Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate and an interlayer wiring structure further including a lower wiring layer formed on the semiconductor substrate, an interlayer wiring layer including an interlayer insulating film formed on the lower wiring layer and a plurality of contact plugs each formed so as to extend through the interlayer insulating film to be brought into electrical contact with the lower wiring layer, an upper wiring layer patterned so as to be in electrical contact with upper faces of the contact plugs, and a recessed portion formed by recessing the interlayer insulating film and the contact plugs exposed in the interlayer wiring layer with respect to at least a portion with a short distance between wirings so as to correspond to a shape of the upper wiring layer.

Abstract: A power supply system includes a fuel cell and a battery connected in parallel. A DC-DC converter is connected to the battery. A maximum output ratio of the fuel cell and the battery is set to be in a range where the output of the fuel cell is within 65 to 80% of the total output. Accordingly, electric power loss owing to conversion performed by the DC-DC converter is reduced to achieve a high energy efficiency.

Abstract: An output characteristic of a fuel cell is estimated by detecting an output current of the fuel cell and a voltage between terminals of the fuel cell, and then estimating the output characteristic of the fuel cell on the basis of the detected output current and the detected voltage between the terminals, and a basic output characteristic of the fuel cell.

Abstract: An output characteristic of a fuel cell is estimated by detecting an output current of the fuel cell and a voltage between terminals of the fuel cell, and then estimating the output characteristic of the fuel cell on the basis of the detected output current and the detected voltage between the terminals, and a basic output characteristic of the fuel cell.

Abstract: An image of a document is divided into a plurality of areas, and a reliability is obtained for each area for a case where an image of the area is used in orientation detection. The reliability is obtained from characteristics of the shape of a histogram generated from image data of the area, as follows. The histogram is divided into a plurality of sections, and an MTF value is calculated for each section by dividing a difference of the max and min values of the section by the sum of the max and min values. A mean value of the MTF values calculated for all of the sections of the histogram is set as the reliability of the area. The orientation detection processing is performed on the area whose reliability is the highest, and an orientation result obtained through the orientation detection processing is judged as the orientation of the image of the document.

Abstract: A power source system (1) includes a fuel cell (40) and a battery (20) connected in parallel. A DC-DC converter (30) is connected to the battery (20) side. A maximum output ratio of the fuel cell (40) and the battery (20) is set in a range in which the output of the fuel cell falls within 65 to 80% of the total output. Accordingly, electric power loss due to the DC-DC converter (30) is controlled, whereby a high energy efficiency can be achieved.

Abstract: Image distortion is corrected in a color printer wherein print units for a plurality of colors are aligned to form a color image by superposing images formed by the print units. A quantity of image distortion is detected, and correction data of main scan address and subscan address are calculated and stored according to the detected image distortion for each main scan address. When input color image data are corrected, printing position is corrected in combination of address change with density interpolation. When the correction data exceeds the maximum correction range, the correction data are replaced by the maximum in the correction range to utilize the capability of the distortion correction of the printer. Further, in the image data correction, after the image data are converted to data having a smaller number of gradation levels, the data are delayed according to the serial arrangement of the print units. Then, the delayed data are converted again for printing.

Abstract: A power supply unit operation is switched depending on a load requirement. Namely, when the load requirement is smaller than a predetermined value, operation of a fuel cell system is stopped and electric power is obtained from a secondary battery during an intermittent operation mode. Alternatively, when the load requirement is equal to or larger than the predetermined value, the electric power is obtained from a fuel cell during a steady operation mode. When the electric power is generated by the fuel cell in the steady operation mode, an amount of fuel supplied to the fuel cell is detected, and an operation point of the fuel cell is set in consideration of the fuel amount. However, when the operation mode is switched from the intermittent operation mode to the steady operation mode, and the fuel cell system is activated, the operation point of the fuel cell is set depending on the load requirement without considering the fuel amount until a predetermined time elapses after the activation.

Abstract: Image distortion is corrected in a color printer wherein print units for a plurality of colors are aligned to form a color image by superposing images formed by the print units. A quantity of image distortion is detected, and correction data of main scan address and subscan address are calculated and stored according to the detected image distortion for each main scan address. When input color image data are corrected, printing position is corrected in combination of address change with density interpolation. When the correction data exceeds the maximum correction range, the correction data are replaced by the maximum in the correction range to utilize the capability of the distortion correction of the printer. Further, in the image data correction, after the image data are converted to data having a smaller number of gradation levels, the data are delayed according to the serial arrangement of the print units. Then, the delayed data are converted again for printing.

Abstract: In a load driving arrangement, electric power is supplied from an auxiliary battery to a main power supply when the power stored by charging in the main power supply is scarce at the startup of the system. The power is supplied to the main power supply by closing relays to connect the auxiliary battery to the neutral point of an auxiliary motor, operating a switching transistor of a bottom arm of an auxiliary-related inverter based on a command from a control circuit, stepping up the voltage from the auxiliary battery by using a coil of the auxiliary motor as a reactor, and supplying the step-up voltage to the main power supply thereby charging the main power supply. At this time, a drive-related inverter and a DC/DC converter are stopped. When the main power supply is charged to a sufficient degree, the relays are opened to drive each load.

Abstract: An electric vehicle 10 includes a power supply apparatus 15. The power supply apparatus 15 includes a fuel cell system 22, capacitor 24 and secondary battery 26 that are connected in parallel to wiring 50. When a drive motor is performing regeneration, the capacitor 24 is collecting the regenerated electric power. The fuel cell system 22 generates electric power in accordance with the load demand. The switches 20 between the fuel cell and the wiring are closed when the load becomes small and the regenerated voltage attains a predetermined level. As a result, the generation of electric power by the fuel cell system is suspended under low-load conditions where the energy efficiency of the fuel cell system 22 is low.

Abstract: A data processing apparatus includes a receiver which receives data transmitted from a terminal, a processor which processes the data received by the receiver, and a transmitter which transmits contents processed by the processor to the terminal.

Abstract: The present invention is to provide a stabilized pharmaceutical composition for oral use containing 1-ethyl methylester 4-[[3-[p-(carboxyamidino)phenyl]-2-oxo-5-oxazolidinyl]methyl]-1-piperazineacetate or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof having an antagonistic action to GPIIb/IIIa receptor and an oily base. The present invention is to further provide a method for the manufacture of a stabilized pharmaceutical composition for oral use by compounding 1-ethyl methylester 4-[[3-[p-(carboxyamidino)phenyl]-2-oxo-5-oxazolidinyl]methyl]-1-piperazineacetate or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof with an oily base. The present invention is to furthermore provide a method for the stabilization of a pharmaceutical composition by compounding 1-ethyl methylester 4-[[3-[p-(carboxyamidino)phenyl]-2-oxo-5-oxazolidinyl]-methyl]-1-piperazineacetate or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof with an oily base.

Abstract: An evaporator which is small, light and whose activating time is short. The evaporator has an atomizer for atomizing a fluid being supplied into a conduit for the fluid to be heated in a plate type heat exchanger. To produce the evaporator, a metal plate is bent in a U shape, a heat exchanger module unit is produced by connecting a flow blocking member to one end of the U-shaped plate; a first interval maintaining member is attached to an outside surface of each of the plates; a second interval maintaining member is attached to an outside surface of each of the plates; and a plurality of said heat exchanger modules is arranged in a piled parallel relationship, with the first and second interval maintaining members maintaining a predetermined interval between the plates.

Abstract: An accessory drive apparatus includes a power source, an accessory system that provides an input to the power source, an accessory driving source that drives the accessory system, and a power combination/distribution mechanism that is connected to the power source and the accessory system to transmit power from both the power source and the accessory driving source to the accessory system. With this arrangement, the accessory system is driven by a combination of power received from the accessory driving source and the power source.

Abstract: This invention comprises the heat- and pressure-resistant PCO neck obtained by utilizing the PCO (plastic closure only) neck structure and giving the heat resisting property to the PCO neck to obtain the heat-resistant PCO neck that will make a great deal of resources saving a reality. The heat-resistant PCO bottleneck comprises the round neck wall 2 having the same outer and bore diameters as the corresponding neck wall 21 of the heat-resistant neck 20; the thread ridge 3 of a continuous thread structure; the thread ridge extension disposed so as to keep a fixed distance from the top edge of the mouth and extending over the distance that corresponds to a wide central angle; and a bead ring 5 and a neck ring 7 molded in the same shapes as those of the PCO bottleneck 10. The bottleneck thus obtained causes no irregular shrinkage deformation and demonstrates high heat-resisting property and a sufficient resources-saving effect when the entire bottleneck is thermally crystallized and whitened.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus is capable of storing a plurality of jobs in memory, and the stored plurality of jobs are printed and output in the storage sequence. A permitted time for exclusive use of the image forming apparatus to print a first job (print time upper limit) can be set and changed by a user using an operation panel. When the permitted time has elapsed after starting printing of the first job, the first job is interrupted and printing of another job is started. This arrangement prevents delaying the printing of other jobs due to the continuous printing of the first job over a long time period.

Abstract: An information acquiring unit checks operation command information issued to the multiple information processing apparatuses over the network in order to understand the totality of the operation command information in the network. The state of utilization of each information processing apparatus is analyzed based on the operation command information. Where a utilization state analyzing unit is provided in an information processing apparatus, the utilization state analyzing unit also checks the state of utilization of its own information processing apparatus. Prompt information that prompts the issuance of operation commands to an underutilized information processing apparatus is then issued. Consequently, the level of utilization of that information processing apparatus may be increased.

Abstract: A color image is formed by a color printer by superposing images of a plurality of colors formed by a plurality of print units. A discrimination signal which represent character edge is received besides image data. The print positions of the print units are corrected according to image distortion detected by a sensor, and the image data are corrected according to corrected print position data. Further, the discrimination signal of character edge is corrected according to the detected image distortion. A color image is formed based on the corrected image data and the discrimination signal of character edge.

Abstract: An output characteristic of a fuel cell is estimated by detecting an output current of the fuel cell and a voltage between terminals of the fuel cell, and then estimating the output characteristic of the fuel cell on the basis of the detected output current and the detected voltage between the terminals, and a basic output characteristic of the fuel cell.