Apparatus for performing a transgastric procedure includes an elongated tubular main access device having the first lumen with open proximal end and a side opening distal end, and a second lumen with open ends. A balloon having a wall on the outside of the device surrounds the distal end and a fluid conduit extends along the device for inflating the balloon so that when the device is inserted into a patient's esophagus and the balloon is inflated, the portion of the esophagus opposite the distal end is isolated from the remainder of the esophagus. The apparatus may also include a side access unit having an elongated flexible coaxial inner and outer tubes having proximal and distal ends and being movable relatively in the axial direction. First seals are mounted to the distal end of the outer tube, and second seals are mounted to the distal end of the inner tube, an actuator adjacent to the proxable ends of the tubes move the tubes relatively so as to vary the axial spacing the first and second seals. Various methods for using the apparatus are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a minimally invasive approach to perform transesophageal cardiovascular and mediastinal procedures. More specifically, the invention relates to implementing the concept of transesophageal access to the heart, great vessels and related structures. The invention describes devices and methods to create a transesophageal access to the heart and surrounding structures to perform a body of surgical procedures within a beating heart and on other surrounding structures.
2. Background of the Invention
The access to the human heart has always been a source of active research especially recently with the advancement in technology that has led to improved management of cardiovascular pathology. Heart disease is the leading cause of death connected to all age groups in the United States. The esophagus has a close proximity to the heart and posterior mediastinum, which has allowed the use of transesophageal fine needle aspiration and transesophageal biopsy techniques to be used extensively in recent years to obtain tissue samples. Most of the posterior mediastinal tissues are accessible for biopsy including the lungs and lymph nodes. The technique has proven to be safe and reproducible with minimal complications. The microbial flora of the human esophagus is similar to that in the pharynx, which results in no bacteremia with transesophageal puncture using needles up to 1 mm in diameter in many studies. The esophagus has never been used to access the human heart, but rather to perform procedures related to the heart due to the close anatomical proximity. A number of trials have been described as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,442 for transesophageal intracardiac pressure measurement, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,713 for using a transesophageal defibrillating system, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,952 for the use of a transesophageal electrocardial stimulator. Some trials were made to use the trachea for monitoring the heart as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,107 that describes the use of an endotracheal sensor for cardiac monitoring.
Access to the heart has always been the main determinant of the form, degree and invasiveness of therapy, which determines the ultimate success of the treatment modality. The left side of the heart is more systemically important and much less accessible than the right side for its anatomic location and the high blood pressure it generates in the systemic circulation. The spectrum of disease states that can be assessed diagnostically or therapeutically are generally more reflected on the left side of the heart. This is evident clinically in a wide range of cardiovascular pathology e.g. congestive heart failure. There is no known non-invasive method that can directly measure the pressure in any chamber of the heart. All current methods either use speed of blood flow as a non-invasive reflection of chamber pressure or they measure the pressure invasively via a catheter inside or near the chamber. The most common technique to measure the left atrial pressure is the pulmonary catheter wedge pressure method. The left atrium is a low-pressure, left-sided structure that has a special importance with regard to its mechanical and electrical properties. Unfortunately, there is no simple non-invasive way of directly measuring the left atrial pressure. Even with invasive measurement as in pulmonary artery catheterization, the measured value reflects an indirect estimation of the left atrial pressure, and thus can be inaccurate in many instances. The left atrium is also important in terms of electrophysiological mapping and ablation. The current techniques access the left atrium using a catheter indirectly from the right atrium across the inter atrial septum or in a retrograde approach through the aorta. Both techniques have their inherent side effects and complications. Thus, access to the left atrium is a described objective in order to treat a large subset of patients, such as congestive heart failure patients.
A second subset of cardiac patients in which the access to the heart is the main determinant of interventions and management are patients with congenital cardiac defects like ASD, VSD and PDA. The main pathology in most congenital cardiac defects is the presence of an unnatural conduit that shunts the blood from the right to left heart or the reverse. This overloads the side with lower pressure and any tissue or vascular bed in the shunted circuit. The pulmonary vascular bed is commonly affected by blood overflow that may lead to reversible or late irreversible pulmonary vascular hypertension. The invasiveness of the current techniques limits the early implementation of a shunt closure especially in children, which is a curative intervention if done before irreversible vascular changes. Other techniques use the catheter transvascular approach with limited success due to lack of control and torque at the end of a long flexible, narrow catheter used in the procedure.
In a third group of patients, cardiac arrhythmias are responsible for a high percentage of morbidity and mortality. Atrial fibrillation is a common and chronic disease with a prevalence of 2-3% in the United States. The disease is longstanding and mandates chronic anticoagulation as part of the treatment to prevent any embolic disease especially to the brain. Chronic anticoagulation in itself carries serious risk of internal bleeding added to the toxicity of chronic anti-arrhythmic medications used to stabilize atrial fibrillation. Recently, surgical curative techniques have been described in the literature to treat atrial fibrillation. Access to the heart has been a main determinant in the use of any of these techniques. The invasiveness of the open chest approach has limited the number of the Maze-like procedures used to radically prevent the fibrillation impulses from being conducted to the ventricles. Also, the catheter-based approach is inaccurate, tedious, time consuming (up to 12 hours) and not definitive in creating enough linear ablations to prevent impulse conduction. The thoracoscopic approach is easier than the catheter-based transvascular approach but the side access to the posterior heart limits the linearity of ablation especially around the entrance of the pulmonary veins, which results in incomplete Maze, and recurrence of disease.
The three known accesses to the heart namely, the open chest, the catheter-based transvascular, and the thoracoscopic approaches suffer from serious limitations and complications which, in turn, limit the therapeutic options for most of patients. The limitations of the current three known accesses to the human heart can be classified as follows:
1—The Open-Chest Technique:
Most cardiovascular procedures are performed by opening the chest wall either by gross sternotomy or by lateral thoracotomy. The sternotomy approach is more common than the lateral thoracotomy as it allows a greater field for the surgeon to introduce surgical devices, to control target tissues and to clamp and catheterize the aorta for induction of cardioplegia and bypass. It involves opening the sternum using a saw to cut through the bony structure. It also involves arresting the heart by cardioplegic techniques. The circulation is switched to cardiopulmonary bypass for preserving tissue perfusion. The above advantages of the sternotomy approach are offset by serious disadvantages. First, the risk of stopping the circulation with the possibility of causing marked decrease in tissue perfusion or ischemic damage that may involve vital tissues like the brain, heart or kidneys. Second, the risk of embolization of dislodged tissues in the aorta due to aortic manipulation including clamping and catheterization. The dislodged emboli can cause acute brain or peripheral ischemia. Brain damage may be permanent after an embolic event during open sternotomy approach. Even without any embolic or gross brain injury, psychometric analysis shows definite changes and cognitive defects in young healthy individuals after open-heart surgery. Third, opening the chest wall by cutting through all layers including the bony sternum with great force applied for rib retraction produces significant pain after the surgery with post surgical morbidity and, if severe, mortality. The post surgical wound care and pain may require rehabilitation in complicated cases with longer hospital stays and increased expenses. Fourth, concomitant morbid states or age extremes may adversely increase all of the above-mentioned risks.
The other two methods to access the heart are the transvascular and the thoracoscopic approaches. Both have the advantageous difference from the conventional open-chest approach in not requiring gross thoracotomy. The thoracoscopic approach may or may not involve cardioplegia and cardiopulmonary bypass. Again, these procedures have fundamental disadvantages.
2—The Transvascular Approach:
For the transvascular approach to the treatment of heat defects, the disadvantages are inherent in the fact that the procedural tools have to go through and stay in a blood vessel or a cardiac chamber. Thus, the tools can only be long, narrow, flexible catheters. This affects the controllability and the force generation at the tip of the catheter which, in turn, decreases the accuracy and precision of the procedure. The access to the heart is mainly from the right side and rarely through an aortic retrograde approach. To reach the left heart, a septostomy opening is made in the interatrial septum that decreases the control over the catheter and makes the manipulation of the catheter tip more difficult as the catheter has to pass through the narrow right atrium and the small septostomy opening. Another main limitation is the caliber of the lumen of peripheral vessels through which the catheter has to travel. This is even a more limiting factor in young children whose smaller vessels raise the risk of vessel injury that may be acute, such as intimal dissection, or chronic such as major vascular obliteration and fibrosis. In the elder population, the occurrence of peripheral fat embolization is another risk for manipulations of a catheter in the aortic lumen for procedures like coronary angiography. This may result in temporary acute or chronic ischemia to the lower or upper extremities.
In addition to vascular injury, some techniques like intracardiac mapping and ablation require the passage of large catheters to be able to deliver large energy output through large electrodes. These ablative techniques are useful in cardiac dysrrhythmias as ventricular or supraventricular tachcardias and atrial fibrillation. A number of trials to apply mapping and ablation technique through the use of the transvascular approach have been described as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,960,134, 4,573,473, 4,628,937, and 5,327,889. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,218, a technique for ablation and visualization of the intracardiac chamber through the transvascular approach is described. The small size of the vessels limits the size of catheters used in ablation techniques. That limitation gives rise to a lack of control and positionability due to the flexibility, increased distance and decreased force at the tip of such catheters.
The transvascular approach has a limited use in surgical procedures like septa defect repair by using an introductory device due to the above-mentioned limitations. A number of trials to use the transvascular approach to deliver a patch from a vein via the right heart to close a septal defect have been contemplated; see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,388; 5,334,217; 5,284,488; 4,917,089, and 4,007,743. In addition to the above-mentioned limitations, the use of patches to close a septal defect using the transvascular approach with lack of distal force at the delivery tip may result in inadequate fixation of the patch to the defect plus the inability of patch repositioning after its application to the defect site. The detachment of the patch from the defect site may lead to serious patch embolization and failure of repair. In some cases this may, in turn, require an open sternotomy to correct the failed transvascular repair.
3—The Thoracoscopic Approach:
The thoracoscopic approach provides more advantages over the transvascular approach in terms of having more control over the procedure tools, and increased precision in positioning the catheter tip to perform intracardiac procedures. The disadvantages of such an approach can be considered. The inaccessibility of the posterior aspect of the heart to the rigid scopes passed from either side of the heart, which is mandatory to create an atriostomy opening in the posterior aspect of the atrium, is a problem. This may be solved by applying a stitch to the pericardium and pulling the pericardium to rotate the heart and expose the posterior aspect. The stitch should be applied from an anterior, not side, position to have enough rotation force on the pericardium. However, due to the narrow intercostals spaces in the anterior rib aspect, it is difficult to make such a stitch which makes the posterior aspect of the heart a difficult area to access. Another limitation is the need to have a second monitoring system to assess catheter position and convey accurate measurements as the procedure is not performed under direct visual examination. Such monitoring devices make the approach more complicated, may lack accurate precision, and may need to be invasive, e.g. removal of the fourth rib for visualization, or add a potential risk of ionizing radiation exposure with CT scanning, or be cumbersome and slow with MRI scanning, adding to the complexity of the technique. Second, the limited windows between the ribs as a limiting border from above and below the access, the surrounding intercostals muscles and underlying vital structures including the lungs, pleura, nerves, and great vessels can limit the access specially in young children with narrow intercostals spaces, and patients with deformities.
The need to access multiple intercostal openings to use a plurality of thoracoscopes counteracts the main objective of the technique to be minimally invasive and may turn out to be more invasive and cause significant tissue damage as it may also require removal of the fourth rib. The need to deflate the lung to widen the surgical field adds to the invasiveness and increases the complication potential of the procedure. The inability to explore the posterior mediastinum and related structures on the posterior aspect of the heart as the catheter is advanced from an anterior position makes procedures involving the posterior aspect of the heart less accessible as in ablation around the entrance of the four pulmonary veins in the left atrium. Indeed, the thoracoscopic approach has been criticized lately by a number of studies that show numerous post-surgical complications. A number of trials to perform surgical intracardiac procedures from the thoracoscopic approach have been described, e.g. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,455; 5,924,424; 5,855,614; 5,829,447; 5,823,956; 5,814,097; 5,797,960; 5,728,151; 5,718,725; 5,713,951; 5,613,937, and 5,571,215. Closed chest coronary bypass surgery using the thoracoscopic approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,682.
None of the currently available techniques directly accesses the posterior aspect of the heart and coronary circulation or the posterior mediastinum. Recently, there has been heightened interest in minimally invasive methods of cardiac surgery that allow intracardiac or extracardiac procedures and avoid the need to crack the rib cage or stop the heart.
What are needed, therefore, are devices and methods to enable a new access to the human heart that is easily accessible, that allows access to both the interior and exterior of the heart simultaneously, with enough force and control over the procedure tools, that causes minimum tissue injury, and that can be applied to the heart, while still beating, without the need for general anesthesia. This access should allow the performance of surgical procedures like septal defect repairs, treatment of cardiac dysrrhythmias and treatment of various cardiac pathology such as valvular manipulations with a degree of success similar to the open approaches, while avoiding the complications and limitations of the above-mentioned prior techniques.

Method and apparatus for performing transgastric procedures


The present disclosure provides picture encoding and decoding methods, picture encoding and decoding devices as well as a decoder and an encoder. The picture decoding method includes: parsing a video bitstream to obtain candidate reshaping parameters from a picture-layer and/or slice-layer data unit of the video bitstream, and determining a reshaping parameter used for reshaping a reconstructed picture according to the obtained candidate reshaping parameters; and reshaping the reconstructed picture by using the reshaping parameter. The reconstructed picture is a picture obtained by decoding the video bitstream before performing the reshaping. The picture-layer and/or slice-layer data unit includes at least one of the following data units: a picture-layer parameter set and/or a slice-layer parameter set different from a picture parameter set (PPS), a parameter data unit which are included in an access unit (AU) corresponding to the reconstructed picture, slice header and a system-layer picture parameter data unit.

Currently, the International Standards Organization is developing an extension standard for a high dynamic range (HDR) video on the H.265/HEVC standard. The extension standard for the HDR proposes to use a signal processing framework of a "reshaper" to build a test model. At a source end, the reshaper processes an input HDR video into an input video (such as a standard dynamic range (SDR) video) suitable for a H.265/HEVC Main 10 Profile encoder. At a receiving end, the reshaper processes a reconstructed SDR video decoded by the H.265/HEVC Main 10 Profile decoder into the HDR video by using an operation inverse to the operation of the source end. Meanwhile, if the HDR video and the SDR video use different color gamuts (the HDR video uses a larger color gamut), then a conversion on the color gamut of the video will also be involved in the operations of the reshaper at the source end and the receiving end.
To support the above signal processing framework, the International Standards Organization has extended the H.265/HEVC to encode and transmit information used to guide the operation of the reshaper at the receiving end in a parameter set structure. Alternatively, parameters of conversion characteristics of the HDR video are encoded and transmitted in an extension of a sequence parameter set (SPS), and parameters used for reshaping the operation of the reshaper at the receiving end are encoded and transmitted in an extension of a picture parameter set (PPS). At the receiving end, after the decoder reconstructs a picture, a reshaping operation is performed on the reconstructed picture according to the parameters in the parameter set, so that the reconstructed picture is converted into the HDR picture.
In the above method, in a slice decoding process, the parameter set which is referred to by a slice directly or indirectly by a parameter set identifier is activated, and a slice is decoded by using an information parameter in the parameter set. An activated SPS is in effect for the entire coded video sequence (CVS), that is, the same SPS is used in the slice decoding processes in the same CVS. An activated PPS is in effect for a picture, that is, the same PPS is used for decoding slices in a picture. Corresponding to an encoding process, the slice in the same CVS need to refer to the same SPS, and the information parameter in the SPS is constant in the encoding process of the CVS; the slices in the same picture need to refer to the same PPS, and parameter information in the PPS is constant in the picture encoding process.
Conversion processes of the dynamic range and the color gamut will bring irreversible information loss. Actual measurement shows that compared with an original HDR video, there may be visible distortions such as loss of texture details, color distortion, and the like, in the HDR video reconstructed by the receiving end by using the reshaper with the aforementioned signal processing framework, and these visible distortions are related to a compression rate of the video by using the H.265/HEVC encoder. In general, the higher the compression ratio is (i.e., the lower the encoding rate is), the greater the distortion due to lossy compression in a decoded video is, and the HDR video outputted by the reshaper after the decoded video is processed includes more texture and color distortions. Accordingly, according to factors such as source characteristics of the HDR video and lossy compression characteristics of the encoder, dynamically adjusting the parameter of the reshaper in the encoding process of the HDR video may effectively improve the subjective viewing quality of the reconstructed HDR video at the receiving end.
The PPS theoretically provides a mechanism for adaptive adjustment of the encoding parameter in a picture layer, and the picture adaptive adjustment of the reshaper may be implemented by setting the PPS separately for each picture. However, the parameter of the reshaper is encoded in the extension of the PPS, so when the parameter of the reshaper is adjusted for each picture, it is necessary to repeatedly encode other encoding parameters in the PPS that do not need to be adjusted. These repeated encoding parameters will bring about relatively high bit encoding overhead.
In view of poor viewing quality of the video and high encoding overhead of the reshaping parameter in the related art, no effective solution has been proposed yet.

Picture decoding and encoding methods and apparatuses, decoder, and encoder


A computer security system includes a test management system and associated communication architecture that enables creation of customized tests of computer security application features. A server stores a test script in a custom scripting language. The test script includes a set of control statements that may be organized in a decision tree to control facilitation of the test. Clients poll the server to independently obtain and execute the control statements. Execution of the control statements control which clients participate in a test, which feature will be tested in the test, and what telemetry data will be collected from the clients to evaluate the test. The server evaluates the telemetry data to determine an outcome of the test and determines whether to further distribute or roll back the tested feature based on the test outcome. The testing can be utilized to rapidly and robustly deploy features that will enhance computer security.

Computer security applications must be highly adaptable to respond to frequently changing threats. For example, detection rules may be frequently updated as new malware is discovered. Furthermore, it may be desirable to frequently adapt behavior of security applications in response to varying networking conditions, operating system state, or user interactions. Additionally, it is beneficial to test user responses to changes in the user interface or user messages to determine if such changes affect the user's engagement and utilization of the computer security application in a manner that may impact computer security.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dynamic communication architecture for testing computer security application features


In order to safeguard a hazardous area, in particular the hazardous area of an automatically operating machine, images of the hazardous area are recorded with at least a first and a second image recording unit that are arranged offset from one another. The images of the scene are subjected to three-dimensional scene analyses using different three-dimensional scene analysis methods, and the hazardous area is safeguarded when at least one of the scene analysis methods detects a foreign object.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for safeguarding a hazardous area, in particular the hazardous area of an automatically operating machine. In more detail, the invention relates to such a method and such a device using at least a first and a second image recording unit for recording at least two images of the hazardous area.
Hazardous areas, in particular hazardous areas of machines and industrial plants, are usually safeguarded so far by using light barriers, light curtains or laser scanners, often in combination with additional mechanical barriers. However, such protective measures require complicated installation and adjustment. In addition, these protective measures are not very flexible when it is desired to adapt the safeguarding of the hazardous area to different operational situations.
In order to overcome these disadvantages, attempts have been made for some time to safeguard a hazardous area by means of an image recording unit, typically a digital camera, and by means of intelligent image evaluation methods. Reference is made in this regard to DE 199 38 639 A1, by way of example. This reference discloses a device for safeguarding a hazardous area wherein a virtual barrier is generated in front of the hazardous area by means of the image recording unit and by means of an artificial, "cooperative" target. Breaking through the barrier can be detected with the image recording unit in the same way as in the case of a light barrier. If appropriate, the machine from which the hazard originates is switched off thereupon or put into a non-hazardous state in some other way.
Although this known device is already substantially easier to install and exhibits a higher level of flexibility than conventional light barriers etc., it is still a disadvantage that installation measures are required with the "cooperative target" in the area of the machine to be safe guarded.
A device having two image recording units arranged at a spacing from one another is disclosed by DE 197 09 799 A1. The images, which are supplied to an evaluation unit from the two image recording units, are subjected to a stereo image analysis in order to obtain a three-dimensional image of the hazardous area. The three-dimensional image is subsequently compared with a three-dimensional reference model in order to detect foreign objects, i.e. objects located inadmissibly in the hazardous area. However, it has emerged from practical experiments with a comparable arrangement that the reliability of detection with which the foreign objects can be detected in the hazardous area is inadequate. This applies at least to the extent that such a device is to be used for protecting persons from automatically operating machines. Extremely short reaction times (in the range of 30 ms) and a virtually one hundred percent reliability of detection are required for such an application.
A similar device and a corresponding method are also disclosed by EP 1 061 487 A1, and what has been said above with regard to the disadvantages also applies here.
DE 198 09 210 A1 discloses a device and a method for monitoring what is called a scene. The scene is recorded with a single image recording unit and compared with a reference image. Individual points inside the scene are specifically illuminated by means of a light source in order to obtain a marking or individualization when recording the image. However, this method has the disadvantage that the illumination of the scene, thus of the hazardous area in the specific case of application, causes susceptibility to faults owing to the incursion of scattered extraneous light. Faults owing to extraneous light can occur, in particular, in industrial production environments, for example with welding robots or with large brake presses.

Method and device for safeguarding a hazardous area


A liquid pumping apparatus comprising a rotor housing, a rotor having at least one roller, to be rotated by a prime mover, an inner periphery wall of the rotor housing, a flexible tube to be inserted into a gap formed between the rotor and the inner periphery wall and squeezed when the rotor is rotated so as to transfer a liquid fed into the tube, and a deformable guide for guiding the flexible tube in a moving path of the roller. At least one portion of the inner periphery wall is movable so as to approach or separate from the rotor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid pumping apparatus, and more particularly, relates to a liquid pumping apparatus for pumping a liquid, such as chemicals or blood etc. into a human body by revolving rollers rotated by a prime mover to compress a flexible tube to thereby force the liquid through the flexible tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A liquid pumping apparatus, wherein a flexible tube is inserted into a clearance formed between a fixed inner periphery wall and revolving rollers to compress the flexible tube and thereby force a liquid through the flexible tube is described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 268887/86, for example.
However, in such prior art, it is necessary to slowly insert the flexible tube into the clearance while rotating a rotor having the rollers, because the clearance is so small that the flexible tube is collapsed fully. Accordingly, installation of the flexible tube requires an undesirable amount of time and labor.
Further, it is necessary to use a large force for removing the flexible tube from the small clearance formed between the fixed inner periphery wall and the revolving rollers, so that the flexible tube is liable to be damaged.
In case that guide rollers are provided on the outer peripheral surface of the rotor in order to guide the flexible tube in a moving path of the rollers, the flexible tube is contacted and damaged by the guide rollers when the flexible tube is inserted into the clearance.

Roller-type liquid pumping apparatus with improved installation capability


A tire air pressure monitoring system includes a tire air pressure detecting device mounted to each tire of a vehicle having a transmitting section configured to wirelessly transmit necessary data including the tire air pressure data measured by a pressure detecting section at a prescribed interval, and an tire air pressure alarm control device that are mounted in the vehicle and configured to receive the wireless signal transmitted from the tire air pressure detecting device. A transmission control section of the tire air pressure detecting device is configured to initiate a generally continuous transmission at a continuous transmission interval that is shorter than the prescribed interval when the tire air pressure decreases by an amount equal to or greater than a prescribed amount within a prescribed time, and to terminate the generally continuous transmission when the tire air pressure alarm control device is capable of reception of the wireless signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a tire air pressure monitoring system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a tire air pressure monitoring system in which a tire air pressure decrease alarm is issued when tire air pressure data wirelessly transmitted by a transmitting device coupled to each tire of a vehicle indicates a tire pressure is equal to or less than a prescribed pressure.
2. Background Information
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-334328 discloses a conventional tire air pressure monitoring system, which has recently been used by vehicle manufacturers. Such conventional tire air pressure monitoring system is configured and arranged to measure the tire air pressure by a pressure sensor installed in each tire of a vehicle, to convert the measured values into digital data, and to wirelessly communicate the data with a receiving system installed in the vehicle by using a high frequency transmission circuit after performing AM modulation or FM modulation to the data. The conventional tire air pressure monitoring system manufactured in Japan usually uses a frequency of 315 MHz for transmitting the data between the tire air pressure sensor and the receiving system.
The radio broadcasting regulations in one country may be different from the radio broadcasting regulations in the other country. Thus, a maximum frequency legally allowed to be used in transmission in one country may be different from a maximum frequency allowed in another country. For example, radio broadcasting regulations enacted in North American allow for a higher maximum output value in radio waves than the maximum output value allowed under Japanese radio broadcasting regulations. Therefore, if the conventional tire air pressure monitoring system is installed in a vehicle manufactured in Japan for exporting to North America, then the conventional tire air pressure monitoring system would have an output value from the high frequency circuit that complies with the output value established under the radio broadcasting regulations of North America. However, operating such configured conventional tire air monitoring system in Japan would violate Japanese radio broadcasting regulations. Therefore, the vehicle manufactures usually suspend transmissions from the tire air pressure sensor (transmitter) after installing the tire air pressure monitoring system in the vehicle in Japan. Then, the vehicle is exported to North America. When the vehicle arrives in a pier or wharf of North America, or a dealer or retail service station in North America, the each tire air pressure sensor is started up by using special startup tools. Alternatively, the tire air pressure sensor is started by rapidly decreasing the tire air pressure by releasing the tire air pressure which is kept in a high pressure in transit during exportation. The tire air pressure sensor detects the rapid change in the tire air pressure, and starts up the system from a resting state to a normal state.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved tire air pressure monitoring system. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


The present invention is a separation nut for fastening and releasing a threaded bolt under remote or manual controls. The preferred embodiment of the present invention separation nut includes a housing, a base, a ramp which is fitted into the base, and a three-piece segmented threaded nut placed on top of the ramp and enclosed by a three-piece segmented spool, which is in turn bounded by a restraining wire. The three-piece segmented threaded nut and the three-piece segmented spool are held in place by a spring biased plunger. Anti-rotation pins are employed for preventing rotation of the segmented nut. A release pin is provided for inhibiting the restraining wire from releasing the segmented spool. The release pin is connected to a flexible shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of structural separation mechanisms. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of manually or remotely controlled fasteners utilizing a segmented threaded nut for releasibly engaging a threaded bolt.
2. Description of The Prior Art
Separation nuts are widely used in manufacturing and construction industries. The main purpose of utilizing separation nuts is to fasten threaded bolts in a quick releasible manner. Such separation nuts are traditionally known as "quick nuts". The following prior art references are relevant to the field of the present invention:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 2,489,613 issued to Beswick on Nov. 29, 1949 for "Quick Action Nut" (hereafter "the Beswick Patent").
2. U.S. Pat. No. 2,576,579 issued to Donovan on Nov. 27, 1951 for "Cone Grip Lock Nut" (hereafter "the Donovan Patent").
3. U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,187 issued to Zahodiakin on Dec. 8, 1964 for "Quick Locking Fastener With Single Movable Jaw" (hereafter "the Zahodiakin Patent").
4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,266 issued to Batten on Oct. 24, 1989 for "Releasable High Torque Fastener" (hereafter "the Batten Patent").
5. U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,961 issued to Weis on Jun. 5, 1990 for "Quick Lock And Release Fastener" (hereafter "the Weis Patent").
The Batten Patent discloses an easily releasable fastener specially designed for high torque applications. The Batten Patent fastener comprises a washer, a nut and a retaining ring. The nut has three threaded segments all retained by the retaining ring. A threaded bolt can be threaded into the three-segmented nut, and the retaining ring acts to keep the fastener as a unit. The Batten Patent also comprises a retractor for removing the retaining ring to release the bolt. The Batten Patent has disclosed the feature of utilizing a three-segmented nut. However, the retaining ring of the Batten Patent is a unitary piece which can only be manually removed with the retractor.
The Weis Patent discloses a quick lock and release fastener. The Weis Patent fastener comprises a split threaded nut operable within a drive plate and an operating head fixed with the drive plate. The split nut and the drive plate have cam engagement for constriction into threaded engagement and alternate separation with a bolt. A semi-circular compression spring is provided for facilitating the separation of the two segments of the split nut. The Weis Patent also has not disclosed any segmented retaining means which can be automatically fastened or released through the function of a retaining wire.
The Beswick Patent discloses a quick action nut having a three-segment internal nut contained in an outer member or housing. Each segment of the split nut is independently engaged with a spring biased pin. The segments of the split nut further have outer ribs which are engageable with the inner grooves of the housing. Again, the Beswick Patent has not disclosed the feature of utilizing segmented retaining means for facilitating automatic fastening or releasing of an installed threaded bolt.
The Donovan Patent discloses a quick grip lock nut utilizing a three-segmented nut adapted to secure the skin of airplane wings.
The Zahodiakin Patent discloses a quick locking nut with a self-contained coil spring for biasing a movable clamping jaw.
It can be seen that many prior art quick nuts have utilized a segmented threaded nut. Typically, the segmented threaded nut includes three threaded segments. To retain a threaded element such as a threaded bolt, the threaded segments are tightened together by various means, including a circular sleeve, a cam disc, a biasing spring, etc. To release the threaded bolt, the threaded segments are loosened. Traditional separation nuts are often released by manual and local operations.
However, in many situations such as in aerospace applications, it is often required that the releasing of the separation nuts be manually and remotely controlled. One type of separation nut used in the aerospace industry utilizes explosive initiators such as squibs for a remotely controlled release, and are known as "explosive separation nuts". However, in many aerospace apparatus such as satellites, it is highly desirable to employ separation nuts which utilize a quick and easy fastening and releasing of the releasing mechanism because the separation nuts are located very close to highly sensitive electronic modules.
Another requirement in aerospace applications is that the initiation or release of the retaining wire must create no shock to the system. The prior art explosive device often creates a pyrotechnic shock wave to the system, and therefore is highly undesirable.
In addition to the requirement that the separation be performed in a wire-wrapped segmented spool, the separation nuts used in aerospace applications must also satisfy other critical requirements. For example, the separation nuts often need to be very small (such as less than one inch long) and very lightweight (such as a few ounces), but must be able to tolerate a very high tensile load (such as up to ten thousand pounds). Therefore, it is highly desirable to have a very efficient and also very effective design and construction of a new separation nut which can be used in various applications, particularly in the aerospace industry.


A magnetic head slider has a protective film which forms, at a portion of an air bearing surface nearer to the air incoming side from the center, a hill-shaped crown of a desired height sufficient in terms of the mechanical durability of the protective film by a variation of the film thickness of the protective film and which is flat with a film thickness of 10 nm or less on the air outgoing side at which a magnetic head element is provided. This protective film may be a diamond-like carbon film (DLC) or a single layer structure of polycrystalline Si or else a layered structure of a combination of them.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic head for use with a magnetic disk storage apparatus, and more particularly to a magnetic head slider for a magnetic head and a production method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recording density of a magnetic disk storage apparatus has exhibited a significant augmentation in recent years. Particularly, the technique of reducing magnetic spacing between a magnetic head element and a magnetic recording medium, which augments the track recording density, has exhibited a progress, and a magnetic disk apparatus which incorporates a magnetic head of a very low flying type whose flying height is 30 nm or less has been put into practical use.
However, while such reduction in flying of a magnetic head brings an increase of the track recording density, an apparatus of a so-called contact start stop system hereinafter referred to as CSS system which is employed widely in hard disk apparatus and wherein starting and stopping are performed while the magnetic head remains in contact with the magnetic disk has a problem in that, if a magnetic disk surface is formed very smooth as a mirror surface and the magnetic head is left in close contact with each other for a long time, then the magnetic head tends to stick to the magnetic disk surface. The head sticking degrades the mechanical durability and the reliability of the magnetic disk apparatus.
One solution for this problem is to provide a protective film on an air bearing surface of a magnetic head slider. For example, it is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 63-2-8912, November 1988 to fluoridate an air bearing surface of a magnetic head slider made of glassy carbon to produce a graphite fluoride layer so that the wear of the magnetic recording medium is suppressed and a starting failure or a stick slip phenomenon which arises from the head sticking to the medium is prevented by a good solid lubrication characteristic of the graphite fluoride layer.
Further, in expectation of a similar effect, a magnetic head has been put into practical use wherein a carbon film is provided on an air bearing surface of a slider by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method or a sputtering method.
Meanwhile, in order to prevent sticking between the surface of a magnetic disk medium and a slider when a magnetic disk apparatus is inoperative, an air bearing surface of the magnetic head slider is formed convex called crown. The convex forming work is usually performed by mechanical polishing such as lapping as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-358378, December, 1992.
Also the following methods have been proposed for the crown forming other than mechanical polishing.
1) A method wherein a groove is provided at a portion on the opposite side of an air bearing surface by mechanical working and a crown shape is formed making use of a difference in working distortion arising from the position, the shape, the dimension or some other factor of the groove as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-267822, October, 1989 or another method wherein a crown is formed making use of a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between an organic resin filled in a groove and a slider material as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-6475, January, 1987.
2) A method wherein a piezoelectric element is securely mounted on a rear surface to an air bearing surface of a slider and a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element to deform the slider to form a crown as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-166382, June, 1989 and so forth.
3) A method wherein a protective thin film is provided on an air bearing surface of a slider and the film thickness of the slider protective film is varied continuously such that a central portion of a slide rail in a longitudinal direction may project by a predetermined extent to shape the air bearing surface into a crown shape.
However, the magnetic head slider protective film has the following problems.
In order to reduce the magnetic spacing for increasing the magnetic recording density, the slider protective film is preferably formed as thin as possible, but in order to assure the mechanical durability, it is effective to form the protective film as thick as possible. In this manner, in the slider protective film, the two factors for increasing the recording density and the assurance of the durability have a trade-off relationship to each other. Accordingly, in order to solve this relationship, the protective film should be formed with such thickness that it has a comparatively great thickness in the region of the air bearing surface which contacts with and slides on the magnetic disk surface with a high probability and creates a factor which defines the mechanical durability, but has a comparatively small thickness in the region of the magnetic head element which creates a factor which defines the recording density.
As a solution for this problem, a method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-65527 mentioned hereinabove wherein a protective film is provided on an air bearing surface of a slider and, upon formation of the protective film, the film thickness is controlled to vary continuously by opening/closing of a shutter to form a crown shape on the air bearing surface.
However, the last-described method still has some problems as follows.
Generally, since a carbon type thin film used for a slider protective film has a coefficient of static friction with the surface of a magnetic disk, the probability that the slider may stick to the disk surface to put the magnetic disk apparatus into a starting disabled condition is high. Further, a protective film of the carbon type provided on a magnetic head slider requires a crown amount larger than that of another magnetic head slider without a protective film. Further, where the film thickness of a protective film is controlled by opening/closing of a shutter upon film formation, there is a problem in controllability in film thickness or mass productivity.
Further, where a crown shape is formed on the full area of an air bearing surface, the crown shape is restricted in order to minimize the flying height of a magnetic head element. For example, the crown amount is limited such that, with a slider of 50% or called "nano" (2 mm long.times.1.6 mm wide.times.0.5 mm high), a central portion of the air bearing surface remains within the range of 30 to 50 nm from the opposite ends of the air bearing surface, and with another slider of 30% or called "pico" (1.2 mm long.times.1 mm wide.times.0.3 mm high), a central portion of the air bearing surface remains within the range of 10 to 30 nm from the opposite ends of the air bearing surface. Besides, since not only this crown amount is insufficient for reduction of sticking but also the film thickness of the protective film is limited to this thickness, it is difficult to improve the durability.
Further, the problem when producing a crown by mechanical polishing or grooving resides in the shape itself and the working accuracy of the crown. In particular, since the working shape is limited, forming a crown of a complicated shape, wherein a convex shape is formed partially in an air bearing surface while the other part is formed flat, is impossible as far as it relies upon mechanical polishing or grooving.
Furthermore, if the desired crown height is set, for example, to 30 nm, then the standard deviation of the crown height by conventional mechanical polishing is 7 to 8 nm. On the other hand, a remarkable increase in recording density of a magnetic disk apparatus in recent years strongly requires smoothing of the surface of a magnetic disk and reduction of the flying height of a magnetic head slider. However, as the smoothness of the magnetic disk surfaces increases, the magnetic head slider increases its sticking to the disk surface. In other words, the coefficient of static friction between the magnetic head slider and the magnetic disk surface tends to increase. Therefore, for the crown amount which is an important factor which dominates sticking, a working accuracy of a higher level than ever, that is, the standard deviation of less than 2 nm for the average crown height of 30 nm, is required. Accordingly, in the present situation, this working accuracy cannot be satisfied with the crown working method which is based on mechanical polishing or grooving.
Meanwhile, the method of applying a voltage to a piezoelectric element securely mounted on a rear surface of a slider to form a crown is disadvantageous in terms of the production cost or the productivity since fixed mounting of the piezoelectric element and a voltage driving and controlling circuit are required separately.

Method of producing magnetic head slider of the flying type having a protective coating


A medical device delivery system includes an inner shaft having a proximal end and a distal end, a support shaft having a proximal end and a distal end and an articulating assembly disposed between the inner shaft and the support shaft. The support shaft is sized for insertion into the circulatory system of a patient. The articulating assembly includes a first portion at the distal end of the inner shaft and a second portion at the proximal end of the support shaft. The first portion is pivotable relative to the second portion to change orientation of the support shaft relative to the inner shaft.

The present disclosure relates in general to heart valve replacement and, in particular, to collapsible prosthetic heart valves. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to devices and methods for positioning collapsible prosthetic heart valves within a native annulus.
Prosthetic heart valves that are collapsible to a relatively small circumferential size can be delivered into a patient less invasively than valves that are not collapsible. For example, a collapsible valve may be delivered into a patient via a tube-like delivery apparatus such as a catheter, a trocar, a laparoscopic instrument, or the like. This collapsibility can avoid the need for a more invasive procedure such as full open-chest, open-heart surgery.
Collapsible prosthetic heart valves typically take the form of a valve structure mounted on a stent. There are two common types of stents on which the valve structures are ordinarily mounted: a self-expanding stent or a balloon-expandable stent. To place such valves into a delivery apparatus and ultimately into a patient, the valve must first be collapsed or crimped to reduce its circumferential size.
When a collapsed prosthetic valve has reached the desired implant site in the patient (e.g., at or near the annulus of the patient's heart valve that is to be replaced by the prosthetic valve), the prosthetic valve can be deployed or released from the delivery apparatus and re-expanded to full operating size.

Alignment of an implantable medical device

St. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, Inc.


A lithium secondary battery that has a battery cell structure, with improved electrochemical stability between an electrode and an electrolyte. In addition, the lithium secondary battery improves ion conductivity while applying a solid electrolyte. More specifically, a lithium secondary battery comprising a separator formed by an electrolyte between the cathode and the anode, wherein a composite coated layer of lithium-lanthanum-titanate (LixLayTiO3) and lithium-lanthanum-zirconium-oxide (Li7La3Zr2O12) is formed on the interface of the anode and the electrolyte.

(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to, in a lithium secondary battery, a battery cell structure, which has electrochemical stability between an electrode and an electrolyte, and improves ion conductivity while applying a solid electrolyte.
(b) Background Art
Generally, Lithium Ion Batteries have been applied to portable information technology (IT) electrical devices and small electronic devices due to their high energy density per unit weight and their easiness of design. And recently, the batteries have been developed in larger sizes and applied as a power source for electric cars and a power source for storage of electric power according to development of alternative energy sources.
Among the lithium ion batteries, the lithium secondary battery is composed of the cathode and the anode, an electrolyte and a separator, and when discharging, oxidation occurs by deintercalation of lithium ions in the anode and reduction occurs by intercalation of the lithium ions in the cathode. Further, when charging, oxidation occurs by deintercalation of the lithium ions in the cathode and reduction occurs by intercalation of the lithium ions in the anode. Furthermore, the electrolyte does not show conductivity to electrons but only shows ionic conductivity, and is configured to transfer the lithium ions between the cathode and the anode.
In the lithium secondary battery, the lithium ion intercalated into the electrode becomes a medium storing electrical energy in the electrode by forming charge neutralization with electrons coming into the electrode. Accordingly, the amount of the ion intercalated into the electrode to form the charge neutralization controls the amount of the electrical energy, that can be stored in the battery. Basic performances of the lithium secondary battery such as operating voltage and energy density are determined by the materials making the cathode and the anode, but to obtain increased battery performances, the electrolyte intercalated between the anode and the cathode should have increased ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, thermal stability and the like. In consideration of the reduction with the anode and the oxidation with the cathode, the electrolyte should be electrochemically stable in the corresponding electric potential range.
In the past, lithium salts and organic solvents were mainly used as components of the electrolyte, but when using the said liquid electrolytes, the risk of battery explosion under high temperature and high voltage circumstances increased. Accordingly, a solution applying a solid electrolyte instead of the conventional liquid electrolyte has been developed, but when applying the solid electrolyte, the battery was electrochemically instable and the electrical conductivity of the lithium ion decreased.
The description provided above as a related art of the present invention is just for helping understanding the background of the present invention and should not be construed as being included in the related art known by those skilled in the art.

Lithium secondary battery cell structure


The invention relates to wavelength converters for optical signals, as used in telecommunications, in particular for routing signals. The invention relates in particular to a wavelength converter including an interferometer structure for delivering an output optical signal, in which converter first and second branches, including at least one first semiconductor optical amplifier, are coupled to input peripheral semiconductor optical amplifiers and/or to an output peripheral semiconductor optical amplifier, wherein the structure of the active waveguide of at least one peripheral amplifier is so designed that it has a ratio of active area to confinement factor greater than that of the active waveguide of said first amplifier.

Such changes in wavelength are used in particular to solve problems of conflict when routing signals.
In such converters, the information is often in the form of binary data represented by pulses modulating an optical carrier wave. A binary value is thus determined as a function of the amplitude (or power) level of the modulated lightwave.
During transmission, the signal can be subjected to degradation that makes it more difficult for receivers to detect the high levels and the low levels of the received signal.
In the amplitude domain, the quality of an optical signal is usually defined by at least two parameters: the signal-to-noise ratio and the extinction ratio.
The signal-to-noise ratio is defined as the ratio of the optical power of the signal to the noise power in a wavelength band including the wavelength of the carrier of the signal.
The extinction ratio is defined as the power ratio corresponding to the high levels of the signal divided by the low levels of the signal. This ratio must be high enough in spite of variations in the input signal.
One common way of making a wavelength converter consists in using an interferometer structure of the Mach-Zehnder type or of an equivalent type.
Such an interferometer structure is shown in FIG. 1. It is made up of two guiding branches 1 and 2. At least one of the branches is provided with a semiconductor optical amplifier OA.sub.1. In general, for reasons of symmetry, it is preferable to place a second semiconductor optical amplifier OA.sub.2 on the other branch 2 as well. The presence of the second semiconductor optical amplifier OA.sub.2 makes it possible to retain substantially the same amplification level in both of the branches of the structure, and therefore to have substantially identical power levels at the outputs of the branches of the interferometer.
A first coupler K.sub.1 makes it possible to couple one end of each of the branches to a peripheral semiconductor optical amplifier, also referred to as an "input" amplifier, OA.sub.5. A laser source 7 makes it possible to deliver an output carrier wave M of wavelength .lambda..sub.s to the peripheral amplifier OA.sub.5.
A second coupler K.sub.2 is disposed so as to couple the other end of the first branch 1 to another input peripheral semiconductor optical amplifier OA.sub.4. The coupler K.sub.2 enables an input signal E to be fed into the first amplifier OA.sub.1, the input signal being of wavelength .lambda..sub.e and having been amplified by the input amplifier OA.sub.4.
A third coupler K.sub.3 connected to the coupler K.sub.2, to the second amplifier OA.sub.2, and to another peripheral semiconductor optical amplifier OA.sub.3 for output purposes, is disposed so as to deliver an output signal S resulting from coupling of the auxiliary waves AM.sub.1, and AM.sub.2 delivered by respective ones of the first and second amplifiers OA.sub.1 and OA.sub.2. The waves AM.sub.1, and AM.sub.2 correspond to the waves M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 output by the coupler K.sub.1 and amplified by respective ones of the amplifiers OA.sub.1 and OA.sub.2. The output signal S, of wavelength .lambda..sub.s, is then amplified by the output peripheral amplifier OA.sub.3.
Another peripheral amplifier OA.sub.6 is also provided to keep the structure symmetrical and to enable either one of the amplifiers OA.sub.3 or OA.sub.4 to be replaced in the event of amplifier failure.
Currents I.sub.1 and I.sub.2 are injected into respective ones of the amplifiers OA.sub.1 and OA.sub.2 via electrodes E.sub.1 and E.sub.2. The output signal S results from the waves AM.sub.1, and AM.sub.2 interfering constructively or destructively, depending on the phase difference between the two branches of the interferometer.
To obtain effective wavelength conversion, the saturation power threshold of such an interferometer structure is set relatively low, which is favorable to conversion in the branches of the Mach-Zehnder structure but is unfavorable to the extinction ratio in the output amplifier. When the power of the signal that arrives at K.sub.3 (FIG. 1), for example, exceeds the saturation threshold, which is low, high level gain becomes smaller than low level gain, so that the high levels of the output signal S are compressed, and the signal is therefore distorted. Such distortion may also occur on the input signal E, or on the output carrier wave M. Unfortunately, if the input signal E is distorted, or if the output carrier wave M is distorted, then the output signal S is also degraded, and the extinction ratio of the interferometer structure is reduced.

Wavelength converter for binary optical signals


A code signal representing a sequence of code symbols carrying digital information is generated with the frequency components of the code signal being essentially confined to a preselected signalling band lying within the bandwidth of an audio signal within which the code signal is to be embedded. The audio signal is continuously frequency analyzed over a frequency band encompassing the signalling band and the code signal is dynamically filtered as a function of the analysis thereby to provide a modified code signal with frequency components which are, at each time instant, essentially a preselected small proportion of the levels of the corresponding audio signal frequency components. Accordingly, the modified code signal can be combined with the audio signal to obtain a composite audio signal which is not readily distinguishable from the original audio signal by listening. Furthermore, the digital information can be recovered from the composite audio signal by a procedure which is essentially the compliment of that used to obtain the composite audio signal.

The present invention relates to an-embedded signalling system and more particularly, to a system for embedding a code signal in an audio signal in a manner such that the composite signal is not readily distinguishable from the original audio signal by listening and in a manner such that the code signal cannot be readily removed or obscured without simultaneously degrading the quality of the audio signal.
There are numerous reasons for providing a system or means for readily identifying the source of an audio signal. In the music and recording industries in particular, such a system is desired
for automatic broadcast performance accounting and auditing of air play to assist with market planning PA0 for auditing released product from licensed tracks to confirm their source PA0 for administrative control of music tracks in studio and manufacturing operations PA0 for determining the source of unauthorized master release for auditing electronic delivery channels to establish proper royalty payment PA0 for proof of original track where a sound-alike is claimed PA0 for detecting sampled music tracks which are incorporated in new sound recordings PA0 for controlling authorization to copy PA0 for identifying copyright infringement by direct copying and PA0 for automatically cataloging the contents of an audio library.
As will be understood, it is highly desirable that the identifying information utilized by such a system not be easily deleted or obscured, e.g., by the adding in of additional audio material or by the re-recording of the material onto a different media. Systems that rely on a proprietary adaptation of the digital format used for recording audio signals in various high quality media such as compact discs and digital audio tape (DAT) are subject to such problems since once the original digital recording is converted to analog form, the identifying information is typically lost or no longer recoverable.
While it is thus desirable that the identifying information be permanently and inseparably intertwined with the original audio signal, it is also important that the presence of the code signal representing this information not interfere with the usual intended use of the audio signal, e.g., by not degrading the quality of an audio signal intended for entertainment.
Among the several objects in the present invention, it may be noted the provision of a novel method for embedding code symbols in an audio signal; the provision of such a method which results in a composite audio signal which is not readily distinguishable from the original by listening; the provision of such a method in which the composite audio signal is not readily modifiable so as to obscure or eliminate the code symbols without simultaneously degrading the quality of the audio signal; the provision of such a method in which the code symbols may be reliably extracted from the composite audio signal and the provision of such a method which may be implemented relatively simply and inexpensively. Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.


The present invention relates to a recording medium containing moving picture data and additional information thereof and to reproducing method and apparatus of the recording medium. The present recording medium has script files including additional information about moving picture data, e.g., scene descriptive text and introduction of characters, etc. In addition, information linking each script file with a section of moving picture data to be presented with contents of the script file is included in a link data file or is contained in a filename of the script file. In reproduction of the recording medium, a script file linked with presently reproduced moving picture data section is determined and searched for based on the link data file or every filename of the script files, and contents of the found script file are presented together with the presently reproduced moving picture data. Furthermore, previously presented additional information is removed depending on data or filename of the found script file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium on which moving picture data have been recorded together with script files including additional information related with the moving picture data.
The present invention further relates to a method of linking script files with moving picture data and relates to method and apparatus of reproducing the moving picture data along with script files thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical disk such as DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) being able to store digital data is widely used in these days. A DVD can store not only audio data but also moving picture data of long time. A DVD has two recording partitions, one for storing digital data stream such as moving picture data, and the other for storing navigation data which are used to control reproduction of the stored digital data stream.
Thus, when a DVD having digital data stream thereon is placed into a conventional DVD player, the player reads out the reproduction-controlling data written in the navigation data partition first and stores them in a memory equipped therein. Afterwards, the DVD player can select or search for an arbitrary section of moving picture data using the reproduction-controlling data in the memory and playback it.
A DVD may include additional information about moving picture data recorded thereon. Namely, a DVD may include scene descriptive texts and introduction of characters, etc. besides video and audio data. Such additional information may be informed to a viewer who wants more information about moving pictures being presented.
However, how to link such additional information with moving picture data and how to reproduce it along with moving picture data are not yet decided.

Recording medium containing moving picture data and additional information thereof and reproducing method and apparatus of the recording medium


A P-BRO interleaver and a method for optimizing parameters according to an interleaver size for the P-BRO interleaver. The P-BRO interleaver sequentially, by columns, arranges an input data stream of size N in a matrix having 2m rows and (J−1) columns, and R rows in a Jth column, P-BRO interleaves the arranged data, and reads the interleaved data by rows.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to interleaving in a communication system, and in particular, to a method of optimizing parameters according to an interleaver size for partial bit reversal order (P-BRO) interleaving and an interleaver using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
While a sub-block channel interleaver designed in accordance with the IS-2000 Release C(1×EV-DV) F/L specification performs P-BRO operation for row permutation similarly to an existing channel interleaver designed in accordance with the IS-2000 Release A/B spec., the sub-block channel interleaver differs from the channel interleaver in that the former generates read addresses in a different manner and requires full consideration of the influence of a selected interleaver parameter on Quasi-Complementary Turbo code (QCTC) symbol selection.
Hence, there is a need for analyzing the operating principles of the sub-interleaver block channel interleaver and the channel interleaver and creating criteria on which to generate optimal parameters for the channel interleavers. The optimal parameters will offer the best performance in channel interleavers built in accordance with both the IS-2000 Release A/B and IS-2000 Release C.

Interleaver and interleaving method in a communication system


Methods and apparatus for integrating VLAN-unaware devices into VLAN-enabled networks are described. For example, a method of assigning a virtual local area network identifier (VID) to a data unit may include receiving a data unit encapsulated in a wireless header from a source host via a wireless access point, wherein the data unit is addressed to a target host. A VID is determined based at least in part on an identifier of a wireless network included in the wireless header, and the VID is assigned to the data unit.

Virtual local area networks (VLANs) are commonly used in computer networks to collect devices and/or systems coupled to a given computer network into logical groups. Specifically, IEEE 802.1Q has standardized the use of VLANs in local area networks. For example, a company or an educational institution may provide independent VLANs for various groups or departments within a company or university to reflect the organizational structure (rather than the physical layout, for instance) of the company or university.
In order for a VLAN-enabled computer network to function effectively, devices and/or systems coupled to the computer network may need to include support for VLAN-related functionality. Because some devices and/or systems used in computer networks may not have support for VLAN functionality, it may be necessary to provide special support in order to integrate such devices and/or systems into a VLAN-enabled network.

Integrating VLAN-unaware devices into VLAN-enabled networks


A bonding apparatus has a light source, a stage, a component holder formed of a light transparent material, a controller, and a driver configured to drive the stage and the component holder under the control of the controller. The component holder includes an incident surface on which light outputted from the light source is made incident, a first reflection surface which is a surface opposite to the incident surface and reflects the incident light from the incident surface, a second reflection surface which reflects the light reflected by the first reflection surface, and an exit surface from which the light reflected by the second reflection surface exits. The bonding apparatus bonds the first component and the second component together with the photo-curing adhesive while holding the second component on the side of the exit surface of the component holder.

Optical interconnections have many advantages over electric interconnections, such as a higher degree of freedom in designing, a higher transmission rate, and smaller interconnection space. Accordingly, the optical interconnections are expected to be applied to electronic devices such as super computers, high-performance servers and mobile terminals.
In an optical interconnection, a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element are optically connected to each other with an optical waveguide, a mirror and the like, for example.    Patent document 1: International Publication Pamphlet No. WO2003/041478


In a preferred embodiment, an optical rotation sensor for a rotating member, the optical rotation sensor including: at least one reflective element disposed on the surface of the rotating member; first light transmission means to transmit light from a light source, disposed at the proximal end of the first light transmission means remote from the rotating member, to illuminate the surface of the rotating member at the distal end of the first light transmission means; and second light transmission means to transmit from the distal end of the second light transmission means to a first photodetector, disposed at the proximal end of the second light transmission means remote from the rotating member, light reflected from the at least one reflective element as the at least one reflective element passes the distal end of the second light transmission means as the rotating member rotates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotation sensing devices generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel optical sensor for the sensing of rate of rotation and direction of rotation of a rotating member, which sensor is particularly useful when the rotating member is disposed in a harsh environment such as a transmission.
2. Background Art
A need exists for sensing rotational movement and the rate and direction thereof in harsh environments such as in hot transmission casings. Typically, magnetic sensors have been used in such applications; however, in some cases, the magnetic sensors are not suitable at the high temperatures encountered and, in other cases, magnetic sensors do not provide the desired degree of resolution. Also, the use of magnetic sensors is limited when magnetic fields apart from those being sensed are present, such as the magnetic fields present in electric motors.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a rotation sensor that is usable when the rotating member is disposed in a harsh environment.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a sensor that is capable of high resolution.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such a sensor that can sense both rate and direction of rotation.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a sensor that is easily and economically constructed.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.


Murine Lck binding protein ("LckBP1"), cDNA encoding for LckBP1, and protein and cDNA fragments and analogs, are cloned and expressed and characterized.

The Lck tyrosine kinase molecule (p56.sup.lck), a lymphocyte specific, non-receptor type src-family protein kinase, plays a key role during the activation and early differentiation of T cells. This role has been described in the literature as follows. Defective TCR-mediated signaling observed in a lck mutant human Jurkat cell line was restored upon transfection of the cell with an intact gene (Straus and Weiss, 1992 Cell, 70, 585-593), suggesting a requirement for lck molecule in TCR-mediated signaling. Lck-deficient mice showed a dramatic reduction in double-positive (CD4.sup.+ CD8.sup.+) thymocytes, and no detectable single-positive thymocytes (Molina et al., 1992 Nature, 357, 161-164). Over-expression of a catalytically inactive version of Lck resulted in the maturational arrest of T cells at the G.sub.0 /G.sub.1 thymoblast stage (Levin et al., 1993 EMBO J., 12, 1671-1680).
Lck has been shown to associate physically and functionally with several molecules, such as CD4 and CD8 in the TCR complex (Shaw et al., 1989, Cell, 59, 627-636) and the interleukin-2 receptor .beta. chain (Hatakeyama et al., 1991 Science, 252, 1523-1528). The function of Lck is modulated by C-terminal Src kinase (CSK; Bergman et al., 1992 EMBO J., 11, 2919-2924; Chow et al., 1993 Nature, 365, 156-160; Autero et al., 1994 Mol. Cell. Biol., 14, 1308-1321) and tyrosine phosphatase CD45 (Mustelin and Altman, 1990 Oncogene, 5, 809-813; Mustelin et al., 1989 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 86, 6302-6306; Ostergaard et al., 1989 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 86, 8959-8963; Autero et al., 1994 Mol. Cell. Biol., 14, 1308-1321; reviewed by Mustelin and Burn, 1993 Trends Biochem. Sci., 18, 215-220).
Like other src-family protein kinases, Lck consists of three domains: the kinase, the Src homology region 2 ("SH2") and the Src homology region 3 ("SH3") domains. The SH2 domain of Lck has been reported to bind to tyrosine phosphorylated CD45 (Autero et al., 1994) and to ZAP-70 (Duplay et al., 1994 J. Exp. Med., 179, 1163-1172). ZAP-70 deficiency has been correlated with immunodeficiency in patients (Arpaia et al., Cell 76, 947-958, 1994). Since ZAP-70 binds to Lck and ZAP-70 deficiency is related to immunodeficiency, Lck binding is predictive of immunomodulatory activity for a binding protein.
The SH3 domain of Lck has been shown to associate with phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase (Prasad et al., 1993 Mol. Cell. Biol., 13, 7708-7717; Vogel and Fujita, 1993 Mol. Cell. Biol., 13, 7408-7417) and with p120 (Reedquist et al., 1994 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 91, 4135-4139); it is reported to participate in signal transduction or in membrane-cytoskelton interactions. Previous reports showed that the SH3 domain mediates protein-protein interactions via binding to proline-rich regions, such as those in 3BP-1,2 (Ren et al., 1993 Science, 259, 1157-1161), Sos (Li et al., 1993 Nature, 363, 85-88; Rozakis-Adcock et al., 1993 Nature, 363, 83-85), and Abl (Ren et al., 1994 Genes & Develop., 8, 783-795). Deletion or mutation of the SH3 domain usually activates the transforming potential of non-receptor type tyrosine kinases, suggesting that the SH3 domain negatively regulates the transforming activities of such proteins (Jackson and Baltimore, 1989 EMBO J., 8, 449-456; Hirai and Vermus 1990 Mol. Cell. Biol., 10, 1307-1318; Kato et al., 1986 Mol. Cell. Biol., 6, 4155-4160; Potts et al., 1998 Oncogene Res., 3, 343-355; Franz et al., 1989 EMBO J., 8, 137-147; Seidel-Dugan et al., 1992 Mol. Cell. Biol., 12, 1835-1845).
Proteins that directly associate with the SH3 domain in the c-abl proto-oncogene have been identified by the West-Western method (Cicchetti et al., 1992 Science, 257, 803-806), a method that allows direct isolation of genes encoding proteins that associate with target species such as the SH3 proteins. This procedure involves induction of proteins from a .lambda.gt 11 cDNA expression library and screening the proteins on nitrocellulose membranes using a protein or peptide probe. Previously with this method, several proteins have been identified that associate with intracellular signaling molecules or transcriptional factors, such as Max associating with Myc (Blackwood and Hisenman, 1991 Science, 251, 1211-1217), and 3BP-1 with the SH3 region of Abl (Cicchetti et al., 1992). These methods were employed in the present invention.
Alteration, preferably reduction, of the interaction of protein-tyrosine kinases and T-cell receptors (preferably CD4 or CD8) at the p56-lck binding site has been recognized for utility in the treatment of cancer, autoimmune disorders (e.g., SLE, multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis), and infection with HIV and other viruses, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,431 with reference to certain modified T-cell CD4 and/or CD8 surface antigens.
Given the role of Lck in T cell activation and differentiation, it has been sought to identify and isolate gene(s) and protein(s) that associate with and modulate Lck, particularly the SH3 region of Lck. This has been accomplished in the present invention through the identification of LckBP1, including isolation of the murine LckBP1 gene, its incorporation as cDNA in a plasmid, and the expression of LckBP1 protein.


A method of pressure control for transmissions having a hydraulic circuit selectively communicating with first and second pumps via first and second regulators includes commanding communication to the hydraulic circuit to transition from the first to the second pump and the PCS to set the regulators to a high pressure-regulation level. The hydraulic circuit line pressure is raised to an elevated value exceeding a target value. The line pressure is lowered from the elevated to the target value at or after completing the transition to the second pump. The method may include transitioning communication with the hydraulic circuit from the second to the first pump. The PCS maintains the regulators at the high level and line pressure is raised to the elevated value. PCS sets the regulators to a low level, and line pressure returns to the target only at or after completing the transition to the first pump.

Motorized vehicles include a powertrain operable to propel the vehicle and power the onboard vehicle electronics. The powertrain, or drivetrain, generally includes an engine that powers the final drive system through a multi-speed power transmission. Many vehicles are powered by a reciprocating-piston type internal combustion engine (ICE) because of its ready availability, relatively-inexpensive cost, light weight, and relative efficiency. Such engines include four-stroke compression-ignited diesel engines and four-stroke spark-ignited gasoline engines.
Hybrid vehicles utilize alternative power sources to propel the vehicle, minimizing reliance on the engine for power, and increasing overall fuel economy. A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), for example, incorporates both electric energy and chemical energy, and converts the same into mechanical power to propel the vehicle and power the vehicle systems. The HEV generally employs one or more electric machines that operate individually or in concert with an internal combustion engine to propel the vehicle. Since hybrid vehicles can derive their power from sources other than the engine, engines in hybrid vehicles may be turned off while the vehicle is stopped or is being propelled by the alternative power source(s).
Series hybrid architectures, sometimes referred to as Range-Extended Electric Vehicles (REEVs), are generally characterized by an internal combustion engine in driving communication with an electric generator. The electric generator provides power to one or more electric motors operable to rotate the final drive members. There may be no direct mechanical connection between the engine and the drive members in a series hybrid powertrain. The lack of a mechanical link between the engine and wheels allows the engine to run at a constant and efficient rate, even as vehicle speed changes. The electric generator may also operate to start the internal combustion engine. The system may also allow the electric motor(s) to recover energy by slowing the vehicle and storing it in the battery through regenerative braking.
Parallel hybrid architectures are generally characterized by an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motor/generator assemblies, all of which have a direct mechanical coupling to the transmission. Parallel hybrid designs utilize combined electric motor/generators, which provide traction and may replace both the conventional starter motor and alternator. The motor/generators are electrically connected to an energy storage device (ESD). The energy storage device may be a chemical battery. A control unit is employed for regulating the electrical power interchange between the energy storage device and motor/generators, as well as the electrical power interchange between the first and second motor/generators.
Electrically-variable transmissions (EVT) provide for continuously variable speed ratios by combining features from both series and parallel hybrid powertrain architectures, and also elements of traditional, non-hybrid transmissions. EVTs may be designed to operate in both fixed-gear (FG) modes and EVT modes. When operating in a fixed-gear mode, the rotational speed of the transmission output member is a fixed ratio of the rotational speed of the input member from the engine, depending upon the selected arrangement of the differential gearing subsets. EVTs are also configured for engine operation that is mechanically independent from the final drive, thereby enabling high-torque continuously-variable speed ratios, electrically dominated launches, regenerative braking, engine-off idling, and two-mode operation.
An EVT may combine the motor/generators with differential gearing to achieve continuously variable torque and speed ratios between the input and output. The EVT can utilize the differential gearing to send a fraction of its transmitted power through the electric motor/generator(s) and the remainder of its power through another, parallel path that is mechanical. One form of differential gearing used is the epicyclic planetary gear arrangement. However, it is possible to design a power split transmission without planetary gears, for example, as by using bevel gears or other differential gearing.
Hydraulically-actuated torque-transmitting mechanisms, such as clutches and brakes, are selectively engageable to selectively activate the gear elements for establishing different forward and reverse speed ratios and modes between the transmission input and output shafts. The term "clutch" is used hereinafter to refer generally to torque transmitting mechanisms, including, without limitation, devices commonly referred to as clutches and brakes. Shifting from one speed ratio or mode to another may be in response to vehicle conditions and operator (driver) demands. The "speed ratio" is generally defined as the transmission input speed divided by the transmission output speed. Thus, a low gear range has a high speed ratio, and a high gear range has a relatively lower speed ratio. Because EVTs are not limited to single-speed gear ratios, the different operating states may be referred to as ranges or modes.
The range or mode change may be controlled through a multi-clutch synchronization and release process. A first clutch associated with a currently-active range is carrying torque in an applied state, while a second clutch associated with a currently-inactive second range is carrying no torque in a released state. Shifting from a first range to a second range is accomplished by controlling the second, unapplied clutch to zero slip speed, and applying the second clutch (the oncoming clutch) thereby placing the EVT in a state with both clutches applied. The second range is then entered by the release of the first clutch (the offgoing clutch).

Method for controlling pump transitions in a multi-mode hybrid transmission


A method for substantially simultaneously polishing a copper conductive structure of a semiconductor device structure and an adjacent barrier layer. The method includes use of a polishing pad with a slurry solution in which copper and a material, such as tungsten, of the barrier layer are removed at substantially the same rate. The slurry is formulated so as to oxidize copper and a material of the barrier layer at substantially the same rates. Thus, copper and the barrier layer material have substantially the same oxidation energies in the slurry. Systems for substantially polishing copper conductive structures and adjacent barrier structures on semiconductor device structures are also disclosed.

CMP
Chemical-mechanical polishing and chemical-mechanical planarization, both of which are referred to in the art as "CMP", are abrasive techniques that typically include the use of a combination of chemical and mechanical agents to planarize, or otherwise remove material from or planarize a surface of a semiconductor material substrate during the fabrication of devices thereon. A chemical component, typically a slurry that includes one or more oxidizers, abrasives, complexing agents, and inhibitors, oxidizes the surface of one or more material layers that are being polished or planarized (i.e., at least partially removed). A polishing pad formed from a material such as polyurethane or acrylic is used with the slurry and, in combination with abrasives present in the slurry, effects mechanical removal of the layer or layers from the surface of the semiconductor device structure. It should be noted that abrasive-only polishing and planarization, e.g., without the use of active chemical agents to effect material removal, are becoming more prevalent due to environmental concerns. Thus, the term "CMP" as used herein encompasses such abrasive-only (i.e., strictly mechanical) methods and apparatus.
Copper Conductive Structures
The use of copper as a conductive material in semiconductor devices is also ever increasing. When copper is used in semiconductor devices, however, a barrier layer is typically required between the copper and adjacent structures or layers. The barrier layer prevents diffusion of the copper into the adjacent layers or structures, as well as the formation of copper silicides, both of which may cause electrical shorts in semiconductor devices that include copper. Tantalum is an example of a material that is useful as a copper barrier. When tantalum is used, the semiconductor device, including any features thereof into which copper is to be disposed (e.g., trenches), is lined with a layer of tantalum. The tantalum layer is then typically covered with a thin copper layer, often formed by physical vapor deposition ("PVD") processes. The thin copper layer then acts as a so-called "seed layer" for the formation of a copper structure, such as a conductive line, such as by electroplating processes.
Once the tantalum and copper layers have been formed, it is necessary to isolate separate tantalum-copper conductive structures from one another. CMP processes are typically used to remove the tantalum and copper between the structures from over the active surface of the semiconductor device being fabricated. Slurries that are used in copper CMP processes typically have a pH of about 7.0. Many of these slurries include hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as an oxidizing agent. Since hydrogen peroxide readily generates hydroxy free radicals (OH), hydrogen peroxide is a very strong oxidizing agent. Tantalum, however, is substantially chemically inert. Thus, the oxidizers of CMP slurries that remove copper do not effectively oxidize tantalum and, thus, do not adequately effect the removal of tantalum. Likewise, slurries that are useful for removing tantalum by CMP processes are likewise not effective for removing copper. As a result, when conventional CMP processes are used to isolate the tantalum-copper conductive structures of a semiconductor device, two separate slurries must be used.
It has been proposed that tungsten be used in place of tantalum in semiconductor devices as a barrier material for copper conductive structures. Nonetheless, when known copper CMP slurries are used to substantially simultaneously CMP tungsten and copper, the tungsten barrier layer may dissolve, or be removed, at a faster rate than the copper. This is at least partially because, as the following chemical equations illustrate, tungsten (W) is more readily oxidized than copper (Cu):W+2H2O→4H++4e−+WO2 Eo=0.12;Cu→Cu2++2e−Eo=−0.34.
Thus, in conventional slurries, although both copper and tungsten are simultaneously exposed to the same oxidants, the tungsten will typically be oxidized first. As a result, gaps may form in locations where the barrier material should be located between copper conductive structures and adjacent portions of the semiconductor device structure upon which the conductive structures are being fabricated.
This phenomenon is illustrated in the electron micrograph of FIG. 1, which illustrates a semiconductor device structure 10 that includes the portions of a copper layer 20 and an underlying tungsten barrier layer 18 disposed within a recess 14 formed in an active surface 16 of a substrate 12 of semiconductor device structure 10 following CMP thereof using an alumina fixed-abrasive polishing pad and a copper CMP slurry having a pH of about 7. Once an interface 19 between barrier layer 18 and copper layer 20 was exposed during the CMP process, tungsten of barrier layer 18 was oxidized and dissolved at a faster rate than the adjacent copper of copper layer 20, leaving a gap 21 between copper layer 20 and adjacent regions of substrate 12, as well as undesirably permitting copper of copper layer 20 to contact and, possibly, diffuse into, unprotected adjacent regions of substrate 12.
Therefore, it would is desirable to provide a slurry that is useful in CMP processes and that effectively polishes or planarizes both copper and tungsten without causing oxidation or dissolution of the tungsten.

Slurry for use in polishing semiconductor device conductive structures that include copper and tungsten and polishing methods