Author: claimsbot

What is claimed is:

1. A developer accommodating container for accommodating a developer, a developing container where the developer is supplied from said developer accommodating container being swingably connected to said developer accommodating container, said developer accommodating container comprising:
a developer accommodating portion for accommodating the developer; and
a plurality of rotatable conveying members, provided in said developer accommodating portion, for conveying the developer, said plurality of conveying members including a first conveying member, provided at a portion closest to said developing container, for conveying the developer to said developing container,
wherein said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members has a largest angular velocity and a smallest radius of rotation.
2. A developer accommodating container according to claim 1, wherein conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have substantially the same angular velocity, and substantially the same radius of rotation.
3. A developer accommodating container according to claim 2, wherein a base surface of said developer accommodating portion includes a plurality of recesses along respective loci of rotation of said plurality of conveying members, and wherein the recesses along the respective loci of rotation of the conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have substantially the same radius of rotation.
4. A developer accommodating container according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of conveying members comprises an elastic sheet and a supporting member for supporting said elastic sheet.
5. A developer accommodating container according to claim 4, wherein said elastic sheet is provided in a longitudinal direction of said conveying member at a portion of said supporting member having a largest radius of rotation.
6. A developer accommodating container according to claim 4, wherein a thickness of said elastic sheet of said first conveying member is smaller than a thickness of said elastic sheet of the conveying member other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members.
7. A developer accommodating container according to claim 6, wherein the respective elastic sheets of the conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have substantially the same thickness.
8. A developer accommodating container according to claim 1, wherein the conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have different phases of rotation.
9. A developer accommodating container according to any one of claims 1 through 8, wherein said developing container provides with a single conveying member for conveying the developer, and wherein said single conveying member is a developer carrying member for carrying the developer, and wherein the developer carrying member develops an electrostatic latent image on an image bearing member by the developer.
10. A developing device comprising:
a developer accommodating container for accommodating a developer; and
a developing container where the developer is supplied from said developer accommodating container, said developing container being swingably connected to said developer accommodating container,
said developer accommodating container comprising:
a developer accommodating portion for accommodating the developer; and
a plurality of rotatable conveying members, provided in said developer accommodating portion, for conveying the developer, said plurality of conveying members including a first conveying member, provided at a portion closest to said developing container, for conveying the developer to said developing container,
wherein said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members has a largest angular velocity and a smallest radius of rotation.
11. A developing device according to claim 10, wherein conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have substantially the same angular velocity, and substantially the same radius of rotation.
12. A developing device according to claim 11, wherein a base surface of said developer accommodating portion includes a plurality of recesses along respective loci of rotation of said plurality of conveying members, and wherein the recesses along the respective loci of rotation of the conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have substantially the same radius of rotation.
13. A developing device according to claim 10, wherein each of said plurality of conveying members comprises an elastic sheet and a supporting member for supporting said elastic sheet.
14. A developing device according to claim 13, wherein said elastic sheet is provided in a longitudinal direction of said conveying member at a portion of said supporting member having a largest radius of rotation.
15. A developing device according to claim 13, wherein a thickness of said elastic sheet of said first conveying member is smaller than a thickness of said elastic sheet of the conveying member other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members.
16. A developing device according to claim 15, wherein the respective elastic sheets of the conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have substantially the same thickness.
17. A developing device according to claim 10, wherein the conveying members other than said first conveying member out of said plurality of conveying members have different phases of rotation.
18. A developing device according to any one of claims 10 through 17, wherein said developing container provides with a single conveying member for conveying the developer, and wherein said single conveying member is a developer carrying member for carrying the developer, and wherein the developer carrying member develops an electrostatic latent image on an image bearing member by the developer.
19. A developing device according to claim 18, wherein the developer carrying member is positioned with respect to the image bearing member.
20. A developing device according to any one of claims 10 through 17, wherein said developing device is provided in a process cartridge detachable with respect to a main body of an image forming apparatus, together with an image bearing member.
21. A developing device according to claim 18, wherein said developing device is provided in a process cartridge detachable with respect to an image forming apparatus, together with an image bearing member.
22. A developing device according to claim 19, wherein said developing device is provided in a process cartridge detachable with respect to an image forming apparatus, together with the image bearing member.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method of producing water-soluble nanoparticles, comprising:
(1) synthesizing water-insoluble metal oxide nanoparticles in an organic solvent comprising an organic surface stabilizer by a thermal decomposition without using an oxidizing or a reducing agent;
(2) dissolving the water-insoluble nanoparticles in a first solvent and dissolving at least one water-soluble multifunctional group ligand comprising an adhesive region (LI), a cross-linking region (LII), and a reactive region (LIII) which contains a functional group capable of adhering to an active component, in a second solvent;
(3) mixing two solutions in the step (2) to substitute organic surface stabilizers of the water-insoluble nanoparticles with the at least one water-soluble multifunctional group ligand and dissolving a mixture in an aqueous solution to conduct a separation process, wherein water-soluble nanoparticles are obtained; and
(4) cross-linking the substituted multifunctional group ligands with each other on the water-soluble nanoparticles to stabilize the water-soluble nanoparticles;
wherein the water-soluble nanoparticles are each surrounded by multifunctional group ligands, and wherein the cross-linking region of the multifunctional group ligands is cross-linked with the cross-linking region of a neighboring multifunctional group ligand.
2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the water-insoluble nanoparticles are produced according to a process which comprises adding the nanoparticle precursor to the organic solvent containing the surface stabilizer at 10-600\xb0 C., maintaining the resulting solvent under temperature and time conditions suitable for making the desired water-insoluble nanoparticles to chemically react the water-insoluble nanoparticle precursor and thus grow the nanoparticles, and separating and purifying the water-insoluble nanoparticles.
3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of a benzene-based solvent, a hydrocarbon solvent, an ether-based solvent, and a polymer solvent.
4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first solvent in the step (2) is selected from the group consisting of a benzene-based solvent, a hydrocarbon solvent, an ether-based solvent, halohydrocarbon, alcohol, a sulfoxide-based solvent, and an amide-based solvent.
5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the second solvent in the step (2) is selected from the group consisting of a benzene-based solvent, a hydrocarbon solvent, an ether-based solvent, halohydrocarbon, alcohol, a sulfoxide-based solvent, an amide based solvent, and water.
6. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the water-soluble nanoparticles includes a metal, a metal chalcogenide, a magnetic material, a magnetic alloy, a semiconductor material, or a multicomponent mixed structure, and each of them has a diameter of 1-1000 nm.
7. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ag, Cu, Ru, Rh, Os and Au.
8. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the metal chalcogenide is selected from the group consisting of MxEy (M=Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zr, Mo, Ru, Rh, Ag, W, Re, Ta, Zn; E=O, S, Se, 0<x\u22663, 0\u2266y\u22665), BaSrxTi1-xO3, PbZrxTi1-xO3 (0\u2266x\u22661), and SiO2.
9. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the magnetic material is selected from the group consisting of Co, Mn, Fe, Ni, Gd, MM\u20322O4, MxOy (M or M\u2032=Co, Fe, Ni, Mn, Zn, Gd, Cr, 0<x\u22663, 0\u2266y\u22665).
10. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the magnetic alloy is selected from the group consisting of CoCu, CoPt, FePt, CoSm, CoAu, CoAg, CoPtAu, CoPtAg, NiFe and NiFeCo.
11. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the semiconductor material is a first semiconductor material consisting of an element selected from a group II and an element selected from a group VI, a second semiconductor material consisting of an element selected from a group III and an element selected from a group V, a third semiconductor material consisting of a group IV, a fourth semiconductor material consisting of an element selected from the group IV and an element selected from the group VI, or a fifth semiconductor material consisting of an element selected from the group V and an element selected from the group VI.
12. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the multicomponent mixed structure includes two or more components selected from the group consisting of the metal, the metal chalcogenide, the magnetic material, the magnetic alloy, and the semiconductor according to selected from the group of Pt, Pd, Ag, Cu, Ru, Rh, Os, and Au, and has a core-shell or bar code shape.
13. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the adhesive region (LI) includes a functional group selected from the group consisting of \u2014COOH, \u2014NH2, \u2014SH, \u2014CONH2, PO3H, \u2014PO4H, \u2014SO3H, \u2014SO4H, and \u2014OH.
14. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the cross-linking region (LII) includes a functional group selected from the group consisting of \u2014SH, \u2014NH2, \u2014COOH, \u2014OH, epoxy, -ethylene, and -acetylene.
15. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the reactive region (LIII) includes a functional group selected from the group consisting of \u2014SH, \u2014COOH, \u2014NH2, \u2014OH, \u2014NR4+X\u2212, -sulfonate, -nitrate, and phosphonate.
16. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the active component is selected from the group consisting of a bioactive component, a polymer, and an inorganic supporter.
17. The method as set forth in claim 16, wherein the bioactive component is selected from the group consisting of an antigen, an antibody, RNA, DNA, hapten, avidin, streptavidin, protein A, protein G, lectin, selectin, an anticancer drug, an antibiotic drug, a hormone, a hormone antagonist, interleukin, interferon, a growth factor, a tumor necrosis factor, endotoxin, lymphotoxin, urokinase, streptokinase, a tissue plasminogen activator, a protease inhibitor, alkyl phosphocholine, a component indicated by a radioactive isotope, a surfactant, a cardiovascular pharmaceutical, a gastrointestinal pharmaceutical, and a neuro pharmaceutical.
18. The method as set forth in claim 16, wherein the polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyphosphazene, polylactide, polylactide-co-glycolide, polycaprolactone, polyanhydride, polymaleic acid and derivatives thereof, polyalkylcyanoacrylate, polyhydroxybutylate, polycarbonate, polyorthoester, polyethylene glycol, poly-L-lycine, polyglycolide, polymethylmethacrylate, and polyvinylpyrrolidone.
19. The method as set forth in claim 16, wherein the inorganic supporter is selected from the group consisting of silica (SiO2), titania (TiO2), indium tin oxide (ITO), a carbon material, a semiconductor substrate, and a metal substrate.
20. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the multifunctional group ligand is a peptide containing at least one amino acid having \u2014SH, \u2014COOH, \u2014NH2, or \u2014OH as a branched chain.
21. A method of producing water-soluble nanoparticles, comprising:
(1) synthesizing water-insoluble nanoparticles in an organic solvent;
(2) dissolving the water-insoluble nanoparticles in a first solvent and dissolving at least one water-soluble multifunctional group ligand comprising an adhesive region (LI), a cross-linking region (LII), and a reactive region (LIII) which contains a functional group capable of adhering to an active component, in a second solvent;
(3) mixing two solutions in the step (2) to substitute surfaces of the water-insoluble nanoparticles with the at least one water-soluble multifunctional group ligand and dissolving a mixture in an aqueous solution to conduct a separation process; and
(4) cross-linking the substituted multifunctional group ligands with each other;
wherein the water-soluble nanoparticles are each surrounded by multifunctional group ligands, and wherein the cross-linking region of the multifunctional group ligands is cross-linked with the cross-linking region of a neighboring multifunctional group ligand,
wherein the water-soluble multifunctional group ligand is a peptide containing any one of amino acid sequences described in SEQ ID Nos. 1 to 3.
22. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the multifunctional group ligand is a compound, which includes \u2014COOH as a functional group of the adhesive region (LI), \u2014SH as a functional group of the cross-linking region (LII), and \u2014COOH or \u2014SH as a functional group of the reactive region (LIII).
23. The method as set forth in claim 22, wherein the compound is selected from the group consisting of dimercaptosuccinic acid, dimercaptomaleic acid, and dimercaptopentadionic acid.
24. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the multifunctional group ligand is combined with a biodegradable polymer.
25. The method as set forth in claim 24, wherein the biodegradable polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyphosphazene, polylactide, polylactide-co-glycolide, polycaprolactone, polyanhydride, polymaleic acid and derivatives thereof, polyalkylcyanoacrylate, polyhydroxybutylate, polycarbonate, polyorthoester, polyethylene glycol, poly-L-lycine, polyglycolide, polymethylmethacrylate, and polyvinylpyrrolidone.

1. A printer comprising:
a recording head that discharges ink to a predetermined position of a recording medium while being moved in a main scan direction relative to the recording medium on which an image is printed;
a recording-head moving unit that moves the recording head in the main scan direction;
a recording-medium moving unit that moves the recording medium in a auxiliary scan direction relative to the recording head; and
an encoder that measures at least one of the movement of the recording head and the movement of the recording medium,
wherein the encoder includes a scale having calibrations of which an interval is varied in one of a direction different from the movement direction of the recording head and the movement direction of the recording medium and a measuring portion that detects the calibrations, and
wherein the interval of the calibrations to be detected by the measuring portion is varied by relatively moving the scale and the measuring portion in one of a direction different from the movement direction of the recording head and the movement direction of the recording medium.
2. The printer according to claim 1,
wherein the scale is formed in a rectangular shape and the calibrations are formed to intersect the lengthwise axis direction of the scale, and
wherein the scale is disposed such that the lengthwise axis direction is parallel to the movement direction of the recording head or the movement direction of the recording medium.
3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the interval of the calibrations is varied in one of a direction intersecting the movement direction of the recording head and the movement direction of the recording medium.
4. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the calibrations are formed out of a plurality of straight lines extending radially from a predetermined point outside the scale.
5. The printer according to claim 1,
wherein the measuring portion is attached to the recording head,
wherein the scale is attached to a belt that is wound around a pair of rollers rotatably disposed and extends in a direction approximately perpendicular to the movement direction of the recording head, and
wherein one roller is provided with a motor that drives the scale in the direction intersecting the movement direction of the recording head via the roller and the belt.
6. The printer according to claim 1,
wherein the scale is moved in the lengthwise axis direction by the recording-medium moving unit in synchronism with the movement of the recording medium,
wherein the measuring portion is attached to a belt that is wound around a pair of rollers rotatably disposed and extends in a direction intersecting the lengthwise axis direction, and
wherein one roller is provided with a motor that drives the measuring portion in the direction intersecting the lengthwise axis direction via the roller and the belt.
7. The printer according to claim 1, wherein variation of the calibration interval of the scale is performed by:
selecting a calibration interval after variation from a plurality of the calibration intervals of the scale and changing relative positions of the scale and the measuring portion such that the calibration interval measured by the encoder becomes the calibration interval after variation; and
changing a driving cycle of the recording head and an imaging speed of an image on the basis of the calibration interval after variation.
8. The printer according to claim 7,
wherein the recording medium is one of a lens sheet having a plurality of lenses arranged on one surface thereof and a print medium having convexities and concavities corresponding to the lenses, and
wherein the calibration interval after variation is selected on the basis of the number of parallax images and one of an arrangement cycle of the lenses and the convexities and concavities corresponding to the lenses.
9. The printer according to claim 7,
wherein the variation of the calibration interval to be measured by the encoder is performed by moving the scale in the main scan direction through control of driving the motor and thus changing the relative position between the scale and the measuring portion.
10. A printer comprising:
a recording head that discharges ink to a predetermined position of a recording medium while being moved in a main scan direction relative to the recording medium on which an image is printed;
recording-head moving means that moves the recording head in the main scan direction;
recording-medium moving means that moves the recording medium in a auxiliary scan direction relative to the recording head; and
an encoder that measures at least one of the movement of the recording head and the movement of the recording medium,
wherein the encoder includes a scale having calibrations of which an interval is varied in one of a direction different from the movement direction of the recording head and the movement direction of the recording medium and a measuring portion that detects the calibrations, and
wherein the interval of the calibrations to be detected by the measuring portion is varied by relatively moving the scale and the measuring portion in one of a direction different from the movement direction of the recording head and the movement direction of the recording medium.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A memory apparatus for use with a host system, the memory apparatus comprising:
a plurality of memory circuits; and
an interface circuit including:
one or more first components of a first type, each of the one or more first components being electrically couplable to the host system; and
one or more second components of a second type different from the first type, each of the one or more second components being electrically couplable to the host system, the interface circuit being operable to present to the host system a simulated memory circuit where there is a difference in at least one aspect between the simulated memory circuit and at least one memory circuit of the plurality of memory circuits, the at least one aspect comprising a timing that relates to a refresh operation latency,

wherein each memory circuit of the plurality of memory circuits is electrically coupled to at least one first component of the one or more first components and to at least one second component of the one or more second components.
2. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where the first type of component is a register and the second type of component is a buffer chip.
3. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where at least one component of the first and second components is operable to receive control and clock signals intended for the simulated memory circuit.
4. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where at least one component of the first and second components is operable to receive data signals intended for the simulated memory circuit.
5. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where the plurality of memory circuits comprise a stack of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) circuits and are coupled to a dual inline memory module (DIMM).
6. The memory apparatus of claim 5, where the DIMM is a registered DIMM (R-DIMM).
7. The memory apparatus of claim 5, where the stack further includes the one or more second components of the second type.
8. The memory apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:
a first package including the one or more second components; and
a second separate package including the plurality of memory circuits.
9. The memory apparatus of claim 5, where the one or more second components are packaged together with the plurality of memory circuits in the stack.
10. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where at least one component of the first and second components is operable to refresh the plurality of physical memory circuits in response to receiving from the host system a first refresh control signal intended for the simulated memory circuit.
11. The memory apparatus of claim 10, where the at least one component of the first and second components is operable to receive the first refresh control signal intended for the simulated memory circuit from a memory controller of the host system.
12. The memory apparatus of claim 10, where the at least one component of the first and second components is operable to minimize a current draw of the plurality of memory circuits by issuing second refresh control signals at different times to one or more memory circuits of the plurality of memory circuits.
13. The memory apparatus of claim 10, where the at least one component of the first and second components is operable to issue a plurality of second refresh control signals to one or more memory circuits of the plurality of memory circuits in response to receiving the first refresh control signal intended for the simulated memory circuit.
14. The memory apparatus of claim 13, where the at least one component of the first and second components is operable to stagger the issuance of the plurality of second refresh control signals to the one or more memory circuits of the plurality of memory circuits.
15. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where the timing comprises one or more of a row address to column address latency (tRCD), a row precharge latency (tRP), an activate to precharge latency (tRAS), a row cycle time (tRC), a refresh latency (tRFC), or a column address strobe (CAS) latency.
16. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where the simulated memory circuit is associated with a first refresh operation latency and the plurality of memory circuits are associated with a second refresh operation latency, where the first refresh operation latency is longer than the second refresh operation latency.
17. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where the at least one aspect includes a signal associated with a mode register operation.
18. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where the at least one aspect includes a number of banks.
19. The memory apparatus of claim 1, where the difference in at least one aspect is a difference in a number of row-address signals.