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Ski poles as such are generally known. Associated with a ski pole grip there are e.g. loop-type straps through which the skier inserts his hand so that the strap effectively wraps around the wrist as the skier grasps the hand grip and poles his way along the path of travel. In certain skiing competitions, it is imperative that the skier be able to rapidly release and reattach his hands to the ski poles. For instance, in Olympic biathlon competition, the skier traverses a cross country path and periodically must stop, take a rifle from the shoulder, fire at targets and then move on to a next station. In such competition, seconds are important.
A biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski around a cross-country trail system, and where the total distance is broken up by some—typically two or four—shooting rounds, generally half in prone position, the other half standing. Depending on the shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant's total running distance or time. As in most races, the contestant with the shortest total time wins. A traditional strap permanently fixed to the handle in the upper end of the ski pole or a traditional strap interchangeably fixed to the handle in the upper end of the ski pole does neither allow a quick loosening of the skier's hand nor a quick reattaching of the skier's hand. Instead the skier must dribble his/her hands out of the holes of the straps and respectively dribble his/her hands back into the holes of the straps, which take considerable time. This time delay is critical e.g. in biathlon skiing, because the shooting in fact should be exercised by unloaded hands to attain good shooting results.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,154 discloses a ski glove having a strap extending diagonally across the palm and between a thumb-receiving pocket and an index finger-receiving pocket. The special strap is fastened to the rear of the glove and includes a clip thereon for engaging a mating latch mechanism formed on the hand-grip of a ski pole such that the skier may more rapidly engage and disengage his hand from the ski pole than can be accomplished when conventional ski pole straps are employed.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,287 discloses a quick release skip pole strap system including a novel ski pole strap that attaches to a ski pole grip. A locking mechanism within the ski pole grip automatically engages with a strap pin. A button attached to a side of the ski pole grip, when depressed, causes the strap pin to automatically eject from the ski pole grip decoupling the skier from the ski pole. The skier can depress the button without having to remove his hands from the ski pole grips. The ski pole strap is preferably made of an elastic material that automatically pulls the pin from the ski pole grip and holds the ski pole in a “ready to plant” position. There is an attachment mechanism disposed within the ski pole grip for receiving and locking the strap pin to the ski pole grip. The strap pin is insertable inside the ski pole grip and mechanically engaging with the attachment mechanism biasing the strap into a stretched condition. The strap in its stretched condition exerts constant force on the strap pin away from the ski pole grip. There is further a button extending from the ski pole grip and mechanically coupled to the attachment mechanism, whereupon the button is movable into a depressed condition mechanically disengaging the strap pin from the attachment mechanism. Then the strap in an unbiased condition returns to the given unstretched length forcing the strap pin out of the ski pole grip. This button is depressible by the hand of the skier and the strap changing from the biased to the unbiased condition while the same hand simultaneously remains wrapped around the ski pole grip.
Document US RE38,573 E, being a divisional of the above mentioned patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,287, also discloses a quick release skip pole strap system including a ski pole strap that attaches to a ski pole grip. A locking mechanism within the ski pole grip automatically engages with a strap pin. A button attached to a side of the ski pole grip, when depressed, causes the strap pin to automatically eject from the ski pole grip decoupling the skier from the ski pole. The skier can depress the button without having to remove his hands from the ski pole grips. Here, too, the ski pole strap is made of an elastic material that pulls the pin from the ski pole grip.
With the above mentioned conventional ski poles, valuable time may be lost when it becomes necessary to release the straps from the ski pole grips so that he may grasp his rifle and begin firing. Similarly, when the shooting phase at a particular station has been completed, the skier must again manipulate straps to the ski pole before taking off down the trail. It shall be noted that both the uncoupling of the hand from the handle and the re-coupling of the hand to the handle must be quick processes. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear vibration motor using resonance frequency. More particularly, in a vertical vibrator which does not use a conventional vibration motor mechanism based upon brushes and a commutator, the linear vibration motor of the invention can minimize the volume of an elastic member except for the route of movement in order to maximize the amplitude of vibration in a fixed volume.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication instruments generally have a call receiving function as one of their essential functions. Typically, the call receiving function generates sound such as a melody and bell or vibrates corresponding communication instruments.
Since the melody or bell may disturb others when transferred to the outside via a speaker, the vibration function is used generally to avoid this situation. In order to enable the vibration function, a small sized vibration motor is generally actuated transferring a driving force to a housing of a communication instrument thereby to vibrate the same.
Vibration motors currently utilized in mobile phones are classified into thin coin and elongate bar types according to their configurations.
FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view illustrating a conventional coin type vibration motor in detail, which will be described as follows.
A coin type vibration motor 100 generally includes a stator assembly 110 in the form of a stationary member and a rotor assembly 120 in the form of a rotary member.
The stator assembly 110 has a bracket 111 in the form of a circular plate, a lower board 112 attached on the top of the bracket 111 and an annular magnet 113 concentrically attached on the top of the bracket 111 around the lower board 112 in the same fashion.
The bracket 111 is enclosed by a housing 150 from above, and a central shaft 130 is connected between the bracket 111 and the housing 150.
The rotor assembly 120 is rotatably placed around the shaft 130, and has a bearing 121, a coil assembly 122, a counter weight 123, a commutator 124, an upper board 125 and an insulator 126.
The stator assembly 110 is electrically connected to the rotor assembly 120 via brushes 140 that are fixed at the bottom ends to the lower board 112 and the top ends to the commutator 124.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a conventional bar type vibration motor, which will be described as follows.
A bar type vibration motor 200 generally includes a stator assembly 210 and a rotor assembly 220.
The stator assembly 210 has a body 211, a stationary cap 212 fixed to the body 211 and a magnet 213 fixed to the body 211. The body 211 is of a hollow cylindrical member, and fixedly houses the magnet 213 therein.
The rotor assembly 220 has an eccentric weight 223, a stationary member 225, a commutator 224, which is fixedly attached on one side of the stationary member 225 and divided into a plurality of segments, and a plurality of coil assemblies 222 fixed to the stationary member 225.
A lower board (not shown) mounted on the stationary cap 212 has a pair of brushes 240 fixed thereto, in which the brushes 240 are connected to power-supplying lead wires 214 and contact the commutator 224 to apply voltage thereto.
Regardless of their designs, the above vibration motors generate rotational force to turn a rotary unit having an unbalanced mass thereby obtaining mechanical vibration, in which the rotational force is generally produced by supplying voltage to a rotor coil through the commutation by contacts of the brushes and the commutator.
Unfortunately, a brush type vibration motor incorporating such a commutator has following problems: In the rotation of the motor, brushes passing through a gap between segments of a commutator creates mechanical friction and an electric spark so that the brushes and the commutator are abraded to shorten the lifetime of the motor.
As a vertical vibrator in the form of a brushless vibration motor for overcoming some drawbacks of such a brush type vibration motor, a portable vibrator is proposed in Japanese Patent Publication Serial No. 2003-117489. The vertical vibrator is illustrated in FIG. 3, and will be described herein as follows.
A cylindrical frame 410 is provided at axial ends with a pair of brackets for supporting both ends of a stationary shaft, and a cylindrical coil 420 having terminals is fixed to the inner periphery of the cylindrical frame 410. A cylindrical permanent magnet 430 is radially magnetized, and elastic members 440 are fixed coplanar with the permanent magnet 430.
Generally in a vibration motor using resonance frequency, the amplitude of vibration F is expressed as Equation 1 below:F∝M·X·f2 Equation 1,
wherein M is the mass of a vibrator, X is the displacement of the vibrator and f2 is the square of resonance frequency.
That is, the amplitude of vibration increases in proportion to the mass of the vibrator in a fixed volume.
However, the portable vibrator 400 as shown in FIG. 3 also has following problems: The coil 420 is placed on the inside wall of the housing occupying a large space, and the elastic member is of a coil elastic member (i.e., an elastic member in which its plates are accumulated in thickness to occupy a volume if extruded to the maximum extent) so that the volume occupied by the elastic member except for the track drawn by its movement does not provide a space for increasing the volume of the vibrator in a fixed volume. That is, the mass of the vibrator cannot be maximized failing to maximize the amplitude of vibration in a fixed volume.
As a consequence, vibration motors using resonance frequency capable of preventing such problems have been required in the art. | {
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Inverters are often used to convert DC power into AC power for one or more AC loads. In the case of polyphase inverters, it is often necessary to produce a neutral voltage which is also supplied to the loads. The neutral voltage can be obtained from the DC voltage provided to the inverter input, in which case the inverter is referred to as the half-bridge type. In a full-bridge type of inverter, the neutral voltage is derived from the phase output voltages.
A polyphase inverter includes a plurality of inverter legs, each of which comprises a pair of series-connected power switches in the form of transistors or thyristors which are connected across the conductors carrying the DC voltage. An inverter control develops pulse-width modulated (PWM) switching patterns which control the switches in each inverter leg. In a half-bridge type of inverter, switching patterns for the inverter switches are selected such that only harmonics which can be easily filtered are present in the inverter output. Generally, the inverter switching patterns are selected such that all harmonics up to the 2N+1th harmonic are cancelled, including triplen (i.e. odd multiple of three) harmonics, where N is the number of pulses per half-cycle produced by the inverter. Thus, in a three-phase half-bridge inverter producing seven pulses per half-cycle, all harmonics up to but not including the fifteenth harmonic are cancelled.
In the case of a full-bridge inverter providing balanced voltages and currents to a polyphase load, triplen harmonics appear not only in each of the phase outputs, but also in the neutral derived from the phase outputs. These triplen harmonics comprise common mode voltages which are in phase and have equal amplitudes. Such common mode voltages do not contribute to harmonic content in the output. However, if the inverter switching patterns for the inverter switches are different from phase to phase, triplen harmonics are produced across one or more phases of the load. These harmonics may increase the total harmonic content in the power provided to the load to an unacceptable level. Thus, as far as applicant is aware, there has been no attempt to individually regulate the output phase voltages of a full-bridge inverter by independently varying the switching patterns for the inverter legs.
An inverter control for a half-bridge inverter is disclosed in Parro II, U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,976, assigned to the assignee of the instant application. Base drive signals for controlling the switches of the inverter are obtained from switching patterns stored in a memory wherein the patterns are retrieved in accordance with one or more operating parameters of the inverter.
A further inverter control is disclosed in Woehrle et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,108. | {
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal display and more particularly to a liquid crystal display module and a liquid crystal display.
2. Related Art
In the wake of the development of liquid crystal display technology, the cost of liquid crystal display module is reducing gradually. A conventional liquid crystal display module comprises a front frame, a liquid crystal display panel, a plastic frame, optical films, a light guide plate, light sources, a heat dissipation plate and a back-plate, wherein the plastic frame generally requires a process of mould development, and its cost is very high.
In view of the high cost of plastic frame in conventional techniques, it is necessary to provide a liquid crystal display module to solve the problems in existing techniques. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for adjusting ink drop velocity, and, more particularly, in one embodiment, to a method and apparatus for adjusting ink drop velocity irrespective of sensors.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet printer typically includes a printhead, which is carried by a carrier. The printhead is fluidly coupled to an ink supply. Such a printhead includes a plurality of nozzles having corresponding ink ejection actuators, such as heater elements.
Ink is jetted from the nozzles onto a print medium at selected ink dot locations within an image area. The carrier moves the printhead across the print medium in a scan direction while the ink dots are jetted onto selected pixel locations within a given raster line. Between passes of the printhead, the print medium is advanced a predetermined distance and the printhead is again moved across the print medium.
Ink jet printers may utilize a single printhead, or multiple printheads. For example, some ink jet printing systems utilize a monochrome ink cartridge including a monochrome, e.g., black, printhead, and a color ink cartridge including a color printhead having cyan, magenta and yellow nozzle groups. In another type of ink jet printing system, each printhead is connected to a respective remote ink supply.
The manufacture of printheads involves certain manufacturing tolerances that result in manufacturing variations (e.g., variations in sheet resistance of the material used in the heater elements; mask alignment variations, which lead to variations in the width and length of heater elements; the rise and fall times of transistors that drive the heater elements; the thickness of the layer between the heater element and the ink, which influences heat transfer to the ink; the ink chemistry; and the voltage level of the power source), which in turn result in printheads that require differing amounts of energy to attain a drop velocity deemed suitable (e.g., high enough) for attaining a desired print quality. Thus, typically, from printhead to printhead, the amount of energy required to attain a suitable drop velocity varies.
Because of these manufacturing variations, an energy level for driving such printheads will be selected so that most printheads will attain a certain minimum drop velocity (e.g., 400-600 inches per second). This energy level is a statistical average value meant to encompass the largest range of printhead variations possible. Because the same predetermined amount of energy is used for each printhead, the energy is not optimized for a particular printhead.
One problem with this manner of ink delivery is that variations in printheads lead to inefficiencies in printhead operation. The result is ink drop velocity variations and difficulty in maintaining nominal head temperatures. Another problem is that driving ink jet heater elements at an energy level required to jet ink at an acceptable drop velocity means overdriving some printheads. By overdriving printheads, the overdriven nozzles can fail prematurely due to electromigration of the heater element.
What is needed in the art is a method and apparatus that reduces variations in drop velocities among a type of printhead, and/or provides for fire energy adjustment for the printhead. | {
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A silicone having a hydrophilic group has superior surface activity power because of possessing both a silicone moiety exhibiting properties such as a hydrophobic property, flexibility, a lubricating property, chemical stability and the like, and a hydrophilic-group moiety exhibiting properties such as a hydrophilic property, a moisture-retaining property, an adhesive property and the like. For this reason, the silicones having hydrophilic groups are widely used in food, resins, paint, cosmetics and the like. In particular, in a cosmetic, a silicone oil such as a low-molecular cyclosiloxane or the like is blended in order to improve sensation during use in many cases. It has been proposed that as a cosmetic raw material such as a surfactant or the like, for example, a polyether-modified silicone is used due to good miscibility with a silicone oil in many cases (JP-A-S61-293903 and the like).
However, a polyether group is sometimes insufficient in view of a hydrophilic property. For this reason, a (poly)glycerol-modified silicone and the application thereof to a cosmetic have been proposed in order to improve the hydrophilic property (see JP-A-S57-149290, JP-A-H06-157236, JP-A-H09-071504 and JP-A-2005-042097). However, the hydrophilic property may still be insufficient even in the case of using the (poly)glycerol group. In order to further enhance hydroxyl-group density, a sugar-modified silicone using a sugar or a polysaccharide as a polyhydric alcohol, and the application thereof to a cosmetic have been proposed (see JP-A-S62-068820, JP-A-S63-139106, JP-A-H05-186596, JP-A-H07-041417, JP-A-2002-119840 and JP-A-2008-274241).
On the other hand, an oil agent used in a cosmetic is not restricted to a silicone oil, and various types of oil agents such as a hydrocarbon oil, an ester oil and the like or a mixture thereof are used. For this reason, a material having surface activity power which is superior in miscibility with respect to various types of oil agents, an emulsifying property, stability of the emulsion and the like has been desired. The sugar alcohol-modified silicones described in JP-A-S62-068820, JP-A-S63-139106, JP-A-H05-186596, JP-A-H07-041417, JP-A-2002-119840 and JP-A-2008-274241 have the characteristic of a sugar alcohol group which is rich in a hydrophilic property, but the surface-active effect thereof is still restrictive. A surfactant which can stably emulsify various types of oil agents containing not only a silicone oil, but also an organic oil has been desired. | {
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There is a need for a portable printing apparatus that can be readily carried by a user to any location needed, has relatively small power requirements as may be provided by a relatively small battery, will store selected data and will print out selected data in response to user commands to provide an on-location printed document. These uses include printing parking citations and printing out a variety of invoices and receipts such as those used by car rental companies to check in customers at the car site for fast car returns. In most instances, preprinted forms are used so that the on-location printing required is kept to a minimum to minimize the time and battery power required. In the past, printers suitable for this purpose have been relatively large and bulky and have used a rolled paper on a cylindrical drum. | {
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This invention is directed to a heat-resistant peroxide curable chlorosulfonated polyethylene or chlorinated polyethylene composition.
Both chlorosulfonated polyethylene and chlorinated polyethylene have been found to be especially useful as wire and cable coverings because of their resistance to ozone, oxidizing chemicals, heat and light. When these elastomers are used for wire and cable covering, generally, they are vulcanized by means of a conventional metal oxide-sulfur (or a compound that releases sulfur upon heating) curing system. A sulfur cure is used because sulfur imparts stable electrical properties to the elastomer. However, sulfur curing systems cause discoloration of the chlorinated polyethylene elastomer and, therefore, it has not been possible to obtain with a sulfur curing system an elastomer for wire covering that can be readily color coded for identification. The present invention provides a heat-stable, peroxide curable elastomeric composition that can be colored for identification. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fault-tolerant computing and more particularly to a fault tolerant or redundant switch architecture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various aspects of a computer network are of concern to end users, including transmission rates and reliability of data. In addition, in certain applications, such as financial transactions, a computer network is typically designed to be fault-tolerant in certain respects.
In terms of fault tolerance, prior computer systems used completely dual redundant hardware. That is, communication devices such as nodes and switches were incorporated into a computer network, such that if one set of hardware failed, the redundant set could provide the data transmission. For example, Compaq Computer Corp. (the assignee of the present application), uses X and Y planes to provide dual hardware redundancy through a System Area Network (SAN). This computer network system, also known to utilize ServerNet™ technology, utilizes parallel sets of hardware, including communications and storage devices to provide fault tolerant capabilities. This duplication of hardware can be very expensive.
Another type of known fault-tolerant computer system utilizes redundant central processing units (CPUs). CPUs run lock-step with one another wherein one CPU is a master and the other is a slave. Should the master CPU fail, the slave CPU takes over the master's functions. Although this approach requires less hardware than the above dual redundant system, this system only covers faults relating to the CPUs. Although less hardware extensive and thus less expensive, this known approach does not provide overall fault coverage, e.g., fault coverage between a CPU bus and the rest of the network. | {
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1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to an electronic apparatus and a method for extracting still images by analyzing an input image, and more particularly, to an electronic apparatus and a method for generating a still image from a video file.
2. Description of the Related Art
During high-resolution video capturing, a frame rate may be set to 30 frames per second (FPS), such that video capturing for 1 minute is equivalent to taking 1800 still photos.
While video capturing is theoretically useful for capturing a moment because a user is able to capture fine-scale momentary changes as compared to still-image capturing, functions for capturing video frames and saving the captured video frames as still images must still be developed. | {
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The present invention relates to a novel process for preparing known spirocyclic tetronic acid derivatives.
The multi-step synthesis of spirocyclic tetronic acid derivatives is known (EP-A-528 156).
It has now been found that compounds of the formula (I)
in which
X represents alkyl, halogen, alkoxy or halogenoalkyl,
Y represents hydrogen, alkyl, halogen, alkoxy or halogenoalkyl,
Z represents alkyl, halogen or alkoxy,
n represents a number from 0 to 3, or the radicals X and Z together with the phenyl radical to which they are attached form the naphthalene radical of the formula
in which Y is as defined above,
A represents an in each case optionally substituted radical from the group consisting of alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxyalkyl, polyalkoxyalkyl and alkylthioalkyl, represents in each case saturated or unsaturated and optionally substituted cycloalkyl or heterocyclyl or represents in each case optionally halogen-, alkyl-, halogenoalkyl-, alkoxy-, halogenoalkoxy-, cyano- or nitro-substituted aryl, arylalkyl or hetaryl,
B represents alkyl or alkoxyalkyl or
A and B together with the carbon atom to which they are attached represent a saturated or unsaturated, optionally substituted carbocycle or heterocycle,
R1 represents in each case optionally halogen-substituted alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, alkenyloxy, alkoxyalkyl, alkylthioalkyl, polyalkoxyalkyl or optionally substituted cycloalkyl which may be interrupted by heteroatoms, represents optionally substituted phenyl or phenoxy, optionally substituted phenylalkyl or phenylalkyloxy, substituted hetaryl, substituted phenoxyalkyl or substituted hetaryloxyalkyl,
and the stereo- and enantiomerically pure forms of compounds of the formula (I) are obtained when compounds of the formula (II)
in which
X, Y, Z, n, A and B are each as defined above and
R8 represents alkyl
are reacted with a base and compounds of the formula (III)
in which
R1 is as defined above and
Hal represents halogen, in particular chlorine or bromine,
if appropriate in the presence of a diluent.
Using the process according to the invention, it is surprisingly possible to prepare the abovementioned compounds in a simpler manner in a one-pot process, without isolation of the intermediates, in higher purity and with better yields.
In the general formulae (I), (II) and (III), the substituents
X preferably represents C1-C6-alkyl, halogen, C1-C6-alkoxy or C1-C3-halogenoalkyl,
Y preferably represents hydrogen, C1-C6-alkyl, halogen, C1-C6-alkoxy or C1-C3-halogenoalkyl,
Z preferably represents C1-C6-alkyl, halogen or C1-C6-alkoxy,
n preferably represents a number from 0 to 3,
xe2x80x83or the radicals X and Z together with the phenyl radical to which they are attached form the naphthalene radical of the formula
in which Y is defined as above,
A preferably represents in each case optionally halogen-substituted C1-C12-alkyl, C2-C8-alkenyl, C1-C10-alkoxy-C1-C8-alkyl, represents optionally halogen-, C1-C6-alkyl- or C1-C6-alkoxy-substituted C3-C8-cycloalkyl, in which optionally one or two not directly adjacent methylene groups are replaced by oxygen and/or sulphur or represents in each case optionally halogen-, C1-C6-alkyl-, C1-C6-halogenoalkyl-, C1-C6-alkoxy-, C1-C6-halogenoalkoxy-, cyano- or nitro-substituted phenyl or phenyl-C1-C6-alkyl,
B preferably represents C1-C12-alkyl or C1-C8-alkoxy-C1-C6-alkyl or
A, B and the carbon atom to which they are attached preferably represent C5-C10-cycloalkyl or C5-C10-cycloalkenyl in which optionally one methylene group is replaced by oxygen or sulphur and which are optionally substituted by C1-C8-alkyl, C3-C10-cycloalkyl, C1-C8-halogenoalkyl, C1-C8-alkoxy, C1-C8-alkylthio, halogen or phenyl or
A, B and the carbon to which they are attached preferably represent C5-C8-cycloalkyl or C5-C8-cycloalkenyl in which two carbon atoms are attached to one another by in each case optionally C1-C6-alkyl-, C1-C6-alkoxy- or halogen-substituted C3-C6-alkanediyl, C3-C6-alkenediyl or C4-C6-alkanedienediyl in which in each case optionally one methylene group is replaced by oxygen or sulphur,
R8 preferably represents C1-C6-alkyl,
Hal preferably represents chlorine or bromine,
R1 preferably represents in each case optionally halogen-substituted C1-C20-alkyl, C1-C20-alkoxy, C2-C20-alkenyl, C3-C10-alkenyloxy, C1-C8-alkoxy-C1-C8-alkyl, C1-C8-alkylthio-C1-C8-alkyl, optionally C1-C6-alkyl-, C1-C6-alkoxy-, fluorine- or chlorine-substituted cycloalkyl having 3 to 8 ring atoms which may be interrupted by oxygen and/or sulphur atoms,
xe2x80x83preferably represents in each case optionally halogen-, nitro-, C1-C6-alkyl-, C1-C6-alkoxy-, C1-C6-halogenoalkyl- or C1-C6-halogenoalkoxy-substituted phenyl or phenoxy;
xe2x80x83preferably represents in each case optionally halogen-, C1-C6-alkyl-, C1-C6-alkoxy-, C1-C6-halogenoalkyl-, C1-C6-halogenoalkoxy-substituted phenyl-C1-C6-alkyl or phenyl-C1-C4-alkyloxy,
xe2x80x83preferably represents optionally halogen- or C1-C6-alkyl-substituted hetaryl,
xe2x80x83preferably represents optionally halogen- or C1-C6-alkyl-substituted phenoxy-C1-C6-alkyl,
xe2x80x83preferably represents optionally halogen-, amino- or C1-C6-alkyl-substituted hetaryloxy-C1-C6-alkyl.
In the general formulae (I), (II) and (III), the substituents
X particularly preferably represents C1-C4-alkyl, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, C1-C4-alkoxy or C1-C2-halogenoalkyl,
Y particularly preferably represents hydrogen, C1-C4-alkyl, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, C1-C4-alkoxy or C1-C2-halogenoalkyl,
Z particularly preferably represents C1-C4-alkyl, fluorine, chlorine, bromine or C1-C4-alkoxy,
n particularly preferably represents a number from 0 to 2,
A, B and the carbon atom to which they are attached particularly preferably represent C5-C8-cycloalkyl in which in each case optionally one methylene group is replaced by oxygen or sulphur and which is optionally substituted by C1-C6-alkyl, C1-C3-halogenoalkyl, C1-C6-alkoxy, fluorine or chlorine, or
A, B and the carbon atom to which they are attached particularly preferably represent C5-C6-cycloalkyl in which two carbon atoms are attached to one another by in each case optionally C1-C4-alkyl-, C1-C4-alkoxy-, fluorine-, chlorine- or bromine-substituted C3-C5-alkanediyl, C3-C5-alkenediyl, in which in each case optionally one methylene group is replaced by oxygen or sulphur, or attached to one another by butadienediyl,
R8 particularly preferably represents C1-C4-alkyl,
Hal particularly preferably represents chlorine or bromine,
R1 particularly preferably represents in each case optionally fluorine- or chlorine-substituted C1-C16-alkyl, C1-C16-alkoxy, C3-C6-alkenyloxy, C2-C16-alkenyl, C1-C6-alkoxy-C1-C4-alkyl, C1-C6-alkylthio-C1-C4-alkyl, optionally methyl-, ethyl-, methoxy-, fluorine- or chlorine-substituted cycloalkyl having 3 to 7 ring atoms which may be interrupted by 1 or 2 oxygen and/or sulphur atoms,
xe2x80x83represents in each case optionally fluorine-, chlorine-, bromine-, nitro-, C1-C4-alkyl-, C1-C4-alkoxy-, C1-C3-halogenoalkyl- or C1-C3-halogenoalkoxy-substituted phenyl, phenoxy or benzyloxy,
xe2x80x83represents optionally halogen- or C1-C6-alkyl-substituted hetaryl.
In the general formulae (I), (II) and (III), the substituents
X very particularly preferably represents methyl, ethyl, propyl, i-propyl, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, methoxy, ethoxy or trifluoromethyl,
Y very particularly preferably represents hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, propyl, i-propyl, butyl, i-butyl, tert-butyl, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, methoxy, ethoxy or trifluoromethyl,
Z very particularly preferably represents methyl, ethyl, i-propyl, butyl, i-butyl, tert-butyl, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, methoxy or ethoxy,
n very particularly preferably represents the number 0 to 1,
A, B and the carbon atom to which they are attached very particularly preferably represent C3-C8-cycloalkyl in which in each case optionally one methylene group is replaced by oxygen or sulphur and which is optionally substituted by methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, iso-propyl, trifluoromethyl, methoxy, ethoxy, n-propoxy, iso-propoxy, butoxy or iso-butoxy,
R8 very particularly preferably represents methyl, ethyl, propyl or iso-propyl,
Hal very particularly preferably represents chlorine or bromine,
R1 very particularly preferably represents in each case optionally fluorine- or chlorine-substituted C1-C14-alkyl, C1-C10-alkoxy, C2-C14-alkenyl, C3-C6-alkenyloxy, C1-C4-alkoxy-C1-C2-alkyl, C1-C4-alkylthio-C1-C2-alkyl or cycloalkyl having 3 to 6 ring atoms which may be interrupted by 1or 2 oxygen and/or sulphur atoms,
xe2x80x83represents in each case optionally fluorine-, chlorine-, bromine-, methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, i-propyl-, methoxy-, ethoxy-, trifluoromethyl-, trifluoromethoxy-, nitro-substituted phenyl, phenoxy or benzyloxy;
xe2x80x83represents optionally chlorine-, methyl- or ethyl-substituted pyridyl.
A very particularly preferred compound of the formula (I) is the compound of the formula (Ia)
which is obtained by reacting the compound of the formula (IIa)
with NaOH and the compound of the formula (IIIa)
A further very particularly preferred compound of the formula (I) is the compound of the formula (Ib)
which is obtained by reacting the compound of the formula (IIb)
with NaOH and the compound of the formula (IIIb)
Suitable bases (deprotonating agents) for the ring-closure reaction are all customary proton acceptors. Preference is given to using alkali metal and alkaline earth metal oxides, hydroxides and carbonates, such as sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate and calcium carbonate, which can also be used in the presence of phase-transfer catalysts, such as, for example, triethylbenzylammonium chloride, tetrabutylammonium bromide, Adogen 464 (methyltrialkyl-(C8-C10)-ammonium chloride) or TDA 1 (tris-(methoxyethoxyethyl)-amine). It is furthermore possible to use alkali metals such as sodium or potassium. Also suitable are alkali metal and alkaline earth metal amides and hydrides, such as sodium amide, sodium hydride and calcium hydride, and furthermore also alkali metal alkoxides, such as sodium methoxide, sodium ethoxide and potassium tert-butoxide, or else tertiary amines, such as diazabicyclooctane (DABCO), diazabicycloundecene (DBU), diazabicyclononene (DBN) and Hxc3xcnig base.
Suitable diluents for the ring-closure reaction are all solvents which are inert to the base that is used. Preference is given to using hydrocarbons, such as benzine, benzene, toluene, xylene and tetraline, furthermore halogenated hydrocarbons, such as methyl chloride, chlorobenzene and o-dichlorobenzene, moreover ethers, such as diethyl ether, methyl tert-butyl ether, tert-amyl ether, tetrahydrofuran and dioxane, additionally strongly polar solvents, such as N,N-dimethylformamide, N,N-dimethylacetamide, N-methylpyrrolidone, dimethyl sulphoxide and sulpholane.
After the ring-closure reaction has taken place, the acid halide is added to the reaction solution.
To scavenge residual hydrogen chloride from the acid chloride preparation, it is possible to add small amounts of customary acid acceptors. Preference is given to using tertiary amines, such as triethylamine, pyridine, diazabicyclooctane (DABCO), diazabicycloundecene (DBU), diazabicyclononene (DBN), Hxc3xcnig base and N,N-dimethylaniline, furthermore alkaline earth metal oxides, such as magnesium oxide and calcium oxide, moreover alkali metal and alkaline earth metal carbonates, such as sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate and calcium carbonate.
In the process according to the invention, the reaction temperatures can be varied within a relatively wide range. In general, the process is carried out at temperatures between xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. and +200xc2x0 C., preferably between 0xc2x0 C. and 150xc2x0 C.
The reaction is generally carried out under reduced pressure, preferably in a range of 50-500 mbar.
When carrying out the process according to the invention, the reaction components of the formulae (II) and (III) and the deprotonating bases are generally employed in approximately equimolar amounts. However, it is also possible to use a relatively large excess (up to 5 mol, preferably up to 2 mol) of one or the other component.
The starting materials of the formula (II) are known. Their preparation is described in EP-A-647 637. The carbonyl halides of the formula (III) are likewise known. They are commercially available or can be prepared by generally customary processes of organic chemistry. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a material of a solar cell. More particularly, the present invention relates to an organic dye of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and a DSSC using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
The increasing demand for power supply as well as environmental concern for the consumption of fossil fuel have triggered global research on the development of clean and renewable energy sources. Among possible alternates for fossil fuel energy, solar energy appears to be very attractive: covering 0.16% of the land of the Earth with 10% efficient solar conversion systems would provide power nearly twice the world's consumption rate of fossil energy. Though silicon- and other semiconductor-based solar cells (known as photovoltaic cells) have dominated the solar cell market for decades, DSSCs have also attracted considerable interest ever since the breakthrough made by Grätzel and co-workers (O'Regan, B.; Grätzel, M. Nature 1991, 353, 737). Efficiency record of about 11% has been achieved with ruthenium-based sensitizers developed by Grätzel and other groups. Though being developed later than ruthenium dyes, metal-free sensitizers also attract much attention and a high efficiency of about 9% has also been achieved for DSSCs based on a metal-free sensitizer.
Various metal-free dyes have been used for the construction of DSSCs. The inventors have reported metal-free sensitizers which consisted of an arylamine as the electron donor, a 2-cyanoacrylic acid as the electron acceptor, and a conjugated bridge containing thiophene moieties. Compared with benzenoid moieties, the thiophene can provide more effective conjugation and lower the energy of the charge transfer transition because of its smaller resonance energy (thiophene, 29 kcal mol−1; benzene, 36 kcal mol−1). | {
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Electrical systems in residential, commercial and industrial applications usually include a panelboard for receiving electrical power from a utility source. The power is connected to the panelboard via line bus bars and neutral bus bars. The electrical power is delivered from the panelboard to designated branch circuits through line and neutral conductors supplying one or more loads. Typically, various types of protective devices are mounted to the bus bars of the panelboard to protect the branch circuits from hazardous electrical conditions and reduce the risk of injury, damage or fires.
Standard circuit breakers are one type of protective device for protecting the branch circuits from certain hazardous electrical conditions. In particular, standard circuit breakers are designed to trip open and interrupt an electric circuit in response to detecting overloads and short circuits. Overload protection is provided by a thermal element which, when heated by the increased current, will cause the circuit breaker to trip and interrupt the power. This can occur when too many loads draw power from the same branch circuit at the same time, or when a single load draws more power than the branch circuit is designed to carry. Short circuit protection is provided by an electromagnetic element that trips when sensing high current flow.
An arcing fault detector is another type of protective device, designed to protect an electrical distribution system from hazardous electrical arc faults, or "arcing faults," which are one of the major sources of fires in residences. Arcing faults occur when electric current "arcs" or luminously discharges across an insulating medium, usually an ionized gas, between conductors. Some specific causes of arcing faults include: loose or improper connections, frayed or ruptured appliance or extension cords, pinched or pierced insulation of construction wire or extension cords, cracked insulation on wire or cords from age, heat, corrosion or bending stress, overheated or overloaded wires or cords and insulation break down in appliances.
Temperatures at the center of an arc can exceed 5000.degree. F. and ignite the conductor insulation and adjacent combustible materials and/or melt the conductor itself (e.g., copper, having a melting temperature of 1980.degree. F.). At a residential voltage of 120 Vac, an arc may be sustained continuously if it is tracking across a surface that is at least partially conductive. For example, the electrical insulation between conductors, over time, can carbonize thereby forming a conductive path that can sustain an arc which can start a fire. Quite often arcs are not sustained continuously, but rather comprise "sputtering arcs" that strike intermittently, extinguish, and strike again. As they sputter, they may eject small molten particles of conductor metal. Fires can be caused from the molten particles or the heat from the arc.
There are three general types of arcing faults: series arcs, line-to-neutral arcs and line-to-ground arcs. Series arcs are those which occur between two ends of a single conductor. For example, series arcs might result from a frayed conductor in a cord which has been pulled apart, or from a loose connection at a receptacle or in a splice.
Line-to-neutral arcs are short circuits which occur between line and neutral conductors of an electrical distribution system. For example, line-to-neutral arcs might result from a cord whose insulation which has been cut by a staple, or from an object, such as a piece of furniture being placed on it. Line-to-ground arcs are those which occur between a line conductor and a grounded conductor, in a three-wire system. Line-to-ground arcs will not occur in a two-wire appliance or extension cord. It should be noted that there are no "neutral-to-ground arcs" because, although electrical faults may occur between a neutral conductor and ground, the level of current is not high enough to produce an arc.
Generally, standard circuit breakers might detect certain types of arcing faults but can not detect all three types of arcing faults. For example, circuit breakers generally will not detect series arcs, because the current in a series arc is limited by the load it serves and is not usually high enough to trip the thermal or electromagnetic elements associated with standard circuit breakers. Similarly, standard circuit breakers quite often will not detect line-to-neutral arcs because, if the circuit has an impedance which is relatively high, the short-circuit current will be well below the level which would cause the standard circuit breaker to trip. Finally, unless the circuit breaker has a built-in ground fault detection capability, it will not be able to detect line-to-ground arcs.
Standard circuit breakers equipped with a ground-fault detection capability (hereinafter referred to as standard "GFI" circuit breakers) usually include a sensing coil for sensing the differential current between the line and neutral conductors. In the absence of a ground fault, the currents in the line and neutral conductors are equal and opposite and the sensing coil does not detect a differential current. When a ground fault occurs, which might result from current flowing from the line conductor to ground or from the neutral conductor to ground, the sensing coil detects a differential current and will cause the ground fault circuit breaker to trip if the current exceeds a predetermined threshold.
The standard GFI circuit breaker may or may not be able to detect line-to-ground arcs, depending on the trip threshold. In residential applications, for example, the trip threshold of a standard GH breaker is normally very low, on the order of 5-6 mA, which is sufficiently low to detect practically any line-to-ground arcs. In commercial or industrial applications, however, the trip threshold of the standard GFI breaker can be much higher, up to hundreds and thousands of Amps, in which case many line-to-ground faults will fall below the threshold and be undetected. In any case, even though standard GFI circuit breakers might detect some line-to-ground arcs, they generally will not detect series arcs or line-to-neutral arcs for the reasons heretofore stated.
Accordingly, there is a need for an arcing fault protection system which provides protection against arcing faults, preferably series arcs, line-to-neutral arcs and line-to-grounds arcs, at current levels which do not trip standard or standard GFI circuit breakers. Preferably, such system should detect all three of the aforementioned faults with a single sensor coupled to the line conductor. There is also a need for a system and method for testing such detection system, which test system preferably uses a test wire coupled to the same sensor coupled to the line conductor. The present invention is directed to addressing these needs. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to a soundboard of composite fibre material construction comprising at least one composite fibre laminate consisting of long fibres and carrier material, such soundboard being for use in an acoustic musical instrument, particularly a bowed stringed instrument.
However, the invention can also be used for other acoustic musical instruments (such as guitars and pianos) which are provided with a resonant body or resonant back-plate.
In recent years attempts have also been made to produce the soundboards of acoustic musical instruments in composite fibre material construction. Structures of composite fibre material construction generally consist of elongate fibres which are preferably oriented in certain directions and a carrier or matrix material which is generally a thermosetting or thermoplastic plastics material. In the preferred embodiment of the invention this is an epoxy resin system.
The previous efforts to produce soundboards of composite fibre material construction intended for acoustic musical instruments are aimed without exception at copying as well as possible the acoustic characteristics of the wood which is to be substituted. Examples of these attempts in the previously known prior art are provided for instance by DE 37 38 459 A1, EP 0 433 430 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,872 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,905,219. Thus DE 37 38 459 A1 aims at xe2x80x9ca macroscopic heterogeneity almost equal to the woodxe2x80x9d and states as the object that xe2x80x9cthe composite materialxe2x80x9d should xe2x80x9chave similar characteristics to sprucexe2x80x9d.
An unsatisfactory feature of these previously known soundboards of composite fibre material construction appears to be that from the acoustic point of view they are equivalent but in no way superior to very good solid wood soundboards of traditional construction.
The object of the invention, therefore, is to create a soundboard of composite fibre material construction which has a perceptibly better acoustic quality by comparison with excellent soundboards of traditional construction. In particular the soundboard according to the invention should have substantially higher radiated power whilst retaining the usual and desirable timbre of a solid wood soundboard.
This object is achieved according to the invention in that the core plate has at least one recess surrounded by material zones of the core plate within the area defined by the outline of the soundboard, the total volume of all recesses amounting at most to 80%, preferably between 20 and 45%, of the total volume of the core plate filled with material.
Composite fibre sandwich structures are basically constructed in such a way that a core plate of low density is provided on both sides with composite fibre laminate layers. In this case the bending strength of the structure is heavily dependent upon the thickness of the core plate. Core plates of composite fibre sandwich constructions are frequently produced from hard foam materials. Balsa wood is used for the preferred embodiment of the invention. The fibre laminate can be produced by means of layered fibre structures, fibre meshes, hand lay-up laminated individual rovings or the like, as prepreg or by means of a suitable manufacturing process. Layered fibre structures in the form of prepregs are preferably used in the construction according to the invention. These are preferably single-layer and at the same time multidirectional.
In detail, the invention is based upon the following considerations and tests:
The vibration levels of the characteristic vibrations are crucial for the sound radiation of the instrument. They are dependent upon the vibrating mass of the soundboard. The vibration resistance (so-called impedance) which the soundboard opposes to the exciting alternating force generated by the string vibrations is greater the higher the vibrating mass of the soundboard is. In order to achieve high vibrating speeds (so-called velocity) of the soundboard and thus the most effective possible sound radiation of the instrument, with a given excitation force the lowest possible vibration resistance and thus the lowest possible vibrating mass are necessary.
For these reasons it is sensible to reduce the vibrating mass of the soundboard of composite fibre material construction.
It might be thought that the required reduction of the vibrating mass could be achieved by reducing the thickness of the core plate. This possibility has proved unfavourable in so far as a reduction in the thickness of the core plate is accompanied by a reduction in the quotient of bending strength and total density. The bending strength should be high in order to achieve large-area in phase antinodes of the characteristic vibrations of the soundboard and to shift downwards the so-called cutoff frequency [Cremer, L., Heckl, M.: xe2x80x9cKxc3x6rperschallxe2x80x9d, Berlin 1996, page 498], below which no effective sound radiation is possible any longer, and to avoid hydrodynamic short circuits [loc. cit. page 477].
A further possibility for reducing the vibrating mass of the soundboard would be to reduce the area or the weight per unit area of the fibre laminate. Here too there is a danger of a reduction in the quotient of bending strength and total density.
A third possibility for reducing the vibrating mass of the soundboard could be seen in the reduction of the board dimensions. However, this would have the disadvantage that the characteristic frequencies would be shifted upwards and as a result the timbres of the instrument would be changed in an undesirable manner.
With these considerations as a starting point, therefore, the invention follows a fundamentally different route in order to reduce the vibrating mass of the soundboard of composite fibre material construction: Recesses are provided in the core plate.
The vibrating mass of the soundboard which is reduced according to the invention enables instruments to be produced with an improved acoustic efficiency relative to the prior art.
Some embodiments of the invention are explained in greater detail below with reference to the drawings. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention is directed to a device for laterally adjusting conveyors, i.e transport devices, for flat products in rotary presses, such as in belt movers for transporting products in folders configured subsequent to web-processing rotary presses.
Conveyor belt movers in folding apparatuses are known from JP HEI 7-8364. It provides for belt movers in the folder, which is disposed downstream from a rotary press, to be used at the second longitudinal folding device for flat products. Printed products to be provided with a second longitudinal fold are inserted by a vertically up-and-down movable folding blade into the fold nip between two folding rollers underneath a feeder table. To position the products to be folded above the folding roller nip, the products are gripped on both sides and carried up to positioning stops, prior to the back parts of the products to be folded being pushed into the nip of the folding rollers.
EP Patent 0 553 739 B 1 describes a device for adjusting sheet guide elements in rotary presses. It discusses a device for adjusting sheet hold-down devices, which are movable by a drive transversely to the sheet travel path and include carriers and pressing elements. The hold-down devices are mounted on a rotatable shaft and engage with oppositely directed, helical slits on the shaft. A longitudinally slit, frame-fixed, hollow member is provided, upon which rings encircle its periphery in a sliding-type arrangement. These rings each carry a sheet hold-down device, and, together with the hollow member, they provide a locking against rotation. The rings each have a guide pin directed toward the inside of the hollow member. Mounted inside of the hollow member is a shaft that is rotatably supported at its ends. On its first half length, the shaft has at least two helical slits of different pitches, which are mirror-inverted with respect to at least two helical slits on a second half length of the shaft. Assigned to each slit is a ring, which has a ring-fixed guide pin that engages in the slit with force- and form-locking, the pitch of the slits towards the ends of the rotatable shafts decreasing.
To ensure a damage-free product transfer when it comes to belt movers used for transporting flat products in folders of web-processing rotary presses, it has been established that a precise adaptation of the distance between the transport belts conveying the products is of great importance.
In consideration of the approaches known from the related art, the object of the present invention is to devise a method for adjusting product-delivery devices in press folders, which will enable the position of the product-delivery device to be adapted to the format or size of the folded product.
The present invention provides a device for adjusting conveyors for printing presses that process flat products or for further processing units (40) arranged downstream therefrom, in which are accommodated belt movers (1) containing a plurality of individual belts (5) for transporting the flat products. The belt movers are guided via guide rollers (6) and setting rollers (7), and driven via a drive (2), and the tension in the individual belts (5) is kept constant via tensioning devices (3). Accommodated in the further processing unit (40) are shafts (16, 28, 34) having stationary elements (25, 31, 39) which guide the individual belts (5) and on which are supported, symmetrically with respect to the machine center (13), movable receiving elements (20, 27, 36), which guide, drive, and retain under constant prestressing, the individual belts (5).
The advantages associated with the approach of the present invention can be seen, above all, in that all of the elements that convey, prestress, as well as drive the individual belts of a belt mover, are now simultaneously adjusted in the lateral direction. By varying the duration of the driving of the drive effecting the lateral adjustment motion, different travel paths may be implemented, so that the belt mover width may be adapted to all current folded product formats to be processed, at a second longitudinal folding device within a folder arranged downstream from a rotary press. Since it is ensured that all the elements supporting the individual belts of a belt mover are driven around the same paths with respect to the machine center, a strictly parallel positioning of all individual belts of a belt mover in relation to one another is ensured. This substantially improves the folding accuracy, since there are now no longer forces acting in a direction perpendicular to the product delivery direction on the products to be folded. A substantially greater product quality is able to be achieved due to the precision feeding of the printing sheets to be folded and their delay at stops, before there is a downward movement of a folding blade within the second longitudinal folding device.
The individual belts of a belt mover of elements that, as the case may be, are guiding, driving, and retained under initial stress, may advantageously be indirectly or directly driven on shafts. If sufficient installation space is available within the folder, i.e., in the second longitudinal folding device, then the driving elements may be indirectly adjusted at their shafts, for example using adjusting forks, while, in accordance with one alternative specific embodiment, guide rollers for the individual belts of a belt mover may be driven directly at the shafts accommodating them.
Besides accommodating the elements that guide, drive, or prestress the individual belts of a belt mover, in an individual type of construction, pairs or groups of elements that guide, drive, or hold under constant prestressing the individual belts are also able to be accommodated at the receiving elements that are able to be driven laterally with respect to the product delivery device. They may be supported so as to be relatively movable on cylindrical or slide-type receiving bodies, the cylindrical or slide-type receiving bodies being able to be driven indirectly or directly at the shafts supporting them.
In one embodiment of the idea underlying the present invention, for purposes of lateral adjustment, the cylindrical or slide-type receiving elements may be provided with spindle drives having contrary-sense threaded sections. Using the pitch of the contrary-sense threaded sections, exact travel paths of the individual receiving elements, whether they be configured in a slide-type or cylindrical shape, are able to be achieved with respect to the machine center.
The slide-type receiving elements, at which the cylinders that retain the individual belts of the belt movers under constant prestressing may be accommodated, may be individually penetrated by the threaded spindle sections of different pitches. The adjusting forks surrounding the cylindrical elements may also be rotatably accommodated at the spindle-shaped drive elements indirectly driving the cylindrical receiving elements. In another variant of an embodiment of the idea underlying the present invention, the receiving elements guiding the individual belts are themselves able to be directly driven on contrary-sense threaded sections of the adjusting shaft. To this end, the adjusting shaft may be provided, symmetrically with respect to the machine center, with stationary elements guiding the individual belts, and, on both sides of their mid-section, have conically tapered sections, which, for their part, may be provided with threaded sections of different pitches.
In this variant of an embodiment, the receiving elements used for guiding the individual belts are secured by an anti-rotation element in the further processing unit, at its side walls, in order to prevent an unwanted change in the lateral position of each of the individual belts of the conveyor belt movers with respect to one another.
The elements situated in relation to the stationary components and used for guiding, driving, and constant prestressing, may be driven laterally, individually, or also, in pairs.
The device proposed by the present invention for adjusting delivery elements for transporting flat products may be used for sheet-processing rotary presses, whether it be for conventional offset presses or also for digitally operating sheet-fed presses. It is particularly significant for folders, in which, in web-processing rotary presses, folded products, printed on one side or multiple sides, are produced, and are then provided with a second longitudinal fold in a second longitudinal folding device. The design accuracy of the device plays a decisive role in the product quality. Relative movements are not allowed to occur in the belt mover gripping the product on both sides, before the product is longitudinally folded, by pushing the folding spine into the cooperating jackets of a folding roller pair. | {
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The invention relates generally to children""s ride-on vehicles, and more particularly to features that may be incorporated into manually and electrically powered children""s ride-on vehicles and children""s ride-on vehicles incorporating the same.
Ride-on vehicles for children have become increasingly popular due in part to the desire of children to drive self-propelled vehicles resembling full-size vehicles. Such ride-on vehicles, or ride-ons, are typically propelled by battery-powered motors and generally include scaled-down features of full-size vehicles.
One challenge in designing reduced-scale vehicles is to make the vehicle resemble a full-size vehicle, while still providing a vehicle that is safe for use by children. When a ride-on is designed to resemble a four-wheeled vehicle, such as a car or truck, the corresponding ride-on tends to also have four wheels. When a ride-on is designed to resemble a motorcycle, however, a balance must be reached between safety and the accuracy of the reproduction. Certainly the most accurate reproduction is for the ride-on to only have two wheels. However, children may not have the size, strength or coordination to balance a two-wheeled ride-on, especially when propelled by the ride-on""s motor. Adding additional wheels to the ride-on detracts from the accuracy of the reproduction, and thus may reduce the child""s desire for the ride-on.
The invented ride-on, or ride-on vehicle, includes a frame adapted to support a child, and a drive assembly with a battery-powered motor assembly. The ride-on vehicle further includes one or more steerable wheels and one or more driven wheels. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle resembles a full-size motorcycle. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle includes a free-floating wheel, which is unbiased and travels within a defined range of positions with respect to the ride-on vehicle""s frame as external forces are imparted to the wheel. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle includes a high-speed switch positioned for momentary high-speed operation of the ride-on vehicle and a user-manipulable portion may be provided to enable a child to select such a high-speed configuration. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle includes a simulated shock absorber and/or a passenger sidecar. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle includes wheel assemblies that simulate inflatable wheels. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brake system for a motorcycle. It particularly relates to a brake system for a motorcycle which causes hydraulic pressure generated by an electrically-operated actuator to function on wheel braking mechanism depending on driving conditions and a braking operation of the motorcycle. The brake system can simultaneously cause a pseudo-reaction force to function on a brake operation apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
A brake system employing what is called a by-wire method (hereinafter referred to as a “by-wire method”) is known in the art. According to this type of brake system, an amount of operation of a brake operation lever, such as a hand lever or foot pedal, is detected electrically. Based on the detected value, the wheel braking mechanism, such as a wheel caliper, is operated by hydraulic pressure which has been generated by a hydraulic pressure modulator. An example of this type of brake system is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Official Gazette No. Hei. 5-39008. The brake system disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Official Gazette No. Hei. 5-39008 has the following schematic configuration.
Specifically, with regard to this type of brake system, a hydraulic pressure modulator which generates hydraulic pressure by use of an electric pump (electrically-operated actuator), a reservoir, a control valve and the like are merged and connected with a main brake line connecting wheel cylinders (wheel braking mechanism) of the respective wheels and a master cylinder which moves in response to a brake pedal (brake operation lever). In addition, a normally-open-type electromagnetic on-off valve is provided in a position in the main brake line. The position of the electromagnetic on-off valve is located toward the master cylinder from a portion in which the main brake line and the hydraulic pressure modulator are connected with each other. The electromagnetic on-off valve is a fail safe device. The electromagnetic on-off valve is energized, and blocks the path between the electromagnetic valve and the master cylinder, while a regular braking operation is performed. In addition, hydraulic pressure is generated by the hydraulic pressure modulator. The hydraulic pressure is generated corresponding to a detection value which has been found by electrically detecting an amount of operation of the brake pedal, and to other driving conditions of the vehicle.
Furthermore, this type of brake system is provided with a reaction force modulator. The reaction force modulator causes a pseudo reaction force against the hydraulic pressure to function on the master cylinder corresponding to an amount of operation of the brake pedal, while the electromagnetic on-off valve shuts off the main brake line. Thereby, this type of brake system is designed provide a braking operation which transmits a smooth feel to the toes of a driver in accompaniment to operation of the brake pedal. The reaction force modulator includes a fluid chamber which receives hydraulic fluid which flows into from the master cylinder. The fluid chamber is separated and formed by a piston and a cylinder. The piston is energized by a single coil spring in a direction which causes the piston to reduce the volume of the fluid chamber. In the reaction force modulator, reaction force against hydraulic pressure corresponding to displacement of the coil spring always functions on the master cylinder.
With regard to this conventional type of brake system, however, the reaction force against hydraulic pressure to be generated by the reaction force modulator is provided by the single coil spring. For this reason, it is difficult for this type of brake system to give the driver a braking operation in which the feel is not ragged, and to give the driver a braking operation in which the feel is similar to that generated by a brake system which directly operates a wheel braking unit by use of pressure generated by a master cylinder (hereinafter referred to as a “direct-operation-type brake system”). In other words, with regard to the direct-operation-type brake system, a moderate rise of reaction force continues during a predetermined length of stroke in an initial phase of braking operation, and a relatively steep rise of reaction force is caused along with some degree of damping resistance after the stoke exceeds the predetermined length. However, it is virtually impossible for characteristics of this kind to be reflected on a braking operation feel by reaction force caused by a reaction force modulator having only a single coil spring.
In addition, it is conceivable that use of an electric servo mechanism or the like in the reaction force modulator would reproduce operational reaction force which is similar to that generated by the direct-operation-type brake system. However, forming a reaction force modulator which includes such devices leads to a larger size and heavier weight of the brake system. This is not suitable especially for a motorcycle which is required to be smaller in size and light in weight.
Furthermore, in the aforementioned conventional brake system, an electromagnetic on-off valve (channel switching valve) is installed in the fluid path which connects the master cylinder and the reaction force modulator so that the electromagnetic on-off valve is interposed between the master cylinder and the reaction force modulator. The conventional brake system is designed to cause the electromagnetic on-off valve to control flow of hydraulic fluid into the reaction force modulator. In this system, however, the flow of the hydraulic fluid from the master cylinder into the reaction force modulator, and return of the hydraulic fluid from the reaction force modulator into the master cylinder, are always carried out through the same single path. For this reason, the electromagnetic on-off valve sometimes closes the path before the hydraulic fluid has been completely returned from the reaction force modulator into the master cylinder, depending on operating conditions of the electromagnetic on-off valve. In this case, a feeling of changed braking operation is apprehended the next time the brake system is operated.
With this taken into consideration, it is an object of the present invention to provide a brake system for a motorcycle which provides a feeling of braking operation which is similar to that given by the direct-operation-type brake system, to be obtained even though the brake system is designed to operate the wheel braking mechanism by use of the by-wire method. | {
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Known is a method for curvilinear folded structure production at geometrical conjunction of the article and the transformable dies wherewith the article is shaped. It includes, at the first stage, placing of sheet blank onto the lower shaping transformable die whereas the similar upper transformable die is placed onto the blank. Equidistantly placed the upper and the lower transformable dies consist of plane shaping elements made in the form of parallelograms; the shaping elements are connected to each other along all the sides with the use of hinges.
At the second stage, when transforming the dies, e.g. with the use of vacuum bag, the upper and the lower transformable dies embedding into the blank change the curvature whereas the blank is put into relief form with crimp design parameters given (V. I. Khaliulin, Technological schemes for sandwich structures production, KSTU, Kazan, 1999.—168 p., p. 128-133.—ISBN 5-7579-0295-7).
The main short-coming of herein-presented method for sheet blank corrugation whereat the curvilinear article is attained is that with the aim to provide the given folded structure curvature defined with the use of mathematical computation are the distance between the upper and the lower transformable dies, the curvature radius required for imparting to the blank before shaping, and the dimensions of transformable dies shaping elements ridges. In addition, geometrical dimensions of the upper and the lower dies have different linear parameters. It results in labor-consuming mutual placement of dies at the first stage of shaping. It is impossible to attain the calculated value of the article curvature at failure to execute the strict geometrical conjunction of the upper and the lower shaping dies.
Known is a method for production of curvilinear corrugated core including the marking-out of protrusions and recesses zigzag lines on the blank development whereat the angles of vertexes are accordingly equal to 2α and 2β whose values are related to definite zigzag corrugated core design parameters, and further bending of blank along the marked-out lines (Inventor's certificate No. 1,785,154 USSR, Int. C1. B 32 B 15/00, Method for production of curvilinear sandwich panel with zigzag corrugated core, Bulletin No. 42 of Nov. 16, 1992). The given method is taken as a prototype.
The main short-coming of herein-presented method is that it is possible to produce folded structures only with longitudinal direction of zigzag crimps, e.g. in direction of cylinder generatrix. Yet, in production, e.g. of aircraft fuselage panels, it is necessary that the core should have lateral direction of crimps and should meet the use requirements for condensate removal from panels inner cavities. | {
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} |
A data processing system typically comprises a memory for storing computer program code instructions and a central processing unit (CPU) for executing the computer program instructions. In operation, the memory also stores input data to be operated upon by the computer program code and output data produced by execution of the computer program code. In general, the computer program code can be divided into operating system code and application program code. The operating system code configures the CPU for executing the application program code. Conventionally, the memory is implemented by a combination of solid state memory such as random access memory and rotating disc mass data storage such as magnetic or optical disc storage.
A recent addition to the field of data storage technology is generally referred to as a local probe storage technology. As described in Vettiger et al. “The Millipede”—More than one thousand tips for future AFM data storage, P. Vettiger et al, IBM Journal of Research and Development. Vol.44 No.3, May 2000, a local probe storage array typically comprises a storage surface having a locally deformable film disposed thereon and an array of micro mechanical probe sensors each having a probe tip of atomic dimensions facing the coating. In operation, during a data write operation, the tips are brought into proximity to the storage surface. Energy is selectively applied to each tip, typically in the form of heating. The energy applied to the tips is transferred to the storage surface. The energy transfer produces a local deformation in the storage surface in the vicinity of each energized tip. The array of tips is moved relative to the storage surface between successive write operations in preparation for writing to new locations on the storage surface. During a read operation, the arrays tips are urged against the storage surface. Simultaneously, the tips are scanned relative to the storage surface. Local deformations of the storage surface produced during the aforementioned write operation produce deflections in the tips as they are scanned over the surface. Such deflections can be detected thermally or optically. The presence or absence of a local deformation in the storage surface by a tip can be detected as a stored “1” or stored “0”. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present disclosure generally relates to gas purification systems and processes of use. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the low pressure ammonia recovery in the gas purification systems.
In conventional industrial technologies for gas purification, impurities, such as H2S, CO2 and/or COS are removed from a gas stream such as flue gas, natural gas, syngas or other gas streams by absorption in a liquid solution, e.g., in a liquid solution comprising ammonia and/or one or more amine compounds.
Used liquid solution is subsequently regenerated in a regenerator column to release the impurities comprised in the solution, typically by countercurrent contacting with steam. The steam needed for regeneration is typically produced in the power plant turbine system. In addition, reboiling may provide further release of impurities comprised in the liquid solution.
In conventional absorption-regeneration processes as described above, regenerated and reboiled liquid solution are typically re-used in another absorption cycle. The reboiled solution may, however, have a temperature as high as 100-200 degrees Celsius (° C.). To enable efficient absorption, the liquid absorbent solutions typically requires cooling before being passed to another round of absorption. Cooling has conventionally been accomplished by heat-exchange with the used liquid solution from absorption.
In general, the energy requirements of a conventional gas purification process are of three types: binding energy, stripping energy and sensible heat. Binding energy is required for breaking the chemical bond formed between the impurities and the liquid solution, whereas stripping energy is required for production of the steam needed for releasing the impurities from the liquid solution. Sensible heat is in turn needed for heating of the liquid solution prior to regeneration. In conventional systems and processes, part of the produced energy may be lost, for example, in the system coolers, which reduce the temperature at specified locations in the system. Moreover, energy may be lost in condensers located at the top of the absorber, regenerator, and the like, and in the form of water vapor exiting the process, mostly at the top of the regenerator where water vapor is present in the purified carbon dioxide gas.
Thus, gas removal, and in particular regeneration, is an energy intensive process. As such, reduction of energy requirements at different parts of the gas purification process could potentially reduce the total energy required by the process. While various improvements of conventional gas purification technologies are known, there remains a need to further improve gas purification systems and processes, particularly with respect to reducing the energy consumption therein. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of color conversion films in displays, and more particularly, to color conversion films with fluorescent compounds.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Improving displays with respect to their energy efficiency and color gamut performance is an ongoing challenge in the industry. While color conversion films are available which use quantum dots to enhance display performance, it is particularly challenging to achieve comparable goals in ways that do not involve heavy metals such as toxic cadmium used in quantum dots. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A medical suture and ligature instrument for suturing or ligaturing a biological tissue in a body while observing the biological tissue by the use of an endoscope is known, which includes a sheath to be inserted through a channel of the endoscope, an operating wire inserted into the sheath to extend and retract, and a medical suture and ligature tool to be locked to a hook at a distal end of the operating wire. The medical ligature tool has a ligature wire of a loop shape and the size of the loop can be adjusted by allowing a stopper to extend and retract along the ligature wire. A folding-back portion to be locked to the hook is formed in the proximal end portion of the ligature wire. At the time of ligaturing a pathological lesion portion, the loop is hooked to the pathological lesion portion, the hook is made to retract, and the diameter of the loop is reduced, thereby binding the pathological lesion portion tight. Thereafter, the ligature wire is cut between the portion binding the pathological lesion portion tight and the folding-back portion and the ligature wire is detained in the body in a state where the biological tissue is bound tight.
Here, a medical ligature tool is also known in which a cutting member is disposed outside of a sheath into which an operating wire is inserted so as to extend and retract and a holding member for receiving the cutting member while holding the ligature wire between a folding-back portion and a stopper is disposed in the medical ligature tool, so as to perform as a series of operations an operation of tightly binding and ligaturing a pathological lesion portion with the medical ligature tool and an operation of separating the medical ligature tool from the operating wire (for example, see Patent Document 1). The holding member has a cylindrical shape through which the ligature wire is inserted and an annular protrusion is incorporated in a substantially central portion in an axial direction thereof. The portions closer to the distal and the proximal ends with respect to the protrusion, each have a hole through which the ligature wire can be inserted. The ligature wire is inserted inside via a distal opening of the passage penetrating the holding member, passes through the distal hole, is drawn along the outer periphery of the protrusion in the longitudinal direction, extends into the holding member through the proximal hole, and then is drawn out of the proximal opening. In such a medical ligature tool, a pathological lesion portion is tightly bound, the cutting member is made to advance, and the ligature wire is cut by interposing the ligature wire between the protrusion and the cutting member. The holding member spontaneously falls off and is discharged after the ligature wire is cut.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-204966 | {
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The present invention relates to a new and distinctive corn inbred line, designated ASG29. There are numerous steps in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. Plant breeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives. The next step is selection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the program goals. The goal is to combine in a single variety or hybrid an improved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm. These important traits may include higher yield, resistance to diseases and insects, better stalks and roots, tolerance to drought and heat, and better agronomic quality.
Choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plant reproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and the type of cultivar used commercially (e.g., F.sub.1 hybrid cultivar, pureline cultivar, etc.). For highly heritable traits, a choice of superior individual plants evaluated at a single location will be effective, whereas for traits with low heritability, selection should be based on mean values obtained from replicated evaluations of families of related plants. Popular selection methods commonly include pedigree selection, modified pedigree selection, mass selection, and recurrent selection.
The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method. Backcross breeding is used to transfer one or a few favorable genes for a highly heritable trait into a desirable cultivar. This approach has been used extensively for breeding disease-resistant cultivars. Various recurrent selection techniques are used to improve quantitatively inherited traits controlled by numerous genes. The use of recurrent selection in self-pollinating crops depends on the ease of pollination, the frequency of successful hybrids from each pollination, and the number of hybrid offspring from each successful cross.
Each breeding program should include a periodic, objective evaluation of the efficiency of the breeding procedure. Evaluation criteria vary depending on the goal and objectives, but should include gain from selection per year based on comparisons to an appropriate standard, overall value of the advanced breeding lines, and number of successful cultivars produced per unit of input (e.g., per year, per dollar expended, etc.).
Promising advanced breeding lines are thoroughly tested and compared to appropriate standards in environments representative of the commercial target area(s) for three years at least. The best lines are candidates for new commercial cultivars; those still deficient in a few traits are used as parents to produce new populations for further selection.
These processes, which lead to the final step of marketing and distribution, usually take from eight to 12 years from the time the first cross is made. Therefore, development of new cultivars is a time-consuming process that requires precise forward planning, efficient use of resources, and a minimum of changes in direction.
A most difficult task is the identification of individuals that are genetically superior, because for most traits the true genotypic value is masked by other confounding plant traits or environmental factors. One method of identifying a superior plant is to observe its performance relative to other experimental plants and to a widely grown standard cultivar. If a single observation is inconclusive, replicated observations provide a better estimate of its genetic worth.
The goal of plant breeding is to develop new, unique and superior corn inbred lines and hybrids. The breeder initially selects and crosses two or more parental lines, followed by repeated selfing and selection, producing many new genetic combinations. The breeder can theoretically generate billions of different genetic combinations via crossing, selfing and mutations. The breeder has no direct control at the cellular level. Therefore, two breeders will never develop the same line, or even very similar lines, having the same corn traits.
Each year, the plant breeder selects the germplasm to advance to the next generation. This germplasm is grown under unique and different geographical, climatic and soil conditions, and further selections are then made, during and at the end of the growing season. The inbred lines which are developed are unpredictable. This unpredictability is because the breeder's selection occurs in unique environments, with no control at the DNA level (using conventional breeding procedures), and with millions of different possible genetic combinations being generated. A breeder of ordinary skill in the art cannot predict the final resulting lines he develops, except possibly in a very gross and general fashion. The same breeder cannot produce the same line twice by using the exact same original parents and the same selection techniques. This unpredictability results in the expenditure of large research monies to develop a superior new corn inbred line.
The development of commercial corn hybrids requires the development of homozygous inbred lines, the crossing of these lines, and the evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods are used to develop inbred lines from breeding populations. Breeding programs combine desirable traits from two or more inbred lines or various broad-based sources into breeding pools from which inbred lines are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new inbreds are crossed with other inbred lines and the hybrids from these crosses are evaluated to determine which have commercial potential.
Pedigree breeding is used commonly for the improvement of self-pollinating crops or inbred lines of cross-pollinating crops. Two parents which possess favorable, complementary traits are crossed to produce an F.sub.1. An F.sub.2 population is produced by selfing one or several F.sub.1 's or by intercrossing two F.sub.1 's (sib mating). Selection of the best individuals is usually begun in the F.sub.2 population; then, beginning in the F.sub.3, the best individuals in the best families are selected. Replicated testing of families, or hybrid combinations involving individuals of these families, often follows in the F.sub.4 generation to improve the effectiveness of selection for traits with low heritability. At an advanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., F.sub.6 and F.sub.7), the best lines or mixtures of phenotypically similar lines are tested for potential release as new cultivars.
Mass and recurrent selections can be used to improve populations of either self- or cross-pollinating crops. A genetically variable population of heterozygous individuals is either identified or created by intercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selected based on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellent combining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a new population in which further cycles of selection are continued.
Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genes for a simply inherited, highly heritable trait into a desirable homozygous cultivar or inbred line which is the recurrent parent. The source of the trait to be transferred is called the donor parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent. After the initial cross, individuals possessing the phenotype of the donor parent are selected and repeatedly crossed (backcrossed) to the recurrent parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.
Descriptions of other breeding methods that are commonly used for different traits and crops can be found in one of several reference books (e.g., Allard, 1960; Simmonds, 1979; Sneep et al., 1979; Fehr, 1987).
Proper testing should detect any major faults and establish the level of superiority or improvement over current cultivars. In addition to showing superior performance, there must be a demand for a new cultivar that is compatible with industry standards or which creates a new market. The introduction of a new cultivar will incur additional costs to the seed producer, the grower, processor and consumer; for special advertising and marketing, altered seed and commercial production practices, and new product utilization. The testing preceding release of a new cultivar should take into consideration research and development costs as well as technical superiority of the final cultivar. For seed-propagated cultivars, it must be feasible to produce seed easily and economically.
Once the inbreds that give the best hybrid performance have been identified, the hybrid seed can be reproduced indefinitely as long as the homogeneity of the inbred parent is maintained. A single-cross hybrid is produced when two inbred lines are crossed to produce the F.sub.1 progeny. A double-cross hybrid is produced from four inbred lines crossed in pairs (A.times.B and C.times.D) and then the two F.sub.1 hybrids are crossed again (A.times.B).times.(C.times.D). Much of the hybrid vigor exhibited by F.sub.1 hybrids is lost in the next generation (F.sub.2). Consequently, seed from hybrid varieties is not used for planting stock.
Corn is an important and valuable field crop. Thus, a continuing goal of plant breeders is to develop stable, high yielding corn hybrids that are agronomically sound. The reasons for this goal are obviously to maximize the amount of grain produced on the land used and to supply food for both animals and humans. To accomplish this goal, the corn breeder must select and develop corn plants that have the traits that result in superior parental lines for producing hybrids. | {
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The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
Design of high quality biomedical devices to gather real-time physiologic parameters from a patient body could be the key point in saving the patient's life. These devices monitor biomedical signals in order of volts, V, to mV at the body surface and hence are susceptible to noise and interference. Low power, highly linear analog filters have wide range of applications in biomedical signal processing for example, a hearing aid as described in I. Deligoz, S. R. Naqvi, T. Copani, S. Kiaei, B. Bakkaloglu, S. Je, and J. Chae, (“A MEMS-based power-scalable hearing aid analog front end,” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 201-213, June 2011—incorporated herein by reference), photoplethysmogram as described in A. Wong, K. Pun, Y. Zhang, and K. Nang Leung, (“A low-power CMOS front-end for photoplethysmographic signal acquisition with robust DC photocurrent rejection,” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 280-288, December 2008—incorporated herein by reference), electrocardiogram (ECG) as described in S. Lee, and C. Cheng, “Systematic design and modeling of a OTA-C filter for portable ECG detection,” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 53-64, February 2009—incorporated herein by reference), wearable breathing detector as described in P. Corbishley and E. Rodriguez-Villegas, (“A nanopower bandpass filter for detection of an acoustic signal in a wearable breathing detector.” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 163-171, 2007—incorporated herein by reference), pulse oximeter as described in K. Li and S. Warren, “A wireless reflectance pulse oximeter with digital baseline control for unfiltered photoplethysmograms,” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 269-278, June 2012—incorporated herein by reference), acquisition of various neurophysiological signals as described in M. Mollazadeh, K. Murari, G. Cauwenberghs, and N. Thakor, (“Micropower CMOS integrated low-noise amplification, filtering, and digitization of multimodal neuropotentials,” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-10, February 2009—incorporated herein by reference) and M. Mollazadeh, K. Murari, G. Cauwenberghs, and N. Thakor, “Wireless micropower instrumentation for multimodal acquisition of electrical and chemical neural activity,” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 388-397, December 2009—incorporated herein by reference), neural spike detection as described in A. Rodríguez-Pérez, J. Ruiz-Amaya, M. Delgado-Restituto, and Á. Rodríguez-Vázquez, “A low-power programmable neural spike detection channel with embedded calibration and data compression,” IEEE Tran. on Biomed. Circ. and Syst., vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 87-100, April 2012—incorporated herein by reference), EEG monitoring as described in R. F. Yazicioglu, P. Merken, R. Puers, and C. V. Hoof, (“A 200 uW eight-channel EEG acquisition ASIC for ambulatory EEG systems,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 3025-3038, December 2008—incorporated herein by reference), and neural recording systems as described in A. Wong, K. Pun, Y. T. Zhang, and K. Hung, (“A near-infrared heart rate measurement IC with very low cutoff frequency using current steering technique,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. I, vol. 52, no. 12, pp. 2642-2647, December 2005-incorporated herein by reference).
However, as recognized by the present inventor, designing ultra-low frequency filters for biomedical signal processing is a challenging problem due to the difficulty in developing efficient methods achieving large time constant while maintaining high linearity performance. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates generally to tobacco substitutes and more particularly to tobacco substitutes comprising cellulose.
It is known that cellulose and certain derivatives thereof can be used as tobacco substitutes to replace part or in some cases all of the tobacco in a smoking article. Cellulose, itself, is one of the main constituents of a cigarette being present to the extent of 15% to 20% by weight. Most of the cellulose is present in the tobacco, the leaf containing 5% to 11% and stems or midribs as high as 25% although the paper wrapper contributes as much as 3% of the total cellulose content.
While the cellulose in the stems sometimes causes an off taste in the smoke, the relatively small amount of cellulose in the tobacco itself is generally masked and does not produce unfavorable tastes or odors. However, it has been found that when additional cellulose is blended with tobacco, for example, by shredding conventional paper made from pulped cellulose fibers and mixing it with tobacco in a smoking article, the resulting smoke from the mixture is harsh and unpleasant, even with as little as 2% added cellulose. This would be expected in view of the acrid and harsh odors generally noticeable in smoke obtained from burning paper.
Various attempts have been made to develop cellulose tobacco substitutes that would overcome this problem by modifying the cellulose in some manner. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,660 discloses a method for producing a tobacco substitute by highly beating fibrous wood pulp containing at least 90% alpha cellulose, intimately combining the beaten pulp with certain combustion modifiers and thereafter forming a sheet therefrom which can be cut and blended with tobacco for use in smoking articles.
An example of a tobacco substitute employing a derivative of cellulose is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,879 wherein cellulose oxidized to eliminate compounds giving undesirable taste to the smoke is impregnated with minor amounts of a hydrated metal compound. A variation of this product is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,560 wherein oxidized cellulose is mixed with combustible carbon in an amount within the range of 2% to 50% by weight of the oxidized cellulose material to form a tobacco substitute.
While all of these tobacco substitutes are better than plain paper, they have the disadvantage of being expensive to produce while still leaving much to be desired insofar as approximating or duplicating the organoleptic effect obtained from tobacco smoke. Moreover, when blended with tobacco in a smoking article, the reduction in overall undesirable elements in the smoke may also not be as effective as desired. | {
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Unlike most tissues, cartilage does not self-repair following injury. Cartilage is an avascular tissue made up largely of cartilage specific cells, the chondrocytes, special types of collagen, and proteoglycans. The inability of cartilage to self-repair after injury, disease, or surgery is a major limiting factor in rehabilitation of degrading joint surfaces and injury to meniscal cartilage. Osteoarthritis, the major degenerative disease of weight bearing joint surfaces, is caused by eroding or damaged cartilage surfaces and is present in approximately 25% of the over 50-year-old population. In the US more than 20 million people suffer from osteoarthritis, with annual healthcare costs of more than $8.6 billion. In addition, the cost for cartilage repair from acute joint injury (meniscal lesions, patellar surface damage and chondromalacia) exceeds $1 billion annually. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches are needed to heal lesions of cartilage caused by degeneration or acute trauma.
It has now been found that chondrocytes isolated from articular cartilage respond to compounds which activate the non-proteolytic thrombin cell surface receptor (hereinafter xe2x80x9cNPARxe2x80x9d). For example, chondrocytes express approximately 233,000 thrombin binding sites per cell with apparent affinities of approximately 0.1 nM (3000 sites) and 27 nM (230,000 sites) (Example 1). In addition, the compound TP508, an agonist of the non-proteolytic thrombin receptor, stimulates proliferation of bovine chondrocytes in culture in the presence of thrombin as a co-mitogen (Example 2A) and stimulates by itself the proliferation of rat chondrocytes cultured in three dimensional matrix culture (Example 3A). This same TP508 compound also stimulates proteoglycan synthesis as measured by the incorporation of 35S sulfate in both bovine chondrocytes (Example 2B) and 3-dimensional cultures of rat chondrocytes (Example 3B). These in vitro experiments demonstrate that NPAR agonists can stimulate proliferation and matrix production in chondrocytes isolated from articular cartilage. Additional in vivo experiments demonstrate that delivering TP508 in a sustained release formulation to rabbit trochlear grove cartilage defects which extend into the subchondral bone results in repair of the cartilage defect, including repair of subchondral bone, restoration of a normal cartilage surface and integration of the newly formed cartilage with uninjured cartilage outside of the defect area (Example 5).
Based on the results reported in the prior paragraph, novel methods of stimulating chondrocyte growth in vivo and cartilage repair in a subject and novel delivery methods for delivering pharmaceutical compositions to articular defects to aid in surface repair and to prevent articular degradation are disclosed herein.
The present invention is a method of stimulating cartilage growth, regeneration or repair at a site in a subject where cartilage growth, repair or regeneration is needed. The method comprises the step of administering a therapeutically effective amount of an agonist of the non-proteolytically activated thrombin receptor to the site of injury.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a method of stimulating the proliferation and expansion of chrondrocytes in vitro. The method comprises culturing chrondrocytes in the presence of a stimulating amount of an NPAR agonist.
Sites in need of cartilage growth, repair or regeneration are found in subjects with osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis or degenerative joint disease is a slowly progressive, irreversible, often monoarticular disease characterized by pain and loss of function. The underlying cause of the pain and debilitation is the cartilage degradation that is one of the major symptoms of the disease. Hyaline cartilage is a flexible tissue that covers the ends of bones and lies between joints such as the knee. It is also found in between the bones along the spine. Cartilage is smooth, allowing stable, flexible movement with minimal friction, but is also resistant to compression and able to distribute applied loads. As osteoarthritis progresses, surfaces of cartilage and exposed underlying bone become irregular. Instead of gliding smoothly, boney joint surfaces rub against each other, resulting in stiffness and pain. Regeneration of damaged cartilage and the growth of new cartilage at these arthritic sites would relieve the pain and restore the loss of function associated with osteoarthritis.
Cartilage damage can also occur from trauma resulting from injury or surgery. Sports injuries are a common cause of cartilage damage, particularly to joints such as the knee. Traumatic injury to cartilage can result in the same type of functional impairment. Therefore, sites in a subject with cartilage that has been damaged by trauma or disease are in need of treatment to restore or promote the growth of cartilage.
Applicants have discovered that compounds which stimulate or activate the non-proteolytically activated thrombin receptor (hereinafter xe2x80x9cNPARxe2x80x9d) can stimulate chondrocytes to proliferate. Chondrocytes are cells which make up about 1% of the volume of cartilage and which replace degraded matrix molecules to maintain the correct volume and mechanical properties of the tissue. Applicants have also found that compounds which stimulate or activate NPAR stimulate proteoglycan synthesis in chondrocytes. Proteoglycan is a major cartilage component. Based on these results, Applicants delivered the NPAR agonist TP508, prepared in a sustained release formulation, to defects in rabbit trochlear grove cartilage and discovered that the peptide stimulated repair of the defect that included formation of new cartilage with a normal cartilage surface. The peptide also stimulated layering and integration of this new cartilage into adjacent, uninjured cartilage and restoration of the subchondral bone. It is concluded that NPAR agonists can induce cartilage growth and repair when administered to sites needing cartilage growth and/or repair.
Compounds which stimulate or activate NPAR are said to be NPAR agonists. NPAR is a high-affinity thrombin receptor present on the surface of most cells. NPAR is largely responsible for high-affinity binding of thrombin, proteolytically inactivated thrombin, and thrombin derived peptides to cells. NPAR agonists and antagonists can compete for the affinity binding with thrombin to cells (see, e.g., Glenn et al., J. Peptide Research 1:65 (1988)). NPAR appears to mediate a number of cellular signals that are initiated by thrombin independent of its proteolytic activity. An example of one such signal is the upregulation of annexin V and other molecules identified by subtractive hybridization (see Sower, et. al., Experimental Cell Research 247:422 (1999)). NPAR is therefore characterized by its high affinity interaction with thrombin at cell surfaces and its activation by proteolytically inactive derivatives of thrombin and thrombin derived peptide agonists as described below. NPAR activation can be assayed based on the ability of its agonists, to stimulate cell proliferation when added to fibroblasts in the presence of submitogenic concentrations of thrombin or molecules that activate protein kinase C as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,352,664 and 5,500,412.
NPAR is to be distinguished from other thrombin binding proteins and the cloned family of proteolytically-activated receptors for thrombin, including the receptors PAR1, PAR2, PAR3 and PAR4. PAR1 possesses a specific thrombin cleavage site that allows thrombin cleavage to expose a new amino-terminus domain that acts as a tethered ligand folding back onto itself inducing its activation (see, Vu, et al., Cell. 64:1057 (1991)). PAR2 has a similar mechanism for activation, but is principally activated by trypsin-like enzymes (see, Zhong, et al, J. Biol. Chem. 267:16975 (1992)). PAR3 also has a similar mechanism of activation and appears to function as a second thrombin receptor in platelets (see, Ishihara, et al., Nature. 386:502 (1997)). PAR4 has been detected in mouse megakaryocytes and studies suggest that it also functions in human platelets (see, Kahn, et al., Nature 394:690 (1998)). In contrast with these PAR receptors, activation of NPAR requires no proteolytic cleavage.
Several lines of evidence indicate that NPAR is distinct from PAR receptors: (1) a population of cells has been isolated that express fully functional PAR1 receptors, but are non-responsive to thrombin due to a defect in the NPAR signal transduction pathway (see, Kim, et al., J. Cell. Physiol. 160:573 (1994)); (2) neutrophils bind 125I thrombin with high affinity and their chemotaxis is stimulated by proteolytically inactivated thrombin or NPAR agonists (see, Ramakrishnan and Carney, Mol. Biol. Cell 4. 1993 (1993)), yet they do not express PAR1 (see Jenkins, et al., J. Cell Sci. 108:3059 (1995)); (3) IIC9 fibroblasts over-express PAR1, but do not bind thrombin with high affinity (see, Kim, D. Ph.D. Dissertation. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 1995; and Low, et al., xe2x80x9cCancer Cells 3/Growth Factors and Transformationxe2x80x9d, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York); and (4) NPAR agonists have distinct effects on gene expression from those of the PAR receptor agonist peptides (see, Sower, et. al., Experimental Cell Research 247: 422 (1999).
One example of an NPAR agonist is a thrombin peptide derivative and physiologically functional equivalents, i.e., a polypeptide with no more than about fifty amino acids, preferably no more than about thirty amino acids and having sufficient homology to the fragment of human thrombin corresponding to prothrombin amino acids 508-530 (SEQ ID NO: 5) that the polypeptide activates NPAR. The thrombin peptide derivatives described herein preferably have between about 12 and 23 amino acids, more preferably between about 19 and 23 amino acids. One example of a thrombin peptide derivative comprises a moiety represented by Structural Formula (I):
Asp-Ala-Rxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(I)
R is a serine esterase conserved domain. Serine esterases, e.g., trypsin, thrombin, chymotrypsin and the like, have a region that is highly conserved. xe2x80x9cSerine esterase conserved domainxe2x80x9d refers to a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of one of these conserved regions or is sufficiently homologous to one of these conserved regions such that the thrombin peptide derivative retains NPAR activating ability.
In one embodiment, the serine esterase conserved sequence has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 (Cys-Glu-Gly-Asp-Ser-Gly-Gly-Pro-Phe-Val) or a C-terminal truncated fragment of a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. It is understood, however, that zero, one, two or three amino acids in the serine esterase conserved sequence can differ from the corresponding amino acid in SEQ ID NO: 1. Preferably, the amino acids in the serine esterase conserved sequence which differ from the corresponding amino acid in SEQ ID NO: 1 are conservative substitutions, and are more preferably highly conservative substitutions. A xe2x80x9cC-terminal truncated fragmentxe2x80x9d refers to a fragment remaining after removing an amino acid or block of amino acids from the C-terminus, said fragment having at least six and more preferably at least nine amino acids.
More preferably, the serine esterase conserved sequence has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 (Cys-X1-Gly-Asp-Ser-Gly-Gly-Pro-X2-Val; X1 is Glu or Gln and X2 is Phe, Met, Leu, His or Val) or a C-terminal truncated fragment thereof having at least six amino acids, preferably at least nine amino acids.
In a preferred embodiment, the thrombin peptide derivative comprises a serine esterase conserved sequence and a polypeptide having a more specific thrombin amino acid sequence
In a preferred embodiment, the thrombin peptide derivative comprises a serine esterase conserved sequence and a polypeptide having a more specific thrombin amino Arg-Gly-Asp-Ala (SEQ ID NO: 3). One example of a thrombin peptide derivative of this type comprises Arg-Gly-Asp-Ala-Cys-X1-Gly-Asp-Ser-Gly-Gly-Pro-X2-Val (SEQ ID NO: 4). X1 and X2 are as defined above. When the thrombin peptide derivative comprises SEQ ID NO: 4, it preferably has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5 (Ala-Gly-Tyr-Lys-Pro-Asp-Glu-Gly-Lys-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ala-Cys-Glu-Gly-Asp-Ser-Gly-Gly-Pro-Phe-Val) or an N-terminal truncated fragment thereof, provided that zero, one, two or three amino acids at positions 1-9 in the thrombin peptide derivative differ from the amino acid at the corresponding position of SEQ ID NO: 5. Preferably, the amino acids in the thrombin peptide derivative which differ from the corresponding amino acid in SEQ ID NO: 5 are conservative substitutions, and are more preferably highly conservative substitutions. An xe2x80x9cN-terminal truncated fragmentxe2x80x9d refers to a fragment remaining after removing an amino acid or block of amino acids from the N-terminus, preferably a block of no more than six amino acids, more preferably a block of no more than three amino acids.
TP508 is an example of a thrombin peptide derivative and has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5. A physiologically functional equivalent of SEQ ID NO: 5 is SEQ ID NO: 6 which has the identical amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5 and also contains a C-terminal amide.
A xe2x80x9cconservative substitutionxe2x80x9d is the replacement of an amino acid with another amino acid that has the same net electronic charge and approximately the same size and shape. Amino acids with aliphatic or substituted aliphatic amino acid side chains have approximately the same size when the total number carbon and heteroatoms in their side chains differs by no more than about four. They have approximately the same shape when the number of branches in the their side chains differs by no more than one. Amino acids with phenyl or substituted phenyl groups in their side chains are considered to have about the same size and shape. Listed below are five groups of amino acids. Replacing an amino acid in a polypeptide with another amino acid from the same group results in a conservative substitution:
Group I: glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, serine, threonine, cysteine, and non-naturally occurring amino acids with C1-C4 aliphatic or C1-C4 hydroxyl substituted aliphatic side chains (straight chained or monobranched).
Group II: glutamic acid, aspartic acid and non-naturally occurring amino acids with carboxylic acid substituted C1-C4 aliphatic side chains (unbranched or one branch point).
Group III: Lysine, ornithine, arginine and non-naturally occurring amino acids with amine or guanidino substituted C1-C4 aliphatic side chains (unbranched or one branch point).
Group IV: glutamine, asparagine and non-naturally occurring amino acids with amide, substituted C1-C4 aliphatic side chains (unbranched or one branch point).
Group V: phenylalanine, phenylglycine, tyrosine and tryptophan.
A xe2x80x9chighly conservative substitutionxe2x80x9d is the replacement of an amino acid with another amino acid that has the same functional group in the side chain and nearly the same size and shape. Amino acids with aliphatic or substituted aliphatic amino acid side chains have nearly the same size when the total number carbon and heteroatoms in their side chains differs by no more than two. They have nearly the same shape when they have the same number of branches in the their side chains. Example of highly conservative substitutions include valine for leucine, threonine for serine, aspartic acid for glutamic acid and phenylglycine for phenylalanine. Examples of substitutions which are not highly conservative include alanine for valine, alanine for serine and aspartic acid for serine.
Other NPAR agonists include small organic molecules which bind and activate NPAR. Agonists of this type can be conveniently identified with high through-put screening, e.g., with assays that assess the ability of molecules to stimulate cell proliferation when added to fibroblasts in the presence of submitogenic concentrations of thrombin or molecules that activate protein kinase C or with assays that assess the ability of these molecules to compete with 125I-thrombin to cells with surface NPAR receptors, as disclosed in Glenn et al., supra, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,352,664 and 5,500,412. The entire teachings for Glenn et al., and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,352,664 and 5,500,412 are incorporated herein by reference.
The term xe2x80x9cNPAR agonistxe2x80x9d also includes compounds and combinations of compounds known to activate NPAR. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,352,664 and 5,500,412 and include thrombin and DIP-alpha-thrombin.
NPAR agonists used in the method of the present invention are typically administered as one component in a pharmaceutical composition to the site in need of cartilage growth, repair or regeneration. Administering to the site in need of treatment means that the pharmaceutical composition containing the NPAR agonist is administered in sufficient proximity to the site in need of treatment so that cartilage growth or cartilage regeneration occurs at the site (e.g., a greater amount of cartilage growth or better quality of cartilage growth in the presence of the NPAR agonist than in its absence).
In one means of administration, the pharmaceutical composition is a solution comprising the NPAR agonist and a suitable carrier. The solution is applied directly to or in near proximity to the site in need of treatment. Administration of the solution can be conveniently accomplished, for example, intraarticularly by syringe, in close proximity to the damaged tissue by syringe or through a surgical opening. Standard pharmaceutical formulation techniques may be employed such as those described in Remington""s Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mack Publishing Company, Easton, Pa. Suitable pharmaceutical carriers for include, for example, physiological saline, bacteriostatic saline (saline containing about 0.9% mg/ml benzyl alcohol), phosphate-buffered saline, Hank""s solution, Ringer""s-lactate and the like.
In another means of administration, the pharmaceutical composition comprises the NPAR agonist and an implantable biocompatible carrier. A biocompatible carrier should be non-toxic, non-inflammatory, non-immunogenic and devoid of other undesired reactions at the implantation site. Suitable carriers also provide for release of the active ingredient and preferably for a slow, sustained release over time at the implantation site.
A number of synthetic biodegradable polymers can serve as carriers with sustained release characteristics. Examples of these polymers include poly xcex1-hydroxy esters such as polylactic acid/polyglycolic acid copolymers and polyanhydrides.
Polylactic acid/polyglycolic acid (PLGA) homo and copolymers are well known in the art as sustained release vehicles. The rate of release can be adjusted by the skilled artisan by variation of polylactic acid to polyglycolic acid ratio and the molecular weight of the polymer (see Anderson, et al., Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 28:5 (1997), the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference). The incorporation of poly(ethylene glycol) into the polymer blend allows further attenuation of the release profile of the active ingredient (see Cleek et al., J. Control Release 48:259 (1997), the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference). Suitable implantable PLGA polymers for use as carriers for cartilage growth factors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,013,853, 5,607,474 and 5,876,452, the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Polyanhydridcs, shown in Structural Formula (II), have well defined degradation and release characteristics that can be controlled by including varying amounts of hydrophobic or hydrophilic monomers such as sebacic acid and 1,3-bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)propane (see Leong et al., J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 19:941 (1985), the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference). To improve mechanical strength, anhydrides are often copolymerized with imides to form polyanhydride-co-imides. Examples of polyanhydride-co-imides that are suitable for orthopaedic applications are poly(trimellitylimido-glycine-co-1,6-bis(carboxyphenoxy)hexane and pyromellityimidoalanine:1,6-bis(p-carboxyphenoxy)hexane copolymers.
The pharmaceutical compositions can be shaped as desired in anticipation of surgery or shaped by the physician or technician during surgery. It is preferred to shape the matrix to span a tissue defect and to take the desired form of the new tissue. In the case of cartilage repair of large defects, it is desirable to use dimensions that span the defect. After implantation, the material is slowly absorbed by the body and is replaced by cartilage in the shape of or very nearly the shape of the implant.
In one aspect, the carrier is a porous matrix into which progenitor cells may migrate. Cells can often attach to such porous matrices, which can then serve as a scaffolding for tissue growth and thereby accelerate the rate of bone growth. Chondrocytes can be applied to such matrices prior to implant to further accelerate healing. Collagen or a collagen gel is an example of a suitable porous matrix.
In another aspect, the carrier is a viscous solution or gel that is injectable intraarticuarly or at the site in need of treatment. Hyaluronic acid is an example of a carrier of this type. Hyaluronic acid products are commercially available and include ORTHOVISC developed by Anika, SYNVISC, developed by Biomatrix, HYALGAN, developed by Fidia and ARTZ, developed by Seikagaku. Pluronic gel is another example of this type of carrier. Pluronic gels are nontxoic block copolymers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide. They exhibit thermosetting properties that allow them to exist as viscous liquids at room temperatures, but as gels at body temperatures. Injectable compositions can be applied directly to the site in need of treatment without the need for invasive surgery. Polymers of poly(ethylene oxide) and copolymers of ethylene and propylene oxide are also suitable as injectable matrices (see Cao et al., J. Biomater. Sci 9:475 (1998) and Sims et al., Plast Reconstr.Surg. 98:843 (196), the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference).
A xe2x80x9ctherapeutically effective amountxe2x80x9d is the quantity of NPAR agonist (or chondrocytes) which results in greater cartilage growth or repair in the presence of the NPAR agonist than in its absence. Alternatively or addition, a xe2x80x9ctherapeutically effective amountxe2x80x9d is the quantity of NPAR agonist (or chondrocytes) which results in alleviation of the pain and/or lack of function associated with the cartilage damage. Typically, the agonist (or chondrocytes) is administered for a sufficient period of time to achieve the desired therapeutic or effect. The amount administered will depend on the amount of cartilage growth that is desired, the health, size, weight, age and sex of the subject and the release characteristics of the pharmaceutical formulation. Typically, between about 0.1 xcexcg per day and about 1 mg per day of NPAR agonist (preferably between about 5 xcexcg per day and about 100 xcexcg per day) is administered by continuous release or by direct application to the site in need of carilage growth or repair.
A xe2x80x9csubjectxe2x80x9d is preferably a human, but can also be an animal in need of treatment, e.g., companion animals (e.g., dogs, cats, and the like), farm animals (e.g., cows, pigs, horses and the like) and laboratory animals (e.g., rats, mice, guinea pigs and the like).
NPAR agonists can be used to accelerate the growth or to maintain the functionality of isolated chondrocytes. In one embodiment, NPAR agonists can be added to tissue culture medium to stimulate proliferation and provide for more rapid proliferation and/or to prevent apoptotic death or senescence of cells often encountered when primary cell isolates are place in culture. In another embodiment, because the NPAR agonists appear to stimulate matrix production, such NPAR agonists could be used to maintain the differentiated functionality of chondrocytes in culture. NPAR agonists can be used alone in standard defined tissue culture medium or as a supplement to tissue culture medium containing serum or other growth factor to provide additive or synergistic effects or the in vitro production or maintenance of chondrocytes. A sufficient quantity of the NPAR agonist is added to the culture to provide more rapid growth or to maintain greater functionality of the chondrocytes than in the absence of the agonist, i.e., a xe2x80x9cstimulatory amountxe2x80x9d. Typically, between about 0.1 xcexcg/ml and about 100 xcexcg/ml of NPAR agonist is used.
Chondrocytes cultured in the presence of an NPAR agonists can also be used to treat cartilage damage by administering a therapeutically effective amount of the chondrocytes to the site in need of treatment. With respect to chondrocytes, xe2x80x9ctherapeutically effectivexe2x80x9d also means which results in greater cartilage growth or repair with the treatment than in its absence. The administration of chondrocytes to treat cartilage damage is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,835, the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Thrombin peptide derivatives can be synthesized by solid phase peptide synthesis (e.g., BOC or FMOC) method, by solution phase synthesis, or by other suitable techniques including combinations of the foregoing methods. The BOC and FMOC methods, which are established and widely used, are described in Merrifield, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 88:2149 (1963); Meienhofer, Hormonal Proteins and Peptides, C. H. Li, Ed., Academic Press, 1983, pp. 48-267; and Barany and Merrifield, in The Peptides, E. Gross and J. Meienhofer, Eds., Academic Press, New York, 1980, pp. 3-285. Methods of solid phase peptide synthesis are described in Merrifield, R. B., Science, 232: 341 (1986); Carpino, L. A. and Han, G. Y., J. Org. Chem., 37: 3404 (1972); and Gauspohl, H. et al., Synthesis, 5: 315 (1992)). The teachings of these six articles are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The invention is illustrated by the following examples which are not intended to be limiting in any way.
Details of Experiments
Chondrocytes are the primary cell type found in cartilage. In cartilage these cells are normally quiescent, or non-proliferative, and have relatively low metabolic rates. Following injury to cartilage these cells do not readily participate in the repair process. Due to the avascular nature of cartilage, these cells presumably would not see thrombin as an initiator of the repair process. | {
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Pneumatic tube delivery systems are widely used in various institutions. Although, these systems are implemented in different forms depending on the nature of operations and transactions carried out at various facilities, the systems generally share basic components. First, a network of tubular conduits is established throughout the facility, branching to outlets connected to respective send/receive workstations, or portals. Items of interest may be transported between user workstations via the conduits in capsule-like carriers, the contents of which are filled, for example, by users at sending workstations and emptied by users at receiving workstations. Alternatively, the packaging of the item itself may act as the carrier so that the item is not required to be housed within a separate carrier apparatus for delivery. The carriers' travel through the network of conduits is driven by one or more blower units which generate pneumatic flow (such as by positive and vacuum pressures) sufficient to propel the carriers through different portions of the network. Typically, a computer-based controller unit(s) operates to regulate carrier traffic and maintain overall system operation.
The network of conduits may be quite complex even in modest sized facilities, since delivery access between every combination of workstations is often required. The network generally incorporates multi-port diverters, or transfer units, at intermediate points physically transferring carriers from one branch (or section) of the conduit network to another for delivery to the proper destination outlet. While such diverter/transfer units markedly reduce redundancy in conduit segments, the network remains quite elaborate in systems serving numerous outlets, with individual conduit segments making numerous turns and bends to serve the many workstations.
Pneumatic tube delivery systems are employed, for example, in financial institutions such as banks to remotely conduct customer transactions in real time. Industrial and retail facilities also employ these systems to transport payload items such as documents, currency, parts, or merchandise from one location to another. Perhaps the most prevalent and demanding uses are in healthcare institutions such as hospitals, where the need for quick, efficient and secure transport of physical items between remote locations within a large facility, or multiple facilities, tends to be the rule, not the exception. Items such as pharmaceuticals, lab specimens, blood products, and the like must be passed between different staff members quickly and reliably. It is not uncommon for a hospital to carry out several thousands of transports of delicate payloads like this on a daily basis.
In healthcare settings, items such as blood work and other test results, may be highly time sensitive. However, the size of certain healthcare facilities, the number of required workstations often push the limits of typical pneumatic tube delivery system. In current systems that include large numbers of workstations arranged in multiple operating subsystems, transporting a single carrier may require the operation of multiple blowers before a carrier can reach its destination. All of this increases the time and energy required to achieve delivery, reducing the throughput and efficiency of the entire system. Hence, there is a need for a delivery routing system that permits delivery to a large number of workstations arranged throughout multiple subsystems while reducing delivery time and increasing efficiency. | {
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Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bicycle hydraulic hose cap and a bicycle hydraulic hose assembly.
Discussion of the Background
Bicycling is becoming an increasingly more popular form of recreation as well as a means of transportation. Moreover, bicycling has become a very popular competitive sport for both amateurs and professionals. Whether the bicycle is used for recreation, transportation or competition, the bicycle industry is constantly improving the various components of the bicycle. One bicycle component that has been extensively redesigned is a hydraulic hose assembly. | {
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Existing cache replacement policies generally have two primary design considerations, namely, achieving the best cache hit ratio and maintaining a reasonable implementation cost. These design considerations typically assume that an on-chip SRAM cache is being used. Because SRAM cache is non-volatile memory (NVM), refreshing is typically not used with SRAM cache. To reduce implementation cost and/or to reduce the chip size, there is a trend to utilize DRAM in on-chip cache. Because DRAM cache is volatile memory, refreshing is used with DRAM cache. Further, SRAM cache is typically faster than DRAM cache but DRAM cache is typically cheaper than SRAM cache and typically has a higher storage capacity per unit area than SRAM cache. | {
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The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for mechanically interconnecting a housing with a portable vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatus and method for interconnecting a housing structure that lacks sanitary facilities with a portable vehicle that has such sanitary facilities and doing so in such a way that the portable vehicle is fully enclosed within the housing structure.
Motor homes, mobile homes and recreational vehicles (collectively referred to as "RVs") have recently enjoyed an increase in popularity. RV's provide a spontaneous mobility that is relatively inexpensive as opposed to a fixed dwelling which is generally more expensive and is immovable. The fixed dwelling, however, provides the owner a relatively spacious living area and is a welcome addition to most communities. In contrast, the disadvantages of RVs involve the rather cramped general living quarters and the question of availability of space at campsites for such large structures.
When building a fixed dwelling, a disproportionately large amount is paid for plumbing, bathroom facilities and kitchen facilities. Approximately 30% to 45% of the cost of the home is dedicated to these necessities. While the RV may be driven away at the owner's whim, the fixed dwelling, particularly in climates which are subject to severe winter conditions, must be "winterized" when temporarily abandoned in favor of warmer climates. Winterizing is necessary when the heat in the fixed dwelling is to be turned off since there will be no occupants. Since there is no heat, the pipes must be drained to prevent the freezing of the pipes contained therein. While this avoids the high cost of heating the home over a winter, there is a significant burden of draining the pipes and then opening the house upon return.
One commercially available system that resolves some of these issues is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,669 entitled "Dwelling Structure" issued Feb. 17, 1981, to Robert F. Freehoff, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,696 entitled "Dwelling Structure" issued Feb. 19, 1985, to Robert F. Freehoff. These patents address a system for interconnecting a permanent dwelling structure with a RV which has kitchen and bathroom facilities. Thus, when the owner of the RV chooses to leave, there is no need to winterize the dwelling structure since the plumbing used by the dwelling structure is disposed in the RV. A disadvantage of this system is that the interconnection between the mobile vehicle and the dwelling structure is through a lateral surface. That is, the mobile vehicle is pulled along side of the dwelling structure and an air tight seal is made between the two to interconnect. However, since these are fixed dwellings, the dwelling structure may not be situated on a lot wide enough to accommodate this kind of interconnection. That is, to keep the cost of the lot and dwelling insubstantial the size of the lot is minimized and/or the size of the structure is maximized to fill the size of the lot. This is particularly evident in RV parks that have lots substantially equal to the width of the RV. The foregoing commercially available structure does not fit in a RV park, and at a minimum would require the dwelling structure to be downsized at least by the width of the RV. Under some circumstances, the foregoing structures may have another disadvantage: the interconnection between the mobile vehicle and the dwelling structure is through a lateral surface. That is, the mobile vehicle is pulled along side of the dwelling structure and an air tight seal is made between the two to interconnect. However, the dwelling structure may not be situated on a lot wide enough to accommodate this kind of interconnection. That is, to keep the cost of the lot and dwelling insubstantial the size of the lot is minimized and/or the size of the structure is maximized to fill the size of the lot. This is particularly evident in RV parks that have lots substantially equal to the width of the RV. The foregoing commercially available structure does not fit in an RV park, and at a minimum would require the dwelling structure to be downsized at least by the width of the RV.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a dwelling structure that lacks sanitary facilities but is adapted to interconnect with the mobile vehicle that contains such sanitary facilities.
It is another object to this invention to provide a RV and dwelling combination which does not decrease the width of the dwelling alone.
It is a further object to this invention to provide a RV and dwelling combination that will fit in RV parks.
These and other objects of the invention will be obvious and will appear hereinafter. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a system for generating a test pattern used for fault detection or the like of a large scale integrated circuit (LSI) as well as a computer readable medium instructing the system to perform the method. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and a system suitable for the case where the entirety of an objective circuit for test pattern generation is divided into a plurality of subcircuits and a test pattern generating method and a system suited for generating test patterns for these subcircuits by means of distributed processing, as well as a computer readable medium instructing the system to perform the method.
2. Description of Related Art
Accompanying the increase in complexity and enlargement in scale of the integrated circuits such as LSIs, techniques are in fashion in which the entirety of an objective circuit for test pattern generation is divided into a plurality of subcircuits with a specified scale, and the test pattern generation for each subcircuit is processed distributedly by means of a plurality of computers. The inventor of the present invention and others disclosed such a method as Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 11-211801 and No. 11-237450, which were laid open after the priority date of the present invention. Their invention has been filed in US patent application as Ser. No. 09/236,903. FIG. 11 shows a schematic configuration of such a test pattern generation system employing a circuit division distributed processing technique. As shown, in this test pattern generation system a plurality of engineering work stations (EWSs) are interconnected via a network NW such as a local area network (LAN). Note, however, that beside the mode shown in the figure, various kinds of other mode, such as one in which a plurality of central processing units (CPUs) are connected by busses to a single computer with multiprocessor configuration, are also conceivable.
In the figure, each of EWSs 1-1 to 1xe2x80x94n (n is a natural number) is a computer in charge of automatic generation processing of a test pattern, and performs at one point in time, test pattern generation for one subcircuit. In what follows, the CPU mounted on each EWS will be referred to as xe2x80x9cremote CPUxe2x80x9d. In general, the total number of subcircuits obtainable by circuit division is set to be a number far greater than the number n of the remote CPUs. On the other hand, EWS 1-0 is a computer which integrally controls the EWSs 1-1 to 1xe2x88x92n, and after division of the entirety of the object of test pattern generation into subcircuits, performs distributed processing of test pattern generation for the entire circuit by letting EWSs 1-1 to 1xe2x88x92n execute test pattern generation processing for respective subcircuits. In the following, the CPU mounted on the EWS 1-0 will be referred to as xe2x80x9clocal CPUxe2x80x9d.
The local CPU hands over information (xe2x80x9csubcircuit informationxe2x80x9d in the figure showing the constitution of the subcircuits and a collection of fault information (xe2x80x9cfault listxe2x80x9d in the figure) to be detected for respective subcircuits to each remote CPU, and requests them to generate test patterns for the subcircuits. The fault information includes fault position information for the entire circuit, identification information showing whether the fault is a xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d fault or a xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d fault, and the like. In the meantime, a remote CPU requested the processing by the local CPU generates a test pattern based on the received subcircuit information and fault list and sends the result back to the local CPU. In addition, it determines information on the faults which were undetectable by the generated test pattern and reports it back to the local CPU. Here, the local CPU is constantly watching the processing conditions to see whether respective remote CPUs are in the process of executing test pattern generation. Whenever the result of test pattern generation (pattern and undetected fault information) is reported back from some remote CPU, the local CPU retrieves remote CPUs in idle state which are not executing the test pattern generation processing, selects a subcircuit which has not yet completed the processing, and requests an idle remote CPU to generate a test pattern for that subcircuit.
Now, the size (here, the number of gates) of the subcircuit obtained by the circuit subdivision is calculated in advance to be a prescribed value based on the evaluation in consideration of obtaining the optimum processing efficiency of test pattern generation. Accordingly, the local CPU performs circuit subdivision so as to have the size of the subcircuit to be approximately equal to the prescribed value. In this case, a subcircuit is constructed by collecting a plurality of circuit blocks called xe2x80x9cconesxe2x80x9d which will be described later. In FIG. 12 which illustrates a circuit diagram for only a part extracted from the entire circuit which is the object of test pattern generation, symbols Ti1 to Ti7 are input terminals, symbols To1 and To2 are output terminals, and symbols 5-1 to 5-6 are logic gates. In addition, symbols 6-1 and 6-2 are circuit block composed of the input terminals, output terminal, and logic gates, which will be called cones in this invention, so named in association with the shapes of the cross section of cones along the axes. Moreover, since these input terminals and the output terminal act as the interfaces between the circuit as a whole and the outside, these are sometimes called external input terminals and an external output terminal.
The cones are in 1 to 1 correspondence with the output terminals, and a cone is defined as a set of all the logic gates passed through and all the input terminals arrived at, and the output terminal being the starting point, before one arrives at input terminals when one traces logic gates sequentially starting from an output terminal toward the input terminals. In other words, a cone is formed by the collection of all the logic gates and input terminals through which a logical value can be propagated to a certain output terminal, together with that output terminal. For example, when the paths within the circuit are traced with the output terminal To1 as a starting point, since the output terminal To1 is connected to the logic gate 5-1, the logic gate is included in the cone 6-1. Further, the logic gate 5-1 is connected to the input terminals Ti1 and Ti2 and the logic gate 5-2. Since, however, the logic gate 5-2 is not connected in the direction from the output terminal To1 to the input terminal, it is excluded and only the input terminals Ti1 and Ti2 are included in the cone 6-1. That is, the cone 6-1 is composed of the output terminal To1, the logic gate 5-1, and the input terminals Ti1 and Ti2. The cone 6-2 is formed by the same procedure, and it includes the output terminal To2, the logic gates 5-2 to 5-6, and the input terminals Ti2 to Ti7. As is clear from the above description, the entirety of the circuit which is the object of the test pattern generation includes cones equal to the number of its output terminals.
Although not shown in FIG. 12, in a scannable object circuit for test pattern generation, scannable flip-flops (abbreviated as FFs hereinafter) included in the circuit are handled as objects completely equivalent to the input or output terminals. In other words, those components to which logical values can be set or referred to from the outside of the circuit are handleable as being completely equivalent to the input or output terminals. Accordingly, if a scanning FF is arrived at when tracing a circuit in the direction from an output terminal toward the input terminal, the scanning FF can be regarded as equivalent to an input terminal as well as an output terminal, so that a new cone can be defined with the scanning FF as a starting point. Incidentally, in order to avoid complication, only circuits which do not include scanning FFs will be described in the following unless otherwise noted, but the discussion is applicable completely analogously to the circuits including scanning FFs that are equivalent to the input and output terminals.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the important parts of the configuration of a test pattern generating system as a Related Art, which is not Prior Art. In the figure, a local CPU 1L corresponds to the CPU on the EWS 1-0 in FIG. 11, and a remote CPU 1R corresponds to a CPU mounted on either one of the EWSs 1-1 to 1xe2x80x94n in FIG. 11. A circuit information storage part 11 stores circuit information describing the kind of the input terminals, output terminal, and logic gates and the connection relationship among them. An external output terminal list preparing part 12 extracts all the output terminals from the circuit information stored in the circuit information storage part 11, and stores data of these output terminals in an external output terminal list storage part 13. In a circuit made scannable, the external output terminal list preparing part 12 extracts also the scanning FFs in addition to the output terminals. A subcircuit generating part 14 constructs subcircuits from the cones included in the entire circuit based on the storage contents of the circuit information storage part 11 and the storage contents of the external output terminal list storage part 13, and stores the result in a subcircuit storage part 15.
Moreover, a fault information storage part 16 stores all fault information to be detected for the entire circuit. A pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 updates the storage contents of fault information for which test patterns are not yet generated so as for the contents to be held in a pattern ungenerated fault list storage part 18, based on the storage contents of the fault information storage part 16 and the storage contents of a pattern generated fault information storage part 27 (to be described later). When a test pattern generation of a subcircuit is requested to a certain remote CPU, a subcircuit fault list preparing part 19 prepares a list of faults included in the subcircuit based on the storage contents of the subcircuit storage part 15 related to the subcircuit and the storage contents of the pattern ungenerated fault list storage part 18, and stores the result in a subcircuit fault list storage part 20. A remote CPU assignment control part 24 manages the execution conditions of each remote CPU 1R, and selects an idle remote CPU 1R and requests that remote CPU 1R to generate a test pattern by handing over the circuit information and the fault list related to the generated subcircuit. In addition, the remote CPU assignment control part 24 communicates with various parts of the local CPU 1L via signal lines, not shown in the figure, and realizes such a processing as completion decision of the test pattern generation or the like.
In the meantime, in the remote CPU 1R, an automatic test pattern generating part 25 generates test patterns corresponding to respective fault information contained in the fault list based on the subcircuit information (the subcircuit storage part 15) and the fault list (the subcircuit fault list storage part 20) handed over from the local CPU 1L. As a result, the automatic test pattern generating part 25 stores the generated test patterns in a test pattern storage part 26, and stores pieces of fault information in the received fault list that are no longer required to be processed in the pattern generated fault information storage part 27 as pattern generated fault information. Here, the pattern generated fault information includes, besides pieces of fault information for which test patterns were actually generated, fault information for which the processing was dropped because of difficulty in generating test patterns, fault information which became clear that generation of test patterns is impossible in either one of the cones due to redundancy of the circuits, and the like. As to fault information for which test patterns were not generated under these circumstances, information indicating the reasons why test patterns were not generated are additionally stored in the pattern generated fault information storage part 27.
A pattern merge part 21 provided in the local CPU 1L combines test patterns generated in every remote CPU 1R and test patterns stored in a test pattern output part 28, and stores sequentially the generated test patterns in the test pattern output part 28. Besides, the pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 outputs fault information for which test patterns were not generated to a pattern ungenerated fault list output part 29 at the point in time when the test pattern generation processing was conducted for all subcircuits contained in the entire circuit. In that case, the pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 stores the reasons why test patterns were not generated in addition to a pattern ungenerated fault list. The reasons why test patterns were not generated includes such a situation that test pattern generation for unprocessed fault information is no longer needed because an expected fault detection rate has been attained, that the test pattern generation was given up because of an enormous amount of processing time required, that the test pattern generation was impossible because of the redundancy of the circuit, or the like.
In FIG. 14 which shows a more detailed constitution of the subcircuit generating part 14 shown in FIG. 13, constituent elements the same as those in FIG. 13 are given identical symbols. In the figure, a cone extracting part 31 randomly selects one output terminal which is not yet taken out of output terminals stored in the external output terminal list storage part 13, in order to add a cone to the subcircuits. The cone extracting part 31 finds a cone corresponding to the selected output terminal based on the storage contents of the circuit information storage part 11, and stores the circuit information on the cone to a cone storage part 32. In the meantime, the gate number and the circuit information of a subcircuit being on the process of generation are stored in the subcircuit storage part 15.
A subcircuit gate number counting part 33 adds the cone extracted on the cone storage part 32 to the subcircuits on the subcircuit storage part 15. In other words, the subcircuit gate number counting part 33 takes out the circuit information on the cone from the cone storage part 32 to calculate its gate number, and adds it to the gate number of the subcircuit on the subcircuit storage part 15 to updates the total gate number of the subcircuits being on the way to generation. In that case, the subcircuit gate number counting part 33 will not count the gate numbers of logic gates overlapping between cones into the total gate number of the subcircuit. Moreover, the subcircuit gate number counting part 33 adds the circuit information of the cone taken out to the circuit information of the subcircuits on the subcircuit storage part 15. Furthermore, the subcircuit gate number counting part 33 examines whether the total gate number of the updated subcircuits reached the prescribed value, and stops the cone selection operation by giving an indication to the cone extracting part 31 at the point in time when that condition is fulfilled. In this way, the subcircuit information to be given to the remote CPU 1R is generated on the subcircuit storage part 15. The subcircuit gate number counting part 33 initializes the total gate number of the subcircuit on the subcircuit storage part 15 to xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d, and initializes the circuit information to the empty state whenever generation of a subcircuit is started anew.
FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing the procedure of test pattern generation executed in the test pattern generating system having the above constitution. First, circuit information and fault information for an objective circuit of test pattern generation are stored in the circuit information storage part 11 and the fault information storage part 16, respectively (step S1). Next, when test pattern generation is indicated to the local CPU 1L, the external output terminal list preparing part 12 prepares an external output terminal list by extracting all output terminals from the circuit information. The subcircuit generating part 14 selects randomly one output terminal which has not yet been selected from among generated external output terminals, and find the cone corresponding to the output terminal (step S2). Then, the subcircuit generating part 14 adds the selected cone to the subcircuits to be generated (step S3), and calculates the gate number of the subcircuit to decide whether the total gate number of the subcircuits on its way to generation reached the prescribed value (step S4). If the total gate number of the subcircuits is not reaching the prescribed value (the decision result is xe2x80x9cNoxe2x80x9d), step S2 to step S4 are repeated until the prescribed value is reached (the decision result is xe2x80x9cYesxe2x80x9d). In this way, cones are randomly selected one by one and subcircuit generated by the subcircuit generating part 14 is added up sequentially to obtain subcircuits with sufficiently large size. When the cones to be taken out from the objective circuit for test pattern generation are exhausted, the subcircuit generating part 14 decides the subcircuits at that point in time to be the final subcircuits even if the total gate number of the subcircuit being on its way to generation is not reaching the prescribed value.
In the meantime, the pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 prepares a pattern ungenerated fault list for the entire circuit based on the given fault information, and stores it in the pattern ungenerated fault list storage part 18. Then, whenever the subcircuit generating part 14 generates a subcircuit, the subcircuit fault list preparing part 19 prepares a list of pattern ungenerated faults contained in the generated subcircuit, while referring to the storage contents of the pattern ungenerated fault list storage part 18, and stores the result in the subcircuit fault list storage part 20 (step S5). Next, the remote CPU assignment control part 24 selects either one of the generated subcircuits, reads the circuit information and the fault list related to the subcircuit from the subcircuit storage part 15 and the subcircuit fault list storage part 20, respectively, and retrieves a remote CPU 1R in idle state to hand the subcircuit information and the fault list over to the remote CPU 1R (step S6). In the remote CPU 1R, the automatic test pattern generating part 25 generates a test pattern for the selected subcircuit (step S7) and stores the result in the test pattern storage part 26, and stores the list of test pattern generated fault information in the pattern generated fault information storage part 27.
When either one remote CPU 1R which has been in the process of test pattern generation completes the processing, the remote CPU sends back the generated test pattern and the pattern generated fault information to the local CPU (step S8). Then, in the local CPU 1L, the pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 deletes the pattern generated fault information sent back from the pattern ungenerated fault list for the entire circuit which has been stored in the pattern ungenerated fault list storage part 18. At this time, the pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 calculates the fault detection rate for the entire circuit based on the updated pattern ungenerated fault list. In addition, the pattern merging part 21 adds the test pattern sent back to the test patterns stored (in this case there is none since this is the first time) in the test pattern output part 28 (step S9).
Next, the remote CPU assignment control part 24 decides whether the fault detection rate calculated by the pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 reached the predetermined target value (95%, for example), and inquires the subcircuit generating part 14 whether there are still remaining unprocessed cones in the objective circuit for test pattern generation. If there still remains some unprocessed cones and the fault detection rate is not reaching the target value (the decision result in step S10 being xe2x80x9cNoxe2x80x9d), the processes in step S2 to step S10 are repeated, and assigns a subcircuit to a remote CPU 1R in idle state. Thereafter, when the decision result of step S10 becomes xe2x80x9cYesxe2x80x9d by either the fault detection rate attained the target value or the unprocessed cones are exhausted, the remote CPU assignment control part 24 designates the pattern ungenerated fault list control part 17 to transfer the pattern ungenerated fault list stored in the pattern ungenerated fault list storage part 18 to a pattern ungenerated fault list output part 29. As a result, it becomes possible to take out the test patterns and the pattern ungenerated fault list (step S11).
As in the above, according to the related test pattern generating system to the present invention, in the process of generating a subcircuit by bundling a plurality of cones, no consideration whatsoever is given to the order of selecting these cones, and the cones are selected utterly randomly from among the cones existing in the objective circuit for test pattern generation. Because of this, the following drawbacks arise in the related test pattern generating system, which are causing waste of the processing time. Namely, when a subcircuit is formed by collecting the cones, depending upon the constitution of the objective circuit for test pattern generation, there arise overlapped portions in which input terminals or gates are shared and overlapped between the cones (or between the subcircuits including the cones) as shown by region A in FIG. 12. In such a case, when a test pattern is generated first for either one of the cone 6-1 and 6-2, the fault information in which a test pattern is generated in the first test pattern generation process is excluded from the pattern ungenerated fault list for the entire circuit, and is put outside the processing objects in the test pattern generation process thereafter. For example, if the cone 6-2 is processed first, and test patterns are generated for all faults within the region A, then in the later test pattern generation of the cone 6-1, test pattern generation will be performed with the fault list from which the fault information included in the region A is removed, as the object.
The relationship between the scale of the cone (assumed to be the gate number here) and the processing time required for test pattern generation for the cone is known to be not a simple proportionality but is, for example, exponential. Because of this, if attention is focused on the processing time required for test pattern generation for the region A in FIG. 12, the time required in test pattern generation for the cone 6-2 is longer than that for the cone 6-1 in spite of test pattern generations for the identical region. That is, for a region of overlap between the cones, the total processing time is smaller when test pattern generation is performed first for the cone with smaller number of gates than in the case of performing test pattern generation for the cone with larger number of gates.
When a subcircuit is constructed by selecting cones in random order as is done in the related method, in the region where cones overlap, there will frequently occur cases in which test pattern generation is processed first for the cone having a larger number of gates. In other words, wasteful processing time is consumed by performing test pattern generation without giving priority to the cone having smaller number of gates. Such a drawback is not limited to the mode in which test pattern generation is charged to a plurality of CPUs as shown in FIG. 11, but it can happen also in a mode, for example, where test pattern generation is performed successively using a single CPU.
In addition, in the distributed processing of test pattern generation using a plurality of CPUs as shown in FIG. 11, the following problem will arise due to the fact that the related test pattern generating system does not pay attention to the overlap of the cones. Assume a case as shown in FIG. 16 that, while a certain remote CPU is performing test pattern generation for a subcircuit 7, a remote CPU other than the original remote CPU goes to the idle state and a subcircuit is assigned to this idle remote CPU. Assume further that only either one of cones 6-3 and 6-4 is added to a subcircuit to be newly generated. In that case, selection of the cone 6-3 which has a smaller region of overlap with the subcircuit 7 results in a smaller number of test patterns generated by the overlapping between the subcircuits to be newly generated and the subcircuit 7. Since, however, the related method takes no consideration on the overlap between the cones or the subcircuits, there is a possibility that a subcircuit including the cone 6-4 is assigned first and processed. Because of this, surplus test patterns are generated which produces a problem similar to that pointed out in the above, reducing the effect of distributed processing.
Furthermore, in the related test pattern generating system, the following drawbacks are generated due to the distributed processing of test pattern generation. Consider, for example, the case in which two EWSs are generating test patterns in parallel for subcircuits including respectively the cones 6-1 and 6-2 shown in FIG. 12. In this case, since no consideration is given to the overlap between the cones in the related test pattern generating system, concerning the fault information included in the region A, test patterns are generated in duplicate by the two EWSs almost at the same time. However, for a certain fault, it suffices to generate a test pattern only for either one subcircuit, and frequent occurrence of multiple generation of test patterns reduces the effect of distributed processing using a plurality of EWSs. In other words, not only a memory capacity for storing the test patterns and the processing time for generating the test patterns are required correspondingly, but also a longer test time is required in testing the circuit using the generated test patterns.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel method of generating test patterns for a logic circuit, a novel system performing the method, and a novel computer readable medium instructing the system to perform the method.
It is an-other object of the present invention to provide a method and a system for test pattern generation which can reduce the processing time required for test pattern generation by considering the order of processing the subcircuits when the test patterns are generated using the technique of circuit division.
It is further object of this invention to provide a method and a system for test pattern generation which can reduce the processing time for test pattern generation by considering the overlap between a subcircuit already processed and a cone to be added to a subcircuit currently under generation when the test patterns are generated by using the technique of distributed processing along with the technique of circuit division.
It is further object of this invention to provide a method and a system for test pattern generation which can further reduce the processing time by eliminating the overlapping between subcircuits to be processed distributedly when the test patterns are generated by using the technique of distributed processing along with the technique of circuit division. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming an electrode on a part of an end surface, for example, of an electronic component with electrode paste, and more particularly, it relates to a method and an apparatus for applying electrode paste to a portion of an electronic component to be provided with an electrode.
2. Description of the Background Art
Referring to FIG. 9, electrodes 2 are formed on prescribed outer surface regions of an electronic component 1. Each electrode 2 serially extends over an end surface 1a of the electronic component 1 and respective ones of an opposite pair of major surfaces 1b and 1c, which are in series with the end surface 1a through opposite edges of the end surface 1a. Thus, the electrode 2 has a U-shaped section as a whole, and comprises an electrode part 2a which is positioned on the end surface 1a and electrode parts 2b and 2c which are positioned on the major surfaces 1b and 1c respectively.
In general, such electrodes 2 are typically formed by one of the following two methods employing screen printing:
FIG. 10 shows the first method, in which electronic components 1 are received in cavities 11, which are provided in a holder 10, so that upper end surfaces 1a thereof upwardly project from the cavities 11. Screen printing is performed from above the projecting upper end surfaces 1a to form electrode parts 2a. Then, another holder 12 having cavities 13 is prepared as shown in FIG. 11, to receive the electronic components 1 in the cavities 13 in a sidelong manner as shown in FIG. 12. In this state, screen printing is performed on first major surfaces 1b of the electronic components 1, which are in series with the end surfaces 1a, to form electrode parts 2b. Then, the electronic components 1 are so turned over in the cavities 13 as to upwardly direct second major surfaces 1c, and screen printing is performed to form electrode parts 2c.
FIG. 13 shows the second method, in which electronic components 1 are upwardly arranged between a pair of clamp members 15. Similarly to the first method, screen printing is performed on end surfaces 1a of the electronic components 1 to form electrode parts 2a. Then the aforementioned holder 12 is employed to separately perform screen printing on major surfaces 1b and 1c of the electronic components 1, thereby forming electrode parts 2b and 2c respectively.
In the first and second methods, the electrode parts 2a are formed by screen printing in different manners, while the electrode parts 2b and 2c are formed in the same step.
According to the first method, however, as shown in FIG. 14, parts of electrode paste 2d may be adhered to upper edge portions of a pair of walls defining each cavity 11 during screen printing of each electrode part 2a. Such electrode paste 2d may enter the cavity 11 through a clearance defined around the electronic component 1 which is received therein, to stain the electronic component 1. Further, a screen employed for screen printing is pressed by irregular surfaces of the electronic components 1 projecting from the upper openings of the cavities 11 as shown in FIG. 10, and hence the screen is expanded or damaged.
In the second method, on the other hand, electrode paste may cause a capillary phenomenon to enter clearances between the electronic components 1, which are arranged in close contact with each other so that the end surfaces 1a thereof are subjected to screen printing. Thus, the electronic components 1 may be stained by the electrode paste. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to interpose spacers 14 of paper or the like between the electronic components 1, as shown in FIG. 15. However, it takes time to interpose the spacers 14 between the electronic components 1. Also in the second method, the screen for printing is expanded or damaged similarly to the first method.
In addition, the first and second methods commonly have the following disadvantages:
If an end surface 1a of an electronic component 1 to be screen-printed is rounded as shown in FIG. 16, printed electrode paste 2e is irregularized in thickness over the center and end portions along the direction of thickness of the electronic component 1.
Further, the electrode parts 2a, 2b and 2c of the electrodes 2 must be formed in different steps respectively. In order to carry out these steps, it is necessary to transfer the electronic components 1 from the holder 10 or the clamp member 15 to the holder 12 and to turn over the same within the holder 12, while drying steps are required after the steps of printing the electrode parts 2a, 2b and 2c respectively. Thus, the operation for printing the electrodes 2 is extremely inefficient.
Each electrode 2 is formed by separately printing the three electrode parts 2a, 2b and 2c, and hence the electrode part 2a may deviate from the electrode part 2b and/or the electrode part 2c (not shown), as shown in FIG. 17. Such deviation will be further promoted if the screen is expanded or damaged as hereinabove described, for example. The screen may be also expanded or damaged when the same is used over a long period of time.
The electrode paste is exposed to the outside air during the screen printing steps. Thus, viscosity of the paste may be undesirably changed by evaporation of a solvent contained therein. Such change in viscosity of the paste results in change in thickness of a printed paste film. Thus, the printed paste film may be changed in thickness with time during screen printing. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic focusing apparatus that uses different automatic focusing methods and that performs lens drive control for moving a focus lens to the in-focus point, and an image pickup apparatus such as a video camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, automatic focusing apparatuses for video cameras have mainly used a method for focusing in which the sharpness (contrast) of an image is detected from the output signal from an image pickup device, the sharpness is referred to as focus evaluation value (focus signal), and the focus lens position is controlled so that the value is maximized. This method is called hill-climbing AF method (hereinafter referred to as contrast AF method).
In general, the level of the high-frequency component of the output signal of the image pickup device extracted by a band-pass filter of a certain band is used as the focus evaluation value in the contrast AF. The reason is that when a normal object image is photographed, as shown in FIG. 7, the focus evaluation value increases with focusing, and the point at which its level is highest is the in-focus point.
AF methods also include an internal ranging phase difference AF method, which is commonly used in silver-halide film single-lens reflex cameras. In this method, a light beam passing through the exit pupil of a photographing lens is split into two light beams, and the light beams are received by a pair of ranging sensors, respectively. The amount of deviation of the signal output according to the amount of received light, that is to say, the amount of relative positional deviation in the beam splitting direction is detected. Thereby, the amount of deviation in the focusing direction of the photographing lens is directly obtained. Therefore, if accumulating operation is performed by the ranging sensors once, the amount and direction of focusing deviation can be obtained, and high-speed focusing operation is possible.
There is another type of phase difference AF method, in which ranging sensors are provided independently from a photographing lens. This method is called external ranging phase difference AF method. In the external ranging phase difference AF method, a light beam received from an object is split into two light beams, and the light beams are received by a pair of ranging sensors, respectively. The amount of deviation of the signal output according to the amount of received light, that is to say, the amount of relative positional deviation in the beam splitting direction is detected. Thereby, the object distance is obtained by triangulation. AF methods using external ranging sensors also include a method in which the propagation velocity is measured using an ultrasonic sensor, and a method commonly used in compact cameras and in which triangulation is performed using infrared sensors. In these methods, information corresponding to the object distance is detected.
There are proposed AF apparatuses such that a focus lens is moved close to the in-focus point by the internal ranging phase difference AF method, for example, and is thereafter driven to the in-focus point by the contrast AF method (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-64056).
In the above known apparatuses, a focus lens is first moved to an in-focus point determined by an AF method other than the contrast AF method. Only when the focus evaluation value is larger than a predetermined amount, the apparatuses change their AF method to the contrast AF method. Drive control to an in-focus point (lens drive control) is then performed by the contrast AF method. The reason of such configuration is that the contrast AF method enables more accurate focusing.
Therefore, the in-focus point according to the contrast AF method usually differs from the in-focus points according to other AF methods in which lens drive control is performed based on information corresponding the object distance, for example, the phase difference AF method. In addition, the image pickup region where focus detection is performed by the contrast AF method does not necessarily correspond to the region on the image pickup screen subject to detection of the phase difference AF method. Therefore, in-focus points for different objects can be calculated in the contrast AF method and the phase difference AF method, respectively.
In the case where the known apparatuses have different in-focus points due to use of a plurality of AF methods, they have the following drawbacks. Although the focus lens has reached the in-focus point according to the contrast AF method, which enables accurate focusing, the focus lens is often carelessly moved to the in-focus point obtained by the phase difference AF method, for example, and thereby a defocus occurs. In addition, a phenomenon called hunting can occur, in which the focus lens reciprocates between the in-focus points obtained in the respective methods. These do not matter in the case of AF apparatuses for a still image, in which recording is not performed during AF operation. However, in the case of AF apparatuses for a moving image, these are problematic because an unnatural motion is recorded.
The focus evaluation value fluctuates significantly and is unstable during a panning operation or when the panning is completed. It is highly likely that the direction of focusing performed by the contrast AF method is wrong, and the in-focus point detected by the phase difference AF method often differs from the in-focus point detected by the contrast AF method. Therefore, the focusing when the panning is completed can take a long time. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus and an image forming apparatus, particularly to a configuration of a lateral-end regulating portion which regulates a lateral-end position of a sheet stored in a sheet feeding cassette detachably attached to the sheet feeding apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, an image forming apparatus in which a sheet feeding apparatus feeds a sheet to an image forming portion to form an image is widely spread in image forming apparatuses, such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine. As to the sheet feeding apparatus, generally a sheet feeding cassette is detachably attached to an apparatus body, and the sheet stored in the sheet feeding cassette is automatically fed to an image forming portion.
For example, in some of the sheet feeding cassettes used in the sheet feeding apparatus, a sheet supporting plate which presses the stacked sheet against a feeding roller is provided while being able to be lifted and lowered. A rear-end regulating portion is slidably provided in the sheet feeding cassette in which the sheet supporting plate is provided. The rear-end regulating portion regulates a position at an end (hereinafter referred to as a rear end) on an upstream side in a sheet feeding direction of the sheet stacked and stored on the sheet supporting plate such that the sheets having different sizes can be stored. A pair of lateral-end regulating portions is also provided in order to regulate a lateral-end position in a direction (hereinafter referred to as a width direction) orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction.
The pair of lateral-end regulating portions regulates lateral ends of the sheet, and the rear-end regulating portion regulates the rear end of the sheet, whereby the sheet is always regulated in a predetermined position. Therefore, when the sheet feeding cassette is accommodated in the apparatus body, the sheet can be fed from the fixed position irrespective of a size of the sheet. In a sheet feeding cassette of the related art, a guide projection is provided in an upper end part of a sheet abutting surface of the lateral-end regulating portion such that an end part of the sheet does not climb over the lateral-end regulating portion when the sheet is fed.
When the sheet is left in a low-temperature, low-humidity environment, the sheet is warped (hereinafter referred to as curled), and both end parts of the sheet rise. As illustrated in FIG. 9A, when a sheet S is curled, a clearance K is generated between the end part of the sheet S and each of projections 42T and 43T, and therefore sometimes the end part of the sheet S climbs over lateral-end regulating portions 42 and 43 when feeding the sheet S.
When the end part of the sheet S climbs over the lateral-end regulating portions 42 and 43, the sheet S generates a skew feeding, or the sheet S is fed while deviated in the width direction. When sheet feeding performance is degraded in this way, possibly print accuracy is degraded, or a jam is generated. Meanwhile, when projection amounts of the projections 42T and 43T are increased in a sheet direction, the sheet S does not climb over the lateral-end regulating portions 42 and 43. However, the sheet S is hardly set, and possibly the projections 42T and 43T damage the end part of the sheet. Therefore, from the viewpoint of usability, it is not preferable that the projection amounts of the projections 42T and 43T be increased.
Conventionally, in order to solve the problem, projections 42k and 43k are rotatably provided in the lateral-end regulating portions 42 and 43 as illustrated in FIG. 9B (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-197184). When the sheet is set in the sheet feeding cassette disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-197184, the projections 42k and 43k are rotated in direction of an arrow C about guide projection centers 42s and 43s, which allows the sheet to be set without degrading the usability.
In the sheet feeding apparatus of the related art, it is necessary that the projections 42k and 43k be returned to climbing-over regulating positions parallel to the sheet after the projections 42k and 43k are rotated in the direction of the arrow C to set the sheet. However, as illustrated in FIG. 9B, in order to return the projections 42k and 43k to the climbing-over regulating positions, a height of the sheet feeding apparatus is increased by a projection amount F of the guide projection, and the number of components is increased to lead to an increase in cost.
Therefore, the invention is aimed at a sheet feeding apparatus and an image forming apparatus, which can improve the sheet feeding performance at low cost without degrading the usability. | {
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The invention relates to a locking device for (detachable) locking a displaceable motor vehicle part (in respect to the motor vehicle structure), which is lockable by means of the locking device within a displacement range in a respective rest position reached by displacement.
In the present case the displacement range of the motor vehicle part has to be understood as a range, in which the motor vehicle part is in each case lockable in different positions (optionally continuously variable). This displacement range does not necessarily have to comprise the complete possible range of motion of the motor vehicle part. The motor vehicle door can be, for instance only locked in a respective partially opened position obtained by displacing or pivoting, if—out from the closed position of the motor vehicle door—a certain pivot angle was scanned. Hereby an unintended braking should be avoided during a closing process of the motor vehicle door in the last part of the closing motion.
Said locking device comprises a braking device with at least two braking elements which interact in a braking manner in a respective rest position of the motor vehicle part, for instance laying against each other under conditions of static friction, for locking the motor vehicle part in a previously adopted position and which can be brought in a position without braking engagement during a displacement of the motor vehicle part so that they can be moved towards each other.
The displaceable motor vehicle part can be in particular a deflectable part of a motor vehicle, like for instance a motor vehicle door (side or tail gate door), storage flap, fuel tank flap or also an adjustable outside mirror.
The locking device should provide a possibility to be able to lock (removable) a displaceable motor vehicle part in a displacement range in a multitude of respective intermediate position such that unintended external effects like for instance a gust or an accidentally touching of the motor vehicle part does not lead to a further displacement of the motor vehicle part. Herewith a collision of the vehicle part with neighbouring motor vehicles, lamp posts or other obstacles shall be prevented. On the other side, the motor vehicle part (for instance for a further pivoting or a return) should be displaceable, if a person acts on the displaceable motor vehicle part (exerting a release force or a release moment) by overcoming the braking force or a herewith related braking moment existing in the rest position of the motor vehicle part.
The motor vehicle door should be for instance in each case lockable in a number of pivot positions between the completely locked position and the completely opened position such that an unattended acting on the motor vehicle door, for instance by a gust, does not lead to a change of the present (partly opened) position of the motor vehicle door. However, a vehicle driver or a passenger should be simultaneously able to bring a partially opened motor vehicle door by acting on it into the closed position or to open it further without a problem.
A locking device of the mentioned kind is for instance known from WO 2009/007700 A1, wherein the braking device is designed as friction brake comprising two friction elements movable towards each other, which lay against each other in a respective rest position of the motor vehicle part under conditions of static friction for locking the motor vehicle part and which are moved towards each other in case of a displacement of the motor vehicle part, whereby they slide against each other under sliding friction conditions.
For this kind of locking devices an unintended collision of the displaceable motor vehicle part with an obstacle located in the surrounding like for instance a further motor vehicle part, a roadside tree, a street lamp or such, can then not be avoided if an operating person actively moves the respective motor vehicle part towards said obstacle, perhaps since the obstacle was overlooked or the acting force onto the motor vehicle part was underestimated. | {
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Air is separated by cryogenic rectification to produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon products. In a typical air separation plant the air is compressed to an elevated pressure (5 to 6 bar), pre-purified within a pre-purification unit containing adsorbents and then cooled in a main heat exchanger to cryogenic temperatures that are suitable for the rectification of air within a system of distillation columns. The air after having been cooled is introduced into a higher pressure distillation column where the feed air is distilled into a nitrogen-rich vapor column overhead and an oxygen enriched bottoms liquid referred to in the art as kettle liquid or crude liquid oxygen. A crude liquid oxygen stream is subcooled, depressurized and fed to a lower pressure column that operates at a lower pressure than the higher pressure distillation column. In the lower pressure column, the crude liquid oxygen is further fractionated into an oxygen-rich liquid column bottoms and a nitrogen-rich vapor overhead.
Argon is a minor constituent of ambient air (0.93% dry basis) and can be recovered from the base double column system by extracting an oxygen-argon vapor stream from an intermediate location of the upper column near the base of the nitrogen stripping section. This stream is then directed to an argon rectification column, also known as a crude argon column, where a crude argon stream is produced as overhead. The condenser duty for the argon column is typically absorbed by the crude liquid oxygen stream prior to its introduction into the lower pressure distillation column.
Due to the fact that the oxygen-argon vapor stream is extracted from the lower pressure column near the base of the nitrogen stripping section it naturally contains trace levels of nitrogen. Since the nitrogen is more volatile than argon, it naturally accumulates in the argon-rich stream from the crude argon column. Air separation plants will incorporate a small distillation column designed to remove trace levels of light gases from the crude argon stream. This argon refining column typically employs both a condenser and a reboiler to effect the removal of light gases. In general, fluids derived from the higher pressure column are utilized to drive the reboil and condensation required of the argon refining column.
By way of Example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,544, a compressed and purified air stream is cooled to near its dew point and introduced into a higher pressure column linked to a lower pressure column in a heat transfer relationship by a condenser reboiler. An argon oxygen containing vapor stream is taken from the lower pressure column and then rectified in a crude argon column. Crude argon vapor produced as column overhead is condensed to produce an argon containing reflux stream for the crude argon column and a crude argon stream. The crude argon stream is then rectified in a argon refining column to produce an argon product stream from resulting bottoms liquid. The condensation of the crude argon vapor produced in the crude argon column is accomplished through indirect heat exchange with a stream of crude liquid oxygen taken from the higher pressure column. This results in the partial vaporization of the crude liquid oxygen and the formation of liquid and vapor streams composed of resulting liquid and vapor phases that are returned to the lower pressure column for further refinement of the crude liquid oxygen. Reflux is produced for the argon refining column through indirect heat exchange with a liquid stream composed of the liquid phase resulting from the partial vaporization of the crude liquid oxygen. The argon refining column is reboiled either with the crude liquid oxygen or with part of the incoming air that has been cooled to near dew point temperature.
In general, argon recovery may be limited by any number of factors. For instance, argon recovery may be limited by the amount of vapor flow imparted through the base of the low pressure column by way of condensation of the nitrogen-rich vapor overhead produced in the higher pressure column through vaporization of the oxygen-rich liquid produced in the lower pressure column. Alternatively, the upper sections of the lower pressure column may possess insufficient reflux to adequately maintain a reflux ratio sufficient to trap most of the argon for recovery. The operation of the argon refining column often reduces the available reflux for the primary double column system given the fact that the crude liquid oxygen is partially vaporized in condensing the crude argon.
In many instances product oxygen composed of the oxygen-rich liquid produced in the lower pressure column is mechanically pumped to a high pressure and subsequently vaporized against condensing air. Such “liquid pumped” processes often suffer from low argon recovery. This is due in large part to the substantial reduction in high quality reflux flow available for the lower pressure column. In general, between about 30 and about 35 percent of the air may be liquefied for purposes of liquid oxygen pumping. Argon recovery decline is further amplified by the fact that liquid nitrogen and high pressure gaseous nitrogen production will also reduce the available reflux to the lower pressure column.
The production of liquefied air accompanying a liquid pumped cycle or a cycle which produces a large fraction of the feed air as a liquid product, either liquid oxygen and/or liquid nitrogen, is typically divided between both the higher and lower pressure nitrogen rectification sections. Typically, the liquid air is only partially subcooled within the main heat exchanger prior to depressurization and introduction into the distillation column system. Unfortunately, the resulting flash gas produced by throttling liquid air into the lower pressure column and/or higher pressure column results in a measurable decline in argon recovery.
As will be discussed, the present invention provides an air separation method and apparatus that among other advantages will increase the amount of reflux available in the lower pressure column and thereby increase the amount of argon being fed to the crude argon column to improve argon recovery. The method and apparatus of the present invention is particularly applicable to pumped liquid cycles, discussed above, to improve argon recovery. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Oxygen is one of the essential nutrients that bacteria or fungus requires in an aerobic fermentation process. The oxygen is usually provided by sparging air through a sparge ring in a submerged culture fermentation broth. The sparge ring is often a round metal ring with tens or hundreds of holes drilled on it.
A fermentation broth contains not only biomass, but also carbohydrate such as molasses, corn starch, sugar or corn syrup. Some formulations may also contain vegetable oil as a source of energy and a whole range of minerals and nutrients necessary to keep the biomass healthy.
However, a dense biomass together with the food/nutrients may make the resulting fermentation broth very viscous, which in turn tends to reduce the efficiency of dissolution and transfer of the sparged oxygen to the broth. There is also a potential hazard of having the fermentation broth backing up into the sparger and plugging up some of the holes. Sparger plugging presents a major problem because plugged holes reduce the gas dispersion efficiency. Additionally, the biomass entering the sparger will grow and mutate, resulting in eventual contamination of the fermentation broth. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In recent years, it has been a matter of significant concern to maintain a healthy and beautiful skin irrespective of age or sex. However, the skin is delicately affected by aging, and besides temperature, humidity, ultraviolet rays, cosmetic products, diseases, stress, eating habits, etc. Therefore, various troubles such as the decrement of various functions (functions of preventing the loss of water and the like from the vital body to control the homeostatic maintenance of the body heat, protecting the body from physical and chemical stimulation and various bacteria and keeping the resilience of the skin to determine its surface form, and the like) of the skin and aging of the skin occur.
Further, the cutaneous troubles occur due to, in addition to the functional aberration of skin tissue caused by intracorporeal and extracorporeal factors, which act on the vital body, such as changes of the external environments (seasonal changes, ultraviolet rays, etc.) and variations in physiological functions attendant on aging or diseases as described above, pachymenia, parakeratosis and the like induced thereby.
On the other hand, wrinkles, which are one of dermal troubles, occur due to dermal aging caused by aging, drying, ultraviolet rays and/or the like. More specifically, the skin is aged by morphological changes of the epidermal surface caused by physical and chemical stimulation from the external world, such as drying and ultraviolet rays, and tissue degeneration in the dermis by aging, diseases, stress and the like, particularly, deterioration of the dermis, in which collagen fibers are lost to a great extent, reduction of subcutaneous adipose tissue and the like, which the aging mainly forms the cause of wrinkles, slackness and loss of resilience.
Spots and freckles on the skin are generally considered to be caused by the abnormal pigmentation of melanin pigment within the skin; the melanin pigment is synthesized in melanocytes activated by the cause such as stimulation by exposure to ultraviolet rays from sunlight, hormone aberration or genetic factors.
As principal attempts for preventing and remedying such cutaneous troubles, there has been carried out a method in which a synthetic or natural moisturizer is applied to the skin, thereby preventing the drying of the skin to enhance the moistening ability of the skin; a method in which a blood circulation-facilitating agent is applied to the skin, thereby facilitating the circulation of blood; the development of agents for preventing wrinkles (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 185005/1987, 502546/1987, 72157/1990 and 288822/1990, etc.); the application of a whitening agent such as a melanin inhibitor; or the like.
However, all these means have not attained a sufficient effect on the cutaneous troubles.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a cosmetic which is excellent in preventing and remedying effects on the above-described cutaneous troubles and gives users a pleasant feeling upon use. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cushion devices for individuals confined to a wheel chair of bed for extended periods of time and more specifically it relates to a wheelchair cushion system for alternating the pressure points upon the individual's body and providing adequate ventilation to the individual's body in contact with the cushion thereby significantly reducing pressure sores.
Individuals that are confined to a bed or wheelchair often times develop decubitus ulcers also known as pressure sores because of prolong periods of exposure to excessive pressure and excessive moist conditions to certain portions of the body. Conventional methods of relieving said excessive pressures include changing the posture of lying or sitting, thereby moving the high pressure points that cause pressure sores.
Unfortunately, many individuals are unable to lift or move themselves due to physical ailment or other reasons thereby requiring an assistant to lift or move them. For individuals capable of lifting or moving their bodies into different positions, sometimes they forget to lift or move their bodies resulting in pressure sores. Various solutions have been proposed such as vibrating or massaging means attached to the bed. However, none of the prior art solutions have been widely utilized because of the cost or ineffectiveness in reducing pressure sores. Hence, there is a need for an invention that effectively reduces pressure sores for a wheelchair or bed confined individual at an affordable cost for most consumers and businesses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various cushion devices have been attempted over the years. Examples of cushion devices include U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,276 to Kadish; U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,240 to Vrzalik; U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,155 to Zigarac et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,438 to Biggie et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,721 to Teasdale; U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,768 to Bodine et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,247 to Hasty; U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,364 to Volk; U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,142 to Liu; U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,527 to Medley; U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,732 to Morrell; U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,286 to Bentley; U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,719 to Morgan; U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,285 to Roberts; U.S. Pat. No 5,025,519 to Spann et al; U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,785 to McKeel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,728 to Graebe; U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,257 to Rogers which are all illustrative of such prior art.
Kadish (U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,276) discloses a body rest with means for preventing pressure sores. Kadish teaches a matrix of vertical displaceable supports that are basically air-supported pistons. Kadish teaches measuring the pressure exerted by the individual's body upon the pistons and further teaches valves controlling the discharge of air from the piston chambers. Kadish further teaches all pistons being brought back to their initial common high level.
Vrzalik (U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,240) discloses a patient support apparatus. Vrzalik teaches sets of air bag mounted with the frame of bed. Individually controlled valves are used to adjust the amount of air which flows to the gas manifolds and on into the air bags of Vrzalik.
Zigarac et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,155) discloses an alternating low air loss pressure overlay for patient bedside chair. Zigarac et al teaches a plurality of horizontally aligned pressure sacs that are in contact with the seated patient.
Biggie et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,438) discloses an alternating low air loss pressure overlay for patient bedside chair and mobile wheel chair. Biggie et al teaches a plurality of horizontal aligned pressure sacs that are in contact with the seated patient similar to Zigarac et al.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for alternating the pressure points upon the individual's body and providing adequate ventilation to the individual's body in contact with the cushion thereby significantly reducing pressure sores. Previous attempts to reduce pressure sores to individuals confined to a wheelchair or bed have been either ineffective in reducing bedsores, are to costly, or are not easy to utilize over extended periods of time.
In these respects, the wheelchair cushion system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of alternating the pressure points upon the individual's body and providing adequate ventilation to the individual's body in contact with the cushion thereby significantly reducing pressure sores. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In vitro diagnostics is of growing importance due to the increasing demand for more effective and efficient healthcare. On the one hand, such diagnostic tests are performed in centralized laboratories, hosting a large variety of instruments which are operated by professional technicians and on the other hand, such diagnostic tests are performed in point-of-care settings outside of laboratory environments e.g. in an operation theatre, at the physician's office, at the hospital bedside, in the ambulance or at the patient's home. Point-of-care tests, in addition of being rapid, are required to be sensitive as the testing for certain disease biomarkers require detection to be completed in the range of picomolar concentrations. Using magnetic particles as labels in sandwich immunoassays has been proven to be suitable for this purpose.
For testing outside laboratory environments, it is further essential that the test be compact and robust paired with a high ease of use. Thus, there is a strong need to provide a point-of-care setting that has as few user-aided steps as possible. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to a multifunction network adapted to be constructed using very large scale integrated circuit techniques and capable of being controlled to operate in one of four selected modes of operation as a bidirectional bus multiplexer, an error correction assist circuit, a register stack addressing circuit for either direct or indirect addressing, or a multiport file.
In the construction of large scale data processing circuits it has long been the custom to construct the circuits in modular form with each module (chip, card, etc.) being dedicated to performing a particular function or functions. This approach has required a large number of different types of modules. As the techniques for fabricating integrated circuits have improved, larger and larger integrated circuits have been fabricated, and fabrication costs have been reduced. Thus, very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI) can now be fabricated at reasonable expense. However, because of space considerations it is desirable to keep to a minimum the number of external connections to the chip.
Certain data processing functions have enough commonality that, in forming a circuit to perform a first function, very little additional circuitry need be added so that a second function may be performed. The present invention utilizes this fact together with VLSI techniques to provide a chip which requires very few terminal connections compared to its data handling capabilities, and which may be programmed by voltages hardwired to two terminals to operate in any one of four modes. Thus, a multifunction network according to the present invention may be plugged into one receptacle having a first combination of voltages available at the mode selection terminals, and will operate as, for example a bidirectional bus multiplexer. The same multifunction network may alternatively be plugged into a second receptacle having a different combination of voltages at the mode selection terminals, and the multifunction network will operate as an addressing circuit for direct or indirect stack addressing. Since the multifunction network can be selectively programmed for different modes of operation, fewer different types of networks are required in order to build up a large scale modular data processing system. In addition, it offers the advantage that if a portion of a chip performing a first function in a system should fail, it might be interchanged with a chip performing a different function in order to keep the system operating. This of course assumes that the failed portion of the chip is not used in both functions. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Today, remote controlled surveillance camera systems are commonly employed as a security measure. The cameras are normally used to generate a video image of an area under surveillance that is displayed to and/or recorded for use by security personnel. In some cases, cameras are mounted to a wall or to a ceiling structure where they may be observed by people within the area under surveillance. In other cases the cameras are hidden from view as by being placed behind one-way mirror domes or the like to avoid creating an objectionable presence to an honest person and to make it difficult for or to worry creating an objectionable presence to an honest person and to make it difficult for or to worry potential wrongdoers by making it impossible for them to locate the cameras and to see where they are directed.
Surveillance camera systems of the types just described have had several problems and limitations associated with their use. For example, where the cameras have been located within domes that move in unison with cameras, they have not been successfully used outdoors due to adherence to, and accumulation of, snow and ice which tends to freeze the moving parts. In addition, moving domes have been virtually impossible to seal against entry into the dome of airborne particulates and insects which tend to contaminate the camera and its associated electronics. Moisture condensation within the dome can also be a problem with such systems. Even indoors, movements of the dome may be visually detected which is undesirable for discreet surveillance.
Maintenance of cameras in domes and other enclosures has been difficult and time consuming as the camera mount mechanism commonly is firmly secured within the dome and the associated control electronics, usually comprising a receiver box for receiving orientation control signals from a remote location and translating same into pan/tilt/zoom camera functions, often has been remotely located, such as above a suspended ceiling.
Surveillance cameras of the prior art also have operated in operator selectable automatic pan modes in order to provide full, continuous coverage of areas of surveillance. Generally, such cameras have been of the continuous scan type which pan or oscillate through an arc continuously at a fixed speed until stopped by an operator. Some such cameras have been incapable of full 360 degree movement and instead are mounted to actuate limit switches that border ends of arcuate paths of camera travel which reverse the direction of camera panning movement. Such continuous panning results in a constantly moving image on a video monitor which can have a hypnotizing effect on guards or other persons responsible for watching such monitors. Many activities within the camera field-of-view can thus go undetected.
Where manual controls of such cameras have been provided, the cameras have tended not to produce smooth, continuous images when operated at pan and tilt rates above about 10 degrees per second. This is because abrupt, manually controlled movements have tended to cause the cameras to wobble and vibrate, particularly where the cameras are brought to a halt as when a security guard identifies an area of interest and wishes to direct the camera in that direction for a period of time. For this reason, most camera movement control systems have been limited to pan and tilt rates of about 12 degrees or less per second. This limitation in camera movement rate can render prior art systems unsatisfactory in many situations such as when a guard is alerted to an unauthorized entry and wishes to direct the camera toward the entrance. By the time (usually several seconds) that the camera is able to pan and point in the direction of the entry, the intruder usually has moved away and thus entered undetected. A more desirable rate would correspond to an average turning rate of a human head (about 90 degrees per second) in order to detect and track fleeting events or targets.
Another problem with prior art systems that pan at fixed speeds has been their inability to track smoothly objects of varying speed or objects moving obliquely relative to the camera's optical axis. In these situations, it has been necessary to jog the cameras pan and tilt positions intermittently to point the camera just ahead of the moving object allowing the object to move through the camera's field of view prior to another such anticipatory jog.
It thus is seen that a need exists for a surveillance camera system that can be centrally located indoors and outdoors, and which is capable of continuous 360 degree panning movement for scanning a surveillance area, and which has panning and tilting rates much higher than those to which prior art systems have been limited. Such a system would further be capable of easily controllable variable pan and tilt rates for tracking variable speed or obliquely moving objects. Also, it would be desirable for the camera to be programmable to move automatically and quickly from one fixed scene to another and to be manually controllable if desired in a smooth manner at high rates without the camera jerking, wobbling and producing unsteady images during accelerations and decelerations.
It would be desirable to render the camera hidden from view without sacrifice in video quality of images produced by the camera or restricting the cameras pan and tilt movement ranges. Further, it would be desirable to provide such a camera in a compact, stationery dome type housing, with the dome having an aesthetically pleasing configuration, and with the camera and its associated control electronics being readily accessible and easily removable as a unit from its housing for maintenance. Finally, such a camera system preferably would include a programmable computer and control circuit mounted with the camera for operating the camera system in various preprogrammed modes for automatic surveillance.
It is to the provision of such a surveillance camera system, therefore, that the present invention is primarily directed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A personal device, such as a mobile phone, media player, or tablet computer, can be used to consume content while a user of the device is travelling. The content can include aural content, such as music and audio books, or it may be rich multimedia content, such as movies, video games, and the like. Personal devices, while often mobile and efficient, may have limited functionality and content consumption capabilities, including small or low resolution displays, low quality speakers, and limited computing power. Purpose-built media devices, such as televisions, stereos, video game systems, and desktop computers provide rich content consumption experiences. The media devices can have large high definition displays, high fidelity audio processing equipment and speakers, and large amounts of computing power.
Conventionally, if a user is viewing or listening to content via a personal device, such as a mobile phone, and wants to instead consume the content on an alternate media device, the user may have to manually load the content for playback on the alternate media device, and using the alternate media device, locate the point from which to resume playback of the content based on a current play position on the personal device (e.g., by fast forwarding playback of the content on the media device until the desired play position is reached). Some personal devices allow a user to manually instruct a given personal device playing back content to stream the content to another media device, which may then output the content to the user. For example, a user listening to music via a suitably equipped MP3 player may instruct the MP3 player to stream the music to a home stereo system for output on the speakers of the stereo. In such systems the execution and playback of the content continues to originate from the personal device, and the user needs to manually instruct the personal device at the desired time of playback to stream the content to the alternate media device. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Highly purified interferon, which is a very interesting substance and is being investigated throughout the world, is today available for medical research only in very small amounts. Therefore, it has heretofore not been possible to subject interferon-proteins to structural or biochemical investigations. Since the N-terminal sequence of human lymphoblast-interferon has now been elucidated [Science 207, 527 (1980)], the decapeptide of the instant invention has for the first time been synthesized and its properties investigated. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to a toaster oven, particularly to one having a door placed under a housing of the roaster oven after opened, and a rotating frame horizontally placed in and taken out of the housing for rotating food on the frame, convenient to handle, not taking much space for roasting food in a balanced way, and extremely safe to use.
A common conventional roaster oven generally has a door pivotally connected to a front side of a housing and pivotally opened outward for putting in or taking out food to be toasted and then the door is closed in using. This simple structure has been in use for conventional roaster ovens for long. However, the conventional roaster ovens shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have an disadvantage that when the door 20 is opened for putting in or taking out food for roasting, the door 20 may automatically swing toward the front side of the roaster oven 10 as shown in FIG. 1, striking on an elbow of a user. In case of taking out just roasted food, the elbow may be burned by the highly hot door 20 and roasted food may fall down by sudden jerking of the arm of the user if worse. In case of the door swings open the most outward, it may take much space in a kitchen as shown in FIG. 1, possible to collide with a person passing by, and if the collide force is too great, the door may be pushed back to the front side of the oven 10. But if the push force against the door 20 should be excessively large, a pivotal shaft of the door may break, letting the door 20 fall off the oven 10.
In addition, the conventional roaster ovens have a semicircular support frame 101, a non-circular insert groove 103 formed in one side, and a cylindrical base 102 formed in opposite side and rotated by a motor 104. Then a rotating frame 30 (or a single pricking rod) for holding or pricking food is provided in the oven as shown in FIG. 2, having two rotating discs 301 located at two opposite sides and some pricking rods 302. A first rotating disc 301 at one side of the supporting frame 101 has a circular postal member 303 and a second rotating disc 301 at one side of the cylindrical base 102 has a non-circular insert rod 304 formed to extend horizontally outward from a center. Then if the rotating frame 30 is to be put in the oven 10, the rotating frame has to be inclined a little to be pushed in the oven 10, with the insert rod 304 fitting in the insert groove 102 of the cylindrical base 102, and then with the post member 303 placed down flatly on the support frame 101. If the rotating frame 30 is to be taken out of the oven, is has to be handled with the action reverse to that just mentioned.
The structure of the conventional roaster oven cannot be said to be convenient to handle with no lighting and a narrow interior space, and in addition, the insert groove 103 of the cylindrical base 102 and the insert rod 304 of the rotating discs 301 are not circular not easy to be aligned to each other for inserting, and moreover, the insert hole 103 is not large, often needing much time in inserting the insert rod 304. Further, a heater in the oven 10 may collide the rotating frame 30 in an inclined angle, if carelessly moved, and in taking out food roasted on the rotatable frame 30, the post 303 of the rotatable disc 301 has to be pushed up a little, causing danger of a hand touch the still hot heater and burned, even if the heater is cut off.
Another disadvantage of the conventional roaster oven is that the all pricking rods 302 are fixed between the two rotatable discs 30, and food of large dimensions such as a whole chick or a whole duck and food of small dimensions such as cut meat, corn, etc. are pierced through the pricking rods 302. Then the inside of food is always farther away from the heater even if the rotating discs 30 are rotating, so the outside of food is always roasted better than the inside of food that is not directly roasted. Then food may have different color in the outside portion and the inside portion owing to unbalanced roasting. Then the main reason is the pricking rods 302 not self rotating between the two rotating discs 301. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that uses an electrophotographic process, such as an electrostatic copier, a laser printer or a plain paper facsimile machine, and an image forming method for the apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that is equipped with a multi-beam optical system having a plurality of light emitting sources (laser diodes or the like) in a writing unit and that performs a pseudo half tone process on input image data to generate output image data and performs writing by executing light modulation of the light emitting sources of the writing unit, and an image forming method for the apparatus.
2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an imaging unit (printer unit) in a conventional image forming apparatus that functions on an electrophotographic process. The imaging unit includes a photosensitive drum 101 that has a photoconductor coated on the top surface of a conductor. The photosensitive drum 101 rotates in the direction of an arrow A. The imaging unit also includes a charging roller 102, an exposure unit 103, a developing unit 104, a transfer/feeding unit 105, and a cleaning unit 106 that are arranged around the photosensitive drum 101. The imaging unit also includes a fixing unit 107 at the downstream side of the transfer/feeding unit 105.
The image forming apparatus forms an image in the following manner:
1. The charging roller 102 charges a surface of the photosensitive drum 101 to a desired potential,
2. Optical writing is done on the charged top surface of the photosensitive drum 101 with a laser beam LB from the exposure unit (optical unit) 103 to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the desired image,
3. The electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 101 is developed with a toner in the developing unit 104, thereby forming a toner image,
4. The transfer/feeding unit 105 transfers the toner image on the photosensitive drum 101 onto a recording sheet 110, such as paper, which is fed in the direction of an arrow B at a given timing by a sheet feeder, such as resist rollers (not shown), and feeds the recording sheet 110 in the direction of an arrow C,
5. The cleaning unit 106 cleans toners that are not transferred onto the recording sheet 110 and remains on the surface of the photosensitive drum 101,
6. The recording sheet 110 with the toner image is transported in the direction of the arrow C by the transfer/feeding unit 105 and fed to the fixing unit 107. The fixing unit 107 heats the recording sheet 110 to thereby fixing the toner image. After the toner image is fixed on the recording sheet 110, the recording sheet 110 is discharged in the direction of an arrow D.
As the photosensitive drum 101 rotates in the direction of the arrow A, subsequent desired image is formed on the recording sheet 110 by repeating the steps 1 to 6 mentioned above.
The exposure unit 103 in the electrophotographic process is generally designed to perform light modulation of a laser diode (LD) in association with an output image. The exposure unit 103 includes an LD that irradiates a laser beam onto the photosensitive drum 101 via a collimate lens, an aperture, a cylindrical lens, a polygon mirror, an f-θ lens, etc. (none of which are not shown).
The polygon mirror is a rotatable mirror with multiple surfaces. As the polygon mirror rotates, the laser beam LB scans on the top surface of the photosensitive drum 101 (main scanning).
As the photosensitive drum 101 rotates in a direction orthogonal to the scan direction of the laser beam LB by a photoconductor driving unit (sub scanning), it is possible to expose the top surface of the photosensitive drum 101 with the laser beam LB to two-dimensionally form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the desired image on the top surface of the photosensitive drum 101.
FIG. 19 is an exemplary configuration of the conventional image forming apparatus.
The conventional image forming apparatus includes an image input unit 111 which is a scanner or the like. The scanner may be the one that is connectable to computers, or that is arranged in digital copying machines or image data reading units. The image input unit 111 sends image data, which may be read from an original or may be read from a recording medium, as input image data PDi to an image processing unit 112.
The image processing unit 112 performs various kinds of image processing, such as MTF filtering, gradation correction (γ conversion), and a pseudo half tone process, on the input image data in order in an MTF filtering unit 113, a gradation correcting (γ conversion) unit 114, and a pseudo half tone processing unit 115, and sends output image data PDo as a processing result to a video signal processing unit 117.
The video signal processing unit 117 converts the output image data PDo to an image signal PS, sends the image signal PS to the exposure unit 103 shown in FIG. 18, and drives the LD at a given timing. In an image forming apparatus equipped with a plurality of LDs, the video signal processing unit 117 distributes the image signal for the LDs to be used.
The individual units are connected to a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 121, a read only memory (ROM, program memory) 122, and a random access memory (RAM, data memory) 123, that constitute a microcomputer, and an operation unit 124 having operation keys and a display via a system bus 120, and are controlled by the CPU 121.
The image forming apparatus described above is a monochromatic electrophotographic image forming apparatus. As a full-color electrophotographic image forming apparatus, there is known a tandem type electrophotographic apparatus that has four sets of electrophotographic process units (equivalent to the individual units shown in FIG. 18) respectively corresponding to the individual colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K).
In a tandem type full-color image forming apparatus, toner images of the colors C, M, Y, and K are transferred onto a belt-like intermediate transfer in an overlaid manner, then the toner images of the four colors are transferred onto a recording sheet, such as paper, at a time. The toner images on the recording sheet are heated and pressed by a fixing unit to be fixed on the recording sheet. The recording sheet is then ejected out of the apparatus.
There is know a direct transfer type full-color image forming apparatus that does not have an intermediate transfer unit and overlays toner images of individual colors of C, M, Y, and K on a recording sheet in order.
There is known a revolver type full-color image forming apparatus in which developers of the individual colors of C, M, Y, and K are rotatably supported with respect to a single photosensitive drum in such a way that the developers face the photosensitive drum in order.
Generally the image forming apparatuses are equipped with a multi-beam optical system that has a plurality of light emitting sources (laser diodes or the like) in a writing unit equivalent to the exposure unit 103. If higher resolution is required or if faster printing speed required, and if only one light emitting source is used, then the polygon mirror is required to be rotated more times. This causes an increase in the noise generated from the polygon mirror, an insufficient strength of the rotary shaft thereof, an increase in heat generated by the rotary shaft, and an enlargement of a driving power source.
Further, the frequency of a pixel clock should be increased at the same time, requiring the fabrication of an electronic circuit adapted for high-speed switching of the laser diode. When the drive frequency of an electronic circuit exceeds 50 Megahertz, however, it becomes difficult to stably operate the electronic circuit.
As a solution to those problems, there is known a multi-beam system having a plurality of light emitting sources. The multi-beam system simultaneously scans with laser beams emitted from the light emitting sources using the polygon mirror, thereby simultaneously forming plural lines of electrostatic latent images on a photoconductor, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H7-242019.
Image data to be input to the image forming apparatus is multi-value data of 8 to 12 bits per pixel for a gradation image of a picture or the like. In an image forming apparatus (including an electrophotographic type) that forms an image on a sheet of paper (so-called hard copy), the number of gradations that can be expressed per pixel is substantially very small.
To overcome the problem, an image forming apparatus as a hard copying machine displays a half-tone image in a pseudo manner by improving the resolution to 600 dots per inch (dpi) or to 1200 dpi and modulating the image density with a plurality of pixels in terms of an area. The image processing that is performed in the process of converting the input image data to data of a pseudo half tone image is a pseudo half tone process.
Input image data can be classified into the following three types of images.
(1) Character/line image
(2) Picture image
(3) Graphics image
The character/line image of the type (1) has a characteristic that the shape reproducibility of a character/line is important whereas the color reproducibility and the gradation reproducibility are less significant. The picture image of the type (2) and the graphics image of the type (3) have the opposite characteristic such that the color reproducibility and the gradation reproducibility are more significant than the shape reproducibility.
Under such a circumstance, as a conventional technology, an electrophotographic apparatus described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H9-282471 employs a method of changing the number of lines in a pseudo half tone process in such a way that a screen process with 400 lines is performed for a character/line image and a contour and a screen process with 200 lines is performed for other images, such as a picture image.
The resolution of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus has a tendency of becoming greater. At present, the standard resolution is 600 dpi and there are many apparatuses that achieve the resolution of 1200 dpi.
In most of the apparatuses that achieve the resolution of 1200 dpi, the beam size of a laser beam to expose a photoconductor (the size of a spot that forms an area indicating 1/e2 of the peak amount of light) lies in a range of 50 to 80 micrometers. With the resolution of 1200 dpi, the length per pixel is 21.2 micrometers, which is significantly smaller than the beam size.
The beam size of the laser beam is determined by the wavelength of a laser, the focal distance of the optical system, and the aperture size, so that reducing the beam size alone causes a problem of enlarging the apparatus. This prevents the beam size from being made smaller actively.
Setting the resolution to 1200 dpi is advantageous in that jaggies (an oblique line or a periphery of a character having a jagged contour) in a character/line image can be eliminated and oblique lines or characters having a smooth contour can be reproduced. As a result, the differences between individual fonts can be discriminated, thus ensuring such printing as to make the differences between individual fonts discriminable even in a hard-copy image like an image formed on a sheet of paper.
However, the experiments conducted by the present inventor showed that increasing the resolution as large as 1200 dpi resulted in significant degrading of the gradation including a reduction in the reproducibility of highlighting. This has made it clear that a picture image or a graphics image for which the gradation reproducibility or the color reproducibility are considered significant suffer a reduction in image quality. This seems to have originated from increasing the resolution alone without reducing the beam size.
That is, for images undergone a pseudo half tone process with the same number of lines, an image with a higher resolution has a larger number of pixels to be written. However, the size of an area on a photoconductor to be actually exposed with a laser beam in association with one pixel is determined by the beam size of the laser beam, so that increasing the resolution increases the area of a region on the photoconductor to be exposed becomes larger unless the beam size becomes smaller. This seems to degrade the gradation including a reduction in the reproducibility of a highlighted region.
The description given above is explained in reference to FIG. 20. FIG. 20 depicts, as an example, an image with 200 lines per inch (lpi) as the number of lines and an area ratio of 11% (= 1/9). With the resolution of 600 dpi, image data has ON data included at only one pixel in a region consisting of a total of nine pixels, three pixels in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction. While FIG. 20 depicts only a region of 3×3 pixels, an image having such a pattern repeated cyclically is formed. This image data is shown on the upper left side in FIG. 20.
When an image with 200 lpi and an area ratio of 11% is formed with a resolution of 1200 dpi, image data has ON data included at four pixels in a region consisting of 6×6 pixels or a total of 36 pixels, as shown on the upper right side in FIG. 20.
Here is an instance that exposure is done with a laser beam having a beam size of 60 (main scanning direction)×60 (sub scanning direction) micrometers with respect to such image data with both resolutions of 600 dpi and 1200 dpi. The reason why it is not easy to reduce the beam size according to the resolution has already been given above.
The lower side in FIG. 20 depicts the photoconductor being exposed corresponding to the image data. In practice, the photoconductor is exposed by turning on the laser diode while scanning the photoconductor in the main scanning direction with the laser beam, so that the exposure region moves in the main scanning direction. Accordingly, the exposure region becomes elongated in the main scanning direction. However, as the fact is not essential in the description below, it will not be explained.
While the beam size is the same for 600 dpi and 1200 dpi, the amount of light corresponding to one pixel differs between 600 dpi and 1200 dpi. Ideally, writing is done for 600 dpi with the amount of light four times the amount of light for 1200 dpi, but writing is done with the adequate amount of light for each resolution.
The lower left side in FIG. 20 depicts the exposed state on the photoconductor for 600 dpi, and the lower right side depicts the exposed state on the photoconductor for 1200 dpi. When writing is done with the same beam size for 600 dpi and 1200 dpi, the exposure energy is dispersed for the pattern written with the higher resolution of 1200 dpi (a wider region on the photoconductor is exposed). When the same image pattern (the pattern with 200 lpi and an area ratio of 11%) is formed with different resolutions, the exposure energy is dispersed for the pattern with a higher resolution.
As a result, an electrostatic latent image to be formed by the writing process is formed shallow over a wide region. When an electrostatic latent image is formed shallow, a phenomenon, such as deteriorated highlight reproducibility, occurs at a highlighted portion, and deformation becomes quicker at a dark portion due to the same mechanism, thereby lowering the gradation reproducibility.
For an oblique line or the like, so-called jaggies can be reduced by setting the resolution to 1200 dpi. FIG. 21 depicts image data (upper side) corresponding to oblique lines with the same line width and an inclination angle of 45 degrees and exposure regions (lower side) corresponding to the image data.
With the resolution set to 1200 dpi, image data itself can be generated with reduced jaggies of an oblique line (the upper right side in the diagram).
An exposure region on the photoconductor when writing is done for the image data becomes as shown on the lower right side in FIG. 21. While the exposure energy is dispersed and spread in the exposure region as per the previous case of a dot image, it is apparent that the jaggies at the edge portions are reduced. For a character/line image, therefore, increasing the resolution to 1200 dpi from 600 dpi can ensure expression of an image with reduced jaggies.
When the resolution is increased without reducing the beam size, the photoconductor is exposed with the exposure energy dispersed for the reason given above. This may lower reproducibilities including the highlight reproducibility at a highlighted portion and the gradation reproducibility, and may lower the gradation for a picture image or a graphics image, degrading the image quality.
Such a reduction in gradation reproducibility means the generation of a dense region indicating a sharp density change in the relationship between input image data and an image density (so-called γ characteristic). The appearance of such a region indicating a sharp density change means the appearance of discontinuous gradation in an output image, which is a major factor of degrading the image quality.
In color image formation of outputting an image through color correction or gradation correction, a gradation loss occurs in the region indicating a sharp density change at the time of correcting the gradation. This means the degradation of the quality of the image of a pseudo contour or the like. | {
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Devices using various types of sensors for counting people passing an area have been developed, such as described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,278,878, 5,187,688, 6,327,547, 4,303,851, 5,656,801, 4,799,243, and 6,712,269. However, such have not been incorporated using video surveillance type cameras such as often used in facility protection systems for building(s) near entrances/exits of such building(s) having doors. In situation of external windowed doors, with direct light on the surface under the camera, opening of the doors and entering people might cause dynamic blobs of lights that can confuse the counting. Ambient light is often the cause for such blobs of light which may deflect from swinging door surfaces, but can also be cause in some situations by artificial light sources, such as automobile lights, lamps, or high luminescent luminaries often present in parking lots. Thus, a counting system using a camera that can efficiently count people without being negatively effected by such dynamic light is desirable. | {
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Numerous types of fluid dispensing apparatuses exist.
For example, one type of fluid dispensing apparatus currently in widespread use is a positive displacement filler, which for fluid dispensation relies directly upon mechanical means that physically contact and positively displace fluid. Positive displacement fillers often use a piston and cylinder arrangement, wherein the backward movement of the piston draws fluid into a cylinder through an inlet and the forward movement of the piston expels the fluid through an outlet. Alternatively, a rotary pump can be used to displace fluid. Positive displacement pumps can operate at relatively high speeds, filling as many as six hundred bottles per minute, and can achieve levels of accuracy up to about ±0.5%.
A disadvantage of positive displacement fillers is that fluid, during operation, comes into contact with moving parts. As the moving parts wear, particulate matter can enter the fluid causing particulate contamination. If severe enough, particulate contamination can render the dispensed fluid product unusable.
Another disadvantage with positive displacement fillers involves the difficulty in cleaning and sterilizing its wet moving parts. In positive displacement pumps, the critical tolerances between pads, such as the piston and cylinder, precludes effective in situ cleaning. Thus, the user must disassemble the apparatus for cleaning and sterilization. This process is not only time consuming, but may result in biological contamination of the pads when handled by the mechanic during reassembly.
Another type of fluid dispensing apparatus is the time/pressure filler, which in operation generally relies upon a fluid reservoir maintained under relatively constant pressure. The fluid is dispensed from the reservoir through a compressible line. Fluid flow is shut off by a pinch type valve which squeezes and collapses the discharge line. A pre-determined volume of fluid is dispensed by opening the discharge line for a pre-determined period of time and then closing the line. If the pressure within the fluid reservoir is maintained constant, an equal amount of fluid should be dispensed each time the cycle is repeated. However, it has been observed that time/pressure fillers often do not work as well in practice as they do in theory.
Another type of fluid dispensing apparatus is a volumetric fluid dispensing apparatus. A volumetric dispensing apparatus—such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,594—measures a predetermined volume of fluid in a measuring cup or fill tube, then subsequently dispenses it into a receptacle. Volumetric fillers, although slower than positive displacement fillers, are accurate and avoid the problems of microbial and particulate contamination. However, volumetric fillers, like time/pressure fillers, depend on a relatively constant pressure. Pressure irregularities, such as may be occasioned upon use of clarification filters, can lead to inaccurate filing.
Another type of fluid dispensing apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,063, issued to Keyes et al. on Jan. 2, 1996. Keyes et al. describe an apparatus having no moving parts in contact with the fluid being dispensed. The apparatus includes a fluid reservoir and a fill tube communicatively connected thereto. The fill tube forms a closed circuit with the fluid reservoir. In operation, fluid is transferred from the reservoir into the fill tube. When the fluid level in the fill tube reaches a predetermined height, fluid transfer is terminated, and fluid dispensed from the fill tube into a container.
The fluid dispensing apparatus of Keyes et al. provides advantages not found in the other types of fluid dispensing apparatuses, and accordingly, has become of late an area of considerable technical and commercial interest. Regardless, current embodiments—though they provide good results—can be improved. In particular, the current means used to monitor fluid levels therein—i.e., optical sensors—are effected by the optical properties of the fluid and on the mechanical assemblages that move the sensors correspondent with the rise and fall of fluid meniscuses. The level of a viscous fluid, which tend to coat interior wall surfaces, can be difficult to determine with precision. Further, the use of said mechanical assemblages (including, for example, a stepper motor) can generate particles at levels unacceptable for certain sterile applications. | {
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The present invention relates generally to the field of medical diagnostic and imaging systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a diagnostic system including a user interface which facilitates service requests, such as for evaluating potential problems in the diagnostic system. The integrated interface preferably provides a uniform format that can be employed over a number of different imaging modalities and that can be linked to the user interfaces implemented for configuring and executing desired imaging protocols and diagnostic routines and examinations.
Medical diagnostic and imaging systems are ubiquitous in modern health care facilities. Such systems provide invaluable tools for identifying, diagnosing and treating physical conditions and greatly reduce the need for surgical diagnostic intervention. In many instances, final diagnosis and treatment proceed only after an attending physician or radiologist has complemented conventional examinations with detailed images of relevant areas and tissues via one or more imaging modalities.
Currently, a number of modalities exist for medical diagnostic and imaging systems. These include computed tomography (CT) systems, x-ray systems (including both conventional and digital or digitized imaging systems), magnetic resonance (MR) systems, positron emission tomography (PET) systems, ultrasound systems, nuclear medicine systems, and so forth. In many instances, these modalities complement one another and offer the physician a range of techniques for imaging particular types of tissue, organs, physiological systems, and so forth. Health care institutions often dispose of several such imaging systems at a single or multiple facilities, permitting its physicians to draw upon such resources as required by particular patient needs.
Modern medical diagnostic systems typically include circuitry for acquiring image data and for transforming the data into a useable form which is then processed to create a reconstructed image of features of interest within the patient. The image data acquisition and processing circuitry is often referred to as a xe2x80x9cscannerxe2x80x9d regardless of the modality, because some sort of physical or electronic scanning often occurs in the imaging process. The particular components of the system and related circuitry, of course, differ greatly between modalities due to their different physics and data processing requirements.
Medical diagnostic systems of the type described above are often called upon to produce reliable and understandable images within demanding schedules and over a considerable useful life. To ensure proper operation, the systems are serviced regularly by highly trained personnel who address imaging problems, configure and calibrate the systems, and perform periodic system checks and software updates. Moreover, service offerings have been supplemented in recent years by remote service centers capable of contacting scanners at subscribing institutions directly without the need for intervention on the part of the institution personnel. Such remote servicing is intended to maintain the diagnostic systems in good operational order without necessitating the attention of physicians or radiologists, and is often quite transparent to the institution.
In certain remote servicing systems, a computerized service center may contact a scanner via a network to check system configurations and operational states, to collect data for report generation, and to perform other useful service functions. Such contacts can be made periodically, such as during system xe2x80x9csweepsxe2x80x9d in which a variety of system performance data is collected and stored with historical data for the particular scanner. The data can then be used to evaluate system performance, propose or schedule visits by service personnel, and the like.
While such service techniques have proven extremely valuable in maintaining diagnostic systems, further improvements are still needed. For example, in conventional service systems, contact between the scanners and a centralized service center most often originates with the service center. The scanners are provided with only limited functionality in the ability to identify and define service needs. Even where the scanners have permitted some limited ability to contact networked service providers, intermittent conditions indicative of a potentially serviceable problem may cease by the time the service provider is contacted or recontacts the scanner after a service call. Moreover, although the transparency of interactions between scanners and service centers avoids unnecessarily distracting medical personnel with service updates, it has become apparent that some degree of interaction between service centers and institutions would be highly desirable. In particular, an interactive service system would facilitate valuable exchanges of information, including reports of system performance, feedback on particular incidents requiring attention, updates of system licenses, software, imaging protocols, and so forth. Currently available service systems do not permit such interactive exchanges.
In addition to the foregoing drawbacks, conventional scanners are not suitably adapted to support user-friendly, scanner-based service exchanges. User interfaces in such scanners typically only permit limited access to service information, and do not provide a particularly useful interface for identifying and defining serviceable conditions as they occur. Moreover, software platforms and interfaces in conventional scanners are not suitable for interaction with service centers, and generally exclude the user from communications between the scanner and the service center or, conversely, impose unnecessarily on the user by requiring intervention for certain service functions such as software updates or downloads. Furthermore, platforms have yet to be developed that can serve as a base for interactive servicing needs of different modalities. Rather, such platforms have traditionally been specifically designed for the needs of a particular modality or even a particular scanner with little cross utility between systems or modalities.
While certain improvements in diagnostic stations has been made for certain modalities, these are still insufficient to satisfy the current need. For example, graphical user interfaces are available to a limited degree for specific modality scanners, such as ultrasound scanners, which enable software downloads and remote access to images. The remote access features are, however, generally limited to transmitting image configurations and image data for reconstruction between remote physician workstations and the scanner. At present, no systems provide for exchanging information on possible service problems with the scanners, or information or data log files for the purpose of providing remote service of the scanner itself. Likewise, no current systems are available which provides a uniform or even a similar interface permitting clinicians and radiologists to operate a variety of scanners in different modalities, and to report service issues for the scanners, via a uniform, intuitive format.
The present invention provides an integrated interface system for diagnostic equipment designed to respond to these needs. The interface may be configured in software, hardware, or firmware at the scanner or may be installed in a central operators station linking several scanners in a medical facility. The interface is conveniently linked to other user interfaces in the scanner, permitting service requests to be generated prior to, during or subsequent to examinations executed on the diagnostic equipment. The interface also permits service massaging, report generation and retrieval, and so forth. The interface is conveniently configured as a network browser which also facilitates linking the scanner or the central facility control station to a network such as an intranet or internet. The same user interface may be integrated into scanners of different modalities, thereby further facilitating service requests and the like by operations personnel, without requiring the personnel to become reacquainted with diverse interfaces in a facility. | {
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The use of seismic data to analyze subsurface geological structures, such as faults or other stratographic features, is relevant to interpreters searching for subsurface mineral and hydrocarbon deposits.
The acquisition of seismic data is typically accomplished by transmitting an acoustic signal into the earth and recording reflections of the signal. The layers of rock within the earth differ in their acoustic properties and these changes in properties produce reflections of the seismic signal. Data acquisition therefore, involves energy sources generating signals propagating into the earth and reflecting from subsurface geological structures. The reflected signals are recorded by receivers on or near the surface of the earth. The reflected signals are stored as time series (pre-stack seismic traces) that consist of amplitudes of acoustic energy, which vary as a function of time, receiver position and source position. Because subsurface geological structures are different, depending on formation layers within the earth, the variation in the amplitudes of the reflected acoustic signals are indicative of the physical properties of these structures from which the signals reflect.
The seismic data are generally processed to create acoustic images from which data interpreters may create images of the subsurface formations. Data processing therefore, involves procedures that vary depending on the nature of the seismic data acquired and the geological structure being interpreted. A single echo (reflection) train is usually called a seismic trace. A seismic trace generally represents a combination of many sinusoidal waves as a function of time. The strength of the recorded reflections rises and falls over a period of several seconds, and is recorded in digital form or converted to digital form for processing and analysis. The variations in the seismic trace generally consist of amplitude characteristics such as peaks, zero crossings and troughs.
A collection of seismic traces (known as pre-stack gathers) may be stacked (processed) to form an image referred to as post-stack seismic data. Both pre-stack and post-stack seismic data images may be interpreted in a variety of different ways to ascertain the nature of the sub-surface geological structures being investigated for mineral and hydrocarbon deposits. However, the differences in data format and display between pre-stack and post-stack seismic data images force these interpretations, and any further related processing, to be largely independent of one another.
An example of this limited linking between pre-stack and post-stack seismic data is provided by Paul Hatchell in his paper “Fault whispers: Transmission distortions on pre-stack seismic reflection data,” which is incorporated herein by reference and illustrated in FIG. 8. A series of normal move out (NMO)-corrected migrated common mid-point (CMP) gathers from one in-line location are illustrated on the left side of FIG. 8. For each NMO-corrected migrated CMP gather at a respective cross-line location, a corresponding feature plot is derived (maximum trough amplitudes for each event versus offset) and illustrated on the right side of FIG. 8. Although amplitude and time distortions that move systematically with cross-line position are evident from this type of analysis and display, this type of display does not allow the correlation of such distortion patterns with any related post-stack seismic data or further processing and analysis of the same using post stack techniques. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates generally to physical pairing of inductively coupled devices, and more particularly to physical pairing of inductively coupled devices having magnets.
The use of wireless devices has proliferated in recent years. Not only can devices wirelessly transmit data to other devices, devices can also wirelessly supply power to other devices.
There are many applications that utilize the wireless transmission of data. One particular category of applications involves short-range or near-field transmissions, which typically occur over a distance of several feet or less. Examples of short-range or near-field transmission protocols or standards include radio-frequency identification (RFID), dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), Bluetooth, ZigBee, and near-field communications (NFC).
There are also many applications for utilizing wireless power supplies. For example, passive RFID tags may be wirelessly charged by active RFID devices and passive NFC tags may be wirelessly charged by active NFC devices. Likewise, a variety of electrical or electronic devices, including electric cars, electric toothbrushes, mobile phones, mp3 players, and the like, may be wirelessly charged using wireless charging pads, plates, stations, or other charging devices.
Electromagnetic induction may be used for wirelessly transmitting data or wirelessly supplying power from one device to another device. Typically, a first device that uses electromagnetic induction to transmit data or supply power to a second device includes a first inductive element, often a primary coil. When electric current flows through the first device's primary coil, an electromagnetic field is created. If the first device's primary coil is in proximity to a secondary coil in the second device, the primary coil's electromagnetic field may inductively couple with the second device's secondary coil, producing a current within the secondary coil. This current may be used in transmission of data or supply of power between the two devices.
For the inductive coupling to achieve high efficiency, it is typically desirable to properly align the primary coil and the secondary coil and minimize the distance between the primary coil and the secondary coil. To promote the proper alignment of, and distance between, two inductively coupled devices, the two inductively coupled devices may be physically and/or mechanically paired using, for example, magnets, gravity, groves, guides, slots, clamps, latches, cradles, or other well-known pairing techniques.
The use of magnets to pair two inductively coupled devices, however, may be problematic. A magnetic field is associated with the magnets, and an electromagnetic field is associated with the inductively coupled devices in operation. In addition, the inductive devices may themselves be magnetizable, and the magnets themselves may include material that is responsive in some way to electromagnetic field states. The magnetic field and the electromagnetic field may interfere with one another, possibly degrading performance. The magnetic field may also affect the inductive devices in such a way that degrades operation of the inductive coupling. The electromagnetic field may also affect the magnets (or their materials) in varying ways.
Widely separating in distance the inductive elements and the magnets may avoid or reduce these variations interactions. However, such a wide separation may be difficult to obtain if the devices are not physically large. | {
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In a wireless communication network (e.g., a cellular telephone network), user equipment (UE) may communicate with the network by transmitting uplink signals to the network's base stations. When multiple UEs that are proximate to each other transmit uplink signals, significant co-channel interference may be present, which may reduce the communications quality of the system.
In some systems, a UE that is relatively far from a base station with which it is communicating may boost its signal power so that its signal may have a larger Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SNR) when it is received at the base station. For example, a UE located near a cell edge may transmit at maximum power in order to increase the likelihood that the signal will reach the cell's base station with an acceptable SNR. In these cases, the co-channel interference issue may be exacerbated, since UEs near each other that are transmitting at high power may essentially drown each other out. Wireless system developers continue to seek methods and apparatus for reducing the effects of co-channel interference on system performance. | {
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Many stacking devices are used to continuously create stacks of sheet products. In one common stacking device, the sheets are fed from a feeding roll into an interfolder. The interfolder creates a stack of sheets wherein each sheet is interfolded with the next. This process is commonly used when making facial tissue, napkins, or other sheet products where it is desirable to package the products such that when the consumer removes the first sheet from the package, the second sheet will then present itself for removal. To make it easier to remove the first sheet from the package, it is known to create a grasping tab or a dispensing fold from the first sheet to make it easier for the consumer to grasp and remove the first sheet from the package.
However, the dispensing folds created from the first sheet using known methods are often weak, causing the first sheet to tear when the consumer removes it from the package. Thus, a need exists for an apparatus and method for creating a strong dispensing fold such that the consumer can remove the sheets from the package without tearing them. A need also exists for a foldover apparatus that works downstream of the interfolder to increase the running speed of the interfolder and that obtains reliable, consistent foldover results. | {
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Carbothermal reduction reactor systems can be used for a variety of applications. For example, carbothermal reduction reactor systems can be used to obtain metals or ceramic materials from, for example, metal oxides.
Generally, such processes require a significant amount of heat to obtain desired reaction temperatures. Accordingly, the reactor systems are relatively expensive to operate. In addition, the reactors typically cannot run in as a continuous process, thus requiring additional time and expense to obtain desired products. Accordingly, improved carbothermal reduction reactors, systems, components thereof, and methods of using the systems and components are desired. | {
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The present invention is generally related to a cover for protecting ride-on lawn mowers, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and other small vehicles from the weather and, more particularly, is related to a system and method for a cover assembly which is encased in a housing and self-retracts using a winding mechanism in the housing and which is so dimensioned that it substantially covers the top and side surfaces of the small vehicle and which is secured, in an extended position, with retention members.
Protective covers for automobiles or the like have been proposed in various forms, including retractable, weatherproof covers. These existing vehicle cover designs have inherent problems, such as bulk resulting from large amounts of coverage material, difficulty with deployment and storage of the cover, and stability and ease of fastening the cover to the vehicle. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,515 to Dang, a vehicle protective cover is disclosed in which a shade cover assembly is mounted in the trunk and may be unwound to shade the windowed areas of the vehicle and prevent heating of the vehicle compartment by ultraviolet radiation. The arrangement of Dang fails to cover the major surfaces of the vehicle, including the hood, roof, trunk, and sides; merely providing shade for the glassed surfaces of the vehicle, and no protection for the majority of the vehicle""s surface area.
Another covering device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,593 to McCann. The McCann patent is limited in that it only provides coverage to the top surfaces of the vehicles, leaving the sides and ends open to the weather elements. It is further limited in that it contains xe2x80x9cstabilization sparsxe2x80x9d which must be tightened and bent in order for the cover to drape appropriately over the vehicle""s surfaces.
Accordingly, the need exists for a small vehicle cover which will provide adequate coverage from weather conditions to the top and side surfaces of the vehicle and which is easily adaptable to the varying sizes and shapes of vehicles. Furthermore, the need exists for a vehicle cover that is retractable into a housing, that attaches easily and does not require vehicle modification. Thus, heretofore unaddressed needs exist in the art to satisfy the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.
The present invention provides a system for covering small vehicles, such as ride-on lawn mowers, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), or other similar vehicles with a retractable covering apparatus which solves the aforementioned problems of the prior art. More specifically, the present invention is easily adaptable to vehicles of different proportions, mounts easily to the vehicle, and provides protection from the weather elements for substantially all of the top and side surfaces of the vehicle.
Briefly described, in architecture, the system can be implemented in a preferred embodiment as follows. The retractable cover apparatus generally comprises an elongated housing attached to a vehicle. The housing preferably having an outer shell with an opening therein. Each end of the outer shell is bounded by end caps. Within the housing outer shell is preferably disposed a winding mechanism. This winding mechanism may take the form of a spring-loaded rod, such as that commonly contained in pull down window shades. The retractable cover apparatus also comprises a cover engaging the winding mechanism such that the cover is moveable between an extended position covering a front, a rear, and side portions of the vehicle and a retracted position where the cover is contained within the housing. The apparatus also comprising retention members having a first and a second end. These retention members are removably affixed to an orifice in the cover at said first end and an exterior surface of the vehicle at a second end so as to secure the cover to the vehicle.
The present invention can also be viewed as providing a method for covering at least a substantial portion of the exterior of a vehicle with a weather resistant cover. In this regard, the method can be broadly summarized by the steps that follow. Providing a housing attached to a vehicle. The housing preferably contains a spring-loaded rod with a cover material rolled about this spring-loaded rod. Pulling the cover material from the housing. Where the action of pulling the cover results in unrolling the cover material from about the spring-loaded rod. Covering a top portion of the vehicle with the cover. Unfolding opposing side flaps of the cover in order to cover side portions of the vehicle. Attaching a first end of a retention member to the cover. Attaching a second end of the retention member to the vehicle. The step of attaching the second end of the retention member securing the cover about and to the vehicle.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims. | {
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In recent years, the technology has become available to display varied color frequencies, both in the visual and non-visual ranges, using a variety of light emitting diode (LED) light sources.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,995 to Kaun-Chung Lin uses complex digital circuitry to display certain colors based on audio frequencies and volume intensities. This technology requires comparators, analog to digital converters, integrators, a microprocessor and digital LED drive circuits, as well as internal programmed software routines and memory circuits to perform all described functions. The circuit is designed specifically for audio range frequencies. Its digital circuitry inherently produces Radio Frequency Interference. In addition, adding more LEDs requires additional circuitry.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,230,392 to Brett J. Clark describes analog control of light sources, however the capability of the disclosed circuitry is limited. As an example, the Clark device cannot generate maximum brightness from two different groups simultaneously, nor can it be completely dark or create white light. It cannot directly interface with commonly available audio devices. The device uses three LED groups with four LEDs per group. LEDs within two groups are wired in a series/parallel configuration. The maximum current allotment for all three groups is 43 ma. Additional LEDs cannot be added nor can LEDs be removed from the device without adversely impacting the operation of the circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,190,279 to Youssef H. Atris describes a light modulation system for personal or portable electronic apparatuses. It requires the use of multiplexers. LEDs cannot be added to the same channel without adding additional driver circuit components for each additional LED. Its specified design can only provide full brightness for two LEDs.
Accordingly, there is a need for a LED controller that is cost effective, allows more LEDs to be added without additional circuitry, and does not produce Radio Frequency Interference. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Conventional electronic power circuits for lighting systems often employ filter circuits with an inductor in a positive DC branch and a capacitor connected across the DC output terminals of an input rectifier to operate as a low pass filter. This filter circuit inhibits the high frequency electromagnetic interference (EMI) caused by power conversion switching from reaching the power line. These devices may be used conjunction with triac-equipped wall or table-top dimmer circuits connected in line with the electronic ballast or LED driver. Such dimmers provide so-called “phase cut” dimming capability where a portion of the line AC waveform is essentially removed in each AC cycle to reduce the light output.
Integral electronic lamps such as compact fluorescent designs (CFLs) and LED lamps can be used in conventional lamps designed for incandescent bulbs and may include dimming circuitry allowing the light output to be adjusted by phase-cut dimming (triac control). However, the triac operation of such dimmer controls applies a fast step change in the voltage across the EMI filter capacitor, leading to current spikes in the capacitor and in the power line. This can cause degradation of the EMI filter capacitor and can also damage the dimmer triac.
Previous attempts to limit such current spikes have involved connection of a resistance in series with the EMI filter capacitor. In some installations, however, a number of such electronic drivers or ballasts are operated from a common (shared) wall dimmer. In such cases, even with integral current limiting resistors, the peak currents generated by the individual lighting devices can be as high as 3-8 A in some cases, and these are additive at the dimmer, thus potentially leading to triac damage or degradation. Thus, a need remains for improved EMI filter circuits for lighting systems which provides the required filtering in non-dimming applications, and which can be operated in circuits having phase-cutting dimmers without damaging or degrading the dimmer triac. | {
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The invention relates to a sanitary installation with a sanitary fitting, at least one electrically actuable device, in particular a solenoid valve, a rechargeable battery, a supply device, comprising a solar cell device, for the battery, and a mirror situated in the vicinity of the sanitary fitting.
In known sanitary installations of this type, the solar cell device is accommodated on the housing of the sanitary fitting. At this location, the solar cell device is unsuitable for reliable operation of a solenoid valve for example, since only a very small supply current is delivered in order to charge the battery and therefore the energy stored in the battery is very limited.
Known sanitary installations of this type still have to be connected therefore to a domestic supply network. This requires the presence of an appropriate network connection in the sanitary area, which is not always guaranteed. Moreover, energy costs are incurred during the operation of a known sanitary fitting of this type.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to develop a sanitary installation of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that reliable operation is guaranteed independently of the domestic supply network.
This object is achieved according to the invention in that the solar cell device is integrated into the mirror.
The invention makes use of the fact that in a room having a mirror it is always necessary for there to be a light source (daylight and/or artificial light) present as well. A small part of the light emitted by this light source in the direction of the mirror is used by means of the solar cell device to operate the sanitary fitting and/or to charge the battery.
The battery, charged by a solar cell device designed in this way, provides sufficient energy for the actuation of the sanitary installation in normal use. The size of the active area of the solar cell device ensures that the battery is recharged. Normal ambient light suffices for this. Daylight or direct incidence of sunlight are not necessary; because of the large usable area for the solar cell device and the generally low energy requirement of the sanitary fitting, artificial illumination of the sanitary area is also sufficient for example.
This is not the case with other designs for charging the battery, for example by utilising the water flow in the sanitary fitting: when the battery is fully discharged, it is no longer possible to use a known sanitary fitting of this type with an electrical supply based on the water flow, since even the energy for opening the solenoid valve is not available.
A battery-charging device which, via Peltier elements, utilises the temperature of the hot water to produce energy also has these disadvantages, since it is likewise dependent on the operation of the sanitary fitting.
The mirror can comprise a frame housing, the solar cell device being integrated into the frame housing. In a design of this type, a fully reflecting commercially available mirror surface can be employed.
Alternatively, the mirror can comprise a partially reflecting coating, the solar cell device being arranged behind the partially reflecting coating. Partially reflecting mirrors of this type are easy to produce. Thus, frameless mirror designs are also possible. Since mirrors generally occupy a relatively large area, only a relatively small part of the light striking the mirror surface needs to be transmitted to obtain energy by means of the solar cell device. The majority of the light striking the mirror surface is therefore available as reflected light.
Preferably, a supply line, which connects the battery to the sanitary fitting, is run in a frame housing, which connects the mirror to the sanitary fitting or to a washstand of the sanitary fitting. This permits in a simple way a visually attractive design of the sanitary installation without obtrusive visible cables.
The solar cell device can have a plurality of solar cell modules. Solar cell module is understood in this context to mean a standard assembly with one solar cell or a plurality of solar cells. The solar cell modules are designed in such a way that they can be electrically connected to one another in a series of different relative positions. In this way, a solar cell device of any desired size and shape can be constructed. When using solar cell modules of this type, different mirrors and/or frame sizes can therefore be fitted with the solar cell device. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g. comprising part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the “scanning”-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
It has been proposed to immerse the substrate in the lithographic projection apparatus in a liquid having a relatively high refractive index, e.g. water, so as to fill a space between the final element of the projection system and the substrate. The point of this is to enable imaging of smaller features since the exposure radiation will have a shorter wavelength in the liquid. (The effect of the liquid may also be regarded as increasing the effective NA of the system and also increasing the depth of focus.) Other immersion liquids have been proposed, including water with solid particles (e.g. quartz) suspended therein.
However, submersing the substrate or substrate and substrate table in a bath of liquid (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,852, hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference) means that there is a large body of liquid that must be accelerated during a scanning exposure. This requires additional or more powerful motors and turbulence in the liquid may lead to undesirable and unpredictable effects.
One of the solutions proposed is for a liquid supply system to provide liquid on only a localized area of the substrate and in between the final element of the projection system and the substrate (the substrate generally has a larger surface area than the final element of the projection system). One way which has been proposed to arrange for this is disclosed in PCT patent application WO 99/49504, hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, liquid is supplied by at least one inlet IN onto the substrate, preferably along the direction of movement of the substrate relative to the final element, and is removed by at least one outlet OUT after having passed under the projection system. That is, as the substrate is scanned beneath the element in a −X direction, liquid is supplied at the +X side of the element and taken up at the −X side. FIG. 2 shows the arrangement schematically in which liquid is supplied via inlet IN and is taken up on the other side of the element by outlet OUT which is connected to a low pressure source. In the illustration of FIG. 2 the liquid is supplied along the direction of movement of the substrate relative to the final element, though this does not need to be the case. Various orientations and numbers of in- and out-lets positioned around the final element are possible, one example is illustrated in FIG. 3 in which four sets of an inlet with an outlet on either side are provided in a regular pattern around the final element.
It is typically important to reduce or minimize temperature variations in components that influence the path of imaging radiation. Thermal expansion and contraction of optical components such as lenses and mirrors may lead to distortions of the image reaching the substrate as may temperature induced variations in the refractive index of an immersion liquid in an immersion lithographic apparatus. Control of component temperatures is normally possible by limiting the extent and proximity of dissipative processes, both electrical and mechanical, or of any other heat flux sources (i.e. sources that provide or absorb heat), and ensuring good thermal connection between components and high heat capacity elements. However, despite employing measures such as these with regard to optical elements, image distortions traceable to variations in temperature and/or in local beam intensity continue to be detected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In computer systems, particularly enterprise networks, managing “quality of service” can be important. In this context, “quality of service” relates to how well users' expectations of the performance of the system are met. In a networked computer system, a user's perception, and therefore quality of service, is heavily influenced by the latency with which different types of information are transmitted over the network. For example, a network may deliver datagrams with latencies that vary between microseconds and several hundreds of milliseconds, depending on network loading. Such latencies will be adequate for many applications. However, for some applications, such as VoIP and other applications that provide an interactive experience to a user, such variations in latency will be noticeable, causing the user to perceive a low quality of service.
Poor quality of service frequently occurs when too many datagrams need to be transmitted through a network “bottleneck.” Datagrams are queued at the bottleneck, creating latency. In an enterprise, a bottleneck may occur at a connection to the Internet or other similar gateway at the edges of the enterprise network. Bottlenecks can also occur within an enterprise network, such as at a trunk line connecting zones within the network.
To improve quality of service, network components can be designed to process datagrams with different priorities. Datagrams for which high latency creates a poor user experience may be assigned a higher priority. Giving priority to these datagrams keeps latency for those datagrams low, even at a bottleneck, and increases the overall quality of service. Alternatively, datagrams for which high latency has relatively little effect on user perception of the quality of the network may be transmitted with lower priority.
The ability to manage quality of service has been available in some computer systems. For example, codes, called ToS or DSCP codes, may be inserted in datagram headers. A router or other network element constructed to recognize ToS or DSCP codes will typically maintain different queues and assign a datagram to a queue based on the DSCP or ToS code. Datagrams in a queue associated with a higher priority code will be given higher priority in selecting the next datagram to process, which reduces latency for higher priority datagrams relative to lower priority datagrams.
Additionally, drivers that manage the transmission of datagrams over a network can be equipped to “throttle” datagram transmission in proportion to a setting provided with a datagram. When a throttle setting is applied to a datagram, the driver may buffer the datagram before transmitting it over the network to keep the rate of transmission below a rate specified by the throttle setting. | {
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The measurement of the gate leakage current of transistor devices (such as GaN transistor devices, for example) during production is necessary in order to separate between good and bad devices. For GaN transistor devices, for example, the gate leakage current may be measured with gate voltages ranging between −8 V and +6 V under several drain-source conditions and temperatures. The expected leakage current is very small (typically, in the nA range). During these tests all elements must be grounded, so that the high voltage spike cannot damage the device. Providing ESD protection structures at this stage would seriously impede the measurement of the gate leakage current. Accordingly, ESD protection structures are only connected after the wafer test, when the devices are assembled. However, during the pad bonding phase there is a potential risk of ESD failure for unprotected devices. Therefore, the current implementation practice shows considerable yield loss. | {
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In vehicles driven by endless crawler tracks such as surface mining shovels, excavators, bulldozers and tankes the crawler tracks include a series of shoes which are pivotally pinned together and driven by a tumbler drive mechanism to move the vehicle along a ground surface. In moving the vehicle along the ground surface, the crawler track moves over the ground and around end supports and along a path above the ground surface that is substantially horizontal or which may have a slight curvature In its movement along the horizontal path, the shoes of the crawler track slide over supporting guide rails as the track moves to or from the drive mechanism. Due to the sliding engagement of the shoes with the guide rails and the abrasive nature of the movement due to the constant presence of dirt on the shoes, the guide rails have a relatively high wear rate and must be replaced quite often. Since the guide rails are an integral part of the crawler track support frame, they must be removed by an arc cutting means. Few guide rails must then be welded in place. The removal and replacement of the guide rails obviously is a time consuming and costly operation. Further, the guide rails, as part of the crawler track support frame, require extensive fabrication which makes them a very costly component. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 to Japanese Patent Application No. H11-196794, filed Jul. 9, 1999. The contents of that application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the cutting insert for intermittent cutting which is used in milling tools such as face milling cutters, end-mills and others.
2. Description of the Background
FIG. 4 is the front view of a cutting insert as one example of the conventional technology. FIG. 5 is the cross sectional view along the Xxe2x80x94X line of the cutting insert shown in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is the central sectional view of a face milling cutter equipped with the cutting insert shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, this cutting insert is formed in the shape of an approximately square shape (FIG. 4 is approximately square shape) board type and has an under surface 11 which makes a taking a seat side, and an upper face 12 which counters the under surface 11. A main cutting tooth 13 is formed in a ridge line portion which extends approximately to the neighborhood of the upper surface 12, an approximately straight line sub cutting tooth 14 is formed between two main cutting teeth 13, 13 by which it is formed, respectively, and the circular corner tooth 15 is formed between the main cutting tooth 13 and the sub cutting tooth 14 , and a circular corner tooth connects both of the cutting teeth 13, 14 smoothly. A side face 16 which is formed between the under surface 11 and the upper surface 12 inclines outside towards a field 12 and forms a positive insert as shown in FIG. 5.
The upper surface 12 is made into a rake face, and the side face 16 is made into a flank face.
Moreover, a central portion of the upper surface 12 and the under surface 11 is penetrated, and the penetrations for screw penetration is formed.
A ridge line portion which makes approximately four rounds of the upper surface 12 is given a honing (honing surface) 18 as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. That is, an intersection ridge line portion of the honing 18 and the side face 16 make up the main cutting tooth 13, the sub cutting tooth 14 and the corner tooth 15. The section of this honing 18 which intersects perpendicularly with a ridge line portion may be made into a straight line, and it may extend from this honing 18 toward the outside of the cutting insert 10 to a level surface. The inclination angle (honing angle) xcex8 may be set constant.
The upper surface 12 of the cutting insert 10 consists of an upper surface inclination portion 12A which inclined so that a honing 18 may be intersected, it may extend to the level surface towards the central portion of the cutting insert 10 and become a slope, and an upper surface level part 12B which is connected to this upper surface inclination part 12A, and is leveled in near the central portion of the cutting insert 10. In addition, the connection between upper surface inclination part 12A and the upper surface level part 12B is smoothed.
As shown in FIG. 6, This cutting insert 10 is provided in a tip perimeter of a main cutter body 21 in a milling cutter 20, for instance , and a part of work material is intermittently cut off by carrying out rotation cutting of the main cutter body 21 to the work material.
The cutting insert 10 is disposed so that the main cutting tooth 13 may project toward the perimeter side of the main cutter body 21, and also that sub cutting tooth 14 may turn onto a down tooth of the main cutter body 21. In case of rotation cutting of the work material by the face milling cutter 20, main cutting is performed by the main cutting tooth 13, and finish cutting is performed by the sub cutting tooth 14.
Although the main cutting tooth 13 and the sub cutting tooth 14 is connected smoothly by circular corner tooth 15 in above mentioned cutting insert 10, the problem of being easy to break out in corner tooth 15 by the shocks at the time of the instruction to which each cutting tooth 13, 14, 15 begin to hit to the work material at the time of cutting.
Moreover, the corner tooth 15 in a center side of rotation such as face milling cutter and end mill etc., bites the chips generated by cutting of the sub cutting tooth 14, as the results, the finished surface is damaged, moreover, as the results of the crush the chip into above mentioned corner tooth 15, the corner tooth 15 will be broken.
Furthermore, when the vibration of the work material propagate to the corner tooth 15 at the time of cutting, there was also a problem that the corner tooth 15 will be broken.
Also, the corner tooth 15 located toward the center of rotation in face milling cutters, end mills and others bites the chips generated by the sub cutting tooth 14 during cutting. As a result, a finished surface is damaged and the corner tooth 15 is damaged as well because of the chips crushing into it.
Furthermore, when the vibration of a work material during cutting is transmitted to the corner tooth 15, the corner tooth 15 can break.
In view of the above, this invention aims to offer the cutting insert which is possible to increase the break resistant property of the corner portion near the intersection part of the main cutting tooth and the sub cutting tooth for cutting.
To attain the above mentioned object, a cutting insert according to this invention includes a main cutting tooth having a honing angle xcex1; a sub cutting tooth having a honing angle xcex2; and a corner tooth connecting said main cutting tooth and said sub cutting tooth and having a honing angle xcex3, wherein said honing angle xcex1 is larger than said honing angle xcex2 and said honing angle xcex3.
In the cutting insert mentioned above, since the honing angle over a corner edge is enlarged compared with the honing angle over the main cutting tooth and sub cutting tooth, the break resistance of the corner tooth is increased from easily breaking, therefore, the corner tooth is prevented from easily breaking from the shock exerted on when cutting begins. Since a honing angle is enlarged only against the corner tooth, the sharpness of the main cutting tooth and the sub cutting tooth is not reduced.
Furthermore, another cutting insert according to the present invention includes a corner tooth having a height from an under face which makes the seat face of the corner tooth being lower than a height of a sub cutting tooth.
Since the height from the under face of the corner tooth is lower than the height of a sub cutting tooth in the cutting insert mentioned above, a corner tooth is in a lower position than a sub cutting tooth with respect to a rotational direction of a face milling cutter, an end mill or others. Hence, when the chips generated by a sub cutting tooth during cutting drift toward the center of their rotation, the corner tooth is prevented from biting the chips by the side of a rotation center or breaking by the crash of the chips into the corner tooth.
Moreover, because there is a very small clearance between the corner tooth used for cutting and a work material, when the vibration of the work material is transmitted to the corner tooth during cutting, the corner tooth is prevented from breaking.
Furthermore, still another cutting insert according to the present invention includes the honing angle xcex1 in a range of 0xc2x0 less than xcex1 less than 60xc2x0, the honing angle xcex2 in a range of 0xc2x0 less than xcex2 less than 60xc2x0, and the honing angle xcex3 in a range of 5xc2x0 less than xcex3 less than 80xc2x0.
In the above mentioned cutting insert, if the honing angle xcex1 of the main cutting tooth is less than 0xc2x0, the effect of forming the honing face i.e., the break resistant property of the main cutting tooth cannot be increased, and if it is 60xc2x0 or more, the sharpness of the main cutting tooth is reduced.
Similarly, if the honing angle xcex2 of the sub cutting tooth is less than 0xc2x0, the break resistant property of the sub cutting tooth cannot be increased, and if it is 60xc2x0 or more, the sharpness of the sub cutting tooth is reduced. Furthermore, if the honing angle xcex3 of the corner tooth is less than 5xc2x0, the break resistant property of a corner tooth cannot be increased, and if it is 80xc2x0 or more, the sharpness of a corner tooth is reduced. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vacuum cleaners and in particular, relates to vacuum cleaners in which a reservoir of water is used to collect particulate matter.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many occupations, very fine dust particles are created that must be removed without removal or disturbance of other small items that are being handled or that are present in the dusty area. For example, in dental laboratories, trained technical personnel generally work near a vacuum source so that the airborne particulate matter that is created in large quantities is removed from the work area. Many vacuum systems used in such an environment cause the metal burs, crowns and dies to be removed if they come too close to the vacuum opening, because the systems have a very strong suction and remove both the fine dust particles and the larger pieces indiscriminately, and thus, cannot be used to remove only the fine particles. In addition, in many of these vacuum systems, the very fine dust particles are drawn into the vacuum cleaner bags and, because of their minute size, are ejected into the air again through the filter on the vacuum cleaner. This creates potential health problems for the workers who must continuously breathe in high levels of dust. The high vacuum present very near the worker's hands also causes the hands to become very cold because the heat from the hands is drawn off by the vacuum system.
To assist in selective dust removal, a variety of vacuum cleaners has been designed. Some of these cleaners use water to collect the dust that is picked up in the cleaner. In the Aqua-Vac cleaner (Teledyne Hanau, Buffalo, N.Y.), a squirrel cage fan on the motor blows directly on the water in the reservoir without agitating the water directly. The Rainbow cleaner (Rex-Air Corp., Troy, Mich.) provides a large amount of suction causing the water in its reservoir to be displaced somewhat and thus allowing more dust particles to be wetted by movement of the water than in the Aqua-Vac. The large amount of suction on the Rainbow cleaner causes larger particles as well as dust particles to be removed from an area.
In cleaners where the water is not agitated enough to allow dust particles to be wetted, a layer of dust particles may collect on top of the water with the remaining dust particles being carried back out into the environment. Dust particles may also accumulate on the fins of the fan causing the fan to decrease in efficiency and requiring continual cleaning maintenance of the fan and reservoir. Cleaners having a water reservoir with a motor directly above the water reservoir have the potential of water condensation, as well as the potential for splashing of water on the motor unless a barrier is placed between the motor and the water.
Standard shop vacuum cleaners that may be used to vacuum up water often have a valve that turns off if the water level reaches too high a level, thus minimizing the likelihood of water coming in contact with the electrical components. These cleaner are not designed to remove small dust particles selectively, however, without removing larger pieces and are not designed to retain the dust particles within the cleaner.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a vacuum cleaner that picks up fine dust particles without picking up larger particles.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a vacuum cleaner that removes dust particles from the air without returning them to the air.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a vacuum cleaner that may be used for extremely long periods of time without decreasing its ability to remove dust from the air.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a vacuum cleaner that does not pull in so much air that it causes significant cooling of hands placed in the area being cleaned.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a vacuum cleaner that is inexpensive to manufacture and that has easily obtainable parts.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a vacuum cleaner that may be easily maintained and requires little cleaning of the fan.
Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims. | {
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The invention relates to a notebook computer with folded dual-display, in particular, to that having two displays, which can be folded to each other at any tilt angles such that the images thereon can be viewed simultaneously by plural persons at different positions.
The development of information technology makes the prosperous progressive in the computer industry. Personal computers (PCs) are the most popular computer product and have broad application at home and office. Compared to the large-size computers used decades ago, recent PCs have comparable performance with much smaller size. However, from the viewpoint of portability, recent PCs still have too much weight to be taken easily. On the other hand, desktop computers are powered through sockets and this is the major disadvantage to carry them freely. Therefore, there is a need of notebook computers. The portability requirements for notebook computers are less weight and compact size. However, owing to the limitation of its size, notebook computers use liquid-crystal displays as the display instead of the CRTs used in the desktop ones. Though liquid-crystal display shows images in soft quality, the images become unclear if the viewer views the images from an improper angle, in particular, in the situation where plural viewers have to see the image at the same time. In addition, for one-to-one computer instruction or discussion between colleagues and classmates, it always happens that two persons are crowded in front of one display to see the image thereon, accordingly an uncomfortable feeling inevitably occurs. The invention is thus provided to improve the above disadvantages of the conventional notebook computers. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to antenna installations and more particularly to an aircraft radar antenna which is disposed within, and affixed to, a radome carried by the aircraft.
Large rotatable radomes for aircraft, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,516, issued Mar. 20, 1962 to E. M. Davis and U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,236, issued July 17, 1962 to P. A. Colman et al, in which a radar antenna disposed within the radome is rotated with it to effect 360 degrees azimuthal scanning, are well known to the aircraft industry. However, these rotatable radomes must have a substantially circular planform in order to avoid inducing lateral, directional, or pitching loads upon the aircraft as the radome is rotated. Also, these rotatable circular radomes cannot be aerodynamically streamlined, or faired, to conform to the local airflow around the aircraft in flight. These circular rotatable radomes are supported on a center shaft which must resist any pitching loads on the radome; consequently, the center shaft is a relatively heavy structure in comparison to a fixed structure with support members which are spaced to better distribute the loads acting on the radome. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, image capturing apparatus, and method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a function of, when reproducing (displaying) an image captured by an image capturing apparatus on an image processing apparatus (image processing application software), displaying distance measuring frames (to be referred to as “AF frames” hereinafter) used for auto focus (AF) at the time of image capturing. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-125178 proposes a technique of recording, in an image (image data), the position information of an AF frame (to be referred to as an “in-focus AF frame” hereinafter) used to bring an object into focus and displaying the in-focus AF frame at the time of image reproduction to facilitate confirming image focus. This technique also allows to automatically enlarge the image in the in-focus AF frame.
On the other hand, an image captured by the image capturing apparatus sometimes tilts in the horizontal direction due to the influence of the posture of the image capturing apparatus. Rotation processing of rotating the captured image to correct the tilt has been proposed as one of image processes.
However, when the image is rotated, and the in-focus AF frame is displayed directly using the position information of the AF frame recorded in the image, the in-focus AF frame is displayed in the rotated image at a position shifted from the actual in-focus AF frame position.
The problem of the prior art will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. FIG. 5A is a view showing a display example in which an in-focus AF frame is displayed in an image IM1 (that is, an image before rotation processing) that tilts in the horizontal direction. Referring to FIG. 5A, nine rectangular frames represent AF frames FL1 selectable at the time of image capturing. Out of the nine rectangular frames, a rectangular frame indicated by a bold line represents an in-focus AF frame FL2 used to focus on (the face of) an object OB by the AF function.
FIG. 5B is a view showing a display example in which the in-focus AF frame is displayed in an image IM2 obtained by performing rotation processing for the image IM1 shown in FIG. 5A so as to set the object OB in a horizontal position. Referring to FIG. 5B, an image IM3 is obtained by cutting out, from the image IM2 after the rotation processing, a region inscribed in the image region of the image IM2 not to include any image region absent in the image IM1 before the rotation processing. The position of the object OB in the image IM2 that has undergone the rotation processing is shifted from its position in the image IM1 before the rotation processing. The AF frames FL1 and the in-focus AF frame FL2 are displayed in the image IM3 using position information cut out upon cutting out the image IM3 from the image IM2.
As described above, when the AF frames FL1 and the in-focus AF frame FL2 are displayed in the image IM3 directly using the position information recorded in the image IM1, the in-focus AF frame FL2 is displayed at a position shifted from the position of the face of the object OB (actual in-focus AF frame position) in the image IM3. | {
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Global imaging processing algorithms may be used in agriculture to capture (e.g., record) images that typically do not produce a standard color image. Hyperspectral and/or multispectral imaging may also be used in agriculture, but conventional hyperspectral and/or multispectral images may typically be captured from relatively high elevations so that simple analysis may detect chlorophyll levels in plants. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) may also be used to automate produce farming. Although NDVI may give a farmer a high level overview of the health status of crops, NDVI may be mostly based on low level features (e.g., colors, edges, etc.). NDVI may therefore result in several ambiguities such as, for example, incorrectly detecting damage caused by mole burrowing as a stockpile. In addition, while drones may be in use today in agriculture, the analysis may be largely based on simple near infrared (IR) image processing techniques, which produce maps that fail to provide agriculture details needed to distinguish between different types of damage. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates in particular to a non-aqueous inkjet ink suitable for printing images, characters, etc., on a surface of a polyvinyl chloride sheet, etc.
Conventionally, inkjet printing, with which images, characters, etc., are printed by discharging an inkjet ink as microscopic droplets from a nozzle of an inkjet printer, is favorably used for printing mainly onto paper or other water-absorbing surface. As the inkjet ink for this purpose, an aqueous inkjet ink having a water-soluble dye or other colorant added therein is widely used in general.
However, recently, inkjet printing is being used to perform printing onto various surfaces, especially in business applications and in various other fields. There is a demand for printing images and characters, not only with good image quality but also with good water resistance, light resistance, friction resistance, etc., on the various surfaces.
For this purpose, non-aqueous inkjet inks that practically do not contain water as a solvent and use only organic solvents, and inkjet printers that use such inks are being put to practical use and becoming popularly used in place of aqueous inkjet inks.
For example, a large-size inkjet printer for printing images and characters on a surface of a polyvinyl chloride sheet, etc., that is frequently used as a medium, for example, for outdoor advertisements is becoming popularly used.
As the non-aqueous inkjet ink used in the inkjet printer, an ink containing a pigment with excellent light resistance, a binder resin for fixing the pigment onto a surface of a polyvinyl chloride sheet, etc., and an organic solvent capable of dissolving the binder resin is mainly used.
As the binder resin, any of various resins that are excellent in fixing property with respect to the surface of a polyvinyl chloride sheet, etc., such as an acrylic resin, polyester resin, polyurethane resin, polyvinyl chloride resin, nitrocellulose resin, etc., is used, and among these, a polyvinyl chloride resin, which is best in fixing property, is used favorably.
Also, by copolymerizing vinyl acetate with vinyl chloride, the solubility in the organic solvent can be improved, and images and characters printed on the surface of the polyvinyl chloride sheet can be increased in flexibility to improve scratch resistance of a print. A vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer is thus used especially favorably as the polyvinyl chloride resin.
A non-aqueous inkjet ink using a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer or other polyvinyl chloride resin is described, for example, in JP 2004-231870A, JP 2005-23298A, JP 2005-200469A, etc.
Also, a metal coordination compound or other additive is added in a non-aqueous inkjet ink.
A surface of a nozzle plate, etc., making up a nozzle of an inkjet printer must have a property of appropriately repelling a non-aqueous inkjet ink in order to discharge the non-aqueous inkjet ink satisfactorily through the nozzle.
A coating film having a property of repelling the non-aqueous inkjet ink is thus formed on the surface of the nozzle plate, etc. As the coating film, a eutectoid coating film of a fluororesin and nickel, etc., is used.
The metal coordination compound coordinates to the nickel in the eutectoid coating film and thereby functions to improve resistance of the eutectoid coating film against the organic solvent contained in the non-aqueous inkjet ink.
Nitrogen-containing compounds, such as imidazoles, benzotriazoles, etc., can be cited as examples of the metal coordination compound. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
About two out of every 100 people carry a strain of staph that is resistant to antibiotics, also known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is tougher to treat than most strains of staphylococcus aureus due to its resistance to some commonly used antibiotics. Most often, it causes mild infections on the skin, causing sores or boils. But it can also cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract. Though most MRSA infections are not serious, some can be life-threatening.
Bacteria rapidly evolve resistance to new antibiotics as they become widely used, and certain types of bacteria are becoming so resistant to standard antibiotics that treatment alternatives are dwindling. Thus, clinicians and industry are always looking for novel antimicrobial/antibacterial drugs. Accordingly, new treatment options are needed for these types of bacterial infections as well as other types of bacterial infections. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device (hereunder abbreviated to organic EL device). More specifically, it relates to an organic EL device comprising a dipyridylthiophene derivative.
Recent years have seen greater attention focused on organic EL devices as next-generation full color flat panel displays, and this has led to their active research and development. Organic EL devices are injection-type EL devices which comprise a luminescent layer sandwiched between two electrodes, wherein injection of electrons and holes in the organic luminescent layer results in their recombining and consequent light emission. The materials used include low molecular materials and polymer materials, which are known to give organic EL devices with high luminance.
Two types of such organic EL devices exist. One is obtained by doping a fluorescent dye to a charge transport layer, as published by C. W. Tang et al. (J. Appl. Phys., 65, 3610(1989)), and the other employs the fluorescent dye itself alone (for example, the device described in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 27, L269(1988)).
The devices using fluorescent dyes as luminescent layers are largely classified into three types. The first type has three layers with a luminescent layer sandwiched between an electron transport layer and a hole transport layer, the second type has two layers with a hole transport layer and a luminescent layer laminated together, and the third type has two layers with an electron transport layer and a luminescent layer laminated together. Such multilayer structures are known to enhance the luminous efficiency of organic EL devices.
The known hole transport materials used in organic EL devices include many and various materials which are primarily triphenylamine derivatives, but few materials are known to be usable as electron transport materials. Furthermore, the existing electron transport materials have low charge transport capacity compared to known hole transport materials such as N,Nxe2x80x2-di(1-naphthyl)-N,Nxe2x80x2-diphenyl-4,4xe2x80x2-diaminobiphenyl, and when used in organic EL devices, they restrict the performance of EL devices, such that it has not been possible to achieve satisfactory device characteristics.
As specific examples of such electron transport materials there are known metal complexes of oxine derivatives (described in JP-A 59-194393 and elsewhere), 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (PBD), and the like. The former allows driving of organic EL devices at relatively low voltage, but this is still inadequate, and because the luminescence itself is green it is difficult to achieve emission of blue light. The above-mentioned organic EL device (Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 27, L269(1988)) is an example of using the latter as an electron transport layer. However, instability of thin films, including a tendency toward crystallization, has been indicated as a problem, and therefore compounds with multiple oxadiazole rings have been developed (Journal of the Chemical Society of Japan, 11, 1540(1991), JP-A 6-145658, JP-A 6-92947, JP-A 5-152027, JP-A 5-202011, JP-A 6-136359, etc.). Nevertheless, these compounds have also exhibited properties unsuitable for practical use, such as high driving voltage. Quinoxaline derivatives have been reported as additional compounds (JP-A 6-207169). Dimerization increases molecular weight and thus enhances the stability of thin films, but still a high driving voltage has been required, and such dimers have thus been inadequate for practical use. Silacyclopentadiene derivatives have been reported as well (described in JP-A 9-87616 and elsewhere). These have been capable of driving organic EL devices at relatively low voltage, but have also been insufficient for practical use. Dibenzoxazolyl-thiophene derivatives have been reported as thiophene ring-containing compounds (JP-A 5-343184, JP-A 11-345686 and elsewhere). However, while thin-film stability is improved by introduction of substituents, the driving voltage has been too high to be adequate for practical use.
As mentioned above, the electron transport materials used in conventional organic EL devices do not meet the current demands for high performance by full color flat panel displays, and therefore superior materials have been desired in order to achieve lower voltage and higher efficiency for organic EL devices.
The present invention has been accomplished in light of these problems of the prior art, and its object is to provide a low-voltage, high-efficiency organic EL device.
As a result of diligent research directed toward solving the aforementioned problems associated with conventional organic EL devices, the present inventors have found that certain dipyridylthiophene derivatives are high performance electron transport materials which when employed can give low-voltage, high-efficiency organic EL devices, and the present invention has thus been completed.
In other words, the present invention has the following construction.
A first aspect of the invention is an organic electroluminescent device characterized by comprising a dipyridylthiophene derivative represented by the following general formula (1):
where X is S or SO2, R5 and R6 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group of 1-6 carbons, an alkenyl group of 2-6 carbons, an alkoxy group of 1-6 carbons, an aryloxy group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group or a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic group, with the proviso that when R5 and R6 each independently represent an alkenyl, alkoxy, aryl or heterocyclic group they may be bonded together but not into a benzo condensed ring, and A1 and A2 are independently represented by the following formula (2) or (3):
where R1-R4 and R7-R10 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group of 1-6 carbons, an alkenyl group of 2-6 carbons, an alkoxy group of 1-6 carbons, an aryloxy group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group or a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic group, with the proviso that when they are each independently an alkenyl, alkoxy, aryl or heterocyclic group and are adjacent, they may be bonded together.
According to a preferred mode of the invention, both A1 and A2 in general formula (1) are groups represented by general formula (2).
According to another preferred mode of the invention, both A1 and A2 in general formula (1) are groups represented by general formula (3).
According to still another preferred mode of the invention, A1 in general formula (1) is a group represented by general formula (2) and A2 is a group represented by general formula (3).
Still another preferred mode of the invention is an organic electroluminescent device wherein the dipyridylthiophene derivative represented by general formula (1) is contained in an electron transport layer.
Still another preferred mode of the invention is an organic electroluminescent device wherein the dipyridylthiophene derivative represented by general formula (1) is contained in a luminescent layer.
A second aspect of the invention is an electron transport material comprising a dipyridylthiophene derivative represented by general formula (1).
A third aspect of the invention is a luminescent material comprising a dipyridylthiophene derivative represented by general formula (1).
The present invention will now be explained in further detail. In general formulas (1), (2) and (3), X is S or SO2, and R1 to R10 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group of 1-6 carbons, an alkenyl group of 2-6 carbons, an alkoxy group of 1-6 carbons, an aryloxy group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group or a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic group.
As examples of the alkyl groups there may be mentioned methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, sec-butyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, n-hexyl, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl and cyclohexyl. As examples of the alkenyl groups there may be mentioned vinyl, allyl, 1-propenyl, 1,3-butadienyl, 2-pentenyl, and 2-hexenyl, as examples of the alkoxy groups there may be mentioned methoxy, ethoxy and propoxy, and as examples of the aryloxy groups there may be mentioned phenyloxy and naphthyloxy. As examples of the aryl groups there may be mentioned phenyl and naphthyl, and as examples of the heterocyclic groups there may be mentioned thiophene, benzoxazole, benzothiazole, pyridine, quinoline and phenanthroline.
When R1 to R10 each independently represent an alkenyl, alkoxy, aryl or heterocyclic group and are adjacent, they may be bonded together, but excluding a benzo condensed ring formed by R5 and R6.
Of the compounds represented by general formula (1), some will have a plurality of R1 to R4 groups or a plurality of R7 to R10 groups, but in such cases as well, each R1 to R4 or each R7 to R10 independently represents the aforementioned atom or groups.
The following may be mentioned as specific examples of dipyridylthiophene derivatives to be used for the invention.
2,3,4,5-tetra(2-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-di(3-pyridyl)-3,4-di(2-pyridyl)thiophene,
2-(2-pyridyl)-3,4-di(2-pyridyl)-5-(3-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-di(2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-di(3-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2-(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenyl-5-(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-benzoxazolyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-benzoxazolyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2-(6-(2-benzoxazolyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenyl-5-(6-(benzoxazolyl)-3-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-benzothiazolyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-benzothiazolyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2-(6-(2-benzothiazolyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenyl-5-(6-(benzothiazolyl)-3-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(3-quinolyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(3-quinolyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2-(6-(2-quinolyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenyl-5-(6-(quinolyl)-3-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-di(2-quinolyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-di(3-quinolyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-di(4-isoquinolyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-di(2-(1,10-phenanthryl))-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-di(3-(1,10-phenanthryl))-3,4-diphenylthiophene,
2,5-di(2-pyridyl)-3,4-dimethylthiophene,
2,5-di(3-pyridyl)-3,4-dimethylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-ditertiary-butylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-ditertiary-butylthiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-di(2-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-di(2-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene,
2-(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-ethylenedioxy-5-(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-trimethylenethiophene,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-trimethylenethiophene,
2-(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-trimethylene-5-(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)thiophene,
2,2xe2x80x2,5,5xe2x80x2-tetra(2-pyridyl)-3,3xe2x80x2-bithiophene,
2,2xe2x80x2,5,5xe2x80x2-tetra(3-quinolyl)-3,3xe2x80x2-bithiophene,
2,3,4,5-tetra(2-pyridyl)thiophene-1,1-dioxide,
2,3,4,5-tetra(3-pyridyl)thiophene-1,1-dioxide,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene-1,1-dioxide,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenylthiophene-1,1-dioxide,
2-(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-diphenyl-5-(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)thiophene-1,1-dioxide,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-1,1-dioxide,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene-1,1-dioxide,
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-2-pyridyl)-3,4-trimethylenethiophene-1,1-dioxide, and
2,5-bis(6-(2-pyridyl)-3-pyridyl)-3,4-trimethylenethiophene-1,1-dioxide.
These compounds can be synthesized by known processes, such as the process described in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 116, 1880(1994), the process described in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 121, 9744(1999), the process described in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 92, 7610(1970), or the processes described in the synthesis examples of the present specification.
These dipyridylthiophene derivatives are suitable as materials for formation of electron transport layers, with which the organic EL device of the invention can operate at low voltage and high efficiency. This is due to the excellent electron transport properties of the dipyridylthiophene derivatives represented by general formula (1) and (2) used for the invention. Moreover, since the dipyridylthiophene derivatives themselves are luminescent, they are also suitable as luminescent materials for organic EL devices.
Various modes may be mentioned for the structure of the organic EL device of the invention, but the basic structure has an organic layer containing the dipyridylthiophene derivative sandwiched between a pair of electrodes (anode and cathode), and if desired, a hole transport layer, a luminescent layer or an electron transport layer made of another material may be combined with the dipyridylthiophene derivative layer. When used as an electron transport layer, another material may be used in combination to further enhance the function.
As concrete constructions there may be mentioned multilayer structures such as (1) anode/hole transport layer/dipyridylthiophene derivative layer/cathode, (2) anode/hole transport layer/luminescent layer/dipyridylthiophene derivative layer/cathode and (3) anode/hole transport layer/dipyridylthiophene derivative layer/electron transport layer/cathode.
The organic EL device of the invention having any of the aforementioned structures is preferably supported on a substrate. The substrate may be any one with mechanical strength, thermal stability and transparency, among which glass, transparent plastic films and the like may be used. The anode material for the organic EL device of the invention may be a metal, alloy, electric conductive compound or mixture thereof having a work function of greater than 4 eV. Specifically there may be mentioned metals such as Au, and conductive transparent materials such as CuI, indium tin oxide (hereunder abbreviated to ITO), SnO2, ZnO and the like.
The cathode substance may be a metal, alloy, electric conductive compound or mixture thereof having a work function of less than 4 eV. Specifically there may be mentioned aluminum, calcium, magnesium, lithium, magnesium alloy, aluminum alloy or the like, where alloys include aluminum/lithium fluoride, aluminum/lithium, magnesium/silver, magnesium/indium, etc. In order to bring out efficient luminescence of the organic EL device, at least one of the electrodes preferably has a light transmittance of 10% or greater. The sheet resistance of the electrode is preferably no greater than a few hundred xcexa9/xe2x96xa1. The film thickness will depend on the nature of the electrode material, but it is normally selected in the range of 10 nm to 1 xcexcm, and preferably 10-400 nm. Such electrodes can be fabricated by using the aforementioned electrode substances to form thin-films by a method such as vapor deposition or sputtering.
For the other hole transport material used in the organic EL device of the invention there may be selected materials that are commonly used in the prior art as hole charge transport materials for photoconductive materials, or any publicly known materials used in hole injection layers and hole transport layers of organic EL devices. As examples there may be mentioned carbazole derivatives (N-phenylcarbazole, polyalkylenecarbazole, etc.), triarylamine derivatives (TPD, polymers with aromatic tertiary amines as main chains or side chains, 1,1-bis(4-di-p-tolylaminophenyl)cyclohexane, N,Nxe2x80x2-diphenyl-N,Nxe2x80x2-dinaphthyl-4,4xe2x80x2-diaminobiphenyl, 4,4xe2x80x2,4xe2x80x3-tris{N-(3-methylphenyl)-N-phenylamino}triphenylamine, the compounds described in J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Comm., 2175 (1996), the compounds described in JP-A 57-144558, JP-A 61-62038, JP-A 61-124949, JP-A 61-134354, JP-A 61-134355, JP-A 61-112164, JP-A 4-308688, JP-A 6-312979, JP-A 6-267658, JP-A 7-90256, JP-A 7-97355, JP-A 6-1972, JP-A 7-126226, JP-A 7-126615, JP-A 7-331238, JP-A 8-100172 and JP-A 8-48656, the starburst amine derivatives described in Adv. Mater., 6, 677 (1994), etc.), stilbene derivatives (those described in Preprints of 72nd National Meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan (II), p.1392, 2PB098, etc.), phthalocyanine derivatives (non-metals, copper phthalocyanine, etc.), polysilanes, and the like.
There are no particular restrictions on the other electron transport materials to be used in the organic EL device of the invention, and there may be selected for use materials that are commonly used in the prior art as electron transferring compounds for photoconductive materials, or any publicly known materials used in electron injection layers and electron transport layers of organic EL devices. As preferred examples of such electron transferring compounds there may be mentioned diphenylquinone derivatives (those described in Journal of the Society of Electrophotography of Japan, 30(3), 266 (1991), etc.), perylene derivatives (those described in J. Appl. Phys., 27, 269 (1988), etc.), oxadiazole derivatives (those described in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 27, L713 (1988), Appl. Phys. Lett., 55, 1489 (1989), etc.), thiophene derivatives (those described in JP-A 4-212286, etc.), triazole derivatives (those described in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 32, L917 (1993), etc.), thiadiazole derivatives (those described in Polymer Preprints, Japan, 43, (III), Pla007, etc.), metal complexes of oxine derivatives (those described in Technical Report of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, 92(311), 43 (1992), etc.), polymers of quinoxaline derivatives (those described in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 33, L250(1994), etc.), phenanthroline derivatives (those described in Polymer Preprints, Japan, 43, 14J07, etc.) and silacyclopentadiene derivatives (those described in JP-A 9-87616, etc.).
The electron transport layer in the organic EL device of the invention may be composed of a single layer comprising a dipyridylthiophene compound according to the invention and/or at least one of the aforementioned compounds, or it may consist of a laminate of multiple layers comprising different types of compounds. The electron transport layer may also be fabricated by dispersing a dipyridylthiophene compound according to the invention in a polymer material.
Other luminescent materials which may be used in the luminescent layer for the organic EL device of the invention include publicly known luminescent materials such as the daylight fluorescent materials, fluorescent brighteners, laser dyes, organic scintillators and various fluorescent analysis reagents described in the Polymer Functional Material Series, xe2x80x9cPhotofunctional Materialsxe2x80x9d, ed. by Society of Polymer Science, Japan, Kyoritsu Publishing, (1991), P236. Specifically preferred are polycyclic condensation compounds such as anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene, chrysene, perylene, coronene, rubrene and quinacridone, oligophenylene compounds such as quarterphenyl, scintillators for liquid scintillation such as 1,4-bis(2-methylstyryl)benzene, 1,4-bis(4-methylstyryl)benzene, 1,4-bis(4-phenyl-5-oxazolyl)benzene, 1,4-bis(5-phenyl-2-oxazolyl)benzene, 2,5-bis(5-tertiary-butyl-2-benzoxazolyl)thiophene, 1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene, 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene and 1,1,4,4-tetraphenyl-1,3-butadiene, the metal complexes of oxine derivatives described in JP-A 63-264692, coumarin dyes, dicyanomethylenepyrane dyes, dicyanomethylenethiopyrane dyes, polymethine dyes, oxobenzanthracene dyes, xanthene dyes, carbostyryl dyes and perylene dyes, the oxazine compounds described in German Patent No. 2,534,713, the stilbene derivatives described in Preprints of the 40th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics, 1146(1993), the spiro compounds described in JP-A 7-278537 and the oxadiazole compounds described in JP-A 4-363891. The publicly known phosphorescent materials described in xe2x80x9cOrganic EL materials and displaysxe2x80x9d, CMC, p. 170 may also be used in the luminescent layer of the organic EL device of the invention. Specifically there may be mentioned indium complexes (those described in Appl. Phys. Lett., 75, 4(1999), etc.), platinum complexes (those described in Nature, 395, 151(1998), etc.), europium complexes (those described in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 34, 1883(1995), etc.) and the like.
Each of the layers constituting the organic EL device of the invention may be formed by creating a thin-film using the material for each layer by a publicly known method such as vapor deposition, spin coating, casting or the like. The film thickness of each layer formed in this manner is not particularly restricted and may be appropriately selected depending on the nature of the material, but it is normally selected in the range of 2-5000 nm. Vapor deposition is preferably used as the method for forming a thin-film of the dipyridylthiophene derivative alone from the standpoint of easily obtaining a homogeneous film and inhibiting production of pinholes. When vapor deposition is used to form the thin-film, the vapor deposition conditions will differ depending on the type of dipyridylthiophene derivative, the crystalline and association structure desired for the molecular accumulation film, etc., but in most cases it is preferred to appropriately select a boat heating temperature of 50-400xc2x0 C., a vacuum degree of 10xe2x88x926 to 10xe2x88x923 Pa, a vapor deposition rate of 0.01-50 nm/sec, a substrate temperature of xe2x88x92150xc2x0 C. to +300xc2x0 C. and a film thickness in the range of 5 nm to 5 xcexcm.
A method of fabricating an organic EL device comprising the above-mentioned anode/hole transport layer/luminescent layer/dipyridylthiophene derivative/cathode structure will now be explained as an example of a method of fabricating an organic EL device using a dipyridylthiophene derivative according to the invention. After making the anode by forming a thin-film composed of the anode substance onto an appropriate substrate by vapor deposition to a film thickness of no greater than 1 xcexcm and preferably in the range of 10-200 nm, the hole transport layer is formed on this anode to a film thickness of no greater than 1 xcexcm, the luminescent layer is formed on the hole transport layer to a film thickness of no greater than 1 xcexcm, a thin-film of the dipyridylthiophene derivative is formed on the luminescent layer to prepare the electron transport layer, and then a thin-film composed of the cathode substance is formed by vapor deposition to a film thickness of no greater than 1 xcexcm to make the cathode, thereby obtaining the intended organic EL device. For fabrication of the organic EL device, the order of formation may be reversed, forming the cathode, electron transport layer, luminescent layer, hole transport layer and anode in that order.
When a direct current voltage is to be applied to the organic EL device obtained in this manner, the polarity of application may be + for the anode and xe2x88x92 for the cathode, and application of a voltage of approximately 2-40 V will allow luminescence from the transparent or semi-transparent electrode side (anode or cathode, or both). The organic EL device also emits light upon application of an alternating current voltage. The applied alternating current may have any desired waveform. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for collating cans and other articles of circular section into required patterns or configurations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is a requirement of many can-handling plants that at certain stations of such plants a large number of cans shall be rapidly and accurately collated into required forms. Despite the regularity in the size and shape of cans and similar containers, many attempts have been made to provide successful, but simple apparatus which will collate a large number of cans accurately into a required form, such as circular.
Collating apparatus has been proposed which involves a plurality of separate, parallel-extending, conveyor belts which lead a succession of cans to a stop which may, for example, be circular or semi-circular. However, this prior apparatus suffers from defects in that the collated pattern is not always as desired. If cans are arranged in aligned rows extending at 90.degree. to one another, the voids between the cans are substantially larger than if the cans are arranged so that the rows lie at approximately 60.degree. to one another or in other words so that any three cans are so arranged that each can is partially "nested" between the other cans of the three. The term "nested" will be used herein to refer to this arrangement. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to drainage receptacles and more particularly to an adjustable highly reliable drain receptacle for use in roof drainage systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known in the art, successful roof drain installations are directly attributable to various factors which require careful consideration. Among such factors is the roof drain receptacle itself, which should be a highly reliable structure that is ideally capable of being adjusted or otherwise adapted to suit various roofing conditions, such as deck type, thickness, and the like, and does not require that an installer have a high degree of installation expertise.
Most prior art roof drain receptacles include a drain body having an annular flange which extends laterally from the upper end thereof and is in bearing engagement with the upper surface of the roof deck and is usually clampingly attached to the roof deck by means of an underdeck clamp to insure that the roof drain receptacle is properly supported and positively secured. The drain body has an upwardly opening sump for receiving water from the surface of the roof and is provided with a drain outlet which is connected to the leader pipe of the drain system.
When the roofing materials, which are supported on the roof deck, such as insulation, are less than a maximum thickness, usually about two inches, or the materials are tapered toward the drain to provide such a thickness proximate the drain, a flashing ring is attached to the upper end of the drain body and coacts therewith to sealingly attach the drain receptacle to a suitable flashing element or roofing membrane. A dome structure having a slot or other openings formed therein is carried atop the flashing ring to allow the free inflow of water and yet restrict the passage of solid materials, such as leaves, which could cause drain system blockage. This basic type of roof drain receptacle is highly reliable and simple to install. However, its use is limited to roof structures having a relatively small thickness of roofing materials proximate the roof drain receptacle as mentioned above.
Whenever the roofing materials proximate the roof drain receptacle installation location exceeds the predetermined maximum, some form of extension element must be used to raise the top of the roof drain receptacle up to the level of the top surface of the roof.
In some prior art structures, a fixed height extension collar is interposed between the upper end of the drain body and the flashing ring. In such cases, the upper end of the extension collar cooperates with the flashing ring for sealingly attaching the drain receptacle to the flashing element or roof membrane and the lower end of the extension collar is sealed by means of a suitable sealant or gasket to the upper end of the drain body. The use of such a fixed height extension collar provides no means for installation adjustments which means that the roof drain receptacle simply cannot be used unless the proper fixed height extension collar is ordered and supplied with the balance of the roof drain receptacle components. In addition to this, whenever the use of a sealant or gasket is required in the roof drain receptacle itself, installation time is increased, the integrity of the drain receptacle is dependent on the skills of the installer and the materials used in forming the seal, and seal failures can occur due to vibrations, expansion and contraction, and the like, as well as seal deterioration resulting from environmental effects.
In other prior art structures, the problems associated with the hereinbefore described fixed height extension collars are overcome, or at least reduced, by providing an adjustable extension collar which is externally threaded for adjustable threaded attachment to internal threads provided in the drain body per se, or by a special support ring mounted thereon. In a variation of the adjustable extension collar, threaded rods are employed to interconnect and vary the height of the adjustable extension collar relative to the drain body. In any case, the requirement for forming an internal seal between the adjustable extension collar and the drain body, is as much of a problem as it is in the fixed height extension structures described above.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved adjustably extensible roof drain receptacle which overcomes some of the problems and shortcomings of the prior art. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention is directed generally to a visual signaling device which is part of a safety alarm system in the room or other spaces of a dwelling. The present invention is specifically directed to a visual signaling device which includes an electric lamp which is mounted in a housing which has reflective surfaces for distributing light in a predetermined pattern to predetermined areas of the room. In most instances, the authority having jurisdiction for building requirements relies on a standard for safety which is published by underwriters, laboratories, and is identified as "Signaling Device For The Hearing Impaired" UL 1971, published Jun. 30, 1992. This publication is incorporated herewith by reference. The pattern of light intensity which is delivered to specific areas of the room by a visual signaling device must conform to the minimum requirements of this standard. In accordance with the UL standard in the above-identified publication, for a visual signaling device located on a wall at a specific distance from the floor, circumpolar light output above zero axis, must be greater than or equal to percentage values noted in tables for vertical and horizontal dispersion. For prior art signaling devices, in order to meet minimum requirements for each angular increment from the signaling device, many areas of the room receive significantly more light than is required. Also, a significant amount of light escapes to areas of the room which are beyond the designated areas. This inefficiency requires that the light source have a greater intensity than that which would otherwise be required to meet the minimum requirements of the light dispersion standard. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art visual signaling devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide a visual signaling device which satisfies a predetermined criteria of intensity of dispersed light to predetermined areas of a room and which has a minimum dispersal of light to areas of the room outside of said predetermined areas.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a visual signaling device which satisfies a predetermined criteria of intensity of dispersed light to each of a plurality of predetermined angular segments of a room without exceeding, to a significant degree, the predetermined criteria of light intensity for each segment.
A further object of the present invention is the provision a visual signaling device which utilizes a light source of relative low intensity which satisfies a predetermined criteria of intensity of dispersed light to predetermined areas of a room.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of pans set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
As transistor size becomes smaller, more computational components, memories and lookup and decision engines can be integrated onto a single chip. This high integration allows for the ability to process more system tasks in parallel to achieve higher system performance. An on-chip network is an interconnection technique for a large number of lookup and decision engines on a single chip. The network includes multiple on-chip routers in which each on-chip router connects to the nearest neighboring on-chip router(s) in the network. Each lookup and decision engine is connected to one of the on-chip routers and an on-chip router can connect with multiple lookup and decision engines. Data communicated among lookup and decision engines are transferred through the network of the on-chip routers. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to test equipment for electric vehicles. More specifically, the present invention relates to a tester for testing electrical systems of an electric vehicle.
Various battery testing techniques and related technologies have been pioneered by Midtronics Inc. and Dr. Keith S. Champlin, including for example: U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,911, issued Mar. 25, 1975, to Champlin; U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,708, issued Sep. 30, 1975, to Champlin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,768, issued Mar. 28, 1989, to Champlin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,170, issued Apr. 25, 1989, to Champlin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,038, issued Nov. 14, 1989, to Champlin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,416, issued Mar. 27, 1990, to Champlin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,269, issued Aug. 18, 1992, to Champlin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,380, issued Aug. 30, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,136, issued Nov. 5, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,355, issued Nov. 12, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,416, issued Dec. 10, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,728, issued Dec. 17, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,757, issued Dec. 31, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,093, issued Jan. 7, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,098, issued Jan. 28, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,920, issued Aug. 12, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,192, issued May 26, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,756, issued Oct. 13, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,435, issued Nov. 3, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,858, issued Feb. 16, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,605, issued Jun. 22, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,829, issued Aug. 31, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,238, issued Dec. 14, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,751, issued Mar. 14, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,777, issued Mar. 14, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,051,976, issued Apr. 8, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,098, issued Jun. 27, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,091,245, issued Jul. 18, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,167, issued Aug. 15, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,269, issued Oct. 24, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,156, issued Dec. 19, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,483, issued Jan. 9, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,505, issued Jan. 9, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,369, issued Apr. 24, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,808, issued May 1, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,124, issued Jun. 19, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,259,254, issued Jul. 10, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,262,563, issued Jul. 17, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,896, issued Sep. 25, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,897, issued Sep. 25, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,087, issued Oct. 16, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,310,481, issued Oct. 30, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,607, issued Nov. 6, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,608, issued Nov. 6, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,914, issued Nov. 13, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,650, issued Nov. 27, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,793, issued Dec. 11, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,762, issued Dec. 18, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,113, issued Dec. 18, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,102, issued Feb. 26, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,359,441, issued Mar. 19, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,303, issued Mar. 26, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,377,031, issued Apr. 23, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,414, issued May 21, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,417,669, issued Jul. 9, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,158, issued Jul. 23, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,585, issued Aug. 17, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,957, issued Aug. 20, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,158, issued Sep. 3, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,045; U.S. Pat. No. 6,466,025, issued Oct. 15, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,908, issued Oct. 15, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,466,026, issued Oct. 15, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,469,511, issued Nov. 22, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,495,990, issued Dec. 17, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,497,209, issued Dec. 24, 2002; U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,196, issued Jan. 14, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,993; issued Mar. 18, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,078, issued Apr. 8, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,019, issued Apr. 29, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,883, issued May 20, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,586,941, issued Jul. 1, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,597,150, issued Jul. 22, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,272, issued Sep. 16, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,314, issued Sep. 23, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,165, issued Oct. 14, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,974, issued Oct. 21, 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,707,303, issued Mar. 16, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,831, issued May 18, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,744,149, issued Jun. 1, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,759,849, issued Jul. 6, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,382, issued Aug. 24, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,025, filed Sep. 7, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,795,782, issued Sep. 21, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,090, filed Oct. 19, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,806,716, filed Oct. 19, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,037, filed Feb. 1, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,037, issued Feb. 1, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,151, issued Mar. 22, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,885,195, issued Apr. 26, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,888,468, issued May 3, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,378, issued May 10, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,906,522, issued Jun. 14, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,906,523, issued Jun. 14, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,909,287, issued Jun. 21, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,914,413, issued Jul. 5, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,483, issued Jul. 5, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,930,485, issued Aug. 16, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,933,727, issued August 23, 200; U.S. Pat. No. 6,941,234, filed Sep. 6, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,967,484, issued Nov. 22, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,998,847, issued Feb. 14, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,410, issued Feb. 21, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,411, issued Feb. 21, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,433, issued Mar. 14, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,015,674, issued Mar. 21, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,034,541, issued Apr. 25, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,039,533, issued May 2, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,058,525, issued Jun. 6, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,755, issued Jul. 25, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,106,070, issued Sep. 12, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,116,109, issued Oct. 3, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,119,686, issued Oct. 10, 2006; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,126,341, issued Oct. 24, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,154,276, issued Dec. 26, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 7,198,510, issued Apr. 3, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 7,363,175, issued Apr. 22, 2008; U.S. Pat. No. 7,208,914, issued Apr. 24, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,015, issued Jul. 17, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 7,295,936, issued Nov. 13, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 7,319,304, issued Jan. 15, 2008; U.S. Ser. No. 09/780,146, filed Feb. 9, 2001, entitled STORAGE BATTERY WITH INTEGRAL BATTERY TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 09/756,638, filed Jan. 8, 2001, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING BATTERY PROPERTIES FROM COMPLEX IMPEDANCE/ADMITTANCE; U.S. Ser. No. 09/862,783, filed May 21, 2001, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING CELLS AND BATTERIES EMBEDDED IN SERIES/PARALLEL SYSTEMS; U.S. Ser. No. 09/880,473, filed Jun. 13, 2001; entitled BATTERY TEST MODULE; U.S. Ser. No. 10/042,451, filed Jan. 8, 2002, entitled BATTERY CHARGE CONTROL DEVICE; U.S. Ser. No. 10/109,734, filed Mar. 28, 2002, entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COUNTERACTING SELF DISCHARGE IN A STORAGE BATTERY; U.S. Ser. No. 10/112,998, filed Mar. 29, 2002, entitled BATTERY TESTER WITH BATTERY REPLACEMENT OUTPUT; U.S. Ser. No. 10/263,473, filed Oct. 2, 2002, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER WITH RELATIVE TEST OUTPUT; U.S. Ser. No. 10/310,385, filed Dec. 5, 2002, entitled BATTERY TEST MODULE; U.S. Ser. No. 10/462,323, filed Jun. 16, 2003, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER HAVING A USER INTERFACE TO CONFIGURE A PRINTER; U.S. Ser. No. 10/653,342, filed Sep. 2, 2003, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER CONFIGURED TO PREDICT A LOAD TEST RESULT; U.S. Ser. No. 10/441,271, filed May 19, 2003, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 09/653,963, filed Sep. 1, 2000, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING POWER GENERATION AND STORAGE; U.S. Ser. No. 10/174,110, filed Jun. 18, 2002, entitled DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHT CONTROL USING AN INTELLIGENT POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM; U.S. Ser. No. 10/258,441, filed Apr. 9, 2003, entitled CURRENT MEASURING CIRCUIT SUITED FOR BATTERIES; U.S. Ser. No. 10/681,666, filed Oct. 8, 2003, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER WITH PROBE LIGHT; U.S. Ser. No. 10/783,682, filed Feb. 20, 2004, entitled REPLACEABLE CLAMP FOR ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 10/791,141, filed Mar. 2, 2004, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUDITING A BATTERY TEST; U.S. Ser. No. 10/867,385, filed Jun. 14, 2004, entitled ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE; U.S. Ser. No. 10/896,834, filed Jul. 22, 2004, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 10/958,821, filed Oct. 5, 2004, entitled IN-VEHICLE BATTERY MONITOR; U.S. Ser. No. 10/958,812, filed Oct. 5, 2004, entitled SCAN TOOL FOR ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 11/008,456, filed Dec. 9, 2004, entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PREDICTING BATTERY CAPACITY AND FITNESS FOR SERVICE FROM A BATTERY DYNAMIC PARAMETER AND A RECOVERY VOLTAGE DIFFERENTIAL, U.S. Ser. No. 60/587,232, filed Dec. 14, 2004, entitled CELLTRON ULTRA, U.S. Ser. No. 11/018,785, filed Dec. 21, 2004, entitled WIRELESS BATTERY MONITOR; U.S. Ser. No. 60/653,537, filed Feb. 16, 2005, entitled CUSTOMER MANAGED WARRANTY CODE; U.S. Ser. No. 11/063,247, filed Feb. 22, 2005, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER OR CHARGER WITH DATABUS CONNECTION; U.S. Ser. No. 60/665,070, filed Mar. 24, 2005, entitled OHMMETER PROTECTION CIRCUIT; U.S. Ser. No. 11/141,234, filed May 31, 2005, entitled BATTERY TESTER CAPABLE OF IDENTIFYING FAULTY BATTERY POST ADAPTERS; U.S. Ser. No. 11/143,828, filed Jun. 2, 2005, entitled BATTERY TEST MODULE; U.S. Ser. No. 11/146,608, filed Jun. 7, 2005, entitled SCAN TOOL FOR ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 60,694,199, filed Jun. 27, 2005, entitled GEL BATTERY CONDUCTANCE COMPENSATION; U.S. Ser. No. 11/178,550, filed Jul. 11, 2005, entitled WIRELESS BATTERY TESTER/CHARGER; U.S. Ser. No. 60/705,389, filed Aug. 4, 2005, entitled PORTABLE TOOL THEFT PREVENTION SYSTEM, U.S. Ser. No. 11/207,419, filed Aug. 19, 2005, entitled SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY GATHERING BATTERY INFORMATION FOR USE DURING BATTERY TESTER/CHARGING, U.S. Ser. No. 60/712,322, filed Aug. 29, 2005, entitled AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE, U.S. Ser. No. 60/713,168, filed Aug. 31, 2005, entitled LOAD TESTER SIMULATION WITH DISCHARGE COMPENSATION, U.S. Ser. No. 60/731,881, filed Oct. 31, 2005, entitled PLUG-IN FEATURES FOR BATTERY TESTERS; U.S. Ser. No. 60/731,887, filed Oct. 31, 2005, entitled AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE; U.S. Ser. No. 11/304,004, filed Dec. 14, 2005, entitled BATTERY TESTER THAT CALCULATES ITS OWN REFERENCE VALUES; U.S. Ser. No. 60/751,853, filed Dec. 20, 2005, entitled BATTERY MONITORING SYSTEM; U.S. Ser. No. 11/304,004, filed Dec. 14, 2005, entitled BATTERY TESTER WITH CALCULATES ITS OWN REFERENCE VALUES; U.S. Ser. No. 60/751,853, filed Dec. 20, 2005, entitled BATTERY MONITORING SYSTEM; U.S. Ser. No. 11/352,945, filed Feb. 13, 2006, entitled BATTERY TESTERS WITH SECONDARY FUNCTIONALITY; U.S. Ser. No. 11/356,299, filed Feb. 16, 2006, entitled CENTRALLY MONITORED SALES OF STORAGE BATTERIES; U.S. Ser. No. 11/356,443, filed Feb. 16, 2006, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER WITH NETWORK COMMUNICATION; U.S. Ser. No. 11/498,703, filed Aug. 3, 2006, entitled THEFT PREVENTION DEVICE FOR AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE SERVICE CENTERS; U.S. Ser. No. 11/507,157, filed Aug. 21, 2006, entitled APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SIMULATING A BATTERY TESTER WITH A FIXED RESISTANCE LOAD; U.S. Ser. No. 11/511,872, filed Aug. 29, 2006, entitled AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC DEVICE; U.S. Ser. No. 11/519,481, filed Sep. 12, 2006, entitled BROAD-BAND LOW-CONDUCTANCE CABLES FOR MAKING KELVIN CONNECTIONS TO ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS AND BATTERIES; U.S. Ser. No. 60/847,064, filed Sep. 25, 2006, entitled STATIONARY BATTERY MONITORING ALGORITHMS; U.S. Ser. No. 11/638,771, filed Dec. 14, 2006, entitled BATTERY MONITORING SYSTEM; U.S. Ser. No. 11/641,594, filed Dec. 19, 2006, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING A PARAMETER OF A VEHICLE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM; U.S. Ser. No. 11/711,356, filed Feb. 27, 2007, entitled BATTERY TESTER WITH PROMOTION FEATURE; U.S. Ser. No. 11/811,528, filed Jun. 11, 2007, entitled ALTERNATOR TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 60/950,182, filed Jul. 17, 2007, entitled BATTERY TESTER FOR HYBRID VEHICLE; U.S. Ser. No. 60/973,879, filed Sep. 20, 2007, entitled ELECTRONIC BATTERY TESTER FOR TESTING STATIONARY BATTERIES; U.S. Ser. No. 11/931,907, filed Oct. 31, 2007, entitled BATTERY MAINTENANCE WITH PROBE LIGHT; U.S. Ser. No. 60/992,798, filed Dec. 6, 2007, entitled STORAGE BATTERY AND BATTERY TESTER; U.S. Ser. No. 12/099,826, filed Apr. 9, 2008, entitled BATTERY RUN DOWN INDICATOR; U.S. Ser. No. 61/061,848, filed Jun. 16, 2008, entitled KELVIN CLAMP FOR ELECTRONICALLY COUPLING TO A BATTERY CONTACT; which are incorporated herein in their entirety.
Many electric vehicles use a battery or other electrical storage device to store energy for use in operating the electric vehicle. Some such electric vehicles use energy recovering (or “regeneration”) techniques in which potentially waste energy is recovered and stored in the energy storage device. One example is recovery of energy from the braking function. The energy in braking is recovered as electrical energy rather than being dissipated as excess heat. The energy storage device should be able to sufficiently store the excess energy, as well as deliver energy to the electrical motor of the electric vehicle. Due to the increasing price of petroleum, hybrid systems are rapidly proliferating, and are outpacing the ability to test those systems. There is an ongoing need to test the electrical systems of such electric vehicles. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a manufacturing management method for a mounter which manufactures mounted boards by mounting components on boards. The present invention also relates to a manufacturing management method for a manufacturing line including plural mounters.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, manufacturing lines have been used when manufacturing mounted boards by mounting electronic components onto boards, such as printed circuit boards. These manufacturing lines are manufacturing lines which manufacture mounted boards on moving assembly line in which apparatuses with respective roles are arranged in line. The assembly line includes: an apparatus for printing solders on boards; an apparatus for applying adhesive to the boards; an apparatus for mounting electronic components onto the boards; and an apparatus for soldering the electronic components to the boards.
In order to obtain a high throughput for the manufacturing line as a whole, a high throughput is also required for each manufacturing apparatus, for example, a mounter which mounts components onto boards. Thus, in order to realize this, for the mounter, hardware measures for transporting components at high speed in each of the following processes are adopted: a pickup process in which each component to be supplied to the mounter is picked up, held, and lifted by vacuum; a transporting process in which the picked-up component is transported from a component supply unit to a point above a board; and a mounting process in which the transported component is placed down and mounted onto the surface of the board. Meanwhile, software measures are adopted for optimizing the arrangement sequence of component feeders and component tapes, and optimizing the arrangement sequence of components (See Patent Reference 1, for example).
Thus, by maintaining a high-throughput manufacturing line like this, mounted boards are manufactured as planned fully in accordance with a manufacturing plan that is drafted based on a sales forecast, which is information from the sales department and so on.
Patent Reference 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-50900
However, information such as sales forecasts, which serves as a base for manufacturing planning, is mere predicted values. Meanwhile, a manufacturing plan is drafted for a comparatively long span, for example, by the year or by the month. Thus, it is often the case that a difference occurs between the mounted boards to be manufactured according to daily operation planning based on such manufacturing planning and the mounted boards to be actually shipped (sold).
If any difference occurs like this between the planned value and the result value, a situation arises which necessitates storage of finished mounted boards within a manufacturing factory, that is, carrying an inventory, while inventory runs out which makes it impossible to ship (sell) the mounting boards as a result of manufacturing bottleneck.
Generally, inventory shortage affects downstream processes, for example, even a process in which products are finished by attaching a mounted board. Thus, a manufacturing plan tends to generate excess inventory rather than inventory shortage. Any generation of such inventory necessitates storage space for mounted boards and thus causes storage expenses and so on.
In addition, in order to deal with unstable factors such as an abrupt change in planning despite a margin for delivery time, it is more likely to try to finish manufacturing a predetermined quantity at an earlier date by continuing the manufacturing of mounted boards while keeping a high throughput. In this case, the manufacturing plan is achievable but results in a waste of electric power and an increase in inventory. This leads to an increase in costs including electric expenses.
FIG. 1 is a diagram for illustrating inventory.
For example, assume that, within a factory there are a mounting line 602 which can manufacture 200 boards A per day and a mounting line 604 which can manufacture 150 boards B per day. To this factory, assume that an order 606 of “manufacture 150 boards A and 120 boards B” arrives. In this case, when the two mounting lines 602 and 604 are fully operated to manufacture 200 boards A and 150 boards B, and when the ordered quantity of boards are shipped, the inventory of boards A is 50 (=200−150), while the inventory of boards B is 30 (=150−120). Thus, this leads to cost losses. Note that such inventory of products to be shipped from the factory will be hereinafter referred to as “shipment inventory.”
In addition, in the case where plural mounting lines manufacture a single board or a single product in an interrelated manner and where the plural mounting lines have different takt times with a bad line balance, an inventory is generated in the manufacturing process of boards. Thus, this case also presents a problem which leads to cost losses resulting from carrying an inventory. Note that such inventory generated in the manufacturing process of products will be hereinafter referred to as “process inventory.”
FIG. 2 is a diagram for illustrating a problem related to the process inventory as described above.
For example, assume that there are a board A mounting line 608 for manufacturing boards A and a board B mounting line 610 for manufacturing boards B, and that an assembly process 612 for a board A and a board B follows the two mounting lines 608 and 610. Furthermore, assume that boards A and boards B are manufactured in parallel on the board A mounting line 608 and the board B mounting line 610. In this case, assume that the line takt time (time required for manufacturing a board) for the board A mounting line 608 is 12 seconds, while the line takt time for the board B mounting line 610 is 20 seconds. Thus, when compared in the quantity of boards to be manufactured per unit time, there are more boards A. Consequently, boards A remain as process inventory.
In addition, FIG. 3 is another diagram for illustrating the above problem of process inventory. A manufacturing system 626 shown in the figure is a system for mounting components onto both sides of a board, and includes: a back surface mounting line 622, a stocker 30a, a conveyer 154, a board reversing apparatus 156, and a front surface mounting line 624.
The back surface mounting line 622 is a mounting line which mounts components onto the back surface of each board. The stocker 30a stocks each board the back surface of which is mounted with components. The conveyer 154 transports the board stocked in the stocker 30a. The board reversing apparatus 156 reverses the board transported by the conveyer 154. The front surface mounting line 624 is a mounting line which mounts components onto the front surface of the board reversed by the board reversing apparatus 156. In other words, each board flows in sequence in the direction indicated by the arrows in the figure.
In this regard, assume that the line takt time for the back surface mounting line 622 is 12 seconds, while the line takt time for the front surface mounting line 624 is 20 seconds. Thus, compared in the quantity of boards to be manufactured per unit time, there are more back surface boards. Therefore, the manufacturing of the front surface boards cannot keep up with the manufacturing of the back surface boards, and the back surface boards are to be stocked in the stocker 30a as process inventory.
The present invention, having been conceived in view of problems described above, aims to offer a manufacturing management method for a mounter which suppresses the occurrence of inventory shortage or excess inventory as much as possible, and further to offer a manufacturing management method for enabling power savings in the case where the line is not utilized to its full capacity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement of a prior art gyro apparatus such as disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 885,730 equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,711 by same applicants of the present invention and is directed more particularly to a gyro apparatus which can shorten the time required for adjusting the roll error during manufacturing a gyrocompass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art gyro apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent will hereinafter be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a gyro case for accommodating within it a gyro rotor rotatable at high speed, which is constructed as a liquid-tight structure, 2 a container or receptacle formed like a tank to surround therein the gyro case 1 and 3 denotes a suspension wire for supporting or suspending the gyro case 1, an upper end of which is fixed to the tank 2 and a lower end which is secured to the gyro case 1, respectively.
Numerals 4N, 4S and 5N, 5S each designate primary and secondary sides of a non-contact displacement detection apparatus 6, in which the primary sides 4N and 4S are respectively attached to, for example, intersecting points on an external surface of the gyro case 1 to which a spin axis of the gyro is extended, that is, north and south sides of the gyro, while the secondary sides 5N and 5S are attached to the positions responsive to the primary sides 4N and 4S on the tank 2. Numeral 7 represents a liquid or oil like a damping oil with high viscosity, which is charged or sealed into the tank 2. At the positions (east and west) perpendicular to the spin axis of the gyro on the equator of the tank 2 are located ends of a pair of horizontal shafts 8 and 8' and the other ends rotatably engage bearings 13 and 13' provided at the positions corresponding to a horizontal ring 12. Numeral 10 denotes a horizontal follow-up servo motor, which is attached to the horizontal ring 12. To one horizontal shaft 8 is attached a horizontal gear 9 arranged to be rotatably meshed with a horizontal pinion 11 fixed to the rotary shaft of the servo motor 10. At positions perpendicular to the horizontal shaft bearings 13 and 13' mentioned previously in the horizontal ring 12 are attached gimbal shafts 14 and 14', which are rotatably engaged with gimbal shaft bearings 15 and 15' placed at the corresponding position on a follow-up ring 16. At the top and bottom of the follow-up ring 16 are located follow-up shafts 17 and 17', free end portions of which are rotatably engaged with follow-up shaft bearings 25 and 25' provided at the positions illustrated in binnacle 24. An azimuth gear 21 is attached to one follow-up shaft 17. Anb azimuth follow-up servo motor 19 is installed on the binnacle 24 and an azimuth pinion 20 is attached to the rotary shaft thereof, which rotatably meshes with the azimuth gear 21. Numeral 22 designates a compass card which is secured to the follow-up shaft 17'. Numeral 23 represents a lubber line plate or board attached to the upper plane of the binnacle 24 in such a manner as to correspond to the compass card 22 where the course of a ship or vehicle equipped with the gyro apparatus according to this embodiment is read out by the cooperation of a lubber line 26 drawn on the central portion thereof and the compass card 22. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 27 represents a saucer or dish-shaped portion or member, which is the main or essential part of the present invention and its description in detail will be presented later.
Next, one practical example of the aforesaid non-contact displacement detection apparatus 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 describes a case in which a pair of N (north) sides are taken out. As shown in the figure, the primary side 4N is formed of a single primary rectangular coil whose winding is in the plane perpendicular to the spin axis of the gyro, which is ordinarily energized by the alternating current commonly used for a gyro power supply PS thereby to form AC magnetic fields respectively illustrated by broken arrows a.sub.1 and a.sub.1. The secondary side 5N is likewise comprised of four rectangular coils 5NW, 5NE, 5NU and 5NL in which a pair of coils 5NW and 5NE are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction and another pair of coils 5NL and 5NU are arranged in the vertical direction. The pairs of coils 5NW, 5NE and 5NU, 5NL are connected to each other at the portions where the windings start.
Now, let us consider a case wherein the primary side coil 4N, namely, the gyro case 1 is positioned in the center of the secondary side coil 5N, namely, the tank 2. Since the magnetic flux oriented from the primary coil 4N passes through the four secondary coils 5NW, 5NE, 5NU and 5NL, voltages are correspondingly induced in the respective four coils. But, since the magnetic flux changes in the respective secondary coils each are approximately the same and in addition, the pairs of coils each are differentially coupled to one other as depicted above, no voltages are produced across their output terminals 2-1 and 2--2. Also, let us consider another case, for example, in which the primary coil 4N is displaced toward the east (shown by arrow E in FIG. 2), the magnetic flux passing through the coil 5NE is increased while the magnetic flux passing through the coil 5NW is decreased, so that a voltage is produced across the output terminal 2-1, but no voltage is produced across the other output terminal 2--1.
On the other hand, when the primary coil 4N is displaced toward the west (shown by arrow W in FIG. 2), contrary to the above case, the induced voltage in the coil 5NW is increased but, the induced voltage in the coil 5NE is decreased thereby to produce a voltage with the phase opposite to that produced when the primary coil 4N is displaced toward the east. In this case, the coils 5NU and 5NL are located in the vertical direction, so that no voltage is produced across the output terminal 2--2 thereof, which is the same as set forth above.
On the other hand, with respect to the displacement in the vertical direction of the primary coil 4N, since no voltage is produced in the coils 5NW and 5NE which are disposed in the horizontal direction, but the voltages are produced in the coils 5NL and 5NU placed in the vertical direction, output voltage is generated across the output terminal 2--2 thereof. In other words, by the construction shown in FIG. 2, it is possible that the displacement of the N end of the gyro case 1 in the east-west and vertical directions relative to the tank 2 can be detected.
FIG. 3 is an arrangement representing schematically a detection apparatus for detecting the displacement in only the east-west direction wherein the gyro case 1 is viewed from the top thereof. More specifically, the displacement detection apparatus in the S (south) side is comprised of a primary side coil 4S, secondary side coils 5SE and 5SW wherein when the gyro case 1 is displaced in the east direction, the magnetic flux which passes through the coil 5SE is increased, but the magnetic flux in the coil 5SW is decreased to thereby induce a voltage across terminal 3-1, the phase of which is the same as that of the voltage produced across the terminal 2-1 of the coils 5NW and 5NE mentioned above. Also, since the coils 5SE, 5SW and 5NE, 5NW are differentially connected to one other, although no voltage is generated across a terminal 3-2 relative to the displacement of the east to west direction of the gyro case 1, when the gyro case 1 produces an angular displacement around a vertical axis line O (perpendicular to the sheet of the drawing), across the terminal 3-2 there is produced an output voltage whose phase is inverted by 180.degree. in accordance with the rotational direction thereof. This output voltage is applied to a control winding of the azimuth servo motor 19 through (or not through) a servo amplifier 30. The rotation of the servo motor 19 is transmitted to the tank 2 by means of the azimuth pinion 20, the azimuth gear 21, the follow-up ring 16 and the horizontal ring 12, so that the tank 2 is controlled to allow the angular displacement around the afore-described vertical axis line O to be made zero. In other words, whatever azimuth the gyro case 1 may take, no twisting force is caused at all upon the suspension wire 3 on account of the action of the servo system as mentioned above, which prevents any kind of external disturbance torque to be applied to the gyro at its vertical axis line O. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 3, numeral 3--3 designates an error correcting signal generating apparatus which is provided for generating the voltage responsive to the speed of a ship or for the latitude, so that the follow-up position of the azimuth follow-up system is displaced and the suspension wire 3 is twisted whereby the torque is applied to the gyro around its vertical axis line O so as to correct the error.
FIG. 4 schematically shows the horizontal follow-up system of the prior art in which the coils 5NU, 5NL and 5SU, 5SL each composing the secondary pick up 5N and 5S are connected to one another differentially in the same manner as described before. For this reason, although across its terminal 4-1 there is produced no output voltage when the gyro case 1 is moved parallel to the vertical direction of the tank 2, a voltagbe is produced across the terminal 4-1 with respect to the angular movement of the gyro case 1 around the horizontal axis, which is applied to the control winding of the horizontal follow-up servo motor 10 through (or not through) a servo amplifier 31. The rotation of the horizontal follow-up servo motor 10 is transmitted to rotate the tank 2 through the horizontal pinion 11 and the horizontal gear 9, so that the angular displacement of the tank 2 as set forth above is made zero.
FIG. 5 is a representation schematically showing the inside of the tank 2 wherein a north-seeking end A on the extended line of the spin axis of the gyro within the gyro case 1 (which exists on the gyro case 1) is raised higher only by the angle .theta. relative to a horizontal plane H--H'. In this case, O.sub.1 designates the center of the gravity of the gyro case 1, Q designates the coupling point of suspension wire 3 and the tank 2, P, the coupling point of suspension wire 3 and the tank 2. O.sub.2, the center of the tank 2 and when the spin axis of the rotor within the gyro case 1 is horizontal (.theta.-0), O.sub.1 and O.sub.2 are arranged to be coincident with one other. Also, if reference letter A is given as the north-seeking end and B is given as a point on the gyro case 1 which deviate by 180.degree. from the north-seeking end A, letters A' and B' each represent the points on the tank 2 corresponding to the aforesaid A and B. Then, since the suspension wire 3 presents a deflection curve as shown by a chain line in FIG. 5 due to the fact that the suspension wire 3 has a flexural rigidity in practice, it is natural that axial direction movement .xi. (O.sub.2 to O.sub.1) of the gyro case 1 against the tank 2 ought to be reduced by an extremely small amount. But, such influence is quite small in the practical application, so that the description of this embodiment will be given assuming that the suspensin wire 3 is perfectly flexible.
As previously described, since the points A' and B' on the tank 2 and the points A and B on the gyro case 1 are always arranged on a straight line due to the action of the servo system, the tank 2 is urged to be inclined only by the angle .theta. relative to the horizontal plane H--H' in a manner which is same as the gyro case 1. Now, assuming that no external acceleration is applied thereto, since no external force is active for the spin axis direction of the gyro case 1, the suspension wire 3 is coincided with the vertical line. If the tension of the suspension wire 3 is represented by T and the remaining weight of the gyro case 1 excluding the buoyancy caused by the damping oil 7 within the gyro case 1 is represented by mg, the tension T of the suspension wire 3 produces a moment M around the point O.sub.1, which can be expressed as follows. EQU M=Tr sin.theta.=mg r sin.theta.
This moment M is applied around the horizontal axis (which passes through the point O.sub.1 and perpendicular to the sheet of the drawing) of the gyro as the torque thereof. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 5, reference letter r represents the distance between the center of gravity O.sub.1 of the gyro case 1 and the coupling point Q of the suspension wire 3 with the gyro case 1. In other words, according to the method thus discussed, since the torque in proportion to the inclination of the spin axis against the horizontal plane can be applied around the horizontal axis of the gyro and if the distance r, the remaining weight mg and the angular momentum of the gyro are properly selected so as to make the period of the north-seeking movement thereof several tens to one hundred and several tens of minutes, it is possible to produce a gyrocompass as intended. Practically, on account of the flexural rigidity of the suspension wire 3, the preceding description is considered as equivalent to that the afore-described distance r is lengthened to be slightly longer than the practical distance between O.sub.1 and Q. Also, the north-seeking apparatus of the gyrocompass is, at the same time, required to have such a characteristic so that rolling errors or scors by errors are not caused by the periodical horizontal acceleration, for example, rolling and pitching jof the ship body and so on, namely, a so-called high cut characteristic (low pass characteristic).
FIG. 6 is a schematic representation taken along the westward side showing a case in which the horizontal acceleration .alpha.H acts on the gyro in the stationary state, wherein the spin axis line A-B of the gyro within the gyro case 1 is made substantially to be coincident with a horizontal plane H--H' and a meridian NS. The horizontal acceleration .alpha.H is generally brought about by the rolling or pitching motion of the ship and so forth and the magnitude and direction thereof change like sine wave with respect to time and the north to south and east to west components are respectively denoted by .alpha.N and .alpha.E as seen in FIG. 7.
Now, referring back to FIG. 6, as case is considered where the horizontal acceleration .alpha.H may change over extremely long periods. The gyro case 1 follows the north to south acceleration .alpha.N with fidelity in a fashion so as to perform sine wave movement within the tank 2, so that an angle .sigma. of the suspension wire 3 against the vertical line V--V' may always be coincident with an angle .PSI. formed by the horizontal acceleration .alpha.H relative to the gravity acceleration g. In this case, as described before, the tension T of the suspension wire 3 forms and applys the torque M, which is expressed as follows around the horizontal axis (which passed through O.sub.1 and perpendicular to the sheet of the drawing) of the gyro. EQU M=Tr sin.sigma..apprxeq.Tr sin.PSI..apprxeq.mg r .alpha.(N/g)=mr .alpha.N
This equation means that such change does not cause any compass errors, because the .alpha.N is only displaced periodically with respect to time.
FIG. 8 is a schematic representation viewed from the south side for showing a case in which the gyro is applied with the horizontal acceleration .alpha.H. The tank 2 is of a physical pendulum construction whose underside is heavy around the gimbal shafts 14 and 14' as shown in FIG. 1. Also, since the period of this pendulum normally is one or two seconds and is sufficiently short as compared with the ship's pitching or rolling period, the periodic motion of the suspension wire 3 and the tank 2 are likewise made coincident with each other in a composite direction of the east to west acceleration .alpha.E and the gravity acceleration g. As a result, a horizontal axis W'--E' is urged to repeat the inclination movement. In other words, when .alpha.H is in the NE quadrant as shown in FIG. 7, a torque represented by M.sub.1 as seen in FIG. 9 acts on the gyro and when the .alpha.H is in the WS quadrant as shown in FIG. 7, a torque represented by M.sub.2 seen in FIG. 9 is applied to the gyro. Accordingly, a torque denoted by M.sub.v seen in FIG. 9 is left around the vertical axis, thus resulting in the azimuth error to the gyro (rolling error).
By the way, the period of the rolling acceleration lasts for about several seconds to twenty seconds practically in most ships now existing and the gyro case 1 and the suspension wire 3 comprise one simple pendulum relative to the N-S direction as previously described, so that the gyro case 1 can not respond to the horizontal acceleration with a period faster than the free period of the aforesaid pendulum system. In addition, it should be noted that by the viscous resistance of the damping oil 7 against the gyro case 1, the gyro case 1 is extremely limited to move in the N-S direction relative to the tank 2. In this case, the center of the viscous force action on the hyro case 1 is adapted to be coincided with the center of the gravity O.sub.1. For this reason, against the periodical horizontal acceleration .alpha.N which may ordinarily be caused by the ship's rolling, the gyro case 1 and the tank 2 are moved nearly like unitary bodies (in other words, O.sub.2 is made coincident with O.sub.1) thereby to allow the angle .sigma. as seen in FIG. 6 to be made almost zero, and the tension T of the suspension wire 3 will not form a moment around the horizontal axis O.sub.1, so that the so-called rolling error will not occur. In this case, it is possible that the viscosity due to the damping oil 7 is selected so as not to substantially influence the long period acceleration such as the north-seeking period of the gyrocompass (for example, about 84 minutes), which does not interfere with the north-seeking movement thereof.
By the way, in accordance with the descriptions thus made, the center of the gravity O.sub.1 of the gyro case 1 upon being subjected to the acceleration and the center of viscous force O' due to the damping oil 7 have been treated as if they are approximately coincident with one other. However, to study them more in detail, it is understandable that they are not always coincident with each other.
Now, there is illustrated in FIG. 10 the relationship between the forces working for the gyro case 1 during its acceleration movement. At this time, letting the horizontal acceleration be represented by .alpha., for the center of the gravity O of the gyro case 1 there is a force of inertia given as m.alpha. shown by a right-hand arrow in the figure. This force of inertia is applied to the damping oil 7 to cause flow represented by V.sub.1 and V.sub.2 in the upper and lower gaps of the damping oil 7 formed by the tank 2 and the gyro case 1, whereby the viscous force F due to this flow V.sub.1 and V.sub.2 causes the center of the viscous force O' so as to be balanced with the force of inertia m.alpha. as described above.
If the aforesaid upper and lower gaps in the damping oil 7 are perfectly equal to each other, the external periphery of the gyro case 1 and the inner periphery of the tank 2 are formed as true spherical-shapes and the center of the gravity O is correctly made coincident with the center of the gyro case 1, the center of the viscous force O' and the center of the gravity O are made coincident with one other and then undesirable influences not will be exerted thereon. But, in practice, since the afore-said upper and lower gaps can not be made to be the same and the external periphery of the gyro case 1 and the circumferential shape of the tank 2 are not constructed to be true spheres, it is normal, as illustrated in FIG. 10 that the center of the gravity O of the gyro case 1 is generally spaced apart by .epsilon. from the center of the viscous force O' working on the gyro case 1 due to the camping oil 7 which has high viscosity. As shown in FIG. 7, when the horizontal acceleration .alpha. works for the gyro case 1 from the true North N to the direction formed by angle .beta., the tank 2 is angularly displaced by the angle denoted as .phi. around its north-south axis as shown in FIG. 8 and at the same time, a torque m.epsilon.r caused by the displacement between the center of the gravity O and the center of the viscous force O' works around the east-west axis of the gyro case 1, so that a rectifying action of the torque is brought about by the mechanism the same as seen in FIG. 9 thereby producing the rolling error caused by the fact that the center of the gravity is not coincident with the center of the viscous force, which is peculiar to the gyro apparatus described in the Japanese Patent forth above. When the gyro apparatus is to be adjusted (adjustment of the gyro apparatus where the AC horizontal accelerating is applied in order to permit the rolling error to be reduced to zero is termed as a swing test), it becomes indispensable in practice to make the center of the gravity perfectly coincident with the center of the viscous force.
This rolling error is caused by the fact that the center of the gravity and the center of the viscous force are spaced apart from each other in the upper and lower directions as mentioned above. To cope with the above aspect, various methods have been considered, for example, as will be described later.
(i) To attach weights to the upper and lower sides of the gyro case 1, its center of gravity O is made coincident with the center of the viscous force O';
(ii) To attach fins with specific gravity which is the same as that of the gyro case 1 to the upper and lower sides of the gyro case 1, the center of the viscous force O' is made coincident with the center of the gravity O of the gyro case 1; and
(iii) To adjust the length of the suspension wire 3, (the vertical positions) of the gyro case 1 relative to the tank 2 are adjusted then to change the upper and lower gaps as mentioned above, and the center of the viscous force O' is made coincident with the center of the gravity O of the gyro case 1.
In accordance with the methods (i) and (ii) mentioned above, it is necessary to take the gyro case 1 out from the damping oil 7 with high viscosity at every adjusting procedure of the gyro apparatus and hence these methods are not suitable for practical use. Although method (iii) does not have the defects described above, there is a difficulty because the length of the suspension wire 3 must be changed while no twisting is applied thereto. Or, if the upper and lower positions of the gyro case 1 to the tank 2 are altered, there will be caused a zero positions error or the like in displacement detection apparatus. Thus, the method (iii) is also not suitable for practical use. | {
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In a process of manufacturing semiconductor devices, a method of dry-etching a silicon oxide film formed on a surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “wafer”) without using plasma, has been known. Such a dry-etching method includes modifying the silicon oxide film to produce a reaction product, and heating the reaction product to vaporize (or sublimate) the reaction product. The dry-etching method etches the silicon oxide film by sequentially performing the modification process and the heating process.
Specifically, the interior of a modification chamber where a wafer is received is first controlled to have a low pressure close to a vacuum state. Subsequently, for example, a mixture gas of a hydrogen fluoride gas (HF gas) and an ammonia gas (NH3 gas) is supplied into the chamber while adjusting the wafer to have a predetermined temperature, so that a silicon oxide film is modified into a reaction product. Thereafter, the wafer is transferred from the modification chamber to a heating chamber where the reaction product formed on the silicon oxide film is heated and sublimated. By doing this, the silicon oxide film is etched.
Once the silicon oxide film is modified (i.e., the generation of the reaction product) to a certain degree of depth starting at a surface of the silicon oxide film, a saturation point is deemed to have reached and the silicon oxide film is not modified any further. That is, there is a limit to an etching rate of the silicon oxide film which is to be etched by one cycle of the modification process and the heating process. Thus, in order to obtain a desired etching rate of the silicon oxide film, a sequence of the modification process and the heating process need to be performed for a plurality of times.
This also requires repeatedly transferring the wafer between the modification chamber and the heating chamber, thus reducing throughput due to the time spent in transferring the wafer.
In order to reduce the number of repetitions of the modification process and the heating process, there is a method of adjusting a heating temperature depending on the type of a silicon oxide film or adjusting a partial pressure of the hydrogen fluoride (HF) gas to be introduced into the modification chamber during the modification process.
However, such a method performs the modification process and the heating process using respective chambers, resulting in reduced throughput due to the time spent in transferring the wafer between the respective chambers.
In addition, if the sequence of the modification process and the heating process is performed using the same chamber, it takes a long time to adjust a temperature of the wafer due to a difference in processing temperature between the modification process and the heating process. This prolongs an overall time required for etching the silicon oxide film. In particular, the wafer which has undergone the heating process, has a high temperature (about 200 degrees C.). As such, when performing the modification process again after the heating process, it takes a long time to cool the highly heated wafer. This prolongs the time required for performing a subsequent modification process on the silicon oxide film, thus resulting in reduced throughput. | {
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This invention lies in the field of connectors for releasably connecting electrical conductors. More specifically it relates to a connector which permits the releasable connection of fine electrical conductors without significantly degrading the surfaces of such conductors by repeated frictional contact between the surfaces of the conductors. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface-modified insulator and a method of surface-modifying an insulator with a fluoroorganosilane- and/or siloxane-containing preparation
2. Discussion of the Background
Insulators are widely employed throughout industry, for example, as high-tension insulators in transformer stations or in transmission lines. These insulators must meet exacting technical requirements for as long as possible under onerous service conditions, in particular under the stress caused by contamination layers of dirt, salt or other deposits.
A contamination layer deposited on the surface of the insulator impairs the electrical insulation capacity. Countermeasures against the effects of such contamination include complex constructional forms with high shield spread and long leakage paths. In addition, heavily contaminated surfaces require manual cleaning at regular intervals.
From xe2x80x9cElektrotechnische Zeitschriftxe2x80x94Axe2x80x9d, 96 (1995), pages 126 to 128, it is also known to apply a hydrophobic coating of silicone to the surface of an insulator. The insulator surface consequently repels water, thereby avoiding the buildup of a contamination layer by water-dissolved particles. Because of the thus-imparted hydrophobic characteristics, an insulator soiled with a contamination layer retains its electrical properties, since coherent films of water, or moisture zones, are unable to form, and the service life of the insulator is thus extended. A disadvantage, however, is that such siliconization of the surface is not permanent and must be renewed from time to time. This entails a high maintenance effort and an expensive plant shutdown. Moreover, the silicone material required for the hydrophobic coating is expensive.
EP 0 497 189 B1 discloses a process for preparing a water- and oil-repellent adsorbed film in which a substrate having a pre-roughened surface and having active hydrogen groups thereon is contacted with a nonaqueous solution of a surface-active material. The active material contains a fluorocarbon group and a chlorosilyl group or a fluorocarbon group and an alkoxy group. The solvents employed in this method are chlorohydrocarbons, which are at present comparatively expensive and extremely toxic. The application examples mentioned in the reference include high-tension insulators and sparkplugs. However, as noted above, a coating of this type is not permanent under onerous service conditions, since the attachment of coating to the insulator is inadequate.
It is also known to prepare a composition that contains an organofluorine-functional siloxane by controlled acid- or base-regulated hydrolysis and condensation or co-condensation of organofluorine-functional chlorosilanes and/or alkoxysilanes with or without additional precursor components. The pH regulators employed in this case include not only organic or inorganic acids or bases but also acidic or basic salts, such as alkali metal carbonate, alkali metal hydrogen sulfate, alkali metal dihydrogen phosphate, magnesium hydroxide and aluminum acetate. In preparing such a composition it is also known to employ, for example, silicon tetrachloride or else titanium tetrachloride or zirconium tetrachloride, or corresponding metal acid esters, as precursor components.
Such water, solvent- or dispersant-containing compositions are generally employed for the hydrophobic and simultaneously oleophobic and dirt-repellent treatment of substrates or for special modification of the surface properties of the substrates; for example, for the surface treatment of metals, metal oxides, fillers, pigments, glass, enamel, ceramic, building materials, buildings, fibers, textiles, natural substances, plastics, and coating materials. The surface modification may also involve the formation of a protective layer against UV radiation or mechanical, thermal and chemical influences. It is therefore possible, for example, to obtain scratch-resistant, anticorrosive, antiicing, antifouling, antibacterial or antithrombic properties. In addition to the organofunctional groups, the above-noted organofluorine-functional siloxanes generally possess Si-bonded hydroxyl and/or alkoxy groups, which are intended to permit subsequent attachment to the substrate. Here again, however, no satisfactory, i.e., permanent attachment of the coating to the substrate is achieved.
Fluoroalkylsilanes are used in accordance with EP 0 382 557 A1 to coat the surface of inorganic packings which are in turn dispersed in an insulating high-polymer material for the production of water-repellent dielectric materials. Such a procedure is generally very complex and cannot be applied to the modification of the entire surface of workpieces, especially those of glass or ceramic.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an insulator with a water-, oil-, and dirt-repellent coating having satisfactory adhesion properties.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method for modify the surface of an insulator by means of which the coating can be easily produced.
Yet another object of the invention is to specify a preparation for use in the method and by means of which the coating can be produced.
These and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention by the present invention, the first embodiment of which provides a surface-modified insulator, that includes:
an insulator body having a coating on at least a portion thereof prepared from a composition including:
at least one organofluorine-functional silane, organofluorine-functional siloxane, or a mixture thereof,
at least one mineral acid; and
at least one metal salt of a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum(III), tin(II), tin(IV), iron(III) or titanium(III)
Another embodiment of the invention provides a method of modifying the surface of an insulator, which includes applying to at least a portion of a body of the insulator a coating prepared from a composition including:
at least one organofluorine-functional silane, organofluorine-functional siloxane, or a mixture thereof;
at least one mineral acid; and
at least one metal salt of a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum(III), tin(II), tin(IV), iron(III) or titanium(III).
Another embodiment of the invention provides an insulator body coating composition, that includes:
at least one organofluorine-functional silane, organofluorine-functional silane, or a mixture thereof;
at least one mineral acid; and
at least one metal salt of a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum(III), tin(II), tin(IV), iron(III) or titanium(III). | {
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The strong growth in demand for portable consumer electronics is driving the need for high-capacity storage devices. Non-volatile semiconductor memory devices, such as flash memory storage cards, are becoming widely used to meet the ever-growing demands on digital information storage and exchange. Their portability, versatility and rugged design, along with their high reliability and large capacity, have made such memory devices ideal for use in a wide variety of electronic devices, including for example digital cameras, digital music players, video game consoles, PDAs and cellular telephones.
Electronic circuit cards, including non-volatile memory cards, have been commercially implemented according to a number of well-known standards. Such cards usually contain a re-programmable non-volatile semiconductor memory cell array along with a controller that controls operation of the memory cell array and interfaces with a host to which the card connected. Several of the same type of card may be interchanged in a host card slot designed to accept that type of card. However, the development of the many electronic card standards has created different types of cards that are incompatible with each other in various degrees. A card made according to one standard is usually not useable with a host designed to operate with a card of another standard.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional Secure Digital (SD) card 10. The SD card includes a leading edge 11, a trailing edge 15, a first side edge 17, a second side edge 19, and an angled edge 13 between the trailing edge 11 and the second side edge 19. According to the SD Memory Card specification, the card includes nine electrical contact fingers 12-28 located on a back surface 30 of the card 10. The nine contact fingers 12-28 are exposed via nine openings in the back surface 30 of the card 10.
A card reader is used to receive and connect with a memory card in order to deliver information between the memory card and an electrical device or host. There are many types of memory cards in the market today. There is a potential risk that a user may insert one type of memory card (e.g., conventional memory card 10) into a card reader configured to interface with a memory card according to a different standard. Inserting a memory card into memory card reader associated with a different standard may damage some of the contact pins in the memory card connector. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a television receiver which is suitable for a picture tube having an aspect ratio (a ratio of horizontal side to vertical side of the display screen of a picture tube), for example, of 16:9.
2. Description of Related Art
In the current standard television system (for example, the NTSC system, etc.), the aspect ratio is determined, as is well known, to 4:3 (ratio value is 1.33). Moreover, in the newly proposed high-definition television (Hi-Vision) system, since the aspect ratio is determined to 16:9 (ratio value is 1.78), the lateral side of the display screen is wider than that in the NTSC system.
In these years, software for such a wide display screen is increasingly put into application. In this case, materials of movie programs for a wide display screen of the so-called vista size (aspect ratio value is 1.85) and CinemaScope size (aspect ratio value is 2.35) are accommodated in the screen in the letter box type with the aspect ratio of 4:3 without any trimming. Moreover, television broadcast programs for wide display screen are also increasing in numbers as well as the programs where the Hi-Vision broadcast signal is down-converted to the NTSC signal.
In compliance with the increase of such software and broadcast programs for the wide display screen, a wide display screen television receiver, which employs a picture tube with the aspect ratio of 16:9 and 525 scanning lines corresponding to the NTSC system and which is also called a laterally wide television receiver or just a wide television receiver, has been made available in the market.
On the occasion of displaying the software of movie programs for wide display screen on the television receiver of the NTSC system, the blanking period wherein any video or picture information is not included is often inserted at the upper and the lower portions of the display screen. For example, when a program is displayed on the receiver utilizing a picture tube having the aspect ratio of 4:3, a wide picture Pw is displayed fully in the horizontal direction on the display screen of the picture tube (hereinafter called the standard display screen. A picture having the aspect ratio of 4:3 is called the standard picture.) SCn as shown in FIG. 5A and the blanking region is formed at the upper and lower portions of the standard display screen SCn corresponding to the blanking period not including any picture information as indicated by the hatched areas in FIG. 5A.
Moreover, when software for the wide display screen is displayed on a wide display screen television receiver, the blanking regions are also formed at the upper and lower portions of the wide display screen SCw of the television receiver. Therefore, in the wide television receiver, for example, as described in the Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 2-305190 laid opened on Dec. 18, 1990, it is detected that the relevant software is a wide picture program of the vista size and CinemaScope size or not, depending on the length of the blanking period not including any picture information. When the program is detected as software for the wide display screen, the vertical amplitude is expanded for display on the wide display screen SCw.
For instance, in the case of a material of vista size program, as shown in FIG. 5B, a widely expanded picture Pzv is displayed almost in the full size of wide display screen SCw of the television receiver by expanding the vertical amplitude with a rate of the aspect ratio of the wide display screen SCw having the aspect ratio of 16:9 and the vista size display screen.
In the present specification, a mode where a wide picture Pzv expanded in the vertical direction is displayed in full size of the wide display screen SCw as shown in FIG. 5B is called the zoom mode.
In the case of this zoom mode, the blanking regions formed at the upper and lower portions of the display screen are located outside the wide display screen SCw and only the desired picture is expanded and displayed in full size of the display screen to enhance the feeling of being at the live performance at the time of watching the television program.
Moreover, in the case of letter box type software, the positions of pictures accommodated are different depending on the software and when software offers a foreign movie, a superimposed dialogue translated into Japanese is usually inserted at the lower part of the display screen. Therefore, the center of expansion in the vertical direction cannot be fixed. Accordingly, in the case of the zoom mode in the wide display screen television receiver, the display screen can be scrolled in the vertical direction up to the condition where only the upper end or lower end portions of the expanded picture Pzv is lost by changing the phases of the vertical synchronous signal and video signal.
Meanwhile, in the case of the wide display screen television receiver, when the standard picture Pn having the aspect ratio of 4:3 is displayed in the full size of the wide display screen SCw in the vertical direction with such aspect ratio kept unchanged, the blanking regions are formed at both right and left end portions of the display screen SCw as shown in FIG. 6A.
In the present specification, the mode where the standard picture as shown in FIG. 6A is displayed fully on the wide display screen SCw in the vertical direction with the aspect ratio of 4:3 kept unchanged is called the normal mode.
In this normal mode, the wide display screen is not used in its full size, but even if the standard picture is simply expanded in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 6B, the geometrical fidelity of the picture is deteriorated, providing an elongated picture Pnh.
Therefore, a wide mode technology has been developed. In this mode, the standard picture can be naturally displayed on the wide display screen without any sense of incongruity by expanding both right and left end sides in the horizontal direction while the center of the display region is kept unexpanded to eliminate the blanking regions in the right and left sides in the normal mode in view of enjoying the standard picture with the wide display screen.
In the case of this wide mode, the picture is a little expanded in the vertical direction and the vertical linearity is compressed at both upper and lower end portions of the display screen.
Cited reference: "Wide Television" by Ohnishi Proceedings of Japanese Society of Television, No. 7, Vol. 47 (July, 1993) | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal recording material that has good color developing sensitivity, good resistance to heat and good ground color and not generate powder, further has an excellent image retention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a thermal recording material having a thermally sensitive color developing layer mainly composed of colorless or pale colored dye precursor and color developing agent that develops color by reacting with said dye precursor when heated is disclosed in Japanese patent publication 45-14039 and widely used in commercial scale. A thermal printer in which a thermal head is installed is used for the recording method of said thermal recording material. Since this kind of thermal recording method superiors to the conventional recording method from the view point of noiseless at recording process, does not need developing and fixing processes, maintenance free, equipment is relatively cheap and compact and the obtained image is very clear, therefore, this method is widely applied in the field of facsimile or computer, various kinds of measuring instrument and for a labeling machine along with the growth of an information industry. The recording devices attached to these instruments are becoming more diversified and more high-performance, and the required quality to the thermal recording material is becoming more severe. Along with the miniaturization of an instrument and requirement for higher recording speed, it becomes necessary to obtain deep and clear color developing image.
For the purpose to meet the requirement, for example, in the Japanese Patent Laid open Publication 56-169087, a method to improve the color developing sensitivity by adding a thermo fusion substance to a thermally sensitive layer is disclosed, and in the Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 56-144193, a method to improve the color developing sensitivity by using new color developing agent which has high color developing ability is disclosed. However, these methods can not be said to have a sufficient quality, because these methods have defects such as deterioration of ground color by heat, powder generation by aging and dropping of color density after preserved for long time (reprinting ability). Further, the method to use dye, color developing agent together with adequate sensitizer can be used. For example, in a case that the color developing agent is a phenol type compound represented by bisphenol A, p-benzylbiphenyl (Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 60-82382), p-benzyloxybenzoicbenzyl(Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 57-201691) or benzylnaphthyleter (Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 58-87094) can be used as an adequate sensitizer. When a sensitizer is used, the sensitizer is fused in the first place and the fused sensitizer dissolves dye and color developing agent and are mixed by molecular size level so as to cause the color developing reaction, therefore, the selection of the kind of sensitizer, dye and color developing agent is very important.
Dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound, which is used as an organic color developing agent is a well-known conventional compound, however, the color developing ability of it is too poor to meet the current requirement for high sensitivity. As the method to improve the color developing sensitivity, in Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 4-69283, a method to add di(p-methylbenzyl)oxalate is disclosed and in Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 8-67070, a method to add solid solution composed of two types of oxalic acid ester derivatives is disclosed. By said methods, the color developing sensitivity can be improved more or less, however, from the view points of powder generation and image preservation by aging, these methods can not be said as a sufficient ones. As mentioned above, by the conventional thermal sensitive recording medium, it is difficult to meet the current requirement to improve color developing sensitivity, further, is also difficult to meet the other requirements for quality such as to have good heat resistance of ground color, and excellent image preservative stability.
The object of this invention is to provide a thermal recording material which has good color developing sensitivity, strong heat resistance, excellent ground color and does not generate powder, further has excellent image retention.
The inventors of this invention have conduced an intensive study and have found that in a thermal recording material which possesses a thermally sensitive color developing layer containing colorless or pale colored basic dye and an organic color developing agent as main components, the thermal recording material which contains at least one kind of dihydroxydiphenylsulfone type compound represented by following general formula (1) as an organic color developing agent and containing at least one kind of saturated fatty acid monoamide represented by following general formula (2) can solve the above mentioned problems, and accomplished the present invention.
(in this formula, R1 and R2 is an alkyl group or an alkyl group of carbon number 1-8, or a halogen atom and a and b is an integer number of 0-3)
R3xe2x80x94CONH2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
(in this formula, R3 is an alkyl group of carbon number 11-21)
In general, it is concerned that the velocity of dissolution and diffusion or solubility of the dye into the melted color developing agent give the important effects to the color developing sensitivity of thermal recording material. To improve said effects, the method to add various kinds of material as a sensitizer is carried out. It is concerned that the addition of sensitizer causes several effects such as falling down of melting point, falling down of activated energy, change of polarity, improvement of solubility between each materials, and the velocity for fusing, dissolving and diffusion and saturated solubility are improved. Thus the color developing sensitivity of the thermal recording material can be improved.
In general, waxes containing saturated fatty acid monoamide are widely known as the sensitizer. However, this invention has been accomplished by finding out that the thermal recording material whose color developing sensitivity is improved, has a strong heat resistance and does not generate powder, further has an excellent image retention can be obtained by containing dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound as an organic color developing agent and containing saturated fatty acid monoamide by the specific limit, that is, 1.5-5 parts to 1 part of dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound.
Generally, if waxes or a sensitizer are used by large amount to improve the color developing sensitivity, the color developing sensitivity can be improved, however, other problems such as deterioration of heat resistance of ground color or generation of powder occurs. Therefore, the amount of sensitizer is usually 1 part to 1 part of color developing agent. In the meanwhile, the inventors of this invention have found that the use of saturated fatty acid monoamide as a sensitizer can solve said problem. Namely, in this case, even if the amount of saturated fatty acid monoamide to dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound is bigger than usual, the heat resistance or powder generation are not deteriorated, and high color developing sensitivity can be obtained. The reason why is not clear, however, it is concerned that by the use of saturated fatty acid monoamide the mutual solubility between dye, color developing agent and sensitizer becomes good and color developing sensitivity is improved, and since the remarkable falling down of melting point does not occur, the deterioration of heat resistance is very small. Further, since the saturated fatty acid monoamide is not a sublimate substance, the developed image formed by the reacted product by dye, color developing agent and sensitizer can be stably preserved.
When diphenylsulfone derivatives represented by following general formula (3) is added besides dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound as an organic color developing agent and saturated fatty acid monoamide, a thermal recording material whose color developing sensitivity is further improved, whose ground color and heat resistance are maintained in the practical level, and has good image preservative property can be obtained. The reason why is not clear, however, it is concerned that even if dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound, saturated fatty acid monoamide and diphenylsulfone derivatives are contained together, remarkable falling down of melting point does not occur and mutual solubility of each materials is improved.
(R4-R9 represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, a halogen atom, a nitro group, an alkoxy group, a cyano group and an allyloxy group).
Further, in this invention, when at least one kind of specific compound selected from the group composed of 4-benzyloxy-4xe2x80x2-(2,3-epoxy-2-methyl propoxy)diphenylsulfone, epoxy resin and diphenylsulfone bridgeable type compound are contained, it is recognized that the image preservative property of color developed part is improved. The reason why is not clear, however, it is concerned that said specific compound is bonded with an electro charge transferring complex which is formed by the reaction between dye and color developing agent and becomes more stable state.
[in the formula, X and Y can be different and indicate a saturated or an unsaturated liner or a grafted hydrocarbon group of carbon number 1-12 which can possess an ether bond, or indicate
(R indicates a methylene group or an ethylene group, T indicates a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group of carbon number 1-4,)
and R10-R15 independently indicate a halogen atom, an alkyl group or an alkenyl group of carbon number 1-6,
further, m, n, p, q, r, and t indicate an integer number of 0-4 and when are bigger than 2, R10-R15 can be different,
and d is an integer of 0-10]
The thermal sensitive recording medium of this invention, for example, can be produced by following method. That is, prepare the dispersion in which a dye and compounds represented by general formula (1), general formula (2) and general formula (3) and a stabilizer at need are dispersed with a binder, then a filler and other necessary additives are added. Thus the coating for a thermal sensitive color developing layer is prepared. The prepared coating is coated on a substrate and dried up so as to form a thermal sensitive color developing layer. In this invention, dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound represented by general formula (1) is contained as an organic color developing agent. The concrete example of general formula (1) can be mentioned below. However, not intend to be limited to these compounds.
4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylsulfone (1-1)
2,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylsulfone (1-2)
bis-(3-allyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)sulfone (1-3)
3,3xe2x80x2-dimethyl-4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylsulfone (1-4)
3,3xe2x80x2,5,5xe2x80x2-tetramethyl-4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylsulfone (1-5)
2,2xe2x80x2-bis(4-chrolophenol)sulfone (1-6)
4-hydroxyphenyl-3xe2x80x2-isopropyl-4xe2x80x2-hydroxyphenylsulfone (1-7)
bis-(3-ethyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)sulfone (1-8)
2,2xe2x80x2-bis(p-t-buthylphenol)sulfone (1-9)
2,2xe2x80x2-bis(p-t-penthylphenol)sulfone (1-10)
2,2xe2x80x2-bis(p-t-octylphenol)sulfone (1-11)
In these compounds, the compounds of (1-1)-(1-3) are desirably use, because of good sensitivity, strong heat resistance, and easily purchase from the market. These color developing agents can be used alone or together with.
In this invention, saturated fatty acid monoamide represented by general formula (2) is contained. When this saturated fatty acid monoamide is used alone, the amount to be contained is 1.5-5 parts to 1 part of organic color developing agent. In said limit, the thermal recording material which has high color developing sensitivity at the printing of lower energy region can be obtained, maintaining excellent quality level at a heat resistance and a color developing sensitivity without generating powder. Especially, when the amount to be contained is within the limit of 1.7-3.5 parts, a product having more excellent quality can be obtained.
Further, in this invention, diphenylsulfone derivatives represented by general formula (3) can be contained together with saturated fatty acid monoamide represented by general formula (2). In the case that diphenylsulfone derivatives and saturated fatty acid monoamide are used together with, the desirable amount of diphenylsulfone derivatives and saturated fatty acid is respectively 0.25-1.7 parts to 1 part of dihydroxydiphenylsulfone. When the amount to be contained is within said limit, the thermal recording material which is excel in color developing sensitivity, ground color, heat resistance and image preservative property at high humid condition can be obtained. Further, when the amount of both compounds are within 0.5-1.5 parts, image preservative property at high humid condition can be more improved and the product of higher quality can be obtained. The desirable containing ratio of diphenylsulfone derivatives and saturated fatty acid monoamide is 1:3-3:1, and by this ratio, qualities such as color developing sensitivity and heat resistance are desirably balanced.
And, when the containing amount of diphenylsulfone derivatives represented by general formula (3) is smaller than 4% to the total amount of solid part of thermally sensitive coating, the thermally sensitve recording medium that does not generate powder by the printing of high energy can be obtained, maintaining the excellent quality level. Further, if the containing amount of saturated fatty acid monoamide is 1.5-5 parts to 1 part of organic color developing agent, the color developing sensitivity is further improved.
In general formula (2), R3 indicates a hydrocarbon group and concretely, alkyl group of carbon number 11-21 can be mentioned. As the concrete example of compound represented by general formula (2), compounds of (2-1)-(2-4) can be mentioned, but not be intended to be limited to them. Especially, when (2-2) and (2-3) are used together with, good color developing sensitivity and heat resistance are preferably improved. Therefore, the mixture of (2-2) and (2-3) is desirably used.
C11H23CONH2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2-1)
C15H31CONH2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2-2)
C17H35CONH2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2-3)
C21H43CONH2xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2-4)
In general formula (3), R4-R9 can be a substituted group that does not prevent the sensitizer effect, and as the concrete example, hydrogen atom, alkyl group, halogen atom, nitro group, alkoxy group, cyano group and allyloxy group can be mentioned. Especially, hydrogen atom, alkyl group of carbon number 1-6, alkoxy group of carbon number 1-6, halogen atom and nitro group can be mentioned. The concrete examples are mentioned from (3-1) to (3-46) as follows, however, not be intend to be limited to these compounds.
Further, in this invention, 4-benzyloxy-4xe2x80x2-(2,3epoxy-2-methylpropoxy) diphenylsulfone, epoxy resin and diphenylsulfone bridgeable type compound represented by general formula (4) can be contained. If the amount of these compounds is too small to dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound represented by general formula (1), the image stabilizing effect is not sufficient, and if too much, sensitivity and heat resistance are deteriorated. In this invention, it is desirable to use 0.01 to 0.9 parts of these compounds to 1 part of dihydroxydiphenylsulfone compound. Especially, if exceed 0.17 parts, the image preservative property to plasticizer can be improved.
As the epoxy resin, bisphenol A type epoxy resin, phenol novolak type epoxy resin, cresol novolak type epoxy resin and copolymer of glicidylmethacrylate and vinyl monomer can be mentioned. Among these compounds, the copolymer of glicidylmethacrylate and vinyl monomer can be desirably used because of good effect as a stabilizer and excellent heat resistance. Further, the copolymer of glicidylmethacrylate and vinyl monomer whose average molecular weight is 9000-11000, epoxy equivalent is 300-600 and melting point is lower than 110xc2x0 C.
The diphenylsulfone bridgeable type compound represented by general formula (4) is described in Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication 10-29969.
In general formula (4), the concrete examples of groups represented by X and Y are mentioned as follow. That is, methylene group, ethylene group, trimethylene group, tetramethylene group, pentamethylene group, hexamethylene group, heptamethylene group, octamethylene group, nonamethylene group, decamethylene group, undecamethylene group, dodecamethylene group, methylmethylene group, dimethylmethylene group, methylethylene group, methyleneethylene group, ethylethylene group, 1,2-dimethylethylene group, 1-methyltrimethylene group, 1-methyltetramethylene group, 1,3-dimethyltrimethylene group, 1-ethyl4-methyl-tetramethylene group, vinylene group, propenylene group, 2-butenylene group, ethynylene group, 2-butynylene group, 1-vinylethylene group, ethyleneoxyethylene group, tetramethyleneoxytetramethylene group, ethyleneoxyethyleneoxyethylene group, ethyleneoxymethyleneoxyethylene group, 1,3-dioxane-5, 5-bismethylene group, 1,2-xylyl group, 1,3-xylyl group, 1,4-xylyl group, 2-hydroxytrimethylene group, 2-hydroxy-2-methyltrimethylene group, 2-hydroxy-2-ethyltrimethylene group, 2-hydroxy-2-propyltrimethylene group, 2-hydroxy-2-isopropyltrimethylene group and 2-hydroxy-2-butyltrimethylene group can be mentioned.
Alkyl or alkenyl group of R10-R15 is an alkyl group of C1-C6 or an alkenyl group of C1-C6, and as a concrete example, methyl group, ethyl group, n-propyl group, isopropyl group, n-butyl group, sec-butyl group, tert-butyl group, n-pentyl group, isopentyl group, neopentyl group, tert-pentyl group, n-hexyl group, isohexyl group, 1-metylpentyl group, 2-methylpentyl group, vinyl group, allyl group, isopropenyl group, 1-propenyl group, 2-butenyl group, 3-butenyl group, 1,3-butandienyl group and 2-methyl-2-propenyl group can be mentioned. And a halogen atom indicates chloride, bromine, fluorine or iodine.
In this invention, referring to the diphenylsulfone bridgeable type compound represented by general formula (4), several kinds of said compound whose substitution group and/or number of d are different can be used together with. And the mixing ratio is voluntary. And as the mixing method, a mixing method by powder, a mixing method in aqueous dispersion and a method to react several kinds of diphenylsulfone bridgeable type compound simultaneously by controlling reactive condition can be mentioned, however, not intend to be limited to them.
When several kinds of diphenylsulfone bridgeable type compound represented by general formula (4) are used together with, the desirable composition contains more than 2 kinds of compound represented by general formula (5) whose d values only are different. The method for preparation of these kinds of compound is not so difficult, that is, by changing reactive ratio of the starting materials, the compounds whose d values are different can be synthesized simultaneously by voluntary containing ratio.
[in the formula, X, Y, R10, m and d are same to above]
As a concrete example of compound represented by general formula (4), following compounds can be mentioned
(4-1)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]-2-trans-butenyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-2)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl) phenoxy-4-butyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-3)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-3-propyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-4)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-5)
4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-4-butyloxy]-4xe2x80x2-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-3-propyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-6)
4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-4-butyloxy]-4xe2x80x2-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-7)
4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl) phenoxy-3-propyloxy]-4xe2x80x2-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-8)
4-4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-5-pentyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-9) 4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-6-hexyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-10)
4-[4-[4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]-2-trans-butenyloxy]-4xe2x80x2-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-4-butyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-11)
4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-trans-butenyloxy]-4xe2x80x2-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-3-propyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-12)
4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]-2-trans-butenyloxy]-4xe2x80x2-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-13)
1,4-bis[4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-trans-butenyloxy]phenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]-cis-2-butene
(4-14)
1,4-bis[4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-trans-butenyloxy]phenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]-trans-2-butene
(4-15)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-[4-(2-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]butyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-16)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-[2-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]butyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-17)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethylenoxyethoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-18)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-14-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-19)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,3-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-20)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,2-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-21)
2,2xe2x80x2-bis[4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyleneoxyethoxy]phenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]diethyl ether
(4-22)
xcex1, xcex1xe2x80x2-bis[4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,4-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]phenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]-p-xylene
(4-23)
xcex1, xcex1xe2x80x2-bis[4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,3-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]phenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]-m-xylene
(4-24)
xcex1, xcex1xe2x80x2-bis[4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,2-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]phenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]-o-xylene
(4-25)
2,4xe2x80x2-bis[2-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyleneoxyethoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-26)
2,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(2-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyleneoxyethoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-27)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3,5-dimethyl-4-(3,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyleneoxyethoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-28)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3-allyl4-(3-allyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-ethyleneoxyethoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-29)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3,5-dimethyl-4-(3,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,4-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-30)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3,5-dimethyl-4-(3,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,3-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-31)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3,5-dimethyl-4-(3,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenyl-1,2-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-32)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3-allyl4-(3-allyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl) 1,4-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-33)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3-allyl4-(3-allyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl) 1,3-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-34)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[3-allyl4-(3-allyl-4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl) 1,2-phenylenebismethyleneoxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-35)
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-hydroxypropyloxy]diphenylsulfone
(4-36)
1,3-bis[4-[4-[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy-2-hydroxypropyloxy]phenylsulfonyl]phenoxy]-2-hydroxypropane.
Further, among the compounds represented by general formula (5), the compound of d=0 is the compounds disclosed in Japanese Patent Application 7-149713, PCT Laid Open Publication WO93/06074 and WO95/33714. And concretely,
1,3-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]-2-hydroxypropane,
1,1-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]methane,
1,2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]ethane,
1,3-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]propane,
1,4-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]butane,
1,5-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]pentane,
1,6-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenyisulfonyl)phenoxy]hexane,
xcex1, xcex1xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]-p-xylene,
xcex1, xcex1xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]-m-xylene,
xcex1, xcex1xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]-o-xylene,
2,2xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]diethyl ether,
4,4xe2x80x2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]dibuthyl ether,
1,2-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]ethylene and
1,4-bis[4-(4-hydroxyphenylsulfonyl)phenoxy]-2-butene can be mentioned.
The compound represented by general formula (4) can be obtained by the method described in International Patent Laid Open Publication WO97/16420 which reacts 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxyphenylsulfone derivatives or 2,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxyphenylsulfone derivatives under the presence of basic compound. The compound used in this invention contains one or more kinds of diphenylsulfone bridgeable type compound prepared by above mentioned method, and the compounds obtained by following synthetic examples are desirably used.
16.0 g (0.4 mole) of sodium hydroxide is added to 21.2 g of water and dissolved, then 50.0 g (0.2 mole) of 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxydiphenylsulfone (BPS) is added. Then, 14.3 g (0.10 mole) of bis(2-chloroethyl)ether is added at 105xc2x0 C., reacted for 5 hours at 110-115xc2x0 C. After the reaction is over, 375 ml of water is added to the reacted solution, stirred for 1 hour at 90xc2x0 C. Then cooled down to the room temperature, neutralized by 20% sulfuric acid. The crystallized solid is filtrated, and 39.3 g of white crystalline is obtained. The yield to bis(2-chloroethyl)ether is 88%. The obtained component is analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography and identified as follows. As the column, Mightysil RP-18 (product of Kanto Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used, and moving bed is CH3CN:H2O:1% H3PO4=700:300:5, and UV wave length is 260 nm.
The molar ratio of BPS and bis(2-chloroethyl)ether of Synthetic 1 is changed to 1.5:1, 2.5:1, 3.0:1, and following composition can be obtained.
Inacaseof 1.5:1,
d=0 is 20.8, d=1 is 33.0, d=2 is 14.2, d=3 is 7.9, d=4 is 3.9
In a case of 2.5:1,
d=0 is 49.6, d=1 is 25.9, d=2 is 11.4, d=3 is 5.3, d=4 is 2.4
In a case of 3.0:1,
d=0 is 56.9, d=1 is 24.9, d=2 is 9.6, d=3 is 3.7, d=4 is 1.3
In a mixed solution of 10.0 g of 48% of aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide and 155 g of N,Nxe2x80x2-dimethylacetoamide, 30.0 g (0.12 mole) of BPS is added. After temperature is risen to 80xc2x0 C. and BPS is dissolved, 10.5 g (0.06 mole) of xcex1, xcex1xe2x80x2-dichloro-p-xylene dissolved in 15 g of xylene is dropped slowly. Then, ripened 2 hours by same temperature. After ripened, the solution is poured into 900 ml of water and the crystallized solid is filtrated. The obtained crude crystalline is rinsed by methanol, filtrated and dried up, and 19.7 g of white crystalline is obtained. Analyzed by high performance liquid chromatograph, and the main components are identified as follows.
As the leuco color developing type basic leuco dye used in this invention, all well known dye in the field of conventional pressure sensitive type or thermally sensitive type recording paper can be used, and triphenyl methane type compound, fluoran type compound, fluorene type compound or divinyl type compound are desirably used, however, not intends to be limited to them. Typical example of colorless or pale colored leuco dye (dye precursor) are mentioned below. Further, these dye precursor can be used alone or together with.
less than Triphenylmethane type leuco dyes greater than
3,3-bis(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-6-dimethylaminophthalide [another name is Crystal Violet Lactone]
3,3-bis(p-dimethylaminophenyl)phthalide [another name is Malachite Green Lactone]
less than Fluoran type leuco dyes greater than
3-diethylamno-6-methylfluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-(o,p-dimethylanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-chlorofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-(m-trifluoromethylanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-(o-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-(p-chloroanilino) fluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-(o-fluoroanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-(m-methylanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-n-octylanilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-n-octylaminofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-benzylanilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-dibenzylanilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-chloro-7-metnylfluoran
3-diethylamino-6-chloro-7-anilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-chloro-7-p-methylanilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-ethoxyethyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-7-methylfluoran
3-diethylamino-7-chlorofluoran
3-diethylamino-7-(m-trifluoromethylanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-7-(o-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-7-(p-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-7-(o-fluoroanilino)fluoran
3-diethylamino-benzo[a]fluoran
3-diethylamino-benzo[c]fluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-fluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-7-(o,p-dimethylanilino)fluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-7-(o-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-7-(p-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-7-(o-fluoroanilino)fluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-7-(m-trifluoromethylanilino)fluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-chlorofluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-ethoxyethyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-chloro-7-anilinofluoran
3-dibutylamino-6-methyl-7-p-methylanilinofluoran
3-dibutylamino-7-(o-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-dibutylamino-7-(o-fluoroanilino)fluoran
3-di-n-pentylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-di-n-pentylamino-6-methyl-7-(p-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-di-n-pentylamino-7-(m-trifluoromethylaniliono)fluoran
3-di-n-pentylamino-6-chloro-7-anilinofluoran
3-di-n-pentylamino-7-(p-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-pyrrolidino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-piperidino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-methyl-N-propylamino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-methyl-N-cyclohexylamino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-ethyl-N-cyclohexylamino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-ethyl-N-xylamino)-6-methyl-7-(p-chloroanilino)fluoran
3-(N-ethyl-p-toluidino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-ethyl-N-isoamylamino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-ethyl-N-isoamylamino)-6-chloro-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-ethyl-N-tetrahydrofurfurylamino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-ethyl-N-isobutylamino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-(N-ethyl-N-ethoxypropylamino)-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
3-cyclohexylamino-6-chlorofluoran
2-(4-oxahexyl)-3-dimethylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
2-(4-oxahexyl)-3-diethylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
2-(4-oxahexyl)-3-dipropylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran
2-methyl-6-p-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2-methoxy-6-p-(p-dimethylaminophenyl) aminoanilinofluoran
2-chloro-3-methyl-6-p-(p-phenylaminophenyl) aminoanilinofluoran
2-chloro-6-p-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2-nitro-6-p-(p-diethylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2-amino-6-p-(p-diethylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2-diethylamino-6-p-(p-diethylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2-phenyl-6-metyl-6-p-(p-phenylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2-benzyl-6-p-(p-phenylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2-hydroxy-6-p-(p-phenylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
3-methyl-6-p-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-p-(p-diethylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
3-diethylamino-6-p-(p-dibutylaminophenyl)aminoanilinofluoran
2,4-dimethyl-6-[(4-dimethylamino)anilino]-fluoran
less than Fluorene type leuco dyes greater than
3,6,6xe2x80x2-tris(dimethylamino)spiro[fluorene-9,3xe2x80x2-phthalide]
3,6,6xe2x80x2-tris(diethylamino)spiro[fluorene-9,3xe2x80x2-phthalide]
less than Divinyl type leuco dyes greater than
3,3-bis-[2-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-2-(p-methoxyphenyl)ethenyl]-4,5,6,7-tetrabromophthalide
3,3-bis-[2-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-2-(p-methoxyphenyl)ethenyl]-4,5,6,7-tetrachlorophthalide
3,3-bis-[1,1-bis(4-pyrrolidinophenyl)ethylen-2-yl]-4,5,6,7-tetrabromophthalide
3,3-bis-[1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-(4-pyrrolidinophenyl)ethylene-2-yl]4,5,6,7-tetrachlorophthalide
less than Others greater than
3-(4-diethylamino-2-ethoxyphenyl)-3-(1-ethyl-2-methylindol-3-yl)-4-azaphthalide
3-(4-diethylamino-2-ethoxyphenyl)-3-(1-octyl-2-methylindol-3-yl)-4-azaphthalide
3-(4-cyclohexylethylamino-2-methoxyphenyl)-3-(1-ethyl-2-methylindol-3-yl)-4-azaphthalide
3,3-bis(1-ethyl-2-methylindol-3-yl)phthalide
3,6-bis(diethylamino)fluoran-xcex3-(3xe2x80x2-nitro)anilinolactam
3,6-bis(diethylamino)fluoran-xcex3-(4xe2x80x2-nitro)anilinolactam
1,1-bis-[2xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x3,2xe2x80x3-tetrakis-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-ethenyl]-2,2-dinitrilethane
1,1-bis-[2xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x3,2xe2x80x3-tetrakis-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-ethenyl]-2-xcex2-naphthoyl ethane
1,1-bis-[2xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x3,2xe2x80x3-tetrakis-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-ethenyl]-2,2-diacetylethane
bis-[2,2,2xe2x80x2,2xe2x80x2-tetrakis-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-ethenyl]-methylmalonicacid dimethylester.
Among these compounds, especially, 3-di-n-pentylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran is desirably used because whiteness of ground color and heat resistance are good. In general, it is concerned that the coloring of the coating is caused as follows. Namely, a part of materials contained in coating is dissolved in water, and it reacts with dye. For example, 4,4xe2x80x2-dihydroxy diphenylsulfone, which is a kind of compound represented by general formula (1) contains two xe2x80x94OH groups by which basic colorless dye is color developed, and is easily dissolved in water. In the meanwhile, since the degree of solubility to water of 3-di-n-pentylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran is lower than 1.349xc3x9710xe2x88x926 g/l, which is recognized as very low level, it is possible to prevent the coloring of the coating by the together use of 3-di-n-pentylamino-6-methyl-7-anilinofluoran with compound represented by general formula (1).
In the present invention, the well known conventional sensitized can be used in the limitation not to prevent the desirable effect to said object. As the concrete example,
ethylenebisamide,
montan acid wax,
polyethylene wax,
1,2-di-(3-methylphenoxy)ethane,
p-benzilbiphenyl,
xcex2-benzyloxynaphthalene,
4-biphenyl-p-tolylether,
m-tarphenyl,
1,2-diphenoxyethane,
dibenzyl4,4xe2x80x2-ethylenedioxy-bis-benzoate,
dibenzoyloxymethane,
1,2-di(3-methylphenoxy)ethylene,
1,2-diphenoxyethylene,
bis[2-(4-methoxy-phenoxy)]ethyl]ether,
p-nitromethylbenzoate,
dibenzyl oxalate,
di(p-chloro benzyl) oxalate,
di(p-methyl benzyl) oxalate,
dibenzylterephthalate,
benzyl p-benzyloxybenzoate,
di-p-tolyl carbonate,
phenyl-xcex1-naphthylcarbonate,
1,4-diethoxy naphthalene,
phenyl 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoate,
o-xylene-bis-(phenylether),
4-(m-methylphenoxymethyl)biphenyl,
o-toluenesulfoneamide and
p-toluenesulfoneamide can be mentioned, however, not intends to be limited to them. These kinds of sensitizer can be used alone or can be used together with.
As the binder to be used in the present invention, full saponificated polyvinyl alcohol of 200-1900 polymerization degree, partial saponificated polyvinyl alcohol, denatured polyvinyl alcohol by carboxyl, denatured polyvinyl alcohol by amide denatured polyvinyl alcohol by sulfonic acid denatured polyvinyl alcohol by butylal modified polyvinyl alcohol, derivatives of cellulose such as hydroxyethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose and acetyl cellulose, copolymer of styrene-maleic unhydride, copolymer of styrene-butadiene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetal, polyacrylicamide, polyacrylic acid ester, polyvinylbutylal, polystyrene or copolymer of them, polyamide resin, silicon resin, petroleum resin, terpene resin, ketone resin and cumarone resin can be illustrated. These macro molecule compounds can be applied by being dissolved into solvents such as water, alcohol, ketone, ester or hydrocarbon or by being dispersed in water or other medium under an emulsion state or a paste state and these forms of application can be used in combination according to the quality requirement.
And in this invention, as the image stabilizer showing oil resistance effect of recorded image,
4,4xe2x80x2-buthylidene(6-t-buthyl-3-methylphenol),
2,2xe2x80x2-di-t-buthyl-5,5xe2x80x2-dimethyl-4,4xe2x80x2-sulphonyldiphenol,
1,1,3-tris(2-methyl-4-hydroxy-5-cyclohexylphenyl) buthane and
1,1,3-tris(2-methyl-4-hydroxy-5-t-buthylphenyl) buthane
4-benzyloxy-4xe2x80x2-(2,3-epoxy-2-methylpropoxy)diphenylsulfone and
epoxy resin can be added in the limit not to prevent above mentioned desired effect.
As a filler which can be used in this invention, an inorganic or an organic filler such as silica, calcium carbonate, kaoline, calcined kaoline, diatomaceous earth, talc, titanium oxide or aluminum hydroxide can be mentioned. Further, a slipping agent such as waxes, an ultra violet ray absorbing agent such as benzophenone type or triasol type compound, a water proof agent such as glioxasal, a dispersing agent, a defoamer, an anti oxidation agent and fluoresene dye can be used.
The amount of color developer and dye precursor, the kind and amount of other additives to be used to the thermal recording material of this invention are decided according to the required quality and recording feature, and not restricted. However, in general, it is preferable to use 0.1-2 parts of basic leuco dye and 0.5-4 parts of filler to 1 part of color developing agent indicated by general formula (1) are used. And the desirable amount of binder is 5-25% to the total amount of solid.
The coating of above mentioned component is coated over the surface of substrate such as paper, recycled paper, synthetic paper, film, plastic film, plastic foam film or non-woven cloth, and the desired thermal recording material can be obtained. The complex sheet composed of above mentioned sheet can also be used.
Further, to improve the preservative property, an overcoat layer can be prepared on the th ermally sensitive color developing layer. Said organic color developer, basic leuco dye and other additives which are added at need are ground to the fine particles smaller than several microns diameter by means of a pulverizer such as a ball mill, an attriter or a sand grinder, or by means of an adequate emulsifying apparatus, then binder and other additives are added at need, thus the coating is prepared. The method to coat is not restricted, and can be coated by conventional well known methods, for example, an off machine coating machine with various coater such as air knife coater, rod blade coater, bill blade coater or roll coater, or an on machine coating machine can preferably used. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Acoustic fields can be applied to fluids (e.g., liquids, gases) within resonator vessels or chambers. For example, standing waves of an acoustic field can be generated and set up within a resonator containing a fluid medium. The acoustic fields can be described by three-dimensional scalar fields conforming to the driving conditions causing the fields, the geometry of the resonator, the physical nature of the fluid supporting the acoustic pressure oscillations of the field, and other factors.
One common way to achieve an acoustic field within a resonator is to attach acoustic drivers to an external surface of the resonator. The acoustic drivers are typically electrically-driven using acoustic drivers that convert some of the electrical energy provided to the drivers into acoustic energy. The energy conversion employs the transduction properties of the transducer devices in the acoustic drivers. For example, piezo-electric transducers (PZT) having material properties causing a mechanical change in the PZT corresponding to an applied voltage are often used as a building block of electrically-driven acoustic driver devices. Sensors such as hydrophones can be used to measure the acoustic pressure within a liquid, and theoretical and numerical (computer) models can be used to measure or predict the shape and nature of the acoustic field within a resonator chamber.
If the driving energy used to create the acoustic field within the resonator is of sufficient amplitude, and if other fluid and physical conditions permit, cavitation may take place at one or more locations within a liquid contained in an acoustic resonator. During cavitation, vapor bubbles, cavities, or other voids are created at certain locations at times within the liquid where the conditions (e.g., pressure) at said certain locations and times allow for cavitation to take place.
Under certain conditions, the acoustic action of a transducer and the resonance chamber may set up an acoustic field within the fluid in the chamber that is of sufficient strength and configuration to cause acoustic cavitation within a region of the resonance chamber. Specifically, under suitable conditions, acoustic cavitation of the fluid in the chamber may cause bubbles or acoustically-generated voids, as described above and known to those skilled in the art, to form within one or more regions of the chamber. The cavitation usually occurs at zones within the chamber that are subjected to the most intense (highest amplitude) acoustic fields therein.
Other ways have been known to cause acoustic cavitation in liquids and similar materials. For example, a high-intensity acoustic horn comprising a special metallic horn-shaped tool at one end that is driven by an electrical driver can be used to impart sufficient acoustic energy into a fluid so as to cause cavitation voids in a region of the fluid.
The detailed description below provides numerous embodiments and benefits of applying acoustical energy and cavitation to a suitable material in order to cause and sustain cavitation in the same. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to a method for welding a double layer sheet metal, comprised of two cover sheet metals and an intermediate layer of a combustible material, in particular, of impregnated paper, with a bonding sheet metal by resistance or resistance roll seam welding, wherein the first cover sheet metal rests against the bonding sheet metal and one of the oppositely positioned welding electrodes contacts the second cover sheet metal and the other one of the welding electrodes contacts the bonding sheet metal, respectively, for performing the welding process, so that the current between the welding electrodes first flows via the second cover sheet metal, at least one shunt positioned adjacent to the welding location, the first cover sheet metal, and the bonding sheet metal, so that thereby the intermediate layer is heated and removed in the area of the welding location and, subsequently, the cover sheet metals, with the bonding sheet metal, are welded together by directly contacting one another.
Double layer sheet metals are known in various embodiments. In a known method for manufacturing such a double layer sheet metal of the aforementioned kind (Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 013, No. 060 (M-796), Feb. 10, 1989, and JP 63 264279 A; and Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 10, No. 301 (M-525), Jun. 3, 1986, and JP 61 115687 A), one of the cover sheet metals and the bonding sheet metal are contacted by two electrodes which are of identical size and limited to the area of the welding location. The shunt is formed by an outer bridge which contacts one of the cover sheet metals and the bonding sheet metal far outside of the welding location. In order to prevent that, when a voltage is applied, the current density at the relatively small contact locations of the welding electrodes is too great, the first mentioned prior art proposes to affect the current conduction by controlling the applied voltage such that, first, a current of low current intensity flows which results in melting of the intermediate layer comprised of resin. As soon as the two cover sheet metals, with displacement of the melted intermediate layer, have been contacted as a result of the clamping force acting on the one cover sheet metal and the bonding sheet metal, which can be detected by a change of the applied voltage, the current between the electrodes can flow directly via the cover sheet metals and the bonding sheet metal. From this point in time on, the current is increased to the required welding current intensity and the welding connection between the bonding sheet metal and the cover sheet metals is produced. This method thus requires current and voltage control during the bonding process.
In a known double layer sheet metal (DE 195 03 166 A1), of which at least one cover sheet metal has knobs, the two cover sheet metals are welded to one another at the end faces of the knobs wherein, however, not all knobs must be welded to the other cover sheet metal. Such double layer sheet metals are characterized by a high geometrical moment of inertia while having a relatively small weight per surface area. Because of this property, they are pre-destined to be used in motor vehicles.
Moreover, it is known to fill the hollow space between the two cover sheet metals with a filler. This filler can act as a reinforcing means and as a noise dampening means. The manufacture of such a double layer sheet metal with an intermediate layer is carried out such that the intermediate layer is placed as a perforated mat onto the sheet metal with knobs such that the end faces of the knobs are exposed. Accordingly, after placement of the other cover sheet metal, the two cover sheet metals can be welded together without problems at the directly contacting end faces of the knobs by resistance welding.
In contrast, the welding of such a double layer sheet metal with a bonding sheet metal by resistance welding is a problem because of the insulating intermediate layer. Welding of the bonding sheet metal with the double layer sheet metal in the area of the end faces of the knobs can be carried out without problems, but not on locations where between the two cover sheet metals the insulating intermediate layer is positioned. Welding experiments on double layer sheet metals with cover sheet metals of 0.2 to 0.4 mm thickness by means of conventional welding electrodes with spherical contact surfaces, wherein one of the welding electrodes contacts directly the sheet metal with knobs and the other welding electrode is contacted indirectly via the bonding sheet metal with the sheet metal with knobs, have shown that, in particular, an annular melt through of the sheet metal with knobs that is contacted directly by the welding electrode can occur. A high-strength connection of the bonding sheet metal with both cover sheet metals of the double layer sheet metal can therefore not be achieved.
It is an object of the invention to develop a method which ensures that a bonding sheet metal can be connected by resistance welding with both cover sheet metals of a double layer cover sheet metal with insulating intermediate layer.
This object is solved with a method of the aforementioned kind such that one of the welding electrodes contacts the second cover sheet metal with a surface area that is at least ten times as large as the cross-sectional surface area of the welding location, that the flowing current burns off, without melting it, the intermediate layer in the area of the welding location by controlled heating of the cover sheet metal and that, subsequently, after the welding location has been completely burned free, both cover sheet metals are brought into electrically conducting contact with the bonding sheet metal by a directed local pressure application only at the welding location and are then welded together therewith.
With the method according to the invention a welding connection of the bonding sheet metal with both cover sheet metals is obtained, because, upon placement of the one welding electrode, as a result of the very large contact surface of the one welding electrode, a current density that is too great and thus overheating of the cover sheet metals at the welding location are prevented, without requiring a limitation of the current flowing during the individual phases of the method. The current flowing in the cover sheet metals is distributed onto a large cross-sectional surface area and results initially only in that the insulating intermediate layer, which is disruptive for the welding process, is burned off at least in the direct surroundings of the welding location. Only thereafter a direct contact of the cover sheet metals at the welding location occurs. Then there is no longer the risk of burning through or of an annular eroding by heat at the contact location of the cover sheet metal at the welding electrode. A sufficiently large current conduction for the burning off process is made possible by the shunt. In the case of a sheet metal with knobs, the shunt may be the knobs to be welded to one another. In a double layer sheet metal without such contact-providing knobs, an artificial contact bridge can be produced between the two double layer sheet metals.
There are several possibilities for the purpose of preventing a current density that is too great at the time of positioning the welding electrodes. According to a first alternative, it is suggested that for the large surface area contacting by one of the welding electrodes, a plate-shaped welding electrode or a ring-shaped welding electrode with a central support pin is used. According to a second alternative solution it is suggested that a lost sheet metal piece is used between the welding electrode and the cover sheet metal which is then also connected by welding. Such a lost sheet metal piece has a also a further advantage because it provides reinforcement.
In order to ensure a direct contact of the cover sheet metals after burning off the intermediate layer, according to one embodiment of the invention it is suggested that the other welding electrode is a welding electrode having a spherical contact surface. When pressure loading occurs, the welding electrode with the spherical contact surface presses via the bonding sheet metal the cover sheet metal into the hollow space of the double layer sheet metal and brings it into contact with the other cover sheet metal. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to fluid fittings, and more particularly, to embodiments of a fluid fitting that are configured to measure properties of fluids in harsh, caustic environments such as the environment in a fuel system.
There are many devices that can measure the properties of fluids. These devices include the fittings and couplings (hereinafter “fittings”) that are used to secure, and in some cases restrain, the hoses, pipes, and lines which carry the fluid between two points. These fittings may incorporate devices such as sensors that are particularly responsive to one or more of the properties of the fluid. Temperature sensors, pressure sensors, and the like are all suitable devices that can be incorporated as part of the fitting. Certain applications, however, require that the fittings have special construction, which can withstand the physical and chemical rigors imposed by the fluid environment. These environments can include, for example, fuel carrying and distribution systems that are typically found in automobiles.
While fittings have been developed that can monitor the fuel and other fluids in these systems, few of these fittings can incorporate semiconductor die and similar devices such as ceramic and similar capacitive devices. In one example, techniques that use epoxy to secure such devices to a metal or plastic component are inadequate because the epoxy can fail due to the thermal cycling and/or pressure cycling inherent in the automotive environments. The epoxy, as well as the other materials of construction, can also breakdown due to exposure to the caustic chemical properties of the fluid in the fuel system. Furthermore, it has also been found that residual stresses can be induced in the devices themselves by the epoxy during the curing/adhesion processes. These stresses can require additional mitigating steps to compensate for deviations in the measurements by the device.
In another example, some fittings that are used to measure fluid pressure in a pipe can incorporate such ceramic capacitive circuits as circuits that are printed on stainless steel foil. This approach requires that the fitting comprise a large stainless steel housing, as well as a threaded connector and brazed joint for securing the housing to the pipe. This construction makes the overall package bulky, a problem for the automotive environments because the larger components in the fuel system significantly increase the risk of damage in a crash scenario. Moreover, due to the space constraints in the automobile engine compartment, the use of such large monitoring fittings may require changes to the components, design, and sheet metal of the vehicle.
Still other examples of fittings for measuring fluid properties are susceptible to electrostatic discharge (“ESD”). That is, such fittings are constructed of conductive materials that, while compatible with the particular fluid of the system, can permit charge to build up at least within and around the fluid pathway. These fittings often discharge the built-up charge with external hardware, e.g., grounding straps. This hardware, however, can generally hinder application and use of the fitting in the environments discussed above.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a fitting that can measure properties of the fluid, but that is designed and manufactured for robust, and varied applications. It would also be advantageous, for example, to provide a fitting that can be operatively configured to be installed, removed, and re-installed easily, and quickly during manufacturing, production, and service of, e.g., automobiles and automobile fuel systems. Moreover, such fittings could provide other advantages are needed that can withstand caustic environments, dissipate electrical charge, and provide reliable, platform technology for monitoring a variety of properties of the fluids in these systems, while being constructed in a manner that meets the cost, size, and other constraints of the automotive industry. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a charged beam drawing method and a charged beam drawing apparatus for performing drawing on a mask or a wafer with use of a charged beam to manufacture a semiconductor device, and particularly, to a charged beam drawing method and a charged beam drawing apparatus which adopt a variable shape beam system in which a charged beam shaped and deflected into an arbitrary shape is irradiated on a sample.
Conventionally, to draw an arbitrary pattern on a sample such as a mask or a wafer used for manufacturing a semiconductor device, an electron beam drawing apparatus of a variable shape beam system is used in which an electron beam is shaped into a rectangular or a triangle shape of an arbitrary size, and the beam being focused and deflected is irradiated on the sample.
In this apparatus, due to limitations to the deflection amount with which an electron beam can be deflected, the fields where drawing is allowed without moving a sample are restricted. Therefore, drawing fields are divided into strips each of which has a Y-direction length equal to the maximum deflection amount and has an X-direction length equal to that of a drawing field, and drawing is performed on the entire drawing fields by combining a sequential movement of the sample in the X-direction and a stepped-movement of the sample in the Y-direction.
Further, a small sub-field is set in a maximum deflection field of a main deflector, and sub-deflection is performed at a high speed in the sub-field, thereby to achieve high-speed drawing.
Meanwhile, data which defines a pattern to be drawn is divided for every stripe in compliance with the drawing method system as described above. In addition, to compress the amount of stripe data, the stripe data is divided into small figure groups each being an aggregation of figures drawn by an equal main-deflection amount. In each of the small figure groups, positions of figures in each small figure groups are defined by coordinates relative to the origin of the small figure group.
In a conventional variable shape beam drawing apparatus, sub-fields are set so as to cover the small figure groups, and therefore, the positions of the sub-fields are controlled at random in accordance with the positions of the small figure groups.
In recent years, in accordance with down-sizing of semiconductor elements, it has been prolonged that positions and sizes of figures to be drawn are accurate and that connections at seams between figures are achieved without displacements. As a method of realizing such high accuracy, a multi-pass drawing system is adopted. This system improves the drawing accuracy by an effect of averaging attained by repeatedly drawing one same pattern.
In the multi-pass drawing system, if over-drawing is carried out under same conditions, white noise components are removed so that the drawing accuracy is increased. Further, if a drawing position in a sub-field and a drawing position in a stripe are changed, the drawing accuracy is much more increased since constant tendencies corresponding to the sub-field and the stripe are averaged. In particular, this effect is remarkable at boundaries of sub-fields and strips.
The sub-field multi-pass drawing in which sub-field boundaries are shifted in relation to a pattern figure and the stripe multi-pass drawing in which boundaries of strips are shifted in relation to a pattern figure are realized by preparing data corresponding to the number of times for which the pattern is multi-passed, while changing the data as to the manner of stripe division with respect to a pattern to be drawn and as to the manner of dividing a pattern part in a stripe, into small figure groups.
However, this kind of apparatus has a problem as follows. Specifically, in the system described above in which sub-fields are defined with respect to small figure groups constituting pattern data, there is a case that a sub-field is repeated, depending on the manner of defining the small figure groups.
This means, if pattern positions are adjacent to each other and are defined by different definitions as small figure groups, repetition of sub-field occurs. sub-fields which are regarded to be adjacent as pattern positions are defined by different definitions as small figure groups, repetition of sub-field occurs. Then, even a pattern which can originally be drawn by one sub-field is drawing by a plurality of sub-fields, resulting in a problem that the settling time of a deflector is excessively required and the drawing time is increase. This problem is not limited to a case where multi-pass drawing is carried out, but is common to a case where single drawing is carried out.
Further, to achieve sub-field multi-pass drawing and stripe multi-pass drawing in a charged beam drawing apparatus using a variable shape beam vector scanning system, as described above, different pattern data must be newly prepared for the number of times for which a pattern is multi-passed, changing the manner of stripe division and the manner of division of small figure groups with respect to a pattern to be drawn, so that burdens required for data processing and for data transmission are large. In addition, when the number of times for which a pattern is multi-passed is changed, all patterns to be multi-passed must be newly prepared.
Thus, in a conventional system in which sub-fields are defined for small figure groups constituting pattern data, there is a problem that repetition of sub-fields occurs and the settling time of a deflector is required excessively, so that the drawing time is increased. In addition, to perform sub-field multi-drawing and stripe multi-drawing, different pattern data must be newly prepared for the number of times for which a pattern is multi-passed.
The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and has an object of providing a charged beam drawing method which realizes sub-field multi-drawing and stripe multi-drawing only with use of one piece of drawing pattern definition data, without involving large repetition of sub-fields and without preparing data in compliance with the number of times for which a pattern is multi-passed.
Further, the present invention has another object of providing a charged beam drawing apparatus which realizes sub-field multi-drawing and stripe multi-drawing only with use of one piece of drawing pattern definition data, without involving large repetition of sub-fields and without preparing data in compliance with the number of times for which a pattern is multi-passed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates generally to bicycles and, more particularly, to a light weight multi-material fork and steerer tube assembly.
A typical fork assembly generally includes a fork crown that is constructed to engage a pair of downward extending forks. A steerer tube is constructed to engage mating structure and be secured to the fork crown so as to extend in a direction generally opposite the pair of forks. Typically, the steerer tube and fork crown are constructed of aluminum or metal-type materials whereas the forks, or at least a portion thereof, may be constructed of a composite material and/or a carbon based material such as carbon fiber material and/or a glass fiber material. The fork crown is often two dimensionally forged and then machined to a proximate finish or net shape. The fork crown commonly extends in opposite lateral directions relative to the axis of the steerer tube.
The fork crown is frequently formed with a pair of protrusions positioned on generally opposite sides of the fork crown relative to the steerer tube. The protrusions are commonly constructed to engage the inside of the composite fork legs. The faces of the protrusions increase the surface area of the interface between the aluminum or metal material fork crown and the composite forks. Such a construction provides a greater bonding area between the two components.
Once fully assembled and bonded, the assembly is again machined to ensure a generally smooth transition between the fork crown and the fork legs thereby providing an aesthetic and aerodynamic finish. In addition to the exterior surface machining, a surface of a cavity of each fork leg is also commonly machined to ensure a relatively consistent bond-gap between a respective fork leg and the respective protruding portion of the fork crown.
Each fork blade or leg is typically made from a carbon fiber and/or glass fiber material that is held together with an epoxy resin matrix. Such fork blades are typically molded using matched female tooling and a pressure-generating material or pressurized bladder that is configured to form the general shape of the cavity of each fork leg such that each cavity is configured to snuggly receive the corresponding protrusion of the fork crown. This construction and preparation of such a fork assembly and the fork assembly components is time consuming and labor intensive.
Construction of the steerer tube also commonly requires extensive manufacturing processes to ensure a secure engagement between the steerer tube and the fork crown. An inner diameter of the steerer tube is commonly stepped or tapered and is formed using a butting process that is well-known to steerer tube manufacture. The steerer tube also includes a plug end that is constructed for bonding the steerer tube to the fork crown. The plug end is generally formed after the butting process and is typically done by swaging the end of the steerer tube that engages the fork crown.
Although such a known manufacturing and assembly process generates a fork assembly that is aesthetically pleasing and fairly robust, such fork assemblies are not without their drawbacks. The assembly provides a relatively heavy fork assembly having a fork crown and steerer tube constructed of a relatively solid aluminum material. The fork crown and steerer tube are commonly constructed of metal-type materials and sized to withstand the stresses and strains associated with bicycle operation. The size and material of the steerer tube assembly undesirably contributes to the overall weight of the bicycle. Furthermore, due to stress concentrations associated with the interface of the steerer tube and the fork crown, additional material is commonly associated with this interface area thereby further undesirably increasing the mass of the fork assembly. Understandably, the weight of the steerer tube and fork subassembly is an important consideration of bicycle design. Riders commonly prefer a bicycle that is lightweight and can provide the performance to which they are accustomed.
The fairly complex manufacture of such fork assemblies also presents several undesirable manufacturing attributes. The multiple machining and complex forging, molding, or casting requirements of such assemblies increases the cost associated with producing each unit. Whereas the pre and post bond machining of the fork assembly components ensures a generally uniform and repeatable assembly, such manufacturing processes have a greater than ideal per unit cycle time. Although the post bond machining of the crown race ensures that the fork crown is constructed to be concentrically supported by a bicycle frame relative to the steerer tube, these extensive production procedures also increase the per unit assembly time as well as the requisite skill level of assembly and manufacturing personnel.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a fork and steerer tube assembly that is both robust and lightweight. It is further desired to provide a method of forming a fork assembly whose components can be efficiently and repeatably produced and assembled. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to inflatable positioning aids for an operating room that enable a patient to be conveniently and safely positioned during surgery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An anesthetized patient must be maintained substantially immovably in a position that enables convenient access by doctors during surgery. Additionally, the anesthetized patient must be positioned in a manner that maintains an open air passage for continuous unstressed breathing. Still further, the anesthetized patient must be positioned in a manner that will prevent long term pressure at a location that could impede blood flow or put pressure on nerves or vital structures.
Doctors and other members of a surgical team continue to use fairly crude positioning devices during surgery. For example, patients may be propped into a selected position by rolled-up sections of blankets, sheets and gauze pads. However, these fairly crude positioning devices do not provide an acceptable degree of control, and do not facilitate repositioning intraoperatively. Furthermore, a roll of fabric, or the like, may create local pressure points that would not be appreciated by the surgical team and that could impede blood flow. A restriction of blood flow during a lengthy operation can cause serious damage to limbs, and hence can require a long term regimen of post-operative physical therapy. Nerve damage or damage to other organs may be permanent.
The prior art has included several inflatable positioning aids. Most of the prior art inflatable positioning aids are very complicated structures that would be costly to manufacture. The complexities arise from having a plurality of angularly aligned internal or external panels that must be carefully secured to one another. The prior art requirement for the plurality of angularly aligned, intersecting and seamed panels adds to manufacturing and assembly costs and substantially complicates quality control inspections of the product.
The assignee of the subject invention also has rights to an inflatable positioning aid. The assignee""s inflatable positioning aid is described in copending application Ser. No. 08/733,629 which was filed on Oct. 17, 1996, and includes: a generally rectangular inflatable pillow; a tube extending into the pillow; a hand pump for directing air through the tube and into the pillow; and a valve for selectively releasing air from the pillow.
Despite the many advantages of the assignee""s prior inflatable positioning aid, the need for further improvements has been recognized by the inventors herein. For example, certain types of surgery create unique positioning requirements that may not be met appropriately by a rectangular inflatable pillow.
The subject invention relates to solutions to certain of those unique surgical positioning demands.
The subject invention is directed to inflatable positioning aids for use during a medical procedure. More particularly, the subject invention relates to inflatable positioning aids that are uniquely configured to meet demands of certain medical procedures. These inflatable positioning aids may be used with a flexible tube, a hand pump for manually inflating the positioning aid and a valve for selectively deflating the positioning aid. The inflatable positioning aid also may be used with the tube, the valve and an adaptor that can be engaged with the flexible tube and with a source of compressed air for automatic inflation of the positioning aid. Such a source of compressed air commonly is present in an operating room. Thus, the use of a source of a compressed air enables very rapid inflation and avoids the need to have a person in the operating room mechanically pump air into the inflatable positioning aid.
In all embodiments, the inflatable positioning aid is formed from a top panel and a bottom panel, at least portions of which are of substantially identical shape. Preferred embodiments of the inflatable positioning aids of the subject invention do not include end panels, side panels or internal panels that would complicate assembly and increase costs. Rather, the desired shape of the inflatable positioning aid is achieved by the careful selection of the non-inflated shapes of the top and bottom panels as described herein. In all embodiments, the inflatable positioning aid is assembled by positioning identically configured portions of the top and bottom panels in registration with one another and seaming the top and bottom panels to one another at selected locations.
At least one of the panels of the positioning aid may include a non-inflatable flap extending beyond the periphery of the inflatable portions of the positioning aid. The flap is disposed at a location on which a portion of the patient will lie. Thus, the flap functions to hold the inflatable positioning aid at a specified location during inflation, and during a medical procedure.
In one embodiment, the inflatable positioning aid defines a wedge-shape after inflation that enables the patient to be shifted from a perfectly horizontal supine position into a position where one side of a patient is elevated slightly. The inflated positioning aid to meet these requirements may be tapered from a first end defining a point or line of substantially zero cross-section to a second end defining a circle, oval or rectangle of larger cross-section. The cross-sectional difference between the first and second ends can be varied by the sizes and shapes of the panels and by the amount of air pumped into the inflatable portion of the positioning aid. Positioning aids of this type will have particularly utility in certain obstetric procedures, such as a caesarian section. In particular, during all childbirth, the uterus tends to compress the vena cava and/or the aorta, thereby impairing blood flow to the fetus (aorto-caval compression syndrome). The shifting enabled by the wedge-shape after inflation displaces the uterus and helps to avoid the compression of the vena cava and/or aorta. The inflatable positioning aid may have a non-inflatable flap extending from one end. The flap may be placed under the patient to prevent lateral shifting as the wedge-shape develops during inflation and to prevent shifting during childbirth.
The subject invention also relates to a non-rectangular inflatable positioning aid intended for supporting the face in surgical procedures that require a patient to be in a prone position. In this position, it is often difficult to conveniently position the face in a manner that will ensure that the air passages remain open. Accordingly, a generally U-shaped inflatable positioning aid may be provided. The U-shaped inflatable portion of the positioning aid may have an inflatable connecting portion and a pair of inflatable arms. The opening between the pair of inflatable arms may be dimensioned to receive the nose and mouth of the patient. In certain embodiments, the opening between the arms may be substantially T-shaped, with the central portion of the T being dimensioned and configured for receiving the nose and mouth, and with the arms of the T being dimensioned and configured for receiving the eyes of the patient, to prevent excessive pressure on the eyes. The inflatable positioning aid of this embodiment may be made of a transparent material to enable the anesthesiologist to clearly see the face and eyes when the patient is in the prone position. Ends of the arms of the inflatable positioning aid remote from the connecting portion may be joined by a sheet member or strap for ensuring that the inflatable arms remain in selected positions relative to one another, and to prevent the inflatable arms from spreading in a manner that would urge the nose and mouth downwardly against the operating table. A non-inflatable flap may further extend from ends of the arms of the inflatable positioning aid remote the connecting portion. The non-inflatable flap will carry the weight of the torso of the patient and will ensure that the inflatable positioning aid does not shift significantly relative to the patient in response to forces generated during inflation or during the medical procedure. A similar configuration may be employed for back surgery. In this embodiment, the inflatable arms diverge in a V-shape. Additionally, the non-inflatable flap may extend from the inflatable connecting portion. The space between the inflatable arms may be positioned to align with the sternum, and the non-inflatable flap may be positioned under the hips.
A third inflatable positioning aid is elongated and dimensioned to extend over substantially the entire torso of a patient. This third inflatable positioning aid includes a generally rectangular top panel and a rectangular bottom panel. The rectangular top and bottom panels may be secured to one another about the periphery of at least one panel. Additionally, an elongated central portion is rendered non-inflatable by securing the central portion of the top panel to the central portion of the bottom panel. Areas of the central portion that are not inflated may extend continuously from one longitudinal end of the rectangular inflatable positioning aid to a location near the opposed longitudinal end. This will create first and second spaced apart longitudinally extending inflatable portions. Additionally, the first and second longitudinally extending inflatable portions are connected to one another at a location in proximity to at least one of the ends. Thus, a single source of air can be employed to inflate both longitudinally extending sections of the inflatable position aid. The non-inflated central portion of this inflatable positioning aid preferably is disposed to substantially align with the spine of the patient. Thus, the spine will extend along the non-inflated groove and will not be subjected to pressure. Furthermore, this positioning aid provides two elongate inflatable supports that ensure uniform stable elevation without rocking or tilting that could occur with a single rectangular chamber under the back. An inflatable positioning aid of this type is particularly useful for heart surgery. To ensure that the inflatable positioning aid does not move, this embodiment may include first and second non-inflatable flaps extending respectively from the opposed longitudinal ends of the inflatable portion. The first non-inflatable flap may be positioned under the hips of the patient, and the second non-inflatable flap may be positioned under the head of the patient. Each flap may be a unitary extension of one panel.
A fourth inflatable positioning aid in accordance with the subject invention is intended for positioning the neck and head when the patient is in a supine position. More particularly, this inflatable positioning aid may include a generally toroidal section dimensioned and configured for supporting the back of the head and an elongate portion for positioning under the neck. The elongate portion may be substantially tangential to the toroidal portion. Additionally, the toroidal portion and the elongate portions may be separately controllable. Thus, the valve employed in this embodiment may differ from the valve employed in other embodiments in that air pressure may be selectively added to or withdrawn from either of the two separate sections of the inflatable support in accordance with the particular needs of the patient. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Modern society requires the availability of communication systems through which to communicate data. Data is communicated pursuant to effectuation of many varied types of communication services.
A communication system is formed of, at a minimum, a sending station and a receiving station interconnected by way of a communication channel. Data is originated, at one of the communication stations, forming a sending station. The sending station sends the data upon the communication channel to a second communication station, forming a receiving station. The receiving station detects the data communicated thereto upon the communication channel and operates to recover the informational content thereof.
Many different types of communication systems have been developed and deployed by which to provide for the effectuation of many different types of communication services. With continued advancements in communication technologies, improvements to communication systems are provided, and new types of communication systems are developed and deployed. For instance, advancements in communication technologies have permitted the introduction of new types of radio communication systems and, also, improvements to the capabilities and performance of existing radio communication systems.
In a radio communication system, communication stations are not connected by way of a wireline connection upon which a communication channel is defined. Rather, a communication channel is defined upon a radio air interface extending between the communication stations. Because the need for use of a wireline connection between the communication stations is obviated, radio communication systems provide various advantages over their wireline counterparts. For example, the initial installation and deployment costs associated with a radio communication system are generally less than, sometimes substantially so, than the costs required initially to install and deploy a corresponding wireline communication system. Additionally, and significantly, a radio communication system is amenable for implementation as a mobile communication system. In a mobile communication system, one, or more, of the communication stations operable therein are mobile, thereby providing communication mobility.
A cellular communication system is a type of radio communication system. The network infrastructures of various types of cellular communication systems have been deployed throughout significant portions of the populated areas of the world. Usage levels of cellular communication systems are increasing, and the types of communication services available for effectuation therethrough correspondingly are increasing.
Analog communication techniques are utilized in first-installed cellular communication systems. Such communication systems provide for circuit switched connections. And, circuit switched voice communications as well as low bandwidth data communication services are provided in these cellular communication systems.
Advancements in communication technologies, as noted above, have permitted the development, installation, and deployment of successive generations of cellular communication systems. The successor generation systems, successors to the initially deployed cellular communication systems, generally utilized digital communication techniques and provide for packet switched communications. Packet switched connections in which packet formatted data is communicated efficiently utilizes communication capacity of the communication system. Multiple increases in the communication capacity of a communication system utilizing packet switched communication techniques, relative to communication systems that utilize analog communication techniques are sometimes possible. An operating specification defining the operational parameters and requirements of a universal mobile telephone service/general packet radio service (UMTS/GPRS) communication system is undergoing standardization procedures. The communication system defined therein is an exemplary successor generation cellular communication system that provides for packet switched communications.
Other radio communication systems provide for the effectuation of communication services that are analogous to communication services provided by cellular communication systems. WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks) also provide for the communication of data with mobile stations by way of radio communication channels. WLANs, also analogous to their wired counterparts LANs (Local Area Networks), provide for data communication services over, typically, relatively small areas, such as throughout a building location or area. WLANs, generally, permit the effectuation of high data rate communication services, sometimes at costs that are substantially lower than the corresponding costs to communicate the corresponding data in a public access, cellular communication system.
Some WLANs are implemented to be operable in compliance with the operating specifications and protocols set forth in an IEEE 802.11, or variant, operating specification. Existing operating standards provide for high bandwidth communication services, e.g., between 11 and 54 Mbps within relatively small coverage areas, such as sixty square meters. Existing WLANs, including those operable pursuant to the IEEE 802.11 operating specification, generally lack an adequate paging mechanism by which to page a mobile station of initiation of a communication session. Existing paging mechanisms are lacking as location tracking of mobile stations operable in such WLANs is not provided. While proposals have been set forth by which to provide layer-3 logical layer paging protocols, e.g., at the IP (Internet Protocol) for IPv4 and Ipv6 protocols, such proposals do not set forth efficient paging procedures. Such proposals provide for layer-3 logical paging services on top of session continuity or merely paging services. The existing proposals do not provide layer-2 logical layer paging, e.g, at the link layer.
Link layer support is needed to locate or track a mobile station and to wake up a dormant mobile station. Paging at the layer-3 logical layer fails to provide an adequate mechanism by which to wake up a dormant mobile station or a mechanism by which to page a mobile station at a layer-2 logical layer.
An improved paging mechanism that overcomes the inadequacies of the existing paging mechanisms is therefore needed.
It is light of this background information related to the paging of a mobile station in a WLAN, or other radio communication system, that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
Alzheimer disease. (AD) is a disorder of the later decades of life characterized by dementia. In clinical terms, it consists of a diffuse deterioration of mental function, primarily in thought and memory and secondarily in feeling and conduct. AD has also been used to designate dementia appearing before the age of 65 years.
The true incidence of the disorder is unknown, although recent data suggest that the incidence of all dementia in the U.S. population may be over 100 cases per 100,000, with its prevalence being over 550 per 100,000. AD probably affects at least 30 to 50% of patients with dementia, and in the United States there may be over one million individuals with severe dementia and several million more with mild to moderate dementia. It has been estimate that 1 out of every 6 persons over the age of 65 in the United States suffers from moderate dementia, and a majority of patients in nursing home populations are affected with the disorder. The average age of onset is between 70 and 79 years, but without better information on the population at risk, a more accurate statement is not presently possible. The incidence of the syndrome clearly increases with advancing age. A family history of AD is present in 5 to 10% of the patients.
The major abnormalities observed in individuals suffering from AD include the deposition of .beta.-amyloid peptides (A.beta.) in the extra-cellular space, the massive loss of cortical neurons and the accumulation of paired helical filaments (PHFs) in the neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), dystrophic neurites and neuropil threads (NTs). The subunit proteins of PHFs are derivatized forms of CNS .tau. proteins known as, interchangeably, A68 or PHF .tau.. Relative to adult CNS .tau. proteins, PHS .tau. is excessively phosphorylated and far more resistant to proteolysis than its normal counterpart, but fetal CNS .tau. is phosphorylated at similar sites.
Despite intense research into the pathological significance of A.beta. deposits for over a decade, the role of A.beta. in the pathogenesis of AD remains enigmatic. Indeed, abundant deposits of A.beta. occur in the brains of elderly individuals who show no antemortem evidence of dementia. On the other hand, the presence of mutations in the APPs within or flanking the A.beta. domain in a subset of familial AD kindred provide circumstantial evidence for the involvement of A.beta. and APPs in the etiology of some forms of AD.
In contrast, considerable information is available on the basic biology, pathology and normal functions of adult and fetal CNS .tau. proteins. CNS .tau. proteins are a group of developmentally regulated low molecular weight microtubule-associated proteins that bind to MTs. They function to stabilize MTs in the polymerized state and facilitate the polymerization of tubulin into MTs. Normal adult human brain .tau. consists of six alternatively spliced proteins encoded by the same gene, and each .tau. isoform contains either 3 or 4 consecutive MT binding motifs. Further, human .tau. isoforms differ with respect to the presence or absence of inserted sequences in the amino-terminal third of .tau. that are 29 or 58 amino acids in length. So-called "fetal" .tau. is the shortest .tau. isoform, and it is expressed early in the developing human nervous system, while all 6 alternatively spliced .tau. isoforms (including "fetal" CNS .tau.) are expressed in the adult human brain.
There is a need for a method of stabilizing microtubules in the presence of A68 protein which are undergoing microtubule destabilization due to a deficiency in normal CNS tau protein that stabilizes microtubule polymerization. There is a need for a method of stabilizing microtubules in the presence of A68 protein in cells undergoing microtubule destabilization due to a deficiency in normal CNS tau protein that stabilizes microtubule polymerization. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of physical training and exercise equipment. More specifically the present invention relates to a leg stretching apparatus including an elevation structure mounted to an elevation mechanism for lifting and lowering the elevation structure, a first leg support member hingedly connected to the elevation structure and extending from the elevation structure in a first direction and a second leg support member hingedly connected to the elevation structure and extending from the elevation structure in a second direction. To use the apparatus, the elevation mechanism is operated to lift the elevation structure so that the first and second leg support members pivot downwardly from the elevation structure to rest at their free ends on a floor or other support surface, at an angle below horizontal. The user seats himself or herself on the apparatus by placing one user leg on the first leg support and the other user leg on the second leg support, so that the user legs are spread. Then the user operates the elevation mechanism to lower the elevation structure and thereby progressively pivot the leg support members upwardly toward horizontal, progressively further spreading the user legs to an extent desired by the user. The user optionally can operate the elevation mechanism to raise and lower the elevation structure so that the apparatus spreads and thus laterally stretches the user legs and then moves the user legs toward each other to momentarily relax the user legs, in a repeating sequence.
The elevation structure preferably includes a horizontal platform having a central platform port with port internal threads, and an upright elevation rod rotatably mounted at its lower end to a bearing structure and extending through the platform port, the rod having external rod threads meshing with the port internal threads, and a rod rotation structure in the form of a rod hand grip extending radially outward from the elevation rod for the user to grip and turn in one direction to lift the platform and in the other rotational direction to lower the platform, thereby operating the elevation mechanism. The bearing structure preferably includes a broad bearing support base member. Alternatively, an elevation rod rotation motor assembly is provided to rotate the elevation rod in either direction.
The apparatus preferably additionally includes an elevation guidance structure to permit the elevation structure to be lifted and lowered in a smooth, steady motion without hanging up. The guidance structure preferably includes an upright rectangular frame fitted with a vertical series of horizontal roller axle rods, and a closely spaced series of cylindrical rollers, each roller being mounted on one of the roller axle rods. A lateral end of the elevation structure bears against the rollers so that the rollers provide lateral support to prevent the elevation structure from twisting on the elevation rod.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been exercise devices for building and stretching muscles of the human body. A problem with these prior devices has been that none known to applicant provide means for stretching user legs laterally from each other.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a leg stretching apparatus which laterally stretches user legs apart from each other.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which does such stretching in an individually selectable, controlled and progressive movement or series of movements.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which is sturdy, safe, durable, reliable and cost effective to manufacture. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Underwater pool lights are used in swimming pools, wading pools, fountains and spas for illumination under the surface of the water. Underwater pool lights generally require a niche in a wall of the pool for installation of the light. This requires extra excavation and concrete reinforcing or extra gunite to install the light in a gunite pool. As a result, most underwater lights are bulky and expensive to install. In vinyl liner pools, additional reinforcing is usually required, and large holes, nine to twelve inches wide, are needed to install wet niche lights. This type of installation also increases the chance of leaks in vinyl liner pools. Many conventional lights cannot be used in vinyl liner pools.
Some underwater lights must be removed and completely disassembled to replace a bulb, adding to their inconvenience and requiring experienced personnel for maintenance. Other underwater lights have no heat sensing device to prevent overheating. Besides presenting a safety hazard, overheating reduces bulb life and increases maintenance costs.
Some underwater lights use clear covers or lenses and provide no directional control over the light output. These lights have a tendency to illuminate not just the pool but also the surrounding area. The resulting glare is both an inconvenience and a safety hazard. Fountain lights also should be appropriately directed to avoid unwanted glare. Underwater lights should include an effective reflector to direct light out into the pool. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium and a magnetic storage apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applications of the magnetic storage apparatus such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) are increasing, and importance of the magnetic storage apparatus is increasing. In addition, in the magnetic recording medium such as a magnetic disk, the recording density is increasing at a rate of over 50% per year, and this trend may be expected to continue in the future. With this trend of increasing recording density, magnetic heads and magnetic recording media suited for the high recording density are being developed.
The magnetic storage apparatus may be provided with the so-called perpendicular magnetic recording medium in which an axis of easy magnetization within a recording layer is mainly oriented in a perpendicular direction. In the perpendicular magnetic recording medium, the effects of demagnetization is small in a boundary region between recorded bits, and a sharp bit boundary may be formed, to thereby suppress increase of noise, even when the recording density is high. In addition, in the perpendicular magnetic recording medium, the decrease in the recording bit volume caused by the high recording density is small, and the thermal stability of written bits (or characteristic to withstand heat fluctuation) may be improved. The thermal stability of written bits may also be simply referred to as “thermal stability”.
In order to cope with the demands to further improve the high recording density of the magnetic recording medium, studies are being made to use a single-pole head having a desirable write performance with respect to the perpendicular recording layer. More particularly, a proposed magnetic recording medium is provided with a back layer made of a soft magnetic material between the perpendicular recording layer and a nonmagnetic substrate, in order to improve the input and output efficiency of magnetic flux between the single-pole magnetic head and the magnetic recording medium.
Further, in order to improve the recording and reproducing characteristic and the thermal stability of the perpendicular magnetic recording medium, a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-310910 proposes using an orientation control layer, forming a recording layer with a multi-layer structure, and making crystal particles of each of the magnetic layers of the recording layer have a continuous columnar crystal shape, so that the perpendicular orientation of the recording layer may be improved, for example.
For example, a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-244831 proposes using Ru for the orientation control layer. In addition, because a dome-shaped projection is formed at a peak part of the columnar crystal of Ru, it is reported in a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-272990 that when crystal particles of the recording layer or the like are grown on the Ru dome-shaped projection and the isolation structure of the grown crystal particles is promoted to isolate the crystal particles, this has the effect of growing the magnetic particles in the columnar shape.
For example, a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-70444 proposes forming the perpendicular recording layer from an alloy having CoCrPt as its main component, in the perpendicular magnetic recording medium having the perpendicular recording medium formed on the substrate via a soft magnetic underlayer and a nonmagnetic intermediate layer.
For example, a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-310910 proposes forming the perpendicular recording layer by two or more magnetic layers, making at least one of the magnetic layers to include Co as its main component and to include Pt and an oxide, and making the other of the magnetic layers to include Co as its main component and to include Cr but no oxide, in order to improve the recording and reproducing characteristic and the thermal stability, and enable high-density information recording and reproduction.
However, in the conventional magnetic recording medium and the conventional magnetic storage apparatus, it may be difficult to improve the recording capacity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
This invention provides a spill-preventive pet-training apparatus and method for use with a pet animal, such as a dog, in order to contain the lateral flow of liquid, such as urine, being applied to an absorbent pad at a volume and rate exceeding the absorption rate of the pad.
Various absorbent materials available in sheet form are known and used to absorb liquids and to absorb urine in particular. For humans, diapers or pads of cloth, paper, or plastic are available.
In the course of living with some pets, including dogs, and especially very young untrained pets or very old incontinent pets, urination inside the human dwelling is an issue. Absorbent sheets or pads can be used, and many pets can be trained to seek such an absorbent pad for urination. But the available absorbent sheets or pads are prone to spillage because the urine is applied at a fast rate to a small area of the pad, the pad's rate of absorption is low, and the urine flows laterally, spilling off the pad.
Although this issue applies very clearly to dogs, even some cats are known to have proclivities to urinate outside of a litter box, especially when old or sick, and other, less traditional pets can also present the issue.
Several patents and publications discuss the use of a leak-proof puppy training pad with various layers of absorbable material, which differ in the overall construction of the pet pans, including whether the pans or pads can be made flexible and disposable, as in the present invention.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0234253, published Sept. 20, 2012 to Michele Malm et al. for a “Portable Pet Toilet,” discloses a portable pet toilet comprising three layers: a surface layer designed such that a pet is encouraged to urinate upon it; a bottom layer (shield layer) designed to prevent urine from contaminating any floor material upon which it rests; and an intermediate layer designed to absorb and retain the amount of urine that can be expected to be excreted by the pet. The bottom layer is afforded with a means for securing the position of the other two layers while allowing all three layers to be formed into a compact roll to facilitate portability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,347, issued on Aug. 25, 1998 to Kengo Ochi for an “Absorbent Panel for Pet Animals,” discloses an absorbent panel for pet animals such as dogs and cats, comprising a liquid-permeable topsheet, a liquid-impermeable backsheet, and a liquid-absorbent core panel therebetween. The core panel in turn comprises a relatively thin central region and a relatively thick side region.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,495, issued Dec. 17, 1968 to Henry Allen Wilson for a “Pet Pan with Disposable Lining,” covers a pet commode and is an improvement in which a pan is provided that is impervious to liquid. The pan may be lined with paper, and is provided with means for holding the paper in position so that the animal may not remove it.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,273 issued Nov. 8, 1966 to E. E Prentice and covers an “Absorbent Pad.” The invention relates to an absorbent pad and is particularly concerned with absorption or taking up of liquids into said pad to be retained and stored therein, a general object of the invention being to provide an article of manufacture that is particularly suited for use as a floor covering or the like and adapted to receive and store liquids contacting the same, while affording protection to the underlying floor. By “floor,” the invention means to cover broadly any supporting surface, whether it be that of a building structure, vehicular body or container, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,834 issued Feb. 17, 1981 to Stephen Cheselka for a “Pet Sanitary Facility.” The invention covers a pet sanitary facility having a stack of a plurality of liquid impervious layers and a plurality of liquid absorbent layers, interleaved with each other, located below a perforated platform member made of non-liquid absorbent material. The peripheral portions of the stack may have support means surrounding same to raise the peripheral portions thereof. Spacer and support means are provided between the platform member and the stack.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,900, issued Dec. 14, 1971 to Fred Failla for a “Disposable Dog Commode,” discloses an inexpensive disposable dog commode comprising a preferably square, flexible sheet of moistureproof material adapted to be spread upon a flat-supporting surface such as a floor, pavement, or the like. The sheet is to be held in such position while the dog uses same, followed by the contraction of the edges and corners of the sheet to enclose the excrement for disposal in a suitable waste receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,417, issued Jun. 4, 1968 to E. C. Machowski for a “Sanitary Station for Pet Animals,” discloses a sanitary enclosure, and more particularly a sanitary station for pet animals, which is liquid-proof and affords additional protection for the floor, rugs, furniture, etc. The sanitary station comprises a rectangular plate-like station member, a means defining a rectangular enclosure within the main portion of said station member and spaced from the edge thereof, layers of liquid absorbing litter material within said enclosure, the edge portions of said station member assume inwardly inclining, angular configurations for directing the liquid from said edge portions into said enclosure, said enclosure being provided with a plurality of horizontally disposed holes adjacent the top surface of said station member for admitting said liquid therein, and leg members for supporting said edge portions and spacing them from the flat surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,647 issued Dec. 19, 1967 to H. A. Wilson for a “Pet Pan,” and covers a pet commode or toilet pan, and more particularly covers a foldable and disposable receptacle for use in receiving an animal and its excretions. The animal toilet comprises a planar plural sided closed frame member and a liquid impervious bag loosely enclosing the frame, and provides a dished pan having sides formed by said frame and an intermediate double-thickness wall rested upon a supporting surface for the frame.
There exists a need for an absorbent pad that is capable of slowing and containing the lateral flow of liquid such as urine during the time required for the pad to absorb all of the liquid. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to a method for decomposing a halogenated organic compound, and more particularly, to a method for decomposing a halogenated organic compound contained in soil such as polychlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD), polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDF), and coplanar polychlorobiphenyl (PCB) (These materials are hereinafter generally referred to as "dioxins".) with good operation property and high efficiency.
In incineration plants such as those for municipal waste, dioxins precursors (precursors for the dioxins) including organic compounds such as phenols, benzene and acetylene, chlorinated aromatic compounds such as chlorophenols and chlorobenzenes, and chlorinated alkyl compounds are formed during incineration. When flyash coexists with the dioxins precursors, the precursors change to the dioxins under the catalytic action of the flyash, and the generated dioxins exist in incineration ash. Also, the generated dioxins sometimes contaminate the incineration plant and ambient soil therearound.
Conventional technologies for decomposing dioxins in soil include a method using supercritical state water, a method using ozone or ultraviolet rays, a method by heating, a method utilizing special fungi such as "Maitake" or "Enokidake" or wood-rotting bacteria, and a method using a catalyst.
Conventional methods for decomposing dioxins contained in flyash are as follows;
(1) To keep dioxins-containing flyash for 1-2 hours at a temperature between 320 and 400.degree. C. under a reductive atmosphere such as nitrogen (for instance, 2 hours at 320.degree. C. or 1-1.5 hours at 340.degree. C.) (Hagenmaier process, "ORGANOHALOGEN COMPOUNDS Vol. 27 (1996)" p.147-152); PA1 (2) Heating dioxins-containing flyash at 300-500 .degree. C. under the existence of a dioxins formation inhibitor (JPA 4-241880).
However, all of the above-mentioned methods for decomposing dioxins contained in soil have problems in decomposition efficiency or treating operation. Especially, the method using ultraviolet rays offers a low decomposition efficiency as the rays are effective only at the irradiated surface. Also, the method using catalysts has difficulties in treating operation. The method by heating has problems of recombination and evaporation of dioxins, and the method using bacteria has low decomposition efficiency.
The methods described in the above items (1) and (2) for decomposing dioxins contained in flyash have a drawback that their high treatment temperature and long treatment time require much energy and high cost. Especially, in the above mentioned method (1), it is required to carry out the treatment under a reductive atmosphere such as nitrogen gas, bringing about complexity and a high cost. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
In recent years, with an upsurge of interest in environmental issues, attention has been focused on power storage systems that accumulate electric power generated by using renewable energy such as PV (Photo Voltaic). In the power storage systems, use of lithium ion secondary batteries that, unlike lead storage batteries, do not contain substances harmful for human bodies and the environment have been studied.
When a power storage system is configured by using lithium ion secondary batteries or the like (hereinafter, simply called “secondary batteries” generically), the power storage system generally adopts a configuration in which a secondary battery pack is formed by connecting a plurality of secondary batteries in series in order to obtain a desired output voltage, and a plurality of the secondary battery packs are connected in parallel in order to obtain a desired power storage capacity.
However, in the configuration in which a plurality of secondary battery packs (or secondary batteries) are connected in parallel, there is the fear that a cross current, in which a current flows between the secondary battery packs due to imbalance in the inter-terminal voltages of the respective secondary battery packs during operation, will occur and that the power storage system cannot be operated normally. Since among the secondary batteries, a difference occurs in deterioration state depending on production dates, temperature environments and the like, imbalance occurs in the inter-terminal voltages of the respective secondary batteries after charge and discharge, and due to imbalance, a cross current occurs among the secondary batteries, if there is a difference in the deterioration state even if the secondary batteries are of the same kind (specifications). This problem becomes more conspicuous as the number of secondary battery packs (or secondary batteries) that are connected in parallel becomes larger.
It is generally known that cross currents between secondary battery packs and between secondary batteries have an adverse effect on a power storage system, and many apparatuses that use a plurality of secondary batteries by connecting secondary batteries in parallel are prohibited from using a mixture of new and old secondary batteries.
However, in reality, a difference occurs in the rate of deterioration among the secondary batteries during operation even if all the secondary batteries are new. Further, there are many situations in which combined use of secondary batteries differing in deterioration state is desired, such as the case in which a power storage system is configured by using a small number of secondary batteries initially, and thereafter, secondary batteries are additionally provided, the case in which a power storage system is configured at low cost by using used secondary batteries, or the like.
From the background as above, the art of reducing user inconvenience by enabling the secondary batteries having different deterioration states to be used safely and freely in power storage systems has been desired.
As the art as above, for example, Patent Literature 1 describes a configuration that includes a plurality of secondary battery packs connectable in parallel with each other via switches, and eliminates imbalance between the inter-terminal voltages of the respective secondary battery packs at the time of discharge by controlling the respective switches provided at each of the secondary battery packs. In the art described in Patent Literature 1, the inter-terminal voltages of the respective secondary battery packs are respectively measured, and discharge is started from the secondary battery pack having the highest inter-terminal voltage. When the inter-terminal voltage drops due to discharge, and becomes substantially equal to the inter-terminal voltage of another secondary battery pack which has not been discharged until then, discharge of the other secondary battery pack is initiated. By performing control like this, the difference between the inter-terminal voltages of the respective secondary battery packs at the time of start of discharge can be reduced, and therefore, occurrence of a cross current can be prevented.
Incidentally, for example, in the secondary battery pack that is being discharged, the current that is supplied to a load is reduced when the other secondary battery pack that is connected in parallel with the secondary battery pack starts to be discharged, and therefore, the inter-terminal voltage rises. Meanwhile, in the secondary battery pack which is not being discharged, the inter-terminal voltage drops when discharge of the secondary battery pack that is not been discharged starts and thereby supplies a current to the load.
In the art described in the above described Patent Literature 1, the change in the inter-terminal voltages like this is not taken into consideration, and therefore, it cannot be said that the cross current which occurs between the secondary battery pack that starts to be discharged and the other secondary battery pack that is already being discharged and that is connected in parallel with the secondary battery pack when the secondary battery pack starts to be discharged is fully prevented. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In the highly efficient coding of a dynamic image, it has been known, in recognition of the similarity of the frames that are close to each other in regard to time, to use motion compensation in compressing the data. The most widely used motion compensation system at present image coding technology is block matching, employed in Standards H.261, MPEG1 and MPEG2 which are international standards for a dynamic image coding system. According to this system, the image to be coded is divided into a number of blocks, and a motion vector is found for each of the blocks.
FIG. 1 illustrates the constitution of a coder 100 of the H.261 Standard which employs a hybrid coding system (adaptive interframe/intraframe coding method) which is a combination of block matching and DCT (discrete cosine transform). A subtractor 102 calculates the difference between an input image (original image of present frame) 101 and an output image 113 (that will be described later) of an interframe/intraframe switching unit 119, and outputs an error image 103. The error image is transformed into a DCT coefficient through a DCT processor 104 and is quantized through a quantizer 105 to obtain a quantized DCT coefficient 106. The quantized DCT coefficient is output as transfer data onto a communication line and is, at the same time, used in the coder to synthesize an interframe predicted image. A procedure for synthesizing the predicted image will be described below. The quantized DCT coefficient 106 passes through a dequantizer 108 and an inverse DCT processor 109 to form a reconstructed error image 110 (the same image as the error image reproduced on the receiving side).
An output image 113 (that will be described later) of the interframe/intraframe switching unit 119 is added thereto through an adder 111, thereby to obtain a reconstructed image 112 of the present frame (the same image as the reconstructed image of the present frame reproduced on the receiving side). The image is temporarily stored in a frame memory 114 and is delayed in time by one frame. At the present moment, therefore, the frame memory 114 is outputting a reconstructed image 115 of the preceding frame. The reconstructed image of the preceding frame and the input image 101 of the present frame are input to a block matching unit 116 where block matching is executed.
In the block matching, an image is divided into a plurality of blocks, and a portion most resembling the original image of the present frame is taken out for each of the blocks from the reconstructed image of the preceding frame, thereby synthesizing a predicted image 117 of the present frame. At this moment, it is necessary to execute a processing (local motion estimation) for detecting how much the blocks have moved from the preceding frame to the present frame. The motion vectors of the blocks detected by the motion estimation are transmitted to the receiving side as motion data 120. From the motion data and the reconstructed image of the preceding frame, the receiving side can synthesize an estimated image which is the same as the one that is obtained independently on the transmitting side.
Referring again to FIG. 1, the estimated image 117 is input together with a “0” signal 118 to the interframe/intraframe switching unit 119. Upon selecting either of the two inputs, the switching unit switches the coding either the interframe coding or the intraframe coding. When the predicted image 117 is selected (FIG. 2 illustrates this case), the interframe coding is executed. When the “0” signal is selected, on the other hand, the input image is directly DCT-coded and is output to the communication line. Therefore, the intraframe coding is executed.
In order to properly obtain the reconstructed image on the receiving side, it becomes necessary to know whether the interframe coding is executed or the intraframe coding is executed on the transmitting side. For this purpose, a distinction flag 121 is output to the communication line. The final H.261 coded bit stream 123 is obtained by multiplexing the quantized DCT coefficient, motion vector, and interframe/intraframe distinction flag into multiplexed data in a multiplexer 122.
FIG. 2 illustrates the constitution of a decoder 200 for receiving a coded bit stream output from the coder of FIG. 1. The H.261 bit stream 217 that is received is separated through a separator 216 into a quantized DCT coefficient 201, a motion vector 202, and an intraframe/interframe distinction flag 203. The quantized DCT coefficient 201 is decoded into an error image 206 through a dequantizer 204 and an inverse DCT processor 205. To the error image is added an output image 215 of an interframe/intraframe switching unit 214 through an adder 207 to form a reconstructed image 208.
The interframe/intraframe switching unit switches the output according to the interframe/intraframe coding distinction flag 203. A predicted image 212 that is used for executing the interframe coding is synthesized by a predicted image synthesizer 211. Here, the decoded image 210 of the preceding frame stored in the frame memory 209 is subjected to a processing of moving the position of each of the blocks according to the motion vector 202 that is received. In the case of intraframe coding, on the other hand, the interframe/intraframe switching unit outputs the “0” signal 213.
Block matching is a motion compensation system that is now most widely utilized. When the whole image is expanding, contracting, or turning, however, the motion vectors of all of the blocks must be transmitted, causing a problem of low coding efficiency. To solve this problem, global motion compensation (e.g., M. Hotter, “Differential Estimation of the Global Motion Parameters Zoom and Pan”, Signal Processing, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 249-265, March, 1989) has been proposed to express the motion vector field of the whole image while not using many parameters. According to this motion compensation system, the motion vector (ug(x, Y), vg(x, y)) of a pixel (x, y) in an image is expressed in the form of:ug(x, y)=a0x+a1y+a2vg(x, y)=a3x+a4y=a5 Equation 1orug(x, y)=b0xy+b1x=b2y+b3vg(x, y)=b4xy+b5x+b6y+b7 Equation 2and the motion compensation is executed using the motion vectors. In these equations, a0 to a5 and b0 to b7 are motion parameters. In executing the motion compensation, the same predicted image must be generated both on the transmitting side and on the receiving side. For this purpose, the transmitting side may directly transmit values of a0 to a5 or b0 to b7 to the receiving side or may instead transmit motion vectors of several representative points.
As shown in FIG. 3A, assume that the coordinates of the pixels at the left upper, right upper, left lower and right lower corners of an image 301 are expressed by (0, 0), (r, 0), (0, s) and (r, s) (where r and s are positive integers). Here, letting the horizontal and vertical components of the motion vectors of the representative points (0, 0), (r, 0) and (0, s) be (ua, va), (ub, vb) and (uc, vc), respectively, Equation 1 is rewritten as: u g ( x , y ) = u b - u a r x + u c - u a s y + u a v g ( x , y ) = v b - v a r x + v c - v a s y + v a Equation 3
This means that the same function can be fulfilled even when ua, va, ub, vb, uc and vc are transmitted instead of transmitting a0 to a5. This state is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. The motion vectors 306, 307 and 308 (the motion vectors are defined to start from points of the original image of the present frame and ends at the corresponding points in the reference image) of the representative points 303, 304 and 305 may be transmitted instead of the motion parameters based on the assumption that global motion compensation between the original image 302 of the present frame shown in FIG. 3B and the reference image 301 shown in FIG. 3A is effected. Similarly, by using the horizontal and vertical components (ua, va), (ub, vb), (uc, vc) and (ud, vd) of four representative points (0, 0), (r, 0), (0, s) and (r, s), Equation 2 can be rewritten as: u g ( x , y ) = s - y s ( r - x r u a + x r u b ) + y s ( r - x r u c + x r u d ) = u a - u b - u c + u d r s x y + - u a + u b r x + - u a + u c s y + u a v g ( x , y ) = v a - v b - v c + v d r s x y + - v a + v b r x + - v a + v c s y + v a Equation 4
Therefore, a similar function is fulfilled even when ua, va, ub, vb, uc, vc, ud and vd are transmitted instead of b0 to b7. In this specification, the system using Equation 1 is referred to as global motion compensation based upon linear interpolation and/or extrapolation, and the system using Equation 2 is referred to as global motion compensation based upon the bilinear interpolation and/or extrapolation.
FIG. 4 illustrates the constitution of a motion compensation section 401 of an image coder employing the global motion compensation system based upon linear interpolation and/or extrapolation for transmitting motion vectors of the representative points. The same components as those of FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals. A video coder that executes global motion compensation can be constituted by substituting a motion compensation section 401 for the block matching unit 116 of FIG. 1.
A global motion compensation unit 402 performs motion estimation related to the global motion compensation between the decoded image 115 of the preceding frame and the original image 101 of the present frame, and estimates the values ua, va, ub, vb, uc and vc. The data 403 related to these values are transmitted as part of the motion data 120. A predicted image 404 of global motion compensation is synthesized using Equation 3, and is fed to a block matching unit 405. The motion is compensated by block matching between the predicted image of global motion compensation and the original image of the present frame, thereby generating motion vector data 406 of blocks and a final predicted image 117. The motion vector data and the motion parameter data are multiplexed through a multiplexing unit 407 and are output as motion data 120.
FIG. 5 illustrates the constitution of a motion compensation section 501 which is different from that of FIG. 4. A video coder that executes global motion compensation can be constituted by substituting a motion compensation section 501 for the block matching unit 116 of FIG. 1. In this embodiment, block matching is not adopted for the predicted image of global motion compensation but either global motion compensation or block matching is adopted for each of the blocks. Global motion compensation and block matching are executed in parallel by the global motion compensation unit 502 and the block matching unit 505 between the decoded image 115 of the preceding frame and the original image 101 of the present frame. A selection switch 508 selects an optimum system for each of the blocks between the predicted image 503 of global motion compensation and the predicted image 506 of block matching. The motion vectors 504 of the representative points, motion vectors 507 of the blocks and selection data 509 of global motion compensation/block matching are multiplexed by the multiplexing unit 510 and are output as motion data 120.
By introducing the above-mentioned global motion compensation, it becomes possible to express the general motion of the image using few parameters and to accomplish a high data compression ratio. However, the amounts of coding processing and decoding processing become larger than those of the conventional systems. In particular, the division in Equations 3 and 4 is a major factor of complexity in the processing. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The invention relates to “active implantable medical devices” as defined by the Directive 90/385/EEC of 20 Jun. 1990 the Council of the European Communities. This definition may include implants to continuously monitor heart rhythm and deliver, if necessary, electrical stimulation or resynchronization pulses. This invention relates more specifically to cardiac pacing leads to be implanted in the heart coronary network to allow the stimulation of a left or right cavity, a ventricle or an atrium.
Unlike the right cavities, for which implanting endocardial leads via the right peripheral venous system is sufficient, the implantation of permanent leads in a cavity of the left heart involves significant risks, such as the risk of bubbles passing to the cerebral vasculature located downstream of the left ventricle. For this reason, when it is desirable to stimulate a left cavity, it is most often chosen not to introduce a lead into the cavity to pace, but rather in the coronary network, the lead being provided with an electrode that is applied against the epicardial wall of the left ventricle or of the left atrium. These leads thus stimulate the heart muscle via one or more point electrodes whose position is a function of the predefined trajectory of the cannulated vein. A lead of this type is, for example, the Situs LV model marketed by Sorin CRM (Clamart, France) and described in EP 0993840 A1 and its US counterpart U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,492 (Sorin CRM S.A.S., previously known as ELA Medical). The introduction of such a lead is via the coronary sinus, from its opening in the right atrium. The lead is then pushed and oriented along the network of coronary veins to the selected site. This procedure is very difficult due to the particularities of the venous system, including the gradual reduction in diameter of the veins as the lead progresses into the selected coronary vein. Once the target vein is reached, the surgeon is looking for a satisfying stimulation site, with a good electrical contact with the stimulation electrode against the epicardial tissue. Then, contact should be maintained despite various variations or stresses over time.
A recent trend in the pacing of the left ventricle is the reduction of the diameter of the implantable portion in the coronary network, to a diameter of less than 4 French (1.33 mm), or even to less than 2 French (0.33 mm).
The size of the lead body is indeed a factor directly related to the controlled guiding capacity of the lead in the coronary venous system in order to be able to select specific stimulation sites located in certain collateral veins.
A lead is described in EP 2455131 A1 and US 20120130464 (Sorin CRM). It includes a lead body with a hollow sheath in which a microcable having a diameter of about 0.5 to 2 French (0.17 to 0.66 mm) slides. The micro cable can emerge to a length of 1 to 200 mm beyond the outlet of the lead body. This microcable, which forms the active part of the lead, has a plurality of exposed portions forming a succession of individual electrodes. The electrodes together form a network connected in series to increase the stimulation points in a deep area of the coronary network.
Its very small diameter allows the introduction of the microcable in a first vein (“go” vein) and then to a second anastomosis vein (“back” vein) ascending therein. There is a very frequent presence of distal anastomosis in the coronary venous system. In other words, at the end of some veins there can be passage to another vein, with the possibility of communication between two separate veins at the anastomosis via their respective distal ends. It thus becomes possible, with a single lead, to simultaneously stimulate two relatively remote areas located in two separate veins. The double effect of both the distance of the two areas and of the multiplication of points of stimulation in each zone can provide a particularly beneficial effect for the resynchronization of the functioning of the heart.
Another advantage of the small diameter of the active part of the lead is that it avoids the obstruction of a portion of the blood flow in the vein, which would lead to a deficiency of irrigation of the venous system downstream of the lead end.
Reducing the diameter of the lead, however, is not without drawbacks. Indeed, when the diameter of the lead is significantly lower than that in the vein, it can be difficult to ensure continuous contact with the electrodes. The exposed portion of the microcable, which forms an electrode, can be located in an intermediate, “floating” position in the middle of the vein, resulting in the contact points between the microcable and the wall of the vein being made in electrically isolated areas. Moreover, even in case of actual contact between the electrodes and the vein wall, this configuration may not be stable, because of a permanent heartbeat.
This may be particularly true in the case of microcables inserted through an anastomosis. If the veins are of small diameter in the region of the anastomosis, typically less than 1 French (0.33 mm), beyond the anastomosis they may join the coronary sinus after having passed the left ventricle, and the vein diameter increases. The very thin microcable, allowing to cross the anastomosis, may then move into a region of relatively large diameter, resulting in difficulty establishing a stable contact between the electrodes and the wall of the vein in the region.
One problem of the invention is to propose a structure of microlead ensuring continuous contact of all electrodes with the coronary veins, fixing the position of the lead in order to sustain the effectiveness of the stimulation. Another problem is the risk of displacement of the active part of the lead after it was implanted.
EP 2455131 A1 cited above provides for a retaining mechanism, such as a helical relief formed on the end of the lead body near the end thereof, near the outlet where the microcable emerges. The end of the lead body thus has a locally increased diameter of about 7 French (2.33 mm) for the mechanical holding of the lead body into the vein.
FR 2801510 A1 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,812 B1) describes another mechanism for holding the lead in the target vein. However, this holding mechanism has the disadvantage of large size and may partially block the passage of blood flow in the vein. Moreover, although it can provide good retention of the lead body, it does not protect the portion of the lead inserted into the deep venous system. In such a case the telescopic microcable may be displaced by large movements of the patient. For example when a patient raises his arm, such movement tends to elongate the superior vena cava, with a risk of local traction applied to the lead, which traction is transmitted to the distal region implanted in the coronary network. These movements generated by the human body are thus an additional challenge relating to displacement of electrodes placed on the stimulation area. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
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