1. A process for the production of hollow plastic articles comprising the following steps:
a) molding a blow molded article in a blow molding andor co-extrusion blow molding machine, whereby the blow molding cavity (3) formed by the two mold contours (1) and (2) is shaped in such a way that said cavity essentially matches the outer contour of the plastic hollow article to be fabricated and, in addition, it has a circumferential indentation andor protuberance (4), preferably located in the middle relative to the nip-off edge;
b) separation of the indentation andor protuberance, which yields at least two sheets;
c) optionally, prior to joining the sheets together to form a hollow article, installation of the built-in components on the inside of the sheets;
d) joining the sheets together to form a hollow article, optionally by means of welding or gluing.
2. The process according to claim 1, characterized in that the built-in components are ventilation lines for pressure equalization inside the tank, fuel lines for liquid equalization inside the tank, valves, surge clambers, pump modules andor tank modules.
3. The process according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the indentation andor protuberance has an essentially rectangular or U-shaped cross section so that, after the separation procedure, surfaces that are parallel to each other (a circumferential flange) are formed in order to join the sheets together.
4. The process according to one of the preceding claims, chacterized in that the blow molded article has at least one layer consisting of polymeric material, preferably selected from among the group comprising polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, polyketone, polyester andor mixtures thereof.
5. The process according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the blow molded article is made up of several layers, preferably containing at least one base layer millbase layer, bonding agent layer andor barrier layer.
6. The process according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the blow molded article is made up of six layers comprising the following from the outside to the inside:
a layer consisting of HDPE having a thickness ranging from 5% to 30%,
a millbase layer having a thickness ranging from 10% to 82%,
a bonding agent layer having a thickness ranging 1% to 5%,
a barrier layer having a thickness ranging from 1% to 10%,
a bonding agent layer having a thickness ranging from 1% to 5%,
a layer consisting of HDPE having a thickness ranging from 10% to 40%,
each relative to the total thickness of the container wall.
7. Hollow plastic articles, which can be produced by means of the process according to claims 1 through 6.
8. A blowing mold to carry out the process according to claims 1 through 6, characterized in that the blow molding cavity (3) formed by the two mold contours (1) and (2) is shaped in such a way that sad cavity essentially matches the outer contour of the plastic hallow article to be manufactured and, in addition, it has a circumferential indentation andor protuberance (4), preferably located in the middle relative to the nip-off edge.
9. The use of a blow molded hollow article that can be obtained by means of the process according to claims 1 through 6, as plastic fuel tanks in automobiles, also as jerry cans, plastic tanks for storing and transporting heating oil, diesel and solvents, transportation containers on commercial vehicles such as, for instance, for agricultural spraying agents, solvent containers and plastic bottles.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A picture inputting apparatus comprising:
a solid state image pickup device having a high-resolution pixel array consisting of a plurality of photo-receptive elements disposed at a high density for converting a formed image into a pixel value of an electric signal by photoelectric conversion;
a low-resolution whole picture scanning unit which outputs low-resolution whole picture data by reading out and scanning the wholeness of an imaging range with the pixel array resolution lowered;
a high-resolution partial picture scanning unit which outputs high-resolution partial picture data by partially reading out and scanning the imaging range with the pixel array high-resolution kept;
a switching unit which provides a switching between the low-resolution whole picture scanning unit and the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit within a predetermined frame period to thereby output in sequence the low-resolution whole picture data and the high-resolution partial image data at a speed equal to or greater than the video rate; and
an image processing unit which automatically determines the extracting position of the high-resolution partial picture at the next frame, based on the low-resolution whole picture data output from the low-resolution whole picture scanning unit, to thereby instruct the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit on the extracting position.
2. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a low-resolution whole picture accumulation unit which accumulates the low-resolution whole picture data output as a result of readout scanning of the pixel array;
a whole picture data transmission unit which reads out images accumulated in the low-resolution whole picture accumulation unit to shape the low-resolution whole picture data into a single piece of picture data in a predetermined format, for the output to the outside;
a high-resolution partial picture accumulation unit which accumulates the high-resolution partial picture data output as a result of the readout scanning of the pixel array; and
a partial picture data transmission unit which reads out images accumulated in the high-resolution partial picture accumulation unit to shape the high-resolution partial picture data into a single piece of picture data in a predetermined format, for the output to the outside.
3. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the solid state image pickup device includes:
a plurality of photo-receptive elements which are two-dimensionally arranged in N1 rows and N2 columns;
a column selection line and a row selection line which select individually the plurality of photo-receptive elements to allow output of a pixel value;
two output lines disposed at each of the plurality of photo-receptive elements; and
a plurality of filters which calculate and output the sum or the mean value by connecting to their respective inputs one output lines of the photo-receptive elements on an n1 rows and n2 columns pixel basis where n1 and n2 are integers obtained by dividing high-resolution N1 rows and N2columns by low-resolution m1 rows and m2 columns, respectively, where the pixel count of the N1 rows and N2 columns provides a high-resolution picture while the pixel count of m1 rows and m2 columns less than the pixel count of the N1 rows and N2 columns provides a low-resolution picture,
wherein
the low-resolution whole picture scanning unit collectively selects the photo-receptive elements for each n1 rows and n2 columns for each of the plurality of filters and simultaneously allows filter outputs of m1 rows and m2 columns to be output in the form of low-resolution whole picture signals, and wherein
the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit scans the photo-receptive elements in k1 rows and k2 columns which are designated as the extracting position within the N1 rows and N2 columns to allow pixel values to be output as high-resolution partial picture signals from the other output lines.
4. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the solid state image pickup device includes:
a plurality of photo-receptive elements which are two-dimensionally arranged in N1 rows and N2 columns; and
a column selection line and a row selection line which select individually the plurality of photo-receptive elements to allow output of a pixel value, wherein
the low-resolution whole picture scanning unit allows output of low-resolution whole picture signals while thinning out pixel values for each n1 rows and n2 columns where n1 and n2 are integers obtained respectively by dividing high-resolution N1 rows and N2 columns respectively by low-resolution m1 rows and m2 columns, where the pixel count of the N1 rows and N2 columns provides a high-resolution picture while the pixel count of m1 rows and m2 columns less than the pixel count of the N1 rows and N2 columns provides a low-resolution picture, and
wherein
the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit scans the photo-receptive elements in k1 rows and k2 columns which are designated as the extracting position within the N1 rows and N2 columns to allow pixel values to be output as high-resolution partial picture signals.
5. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein
the low-resolution whole picture scanning unit and the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit perform readout scanning such that the low-resolution whole picture and the high-resolution partial picture have the same pixel size.
6. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein
the low-resolution whole picture scanning unit and the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit perform readout scanning such that the low-resolution whole picture and the high-resolution partial picture have the same pixel size which is expressed by a matrix of 512480 pixels in NTSC, 768576 pixels in PAL or 640480 pixels in VGA.
7. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the image processing unit includes:
an object region extraction unit which extracts a changed object region and an unchanged non-object region based on the difference of pixels between low-resolution whole picture data of the current frame and background picture data of the last frame;
a background picture updating unit which adds the unchanged non-object region to the background picture data, for updating;
a noted position detection unit which selects an undetected noted object through the comparison of the object region data with detected object data of the last frame, to determine a noted position, the noted position detection unit adding the selected noted object to the detected object data, for updating; and
an extracting position determination unit which predicts a noted position of the next frame based on a motion model obtained from the frame history of the noted position of the selected noted object, to determine a picture extracting position of the next frame.
8. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the image processing unit automatically determines the extracting position of a high-resolution picture at the next frame based on the high-resolution partial picture data in addition to the low-resolution whole picture data and instructs the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit on the determined extracting position.
9. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 6, wherein
the image processing unit includes:
an object region extraction unit which extracts a changed object region and an unchanged non-object region based on the difference of pixels between low-resolution whole picture data of the current frame and background picture data of the last frame;
a background picture updating unit which adds the unchanged non-object region to the background picture data, for updating;
a prediction failure detection unit which compares high-resolution partial picture data acquired at the current frame with low-resolution whole picture data at the extracting position accumulated in the last frame, the prediction failure detection unit if the two pictures differs from each other, removing the noted object from the detected object picture of the last frame;
a noted position detection unit which selects an undetected noted object through the comparison of the object region data with the detected object picture data, to determine a noted position, the noted position detection unit adding the selected object to the detected object picture data, for updating; and
an extracting position determination unit which predicts a noted position of the next frame based on a motion model obtained from the frame history of the selected noted object, to determine the extracting position of the next frame.
10. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the image processing unit determines the extracting position of a high-resolution partial picture based on the execution of an image processing program externally loaded and retained or on an external instruction.
11. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a picture transmission unit which converts into analog picture signals low-resolution whole picture data output from the low-resolution whole picture scanning unit and high-resolution partial picture data output from the high-resolution partial picture scanning unit, to transmit the obtained analog picture signals to an external image processor via a transmission path.
12. The picture inputting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein
the picture transmission unit converts the low-resolution whole picture data and the high-resolution partial picture data into analog picture signals, respectively, for parallel transmission.