Embodiments in the present disclosure relate generally to computer network architectures for machine learning, artificial intelligence, and automated improvement and regularization of forecasting models, providing rapid improvement of the models. Embodiments may generate such rapid improvement of the models either occasionally on demand, or periodically, or as triggered by events such as an update of available data for such forecasts. Embodiments may indicate, after the improvement of the models, that various web applications using the models may be rerun to seek improved results for the web applications. Embodiments may include a combination of third-party databases to drive the forecasting models, including social media data, financial data, socio-economic data, medical data, search engine data, e-commerce site data, and other databases.

There is a longstanding frustrated need to have programmable hardware function in a better manner, and particularly to have hardware be smarter and learn from its own experience, with machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The longstanding frustrated need is particularly acute in the healthcare field. For example, in healthcare there is a need for computer architecture to accurately forecast aspects of healthcare to provide practical applications for healthcare providers. Systems that generate such forecasts automatically without human intervention would, of course, operate more efficiently, reliably, and faster than systems requiring constant human input to make such practical applications.
There is a longstanding frustrated need to automatically develop and improve predictive models using variables and data that are statistically significant and clinically meaningful.

Computer network architecture with machine learning and artificial intelligence and automated scalable regularization


The present disclosure provides methods, devices, systems, and computer-implemented methods for forming and placing attachments for use with dental appliances, and more particularly to the design, manufacture, and use of three-dimensionally printed attachment templates for use with orthodontic devices. Dental attachment templates include a cavity with one or more openings for injecting and bonding attachment material directly on a patient's tooth, which allow accurate placement of the attachments while providing the dental practitioner flexibility during the attachment forming process. Digital dental attachment template model techniques can be used to accurately place the cavity and opening.

Dental treatments involve restorative and/or orthodontic procedures to improve the quality of life of a patient. For example, restorative procedures may be designed to implant a dental prosthesis (e.g., a crown, bridge, inlay, onlay, veneer, etc.) intraorally in a patient. Orthodontic procedures may include repositioning misaligned teeth and changing bite configurations for improved cosmetic appearance and/or dental function. Orthodontic repositioning can be accomplished using positioning appliances. Such appliances may utilize a shell of material having resilient properties, referred to as an "aligner," that generally conforms to a patient's teeth but is slightly out of alignment with a current tooth configuration. Placement of such an appliance over the teeth may provide controlled forces in specific locations to gradually move the teeth into a new configuration. Repetition of this process with successive appliances in progressive configurations can move the teeth through a series of intermediate arrangements to a final desired arrangement. Such systems typically utilize a set of appliances that can be used serially such that, as the teeth move, a new appliance from the set can be implemented to further move the teeth.
Such appliances may work in conjunction with attachments placed on teeth. Attachments can be fastened to one or more teeth, for example, via adhesive, direct or indirect bonding, and/or or other techniques, and can be used in conjunction with the shape of an appliance to impart repositioning and/or anchor forces to a patient's teeth. The same attachments may be utilized with multiple appliances. Or, attachments may be added, removed, or replaced with other attachment shapes that may impart different force characteristics than a previous appliance and attachment combination (e.g., appliance and one or more attachments).
Sometimes, an orthodontic treatment plan may use attachments that have complex shapes to rotate, translate, intrude, and/or extrude teeth. An orthodontic treatment plan may also call for attachments to be placed at locations on a patient's teeth that are difficult to access by patients and/or dental practitioners. Many existing techniques make it hard to form attachments with complex shapes and/or place attachments at difficult-to-access locations. Additionally, current techniques make it hard to facilitate formation and/or placement of attachments by practitioners with less training and/or expertise than orthodontists or dentists.

Devices, systems, and computer-implemented methods for dental attachment templates


An image processing apparatus includes an extraction unit and a calculation unit. The extraction unit extracts a local color displacement that is a local displacement of color in a region of interest in a given image. The calculation unit calculates a similarity between the local color displacement and an extracted-color displacement that is a displacement of a preset color.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a non-transitory computer readable medium.
(ii) Related Art
In recent years, technologies have been developed and utilized for outputting an image having electronic information added thereto in a manner unrecognizable to the human eye and detecting the presence of the added information or extracting the added information when reading the image by using a reader.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and non-transitory computer readable medium


A multi-modality cancer screening and diagnosis system is provided that allows cancer screening and diagnosis of a patient using at least two different and sequential three-dimensional imaging techniques without patient repositioning. The system includes a first three-dimensional image acquisition device, a second three-dimensional image acquisition device having a probe with a transmitter mounted thereon, and a positioning paddle for positioning and immobilizing an object to be imaged during the cancer screening and diagnosis procedure. The positioning paddle is designed to facilitate visualization of the breast in both three-dimensional modalities without movement of the patient, and preferably is designed to position the patient with comfort during a diagnosis procedure which uses both imaging modalities.

Medical imaging devices provide non-invasive methods to visualize the internal structure of a patient. Such non-invasive visualization methods can be helpful in treating patients for various ailments. For example, the early detection of cancer in a patient can be important in treating that patient. For most cancers, when detected at an early stage, the survival probability of the patient can increase.
In the U.S. breast cancer mortality is second only to that of lung cancer. Because of its role in early tumor detection, mammography has become the most commonly used tool for breast cancer screening, diagnosis and evaluation in the United States. A mammogram is an x-ray image of inner breast tissue that is used to visualize normal and abnormal structures within the breasts. Mammograms provide early cancer detection because they can often show a breast lumps and/or calcifications before they are manually palpable. One drawback of mammography is that it provides only a two-dimensional representation of a compressed breast, and as a result masses which are hidden by intervening structures may not always be readily discernible on a mammogram.
Tomosynthesis systems, which are x-ray systems for obtaining a three dimensional image volume of a breast, have recently been developed for use in breast cancer screening. One such tomosynthesis system, the Selenia® Dimensions® breast tomosynthesis system, is provided by Hologic, Inc., of Bedford Mass., the assignee of the present invention. In contrast to typical mammography systems, the tomosynthesis system acquires a series of x-ray projection images, each projection image obtained at a different angular displacement as the x-ray source traverses along a path over the breast. Reconstructed tomosynthesis slices reduce or eliminate the problems caused by tissue overlap and structure noise in single slice two-dimensional mammography imaging. Digital breast tomosynthesis also offers the possibility of reduced breast compression, improved diagnostic and screening accuracy, fewer recalls, and 3D lesion localization. Examples of breast tomosynthesis systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,245,694 and 7,123,684, commonly owned by the Assignee of this application and incorporated by reference herein.
While mammography (and now tomosynthesis systems) have become the 'gold standard' for breast cancer screening, if the screening identifies a lump or a mass the standard protocol recommends review of the patient using a different imaging modality such as ultrasound imaging, to further characterize the mass or region of interest during breast cancer diagnosis.
Ultrasound imaging, another non-invasive medical imaging technique, uses sound waves, typically produced by piezoelectric transducers to image a tissue in a patient. The ultrasound probe focuses the sound waves, typically producing an arc-shaped sound wave which travels into the body and is partially reflected from the layers between different tissues in the patient. The reflected sound wave is detected by the transducer and converted into electrical signals that can be processed by the ultrasound scanner to form an ultrasound image of the tissue.
The typical procedure followed to obtain ultrasound images of a patient's breast involves positioning a patient in a supine position upon a table, applying a gel or other acoustic couplant to the patient's breast, and passing an ultrasound transducer across the patient's breast. As the transducer traverses the breast, ultrasound images can typically be viewed in real-time on a display of an ultrasound system. The ultrasound transducer may be either a hand-held transducer which is manually manipulated by the imaging technician, or may be an automated scanning device, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,731,662. One drawback of such methods lies in the fact that the breast is a very malleable structure; the geometry and structures of the breast move and change whenever the patient changes position. Thus, a mass which is readily identified when a patient is positioned for imaging using a first modality may be difficult to detect when the patient is repositioned for examination using a second modality.

System and method for fusing three dimensional image data from a plurality of different imaging systems for use in diagnostic imaging


The present invention discloses a gamma reference voltage ripple filter circuit and a liquid crystal display, including: a filter module to receive the gamma reference voltage from the gamma reference voltage circuit, filter the gamma reference voltage, and output the filtered gamma reference voltage to a thin film transistor liquid crystal display; a detection module to detect the filtered gamma reference voltage and obtain a detection voltage; a comparison module to compare the detection voltage and obtain a comparison result; and a regulator module to regulate the filter module according to the comparison result, and make the ripple of the filtered gamma reference voltage in a in a default range. The disclosure can stable the voltage difference in the two terminals of the liquid crystal, avoiding the instability of the reversing angle of the liquid crystal to produce flicker phenomenon, affecting the display quality.

A plurality pixel unit is formed in the panel of the thin film transistor liquid crystal display, and each pixel unit has a red, green and blue sub-pixel. The luminance of the sub-pixel is determined by the gamma reference voltage. The function of the generating circuit of gamma reference voltage is to determine the gamma reference voltage by the request of the gamma curve of the liquid crystal display and to be a reference voltage of the grayscale display of the thin film transistor liquid crystal display. Each of the gamma reference voltage is input to the source driving device of the thin film transistor liquid crystal display, by the calculation by the digital to analog converter in the source driving device, to generate all of the grayscale voltage.
In the process of the gamma reference voltage transmitting from the gamma reference voltage circuit to the thin film transistor liquid crystal display, the ripple will easily occur by the interference and makes the distortion of the gamma reference voltage. In order to solve the question above, a LC filter circuit is formed between the gamma reference voltage circuit and the thin film transistor liquid crystal display to filter the gamma reference voltage in the conventional technology. But since the characteristic of each of the pixel unit is different, the capacitance characteristic of each of the pixel unit is different. So the filter effect of the gamma reference voltage is influenced. If the filter effect of the gamma reference voltage is enough, the voltage difference is unstable in the two terminals of the liquid crystal, causing the instability of the reversing angle of the liquid crystal to produce flicker phenomenon, affecting the display quality.

Gamma reference voltage ripple filter circuit and liquid crystal display

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


The present invention relates to an improved mixer trailer for fibrous products which can be particularly but not exclusively used in the zootechnical field. The trailer is of the type which comprises a wheeled chassis on which a mixing container is mounted; the container is substantially in the shape of an inverted conical frustum and is internally provided with one or more vertical scrolls welded to a rotating shaft which is rigidly associated with the container. The improvements consist of the fact that the wheels are arranged in close pairs which are coupled to a same axis of rotation and are articulated to the chassis on an axis which is orthogonal to the axis of rotation. A loading device with grippers is associated with the container, and a system for drying the product contained therein is associable therewith. At the end of operation, auxiliary actuation means adapted to impart to each of the one or more scrolls a high-speed rotary motion can be connected to each of these one or more scrolls.

The present invention relates to an improved mixer trailer which can be used particularly for fibrous products in the zootechnical field but can also be adopted in the industrial field.
Mixer trailers are already known and are substantially constituted by a wheeled chassis above which a container is fixed; said container substantially has the shape of an inverted conical frustum, and one or more scrolls are arranged vertically inside it; each scroll is welded to a rotating shaft which is coupled to the container and is rotated by appropriate mechanical transmissions connected to actuation elements.
Though they perform their functions optimally, said known mixer trailers are not, however, free from disadvantages, including a certain difficulty in towing due to their weight and the fact that they necessarily must be provided with wheels of considerable width.
Other disadvantages are for example constituted by a certain difficulty in loading bales of fibrous products.
Further disadvantages consist in that at the end of operation it is not currently possible to completely clean the scrolls and the container, in which a considerable amount of product remains.


A mesh (36) is placed around a bundle (32) of fused glass fibers. The bundle is then immersed in a leaching bath (44). The ends of the bundle are protected from the bath fluid by furrules (34). Some of the glass of the bundle is leached out, so as to provide a flexible fiber bundle.

The present invention relates to leached fiber bundles (LFBs) which are used in endoscopes and for optical signal communications, and more particularly, to improved methods of producing such LFBs with higher quality and reliability.
It has been previously known to produce image conductors or guides for endoscopes or for transmitting optical signals in the form of LFBs. Such LFBs include a large number of optical fibers, which may be arranged in an ordered array, with each fiber having a small diameter, for example 10-100 microns. The LFBs may be formed by drawing a fiber bundle preform having a number of pre-arranged optic fiber preforms, in the form of glass rods and/or tubes, together with at least some leachable glass spacers located between or encapsulating each of the desired optic fiber preforms. The fiber bundle preform is drawn down to the desired size for the optical fibers, which are fused together with the leachable glass spacers as they are drawn, with the leachable glass spacers maintaining a space between the individual optic fibers. In order to form a flexible image guide, the ends of the fused optical fiber bundle are protected with a soft, etch resistant coating, and the leachable glass from the spacers is leached from the fused optical fiber bundle, typically using an acid etch bath. Once the leaching process is complete, the individual optical fibers in the middle portion of the leached optical fiber bundle are free and allow the LFB to be flexed, while the ends are still held together. Ferrules are then installed on the ends to protect the ends from damage and maintain the fibers in position. The flexible middle portion may be placed within a flexible outer sheath to prevent the individual optical fibers from being damaged.
There are several problems with this prior known process. Due to the small size of the optic fibers, the individual fibers in the LFB are extremely sensitive to outside surface damage and breakage during handling, such as during removal from the etch bath and further processing, such as the installation of the end ferrules. This creates an additional expense due to the special handling required for such further operations. The optic fibers of the LFB can also suffer from damage or breakage during use in the final product or application, for example in a flexible endoscope, due to friction and abrasion between adjacent fibers as the middle, flexible portion of the LFB is flexed. This results in a loss of image definition and degradation of transmission capability. It would be advantageous to reduce the possibility of such optical fiber damage during the formation of the LFB and in the subsequent handling and production of the final product in which the LFB is utilized. It would also be advantageous to reduce production cost and provide a longer useful life for LFBs.

Method of manufacturing a leached fiber bundle


A cold contact process for the production of non-alcoholic malt beverages comprising the steps of preparing a boiled malt wort of about 12-20 degrees Plato; acidifying the wort through the addition of an edible acid, to a pH of greater than about 4.0, and less than 4.6. To the acidified wort is added an amount of about 25% to 75% wet packed yeast slurry suspended in a freshly harvested regularly brewed, barm beer. The slurry is added in sufficient proportions to produce a yeast cell concentration in the resulting wort/slurry mixture, of about 40 million to 80 million yeast cells per milliliter thereof. The yeast and the wort are held in contact in the mixture for greater than 10, up to a maximum of 30 hours, at a temperature of greater than zero up to a maximum of less than 7 degrees Centigrade. The resulting beverage is then aged after separating the thusly contacted wort from all but 0.5-2 million yeast cells per milliliter of the separated wort. The resulting product may be organoleptically supplemented with beer ester flavors to form an ester and beer-flavor supplemented mixture which is then diluted with water to produce a non-alcoholic malt beverage.

Diverse and varied brewing techniques have for many years been proposed or practiced with a view to producing low-alcohol beers or non-alcoholic malt beverages. For the present purposes, "beer" is a malt-beverage product having an alcohol content in the range of three to five and one half percent, on a volume basis. "Low-alcohol beer" is herein distinguished from "beer" on the basis of their respective alcohol contents, with the former's being in the range of one to three percent, also on a volume by volume basis. "Non-alcoholic malt beverages" on the other hand have alcohol contents that are equal to or less than one half of one percent, (again on a volume by volume basis).
Although efforts to produce alcohol-reduced malt beverages are hardly a recent phenomenon, socially responsible consumption and general health awareness have renewed interest in the possibilities of such products. The historical difficulty of achieving acceptable consumer taste profiles at manageable capital and production cost persists, however, as the principle hurdle to acceptance of products of this type.
Prior efforts have included the use of yeasts that lack the ability to ferment certain sugars (such as Sacch. ludwigii, for example); interrupted fermentation techniques; high temperature mashing techniques; the "Barrel system"; alcohol rectification, including distillation, evaporation, reverse osmosis, and dialysis techniques. These processes have resulted in products of limited commercial success. Such historical approaches to alcohol reduction or repression of alcohol production, have adversely affected taste profiles or involved high capital or energy costs, or limited production throughputs.
Cold contact processes have also been utilized in the production of non-alcoholic beverages. Japanese Kokai 53-127861, for example, discloses a process in which a wort of fifteen to twenty-five percent Balling, at low temperatures (between minus five and ten degrees Centigrade, and preferably between two and minus two degrees Centigrade), is contacted with one and one-half to two weight percent of yeast, for a period of between sixteen and seventy-two hours. The yeast is removed, and the beverage is finished through dilution with water to achieve the desired alcohol content; carbonation; and acidification with lactic acid to sharpen the inherently sweet taste which is often characteristic of products of this and other cold-contact processes.
Another cold contact process is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,661,355 and 4,746,518, according to which a dilute, (six to twelve percent solids), acidified wort, (pH of about 4), is contacted with an alcohol-free yeast for about twenty-four to forty-eight hours at a temperature of below zero degrees Centigrade. Yeast separation and carbonation follow, to produce a beverage having only a nominal alcohol content.
Yet another cold contact process is described in published Canadian Patent Application 2,027,651. That publication describes a process for producing a non-alcoholic malt beverage. The process entails contacting a slurry containing at least ten percent yeast suspended in fresh regular green beer, with a wort having fourteen to twenty percent extract by weight. The wort and slurry are mixed in the necessary relative proportions to produce a yeast cell count of not less than one hundred million cells per milliliter of mixture. Note that the patentee originally taught that concentrations of one hundred and thirty million cells per milliliter were essential to the process, only to later discover that the minimum could be pushed to as low as the one hundred million cells now taught as the minimum amount essential for the purposes of that process. Contact is sustained at temperatures of between three and seven and one half degrees Centigrade for a period of between one half and ten hours. The beverage is finished through carbonation and dilution to reduce the alcohol content to meet the non-alcoholic specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,807 discloses another process for producing a low alcohol content beer in which process a relatively small amount of ascorbic acid is added to the wort. The wort is then boiled or heated at a temperature of above 80 degrees Centigrade, for at least half an hour, during which time the ascorbic acid reacts to eliminate bitter after-taste producing substances that are oxidation products arising out of the malt roasting process. The ascorbic acid according to this patented process is substantially eliminated during this reaction, and hence has no other effect on the wort. It may be noted that adding ascorbic acid without heating is stated by the patentee to be ineffective.


Disclosed is an extraction method for time-space-spectrum four-dimensional remote sensing data. The method includes: obtaining remote sensing images at a preset coverage area during a preset time period (S1); re-projecting the remote sensing images in a way that the respective pixel positions of the respective remote sensing images at different time points are overlapped (S2); storing all of re-projected remote sensing images into a storage unit according to a first preset storage method, or storing all of the re-projected remote sensing images into the storage unit according to a second preset storage method (S3); determining, on the basis of requirement information for data extraction, whether current data format of remote sensing data is a data format matching the requirement information (S4); if yes, determining, on the basis of the requirement information, a storage location of required remote sensing data, and extracting the required remote sensing data (S5). In the case storing is executed through the two preset storage methods above, the time consumption for locating the storage location can be reduced, thus the efficiency in processing the four-dimensional remote sensing data can be improved.

With the rapid development of remote sensing technology, remote sensing data is constantly developing towards high time, high space and high spectral resolution. For the obtaining of traditional remote sensing data, it is difficult to obtain images with high time and high spectral resolution simultaneously due to the limitation of the remote sensing technology. Nowadays, it is possible to obtain the data with high time, high space and high spectral resolution simultaneously through data processing, so as to meet the urgent need for high time, high space, and high spectral resolution remote sensing data of the remote sensing applications. Research and analysis based on time dimension and spectral dimension have become the hot spot in remote sensing study.
In traditional remote sensing study, it is developed from three dimensions whether it is based on space-spectrum or space-time. The remote sensing data used in this way contains three dimensions, two of which are space and the other is time or spectrum, therefore the requirement can be met by using a storage method based on a three-dimensional storage structure. However, for the four-dimensional remote sensing data based on the time-space-spectral and processed by data processing, if still stored as the three-dimensional remote sensing data, it is necessary to become a three-dimensional cube set in one time sequence or one spectral sequence by reducing the dimension of the spectral dimension or time dimension. Such storage method does not have multidimensional analysis of time, space and spectrum, and is inconvenient to efficiently manage, organize, extract and operate the four-dimensional remote sensing data.

Extraction method for time-space-spectrum four-dimensional remote sensing data

INSTITUTE OF REMOTE SESING AND DIGITAL EARTH, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


This system on chip comprises a plurality of master resources, a plurality of slave resources, a plurality of arbitration levels, each arbitration level being able to control the access of at least one master resource to at least one slave resource, each master resource being able to send requests to at least one slave resource according to a bandwidth associated with this slave resource and this master resource.

In a manner known per se, such a system on chip comprises one or more master resources and one or more slave resources which may be used by these master resources via a plurality of arbitration levels.
A master resource corresponds, in particular, to a computing core or a processor. In the case of a plurality of master resources, all of these resources are sometimes called multi-masters. A slave resource corresponds, in particular, to a peripheral usable by one or each master resource.
In technical fields where operational reliability has to be high, such as the automotive, aeronautical or nuclear fields, the notion of determinism during the exchange of digital data plays an important role.
This notion makes it possible, in particular, to determine for each digital data a maximum propagation time and, therefore, to guarantee that such data will be delivered from one resource to another within in a limited time characterized by the maximum propagation time.
In the case of using platforms based on multi-master resources, slowdown problems (contentions) appear, especially when accessing slow devices. This may result in lengthy execution times of uncontrolled processes and, therefore, in a loss of determinism.
In fact, in the context of multi-masters, each device has specificities such as, for example, the number of arbitration levels to access it, the speed of the buses and the media, the type of protocol, etc. Some architectures also favor symmetrical and shared access for all master resources to peripherals.
Therefore, when a master resource wishes to access a peripheral, it must pass through a set of internal buses comprising a plurality of arbitration levels.
Since these buses are cascaded from the fastest to the slowest, it is possible to saturate access to a peripheral in the event that the corresponding master resource has a faster bus. In addition, each device being connected via a bus to common arbitration levels, if a device is saturated by the cascade effect, it saturates all of the higher arbitration levels between this device and the master resource requesting access to it.
By saturating one or more arbitration levels, access of the other master resources to the peripherals common to the impacted arbitration levels is slowed down to the speed of the slowest peripheral requested in the whole chain of peripherals.
According to prior art methods, saturation problems in the multi-master context may be resolved upstream by taking into account a percentage of contention to be added to the duration of execution of a process measured in mono-master.
However, this solution is not viable because it would require characterizing the system precisely and exhaustively for the entire field of use. As completeness is difficult to prove, the percentage of contention added is thereby increased, thus reducing the time allocated to applications and therefore affecting the overall performance of the system on chip.

System on chip comprising a plurality of master resources

Abstract: The system is characterized by further comprising control means configured to control each bandwidth associated with each slave resource as a function of the capacity of this slave resource to process the requests originating from the master resource corresponding to this bandwidth.


A communication system includes a transmitter configured to transmit a modulated signal, a transmission line configured to carry the modulated signal, and a receiver coupled to the transmitter by the transmission line, and configured to receive the modulated signal. The transmitter includes a modulator configured to generate the modulated signal responsive to a data signal and a carrier signal. The receiver includes a demodulator configured to demodulate the modulated signal responsive to a first carrier signal. The demodulator includes a filter and a gain adjusting circuit configured to adjust a gain of the filter, and to generate the set of control signals based on a voltage of the filtered first signal and a voltage of the first signal. The gain adjusting circuit includes a first peak detector coupled to the filter, and configured to detect a peak value of the voltage of the filtered first signal.

In an electrical system, there are many integrated circuit (IC) chips arranged in one or more IC packages or many electrical devices, such as a memory, an analog-to-digital converter, wireless communication devices, or an application processor, in a chip. In some applications, data communications among different IC chips and/or different electrical devices are performed based on one or more communication protocols, such as a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) protocol or an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) protocol. A radio frequency interconnect (RFI) has been implemented that links the devices to perform communication between the devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Communication system and method of data communications

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


A control unit (116) resets a time stamp value whenever a pulsation is detected. In accordance with an electric signal from an ultrasonic search unit (101) and a send/receive unit (102), the image generating unit (110) generates ultrasound image data, attaches a time stamp to the generated image data, and places it into a data storing unit (112). A contour extracting unit (113) extracts a contour within the image data stored in the data storing unit (112), generates contour data, and attaches the same time stamp as the stamp attached to the image data to the contour data. An interpolated data generating unit (114) interpolates between the contour data in accordance with the attached time stamp to generate contour data corresponding to times at which sampling was not performed. A volume calculating unit (115) calculates a left ventricular volume (LVV) of a heart from the interpolated contour data according to the Modified Simpson method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic device and an image processing device, and particularly to a technique for improving a time resolution of a sequence of ultrasound images obtained at a predetermined frame rate.
2. Description of Background Art
An ultrasonic diagnostic device receives an echo obtained when ultrasound emitted from an ultrasonic probe is partially reflected on reflection points and surfaces of tissue of an object of a living body to be examined. The ultrasonic diagnostic device then performs signal processing for the received echo, and generates an ultrasound image (an echo image) for the examined object. Since the ultrasonic diagnostic device generates a two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound image of an examined object of a soft part and the like without invasion, it is widely used as a device which performs examination with high level of safety, and therefore is essential in fields such as clinical medicine.
As digital ultrasonic diagnostic devices are in increasingly widespread use, a variety of ultrasonic examinations are conducted with them.
For instance, an ultrasonic diagnostic device continuously samples ultrasound images of an examined object over a predetermined time and accumulates them to allow the operator to later closely examine a sequence of these ultrasound images and their physical quantity, such as movement of the object, and use obtained information for diagnosis.
For closely examining constantly changing movement of the object such as a heart and a circulatory organ, however, the present frame rate (e.g., 10 frames/second (fps)) used by an ultrasonic diagnostic device is not sufficient.
Methods considered to solve this problem include a method for raising a frame rate of sampling by reducing a total number of pixels constituting each ultrasound image, and density resolution of each pixel, and a method for omitting real-time processing from signal and image processing. These methods, however, reduce information amount of each ultrasound image, and so cannot improve accuracy of examination as a whole.
There is also a new technique of accurate examination by the use of an ultrasonic diagnostic device, which uses ultrasound images corresponding to different cross sections (such as a two-chamber view and a four-chamber view) of the same object (such as a heart). These ultrasound images have been generated in the same phase in a pulsation (i.e., relatively the same time in a pulsation cycle), so that examination with increased accuracy can be performed (see Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-23819).
With this technique, ultrasound images in the same phase are extracted from different sequences of ultrasound images. However, there are not always ultrasound images in the same phase within these sequences because timing with which these ultrasound images have been sampled and generated may differ from one another.
Consequently, ultrasound images generated in different phases are used as ultrasound images in the same phase, but such difference in phase results in decreasing accuracy of examination.
The present invention is made in view of the above problems, and aims to achieve the following three objects.
As the first object, the present invention aims to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device and an image processing device capable of examination with increased accuracy by increasing an apparent sampling rate applied to an ultrasound image they generates without sacrificing a resolution of the ultrasound image and real-time performance.
As the second object, the present invention aims to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device and an image processing device capable of examination with increased accuracy even when the devices use two or more ultrasound image sequences that have been generated in different phases as a result of difference in their sampled times.
As the third object, the present invention aims to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device and an image processing device capable of accurately examining an object (such as a left ventricle (LV) of a heart) whose information (such as that showing a left ventricular volume (LVV)) used for diagnosis changes over time. To achieve this, the ultrasonic diagnostic device and the image processing device generate an ultrasound image corresponding to an predicted time at which the diagnostic information takes a characteristic value.
For achieving the first object, the ultrasonic diagnostic device and the image processing device generate ultrasound images through sampling, associates each of the generated ultrasound image with a time stamp, and interpolates between data of the ultrasound image to generate image data corresponding to a time at which the sampling was not performed.
The second object can be achieved by normalizing a cycle for ultrasound image data in accordance with time stamps associated with the ultrasound image data, and then performs the above interpolation between the ultrasound image data corresponding to the normalized cycle.
The third object can be achieved by predicting a time at which a left ventricular volume (LVV) becomes a minimum or a maximum, and generates an ultrasound image at the predicted time.
In more detail, the above objects can be achieved by an ultrasonic diagnostic device that generates and displays an ultrasound image containing an image of an object which is subject to examination in accordance with reflection of ultrasound. This ultrasonic diagnostic device includes: an image generating unit for successively generating an ultrasound image; a quantity extracting unit for extracting a characteristic quantity related to the object within the generated ultrasound image; a time stamp generating unit for generating a time stamp indicating a time at which the ultrasound image has been generated, and associating the time stamp with the extracted characteristic quantity to make a pair; an interpolating unit for performing interpolation using a plurality of pairs made by the time stamp generating unit so as to generate new characteristic quantities corresponding to times other than times indicated by time stamps contained in the plurality of pairs; an information generating unit for generating diagnostic information on the object in accordance with the new characteristic quantities; and a display unit for displaying the generated diagnostic information.
The above interpolation on characteristic quantities generates new characteristic quantities that each correspond to a time at which sampling was not performed, and diagnostic information based on such characteristic quantities can be generated. Consequently, the above ultrasonic diagnostic device can achieve examination with higher accuracy than conventional examination using the same frame rate as the present examination. In addition, since such highly accurate examination can be achieved by data processing such as interpolation of characteristic quantity, it costs lower than other method which increases a maximum frame rate.
Here, the above ultrasonic diagnostic device may further include: a pulsation detecting unit for detecting every pulsation related to the object; and a clock unit for measuring an elapsed time from the detection of each pulsation. Here, a time indicated by each time stamp may be an elapsed time measured by the clock unit.
For this construction, a value of the time stamp is incremented in synchronization with a pulsation of the object. This allows different sets of data that have been generated in the same phase in a pulsation cycle to be specified out of sets of data obtained at different times. Consequently, with the present diagnostic device, movements of the living body can be examined from a variety of viewpoints in synchronization with pulsations.
Here, for the above ultrasonic diagnostic device, the interpolating unit may (a) superimpose a plurality of characteristic quantities over one another within a single pulsation cycle, the plurality of characteristic quantities having been extracted over a plurality of pulsation cycles, and (b) perform the interpolation between the superimposed characteristic quantities to generate the new characteristic quantities.
For this construction, characteristic quantities over two or more pulsation cycles are normalized before interpolation. This reduces an examination error resulting from abnormal movements of the living body, signal noise, and dispersion in values of the examination.
Here, with the above ultrasonic diagnostic, before superimposing the plurality of characteristic quantities over one another, the interpolating unit may normalize the plurality of pulsation cycles to generate the single pulsation cycle by correcting time stamps associated with the plurality of characteristic quantities.
For this construction, different pulsation cycles are corrected to a pulsation cycle of the same duration, and characteristic quantities are superimposed over one another based on this corrected pulsation cycle without a phase of each characteristic quantity changed before and after the superimposition. Accordingly, highly accurate diagnostic information can be obtained.
Here, for the above ultrasonic diagnostic device, the interpolating unit may perform the interpolation using the plurality of pairs that each contain a time stamp and a characteristic quantity related to an ultrasound image in first sectional view so as to generate new characteristic quantities related to the first sectional view. The information generating unit may include: an intersecting data obtaining unit for obtaining a characteristic quantity related to an ultrasound image in second sectional view from the quantity extracting unit, and obtaining a time stamp associated with the obtained characteristic quantity from the time stamp generating unit, the first and second sectional views intersecting at a predetermined view; a data specifying unit for specifying a characteristic quantity out of the new characteristic quantities related to the first sectional view, the specified characteristic quantity being associated with a time stamp that indicates a same time as the time stamp obtained by the intersecting data obtaining unit; and a data generating unit for generating the diagnostic information by using the specified characteristic quantity and the obtained characteristic quantity.
With this construction, the diagnostic information is produced from ultrasound images in the intersecting first and second sectional views, which have been generated at different periods. This generates a characteristic quantity that is closer to an actual characteristic quantity of the object than a characteristic quantity obtained merely from an ultrasound image in a single sectional view. As a result, accurate examination can be achieved.
Here, with the above ultrasonic diagnostic device, the intersecting data obtaining unit may also perform interpolation using a plurality of pairs that each contain: (a) a characteristic quantity related to the second sectional view; and (b) a time stamp associated with the characteristic quantity, and generate a new characteristic quantity related to the second sectional view. The data specifying unit may specify a characteristic quantity related to the first sectional view, the specified characteristic quantity being associated with a time stamp indicating a same time as a time stamp associated with the new characteristic quantity related to the second sectional view.
With this construction, interpolation is performed between not only ultrasound images in the first sectional view but also ultrasound images in the second sectional view, and the diagnostic information is generated based on characteristic quantities for which such interpolations have been performed. This allows diagnostic information to be generated at shorter intervals, and therefore a peak position in a change curve, for instance, can be accurately obtained.
Here, with the above ultrasonic diagnostic device, each time the image generating unit generates an ultrasound image in the second sectional view, the data generating unit may generate diagnostic information. Each time the diagnostic information is generated, the display unit may display the diagnostic information.
For this construction, the diagnostic information is generated whenever an ultrasound image in the second sectional view is sampled, which achieves real-time diagnosis for which diagnostic information is instantaneously provided.
Here, the above ultrasonic diagnostic device may also include a volume specifying unit for specifying a maximum and a minimum of the volume in a pulsation cycle by using the volume shown in the diagnostic information.
For this construction, maximum and minimum values in each pulsation cycle are displayed. This can therefore provide, for example, useful information such as an end-diastolic LVV and an end-systolic LVV of the heart.
The above objects can be also achieved by an ultrasonic diagnostic device that generates and displays an ultrasound image containing an image of an object which is subject to examination in accordance with reflection of ultrasound. The ultrasonic diagnostic device includes: a signal receiving unit for receiving an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal related to the object; an end-time predicting unit for predicting at least one of an end-diastolic time and an end-systolic time from at least one of a past end-diastolic time and a past end-systolic time that the end-time predicting unit has specified using the received ECG signal; and an image generating unit for generating an ultrasound image at the at least one of the predicted times.
With this construction, future end-diastolic and end-systolic times can be predicted from past end-diastolic and end-systolic times, which have been specified using the action potential signal. An ultrasound image is then generated at the predicted times. As a result, a more accurate LVV of the heart in end-diastolic and end-systolic times can be calculated.
Here, the above objects can be also achieved by an ultrasonic diagnostic device that generates and displays an ultrasound image containing an image of an object which is subject to examination in accordance with reflection of ultrasound. This ultrasonic diagnostic device includes: an information calculating unit for calculating diagnostic information from the ultrasound image; a time predicting unit for predicting a time at which the calculated diagnostic information takes a characteristic value by using the diagnostic information; and an image generating unit for generating an ultrasound image for the object at the predicted time.
The above ultrasonic diagnostic device predicts a time at which the calculated diagnostic information takes a characteristic value by using past diagnostic information. The diagnostic device then generates an ultrasound image at the predicted time. This can achieve examination with increased accuracy in accordance with diagnostic information corresponding to the predicted time and times around the predicted time.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention may be embodied as an image processing device that includes the above units of the ultrasonic diagnostic device, or as a program including steps of units characteristic to the diagnostic device. Such program may be stored in not only ROM (read only memory) used by the ultrasonic diagnostic device and the image processing device but also a recording medium, such as a CD-ROM disc, to be distributed. The program may be also distributed via a communication network and other transmission media.

Ultrasonic diagnostic device and image processing device


Functionality is described for controlling the playback of a recorded media program. The functionality formulates initial playback decisions that govern the playback of the program based on a set of initial assumptions. The functionality then formulates modified playback decisions that define the manner in which the program should actually be played back. The modified playback decisions can be formed based on the playback-related behavior of a population of users who have previously consumed the same program. The functionality makes modifications which affect the playback of the recorded program based on the modified playback decisions, such as by bookmarking or truncating the recorded program.

Digital recording devices (e.g., DVRs) allow users to record media programs and to play back the media programs at times that are convenient for the users. More specifically, in a typical use scenario, a user identifies a program to be recorded from an electronic program guide (EPG). The DVR device then records the identified program at its scheduled presentation date and time. The DVR commonly records the program in its local store. At a later time, the user can activate the program, at which time the DVR plays the program from its local store.
In actual practice, the EPG data contained in the EPG guide for a program may not exactly coincide with the actual presentation times of the program. For instance, the EPG guide may indicate that a program begins at 8:00 PM and ends at 10:00 PM, but the source which supplies the program may start the program at a time slightly prior to 8:00 PM, or at a time slightly after 8:00 PM. Similarly, the source may potentially end the program at a time slightly prior to 10:00 PM, or at a time slightly after 10:00 PM. Typically these offset times are short, e.g., a few minutes, but these times can also be longer (e.g., in the case of sporting events that last longer than scheduled).
DVR devices are known to account for variation in presentation times by "padding" the starting and ending times of recorded programs. Consider the scenario shown in FIG. 1. As indicated there, EPG data indicates that a program 102 is scheduled to air from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM. However, to account for the fact that this program 102 may potentially start slightly earlier than 8:00 PM or run slightly later than 10:00 PM, the DVR device can start recording the program 102 at a padded starting time 106, and stop recording the program 102 at a padded ending time 108. In operation, the DVR device will begin playing the program at the padded starting time 106, and will continue playing the program until the padded ending time 108 (unless, of course, the user stops the program 102 before then).
In many (and perhaps most) instances, however, the program may actually start at the scheduled starting time and terminate at the scheduled ending time. These times correspond to the actual starting time 110 and the actual ending time 112. In this scenario, when the user activates the program, the user will be presented with a terminal portion of a program 114 which precedes the program 102 on this channel. And if the user watches all of the recorded content, the user will eventually advance to a program 116 which follows the program 102.
The above-described kind of DVR behavior is disadvantageous for at least three reasons. First, the user may be displeased and/or confused to see the ending part of program 114 when the user activates the program 102. If the user understands why he or she is being presented with the program 114, the user can quickly advance forward in the recorded content to find the actual starting time 110, e.g., by activating a fast forward playback mode. Nevertheless, this operation may be cumbersome, especially if the user is required to frequently perform this operation. Second, the user may also be displeased to see the end of the program 114 because this might spoil the user's enjoyment of the program 114 (that is, if the user has also recorded this program 114 and intends to watch it in its entirety). Third, recording the program 102 such that it begins at the padded starting time 106 and ends at the padded ending time 108 is not efficient, as the DVR is consuming storage space to store superfluous content. For instance, for a 30 minute program, recording a five minute padding at the start of the program and at the end of the program increases the disk consumption for that recording by 33%.
For at least the above-identified exemplary reasons, there is a need for more efficient strategies for recording and playing back media information, as well as other kinds of information.

Strategies for controlling presentation of media information based on a sampling of customer playback behavior


A method and apparatus for optimizing the performance of a rate-responsive cardiac pacemaker. A pacemaker is provided which is capable of obtaining and storing information about a patient's cardiac function and about a pacemaker's operation during a brief exercise interval. The data collected includes information about the number of cardiac events during each two-second interval of the exercise, as well as the percentage of paced events during each two-second interval. Data reflecting the output of the pacemaker's activity sensor output is also collected for each two second interval of the test. In addition, AV interval data for each cardiac cycle during the test is collected, this data being distinguished according to whether it reflects atrial-pace-to-ventricular-sense or atrial-sense-to-ventricular-sense AV intervals. The disclosed pacemaker is operable in conjunction with an external programming/processing unit, which receives the stored data after the exercise test is concluded. The data is processed and presented on the programmer screen in a manner which enables the clinician to readily assimilate it and observe the effects of hypothetical changes in rate-response programming in the pacemaker. Additionally, the clinician is able to observe the programmed AV rate adaption profiles in conjunction with the patient's actual AV performance, and compare this data with an AV profile from a typical healthy heart.

A wide variety of cardiac pacemakers are known and commercially available. Pacemakers are generally characterized by which chambers of the heart they are capable of sensing, the chambers to which they deliver pacing stimuli, and their responses, if any, to sensed intrinsic electrical cardiac activity. Some pacemakers deliver pacing stimuli at fixed, regular intervals without regard to naturally occurring cardiac activity. More commonly, however, pacemakers sense electrical cardiac activity in one or both of the chambers of the heart, and inhibit or trigger delivery of pacing stimuli to the heart based on the occurrence and recognition of sensed intrinsic electrical events. A so-called "VVI" pacemaker, for example, senses electrical cardiac activity in the ventricle of the patient's heart, and delivers pacing stimuli to the ventricle only in the absence of electrical signals indicative of natural ventricular contractions. A "DDD" pacemaker, on the other hand, senses electrical signals in both the atrium and ventricle of the patient's heart, and delivers atrial pacing stimuli in the absence of signals indicative of natural atrial contractions, and ventricular pacing stimuli in the absence of signals indicative of natural ventricular contractions. The delivery of each pacing stimulus by a DDD pacemaker is synchronized with prior sensed or paced events.
Pacemakers are also known which respond to other types of physiologically-based signals, such as signals from sensors for measuring the pressure inside the patient's ventricle or for measuring the level of the patient's physical activity. In recent years, pacemakers which measure the metabolic demand for oxygen and vary the pacing rate in response thereto have become widely available. Perhaps the most popularly employed method for measuring the need for oxygenated blood is to measure the physical activity of the patient by means of a piezoelectric transducer. A piezoelectric crystal for activity sensing is typically fixed to the pacemaker shield and generates an electrical signal in response to deflections of the pacemaker shield caused by patient activity. Piezoelectric, microphone-like sensors are widely used in rate-responsive pacemakers because they are relatively inexpensive, their manufactured yield is high, and they transduce the acoustic energy of patients' motion in a highly reliable manner. A pacemaker employing a piezoelectric activity sensor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,813 issued to Anderson et al., which patent is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Although piezoelectric activity sensors are common, there are other methods of monitoring a patient's metabolic demand for oxygenated blood. For example, blood oxygen saturation may be measured directly, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,807 issued to Bornzin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,629 issued to Baudino et al., and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,495 issued to Brumwell et al. Alternatively, pacing rate can be varied as a function of a measured value representative of stroke volume, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,160 to Schaldach.
Other physiologic conditions that can be used as an indication of a patient's metabolic demand for oxygenated blood include: right ventricular blood pressure and the change of right ventricular blood pressure over time, venous blood temperature, respiration rate, minute ventilation, and various pre- and post-systolic time intervals. Such conditions can be measured, for example, by impedance or pressure sensing within the right ventricle of the heart.
In typical prior art rate-responsive pacemakers having some type of activity sensor, the pacing rate is varied according to the output from the sensor. Usually, the pacing rate is variable between a predetermined maximum and minimum level, which may be selectable by a physician from among a plurality of programmable upper and lower rate limit settings. When the activity sensor output indicates that the patient's activity level has increased, the pacing rate is increased accordingly. As long as patient activity continues to be indicated, the pacing rate is periodically increased by some incremental amount, until the computed activity target rate or the programmed upper rate limit is reached. When patient activity ceases, the pacing rate is gradually reduced, until the programmed lower rate limit is reached.
In one prior art technique employing a piezoelectric, microphone-like sensor for transducing patient activity, the raw electrical signal output from the sensor is applied to an AC-coupled system which bandpass filters the signal prior to being applied to pacemaker rate-setting logic. This arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,388 to Sivula et al., assigned by the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. According to the Sivula et al. patent, peaks in the bandpass filtered sensor signal which exceed a predetermined threshold are interpreted by the rate-setting logic as an indication of patient activity of sufficient magnitude that an increase in the pacing rate may be warranted. The predetermined threshold, which may also be selectable by a physician from one of a plurality of programmable settings, is intended to screen out background "noise" in the sensor output signal indicative of low amplitude patient motion. Each occurrence of a peak in the bandpass-filtered sensor signal which exceeds the threshold level is known as a "sensor detect". A sum of sensor detects is computed over some period of time; for example, the number of sensor detects may be determined every two seconds. If, at the end of that period, the number of sensor detects exceeds some predetermined value, the rate-setting logic interprets this as an indication that the pacing rate should be incrementally increased.
In order to minimize patient problems and to prolong or extend the useful life of an implanted pacemaker, it has become common practice to provide programmable pacemaker parameters in order to permit the physician or clinician to adjust and fine-tune the operation of the pacemaker to match or optimize the pacing therapy to the patient's physiologic requirements. For example, the physician may adjust the stimulating pulse energy settings to maximize the pacemaker battery longevity while ensuring an adequate safety margin. Additionally, the physician may adjust the sensing threshold to ensure adequate sensing of intrinsic depolarizations of cardiac tissue, while preventing or minimizing oversensing of unwanted events such as myopotential interference or electromagnetic interference (EMI).
There are typically a number of programmable parameters associated with the rate-responsive operation of pacemakers. For the rate-responsive pacemaker described in the above-referenced Sivula et al. patent, for example, an upper rate limit, lower rate limit, and one of a plurality of rate response settings must be selected. The rate response setting is used to determine the increment to pacing rate as a function of sensor output, i.e., the slope of the function correlating the pacing rate curve in response to detected patient activity.
Similarly, other pacemakers, such as Medtronic, Inc.'s Activitrax II Models 8412-14, Medtronic, Inc.'s Legend Models 8416-18, Siemens, Elema AB's Sensolog 703, Cook Pacemaker Corp.'s Sensor Model Kelvin 500, Telectronics' Meta MV Model 1202, Cordis Pacing Systems' Prism CL Model 450A, Intermedics, Inc.'s Nova MR, and Vitatron Medical B.V.'s Diamond pacemakers have incorporated the programmability feature of various variables associated with their rate-responsiveness.
The Sensolog 703 pacemaker is a single-chamber activity sensing, rate modulated, multi-programmable pulse generator whose main programmable variables include pacing mode, sensor states, minimum and maximum pacing rates, recovery time, and responsiveness. The responsiveness of the pulse generator is determined by two calibration points corresponding to two levels of exercise called "low work" (LW) and "high work" (HW). During the adjustment procedure, the physician or clinician programs the desired pacing rates for LW and HW, and asks the patient to perform the corresponding physical activities for thirty seconds. The last sensor output registered at each level of activity is compared to the desired pacing rate by an algorithm in the programmer and optimal sets of programmable slope and threshold values are suggested to the clinician. The Sensolog 703 pacemaker needs to be manually reprogrammed at various phases after implant, and various tables relating programmable settings to corresponding slope-threshold combinations as well as tables relating rate response to sensor values are also required for programming the parameters.
Medtronic, Inc.'s Legend and Activitrax II models are single-chamber, multi-programmable, rate-responsive pacemakers whose pacing rates vary based upon detected physical activity. These pacemakers have the following programmable parameters: mode, sensitivity, refractory period, pulse amplitude, pulse width, low and upper rate limits, rate response gain, and activity threshold.
Cook Pacemaker Corp.'s Sensor Model Kelvin 500 is a unipolar, multi-modal, rate-responsive, processor-based pacemaker capable of monitoring the temperature of the blood in the heart, and of making the decision to increase the pacing rate as a result of the patient's physiologic stress. This pacemaker allows for the programming of the following parameters: mode, sensitivity, refractory period, pulse width, lower and upper rate limits, and interim rate.
Telectronics' Meta MV Model 1202 is a multi-programmable, bipolar pacemaker. It can be programmed to operate in one of four pacing modes: demand inhibited (VVI or AAI), asynchronous (VOO or AOO), demand inhibited with an automatic rate response based upon sensed changes in respiratory minute ventilation, or adaptive non-rate responsive mode. The following parameters are also programmable for the Model 1202: standby rate, sensitivity, pulse amplitude, pulse width, refractory period, minimum heart rate, and maximum heart rate.
Cordis Pacing Systems' Prism CL Model 450A is a rate-responsive, single-chamber, multi-programmable ventricular pacemaker. The parameters programmable in the Model 450A include: pacing mode, rate-response (on or off), electrode polarity, lower and upper rate limits, output current, output pulse width, sensitivity, refractory period, and automatic calibration speed. In the Prism CL, a dynamic variable called the Rate Control Parameter (RCP) is first determined by an initialization process when rate-response is programmed `on`. The Prism CL uses the RCP as a reference to control the pacing rate. The pacemaker determines what the appropriate rate should be by comparing the measured RCP to the target RCP. If the measured RCP is different than the target RCP, rate is increased or decreased until the two values are equal. The pacemaker continuously makes automatic adjustments to the target RCP to adjust rate response.
The initial RCP in the Prism CL is determined while the patient is at rest. During initialization, the RCP is measured for approximately twenty paced cycles to establish the target RCP. If intrinsic activity is sensed during the initialization process, initialization is temporarily suspended and the rate is increased by 2.5 pulses per minute (PPM) until pacing resumes. Once initialization is completed and the target RCP has been established, rate response is automatically initiated and the calibration function is enabled. The pacemaker indicates the end of the initialization process by issuing an ECG signature in the succeeding cycle.
The automatic calibration feature of the Prism CL involves continuous calibration of the target RCP and adjustment of the target RCP to compensate for drifts due to lead maturation, drug therapy, and other physiologic factors other than those related to physiologic stresses. The frequency of adjustment depends, in part, on the programmed calibration speed (slow, medium, or fast).
Intermedics, Inc.'s Nova MR is a unipolar (atrial or ventricular) pacemaker which senses variations in blood temperature and uses this information to vary the pacing rate. The following functions are programmable to determined the pacemaker's response to detected variations in blood temperature: rate response, onset detection sensitivity, and post-exercise rate decay.
Vitatron Medical B.V.'s Diamond is a multi-sensor, multi-programmable dual-chamber pacemaker for which a full range of parameters are programmable, including: mode, upper and lower rate limits, maximum tracking and sensor rates, pulse amplitudes and durations, sensitivities, refractory periods, activity acceleration and deceleration, night rate drop, lead polarities, post-stimulation blanking intervals, activity threshold, sensor rate slope, upper rate approach, and numerous others.
The Vitatron Diamond also has a programmably selectable "adaptive AV delay" feature in which the delay between delivery of an atrial stimulating pulse and a ventricular stimulating pulse changes according to the current pacing rate, which itself changes according to detected patient activity. With the adaptive AV delay feature, the physician can select either a fixed AV delay for all pacing rates, or an adaptive AV delay which changes by either six or nine milliseconds for each atrial rate change of ten beats per minute. The adaptive AV delay feature is intended to account for the fact that in a normal, healthy heart, the AV conduction time is inversely proportional to heart rate. See, e.g., Daubert et al., "Physiological Relationship Between AV Interval and Heart Rate in Healthy Subjects: Applications to Dual Chamber Pacing", PACE, vol. 9, November-December 1986, Part II, pp. 1032-1039. It has also been shown that rate-adaptive paced AV intervals increase cardiac output. See, e.g., Rees, et al., "Effect of Rate-Adapting Atrioventricular Delay on Stroke Volume and Cardiac Output During Atrial Synchronous Pacing", Can. Cardiac Journal, vol. 6., no. 10, December 1990, pp. 445-452. Ideally, a pacemaker's AV delay should be selected to mimic intrinsic AV conduction, since cardiac output is maximized with intrinsic AV conduction. See, e.g., Harper et al., "Intrinsic Conduction Maximizes Cardiopulmonary Performance in Patients With Dual Chamber Pacemakers", PACE, vol. 14, November 1991, Part II, pp. 1787-1791. Of course, in patients with high-degree AV block, intrinsic conduction is minimal or non-existent.
Other examples of AV interval rate-adaptation have been shown in the prior art. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,090 to Lin et al. entitled "Variable P-R Interval Pacemaker", for example, there is described a circuit for allowing the time between the detection of an atrial contraction and the provision of an electrical stimulus to cause a ventricular contraction to vary with the rate of sensed atrial contractions. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,116 to Markowitz entitled "Heart Pacemaker With Separate A--V Intervals for Atrial Synchronous and Atrial-Ventricular Sequential Pacing Modes", there is described a pacemaker having separately definable AV intervals for atrial-synchronous and atrial-ventricular sequential pacing.
The many adjustable parameters for highly sophisticated, fully featured pacemakers, including, for example, the rate-response settings of the Sivula et al. pacemaker and the adaptive AV delay setting of the above-described Vitatron Diamond, have historically been manually programmed and adjusted or optimized to the needs of individual patients on an ad hoc iterative process. Often, because the programming and individualization process is difficult and lengthy, and because the usefulness or effect of certain programmable features may not always be fully appreciated by clinicians, patient parameters are not completely optimized. In some cases, the clinician may simply utilize the nominal default (i.e., shipping) parameter settings. Thus, patients may sometimes not receive the full benefit of a pacemaker's capabilities.
Pacemaker manufacturers have attempted to alleviate the problem of pacemaker optimization by providing extensive diagnostic and monitoring capabilities in their pacemaker systems. For example, the above-described Vitatron Diamond pacemaker offers extensive diagnostic features. The Diamond can transmit event markers to its programmer so that the occurrence of paced and sensed cardiac events can be viewed on a monitor or printed on a strip chart. In addition, the Diamond can generate histograms showing P-wave amplitude, atrial rates, ventricular rate, premature ventricular contraction (PVC) coupling intervals, AV intervals versus atrial rate, VA intervals, atrial rates and PVC, PVC versus time of day, and SVT versus time of day. The Diamond can also function as a 24-hour Holter monitor, or as an activity sensor monitor. Several counters in the Diamond can be interrogated by the programmer to provide the clinician with information such as the percentage of atrial or ventricular paced events, the percentage of sensed evoked T-waves, the percentage of A--V synchronous beats, the number of PVCs, and the period of time during which the atrial rate was above the upper rate limit.
The Vitatron Diamond can also be interrogated by a programming unit to obtain data regarding the lead impedance, actual output voltage, mean output current, T-, P-, and R-wave amplitudes, VA intervals, AV intervals, QT intervals, patient stimulation thresholds, and the like.
With all of this information available, the clinician is theoretically able to make more well-informed choices in parameter selection, thereby better optimizing the operation of the device to the needs of a patient. However, it is important that the information be presented to the clinician in an understandable and meaningful manner, and that the programming process itself not be too difficult or time consuming. Of course, it is also important that the physician or clinician be well-informed about the operation of the pacemaker and about how the various programmable parameters affect its operation.
Even with all of the diagnostic and measurement data available to the clinician, it is sometimes difficult to assimilate all of the information correctly to arrive at optimal pacemaker settings. Often, the interplay between various settings may not be apparent. While it is obvious, for example, that a pacemaker's programmed upper rate must be higher than its programmed lower rate, the interaction between other programmable settings might not be so apparent. For example, in the above-referenced Sivula et al. patent, there is discussed the problem that a selected rate-response slope may not provide for sufficient incrementation to the base pacing rate at maximum sensor output to actually allow the pacemaker to ever reach the programmed upper rate. This defeats the physician's intent in selecting the upper rate, and substantially decreases the physician's ability to fine-tune the pacemaker to the patient's particular needs.
In order to reduce the burden on a clinician in programming a pacemaker, as well as to assist the clinician in making the most appropriate parameter selections, it has been proposed in the prior art that the pacemaker be capable of performing some parameter selection automatically. In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/567,372 filed by Bennett, et al and entitled "Rate Responsive Pacemaker and Method for Automatically Initializing the Same", there is described a pacemaker system capable of automatically initializing such parameters as sensitivity threshold, pacing pulse width, pacing pulse amplitude, activity threshold, and rate-response gain. The Bennett '372 application is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
While the teachings of Bennett '372 represents an improvement over prior methods of parameter selection in an implantable pacemaker, the present inventors believe that there is room for further improvements to achieve even greater levels of optimization in pacemaker therapy. In particular, with regard to selectable rate-response settings as well as to the provision of a rate-adaptive AV delay which takes into account the inversely proportional relationship between heart rate and AV intervals, prior implementations (as exemplified by the above-described Vitatron Diamond) have depended on the clinician tailing the rate-response and AV adaptation in a relatively "blind", ad hoc way, usually in the office during a patient follow-up. In addition, the physician is typically limited to selecting from among a relatively few different adaptive AV settings. Moreover, rate-response setting selection and AV interval adjustment are typically done with little diagnostic or hemodynamic performance data to guide the clinician's choices for the patient at hand. Ideally, the tailoring to a patient would be driven by optimization of one or more hemodynamic parameters, such as ejection fraction, ventricular filling, or stroke volume. However, measurement of those parameters requires the presence of special sensors, which may not always be available.

Method and apparatus for monitoring pacemaker intervals


A system for processing a sample includes a chamber having at least one inlet and at least one outlet, where the chamber is configured to accommodate flow of the sample from the at least one inlet toward the at least one outlet, and an imager array configured to image the flow of the sample in the chamber, where the imager array includes at least one lensless image sensor configurable opposite at least one light source.

Devices to conduct assays are commonly used for the purposes of biochemistry research, pharmaceutical discovery, cell screening, medical diagnostics, and other applications to detect and/or measure one or more components of a sample. A digital assay is one kind of assay that partitions a biological sample into multiple smaller containers such that each container contains a discrete number of biological entities. For example, a digital assay may be used to analyze microfluidic droplets including single cells or other entities, such as for quantifying nucleic acids, proteins, or other biological content.
Current microfluidic systems have a number of drawbacks. For example, conventional microfluidic digital assays require that droplets be monodisperse and of the same type (e.g., exclusively DNA) during an experiment, in order to, for example, accurately correlate measurements to analyte concentration and compare such measurements across different droplets. These devices require droplets to be pre-sorted to ensure that they are of suitably uniform size, which is time-consuming and reduces efficiency in processing droplets. Additionally, these devices include a linear, single-track microfluidic channel within which droplets travel in series for processing, which further limits the efficiency for analysis of the droplets. Accordingly, there is a need for new and improved digital assay systems and methods for processing samples.

Systems and methods for optically processing samples


A device for springing a mass including a fluid spring and a frame, in which the fluid spring is arranged between the mass and the frame in such a way that the mass is mounted on the frame in a sprung and/or damped manner. An add-on-fluid volume device for providing an additional fluid volume for the fluid spring includes at least two fluid volume chambers that can be fluidically connected to one another and which have a common, displaceable chamber wall.

Generic devices and methods are already well known from the prior art. In particular, such devices exist as suspension systems for sprung vehicle seats especially on utility vehicles, heavy goods vehicles and the like. Such sprung vehicle seats are typically mounted on a floor or on a floor panel of the respective motor vehicle, wherein the floor or the motor vehicle can be regarded as the fixed frame. A seat device of the vehicle seat and/or a person sitting thereon can be regarded as the mass to be sprung, wherein often an air spring is provided for springing such a mass relative to the frame. This air spring may in this case be integrated in a scissors-type control system of the vehicle seat, which can ensure a reliable guidance, in particular a guided vertical upward and downward movement of the seat device. The scissors-type control system may additionally be equipped with a damper in order additionally to be able to damp for example particularly severe vertical movements.
An example of a generic configuration is known from DE 10 2004 054 325 B3. In the configuration proposed therein, the suspension comfort is said to be improved by the fact that the height of the seat surface relative to the vehicle floor and the acceleration of the seat surface in the vertical direction are detected. Based on the corresponding measured data, the pressure in the air spring is then varied. In other words, it is proposed in DE 10 2004 054 325 B3 to vary the quantity of air supplied to the air spring as a function of the vertical acceleration and also the height of the driver's seat surface above the vehicle floor.
DD 220 674 A1 discloses an active, electrohydraulic vibration damper which, connected in parallel with a spring, is intended to have a damping effect on a vehicle seat.
DD 223 835 A1 discloses a controller for a hybrid anti-vibration system with feedback of an absolute speed of an object, which can be used for seats and in which account is taken of the acceleration of the seat.
Furthermore, DE 601 21 688 T2 discloses an active seat suspension system for a seat, which is supported by a scissors-type system above a seat substructure. A hydraulic piston and an air cushion are provided between the seat and the seat substructure. The quantity of air in the air cushion, which is of constant volume, is controlled by a compressor and by a vent. The configuration comprises an acceleration sensor and also a seat position sensor, the measured values of which are taken into account by an electronic control unit (ECU) when actuating the compressor and the vent.
In addition to the above-mentioned use examples with regard to vehicle seats, such suspension systems also occur in other technical embodiments, for example on a wheel suspension of vehicles, such as in particular motor vehicles.

Device for springing a mass, and method for adjusting and/or operating a fluid spring


A device for attenuating movement of a door includes a housing having a first surface spaced apart from a second surface for defining a sliding path for an elongated sliding member. The elongated sliding member engages with at least one of the first and second surfaces when the elongated member slides in a first direction. A connecting member having a first end connected to the door and the other end to the elongated sliding member is provided so that opening of the door moves the sliding member in the first direction. Damping material is disposed between the elongated sliding member and at least one of the first and second surfaces. The damping material applies surface tension forces to the elongated sliding member when sliding in the first direction such that movement of the door attenuates or dampens the movement of the door.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to doors and door closure apparatus and, more particularly, to a device for dampening the swinging open of a door using a linear slider.
2. Description of the Related Art
Doors or access covers, particularly those that are vertically mounted, typically lend themselves to being opened rapidly due to their weight and gravity. For example, when a user opens the door to access the interior of a machine and the user does not support the door through its rotation to the fully opened position, the tendency is for the door to swing open quickly. This may cause a shock load that can damage the hinge and/or the door itself. Also, an abruptly opening door gives an undesirable impression to the user that the product is cheap or of poor quality. Consequently, various damping devices have been constructed for attenuating the swinging open of a door. Some of the more common devices used to attenuate the rotational movement of a door use a torsional spring that is connected to the hinge and that provides a damping force when the door is opened or closed. Another common door damping device is a door engaging with a rack gear that attenuates the rotational movement of the door. However, such devices do not lend themselves especially useful in applications that have a small space to accommodate the damping device. If they are to be used, the footprint size of the product would increase which consequently contributes to additional cost to make the product.
Based upon the foregoing, there is a need to provide a reliable damping device for attenuating the swinging motion of a door that is compact, simple in design and inexpensive to manufacture.


An electromagnetic generator comprising an antenna that receives radiofrequency energy. The antenna is connected to a rectifier circuit, which is used to charge a first battery using the radiofrequency energy received by the antenna. The first battery supplies power to a control unit, which powers at least one electromagnet to generate a magnetic field. A flywheel having at least one magnet is configured to rotate when the magnetic field is generated. An alternator, connected to the flywheel, charges a second battery based on the rotation of the flywheel. The second battery is then used to supply power to an external device.

Consumers rely on electricity to power various devices and appliances used on a daily basis. For example, electricity is used to charge cell phones, power televisions, heat water, propel cars, cook food, and the like. Electricity is a critical component to everyday life. Consumers typically receive electricity in one of two ways: (1) from a utility company or (2) from an electric generator.
Often, utility companies rely on large-scale electric generators to create electricity in a similar manner to smaller-scale electric generators used by individuals. Electric generators are devices that convert one form of energy (e.g., mechanical energy) into electrical energy (i.e., electricity), which can be used to power external devices or can be stored in storage devices, such as batteries and capacitors, for later use. For example, some electric generators use mechanical energy input to turn or rotate permanent magnets. The rotating permanent magnets create changing magnetic fields, which react with conductors to drive an electric current. Accordingly, at least a portion of the input mechanical energy is converted into usable electric energy (i.e., electricity). The input mechanical energy may be provided manually (e.g., via a hand crank), provided from the output of an internal combustion engine, provided from a steam driven turbine (e.g., as done in a nuclear or fossil fuel power plant), or the like.
Large amounts of input mechanical energy are typically required to generate a meaningful amount of electricity. This often requires paying a utility company for a portion of the electricity generated by the utility company or the burning of fossil fuels in an internal combustion engine driven personal generator. Electricity generated by utility companies can be expensive. Additionally, the burning of fossil fuels can be expensive and produces potentially harmful byproducts, such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur, and the like. Accordingly, improved electricity sources are desired.


The present invention relates, inter alia, to the ERF gene and to the products encoded by this gene. More particularly, the present invention relates to DNA sequences encoding ERF and AERF; polypeptides encoded by such DNA sequences; ERF chimeric molecules; and methods of using ERF and ERF chimeric molecules to reduce tumorigenicity in a tumor cell.

Transcriptional regulators in eukaryotic cells are organized into families of genes characterized by their DNA-binding domain and DNA sequence specificity (homeo domain, b-ZIP, HLH, ets domain, Rel homology region, etc.) (see, e.g., Pabo, et al., Annu. Rev. Biochem., 61:1015-1023 (1992)). Although some functional redundancy exists, the specific function of each member of a given family is defined by a configuration of factors involving tissue-specificity and cell cycle regulation, response to extracellular signals, level of expression, interacting proteins, target specificity, kinetics of interaction and effect on transcription (positive or negative). However, the members of a family are usually involved in a common function (e.g., homeo genes and development, AP1 genes and mitogenic stimulation, etc.). The ets family of genes recognize a common target sequence and have been implicated in cellular proliferation and tumorigenesis (see, e.g., Seth, et al., Cell Growth Differ, 3:327-334 (1992); Macleod, et al., TIBS, 17:251-256 (1992); Wasylyk, et al., Eur. J. Biochem., 211:8-19 (1993); and Janknecht, et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1155:346-356 (1993)). Several growth-related genes contain a functional ets-binding site (EBS) in their regulatory region, including c-fos (for review see Treisman, et al., Curr. Opinion Genet. Dev., 4:96-101 (1994); Karin, et al., Curr. Opinion Cell Biol., 6:415-424 (1994)), Jun-B (Coffer, et al., Oncogene, 9:911-921 (1994)), Rb (Savoysky, et al., Oncogene, 9:1839-1846 (1994)), c-MYC (Roussel, et al., Oncogene, 9:405-415 (1994)) and ETS2 (Mavrothalassitis, et al., Cell Growth Differ, 2:215-224 (1991)), indicating that members of the ets family may play a key role during mitogenic stimulation by regulating the transcription of these genes. Furthermore, recent reports indicate that the activity of some ets family members can be regulated by the ras/MAPK pathway (Janknecht, et al., EMBO, 12:5097-5104 (1993); Rao, et al., Oncogene, 9:1855-1860 (1994); O'Neill, et al., Cell, 78:137-147 (1994); Brunner, et al., Nature, 370:386-389 (1994) and, thus, provide a possible mechanism for the coordinated regulation of the function of some ets genes during mitogenic stimulation.
In an efforts to analyze regulation of the ETS2 gene, its promoter was isolated and characterized (Mavrothalassitis, et al., Oncogene, 5:1337-1342 (1990), Mavrothalassitis, et al., Proc. Natl. Sci. USA, 87:1047-1051 (1990)), and sites where protein interaction is required for promoter function were identified (Mavrothalassitis, et al., Cell Growth Differ., 2:215-224 (1991)). One of the DNA-protein interaction sites on the ETS2 promoter, designated H1, is an ets-binding site, thus suggesting a regulatory loop among the members of the ets family. However, neither ETS1 nor ETS2 are capable of regulating ETS2 transcription via this site, and they both have a low affinity for this particular sequence, indicating that other members of the family are responsible for the transcriptional regulation of the ETS2 gene.
As such, there remains a need in the art for the identification of the gene responsible for the transcriptional regulation of the ETS2 gene.

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


A method is for closed-loop control of an X-ray pulse chain generated via a linear accelerator system. In an embodiment, the method includes modulating a first electron beam within a first radio-frequency pulse duration, wherein the first multiple amplitude X-ray pulse is produced on modulating the first electron beam; measuring time-resolved actual values of the first multiple amplitude X-ray pulse; adjusting at least one pulse parameter as a function of a comparison of the specified multiple amplitude X-ray pulse profile and the measured time-resolved actual values; and modulating a second electron beam within a second radio-frequency pulse duration as a function of the at least one adjusted pulse parameter for production of the second multiple amplitude X-ray pulse, so the X-ray pulse chain is controlled.

As is known, a linear accelerator system is used to accelerate charged particles, in particular electrons produced by an electron source, along a straight line. Depending on the type of linear accelerator system the electrons are accelerated, in particular via a radio-frequency source in a linear accelerator cavity to energy values above 1 MeV. An energy value at one instant typically correlates directly with a dose measure at this instant.
In the case of screening of transport goods, for example in the case of a customs or security check, X-ray pulses with different energy values are advantageously used to enable material discrimination and thus determination of different types of transport goods. Ogorodnikov et al. discloses in "Processing of interlaced images in 4-10 MeV dual energy customs system for material recognition", Physical Review Special Topics—Accelerator and Beams, Volume 5, 104701 (2002) the use of different energy values for material discrimination.
Whereas in earlier linear accelerator systems only the energy values in successive radio-frequency and X-ray pulses could be varied, in the meantime it is known that an individual electron beam pulse or X-ray pulse can have different energy values:
For example, WO 2015/175 751 A1 discloses an X-ray pulse with a plurality of energy values. A pulse of this kind can basically be called a multiple amplitude X-ray pulse. Depending on the distribution over time and the amount of the energy values the X-ray pulse can have at least two intrapulses with different energy values, with the at least two intrapulses being generated, when considered time-wise, within one radio-frequency pulse duration. The at least two intrapulses form, for example, a further type of multiple amplitude X-ray pulse.
Open-loop control of the X-ray energy for an intrapulse is known from US 2014/0 270 086 A1. US 2012/0 093 289 A1 describes X-ray sources with varying spectrum and intensity for an improved material discrimination. Further linear accelerator systems are known from US 2018/0 270 941 A1, US 2019/0 357 343 A1 and US 2016/0 050 741 A1.
While closed-loop control of the linear accelerator system in the case of successive radio-frequency and X-ray pulses may last up to several milliseconds and typically considers only one integrated amplitude value of the preceding pulse, closed-loop control of an X-ray pulse chain with a first multiple amplitude X-ray pulse and a second multiple amplitude X-ray pulse requires additional information. This is due, in particular, to the fact that a transient response and/or a drift property of the linear accelerator system within the radio-frequency pulse duration should be considered when generating the multiple amplitude X-ray pulse.

Closed-loop control of an X-ray pulse chain generated by means of a linear accelerator system