A disk motor which rotationally drives an optical disk; a rotational phase detector which detects a rotational phase thereof; an optical head having a collecting lens which collects an optical bean; a light detector and an LE signal generator which detect a position of the collecting lens in the optical head as a position signal; an LE signal memory recorder and an LE signal memory which store, in synchronization with a rotational phase to be detected by the rotational phase detector, the positional signal from the LE signal generator; an LE signal memory regenerator which outputs as a correction signal, in synchronization with a rotational phase to be detected, the positional signal which has already been detected; a subtractor; an LE signal filter, a drive circuit and a Tk actuator which move the collecting lens using a signal from the subtractor; and a low pass filter which reduces a high-frequency component of the correction signal are provided.

With a conventional optical disk apparatus, the reproduction of a signal is performed by irradiating an optical beam having a constant and relatively low light intensity on an optical disk that is an information carrier, and detecting reflected light modulated by an information recording surface of the optical disk as high/low light intensities. In addition, when recording a signal, information is written on a recording material film on the optical disk by modulating an optical beam as high/low light intensities according to the signal to be recorded.
Recording information on an optical disk or reproducing information recorded on an optical disk requires focusing control in which an optical beam is controlled in a normal direction (hereinafter referred to as a "focusing direction") of a face of an optical disk 1 so that the optical beam is constantly in a predetermined focused state on the recording material film as well as tracking control in which the optical beam is controlled in a radial direction (hereinafter referred to as a "tracking direction") of the optical disk so that the optical beam is constantly positioned on a predetermined track. Among the aforementioned, tracking control involves detecting high/low levels of reflected light from an information recording surface including tracks of an optical disk as a tracking error signal, and based thereon, moving an objective lens for collecting the optical beam on the optical disk in a tracking direction.
Incidentally, a track of an optical disk is formed in a spiral-shape on an information recording surface. In the case of a read-only disk, a row of pits is formed in a spiral shape. Additionally, in the case in which the optical disk 1 is a recordable or a readable disk, a guiding groove is formed in a spiral shape, and an optically recordable or readable material film is further formed using a method such as deposition on a substrate surface on which irregularities are formed by the guiding groove.
Normally, in the manufacturing of optical disks, a process for fabricating pits or a guiding groove including track information on a reflection surface of light from an optical head 10 by press working or the like is independent from a subsequently-performed process for fabricating a central hole for clamping.
Therefore, the center of the spiral of a track is not completely consistent with the center of the central hole of the optical disk, thereby causing eccentricity during clamping of the optical disk.
Such an eccentricity acts as a primary periodic disturbance component of the optical disk apparatus and significantly reduces following performance with respect to tracks.
Particularly, in recent years, optical disks 1 capable of high density recording in order to record large volumes of information including visual information as well as optical disk apparatuses capable of recording or reproducing information from such optical disks at high speed have come into use. In other words, there is a prominent trend towards higher speed factors. Since the greater the reproduction speed of an optical disk the greater the influence of an eccentricity, such an eccentricity must be effectively compensated in order to accurately follow a track at a high speed factor.
In consideration thereof, control of a movement of an objective lens in a tracking-direction for the purpose of compensating disk eccentricity is being performed independently of normal tracking control (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-182968).
FIG. 16(a) is a block configuration diagram of an optical disk apparatus which performs such control.
A configuration and operations of a conventional optical disk apparatus will now be described with reference to FIG. 16(a). As shown in FIG. 16, an optical head 10 is mounted with a semiconductor laser 11, a collecting lens 13, a beam splitter 12, an Fc actuator 14, a Tk actuator 15 and a light detector 16. An optical beam generated from the semiconductor laser 11 passes through the beam splitter 12 and is focused above a disk-shaped optical disk 1 by the collecting lens 13.
The optical beam reflected off the optical disk 1 once again passes through the collecting lens 13 and is reflected off the beam splitter 12 and irradiated to the light detector 16. The collecting lens 13 is supported by an elastic body (not shown) and moves in a focusing direction due to an electromagnetic force when an electric current is passed through the Fc actuator 14. The collecting lens 13 moves in a tracking direction due to an electromagnetic force when an electric current is passed through the Tk actuator 15. The light detector 16 generates a signal according to a detected light intensity.
The light detector 16 sends the signal to an LE signal generator 30. Using the light intensity signal of the light detector 16, the LE signal generator 30 computes a position signal (lens shift error signal: hereinafter referred to as an "LE signal") with respect to the optical head 10 of the collecting lens 13, and sends the same to an LE signal filter 37 via a subtractor 35.
As an LE signal detection method, an LE signal can be generated by performing a sample/hold or the like on a push-pull tracking error detection signal acquired from a reflected light from the optical disk 1.
In this case, the LE signal generator 30 uses a top hold push-pull method in which are acquired respective pick/hold signals of signals from which push-pull method tracking error signals are obtained by mutual subtraction processing, whereby the pick/hold signals are subtracted from each other. Due to such a configuration, the influence of reflected light from the tracks is eliminated. (For example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H09-274726).
In response to a signal from the LE signal generator 30, the LE signal filter 37 generates a signal for performing lens control and sends the same to a drive circuit 73, whereby the drive circuit 73 drives the Tk actuator 15. A disk motor 20 rotates the optical disk 1, generates a predetermined pulse signal (hereinafter referred to as an "FG signal") during one rotation and sends the same to a rotational phase detector 21.
The rotational phase detector 21 generates a rotational phase of the optical disk 1 by counting FG signals from the disk motor 20 and sends the same to an LE signal memory regenerator 32 and an LE signal memory recorder 31.
Every time rotational phase information from the rotational phase detector 21 changes during an eccentricity correction recording operation, the LE signal memory recorder 31 records an LE signal of the LE signal generator 30 for each rotational phase on the LE signal memory 33.
The LE signal memory 33 retains an LE signal level for each rotational phase. Every time rotational phase information from the rotational phase detector 21 changes during an eccentricity correction recording operation, the LE signal memory regenerator 32 selects an LE signal level corresponding to the rotational phase from the LE signal memory 33 in synchronization to the change and sends the selected LE signal level to the subtractor 35. The subtractor 35 subtracts the signal from the LE signal memory regenerator 32 from the signal from the LE signal generator 30 and sends the subtracted signal to the LE signal filter 37.
Upon receiving the signal of the subtractor 35, the LE signal filter 37 generates a drive signal whose target value is the stored information of the LE signal memory 33. The drive circuit 73 receives the drive signal and passes a current through the Tk actuator 15, and moves the Tk actuator 15 in a tracking direction. Consequently, the optical beam is adapted to follow the eccentricity of the optical disk 1.
As shown, with the optical disk apparatus shown in FIG. 16(a), since lens control is performed with feedback using a lens shift amount from the LE signal generator 30, eccentricity correction can be performed in a stable manner.
Incidentally, the aforementioned lens control with feedback using a lens shift amount mainly becomes necessary when the optical head 10 performs a long-distance seek that strides a plurality of tracks at one time, and is performed when drive signals inputted to the drive circuit 73 are switched by an operation of a change-over switch 72. Normal tracking control is performed as follows. That is, the light detector 16 detects reflected light from a pit row or the like formed on an information recording surface of the optical disk 1. A TE signal generator 70 generates a tracking error signal (hereinafter "TE signal") based on the signal detected by the light detector 16. Upon receiving the TE signal, a TE signal filter 71 generates a drive signal based thereon and sends it to the drive circuit 73. The drive circuit 73 passes a current in accordance with the drive signal and moves the Tk actuator 15.
However, the present inventors have discovered the following problems in an optical disk apparatus according to the conventional art described above. With the optical disk apparatus shown in FIG. 16(a), the rotation of the optical disk 1 is a continuous quantity. In contrast, since limits exist on the capacity of the LE signal memory 33 or on the overall processing speed of eccentricity correction, rotational phase information from the rotational phase detector 21 is given as a discrete value sampled according to a count value (sampling frequency) of an FG signal.
A description will now be given with reference to FIGS. 17(a) to (c). It should be noted that, in each drawing, the graph ordinate represents positional changes of the collecting lens 13 while the abscissa represents rotational phases of the disk motor 20.
As shown in FIG. 16(a), while an LE signal representing a positional change of the collecting lens 13 based on an eccentricity of the optical disk 1 assumes a continuous sinusoidal form as shown in FIG. 17(a), a signal from the LE signal memory regenerator 32 assumes a staircase form corresponding to a count value t of an FG signal as shown in FIG. 17(b). At this point, a rising edge portion or a trailing edge portion of steps of the staircase waveform of the signal from the LE signal memory regenerator 32 includes a high-frequency band signal component. Therefore, even when a difference between both signals is obtained by the subtractor 35, the signal waveform of the difference assumes a staircase form.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 16(b), the LE signal filter 37 for performing lens control is configured as a PID filter in which a proportional filter 37a, an integral filter 37b and a differential filter 37c respectively perform a proportional operation, an integral operation and a differential operation in parallel on an input signal.
When a signal from the subtractor 35 which includes a component of a staircase waveform signal is inputted to a PID filter arranged as described above, a drive signal generated after processing also assumes to have a staircase waveform. However, due to the influence of the differential operation performed by the differential filter 37c of the LE signal filter 37, the drive signal is to be outputted to the drive circuit 73 as a signal having a noise-amplified waveform such as that shown in FIG. 17(c). At this point, drive noise appears as a distortion of a rising edge or a trailing edge of steps of the signal waveform.
Particularly, when the gain of the LE signal filter 37 is increased in order to follow an eccentricity of the optical disk 1 with high accuracy, drive noise increases and a risk exists that the threshold set to the drive circuit 73 and which is shown in the drawing is exceeded. When the threshold is exceeded, the drive circuit 73 may become saturated or reactive power may increase. A saturation of the drive circuit 73 causes the waveform of the drive current actually passing through the Tk actuator 15 to differ significantly from the original waveform and prevents stable eccentricity correction operations.
In addition, feedback control is operated using a signal from the LE signal generator 30 in order to perform lens control, but the following problem exists when the LE signal generator 30 uses a top hold push-pull method for detecting a lens shift amount. That is, when an optical beams crosses between tracks of an optical disk 1, and when the crossing speed of the optical beam with respect to tracks of the optical disk 1, i.e., the movement speed in a tracking direction is low, the influence of the reflected light from the tracks is not sufficiently eliminated and an error occurs in the LE signal from the LE signal generator 30. The error disturbs lens control and degrades following accuracy with respect to an eccentricity. A decline in following accuracy impedes stable eccentricity correction operations.
The present invention has been made to solve the problem described above, and an object thereof is to provide an optical disk apparatus and the like which performs stable eccentricity correction operations.

Optical disk apparatus, control method of optical disk apparatus, and integrated circuit


The invention relates to a chip resistor which is used as a circuit part for various electric apparatuses. The object of the invention is to realize a low resistance and a low TCR, and also high accuracy and high reliability. In order to achieve the object, a chip resistor is configured so as to have: a substrate; a resistance layer which is formed on at least one face of the substrate and which is made of a copper nickel alloy; upper-face electrode layers which make surface contact with the upper faces of both the end portions of the resistance layer; and end-face electrodes which are formed so as to cover the upper-face electrode layers. Since the bonding between the resistance layer and the upper-face electrode layers is conducted by metal-to-metal bonding, particularly, impurities which may affect the properties do not exist in the interface. As a result, it is possible to realize a chip resistor which is excellent in heat resistance, and which has a low resistance and a low TCR.

1. (Technical Field)
The invention relates to a chip resistor which is widely used in an electronic circuit, particularly to a chip resistor which has a low resistance and a low TCR, and also to a method of producing the resistor.
2. (Background Art)
Recently, as typically exemplified by a portable telephone, a movie camera, and a notebook-type personal computer, demands for small electronic apparatuses are growing. It is no exaggeration that miniaturization and improvement of the performance of such electronic apparatuses will depend on those of chip-type electronic parts to be used in the apparatuses. As a thin film resistor body, known are ruthenium oxide and a composition which contains bismuth ruthenate and lead ruthenate that are complex oxides of ruthenium oxide, as main components (for example, see the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Sho 58-37963). Such a resistor body is used in various fields.
An example of a method of producing a conventional chip resistor will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of a conventional chip resistor, and FIG. 13 is a section view taken along the line A--A' of FIG. 12. Usually, a chip resistor of this kind is produced in the following manner. First, upper electrodes 11 are formed on the upper face of a chip-like alumina substrate 10 which is made of alumina of 96% purity. A resistor body 12 is formed on a part of the upper face of the alumina substrate 10 so as to be connected with the upper electrodes. A protective film 14 which is made of lead borosilicate glass is formed so as to cover the whole of the resistor body 12. Usually, the protective film 14 is formed by forming a pattern by means of screen printing and then firing the film at a temperature as high as 500 to 800.degree. C.
Next, end-face electrodes 13 each consisting of an Ag thick film are formed on the end faces of the alumina substrate 10 so as to be connected with the upper electrodes 11, respectively. Usually, the end-face electrodes 13 are formed by conducting a firing process at a high temperature of about 600.degree. C. In order to ensure the reliability in a soldering process, finally, Ni plated films 15 are formed by electroplating so as to cover the end-face electrodes 13, and solder plated films 16 are formed so as to cover the Ni plated films 15, thereby completing a chip resistor.
In a chip resistor produced by such a production method, generally, a thick film glaze resistor body material which contains ruthenium oxide as a main component is used as conductive particles constituting the resistor body. However, a resistor body material which contains only ruthenium oxide has a large temperature coefficient of resistance (hereinafter, often abbreviated as "TCR") which indicates a change of the resistance with temperature. Therefore, the material must be used after the TCR is reduced to a small value of about .+-.50 ppm/.degree.C. or less by adding a TCR adjustment material such as a metal oxide.
When such a resistor body material is used, however, it is difficult to produce a chip resistor having a low resistance of 1 .OMEGA. or less because ruthenium oxide has high resistivity. To comply with this, a chip resistor has been proposed in which a copper nickel alloy having a low temperature coefficient of resistance, such as that described in JIS C2521 and JIS C2532 is used as a resistor body material of a low resistance of 1 .OMEGA. or lower.
Specifically, a structure is proposed in which such an alloy material is formed into a foil-like or plate-like shape and then applied to an alumina substrate, and that in which resistor body paste obtained by kneading copper powder, nickel powder, and a glass frit in an organic vehicle is printed on an alumina substrate and then fired in an inert atmosphere, thereby forming an alloy film (see the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. Hei 2-308501 and Hei 3-270104).
In the former structure, however, the mass productivity is not highly excellent because of the following reason. Under the situation where miniaturization of a chip part is growing, a method of working alloy foil or an alloy plate has a limit, a trimming process cannot use a laser, and other processes such as grinding have a limit. Furthermore, also from the view point of cost, the method is more disadvantageous than the printing method.
In the latter structure, the bonding between the resistor body film and the substrate, and the adjustment of the resistance layer are realized by using glass, and hence components other than copper-nickel are contained at high ratios. Consequently, the temperature coefficient is different from that of a copper nickel alloy. Depending on the firing conditions, furthermore, the glass component exhibits diffusion behavior in the metal components and at the interface between sintered particles in different manners. Therefore, the latter structure has a problem in that a stable resistance property is hardly obtained.
In the paste method using copper powder and nickel powder, the properties of a resistor are largely affected by the properties of terminal electrodes of a power supply portion, and the structure of the interface between the resistor body and an electrode. The minimum resistance which can be produced by the method is limited to 100 m.OMEGA.. It is difficult to realize a lower resistance.
As described above, the recent tendency to miniaturization of a chip resistor is growing. On the other hand, the needs for a chip resistor which may be used in current detection in an electronic circuit, and the like and which has a low resistance and a low TCR is increasing. From the view point of the performance required in a use, moreover, a chip resistor which can ensure high accuracy and high reliability in addition to a low resistivity and a low TCR is eagerly requested.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The invention discloses techniques for providing automatic retransmission query (ARQ) functions in a communication system. A transmitter in the system applies an input data packet to a first convolutional encoder operating at a first rate to generate an inner code including multiple encoded packets. The encoded packets are interleaved and applied to a second convolutional encoder operating at a second rate which generates an outer code including a transmit packet generated from each of the encoded packets. A first transmit packet is sent to a receiver, which decodes the transmit packet in a Viterbi decoder operating at the second rate to generate a decoded version of the first transmit packet. The decoded version is inverted to provide a first provisional decoding of the input packet. If a cyclic redundancy code (CRC) check of the first provisional decoding is passed, the receiver sends an ACK signal to the transmitter and no retransmission is required. If the check is not passed, the transmitter sends one or more additional transmit packets, which are processed in a manner similar to the first transmit packet to generate one or more additional provisional decodings of the input data packet. If a CRC check of a given one of these additional provisional decodings is passed, the receiver accepts it as the input packet and sends an ACK signal to the transmitter. If none pass the CRC check, the receiver may combine decoded versions of the transmit packets, and apply the result to a Viterbi decoder operating at the first rate to generate another provisional decoding of the input packet. This provisional decoding is accepted as the input packet if it passes a CRC check.

Communication systems with automatic retransmission query (ARQ) functionality allow a receiver to indicate to a transmitter that a given data packet was received with errors and should therefore be retransmitted. ARQ techniques are also referred to as automatic repeat request techniques, and are described generally at pp. 259-260 of B. Sklar, "Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications," Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1988, which is incorporated by reference herein. A conventional ARQ technique known as stop-and-wait ARQ is suitable for use with half-duplex transmission channels. In stop-and-wait ARQ, a receiver sends an acknowledge (ACK) signal to a transmitter after a given packet is received successfully. The transmitter waits until the ACK signal is received for the given packet before transmitting the next packet in a sequence of packets to be transmitted. If the receiver detects an error in a given packet, it sends a negative acknowledge (NAK) signal to the transmitter, and the transmitter then retransmits the given packet. Other ARQ techniques suitable for use with full duplex transmission channels include continuous ARQ with pullback and continuous ARQ with selective repeat. In both of these techniques, after transmitting a given packet, the transmitter continues to transmit additional packets in the packet sequence even though an ACK signal has not yet been received for the given packet. If the receiver sends a NAK signal indicating that the given packet needs to be retransmitted, a transmitter implementing continuous ARQ with pullback responds to the NAK signal by returning to the given packet in the sequence, and retransmitting the given packet and all subsequent packets which were transmitted prior to receiving the NAK signal for the given packet. A transmitter implementing continuous ARQ with selective repeat also retransmits the given packet, but then picks up in the sequence where it left off before receiving the NAK signal, such that packets following the given packet are not retransmitted unless NAK signals are also received for those packets.
These and other conventional ARQ techniques may be used in place of or in conjunction with error correction techniques such as forward error correction (FEC). ARQ techniques which are used in conjunction with FEC are referred to as hybrid ARQ techniques and include Hybrid Type I and Hybrid Type II techniques. A Hybrid Type I ARQ technique includes some amount of FEC capability in each transmitted packet, and if a retransmission of a given packet is required, retransmits the same version of the packet which was previously transmitted. An advantage of this approach is that additional circuitry for encoding and decoding different packet versions is not needed because the same version of the given packet is used for retransmission. A Hybrid Type II ARQ technique may also include some FEC capability with each packet, but retransmits a different version of a given packet if retransmission of that packet is requested. The Hybrid Type II approach provides advantages in that if the characteristics of the data packet led to the errors, the retransmitted version may not be susceptible to the same errors. Unfortunately, the flexibility of Hybrid Type I and Type II ARQ techniques is limited in that each technique requires a certain type of retransmission that may not be suitable for all applications. A system designer is generally required to select a particular one of the hybrid techniques for use under all operating conditions even though the other technique might provide superior performance under certain conditions. The current inflexibility of the available Hybrid Type I and Type II ARQ approaches may therefore lead to an excessive number of packet retransmissions and a corresponding decrease in the capacity of the communication system.
As is apparent from the above, a need exists for an improved ARQ technique which can provide the beneficial features of both conventional Hybrid Type I and Type II ARQ techniques while avoiding the above-noted problems associated with such techniques.

Automatic retransmission query (ARQ) with inner code for generating multiple provisional decodings of a data packet


A strip is fastened to an edge of a textile piece by first advancing strip of the ribbon in a direction parallel to the strip of ribbon from a supply. Then a leading end of the strip is gripped a first nip point while advancing additional ribbon from the ribbon supply. The strip is then gripped at a second nip point upstream of the first nip point at a trailing end of the strip. The ribbon is then severed upstream in the strip-travel direction of the second nip point to separate the strip from the ribbon into a sufficient length between the first nip point and the second nip points. The leading or trailing end is then pivoted about at least one pivot axis relative to the other end and positioned near or on the other end, which is then fastened to the edge of the textile piece.

A loop for attachment to a piece of textile is typically made from a piece of a flexible ribbon that is fixed to the a textile piece.
Such an apparatus and method are well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,410 discloses an apparatus and a method of the operation thereof with which labels, including loop-fold labels, are produced from ribbon. Ribbon introduced into a feeder is transported by the feeder toward a gripper. The gripper picks up the ribbon, namely an end of the ribbon, while the feeder is moved back to its starting position. A folding plate is then set in motion whose direction of movement is aligned perpendicular to the gripped surface of the ribbon. The folding plate is moved in the strip-travel direction and folds it lengthwise, thereby forming a simple loop. The folding plate is retracted together with the strip into a positioning gripper that closes simultaneously with a pair of scissors that separates the ribbon into a single ribbon, with the positioning gripper picking up the finished folded loop while the folding plate is returned to its starting position. The ends of the strip are then welded, and the loop is advanced to a sewing station, where it is fixed to the seam of a textile in the form of a label.
Alternatively, the apparatus can also be used to produce a flag label. In that case, the folding plate is advanced further after the scissors have severed the strip, and the loop that was previously folded in the a positioning gripper is straightened. Only after the a positioning gripper close, can the little flag be fixed as a flag label to a textile piece.
Moreover, it is possible to produce U-shaped loops. The apparatus must be expanded for that purpose, however. In this embodiment, a carriage that enables the width of the ribbon to be varied is provided with a guide on the machine frame. In addition, a shaping plate and a U-shaped folding plate are one above the other in the apparatus, the ribbon resting on the shaping plate. The folding plate is moved downward from a position above the strip portion and moved relative to the shaping plate, so that it is below the level of the ribbon. Due to movement of the folding plate relative to the shaping plate, the legs of the strip are folded, thus forming a U-shaped loop. The shaping plate then pushes the loop in the manner described into the a positioning gripper.
The solutions that are known from the prior art have the disadvantage that different apparatuses are required in order to produce different label formats, so that in the event of a change in production, for example from a simple loop-fold label to a U-shaped label, elaborate modifications must be made to the apparatus, requiring replacing the apparatus for making a simple loop-fold label with another apparatus for making a U-shaped label. Although EP 0 607 196 discloses an apparatus that can make different types of label, additional elements must also be introduced into the apparatus to be able to produce a U-shaped label, for example. A V-shaped label cannot be made with this apparatus at all.


Embodiments of the present disclosure describe methods, apparatuses, and systems for enhanced control signaling using full-duplex communication in wireless communication networks. A base station may schedule a first user equipment (UE) for primary access to a set of time-frequency resources in a first communication direction (e.g., uplink or downlink). The base station may additionally schedule a second UE for secondary access to the same set of time-frequency resources in a second communication direction that is the opposite of the first communication direction. The secondary access may be used to communicate supplemental control information, such as a channel quality indicator (CQI) and/or modulation and coding scheme (MCS) feedback, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, and/or multiple input multiple output (MIMO) feedback (e.g., including a rank indicator (RI) and/or a pre-coding matrix indicator (PMI). Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

In a wireless cellular network (e.g., a network standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), or the like), control signaling that includes feedback information is transmitted from the user equipment (UE) to the base station and from the base station to the UE. The feedback information is transmitted in a dedicated physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical downlink control channel (PDCC).

Enhanced control signaling using full-duplex communication in wireless communication network


A damper includes a cavity and a rotation shaft. The rotation shaft is inserted into the cavity of the body in sealing way. An oil cavity is disposed between the cavity and the rotation shaft. The external wall of the rotation shaft is disposed with a pair of protruding ribs axially. Each protruding rib is a groove. One side of the groove is a first retaining wall and the other side is a second retaining wall. A transitional arc is disposed between the side wall of the groove and the top surface of the first retaining wall. A first shape is formed between the other side wall of the groove and the top surface of the second retaining wall. A blade is disposed between the groove of one protruding rib and an internal wall of the cavity, and the blade is movable between the two retaining walls of the groove.

A water closet has a ceramic body, the body is disposed with a seat ring and a cover. When used, the seat ring and the cover have to be lift up or put down, when the seat ring or the cover is put down, they bump to the body due to the gravity with a loud noise, a damper is assembled to a rotation shaft thereof to slow the seat ring and the cover to drop, thus decreasing the collision strength to the body. Existing has several kinds of dampers, for example in Chinese patent database with patent number CN200920061403.1, disclosed is a damper, a pressing cover is assembled inside the housing to encapsulate the damping oil, a spindle and a valve plate, the internal wall of the housing is disposed coaxially with at least a protruding rib extending to the surface of the spindle, the surface of the spindle is disposed coaxially with at least a block extending to the internal wall of the housing, the protruding rib, the spindle and the block divide the housing into at least two cavities, an accommodating room to set the valve plate is disposed inside the block coaxially, two sides of the accommodating room to set the valve plate are respectively disposed with a first hole and a second hoe, a limit rib is disposed between the first hole and the second hole; the valve plate is limited between the first hole and the limit rib, an oil seal is disposed corresponding to the first hole, and an oil groove/hole is disposed separated from the oil hole to adjust different oil speed, this structure is available of damping, however, the structure is complex, and the torsion of the rotation shaft is weak.


A method for determining the fractional amounts of, and the thermal neutron capture cross-sections of, individual components which are included in the decay spectrum measured by a pulsed neutron well logging instrument. The instrument includes a pulsed high energy neutron source, and one or more gamma ray detectors spaced apart from the source. The method includes generating a data kernel which is made up of representors of decay components of the wellbore and of the earth formations in the vicinity of the instrument. The decay spectrum measured by the instrument is inverted to determine parameters by which the representors are scaled so that in combination the scaled representors most closely match the measured decay spectrum. The parameters represent the fractional amounts of each exponential decay component which makes up the measured exponential decay spectrum.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of pulsed neutron well logging instruments. More specifically, the invention is related to methods of processing measurements from a pulsed neutron well logging instrument for determining various properties of earth formations penetrated by a wellbore. The measurements made by the instrument are used to determine the macroscopic thermal neutron capture cross-section of the earth formations by calculating the thermal neutron decay time (also known as "neutron lifetime"). The processing method enables separating and determining fractional contributions of, and macroscopic thermal neutron capture cross-sections of, various regions of the earth formation and the wellbore nearby the well logging instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pulsed neutron well logging instruments are known in the art for determining the macroscopic thermal neutron capture cross-section of earth formations penetrated by a wellbore. A typical pulsed neutron well logging instrument is described, for example, in a sales brochure entitled PDK-100, Western Atlas Logging Services, Houston, Tex. (1994). Typical pulsed neutron instruments include a controllable source of high-energy neutrons, and one or more gamma ray radiation detectors positioned at spaced apart locations from the neutron source. The source is periodically activated to emit controlled-duration "bursts" of high-energy neutrons into the earth formations surrounding the well borehole. The neutrons interact with atomic nuclei of the materials in the earth formations, losing energy with each interaction until the neutrons reach the thermal energy level (defined as having a most likely energy of about 0.025 electron volts). Depending on the material composition of the earth formations proximal to the instrument, the thermal neutrons can be absorbed, or "captured", at various rates by certain types of atomic nuclei in the earth formations. When one of these atomic nuclei captures a thermal neutron it emits a gamma ray, referred to as a "capture gamma ray".
The rate at which the capture gamma rays are emitted, with respect to the elapsed time after the end of the neutron "burst" depends on, among other things, the relative concentration per unit volume in the earth formations of atomic nuclei which have a relatively large tendency to absorb thermal neutrons and emit capture gamma rays in response. This tendency is referred to as the thermal neutron capture "cross-section". A common chemical element found in earth formations having high capture cross-section atomic nuclei is chlorine. Chlorine in earth formations is usually present in the form of chloride ion in solution in connate water present in the pore spaces of some of the earth formations. Chlorine has a very high thermal neutron capture cross-section. Thus a measurement of the thermal neutron decay time (or neutron lifetime) of the earth formations in the vicinity of the wellbore can be indicative of amount of saline fluid present in the pore spaces of the earth formation. When combined with values of connate water salinity, fractional volume of pores space ("porosity"), and measurements of the fractional content of fine grained particles in the formation ("formation shaliness") it is possible to determine the fractional fluid saturation of useful materials, such as oil or gas, present in the pore spaces of the earth formation.
It has proven difficult to determine the fractional saturation of oil or gas under certain wellbore conditions by processing the capture gamma ray measurements according to methods known in the art for determining the thermal neutron capture cross-section, .SIGMA..sub.F, of the earth formation of interest. Several factors contribute to the difficulty of determining .SIGMA..sub.F using the methods known in the art. First, the well logging instrument is typically inserted into a wellbore which is filled with liquid. At the time the pulsed neutron instrument is typically used, the wellbore generally has inserted therein a steel liner or casing. The liner or casing is generally held in place by cement filling an annular space between the wellbore wall and the exterior of the liner or casing. As high energy neutrons leave the neutron source in the logging instrument, the liquid in the wellbore has the effect of rapidly moderating (or slowing down) the high energy neutrons to the thermal level because of the high concentration of hydrogen nuclei in the liquid.
In general, the relative numbers ("population") at any particular time after a neutron burst, of thermal neutrons in the wellbore and in the earth formations proximal to the wellbore will depend on the porosity and on the hydrogen nucleus concentration per unit volume within the earth formation. The thermal neutrons present in the wellbore and in the earth formations can be "captured" or absorbed by nuclei of various chemical elements in the wellbore and formations, at a rate which depends upon the relative concentration and on the thermal neutron capture cross-section of these elements. In wellbores and in earth formations some of the more common elements having high thermal neutron cross-sections include chlorine, hydrogen, iron, silicon, calcium, boron, and sulfur. The thermal neutron decay time or "neutron lifetime", as determined from measurements of capture gamma rays made by the well logging instrument, represents combined effects of the thermal neutron capture cross-section in each of several "regions" (volumes of space surrounding the logging instrument) within the wellbore as well as from the earth formations proximal to the wellbore. These regions generally include the instrument itself, the fluid in the wellbore, the steel casing, the cement, the earth formation radially proximal to the wellbore wall (which may have been infiltrated by fluid from within the wellbore), and the earth formations radially more distal from the wellbore wall (which have minimal infiltration from the fluid in the wellbore).
Determining .SIGMA..sub.F using data processing methods known in the art can be further complicated if the earth formation does not have a truly homogenous material composition on the scale of measurements made by the well logging instrument. Conditions in the earth formations subject to this difficulty can include a earth formations consisting of a layered "sand/shale" sequence wherein the layers are on the order of 3-4 inches thick, or can include the presence of a fluid transition zone such as a gas/oil or an oil/water contact in the earth formation. Other conditions can include the presence of a radial zone located within approximately 2-8 inches from the wellbore wall having a different fluid than in a radially more distal zone, this being familiar to those skilled in the art as being caused by such processes as "invasion" (the previously described fluid infiltration), and gas or water "coning" as well as other processes known in the art.
The capture gamma ray detection rate as measured by the logging instrument will necessarily include fractional contributions from all of the regions in the vicinity of the logging instrument. Each of these regions has an indeterminate fractional contribution to the overall capture gamma ray counting rate as measured by the logging instrument, and can also have an unknown value of capture cross-section.
Several processing methods are known in the art for determining the macroscopic thermal neutron capture cross-section of the formation, .SIGMA..sub.F, from the measured capture gamma ray counting rates with respect to time after the end of each neutron burst (referred to as the counting rate "spectrum"). Prior art processing methods included the assumption that the thermal neutron capture cross-section of the regions within the wellbore are significantly higher than the capture cross-section of the surrounding earth formations. Limitations to these methods are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,481 issued to Smith et al.
The processing method described in the Smith et al '481 patent includes the assumption that the decay of the gamma ray counting rate with respect to time includes the effects of two and only two distinct exponential decay rates, the first caused by the materials within the wellbore and the second caused by the materials in the earth formations proximal to the wellbore. The method described in the Smith et al '481 patent includes the assumption that the length scales of the materials in the wellbore and in the earth formation are such that the effects of neutron diffusion averages out the actual variations in capture cross-section between the various regions and therefore can be represented by some average value of thermal neutron capture cross-section. As discussed previously, several common conditions exist where this is clearly not the case. Using the processing method described in the Smith et al '481 patent can lead to erroneous results under these conditions.

Method for determining multiple thermal neutron decay components from the capture gamma ray spectrum measured by a pulsed neutron instrument


A method for actuating an electromagnetic actuator for a cylinder (gas exchange) valve of a piston-type internal combustion engine, wherein the actuator has two spaced electromagnets and an armature which is operatively connected to the cylinder valve and which is guided movably, as a function of the current supplied to the electromagnet by a control unit, in the closing direction counter to the force of an opener spring and in the opening position counter to the force of a closing spring, and for the normal stroke of the gas exchange valve, the armature is kept via the springs at the same spacing from the two electromagnets when the electromagnets are without current. To shorten the valve stroke during operation, the prestressing of one of the two springs, preferably the opener spring, is variable via an adjusting device which is triggered or controlled via the engine control unit.

Piston-type internal combustion engines which are operated with freely triggerable or controllable gas exchange or cylinder valves can be operated without a throttle valve, even in Otto-engine modes of operation. Load control in such methods is achieved by various opening and closing instants of the cylinder (gas exchange) valves. To intensify the motion of the inflowing quantity of air or fresh gas, it is appropriate to generate a pronounced flow field on the intake side when the piston-type internal combustion engine is operated with low rpm and in a low load range. In addition, there is the problem that at high rpm the minimal flight times attainable via the actuator are too long for operation at low loads, i.e., low engine moments. The idea arises of solving the problem by adapting the inlet cross section.
From German published Patent Disclosure DE-A 196 10 468, a method for load-dependent control of the cylinder valves of a piston-type internal combustion engine is now known, in which during partial load operation the opening stroke is shortened, at least for the gas inlet valve of a cylinder, thus uncovering a smaller flow cross section. By shortening the opening stroke for partial load operation as compared to the opening stroke for the normal operating mode, a correspondingly reduced flow cross section is obtained at the valve inlet, so that a correspondingly lesser quantity of air or fresh gas is also aspirated. However, the lesser flow cross section in the inlet region means a higher flow velocity of the entering gas, resulting in a better mixing in the cylinder, which leads to better mixture preparation. In the known method, the desired stroke shortening is accomplished by suitable triggering or controlling of the electromagnetic actuators that are provided for actuating the cylinder valves. This is done in such a way that with the gas inlet valve closed, immediately after the holding current at the closing magnet is turned off and the motion of the cylinder valve in the opening direction ensues, the closing magnet is re-supplied with current, so that the gas exchange valve is moved back into the closing position after only a short stroke. In this method, operation is possible either with a partial stroke only, or with a full stroke only.
From German Patent Disclosure DE-A 30 24 109, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,543, issued Jun. 19, 1994, it is known to relax the opener spring, via a switching magnet, so much that the armature, in the closing position of the cylinder valve, contacts the pole face of the closing magnet even when the closing magnet is rendered currentless. This is intended to enable starting the electromagnetic actuators with less expenditure of energy, because when the engine is started current is first supplied to the closing magnet of a cylinder valve; then the opener spring is prestressed, and correspondingly, for the onset of motion when the closing magnet is made currentless, the full spring force of the opener spring is available for accelerating the armature and thus the cylinder valve. With this system, though, it is not possible to vary the stroke length of the cylinder valve.

Method for affecting the mixture formation in cylinders of piston-type internal combustion engines by varying the valve strokes


The invention provides a vaccine for immunizing poultry and other animals against infection by a gram-negative bacteria, and a method of immunizing an animal using the vaccine. The vaccine may contain purified siderophore receptor proteins derived from a single strain or species of gram-negative bacteria or other organism, which are cross-reactive with siderophores produced by two or more strains, species or genera of gram-negative bacteria. The invention further provides a process for isolating and purifying the siderophore receptor proteins, and for preparing a vaccine containing the proteins. Also provided is a method for diagnosing gram-negative sepsis.

The economic impact of infectious diseases in the poultry industry is well-appreciated. Immunization of birds has helped reduce the cost of production by decreasing the incidence of gastrointestinal, respiratory and systemic diseases. While vaccines provide adequate immunity for those pathogens against which a flock has been immunized, there are few vaccines which can provide broad-based cross-protection against unanticipated diseases or against those diseases for which an animal has not been specifically vaccinated.
A number of important diseases of domestic poultry are caused by bacteria able to invade host tissues, such as Salmonella spp., Escherichia spp. and Pasteurella spp. While many vaccines are available for immunization against individual species and serotypes, none provide cross-protection or stimulate broad-based immunity against multiple serotypes, species or genera.
One essential factor required for a bacteria to induce clinical disease is the ability to proliferate successfully in a host tissue. Iron is an essential nutrient for the growth of gram-negative bacteria in vivo, but is virtually unavailable in mammalian and/or avian tissues because the iron is either intracellular or extracellular, complexed with high affinity, iron-binding proteins, for example, transferring in blood and lymph fluids and lactoferrin in external secretions. In normal tissues, the concentration of iron is approximately 10−18M, far below that required for bacterial growth.
To circumvent these restrictive conditions, pathogenic bacteria have evolved high affinity iron transport systems produced under low iron conditions, which consist of specific ferric iron chelaters, "siderophores," and iron-regulated outer membrane proteins (TROMPs) and/or siderophore receptor proteins (SRPs) which are receptors for siderophores on the outer membrane of the bacterial cell. Siderophores are synthesized by and secreted from the cells of gram-negative bacteria under conditions of low iron. Siderophores are low molecular weight proteins ranging in molecular mass from about 500 to about 1000 MW, which chelate ferric iron and then bind to IROMPs in the outer bacterial membrane which, in turn, transport the iron into the bacterial cell. Although the use of IROMPs as immunogens has been considered, these proteins have not been examined for such use, at least in part, due to an inability to extract these proteins from bacterial membranes in high volume and with a desired level of purity and immunogenic quality.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a method for obtaining high amounts of immunogenic quality siderophore receptor proteins from Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Pasteurella, and other gram-negative bacteria. Another object is to provide a vaccine for immunizing poultry and other animals against these bacteria. Yet another object is to provide a vaccine for cross-protection against multiple serotypes, species and/or genera of bacteria belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae and/or Pasteurellaceae. A further object is to provide a diagnostic assay to monitor and/or profile sepsis and subclinical disease caused by gram-negative bacteria under field conditions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Active immunization using a siderophore receptor protein


The present invention provides polynucleotides isolated from eucaryotic organisms which are structural genes or promoters. Such isolated polynucleotides are particularly useful in the modification of gene expression in plants. This invention also relates to compositions isolated from plants and their use in the modification of gene activation and/or expression. In a specific embodiment, the subject invention provides plant polynucleotide sequences encoding promoters that are components of the cellular activation and transcription apparatus and the use of such polynucleotide sequences in the modification of expression of genes.

The domestication of rice has been a very important factor in development of civilization in many parts of the world. Rice is intimately involved in the culture, as well as the food and economy, of many societies. For example, according to folklore, when the Kachins of northern Myanmar (Burma) were sent forth from the center of the Earth, they were given the seeds of rice. Rice is an integral part of their creation myth and remains today as their leading crop and most preferred food. In Bali, it is believed that the Lord Vishnu caused the Earth to give birth to rice, and the God Indra taught the people how to raise it. In both tales, rice is considered a gift of the gods, and even today in both places, rice is treated with reverence.
Chinese myth, by contrast, tells of rice seeds being brought to hungry flood survivors on the tail of a dog. The people planted these seeds, rice grew, and hunger disappeared. Throughout China today, tradition holds that "the precious things are not pearls and jade but the five grains", of which rice is first.
According to Shinto belief, the Emperor of Japan is the living embodiment of Ninigo-no-mikoto, the god of the ripened rice plant. While most modern Japanese may intellectually dismiss this supernatural role, they cannot deny the enormous cultural importance of rice on life in their country—and so it is in much of the rice world (Huke, R. E. and E. H. Huke [1990] "Rice: Then and Now", International Rice Research Institute).
A greater understanding of rice and an enhanced ability to develop improved phenotypes would be of great value to mankind. Also, of great value to mankind would be improved methods of controlling and directing gene expression generally in eukaryotes, and particularly in plants.
Cultivated rices belong to two species, O. sativa and O. glaberrima. Of the two, O. sativa is by far the more widely utilized. O. sativa is a complex group composed of two forms endemic to Africa but not cultivated, and a third from, O. rufipogon, having distinctive partitions into South Asian, Chinese, New Guinean, Australian, and American forms.
Gene expression in rice, as well as other cells, is a biological function that may be regulated by the cellular processes involved in transcription. During transcription, a single-stranded RNA complementary to the DNA sequence to be transcribed is formed by the action of RNA polymerases. Initiation of transcription in eukaryotic cells is regulated by complex interactions between cis-acting DNA motifs, located within the gene to be transcribed, and trans-acting protein factors. Among the cis-acting regulatory regions are sequences of polynucleotides, termed promoters, enhancers or repressors that are located upstream, or downstream in the case of some elements, to the transcription initiation site. Promoters usually consist of proximal elements (e.g., TATA box) and more distant elements (e.g. CCAAT box). Enhancers are cis-acting DNA motifs that are located further up- and/or down-stream from the initiation site.
Both promoters and enhancers are generally composed of several discrete, often redundant elements, each of which may be recognized by one or more trans-acting regulatory proteins, known as transcription factors. Regulation of the complex patterns of gene expression observed both spatially and temporally, in all developing organisms, is thought to arise from the interaction of enhancer- and promoter-bound, general and tissue-specific transcription factors with DNA (Izawa et al., 1993; Menkens et al., 1995).
The ability to specifically inhibit gene function in a variety of organisms utilizing antisense RNA or ds RNA-mediated interference is well known in the fields of molecular biology (see for example C. P. Hunter, Current Biology [1999] 9:R440–442; Hamilton et al., [1999] Science, 286:950–952; and S. W. Ding, Current Opinions in Biotechnology [2000] 11:152–156, hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties). dsRNA (RNAi) typically comprises a polynucleotide sequence identical or homologous to a target gene (or fragment thereof) linked directly, or indirectly, to a polynucleotide sequence complementary to the sequence of the target gene (or fragment thereof). The dsRNA may comprise a polynucleotide linker sequence of sufficient length to allow for the two polynucleotide sequences to fold over and hybridize to each other; however, a linker sequence is not necessary. The linker sequence is designed to separate the antisense and sense strands of RNAi significantly enough to limit the effects of steric hindrances and allow for the formation of dsRNA molecules and should not hybridize with sequences within the hybridizing portions of the dsRNA molecule.
The specificity of this gene silencing mechanism appears to be extremely high, blocking expression only of targeted genes, while leaving other genes unaffected. A recent example of the use of RNAi to inhibit genetic function in plants used Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana (Chuang, C. F. and E. M. Meyerowitz [2000], Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97:4985–4990). Chuang et al. describe the construction of vectors delivering variable levels of RNAi targeted to each of four genes involved in floral development. Severity of abnormal flower development varied between transgenic lines. For one of the genes, AGAMOUS (AG), a strong correlation existed between declining accumulation of mRNA and increasingly severe phenotypes, suggesting that AG-specific endogenous mRNA is the target of RNAi.
For the development of transgenic plants with desirable traits, constipated promoters, tissue and organ specific promoters, and cell type specific promoters are required to drive most of the transgenes. The most widely used constitutive plant promoter is derived from the cauliflower mosaic virus. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover other tissue specific, organ specific, cell specific and constitutive promoters for transgenic applications.


A system for determining gas compositions includes a probe, inserted into a source of gaseous material, the probe having a gas permeable sensor tip and being capable of sending and receiving light to and from the gaseous material, a sensor body, connected to the probe, situated outside of the source and a fiber bundle, connected to the sensor body and communicating light to and from the probe. The system also includes a laser source, connected to one portion of the fiber bundle and providing laser light to the fiber bundle and the probe a Raman spectrograph, connected to another portion of the fiber bundle, receiving light from the probe and filtering the received light into specific channels and a data processing unit, receiving and analyzing the received light in the specific channels and outputting concentration of specific gas species in the gaseous material based on the analyzed received light.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to systems for determining the chemical composition of gaseous mixtures. In particular, the present invention is directed to systems and processes for determining the presence and composition of oxygen, nitrogen and hydrocarbons, among other gaseous constituents, in gaseous mixtures. In specific embodiments, the invention allows for the use of optical spectroscopy to analyze the gaseous compositions without exposing the interiors of liquid receptacles to the outside or sources of ignition.
2. Description of Related Art
There are many environments where it is important to measure with great accuracy the composition of gaseous materials in real-time. These measurement environments can include measuring to determine the presence of harmful gases, the determination of intrinsic properties, or the monitoring of percentages of specific compositions. Such environments include a natural gas pipeline where monitoring of species can determine heating values or in monitoring of respiration or anesthesiological values in the delivery of medical treatments. The ability to measure such quantities in real-time would be of great interest to many fields of endeavor.
One such issue of determination of compositions of gaseous materials occurs with fuel tanks. In the area of aircraft safety, there exists a need to reduce or eliminate the explosion hazard posed by the mixture of fuel vapors and oxygen contained in the space above the liquid (ullage) of a fuel tank. In a conventional aircraft fuel tank, the ullage will contain a mixture of jet fuel vapor and air. As the fuel is used up, more air from the outside is drawn in to fill the ullage created by the spent liquid fuel. In order for a fire or explosion hazard to exist, there needs to be three things: fuel, oxygen, and energy to ignite the mixture.
Since the fuel cannot be removed, and ignition sources (such as static electricity, lightning, or even a terrorist strike) may exist, the oxygen needs to be reduced or removed. The oxygen is removed by displacing it with nitrogen enriched air that is produced from an on-board inert gas generation system (OBIGGS) that feeds nitrogen-enriched air into the fuel tank to eventually displace the oxygen. Such systems are expensive to operate continuously (from a fuel economy standpoint), and it also desirable to know when the fuel tank has been rendered inert to a safe level (typically less than 9% by volume). Thus, a way to measure the relative or absolute oxygen and/or nitrogen concentrations in the ullage of fuel tank is needed.
Unique features of such a problem include that the sensor system cannot introduce any intrinsic fire or explosion hazard such as would be the case with electronic wire-based sensors and the sensor system needs to provide a measurement of the oxygen concentration over a wide temperature (−40 C to 71 C) and pressure (0.2 atm to 1.0 atm) range corresponding to the conditions inside an airplane fuel tank over the flight envelope. The sensor needs to be reliable and robust and needs to be compact and lightweight in order to be fitted to an airplane's fuel system. The sensor should preferably also measure nitrogen and fuel vapor concentrations for a secondary check of the OBIGGS system performance and the system needs to work reliably and unattended with no maintenance for up to 1 year (time between fuel tank service checks). The system should also preferably be low-cost for deployment on the entire fleet of commercial aircraft. Specifically, the sensor needs to be able to measure the absolute concentration of O2 at the following condition which represents the lowest absolute concentration of molecular oxygen in the flight envelope. The sensor needs to have a 1% measurement precision and accuracy in measuring 5% O2 (by volume) at a temperature of −1 C and a pressure of 0.2 atm, with the balance gases being nitrogen and fuel vapor.
Prior art systems have relied on electrochemical oxygen sensors or paramagnetism oxygen sensors. A newer technique, that uses the effect of oxygen fluorescence quenching on a dye that is fiber optically illuminated by a blue LED, has been proposed. Other techniques have been proposed to use diode laser absorption spectroscopy near 760 nm to measure oxygen. However, the first two techniques above require exposing the ullage gases to a sensor that is connected to a wire which can potentially be a source of sparks or electrostatic ignition. Furthermore, the electrochemical sensor typically uses a heated element that reacts and consumes the oxygen that it is sensing, producing a fire hazard. The fiber optic fluorescence quenching sensors that utilize the intensity of an oxygen sensitive dye that is illuminated with a blue LED have also been proposed but this sensor is prone to large drifts when exposed to temperature changes. The drift of the fluorescence quenching type sensor is so great that it renders the technique ineffective for the reliable measurement of oxygen concentration in the ullage of a fuel tank. The diode laser absorption technique is problematic because it requires a diode laser to tune and lock onto specific oxygen absorption lines, the technique requires windows for optical access which can get dirty from fuel deposits. None of these techniques can measure both nitrogen and oxygen concentration to provide an accurate mixing ratio without having to assume that the balance is nitrogen. Also, none of these other techniques are able to provide fuel vapor concentration.
As such, there is a need for a system that does not introduce any intrinsic fire or explosion hazard, provides measurements of gaseous concentrations over wide temperature and pressure ranges and which is reliable and robust. There is also a need for a system that is compact and lightweight and be low-cost for deployment in many detection environments.

Method and system for fiber optic determination of gas concentrations in liquid receptacles

The United of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA


A scanning lens molded of resin includes: a lens portion having an elongate shape extending in a main scanning direction and having an optical surface; a slant portion having at least one slant surface slanting relative to the main scanning direction; and an ejector pin mark formed on the slant surface when thrusting out the scanning lens by ejector pins. The ejector pin mark is formed along a slanting direction of the slant surface.

In the conventionally-known method for manufacturing a scanning lens made of plastic resin, resin is injected into a mold having a cavity corresponding to the contour of the scanning lens, and thereafter the molded product in the mold is thrust out by ejector pins. Accordingly, the scanning lens is removed from the mold. To be more specific, the scanning lens has flat surfaces parallel to the main scanning direction, and the ejector pins push these surfaces in the optical axis direction by their distal end faces (surfaces parallel to the main scanning direction), thereby removing the scanning lens from the mold.
A scanning lens may have slant surfaces slanting relative to the main scanning direction. If this scanning lens is thrust out by the conventionally-known ejector pins each having a flat distal end face parallel to the main scanning direction, the scanning lens may not be removed easily and smoothly by the ejector pins, because these ejector pins are unable to arrange at positions corresponding to the slant surfaces.
It would be desirable to provide a scanning lens such that removal of the scanning lens from a mold can be performed with increased ease.

Scanning lens and method for manufacturing scanning lens


The technology in this application determines the throughput over a data communication substantially as experienced by a user receiving the data. The determined throughput is substantially independent of the total amount of data transferred over the connection. This “active” throughput measure is divided into two parts to provide two performance measures: transfer throughput and latency. Latency corresponds to a time period needed to accomplish one or more functions associated with the data connection, like setting up and taking down the connection, during which payload type data to be transferred to an end user is not transferred. By identifying and removing the initial latency from the throughput determination for the data connection, the determined transfer throughput provides a more accurate measure of the throughput actually experienced by the end user.

In cellular radio communication systems, it is important to monitor the performance of the end-user services, to identify areas of poor quality, and if possible, to improve performance by means of capacity upgrade and/or network tuning. For voice service, an example set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) could include: blocked calls, dropped calls, and voice quality. Radio network nodes can measure KPIs on a statistical basis per geographical area to enable the network operator to monitor the performance of the voice service delivered to mobile subscribers and to detect areas where service performance is below an acceptable level. The KPIs may also allow an operator to identify a root cause poor performance, e.g. an under-dimensioned radio base station (RBS) or faulty parameter settings for handovers in a cell relation. Accordingly, Key Performance Indicators should be carefully defined so that they accurately measure the performance of the service as experienced by the end-user and can be measured by one or more the radio network nodes.
With the rapid growth of data services in the cellular radio network there have been several attempts to define KPIs for best-effort data services. Although various mean throughput measures, dropped and blocked radio bearers measures, and measures on the level of radio protocols, e.g. on the RLC level, can be used, a problem arises if these measures are defined differently in different systems and in similar systems from different infrastructure vendors. For example, Ericsson and Nokia might use different measures in their respective GSM and WCDMA systems.
Another problem is KPI type measures that do not reflect the end-user perceived quality. This is particularly a concern in radio communication systems with high bandwidth such as HSPA, WiMAX, and LTE. For example, a KPI such as mean data rate does not accurately represent end-user-experienced performance because that indicator also includes periods of inactivity where there is no data to send in the transmit buffer for that end-user. The consequence is a substantial under-estimation of the throughput that the end-user actually experiences.
One way to handle this "mean data rate" problem is to only measure the throughput when there is data to be sent to the end-user stored in a transmit or send buffer at the transmitter. Only measuring throughput during those times gets closer to the end-user perception as compared to a basic mean data rate KPI. But a problem with this approach is that it does not take into account that in most systems, there is an initial period of time from the first reception of data in an empty transmit buffer until the start of transmission of data from the transmit buffer during which no data can be transferred. This initial time during which the data connection is not transmitting the desired content to the end-user is in this application referred to as "latency." Latency components include, for example, a data transfer start-up time required before data content can actually be transferred. This may be due to internal node processing of user data, (e.g., encryption, coding, inspection, modulation, data transfer between internal buffers, or other internal handling), or set up of radio resources such as Radio Access Bearers and Radio Bearers in WCDMA and LTE or Temporary Block Flows in GSM. The initial latency can also be due to receiver sleep mode cycles corresponding to periods of time during which the receiver is not active. The latency of all the nodes in the system collectively contribute to a minimum end-to-end transfer time that it takes to transfer even the smallest data unit from one end of the system to the other and back, the so called end-to-end round-trip time of the system. The end-to-end round-trip time is an important characteristics of any data communication system and directly impacts the end-user perception of the system performance.
Consider an example of transferring an e-mail which can be separated into two phases, where the duration of the first phase depends almost entirely on the end-to-end round-trip time. In an email download, there first is a handshake phase in which various relatively small control messages are sent between the transmitter and receiver to set up and confirm the data connection. None of the substantive content of that email message is transferred during this first phase. The second phase is the download phase in which the email and any attachment is transferred over the data connection. A similar analysis holds for web browsing a web page that includes a set of objects. The objects are of different sizes and represent pictures, logotypes, text fields, animations, etc. HTTP establishes a TCP connection for downloading the objects in sequence. In between each object, there is some signaling, e.g., requesting the next object or keeping the HTTP download stable.
A mean throughput measure for short data transfers (i.e., there is only a small amount of data to transfer) that "counts" or includes the latency "overhead" time periods is much lower and typically quite different from the bandwidth the end user actually experienced. The end-user's experience of throughput is tied to the time periods during which desired data content is actually being transferred to the end user. For long data content transfers, (e.g., multiple seconds), the data transfer latency "overhead" periods have less impact because that latency time is small compared to the time of the total data transfer time. The undesirable result then is the usefulness of a mean throughput KPI value depends on the size or length of a data transfer rather than on the actual desired data payload throughput that the end-user experiences.
Shorter data transfers are common in broadband wireline networks and are becoming more of a problem in wireless systems where high bandwidth radio connections are becoming faster. For example, a webpage that takes 10 seconds to transfer in a GSM/WCDMA system over the wireless interface will take less than one second over the wireless interface in mobile broadband systems like LTE or WiMAX. Hence, throughput measures that do not compensate for the initial latency period of the transfers become more biased and less representative of the end-user experienced throughput in these and other high-bandwidth systems.
Another practical problem for network operators is vendor-specific KPIs, which make it difficult for an operator to compare end-user service performance with vendor A communications equipment with that of vendor B communications equipment. This also makes it difficult to set and follow up on national performance targets and to benchmark service performance. A resulting undesirable cost of vendor-specific KPIs is the effort needed to understand and benchmark the differences in the KPIs from different vendors and to create third-party products that can "translate" performance between them. It would therefore be advantageous to design key performance indicators that are defined by probes and events that occur on open standardized interfaces. KPIs defined in this way can be designed in any standard compliant product and benchmarked in an objective way between systems belonging to different operators, manufacturers, and standards.

Method and apparatus for determining latency and throughput of a data communication


At a hybrid vehicle including a driving power generation device with an engine, a first MG (motor generator) and a second MG, and a transmission device including a power split mechanism coupling an output shaft to the engine and the first MG, and a transmission coupling an output shaft to the second MG, an ECU stops the driving power generation device when the transmission device is in error. Then, the ECU determines whether the vehicle is actually stopped or not based on a detection value from a wheel speed sensor, and maintains the supply of electric power from the battery until a determination is made that the vehicle has actually stopped.

Japanese Patent. Laying-Open No. 2002-225578 (PTL 1) discloses a hybrid vehicle including an engine and first and second motor generators (MG) as the driving power source, having the engine and the first MG coupled to an output shaft via a planetary gear mechanism, and the second MG coupled to the output shaft via a transmission.


Single user and multiuser MIMO transmission in a cellular network may be performed by a base station (eNB) transmitting either one or two transmission layers. A user equipment (UE) receives a reference symbol from the base station. The UE processes the reference symbol with one or more of a plurality of preceding matrices to form a plurality of channel quality indices (CQI). The UE provides feedback to the eNB comprising one or more feedback CQI selected from the plurality of CQI and one or more preceding matrix indicators (PMI) identifying the one or more preceding matrices used to form each of the one or more feedback CQIs, wherein at least two PMI are included in the feedback.

Wireless cellular communication networks incorporate a number of mobile UEs and a number of NodeBs. A NodeB is generally a fixed station, and may also be called a base transceiver system (BTS), an access point (AP), a base station (BS), or some other equivalent terminology. As improvements of networks are made, the NodeB functionality evolves, so a NodeB is sometimes also referred to as an evolved NodeB (eNB). In general, NodeB hardware, when deployed, is fixed and stationary, while the UE hardware may be portable.
User equipment (UE), also commonly referred to as a terminal or a mobile station, may be a fixed or mobile device and may be a wireless device, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem card, and so on. Uplink communication (UL) refers to a communication from the UE to the NodeB, whereas downlink (DL) refers to communication from the NodeB to the UE. Each NodeB contains radio frequency transmitter(s) and the receiver(s) used to communicate directly with the UE, which may move freely around it. Similarly, each UE contains radio frequency transmitter(s) and the receiver(s) used to communicate directly with the NodeB. In cellular networks, the UE cannot communicate directly with each other but have to communicate with the NodeB.
Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless networks, also known as Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), are being standardized by the 3GPP working groups (WG). OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) and SC-FDMA (single carrier FDMA) access schemes were chosen for the down-link (DL) and up-link (UL) of E-UTRA, respectively. User equipment are time and frequency multiplexed on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and a fine time and frequency synchronization between UE's guarantees optimal intra-cell orthogonality. In case the UE is not UL synchronized, it uses a non-synchronized Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), and the Base Station provides back some allocated UL resource and timing advance information to allow the UE to transmit on the PUSCH. The general operations of the physical channels are described in the EUTRA specifications, for example: "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation (TS 36.211 Release 8, or later)."
Several types of physical channels are defined for the LTE downlink. One common characteristic of physical channels is that they all convey information from higher layers in the LTE stack. This is in contrast to physical signals, which convey information that is used exclusively within the physical (PHY) layer. Currently, the LTE DL physical channels are as follows: Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH).
A reference signal (RS) is a pre-defined signal, pre-known to both transmitter and receiver. The RS can generally be thought of as deterministic from the perspective of both transmitter and receiver. The RS is typically transmitted in order for the receiver to estimate the signal propagation medium. This process is also known as "channel estimation." Thus, an RS can be transmitted to facilitate channel estimation. Upon deriving channel estimates, these estimates are used for demodulation of transmitted information. In downlink transmission, two types of reference signals are available. The first type of reference signal is un-precoded and is transmitted over the entire system bandwidth of a cell, and is generally referred to as cell-specific reference signal (CRS). Another type of reference signal is modulated by the same precoder as applied on the data channel, and therefore enables a UE to estimate the effective precoded MIMO channel characteristics. This type of RS is sometimes referred to as De-Modulation RS or DMRS. DMRS is transmitted only when a UE is being scheduled, and is therefore only transmitted over the frequency resource assignment of data transmission. Note that DMRS can also be applied in uplink transmission (PUSCH), in case UE transmitter is equipped with multiple antennas. Note that RS can also be transmitted for other purposes, such as channel sounding (SRS), synchronization, or any other purpose. Also note that Reference Signal (RS) can be sometimes called the pilot signal, or the training signal, or any other equivalent term.
The LTE PHY can optionally exploit multiple transceivers and antenna at both the base station and UE in order to enhance link robustness and increase data rates for the LTE downlink. Spatial diversity can be used to provide diversity against fading. In particular, maximal ratio combining (MRC) is used to enhance link reliability in challenging propagating conditions when signal strength is low and multipath conditions are challenging. Transmit diversity can be used to improve signal quality by transmitting the same data from multiple antennas to the receiver. Spatial multiplexing can be used to increase system capacity by carrying multiple data streams simultaneously from multiple antennas on the same frequency. Spatial multiplexing may be performed with one of the following cyclic delay diversity (CDD) precoding methods: zero-delay, small-delay, or large-delay CDD. Spatial multiplexing may also be referred to as MIMO (multiple input multiple output).
With MRC, a signal is received via two (or more) separate antenna/transceiver pairs. The antennas are physically separated, and therefore have distinct channel impulse responses. Channel compensation is applied to each received signal within the baseband processor before being linearly combined to create a single composite received signal. When combined in this manner, the received signals add coherently within the baseband processor. However, the thermal noise from each transceiver is uncorrelated, resulting in improved signal to noise ratio (SNR). MRC enhances link reliability, but it does not increase the nominal system data rate since data is transmitted by a single antenna and is processed at the receiver via two or more receivers. MRC is therefore a form of receiver diversity rather than more conventional antenna diversity.
MIMO, on the other hand, does increase system data rates. This is achieved by using multiple antennas on both the transmitting and receiving ends. In order to successfully receive a MIMO transmission, the receiver must determine the channel impulse response from each transmitting antenna. In LTE, channel impulse responses are determined by sequentially transmitting known reference signals from each transmitting antenna. While one transmitter antenna is sending the reference signal, the other antenna is idle. Once the channel impulse responses are known, data can be transmitted from both antennas simultaneously. The linear combination of the two data streams at the two receiver antennas results in a set of two equations and two unknowns, which is resolvable into the two original data streams.
Physical channels are mapped to specific transport channels. Transport channels are service access points (SAPs) for higher layers. Each physical channel has defined algorithms for bit scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, preceding, and resource assignment. Layer mapping and preceding are related to MIMO applications. Basically, a layer corresponds to a spatial multiplexing channel. Channel rank can vary from one up to the minimum of number of transmit and receive antennas. For example, given a 4×2 system, i.e., a system having four transmit antennas and two receive antennas, the maximum channel rank is two. The channel rank associated with a particular connection varies in time and frequency as the fast fading alters the channel coefficients. Moreover, the channel rank determines how many layers, also referred to as the transmission rank, can be successfully transmitted simultaneously. For example, if the channel rank is one at the instant of the transmission of two layers, there is a strong likelihood that the two signals corresponding to the two layers will interfere so much that both of the layers are erroneously detected at the receiver. In conjunction with precoding, adapting the transmission to the channel rank involves striving to use as many layers as the channel rank. Layer mapping specifies exactly how the extra transmitter antennas are employed. For non-codebook based precoding, the precoding applied for the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is the same as the one applied for the PUSCH (for uplink) and PDSCH (for downlink). Multiplexing of the demodulation reference signals can be time-division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, code division multiplexing or a combination of them.
Precoding is used in conjunction with spatial multiplexing. The basic principle involved in precoding is to mix and distribute the modulation symbols over the antennas while potentially also taking the current channel conditions into account. Precoding can be implemented by, for example, multiplying the information carrying symbol vector containing modulation symbols by a matrix which is selected to match the channel based on a certain selection criterion. Some examples of selection criterion include average throughput and maximum signal-to-interference-noise ratio (SINR). Sequences of symbol vectors thus form a set of parallel symbol streams and each such symbol stream is referred to as a "layer". Thus, depending on the choice of precoder in a particular implementation, a layer may directly correspond to a certain physical antenna or a layer may, via the precoder mapping, be distributed onto several physical antennas.
In LTE Rel-8, single layer beamforming on antenna port 5 is already supported. Single-layer beamforming is based on non-codebook precoding and relies on a dedicated demodulation reference symbol (DMRS) for data demodulation. DMRS symbols are precoded with the same precoding matrices as the PDSCH data symbols and therefore enable UE to estimate the "effective" channel after precoding. Rank-1 transmission is enforced. A UE is restricted to receive a single transport block (codeword) which is mapped to one layer (data stream) in DL transmission. From the UE's perspective, the effective 1-layer channel appears as if data is transmitted from a single virtual antenna. DMRS corresponding to this layer is defined as antenna port 5 in LTE Rel-8 to enable channel estimation.

Multiple CQI feedback for cellular networks


The present invention is directed to an apparatus for suturing a deep incision or wound through the abdominal fascia on an animal or human, and method of suturing.

The present invention is directed to an apparatus for suturing a deep incision or wound on an animal or human, and method of suturing.
The present invention relates to the suturing of a deep incision or wound during a medical procedure.
In many cases, at the end of a routine laparoscopy procedure, the closure of the umbilicus stab wound creates a difficult task for the surgeon. It is important to properly close this umbilicus stab wound otherwise a hernia may result. To suture close this type of wound sometimes is very difficult, especially with very obese patients.
Normally, the sutures used include a silk thread attached to the end of a needle. To push the needle through an obese deep abdominal defect, one has to push the needle hard. However, the needle can break or bend creating complications during the surgery. To recover a broken needle through the wound is a difficult task because of the depth of the wound and the lack of visibility.
Thus, the present invention attempts to solve these problems.
A first object of the present invention is to provide an improved suturing apparatus.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an improved suturing apparatus including a hollow needle device provided with a suture delivery passageway, the hollow needle device including a cutting tip at one end and a gripping portion at an opposite end thereof, a suture loading device provided with a loop portion, the loop portion of the loading device configured to be inserted through the needle so that the loop portion extends beyond the cutting tip of the needle whereby a suture can be threaded through the loop portion and then the loading device can be withdrawn from the needle to load the suture within the suture delivery passageway of the hollow needle device readied for insertion through the tissue surrounding the deep incision or wound, and a plunger device configured to force the loaded suture disposed within the suture delivery passageway of the hollow needle device out of the cutting tip penetrating the abdominal fascia and into the peritoneal cavity.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the gripping portion is a radially extending gripping portion.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the radially extending gripping portion is defined by a circular plate connected at one end of the hollow needle device.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the cutting tip of the hollow needle device is a beveled tip.
A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the suture loading device includes a plunger portion connected to said loop portion.
A seventh object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the plunger portion of the suture loading device is provided with a gripping portion.
A eighth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the gripping portion of the suture loading device is a paddle-shaped gripping portion.
A ninth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the suturing apparatus includes a suture provided with an anchoring device, the suture being configured to be inserted through the suture delivery passageway of the needle.
A tenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the anchoring device is an oblong-shaped anchoring device connected to the suture.
An eleventh object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the oblong-shaped anchoring device is connected to the suturing line of the suturing device in a manner to allow the oblong-shaped anchoring device to be aligned with a length of the suturing device when loaded within the suturing device delivery passageway of the hollow needle device, and then align transversely relative to the length of the suturing device after insertion through the abdominal fascia and into the peritoneal cavity.
A twelfth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the oblong-shaped anchoring device is provided with a through hole to allow the suturing line of the suturing device to pass therethrough for connecting the suturing line to the oblong-shaped anchoring device.
A thirteenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the suturing device is provided with an additional anchoring device.
A fourteenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the anchoring devices are set apart a predetermined distance so that one anchoring device is embedded on one side of the deep incision or wound through the abdominal fascia and the other anchoring device is embedded on an opposite side of the deep incision or wound through the abdominal fascia.
A fifteenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the anchoring devices are plate-shaped anchoring devices connected to the suturing line of the suturing device.
A sixteenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the oblong-shaped anchoring devices are oblong-shaped anchoring devices connected to the suturing device in a manner to allow the oblong-shaped anchoring devices to be aligned with a length of the suturing device when loaded within the suturing device delivery passageway of the hollow needle device, and then align transversely relative to the length of the suturing device after insertion through the abdominal fascia into the peritoneal cavity.
A seventeenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the oblong-shaped anchoring device is a rod-shaped anchoring device connected to the suturing device.
An eighteenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the rod-shaped anchoring device is provided with a throughhole for connecting with the suturing device.
A nineteenth object of the present invention is to provide a suturing apparatus wherein the rod-shaped anchoring device is provided with at least one groove for accommodating the suturing line of the suturing device when said rod-shaped anchoring device is aligned with a length of the suturing device.
A twentieth object of the present invention is to provide a method of suturing a deep incision or wound through the abdominal fascia, the method comprising the steps of making a set of penetrating holes on opposites sides of the deep incision or wound with a hollow needle device, inserting a suturing device through each penetrating hole in the tissue, anchoring the suturing device in the holes in the tissue, and tightening the suturing device to pull the penetrating holes in the tissue together to close the deep incision or wound.
A twenty-first object of the present invention is a method of suturing a deep incision or wound through the abdominal fascia, the method comprising the steps of making a set of penetrating holes on opposites sides of the deep incision or wound with a hollow needle device, inserting separate suturing devices through each penetrating hole in the tissue, anchoring the suturing devices in the penetrating holes in the tissue, and tying the suturing devices together to pull the penetrating holes in the tissue together to close the deep incision or wound.
The present invention is directed to a suturing apparatus and method of suturing. The suturing apparatus comprises three (3) separate components including 1) a hollow needle device; 2) a suture loading device; and 3) a plunger device. This suture apparatus in combination with a suturing device according to the present invention is utilized by a surgeon to close a deep incision or wound, particularly in an obese patient.
The suturing device according to the present invention includes a suturing line connected to at least one anchoring device. Specifically, a suturing line such as a silk thread or monofilament is provided with an anchoring device (e.g. plate-shaped, rod-shaped or other suitably shaped anchor to pass through a hole cut by the cutting tip portion of the hollow needle device, and then grip the surrounding abdominal fascia when the suturing device is pulled on). Thus, the anchoring device must be configured to pass through a hole cut by the cutting tip portion of the hollow needle device, however, configured not to pass through the same hole upon attempting to pull the anchoring device back through the same hole. Thus, the anchoring device is configured to pass through the hole in only one (1) way or one (1) direction.
The hollow needle device of the suturing apparatus according to the present invention is configured to receive the suturing line and anchoring device of the suturing device. Thus, the anchoring device must be configured (i.e. sized and shaped) to fit within the suturing device delivery passageway of the hollow needle device. A suture loading device provided with a loop portion is passed through the hollow needle device, and then the suturing line of the suturing device is threaded through the loop portion. The suture loading device is retracted to pull the suturing line of the suturing device and anchoring portion of the suturing device into the hollow needle device to load the suturing device within the hollow needle device readied for insertion through the abdominal fascia surrounding the deep incision or wound. After the suturing device is loaded within the hollow needle device, a plunger device is inserted into one end of the hollow needle device to force the suturing device through the suturing device delivery passageway of the hollow needle device out the cutting tip portion of the hollow needle device through the abdominal fascia that the hollow needle device has been already penetrated therethrough. The hollow needle device is removed leaving the anchoring device of the suture on the opposite side of the one (1) or more layers of tissue, securely anchoring the suturing device so that the suturing device can be tightened or tied to close the deep incision or wound.

Suturing apparatus and method of suturing