Abstract: A charging device capable of appropriately grasping the charged state of a battery pack using data stored in a memory of the battery pack even when the battery pack becomes commercial as a new product. A charging device determines charged state data indicative of a charged state of a battery pack mounted thereon based on a charging current supplied and/or a charging voltage applied to the battery pack. A charge control microcomputer reads charging characteristics data from a memory of the battery pack, and generates a data table associating at least one of the charging current supplied and the charging voltage applied to the battery pack and the charged state data with each other, based on the charging characteristics data read out. The microcomputer determines charged state data indicative of a charged state of the battery pack, based on the generated data table.

Abstract: An image processing system capable of enhancing the reliability of secret leakage prevention, which includes an image processing apparatus, an access control apparatus that issues authority information on each user, and a job history management apparatus that manages job histories. Authority information on a user logging in the image processing apparatus is acquired. With reference to the authority information, whether or not a job for which an execution instruction is given by the user is executable is determined. If executable, the job is executed. If the job is not executable, whether or not the job is executable on condition that a job history is transmitted to the job history management apparatus is further determined. If conditionally executable, the job is executed, and a history of the executed job is acquired and transmitted to the job history management apparatus.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus (110), which is equipped with multiple image processing functions, processes an input image using an image processing function set at the time of image input. An image processing apparatus (100) registers setup information relating to processes of respective ones of the multiple image processing functions to be applied to an image of interest, encodes the setup information and generates an identification indicator. The image of interest and the identification indicator are formed on the same print medium and output. The image processing apparatus (110) reads the print medium, extracts the image of interest and the identification indicator, analyzes the identification indicator to thereby acquire the setup information, and uses the setup information to process the image of interest by the image processing function set in the image processing apparatus (110) when the print medium was read.

Abstract: The function restriction information of a designated flow executor is acquired. The acquired function restriction information is analyzed. An operation screen that identifiably displays process contents executable by the flow executor in association with setting target functions to be set in the flow is displayed on the basis of the analyzed function restriction information. Process contents of a setting target function to be set in the flow are selected on the basis of an operation in the operation screen. The flow of the flow executor is generated by combining the functions of the selected process contents.

Abstract: A semiconductor device according to embodiments of the invention includes an n?-type drift region; a p-type base region formed selectively in the surface portion of the drift region; an n+-type emitter region and a p+-type body region, both formed selectively in the surface portion of base region; and an n-type shell region between the drift region and the base region, a shell region surrounding the entire region below base region. The shell region is doped more heavily than the drift region. The shell region contains an n-type impurity at an effective impurity amount of 8.0×1011 cm ?2 or smaller. A drift region exhibits a resistivity low enough to prevent the depletion layer expanding from collector region, formed on the back surface of the drift region, toward a shell region from reaching the shell region.

Abstract: A vertical and trench type insulated gate MOS semiconductor device includes a plurality of regions each being provided between adjacent ones of a plurality of the straight-line-like trenches arranged in parallel and forming a surface pattern of a plurality of straight lines. A plurality of first inter-trench surface regions are provided, each with an n+-type emitter region and a p+-type body region formed thereon, and the surfaces of regions are alternately arranged along the trench in the longitudinal direction thereof with an emitter electrode being in common contact with both of the surfaces of the n+-type emitter region and the p+-type body region. A plurality of second inter-trench surface regions are provided each of which is formed along the trench in the longitudinal direction thereof with one of the surface of the p base region and the surface of the n-type semiconductor substrate.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus acquires communication setting information for communicating with an image processing apparatus by a second communication unit via a first communication unit. In accordance with the acquired communication setting information, communication by the second communication unit is established to execute, via the second communication unit, an image processing service provided by the image processing apparatus. When establishment of communication is detected, an operation window display request for executing the image processing service is transmitted via the second communication unit. The image processing apparatus receives the operation window display request from the information processing apparatus via the second communication unit. In accordance with the received operation window display request, an operation window for executing the image processing service is displayed.

Abstract: A method of forming a protective film for a magnetic recording medium is disclosed. The protective film suppresses cobalt elution out of the magnetic recording layer and has a thickness not larger than 3 nm. The method of the invention of forming a protective film for a magnetic recording medium comprises (1) a step of forming a protective film, on a lamination including a substrate and metallic film layers formed on the substrate, by means of a plasma CVD method using a raw gas of a hydrocarbon gas, wherein a flow rate of the hydrocarbon gas is in a range of 50 sccm to 200 sccm and a emission current is in a range of 0.1 A to 0.3 A, and (2) a step of surface treatment on the protective film that has been formed in the step (1), including sub-steps of (2a) a plasma treatment in an argon gas and (2b) a plasma treatment in a gas containing a nitrogen gas.

Abstract: A 2-pixel averaging unit (101) halves an input image in the subscanning direction, and a multi-level error diffusion unit (102) performs multi-level error diffusion processing. A 2-pixel reconstruction unit (103) replaces each pixel with two pixels adjacent in the subscanning direction. A density value exchange unit (104) exchanges pixel values adjacent in the subscanning direction in each of 2×2 pixel blocks arranged in a checkered pattern in the image after replacement. High-density blocks each serving as a set of high-density dots and low-density blocks each serving as a set of low-density dots can be generated as 2×2 pixel blocks. The exposure region can be concentrated in PWM conversion.

Abstract: Provided is a phase plate having high phase compensation effect with low manufacturing cost, which is a device including a substrate and a thin film including laminated thin films of two or more types having different refractive indexes. The device performs phase compensation for an oblique incident polarized light ray, by using interference due to a high refractive index thin film and a low refractive index thin film.

Abstract: A memory management device which is capable of allocating a memory unit accessible at a higher speed to data which is stored in a storage device having memory units different in access speed, without being limited in an storage area. The storage device comprises a BLC flash memory accessible at a predetermined access speed, an MLC flash memory accessible at a lower access speed than the predetermined access speed, a controller, and a RAM. The controller manages the BLC flash memory and the BLC flash memory in units each formed by a plurality of physical pages, and writes data in the physical pages, and the RAM holds page allocation information in which logical pages designated when writing data and the physical pages are associated with each other.

Abstract: A wind instrument is constituted of a mouthpiece and a pipe structure including tapered/straight pipes. The pipe structure is constituted of a blow member and a branch pipe. The branch pipe is branched into a main pipe and an auxiliary pipe, which are straight pipes having openings and connected together in a branch shape. The blow member is connected to a branch point of the branch pipe. The branch pipe simulates resonance characteristic of a tapered pipe having a predetermined length, a predetermined distance between the upper base and the vertex, and a predetermined sectional area of the upper base commensurate with the sectional area of the main pipe.

Abstract: It is determined whether or not a change request for changing an array of a plurality of items of job information on a job list screen to a second array being different from a first array is inputted via a user interface. If it is determined that the change request is inputted, a job list screen is displayed in which the array of the plurality of items of job information is changed to the second array. Display contents of the user interface are changed in response to a user operation with respect to a print job displayed on the job list screen. If the change request is inputted prior to the user operation, the job list screen in the second array is redisplayed upon the conclusion of processing due to the user operation. If the change request is not inputted prior to the user operation, the job list screen in the first array is redisplayed.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus receives first print setting information of a document file to be printed from a printing apparatus via a network, and analyzes it. Based on the analysis result, the information processing apparatus generates divided document files by dividing the document file into data each to be output on one print sheet. The information processing apparatus generates second print setting information by rewriting the first print setting information so as to obtain the same print results of the divided document files as those of the document file before division. The information processing apparatus encrypts each generated divided document file to generate an encrypted divided document file. The information processing apparatus transmits the encrypted divided document file and second print setting information to the printing apparatus via the network.

Abstract: A delay time calculation apparatus enabling all the speaker units of a delay array type speaker array to contribute to formation of a combined wavefront. Sound receiving points for acoustic waves output from the speaker units are set within a target area for the acoustic waves. For each speaker unit, an average value of differences between distances between the sound receiving points for the speaker units and other speaker units and distances between the sound receiving points for the speaker units and the speaker units is determined, and an average value of differences between distances from the other speaker units to sound receiving points for the other speaker units and distances from the speaker units to the sound receiving points for the other speaker units is determined. An average of the average values is converted into a delay time, thereby determining the delay time for each speaker unit.

Abstract: A foreign substance inspection apparatus includes a light projecting unit, a detector which detects the intensity of scattered light of light projected onto the surface of an object to be detected by the light projecting unit, in association with the two-dimensional coordinate position on the surface, and a processing unit. The relationship between the intensity of the scattered light detected by the detector and the particle size of the foreign substance differs depending on the two-dimensional coordinate position on the surface. The processing unit determines, a conversion curve to convert the intensity of the scattered light detected by the detector into the particle size of the foreign substance, in accordance with the two-dimensional coordinate position of the foreign substance detected by the detector, and converts the intensity of the scattered light detected by the detector into the particle size of the foreign substance using the determined conversion curve.

Abstract: A control apparatus which makes it possible to realize a configuration for processing a plurality of print jobs efficiently without waste while meeting needs for performing a glossing process on prints. When a sheet printed in a first process is fed from a sheet feeder, the printing apparatus executes a second printing process for processing the fed sheet. When an interrupting factor occurs during execution of the second printing process to cause interruption of the processing, the interrupted processing is resumed on condition that the interrupting factor is removed. A resuming method of resuming the processing is determined based on contents of the processing in the second process.

Abstract: A region separation unit separates an inputted color document image into a plurality of types of regions such as a character region, a clip art region and a photo image region, and a clip art region extraction unit identifies the clip art region from among the separated regions. A clip art region dividing unit divides the clip art region based on the color features of the clip art region, and a clip art background identify unit identifies the background portion of the clip art region from among the divided regions. A filling unit for filling portions other than the background of a clip art fills a portion of the clip art other than the background with the background color, and a JPEG compression unit compresses the result obtained from the process for filling a clip art portion.

Abstract: A sheet thickness detection device capable of accurately detecting a thickness of sheets of various types. In a case that information about sheets stored in a sheet feed unit is set by a user through an operation unit or through an external host PC, a CPU of the sheet thickness detection device sets a pressure changeover solenoid to ON to obtain a strong nip pressure between a detection roller and a fixed roller, if a sheet basis weight specified in the information about sheets is larger than a predetermined value, and sets the pressure changeover solenoid to OFF to obtain a weak nip pressure, if the sheet basis weight specified in the information about sheets is equal to or less than the predetermined value.

Abstract: A perpendicular magnetic recording medium is disclosed that achieves improved recordability without deteriorating thermal stability by reducing the switching field. A perpendicular magnetic recording medium of the invention has a first magnetic recording layer and a second magnetic recording layer between with is interposed a coupling layer that ferromagnetically couples the two layers. The first and second magnetic recording layers satisfy an inequality Ku1T1>Ku2T2 in the case where Hk1 >Hk2 and an inequality Ku1T1<Ku2T2 in the case where Hk1<Hk2, where Hk1 and Hk2 are anisotropy magnetic fields, Ku1 and Ku2 are uniaxial anisotropy constants, and T1 and T2 are thicknesses of the first magnetic recording layer and the second recording layer, respectively. An exchange coupling energy between the magnetic recording layers is preferably at least 5×10?3 erg/cm2.