Abstract: In a discharge tube, a conductive ferrule is provided on an end portion of a glass tube. The ferrule includes a body that is to be mounted to the outer circumference of the glass tube and has a contact portion to be electrically conductively fixed to a relay connector (or a bearing device). Further included is a conductive portion that extends from the body so as to have elastic contact with an outer lead. The outer lead will not be under load due to the weight of the discharge tube, but the conductive portion solely has elastic contact therewith. Thus, stress concentration on the outer lead can be prevented.

Abstract: A solar cell includes a semiconductor substrate having a first main surface. On the first main surface, a bus bar electrode and a plurality of linear finger electrodes extending from the bus bar electrode are provided. The bus bar electrode includes a first connecting portion to be connected to an interconnector and a first non-connecting portion without connected to the interconnector. The first connecting portion and the first non-connecting portion are alternately arranged. An interconnector-equipped solar cell, a solar cell string and a solar cell module use this solar cell.

Abstract: An on-board connector 18 includes an output terminal 70 that is surrounded by a housing 60 made of synthetic resin. The output terminal 70 is arranged in an area of the housing 60 farther from the edge portion 17E of a circuit board 17 so that sectional arrangement is provided. The output terminal 70 is thus surrounded by the synthetic-resin housing 60, and thereby a leak at the output terminal 70 can be suppressed. Further, the output terminal 70 is arranged in the limited area of the housing 60 farther from the edge portion 17E of the circuit board 17, resulting in a long distance maintained between the output terminal 70 and the edge portion 17E of the circuit board 17, which can effectively prevent the leak.

Abstract: A display element has a arrangement that allows the pixel to have at least two domains in which the medium shows optical anisotropies of different directions when a force (for example, an electric field) is applied or when no force is applied. It is preferable that directions of the optical anisotropies occurred in the respective domains when the electric field is applied respectively have 45 degrees±10 degrees with absorption axes of polarizers, and that the directions of the optical anisotropies occurred in the respective domains when the electric field is applied make 90 degrees±20 degrees.

Abstract: A lighting device for a display device includes a plurality of light sources, a power source arranged to provide drive power for the light sources, a common electrode arranged to supply the drive power to the plurality of light sources, a plurality of holder electrodes arranged to hold the respective light sources and supply the drive power from the common electrode individually to the respective light sources, and a dielectric portion provided between the common electrode and each of the holder electrodes.

Abstract: D/A conversion having higher accuracy is provided by improving relative accuracy of the resistance value of resistors which configure a resistor string. A manufacturing method of a D/A converter circuit of the invention comprises the steps of: forming a resistor string 11 which includes a plurality of resistors R0 to R7 connected in series with each other between reference voltages, and a plurality of switching elements S0 to S3 connected with each connection node of the resistors R0 to R7, wherein: each of the resistors R0 to R7 is a thin film element crystallized by linear laser irradiation; disposing all forming parts of the resistors configuring the resistor string 11 within a laser irradiation area 19; and crystallizing all the forming parts of the resistors which are disposed within the laser irradiation area with the same laser shot.

Abstract: A low cost printing device where a document sheet and a recording paper sheet are transferred by a single drive motor. A facsimile device as a printing device with an inkjet printer section has a single drive motor for producing a driving force for transferring a document sheet or a recording paper sheet. Transmission means for transmitting a rotational force of drive motor is switched by controlling the movement of an ink carriage. This enables the single drive motor to alternatively transfer a document sheet or a recording paper sheet.

Abstract: A charge transporting substance having three stilbene structures or butadiene structures in a molecule, represented by the following general formula is used as an organic photoconductive material. An electrophotographic photoconductor is prepared by causing a photosensitive layer which is disposed on a conductive support, to contain the organic photoconductive material in order to dispose the photoconductor to an image forming apparatus.

Abstract: A document original size detecting device has a plurality of sensors each including a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion and respectively disposed as corresponding to different sizes of document originals to be placed on a transparent document platen and a detecting section which determines a document original size based on outputs of the sensors. The light emitting portion of each of the sensors emits light to illuminate at least two positions on a document placing region of the document platen on which a document original to be subjected to size detection is placed, and the detecting section determines the document original size based on whether or not the light receiving portion of each of the sensors detects the document original blocking the light in at least one of the two positions.

Abstract: A device divides a table (60) including element information contained in tree-structure information and position information in a corresponding tree-structure into an element information value (61) and position information (62) by a table division unit (101). An element information rearrangement unit (103) rearranges the divided element information values (61) into an order in a dictionary. Correspondence information (703) indicating the order change by this rearrangement is extracted by a correspondence information extraction unit (104). A position information encoding unit (102) and a corresponding information encoding unit (105) encode the position information (62) and the correspondence information (703), respectively. By using the encoded position information (62) and the correspondence information (703) and the element information values (61), a compressed information forming unit (106) forms compressed information from these.

Abstract: The image forming apparatus according to the present invention carries out intake and exhaust so as to generate air flow between a photoconductor drum and a charger in a long side direction of the charger. As a result, it is possible to always exhaust O3, NOx, and the like caused by corona discharge. Therefore, it is possible to always form a high-quality image without deterioration of images caused by charge unevenness.

Abstract: Aspects of the present invention comprise systems and methods for image illuminant estimation. Some aspects relate to computing an image histogram comprising data relating the frequency of image element color values to color values found under said candidate illuminants, determining match scores for the plurality of candidate illuminants, determining a minimum match score of the match scores and determining minimum match score chromaticity coordinates. Some aspects relate to fitting a surface to the match scores wherein the surface represents illuminant parameter values other than the candidate illuminants, solving for an extremum of the surface and determining chromaticity coordinates of the extremum. Some aspects relate to selecting estimated image illuminant coordinates based on the relative location of the coordinates of one of the candidate illuminants, the coordinates of the extremum and/or the minimum match score chromaticity coordinates.

Abstract: In an integrated optical unit of the present invention, a photo detector (12) and a holding member (17) that sustains a semiconductor laser (11) are provided on a polarizing beam splitter (14). This makes it possible to reduce a deviation from a designed value due to tolerance, and adjust a relative positional relationship between the semiconductor laser (11) and the photo detector (12). Therefore, returned light from an optical disk (4) is accurately adjusted with respect to a division line of a photo-detecting device (13). As a result, stable servo-control is realized, and an information signal with fine quality is obtained.

Abstract: In a backlight apparatus, laminated optical sheets are housed in a tray such that a wall portion thereof surrounds their circumferences so that the optical sheets receive light from fluorescent lights. Tips of one corner portion A of optical sheets preferably have a shape in which the tips are trimmed by line segments extending between two edges defining the corner portions. At the wall portion of the tray, an opposing surface is formed along the line segments of the corner portions so as to correspond to the shape of the corner portions having tips trimmed off. The opposing surface restrains the line segments.

Abstract: A control device repeats first air volume control and second air volume control for a predetermined number of times irrespective of a control state at that time while forcedly driving an ion generator, when a bacteria elimination shower switch is turned on. In the first air volume control, a sirocco fan generates an air flow having a predetermined air volume. In the second air volume control, the sirocco fan generates an air flow having an air volume smaller than the predetermined air volume. Therefore, a bacteria elimination effect is enhanced in an air conditioning apparatus.

Abstract: A manufacturing method for a variable resistive element according to which a stable switching operation can be achieved with excellent reproducibility is provided. A conductive thin film is deposited on a semiconductor substrate and patterned to a predetermined form, and after that, a first interlayer insulating film is deposited. An opening is then created in a predetermined location on the first interlayer insulating film in such a manner that the upper surface of the conductive thin film is exposed and the thickness of the conductive thin film formed at the bottom of this opening is reduced through processing, and after that, an oxidation process is carried out on the periphery of the exposed conductive thin film. As a result, a variable resistor film is formed in the peripheral region of the opening, and this variable resistor film divides the conductive thin film into a first electrode and a second electrode.

Abstract: A host device includes: a basic screen display processing section which selects either a main setting screen or a list display setting screen as a setting screen in accordance with user's input and then causing the selected setting screen to show; a scroll processing section which causes the main setting screen to sequentially display advanced function icons respectively representing a plurality of available advanced functions in performing a print processing; and a list screen processing section which causes the list display setting screen to display a list of at least part of the advanced function icons. Thus, it is possible to cause the setting screens enhanced in convenience to show for different users in varying learning levels.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a thin film transistor substrate and a liquid crystal display panel for use in a liquid crystal display apparatus, and aims to provide a thin film transistor substrate and a liquid crystal display panel with good display quality. The thin film transistor substrate has a first sub-pixel electrode 16 and second sub-pixel electrode 17 arranged on the opposite sides of the gate bus line 12, a first thin film transistor 20a that establishes direct electrical connection with the first sub-pixel electrode 16, and a second thin film transistor 20b capacitively coupled to the second sub-pixel electrode 17. Since capacitance is formed where conventionally a source electrode and pixel electrode are connected via a contact hole, excessively opaque wiring is not required, which ensures sufficient effective area and transmittance of a pixel.

Abstract: A substrate accommodating apparatus 10 is constituted by stacking a plurality of accommodation bodies 20 on an upper surface of a rigid plate 15. Each accommodation body 20 is provided with a buffer 21 having elasticity and some conductivity and a load receptacle 22 having a frame-shaped body, while an upper surface of the buffer 21 is provided with a substrate protect layer 23 made of cellulose. The substrate accommodating apparatus 10 is arranged to enclose a substrate S therein by stacking the accommodation bodies 20 where the substrates are placed, and when the accommodation bodies 20 are stacked, each load receptacle 22 places the load of the respective accommodation body 20 on a periphery of the adjacent lower accommodation body 20 so that any load is not placed on the central portion of the lower accommodation body 20 where the substrate S is placed.

Abstract: A display device has a pixel that is defined by a plurality of sub-pixels. The sub-pixels include a red sub-pixel representing red, a green sub-pixel representing green, a blue sub-pixel representing blue and a yellow sub-pixel representing yellow. When the pixel represents white, the luminance of the red sub-pixel is lower than its luminance corresponding to the highest gray scale level. In one embodiment, when the pixel represents white, the luminance of the red sub-pixel is preferably in the range of 25% to 96% of its luminance corresponding to the highest gray scale level. Also, the color temperature of white represented by the pixel is preferably higher than 4200 K, more preferably higher than 5000 K.