At present, the existing mechanisms for authorizing a user of a service network operator to access a service provided by a third party service provider are valid for most of the existing services based on a request and an answer, but for transactional services, those where a service delivery implies several transactions, the existing techniques present serious limitations for the operators to fully control the progression of services. To overcome this limitation, the invention provides means and methods to control the progression of a service, service which requires a plurality of transactions, at a first domain where the service has been authorized while the user is using said service provided by a second domain, as well as a verification mechanism for verifying the use of the service between the service network operator and the service provider.

Network operators in general, and mobile operators in particular, are presently offering a wide range of services to their users and, very often, these services are actually provided by external service providers (SP). Thus, a network operator is acting as a virtual service provider for its users and charges them appropriately for the use of services, whereas external service providers actually provide said services and generate charging accounts to the operator for the provision of their services. Such network operator acting as a service provider for its users is hereinafter referred to as a Service Network Operator (SNO).
In this situation, a first domain represented by the SNO network is responsible for authenticating a user requesting a service, as well as for authorising the user accessing the requested service. This service being actually provided by a second domain owned by an external service provider likely having a commercial relationship with the network operator, but both domains likely owned by separate companies.
A currently known initiative supporting the above scenario is the Ericsson Service Delivery Platform (hereinafter referred to as ESDP) aimed to help the network operators to offer access-independent services to their subscribers. Generally speaking, ESDP considers that a subscriber accesses to services available in a Service Network via an industrially called "http reverse-proxy". Under this known approach, the user is authenticated in an Authentication-Authorisation-Accounting (AAA) server and, because of this authentication procedure, a master session is created. A master session typically includes information about the type of access, user identifiers, authentication mechanism to make use of, time of session establishment, etc. An active master session guarantees that the user is authenticated. However, the master session has no information about the services being used by the user. Thus, whenever a user tries to access a service in its profile, the master session is checked to determine whether the user had been authenticated before authorising the service.
This ESDP, as well as other known platforms in the industry, supports what has been generally referred to as Single Sign-On functionality, by virtue of which, a user accessing the SNO network through a trusted access network is authenticated just once to become authenticated for all services offered by the Service Network Operator (SNO).
For example, an exemplary scenario occurs when the trusted access network is a packet radio network like a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network and the user is assigned a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) for getting connectivity with a service network operator (SNO) domain.
In this scenario, the support for Single Sign-On (SSO) services is based on a so-called 'MSISDN forwarding' mechanism, wherein MSISDN traditionally stands for Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number though, in a broader sense, it can be assumed as a subscriber directory number. In brief, the 'MSISDN forwarding' mechanism is initiated from a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) in a home core network domain by sending a RADIUS Access Request message, which includes an MSISDN and an IP address for the user, towards an 'Authentication, Authorisation and Accounting' (AAA) server in the home service network domain. This information allows the AAA server to create a master session for the user so that whenever said user requests access to a service, the master session is checked to confirm that the user is already properly authenticated. More particularly, the international application with publication number WO 01/67716 A1 describes an 'MSISDN forwarding' mechanism based on a RADIUS Accounting Start message that can be applied under some scenarios. This international application describes features for supporting Single Sign-On and thus authenticating the user just once under some particular circumstances.
However, with regard to service authorisation, when a user has been authenticated once under the SNO network, the user is transparently granted the right to launch any provisioned service. Thus, once a service is authorised, the service network operator looses the control over the service. That is, the service network operator can not control any longer the progression of the service, is not aware of the actions carried out by the parties involved during the execution of the service, and can not take any action during this execution, such as disconnection of the service session to avoid a fraudulent misuse of the service.
A currently existing mechanism to authorize a service for a user, which is illustrated in FIG. 1, starts when the user issues a service request towards an access network, which in particular may be a GPRS network, being a GGSN the specific GPRS node receiving such request. The receiver sends this service request towards an Application Gateway Module (AGM) of the service network that is generally in charge of intercepting application messages between the user and the service, and identifying said user and said service. This Application Gateway Module (AGM), which in particular might be the above "http reverse-proxy", is conventionally provided with means for obtaining an authorization decision from a so-called Authorisation Module (AM) on whether or not the user is allowed to access the service. This Authorisation Module (AM), which in particular might be the above AAA server, is generally in charge of deciding whether or not a user is authorised to access a service depending on a number of conditions. Both entities, the Application Gateway Module and the Authorisation Module, can be provided in respective standalone mode or integrated with other entities, in particular both can be integrated in a same entity.
Nevertheless, the existing mechanisms are still valid for most of the nowadays existing services based on a request and an answer, such as requesting a ring melody and the download of said ring melody, but for more sophisticated transactional services, for instance services that include respective sequences of associated sub-services, the existing techniques present the above serious limitations for the operators to fully control the progression of services.
One simple solution for transactional services may be achieved by forcing any transaction between user and service to be authorised regardless any previous authorisation. However, this potential solution would hugely overload any traffic model and can be thus regarded as an additional drawback to solve.
On the other hand, given that the service network operator (SNO) does not realise when different transactions of a service take place, the service network operator can not be aware of the different actions carried out by the parties, namely user and service, and can not apply specific policies depending on such different actions. Moreover, the service network operator (SNO) cannot even disconnect a user in real time from using a service once the user is authorised to do so.
Thereby, an important object of the present invention is the provision of means and methods to control the progression of a service at a first domain where the service has been authorised while the user is using said service provided by a second domain.
It is a further object of the present invention to achieve a suitable solution wherein such control includes a further verification mechanism for verifying the use of the service.

Means and method for controlling service progression between different domains


A wheel hub rotary joint assembly includes a wheel hub with a wheel flange and a sleeve section for receiving a wheel bearing; and a constant-velocity rotary joint with an outer joint part having a first spur gearing section with first teeth at its end facing the wheel hub. The sleeve section has a second spur gearing section with second teeth at its end facing the rotary joint. The two spur gearing sections engage one another for torque transmission. At least one of the two spur gearing sections is designed such that, viewed in the radial direction, the first and second teeth initially only come into contact with one another on a small subsurface of the tooth surfaces facing one another during axial tensioning. Viewed in the radial direction, the first and second teeth initially come only into contact with one another on the radially inward side and, as tensioning increases, also come into contact with one another on the radially outward side, for which purpose a substructure of the sleeve section and/or of the outer joint part having the teeth is more easily deformable in a radially inward region than in a region lying radially further outward.

The present invention relates to a wheel hub rotary joint arrangement with an axis of rotation, including (a) a wheel hub with a wheel flange for connecting a wheel, and with a sleeve section for receiving a wheel bearing; (b) a constant-velocity rotary joint with an outer joint part, an inner joint part and torque-transmitting elements, wherein the outer joint part has a first spur gearing section with first teeth at its end facing the wheel hub, and the sleeve section has a second spur gearing section with second teeth at its end facing the constant-velocity rotary joint, and wherein the two spur gearing sections engage with one another for torque transmission; and (c) clamping devices for axially clamping the wheel hub against the outer joint part, said clamping devices being axially supported on one side on the wheel hub and on the other side on the outer joint part. In regard to the above, reference can be made directly to DE 10 2005 054 283 B4 and DE 31 16 720 C1. Furthermore, with regard to the prior art, reference is made to DE 34 30 067 C2 and DE 10 2005 054 285 B4.
In the two documents mentioned first above, a principally advantageous connection between, in general, a wheel hub unit and an associated drive shaft for a motor vehicle is described. The prior art that has been the common practice up to now for this purpose is the use of a so-called splined journal connection as it is described, for example, in the aforementioned DE 34 30 067 C2. Compared with this, assembling the drive shaft to the wheel hub unit can be significantly simplified if a spur gearing section is provided between these two components, as shown for the first time in the above-mentioned DE 31 16 720 C1. In DE 31 16 720 C1, it is also already proposed that the drive shaft's end face facing the wheel hub is curved in a plate-shaped manner, wherein the end face of the drive shaft is formed by a joint body which is designated herein as an outer joint part of a constant-velocity joint and on which said spur gearing section is attached. At the same time, DE 31 16 720 C1 describes already that the counterface of the wheel hub on which the spur gearing section complementary to the spur gear section of the drive shaft is attached, is formed such that during assembly, the spur gearing section first engages on the outer diameter and only thereafter it engages on the entire surface due to elastic deformation on the end face of the outer joint body caused by the pretensioning of a pin which, in the present invention, is designated as clamping devices for axially clamping the wheel hub against the outer joint part.
Furthermore, in DE 10 2005 054 283 B4, the facts just explained are described again with slightly different wording. For the description of the present invention, reference is made expressly to DE 10 2005 054 283 B4, also by using herein the same terms for the same components. Since DE 10 2005 054 283 B4 can be used for the fundamental description of a wheel hub rotary joint arrangement according to the invention, individual components thereof are not described in detail hereafter; rather, the content of said DE 10 2005 054 283 B4 (having U.S. counterpart U.S. Pat. No. 8,025,578 B2) is hereby incorporated by reference. FIG. 3 of the present application is a simplified version of FIG. 1 from U.S. Pat. No. 8,025,578 B2. FIG. 3 shows a wheel hub rotary joint assembly having a wheel hub 11 with a wheel flange 15 for connecting a wheel and with a sleeve portion 14 for receiving a wheel bearing 13. A constant-velocity rotary joint 12 has an outer joint part 22, an inner joint part 23 and torque transmitting elements 26. The outer joint part 22, at its end facing the wheel hub 11, includes a first face toothing 38 with first teeth. The sleeve portion 14, at its end facing the constant-velocity rotary joint 12, includes a second face toothing 39 with second teeth. The two sets of face toothings 38, 39 engage one another for torque transmitting purposes. A clamp 17 axially clamps the wheel hub 11 to the outer joint part 22. The wheel bearing 13 has an axial length BL, and the spur gearing section has a mean diameter DM.
Thus, in the first instance, only the differences between DE 10 2005 054 283 B4 and the present invention are discussed in the following. These differences result from the object underlying the present invention, namely to provide a measure by which a disadvantageous aspect occurring in the case of a wheel hub rotary joint arrangement according to the prior art, known from DE 31 16 720 C1 and DE 10 2005 054 283 B4, can be prevented. It has in fact become apparent that with an appropriate design of the outer joint part and/or the sleeve section of the wheel hub it is not possible, on the one hand, to design the components in such a manner that they are sufficiently solid and stiff in order to be able to actually absorb and transmit the high torques to be transmitted and, on the other, to design them to be elastic in such a manner that during axial tensioning, the desired deformation required for achieving a substantially full surface load-bearing contact between the teeth facing one another is achieved. In fact, with the known prior art, practically, only so-called "outer load supports" can be achieved, that is, pairs of spur gears that bear load only in a radially outer section.
According to the invention, an approach contrary to that of the known prior art is taken and the spur gearing sections are designed such that, viewed in the radial direction, the first and second teeth initially come into contact with one another on the radially inward side during axial clamping of the arrangement, and as clamping increases, also come into contact with one another on the radially outward side. As a surprise among experts and therefore in an inventive manner, it was found in the present case that a load-bearing contact between the opposing tooth surfaces of the teeth on the outer joint part of the constant-velocity joint on the one hand, and on the sleeve section of the wheel hub on the other, can be achieved over a large portion of the surface. This occurs, in particular, both in a radially outward region of these tooth surfaces and in a radially inward region of the tooth surfaces if the tooth surfaces facing one another initially come into contact with one another in the radially inward region during axial tensioning and only in the course of further tensioning, i.e., with increasing clamping force, come also into contact with one another in the radially outward region as a result of elastic deformation.
To ensure that when preparing the gear pair from the sleeve section of the wheel hub and from the outer joint part of the constant-velocity rotary joint, the spur gearing sections, in the course of engaging in one another and during the subsequent tensioning, come initially into contact with one another in a region lying radially further inward, and as tensioning increases, also come into contact with one another in regions lying radially further outward, it is possible—as already described in DE 31 16 720 C1—that at least one of the end faces of the gear pair, i.e., the end face of said outer joint part provided with the spur gearing section and/or the end face of said sleeve section provided with the spur gearing section can be slightly curved. In the present invention, this curvature is convex, whereas in the prior art, it is concave, i.e., plate-shaped. It is sufficient here if only one of the spur gear sections forming the gear pair or the associated component end face thereof or the substructure thereof having the teeth (e.g. the substructure of the outer joint part) is formed slightly convex while the end face or the substructure of the other component having the teeth (thus the one of the wheel hub, in the mentioned example) is flat, i.e., planar.
In order to achieve the elastic deformation described so far in the course of the further tensioning of the gear pair in such a manner (as desired) that starting with the teeth initially engaging on one another only in region further on the radially inward side, these teeth also come into load-bearing contact with one another in regions lying radially further outward, a substructure of the sleeve section and/or of the outer joint pair having the teeth is designed to be more easily deformable in a region lying radially further inward than in a region radially further outward. Advantageously, that region of the gear pair in which the larger proportion of the torque to be transmitted via said gear pair from the drive shaft to the wheel hub is transmitted between the teeth and which, because of the longer lever arm, is the radially outer region of the spur gearing section, can be designed to be particularly stiff and solid. This is not possible in the mentioned prior art (DE 31 16 720 A1 and DE 10 2005 054 283 B4) since in the case of this prior art the radially outer region has to deform elastically in order to achieve a so-called "full load support" and not only an "outer load support" that is mentioned in the present description of the prior art.
There are principally different possibilities as to how a substructure of the wheel hub or the sleeve section thereof and/or of the outer joint part having the teeth can be formed to be more easily deformable in a region lying radially further inward than in a region lying radially further outward. Thus, easier deformability of the substructure having the teeth in the region lying radially further inward can be implemented through a suitable shape and thus through a lower stiffness of this region or through a lower strength, in particular hardness of the substructure having the teeth in the region lying radially further inward, in each case viewed with respect to the stiffness or strength in a region lying radially further outward.
In a wheel hub rotary joint assembly according to the invention, the stiffness and/or strength of the substructure(s) carrying the teeth can be designed such that, viewed in the radial direction over the length of the teeth, a load-bearing contact area of at least 70% is obtained, i.e., in the completely assembled state and the state completely clamped against one another according to the assembly specification. The tooth surfaces facing one another are in load-bearing contact with one another, viewed in the radial direction, over at least 70% of the length.
According to an exemplary embodiment for a wheel hub rotary joint according to the invention that is also described in one of the attached figures, the different strength can be obtained by soft annealing the region lying radially further inward subsequent to the non-cutting shaping of the thus strain-hardened spur gearing section, i.e., after preparing the spur gearing section, for example, in the outer joint part by means of cold forming, e.g., by wobbling or pressing, a radially inner section of the substructure having the teeth can be soft-annealed. As an alternative it is then possible, when the substructure of the outer joint part and/or of the wheel hub having the teeth has a certain softness and therefore as a whole can be slightly deformed by tensioning, to harden that region of this substructure that lies radially further outward so that according to the invention, this region lying radially further outward is less easily deformable than that region of said substructure that lies radially further inward.
According to another exemplary embodiment for a wheel hub rotary joint according to the invention that is also described in one of the attached figures, the substructure having the teeth can have an indentation in the region lying radially further inward. Such an indentation or such an undercut, e.g., in the form of a machined relief groove or a recess shaped together with the spur gearing section results in the fact that in the undercut subregion lying radially further inward, the substructure having the teeth can slightly bend away from the gearing partner, i.e., from the other component, during tensioning of the gear pair. As a result of this, the teeth of the spur gearing sections also come into contact with one another in a load-bearing manner in the region lying radially further outward. Moreover, such a design having an indentation can also be implemented in that a substructure having the teeth is a component which initially is produced independently of the respective component, i.e., of the outer joint part or the wheel hub, and which is subsequently connected to this component in such a manner (for example, in a firmly bonding manner) that a suitable indentation is obtained at the same time. It should generally also be noted that the different embodiments described here can be readily implemented in combination with one another.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the different stiffness in the radial direction of the substructure having the teeth can be implemented in that the teeth arranged distributed over the circumference of at least one of the spur gearing sections interacting with one another do not all extend equally far towards the axis of rotation (of the outer joint part or the wheel hub). The result of this is that when assembling the gear pair, initially not all teeth, but only a portion of all of the teeth provided come into load-bearing contact. Thus, when clamping the wheel hub against the outer joint part, the clamping force introduced by the clamping devices during clamping is distributed at the beginning over fewer teeth than at the end of the clamping process. Thus, at the beginning, a higher force acts proportionally on each of the teeth that contacts a counter tooth in a region lying radially further inward, which higher force facilitates the desired initial deformation of the region located radially further inward. In general, this embodiment can also be described such that the teeth of the spur gearing section which are arranged distributed over the circumference are designed such that when joining the gear pair together, only a partial amount of the first teeth of the first spur gearing section come into contact with the associated teeth of the second spur gearing section at the beginning of the tensioning. This can also be achieved, for example, in that the teeth that extend equally far towards the axis of rotation are formed to have a different width in the region lying further inward so that when joining the mating gears together without tensioning, only some and not all of the teeth associated with one another come into contact with one another.
Another advantageous refinement is based on the aforementioned DE 10 2005 054 285 B4 and/or represents an inventive modification thereof which is adapted in a particularly suitable manner to a wheel hub rotary joint arrangement according to the invention. In fact, it became surprisingly apparent that with a wheel hub rotary joint arrangement according to the invention, probably due to the force or torque transmission between the teeth of the spur gearing section that is more uniform and/or more extensive with respect to DE 10 2005 054 283 B4, a sufficient torsional stiffness and bending stiffness with the required installation space advantageously being reduced at the same time is possible if the ratio between the axial length of the wheel bearing and the mean diameter of the spur gearing section, which is described in detail in DE 10 2005 054 285 B4, is equal or greater than 0.63. Here too, as also described above with regard to DE 10 2005 054 283 B4, the same terms are used again for the same components and dimensions as in DE 10 2005 054 285 B4, which is now relevant. Apart from that, in both of these two documents, namely DE 10 2005 054 283 B4 and DE 10 2005 054 285 B4, which are owned by the same applicant and have the same filing date, the same components are likewise designated with the same terms. It can therefore be assumed that the feature of said diameter ratio, which is to be less than 0.63 in DE 10 2005 054 285 B4, can only be valid for a wheel hub rotary joint arrangement according to DE 10 2005 054 283 B4. In contrast, for a wheel hub rotary joint arrangement described in the present invention, a different diameter ratio, namely equal to or greater than 0.63, is also advantageous since therewith sufficient stiffness can be achieved and, moreover, a particularly compact arrangement can be created that requires relatively little installation space.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A transmitter using constituent encoders to generate turbo-encoded bit sequence having variable bit order from an information bit is provided. Each constituent encoder encodes a bit to a bit sequence and each bit sequence from respective constituent encoder has same error correction performance in decoding. Each encoded bit sequence is punctured using optimal puncturing pattern based on code rate and the resultant sequences have the same error correction performance. A receiver receives each bit sequence and depunctures with an optimal depuncturing pattern to decode bits efficiently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the 3rd generation mobile communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a communication system and method for turbo encoding and decoding of data
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, next generation mobile communication systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA) mode support high speed data transmission of Mbps and require very low packet error rate of 10−5˜10−6 unlike voice communication systems. However, there are limits in applying the convolutional coding mode, generally used in existing communication systems, to high speed data transmission. In this respect, a turbo coding mode is widely used to maintain a low packet error rate even under a poor mobile communication environment. It is recent tendency that the turbo coding mode is widely adopted as the standard of a mobile communication system.
FIG. 1 shows a related art parallel concatenated turbo encoder for generating turbo codes. Referring to FIG. 1, a parallel concatenated turbo encoder consists of two identical constituent encoders 10 and 11 connected with each other in parallel and an interleaving unit 12 interposed between them. First parity bits Y0k and Y1k of a information bit Xk are generated from the first constituent encoder 10 while second parity bits Y0k′ and Y1k′ of an interleaved information bit Xk′ are generated from the second constituent encoder 11.
The related art parallel concatenated turbo encoder outputs information bits and parity bits in the order of Xk Y0k Y1k Xk′Y0k Y1k′ and consequently the coding rate of the turbo encoder is ⅙.
FIG. 2 shows an apparatus for generating a transmission signal based on a related art turbo encoder. Referring to FIG. 2, a basic turbo encoder 201 is provided with the parallel concatenated turbo encoder of FIG. 1. The basic turbo encoder 201 encodes the information bit sequence into an encoded bit sequence whose coding rate is ⅙. A puncturing unit 202 performs puncturing on the encoded bit sequence so that the resulting coding rate can be matched with the required coding rate. The puncturing is performed according to a predetermined puncturing pattern that gives the best performance. A rate matching unit 204 performs symbol repetition or puncturing on the punctured bits sequence to match the encoded bits sequence with the size N of the interleaving unit 205. An interleaving unit 205 interleaves the output bits sequence of the rate matching unit 204 to overcome the burst error characteristic of the channel. A modulator and spreading unit 206 modulates and spreads the interleaved bits sequence.
At this time, the encoded bits sequence from the basic turbo encoder 201 has an output order such as "Xk Y0k Y1k Xk′Y0k′Y1k′" punctured with the puncturing pattern determined by the required coding rate. As a result, the transmitted signal from the transmitter based on information bits sequence has one output order.
However, there are cases where differently encoded bit sequences are needed that are generated from the same information bits sequence and have same error correcting capabilities. For instance, if two antenna transmit diversity is applied to the related art, it is better for each antenna to transmit different signals than to transmit the identical signals since additional code combining gain as well as maximal ratio combining gain can be obtained at the receiver.
In the related art, since the basic turbo encoder 201 has the output order such as "Xk Y0k Y1k Xk′Y0k′Y1k′", the puncturing unit 202 in the transmitter does not have one puncturing pattern but several puncturing patterns to obtain the encoded bit sequences differently. Further, the punctured bit sequences must have the same error correcting capabilities. It is very difficult to find the puncturing patterns that have the same performance and even if it is found, the transmitter becomes more complex because the change in the puncturing pattern used in the puncturing unit 202 can cause the puncturing pattern of the rate matching unit 204 to change. The transmitter needs to memorize the combinations of puncturing patterns that are used in both the puncturing unit 202 and the rate matching unit 204.
FIG. 3 shows a related art apparatus for decoding a received signals when identical signals are used for transmission diversity.
Referring to FIG. 3, the two modulated signals transmitted from the transmitter are received by two receiver antenna. Then, the signals are demodulated and despread by a corresponding demodulator and a corresponding despreading unit 301 and 302. The output signals from the demodulator and despreading units 301 and 302 are soft combined with each other by a combiner 303 to get a bit sequence with low error rate. The combined bit sequence is deinterleaved and rate dematched through a rate dematching unit 304 and depunctured through a depuncturing unit 305. The resultant bit sequence is decoded to get the unit 305 originally transmitted information bit sequence Xk.
A detailed example is shown in the following to illustrate the idea more definitely.
Two antenna transmit diversity is assumed and the desired coding rate after the puncturing unit 202 is assumed to be ½.
To obtain a desired coding rate from the ⅙ original code rate, the symbol puncturing block punctures the bits according to the puncturing pattern (not shown). In the case that identical signals are transmitted via two antennas, the encoded bit sequence from the turbo encoder 201 is punctured according to the puncturing pattern and the resultant sequence is in the order "Xk Y0k Xk+1 Y0k+1′". The punctured sequences are rate matched, interleaved, modulated and transmitted via the two transmit antennas through the noisy channel.
The two signals go through different channel environments and are received at the receiver antenna separately. The combiner 303 combines the power of the demodulated bit sequences from two antenna in the order as they are transmitted, i.e. "Xk Y0k Xk+1 Y0k+1′".
In other words, the combiner 303 performs maximal ratio combining on the demodulated bit sequences and the effective coding rate does not change compared with that of the transmitted signal.
In the case that different signals are transmitted via two antenna, the encoded bit sequence from the turbo encoder 201 is punctured by different puncturing patterns that give the same performance. Assuming that puncturing patterns "110000100010" and "100010110000" are found to have same performance, two different signals can be generated from them. Namely, the encoded bit sequence from the turbo encoder 201 is punctured using the different puncturing patterns. The resultant sequences are in the order "Xk Y0k Xk+1 Y0k+1′" and "Xk Y0k′Xk+1 Y0k+1". These sequences are rate matched, interleaved, modulated and transmitted via two transmit antenna through the noisy channel. The two signals are received at the receiver, demodulated, despread, deinterleaved, depunctured separately and combined at the combiner. In this case, the combiner should be intelligent enough so that it can perform maximal ratio combining to the systematic bits while performing code combining to the parity bits, i.e. the combined bit sequence is in the order "Xk Y0k Y0k′Xk+1 Y0k+1′Y0k+1". In other words, the combiner performs code combining as well as maximal ratio combining on the received signals and the effective coding rate reduces to 1/3, which enhances the error correcting capability.
Another example can be shown in the case that a hybrid type automatic repeat request (referred to as "H-ARQ") mode is used.
FIG. 4 is the flow chart illustrating the procedure of a related art hybrid type ARQ mode.
Referring to FIG. 4, in the related art hybrid type ARQ mode, a transmitter adds a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code to the information bit sequence, and the information bit sequence to which the CRC is added is encoded to generate a encoded bit sequence. The encoded bit sequence is then punctured, rate matched, interleaved, modulated into a transmission signal and transmitted to the receiver. Then, the receiver receives the signal (S20) and demodulates and decodes the signal. The receiver determines whether the demodulated bit sequence is "New signal" or "Retransmitted signal" by examining if the same bit sequence as the demodulated bit sequence of the receiver exists in a buffer (S21).
If the same bit sequence does not exist in the buffer, the received bit sequence is directly stored in the buffer (S22). If the same bit sequence exists in the buffer, the received bit sequence is combined with the bit sequence in the buffer and then stored in the buffer (S23).
The bit sequence stored in the buffer is checked if there is any error in the received bit sequence by CRC (S24). If no error exists in the received bit sequence, the receiver transmits an acknowledgement (ACK) signal to the transmitter and empties the buffer (S26).
If any error exists in the received bit sequence, the received bit sequence is stored in a buffer, and the receiver transmits a non-ACK(NACK) signal to the transmitter (S25).
Accordingly, if the transmitter has received the ACK signal, the transmitter transmits the next new information data. If the transmitter has received the NACK signal, the transmitter retransmits the previously transmitted information data.
The receiver demodulates the retransmitted signal and combines it with the bit sequence stored in the buffer, so that the received bit sequence is decoded. If no error exists in the combined bit sequence, the receiver transmits the ACK signal to the transmitter. If any error exists in the combined bit sequence, the receiver transmits the NACK signal to the transmitter to request another retransmission of the same data, and at the same time stores the combined bit sequence in the buffer.
At this time, if the retransmitted bit sequence includes the same parity bits as the bit sequence previously transmitted, the combining gain that can be obtained at the receiver is only maximal ratio combining gain in the AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise) channel. To get code combining gain as well as maximal ratio combining gain, "Retransmitted bit sequence" must include different parity bits from that of "New bit sequence" and the puncturing unit of the transmitter must have several patterns to generate sequences that include different parity bits.
Getting differently encoded sequences based on a information source is beneficial when the encoded sequences are used in the transmit diversity system. However, the method of getting differently encoded sequences by changing the puncturing patterns of the transmitter can add complexity because both the transmitter and the receiver should use not one puncturing pattern but several puncturing patterns. Besides, it is difficult to find puncturing patterns that have the same performance.

Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving using turbo code


Methods are disclosed wherein labeled antibodies can be provided in vivo to tissue having antigens that specifically bind the labeled antibody. A first optical radiation is emitted into the tissue in vivo to excite the labeled antibody bound to the antigen in vivo. A second optical radiation that is emitted by the excited labeled antibody, in response to the excitation thereof, can be detected in vivo. Related telemetric circuits and compositions of matter are also disclosed.

The ex vitro study of malignant cell populations has established some general principles by which clinical treatment protocols are developed. These principles have established differences between malignant and normal cell populations and have been employed in the treatment of malignant disease. There have been attempts to exploit these differences, both in pre-clinical and clinical studies, to obtain total tumor cell kills and improved cure rates.
One of the major obstacles in achieving this goal has been the difficulty in minimizing normal tissue toxicity while increasing tumor cell kill (therapeutic index). Thus, some treatment strategies employ an empirical approach in the treatment of malignant disease. In particular, the time of delivery and dose of cytotoxic agents can be guided more by the response and toxicity to normal tissue than by the effects on the malignant cell population.
Unfortunately, this approach may not provide accurate information on the changes during treatment of a malignant cell population. Making this information available may allow clinicians to exploit the differences between malignant and normal cells, and hence improve the treatment procedures.
There have been a number of attempts to study changes that occur within a cell population. However, these attempts have not shown the ability to monitor the changes on a real time basis. Indeed, these methods typically provide information at one point in time and most are designed to provide information on one particular function or parameter. In addition, most of the conventional methods can be expensive as well as time consuming. This can be problematic for patients undergoing extended treatment periods typical of radiation and chemotherapy, especially when it is desirable to follow changes both during an active treatment and subsequent to the active treatment.
In addition, tumors may have periods in which they are more susceptible to treatment by radiation or drug therapy. Providing a monitoring system which can continuously or semi-continuously monitor and potentially identify such a susceptible condition could provide increases in tumor destruction rates.
Numerous tumor specific antigens (TSA) have been identified and antibodies specific for a number of these TSA's are known. For example, it has been demonstrated that sigma-2 receptors found on the surface of cells of the 9L rat brain tumor cell line, the mouse mammary adenocarcinoma lines 66 (diploid) and 67 (aneuploid), and the MCF-7 human breast tumor cell line may be markers of tumor cell proliferation. See Mach R H et al., Sigma 2 receptors as potential biomarkers of proliferation in breast cancer. Cancer Res 1997 Jan. 1; 57(1):156-61; Al-Nabulsi I et al., Effect of ploidy, recruitment, environmental factors, and tamoxifen treatment on the expression of sigma-2 receptors in proliferating and quiescent tumour cells. Br J Cancer 1999 November; 81(6):925-33. Such markers may be amenable to detection by non-invasive imaging procedures. Accordingly, ligands that selectively bind sigma-2 receptors may be used to assess the proliferative status of tumors, although in vivo techniques utilizing such ligands have heretofore not been known. Although the field of tumor-specific treatment is still relatively unsettled, various researchers have proposed several potentially important techniques useful in such treatment. For example, the ex vitro detection of biomolecules can be useful in predicting the timing for advantageous treatment of tumors. Many of these techniques use a "hybridization event" to alter the physical or chemical properties associated with the biomolecules. The biomolecules having the altered property can be detected, for example, by optical or chemical means.
One known technique for the detection of biomolecules, called Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), involves the detection of binding between a biomolecule and an enzyme-labeled antibody specific for the biomolecule. Other methods of detecting biomolecules utilize immunofluorescence, involving the use of a fluorescently labeled antibody to indicate the presence of the biomolecule. The in vivo use of these techniques may involve an invasive introduction of a sensor into the in vivo site to be analyzed. Moreover, these techniques may not be reliable if the surface where the sensor and the tissue interact is not clean. In particular, in vivo use can cause a sensor to become "bio-fouled" over time such that the operational properties of the sensor may change. In particular, proteins may begin to develop on the sensor within minutes of insertion of the sensor into the tissue, which may cause the sensor to operate improperly. In view of the foregoing, there remains a need for circuits, compositions of matter, and methods which can be used to, inter alia, detect biomolecular concentrations in vivo.

Circuits for in vivo detection of biomolecule concentrations using fluorescent tags


A support plate having an arm rod receiving bore is arranged to receive an arm rod of a second linkage arm for securement to a first linkage arm, with the support plate including a clamp plate having an arcuate concave recess arranged to accommodate the second linkage arm between the clamp plate and the support plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to steering linkage apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved steering linkage repair kit wherein the same is arrange to accommodate a worn linkage arm.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Steering linkage is subject to wear and to this end, a coupling between first and second linkage arms is typically arranged with a support rod received through a bore of a head portion of an associated linkage arm, wherein the arm rod relative to the arm rod support head is subject to wear, wherein to accommodate such wear, the instant invention is arranged to secure the linkage arm relative to the arm rod in a fixed relationship preventing undesired continued movement of the arm rod relative to the associated support arm and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A technique for managing sessions in a communication network that does not subscribe to registration events immediately after an entity in the network is registered but rather delays subscribing to these events until a time that such notification would be normally used, such as after a revocable session has been established with the entity. An entity registers to enable sessions to be established with other entities in the communication network. After a session is established, a check is performed to determine if a subscription to be notified of events that warrants revoking the session already exists. If not, a subscription is established to be notified of events that warrant revoking the session. If during the session a notification is received indicating that an event that warrants revoking the session has occurred, the session is revoked.

The move from conventional telephony networks to Internet Protocol (IP) based telecommunication networks is rapidly gaining pace. Multimedia architectures, such as the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture, are being adopted by various telecommunications services to support this movement and provide both mobile and fixed IP-based services to users. IMS is an architecture that uses the IP protocol to provide various services now available from IP-based networks, such as the Internet, to, e.g., various users.
Voice over IP (VoIP) refers to a group of technologies that may be used to transmit voice information over communication networks from a source (calling party) to a destination (called party). Such networks typically include a plurality of VoIP devices (user equipment) that may convert voice and/or video information from its traditional form to a form that is suitable for packet transmission. In other words, the VoIP device encodes, compresses and encapsulates the information into a plurality of data packets that are suitable for being carried by a communication network. Examples of VoIP devices include IP telephones, VoIP network interfaces, certain private branch exchanges (PBXs), personal computers (PCs) running communication applications, certain personal digital assistants (PDAs), network devices providing voice gateway services and so on.
For calls made using VoIP, IMS-based networks typically employ a session protocol to establish sessions (connections) that support the calls. An example of a session protocol that is commonly used is the well-known Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) as described in J. Rosenberg et al., "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol," Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request For Comments (RFC) 3261. SIP operates at the application layer of the Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model (OSI-RM) and is defined to establish and maintain sessions between users agents (UAs) at user equipment (UE) in a communication network.
In accordance with SIP, when a UA comes on-line, it typically registers with a registration service (registrar) using a SIP REGISTER message. The registrar maintains information about the UA which may include its location, how to reach it and authentication information associated with the UA that may be used to authenticate the UA. Typically, after a UA is registered, the UA is available to receive as well as initiate calls.
In a typical VoIP network, when a call is initiated by a calling party (caller) to a called party, a session is established between the caller and called parties' UAs to support the call. Establishing a session between the parties often involves (a) authenticating both parties and (b) successfully exchanging a sequence of messages between the parties in a predetermined manner. Authentication may involve ensuring the parties have permission to establish the call in the network. The sequence of messages may include (a) a SIP INVITE message issued by the calling party to initiate the session between the calling and called parties, (b) a SIP "200 OK" message issued by the called party to acknowledge the INVITE message and indicate the called party accepts participation in the session, followed by (c) a SIP ACK (acknowledgement) message issued by the calling party to acknowledge the called party's acceptance. After the session is established, a media channel (media stream) may then be established using SIP and associated with the session. The Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) may be used to transport information in the media channel. RTP is described in H. Schulzrinne et al., "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications," IETF RFC 3550.
In some IMS implementations, a Proxy-Call Session/Control Function (P-CSCF) server associated with a UA maintains an awareness of the registration status of the UA in order to determine if sessions established by the UA should be revoked based on the registration status of the UA. For example, if the registration status of a UA changes from "is registered" to "no longer is registered," the P-CSCF may choose to revoke any outstanding sessions in which the UA is participating. In a typical arrangement, the P-CSCF enters a subscription with a Serving-Call Session/Control Function (S-CSCF) the UA has registered with to be notified of changes in the registration status of the UA. The S-CSCF acts as a registrar that the UA has registered with. If the registration status of the UA changes, the S-CSCF notifies the P-CSCF of the change and the P-CSCF may, in turn, respond accordingly (e.g., terminate any sessions engaged by the UA).
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical exchange of messages between a UA, a P-CSCF and an S-CSCF where the UA registers with the S-CSCF and the P-CSCF subscribes to be notified of changes to the UA's registration status. Referring to FIG. 1, the UA registers with the S-CSCF by generating and forwarding a SIP REGISTER message to the S-CSCF. The message travels to the S-CSCF via the P-CSCF which receives the SIP REGISTER message, notes that the UA is registering with the S-CSCF and forwards the message to the S-CSCF. The S-CSCF receives the message and processes it which may include verifying that the UA has permission to register with the S-CSCF. Assuming that the registration request is accepted by the S-CSCF, the S-CSCF responds with a SIP "200 OK" message.
The "200 OK" message travels to the P-CSCF which notes that the UA has successfully registered with the S-CSCF. At this point, the P-CSCF knows that it needs to establish a subscription with the S-CSCF to monitor the status of the UA's registration. The P-CSCF forwards the "200 OK" message to the UA which receives the "200 OK" message and concludes that it has successfully registered with the S-CSCF. Meanwhile, the P-CSCF generates and forwards a SIP SUBSCRIBE message to the S-CSCF in order to be notified of any changes to the UA's registration status. The S-CSCF receives the subscribe message and processes it including establishing a subscription for the P-CSCF and, generating and forwarding a "200 OK" message to the P-CSCF. The P-CSCF receives the "200 OK" message and concludes that the subscription is "active." In addition to the "200 OK" message, the S-CSCF also generates and forwards a SIP NOTIFY message to the P-CSCF to notify it of the UA's current registration status. The P-CSCF receives the NOTIFY message and responds to it by generating and forwarding a "200 OK" message to the S-CSCF. The S-CSCF receives the "200 OK" message and concludes that the P-CSCF has successfully received the notification.

Technique for managing sessions with entities in a communication network


The bit (B6) indicating whether there is the possibility or not to normally complete the write operation by executing again the write operation is provided, together with the bit (B7) indicating whether the access is possible or not from the external side of the chip and the bit (B4) indicating whether the write operation is normally completed or not, to the status register within a non-volatile semiconductor memory device. Accordingly, it can be prevented that the effective memory capacity is reduced with an accidental write error in the electrically programmable and erasable non-volatile semiconductor memory device such as a flash memory.

The present invention relates to a technology effectively applicable to a method of controlling the internal conditions of a non-volatile memory which can electrically write or erase memory information, and more specifically to the technology effectively applicable, for example, to a flash memory.
A flash memory uses, as a memory cell, a non-volatile memory device consisting of a double-gate structure MOSFET having a control gate and a floating gage and a threshold voltage of MOSFET can be varied to store information by changing a fixed amount of charges of the floating gate.
In such flash memory, change of the threshold voltage due to the write and erase operations to the memory cells fluctuates in respective operations depending on the operating conditions such as environment temperature even when the memory cells of the same kind having the identical characteristics are used and therefore the threshold voltages after the write and erase operations are distributed within a certain range. Moreover, a certain memory cell cannot vary the threshold voltage thereof up to the desired level with the single write and erase operation. Therefore, in the flash memory, a status register is generally provided therein to form the structure that if write and erase operations are not conducted accurately, such operations are stored as the write error and erase error.
A CPU which gives instruction of write and erase operations to the flash memory refers to the status register and registers the sector including a memory cell having generated an error as a defective sector and executes the process to remove such sector from the effective memory region of successive data.
However, a certain memory cell having generated the error explained above cannot vary the threshold voltage up to the desired level even after the write and erase operations are repeated, but another memory cell can conduct normal write operation when the write operation is repeated again after the data is once erased (hereinafter, such error is referred to as an accidental fault). Particularly, in a multi-level flash memory for storing the data of 2-bit or more within only one memory cell, the range of threshold voltage corresponding to each memory information is narrower than that of the two-level memory and therefore such accidental error is generated easily.
However, in the flash memory of the prior art, detail error conditions of the sector having the bit where the write error has occurred have been never reflected on the status register. Therefore, it has become apparent that the sectors having generated error are all registered as the defective sectors and removed from the effective memory area, thereby resulting in the problem that the memory capacity of the memory as a whole is reduced.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to prevent reduction of memory capacity due to the accidental write error, in a non-volatile semiconductor device enabling electrical write and erase operations such as a flash memory.
It is another object of the present invention to easily analyze a fault such as write error, in a non-volatile semiconductor device enabling electrical write and erase operations such as a flash memory.
The aforementioned and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.
The typical inventions of those disclosed in the present specification will be briefly explained below.
Namely, a bit indicating whether the access can be made from the external side of a chip or not, a bit indicating whether the write operation is completed normally or not and a bit indicating whether normal write operation is possible or not by executing again the write operation are provided in the status register within the non-volatile semiconductor memory device.
In more practical, a non-volatile semiconductor memory device comprising a plurality of memory cells for storing information depending on difference of the threshold voltage by changing this threshold voltage through application of the predetermined voltage to the selected memory cells and a status register indicating the internal conditions of a chip. The status register comprises a first bit indicating whether access can be made from external side of the chip or not, a second bit indicating whether the write operation is completed normally or not, and a third bit indicating whether the normal write operation is possible or not by executing again the write operation, and conditions of these bits can be outputted to the external terminal of the chip.
According to the means explained above, the chance for normal write operation can be increased even in the memory cell that has once generated a fault by reading the contents of the status register and then conducting the write operation again depending on the conditions of bits and thereby reduction of effective memory capacity due to the accidental write error can be prevented.
Moreover, the write operation to above memory cell is performed by once erasing the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell and then changing such threshold voltage to the voltage corresponding to the write condition depending on the write information. The third bit explained above is set to the condition indicating generation of an error in such a case that the threshold voltage of the memory cell to which the information is written exceeds the predetermined voltage range. Since the selected memory cell is once erased before the write operation, the write control sequence is simplified and moreover the third bit indicating whether the normal write operation is possible or not can be set easily by executing again the write operation.
In addition, the third bit is set to indicate generation of error in such a case that the threshold voltage of memory cell exceeds the predetermined voltage range of the threshold voltage corresponding to the write operation after the write operation to the selected memory cell has been executed exceeding the predetermined number of times. With such structure, the time required for single write operation can be limited and thereby the external control device such as CPU for making access to the relevant memory device can be protected from the long-term waiting condition.
The second bit is set to indicate generation of error in such a case that threshold voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage range of the threshold voltage in the erasing condition during the verify read operation that is conducted immediately after the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell is once erased. Since a memory cell that is determined by the verify operation to be defective becomes a defective cell with higher possibility even after the write operation is conducted again, such memory cell can be discriminated from the memory cell that is recovered as a normal cell after the write operation is conducted again.
The status register has the fourth bit indicating whether the threshold voltage of the memory cell to which the write operation is conducted exceeds or not the upper limit value or lower limit value of the predetermined voltage range of the threshold voltage corresponding to the writing condition. Accordingly, whether the threshold voltage of the memory cell generating a write error has exceeded the upper limit value or lower limit value can be discriminated and fault analysis can be realized very easily.
The memory cell explained above is constituted to store the information of three or more levels depending on the threshold voltage and the fourth bit explained above is composed of a plurality of bits indicating whether the fourth bit exceeds or not the predetermined voltage range corresponding to respective threshold voltages. Accordingly, it is now possible, in the memory device that can store multi-level information with the memory cell, to know which voltage range the threshold voltage of the memory cell having generated the verify error has exceeded and the fault analysis can be executed easily.
Contents of the status register are outputted to the external terminal when a plurality of control signals supplied from the external side of the chip are combined as specified. Accordingly, it is no longer required to provide a new control signal to read the contents of the status register.
Here, it is preferable to provide a structure that the condition of the first bit of the status register is always outputted to the exclusive external terminal of the chip. Accordingly, it can always be detected that the external control device such as CPU for making access to the relevant memory device can make access or not.
Moreover, contents of the status register is outputted to the external terminal that is used in common for the input of the write information supplied from the external side of the chip. Accordingly, the number of external terminals required for the relevant memory device can be reduced.
It is also possible that contents of the status register is outputted to the external terminal that is used in common for the input of the write address supplied from the external side of the chip. Accordingly, the number of external terminals required for the relevant memory device can further be reduced.
Here, a control circuit for executing the process based on a command code supplied from the external circuit is provided and a control signal for the internal circuit corresponding to the command code is formed. Accordingly, the status register is provided within this control circuit. Accordingly, the internal condition can easily be reflected on the status register.
Another invention of the present patent application is a non-volatile semiconductor device comprising a plurality of memory cells for changing the threshold voltage by applying the predetermined voltage to the selected memory cell and then storing the information depending on difference of the threshold voltages and a status register for indicating the internal condition of chip, whereby write operation to the memory cell is conducted by once erasing the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell and then changing such threshold voltage to the voltage corresponding to the write condition depending on the write information. After the threshold voltage is changed to the voltage corresponding to the erasing condition, whether the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell has exceeded or not the predetermined voltage range is determined; when the threshold voltage exceeds the predetermined voltage range, the condition indicating an error is set to the first bit of the status register; after the threshold voltage is changed to the voltage corresponding to the write condition depending on the write information, whether the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell has exceeded or not the upper limit value (or lower limit value) of the predetermined voltage range is determined; when the threshold voltage exceeds the predetermined range, the condition indicating an error is set to the second bit of the status register; after above determination, whether the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell exceeds or not the lower limit value (or upper limit value) of the predetermined voltage range is determined; when the threshold voltage does not exceed the predetermined range, the condition indicating an error is set to the third bit of the status register. Moreover, when the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell does not exceed the lower limit value (or upper limit value) of the predetermined voltage range, the write process is executed again. If the threshold voltage of the selected memory cell does not yet exceed the lower limit value (or upper limit value) of the predetermined voltage range even after the repeated write operation, the condition indicating an error is set to the fourth bit of the status register. Accordingly, setting of each bit forming the status register can be realized very effectively.
Moreover, the status register explained above also has the fifth bit for indicating whether access is possible or not from the external side of the chip and sets this fifth bit, on the occasion of starting the write operation, to the condition for inhibiting the access from the external side of the chip and also sets this fifth bit, after the above write operation and the setting of the first to fourth bits, to the condition for allowing access from the external side of the chip. In addition, condition of this fifth bit is always outputted to the exclusive external terminal. Accordingly, whether the relevant memory device is in the accessible condition or not can be quickly and accurately reflected on the status register.


Lube oil basestocks having an oil/water interfacial tension (.gamma. o/w) of less than 41 mN/m, preferably less than about 35 mN/m which exhibit unacceptable demulsibility can have their demulsibility performance improved by contacting said lube oil basestock with an acidic ion exchange resin, such as Amberlyst AR-15, or with silica. The treated lube oil base stock exhibits an oil/water interfacial tension (.gamma. o/w) of at least about 41 mN/m, preferably at least about 42 mN/m.

In the course of processing, handling, storage, or use, lube oil basestocks, can pick up a not-insignificant quantity of water. For the purposes of this specification and the appended claims, lube oil base stocks are to be understood as being lube oil stocks which have been solvent extracted and/or dewaxed and/or hydrotreated.
The presence of water introduces a performance concern in the use of the oil. A major performance requirement of circulating oil (which is the usual mode of performance of a lube oil) is that the oil possess good demulsibility. By demulsibility is meant the ability of the base oil to separate from water after the water and oil have been intimately contacted and agitated. Water contamination and entrainment (evidenced by poor demulsibility) results in an impaired oil flow and impaired lubricity. The addition of demulsifiers does not always improve demulsibility performance. Furthermore, the addition of demulsifier additives increases costs.

Method for improving the demulsibility of base oils


Systems, computer program products and methods implementing consensus-based policy management are described. A policy administration point communicates with multiple user devices through policy collaboration plugins. Each user device includes a computer through which an administrator can edit a policy. A first user device can obtain a policy from the policy administration point for editing. The first user device stores the edited policy in a policy store. The first user device notifies one or more second user devices of the edit. Administrators on the second user devices can approve or disapprove the edit. Each second user device notifies the first user device of a respective approval or disapproval. The first user device can determine whether the edit is acceptable based on consensus. The policy store can be implemented locally to the first user device, in a centralized place, or distributed as a blockchain.

A distributed computing system can provide various services such as distributed data processing services, distributed file storage services, distributed database services, or distributed messaging services. A policy system can enforce various policies on accessing the services. For example, a policy system can allow a particular user to access a particular data item or a particular computing resource. Administrators can create and edit the policies. In a large and complex computing system, a policy can be complex and detailed. Many administrators can work on a same policy, each administrator being responsible for a portion of the policy. Conventionally, a version control system can be used to manage the policy. Each administrator can check out a policy from the version control system, edit the checked out policy, and check in the policy after finishing editing. Typically, the policy can be checked out to at most one administrator at any given time, otherwise conflict checking and merging may need to be applied. When the policy is checked out and being edited by one administrator, other administrators have no control over the editing by this administrator. Other administrators can review the edited policy after the policy is checked in.


An image capture apparatus comprises an image sensor, an acquisition unit which acquires information concerning distances to objects in a plurality of areas in an image capturing area, and a control unit which controls a charge accumulation period for each of a plurality of segmented areas of the image sensor, wherein the plurality of areas for which information concerning distances to the objects are acquired by the acquisition unit respectively correspond to the plurality of segmented areas, and the control unit controls the charge accumulation periods for the respective segmented areas at the time of light emission by a light-emitting device based on the information concerning the distances to the objects in the corresponding areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capture apparatus which can perform image capturing by using a light-emitting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many conventional image capture apparatuses use a system which performs so-called pre-flash before image capturing to determine the amount of light emission at the time of image capturing, when capturing an object image by using a light-emitting device, and determines the amount of light emission at the time of image capturing by performing photometry of reflected light from an object at the time of pre-flash.
The image capture apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-21961 receives, via an image sensor, reflected light from an object at the time of pre-flash which has passed through an imaging lens, and determines a proper amount of light emission by using an output from the image sensor. If an object is located at a near distance and an output from the image sensor exceeds a predetermined value, this apparatus stops down the imaging lens and performs pre-flash again. The apparatus then determines the amount of light emission from a proper output from the image sensor.
The photometry device of the camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-130462 is compatible with photometry in a wide luminance range which is performed by alternately repeating photometry with a long accumulation period of an image sensor and photometry with a short accumulation period.
However, according to the conventional technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-21961, when an object is located a short distance at the time of pre-flash and an output from the image sensor exceeds a predetermined value, the imaging lens is stopped down, and pre-flash is performed again. For this reason, depending on object distance conditions, it is necessary to perform pre-flash a plurality of times to determine the light amount of main light emission.
The conventional technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-130462 needs to perform pre-flash at least twice to perform photometry twice with short and long accumulation periods. In addition, since a short accumulation period is a preset accumulation period, the image sensor is saturated depending on the distance relationship with an object, resulting in a failure to properly determine the light amount of main light emission.

Image capture apparatus and method of controlling the same


In one embodiment, a controller comprises one or more transaction queues, one or more age counter circuits, and a control circuit. The transaction queues are configured to store a plurality of transaction requests, each having a transaction type. The age counter circuits are configured to generate one or more age counters, where each age counter corresponds to a respective pair of transaction types. Coupled to receive an indication of an input transaction type corresponding to an input transaction request to the controller and coupled to the age counter circuits, the control circuit is configured to select at least one of the plurality of age counters to be stored with the input transaction request in the one or more transaction queues, each of the selected counters indicative of a relative age of the input transaction request with transaction requests of another transaction type.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of peripheral interfaces and, more particularly, to ordering rules and fairness for transactions on such interfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Peripheral interface specifications typically specify transaction ordering rules for transactions communicated over the interface. For example, the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express™ specification specifies ordering rules among posted transactions, nonposted transactions, and completions. The transaction ordering rules may be designed to prevent deadlock in the system, as well as to ensure the producer-consumer model is supported.
Among other things, the PCI Express (PCIe) ordering rules require that the posted transactions be able to pass nonposted transactions and completions. That is, if a nonposted transaction or completion is blocked from transmission and the posted transaction is not blocked, the posted transaction must be permitted to be transmitted, even if the posted transaction is queued behind the blocked transaction, is younger than the blocked transaction, etc. Similarly, completions must be able to pass nonposted transactions. Other ordering rules may permit passing of transactions, or permit passing of transactions in certain cases. Still other ordering rules do not permit passing in some cases.
Transactions may be blocked due to a lack of resources for handling the transaction. For example, a credit-based system is often used to track available resources in a receiver of a transaction. Credits may be maintained for each available resource for handling a given transaction type, and a credit may be consumed when a transaction of that type is transmitted by a transmitter (and thus consumes the resource in the receiver). The credit is returned to the transmitter when the transaction completes or otherwise frees the resource. If no credit is available for a given transaction type, transactions of that type are blocked until the credit becomes available. A given device on the peripheral interface may be both a transmitter and a receiver of transactions.
Implementing the ordering rules correctly while supporting high performance and fairness among transaction types is complex and error prone. A simple implementation makes posted transactions high priority, completions medium priority, and nonposted transactions low priority. In such an implementation, posted transactions would always pass completions and nonposted transactions, and completions would always pass nonposted transactions. However, such an implementation would not support fairness very well, since the nonposted transactions are only transmitted when there are no posted transactions or completions, regardless of how long the nonposted transactions have been queued awaiting transmission.
Other implementations use a single age counter to track the age of transactions. As each transaction request is received, it is assigned the current value of the age counter and the counter is incremented. By comparing age counter values assigned to each transaction, the age of transactions may be determined. If two transactions are both able to be transmitted, the older transaction can be selected. However, since some transactions can pass others, the age counter can never be made large enough to ensure that it will not overflow. For example, a long string of posted transactions passing a nonposted transaction that is blocked may cause the age counter to overflow, and age information may be lost. Typically, complex logic must be implemented to properly handle the overflow case and not lose age information among the queued transactions.

Ordering rule and fairness implementation


A dome for a skylight; said dome formed of light transmitting material; at least an internal surface of said dome provided with prismatic structures arranged so as to direct incident light from without said dome to points below a lower periphery of said dome; said prismatic structures formed as adjoining facets of a plurality of curved ridges; each of said curved ridges extending from a first upper end to a second lower end.

Skylights have traditionally been formed as structures similar to windows, comprising a frame with sheet glazing to admit light through an aperture in a roof surface.
More recently a form of skylight, shown schematically in FIG. 1, which has gained wide acceptance, includes a transparent dome installed above an aperture in the roof surface. A cylindrical, so-called light tube, extends from below the lower periphery of the dome, through the roof aperture and down to the ceiling. The interior surface of this cylindrical light tube is highly reflective so as to reflect angled light entering the dome down to a diffuser at the lower end of the tube, generally at ceiling level.
Although these dome and light tube skylights are effective, the dome, being of a simple, generally constant wall thickness, has little effect on the direction of incident light passing through the dome and entering the light tube.
An improvement in the light gathering ability of a skylight dome was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,546,709 in which the interior surface of the dome is provided with an arrangement of refracting elements, somewhat in the manner of a Fresnel lens. The refracting elements are arranged as continuous circles of ridges parallel to the lower periphery of the dome. Although an advance over plain light admitting domes, the particular arrangement of the refractive surfaces is only optimally effective in directing incident rays of sunlight impinging on the dome in regions close to planes passing through the dome's axis and aligned with the direction of the sun. Sunlight striking the dome away from this optimal region is increasingly either largely reflected off the dome surface or not optimally refracted into the light tube.
It is an object of the present invention to address or at least ameliorate some of the above disadvantages.


A stroke diagnosis and prognosis prediction system includes: an image acquisition unit configured so as to receive a plurality of images including at least a part of a human brain; an image alignment unit for aligning the plurality of images on the basis of a standard brain image; a lesion area detection and mapping unit for respectively detecting lesion areas from the plurality of images, and mapping the detected lesion areas so as to generate one mapping image; a matching and correction unit, which scales a mapping image so as to match the same to the standard brain image and performs image correction on the mapping image; a three-dimensional image generation unit storing the mapping image in a three-dimensional data space, thereby generating a three-dimensional lesion image; and a stroke diagnosis unit for diagnosing a stroke on the basis of the three-dimensional lesion image.

A stroke (or apoplexy) generally refers to a local neurologic loss symptom suddenly occurring due to the abnormality of a cerebral blood flow. The stroke is the term of a symptom and is called a cerebrovascular disease when it is called as a medical disease. The stroke is basically divided into cerebral infarction and brain hemorrhage.
In conventional stroke diagnosis, an expert medical specialist determines the cause of a stroke and evaluates the severity of the stroke. A method of classifying a stroke cause, used as an international criterion, is a Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) criterion. The TOAST classification method is a classification method that is most commonly used so far. The causes of a stroke are classified into large artery atherosclerosis, cardioembolism, small artery occlusion, other causes, and an undetermined cause depending on a pathogenesis occurred.
Furthermore, a degree (severity) of an initial neurologic loss has been known to be very important as a factor to determine stroke prognosis. Several criteria are used to measure the initial neurologic loss degree, but are insufficient to satisfy all validity, reliability and measurement easiness. The evaluation of the severity is performed by NIHSS.
The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) is most used in Korea because it has been known to have high validity and reliability. In clinic research, it is necessary to quantitatively measure the severity of a neurologic loss. In actual clinic, however, the severity of a neurologic loss is not quantitatively measured and analyzed, but is descriptively measured and recorded. Furthermore, there is a method of evaluating the state after stroke treatment using a mRS criterion after three months.
Meanwhile, to evaluate the nature of a tissue disease and diagnose the nature of a pathological disease or a scheme therefor has been proposed as a conventional technology. For example, conventional technologies include Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2016-0058812 (Feb. 25, 2016) entitled "Image analysis techniques for diagnosing diseases", Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2015-0098119 (Aug. 27, 2015) entitled "System and method for removing false positive lesion candidate in medical image", Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2015-0108701 (Sep. 30, 2015) entitled "Apparatus and method for visualizing anatomic elements in a medical image."
Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2016-0058812 discloses a scheme for evaluating the nature of a tissue disease, diagnosing the nature of a pathological disease or evaluating prognosis thereof or a danger thereof. The scheme includes an image acquiring module configured to receive an image including at least some of an animal or human tissue, a delineation module configured to display an analysis area in the obtained image, a feature extraction module configured to extract quantitative information from the analysis area, and a machine learning module configured to receive the extracted information in order to evaluate the nature of a tissue disease and to apply at least one detection algorithm.
The above-described conventional documents disclose a technology for performing diagnosis according to a common disease or lesion rather than for the diagnosis of a stroke and the prediction of prognosis.
Meanwhile, for the diagnosis of a stroke and the prediction of prognosis, all of massive MRI image data and patient clinic information must be considered. Accordingly, a lot of time for diagnosis is consumed, and a deviation in the diagnosis results may be great depending on a skill level of a medical team.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method capable of providing results having a minimized deviation in the diagnosis results while rapidly diagnosing a stroke, improving the accuracy of the final diagnosis and prognosis prediction of a medical team, and thus performing optimal medical measures.

Stroke diagnosis and prognosis prediction method and system

DONGGUK UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION


A device for replacing a battery in a battery powered apparatus such as a smoke alarm is provided which permits the battery to be replaced from a location remote from the battery connector of the apparatus. The device hereof includes a guide track in the form of an elongated tube and means shiftable therealong for carrying a battery between the battery connector and the portion of the tube proximal to the user. A rod is provided for shifting a carriage preferably located within the tube. The carriage is preferably configured to present the battery to the battery connector with the terminals oriented to engage the battery connector and press the battery into position. On the retrieval stroke, the carriage is configured to pull the battery out of engagement with the battery connector and carry it to the end of the tube proximal to the user where the battery may be pushed through a port in the tube and readily replaced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with a device which permits the battery powering a smoke alarm to be manipulated from a remote location and thereafter replaced. By using a reciprocating carriage along a guide track, the battery may be readily replaced without the necessity of climbing ladders or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Smoke alarms are beneficial additions to many buildings which have resulted in the savings of many lives and prevented extensive damage to the structure. Home smoke alarms are relatively inexpensive and may be installed without professional assistance in most instances. These alarms are typically powered by a conventional 9 volt battery and the smoke alarm will not work without a battery or if the battery is discharged. To provide the most effective protection, home smoke alarms are typically located near the ceiling so that they may provide early detection of the rising smoke.
Unfortunately, this places the smoke alarm out of reach of many homeowners. In order to replace the battery, a ladder must often be obtained. Typically, the user must open the casing of the smoke alarm after climbing the ladder and then replace the battery which is snap connected to a battery connector located therein. These can be especially difficult tasks for elderly users of those with arthritis who have trouble removing the casing or risk serious injury if they should fall from the ladder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,314 to Theriault discloses a mountable remote cutoff timer for a smoke detector which is designed to be positioned remotely from the smoke detector. While the remote unit disclosed therein permits the replacement of batteries more easily, it requires manual manipulation of the battery which may be difficult for elderly and arthritic users. The Theriault device moreover requires that the battery itself be within reach and involves additional electrical components such as a timer switch.
There is thus a need for a device for use with a smoke alarm which can easily be installed, permits easy handling of a battery during installation and removal, and allows the battery to be replaced from a location more readily accessible than the vicinity of the smoke alarm itself.

Device for replacing battery in smoke alarm


Methods and apparatus are provided for constrained transforms for video coding and decoding having transform selection. An apparatus includes a video encoder for encoding at least a block in a picture by selecting a particular transform from at least a first transform and a second transform that is different than the first transform, and applying the particular transform to a residue of the block. Transform coefficients for the second transform are selected responsive to a deblocking filter that is present in the video encoder.

The block-based discrete transform is a fundamental component of many image and video compression standards including the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) Moving Picture Experts Group-1 (MPEG-1) Standard, the ISO/IEC MPEG-2 Standard, the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 Standard, the International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Sector (ITU-T) H.263 Recommendation, and the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 Part 10 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) Standard/ITU-T H.264 Recommendation (hereinafter the "MPEG-4 AVC standard"), and so forth, and is used in a wide range of applications.
The discrete cosine transform (DCT) is the most extensively used block transform. The DCT scheme takes advantage of the local spatial correlation property of an image/frame by dividing the image/frame into blocks of pixels (usually 4×4 and 8×8), transforming each block from the spatial domain to the frequency domain using the discrete cosine transform and quantizing the DCT coefficients. Most image and video compression standards use a fixed two-dimensional (2-D) separable DCT block transform. If several block sizes are allowed (typically, from 4×4 to 16×16 blocks), then the DCT with the size corresponding to the block is used. Nonetheless, there is only one possible transform for each block size.
However, the image and video content has data with varying statistics and properties. Therefore, there are potential compression gains if several transforms could be used for each block, selecting for each situation the most favorable transform within a range of options. In the image and video coding standards such as, for example, the MPEG-4 AVC Standard, there is only one choice for the block transform to use for each block size. Thus, there is no selection of the transform.
There have been some prior proposals for the use of multiple transforms in a single coding scheme. The Karhunen Loeve Transform (KLT) is an optimal linear transform described in a first prior art. KLT is employed in the first prior art approach to derive the best transform for each of the 9 intra prediction modes in the MPEG-4 AVC Standard. The statistics for each mode are extracted and the corresponding KLTs are derived. Each intra prediction residual is encoded with its KLT. The 9 intra modes partition the data space effectively in such a way that the DCT is no longer close to the best transform, so a distinctive best transform can be derived and successfully applied. To sum up, the first prior art approach uses several transforms, but each of them is fixed to the intra prediction mode selected.
A second prior art approach proposes to modify the DCT transform to several frequencies, that is, changing the basis functions with different all-pass filters to attain a variety of warped frequency responses. The resulting transforms are called warped DCT (WDCT). An exhaustive rate distortion (R-D) search is performed for each block and the selected transform is indicated with side information. The idea is applied to image compression. A third prior art approach describes using the WDCT and embedding the transform selection within the transformed coefficients themselves. The third prior art approach shows good performance for low-bit rate image compression. Also, the third prior art approach adds a post-filtering step that minimizes the mean square error (MSE). The filter is determined at the encoder and multiplexed into the bit-stream.
A fourth prior art approach proposes an algebraic optimization of a set of transforms for a large database. The set is partitioned iteratively until the set reaches a stable point in which each transform is sparse-optimal for its particular subset of data. The encoder indicates through a quad-tree which transform is used in each block. Thus, the transform choice is not obtained independently for each block.
A fifth prior art approach proposes an integer sine transform (IST) for inter frame residues. An inter frame residue has low correlation, and the DCT is adequate only for highly correlated data. Therefore, the fifth prior art approach proposes a sine transform, which is efficient for data with correlation from −0.5 to 0.5. The KLT coincides with the sine transform in part of this range. The IST is derived from the sine transform in exactly the same way as the integer cosine transform in the MPEG-4 AVC Standard. The fifth prior art approach has implemented 4×4 and 8×8 IST versions. The same transform is applied for the whole macroblock, sending a flag, unless the macroblock is divided into 4 sub-macroblocks, in which case 4 flags are sent indicating the transform employed in each sub-macroblock.
A sixth prior art approach proposes a scheme similar to that proposed in the fifth prior art approach. The sixth prior art approach proposes an adaptive prediction error coding (APEC) coding scheme that enables adaptive prediction error coding in the spatial and frequency domain. For each block of the prediction error, either transform coding or spatial domain coding is applied. The algorithm with a lower rate-distortion (RD) cost is chosen.
These approaches propose a limited range of choice of the best transform and do not fully exploit the generality of the concept.
We have previously disclosed and described a more general and broader approach that includes alternatives not considered in the aforementioned prior art. These concepts are disclosed with respect to a seventh prior art approach and an eighth prior art approach. The seventh and eighth prior art approaches describe the use of a set of transforms (two or more transforms) and then encode an image or video choosing the best transform of the set for each region, slice, block or macroblock. The set of transforms may be optimized or designed for a range of statistics or image/video patterns. In practice, one of the transforms is the DCT. A problem then arises on what alternative transforms should be in the set that work well along with the DCT. Different methods to obtain the alternative transforms are outlined in the seventh and eighth prior art approaches and include, for example, training a set and obtaining the corresponding KLT by sparsity-based methods, and so forth. However, these methods either try to optimize an objective metric, like the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) or BD-rate (Bjontegaard bit rate savings), or use basic alternatives like the DST (Discrete Sine Transform), but they do not consider the subjective quality of the encoded sequences.
We have observed that sequences encoded with a transform selection method (even though improving the PSNR) might suffer from a new artifact which we call "windowed pattern". The pattern is mainly found at low bit-rates and can be annoying.

Methods and apparatus for constrained transforms for video coding and decoding having transform selection