An imaging system and method with an arrangement for sensing the performance of an optical system and providing data in response thereto and electronically correcting nonuniformity in the performance of the optical system in response thereto. In the illustrative application, the nonuniformity is a porthole effect. In the preferred embodiment, the arrangement for correcting includes an arrangement for providing an inverse distortion to an output of the system electronically. The inverse distortion is applied by generating a plurality of spatial correction coefficients from the performance data, storing the coefficients and applying the coefficients to current data from the optical system. The spatial correction coefficients are statistically generated gain and level correction defect maps. The present teachings should enable a correction of optical distortion in nonideal electro-optical systems without requiring additional optics.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to imaging systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for nonuniformity correction for imaging systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imagers in various spectral bands are used in a variety of applications, both commercial and military. Unfortunately, certain imagers exhibit a significant signal rolloff toward the edges of the display. This rolloff is due to a responsivity distortion in which the gain falls off (attenuation increases) as a function of spatial location (distance from center) within one or more optical components. The rolloff has been labeled as the "porthole" effect and degrades image presentation as well performance. The resulting image presentation is degraded due to the distracting center circular region of the display that appears brighter than the edges. Performance is also degraded due to the fact that sensor signal processing wastes display dynamic range on the rolled off signal output from center to edge.
The porthole effect is due to optical distortion. Optical approaches to the correction of such optical distortion have been somewhat expensive to implement. In addition, the optical approaches do not allow for an inexpensive retrofit of existing systems in the field.
Hence, a need exists in the art for an electronic system or method for improving the performance of imagers. Specifically, a need exists in the art for an electronic system or method for improving the responsivity distortion of imagers.

Responsivity correction for electro-optical imagers


Described herein is a coil housing for receiving a plurality of coils for a two-cylinder motorcycle having a plurality of spark plugs and ignition coils. The invention consists of a plurality of coil receptacles conjoined by frame mounting means for attaching the coil housing to the motorcycle such that each coil housing is juxtaposed adjacent a cylinder of the motorcycle. Each coil receptacle defines a cavity having means for retaining a coil and spark plug wires for connection between the output terminals of the coils and the terminals of the spark plugs. When the coil housing is mounted to a motorcycle, the external surface conforms to the corresponding external surface of each of the cylinder.

1. Field of Use
The present invention relates to V-type, two-cylinder, internal combustion engines for motorcycles in which the spark plugs for the cylinders are mounted adjacent the rocker boxes and parallel to the longitudinal axis of each cylinder. The invention pertains to a means for positioning the ignition coils of such engines adjacent to the spark plugs.
2. Prior Art
V-type two-cylinder motorcycle engines are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Typical of such engines are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,676 to Seidl, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,294 to Okano, et al. In such V-type engines there is typically a coil for each cylinder mounted adjacent the battery and/or the generator of the motorcycle, or other location on the frame of the motorcycle. In other V-type engines there is only one coil for controlling both spark plugs. An ignition coil (also called a spark coil) is an electrical device in a motorcycle's ignition system that transforms a storage battery's 12 volts to the thousands of volts needed to spark the spark plugs. This ignition coil is a specific form of the induction coil that converts current from a battery into the high voltage current required by spark plugs in an internal combustion engine. The output of each coil is electrically connected to the terminal, or cap of the spark plug by means of a wire extending from the coil to the spark plug. As shown in FIG. 1, the spark plug wires are typically run external to the motorcycle engine. Since insulated spark plug wires are more expensive than regular electrical wire, it would be economically beneficial to devise a structure that enables the reduction in the length of the spark plug wires. One of ordinary skill in the art would know that the insulation portion of spark plugs are typically made of ceramic, and somewhat brittle. Thus, the exposed spark plug is subject to damage if there are any physical problems with the motorcycle. Such as crashes or collisions. It would also be beneficial to devise a structure that would provide a barrier to such physical damage.
The present invention overcomes both these disadvantages and provides a solution to both the economics of the insulated spark plug wires and protects the spark plugs from physical damage.


A method and apparatus is disclosed for mounting constructing a flexible a tubular fitment (10) to a flexible container (11) and to the resulting product. The fitment is mounted upon a mandrel (24) having an extendable bearings in the form of an annular array of balls (27). The mandrel supporting the fitment is positioned within the container body (11) and the assembly positioned in heat sealing dies (33,34) having an annular channel (35) sized to receive the fitment. The dies have a groove (36) extending from the channel. The balls are then outwardly extended into the groove and the mandrel rotated to cause the balls to orbit in a circle and seal the fitment to the flexible container oven an annular protrusion (38).

Containers made of flexible materials which hold and dispense liquids and granular material have been designed with spouts from which their contents are poured. Some of these containers are constructed by mounting an independent spout, more generally referred to as a fitment, to the body of the container as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,623. Such a fitment typically has a base from which a neck or spout extends. The neck may be provided with threads so that a cap may be threaded thereon to close the container.
Fitments have been designed to be heat welded to the outside surface of the body of the container about an opening. However, because of the flexibility of these containers these types of fitments are susceptible to separation from the body during container handling.
Fitments have also been designed to be mounted in an opening between two layers of plastic which form opposite sides of the container body. The opening is formed by sealing all but a portion of the side edges of the plastic layers as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,623. The fitment is mounted on a mandrel which is inserted into the opening. Once the fitment is inserted the remaining side edges of the plastic layers are sealed about the fitment base with the mandrel supporting the fitment against the pressure of the sealing plate. The sealing process may be done by heat welding, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,607, or by any other commonly used welding processes.
Fitments for flexible containers have also been designed with bases that are larger in diameter than their necks so that the container bodies do not have to taper severely towards the fitment. This type of fitment aids in pouring by funneling the contents. However, because the fitment neck is narrower than its base a mandrel positioned through the neck cannot also fit flushly against the interior of the base during the sealing process since it could not thereafter be removed through the restricted neck. Therefore these fitments have been designed with thicker bases to endure the pressure of the sealing plate without deformation. Nevertheless, these thicker plastic fitments still tend to flex during sealing which oftentimes results in a defective seal. Additionally, the increased thickness of these fitments increases the quantity of plastic used in their construction thus increasing their weight and cost.
Fitments have also been designed with ridges along the exterior of their bases. During assembly the fitment is positioned upon a mandrel extending through the base which is flush with the interior of the fitment. The flexible material is positioned over the ridges during the welding process to aid in securing the fitment. However, these ridges increase the width of the fitment base as compared to the portions adjacent the ridges. This difference in material width causes an uneven transfer of heat to and through the fitment. The uneven heat transfer causes an uneven sealing of the fitment.
It thus is seen that a need remains for a method and apparatus for mounting a fitment of the type having a spout and base to flexible container body and to the resulting container. It is to the provision of such that the present invention is primarily directed.

Flexible container with tubular fitment and method and apparatus for assembling same


An organic light-emitting device which has high emission efficiency and high durability even at low drive voltage is provided. An organic light-emitting device including an anode, a cathode, and an organic compound layer which is interposed between the anode and the cathode, wherein the organic compound layer include at least one dibenzo[c,g]fluorene compound represented by the following General Formula (1).

An organic light-emitting device is an electronic device which has a thin film containing a fluorescent organic compound or a phosphorescent organic compound interposed between an anode and a cathode. In the device, holes and electrons are injected from the respective electrodes to yield excitons of the fluorescent compound or the phosphorescent compound and then light is generated from the organic light-emitting device when the excitons return to their ground state.
Recently, a significant progress has been made relating to an organic light-emitting device. The characteristic feature includes that high luminance, a variety of emission wavelengths and a high-speed response can be obtained at a low voltage and also a thin and light-weight light-emitting device can be produced. For these reason, application of an organic light-emitting device in a broad and diverse range has been suggested.
At a practical level, however, more improved luminance or higher conversion efficiency is required. In addition, there are still a lot of problems associated with durability, for example, degradation due to use for a long period of time or due to atmosphere including oxygen, moisture or the like.
Furthermore, for an application in a full-color display and the like, light emission of red, green, and blue colors with good color purity is required, but it cannot be said that such needs are completely met at the present moment.
To solve the above described problems, a dibenzo[c,g]fluorene compound has been proposed as a constitutional material for an organic light-emitting device. For example, International Publication WO2003/051092, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0131880, and Wei-Zhi Wang et. al., "Synthesis, photophysics, and electroluminescence of poly(dibenzo fluorene)s", Macromolecular Rapid Communications Vol. 27, No. 14, p. 1142 (2006), can be mentioned in which a dibenzo[c,g]fluorene compound or an organic light-emitting device using a dibenzo[c,g]fluorene compound as a constitutional material is described.
The dibenzo[c,g]fluorene compound disclosed in International Publication WO2003/051092 is substituted at 5-position and 9-position with a heterocyclic group with hole transporting property such as an oxadiazole group, a thiadiazole group, a triazole group, a diarylamine group, and a carbazole group.
In addition, the dibenzo[c,g]fluorene compound disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0131880 is also substituted at 5-position and 9-position with a heterocyclic group such as a thiophene group, and a carbazole group.
Incidentally, according to the literature by Wei-Zhi Wang et. al. ("Synthesis, photophysics, and electroluminescence of poly(dibenzo fluorene)s", Macromolecular Rapid Communications. Vol. 27, No. 14, p. 1142 (2006)), the characteristics of an organic light-emitting device in which a polymer having a dibenzo[c,g]fluorene skeleton is used as a constitutional material are described. However, it cannot be said that the characteristics exhibited as a polymer material are necessarily reflected as they are on a low molecular weight material. That is because, as having a molecular weight distribution contrary to a low molecular weight material, the polymer material is a mixture containing many compounds having various molecular weights and at the same time is a material which has an energy distribution with a certain range. Therefore, for example, the light-emitting behavior of a polymer material is basically different from the light-emitting behavior of a low molecular weight material.

Dibenzo[c,g]fluorene compound and an organic light-emitting device using the same


A travel route selection system is provided and includes historical latency data and travel route modules. The historical latency data module includes data and characterization modules. The data module collects historical latency data. The historical latency data are associated with transmission of signals in a network for one or more vehicle applications of a vehicle. The characterization module: obtains characteristic distributions of the historical latency data at selected locations along travel routes; based on the characteristic distributions, (i) calculates metrics along the travel routes for the vehicle, or (ii) combines the characteristic distributions to obtain an overall distribution for each of the travel routes; and based on the metrics or the overall distribution, performs a statistical process to predict latencies of the signals along each of the travel routes. The travel route module selects one of the travel routes based on the predicted latencies of the signals.

The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Modern vehicles implement various software applications (hereinafter referred to as "applications"). Some example applications are a lane change application, a collision avoidance application, a ramp routing application, and a platooning application. A lane change application may be executed to assist a driver of a vehicle and/or control vehicle operation during a lane change event, which includes moving a vehicle from a first lane of traffic to a second lane of traffic. A collision avoidance application may be executed to prevent a collision with a pedestrian, a vehicle and/or other object. A collision avoidance application may detect conditions of an environment and perform countermeasures to prevent a collision. This may include, for example, generating warning signals, assisting a driver of a vehicle in performing certain tasks (e.g., braking), and/or controlling operation of the vehicle.
A ramp routing application is similar to a lane change application and may be executed to assist a driver of a vehicle and/or control vehicle operation when moving a vehicle from a lane of traffic to an entrance ramp or an exit ramp. A platooning application may be executed to assist a driver of a vehicle during a platooning event. A platooning event refers to when one or more "follow" vehicles are controlled to closely follow one or more "lead" vehicles. A follow vehicle may also be a lead vehicle. Each follow vehicle may draft a lead vehicle. This is done to reduce drag on the follow vehicle for improved fuel efficiency and to reduce vehicle congestion within a given geographical area. Platooning that is implemented in a first geographical area can reduce congestion in other nearby geographical areas.

Travel routing selection system and methods implemented based on characterization of historical latency data


A method and apparatus to record one or more customization messages in a storage are described. Each customization message may include one or more predicates specifying applicability of the customization message for a plurality of objects. An operation on the objects may be performed to generate a configuration of a device in response to receiving an event. The configuration may include the objects. Each customization message may be selectively applied to the objects in the configuration to customize the configuration. An object may be updated via the customization message if the predicates match the object in the configuration. The device may be configured via the customized configuration.

Software application developers often rely on application programming interfaces ("APIs") to access various libraries of software code to simplify software development effort. For example, a user interface for a device may be configured by composing a variety of user interface objects provided via calling these APIs. As APIs are inherently limited by their vendors, additional customization efforts over these APIs may be required to achieve desired effects for a target configuration. As the complexity of the target configuration increases, however, such customization may become tedious.
For example, to set a particular color for each button object inside a popup control object displayed on a display device in a user interface configuration, a software developer may be required to duplicate similar color setting operations for multiple instances of button objects which are placed inside a popup control object. In certain cases, the development effort may be further complicated as relationships, such as layout relationships, between different user interface objects may not be available at the time these user interface objects are created. Although additional APIs may be provided to alleviate such development efforts, it may not be practically feasible because the number of additional APIs required may potentially explode to an unmanageable level.
Therefore, current approaches for object configuration via APIs do not provide a scalable, flexible and convenient mechanism which leverages existing APIs for customizing the configuration.

Methods and apparatuses for deferred object customization


An optical memory cell having a material layer associated with a pixel capable of emitting and receiving light. The material layer has phosphorescent material formed therein for storing data as light received from and emitted to the pixel.

Integrated circuit designers have always sought the ideal semiconductor memory: a device that is randomly accessible; can be written to or read from very quickly; is non-volatile, but indefinitely alterable; and consumes little power.
One common volatile memory is the DRAM in which information can be written to and read from as bits of data, e.g., a "1" or a "0," where a "1" generally corresponds to one voltage state stored on a capacitor, and a "0" generally corresponds to another voltage state stored in the capacitor. The capacitor of the DRAM cell typically has an associated transistor that acts as a switch to allow the control circuitry on the memory chip to read from and write to the capacitor.
DRAM cells suffer from a number of shortcomings. First, the capacitor of a DRAM cell is extremely energy inefficient because capacitors of DRAM cells quickly lose their stored voltage, and need to be refreshed to prevent the cell from being discharged, resulting in high levels of energy consumption. Second, because DRAM cells are based on electrical signals, the speed of integrated chips are not only limited by the speed by which electrons travel through matter, but are also limited by the number of interconnections within the chip necessary to effect proper transfer and storage of the signals; these additional interconnections contribute to the problem of short circuits. Finally, the electrical signals used in conventional memory cells can interfere with each other, resulting in increased cross-talk, and decreased performance, which is undesirable.
Accordingly, there is a desire and need to construct a memory cell that improves upon the shortcomings of DRAM cells.


A control strategy for supply fans in constant-volume heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems that reduces the speed of the fan at part-load conditions is provided. The invention consists of a constant-volume HVAC system, wireless discharge air temperature sensors, wireless hot source and cold source temperature sensors, and a wireless controller coupled to a fan modulation device. The controller includes a finite state machine that switches between a high-temperature control mode and a low-temperature control mode. The controller also includes a calculator that calculates a high temperature setpoint and a low temperature setpoint as a function of the hot source and cold source temperatures. In high temperature control mode, the controller compares the maximum discharge air temperature with the high temperature setpoint, and it commands the fan modulating device so that the maximum discharge air temperature remains close to the high temperature setpoint. In low temperature control mode, the controller compares the minimum discharge air temperature with the low temperature setpoint, and it commands the fan modulating device so that the minimum discharge air temperature remains close to the low temperature setpoint. Alternatively, the controller includes a calculator that computes a largest load as a function of previous fan command, discharge air temperatures, and readings from wireless zone temperature sensors. The controller increases the speed of the fan as the largest load increases, and reduces the speed of the fan as the largest load decreases.

1. Field of the Invention
The following invention relates to controls for fans in heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, specifically to controls for converting constant speed fans to variable flow operation while preserving proper zone temperature control.
2. Description of Prior Art
Modern buildings typically use heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems to control indoor temperature, pressure, ventilation rate and other variables. Prior to the oil embargo of the 1970s it was common to design HVAC systems with constant-speed fans and with temperature controls that would re-heat cooled air or mix heated air with cooled air to maintain space temperature. HVAC systems with constant speed fans are called constant-volume systems.
There are three common types of constant-volume HVAC systems that serve multiple zones. One of these three is the single-duct re-heat system. These systems have a single supply duct that delivers cooled air to each zone re-heat coil. Re-heat coils add heat to the cooled air to keep the zone space temperature close to a setpoint. In rare cases the supply duct delivers hot air that is re-cooled by zone re-cooling coils.
A second type of constant-volume system is the dual-duct constant-volume system. Dual-duct systems deliver heated air and cooled air all the way to each zone terminal unit with separate hot air ducts and cold air ducts. The hot air duct has a heating coil and heating valve that are used to keep the hot air duct temperature close to a setpoint. The cold air duct has a cooling coil and a cooling valve that are used to keep the cold air duct temperature close to a setpoint. Zone terminal units mix the heated air with the cooled air to keep the zone space temperatures close to a setpoint.
The third common kind of constant-volume system is the multi-zone system. A multi-zone system is a special kind of dual-duct system where the hot air duct and the cold air duct are short, and are referred to as the hot deck and the cold deck, respectively. The mixing dampers are close to the fan, and are integrated with the hot deck and the cold deck. The mixing dampers for each zone mix heated air from the hot deck with cooled air from the cold deck to keep the zone temperature close to a setpoint. The hot deck and cold deck are packaged with the fan and other components of the system.
Constant-volume HVAC systems are inefficient. In states with strict energy codes, such as California, they are effectively prohibited in new construction. For HVAC systems that serve multiple zones, it is now common to use variable-air-volume (VAV) systems.
VAV systems have variable-speed fans that are controlled so that the amount of simultaneous heating and cooling or re-heating is significantly reduced. There are two common kinds of VAV systems: single-duct and dual-duct. Single-duct VAV systems supply cooled air to each zone terminal unit, where it is metered with a control damper when cooling is required or re-heated when heating is required. When heating, the amount of cooled air is reduced to a low level by the terminal controls. Dual-duct systems deliver heated air and cooled air all the way to each zone terminal unit with separate air ducts. Dual-duct VAV terminal units have independent dampers that modulate hot airflow rate to heat and modulate cold airflow rate to cool. Unlike the dual-duct constant-volume system, the dual-duct VAV system does very little mixing. Most of the time it supplies a variable amount of hot air when heating and a variable amount of cooled air when cooling. It only mixes air when the amount of heating or cooling is close to zero so that adequate ventilation air is provided.
Although constant-volume systems are less common in new construction, there is still a large installed base that serves billions of square feet of commercial buildings. Since they are inefficient, many retrofit strategies have been developed to modify their design and operation in order to make them more efficient.
One approach is to convert constant-volume systems to VAV systems. Typical VAV conversions for single-duct or dual-duct constant-volume systems involve replacing the constant-volume terminal units with VAV terminal units, adding terminal controls, adding a supply duct static pressure sensor, adding a variable frequency drive (VFD) to the fan, and adding a controller to regulate the supply duct pressure by modulating the fan speed with the VFD. These conversions are very expensive and intrusive because of the mechanical modifications. The spaces served by the system may have to be evacuated while the construction work is performed.
A typical VAV conversion for a multi-zone system involves disabling the hot deck, adding terminal units with control dampers and reheat coils to each zone supply duct, adding terminal controls, adding a supply duct static pressure sensor, adding a variable frequency drive (VFD) to the fan, and adding a controller to regulate the supply duct pressure by modulating the fan speed with the VFD. This approach is very expensive and very intrusive because it requires significant mechanical modifications.
Another way to convert constant-volume systems to VAV is to use VAV diffusers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,326 to Hunka, U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,777 to Smith et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,335 to Holyoake all describe VAV diffusers that can be used to convert constant-volume systems to VAV operation. This approach still requires mechanical modifications. Furthermore, all of the diffusers must be replaced for this method to work properly, and most zones have more than one diffuser.
For single-duct constant-volume systems, Liu, Claridge, and Turner (Continuous Commissioning Guidebook for Federal Energy Managers, DOE, 2002) add a VFD to reduce the fan speed during after-hours operation. During occupied hours the fan is operated at full speed. This strategy does not save energy for systems that are shut off after hours. Even when there is after-hours operation, this method is not cost effective unless the system is large because the energy savings are limited.
For dual-duct constant-volume systems, Liu and Claridge (Converting Dual-Duct Constant-volume Systems to Variable Volume Systems Without Retrofitting the Terminals, ASHRAE Transactions, Vol. 101, Part 1, 1999, pp. 66-70) describe a means for improving energy performance without retrofitting terminal units. They add a damper to the hot duct and use it to control the pressure in the hot duct. This strategy still requires a mechanical modification, which is intrusive and requires that the system be shut down. It also requires the installation of pressure sensors in the hot air duct and cold air duct.
For multi-zone constant-volume systems, Liu, Claridge, and Turner (Continuous Commissioning Guidebook for Federal Energy Managers, DOE, 2002) describe a means for improving the energy performance by adding a VFD to the supply fan and controlling the supply fan speed so that the most-open mixing damper is 95% open to the hot deck in the heating season. In the cooling season their strategy controls the fan speed so that the most-open mixing damper is 95% open to the cold deck. The command to the VFD comes from a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller that takes the most-open damper position as input. This strategy requires that position sensors be added to the mixing dampers. Position sensors are expensive and difficult to install. Resistive position sensors are prone to vibration-induced premature failure. This strategy cannot be applied to single-duct constant-volume systems because they do not have mixing dampers.
Johnson (Johnson, G. A., 1984, "Retrofit of a Constant Volume Air System for Variable Speed Fan Control," ASHRAE Transactions, 90(2B), 201-212.) describes a system for retrofitting single-zone constant volume air-handling units to VAV operation. Johnson's system does not apply to air-handling units that serve multiple zones. It also does not apply to single-zone systems that heat and cool. The units on which it was demonstrated were cooling-only units. Johnson's approach is to control the supply air temperature to a fixed setpoint with the cooling valve or outdoor air dampers, and then adjust the supply fan speed based on the average zone temperature so that the average zone temperature is maintained at a setpoint.

Method and apparatus for converting constant-volume supply fans to variable flow operation


A torsion damping device includes a support wheel, having first fastening screws for attaching it to a driving shaft, a damper plate, and peripheral springs acting between the support plate and the damper plate. The damper plate, carrying a pair of guide rings, constitutes, together with the springs and a drive plate, a torsion damper which is contained in a sealed housing, the components of which are secured together by second fastening screws.. The inner periphery of the sealed housing has a diameter greater than that of the pitch circle on which the holes for the first fastening screws are arranged in the support wheel, while the damper plate emerges radially from the housing, in a manner which provides axial location but circumferential sliding movement of the damper plate in the housing while preserving sealing. The second fastening screws of the housing are separate from the first fastening screws and their holes in the support wheel, while one of the components defining the housing carries a cover for urging the torsion damper into rotation, the latter being conformed so as to cooperate therewith.

One torsion damping device of the above kind is disclosed in particular in European published patent application No. EP 0 073 286A. In that disclosure, the peripheral resilient means act in a dry state. Having regard to their radial displacements under the effects of centrifugal force on the one hand, and to their relative displacements with respect to the rings (commonly known as guide rings) between which they are arranged, on the other hand, it is desirable to provide a degree of lubrication, at least in certain applications.
French published patent application No. FR 2 627 566A proposes, with the above in mind, to arrange the peripheral resilient means within a sealed annular housing, which is formed in two parts and fixed with respect to the support wheel. This housing then contains a lubricating fluid. It is arranged to carry and enclose within it a torsion damper comprising the peripheral resilient means, the damper plate and both guide rings. The two parts of the housing are fixed to each other radially outside the said resilient means, using appropriate fastening means. In addition, the torsion damper is fixed to one of the two parts of the sealed housing, while spacing rings connect the two parts together in a sealed manner in such a way as to allow the last-mentioned fastening means (for fastening the housing to the support wheel) to pass through.
However, in the corresponding practical embodiment, the sealed housing extends radially only within the circumference defining the pitch circle on which the fastening means securing the support wheel to the first shaft are arranged. In consequence, it is necessary first of all to fasten the support wheel on to the driving shaft before it is possible to fit the housing by means of its said spacer rings. Although this arrangement is satisfactory in service, the assembly operation is somewhat complicated.
In addition, in line with the securing means for the support wheel, the thickness of the sealed housing is extended in the axial direction to that of the heads of the threaded fasteners, such as screws or bolts, which cooperate with the fastening means formed in the support wheel to secure the latter to the first shaft, to the detriment of the overall axial length of the assembly. Besides this, the presence of the spacers complicates the manufacture of the housing.

Torsion damping device with peripheral resilient means arranged in a sealed housing, particularly for automotive vehicles


This invention relates to an acetabular cup having a substantially hemispherical ceramic concave surface comprising at least one debris reservoir thereon having a width of between 0.010 mm and 2 mm, and also to a ceramic hip joint prosthesis head whose outer surface comprises a similar debris reservoir.

One of the most challenging problems in the field of artificial hip joints is the wear debris caused by articulation between the surfaces of the polyethylene acetabular cup and the metal or ceramic hip joint head. Even at a low wear rate such as 0.1 mm per year, the debris resulting from this wear is considered to be significant because it enters the vascular system of the human body and may cause osteolysis.
Some investigators have proposed reducing the wear problem by a variety of different methods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,228 ("Schmalzried") suggests surrounding the prosthetic device with a series of funnels and reservoirs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,184 ("Doi") suggests providing a protector along the outer edge of the cup to catch debris. U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,368 ("Collier"), EPO Published Application No. 0 346 294 ("Impallomeni"), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,182 ("Shea") each suggest surrounding at least one of the articulation surfaces with a semi-permeable membrane which permits fluid circulation but traps debris. However, each of these systems adds greatly to the complexity of the prosthesis.
Therefore, there is a need for a simple bioprosthetic system which reduces the danger caused by articulation-induced wear.

Artificial joint bioprosthesis for mitigation of wear


A combined transponder and DME system for use in an aircraft. An L Band transmitter is shared between transponder and DME.

Current transponder and distance measuring equipment (DME) systems for use in aircraft typically require their own transmitters and antennas. This results in considerable total system weight, requires extensive coaxial cabling, and is expensive. Accordingly, there is a need to reduce the number of antennas and transmitters required on aircraft equipped with transponders and DMEs as well as to minimize the combined weight and cost of the systems.

Integrated distance measuring equipment and transponder system and method


A method of forming a bump structure includes forming a metallization layer on a top metal layer by electroless plating process, forming a polymer layer over the metallization layer; forming an opening on the polymer layer to expose the metallization layer, and forming a solder bump over the exposed metallization layer to make electrical contact with the top metal layer.

Modern integrated circuits are made up of literally millions of active devices such as transistors and capacitors. These devices are initially isolated from each other, but are later interconnected together to form functional circuits. Typical interconnect structures include lateral interconnections, such as metal lines (wirings), and vertical interconnections, such as vias and contacts. Interconnections are increasingly determining the limits of performance and the density of modern integrated circuits. On top of the interconnect structures, pads are formed and exposed on the surface of the respective chip. Electrical connections are made through pads to connect the chip to a package substrate or another die. Pads can be used for wire bonding or flip-chip bonding. Flip-chip packaging utilizes bumps to establish electrical contact between a chip's input/output (I/O) pads and the substrate or lead frame of the package. Structurally, a bump actually contains the bump itself and an "under bump metallurgy" (UBM) located between the bump and an I/O pad. Another structure used in flip chip technology is a direct bump on copper (DBOC) structure, in which the UBM is in direct contact with the copper metal of the top metallization layer. No aluminum pad or inner passivation layer is used in the DBOC structure. Without an aluminum pad or an inner passivation layer to act as a buffer, a DBOC structure generally has less mechanical strength and suffers from copper oxidation problems.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A new and distinct cultivar of Geranium plant named ‘Gentreo’ that is characterized by semi-double orange-red flowers, medium green foliage with a strong zonation pattern, an early flower response and a medium growth habit.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Geranium plant botanically known as Pelargonium×hortorum and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Gentreo'.
The new cultivar is the product of a breeding program conducted by the inventor in a cultivated area of Hagenbach, Germany. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new Geranium cultivars that are early flowering with semi-double flowers and medium green foliage.
'Gentreo' is a hybrid that originated from the hybridization of the female or seed parent a proprietary selection of Pelargonium×hortorum identified by the name 'Toro-Type' (not patented) and the male or pollen parent a proprietary selection of Pelargonium×hortorum identified by number 192/92 (not patented). The cultivar 'Gentreo' was selected by the inventor in June of 2001 as a single plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment of Hagenbach, Germany.
Asexual reproduction by terminal cuttings of the new cultivar 'Gentreo' were first done in September of 2002 in Hagenbach, Germany. Since that time, under careful observation, the unique characteristics of the new cultivar have been uniform, stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.


Disclosed in the present application are a data transmission method, a terminal device and a network device. The method includes: the terminal device determines a first bandwidth portion and a second bandwidth portion; the terminal device uses the first bandwidth portion for data transmission and radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a specific time domain resource, and uses the second bandwidth portion for the data transmission on other time domain resources other than the specific time domain resource.

In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, frequency domain resources for transmitting data are allocated in the whole system bandwidth. However, in a 5G New Radio (NR) system, a transmission bandwidth of a terminal device may only occupy a part of the system bandwidth due to greatly increased system bandwidth. For example, a network device divides the system bandwidth into a plurality of transmission bands, each transmission band is called a Bandwidth Part (BWP), and the terminal device only needs to perform data transmission in its corresponding bandwidth part.
In the 5G system, when the terminal device performs a Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement, signals from different cells, such as Synchronization Signal Blocks (SS Blocks), may be located in different frequency positions, so the terminal device needs to measure signals from different cells in different frequency positions. If the different frequency positions of SS Blocks from different cells differ greatly in the frequency domain, the terminal needs to adopt a large reception bandwidth to receive the SS Blocks of all cells simultaneously. In such case, BWP configured for data transmission by the network device to the terminal device may not meet requirements for the terminal device to perform the RRM measurement.

Data transmission method, terminal device, and network device

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


Within the context of a system of networked computers, a remote registry access manager regulates remote registry access. In some embodiments, the remote registry access manager runs on a first computer and detects attempts by processes on the first computer to remotely access a second computer's registry. The remote registry access manager determines whether attempts to remotely access the second computer's registry are legitimate. Legitimacy of a given remote access attempt may be determined based on a number of different criteria, such as whether the first computer and the second computer have an established trust relationship. If a given attempt is indeed determined to be legitimate, the remote registry access manager allows the attempt to proceed. If it is not, then the remote registry access manager blocks the attempt.

Networked computers are vulnerable to malicious computer code attacks, such as worms, viruses and Trojan horses. As used herein, "malicious computer code" is any code that enters a computer without an authorized user's knowledge and/or without an authorized user's consent.
A majority of malicious code today is targeted at computers running the Microsoft Windows® operating system, because of its market prevalence. Therefore, it is important to identify and patch security vulnerabilities in Windows®. One important security vulnerability today is the remote registry access service provided in Windows NT® family of operating systems (Windows® 2000, XP, 2003, etc.).
These versions of Windows® provide a function called RegConnectRegistry, which allows a caller on a source computer to remotely access the registry of a target computer, thus providing open remote access to the registry database on any reachable computer within a network. In order to access a remote registry, the calling process on the source computer must be owned by a user with logon privileges on the target computer. However, where this is the case, knowledge of the IP address of the target computer is all that is needed for remote registry access.
Clearly, this provides an opportunity for malicious code that has managed to infect the source computer to access highly sensitive data in registries of remote computers that the malicious code has not managed to infect. A common ability of computer worms is to be able to generate mass numbers of IP addresses within seconds. If such a worm utilizes its IP address list and attempts to access each target computer's registry remotely, the worm might be able to access many remote registries very quickly.
Once malicious code has accessed a remote registry, it can inflict damage to the target computer at will. The malicious code could, for example, read certain fields in the registry to collect sensitive information about the hardware environment, the software environment, the users of this computer, etc. The malicious code could also collect information about the installed applications, and based on that information, target a customized malicious attack of the remote computer. The malicious code could even be polymorphic, and able to generate different malicious infections based on its own evaluation of the target computer.
The malicious code could also scan different well-known areas in the registry to harvest e-mail addresses to be used for mass mailing of itself from the machine it has maliciously accessed. The worm may read the registry database to enumerate the names of the current existing shares on the target victim machine. After that it can try to access those shares directly. The worm might have enough access rights to access the target share. Otherwise, it can start to apply a brute-force attack to every remote share it was able to identify. This will confuse a local malicious code blocking engine because the worm does not have to issue certain network API calls to enumerate share names within the network.
Malicious code could also modify the "run" entry on the target computer to point to itself, or to custom malicious code that it produced specifically to attack the target computer. Malicious code with remote registry access could even modify registry entries on the target computer to disallow anti-virus programs from running when the computer restarts. The malicious code could also destroy security attributes stored in the registry to violate the integrity of the security data, and modify the system policies stored in the registry to allow or block certain actions.
Because there are so many harmful things that malicious code can do after gaining remote access to the registry database of a remote computer, what is needed are methods, systems and computer readable media for regulating remote registry access. More specifically, remote registry access should be regulatable at both the source computer and the target computer.

Regulating remote registry access over a computer network


According to an aspect, a user equipment, UE, in a suspended state in a Radio Access Network, RAN, in response to expiration of a first timer, transmits an RRCResumeRequest message. The UE receives a reject message in response to the RRCResumeRequest message. In response to the reject message, the UE starts a second timer and subsequently transmits a further RRCResumeRequest message. The further RRCResumeRequest message is received by the network during a period bounded approximately by the lesser of a duration of the second timer and a period of the periodic UE event and the greater of the duration of the second timer and the period of the periodic UE event.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an umbrella term for so-called fourth-generation (4G) radio access technologies developed within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and initially standardized in Releases 8 and 9, also known as Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). LTE is targeted at various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects commonly referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which includes Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE continues to evolve through subsequent releases that are developed according to standards-setting processes with 3GPP and its working groups (WGs), including the Radio Access Network (RAN) WG, and sub-working groups (e.g., RAN1, RAN2, etc.).
LTE Release 10 (Rel-10) supports bandwidths larger than 20 MHz. One important requirement on Rel-10 is to assure backward compatibility with LTE Rel-8. This should also include spectrum compatibility. As such, a wideband LTE Rel-10 carrier (e.g., wider than 20 MHz) should appear as a number of carriers to an LTE Rel-8 ("legacy") terminal. Each such carrier can be referred to as a Component Carrier (CC). For an efficient use of a wide carrier also for legacy terminals, legacy terminals can be scheduled in all parts of the wideband LTE Rel-10 carrier. One exemplary way to achieve this is by means of Carrier Aggregation (CA), whereby a Rel-10 terminal can receive multiple CCs, each preferably having the same structure as a Rel-8 carrier. Similarly, one of the enhancements in LTE Rel-11 is an enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (ePDCCH), which has the goals of increasing capacity and improving spatial reuse of control channel resources, improving inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), and supporting antenna beamforming and/or transmit diversity for control channel.
An overall exemplary architecture of a network comprising LTE and SAE is shown in FIG. 1. E-UTRAN 100 comprises one or more evolved Node B's (eNB), such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, and one or more user equipment (UE), such as UE 120. As used within the 3GPP standards, "user equipment" or "UE" means any wireless communication device (e.g., smartphone or computing device) that is capable of communicating with 3GPP-standard-compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN as well as UTRAN and/or GERAN, as the third-("3G") and second-generation ("2G") 3GPP radio access networks are commonly known.
As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in uplink and downlink, as well as security of the communications with the UE. These functions reside in the eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. The eNBs in the E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X1 interface, as shown in FIG. 1. The eNBs are also responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC, specifically the S1 interface to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW), shown collectively as MME/S-GWs 134 and 138 in FIG. 1.
Generally speaking, the MME/S-GW handles both the overall control of the UE and data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling protocols between the UE and the EPC, which are known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets between the UE and the EPC, and serves as the local mobility anchor for the data bearers when the UE moves between eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115.
FIG. 2A shows a high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE architecture in terms of its constituent entities—UE, E-UTRAN, and EPC—and high-level functional division into the Access Stratum (AS) and the NAS. FIG. 1 also illustrates two particular interface points, namely Uu (UE/E-UTRAN Radio Interface) and S1 (E-UTRAN/EPC interface), each using a specific set of protocols, i.e., Radio Protocols and S1 Protocols. Each of the two protocols can be further segmented into user plane (or "U-plane") and control plane (or "C-plane") protocol functionality. On the Uu interface, the U-plane carries user information (e.g., data packets) while the C-plane is carries control information between UE and E-UTRAN.
FIG. 2B illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary C-plane protocol stack on the Uu interface comprising Physical (PHY), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and Radio Resource Control (RRC) layers. The PHY layer is concerned with how and what characteristics are used to transfer data over transport channels on the LTE radio interface. The MAC layer provides data transfer services on logical channels, maps logical channels to PHY transport channels, and reallocates PHY resources to support these services. The RLC layer provides error detection and/or correction, concatenation, segmentation, reassembly and reordering of data transferred to or from the upper layers. The PHY, MAC, and RLC layers perform identical functions for both the U-plane and the C-plane. The PDCP layer provides ciphering/deciphering and integrity protection for both U-plane and C-plane, as well as other functions for the U-plane, such as header compression.
FIG. 2C shows a block diagram of an exemplary LTE radio interface protocol architecture from the perspective of the PHY. The interfaces between the various layers are provided by Service Access Points (SAPs), indicated by the ovals in FIG. 2C. The PHY layer interfaces with the MAC and RRC protocol layers described above. The MAC provides different logical channels to the RLC protocol layer (also described above), characterized by the type of information transferred, whereas the PHY provides a transport channel to the MAC, characterized by how the information is transferred over the radio interface. In providing this transport service, the PHY performs various functions including error detection and correction; rate-matching and mapping of the coded transport channel onto physical channels; power weighting, modulation; and demodulation of physical channels; transmit diversity, beamforming multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna processing; and providing radio measurements to higher layers, such as RRC.
Downlink (i.e., eNB to UE) physical channels provided by the LTE PHY include Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Relay Physical Downlink Control Channel (R-PDCCH), Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), and Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH). In addition, the LTE PHY downlink includes various reference signals, synchronization signals, and discovery signals.
Uplink (i.e., UE to eNB) physical channels provided by the LTE PHY include Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and Physical Random-Access Channel (PRACH). In addition, the LTE PHY uplink includes various reference signals including demodulation reference signals (DM-RS), which are transmitted to aid the eNB in the reception of an associated PUCCH or PUSCH; and sounding reference signals (SRS), which are not associated with any uplink channel.
The multiple access scheme for the LTE PHY is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) in the downlink, and on Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) with a cyclic prefix in the uplink. To support transmission in paired and unpaired spectrum, the LTE PHY supports both Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (including both full- and half-duplex operation) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD). FIG. 3A shows an exemplary radio frame structure ("type 1") used for LTE FDD downlink (DL) operation. The DL radio frame has a fixed duration of 10 ms and consists of 20 slots, labeled 0 through 19, each with a fixed duration of 0.5 ms. A 1-ms subframe comprises two consecutive slots where a subframe consists of slots #0 and #1. Each exemplary FDD DL slot consists of NDLsymb OFDM symbols, each of which is comprised of Nsc OFDM subcarriers. Exemplary values of NDLsymb can be 7 (with a normal CP) or 6 (with an extended-length CP) for subcarrier bandwidth of 15 kHz. The value of Nsc is configurable based upon the available channel bandwidth. Since persons of ordinary skill in the art are familiar with the principles of OFDM, further details are omitted in this description.
As shown in FIG. 3A, a combination of a particular symbol in a particular subcarrier is known as a resource element (RE). Each RE is used to transmit a particular number of bits, depending on the type of modulation and/or bit-mapping constellation used for that RE. For example, some REs may carry two bits using Quadrature Phase shift Keying (QPSK) modulation, while other REs may carry four or six bits using 16- or 64-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), respectively. The radio resources of the LTE PHY are also defined in terms of physical resource blocks (PRBs). A PRB spans NRBsc sub-carriers over the duration of a slot (i.e., NDLsymb symbols), where NRBsc is typically either 12 (with a 15-kHz sub-carrier bandwidth) or 24 (7.5-kHz bandwidth). A PRB spanning the same NRBsc subcarriers during an entire subframe (i.e., 2NDLsymb symbols) is known as a PRB pair. Accordingly, the resources available in a subframe of the LTE PHY DL comprise NDLRB PRB pairs, each of which comprises 2NDLsymb·NRBsc REs. For a normal CP and 15-KHz sub-carrier bandwidth, a PRB pair comprises 168 REs.
FIG. 3B shows an exemplary LTE FDD uplink (UL) radio frame configured in a similar manner as the exemplary FDD DL radio frame shown in FIG. 3A. Using terminology consistent with the above DL description, each UL slot consists of NULsymb OFDM symbols, each of which is comprised of Nsc OFDM subcarriers.
As discussed above, the LTE PHY maps the various DL and UL physical channels to the resources shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, respectively. For example, the PHICH carries HARQ feedback (e.g., ACK/NAK) for UL transmissions by the UEs. Similarly, PDCCH carries scheduling assignments, channel quality feedback (e.g., CSI) for the UL channel, and other control information. Likewise, a PUCCH carries uplink control information such as scheduling requests, CSI for the downlink channel, HARQ feedback for eNB DL transmissions, and other control information. Both PDCCH and PUCCH can be transmitted on aggregations of one or several consecutive control channel elements (CCEs), and a CCE is mapped to the physical resource based on resource element groups (REGs), each of which is comprised of a plurality of REs. For example, a CCE can comprise nine (9) REGs, each of which can comprise four (4) REs.
While LTE was primarily designed for user-to-user communications, 5G (also referred to as "NR") cellular networks are envisioned to support both high single-user data rates (e.g., 1 Gb/s) and large-scale, machine-to-machine communication involving short, bursty transmissions from many different devices that share the frequency bandwidth. The 5G radio standards (also referred to as "New Radio" or "NR") are currently targeting a wide range of data services including eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broad Band) and URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication). These services can have different requirements and objectives. For example, URLLC is intended to provide a data service with extremely strict error and latency requirements, e.g., error probabilities as low as 10-5 or lower and 1 ms end-to-end latency or lower. For eMBB, the requirements on latency and error probability can be less stringent whereas the required supported peak rate and/or spectral efficiency can be higher.
FIG. 4 illustrates a high-level view of the 5G network architecture, including a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) and a 5G Core (5GC). The NG-RAN can include a set of gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, whereas the gNBs can be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces. Each of the gNBs can support FDD, TDD, or a combination thereof.
The NG RAN logical nodes shown in FIG. 4 (and described in 3GPP TR 38.801 v1.2.0) include a Central Unit (CU or gNB-CU) and one or more Distributed Units (DU or gNB-DU). CU is a logical node that is a centralized unit that hosts high layer protocols and includes a number of gNB functions, including controlling the operation of DUs. A DU is a decentralized logical node that hosts lower layer protocols and can include, depending on the functional split option, various subsets of the gNB functions. (As used herein, the terms "central unit" and "centralized unit" are used interchangeably, and the terms "distributed unit" and "decentralized unit" are used interchangeability.)
The NG, Xn-C and F1 items shown in FIG. 4 are logical interfaces. For NG-RAN, the NG and Xn-C interfaces for a split gNB (e.g., consisting of a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs) terminate in the gNB-CU. Likewise, for EN-DC, the S1-U and X2-C interfaces for a split gNB terminate in the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU connects to gNB-DUs over respective F1 logical interfaces. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs are only visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB, e.g., the F1 interface is not visible beyond gNB-CU.
Furthermore, a CU can host protocols such as RRC and PDCP, while a DU can host protocols such as RLC, MAC and PHY. Other variants of protocol distributions between CU and DU exist, such as hosting the RRC, PDCP and part of the RLC protocol in CU (e.g., Automatic Retransmission Request (ARQ) function), while hosting the remaining parts of the RLC protocol in the DU, together with MAC and PHY. In some exemplary embodiments, CU is assumed to host RRC and PDCP, where PDCP is assumed to handle both UP traffic and CP traffic. Nevertheless, other exemplary embodiments may utilize other protocol splits that by hosting certain protocols in CU and certain others in the DU. Exemplary embodiments can also locate centralized control plane protocols (e.g., PDCP-C and RRC) in a different CU with respect to the centralized user plane protocols (e.g., PDCP-U).
In LTE Rel-13, a mechanism was introduced for the UE to be suspended by the network in a suspended state similar to RRC_IDLE but with the difference that the UE stores the AS context or RRC context. This makes it possible to reduce the signaling when the UE is becoming active again by resuming the RRC connection, instead of the prior approach of establishing the RRC connection from scratch. Reducing the signaling could have several benefits including reduced UE latency (e.g., for smart phones accessing Internet and reduced UE signaling), which further leads to reduced UE energy consumption, particularly for machine type communication (MTC) devices that send very little data (i.e., signaling being a primary consumer of energy).
The Rel-13 solution is based on the UE sending a RRCConnectionResumeRequest message to the network and in response, receiving an RRCConnectionResume message from the network. The RRCConnectionResume is not encrypted but is integrity protected.
As part of the 3GPP standardized work on 5G, it has been decided that NR should support an RRC_INACTIVE state with similar properties as the suspended state in LTE Rel-13. The RRC_INACTIVE state has slightly different properties in that it is a separate RRC state and not part of RRC_IDLE as in LTE. Additionally, the CN/RAN connection (NG or N2 interface) is kept alive during RRC_INACTIVE while it was suspended in LTE.
FIG. 5A is an exemplary state transition diagram showing possible transitions between RRC states in NR. The properties of the states shown in FIG. 5A are summarized as follows. At RRC_IDLE, a UE specific discontinuous reception (DRX) may be configured by upper layers, and a UE controlled mobility is based on a network configuration. The UE monitors a Paging channel for CN paging using 5G-S-TMSI, performs neighbor cell measurements and cell (re-)selection and acquires system information.
At RRC_INACTIVE, a UE specific DRX may be configured by upper layers or by the RRC layer, and UE controlled mobility is based on a network configuration. The UE: stores the AS context; monitors a Paging channel for CN paging using 5G-S-TMSI and RAN paging using I-RNTI, performs neighboring cell measurements and cell (re-)selection; performs RAN-based notification area updates periodically and when moving outside the RAN-based notification area; and acquires system information.
At RRC_CONNECTED, the UE stores the AS context, and there is a transfer of unicast data to/from the UE. At lower layers, the UE may be configured with a UE-specific DRX. For UEs supporting CA, use of one or more secondary cells (SCells), aggregated with the SpCell, for increased bandwidth. For UEs supporting DC, one secondary cell group (SCG) may be aggregated with the master cell group (MCG), for increased bandwidth. The RRC_CONNECTED state may include network controlled mobility, i.e., handover within NR and to/from E-UTRAN. The UE: monitors a Paging channel; monitors control channels associated with the shared data channel to determine if data is scheduled for it; provides channel quality and feedback information; performs neighboring cell measurements and measurement reporting; and acquires system information.
FIG. 5B shows an exemplary flow diagram, between a UE and an NR gNB, of various operations during a procedure for transition from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE. It has been agreed in 3GPP NR standardization that the transition from RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_INACTIVE is done in one step, and, may contain a timer for periodic RAN Notification Area (RNA) updates. It is assumed that the UE shall start the timer (called T380) upon receiving the RRCSuspend (or equivalent) message shown in FIG. 5B. Is also assumed that the UE shall trigger a periodic RNAU upon the expiry of T380. This is currently specified as follows in sections 22.214.171.124-4 of 3GPP TS 38.331:
188.8.131.52 Reception of the RRCSuspend by the UE
The UE shall:
1> delay the following actions defined in this sub-clause X ms from the moment the RRCSuspend message was received or optionally when lower layers indicate that the receipt of the RRCSuspend message has been successfully acknowledged, whichever is earlier;
Editor's Note: How to set the value of X (whether it is configurable, or fixed to 60 ms as in LTE, etc.).
1> if the RRCSuspend message includes the idleModeMobilityControlInfo:                2> store the cell reselection priority information provided by the idleModeMobilityControlInfo;        2> if the t320 is included:                    3> start timer T320, with the timer value set according to the value of t320;
1> else:
2> apply the cell reselection priority information broadcast in the system information;
1> store the following information provided by the network: resumeIdentity, nextHopChainingCount, ran-PagingCycle and ran-NotificationAreaInfo;
1> re-establish RLC entities for all SRBs and DRBs;
1> reset MAC;
1> except if the RRCSuspend message was received in response to an RRCResumeRequest:                2> store the UE AS Context including the current RRC configuration, the current security context, the PDCP state including ROHC state, C-RNTI used in the source PCell, the cellIdentity and the physical cell identity of the source PCell;
1> suspend all SRB(s) and DRB(s), except SRB0;
1> start timer T380, with the timer value set to periodic-RNAU-timer;
1> indicate the suspension of the RRC connection to upper layers;
1> configure lower layers to suspend integrity protection and ciphering;
1> enter RRC_INACTIVE and perform procedures as specified in TS 38.304 [21]
126.96.36.199 T380 expiry or UE entering a cell not belonging to the RNA
The UE shall:
1> if T380 expires:                2> initiate RRC connection resume procedure in 5.3.13 with cause value set to 'ffs';
1> If UE entering a cell not belonging to the RNA:                2> initiate RRC connection resume procedure in 5.3.13 with cause value set to 'ffs';
Another action related to this timer T380 is the stop criteria. In the current CR on Connection Control, the UE stops timer T380 when it expires and initiates a Resume procedure by sending an RRCResumeRequest message with cause value related to RNA (e.g. 'ma-update' or 'periodic-ma-update'). In addition to that case, the specifications also describe that the UE stops the T380 timer upon sending an RRCResumeRequest. The purpose of this procedure is to resume an RRC connection including resuming signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRB), or perform an RNA update.
FIGS. 6A-E show exemplary flow diagrams of RRC connection resume procedures involving the UE sending an RRCResumeRequest message to the network, with various network responses. FIG. 6A shows a successful RRC connection resume. FIG. 6B shows an RRCResumeRequest with fallback to RRC connection establishment, which is successful. FIG. 6C shows an RRCResumeRequest followed by network release, which is successful. FIG. 6D shows an RRCResumeRequest followed by network suspend, which is successful. FIG. 6E shows an RRCResumeRequest followed by network rejection. Each of the network responses shown in FIGS. 6B-E can be considered different ways of rejecting the RRCResumeRequest, using different messages.
The UE initiates the RRC connection resume procedure upon request of upper layers, when responding to NG-RAN paging, or upon triggering RNA updates while the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state. This is currently specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 section 22.214.171.124, as follows:
Upon initiation of the procedure, the UE shall:
1> apply the default physical channel configuration as specified in 9.2.4;
1> apply the default semi-persistent scheduling configuration as specified in 9.2.3;
1> apply the default MAC main configuration as specified in 9.2.2;
1> apply the CCCH configuration as specified in 126.96.36.199;
1> start timer T300X;
1> stop timer T380;
1> initiate transmission of the RRCResumeRequest message in accordance with 126.96.36.199 . . . .
For the scenario of RNA updates triggered with the UE is in RRC_INACTIVE state, the UE sends an RRCResumeRequest message with cause value 'rna-update' (or equivalent). In response, if the network is overloaded, it has been agreed that the network can send an RRCReject message containing a wait timer, which corresponds to the flow diagram shown in FIG. 6E. The UE's handing of the RRCReject message is currently specified as:
126.96.36.199 Reception of the RRCReject by the UE
The UE shall:
1> stop timer T314;
1> reset MAC and release the MAC configuration;
1> start timer T302, with the timer value set to the waitTime;
1> if RRCReject is sent in response to an RRCResumeResquest triggered by upper layers;
2> inform upper layers about the failure to resume the RRC connection and access control related information, upon which the procedure ends;
However, there is no specification of the actions to be taken by the UE upon receiving an RRCReject, as shown in FIG. 6E, in response to an RRCResumeRequest, triggered due to periodic RNA. For example, there is no specification of action associated with T380 timer and the RNA update functionality. In addition to that, while the specification requires the UE to "inform upper layers about the failure to resume the RRC connection and access control related information," in reality, an RNA update is handled by an RRC/AS layer rather than "upper layers."
Furthermore, since the network sends an RRCReject on signaling radio bearer zero (SRB0), the UE remains unaware of whether or not the network has updated the UE's current location based on the RNAU indicator. Hence, it is not obvious whether or not the UE should send another RNAU once the wait timer expires. Currently, the procedure for this scenario remains quite unclear. As such, there is the potential for different UE implementations producing anomalous behavior including, e.g., unnecessary signaling between the UE and network, leading to increased power consumption of the UE and network and the need to allocate scarce network resources to handle this additional signaling capacity.

Methods for handling periodic radio access network notification area (RNA) update configuration upon reject


The present invention relates to a nanoparticle for oral gene delivery, which is a novel oral gene delivery system capable of regulating blood glucose levels in biological systems and insulin secretion in response to ingested meals. More specifically, the present invention relates to a nanoparticle for gene delivery, comprising: an ionic polymer conjugated with bile acid or a bile acid derivative; and a gene; and to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same.

Gene therapy treats disease by delivering a therapeutic gene to a target organ to express a new protein in cells. The gene therapy is not to treat the symptoms of disease, but is a way to treat disease by eliminating the cause of the disease. The gene therapy has better selective therapeutic effects than general drug therapies, and can be applied for a long period of time by improving the cure rate of diseases difficult to control by other therapies.
The gene therapy is a next-generation therapeutic technology disclosed for the treatment of various diseases, but when a macromolecule such as DNA, RNA or the like is delivered into cells in an aqueous solution state, it is degraded rapidly by a specific enzyme in vivo and the intracellular deliver)/rate thereof is low. For this reason, in order to make the gene therapy effective, it is essential to develop a gene carrier that can safely deliver a therapeutic gene to a target cell so as to obtain high expression efficiency.
Gene carriers should have low or no toxicity and should be able to selectively and effectively deliver genes to targeted cells. Such gene carriers may be largely divided into viral and non-viral gene carriers.
Viral vectors use retro virus (RV), adeno virus (AV), adeno-associated virus (AAV) or the like as a gene carrier, and have higher gene delivery efficiency than non-viral vectors. However, when these viral vectors are introduced into the body, the vectors themselves cause problems such as immune responses or cancer induction. In addition, there is a limitation on the size of a gene that can be inserted into the vector.
Non-viral vectors such as polymers or nanoparticles have advantages over viral vectors in that they have a low biological risk, are non-immunogenic, can be modified, and can be produced in large amounts, and the size of genes that can be delivered by them is less limited. Due to these advantages, many studies thereon have recently been conducted. In particular, methods employing non-viral vectors such as cationic polymers have been much studied because of the simplicity of production methods or a relatively low risk. In a specific mechanism, the non-viral vector stabilizes a negatively charged gene by forming a complex through electrostatic interaction with the gene, and the complex binds to the cell surface by the electrical interaction between the positive charge on the complex surface and the negative charge on the cell surface, after which the gene is released from the endosome into the cytoplasm.
Specific examples of these cationic polymers include cationic homopolymers such as protamine, polyethyleneimine (PEI), polyamidoamine, poly-L-lysine (PLL), polyaminoester, polypropyleneimine and the like, and cationic block copolymers such as polyethylene glycol (PEG)-block-poly-L-lysine and PEG-PEI. These cationic polymers protect a gene such as DNA from enzymatic degradation by compressing the gene into a nanoparticle, and help enable the gene to penetrate rapidly into cells and allow the gene to escape from the endosome.
Most non-viral vectors have advantages, such as biodegradability, low toxicity, non-immunogenicity, the ease of use, and the like, over viral vectors, but have problems such as relatively lower transfection efficiency than viral vectors, limited particle sizes, and the like.
Polyethyleneimine (PEI), which is currently most extensively studied as a non-viral vector, also has problems, such as significantly in vivo low transfection efficiency, high cytotoxicity, and low gene expression efficiency due to low blood compatibility, and the like.
Meanwhile, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2010-0122405 discloses a nanoparticle-type amphiphilic polymer nanoparticle which is an siRNA carrier obtained by bonding an siRNA to an amphiphilic polymer nanoparticle, a complex comprising a hydrophilic polymer bonded to a hydrophobic polymer, and which is produced by bonding each of chitosan and polyethyleneimine as hydrophilic polymers to the bile acid 5-β-cholanic acid, thereby producing complexes, and then mixing the complexes with each other. In particular, the above patent document discloses that spherical self-aggregates are formed in an aqueous system due to amphiphilicity caused by the hydrophobic groups of bile acid and the hydrophilic group of chitosan and polyethyleneimine (PEI), and for this reason, strongly amphiphilic polyethyleneimine and chitosan are located on the surface of chitosan-bile acid/polyethyleneimine (PEI)-bile acid complex nanoparticles, and hydrophobic bile acid is located in the core. However, it is not accessible for clinical trials due to the serious toxicity of PEI.
Accordingly, there is an urgent need to develop a gene carrier for safe and efficient gene delivery, which has enhanced transfection efficiency while retaining the advantages of conventional non-viral vectors.
Meanwhile, diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease in which the blood glucose concentration is increased due to insufficient insulin secretion or functional abnormalities. Type 2 diabetes refers to the case in which in vivo blood glucose levels are increased without being controlled, because insulin is not properly secreted or the insulin secreted does not properly act in vivo, and type 1 diabetes refers to the case in which blood glucose levels are increased because the pancreas fails to secrete insulin. In the case of type 1 diabetes, insulin treatment is necessary. In the case of type 2 diabetes, lifestyle modification is essential, and administration of oral hypoglycemic agents may additionally be required. An eating drug is administered one to three times a day, and the administration time or side effects of the drug slightly differ depending on the time of action of the drug.
Diabetes therapies which are currently used include diet therapy, exercise therapy, sulphonylureas, biguanide-based drugs, α-glucosidase inhibitors, insulin, and the like, and various insulins and the like have been developed through many studies on the development of new drugs and have been applied to clinical practice.
Meanwhile, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a kind of insulin secretion peptide, is an incretin hormone which is secreted from the L-cells of the ileum and large intestine. The major action of glucagon-like peptide-1 is to increase insulin secretion and to inhibit hypoglycemia by glucose-dependent insulin secretion. Due to such characteristics, glucagon-like peptide-1 is applied for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, it has a very short blood half-life of about 2 minutes, and for this reason, the development of drugs using glucagon-like peptide-1 is greatly limited. Accordingly, developed and commercially available glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists include exendin-4, a glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue isolated from the salivary glands of the Gila monster. Exendin-4 has higher physiological activity than glucagon-like peptide-1 together with resistance to DPP-IV (dipeptidyl peptidase-4), and thus has an in vivo half-life of 2 to 4 hours, which is longer than that of glucagon-like peptide-1 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,286). However, it is impossible to expect the sufficient duration of physiological activity only by a method that increases resistance to DPP-IV. For example, currently commercially available exendin-4 (exenatide) should be administered twice a day to a patient through injection, and still has a disadvantage in that vomiting and nausea due to administration of exenatide impose a great burden on patients.
However, these therapeutic agents have low efficacy or the problem of causing many side effects such as liver dysfunction, hypoglycemia, lactic acidosis and the like.
Accordingly, there is a need for a diabetes therapeutic agent that reduces the adverse effects of conventional diabetes therapeutic agents, improves metabolic abnormalities, and is safe even when administered over a long period of time.
In addition, in order to solve these problems, a technology employing viral carriers has been developed. This technology is exposed to risks such as nonspecific immune responses, etc., and the production process is complicated, resulting in many problems in commercialization. Therefore, recent studies have been directed toward the use of non-viral carriers, that is, carriers based on cationic lipids or polymers. Although the efficiency of these non-viral carriers is lower than that of viral carriers, these non-viral carriers have advantages in that they are stable in vivo, are produced by an easy and simple process, and are low-priced. However, when a mixture is to be made using a polymer and a gene, formation of the mixture encounters great difficulty due to the characteristic hardness and weakly anionic nature of the gene.

Orally administered nanoparticles for gene delivery and pharmaceutical composition containing same


The present invention relates to synthetic bar compositions comprising amphoteric surfactants (e.g., betaine) in which, by using floor levels of fatty acid soap and floor ratios (minimum amounts) of saturated to unsaturated soap, enhanced processing (i.e., measured as rates of extrusion) is obtained at higher levels of amphoteric.

Traditionally, soap has been used as a skin cleanser. While soap is low in cost, easy to manufacture and lathers well, it is also very harsh on skin.
In order to alleviate the harshness of soap, synthetic bars have been used in which much of the soap is replaced with milder surfactants, e.g., acyl isethionates. Patents relating to the use of acyl isethionate and soap, therefore, are known (see U.S. Pat. No. 2.894,912 to Geitz).
It is also known to make bars which are even milder by replacing soap, isethionate or fatty acid (used primarily as structurant) with very mild surfactants such as amphoteric surfactants. Normally, however, it is extremely difficult to successfully and economically process bars containing both mild anionics and amphoterics (e.g., betaine).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,751 to Rys-Cicciari et al. does teach bar compositions comprising anionic (e.g., acyl isethionate) and betaine. The reference notes at several points that soap is preferably absent (column 6, lines 60-61; column 9, line 47) and this is confirmed by examples where soap is never used in amounts greater than 2%. While the reference suggests this is done for reasons of mildness, applicants have also previously never been able to process amounts of betaine above 1% at these low levels of soap.
Unexpectedly, applicants have found that when minimal levels of fatty acid soap (e.g., 3% and up) are used in bars comprising an anionic surfactant system, much greater levels of amphoteric (2% and up) can be readily processed than previous possible.
Applicants have further discovered that when the total content of saturated soap to unsaturated soap is greater than 1:1, process benefits (e.g., rate of plodding) are enhanced yet further. At the same time, the ability to successfully process more betaine allows introduction of much greater mildness benefit.

Enhanced processing of synthetic bar compositions comprising amphoterics based on minimal levels of fatty acid soap and minimum ratios of saturated to unsaturated soap

Lever Brothers Company, division of Conopco, Inc.


Image encoding apparatus can operate in a plane sequential encoding mode and in a dot sequential encoding mode. Furthermore, the apparatus may automatically selects any one of these encoding modes or the modes may be selected manually.

This invention relates to an image encoding apparatus, an image transmission apparatus and an image filing apparatus etc.
In order to increase the efficiency of image transmission or image storage, many image encoding methods or image compression methods are known.
These methods are generally divided into the following two categories:
(1) Information preserving type encoding, and
(2) Information non-preserving type encoding
Information preserving type encoding is mainly used for encoding an image in which the amount of data is relatively small, such as black and white binary images.
A typical information preserving type encoding is MH coding or MR coding, used to encode a black and white binary image for a facsimile transmission.
Recently, a dynamic arithmetic encoding is technique has been developed, which encodes an image while dynamically predicting a pixel.
On the other hand, the alternative information non-preserving type encoding is mainly used for encoding an image in which the amount of data is relatively large, such as a full colour image.
For example, an encoding method that converts an 8-bit R,G,B signal into a luminance signal and chrominance signal, performs an orthogonal transformation (a discrete cosine transformation) on the converted signal, quantizes the transformed signal and Huffman codes the quantized signal has been proposed.
This encoding method reduces the amount of image data by deleting high spacial frequency images and saving low spacial frequency images. Accordingly, this encoding method is lossy and non-reversible. The encoding technique is efficient but there is a trade-off in terms of image deterioration.
The information non-preserving-encoding technique has an advantage in that it can efficiently encode a colour halftone image, with only a small deterioration in image quality. However, it has a disadvantage in that significant image deterioration occurs when a colour image having high spacial frequency, such as including characters or line drawings, is encoded.
In view of these circumstances, the assignee of the present application has proposed in U.S. Ser. No. 577312 (CF07021 US. EP) an encoding method which converts a colour image, e.g. characters or line drawings, into a binary colour image and then encodes the binary colour image using information preserving-type encoding.
In this proposed encoding method, a colour image having characters or line drawings, can be efficiently encoded, without a deterioration of the image.
Not only characters or line drawings but also a binary colour image obtained by pseudo halftone processing, e.g. dither method or error diffusion method, can be efficiently encoded without deterioration of an image by using the information preserving-type encoding.
When a binary colour image is encoded by information preserving-type encoding, the above proposed method separates a binary colour image into 3 planes and encodes each of the 3 planes, invididually. Namely, 3 planes of binary colour image are encoded plane sequentially (plane sequential encoding).
However, if a printer of the receiver side is not compatible with plane sequential encoding, for example, when the printer is a dot sequential printer and not a plane sequential printer, plane sequential encoding cannot be used, unless the receiver side is capable of converting plane sequential data into dot sequential data.
On the other hand, in cases where a binary colour image is encoded dot sequentially and not plane sequentially, if the printer of the receiver side is a plane sequential printer, the dot sequential encoding cannot be used unless the receiver side is capable of converting dot sequential data into plane sequential data.
If the receiver side can accept both plane sequential encoding and dot sequential encoding, it is desirable to encode the binary colour image by a more efficient encoding technique, because the efficiencies of encoding are different from each other, even if an identical image is encoded.
When a prediction coding technique, such as dynamic arithmetic encoding, is used as the information preserving-type encoding, a binary colour image representing a character or line drawings has a strong correlation between planes, so the efficiency of encoding can be increased by predicting an image to be encoded by referring to other planes.
However, a binary colour image obtained by a pseudo halftone process, such as the error diffusion method etc. has a weak correlation between planes, so the efficiency of encoding is likely to decrease when the prediction is performed by referring to other planes.
Whether other planes are referred or not must be decided in consideration of not only the content of an image to be encoded but also the decoding function of the receiver side.
Moreover, when a single plane of an image has both line drawings and half tone image, it is difficult to decide which encoding technique, namely referring other planes or not, is the more efficient. Accordingly, if the decision whether other planes are to be referred or not can be decided without the decision of an operator, binary colour image can be encoded with the most suitable encoding method.


A centrifugal pump has a rotating shaft (1) with a centrifugal impeller (3) mounted on it. The shaft (1) and impeller (3) are mounted within a stationary casing (7) and a mechanical seal (8) is provided where the shaft (1) passes out through the casing (7). In order to cool rubbing, sealing faces (9, 11) of the seal, fluid is caused to flow along a path from a tip (6) of the impeller, through the casing (7), into a seal chamber (14), through a clearance (15) between a hub (2) of the impeller and the casing (7) and returning through a port (16) in the impeller. In order to act as a vent for and to clear debris from the seal chamber (14), the clearance is located radially outwardly of and remote from the shaft (1). Especially those parts which are moving and are subject to wear can be replaceable.

This invention relates generally to a centrifugal pump, and more particularly to a centrifugal pump providing cooling of sealing faces, clearance of debris from seal chambers, and replaceable wear parts.
Centrifugal pumps normally have to have some form of rotary seal at the point where the rotating shaft carrying an impeller passes out through a stationary casing.
The rotary seal can be in the form of a device known as a mechanical seal and mechanical seals require a certain environment in order to operate successfully.
For example, it is important to maintain sufficient pressure in the fluid surrounding the mechanical seal in order to avoid local boiling at the faces of the seal, since boiling can damage the seal and reduce life. Also, it is important to avoid suspended solids in the surrounding fluid since such solids can cause accelerated wear of the seal faces. Finally, prior to start-up, any gas needs to be vented from the immediate vicinity of the seal, i.e. in the so-called seal chamber.
Most existing designs of process pumps achieve maintenance of sufficient pressure in the surrounding fluid by provision of back-pressure clearances. Flushing flow of fluid is arranged to pass from a pump discharge of the impeller back to a suction side of the impeller via such a clearance. This creates higher pressure in and around the mechanical seal. The device to cause this to happen is often referred to as a throat bushing, which is fixed, the clearance being between the inner cylindrical face of the throat bushing and the cylindrical face of the rotating shaft.
A negative effect of known throat bushes is that while sufficient pressure is maintained in the surrounding fluid, suspended solids in the surrounding fluid are not removed and a separate vent hole must be provided to vent any gas prior to start-up. However, the cross-sectional area of the vent hole can be significant relative to the throat bush clearance. This reduces the back-pressure and also encourages wasteful extra leakage.
Any solids flowing into the seal chamber from the impeller discharge tend to get centrifuged to the walls. These solids find it difficult to escape through the throat bush clearance since they have to move against the centrifugal force field. Accordingly, there is a tendency for solids to accumulate at the seal chamber walls but whatever solids do escape could damage the shaft in the vicinity of the clearance.
Finally, it is often necessary to dismantle the pump in order to drain the seal chamber fully.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present centrifugal pumps. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.


An elongate shaft of a medical catheter including a thermoset polymeric tubular member including a skived distal portion. The skived distal portion includes a distally extending trough having a convex surface and a concave surface. A thermoplastic tubular sleeve may be positioned over at least a portion of the skived distal portion of the thermoset polymeric tubular member. In some instances, the thermoplastic tubular sleeve includes a crescent-shaped tubular portion defining a crescent-shaped lumen. The trough of the skived distal portion may extend through the crescent-shaped lumen. The thermoplastic tubular sleeve is thermally bonded to the inner and outer tubular members of a distal section of the elongate shaft at a guidewire port joint.

Single-operator-exchange (SOE) or "monorail" catheters are catheters in which only a distal portion of the catheter tracks over a guidewire. Proximal of the distal portion that tracks the guidewire, the guidewire is located exterior of the catheter shaft. Therefore, the proximal portion of an SOE catheter need not include a guidewire lumen, which would be necessary in an over-the-wire (OTW) catheter construction. An SOE catheter has advantages in that, by not tracking the guidewire over its entire length, the catheter and guidewire are more easily moved relative to one another, such as during a catheter exchange during a medical procedure. One example of an early patent in this area is U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,594 to Keith, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
One drawback of SOE catheters is the difficulty of fabrication. Construction of an SOE device typically involves securing several lengths of tubing together such that a distal portion of the SOE catheter includes an additional lumen for receiving a guidewire. A guidewire opening or port is provided to allow a guidewire to be introduced into the guidewire lumen through the guidewire port. A number of different manners of providing the guidewire port joint to a rapid exchange-type of medical device have been suggested, for example, by Fitzmaurice et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,358; Enger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,486; Estrada et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,686; and Williams et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,863. U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,863 to Williams is incorporated herein by reference. The disclosure of the Keith patent above, incorporated by reference, discloses a crimped hypotube, which is then adhesively attached to a distal polymer member having a guidewire tube and an outer tube around the guidewire tube.
Another drawback of SOE catheters is the integrity and kink resistance of the elongate shaft proximate the guidewire port joints, as well as the pushability of the various portions of the shaft. Therefore, there is an ongoing need to provide catheter constructions which enhance the performance of the catheter by providing improved pushability and kink resistance to the catheter shaft.


Provided are a method of and an system for coding a grouped zerotree wavelet image having high coding efficiency regardless of the scale of a wavelet transform. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of coding an input image to a bitstream by using a zerotree wavelet transform, the method comprises merging a plurality of adjacent zerotrees, and coding the merged zerotrees to one symbol and outputting the symbol. The method further comprises transforming the input image to a wavelet domain having a plurality of wavelet coefficients via the zerotree wavelet transform, and generating the plurality of adjacent zerotrees each having the plurality of wavelet coefficients.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for compressing a digital video signal, and more particularly, to a method of and an apparatus for coding a zerotree wavelet image based on a zero tree wavelet transform.
2. Description of Related Art
Image transmission and storage are important for Internet and multimedia services. However, since image transmission and storage systems have limited bandwidths and memories, image coding is important to the efficiency, speed, and costs of image transmission and storage systems.
Image coding standard H.263 shows reliable coding efficiency. The moving picture experts group (MPEG)-4 and joint photographic experts group (JPEG)-2000 have also introduced various coding techniques for improved coding efficiency.
In particular, in the MPEG-4 and the JPEG-2000, to achieve coding efficiency, wavelet transforms have been considered as a replacement for existing discrete cosine transforms (DCT).
In MPEG-4, coding employing the wavelet transform (hereinafter, referred to as wavelet coding) has been used in texture coding to achieve scalability. Also, in the JPEG-2000, the wavelet coding is used to maximize the coding efficiency by preventing images of various sizes, particularly, very large images, from being blocked. Blocking refers to artificial frontiers in images coding by discrete cosine transforms, such as MPEG-4 and H.263.
Embedded Zerotree Wavelet (EZW) coding (J. M. Shapiro) and Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) coding (A. Said and W. A. Pearlman) are efficient image coding techniques that attempt to eliminate blocking.
These coding techniques can organize a plurality of wavelet coefficients into one symbol, i.e., a zerotree, using a spatial location and orientation of a wavelet coefficient shown in FIG. 1 to improve compression efficiency.
However, in general, MPEG-4 and JPEG-2000 systems, which are based on a discrete wavelet transform, are limited and the number of wavelet decompositions is fixed. Thus, when the size of an image varies, or the number of wavelet decompositions varies depending on the characteristics of the image, the coding efficiencies of the MPEG-4 and JPEG-2000 systems are compromised.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for coding a grouped zerotree wavelet image having high coding efficiency irrespective of the scale of a wavelet transform.

Method and apparatus for coding digital video signal based on grouped zerotree wavelet image coding algorithm