A metal treatment solution comprising an effective amount of a soluble or dispersible compound which is a derivative of a polyphenol. A composition for treatment and after treatment of metal with polyphenol compounds is provided. The present invention includes novel derivatives of polyphenol compounds which are useful in surface treatment solutions or dispersions. A method for using these solutions or dispersions is also provided. The molecular weight of the polyphenols used to form the derivatives of the present invention are in the range of from about 360 to 30,000 or greater. The resulting derivatives of the present invention typically have a molecular weight of up to about 2,000,000 with molecular weights within the range of about 700 to about 70,000 being preferred.

The present invention relates to the field of protective and/or decorative surface treatment of articles, particularly metals, plastics, and the like.
The present invention comprises novel derivatives of polyphenol compounds useful in the treatment of the surface of metal articles. The present invention also encompasses novel surface treatment solutions or dispersions, and methods of using these solutions or dispersions.
In accordance with the present invention, novel compositions, solutions and dispersions, and methods are provided for use in providing a protective or decorative metal surface treatment; these include the treatment of previously untreated bare metal surfaces, the post-treatment of phosphatized or conversion coated metal surfaces, the application of a paint or other decorative coating or film, and the like. The present invention additionally includes compositions and methods that are particularly useful for treating various metal surfaces including aluminum, steel and zinc metal surfaces. The compositions, solutions and dispersions, and methods of the present invention provide a coating on the metal surface which is effective in enhancing the corrosion resistance and paint adhesion characteristics of the metal surface whether previously conversion coated or not. A further and more detailed understanding of this invention can be obtained from the following disclosure. All parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise indicated.
The need for applying protective coatings to metal surfaces for improved corrosion resistance and paint adhesion characteristics is well known in the metal finishing art as well as in other metal arts. Traditionally, metal surfaces are treated with chemicals which form a metal phosphate and/or metal oxide conversion coating on the metal surface to improve the corrosion resistance and paint adhesion thereof. The conversion coated metal surfaces are also generally rinsed or post-treated with a solution containing a hexavalent chromium compound for even greater corrosion resistance and paint adhesion.
Because of the toxic nature of hexavalent chromium, expensive wastewater treatment equipment must be employed to remove the residual chromates from plant effluent to comply with environmental regulations and to improve the quality of rivers, streams, and drinking water sources. Hence, although the corrosion resistance and paint adhesion characteristics of conversion coated metal surfaces can be enhanced by an after-treatment solution containing hexavalent chromium, these disadvantages in recent years have lead to much research and development in an effort to uncover effective alternatives to the use of post-treatment solutions containing hexavalent chromium. One alternative to the use of hexavalent chromium involves the use of derivatives of polyphenol compounds such as poly-vinyl phenol. Suitable derivatives and suitable treatment solutions are disclosed in earlier U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,517,028, May 14, 1985; 4,376,000, Mar. 8, 1983 to Lindert; and 4,433,015, Feb. 21, 1984 to Lindert and 4,457,790, July 3, 1984 to Lindert, et al.; all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Also see the two commonly assigned applications filed the same date herewith entitled "Treatment And After-Treatment Of Metal With Carbohydrate-Modified Polyphenol Compounds", U.S. Ser. No. 128,673, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,596; and "Treatment and After-Treatment Of Metal With Amine Oxide-Containing Polyphenol Compounds", U.S. Ser. No. 128,756 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,264; both of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Treatment and after-treatment of metal with polyphenol compounds


In an image encoder (1), a quantizer (11) makes a quantization-step size set for each of low-frequency subbands whose resolution level belongs to a predetermined resolution level coincide with a quantization-step size set for each subband to encode an original image having the resolution level as it is. A low-pass rate controller (17) provides a rate control for the bit rate of arithmetic code D16 in all code blocks in a low-frequency subband to be less than a predetermined target bit rate. A high-pass rate controller (18) provides such a rate control that the bit rate of arithmetic code D17 in all code blocks in other subbands than the low-frequency subbands will be less than a target bit rate, that is, a bit rate resulted from subtraction of a bit rate D18 having actually occurred in the low-frequency subbands from a final target bit rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image encoding apparatus and method, for compressing an input image according to the JPEG-2000 Standard, for example.
This application claims the priority of the Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-127409 filed on May 2, 2003, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the typical techniques of image compression is defined in the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) standardized by the ISO (International Standards Organization). The JPEG uses the DCT (discrete cosine transform) to provide quality encoded images and decoded images in case a relatively high bit rate is assigned for the encoding. However, if the bit rate for encoding is smaller than necessary, the block distortion peculiar to the DCT will be remarkable and a resultant image will appear noticeably degraded in quality.
On the other hand, many researches have recently been done of the techniques of dividing an image into a plurality of frequency bands by a so-called filter bank including a high-pass filter and low-pass filter in combination and encoding each of the frequency bands. Of such techniques, the wavelet-transform coding is considered as a new promising technique which will take the place of the DCT (discrete cosine transform) because even a high compression results in no considerable block distortion as in the DCT.
For example, the JPEG-2000 Standard established as an international standard in January, 2001 adopts a combination of the wavelet transform and a high-efficiency entropy coding (bit modeling and arithmetic coding, both in bit planes), and has attained a greater improvement in efficiency of coding than the conventional JPEG (cf. Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2002-165098).
These international standards defines only the design requirement for the decoder, not any for the encoder. Therefore, the encoder can freely be designed. On the other hand, since there exists no standard for any effective rate-control means to attain a target compression ratio, so it is most important to establish a technical know-how for attaining a target compression ratio.
In encoding an image whose resolution is 2000×1000 for example in the encoder defined in the JPEG-2000, however, it is common to control the bit rate for a minimum distortion of the entire image. On the other hand, in similar coding of n image whose resolution of 1000×500, which is a square of the above-mentioned resolution, the bit rate is also controlled for a minimum distortion of the entire image. This is a rate control based on the RD (rate-distortion) characteristic. Such rate control is versatile but disadvantageous in that the load of calculation is very great. Also, the technique of controlling a bit rate for a minimum numerical distortion is disadvantageous in that it cannot assure a highest quality of an image when viewed by the human being.
Further, for compressing an image of 2000×1000 for example to a size of 1000 kilobytes as an application of the bit-rate control, and image of 1000×500 as a low-frequency component of 2000×1000 in resolution can be compressed simultaneously to a size of 500 kilobytes using the feature of the wavelet transform. However, the image resulted from compression of an image as the low-frequency component of 1000×500 to 500 kilobytes is normally lower in quality than an image resulted from compression, to 500 kilobytes, of an original image whose resolution is 1000×500.


A conventional flexible polyurethane foam, made using methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), having a bulk foam density in the range of 2.5 pounds per cubic foot or lower and having a foam hardness or IFD in the range of 10 to 90 lb/50 in2. The present invention is also directed to the method for the making thereof.

Flexible slabstock polyurethane foam for furniture and bedding has traditionally been produced using toluene diisocyanate (TDI) as a basic raw material. In the United States, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) has predominantly been used in polyurethane foam applications other than flexible slabstock polyurethane foam applications such as furniture and bedding. MDI has been used in, for example, molded polyurethane foam such as automotive applications; rigid polyurethane foam such as insulation, construction and packaging; microcellular froth polyurethane foam such as footwear and gasketing; and viscoelastic ("memory") polyurethane foam chemistries. Due in part to the inherently different chemical reaction kinetics as well as the differences in foam stabilization requirements for processing using MDI as opposed to TDI, MDI does not readily fit the criteria for use in continuous flexible slabstock foam formulations. In Europe, MDI has only recently been utilized to produce high density, namely greater than 2.5 pounds per cubic foot (PCF) high resilience slabstock foams. In general terms, the complexity of formulation, speed of reactivity and mechanical processing limitations have prevented the commercialization of low density, soft MDI-based foams since the advent of the flexible polyurethane foam industry in the 1950s. Furthermore, the furniture and bedding markets in the United States use a larger volume of non-high resilience, also referred to as conventional, flexible polyurethane foam relative to the European foam market.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, many of the necessary flexible polyurethane foam raw materials became temporarily but seriously unavailable due to unplanned chemical plant shutdowns and transportation problems. More recently, a similar situation with TDI specifically, due to global demand exceeding current supply, resulted in allocated supply and significant price increases.
The cost of polyurethane foam, whether TDI or MDI-based, is driven almost solely by chemical cost. Lower density foams cost less per unit volume than higher density foams, making them more attractive to end users, given acceptable performance. In the United States market, where foam is considered commodity-like, due to similarity of product and aggressive pricing, high-density European-style MDI foams have never widely gained acceptance.
Thus, there is a need to reduce dependence on potentially scarce raw materials to produce a MDI-based conventional flexible polyurethane foam, more particularly one that is acceptable to the particular needs of the furniture, bedding and other industries. Accordingly, there is a need for an alternative low-density conventional flexible slabstock polyurethane foam.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Conventional flexible polyurethane foam using MDI


A method and system for optimizing the execution of database statement is described. Optimization of database statements having non-boolean predicates is disclosed. Also disclosed is the determination and use of different granularity levels of information for submitting database statement predicates to optimizer-related functions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optimization in a database system.
2. Background
In a database system, optimization is the process of choosing an efficient way to execute a database query or manipulation action. Examples of such query or manipulation actions include searching, retrieving, modifying, organizing, adding, and/or deleting information from the database. These database query/manipulation actions are normally initiated by submitting commands to a database server in a database query language. One popular database query language is known as the Structured Query Language (xe2x80x9cSQLxe2x80x9d). For the purposes of explanation only, and not by way of limitation, the following description is made with particular reference to database statements involving SQL.
To execute a database query language statement (e.g., a SQL statement), the database system may have to perform steps involving the retrieval or manipulation of data from various database structures, such as tables and indexes. Often, there exists many alternate ways to execute the SQL statement. For example, a single SQL statement can be executed in different ways by varying the order in which tables and indexes are accessed to execute the statement. The exact combination and order of steps taken to execute the SQL statement can drastically change the efficiency or speed of execution for the statement. The exact combination and order of steps that are used to execute a SQL statement is referred to as an xe2x80x9cexecution plan.xe2x80x9d
As an example, consider the following SQL statement, which queries for the name of all employees having a salary equal to 100 from a database table xe2x80x9cemp_tablexe2x80x9d:
SELECT employee_name
FROM emp_table
WHERE salary=100
A first execution plan could include the step of performing a full table scan of emp_table to execute the query. This first execution plan would retrieve every row from emp_table to identify particular rows that match the WHERE clause. Alternatively, if an index exists for the xe2x80x9csalaryxe2x80x9d column of emp_table, then a second execution plan could involve accessing the index to identify rows that match the WHERE clause, and thereafter retrieving only those identified rows from the table. The index is considered an alternate xe2x80x9caccess pathxe2x80x9d to the data sought by the SQL statement.
Each execution plan has a xe2x80x9ccostxe2x80x9d that is associated with its execution. The cost of an execution plan can be expressed in terms of the resources that are consumed to execute the SQL statement using that execution plan. For example, the cost of an execution plan can be expressed in units of I/O usage, CPU usage, network usage, memory usage, or a single numerical value that combines several of these units.
An xe2x80x9coptimizerxe2x80x9d is used by a database system to choose what is believed to be the most efficient execution plan for a SQL statement. A xe2x80x9ccost-basedxe2x80x9d optimizer bases its decision upon the costs of each execution plan. The cost-based optimizer typically generates a set of potential execution plans for the SQL statement based upon available access paths for the data sought to be operated upon by that statement. The cost is then estimated for each execution plan based upon, for example, data distribution and storage characteristics for database structures holding relevant data for the SQL statement. The optimizer then compares relative costs of the execution plans to choose the one with the smallest cost.
The cost-based optimizer may use statistics to estimate the cost of the execution plans. Statistics are used to quantify the data distribution and/or storage characteristics of data in database structures. For example, with reference to the SQL statement example set forth above, statistics may be kept for the distribution of values in the xe2x80x9csalaryxe2x80x9d column of the table xe2x80x9cemp_table.xe2x80x9d Selectivity estimates can be performed by taking into account the data skew of data values. Selectivity is normally calculated with reference to the statistics, and can be stated as the percentage of entries within a schema object that satisfies a given predicate.
The cost of an execution plan can be estimated based upon the statistics and selectivity associated with terms within the SQL statement predicate. As an example, consider if an index exists upon the xe2x80x9csalaryxe2x80x9d column for the above SQL statement example. If so, then the following is an example of a cost calculation that can be used to estimate the cost of an execution plan that uses an index to execute the above SQL statement:   COST  =                    (                  cost                                xe2x80x83                              of                                xe2x80x83                              access                                xe2x80x83                              for                                xe2x80x83                              a                                xe2x80x83                              single                                xe2x80x83                              row                )            *              (        selectivity        )            *              (                  number                                xe2x80x83                              of                                xe2x80x83                              rows                                xe2x80x83                              in                                xe2x80x83                              table                )              +          (              cost                          xe2x80x83                        of                          xe2x80x83                        index                          xe2x80x83                        access            )
An example of a cost calculation for an execution plan that performs a full table scan is expressed as follows:
COST=(cost of access for a single row of table)*(number of rows in table)
Based upon such cost calculations, an optimizer can make a determination as to which of these execution plans is relatively less costly.
Typical database systems have built-in support for certain xe2x80x9csystem-suppliedxe2x80x9d objects, such as built-in data types, functions, and access methods. For example, xe2x80x9cCHARxe2x80x9d is a common built-in data type that is used to store character strings. B+Trees and Hash Indexes are two examples of built-in access methods that can be found in conventional database systems.
In recent years, databases are being used to store different types of data, such as spatial, image, video, and audio data. Often, these data types are not native to the database system; it is unrealistic to attempt to provide native support for all possible data types since it is impossible to foresee all possible types of complex data that may be created for storage in the database. Therefore, some database systems can be configured to allow non-native or xe2x80x9cuser-definedxe2x80x9d data types to be defined for the database. For many of these non-native data types, system-supplied access methods and functions cannot be applied to operate upon them, since the structure and characteristics of these data types are not known or supported by the system-supplied access methods and functions. To provide efficient data operations upon these data types, non-native or user-defined access methods and functions can also be defined to extend the operation of the database system.
Because the structure, operation, and characteristics of built-in objects are known to the database system, and to the designers of the system-supplied database optimizer, traditional optimizers can generate cost estimates for execution plans involving such native objects or access methods. These cost estimates can be used to choose an optimal execution plan for a SQL statement involving built-in objects.
Unfortunately, traditional optimizers encounter significant problems attempting to generate an optimal execution plan if the SQL statement involves non-native objects, such as user-defined data types, functions, and access methods. This results because the system-supplied cost, selectivity, and statistics functions are not specifically configured to recognize or work with non-system-supplied entities, operations, and access methods. If the optimizer cannot accurately estimate the cost of an execution plan involving non-native objects, then relatively inefficient or slow execution plans may be mistakenly chosen by the optimizer.
One approach that can be used to address this problem is to utilize default cost, selectivity, or statistics values to determine the relative costs between execution plans. If a non-native objects is encountered by the optimizer, default values would be used to generate the cost of an execution plan. However, using default values to calculate the cost of an execution plan results in what is at best a gross approximation of the true cost of the execution plan. Furthermore, such default values do not take into account any parameters that may be passed to a predicate involving a user-defined object. This may result in the selection of an execution plan that has a significantly higher true cost than other execution plans that could have been chosen.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and mechanism that can optimize the execution of database statements that involves non-system supplied entities, objects, or operations.
A method and system for optimizing the execution of database statement is described. An aspect of the invention is related to providing a framework for the creation, association, and use of optimizer-related functions to calculate the cost of execution plans involving non-native database entities. Examples of these optimizer-related functions include selectivity, statistics, and cost functions. Another aspect of the invention is related to the optimization of database statements having non-boolean predicates. Yet another aspect of the invention is related to the determination and use of different granularity levels of information for submitting database statement predicates to optimizer-related functions. The invention can also be applied to define optimizer-related functions for system-supplied objects and entities.
Further details of aspects, objects, and advantages of the invention are described below in the detailed description, drawings, and claims.

Method and mechanism for extending native optimization in a database system


An implantable fluid delivery system may include a fluid reservoir configured to hold a supply of fluid, dispense that fluid under the control of an actuator, and be implanted within the body of a living host. The actuator may include a bellows configured to expand in a direction when inflated. The bellows may have folds with surfaces which run substantially perpendicular to the direction of expansion in a collapsed state and which define a stacked set of convolutions. Each convolution may have a collapsed height of no more than 1 mm and a width perpendicular to the direction of expansion of no more than 8 mm. Electrodes may be configured to come in electrical contact with an electrolyte within the bellows and to cause electricity to run through the electrolyte, thereby causing the electrolyte to break down into a gas and, in turn, to cause the bellows to expand.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), including implantable microfluidic drug delivery systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Microfluidic drug delivery systems can be implanted in living organisms, such as in the eye of a human being. These systems may include a storage reservoir which stores a fluidic drug, an actuator which controllably expels the fluid drug from the storage reservoir, and a cannula which transfers the expelled fluid from the storage reservoir to a delivery location.
Different types of actuators have been used, including interdigitated electrochemical microelectrode pumps, microbellows, and electrolysis diaphragm actuators. These actuators may be made separately and integrated into the system. These actuators may include a diaphragm and a pump base having a pair of electrodes. When current is applied, electrolysis may take place, breaking an electrolyte into oxygen and hydrogen gases. These gases may force the diaphragm to expand. The expansion of the diaphragm, in turn, may expel fluid from the storage reservoir.
There can be difficulties with these implantable devices. During electrolysis, for example, the diaphragm may yield less-than-desirable performance (e.g., large dead volume, large stress/strain anchor points, durability, and limited expansion). The pumps may also have limited range of use or applications because they may not be scalable in size (e.g., for use in a mouse). Another concern may be with interdigitated electrodes used for the electrolysis. The associated electrolysis power efficiency (less than 50%), performance, and durability of the microelectrode may be unreliable and highly dependent on the design and fabrication process of the electrode. When the device is off and no electrolysis is taking place, there may be an uncontrolled release of fluid from the dispensing orifice. The gases may also recombine to reverse the pressure gradient and may create a suction, pulling in the fluid that had just been dispensed into the body at the orifice of the cannula. Over the life cycle of the device, the fluid reservoir may decrease in volume as fluid is dispensed. This dynamic and ever-decreasing volume of dispense fluid may make it difficult to calculate the actual fluid dispensing rate at any given time. It may also be difficult to refill and/or change the contents of the reservoir, as well as to extract a fluid sample from the living host.


A system and method of flexibly loading an application and its associated data from an application provider onto an IC card. The application and its associated data is divided into segments which can each fit into the input buffer of an Integrated circuit card. Each segment is transmitted separately and the Integrated circuit card then stores the segment in an available space in the IC card""s memory. The segments can be placed in non-contiguous memory in order to reduce memory fragmentation.

Integrated circuit (xe2x80x9cICxe2x80x9d) cards are becoming increasingly used for many different purposes in the world today. An IC card (also called a smart card) typically is the size of a conventional credit card which contains a computer chip including a microprocessor, read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only-memory (EEPROM), an Input/Output (I/O) mechanism and other circuitry to support the microprocessor in its operations. An IC card may contain a single application or may contain multiple independent applications in its memory. MULTOS(trademark) is a multiple application operating system which runs on IC cards, among other platforms, and allows multiple applications to be executed on the card itself. This allows a card user to run many programs stored in the card (for example, credit/debit, electronic money/purse and/or loyalty applications) irrespective of the type of terminal (i.e., ATM, telephone and/or POS) in which the card is inserted for use.
A conventional single application IC card, such as a telephone card or an electronic cash card, is loaded with a single application when it is manufactured and before it is given to a card user. That application, however, cannot be modified or changed after the card is issued even if the modification is desired by the card user or card issuer. Moreover, if a card user wanted a variety of application functions to be performed by IC cards issued to him or her, such as both an electronic purse and a credit/debit function, the card user would be required to carry multiple physical cards on his or her person, which would be quite cumbersome and inconvenient. If an application developer or card user desired two different applications to interact or exchange data with each other, such as a purse application interacting with a frequent flyer loyalty application, the card user would be forced to swap multiple cards in and out of the card-receiving terminal, making the transaction difficult, lengthy and inconvenient.
Therefore, it is beneficial to store multiple applications on the same IC card. For example, a card user may have both a purse application and a credit/debit application on the same card so that the user could select which type of payment (by electronic cash or credit card) to use to make a purchase. Multiple applications could be provided to an IC card if sufficient memory exists and an operating system capable of supporting multiple applications is present on the card. Although multiple applications could be preselected and placed in the memory of the card during its production stage, it would also be beneficial to have the ability to load and delete applications for the card post-production as needed.
It is important, particularly where there is a continuing wide availability of new applications to the cardholder, that the system has the capability of adding applications onto the IC card subsequent to issuance. This is necessary to protect the longevity of the IC cards; otherwise, once an application becomes outdated, the card would be useless. It would be beneficial to allow the addition of applications from a remote location as well as from a direct connection to an application provider""s terminal. For example, it would be beneficial for a card user to be able to plug his IC card into his home computer and download an application over the Internet. Alternatively, it would be beneficial for an application provided by Bank A to be loaded from a terminal (such as an ATM) located at Bank B which is connected to Bank A by a network or series of interconnected networks.
The increased flexibility and power of storing multiple applications on a single card create new challenges to be overcome concerning the application loading process in which information (including application code and associated data) is exchanged between the application provider and the individual card. The IC card only has a finite amount of memory on the card for storing applications. Applications and their associated data can vary drastically in size depending upon the application. When multiple applications are stored on a card, and a series of application additions and deletions have occurred, memory fragmentation where memory which is free cannot be used because of size limitations.
Additionally, an IC card has limited space in its input buffer, which can be separate or combined with an output buffer, i.e., an Input/Output (I/O) buffer. It may not be possible to fit the entire application and its associated data into an I/O buffer of an IC card at one time. In order to achieve the flexibility of selectively loading and deleting applications on an IC card, the problems of limited I/O buffer space and fragmentation must be addressed.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a system and method that allows for flexible loading of an application and its associated data onto an IC card by segmenting the application and associated data into selected segments in order to limit the size of the data packets being transmitted at one time and reduce fragmentation in the memory of the IC card.
These and other objectives are achieved by the present invention which provides an IC card system and method for flexibly loading an application and its associated data from an application onto an IC card. The application provider divides the application and its associated data into segments which will fit into the I/O buffer of the intended IC card. Each segment is transmitted separately and the IC card stores the segment in an available space in the IC card""s memory. The segments can be placed in non-contiguous memory in order to reduce memory fragmentation. The IC card""s microprocessor can additionally determine the smallest memory space which will store the segment in order to minimize fragmentation.
In a preferred embodiment, the application provider determines the size of the IC card""s I/O buffer so that it can correctly select the size of each segment.

System and method for flexibly loading an IC card


A blanking panel is provided for use with equipment racks or enclosures that house electronic components, and is configured to facilitate installation of the panel with a pair of vertical mounting rails or flanges of a rack or enclosure without the use of tools or other hardware. The blanking panel is constructed of one or more materials and/or defines one or more configurations such that when the blanking panel is installed into a rack or enclosure, portions of a body of the blanking panel interface with a surface of an equipment component or another blanking panel installed above or below the blanking panel to thereby form an air seal there between, which helps to reduce or prevent hot exhaust air from mixing with cooling air within a rack or enclosure, and further helps to reduce or prevent cooling air from bypassing equipment components.

Equipment racks and enclosures for housing electronics help to integrate a variety of different types of equipment including servers, networking equipment, power supplies, storage systems and other electronics equipment, as well as help to configure and manage an IT environment. Availability and flexibility with respect to configuring a rack environment and, in particular, with respect to reconfiguring or relocating an installed rack are essential for efficient and practical management of equipment rooms and data centers. In many instances, equipment racks and enclosures are not fully configured from top to bottom with rack-mounted components, resulting in vacant sections of an equipment area defined by the rack or enclosure. Typically, blanking panels are attached to mounting flanges or rails of a rack or enclosure to block or fill-in such sections lacking equipment.
Prior art blanking panels generally include panels configured to attach to mounting flanges or rails of a rack or enclosure with fasteners such as screw and nut combinations. Proper installation of a number of blanking panels during configuration of an equipment rack can be inconvenient, time-consuming and difficult as a result of the number of screw and nut combinations that need to be manipulated to attach or to remove several blanking panels.
Prior art blanking panels may be configured with a height of several U; however, large blanking panels do not necessarily provide convenience or flexibility with respect to configuring and rearranging an equipment rack. While the coverage provided by large blanking panels gives end-users an incentive to use large panels in populating a rack, when these panels are removed to reconfigure a rack, end-users would need to locate and install a sufficient number of smaller blanking panels that collectively measure the exact U height required to fill-in the vacant spaces, created as a result of removing large blanking panels, and/or installing, removing or rearranging equipment components. Installation of blanking panels to reconfigure or rearrange a rack can be similarly time-consuming and difficult.
Other prior art designs permit blanking panels to be installed into a rack or enclosure without the use of tools or hardware. However, such prior art panel designs are configured primarily for aesthetic purposes in order for panels to conform to the external appearance of installed equipment components. Such blanking panels are not configured, for instance, to reduce or eliminate gaps between installed blanking panels and equipment components and, therefore, have little or no effect in preventing mixing of hot exhaust air with cooling air within a rack. Any effect such designs have on air circulation is minimal and merely consequential.
Many blanking panels are constructed in whole or in part of metal. Such designs are relatively expensive to manufacture and to ship. In addition, metal blanking panels are prone to scratching and other surface abrasion, and can be easily bent during shipping, handling and installation.

Blanking panel for equipment rack or enclosure


A belt sander having a fast-lift cover structure includes a drive mechanism, a body and a cover. The drive mechanism includes a drive module, a tension arm, a sanding belt surrounding the drive module and the tension arm. The body receives the drive module. The body includes a base, an extendable support rod extended from the body and connected to the tension arm, and a cover fastening assembly disposed at the base. The cover fastening assembly includes a release and a resilient element for restoring the release to its original position. One end of a cover is pivotally connected at one side of the body, and the other end of the cover includes a fastening portion engaged with the release. Operation is easy, no hand tools are required, and the cover does not fall off.

An air belt sander performs a sanding operation by using sandpapers with different grit sizes to rub on surfaces of metal, wood, plastic, rock, glass and pottery. The air belt sander has advantages such as small size, low noises, efficient sanding, and small vibrations. The air belt sander is widely used in various fields, such as machinery, construction, furniture, painting, shipbuilding, cars, and airplanes, for polishing, removing burrs, removing rust, finishing painting, and etc.
A cover fixed at one side of an air motor needs to be detached if maintenance work or component replacement has to be carried out when an annular sanding belt is worn out, or impurities such as dust get into an air motor, or a drive shaft is rusted, or for other reasons. There are several ways to fasten the cover. One way is to fasten the cover with screws, but the cover is often detached from a body, resulting in troubles in management and use. A second way is to fasten the cover to the body by using a pin. This prevents detachment of the cover, but the pin has to be operated manually, and since the pin is exposed from the body, the cover can be opened accidently due to an inadvertent touch. A third way is to fasten one end of the cover to the body by means of screws and use the fixed end as a rotation axis. Before rotating the cover, an operator has to loosen screws at the other end of the cover to open the cover. However, the screws are often too tight, so the operator has to use hand tools to unfasten them, which makes detachment of the cover troublesome and time-consuming.
In view of this, the inventor studied various technologies and created an effective solution in the present disclosure.

Belt sander having fast-lift cover structure


A musical instrument stand includes a frame unit, and at least one support unit. The frame unit includes two side modules, a top bar mounted between the side modules, and a bottom bar mounted between the side modules. The support unit includes a supporting seat for supporting a musical instrument, and a mounting sleeve connected with the supporting seat and rotatably mounted on the bottom bar of the frame unit. Thus, the support unit is pivotally mounted on the frame unit, so that a user only needs to place the musical instrument on the support unit and to push the musical instrument toward the top bar of the frame unit, so as to pivot the support unit and to support the musical instrument between the top bar of the frame unit and the supporting seat of the support unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stand and, more particularly, to a musical instrument stand.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional musical instrument stand 1 in accordance with the prior art shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises two side frames 11, a top bar 13, and two bottom bars 12. Each of the side frames 11 has a substantially L-shaped profile and has an upright bar 112 and a transverse bar 111. The top bar 13 is mounted between the side frames 11 and includes a mounting sleeve 131 mounted between the upright bars 112 of the side frames 11, and a plurality of separation members 132 mounted on the mounting sleeve 131. Each of the bottom bars 12 is mounted between the transverse bars 111 of the side frames 11. In use, when a musical instrument 14, such as a guitar and the like, is placed on the musical instrument stand 1, the bottom of the musical instrument 14 is located between the bottom bars 12, and the top of the musical instrument 14 rests on the mounting sleeve 131 of the top bar 13 and is located between the separation members 132 of the top bar 13. Thus, the conventional musical instrument stand 1 is used to support multiple musical instruments 14 which are spaced by the separation members 132 of the top bar 13. However, the bottom bars 12 and the top bar 13 are fixed and cannot be adjusted to fit the position of the musical instrument 14, so that when the musical instrument 14 is not placed between the bottom bars 12 and the top bar 13 steadily and stably, the musical instrument 14 easily slips or falls out of the conventional musical instrument stand 1 due to an unsteady center of gravity, and will be worn or broken due to hit. In addition, it is necessary to align the musical instrument 14 with the separation members 132 so as to insert the musical instrument 14 between any two of the separation members 132, thereby causing inconvenience to the user when placing and taking the musical instrument 14.


A cassette and two-layer type of wire-connection chassis, which mainly comprises a receptacle body, a seal plate, a plurality of upper-layer and lower-layer conductive pin bases and conductive pins; the conductive pin and the conductive pin bases are molded into one piece; the conductive pin bases are plugged into the receptacle body; one end of each conductive pin is bent backwards at a small angle to tauch against the inner surface of the receptacle body so as to provide a better contact by means of the resilience thereof, while the other end thereof is bent into a small recess shape; the opposite recess-shaped ends of the upper-layer and lower-layer conductive pins form into a pair of convex-shaped points to hold a PCB plugged therein; by means of the two opposite guide clamps on both sides of the seal plate, the PCB can be held firmly in the mid-section of the present invention so as to facilitate mounting electrical parts required on both sides of the PCB.

The two-layer type of wire-connection chassis as shown in FIG. 8 is a novel wire-connection chassis of the applicant's filed previously (under application No. 82313632 and new model application No. 103909); the prime feature of the aforesaid application is to improve the drawback of the conventional one-layer type of wire-connection chassis, which takes a considerable area and space of a PCB (printed circuit board), while the present invention will reduce the area and space required by the electronic parts without affecting the functions thereof. The structure of the previous invention as shown in FIG. 8 comprises a receptacle body 24, an upper-layer conductive pin base, a lower-layer conductive pin base, and a plurality of conductive pins respectively. As shown in FIG. 5, the wire-connection chassis can be plugged on a PCB 26 by means of a plurality of conductive pins 25; then, both of them are mounted in casings 29 and 30; the bottom surface of the PCB 26 is almost attached to the casing 30, and the space supported with some short post 28 them is too marrow to install any electronic parts; in other words, electrical parts 27 can only be mounted on the top surface of the PCB. In that case, the space available is limited, while the space in the casings 29 and 30 is wasted; as a result, the dimensions of the equipment will be increased without providing additional functions of the equipment, and therefore improvement thereof is required.

Casette and two-layer type of wire-connection chassis


To deliver a liquid at high speed and with high accuracy. A device for delivering a fixed quantity of liquid, comprising a pump section for metering the delivered liquid to provide a desired amount consisting of a plunger chamber formed in a cylinder block, and a plunger reciprocating in the plunger chamber, a valve section for switching between liquid flow channels for suction and delivery, a reservoir section for reserving liquid adapted to communicate with the pump section depending upon the position of the valve section, and a delivery section having a delivery port for delivering liquid, the device being characterized in that the pump section and the valve section are disposed connected to each other and that the maximum advance position of the plunger is defined by a plane where the front end surface of the plunger contacts the valve section and pump section. The valve section is removably disposed in the pump section. The plunger chamber is made of a cylindrical chamber fitted in a hole formed in the cylinder block. The valve section is in the form of a switching valve provided with a valve block having a first flow channel communicating with a reservoir vessel and a second flow channel communicating with the delivery section.

Hitherto, various types of devices for delivering a fixed quantity of liquid have been developed; for example, (1) an air type delivering device in which compressed air is applied under regulated pressure to a liquid in a reservoir vessel for a predetermined time such that a desired amount of liquid is delivered through a delivery port at a nozzle fore end, (2) a plunger type delivering device in which a plunger is liquid-tightly disposed with respect to a liquid in a reservoir vessel and is moved to pressurize the liquid such that a desired amount of liquid is delivered through a delivery port at a nozzle fore end, and (3) a multi-plunger pump type delivering device having a mechanism in which a cylinder is disposed between a reservoir vessel and a nozzle, a plurality of penetration holes are formed in the cylinder and receive plungers in a one-to-one relation to be able to advance or retreat, and the liquid is sucked into the cylinder from the reservoir vessel with the retreat of the plunger and is delivered from the cylinder to the nozzle with the advance of the plunger, the plurality of plungers acting upon the liquid in sequence to pressurize the liquid such that a desired amount of liquid is delivered through a delivery port at a nozzle fore end.

Device for delivering fixed quantity of liquid


A method of signalling in a mobile communication system, and more particularly, to a method of processing control information associates with handover in a mobile communication system is disclosed. In a radio (UE) user equipment receiving a service from a radio network including a plurality of base stations (E-NODE B), a control node (E-RNC) performing a control operation above the base stations and a processing node (SG5N) processing a user traffic above the base stations, the present invention includes the steps of transmitting a request message making a request for a specific service provided by a first base station to a second base station, the request message including control information indicating data to be received by the radio user equipment and receiving the data corresponding to the control information from the second base station.

Generally, the present invention is applicable to various communication systems. LTE (long term evolution) network evolving from UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) is explained as one example of the various communication systems, to which the present invention is applicable, in the following description.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of LTE (long term evolution) network as a mobile communication system to which a related art or the present invention is applied.
The LTE network system has evolved from a conventional UMTS system. And, the 3GPP is working on the basic standardization of the LTE system.
An LTE network consists of a user equipment (hereinafter abbreviated UE), a base station (hereinafter abbreviated eNode B) and an access gateway (hereinafter abbreviated AG) located at an end of a network to be connected to an external network.
The AG includes a UPE (user plane entity) node responsible for a user traffic processing and an MME (mobility management entity) node responsible for a control. In this case, the MME and UPE nodes are able to communicate with each other via a new interface in-between.
At least one or more cells can exist in one eNode B. An interface X2 for a user or control traffic transmission is defined between the eNode Bs. And, an interface S1 is defined between the eNode B and the AG.
Layers of a radio interface protocol between a terminal and a network can be classified into L1 first layer), L2 (second layer0 and L3 (third layer) based on three lower layers of an open system interconnection (OSI) reference model widely known in communication systems. A physical layer belonging to the first layer provides an information transfer service using a physical channel. A radio resource control (hereinafter abbreviated RRC) layer located in the third layer plays a role in controlling radio resources between a terminal and a network. For this, the RRC layers enable RRC messages to be exchanged between the terminal and the network. The RRC layers can be distributed to network nodes including the eNode B, respectively. Instead, the RRC layer can be located at either the eNode B or the AG.
FIG. 2 is an architectural diagram of a radio interface protocol between UE (user equipment) and UTRAN (UMTS terrestrial radio access network) based on 3GPP radio access network specifications.
Referring to FIG. 2, a radio interface protocol vertically includes a physical layer, a data link layer, and a network layer and horizontally includes a user plane for data information transfer and a control plane for signaling transfer.
The protocol layers in FIG. 2 can be classified into L1 (first layer), L2 (second layer), and L3 (third layer) based on three lower layers of the open system interconnection (OSI) standard model widely known in the communications systems.
The respective layers of the radio protocol control plane shown in FIG. 2 and the radio protocol user plane shown in FIG. 3 are explained as follows.
First of all, the physical layer as the first layer offers an information transfer service to an upper layer using a physical channel. The physical layer is connected to a medium access control (hereinafter abbreviated MAC) layer above the physical layer via a transport channel. And, data are transferred between the medium access control layer and the physical layer via the transport channel. Moreover, data are transferred between different physical layers, and more particularly, between one physical layer of a transmitting side and the other physical layer of a receiving side via the physical channel.
The medium access control (hereinafter abbreviated MAC) layer of the second layer offers a service to a radio link control layer above the MAC layer via a logical channel. A radio link control (hereinafter abbreviated RLC) layer of the second layer supports reliable data transfer. A function of the RLC layer can be implemented by a function block within the MAC. In this case, the RLC layer may not exist. And, the MAC and RLC layers exist in an eNode B of a network.
A packet data convergence protocol (hereinafter abbreviated PDCP) layer of the second layer plays a header compression function to reduce an IP packet header size containing unnecessary control information having a relatively big size to enable efficient transmission of packets of IP such as IPv4 and IPv6. The PDCP layer exists in the AG of the network. The PDCP layer exists at an MME (mobility management entity) or the PDCP layers exist at the MME and a UPE (user plane entity), respectively.
A radio resource control (hereinafter abbreviated 'RRC') layer located in a highest part of the third layer is defined in the control plane only and is associated with configuration, reconfiguration and release of radio bearers to be responsible for controlling the logical, transport and physical channels (hereinafter, the radio bearer will be abbreviated RB). In this case, the RB means a service offered by the second layer for the data transfer between the UE and the UTRAN. And, the RRC layer in the network is located at the eNOde B.
As downlink transport channels carrying data to a UE from a network, there are a broadcast channel (BCH) carrying system information and a downlink shared channel (SCH) carrying a user traffic or control message.
And, the configuration of RB means a process of regulating characteristics of protocol layers and channels necessary for offering a specific service and a process of setting their specific parameters and operational methods, respectively. A traffic or control message of a downlink multicast or broadcast service can be transmitted via the downlink SCH or a separate multicast channel (MCH).
Moreover, as uplink transport channels carrying data from a UE to a network, there are RACH (random access channel) carrying an initial control message and an uplink SCH carrying a user traffic or control message.

Method of communicating signals in a mobile communication system


A method and apparatus for video coding incorporating enhanced multiple transform (EMT) are disclosed. According to one method, the number of candidates for EMT in the horizontal direction or vertical direction is reduced depending on the current block size. According to another method, an EMT flag, one or more EMT indices or both are signalled only if the total number of non-zero coefficients in at least a part of the 2D coefficient block is greater than a threshold, where the threshold is equal to 1 or larger. A method and apparatus for video coding using non-separable secondary transform (NSST) are disclosed. According to this method, a total number of non-zero first coefficients in a partial block of the 2D coefficient block is determined and used to determine whether to apply the NSST process.

The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard is developed under the joint video project of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standardization organizations, and is especially with partnership known as the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC).
In HEVC, one slice is partitioned into multiple coding tree units (CTU). In main profile, the minimum and the maximum sizes of CTU are specified by the syntax elements in the sequence parameter set (SPS). The allowed CTU size can be 8×8, 16×16, 32×32, or 64×64. For each slice, the CTUs within the slice are processed according to a raster scan order.
The CTU is further partitioned into multiple coding units (CU) to adapt to various local characteristics. A quadtree, denoted as the coding tree, is used to partition the CTU into multiple CUs. Let CTU size be M×M, where M is one of the values of 64, 32, or 16. The CTU can be a single CU or can be split into four smaller units of equal sizes (i.e., M/2×M/2), which are nodes of coding tree. If units are leaf nodes of coding tree, the units become CUs. Otherwise, the quadtree splitting process can be iterated until the size for a node reaches a minimum allowed CU size as specified in the SPS. This representation results in a recursive structure as specified by a coding tree (also referred to as a partition tree structure) 120 in FIG. 1. The CTU partition 110 is shown in FIG. 1, where the solid lines indicate CU boundaries. The decision whether to code a picture area using Inter-picture (temporal) or Intra-picture (spatial) prediction is made at the CU level. Since the minimum CU size can be 8×8, the minimum granularity for switching between different basic prediction types is 8×8.
One or more prediction units (PU) are specified for each CU. Coupled with the CU, the PU works as a basic representative block for sharing the prediction information. Inside each PU, the same prediction process is applied and the relevant information is transmitted to the decoder on a PU basis. A CU can be split into one, two or four PUs according to the PU splitting type. HEVC defines eight shapes for splitting a CU into PU as shown in FIG. 2. Unlike the CU, the PU may only be split once. The partitions shown in the second row correspond to asymmetric partitions, where the two partitioned parts have different sizes.
After obtaining the residual block by applying the prediction process based on the PU splitting type, a CU can be partitioned into transform units (TUs) according to another quadtree structure, which is analogous to the coding tree for the CU. In FIG. 1, the solid lines in block 110 indicate CU boundaries, and dotted lines in block 110 indicate TU boundaries. Similarly, the solid lines for the partition tree structure 120 corresponds to the CU partition tree structure and the dashed lines for the partition tree structure 120 corresponds to the TU partition tree structure. The TU is a basic representative block of residual or transform coefficients for applying the integer transform and quantization. For each TU, one integer transform with the same size is applied to the TU to obtain residual coefficients. These coefficients are transmitted to the decoder after quantization on a TU basis.
The terms, coding tree block (CTB), coding block (CB), prediction block (PB), and transform block (TB) are defined to specify the 2-D sample array of one colour component associated with CTU, CU, PU, and TU, respectively. Thus, a CTU consists of one luma CTB, two chroma CTBs, and associated syntax elements. A similar relationship is valid for CU, PU, and TU. The tree partitioning is generally applied simultaneously to both luma and chroma, although exceptions apply when certain minimum sizes are reached for chroma.
Alternatively, a binary tree block partitioning structure can be used as disclosed in ITU-T SG 16 (Study Period 2013), Contribution 966 (J. An, et al, "Block partitioning structure for next generation video coding", ITU-T T13 SG16 COM 16—C 966 R3—E, Geneva, September 2015). In the disclosed binary tree partitioning structure, a block can be recursively split into two smaller blocks. There are several splitting types as shown in FIG. 3. The most efficient and simplest ones are the symmetric horizontal and vertical splits as shown in the top two splitting types in FIG. 3. Therefore, a system may choose to only use these two splitting types. For a given block of size M×N (in which, M and N can be identical or different), a flag can be signalled to indicate whether to split a block into two smaller blocks. If the flag indicates "yes", another syntax element is signalled to indicate which splitting type is used (i.e., horizontal or vertical). If the horizontal splitting is used then it is split into two blocks of size M×N/2, otherwise if the vertical splitting is used then it is split into two blocks of size M/2×N. The binary tree splitting process can be iterated until the size (width or height) for a splitting block reaches a minimum allowed block size (width or height) that can be defined in high level syntax such as SPS (sequence parameter set). Since the binary tree has two splitting types (i.e., horizontal and vertical), the minimum allowed block width and height should be both indicated. Non-horizontal splitting is implicit when the splitting would result in a block height smaller than the indicated minimum. Non-vertical splitting is implicit when splitting would result in a block width smaller than the indicated minimum. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of block partitioning 410 and its corresponding binary tree structure 420. In each splitting (i.e., non-leaf) node of the binary tree, one flag indicates which splitting type (horizontal or vertical) is used, 0 indicates horizontal splitting and 1 indicates vertical splitting.
The proposed binary tree structure can be used for partitioning a block into multiple smaller blocks such as partitioning a slice into CTUs, a CTU into CUs, a CU into PUs, or a CU into TUs, and so on. In one embodiment, the binary tree is used for partitioning a CTU into CUs. In other words, the root node of the binary tree is a CTU and the leaf nodes of the binary tree are CUs. The leaf nodes are further processed by prediction and transform coding. In another embodiment, there is no further partitioning from CU to PU or from CU to TU to simplify the block partitioning process. That means the CU is equal to the PU and also equal to TU. Therefore, the leaf nodes of the binary tree are also the basic unit for prediction and transform coding in this case.
Binary tree structure is more flexible than quadtree structure, since much more partition shapes can be supported, which is also a factor for coding efficiency improvement. However, the encoding complexity will also increase in order to select the best partition shape. In order to balance the complexity and coding efficiency, a method to combine the quadtree and binary tree structure has been adopted in JVET-E1001 (Chen et al., "Algorithm Description of Joint Exploration Test Model 5 (JEM 5)", Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding of ITU-T SG16 WP3 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11, 5th Meeting: Geneva, CH, 12-20 Jan. 2017, Document: JVET-E1001), which is called quadtree plus binary tree (QTBT) structure. In the disclosed QTBT structure, a block is firstly partitioned by a quadtree structure, the quadtree splitting can be iterated until the size for a splitting block reaches the minimum allowed quadtree leaf node size. If the leaf quadtree block is not larger than the maximum allowed binary tree root node size, it can be further partitioned by a binary tree structure, the binary tree splitting can be iterated until the size (width or height) for a splitting block reaches the minimum allowed binary tree leaf node size (width or height) or the binary tree depth reaches the maximum allowed binary tree depth. In the QTBT structure, the minimum allowed quadtree leaf node size, the maximum allowed binary tree root node size, the minimum allowed binary tree leaf node width and height, and the maximum allowed binary tree depth can be indicated in the high level syntax such as in SPS. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of block partitioning 510 and its corresponding QTBT structure 520. The solid lines indicate quadtree splitting and dotted lines indicate binary tree splitting. In each splitting (i.e., non-leaf) node of the binary tree, one flag indicates which splitting type (horizontal or vertical) is used, 0 indicates horizontal splitting and 1 indicates vertical splitting.
The disclosed QTBT structure can be used for partitioning a block into multiple smaller blocks such as partitioning a slice into CTUs, a CTU into CUs, a CU into PUs, or a CU into TUs, and so on. For example, the QTBT can be used for partitioning a CTU into CUs, i.e., the root node of the QTBT is a CTU, which is partitioned into multiple CUs by a QTBT structure. The CUs are further processed by prediction and transform coding. Simplification of the QTBT structure has been also disclosed in PCT/CN2015/096761, filed on Dec. 9, 2015, where no further partitioning is applied from CU to PU or from CU to TU. In other words, a CU is equal to a PU and is also equal to a TU. Therefore, the leaf node of the QTBT structure is the basic unit for prediction as well as for transform.
An example of the disclosed QTBT structure is shown as follows. The QTBT structure may be applied to a CTU with size 128×128, the minimum allowed quadtree leaf node size is equal to 16×16, the maximum allowed binary tree root node size is equal to 64×64, the minimum allowed binary tree leaf node width and height both are equal to 4, and the maximum allowed binary tree depth is equal to 4. Firstly, the CTU is partitioned by a quadtree structure and the leaf quadtree unit may have a size from 16×16 (minimum allowed quadtree leaf node size) to 128×128 (equal to CTU size, i.e., no split). If the leaf quadtree unit is 128×128, it cannot be further split by the binary tree since the size exceeds the maximum allowed binary tree root node size 64×64. Otherwise the leaf quadtree unit can be further split by binary tree. The leaf quadtree unit is used as the root binary tree unit that has binary tree depth of 0. When the binary tree depth reaches 4 (i.e., the indicated maximum binary tree depth), non-splitting is implicit. When the binary tree node has width equal to 4, non-horizontal splitting is implicit. When the binary tree node has height equal to 4, non-vertical splitting is implicit. The leaf nodes of the QTBT are further processed by prediction (e.g., Intra picture or Inter picture) and transform coding.
The disclosed tree structure can be applied separately to luma and chroma for the I-slice (i.e., Intra coded slice) and applied simultaneously to both luma and chroma (except when certain minimum sizes are reached for chroma) for the P- and B-slice. In other words, in the I-slice, the luma CTB has its QTBT-structured block partitioning, and the two chroma CTBs have another QTBT-structured block partitioning. The two chroma CTBs may also have their own QTBT-structured block partitioning.
For each TU, one integer transform having the same size to the TU is applied to obtain residual coefficients. These coefficients are transmitted to the decoder after quantization on a TU basis. HEVC adopts Discrete Cosine Transform type II (DCT-II) as its core transform because it has a strong "energy compaction" property. Most of the signal information tends to be concentrated in a few low-frequency components of the DCT-II, which approximates the Karhunen-Loève Transform (KLT). As is known in the field of data compression, KLT is optimal in the decorrelation sense for signals based on certain limits of Markov processes. The N-point DCT-II of the signal f[n] is defined as (1).
                                                                        f                ^                                            DCT                                                  -                                                II                                                                [              k              ]                                =                                    λ              k                                                  2                              N                                                                                ∑                                  n                  =                  0                                                  N                  -                  1                                                                                f                                                        [                    n                    ]                                                                                cos                                                        [                                                                                k                                                                                π                                                N                                                                                (                                                  n                          +                                                      1                            2                                                                          )                                                              ]                                                                                ,                                                    k          =          0                ,        1        ,        2        ,        …                                          ,                  N          -          1                ,                              λ            k                    =                      {                                                                                2                                              -                        0.5                                                              ,                                                                                k                    =                    0                                                                                1                    ,                                                                                k                    ≠                    0                                                                                (        1        )
For Intra-predicted residue, other transforms may be more efficient than DCT-II. In contributions including JCTVC-B024, JCTVC-C108 and JCTVC-E125 made to various JCT-VC meetings (Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding of ITU-T SG16 WP3 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11), Discrete Sine Transform (DST) was introduced to be used an alternative to DCT for oblique Intra modes. For Inter-predicted residue, DCT-II is the only transform used in current HEVC. However, the DCT-II may not the optimal transform for all cases. In JCTVC-G281 (Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding of ITU-T SG16 WP3 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11, 7th Meeting: Geneva, CH., 21-30, Nov. 2011, Document: JCTVC-G281), the Discrete Sine Transform type VII (DST-VII) and Discrete Cosine Transform type IV (DCT-IV) are proposed to replace DCT-II in some cases. Also, in JVET-E1001, an Enhanced Multiple Transform (EMT) scheme is used for residual coding for both Intra and Inter-coded blocks. In the literature, the EMT may also be referred as Adaptive Multiple Transform (AMT). It utilizes multiple selected transforms from the DCT/DST families other than the current transforms in HEVC. The newly introduced transform matrices are DST-VII, DCT-VIII, DST-I and DCT-V. Table 1 summarizes the transform basis functions of each transform for N-point input.
TABLE 1Transform basis functions for N-point inputTransform TypeBasis function Ti(j), i, j = 0, 1, . . . , N − 1DCT-II                    T        i                          (        j        )              =                  ω        0            ·                        2          N                    ·              cos                          (                                    π              ·              i              ·                              (                                                      2                                        j                                    +                  1                                )                                                    2                            N                                )                                where                                              ω        0              =          {                                                                  2                N                                                                        i              =              0                                                            1                                              i              ≠              0                                           DCT-V                    T        i                          (        j        )              =                  ω        0            ·              ω        1            ·                        2                                    2                            N                        -            1                              ·              cos                          (                                    2                                            π                ·                i                ·                j                                                                    2                                N                            -              1                                )                      ,                      where                                              ω        0              =          {                                                                                2                  N                                                                                i                =                0                                                                        1                                                      i                ≠                0                                                    ,                              ω            1                    =                      {                                                                                2                      N                                                                                j                    =                    0                                                                                1                                                                      j                    ≠                    0                                                                                DCT-VIII            T      i                  (      j      )        =                    4                              2                        N                    +          1                      ·          cos                    (                              π            ·                          (                                                2                                    i                                +                1                            )                        ·                          (                                                2                                    j                                +                1                            )                                                          4                            N                        +            2                          )             DST-I            T      i                  (      j      )        =                    2                  N          +          1                      ·          sin                    (                              π            ·                          (                              i                +                1                            )                        ·                          (                              j                +                1                            )                                            N            +            1                          )             DST-VII            T      i                  (      j      )        =                    4                              2                        N                    +          1                      ·          sin                    (                              π            ·                          (                                                2                                    i                                +                1                            )                        ·                          (                              j                +                1                            )                                                          2                            N                        +            1                          )
According to EMT, multiple transforms can be selected for one TU. For example, for Inter CUs, one EMT flag can be coded to indicate that the HEVC transform is used (i.e., EMT flag equal to zero) or one of the new multiple transforms is used (i.e., EMT flag equal to one). When EMT flag is equal to one, there are two kinds of different transforms in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. An EMT index may be used to indicate the transform selected for each of the horizontal and vertical directions. Overall, four different transforms are supported for each CU when EMT flag is one. For Intra CUs, there are also four candidates in multiple transforms. However, these four candidates are variants according to Intra prediction direction.
When more and more transforms are used for coding, the signalling for multiple transforms becomes more complicated. The bit rate for signalling also becomes higher. However, due to its higher compression efficiency, the overall coding performance may still be improved by the multiple transform schemes.
In JEM-4.0 (i.e., the reference software for JVET, Joint Video Exploration Team of ITU-T SG 16 WP 3 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11), a total of 35×3 non-separable secondary transforms (NSST) are used for both 4×4 and 8×8 TU sizes, where 35 is the number of transform sets specified by the Intra prediction mode, and 3 is the number of NSST candidates for each Intra prediction mode. The value of transform set is derived according to Table 2 below.
TABLE 2Mapping from Intra prediction mode to transform set indexIntra mode012345678910111213141516set012345678910111213141516Intra mode1718192021222324252627282930313233set1718192021222324252627282930313233Intra mode3435363738394041424344454647484950set3433323130292827262524232221201918Intra mode5152535455565758596061626364656667(LM)set171615141312111098765432Null
For NSST, the size of secondary transform is selected depending on the transform size. For example, if both width (W) and height (H) of the block are larger than 4, the 8×8 NSST is applied. Otherwise, the 4×4 NSST is applied. In addition, the secondary transform is applied only when the number of non-zero coefficients is greater than the threshold. An exemplary flowchart for selecting the size of secondary transform at a decoder side is shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, the where the number of non-zero coefficients (i.e., nonZeroCoef) of the current TU is greater than a threshold (i.e., Thr) is checked in step 610. If the result is not true (i.e., the "no" path), no NSST is applied as shown in step 670. If the result is true (i.e., the "yes" path), the ROT index (i.e., ROT idx) is parsed from the bitstream in step 620. In step 630, whether the rotational transform index (i.e., ROT idx) is equal to 0 is checked. If ROT idx is equal to 0 (i.e., the "yes" path), no NSST is applied as shown in step 670. Otherwise (i.e., the "no" path from step 630), whether the block size is larger than or equal to 8×8 is checked in step 640. If the block size is larger than or equal to 8×8, (i.e., the "yes" path from step 640), NSST using 8×8 kernel is applied as shown in step 660. Otherwise (i.e., the "no" path from step 640), NSST using 4×4 kernel is applied as shown in step 650. When the NSST is applied, the non-separable transform is performed on the top-left R×S region of a transform coefficient block, where R corresponds to min (8, W) (i.e., minimum of 8 and W) and S corresponds to min (8, H) (i.e., minimum of 8 and H). The above transform selection rule is applied to both luma and chroma components. The kernel size of secondary transform depends on the current coding block size. For blocks larger than 8×8, the 8×8 NSST is always applied. As disclosed in JVET-E0047 (H. Jang, et al., "Adaptive NSST Kernel Size Selection," Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding of ITU-T SG16 WP3 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11, 5th Meeting: Geneva, CH, 12-20 Jan. 2017, Document: JVET-E0047), larger blocks may have non-zero coefficients existing in the low-frequency area such as the 4×4 sub-block region. Therefore, the best secondary transform is not always 8×8 NSST.
A more generalized NSST selection method can further improve the coding performance. An exemplary flowchart of selecting a secondary transform kernel size for blocks larger than 8×8 at a decoder side is shown in FIG. 7. The flowchart corresponds to a modified flowchart based on the flowchart in FIG. 6. When the test result in step 640 is true (i.e., the "yes" path), the NSST kernel size flag (i.e., nsst_krnl_size_flag) is parsed as shown in step 710. The value of nsst_krnl_size_flag is checked in step 720. If nsst_krnl_size_flag is equal to 0, NSST using 8×8 kernel is applied as shown in step 660. If nsst_krnl_size_flag is equal to 1, NSST using 4×4 kernel is applied as shown in step 650.
According to the NSST encoding process, a primary transform is applied to an input block to form a primary transform block. In FIG. 6, when the NSST with 4×4 kernel is selected for the primary transform block (4×8 or smaller) as shown in step 650, the top-left 4×4 sub-block of the primary transform block is converted into a 16×1 one-dimensional (1D) coefficient vector. A secondary transform is then selected and applied to the 1D coefficient vector. The secondary transformed coefficient vector is then converted back to a two dimensional (2D) secondary transformed 4×4 block according to a scanning order. This secondary transformed 4×4 block is then used to replace the top-left 4×4 sub-block of the primary transform block to form an NSST modified transform block and subsequent coding process (e.g., quantization and entropy coding) is applied to the NSST modified transform block. In FIG. 6, when the NSST with 8×8 kernel is selected for the primary transform block (8×8 or larger) as shown in step 660, the top-left 8×8 sub-block of the primary transform block is converted into a 64×1 one-dimensional (1D) coefficient vector. A secondary transform is then selected and applied to the 1D coefficient vector. The secondary transformed coefficient vector is then converted back to a two dimensional (2D) secondary transformed 8×8 block according to a scanning order. This secondary transformed 8×8 block is then used to replace the top-left 8×8 sub-block of the primary transform block to form an NSST modified transform block.
However, as reported in JVET-E0047, selecting NSST kernel size for blocks larger than 8×8 can improve coding gain to a certain degree, but incur dramatic encoding time increases. In JVET-E0047, a flag is always used to explicitly signal the NSST kernel size for blocks larger than 8×8, which limits the BD-rate enhancement and requires additional RDO (Rate-Distortion Optimization) checks. Implicit methods to derive the optimal NSST kernel size are also suggested in JVET-E0047 to reduce the bitrate associated with the additional flag and to reduce the required computations. In JEM-4.0, the NSST syntax is signalled when the current TU has two or more non-zero coefficients. The NSST is only performed on the top-left R×S region of a transform coefficient block, where R corresponds to min (8, W) and S corresponds to min (8, H).
It is desirable to develop methods to further improve the coding performance or reducing the complexity for system incorporating EMT or NSST.

Method and apparatus of enhanced multiple transforms and non-separable secondary transform for video coding


A stable seat and back support specially configured to elevate the buttocks and hips above the knees and to shift a portion of the user's weight from the buttocks to the knees and forelegs in a cross-legged position. The seat is sized and configured to position the user's body for meditation and relaxation in a solid stable position that combines a sitting and kneeling posture. In particular, the height and depth of the chair are sized to encourage the cross-legged sitting-kneeling posture. The depth is sized to purposely limit support of the thighs and the height selected for vertical posture of the user's back in the sitting-kneeling cross-legged position. A shallow notch is formed in the front of the seat to properly position the user's inside heel in the cross-legged position and thereby to help stabilize the seat and the position of the person using the seat.

The field of the invention pertains to seats and cushions to assist in meditation and relaxation, and in particular, to provide and encourage better sitting posture.
Back pain and inner tension (stress) are two of the most common health problems in the United States. These problems affect people of all ages and in all walks of life.
People can be helped to eliminate or reduce back pain by learning to stretch and strengthen appropriate muscles and by learning to sit with proper posture.
To reduce inner tension, numerous health practitioners have documented the benefits of taking a period of time each day to sit and meditate. This technique is frequently recommended to help people to relieve stress, lower their blood pressure, and improve their physical and emotional health. One of the leading researchers in this area is Herbert Benson, M.D., cardiologist, associate professor at the Harvard Medical School. and author of an initial work on this subject matter entitled, "The Relaxation Response", William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1975.
A number of devices have been invented to assist in relieving back pain and stress, and to assist in meditation and relaxation. A basic seat structure may be that disclosed for a vehicle in U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,866. Such seats, which generally position the legs straight forward for driving, have not generally lent themselves for good vertical meditative posture. To reduce the fatigue frequently associated with vehicle seats and other seats, back rest cushions with therapeutic shapes have been developed. An example of such a therapeutic cushion is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,495. Such cushions, however, do not function as seats or provide any vertical support.
A substantially different approach to back support in a sitting position, either legs forward or cross-legged, is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,106. While providing the advantage of portability, this device does not provide support to the buttocks and upper thighs nor does the device appear applicable to meditation and reduction of stress.
Chairs and cushions have been developed to assist in sitting in the cross-legged meditative position. U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,004 discloses a chair-like structure with a back rest. This structure provides full buttocks and thigh support with the knees elevated to about hip elevation in the cross-legged sitting position. U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,216 discloses a seat comprising a pair of shaped cushions to assist in sitting in the cross-legged position. This structure also provides buttocks and full length thigh support with the knees elevated to about hip elevation but also provides a large opening notch for both feet and lower legs.
Other chairs and devices have been developed for providing better comfort and posture in the kneeling or combined sitting and kneeling position. The "Balance Chair" has become popular by providing a forwardly-downwardly tilted seat and a backwardly-tilted pad that provides support for substantially the length of the forelegs. This seat, however, relies on parallel placement of the forelegs and is not suitable for the cross-legged meditative position. The "Santhosh" sitting bench provides a tiltable bench for a sitting-kneeling position with the forelegs parallel and extending under the bench. The buttocks and upper portions of the thighs are supported with this bench. U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,049 discloses a kneeling device for meditation and prayer as well as other activities.
To further improve posture and comfort for meditation and relaxation, applicant has developed the new seat disclosed below.


A high electron mobility transistor is disclosed which has a double-layered main semiconductor region formed on a silicon substrate via a multilayered buffer region. The multilayered buffer region is in the form of alternations of an aluminum nitride layer and a gallium nitride layer. The main semiconductor region, buffer region, and part of the substrate taper as they extend away from the rest of the substrate, providing slanting side surfaces. An electroconductive antileakage overlay covers these side surfaces via an electrically insulating overlay. Electrically coupled to the silicon substrate via a contact electrode, the antileakage overlay serves for reduction of current leakage along the side surfaces.

This invention relates to semiconductor devices, particularly to those of the class employing nitrides or nitride-based compounds as semiconductors, as typified by metal semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs) and high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), and more particularly to means in such semiconductor devices for reduction of leakage current to a minimum.
The gallium-nitride-based semiconductor devices have been known and used extensively which have the gallium-nitride-based semiconductor region formed on a sapphire substrate via a buffer region. The sapphire substrate had, however, a weakness of being difficult of dicing for its hardness, in addition to being expensive. These shortcomings of the sapphire substrate are absent from the substrate of silicon or silicon compound suggested by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-59948.
As taught also by the unexamined patent application above, a multilayered buffer region is interposed between the silicon or silicon-based substrate and the nitride-based semiconductor region (hereinafter referred to as the main semiconductor region) constituting the main working part of the semiconductor device. The buffer region is in the form of alternations of two different kinds of buffer layers such for instance as AlxGa1-xN, where the suffix x is a numeral that is greater than zero and equal to or less than one, and GaN. The multilayered buffer region has proved conducive to improvements in crystallinity and flatness of the main semiconductor region grown epitaxially thereon.
There have, however, been some problems left unresolved with the gallium-nitride-based semiconductor devices of the kind having the multilayered buffer region on a silicon substrate. The gallium-nitride-based main semiconductor region on the multilayered buffer region has a thickness limited by the spacing between the drain and source electrodes formed on the main semiconductor region. For example, for an interelectrode distance of five to 20 micrometers or so, the thickness of the main semiconductor region is only about 0.2 to 3.0 micrometer. Additionally, due to the heterojunctions between the AlxGa1-xN layers and GaN layers of the multilayered buffer region, what is known to the specialists as two-dimensional electron gas is generated in the GaN layers, with a consequent drop in the resistance of these layers. What is more, being so thin, the AlxGa1-xN layers are easy to give rise to the quantum-mechanical tunnel effect.
Let us suppose for instance a gallium-nitride-based HEMT of the above outlined prior art design. Leakage current (indicated at IA in FIG. 1 of the drawings attached hereto) was easy to flow between the drain and source of the HEMT via the multilayered buffer region and silicon substrate during the nonconducting periods of the device when the channel layer overlying the electron transit layer of the main semiconductor region was closed by the depletion layer under the gate. The leakage current caused a rise in the potential of the silicon substrate, with a corresponding increase in potential difference between the substrate and the source. The increased potential difference caused electric field concentrations on the sides of the substrate, buffer region, and main semiconductor region. It must also be taken into consideration that the sides of the substrate, buffer region, and main semiconductor region are not necessarily good in crystallinity, being both exposed and affected by dicing. The HEMT was therefore susceptible to breakdown as a result of field concentrations at the sides of the buffer region and main semiconductor region.
Moreover, in addition to the noted leakage current between drain and source via the substrate and buffer region, there was another path for current leakage (indicated at IB in FIG. 1) along the relatively low-resistance sides of the HEMT or like semiconductor device. Thus an inconveniently large amount of total leakage current (sum of IA and IB) existed between drain and source. The usual practice in the semiconductor industry is to assess the drain-source voltage-withstanding capabilities of HEMTs and like devices in terms of the magnitude of current leakage. The larger the amount of current leakage in each such device, the lower is the assessment of the voltage-withstanding capability of that device. Leakage current is itself objectionable because it may lead to the breakdown of the device.
The foregoing difficulties are most pronounced in conjunction with the gallium-nitride-based semiconductor devices of the kind having their main semiconductor regions formed on silicon substrates, which are low in electric resistance, via the multilayered buffer regions. The same problems may, however, manifest themselves with gallium-nitride-based semiconductor devices in which the main semiconductor regions are grown on sapphire substrates via a low-temperature-grown buffer region, as well as those using silicon carbide substrates. Not only HEMTS, moreover, but other semiconductor devices having at least two electrodes directly overlying the main semiconductor region, too, are likely to suffer similar difficulties.

Nitride-based semiconductor device of reduced current leakage


A structured query language (SQL) query is configured to present a selected portion of a result set to a user interface. The selected portion of the result set can be based on an offset criteria appended to the SQL query. The offset criteria determines a location of a first presented instance of the selected portion of the result set. The offset criteria is configured to determine the location of the first presented instance of the selected portion of the result set independent of a number of instances appearing between a first instance of the result set and the first presented instance of the selected portion of the result set.

The present disclosure relates to structured query language (SQL), and, more specifically, to presenting a selected portion of a result set generated by a SQL query.
SQL queries can contain clauses configured to present a portion of a result set such as an OFFSET clause and a FETCH clause. An OFFSET clause can cause a SQL query to present a portion of a result set starting with an initial instance specified by a number of instances after a first instance of the result set. For example, an OFFSET clause can be configured to present a 100th instance of a result set as the initial result in a portion of the result set output to an interface.
A FETCH clause can cause a SQL query to present a selected number of instances of the result set. For example, a FETCH clause can be configured to present 100 instances of a result set to an interface. An OFFSET clause can be used in combination with a FETCH clause to present a selected portion of the result set. For example, an OFFSET clause configured to present a portion of the result set beginning at the 100th instance of the result set in combination with a FETCH clause configured to present 100 instances of the result set will present instances 100-200 of the result set on an interface.

International Business Machines Corporation


Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a stand break detection system. In some embodiments, the stand break detection system includes a sensor and a data processing system. The sensor may measure a movement of drill pipe as it is tripped out of a wellbore. The processor may execute instructions stored in a memory to receive measured movement data from the sensor and identify a stand break associated with one or more drill pipes using the measured movement data.

This disclosure relates generally to measuring downhole tool conveyance and retrieval. More specifically, this disclosure relates to techniques for stand break detection and logging while tripping (LWT).
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Producing hydrocarbons from a wellbore drilled into a geological formation is a remarkably complex endeavor. During drilling operations, evaluations of the composition within the geological formation may be performed for various purposes, such as to locate hydrocarbon-producing formations and manage the production of hydrocarbons from these formations. To determine the location of hydrocarbon producing formations, as well as various geological formations, downhole tools are conveyed by various means, such as coiled tubing, drill pipe, casing or other conveyers. One or more drill pipes may be removed from the string via tripping out of the pipes.
At least in some instances, tripping out of the pipes may be used to inform certain oil and gas operations. For example, the downhole tool may include a well logging tool that measures physical properties of the geological formation at different positions of the wellbore (e.g., along a vertical and/or horizontal portion) while the drill string is being tripped out the wellbore. This process is referred to as logging while tripping (LWT). At least in some instances during LWT, the well logging tool may be a wireless well logging tool and, as such, may not be in communication with computing systems at the surface. The data obtained by such well logging tools includes measurements as a function of time. The data may be later converted to measurements as a function of position within the wellbore based on a time period that corresponds to when one or more length of pipes were raised out of the wellbore.

Stand break detection systems and methods