mini-Disc™ player, or other electric device capable of playing audio, while simultaneously protecting the portable audio device from shock or environmental damage.


A vehicle driving assistance device includes a driving assistance controller and an acquisition portion. The driving assistance controller includes a signal information acquisition part, a remaining distance calculator, and a driving assistance information output portion. The acquisition portion acquires information on (i) a vehicular speed and remaining distance to the intersection of an intersecting-side vehicle travelling on an intersecting road that joins a main road at the intersection, (ii) an arrival time when the intersecting-side vehicle arrives at the intersection, or (iii) lighting period information of an intersecting-side traffic signal. The driving assistance controller updates lighting period information of a main-side traffic signal based on information acquired from a road-to-vehicle communication transceiver, and outputs driving assistance information based on the updated lighting period information.

Recent years have seen a rise in vehicles and in-vehicle devices that are equipped with traffic signal prediction systems (TSPS) that can provide drivers with information that assist in their driving. Through TSPS, a vehicle heading towards a signalized intersection is able to receive information on the traffic signal ahead, including the current color light, the length of time each color light is indicated, and the remaining time until the indication changes to the next color light (the remaining time, the wait time). Using this signal information and the time the vehicle takes to reach the intersection (calculated from the vehicle's speed and location), the vehicle's driver is provided with notifications regarding information that assist in the smooth navigation of the intersection, such as assistance on proceeding through the intersection while following the traffic signal (hereinafter "proceed-through-signal assistance") or assistance on decelerating at a red light (hereinafter "red-light assistance").
On roads where TSPS is available, there may be intersections where a main road (which forms the main-road side of the intersection) is joined by a subsidiary road (which forms the intersecting-road side of the intersection) and where there is significant difference in the amount of traffic between the two roads. At such intersections, semi-actuated traffic signals (hereinafter an "actuated traffic signal" and "actuated traffic signals") may be installed so that the traffic signals are activated whenever there is a vehicle at the intersection on the intersecting-road side, causing a traffic signal on the intersecting-road side to turn to a green light. The presence of the vehicle on the subsidiary road is detected by a vehicle detector on the subsidiary road.
Patent literature 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-090379) describes a technology for reporting a vehicle's wait time when the vehicle stops at an actuated traffic signal.

Vehicle driving assistance device, driving information delivery system, and driving information delivery method


A circuit renders computer graphics for an electronic display. The circuit includes a frame buffer to store a primitive for each pixel of the display, the primitive for each pixel being output to the display. The circuit includes a processor for storing the primitives in the frame buffer based on input primitives. The processor receives an input primitive in the same group as a corresponding stored primitive, determines whether the input primitive is within a threshold distance from the stored primitive, determines which of the input primitive and stored primitive is closer in depth to an observer of the display when the input primitive and the stored primitive are not within the threshold distance, and outputs the closer primitive to the frame buffer. The processor determines whether the input primitive and stored primitive has a higher priority when within the threshold distance and outputs the primitive with the higher priority.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of computer graphics. The present disclosure relates more specifically to rendering computer graphics for an electronic display.
Before an image can be rendered by a computer graphics system, it is first modeled in a format that the computer can utilize. Modeling techniques and tools describe a virtual environment with primitives that can be rendered by the graphics hardware. Primitives are basic geometric shapes such as points, lines, or polygons, and so forth. These primitives can be stretched and rotated into any position, thus allowing the construction of complex forms.
Regardless of the method used to model the virtual environment, the graphics hardware (or software) converts the modeled primitives into an array of frame buffer pixels that can be drawn on a display device. This process of converting modeled primitives into visible pixels is known as rendering.
A part of the rendering process is known as hidden surface removal (or visual priority resolution). Hidden surface removal determines which primitives in the scene should be visible for any given pixel (or sub-pixel if anti-aliasing techniques are employed). Common hidden-surface-removal techniques include the painter's algorithm, list-priority algorithms, scan line algorithms, and Z buffering, which is also known as depth buffering.
Each of the hidden-surface removal techniques has distinct advantages and disadvantages. For various reasons, the depth buffer has now become a popular choice. Most of the other approaches require special modeling techniques and support structures in order to render the image properly. The depth buffer approach eliminates many of these constraints, thereby simplifying the modeling process. With a depth buffer, the visible surface at each pixel (or sub-pixel) is simply the primitive with the closest depth value for each pixel. Depth is defined as the distance from the viewpoint to the primitive. As each primitive is rendered, this depth parameter is computed for each pixel touched by the primitive. Along with storing the color of each pixel, a frame buffer can be expanded to also store the depth value. As each new primitive is processed, the new depth is compared with the one already in the frame buffer. The frame buffer then simply keeps whichever primitive is closest to the observer.
The depth buffer technique tends to break down for primitives that are coincident with each other. A primitive is considered to be coincident if it has substantially the same depth as another primitive, such as a stripe on a road or a door on a side of a building. Limited computing precision when specifying the position of primitives relative to one another makes it mathematically difficult to consistently compute which surface is on top based on depth alone. Various techniques have been developed to assist the depth buffer to correctly select which primitive is closer to the view point. These techniques include depth value scale/offset, reference planes, stencil buffer, etc. Each of these techniques complicates the basic depth buffer algorithm in some way. Most place restrictions on the rendering process such as handling the primitives in a specific order (fix-listing) or requiring additional information to accompany the primitives.
The basic depth buffer consists of a simple comparison between an incoming pixel's depth value and the value already stored in the depth buffer. The incoming pixel's address within the 2-dimensional array of pixels stored in the frame buffer is used to select which depth is compared with the incoming depth.
Since this simple test of comparing depth values cannot consistently resolve the visual priority of coincident primitives, various techniques have been developed to augment this simple test. Each of these techniques is based on two assumptions. First, the assumption that the modeler must specify the correct visual priority order of coincident primitives. Since the order cannot be computed, it must be defined. Second, the rendering process must correctly interpret and enforce that defined order.
The simplest method adjusts the primitive's depth value such that it is forced in front or behind another primitive based on its modeled priority. This adjustment is usually a simple scale or offset of the depth value to exaggerate its position. This technique, however, is not very consistent. Adjustment values that work correctly for some primitives in the scene may not adjust other primitives far enough to be correctly resolved. In addition, other primitives in the scene may be moved too far and move in front of scene elements they are supposed to be behind.
Stencil buffering is a technique that provides a second value besides depth that can be independently stored and tested in conjunction with the depth test. A stencil value is assigned to a group of coincident primitives. The primitives of the group with the highest visual priority are rendered first. At each pixel where they win the depth test, they also store the group's stencil value in the stencil buffer. When subsequent primitives of the group with lower visual priority are rendered, they test the stencil buffer as well as the depth buffer. If the stencil value matches, meaning the pixel was previously claimed by a higher priority primitive of the group, the incoming lower priority primitive is discarded. If the stencil value does not match, then the simple depth test alone is used.
While this technique is useful, it relies on the primitives being rendered in a fixed order to correctly resolve the visual priority. There are also restrictions relative to the management of the stencil buffer such that multiple different coincident groups within the scene do not conflict.
In addition, most of these coincident primitive extensions are not completely compatible with advanced depth reduction techniques in use. For instance, the techniques may require rendering the primitives in a back-to-front order. Others require all of the pixels of all of the primitives to be rendered. This incompatibility reduces or eliminates the benefits associated with these advanced techniques when coincident primitives are rendered.
What is needed is a system and method for assisting the depth buffer to correctly select which primitive is closer to the view point without overly complicating the algorithm. What is also needed is a system and method for assisting the depth buffer to correctly select which primitive is closer to the view point with greater consistency. What is further needed is a system and method for assisting the depth buffer to correctly select which primitive is closer to the view point while allowing primitives to be rendered in any order. What is further needed is a system and method for assisting the depth buffer to correctly select which primitive is closer to the view point without imposing modeling restrictions or forcing unique requirements on the rendering process for coincident primitives.

System and method for graphics rendering using a proximity test


A method of repairing a light emitting device which makes high quality image display possible even if a pin hole is formed during formation of an EL layer is provided. The method of repairing a light emitting device is characterized in that a reverse bias voltage is applied to an EL element at given time intervals to thereby reduce a current flowing into an EL element when the reverse bias voltage is applied to the EL element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating and/or repairing an electroluminescence (EL) panel in which an electroluminescence (EL) element formed on a substrate is sealed between the substrate and a cover member. The Invention also relates to a method of repairing an EL module obtained by mounting an IC to the EL panel. The EL panel and the EL module are generically called light emitting devices in this specification.
2. Description of the Related Art
Being self-luminous, EL elements eliminate the need for a backlight that is necessary in liquid crystal display devices (LCDs) and thus make it easy to manufacture thinner displays. Also, the self-luminous EL elements are high in visibility and have no limit in terms of viewing angle. These are the reasons for attention that light emitting devices using the EL elements are receiving in recent years as electro-optical devices to replace CRTs and LCDs.
An EL element has a layer containing an organic compound that provides luminescence (electroluminescence) when an electric field is applied (the layer is hereinafter referred to as EL layer), in addition to a cathode layer and an anode layer. Luminescence obtained from organic compounds is classified into light emission upon return to a base state from singlet excitation (fluorescence) and light emission upon return to a base state from triplet excitation (phosphorescence). The repairing method of the present invention is applicable to a light emitting device whichever light emission the device uses.
All the layers that are provided between an anode and a cathode are an EL layer in this specification. Specifically, the EL layer includes a light emitting layer, a hole injection layer, an electron injection layer, a hole transporting layer, an electron transporting layer, etc. A basic structure of an EL element is a laminate of an anode a light emitting layer, and a cathode layered in this order. The basic structure can be modified into a laminate of an anode, a hole injection layer, a light emitting layer, and a cathode layered in this order, or a laminate of an anode, a hole injection layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transporting layer, and a cathode layered in this order.
In this specification, an EL element emitting light is expressed as an EL element being driven. The EL element as defined herein is a light emitting element comprising an anode, an EL layer, and a cathode.
In general, an EL element is fabricated by forming one of electrodes, namely, an anode or a cathode, then forming an EL layer so as to contact the electrode, and lastly forming the other electrode, a cathode or an anode, so as to contact the EL layer.
The EL layer is formed mainly by evaporation or spin coating. With either method, manufacturers take trouble to wash a substrate before forming the EL layer and the electrodes, throughly monitor the cleanliness in a clean room where the film formation takes place, and the like.
Despite those efforts, sometimes dusts land on the electrodes or other portions to open a hole (pin hole) in the formed EL layer. FIG. 12A shows a simplified sectional view of an EL element 200 in which two electrodes 201 and 202 short-circuit. If there is a pin hole formed in an EL layer 203, the two electrodes 201 and 202 can be connected to each other in the pin hole to short-circuit when the electrode 202 is formed on the EL layer 203. Hereinafter, a portion having a pin hole where two layers sandwiching a light emitting layer are connected to each other is called a defect portion 204.
FIG. 13A shows the voltage-current characteristic of an EL element that has no defect portion whereas FIG. 13B shows the voltage-current characteristic of an EL element that suffers from short circuit at a defect portion.
Comparing FIGS. 13A and 13B, the amount of current flowing in the EL element 200 when a reverse bias voltage is applied to the EL element 200 is larger in the case of FIG. 13B.
This is because two electrodes short-circuit in the defect portion 204 in the case of FIG. 13B unlike that of FIG. 13A and a current flows through the defect portion 204.
Short circuit of the two electrodes 201 and 202 taking place in the defect portion 204 reduces the luminance of light emitted from the EL layer. The current flow when a forward bias voltage is applied to the EL element having the defect portion is schematically shown in FIG. 12B.
When the two electrodes 201 and 202 short-circuit in the defect portion 204, the defect portion 204 supposedly has a resistance RSC and connects the two electrodes of the EL element 200 to one another. Then, when a current flowing in the defect portion 204 is given as ISC and a current flowing in the EL layer 203 is given as Idio, a forward current Iori caused to flow from one of the electrodes of the EL element satisfies the following equation:Iori=ISC+Idio
Therefore, when Iori is constant in the above equation Iori=ISC+Idio, the current Idio that actually flows in the EL layer 203 is reduced in the EL element having the defect portion. This tendency is enhanced when the resistance RSC in the defect portion 204 is small and ISC is accordingly large, thereby increasing the need for rectification in the EL element 200.
When the current Idio flowing in the EL layer 203 is small, the luminance of light emitted from the EL element 200 is also small. In other words, the short circuit in the defect portion causes the EL element to emit light of lower luminance upon application of a forward bias voltage than in the case where no short circuit takes place.
The results are the same even when the EL layer is a laminate of plural layers and the pin hole formed in the light emitting layer connects a hole injection layer or a hole transporting layer to an electron injection layer or an electron transporting layer. The portion where the hole injection layer or the hole transporting layer is connected to the electron injection layer or the electron transporting layer receives a reverse bias current flow similar to the defect portion where the electrodes short-circuit. Therefore, this portion can also be a cause of the EL element emitting light of low luminance. Hereinafter, every portion where two layers sandwiching a light emitting layer are connected to each other in a pin hole formed in the light emitting layer is generically called a defect portion.
In addition to lowering the luminance of light emitted from the EL element, the short circuit in the defect portion accelerates degradation of a part of the EL layer that surrounds the defect portion since there is always a current flow in the defect portion.

Method of fabricating and/or repairing a light emitting device


A method of limiting tokens for use by a student within an education application displays numerous membership options. For a price, a certain number of tokens are allowed per month. At the end of each month, tokens do not roll over; the account is reset with the monthly allotment of tokens. If the number of tokens in the account reaches zero, access is blocked. A method limits account sharing by using a limited time viewing window for videos and documents. A stated time limit displayed to the student is greater than the length of the video. An actual time limit not displayed to the student is greater than the stated time limit Requests to restart the video within the actual time limit are granted. A request to restart the video after the actual time limit is denied unless the student again pays the number of tokens equal to the value of the video.

Online education is a very promising approach to education and is primarily based upon the use of computers and mobile devices for learning, in addition to the use of other more traditional resources. Individual user accounts for students are often used to provide access, to track payments, to track progress, etc., but can be ripe for fraud. For example, students may attempt to share another student's account when each student preferably should use his or her own account. In other words, a student shares his or her valid account with another student who has not signed up nor paid for the service. Or, a number of students might attempt to share a fictitious account.
Account sharing is problematic and detrimental to learning, as account sharing creates a disincentive for the education provider to produce high quality material (due to the monetary pressures of server costs, curriculum specialists, programming time, etc.) and makes it unfeasible for the education provider to continue to provide high-quality, high-time investment resources to students. This account sharing can lead to a proliferation, for instance, of subpar or generalized material. The cost of producing high quality, specialized material is high, and account sharing makes it untenable for education providers to continue to provide resources at a high level. This leads to a "race to the bottom," in which education providers offer generalized material or material that does not involve significant monetary or time investment on the part of the education provider. This in turn, affects the student, as the student will no longer receive the high quality product she or he initially anticipated. Furthermore, sharing accounts makes it difficult for the student to benefit from data-driven analytics that suggest the proper material or courses for a student, given the student's usage of the material and the student's performance. The student's learning experience is degraded and does not benefit from the strengths of online education, namely, personalization and quality of content.
In particular, it can be beneficial to discourage account sharing from occurring, and if it does occur, to increase revenue from the students involved. Accordingly, improved techniques and systems are desired.

Limited viewing time in online education


The present invention relates to a wrapper for individually packaging absorbent articles for personal hygiene, especially tampons. The wrapper of the present invention is provided with an opening means comprising a tear tape and a stopper, the tear tape is used for opening the wrapper and the stopper prevents the wrapper from becoming separated into more than two segments of wrapper material upon being opened.

Absorbent articles for personal hygiene, especially those for feminine protection, are typically individually packaged for hygiene reasons. The packaging prevents the articles from being soiled, e.g. by dust, unintended touching and the like. Tampons are typically packaged individually into wrappers for guaranteeing hygienic conditions. These wrappers substantially enclose the tampon and consist in most cases of plastic film, such as films made of polyethylene, polypropylene or cellophane. The usual way of opening such wrappers in order to release the tampon for topical application is to separate the wrapper into multiple segments, whereby creating an opening in the wrapper, through which the tampon can be released. An example for such an opening mechanism is disclosed on EP-A-597,446. This document teaches an airtight tampon wrapper having a line of weakness extending around the whole circumference of the wrapped tampon. By acting on the wrapper on both sides of the line of weakness the wrapper is opened, whereby being separated into at least two non-connected parts. However, it is to be noted that the opening procedure for such a wrapper, namely twisting two sides of the wrapper against each other, needs some explanation; it is not intuitively operable by the user. Other known possibilities for opening tampon wrappers are associated to the use of tear tapes, i.e. tapes extending around the perimeter of the tampon and being situated between the tampon and the wrapper, which separate the wrapper into at least two segments of wrapper material upon pulling the tear tape. This generates at least three pieces of waste material, which are the two segments of the tampon wrapper and the tear tape itself. An exemplary execution of the aforementioned tear tape mechanism is realized in e.g. Tampax® and Always® digital tampons. However, tear tape opening means are very intuitively operable by users without further explanation, because pulling on a graspable end of a tear tape is very convenient and based on a very simple and intuitively understandable mechanism. Thus, opening means with tear tapes are highly desirable for commercial tampon wrappers.
All current methods for opening tampon wrappers have drawbacks. They are either not convenient enough or not intuitively operable by the user or they are generating many pieces of waste originating from the wrapper. These pieces have to be collected and disposed. Furthermore, it is inconvenient for the user of the tampon to handle three or more pieces of waste material originating from the tampon wrapper during the process of inserting a tampon. Thus, it would be beneficial to have a tampon wrapper fully enclosing an individual tampon in a hygienically satisfying manner, which wrapper can be conveniently and intuitively opened by using a tear tape and does not generate more than two pieces of material upon opening for releasing the tampon. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved tampon wrapper fulfilling the above requirements by being provided with an opening means comprising a tear tape and preventing the wrapper from becoming separated into more than two segments of wrapper material upon opening of said wrapper.

Tampon wrapper with opening means comprising stopper


An electronic ink object is preprocessed for improving handwriting recognition results. An electronic ink object, possibly having multiple lines of non-horizontal ink, is preprocessed by segmenting or separating the electronic ink object into one or more lines, computing a writing angle of each line, and rotating each line so that it is horizontal.

Typical computer systems, especially computer systems using graphical user interface (GUI) systems such as Microsoft WINDOWS, are optimized for accepting user input from one or more discrete input devices such as a keyboard for entering text, and a pointing device such as a mouse with one or more buttons for driving the user interface. The ubiquitous keyboard and mouse interface provides for fast creation and modification of documents, spreadsheets, database fields, drawings, photos and the like. However, there is a significant gap in the flexibility provided by the keyboard and mouse interface as compared with the non-computer (i.e., standard) pen and paper. With the standard pen and paper, a user edits a document, writes notes in a margin, and draws pictures and other shapes and the like. In some instances, a user may prefer to use a pen to mark-up a document rather than review the document on-screen because of the ability to freely make notes outside of the confines of the keyboard and mouse interface.
Some computer systems permit a user to write on a screen using, for example, a stylus. For example, the Microsoft READER application permits one to add electronic ink (also referred to herein as "ink") to a document much the same way that a user would write with a standard pen and paper. Most hand-held computing devices, commonly known as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), also permit the user to write on the screen.
A handwriting recognition system may then be used to analyze the electronic ink to recognize characters, for example, Unicode characters. As the user moves the stylus across the screen, the computing device senses the position of the stylus as the user writes and stores the position data. The computing device analyzes the position data and converts it to recognized characters, such as letters or numbers, in a convenient format, such as Unicode format.
In particular, the handwriting recognition system uses algorithms to map handwritten data to characters. For example, the system may store training data for each character that can be recognized. The training data allows the system to map the user's input to characters. As long as the user writes like the training data, the handwritten data is successfully recognized. Conversely, the more dissimilar the user's input and the training data are, the more likely it is that the handwritten data will be misrecognized.
Over the years, handwriting recognizing systems have evolved to more closely simulate the user's normal writing experience with a pen and paper. For example, early handwriting recognizing systems required the user to write each letter in a separate box. Subsequent handwriting recognizing systems moved away from the box and even allowed the user to write in cursive, however, required the user to write on a horizontal line. Even subsequent evolutions allowed the user to write anywhere on the user interface screen but still required the handwriting to be horizontal.
Although handwriting recognition systems have grown in popularity and flexibility for computing devices, they do not accommodate certain common writing habits of the user. For example, existing handwriting recognizing systems require the user to write horizontally. As the user deviates further from writing horizontally, the handwriting recognition system quickly starts mis-recognizing characters. In fact, a slight deviation from the horizontal writing axis may quickly result in a 100% error rate in handwriting recognition. This limits the user's interaction with, for example, a tablet PC where the user may naturally deviate from a horizontal writing path. Also, user interaction is limited where the user seeks to annotate a document on the margins with comments that may be written at an angle.
Another limitation is that existing handwriting recognizing systems cannot recognize whether the user has handwritten multiple angled lines of information. For example, the user when annotating a document may write in multiple angled lines. Existing handwriting recognition systems, however, are not capable of recognizing whether the user is writing on multiple lines where the user is not writing on a horizontal line.
Accordingly, to better mirror the user's experience with writing on a traditional pad of paper, it is therefore desirable to process electronic ink for handwriting recognition in a manner that overcomes one or more of the above problems.

Preprocessing of multi-line rotated electronic ink


A construction kit for horizontally and vertically sliding window assemblies in which each window includes a sash. A meeting rail is connected to each sash and includes a slot at each of the inner and outer surfaces of the meeting rail. Weather stripping is fitted into the slot at outer surface of the meeting rail and is wrapped around the end of the meeting rail and secured within the slot at the inner surface of the meeting rail.

There has been a long standing interest in providing a simplified construction kit for interchangeably building either horizontally or vertically sliding windows. Various constructions have been proposed. Examples of such window constructions are described in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,754--Budich PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,941--Wolf PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,131--Kubik PA1 Canadian Patent 1,138,716--Budich
The various sliding closure constructions disclosed in these patents suffer from certain drawbacks which have largely prevented their commercial acceptance. One common disadvantage of the window constructions of the type disclosed in the patents listed above is that their profile design is not adequately rigid to support a heavy window. As a result, the profiles often require reinforcement in the form of metal box beams and the like. A further disadvantage is that the window assemblies described in the prior art require the addition of wheel assemblies to the sashes of the horizontally sliding window, necessitating extruded track profiles which must be added to the basic assembly. The addition of such track profiles requires machining and fitting of parts which is both time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, such track assemblies often protrude laterally over the edges of the main frame, which distracts from the aesthetic qualities of the window and contributes a structural weak point which may be damaged during handling and/or transport of the window assembly. An additional drawback of the window assemblies of the known prior art is that the sill structure is generally flat and thereby fails to provide adequate surface for efficient weather stripping. This makes those window assemblies vulnerable to the intrusion of air and water and thereby detracts from their desirability.

Construction kit for horizontally and vertically sliding window assemblies