An integrated circuit is provided that comprises a first thermal sink layer, a first ground plane associated with a first set of circuits that have a first operational temperature requirement, a first thermally conductive via that couples the first ground plane to the first thermal sink layer, a second thermal sink layer, a second ground plane associated with a second set of circuits that have a second operational temperature requirement that is higher than the first operational temperature requirement, and a second thermally conductive via that couples the second ground plane to the second thermal sink layer. The first thermal sink layer is cooled at a first temperature to maintain the first set of circuits at the first operational temperature requirement and the second thermal sink layer is cooled at a second temperature to maintain the second set of circuits at the second operational temperature requirement.

Monolithic Microwave Integrated circuit (MMIC) chips operating at cryogenic temperatures have superconducting circuits that need to be thermally managed by removing the heat from the superconducting circuits down towards the substrate. Under cryogenic temperature conditions, heat load, cooling resources, temperature, and circuit complexity are strongly tied to each other. Portions of devices on the MMIC need to be maintained at lower temperatures than other components which can operate at higher temperatures. This requires the entire MMIC to be held at the colder temperature. It is far more inefficient to lift one unit of power from cryogenic temperatures to room temperature than it is if that same power is lifted from a higher temperature to room temperature. As cryogenic chips become more and more complex, a greater number and greater variation of devices are populating the MMICs. Each of these devices can have different operational temperature requirements.
A typical cryogenic MMIC consists of a silicon substrate topped with alternating layers of electrically conducting material and dielectric. Multiple device types can exist in the MMIC. As an example, a MMIC may have three different device types that need to run at three different operating temperatures. For example, a first device may need to operate below 500 millikelvin (mK), a second device may need to operate below 1 Kelvin (K), and a third device may need to operate below 4 K. With a single ground plane, the entire mesh layer will be at a near uniform temperature. This is due to the ability of the electrically conducting material to transport (spread) the heat laterally in the X and Y directions. Therefore, if all devices are connected to this ground plane, all will have to be maintained to the most stringent operating requirement, for example, 500 mK. That is since the third device only needs to be kept at 4 K, but is instead maintained at 0.5 K (8 times lower temperature), then more than 8 times the cooling resources are needed to manage this sector of the MMIC.

Superconducting device with multiple thermal sinks


A liquid state detecting apparatus including a detecting element which outputs a signal associated with a concentration of a particular component of a liquid contained in a liquid container; an abnormality determination unit which determines whether or not the liquid is in a particular abnormal state based on the output signal of the detecting element, a level detecting part which outputs a signal according to a level of the liquid contained in the liquid container; and a static state determination unit which determines whether or not the liquid in the liquid container is in a static state based on the output signal from the level detecting part, wherein the determination made by the static state determination unit is reflected in the determination made by the abnormality determination unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid state detecting apparatus for detecting the concentration and level of a liquid contained in a liquid container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a catalyst for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx is sometimes used in an exhaust gas cleaner for reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) exhausted, for example, from a diesel automobile into a harmless gas, and an aqueous urea solution is used as the reducing agent. It is known that the use of an aqueous urea solution having a urea concentration of 32.5% by weight allows for efficient reduction. However, the urca concentration of an aqueous urea solution contained in a urea-water tank carried by an automobile may change as time passes. Further, a foreign liquid or water may be introduced into a urea-water tank by mistake. Under these circumstances, in order to allow control over the urea concentration of the aqueous urea solution, the concentration is detected by mounting a concentration sensor for detecting the urea concentration in the urea-water tank.
It is known that the thermal conductivity of an aqueous urea solution varies depending on its concentration. Under these circumstances, a concentration sensor having two temperature sensing bodies (sensor elements) having a resistance which changes with the temperature disposed thereon in parallel is mounted in the urea-water tank, and one of the temperature sensing bodies is heated by energizing the same. The conduction of heat to the other temperature sensing body is affected by the concentration of the aqueous urea solution, and the urea concentration of the aqueous urea solution can therefore be detected based on the difference between on the measured resistance values of the two bodies (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 3686672). When the detected urea concentration is outside a certain range, abnormalities can be detected including a determination that a foreign liquid or water is included in the urea-water tank and a determination that no aqueous urea solution is present.
When a diesel automobile is driven, the aqueous urea solution contained in the urea-water tank may be agitated or shaken by the vibration of the vehicle body. In the case of the concentration sensor of Japanese Patent No. 3686672, urea concentration detected by the same may be read as a value that is greatly different from what it should be. This can occur when the resistance values of the sensor elements become disproportionate to the urea concentration as a result of agitation or shaking of the aqueous urea solution which can cause irregularities in the concentration of the aqueous urea solution or remove beat from the sensor elements. For this reason, according to Japanese Patent No. 3686672, whether or not the aqueous urea solution is in a static state is determined based on the driving state of the diesel automobile (specifically, the vehicle speed). If the liquid is not in a static state, it is assumed that there is a possibility of erroneous detection, and the determination of an abnormality in concentration is made using a different weighting from that used in a static state.
3. Problems to be Solved be the Invention
However, according to Japanese Patent No. 3686672, the speed of the diesel automobile is used to indirectly indicate whether an aqueous urea solution in a urea-water tank is in a static state. Since this indirect indication may differ from the actual agitation state of the aqueous urea solution, a problem has arisen in that an abnormality in concentration may not be accurately determined.
The invention was made to solve the above-described problems, and it is an object of the invention to provide a liquid state detecting apparatus which can more accurately identify an abnormality in concentration by determining the static state of a liquid contained in a liquid container based on liquid level.


Disclosed is a method of digital data conversion. The method includes binding input digital data into unit blocks constituted by a plurality of bytes, modulation-coding each byte of the input data blocks by using a code conversion table, and allocating a merging bit in block unit for the modulation-coded input data in block unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of modulation and demodulation for recording digital data to a recording or reproducing medium that can record or reproduce the digital data. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of data conversion suitable for recording the digital data to an optical record medium in high or low density, a method of record reproduction using the same, and an optical record medium recorded with the modulated data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A method of eight to fourteen modulation (EFM)(8/17 modulation) coding is provided as a method for recording digital data through encoding. A method of digital data modulation such as EFM or EFM plus is applied to record data, in particular, to an optical record medium or disk including CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD and so on.
In recording the digital data to a recording medium such as optical record medium, a recording capacity is an important item to be considered. In other words, since the same disk can contain more information when information is recorded in high density, a recording density of digital data is determined according to the method of modulation.
The EFM code in use for recording the digital data on a CD-type optical record medium has a Run Length Limited (RLL), in which d is 2 and k is 10, and a code rate corresponding to R=8/17. Referring to a coding method using the EFM code, an eight bit source code is converted to a fourteen bit d-restraint code word, which is attached with a three bit merging word. The three bit merging word is selected by an encoder to satisfy the minimum and maximum run lengths, the inherent codes for satisfying the maximum and minimum run lengths are not uniquely determined. Further, the merging word is selected so that power density is minimized in low frequency.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a merging processor, in which eight user data bits are converted to fourteen channel bits using a look-up table, and to the end of the fourteen bits is attached with a merging bit satisfying three run length limitations.
Since two zeros are necessarily present between two ones, '0' is necessarily present in the first merging bit position in the foregoing situation. Therefore, the merging bits can exist in three cases such as 000, 010 and 001. In this case, the encoder is adapted to select a merging bit having the lowest absolute value for a Running Digital Sum (RDS) at the end of a new code word, and accordingly 000 in the above situation. In an experiment about CD, when only two merging bits are used, compression of low frequency components (DC compression) is not sufficiently efficient. Therefore, when the number of merging bits is increased to three, margin of transition setting or omission in the merging bits is increased more.
In general, a good method of compression about the low frequency components by a compensated merging method without providing a certain standard about a CD system. For example, compression can be executed through a look-ahead method since the minimization about the low frequency components in a short term does not always influence the minimization in a longer term. In this case, it is reported that performance improvement of 6 to 10 dB is obtained.
Meanwhile, the EFM plus code used in DVDs is a sliding block code capable of restraining the low frequency components in which the code rate is 8/16 and the RLL is (2, 10). The EFM plus code, which has the code rate higher than the previous EFM code about 6% as an advantage, is re-designed from the EFM code by replacing the 8/17 code rate with the 8/16 code rate and has the two merging bits instead of the merging bits of three bit.
As described hereinbefore, the CD, CD-ROM, CD-V and the like are proposed as very successful media for storing MPEG video data and other various digital information. However, the storage capacity of about 680 Mbytes is not sufficient for the operation of a graphic-based computer or to store high-definition digital video programs. A DVD, which can be an expansion of the CDs, is a novel optical record medium with a storage capacity of at least 7 times of a typical CD. The increase of storage capacity is made through the quality elevation of a light source and an object lens. Besides, the storage capacity of the DVD is increased by totally re-designing a logical mode of the disk through use of more enhanced RS-PC and a record code called the EFM plus, in which the EFM plus has a code rate of 8/16 with (d,k)=(2,10) and is constituted by sliding-block codes for restraining low-frequency components.
As described above, the code rate and the DC compression are very important factors in the high-density record of data and the reliability thereof when recording the digital data to the record medium, for example the optical record medium, and accordingly more various and improved methods are continuously required to satisfy the factors.


Systems and methods are provided for creating printed tags for use in connection with a heated food item placed into a hot holding unit. System components may include a user interface, a printer, and a controller. The controller is programmed to instruct the user interface to display a prompt for an operator to input information identifying one or more characteristics of a food item positioned within or to be placed into a hot holding unit. The controller receives the information from the user interface and instructs the printer to generate a tag identifying the food item and the time at which the food item is to be removed from the hot holding unit and discarded. The tag may include a display area to display the printed information and a support area with a slit that allows the tag to be supported by a rack of the hot holding unit.

Field of the Disclosure
The present subject matter relates to the service of heated food items. More particularly, the present subject matter relates to printed tags used to identify the time at which a heated food item was prepared.
Description of Related Art
This invention relates to identification of in-process hot food holding. Per governmental regulation, all potentially hazardous foods, except for those prepared for immediate consumption by a patron, shall be maintained in such a fashion as to prevent the growth or development of bacteria. Per USDA regulations, hot holding equipment must be able to keep foods at a temperature of 140° F. (60° C.) or higher. After up to 4 hours at this temperature, the food must be discarded.
In order to track when a food item was placed into holding, Food Safety Standard Operating Procedures have recommended developing a colored tag indicating when the item was prepared. For example, mashed potatoes prepared at 8:00 am have a blue hard tag hung on the oven rack. Best practices would also call for a wall chart indicating the meaning of the different colors. All employees must be trained in the practice of properly labeling food placed into hot holding.
Potential disadvantages of such a system include the common practice of discarding food placed into hot storage before the hot holding time limit due to shift changes in order to comply with the Food Safety guidelines. Colored dots or tags also have the limitation of indicating fixed time intervals, thereby requiring the food service personnel to correctly choose the correct one and increasing the potential for wasted food due to disposal prior to the regulated time. Preprinted tags or labels also have these issues. Other limitations include a lack of visible marking of the food service personnel that prepared the food and/or the station at which the food was prepared.
Any detailed information and record keeping is limited to manual recording, which may not be consistently carried out by all personnel. Hand written tags may suffer from illegible written and inaccuracies in data transcribing. Furthermore, these methods can introduce failure points in the creation of Food Service logs of critical tracking point information including business process, time, date, location, personnel, and item.

Avery Dennison Retail Information Services, LLC


A toolbox includes at least one case having a bottom panel, two side panels, a back panel and a top panel connected together to form an internal space. The connecting devices between these panels are integral keys and are corresponding slots respectively formed on the abutting surfaces on the panels. Consequently, these panels can be connected to one another without separate fasteners. A locking lip is formed on the top edge of the side panels and the back panel, and a corresponding locking wall is formed on one side of the top panel opposite to the back panel. Multiple ridges extend out laterally from the top edge of the locking lip and locking wall so a seat or a working table can be attached to the top of the toolbox to make the toolbox more useful.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toolbox, and more particularly to a toolbox that may be used as a seat or a working table and a tool cabinet or toolbox.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional toolbox in accordance with the prior art comprises multiple panels individually manufactured and assembled to form the toolbox. Multiple fasteners are needed to attach the panels to each other. The conventional toolbox usually contains a large internal space and has several partitions to divide the space into multiple chambers to hold various hand tools. However, a lot of time is required to assemble the panels and partitions with the threaded fasteners. Further, most hand tools are made of metal, and the toolbox becomes very heavy and hard to move when the toolbox is full of hand tools.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional toolbox.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a toolbox includes at least one box each having a bottom panel, two side panels, a back panel and a top panel coupled together to form an internal space. A locking lip is formed on the top edge of the side panels and back panel and on the edge of the top panel opposite to the back panel. Multiple ridges extend out laterally from the lips so a seat or a working table can be attached to extend the scope for which the toolbox in accordance with the present invention can be used.
Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

No. 6, Lane 609, Sec. 1, Chung-Shan Rd., Ye-Her Li, Tachia Chen


A sealing arrangement for sealing overlapped edge portions of laminates folded onto a support member. The arrangement includes a pressure pad assembly and a drive member. An elastomeric disk is retained compressed between the drive member and the pressure pad assembly. A drive unit serves to extend the drive member to thereby urge the pressure pad via the elastomeric disk into pressure sealing engagement with the overlapped laminates on the support member.

Heretofore, sealing of overlapped flat surface materials have included various elastomeric or rubber or other type of flexible platens or pressure pads, wherein such elements have been in direct contact with the materials being pressed, to account for variations in material thicknesses. Such arrangements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,493,451; 4,430,069; 4,529,472; 4,704,183; 4,715,923; and 4,952,777.
Metz U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,482 discloses heat transfer members which are forced toward the path of moving packages by an adjacent leaf spring.
Rucker U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,999 discloses a sealing arrangement wherein a coil spring is resiliently mounted between a friction rim and a sleeve secured in a bracket, wherein the friction rim rolls along the material being sealed.


Disclosed herein is an ink-jet recording process for conducting recording by ejecting a pigment ink and a reaction liquid containing a polyvalent metal salt from a recording section, in which a plurality of nozzles for ejecting the pigment ink and the reaction liquid are arranged, to a recording medium while relatively scanning the recording section to the recording medium, comprising the steps of ejecting the pigment ink having a surface tension lower than that of the reaction liquid to the reaction liquid ejected on the surface of the recording medium; and forming a filmy aggregate by gathering of agglomerates at an interface where the reaction liquid has come into contact with the pigment ink, wherein conditions for ejecting the reaction liquid to a prescribed area on the recording medium when at least the print duty of the ink in the prescribed area is 100% satisfy the relationship of

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording process, and particularly to an ink-jet recording process that can provide a high-quality color image high in fixing ability on plain paper.
2. Related Background Art
An ink-jet recording method is such a method that recording is conducted by ejecting minute droplets of an ink to apply the ink to a recording medium such as paper. According to the method (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 61-59911, 61-59912 and 61-59914), in which an electrothermal converter is used as an ejection energy-supplying means to apply thermal energy to ink so as to generate bubbles, thereby ejecting droplets of the ink, the formation of a high-density multi-orifice in a recording head can be realized with ease, and high-resolution and high-quality images can be recorded at high speed.
However, the conventional inks used in ink-jet recording generally comprise, as a principal component, water, and additionally include a water-soluble high boiling solvent such as glycol for the purpose of preventing drying and clogging at orifices, and the like. When such an ink is used to conduct recording on plain paper, there have hence arisen such problems as fixing ability cannot be sufficiently achieved, and image irregularity occurs, which appears to be attributed to the uneven distribution of a filler and/or a size on the surface of the paper. In particular, when color images are intended to be formed, plural inks of different colors are overlapped one after another before they are fixed to paper. Therefore, color bleeding and uneven color mixing have occurred at portions of boundaries between images of different colors (this phenomenon will hereinafter be referred to as "bleeding" simply), resulting in a failure to obtain satisfactory images.
As a means for improving the bleeding, the addition of a compound capable of enhancing penetrability, such as a surfactant, into the inks is disclosed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-65269). According to this method, the penetrability of the inks into recording paper is improved, and so bleeding can be prevented to some extent. However, such disadvantages that the image density and brightness of the resulting image are lowered, and the image shows through a recording medium to the back side thereof have been involved because coloring materials contained in the inks penetrate deeply into the recording medium. In addition, such inks have not been preferred because they are easy to be spread due to the improvement of wettability on the recording medium, resulting in reduction of resolution and occurrence of feathering.
In order to solve the above-described problems, there have been further proposed various methods, in which a liquid, which can make the quality of an image better, is applied to a recording medium prior to ejection of an ink. For example, a method, in which a solution of a polymer such as carboxymethyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol or polyvinyl acetate is ejected, and printing is then conducted, has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-89595). However, according to this method, it is feared that a problem that fixing ability is lowered due to poor drying ability of the solution itself will arise though anti-bleeding property is improved. In order to solve this problem, there have been disclosed, for example, a method, in which a liquid comprising an organic compound having two or more cationic groups per molecule is applied to a recording medium, and recording is then conducted with an ink comprising an anionic dye (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-29971), a method, in which an acidic liquid containing succinic acid or the like is applied to a recording medium, and recording is then conducted with an ink comprising an anionic dye (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-9279) and besides a method, in which a liquid, which insolubilizes dyes, is applied to a recording medium prior to recording (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-63185).
According to all these methods, bleeding is prevented to some extent. In these methods, however, a color ink is applied to a recording medium at a stage after the reaction liquid penetrates into the recording medium and is present within the recording medium, and no reaction liquid becomes present on the surface of the recording medium, so that almost all the reaction takes place in the recording medium. Therefore, a problem that the coloring property of the resulting image is not improved, and a problem of the show through that the coloring material is shown through from the back side of the recording medium have arisen. As described above, when the color ink is reacted with the reaction liquid at the time the reaction liquid is present on the recording medium, the fixing ability of the resulting image is deteriorated. When the reaction liquid is reacted with the color ink at the time the reaction liquid is present in the recording medium on the other hand, it is feared that a problem that coloring property is deteriorated will arise.
To prevent bleeding by utilizing a reaction of a polyvalent metal ion with a carboxyl group has also been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-202328). Even in this case, a liquid containing the polyvalent metal ion is reacted with a color ink after a recording medium is impregnated with the liquid, so that bleeding is prevented to some extent. However, problems of deterioration of coloring property and the show through are feared when the penetrability of the color ink into the recording medium is high. When the penetrability is low to the contrary, it is feared that a problem that fixing requires a long time may arise. In addition, a method, in which anti-bleeding property is improved by a reaction among a pigment, a resin emulsion and a polyvalent metal salt, has also been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-207424). The fundamental concept of this method is almost the same as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-202328.
Further, an ink-jet recording method, by which an optimized image is obtained by defining an amount of a reaction liquid applied in terms of its weight ratio to an amount of a color ink applied, has been proposed (see, for example, International Publication No. 98/30398, pamphlet). In this method, it has been proposed to make a dot of the reaction liquid smaller than a dot of the color ink though conditions are substantially changed by surface tensions of the reaction liquid and color ink. According to this method, however, the amount of the reaction liquid applied must also be increased as the color becomes a secondary color or tertiary color. As a result, a larger amount of a solvent comes to be present in printed areas of the secondary color and tertiary color, so that fixing requires a longer time.
As described above, various proposals using the color ink and reaction liquid as a means for improving the anti-bleeding property have been made. In all events, the anti-bleeding property is improved to some extent, but the deterioration of coloring property and the show through occur when importance is attached to the fixing ability. On the other hand, the fixing ability is deteriorated when importance is attached to the coloring property and the show through. In other words, under the circumstances, any method that can satisfy the fixing ability and the coloring property and the show through at the same time while reducing the bleeding has not been proposed. Further, the proposal that the amount of the reaction liquid applied is defined is a proposal that its ratio to the amount of the color ink applied is specified, so that the proposal cannot be always be said to be optimum according to the recording method and conditions.

Abstract: 55    ×                  0.85        ×                  10          6                ×                              Vd                                      (              pl              )                                            -            0.61                                                Rx                                (            dpi            )                                            Ry                                (            dpi            )                                ≤      duty              (      %      )        ≤      125    ×                  0.85        ×                  10          6                ×                              Vd                                      (              pl              )                                            -            0.61                                                Rx                                (            dpi            )                                            Ry                                (            dpi            )                              wherein Vd(pl) is an ejection volume per dot of the reaction liquid, Rx(dpi) is a print resolution in the direction of the relative scanning, Ry(dpi) is a print resolution in the arrangement direction of the nozzles, and duty(%) is a print duty of the reaction liquid.


The present invention relates to an interposer substrate for interconnecting between active electronic componentry such as but not limited to a single or multiple integrated circuit chips in either a single or a combination and elements that could comprise of a mounting substrate, substrate module, a printed circuit board, integrated circuit chips or other substrates containing conductive energy pathways that service an energy utilizing load and leading to and from an energy source. The interposer will also possess a multi-layer, universal multi-functional, common conductive shield structure with conductive pathways for energy and EMI conditioning and protection that also comprise a commonly shared and centrally positioned conductive pathway or electrode of the structure that can simultaneously shield and allow smooth energy interaction between grouped and energized conductive pathway electrodes containing a circuit architecture for energy conditioning as it relates to integrated circuit device packaging. The invention can be employed between an active electronic component and a multilayer circuit card. A method for making the interposer is not presented and can be varied to the individual or proprietary construction methodologies that exist or will be developed.

Interposer structures can be used in the manufacturing process of single and multi-chip modules (SCMs or MCMs) to electrically connect one or more integrated circuit chips (ICs) to a printed circuit board, discreet IC electronic packaging, or other substrates. The interposer provides conditioning of various forms of energy propagating along the contained internal interposer conductive pathways located between an energy source and an energy-utilizing load such as an IC. The interposer can provide energy paths between the IC chips and a PC board or substrate, and if desired, between different active component chips mounted on the interposer, itself.
A main disadvantage of conventional approaches to interconnecting and packaging of IC chips in Multi Chip Modules (MCMs) arises from the thinness of the substrates used in traditional multichip modules results in the energy feeds to the IC chips having relatively high impedance. This results in undesired noise, energy loss and excess thermal energy production. These problems are relevant and can be critical to system integrity when routing or propagating energy along pathways though an interposer substrate.
Electrical systems have undergone short product life cycles over the last decade. A system built just two years ago can be considered obsolete to a third or fourth generation variation of the same application. Accordingly, passive electronic components and the circuitry built into these the systems need to evolve just as quickly. However, the evolvement of passive electronic componentry has not kept pace. The performance of a computer or other electronic systems has typically been constrained by the operating frequency of its slowest active elements. Until recently, those elements were the microprocessor and the memory components that controlled the overall system's specific functions and calculations. Nevertheless, with the advent of new generations of microprocessors, memory components and their data, the focus has changed. There is intense pressure upon the industry to provide the system user with increased processing energy and speed at a decreasing unit cost. EMI created in these environments must also be eliminated or minimized to meet international emission and/or susceptibility requirements.
Processor operating frequency (speed) is now matched by the development and deployment of ultra-fast RAM (Random Access Memory) architectures. These breakthroughs have allowed an increase of the overall system—operating frequency (speed) of the active components past the 1 GHz mark. During this same period, however, passive component technologies have failed to keep up with these new breakthroughs and have produced only incremental changes in composition and performance. These advances in passive component design and changes have focused primarily upon component size reduction, slight modifications of discrete component electrode layering, dielectric discoveries, and modifications of device manufacturing techniques or rates of production that decrease unit production cycle times.
In addition, at these higher frequencies, energy pathways should normally be grouped or paired as an electrically complementary element or elements that work together electrically and magnetically in harmony and in balance within an energized system. Attempts to line condition propagating energy with prior art components has led to increased levels of interference in the form of EMI, RFI, and capacitive and inductive parasitics. These increases are due in part to manufacturing imbalances and performance deficiencies of the passive components that create or induce interference into the associated electrical circuitry.
These problems have created a new industry focus on passive components whereas, only a few years ago, the focus was primarily on the interference created by the active components from sources and conditions such as voltage imbalances located on both sides of a common reference or ground path, spurious voltage transients from energy surges or human beings, or other electromagnetic wave generators.
At higher operating speeds, EMI can also be generated from the electrical circuit pathway itself, which makes shielding from EMI desirable. Differential and common mode noise energy can be generated and will traverse along and around cables, circuit board tracks or traces, and along almost any high-speed transmission line or bus line pathway. In many cases, one or more of these critical energy conductors can act as an antenna, hence creating energy fields that radiate from these conductors and aggravate the problem even more. Other sources of EMI interference are generated from the active silicon components as they operate or switch. These problems such as SSO are notorious causes of circuit disruptions. Other problems include unshielded and parasitic energy that freely couples upon or onto the electrical circuitry and generates significant interference at high frequencies.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/561,283 filed on Apr. 28, 2000 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/579,606 filed on May 26, 2000, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/594,447 filed on Jun. 15, 2000 along with U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/200,327 filed Apr. 28, 2000, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/203,863 filed May 12, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/215,314 filed Jun. 30, 2000 by the applicants relate to continued improvements to a family of discrete, multi-functional energy conditioners. These multi-functional energy conditioners posses a commonly shared, centrally located, conductive electrode of a structure that can simultaneously interact with energized and paired conductive pathway electrodes contained in energy-carrying conductive pathways. These energy-carrying conductive pathways can operate in an oppositely phased or charged manner with respect to each other and are separated from one another by a physical shielding.

Universial energy conditioning interposer with circuit architecture


A metal core electrode used to form weld deposits having improved slag forming properties with respect to reduced accumulation of slag in toes of the weld bead. The metal cored electrode includes a metal rod and a fill composition. The electrode includes a slag-modifying additive that contains metallic indium and/or one or more indium compounds.

In the field of arc welding, the main types of welding processes are gas-metal arc welding with solid (GMAW) or metal-cored wires (GMAW-C), gas shielded flux-cored arc welding (FCAW-G), self shielded flux-cored arc welding (FCAW-S), shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) and submerged arc welding (SAW). Of these processes, gas metal arc welding with solid or metal-cored electrodes are increasingly being used for joining or overlaying metallic components. These types of welding processes are becoming increasingly popular because such processes provide increased productivity and versatility. Such increase in productivity and versatility results from the continuous nature of the welding electrodes in gas metal arc welding (GMAW & GMAW-C), which offers substantial productivity gains over shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). Moreover, these electrodes produce very good looking welds with very little slag, thus saving time and expense associated with cleaning welds and disposing of slag, a problem that is often encountered in the other welding processes.
In gas metal arc welding with solid or metal cored electrodes, a shielding gas is used to provide protection for the weld against atmospheric contamination during welding. Solid electrodes are appropriately alloyed with ingredients that, in combination with the shielding gas, provide porosity free welds with the desired appearance and mechanical properties. In metal cored electrodes, these ingredients are on the inside, in the core (fill) of a metallic outer sheath, and provide a similar function as in the case of solid electrodes.
Solid and metal-cored electrodes are designed to provide, under appropriate gas shielding, a solid, substantially porosity free weld with yield strength, tensile strength, ductility and impact strength to perform satisfactorily in the final applications. These electrodes are also designed to minimize the quantity of slag generated during welding; however, small slag islands and/or one or more thin lines of slag at the toes of the weld are often formed during welding. In general, these slag islands are oxides of manganese and silicon that are formed, when these elements that are present in the wire react with oxygen during welding. After welding, these slag islands or slag lines are removed to provide a clean surface that, if desired, can be later treated (e.g. painted or coated) to enhance appearance, inhibit corrosion, etc. Failure to remove the slag can result in peeling of the slag after the weld has been painted or coated, which can result in corrosion at that site or negatively impact the cosmetic appearance of the weld.
Metal-cored electrodes are used increasingly as an alternative to solid wires because of increased productivity during welding fabrication of structural components. Metal cored electrodes are composite electrodes consisting of a core (fill) material surrounded by a metallic outer sheath. The core consists mainly of iron powder and alloying and fluxing ingredients to help with arc stability, weld wetting and appearance etc., such that the desired appearance and mechanical properties are obtained in the weld. Metal cored electrodes are manufactured by mixing up the ingredients of the core material and depositing them inside a formed strip, and then closing and drawing the strip to the final diameter. Metal-cored electrodes provide increased deposition rates and produce a wider, more consistent weld penetration profile compared to solid electrodes. Moreover, they provide improved arc action, generate less fume and spatter, and provide weld deposits with better wetting compared to solid electrodes. However, these productivity improvements are sometimes offset by the expense incurred because of the time required to remove the slag deposits or islands, which form on the surface of the weld.
In general, in gas metal arc welding with solid or metal cored wires, the slag islands tend to form at the toes of the weld. The slag islands get wedged in the toes and this makes them very difficult to remove. In this invention, addition of ingredients to the core (fill) of the metal core electrode have been made, which allow for the slag to form as discrete islands in the middle of the weld, instead of the toes of the weld. This allows the slag islands to either self detach or be removed easily.
Several fill compositions have been developed to address the slag removal problem. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,140 to Godai, a flux composition use in a cored electrode for welding stainless steel is disclosed. Godai discloses that the addition of low melting point metallic oxides such as lead oxide, copper oxide, bismuth oxide, antimony oxide or tin oxide is useful in enhancing the separability of slag. The teachings of Godai are incorporated herein by reference.
Another fill composition having improved slag removal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,284 to Nikodym. Nikodym discloses a fill composition for a mild steel or low alloy steel electrode. Nikodym distinguishes the disclosed fill composition from the fill composition disclosed in Godai on the basis that Godai is directed to a flux cored electrode for stainless steel welding which is fundamentally different from metal-cored electrodes for mild steel and low alloy steel welding. Nikodym asserts that flux cored electrodes for use in the welding of stainless steel include a flux composition consisting of nonmetallic inorganic components that are present in significantly higher percentages (e.g., 5 to 10%) than in metal cored electrodes for use in the welding of mild or low alloy metals, thus resulting in the slag covering the entire surface of and adhering strongly to the weld bead thereby making it very difficult to remove. The fill composition disclosed in Nikodym includes the addition of antimony, bismuth and/or germanium to a weld metal to cause slag deposits or islands on the weld metal to form at positions away from the toe or edge of mild and low alloy steel weld beads, thereby facilitating the removal of the slag deposits or islands. The teachings of Nikodym are incorporated herein by reference.

Wire electrode with improved slag properties


Buffer control means and output control means are included within a buffering apparatus. Data longer than the width of data bus is read by single access from buffer means. Rather than signal line control for each bus width, signal line control for each data group is performed by a method wherein address administration means holds address information in relationship with each group of a series of data written in the buffer means and data is output from the buffer means.

Conventional communication means in general communication equipment for wire communication, radio communication and the like in many cases adopts a construction shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, in communication means 1, input data introduced as conventional communication data through an input end is passed through input interface means 2 and is supplied to buffering means 4 while controlling by communication control means 3 to perform buffering. Further, the input data is subjected to protocol conversion processing in protocol conversion means 5, is then withdrawn from the buffering means 4, is passed through output interface means 6, and is output through an output end.
Here input of data into the communication means (apparatus) 1, that is, the arrival of data, sometimes occurs in such a state that the preparation of the communication means 1 for receiving the input is incomplete. Therefore, the data should be temporarily maintained (buffered) until the preparation for receiving data is complete. Accordingly, the buffering means 4 temporarily maintains (buffers) input data, until the communication means 1 is ready for the receipt of the data, and performs speed buffering. Regarding the buffering means 4, there are many types which, according to the construction of the system, range from one, which requires large buffering, to one which simply permits passage of signals without protocol conversion or the like.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the construction of an example of a conventional buffering apparatus. In this drawing, a buffering apparatus 10 is an apparatus for realizing the buffering means 4 shown in FIG. 1 and comprises buffer means 11 comprising n first-in-first-out buffers (FIFOS) or the like and buffer control means 12. The buffer control means 12 comprises buffer write control means 13 for controlling the writing operation of the buffer means 11, buffer read control means 14 for controlling the read operation of the buffer means 11, and buffer access control means 15 for controlling the buffer write control means 13 and the buffer read control means 14.
Further, input control means 16, output control means 17, address administration means 1l, and address control means 19 are provided outside the buffering apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the input control means 16 comprises input address detection means 161, input address notification means 162, input signal control means 163, and buffer write request control means 164. As shown in FIG. 4, the output control means 17 comprises buffer read request control means 171, output address control means 172, output signal control means 173, and bus width selection means 174.
As shown in FIG. 5, the address administration means 18 comprises address input means 181 and address notification means 182. The address control means 19 comprises address designation interface means 191. On the assumption that DMA or the like is used, the address control means 19 exists in such a case that the address information is separately administered by a processor such as an external central processing unit (CPU). Upon the receipt of addressing from an external part, the address designation interface means 191 directly or indirectly accesses the address administration means 18. As shown in FIG. 6, the buffer means 11 uses a write pointer (BUFWP) and a read pointer (BUFRP) for the buffer (BUF) to simply render the operation for storing data into the buffer continuous and thus to store a group of a series of data.
Next, the operation of the conventional buffering apparatus 10 will be briefly explained. As soon as a certain group of a series of data such as a frame and a packet externally arrives at the input control means 16, the input control means 16 transfers the group of input data to the buffer control means 12. The buffer control means 12 is mainly responsible for the control of writing into the buffer means 11 and reading of data from the buffer means 11 and sequentially writes and stores the group of input data into the buffer means 11.
When the preparation on the output side has been completed, processing for outputting is started by the buffer control means 12. The series of data group is read from the buffer means 11, is passed through the output control means 17. and is output. In outputting the series of data, the output control means 17 selects output bus width, and the data are divided into or integrated into necessary data width followed by outputting.
Here when the bus on the side of input into the buffering apparatus 10 is an address data bus which contains an address by time division, the input control means 16 separates address information from the bus and notifies the address administration means is of the address. The address administration means is maintains the address and sends the address information to the buffer access control means 15 in synchronization with the time of output of the series of data group. In the prior art technique, since the construction of juxtaposed buffers is simple, the address administration means 18 has the function of maintaining the input address as it is until the address is output.
Further, the conventional construction is generally such that, upon the receipt of a request from the external part for output from the buffer, data is fetched from the buffer according to the request. The requirement for the start of reading of the data is that necessary data length has been stored in the buffer. Here whether or not the necessary data length has been stored in the buffer is examined for the juxtaposed buffers.
Another example of the conventional buffering apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2642652(Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 198143/1989. This conventional buffering apparatus comprises: a double buffer comprising first and second buffers which absorb a fluctuation in input packet data, which arrive at irregular timing, and send output data at fixed timing, the first and second buffers being alternately switchable on the input side and the output side; a buffer control unit for monitoring data capacity within the double buffer and controlling the switching of the double buffer using one packet data output period as the shortest switching unit period; FIFO provided on the input side of the double buffer, for buffering the input packet data; and an FIFO control unit for controlling the transfer of data from the FIFO to the double buffer according to the switching of the buffer by the buffer control unit. According to this construction, a fluctuation in packet data, which arrives at irregular timing, is absorbed to prevent one packet data from being divided into a plurality of parts which are stored in a plurality of buffers.
The conventional buffering apparatuses have the following problems. At the outset, in many cases, the buffering apparatus is mounted completely separately from the bus width selection means, and, thus, due to the form of mounting, the optimization of processing is difficult. Specifically, within the communication means 1 shown in FIG. 1, under control by the communication control means 3 and the protocol conversion means 4, a decision is made on branching for processing, and the bus width selection means for selecting the bus width necessary for the processing is provided for speed buffering for absorbing the processing time difference and performs bus width conversion for enhancing the capacity of processing at a time per unit time.
This bus width selection means can be realized, for example, in a construction disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2659401/1993, that is, a construction wherein, in a module comprising an asynchronous buffer memory provided integrally with a group of data width conversion buffers some of multiple input 8 bits are combined, and bus width conversion is performed for 32-bit output (or output of less than 32 bits).
Here, for example, when real-time processing is necessary, assuming that one-byte input data is present for each clock, in the processing within the device (communication means 1), if 2 clocks are used for one byte, processing cannot catch up with input data. In this case, input data overflow, and the processing fails. When the processing method and bus width are converted in such a manner that, within the device (communication means 1), for example, two bytes can be processed per clock, the same speed as the input data can be apparently realized. The bus width selection means is means for this bus width conversion. Since, however, in the prior art technique, the bus width selection means is provided completely separately from the buffering apparatus, it is difficult to optimally covert buffer bus width and output bus width.
The second problem of the conventional apparatus is that, since the buffering apparatus 10 is provided completely separately from the address administration means 18, this construction is inefficient when there are a plurality of bus widths in such a state that a plurality of data groups are simultaneously buffered. As found in conventional means, in many cases, buffer function and address administration function are divided into separate construction blocks, and pure buffer is provided independently of pure data transfer such as DMA. Since, however, signal line is managed for each bus width, signal lines, for which common control is possible, are managed separately from each other or one another. This is inefficient.
The third problem of the conventional apparatus is as follows. The buffer in the buffer means 11 and the double buffer in the buffering apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2642652 are fixedly present with respect to the maximum storage data length, and a problem exists in a physical structural buffer construction wherein a series of data groups are selected and retrieved from a plurality of maximum fixed length buffers. For example, when several maximum data length fixed buffers, which are extensively used in the conventional buffering apparatus, are provided, even though the length of a certain data group does not reach the maximum data length, the idle portion cannot be allocated to a different data group.

Buffering apparatus and buffering method


Light scanning devices forming electrostatic latent images on photosensitive bodies are disposed so as to correspond respectively to the plurality of photosensitive bodies which correspond to a plurality of colors, respectively. Electrooptical elements are disposed on light paths of light beams. The electrostatic latent images formed on the respective photosensitive bodies 1 are respectively developed by developing means. Developed electrostatic latent images are respectively superposed together and transferred onto a sheet, so that a color image is formed. Images-for-detecting-offset-amounts, which are formed on a conveying body by the light scanning devices, are detected, and offset amounts of images of the respective colors are detected. Based on detected offset amounts, voltages are applied to the respective electrooptical elements such that the offset amounts become values of a predetermined range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color image forming apparatus, and in particular, to a color image forming apparatus in which electrostatic latent images are formed on photosensitive bodies by light beams being scanned by being deflected in a predetermined direction by a plurality of light scanning means disposed in correspondence with the plurality of photosensitive bodies which are provided in correspondence with colors to be developed, and the electrostatic latent images formed on the respective photosensitive bodies are developed by coloring materials of colors corresponding to the photosensitive bodies, and the developed images of the respective colors are superposed together and transferred onto a transfer medium such that a color image is formed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a color image forming apparatus is provided with a plurality of photosensitive bodies (e.g., four photosensitive bodies which are Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black)). Electrostatic latent images are formed on the photosensitive bodies of the respective colors by laser beams being turned on and off on the basis of image information of the respective colors by light scanning devices corresponding to the respective photosensitive bodies. By successively superposing toner images developed by developing means onto a single transfer medium, a desired color image is formed.
At this time, if the images which are superposed onto the single transfer medium are offset per color (referred to hereinafter as "color offset"), the hue changes, color unevenness occurs, and the like, such that the desired output image cannot be obtained. Reasons for color offset include offset of the light scanning positions due to the temperatures or the like of the light scanning devices, skewing or bowing of the scan lines of the respective light scanning devices, offset of the positions at which writing of the respective colors begin, offset of the light scanning positions due to uneven speeds of the photosensitive bodies or the conveying bodies, vibration or the like, changes over time, or the like. Among these, factors which most markedly affect image quality are skewing and bowing of the scan lines of the light scanning devices and offset of the positions at which writing of the respective colors begin.
Conventionally, in order to correct such offset, a patch image for detecting offset amounts of scan lines is formed on the transfer medium at the time the power source is turned on or at the time of the print cycle. By reading the patch image by a CCD, the relative amounts of offset from a reference color can be detected. Two CCDs are disposed at both ends of the image forming region on the transfer medium. By detecting offset at two points, the skewing of the scan lines of the respective light scanning devices can be detected.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-183676, subscanning direction offset from a reference color is corrected by moving, parallel and in the respective subscanning directions, bend-back mirrors of the light scanning devices other than the reference color, by using stepping motors and in accordance with the relative amounts of offset from the reference color. Further, there is a technique for correcting skewing by moving the stepping motors, which are at two places at the left and the right of the bend-back mirror holding portions, in accordance with the detected amounts read at CCDs (the amounts of offset). Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-96780, from the detected results read by CCDs and in accordance with the amounts of skewing from the reference color, correction is carried out to make the color offset inconspicuous by tilting f.theta. lenses at the light scanning devices of the other colors to the left and the right by stepping motors so as to make the amounts of skewing coincide with the reference color. In addition, there are structures in which, other than stepping motors, piezoelectric elements are used in order to correct the color offset by tilting and moving the mirrors. In this way, it has conventionally been common to correct color offset by mechanical correction.
Bowing of scan lines of a light scanning device occurs due to the optical layout and the planarity of the mirror, the deflection of the mirror, and the like. Conventionally, the optical parts have been designed such that bowing of the scan lines is corrected.
Further, it is conventionally common to effect adjustment by one pixel unit in the subscanning direction by adjusting a predetermined signal count value (for starting image writing). In addition, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-246975, adjustment of less than or equal to one pixel unit is carried out by controlling the rotation phases of rotating polygon bodies (hereinafter called "scanner motors") which deflect the laser beams of the light scanning devices of the respective colors.
However, in the inventions disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-183676 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-96780 and the like, correction is carried out so as to eliminate color offset by mechanical control. In this method, the correction cycle requires an extremely great amount of time. As a result, there is the problem that it cannot be executed during a regular print cycle. In actuality, the correction cycle requires several minutes. If this correction cycle is executed during a print cycle, the user is made to wait during this time. In particular, in cases in which minute correction is carried out for each color, even more time is required.
Accordingly, the mechanical correction as described above is executed only at the time of initial setting when the power source of the image forming device is turned on. Namely, there is the problem that the amount of offset which is caused by fluctuations in the positions of the scanning beams caused by temperature or the like during the print cycle, or by variations over time, or the like cannot be corrected.
Further, as one more reason why the correction cycle cannot be executed during the print cycle, there is the following reason. Namely, in the above-described correction method, for example, when skewing of the scan lines of the light scanning devices of the respective colors is corrected, registration (reference position) in the subscanning direction is offset. In this way, there is the problem that plural parameters cannot be controlled independently.
Namely, when correction is carried out mechanically as in the conventional art, too much time is required to carry out minute correction, and if attempts are made to complete the correction cycle in a short time, only rough correction can be carried out. Namely, with mechanical control, there is a trade-off between precision and speed. When aiming for high image quality and high image speed, this is fatal, and meeting of the user's requirements cannot be achieved. Further, there is also the problem that the device becomes large-scale.

Color image forming apparatus having correction of color image offset


A heat dissipation device for electronic device, a heat dissipation assembly, an air pipe assembly and a table. The heat dissipation device includes a refrigerator, an air pipe assembly and a heat dissipation assembly. The refrigerator has a cool air opening. The air pipe assembly has a first and second end portions, the first end portion detachably connects to the cool air opening. The heat dissipation assembly has a base body detachably connected to the refrigerator and a supporting plate pivoted to the base body. When the supporting plate is in a first position, the supporting plate has a first angle with a bottom plate of the base body. When the supporting plate is in a second position, the supporting plate has a second angle with the bottom plate. The second end portion is detachably connected to the supporting plate and is movably disposed in the air permeable.

Notebook computers have become a very important product in the market as people change their usage habits. An obvious advantage of a notebook computer is its portability, thus the notebook computer can be used in many places, not only at home and at the office, but also during commuting and flights, etc., such that people can do work, read online articles or clips, or play online games regardless of location. Some users are very demanding on gaming fluency when run game at a high resolution, so they would use high end processors. The high end processors will generate more waste heat. However, due to the limitations of the notebook computer, the heat dissipater in the notebook computer has a limited ability to remove the waste heat.
In prior art, some of the notebook computers have one or more fans inside, so they can suck air from the bottom side, and then exhaust the air from lateral sides or rear side so as to remove the waste heat. However, the bottom side of the notebook computers is usually in contact with the table or desk, resulting in the notebook computer not able to suck air from the bottom side. Even if the air can be sucked into the notebook computer, the cooling effect is limited because the air is not cool enough.

Heat dissipation assembly, air pipe assembly, and table having heat dissipation device


Process for treating waste water on ships in which the waste water is pretreated by surface filtration, the pretreated waste water being collected in a first tank acting as a mixing tank and optionally enriched with oxygen. The waste water from the first tank is continuously fed to a three stage bioreactor, in which aerobic waste water treatment takes place in a second tank, waste water is fed in batches from a second tank to a third sealed tank, in which denitrification and sedimentation of the solids takes place. Water from the third tank is fed into a fourth tank acting as a settling tank with the largest part of the sludge being recirculated in batches from the third tank into the first tank and, after disinfection, the water from the fourth tank is subjected to fine filtration.

At present it is still commonplace for waste water produced on ships to be passed untreated into the sea. It is however also already known to subject waste water to a biological clarification process. A disadvantage in this case is that it is difficult to adapt it to the amount of waste water being produced, as waste water from ships is typically composed of different waste water streams which as a rule have widely fluctuating compounds. Furthermore, there is an insufficient breakdown of nitrates in such clarification processes. As a result, the clarified water is passed into the sea water with unacceptable levels of nitrates and nitrites.
A compact biological water clarification assembly is known from DE 197 49 699 A1. The assembly for treating waste water comprises a primary clarification stage, a biological clarification stage and a final clarification stage in a single container. The primary clarification tank itself consists of three tanks. Water enters the first tank from where the waste water is passed into a further primary clarification tank located below the first tank, from where the waste water is passed into the third primary clarification tank which is located in the vicinity of the second primary clarification tank. In the third primary clarification tank a rotating body is arranged with which, in this tank, part of the aerobic biological purification of the waste water is carried out.
A device is known from DE 31 45 797 A1 for biological waste water purification where, for the purification process, the waste water is fed in with vacuum suction by means of a liquid jet pump which is driven by a circulating water pump. A buffer tank into which the waste water first enters and which is connected to the suction side of the liquid jet pump is arranged in such a way that there is a vacuum cushion in the buffer tank. In this manner multiple use of toilets and/or waste water collection points are/is achieved and at the same time efficient aerobic breakdown of the contaminants is ensured.
A transportable compact clarification assembly is known from DE 295 17 891 U1, which is built into a welded structural steel container. It contains a two-stage bioreactor. The bioreactor working in the aeration process is connected via an intermediate clarification stage to a low load reactor containing a forced-aeration fixed bed cascade. The excess sludge is fed out of the post-clarification tank into a high load tank, which is connected in series to the bioreactor. The excess sludge from the intermediate sludge circuit between the intermediate clarification stage and the high load tank is discharged into an aerated sludge stabilization tank/sludge collector.
In DE 42 07 077 C2 a compact clarification assembly with a sludge recirculation element is disclosed. A rectangular tank is divided up into a pre-clarification tank, an aeration tank with an immersed aerator and a post-clarification tank. At least one liquid overflow device is provided between the aeration tank and the post-clarification tank. On the bottom of the aeration tank at a distance from the horizontal recirculation slot, guide elements are offset obliquely from one another and spaced apart along the width of the tank. At the lower end of the partition wall between the aeration tank and the post-clarification tank above the slot is a guide element, extending horizontally along the width of the tank and arranged obliquely downwards into the aeration tank.
A process and an assembly for the biological purification of waste water by targeted denitrification is known from DE 42 21 867 C2. The activated sludge withdrawn as excess sludge is disintegrated by a mechanical cell wall disintegration process into a disintegrated product and thus processed to an internally available source of hydrocarbon and metered specifically for denitrification. All the organic carbon of the waste water which can be biologically broken down is converted into the gas phase by continuous recirculation.
From EP 0 501 355 A1 a process is known for the anaerobic treatment of water, in particular for the microbial degradation of nitrates from drinking water. The raw water to be treated is passed via two fluidised bed reactors connected in series and in the operating state is transported with support material overgrown by biomass from a respective reactor stage into the following reactor stage. The support material is passed with the water stream leaving the last reactor into a separation unit from where the separated support material is recirculated into the first reactor stage. Depending on the pressure drop in the individual reactor stages the water to be treated can be passed via reactor stages staggered in height.

Process and assembly for the treatment of waste water on ships


A particle detector for detecting particles flowing in a duct has a first triboelectric probe (5) for detecting the particles and a second triboelectric probe (3) for detecting a signal generated by contaminants on the particle detector. The presence of signal-generating contaminants on the particle detector will result in an error signal on the first probe (5) and a signal on the second probe (3). Therefore, the presence of a signal on the second probe (3) will indicate that the signal appearing on the first probe (5) includes an error signal. If the ratio of the magnitude of the signal generated on the second probe (3) to the magnitude of the signal generated on the first probe (5) exceeds a certain pre-defined limit, cleaning of the detector will be required.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to apparatus for detecting particles flowing in a duct and a method of detecting contaminants on the particle detector.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The performance of a triboelectric particle detector may be impaired if particles from the flow are allowed to build up on its surface. One way to avoid the build up of particles is to clean the probe on a regular basis. However, cleaning involves taking the particle detector off-line and may be time-consuming and require the disassembly of complex equipment. It is therefore desirable to monitor the level of contamination of the detector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,061 describes an on-line method of monitoring a detector for contamination. In the method described in that patent, a detector in the form of a probe is triboelectrically charged by particles in a flow. The signal generated by that charging passes through monitor circuitry that includes an amplifier, the gain of which is dependent upon the impedance of the probe. Under normal operating conditions, the impedance of the probe is substantially infinite. However, when the probe becomes contaminated the impedance may drop significantly, and that drop results in a change in the gain of the amplifier. In order to detect the occurrence of any such change in gain, a second signal of known amplitude is passed through the amplifier. A change in the magnitude of the amplified second signal indicates that the gain of the amplifier has changed and that cleaning of the probe may be required.
A low probe impedance can also cause the gain of the amplifier to rise with respect to the amplifier""s internal noise; i.e., the gain seen by the input signal is unchanged, but the gain seen by the internal noise is increased. That causes an increase in the background noise level of the instrument, and that increase may be enough to mask low-level signals.
However, a finite probe impedance does not always cause a problem in a particle detection system. In particular, in a detector in which A.C. coupling is used, such as those described in British Patent No. 2266772 and British Patent No. 2277154, a finite probe impedance usually only has a significant effect if it is so low as to saturate the amplifier, or if it varies in magnitude with time. Each of those effects would produce an error signal with an A.C. component which would be detected by the A.C. monitoring apparatus. In most other circumstances a finite impedance would usually only result in a D.C. signal caused by the offset-error voltage of the amplifier. The A.C. coupling circuitry would filter out such a D.C. signal.
A more significant problem for both A.C.- and D.C.-coupled detectors occurs when contaminants on the detector act as a signal source. Particles flowing past the detector can interact with the contaminants and cause the generation of A.C. or D.C. error signals. The impedance-dependent contamination monitoring technique described above would not detect signal-generating contamination unless the contamination also resulted in a low probe impedance.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for detecting particles flowing in a duct and for detecting contamination which is acting as a signal on the particle detector.
According to the invention, there is provided a particle detector for detecting particles flowing in a duct, comprising: a first triboelectric probe for detecting the particles and a second triboelectric probe for detecting a signal generated by contaminants on the particle detector.
The first probe may be used for monitoring the particle flow in the usual way. The presence of signal-generating contaminants on the particle detector will result in an error signal on the first probe. The error signal will also be detected on the second probe because the second probe is located between the first probe and the structure. Therefore, the presence of a signal on the second probe will indicate that the signal appearing on the first probe includes an error signal. The degree to which contamination is a problem may be determined by considering the ratio of the magnitude of the signal generated on the second probe to the magnitude of the signal generated on the first probe. If this ratio exceeds a certain pre-defined limit then cleaning of the detector will be required.
Advantageously, the second probe substantially surrounds the first probe. Each of the first and second probes may take any of several forms; for example, at least one of the probes may be in the form of a rod (which may be of circular cross-section), a ring or a stud.
The particle detector may be so arranged that, if the detector is mounted on a duct, both probes will project into a flow of particles flowing in the duct. Alternatively, the particle detector may be so arranged that, if the detector is mounted on a duct, neither probe will project into a flow of particles flowing in the duct. Preferably, the particle detector is so arranged that, if the detector is mounted on a duct, the second probe does not project into a flow of particles flowing in the duct. If both probes project into the particle flow, the second probe should be so arranged that it generates a significantly smaller signal attributable to the particle flow than the signal generated by the first probe. The ratio of the signals from the two probes would remain approximately constant when the detector was not contaminated, but a ratio significantly different from that constant value would indicate that the detector was contaminated. Even with the second probe out of the air stream, it is possible that the second probe will detect a low-level signal attributable to the flow of particles.
Also according to the invention there is provided apparatus for detecting particles flowing in a duct, the apparatus comprising: a particle detector, which includes a first probe and a second probe, the first and second probes being so arranged that, if the particle detector is mounted on a structure, the second probe will be positioned between the first probe and the structure, and the first and second probes will be substantially electrically isolated from each other and from the structure; means for monitoring a signal generated on the first probe; and means for monitoring a signal generated on the second probe by contaminants on the detector.
The means for monitoring the signal generated on the second probe may be electronic circuitry substantially identical in design to that used to monitor the signal generated on the first probe. The means for monitoring the signal generated on the second probe may be substantially independent of the means for monitoring the signal generated on the first probe. Alternatively, the means for monitoring the signal generated on the second probe may utilise the means for monitoring the signal generated on the first probe.
The monitoring means may include means to monitor A.C. components of the signals and may furthermore include filtering circuitry which removes D.C. components from the signals. Alternatively, the monitoring means may include means to monitor D.C. components of the signals.
Also according to the invention, there is provided a particle-detecting installation, including a duct together with a particle detector as described above. Also according to the invention, there is provided a particle-detecting installation, including an apparatus for detecting particles as described above. Both probes may project into the flow of particles. Alternatively, neither probe projects into the flow of particles, Preferably, the second probe does not project into the flow of particles. The duct may be a stack.
Also according to the invention, there is provided a method of detecting contaminants on a particle detector, which involves the use of a particle detector as described above. Also according to the invention, there is provided a method of detecting contaminants on a particle detector, which involves the use of an apparatus for detecting particles as described above. Also according to the invention, there is provided a method of detecting contaminants on a particle detector, which involves the use of a particle detecting installation, as described above.
The present invention also provides a method of detecting contaminants on a particle detector comprising: providing a particle detector, which comprises a first triboelectric probe for detecting particles flowing in a duct and a second triboelectric probe; monitoring a signal generated on the first probe; and monitoring a signal generated on the second probe by the contaminants.
The signal from the second probe may be monitored continuously via monitoring circuitry that is substantially independent of monitoring circuitry used to monitor the signal from the first probe. Alternatively, the signal from the second probe may be monitored intermittently via monitoring circuitry used to monitor the signal from the first probe, with the monitoring circuitry being switched between the two probes. The latter method requires less circuitry but the former enables monitoring to be carried out more frequently without taking the first probe off-line.
Preferably, A.C. components of the signals generated on the first and second probes are monitored. Alternatively, the D.C. components of the signals generated on the first and second probes may be monitored. Alternatively, the signals including both A.C. and D.C. components may be monitored.
The present invention also provides a method of detecting contaminants on a particle detector, the method comprising: providing a particle detector, which is mounted on a structure and includes a first triboelectric probe and a second triboelectric probe, which is positioned between the first probe and the structure, the first and second probes being substantially electrically isolated from each other and from the structure; and monitoring a signal generated on the second probe by the contaminants.


An endoscope apparatus is an endoscope apparatus having an insertion portion having an image pickup device in a distal end portion, and a main body portion, and has a drive circuit that outputs a drive signal that drives the image pickup device, and a changing section that changes at least one of a pulse width and a peak value of a reset gate signal included in the drive signal, in response to a temperature of a vicinity of the image pickup device or the main body portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus having an image pickup device in a distal end portion of an insertion portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, endoscope apparatuses have been widely used in an industrial field and a medical field. An image pickup device is disposed at a distal end of an insertion portion, and an endoscopie image obtained by an image being picked up by the image pickup device is displayed on a display apparatus of a main body portion that is connected to the insertion portion.
Endoscope apparatuses have elongated insertion portions, and are used under various temperature environments such as inspection of the insides of jet engines under high-temperature environments, and inspection of water pipes in cold districts.
It becomes difficult for image pickup devices such as a charge coupled device (hereinafter, called CCD) of recent years to sample image signals that are video signals stably due to high frequency drive accompanying increase in density of pixels, and variations in signal waveforms of output signals (for example, called CCDout) that are outputted from the image pickup devices accompanying temperatures. For the purpose of temperature compensation, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 8-18871 proposes the art of correcting the intensity change of the video signal which is outputted by the CCD by gain adjustment based on the temperature.
Since endoscope apparatuses are used under various temperature environments, stable image qualities are required as inspection apparatuses in the use environments at various temperatures.

Endoscope apparatus in which the waveform of a reset gate signal included in a drive signal for an image pickup device is changed based on temperature


Provided is an electron beam apparatus in which an electron beam emitted from an electron gun is separated by a plurality of apertures, images of said apertures are reduced in more than two stages to form multi-beams on a sample surface and to scan said sample thereby, and secondary electrons from said sample are passed through an objective lens, where distances between said secondary electrons are extended, further through an E×B separator, where said secondary electrons are separated from the primary beam, and finally onto secondary electron detectors, where said secondary electrons are detected, wherein a lens defined in the second step for reducing said image of the aperture is composed of two stage lens and an enlarged image of the secondary electron is formed on a position between a first and a second lenses of said two stage lens, thereby reducing an aberration of the optical system for detecting the secondary electrons and allowing as many multi-beams as possible to be formed in the vicinity of a single optical axis.

The present invention relates to an apparatus providing a pattern evaluation of a sample, for example, a substrate having a pattern with a minimum line width not greater than 0.1 μm with a high throughput, and also to an evaluation method of a pattern by using the same apparatus.
The present invention further relates to a pattern evaluation method that provides an evaluation, such as a defect inspection for a chip having a pattern with a minimum line width not greater than 0.1 μm in an inexpensive manner, with a reduced foot print as well as with a high throughput.
The present invention further relates to a method for manufacturing a device by using said electron beam apparatus or pattern evaluation method.
In the evaluation of a pattern formed on a substrate by using an electron beam, it has been conventionally suggested to use a multi-beam in order to improve the throughput. Such suggestions may be categorized roughly into two methods: a method of using a multi-beam having a plurality of optical axes; and a method of forming a multi-beam on spots spaced equally from a single optical axis.
The former method, or the method of using the multi-beam having a plurality of optical axes, however, has a problem that a need for making a large number of electron optical lens columns leads to an increase in the entire cost of the apparatus, and a further problem that it is impossible to arrange a large number of optical axes on a single substrate, or on a wafer.
On the other hand, the latter method, or the method of forming the multi-beam on the spots spaced equally from the single optical axis also has a problem that the beam to be formed away from the optical axis increases an aberration in an optical system and does not allow an increase in intensity of the beams. In a trial to address these problems, an attempt to arrange more beams in the locations quite close to the optical axis caused another problem that secondary electrons generated from respective points scanned by the multi-beam overlap with one another due to the aberration in the optical system, while another attempt to extend a space between beams, which allows an individual detection, aiming at preventing the above problem of overlapping, has adversely prohibited producing a large number of multi-beams. Further, the electron beam apparatus according to the prior art typically has a problem that the length of a secondary optical system is rather longer.
More specifically, the apparatus according to the prior art employs a single step of objective lens 4 for focusing a primary electron beam 2 after the beam has passed through a reducing lens 1 onto a sample surface 3, as illustrated in FIG. 10. In an operation of this apparatus, if a landing energy of the primary electrons is large, an excitation voltage of the objective lens 4 will be increased, so that the secondary electrons 5 will form a secondary electron image 6 immediately above the objective lens 4 with a large half-angular aperture αi, as illustrated, which could fall out of lens, unless an aperture size of the lens 8 is made larger. From this point of view, it is necessary to enlarge the aperture size of the lens 8, which in turn, could disadvantageously lead to a drawback of the increased aberration. Further, since a lens of a second optical system is not allowed to be positioned close to the objective lens, the lens having an object point in a distance serving as a magnifying lens, is required to make its image point defined at a further distant location, which disadvantageously makes an entire length of the secondary optical system much longer. It is to be noted that in the drawing, reference numeral 9 designates an E×B separator serving for separating the secondary electrons from the primary optical system.
The present invention has been made in the light of the above problems, and accordingly a first subject to be addressed by the present invention is to provide an electron beam apparatus and an evaluation method of a pattern by using said apparatus, which can be manufactured at low cost and which can reduce the aberration in the optical system for detecting the secondary electrons and to allow the large number of multi-beams to be formed in the vicinity of the single optical axis.
In the art, there has been known a method for providing an evaluation such as a defect inspection for a pattern formed on a chip by using an electron beam apparatus (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei7-249393). In the practice according to the prior art, such an evaluation apparatus comprising a memory capable of storing the images for at least two chips is used, wherein an entire pattern formed on a single chip is stored, and said pattern is compared with the entire pattern formed on another chip so as to detect a defect. Further, a probe used for the defect detection is of a type using a single electron beam.
However, the prior art method has a problem that the memory for storing the image data should be extremely large in size and yet a further problem that using only a single beam as the probe results in an extremely low throughput.
Accordingly, a second object of the present invention is to provide a pattern evaluation method that can work effectively with a small sized memory for storing the image data in the evaluation apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method which can increase a throughput by using a multi-beam to make the pattern evaluation.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method of a device, in which an apparatus or a method as specified above is used to evaluate a sample in the course of processing.

Electron beam apparatus, a pattern evaluation method and a device manufacturing method using the electron beam apparatus or pattern evaluation method


A semiconductor device includes an address generator and an output unit. The address generator is configured to output a plurality of addresses in response to a first number of most significant bits of a current pixel value including a first selection bit and a second number of most significant bits of a previous pixel value including a second selection bit. The output unit is configured to determine correction parameters which respectively correspond to the plurality of addresses, in response to the plurality of addresses, to select an index pattern from a plurality of index patterns in response to the first selection bit and the second selection bit, and to arrange the determined correction parameters into the selected index pattern to output arranged correction parameters. The index pattern is a pattern that can be generated according to positions of the determined correction parameters in a look-up table including the plurality of indexes.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device including a correction parameter generator and a method of generating correction parameters.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is an electronic device, which converts diverse electronic information generated by various apparatuses into visual information using liquid crystals. The transparency of the liquid crystals change according to an applied voltage. As compared to a conventional cathode-ray tube (CRT) display, the LCD may have a higher resolution, be thinner, and consume less power. However, when displaying moving pictures, the LCD may suffer from time delays caused by changes in molecular arrangements, which occur when an electric field is applied to a liquid crystal material. The time delays may cause blurring or tailing. Liquid crystal molecules in an LCD may move slowly. Overdrive technology may be used to increase the response speed of the liquid crystal molecules by correcting a video signal of the LCD.
In some current overdrive technologies, correction parameters are selected from a look-up table (LUT). The LUT stores correction parameters based on the combination of a pixel value of a previous frame and a pixel value of a current frame. The selected correction parameters are interpolated and a corrected video signal is output as a result of the interpolation. The LUT stores correction parameters, which are determined based on panel characteristics of an LCD and may be obtained through experimentation. The LUT may be stored in memory.
However, memories that store the LUT require a large capacity, for example, 256*256 bytes. Methods for using smaller capacity memories have been proposed. However, when adjacent parameters are selected from the LUT in these methods in which four parameters are simultaneously selected, the parameters may be inadvertently selected again, causing data redundancy or a waste of clock cycles.

Semiconductor device including correction parameter generator and method of generating correction parameters


A method for cross datacenter service-to-service communication over a shortest network route using mesh gateways. A mesh gateway receives a protocol message from a first service directed to a second service, identifies destination information associated with the second service, recognizes a routing configuration for routing the protocol message, determines a network route based on the routing configuration, and forwards the protocol message to another gateway associated with the second service over the determined network route.

A software application may span multiple web-services within different data centers. Securely connecting these web-services associated with multiple run-time platforms or environments involves complex and costly configurations between the services. Spanning web-services within different clouds, a cloud within datacenter, and connections between a modern scheduler and virtual machines also require a careful network and security configuration.
Typically, web-services within different environments are connected using a point to point VPN connection. VPN uses a public network infrastructure, by means of tunneling technology to achieve data security transmission of similar private network. Correctly configuring and operating VPN tunnels to establish point to point VPN connections within multiple platforms or environments is a costly and complex process.
While a technique that allows service discovery across datacenter boundaries by differentiating between WAN and LAN addresses of a service and automatically using the WAN addresses for a direct connection between web-services exists, this technique does not ensure that subnets between two environments do not overlap. Additionally, this approach also requires established VPN set-up between environments.
Typically, after the VPN connection is established, a host within a local gateway within a datacenter connects to a host within a remote gateway through the secure VPN tunnel. A connection consists of the IP addresses and host names of the two gateways, the subnets behind them, and the shared secrets for the two gateways to authenticate to each other. When thousands of users access applications, defining policies and synchronizing them across different locations is a complex task. In addition, deploying, configuring and managing VPNs in tens or hundreds of cloud instance is expensive, time-consuming and risky.
While there are numerous techniques for service-to-service communication within different environments, a simple solution for service-to-service communication using optimal network routes that solves the various networking problems and complexities that arise in multi-cloud, multi-cluster, multi-platform, hybrid-cloud environments is not available. Accordingly, there is a need for a framework that enables efficient cross datacenter service-to-service communication using an optimal network route.

Cross datacenter communication using a mesh gateway